The ultimate result of devotional service is to develop genuine love for the Supreme Personality…And love is the only word that can be properly used to indicate the relation between Lord Kṛṣṇa and the living entities.
Loving devotional service to the Lord begins with hearing about the Lord. There is no difference between the Lord and the subject matter heard about Him. Therefore, hearing about Him means immediate contact with Him by the process of vibration of the transcendental sound…
…The conclusion is that simply by hearing the Vedic literature Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one can have direct connection with the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and thereby one can attain the highest perfection of life by transcending worldly miseries, illusion and fearfulness. These are practical tests for one who has actually given a submissive hearing to the readings of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
A yogī is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogī.
And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 1972 Edition
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter Six
Continuing with our series of a True account entitled Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers… A search for meaning carries Bob Cohen, a young American Peace Corps worker halfway around the world, to an ancient village in the midst of West Bengal. There, in a small bamboo hut, he finds a teacher who is able to tell him everything he ever wanted to know.
Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 5
Becoming Pure
February 29, 1972
Bob: Thank you so much for allowing me to ask my questions.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: That is my mission. People should understand the science of God. Unless we cooperate with the Supreme Lord, our life is baffled. I have given the example many times that a screw which has fallen from a machine has no value. But when the same screw is again attached to the machine, it has value. Similarly, we are part and parcel of God. So without God, what is our value? No value! We should again come back to our position of attachment to God. Then we have value.
Bob: I met a fellow today who came in the afternoon. His reason for coming—you may find it humorous—was that he heard the hippies were in Māyāpur.
…Śrī Nārada Muni in his previous life was just an ordinary maidservant’s son, so how he became so perfectly transformed into the spiritual body of eternal life, bliss and knowledge is certainly important. Śrī Vyāsadeva desired him to disclose the facts for everyone’s satisfaction.
Vyāsadeva himself was the disciple of Nāradajī, and therefore it was natural to be anxious to hear what Nārada did after initiation from the spiritual masters. He wanted to follow in Nārada’s footsteps in order to attain to the same perfect stage of life. This desire to inquire from the spiritual master is an essential factor to the progressive path. This process is technically known as sad-dharma-pṛcchā.
The life of a sincere devotee of the Lord is thus explained in a nutshell by Nārada Muni by his personal example. Such a devotee, after his initiation by the Lord or His bona fide representative, takes very seriously chanting of the glories of the Lord and traveling all over the world so that others may also hear the glories of the Lord. Such devotees have no desire for material gain. They are conducted by one single desire: to go back to Godhead. This awaits them in due course on quitting the material body. Because they have the highest aim of life, going back to Godhead, they are never envious of anyone, nor are they proud of being eligible to go back to Godhead. Their only business is to chant and remember the holy name, fame and pastimes of the Lord and, according to personal capacity, to distribute the message for others’ welfare without motive of material gain. (from Purports to 6th chapter)
The following is the Translations from the entire 6th Chapter the First Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam describing Srila Narada Muni’s transformation from a simple and gentle maidservants son to his platform of spiritual perfection and realization.
The following letter arrived in our mail box and because it is a very good question we have attempted to answer it here.
Dear Hare Krishna Movement
I understand that the Hare Krishna mantra should be received through a proper disciplic succession for it to be “active”
My question is, how can this be achieved? Is it sufficient to read about the mantra in books by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? Or is there a need to in person receive the mantra from a authentic disciple? If so, where can information be found on who such disciples are and how to contact them?
Thanks and best regards
Our Reply is as follows:
Dear _____
Thank you for your very important question. If you would take a moment and view the following YouTube… or listen to it while you read the purport given by Srila Prabhupada. By the end of it I assure you, that you will have received the Hare Krishna Mantra through the proper disciplic succession from the proper person who is a pure devotee of Krishna, the representative of Krishna. and is the direct link to the parampara (disciplic succession).
The Hare Krishna Maha Mantra
Purport to the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
Founder and Acharya of the Krishna Consciousness Movement
New York, New York, USA 1966
As explained on the cover of the record album, this transcendental vibration– by chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Hare Hare – is the sublime method for reviving our Krishna consciousness. As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krsna conscious entities, but due to our association with matter since time immemorial, our consciousness is now polluted by material atmosphere. In this polluted concept of life, we are all trying to exploit the resources of material nature, but actually we are becoming more and more entangled in our complexities.
Translation
from the 1974 Edition of “Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas”
Sri Rādhā-Mādhava have their loving pastimes in the groves (kuñja) of Vrndavana. Gopī-jana-vallabha means “one who attracts and reciprocates loving pastimes with the gopis. Giri-vara-dhārī is Krishna’s name in the pastime of lifting Goverdhana Hill. Yaśodā-nandana is the son of Yasoda (“nanda” means son and is also the name of Krishna’s father, so Krishna is also Nanda-nandana). Braja-jana-rañjana means the attractive darling of the inhabitants of Vrndavana. He is always playing in the groves (vana) on the bank (tira) of the Yamuna River, therefore Krishna is also known as Yāmuna-tīra-vana-cārī.
Srila Prabhupada was very fond of this song and sang it just before his lectures. In Allahabad and Gorakhpur Srila Prabhupada fell into a trance after singing the first two lines, and after some time he came back into external consciousness and said, “Now just chant Hare Krsna.” Srila Prabhupada said that this song is “a picture of Vrndavana. Everything is there–Srimati Radharani, Vrndavana, Govardhana, Yasoda, and all the cowherd boys.”
Purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada More
click on above image to buy Srila Prabhupada’s original books
A Short Statement of the Philosophy of the Hare Krishna Movement
The Hare Krishna Movement is a worldwide community of devotees practicing bhakti-yoga, the eternal science of loving service to God. The movement was founded in the western world in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a pure devotee of God representing an unbroken chain of spiritual masters originating with Lord Krsna Himself.
Although the Movement has changed in many ways since the physical departure of Srila Prabhupada, still the principles, and practice has remained the same. And Srila Prabhupada is still the Spiritual Master for the Hare Krishna Movement.
“As long as the Spiritual master is physically present , the disciple should serve the physical body of the Spiritual master, and when the spiritual master is no longer physically existing, the disciple should serve the instructions of the spiritual master.” (Srimad Bhagavatam Purport 4.28.47)
The following eight principles are the basis of the Krsna consciousness movement. More
“When I was alone in your New York, I was thinking, who will listen to me in this horrible, sinful place? All right, I shall stay little longer, at least I can distribute a few of my books, that is something. But Krishna was all along preparing something I could not see, and He brought you to me one by one, sincere American boys and girls, to be trained-up for doing the work of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Now I can see that it is a miracle. Otherwise, your city of New York, one single old man, with only a few books to sell for barely getting eatables, how he can survive, what to speak of introducing God-consciousness movement for saving the humankind? That is Krishna’s miracle. Now I can see it.” (Letter to: Sudama — Bombay 23 December, 1972)
“The Inner Light” is a song written by George Harrison that was first released by The Beatles as a B-side to “Lady Madonna”. It was the first Harrison composition to be featured on a Beatles single. The lyrics are a rendering of the 47th chapter (sometimes titled “Viewing the Distant” in translations) of the Taoist Tao Te Ching. The Beatles’ recording of this song features lead vocals from George Harrison and brief backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul
Even from the material point of view, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s writing is extraordinarily beautiful. But from the spiritual perspective Srila Prabhupada’s translations and purports are like ecstatic transcendental windows to the Spiritual World.
…Kṛṣṇa, at that time, was sitting on an upside-down wooden mortar for grinding spices and was distributing milk preparations such as yogurt and butter to the monkeys as He liked. Because of having stolen, He was looking all around with great anxiety, suspecting that He might be chastised by His mother. Mother Yaśodā, upon seeing Him, very cautiously approached Him from behind.(Bhaktivedanta Translation)
…Mother Yaśodā was able to trace Kṛṣṇa by following His butter-smeared footprints. She saw that Kṛṣṇa was stealing butter, and thus she smiled. (From the Bhaktivedanta Purports)
Śrī Īśopaniṣad The knowledge that brings one nearer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna
The following are all eighteen mantras and the invocation from Śrī Īśopaniṣad from the original first edition, which was first published by ISKCON Books in 1969. For those of you who like to recite and memorize important slokas, we have compiled this list of the mantras along with the Roman transliteration, and English equivalents. You can click on the ‘print icon’ at bottom of post to print out the entire collection, and you can click on link at bottom for a free pdf download of entire book along with original Sanskrit Text and full Purports by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
One Can Keep Direct Company With the Spiritual Master
by Vyasasan das
There is an ongoing debate over the changes to Srila Prabhupada’s books. The current BBTI want you to believe they are only changing the spelling and grammatical errors, and are simply improving the books. But there is much evidence to prove otherwise. For instance in the famous verse from the Caitanya-caritamrta Madhya-Lila 19.157: “The gardener must defend the creeper by fencing it all around so that the powerful elephant of offenses may not enter.” while reading the purport to this verse from the original 1975 Edition, I couldn’t help but appreciate just how clear Srila Prabhupada’s instructions were:
“If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Society, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master.” (from purport to Original 1975 Edition)
While discussing this statement with a friend, he informed me that the BBTI had changed the purport in their re-vised edition. I couldn’t understand why they would change such a clear statement…so I looked it up in the Bhaktivedanta VedaBase…and to my great surprise they did change it!!! So much for the spelling and grammatical errors argument, no they were changing the meaning of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Lets take a look at this example, of how the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanda Swami, are being changed by our so-called leaders and intellectuals. (Note the Bold Letters below is done by me to indicate the changes.)
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (1975 Edition)
If one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Society, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master. However, unless one follows the spiritual master’s instructions and the regulative principles governing chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one cannot become a pure devotee. By one’s mental concoctions, one falls down. By associating with nondevotees, one breaks the regulative principles and is thereby lost.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Bhaktivedanta VedaBase)
Even if one thinks that there are many pseudo devotees or nondevotees in the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness Society, still one should stick to the Society; if one thinks the Society’s members are not pure devotees, one can keep direct company with the spiritual master, and if there is any doubt, one should consult the spiritual master. However, unless one follows the spiritual master’s instructions concerning the regulative principles and chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one cannot become a pure devotee. By one’s mental concoctions, one falls down. By associating with nondevotees, one breaks the regulative principles and is thereby lost.
This is Text 2 in our series on The Nectar of Instruction or the Upadeśāmṛta which was originally given to us by Rūpa Gosvāmī, to guide our activities, as we advance in our Krsna Consciousness. The original Text was translated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada with purports given, so that we may become pure Vaiṣṇavas.
…Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees know very well that this material world is designed by the complete arrangement of the Lord to fulfill all the necessities of life for all living beings, without their having to encroach upon the life or rights of one another. This complete arrangement affords the proper quota of wealth for everyone according to his real needs, and thus everyone may live peacefully according to the principle of plain living and high thinking. Unfortunately, materialists who have neither faith in the plan of God nor any aspiration for higher spiritual development misuse their God-given intelligence only to augment their material possessions. They devise many systems—such as capitalism and materialistic communism—to advance their material position. They are not interested in the laws of God or in a higher goal. Always anxious to fulfill their unlimited desires for sense gratification, they are conspicuous by their ability to exploit their fellow living beings.
Today is a very auspicious day on the Vaisnave Calender, as it marks the end of Kartika, the end of Caturmasya, the Full Moon (Purnima) of the Month of Damodara, the Krsna Rasa-yatra, the Marriage of Tulasi & Salagrama, and the Appearance of Nimbarkacarya.
Just a word about Krsna Rasa-yatra from the Vaisnava Calendar …”The purnima or full moon of Damodara month is the second full moon of the autumn season, and rasa lila is again celebrated. This second rasa yatra is celebrated more in Bengal, whereas the first one is celebrated more in Vrndavana.
On this day one should perform full worship of Radha and Krsna with many flowers, and place them in a rasa mandapa surrounded by the gopis.”
In honor of all the auspiciousness, we are posting a chapter from Srila Prabhupada’s Kṛṣṇa Book entitled “The Rāsa Dance: Introduction”. Hare Krishna!
Marriage of Shalagrama and Tulasi
(Tulasi-Saligram Vivaha)
Written by Sri Padmanabha Gosai
Shri Vasishthaji said that what I have heard in ancient times from Lord Brahma about the marriage of Tulasi I will now describe according to what is written in the Narada-pancaratra. First one should plant Tulasi either in the house or the forest, and after three years one may perform her marriage. The auspicious times when one may perform the marriage of Shalagrama and Tulasi are described as follows. When the sun is moving in the north, Jupiter and Venus are rising, in the month of Kartika, from the Ekadashi to the full moon in the month of Magha, and when constellations that are auspicious for marriage appear, especially the full moon day. – First one should arrange a place for sacrifice (yajna-kunda) under a canopy (mandapa). Then after performing shanti-vidhana, one should install sixteen goddesses, and do the shraddha ceremony for his female maternal ancestors.
…While churning the butter, mother Yaśodā was singing about the childhood activities of Kṛṣṇa. It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that mother Yaśodā did not want to forget Kṛṣṇa’s activities at any time. Therefore she poeticized all of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood activities, such as the killing of Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Śakaṭāsura and Tṛṇāvarta, and while churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remain Kṛṣṇa conscious twenty-four hours a day. This incident shows how Kṛṣṇa conscious mother Yaśodā was. To stay in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should follow such persons. (SB 10.9.1-2)
…The Lord descends to this mortal world to show His pastimes in Vṛndāvana, which are full of happiness. When Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was in Vṛndāvana, His activities with His cowherd boy friends, with His damsel friends, with the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and with the cows were all full of happiness. The total population of Vṛndāvana knew nothing but Kṛṣṇa. But Lord Kṛṣṇa even discouraged His father Nanda Mahārāja from worshiping the demigod Indra because He wanted to establish the fact that people need not worship any demigod. They need only worship the Supreme Lord because their ultimate goal is to return to His abode.
The abode of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter, sixth verse: More
This is the index to the Contents of “The Hare Krishna Explosion” by Hayagriva dasa. We have posted it here almost in its entirety. This index will give you immediate access to the chapters by clicking on the following underlined links.
Also for a free PDF download, you can click on link at bottom of post.
The Hare Krishna Explosion The Birth of Krishna Consciousness in America 1966 – 1969
by Hayagriva dasa
The following 25 verses (slokas) Prayers by Queen Kunti from the Srimad Bhagavatam were often quoted by Srila Prabhupada when giving lectures, and are so important that an entire book was published from the purports to these verses entitled “Teachings of Queen Kunti”. We encourage our readers to download the entire book by following the link at bottom of post for a free pdf file. You can also print these important slokas by clicking on the print icon following the post for easy reference to memorizing these famous slokas.
Srimad Bhagavatam
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Canto One, Chapter 8, Text 18-43
…I loved being a devotee. I would look forward to going to the park or college campus, and putting on a festival. We set up the stage, brought on our musical instruments and chanted, while others arranged the distribution of prasadam and books. After the chanting when we went to mingle with the students or guests gathered there, I would enjoy preaching to new people and answering all sorts of questions like “why do you guys shave your head? And why do you put mud on your foreheads, etc., etc.? But sometimes the preaching was so sweet and people wanted to know who is Krishna? Who is Srila Prabhupada? And my joy knew no bounds. I hardly knew the philosophy myself, but when my desire to preach was unmotivated by false ego, Srila Prabhupada would give me the intelligence. I would be amazed how the words would just flow out of my mouth. By Srila Prabhupada’s great mercy, to one who has taken to this process of sharing with others, he gives the intelligence. I was gaining an understanding of the process of Krishna Consciousness, simply by acting in Krishna Consciousness. It was so sublime. So simple!
Radha Damadara Traveling Sankirtan Party
by Vyasasan das
First let me begin by offering my respectful obesiences to all the vaisnave devotee’s of the Lord, who are so merciful to the fallen conditioned souls that they put themselves in perilous and austere conditions of life voluntarily, in order to help others. And as always, let me offer my most humble obeisances to my beloved spiritual master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, haven taken shelter at his Lotus feet.
The Hare Krishna Movement 