Assigned reading of complete Nectar of Instruction, Sri Upadesamrta, open discussion, one short essay, two mid-term quizzes, one final, as requirement. All levels of bhaktas invited.
The True Meaning of Being Humbler than a Blade of Grass by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, from Śrīla Prabhupādera Upadeśāmṛta
The True Meaning of Being Humbler than a Blade of Grass by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Question 1: Is the material nature, or māyā, the root cause of the cosmic creation? Answer: The material energy consisting of the three modes of material nature can never be the root cause of the creation of the universe. The Supreme Lord infuses His energy into material nature through His glance. Only then, by the strength of His energy, does nature (prakṛti) become the secondary…
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Hare Krishna Prabhu Dandvats Pranam PAMHO
Welcome Karthikayan ! Please feel free to consult me at any time! Hare Krsna!
One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) over-endeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements.
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 [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam – hearing, chanting and remembering Kṛṣṇa], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service.
(Upadeśāmṛta-Nectar of Instruction)
Dear Lou, proceed at your own pace, do the quizzes and return the completed ones to me. Ask questions as many as you like as you go. You will owe one short essay, topic to be approved first. HK! Good luck!
"When a particular type of occupation is performed for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, all the defects in that particular occupation are purified. When the results of work are purified, when connected with devotional service, one becomes perfect in seeing the self within, and that is self-realization."
After the complete rainy season, the forest of Vrindavana was full of fruits like dates and blackberries ripening on the trees and bushes. Lord Sri Krishna, along with His elder brother, Sri Baladeva, and other cowherd boys of the vicinity, entered the beautiful forest, accompanied by the cows, to display transcendental pastimes with His eternal friends.
Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears with His personal entourage once in paraphernalia, just to attract the conditioned souls of the material world. Although the material world is only a shadow of the spiritual world, the materially encaged living entities seek spiritual happiness here in a form perverted by materialistic attachment.
Empiric philosophers with a poor fund of knowledge imagine a spiritual picture that is impersonal. But the spiritual living being, less attracted by the impersonal form of spiritual emancipation, becomes more attracted by the material form and becomes hopeless of spiritual emancipation.
Therefore the absolute Personality of Godhead, out of His limitless and causeless mercy, descends from the spiritual kingdom and displays His personal pastimes at Vrindavana, the replica of the Krishnaloka planet in the spiritual sky.
Vrindavana is the most sacred place within this cosmic universe, and people seeking to achieve spiritual emancipation by entering the kingdom of God may make a home at Vrindavana and become serious students of the six Gosvamis, who were instructed by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The six Gosvamis were headed by Srila Rupa Gosvami, who was followed by Srila Sanatana, Srila Bhatta Raghunatha, Srila Jiva, Srila Gopala Bhatta, and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. They were all seriously engaged in research and excavation of the mystery of Vrindavana-dhama.
Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared at Vrindavana about five thousand years ago, and the relics of His appearance at Vrindavana were lost from view.
But Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the very same Lord Sri Krishna in the form of a great devotee, appeared at Navadvipa, a district in West Bengal, and excavated the holy places of Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental pastimes.
He instructed the above-mentioned six Gosvamis to compose authorized literature on the cult of Vrindavana, and any serious student anxious to know about the Supreme Lord may take advantage of this invaluable literature and the guidance of authorized scholars and thus know about the Lord of Vrindavana, Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead
From Light of the Bhagavata, by Srila Prabhupada
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada
Letter to his London disciples, July, 1969:
"Therefore having a bona fide spiritual master and serving him and pleasing him and getting his mercy is essential. Otherwise there can be no advancement in Krishna consciousness. And unless the spiritual master is a pure devotee of Krishna then he has no potency to give you Krishna. He is simply a cheating rascal.
So in fact above all the rules and regulations and offenses I have mentioned the most important thing, the essential thing, which is required if you want to come to the stage of purely chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is you must have a bona fide spiritual master who is a pure devotee of Krishna. Without having a bona fide spiritual master you can chant Hare Krishna forever but you will not be able to advance because Krishna does not reveal Himself in this way. He only reveals Himself to those devotees who surrender to and serve and please His pure devotees."
"In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami advises the devotee to be intelligent enough to distinguish between the kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari. The devotee should also know his own position and should not try to imitate a devotee situated on a higher platform. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has given some practical hints to the effect that an uttama-adhikari Vaisnava can be recognized by his ability to convert many fallen souls to Vaisnavism. One should not become a spiritual master unless he has attained the platform of uttama-adhikari. A neophyte Vaisnava or a Vaisnava situated on the intermediate platform can also accept disciples, but such disciples must be on the same platform, and it should be understood that they cannot advance very well toward the ultimate goal of life under his insufficient guidance. Therefore a disciple should be careful to accept an uttama-adhikari as a spiritual master."
(The Nectar of Instruction, from Srila Prabhupada's purport to Text 5)
"Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another." [Nectar of instruction, text 4]
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