Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 157

Eat less!

Reducing the eating process is very helpful in the matter of sense control. And without sense control there is no possibility of getting out of the material entanglement.

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport to BG. 4.29

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Monte Carlo gamblers

Gambling means betting. That is gambling. People are betting. You put one dollar, and if you gain, you get ten dollars. Otherwise, you lose this one dollar. This is gambling. They’re gambling in Christian churches also, in the Western countries. But gambling is considered sinful activity. One Mr. Bhattacarya, a barrister, he was educated in England. So he told there is some island, Monte Carlo, there are gamblers, and one gambler loses everything, he commits suicide immediately, and he’ll go. That’s all. Nobody cares for him. They bring all their fortunes to stake, and they lose everything. And then, out of frustration, takes revolver and shots himself, dies, and it is thrown on the street or somewhere. Nobody cares. Just like cats and dogs.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 — September 17, 1969, London

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The test of a true guru

Reporter (4): What is the test of a true guru?

Prabhupada: He will describe about Krsna. He will ask you to become devotee of Krsna. His business is to propagate Krsna. That is the symptom of guru.

(Reporters’ Interview — June 29, 1974, Melbourne)

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Summary of Vaisnava philosophy

The summary of Vaisnava philosophy is as follows:

God is a person like us, but He is all-powerful with all opulences in full. The living entities are His eternal servants. There are varieties of living entities that have inherited the opulences of God in different degrees. There are two kinds of nature, the spiritual nature and the material nature. The living entities belong to the spiritual nature and being part and parcel of God they have all the qualities of God in minute proportion. There are innumerable living entities both in the spiritual world and in the material world. The spiritual world is far, far greater than the material world. As such, the number of living entities living in the spiritual world is many more times greater than the number of living entities living within the material world. The living entities, when they try to lord it over the God’s property, forgetting their constitutional position to remain as eternal servant of God, they are given the material world to act according to their desires. In such endless varieties of desires the living entities are seen in varieties of bodies beginning from Brahma, down to the most insignificant insect. In this way, when someone is fortunate, he, by the grace of Spiritual Master and Krsna, revives his Krsna Consciousness. And if he makes progress under the direction of the Spiritual Master, then he revives his original Krsna Consciousness in full and thus he regains his position in the eternal Kingdom of God.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Umapati — Los Angeles, 30 March, 1970

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All butchers

The whole world is a butchershop. Whoever isn’t giving Krishna consciousness to another is butchering him. The mother is butchering, the father is butchering, the friend is butchering.

(Srila Prabhupada, quoted in BTG #27, 1969)

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Srila Prabhupada’s anger

Nava-yogendra reflected on what Prabhupada had told him. “His anger was only for our rectification,” he saw. “In the material world people get angry, but Prabhupada’s anger was not like theirs. He was a pure devotee, and he knew the value of this human life, that this human form is meant for self-realization and we should not waste even a second. We should cultivate Krsna consciousness all the time. If he saw that his disciples were not acting properly, he would get angry for their rectification.”

The anger he showed was for us; he never carried it with him. It was instructive anger — he had no anger in him other than anger and anxiousness for seeing that Krsna and his spiritual master were served nicely.

(From Giriraj Swami’s book, “I’ll Build You a Temple”)

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Why devotees worship Hanuman

Prahlada Maharaja cited the example of Hanuman, the eternal servitor of Lord Ramacandra, who also set an example by never asking any material favor from the Lord. He always remained engaged in the Lord’s service. That is the ideal character of Hanuman, for which he is still worshiped by all devotees. Prahlada Maharaja also offered his respectful obeisances unto Hanuman. There is a well-known verse spoken by Hanuman in which he says, “My dear Lord, if You like You can give me salvation from this material existence, or the privilege of merging into Your existence, but I do not wish any of these things. I do not want anything which diminishes my relationship with You as servant to master, even after liberation.”

From “The Nectar of Devotion” by Srila Prabhupada

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Big belly, but cannot jump like Hanumanji

“Big, big monkey, big, big belly–Ceylon jumping, melancholy.” With big belly a monkey comes forward, and if you ask him, “Jump over like Hanumanji,” finished, belly finished. These are Bengali words. Baro baro badare baro baro pet lanka dingake mata kare het. “I cannot do it.” And why you have got so much belly? So this is not good.

Srila Prabhupada — August 26, 1975, Vrndavana

From Vrndavan Vyasa-puja offering 1998:

Twice in Vrndavana you quoted a little poem to the devotees:

Big monkey,
Big, big belly;
Lanka jumping,
Melancholy.

The first incident was just after you opened the temple in April 1975 and then left Vrndavana for three months of preaching. A huge amount of work remained to complete the project. The devotees struggled throughout the summer months to prepare the temple, guesthouse, and your house for your return in August. On your arrival, the temple managers proudly showed you all the improvements. On your first morning walk they gave you a tour of the grounds and temple building. A Life Member preaching room had been established at the entrance of the temple, with book displays, etc. It was very attractive, and as you entered the room the devotees expected your appreciation of their efforts. You looked around and saw what everyone else failed to notice. You pointed to some scattered twigs and broken pigeon eggs on the floor. Above, pigeons were nesting on a ledge in the room and had created a mess on the floor during the night. The devotees were speechless and hung their heads in disappointment. You then said, Feed a monkey a lot of chapatis, he gets a big belly. Ask him to jump over the wall, and he just puts his head down. Their reaction of despair elicited from you this Vrndavana monkey story to bring them out of their state of inertia. Then again you quoted this poem when you were describing the babajis of Vrndavana who collect a lot of chapatis throughout the day by begging. But when they are asked to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu — no, that they cannot do.

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A devotee’s vision

We are servants of Krsna, that means because we understand that Krsna is our protector under all circumstances, we have no more any anxiety, so we become very liberal and tolerant of all kinds of seeing others’ sinful activities, and we see them innocent victims of maya, and we try to help them understand what is the real position of life.

Srila Prabhupada, letter, 13 Dec 1972

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Description of a chaste woman

A chaste woman must dress nicely and decorate herself with golden ornaments for the pleasure of her husband. Always wearing clean and attractive garments, she should sweep and clean the household with water and other liquids so that the entire house is always pure and clean. She should collect the household paraphernalia and keep the house always aromatic with incense and flowers and must be ready to execute the desires of her husband. Being modest and truthful, controlling her senses, and speaking in sweet words, a chaste woman should engage in the service of her husband with love, according to time and circumstances.

SB 7.11.26–27, translation by Srila Prabhupada

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