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The Wise Man

20 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

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.

The Essence of Everything is the Supreme Lord

10 Dec 2014 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Brahma-samhita, Goloka Vrndaban, Krsna Consciousness, Krsna God, Spiritual World Tags: gopis, His Lordship, His lotus feet, His moonlike face is the drinking vessel for eyes which hanker after all that is beautiful, Krsna, Laksmis, Lord Govinda, spiritual gems, The Lord’s chest is the abode of the goddess of fortune, touchstone, transcendental abode of the Lord, Vedic literatures

Sometimes when I am sitting and reading from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam, a verse or sentence from the purport just jumps out from the page almost like it is in 3D, and I catch a glimpse of what the Spiritual World must be like. It is beyond even my imagination, but sometimes I catch a glimmer of light, through a transcendental window, by the grace of my spiritual master His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

…The transcendental abode of the Lord where the trees are all desire trees and the buildings are made of touchstone. The Lord Govinda is engaged there in herding the surabhi cows as His natural occupation.

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.” (Bs 5.29)

…The Lord Govinda is engaged there in herding the surabhi cows as His natural occupation. And those who are artists, overtaken by the beautiful creation, should better see to the beautiful face of the Lord for complete satisfaction. The face of the Lord is the embodiment of beauty. What they call beautiful nature is but His smile, and what they call the sweet songs of the birds are but specimens of the whispering voice of the Lord.

Hari-kīrtana

14 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Chanting Hare Krishna, The Hare Krishna Movement, Yoga Tags: A.C. Bhaktiveanta Swami Prabhupada, chanting Hare Krishna, God realization, Hare Rama, Hari Kirtana, Kali-yuga, kirtan, sankirtan, self relization, supreme absolute truth, Vedic literatures, Visnu

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.
[Adi 17.21]

…
This hari-kīrtana was started five hundred years ago in Bengal by Lord Caitanya. In Bengal there is competition between the Vaiṣṇavas and the śāktas. The śāktas have introduced a certain type of kīrtana called kālī-kīrtana. But in the Vedic scriptures there is no recommendation of kālī-kīrtana. Kīrtana means hari-kīrtana. One cannot say, “Oh, you are Vaiṣṇava. You can perform hari-kīrtana. I shall perform śiva-kīrtana or devī-kīrtana or gaṇeśa-kīrtana.” No. The Vedic scriptures do not authorize any kīrtana other than hari-kīrtana. Kīrtana means hari-kīrtana, the glorification of Kṛṣṇa.

So this process of hari-kīrtana is very simple: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Actually there are only three words: Hare, Kṛṣṇa, and Rāma. But they are very nicely arranged for chanting so that everyone can take the mantra and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. Since we have started this movement in the Western countries, Europeans, Americans, Africans, Egyptians, and Japanese are all chanting. There is no difficulty. They are chanting very gladly, and they are getting the results. What is the difficulty? We are distributing this chanting free of charge, and it is very simple. Simply by chanting, one can have self-realization, God realization, and when there is God realization, then nature realization is included also. (from The Science of Self Realization)

Glories of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is

08 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Back to Godhead, Bhagavad-gita Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Arjuna, as it is, bhagavad-gita, Bhaktivedanta purports, Krishna, Lord Krsna, mental agonies, Puranas, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, Upanisads, Vedanta-sutras, Vedic literatures, Vedic wisdom

1973 Back to Godhead cover

This morning I was reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1, Chapter 15, Text 27, wherein Srila Prabhupada was describing the glories and importance of the the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. The following is some excerpts from this amazing purport, followed by full text and purport. I found this one purport to be a very nice synopsis of the entire Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

…The Lord left behind Him the instructions of the Bhagavad-gītā not for the benefit of Arjuna alone, but also for all time and in all lands. The Bhagavad-gītā, being spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom. It is nicely presented by the Lord Himself for all who have very little time to go through the vast Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas and Vedānta-sūtras.

…the Bhagavad-gītā can be consulted in all critical times, not only for solace from all kinds of mental agonies, but also for the way out of great entanglements which may embarrass one in some critical hour.

…The merciful Lord left behind Him the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā so that one can take the instructions of the Lord even when He is not visible to material eyesight.

…There is no difference between the sound representation of the Lord and the Lord Himself. One can derive the same benefit from the Bhagavad-gītā as Arjuna did in the personal presence of the Lord.

…The Bhagavad-gītā begins with the problems of life by discriminating the soul from the elements of matter and proves by all reason and argument that the soul is indestructible in all circumstances and that the outer covering of matter, the body and the mind, change for another term of material existence which is full of miseries. The Bhagavad-gītā is therefore meant for terminating all different types of miseries, and Arjuna took shelter of this great knowledge, which had been imparted to him during the Kurukṣetra battle. (from Purport to SB 1.15.27)

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Seek the Mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī

14 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimati Radharani Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, devotee, feminine counterpart of God, feminine nature, pure devotee, Radha, Radharani, Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimati Radharani, Vedic literatures, Vrndavana

…In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived. (Purport Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.23)

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Preparing for Death

06 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Lectures, Spiritual Life, Srimad Bhagavatam Tags: Krishna, Krishna consciousness, Parikshit Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami, Vedic literatures, what is my duty

Chanakya Pandit says that “If you want to make spiritual advancement, then you should always think that “Death is next moment. Death is next moment.”

Excerpt from lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam
Canto 1, Chapter 4, Text 25, Montreal, June 20, 1968
By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Parikshit Maharaja, he was a powerful king. He was equipped with all, everything, but he did not counteract the curse [1]. He could counteract that curse. He was so powerful, but he accepted: “All right. I am cursed. I shall give up my life within seven days.” That means he took it as an opportunity that “I am going to death within seven days. That is certain. And I must prepare myself fully so that my next life I can approach Krishna.” So this is a good opportunity, that “I have got seven days’ time.” We haven’t got seven seconds’ time. We do not know. Nobody has served me notice. We find by practical experience that we are walking on the street—all of a sudden there is some accident, and we die. There is possibility. So the important point is that Maharaja Parikshit was fortunate enough to get seven days’ time before his death. But we do not know how much time is there for our death. So how much serious we shall be. Chanakya Pandit says that “If you want to make spiritual advancement, then you should always think that “Death is next moment. Death is next moment.” Because there is no guarantee when death is coming. If I think that death is next moment, that is not any utopian. The next moment may be my death. And Chanakya Pandit says, “But if you want to be materially happy, you should always think that ‘I shall never die,’ ” although it is false idea. Everyone will die.