“In the past Temple Presidents have written to Srila Prabhupada recommending a particular devotee's initiation. Now that Srila Prabhupada has named these representatives, Temple Presidents may henceforward send recommendation for first and second initiation to whichever of these eleven representatives are nearest their temple. After considering the recommendation, these representatives may accept the devotee as an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada by giving a spiritual name, or in the case of second initiation, by chanting on the Gayatri thread, just as Srila Prabhupada has done. The newly initiated devotees are disciples of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, the above eleven senior devotees acting as his representative. After the Temple President receives a letter from these representatives giving the spiritual name or the thread, he can perform the fire yajna in the temple as was being done before. The name of a newly initiated disciple should be sent by the r
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You said: I was speaking to an early Grok chat, and told it about acinty bheda abheda and devotional service, and asked it to summrize some sastra. It did so beautifully, with insight, not just wrote or algorithm nonsense, it showed udnerstanding and poetry and symettry and appreication and realization.
Capturing the poetry, paradox, and profound realization of Acintya Bheda Abheda (inconceivable oneness and difference) requires deep, insightful exploration. It sits beautifully at the heart of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and devotional service (bhakti). [1, 2, 3]
The beauty of this philosophy, as highlighted across t and community discussions, is its ability to embrace paradox. Rather than forcing a choice between absolute oneness (monism) and separation (dualism), it beautifully harmonizes both through the concept of acintya (inconceivable). [1, 2, 3]
The Core Essence
Devotional Service (Bhakti)
In this philosophy, devotional service isn't just a mechanical duty; it is the natu
Q: Is there a way to cleanse or clear negative karma from one's life?
The only way to clear negative karma from one’s life is to clear all karma from one’s life. God is the only person who can clear our karma away.
Otherwise, if one is not ready to surrender to Krishna, good or bad karma will be forced upon one by nature.
Krishna says:
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. —Bg 18.66
Srila Prabhupada explains:
The Lord has described various kinds of knowledge and processes of religion -- knowledge of the Supreme Brahman, knowledge of the Supersoul, knowledge of the different types of orders and statuses of social life, knowledge of the renounced order of life, knowledge of nonattachment, sense and mind control, meditation, etc. He has described in so many ways different types of religion.
Now, in summarizing Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that Arjuna should give up all the processes that hav
When we speak Krishna, the Word Krishna itself means Rama, Nrisimha, Varaha, and all other similar expansions and incarnations. Therefore, Krishna Consciousness includes Vaikuntha consciousness, but Vaikuntha Consciousness does not include Krishna Consciousness. Those who strictly follow the rules and regulations of Vaishnavas activities are promoted to Vaikuntha loka. But those who develop spontaneous love for Krishna are promoted to Krishna Loka. Therefore, although Krishna Consciousness includes Vaikuntha consciousness, pure Krishna Consciousness is spontaneous love for Krishna, without any regulatory principles.
The idea can be explained by the spontaneous attraction of a boy or a girl, without previously following any regulatory principles. When one develops this spontaneous love for God, this is called pure Krishna Consciousness. In our conditioned life, we forget our relationship with God, but through regulating principles, we can make awake t
What is the difference between a sakama devotee {mixed devotee} and a akama devotee {Pure Devotee}?
Srila Prabhupada....."The difference between sakāma and akāma devotees is that when sakāma devotees, like the demigods, fall into difficulty, they approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead for relief, whereas akāma devotees, even in the greatest danger, never disturb the Lord for material benefits. Even if an akāma devotee is suffering, he thinks this is due to his past impious activities and agrees to suffer the consequences. He never disturbs the Lord. Sakāma devotees immediately pray to the Lord as soon as they are in difficulty, but they are regarded as pious because they consider themselves fully dependent on the mercy of the Lord. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.
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.SB 6.9: Appearance of the Demon Vrtrasura : SB 6.9.40 : PURPORT
Our mission is to promote spiritual culture, not to protect Hindu dharma.
“The ultimate goal of this movement is to educate people in how to love God. Caitanya Mahaprabhu approves the conclusion that the highest perfection of human life is to learn how to love God. The Krishna consciousness movement has nothing to do with the Hindu religion or any system of religion. No Christian gentleman will be interested in changing his faith from Christian to Hindu. Similarly, no Hindu gentleman of culture will be ready to change to the Christian faith. Such changing is for men who have no particular social status. But everyone will be interested in understanding the philosophy and science of God and taking it seriously. One should clearly understand that the Krishna consciousness movement is not preaching the so-called Hindu religion. We are giving a spiritual culture that can solve all the problems of life, and therefore it is being accepted all over the world.״
(Srila Prabhupada from Sci
Bhagavad-gita As It Is 9.12
"Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated."
Purport
There are many devotees who assume themselves to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service but at heart do not accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, as the Absolute Truth. For them, the fruit of devotional service – going back to Godhead – will never be tasted. Similarly, those who are engaged in fruitive pious activities and who are ultimately hoping to be liberated from this material entanglement will never be successful either, because they deride the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. In other words, persons who mock Kṛṣṇa are to be understood to be demonic or atheistic.
As described in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, such demonic miscreants never surrender to Kṛṣ
image has disappeared somehow... darn computors etc
Ads, all commercial visuals, movies, etc., everything is sped up, scenes flash quickly, and move so fast you cannot finish reading them, what to speak of intelligent analysis and processing. Information and suggestive scenes used to be presented in a normal human fashion and speed ; but now they drive it all fast into your head before you have a chance to think, seeking to take control of your emotional responses and actions, seeking to push materialistic and greedy ideas into your life.
The idea is psychic "driving", ie forcing information into your consciousness before you have a chance to think and consider. The mind reacts without reason, accepts lies for facts, based on immediate sensory overload. You feel emotions, don't even know why, and this capture of you is their intent. They, the ultra-rich rakshasas, man-eating demons, want us reacting and doing as told, like automatons.
They actually create a false self inside you, built by lies and impressions forced upon your mind. T
Rasa Manjari
this photo caption may be ai, but it represents what's actually happening worldwide. In India, at least two Rathyatra festivals of our dear Lord Jagannath Swami were cancelled due to political activism by pandits and organizers attached to the Puri Temple. Here is the Youtube ISKCON determination and ongoing debates about the merits of both sides of the conflict. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGW-3_-cNZw...
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Rasa Manjari
appropriate tale relating to this unfortunate situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLrmymYHmk Prabhupada's commentary:"… See more
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Rasa Manjari
His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada refused to go into Jagannath Puri Temple to protest the Temple not allowing his Western disciples to enter for darshan (audience) of Jagannath, which literally means: LORD OF THE UNIVERSE. He spoke convincingly to the Temple Managers about Lord Jagannath not being the Lord of Hindus, but of everyone in the Jagat (Univer
Srila Prabhupada ~ At any moment, you can die. Death, there is no guarantee. But it is a guarantee that you must die. That is guaranteed. But when you will die, that is not guaranteed.
Therefore we must be prepared for death at any moment. Therefore a devotee is not afraid of death. He knows that death may come at any moment.
We are... Nowadays, it has..., the death is very cheap. Because we are using this motorcar, these aeroplanes, so many things, ships and other things for transportation, and there is, every moment there is danger of accident, collapse, everything. So death is now very cheap. So we must be prepared for death at any moment.
There is no guarantee, that "I am not yet old enough. I am not yet eighty years, ninety years. Why shall I die?" No. You may be twenty years, twenty-five years or younger than that. Death is assured, and it can take place at any moment.
Therefore our only duty is to think of Kṛṣṇa, Puruṣottama, so that we may die at any moment, but we bec
Caitanya-caritāmṛta
Madhya 20.174
“The first manifestation of the vaibhava feature of Kṛṣṇa is Śrī Balarāmajī. Śrī Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa have different bodily colors, but otherwise Śrī Balarāma is equal to Kṛṣṇa in all respects."
Purport
To understand the difference between svayaṁ-rūpa, tad-ekātma-rūpa, āveśa, prābhava and vaibhava,
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has given the following description. In the beginning, Kṛṣṇa has three bodily features:
(1) svayaṁ-rūpa, as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana;
(2) tad-ekātma-rūpa, which is divided into svāṁśaka and vilāsa;
(3) āveśa-rūpa.
The svāṁśaka, or expansions of the personal potency, are
(1) Kāraṇodakaśāyī, Garbhodakaśāyī, Kṣīrodakaśāyī
(2) incarnations such as the fish, tortoise, boar and Nṛsiṁha.
The vilāsa-rūpa has a prābhava division, including
Vāsudeva,
Saṅkarṣaṇa,
Pradyumna
Aniruddha.
There is also a vaibhava division, in which there are twenty
cont..
So we are preaching Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all over the world. We have translated into English Bhagavad-gītā, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And they are being received very nicely. In the Christmas period in a week, from 17 December to 24 December, our report is we have sold books, small and big, seventeen lakhs. And our general survey is that we are selling books to the worth of five to six lakhs daily. Daily. And our expenditure is also very heavy. We have started a Bhaktivedanta Book Trust for expanding this movement. We have got about two hundred buses to preach the Jagannātha cult all over the world, village to village, town to town . . . (break) . . . this kṛṣṇa-bhakti cult may be one all over the world. I do not know what is the cause. Here you are all present, many learned scholars and paṇḍitas. So you consider why this restriction should be there. Of course, if you do not allow, there is no, I mean to say, loss on the part of the foreigners, because
Śṝīla Prabhupāda said:
The asuras, the demons and proclaimed atheists, actually challenge God. If it were not for our Supreme Father, we would not see the light of day, so what is the point of challenging Him? In the Vedas it is stated that there are two classes of men, the devas and asuras, the demigods and demons. Who are the devas? The devotees of the Supreme Lord are called devas because they also become like God, whereas those who defy the authority of the Supreme are called asuras or demons. These two classes are always found in human society.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktīvedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda- On The Way To Kṛṣṇa
1. Repeated blind radiological studies of poisoned hair samples 2. repeated blind audiologic studies of voices on tape 3. SP's own words 4. connections to cia revealed, names dates etc 5 . disease symtpoms exclusive to cadmium poisoning in SP 6. motivation, anecdotal evidence from witnesses, including Gurukrpa Swami, doctors, brahmanas, kavirajahs, and others. 7. July 7 letter appointing "acaryas" was a forgery 8. they all corroborate therefore astronomical strength of objective scientific evidence that the poisoning is correct. - T Garden, MS Aud (C)r. See also Nityananda's books and Truth committe videos.
A Secret Service Paper Trail: How the Laws of Logic Exposed the Forgery of the Century.
In the history of global religious organizations in the 20th century, few documents have generated as much heated debate as the famous circular letter of July 9, 1977, issued to ISKCON, which defined the procedure for appointing spiritual successors in the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. For decades, researchers have debated the authenticity of this order, but the use of forensic methods and strict laws of logic has allowed this detective story to be brought to a final conclusion. A detailed analysis indicates that the organization's leader, philosopher and translator Srila Prabhupada, physically could not have signed this document. Behind him stood the high-tech work of professionals from foreign intelligence agencies.
A Typewriter Flaw: Technology That Never Existed.
The first and most obvious clue lies in a technical analysis of
A soft heart is compared to honey, to butter and to nectar. And the condition of the mind is compared to sunshine. As honey and butter become melted even in slight sunshine, softhearted persons become easily melted. Nectar, however, is by its nature always liquid. And the hearts of those who are in pure ecstatic love with Kṛṣṇa are by nature always liquified, just like nectar.
Nectar of Devotion. Chapter 31.
HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
What we experience in our temporary embodied lives is more-or-less preset. The body acts as a filter mechanism, a receiver that "plays" the script, the whole thing known as KARMA. This karmic realm is like a wound-up clock, or a machine made of matter. It is a projection or simulation of the eternal realms, but lesser, temporary and much suffering and mad adventure, projected by Mayadevi under the Lorrd's service direction, to entertain the desires of the jiva souls.
One who is shown this is liberated if they act upon the knowledge. A brahmana in ISKCON should be in a liberated status. The sincere devotee acting on behalf of their bonafide Sri Guru, ie Srila Prabhupada, as according to his directions, is not involved in mundane karmic things any longer. And so via yukta vairagya, ie bhakti yoga, one can accomplish all things in life, and yet walk above the karmic trap by these awakened devotional liberated yogamaya actions.
Tamohara dasa, acbssp, agt Srila Prabhupada
