faith
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An ordinary man with firm faith in the eternal injunctions of the Lord, even though unable to execute such orders, becomes liberated from the bondage of the law of karma. One who executes his duties according to My injunctions and who follows this teaching faithfully, without envy, becomes free from the bondage of fruitive actions.
(More...) The injunction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, is the essence of all Vedic wisdom, and therefore is eternally true without exception. As the Vedas are eternal, so this truth of Krsna consciousness is also eternal. One should have firm faith in this injunction, without envying the Lord. There are many philosophers who write comments on the Bhagavad-gita but have no faith in Krsna. They will never be liberated from the bondage of fruitive action. But an ordinary man with firm faith in the eternal injunctions of the Lord, even though unable to execute such orders, becomes liberated from the bondage of the law of karma. In the beginning of Krsna consciousness, one may not fully discharge the injunctions of the Lord, but because one is not resentful of this principle and works sincerely without consideration of defeat and hopelessness, he will surely be promoted to the stage of pure Krsna consciousness.
(More...) Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. 'sraddha'-sabde visvasa kahe sudrḍha niscaya krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya (More...) Faith means unflinching trust in something sublime. When one is engaged in the duties of Krsna consciousness, he need not act in relationship to the material world with obligations to family traditions, humanity, or nationality. Fruitive activities are the engagements of one's reactions from past good or bad deeds. When one is awake in Krsna consciousness, he need no longer endeavor for good results in his activities. When one is situated in Krsna consciousness, all activities are on the absolute plane, for they are no longer subject to dualities like good and bad. The highest perfection of Krsna consciousness is renunciation of the material conception of life. This state is automatically achieved by progressive Krsna consciousness. The resolute purpose of a person in Krsna consciousness is based on knowledge ("Vasudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhaḥ") by which one comes to know perfectly that Vasudeva, or Krsna, is the root of all manifested causes. As water on the root of a tree is automatically distributed to the leaves and branches, in Krsna consciousness, one can render the highest service to everyone-namely self, family, society, country, humanity, etc. If Krsna is satisfied by one's actions, then everyone will be satisfied.
(More...) Devotee: Verse 41: "Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched. Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation in the heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this." [Bg 2.41]
(More...) Imported quote 13403 In Bhagavad-gita it is said, pitṝn yanti pitr-vrataḥ. Those who are interested in family welfare are called pitr-vrataḥ. There is a planet called Pitrloka, and the predominating deity of that planet is called Aryama. He is somewhat of a demigod, and by satisfying him one can help ghostly family members develop a gross body. Those who are very sinful and attached to their family, house, village or country do not receive a gross body made of material elements but remain in a subtle body, composed of mind, ego and intelligence. Those who live in such subtle bodies are called ghosts. This ghostly position is very painful because a ghost has intelligence, mind and ego and wants to enjoy material life, but because he doesn't have a gross material body, he can only create disturbances for want of material satisfaction. It is the duty of family members, especially the son, to offer oblations to the demigod Aryama, or Lord Visnu. From time immemorial in India the son of a dead man goes to Gaya and, at a Visnu temple there, offers oblations for the benefit of his ghostly father. It is not that everyone's father becomes a ghost, but the oblations of pinḍa are offered to the lotus feet of Lord Visnu so that if a family member happens to become a ghost, he will be favored with a gross body. However, if one is habituated to taking the prasada of Lord Visnu, there is no chance of his becoming a ghost or anything lower than a human being. In Vedic civilization there is a performance called sraddha by which food is offered with faith and devotion. If one offers oblations with faith and devotion-either to the lotus feet of Lord Visnu or to His representative in Pitrloka, Aryama-one's forefathers will attain material bodies to enjoy whatever material enjoyment is due them. In other words, they do not have to become ghosts.
(More...) Imported quote 14902 The King became pitrloka-kama, or desirous of being transferred to the planet named Pitrloka. Pitrloka is mentioned in Bhagavad-gita (yanti deva-vrata devan pitṝn yanti pitr-vrataḥ). To go to this planet, one needs very good sons who can make offerings to Lord Visnu and then offer the remnants to their forefathers. The purpose of the sraddha ceremony is to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Visnu, so that after pleasing Him one may offer prasada to one's forefathers and in this way make them happy. The inhabitants of Pitrloka are generally men of the karma-kanḍiya, or fruitive activities category, who have been transferred there because of their pious activities. They can stay there as long as their descendants offer them visnu-prasadam. Everyone in heavenly planets such as Pitrloka, however, must return to earth after exhausting the effects of his pious acts. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (9.21), ksine punye martya-lokam visanti: persons who perform pious acts are transferred to higher planets, but when the effects of their pious acts are over, they are again transferred to earth.
(More...) Imported quote 15444 This firm conviction is known as faith. Faith means that one is firmly convinced that, simply by devotional service to Lord Krishna, everything else is performed-including the regulative principles of ritualistic duties, sacrifices, performance of Yoga, and the speculative pursuit of knowledge. Everything else is performed if one is convinced that devotional service to the Lord includes everything. This is also found in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Fourth Canto, Thirty-first Chapter [14]. It is said there: "As by watering the root of the tree the branches, the twigs, the leaves, and the fruits become nourished; and as in supplying foodstuffs to the stomach all the senses become satisfied-similarly, simply by devotional service to Krishna, all other worship and all other processes are completed." Such a faithful and firmly convinced person is eligible to be elevated as a pure devotee.
(More...) Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your encouraging letter dated 12th December, 1970. I have carefully noted the enclosed photographs as well, and I am so glad to see how you are nicely conducting Sankirtana activities in important places in your nation's capital city. It is my firm conviction that this Krsna Consciousness Movement of Lord Caitanya's will be successful in all parts of the world if our students kindly continue in their enthusiastic endeavors to distribute this message freely to all persons. Our Movement is now appreciated all over the world and it is gradually coming to the attention of the important leaders of the present society, so it is incumbent upon us to keep our spiritual strength by rigidly following the regulative principles; then we can deal adequately with all facilities offered by the Lord for expediting His Holy Mission. I am confident that all our sincere intelligent young devotees like your good self will carry this program to fruitful conclusion namely the delivery of the Holy Name to all the fallen souls suffering in varieties of conditional misery and material happiness. Please execute your program for distribution of literatures and Sankirtana, therefore, with increased vogor and may Krsna bless your sincere efforts to serve Him faithfully. It is very good news that you are introducing courses in Krsna Consciousness in the Universities and the yoga institutes. As you know this is the only real yoga-bhakti yoga-and it is the only practical means for God realization in this age. So you are doing the greatest good for your countrymen and the world at large by introducing this sublime movement for regaining out lost position as eternal servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. Please continue to distribute our books, that is a very important business. Your idea for film distribution is also good, so do it nicely in cooperation with the GBC. I am very much anxious that at the same time as you carry out all these outside activities you are maintaining a strict schedule of Temple activities. Such regular activities like attendance of Arati, chanting of rounds, study of literatures in the class will keep you fit for effective preaching work in the outer field. Our standard of purity must be kept, otherwise there will be loss of spiritual strength, and subsequent fall down. Everyone of you should be thoroughly convinced of the power of the Hare Krsna mantra to protect you in all circumstances and chant accordingly at all times without offense. Then advancement will be swift and you will gradually come to see everything clearly so that you may act for the pleasure of the Lord without uncertainty. When one is spontaneously engaged in this way, always in the service of the Lord and anxious to avoid all mundane activities, he is actually experiencing the taste of bliss in Krsna consciousness. Please offer my blessings to your good wife, Mrganetra, and I hope this will meet you in good health. Your ever well-wisher,
(More...)A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Imported quote 16019 Krsna gives us information about Himself in Bhagavad-gita, and there is no question of doubting it; we just have to feel it, understand it. There is no preliminary qualification necessary for the understanding of Bhagavad-gita, because it is spoken from the Absolute platform. The simple process of chanting the names of Krsna will reveal what one is, what God is, what the material and spiritual universes are, why we are conditioned, how we can get out of that conditioning and everything else step by step. Actually the process of belief and revelation is not foreign to us. Every day we place faith in something that we have confidence will be revealed later. We may purchase a ticket to go to India, and on the basis of the ticket we have faith that we will be transported there. Why should we pay money for a ticket? We do not just give the money to anyone. The company is authorized and the airline is authorized, so faith is created. Without faith we cannot take one step forward in the ordinary course of our life. Faith we must have, but it must be faith in that which is authorized. It is not that we have blind faith but that we accept something that is recognized. Bhagavad-gita is recognized and accepted as scripture by all classes of men in India, and as far as outside India is concerned, many scholars, theologians and philosophers accept Bhagavad-gita as a great authoritative work. There is no question that Bhagavad-gita is authority. Even Professor Albert Einstein, such a scientist, read Bhagavad-gita regularly.
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