Quotes from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada

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1. Sri Caitany Mahaprabhu's instructions in Sikastakam, param vijayate

Sri-Krsna-Sankirtanam is the only motto of the Gaudiya math.

 

2. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna is the only enjoyer.

Everyone and everything else is the object of his enjoyment.

 

3. Anyone who does not serve Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

is ignorant and a killer of himself.

 

4. To learn to tolerate is one of the most important responsibilities

of those living in the math.

 

5. Rupanuga devotees offer all glory to the original source instead of

depending on their own strngth.

 

6. Those who perform assorted religious activities can not serve the

Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 

7. Become united with one purpose and serve Hari.

 

8. Where there is discussion about Hari, that is a place of

pilgrimage.

 

9. We are not pious, sinful or learned or ignorant; we are the

carriers of the dust of the feet of the Supreme Lord Sri Hari and we

are initiated by the mantra 'kirtaniyah sada harih'.

 

10. My advice is, do not criticize others. Try to rectify yourself.

 

11. Our supreme duty is to serve the residents of Vraja who are

afflicted by Krsna's departure to Mathura.

 

12. A pure devotee knows that everyone is the spiritual master.

Therefore, a pure devotee can be jagad-guru.

 

13. If we want to follow the path of true auspiciousness, we should

give up the countless opinions of people and only hear the words of

the vedas.

 

14. Whatever is auspicious should be desired.

 

15. An intimate devotee does not have any other desire besides serving

the followers of Sri Rupa Goswami.

 

16. There is no other way of associating with transcendence besides

hearing.

 

17. As soon as we lose the shelter of a protector, everything around

us will become our enemy and attack us. Topics about Krsna spoken by a

genuine saint are our only protector.

 

18. A flatterer can never become a guru or a preacher.

 

19. It is better to remain in millions of species like birds, beasts,

insects and worms, than become deceitful. One who is free from deceit

receives auspiciousness.

 

20.Vaisnavism is the other name of simplicity. The servants of the

paramahamsa Vaisnavas are simple; therefore they are the best

brahmanas.

 

21. The only duty of the most merciful persons is to transform the

degraded taste of people. If you can save even one person from the

great force of Mahamaya, then that will be a greater act of

philanthropy than opening millions of hospitals.

 

22. Those who have not learnt to develop their propensity to serve the

Supreme Lord from self realized souls, no matter how pleasing their

association may be, it should never be desired.

 

23. Preaching without practicing is nothing but a ritual of

karma-kanda.

 

24. If one just serves the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his

devotees, his attachment to his household will diminish.

 

25. Our main disease is to collect objects that are not related to

Krsna.

 

26. We have not come to this world to become an artisan of wood or

stone, we are only peons of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy.

 

27. We will not stay in this world for a long time. Only if this body

falls singing of the glory of Lord Sri Hari will our birth in this

body be successful.

 

28. The only desired object in our life is to collect the dust from

the Lotus feet of Sri Rupa Goswami, who fulfilled the desire of Sri

Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

29. This material nature, which is averse to the Supreme Personality

of Godhead, is an examination hall. Tolerance, humbleness,

appreciation of others, etc., are favorable to develop our devotion to

Hari.

 

30.. In every birth one gets a father and a mother. But one may not

get instructions for his ultimate benefit.

 

31.. Although the activities of a devotee and the misdemeanor of a

pseudo-devotee appear to be alike, there is a heaven and hell

difference - like milk and lime water.

 

32. Those who mistake dishonesty to be honesty (or a crook to be

saint) will fall into great difficulty, as a person who tries to cheat

an iron-smith by supplying him bad steel.

 

33. As soon as we get to know the absolute truth, we should become

fixed in it. Instead of wasting a single moment of time left, we

should be engaged in serving Sri Hari.

 

34. Many people mistake 'imitation' to be 'following'. These two words

are not the same. To play the role of Narada in a play is 'imitation'

but to follow the path of devotion according to Narada Muni is

'following'.

 

35. He who is constantly absorbed in discussing about Sri Hari is a

saint. One who is constantly engaged in serving the Supreme

Personality of Godhead is a saint. One who in all his endeavors tries

to serve Krsna is a saint.

 

36. If the Supreme Personality of Godhead Narayana offers himself,

something remains unoffered, but a devotee can the Lord completely.

 

37. Do not try to become a guru to become envious. Do not try to

become a guru in order to become absorbed in material attachments. But

if you become my unalloyed servant, if you have acquired my potency,

there is nothing to fear.

 

38. A bonafide spiritual master is non-different from Supreme

Personality of Godhead. If one can not say that the spiritual master

is the personal manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

one will not be able to utter the holy name of the Lord.

 

39. In order to teach us how to serve Him, the Supreme Personality of

Godhead Himself appears as the spiritual master.

 

40. A living entity can not derive real benefit by reading hundreds of

books or pretending to render devotional service according to his own

ideas.

 

41. Being cheated by those who mislead people in the name of

hari-katha has become a sort of religion in this age.

 

42. Someone will be able to understand the profound meaning of the

impartial truth that is being spoken fearlessly after hundreds of

lives or hundreds of yugas. Unless hundreds of gallons of hard-earned

bolld is spent, we will not be able to make people understand the

truth.

 

43. The Lord does not accept anything offered by those who do not

chant one hundred thousand names of the Lord each day.

 

44. Association is the principle impetus in human life to serve Sri

Hari. Due to association ofi non-devotees, one gets material

prosperity. Due to the association of devotees, the spirit soul

gradually becomes absorbed in serving Sri Hari. This is the greatest

shelter for a human being. Never become averse to that.

 

45. Whenever there are material difficulties, the Supreme Personality

of Godhead becomes the shelter and allows one to serve him

 

46. As long as one has anarthas, one does not receive the good fortune

of becoming a servant of Srimati Radharani. Those who discuss the

transcendental pastimes of Srimati Radharani, the dearmost servitor of

Sri Krsna, are sense gratifiers, covered enjoyers and

prakrta-sahajiyas.

 

47. When anarthas will be removed due to chanting the Holy Name, then

Krsna's form, qualities and pastimes will automatically manifest from

the name. There is no need to make an endeavor to artificially

remember His form, qualities and pastimes.

 

48. All of you preach the message of Rupa Goswami and Raghunatha Dasa

Goswami with great enthusiasm. Our supreme desire is to become the

dust at the lotus feet of the followers of Sri Rupa Goswami.

 

49. Do not give up devotional service even if there are innumerable

dangers, countless insults and endless harassment. Do not become

disheartened that most people in this world do not accept the message

of unalloyed devotional service. Never give up your devotional service

and hearing and chanting about Krsna which is your everything. Always

chant the Holy Name becoming more humble than a blade of grass and

more tolerant than a tree.

 

50. We do not want to become great fruitive workers or religious

leaders; all we want is to become the dust at the lotus feet of Sri

Rupa Prabhu. That is our original identity.

 

51. We should never display any kind of aversion towards

sankirtana-yajna which is perfect sacrifice, complete with the seven

forms of sacrifice. If we have gradually increasing love for that,

then everything will be accomplished and we will attain ultimate

perfection. Just preach the words of Rupa and Raghunatha with

enthusiasm and courage, with complete dedication to the followers of

Sri Rupa.

 

 

52. If I stop preaching the unbiased truth due to fear that people

will not like it, I am accepting the non-vedic way, rejecting the

vedic way. Then I become an atheist and I lose my faith in the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, who is the personification of truth.

 

53. In this material world there are only two representatives of the

Supreme Personality of Godhead; the transcendental sound vibration of

the Holy Name, and his eternally transcendental deity incarnation.

 

54. The deity is worshipped by the Holy Name - sentient is served

through sentient.

 

55. For the pleasure of the Lord, His devotees call Him by His Holy

Name to render service unto Him, not to fulfill their own desires.

 

56. The deity is the merciful incarnation of the eternal form of the

transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead of the spiritual sky

(Vaikuntha). It is direct proof of the personal form of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. Vaisnavas do not imagine whether God is a

person or impersonal. They are not idol worshippers.

 

57. Just as the purports of the vedas have been briefly described in

the Brahmasutra and the vedantabhasya, the conclusion and purport of

the Srimad-Bhagavatam has been similarly described

in a brief and accurate way.

 

58. Unless one studies Srimad-Bhagavatam under the guidance if a

bonafide vaisnava acarya, he will not be able to understand the real

purport of the Brahmasutra. Srima Bhagavatam is the original

commentary of Vedantasutra.

 

59. Sri Jiva Goswami specifically explained that Srimad-Bhagavatam is

the original commentary of Vedantasutra.

 

60. The word "devotion" can not be apploed to anything besides

'Krsna'. 'Krsna' is the only subject of devotion. Brahman is the

object of knowledge, Paramatma is the object of nearness, but Krsna is

the only object of service.

 

61. Every word has a two-fold aspect; conveying a meaning basd on

knowledge and a meaning based on ignorance. The aspects of words that

indicate something other than Krsna, Visnu or Sri Caitanya, conveys

the mearning basd on ignorance. In knowledge everything indicates

Krsna and signifies Krsna.

 

62. What the ignorant masses understand about the 'Krsna' is not the

real object of the word Krsna. In other words, 'God', 'Allah' and even

the Sanskrit words 'Isvara", 'Paramatma' etc. only indicate a great

energy coming out of Krsna. They do not indicate the total aspect of

the word 'Krsna.

 

63. There is no work as auspicious as serving the spiritual master. Of

all worship, the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the

greatest. But the worship of the lotus feet of the spiritual master is

even greater than the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Unless this is firmly realized we can not understand what saintly

association means; we can not understand what the shelter of a

spiritual master means; we can not understand that we are dependent

and he is our maintainer.

 

64. If we take shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, we

can become free from illusion, fear and distress. If we wholeheartedly

beg for his mercy without any deceit then the spiritual master bestows

all auspiciousness upon us.

 

(Taken from "Spiritual Connections" magazine,printed by disciples of

HH Srila Bhakti Caru Maharaja)