The Teachings of Srila Prabhupada
Date: 2 Jan 2017
All glories to the assembled devotees.

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

We will sing Radhe Jaya Jaya Madhava Dayite written by Rupa Goswami. In this song, Rupa Goswami has described the glories of Srimati Radharani and requested Her to shower Her mercy upon him.

radhe jaya jaya madhava-dayite gokula-taruni-mandala-mahite

O Radha! O beloved of Madhava! O You who are worshiped by all the young girls of Gokula! All glories unto You! All glories unto You!

damodara-rati-vardhana-vese hari-nishkuta-vrinda-vipinese
vrishabhanudadhi-nava-sasi-lekhe lalita-sakhi gunaa-ramita-visakhe
karunam kuru mayi karuna-bharite sanaka-sanatana-varnaita-carite

You who dress Yourself in such a way as to increase Lord Damodara’s love and attachment for You! O queen of Vrndavana, which is the pleasure grove of Lord Hari! O new moon that has arisen from the ocean of King Vrsabhanu! O friend of Lalita! O You who make Visakha loyal to You due to Your wonderful qualities of friendliness, kindness, and faithfulness to Krsna! O You who are filled with compassion! O You whose divine characteristics are described by the great sages Sanaka and Sanatana! O Radha, please be merciful to me!

om namo bhagvate vasudevya

Srila Prabhupada ki…jai. I once again thank you all for coming for the katha.

vayam tu na vitrpyama uttama-sloka-vikrame
yac chrnvatam rasa-jñanam svadu svadu pade pade (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.19)

One can never be satiated even though one continuously hears the transcendental pastimes of Krsna, who is glorified by excellent prayers. Those who have entered into a transcendental relationship with Krsna relish the descriptions of the pastimes of the Lord at every step.

We are trying to sing the glories of Srila Prabhupada.

vaisnavera kriya mudra vijneha na bujhaya — however learned or intelligent a person may be, he cannot understand the activities of a vaisnava. [CC. Madhya lila 23.39]

We are the people of the world, so we can understand the people of this world. But understanding the Mahabhagavats and the Lord’s realization is also difficult.

ahah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih
sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah (CC Madhya 17.136)

No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Sri Krsna through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.

To understand nama, rupa, guna, lila of Lord is difficult and the polluted senses can never understand them. Serve the Lord with the tongue; sing the glories of the Lord then there will be ceto darpan marajanam. The mind and the senses will be purified.

samo damas tapah saucam ksantir arjavam eva ca
jñanam vijñanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam (Bhagavad Gita 18.42)

Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness-these are the qualities by which the brahmanas work.

These qualities are manifest in the body of a Vaisnava. Therefore a perfect Vaisnava is also a perfect brahmana, as indicated by the words brahmanyah sila-sampannah.(SB 7.4.31-32) A Vaisnava is always determined to understand the Absolute Truth, and to understand the Absolute Truth one needs to have full control over his senses and mind. Prahlada Maharaja possessed all these qualities.

Control the senses and the mind and of course, intelligence, the driver of our life.

yantrarudhani mayaya

This body is a machine made of the material energy and in that machine a soul is sitting. The driver is intelligence. In this analogy, the chariot is the body, the horses are the five senses, the reins in the mouth of the horses is the mind, the charioteer is the intellect, and the passenger seated behind is the soul residing in the body.

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated on a machine, made of the material energy.

tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te (Bhagavad Gita 10.10)

To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

When I was a child, my mother would take me to the temple and say, ‘put your hands together and ask the Lord for buddhi (intelligence)’. I repeated as she said and after some time the Lord gave me the proper intelligence. I joined ISKCON and served Sri Sri Radha Rasa Bihari established by Srila Prabhupada in Juhu.

ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante manusyah partha sarvasah (Bhagavad Gita 4.11)

All of them-as they surrender unto Me-I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha.

Understanding Srila Prabhupada and his caritra is difficult. The thoughts of a man, not his clothes or his external appearance, tell us about his caritra. A Wise man and a fool can be distinguished once he starts talking. To know Srila Prabhupada means to understand his thoughts, his views, his vision and his teachings.

So today’s topic is: Teachings of Srila Prabhupada. About his life. We have been listening for 6 days. I tried to shed some light on his life.

In his pranam mantra we say, namo om visnupadaya. He is the servant of the lotus feet of Visnu. He spreads the holy name all over the world. The mantra only mentions the West and how he saved us from impersonalism and voidism. Buddha preached about voidism and its very dangerous. According to Buddhist philosophy, there is only a void after the completion of this material life, but Bhagavad-Gita teaches differently. Actual life begins after the completion of this material life.

mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa (CC Madhya 6.169)

Srila Vyasadeva presented the Vedanta philosophy for the deliverance of conditioned souls, but if one hears the commentary of Sankaracarya, everything is spoiled. Be careful.

Tukaram maharaja said, ‘advaitachi vani nako kani tyahuni bahira baracha me’,

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattva yaj jñanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate (SB 1.2.11)

Those who are actually knowers of the Absolute Truth know that the Self is realized in three different phases, as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan.

aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah
jnana-vairagyayos caiva sannam bhaga itingana (Visnu Purana 6.5.47)

Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is thus defined by Parasara Muni as one who is complete in the six opulences—who has full strength, fame, wealth, knowledge, beauty, and renunciation. Lord is full of 6 opulences. Lord is jnanavan-knowledgeable . Bhagavad-Gita says, ‘Sri Bhagavan uvaca’, means jnanavan uvacha, He is beautiful – ‘sundar te dhyana’

mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah (SB 1.1.10)

In this iron age of Kali, man has but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed. Our brain is dull so anybody can cheat us. Srila Prabhupada’s teachings are not his teachings, but the teachings of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada would say, ‘Like a post man; just deliver the letter’. So the acarya’s work is to spread the teaching of the Lord as it is.

So Srila Prabhupada was successful because he presented the Lord’s message as it is. Arjuna heard Gita and what was the effect?

nasto mohah smrtir labdha tvat-prasadan mayacyuta
sthito ‘smi gata-sandehah karisye vacanam tava

Arjuna said, My dear Krsna, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy, and I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions. “I’m ready to follow your orders”.

So one who reads Gita presented by Srila Parabhupada has the effect of karisye vacanam tava and crores and millions of souls all over the world are ready to follow the orders of the Lord.

Srila Prabhupada said, ‘We are not God. You are not God. We are the servants of God’. He has introduced us to the service of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada’s mission is for the establishment of dharma.

dharma-sthapana-hetu sadhura vyavahara

A devotee’s behavior establishes the true purpose of religious principles.

aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam
ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita
srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum-artho mahan
sri-caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is worshipped along with His transcendental abode Vrndavana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopis of Vrndavana. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything. Pure love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Lord Caitanya recommended that the greatest achievement of human life is to achieve the grace of the Lord, love of God. He said, prema pumartho mahan: to achieve love of Godhead is the highest perfection of life.

We know there are 4 purusharthas : dharma, artha, kama, moksha. But above all of these is prema purushartha. Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us this fifth prema purushartha; ahaituki bhakti, ‘O Lord give us Your bhakti’.

The goal of every soul is to go back to Godhead, through bhakti bhava. Srila Prabhupada translates bhakti as devotional service. ‘I have lot of devotion’, then show it by serving the Lord.

Dr. N.D.Desai (Srinathji Prabhu) A successful Bombay engineer is no more amongst us. He always found fault in Srila Prabhupada. But after 6 years he understood Srila Prabhupada and soon surrendered unto him. Srila Prabhupada said: “I’m in my books; if anyone wants to know me, then read my books”.

We can get the association of an acarya through vani and vapu seva. When he is present amongst us, we can serve him, that is vapu seva. So vapu is not there, but vani, his books, are always there. We can read them and understand.

we always wondered when seeing Srila Prabhupada reading his own Krsna book. Srila Prabhupada would say, “I didn’t write this book, what ever the Lord said, I wrote. Lord Krsna Himself made me write”. He gave all the credit to the Lord.

Srila Prabhupada is transparent media, through him, we know the Lord. Srila Prabhupada said these books are windows to the spiritual world. It’s also called sastra caksu, direct darsana of the spiritual world. Whatever we want to know about the Lord can be known through his books.

Our acaryas have completed all the experiments in their hearts and given us the books. There is no chance of mental speculation or experimentation.

The FOUR golden rules are :

Books are the basis.
Preaching is the essence.
Utility is the principle.
Purity is the force.

His books are the gifts he has left for us. Guru/Rishi-Rin (Obligations towards Teachers/Sages or Knowledge debt) It’s called, the debt of the rishis.

In Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada said, “Print as many as books as you can, in all languages then Krishna consciousness will spread”. His Guru Maharaja had ordered him to write books in English. So he said to his disciples, “Print as many as books you can in as many as languages as you can.” So his books are translated into 70 languages.

Printing books and distributing books is the basic service of ISKCON. All information is there in his books about the Lord’s abode.

na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama

That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world. It’s all fact, it’s not mythology.

pañcajanyam hrsikeso devadattam dhanañ-jayah
paundram dadhmau maha-sankham bhima-karma vrkodarah

Lord Krsna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell, called Paundra in the battle of Kuruksetra. It’s all historical fact. Gita is the song of the Lord.

It is said that the body is the ratha and the senses are the horses, like that if we mentally speculate then everything is finished.

During my last visit to China I was doing programs in different cities. The entry fee was the purchase of a Bhagavad-Gita. In this manner 1200 Gitas were distributed in China. So they are also reading patram pushpam. No more snake soup; they only drink carnamrita. No more eating mice. They are becoming strict vegetarians. In a country like China, where they eat black and white ant bread, they are now not only vegetarian but also Krsnatarian. They offer the food to the Lord and eat prasada. What to eat, how to eat; Prabhupada taught the whole world.

Food can be in mode of passion, ignorance and goodness, but prasada is beyond the three modes. Prasada is good for your mind, body and soul. Food for soul is prasada.

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. No author has written ‘as it is’. They can’t write that because their Gita is not as it is. Only the Lord’s devotee can talk about the Lord. Everybody is not a devotee even if they dress like that. They are bhukti kami, siddhi kami, all of them are not peaceful.

There are many babas who show some magic. They may also be called dharmic, but they perform yajna. They are kami. They cannot understand the Lord.

krsna-bhakta—niskama, ata eva ‘santa’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami, sakali ‘asanta’

Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jnanis desire liberation, and yogis desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.

Technology has progressed a lot in the West. They are materially strong, but spiritually blind. Srila Prabhupada said, “The West is blind and the East is lame. One is blind and one is lame. They can help each other. Technology of the West and the culture of East can work as a team.” This was Srila Prabhupada’s proposal. Utility is the principle. We are using everything in the service of the Lord: internet, aeroplane, microphones.

Srila Prabhupada was talking with scientists on a morning walk and established a scientist’s community to explain and discuss with them that “Life comes from life; life does not come from matter. Darwin’s theory of evolution says, that some chemical reactions take place and life comes from it. They have no knowledge of life. They say the Amoeba was the first living entity and then evolution took place and the Amoeba became a monkey and then man came into the picture. Srila Prabhupada heard this, he said, “No! No! Darwin may have come from a monkey but we have not. We have come from Brahma. The most evolved first entity was Brahma. He was very intelligent and that is why he had 4 heads.” Scientists say that an explosion caused creation.

aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate (Bhagavad-Gita 10.8)

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.‘I’m the controller of the material creation’. If there is creation, then here must be some creator. HH. Swarupa Damodar Maharaja was a scientist. He spoke to the scientists discussing these topics with them. Now they call this creation, an intelligent design. A design needs some intelligent person.

Srila Prabhupada stressed the 4 regulative principles.

Dharma has four pillars; daya (compassion) is the foundation of Dharma. Meat eating destroys compassion, intoxication destroys austerity, purity is destroyed by illicit sex and truthfulness is destroyed by gambling. No meat eating will establish compassion, no gambling establishes truthfulness, no illicit sex establishes purity, and no intoxication establishes austerity. This is all explained in Srimad-Bhagvatam.

Hare Krsna Kirtana is the dharma of Kali-yuga. The main teaching is this.Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

iti shodashakam namnam, kali-kalmasha-nashanam;
natah parataropayah, sarva-vedeshu drishyate.

The sixteen words-Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare – are especially meant for completely destroying all the contamination of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination of Kali-yuga. There is no alternative in all the Vedas except the chanting of this sixteen-word mantra. It all comes from sastra not and from fertile brain of Srila Prabhupada.

ete camsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam
indrari-vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge (SB 1.3.28)

All the lists of the incarnations of Godhead submitted herewith are either plenary expansions or parts of the plenary expansions of the Supreme Godhead, but Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.”

Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srila Prabhupada has taught this in his books. People think Krsna is one of the 33 crores demigods, pick whichever you like. Krsna is avatari; He is the source of all avatars.

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. So we need to surrender to the Lord.

Prabhupada also gave us Deity worship and Deity worship standards

So all of you read Srila Prabhupada’s books and his lilamrita.
Thank you very much for coming to the katha.
You must be inspired by the katha.
Are you ready to follow Srila Prabhupada now?