Krishna is the objective of devotional service and anything not related to Krishna has got no value. The word, "prashaste karmani" (prescribed duties) is very important in the verse. This word indicates that there are many activities prescribed in the Vedas, which are purificatory processes.
Once, in the Kingdom of Vanga, there lived a pious king named Virata. He had a brother who was always engaging in sinful acts.Virata was concerned about his brother and was always looking for ways to correct him. Once, Narada Muni visited King Virata.
The particular words used here, "maa suchah", "Don't fear, don't hesitate, don't worry," are very significant. One may be preplexed as to how one can give up all kinds of religious forms and simply surrender unto Krishna, but such worry is useless.
The thing is, in this material world people want more and more things (money, power, name, fame etc.) with the shortest possible way. If it is not achieved through legal means (like through hard labour, intelligence etc.) then illegal means are employed to achieve it.
There are so many ways to cheat and achieve success in material life but there is only one way to achieve success in spiritual life - that is by doing simple devotional service following the orders of our spiritual master. In reality devotional service is naturally simple.
When we learn something, we think it is knowledge but that is material knowledge. Real knowledge is what we get when we learn Bhagavad Gita. Our senses cannot give us spiritual knowledge. The books written by humans are not perfect as everybody makes mistakes.
In the material world everyone without exception, wants happiness and nobody wants any distress. All the endeavors are directed to this end. But unfortunately we find that in spite of all these endeavors, nobody is happy.
Here's a story. Once upon a time there lived a king in Benaras with 3 sons named Dhanaraj, Balaraj and Ananda. Suddenly one day the king left his body and the kingdom was seized by the minister.
When the Pandavas heard this from Barbarik, they were eager to know who fought more bravely in the war. Barbarik replied - "In reality, NO ONE FOUGHT. Everywhere it was only Sudarshan chakra which was moving around actively causing Bhismadev, Dronacaraya, Karna, Jayadrath and all the warriors to fall down.
The whole purpose of the Lord's incarnation is to please His devotees and make their statements true. And above all, the Lord appears by His own sweet will to benefit all the living entities. This is confirmed by Prahlad maharaj, "Kshemaaya bhutaya utaatma sukhaayachaasya".
Generally, the liberation takes place after a soul gives up this material body. However, there are a few souls who are liberated even in this lifetime, without giving up this material body. These souls are called jivan muktas.
Gurudev said, What Srila Prabhupada has given to the universe is in front of all of us. His writing is uncomparable, unbelievable. One verse & one purport fixes us . And how many purports His Divine Grace has written????
The main objective of devotional service is to attain Krishna Prema which is on the top most ladder of the devotional service. In order to attain we have to go through the various process of devotional service. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (9.2), "susukam kartum" - devotional service is joyfully performed.
In each and every living entity, Krishna is residing as the paramatma. But practically speaking, we never really try to see His presence near us and hence we tend to do Vaishnava apradha - which includes actions of body, mind, words and heart.
Everything we enjoy in this material world is due to the Lord's mercy. But we forget this and when faced with some difficulty we start imagining that we are the sole sufferers in the entire universe. Today, I came across a physically challenged person at work.
Lord Jagannatha was astonished to see the transcendental dancing and chanting of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and He stopped His car just to see the dancing. The seer and the dancer were one and the same Supreme Person, but the Lord, being one and many at the same time, was exhibiting the variegatedness of His pastimes.
In this material world, everyone is jockeying for the position of being the boss or the master. In spiritual life it is just the opposite. In spiritual life, Sri Krishna's followers try to become the servant of the servant of the Lord's servant.
Today as I was browsing through one of the diaries of my spiritual master, I found the following verse noted by Maharaj in one of the pages. Interestingly he has titled it, "How a devotee should behave".
Last time when our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj visited Abu Dhabi, he made everybody memorize the following verse just before his departure and asked me to post it to Granthraj. This verse has been spoken by Chanakya Pandit and quoted by Srila Prabhupada in his several lectures.
When the devotees were looking for a suitable place in the town for a temple, one of the devotees was showing the photos of a huge mansion of the late auto industry millionaire Lawrence Fisher. Srila Prabhupada was interested to buy it and hence they went with the real estate agent to see the building.
The two sons of Kuvera, Nala-Kuvera and Manigriva, after being cursed by Narada Muni , were born as twin Yamala Arjuna trees in the garden of Sri Nanda Maharaja. There, they offered prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, after He delivered them.
In the purport Srila Prabhupada explains, that even liberated souls like the four kumaras, Narada Muni,Sukadeva Gosvami are attracted by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Lord is all attractive and as His own way of attracting living entities towards Him.
Out of the above senses mind is very powerful. Mind is a nonstop factory. Mind can be the best friend and worst enemy. When we control it, it is our friend.
The satisfaction of the living entity in a particular type of body, even if it is most abominable, is called illusion. A man in a higher position may feel dissatisfaction with the standard of life of a lower-grade man, but the lower-grade man is satisfied in that position because of the spell of maya, the external energy.
Nowadays everyone wants to be successful in everything. We have so many personality development courses, training people on key aspects to become successful in life. Right from a small child, to an old person, everyone dreams to become successful. Success is the key word in life.
Kali Yuga - is supposed to be the worst time of all the yugas that had passed so far. But still we are fortunate because due to Lord's mercy - both the compiler of Vedanta, Lord Sri Krishna - in the form of Bhagavad Gita, and his pure devotee
In the introduction to "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" , His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupad clearly explains that, 'The Lord is ksetra-jna, conscious, as is the living being, but the living being is conscious of his particular body, whereas the Lord is conscious of all bodies.'
In the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord says that four kinds of pious persons renders devotional service unto Him and out of them the jnaani who has correct understanding of the Lord and worships the Lord in exclusive devotion is very dear to Him.
Maharaja Dhrtarastra, who was tightly bound in a network of material affinities, was firmly convinced by the forceful instructions of his brother Vidura and left home to set out on the path of liberation. Maharaja Yudhistra was greatly distressed because of this
Srila Prabhupada would tell us to go bathe in the ocean. "Go to the beach," he would say. So one day I asked him, "Srila Prabhupada, whenever I go down to the beach, the sun is warm on my body, the water feels so good,
As devotees of Krishna, we have a special interest in protecting cows because Krishna is a cowherd boy. It seems amazing. How could God be a cowherd boy? But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction... Krishna likes cows very much.