Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 24

Lord Siva, the ideal husband

Today in Hindu society, unmarried girls are still taught to worship Lord Siva with the idea that they may get husbands like him. Lord Siva is the ideal husband, not in the sense of riches or sense gratification, but because he is the greatest of all devotees. Vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh: Sambhu, or Lord Siva, is the ideal Vaisnava. He constantly meditates upon Lord Rama and chants Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Lord Siva has a Vaisnava sampradaya, which is called the Visnu-Svami-sampradaya. Unmarried girls worship Lord Siva so that they can expect a husband who is as good a Vaisnava as he. The girls are not taught to select a husband who is very rich or very opulent for material sense gratification; rather, if a girl is fortunate enough to get a husband as good as Lord Siva in devotional service, then her life becomes perfect. The wife is dependent on the husband, and if the husband is a Vaisnava, then naturally she shares the devotional service of the husband because she renders him service. This reciprocation of service and love between husband and wife is the ideal of a householder’s life.

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 3.23.1

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Siva and Visnu, same and different

Indian man (7): Swamiji, Siva is not another name of God?

Prabhupada: Yes. Siva is next to God. Just like yogurt, dahi. What is this dahi?

Indian man (7): Curd milk.

Prabhupada: Milk, but it is not milk. Dahi is not anything but milk, but it is not milk. Similarly, Lord Siva is nothing but Visnu, but it is not Visnu. Is it clear now?

Indian man (7): Yes.

Prabhupada: You can say, “Well, dahi is nothing but milk.” Yes. But it is not milk. If instead of milk you take dahi, the result will be different. And if you take milk instead of dahi, the result will be different, although the milk and dahi is the same thing, same ingredients. So you have to understand in that way. Lord Siva is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord. Everyone is nondifferent from Supreme Lord, but he’s still different. This is the perfect philosophy, acintya-bhedabheda, simultaneously one and different.

Morning Walk — October 5, 1975, Mauritius

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Don’t become a guru

One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.

Srila Prabhupada’s rendering of Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.18

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Chanting can convert many people

We are not powerful enough to enchant the lower animals such as tigers, snakes, cats and dogs or entice them to dance, but by chanting the holy names of the Lord we can actually convert many people throughout the world to Krsna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada, NoI 4 ppt.

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No noble man in government

At the present moment, no honest man can become a government officer, everywhere. Unless he is a rogue, dishonest person, he cannot maintain his governmental position. Therefore no noble man is going to the government. But what you can do?

Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk — May 3, 1973, Los Angeles

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Real renouncement

Prabhupada: We are not renouncing. We are actually accepting. You are renouncing.

Devotee: We are accepting the real world.

Prabhupada: No. We are accepting the Krsna’s society, or Krsna’s association. Krsna has got His society in Vrndavana. We are going to become one of the members of that society. But you are avoiding it. So you are renouncing. Our mission is back to home, back to Godhead, to enter into the society of associates of God — but you are avoiding it. You do not want. You want this temporary so-called society, friendship and love, which will be finished within some years. That is your ignorance. This society will not stay. How long you shall remain American? You will not remain for many days. Then where is your position? You will be kicked out. However you may try to remain in this so-called society, friendship and love, you will not be allowed to stay. You will be forced to renounce. We are trying to enter into the society of Krsna, where everything is eternal.

yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
[Bg 15.6]

So which is better? Your so-called society will not stay. You cannot stay here, however you may nicely dressed with hats and coats and boots. You will be kicked out. Then where you will go? Ask this question to them.

Room Conversation – May 30, 1976, Honolulu

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Devotees must preach

When a person actually revives his consciousness with thoughts of Krsna by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he revives his spiritual life and becomes addicted to the service of the Lord. Only then can he act as an acarya. In other words, everyone should engage in preaching, following in the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this way one will be very much appreciated by Lord Krsna and will quickly be recognized by Him. Actually a devotee of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu must engage in preaching in order to increase the followers of the Lord. By thus preaching actual Vedic knowledge all over the world, one will benefit all mankind.

Srila Prabhupada, Cc. Madhya 7.153 ppt.

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30 general principles for all human beings

These are the general principles to be followed by all human beings: truthfulness, mercy, austerity (observing fasts on certain days of the month), bathing twice a day, tolerance, discrimination between right and wrong, control of the mind, control of the senses, nonviolence, celibacy, charity, reading of scripture, simplicity, satisfaction, rendering service to saintly persons, gradually taking leave of unnecessary engagements, observing the futility of the unnecessary activities of human society, remaining silent and grave and avoiding unnecessary talk, considering whether one is the body or the soul, distributing food equally to all living entities (both men and animals), seeing every soul (especially in the human form) as a part of the Supreme Lord, hearing about the activities and instructions given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead (who is the shelter of the saintly persons), chanting about these activities and instructions, always remembering these activities and instructions, trying to render service, performing worship, offering obeisances, becoming a servant, becoming a friend, and surrendering one’s whole self. O King Yudhisthira, these thirty qualifications must be acquired in the human form of life. Simply by acquiring these qualifications, one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

A human being must be trained in the above-mentioned thirty qualities; otherwise, he is not even a human being. Then, among such qualified persons, the varnasrama process should be introduced. The whole purpose of this system is to create good population. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, when women are polluted the populace is varna-sankara, and when the varna-sankara population increases, the situation of the entire world becomes hellish.

Srila Prabhupada, SB 7.11.8–12, text, & SB 7.11.13, ppt.

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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada said, part 2

If to carry out the command of the Vaisnava guru I have to be arrogant or brutish, or suffer eternal perdition, I am prepared to welcome such eternal damnation and even sign a contract to that effect. I will not listen to the words of malicious persons in lieu of the command of sri-gurudeva. I will dissipate with indomitable courage and conviction the currents of thought of the rest of the world, relying on the strength derived from the lotus feet of sri-gurudeva. I confess to this arrogance.

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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada said, part 1

The Krsna of genuine Krsna-kirtana is not the imagined “Krsna” attempted to be imprisoned by the hybrid ideologies of feeble mankind, the “Krsna” conceived as a historical figure, or an allegorical or mythological “Krsna”; nor the “Krsna” of the prakrta-sahajiyas or materially lusty persons; nor the “Krsna” portrayed by mundane artists or of those in the grip of liberal doctrines; nor the “Krsna” of the clay-brained; nor the “Krsna” taken as fuel supply for any personal inclination. Such maya-mixed “Krsnas” are not the Krsna of Krsna-sankirtana. When a famous novelist described Krsna-caritra (The life story of Krsna), how gushily the New Bengal youth proclaimed it at every street corner and marketplace!  When Krsna-caritra was first published, from every mouth, both young and old, was heard, “Now there is fresh light on the character of Krsna!” There was so much discussion on the “Krsna of Mahabharata” and the “Krsna of Srimad-Bhagavatam,” and so on. But our Krsna is not a “Krsna” to be measured by clay-brains and placed in a box. Our Krsna is Sri Krsna. Krsna means all-attractive, and Sri means the supremely beautiful, whom only Krsna has the power to attract.

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