Maharaj says,"There is a grain of truth in any criticism. We should just accept the grain of truth and improve our behavior. That is the how we can progress in our spiritual life."
A pure devotee of Krishna never considers himself exalted. To the contrary, he meekly feels that his devotional service is most imperfect but that somehow or other Lord Krishna, out of His causeless mercy, is accepting such imperfect service."
The service attitude of the devotee gradually increases and never becomes slackened. Generally, in old age a person is allowed retirement from mundane service. But in the transcendental service of the Lord there is no retirement at all; on the contrary, the service attitude increases more and more with the progress of age
"The spiritual master is to be honored as much as the Supreme Lord, because he is the most confidential servitor of the Lord. This is acknowledged in all revealed scriptures and followed by all authorities. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who is a bona fide representative of Sri Hari [Krishna].
"The feet of Lord Krishna are the First and Second Cantos. The Third and Fourth Cantos are the thighs of the Lord. The navel of Lord is the Fifth Canto and His arms are the Sixth and Seventh cantos. His throat is the Ninth Canto and His blooming lotus face is the Tenth Canto. His forehead is the Eleventh Canto and His head is the Twelfth Canto."
By constantly hearing about devotional service, one can check the force of anger, which is detrimental to the process of devotional service. Srila Parikshit Maharaja said that the constant hearing of the pastimes of the Lord is the panacea for all material diseases. Everyone, therefore, should hear about the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly. By hearing one can always remain in equilibrium, and thus his progress in spiritual life will not be hampered."
"Both King Indra and Maharaja Prthu were envious and angry with each other, but since both of them were Vaishnavas, or servants of Lord Vishnu, it was their duty to adjust the cause of their envy. This is also a first-class example of cooperative behavior between Vaishnavas
To leave anger, agitation and anxiety and to leave the ride and envy, we must be submissive and hear from great devotees. Remember Prabhupada's standard of a pure devotee is, 'anyone other than us is a pure devotee.' If we follow that very simply in our hearts, without looking at the faults and taking the good from everyone, how much we will be peaceful and advance in devotional service. We will never lose anything. What is the loss in hearing from someone? Even a child can teach us something.
the more you remember that which causes you agitation and anxiety, unknown to you, like poison, that anxiety, that envy, also gets transferred to us. Maharaj said that just as devotional service is gambhir, subtle, asat sanga is also subtle. We must be very careful about our association.
Krishna is not counting how many times you chanted. Krishna is counting, when you are chanting, whom are you remembering. That is the key. Krishna is concerned with the essence of our devotional mentality.
But we should understand that our sacrifice is our service. If we start thinking that after doing this sacrifice, I will get this and that, then we will not be peaceful in our devotional service. We will be agitated. We become greedy and there is no end to this greed.
"My dear King, do not be agitated and anxious because your sacrifices have not been properly executed due to providential impediments. Kindly take my words with great respect. We should always remember that if something happens by providential arrangement, we should not be very sorry. The more we try to rectify such reversals, the more we enter into the darkest region of materialistic thought."
Once we behave as a servant of Krishna and perform non deceptive penance in bhakti yoga without any motive then the objective goal of conditioned soul is achieved by the process of becoming completely Krishna conscious and purified of material contamination. Then Vaikunta or darshan of the Lord becomes rightful claim for him at the end of this life itself for such purified soul. The whole objective of devotional service is to become Krishna conscious and that secret is being revealed by Lord Brahma very wonderfully by his own action and how he had darshan of the Lord and by Lord's mercy the whole creation has come into manifestation.
'Something is less in me. I am not able to describe Krishna sufficiently.' It is not the fault in hearers. It is the defect in ourselves. Increase your awareness. Increase your study of scriptures and then approach to give. Never blame others. Whenever it is defeat or something, it is your own defect.
We falsely think that we are discussing about Krishna and He is somewhere else. No. This is Krishna! And again Krishna is in prasadam. I have come for prasadam here. I don't know about you (laughter). This is how Krishna appears in front of us, in the form of prasadam, in the form of nice houses, in the form of cars etc.
When we do dandavats, the body points are all pressed. You throw down yourself and 8 points of the body are pressed and it is a healthy way. Those who are sick, they should come to the temple and do obeisances hundreds of times. You will not have any trouble at all.
It is not that Harinam will have effect only on this planet, it will have effect on spiritual planets also. Because it is not an ordinary vibration. It is a transcendental vibration. It reaches anywhere. It is close to Krishna and non-different from Krishna. Since it is non-different from Krishna, the more you hear, the more you sing, it is beneficial for you. And the bhakti is increasing.
No memory is not an excuse for not studying the verses. You are not trying. Why do you remember your name or wife's name? Because it is repeated so many times. And you like yourself. That is why you remember your name. You like your wife and that is why you remember her name. You don't forget the names of sons, daughters, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law or whatever it is. We don't forget them. Why? Because we like them. And so many times we keep repeating them. So that repetition is required for the verses. It is not that you don't have the memory. Repetition is required.
Sickness will not be there till you are with Krishna, because Krishna is never sick. Have you heard anytime that Krishna is suffering from cancer? No. Because His body is completely spiritual. And as soon as you, run after the spiritual Lord, your body also doesn't remain material. It is only material when you are not attracted to Krishna.
Please, please remember these things. For our own good, for our own health, for our own well-being, we require Krishna. He doesn't want anybody. He is alright. If you don't come to Him, He is happy without you also. But we cannot survive without Him. We want Him, we want Him. Please understand this point.
As soon as you come to Krishna, eternally you are very much secure. We want security and we take so many steps to make life secure on this material planet. But everything crumbles down eventually and nothing is left and we are again frustrated. Once you take shelter of Krishna, He is the Supreme shelter, you lack nothing. This is the second quality.
As soon as our attention is diverted to spiritual reality, that Krishna's existence is eternal, beyond our conceiving power, then we stop ourselves from being victimised by these quarrels and misunderstandings, which are the main characteristics of Kali yuga. This is the way to save ourselves from all degradation. If you quarrel, if you create ill-will, soul is degraded. And when the soul is degraded, you will have to have millions of birth again..."
Prabhu was lying down for the whole day, on a simple wooden bed, and I could see that he was frustrated. While we all take for granted, basic movements and things in our life, without being grateful to Krishna for them, the Lord took everything basic from Prabhu, yet, with his faith and devotional service, he continued his challenging existence.
"But ignorant and faithless persons who doubt the revealed scriptures do not attain God consciousness; they fall down. For the doubting soul there is happiness neither in this world nor in the next."
Only chanting will help you. All these books and everything to understand this philosophy is to increase our firm faith in the names of Krishna. That is it. There is no need of anything. All these pravacans and discussions is for our chanting. So you please chant 1 round. But chant it nicely. Don't worry about the number. So far as possible we should go to 16. But if your work doesn't allow, don't feel short. Whatever you can do, do it very sincerely. And that will definitely have results.
"Life and death is not in our hands and it doesn't depend upon the food. It is in the hands of the Supreme. If He is to kill you, He will kill you with chicken also. And without chicken also He will help you, if you have to stay here."
you will have to study Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita and take out the important sentences. These sentences guide our life and you should present it in a nice palatable way. It should be short, but very important.