Krishna is for Everyone

"Most of the Western country, they are Christian. So the Christians believe in ...Lord Jesus Christ as son of God. But we are presenting the father, God Himself. So there is no contradiction. If there is son, there must be a father also. Without father, there cannot be son. So if you believe in the son, then you must believe in the father also. The father is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
[Bg. 14.44] He is the seed-giving father for all living entities. So Kṛṣṇa is for everyone.

Don't think that Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in your English dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa is a Hindu God." He's not Hindu, He's not Muslim, or He's not Christian. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. It is bodily designations, "I am Hindu, you are Christian." This is bodily... Just like dress. You have got some black coat. Another has got some white coat. That does not meant we are different because we are in different coat or shirt. As human being, we are all sons of God. We are one. That is the conception. So at the present moment, we have divided the world on account of this shirt and coat. That is not. That is not good. Actually, the whole world or the whole universe belongs to God. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness "


Srila Prabhupada: Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl
(Shared by Reb Revati Vinson Mataji)

Prabhupada Nectar

 

Because you have given your life to Krishna, you are already perfect. But it is just like the ocean, if you are swimming in it you may swim forever and not reach the shore. Similarly, there is no limit to the perfection of Krishna Consciousness. Letter to Abhirama, November 19, 1971.

 

The beauty of the outer skin can be destroyed in only a few hours ... merely by a dose of a strong purgative, but the beauty of truth is indestructible and always the same. Truth and Beauty,

November 20, 1958

There is only one guru—Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So those who simply repeat His words, they also become guru. But of course a guru never thinks himself as being God. He only thinks of
himself as the servant of the servant of the servant.

Letter to Mr. & Mrs. Bhatia, November 23, 1975.

Please Chant, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

Three Types of Happiness & Having a desire to serve Krishna

Three types of Happiness

Mode of Goodness, Passion and Ignorance.

Happiness in the mode of Goodness :- Beginning like poison and like nectar in the end and wakes one to self-realization.
- There are many activities which appear like poison in the beginning. One may ask is it something like a child who restricts his playtime because he wants to study and then gets good grades. Is this happiness in goodness? - NO. Krishna explains, this must wake one up to self-realization.
- Vedas means knowledge. We all operate under the influence that knowledge is only found in schools and colleges and vedas is for religious knowledge. But Vedas is real knowledge. One should cultivate spiritual and material knowledge together.
- Sadly, education has become one of most successful commercial businesses. We may decorate and ornament a cage but if we don't feed the bird inside the cage, what good will the bird do living in a good environment?
- kamasya nendriya pritir: We should not utilize the body like cats and dogs.
- Hearing about the instructions might be painful when one is asked to sacrifice the object of senses, but when one uses his intelligence and gets the higher taste, he is benefitted.

Happiness in the mode of Passion: Derived from contact of senses with sense objects and is like nectar in beginning and posion in the end. - If we analyze the process of sense enjoyment which people are promoting actively, we will see that we are painful.
- Everyone is worried of Cancer, AIDS. These diseases are a result of sinful life.
- So, today 99.9% of the population is interested in pursuing happiness in mode of passion. Just like instant tea, coffee. Just for this instant sense gratification, we indulge in unlimited sense enjoyment.
- When we run after wealth, we engage in any activities.

Happiness in mode of Ignorance: That happiness which is blind to self realization, all illusion and is due to sleep and ignorance.
- In Kali-yuga people are spiritually lazy and very few are awake to self-realization.
- There is no understanding to God and no desire to even understand.

So, why is Krishna explaining all this?
So that we can be educated and can make the decision.



If Krsna wants us to surrender to Him, how do we develop that love and devotion?
Rupa Goswami explains that:
- One must have a desire to establish a relation with Krsna and serve Him. When Krsna understands this desire, then Krsna will arrange a situation where you come in contact with a Sadhu & with Prabhupada's books. Then we will recieve knowledge. As a result of chanting, bhajana-kriya, the result is that the unlimited material desires that were stopping us to come to Krsna get eliminated. Just like if we take a medicine, it cures us of the germs in the body. We should never forget that the Supreme Lord is very unhappy when He sees that His parts and parcels are trying to be happy without Him.

- Service to the Lord starts with chanting His names & cleanses the heart and it is an ancient system of self-realization.
- Jump at the opportunity of becoming spiritually happy. Chant Hare Krsna, read Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and associate with devotees. Follow this simple philospohy and there is nothing to lose but only to gain.

- Notes from a lecture by HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj

Pure Devotional Service controls Krishna

1. The Lord cannot be understood by material senses. We need to purify our senses to understand the Supreme Lord and the pleasure that one can derive from executing devotional service is far more the pleasure obtained by Brahman realization or any other material happiness.

2. The emphasis is always on pure devotional service.
3. The happiness derived through the process of devotional service is the highest. When we come to the path of devotional service, we get introduced to so many rules and regulations and many austerities. One may question, if I perform austerities, what will I get in exchange?
- Lord Rshabdeva explains please perform austerities for the pleasure of the Lord. One will get unlimited and unending spiritual happiness.
- There is a limit to the height of the waves of the ocean but there is no limit to the height of the spiritual ocean. The happiness derived by executing pure devotional service is unending.
- Bitter in beginning, sweet in the end and wakes you up to self-realization. - Happiness is mode of Goodness
Sweet in beginning and bitter in the end and is due to contact of senses with sense objects. - Passion

4. Sins that we perform at different stages.
Some we have already experienced. Some we are experiencing. Some we are going to experience. Some are lying as seed. But Pure devotional service destroys all miseries. It is rarely achieved cos through pure devotional service we can control Krishna.

- Notes from a lecture by HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj

Why can't I see Krishna even after Chanting?

Hayagriva Das writes that although I have been chanting for long, the cosmos has not unfolded psychedelically before me. What have I done wrong? Why haven't I seen that apocalyptic vision witnessed by Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra?



According to Prabhupada, Sri Krishna revealed this form to Arjuna as a special favour. What Arjuna saw of course is beyond description and human imagination. He saw the entire creation contained in the Lord's body. The pure devotees however are not eager to see this form. Devotees prefer the two-armed form of Krishna as a cowherd boy. The virat-svarupa is exhibited to materialistic men who can be impressed only by the might and opulence of the Supreme.

So, I finally gather the courage to approach Prabhupada and ask, "Why can't I see Krishna as Arjuna saw Him on the battlefield"?

"You can" Swamiji says. "This is the process, chanting Hare Krishna." "I've been chanting Hare Krishna for more than four months now, but still I don't see that universal form with all the heads and arms. What am I doing wrong."? I complain.

Swamaiji looks for a moment and hands me the manuscripts of his recent translations of the elevanth chapter verses. I read:

"O greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see You here before me in Your actual position, as You have described Yourself, I wish to see how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation. I want to see that form of Yours. If You think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic power, then kindly show me that unlimited universal Self." (Gita 11.3-4)

"There" Swamiji says. "If You think I am able to behold Your cosmic form." So what does that mean?
I look at the verse and think deeply again and feel stupid again.

"It means Lord Krishna is the best judge, So Arjuna leaves it to Him." I say.

"Yes, that is the process. Arjuna was a great warrior and a great devotee of Krishna, He didn't want to see that virat-svarupa for his personal benefit. He was asking on behalf of the materialists. Yet he says to Krishna that 'If You think I am able'. This is the attitude we should have. What do you think?"

"I don't think I am ready" I say.



"Yes. my spiritual master used to say, 'Don't work hard to try to see God, but work in such a way that God wants to see you.' So we should just go on with our chanting, and see Krishna in our service. Carry on with devotional service sincerely, and everything will come in time."

- Hare Krishna Explosion Ch6: Back to Godhead

 

Everything is Auspicious when Krishna is there!

A  story about Krishna from the book ‘Gopala Champu’ by Jiva Goswami. We recall when Krishna lived in Dvārakā. At that time, there was a an eclipse. A full eclipse where the eclipse of the sun was being predicted. So everyone was worried about it and Vasudeva decided that they should all go to Kuruksetra, to perform a big sacrifice there. Therefore, the whole entire family of the Yadus went to Kuruksetra and a big arrangement for a sacrifice was being made, and all on the order of Vasudeva who was arranging for everything.
It was just at that time, Nanda Maharaj was also coming to visit and he arrived. When Krishna saw Nanda Maharaj, then Krishna became so emotional and so did Nanda Maharaj. Vasudeva had never seen Krishna like that. Then he said out loud:
“It’s not surprising that Krishna is so attached to Nanda Maharaja, although Nanda Maharaj was not his real father, but of course he stayed there for a long time”.
Nanda Maharaj didn’t even hear that, he just saw Krishna and Krishna saw Nanda Maharaj. Then a brahmana came and said to Vasudeva:
“Please, you must come now for the sacrifice, so that we can counteract the inauspicious influence of the eclipse”.
And Jiva Goswami or some narrators who tell story say:
“What is the question of any inauspiciousness when Krishna is there!”
So the whole sacrifice was not required, because Krishna was present. Nanda Maharaj understood that there was no need for a yajña. But Vasudeva wanted to do the yajña, to ward off the inauspiciousness. So here, we see something between the mood of Dvārakā, and the mood of Vrindavana, which is very interesting. How in the mood of Dvārakā, there is all this opulence so they are into the external ritual, and for the sake of dharma and everything! But in Vrindavana:



‘It’s okay, we have Krishna. When Krishna is here then everything is auspicious…..where there is Krishna ”.
The gopis have that same mood! So one who chants the holy name of Krishna, goes for the essence – ‘Krishna, Krishna, Krishna!’
Wherever there is Krishna, then there is no need!

- HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, Melbourne, Australia, 2011

Mother Cow

November 7 1966: In delhi, 200000 hindus riot, demanding an immediate ban on government cow slaughter.

"The government is atheistic" Prabhupada comments, "but you can see that the people are protesting. The know that go-mata, mother cow is beloved of Krishna and therefore sacred."

Prabhupada outlines a letter to The Times of India, and sites Vedic injunctions against cow slaughter, pointing that the cow is one of man's mothers, representative of the earth.

"There a very severe reactions awaiting all of them." Prabhupada comments. "Cattlemen, cow butchers, transporters, restaurant owners and consumers. Even the dishwasher."

From the Hare Krishna Explosion Chap 5 by Hayagriva Das

Krishna Consciousness means coming out of the Comfort Zone

Do you think of returning to Vrindavan? Rayarama asks Srila Prabhupada


(Srila Prabhupada in His room at Radha Damodar Temple, Vrindavan)

Srila Prabhupada: "My heart is always hankering after that Vrindavan. Even though I am sitting in New York a magnificent city, I shall be very happy to return to my Vrindavan, that sacred place. Of course, if someone asks, "Why are you here?' I must say that it is my duty. I have brought some message for you people. My Guru maharaja ordered me, 'Whatever you have learned, whatever knowledge you have, you should go to the western countries and distribute it.' If I go and sit down in Vrindavan, I will be very comfortable there and have no anxiety. But I have taken these risks in old age because I am duty bound. In spite of all inconveniences, one has to execute his duty. This is the basic principle for advancement in spiritual knowledge.

If we think of Krishna, we are always in Vrindavan. Krishna consciousness means living with Krishna in that spiritual planet, Goloka Vrindavan. You simply have to wait to give up the body. That is the process.



Ananya cetah satatam yo mam smarati nityasah - For one who remembers Krishna constantly, Krishna becomes purchased. The greatest most valuable thing, becomes easily available. Why?
Tasyaham sulabhah partha nitya yukta yoginah - Beacuse My devotee is continually engaged in Bhakti Yoga, I am easily available.

Ofcourse you may think sometimes it is not that easy, but sometimes when the moon is covered by clouds, we think it is not there because everything is dark. But when the clouds pass, we see that the moon has been there all the time, shining in all its brightness. This Krishna Consciousness movement is that benediction moon, shining through the clouds of Kali-Yuga.

- The Hare Krishna Explosion Chapter 5

Pleasure and Pain

Walking down the road, a man sees some stool and the stool is soft, and he thinks, "This is nasty." And a little further down the road, he again sees stool, but it has been in the sun for sometime, and becuase it is hard, the man thinks, " This is good." - But he does not stop to consider that hard or soft, stool is stool.

Pleasure or pain - they are the same.

In this material world, pleasure is simply hard stool. But we are thinking it is so nice.

- Srila Prabhupada to Brahmananda (Hare Krishna Explosion)

More Enthusiastic to Chant

“In the relative world, the word “water” and the substance water are different. When I am thirsty, if I simply chant “Water, water, water,” my thirst will not be satisfied. I require the real water. That is the nature of the relative world and relative consciousness. But in the spiritual world or spiritual consciousness, the name is the same as the thing that is named. For instance, we are chanting Hare Krsna. If Krsna were different from the chanting of Hare Krsna, then how could we be satisfied chanting the whole day and night? This is the proof. An ordinary name-if you chant “Mr. John, Mr. John,” after chanting three times you will cease. But this Hare Krsna maha-mantra- if you go on chanting twenty-four hours a day, you will never become tired. This is the spiritual nature of the Absolute Truth. This is practical. Anyone can perceive it.” (Civilization and Transcendence ch. 7)

“Krsna’s words and He are not different. That is omnipotency. Omnipotency means everything relating to Krsna has the same potency. Just like here in this material world, if you are thirsty and want water, simply calling repeatedly, “water, water, water, water, water,” will not satisfy your thirst. Because the word “water” has not the same potency as water itself. You require the water as it is. Then your thirst will be satisfied. But in the transcendental, absolute world, there is no such difference. Krsna and Krsna’s name, Krsna’s words and Krsna’s qualities, Krsna’s pastimes- everything is Krsna.” (SPT 25/3/67)

“So immediately you can be in touch with Krsna by vibrating this sound, Hare Krsna. It is so potent. Nama cintamanih krsnas caitanya-rasa-vigrahah. The name of Krsna is cintamani, transcendental. It is not this material sound, material name. Nama cintamanih krsnas caitanya. Living force, caitanya. It is not dead sound. If you want water, if you chant only “Water, water, water, water,” you will not get water, because it is material sound. The water substance is different from the word “water”. Therefore, simply by chanting, “water, water” you cannot quench your thirst. You must have the substance water. That is material sound. Anything you take, simply by chanting the name, you will not get the thing. That is material.
“But in the spiritual world, the name and the person or the substance is the same. Krsna and Krsna’s name is the same. There is no difference. Therefore, those who are chanting “Krsna, Krsna, Krsna,” they are becoming more and more enthusiastic to chant.”(SPT 22/1/75)

- SRILA PRABHUPADA