Mental equilibrium is to fix the mind on Lord Krishna.
Mere peacefulness without Krishna consciousness
is dull and useless state of mind.
Discipline means first to control one`s own senses.
If one wants to discipline one`s children, disciples
or followers without controlling one`s own senses,
one becomes a mere laughing stock.
Tolerance means to patiently endure unhappiness,
such as that provoked by the insults or negligence of others.
One must also sometimes accept material inconvenience
to carry out the injunctions of the scriptures,
and that unhappiness also must be patiently endured.
Truthfulness means that one should speak in a pleasing way
so that there will be a beneficial effect.
If one becomes attached to pointing out the faults of others
in the name of truth, then such fault-finding
will not be appreciated by saintly persons.
Cleanliness means to give up material attachment,
not merely to frequently clean one`s body.
Real modesty is to be disgusted with improper activities.
Steadfastness means to control the tongue and the genitals.
Austerity means to give up lust and sense gratification
and to observe prescribed vows such as Ekadasi.
It does not mean inventing whimsical methods
for torturing the material body.
Beauty is to possess good qualities such as detachment.
Real happiness is to transcend material happiness and unhappiness.
Real misery is to be implicated in searching for sex pleasure.
Real education means to give up the false idea
that anything is separate from Lord Krishna, the source of all potencies.
Real charity means to renounce all aggression toward others.
If one gives money to charitable causes but at the same time
engages in exploitative business enterprises or abusive political tactics,
one`s charity is worth nothing at all.
Real wealth is to be religious.
Real heroism is to conquer one`s lower nature.
Certainly everyone likes to propagate his own fame as a brilliant person,
but everyone is also subjected to lust, anger, greed and so forth.
Therefore one has to conquer these lower qualities.
Real renunciation means to give up one`s false sense of proprietorship
over one`s family, and not just giving away material objects.
Equal vision means to give up jealousy and envy and
to recognize the existence of the soul within every material body.
One must also see the true spiritual equality of all living entities and all situations.
Real religious renunciation means that one should serve saintly persons
who enlighten us with spiritual knowledge.
A fool is one who identifies with the material body and mind.
A wise person is one who knows the process of freedom from bondage.
The wrong path is sense gratification by which the consciousness is bewildered.
The real path in life is that which leads to Lord Krishna.
The purpose of life is to transcend materially good and bad qualities
and come to the liberated platform of pure Krishna consciousness.
bhave bhave yathā bhaktiḥ
pādayos tava jāyate
tathā kuruṣva deveśa
nāthas tvaḿ no yataḥ prabho
O Lord of lords, O master, please grant us
pure devotional service at Your lotus feet, life after life.
nāma-sańkīrtanaḿ yasya
sarva-pāpa praṇāśanam
praṇāmo duḥkha-śamanas
taḿ namāmi hariḿ param
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Hari,
the congregational chanting of whose holy names
destroys all sinful reactions, and the offering of obeisances
unto whom relieves all material suffering.
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