Srila Prabhupada Speaks on Improving the Material World
“This material world is worthless”—that is real knowledge. As long as one thinks, “No, it is not always bad; sometimes it is very good”—that is ignorance.
“This material world is worthless”—that is real knowledge. As long as one thinks, “No, it is not always bad; sometimes it is very good”—that is ignorance.
Chanting the holy names of God in congregation raises us to the state of pure spiritual consciousness–a state of joyful awareness of God that transcends all petty prejudices and material distinctions.
Your charge is that they have forgotten God. They will answer, “We have not forgotten God. We are going to church. How have we forgotten God?”
Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna books directly tell us what God is like in His original, personal form and what He and His liberated associates are doing in the eternal, spiritual world.
There is life—the supreme life—but you have no eyes to see it. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. A devotee—he can see that the Deity is alive. Are we fools, rascals, that we are worshiping a dead body?
When you understand what spiritual life is, you will see that in the spiritual sense also you are subordinate, because your nature is to be subordinate.
Among the hippies in San Francisco were many young people who were sincerely searching for spiritual enlightenment—and who found it when they met His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Vedic culture teaches the culmination of education is to understand God. That is education. Otherwise, the education for learning how to eat nicely; how to sleep nicely, how to have sex and defend nicely—this education is there even among the animals.
We are not irresponsible. But we are in such a position that we have passed all material responsibilities. “One who has fully surrendered to Krsna no longer has any responsibility to demigods, great sages, relatives, society—anyone.”
The atom bomb manufacturer is thinking he is successful in his life by building an atom bomb, but he does not know how to save himself from death. Nothing he has done can save him from death.
Maharaja Pariksit, the great king of the entire world, was cursed by a brahmana to meet death from the bite of a serpent within seven days. When he was informed of the curse he at once left his palatial home and went to the bank of the Ganges to prepare for his impending death.
I have come to England especially here to your home to explain Krsna consciousness. It is very beneficial. You are intelligent boys. So my request to you is that you try to understand this Krsna consciousness philosophy with all your powers of reason and argument.
In our temples there are regular Krsna conscious programs so that one may be purified internally and externally. If you constantly remember the lotus-eyed Supreme Lord, you automatically become purified.
As far as the Krsna conscious movement is concerned, there is really no such thing as East and West. For instance, the sun rises from the eastern horizon and sets on the western horizon, but the sun is the same. You cannot say “the eastern sun and “the western sun.”
Radha and Krsna are always engaged in loving affairs in the kunja, the groves of Vrndavana. Krsna is very dear to the gopis and the gopas. Vrndavana is a village and Krsna is always taking pleasure there on the bank of the River Yamuna.
Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, reveals Himself in His original form only to those who strive to serve Him with eagerness and devotion.
Veda does not mean “religion.” Veda means “knowledge.” So if you can trace out the history of knowledge, then you can trace out the date for the origin of Veda. Can you trace out when knowledge began? Can you trace it out?
Hindus all over India celebrate Sri Krsna Jayanti (the anniversary of Lord Krsna’s appearance) as a religious function every year. We have experience that sometimes non-Hindus, out of a deep respect for Lord Sri Krsna, also celebrate the ceremony of Lord Krsna’s Jayanti.
“Oh, why shall I hear from him? I can think. I can speculate. I can manufacture something new in my own circle of friends.” This is nonsense. This is not the Vedic process. The Vedic process is hearing.
The swan is a beautiful creature. The swan has a wonderful ability, from a mixture of milk and water, she can drink only the milk, without taking any water.