City life, most unnatural–SP

Hare Krsna-Below Srila Prabhupada in this short conversation hears about how millions of children in this age have never ever seen a cow or a horse, and for some, even a tree and then he says-yes this is most unnatural this so called modern “civilization” and city life.

Then he describes his daily life, how many hours he sleeps per day while writing his books and constantly traveling around the world.

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June 21 1974 Germany

Prabhupāda: Artificially they live in the city.

Professor Durckheim: Yes, there are now millions and millions of children who never have seen a cow, never seen a horse.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Professor Durckheim: They go and stand at the zoo to see an animal. Yes, It’s true. And I have just now in my center the visit of six Americans from Chicago who have their psychological center, and they wanted to know what we do, and they told me. They have a special little area where children are taken to see one cow, you see, or one horse just to know what it is because they never see it, never see an animal.

Prabhupāda: Most unnatural life. City life, most unnatural.

Professor Durckheim: Oh, there are many children, they have never seen a tree.

Below are 4 pictures of  some of the beans we grow here at Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Mandir

All living entities subsist on food grains–these are some which we grow

“If you cannot increase it, then you should at least maintain what I have given you”-SP

                                                                OUR DEITIES SOME 20+ YEARS AGO

                                                                          OUR DEITIES TODAY

                                                               “It is a great responsibility you now have.”

So it is up to you to learn it and be able to present it nicely. Now you have everything, respect, philosophy, money, temples, books, all these things I have given, but I am an old man and my notice is already there. Now it is up to you all how to manage it. If you cannot increase it, you should at least maintain what I have given you. You cannot accuse me that I have not given you anything. So it is a great responsibility you now have.” Letter to Jagannatha Suta – August 26, 1975

How the Deity will talk with You–SP

Bombay Dec 4 1974 lecture-

Somebody was talking that “Your Deity is just like trying to talk with me.” Prasanna-vaktra. Yes. He is here to talk with you, but He is waiting whether you’re interested to talk with Him. That’s all. Kṛṣṇa says that teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁbhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam, buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam [Bg. 10.10]. He talks, but with whom? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām. One who is twenty-four hours engaged with love and faith in the service of the Lord. To whom? Just like if you want to talk with some big man, then you must have qualification. Is it possible that if you want to talk with the big man here, immediately you like? No. You cannot talk. You must be fit to talk with him. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is ready to talk with you. He has come. He has descended in arcā-mūrti to talk with you, to be visible by you. Now you make yourself ready and fit to talk with Kṛṣṇa. Then He will exchange conversation. Santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. This is possible. This is a qualification.

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How God is present in stone–SP

June 12 1974 Paris conversations.

Prabhupāda: Heat is also fire. But at the same time, heat is not fire. What is the difficulty to understand? If I say heat is also fire, but it is not fire, where is the wrong?

Devotee: Heat comes from the fire.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore the fire quality is there. Heat is the quality of the fire. Just like I taste sugar. The sweetness is also sugar. And the form is also sugar.

Yogeśvara: Well, they would say, “If stone is also Kṛṣṇa, then why aren’t we worshiping all stone?”

Prabhupāda: Eh?

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Indian village system may hold key to beating dementia

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8492918.stm

BBC News – Indian village may hold key to beating dementia news.bbc.co.uk BBC News health correspondent Jane Hughes went to Ballabgarh in northern India, an area with unusually low levels of Alzheimer’s disease, to see if they held the key …

Hare Krsna-here above is yet another  proof that living a rural lifestyle is better for your mental and physical health.

Srila Prabhupada who is our ever well wisher , wants nothing but the best for us and all the people of this world.

That is so because he is a pure devotee of the Lord and is unhappy to see others in such distress today.

Just a few days ago, I had a close friend of mine go to a hospital in an ambulance thinking it was a heart attack but he said it turns our to be just— STRESS…..Yes just stress, like that is not a killer- like cancer,diabetes, or any other serious disease.!!

So even if we cannot become 100% pure in this lifetime, with no material desires, still we should strive for a healthy  lifestyle in which we can pursue this ideal of becoming pure in body mind and soul. And one very easy way to accomplish this is by living outside the modern cities of this world, grow as much of our own food as we can, chant the Holy Names, and in this way be happy !! This is Srila Prabhupadas second phase of his establishment of the Yuga Dharma (chanting of the Holy names of God) or the Hare Krsna Movement.

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8492918.stm

Check out this above link to this study done in a village in Northern India. It also states that 820,000 people in the UK are now “living” with dementia……that is almost a million people  !

Here is what Srila Prabhupada is telling us we should do-especially as those who are supposed to be his disciples and well wishers or followers, what to speak of the rest of the world.

►740527mw.rom                Conversations Prabhupada: Yes, it will go on, but when they will see that  your ideal community is better than city life, people will take to it.  Param drstva nivartate. When one gets a better standard of life,  naturally he will give up the lower standard of  life.

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the general population of kali yuga explained by a cartoon and sloka

SB 10.1.14-TRANSLATION

Sūta Gosvāmī said: O son of Bhṛgu [Śaunaka Ṛṣi], after Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the most respectable devotee, the son of Vyāsadeva, heard the pious questions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he thanked the King with great respect. Then he began to discourse on topics concerning Kṛṣṇa, which are the remedy for all sufferings in this age of Kali.

PURPORT

In this verse the words kṛṣṇa-caritaṁ kali-kalmaṣa-ghnam indicate that the activities of Lord Kṛṣṇa are certainly the greatest panacea for all miseries, especially in this age of Kali. It is said that in Kali-yuga people have only short lives, and they have no culture of spiritual consciousness. If anyone is at all interested in spiritual culture, he is misled by many bogus svāmīs and yogīs who do not refer to kṛṣṇa-kathā. Therefore most people are unfortunate and disturbed by many calamities. Śrīla Vyāsadeva prepared Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam at the request of Nārada Muni in order to give relief to the suffering people of this age (kali-kalmaṣa-ghnam). The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is seriously engaged in enlightening people through the pleasing topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. All over the world, the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā is being accepted in all spheres of life, especially in advanced, educated circles.Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is described in this verse as bhāgavata-pradhānaḥ, whereas Mahārāja Parīkṣit is described as viṣṇu-rātam. Both words bear the same meaning; that is, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī was also a great saintly person and a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Combined together to present kṛṣṇa-kathā, they give great relief to suffering humanity.

“The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this, and therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is in relation to the Supreme Truth.” (Bhāg. 1.7.6) People in general are unaware that the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can give all of human society relief from the pangs of Kali-yuga (kali-kalmaṣa-ghnam).

What is the devotee’s greatest enemy??

June 12 1974 Paris conversations

Devotee: Prabhupāda, what is the devotee’s greatest enemy? A devotee’s greatest enemy?

Prabhupāda: He, he himself. Because he’s a rascal, he’s his greatest enemy

 

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. He has given nice reference. A devotee, although sees God in His lion feature, and very ferocious, he knows He is God. “He’s my Lord.” But this so-called advancement of material civilization is the greatest enemy. That is not… Material civilization is very, very backward position. Māyā-mohita.He’ll be captivated by the so-called stones and bricks, and he’ll forget God. That is the disease of the western world. They are very much fond of these stones and bricks, and therefore they have no knowledge about God. This electricity, the electrons, the radio, this, everything machine and stones. They have got, forgotten God. Jaḍa-vidyā jato māyāra vaibhava.The more you materially advance, you forget God. So human life is meant for reviving our relationship with God, but if you forget God, then what kind of civilization it is? You are forgetting your real business.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Some people use the argument, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that by this advancement of technology, it will free us to think of philosophical.

Prabhupāda: They will free us. They will free us. Oh, that will never come. That will never come. Therefore they are called bahir-artha-māninaḥ. They are captivated by the external feature, and one who is leading them, he’s also blind, and one who is following, he’s also blind. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās te ‘pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. They do not know that material laws are so strong that they are not free to do anything.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: They are thinking that the technology will free them.

Prabhupāda: Eh? No. No.

Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: The technology cannot…?

Prabhupāda: It will bind them.

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Will Death Wait?

                                                              Will Death Wait? 

                           Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati’s Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam 1.50 

bhrātas te kim u niścayena viditaḥ svasyānta-kālaḥ kim u tvaṁ jānāsi mahā-manuṁ balavato mṛtyor gati-stambhane mṛtyus tvat-karaṇaṁ pratīkṣata iti tvaṁ vetsi kiṁ vā yato vāraṁ vāram aśaṅka eva calase vṛndāvanād anyataḥ 

 

O Brother! Do you know for sure the exact time of your death? Or have you perfected some great mahā-mantra for the sake of preventing the advancement of powerful death? You think death will wait for you to finish all your tasks in life? [I think that the answer to all these questions is yes,] because you seem to confidently walk out of Vrindavan again and again to go elsewhere.  

Translated by Hari Parshad Das from the Sanskrit available at Gaudiya Grantha Mandira

SB 7.2.57 purport-

Yamarāja once asked Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, “What is the most wonderful thing within this world?” Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira replied (Mahābhārata, Vana–parva313.116):

Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonderful thing in this world. Everyone has to die because everyone is fully under the control of material nature, yet everyone thinks that he is independent, that whatever he likes he can do, that he will never meet death but live forever, and so on. So-called scientists are making various plans by which living entities in the future can live forever, but while they are thus pursuing such scientific knowledge, Yamarāja, in due course of time, will take them away from their business of so-called research.

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Prabhupada discusses various philosophies with Shyamasundar das

Srila Prabhupada and Syamasundara das discusses various philosophers teachings-This one is about David Hume and  Immanuel Kant. Prabhupada explains the Krsna Conscious philosophy against these two men’s ideas, which we can see , some of which still permeate todays atheistic and impersonalistic society. These types of people just cannot and will not accept that their may be a Supreme Person causing everything to happen.

 

Śyāmasundara: This is just what he is saying, that whenever you try to speculate about the Absolute you will run into contradictions.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So contradiction mean imperfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge means who sticks to his principles. That is perfect knowledge. One who does not stick to his original proposal, his knowledge is imperfect.

Śyāmasundara: He says that by trying to apply their reason to the transcendental, that they naturally will run into trouble, that there will be contradictions in their thought. By trying to apply these empirical categories to the transcendental, naturally there will be these contradictions. They will not be able to discover the real nature of things because there is always some contradiction by using the reason.

Prabhupāda: Without fixed up conclusion, there is contradiction. Our fixed-up conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. How, one after another, the categories are developed, that is in the Vedic literature. But it is summarized that Kṛṣṇa desired or He put His glance over the material nature and the material nature became impregnated, and then He delivered so many things. Matter and spirit have combined together, and the whole cosmic manifestation has come into being.

Śyāmasundara: To go back to this idea of cause and effect, Kant says that just as time and space are a priori concepts or mental creations—in other words, before we have any sense experience, we still have an idea of time and space—just as this is so, so also cause and effect is a priori category of human understanding.

Prabhupāda: So that a priori existence is there, time and space.

Śyāmasundara: Time and space, and cause and effect.

Prabhupāda: I take my birth and at a certain time time. So time was existing before my birth, and after my death time will continue to exist. Similarly, space. But, temporarily, I take some time. That is the duration of my life. Or I am occupying some space. This is temporary. Time and space are eternally there. At least time is eternally there, because space is also born in time.

Śyāmasundara: How is that?

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Can a person go back to Godhead without initiation?

May 22 197 Melbourne

Devotee 7: Prabhupāda, can a person go back to a spiritual planet without initiation?

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Devotee 7: Can a person go back to a spiritual planet…

Prabhupāda: No, there is no more init… Initiation here required when the living entity is in darkness. Just like uneducated person requires to go to school. One who is educated, in his full knowledge, he doesn’t go.

Madhudviṣa: The question was, Prabhupāda, is it possible for a person to return to the spiritual world without taking initiation from a bona fide spiritual master?

Prabhupāda: No, that is not possible. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī said, ā dau gurv-āśrayam. First business is to accept spiritual master. Ā dau gurv-āśrayam.