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Srila Prabhupada on Who is Guru (and Who is Not!)
Answers to a Questionnaire From Bhavan’s Journal 2, New Vrindavana, June 30, 1976 Excerpt below begins at 33:05 Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Can I ask another question, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Question number nine: “Is a guru essential to one to enter the spiritual path and attain the goal? And how does one recognize one’s guru?” Prabhupāda: Yes. That is explained, that guru is necessary. In the Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna were talking as friend, there was no conclusion. The talking was going on, but no conclusion was made. Therefore Arjuna decided to accept Kṛṣṇa as his guru. Find out this verse: kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ. Hari-śauri: kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi…
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Hari Hari Biphale & Purport by Srila Prabhupada
Prabhupāda: (sings) (playing harmonium) Somebody may take karatāla . . . (indistinct) . . . go so far? That is nice? (1) hari hari! bifale janama goṅāinu hari hari! hari bifale janama goṅāinu hari hari! hari bifale janama goṅāinu manuṣya-jīvana pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, manuṣya-jīvana pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu jāniyā śuniyā biṣa manuṣya-jīvana pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, manuṣya-jīvana pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu hari hari! bifale janama goṅāinu hari hari! bifale janama goṅāinu manuṣya-jīvana pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā, jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu hari hari! bifale janama goṅāinu (O Lord Hari, I…
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Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the 21st Century
(How the ISKCON Institution Came to Give Up Srila Prabhupada’s Absolute Authority) by bhakta Eric Johanson yanra citte krsna-prema karaye udaya tanra vakya, kriya, mudra vijneha na bujhaya “Even the most learned man cannot understand the words, activities and symptoms of a person situated in love of Godhead.” Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya-lila 23.39 The Bona Fide Spiritual Master In order to understand what is beyond our sense observation and realize the absolute truth we require to come in contact with a person who is already intimately familiar with them. Such a person is called a spiritual master: om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah “I offer my respectful…
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Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Visits the Dari (Immoralist) Sannyasi
And shows who is eligible for His mercy (and who is not!) Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat, Chapter 19, Madhya Kanda, English translation by Bhumipati dasa, Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada Text 28 eka-dina nagara bhramaye prabhu range dekhaye apana-srsti nityananda-sange//CB, Madhya 19.028// TRANSLATION One day the Lord was joyfully wandering about the city looking at His creation with Nityananda. Text 29 apanare `sukrti’ kariya vidhi mane “mora silpa cahe prabhu sadaya nayane”//CB, Madhya 19.029// TRANSLATION Brahma considered himself fortunate, “The Lord is mercifully looking at my artistic work.” COMMENTARY When Brahma, the creator of the universe, saw that Sri Gaurasundara had incarnated in this world, he considered himself fortunate. Lord…
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Everyone Be Happy!
Prabhupāda: . . . vedic civilization, unless one is inquisitive for the solution of the problems, he is not on the human being standard. Because there are so many problems. The animals cannot inquire, but a man can inquire. So unless one comes to this point, to inquire how these problems can be solved, he’s not developed to human consciousness. He’s still in animal consciousness. Actually, the problem is that . . . what is this human civilization, advanced civilization? They are trying to solve problems. One problem is presented, and they try to solve it. Just like at the present moment they have manufacture atomic bomb, and all the…
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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s Disappearance 2021
Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day, Los Angeles, December 13, 1973 Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda! Haribol. All glories to Śrī Guru. Haribol. Prabhupāda: Hmm. nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-svāmin iti nāmine Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura passed away from this material world on 31st December, 1936. So almost forty years past. So there are two phases: prakaṭa and aprakaṭa, appearance and disappearance. So we have nothing to lament on account of disappearance because Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s devotees . . . not only devotees, even the nondevotees, nobody disappears. Nobody disappears, because every living entity . . . as Kṛṣṇa is eternal . . . it is confirmed…
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Come Back!?!
Come back to the original Krishna consciousness given by Srila Prabhupada, the only cure for the disease of repeated birth and death. “So because this disease is called bhava-roga… Bhava-roga means again and again taking birth, bhava-roga. But if we take the medicine, bhavauṣadhi. Everything is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhava-roga, the disease of repeated birth and death in the material world, and the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is bhavauṣadhi, the medicine to cure this bhava-roga. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-‘bhirāmāt ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt virajyeta pumān vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4).” Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.15, Los Angeles, June 1, 1972 To truly cure the disease of material life Srila Prabhupada says one must follow…
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Sudama Brahmana Goes To Dvaraka and Visits Lord Krishna
Krishna Book, End of Chapter 79: The Meeting of Lord Kṛṣṇa with Sudāmā Brāhmaṇa There was a very nice brāhmaṇa friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As a perfect brāhmaṇa, he was very elevated in transcendental knowledge, and because of his advanced knowledge, he was not at all attached to material enjoyment. Therefore he was very peaceful and had achieved supreme control over his senses. This means that the brāhmaṇa was a perfect devotee because unless one is a perfect devotee, he cannot achieve the highest standard of knowledge. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that a person who has come to the point of perfection of knowledge surrenders unto the Supreme…
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Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance 2021
It’s All in a Name (A poem completed on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day 1989) This is the age of quarrel, and that’s not hard to show. We’re unlucky, misguided and spiritually slow. Life and memory are short, the surplus seems the pain, That behind what’s called love is just material gain. But one thing is so bright that it puts the sun to shame, And that’s the absolute pleasure in the Holy Name. Because though the names in this world will all become dim The identity of God’s Name is the same as Him. Races, creeds and countries come and raise up their borders. We’re separate behind our loyal skin…
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Govardhana Puja 2021
Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Govardhana Puja, November 14, 1966, New York Prabhupāda: Today Govardhanadhārī, Giridhārī, Lord Kṛṣṇa, today lifted the mountain. Demigods like Indra, Chandra, according to Vedic literature there are. According to Vedic literature there are different demigods. Sometimes we will find in Greek mythology the gods of the water, gods of the thunderbolt. These are not imagination. Actually they are facts. But due to our insufficient knowledge we do not know how the material nature is being controlled. So when Kṛṣṇa was on this planet and He was playing the part of a cowherd boy, and it was known to all over the universe that, “God has come,…
