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.