This book teaches Krsna consciousness because the speaker is Lord Krsna and the subject matter is our relationship with God. Krsna means “all-attractive,” and it is the perfect name of God. Unless the Supreme Person is all-attractive, He cannot be God.
Lord Caitanya broadcast His message with mrdanga drums and hand cymbals and traveled on foot. He did not spread His movement outside of India, although His plan was that all the peoples of the world would one day take up chanting the holy names and thus awaken their dormant love of God.
Word spread quickly about the exotic and delicious vegetarian feasts the Hare Krsna devotees were having. Before long, each Sunday the small temple room and courtyard would fill with guests eager to try the delicacies the devotees were generously serving.
For the soul, there is never birth or death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
While spreading the maha-mantra throughout the Indian subcontinent, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu prayed, “O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name You have invested all Your transcendental energies.”
Karma is not dependent on whether we choose to accept it or to reject it. It’s not under our control, something we can have made to order. It’s a law of nature, just like the law of gravity. And to change its workings is completely beyond us.
Indians have neglected God consciousness. The British introduced materialism, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, simply followed this policy, although his spiritually inclined mentor, Mahatma Gandhi, was opposed to it.
Werkie parathas are deep-fried so they turn out more like a pastry than a flat bread. They’re multilayered and have a rich, buttery flavor. They’re ideal as a breakfast treat or an afternoon snack. But werkies are for those who want a culinary challenge: they’re tricky to make.
To practice yoga you need a secluded place. Traditionally, yogis have retired to Himalayan caves, to remote corners of dense, unexplored jungles, even to the depths of an ocean or river. The great yogi Saubhari Muni meditated for many years within the Yamuna River.
A Vaisnava feels compassion for the distress of others. Lord Jesus Christ, for instance, was greatly afflicted by the miserable conditions of the people. All Vaisnavas, or devotees—any people who are God conscious—are thus compassionate.
Hare Krsna devotees don’t eat meat, fish, or eggs, they don’t have to worry about cholesterol in fried foods. A tablespoon of ghee contains only 31 milliliters of cholesterol—nothing compared to the 274 milliliters in just one egg.
Lord Caitanya stated that anyone born in India has the responsibility to take up this chanting of Hare Krishna and spread it, and He has quoted scripture to state there is no alternative for spiritual realization in this age than chanting the holy name of God.
Even some of the impersonalists danced, and the faces of the people changed from grey to a nice reddish due to bright attentive joy. We got up from the stage and danced, and they got up from their seats and danced.
We have traveled throughout India—to Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, and to smaller cities too. Practically everybody is won by kirtana—the sound representation of Krsna.
The tour of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada throughout India attracted much daily news coverage, and many major magazines ran features about Srila Prabhupada and his foreign disciples.
The Indian reporter asked why Americans and Europeans are becoming Hindus. Srila Prabhupada said, “Krsna is not Hindu—you won’t find the word Hindu anywhere in Vedic literature.”
Krsna consciousness not only allows for love but is constituted of nothing but love. In fact, by practicing Krsna consciousness, one gradually comes to realize that supreme love which permeates all beings and objects throughout the universe.
Advaita Acarya offered to the Deity of Lord Krsna the feast his wife had prepared. Pleased to see the gorgeous arrangement for Krsna’s pleasure, Lord Caitanya expressed His great satisfaction. Then He humbly sat down to one side, expecting to take a small portion of the offering.
News of tragedy from India shocked the world—first, the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi followed by mass murders and mayhem, then, hardly a month later, the catastrophic poisonous gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.
From the highest planet in the material world, down to the lowest, all are places of misery, where repeated birth and death take place.