Hare Krsna to all Pranams
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

For those eager to continually hear from a bona fide spiritual master, the words I have given below from various lectures and purports should instill in us, a deeper sense of understanding spirituality.
Topic of discussion below:

When we stop hearing from the bona fide Spiritual Master (due to false ego), or his bona fide representatives , then our continued spiritual advancement is severely hampered.
Why is that, one may ask?

SB 4.22.31 When one deviates from his original consciousness, he loses the
capacity to remember his previous position or recognize his present
one. When remembrance is lost, all knowledge acquired is based on a
false foundation. When this occurs, learned scholars consider that the
soul is lost.

Therefore we come under the clutches of Maya, the illusory energy of God and she makes us think we can do what we want, go where we want, and think what we want and in this way, unknowingly, are dragged all over the universe from one body or another. And at the same time we will “think” we are– “OK”, exactly like souls trapped in hog bodies, “thinking” stool is so tasty. And for them it is, but those with slightly developed consciousness, they will not agree to such a proposal. So our senses in conditioned life are always deceiving us, therefore we need to hear constantly from the spiritual master or his representatives.

(SSR 2 Choosing a Spiritual Master
Gentlemen, our knowledge is so poor, our senses are so imperfect,
and our sources are so limited that it is not possible for us to have
even the slightest knowledge of the absolute region without
surrendering ourselves at the lotus feet of Sri Vyasadeva or his bona
fide representative. Every moment we are being deceived by the
knowledge of our direct perception. It is all the creation or
concoction of the mind, which is always deceiving, changing, and
flickering. We cannot know anything of the transcendental region by
our limited, perverted method of observation and experiment. But all
of us can lend our eager ears for the aural reception…..

Now let us hear , from the spiritual master, what is our actual position in this body.
This next verse may shock some….

SB 3.7.17 Further Inquires by Vidura
Both the lowest of fools and he who is transcendental to all
intelligence enjoy happiness, whereas persons between them suffer the
material pangs.

PURPORT

The lowest of fools do not understand material miseries; they pass
their lives merrily and do not inquire into the miseries of life. Such
persons are almost on the level of the animals, who, although in the
eyes of superiors are always miserable in life, are unaware of
material distresses. A hog’s life is degraded in its standard of
happiness, which entails living in a filthy place, engaging in sex
enjoyment at every opportune moment, and laboring hard in a struggle
for existence, but this is unknown to the hog. Similarly, human beings
who are unaware of the miseries of material existence and are happy in
sex life and hard labor are the lowest of fools. Yet because they have
no sense of miseries, they supposedly enjoy so-called happiness. The
other class of men, those who are liberated and are situated in the
transcendental position above intelligence, are really happy and are
called paramahamsas. But persons who are neither like hogs and dogs
nor on the level of the paramahamsas feel the material pangs, and for
them inquiry about the Supreme Truth is necessary. The Vedanta-sutra
states, athato brahma jijnasa: “Now one should inquire about Brahman.”
This inquiry is necessary for those who are between the paramahamsas
and the fools who have forgotten the question of self-realization in
the midst of life in sense gratification.
Continue reading →

751115mw.bom Conversations
Prabhupada: Yes. (break) …fast, these birds. Airplane cannot do
that.
Lokanatha: How do they decide the direction and they turn all
together?
Prabhupada: Huh?
Lokanatha: How they turn all together and how do they communicate each
other that "Yes, let’s move out away"?
Prabhupada: Yes, they have got intelligence. You are thinking that
they have no intelligence. They have got complete intelligence.
Lokanatha: They have, but how do they all together decide to either
turn right or left or…
Prabhupada: That is intelligence. You do not know that. If you are
given airplane, so many, you’ll, immediately at least half a dozen
will be finished. (laughter) That means you are less intelligent than
the birds, at least in the matter of flying.

Various Grades of Bhakti Nāradīya Purāṇa 1.15.38-51

viṣṇau samarpitaṁ sarvaṁ sāttvikaṁ saphalaṁ bhavet
hari-bhakti parā nṝṇāṁ sarva-pāpa-praṇāśinī

[Lord Vishnu, incarnated as Dharma, religiosity
personified, said to the
sagacious king Bhagirath:]
Everything dedicated to Lord Vishnu attains success
and goodness. It is transcendental devotion to Lord
Hari that is the destroyer of all sins of human beings.

sā bhaktir daśadhā jñeyā pāpāraṇya-davopamā
tāmasai rājasaiś caiva sāttvikaiś ca nṛpottama

O best among kings! That devotional service which
is like a great fire for a forest of sins is understood
to be divided into ten types according to [the broad
categories of] tāmasī-bhakti, devotion in the mode of
ignorance, rājasī-bhakti, devotion in the mode of passion,
and sāttvikī-bhakti, devotion in the mode of goodness.

[Translator’s Note: These ten categories are as follows:

Hare Krsna to all

Pranams
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

This short paragraph I just read yesterday morning for SB class. Spoken in
Aug of 1968, WAY back in the beginning of Prabhupada’s preaching here in the
west. So one can see how important it is that we understand and implement this
wish of his Divine Grace.

Hari bol
Damaghosa das

680822SB.MON Lectures
So fortunately, one of our students, he has taken a very large
tract of land in West Virginia to develop a society like that, that
simple life, eat simple things, grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, and
save your time for advancing in Krsna consciousness. Don’t be
implicated in the ugra-karma. Modern civilization is implicated in
ugra-karma–vast machinery, everything complicated. The government
complicated, the society complicated, economics rule complicated,
foreign exchange complicated. Everything has become complicated. So
Narottama dasa Thakura has sung very nice song. Satsanga chair kainu
asatye vilas, ei karane lagila more karma bandha-phansa. Because we
have given up Krsna consciousness, therefore we have been entangled in
the different varieties of material activities. Now we have to
simplify it. The Krsna consciousness movement is to simplify, to save
the valuable life, to save the time of valuable life. This human form
of life is very valuable. Bahunam janmanam ante. After many, many
births we have got this important life. So we have to save our time to
utilize it for Krsna consciousness. That should… So far we have got
this material body, we want to maintain it. The body and souls live
together. That is all right. For that, Krsna has given every chance.
Anywhere you sit down, you have got land and cow. You produce
something and cow’s milk. That is sufficient for maintenance. So let
us try to make an attempt to organize a New Vrindaban scheme, and I
shall request all my students to develop this idea and show a good
example to this Western part of the world where people are always
engaged in ugra-karma, asuric-karma. Things are becoming very
implicated, complicated.
Thank you very much. Any question?

this morning on my japa walk about….

spinach peas and tomaotes happily growing here

200 potato plants coming along nicely…

lots of pole and bush beans for grain use….

hoop house with peppers tomatos and cantaloupe

so much spinach and peas we cant eat it all…

Ah, judge by the result !! Hare Krsna !

770227SB.MAY Lectures 1/1

Guru cannot be self-made. No. There is no such

single instance throughout the whole Vedic literature. And nowadays,

so many rascals, they are becoming guru without any authority. That is

not guru. You must be authorized. Evam parampara-praptam imam ra… As

soon as the parampara is lost, sa kalena yoga nasto parantapa,

immediately finished. The spiritual potency finished. You can dress

like a guru, you can talk big, big words, but it will never be

effective

This photo of the Lotus Feet of Govindaji from Jaipur is rather new, but this Deity is around 5000 years old !
He was installed by Vajranab the grandson of Lord Krsna. One day Rupa Goswami
saw a cow in Vrndavana supplying milk to the ground somewhere and thought
to excavate that site. He found this Deity of Govinda. He is magnificient !!