Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 40

Material world: upside down

If somebody takes your legs and catches you and your head down, then it is not very comfortable. This whole material world is like that. It is uncomfortable. It is perverted reflection. On the bank of a river or the bank of a pond, tree is standing, but the reflection in the water, of the tree, is not real. Real tree is up. Similarly, real enjoyment, real varieties — everything is in the spiritual world.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Bhagavad-gita 15.1 — Calcutta, February 26, 1974

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Come as you are, join this chanting and dancing, be purified

Our aim should be how to get out of this miserable condition of this material existence. And we should prepare ourself for that purpose. And the best and easiest method is this Krsna consciousness. You chant Hare Krsna, dance in ecstasy, you become in the process of purification. You chant, you dance nicely, enjoy. Just see how nice and easiest process has been endowed to us by Lord Caitanya. He’s teaching Himself. And immediately you can take part. If… There is no prerequisite qualification. You haven’t got to educate yourself. Just like if one studies Vedanta, he has to tax his brain so much, he has to learn Sanskrit, he has to learn the intricacies of logic and philosophy and so many things. Here, there is no need of anything. You come here as you are, whatever you may be, and join this chanting and dancing—your purification method immediately begins. Immediately. And if you continue, then you become purified. Ceto-darpana-marjanam.

Srila Prabhupada, Talk on Bhagavad-gita 2.13 — November 18, 1972, Hyderabad

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Devotees address each other as “prabhu”

Yes, to call one another prabhu is all right, but not to become prabhu. To accept others as prabhu, and remain as servant is the idea. But because somebody is calling you prabhu, one should not become a prabhu, and treat others as servants. In other words, everyone should feel himself as servant, and not to think himself prabhu because he is being called prabhu. This will make the relationship congenial.

Srila Prabhupada, From a letter to Himavati Devi Dasi, June 14, 1968

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The secret of Vyasa-puja

The plain truth so vividly explained in the Gita, which is the central lesson of the Vedas, is not understood or even suspected by the most powerful scholars of the empiric schools. Herein lies the secret of Sri Vyasa-puja. When we meditate on the transcendental pastimes of the Absolute Godhead, we are proud to feel that we are His eternal servitors, and we become jubilant and dance with joy. All glory to my divine master, for it is he who has out of his unceasing flow of mercy stirred up within us such a movement of eternal existence. Let us bow down at his lotus feet.

Srila Prabhupada, The Science of Self-Realization, Ch. 2

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For JANMASTAMIT: he all-attractive eternal form of all rasas

By His fullness of opulence, and on account of being the One without a second competitor and His being the Lord of all creatures, He is worshiped even by the supreme directors of the cosmic creation. He is attractive even by His personal decorative features. Lord Sri Krsna is observed to be always decorated with multi ornaments of apt position. His earrings, His crown, His bangles, His necklace, and belt etc., bedecked with most valuable jewels, His attractive smiling face smeared with the pulp of sandalwood on the forehead, and His yellowish silken garments all combine together to make His full attractive Personality. The whole Bhagavata Purana is practically a vivid description of His fullness of attraction, and in the beginning of the same, the Lord Sri Krsna is discriminated from all other plenary manifestations or incarnations with emphasis on His being the original form of Godhead and the Personality of Godhead as He is. And considering all these features of His personal and transcendental qualities as described in all the Vedic revealed scriptures, Lord Sri Krsna is undoubtedly the all-attractive eternal form of all rasas.

Srila Prabhupada, From Back to Godhead, Vol. 3, Part 17, April 15, 1960

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Krsna was God from the very beginning

You are searching after God. You are taxing your brain so much. But in spite of taxing your brain, you say sometimes that “There is no God,” or “God is dead,” or “Everyone is God,” and so on, so on. But our proposition is that why you are taxing your brain?

Here is God. Here is God, Krsna — by authorities, by Vedic version, by His activities. If we read life of Krsna, we can see that He’s Krsna, God, from the very beginning of His birth. God is not manufactured by some mystic power. God is God, and dog is dog. A dog cannot become God; God cannot become dog. That is the difference.

So Krsna was God from the very beginning. As soon as Krsna took birth, He appeared in four-handed visnu-murti. But when He was prayed by His mother to become an ordinary child, He became an ordinary child with two hands. So that is God, from the very beginning.

Srila Prabhupada/ Talk on Bhagavad-gita 2.13 — November 18, 1972, Hyderabad

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Unfortunately, we do not want Krsna

Krsna is so friendly that He always lives with us just to turn our face towards Krsna. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. What is His business? He is simply waiting for the time when we shall turn our face to Krsna. That is His business. But unfortunately, we do not want Krsna. We want something which is not Krsna. That is our disease.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.3-4 — March 29, 1977, Bombay

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Krsna accepts the attitude, sentiment

For a pure devotee, it is the same whether he materially constructs a path or constructs one within his mind. This is because the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Janardana, is bhava-grahi, or appreciative of the sentiment. For Him a path made with actual jewels and a path made of mental jewels are the same. Though subtle, mind is also matter, so any path—indeed, anything for the service of the Lord, whether in gross matter or in subtle matter-is accepted equally by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord accepts the attitude of His devotee and sees how much he is prepared to serve Him. The devotee is at liberty to serve the Lord either in gross matter or in subtle
matter.

Srila Prabhupada — CC Madhya 1.161, purport

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Attachment extinguished by offenses to pure devotees

As attachment can be invoked by the association of pure devotees, so attachment can also be extinguished by committing offenses at the lotus feet of pure devotees… This extinguishing is like the waning moon, which gradually decreases and at last becomes darkness.

Srila Prabhupada NOD ch 18

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Farm communities to save time and chant Hare Krsna

I have seen in New Vrindaban how happily our devotees are living there with free air, fresh vegetables, and ample milk. Simple living in cottages. What you want more? We should not neglect the upkeep of the body, and we should save time to chant Hare Krsna. This mission should be propagated. Save time and chant Hare Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 7 Sep 1974

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