View source for Genuine devotees

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[[Category:Genuine Devotees of God|1]]
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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="SB1638_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="209" link="SB 1.6.38" link_text="SB 1.6.38">
<div class="heading">Śrīla Nārada Muni, in order to enlighten the miserable inhabitants, wanders everywhere. His mission is to get them back home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of all genuine devotees of the Lord following the footsteps of that great sage.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.6.38|SB 1.6.38, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">All glory and success to Śrīla Nārada Muni because he glorifies the activities of the Personality of Godhead, and so doing he himself takes pleasure and also enlivens all the distressed souls of the universe.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>Śrī Nārada Muni plays on his instrument to glorify the transcendental activities of the Lord and to give relief to all miserable living entities of the universe. No one is happy here within the universe, and what is felt as happiness is māyā's illusion. The illusory energy of the Lord is so strong that even the hog who lives on filthy stool feels happy. No one can be truly happy within the material world. Śrīla Nārada Muni, in order to enlighten the miserable inhabitants, wanders everywhere. His mission is to get them back home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of all genuine devotees of the Lord following the footsteps of that great sage.</p>
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<div id="SB1933_1" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_1" book="SB" index="349" link="SB 1.9.33" link_text="SB 1.9.33">
<div class="heading">A genuine relation of the living being with the Supreme Lord can take any form out of the five principal rasas, and it does not make any difference in transcendental degree to the genuine devotee. Bhīṣmadeva is a concrete example of this, and it should be carefully observed how the great general is transcendentally related with the Lord.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 1.9.33|SB 1.9.33, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Arjuna is described here as the conqueror, and Kṛṣṇa is described as his intimate friend. Bhīṣmadeva, on his bed of arrows after the Battle of Kurukṣetra, is remembering the particular dress of Lord Kṛṣṇa which He put on as the driver of Arjuna's chariot. While fighting was going on between Arjuna and Bhīṣma, Bhīṣma's attraction was drawn by the glittering dress of Kṛṣṇa, and indirectly he admired his so-called enemy Arjuna for possessing the Lord as his friend. Arjuna was always a conqueror because the Lord was his friend. Bhīṣmadeva takes this opportunity to address the Lord as vijaya-sakhe (friend of Arjuna) because the Lord is pleased when He is addressed conjointly with His devotees, who are related with Him in different transcendental humors. While Kṛṣṇa was the charioteer of Arjuna, sun rays glittered on the dress of the Lord, and the beautiful hue created by the reflection of such rays was never forgotten by Bhīṣmadeva. As a great fighter he was relishing the relation of Kṛṣṇa in the chivalrous humor. Transcendental relation with the Lord in any one of the different rasas (humors) is relishable by the respective devotees in the highest ecstasy. Less intelligent mundaners who want to make a show of being transcendentally related with the Lord artificially jump at once to the relation of conjugal love, imitating the damsels of Vrajadhāma. Such a cheap relation with the Lord exhibits only the base mentality of the mundaner because one who has relished conjugal humor with the Lord cannot be attached to worldly conjugal rasa, which is condemned even by mundane ethics. The eternal relation of a particular soul with the Lord is evolved. A genuine relation of the living being with the Supreme Lord can take any form out of the five principal rasas, and it does not make any difference in transcendental degree to the genuine devotee. Bhīṣmadeva is a concrete example of this, and it should be carefully observed how the great general is transcendentally related with the Lord.</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="SB2818_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_2" book="SB" index="267" link="SB 2.8.18" link_text="SB 2.8.18">
<div class="heading">Even the aborigines and cannibals can also be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord if they happen to be under the guidance of a genuine devotee of the Lord.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 2.8.18|SB 2.8.18, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">Please also explain what may generally be the common religious affiliations of human society, as well as their specific occupational duties in religion, the classification of the social orders as well as the administrative royal orders, and the religious principles for one who may be in distress.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>The common religion of all classes of human beings, regardless of whosoever and whatsoever one may be, is devotional service. Even the animals may be included in devotional service to the Lord, and the best example is set by Śrī Vajrāṅgajī, or Hanumān, the great devotee of Lord Śrī Rāma. As we have already discussed, even the aborigines and cannibals can also be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord if they happen to be under the guidance of a genuine devotee of the Lord. In the Skanda Purāṇa there is a narration that a hunter in the jungle became the most enlightened devotee of the Lord by the guidance of Śrī Nārada Muni. Therefore devotional service to the Lord can be equally shared by every living being.</p>
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<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" class="section" sec_index="2" parent="compilation" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"><h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
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<div id="CC_Adi-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Adi-lila"><h3>CC Adi-lila</h3>
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<div id="CCAdi10160_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="1409" link="CC Adi 10.160" link_text="CC Adi 10.160">
<div class="heading">Genuine devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu must take pride in the spread of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement instead of viciously criticizing its propaganda work.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 10.160|CC Adi 10.160, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">From each branch of the tree have grown hundreds and thousands of subbranches of disciples and granddisciples.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>It was the desire of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu that His cult be spread all over the world. Therefore there is a great necessity for many, many disciples of the branches of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's disciplic succession. His cult should be spread not only in a few villages, or in Bengal, or in India, but all over the world. It is very regrettable that complacent so-called devotees criticize the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness for accepting sannyāsa and spreading the cult of Lord Caitanya all over the world. It is not our business to criticize anyone, but because they try to find fault with this movement, the real truth must be stated. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted devotees all over the world, and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura confirmed this. It is in pursuit of their will that the ISKCON movement is spreading all over the world. Genuine devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu must take pride in the spread of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement instead of viciously criticizing its propaganda work.</p>
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<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>
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<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>
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<div id="NOI1_0" class="quote" parent="Nectar_of_Instruction" book="OB" index="2" link="NOI 1" link_text="Nectar of Instruction 1">
<div class="heading">The point is that one should be ready to tolerate all insults to one's own self, but when Kṛṣṇa or His pure devotee is blasphemed, a genuine devotee becomes angry and acts like fire against the offenders.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NOI 1|Nectar of Instruction 1, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Kṛṣṇa is just like the sun, and māyā is just like darkness. If the sun is present, there is no question of darkness. Similarly, if Kṛṣṇa is present in the mind, there is no possibility of the mind's being agitated by māyā's influence. The yogic process of negating all material thoughts will not help. To try to create a vacuum in the mind is artificial. The vacuum will not remain. However, if one always thinks of Kṛṣṇa and how to serve Kṛṣṇa best, one's mind will naturally be controlled.</p>
<p>Similarly, anger can be controlled. We cannot stop anger altogether, but if we simply become angry with those who blaspheme the Lord or the devotees of the Lord, we control our anger in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu became angry with the miscreant brothers Jagāi and Mādhāi, who blasphemed and struck Nityānanda Prabhu. In His Śikṣāṣṭaka Lord Caitanya wrote, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā: "One should be humbler than the grass and more tolerant than the tree." One may then ask why the Lord exhibited His anger. The point is that one should be ready to tolerate all insults to one's own self, but when Kṛṣṇa or His pure devotee is blasphemed, a genuine devotee becomes angry and acts like fire against the offenders. Krodha, anger, cannot be stopped, but it can be applied rightly. It was in anger that Hanumān set fire to Laṅkā, but he is worshiped as the greatest devotee of Lord Rāmacandra. This means that he utilized his anger in the right way. Arjuna serves as another example. He was not willing to fight, but Kṛṣṇa incited his anger: "You must fight!" To fight without anger is not possible. Anger is controlled, however, when utilized in the service of the Lord.</p>
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<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
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<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="RoomConversationAboutBlitzNewsClippingAugust211976Hyderabad_0" class="quote" parent="1976_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="275" link="Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad" link_text="Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad">
<div class="heading">Genuine?
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad|Room Conversation About Blitz News Clipping -- August 21, 1976, Hyderabad]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Pradyumna: Singing, dancing and chanting.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. We introduce three chariots in big, big cities, and conquered them.</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: "Rival to Nelson's Column."</p>
<p>Gargamuni: We are marching through the streets not with guns.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: They admitted, "Rival to Nelson Column" in Guardian even. So who is strong enough? We are stronger than British Empire. Simply by Ratha-yātrā we are conquering. And actually that is being done. What I have got strength? Forty rupees beginning. Simply Hare Kṛṣṇa and Ratha-yātrā, that's all. That's a fact. They can see, they have got eyes.</p>
<p>Pradyumna: "The Indian government has been rather slow in picking up the ISKCON signals. One reason being that the genuine Kṛṣṇa devotees in the administration had been mighty pleased in the beginning with the idea of exporting Kṛṣṇa consciousness to America."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Genuine?</p>
<p>Hari-śauri: That means the genuine ones are here in India, and they were pleased with the idea of exporting Kṛṣṇa to America. So that means that the ones in America are not genuine.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: So "You are not genuine. Therefore we are not appreciating." Genuine they appreciate. "But you are not genuine. Therefore we are criticizing you."</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="1967_Correspondence" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Correspondence" text="1967 Correspondence"><h3>1967 Correspondence</h3>
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<div id="LettertoRayaramaNavadvipa27October1967_0" class="quote" parent="1967_Correspondence" book="Let" index="195" link="Letter to Rayarama -- Navadvipa 27 October, 1967" link_text="Letter to Rayarama -- Navadvipa 27 October, 1967">
<div class="heading">Please convey my thanks to Satyavrata (Moskowitz) &amp; inform him that I've received his letter. His humble attitude is just befitting a genuine devotee. I very much appreciate his devotional attitude.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Letter to Rayarama -- Navadvipa 27 October, 1967|Letter to Rayarama -- Navadvipa 27 October, 1967]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">My blessings are for you for the latest nice edition of BTG's. I am so pleased for your sincere endeavour for improving the quality &amp; quantity of BTG. Krishna is helping you in this endeavour &amp; he will help you more &amp; more for your sincerity. Our circulation manager, Sriman Gargamuni, is surely taking great interest in seeling the copies. Regarding Kirtanananda's article, I do not know what he has written but I can guess that it must be polluted with impersonal poison, so for the time being you can keep this article aside. I was so glad to learn that you are acting exactly like a lion cub &amp; I know that in the future you shall conquer ever many jackals. We have got experience in India that the jackals roar four times at night without any influence but the one roar of a lion drives away many elephants. The pressure Maya is elephant-like, big, but the roaring of Nrsimhadeva can drive away many elephants. Please convey my thanks to Satyavrata (Moskowitz) &amp; inform him that I've received his letter. His humble attitude is just befitting a genuine devotee. I very much appreciate his devotional attitude. Hope you are well.</p>
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