Srila Prabhupada:
From a lecture on Bhagavad-gita on December 25, 1975 in Sanand:
When we speak of knowledge, jnana, it must be learned from a person.
Vyasadeva does not say “Krishna uvaca [Krishna said],” but “Bhagavan uvaca [the Supreme Personality of Godhead said].” This is because sometimes people have differences of opinion about Krishna.
“If we approach some speculator, we cannot get real knowledge. So those who are speculators, they cannot understand what is God. Therefore they commit mistake that ‘God is like this,’ ‘God like that,’ ‘There is no God,’ ‘There is no form.’ All these nonsense things are proposed, because they are imperfect.”
“We don’t manufacture any concocted things. We simply distribute the message given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And this is becoming effective practically. You can see practically these Europeans and Americans, Australians, all over the world, they did not know four or five years ago, or say ten years ago, since I have begun this movement, they did not know what is Krishna. Although Bhagavad-gita was being presented by so many swamis and yogis, not a single man became a devotee of Krishna. So our, this presentation, because it is pure, without any adulteration, it is acting very nicely.”
“Even the Christian priests, they become surprised when they see that these boys, their boys – they were Christians or Jews – they became surprised that ‘These boys were never coming to the church. They were never interested in understanding what is God. Now, since this Krishna consciousness movement is there, how these boys have become so mad after God?’ The only reason is that we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. We preach that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna says also in theBhagavad-gita, mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. So this is being effective, that if we really want to understand Bhagavad-gita, we must understand as it is presented by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the instruction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”
If I am eternal, why am I accepting death? That is the real question.
We should be anxious to understand what I am. Aham brahmasmi [I am spirit.] That is the real solution to all problems.
The real business is to increase your attachment for Krishna.
“We request all Indians to take part in this Krishna consciousness movement and be yourself happy, be yourself guru, and deliver all other persons who are in ignorance. And to become guru is not very difficult. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa yare dekha tare kaha ‘krishna’-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128] You become guru. It is not very difficult. How? Now, because you have to simply repeat what Krishna has said. That’s all. So Krishna says everything in the Bhagavad-gita. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. These four things if you accept – to think of Krishna always, to become devotee of Krishna, to offer obeisances to Krishna and to worship Krishna – these four things if you do, you become Krishna conscious, a devotee of Krishna, and you can preach all over the world. It is not at all difficult.”
“Bhagavad-gita is the essence of all Vedic knowledge.”
From a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 9.27–29:
You are doing something. Just change your consciousness so you are doing it for Krishna.
If you act for Krishna, there will be no reaction.
Either good reaction or bad reaction, you have to accept this body.
Do not think because you are getting a birth in rich family you will enjoy. Because you have a material body, you will still get the material miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease.
In Krishna consciousness, you become free from all reactions and attain the spiritual world.
If I am involved in sinful activity and if you take my money, you get involved in the sinful reactions.
Sannyasa means becoming free from the actions and reactions. This is possible by acting for Krishna.
“God is neutral. Samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu. . . . If He is sama – sama means neutral—then how we find different grades of people or different grades of species of life? . . . Now, I will give you a crude example. Suppose I am a shopkeeper. I have got different varieties of goods. Now, if you pay me less, then I can supply you inferior quality of goods. Another customer is paying me a good amount; then I will supply you superior quality of goods. Now, I supply to some customer inferior quality of goods; to another customer I supply superior quality of goods. Is there any partiality? No. That is not partiality. So God gives you result of your actions. Samo ’ham. He is impartial. If you do good acts, then you get good result. If you do bad acts, then you get bad result.”
Those advanced in Krishna consciousness always see Krishna, and Krishna always sees His devotee.
God is very cheap if we adopt the means, if we become a pure devotee, therefore we should adopt the practice by which we can become a pure devotee.
From a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 9.11–14 in New York City on November 27, 1966:
You may not believe in God, but who is giving you this speaking power to say, “I do not believe” in God. If that speaking power is withdrawn, you are no better than stone.
When Krishna was present, 99% of the people did not recognize that He was God.
Krishna performed superhuman activities when He was present, the authorities say that Krishna is God, and Vedas say that Krishna is God. With all this evidence, if you still you will not accept that Krishna is God, you are asuram bhavam asrita [possessed of a demoniac mentality].
You cannot see the sun at night by your own endeavor, but at 5 a.m. the sun reveals itself. If you cannot even see the sun at night, how to you expect to see God by your own endeavor? Like the sun, God can be seen when he reveals Himself.
Although the materialists are always increasing their wealth, they do not attain ultimate happiness. If one wants real happiness, which has no end, one must endeavor to be Krishna conscious.
Formerly, people would dedicate their whole lives to attaining self-realization and even then sometimes not meet with success. Lord Caitanya has made self-realization easily. You just have to spare some time to hear. You do not have to even pay a fee.
‘I have so long served my senses. Now I shall serve Krishna.’ That is [the thinking of a] mahatma [a great soul].
This service of Krishna begins with chanting. Come here, chant, and become a mahatma.
From a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 5.7–13 in New York on August 27, 1966:
It is not possible to renounce without Krishna consciousness. If I am in one room, if I have no other room to go to, I cannot leave.
Krishna says if one renounces without Krishna consciousness the result will be misery. (Bg. 5.6)
Everything has a relationship with Krishna. That is what is to be realized.
Because the material world is a manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Lord it has an intimate relationship with the Lord, and thus we should utilize it properly.
“If I think that ‘Every thing, every eatable things, they are sent by Krishna or God for everyone, let me take whatever I want,’ then there is peace in the world. Of course, that is not possible because it is such a world that we are always anxious to stock, or you’ll ask always to take more, then more, then more. Nobody is satisfied.”
“A Krishna conscious person, he never thinks that ‘I am doing something.’ Even if you ask him that ‘Are you going to such and such place?’ Suppose it is settled that he’s going to such and such place. If you ask him, ‘When you are going?’ He’ll say that ‘I do not know when I shall go, but when Krishna will ask me or allow me to go, I shall go.’ I am saying this from my practical experience from my Guru Maharaja, from my spiritual master. He would never say that ‘I am going,’ ‘I am doing.’ No, ‘If Krishna desires, then I shall do it.’ ‘If Krishna desires, then I shall go.’ Like that. Always depending on Krishna. This is calledvisuddhatma.”
From a letter to Upendra, written in Los Angeles on February 1, 1969:
“Simply engage yourself in Krishna’s service. That will protect you from any attack of maya. Maya can take Krishna’s place in our heart as soon as there is a slackness on our part. Otherwise, if Krishna’s seated always, maya has no opportunity to occupy the seat.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.6.6, purport:
“One must understand his constitutional position and the constitutional position of the Supreme Lord as well. Both have the same spiritual identity. Maintaining oneself as a servant of the Supreme Lord, one should avoid rebirth in this material world. If one keeps himself spiritually fit and thinks of himself as an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord, he will be successful at the time he has to give up the material body.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name:
“Finished sixteen rounds. The first seven were ‘good,’ but then I suffered from plan-making. Letters I wanted to write came to mind. I tried to make a few notes, brief notes, as the thoughts occurred – ‘Write editor on production of reprints’, ‘Tell M. to give me a haircut’ – then stopped.”
“Someone once asked me, ‘Isn’t japa actually an ideal time to access deeper creative thinking?’ Harer nama should not be used like that. There are plenty of other occasions when the creative muse can visit and fill our minds with Great Plans and Great Worries. Anyway, this morning I made a few token notes on the mind’s demands and tried to return my attention to the holy name. The world won’t end if I don’t remember to look for my lost sock or if my hair doesn’t get cut for another day. Just chant.”
“Harer nama is cintamani (touchstone), but I’m not touching it with attention. So that which I can’t do, I pray for. ‘Please bring me love of God. Please let me serve You and be pleasing to You.’ These prayers are included in the prayer to be faithful.”
Candrasekhara Swami:
Although Krishna easily defeats so many demons, sometimes when playing with His intimate friends, He is defeated.
Janananda Goswami:
People spend their whole lives to adjust their happiness and distress but they actually becoming more distressed by their attempts.
As long as we are pursuing what we like, we will definitely stay in the material world.
“Markine Bhagavata Dharma” is like a mission statement for Srila Prabhupada. Everything is there about becoming Krishna consciousness, depending on mercy of the holy name and his guru’s instructions.
No one in New York City, even those attending his programs at 26 2nd Avenue knew what Srila Prabhupada doing in starting his International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada wanted to leave his body preaching Krishna consciousness.
When I joined, an average day was 8 hours of harinama sankirtana, six and a half days a week. Sunday was a half day because of the Sunday Feast. We would spend the whole week inviting people to the Sunday Feast.
We should not become attached to facility. The facility is meant for our service.
We should be preaching and not depending on the results, not depending on facilities.
The whole idea is to become free from our dependence on material sense gratification and to become dependent on the mercy of Krishna.
On Prabhupada’s disappearance, one of Prabhupada’s godbrothers said, “Bhaktivedanta Swami is the only one who understood our guru’s mission. While others were discussing this or that, he attacked sense gratification and science. He actually did the work.”
Preaching is to get people chanting Hare Krishna, somehow or other.
The early devotees were shocked when Srila Prabhupada proposed that they chant in a public park. They thought it was just for inside.
Prabhupada had Hayagriva Prabhu read from his Srimad-Bhagavatam at the first Washington Square Park harinama.
The “Peace Formula” was derived from what Srila Prabhupada spoke at a United Nations peace vigil.
The incorporation document that was sent to the lawyer included promoting a healthy vegetarian diet, establishing varnasrama, and removing the conception of dividing society by birth.
Alan Ginsberg suggested the devotees go to and chant in Tompkins Square Park.
No one knew anything about Hare Krishna, when they saw the first harinama.
It was about four months I was coming to the temple before people explained the philosophy to me. We emphasized harinama and engagement in service.
Prabhupada brought everyone in.
In London every week, there was one guy who would dump a bucket of urine on the Saturday nightharinama from four floors above. I do not know why we went the same way each week.
Sometimes people say they are too busy solving different problems to go on harinama, but sankirtana,the congregational chanting of the holy name, is the solution to all problems.
In Vondelpark in Amsterdam, Srila Prabhupada said it was worthless to give a lecture to the drugged out hippies. He told the devotees to just do kirtana and prasadam. When he chanted there, Prabhupada chanted “Haribol” because it was easier for them to follow than “Hare Krishna.” That is the only time on record that Srila Prabhupada chanted “Haribol.”
Srila Prabhupada chanted with his pure heart, calling out to Krishna, in a tune everybody could follow.
Do not stop until you drop.
I calculated that in the 1970s every devotee did harinama an average 20% of the time. Now it is more like 0.002%.
Mahavirya Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada:
You had to bring at least one person back to the Sunday Feast, otherwise you weren’t preaching.
You could not sit with another devotee during the Sunday Feast. You had to talk with the new people.
In the beginning, we could not really understand the philosophy. We could understand harinama and book distribution.
One of the reason, I stayed with the Hare Krishna was that every day was an adventure. You never knew what would happen.
Don’t offend the karmis, the devotees, the matajis, the dogs. That will cover your love for Krishna, who is present everywhere.
I have turned down colleges and jobs, but I could not turn down Krishna.
Sadaputa Prabhu:
From “Rational ‘Mythology’” in God and Science:
“But in pure monism, what becomes of love of God, or indeed, love of anyone? If the ultimate reality is pure oneness, and personal existence is illusory, then love is also illusory. Love requires two, and not just two of anything. Two persons are needed for a relationship of love. If such relationships do have spiritual reality, then at least two spiritual persons must eternally exist.”
From “High Technology and the Ground of Being” in God and Science:
“One might object that the human mind acting on its own could not possibly demonstrate the truth of the personal conception of the supreme whole. Therefore, one should adopt a more cautious conception that is abstract and impersonal. The point can be made, however, that any conception of the Absolute generated by the finite mind is as mundane as any other, including both personal and impersonal conceptions. One then may as well forego all metaphysical speculation and restrict one’s attention entirely to the manifest world of interacting material energies.
“But if one does want to introduce ideas about the Absolute derived from revealed knowledge, then the Vedic literatures give concrete indication of how direct realization of this knowledge can be attained. Although the Supreme Lord is inaccessible to the mundane mind, the Lord will reveal Himself to persons who surrender to Him and serve Him with love. This, of course, is also a perennial philosophical conclusion.”
“The theory of creation by sound vibration involves transcendental levels of reality not accessible to the mundane senses, and thus in one way it is more unverifiable than the purely physical Darwinian theory. However, if a purely physical theory turns out to be empirically unverifiable, then there is nothing further one can do to be sure about it. In contrast, a theory that posits a supreme intelligent being opens up the possibility that further knowledge may be gained by internal and external revelation brought about by the will of that being. Of course, the dynamics of obtaining such knowledge are different from those of empirical, experimental science and mathematical analysis. Instead of forcing nature to disclose its secrets, one surrenders to the Supreme Lord in a humble spirit and pursues a path of spiritual discipline and divine service.
“This approach to knowledge and to life also constitutes one of the great perennial philosophies of mankind, but it has tended to be eclipsed in this age of scientific empiricism. To obtain the fruits of this path to knowledge, one must be willing to follow it, and one will be inclined to do this only if one thinks the worldview on which it is based might possibly be true. Establishing this possibility constitutes the ultimate justification for constructing theories, such as the one considered here, linking physics and metaphysics.”
From “Primordial Alphabet Soup” in God and Science:
“Darwinian evolution calls for a self-reproducing system of molecules. Indeed, one of the main tasks of origin-of-life theories is to explain how the first self-reproducing system arose. In living organisms, self-reproduction is a dauntingly complex process involving proteins, deoxyribonucleic-acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). If Darwinian evolution can’t take place until such a complex system is operating, scientists are at a loss to explain how that complex system has come about.”
From “The Universe of the Vedas” in God and Science:
“In the Bhavagatam, the context-sensitive approach was rendered particularly appropriate by the conviction that reality, in the ultimate issue, is avak-manasam, or beyond the reach of the mundane mind or words. This implies that a literal, one-to-one model of reality is unattainable, and so one may as well pack as much meaning as possible into a necessarily incomplete description of the universe. The cosmology of the Bhagavata Purana is a sophisticated system of thought, with multiple layers of meaning, both physical and metaphysical. It combines practical understanding of astronomy with spiritual conceptions to produce a meaningful picture of the universe and reality.”
Shyamananda Prabhu:
The final analysis in Vraja is “Lord Narayana must have saved Krishna or we must have done some pious activities so Krishna is saved.”
Radhanath Swami tells of a yogi who could bend an iron rod against his chest, but after that impressive feat, he was begging for a few paisa for food.
People trained in Vedic culture do not say “in my opinion” because they consider “who am I?”
The Sanskrit “cancalam” (flickering) comes from the word “cala” which means “to move.”
Krishna disagrees with Arjuna’s different proposals until Arjuna says the mind is very restless, and then Krishna agrees.
It is said the five verses comprising Rukmini’s letter to Krishna are verbatim.
When Giriraj Swami joined ISKCON he thought every devotee was a pure devotee. But now after 30 years in ISKCON, I think there are no pure devotees in ISKCON. What is wrong?
Virabhadra Rama Prabhu:
So many very heavy examples are given in the Bhagavatam itself and in Srila Prabhupada’s purports such as the wild animal and paramour who kills the husband to stress that the uncontrolled mind can completely destroy our spiritual life.
Comment by Adi Purusha Prabhu:
To realize that the mind is something other than oneself is the beginning of conquering over it.
Some of the derelicts in the park express some amazing realizations, “I read in the books that the holy name is so powerful it can purify the whole block, maybe even two blocks.”
Bhakta Cesar:
Srila Prabhupada explains in a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavtam 5.6.4 that the varnasrama system is to help us control the mind. He concludes human civilization is meant to develop love of God.
Devotional service is so powerful that it can benefit any class of men to the extent of attaining the highest perfection of love of God.
There is a pastime of Rasikananda, who lived just after the time of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When he was attacked by a mad elephant, he threw a few drops of water on the elephant, and then the elephant began to chant Hare Krishna.
Because Murari Gupta played the role Garuda, the carrier of Lord Vishnu in his previous existence, he presented himself to Lord Caitanya in that way, and Lord Caitanya sportingly climbed on his back and rode him around the courtyard.
Comment by Adi Purusha Prabhu: If someone has offended us, that is their ignorance, but if we take it as an offense, that is our ignorance.
Q (by Brajananda Prabhu): You have been distributing books for a year in New York City. My experience is it is the heaviest place, what is your experience.
A: I was distributing prasadam to one of the chess players at Union Square, and he became really agitated, and said, “What do you think I am? Your dog?” then he uttered so much profanity. Finally he spit in my face. I was thinking how Jagai and Madhai caused Nityananda so much pain yet he tolerated it and was merciful to them. And I actually felt good about my experience.
“Get a job” bothers you for the first month or so.
We are like people panning for gold. They look through so much mud to find a few golden flakes, and we talk to so many people on book distribution, hoping to find a few sincere souls.
Comment by Adi Purusha Prabhu: When we are treated negatively, we should not think it is the person, Krishna is doing something to teach us.
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Although as souls, we can experience an ocean of transcendental bliss by reconnecting with our source, Lord Krishna, we are so attached to the insignificant pleasures of this world, we will never experience it. Verses like the one below are meant to wake us up. We have to be careful what we value:
natah parataro loke pumsahsvārtha-vyatikramahyad-adhy anyasya preyastvamatmanah sva-vyatikramat
“There is no stronger obstruction to one’s self-interest than thinking other subject matters to be more pleasing than one’s self-realization.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.22.32)
Source:http://www.dandavats.com/?p=32862
