Question: How Many Persons are Benefitted from Book Distribution?…………
Prabhupada: Whoever gets a book is benefitted. If he reads the book he is benefitted still more, or if he gives the book to someone else for reading, both he and the other person is benefitted. Even if one does not read the book but simply holds if and sees it, he is benefitted. If he simply gives small donation towards the work of Krsna consciousness he is benefitted. And anyone who distributes these transcendental literatures, he is also benefitted. ( Letter to: German Disciples — Bombay May 6, 1977)
Thank you to whoever posted this on Facebook. I didn’t catch the name of person posting this, but this is real good!
THE BHAGAVAD GITA IN TEN POINTS On July 13, 1947 Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter to Raja Mohendra Pratap and explained the Bhagavad-gita to him in ten points. The following is Srila Prabhupada’s summary of ten conclusions in the Bhagavad-gita.
1) God is one and everything is in Him and He is in everything.
2) To render transcendental service unto God is to serve everything that be, just like to water the root of the tree is to water the different branches and numerous leaves of the tree or to supply food to the stomach is to vitalize all the senses and the sense organs of the body.
3) The parts are automatically served when the Whole is served but when the parts are served the whole may not be served or not served at all.
4) The parts and the Whole being eternally related, it is the eternal duty of the parts to render service unto the Whole.
5) A recipient of the services of the parts, God’s sat-cit-ananda vigraha, i.e., the all-attractive Cognizant and all-blissful Personality eternal. He can reveal Himself by His own potency without any help of the external potency called maya in order to be cognizable by the limited potency of the parts and as such He is not only the greatest of all but he is the smallest of all. That is His prerogative.
6) He is better realized when He by His causeless mercy agrees to descend in this mortal world but He is never realized by the partial speculations of the empiric philosophers, however systematic and long-termed it may be.
7) Sri Krishna is the Personality of Godhead and is the Summum Bonum Cause of all Causes proved by fact and figures in the statement of Bhagavad-gita, but He reserves the right of not being exposed to the sensual speculations of the empiric philosophers.
One should therefore surrender unto Him if one wants to know Him as He is and that is the real process to approach the Infinite by the infinitesimals.
9) Sri Krishna is easily available by the religion of love, i.e., by love and service as conceived by the damsels of Vraja who had practically no education whatsoever and much less any claim for high class birthright.
10) The highest service that can be rendered to the mankind is, therefore, to preach the philosophy and religion of Bhagavad-gita for all the times, all the places and all the people.
Happy New Year to all are readers. Wishing you all a prosperous new year filled with happiness and love. And may your Krishna Consciousness increase with each passing day.
When I think of New Years, I am reminded of what a short time a year is in the greater scheme of eternity. In the Bhagavad-gita there is a brief description of the duration of time in the material universe.
…The duration of the material universe is limited. It is manifested in cycles of kalpas. A kalpa is a day of Brahmā, and one day of Brahmā consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas or ages: Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali. The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years. In the Tretā-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years. In the Dvāpara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years. And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have now been experiencing over the past 5,000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years. (from purport Bg 8.17)
Even if I could grasp the extent of time in the material universe, that is just a fraction of the unlimited eternal time that continues after the termination of the yuga.
…Then the process is set rolling again. These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahmā, the creator god, and the same number comprise one night. Brahmā lives one hundred of such “years” and then dies. These “hundred years” by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 million earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahmā seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. In the causal ocean there are innumerable Brahmās rising and disappearing like bubbles in the Atlantic. Brahmā and his creation are all part of the material universe, and therefore they are in constant flux. (from purport Bg 8.17)
The above calculations Srila Prabhupada uses and I quote;
…seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash.
Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives
Its interesting to note that this lecture also became the Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is
Prabhupāda:
om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah
sri-caitanya-mano-‘bhistam sthapitum yena bhtu-tale svayam rupah kada mahyam dadati sva-padantikam
vande ‘ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams’ ca sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa jivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams’ ca
he krsna karuna-sindho dina-bandho jagat-pate gopesa gopika kanta radha-kanta namo ‘stu te
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare Hare
Bhagavad-gītā is known also Gītopaniṣad, the essence of Vedic knowledge, and one of the most important of the various Upaniṣads in Vedic literature. This Bhagavad-gītā, there are many commentations in English, and what is the necessity of another English commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā can be explained in the following way. One . . .
(break) One American lady, Mrs. Charlotte Leblanc, asked me to recommend an English edition of Bhagavad-gītā which she can read.
Of course, in America there are so many editions of English Bhagavad-gītā, but so far I have seen them, not only in America but also India, none of them can be said strictly as authoritative, because almost every one of them have expressed their own opinion through the commentation of the Bhagavad-gītā without touching the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is.
The spirit of Bhagavad-gītā is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā itself. It is just like this—if we want to take a particular medicine, then we have to follow the particular direction mentioned on the label of the medicine. We cannot take the particular medicine according to our own direction or by the direction of a friend, but we have to take the medicine under the direction given on the label of the bottle and as directed by the physician. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also should be taken or accepted as it is directed by the speaker Himself.
…”I have read one book, Lord Jesus Christ, when he was a young boy he was very much shocked when he saw that animal-killing is going on in the synagogue. Therefore he differentiated from the Jews and he started his own religion, Christian religion. Is it not a fact? Am I right? Why… He was also a Jew. Why he deviated? Why he deviated from the Jews? Because when he saw in his young age that animals are being killed in the synagogue, he differed, “No, no, this is horrible. This should be stopped.” Therefore, his first commandment is “Thou shall not kill.” (Exodus 20:13) Am I wrong or right? Eh? That was his first impression, that people should stop killing. So who is Christian? Everyone is violating this first commandment, what to speak of other commandments. Everyone. So it is very difficult to find a real Christian. But if you violate the commandments of Christ, then what kind of Christian you are? This is our question. Who will answer this?” (Lecture by His Grace Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.16.21 Hawaii January 17 1974)
Here is another word for your vaisnava vocabulary; Acaryopasanam.
In Bhagavad-gita, Thirteenth Chapter, it is clearly stated that one should execute devotional service and advance on the path of spiritual knowledge by accepting the acarya.Ācāryopāsanam: one should worship an acarya, a spiritual master who knows things as they are. The spiritual master must be in the disciplic succession from Krsna. (from purport SB 3.29.17)
We can understand from Srila Prabhupada, that there are huge gaps in the disciplic succession, but we need to follow the prominent Acarya.
“So these gaps do not hamper from understanding the parampara system. We have to pick up the Prominent Acarya, and follow from him.” (letter to Dayananda April12,1968)
Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than the combined form of Sri Radha and Krsna.
This morning I happened to open the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Vol.1, and just began reading from the Preface. Every time I read from Srila Prabhupada’s books, something important is revealed, or something important is remembered.This morning I was reminded of the six guidelines for the process of surrender.
A pure devotee is a soul who is forever surrendered to the Lord, just as a child is surrendered to his parents or an animal to its master. In the surrendering process, one should: (1) accept things favorable for discharging devotional service, (2) reject things unfavorable, (3) believe firmly in the Lord’s protection, (4) feel exclusively dependent on the mercy of the Lord, (5) have no interest separate from the interest of the Lord, and (6) always feel oneself meek and humble.
Although Srila Prabhupada wrote many books, he one day asked me, “So why did I write all these books?” I said, “So we can know the philosophy, learn the philosophy.” He said, “No, the purpose of all these books is to convince you to chant the holy name of Krishna.”
Chanting is exactly like the simple method of inhaling and exhaling. Although it seems like a very simple act, it is nevertheless the essence of the whole thing. Without that inhaling and exhaling, none of the other activities can take place. We also understand that no one simply inhales and exhales, but all the other activities are supportive of the inhaling and exhaling.
”One cleanses himself daily by taking a bath in water, but one who takes his bath only once in the sacred Ganges water of the Bhagavad-gita cleanses away all the dirt of material life. Because Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other Vedic literature. One need only attentively and regularly hear and read Bhagavad-gita.
In the present age, mankind is so absorbed with mundane activities that it is not possible to read all of the Vedic literatures. But this is not necessary. This one book, Bhagavad-gita, will suffice because it is the essence of all Vedic literatures and because it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
It is said that one who drinks the water of the Ganges certainly gets salvation, but what to speak of one who drinks the waters of Bhagavad-gita? Gita is the very nectar of the Mahabharata spoken by Visnu Himself, for Lord Krsna is the original Visnu. It is nectar emanating from the mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Ganges is said to be emanating from the lotus feet of the Lord. Of course there is no difference between the mouth and the feet of the Supreme Lord, but in our position we can appreciate that the Bhagavad-gita is even more important than the Ganges.
The Bhagavad-gita is just like a cow, and Lord Krsna, who is a cowherd boy, is milking this cow. The milk is the essence of the Vedas, and Arjuna is just like a calf. The wise men, the great sages and pure devotees, are to drink the nectarean milk of Bhagavad-gita.
In this present day, man is very eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation. So let there be one common scripture for the whole world–Bhagavad-gita. And let there be one God only for the whole world–Sri Krsna. And one mantra only–Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. And let there be one work only–the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Bhagavad-gītā Introduction)
Please accept my humble obeisances, and kindly forgive my offences.
I offer my most humble and heartfelt obeisance’s on this most auspicious day of your disappearance. As Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has reminded us:
He reasons ill who says that Vaiṣṇavas die, When thou art living still in sound! The Vaiṣṇavas die to live, and living try To spread the holy name around.
For me there is no difference between your appearance day and your disappearance day, for you are very much alive, in the hearts of you disciples. You live on, in your words and instructions.
Recently we visited Buttler PA, where you first preached the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and we witnessed your humble introduction to America.
Thank you for coming to this world to save us in spite of the tremendous difficulties and obstacles which you had to face alone, depending solely on the mercy of the Supreme Lord Krishna and your eternal spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
Thank you for coming to America, and bringing with you so many matchless gifts. Not only did you bring the message of Krishna and Lord Caitanya, but you brought with you music and art, Vedic medicine, the science of cooking vegetarian food, and the keys to a healthy and productive life, in the service of God. I may never have learned who is God, had you not appeared on our shores.
Although I am an unworthy disciple, full of faults, I approach you with the greatest appreciation, and utmost respect, for you are the greatest spiritual ambassador to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
I don’t have the words to properly glorify you, so instead, in closing, I want to quote from you, in your closing address to your Spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, given in homage in 1936:
Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I am confident that some day or other I shall be delivered from this mire of delusion in which I am at present so deeply sunk. Therefore let me with all my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am nothing but a tiny servant of the Almighty Absolute Godhead, realized through the unflinching mercy of my divine master. Let me therefore bow down at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command. -Abhay Charan Das 1936
When we were in India for the 50th Anniversary of the Krishna Balarama Mandir, I saw this beautiful painting of Krishna, Balarama and Mother Yasoda. I know it is not the best image…as the glass was reflecting the sunlight…but there was something about this painting that captured my imagination and just pulled me into the pastime.
“O Lord, although You are able to give all kinds of benedictions, I do not pray to You for liberation, nor eternal life in Vaikuntha, nor any other boon. My only prayer is that Your childhood pastimes may constantly appear in my mind. O Lord, I do not even want to know Your feature of Paramatma. I simply wish that Your childhood pastimes may ever be enacted in my heart.” (verse 4 from the Sri Damodarastaka)
All the gopī friends of Yaśodā and Rohiṇī enjoyed the naughty childish activities of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma in Vṛndāvana. In order to enjoy further transcendental bliss, they all assembled and went to mother Yaśodā to lodge complaints against the restless boys. When Kṛṣṇa was sitting before mother Yaśodā, all the elderly gopīs began to lodge complaints against Him so that Kṛṣṇa could hear. They said, “Dear Yaśodā, why don’t you restrict your naughty Kṛṣṇa? He comes to our houses along with Balarāma every morning and evening, and before the milking of the cows They let loose the calves, and the calves drink all the milk of the cows. So when we go to milk the cows, we find no milk, and we have to return with empty pots. If we warn Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma about doing this, They simply smile charmingly. We cannot do anything. Also, your Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma find great pleasure in stealing our stock of yogurt and butter from wherever we keep it. When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are caught stealing the yogurt and butter, They say, ’Why do you charge Us with stealing? Do you think that butter and yogurt are in scarcity in Our house?’ Sometimes They steal butter, yogurt and milk and distribute them to the monkeys. When the monkeys are well fed and do not take any more, then your boys chide, ’This milk and butter and yogurt are useless–even the monkeys won’t take it.’ And They break the pots and throw them hither and thither. If we keep our stock of yogurt, butter and milk in a solitary dark place, your Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma find it in the darkness by the glaring effulgence of the ornaments and jewels on Their bodies. If by chance They cannot find the hidden butter and yogurt, They go to our little babies and pinch their bodies so that they cry, and then They go away. If we keep our stock of butter and yogurt high on the ceiling, hanging on a swing, although it is beyond Their reach, They arrange to reach it by piling all kinds of wooden crates over the grinding machine. And if They cannot reach, They make a hole in the pot. We think therefore that you better take all the jeweled ornaments from the bodies of your children.”
We are now in the month of Damodara (Kartika). In honor and in celebration of the month of Damodara, we will be focusing our attention on the pastimes of Krishna in Vrndavan. Especially Krishna’s childhood pastimes. The following is the first verse from the Damodarastkam prayer which is sung morning and evening, and it is customary to offer a candle or gee lamp as well to a picture of Lord Krsna and Mother Yasoda.
“To the supreme controller who possesses an eternal form of blissful knowledge, whose glistening earrings swing to and fro, who manifested Himself in Gokula, who stole the butter that the gopis kept hanging from the rafters of their storerooms and who then quickly jumped up and ran in retreat in fear of Mother Yasoda, but was ultimately caught-to that Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, I offer my humble obeisances.“ (Sri Damodarastakam verse 1)
Our dear departed friend Padmapani Prabhu, is gone but not forgotten, as he has left us with the beautiful web page The Prabhupada Connection, but he has also, as some of the earlier devotees might remember, left us with this fine publication The Vaisnava Journal. I feel it is an important part of our history, and I wanted to be sure it available to all our readers, so we share all 5 issuses as PDF that you can view or save, by clicking on the links. Hare Krishna!
The Vaisnava Journal
by Padmapani Das
Shortly after Srila Prabhupada physically departed from this world, I joined the Middle East program. Since there were no temples in that part of the world, we simply carried on as we had always done—chanting Hare Krishna and worshiping Srila Prabhupada as our guru and the founder-acarya of ISKCON. But while visiting temples in India and Europe for short breaks, I noticed things were becoming increasingly difficult for devotees and the movement. So when the Middle East program had finished its course after five years, I humbly tried to make a positive contribution towards keeping our movement and the devotees together with Srila Prabhupada in the center. The Vaisnava Journal was created and distributed to ISKCON leaders and devotees worldwide with that objective in mind.
At the time we had Back to Godhead magazine and the ISKCON World Review, but neither of these publications addressed the topical issues of the day which were affecting the stability of Srila Prabhupada’s movement. I saw a great need for open and respectful communication in our society, and by Krishna’s grace, devotees of all persuasions and positions responded favorably. We openly discussed vital issues of concern to our movement and many spirited exchanges resulted. Unfortunately after five issues I was no longer able to support the rising publication and mailing costs on my own, so I had to stop work on the journal. However we now have a record of those discussions and our readers can research the contents online. Please click on the links below to access each issue in PDF format.
The kindness of strangers played a pivotal role in ISKCON’s pre-history.
Last year I had the good fortune to meet Gopal and Sally Agarwal, an elderly couple who played a significant role in ISKCON’s origins. They are forever etched in the devotees’ collective memory as two of the Western world’s earliest recipients of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. It was the Agarwals who hosted him in the fall of 1965, before ISKCON was even nominally born, giving him shelter, hospitality, friendship, and love. Indeed, for one month their home served as Prabhupada’s earliest refuge outside India.
As Prabhupada acquainted himself with the Agarwal home in Butler, in western Pennsylvania, he saw a typically quiet American town nestled in the hills, a town that has changed little since his brief visit those many years ago.
This morning I was reminded of something that I heard Srila Prabhupada say in a lecture. He was describing that Krishna Consciousness is very simple, you just need to do four things.Always think of Krishna, become His devotee, offer obeisances, and worship Him.
Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me. (Bhagavad-gita 9.34)
This verse is also repeated in the 16th Chapter:
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo ’si me
Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
In this verse it is clearly indicated that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only means of being delivered from the clutches of this contaminated material world…Pure devotional service is the highest achievement of human society. (from purport)
Today marks the auspicious appearance of Lord Balaram. We honor it with a half day fast and followed by a nice vegetarian feast.
Lord Balarama is Krishna’s elder brother and His appearance day takes place on the full moon day (purnima), two weeks before Krishna Janmashtami. Krishna and Balarama were the darlings of Vrindavan/ Vraja. Together They would spend the day enjoying the company of the cowherd boys in the forests of Vraja. Their wonderful pastimes are related in the tenth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, which Srila Prabhupada also translated as The Krishna Book. Lord Balarama is also considered the original spiritual master and His worship is therefore most important for Vaishnavas.
Balarāma means guru-tattva. Balarāma represents guru. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. If we want to understand Caitanya Mahāprabhu, if we want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then we must take shelter of Balarāma. Nāyam ātmā bala-hinena labhyaḥ. This bala-hinena labhyaḥ, this Vedic injunction, means “Without the mercy of Balarāma you cannot understand, you cannot realize your spiritual identification. So that Balarāma comes as Nityānanda Prabhu. Balarāma hailā nitāi. Therefore we must take shelter of Balarāma.
Lecture given by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Lord Nityānanda Prabhu’s Āvirbhāva Appearance Day Bhuvaneśvara, February 2, 1977
Perhaps it was Krsna who directed me to the last chapter of Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, by Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswāmī. The famous book chronicling The life of our Founder-Acarya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In this last chapter entitled, “The Final Lesson”, last sentence of this voluminious book, Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswāmī concludes with this statement:
“Our hope is that by hearing about Śrīla Prabhupāda the reader will become himself a Prabhupādānuga, a follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda. We can wish no better fortune upon anyone.”
Update: this came as a comment…
This is probably the best thing Satsvarupa Maharaja ever wrote. When a devotee decides to join the Hare Krishna movement as a full-time member, they are announcing to the world their acceptance of Srila Prabhupada as the empowered representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By mature realization they will come to recognize Srila Prabhupada as their eternal spiritual master. These lifetime servants of the spiritual master are called Prabhupadanugas.
Those who mould their lives in such a way that they can always think of the lotus feet of the spiritual master will live with him eternally. Because of Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental position, there is no separation in time or space between us. He is present in our lives and is guiding us back to Godhead through his written and spoken word. By his unlimited blessings we continue to move forward in Krishna consciousness and surely we will one day reach the ultimate goal of love of Godhead. The more we advance toward that goal, the more we will understand the greatness of Srila Prabhupada’s compassion upon us and his concern for the conditioned souls of this world who are all part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.(Locanananda das)
Sometimes the ISKCON devotees refer to Prabhupadanugas as some splinter group, not belonging to the mainstream devotees. But in fact we can plainly see from some of the writing of the senior members of our society that becoming a follower of Śrīla Prabhupāda is exactly what is needed. For instance in Bhakti Curu Swami’s, Disappearance Day offering to Srila Prabhupada, given June 16, 2010, he states:
…everyday, in all the temples of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada is worshipped by everyone. Then why do we hesitate to tell a new comer who is searching for a guru that Srila Prabhupada, the best guru the world has ever seen, is still here, and one can surrender unto him and go back to Godhead very easily? When we have such a great good fortune, why do we not take full advantage of it? It is only when we do so that the glorious days of ISKCON will come back again and we will witness Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement starting to spread in leaps and bounds all over the world.
If we really love ISKCON and if we sincerely want the Krsna Consciousness movement to spread all over the world in every town and village, then let us broadcast all over the world that Srila Prabhupada is still with us and that anyone who wants to receive his mercy can approach him and establish his eternal relationship with him.
Without a doubt, this is my favorite book ever. I never get tired of reading from the Krsna Book. It seems to get sweeter every time.
Krsna was very pleased with the atmosphere of the forest, where flowers bloomed and bees and drones hummed very jubilantly. While the birds, trees and branches were all looking very happy, Krsna, tending the cows and accompanied by Sri Balarama and the cowherd boys, began to vibrate His transcendental flute. After hearing the vibration, the gopis in Vrndavana remembered Him and began to talk amongst themselves about how nicely Krsna was playing His flute. When the gopis were describing the sweet vibration of Krsna’s flute’; they also remembered their pastimes with Him; thus their minds became disturbed, and they were unable to fully describe the beautiful vibrations. While discussing the transcendental vibration, they also remembered how Krsna dressed, decorated with a peacock feather on His head, just like a dancing actor, and with blue flowers pushed over His ear. His garment glowed yellow-gold, and He was garlanded with a vaijayanti necklace. Dressed in such an attractive way, Krsna filled up the holes of His flute with the nectar emanating from His lips. So they remembered Him, entering Vrndavana forest, which is always glorified by the footprints of Krsna and His friends.
The Hare Krishna Movement 
