Category:Authoritative Statements
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the practice of spiritual life is not a matter of personal whim or mental concoction but is based on following authoritative statements. He emphasizes that the yoga system, for example, is a scientific process with definite data, such as selecting a holy place and renouncing sense gratification, all of which are established by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that a practitioner must be satisfied with the authoritative statements of the spiritual master and the acaryas, rather than engaging in endless argument or speculation. He warns that those who manufacture their own way of life or perform yoga without following authoritative books are rascals who remain in ignorance despite their academic titles. Furthermore, he teaches that by following the footprints of mahajanas like Prahlada Maharaja, one can safely navigate the path of devotional service. Ultimately, practicing under authoritative statements allows the seeker to understand the eternity of the soul and the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, ensuring that their spiritual efforts lead to factual success and aural reception of the perfect knowledge.
- Regulated Practice: Spiritual practices like yoga and devotional service must be performed according to the authoritative statements found in the Bhagavad-gita and the Vedas.
- Renunciation of Whimsy: To be successful, a practitioner must renounce the desire for sense gratification and stop manufacturing personal methods of self-realization.
- The Role of the Guru: A student must be satisfied by the authoritative statements of the spiritual master and must not argue, as the guru is the transparent medium of the parampara.
- Following the Mahajanas: The safest path for any practitioner is to follow the footsteps and authoritative statements of great personalities like Prahlada Maharaja and Narada Muni.
- Validation of Results: Just as a lawyer gains a case by quoting previous judgments, a practitioner gains spiritual perfection by supporting their life with authoritative scriptural statements.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Practicing Under Authoritative Statements.
Pages in category "Authoritative Statements"
The following 63 pages are in this category, out of 63 total.
A
- A simple truth, Krsna is explaining to Arjuna. It is authoritative statement because Krsna says
- According to the yoga, God is the Supreme Person. Now just see. This is authoritative statement. You have been in so many yoga societies. Did you ever hear that God is the Supreme Person? Now just see
- All these rascals, they do not understand. There is practical experience, and there is authoritative statement, and still, they do not know, and still, they are big, big professors, big, big learned scholar, doctor, scientist, philosopher. What is this
- All Vedic knowledge is based on the principle that one must approach a bona fide spiritual master and hear from him the authoritative statements of the Vedas
- Although my bodies have changed so many times, I am cognizant; I know that I had such-and-such body. Tatha dehantara-praptih: to transmigrate from one body to another. This is the authoritative statement of Bhagavad-gita
- As you are understanding about the sun by authoritative statement of the geometry, that this sun globe is so great, 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
F
- 5000 years before, the statements of authorities, people could keep in mind without any book record. The memory was so sharp that one could keep in his memory simply by once hearing from the spiritual master. There was no need of written book to consult
- From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedanta-sutra, the components of this world are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are the five great elements. BG 1972 purports
H
- Here is the authoritative statement, that you have to practice like this. First of all you have to select your place, holy place, alone, and special seat. Then you have to sit straight like this
- Here it is authoritative statement that no one can become a yogi unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification. This is the first condition
- Here we get authoritative statement of Prahlada Maharaja. He is one of the mahajana. Our process is mahajano yena gatah sa panthah (CC Madhya 17.186). We have to follow the footsteps of great personalities
I
- I thank you once more for your appreciating my mission of one God, Sri Krishna; one scripture, Bhagavad-gita; and one mantra, Hare Krishna. This idea is not manufactured by me, but it is authoritative statement in the Gita Mahatma Skanda Purana
- If he wants to know all these, there is bonafide 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
- If we actually want to participate in the perfection of the yoga system, in Bhagavad-gita we will find the authoritative statements of the Supreme Person
- If you acquire the qualification of a brahmana and if you work as a brahmana, then you are accepted as a brahmana. Similarly ksatriya, similarly vaisya. This is the authoritative statement of Narada. Yasya hi yad laksanam - SB 7.11.35
- If you go on speculating, "He may be my father. He may be my father. He may be father," but you will never understand who is your father. But you accept the authoritative statement of your mother that, "He is your father" - that is perfect knowledge
- In reality, "What I am," that can be understood through devotional service, not by karma, jnana, yoga. Give this example, I mean to say, authoritative statement of Krsna, that bhaktya mam abhijanati - BG 18.55
- In Sri Caitanya-mangala (later known as Sri Caitanya-bhagavata) Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura has given the conclusion and essence of devotional service by quoting the authoritative statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam
- In the Bible it is said, "All things were made by Him, created by Him." Therefore He is the father of everything. "Without Him was not anything made that was made." So you cannot deny the authoritative statement of Vedas or Bible by your whimsical way
- Indra and the demigods accepted the authoritative statements of Narada Muni and immediately offered their respects to the devotee by circumambulating the woman in whose womb he was living
- It (the soul) is very, very minute. With our, these blunt eyes and blunt senses, we cannot capture. But there is. We have to conceive it from the authoritative statement of higher knowledge, knowledgeable person
- It is authoritative statement because Krsna says very reasonably, - I am giving very common example that within this body, the proprietor of the body, or the spirit soul, is there
- It is authoritative statement of Krsna. Na mam duskrtino mudhah. So these classes of men do not surrender to Krsna. So anyone who has not surrendered to Krsna, he comes within these categories. This is a plain description if we believe in BG. All rascals
K
- Krsna said that, "We existed in the past." This is authoritative statement. So it is to be understood that I existed in the past in different body
- Krsna says: tatha dehantara-praptih (BG 2.13). So similarly, na hanyate hanyamane sarire (BG 2.20). This is authoritative statement of God, and practically we see that we get one body after another, but I continue. So where is the objection
M
- Material happiness means sense gratification. That's all. Actually, according to Bhagavad-gita... Not according to Bhagavad-gita - that is a fact according to any authoritative statement
- My dear respectable ladies and gentlemen, according to the authoritative statements of sastra, there must be a supreme authority who is able to award the respective benefits of our present activities
N
O
- One accepts gold by the authoritative statement of the superiors, and one accepts gold by chemical analysis. So one who accepts by the authority's statement, he is more advanced. He immediately gets the gold immediately
- One must leave his family life and enter the forest after the age of fifty. This is an authoritative statement of the Vedas, based on the division of social life into four departments of activity - brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa
- One thing is that he says that it is from Buddhism. So where is the authoritative statement in the Buddhism about Panca-tattva? That he has not mentioned
S
- Sastra-caksusa. Sastra . . . From authoritative statement of sastra you'll see. Don't see by your blunt eyes, rascal, this consciousness. Then you'll never find the actual fact
- Science begins on some definite data, just like Sir Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravitation, and so much scientific advancement depends on such authoritative statements
- Some rascals, they say the animals have no soul. This is wrong. How you can say the animal has no soul? Everyone. Here the authoritative statement by Krsna: sarvasya
- Somebody says, "No, my father says it is gold. My Guru Maharaja says it is gold. Well, so many acaryas says it is gold," then you accept it, gold. So one accepts gold by the authoritative statement of the superiors, & one accepts gold by chemical analysis
T
- That (there is no impediment in devotional service) he has very nicely explained, quoting many authoritative statement from scriptures. And another thing: it is a fact that nobody can check krsna-bhakti. It is transcendental; it is not material
- There are innumerable authoritative statements in the Vedas regarding the personal feature of the Absolute Truth
- There are many other authoritative statements about Lord Caitanya's becoming Krsna Himself. When Krsna appeared, when Gargamuni was ascertaining His name, he said that "This child, He has other colors," suklo raktas tatha pita. Pita means yellow
- There are so many authorized acaryas. The sastra is there, the authoritative statement is there, and the activities are there. Then what reason you have got not to believe that Krsna is not God?
- There is an authoritative statement in the Garuda Purana about mystic yogis who are under the direct shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- There is authoritative statements in all the sastras, but if we do not care for sastra and sadhu and devotees, we manufacture our own way of life, that is different things. We have nothing to speak about that
- This is an authoritative statement given by the greatest authority, Narada Muni. If one gives another living entity unnecessary pain, one will certainly be punished by the laws of nature with a similar pain
- This movement is very scientific movement, and we have got authoritative statements. You cannot defy authority
- Those who are devotees heartily welcome the statements of Krsna when they are spoken by Krsna Himself. The devotees will always worship such authoritative statements of Krsna because they are always eager to know more and more about Him. BG 1972 purports
- To make progress in devotional service, one cannot manufacture anything. The authoritative statements of acaryas, that we'll have to follow
- To understand who is my father is beyond my perception, beyond my speculation, but if I accept the authoritative statement of my mother, this is perfect knowledge
W
- We are accepting the statements of authorities in every field of our activities. From newspapers and radio we also understand that such and such events are taking place in China and India and other places all around the earth
- We are not concerned with other religions or yogas in terms of competition or sectarian spirit. Actual spiritual knowledge is to take the authoritative statements from the scriptures and from the great acaryas, spiritual masters in disciplic succession
- We are speaking from the authoritative statements of Bhagavad-gita. We are not manufacturing anything. That is not our business
- We can have some conception of the Absolute Truth, His form and His attributes simply by reading the descriptions given in Vedic literatures and authoritative statements given by exalted personalities like Brahma, Narada, Sukadeva Gosvami and others
- We have already explained that we accept the authoritative statement of sastra. Now, Brahma's life is stated there. Arhat means his one day is equal to our four yugas
- When Prahlada Maharaja says manye, "I think," it has to be taken as authoritative statement. We have to follow. If we follow the footprints of great personalities, then there is no danger
Y
- You cannot by your teeny effort with limited power, limited sense, I mean to say, perception, you cannot speculate. You have to understand from authoritative statements. That is called Veda
- You cannot know father in any other way. There is no other way. This is practical. You cannot know your father without the authoritative statement of your mother
- You must be satisfied by the authoritative statement of the spiritual master. You cannot argue. That is the principle of authority