Prabhupada's instructions

[cbrahma]

Prabhupada's instructions to the world had been.

 

“At the end of his lecture Prabhupada said, ‘So if you will just follow these four regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds, then you will go back to home, back to Godhead. I guarantee it.’ He paused and looked around at all of us. Then he said again, ‘I guarantee it.’” (Dina Bandhu dasa

 

There is no mention of other processes such as arcana, offering foodstuffs, getting diska etc... Processes which I find are rife with so many rules that they stopped me as a result of all the anxiety they caused.

So if I can take him at his word, I find that good news indeed, because that's what I'm doing now.

[Guruvani]

 

Prabhupada's instructions to the world had been.

 

“At the end of his lecture Prabhupada said, ‘So if you will just follow these four regulative principles and chant sixteen rounds, then you will go back to home, back to Godhead. I guarantee it.’ He paused and looked around at all of us. Then he said again, ‘I guarantee it.’” (Dina Bandhu dasa

 

There is no mention of other processes such as arcana, offering foodstuffs, getting diska etc... Processes which I find are rife with so many rules that they stopped me as a result of all the anxiety they caused.

So if I can take him at his word, I find that good news indeed, because that's what I'm doing now.

 

Srila Prabhupada left volumes and volumes of books, tapes and even videos.

I am always amazed that someone pulls up some "Prabhupada said" that some devotee is recalling from memory to prove a point.

 

Personally, I give little to no importance to these "Prabhupada said" stories that some so-called disciple is recalling from his own personal memory.

 

However, the statement might be true.

I just prefer to consult the books for understanding what "Prabhupada said".

 

The shastra says that a moments association with a pure devotee guarantees one going back home back to Godhead.

I just read that in Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavatam purports this morning.

[Tomasso]

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

 

Enough for a lifetime, I should think.

[cbrahma]

It's on tape and transcribed.

 

 

And the process is very simple. The process is very simple. We are recommending the followers of Krsna consciousness... Just now I received one letter from Jaipur. They wanted my guidance. The guidance is not very difficult. It is very simple thing. First of all try to become sinless: no illicit sex life, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. Observe these four regulative principles and chant Hare Krsna mantra as far as possible, at least sixteen rounds. Then see how your life changes. (S.B. Lecture 1.2.8, 22nd April, 1974)

 

 

 

 

Srila Prabhupada left volumes and volumes of books, tapes and even videos.

I am always amazed that someone pulls up some "Prabhupada said" that some devotee is recalling from memory to prove a point.

 

Personally, I give little to no importance to these "Prabhupada said" stories that some so-called disciple is recalling from his own personal memory.

 

However, the statement might be true.

I just prefer to consult the books for understanding what "Prabhupada said".

 

The shastra says that a moments association with a pure devotee guarantees one going back home back to Godhead.

I just read that in Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavatam purports this morning.

[mahak]

Haribol, cbrahma, PAMHO & AGTSP. This guarantee is taken to the bank. Often, I personally heard Srila Prabhupada state that whatever we do in Krsna Consciousness is a permanent bank account that can never be dwindled. Outside of devoting ones life to offending innocent lovers of God, there is nothing that makes one lose what one has gained from engaging in the process of devotional service to the Supreme Person.

 

The fact that srila prabhupada repeats himself is quite significant. I remember his teachings on the verse "hari Nama, Harinama, harinama eva kevalam, kalau nasteva, nasteva, nasteva, gatih anyatha". This is total proof of the point you bring up here. Nasteva (there is no other process) is repeated, creating complete emphasis. The fact that srila prabhupada repeats "guarantee" means emphasis.

 

There are all types of things that facillitate harinama, such as temple worship, formal initiation, and all the other stuff, but nothing replaces harinama as a process, THE process, for succeeding in this life and going back to Krsna. As you well know, often these things do not facillitate harinam, and actually greatly discourage harinama.

 

I have great appreciation, great appreciation (repeated for emphasis) for those who have been discouraged because the wonderful things Prabhupada gave us to facillitate the harinama practice have been so misused, so misrepresented, yet still stick with the harinama, alone, in exile. The folks who cannot give up chanting must have special mercy of Srila Prabhupada, and he even spoke of this on occasion, this guru-krpa, special benefits given to those who are blown away by circumstance. I always consult mahabharata and ramayana to see how those who are denied facility are stil;l protected because of their faith in the process of devotional service, the nine process of hearing and chanting, remembering, etc.

 

Each one of these processes, independently, can bring one back to Krsna. Even in the case of Ajamila, who inadvertantly said the name of Narayana with love in his heart (referring to his son who had that name), was under the jurisdiction of Visnu, not Lord Yamaraja. There may be some fully protected by guru-krpa who have even given up chanting and following the regulations, yet remember Krsna with love in their hearts. I had the occasion to meet such a person who was at thomkins square park in '66, and his devotional service was far surpassing many who have toiled for 40 years since trying to convince others of their devotion. This person did not chant, did not follow any rules and regs, but by hearing the name of Krsna once, he used his talk radio show format to tell others about the spiritually surcharged atmosphere of NYC in 66. He was remembering Krsna, he was remembering harinama, and I never heard such vibrant and perfect preaching as I did from hearing his radio show that night. Certainly not from the pulpit of the factionalized systems we see and speak of often.

 

So, nothing has gone wrong. The GUARANTEE is in place. The bank account is active. Live simply, think highly, and chant Hare Krsna, to yourself and others. This is the process for this age of Kali, nothing else, nothing else, nothing else.

 

Hare Krsna, thanks for your open and frank discussions on this forum, ys in cooperation, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

December, 1998

Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

Malaysia (Excerpt)

"Being the supreme personality of Godhead, Krsna wants to give pleasure to all His bhaktas. In all of His incarnations He is served, but in His form as Krsna He simply wants to serve His devotees. He only came to steal from the houses of the gopis to give them pleasure, otherwise He won't come for anyone. Duryodhana made a huge opulent feast with every kind of preparation and wanted to offer it to Krsna. But Krsna refused, saying that he had no appetite. Krsna only has appetite for love and affection, and Duryodhana was not able to offer Him this. Krsna had come to see Duryodhana with a peace proposal. But Duryodhana had not accepted, so Krsna left saying: 'I'm not a beggar'. Immediately after this Krsna went to see Vidura, and Vidura's wife, Vidurani, in a state of ecstatic love mistakenly gave Krsna banana skins to eat instead of bananas. However, they tasted more sweet to Him than all the preparations of His queens. When Vidura was about to correct her, Krsna told him not to say anything which might disturb her ecstatic mood. When Vidurani realized what she had been doing and began to give Krsna the fruits instead of the skins, Krsna thought: 'Oh, not so tasteful.'

 

Krsna doesn't want the food, but the essence, the love and affection. Otherwise He will not accept. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna would come to steal banana flowers from His dear devotee Sridhara Kholavecar."

[Guest guest]

 

There is no mention of other processes such as arcana, offering foodstuffs, getting diska etc... Processes which I find are rife with so many rules that they stopped me as a result of all the anxiety they caused.

So if I can take him at his word, I find that good news indeed, because that's what I'm doing now.

Srila Prabhupada explains this nicely:

"To chant the holy name of the Lord, one need not depend upon other paraphernalia, for one can immediately get all the desired results of linking with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It may therefore be questioned why there is a necessity for initiation or further spiritual activities in devotional service for one who engages in the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. The answer is that although it is correct that one who fully engages in chanting the holy name need not depend upon the process of initiation, generally a devotee is addicted to many abominable material habits due to material contamination from his previous life. In order to get quick relief from all these contaminations, it is required that one engage in the worship of the Lord in the temple. The worship of the Deity in the temple is essential to reduce one's restlessness due to the contaminations of conditioned life. Thus Narada, in his pancaratriki-vidhi, and other great sages have sometimes stressed that since every conditioned soul has a bodily concept of life aimed at sense enjoyment, to restrict this sense enjoyment the rules and regulations for worshiping the Deity in the temple are essential. Srila Rupa Gosvami has described that the holy name of the Lord can be chanted by liberated souls, but almost all the souls we have to initiate are conditioned. It is advised that one chant the holy name of the Lord without offenses and according to the regulative principles, yet due to their past bad habits they violate these rules and regulations. Thus the regulative principles for worship of the Deity are also simultaneously essential."

[Guest guest]

Madhya 19.152 Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Instructs Srila Rupa Gosvami

Bhakti-lata-bija means "the seed of devotional service." Everything has an original cause, or seed. For any idea, program, plan or device, there is first of all the contemplation of the plan, and that is called bija, or the seed. The methods, rules and regulations by which one is perfectly trained in devotional service constitute the bhakti-lata-bija, or seed of devotional service. This bhakti-lata-bija is received from the spiritual master by the grace of Krsna. Other seeds are called anyabhilasa-bija, karma-bija and jnana-bija. If one is not fortunate enough to receive the bhakti-lata-bija from the spiritual master, he instead cultivates the seeds of karma-bija, jnana-bija, or political and social or philanthropic bija. However, bhakti-lata-bija is different from these other bijas. Bhakti-lata-bija can be received only through the mercy of the spiritual master. Therefore one has to satisfy the spiritual master to get bhakti-lata-bija (yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah). Bhakti-lata-bija is the origin of devotional service. Unless one satisfies the spiritual master, he gets the bija, or root cause, of karma, jnana and yoga without the benefit of devotional service. However, one who is faithful to his spiritual master gets the bhakti-lata-bija. This bhakti-lata-bija is received when one is initiated by the bona fide spiritual master. After receiving the spiritual master's mercy, one must repeat his instructions, and this is called sravana--kirtana-hearing and chanting. One who has not properly heard from the spiritual master or who does not follow the regulative principles is not fit for chanting (kirtana). This is explained in Bhagavad-gita (2.41): vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. One who has not listened carefully to the instructions of the spiritual master is unfit to chant or preach the cult of devotional service. One has to water the bhakti-lata-bija after receiving instructions from the spiritual

[mahak]

Pragmatism is also essential. While we do not criticize what I called above the extra facility created by Srila Prabhupada, the temples established, the initiations (reciprocal relationship) he offered, etc, there are time and place considerations that an intelligent person should consider.

 

If accepting initiation from one who is a grave offender to vaisnavas, this may be scripturally confirmed by the offender, but is suicide for the one actually doing it. If one goes into a temple and sees Prabhupada neglected and the worship going on there is conveyed to an unqualified and even demoniac person, this is not even a temple but a place of horror.

 

Srila Prabhupada not only emphasizes that Harinama alone will serve ones purposes of reviving the dormant krsna consciousness, he also gives dire warning to those who may be fooled by trappings that may appear to the untrained to be part of this movement. He completely warns us all of the servants of Kali Yuga (kali cela) disguised as vaisnavas who will ruin ones seed of devotional service, not unlike Lord Jesus Christ warning his disciples of future demons posing as doing his work.

 

So, what some have posted may ring true in the strict sense, discretion is also very important to one seriously trying to do the right thing. Temple worship is not prescribed yajna for the age of Kali, only, only, only harinama, harinama, harinama eve kevelam. Time and place dictates that in caring for ones fragile seed of devotional service, one may have to strictly AVOID temple worship, one may have to strictly AVOID associating with so-called initiating spiritual masters. Although there may be forms in the temple that look like Krsna, He is not where his devotee is being neglected, he is not where the main business is to give the vaisnava community nothing but trouble. He is not there anymore than in the foundry of the meat-eater who forges these deities.

 

So, the point remains, chanting the Holy Names, even imperfectly, is the prescribed method of self realization in this age. If facility is there to help one concentrate on this yajna, by all means we take advantage of such facility, but not at the expense of associating with kali cela.

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[AncientMariner]

 

Pragmatism is also essential. While we do not criticize what I called above the extra facility created by Srila Prabhupada, the temples established, the initiations (reciprocal relationship) he offered, etc, there are time and place considerations that an intelligent person should consider.

 

If accepting initiation from one who is a grave offender to vaisnavas, this may be scripturally confirmed by the offender, but is suicide for the one actually doing it. If one goes into a temple and sees Prabhupada neglected and the worship going on there is conveyed to an unqualified and even demoniac person, this is not even a temple but a place of horror.

 

Srila Prabhupada not only emphasizes that Harinama alone will serve ones purposes of reviving the dormant krsna consciousness, he also gives dire warning to those who may be fooled by trappings that may appear to the untrained to be part of this movement. He completely warns us all of the servants of Kali Yuga (kali cela) disguised as vaisnavas who will ruin ones seed of devotional service, not unlike Lord Jesus Christ warning his disciples of future demons posing as doing his work.

 

So, what some have posted may ring true in the strict sense, discretion is also very important to one seriously trying to do the right thing. Temple worship is not prescribed yajna for the age of Kali, only, only, only harinama, harinama, harinama eve kevelam. Time and place dictates that in caring for ones fragile seed of devotional service, one may have to strictly AVOID temple worship, one may have to strictly AVOID associating with so-called initiating spiritual masters. Although there may be forms in the temple that look like Krsna, He is not where his devotee is being neglected, he is not where the main business is to give the vaisnava community nothing but trouble. He is not there anymore than in the foundry of the meat-eater who forges these deities.

 

So, the point remains, chanting the Holy Names, even imperfectly, is the prescribed method of self realization in this age. If facility is there to help one concentrate on this yajna, by all means we take advantage of such facility, but not at the expense of associating with kali cela.

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

 

 

As usual Mahak you are a voice of reason. I always enjoy your posts and feel greatly benefitted just from reading them. Thanks again.

 

 

 

"Devotees interested in hearing and chanting [śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam] regularly discuss the pure characteristics of Bharata Mahārāja and praise his activities. If one submissively hears and chants about the all-auspicious Mahārāja Bharata, one’s life span and material opulences certainly increase. One can become very famous and easily attain promotion to the heavenly planets, or attain liberation by merging into the existence of the Lord. Whatever one desires can be attained simply by hearing, chanting and glorifying the activities of Mahārāja Bharata. In this way, one can fulfill all his material and spiritual desires. One does not have to ask anyone else for these things, for simply by studying the life of Mahārāja Bharata, one can attain all desirable things." SB 5.14.46

[Beggar]

 

Pragmatism is also essential... If facility is there to help one concentrate on this yajna, by all means we take advantage of such facility, but not at the expense of associating with kali cela.

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

Congratulations on a most excellent post. I think that everyone except GBCvadis will whole heartedly agree with you. Oh and by the way that "everyone" will certainly include Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaja and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Mahaksadasa Prabhu ki jaya