Our Ever well wisher-Srila Prabhupada

March 29, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa


 
 compliments of the Prabhupada Connection–Our ever well Wisher, Srila Prabhupada
 
Hṛda means heart, and su means good, good heart.  A devotee, a mahātmā, is good heart. How he is good heart? He sees everyone that ‘This living entity,’ especially human being, ‘he is engrossed in the clutches of māyā. He is suffering. Let me try to make him understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa.’ He tries everywhere. That is his business. He doesn’t mind whether he is failure. Failure or success, he doesn’t mind. But he thinks, ‘Oh, this conditioned soul is suffering. Let me do something.’ Therefore Vaiṣṇava’s prayer is vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca. A Vaiṣṇava, he is just like the ocean of mercy. He always feels for the sufferings of the humanity. That is their business. People think that they have taken relief from all social work. But a Vaiṣṇava is giving the best social service because he knows what is the cause of suffering, how people can be saved.

Read the rest of this entry →

Some of the qualifications of a mukta Purusa-a Bona fide spiritual Master

March 28, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna-below we have a few descriptions from The Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita and lectures, of the actual characteristics of a mukta purusa, or liberated person-and only this type of person is  liberated from the material energy, known as maya. As you can see, these qualifications are enormous and only a fraction of the qualities of a pure devotee of the Lord. When someone presents himself as a mukta purusa, we should know and test to see if he has these qualities-otherwise as we all know it is Kali yuga, the age of hyprocrisy.
 
damaghosa das
—————————————
SB 6.4.26 Translation-When one’s consciousness is completely purified of the contamination of material existence, gross and subtle, without being agitated as in the working and dreaming states, and when the mind is not dissolved as in suṣupti, deep sleep, one comes to the platform of trance. Then one’s material vision and the memories of the mind, which manifests names and forms, are vanquished. Only in such a trance is the Supreme Personality of Godhead revealed. Thus let us offer our respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seen in that uncontaminated, transcendental state.
DSCN9002.JPG

Read the rest of this entry →

conditioned souls consider property for which they are in debt, to be their own

March 28, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa


“For a materialistic person, material wealth and opulence are only illusory. Actually they are not possessions but entanglements because by enjoying the material world a conditioned soul becomes more and more entangled by incurring debts for his present enjoyment. Unfortunately, a conditioned soul considers property for which he is in debt to be his own, and he is very busy acquiring such property. But a devotee considers such property not real property but simply an entanglement in the material world

Read the rest of this entry →

Its the bhakti Krsna wants-there is no Krsna must eat what I have made-No

March 28, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Its the Bhakti Krsna wants-There is no “Krsna must eat what I have made”—NO
Hare Krsna-below we have a few instructions by Srila Prabhupada where he explains the rules of what and how to offer food to the Lord, who Krsna will accept this food from and who He wont accept it from. These are important guidlines which devotees should follow.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
——————————
 
DSCN7305.JPGDSCN7247.JPG
Devotees must be careful about eating food not offered to Lord Narayana or cooked by non devotees for their own sense gratification
Krsna book ch 58-“The Lord can be pleased only by a humble attitude in the service spirit. The more we render service unto the Lord under the direction of the spiritual master, the more we make advancement on the path approaching the Lord. We cannot demand any grace or mercy from the Lord because of our service rendered to Him. He may accept or not accept our service, but the only means to satisfy the Lord is through the service attitude, and nothing else.” 

Read the rest of this entry →

Stopping the waves of material desire

March 25, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Stopping the waves of material Desire
SB 4.22.39–TRANSLATION–The devotees, who are always engaged in the service of the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, can very easily overcome hard-knotted desires for fruitive activities.Because this is very difficult, the non devotees—the jñānīs and yogīs—although trying to stop the waves of sense gratification, cannot do so. Therefore you are advised to engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva.
PURPORT—There are three kinds of transcendentalists trying to overcome the influence of the modes of material nature—the jñānīs, yogīs and bhaktas. All of them attempt to overcome the influence of the senses, which is compared to the incessant waves of a river. The waves of a river flow incessantly, and it is very difficult to stop them. Similarly, the waves of desire for material enjoyment are so strong that they cannot be stopped by any process other than bhakti-yoga. The bhaktas, by their transcendental devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord, become so overwhelmed with transcendental bliss that automatically their desires for material enjoyment stop. … As long as one continues to try to artificially stop the waves of desires, he will certainly be defeated. That is indicated in this verse. Desires for fruitive activities are strongly rooted, but the trees of desire can be uprooted completely by devotional service because devotional service employs superior desire. One can give up inferior desires when engaged in superior desires. To try to stop desires is impossible. One has to desire the Supreme in order not to be entangled in inferior desires….As long as one is unable to stop the desire for material enjoyment, there is no possibility of becoming liberated from the entanglement of material existence. …When the tide comes over the river, it overwhelms the flowing of the river, and the river itself becomes overflooded, and the waves from the sea become more prominent than the waves from the river. Similarly, a devotee with intelligence plans so many things for the service of the Lord in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that stagnant material desires become overflooded by the desire to serve the Lord. .. The conclusion is that by developing a loving desire for the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, we subdue all material desires for sense gratification.
April 3 1975 Mayapur–If you think, “Now I have chanted my sixteen rounds. Now I’ve finished my business. Now I can do whatever nonsense I like,” no. Kṛṣṇa says no. Satata. Therefore we have to plan our life in such a way that we haven’t got any other engagement than service of Kṛṣṇa. This is required. ….. Unless you develop love for Kṛṣṇa, you cannot be engaged twenty-four hours. That is not possible.

Read the rest of this entry →

Cleaning the temple means cleaning our hearts

March 25, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna-this is a  very instructive purport by Srila Prabhupada for those devotees who are serious about really getting rid of all the dirt of material desire in the heart. And he explains the nature of that “dirt”, what it looks like and how to rid ourselves of these unlawful and illicit desires.
damaghosa das
——————————
DSCN9056.JPG
Madhya 12.135-Translation
Outside the gateway of the temple, all the roads were also cleansed, and no one could tell exactly how this was done.
PURPORT
In commenting on the cleansing of the Guṇḍicā temple, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as the world leader, was personally giving instructions on how one should receive Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, within one’s cleansed and pacified heart. If one wants to see Kṛṣṇa seated in his heart, he must first cleanse the heart, as prescribed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Śikṣāṣṭaka: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.

Read the rest of this entry →

who wants to become a jackal in the next life? Here’s is what it takes….

March 25, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Unless one is under the shelter of a realized spiritual master, his understanding of the Supreme issimply foolishness” quote from TLC
LA July 13 1971—
Prabhupāda: Unless one is prepared that “I am accepting somebody as my spiritual master. I must accept whatever he says,” if there is any doubt, that I cannot accepthis words verbatim,” then one should not accept him as spiritual master. That is hypocrisy
The 4th regulative principle is–no gambling and no speculation
 Adi 8.15 : PURPORT :—Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura comments in this connection that people in general, in their narrow-minded conception of life, create many different types of humanitarian activities, but the humanitarian activities inaugurated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are different.For logicians who want to accept only that which is  proven through logic and argument, it is a fact that without logic and reason there can be no question of accepting the Absolute Truth.
Unfortunately, when such logicians take to this path without the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they remain on the platform of logic and argument and do not advance in spiritual life.

Read the rest of this entry →

why souls do not want to take to devotional life

March 18, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

SB 3.9.7-O my Lord, persons who are bereft of the all-auspicious performance of chanting and hearing about Your transcendental activities are certainly unfortunate and are also bereft of good sense. They engage in inauspicious activities, enjoying sense gratification for a very little while.

PURPORT-The next question is why people are against such auspicious activities as chanting and hearing the glories and pastimes of the Lord, which can bring total freedom from the cares and anxieties of material existence. The only answer to this question is that they are unfortunate because of supernatural control due to their offensive activities performed simply for the sake of sense gratification. The Lord’s pure devotees, however, take compassion upon such unfortunate persons and, in a missionary spirit, try to persuade them into the line of devotional service. Only by the grace of pure devotees can such unfortunate men be elevated to the position of transcendental service.

SB 3.9.10–O my Lord, the material miseries are without factual existence for the soul. Yet as long as the conditioned soul sees the body as meant for sense enjoyment, he cannot get out of the entanglement of material miseries, being influenced by Your external energy.

PURPORT-The whole trouble of the living entity in material existence is that he has an independent conception of life. He is always dependent on the rules of the Supreme Lord, in both the conditioned and liberated states, but by the influence of the external energy the conditioned soul thinks himself independent of the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead. His constitutional position is to dovetail himself with the desire of the supreme will, but as long as he does not do so, he is sure to drag on in the shackles of material bondage. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.55), prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān: he has to give up all sorts of plans manufactured by mental concoction. The living entity has to dovetail himself with the supreme will. That will help him to get out of the entanglement of material existence.

SB 3.9.12–My Lord, You are not very much satisfied by the worship of the demigods, who arrange for Your worship very pompously, with various paraphernalia, but who are full of material hankerings. You are situated in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul just to show Your causeless mercy, and You are the eternal well-wisher, but You are unavailable for the nondevotee.

PURPORT-…Now a question arises: If the Lord is sitting in the hearts of nondevotees, why are they not moved to become devotees? It may be answered that the stubborn nondevotees are like the barren land or alkaline field, where no agricultural activities can be successful. As part and parcel of the Lord, every individual living entity has a minute quantity of independence, and by misuse of this minute independence, the non devotees commit offense after offense, to both the Lord and His pure devotees engaged in missionary work. As a result of such acts, they become as barren as an alkaline field, where there is no strength to produce.

“Economic solution is there but no, they wont go”-SP

March 17, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

►760423rc.mel                Conversations Prabhupada: Production…. You take the total land as God’s  property, and all the population, they are sons of God. Then whole  problem solved. Everything solved. If economic problem is solved,  then social, political, religious, philosophical,  everything is solved.

Read the rest of this entry →

Betraying those under your care means hellish life in future

March 17, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

SB 6.2.5-6–Translation-People in general are not very advanced in knowledge by which to discriminate between religion and irreligion. The innocent, unenlightened citizen is like an ignorant animal sleeping in peace with its head on the lap of its master, faithfully believing in the master’s protection. If a leader is actually kindhearted and deserves to be the object of a living entity’s faith, how can he punish or kill a foolish person who has fully surrendered in good faith and friendship?
PURPORT
The Sanskrit word viśvasta-ghāta refers to one who breaks faith or causes a breach of trust.The mass of people should always feel security because of the government’s protection. Therefore, how regrettable it is for the government itself to cause a breach of trust and put the citizens in difficulty for political reasons. We actually saw during the partition days in India that although Hindus and Muslims were living together peacefully, manipulation by politicians suddenly aroused feelings of hatred between them, and thus the Hindus and Muslims killed one another over politics. This is a sign of Kali-yuga. In this age, animals are kept nicely sheltered, completely confident that their masters will protect them, but unfortunately as soon as the animals are fat, they are immediately sent for slaughter. Such cruelty is condemned by Vaiṣṇavas like the Viṣṇudūtas. Indeed, the hellish conditions already described await the sinful men responsible for such suffering. One who betrays the confidence of a living entity who takes shelter of him in good faith, whether that living entity be a human being or an animal, is extremely sinful. Because such betrayals now go unpunished by the government, all of human society is terribly contaminated. The people of this age are therefore described as mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10]. As a consequence of such sinfulness, men are condemned (mandāḥ), their intelligence is unclear (sumanda-matayaḥ), they are unfortunate (manda-bhāgyāḥ), and therefore they are always disturbed by many problems (upadrutāḥ). This is their situation in this life, and after death they are punished in hellish conditions.

Read the rest of this entry →