Fathers Day

Here in the West people are celebrating Fathers day. So today we honor our our Father with some quotes on Father.

…To accept Kṛṣṇa as father means “My father is there. I have no anxiety.” (Morning Walk — April 26, 1976, Melbourne)

…I am your Spiritual Father, and Krishna is your Spiritual Husband. A girl can never forget either her father or her husband.
(Letter to Jadurani — Stinson Beach, Calif 8 July, 1967)

…The Lord is very kind to the living entities because they are His sons. Lord Kṛṣṇa declares in Bhagavad-gītā, “sarva-yoniṣu…ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā.” “I am the father of all.”

You are the father of this complete cosmic manifestation, the worshipable chief, the spiritual master. No one is equal to You, nor can anyone be one with You. Within the three worlds, You are immeasurable.

You are the Supreme Lord, to be worshiped by every living being. Thus I fall down to offer You my respects and ask Your mercy. Please tolerate the wrongs that I may have done to You and bear with me as a father with his son, or a friend with his friend, or a lover with his beloved. (Bg 11. 43-44)

from Bhagavad-gita

…Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is genuine, historically authorized, natural and transcendental due to its being based on Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. It is gradually becoming the most popular movement in the entire world, especially amongst the younger generation. It is becoming more and more interesting to the older generation also. Older gentlemen are becoming interested, so much so that the fathers and grandfathers of my disciples are encouraging us by becoming life members of our great society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In Los Angeles many fathers and mothers used to come to see me to express their feelings of gratitude for my leading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement throughout the entire world. Some of them said that it is greatly fortunate for the Americans that I have started the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in America. But actually the original father of this movement is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, since it was started a very long time ago but is coming down to human society by disciplic succession. If I have any credit in this connection, it does not belong to me personally, but it is due to my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya 108 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda.

…The Supreme Lord and His transcendental abode are both sanātana, as are the living entities, and the combined association of the Supreme Lord and the living entities in the sanātana abode is the perfection of human life. The Lord is very kind to the living entities because they are His sons. Lord Kṛṣṇa declares in Bhagavad-gītā, “sarva-yoniṣu…ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā.” “I am the father of all.” Of course there are all types of living entities according to their various karmas, but here the Lord claims that He is the father of all of them. Therefore the Lord descends to reclaim all of these fallen, conditioned souls to call them back to the sanātana eternal sky so that the sanātana living entities may regain their eternal sanātana positions in eternal association with the Lord. The Lord comes Himself in different incarnations, or He sends His confidential servants as sons or His associates or ācāryas to reclaim the conditioned souls. (from Introduction to the Bhagavad-gita As It Is 1972 Edition by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

pitāsi lokasya carācarasya
tvam asya pūjyaś ca gurur garīyān
na tvat-samo ‘sty abhyadhikaḥ kuto ‘nyo
loka-traye ‘py apratima-prabhāva

pitā—father; asi—You are; lokasya—of all the world; cara—moving; acarasya—nonmoving; tvam—You are; asya—of this; pūjyaḥ—worshipable; ca—also; guruḥ—master; garīyān—glorious; na—never; tvat-samaḥ—equal to You; asti—there is; abhyadhikaḥ—greater; kutaḥ—how is it possible; anyaḥ—other; loka-traye—in three planetary systems; api—also; apratima—immeasurable; prabhāva—power.

TRANSLATION

PURPORT

The Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshipable as a father is worshipable for his son. He is the spiritual master because He originally gave the Vedic instructions to Brahmā, and presently He is also instructing Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna; therefore He is the original spiritual master, and any bona fide spiritual master at the present moment must be a descendant in the line of disciplic succession stemming from Kṛṣṇa. Without being a representative of Kṛṣṇa, one cannot become a teacher or spiritual master of transcendental subject matter.
The Lord is being paid obeisances in all respects. He is of immeasurable greatness. No one can be greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, because no one is equal to or higher than Kṛṣṇa within any manifestation, spiritual or material. Everyone is below Him. No one can excel Him.

The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa has senses and a body like the ordinary man, but for Him there is no difference between His senses, body, mind and Himself. Foolish persons who do not know Him perfectly say that Kṛṣṇa is different from His soul, mind, heart and everything else. Kṛṣṇa is absolute; therefore His activities and potencies are supreme. It is also stated that He does not have senses like ours. He can perform all sensual activities; therefore His senses are neither imperfect nor limited. No one can be greater than Him, no one can be equal to Him, and everyone is lower than Him.

Whoever knows His transcendental body, activities and perfection, after quitting his body, returns to Him and doesn’t come back again to this miserable world. Therefore one should know that Kṛṣṇa’s activities are different from others. The best policy is to follow the principles of Kṛṣṇa; that will make one perfect. It is also stated that there is no one who is master of Kṛṣṇa; everyone is His servant. Only Kṛṣṇa is God, and everyone is servant. Everyone is complying with His order. There is no one who can deny His order. Everyone is acting according to His direction, being under His superintendence. As stated in the Brahmā-saṁhitā, He is the cause of all causes.

tasmāt praṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ
prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ
priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum

tasmāt—therefore; praṇamya—after offering obeisances; praṇidhāya—laying down; kāyam—body; prasādaye—to beg mercy; tvām—unto you; aham—I; īśam—unto the Supreme Lord; īḍyam—who is worshipable; pitā iva—like a father; putrasya—of a son; sakhā iva—like a friend; sakhyuḥ—of a friend; priyaḥ—lover; priyāyāḥ—of the dearmost; arhasi—You should; deva—my Lord; soḍhum—tolerate.

TRANSLATION

PURPORT

Kṛṣṇa’s devotees relate to Kṛṣṇa in various relationships; one might treat Kṛṣṇa as a son, one might treat Kṛṣṇa as a husband, as a friend, as a master, etc. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are related in friendship. As the father tolerates, or the husband or master tolerates, so Kṛṣṇa tolerates.

from Correspondence

…You have asked me how many hours you should work. Our life is dedicated to Krishna, and you should work for Him 24 hours. We have different varieties of service. For you, you should work on painting as long as you think yourself fit; don’t overwork. Balance time should be spent for chanting and reading S.B. So far remembering me and Krishna, it should be simultaneous. I am your Spiritual Father, and Krishna is your Spiritual Husband. A girl can never forget either her father or her husband. In the Sastras it is said that Spiritual advance of life is achieved thru the combined mercy of the Spiritual Master and Krishna. Those who are sincere souls, Krishna helps them to have a bona fide Spiritual Master, and the bona fide Spiritual Master helps the disciple to approach Krishna. This is the process. I know you are a sincere devotee of Krishna and He will give you proper intelligence how to prosecute your present activities. I can simply pray to Krishna that He may bless you with all energy for serving Him. I am very much appreciative of your work, which you are doing for the society, and I wish you may continue to do like that. (Letter to Jadurani — Stinson Beach, Calif 8 July, 1967)

…I received your letter of Nov. 7, 1968, and I prayed to Krishna that He may put His merciful glance upon you. So by Krishna’s Grace, I learned from Tamala Krishna that your father has already given you a nice apartment. So it is a sort of tug-of-war between your material father and spiritual father. And you are the rope in between. So in the first test I think I have come out successful. But this is a sporting. I have already told you that your father and mother are very good souls. They might be under the illusion of maya but still I must say that they are good souls, otherwise they could not have produced such nice children like Brahmananda and Gargamuni. We are trying to educate our disciples to produce Krishna Conscious children, but your father and mother, without being Krishna Conscious, have produced such nice Krishna Conscious boys, so I am very much obliged to them. The facilities which your father is giving you is going to his credit in Krishna Consciousness. The more he gives you facility, the more his balance in Krishna Consciousness. He does not know how his Krishna Consciousness balance is increasing, but one day will come when you will see that actually your father is a good soul. So you try to win the love and affection of your father some way or other. You are very intelligent boy and Krishna will also give you extra intelligence how to deal with your father. But you must treat your father as respectful as myself; even if you are sometimes ill-treated, you should tolerate. (Letter to Gargamuni — Los Angeles 22 November, 1968)

…You have learned this philosophy for so many years, so try to execute it to your best capacity. So far as I am concerned, I have accepted you as my disciple and you have accepted me as your spiritual father. This relationship cannot be ended anymore. It is eternal. So it will be my duty always to pray to Krishna for your further and further improvement in Krishna Consciousness, so you should go on serving this movement to your best capacity. (Letter to Rayarama Los Angeles 9 July, 1969)