Guest: Aren't they allowed to boil water in India?Prabhupāda: Yes, why not?Guest: In boiling the water do you kill any little insects that are in the water?Prabhupāda: Yes. But that I have already explained, that we are killing every moment. Therefor
Read more…Hayagrīva: But for happiness, or ānanda, isn't bhakti essential, love, or ānanda?Prabhupāda: Ānanda means... God is full ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. He is eternal, sat; He is spiritual; and He is ānanda, bliss. So unless one comes in contact with God, th
Read more…The lotus has a kind of honey which is transcendentally relished by the devotees. They are like the bees who are always after the honey. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, the great devotee ācārya of the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya, has sung a song about this lotus
Read more…Madhudviṣa: Then realization of the impersonal feature of the Absolute wouldn't be classified as a spiritual activity?Prabhupāda: Well, impersonalists, they have no spiritual activities practically. They have got some ritualistic performances to come
Read more…Devotee (1): Do I have to join your movement to be happy? Can I just take Kṛṣṇa consciousness outside your movement?Prabhupāda: Yes.Devotee (1): So there is no possibility of me being Kṛṣṇa conscious outside your movement.Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousn
Read more…Hṛdayānanda: (translating) Does the soul suffer with the mind, or he's always enjoying?
Prabhupāda: Yes, he creates. He's thinking in his own way; therefore he's creating a situation which will be botheration for him.
(Lecture on Bhagavad-Gita------Mex
Read more…It is recommended in this verse that one find a person who knows the science of God, or a tattva-vit. Tattva-vit means "one who knows the Absolute Truth." There are many pseudotranscendentalists, even at places of pilgrimage. Such men are always pres
Read more…By attainment of absolute knowledge, one can be in association with the Lord constantly, even in this present life, simply by hearing, chanting, thinking of and worshiping the Supreme Lord. One can see Him, one can feel His presence even in this pres
Read more…Ali: Is it necessary to get to know the true self before knowing God?
Prabhupāda: Yes, God means spirit, supreme spirit. If you cannot understand what is spirit, then how you'll understand God? You must know what is spirit, what is matter, and when we
Read more…Subhadrā, daughter of Vasudeva and sister of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. She was not only a very dear daughter of Vasudeva, but also a very dear sister to both Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva. The two brothers and sister are represented in the famous Jagannātha temple of Pur
Read more…After dancing in the Guṇḍicā temple, the Lord sported in the water with His devotees, and on Herā-pañcamī day they all saw the activities of the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmīdevī.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta------2:1:145------translation).
Knowing that the
Read more…In the Padma Purāṇa, in connection with the glorification of the month of Kārtika, it is stated that devotees pray:
varaṁ deva mokṣaṁ na mokṣāvadhiṁ vā
na cānyaṁ vṛṇe ’haṁ vareśād apīha
idaṁ te vapur nātha gopāla-bālaṁ
sadā me manasy āvirāstāṁ kim any
Prabhupāda: Here is the surety. As soon as you see that you're free from all anxiety, then it is sure that you have realized yourself.
Student (7): Well how can you be sure you're free from all anxiety if you're incapable of perceiving happiness? And
Read more…Young Woman: So how to realize Kṛṣṇa?
Prabhupāda: You have to adopt the process. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Young Woman: Say that again?
Prabhupāda: You have to adopt the process. Ādau śraddhā. If you are inquisitive to understand that is your first s
Read more…One has to practice controlling the mind and avoiding all kinds of sense gratification, of which sex life is the chief. In the rules of celibacy written by the great sage Yājñavalkya it is said:
karmaṇā manasā vācā
sarvāvasthāsu sarvadā
sarvatra mait
Guest (1): How can we realize Kṛṣṇa is satisfied?
Prabhupāda: Yes, you'll realize when you satisfy actually. You have to take direction. Just like you are engineer or business administrator. You learn the art from a teacher, and then you can know how
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, just after receiving the news of his death within seven days, at once retired from family life and shifted himself to the sacred bank of the Yamunā River. Generally it is said that the King took shelter on the bank of the Ganges, b
Read more…Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: When Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa attained the age of paugaṇḍa (six to ten) while living in Vṛndāvana, the cowherd men allowed Them to take up the task of tending the cows. Engaging thus in the company of Their friends, the two boy
Read more…In devotional service there are certain activities which are called determined, such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of the moon, Ekādaśī, and on the appearance day of the Lord. All these rules and regulations are offered by the gre
Read more…Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: One day when mother Yaśodā saw that all the maidservants were engaged in other household affairs, she personally began to churn the yogurt. While churning, she remembered the childish activities of Kṛṣṇa, and in her ow
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