Category:Advise for Devotees of God
Theme Analysis
Devotional advice is meant to transform ordinary duty into service to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda presents instruction as a living current flowing through the Lord, the guru, the sādhus, and the previous ācāryas, guiding devotees away from lamentation, speculation, isolation, and sense gratification. Whether the devotee is Arjuna on the battlefield, Dhruva Mahārāja in the forest, or a neophyte learning temple worship, the essential principle is the same: follow proper guidance and act for the Supreme Lord.
- Guided Duty: Devotees are advised to act according to Kṛṣṇa's order, without being distracted by personal gain, fear, or lamentation. When duty is connected to the Lord's desire, it becomes purified service rather than ordinary action.
- Regulated Practice: Neophyte devotees are protected by hearing, chanting, Deity worship, and faithful adherence to bona fide instructions. These practices give the mind a sacred structure so that devotion can mature steadily.
- Saintly Conduct: Tolerance, forgiveness, humility, and proper dealings with Vaiṣṇavas form the character of one who can serve steadily. Advice for devotees therefore shapes not only external behavior but the inner quality of the heart.
- Guru's Direction: Advice from genuine spiritual authority saves the devotee from deviation and connects every action to devotional service. By following the previous ācāryas and rejecting misleading counsel, the devotee remains sheltered on the path to Kṛṣṇa.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Wise Advice for Devotees of God Turns Duty Into Devotional Service.
Pages in category "Advise for Devotees of God"
The following 45 pages are in this category, out of 45 total.
A
- A sadhu is advised, titiksavah, tolerate. Tolerate all this nonsense. What can be done? We have no other alternative to tolerate. Nobody's coming to help us, our business is so thankless task
- Arjuna is advised herewith (BG 2.22) by the Lord not to lament for the bodily change of his old grandfather and his teacher. BG 1972 purports
- Arjuna is advised to act in Krsna consciousness, the purifying process of resultant action
- Arjuna was advised to fight and sacrifice the material body for the cause of religion. BG 1972 purports
- Arjuna was then advised by God to fight and take credit; otherwise the party of Duryodhana would be killed anyway by the will of the Lord. Arjuna was advised just to become the agent and take the credit for killing great generals like Bhisma and Karna
- As long as one is attached to fruitive activities, he must accept another material body. This repeated acceptance of material bodies is called samsara-bandhana. To stop this, a devotee is advised to see the Supreme Lord constantly
B
- Because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has nothing to do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are Krsna's concern; Arjuna is simply advised to act according to the dictation of Krsna. BG 1972 purports
- Both Narada Muni and Suniti, the mother of Dhruva Maharaja, advised Dhruva Maharaja to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now, Narada Muni is especially giving him directions how this worship of the Supreme Person can very quickly fructify
D
- Dhruva Maharaja is advised not only to meditate on the form of the Lord, but to think of His transcendental pastimes in His different incarnations
- Dhruva Maharaja was advised to worship a form made of earth and water because in the jungle, if it is not possible to have a form made of metal, wood or stone, the best process is to take earth mixed with water and make a form of the Lord and worship Him
- Dhruva Maharaja was advised to worship the Lord with the fruits and flowers available in the forest
- Dhruva Maharaja was determined to achieve the benediction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore Narada advised him to go back home for the time being, and in mature time he could try to practice devotional service
- Dhruva Mahārāja is advised that if he has no desire for sense gratification, then he should directly engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The path of apavarga, or liberation, begins from the stage called moksa
H
- He (Krsnadasa Kaviraja) worshiped Radha-Krsna with his family, and once when there was some misunderstanding among his family members about devotional service, he was advised by Nityananda Prabhu in a dream to leave home and go to Vrndavana - CC Intro
- He thinks that he is the best devotee. Devotional service executed in this way is not pure; it is mixed and is of the lowest grade, tamasah. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura advises that a Vaisnava who is not of good character should be avoided
I
- If the citizens are trained to become devotees, they will automatically become peaceful and honest, and if they are guided by a devoted king advised by devotees, the state will not be in the material world but in the spiritual world
- In the Vedic scriptures, the neophyte devotees are advised to engage in nine kinds of devotional service
- In this verse, Sukadeva Gosvami advises Maharaja Pariksit that a devotee should be independent in all circumstances
- Indirectly, Arjuna was advised (in BG .248) to act as Krsna told him. BG 1972 purports
- It is advised that a devotee follow the past acaryas and saintly persons, because by such following one can achieve the desired results, with no chance of lamenting or being baffled in his progress
N
- Narada advises Dhruva to meditate on the pastimes of the Lord, which is as good as the meditation of concentrating one's mind on the form of the Lord
- Narada Muni therefore advised Dhruva Maharaja to take shelter of Vasudeva, Lord Krsna, and engage himself in the way that his mother had advised, for that would help him fulfill his desire
- Narada was never advised to preach the principles of Bhagavatam to earn a livelihood; he was ordered by his spiritual master to take the matter very seriously in a missionary spirit
- Nirjana-bhajana, which is the silent worship of the Supreme Lord, is not possible for a neophyte devotee. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura never advised a neophyte devotee to go to a solitary place to engage in devotional service
S
- Saintly persons are advised to forgive. Such injunctions for saintly persons are more important than any political emergency. BG 1972 purports
- Since their hearts (of materialistic persons engaged in fruitive activities) are always filled with anxiety, it is understood that they have already been killed by providence. Thus Lord Siva, as a self-realized Vaisnava, was advised not to kill Daksa
- Srila Jiva Gosvami has advised that such a useless guru (one who goes against the principle of visnu-bhakti), a family priest acting as guru, should be given up, and that the proper, bona-fide guru should be accepted
- Srila Rupa Gosvami advises that we should meet with the Vaisnavas in an appropriate way, according to their particular status
T
- The devotees are therefore (because devotional service is superior to merging with Brahman) never advised to indulge in speculating upon the nature of the Supreme or artificially meditating on the the void
- The devotees have been advised to refrain from four sinful activities - illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling - and to chant sixteen rounds a day. These are bona fide instructions
- The kanistha-adhikari, or neophyte devotee, is therefore advised to visit the temple every day and see the form of the Lord regularly. Thus the neophyte devotee can be freed from the bondage of fruitive activities
- The members of the Krsna consciousness movement are advised not to take food from anywhere but a Vaisnava’s or brahmana’s house where Deity worship is performed
- The neophyte devotees are advised to engage in devotional service, such as to hear and chant the holy name of God, to remember Him always, to chant on beads Hare Krsna
- The neophyte devotees are advised to worship the Lord in the form of His Deity incarnation in the temples, and to engage in various activities of Krsna consciousness to increase the number of godly persons for perfect peace in the world
- The significance of this particular verse (SB 4.8.71) is that Dhruva Maharaja acted exactly according to the advice of his spiritual master, the great sage Narada
- The state would get the best advice without expenditure. They were themselves sama-darsi, equal to everyone, both man and animal. They would not advise the king to give protection to man and instruct him to kill the poor animals
- This (SB 11.2.46) is the way to cultivate devotional service properly; therefore in this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami has advised us how to treat various devotees. We can see from practical experience that there are different types of Vaisnavas
- This is one of the reasons (people might take advantage of Uddhava's knowledge after the disappearance of the Lord) why Uddhava was advised to go to Badarikasrama, where the Lord is personally represented by the Nara-Narayana Deity
- This process of transmigration is very subtle; therefore Srila Rupa Gosvami advises devotees to train their minds in order that they will be unable to remember anything other than Krsna