A godbrother of Srila Prabhupada’s remembers their early friendship and their meeting again after many years.
Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor: I didn’t know much about his household affairs, because we met mostly at the matha in the evening. He had a shop. He sold medicines, and he also manufactured them. Once he manufactured a tonic, and he gave it to me.
I said, “That’s nice, this gift of yours. I must accept it. But I wish you would give me the tonic which you yourself take the tonic of Krsna-prema [love of Krsna].”
He said, “I don’t have that tonic. But I have the formula.”
I said, “Oh, wonderful! If it is not a secret, tell me what the formula is.”
He said, “No, it is not a secret at all:
trnad api sunicena
taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih*
This is the formula, and I am going to preach it all over the world.”
*”One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind. One should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In that way one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” (Siksastaka 3)
At that time I couldn’t recognize the significance of his words, but he was going to preach it all over the world. I thought it was just a casual statement. But now I look back, and I can see that he was even then thinking and planning to preach all over the world, which he did.
…By development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness one can know that everything has its use in the service of the Lord.
…After cooking is finished and when it is offered to the Deity, then you take as much as you like, as much as you like. So that means there is God consciousness, that “This thing is being cooked for the Lord.” The cooking will go on. If you don’t think of God, you require cooking because you want to eat. The cooking is there in the program. But if you think that this cooking is done for God, then your God consciousness is there. The cooking you cannot avoid. As a householder you have to cook for yourself, you have to cook for your children, you have to cook for somebody else or for your own self. Just like I am cooking. I have no here family or children, but I am cooking for myself. So cooking you cannot stop. But if you cook with the understanding that “This foodstuff is being cooked for the Lord. The Lord may be offered first; then we shall take,” this is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. But is it very difficult thing? Anyone can accept this.” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Bhagavad-Gita, 04-01-66, New York)
…So on the higher platform, there is nothing material when everything is accepted in relationship with Krishna or the Supreme Spirit.
This begins a new series on the Sri Isopanisad (The knowledge that brings one nearer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna). It begins with the Invocation and is followed by eighteen mantras and purports by Srila Prabhupada. To purchase the book you can visit The Hare Krishna Movement or to download free pdf you can click on link at bottom of post or visit Krishna Path for free downloads and epub’s.
Śrī Īśopaniṣad
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Original text found in first edition published by ISKCON BOOKS in 1969
oṁ—the Complete Whole; pūrṇam—perfectly complete; adaḥ—that; pūrṇam—perfectly complete; idam—this phenomenal world; pūrṇāt—from the all-perfect; pūrṇam—complete unit; udacyate—is produced; pūrṇasya—of the Complete Whole; pūrṇam—completely, all; ādāya—having been taken away; pūrṇam—the complete balance; eva—even; avaśiṣyate—is remaining.
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
PURPORT
The Complete Whole, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is the complete Personality of Godhead. Realization of impersonal Brahman or of Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is incomplete realization of the Absolute Complete. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Realization of impersonal Brahman is realization of His sat feature, or His aspect of eternity, and Paramātmā realization is realization of His sat and cit features, His aspects of eternity and knowledge. But realization of the Personality of Godhead is realization of all the transcendental features-sat, cit and ānanda, bliss. When one realizes the Supreme Person, he realizes these aspects of the Absolute Truth in their completeness. Vigraha means “form.” Thus the Complete Whole is not formless. If He were formless, or if He were less than His creation in any other way, He could not be complete. The Complete Whole must contain everything both within and beyond our experience; otherwise He cannot be complete.
…The gopis are another example of great eagerness to see Krsna. The gopis came to Krsna, being captivated by His beautiful features.
The first thing Krsna is looking for is how eager you are to see Him. Krsna will respond. If you are actually eager to see Krsna …your efforts will be successful. But you must desire Krsna only. In this connection, Rupa Gosvami has written a verse:
The idea is that one gopi is advising another gopi, “My dear friend, there is one boy His name is Govinda. He is standing on the bank of the Yamuna near the Kesi-ghata, and He is playing on His flute. He is so beautiful, especially during this full-moon night. If you have any intention to enjoy in this material world with your children, husband, or other family members, then please do not go there.” Bhangi-traya: Krsna always stands in a three-curved way with His flute. That is Krsna’s tri-bhanga form, bending in three places. So the one gopi says to the other, “If you think that you’ll enjoy your life more in this material world, then do not go to see Krsna. Do not go there.” The idea is that if you once see Krsna, then you’ll forget all this nonsensical materialistic enjoyment. That is seeing Krsna.
Pure devotee means he has no other desire, no material desire. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam, zero.
…And if it is mixed up, anyābhi…, with material desire or spiritual emancipation or fruitive activities, then it is not pure devotee.
So if you can approach such pure devotee… As it is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. This is ātma-bhaktau, a pure devotee. He can deliver you Kṛṣṇa. “Take Kṛṣṇa. Here is Kṛṣṇa.” Kṛṣṇa-prema… That is…
The symbolic representation is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He’s described by Rūpa Gosvāmī:
namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ [Madhya 19.53]
When Rūpa Gosvāmī… He was minister in the government of Nawab Hussain Shah. At that time, very exalted personality. He could understand Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission. Therefore when he first met Him at Allahabad, Prayāga, he offered his respect with these words: namo mahā-vadānyāya, the most munificent incarnation. Why? Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te. “You are distributing kṛṣṇa-prema. It is very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa, but You are so kind that You are immediately delivering love of Kṛṣṇa.”
You can know one person. But to develop love for him, that is another transaction. So people cannot understand even Kṛṣṇa, and what is the saying of Kṛṣṇa’s love? But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind that He’s immediately giving kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is described as the most munificent incarnation. Kṛṣṇa Himself could not deliver Himself. He wanted. “First of all you surrender.” Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66] But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind. Simply through this chanting and dancing, He is distributing love of Kṛṣṇa.
You can see practically. These boys from European and American countries, means all over the world, why they are chanting and dancing in this way? Do you think they have become mad? And one says, “Yes, they have become mad.” Why? For love of Kṛṣṇa. Now they have began they have become lover of Kṛṣṇa. So kṛṣṇa-prema is like that. That is through the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the symbolic representation of devotee. Bhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ namāmi bhakta-śaktikam. Namāmi bhakta-śaktikam. He can give the strength to the devotee so that he can develop his dormant love of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. If one is pure devotee, for him, Kṛṣṇa is available very easy. He says in the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg. 18.55] “One can understand Me in truth…” Yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ. “Which is very, very difficult.”
Either of these process. All the process or either of these. You become successful to develop your dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then your life becomes successful. Thank you very much. (end)
…This Fifth Chapter is a practical explanation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, generally known as karma-yoga. The question of mental speculation as to how karma-yoga can give liberation is answered herewith. To work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to work with the complete knowledge of the Lord as the predominator. Such work is not different from transcendental knowledge. Direct Kṛṣṇa consciousness is bhakti-yoga, and jñāna-yoga is a path leading to bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to work in full knowledge of one’s relationship with the Supreme Absolute, and the perfection of this consciousness is full knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and parcel. He comes into contact with māyā (illusion) due to the desire to lord it over māyā, and that is the cause of his many sufferings. As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms of material necessities. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual existence by practice in the material world. The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the clutches of matter. The Lord is not partial toward anyone. Everything depends on one’s practical performance of duties in an effort to control the senses and conquer the influence of desire and anger. And, attaining Kṛṣṇa consciousness by controlling the above-mentioned passions, one remains factually in the transcendental stage, or brahman-nirvāṇa. The eightfold yoga mysticism is automatically practiced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness because the ultimate purpose is served. There is gradual process of elevation in the practice of yama, niyama, āsana, pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, prāṇāyāma, and samādhi. But these only preface perfection by devotional service, which alone can award peace to the human being. It is the highest perfection of life.
…Devotional service means transcendental activities.
Devotional service is not a matter of sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. Its substance is practical activity.
The execution of devotional service is not a matter of idle meditation but practical action in the foreground of spiritual life.
“In the course of traversing the universal creation of Brahmā, some fortunate soul may receive the seed of bhakti-latā, the creeper of devotional service. This is all by the grace of guru and Kṛṣṇa.” (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 19.151)
If by fortune one takes advantage of this opportunity to engage in devotional service, the path of liberation immediately opens.
One should accept this opportunity to return home, back to Godhead, very enthusiastically.
The Nectar of Instruction
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Kevin Lahart of Newsday interviews His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Mr. Lahart: I wonder if you could tell me how you came to found the Krsna consciousness movement here in the United States?
Srila Prabhupada: I was ordered by my spiritual master to do this work, so on his order I came to the U.S. I came alone, with no help or money. Somehow or other I stayed.
Mr. Lahart: How did you attract followers? You landed in New York and
Srila Prabhupada: My attraction was this chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra. That’s all. I had no magic. Others had some sort of magic. I never showed any magic. At Tompkins Square Park I was chanting, and gradually some boys came. First a picture was published by the New York Times. Then we started a branch in San Francisco, later Montreal, Boston, then Los Angeles.
Mr. Lahart: You just chanted at Tompkins Square Park, and people came.
Srila Prabhupada: Yes, I chanted under a tree. (I think that a picture was also published in the East Village Other in a very big article.) Naturally, some boys came and joined me and began to dance. That was the beginning.
During the Purusottama Month, it is always good to read and chant more. It is also important is to remember the wonderful pastimes of the Lord.
…After the demon was thrown into the trees, all the friends and associates of Dhenukāsura immediately assembled and attacked Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa with great force. They were determined to retaliate and avenge the death of their friend. But Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma began to catch each of the asses by the hind legs and, exactly in the same way, wheeled them around. Thus They killed all of them by throwing them into the palm trees. Because of the dead bodies of the asses, there was a panoramic scene. It appeared as if clouds of various colors were assembled in the trees. Hearing of this great incident, the demigods from the higher planets began to shower flowers on Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and began to beat their drums and offer devotional prayers.
The 40th Anniversary Reunion Weekend at Toronto’s Hare Krishna Center “Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha Mandir” was held from Aug. 31-Sept. 2. It was great fun, and in addition to the many activities such as the Slideshow, Remembrances, Kirtans, Lunch Banquet and Dinners, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Celebrating Sri Sri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha, there was the amazing Historic Double Decker Bus Tour of Toronto. The Sankirtan was amplified from speakers on both bus’s, and was enjoyed by all!
Śrī Śrī Śikṣāṣṭaka
Eight Instructions
Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed His disciples to write books on the science of Kṛṣṇa, a task which His followers have continued to carry out down to the present day. The elaborations and expositions on the philosophy taught by Lord Caitanya are, in fact, the most voluminous, exacting, and consistent, due to the system of disciplic succession. Although Lord Caitanya was widely renowned as a scholar in His youth, He left only eight verses, called Śikṣāṣṭaka. These eight verses clearly reveal His mission and precepts. These supremely valuable prayers are translated herein.
This begins a new series of a True account. 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. To download the entire book you may click the link at bottom for entire book on pdf, or you can visit Krishna Path .org to download in epub format.
Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
Conversations between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
and Bob Cohen a Peace Corp worker in India
Introduction
God, spiritual life—those were such vague terms to me before I met Śrīla Prabhupāda. I have always been interested in religion, but before I met the Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees, somehow I did not have the proper perspective needed to inquire fruitfully about spiritual life. The existence of a Creator is only common sense—but who is God? Who am I? I had been to Hebrew School and had studied Oriental philosophy, but I could never get satisfying answers to my questions.
I first heard the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in Greenwich Village, New York, in late 1968.
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare
The chanting was captivating, and it made me feel very comfortable. The mantra stuck in my mind, and I soon regretted that I had not taken a magazine from the devotees. As explained to me later, a transcendental seed had been planted that could eventually ripen into love of Godhead.
…Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the great necessity of human society. Learn it and appreciate it, comprehend it and assimilate it—and teach it. It is very simple. If you offenselessly chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, everything will be revealed from within because Kṛṣṇa is sitting within you. If you are strong and have faith and conviction in Kṛṣṇa, as well as in the spiritual master, the transparent via medium to Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is there. The Vedas say that if you have implicit faith in God and implicit faith in your bona fide guru, who teaches you Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the result will be that all the Vedic scriptures will be revealed authoritatively.(Srila Prabhupada)
On the island of Godrum in Nabadwip dham, the magnanimous Lord Nityananda has opened up the marketplace of the Holy Name, meant for the deliverance of all fallen souls. By Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, performed by Agnideva das.
During the Purusottama Month, it is important to Hear and Chant more. With this in mind we are posting the 14th Chapter of Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, with Lord Brahma praising the Glories of Krishna (Purusottama) The Supreme Personality.
“My dear Lord, there are many instances in the history of human society where a person, after failing to achieve the transcendental platform, engaged himself in devotional service with his body, mind and words and thus attained the highest perfectional state of entering into Your abode. The processes of understanding You by speculation or mystic meditation are all useless without devotional service. One should therefore engage himself in Your devotional service even in his worldly activities, and one should always keep himself near You by the process of hearing and chanting Your transcendental glories. Simply by being attached to hearing and chanting Your glories, one can attain the highest perfectional stage and enter into Your kingdom. If a person, therefore, always keeps in touch with You by hearing and chanting Your glories and offers the results of his work for Your satisfaction only, he very easily and happily attains entrance into Your supreme abode. You are realizable by persons who have cleansed their hearts of all contamination. This cleansing of the heart is made possible by chanting and hearing the glories of Your Lordship.”
“In the Upaniṣads it is stated that the Supreme Brahman is as effulgent as the sun and is the origin of everything, and anyone who can understand that original person becomes liberated from the material conditional life. Anyone who can simply be attached to You by devotional service can know Your actual position, Your birth, appearance, disappearance and activities. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, simply by understanding Your constitutional position, appearance and disappearance, one can be immediately elevated to the spiritual kingdom after quitting this present body. Therefore to cross over the ocean of material nescience, an intelligent person takes shelter of Your lotus feet and is easily transferred to the spiritual world.”
A conversation in 1975 between
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,
and Mike Robinson, a reporter for the London Broadcasting Company.
Mike Robinson: Can you tell me what you believe—what the philosophy of the Hare Krsna movement is?
Srila Prabhupada: Yes. Krsna consciousness is not a question of belief; it is a science. The first step is to know the difference between a living body and a dead body. What is the difference? The difference is that when someone dies, the spirit soul, or the living force, leaves the body. And therefore the body is called “dead.” So, there are two things: one, this body; and the other, the living force within the body. We speak of the living force within the body. That is the difference between the science of Krsna consciousness, which is spiritual, and ordinary, material science. As such, in the beginning it is very, very difficult for an ordinary man to appreciate our movement. One must first understand that he is a soul, or something other than his body.
Mike Robinson: And when will we understand that?
Srila Prabhupada: You can understand at any moment, but it requires a little intelligence. For example, as a child grows, he becomes a boy, the boy becomes a young man, the young man becomes an adult, and the adult becomes an old man. Throughout all this time, although his body is changing from a child to an old man, he still feels himself to be the same person, with the same identity. Just see: the body is changing, but the occupier of the body, the soul, is remaining the same. So we should logically conclude that when our present body dies, we get another body. This is called transmigration of the soul.
The Fourth Chapter of the Eight Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam describes the previous birth of Gajendra and the crocodile. It tells how the crocodile became a Gandharva and how Gajendra became an associate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
…in his birth as an elephant, when he was dangerously attacked by the crocodile, he remembered his past life in devotional service and remembered a prayer he had learned in that life. Because of this prayer, he again received the mercy of the Lord.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī ends this chapter by describing the good fortune of the elephant. Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that by hearing the narration of Gajendra’s deliverance, one can also get the opportunity to be delivered.
“One who seeks Your compassion and thus tolerates all kinds of adverse conditions due to the karma of his past deeds, who engages always in Your devotional service with his mind, words and body, and who always offers obeisances unto You, is certainly a bona fide candidate for liberation.”
A devotee who tolerates everything in this material world and patiently executes his devotional service can become mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk, a bona fide candidate for liberation. The word dāya-bhāk refers to a hereditary right to the Lord’s mercy. A devotee must simply engage in devotional service, not caring about material situations. Then he automatically becomes a rightful candidate for promotion to Vaikuṇṭhaloka. The devotee who renders unalloyed service to the Lord gets the right to be promoted to Vaikuṇṭhaloka, just as a son inherits the property of his father.
“That is the way of Krishna consciousness. Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought of Krishna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krishna. The smile of such a Krishna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers.” (from purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.22.21)
“Four kinds of pious men surrender to Krishna, and four kinds of impious men do not”
click on image to enlarge
…It is said in Bhagavad-gītā that simply by surrendering oneself unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality Kṛṣṇa, one can surmount the stringent laws of material nature. At this point a question arises: How is it that educated philosophers, scientists, businessmen, administrators and all the leaders of ordinary men do not surrender to the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the all-powerful Personality of Godhead? Mukti, or liberation from the laws of material nature, is sought by the leaders of mankind in different ways and with great plans and perseverance for a great many years and births. But if that liberation is possible by simply surrendering unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then why don’t these intelligent and hard-working leaders adopt this simple method?
Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.
O best among the Bhāratas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge in union with Me through pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me.
The Hare Krishna Movement 