View source for Aural reception

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{{terms|"aural receiver"|"aural reception"|"aurally receive"|"aurally receives"|"aurally receiving"|"received aurally"}}
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{{compiler|Visnu Murti|Mayapur}}
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{{first|15Sep11}}
{{last|23Oct11}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=2|SB=25|CC=9|OB=11|Lec=57|Con=11|Let=10}}
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[[Category:Aural Reception|1]]
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" class="section" sec_index="0" parent="compilation" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is"><h2>Bhagavad-gita As It Is</h2>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 7 - 12"><h3>BG Chapters 7 - 12</h3>
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<div id="BG715_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_7_-_12" book="BG" index="15" link="BG 7.15" link_text="BG 7.15">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 7.15 (1972)|BG 7.15, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in propagating the bhāgavata-dharma, or activities of the devotees, has recommended that people submissively hear the message of the Personality of Godhead. The essence of this message is Bhagavad-gītā. The lowest amongst human beings can be delivered by this submissive hearing process only, but unfortunately they even refuse to give an aural reception to these messages, and what to speak of surrendering to the will of the Supreme Lord? Narādhamas, or the lowest of mankind, willfully neglect the prime duty of the human being.</p>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_13_-_18" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 13 - 18"><h3>BG Chapters 13 - 18</h3>
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<div id="BG1519_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_13_-_18" book="BG" index="70" link="BG 15.19" link_text="BG 15.19">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 15.19 (1972)|BG 15.19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Vedic knowledge is called śruti, learning by aural reception. One should actually receive the Vedic message from authorities like Kṛṣṇa and His representatives. Here Kṛṣṇa distinguishes everything very nicely, and one should hear from this source. Simply to hear like the hogs is not sufficient; one must be able to understand from the authorities. It is not that one should simply speculate academically. One should submissively hear from Bhagavad-gītā that these living entities are always subordinate to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone who is able to understand this, according to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, knows the purpose of the Vedas; no one else knows the purpose of the Vedas.</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_1" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 1"><h3>SB Canto 1</h3>
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<div id="SB115_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="5" link="SB 1.1.5" link_text="SB 1.1.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.1.5|SB 1.1.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who listen to the Bhāgavatam may put questions to the speaker in order to elicit the clear meaning, but this should not be done in a challenging spirit. One must submit questions with a great regard for the speaker and the subject matter. This is also the way recommended in Bhagavad-gītā. One must learn the transcendental subject by submissive aural reception from the right sources. Therefore these sages addressed the speaker Sūta Gosvāmī with great respect.</p>
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<div id="SB1212_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="35" link="SB 1.2.12" link_text="SB 1.2.12">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.2.12|SB 1.2.12, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, the Supreme Person is realized by devotional service, which is backed by full knowledge and detachment from material association. We have already discussed the point that devotional service is followed by knowledge and detachment from material association. As Brahman and Paramātmā realization are imperfect realizations of the Absolute Truth, so the means of realizing Brahman and Paramātmā, i.e., the paths of jñāna and yoga, are also imperfect means of realizing the Absolute Truth. Devotional service, which is based on the foreground of full knowledge combined with detachment from material association and which is fixed by the aural reception of the Vedānta-śruti, is the only perfect method by which the seriously inquisitive student can realize the Absolute Truth. Devotional service is not, therefore, meant for the less intelligent class of transcendentalist.</p>
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<div id="SB1221_3" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="44" link="SB 1.2.21" link_text="SB 1.2.21">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.2.21|SB 1.2.21, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">He comes to know everything of the absolute and the relative truths. The devotee cannot remain in darkness, and because a devotee is enlightened by the Personality of Godhead, his knowledge is certainly perfect. This is not the case for those who speculate on the Absolute Truth by dint of their own limited power of approach. Perfect knowledge is called paramparā, or deductive knowledge coming down from the authority to the submissive aural receiver who is bona fide by service and surrender. One cannot challenge the authority of the Supreme and know Him also at the same time. He reserves the right of not being exposed to such a challenging spirit of an insignificant spark of the whole, a spark subjected to the control of illusory energy. The devotees are submissive, and therefore the transcendental knowledge descends from the Personality of Godhead to Brahmā and from Brahmā to his sons and disciples in succession. This process is helped by the Supersoul within such devotees. That is the perfect way of learning transcendental knowledge.</p>
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<div id="SB1232_4" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="54" link="SB 1.2.32" link_text="SB 1.2.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.2.32|SB 1.2.32, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As from wood, fire can be manifested, or as butter can be churned out of milk, so also the presence of the Lord as Paramātmā can be felt by the process of legitimate hearing and chanting of the transcendental subjects which are especially treated in the Vedic literatures like the Upaniṣads and Vedānta. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the bona fide explanation of these Vedic literatures. The Lord can be realized through the aural reception of the transcendental message, and that is the only way to experience the transcendental subject. As fire is kindled from wood by another fire, the divine consciousness of man can similarly be kindled by another divine grace. His Divine Grace the spiritual master can kindle the spiritual fire from the woodlike living entity by imparting proper spiritual messages injected through the receptive ear. Therefore one is required to approach the proper spiritual master with receptive ears only, and thus divine existence is gradually realized. The difference between animality and humanity lies in this process only. A human being can hear properly, whereas an animal cannot.</p>
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<div id="SB1513_5" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="144" link="SB 1.5.13" link_text="SB 1.5.13">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.5.13|SB 1.5.13, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">anifest by dint of devotional service. No one else can either know or describe the acts of the Lord, even if they speculate on the subject for many, many years. The descriptions of the Bhāgavatam are so precise and accurate that whatever has been predicted in this great literature about five thousand years ago is now exactly happening. Therefore, the vision of the author comprehends past, present and future. Such liberated persons as Vyāsadeva are perfect not only by the power of vision and wisdom, but also in aural reception, in thinking, feeling and all other sense activities. A liberated person possesses perfect senses, and with perfect senses only can one serve the sense proprietor, Hṛṣīkeśa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa the Personality of Godhead. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, therefore, is the perfect description of the all-perfect Personality of Godhead by the all-perfect personality Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the compiler of the Vedas.</p>
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<div id="SB177_6" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="216" link="SB 1.7.7" link_text="SB 1.7.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.7.7|SB 1.7.7, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Simply by giving aural reception to this Vedic literature, the feeling for loving devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, sprouts up at once to extinguish the fire of lamentation, illusion and fearfulness.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_2" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 2"><h3>SB Canto 2</h3>
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<div id="SB225_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="45" link="SB 2.2.5" link_text="SB 2.2.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.2.5|SB 2.2.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world. A sannyāsī should always live alone, without company, and he must be fearless. He should never be afraid of living alone, although he is never alone. The Lord is residing in everyone's heart, and unless one is purified by the prescribed process, one will feel that he is alone. But a man in the renounced order of life must be purified by the process; thus he will feel the presence of the Lord everywhere and will have nothing to fear (such as being without any company). Everyone can become a fearless and honest person if his very existence is purified by discharging the prescribed duty for each and every order of life. One can become fixed in one's prescribed duty by faithful aural reception of Vedic instructions and assimilation of the essence of Vedic knowledge by devotional service to the Lord.</p>
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<div id="SB2237_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="77" link="SB 2.2.37" link_text="SB 2.2.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.2.37|SB 2.2.37, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who drink through aural reception, fully filled with the nectarean message of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the beloved of the devotees, purify the polluted aim of life known as material enjoyment and thus go back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of Him (the Personality of Godhead).</p>
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<div id="SB2105_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="329" link="SB 2.10.5" link_text="SB 2.10.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.10.5|SB 2.10.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">During the course of the existence of the cosmic manifestation, the chronology of history is created, recording the activities of the living entities. People in general have a tendency to learn the history and narrations of different men and times, but due to a lack of knowledge in the science of Godhead, they are not apt to study the history of the incarnations of the Personality of Godhead. It should always be remembered that the material creation is created for the salvation of the conditioned souls. The merciful Lord, out of His causeless mercy, descends to various planets in the material world and acts for the salvation of the conditioned souls. That makes the history and narrations worth reading. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam offers such transcendental topics of the Lord in relationship with great devotees. Therefore the topics of the devotees and the Lord are to be given respectful aural reception.</p>
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<div id="SB21010_3" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="334" link="SB 2.10.10" link_text="SB 2.10.10">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.10.10|SB 2.10.10, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">When, however, the mūḍhas give submissive and aural reception to the messages of the Lord as in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā or in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam through the channel of disciplic succession, such mūḍhas also become devotees of the Lord by the grace of His pure devotees. And for this reason only, either in the Bhagavad-gītā or in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the pastimes of the Lord in the material world are delineated for the benefit of those men with a poor fund of knowledge.</p>
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<div id="SB21022_4" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="346" link="SB 2.10.22" link_text="SB 2.10.22">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.10.22|SB 2.10.22, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, by advancement of knowledge one should try to know about the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum of everything. Knowledge does not mean knowledge only of the laws of nature or physical knowledge, which are working by the direction of the Lord. The scientists are eager to hear about the physical laws working in material nature. They are eager to hear through the medium of radio and television about things taking place far away from them on other planets, but they should know that the power of hearing and the instruments for hearing were given to them by the Lord for hearing about the Self, or about the Lord. Unfortunately the power of hearing is misused in hearing the vibrations of mundane affairs. The great sages were interested in hearing about the Lord through Vedic knowledge and nothing more. That is the beginning of aural reception of knowledge.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_3" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 3"><h3>SB Canto 3</h3>
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<div id="SB3617_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="211" link="SB 3.6.17" link_text="SB 3.6.17">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.6.17|SB 3.6.17, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The ear is the most important instrument in the body of the living entity. Sound is the most important medium for carrying the message of distant and unknown things. The perfection of all sound or knowledge enters through the ear and makes one's life perfect. The entire Vedic system of knowledge is received by aural reception only, and thus sound is the most important source of knowledge.</p>
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<div id="SB395_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="314" link="SB 3.9.5" link_text="SB 3.9.5">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.9.5|SB 3.9.5, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">For the pure devotee of the Lord there is nothing beyond the lotus feet of the Lord, and the Lord knows that such devotees do not wish anything more than that. The word tu specifically establishes this fact. The Lord also does not wish to be separated from the lotus hearts of those pure devotees. That is the transcendental relationship between the pure devotees and the Personality of Godhead. Because the Lord does not wish to separate Himself from the hearts of such pure devotees, it is understood that they are specifically dearer than the impersonalists. The relationship of the pure devotees with the Lord develops because of devotional service to the Lord on the authentic basis of Vedic authority. Such pure devotees are not mundane sentimentalists, but are factually realists because their activities are supported by the Vedic authorities who have given aural reception to the facts mentioned in the Vedic literatures.</p>
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<div id="SB31937_2" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="762" link="SB 3.19.37" link_text="SB 3.19.37">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.19.37|SB 3.19.37, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Since the Personality of Godhead is in the absolute position, there is no difference between His pastimes and His personality. Anyone who hears about the pastimes of the Lord associates with the Lord directly, and one who associates directly with the Lord is certainly freed from all sinful activities, even to the extent of the killing of a brāhmaṇa, which is considered the most sinful activity in the material world. One should be very eager to hear about the activities of the Lord from the bona fide source, the pure devotee. If one simply gives aural reception to the narration and accepts the glories of the Lord, then he is qualified. The impersonalist philosophers cannot understand the activities of the Lord. They think that all His activities are māyā; therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. Since everything to them is māyā, these narrations are not for them. Some impersonalists are reluctant to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, although many of them are now taking an interest in it just for monetary gain.</p>
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<div id="SB3227_3" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="873" link="SB 3.22.7" link_text="SB 3.22.7">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.22.7|SB 3.22.7, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Manu said that since he was advised and instructed by Kardama Muni, he was very much favored. He considered himself lucky to receive the message by aural reception. It is especially mentioned here that one should be very inquisitive to hear with open ears from the authorized source of the bona fide spiritual master. How is one to receive? One should receive the transcendental message by aural reception. The word karṇa-randhraiḥ means "through the holes of the ears." The favor of the spiritual master is not received through any other part of the body but the ears. This does not mean, however, that the spiritual master gives a particular type of mantra through the ears in exchange for some dollars and if the man meditates on that he achieves perfection and becomes God within six months.</p>
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<div id="SB32435_4" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="991" link="SB 3.24.35" link_text="SB 3.24.35">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.24.35|SB 3.24.35, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Generally, however, people are unable to accept sannyāsa life, and therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu stressed, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva na-sty eva gatir anyathā. In this age there is no other alternative, no other alternative, no other alternative than to chant the holy name of the Lord: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. The main purpose of sannyāsa life is to be in constant companionship with the Supreme Lord, either by thinking of Him within the heart or hearing of Him through aural reception. In this age, hearing is more important than thinking because one's thinking may be disturbed by mental agitation, but if one concentrates on hearing, he will be forced to associate with the sound vibration of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and the sound vibration "Kṛṣṇa" are nondifferent, so if one loudly vibrates Hare Kṛṣṇa, he will be able to think of Kṛṣṇa immediately. This process of chanting is the best process of self-realization in this age; therefore Lord Caitanya preached it so nicely for the benefit of all humanity.</p>
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<div id="SB32632_5" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1077" link="SB 3.26.32" link_text="SB 3.26.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.26.32|SB 3.26.32, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Here it is said that from sound the ether became manifested and that the air became manifested from ether. How the ethereal sky comes from sound, how the air comes from sky and how fire comes from air will be explained later on. Sound is the cause of the sky, and sky is the cause of śrotram, the ear. The ear is the first sense for receiving knowledge. One must give aural reception to any knowledge one wants to receive, either material or spiritual. Therefore śrotram is very important. The Vedic knowledge is called śruti; knowledge has to be received by hearing. By hearing only can we have access to either material or spiritual enjoyment.</p>
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<div id="SB33228_6" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="1339" link="SB 3.32.28" link_text="SB 3.32.28">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.32.28|SB 3.32.28, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In this verse it is clearly said that those who are averse to the Supreme Personality of Godhead speculate with their imperfect senses about the nature of the Absolute Truth. The formless Brahman conception, however, can be received only by aural reception and not by personal experience. Knowledge is therefore acquired by aural reception. It is confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra, śāstra-yonitvāt: one has to acquire pure knowledge from the authorized scriptures. So-called speculative arguments about the Absolute Truth are therefore useless. The actual identity of the living entity is his consciousness, which is always present while the living entity is awake, dreaming or in deep sleep. Even in deep sleep, he can perceive by consciousness whether he is happy or distressed. Thus when consciousness is displayed through the medium of the subtle and gross material bodies, it is covered, but when the consciousness is purified, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one becomes free from the entanglement of repeated birth and death.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_4" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 4"><h3>SB Canto 4</h3>
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<div id="SB42332_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="974" link="SB 4.23.32" link_text="SB 4.23.32">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.23.32|SB 4.23.32, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">To take birth in a family of brāhmaṇas is not the ultimate finishing touch; one must have the power of a brāhmaṇa, which is called brahma-tejas. Similarly, taking birth in a royal family is not the all in all; one must possess the power to rule the world. Similarly, taking birth as a vaiśya is not all; one must possess hundreds or thousands of animals (specifically cows) and rule over other vaiśyas as Nanda Mahārāja did in Vṛndāvana. Nanda Mahārāja was a vaiśya who possessed nine hundred thousand cows and ruled over many cowherd men and boys. A person who is born in a śūdra family can become greater than a brāhmaṇa simply by accepting devotional service and giving aural reception to the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees.</p>
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<div id="SB42913_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_4" book="SB" index="1246" link="SB 4.29.13" link_text="SB 4.29.13">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 4.29.13|SB 4.29.13, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Vedas are known as śruti, and the knowledge received from them through aural reception is called śruta-dhara. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, one can be promoted to the planets of the demigods or to the planets of the Pitās (forefathers), or even to the Vaikuṇṭha planets, simply through the process of hearing. These things have already been explained in previous chapters.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_5" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 5"><h3>SB Canto 5</h3>
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<div id="SB526_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_5" book="SB" index="49" link="SB 5.2.6" link_text="SB 5.2.6">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 5.2.6|SB 5.2.6, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Like a honeybee, the Apsarā smelled the beautiful and attractive flowers. She could attract the minds and vision of both humans and demigods by her playful movements, her shyness and humility, her glances, the very pleasing sounds that poured from her mouth as she spoke, and the motion of her limbs. By all these qualities, she opened for Cupid, who bears an arrow of flowers, a path of aural reception into the minds of men. When she spoke, nectar seemed to flow from her mouth. As she breathed, the bees, mad for the taste of her breath, tried to hover about her beautiful lotuslike eyes. Disturbed by the bees, she tried to move hastily, but as she raised her feet to walk quickly, her hair, the belt on her hips, and her breasts, which were like water jugs, also moved in a way that made her extremely beautiful and attractive. Indeed, she seemed to be making a path for the entrance of Cupid, who is most powerful. Therefore the prince, completely subdued by seeing her, spoke to her as follows.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_7" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 7"><h3>SB Canto 7</h3>
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<div id="SB752324_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_7" book="SB" index="200" link="SB 7.5.23-24" link_text="SB 7.5.23-24">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23-24, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura gives the following explanation in his Tathya. The word śravaṇa refers to giving aural reception to the holy name and descriptions of the Lord's form, qualities, entourage and pastimes as explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā and similar authorized scriptures. After aurally receiving such messages, one should memorize these vibrations and repeat them (kīrtanam). Smaraṇam means trying to understand more and more about the Supreme Lord, and pāda-sevanam means engaging oneself in serving the lotus feet of the Lord according to the time and circumstances. Arcanam means worshiping Lord Viṣṇu as one does in the temple, and vandanam means offering respectful obeisances. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru ([[Vanisource:BG 18.65 (1972)|BG 18.65]]). Vandanam means namaskuru—offering obeisances or offering prayers. Thinking oneself to be nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa, everlastingly a servant of Kṛṣṇa, is called dāsyam, and sakhyam means being a well-wisher of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wants everyone to surrender unto Him because everyone is constitutionally His servant. Therefore, as a sincere friend of Kṛṣṇa, one should preach this philosophy, requesting everyone to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Ātma-nivedanam means offering Kṛṣṇa everything, including one's body, mind, intelligence and whatever one may possess.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_9" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 9"><h3>SB Canto 9</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB91123_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_9" book="SB" index="418" link="SB 9.11.23" link_text="SB 9.11.23">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 9.11.23|SB 9.11.23, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">O King Parīkṣit, anyone who aurally receives the narrations concerning the characteristics of Lord Rāmacandra's pastimes will ultimately be freed from the disease of envy and thus be liberated from the bondage of fruitive activities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB92462_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_9" book="SB" index="866" link="SB 9.24.62" link_text="SB 9.24.62">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 9.24.62|SB 9.24.62, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">When the devotees aurally receive the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as enacted in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they immediately achieve a transcendental vision in which they are no longer interested in materialistic activities. Thus they achieve freedom from the material world. For sense gratification practically everyone is engaged in materialistic activities, which prolong the process of janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi ([[Vanisource:BG 13.8-12 (1972)|BG 13.9]])—birth, death, old age and disease—but the devotee, simply by hearing the message of Bhagavad-gītā and further relishing the narrations of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, becomes so pure that he no longer takes interest in materialistic activities. At the moment, devotees in the Western countries are being attracted by Kṛṣṇa consciousness and becoming uninterested in materialistic activities, and therefore people are trying to oppose this movement.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SB_Canto_101_to_1013" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13"><h3>SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13</h3>
</div>
<div id="SB101038_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_10.1_to_10.13" book="SB" index="399" link="SB 10.10.38" link_text="SB 10.10.38">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 10.10.38|SB 10.10.38, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Henceforward, may all our words describe Your pastimes, may our ears engage in aural reception of Your glories, may our hands, legs and other senses engage in actions pleasing to You, and may our minds always think of Your lotus feet. May our heads offer our obeisances to everything within this world, because all things are also Your different forms, and may our eyes see the forms of Vaiṣṇavas, who are nondifferent from You.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" class="section" sec_index="2" parent="compilation" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"><h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
</div>
<div id="CC_Adi-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Adi-lila"><h3>CC Adi-lila</h3>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi1Summary_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="1" link="CC Adi 1 Summary" link_text="CC Adi 1 Summary">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 1 Summary|CC Adi 1 Summary]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">This edition of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is presented for the study of sincere scholars who are really seeking the Absolute Truth. It is not the arrogant scholarship of a mental speculator but a sincere effort to serve the order of a superior authority whose service is the life and soul of this humble effort. It does not deviate even slightly from the revealed scriptures, and therefore anyone who follows in the disciplic line will be able to realize the essence of this book simply by the method of aural reception.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi783_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="1029" link="CC Adi 7.83" link_text="CC Adi 7.83">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 7.83|CC Adi 7.83, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">A sincere student aurally receives the holy name from the spiritual master, and after being initiated he follows the regulative principles given by the spiritual master. When the holy name is properly served in this way, automatically the spiritual nature of the holy name spreads; in other words, the devotee becomes qualified in offenselessly chanting the holy name. When one is completely fit to chant the holy name in this way, he is eligible to make disciples all over the world, and he actually becomes jagad-guru. Then the entire world, under his influence, begins to chant the holy names of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Thus all the disciples of such a spiritual master increase in attachment for Kṛṣṇa, and therefore he sometimes cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes dances and sometimes chants.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi7102_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="1046" link="CC Adi 7.102" link_text="CC Adi 7.102">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 7.102|CC Adi 7.102, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">There are four different types of human beings—the karmīs, the jñānīs, the yogīs and the devotees. The karmīs are materialistic, whereas the other three are transcendental. The first-class transcendentalists are the devotees who have realized the Supreme Person. The second-class transcendentalists are those who have partially realized the plenary portion of the absolute person. And the third-class transcendentalists are those who have barely realized the spiritual focus of the absolute person. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, the Supreme Person is realized by devotional service which is backed by full knowledge and detachment from material association. We have already discussed the point that devotional service is followed by knowledge and detachment from material association. As Brahman and Paramātmā realization are imperfect realizations of the Absolute Truth, so the means of realizing Brahman and Paramātmā, i.e., the paths of jñāna and yoga, are also imperfect means of realizing the Absolute Truth. Devotional service which is based on the foreground of full knowledge combined with detachment from material association, and which is fixed by dint of the aural reception of the Vedānta-śruti, is the only perfect method by which the seriously inquisitive student can realize the Absolute Truth. Devotional service is not, therefore, meant for the less intelligent class of transcendentalists.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAdi13123_3" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="1693" link="CC Adi 13.123" link_text="CC Adi 13.123">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 13.123|CC Adi 13.123, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"A person who has no connection with Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be a very great personality in so-called human society, but actually he is no better than a great animal. Such big animals are generally praised by other animals like dogs, hogs camels and asses. A person who does not lend his aural reception to hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered to have earholes like holes in a field. Although that person has a tongue, it is like the tongue of a frog, which unnecessarily creates a disturbance by croaking, inviting the snake of death. Similarly, a person who neither takes advantage of the dust of the lotus feet of great devotees nor smells the tulasī leaves offered to the lotus feet of the Lord must be considered dead even though he is supposedly working."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CC_Antya-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Antya-lila"><h3>CC Antya-lila</h3>
</div>
<div id="CCAntya1101_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Antya-lila" book="CC" index="101" link="CC Antya 1.101" link_text="CC Antya 1.101">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Antya 1.101|CC Antya 1.101, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">It is said in the Padma Purāṇa, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 17.136|CC Madhya 17.136]]). Chanting and hearing of the transcendental holy name of the Lord cannot be performed by the ordinary senses. The transcendental vibration of the Lord's holy name is completely spiritual. Thus it must be received from spiritual sources and must be chanted after having been heard from a spiritual master. One who hears the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra must receive it from the spiritual master by aural reception. Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden us to hear the holy name of Kṛṣṇa chanted by non-Vaiṣṇavas, such as professional actors and singers, for it will have no effect.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAntya360_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Antya-lila" book="CC" index="450" link="CC Antya 3.60" link_text="CC Antya 3.60">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Antya 3.60|CC Antya 3.60, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">“If a devotee once utters the holy name of the Lord, or if it penetrates his mind or enters his ear, which is the channel of aural reception, that holy name will certainly deliver him from material bondage, whether vibrated properly or improperly, with correct or incorrect grammar, or properly joined or vibrated in separate parts. O brāhmaṇa, the potency of the holy name is therefore certainly great. However, if one uses the vibration of the holy name for the benefit of the material body, for material wealth and followers, or under the influence of greed or atheism—in other words, if one utters the name with offenses—such chanting will not produce the desired result very soon. Therefore one should diligently avoid offenses in chanting the holy name of the Lord.’”</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAntya3271_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Antya-lila" book="CC" index="658" link="CC Antya 3.271" link_text="CC Antya 3.271">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Antya 3.271|CC Antya 3.271, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">I have described but a fragment of the glories of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Hearing this satisfies the aural reception of every devotee.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAntya1942_3" class="quote" parent="CC_Antya-lila" book="CC" index="2975" link="CC Antya 19.42" link_text="CC Antya 19.42">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Antya 19.42|CC Antya 19.42, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">“The deep vibration of Kṛṣṇa's flute surpasses the thundering of new clouds and attracts the aural reception of the entire world. Thus the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana rise and pursue that sound, drinking the showering nectar of Kṛṣṇa's bodily luster like thirsty cātaka birds.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="CCAntya19107_4" class="quote" parent="CC_Antya-lila" book="CC" index="3040" link="CC Antya 19.107" link_text="CC Antya 19.107">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Antya 19.107|CC Antya 19.107, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">"Topics about Kṛṣṇa are so powerful that they destroy the four religious principles—religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. Anyone who drinks even a small drop of kṛṣṇa-kathā through aural reception is freed from all material attachment and envy. Like a bird with no means of subsistence, such a person becomes a mendicant and lives by begging. Ordinary household affairs become miserable for him, and without attachment he suddenly gives up everything. Although such renunciation is quite suitable, because I am a woman I am unable to adopt it."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
</div>
<div id="Nectar_of_Devotion" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Nectar of Devotion"><h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
</div>
<div id="NOD10_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion" book="OB" index="57" link="NOD 10" link_text="Nectar of Devotion 10">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOD 10|Nectar of Devotion 10]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service is hearing, in Sanskrit called śravaṇam. All people should be given the chance to come and join devotional parties so that they may hear. This hearing is very important for progressing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When one links his ears to give aural reception to the transcendental vibrations, he can quickly become purified and cleansed in the heart. Lord Caitanya has affirmed that this hearing is very important. It cleanses the heart of the contaminated soul so that he becomes quickly qualified to enter into devotional service and understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="NOD10_1" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion" book="OB" index="57" link="NOD 10" link_text="Nectar of Devotion 10">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOD 10|Nectar of Devotion 10]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">In the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 40, the importance of hearing of the pastimes of the Lord is stated by Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit: "My dear King, one should stay at a place where the great ācāryas (holy teachers) speak about the transcendental activities of the Lord, and one should give aural reception to the nectarean river flowing from the moonlike faces of such great personalities. If someone eagerly continues to hear such transcendental sounds, then certainly he will become freed from all material hunger, thirst, fear and lamentation, as well as all illusions of material existence."</p>
<p>Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also recommended this process of hearing as a means of self-realization in the present age of Kali. In this age it is very difficult to follow thoroughly the regulative principles and studies of the Vedas which were formerly recommended. However, if one gives aural reception to the sound vibrated by great devotees and ācāryas, that alone will give him relief from all material contamination. Therefore it is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu that one should simply hear from authorities who are actually devotees of the Lord. Hearing from professional men will not help. If we hear from those who are actually self-realized, then the nectarean rivers, like those which are flowing on the moon planet, will flow into our ears. This is the metaphor used in the above verse.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="NOD10_2" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion" book="OB" index="57" link="NOD 10" link_text="Nectar of Devotion 10">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOD 10|Nectar of Devotion 10]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, "A materialistic person can give up his material hankerings only by becoming situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Unless one finds a superior engagement, he will not be able to give up his inferior engagement. In the material world everyone is engaged in the illusory activities of the inferior energy, but when one is given the opportunity to relish the activities of the superior energy performed by Kṛṣṇa, then he forgets all his lesser pleasures. When Kṛṣṇa speaks on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, to the materialistic person it appears that this is simply talk between two friends, but actually it is a river of nectar flowing down from the mouth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna gave aural reception to such vibrations, and thus he became freed from all the illusions of material problems.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="NOD33_3" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion" book="OB" index="268" link="NOD 33" link_text="Nectar of Devotion 33">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOD 33|Nectar of Devotion 33]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">An instance of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception occurred when Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about Kṛṣṇa's killing Narakāsura, who had been fighting Kṛṣṇa with eleven akṣauhiṇī divisions of soldiers. Each division of akṣauhiṇī soldiers contained several thousand elephants, several thousand horses and chariots and several hundreds of thousands of infantry soldiers. Narakāsura possessed eleven such divisions, and all of them were throwing arrows toward Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa killed them all, simply by throwing three arrows from His side. When Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard of this wonderful victory, he immediately rubbed the tears from his eyes and became overwhelmed with joy. This instance is an example of astonishment in devotional service by indirect perception through aural reception.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Nectar_of_Instruction" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Nectar of Instruction"><h3>Nectar of Instruction</h3>
</div>
<div id="NOI3_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Instruction" book="OB" index="4" link="NOI 3" link_text="Nectar of Instruction 3">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOI 3|Nectar of Instruction 3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Śravaṇam, or hearing, is the first step in acquiring transcendental knowledge. One should not give aural reception to unauthorized persons, but should approach the proper person, as recommended in Bhagavad-gītā (4.34):</p>
:tad viddhi praṇipātena
:paripraśnena sevayā
:upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
:jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
<p>"Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Easy_Journey_to_Other_Planets" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Easy Journey to Other Planets"><h3>Easy Journey to Other Planets</h3>
</div>
<div id="EJ1_0" class="quote" parent="Easy_Journey_to_Other_Planets" book="OB" index="2" link="EJ 1" link_text="Easy Journey to Other Planets 1">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:EJ 1|Easy Journey to Other Planets 1]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">During that time of partial annihilation, the topmost planets such as Brahmaloka are not annihilated, but at the end of each duration of 4,300,000 x 1,000 x 2 x 30 x 12 x 100 solar years, the entire cosmic manifestation is merged into the anti-material body from whence the material principles emanate, manifest and merge after annihilation. The anti-material world, which is far removed from the material sky, is never annihilated. It absorbs the material world. It may be that a "clash" occurs between the material and anti-material worlds, as suggested by the scientists, and that the material worlds are destroyed, but there is no annihilation of the anti-material worlds. The eternally existing anti-material world is unmanifested to the material scientist. He can simply have information of it insofar as the principles of its existence are contrary to the modes of the material world. Full details of the anti-material universe can be known only from the infallible source of liberated authorities who have thoroughly realized the constitution of the anti-material principle. This information is received by aural reception by a submissive disciple of the Personality of Godhead.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Krsna_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead"><h3>Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead</h3>
</div>
<div id="KB52_0" class="quote" parent="Krsna,_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" book="OB" index="56" link="KB 52" link_text="Krsna Book 52">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:KB 52|Krsna Book 52]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Devotees of Kṛṣṇa are always eager to hear about the transcendental activities of the Lord. His activities of fighting, kidnapping and running away from the battlefield are all transcendental, being on the absolute platform, and devotees take a transcendental interest in hearing of them. The pure devotee does not make the distinction that some activities of the Lord should be heard and others avoided. There is, however, a class of so-called devotees known as prākṛta-sahajiyās who are very much interested in hearing about Kṛṣṇa's rāsa-līlā with the gopīs but not about His fighting with His enemies. They do not know that His bellicose activities and His friendly activities with the gopīs are equally transcendental, being on the absolute platform. All the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are relished by pure devotees through submissive aural reception. They do not reject even a drop.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="KB87_1" class="quote" parent="Krsna,_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" book="OB" index="91" link="KB 87" link_text="Krsna Book 87">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:KB 87|Krsna Book 87]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Intelligent persons factually dip into the ocean of Your nectarean activities and very patiently hear about them. Thus they are immediately freed from the contamination of the material qualities; they do not have to undergo severe penances and austerities for advancement in spiritual life. This chanting and hearing of Your transcendental pastimes is the easiest process for self-realization. Simply by submissive aural reception of the transcendental message, one's heart is cleansed of all dirty things. Thus Kṛṣṇa consciousness becomes fixed in the heart of a devotee.” The great authority Bhīṣmadeva has also given the opinion that this process of chanting and hearing about the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the highest religious process. And the Taittirīya Upaniṣad says that worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the essence of all Vedic ritualistic performances.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="KB89_2" class="quote" parent="Krsna,_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" book="OB" index="93" link="KB 89" link_text="Krsna Book 89">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:KB 89|Krsna Book 89]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who are actually eager to be liberated from material entanglement would do well to accept at once the conclusion given by Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. In the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, it is said that hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is extremely conducive to liberation. The same fact is now confirmed by Sūta Gosvāmī: if anyone who is traveling aimlessly within this material world cares to hear the nectarean words spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, certainly he will come to the right conclusion, which is that simply by discharging devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead one will be able to stop the fatigue of perpetually migrating from one material body to another. In other words, one who becomes fixed in loving devotional service to Viṣṇu will certainly be able to get relief from this journey of material life, and the process is very simple: one has to give aural reception to the sweet words spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the form of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Message_of_Godhead" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Message of Godhead"><h3>Message of Godhead</h3>
</div>
<div id="MOGIntroduction_0" class="quote" parent="Message_of_Godhead" book="OB" index="1" link="MOG Introduction" link_text="Message of Godhead Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:MOG Introduction|Message of Godhead Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">However, if we keep our doors and windows shut when the sun rises in the morning, surely the rays of the sun will not enter into our somber room. In the same way, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His confidential servants manifest themselves and preach the message of Godhead, we must not shut the doors and windows of our body and mind; otherwise, the light emanating from the Lord and His servants shall not enter into us. The lights that emanate from such transcendental sources generally enter into us by our aural reception. So only if we are ready to offer a submissive aural reception to the message of Godhead can we know Godhead as He is and our relationship with Him as it is. This message of Godhead is presented herewith in that transcendental spirit, for the benefit of people in general and real seekers of truth in particular. We do not know how far we shall be successful in our tiny attempt, but we must always apologize for all our defects in this respect.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Isopanisad" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Sri Isopanisad"><h3>Sri Isopanisad</h3>
</div>
<div id="ISOIntroduction_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad" book="OB" index="1" link="ISO Introduction" link_text="Sri Isopanisad Introduction">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:ISO Introduction|Sri Isopanisad Introduction]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Vedic knowledge is called śabda-pramāṇa. Another name is śruti. Śruti means that this knowledge has to be received simply by aural reception. The Vedas instruct that in order to understand transcendental knowledge, we have to hear from the authority. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge from beyond this universe. Within this universe is material knowledge, and beyond this universe is transcendental knowledge. We cannot even go to the end of the universe, so how can we go to the spiritual world? Thus to acquire full knowledge is impossible.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBGIntroductionNewYorkFebruary19201966_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="1" link="Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966|Lecture on BG Introduction -- New York, February 19-20, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore Bhagavad-gītā should be taken up in a spirit of devotee of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. One should not think that he is equal, on the same level of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or one should not think that He is an ordinary personality, maybe a very great personality. No. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So at least theoretically, on the statement of Bhagavad-gītā or on the statement, assertion of Arjuna, the person who is trying to understand the Bhagavad-gītā, we should accept Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and then, with that submissive spirit... Unless one receives this Bhagavad-gītā in a submissive spirit and aural reception, it is very difficult to understand Bhagavad-gītā because it is a great mystery.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG23LondonAugust41973_1" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="36" link="Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973|Lecture on BG 2.3 -- London, August 4, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Ādi, that is the beginning, but form, activities. Just like śravanaṁ kīrtanam ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]). So śravanaṁ kīrtanam, glorifying or describing about Kṛṣṇa... So He has got His form. So nāma means name, and then, rūpa means form. Nāma, rūpa... Līlā means pastimes; guṇa means quality; entourage, his associates; all these... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 17.136|CC Madhya 17.136]]). Na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. By ordinary senses we cannot understand... Either Śrī Kṛṣṇa's name... We are hearing our, through the aural reception, Kṛṣṇa's name, but if we keep our ear without purification... Of course, by hearing, it will be purified. We have to help. Help means to avoid the offenses, ten kinds of offenses. So in this way we shall help the purificatory process. Just like if I want to ignite fire, so I must help the igniting process by drying the wood. It will very soon get fire. Similarly, simply chanting, that will help us also. It will take time. But if we avoid the offenses, then it will be very quickly purified. The action will be there.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG213ManilaOctober121972_2" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="61" link="Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972|Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Then how you can make experiment the Supreme Father, God? That is not possible. Simply you have to hear from the authoritative sources. But you can make some experiment. But that is not very important thing. The important thing is to hear from the authorized person. That is important. Therefore, Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means aural reception. You have to hear. Just like when you are sleeping, all your other senses are not active. But ear, if somebody is coming, your enemy, to hurt you, and your friend says, "Mr. such-and-such, wake up, wake up," so you can hear and you wake up and see that somebody is coming. So the ear is very important. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). Anyone who has heard perfectly from the disciplic succession of spiritual master, he is perfect. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. Ācārya means... Ācāryavān, vān means possession. One who has possessed an authorized spiritual master, he knows. He knows. Veda, Veda means knowledge, knows.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG218HyderabadNovember231972_3" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="79" link="Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972|Lecture on BG 2.18 -- Hyderabad, November 23, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">There is no difference with Kṛṣṇa and His name. Kṛṣṇa is Absolute. Therefore there is no distinction between Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's quality, Kṛṣṇa's entourage, Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, from Kṛṣṇa. Everything is Kṛṣṇa. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then you should know that you are touching Kṛṣṇa by aural reception. If you see Kṛṣṇa the Deity, that means you are seeing personally Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He can accept your service, any way. Because He is everything. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam ([[Vanisource:ISO 1|ISO 1]]). His energy. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. Everything's Kṛṣṇa's energy. So if we are in touch with Kṛṣṇa's energy, with a little knowledge, we are directly in touch with Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. As you become constantly in touch with Kṛṣṇa, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you become purified. Purified. Just like if you put one iron rod in the fire, it becomes warm, warmer, warmer, and at last it becomes red hot. When it is red hot, it is fire. It is no more iron rod. Similarly, if you keep always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you become Kṛṣṇized. This is the process. Then everything becomes purified; then your spiritual life is manifested. Then your life is successful.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG24951NewYorkApril51966_4" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="108" link="Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966|Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Kaunteya means the son of Kuntī. So, "O My dear son of Kuntī, anyone who knows perfectly about the Lord's incarnation, why does He come, what are His activities, and what is His original constitution, form, etc., the science of God—if anyone knows, simply by knowing, simply by knowing..., the theoretical knowledge..." What is his profit? Simply by knowing... Now, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti: ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]) "Then for him the profit is that after giving up this body, he hasn't got to take birth again in this material form." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti: ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]) "He comes directly to Me." Simply by knowing. Just like you are coming here. Apart from doing any practical work... If you do some practical work, oh, it is very, very nice. Even if you do not know any practical work, simply you give your reception, aural reception, submissive aural reception, and understand that what is the nature of God, what is the nature of our self, what is the relation between God and myself, what is this world, what is my relation with this world, so many things, simply if you hear and have an idea, then, even then, you'll be free from this material bondage. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG479NewYorkJuly221966_5" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="146" link="Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966|Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Because He is a friend of all saintly persons. He's a friend. So our endeavor to become Kṛṣṇa conscious is a saintly endeavor, and so He also cooperates.</p>
<p>And this is the process, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]), chanting and hearing of this Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with aural reception, submissive aural reception. That very process will teach us the truth of the Kṛṣṇa science, and when we understand the Kṛṣṇa science, automatically we understand what is Kṛṣṇa, and as soon as we understand Kṛṣṇa, the next result is that after leaving this material, this present material body, we go at once to the kingdom of Kṛṣṇa. This is the whole process. Tyaktvā deham, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya ([[Vanisource:BG 4.9 (1972)|BG 4.9]]). Then he does not come again to this miserable world. He goes back to Godhead, back to home.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonBG479NewYorkJuly221966_6" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="146" link="Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966|Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So everyone's duty is that he should take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness by engaging himself in this process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]), chanting and hearing, the simple process. You have nothing to do. Simply if you give aural reception, that will clear everything within your mind, and you, you'll get enlightenment because Kṛṣṇa will help you. He's present within. You have simply to, I mean to say, spare a little time. You, you'll see actually. If you kindly spare a little time in this process which you have adopted here, you'll feel yourself... Nobody has to canvass you that oh, whether you are making your progress? No. You'll understand it. Because it is actual, you'll understand it.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureonBG41112NewYorkJuly281966_7" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="162" link="Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966|Lecture on BG 4.11-12 -- New York, July 28, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Although it is the easiest and most pleasurable and happy mood, still you get the Supreme.</p>
<p>And you don't require any qualification. It doesn't require that you have to become a great learned scholar. No. Simply by the gift of Kṛṣṇa you have got these two ears. If you simply give aural reception to this transcendental word, that is sufficient. It does not require any extraneous education that you have to pass M.A. examination or D.A.C. or Ph.D. or something like that. No. So why should you not take advantage?</p>
<p>Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhāgavata, satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.25|SB 3.25.25]]). If we actually take advantage of association of realized persons and if we hear from them, then the result is that it becomes very pleasing to the heart and the ear. Satāṁ prasaṅgān. Not to asatām. One must be realized soul in describing the science of Kṛṣṇa. Then the result will be that the audience will feel that it is very nice to hear, and it is appealing to the heart. Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa ([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.25|SB 3.25.25]]). Hṛt means heart. Karṇa means ear. Hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ, very pleasing.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG412BombayApril11974_8" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="164" link="Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974|Lecture on BG 4.12 -- Bombay, April 1, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Vedas are called hearing, śruti. One has to hear Vedas from the right person. That is the recommendation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. To achieve success in self-realization or God realization, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends, sthāne sthitāḥ: "You just remain in your present position. You remain as a gṛhastha or as a brāhmaṇa or as a sannyāsī, as a businessman, professional man. It doesn't matter." Sthāne sthitāḥ: "You remain as a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. It doesn't matter. But..." Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ: "Just try to hear about Kṛṣṇa," śruti-gatām, aural reception. Śruti-gatām means aural reception. Tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. "And try to employ your body, words," tanu-vāk, and manaḥ, "mind, engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service." Tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG423BombayApril121974_9" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="187" link="Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974|Lecture on BG 4.23 -- Bombay, April 12, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām. This is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation, that sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ: "You remain in your position." It doesn't require to change, because you are gṛhastha, or you are engineer, you are doctor or you are washerman. It doesn't matter. You remain in your position, sthāne sthitāḥ. But lend your ears for aural reception of Kṛṣṇa's message. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Śruti mean this ear. Allow this much, the message of Kṛṣṇa, to enter your ears. That will help you. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureonBG42434NewYorkAugust121966_10" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="190" link="Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966|Lecture on BG 4.24-34 -- New York, August 12, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">My Guru Mahārāja, my spiritual master, used to say that you have to select a spiritual master not by seeing but by your ear, but by hearing. And you don't select a spiritual master who has got a very good hair or beard or some very beautiful feature, "Oh, he is a very good, nice looking." No. You must hear. Tad viddhi praṇipātena ([[Vanisource:BG 4.34 (1972)|BG 4.34]]). Śruti. The whole process is śruti. The Vedas are called śruti. The ear has to aural reception.</p>
<p>So here also the same thing recommended by Lord Kṛṣṇa, that praṇipāta. First of all, you have to find out a bona fide spiritual master, and then you should surrender unto him. This is the first process. Praṇipātena paripraśnena. Paripraśnena means by sincere inquiries. Not only surrender, you must be intelligent enough to inquire. Not that when something is heard, and there is no question. No. There must be some question. Paripraśnena and sevayā. So surrender, inquiry, and sevā, service.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureonBG6612LosAngelesFebruary151969_11" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="212" link="Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969" link_text="Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969|Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.6|SB 1.2.6]]). Adhokṣaje. God's another name is Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means that conquers all materialistic attempt to see God. Adhokṣaja. Akṣaja means experimental knowledge. You cannot understand God by experimental knowledge, no. You have to learn in a different way. That means by submissive auraloral (aural) reception and rendering transcendental loving service. Then you can understand God. So any religious principle which teaches and helps you to develop your love of Godhead. Without any cause. "I love God because He supplies me very nice things for my sense gratification." That is not love. Ahaituki. Without any... God is great. God is my father. It is my duty to love Him. That's all. No exchange. "Oh, God gives me daily bread, therefore I love God." No. Daily bread God gives even to the animals, cats, and dogs. God is father of everyone. He supplies food to everyone. So that is not love. Love is without reason. Even God does not supply me daily bread, I'll love God. That is love. That is love.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LectureonBG71SanDiegoJuly11972_12" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="234" link="Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972|Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So hearing is very important. Therefore our bhakti process, bhakti-yoga process is hearing. The more you give aural reception to the transcendental message, more you become expert. You haven't got to become a Ph.D. or very learned fellow, or very scholar. No. Even a child, without any education, he can also become Kṛṣṇa conscious simply by hearing. In New Yor... In Los Angeles, our child friend, he's only three years old. Oh, he cites so many mantras. He has learned. Yes. So many. Of course, one child may be specially intelligent, but anyone can learn. The method is simply hearing and seeing the behavior. You put one child in this association; automatically, with his growth, he'll become a Vaiṣṇava, a Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee. Automatically, by seeing these activities, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru ([[Vanisource:BG 18.65 (1972)|BG 18.65]]), by thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Because the child will get the opportunity for hearing the word "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa." Everyone has got God-gifted instrument, this ear. And if we give aural reception, we'll learn. There is no need of education, ABCD. No.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG71SanDiegoJuly11972_13" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="234" link="Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972|Lecture on BG 7.1 -- San Diego, July 1, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Why should He accept your challenge. If you say, "Oh, my dear God, please come here. I shall see You," so God is not like that, that He will carry your order. You must carry His order. Then God realization. God says: "You surrender," sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]). That process, you'll learn God. Not that "Oh, I shall know God. I have got good intelligence, speculate." No.</p>
<p>So this hearing... We are talking of the hearing. The hearing process is so important. All our, this institute, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has spread because the students who have joined us, they have given aural reception, by hearing. The hearing, everything was changed within themselves and they have joined with full, whole-heartedness, and the... Going on. So hearing is so important. We are opening so many centers just to give people chance of hearing about the transcendental message. So you take chance, you take, I mean to say, the advantage of this hearing process.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG7814NewYorkOctober21966_14" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="277" link="Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966|Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Anything, unconditional. You remain whatever you are; that doesn't matter. If you simply hear, sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām, if you simply give your aural reception to these transcendental words, the result will be that God, who can never be conquered, you'll conquer God. How you conquer? You will conquer by love. God cannot be conquered, but He can be conquered by love.</p>
<p>Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was a friend of Kṛṣṇa. How he conquered? Now, Kṛṣṇa became his driver. The Personality of Godhead, who is the Supreme, everyone's master, He became a menial servant of Arjuna. So God is so lovable, and He reciprocates His love in this way. So you can conquer. Just like Kṛṣṇa became the son of Nanda Mahārāja, and when He was child, He took the shoes of Nanda Mahārāja on His head just like child play. You see? So these are symptoms of conquering God. What you... You are trying to become one with God? Oh, you can become father of God. You can become father of God. God has no father but He accepts His devotee, His lover, "Oh, you are My father." So that is the question. So if this process is for simply hearing, aural reception, sincerely, then by this process, whatever position I may be, in whatever position I may be, I can conquer the Supreme Lord. He agrees to be conquered.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG85NewYorkOctober261966_15" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="289" link="Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966|Lecture on BG 8.5 -- New York, October 26, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So spirit soul is aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān. Spirit soul is the greater than the greatest and it is the smaller than the smallest. So we cannot see the smallest; we cannot see the greatest. Greater than the greatest. We can think of the greatest, the sky, the expansion of the sky—unlimited. But such skies, God is so great that innumerable, millions and billions of skies are within Him. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya... (Bs. 5.48). Therefore we have to refer to the authoritative scripture to get knowledge. As I told you the other day, that transcendental knowledge has to be acquired by aural reception. There is no other way. Just like, practical. The geometrical calculation is that the sun, the dimension of the sun is many, many hundred, thousands of..., greater than the earth. But we are seeing just like a disk. So our sense is unable to see how great it is. It is a material thing. So how we can see the greatness of God with these material eyes? It is not possible. As you are understanding about the sun by authoritative statement of the geometry, that this sun globe is so great, so many hundred thousands greater than the... But you are seeing just like a disk. So how to get the knowledge of the sun? By receiving through the ear. That's all. Simply you have to receive the knowledge from the authority. It is not that practically you are experimenting by going to the sun, that it is so great and so long, so broad. That is not possible. You have to receive such knowledge through authority. That's all.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG81415NewYorkNovember161966_16" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="291" link="Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966|Lecture on BG 8.14-15 -- New York, November 16, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So similarly, if we understand about God through the lips of Arjuna or his bona fide representative, that is the process. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva: "Submissively, one who tries to understand the transcendental nature of God from the reliable source..." Sthāne sthitāḥ. Never mind what he is. Never mind what he is. Either Indian or European or American or Japanese or Hindu or Muslim, never mind. So sthāne sthitāḥ: "Just be situated in your place. That doesn't matter." Śruti-gatām: "Just try to understand through your ears by aural reception, aural reception." San-mukharitām, śruti-gatām. Śruti means this ear, reception through the ear. San-mukharitāṁ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Then just try to practice it in your practical life. Tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśaḥ ajita: "My dear Lord, You are unconquerable, but by this person, You become conquered, simply by hearing." It is such a nice process. God is not conquerable, but He becomes conquerable, He is conquered, by a devotee who gives up this nonsense process of understanding Him by his limited knowledge and becomes submissive. And just try to hear from the right source, and try to appear, apply in your life. Then you become a conqueror of the Supreme.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG91MelbourneApril191976_17" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="298" link="Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976|Lecture on BG 9.1 -- Melbourne, April 19, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Actually this Bhagavad-gītā is described by Vyāsadeva. So Vyāsadeva recorded it, writing. Otherwise it was being received through hearing. Before this Kali-yuga Vyāsadeva, he kept all Vedic literature in writing. Before that, there was no book. The knowledge was received through the ear, aural reception, śruti. Therefore it is called śruti. Śruti means the knowledge which is received by hearing. And the memory was very sharp. In those days, five thousand years ago, any man... Not any man, but the intelligent class of men... They were called brāhmaṇas. They used to receive knowledge from guru by hearing. They could memorize everything, once heard. In the Kali-yuga the memory is being reduced. The duration of life is being reduced. Peoples' mercifulness is being reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Bodily strength—reduced. Therefore Vyāsadeva preferred it that the Vedic knowledge should be kept recorded in writing. So he first of all then wrote all this Vedic knowledge into writing, and the writings...</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG91114NewYorkNovember271966_18" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="314" link="Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966|Lecture on BG 9.11-14 -- New York, November 27, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. If you be situated in whatever position you are, it doesn't matter. We are not going to inquire what you are. "Are you businessman, engineer, doctor, or police, or intelligent, or educated, non-educated, black, white?"—there is no question, no question. The only thing is sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Śruti-gatām means... Śruti means this aural reception. You have to receive this word little submissively. Namanta eva. Don't think yourself, that you are very man of knowledge. Because our knowledge is very limited, so we should not be puffed up with false thinking that I am very learned man. No. Just become a little gentle and submissive, and hear these messages from Kṛṣṇa. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Tanu. Tanu means your body, and vāk means your words, and mana means mind. Just try to adjust your mind, your body, your words, and hear the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā which is spoken by the Supreme Lord, and put your arguments, put your reason, whatever you have got. Don't accept it blindly. And think over it, and then you'll see what is the result. This is... So rākṣasīm.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG915NewYorkDecember11966_19" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="316" link="Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966|Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So ascending process is not recommended in the Vedic process of knowledge. Vedic way of receiving knowledge—by aural reception, by submissive aural reception from the spiritual master to the student. This is the way. It is coming. As we have read in the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 4.2 (1972)|BG 4.2]]): "In this way, traditionally, from the spiritual master to the student, this knowledge was imparted." The Lord said that "I imparted this knowledge first of all to the sun-god, and the sun-god imparted this knowledge to his son, Manu, and Manu imparted this knowledge to his son, Ikṣvāku." Ikṣvāku was the king of this planet. So from Ikṣvāku, this knowledge is coming down from the master, or from the father to the son, or from the master to the disciple. It is coming on. And because that disciplic succession was broken, therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa said that "I am speaking again that old system of knowledge to you, Arjuna, because you are My devotee, you are My dear friend." We have already studied this fact. So this is the way.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG1326BombayOctober251973_20" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="375" link="Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973" link_text="Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973|Lecture on BG 13.26 -- Bombay, October 25, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So namanta eva san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. Just try to hear the message of God from realized soul. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vār... Simply hear. Then sthāne sthitāḥ, you remain in your position. It doesn't matter what you are. You remain in... Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Kindly give aural reception to the words, authoritative words, of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, like that. Then... God is called ajita. Nobody can conquer. Kṛṣṇa is... Another name is Ajita. He becomes jita, conquered, simply by hearing from him. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. There are many such verses in Bhāgavata also.</p>
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<div id="LectureonBG1867AhmedabadDecember101972_21" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="405" link="Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972" link_text="Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972|Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Anyone can become perfect in his own position simply if he receives this transcendental message by proper aural reception. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ... (break) ...five thousand years, Kṛṣṇa says forty-millions of years, He spoke...</p>
<p>Indian man (6): Forty millions of years, but as it is, Gītā was made to Arjuna five thousand years back. And so before five thousand years back, who was that surrendering. Russia says that there may be five million years. That is what they say. Even today, you say or I say, then the world, ten million years back. That doesn't solve the problem. The problem is that Gītā was written down or dictated or recited about five thousand years back. So what was there before five thousand years back? Was there Kṛṣṇa consciousness?</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB123RomeMay271974_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="22" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974|Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So Śukadeva Gosvāmī learned from his father, Vyāsadeva, mahā-bhāgavata, and he realized it, svānubhāvam. What is this book? Akhila-śruti-sāram ekam. Akhila means "all, universal." There are many scriptures, many religious scriptures, especially the Vedas. Śruti means Veda. Śruti is learned by hearing, not by reading. You can understand Vedic principle even though you are illiterate, provided you hear them, aural reception. God has given you the ear. And if you try to hear submissively, to receive something, then it will be fruitful. Submissive. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-mano..., jñāne prayāsam. This is the Brahmā's realization when he met Kṛṣṇa. So he said this verse, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, namanta eva, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. People who are endeavoring to understand the Absolute Truth by dint of his puffed-up knowledge, they will never be able to. They will never be able.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB123RomeMay271974_1" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="22" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974|Lecture on SB 1.2.3 -- Rome, May 27, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So people were so sharp in memory. That is brāhmaṇa. Once heard from the spiritual master... The spiritual master means śrotriyam: he has also nicely heard from his spiritual master. Therefore Vedic knowledge, factually, it is received simply by hearing. There was no necessity of becoming literate. Illiterate, it doesn't matter. Because it is after all received through the aural reception. Therefore it is called śruti. And śruti-sāram ekam. And of all the Vedic literature, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence.</p>
<p>Śrī Vyāsadeva first of all described the Vedas in four Vedas, and describes further in Upaniṣad, further in Purāṇas. The Purāṇas... Some of the rascals says that Purāṇas are not written by Vyāsadeva. They are rascal. The Purāṇas are also, explained further, supplementary. Purāṇa. Purāṇa means "which completes." Another Purāṇa means "the very old, historical." So Purāṇas, they are mentioned, "the Vedic instruction through the history." Just like Vedic instruction, Mahābhārata. Mahābhārata is history, but the whole Vedic literature is there, ideal king, how kingdom... Politics, practically it is politics. But it is based on Vedic literature. And the Bhagavad-gītā is introduced in the Mahābhārata. So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of all Vedic literature. Śruti-sāram ekam. This is the only one. You cannot present another. Ekam. As God is one, similarly, to understand Him, there is only one literature. That is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śruti-sāram ekam. Adhyātma-dīpam.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB126LondonJuly231973_2" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="39" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- London, July 23, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">There are nine kinds of bhajana. Hearing—just like you are hearing about Kṛṣṇa—this is bhajana. So we are giving this opportunity. We are opening hundreds of branches so that people may take advantage of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. That is bhajana. You don't do anything. If you simply come here... We are holding class. If you simply come and hear, you will advance in spiritual consciousness. Simply by aural reception. Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 17.136|CC Madhya 17.136]]). We cannot understand God, Kṛṣṇa, by our present senses. Therefore His name is adhokṣaja. Here this is the verse, it is said, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Adhokṣaja. Akṣaja means direct perception. Just like somebody says, "I want to see." This is called akṣaja. Akṣa means eyes or senses. So He is not perceived by these blunt material senses. Therefore He is known as Adhokṣaja. Adhah-kṛta akṣaja-jñānaṁ yatra, where this direct experimental knowledge is defeated. You cannot understand God by your this blunt material experience. No. That is not possible. Therefore we have to submit. We have to surrender.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1219VrndavanaOctober301972_3" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="81" link="Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972|Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">One must undergo austerity, penance, tapasā; brahmacarya, one must be brahmacārī, not unnecessarily using sex life. So tapasā brahmacaryeṇa śamena damena vā, tyāgena ([[Vanisource:SB 6.1.13-14|SB 6.1.13]]). Tyāga, renunciation, is required. So this is one process. Another process that if you fully surrender unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa sincerely, then all things are done automatically, immediately. Only by kṛṣṇa-bhakti, one becomes purified, immediately. So that kṛṣṇa-bhakti begins, as we have studied, the previous verses, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]]).  We have to hear patiently, by aural reception. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also accepted this process. This is the process, Vedic process—to hear about Kṛṣṇa.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1425MontrealJune201968_4" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="128" link="Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968|Lecture on SB 1.4.25 -- Montreal, June 20, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So it is now quarter past, ten past eight. Now, we shall discuss this meeting of Parīkṣit Mahārāja and Śukadeva Gosvāmī continually, so you please come, even if you do not understand. You can understand because we invite questions and answers. So any human being can understand. But even if you do not understand, the action of hearing will be there. (break) ...philosophy, they hey are purified or attracted simply by this sound vibration. It is so nice. So if we simply give our aural reception to this transcendental sound, then there is immense profit, immense profit. So we invite everyone to come here and take this advantage. Thank you very much. Any question.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1513NewVrindabanJune131969_5" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="138" link="Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969|Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So long one lives sinful life, he cannot have clear vision. Diseased condition. How? "Physician, heal thyself." He cannot have clear vision. Therefore amogha-dṛk means he is liberated person. He can see. Amogha-dṛk. Dṛk means vision. Amogha-dṛk. And Śuci-śravāḥ. Śuci-śravāḥ. Śuci-śravāḥ means whose śravāḥ, means aural reception... śuci. Śuci means pure. Who has received knowledge by aural reception in pure heart, or from the pure source. Śuci-śravāḥ. Śuci means pure. Śravāḥ. Śravāḥ means hearing. Śuci... These are the qualification of the person who can actually do benefit to the human society. Not that everyone can do. That is the mistake of the... Everyone is giving some idea and some theory that "This way there will be peace, there will be nice thing in the world." But he does not know that he has to receive from the pure source by aural reception. One has to hear from the pure source what is actually benefit to the human society. These are the qualifications. Śuci-śravāḥ. Then next word is satya-rataḥ. Satya means truth, and rataḥ means engaged. "One who is engaged in the matter of the Absolute Truth," not relative truth. Absolute, satya-rataḥ. And dhṛta-vrataḥ. Dhṛta-vrataḥ. Vrata. Vrata means vow, and dhṛta means who has taken vow that "I shall do this." These are the qualifications.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1513NewVrindabanJune131969_6" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="138" link="Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969|Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">That is perfect reading of Bhagavad-gītā. It does not require to read Bhagavad-gītā by your academic education. If you simply hear from the authoritative source the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, and if you simply meditate upon that speech, that instruction, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa instructed like this. Arjuna received like this. He questioned like this. He answered like this," that is meditation, perfect meditation, and you become liberated. Tad-viceṣṭitam. It is not very difficult job. Simply you have to receive. Therefore satya-śravāḥ, śuci-śravāḥ. Śuci-śravāḥ. You have to hear from the pure source, give aural reception, and think of it, meditate upon it. Simply by doing this, you are liberated. These are not bluff. Here is the evidence. Simply receive the message from the right source and contemplate and meditate upon that instruction. You are liberated. Chanting and hearing. Hearing and... śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]). First hearing, then chanting. Hear from the right source and discuss amongst yourselves. Iṣṭagoṣṭhi. Then the perfection.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1514NewVrindabanJune181969_7" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="140" link="Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969|Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So there are three kinds of processes to receive knowledge: pratyakṣa, aitihya and śabda. Pratyakṣa means by direct perception, experimental knowledge. And aitihya, or anumāna. Anumāna, hypothesis, "It may be like this," "Perhaps like this." Just like modern scientists say, "Perhaps it is like this." That is called anumāna, hypothesis. And another process is śabda-pramāṇa. Śruti-pramāṇa. Śabda means sound vibration, and śruti means aural reception. So out of three processes, the śabda-pramāṇa, or receiving vibration, sound vibration from authorities by aural reception, that is considered to be the perfect.</p>
<p>So Nārada Muni says... Before this, Nārada Muni has advised Vyāsadeva that "In order to release all these conditioned souls, you just describe the wonderful activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Simply by hearing... Uttama-ślokasya guṇānuvādāt. Uttama-śloka. Uttama-śloka means the Supreme Lord who is described by transcendental literature or very fine, scholarly language. He's called Uttama-śloka.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1514NewVrindabanJune181969_8" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="140" link="Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969|Lecture on SB 1.5.14 -- New Vrindaban, June 18, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So he says, pravartamānasya guṇair anātmanas tato bhavān darśaya ceṣṭitam: "People are so much entangled by the modes of material nature. So in order to get them free from this entanglement, you show the path. Simply let them hear. Let them give aural reception to the wonderful activities of the Lord. That activity..." Because absolute... Kṛṣṇa is Absolute Truth. So Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's activities are the same because it is absolute. It is not duality. In the material world, myself and my activities are different. But it is the... This world is dual world. But in the absolute world, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's quality, Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's fame, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's associates, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is cowherd boy. So Kṛṣṇa and the cows, they're all Kṛṣṇa. That we have to learn. They're not different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs, they're all Kṛṣṇa. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37). So we have to understand that.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB177VrndavanaSeptember61976_9" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="165" link="Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976|Lecture on SB 1.7.7 -- Vrndavana, September 6, 1976]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Devotee:</p>
:yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyāṁ
:kṛṣṇe parama-pūruṣe
:bhaktir utpadyate puṁsaḥ
:śoka-moha-bhayāpahā
:([[Vanisource:SB 1.7.7|SB 1.7.7]])
<p>Translation: "Simply by giving aural reception to this Vedic literature, the feeling for loving devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, sprouts up at once to extinguish the fire of lamentation, illusion and fearfulness."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yasyāṁ vai śrūyamāṇāyām. The Sātvata-saṁhitā, we have already discussed yesterday morning. Vidvāṁś cakre sātvata-saṁhitām ([[Vanisource:SB 1.7.6|SB 1.7.6]]). This is Vaiṣṇava. Vidvān. Vaiṣṇava is always vidvān. Vid means knowledge and vān means one who has knowledge. That is called vidvān. Vidvān. So Vyāsadeva, he's known as Veda-vyāsa. He's the giver of Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge is not given by him. The Vedic knowledge is given by Kṛṣṇa Himself. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye ([[Vanisource:SB 1.1.1|SB 1.1.1]]). Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, He gave the knowledge to Lord Brahmā. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye. Ādi-kavi, the original learned person. Just like this modern nonsense theory that there was in the beginning no life. But that is nonsense. In the beginning there was Brahmā, the most learned person.</p>
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<div id="LectureonSB1105LondonAugust281973_10" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="275" link="Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.10.5 -- London, August 28, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Therefore the Vedas are called śruti. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. This is recommended, that Kṛṣṇa's kathā should be heard from the realized source. San-mukharitām. Sat means devotee. Sat. Oṁ tat sat. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. Then sthāne sthitāḥ, you can remain in your place. It doesn't matter whether you are a brāhmaṇa or a śūdra or American or Indian or... It doesn't matter. You keep yourself in your position. Simply go there. Where these things are discussed authoritatively, you hear. Śruti-gatām. Śruti-gatām. Śruti means the ear. You just give the aural reception of the words of realized soul. San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtāṁ sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. You can keep yourself... It doesn't require that you have to change your position. Simply you have to hear from the right source.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB11541LosAngelesDecember191973_11" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="309" link="Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.15.41 -- Los Angeles, December 19, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So this is very good qualification. So those who are coming here to listen about God, they are very fortunate. Kṛṣṇa will help them. Śravaṇam. The beginning of bhakti-yoga is started from the practice of śravaṇam, aural reception, ear. Therefore the mantra is given through the ear, initiation mantra. Then kīrtanam.</p>
:śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
:smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
:arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
:sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
:([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]])
<p>There are nine different processes. The most important process is hearing. And as soon as you want to hear, that means you have to concentrate your mind. So naturally, the mind becomes, I mean to say, locked. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. But if we sleep, that is another thing, that "Let the lectures go on. Let me have some rest." That is another thing. But if you hear, if you are anxious to hear, then mind has to be engaged.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB1154748LosAngelesDecember251973_12" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="314" link="Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.15.47-48 -- Los Angeles, December 25, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Our consciousness is not purified at the present moment, but if we purify it... That purification also is possible by becoming in touch with Kṛṣṇa always. And this touch is very easily made possible. Śṛṇvatām. This is the chance, śṛṇvatām. Śṛṇvatām means by hearing, by aural reception. Simply those who are coming here, even they do not know anything about it, but God has given this ear, and let him hear about Kṛṣṇa. We are therefore discussing so many... We have written so many books simply about Kṛṣṇa. Not all books published—we have published about twenty books—but we have to finish it. It cannot be finished, but at least, to some extent it will be finished by sixty books. And what is that subject matter? Kṛṣṇa. That's all. People cannot imagine that about God, sixty books can be written. There is no, I mean to say, system of religion where you can find... Not only... Sixty is the minimum. Sixty books of four hundred pages can be written simply on God. So there is possible... If we divert our attention to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we can chant Kṛṣṇa—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya ([[Vanisource:SB 12.3.51|SB 12.3.51]]). We can read about Kṛṣṇa whole life, such big literature. Whole life. If you read twenty-four hours daily—that you cannot—still, you have to devote your whole life to finish this literature.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB213DelhiNovember61973_13" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="361" link="Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973|Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Delhi, November 6, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So this kṛṣṇa-praśna, Kṛṣṇa question and Kṛṣṇa answer, this is loka-hitam. Anyone hears... In another place Śrī Bhāgavata says, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]]). "About Kṛṣṇa, if you hear and speak, it is automatically puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ." As it is said, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]). So this śravaṇam Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, means puṇya, puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Even if you do not understand anything, if you simply sit down silently and give aural reception to the sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, you become purified. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]]). Simply by hearing, you become pious. Because we are all impious. Unless we are impious, we don't accept this material body. There may be difference of degrees. That does not make... Anyone who has come to this material world, he is to be considered as impious.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB225NewYorkMarch51975_14" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="373" link="Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- New York, March 5, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- New York, March 5, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- New York, March 5, 1975|Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- New York, March 5, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The demons are conquered by God. But devotee can conquer. Ajito 'pi, jito 'pi. Although God is ajita, He becomes jita, means conquered, by His devotee. That is also stated: sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām. This process we have introduced, opening center, that is the system in spiritual, to hear. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Śruti. Śruti means this ear, aural reception. Everyone may remain in his own position. It doesn't require to change. Just like one gentleman was asking whether, for spiritual advancement, one has to live in the temple. I said, "No. There is no such hard and fast rule that one should live in the temple." You can live anywhere, but the spiritual practices should be going on. Kṛṣṇa never says that you live in the temple or you go to the jungle or Himalaya. Never say. You'll never find in the Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "You give up this fighting and go to the jungle or to the Himalaya and become perfect person."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2317LosAngelesJune121972_15" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="386" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, June 12, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, June 12, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, June 12, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.17 -- Los Angeles, June 12, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Actually, we spiritual soul, we have no death. It is due to this infection. This infection is called dirty things. Actually it is dirt. "Dust thou art, dust thou beist." That's a fact. Because as soon as I, the soul, will leave this body, it will be immediately decomposed, and after a few days it will be earth, dust. So actually it is dirt. So we have to cleanse this dirt from my real identity, spiritual life. This is the process. And this cleansing process is very nicely done simply by hearing the message of Uttama-śloka, or Kṛṣṇa. You haven't got to scratch it with some machine. No. It will be automatically cleansed if you simply give aural reception to the message of the Uttama-śloka, which is, in other word, it is called kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa-kathā means words of Kṛṣṇa. Kathā means words, and kṛṣṇa, you understand. So kṛṣṇa-kathā, Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa personally giving you words of instruction. So if we simply read Bhagavad-gītā, then the sun cannot take away the, my duration of life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2319LosAngelesJune141972_16" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="389" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So ear is the most important sense because our spiritual enlightenment begins from this sense. Hearing. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. Karṇa-patha means aural reception. So one has to go to hear from the realized person, guru, spiritual master. That is the meaning. Śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). One has to approach a spiritual master, śrotriyam, who has also heard from a spiritual master. This... Our knowledge is by hearing, śruti.</p>
<p>Therefore Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means this is not experimental knowledge. This knowledge is acquired by hearing, that's all. If you have got nice receptive power through the ear, then your life can be successful. You don't require to use any other sense. This one sense will make you correct. Therefore those who are not taking advantage of this facility of hearing... He may be a very big man in the estimation of persons who are like dogs, asses, camels, and such nice animals. You can say, "Oh, here is a big man, and... Mr. such and such, such a great politician, great scientist, great... So we must praise." But the Bhāgavata says, "Whether he has given any aural reception about Kṛṣṇa, that is the test." No. He has no knowledge about Kṛṣṇa. Then he must be praised by persons who are like camel, asses, dogs, hogs. That means, "No human being will praise him." If he is voted or praised, the vote must be coming from the asses, dogs, hogs, like that. That is going on. Asses, hogs, dogs, camels, they are giving vote.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2319LosAngelesJune141972_17" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="389" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So whom they will vote? Another paśu, another animal. Because they have no choice. They are animals and how they can select a man? A man means karṇa-pathopetaḥ, one who is hearing about Kṛṣṇa. He is man. Otherwise all animals. Now, you say, how this charge can be refuted by you. Bhāgavata says, "He is not man." Na yat-karṇa-pathopeto jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ. He may be in the if form of a man, but if he has not heard about Kṛṣṇa, if he has not given aural reception to kṛṣṇa-kathā, then he is paśu, animal. And what kind of animal? Dogs, hogs, camels, asses. Why these nice animals have been selected? That is described. Now you can read the purport.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2319LosAngelesJune141972_18" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="389" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.19 -- Los Angeles, June 14, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Simply lend your ear, "Oh, let us hear about Kṛṣṇa." Then everything is all right. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Kṛṣṇa is unconquerable, but if you simply hear about Him in your position, śruti-gatām, through the aural reception, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita, nobody can conquer Kṛṣṇa. But if you simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, time will come, you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. Like the gopīs. They conquered Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa was within the hand, or the grip, of the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa could not go away even an inch from Vṛndāvana on account of the gopīs. What was their education? They were village girls. Not even brāhmaṇa. Uneducated girls, village girls, but they conquered Kṛṣṇa. So this aural reception is so great. Read little more.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB232021LosAngelesJune171972_19" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="393" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">As I explained yesterday, in the snake holes, nobody goes there. Nobody puts their hands or legs. Similarly, if these earholes remains empty, without aural reception of the great activities of the Lord, it is as good as the snake holes.</p>
<p>Bile batorukrama-vikramān ye na śṛṇvataḥ. They have decided, "There is no God. God is dead. God has no personality. He's zero." Therefore they have no opportunity to hear about God. Na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya. This human form of body... These earholes are meant for giving aural reception to the message of God. But they'll not do that. Therefore your mission is to go home to home, village to village, town to town, and give them injection, "Hear." Make such arrangement, nice dancing, nice chanting, prasāda distribution. Why? Just to inject in their snake holes the words of Kṛṣṇa. This is your mission. Those who have taken sannyāsa especially, it is their duty. Sat-nyāsa, to sacrifice everything ... Sacrifice means ... Nothing to be sacrificed. But sacrifice the sense of "I am the Lord." That's all. What you have got, you can sacrifice? This is simply a bluff, sacrifice. We cannot sacrifice. What we have got we can sacrifice? There is no question of sacrifice, but sacrifice means this doggish mentality that "I am Lord, I am God, I am enjoyer."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB232021LosAngelesJune171972_20" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="393" link="Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So that we can understand things as they are if we receive the message of Urukrama, Kṛṣṇa. If you give aural reception to the activities of Kṛṣṇa ... Therefore, you should not waste a moment even with nonsense talkings. You have got so many books. Either chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, or read books, discuss amongst yourself. Don't waste your time by so-called drama and play. It is simply waste of time. Don't waste your time in that way. If you have got inclination to enjoy some drama, then you should take hint how that drama should be written or played. Don't manufacture. You are not so expert that you can manufacture things. That is illegal. Just like we do not read any rascal's book. They are manufacturing so many ideas. We read Bhāgavatam, authorized. We read Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. We read Brahma-saṁhitā. Not rascal's book. What these rascals can write? They're imperfect. So don't waste your time. Simply always pour in, give aural reception to the message of Urukrama.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB2948TokyoApril231972_21" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="408" link="Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972|Lecture on SB 2.9.4-8 -- Tokyo, April 23, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">That is evidence, śruti-pramāṇam. Śruti means Veda. In the Vedas it is stated... Just like Brahmā. He is receiving Vedic knowledge from, directly from God, Kṛṣṇa. Brahmaṇe darśayan rūpam. This is the process of understanding. Brahmā, how Brahmā is receiving knowledge? Directly he sees there is nobody there, but he is receiving knowledge. Directly he could not see. Upāśṛṇot, upāśṛṇot. Upāśṛṇot: "He simply heard." Upāśṛṇot. Ear, not the eyes. So therefore knowledge has to be gathered by aural reception, not by the eyes. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that, "Do not try to see a saintly person. You try to hear a saintly person." If you see a long beard and very strong man, he is a great sādhu. Oh. That's it." No. You have to hear. What does he speak? Then you understand. Upāśṛṇot. Divyaṁ sahasrābdam. Then? Go on.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB552JohannesburgOctober221975_22" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="530" link="Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975|Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Just become submissive, namanta. Don't think that "I am very learned scholar. I can manufacture my own way how to find out God," or "I am God," and so on, so on. This practice should be given up. Just become humble and meek. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva. "Then what shall I do, becoming humble and meek?" San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. You try to understand about God from a God-realized person. That you do. That will help you. Sthāne sthitāḥ. There is no need of changing your position. You remain wherever you are. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ manobhiḥ. Just lend your, this aural reception and try to hear about God from the self-realized person, from mahātmā. Then one day it will become so, that although God is unconquerable, you will conquer Him. Prāyena ajita jito 'py asi. You'll conquer over God. You cannot conquer God, but God agrees to be conquered by His devotee. This is the indirect meaning, to become devotee. This is the way.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB5527VrndavanaNovember141976_23" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="558" link="Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976" link_text="Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976|Lecture on SB 5.5.27 -- Vrndavana, November 14, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to bring him to the right position of consciousness. Consciousness we have got. The more it is covered, dull, it cannot respond. But it can be brought into the proper existence, and the process is hearing, hearing. Go on hearing, hearing. Kṛṣṇa has given us one chance, this ear. If we properly use it... Therefore Vedic knowledge is to be heard, hearing. Listen. It is therefore called śruti. The Vedic instruction has to be gotten from the right person through aural reception.</p>
:śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
:puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
:hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi
:vidhunoti suhṛt satām
:([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]])
<p>So this is the process, that we should engage our ear to receive the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, very attentively. And therefore we have to approach to the proper person and inquire and hear. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā ([[Vanisource:BG 4.34 (1972)|BG 4.34]]). Not to hear like animal, but paripraśnena sevaya. Then our knowledge will be developed. This is the process.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB6140SanFranciscoJuly211975_24" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="666" link="Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975" link_text="Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975|Lecture on SB 6.1.40 -- San Francisco, July 21, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">All of our eyes are covered with darkness; we cannot see. Then how we can see in the darkness? Ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā. Śalākayā means torch. So the torch, what is that torch? Jñānāñjana, smearing with the ointment of knowledge, that is the torch. So knowledge means not to see but to hear. Therefore it is called śruti, śuśruma. Knowledge has to be received through the ear, not by the eyes. Not by the eyes. This is not recommended. Nobody says, "I want to see knowledge," no: "I want to hear knowledge." Therefore it is called śruti, and knowledge is received through the ear, aural reception. Why not with eyes and other senses? That is also very important to know. Suppose you are sleeping. Then all your senses are also sleeping. But the ear does not sleep. You have got practical experience. When a man is sleeping and somebody is coming to kill him, so what do you say? You cry, "Mr. such and such, wake up! Wake up!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB752230LondonSeptember81971_25" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="728" link="Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971" link_text="Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971|Lecture on SB 7.5.22-30 -- London, September 8, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Reading is also smaraṇam. That śravaṇam, kīrtanam, smaraṇam. It is clear? Śravaṇam means hearing, kīrtanam means chanting, and smaraṇam. When you read, you remember God's activities, Kṛṣṇa's activities, His devotee's activities. Therefore it is smaraṇam. This is also one of the prescribed methods. But if anyone cannot read even... Suppose if he is not educated, illiterate. Does it mean that he will not get Kṛṣṇa consciousness? He will get, simply by hearing. The process is so perfect and nice, there is no need of education even. Illiterate person, simply if he gives aural reception submissively, he will get the benefit. Therefore it is universal. It is good for everyone—educated, noneducated, learned, fool, rich, poor, everyone. Man, woman, child, adult—everyone can take part and take benefit out of it. It is so nice.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Nectar_of_Devotion_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Lectures" text="Nectar of Devotion Lectures"><h3>Nectar of Devotion Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="TheNectarofDevotionBombayJanuary81973_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion_Lectures" book="Lec" index="21" link="The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973" link_text="The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973|The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 8, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Those who are follower, those who are advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they can protest. They can immediately chastise the rascal, "What you are nonsense speaking?" But a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, he cannot challenge, therefore it is forbidden for them. Not to hear, kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. For an advanced devotee, this Māyāvādī cannot do anything, but those who are neophyte, they become sometimes victim. Therefore, it is better to forbid them, not to hear. So Sanātana Gosvāmī has said, as Kṛṣṇa has said, satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.25|SB 3.25.25]]). In the association of pure devotees, kṛṣṇa-kathāḥ becomes very relishable. Hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ. It is relishable, it is very pleasing to the ear, and to the heart. Hṛt means heart, and karṇa means this aural reception. Both ways pleasing, bhavanti hṛt-karṇa. Taj-joṣaṇād, if one little tries whatever he has heard, then śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati. Śraddhā, the real beginning is śraddhā.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="TheNectarofDevotionVrndavanaNovember51972_1" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Devotion_Lectures" book="Lec" index="33" link="The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972" link_text="The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972|The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 5, 1972]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">One who has finished the reaction of his sinful activities," te dvandva-moha-nirmukta... ([[Vanisource:BG 7.28 (1972)|BG 7.28]]). Yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām... Puṇya-karma. Puṇya-karma means the sublime puṇya-karma is devotional service. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam ([[Vanisource:SB 7.5.23-24|SB 7.5.23]]). This is the topmost puṇya-karma. Because, as it is stated in the Bhāgavata, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]]). Simply if we hear about Kṛṣṇa, that is puṇya. Even you do not understand, do not take it very seriously, if we simply give aural reception to the words of Kṛṣṇa, that activity itself is puṇya. Puṇya-śravaṇa kīrtanaḥ. So one who has got, I mean, advanced in hearing about Kṛṣṇa, that is the result of multiforms of multivarieties of pious activities. Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.16|SB 1.2.16]]). Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ is the resultant action... Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 10.12.7-11|SB 10.12.11]]). These words are used. Just like when the cowherds boys were playing with Kṛṣṇa, Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "These boys are kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. Heaps of pious activities they have performed; therefore they have got this chance of playing personally with the Supreme Personality of Godhead."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Lectures" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures"><h3>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureonCCMadhyalila20391405NewYorkJanuary21967_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Lectures" book="Lec" index="101" link="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967" link_text="Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967|Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.391-405 -- New York, January 2, 1967]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Now here is Lord Caitanya's order. Whether we do understand or not understand, if we simply submissively give aural reception to these messages of Kṛṣṇa, then gradually we shall understand the whole philosophy and science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the summary. You may not understand at the present moment about the extensive constitutional position and philosophy of Kṛṣṇa. Still, if we submissively give aural reception to these messages, as it is described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Lord Caitanya, that will help us—Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Caitanya-caritāmṛta. This hearing process is very nice. That is recommended by Lord Caitanya. Simply by hearing. We do not require to be very highly educated or very good scholar in Vedānta philosophy. Whatever you are, you remain in your place. That doesn't matter. Simply try to hear, and by hearing everything will be... Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Because the process is that we cannot understand God or we cannot see God unless He reveals. So this revelation will come if we submissively hear. We may not understand, but simply by hearing, we can achieve that stage of life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Initiation_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Lectures" text="Initiation Lectures"><h3>Initiation Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="InitiationLectureCaracasFebruary221975_0" class="quote" parent="Initiation_Lectures" book="Lec" index="56" link="Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975" link_text="Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975|Initiation Lecture -- Caracas, February 22, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">I have not brought them from India; neither I have bribed them here. But by hearing only, they are now coming to God consciousness and devotees. Therefore this śravaṇam item, or hearing item, is very, very important. So if you all, ladies and gentlemen present here, take advantage of hearing about God from this institution, you will also become God conscious. We have got many sense organs, out of which the aural sense, or the hearing sense, is very important. Therefore, for spiritual understanding, we have to use this ear. So therefore the Vedic literature is called śruti. Śruti means to receive the knowledge by hearing. So our process, or the Vedic process, is that... Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 3.25.25|SB 3.25.25]]). If one lends his aural reception of spiritual knowledge through the authorized person, devotee, then he relishes taste in spiritual life. And when you cultivate that stage, then, gradually, he becomes a devotee, he understands what is God.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div id="LectureLosAngelesFebruary21968_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="3" link="Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968" link_text="Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968|Lecture -- Los Angeles, February 2, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So their daughters. So how much education you can...? There was no education practically. In the village even men... In India still, they are ninety-percent illiterate. And what to speak of the girls, the men are not even literate. Because according to Vedic civilization it was not necessary that everyone should go to school. There was no necessity. Because things were being learned by śruti, by aural reception. Knowledge from the perfect man, one would hear, and he would become learned. There was no necessity of, I mean to say, learning ABCD. No. Even in Vedic age, everything was memorized. There was nothing in writing. People were so sharp in brain that once heard from the spiritual master, they will never forget. The brahmacārī system made their brain so powerful that whatever they will hear from the spiritual master, they will keep in the brain and never forget. They will repeat verbatim. Smṛti. It is called retaining power.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="NortheasternUniversityLectureBostonApril301969_1" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="51" link="Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969" link_text="Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969|Northeastern University Lecture -- Boston, April 30, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">You haven't got to change your place. You remain. You are student; you remain a student. You are businessman; you remain businessman. You are woman, man, or anyone, any, black, white, anyone—you remain in your position. Simply you try to hear. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You just remain in your position. You simply hear. Kindly give your aural reception to this transcendental sound. Very simple process. No charges. We are not charging anything, that "You give us so many dollars, then I shall give you this mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa." It is publicly distributed. You simply catch up and try it. You'll... Very quickly you'll come to the transcendental platform, and when you hear the chanting, that is transcendental meditation. This process is recommended in all scriptures of Vedic literature, and it is followed by Lord Caitanya and His disciplic succession for the last five hundred years, and people are achieving good result. Not only in India, here also, the young boys and girls who have joined this movement... You try to understand what is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how transcendental meditation is possible.</p>
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</div>
<div id="PandalLectureBombayMarch311971_2" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="79" link="Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, March 31, 1971" link_text="Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, March 31, 1971">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, March 31, 1971|Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, March 31, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Everyone's heart, there is Kṛṣṇa bhakti. Otherwise, how these Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Japanese, they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness? We have Muhammadans also. Many Muhammadans, they are taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore it is to be understood that Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or love for Kṛṣṇa, is existing in everyone's heart. It is simply to be awakened. Nothing more. How it is awakened? Śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya. if you simply give your aural reception to the Kṛṣṇa kathā. Kṛṣṇa kathā means what is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, the Bhagavad-gītā, and Kṛṣṇa kathā means speeches and words which are spoken about Kṛṣṇa. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is also Kṛṣṇa kathā, and Bhagavad-gītā is also Kṛṣṇa kathā. One is directly spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa, end one is spoken by Lord, I mean to say, Vyāsadeva, the great saint Vyāsadeva, about Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "You preach this Kṛṣṇa kathā to everyone and then you become a spiritual master under My order."</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="PandalLectureDelhiNovember201971_3" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="98" link="Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971" link_text="Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971|Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 20, 1971]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">If you actually seriously want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then you have to take the process of bhakti. Jñāna-vairāgya yuktayā ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.12|SB 1.2.12]]). Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. There is a statement, the Absolute Truth can be understood by bhakti, and that bhakti received through the aural reception of your ear. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that if you want to know a saintly person, you try to understand him by your ear, not by the eyes. You cannot understand a saintly person by staring your eyes, "Let me see what kind of..." No. That is not possible. Therefore śāstra says, bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. You have to understand the Absolute Truth by devotion. At the same time, śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta means taking information by hearing from the śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭhaṁ guru (MU 1.2.12), by hearing from the right source and with bhakti. Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. This is the process.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Purports_to_Songs" class="sub_section" sec_index="14" parent="Lectures" text="Purports to Songs"><h3>Purports to Songs</h3>
</div>
<div id="PurporttoGaurangeraDutiPadaLosAngelesJanuary61969_0" class="quote" parent="Purports_to_Songs" book="Lec" index="15" link="Purport to Gaurangera Duti Pada -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969" link_text="Purport to Gaurangera Duti Pada -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Purport to Gaurangera Duti Pada -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969|Purport to Gaurangera Duti Pada -- Los Angeles, January 6, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Now he comes to the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. He says that "Lord Caitanya's pastimes are also as much transcendental as Lord Kṛṣṇa's." As in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that anyone who can simply understand the transcendental appearance, disappearance, activities, work of Kṛṣṇa, he immediately becomes eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. Simply by understanding the pastimes and the work, transcendental activities of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, one who enters into the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, he immediately becomes freed from all contamination of the heart. Gaurāṅgera madhuri-līlā, yāra karṇe praveśilā. Karṇe praveśilā means simply one has to receive the message of Lord Caitanya. Karṇe means in the ear. To give the message a submissive aural reception. Then immediately one's heart becomes freed from all material contamination.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
</div>
<div id="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1968 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1968 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationJuly161968Montreal_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="11" link="Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal" link_text="Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal|Room Conversation -- July 16, 1968, Montreal]]: </span><div class="text">Prabhupāda: Still more sympathetic. So what does He do? Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Kṛṣṇa, when He sees that one is interested in hearing about Him, then He gives you facility. What is that facility? That facility is śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.17|SB 1.2.17]]). Kṛṣṇa-kathā, talks about Kṛṣṇa, you, either you understand it or not understand it, it doesn't matter, if you simply sit down to receive, give aural reception to such message, you become pious. Immediately. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. You don't understand; simply you talk and discuss and hear, you become pious. Just like fire. You come to the fire, you understand it or not understand, you get warm. That facility is there. You don't require to understand how fire is produced, what is the chemical or physical constitution. You do it, understand or not understand. Just like you sit down on a car, motor car. You understand it or not understand it, what is the engineering of the car, but you run on. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-kathā, the simply, the simple method, if you kindly come and hear, then you will be pious. That is the first installment. You don't understand or don't follow, but if the injection is there you become pious. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. And if you give little attention, then the result will be hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi, all undesirable things that is accumulated within your heart, that will be cleared. Kṛṣṇa will help you.
</div>
</div>
<div id="1969_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1969 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1969 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="DiscussionwithBTGStaffDecember241969Boston_0" class="quote" parent="1969_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="24" link="Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston" link_text="Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston|Discussion with BTG Staff -- December 24, 1969, Boston]]: </span><div class="text">Prabhupāda: That he appreciated, (laughs) that "This boy does not go away. He hears." Actually that was my position. In the beginning I could not understand what he was speaking, but I wanted to hear him. That's all. I was very much anxious to hear him. That he marked. And he was kindly pleased on me, that "He wants to hear. He does not go away." That was my policy, that "let me hear. Even I do not understand, let me hear." That's all. Yes. Actually I did not understand in the beginning what he was speaking. So Bhaktisiddhānta's writing is not very easy to understand. Yes. But we should try, read and read again, and simply that vibration will help us. That's all. It is transcendental vibration, not that everyone will understand. But if you simply give aural reception to the vibration, that will make him advanced, not exactly that anyone has to understand it. Yes. Just like a man is sleeping and somebody is calling him. In his sleeping condition he does not understand. By calling, calling, calling, he gets up because that vibration is there. Not that in his sleeping condition he is understanding what is this sound is coming. So similarly, we should give reception to the transcendental vibrations made by Kṛṣṇa and His bona fide representatives. That will make us awakened. Not that we understand everything.
</div>
</div>
<div id="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="6" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1973 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1973 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithMisterPopworthandEFSchumacherJuly261973London_0" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="53" link="Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London" link_text="Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London|Room Conversation with Mister Popworth and E. F. Schumacher -- July 26, 1973, London]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Eh? There cannot be any objection.</p>
<p>Schumacher: No.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. So let us get this chance. Simple method. So we'll go. Let us go everywhere, hell or heaven. It doesn't matter. Let us have this chance and speak something about God. That's all. And we don't want anything from you in exchange, that "You give us some money." No. We don't want. If you give us something, welcome. It will be used for Kṛṣṇa's service. But we don't demand anything, that "First of all give me a hundred dollars, then I shall go." No. So... From the other side, there is no loss. But if they give us the chance for prosecuting, for pursuing, this Hare Kṛṣṇa Movement, everything will be purified. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni... ([[Vanisource:CC Antya 20.12|CC Antya 20.12]]). All problems will be solved. This is the beginning. Now, gradually, as people understand this philosophy, they will understand. They will understand. If they simply give us the chance. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Let them remain in their position. We don't disturb. We don't disturb. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Simply they will kindly give their aural reception what we are speaking.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationSeptember21973London_1" class="quote" parent="1973_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="70" link="Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London" link_text="Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London|Room Conversation -- September 2, 1973, London]]: </span><div class="text">Prabhupāda: All these things can be understood. Therefore we are propagating the same principle. We do not ask anyone: "First of all, you become brāhmaṇa. Then come here." No. Let him come and hear about Viṣṇu. We speak, discuss about Bhagavad-gītā. They hear. They hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You have seen our books? So these books are discussed and gradually... If it is a fact, śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ, if one gives only aural reception to this transcendental message, then, although God is Ajita, nobody can conquer, He becomes conquered. So that is becoming, happening, that although they are American, European, Canadian, African, Australian, not all of them are Indian... Indians are also there. But because they are giving aural reception to this transcendental message, they are becoming enlightened. So anyone who will give aural reception to this message, first of all Bhagavad-gītā, entrance, then Bhāgavatam, then Caitanya-caritāmṛta, like books, then gradually, he'll be self-realized, fully cognizant what is God. What is God, this is... athāto brahma jijñāsā means what is God. So this institution is meant for giving chance to everyone to hear. It doesn't require education. Simply God has given him this ear. Let him receive the message from the ear.
</div>
</div>
<div id="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1974 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1974 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="MorningWalkApril181974Bombay_0" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="66" link="Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay|Morning Walk -- April 18, 1974, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: That is wanted. It doesn't matter. Nanda Mahārāja, a vaiśya. Arjuna is a kṣatriya. And there are many śūdras also. So what is that goat(?) caṇḍāla. He was a caṇḍāla. But everyone has got the right to become a devotee. That is wanted. (break) ...tanuvān manobhiḥ. Remain in your place, but giving aural reception to the Kṛṣṇa message, you become a devotee. That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We don't ask anybody to change. We want to make him transcendental. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ([[Vanisource:BG 14.26 (1972)|BG 14.26]]). (break) Brahma-stuta śruti-kārayan. Now, in the brahma-stuta, yaṁ brahma, beginning... So that is yaṁ brahma. Then simply if you recite, yaṁ brahma... You must know who is that yam. And that is being explained by Kṛṣṇa. Here is that yam, Kṛṣṇa.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithMonsieurRoostHathayogiMay311974Geneva_1" class="quote" parent="1974_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="92" link="Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva" link_text="Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva|Room Conversation with Monsieur Roost, Hatha-yogi -- May 31, 1974, Geneva]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: That is later. That is later on. For beginning you have simply to give submissive aural reception. That is the first beginning. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Our process is jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. I know something or I can know the Supreme by my knowledge. As I am something, I am very important, our process is to forget this first of all. This is called humbleness, submissive. Generally, the jñānīs, yogis, they are thinking that they can do something by their own endeavor. Our process is different, that "I am limited. My endeavor is limited. My knowledge is limited. So I cannot realize the unlimited by these limited resources." This is our first submission, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya, that "I am limited; I am not unlimited." That's a fact. So how can I know the unlimited by my limited activities? This is our first submissiveness. Just like in the Vedic literature it is stated that Mahā-Viṣṇu, the plenary expansion of Govinda, from His breathing innumerable universes are coming and going.</p>
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</div>
<div id="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1975 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1975 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationwithWomanSanskritProfessorFebruary131975Mexico_0" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="6" link="Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico" link_text="Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico|Room Conversation with Woman Sanskrit Professor -- February 13, 1975, Mexico]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Just like I am trying something, and some experienced man says, "Do like this." This is śabda-pramāṇa. The śabda-pramāṇa, one who knows, he says, "Do like this." The "Do like this," means śabda, sound, and it enters your ear, and you do adjustment. Therefore śabda-pramāṇa. Just like you are sleeping, and one is, another man is coming to kill you. And another friend says, "Get up, get up, get up! There is enemy. He is coming to kill you." Then you wake up. Therefore the sound is the pramāṇa, there was enemy. These are crude examples. When you are asleep, you cannot understand. You have got eyes, you have got hands, you have legs but no experience, but the ear gives you warning even if you are sleeping. There is enemy, your eyes cannot see, your hand cannot touch, but the ear can give you evidence, "Yes." As soon as you are awakened you say, "Yes, here is enemy. He is coming to kill me." Therefore the aural reception, sound reception, is the evidence. Knowledge received through authentic sound vibration, that is perfect.</p>
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<div id="MorningWalkNovember31975Bombay_1" class="quote" parent="1975_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="232" link="Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay" link_text="Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay|Morning Walk -- November 3, 1975, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: This is perfection of life, that...</p>
:ataḥ puṁbhir dvija-śreṣṭha
:varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ
:svanusthitasya dharmasya
:saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam
:([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.13|SB 1.2.13]])
<p>You may do whatever occupational duty you are... But you have to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then your everything is perfect. And if you satisfy your senses, then you are going to hell. This is the position. Therefore it is... Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya ([[Vanisource:BG 18.46 (1972)|BG 18.46]]). Even that karma is abominable, sa-doṣam api na tyājet ([[Vanisource:BG 18.48 (1972)|BG 18.48]]). "You go on with your work. Even there is some fault, it doesn't matter, but you satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then it is perfect." Just like Arjuna did. The fighting is not good business, but he satisfied Kṛṣṇa. Therefore by fighting, he became a great devotee-sva-karmaṇā. He did not leave his position as a kṣatriya, as a gṛhastha, but he... Karisye vacanam tava: ([[Vanisource:BG 18.73 (1972)|BG 18.73]]) "Yes. In spite of my not being inclined to fight, because You are asking, I'll do it." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Hindi) (break) You remain in your place, but you have your ears to hear Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be perfect. What is the difficulty? You remain as a doctor. You remain as a pleader. You remain whatever you like. It doesn't matter. But engage your aural reception to the words of Kṛṣṇa. Then you become perfect. What is the difficulty? Simply sit down and hear what Kṛṣṇa says, Bhagavad-gītā. That's all. And if you say that "I simply hear," and if you do not act, no, you'll act because as you go on hearing, your heart will be purified. Then you will be inclined to hear..., er, act.</p>
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</div>
<div id="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1976 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1976 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
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<div id="MorningWalkApril81976Mayapur_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="70" link="Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur" link_text="Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur|Morning Walk -- April 8, 1976, Mayapur]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī-bhāṣya sunile haya sarva-nāśa ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 6.169|CC Madhya 6.169]]), finished—his spiritual progress is finished if he associates with a Māyāvādī.</p>
<p>Madhudviṣa: It says in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, even if we look upon the face of a pāṣaṇḍī, we should jump in the river with all our clothes on to become immediately purified, what to speak of giving any aural reception to them. But then again we see that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu listened, you know, attentively for so many hours to Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and also Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. How is it can we understand...?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Just to see how the animal is jumping. (to passers-by:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya, jaya. (chuckles) Just like a fish is given freedom, even if he's caught up by the trap. It is like that.</p>
<p>Madhudviṣa: So Lord Caitanya had him on the line all the time.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Lord Caitanya was waiting, "Let the rascal go on speaking. How long he can speak?" (laughs)</p>
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</div>
<div id="InterviewwithProfessorsOConnellMotilalandShivaramJune181976Toronto_1" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="148" link="Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto" link_text="Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto|Interview with Professors O'Connell, Motilal and Shivaram -- June 18, 1976, Toronto]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Not like.... Just like in college, school, some student making rapid progress, some of them are a little slow. That does not mean that he should he rejected. He should be given chance. But if he follows the regulative principles, there is no chance of falling down. The regulative principle is that you refrain from these activities: illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling, and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. That will make him perfect. Very easy. We don't say no sex; we say illicit sex. So if you want sex, you become a gentleman, marry and live like a gentleman. Why illicit sex? There are many gṛhastha devotee. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu's direct associate, Nityānanda, He was a gṛhastha. Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself was a gṛhastha. He married twice. First wife died, he married second wife. So gṛhastha is not rejected. Simply it is not that simply sannyāsīs will go back to home. No. Everyone can go. Striyaḥ śūdrās tathā vaiśyāḥ. They can go also. But one must be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation is that you remain your place-don't try to change it artificially—but be Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is required. And that is also very easy, how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, you become Kṛṣṇa conscious. At home or out of home, it doesn't matter. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You remain in your situation, place, and śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāk, and hear, just lend your aural reception of the words of Kṛṣṇa. So that day will come, Kṛṣṇa, who is ajita, you can conquer Him. Ajito 'pi jito 'py asi. Nobody can conquer Kṛṣṇa, but by this method, one can conquer Kṛṣṇa.</p>
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</div>
<div id="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1977 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1977 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationMarch271977Bombay_0" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="123" link="Room Conversation -- March 27, 1977, Bombay" link_text="Room Conversation -- March 27, 1977, Bombay">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- March 27, 1977, Bombay|Room Conversation -- March 27, 1977, Bombay]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: If these men will give a little bit of aural reception, then they can get their misgivings, misunderstandings cleared away by speaking with you. But they will have to be ready to hear submissively and they have to be intelligent. Before I ever came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I would have always understood that religion meant sectarian. That is a common idea. Someone sees a sādhu or religious person, they immediately take it this is unscientific and sectarian. (break)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: ...right?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I wasn't clear about that, Śrīla Prabhupāda.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: This is Mattrey's?</p>
<p>Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Mrs. Mattrey? I can find out.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: All right. (end)</p>
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<div id="Correspondence" class="section" sec_index="6" parent="compilation" text="Correspondence"><h2>Correspondence</h2>
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<div id="1947_to_1965_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Correspondence" text="1947 to 1965 Correspondence"><h3>1947 to 1965 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoBTGFriendMathuraUPDatedasPostmark_0" class="quote" parent="1947_to_1965_Correspondence" book="Let" index="27" link="Letter to BTG Friend -- (Mathura U.P.) Dated as Postmark" link_text="Letter to BTG Friend -- (Mathura U.P.) Dated as Postmark">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to BTG Friend -- (Mathura U.P.) Dated as Postmark|Letter to BTG Friend -- (Mathura U.P.) Dated as Postmark]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">You have to realize, therefore, the message of perfect life through your submissive aural reception and get it fixed up in your spiritual identity.  By doing so you shall be happy both in this as well as in the next life.  Please do not be carried away by the misgiven mind to conclude that the present life is all in all.  You are eternal, and the present form of human life is a chance of realizing your eternal life.  Do not spoil your life simply by serving the misgiven mind and the uncontrolled senses.  Please do not become your own enemy by your own self.</p>
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<div id="1966_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Correspondence" text="1966 Correspondence"><h3>1966 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoReserveBankofIndiaNewYork30April1966_0" class="quote" parent="1966_Correspondence" book="Let" index="12" link="Letter to Reserve Bank of India -- New York 30 April, 1966" link_text="Letter to Reserve Bank of India -- New York 30 April, 1966">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Reserve Bank of India -- New York 30 April, 1966|Letter to Reserve Bank of India -- New York 30 April, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">At present I am staying in New York city at the above address and holding my classes on the culture of musical kirtana as well as discourses on the cult of devotion (Bhakti) on every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays which are participated by the American Youths, Ladies and Gentlemen. They appreciate the musical mellow very much although they are not conversant with the language. And without understanding the language they give a aural reception to the kirtana in a devout manner. So there is ample prospect for propagating this Indian culture in this country.</p>
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</div>
<div id="1968_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Correspondence" text="1968 Correspondence"><h3>1968 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoPurusottamaLosAngeles2February1968_0" class="quote" parent="1968_Correspondence" book="Let" index="41" link="Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968" link_text="Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968|Letter to Purusottama -- Los Angeles 2 February, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">I am so glad to receive your letter (undated), and I have noted the contents carefully. Krishna is so sublime and transcendental that He cannot be realized by mental speculation or by personal endeavor, education, or material acquisition. He can only be approached and understood clearly by our service attitude, engaging all our senses in His service. The beginning of service is to engage our hearing organs, and receive the transcendental message by aural reception. And whenever we are mature in receiving the transcendental message from books like Bhagavad-gita, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, via media the transparent bona fide Spiritual Master, then we are able to chant or engage our tongue in the service of the Lord, being engaged in the service of the Lord.</p>
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</div>
<div id="LettertoSacisutaMontreal17June1968_1" class="quote" parent="1968_Correspondence" book="Let" index="205" link="Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 17 June, 1968" link_text="Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 17 June, 1968">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 17 June, 1968|Letter to Sacisuta -- Montreal 17 June, 1968]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">That is the qualification of the spiritual master. In other words, this science is appreciated by service attitude only. It is never understood by any challenging spirit. One who is submissive and ready to give aural reception of the transcendental message, to him only the transcendence becomes revealed. So the more you become in service attitude for Krishna, Krishna will reveal Himself to you. Krishna is within you and He is awaiting your surrender and service, and as soon as He sees that you are seriously in serving mood, you will understand everything about Krishna—His qualities, His form, His pastimes, His entourage, and His abode. I am very glad to know that you are gradually stepping upwards by your service attitude and I would request you to prolong this attitude eternally, and Krishna will reveal Himself unto you continually. In other words, Krishna is unlimited, but the more we advance in service attitude, we appreciate Him in newer and newer features.</p>
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<div id="1969_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Correspondence" text="1969 Correspondence"><h3>1969 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoGovindaLosAngeles10February1969_0" class="quote" parent="1969_Correspondence" book="Let" index="109" link="Letter to Govinda -- Los Angeles 10 February, 1969" link_text="Letter to Govinda -- Los Angeles 10 February, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Govinda -- Los Angeles 10 February, 1969|Letter to Govinda -- Los Angeles 10 February, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So this gentleman is puzzled in his understanding about wherefrom we have come, what we are, and where we are going. But we are certain about it. So if he wants to know all these things, there is bona fide source for understanding these problems, providing he agrees to give a submissive aural reception to the respective authorities as much as he believes in the authoritative statements of Sir Isaac Newton. So either to accept the statements of Sir Isaac Newton or the statements of Lord Krishna, the beginning is a kind of faith. Unfortunately, these so-called scientific men can usually pin their faith on Sir Isaac Newton but not to the statements of Krishna or his representatives. So try to explain to him in this way.</p>
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<div id="LettertoJanardanaLosAngeles2March1969_1" class="quote" parent="1969_Correspondence" book="Let" index="156" link="Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1969" link_text="Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1969|Letter to Janardana -- Los Angeles 2 March, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">As we are now collecting some fortunate students in our movement, similarly, it will be possible to collect more students in the future. But it is a fact that the unfortunate persons who stick to the four material misbehaviors, just like illicit sex life, etc. cannot accept these principles of Krishna Consciousness. But still there is chance for them simply by giving aural reception to this transcendental sound of Hare Krishna Mantra. If we turn our attention to fit with the Christian people, or any other religious sect, I think it will not be very much fruitful because nobody will change his faith even though he is given scientific or archeological evidences. And that will also not help anybody. We have already discussed this point in many articles and change in religious faith does not make one advanced in spiritual understanding. The spiritual understanding as taught by Lord Caitanya is that all living entities are eternally servants of God. We have to propagate this philosophy, and for this we have to make propaganda. Every religion believes in God, and we want that everyone should actively come to this understanding of accepting one's eternal servitorship to God.</p>
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<div id="LettertoYamunacaryaTittenhurst21October1969_2" class="quote" parent="1969_Correspondence" book="Let" index="625" link="Letter to Yamunacarya -- Tittenhurst 21 October, 1969" link_text="Letter to Yamunacarya -- Tittenhurst 21 October, 1969">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Yamunacarya -- Tittenhurst 21 October, 1969|Letter to Yamunacarya -- Tittenhurst 21 October, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">There are many such Mahatmas, or great souls, in the past, and if we follow in their footsteps carefully, that is the perfection of fulfillment of our human form of life. To follow in the footsteps of the Mahatmas means to give submissive aural reception to the words and instructions of the bona fide Spiritual Master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. When the Lord appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago, He instructed Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, and this purely transcendental message of Krishna has been passed down for the past 5,000 years by the media of sincere disciples giving submissive aural reception to the words of Krishna via the medium of the bona fide Spiritual Master. This acts like electricity, and if you touch a wire anywhere which is connected to the powerhouse, then you will be in contact with the electric current. But if the wire is broken or separated from the powerhouse, then there will be no electric current.</p>
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<div id="1970_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Correspondence" text="1970 Correspondence"><h3>1970 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoSatsvarupaLosAngeles28April1970_0" class="quote" parent="1970_Correspondence" book="Let" index="274" link="Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970" link_text="Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970|Letter to Satsvarupa -- Los Angeles 28 April, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The words of Srimad-Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if they receive it in submissive aural reception, repeatedly, then they will be able to understand your message. 8</p>
<p>In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, verses 17 through 21, it is said</p>
<p>Anyone who gives aural reception to the transcendental message about You, which are always auspicious, by hearing and chanting, for him You become special well-wisher, and thus remaining within his heart You clear up all inauspicious understanding. When such inauspicious understandings are almost clear, at that time one realizes the importance of devotional service. In that stage of understanding, the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion becomes almost nil, and the resultant action of passion and ignorance cannot anymore attack the heart, and thus he becomes joyful being situated on the platform of goodness.</p>
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<div id="LettertoKirtananandaLosAngeles6May1970_1" class="quote" parent="1970_Correspondence" book="Let" index="293" link="Letter to Kirtanananda -- Los Angeles 6 May, 1970" link_text="Letter to Kirtanananda -- Los Angeles 6 May, 1970">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Kirtanananda -- Los Angeles 6 May, 1970|Letter to Kirtanananda -- Los Angeles 6 May, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 3rd May, 1970, and beg to thank you very much for your kind sentiments. Yes, if it is any credit for me, that is what you have written that I tried to give aural reception to the words of my Spiritual Master, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja, and thus I tried to engage my tongue in repeating the same words without any change. Actually I am the most unworthy servant of His Divine Grace because I delayed to execute His order by so many years. But it was better I began late than never, and therefore He has kindly sent to me so many young hearts to cooperate with me in this great Movement. Please therefore continue your good cooperation, and I am sure great things will happen without delay.</p>
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<div id="1976_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Correspondence" text="1976 Correspondence"><h3>1976 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoJayasacinandanaMayapur8February1976_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Correspondence" book="Let" index="116" link="Letter to Jayasacinandana -- Mayapur 8 February, 1976" link_text="Letter to Jayasacinandana -- Mayapur 8 February, 1976">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Jayasacinandana -- Mayapur 8 February, 1976|Letter to Jayasacinandana -- Mayapur 8 February, 1976]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">I am in due receipt of your letter of January 22, 1976, and I have noted the contents. Thank you very much for your nice translation of Markine Bhagavata-dharma. It is well appreciated. I think it can be included in the front of the new printing of the song book, and it can be sung in kirtana like the other songs of Bhaktivinode Thakura. I have included a few corrections below which can be noted. The other prayer can be called Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krsna, and I will be sending comments on that shortly.</p>
<p>Corrections:</p>
<p>Verse 2: synonyms: ei—in this ugra-sthane—terrible place</p>
<p>translation: . . . to this terrible place.</p>
<p>Verse 3: synonyms: prasanna—is happy or jubilant</p>
<p>Verse 5: transliteration: bujhale</p>
<p>synonyms: bujhale nija-vasa—under your controlling power</p>
<p>Verse 8: synonyms: kane—by aural reception</p>
<p>bara bara—again and again</p>
<p>Verse 9: translation: accumulated in the core of the heart</p>
<p>Verse 15: synonyms: dhara—determination</p>
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