Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 25

Remaining strong in Krsna consciousness

Just maintain our strong position of purity of routine work and preach and distribute literature, that’s all.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Giriraja, 28 December, 1971

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Fame in Krishna consciousness

You ask about the desire for fame. Fame is a material desire, but to desire fame in Krishna Consciousness is not bad. If you think that people may know me as a great devotee of Krishna, that they may acknowledge me a nice devotee of Krishna, that is not at all bad. But even one is highly elevated in Krishna Consciousness he should not think himself a great devotee, he should think himself always humble.

From Srila Prabhupada’s Letter to Upendra – Los Angeles 13 November, 1968

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Devotional service is not mundane

In our preaching work, we deal with so much property and money and so many books bought and sold, but because these dealings all pertain to the Krsna consciousness movement, they should never be considered material. That one is absorbed in thoughts of such management does not mean that he is outside of Krsna consciousness. If one rigidly observes the regulative principle of chanting sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra every day, his dealings with the material world for the sake of spreading the Krsna consciousness movement are not different from the spiritual cultivation of Krsna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.16.3 purport

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All this planet was known as Bharatavarsa

The advanced people, they were Aryans, arya. Aryans means advanced. So the Indo-European stock, they are also Aryans. They came from Central India, Central Asia, and some of them went to Indian side. That is the history. The Caspian, Caspian Sea, that was the place of Kasyapa Muni. Kasyapa. From Kasyapa the Caspian has come. Just like formerly the capital of Afghanistan was known as Gandhar. Now it has become Kandahar. So by historical references, it will be ascertained that the whole, this planet was known as Bharatavarsa. What is now India is now known Bharatavarsa, but formerly the whole planet was known as Bharatavarsa.

Srila Prabhupada, Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.45, Los Angeles, on May 7th, 1973

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Education, family, tradition, nationality won’t help—only Nityananda

Every one of us, as living entity, we are searching after pleasure. But the pleasure which we are seeking, that is flickering, temporary. That is not pleasure. Real pleasure is nityananda, eternal pleasure. So anyone who has no contact with Nityananda, it is to be understood that his life is spoiled.

se sambandha nahi ja’r, brtha janma gelo ta’r, sei pasu boro duracar

Narottama dasa Thakura uses here very harsh word. He says that such human being is an animal, an uncontrollable animal. As there are some animals that cannot be tamed, so anyone who has not contacted Nityananda, he should be considered as an untamed animal. Sei pasu boro duracar. Why? Because nitai na bolilo mukhe: “He never uttered the holy name of Nityananda.” And majilo samsara-sukhe, “and become merged into this material happiness.” Vidya-kule ki koribe tar. “That nonsense does not know that what will his education and family and tradition and nationality will help him?” These things cannot help him. These are all temporary things. Simply, if we want eternal pleasure, we must contact Nityananda. Vidya-kule ki koribe tar. Vidya means education, and kula means family, nationality. So we may have a very nice family connection or we may have very nice national prestige, but after ending this body, these things will not help me. I’ll carry my work with me, and according to that work, I shall have to accept by force another type of body. It may be something other than human body. So these things cannot protect us or give us the real pleasure.

Srila Prabhupada, Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s  Appearance Day, Nitai-Pada-Kamala Purport, Los Angeles, January 31, 1969

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Guru Nityananda

Lord Nityananda is guru. He can instruct us, but ultimately it depends on the disciple. A doctor may say, ‘Do this,’ ‘Do not do this,’ but if the patient does not follow the prescription, what is the result? Similarly, Nityananda Prabhu will hear the prayer of an insincere rascal, if that rascal actually wants to change his condition. One must agree not to be a rascal any more, then his rascaldom can be reformed. Jagai and Madhai begged the Lord for His mercy and they were prototype rascals, drunkards and debauchees. Lord Caitanya told them ‘First you stop your nonsense activities, then I will accept you.’ So a rascal may be accepted provided he agrees to stop his nonsenses. Otherwise, how can one expect to be reformed if he does not agree or like to be reformed? To be reformed, he must agree to the reforming process.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Rudra, 9th March, 1970)

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Nityananda Prabhu breaks Gaura’s danda [see Cc Madhya 1.97]

Regarding Nityananda Prabhu breaking the sannyasi rod of Lord Caitanya, the explanation is that this was to show that Lord Caitanya was Krishna, so He had no necessity of taking sannyasa. In the higher sense the Vaisnavas are meant for being members of the family of Krishna to serve as friend, to serve as parent or to serve as lover. So for such elevated devotees sannyasa is superfluous. But still, Lord Caitanya took sannyasa just to prove it factually that so far as the material conditions are concerned, they must be given up. Without knowing this fact some so-called Vaisnavas have turned to be sahajiya. This means one who takes everything as very easy. All the acaryas, beginning from Lord Buddha, Sankaracarya, Ramanuja, etc., all of them renounced this world. So renunciation is required, but when one makes further progress after renunciation towards spiritual life and enters into the Pastimes of Krishna, then things become perfect. The summary is that sannyasa is renunciation, which is imperative for all. Nityananda’s breaking the sannyasi rod of Caitanya Mahaprabhu was with the purpose to show that Lord Caitanya is transcendental to all material conditions.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to: Kapiladev — Tittenhurst 24 October, 1969

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Pure Devotees are better than Ganga

Pure devotees of the Lord are more powerful than the waters of the sacred river Ganges. One can derive spiritual benefit out of prolonged use of the Ganges waters. But one can be sanctified at once by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord.

Srila Prabhupada; Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.15, Purport

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Mudhas not taking to Krsna consciousness

Foolish persons accept the difficult path of karma-kanda for the sake of sense enjoyment, and those who are too much attached to sense enjoyment are called mudhas (rascals). It is very difficult for a mudha to understand the ultimate goal of life. In the propagation of the Krsna consciousness movement, we actually see that many people are not attracted because they are mudhas engaged in fruitive activity. It is said: upadeso hi murkhanam prakopaya na santaye. If good instructions are given to a foolish rascal, he simply becomes angry and turns against the instructions instead of taking advantage of them.

Srila Prabhupada, SB 4.25.9, ppt.

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Members of the Brahma-sampradaya try to reclaim the fallen souls

The creation of the material world is not blind or accidental. The living entities who are ever conditioned, or nitya-baddha, are thus given a chance for liberation under the guidance of His own representative like Brahma. The Lord instructs Brahma in Vedic knowledge in order to diffuse this knowledge to the conditioned souls. The conditioned souls are forgetful souls in their relationship with the Lord, and thus a period of creation and the process of dissemination of Vedic knowledge are necessary activities of the Lord. Lord Brahma has a great responsibility in delivering the conditioned souls, and therefore he is very dear to the Lord.

Brahma also does his duty very perfectly, not only by generating the living entities but also by spreading his party for reclaiming the fallen souls. The party is called the Brahma-sampradaya, and any member of this party to date is naturally engaged in reclaiming the fallen souls back to Godhead, back home. The Lord is very much anxious to get back His parts and parcels, as stated in the Bhagavad-gita. No one is more dear than the one who takes the task of reclaiming the fallen souls back to Godhead.

There are many renegades from the Brahma-sampradaya whose only business is to make men more forgetful of the Lord and thus entangle them more and more in material existence. Such persons are never dear to the Lord, and the Lord sends them deeper into the darkest region of matter so that such envious demons may not be able to know the Supreme Lord.

Anyone, however, preaching the mission of the Lord in the line of the Brahma-sampradaya is always dear to the Lord, and the Lord, being satisfied with such a preacher of the authorized bhakti cult, shakes hands with him in great satisfaction.

Srila Prabhupada, Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.19 purport

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