Lead by example

 Lead by example, by Haripada dasa

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.

The Supreme Swan

 The Supreme Swan, by Haripada dasa

Once Srila Prabhupada visited one of his temples in the USA, in the house in front of the temple they had painted a great insult against the Hare Krishnas, there he said that the Hare Krishna are a children of ..., so that Srila Prabhupada would not see this when He went out to do his morning walk, he was surrounded by the highest devotees, in one way or another Srila Prabhupada saw the insult and said that this house is the luckiest house in the USA, because it says Krishna, the highest level devotees are called paramahansas, that means the supreme swan, the swan has the ability that from a mixture of water and milk, he will take the milk and will not touch the water, in the same way the devotee who lives in pure goodness has the ability to drink from this world the spiritual part, the positive part, and he never touches the material part or the negative part, in other words, he takes gold even from poison, Srila Prabhupada, Jesus, Srila Haridasa Thakura, etc., envious and ignorant they attack them a lot, in the period Germany's most important story on the first page put a great criticism against Srila Prabhupada, there he said that in Los Angeles, USA, there is a guru who has his disciples like crazy selling his books, while he lives a life full of luxury.

People generally do not understand the pure devotee of God or Krishna, only a pure devotee can understand another pure devotee, in the Bhagavatam, 8.7.44 it is said that great personalities usually accept voluntary sufferings to alleviate the suffering of people common. This is considered to be the highest form of worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is in everyone's heart, and in the purport Srila Prabhupada says that we should strive for that which we cannot attain even if we travel the entire universe. from top to bottom, carried away by the reactions of karma. And what is that? We should strive to be Krishna conscious. When someone tries to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, it should be understood that he is doing the best beneficial activity. Immediately, the Lord is very pleased with him, and if the Lord is pleased with him, what more can he get? It is very possible that the person who has been recognized by the Lord does not ask the Lord for anything, but the Lord, who is in everyone's heart, will give him whatever he wants. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham). And, as stated in this verse, tapyante loka-tāpena sādhavaḥ prāyaśo janāḥ. The best beneficial activity is raising people to Krishna consciousness, for the suffering of conditioned souls is solely due to their lack of Krishna consciousness.

Cheers up! Srila Prabhupada instructed us and said that everyone should follow Jayananda prabhu's example, let's all try to obey this instruction together and make Jagat-guru Srila Prabhupada Mahasaya happy, and not do anything that displeases him.

The authentic anti-system

 The authentic anti-system, by Haripada dasa

Everyone thinks that I am this body and that the goal of life is to satisfy my senses to the fullest, the authentic anti-system for this is that I am not the body but an eternal spiritual soul, and that the mission of human life is know God or Krishna and love him and go back to Godhead.

Nobody believes in God, that is why it is said that the only God that does not have atheists is money, the authentic antisystem for this is to fulfill the vow of the initiate and chant at least 27,648 Holy Names of God every day. This with practice takes an hour and a half to two.

Everyone has sex like dogs, pigs, camels and donkeys, the real anti-system for this is celibacy, the result of practicing celibacy is that one has a lot of body shine, health, a lot of memory and longevity.

To forget the suffering or to extinguish the penalties, everyone takes alcohol and drugs, we are already quite intoxicated by being in contact with the matter, the real antisystem for this is to drink only mineral water.

Everyone lusts for money and that is why everyone plays games of chance, the real anti-system for this is to get used to depending on God, in the end everyone has what they deserve.

Almost everyone eats meat, fish and eggs, the real anti-system for this is to have a vegetarian diet, personally I have been on this diet since 1983 and I do not know what it is to be sick, and to spiritualize food I offer it to God or Krishna in my temple.

After evacuating almost everyone cleans the anus with toilet paper, the real anti-system for this is to clean the anus with water, it is cleaner than the mouth, in India everyone does that.

On politics, Srila Prabupada always said that if the political heads or executives of the state are only interested in themselves, they will never be able to look after the well-being of the citizens. Srila Prabhupada always said that those who fear these hellish politicians take refuge in the Krishna consciousness process.

Another point that we have to understand is that to know and love God the person must be pure and without sins, sinful people only understand that suffering is happiness.

Our mission

 Our mission, by Haripada dasa

As I understand it the mission of those people who have full faith that Srila Prabhupada is the way, the truth and the life, and if someone goes back home back to God or Krishna, it is by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada It is helping each other to obey Srila Prabhupada's instructions and free ourselves from doubts, the result of doing this is that we will live with Srila Prabhupada, acquire his qualities and qualify ourselves to go back home, back to Godhead. In relation to this it is very interesting what Srila Prabhupada says in the Bhagavatam, 5, 12, 13, there he says that this movement for Kṛishṇa consciousness has been founded to engage people in the service and glorification of the Lord the twenty-four hours of the day. In this institution, students engage in Kṛishṇa consciousness cultivation from five in the morning until ten at night. That way they don't have a chance to waste time unnecessarily talking about politics, sociology and current affairs. All this follows its own course. The devotee is only interested in serving Kṛishṇa in a serious and positive way.

Another point is that we always have to emphasize strictly following the spiritual standards given by Srila Prabhupada, here everyone chants his 16 offense-free rounds of the Maha Mantra Hare Krishna, everyone follows the 4 regulative principles very strictly, 1, do not eat meat, fish or eggs, 2, no illicit sex, only sex is allowed to procreate and with one's wife, 3, no gambling, and 4, no tea, coffee, alcohol, drugs, etc., all sing the three gayatris daily, everyone follows Ekadasis, Purusottama month, Chaturmasya, Kartika Vrata, appearances and disappearances of the Supreme Lord and His devotees, everyone avoids bad association and is always happy and eager to associate with serious and sincere devotees of Srila Prabhupada, they always wear the tilaka marks on their body, they always have Srila Prabhupada at the center of their lives and they help people to put Srila Prabhupada at the center of their lives and every day they read in the morning and p Hearing Srila Prabhupada's books at night, they only eat Krishna prasada, food offered to Srila Prabhupada, Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Here everyone obeys the instructions given by Srila Prabhupada in his books on how we should use our hard earned wealth, Srila Prabhupada gives the example of Srila Rupa Goswami, when he retired from service to the Muslim government and surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu divided his wealth into three parts. 1-50 percent gave it to the Brahmanas and Vaisnavas, 25 percent for their relatives and the other 25 percent for personal emergencies, by practicing this a transcendental atmosphere is created and egoism is destroyed. Here nobody speculates, we understand and accept that a person is speculating, when he does things in a capricious way without relying on the Guru, Sadhu and Sastra.

In the Iskcon as it is only the original books of Srila Prabhupada are used, we are totally against all the changes that have been made to the original books of Srila Prabhupada.

Krishna consciousness

 Krishna consciousness, by Haripada dasa

When Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1965 in New York, a friend of his told him why he did not put God consciousness instead of Krishna, and Srila Prabhupda replied that Dio is somewhat vague, but Krishna is something concrete, and if someone does not know that Krishna is God, come here and we will explain it to them.

In the preface to Krishna's book Srila Prabhupada explains why Krishna is God: Now, one can ask the question why is Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The answer is, because He conforms exactly and in detail to the descriptions of the Supreme Being, the Divine, 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 possesses great wealth, then he becomes an attractive person 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 detached from all kinds of possessions, he also becomes an attractive person. Thus, from practical experience we can observe 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 who 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 detached. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is a historical person who appeared on this planet five thousand years ago and behaved just like a human being; but his activities were unparalleled, from the moment of his appearance to the moment of his disappearance. Each of their activities is unique in the history of the world, and consequently whoever knows what we mean by the word "God" will accept Krishna 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 family proverb "God is great."

Krishna consciousness means the art of focusing our attention on God and giving him our love. Many people think that they will be happy promoting the cause of moral principles and religious rites, others think that they will be happy in 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, Muhammad, Confucius, etc. preach this truth: Love God above all things, and your neighbor as yourself. Krishna consciousness is not a sectarian but a universal process, and it 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 of twisted mind. Although the origin of Krishna consciousness is India, punya bhumi the land of piety, the caste system ruined the entire 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 full 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 Muslim, or becomes Hindu, or vice versa, but sanatana dharma it does not change, sanatana means eternal, and dharma means duty, the eternal duty of the eternal spiritual 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 spoke 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 we are no longer of the age In the middle of the Inquisition era, 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.