Category:The Nectar of Instruction - Text 03
Pages in category "The Nectar of Instruction - Text 03"
The following 76 pages are in this category, out of 76 total.
A
- A devotee should be confident about his engagement and should not be very interested in the activities of the karmis, jnanis and yogis
- A newly married girl naturally expects offspring from her husband, but she cannot expect to have them immediately after marriage
- All the good qualities of the demigods manifest progressively in one who has developed pure devotional service
- All the parts of the instrument, including the electronic functions, are made from different combinations and interactions of the five basic types of material energy - namely, bhumi, jala, agni, vayu and akasa
- Although a fallen devotee may take his next birth in a low family, his devotional service will nonetheless resume from where it left off. Devotional service is ahaituky apratihata
- Although mental speculators and fruitive actors may perform great austerities and penances, they still fall down because they do not have information about the lotus feet of the Lord
- As already explained, one should not be idle but should be very enthusiastic about executing the regulative principles - tat-tat-karma-pravartana. Neglect of the regulative principles will destroy devotional service
B
- Because a devotee is not interested in any material activity, he does not become materially contaminated. He is immediately situated on the platform of transcendental life
- Being enthusiastic, being confident, being patient, giving up the association of unwanted persons, following the regulative principles and remaining in the association of devotees - one is sure to advance in devotional service
- BG says, "O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible"
- By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them
C
- Characteristically, a Vaisnava is one who gives up the association of worldly people, or nondevotees
- Complete confidence in the path of devotional service will enable one to attain his desired goal, but attempting to follow other paths will only succeed in making one restless
- Cultivation of spirituality does not mean sitting down idly for meditation, as some pseudo-yogis teach. Such idle meditation may be good for those who have no information of devotional service
D
- Devotional service is ahaituky apratihata; it is not the effect of any mundane cause, nor can it be terminated by any mundane cause or permanently curtailed by any material interruption
- Devotional service is not a matter of sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. Its substance is practical activity
- Devotional service is so pure and perfect that once having begun, one is forcibly dragged to ultimate success
- Devotional service not only puts an end to all nonsensical mundane activities, but also engages one in meaningful devotional activities
E
- Endeavor executed with intelligence in Krsna consciousness is called utsaha, or enthusiasm
- Engagement in the devotional service of the Lord is the life and soul of the living entity. It is the desired goal and supreme perfection of human life
- Even if such an immature devotee falls down, there is no loss on his part. On the other hand, what is the gain of one who executes the prescribed duties according to his varna and asrama but does not take to devotional service
- Even in the material world one has to be very enthusiastic in his particular field of activity in order to become successful. A student, businessman, artist or anyone else who wants success in his line must be enthusiastic
F
- For example, at present we are using a dictaphone. The materialist who invented this machine intended it for businessmen or writers of mundane subject matters
- Furthermore, in order to be successful in devotional service one must give up the association of undesirable people. This includes karmis, jnanis, yogis and other nondevotees
I
- If he (a devotee) becomes slack in following any of them, his progress will certainly be checked
- If one lives in the association of devotees, there is little chance of associating with nondevotees
- In addition to these four prohibitions (yama), there are positive regulative principles (niyama), such as the daily chanting of sixteen rounds on japa-mala beads
- In all phases of life one has to perform devotional activities under the direction of the spiritual master in order to attain perfection in bhakti-yoga. It is not that one has to confine or narrow one's activities. Krsna is all-pervading
- In the beginning there was no response, but because we continued to execute our devotional activities with patience, people gradually began to understand the importance of this movement, and now they are eagerly participating
- In the course of traversing the universal creation of Brahma, some fortunate soul may receive the seed of bhakti-lata, the creeper of devotional service. This is all by the grace of guru and Krsna
- In this Krsna consciousness movement there are four basic regulative principles, forbidding illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. A devotee must be very enthusiastic about following these principles
- In this Krsna consciousness movement we require everyone to rise early in the morning, by four A.M.,and attend mangala-arati, or morning worship, then read Srimad-Bhagavatam, perform kirtana, and so forth
O
- Of course, as soon as she is married she can attempt to get a child, but she must surrender to her husband, confident that her child will develop and be born in due time
- Once Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was asked by one of His householder devotees about the general principles of Vaisnavism, as well as the general routine activities of the Vaisnava
- One has to be very enthusiastic in devotional service. Enthusiasm means action, but action for whom? The answer is that one should always act for Krsna - krsnarthakhila-cesta
- One has to become confident about this, and one also has to be confident that all activities other than devotional service - such as mental speculation, fruitive work or mystic endeavor - will never yield any enduring benefit
- One has to become thoroughly callous to such nonpermanent activities and turn his intention instead to the regulative principles of devotional service
- One must strictly follow the regulative principles of vaidhi bhakti
- One should accept this opportunity to return home, back to Godhead, very enthusiastically. Without enthusiasm, one cannot be successful
- One should not be impatient in discharging devotional service but should take instructions from the spiritual master and execute them with patience, depending on the mercy of guru and Krsna
- One who engages in mundane activity - be he a so-called jnani, yogi, karmi, philanthropist, nationalist, or whatever - cannot attain the higher stage of mahatma. He remains a duratma, or cripple-minded person
S
- Similarly, in devotional service surrender means that one has to become confident
- Since all the devotees of the Lord are under the protection of His supreme potency, they should not deviate from the path of devotional service and take to the path of the karmi, jnani or yogi
- Sometimes a person will give up his ordinary material engagements and out of sentiment take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and thus begin the preliminary execution of devotional service
- Sravanam, 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
- Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has therefore recommended, tandera carana sevi bhakta-sane vasa: one has to live in the company of pure devotees and execute the regulative principles laid down by the previous acaryas, the six Gosvamis
T
- The cultivation of knowledge by philosophical speculation, the collection of mundane opulence by the advancement of fruitive activities, and the desire for yoga-siddhis, material perfections, are all contrary to the principles of devotional service
- The devotees find the correct means by which everything can be utilized in the service of the Lord
- The execution of devotional service is not a matter of idle meditation but practical action in the foreground of spiritual life
- The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is giving such a chance to humanity at large. If by fortune one takes advantage of this opportunity to engage in devotional service, the path of liberation immediately opens
- The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is opening many centers just to invite people to live in the company of devotees and practice the regulative principles of spiritual life
- The inventor used his brain to make this complicated machine, and his brain, as well as the ingredients, were supplied by Krsna
- The material world is a place of confinement for the living entities who are by nature anandamaya, pleasure-seeking. They actually want to be free from the confinement of this world of conditional happiness
- The successful execution of Krsna conscious activities requires both patience and confidence
- There are certainly many good qualities among fruitive actors, philosophical speculators and mystic yogis, but all good qualities automatically develop in the character of a devotee. No extraneous endeavor is needed
- There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service - (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles
- There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service - (5) Abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas
- These activities must be executed with patience. One should not be impatient in Krsna consciousness. Indeed, this Krsna consciousness movement was started single-handedly
- These regulative activities must be faithfully performed with enthusiasm. This is called tat-tat-karma-pravartana, or varied engagement in devotional service
- These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service
- They actually want to be free from the confinement of this world of conditional happiness, but not knowing the process of liberation, they are bound to transmigrate from one species of life to another and from one planet to another
- This devotional service should be free from any extraneous motive and devoid of fruitive karma, impersonal jnana and all other selfish desires
- This is called utsahan niscayad dhairyat tat-tat-karma-pravartanat, enthusiastically executing the regulative activities of devotional service with patience and confidence. In this way one can advance in devotional service without hindrance
- This is called visuddha-sat-tva, the platform of pure goodness, or goodness free from contamination by the qualities of passion and ignorance
- This method of submissively receiving transcendental confidential knowledge is not merely based on mental speculation
- Those who have given up devotional service to engage in severe austerities for other purposes are not purified in their minds, despite their advanced austerities, because they have no information of the transcendental loving service of the Lord
- Thus the devotee can understand that since nothing is independent of Krsna's energy, everything should be dovetailed in His service
- Thus we hold continuous activities in devotional service twenty-four hours daily. This is called sato vrtti, or following in the footsteps of the previous acaryas who expertly filled every moment of time with Krsna conscious activities
- To understand that transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master
U
W
- What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage
- When by good fortune one comes in contact with a pure devotee and hears from him patiently, one begins to follow the path of devotional service. Such an opportunity is offered to a person who is sincere