Inconceivable things in the spiritual world-
Just for teasers, here is some of what you will find below…when our body is completely spiritualized it can and will act just like Krsnas-He/and we can eat thru the eyes, feet, ears,
etc/our spiritual body can become grass, a tree or whatever we want, and still return to the original human like form/ Gadadhara das– is the luster of Srimati Radharanis body and Gadadhara pandit is the incarnation of Radha Herself/ trees in the spiritual world can move from one place to another/and Arjuna and Devahuti remain in the material world to assist Krsna with His pastimes and they can expand themselves in unlimited bodies in unlimited universes to do so…….and more
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
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Adi 5.22 purport
The residents of Vaikuntha have brilliantly black complexions much more fascinating and attractive than the dull white and black complexions found in the material world.Their bodies, being spiritual, have no equals in the material world. The beauty of a bright cloud when lightning flashes on it merely hints at their beauty. Generally the inhabitants of Vaikuntha dress in yellow clothing. Their bodies are delicate and attractively built, and their eyes are like the petals of lotus flowers. Like Lord Visnu, the residents of Vaikuntha have four hands decorated with a conchshell, wheel, club and lotus flower. Their chests are beautifully broad and fully decorated with necklaces of a brilliant diamond like metal surrounded by costly jewels never to be found in the material world. The residents of Vaikuntha are always powerful and effulgent. Some of them have complexions like red coral cat’s eyes and lotus flowers, and each of them has earrings of costly jewels. On their heads they wear flowery crowns resembling garlands.
In the Vaikuṇṭhas there are airplanes, but they make no tumultuous sounds. Material airplanes are not at all safe: they can fall down and crash at any time, for matter is imperfect in every respect. In the spiritual sky, however, the airplanes are also spiritual, and they are spiritually brilliant and bright. These airplanes do not fly business executives, politicians or planning commissions as passengers, nor do they carry cargo or postal bags, for these are all unknown there. These planes are for pleasure trips only, and the residents of Vaikuṇṭha fly in them with their heavenly, beautiful, fairylike consorts. Therefore these airplanes, full of residentsof Vaikuṇṭha, both male and female, increase the beauty of the spiritual sky. We cannot imagine how beautiful they are, but their beauty may be compared to the clouds in the sky accompanied by silver branches of electric lightning. The spiritual sky of Vaikuṇṭhaloka is always decorated in this way.
The bestial civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing and sense-gratifying has misled modern man into forgetting how powerful a soul he has. As we have already described, the soul is a spiritual spark many, many times more illuminating, dazzling and powerful than the sun, moon or electricity. Human life is spoiled when man does not realize his real identity with his soul. Lord Caitanya appeared with Lord Nityananda to save man from this type of misleading civilization.
Family Gotras (lineage) discussion by SP
Feb 9 1976 Mayapura conversation-discussing family Gotras
Prabhupāda: [break] Then you come to Gītā’s instruction, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13]. And Nārada Muni also says that one must be qualified, not the birth. Just like this Mullik, and we had the same gotra, but the marriage cannot take place within the same family.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Within the gotra. In the same gotra.
Prabhupāda: The same title, De, and same gotra; therefore it is the same family. That is the proof. So in the same family there cannot be any marriage. Sa-gotra. Sa-gotra-vivāha-niṣedha.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: So no member of your family could have married someone in the Mullik family.
Prabhupāda: No. There is another Mullik family. They are different from our family.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They are not De’s.
Prabhupāda: They are not De’s. They are Sil’s.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Cee?
Prabhupāda: Sil. Their title is Sil.
Bhavānanda: Sil. Sil.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Oh, Sil.
Prabhupāda: Sil Mullik and De Mullik. There are two Mulliks. Their gotra is also different. So in the marriage, before marriage taking place, one has to calculate whether they belong to the same family, same disciplic… Then, if it is the same, the marriage will not… Same blood will not be accepted. Same family means same blood. So throughout the whole world same blood is not allowed, marriage.
Srila Prabhupada discusses simple living at New Vrndavana
Srila Prabhupada: The Western civilization is a nasty civilization, artificially increasing the necessities of life. For example, take the electric light. The electric light requires a generator, and to run the generator you need petroleum. As soon as the petroleum supply is stopped, everything will stop. But to get petroleum you have to painstakingly search it out and bore deep into the earth, sometimes in the middle of the ocean. This is ugra-karma, horrible work. The same purpose can be served by growing some castor seeds, pressing out the oil, and putting the oil into a pot with a wick. We admit that you have improved the lighting system with electricity, but to improve from the castor-oil lamp to the electric lamp you have to work very hard. You have to go to the middle of the ocean and drill and then draw out the petroleum, and in this way the real goal of your life is missed. You are in a precarious position, constantly dying and taking birth in various species of life. How to get free of this cycle of birth and death – this is your problem. And this problem is meant to be solved in the human life. You have advanced intelligence for self-realization, but instead of using your advanced intelligence for self-realization, you are utilizing it to improve from the castor-oil lamp to the electric lamp. That’s all.
Kulasekhara dasa: People would say that your suggestion is impractical. Besides, electricity does many other things besides produce light. Most of our modern comforts depend more or less on electricity.
Srila Prabhupada: In this life you may be living very comfortably, but in the next life you might become a dog.
Srila Kirtanananda Swami: People don’t believe that.
Srila Prabhupada: Whether they believe it or not, it is a fact. For example, a boy does not know that he is going to grow into a young man, but his mother and father know. If the boy says, “No, I’m not going to become a young man,” that is childish; the father and mother know that the boy will grow into a young man and that they should educate him so he can be properly situated. This is the guardians’ duty. Similarly, when we talk of transmigration of the soul, a rascal may say, “I don’t believe in it,” but it is still a fact. A rascal, a mad man, may say transmigration is not a fact, but the real fact is that he’ll have to accept another body according to the quality of his endeavor in this life. (karanam guna-sango ’sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu).
Srila Kirtanananda Swami: What if someone says, “This life of growing the castor seeds is very difficult, and farming in general is very difficult. It is easier to go to the factory for eight hours, come home with my money, and enjoy.”
How the Universe was populated by Lord Brahma
SB 3.12.48-57
Brahmā’s soul was manifested as the touch alphabets, his body as the vowels, his senses as the sibilant alphabets, his strength as the intermediate alphabets and his sensual activities as the seven notes of music.
PURPORT-In Sanskrit there are thirteen vowels and thirty-five consonants. The vowels are a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, e, ai, o, au, and the consonants are ka, kha, ga, gha, etc. Amongst the consonants, the first twenty-five letters are called the sparśas. There are also four antaḥ-sthas. Of the ūṣmas there are three s’s, called tālavya, mūrdhanya and dantya. The musical notes are ṣa, ṛ, gā, ma, dha, and ni. All these sound vibrations are originally called śabda-brahma, or spiritual sound. It is said, therefore, that Brahmā was created in the Mahā-kalpa as the incarnation of spiritual sound. The Vedas are spiritual sound, and therefore there is no need of material interpretation as they are, although they are symbolically represented with letters which are known to us materially. In the ultimate issue there is nothing material because everything has its origin in the spiritual world. The material manifestation is therefore called illusion in the proper sense of the term. For those who are realized souls there is nothing but spirit.
Brahmā is the personal representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the source of transcendental sound and is therefore above the conception of manifested and unmanifested. Brahmā is the complete form of the Absolute Truth and is invested with multifarious energies.
PURPORT-The post of Brahmā is the highest responsible post within the universe, and it is offered to the most perfect personality of the universe. Sometimes the Supreme Personality of Godhead has to become Brahmā when there is no suitable living being to occupy the post. In the material world, Brahmā is the complete representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and transcendental sound, praṇava, comes from him. He is therefore invested with multifarious energies, from which all the demigods like Indra, Candra and Varuṇa are manifested. His transcendental value is not to be minimized, even though he exhibited a tendency to enjoy his own daughter. There is a purpose for the exhibition of such a tendency by Brahmā, and he is not to be condemned like an ordinary living entity.
Thereafter Brahmā accepted another body, in which sex life was not forbidden, and thus he engaged himself in the matter of further creation.
PURPORT-In his former body, which was transcendental, affection for sex life was forbidden, and Brahmā therefore had to accept another body to allow himself to be connected with sex. He thus engaged himself in the matter of creation. His former body transformed into fog, as previously described.
O son of the Kurus, when Brahmā saw that in spite of the presence of sages of great potency there was no sufficient increase in population, he seriously began to consider how the population could be increased.
Brahmā thought to himself: Alas, it is wonderful that in spite of my being scattered all over, there is still insufficient population throughout the universe. There is no other cause for this misfortune but destiny.
While he was thus absorbed in contemplation and was observing the supernatural power, two other forms were generated from his body. They are still celebrated as the body of Brahmā.
PURPORT-Two bodies came out from the body of Brahmā. One had a mustache, and the other had swollen breasts. No one can explain the source of their manifestation, and therefore until today they are known as the kāyam, or the body of Brahmā, with no indication of their relationship as his son or daughter.
The two newly separated bodies united together in a sexual relationship.
The Bhagavad-gita As It Is Study Guide
The following is a Study Guide for the Bhagavad Gita As It Is 1972 Edition which was developed by some of the disciples and followers of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is a definitive guide that takes the student through the Bhagavad-gita step by step and first was formulated by Srila Prabhupada.
This Study Guide begins with the full Introduction to the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and then proceeds with chapter by chapter analysis, Q & A etc. This arrived this morning as a Word Doc and required some slight editing to upload it as a post.
Study Guide
Presented by the Disciples and Followers of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Continue reading
Raghunatha dasa and Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami Tirobhava Tithi [disappearance] Sri Ksna dasa Kaviraja TirobhavaTithi
Below are 2 conversations and one purport where Srila Prabhupada is warning
about not cultivating pure bhakti and instead think- this bhakti yoga is an easy process-just chant Hare Krsna and thats all you have to do. It is, if we do it correctly, but done incorrectly with the wrong conceptions of philosophy behind it, we could become an atheist, or a mayavadi, or a sahajiya. Without proper guidance from the pure devotee, it is easier to become one of these than a pure devotee. For further guidance in these matters, see below…..
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
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1.)March 1 1975 Atlanta conversations—One who is completely free from all sinful activities, they can become pure devotee. So even after becoming free from sinful activities, if one has got some motive, then he is also not pure devotee. Pure devotee means without any material motive: “God is great. I am His subordinate. I must love God. I must render service to God.” This is pure devotee. And if I go to God, “Please give me my bread,” that is not pure devotee, because he has got some purpose. As soon as his purpose is fulfilled, he may turn nondevotee. Just like one of my German Godbrothers said that in Germany during the last war, Second World War, many women used to go to the church to pray to God to get back their husband, son, or brother. But nobody came back. And they became atheist: “There is no God. We prayed so much, and my father did not come, my brother did not come, my son did not come.”So motivated devotion is sometimes frustrated, and they become atheist.
2.)Feb 25 1975 room conversation-
Rāmeśvara: Just like this Alice Coltrane. She has done her small part. She made this record album with Govinda Jaya Jaya and Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: That is… That will be a good thing. But when he (she) does it properly it will be more effective, because there is… If one does not chant in the process, then gradually it degrades. The offense will increase. There is chance.
Universal creation-how it takes place
For those of us who would like to understand how the universal creation takes place
(at intervals) here is the description from the Bhatgavat Purana-Srimad Bhagavatam.
(SB 3.10.verses 12-30 in the matter of creation)
This cosmic manifestation is separated from the Supreme Lord as material energy by means of kāla, which is the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Lord. It is situated as the objective manifestation of the Lord under the influence of the same material energy of Viṣṇu.
This cosmic manifestation is as it is now, it was the same in the past, and it will continue in the same way in the future.
There are nine different kinds of creations besides the one which naturally occurs due to the interactions of the modes. There are three kinds of annihilations due to eternal time, the material elements and the quality of one’s work.
Of the nine creations, the first one is the creation of the mahat–tattva, or the sum total of the material ingredients, wherein the modes interact due to the presence of the Supreme Lord. In the second, the false ego is generated in which the material ingredients, material knowledge and material activities arise.
The sense perceptions are created in the third creation, and from these the elements are generated. The fourth creation is the creation of knowledge and of working capacity.
The fifth creation is that of the controlling deities by the interaction of the mode of goodness, of which the mind is the sum total. The sixth creation is the ignorant darkness of the living entity, by which the master acts as a fool.
One cannot factually love anything unless he is fully developed in the loving service of the Lord.–SP
SB 3.9.33-When you are free from the conception of gross and subtle bodies and when your senses are free from all influences of the modes of material nature, you will realize your pure form in My association. At that time you will be situated in pure consciousness.
SB 3.9.42-I am the Supersoul of every individual. I am the supreme director and the dearest. People are wrongly attached to the gross and subtle bodies, but they should be attached to Me only.
PURPORT–The Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, is the dearest in both the conditioned and liberated states. When a person does not know that the Lord is the only dear most object, then he is in the conditioned state of life, and when one knows perfectly well that the Lord is the only dearmost object, he is considered to be liberated. There are degrees of knowing one’s relationship with the Lord, depending on the degree of realization as to why the Supreme Lord is the dear most object of every living being. The real reason is clearly stated in Bhagavad-gītā(15.7). Mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ: the living entities are eternally parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. The living entity is called the ātmā, and the Lord is called the Paramātmā. The living entity is called Brahman, and the Lord is called the Parabrahman, or the Parameśvara. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥkṛṣṇaḥ [Bs. 5.1]. The conditioned souls, who do not have self-realization, accept the material body as the dear most. The idea of the dearmost is then spread all over the body, both concentrated and extended. The attachment for one’s own body and its extensions like children and relatives is actually developed on the basis of the real living entity. As soon as the real living entity is out of the body, even the body of the most dear son is no longer attractive.Therefore the living spark, or eternal part of the Supreme, is the real basis of affection, and not the body. Because the living entities are also parts of the whole living entity, that supreme living entityis the factual basis of affection for all. One who has forgotten the basic principle of his love for everything has only flickering love because he is in maya The more one is affected by the principle of maya, the more he is detached from the basic principle of love. One cannot factually love anything unless he is fully developed in the loving service of the Lord.
Bhakti yoga-beginning with hearing,is the authorized process for returning to the spiritual world
SB 3.9.10 purport…Therefore, one who is not situated in the principles of devotional service to the Lord should not pose himself as a religious leader of the innocent public. The Īśopaniṣad emphatically forbids this nonsense in the following mantra:
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye ’sambhūtim upāsate tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u sambhūtyāṁ ratāḥ (Īśopaniṣad 12) A person in ignorance of the principles of religion who therefore does nothing in the matter of religion is far better than a person who misguides others in the name of religion without reference to the factual religious principles of devotional service. Such so-called leaders of religion are sure to be condemned by Brahmā and other great authorities.
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SB 3.9.11-O my Lord, Your devotees can see You through the ears by the process of bona fide hearing, and thus their hearts become cleansed, and You take Your seat there. You are so merciful to Your devotees that You manifest Yourself in the particular eternal form of transcendence in which they always think of You.
PURPORT-…The Lord sits on the lotus heart of the devotee in the eternal form the pure devotee desires, and thus the Lord does not part from the devotee, as confirmed in the previous verse. The Lord, however, does not disclose Himself to a casual or unauthentic worshiper to be exploited. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.25): nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ. Rather, by yoga-māyā, the Lord remains concealed to the nondevotees or casual devotees who are serving their sense gratification. The Lord is never visible to the pseudodevotees who worship the demigods in charge of universal affairs. The conclusion is that the Lord cannot become the order supplier of a pseudodevotee, but He is always prepared to respond to the desires of a pure, unconditional devotee, who is free from all tinges of material infection.