Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 206

Srila Prabhupada’s great respect for Lord Jesus Christ

Who will not respect Jesus Christ? He sacrificed everything for God, even his life. So who is that rascal that he’ll not respect to Jesus Christ? What did he do wrong to the human society? He did everything for the good of the human society. Oh, I have got very, very great respect for Lord Jesus Christ. Every God conscious man, he must have respect for Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about it. My Guru Maharaja had very great respect for Muhammad, Jesus Christ…

Srila Prabhupada — June 29, 1974, Melbourne

Respect Christ but don’t accept his philosophy

Regarding your question about Lord Jesus Christ, we accept him as saktyavesa avatara. Lord Buddha is in the same category also. Lord Buddha is mentioned specifically in Srimad-Bhagavatam as incarnation of Godhead, and yet Vaisnavas do not accept his philosophy, which is classified as atheism. Similarly, even if we accept Lord Jesus Christ as saktyavesa avatara, it doesn’t mean that we have to accept his philosophy. But we have all respects for him without fail. Regarding books like Aquarian Gospel or even the Testiments, we cannot accept them as authorities because sometimes it is learnt that the words are not actually spoken by Christ, but they are so set up by the devotees. For example, in the Ten Commandments it is clearly stated “Thou shalt not kill,” but some Bishop in Boston has changed it to “Thou shalt do no murder.” This means the Bishop wants to keep hold for animal slaughter. So don’t bother about all these literatures. We have all respect for these great preachers, but we do not require to study books save and accept for some reference. We must push on our philosophy how to love God. Our process is simple. We have got volumes of books also, so it is better for us to mind our own business than to divert our attention in the studies of other books. This was definitely forbidden by Lord Caitanya.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Hansadutta — Tittenhurst, 2 November, 1969

Srila Prabhupada on humility, echoing Jesus

One who feels humble and meek has the door for the Kingdom of God opened for him or her.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to: Janaki — Los Angeles 9 December, 1968

A bit like “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” — Matthew 5:5

We are not enemies of machines

So far as your utilizing machinery at New Vrindaban, if such machinery is helpful than you may take advantage of them. We are not enemies of machines. If they can be used for Krishna’s service then we welcome them.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to: Kirtanananda — Los Angeles 8 December, 1968

From Bhakti Rasayana Sagara Swami’s VP offering, 2016

I was distributing your books at the Covent Garden in London City, when I stopped a man in his mid sixties to offer him a book. He smiled and said that he “knows the guru personally.” I wondered whom he was talking about, and he responded that it was “the elderly Indian man,” whom he, as a teenager, had met in New York on the Lower East Side. I realized then that he was actually speaking about you! Then he asked how you were doing and was shocked to learn that you had left this world many years ago. He paused and said that you were always very nice to him and other kids in the neighborhood. They were very surprised to see how you could endure staying outdoors dressed quite lightly in the snowy New York winter, and he remembered that despite the cold you had a blissful expression on your face as you chanted Hare Krsna next to a piece of cardboard on which the maha-mantra had been written by hand. Apparently these were the days when you were completely alone, with no followers or supporters at all. And then before he left he said something I’ll never forget: “I know there are many people who speak ill of him, but don’t believe any of it. He was the most wonderful person I ever met in my life!”

Chanting: powerful boon for grhasthas

The process of chanting the holy name of the Lord is so powerful that by
this chanting even householders [grhasthas] can very easily gain the
ultimate result achieved by persons in the renounced order.

From Srila Prabhupada’s translation of SB 7.15.74

Important basic instructions from Srila Prabhupada

Follow the rules and regulation, and everything will be clear, very crystal
clear. There will be no impediment. Always chant, hear; don’t waste time.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.15 —
April 8, 1975, Mayapur

Pretending to be yogis

Nowadays there are so many yoga schools to encourage people in developing their lusty desires and greed through the practice of yoga. People are therefore very much fond of so-called yoga practice. The actual practice of yoga, however, is described here. As authoritatively stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.13.1), dhyanavasthita-tad-gatena manasa pasyanti yam yoginah: a yogi is one who always meditates on the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (5.38):

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Syamasundara, Krsna Himself, with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.”

The bhakti-yogi constantly sees Syamasundara — beautiful Lord Krsna with His blackish bodily hue. Because the king of the elephants, Gajendra, thought himself an ordinary animal, he thought himself unfit to see the Lord. In his humility, he thought that he could not practice yoga. In other words, how can those who are like animals in the bodily concept of life, and who have no purity of consciousness, practice yoga? In the present day, people who have no control over their senses, who have no understanding of philosophy and who do not follow religious principles or rules and regulations are nonetheless pretending to be yogis. This is the greatest anomaly in the practice of mystic yoga.

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 8.3.28

Fifty percent done, now establish varnasrama-dharma

(HH Bhakti Charu Swami. “Ocean of Mercy,” p. 198-199)

[Bhakti Charu Maharaja said to Srila Prabhupada:] “What you have done is inconceivable. No one has ever achieved what you have. You should not think that there is anything left that you must do. Now you should just relax.”

“What I have done is fifty percent,” he said. “The other fifty percent is to establish varnasrama-dharma [the Vedic organization of society into four social and four spiritual orders].”

I did not know what to say, so I remained silent.

“ISKCON is for the devotees,” he said, “but not everyone will become a devotee; not everyone will be able to surrender to Krsna. For those who will not, who will continue to act according to the modes of material nature — in order to situate them in the proper human culture, we need varnasrama-dharma.”

He spoke like this for quite a while. I understood some of what he said, but much of it flew over my head. Clearly, establishing varnasrama-dharma was not going to be easy or simple. But neither had what Srila Prabhupada had already accomplished. No one had ever achieved what he had. Even Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who had predicted that the holy name would be spread around the world, to every town and village, had not done it Himself; He had left that for one of His very special devotees — Srila Prabhupada. And now, to expand his achievement, we had to spread varnasrama-dharma all over the world, to every town and village, thus completing the other fifty percent of his mission. The rest of the world’s population still had to be brought under the umbrella of Vedic culture.

For that to happen, governments would also have to become Krsna conscious. First, materialistic democracy would have to go. It was, as Prabhupada had said, an arrangement for sudras to rule. Since most people were sudras, wherever a government was established by the vote of the majority, it was a government of sudras. In contrast, in varnasrama-dharma the brahmanas would be the head of society and give advice; the ksatriyas, the arms, would rule according to the guidance of the brahmanas;  the vaisyas would cater to society’s needs; and the working class, the sudras, rather than being exploited in a moneymaking racket, would work under the direction — and protection — of the other three classes. The brahmanas would guide, and the ksatriyas would execute; possessed of natural charisma and commanding military power, they would take care of administration. Heroes of noble character, sitting at the feet of the brahmanas, they would rule the kingdom — the Vedic way of governance. When all that happened, the rest would come easily.

Unfortunately, when the brahmanas became degraded due to the influence of the Age of Kali, the ksatriyas refused to accept their guidance and became independent, cruel despots, debauchees, and sense gratifiers. Either they fought among themselves and destroyed one another, or the masses rose up and deposed them in a revolution, bringing democracy — not the worst but clearly not the best way for human society to prosper.

Fortunately, we had ISKCON to establish pure devotional service. Not everyone would be able to reach a high spiritual standard or follow the four regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra. They would opt instead for a life of fruitive work and sense gratification. For them, the structure of varnasrama-dharma was an absolute necessity.

Not cold in the spiritual world

Prajapati: Is it sometimes cold in the spiritual world?

Prabhupada: No. [laughter] You don’t like to go there?

Prajapati: Oh, yes, I like to go there. Actually, I would rather be here in
the cold with you, Srila Prabhupada, than be in the warm without you.

(Morning Walk — December 19, 1973, Los Angeles)