Humility, deception and tolerance

 Humility, deception and tolerance, by Haripada dasa

Humility, humility means feeling insignificant, and if we do something positive to help others to awaken their Krishna consciousness, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna.

On deception, on a walk in Mayapur, India on March 14, 1976 Srila Prabhupada says that the whole world is a society of deceivers and deceived, that is my Gurudeva's version, so do not become a deceiver or allow them to fool you, that's intelligence.

All conditioned souls are born with 4 defects, 1, we make mistakes, to err is human, 2, we have imperfect senses, 3, we have the tendency to fall into ignorance and 4, we have the tendency to deceive ourselves and others .

In Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami's book entitled mana-siksa or preaching to the mind, he says that the only medicine to cure deception is humility, humility means feeling insignificant, and if we do something positive to help others to awaken their Krishna consciousness, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna.

On tolerance, Jesus Christ was made many offenses and crucified, but he prayed to God for his offenders. He was merciful and tolerant, it is said that a great personality is measured by his degree of tolerance, of course tolerance and mercy are two qualities that go together, a person is tolerant when he is very merciful, materialists are not even tolerant nor merciful, every day they send millions and millions of innocent animals to the slaughterhouse, and they are not tolerant, I saw how one person whistled at the car in front because the traffic light had turned green and the other got out of the car all annoyed and they finished punching each other.

Lead by example

 Lead by example, by Haripada dasa

I take this opportunity to thank all the people who send me donations, I pray to Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna to always bless them.

Western educators say: “Don't follow me; follow my words ”; Or, put another way: "Do not do what I do, but what I say." Srila Prabhupada's life refutes this principle, as he applied all the instructions in his books in his own life and was a vivid example of them. There is not a single instruction in his books that he has not personally followed, and therefore there is no disparity between his writings and his life; between his actions and his words.

Srila Prabhupada taught us that a true spiritual master is one who preaches with his personal example, once Sanatana Goswami told Haridasa Thakura that you are the perfect devotee of God or Krishna, there are those who preach but do not practice and there are those who practice but not preach, but you practice everything you preach.

I share a beautiful verse from the Bhagavad gita, 3, 21, there it says that common men follow in the footsteps of a great man, whatever action he performs. And whatever guidelines he establishes through exemplary acts, the whole world follows them, and in the purport Srila Prabhupada says that the generality of people always requires a leader who can teach them through their behavior in practice. A leader cannot teach people to quit smoking if he smokes himself.

Srila Prabhupada always said that what people like the most is to be deceived and suffer, and he also said that one of the great impediments to expanding Krishna consciousness is the large number of deceivers there are, and how people She is so lazy to do the spiritual awakening they take advantage and tell people you give me 30 euros and I will give you a mantra and in six months you will be God, and people are so stupid that they believe it. That is why this society is one of deceivers and deceived.

The words convince, but the example drags. In the Jaiva dharma it is said that if someone gives religious advice without practicing it himself, it becomes a source of evil for the world.

Two thoughts to ponder:

1- Give good advice to a wise person and they will appreciate it and give good advice to a foolish person and they will get angry.

2- If you have nectar in your heart you will never give poison and if you have poison in your heart you will never give nectar.

Light and darkness

  Light and darkness, by Haripada dasa

I share this beautiful verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, 1, 3, 43, which says that this Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as bright as the Sun, and has arisen just after Lord Kṛiṣhṇa's departure to His own abode, accompanied by religion, the knowledge, etc. People who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of the age of Kali will have to receive the light of this Purāṇa. The essence of all the instructions in Srila Prabhupada's books is to come out of the darkness and come to the Light, and also in The Chaitanya Charitamrita it is said that God or Krishna is like the Light and maya or ignorance is like the dark, where God or Krishna is there can be no darkness. Also in the Bhagavad Gita, God or Krishna says that this energy of Mine, maya or darkness, is very difficult to overcome, but those who surrender to Me can easily overcome it, in other words, maya is controlled by Krishna, and when a soul obeys the laws of God or Krishna, Krishna tells His energy not to influence His devotee, thus the devotee enjoys full and total freedom. In the process of surrendering to God or Krishna one must: (1) accept everything that is favorable for the performance of devotional service, (2) reject everything that is unfavorable for it, (3) firmly believe in the protection of the Lord , (4) feel that you depend exclusively on the Lord's mercy, (5) have no interest apart from the Lord's interest, and (6) always be meek and humble.

The biggest problem today is the hypocrisy in people, hypocritical people put a stamp on themselves and say that I am Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hare Krishna, etc., but those people have no interest in knowing God and love him, their only interest is to have many followers and live like kings and fight each other, that is called Kali-yuga the current era full of hypocrisy and quarrels. At the end of the preface to the Bhagavad Gita, Srila Prabhupada says that we therefore hope that people will gain the greatest benefit of all through studying the Bhagavad-gītā as it is in the way we have presented it here, and if If only a man becomes a pure devotee of the Lord, we will consider our effort a success. One of Srila Prabhupada's most devoted and beloved devotees named Jayananda prabhu left the body a few months before Srila Prabhupada entered his Samadhi-lila, and Srila Prabhupada said that he had gone to Goloka Vrindavana, to the spiritual world, so we concluded that Srila Prabhupada's mission has been a complete success.

Letter to Srila Prabhupada

  Letter to Srila Prabhupada, by Haripada dasa

Celebrate the Transcendental Appearance of Srila Prabhupada, all the devotees who serve and love Srila Prabhupada make a letter called the Vyasa Puja letter, Vyasadeva is a literary incarnation of God or Krishna, He wrote all the Vedic literature , The Bhagavad-gita, The Srimad-bhagavatam, The Mahabharata, etc., and the birthday of our spiritual master is called Vyasa Puja day, on this day the spiritual master is glorified and thanked for all his mercy All this spiritual knowledge that Vyasadeva gave us is transmitted from the guru to the disciple through the chain of disciplic succession, all those truths are eternal and never change, that is why Srila Prabhupada always said that the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is very easy. Because we don't have to invent anything, we just have to repeat what the previous spiritual teachers said.

Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have found the Truth and the Truth will set you free. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have come out of ignorance, which is the cause of all suffering. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have understood the purpose of human life, understand and love God or Krishna, and since there is only God or Krishna and His energies, by doing this in a natural way one loves everyone and everything. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have understood that this material world is full of envy and is not a place for a gentleman, here there are only deceivers and deceived. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have hopes of going home to return to God and Krishna and His devotees, and the experience of having been in this material world will be a bad nightmare. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we have understood that we are not the material body, but eternal spirit souls, eternal loving servants of God or Krishna and His devotees. Thanks to Srila Prabhupada we are no longer a ship without a rudder, now Srila Prabhupada is the person we trust the most and love the most. If Srila Prabupada hadn't come, what would have become of us.

An ocean of mercy

 An ocean of mercy, by  Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada is an ocean of mercy. The spiritual master receives the blessing of the ocean of mercy. Just as a cloud pours water on a forest fire to put it out, the spiritual master releases the afflicted material world by extinguishing the blazing fire of material existence. I offer my respectful obeisances to the lotus feet of that spiritual master, who is an ocean of auspicious qualities.

I share a very moving story, we were in Vrindavana, India, in the house of some Italian devotees, we were respecting some maha-prasada pizzas, a very old disciple of Srila Prabhupada arrived, I don't remember her name, but I know she was Lohitaksa's wife , she told us that Srila Prabhupada was in the temple in New York and they were doing guru puja, suddenly a person with very long hair and a beard and very dirty entered the temple as if it were a dog on all fours. He headed towards Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada recognized him immediately, and crying at Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet told him several times that forgive me I have failed you, Srila Prabhupada crying was stroking his head, and all the devotees in the guru puja were crying, then that person left and no one ever heard from him.

A few years ago I was talking to an Iskcon guru in Vrindavana, India, he told me that Srila Prabhupada deviated from the guru-parampara by ordering his disciples to initiate in his name or the Ritvik philosophy, as this philosophy does not come in the Sastras or Scriptures, when I heard this I thought that this person has less intelligence than a mosquito, I told him that Srila Prabhupada distributes his mercy to everyone, but if you do not want to obtain it, the fault is yours, Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples who initiated in his name, this is supported by a special document that Srila Prabhupada sent to all Iskcon from Vrindavana, India, on July 9, 1977, anyone can read this document, and if you do not want to obey this order, blame It is not from Srila Prabhupada but from you. I also told him that according to Harinama-chintamani, the result of offending the guru is that one becomes a mayavadi or atheist. Then some years passed and we also saw each other in Vrindavana, and he said sorry for what I told you several years ago, I replied that you should not ask forgiveness from me, but from Srila Prabhupada.

Helping each other

 

 Helping each other, by Haripada dasa

As I understand it, association with devotees means helping each other, and if in this association we see someone who has a lot of hypocrisy, personal interests and contradictions, our duty for the good of that person and of others is to help him, Srila Prabhupada He said that I am very proud to have had a disciple like Jayananda prabhu, and he also said that everyone should follow his example, the essence of Jayananda prabhu's life is that everything he did was to make Srila Prabhupada happy, not in him there were personal interests, having personal interests in Krishna consciousness is terrible, I once sent a message entitled the spiritual aspect, the essence of this message is that Srila Prabhupada taught us in practice that when the spiritual aspect is very strong, God or Krishna is very satisfied and reciprocates with giving a lot of intelligence and material opulence, association of devotees means open relationship based on love and trust, should We should ask each other, how are your 16 rounds going, you are singing them, you are following the 4 regulative principles, you are reading Srila Prabhupada's books, when there is a good relationship with the devotees we overcome our hypocrisy and impersonalism, I share a very nice poem From Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura who has helped me a lot, he always said: "Forget the past, it is asleep, and in the future your heart should not dream, and in the present you must become Krishna conscious, that is your obligation."

When Srila Prabhupada came to the USA, he wrote some very beautiful poems, in one of them he said that when all the souls who are suffering in this material world are happy in Krishna consciousness, the wish of the Acharyas or authorized spiritual teachers will have been fulfilled. . That is the only wish of a true devotee, that everyone be happy in Krishna consciousness. About leadership in Krishna consciousness, my humble opinion is that a leader is the one who has the most capacity to serve, Jesus always said if you want to be a leader become the servant of all, I share that Srila Prabhupada gave readings of the Nectar of Devotion in The 1972 Kartika at the Sri Radha Damodara in Vrindavana, its themes were the association of devotees, the position of the spiritual master and living in Vrindavana. "The spiritual master should be treated as Hari, the Supreme Person, although he is offered the same respect as Hari, he must think that he is a humble servant of Hari and everyone, he thinks of his disciples as if they were his spiritual teachers , that is the position, he must think that Krishna has sent him many spiritual masters, he does not think of himself as a spiritual master, he thinks that he is a servant, because they have to be trained, Krishna has named him as the one who is going to train them, therefore he must think that he is the servant of his disciples. "

The Symptom of Love

 

The Symptom of Love, by Haripada dasa

Years ago, a devotee named Devarsi prabhu translated some things from the books of conversations into Spanish and gave me those translations, I remember reading there an interview between Sria Prabupada and one of her disciple, Srila Prabhupada said that I will be a Christian and you will be Hare Krishna, Srila Prabhupada told him that we have millions and millions of followers, temples, etc., and you are very few, the devotee said but we have love for God or Krishna and that is the important thing, Srila Prabhupada told him He said that we also have love for God and we go to church and pray to him, the devotee told him that if you had love for God you would obey his orders, Jesus ordered you not to kill and you have the best slaughterhouses, and Srila Prabhupada told him that there It is where I wanted to take you, the symptom that you love God is that you obey his orders, a person who does not know God or love him cannot obey God's orders. Today there are many groups of Christians, and also of Hare Krishnas, so that they do not deceive you you must see if these people are obeying the orders of Jesus and Srila Prabhupada.

One of the points of the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is that we are not interested in the opinions of an ordinary person, ordinary people have four kinds of defects, the first defect is that they tend to make mistakes, another defect is being in illusion , the third defect is the propensity to deceive and finally our senses are imperfect. Any opinion that is not the revealed truth, lacks any value, the revealed truth means, the truth, or scripture that comes from a reliable source, the chain of disciplic succession formed by genuine spiritual teachers is the reliable source; for these people are pure and self-realized souls, and they are free from the four defects mentioned above. You can fool yourself and others, but no one can fool God or Krishna and His pure devotees.

In Srimad Bhagavatam, 5, 26, 15 Srila Prabhupada says that whether we are Hindu, Muslim or Christian, we must all follow the religious principles that correspond to us. However, whoever invents his own religious path, or does not follow any religious principle, will be punished in hell.