Hare Krishna Society

KB Songs of the Gopis #31–

When Kṛṣṇa entered the forest on the bank of the Yamunā, the moonlight dissipated the surrounding darkness. Due to the season, flowers like the kunda and kadamba were blooming, and a gentle breeze was carrying their aroma. Due to the aroma, the bees were also flying in the breeze, thinking that the aroma was honey. The gopīs made a seat for Kṛṣṇa by leveling the soft sand and placing cloths over it.

…The gopīs who were gathered there were mostly all followers of the Vedas. In their previous births, during Lord Rāmacandra’s advent, they were Vedic scholars who desired the association of Lord Rāmacandra in conjugal love. Rāmacandra gave them the benediction that they would be present for the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and He would fulfill their desires. During Kṛṣṇa’s advent, the Vedic scholars took birth in the shape of the gopīs in Vṛndāvana; as young gopīs, they got the association of Kṛṣṇa in fulfillment of their previous births’ desire. The ultimate goal of their perfect desire was attained, and they were so joyous that they had nothing further to desire.

…And while smiling, they confidentially expressed their suppressed anger and said, “Dear Kṛṣṇa, we are ordinary women of Vṛndāvana, and we do not know much about Vedic knowledge–what is right and what is wrong. We therefore put a question to You, and, since You are very learned, You can answer it properly.

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Dec 16 1976 Hyderabad-press conference

You are requesting something… Veda says, “Come to the light.” Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya:

So all the śāstras are for the human being, not for the cats and dogs. So if you do not take advantage of the śāstras, then you remain in the darkness. This is our position. The light is here. Just like apart from all other śāstras, if you take Bhagavad-gītā, it is the very brilliant light. It is not that changing. Five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, what, that is still the same thing. Just like light. Millions of years ago, what was sun, the same sun is there. In the light there is no change. In the darkness there is change. If we do not accept the standard knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, then we shall continue to remain in darkness and there will be no solution of the problems of life. This is our propaganda. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we are asking everywhere, all over the world, “You come to this light and be happy.” That’s it.

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Dec 16 1976 Hyderabad press conference

Dr. Ramachandra: I only want that your movement should utilize my services because I believe service to mankind is service to God.

Prabhupāda: No, no, service to God is [not] service to mankind. If you pour water in the root, then it is service to the tree. And if you pour water on the leaf, then nobody is served. Everything will be dry, that’s all. That is imperfect service. If you have got realization of God, why should you give only human being service? Why not tiger? He is also… Kṛṣṇa says, “They are also My sons.” That means you discriminate. That is not that… Father will be satisfied when all the sons are given, not partial, not partial. Suppose I have got five children. If you give service to one children, so I’ll ask that “Why not other children?” Naturally.

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Jan 10 1974 LA

Prabhupāda: Yes. So this yajña means to satisfy the Lord. Yajñārthe karma. So when you miss this yajña, then everything becomes disturbed. When you become godless then the whole thing will be disturbed. And practically also, if you pay income tax, then government arrangement is everything, nicely going on. And as soon as stop income tax, then whole thing… There is no finance, there is deficit, this, that, so many things. So yajña is yajñārthe karmaṇo ‘nyatra. Everything should be done for the Yajña, for Viṣṇu. Then everything is in order. In Kali-yuga, other, costly yajñas are not possible. Therefore yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyaiḥ. Saṅkīrtana. But these rascals will not take.

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Srila Prabhupada below explains the three basic paths one can take in this material world.

Karma kanda, jnana kanda and Upasana kanda. Only in bhakti is there ananda-real pleasure.

March 6 1974 Mayapur

Prabhupāda: And in Burma, my Guru Mahārāja opened a branch. So when they were frying puri, the,nice ghee, all the tenants, “Oh! What you are…!?” (laughter) They cannot tolerate. But in Burma, there is a preparation which is called nafi. The nafi means that a, a big jar will be kept on the door, and whatever animals, insect, cockroaches will die, they’ll put in that. And during rainy season, it will be filled with water. And it will be kept for years. Then… And the bad smell was so terrible that if somebody would open the lid, it will immediately create very bad smell. So after some years, they will strain the water and keep in bottle. And when there is festival, they’ll supply it in small… That is called nafi. And they’ll take it very pleasantly. And when they were frying ghee, “Oh! What you are doing, this?!” Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that

nānā yoni sadā phire, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare,

tāra janma adhah-pate yāya,

karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa, kevala viṣera bhāṇḍa,

amṛta baliyā yebā khāya

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Source: https://www.prabhupadaconnect.com/Srila-Prabhupadas-Divine-Lotus-Feet.html

“The lotus feet of our spiritual master are the only way by which we can attain pure devotional service. I bow to his lotus feet with great awe and reverence. By his grace one can cross the ocean of material suffering and obtain the mercy of Krishna.”

(Sri Guru-vandana Verse 1, Srila Narottama dasa Thakura)

“The dust of the feet of a devotee, the water that has washed the feet of a devotee, and the remnants of food left by a devotee are three very powerful substances. By rendering service to these three, one attains the supreme goal of ecstatic love for Krishna. In all the revealed scriptures this is loudly declared again and again. Therefore, my dear devotees, please hear from me, for I insist again and again: please keep faith in these three and render service to them without hesitation. From these three one achieves the highest goal of life—ecstatic love of Krishna. This is the greatest mercy of Lord Krishna.”

(Caitanya-caritamrita Antya 16.60-63) Continue reading →

Below, is one short paragraph of a lecture by Srila Prabhupada explaing to us how we can realize or see God-Krsna. The actual voice soundtrack of Srila Prabhupada explaining this is included in the short youtube video

Hare Krsna

damaghosa das

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Sept 8 1973 Stockholm

So you are all fortunate, or you are so kind that you have joined this movement despite all these obstacles in this country. Not in this, all over the world. So don’t be disappointed. Go on preaching this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There are many innocent people; they do not know what to do. There are four… For a preacher, there must be vigilance. A preacher will see four things: God, a devotee of God, innocent person, and envious, jealous persons. So a preacher should deal with these four items differently. So far God is concerned, we shall try to increase our love for God. This is one business. How? That is the arcanā-vidhi, to always be cautious, to offer foodstuff, early to rise, offer maṅgala-ārātrika, keep the temple very cleansed, yourself also.

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Humility pridelesness, tolerance and simplicity-then grow your own food

SB 2.7.37

Translation

When the atheists, after being well versed in the Vedic scientific knowledge, annihilate inhabitants of different planets, flying unseen in the sky on well-built rockets prepared by the great scientist Maya, the Lord will bewilder their minds by dressing Himself attractively as Buddha and will preach on subreligious principles.

PURPORT

This incarnation of Lord Buddha is not the same Buddha incarnation we have in the present history of mankind. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the Buddha incarnation mentioned in this verse appeared in a different Kali age. In the duration of life of one Manu there are more than seventy-two Kali-yugas, and in one of them the particular type of Buddha mentioned here would appear. Lord Buddha incarnates at a time when the people are most materialistic and preaches common-sense religious principles. Such ahiṁsā is not a religious principle itself, but it is an important quality for persons who are actually religious. It is a common-sense religion because one is advised to do no harm to any other animal or living being because such harmful actions are equally harmful to he who does the harm.

But before learning these principles of nonviolence one has to learn two other principles, namely to be humble and to be prideless. Unless one is humble and prideless, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. And after being nonviolent one has to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. One must offer respects to the great religious preachers and spiritual leaders and also train the senses for controlled action, learning to be unattached to family and home, and enacting devotional service to the Lord, etc. At the ultimate stage one has to accept the Lord and become His devotee; otherwise there is no religion. In religious principles there must be God in the center; otherwise simple moral instructions are merely subreligious principles, generally known as upadharma, or nearness to religious principles.

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1.)SB 3.21.24

While the sage stood looking on, the Lord left by the pathway leading to Vaikuṇṭha, a path extolled by all great liberated souls. The sage stood listening as the hymns forming the basis of the Sāma Veda were vibrated by the flapping wings of the Lord’s carrier, Garuḍa.

PURPORT

In the Vedic literature it is stated that the two wings of the transcendental bird Garuḍa, who carries the Lord everywhere, are two divisions of the Sāma Veda known as bṛhat and rathāntara. Garuḍa works as the carrier of the Lord; therefore he is considered the transcendental prince of all carriers. With his two wings Garuḍa began to vibrate the Sāma Veda, which is chanted by great sages to pacify the Lord. The Lord is worshiped by Brahmā, by Lord Śiva, by Garuḍa and other demigods with selected poems, and great sages worship Him with the hymns of Vedic literatures, such as the Upaniṣads and Sāma Veda. These Sāma Veda utterances are automatically heard by the devotee when another great devotee of the Lord, Garuḍa, flaps his wings.

2.)Jan 12 1974 morning walk

Prabhupāda: Yes. He[Garuda] is not vegetarian. So if one becomes a sincere devotee like Garuḍa, you can allow him to become non-vegetarian. If he cannot give it up. [break]

Nara-nārāyaṇa: Garuḍa is from the jīva-tattva or he is an expansion?

Prabhupāda: No, he is jīva-tattva. Nitya-siddha.

Nara-nārāyaṇa: Does that mean that there is some soul who can come under influence of māyā in the spiritual sky and some soul who cannot?

Prabhupāda: Yes, that potency is there always.

Umāpati: Is that the difference between jīva-tattva and Viṣṇu-tattva.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore Viṣṇu-tattva is called acyuta, infallible. [break]

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Vasudeva Prabhu departed on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day. Tuesday Oct. 24th (Iskcon Fiji observed on 24th,)

Sunday ,22. Vasudeva Prabhu became very ill with very high fever. The nurses said, they didn’t think he was going to be around very long.

On Tuesday, when his situation became evident, Bhagavati Mataji and their daughter Ajita put Tulsi leaf and Ganga JAL on the tongue.

They were chanting and at that time devotees came. Their was kirtan and more chanting.

Vasudeva Prabhu was fully awake.

Bhagavati Mataji said, the moment he departed was very auspicious. She felt Prabhupada,’s presence. Every time Mataji went to the temple , she would pray to Prabhupada to take Vasudeva Prabhu back to Godhead.

Vasudeva Prabhu lived with his two wives at the Suva Temple. Nandarani mataji was married to Vasudeva in 1946. Bhagavati Mataji was married in 1959..Nandarani departed almost two years ago. There will be an article in the Fiji Times next week about Vasudeva Prabhu.

Hope to get a photo in a day or so.

Bhagavati Mataji and Ajita will be travelling to Vrindavan in three weeks to place the ashes in the Yamuna.

Your servant,

Sri devi devi dasi

Hare Krishna Society

An interesting conversation between Krsna and the Gopis

Come to the Light-take Bhagavad Gita-as it is

Service to mankind is not service to God–SP explains why

Success by following right method–SP

Therefore unless you come to bhakti-kāṇḍa, there is no question of real life and bliss. That is the conclusion.

Srila Prabhupada’s Divine Lotus Feet

God can bless you from His Picture–SP

Humility pridelesness, tolerance and simplicity-then grow your own food

The Glories of Garuda

Tribute to the late Vasudeva Prabhu