nama om visnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
“We offer our respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.”
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
“Our respectful obeisances unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanyadeva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism. “
yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakasante mahatmanah
“Unto those broad-minded souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of spiritual knowledge are automatically revealed. ” (Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.23)
Among all the eternal living beings, one living being is the Supreme Eternal. He is the Supreme Lord, and all others are His servants. The Lord has many names, but the name Krsna is universal, for this means “all-attractive.”
Every one of us has an eternal relationship with Krsna that we have somehow forgotten. Unless we revive this dormant relationship, we cannot have peace and happiness—either individually, nationally or on a global scale.
Krsna is not a myth, a legend or the subject of an allegory. Nor is He an impersonal light or vague omniscient force. He is a person, the Supreme Person. He lives, and we can live with Him.
As one needs the help of a qualified teacher to understand the material sciences, one also needs a qualified teacher to understand the science of God. Such a teacher is the spiritual master. A genuine spiritual master must be able to instruct his students in the practical details of understanding who God is, what our relationship with Him is, and how this relationship can be revived.
Having received scientific instruction in God consciousness from revealed Vedic scriptures, the devotees of the Krsna consciousness movement assert with conviction—a conviction nourished both by Vedic knowledge and by practical experience—that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is the genuine spiritual master who can teach us how to know Him, how to love Him, and how to go back to Him-back home, back to Godhead. With this special issue of Back to Godhead, which celebrates the appearance anniversaries of our spiritual master, Lord Krsna and Krsna’s eternal consort, Srimati Radharani, we invite intelligent, broad-minded people to study and understand this Krsna consciousness movement for their own eternal benefit and the benefit of others.
Hare Krsna. Thank you for your service in creating this website and making available Srila Prabhupada’s words and teachings. Sincerely, David Wolf (Dhira Govinda dasa)