httpv://youtu.be/HiYHyx6A1mY
video: Srila Prabhupada’s memory by Madhudvisha Dasa
“Confidential devotees of the Lord see in every step a benedictory direction of the Lord. What is considered to be an odd or difficult moment in the mundane sense is accepted as special mercy of the Lord. Mundane prosperity is a kind of material fever, and by the grace of the Lord the temperature of this material fever is gradually diminished, and spiritual health is obtained step by step. Mundane people misunderstand it.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.6.10
“One experienced man can sit down in a hut and simply talk about Krsna and organize the local people. This is how I started in the beginning at 26 Second Avenue in New York City. If there is genuine preaching they will be attracted, so long the preacher has no self motivation, but simply chants and preaches.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Tejiyas — Bombay 8 April, 1974
Incense distribution is proving to be very important asset for raising funds for temple upkeep, etc., but we are more interested still in distributing our books. Incense sales are clearly business only, but when we sell our books that means we push forward our movement. Of course they can both be done together. That is nice program and has proven successful in many centers.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Ranadhira — Bombay 21 April, 1971
It is not so much important the quantity of books that we distribute, but that we serve Krishna as best we can, and depend on Him for the results. Transcendental competition is nice, but it should not come to the point of making us lose our Krishna consciousness.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Dharma — Tokyo 22 April, 1972
From a Letter to Boys and Girls On April 15, 1973, Srila Prabhupada Writes:
“My dear boys and girls, you are working so hard for broadcasting the glories of Lord Krishna’s lotus feet and thus my Guru maharaja will be so pleased upon you. Certainly my Guru maharaja will bestow His blessings thousand times more than me and that is my satisfaction. All Glories to the assembled devotees.”
“So if you have talent for musical achievement, that is nice; but if you nourish some idea of becoming famous by playing some music, that will be a source of frustration — the end. So it is better if you play your music for Krishna by having very ecstatic kirtanas in your center in Vancouver, and in this way, as I have introduced it, all of the devotees and also the general public as well will be able to join together cooperatively in the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not that we shall glorify anyone else. Let the materialists operate in their own way, but we have got Vaisnavism stand and we should train the general public to accept it and come up to our platform of process of doing things, not that we should reduce to their standard.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Mahatma — Sydney 10 April, 1972
“We should not ever try to force anyone or reduce our Society to an impersonal business exchange, this will kill everything. Our only purpose in every endeavor is simply to make advancement in spiritual life or in pleasing Krsna.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Bhakta dasa — Sydney 9 April, 1972
“Actually we should give more stress in worshiping the incarnation of sound vibration but whenever there is possibility of installing Deities and strictly following the regulations of worship, we shall do this, but the essential part of our activities is to worship the sound incarnation.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Visnujana — Bombay 4 April, 1971
“If we simply repeat this philosophy exactly as it is, without any misrepresentation or adulteration, then this movement will never be checked, and we will conquer the world.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Jagadisa — Sydney 27 March, 1972
“Srila Narada Muni, in order to enlighten the miserable inhabitants, wanders everywhere. His mission is to get them back home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of all genuine devotees of the Lord following the footsteps of that great sage.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.6.38 Purport
“Krsna was once addressed by His friend thus: “My dear Mukunda [Krsna], due to their being separated from You, the cowherd boys are standing just like neglected Deities in the house of a professional brahmana.” There is a class of professional brahmanas who take to Deity worship as a means of earning their livelihood. Brahmanas in this class are not very interested in the Deity; they are interested mainly in the money they can earn as holy men. So the Deities worshiped by such professional brahmanas are not properly decorated, Their dress is not changed, and Their bodies are not cleaned. They look dirty and are not very attractive. Actually, Deity worship should be done very carefully: the dress should be changed daily, and as far as possible there should be ornaments. Everything should be so clean that the Deity is attractive to all visitors. Here the example is given of the Deities in the house of a professional brahmana because such Deities are not at all attractive. The friends of Krsna, in the absence of Krsna, were appearing like such neglected Deities.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Nectar of Devotion, 30. Further Features of Ecstatic Love for Krsna – A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
“Lord Nityananda is Guru. He can instruct us, but ultimately it depends on the disciple. A doctor may say “Do this, Do not do this,” but if the patient does not follow the prescription, what is the result? Similarly, Nityananda Prabhu will hear the prayer of an insincere rascal, if that rascal actually wants to change his condition. One must agree not to be a rascal any more, then his rascaldom can be reformed. Jagai and Madhai begged the Lord for His mercy and they were prototype rascals, drunkards and debauchees. Lord Caitanya told them first you stop your nonsense activities, then I will accept you. So a rascal may be accepted provided he agrees to stop his nonsenses. Otherwise, how can one expect to be reformed if he does not agree or like to be reformed. To be reformed, he must agree to the reforming process.
In this connection, in order to remain fixed in spiritual strength, always be sure to chant the prescribed sixteen rounds of beads daily without fail. This is essential for insuring your spiritual progress.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Rudra — Los Angeles 9 March, 1970
“In the transcendental loving service of the Lord, it doesn’t matter whether we are working, cooking, painting, writing, chanting, or whatever; they are all the same. There are no such distinctions of higher and lower on the transcendental platform. The important thing is that we are engaging our time and energy in the service of the Lord. After all, we are so tiny. what can we do? Krishna sees simply that this time is being spent in His service.”
Letter to Karunamayi, February 25, 1968
“Patience is required for the successful discharges of Krsna conscious duties. Krsna is pleased to award benediction upon the aspiring devotee engaged in His service with patience determination and regularity.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Citsukhananda — Gorakhpur 21 February, 1971
“It is the duty of a mendicant (parivrajakacarya) to experience all varieties of God’s creation by traveling alone through all forests, hills, towns, villages, etc., to gain faith in God and strength of mind as well as to enlighten the inhabitants with the message of God. A sannyasi is duty-bound to take all these risks without fear, and the most typical sannyasi of the present age is Lord Caitanya, who traveled in the same manner through the central Indian jungles, enlightening even the tigers, bears, snakes, deer, elephants and many other jungle animals. In this age of Kali, sannyasa is forbidden for ordinary men. One who changes his dress to make propaganda is a different man from the original ideal sannyasi. One should, however, take the vow to stop social intercourse completely and devote life exclusively to the service of the Lord. The change of dress is only a formality. Lord Caitanya did not accept the name of a sannyasi, and in this age of Kali the so-called sannyasis should not change their former names, following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya. In this age, devotional service of hearing and repeating the holy glories of the Lord is strongly recommended, and one who takes the vow of renunciation of family life need not imitate the parivrajakacarya like Narada or Lord Caitanya, but may sit down at some holy place and devote his whole time and energy to hear and repeatedly chant the holy scriptures left by the great acaryas like the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.6.13
“It was said about Lord Caitanya: APANI ACARI PRABHU JIVERE SIKHAYA, that is, He personally used to practice Himself the injunctions and then He used to teach others. That is our principle: Unless one is perfectly behaved person, he cannot teach others. My only request is that all the GBC members should be strictly to the standard of life, and see that others are also following them. Then our centers will be well-managed.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Hayagriva — Madras 13 February, 1972
A guru is not a fashion, “Oh, such and such swamiji is a…, let me make him guru.” Just like, “Oh, there is a nice dog. Keep me a dog. Let me keep here dog.” And if a guru says, “Yes, whatever you are doing, you are right. You can do whatever you… You can eat whatever you like. You can do whatever…,” “Oh, he is a very nice guru.” And as soon as he will say, “No illicit sex life, sir, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication,” “Oh, Swamiji, you are very conservative.” I have heard these things.
Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.10 — Delhi, November 16 1973
Dwijamani Das
”Sri Narada Muni from practical experience definitely asserts that the prime solution of all problems of material work is to broadcast very widely the transcendental glories of the Supreme Lord. There are four classes of good men, and there are four classes of bad men also. The four classes of good men acknowledge the authority of the Almighty God, and therefore such good men (1) when they are in difficulty, (2) when they are in need of money, (3) when they are advanced in knowledge and (4) when they are inquisitive to know more and more about God, intuitively take shelter of the Lord. As such, Naradaji advises Vyasadeva to broadcast the transcendental knowledge of God in terms of the vast Vedic knowledge which he had already attained.
As far as the bad men are concerned, they are also four in number: (1) those who are simply addicted to the mode of progressive fruitive work and thus are subjected to the accompanying miseries, (2) those who are simply addicted to vicious work for sense satisfaction and so suffer the consequence, (3) those who are materially very much advanced in knowledge, but who suffer because they do not have the sense to acknowledge the authority of the Almighty Lord, and (4) the class of men who are known as atheists and who therefore purposely hate the very name of God, although they are always in difficulty.
Sri Naradaji advised Vyasadeva to describe the glories of the Lord just to do good to all eight classes of men, both good and bad. Srimad-Bhagavatam is therefore not meant for any particular class of men or sect. It is for the sincere soul who actually wants his own welfare and peace of mind.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.40 Purport
“A pure devotee is more interested in serving the Lord than in showing an exhibition of the mystic powers dormant in him.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.39 purport
“The pancaratrika system is both practical and suitable for this age of quarrel. The Pancaratra is more important than the Vedanta for this modern age.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.38 Purport
“One has to study the science from bona fide spiritual master. Study means… It does not mean that one has to be very highly qualified in academic education. Spiritual science does not depend on one’s academic education. You’ll be surprised to know that my grand-spiritual master, my spiritual master’s spiritual master, he was illiterate.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.4 — Los Angeles, January 12, 1968
“We should not try to lord it over the material nature, nor should we reject material things. The best way to make the best use of a bad bargain is to use everything in relation with the supreme spiritual being.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.33 Purport
“Not that everyone should do these activities of farming, but if one is less intelligent, or not intelligent enough to preach nicely, he can do. If one is capable, then he should preach.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Mahamsa — Bombay 19 January, 1975
“Real utilization of advanced knowledge is to establish the glories of the Lord, and that is the real import. Scientific knowledge engaged in the service of the Lord and all similar activities are all factually hari-kirtana, or glorification of the Lord.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.22 Purport
“The expert devotees also can discover novel ways and means to convert the nondevotees in terms of particular time and circumstance. Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the materialistic population. Such transcendental activities of the devotees for the service of the Lord can bring a new order of life to the foolish society of materialistic men. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His subsequent followers exhibited expert dexterity in this connection. By following the same method, one can bring the materialistic men of this age of quarrel into order for peaceful life and transcendental realization.”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.5.16 Purport
“All transcendental messages are received properly in the chain of disciplic succession. This disciplic succession is called parampara. Unless therefore Bhagavatam or any other Vedic literatures are received through the parampara system, the reception of knowledge is not bona fide. Vyasadeva delivered the message to Sukadeva Gosvami, and from Sukadeva Gosvami, Suta Gosvami received the message. One should therefore receive the message of Bhagavatam from Suta Gosvami or from his representative and not from any irrelevant interpreter.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.3.42
” Another temple opened, another book published, that is the success of this Movement. Without book distribution the temple worship standard will also diminish. Therefore both of them should go side by side.”
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Kurusrestha — Bombay 28 December, 1976
“I want to go and stay wherever they are selling the most books!”
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Bhagavan — Bombay 11 January, 1972
This program to make each and every center spiritually strong should be the duty of the GBC. So far financing, let them do in their own way, and you can simply advise them. Don’t bother too much about financial matters, but your first concern should be book and magazine distribution. We have to increase our preaching propensity. That is our main business.
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Hamsaduta — Tokyo 24 April, 1972
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