Humility, delusion and tolerance

 Humility, delusion and tolerance, by Haripada dasa

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

On cheating, on a walk in Mayapur, India, March 14, 1976 Srila Prabhupada says that the whole world is a society of cheaters and cheated, that is my Gurudeva's version, so don't become a cheater and don't let 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 delusion is humility, humility means feeling insignificant, and if we do something positive to help others awaken their Krishna consciousness, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna.

On tolerance, Jesus Christ was given many offenses and was 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 a person honked at the car in front because the traffic light had turned green and the other got out of the car all upset and they ended up punching each othe

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 an interview there between Sria Prabupada and one of his disciples. Srila Prabhupada said that I will play the Christian and you will play 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 or love God cannot obey God's orders. Today there are many groups of Christians, and also of Hare Krishnas, so that you are not deceived, 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 faults, the first fault is that they tend to make mistakes, another fault is that they are in illusion , the third defect is the propensity to deceive and finally our senses are imperfect. Any opinion other than revealed truth is worthless. Revealed truth means truth, or scripture that comes from a reliable source, the chain of disciplic succession formed by bona fide spiritual masters is the reliable source; since these people are self-realized and pure souls, and they are free from the four defects mentioned above. You can cheat yourself and others, but no one can cheat God or Krishna and His pure devotees.

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

Blessings

 Blessings, by Haripada dasa

In relation to the blessings, Srila Prabhupada always told a very interesting story, once a Spiritual Master was walking with his disciples, and in the course of the walk he gave different blessings to several people, first they met a King, and the Master The Spiritual Master told him that I bless you that you live, but do not die….later they met a butcher, and the Spiritual Master told him that I bless you that you do not live and do not die….then they met a pure devotee of God or Krishna and the Spiritual Master told him that you are the same whether you live or die, upon hearing these blessings the disciples did not understand them and told the Spiritual Master to please explain the blessings, and the Spiritual Master said that the King live but do not die means that now that he is King the opulence that God has given him instead of using it to serve God and His devotees, he is using it for his sense gratification, to your personal enjoyment, that's why you live but don't die because when you die you will have to spend a lot of time in hell, then to the butcher you don't live or die, that means that this person his life is hell, always cutting meat, his hands full of blood, and when I die more hell, and to the pure devotee of God or Krishna I told him that it is the same whether you live or die, because living you are living with God or Krishna always, and when you die you will continue living with God or Krishna and His devotees in the spiritual world. A great Spiritual Master always said that those who say that the devotees of God or Krishna die, they die to live, and living are always expanding the glories of God or Krishna and His devotees, reason badly.

Nowadays there is no interest in knowing God and loving him, people have very few reserves of pious activities from their past lives, from the time they get up until they go to bed they only do sinful activities, thus their brain is full of cow dung, they do not understand the simplest truths of life, there is only sense gratification, a demonic principle, the symptom that one has an interest in spiritual life is that they ask spiritual questions, for example what and who am I, why do I not want suffer and I suffer, what and who is God, how can I purify my existence, what awaits me after death, etc., when a person asks himself these questions he is said to be aware of God, the problem is pride, one thinks I know everything, nobody is above me, I am the best, because of his pride that person will never learn from anyone, only the humble person learns from everyone.

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.

We are all devotees

 HAPPY GAURA PURNIMA 2024

We are all devotees, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada said in 1972 in Kartika in Vrindavana that we must always be ready to offer respect to everyone, because each living entity is originally a devotee of God or Krishna, but circumstantially the soul being covered by ignorance, is acting as a demon, in this world there are divine and demonic people, divine people obey the laws of God or Krishna and demonic ones do not, but everyone's original nature is to be a devotee of God or Krishna.

The first thing to do in devotional life is to purify the designations, the designations mean the things that we are not but that we think we are, for example people in general think that I am the body, and therefore I am Spanish, American , Hindu, etc., I am the master of everything, my house and my family belong to me, I am the enjoyer, the controller of everything, this woman is my wife, here is my son, here is my brother, etc., everything these are designations, the result of living with designations is that the person lives full of fear, envy, ignorance and very conditioned, a soul free of designations believes and experiences that I am not the body, but an eternal spiritual soul, a loving servant of God or Krishna and His devotees, my relatives are also children of God or Krishna, my house and everything I own belongs to God or Krishna and I use everything for the service of God or Krishna, the result of having that God consciousness or Krishna, is that the person lives happily and free.

In devotional life there are three kinds of devotees of God or Krishna, the neophyte, the middle stage, and the perfect devotee. First you have to understand what faith is, faith means having complete conviction that when chanting the Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H se read as J for j) will automatically fulfill all duties and complete all godly activities. The neophyte devotee exhibits a faith that is formal, even worldly, worships Deity but has not developed an interest in serving the representative of God or Krishna, the authorized spiritual master, the devotee in the middle stage develops loving affection for God or Krishna , makes friends with other devotees, has compassion for innocent people, an innocent person is one who believes in God or Krishna, but is not advanced in spiritual life, and avoids the company of atheists, and the perfect devotee is one who he sees God or Krishna everywhere, and God or Krishna is his life and soul, his life revolves around The Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H is read as J for j), for him, the Holy Name of God or Krishna is the essence of everything.

Return to God

 Return to God, by Haripada dasa

Human life is to achieve values. This form of human life is one that can provide values. And, what is the greatest value that can be achieved in life? To return home, back to Godhead, one's egoism should aim to go back to Godhead. Notice how merciful is God or Krishna, Pure Kindness, even though we have turned our backs on Him, He keeps us by giving us food, water, etc., everything, the reason we are in this material world, the world of envy, is that we have misused free will, and we have turned our backs on God thinking that we will be happy without God, and God is so merciful that he does not interfere with our freedom, the material world is a true prison where rebellious souls are punishes them, so-called material pleasures cause more suffering, but because punishments are remedies, souls are reformed through suffering, when a person suffers the false ego loosens, but how right Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was when he always said that the rebellious soul is hostile to serving God and His devotees.

The consciousness of God or Krishna is a spiritual science, and to reach the goal of life which is to have love for God, one has to go through nine stages, the first is faith, then one associates with pure devotees of God, the The result of this is that faith increases, then one begins to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, by singing and leading a sinless life, the heart is purified of the bad qualities that rob the soul of energy, these are the lust, anger, greed, envy, pride and ignorance, then one gets fixed in spiritual life, then one likes spiritual life, then one becomes attached to spiritual life, then when one does spiritual practices he feels spiritual emotions, tears in his eyes and the hairs on his body stand on end, etc., and then love for God, when one reaches this goal he cannot live without God just as a fish cannot live without water.

The difference between the spiritual culture of India and other cultures is that in the Holy Scriptures of India there are ten billion verses that inform us of the unlimited names, forms, qualities and pastimes of God, and there are also many detailed information about God. what is the Kingdom of God, there only exists God, His Devotees and the love relationships between God or Krishna and His Devotees.

In the Nectar of Devotion in chapter 9 it is said the price that must be paid to return to God, to return to our true home, in other words, we must learn to cry for the Lord. We must learn this little technique, and we must be very eager ---and actually cry--- to engage in some particular kind of service. This is called laulyam, and those tears are the price of the highest perfection. If this laulyam, or excessive yearning to find and serve the Lord in some particular way, develops in someone, it is the price for entering the Kingdom of God. Otherwise, there is no material way to calculate the value of the ticket that allows us to enter the Kingdom of God. The only price for that ticket is this laulyaí lālasāmayī, or desire and longing.

The Spiritual World

 The Spiritual World, by Haripada dasa

The pure devotees of God or Krishna say that the Vrndavana of this material world and the Vrndavana of the spiritual world are made of the same spiritual substance, as the great spiritual master Srila Narottama dasa thakura says that one will be able to see Vrndavana when one has purified himself of anxieties and material desires. There is a Sacred Scripture called The Brahma-Samhita and there the spiritual world is described in a very beautiful way: “I adore that transcendental abode known as Goloka Vrindavana, where as loving consorts, the Goddesses of Fortune in their immaculate spiritual essence practice loving service to the Supreme Lord Krishna, as His only lover, where every tree is a gem for spiritual purposes, there all water is nectar, every word is a song and every step a dance, the flute is the favorite assistant of the Lord Sri Krishna and the effulgence of this place is full of spiritual bliss. There the supreme spiritual entities are all pleasant and charming, and the innumerable surabhi cows provide oceans of transcendental milk. I adore that abode where transcendental time is always present - without past or future - and therefore is not subject to the nature of passing away even for half a moment. That Kingdom is known as Goloka Vrindavana by very few realized souls in this world."

Our heart is like a television, and there are only two channels, the material and the spiritual, when we connect with the spiritual channel through chanting the Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (H is read as J for J), God or Krishna reveals to us the spiritual world and His eternal pastimes, and when we connect with the material channel we only see a lot of suffering and everything is temporary.

Before and after

 Before and after, by Haripada dasa

Before it means when Srila Prabhupada was in his physical form preaching Krishna consciousness, and after it means after Srila Prabhupada disincarnated or entered his lila samadhi, I have the 23 DVDs from the ITV collection on Srila Prabhupada, there you see the very happy and bright devotees in Krishna consciousness, there Srila Prabhupada was the center and the founding Acharya and everyone was very united to please Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada's wish and Krishna's is that when Srila Prabhupada entered his samadhi lila, everything would continue the same as before, that is why Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples to initiate in his name, and he would continue to be the center and the spiritual master of all, that is called Jagat guru, the guru of the whole universe.

Unfortunately Srila Prabhupada's disciples made changes to Srila Prabhupada's books and did not obey the order to initiate in his name, and in an artificial way that is by vows (Srila Prabhupada says in El Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya Lila, 1, 220, that the choice of a guru is not made by votes), they became gurus because they think that they are at the same level as Srila Prabhupada, when Srila Prabhupada's Gurudeva entered his lila samadhi a very similar thing happened, there is a letter that Srila Prabhupada sent him to Rupaguna explaining what happened, there Srila Prabhupada says that his Gurudeva openly said to create a GBC and to all work together, and if they see someone who is self-effulgent they have to accept him as my successor, they did not obey these orders and the result is that now they all claim to be Acharyas, although they may be adhikaris kanisthas with no ability to preach, therefore we may make the same mistake in our ISKCON. Actually, among my godbrothers no one is qualified to become Acharya. So it is better not to mix with my godbrothers too intimately because instead of inspiring our students and disciples they can sometimes contaminate them. This attempt was previously made by them, especially Madhava Maharaja, Tirtha Maharaja and Bon Maharaja, but one way or another I saved the situation.

We accept that Srila Prabhupada is that self-effulgent person, but Gaudiya Matha does not recognize that, we do not mix with Gaudiya Matha. We do not mix with Srila Prabhupada's disciples who are betraying and offending Srila Prabhupada, they live in unconsciousness and that is the reason why they do not want to obey Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada, Krishna and everyone would like it. that Iskcon was led by people who obey and love Srila Prabhupada, it is always better to pray for others than to criticize, we pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna so that these people obey Srila Prabhupada and thus we would all be together and happy and bright in the Krishna consciousness.

I have served in Iskcon 1984-2008, Krishna has distributed through me more than a quarter of a million books of Srila Prabhupada and from my collection I have given them more than 500,000 dollars, they have deceived me but I do not bear any grudge They already have a bad enough misfortune to be the way they are. Now I feel happy and free in Krishna consciousness.

Pride

  Pride, by Haripada dasa

It is said that pride is the prelude to the fall, pride is not good, there are so many people in history who were proud, for example Stalyn the dictator of Russia, he not only killed the entire Czar's family but all the who criticized him, he did not tolerate anyone criticizing him, whoever criticized him killed him. Pride is a demonic quality, the psychology of demons is explained very well in The Bhagavad Gita, 16, 13-15, there it is said that the demonic personality thinks that today I have all this wealth, and I will earn more by following my tricks. All this is mine now, and in the future it will increase more and more. That was my enemy and I have killed him, and my other enemies will also be killed. I am the lord of everything, I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man in existence, and I am surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is no one as powerful and happy as me. I will celebrate some sacrifices, give some charity, and thus rejoice. In this way, this class of characters is deceived by ignorance.

A person is proud because he lives in the darkness of ignorance, of course in the vineyard of the Lord there is everything, people are like magnets, we attract others according to the mode in which we live, a leader in the mode of ignorance will attract to people who live in the mode of ignorance, another in passion will attract those who are in passion, and another in goodness will attract those who live in goodness, and our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada who lives in goodness pure will attract those who live in pure goodness. We live in Kali-yuga, the era of ignorance, in this way people confuse everything, they think that religion is irreligion and that irreligion is religion, they think that a good person is bad and that a bad person is good, they think that we should eat meat, fish and eggs because we have the teeth of a crocodile, because of that mistake dentists become rich, crocodiles never go to the dentist, instead of using their intelligence to develop good qualities, people use it to degrade themselves. Humility is a divine quality, when one is humble he feels like the most insignificant person and if he does something wonderful he gives all the credit to God or Krishna and His devotees. A humble person learns from everyone, and a proud person does not learn from anyone because he thinks he knows everything.

The ascending and descending process

 The ascending and descending process, by Haripada dasa

There are two processes to receive knowledge, the ascending and descending process, I will try to explain them. A person believes that by his mental and intellectual power he will understand everything, who am I, who is God, what is the material creation, etc., this is called ascending process, in relation to this I share a very interesting story, to Saint Augustine is considered the greatest philosopher of the Christian Church, this saint was walking along the beach speculating on various philosophical issues, and he saw a child who was making a hole in the sand with a shovel, the saint asked the child who was doing and the boy replied that I am going to put all the water of the ocean in this hole, and Saint Augustine laughed and said that it was impossible, then the boy said that it was more impossible to want to understand things through speculation, and that the only way to understand things is when God is pleased with you, he will reveal everything to you, the only way to understand things is through the mercy of God, there Saint Augustine understood the essence of spiritual life, let us not forget that we are all born with four defects, 1- we have the tendency to make mistakes, to err is human, 2- we have the tendency to fall into ignorance, 3- we have the tendency to deceive others and 4- we have imperfect senses. 

Descending process means that God or Krishna transmits all eternal truths to Brahma, the first created creature, then Brahma transmits it to his son Narada, Narada to Vyasadeva, Vyasadeva to Madhvacharya, etc., this is called guru parampara or disciplic succession, and this knowledge comes pure and does not change, that's why Srila Prabhupada who is the 32nd spiritual master of this guru parampara chain always said that the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is very easy because we don't have to invent anything, we just repeat the messages given to us by the predecessor spiritual masters.

There are four sampradayas or spiritual schools authorized by God or Krishna that transmit descending knowledge, 1- the Brahma sampradaya whose Acharya or founding Master is Madhvacharya, 2- the Kumara sampradaya, the 4 Kumaras, whose Acharya or founding Master is Nimbarkacharya, 3- the Laksmi sampradaya, whose founding Acharya or Master is Ramanujacharya and 4- the Rudra or Siva sampradaya, whose founding Acharya or Master is Visnuswami. One must receive spiritual knowledge and mantras from these 4 spiritual schools. When Srila Prabhupada's teacher named Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada was preaching Krishna consciousness all over India, when he met a guru he would ask you who has authorized you to be a guru, and then he would say that all these manufactured gurus are cheaters of first class. That is why Srila Prabhupada says in Srimad Bhagavatam, 4, 8, 54 that one should receive initiation from a guru authorized by the guru who preceded him.

Serious and sincere

 Serious and sincere, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada always said that the devotee must be serious and sincere in his practices of Krishna consciousness, this also applies to mothers, serious and sincere means that one does not cheat himself or others, in other words, one is not a hypocrite, we in a practical way show Srila Prabhupada and God or Krishna that we are serious and sincere when we practice verses 2 and 3 of the Nectar of Instruction, there it is said that when someone gets too entangled in the following six activities, his devotional service is ruined; (1) Eating more than necessary, or accumulating more funds than required; (2) trying too hard for worldly things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talk unnecessarily about worldly matters; (4) follow the rules and regulations of the Scriptures only for the sake of following them and not to advance spiritually, or reject the rules and regulations of the Scriptures and work independently or capriciously; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in cultivating Kṛishna consciousness; and (6) coveting worldly achievements, and there are six principles that are conducive to the performance of pure devotional service: (1) be enthusiastic, (2) exert yourself confidently. (3) be patient, (4) act according to the regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam: hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛishna, (5) abandoning the company of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly ensure the complete success of pure devotional service.

In the Padma Purana it is said that so that we are not inhabitants of hell we have to be very careful with these 4 things, 1- see the Deity of Krishna as if it were a stone, 2- consider that the chanting of the Maha-Mantra Hare Krishna , Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (the H is read as J for jot), is a mundane sound vibration, 3- see the charanamrita, or the water that washes the Deities as simple flowing water and 4- see the devotees from the material point of view.

Krishna Consciousness

  Krishna Consciousness by Haripada dasa

When Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New York in 1966, a friend of his told him why he didn't put God consciousness instead of Krishna, and Srila Prabhupda replied that God is vague, but Krishna is something concrete, and if someone does not know that Krishna is God, come here and we will explain it to him.

In the preface to Krishna's book Srila Prabhupada explains why Krishna is God: Now, one may ask the question why Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The answer is, because He exactly and closely fits the descriptions of the Supreme Being, Divinity, in other words, Krishna is God because He is supremely attractive. Beyond the principle of supreme attraction, there is no other meaning of the word "God." How can someone be supremely attractive? First of all, if someone is very rich, if he has great wealth, then he becomes attractive to people in general. Similarly, if someone is very powerful, he also becomes an attractive person; and if someone is very famous, very beautiful, or wise, or unattached to all kinds of possessions, he also becomes an attractive person. Thus, from practical experience we can see that one is attractive thanks to: 1) wealth, 2) power, 3) fame, 4) beauty, 5) wisdom and 6) renunciation.

One who possesses all these six opulences simultaneously and possesses them to an unlimited degree is understood to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Parasara Muni, a great Vedic authority describes these opulences of God. We have seen many rich, powerful, famous, beautiful, learned and learned people; we have seen many people who belong to the renounced order of life and who are detached from material possessions, but we have never seen anyone like Krishna in the history of mankind, who was simultaneously and unlimitedly rich, powerful, famous, beautiful , wise and unattached. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a historical personage who appeared on this planet five thousand years ago and behaved just like a human being; but its activities were unparalleled, from the very moment of its appearance to the moment of its disappearance. Each of His activities is unique in the history of the world, and therefore one who knows what we mean by the word "God" will accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to God, and no one is greater than Him. That is the meaning of the familiar proverb “God is great.”

Krishna consciousness means the art of concentrating our attention on God and giving him our love. Many people think that they will be happy by promoting the cause of moral principles and religious rites, others think that they will be happy through economic development, and others through sense gratification, but the truth is that people can only be happy loving God or Krishna. And all the great representatives of God in different cultures like Jesus Christ, Srila Prabhupada, Mohammed, Confucius, etc, preach this truth: Love God above all things, and your neighbor as yourself. Krishna consciousness is not a sectarian but universal process, and is practiced all over the world, Srila Prabhupada always said that Krishna consciousness is simple for the simple-hearted and for those who are serious and sincere and it is complicated for those with simple hearts. twisted mind. Although the origin of Krishna consciousness is India, punya bhumi the land of piety, the caste system ruined the whole spiritual culture of India, so Srila Prabhupada came to the West to preach Krishna consciousness and then went to India with its Western disciples and Hindus were very surprised that Westerners out of love for God chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. It is very interesting what Srila Prabhupada says in the introduction to the Bhagavad Gita about the difference between faith and sanatana dharma, faith can change, we see that a Christian becomes a Muslim, or he becomes a Hindu, or vice versa, but sanatana dharma it does not change, sanatana means eternal, and dharma means duty, the eternal duty of the eternal spirit soul is to serve God or Krishna and His devotees.

Personally I am very happy and happy to see that so many people are interested in knowing God and loving him, it is a fact that today there is a great spiritual awakening throughout the world, and that there are more and more peaceful dialogues between religions, The other day a friend of mine told me that Pope Francis talked about the law of karma and when Srila Prabhupada was asked what he thought about Jesus Christ, he always said that Jesus Christ is our spiritual master, thank God that we are no longer of the age media in the era of the Inquisition, that for saying that the Earth was round they burned you at the stake, while that was happening in the West in India Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and his associates were discussing the Srimad Bhagavatam that informs us of the nature of all planets of the universe and the distances between all the planets in a scientific way.

Krishna and maya

 Krishna and maya, by Haripada dasa

It is said in The Chaitanya Charitamrita that God or Krishna is compared to sunlight, and maya or ignorance is compared to darkness, wherever there is sunlight there can be no darkness. As soon as one embarks on the path of Krishna consciousness, the darkness of illusion, the influence of external energy, will immediately vanish. Also in The Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that this energy of Mine, maya, 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.

In relation to the subject Srila Prabhupada says in his meaning of the Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra that this atmosphere, in which we now live, is called maya, or illusion. Maya means "what is not". And what is this illusion? The illusion is that we try to be the lords of material nature, when the reality is that we are bound by the shackles of its strict laws. When a servant tries to artificially imitate his almighty master, this is called illusion. Contaminated by this concept of life, we all try to exploit the resources of material nature, but the reality is that we become more and more entangled in its complexities. Therefore, despite our arduous struggle to conquer nature, we depend more on it. This illusory struggle against material nature can be stopped immediately if we revive our Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada always said that the problem with people is that they are not afraid of maya.

Brahmana and Vaisnava

Brahmana and Vaisnava, by Haripada dasa

Srila Prabhupada always said that you have to be Krishna conscious first and then Krishna conscious. A conscious person is one who lives in the mode of goodness, for a person to live in the mode of goodness has to live a life without sins and very strictly follow the 4 regulative principles: 1- Do not eat meat, fish or eggs , 2- No gambling, 3- No illicit sex, only sex with your own wife to procreate and 4- No intoxication, no tea, no coffee, no tobacco and no alcohol. By chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra one will have spiritual strength to follow these four rules and regulations, the first thing Srila Prabhupada did is give the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and by chanting it one obtains the necessary strength and purification to be able to lead a life free from sins and follow the 4 rules and regulations mentioned above. When Srila Prabhupada performed the first initiations in New York, then he put a paper written in his own hand in the temple, on the paper it was said that all initiates must follow these 4 rules and regulations, and the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada what is there to follow those 4 rules and regulations? and Srila Prabhupada very happy replied that they have asked me well, yes you have to follow those 4 rules and regulations.

In the Bhagavatam, 7, 11, 14 the 6 brahminical activities are said, by practicing them one becomes a brahmana: 1- Study the Sacred Scriptures or sastras, 2- Teach the sastras to others, 3- Worship the Deities, 4 - Teach others to worship the Deities, 5- Receive charity, and 6- Give charity.

In the verses of Srimad Bhagavatam, first canto, chapter 2, verses 17 to 21 the entire process of Krishna consciousness is explained in a scientific way. By serving Srila Prabhupada with faith, love, attachment and gratitude one acquires the 26 qualities of a Vaisnava: 1) He is always kind to everyone, 2) He does not seek quarrels, 3) His interest is in the essence of life , which is spiritual, 4) He is fair to everyone, 5) No one can find fault with him, 6) His mind is magnanimous, 7) His mind is always pure, 8) His mind is always sharp, 9) His mind He is always devoid of material obsessions, 10) He is a benefactor to all living entities, 11) He is peaceful, 12) He is always surrendered to Krishna, 13) He has no material desires, 14) He is very humble, 15) He is always fixed on his purpose, 16) He has triumphed over the six material qualities such as lust and anger, 17) He does not eat more than he needs, 18) He is always prudent, 19) He is always respectful of others, 20) He does not demand respect for himself, 21) He is serious, 22) He is merciful, 23) He is friendly, 24) He is poetic, 25) He is expert and 26) He is silent. (The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Chapter XII, The Devotee).

Share, Part 2

 Share, Part 2, by Haripada dasa

I share that yesterday I saw a video of Srila Prabhupada that spoke of swans and crows, this is very interesting, pure devotees of God or Krishna are compared to swans, swans have the ability to extract from a mixture of milk and water only milk and leave the water, likewise the pure devotees of God or Krishna have the ability to extract the spiritual part of everything and leave the material part, swans like to live in clean places, with clear water full of lotus flowers, likewise pure devotees of God or Krishna like good philosophy, take food offered to God or Krishna, go to temples where there is a peaceful atmosphere with incense, crows do not like that, People who are like crows do not like that, they go to dirty places, where meat, fish and eggs are eaten, nightclubs, where there is alcohol and drugs, it is a practical fact that birds of the same plumage fly together, crows they don't go where the swans, they don't like it, and swans don't go where crows are, they don't like it, another difference between people who are like swans and those who are like crows is that pure devotees of God or Krishna are free from lust and of greed, and those who are like ravens, are full of lust and greed.

Once some reporters went to do an interview with Srila Prabhupada, one of them told him that all great spiritual personalities like you do great miracles, what miracles you have done, Srila Prabhupada was surrounded by his disciples and he replied that you see all these people Before coming to Krishna consciousness they were addicted to all kinds of sinful activities, they ate meat, fish and eggs, they were addicted to alcohol and drugs, they played games of chance and they also had illicit sex, they were like crows, now They are swans, now they only eat prasada or food offered to God or Krishna, they only drink pure water, they do not play games of chance because they are completely satisfied with what they have, and if they marry they only have sex to procreate and if not they practice celibacy, Turning crows into swans seems a little miracle.

The false ego

 The false ego, by Haripada dasa

When a soul does not surrender to God or Krishna, he lives full of ignorance and acts in the false ego possessed by the illusion of "I" and "mine". Such a person is considered a mean rogue because he is believing that he is the creator, that the world is his, that he is the creator of his destiny and the enjoyer of the fruits of his activities; that he is his own protector and maintainer; that these are his wife, brothers, son and daughters, and that by his own effort he will be able to achieve all perfection and glory. Such people are proud of the power of their knowledge; not considering the control of the Lord, they believe that by their own brain they can increase and expand the arts and science.

In Srimad Bhagavatam it is said not to be a father, mother, public leader and spiritual master if you are not able to free your dependents from the cycle of birth and death. The cause of all the violence in the world on a personal and collective level is the false ego.

These people, if they can hear the glories of the Name of God or Krishna, they do not believe them but they do so out of social custom. Being hypocrites and cheaters, they may chant the shadowed Name, but they will never attain prema or pure love for God or Krishna. This offense is due to being strongly attached to maya or ignorance, and liberation is very difficult.

Believe the creator, the giver, the protector; possessor of a body and a house, offspring and a wife; feeling like a brahmana or priest or sudra or worker, husband or wife, king or citizen, all these have to be rejected

Ego means identity or personality and when we identify with something that we are not, that is called a false ego. The false ego is what binds us to this material world, now one can ask how I detach myself from the false ego, when one serves a representative of God with faith, love, attachment and gratitude, the false ego disappears and one is situated in the true ego and becomes an expert in happiness. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura always said that the false ego is very subtle and the subtlest thing about the false ego is identification with religion, everyone says I am a Christian, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew, I am a Hindu, I am Hare Krishna , etc., but everything is pure hypocrisy, nobody practices anything, the true ego is that I am an eternal spiritual soul, eternal loving servant of God and His devotees and when one is situated in his constitutional position he is happy, if not one lives in sheer ignorance there will be much suffering. One's egoism must be aimed at going back to Godhead.