While warning us about the danger of these knots Maharaj said, "Humility depends on clean heart. Those who are humble escape from all the miseries of life. Even mode of goodness is not desirable. Only purified goodness is required. Someone might keep telling something.
Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport, "No one is strong enough to protect himself from the onslaught of a stronger and by the will of the Lord there are systematic categories of the weak, the stronger and the strongest."
It is very common among devotees who got the initial taste of Krishna consciousness to be eager and enthusiastic to attend satsang programs, do service etc.
One of the most important teachings of our shastras is to obey and serve our elders, especially our parents. It is important to remember at every wake of our lives that our parents have brought us up, taken care of us at every stage of our lives
Brahmanas are most loved by Krishna. The present so-called brahmanas are called caste-brahmanas because they are brahmanas by birth only. And Krishna does not care about such caste-brahmanas.
Only in modern times has Krishna become a household name to people of the West. The first Westerners who came to know of Krishna were the pioneer indologists, of which Max Muller was prominent.
Here the Lord has said that a Krishna conscious person treats all living species alike. But when we consider ourselves, it is very difficult even to see all human beings alike - what to speak of seeing humans and animals and other living species alike.
Maharaj said, "Past is always past. Those who behave thinking of the past are haunted by ghosts. We should remember that it is not very easy to see living entity. Anytime anyone will die. This thought would help us to improve our behaviour- to be humble and kind.
In Shree Shree Radha Neela Madhav temple, H.H. Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj gave a instructive class on verse 3.29.18 in Srimad Bhagavatam soon after mangala-arati on the day of Vyasa Puja. Maharaj stressed that this verse is very important as it very nicely explains how a devotee should behave.
Recently We had a memorable visit to Tirupati to have the darshan of Lord Venkateswara and Their LordShip Sri Sri Radha Govinda of ISKCON Tirupati. We stayed at the guest house of Sri Sri Radha Govinda temple at Tirupati.
We must obey and respect our elders. We should remember that we are neophytes in this world, whereas they are more experienced. Especially one must obey the words of father. In Tamil we have a famous proverb which states that there is no better mantra than the words of one's father.
The situation described here is the scene just before the start of Kurukshetra battle. Vidura adviced his brother Drtharashtra in straight-forward words, that he should not keep listening to the demands of Duryodhana anymore and stop the fight against Pandavas.
It is an interesting point to note that "fear and anxiety" is common to all embodied living entities. Fear and anxiety are due to our uncertainity of things which may happen in future.
We are bathing in the nectarian association and realizations of our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami maharaj for the last few days and it is an amazing experience just to be around and hear his powerful and hammering words of wisdom.
So Krsna is non-envious and equally disposed towards all living entities. His friendship is open to all living entities. However, Krsna does have strong words for certain living entities
We are aware of the fact that being in Krishna Consciousness means that our consciousness and thinking must be towards Krishna and nothing else. At the same time we think in everyday life this is not possible.
The atmosphere at the temple was wonderful, devotees were exuberant and apart from the god-brothers and god-sisters from various parts of the world there were also other well-wishers who were touched by the sublime instructions of Maharaj, which changed their lives.
Long ago there lived a powerful sage named 'Ashtavakra Rsi'. The sage was curved in eight parts of his body, and when he walked his movements were quite peculiar and awkward. He was also very ugly and ordinary people often laughed at the sight of him.
The boot of material energy is repeatedly kicking all the conditioned living entities and thus everyone is suffering in this material world. Whenever there is a misfortune in our lives, we always look forward to help and consolation from our near and dear ones
Many times, we see that based on our limited intelligence and knowledge, we propose some theories and understanding that, "This is why it happened like this", or, "This was like this, so it happens like this." But actually it is like the estimate of the Frog in the well.
Generally we can see our mind becomes especially agitated whenever we are insulted and the thorn of the desire to take revenge torments the mind for a long time.
Krishna has laid down certain plan for each one of us. As long as we abide by His instructions and live as per His plan, we are safe. Irrespective of circumstances, we should approach the Lord in a earnest manner always - for He is all Supreme and we are insignificant.
It is said that, "Speech is silver ; but silence is gold". When we speak with others, we should know as to when to speak and when to be silent. Especially under chaotic circumstances, it is best to remain silent.
If we think of our lives, right from our childhood days, each one of us would have so many instances when we would have been in helpless situations and how Lord had come to rescue and protect us in numerable ways and forms and has kept us in safe condition.
One interesting thing to note is, whenever we are in distress, we want to get rid of it quickly. We try to share our distress with others whom we know, crib about our situation thinking that it will relieve our pains.
We have many times heard that the Lord's deity form is the most merciful representation of His personal form. This fact is very well brought out in the following sloka from the pancharatra texts.
Srila Prabhupadaji in one of the morning walk conversations titled "Demons Elected By Demons" pointed out that a Vaishnava is a person who cares about others. Chanting just for ones own self was not appreciated by his spiritual master His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj.
Once there was a temple priest performing Krishna deity worship regularly in the temple. One day he desired to make waist ring for Krishna deity. He went and approached one of the popular goldsmith in that area.
In Krishna Consciousness, we are trained to do everything to remember Krishna, not to ignore Him. But when we offend a sincere vaishnava, we not only hurt him but also the Supreme Lord who is protecting him.
Rivers always start from an origin and flow downwards. For eg., Ganges has its origin in the material world in Gangotri in the Himalayas and starts flowing away towards the land. When the water flows like that, it is called "dhaaraa" in Sanskrit and many other Indian languages.
Though the emphasis is very much on keeping our life simple, it is not just enough to stay simple, but the extra time and energy should be utilized in understanding and applying the principles of Krishna consciousness in our day-day life (jivasya tattva jijnaasa).