Monthly Archives: December 2022

by Damaghosa dasa

Srila Prabhupada explains the “razors edge” of Devotional service

December 30, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa
June 13 1976 Detroit
 
Devotee (2): …devotional service is transcendental to the modes of material nature. That’s from the very moment that one first begins to render devotional service? Or gradually? From the first very moment?
Prabhupāda: Yes. [break]
Devotee (2): …of devotional service in the modes of material nature, there’s no such thing.
Prabhupāda:No. Means if you do not follow the regulative principles, then it is mixed.
Satsvarūpa: Sometimes devotees think that in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when Lord Kapila teaches there isdevotional service in ignorance and in passion and in goodness, that that may mean your own disciples too. But then some devotees say “No, we’re above that designation. It’s not mixed devotional service, even though we’re neophytes.”
Prabhupāda:If you voluntarily do not follow, then you fall down. That is in ignorance.
Devotee (2): So where that is described in the Third Canto, Part Four, where it is described about devotional service in ignorance, passion, and goodness, and so forth, that has nothing to do with your disciples then?
Prabhupāda:Who is my disciple? First of all let him follow strictly the disciplined rules.
Devotee (2): As long as one is following, then he is…
Prabhupāda: Then he is all right.
Devotee (2): …above those lower levels.
Prabhupāda:Oh, yes. Otherwise, why there is need of regulative principles? He is immediately liberated. If he thinks that “Because I have taken to, I am liberated,” then why the rules and regulations?
Devotee (2): But as long as he follows the rules and regulations.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (2): [break] …the brahma–bhūtaḥ platform, brahma–bhutaḥ prasannātmā [Bg. 18.54], immediately?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhagavad-gītā it is said māṁca yo ‘vyabhicāreṇa [Bg. 14.26], unalloyed. Bhakti–yogenasevate, then he’s liberated. If it is vyabhicāreṇa, sometimes falls down, sometimes…, then it is within sattva–guṇa, rajo–guṇa, tamo-guṇa. The word is māṁcayaḥavyabhicāreṇabhakti–yogena, pure bhakti.
Hari–śauri: Without any falldown.
Devotee (2): Falldown means deviation from the orders of the spiritual master.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is vyabhicāreṇa, that is not avyabhicāreṇa. If you are subjected to the attraction of māyā, that is vyabhicāreṇa.
Devotee (2): If somebody is following the instructions, but if there’s attraction for māyā…
Prabhupāda:That cannot be. Maybe in the beginning due to past habits, but that must be nil very soon. Otherwise he’s not following. Just like fan switched off may move for a little, but not that it will go on moving. Must stop. Switch is off. And if it is going on, then the switch is not yet off. [break]
Devotee (2): A devotee is sometimes subject to hankering or lamentation. That is material though, isn’t it?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (2): In other words, if, at that moment, if he desires something other than Kṛṣṇa, that’s a material desire.
Prabhupāda:Then he has to learn it. So long one is not competent in that position, he’s subjected, he may fall down.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Srila Prabhupada explains the “razors edge” of Devotional service

by Damaghosa dasa

SP explains spiritual anxiety

December 27, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

April 26 1976 Melbourne conversations

 
Devotee (1): Is a devotee always in some anxiety to see others unhappy?
Prabhupāda: Yes. How to deliver them? This is Kṛṣṇaanxiety. This kind of anxiety is welcome.
Devotee (1): Yes. Is that also in the spiritual world like this?
Prabhupāda: Yes. In spiritual world there is everything, but only central point is Kṛṣṇa. Here anxiety is “Where I shall get money? Where I shall get woman?” And there is anxiety, “How shall I get Kṛṣṇa?” The anxiety is there. That is the difference.
Devotee (1): But do they have anxiety…
Prabhupāda: Here all people are anxious how to get money and how to get woman, that’s all. And there the anxiety is how to get Kṛṣṇa. The anxiety is there, but quality is different.
Devotee (1): If we’re in anxiety that we cannot perform devotional service nicely, that is all right?
Prabhupāda: That is devotional side. Kṛṣṇaanxiety itself is the first-class devotional service. If one becomes anxious like that, then he is perfect. Janma–koṭi-sukṛtair nalabhyate. After many, many millions of life of pious activities one can get such anxiety. This is not so easy, to become anxious for Kṛṣṇa. You don’t think it is like ordinary activity (anxiety?). Koṭi–sukṛtaiḥ. If one becomes full of anxiety for Kṛṣṇa, that is the highest stage of perfection.
Devotee (1): So the anxiety that I am always falling down…
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Devotee (1): We are in the neophyte stage, and we’re often falling down.
Prabhupāda: You don’t imitate. You follow the rules and regulations. Don’t try artificially to be anxious. When you are purified, then you’ll get that anxiety, not artificially. Then you are sahajiyā.
Devotee (1): I don’t mean to hanker for the anxiety, but to…
Prabhupāda: No, anxiety, that is…. That will come, the perfectional stage. Don’t try to be perfect artificially. Perfect stage, we have to follow strictly the regulative principle, the injunction of the spiritual master, śāstra. Then you come to that stage. Don’t artificially imitate.
Devotee (1): What if one keeps falling down from following the regulative principles?
Prabhupāda: He’s falling down? If he’s falling down from regulative principles, that means he’s falling down to the material world. Falling down means falling down.
Devotee (2): [break] …from the regulative principles and feels anxiety, then that anxiety is material anxiety.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Devotee (2): It’s not spiritual.
PuṣṭaKṛṣṇa: So anxiety for one’s self is māyā?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
PuṣṭaKṛṣṇa: Anxiety for one’s self is māyā?
Prabhupāda: That is material.
PuṣṭaKṛṣṇa: And anxiety for Kṛṣṇa?

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on SP explains spiritual anxiety

by Damaghosa dasa

SP on Christianity and BG quotes that are similar to Bible

December 27, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna-Below we have found many quotes from the Bhagavad gita which are very similar to those found in the Christians Bible  Often times devotees like to criticize others religions thinking themselves “superior” in some way. But as Srila Prabhupada says below,

 …”The test of any scripture is how one is developing love of God. Phalena paricīyate. If you find that following some religious principles you are developing your love of God, then it is perfect. It doesn’t matter whether it is Bible or Koran or Bhagavad-gītā. It doesn’t matter. We have to see what is the fruit. If the fruit is that people are developing love of Godhead, then it is perfect.
Don’t try to understand whether this is good, this is good, this is bad, this is… No. Try to understand by the result. Just like the same way: if you see the fruit, then it is first class. So it doesn’t matter whether it is Bible or Gītā. If you can develop love of Godhead by reading Bible, it is first class, and if you can develop love of Godhead by Bhagavad-gītā, it is first class. And if you do not, then either it is Bible or the Koran or Bhagavad-gītā, it has no effect for you. So it is up to you. Not by comparison, but by your own activities. If you actually follow the instruction given by Lord Jesus Christ, you will also develop love of Godhead. There is no doubt.…”
SB 4.22.24 purport…..Another important point mentioned in this connection is anindayā—we should not criticize others’ methods of religion. There are different types of religious systems operating under different qualities of material nature. Those operating in the modes of ignorance and passion cannot be as perfect as that system in the mode of goodness. In Bhagavad-gītā everything has been divided into three qualitative divisions; therefore religious systems are similarly categorized. When people are mostly under the modes of passion and ignorance, their system of religion will be of the same quality. A devotee, instead of criticizing such systems, will encourage the followers to stick to their principles so that gradually they can come to the platform of religion in goodness. Simply by criticizing them, a devotee’s mind will be agitated. Thus a devotee should tolerate and learn to stop agitation.

 

Christian Bible quotes similar to Bhagavad Gita quotes

What follows is a short clip from a1974 dialogue between Srila Prabhupada and Father Emmanuel Jung Claussen, a Benedictine monk from a Monastery in Bavaria Germany. Noticing that Srila Prabhupada was carrying meditation beads similar to the rosary, Father Emmanuel explains that he also chants a constant prayer:“Lord Jesus Christ, be merciful unto us.” The following conversation ensued:
Father Emmanuel:Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning “the anointed one.”
Srila Prabhupada:Christos is the Greek version of the word Krsna.
Father Emmanuel:This is very interesting.
Srila Prabhupada:When an Indian person calls on Krsna, he often says, “Krsta.” Krsta is a Sanskrit word meaning “attraction.” So when we address God as “Christ,” “Krsta,” or “Krsna,” we indicate the same all-attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Jesus said, “Our Father, who art in heaven, sanctified be Thy name,” that name of God was Krsta or Krsna. Do you agree?
Father Emmanuel:I think Jesus, as the Son of God, has revealed to us the actual name of God: Christ. We can call God “Father,” but if we want to address Him by His actual name, we have to say “Christ.”
Srila Prabhupada:Yes. “Christ” is another way of saying Krsta, and “Krsta” is another way of pronouncing Krsna, the name of God. Jesus said that one should glorify the name of God, but yesterday I heard one theologian say that God has no name — that we can call him only “Father.” A son may call his father “Father,” but the father also has a specific name. Similarly, God is the general name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose specific name is Krsna. Therefore whether you call God “Christ,” “Krsta,” or “Krsna,” ultimately you are addressing the same Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Father Emmanuel:Yes, if we speak of God’s actual name, then we must say, “Christos.” In our religion, we have the Trinity: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe we can know the name of God only by revelation from the Son of God. Jesus Christ revealed the name of the father, and therefore we take the name Christ as the revealed name of God.
Srila Prabhupada:Actually, it doesn’t matter — Krsna or Christ — the name is the same. The main point is to follow the injunctions of the Vedic scriptures that recommend chanting the name of God in this age.
 
 Bible-Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Mat 5.48)
Bg 5.26- Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are self-realized, self-disciplined and constantly endeavoring for perfection, are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.
 
 Bible–Do not set your hearts on the Godless world or anything in it. Anyone who loves the world is a stranger to the Fathers love. Everything the world affords, all that panders to the appetite or entices the eyes, all the clamour of its life springs not from the Father but from the Godless world. And that world is passing away with all its allurements. But he who does Gods will stand forevermore.
Bg 2.42-43– Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
Bg 2.49- O Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.
Bg 2.52– When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.
Bg 8.16– From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.

 Bible-I bid you put away anxious thoughts about food and drink to keep you alive and clothes to cover your body. Surely life is more than food, the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow and reap and store in barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are worth more than the birds. And why be anxious about clothes. Consider how the lilies grow in the fields. They do not work, they do not spin and yet I tell you even Solomon in all his splendor was not attired like one of these. But if that is how God clothes the grass in the fields, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown on the stove, will He not all the more clothe you? How little faith you have!
Bg 3.10– In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajna sacrifice ,because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things.”
SB 11.5.32-“In the Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.” (Bhāg. 11.5.32)
 Bible-Only thru Me can the Father be reached.
Bg 4.34– Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.
 

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on SP on Christianity and BG quotes that are similar to Bible

by Damaghosa dasa

Krsna wants His money back !!–SP

December 22, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Krsna Wants His money back
 
Hare Krsna-
Below Srila Prabhupada gives us some good instructions on how to love Krsna, starting with –giving Him His money back !! 
 
He then goes on to explain how love is developed, and
if we don’t learn how to sacrifice for God, then we will still have to sacrifice something, either our money or our lives, or both.
If we don’t learn this principle of sacrifice for the Lord, then we will experience scarcity in our lives. He ends with saying that to feel we are part of Krsna’s family but do nothing for that family, then very soon we will forget all about Krsna.
 
Hare Krsna
 
damaghosa das
————————-
June 30 1972 San Diego
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is making propaganda, so they require money. Money is Kṛṣṇa’s money. Everyone is holding Kṛṣṇa’s money. So the sooner they spare that money… Because if I am holding your money, if I give it to you, then I become released from my criminal activities. Suppose I have stolen something from your pocket and I become conscious, “Oh, this stealing is not good,” so as soon as I return unto you, “Please take this money; I was mistaken,” so thing is settled up. But if you hold it, then you are criminal. You will be punished. Similarly, everyone who is holding Kṛṣṇa’s money, not returning to Kṛṣṇa, he is a criminal. He will be punished.
 
How they are punished? That you have seen. In India, in recent… Everywhere, the same thing is going on.There was war between Pakistan and India. So all the rich men had to contribute fifty lakhs, fifty hundred thousand, according to everyone’s capacity. Many millions of rupees were collected, and it was put into the gun powder, “Svāhā!” (laughter) So if you don’t execute this svāhā, then you will have to execute that svāhā. (laughter) (sings out the word “svāhā!”) That’s all. The Vietnam is going on—svāhā! So many young men—svāhā! So much money—svāhā! You have to do that. Therefore better learn how to make svāhā for Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you will have to make svāhā for māyā. That’s all. The sooner you give up… Yajña-dāna. This is called yajña and dāna, and tapas, tapasya. Tapasya means this following, voluntarily accepting all restrictive principles. Because we are addicted to all this license or nonsense. Not license. It is nonsense. So unless you stop all these nonsense activities, you cannot understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gatam… If you want to be serious… That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.
 
.. This yoga system, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the topmost yoga system. Why it is topmost? Because it teaches how to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa; therefore it is topmost. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ [Bg. 6.47]. There are different kinds of yogis. “Of all the yogis…” Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ. Sarveṣām means “of all.” Mad-gata āntarātmanā: “One who is always thinking of Me.” You can think of one if you are attached to him; otherwise, artificially you cannot do. That’s not possible. If you love somebody, then you will always see his picture, his form, always. … We have to create our eyes or purify our eyes to see God. And that purification is possible when you apply the ointment of love of God, daily. How to love Kṛṣṇa? Take it as ointment. As we apply some ointment to increase the sight of our eyes… Doctor gives some prescription. We use it also. So similarly, how to see God. You will see God with these eyes when it is clarified. Premāñjana-cchurita, by the ointment of love of Godhead. So these are the function, how to love. One has to rise early in the morning. He doesn’t like, but, “No. I will have to satisfy Kṛṣṇa.” This is the beginning. “Oh, I have to chant sixteen rounds.” He is lazy. He doesn’t want to do it. But if he loves Kṛṣṇa, he must do it. He must do it. So in the beginning we have to learn how to love, but when you come to the state, oh, there is no question of… You may follow the regulative principle or not, because love is there. But don’t imitate. Just like in our ordinary love affairs, if I want to love some girl, I bring some flower, I bring some presentation. In this way she thinks, “Oh, it is very nice boy. He has brought me this, that.” In this way there are six principles of love. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti. You have to give and you have to take. I love somebody. I give him something: “My dear, you take this.” And when he offers also, if he also loves you, he also return you. Not exactly for returning. It is love to give and take. Dadāti pratigṛhṇāti guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca. Opening mind. “My dear lover, I like this.” And the other party also opens his mind. Guhyam ākhyāti… Guhyam means very confidential things. Ākhyāti, disclosed, exchanged. Guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati ca. And bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva. And giving the lover to eat something and accept from him some eatable. These are the six ways of increasing love. If you act in that way with Kṛṣṇa…
 

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Krsna wants His money back !!–SP

by Damaghosa dasa

“So they may kill me also”—SP

December 20, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

May 3 1976 Honolulu conversations

Prabhupāda: This is our position. Gradually they will show Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. In India also, although India’s… They will want to crush down this movement. So this will be up to Him. Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa’s movement, the same thing. And Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed by Kaṁsa class of men and his company, the demons. So it will be there; it is already there. Don’t be disappointed, because that is the meaning that it is successful. Kṛṣṇa’s favor is there, because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s movement is not different, identical. So as Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed, many, many years before He appeared… At eighth child, if the mother produces child yearly, still ten years, eight years before His birth, the mother was to be attempted to be killed. So there may be attempt like that. And Lord Jesus Christ was killed. So they may kill me also.
Siddha–svarūpa: I don’t think that is possible.
Prabhupāda:No, I mean to say, I am not so important man. But it is the, this is the way of the law. If we become weak by factioning, then that is not good. We must be strong and… But you do not expect that this movement will be accepted. In India the so-called yogis, Rama Krishna Mission—they are also being afraid of. There are so many… But if we remain sincere, even we are feeble, new-born, nobody can kill us. That is a fact. Just like Kṛṣṇa when He was three months old, attempt was made by Putanā to kill Him, but the Putanā was killed. A big demon, gigantic, six miles long, and what is killed by a small child playing on the…, sucking breast and sucking life. That is Kṛṣṇa. So the other day I have explained that by guru, he is accepted as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You have typed it?
Devotee: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Go on. Yes, arcye viṣṇauśilā-dhīr guruṣunara–matiḥ. Narakī, if anyone thinks arca–vigraha, the Deities as made of stone, made of earth, or made of something material, and guru, the spiritual master, “He is an ordinary man”—these are forbidden. So why guru is to be considered sākṣād dharitvena samasta-śāstrair **, exactly (like) the Supreme Personality of Godhead? That reason is given there. That reason is that he is giving the Kṛṣṇa knowledge; therefore he is as good as Kṛṣṇa. Even though his family members or his friend thinking, “Oh, he has now become guru,” still he should be considered the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That reason also given there, that even Kṛṣṇa was taken as ordinary man, but does it mean that He has become ordinary? Similarly any…, our movement, it may appear just like other movement, but because the movement is giving Kṛṣṇa, that means it is as good as Kṛṣṇa. This is the example. Aj�āyaha�a(follow the order). It may appear to others… And there are so many movements, and the hippies have taken another say(?), but it is not that. It is actually Kṛṣṇa. So long it adheres to the principle, “I’ll enjoy, I’ll be unaccepted(?).” Otherwise it is ordinary movement. This same man, he’s guru, so long he gives the real knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. And the same man, he’s ordinary man, as soon as he cannot give. Same thing, just like a stone doll, when it is worshiped according to the regulative principles—Kṛṣṇa. And the same doll, kept in the sculptor’s showroom, it is stone. So if we keep our movement pure, then you are as strong as Kṛṣṇa.And as soon as you deviate from it, immediately, ordinary. This is the secret. Now it is up to us, how to keep it pure. Then no enemy can kill us. Nobody can kill you. That purity is wanted, then it will… So what is there difficulty? Their purity to kill him(?). Follow the rules and regulations, worship the Deity, and chant HareKṛṣṇamantra, as you have given, then you will remain as strong as Kṛṣṇa. And if we manufacture some idea also, that is no good. Kṛṣṇa cannot be manufactured; Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa. You cannot manufacture another form competitor of Kṛṣṇa. That is no good. Then failure. Just like the, your one competitor came to, even in the lifetime of Kṛṣṇa, Pauṇḍraka.
PuṣṭaKṛṣṇa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: With artificial four hands. You know that? (laughs) That is no (indistinct). This movement is actually the real movement to raise the human society. And if we create factions, then the movement will be less strong and will not act very (indistinct). (pause) 
————————————————-
Some Conclusions-There are so many important things Srila Prabhupada mentions in this one short conversation they are worth high lighting again.
…”They will want to crush down this movement. So this will be up to Him. Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa’s movement, the same thing. And Kṛṣṇa was attempted to be killed by Kaṁsa class of men and his company, the demons. So it will be there; it is already there. Don’t be disappointed, because that is the meaning that it is successful But you do not expect that this movement will be accepted. 
NOTE– in this above statement Prabhupada is telling us the demoniac who are everywhere, want to stop this movement. But their attempts to stop us means we are already successful because they are noticing the sankirtan movement by kicking back
…”Same thing, just like a stone doll, when it is worshiped according to the regulative principles—Kṛṣṇa. And the same doll, kept in the sculptor’s showroom, it is stone.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on “So they may kill me also”—SP

by Damaghosa dasa

Who can see God and why we don’t—SP

December 18, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

SB 6.4.24-As the sense objects [form, taste, touch, smell and sound] cannot understand how the senses perceive them, so the conditioned soul, although residing in his body along with the Supersoul, cannot understand how the supreme spiritual person, the master of the material creation, directs his senses. Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto that Supreme Person, who is the supreme controller.
PURPORT-… The conditioned soul has desires, and the Supreme Soul fulfills them, but the conditioned soul is unable to see the Supreme Soul.
SB 6.24.26 purport….There are two stages of God realization. One is called sujñeyam, or very easily understood (generally by mental speculation), and the other is called durjñeyam, understood only with difficulty. Paramātmā realization and Brahman realization are considered sujñeyam, but realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is durjñeyam. As described here, one attains the ultimate realization of the Personality of Godhead when one gives up the activities of the mind—thinking, feeling and willing—or, in other words, when mental speculation stops.
….Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234)1.2.234] as long as one is situated in duality, on the sensual platform, gross or subtle, realization of the original Personality of Godhead is impossible. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ: but when one engages his senses in the service of the Lord—specifically, when one engages the tongue in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and tasting only Kṛṣṇa prasāda with a spirit of service—the Supreme Personality of Godhead is revealed.
SB 6.24.27-28-… so those who are actually advanced in consciousness—in other words, those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious—can find the Supersoul, who by His own spiritual potency is situated within the heart. …. The Supersoul is realized when one is eager for liberation from the unlimited varieties of material life.
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram
“One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.”
Thus although the subject matter is durvijñeyam, extremely difficult to understand, it becomes easy if one follows the prescribed method. Coming in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is possible through pure devotional service, which begins with śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23]. In this regard, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura quotes a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.8.5): praviṣṭaḥ karṇa-randhreṇa svānāṁ bhāva-saroruham. The process of hearing and chanting enters the core of the heart, and in this way one becomes a pure devotee. By continuing this process, one comes to the stage of transcendental love, and then he appreciates the transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In other words, a pure devotee, by devotional service, is able to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead despite many material impediments, which are all various energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Who can see God and why we don’t—SP

by Damaghosa dasa

Appreciations by SP for his disciples value

December 16, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

June 5 1976 conversations LA
Rādhāvallabha: If he gets a book in an unusual place, they always say, “You people are everywhere.”
Rāmeśvara: When we tell the public that we only have maybe ten thousand devotees, they are very surprised there are so few Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees, because they see us everywhere.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Therefore we’re the most enthusiastic missionaries in the world.
Prabhupāda: [break]...say that all the ten thousand devotees, each of them is a moon, not a star.
Devotees: Jaya!
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: And you are the sun, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We are just reflecting your light.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: [break] …do the work of many stars.
Prabhupāda: Hmm. Ekaś candras tamo hanti. Stars, they cannot do anything; they simply glitter, that’s all. Glow-worms.
————————————————
Hare Krsna -Just to put this into perspective about how Srila Prabhupada valued and describes all his 10,000 disciples as moons and not stars, please consider just a few letters he wrote of appreciation.
Aug 17 1969
 You write that you have desire to avail of my association again, but why do you forget that you are always in association with me? When you are helping my missionary activities I am always thinking of you and you are always thinking of me. That is real association. Just like I always think of my Guru Maharaja every moment, although He is not physically present, and because I am trying to serve Him to my best capacity, I am sure He is helping me by His spiritual blessings. So there are two kinds of association: physical and preceptorial. Physical association is not so important as preceptorial association. So try to preach this Krishna Consciousness Movement amongst the hippies there, and simply induce them to chant Hare Krishna. If they kindly join in chanting Hare Krishna, that will make our movement successful. Then gradually make them more and more advanced by participating in Love Feasts and ceremonies, like Janmastami and Rathayatra. Then everything will go smoothly. The only thing wanted is that we should work very sincerely, with full faith in Krishna and the Spiritual Master. Then all help will come automatically.
 
Feb 22 1970 letter
You are doing so much for fulfilling the desire of my Spiritual Master so you are indirectly the representative of my Guru Maharaja. He has been helping me in this matter by sending so many young boys and girls, otherwise who would help me in this mission while I came here empty handed and without any friend. I can only pray to Krsna to take care of you, otherwise I cannot repay your sincere service in my mission.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Appreciations by SP for his disciples value

by Damaghosa dasa

The Ethics of Canakya Pandit

December 16, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Ethics from Canakya pandit slokas
 
ch 1 verse 16–One must accept nectar from the midst of poison, gold even from an impure place, good instructions from a low class person and a jewel even from a girl from a wicked family”
 
Note-I have always liked this sloka because it tells us to be intelligent enough to be able to see what is truth and what is not truth. What is beneficial and what is not beneficial. To accept what is favorable for Krsna seva and not reject it because it seems unpalatable to our so called “understanding”. Or it comes in a package we are not comfortable with?
There are so many different people, devotees and situations that demands we use intelligence in every case to understand what can be used and how to engage it for Krsna’s service. And even to be able to recognize it when in front of us. Just like one simple example-that bum that came into the early NYC temple storefront and offered a roll of toilet paper to Srila Prabhupada-and Prabhupada accepted it. Who of us could do that or would most of us just recoil at the site (and smell) of such a person what to speak of accepting toilet paper? So  realizations and benefits to many come to those who keep their minds and eyes open.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on The Ethics of Canakya Pandit

by Damaghosa dasa

devotees tell SP amazing book dist stories

December 13, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna-below is a few amazing stories the devotees told Srila Prabhupada of how  his books were changing  peoples lives. 
For some reasons, certain devotees don’t even like to hear devotees names who later on became infamous instead of famous. Personally, if it is connected with sankirtan book distribution, I love to hear them.  Who among us is 100% pure anyway? The last one I knew, left our mortal vision 45 years ago.
———————————————
Please consider some of the wisdom of Canakya pandit whom Srila Prabhupada often quoted.
 Ethical aphorisms from Canakya pandit 
ch 1 verse 16–One must accept nectar from the midst of poison, gold even from an impure place, good instructions from a low class person and a jewel even from a girl from a wicked family”
ch 3 verse 5-Therefore a man of ambitions gathers high minded gentlemen around him because they never leave their associates either in the days of progress or a downfall
ch 5 verse 19-It is the power of truth which is the basis for this earth. It is the power of truth which allows the sun to radiate heat and life energy throughout four billion miles of the Brahmanda. It is the power of truth  by which the air blows. Only  by observing the truth by the tongue, eyes, mind, every thought word, and deed unfailingly, do the desired results come. What more to say: everything is based on truth throughout the ten directions in the fourteen worlds.
 
damaghosa das
——————————
June 5 1976 LA conversations
Dānavīr: Śrīla Prabhupāda, there was one boy who just joined a few months ago, and he had been reading your books, and he came to join the temple. He had graduated from college and he’s been to law school, and we found out after some time that his father, his name was Dr. Royal McClain, he was a very, very big preacher in the South, and he had his own television program.
Rāmeśvara: Christian. His father was the biggest Christian preacher in the South, he had his own TV show. Very big preacher, very strict Christian, and his son joined our movement. So the father calls up the son, “How could you desert our religion and join this Kṛṣṇa movement?” So…. (laughter)
Dānavīr: He explained how he was actually feeling real love of God now for the first time in his life.
Rāmeśvara: He convinced his father that he should stay in our movement.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Recently, in New York, my parents came to visit me. You know they…. Actually they didn’t come to see me, they came to the restaurant, but I happened to be there. (Prabhupāda laughs) So, ah, they related a very unusual incident that one of their friends is a lawyer in New York. So they were having dinner with him the other day, and he mentioned that recently he had gone to Las Vegas for a vacation. In Las Vegas there are many gambling casinos. So when he was about to depart on the plane, one of his friends gave him a five dollar bill and told him that “In order that your gambling to be fortunate, the first good person you see there, you give this five dollar bill to him, and it will automatically bring you good luck.” So the man went to Las Vegas, and when he got out at the airport, one of our devotees approached him, and this gentleman happens to be a lawyer who’s fighting against us to keep us out of the New York airport, he’s representing the airline company. So he didn’t know it was one of our devotees because they were in the regular clothes, civilian clothes. So the devotee said, “Please, we’re doing good work, educating people, you kindly give a donation.” So the man thought: “Well, my friend gave me this,” he gave him five dollars, and naturally, the devotee gave him a book. So the man didn’t look at it, but he went into the taxi, the lawyer, and then when he looked he realized-(laughter) he was supporting the enemy. And another incident they related is that they go on vacation to South America. So there were in the Amazon, in the jungle, in the Amazon…
Hṛdayānanda: Oh, I heard this when I…
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: …and they, right in the middle of the jungle, suddenly the devotees were there. (laughter) Hṛdayānanda’s men were there preaching, and they said they could not imagine that they were in this most unusual place, no one was around, but suddenly the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees were. (laughter)

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on devotees tell SP amazing book dist stories

by Damaghosa dasa

That means you do not understand what is spiritual life.–SP

December 10, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

June 3 1976 conversations LA

 Bharadvāja: Śrīla Prabhupāda, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is considered to be the watering process, and sometimes from chanting, the weeds, from watering, the weeds also grow along with devotional service—the weeds of different desires. I don’t understand how it is possible that from chanting that these weeds grow.
Prabhupāda: Chanting is purifying all material desires. It will take, gradually. Ceto-darpaṇa–mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. If you are chanting without any offense, then your heart will be cleansed of all material contamination. Harer nāma [Cc. Ādi 17.21].
Bharadvāja: So pulling out the weeds means avoiding the offenses in chanting the holy name.
Prabhupāda: Yes. So long we’ll have material desires, we’ll have to accept a material body and fulfill the desires.
Mahendra: Sometimes, although a devotee understands that he must take birth again if he does not, if he is not strict, he thinks, “Oh, it is so difficult to be strict. Maybe I’ll just take it easy and remain engaged in devotional service, then I’ll take another birth as a devotee and maybe next time I’ll finish up my business.”

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on That means you do not understand what is spiritual life.–SP

by Damaghosa dasa

Accountability– according to Srila Prabhupada

December 10, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Hare Krsna
I am presently reading about how Srila Prabhupada wanted a bona fide accounting system implemented in all his temples. One reason was for governmental accountability, another reason public trust, and finally, to stop whimsical spending.
 
Some may not think these topics important, but anyone who has any business sense knows these things are very important. What to speak of taking care of all of Krsna’s “business”
When you read how things were done or not done, we can understand just in this one way, what to speak of many others, that how so many deviations entered into Prabhupadas movement. Disobedience to the order of guru.
 
I even one time had the temple treasurer and VP tell me…”you know Damaghosa, you make the money and I spend it”. At that time I was sankirtan leader so my responsibility was getting and keeping the sankirtan devotees fired up-so that our accountant could “spend the money”. He later took off with the TP’s wife and later still, ended up in prison for selling drugs.
Or as SP once reportedly said, we have to make advancement –sometimes in spite of the devotees !
 
Chant Hare Krsna and BE Happy !!
damaghosa das
 
BG 3.7 purport…A householder can also reach this destination by regulated service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For self-realization, one can live a controlled life, as prescribed in the śāstras, and continue carrying out his business without attachment, and in that way make progress. Such a sincere person who follows this method is far better situated than the false pretender who adopts show-bottle spiritualism to cheat the innocent public. A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than the charlatan meditator who meditates only for the sake of making a living.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Sept 26 1971 letter

Both in Calcutta and in Bombay there is discrepancy in accounts. You wanted to check them by auditors but so far I know the auditors will not pass any account not supported by regular vouchers. For all expenditures there must be regular vouchers. Here last night I was talking with one Mr. Patel at whose house we are staying now. He said that even for travelling expenses, the auditor requires vouchers in which the taxi cab number is also required to be mentioned. The auditor does not accept any expenditure without proper voucher. If the expenditure is not supported by proper voucher, the amount is debited to the personal account.
 

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Accountability– according to Srila Prabhupada

by Damaghosa dasa

Deity worship and hearing-side by side–SP

December 9, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

April 22 1976 Melbourne
Brian Singer: Do you find that in the translation from the thoughts and the Sanskrit to the English words, then from the English words to the mass of the people’s heads, do you find that there is much loss?
Prabhupāda: No, if you have grasped the thought, that you can express in any language. But if you cannot grasp the thought, then you cannot express. So the…. Our translation is that we have to receive the thoughts as it is by the paramparā system. Therefore it is presented so nicely, and people like it. It is…. It is the value of the subject matter. That we have to receive from authorities. Just like any scientific book, say medical science. You cannot understand medical science by reading the books. It must be received through a medical man. Then it will be clear. Therefore the paramparā system…. Arjuna said, evaṁ paramparā… Kṛṣṇa said, evaṁ paramparā–prāptam [Bg. 4.2]. Everything is paramparā. If you receive the knowledge from the authority, then you are in perfect knowledge, simply by…, not by reading the books. Therefore our method is to accept the perfect guru to understand the subject matter. But still, if one reads the books as it is from authorities, there is chance of understanding. Real thing is training. So our institution is training, not only training, full knowledge, practical and theoretical. That is real scientific. If you give up one side, then you can give up the theoretical side, but practical side you cannot give up. Then you’ll never come. The two sides, practical and theoretical…. So that is real scientific knowledge. So two sides are presented in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and they are being thoroughly trained up. (pause) Take prasādam. (end)
 
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. 

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Deity worship and hearing-side by side–SP

by Damaghosa dasa

Preach or in a few years all gone-and some other reasons too

December 4, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

Preach or few years-all gone !!
Dec 12 1973 LA
So we have to take the responsibility to understand who is actually a pure devotee and what is our duty to the people in general, and then you make advancement. Then you become madhyama-adhikārī. Madhyama-adhikārī, advanced devotee. Just like these people, either in India or here, they remain simply churchianity, going to the church without any understanding. Therefore it is failing. It is now… Churches are being closed. Similarly, if you do not keep yourself fit to preach, then your temples will be all closed in due course of time. Without preaching, you’ll not feel enthused to continue the temple worship. And without temple worship, you cannot keep yourself pure and clean. The two things must go on, parallel. Then there is success. In modern time, either Hindus, Muslim or Christian, because in these places there is no teaching of philosophy, therefore they are closing, either mosque or temple or church. They will close.
Prajāpati: They can show no good result for their activities.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is preaching. Therefore we are writing so many books. Unless we take care of the books and preach and read ourself, understand the philosophy, this Hare Kṛṣṇa will be finished within few years. Because there will be no life. How long one can artificially go on, “Hare Kṛṣṇa! Haribol!” That will be artificial, no life.
 
So what happened to all the beautiful but very run down temples in Vrndavana??

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on Preach or in a few years all gone-and some other reasons too

by Damaghosa dasa

To hear from a pure devotee is the best process-SP

December 2, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

SRIMAD-BHAGAVATAM 8 CHAPTER 16 TEXT  61
ta eva niyamāḥ sākṣāt
ta eva ca yamottamāḥ
tapo dānaṁ vrataṁ yajno
yena tuṣyaty adhokṣajaḥTRANSLATION-This is the best process for pleasing the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Adhokṣaja. It is the best of all regulative principles, the best austerity, the best process of giving charity, and the best process of sacrifice.


PURPORT-The Supreme Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.66):
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” Unless one pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to His demand, no good result will come from any of his actions.
dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed yadi ratiṁ
śrama eva hi kevalam
“The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.” (Bhāg. 1.2.8) If one is not interested in satisfying Lord Viṣṇu, Vāsudeva, all his so-called auspicious activities are fruitless. Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jnānā vicetasaḥ: [Bg. 9.12] because he is bewildered, he is baffled in his hopes, baffled in his activities, and baffled in his knowledge. In this regard, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī remarks, napuṁsakam anapuṁsakenety-ādinaikatvam. One cannot equate the potent and the impotent. Among modern Māyāvādīs it has become fashionable to say that whatever one does or whatever path one follows is all right. But these are all foolish statements. Here it is forcefully affirmed that this is the only method for success in life. Īśvara-tarpaṇaṁ vinā sarvam eva viphalam. Unless Lord Viṣṇu is satisfied, all of one’s pious activities, ritualistic ceremonies and yajnas are simply for show and have no value. Unfortunately, foolish people do not know the secret of success. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum [SB 7.5.31]. They do not know that real self-interest ends in pleasing Lord Viṣṇu.
————————–
Antya 5.9–“I see that you have acquired a taste for hearing talks regarding Kṛṣṇa. Therefore you are extremely fortunate. Not only you but anyone who has awakened such a taste is considered most fortunate.
Antya 5.10--“A person who properly performs his regulative duties according to varṇa and āśrama but does not develop his dormant attachment for Kṛṣṇa or awaken his taste to hear and chant about Kṛṣṇa is certainly laboring fruitlessly.’ “
———————
Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.1-2 — Columbus, May 9, 1969 : 690509BG.COL :
Sarpocchiṣṭa-payo yathā. Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgirṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. Hari-kathā, this message of Bhagavad-gītā is hari-kathā. Hari means the Supreme Lord. His word. Therefore it is warned that to “Do not try to hear this message of Hari or the Supreme Lord from rascal nondevotee. Do not try to hear.” Why? Sarpocchiṣṭa-payo yathā.Just like milk is very nutritious food, but if a little milk is touched by the tongue of a serpent, whole thing is spoiled. A serpent, a very thin tongue, if he touches the milk, oh, the whole milk is spoiled. So if we take such milk, “Oh, milk is very nice,” no. Because it is touched by the serpent’s lip, it should not be taken. Similarly, any transcendental message, any Vedic literature, unless it is presented by a self-realized devotee, it is poison. You simply misunderstand the whole thing, and you do not get the benefit. Rather, you become a victim of misunderstanding. 
SB 4.31.24 purport-Here it is seen that by hearing the glories of the Lord from a realized devotee the Pracetās easily attained strong attachment for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then, meditating on the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord at the end of their lives, they advanced to the ultimate goal, Viṣṇuloka. It is sure and certain that anyone who always hears the glories of the Lord and thinks of His lotus feet will reach that supreme destination.
SB 4.31.28 purport-This is a sign of associating with great devotees. A devotee takes instructions from a liberated soul and is thus overwhelmed by ecstasy from transcendental pleasure.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on To hear from a pure devotee is the best process-SP

by Damaghosa dasa

2 things formerly all brahmanas knew about-SP

December 1, 2022 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

SB class 1.2.5 NV purport….

So kuṇape tri-dhātuke, these things are manufactured by three dhātus, elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. Kapha mucus, pitta bile, and air. These things manufacturing. These things are going on. After eating, these three things are being manufactured, and if they are in adjustment, parallel, then body is healthy, and if there is more or less, then there is disease. Well, according to the Āyur-vedic—that is also Veda–āyur means span of life, and Veda means knowledge. That is called Āyur-veda. So this Vedic knowledge of the span of life is very simple. They don’t require pathological laboratory, clinic, no. They require simply to study these three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. And they, their science is to feel the pulse. You know, every one of you, that the pulse is moving tick, tick, tick, tick, like this. So they know the science: by feeling the beating of the pulse, they can understand what is the position of these three elements, kapha, pitta, vāyu. And by that position, constellation, they… In the Āyur-veda, śāstra veda, there are, the symptoms, with the… These veins are moving like this, heart is moving like this, beating like this, then the position is this. As soon as they understand the position is this, they verify the symptoms. They enquire from the patient, “Do you feel like this? Do you feel like this?” If he says, “Yes,” then it is confirmed. The inner things, how the pulse is beating, and the symptoms are confirmed, then the medicine is ready. Immediately take the medicine. Where is (indistinct).

Formerly every brāhmaṇa used to learn these two sciences, Āyur-veda and Jyotir–veda. Jyotir–veda means astronomy…, astrology not astronomy. Because any other, the less intelligent than brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas, the śūdras, they would need the brāhmaṇas for health and future. Everyone is very inquisitive to learn what is future, what is going to happen next, and everyone is concerned with the health. So brāhmaṇas, they would simply advise about health and the future, so that is their profession and people give them eatables, cloth, so they have nothing to do for working outside. Anyway this is a long story. So this body is a bag of the three elements, yasyātmā-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13]. (baby cries) That baby. So Bhāgavata says yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke, I am not this body. This is a vehicle. Just like we ride on a car, drive car, so I am not this car. Similarly, this is a yantra, car, mechanical car. Kṛṣṇa or God has given me this car, I wanted it. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, īśvaraḥ sarva–bhūtānāṁ hṛd–deśe ‘rjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg. 18.61]. “My dear Arjuna, the Lord as Paramātmā is sitting in everyone’s heart,” bhrāmayan sarva–bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [Bg. 18.61], “and He is giving chance to the living entity to travel, to wander,” sarva–bhūtāni, “all over the universe.” Yantrārūḍhāni māyayā, riding on a car, driving a car given by the material nature. So actual our position is that I am soul, I have been given a nice car—it is not a nice car but as soon as we get a car, however rotten it may be, we think that it is very nice, (laughter) and identify with that car. “I have got this car, I have got that car.” One forgets if one drives a very costly car, he forgets himself that he is a poor man. He thinks that “I am this car.” This is identification.

Read the rest of this entry →

Comments Off on 2 things formerly all brahmanas knew about-SP