"One's devotion and sincere desire to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead are the only qualifications [to achieve the Lord]. Rupa Goswami has also said that the price for achieving God's favor is simply one's sincere eagerness to have it (laulyam ekam mulyam)."
It is our duty to guide our youth and prepare them for the vedic culture on the basis of the principles of Srimad Bhagavatham and Bhagavad Gita. Everything is correct and nothing is wrong with our vedic culture, but even now we have our doubts in our minds.
It is Krishna's mercy that we are able to celebrate His appearance day in this part of the world year after year. The devotees of Avataridesh are blessed by Their Lordships Shri Shri Radha Shyamsundar to engage us in whatever puny little service that we can render unto Them.
Due to appearance of all auspicious Lord, Mother Nature was excited and flowers like lily and lotus which normally bloom during the day were blooming even at mid-night. All the planetary systems and stars were in the most auspicious position.
We plan to do several types of service for the Lord. But in some cases we would find that we would not be able to execute it in a perfect manner. The Lord is so merciful that he measures only the intensity of devotion with which the service was performed and not the outcome of the service.
If there is one thing we all have in common it must be that we are searching for ways in which to be happy. However we often find that our search for happiness is riddled with distress. Modern brain researchers are studying the activity of the brain in order to know how the brain is linked to the search for happiness.
Children usually follow what the elders in the family do. So it is essential that parents lead a religious life. If the mother is not chaste, she will not be able to bring up the children in a proper manner.The character of the mother has a great influence on the children.
The precarious and horrible condition of the living entity within the womb of the mother is portrayed herein. The child is floating in the pool of blood, urine and stool and the entire body is being strongly scorched by the gastric fire.
The word "mad-aashrayah" - "full consciousness of Me", is note worthy in the above verse. Every day, when we rise up in the morning, we should be determined to do more service for Krishna than what we were doing earlier. "How can I serve Krishna more today?"
Once, there lived two neighbouring peasants - Gopal and Govinda. Govinda was a very lazy person. Once,there was no monsoon for two consecutive years. Gopal thought that he must construct a canal from the nearby river, so that his plants could get water.
To realize or at least theoretically understand that we are not the body is one step on the spiritual path, but sometimes more difficult is to detach ouselves from the pullings of the mind..
When I was going through Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta today, (Volume 5, chapter 41), I came across a very nice conversation between Srila Prabhupada and his disciple Subala prabhu in Vrindavan, when they were about to start with the construction of Krishna-Balaram temple.
Dhruva Maharaj is very young but we see here that he is very very humble. There is not even a tinge of pride in him after having the darshan of the Lord face to face. This humility is the qualification of the devotee.
We have heard and seen again and again that this world is full of impostor transcendentalists. Why is Srila Prabhupada putting so much emphasis on this in his Bhaktivedanta purports? The reason is that unless the people of the world learn how to discern the real transcendentalist from impostor transcendentalis.
There are two types of devotees. One is the Bhajanaanandis - those who take pleasure in Bhajana or worship and the other is the Goshtyanandis- those who take pleasure in preaching. Our movement is a combination of both. We have both preaching and pooja.
To advance in the spiritual life, we have to reach the stage of being sinless or without any 'mal(Impurity)'. Soul is nirmalatvaat since it is part and parcel of Krishna, but since we get victimized by the illusory energy of maya, we commit so many sins.
Srila Prabhupada very nicely points out what distinguishes friend and enemy. "What is the difference between an enemy and a friend? It is a difference in behavior." The quality, "ajaata-shatravah" specified in the above verse is noteworthy.
In our life we face different situations - both good and bad. In all such cases - what matters is how we react to that particular situation. Let us consider the case of criticism. We might be criticised for so many things by many people daily.
Whether we are perfect or not, we have a tendency to expect others to be perfect. If we are repeatedly being hurt by someone and over a period of time, if that person stops hurting, and tries to be kind, our mind is not in a position to accept them.
In Gulf countries, jokingly people say that after 5 years of service in Gulf, the camalisation process of the person starts and by the time he leaves his job, he is no different than Camel. Many people come with 5 year target and struggle here for 25 years to achieve that target.
Srila Prabhupada in his purport rightly points out the transcendental pure nature of the Supreme Lord, "We should always remember that although the body of a hog is material, the hog form of the Lord was not materially contaminated.
Even in the days of so-called scientific advancement of knowledge, there is no remedial measure either for old age or for death. Old age is the notice of the arrival of death served by cruel time, and no one can refuse to accept either summon calls or the supreme judgment of eternal time.
There are so many religions in the world. But a real religion is one which takes away the root of all anarthas - ENVY from our hearts. This can be made possible only by the bhagavata-dharma.
Srila Prabhupada says there is the ashrama of Vayasadeva at Samyaapraasa. Srila Vyasadeva was a householder, yet his residential place is called an Ashrama.
Krishna is sacchitananda vigraha - full of eternal knowledge and bliss and since we are His part and parcel, its quite natural that we also aspire to be happy. But the problem begins when we fail to understand what is real happiness.
On 4th of July 2005 (the American independence day) we had our annual Harinama program at a very popular park. One passer-by was struck with a sound he hasn't heard in thirty years. Just the sound of the Harinama inspired him to search out the devotees. Then he sent me an email that will prove inspiring for us all.
Many times, I have experienced this when we are materially satisfied we become complacent and puffed up. Captivated by the external energy we become inattentive in chanting thinking that, "everything is going accordingly to my plan.
In the above verse, the word "aatma- samstutih" means praise of oneself. All of us love to be praised and never like to be blamed. Whether we really deserve it or not we enjoy hearing praising words from others. But truly speaking, accepting false praise leads to our downfall.
A little smile saves you a mile. Smile is one of the many special blessing which Lord Krishna has given to human race. We all would have experienced that even during the course of a very tough day, if we happen to meet someone with a smiling face - it relaxes our mind atleast for a few seconds.
As H.H. Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj always points out - "Only 20% of Vedic scriptures deals about glories of the Lord and the remaining 80% deals about how our behaviour should be." There is famous quote - "Be kind, for everyone is facing a tough battle"