six symptoms of

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There is no essential difference between a fully surrendered soul and a man in the renounced order of life. The only difference is that a fully surrendered soul has the distinguishing symptom of being completely dependent upon Krishna. This surrendering process can be characterized by six different qualities: The first quality is that one should accept everything that is favorable to the discharge of Krishna duties or devotional service. One should be determined to accept the process. The second is that he should give up everything which is unfavorable to the discharge of devotional service; and one should be so determined to give it all up. Thirdly, one should be convinced that nobody else can protect him except Krishna, and therefore he has full faith that he will be protected by the Lord. It should be mentioned here that the impersonalists think that being One with Krishna, or One with the Supreme Lord, is their actual identity. A devotee, however, does not destroy his identity, but he lives with full faith that Krishna will kindly protect him in every respect. (More...)

Such a surrendered soul should take shelter in a holy place like Vrindaban, Mathura, Dwarka, Mayapur, and should surrender himself to the Lord, saying, "My Lord, from today I am Yours. You can protect me or kill me as You like." The devotee takes shelter of Krishna in such a way. Krishna is grateful and accepts him and gives him all kinds of protection. This is confirmed in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Eleventh Canto, Twenty-ninth Chapter [11.29.34]. It is said there that if a person who is about to die takes full shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offers himself fully under His care, he actually attains immortality at that time, and is eligible to become in association with the Supreme Lord, and to enjoy transcendental bliss. (More...)

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There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya presented here and the teachings of Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gita. The teachings of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstrations of Lord Krsna's teachings. Lord Krsna's ultimate instruction in Bhagavad-gita is that everyone should surrender unto Him, Lord Krsna. Krsna promises to take immediate charge of such a surrendered soul. The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already in charge of the maintenance of this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, but this maintenance is not direct. However, when the Lord says that He takes charge of His pure devotee, He actually takes direct charge. A pure devotee is a soul who is forever surrendered to the Lord, just as a child is surrendered to his parents or an animal to its master. In the surrendering process, one should: (1) accept things favorable for discharging devotional service, (2) reject things unfavorable, (3) believe firmly in the Lord's protection, (4) feel exclusively dependent on the mercy of the Lord, (5) have no interest separate from the interest of the Lord, and (6) always feel oneself meek and humble. (More...)

The Lord demands that one surrender unto Him by following these six guidelines, but the unintelligent so-called scholars of the world misunderstand these demands and urge the general mass of people to reject them. At the conclusion of the Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krsna directly says: "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me." (Bg. 9.34) However, the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing them to the impersonal, unmanifest, eternal, unborn truth rather than the Personality of Godhead. The impersonalist Mayavadi philosophers do not accept that the ultimate aspect of the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one desires to understand the sun as it is, one must first face the sunshine, then the sun globe and, after entering into that globe, come face to face with the predominating deity of the sun. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Mayavadi philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upanisads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of Godhead. (More...)

In the process of surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead there are six items: to accept everything which is favorable for devotional service, to reject everything which is unfavorable for devotional service, to believe that Krsna will always give protection, to identify oneself with Krsna's devotees, to always feel inability without the help of Krsna, and to always think oneself inferior to Krsna, even though one may have full capacity to perform something on his own. When one is substantially convinced that he is always protected by Krsna in all circumstances, that feeling is called reverential devotion. Reverential devotion is executed in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and with His other protected devotees. (More...)

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