I am always at your service

[Guest guest]

San Francisco

March 1967

 

 

My dear devotees,

 

 

I am aware that you are feeling my absence just as I am feeling the absence from you. But in the meantime this must be so and Krishna will provide for you as long as you keep chanting Hare Krishna. I want to see each and every one of you, so I am asking Mukunda to arrange my visits since he has volunteered to

render this service. If any of you have any particular points you wish to discuss with me, please have Mukunda make an appointment with me for you. I am always at your service.

 

 

If you chant Hare Krishna, read my books, and preach this philosophy sincerely, then Krishna will provide you with all facility, and you will not fall down into material entanglement.

 

 

Affectionately your ever well-wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

[Guest guest]

without krishna , nothing in this world. he is our guru,father,mother,brother,sister and friend.

 

o prabhu, without u i am nothing.

 

i am very thankful to u for getting this site for me

i was in search of this type of site.

 

hare krishna ,hare krishna

 

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Value of Devotion

Narada-bhakti-sutra

 

 

SUTRA 1

 

 

 

athato bhaktim vyakhyasyamah

 

 

 

 

 

Now, therefore, I will try to explain the process of devotional service.

 

 

 

PURPORT

 

by Srila Prabhupada

 

 

 

Devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, where the Lord says that a self-realized person is always in the transcendental state known as brahma-bhuta, which is characterized by joyfulness. When one is self-realized he becomes joyful. In other words, he is free from the material contamination of lamentation and hankering. As long as we are in material existence, we lament for the losses in our life and hanker for that which we do not have. A self-realized person is joyful because he is free from material lamentation and hankering.

 

A self-realized person also sees all living entities equally. For him, there is no distinction between the higher and lower species of life. It is also stated that a learned man does not distinguish between a wise brahmana and a dog because he sees the soul within the body, not the external bodily features. Such a perfected, self-realized person becomes eligible to understand bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord.

 

Bhakti is so sublime that only through bhakti can one understand the constitutional position of the Lord. That is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita (18.55): bhaktya mam abhijanati. "One can understand the Supreme Lord through devotional service, and by no other process." There are different processes of understanding the Absolute Truth, but if a person wants to understand the Supreme Lord as He is, he has to take to the process of bhakti-yoga. There are other mystic processes, such as karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and dhyana-yoga, but it is not possible to understand the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, except through His devotional service. This is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (4.3), where we learn that Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna simply because he was the Lord's devotee and friend. The Bhagavad-gita teaches the process of bhakti-yoga, and therefore Lord Krsna explained it to Arjuna because he was a great devotee. As far as spiritual life is concerned, becoming a devotee of the Lord is the high-est perfection.

 

People are generally misled by the spell of the illusory energy of material nature. There are innumerable living entities within the material nature, and only some of them are human beings. According to the Vedic literature, there are 8,400,000 species of life. In the Padma Purana it is said that there are 900,000 species of life in the water, 2,000,000 species of plants, 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, 1,000,000 species of birds, 3,000,000 species of beasts, and only 400,000 species of human beings. So the humans are the least numerous species of all.

 

All living entities can be divided into two divisions: those that can move and those that are stationary, such as trees. But there are also many further divisions. Some species fly in the air, some live in the water, and some live on the ground. Among the living entities who live on the ground, only 400,000 are human species, and out of these 400,000 human species, many are uncivilized or unclean; they are not up to the standard of proper civilization. From the historical point of view, the Aryans are the most civilized section of human beings, and among the Aryans, the Indians are especially highly cultured. And among the Indians, the brahmanas are the most expert in knowledge of the Vedas.

 

The Vedic culture is respected all over the world, and there are people everywhere eager to understand it. The highest perfectional stage of understanding Vedic culture is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, in the Fifteenth Chapter (15.15), where the Lord says that the purpose of all the Vedas is to understand Him (Lord Krsna). Fortunate are those who are attracted to the Vedic cultural life.

 

The Hindus call themselves followers of the Vedas. Some say they follow the Sama Veda, and some say they follow the Rg Veda. Different people claim to follow different sections of the Vedas, but in fact for the most part they are not followers of the Vedas because they do not follow the rules and regulations of the Vedas. Therefore Lord Caitanya says that since the so-called followers of the Vedas perform all kinds of sinful activities, the number of actual followers of the Vedas is very small; and even among this small, exclusive number, most are addicted to the processes described in the Vedas' karma-kanda section, by which one can elevate oneself to the perfectional stage of economic development.

 

The strict followers of the karma-kanda portions of the Vedas perform various sacrifices for worship of different demigods in order to achieve particular material results. Out of many millions of such worshipers, some may actually engage in the process of understanding the Supreme, the Absolute Truth. They are called jnanis. Perfection for a jnani lies in attaining the stage of brahma-bhuta, or self-realization. Only after self-realization is attained does the stage of understanding devotional service begin. The conclusion is that one can begin the process of devotional service, or bhakti, when one is actually self-realized. One who is in the bodily concept of existence cannot understand the process of devotional service.

 

It is for this reason that the Narada-bhakti-sutra begins, "Now, therefore, I shall try to explain the process of devotional service." The word "therefore" indicates that this process of devotional service is for the self-realized soul, one who is already liberated. Similarly, the Vedanta-sutra begins athato brahma-jijnasa. The word brahma-jijnasa refers to inquiry into the Supreme Absolute Truth, and it is recommended for those who have been elevated from the lower stage of addiction to the karma-kanda portion of the Vedas to the position of interest in the jnana-kanda portion. Only when a person is perfectly situated in the realization that he is not the body but a spirit soul can he begin the process of bhakti, or devotional service.

 

[bhavini]

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but how can you tell if you have achieved self realisation? Is it just knowing that you are not this body but a spirit-soul. Is there more to self realisation than this and could you be fooling yourself that you are liberated. I know that since December last year I haven't felt the same and find it extremely difficult to participate in "normal" life 'cos i just don't care for it. I want to do something worthwhile and nothing seems to fit the bill except devotional service. I feel trapped in this body and feel uncomfortable in this existence.

I feel weird. Sorry if I sound a bit mad but I can't help it.

[Guest guest]

Montreal

24th August, 1968

 

 

His Excellency the Right Honourable

Roland Michener

Governor General of Canada

Government House

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

 

 

Your Excellency,

 

 

ISKCON (the International Society of Krishna Consciousness) is a non-lucrative organization, whose purpose is to promote the well-being of human society by drawing its attention to God. We are a non-sectarian society, and our members include people from Christian, Jewish and Moslem as well as Hindu faiths. The aim of ISKCON is not to found a new religious sect, but to invoke the living entity's dormant love of God, and thus provide the human society of all faiths with a common platform of clear theistic knowledge and practice. Members of ISKCON may retain their own respective religious faiths, as ISKCON is meant to establish a clear, practical common formulation of the common ideal of all theists, and to defeat the unnecessary dogmatic wranglings that now divide and invalidate the theistic camp. This common ideal of theism is to develop love of God.

 

 

We are following in the footsteps of Lord Chaitanya to invoke the dormant love of Godhead. The sum and substance of this teaching is that the living entity is eternally the subordinate servant of God, but unfortunately, being sophisticated by illusion, everyone in the human society is trying to predominate over others without accepting the Supreme Predominator. A case in point is the recent invasion of Czechoslovakia.

 

 

ISKCON is trying to train people to be situated in that pure condition of life by simple methods, encouraging them to associate always in the matter of God consciousness or Krishna consciousness, and actually I have good results in the sense that since I have come to the Western countries to preach this cult, my disciples have taken to this principle unhesitatingly although they belong to different faiths and cultures. So I think this propagation

.

<< Back of love of Godhead can be pushed forward more and more with good results.

 

 

I came to Montreal in the month of June, desiring to stay here, and your Immigration department has kindly accepted me as a landed immigrant. As such, I wish to make Montreal my headquarters for this cultural or religious propaganda in the Western world. I was in search of a nice place in the city, fortunately, I have found one at 722 Sherbrooke Street West, and it is understood that Your Excellency is the ultimate disposer of this property.

 

 

If by suitable arrangement, this property is handed over to my society, I can very nicely organize its activities as follows: 1. Establishing a press to publish books and magazines. Many of my books are already published, and one Bhagavad Gita as it is is being published by Mssrs. MacMillan and Co., and is scheduled to appear by the end of October, 1968. Please see also enclosed photo of the late President L.B. Shastri of India accepting my Srimad-Bhagavatam. 2. Chanting, dancing, playing devotional music. 3. Feasting and distributing spiritually prepared food. 4.Training preachers. 5. Holding classes in the philosophy of God realization.

 

 

I enquired from Mssrs. Crown Assets Disposal Corporation of Ottawa, and I understand that they have fixed the price of the house at about $400,000.00 (four hundred thousand dollars). So far I am concerned, I cannot pay the whole amount at once, but I can accept whatever terms Your Excellency may be pleased to think proper. But as I am a missionary worker, I can take the responsibility of paying $12,000.00 (twelve thousand dollars) per year, each year in advance. If Your Excellency would kindly consider my activities as very essential for the human society at large, you can do something by which I can make proper utilization of the house as above mentioned. This favor will be a great deal of help to the cause of human society, and good name and fame for the Government of Canada.

 

 

Thanking Your Excellency in anticipation of your kind reply, I remain,

Yours truly,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami