A devotee is one who constantly endeavors to link back to the Supreme Lord. Our constant preoccupation in life is to entertain ourselves through the pleasures of the body, attachments of the mind and enchantments of the intellects. He who understands that this is not the end all and be all of life and strives to gain his identity with his own self is a yogi.
By hearing about and glorifying the Lord, all a person's activities become moulded into spiritual activities, and thus all conceptions of material miseries become completely vanquished.'
Because Mathura and Vrindavana are intimately connected with Krishna eternally, it is said that Lord Krishna never leaves Vrindavana (vrindavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati) . Anyone who goes to Vrindavan becomes transcendentally purified.
The Lord is more anxious to take usback into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men wantto go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Sri Krishna helps in all respects."
In the temples, after the decoration of the deities, a mirror is shown to the deities. There are many reasons for this. One reason is that the Lord has no match in beauty. So if He wants to see a beautiful person similar to Him the only option is to see Himself in the mirror.
Because the Lord is all-pervading, it is essential to glorify Him always and everywhere. In the process of glorifying the Lord there should be no restriction of time and space. This is called sanatana-dharma or bhagavata-dharma.
I am spread all over the universe in My impersonal form. Everything is resting on Me, but I am not present. The Lord says, "you will see everything in the world to be non-different from Me."
"Hearing is solidified by the process of chanting. One who has perfectly heard from the perfect source becomes convinced about the all-pervading Personality of Godhead and thus becomesenthusiastic in glorifying the Lord."
One can derive from the study of the Bhagavatam all benefits that are possible to be derived from the personal presence of the Lord. It carries with it all the transcendental blessings of the Lord Sri Krsna that we can expect from His personal contact.
The devotees enjoy the Lord's beauty because it is a collection of all kinds of beauties. Therefore the word sarva-saundarya-sangraham is used. No one can say that the body of the Lord is wanting in beautiful parts. It is completely purnam. Everything is complete:
If at all we want to compare two entities, then the two entities should have a common basis of existence. But we are identifying the temporary deha (body) and geha(house, family and other possessions) with the permanent soul(atma) which is actually illogical. And this is the cause of imbalance in our ego which results in insult, false pride, envy etc.
We should all have a notebook and a pen always with us. Anytime we hear or read something, we should write it down. Never mind if we cannot write some thoughts of our own. Even copying a verse or translation or purport as it is from the book is alright. Because while writing we get a better and deeper understanding.
As mentioned in Bhagavat Gita 2.40; svalpam apy asya dharmasya traayate mahato bhayaat: "Even a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear", one has no choice but to surrender to Lord Krishna and follow His and his devotees' instructions to uplift one's life and make proper use of this human life.
Ungrateful persons are those who do not understand how much benefit they are deriving by the arrangement of the Lord. They enjoy the sunshine and moonshine, and they get water free of charge, yet they do not feel grateful, but simply go on enjoying these gifts of the Lord.
The reason why we do not relate to everybody amiably is because we have so many 'corners' in our minds. We think, 'Oh, this person is good, this person is bad, this person behaved like this to me, that person is envious of me, I will talk to this person, I will not talk to that person...like that'.
We have been told again and again to surrender to Krishna and this quote also says the same thing that if we bend down to Krishna we can stand up to anything, because once we surrender to Him, we have complete faith in Him and once we have complete faith in Him, problems get resolved on its own.
A famous philosopher once said "No man is an island" and we have all heard the statement: "Man is a social animal" . This brings home the point that if we do not cultivate devotee relationships we will be forced, by default programming, to cultivate non-devotee relationships.
The actual idea is that the prasadam is for our benefit and not for His benefit. This is the underlying concept in all kinds of devotional activities we may perform.
Kama and Krodha arise from the mode of Passion (kama esa krodha esa rajo guna samudhbhava). Lobha from the mode of ignorance (tada rajas tamo bhava kamalobhaadayashcaye). And then, even if we are in the mode of goodness, it is tainted with the modes of passion and ignorance.
Those great sages who have completely taken shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord can at once sanctify those who come in touch with them, whereas the waters of the Ganges can sanctify only after prolonged use.
Pure devotional service in Krishna consciousness cannot be had even by pious activity in hundreds and hundreds of lives. It can be attained only by paying one price - that is, intense greed to obtain it. If it is available somewhere, one must purchase it without delay.
Let us ask ourselves; 'Are we satisfied? Or are we constantly hankering?' If answers to these two questions put us to shame, then lets us take inspiration from great personalities like Srila Prabhupada, our Spiritual master and other Vaisanava and try to rectify the situation.
Marriage is actually a duty performed in mutual cooperation as directed in the authoritative scriptures for spiritual advancement. Therefore marriage is essential in order to avoid the life of cats and dogs, who are not meant for spiritual enlightenment
Unflinching means without any iota of doubt. Just like we have 100% faith in our mother in identifying our father, and we do not question, we have to develop the unflinching faith in the Lord who is the supreme Mother, Father and Grandsire
This material world is transient and a perverted reflection of the Absolute. It is a great virtual reality show by the Lord, full of misery, in order to teach the conditioned souls ever eager to enjoy and lord over transient material nature, rather that return to their constitutional position of favorable, uninterrupted and unreserved loving devotional service towards Lord Sri Krishna.
Infection cannot infect sunshine. Some disease can infect you, me, because we are less potential. But it cannot infect the sum. Rather, the sunshine will sterilize the infection. So anything infectious, anything sinful, cannot infect Krsna. Rather sinful activities in touch with Krsna will become purified. This is the process.
When we are literally sitting on the HOTLID, how much we should be anxious to get out of that ? Instead we are just moving our body here and there, just trying to adjust to the scorching heat and this is not going to help us in any way.
How to become in Krishna anxiety? This philosophy nobody knows. Everyone takes Krishna as the father. Father means I'm anxiety-less: Father, you supply my wants. And to become father of Krishna means to purchase anxiety for Krishna. This philosophy they do not know.