Srila Prabhupada’s advice to young disciples
Los Angeles
6 August, 1970
6 August, 1970
My Dear Upendra,
Please accept my blessings. I am in receipt of your letter dated August 4, 1970 and have examined the contents. A reply to your last letter was previously sent. Now all my disciples must work combinedly and with cooperation to spread this Sankirtana Movement. If you cannot work together then my work is stopped up. Our Society is like one big family and our relationships should be based on love and trust. We must give up the fighting spirit and use our intelligence to push ahead. You should accept help from your Godbrothers.
Now I have set up the Governing Body Commission to handle management, questions of philosophy, and personal problems. These things are too much botheration for me, I simply want time to write books to satisfy my Guru Maharaja. If Balimardan Prabhu has gone to open still another Temple that is certainly good news. Kindly remain there and teach Upananda das by nice example and work together with the devotees there. If we work hard for Krsna without personal consideration or ambition, then we are assured of success.
My Dear Gargamuni Maharaja,
My Dear Gargamuni Maharaja,
Please accept my blessings. When I was in L.A. sometimes one month back I received two letters from you and Brahmananda Maharaja. Since then I have not heard from you. Although I was expecting your letters every moment. I was personally asking everyone about your touring and I have already inquired from Rupanuga Prabhu about your address.
Fortunately Sriman Madhudvisa Maharaja has given me to read your letter dated 16th August, 1970 addressed to him. I have gone through the letter carefully and it gives me a great pleasure. I am so glad to learn that both of you are now chanting 16 rounds or more regularly and murmuring the Gayatri Mantras regularly. Please continue this habit without fail.
I am very glad to note that you are now realizing that without executing the regular routine work of spiritual life nobody can grow spiritual strength and without spiritual strength nobody can preach the Krsna Consciousness Movement.
Bombay 20 November, 1970
My Dear Gaura Hari,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your nice letter dated 26 Damodara 484 Caitanya Era. It is my great pleasure that so many fine young boys have joined this Krsna Consciousness Movement and they are finding that their lives have been saved by this simple process. I have many times expressed my sympathy with the frustrated and unhappy younger generation of your country and it is our duty to teach them this formula for peace and happiness by chanting the Mahamantra.
I am very glad that you have decided to become a Grhastha member of our Society. That is the way of civilized and upright human life. After practicing brahmacarya and training under the guidance of a Spiritual Master the Vedic system is prescribing the asrama of Grhastha for those who are still desiring to enter into married family life. The so-called institution of free love marriage is ruining the human society and it is our duty therefore to reestablish the correct procedure of human life in the matter of encouraging our disciples who wish to marry to enter into a contract of spiritual wedlock.….
We are seeing practically that our householder couples are setting an example for all persons that the perfection of happy family life is not based on sense-gratification, but on sincere service to the Lord.
We are seeing practically that our householder couples are setting an example for all persons that the perfection of happy family life is not based on sense-gratification, but on sincere service to the Lord.
The proof that Krsna Consciousness is dormant in everyone’s heart-SP
Lectures : Arrival Addresses and Talks : February 9, 1975 : 750209AR.LA :
Prabhupāda: This life is meant for reviving our lost Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is Kṛṣṇa consciousness… (babies crying) Otherwise how it is happening that this place was a church and nobody was coming, so much so that they had to sell it to others? We purchased it. When I first came here to see this church, there was nobody. The place is the same. The people is the same. I have not brought men from India. Why it is crowded now? This is the proof that in everyone’s heart Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya. It is not artificial way of taking something sentimentally. Otherwise how in my absence all these boys and girls are maintaining the status quo very nicely? I am very glad. That is required. This is the proof that in everyone’s heart there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Submissiveness-to whom is it to be directed???
Article by: Damagosha dasa
Hare Krsna
What follows is a few quotes from Srila Prabhupada where he nicely explains how important is the one
quality of submissiveness. We hear it briefly given in BG 4.34 about approaching a bona fide spiritual master in service and submission and then our natural spiritual inquires will be fruitful, being blessed by the pleased spiritual master.
So to whom should this submissiveness be directed? Only to ones initiating spiritual master or to anyone who gives us spiritual guidance? There are basically two types of gurus-diksa (initiating) and siksa(instructing) and Srila Prabhupada explains that they both are equal. One can even get guidance from somebody as low as a prostitute-as did Bilvamangal Thakur, and advance in spiritual life. These things are to be considered thoughtfully by the serious student, without malice or envy.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
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CC Adi 1.35 Purport
One should always remember that a person who is reluctant to accept a spiritual master and be initiated is sure to be baffled in his endeavor to go back to Godhead. One who is not properly initiated may present himself as a great devotee, but in fact he is sure to encounter many stumbling blocks on his path of progress toward spiritual realization, with the result that he must continue his term of material existence without relief. Such a helpless person is compared to a ship without a rudder, for such a ship can never reach its destination. It is imperative, therefore, that one accept a spiritual master if he at all desires to gain the favor of the Lord. The service of the spiritual master is essential. If there is no chance to serve the spiritual master directly, a devotee should serve him by remembering his instructions. There is no difference between the spiritual master‘s instructions and the spiritual master himself. In his absence, therefore, his words of direction should be the pride of the disciple. If one thinks that he is above consulting anyone else, including a spiritual master, he is at once an offender at the lotus feet of the Lord. Such an offender can never go back to Godhead.
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Raghunatha Das Goswami Decides to Commit Suicide
Article by: Narasimha dasa
Submitted by: Yasoda nandana dasa
Great devotees in our Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya never desire to end their lives out of mundane frustration or pain, like conditioned souls often do. Such an idea is certainly a ridiculous apa-siddhanta concoction.
Sometimes we hear that maya-iskcon is full of pure, hardworking devotees. This is possible only if they have carefully avoided hearing from its leaders, most of who have read Tamal’s writings, heard his speeches and followed his advice. Tamal claims that Srila Prabhupada was moaning in pain and asking for poison to end His life. This is highly offensive apa-siddhanta. Because most disciples of the gbc have heard such offensive apa-siddhanta without protest and without counteracting it, most are likely implicated in guru-aparadha and apa-siddhanta.
“The living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself, he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body.”
How Nimbarka Acarya got his name
Article by: Damagosha dasa
Sri Nimbarka Debates a Jain Monk
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada
…It is said that one day a sannyāsī from a Jain sampradāya
came to Mathura and invited all the learned scholars
there to a debate on the scriptures. This Jain sannyāsī
scholar desired to conquer the entire country by proving
the uselessness of Vedic religious principles. However,
Nimbaditya, the vaiṣṇava monk from Vaidurya Pattana,
effortlessly refuted all the arguments put forward by the
Jain sannyāsī by quoting scriptural evidence.
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what is pravritti and nivritti marg ?? SP explains
Lectures : Festival Lectures : His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day, Lecture — Bombay, December 22, 1975 : 751222DB.BOM :
So the kaniṣṭha–adhikārī, in the beginning… It is not that kaniṣṭha, beginning, if anyone immediately becomes so advanced. It is not advancement; it is foolishness. Just like somebody, they declare that “Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. Why should we go to the temple?” Then if Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, He is not in the temple? Huh? What is this argument? If Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, He is also in the temple. But in the temple I worship directly, and what is the utility?Kṛṣṇa is everywhere. I am not so advanced that I can see everywhere Kṛṣṇa. Who can seeKṛṣṇa everywhere? That is very advanced stage. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti–
So this is not fact that Kṛṣṇa is within your mind; therefore you should not got to the temple, you have become so advanced. No. Better… [break] …śilā-dhīr. Do not consider that “Here is a stone Kṛṣṇa.” Kṛṣṇa is everything. Stone is also Kṛṣṇa; simply you have to be qualified how to talk with stone Kṛṣṇa. That is your qualification. You have to qualify yourself; otherwise Kṛṣṇa is stone, Kṛṣṇa is water, Kṛṣṇa is sky, Kṛṣṇa is everything. So this is the philosophy. Kṛṣṇa saysbhūmir āpo’ nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca: [Bg. 7.4] “I am everything.” That’s a fact. So why do you say there is stone Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is everything, if you have got the eyes to see, you can see Kṛṣṇa everywhere and everything.
So this is the beginning. Therefore you require pravṛtti and nivṛtti to understand how you should think, how you should live, how you should eat, how you should sleep. This training is required. Why it is required? Because to get out of this material bondage, where the birth, death, old age and disease is compulsory.
(below is some harvested coriander plants which we will dry for later spicing in cooking for Krsna)
Srila Prabhupada is proposing successful life–see photos
690323LE.HAW Lectures 245873/530501
We have created a civilization that one must earn thousands of dollars, then he can
live like a gentleman. Is that successful life? And for earning that
thousands of dollars he has to work so hard, just like animal, beast.
No. That is not successful life. Successful life is that, that we
should make our bodily necessities of life as far as required, not
more than that. I want to eat something. God has given sufficient
food. You grow. You live anywhere. You grow foodstuff. You grow
grains. You grow fruits. You grow vegetables. Keep cows. Take milk.
You can live anywhere. You haven’t got to go fifty miles off with a
car to attend your office at six o’clock with velocity of hundred
miles’ speed. Is that successful life, do you think? So where is
successful life? We are proposing successful life.
4 seasons planting is what is going on here in these two pictures. The above photo is the greenhouse in early summer filled with tomato plants-about 85 of them, as well as pepper starts in the pots along the path.
Below is the present greenhouse with all tomatoes removed and a multi-cover crop laid down in 2 out of 4 beds. The third bed has plastic covering the dirt and beans are drying temporarily there. The last bed has crimson clover coming up (still in seed form) for about 80% of it, and along the inside edge, we have 6 kinds of winter greens and lettuces already seeded in the ground.
Srila Prabhupada wanted us to write and prove this Krsna Consciousness is the BEST way to live
760706rc.wdc Room Conversation
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July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.
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July 6, 1976, Washington, D.C.
Prabhupāda: You economically prove that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is simple and inexpensive life.
Devotees: Yes, jaya, mercy.
Prabhupāda: Food, diet, living condition, healthy, hygienic, everything. You prove that this is the best way of life. That’s a fact. From all sides, prove that Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is essential for the human society, to make them happy in this and the next life. That is a fact.
Note- Sometimes we get criticized about what we send out in articles (what else is new?) But here is the proof and order by Srila Prabhupada that we are not just concerned with ourselves and our own spiritual life, but with everybody else who may be less fortunate than us. He mentions it should be noted above, that we want to show how this vedic model of living is the BEST way to live in this world-not only in the next, but this lifetime as well.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das
If you think you are getting richer -by your work-you’re not ! And here is the proof
Hare Krsna- Recently I have been sending out articles detailing why and how we should grow our own food.
Many of you probably wonder- what is wrong with this person? Why should I pack it all in and move to the country? Is he crazy? Why would I do this, when I have my paycheck coming in every month? I am secure here in my house/apt in the city. Remember seeing those guys on the streets of anywhere, holding sandwich boards, proclaiming the repent-world will end in 5-6 days !! ? Maybe we have not seen it, but there are people who still do this. They are called fanatics by “normal” people . So below we have compiled some actual facts by “normal” people, academic financial leaders (like Harvard Univ) who show the financial breakdown of how wealth has imperceptibly slipped from the average American middle class into the hands of the very very rich and powerful. We are probably not going to be able to stop that trend in the near future, but what we can do is assure safe and reliable economic growth and stability in our own lives. And how to do that is described below.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das
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Many of you probably wonder- what is wrong with this person? Why should I pack it all in and move to the country? Is he crazy? Why would I do this, when I have my paycheck coming in every month? I am secure here in my house/apt in the city. Remember seeing those guys on the streets of anywhere, holding sandwich boards, proclaiming the repent-world will end in 5-6 days !! ? Maybe we have not seen it, but there are people who still do this. They are called fanatics by “normal” people . So below we have compiled some actual facts by “normal” people, academic financial leaders (like Harvard Univ) who show the financial breakdown of how wealth has imperceptibly slipped from the average American middle class into the hands of the very very rich and powerful. We are probably not going to be able to stop that trend in the near future, but what we can do is assure safe and reliable economic growth and stability in our own lives. And how to do that is described below.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das
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Everybody should watch this 6 minute video below, of wealth distribution in America-it is mind boggling ! And the link does work, because I just checked it.
Not only does it show the huge disparity between the rich and poor, but also the perception of Americans of what they think and the actual reality of the situation.
Our brain washing by the so called leaders is now complete ! They have us convinced and we have all surrendered to “their plan for material success”-instead of God’s plan, Krsna’s plan. Watch it, its short, but it will literally blow you away with how bad the economic climate has now become in America-and this is supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world?
Here are a few point summarized in this video:
1.Only 1% of all Americans own 40% of all the wealth
2. the bottom 80%, that’s 8 out of 10 Americans, has only 7% of the total wealth
3. the top 1% takes home 24% of all the income. In 1976 that amount was 9% so it has tripled in the last 30 years
4. the top 1% own 50% of all stocks, bonds, mutual funds and the rest of us are just scraping by-most not
even investing at all.
5. the average American worker has to work for one month to make what the average CEO makes in one hour !
https://www.dailyfinance.com/on
And after you watch it-then decide if what Srila Prabhupada is telling us (below) is actually a viable solution-especially for the mass of people, yes even us “devotees” too !! We should be the one’s leading this charge back to some stage of at least economic normalcy !! What to speak of spiritual lives.
Hare Krsna
your comments welcome
Damaghosa das
(oh, one more thing-I just watched a PBS commentary on the Amish religious group in America-90% of their members choose to remain for life, IN their farming/family group AFTER experiencing the “outside world” for two years. They, when the youth reach the age of 16-18 go outside for two years, and look at the rest of the “world”-then they decide to go or stay)
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