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Making Krishna the Center

By His Holiness Prahladananda Swami

yare deka, tare kaha krsna upadesa 
amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa

— Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 7.128

Lord Caitanya said: “Whomever you meet, tell them about Krishna”. In the
Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna stated:

mac citta mad gata prana 
bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas ca mam nityam
tusyanti ca ramanti ca

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another about Me.
— Bhagavad-gita, 10.9


The aim of our Krishna consciousness movement is to convince people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is a person who is complete in all opulences, and when you offer service to Him with love and enthusiasm, you can attain the highest perfection of life. This is to become conscious of Him. Everyone has this opportunity, especially the humans. In this age, just by hearing about Krishna, we can understand our relationship with Him, and become free from the misidentification with the material body and mind. All this requires is that we hear from a bonafide source and chant. 

Congregational development gives people the opportunity to come together, and hear and chant about Krishna. Gradually, they understand there relationship with Krishna. By practically performing their day to day activities, in that relationship, they will receive Krishna’s mercy. They will know that they are the eternal servants of Krishna. People associate according to their understanding of what the goal of life is. Unfortunately, the mass of people think that the goal of life is economic development for the purpose of sense gratification. They need association with people who know how material nature works, so they can regulate their activities of economic development and sense gratification. This will help their progression towards liberation. People may not be engaged in Krishna’s service directly, in terms of preaching, but if they have the opportunity to associate, they will encourage each other. They will make progress in the grihastha ashram, and greatly affect their family structure and maintenance. This will encourage them to make progress in devotional service by making Krishna the center of their lives. Although deity worship is essential, in this age, it is more essential to hear and chant about Krishna. Everyone will be inspired to serve Krishna, in the home or the temple. 

In Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad-gita, Prabhupada defined detachment in a purport. In the morning and evening, the family should hear Srimad- Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, chant Hare Krishna, perform deity worship and offer food to Them. In the material world, there is no absolute happiness and freedom from distress. If the family is centered on Krishna, the family will most likely stay together.

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