Without being empowered by Krishna, nobody can preach the holy name of the Lord. So without getting the power of attorney... Just like even one is qualified lawyer, he must get the power of attorney from his client, and then he can speak. That is the law. Similarly, without being endowed with the power of attorney from Krishna, it is not possible to preach.

One who represents someone else must fully know that person's mission. The devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement must therefore be fully aware of the mission of Krishna and Lord Caitanya; otherwise they will be considered foolish. All devotees, especially preachers, must know the philosophy of Krishna consciousness so as not to be embarrassed and insulted when they preach.

When the order carriers of Yamaraja, the son of the sun-god, were thus forbidden, they replied: Who are you, sirs, that have the audacity to challenge the jurisdiction of Yamaraja? Dear sirs, whose servants are you, where have you come from, and why are you forbidding us to touch the body of Ajamila? Are you demigods from the heavenly planets, are you sub-demigods, or are you the best of devotees?

The order carriers of Yamaraja were snatching the soul from the core of the heart of Ajamila, the husband of the prostitute, but with resounding voices the messengers of Lord Vishnu, the Vishnudutas, forbade them to do so.

Our Godbrother HG Devakinandan Prabhuji made a very nice point in his recent Bhagavatam class in Kerala. Prabhuji said that "each one of us have our own individual nature. Being individual is not a problem in devotional service. But when that individualism turns to independence of instructions of Guru and Krishna, then it spoils our devotional service."

Maharaj would always give us the warning, "Never assume that you are a devotee and at the end of life you will go back to Godhead. Don't be surprised to see Yamadutas at the end of your life." Because whether we keep the account of our sins or not, Yamaraj is keeping a perfect and complete account of all our sinful activities.

When Ajamila chewed food and ate it, he called the child to chew and eat, and when he drank he called the child to drink also. Always engaged in taking care of the child and calling his name, Narayana, Ajamila could not understand that his own time was now exhausted and that death was upon him.

His Divine Grace says, "If we abandon regulative principles, we fall into maya." It is said that process of bhakti is like walking on a two edged razor. If we are careless, we will be hurt. Since the modes of material nature are always acting upon us, if we don't take shelter of sincere sadhana, we are bound to fail. His Divine Grace further says that if we want to advance in spiritual life, we must follow the regulative principles and rectify the mistakes of our past lives and this present life.

"Habits die hard." These sinful tendencies which we have, are all accumulated in us over millions of life-times. So to give up those habits on our own, on the strength of our knowledge is very difficult. Surrendering unto Supreme Lord alone can wipe out all such tendencies.

One may know that sinful activity is injurious for him because he actually sees that a criminal is punished by the government and rebuked by people in general and because he hears from scriptures and learned scholars that one is thrown into hellish conditions in the next life for committing sinful acts. Nevertheless, in spite of such knowledge, one is forced to commit sins again and again, even after performing acts of atonement.

Because a Vaishnava fully takes shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he personally has no problems, but because he is compassionate toward the fallen, conditioned souls, he is always thinking of plans to save them from their hellish life in this body and the next.

"Everyone just remembers God only when they are in distress. No one remembers Him when they are happy. If a person remembers the Lord in happiness also, then why is he going to feel distress?"

 Take for example; everybody likes music. Some are more into it, some are less. But now we have to dovetail that liking for whatever kind of sound we may like, in the service of Krishna. That is called kirtan. Kirtan means to spread the glories of someone. So if I can glorify Krishna by music, it is good, or sat.

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Vairāgya" wherein we were discussing on various types of Vairāgya, to suppress our material desires or dovetail them in Krishna's service.

The mental urges are enemies of the mind like lust, greed and envy. These are to be stopped because if we don't, the ayurvedas say we will lose our mental harmony and end up in the lower modes. Not sattva-guna, but rajas and tamas are manifested in our being when we act under the order of lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and illusion.

Sannyasis are setting the example for the other varnas and ashramas in the art of pure service to Krishna, renounced from material desires. But in Krishna consciousness, the grhastas, and what to speak of the vanaprasthas and brahmacaris, are also expected to advance on the path of self-denial, that is, giving up our material desires one by one for the sake of attaining pure service to Krishna.

Firstly Krishna refers to people who have natural love and attachment for the Lord and always think of Him without any deviation. Devotees like Mother Yashoda, gopas and gopis are in this category. And for those of us who have not yet attained that stage, Krishna insists that we need to follow the regulative principles.

Srila Prabhupada very nicely gives the meaning of 'svaartha paro' as 'interested only in sense gratification in this life or the next'. We are so self-centered that we don't restrict our desires for this life alone, but carry it on for the next as well.

There is something called yukta-vairagya, and then we have phalgu-vairagya. The term vairagya comes from the words vi which means 'opposite' and raaga means 'attachment, passion'.

If I have spectacles, I can also read like these people. I must go to town and buy a pair of spectacles for myself." So one day he went to a town. He entered a spectacles shop.

Desires which are directed to please our own selves arise out of lust

Those who follow this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engage themselves with faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very, very dear to Me

Since we are representing Srila Prabhupada our Gurudev and this exalted movement, our external behaviour should not be disturbing to others.

The moment we counteract the material energy, we will lose. The moment we say something that has nothing to do with Krishna, we will lose.

Just see. He may not be in order, but he has just begun his devotional service. Just see how it naturally comes. That is the process. Whatever we have - it doesn't matter what - we must offer it to Krishna.

It is not what we like that we should do. We should follow the instructions.

Chanting you must do. You must do chanting. Continue chanting. Chanting should be done always. Even if you can't, you shouldn't leave it.

The essence of everything is in chanting. If you chant sincerely, then you will be able to understand everything

we cannot speculate anything about Bhishmadev. We cannot speculate.

Krishna will give everything. Have full faith. My parents did not know anything about Mahabharat or Bhagavatam even. They said, "forget everything and just chant."

When Krishna comes into our life, our life is completely changed.