Bhakti Vikasa Swami's Blog, page 57

Be warned!

There are many devotees who assume themselves to be in Krsna consciousness and devotional service but at heart do not accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, as the Absolute Truth. For them, the fruit of devotional service — going back to Godhead — will never be tasted.

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport to Bg 9.12

The post Be warned! appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

The Devotee Should Not be a Mercantile Man

Krsna does not require any big paraphernalia. He only wants how you are a sincere devotee. That’s all. And that devotional service can be discharged in any condition. Ahaituky apratihata. It cannot be checked by the material circumstances. This is the process of Krsna consciousness. And you see the five-years-old boy, how he was protected from all kinds of dangers and he refused to take any benediction. He refused.

The devotee should not be a mercantile man: ‘If you give me something, then I shall give you something.’ That is business. A devotee is not like that. He understands that he is eternal servant of Krsna, his duty is to serve Krsna.

In the material world a servant works when money is paid, wages. A devotee is not like that. A devotee serves Krsna out of duty. That is God consciousness, Krsna consciousness, that ‘It is my duty.’ And then Krsna takes the responsibility, ‘It is My duty to protect this devotee.’ This reciprocation is called Krsna consciousness. There is no question of
business transaction. Then he will be protected.

Krsna is nobody’s servant, but everyone is Krsna’s servant. If everyone becomes Krsna’s servant, then everyone is protected by Krsna. Krsna is protecting. Krsna is God, so He is protecting everyone, He is giving food everyone, but especially inclined to the devotees. Samah sarvesu-bhutesu.

Srila Prabhupada; Lecture, 25 May 1975, Honolulu

The post The Devotee Should Not be a Mercantile Man appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

This Krsna will talk with you

That is the difference between idol worship and Deity worship. If there is no life, then it is idol worship, hedonism. And when there is life, feeling, “Where is Krsna? Here is Krsna. Oh, I have to serve Krsna, I have to dress Him, I have to serve Radharani, She is here. Oh, I must do it very nicely. And as far as possible decorate Her to the best capacity,” in this way, if you always feel Krsna conscious, then you are fire. The same example, keeping with the fire. And if you think it is a brass-made doll, I mean to say, idol… Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham [Bg 4.11]. If you think this is a brass-made idol, then it will remain a brass-made idol to you forever. But if you elevate yourself to higher platform of Krsna consciousness, then Krsna, this Krsna, will talk with you. This Krsna will talk with you.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Sri Sri Rukmini Dvarakanatha Deity Installation – July 16, 1969, Los Angeles

The post This Krsna will talk with you appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Nobody can compare with the Merciful Nityananda

So long we are engaged in the service of the Lord, He has assured us all protection. But if we are attacked, of course we must defend ourselves as best we can. Nobody can compare with the Merciful Nityananda. He can defend Himself quite well; He could have killed the sinners in an instant, but He had decided that He wanted to save these sinners. He was setting an example that we have to preach Krishna Consciousness even at the risk of personal violence. Just like the children sometimes become violent, but the father knows he can defend himself at any time, and so he tries to teach them correctly by reprimanding them.

From Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Karunamayi — Los Angeles 25 February, 1968

The post Nobody can compare with the Merciful Nityananda appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Caitanya and Nityananda drive away five kinds of ignorance

Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu drive away the five kinds of ignorance of the conditioned souls. In the Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, Forty-third Chapter, these five kinds of ignorance are described. They are (1) accepting the body to be the self, (2) making material sense gratification one’s standard of enjoyment, (3) being anxious due to material identification, (4) lamenting and (5) thinking that there is anything beyond the Absolute Truth.

Srila Prabhupada CC Adi 1.102 ppt

The post Caitanya and Nityananda drive away five kinds of ignorance appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Real Nityananda-vamsa

My Guru Maharaja, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, he did not like that his disciples would be easy-going, cheap Vaisnava. Cheap Vaisnava. Dusta mana tumi kisera vaisnava. He sang a song, “My dear mind, oh, you are going to be a Vaisnava. And what kind of Vaisnava you are?” Dusta mana tumi kisera vaisnava, pratisthara tare, nirjanera ghare, tava hari-nama kevala kaitava. “You are chanting Hare Krsna, imitating Haridasa Thakura or Rupa Gosvami, in a solitary place… Not solitary place. You are thinking of woman and money. That’s all. Mind is filled with dirty things. So this kind of bhajana is simply cheating, cheating.” He was after preaching. First of all, go door to door. Just like Nityananda Prabhu did it at the risk of life. He was hurt by Jagai-Madhai. Blood came out of His head. Lord Caitanya became very much angry. He wanted to kill immediately Jagai Madhai. Lord Nityananda said, “My dear Sir, You promised that this incarnation You’ll not take any weapon, Please be kind upon them.”

So this is Nityananda. Nityananda-vamsa means one who takes the risk of preaching work, he can claim Nityananda-vamsa. Not that easy-going. The preaching work is not easy-going. There are so many difficulties. All the big, big preachers… Sri Ramanujacarya. His life was attempted to be killed. Why Ramanujacarya? My Guru Maharaja was attempted to be killed. Twenty-five thousand rupees were raised fund for bribing the police officer. He told me personally. The Navadvipa Gosais, they wanted to kill him. So preaching work is always risky.

From Srila Prabhupada’s lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.5 -— Vrndavana, October 16, 1972

The post Real Nityananda-vamsa appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

On Varaha-dvadasi, Srila Prabhupada remembers Vrndavana life

Krsna comes, therefore, personally appears and exhibits His enjoying love in Vrndavana. He brings His friends, His girlfriends, boyfriends, everything, His father, His mother, and shows that “The enjoyment which you are seeking, that is there in the spiritual world with Me. See how I am enjoying.” Just so that we may have our brain clear that if we enjoy with Krsna, we can enjoy the dance, the paternal love, the conjugal love, the friendly playing with boys, with animals, who is in the garden, in the forest, in the water — same thing is there. Everything is there, all the sporting, but spiritual. So this is Krsna’s lila.

Srila Prabhupada; Varaha’s Appearance Day Lecture — January 31, 1977, Bhubaneswar

The post On Varaha-dvadasi, Srila Prabhupada remembers Vrndavana life appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Preachers must tolerate, like Nityananda and Jesus

Following the orders of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, one who preaches the glories of the Lord all over the world or all over the universe should be humbler than grass and more tolerant than a tree because a preacher cannot live an easygoing life. Indeed, a preacher must face many impediments. Not only is he sometimes cursed, but sometimes he must also suffer personal injury. For example, when Nityananda Prabhu went to preach Krsna consciousness to the two roguish brothers Jagai and Madhai, they injured Him and made His head bleed, but nevertheless He tolerantly delivered the two rogues, who became perfect Vaisnavas. This is the duty of a preacher. Lord Jesus Christ even tolerated crucifixion.

From Srila Prabhupada’s purport to SB 6.5.44

The post Preachers must tolerate, like Nityananda and Jesus appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Don’t waste time in prajalpa & frivolous activities

Another impediment is prajalpa, unnecessary talking. When we mix with a few friends, we immediately begin unnecessary talking, sounding just like croaking toads. If we must talk, we should talk about the Krsna consciousness movement. Those outside of the Krsna consciousness movement are interested in reading heaps of newspapers, magazines and novels, solving crossword puzzles and doing many other nonsensical things. In this fashion people simply waste their valuable time and energy. In the Western countries old men, retired from active life, play cards, fish, watch television and debate about useless socio-political schemes. All these and other frivolous activities are included in the prajalpa category. Intelligent persons interested in Krsna consciousness should never take part in such activities.

Srila Prabhupada NoI Verse 2, ppt.

The post Don’t waste time in prajalpa & frivolous activities appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.

Powerful Krsna-katha

SB 3.5.11

Translation: Who in human society can be satisfied without hearing sufficient talk of the Lord, whose lotus feet are the sum total of all places of pilgrimage and who is worshiped by great sages and devotees? Such topics can cut off one’s bondage to family affection simply by entering the holes of one’s ears.

Purport: Krsna-katha is so powerful that simply by entering into a person’s ear it can at once give deliverance from the bondage of family affection. Family affection is an illusory manifestation of the external energy, and it is the only impetus for all mundane activities. As long as there is mundane activity and the mind is absorbed in such engagement, one has to undergo the repetition of birth and death in the current material nescience. People are most influenced by the mode of ignorance, and some are influenced by the passionate mode of material nature, and under the spell of these two modes a living being is actuated by the material conception of life. The mundane qualities do not allow a living entity to understand his real position. The qualities of both ignorance and passion strongly bind one to the illusory bodily conception of the self. The best among the fools who are thus deluded are those who engage in altruistic activities under the spell of the material mode of passion. Bhagavad-gita, which is direct krsna-katha, gives humanity the elementary lesson that the body is perishable and that the consciousness which is spread throughout the body is imperishable. The conscious being, the imperishable self, is eternally existent and cannot be killed under any circumstances, even after the dissolution of the body. Anyone who misunderstands this perishable body to be the self and who works for it in the name of sociology, politics, philanthropy, altruism, nationalism or internationalism, under the false plea of the bodily conception of life, is certainly a fool and does not know the implications of reality and unreality. Some of them are above the modes of ignorance and passion and are situated in the mode of goodness, but mundane goodness is always contaminated by tinges of ignorance and passion. Mundane goodness can enlighten one that the body and the self are different, and one in goodness is concerned with the self and not the body. But due to being contaminated, those in mundane goodness cannot understand the real nature of the self as a person. Their impersonal conception of the self as distinct from the body keeps them in the mode of goodness within material nature, and unless they are attracted by krsna-katha, they will never be liberated from the bondage of material existence. Krsna-katha is the only remedy for all people of the world because it can situate one in pure consciousness of the self and liberate one from material bondage. To preach krsna-katha all over the world, as recommended by Lord Caitanya, is the greatest missionary activity, and all sensible men and women of the world may join in this great movement started by Lord Caitanya.

The post Powerful Krsna-katha appeared first on Bhakti Vikasa Swami.