Hare Krishna Society

The five kinds of ignorance, by Haripada dasa

In the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1, 102, it is said that in the Mahabharata, Udyoga-parva, chapter 43, the five kinds of ignorance are described, I will try to explain them.

1- To believe that the body is the self. I, the soul, remember that when I was little in school some children wanted to hit me, I told my grandmother and she was talking to the school principal to defend me. The child body that I had has already changed, or in other words no longer exists. The self, the soul, remembers it because it is the same, never changes and is eternal. The first lesson one should learn in the spiritual life is to understand and accept that I am not the body.

2 – To make the material satisfaction of the senses the model of happiness. The most practical proof that happiness is not in sense gratification is that in rich countries like Denmark and Sweden and others are the countries with the highest suicide rates, one does not commit suicide because he is very happy, but because he is full of frustrations and sufferings.

3- Being in anxiety due to identification with the subject. We should not envy anyone, because envy is the cause of anxieties and fears. All relationships of materialistic people are based on envy, so they always live full of anxieties and fears. Materialists do not understand because the pure devotees of God or Krishna live happily without anxieties and without fears.

4- To lament. People complain about everything because they are not happy in God or Krishna consciousness. When a person is conscious of God, he lives with God and is happy and does not regret anything. He who is wise does not mourn for the living or for the dead. He who does good will never be overcome by evil.

5- To believe that there is something beyond the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is the cause of all causes and He has no cause. There is only God or Krishna and His energies. When a person awakens his natural love for God, he will naturally love everything and everyone, since there is only God and His energies. There is the inconceivable unity and difference simultaneously.

From time immemorial the greatest problem of people is that they are attached to ignorance. When they know someone who is full of knowledge, bliss and eternity, instead of rejoicing, they envy him. I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my most respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada..

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May 22 1975 Melbourne conversations

Prabhupāda: Yes. But a pure devotee goes back to home. There is no more material body. That is the… So we are advocating that you come to this stage where you will not to have accept this material body. Then you are really happy. And if you want to enjoy the flickering, illusory māyā, then you are subjected to the māyā. You are enjoying as American. Then you enjoy as a dog. That is māyā’s control. But if you don’t enjoy material things then you become purified. You come to the eternal life, back to home, back to Godhead. But they are not willing to give up this material enjoyment. That is the defect. So it requires education. It requires knowledge. It requires training.

Devotee 7: Prabhupāda, when you leave this material world, will there be another spiritual master after you? Another pure soul?

Prabhupāda: Then that spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa Himself. There is no need of education. Everyone is free. Everyone is full knowledge. There is no need of spiritual master.

(He is talking here of the spiritual world, not the material world)

Devotee 8: Śrīla Prabhupāda, many people who live outside the temple have Jagannātha Deities and Gaura-Nitāi Deities.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee 8: Śrīla Prabhupāda, many people who live outside the temple have Jagannātha Deities and…

Prabhupāda: Better Gaura-Nitāi Deities.

Devotee 8: Huh?

Prabhupāda: Better Gaura-Nitāi.

Devotee 8: So they have to do full Deity worship when they have these Deities?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Devotee 8: They have to do full Deity worship to have these Deities? Dress the Deities every day?

Prabhupāda: They are supposed to do so, but whether they are able to do so, that is the point. If you can worship properly, that’s all right. But whether you are able to worship?

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

Prabhupāda: Huh?

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May 21 1975 Melbourne

Madhudviṣa: …cannot become a medical practitioner by simply reading the books. He must study under a medical practitioner. So in the case of your books, is it possible to become a devotee without actually having personal association with you? Just by reading your books?

Prabhupāda: No, it is not that you have to associate with the author. But one who knows, if you cannot understand you have to take lesson from him. Not necessarily that you have to contact with the author always.

Devotee: Just like the textbooks are not written by the teachers; they’re written by other professors.

Devotee: Usually you don’t even meet the author.

Prabhupāda: Simply one who knows the subject matter, he can explain.

Madhudviṣa: But can your, would your purports, would that serve as explanation besides…

Prabhupāda: No, no, anyone who knows the subject matter, he will be able to explain. Not necessarily the author is required to be present there. [break] …to study from a medical man, I never said you have to study from the author. Or one who understood the author’s purpose. Just like we are explaining Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Not that one has to learn directly from Kṛṣṇa. One who has understood Kṛṣṇa, from him. That is paramparā system.

Note—some people these days say you cannot understand the books or the Krsna philosophy unless you go thru somebody who was physically there with Srila Prabhupada. This statement proves that is false.

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Who and How to understand SB

1.) SB 2.1.10 purport…In the Padma Purāṇa, it is mentioned that Gautama Muni advised Mahārāja Ambarīṣa to hear regularly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it was recited by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and herein it is confirmed that Mahārāja Ambarīṣa heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning to the end, as it was spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One who is actually interested in the Bhāgavatam, therefore, must not play with it by reading or hearing a portion from here and a portion from there; one must follow in the footsteps of great kings like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa or Mahārāja Parīkṣit and hear it from a bona fide representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

2.) SB 2.2.13 purport…According to the Bhāgavata school, the Lord’s rāsa dancing is the smiling face of the Lord. Since it is recommended in this verse that one should gradually progress from the lotus feet up to the smiling face, we shall not jump at once to understand the Lord’s pastimes in the rāsa dance. It is better to practice concentrating our attention by offering flowers and tulasi to the lotus feet of the Lord. In this way, we gradually become purified by the arcanā process. We dress the Lord, bathe Him, etc., and all these transcendental activities help us purify our existence.

…..Our intelligence in the present conditioned state of life is impure due to being engaged in sense gratification. The result of meditation on the transcendental form of the Lord will be manifested by one’s detachment from sense gratification. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of meditation is purification of one’s intelligence.

Those who are too engrossed in sense gratification cannot be allowed to participate in arcanā or to touch the transcendental form of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu Deities. For them it is better to meditate upon the gigantic virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord, as recommended in the next verse. The impersonalists and the voidists are therefore recommended to meditate upon the universal form of the Lord, whereas the devotees are recommended to meditate on the Deity worship in the temple. Because the impersonalists and the voidists are not sufficiently purified in their spiritual activities, arcanā is not meant for them.

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The ascending and descending process, by Haripada dasa

There are two processes to receive knowledge, the ascending and descending process. I will try to explain them. A person believes that by his mental and intellectual power he will understand everything, who I am, who is God, who is the material creation, etc., this is called the ascending process. In this connection I share a very interesting story, St. Augustine is considered the greatest philosopher of the Christian Church, this saint walked on the beach speculating several philosophical issues, and saw a child with a shovel who was making a hole in the sand. The saint asked the child what he was doing, and the boy replied that I’m going to put all the ocean water in this hole. St. Augustine laughed and said that was impossible, The child then said that it was more impossible to understand things through speculation, and that the only way to understand things is when God is pleased with you and he will will reveal everything. The only way to understand things is by the mercy of God. There St. Augustine understood the essence of spiritual life.

We see that we are all born with four defects, 1- we have the tendency to make mistakes, to err is human, 2- we tend to fall into ignorance, 3- we tend to deceive others and 4- we have imperfect senses. Descending process means that God or Krishna transmits all eternal truths to Brahma, the first creature created, then Brahma transmits it to his son Narada, Narada to Vyasadeva, Vyasadeva to Madhvacharya, etc., this is called guru parampara or disciplic succession. This knowledge comes pure and does not change. That is why Srila Prabhupada, who is the number 32 spiritual master of this guru parampara chain, always said that the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is very easy because we do not have to invent anything, we just repeat the messages that the predecessor spiritual masters have given us.

There are four sampradayas or spiritual schools authorized by God or Krishna that transmit descending knowledge, 1- the Brahma sampradaya whose Acharya or founding Master is Madhvacharya, 2- the Kumara sampradaya, the 4 Kumaras, whose Acharya or founding Master is Nimbarkacharya, 3- the Laksmi sampradaya, whose Acharya or founding Master is Ramanujacharya and 4- the Rudra or Siva sampradaya, whose Acharya or founding Master is Visnuswami. One must receive spiritual knowledge and mantras from these 4 spiritual schools. When Srila Prabhupada’s teacher, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada, preached Krishna consciousness all over India, he once met a guru and he asked him: “Who has authorized you to be a guru?” Then he said that all these manufactured gurus are first class deceivers. That is why Srila Prabhupada says in Srimad Bhagavatam, 4, 8, 54 that one should receive initiation from a guru who is authorized by the guru who preceded him.

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Our well-wisher, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada from 1966 to 1977 answered more than 7,000 letters from his disciples and admirers, and he always put at the en, Your well-wisher Bhaktivedanta Swami. Do not think that finding a bona fide representative of God or Krishna is an easy thing. The problem is that there are many deceivers. Srila Prabhupada always said that what people dislike the most is suffering and being cheated. Another thing he always said is that people can not understand the simplest things in life because they are full of sinful activities. People do not understand the difference between a materialistic person and an atheist and a true devotee of God or Krishna. The atheist and materialist has no good feeling for anyone, nor for himself, and the devotee of Krishna is a person full of compassion. He cannot bear the afflictions of others and tries through the preaching of Krishna consciousness, so that people chant Hare Krishna, lead a pure and sinless life and be happy. Srila Prabhupada sacrificed his life for others. That is the practical proof that he is a representative of God or Krishna, and he is Acharya, which means the one who preaches with his personal example.

Srila Prabhupada is saktyavesa avatara. The word avatara means that that descends from the spiritual world, and saktyavesa means the one that God or Krishna sends to be His representative. When Srila Prabhupada was born the astrologer said that this child when he is 70 years old will leave India to go to the Western countries to preach the conscience of Krishna. He will open over a hundred temples of Krishna, he will write 80 books and these books will be the law books for the next 10,000 years for all mankind. Up to now, more than 500 million books have been distributed in all the languages of the world. Srila Prabhupada did not come to make a new religion, but to preach concepts and truths that are eternal, as Jesus Christ said that I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

Srila Prabhupada taught us that the real problems are liberating us from birth, death, old age and disease. He taught us that the only spiritual process in Kali yuga or the present era is to chant the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H is read as J de jota), and taught us that the pure and intimate devotees of God or Krishna never die, they live eternally in their instructions. Those who obey his instructions live with them. Srila Prabhupada taught us to love our enemies, I am going to tell a story that illustrates this, Srila Prabhupada bought a piece of land in Bombay, India, to make a Krishna temple, a Hotel, a Theater and a vegetarian restaurant. He bought land from one Mr. Nair, a very powerful character, President of the Supreme Court and Director of a newspaper. Nair before had also sold that same land to the C. Company, with traps took away the land and money. The C. Company sued Nair, but Nair won the lawsuit.

Srila Prabhupada knew it and so and everything took a risk. Nair and his lawyer wanted to do the same with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada sued Mr. Nair in the courts, but Nair died of a heart attack. His mistress continued with the litigation and made a big mistake, she bribed City Hall officials to tear down the temple which the devotees were already building. She was trying to throw all the devotees of Krishna who lived on the land. This backfired, the devotees of Krishna called all his Hindu friends and told them everything. All the most important people of Bombay condemned this act and Mrs. Nair was devastated. After Mrs. Nair all regretted went to see Srila Prabhupada and crying he threw himself at his feet to forgive her, Srila Prabhupada full of mercy told him that you are for me as my daughter, never in life will you lack anything, I would I will take care of you. Now that temple is one of the most important temples of spiritual India.

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“The neophyte Vaisnava devotees’ ringing the bell even once during worship of the Deity of the Supreme Lord is a MILLION TIMES MORE VALUABLE spiritually and otherwise, than the charitable fruitive workers building many hospitals, feeding thousands of the poor, or building homes, or even the empirical philosophers’ Vedic studies, meditation, austerities, and penances.”

N98:RTW2.9 Following in the footsteps of Self Realized

The above was quoted from a lecture given by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaj and found in the vedabase folio.

DEITY WORSHIP-THE MOST VALUABLE BENEDICTION GIVEN BY THE LORD TO NEOPHYTES

Lecture NY sept 18 1966

So in my childhood, when I was five or six years old, I requested my father that “Father, give me this Deity. I shall worship.” So father purchased for me little Krishna, Radha, and he gave me, and I was imitating. Whatever foodstuff I was getting, I was offering to Krishna and eating. In this way I got my life developed. And there was a temple in our neighbourhood.So I was seeing the Krishna deity. Oh, I was thinking…..I still remember. I was standing for hours together.

SB 4.30.27 purport–Deity worship in the form of temple worship is the most valuable benediction given by the Lord to beginners. All neophytes must therefore engage in the worship of the Lord by keeping the arcā-vigraha (arcāvatāra) at home or in the temple.

SB 7.14.39-TRANSLATION–My dear King, when great sages and saintly persons saw mutually disrespectful dealings at the beginning of Tretā-yuga, Deity worship in the temple was introduced with all paraphernalia.

NoD 35 Neutral Love of God 175614/530501

Without worshiping the arca-vigraha, the form or Deity of the Lord,

one cannot understand such literature as Bhagavad-gita and

Srimad-Bhagavatam.

751030SB.NAI Lectures 223477/530501

So the temple worship is essential. So those who are against temple

worship, Deity worship, they are not very intelligent class of men,

foolish, mudha. NoD 35 Neutral Love of God

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SB 1.11.3 purport…This sound of the Lord is identical with the Lord, as we have tried to explain by the nondual position of the Lord. The material existence of our present status is full of fear. Out of the four problems of material existence, namely the food problem, the shelter problem, the fear problem and the mating problem, the fear problem gives us more trouble than the others. We are always fearful due to our ignorance of the next problem. The whole material existence is full of problems, and thus the fear problem is always prominent. This is due to our association with the illusory energy of the Lord, known as māyā or external energy, yet all fear is vanished as soon as there is the sound of the Lord,represented by His holy name, as it was sounded by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the following sixteen words:Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare We can take advantage of these sounds and be free from all threatening problems of material existence.

SB 1.18.18 purport…The mental diseases of the present generation are more acute than bodily diseases

SB 2.1.17 purport…. Oṁkāra is the seed of all transcendental sound and it is only the transcendental sound which can bring about the desired change of the mind and the senses. Even a mentally deranged man can be cured by treatment of transcendental sound. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the praṇava (oṁkāra) has been accepted as the direct, literal representation of the Supreme AbsoluteTruth. One who is not able to chant directly the holy name of the Lord, as recommended above, can easily chant the praṇava (oṁkāra). This oṁkāra is a note of address, such as “O my Lord,” just as oṁ hari om means “O my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” As we have explained before, the Lord’s holy name is identical with the Lord Himself. So also is oṁkāra. But persons who are unable to realize the transcendental personal form or name of the Lord on account of their imperfect senses (in other words, the neophytes) are trained to the practice of self-realization by this mechanical process of regulating the breathing function and simultaneously repeating the praṇava (oṁkāra) within the mind.

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SB 1.18.18 purport…The mental diseases of the present generation are more acute than bodily diseases

SB 2.1.17 purport…. Oṁkāra is the seed of all transcendental sound and it is only the transcendental sound which can bring about the desired change of the mind and the senses. Even a mentally deranged man can be cured by treatment of transcendental sound. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the praṇava (oṁkāra) has been accepted as the direct, literal representation of the Supreme Absolute Truth. One who is not able to chant directly the holy name of the Lord, as recommended above, can easily chant the praṇava (oṁkāra). This oṁkāra is a note of address, such as “O my Lord,” just as oṁ hari om means “O my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” As we have explained before, the Lord’s holy name is identical with the Lord Himself. So also is oṁkāra. But persons who are unable to realize the transcendental personal form or name of the Lord on account of their imperfect senses (in other words, the neophytes) are trained to the practice of self-realization by this mechanical process of regulating the breathing function and simultaneously repeating the praṇava (oṁkāra) within the mind.

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SB 1.18.25-Purport—The Supreme Lord is so kind to His pure devotees that in proper time He calls such devotees up to Him and thus creates an auspicious circumstance for the devotee. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a pure devotee of the Lord, and there was no reason for him to become extremely fatigued, hungry and thirsty because a devotee of the Lord never becomes perturbed by such bodily demands. But by the desire of the Lord, even such a devotee can become apparently fatigued and thirsty just to create a situation favorable for his renunciation of worldly activities. One has to give up all attachment for worldly relations before one is able to go back to Godhead, and thus when a devotee is too much absorbed in worldly affairs, the Lord creates a situation to cause indifference. The Supreme Lord never forgets His pure devotee, even though he may be engaged in so-called worldly affairs. Sometimes He creates an awkward situation, and the devotee becomes obliged to renounce all worldly affairs. The devotee can understand by the signal of the Lord, but others take it to be unfavorable and frustrating. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was to become the medium for the revelation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as his grandfather Arjuna was the medium for the Bhagavad-gītā. Had Arjuna not been taken up with an illusion of family affection by the will of the Lord, the Bhagavad-gītā would not have been spoken by the Lord Himself for the good of all concerned. Similarly, had Mahārāja Parīkṣit not been fatigued, hungry and thirsty at this time, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam would not have been spoken by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the prime authority of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So this is a prelude to the circumstances under which Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was spoken for the benefit of all concerned. The prelude, therefore, begins with the words “once upon a time.

SB 1.18.31 purport…By placing Arjuna and the Pāṇḍavas in frustration due to the intrigue of their cousin-brothers, the prelude of the Battle of Kurukṣetra was created by the Lord. This was to incarnate the sound representative of the Lord, Bhagavad-gītā. So by placing King Parīkṣit in an awkward position, the incarnation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was created by the will of the Lord. Being distressed by hunger and thirst was only a show, because the King endured much, even in the womb of his mother. He was never disturbed by the glaring heat of the brahmāstra released by Aśvatthāmā. The King’s distressed condition was certainly unprecedented. The devotees like Mahārāja Parīkṣit are powerful enough to forbear such distresses, by the will of the Lord, and they are never disturbed. The situation, in this case, was therefore all planned by the Lord.

SB 1.18.32 purport….

Due to Mahārāja Parīkṣit’s good government, even a boy of tender age, who was playing with other inexperienced boys, could become as powerful as a qualified brāhmaṇa. This boy was known as Śṛṅgi, and he achieved good training in brahmacarya by his father so that he could be as powerful as a brāhmaṇa, even at that age. But because the age of Kali was seeking an opportunity to spoil the cultural heritage of the four orders of life, the inexperienced boy gave a chance for the age of Kali to enter into the field of Vedic culture.Hatred of the lower orders of life began from this brāhmaṇa boy, under the influence of Kali, and thus cultural life began to dwindle day after day. The first victim of brahminical injustice was Mahārāja Parīkṣit, and thus the protection given by the King against the onslaught of Kali was slackened.

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Hare Krishna Society

The five kinds of ignorance

which deities are householders allowed to worship??—SP answers

more proof you don’t need a “physically present guru”—SP

Who and How to understand SB and BG—SP

The ascending and descending process

Our well-wisher

What is the value of Deity Worship?–SP

the fear problem gives us more trouble than the other ones

Even a mentally deranged man can be cured by treatment of transcendental sound–SP

How even one bad disciple can ruin an institution