Tag: seva

If you were to examine the list of personalities in the Caitanya Sarasvata Parampara, our Parampara, who would you find? Who is in the sankirtana movement? Who is Mahaprabhu? Who is Gadadhara; who are all these personalities? Then you would come to the six Goswamis; who are they?

The truth should be spoken in a straightforward way, so that it will benefit others. I have heard that, in the greater Krsna consciousness movement, certain women clamor to be called Prabhu. Actually, all devotees are called Prabhu, but a real devotee clamors, "Call me your servant, call me your dog." Why do you want to be called Master?

There is a lot of history to our parampara. We cannot simply speak substantially on topics of Krsna Consciousness according to our whim, because it is always under lock and key. The keeper of the key is above us. According to His wish, a dumb man can eloquently speak the Vedas, or a blind person can see the beauty of the Himalayas, or a lame man can cross mountains.

We are encouraged to search for Krsna, yet we should never forget that on our own we can never find Him. It is He that must come to us. The path of bhakti is a descending process. It is super-subjective – it always has been and always will be. In the words of the German philosopher Hegel, “He is for Himself and by Himself”.

To conquer the urge of the tongue and genitals is called dhrti. Those who have become tridandis have conquered their body, mind and words. News found in periodicals is full of mundane talks. It is impossible for tridandis to read such newspapers that report topics of the illusory world (maya-katha). By reading them the consciousness no longer cooperates and becomes an enemy to us. “So-and-so did this, so-and-so did that” – by reading such things, adversity and material desires are created

"Don’t feel discouraged, Krsna and His devotees are reaching out to you. They are reaching to embrace you. Their causeless mercy is our greatest fortune. For some reason unbeknownst to us, we have this opportunity. We are being canvased into that sankirtana , as He has appeared as Mahaprabhu."

During a recent visit to Europe I had some informal discussions about religious conceptions with other Gaudiya Vaisnavas and I was surprised to hear some devotees speak about such groups as the Sufis, Whirling Dervishes, Jews, Christians, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims as being deeply 'surrendered' souls. Of course, generally speaking this may be true – but surrendered to what?

I once heard a devotee say that the proof of when your devotion has become real bhakti is when you can take the betel-nut prasadam from the mouth of Krsna and place it in the mouth of Radharani. Is this the actual standard by which we are to measure or understand when we have real bhakti?

Some time ago, a sannyasi who could not maintain his vows of renunciation wrote an apologetic letter on the internet addressed to his disciples and friends wherein he explained the numerous reasons why he could not continue in the renounced order of life. In order to excuse his weakness, the apologetic sannyasi quoted a verse from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana to substantiate his opinion that Sannyasa is not meant for the people of Kali-Yuga.

After Gaura Hari, who descended to purify this age of Kali, made Himself invisible to the eyes of the world, the preaching of His religion of love carried on more or less uninterruptedly up until the time of Baladeva Vidyabhushan. In the time that followed, though there were still many advanced devotees present on the planet, a period of darkness descended on Mahaprabhu’s school of devotion. Many heterodox sects came into existence that vocally claimed to be following Mahaprabhu, but in fact were simply using His name to promote their own false doctrines.

In the eleventh Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, we find the instructive story of the brahmana of Avantipura who had previously been a miserly businessman. He was so cantankerous and prone to anger that his wife, children, relatives and servants all despised him. In due course, the avariciousness of the brahmana bore its fateful fruit.

In a recent Krsna Talk you mentioned that we should appreciate prasadam more deeply, but I have also heard you say that everything called 'prasadam' may not actually be prasadam. This seems to be inconsistent, so can you please explain this more clearly?