Today, for the majority of students attending universities and institutions of higher learning, the question of the end of knowledge, the destination of the long pursuit, hardly ever comes to mind. One’s eyes are usually fixed on graduation day and the diploma that signifies entrance into a good-paying job. For most, the goal of knowledge is money and the material pleasures it buys.
We stood on a rooftop in Manhattan, gazing out over the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn. I asked him, “Do you actually love Krishna?” He thought for a second. “I love pleasure,” he said finally. “To be truthful.”
Vrndavana, India, the land of Krishna five thousand years after the disappearance of the Supreme Person, is invaded by eighty American and European disciples of Srila Prabhupada. The white and saffron robed pilgrims arrive in Vrndavana for Karttika, a celebration of Krishna’s rasa dance with the cowherd girls
Srila Prabhupada dropped a bomb no one was expecting. At the morning lecture, someone asked him about the significance of initiation, and he answered, “Initiation means you accept a spiritual master and agree to worship him as God.” There was a stunned silence.
I attended the first meeting in the little storefront with two of my friends. I was surprised to see half a dozen people there. The storefront was narrow and squalid. There was no rug on the wooden floors and no decorations save one painting in the window of Lord Caitanya dancing with His disciples.
When Srila Prabhupada walked in to begin kirtana, he looked at the newly decorated temple and showed surprise. “Ah, you are advancing,” he said. “This is very nice. This is Krsna consciousness.”
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates uses the allegory of the cave to illustrate the nature of man’s attachment to the illusory things of this material universe. He tells of men living in the depths of an underground cave, the entrance of which is open to the light.
It was almost like following a Martian down the street. Somehow Srila Prabhupada floated through it all, seemingly unaware of the stares, comments and general sensation he was creating.
It is by intelligence that I can understand that this body is not me. I may say, “My hand, my head, my arm,” but the use of the possessive pronoun indicates that these are my possessions and that I am situated apart from them.
You have New York, New England, and so many ‘New’ duplicates of European countries in the USA–why not import New Vrndavana in your country?
Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.
Krishna says: “Devotees are always engaged in chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination. Offering homage unto Me, they worship Me with devotion.”
Surrendering all unto the Supreme Lord is a difficult if not impossible task for must people. This is because they are not aware of the peace such surrender brings.
The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be moistened by the water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can neither be burned nor dried.
Krishna is our Lover. We are His creation, and He is the Lover of the creation. Like the clever Lover that He is, He hides Himself from us at times so we may long for Him and call to Him.
How can one know that the spiritual master is bona fide? What is the duty of the spiritual master? What are his symptoms? These and other questions concerning the spiritual master and Krsna are discussed herein by way of authoritative evidence.
Realization is not something we learn in a book or hear in a lecture. Realization is living the life for which man is intended. Realization does not imply withdrawal; realization is leading life and meeting destiny with opened eyes.
Even a quick reading of the Bible will show that sankirtana was very much present indeed amongst the ancient Jews and early Christians and that it was certainly stressed by one of the Bible’s major figures—David.
Part One traces the activities of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, from his landing in New York in 1965 to the end of 1969, four short years packed with transcendental events so numerous that only the most memorable are recorded.
Lord Krsna has innumerable expansions. As far as Krsna Himself is concerned, there are six opulences which are always present—knowledge, wealth, fame, strength, beauty and renunciation. He has these opulences in totality, whereas created beings have them in part only.