eternal | The Hare Krishna Movement

Forgetfulness of God

29 Sep 2016 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Books by Srila Prabhupada, Raja-Vidya Tags: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Pabhupada, conditioned souls, disciple Brahma, eternal, forgetful conditioned soul, forgetful of God, forgetfulness, Indra, karma, Raja-Vidya, spiritual master, the king of knowledge

Back when I was a new aspiring devotee, and was hearing and learning the stories from the Srimad-Bhagavatam for the very first time, the story of King Indra cursed to take birth as a hog, was without a doubt one of my favorites. I first read it in the Raja-Vidya, then heard it repeated so many times in Srimad-Bhagavatam class’s, and it became more relishable with each hearing.

…At one time, Indra, the king of heaven, committed an offense at the feet of his spiritual master, and his spiritual master cursed him to take the birth of a hog. Thus the throne of the heavenly kingdom became empty as Indra went to earth to become a hog.

Seeing the situation, Brahma came to earth and addressed the hog: “My dear sir, you have become a hog on this planet earth. I have come to deliver you. Come with me at once.” But the hog replied:. “Oh I cannot go with you. I have so many responsibilities—my children, wife and this nice hog society.”

Even though Brahma promised to take him back to heaven, Indra, in the form of a hog, refused. This is called forgetfulness. Similarly, Lord Sri Krishna comes and says to us, “What are you doing in this material world? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66].

Come to Me, and I’ll give you all protection.” But we say, “I don’t believe You Sir. I have more important business here.” This is the position of the conditioned soul—forgetfulness. This forgetfulness is quickly dissipated by following in the path of disciplic succession.

We become so attached to our so-called material enjoyment, but what is this enjoyment? Our situation is not always so good, and there is birth, death, disease, and old age, but still we are attached; to my hog wife, my hog children, my hog pen. Lol, this seems to be our situation.

Full Chapter from Raja-Vidya More

The Spiritual Sky

17 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Spiritual Life, Spiritual World Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, abode of Lord Sri Krsna, actual happiness is eternal, eternal, eternal kingdom, kingdom of the Supreme, material world, nirmana-moha, sanatana, Spiritual world

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…In this material world we find that everything is temporary. It comes into being, stays for some time, produces some by-products, dwindles and then vanishes. That is the law of the material world, whether we use as an example this body, or a piece of fruit or anything. But beyond this temporary world there is another world of which we have information. This world consists of another nature which is sanātana, eternal. (from the Introduction to the Bhagavad-gita As It Is)

Sat-cit-ānanda / Eternal, Full of Knowledge, and Bliss

26 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Sat-cit-ananda, Vaisnava Vocabulary Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ananda, eternal, jubilation, knowledge, knowledge and blissful, pleasure, sat cit ananda

This morning while reading I came across the words sat-cit-ānanda. Many of us, we know what the words mean, but have we realized the meaning yet? Do we truly understand what it means to be eternal, full of knowledge and blissfull? I thought I would do a search on the phrase “sac-cid-ānanda” and see how this was explained by Srila Prabhupada.

Cit means knowledge, sat means eternal, and bliss means full of jubilation, ānanda, pleasure. (from lectures)

Because we are spirit soul, our position is ānandamāyā. Ānandamāyā means always blissful. Because we are part and parcel of God… God is blissful, all-good, sac-cid-ānanda…Sat means eternal, and cit means full of knowledge, and ānanda means full of bliss. So we are part and parcel of God. Kṛṣṇa says, mamaivāṁśo jīva bhūtaḥ: BG 15.7 “All these living entities, they are My part and parcel.” So if Kṛṣṇa is sat-cit-ānanda, then we are also sat-cit-ānanda, because we are part. Just like gold and a gold, small particle. That is also gold.

…Part is never equal to the whole. But quality is the same. Therefore we, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, we are trying to utilize our original constitutional position. This is going on. But we are doing that without Kṛṣṇa at the present moment. Therefore it is not successful. Part must remain with the whole. I have given this example many times, that a small screw of typewriter or any machine, it must remain with the whole machine. Then it has value. If it is out of the machine, there is no value. A small screw in the motorcar, so long it is with the motorcar, it has got value. And as soon as it is thrown out of the motorcar, it has no value. (Lecture on the Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.9 given Detroit, August 3, 1975, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

It is interesting to note that Srila Prabhupada used this phrase ‘sat cit ananda’, 41 times in Lectures, 5 times in Letters, and can be found is his books. Some of the usage is as follows: More

The Great Soul Who Walked Among Us

15 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Back to Godhead, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada Tags: Back to Godhead Magazine, bhagavad-gita, BTG 13.1-2, eternal, Krsna conscious person, krsna consciousness, Remembering Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, The Great Soul Who Walked Among Us

…Someone asked, “What is the Krsna conscious person’s attitude towards others?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “He sees everyone as part and parcel of Krsna. The Krsna conscious person thinks, ‘They are suffering from not knowing Krsna, so let me bring them to Krsna.’ This is the highest service. Everyone is suffering, so to act in Krsna consciousness is the highest service. After all, they are suffering on account of detachment from Krsna.”

The Great Soul Who Walked Among Us
Excerpted from Back to Godhead Magazine
Vol. 13, 1-2, 1978

“Consider this example: when the sun is in the sky, there is no question of darkness. Similarly, when the Hare Krsna mantra is vibrating on your tongue and you are hearing attentively, then your consciousness becomes Krsna consciousness, or clear consciousness, and there is no question of maya, or hazy consciousness. Just as when light and darkness come together the darkness cannot stand before the light, maya cannot remain in the presence of Krsna.

Learning to Love

07 Aug 2012 1 Comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Krishna Consciousness, The Matchless Gift Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, affection, eternal, God, krsna consciousness, Learning to Love, learning to love God, love, loving relationship with Krishna, spirit soul, The Matchless Gift

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…Since we as living entities are eternal, temporary activities are not our main concern. Our engagements should be eternal because we are eternal, and that eternal engagement is the rendering of service to Kṛṣṇa in love.

Love begins with this give and take. We give something to our lover, he gives something to us, and in this way love develops. When we create any loving transaction with any boy or girl, man or woman, we give and take. Thus Kṛṣṇa is teaching us how to give and take. Kṛṣṇa is begging us:

“Try to love Me. Learn how to love Me. Offer something to Me.”

“Sir,” we may say, “I have nothing to give You.”

“Oh, you cannot collect a piece of fruit, a flower, a leaf or a little water?”

“Oh yes, why not? Anyone can collect this.”

This then is the method of Kṛṣṇa consciousness which allows one to make friends with Kṛṣṇa. We can enter into any number of relationships with Kṛṣṇa. We can become a direct servant of Kṛṣṇa, or in the highest stages we can become Kṛṣṇa’s father, mother or lover. Kṛṣṇa is prepared to establish a loving relationship with all living entities. In actuality this relationship is already there because He is the supreme father and we are His parts and parcels. Because the son is part of the body of the father, the relationship between them cannot be broken; it may be forgotten for some time, but as soon as one recognizes his father or son, immediately affection develops. Similarly, we are eternally related to Kṛṣṇa, but at the present moment this relationship is simply forgotten or suppressed. Consequently we think that we have no relationship with Kṛṣṇa, but this is not a fact. Because we are integral with Him, because we are part and parcel of Him, our relationship with Him is eternal. That relationship simply has to be revived, and that revival is this process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Krsna Consciousness, The Matchless Gift
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 3

Learning to Love