23 Jan 2017
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, chanting, Chanting Hare Krishna, Maha-mantra, Music
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, chanting Hare Krishna, chanting of Hare Krishna, Happening Album, illusion is called maya, illusory struggle, Krishna consciousness, material nature, stringent laws of material nature, struggle for existence, transcendental plane
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Hare Krishna Address
Click Here to listen to Srila Prabhupada’s address in mp3 format
As explained on the cover of the record album, this transcendental vibration — by chanting of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare — is the sublime method for reviving our Krishna consciousness. As living spiritual souls we are all originally Krishna 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 her complexities.
This illusion is called Maya, or hard struggle for existence over the stringent laws of material nature. This illusory struggle against the material nature can at once be stopped by revival of our Krishna consciousness.
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05 Jan 2016
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna Consciousness, Krishna Consciousness Movement, Matchless Gifts, The Hare Krishna Movement, The Matchless Gift, Transcendental Knowledge
Tags: A. C. Bhakthvedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krsna, krsna consciousness, Krsna consciousness movement, living entity, Matchless Gift, material disease, material nature, original consciousness, self realization, spiritual consciousness, spiritual knowledge, spiritual knwoledge, The Hare Krishna Movement
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Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, The Matchless Gift
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter One
Spiritual Knowledge Through Kṛṣṇa
The aim of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to bring all living entities back to their original consciousness. All living entities within the material world are, to varying degrees, afflicted with a type of madness. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement aims at curing man of his material disease and reestablishing his original consciousness. In a Bengali poem a great Vaiṣṇava poet has written, “When a man is haunted by ghosts, he can only speak nonsense. Similarly, anyone who is under the influence of material nature should be considered haunted, and whatever he speaks should be considered nonsense.” One may be considered a great philosopher or great scientist, but if he is haunted by the ghost of māyā, illusion, whatever he theorizes and whatever he speaks is more or less nonsensical. Today we are given the example of a psychiatrist who, when requested to examine a murderer, proclaimed that since all the patients with whom he had come in contact were more or less crazy, the court could excuse the murderer on those grounds if it so desired. The point is that in the material world it is very difficult to find a sane living entity. The prevailing atmosphere of insanity in this world is all caused by the infection of material consciousness.
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20 Jan 2015
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
Tags: entanglement in material energy, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krsna conscious person, Liberated souls, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, material nature, miseries in material existence, Nimi, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, The Wise Man, three modes of material nature, unalloyed devotee, Vedic literatures
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter Four
The Wise Man
Since no one can trace the history of the living entity’s entanglement in material energy, the Lord says that it is beginningless. By beginningless it is meant that conditional life exists prior to the creation; it is simply manifested during and after the creation. Due to forgetfulness of his nature, the living entity, although spirit, suffers all kinds of miseries in material existence. It should be understood that there are also living entities who are not entangled in this material energy but are situated in the spiritual world. They are called liberated souls and are always engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotional service.
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04 May 2014
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Demigod, Durga, Srimad Bhagavatam
Tags: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuada, Bg 9.10, Durga, goddess Parvati, Krishna, Krsna, Lord Siva, material nature, Siva, the goddess durga
This morning, the above picture of the Goddess Durga crossed my desk, so I thought I would do a short post on Her. After some research in Srila Prabhupada’s books it is described: “Following the orders of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the goddess Durgā creates, maintains and annihilates…Because the goddess Durgā satisfies Kṛṣṇa, we should therefore offer respects to goddess Durgā.” As devotees there is no need to worship the demigods, but because the demigods are also servants of Lord Krishna, we offer them our respect.
…Durgā—the goddess Pārvatī, the wife of Lord Śiva—is extremely powerful. She can create, maintain and annihilate any number of universes by her sweet will, but she acts under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, not independently. Kṛṣṇa is impartial, but because this is the material world of duality, such relative terms as happiness and distress, curses and favors, are created by the will of the Supreme. Those who are not nārāyaṇa-para, pure devotees, must be disturbed by this duality of the material world, whereas devotees who are simply attached to the service of the Lord are not at all disturbed by it. For example, Haridāsa Ṭhākura was beaten with cane in twenty-two bazaars, but he was never disturbed; instead, he smilingly tolerated the beating. Despite the disturbing dualities of the material world, devotees are not disturbed at all. Because they fix their minds on the lotus feet of the Lord and concentrate on the holy name of the Lord, they do not feel the so-called pains and pleasures caused by the dualities of this material world. (from purport SB 6.17.29)
This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again. (Bg 9.10)
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07 Feb 2014
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Mukunda-mala-stotra, Vaisnava Vocabulary
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, birth, bizarre, death, disease, fantasmagoriya, fantastic, illusion, imitation peacock, Lord Mukunda, material nature, material world, Mukunda mala, mukunda murdhana, mukunda-mala-stotra, naked truth, old age, phantasmagoria, temporary beauty, transcendental topics
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One thing I have always marveled at, is Srila Prabhupada’s use of words, to describe transcendental topics to us in his books. The word phantasmagoria is one such example. Here it is being used to describe the temporary beauty of this material world…
By the mercy of the Lord, the pure devotee knows all this very well. Indeed, his whole philosophy of life is based on this understanding. Advancement of knowledge means to understand the naked truth of this world and to not be deluded by the temporary beauty of this phantasmagoria. (Mukunda-mālā-stotra #3)
The following is a definition of the word phantasmagoria and the full text and purport from the Mukunda-mala-stotra Sutra #3 More
01 Sep 2013
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Tags: brahman, devotional service, goodness, goodness passion and ignorance, ignorance, material nature, modes of material nature, nature, passion, three modes, transcendental realization, ultimate happiness
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 1972 Edition
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Chapter Fourteen
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29 May 2013
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, Prajah, Vaisnava Vocabulary
Tags: 84000000, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Bg 14/.4, bhagavad-gita, birth and death, kunteya, living being, material desires, material nature, material world, praja, sarva-yonisu, species of life
Here is a word for your vaisnava vocabulary; Prajah.
Prajā means the living being who has taken his birth in the material world. Actually the living being has no birth and no death, but because of his separation from the service of the Lord and due to his desire to lord it over material nature, he is offered a suitable body to satisfy his material desires. In doing so, one becomes conditioned by the laws of material nature, and the material body is changed in terms of his own work. The living entity thus transmigrates from one body to another in 8,400,000 species of life.
As Krishna points out in the Bhagavad-gita:
It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father. (Bg 14-4)
Full verse and purport More
20 Jun 2012
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Essays & Articles, The Hare Krishna Movement
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, fulfillment of desire, Lordship's Lotus feet, material nature, maya, pure devotee, pure devotional service, Srila Prabhupada, transcendental releam
…A devotee who has attained perfect success in devotional service returns to Godhead without a doubt. For him there is no question of repeated birth and death. But if a devotee does not attain complete perfection, he is guaranteed birth in a learned and well-to-do family, and even if he is not given birth in a good family, he is blessed by being able to remember the lotus feet of the Lord. Such a benediction is greater than any number of material assets. Constant remembrance of the Lord’s name, fame and qualities automatically counteracts the reactions of all vices and extends the blessings of goodness. Constantly remembering the lotus feet of the Lord is the same as rendering active service to the Lord.
Therefore a pure devotee does not ask the Lord for material wealth, manpower, followers or beautiful women. Rather, he simply prays for unalloyed faith in the Lord’s service. This should be the prayer and life motto of all prospective students in devotional service.
The Desire of A Pure Devotee
An excerpt from “Prayers of King Kulasekhara”
An unpublished manuscript by
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
mukunda murdhna pranipatya yace bhavantam ekantam iyantam artham
avismrtis tvac-caranaravinde bhave bhave me ‘stu bhavat-prasadat
Mukunda-mala-stotra (Verse 4) King Kulasekhara
O my Lord Mukunda! I bow my head down before Your Lordship’s lotus feet and respect fully ask for the fulfillment of my only desire. Throughout my repeated births may I never forget but always remember You by Your Lordship’s mercy.
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28 Mar 2011
by The Hare Krishna Movement
in Krishna, Teachings of Pralada Maharaja
Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, all-pervading, all-pervasiveness of the Supreme Lord, God is Everywhere, illusion, material nature, maya, Prahlada Maharaja
Transcendental Teachings of Prahlada Maharaja
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter 5
Realizing that God Is Everywhere
Mahārāja Prahlāda informed his classmates about the all-pervasiveness of the Supreme Lord. But although the Supreme Lord is all-pervasive by means of His expansions and His energies, that does not mean He has lost His personality. That is significant. Although He is all-pervading, still He is a person. According to our material perception, if something is all-pervading, then it has no personality, no localized aspect. But God is not like that. For example, the sunshine is all-pervading, but the sun also has a localized aspect, the sun planet, and you can see it. Not only is there a sun planet, but within the sun planet is a sun-god, whose name is Vivasvān. We get this information from Vedic literature. There is no way to understand what is taking place on other planets except to hear from authorized sources. In the modern civilization we accept scientists as authorities in these matters. We hear a scientist say, “We have seen the moon; it is such and such,” and we believe it. We have not gone with the scientist to see the moon, but we believe him.
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