Hare Krishna Society

Can material science prove spiritual life?

Below is a very nice conversation with Srila Prabhupada explaining, again, what is the spiritual platform as opposed to the sensual, mental,and intellectual ones.

Definitely worth the time to read it

Hare Krsna

damaghosa das

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June 10 1975 Honolulu

Paramahaṁsa: So if a scientist or someone who has some degree in science comes to our movement, should we encourage him to try to prove through science the Kṛṣṇa conscious principle of transmigration and eternal quality of the soul?

Prabhupāda: Not necessary. Not necessary.

Paramahaṁsa: Better if he just…

Prabhupāda: It is not that if we prove scientifically there is soul, if there is scientific proof, not that all the people of the world will become Kṛṣṇa conscious, even if you do that. So it is useless. You simply understand what is stated by Kṛṣṇa.

Harikeśa: Can a material calculation prove a spiritual fact?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: Can a material calculation prove…

Prabhupāda: No. Materialists cannot understand spiritual subject matter. It is not for them.

Harikeśa: So there is a project in Los Angeles where some psychologists are examining all the devotees.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: Some psychologists are there. They are doing a laboratory test on all the devotees.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he may study in his own way, but he will not profit.

Harikeśa: He will not profit. So this, the findings, even if they are published will not profit?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Harikeśa: The findings? They are going to…

Prabhupāda: So what is their findings? The devotees are working on the soul platform but he does not know what is soul.

Siddha-svarūpa: What are these experiments?

Harikeśa: They’re really far out. Actually, they’re crazy…

Prabhupāda: The psychology is on the mental platform.

Harikeśa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So what he will understand about spiritual platform?

Harikeśa: Actually they can’t. They put these little things around fingers with wires and heads and they find that the readings are…

Prabhupāda: And our devotees also agreed to sit down like that?

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Let us now take a closer look at what constitutes the essence of real, tangible advancement in spiritual life.

Adi lila 12.10-TRANSLATION–The order of the spiritual master is the active principle in spiritual life.Anyone who disobeys the order of the spiritual master immediately becomes useless.

PURPORT–Here is the opinion of Śrīla Krsnadas kaviraja Gosvāmī. Persons who strictly follow the orders of the spiritual master are useful in executing the will of the Supreme, whereas persons who deviate from the strict order of the spiritual master are useless.

Comment– in the above text and purport Srila Prabhupada explains the Order of the Spiritual master to be theactive ingredient in any spiritual life. When you make bread, if you don’t add yeast, the dough wont rise in baking and make a nice soft bread filled with air pockets. It will stay lump solid and feel like a brick in your hands. So without the yeast you dont really have edible bread, but something that resembles bread. And if you are older like I am, you may even break some tooth fillings in the process of trying to bite into that rock like bread. This, like having an unauthorized person posing as “guru” is not very palatable. So if we want to “rise” in spiritual life we must have the active ingredient-the orders of a bona fide spiritual master. And then follow them.

SB 2.9.8 P Answers –by Citing the Lord’ s Version–
One has to receive the TRANSCENDENTAL sound from the RIGHT SOURCE, accept it as a reality and prosecute the direction without hesitation. The secret of success is to receive the sound from the right source of a BONA FIDE spiritual master. MUNDANE MANUFACTURED SOUND HAS NO POTENCY, AND AS SUCH, SEEMINGLY TRANSCENDENTAL SOUND RECEIVED FROM AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON ALSO HAS NO POTENCY. One should be qualified enough to discern such transcendental potency,and either by discriminating or by fortunate chance if one is able to receive the transcendental sound from the bona fide spiritual master, his path of liberation is guaranteed. The disciple, however, must be ready toexecute the order of the bona fide spiritual master as Lord Brahma executed the instruction of his spiritual master, the Lord Himself. Following the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the only duty of the disciple, and this completely faithful execution of the order of the bona fide spiritual master is the secret of success.

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May 16 1975 Perth

Prabhupāda: That is not civilization. Technological advancement is not civilization. It is the advancement of ugra knowledge. Real civilization is to advance in Brahman knowledge. If there are brāhmaṇas, that is advancement. This is not advancement because they do not know what is advancement.They have no knowledge that “I have to die, and I have to accept another body after death.” They do not know it. So long this body is there, they are trying to have very comfortable position. But they do not know that after this body, he has to accept another body. So how this technology will help him? If, in this life, by technological advancement you live very comfortably, and next life you become a dog, then where is the advancement? That they do not know. Suppose…

Now, if in Perth I begin one big skyscraper building and then after three weeks I am kicked out, then is that very good intelligence? I know that I shall remain here for three weeks, and if I begin one skyscraper building, and then, during the time of constructing or, say, after the construction is finished, I am kicked out, then where is that intelligence? Just like Napoleon. He wanted to construct that arch. You have not seen.

Paramahaṁsa: Yes, I have seen.

Prabhupāda: But he could not finish it. So this is his intelligence. Such a big man, Napoleon, that is his intelligence. And what to speak of others. Everyone knows that “I will have to die,” and when death will come, nobody knows. At any moment it may come. So he will not be able to enjoy what he is doing, but still, he is doing. And his real business is forgotten. His real business is to stop his birth and death process and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is his real business. He does not know the real… Therefore they are called mūḍhas. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ [Bg. 7.15]. So it is a civilization of the mūḍhas, fourth-class men.

Devotee (1): Should the devotees think that “Any moment, I can die”?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is a fact. Why they will think? It is a fact. There is English proverb, “There is many dangers between the cups and the lips.” You are going to drink tea. The distance is: here is cup and here is lip. There may be many dangers. So suppose in drinking tea there is some choking within the throat, and coughing, you may die immediately. You are so much under the control of nature. Little mistake will cause your death, little mistake. And conditioned life means we commit mistake, we are illusioned, we cheat, and our knowledge is imperfect. This is conditioned life.

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Credit to: Padmapani Dasa

(Srila Narottama das Thakura)

Narottama das Thakura was a leading acarya in the Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya. He is most famous for his Prarthana, a composition of thirty-three Bengali songs. Srila Prabhupada quoted extensively from Narottama das Thakura in his books, classes, conversations and letters. Here are a few drops of nectar in honor of Srila Narottama das Thakura’s Disappearance Day.

“One devotional song by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura states: ‘My dear Lord Caitanya, please have mercy upon me. There is no one who is as merciful as You. My plea is most urgent because Your mission is to deliver fallen souls, and no one is more fallen than I. I beg priority.'”

(Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Introduction)

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Mayavadi Philosophy, by Javier Figuerola or Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada says in his books that the Mayavadi movement is the most envious and demonic of Vedic culture, and that the destiny of the mayavadis is that they all go to hell. They preach that God has no hands, legs, face, offend God at every moment and that God is impersonal and that Krishna or God and devotional service and devotees of God are all Mayan, that’s why they are called mayavadis, fanatics of Maya. Their specific mission is to separate people from devotion to God, and thus act out of the great envy they have of God and the genuine devotees of God. The Vaisnava philosophy is a scourge against the mayavadis, the mission of all Acharyas is to break into pieces all Mayavadi philosophy. That is why in the pranam-mantra of Srila Prabhupada we say that nirvisesa sunyavadi you have come to free us from impersonalism and nihilism. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu always said Mayavadi Krishna aparadi, the mayavadis are the most offensive to God or Krishna, and that the greatest offense that can be done to God or Krishna is to believe that when He comes to this material world assumes a body made of maya or ignorance, that is complete atheism, any contact with the mayavadis is ruining a person’s spiritual life, ignorant and sentimental people do not understand anything …. only the awakened person in the spiritual life can see things as they are …. in the Bhagavad gita Krishna says clearly that I come by my spiritual energy, and those deceivers say that it comes by the material energy, that they do so that people think that God and we are the same, God has come by the material energy and I also, that means that we are equal, Srila Prabhupada always set a very good example, the Governor is going to inspect the jail, and the prisons think that the Governor is also a prisoner, now we are all Governors, ….. jajajajajaja.

It is all in the books of Srila Prabhupada, in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4, 28, 48, Srila Prabhupada says that when the Acharya comes, he establishes the principles of religion, but when he leaves, disorder and thieves, bandits and opportunists take advantage of it. of the situation. That is what has happened in their movement, the first thing that the leaders of Hare Krishna did is to remove Srila Prabhupada from the center of their movement and to put themselves as the center, they also changed the orders of Srila Prabhupada on the initiations, it is said in the Sri Harinama Chintamani that the result of offending the guru is that one becomes a mayavadi, so these people externally pretend to be followers of Srila Prabhupada, but internally they envy Srila Prabhupada a lot, and all they do is that no one serves nor love Srila Prabhupada, they want service and love for them, these people are the most envious, strange and dangerous, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada denounced all this in a book that called him the business of the guru and then killed him.

https://alimentosparalapaz.blogspot.com https://haripadadasa.blogspot.com

THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION

compiled by Padmapani dasa

.Srila Prabhupada and Saradiya devi dasi

(Srila Prabhupada in the Radha Damodara temple courtyard near Srila Rupa Goswami’s samadhi in October of 1972. Saradiya devi dasi is in the back in a light blue sari.)

Saradiya devi dasi joined Srila Prabhupada’s movement in 1967 at the age of 16. She was initiated two weeks later and therefore Saradiya was the youngest at the time. Srila Prabhupada states: “So youngest is taken more care. Sneha, affection, is compared with oil. Sneha means oil. So affection is just like oil. Why? Now, you put oil in the ground, it will glide down where there is slope. So generally, the affection goes down to the youngest child.” The following statements clearly demonstrate Srila Prabhupada’s fatherly affection towards his dear spiritual daughter, Saradiya.

Śāradīyā: Swamijī? When we go to Kṛṣṇaloka to be with Kṛṣṇa… Continue reading →

THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION

by Padmapani dasa

Bonds of Love by Saradiya Devi Dasi

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada very kindly accepted me as his disciple in the beginning of January 1968, giving me the name Saradiya Devi Dasi, “servant of the goddess of autumn.” This occurred at the Sri Sri Radha-Krishna temple on 518 Frederick Street, San Francisco, California.

Having grown up in San Francisco, I would sometimes explore different areas of the city. The Haight-Ashbury district was particularly intriguing in those days, and so it was about February 1967 that I saw a card on the sidewalk in that neighborhood that stopped me in my tracks. Picking it up, I read: “Chant this mantra and you will stay high forever: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

By immeasurable great fortune, the mantra attracted me and I began to chant it, although I didn’t realize that it was a collection of names for God. I could feel the uplifting effect so I would chant the mantra on many occasions while walking or riding the bus.

During that 1967 “Summer of Love,” as I found myself jostled by the throngs of tourists on the main street running through Haight-Ashbury, I noticed an intriguing poster about a July parade festival of Lord Jagannatha. At the Psychedelic Bookstore I was drawn to the blue mimeographed magazine Back to Godhead, although the esoteric articles were beyond my understanding. In another shop, I bought a wood flute decorated with a picture of the face of a pretty blue boy. Continue reading →

After Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in late August 1976 for the inauguration of the Radha-Madana-Mohana temple in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, there was an elaborate reception ceremony by the various Sri Vaishnava Brahmans, who had been assembled to perform the various ritualistic ceremonies for the three-day installation of the deities.

Sampat Kumara Bhattacarya was the head arcaka (priest) of that group. He had always been favorable to Srila Prabhupada’s movement from the first day we met him in Gandhi Nagar in Bangalore in the late summer of 1972. He headed a group of 12 Sri Vaishnava brahmanas to perform the various Vedic ceremonies.

The morning following the beginning of the ceremonies, on August 17, 1976, Mahamsa Swami and myself were summoned by Srila Prabhupada to his room. We were asked by Srila Prabhupada why we were keeping long hair and beard. I told Srila Prabhupada that we were observing caturmasya. Srila Prabhupada sternly replied: No we are preachers. You should shave your heads every two weeks. Now please go and shave your head.”

There was no mention that we looked dirty and unclean. We paid our obeisances and went to get our head shaven right away.

daso’smi

Yasoda nandana dasa

Srila Prabhupada’s, Sampat Kumara Bhattacarya in front of Srila Prabhupada’s desk, to the right of Srila Prabhupada, Mahamsa (then) Swami, Yasoda nandana (then) Swami and Pradyumna dasa (Pandita ji).

Saradiya devi dasi joined Srila Prabhupada’s movement in San Francisco in 1967 at the age of 16. She was very dear to Srila Prabhupada. Saradiya has departed from this world to join Srila Prabhupada once again. All glories to her service and love for our spiritual master.

1) Honoring Saradiya Devi Dasi (photo and video):

https://www.prabhupadaconnect.com/Honoring-Saradiya-Devi-Dasi.html

2) Bhaktivedanta Manor Pancha-Tattva Painting (by Saradiya dasi):

https://www.prabhupadaconnect.com/Pancha-Tattva-Painting-by-Saradiya-devi-dasi.html

credit to Padmapani dasa

Rupanuga vada khandana – Part 3 A refutation of Rupanuga dasa’s intepretation of the October 18, 1977 conversation, by Damaghosa dasa

Dear Rupanuga Prabhu

Obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Thank you for putting up this website about Prabhapada’s position and his books.

https://www.rupanugadas.com/

I had a few comments below I wanted to make…if I may

Hare Krsna

Damaghosa das… my reply is in italic, for clarity sake…

you write…

“In the article, this last sentence was paraphrased from memory, but the meaning is still the same as Srila Prabhupada’s statement, which now becomes enhanced when taken in the context of his speech. He is obviously referring to his present disciples as the next in the disciplic succession he has just named and numbered, all of whom are directly initiating their own disciples.

This is a very contentious point, as you well know. Many of our Godbrothers ARE initiating disciples, but where is the actual order for them to do that?

To my knowledge, there is no order. The only order he gave just prior to leaving his body was for the GBC (and others in the future) to become officiating acaryas. To initiate on his behalf. That’s all.This order was never amended or stopped. This lecture given in 1972 could also mean he wanted us, his disciples to continue as siksa gurus and not diksa gurus, especially after seeing what happened in his Gaudiya matha. And you were the recipient of that famous letter in 1974..

74-04-28.Rup Letter: Rupanuga
His idea was acarya was not to be nominated amongst the governing body. He said
openly you make a GBC and conduct the mission. So his idea was amongst
the members of GBC who would come out successful and self effulgent
acarya would be automatically selected. So Sridhara Maharaja and his
two associate gentlemen unauthorizedly selected one acarya and later
it proved a failure. The result is now everyone is claiming to be
acarya even though they may be kanistha adhikari with no ability to
preach. In some of the camps the acarya is being changed three times a
year. Therefore we may not commit the same mistake in our ISKCON camp.
Actually amongst my Godbrothers no one is qualified to become acarya.
So it is better not to mix with my Godbrothers very intimately because
instead of inspiring our students and disciples they may sometimes
pollute them. This attempt was made previously by them, especially
Madhava Maharaja and Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja but somehow or
other I saved the situation. This is going on. We shall be very
careful about them and not mix with them. This is my instruction to
you all. They cannot help us in our movement, but they are very
competent to harm our natural progress. So we must be very careful
about them.

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Hare Krishna Society

Can Material Science Prove Spiritual Life?

Advancement-what is it ??

Technological advancement is not civilization–SP

Drops of Nectar from Narottama das Thakura

Mayavadi Philosophy

Srila Prabhupada and Saradiya

Bonds of Love by Saradiya Devi Dasi

The real story about the1976 pre- Janma Astami incident with Srila Prabhupada and the “Growing of hair comment”

Honoring Saradiya Devi Dasi

Rupanuga vada khandana – Part 3 A refutation of Rupanuga dasa’s intepretation of the October 18, 1977 conversation