Krishna wants only loving service

"Krishna wants only loving service and nothing more. Krishna accepts even a little flower from His pure devotee.He is not in need of anything from anyone, because He is self-sufficient, and yet He accepts the offering of His devotee in an exchange of love and affection. "

- Srila Prabhupada

Acquisition of wealth by a devotee

A pure devotee may be attracted to accumulating wealth just like an ordinary man, but the difference is that a devotee acquires money for the service of the Lord, whereas the ordinary man acquires money for his sense enjoyment. Thus the acquisition of wealth by a devotee is not a source of anxieties, as is the case for a worldly man. And because a pure devotee accepts everything in the sense of serving the Lord, the poisonous teeth of accumulation of wealth are extracted. If a snake has its poison removed and bites a man, there is no fatal effect. Similarly, wealth accumulated in the cause of the Lord has no poisonous teeth, and the effect is not fatal. A pure devotee is never entangled in material worldly affairs even though he may remain in the world like an ordinary man. 

(Prabhupada purport SB 3.9.6)

Lord Narsimhadeva

Narsimha Caturdashi this year on 24.05.2013

"Another special feature of Lord Nrsimhadeva is that He is our protective deity. He is our deity for protection. He is the ista-deva of protection but he is not the ista-deva of most devotees trying to understand our eternal relationship, but He is our ista-deva, our worshipable Lord for protection to remove the obstacles on the path of bhakti. This is why He is so special. That is why Srila Prabhupada introduced worship of Lord Nrsimha in ISKCON. Bhaktisiddhanta also had the deity of Laksmi-Nrsimhadeva installed at the Yogapitha. And Nanda Baba also worships a form of Lord Nrsimhadeva in Goloka, so it is like parampara. It goes on in Goloka and the reason Nanda Baba worships Lord Nrsimhadeva is to protect Krishna. He is a protective deity...So we worship Him as our protective deity, to remove the obstacles on the path of devotional to Radha and Krishna."

His Grace Jananivas Das, head pujari of Sri Prahlad-Nrsimha in Mayapur

Deity Darshana (Special Chandana Yatra Darshana) - 23.5.2013

Bhagavad Gita 10.10-11


tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te

tesam evanukampartham aham ajnana-jam tamah
nasayamy atma-bhava-stho jnana-dipena bhasvata


To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me. To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.


 

Change in Consciousness by Krsna Consciousness

Powerful and heart transforming lecture by HG Gaur Gopal Prabhu on 

'Preparing Consciousness'

Lord Chaitanya's unprecedented compassion

"But the Lord, so merciful, most merciful - He didn't kill them with His weapons; He killed their demoniac mentality with the supreme weapon of Harinaam sankirtan. He didn't tear out their hearts; He purified their hearts and made them spiritual abodes. He didn't pull out their entrails and put them as garlands around Himself. Lord Caitanya took off His garlands and put them on Jagai and Madhai. He didn't straddle them on His legs. Lord Caitanya was embracing them with love and affection. He made them into acaryas. We don't see samadhis for Hiranyakashipu or Ravana but devotees from all over the world visit the samadhi of Madhai. Because he became a perfect vaishnava, a perfect saint, a perfect lover of God. 

We follow in the footsteps of Madhai. After his conversion."

HH Radhanath Swami

(From a Nrsimhadev Chaturdasi morning lecture, 2007)

Merit of Chanting Hare Krishna

"Even if one distributes ten million cows in charity during an eclipse of the sun, lives at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna for millions of years, or gives a mountain of gold in sacrifice to the brahmanas, he does not earn even one hundredth part of the merit derived from chanting Hare Krishna" --- Srila Sanatana Gosvami

(Laghu - Bhagavatamrta)

A Letter From Krishna to His Devotees.

A Letter From Krishna to His Devotees.

Dear ...,

I wanted to send you a note to remind you how much mercy is always available to you.

I saw you yesterday as you were talking with your devotee friends about Me. This gives Me great pleasure, and the bliss you were feeling was just My way of reciprocating.

I saw you sleeping last night and I know how tired you are from working so hard for Me (I saw you staying up late to chant your rounds). I just wanted you to know that such service is never forgotten.

I am so much looking forward to you coming back to Godhead. I know how hard you are trying to get out of the material world, and if you follow My instructions and the instructions of your gurus and Srila Prabhupada, I will always be helping you. I miss you and want to be with you.

When you are in trouble, you can talk to Me. I will listen. I am always there for you and I will never let you down.

I have given you My holy names as My special gift to you. It makes it easy for us to unite even while you are still on the earth. Please value it deeply. You will come to know our relationship by chanting without offence. You will get everything from My name.

Love,

Krishna

How best to please Lord Krishna

How best to please Lord Krishna 

Once there was a very learned Guru who was asked by his disciple: "Guru Maharaja, how can we know what pleases Krishna the most?"

The spiritual master answered, "Go to the burning ghat and offend the dead." At this the disciple went to the burning ghat and looked for some corpses which were being prepared for cremation. Then he offended them by saying, "You have wasted your life. Never was there a time when you spend your days remembering and praising Hari. You are all total failures, materially and spiritually, and so on."

When he returned, his Guru asked him, "So what did the dead people answer?"

The disciple was surprised at this question and answered, "well Guru Maharaja, these people are dead, they can not answer a thing."

"Very Good! Now go back to the ghat again and praise them!"

So the disciple went back and praised the dead and after some time when he returned, the Guru asked once more, "So what did they say this time?"

As before, the disciple was surprised, "but Guru Maharaja, they are dead, they can not respond to my praises."

The Guru by now had prepared his disciple for this instruction, "Just as they did not answer your praises or offenses, when you do hear praise or infamy from ordinary people you should not become inflated with vanity nor should you become deflated by their discouragement. In this way, you shall become content both in happiness and in distress whilst always fixing upon your spiritual goal come what may. This is how you can please and praise the Lord."

And, sometimes in the absence of great saints living close to us, we can simply ask that spiritual master within the core of our hearts what we really ought to do.

http://www.sacinandanaswami.com/s1a706/wisdom-stories/how-best-to-please-krishna.html

Taking Shelter

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.22.40:

The ocean of nescience is very difficult to cross because it is infested with many dangerous sharks. Although those who are nondevotees undergo severe austerities and penances to cross that ocean, we recommend that you simply take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, which are like boats for crossing the ocean. Although the ocean is difficult to cross, by taking shelter of His lotus feet you will overcome all dangers.