Self-destructive behaviors

Posted on January 11, 2006 Author: Hansadutta das

Self-destructive behaviors take place under impulse, impelled by spirits. When we come to Krishna consciousness, we are asked to give them up, and the way we do that is by chanting Hare Krishna, replacing one habit with another, inviting the Supreme Spirit Krishna to enter in. He wards off everyone else as long as we stay faithful to Him. Nothing can take place without the living force. It is behind every material phenomenon.

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The historical perspective

Posted on January 6, 2006 Author: Hansadutta das

We must not allow ourselves, this Krishna consciousness movement, to be equated with or drawn into the same arena with Islam, Judaism, Christianity, etc. as if all are on the same playing field. People look at us as if we belong to “just another religion”—”What religion are you? I’m Christian. Oh, you’re Hare Krishna. That’s nice.” Ordinary people see many different religions. But that is not at all correct. There is only one religion, and the original religious codes known to mankind are the Vedas. The standard for human thought and action in every field, whether government, military and politics, health, mathematics, agriculture, astronomy, poetry, music, art, philosophy—practically every branch of knowledge and human endeavor—is the Vedas. Vedic culture, Vedic knowledge and Vedic religion are the foundation of human civilization, just looking at it from a historical perception. Every other religion is really only a fractional derivative of the original, pure religion. more →

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Without the self-realized soul at its head…

Posted on December 6, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

Radha Govinda Gopal

The heart has reasons that reason fails to understand. (Blaise Pascal)

When the Acharya comes, he gathers around him so many people, but they’re bringing their own baggage and cannot prevail. It seems to be the rule that a collection of disciples can go only so far before there’s an overwhelming of their past.

O well-wisher of the devotees. May you obtain peace! The nature that the living entities have developed, according to their respective karma from birth after birth in this world, influences them to engage in fruitive activities. Until desires opposed to devotional service are destroyed from the heart, no amount of good instruction can bring any auspiciousness. Such instructions will simply come out of the ear-holes and will not enter into the heart. No amount of preaching to them or discussing devotional service will produce a good result because of their bad karma. Your discourses and discussions will therefore not yield any result. My order to you is that you should live at the place where I kept My dear Haridasa and where I loudly chanted the holy names of the Lord. You should constantly sing the glories of the holy names for the benefit of the fallen souls. As a result of the piety that people will achieve by hearing from you, and the faith they will develop, they will attain unduplicitious faith in pure devotional service in a future lifetime. (Mahaprabhu to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Sri Bhaktivinoda Vani Vaibhava)

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Prayer and the answer to prayer

Posted on November 6, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

Unless one is completely disappointed in every relationship of love, friendship and society, it is impossible to be completely surrendered to the will of the Lord, without which it is impossible to chant His HOLY NAME, and without actually chanting the Holy Name purely, it is impossible to preach Krishna consciousness, which depends primarily on the offenseless chanting of the Holy Name. One who does not have the Name certainly cannot initiate others into the chanting of the Holy Name. more →

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The disciple is expected to become a pure devotee

Posted on November 6, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

To worship Srila Prabhupada (Prabhupada in the center) as the only Acharya means to first of all be an obedient disciple (discipline of 4 regulative principles, 16 rounds). Simply to perform the ritual of guru-puja or mouth the appropriate prayers is not enough. There must first be OBEDIENCE and DISCIPLINE, then SERVICE, and that service must be to “do as he did.” more →

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What’s cooking?

Posted on October 3, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

The shastras are like cookbooks full of recipes—formulas, rituals and procedures. But unless one gets the guidance and association of a chef and actually cooks, he is never sure if what he is cooking is right or wrong.

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Steaming hot stool

Posted on October 3, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

It is absolutely the most essential aim of the preacher to completely destroy any and all hope and expectation of even the most trivial expectations of happiness or meaningfulness of anything material. It must be seen as repulsive as steaming hot stool for the candidate to continue to harbor and pursue the notion that there is anything of merit or gain in any materially motivated activity of this world.

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You get the whole thing

Posted on September 28, 2005 Author: Hansadutta das

(from a conversation, 11 June 2003)

The difference between the conditioned soul and the liberated soul is that the conditioned soul only wants a certain part of the whole, he does not want the whole thing, whereas the liberated soul accepts whatever Krishna throws at him, recognizing it to be the whole thing, including Krishna, who is everything. The conditioned soul is like a man going to a car sales lot and asking to buy just the tire, or just the hood ornament on a car. The salesman says, “But I can’t sell you just the tire or just the hood ornament. If you buy the car, the tire and the hood ornament come with it, you get everything.”

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