“Prabhupada explains, Vyasa Puja address in ‘72, just like in our country when there was British rule, there was a Viceroy, the king’s representative, so naturally when the Viceroy used to go to some meeting many people used to present valuable jewels, valuable, because just to honor him. But the law was that not a single of the jewels or contribution, the Viceroy could touch. It was going to the royal treasury. The Viceroy should accept on behalf of the King all contribution, but it goes to the King.

Similarly this day, Vyasa puja day, whatever honor, contribution and feeling is being offered to the spiritual master, it is, again as we have received the knowledge from upwards, similarly this respect also goes from the downward to the upward. This is the process.

So the spiritual master is the teacher of the student. He has to teach the student how to send back his respect in contribution to GOD. In other words whatever worship is being offered, the Guru accepts on behalf of Vyasadeva, on behalf of the previous acharyas and offers to them.”

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“Prabhupada said in a Srimad Bhagavatam lecture about what is our relationship with the Guru, 1974. He said, ‘We must be DEBTOR! Guru. Debtor to the spiritual master, to the sages, to the saintly persons, because we are getting knowledge from them.

Therefore the Vyasa Puja is there. Once in a year the disciples are worshiping the spiritual master and trying to repay what he has received from the spiritual master.

Why we respect the Guru, Prabhuapda explains, because he does not manufacture. He says what he has heard from the acharyas. Exactly like the child, what he has heard from his father, from the superior, he speaks. So that is the position of Guru.

Guru is respected as good as God….why?…only for this qualification, that he does not speak anything nonsense. He speaks only what he has heard from the acharyas.”

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“We wander from birth to birth. Even we go sometime from one day of Brahma to another taking so many countless births. Going from one universe also to another universe, one creation to another creation.

Because once we’re in a Brahmanda or Universe, we cannot leave until Lord Brahma dies or unless we get liberation. Either end of Brahma’s life or our liberation. So we are here in the material world for a very very long time.

Guru Krishna Prasadaye Paye

We pray to Krishna to get a bonafide spiritual spiritual master, to be in a bonafide disciplic succession. Actually when we take initiation from a spiritual master in a bonafide disciplic succession, we are connected with Lord Krishna, with Vyasadeva, with all the previous acharyas.

Once one has taken initiation in a bonfire disciplic succession, there is never any reason to change one’s disciplic succession because already the relationship is established. So we pray to Krishna to reveal to us who is our spiritual master, to show to us the bonafide disciplic succession.

So we find that in the age of Kali, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s disciplic succession embodies the essence of all the other disciplic successions. That it is giving us clearly the highest purpose of life. That it is giving us Krishna Prema, which otherwise is very difficult to achieve.

Therefore the wise person, the intelligent person will take shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan movement and disciplic succession.”

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“If one carries..fulfills the order of the Guru carefully, one can cross over all obstacles in spiritual life. Vedas also say sarva deva moyi guru.

Within the Guru are all the Devas. So in the vaishnava tradition of our sampradaya, instead of worshiping Ganesha when we begin anything auspicious, which is the normal Karma Kanda system, we worship Guru.

Om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
Caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

Within the Guru, Ganesh is there, all the Devas are there. So that is our system. We always first, adau guru, we first worship the Guru in any auspicious ceremony. When we do deity worship, we first do Guru Puja. Then we do the other worship.

So by mercy of Guru, we get the mercy of Krishna.”

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“Our mind is always trying to project itself as the centre of the universe. Sometimes we find that people who start rendering devotional service love to talk about themselves, ‘how dear they are to their guru, how important they are to the world, what great devotees they are and how successful their preaching is.’ Maybe their egos need to be glorified, but it is very painful to hear a person always talk about himself.

On the other hand, how blissful it is when a person always talks about Krishna, Guru and devotional service not putting himself in the centre. But the tendency of the mind is to reflect the false ego platform and try to see the self as having a separate role from Krishna’s.

To make the mind humble and actually take a service attitude requires an abrupt change of perspective. To do that, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakura has encouraged that the mind be smashed down to silence. His instruction is that we should pick up a mental broom or shoe and beat our minds a hundred times. It is quite humiliating to be hit by a broom, because it is meant for sweeping dirty things off the floor. Similarly what could be worse than being hit by a pair of shoes.

One who is experienced in material life knows that there are many fair-weather friends, people who show interest only when one has money or position. A powerful or rich man has many such friends, but when the influence of the money is gone then so are such friends.

Actually only Krishna is our real friend and relative. Those who are connected with each other on the spiritual platform are also real relatives because such relationships are spiritual, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul.

Gajendra, the King of elephants, was surrounded by his wives, children, and other elephants, but none could help when the crocodile in the water captured him. Feeling helpless, he prayed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Who is above all the demigods and human beings, and Who is creator, maintainer, and destroyer of everything.

In response to his sincere prayers, Lord Visnu personally came and delivered him.

Jayapataka: Krishna said, “I am the cause of remembrance and forgetfulness.”

Prabhupada: Yes. Generally devotee dies remembering Krishna, generally. But even if for material condition he cannot, then Krishna is taken charge.

Panca-dravida: What was the arrangement with Bharata Maharaja?

Prabhupada: And there is no question of hopelessness, no. We have to do our duty very seriously. Then everything is all right.

Panca-dravida: So with Bharata Maharaja, that was special arrangement?

Prabhupada: No. It was…. It was punishment. He became so much, I mean, attached with the animal that he forgot his duty in devotional service. That is stated. Forgot. He neglected. Therefore he was punished, but he remembered that “I did it.” You cannot neglect your duty. Then Krishna is always with you. [break] …way, a soldier is dying in duty, immediately the government takes charge of the whole family. So that is…. Why not Krishna? [break] …Krishna visvasa palana. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said. You know this song? Avasya rakñibe Krishna visvasa palana.

Jayapataka: “If one maintains his faith, then Krishna…”

Prabhupada: Ah! Yes. One should maintain his faith that “Krishna will give me protection. And my duty is to serve Him.” That’s it.

Jayapataka: Why did Krishna have all the demigod worship put in the Vedas?

Prabhupada : Hm?

Jayapataka: They put… Vyasadeva put all the demigod worship in the Vedas.

Prabhupada: For the karmis. Ksipra bhavati… What is that? Kam kanta…

Jayapataka : Karmanam siddhi.

Prabhupada: Karmanam siddhi yajanti iha devata. Who is interested to take bhakti immediately? Nobody is interested.

Jayapataka: They can get their material facilities from Krishna also.

Prabhupada: Yes. That is recommended. First of all sastra recommends that if you want this thing you worship this deity, this deity. In this way, at last it is said that you can get anything if you worship Krishna. That is said.

Akamah sarvo kama va moksa kama udara dhi tivrena bhakti-yogena. That is for the purpose that if he wants to take advantage, material benefit from Krishna, then Krishna bhajana will be there, gradually they will forget this material benefit. They will become pure devotee. Just like Dhruva Maharaja became. Svamin krtartho ’smi vara na yace.

“Pure devotional service is unconditional and favorable to the Lord’s desire. Since it is Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu’s desire that His devotees preach cooperatively the glories of the holy names of Krishna, pure devotees unhesitatingly perform this activity at all times under all circumstances.

The thought that an individual will “in his own way” spread Krishna consciousness outside of the sankirtana movement authorized by the previous acaryas is inconceivable for a pure devotee of the Lord.

There is no alternative for one who wants to achieve perfection in Krishna consciousness in this lifetime other than to remain within the shelter of the Krishna consciousness movement and cooperatively work together for the satisfaction of Guru and Gauranga!

“Those who are depending on God, they’re actually stable and steady in their situation. Otherwise material life, one minute things can go pretty good and the next minute, things can suddenly change. We think how easy it is for a human body to be killed. It’s almost a miracle that how we’re alive. I mean see, it doesn’t take much. A car accident, falling of one storey building anything. Somehow Krishna’s mercy we’re alive. It’s a kind of a miraculous thing.

So, in this time, if we actually take the stock of our life and take it as an opportunity in these times of world crisis, to become more fixed up in our spiritual life, to regularly chant hare Krishna, to regularly come to the temples, to make our home as a real ashram. Grihasta home should also make their home as an ashram for their whole family with putting Krishna in the center.

You go in the Navadvip parikrama and visit the homes of different devotees like Murari Gupta. He was a devotee of Sita Ram, he worshipped Sita Ram deity and he had a temple. He lived in a grass hut but made a stone temple for the deities. So, the temple is still there. The Sita-Ram-Laxman-Hanuman deities are still there. Like this Grihastas, they must also worship Krishna whether in a photo form or in a small deity form or whether they construct their own temple.

Prabhupada : …niharam iva bha… It is called nihara. As long, as soon as the sun becomes strong, immediately, everything finished. Just see. This… What is called fog, or…?

Jayapataka: Just like when you came to the West, Prabhupada, you cleared away the fog.

Prabhupada: At least, I tried for that. Whatever is done it is done by Krishna . [break] …keeps intelligent to the sincere servant. Otherwise, everything is done by Krishna . So if you, one is sincere to Krishna , he will act everything rightly because the direction is… Buddhi yoga dadami tam. The perfect direction is there. I do not know why people denies to take direction from Krishna . He gets perfect direction. But he does not like to take. What is this tree?

Jayapataka: The imli, I think.

Prabhupada: Imli.

Jayapataka: Not imli? They call that…

Prabhupada: No, no, not imli. Imli’s different. This way, up to that river? [break] …vasudeva-parayana. Vasudeva-parayana, means Krishna  conscious person, they solve all questions by one thing, Krishna  consciousness. Exactly like the sun solves all the problems of this nihara, foss. It is called foss?

Jayapataka: Fog.

Prabhupada: Fog.

Jayapataka: Mist.

Prabhupada: Niharam iva bhaskara. Let the scientists do it in their scientific way, drive away the fog. Is there any process? Eh? In the ocean, when there is fog like this, they have to stop all the ships and cry, (makes sound like fog horn:) onnnh, onnnh, so that they may not collide. I have seen it when I was coming, going to USA. Where is Mohanananda? He is here? No. Mohanananda? Hare Krishna .

The difference between other camps and our: they call these men from their daily, I mean to say, life, householder’s life, for this purpose for a week or so, but they are not dedicated. Here, in our camp, all our people are dedicated to the cause. That is the difference. So they cannot surpass your activities.

Jayapataka: Because you are dedicated, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Yes, everyone should be dedicated, I or you. Does not… That is the success of life. Dedicate your life for Krishna . That is the perfection. Even there are some faults, even dedicated life is noble life. Maybe, due to our past habits, we may commit some faulty action, but that dedicated life is sublime. Api cet suduracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak, sadhur eva sa mantavyau [Bg. 9.30].

Morning Walk
March 4th, 1974
Mayapur
Reference: Vedabase Folios

“We change our name at initiation, but if we  don’t change the consciousness, then what is the use?

Our point is that the consciousness has to be purified. It says in the first Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam ‘janata agha viplavah’, that in every shloka and every verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam, it has the potency to create a revolution in our sinful consciousness

Similarly we should be detached from our materialistic point of view and become attached  to cultivating and developing this type of spiritual knowledge, so that we can actually very systematically purify the consciousness. If we don’t purify the consciousness, what is the benefit of practicing?

Real benefit comes from purifying the consciousness and then engaging that purified consciousness in devotional service.

It doesn’t matter what externally one’s birth might have been, but if one’s consciousness has become purified, then they are elevated. And they become eternal consort or associate of the Lord. They become connected with the Lord eternally.”

“Preaching Krishna consciousness is the Ultimate Shelter for the followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Preaching Krishna consciousness is non-different from Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu—it is an extension of His own transcendental pastimes.

Those who have deviated from the path of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and yet want to cheat themselves and others that they are still, in fact, true followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu or otherwise genuinely on the bonafide spiritual path create distorted philosophies and unauthorized systems to substantiate their false claim . They criticize the real followers of Lord Caitanya and the authorized process of Krishna consciousness being bewildered by their materialistic minds and false egos.

The first verse of “What Kind of Devotee Are You?” is more than a nuclear blast destroying these misconceptions to ashes . Therefore, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has repeatedly referred to this verse of his writings to protect all sincere seekers and followers from these fatal dangers along the path of Krishna consciousness. ”

“His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has used the appropriate analogy of Cream.

Cream naturally rises to the top of the milk, and similarly, if the devotee’s Desires are pure, light and free from all material contaminations, that pure desire will pull one higher and higher in Devotional Activities.

There is no need to be misled; one should exclude all other desires except one- to be the servant of the servant, in other words, to be a pure Vaisnava.”

“When a living being attempts to enjoy separately from the Lord, he enters Maya’s Web.

Just as an unwitting insect flies into a spider’s web and, just as by struggling, the fly becomes increasingly entangled, so the unwitting living being becomes increasingly implicated in illusion the more he struggles to implement his Independent plans.

On the other hand, just as a baby spider crawls nonchalantly across the web, so the devotee who is linked with Lord Madhava, the original author of illusion, remains free from material entanglement.

By personal devotion and dedication of all one’s wealth to Lord Madhava’s service, one can easily be liberated from the web of illusion.”

“In good times anybody can serve Krishna. Difficult times are a REAL TEST of a devotee.

Sometimes because of our Karmas or something, the situation becomes very complicated. Krishna is just watching. He allows it to go on. But anyway nothing happens without His permission. When he sees that the devotee, even though in problem, is still thinking of Me and is wanting to serve Me, then he becomes ‘purchased’ and feels that this devotee is so determined to serve Me.

If you want to impress Krishna, you should serve Him not only in the good times but other times also. In difficult times if we say, “Forget it, I won’t serve”, that kind of friend you can get anywhere. You can buy people like that. Real Devotee means, that you serve anytime and in any circumstance.

Krishna promises He will protect you. He wants to see whether you believe Him or not. If He sees that this person even in distress is looking to Him for protection, then Krishna will protect. If he is not looking for protection, then why will He protect? We have to be fixed that we want Krishna’s protection, then He will protect us, in His own way.”

Jayapataka: Everything you plan is perfect.

Prabhupada: No. I imagine. Krishna makes it perfect. I think, “It would have been nice if it would have been like this,” but Krishna… Yei prasade pure sarva asa. Long, long ago, when I was publishing Back to Godhead, one sheet, I was thinking that “What is this sheet? If it would have been like Illustrated Weekly, then it would have been nice.” Now they are coming like that.

Jayapataka: Now ‘Illustrated Weekly’ is nothing compared to Back to Godhead.

Prabhupada: No. (laughs) Better than Illustrated Weekly. I thought of getting some help from artist. For painting picture, I will dictate, and they will paint picture. Now Krishna has got lots of artists. So depend on Krishna. He can do everything. Krishna-Balarama.

“Nowadays we try to organize once a week namahata meeting, or house program or get people to come to the Sunday feast but they’re too busy. They cant even break away one night to come together for a meeting and have some kirtan in somebody’s house. This is our progress in the modern society. We progress so much that people are so stressed out that they cant even get together and chant ‘Hare Krishna’ once in a week.

But somehow or the other we must make the time, because we sing together, study the Bhagvatam, study the Caitanya Caritamrita, study the Bhagavad Gita. This actually makes our minds very peaceful, very fixed up in Krishna consciousness and makes our spiritual life very clear. The whole existence becomes balanced.

We become like these mountains we discussed earlier. Solid, even in the midst of clouds, even in the midst of lightening. The mountains stand stiff, solid. We want to be able to survive these difficulties which keep coming in the modern society. We don’t know where its going to lead. It could lead anywhere.”

“Every one of us has experienced how someone in a completely miserable condition – like a person in traction in a hospital – says “I am fine!” when asked “How are you?”, just because he has slightly less pain since the day before. This is the standard of material happiness.

In His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s books and lectures, a similar example is often given. From this example one easily realizes that in material life it is not real happiness that is experienced; rather one experiences simply momentary happiness.

Real happiness is not dependent on material situations, is fully satisfying, and can be experienced when in Krishna Consciousness.

When one is able to understand all these truths about material and spiritual life, that is not an ordinary thing. It is only possible by the special mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

“In the previous ages, the Lord was carrying weapons. When the devas approached Caitanya Mahaprabhu when He was still in the womb of His mother, they were glorifying Him that, in every incarnation You come, and You deliver the demons and You deliver Your devotees.

The demons are delivered by getting killed by the Lord and then they are given moksha. They merge into the light of the Lord. The devotees of the Lord are given His shelter, and the achieve Vaikunta.

But in the incarnation of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord doesn’t carry any weapons of violence. His weapons are only weapons of Love, of Bhajan.

Mrdangas, Kartals, Srimad Bhavagat, His personal beauty, His associates, His festivals…these are all transcendental weapons of the Lord. But they are weapons to kill our demoniac nature! The weapons are not to kill us, but the weapons to kill our demoniac nature only…leaving the devotional nature. That is the special mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

So we see in all the incarnations They are very affectionate to the devotees, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the personified…total compassion! Even Jagai-Madhai beat Lord Nithyananda, still Lord Nithyananda gave them His mercy. Who can be more merciful? ”

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“By preaching we can burn up the effects of our offenses. By helping others to be Krishna Conscious, we attract the mercy of Krishna in a very quick manner and we can advance quickly.

For those who are liberated, there are also special rasa when they go out and preach and that is what the Lord wants.

So whether one is a very neophyte or one is a liberated soul, they can all engage in preaching.”

“Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and his beloved disciple, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, are “sages” or bona fide spiritual masters whose instructions are Transparent Windows to the Spiritual World.

Where blindly following can cause mishap, one is protected by carefully comprehending the instructions of the previous spiritual masters and the Vedic literatures using reasoning and logic. Logical reflection on the teachings of Krishna is recommended, while mental speculation based on material conceptions and blind sentiments are forbidden.

On the long journey back to Godhead, who but a fool would travel without a map, without a guide? However, when a devotee has a bonafide spiritual master and the Vedic literatures as his guide and yet instead listens to his false ego, that is even more foolish..”

“ What ever pleasures one is getting by meditating on Krishna’s qualities, that pleasure is coming again newer and newer!

This newness is something everybody is hankering for in the material world. You see in the store, on the packages-New! Newest! The daily newspapers tell you what’s new, what’s the latest. What is new is news. Something you don’t know yet, something that’s new for you, something that is inexperienced.

So people go to great lengths not to get bored. Some TV show maybe gets top ratings, but after a while the materialists get bored with it. When it goes down they want something new. People want always something new.

The wonder, “How is it that you can always be just worshiping Krishna? Don’t you get bored?”

Krishna is Nava Nava. He is EVER NEW! The ecstasy of worshiping Krishna or serving Krishna is ever new. You always feel that this is a new happiness; this is something better than I have ever experienced before, this is something different, this is something new. The devotee doesn’t feel any compulsion to look for something different. He thinks, “Why should I go looking for something different when Krishna is giving ever new transcendental pleasures?”

“When there is a big disaster, people start to have reality checks. What did we do wrong? People start to become introspective when there are disasters and problems. That’s an opportunity for the people who are well grounded in their spiritual life, in their Krishna consciousness to be able to promote KC.

We need a more spiritual world. It’s too much of a one sided world, too much materialism. It needs to be balanced. So, Srila Prabhupada was trying to promote this balance deal of a spiritual life with a responsible householder to show and have role models on how to have a spiritually oriented Grihasta life, family life and to promote that to the neighbors, friends, work colleagues and other acquaintances.

We see here in this examples here in the Bhagvatam that different problems in life, we try to avoid them by having a balanced Krishna conscious life by studying families, by dedicated renounced people, everyone serving together in a cooperative society to please Srila Prabhupada, Lord Chaitanya and Krishna.”

“The material world is but a shadow. If we hold our hand against the light it casts a shadow image. The shadow image is like an outline of the hand. It doesn’t show the qualities of the hand, such as the hair, the skin, or the fingerprints. It is only a vague form.

Similarly, in the material world, what we see as admiration, servitorship, friendship, parental affection, or conjugal affection, these are all like incomplete shadows of their real form.

Just as the hand has so many variegated qualities like form, taste, and small, so the relationships in the spiritual world are full of qualities. They are expanded unlimitedly and contain no imperfection or inebriety.

Because the Lord and the devotees are both eternal and liberated from all material qualities, their relationship is perfect and transcendental.”

“Sometimes someone has a little knowledge, and they become very proud. Sometimes someone has a little wealth, they become very proud, they think nothing can disturb them.

There is a story once, that there was a frog living in the pond. One day the frog, he jumped out on the side of the pond and there he found one coin. He found a 50 paisa piece…’aat anna’. Now this was quite some time ago, so that time ‘aat anna’ was more than it is today. Maybe that ‘aat anna’ was worth 50 rupees today. Now rupees are not worth so much.

So that frog thought that, “Now I am the richest frog in the world! What other frog has so much money?” Have you ever see a frog with money? So he was very proud. So he was sitting on top of that 50 paisa and he was making that sound that the frogs make…what do we call it..croaking!

And he thought that, ‘Now I have become a very wealthy frog, and I don’t have anything to fear anymore because I have so much wealth…I am going to teach that elephant a lesson!! Everyday the elephant comes down, the King’s (raja’s) elephant and he bathes in the pond here and he disturbs all us frogs. He doesn’t appreciate our real value. Just ignores us and comes and…Now that I am the richest frog in the world I’m going to just tie up this elephant and stop him from disturbing us in the pond!”

So when the muhoot came with the elephant in the morning, to take him to bathe in the raj pukoor…raj tank, so that frog sitting on his 50 paise piece…this 8 annas, he told the elephant..”Stop!”. Elephant could hardly pay any attention to what the frog was croaking.

And the frog in his anger jumped over to the elephant, hit his leg and then fell off near the elephants leg. The next step the elephant’s foot came right on the frog….Squish!! End of the story.

So the moral of the story of-course, is we shouldn’t get too proud even if we have some material prosperity. In the material world people, they get a little proud, they get a little prosperity, they are very proud and they start to do things with pride…forgetting that this life is temporary.

And ultimately, whatever power we have, it doesn’t take anything to finish us off.”

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So sometimes when people hear these principles of Bhakti..this bowing down,  offering a flower, offering a fruit, offering water with tulasi, doing some simple services, they think, ‘what is this? this is over-simplified! we  have to do some high mental speculation or….these are just the ABCs’.

There is also a story about that…One time there was one widow. She had a son, about 11-12 years old. So she wanted to give the best education for her son, but she herself was not very highly educated. She just a primary student. So she even borrowed some money and she was paying 100 rupees a month, and order for a tutor, a teacher, to come and teach her boy.

So one day she was cooking, but she was listening, what is the teacher teaching the boy. So that day…he’s about 6th standard, he was teaching geometry. So in geometry… teaching about a triangle, so a triangle is 3 corners, A…B…C. He described the sides by saying AB…BC…CA. So the teacher was explaining this…triangle A…B…C, and then how you go AB…BC..CA.

And the mother is just listening…all she can hear is ‘A…B..C…A…B..C..C..B…C..A’. She said, ‘what is this? I am paying a 100 rupees to a teacher to come and teach by boy, after he is already in 6th standard…and he is still teaching ABC?!!’

She became very furious..came out and started shouting at him, ‘You are fired! You are useless…what are you doing? I am paying you 100 rupees a month and you are teaching my son, after 6-7 years, still you are teaching him ABC??!! You are fired…get out! You are wasting my time’. Then he was trying to explain what it…but you know she won’t hear. She was so angry..so furious. So what can he do, he closes the book.. he goes.

So like that, sometimes the Jnanis, they think, ‘Oh what the Bhaktas as saying, this is ABC!’. They don’t realize that these are higher principles.  But even higher principles you may refer to certain things, which may sound that, just superficial, if you don’t go deep into it, it may sound as though this is ABC.

But actually, the devotees know how to apply it, these principles for understanding the highest knowledge…’Who is the Parambrahma? How do we relate with the Parambrahma, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan? What is our Sambandha, relationship? or Abhideya, how we act in that relationship? Prayojana, the purpose of life?’

All these there are very clearly understood, practiced and achieved through the process of Bhakti Yoga!”

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Because of lack of transcendental knowledge, one is thinking, “Oh because of Krishna Consciousness, I will give up some happiness, like going to the movies at night.” Some kind of attachment is there.

There is a story about Sanatana Goswami’s servant. He asked Sanatana Goswami, “There is a party going on in the forest…there is a big festival. Could I go and participate?”

Sanatana Goswami said, “Festival?…in the middle of the night???…I don’t think you should go there.”

“No, no, no, they are having a good time….”

“All right if you want to go, what can I say? You go, but no eating whatever they give you. Whatever they give you to eat, you just wrap it up and bring it back here.”

So the devotee went to the festival in the forest and they sat him down, “Please take some food.”

They gave him some nice preparations…some rice and so many things, but he wrapped it all up in his cloth, didn’t take it, and he went back to the Ashrama and took rest.

Next morning, Srila Sanatana Goswami asked, “How was the festival?”

“Oh, it was quite interesting. Everyone was having a good time.”

“Did they give you anything to eat?”

He said, “Yes, but I didn’t eat it. I kept it in my cloth.”

“Bring your cloth. Let me see what they gave you. I am sure it has got some nice preparation.”

So he brought it and when they opened the pot, instead of all the nice delicacies he had seen the night before, there was bones, and rotten flesh, and pus and blood, stool and all kinds of horrible things.

“Oh, what is this?”

“Those were ghosts having a ghost festival. They had transformed all these horrible things to make it seem like nice things. If you had eaten…oof!”

Then when the servant realized that, he said, “Oh, how did you know?”

“Who has a festival in the middle of the night, in the middle of the forest?”

So the spiritual master could understand, but the disciple was still attached to some material things. Once he has the knowledge, “Oof! Look at this horrible stuff!” Then naturally you get some detachment.”

When we finally go to the spiritual world, it’s transcendental, and then you have different levels of the spiritual world, where in the Vaikunta planets the devotees of the Lord worship Lord Narayana with awe and reverence and with great pomp, majesty and very formally.

Then you go to Ayodhya where Sita, Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman are there, where Sita-Rama are being worshipped. It is a little less formal, because Rama is playing the part of a king but is more approachable than Lord Narayana.

Then you come to Krishna loka, and there you find in Dwaraka, Krishna is the part of a king. He is more approachable than Rama, but at the same time, a little formal.

When the Gopis met Krishna in Kurukshetra, they said, “We don’t want to be with You as a prince, we want You to come back to Vrindavana, where you were just like a cowherd boy.” So from the Gopis’ point of view, and for the residents of Vrindavana, they didn’t like to see Krishna as a young prince, they liked to see Krishna as a cowherd boy.

So in Vrindavana, Krishna is playing in a very casual loving manner. There is no formality at all. It is the opposite of Vaikunta. Everything is spontaneous there.

Krishna’s father and mother don’t even think of Him as God. They are just serving Krishna in spontaneous parental affection. His friends don’t think Krishna is God; they just think that Krishna is our friend, He is our dear most friend and they are playing with Krishna as equals.”

Even this mood of anger is there in the Personality of Godhead. He is angry when His pure devotee who are simply dedicated to preaching this message and delivering the fallen souls from their misery, are tortured is harassed and… in so many ways offended and mistreated. Then He becomes angry.

Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu advised that vaisnava aparaad mata haathi.. that the MAD ELEPHANT offense is to offend the Vaisnava. Just like an elephant goes into the garden and uproots and those branches being uprooted their leaves dry.

Similarly by offending Vaisnavas, great devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, this destroys one’s spiritual progress.”

My friends, if we look in the world today, we see that, what do we need most of all but… PEACE! We see that in Bosnia, we see in so many parts as Somalia. People all over the world are killing each other based on what? Some people blame it on religion, some people are blaming it on race.

But the real thing that is actually responsible is a lack of higher spiritual consciousness. People are in bodily consciousness, they think they’re the body. If we are born in a particular family, or born in a particular religion, and if we think, and we identify ‘this is my body’s identity’.

We have to get beyond body consciousness. We have come to the transcendental vision, ‘we are the living force in the body, we are all parts of ONE Supreme Godhead’. There may be different ways that people worship this Supreme Godhead. We should respect those different paths. But there is only ONE Supreme Lord.

Just like, one time I was in Bangladesh with a group of devotees from about all the six continents, and I asked each of the different people, about 17 nations, to name the word “water” in their country. And then different people they said, ‘Whata’…’Agua’..’Aqua’, and so many different words for water… ‘pani pani’ and so on.

And then I said, now you say the name of God in your respective language. And then someone from Arabia said, ‘Allah’…and some in English said ‘God’…and someone in German said ‘Gaut’… and then somebody in Spanish said ‘Deus’, and they went around the room and they had all the different words…and then someone from India said ‘Krishna’.

So the point is that there may be so many different words but the personality of Godhead is ONE. There is only one Godhead, and we are all part of His transcendental family, we are all His children, we are all His devotees.

And in this way the whole world...if we have the SPIRITUAL VISION which comes about naturally by chanting the names of God- “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”, then we can actually have the World Peace that people are looking for.”

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“Basically the problems that we are facing in the world today, when we look in the newspapers, we can sum it all up into one common denominator – IGNORANCE! The prejudice, misunderstanding, the lack of mercy, the lack of responsibility to ecology, to the world, the lack of honesty amongst leaders, lack of personal satisfaction, lack of love, are all due to Ignorance.

So what is the anecdote for ignorance? KNOWLEDGE! Knowledge is the actual cure for ignorance. It’s like if you have darkness, what is the anecdote for darkness? Light. So there is a Vedic saying which is very famous, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamayah, “Come out of the darkness of ignorance by bathing in the light of transcendental knowledge.”

Every human being has the responsibility of gathering transcendental knowledge. It’s not something you can inject intravenously or something someone else can do it for you. Transcendental knowledge is something, each person has to consume and digest intellectually and mentally realize it.”

“Bhaktivinod Thakura gives and example of a person trying to stand with his feet in two different boats. Obviously when the boats separate, the person falls in the water. This is the situation we are faced with.

We are trying to accommodate material desires and our spiritual desires too. There is a saying in the west, ‘to have your cake and eat it too’. Someone wants material comforts, sense gratification, and at the same time wants to experience the ecstasy of  pure Krishna Consciousness – this is a contradiction.

Sometimes a person in the Grihasta Ashrama thinks that here is a good alternative: I can enjoy sense gratification and at the same time do devotional service. But that is not how it should be. There is a difference between pure devotees who are Sanyasis or Grihastas and those are mixed devotees.

There is no happiness in material life -  a pure devotee knows this and with this in mind he is serving Krishna.

We have to be very careful and completely sincere not to increase our material situation. We have to keep devotional service priority in our life and everything else if adjusted accordingly. Grihastas deal with different situations concerning children, money, etc, but they have the prime responsibility to be attached to Krishna and engage everything in Krishna’s service.”

“Just like when a soldier is serving under the order of his commander, the commander is supposed to take on the responsibility. At least as long as the commander is ordering something ‘within the law’.

So, the GURU is ordering something, which is bonafide and is according to the scriptures. If he says something crazy like, “everyone commit suicide”, he is NOT a Guru because the scriptures says that you should never commit suicide.

So it’s not like what some people think that Guru is a dangerous cult, that all Gurus are going to tell everybody like Jones did, to do crazy things. That can’t happen if people really know the philosophy.

In the Vedic culture these type of crazy things did not happen because they are trained that one only follows a Guru as long as he doesn’t go against the scriptures and against the previous Gurus.

As long as he is giving us a bonafide instruction, which at face value is a bonafide thing, he is giving us an instruction for our spiritual benefit that we should follow.

“See normally people think that happiness is in the material world. And due to some religion they get some good karma, some blessings, we can get more material happiness.

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu revealed that Love of Godhead is the HIGHEST HAPPINESS. It makes material happiness very dull and shallow and incomparable and just insignificant.

Normally its only the great saints, who are in pure devotional service, who can get a glimpse about this pure love for Krishna and the happiness that’s connected to it.

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu is freely giving out this happiness. So much happiness that he was (is) literally flooding the world.”

“Narottama Das Thakura prayed for a short-cut. He said, “I am so unfortunate, I am so unhappy. It is so difficult for me to control my mind. So Lord Nityananda, please just flood me with ecstasy. Flood me with Your mercy. Then I will be so attracted by the taste of the love flowing from Your lotus feet that automatically my mind will be absorbed. ”

This is the devotee’s short-cut. If we can get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, then very quickly we taste the ecstasy of pure love for Krishna. Then the mind is easily controlled.”

“There are two types of spiritualists and in the Sanskrit language one is called Bhajananandi and the other is called Ghosti Anandi.

Bhajananandi refers to one who personally likes to do spiritual activities, but are more reclusive and are concerned about their own salvation or liberation. Just by their being in the planet they are helping. But they don’t go about of the way to liberate other people. If someone looks them up and asks them, they’ll help them, but they more or less keep to themselves.

The other kind is called Goshti Anandi. He is a person concerned with liberating the whole world. He doesn’t want to go back to God alone, he wants to take as many people as possible with him.

So Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says that a person who is teaching the Bhagavad Gita to the devotees, is the most dear to Him. Someone who is giving this knowledge to other devotees is the most dear. So you will find that a lot of devotees are very enthusiastic to give knowledge to others.

“The sky may be overcast, but as the sunlight rises above the clouds, the clouds are driven away. So similarly when the dirt that clouds our heart is cleansed away, then our pure love for Krishna is manifest.

Everyone in the world is already Krishna conscious. In the context of this understanding, we don’t convert anyone . It is just a question of removing the covering.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita that everyone is Krishna conscious, but that there are different stages of ignorance.
- Some are covered like the Embryo in the Womb,
- Some are like Smoke covering a Fire and,
- Some like Dust on a Mirror.

- Living beings like Animals in the gross mode of ignorance are like the child in the womb —completely covered.
- Those who are in the mode of passion are like the smoke covering the fire . The fire is there, but because of the smoke we cannot see it clearly.
- And others, who are only slightly covered, are like the dusty mirror. By wiping off the dust you can see things as they are.

So everyone is already a member of this movement. Everyone is already internally related to Krishna. It is only a question of purifying the mind of all materialistic contamination. ”

“There are many transcendental activities a person can do. They can do their profession, whether it is an artist, musician, businessman, housewife, mother, or whether it’s producing children.

They can do any activity except slaughtering animals or certain forbidden activities or specifically that taking intoxication of a chemical type etc. which cannot be dovetailed in Krishna’s service.

But the normal kind of activities that we need to do to live in the material world that don’t harm our bodies or anyone else’s bodies can be performed in a way which is spiritual or transcendental so that our whole life, 24hrs a day can be in communion with the Absolute Truth and can be on the transcendental platform.

When someone becomes accomplished in the practice of devotional service, he enjoys this knowledge within himself in due course of time. It’s not just a theory that some people might believe and some might not believe. But when we apply the knowledge through practice of devotional service a person becomes accomplished.”

“There are many examples in the scripture which tells us how we should render devotional service but there are no sufficient words to describe the relationship which evolves between the spiritual master and the disciple when the disciple renders/achieves pure devotional service. That is the greatest gift that one can get from the spiritual master is to get the gift of pure devotion.

Pure devotion to Krsna is desired even by Brahma, by Siva, by the great Rsis. But one can get that priceless gift from the spiritual master by his mercy.. that is what puts us in the inconceivable debt. Actually even if the Guru gives one spiritual instruction, one mantra in our ear, no amount of material repayment can pay for that; because material things are after all temporary.

It is like if someone gives a paper flower…like say, when some one gives a huge palatial building and in return you give a paper flower, then what is the value of that? Still there is some relative value. The paper flower is there for sometime say for few years and the building will stand for hundred years or more.

But the mantra… the spiritual seed given by the spiritual master stands forever. And any material thing has limited life so there is much greater difference. You can’t give any equable example to explain.”

“We need to really push on the sankirtan movement. Expand the congregation to Namahattas and Bhakti Vrkshas and we have to distribute the books profusely to many people. We can have halls to spread Krishna Consciousness, Bhaktivinode Thakur called it sraddha kutirs, homes of faith, so that we can push forth the sankirtan movement so that we can put back Kali and we can establish that golden age.

Now there is the financial crisis in the world. It is actually good for our business. People come to God more when there is some difficulty. So they come to Krishna to find out what is their purpose. Some of our youth I heard they are doing harinam sankirtana, the yoga groups are now doing some kirtan. So our devotees can do bhakti yoga kirtan therapy. So they can in this way flood the world with kirtan.

“Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvata Thakura’s instruction to the mind is to be  constantly engaged in the “loud” harinama sankirtana or congregationally  chanting the glories of the holy name of Krishna.

There are two kinds of Sankirtana which are authorized.

1. First there is the sankirtana performed by many devotees together playing on mrdanga drums and karatala cymbals while chanting loudly the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Räma Hare Räma Räma Räma Hare Hare. This is also accompanied by dancing. That form of vocal, audible sankirtana can be heard throughout the surrounding neighborhood, and with amplification, it can be heard for a mile or more.

2. Another form of sankirtana known as the Brhat Mrdanga or “greater drum” sankirtana, is the distribution of transcendental literatures glorifying Lord Krishna and His holy names. When literatures authorized in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are distributed amongst the general public, they glorify the holy name for an unlimited distance.

Books may go thousands of miles to rescue fallen souls from the illusion of materialistic life. Even in remote places, such as military camps, prisons, frontier outposts and distant countries, the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada have reached the hands of open-minded seekers of truth and dramatically improved their lives. ”

“Whatever the questions of life are, which are enduring, which are absolute type of questions, when they are answered, then our doubts, misgivings, our fears, our ignorance, is dissipated. Those are the type of questions, which are considered most important.

Now, whether it’s going to rain tomorrow or not? This sort of question may be there in many of our minds after so many days of rain, but this is something, which is not like an eternal problem. Eventually it is going to stop raining and the sun is going to come up.

But questions like,
- Who are we?
- Where have we come from?
- Where are we going after this life is over?
- What is this world?
- What is life?
- Is there a Creator?
- Is there an origin to life?
- Is there an ultimate or absolute truth?
- Is there transmigration of the soul?

etc, etc, so many questions for which if we had the answers, we would solve so many problems. These are considered spiritual questions that invoke transcendental knowledge when we get the answer.

So in the Bhagvad Gita we find that there are a series of questions and answers. Arjuna asks different questions and Krishna gives the answers. His basic question was that he was suffering and that he was in anxiety; and he wanted to know how to get out of it?”

“Remembering the instructions of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to always be engaged in propagating the glories of Krishna’s holy names for the upliftment of the fallen souls is the only shelter for the fallen soul aspiring perfection in this present Age.

The alternative passages are actually traps of Maya which will lead one to fall:
1. Into the pit Mayavadi Conceptions or
2. Into Entanglement in Materialistic Activities under the three material modes.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has so kindly given the world a spiritual society in which every thought, word and deed can be engaged in Yukta-Vairägya — pure devotional activities offered to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

“The new favorable contacts we make are like an uncut diamond. It is valuable, but its true value only becomes realized when it is cut and polished.

That process is like the cultivation of the new people and building the relationships with them. Finally when the gem is fully cut and polished it becomes so Valuable.

That is when the devotees are more fully developed in their Krishna consciousness and ready to take up temple service or serve in a Nama Hatta Bhakti Vrksa group (cell).”

“Srila Prabhupada said in Krishna consciousness we need to emulate the Coconut or Palm trees which can bend under the stormy weather, but after the wind stops they bounce back upright. Stiff big trees often get blown over.

So please tolerate all kinds of difficulties and remain fixed in your Krishna Consciousness no matter what kinds of tests come. Always try to serve Guru & Gauranga under all circumstances.”

“Maya is also a devotee of Krishna whose duty is to keep the criminals in jail. She never releases anyone unless they become a pure devotee of Krishna. But when someone becomes pure, she gladly accepts defeat, because her whole purpose is to help people surrender to Krishna. This is her success.

She expertly keeps the living entity in illusion until he understands that he is the eternal servant of Krishna, thus preventing the criminally minded living entities from creating havoc in the completely harmonious spiritual world. ”

“We accept particular bodies in our dreams to be ourselves. We may dream that we are king, or dream that we are pauper, or a woman. In the dream we are thinking “This is me.” When we wake up, we find that it was a dream and that the temporary dream body is disappeared.

So in a similar way, by the influence of material nature, we get a particular body in this life, and we identify with this body that it’s ourselves. When we actually wake up to our real eternal identity, we find that this temporary body is not our real self.

When we dream, it lasts for a few seconds; we sleep during night five ti six or even seven hours. We have this temporary body for say hundred years or fifty years, or seventy years. So relatively speaking, that seems much more real.

Dreams may change often. In relation to our eternal self, this temporary body which we get from the material world is also just like a flash, a very short period of time. Therefore, it could be compared to a dream.

When we are in a dream, it seems real to us. We are experiencing happiness, pleasures, sadness, anxiety or fear, depending on whether it’s a nice dream or nightmare.”

“When Srila Prabhupada was sick, he said, ‘Don’t pray to Krishna that I should stay here, pray that if it pleases Krishna, if it is His desire that I stay, then please allow the spiritual master to be healthy.’

The devotee has no demand on Krishna. If Krishna wants something to happen, the devotee accepts that. Within Krishna’s desires, if Krishna has different options, if it’s all the same to Krishna, then the devotee may express that he likes this particular thing.

But if Krishna has some other plan, the devotee doesn’t want to interfere with it, but wants that Krishna be pleased. This is the difference between pure devotion and mixed devotion.”

“Hare Krishna” is so powerful, (that) in kali yuga you can become Krishna conscious. What to talk of satya yuga when people were chanting…they were completely freed of sins.

In Satya Yuga and the previous yugas, if your father bought something bad you will get a karmic reaction. But in Kali Yuga YOU have to do something bad.

So don’t do anything bad. Yamraja is watching…Krishna is watching too! You want to send a thought, drive it out of your mind..No I won’t do that!”