Tag Archives: A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Vyasa-puja; The Most Blessed Event

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Guru & Disciple

The Most Blessed Event: Sri Vyasa-Puja
by Vyasasan das

Dear Srila Prabhupada

On this most auspicious day, please accept my humble obeisance’s, and kindly forgive my offences. Although I am and insignificant disciple of your Divine Grace, and full of faults, still I am constantly awaiting your causeless mercy to be bestowed upon me. I have never given up my faith, or my love, nor the hope that someday I may be a worthy disciple. As you know my daily prayers always include the words “please forgive my offences”, as I am always feeling myself unworthy to be receiving your mercy. Srila Prabhupada you have been the one constant in my entire adult life, my best friend and ever well wisher. And I remain chaste to you, my lord and master, unconditionally.

Today I was reading from the Letters books, and there was one letter dated November 12th, 1968 addressed to Malati that is the basis for my offering today. In this letter you said;

“Yes, we should always think of ourselves as the most fallen, the most ignorant and it is simply by the mercy of Lord Caitanya that we have even the opportunity to serve Krsna. We have no qualification of our own; it is simply by the merciful glance of this most munificent appearance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that we have been given the chance to serve Radha and Krsna”

Due to your great humility, you give the credit to Lord Sri Caitanya, but I think it is simply by your mercy that we have received the benediction of Sri Caitanya. It was you who brought a trunk of Srimad Bhagavatams to the West, to open our eyes with the torchlight of knowledge. And it was you who first brought this Chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra to Tomkins Square Park and due to your beautiful and pure chanting of the Holy Names of God caused the young Bramananda das to dance under the Hare Krishna Tree. It was you who turned the most fallen and most ignorant western hippies into vaisnava scholars and priests. It was simply by your munificent appearance and merciful glance, that the most fallen in this age were given the chance to know Lord Caitanya, and thus were given the chance to serve Radha and Krsna.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, a great acarya in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has written, “By the mercy of the spiritual master, one receives the benediction of Krsna. Without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement” Therefore, without your help, no one can become free from the cycle of repeated birth and death.

So on this Most Blessed day, Your Appearance day celebration, Please accept my humble obeisance’s again and again, kindly forgive my offences, and continue to guide me as my captain with your books,as maps, to steer me through the rough waters of this dangerous age of Kali

Begging to remain your eternal servant
Vyasasan das

The Appearance Day of Lord Krishna (Janmastami)

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Janmastami, Krishna, Krishna's childhood pastimes, Krsna, KRSNA the Supreme Personality of Godhead
The Birth of Lord Krishna Janmastami

click on image to enlarge

Today,being the advent of Lord Krsna’s birthday celebration (Janmastami), it seems fitting that we do a post on the birth of Lord Krsna. So the following is the entire third chapter from the Krsna Book entitled “The Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa”.

…As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that His appearance, birth, and activities, are all transcendental, and one who understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The Lord’s appearance or birth is not like that of an ordinary man who is forced to accept a material body according to his past deeds. The Lord’s appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appearance of the Lord, the constellations became very auspicious. The astrological influence of the star known as Rohiṇī was also predominant because this star is considered to be very auspicious. Rohiṇī is under the direct supervision of Brahmā. According to the astrological conclusion, besides the proper situation of the stars, there are auspicious and inauspicious moments due to the different situations of the different planetary systems. At the time of Kṛṣṇa’s birth, the planetary systems were automatically adjusted so that everything became auspicious. ( from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Chapter 3)

Full Chapter

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The Nectar of Life

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Animal Rights, Milk

Milk is compared to nectar, which one can drink to become immortal. Of course, simply drinking milk will not make one immortal, but it can increase the duration of one’s life. In modern civilization, men do not think milk to be important, and therefore they do not live very long. Although in this age men can live up to one hundred years, their duration of life is reduced because they do not drink large quantities of milk. This is a sign of Kali-yuga. In Kali-yuga, instead of drinking milk, people prefer to slaughter an animal and eat its flesh. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His instructions of Bhagavad-gītā, advises go-rakṣya, which means cow protection. The cow should be protected, milk should be drawn from the cows, and this milk should be prepared in various ways. One should take ample milk, and thus one can prolong one’s life, develop his brain, execute devotional service, and ultimately attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is essential to get food grains and water by digging the earth, it is also essential to give protection to the cows and take nectarean milk from their milk bags.

—From Srila Prabhupada’s purport, Srimad-Bhagavatam 8.6.12

Appearance Day of Lord Balarama

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Balarama, KRSNA the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Uncategorized
Balarama killing demon with plow

In honor of the Appearance Day of Lord Balarama, we are posting a chapter from the Krsna Book, entitled ” The Killing of Dantavakra, Vidūratha and Romaharṣaṇa”. Some of the pastimes the Lord performed during His advent was the killing of demons. As is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:

“In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.” (Bg. 4.8)

The following chapter has some nice pastimes of Lord Balarama in His glorious role as Statesman, Sage, and Kṣatriya. In the above image from the Krsna Book, Lord Balarama is seen dragging the Deamon Balvala down with his plow.

“…Our dear Lord, there is a demon of the name Balvala. He is the son of Ilvala, but he visits this sacred place of sacrifice every fortnight on the full moon and moonless days and creates a great disturbance to the discharge of our duties in the sacrifice… The demon occasionally comes here and profusely throws upon us contaminated, impure things like pus, blood, stool, urine and wine, and he pollutes this sacred place by showering such filth upon us.”

All Glories to Lord Balarama and His plow!

Full Chapter

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The Hare Krishna Movement

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Uncategorized

” Anyone, anywhere, can easily take to this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement; one need only chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, observe the rules and regulations, and stay free from the contamination of sinful life. Even if one is sinful and cannot give up sinful life immediately, if he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra with devotion and faith he will certainly be freed from all sinful activities, and his life will be successful. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. This is the blessing of Lord Rāmacandra, who has appeared in this age of Kali as Lord Gaurasundara. “

The Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, Ramacandra : SB 9.10.51 : Srila Prabhupada’s PURPORT

Spiritual Advancement–The Simple Method

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Chanting Hare Krishna, Pancha Tattva

Sometimes it appears very difficult to make advancement in Krsna consciousness, and we become impatient. If we expect immediate results and they aren’t forthcoming, we can easily become discouraged. For those of us who are unable to live in a temple (or even near a temple), this is especially true. So what’s the solution?

In November of 1969, while speaking in London’s Conway Hall, Srila Prabhupada stated the following:

“The process is very simple. Just keep a picture of Lord Caitanya with His associates. Lord Caitanya is in the middle, accompanied by His principal associates — Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara, and Srivasa. One simply has to keep this picture. One can keep it anywhere. It is not that one has to come to us to see this picture. Anyone can have this picture in his home, chant this Hare Krsna mantra, and thus worship Lord Caitanya. That is the simple method. But who will capture this simple method? Those who have good brains. Without much bother, if one simply keeps a picture of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at home and chants Hare Krsna, then one will realize God. Anyone can adopt this simple method. There is no expenditure, there is no tax, nor is there any need to build a very big church or temple. Anyone, anywhere, can sit down on the road or beneath a tree and chant the Hare Krsna mantra and worship God. Therefore it is a great opportunity.”

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Preaching in Russia

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Kali-yuga, Krishna Consciousness

The following is a wonderful article written by Govinda Dasi and published in Dandavats in 2016. It was recently posted on Facebook. I thought this was an especially good time for presenting this once again.

Back in New York, in early 1967, Srila Prabhupada often sat in his room and slowly turned the world globe, studying the geographic demarcations of various countries on the Earth planet. He would sometimes say, “Brahmananda, you will go to Russia, Goursundar, you go to Japan, Rayarama, you will go to Europe…” and so on. Even though he had merely a handful of sincere American youths, most of them in their late teens or early twenties, he had big plans. Clearly, he wanted to open preaching centers in every country on Earth. His vision was huge–he planned to spread the Hare Krishna movement all over the world! But he was especially concerned about Russia.

Russia, at that time, was the very heartbeat of the communist/atheist world. The message of atheism, the no-God philosophy that is the destroyer of religiosity, had established itself aggressively in Russia. It had also consumed many other surrounding countries, forcing atheistic education on their children, and punishing those who were Godly. Russia, during the 1960’s, was very aggressively moving toward world domination. At least that was their ambition.

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The Hare Krishna Maha-mantra

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Chanting Hare Krishna

This morning I was going through one of my old devotee notebooks, filled with prayers and slokas and bits of nectar, and I ran across this short definition of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra.

Hare – Srimati Radharani (the Divine Energy of the Lord)

Krishna – the All Attractive Supreme Personality of Godhead

Rama – Lord Krishna who is the Reservoir of Pleasure

“O Srimati Radharani, O All Attractive Reservoir of Pleasure, Lord Sri Krishna, please engage me in your loving devotional service”

for more definitions and deeper explanations click on following link https://theharekrishnamovement.org/category/chanting-hare-krishna/

Dissapearance day of Jayananda Thakur

Posted on by under A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Jayananda das, Uncategorized

Today marks the disappearance day of my dear friend and God Brother, Jayananda das Thakur.

My Dear Jayānanda

Please accept my blessings.

I am feeling very intensely your separation. In 1967 you joined me in San Francisco. You were driving my car and chanting Hare Krishna. You were the first man to give me some contribution ($5000) for printing my Bhagavad-gītā. After that, you have rendered very favorable service to Krishna in different ways. I so hope at the time of your death you were remembering Krishna and as such, you have been promoted to the eternal association of Krishna. If not, if you had any tinge of material desire, you have gone to the celestial kingdom to live with the demigods for many thousands of years and enjoy the most opulent life of material existence. From there you can promote yourself to the spiritual world. But even if one fails to promote himself to the spiritual world, at that time he comes down again on the surface of this globe and takes birth in a big family like a yogis’ or a brāhmaṇas’ or an aristocratic family, where there is again chance of reviving Krishna Consciousness. But as you were hearing Krishna-kirtana, I am sure that you were directly promoted to Kṛṣṇa-loka .(Srila Prabhupada Letter to: Jayānanda — Bombay 5 May, 1977)