remember / thinking of

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Trying to advance in spiritual life outside the disciplic succession is simply ludicrous. It is said, therefore: acaryavan puruso veda (Chand. Up. ). One who follows the disciplic succession of acaryas knows things as they are. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet (Mund. Up. 1.2.12). In order to understand the transcendental science, one must approach the bona fide spiritual master. The word smrtya is very important in spiritual life. Smrtya means remembering Krsna always. Life should be molded in such a way that one cannot remain alone without thinking of Krsna. We should live in Krsna so that while eating, sleeping, walking and working we remain only in Krsna. Our Krsna consciousness society recommends that we arrange our living so that we can remember Krsna. In our ISKCON society the devotees, while engaged in making Spiritual Sky incense, are also hearing about the glories of Krsna or His devotees. The sastra recommends: smartavyaḥ satatam visnuḥ. Lord Visnu should be remembered always, constantly. Vismartavyo na jatucit: Visnu should never be forgotten. That is the spiritual way of life. Smrtya. This remembrance of the Lord can be continued if we hear about Him constantly. It is therefore recommended in this verse: mukundacaritagrya-sidhuna. Sidhu means nectar. To hear about Krsna from Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita or similar authentic literature is to live in Krsna consciousness. Such concentration in Krsna consciousness can be achieved by persons who are strictly following the rules and regulative principles. We have recommended in our Krsna consciousness movement that a devotee chant sixteen rounds on beads daily and follow the regulative principles. That will help the devotee be fixed in his spiritual advancement in life. (More...)

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So anyway, cintam aparimeyam ca, that should be transferred to krsna-cinta. Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drḍha-vrataḥ [Bg 9.14]. If you always be busy in glorifying or chanting the holy name of the Lord, then your cinta, anxiety, is transferred. By same cinta... Cinta will go on; you cannot stop it. Mind you cannot stop thinking even for a moment, either you shall think of this material life or you shall think of Krsna. So the Krsna consciousness means instead of thinking of this material life, you think of Krsna. Thinking is not to be stopped. That is not possible. You cannot stop thinking even for a moment. Simply you have to practice. Instead of thinking these material things, you think of Krsna. That is wanted. (More...)

That Krsna advises: man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namas.... Man-manaḥ... If you think of Krsna always, then naturally you become devotee of Krsna. Man-mana bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. And mad-yaji, and if you actually become devotee of Krsna, then you shall worship Krsna. And if you actually worship Krsna, then you must offer obeisances to Krsna. Therefore Krsna advises four things: man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg 18.65]. Then what will be the result? Mam evaisyasi. Simply by practicing these four things. It does not require any M.A., Ph.D., degree. Simply you have to agree, "Yes, I shall think of Krsna, chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna." You have to agree. That's all. That is required. Then gradually you become bhakta. Gradually you worship, and gradually you offer obeisances, surrender. That one, that is wanted by Krsna, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg 18.66]. (More...)

So we who are propaganding, making propaganda for this Krsna consciousness movement... It is not very difficult. And it is not meant for any particular class of men or community or country. It is meant for all living entities, if he can. And where is the difficulty? So it may be difficult in other forms of life, but in the human form of life it is not at all difficult. So we should fully utilize this human form of life in Krsna consciousness, and the process is always thinking of Krsna. Instead of thinking women and money, if we... That is much more difficult also. The maya is so strong that as soon as I am sitting in a solitary place, then I'll think of money and women. Therefore we should live always in assembly and chant Hare Krsna, and save ourself from the danger of material falldown. (More...)

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First of all make yourself perfect. You can make yourself perfect because in the Bharata-varsa there are this Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Vedic literature. Just study them. And therefore we are publishing so many books on the basis of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, and people are appreciating very much all over the world. So it is the duty of every Indian to make his life perfect by understanding Bhagavad-gita at least, and spread the message. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa [Cc Madhya 7.128]. Every one of you can become a guru. He says that. Amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa. Wherever you are, you can deliver the persons, surrounding person in your neighborhood. "How can I become guru? I have no qualification." No. There is no need of qualification. Simply repeat. Yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa [Cc Madhya 7.128]. Very simple thing. Anyone you meet: "My dear friend, just hear little." "What is that?" "Now, Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You kindly think of Krsna. Just offer your obeisances to Krsna, just become a bhakta and chant His holy name." Bas. Your gurugiri is finished. So it is not very difficult task. Anyone can do this. And then everyone will be benefited. And that is Krsna consciousness movement. (More...)

So to satisfy Krsna... Krsna directly says... If you want to satisfy me, then you ask me, "Prabhupada, what can I do for you?" If I say, "Do this," then I am satisfied. This is the way of satisfaction, making one... So you ask Krsna, "Sir, my business is hari-tosanam. So how can I satisfy You?" Krsna directs, "Yes, you can satisfy Me. Think of Me." Where is the difficulty? Why so much philosophy, humbug, to understand God? The rascals, they are thinking, "What is God? Can you show me God?" God is here, canvassing. The rascals will avoid this by so-called erudite scholarship and this way, "There is no God..." God is there. Why not God? We are giving you the God's name. God Himself is giving, presenting Himself. And big, big acaryas, they are accepting. Especially Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He is simply attached to Krsna. So we have to learn from Caitanya Mahaprabhu how to serve Krsna, how to become attached. How Caitanya Mahaprabhu is attached to Krsna is described so nicely. It will puzzle even the biggest brain of philosopher, how Caitanya Mahaprabhu is attached to Krsna. We are now trying to explain in the Antya-lila. (More...)

Now I do not know the situation in your particular case, I am simply giving you the general policy or background understanding. We should never think of our so-called advancement as being conditioned by or dependent upon some set of material circumstances such as marriage, vanaprastha, or this or that. Mature understanding of Krsna consciousness means that whatever condition of life I am in at present, that is Krsna's special mercy upon me, therefore let me take advantage in the best way possible to spread this Krsna consciousness movement and conduct my spiritual master's mission. If I consider my own personal progress or happiness or any other thing personal, that is material consideration. If there was unhappy adjustment for becoming married, why you got married at all? Whatever is done, is done, that is a fact, but I am only pointing out that once before you did something without proper study of your real responsibility, now you are contemplating again some drastic action in a similar manner. Therefore consider it carefully in this light. There is one verse from Bhagavad-gita: yasman nodvijate loko lokan nodvijate ca yah/harsamarsa-bhayodvegair mukto yah sa ca me priyah, "He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me." (12.15) One mistake of judgment often made by the neophyte devotees is that any time there is some disturbance or some difficulty they are considering that the conditions or the external circumstances under which the difficulty took place are the cause of the difficulty itself. That is not the fact. In this material world there is always some difficulty, no matter in this situation or that situation. Therefore simply by changing my status of occupation or my status of life, that will not help anything. Because the real fact is that if there is any difficulty with others, that is my lack of Krsna consciousness, not theirs. Is this clear? Krsna says that His dearest devotee is one who does not put others into difficulty, in fact, who puts no one other into difficulty. So try to judge the matter on these points, whether or not you are putting either your wife or yourself into some difficulty. The right understanding of Bhagavad-gita is Arjuna's understanding. In other words, Arjuna came to the conclusion that he must perform his occupational duty, not as a material obligation, for reasons of wife, family, friends, reputation, professional integrity, like that-no. Rather he must conduct the functions of his station of life only as a devotional service performed for Krsna. That means that devotional service is what is important, not my occupational duty. But it does not mean that because occupation duty is not the real consideration, that I should give it up and do something else, thinking that devotional service may be carried on under whatever circumstances which I may whimsically decide. Krsna recommended Arjuna to remain as he was, not to disrupt the order of society and go against his own nature just for convenience sake. Our occupational duty is not arbitrary, that means once we have taken up some field of action, if we are advanced in our understanding, then we shall not change it for another. Rather our devotion is the important factor, so what does it matter what I am doing so long my work and energy are completely devoted to Krsna? Just like Krsna, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has no work, neither He has anything to do, still He comes here to teach us this lesson. He accepts not only His occupational duty as cowherd boy, royal prince, but also He accepts married life, He enters politics, He is philosopher, He is even chariot driver during a great battle, He does not give example of Himself avoiding His occupational duty. So if Krsna Himself is exhibiting by His own conduct what is the perfection of existence, then we should heed such example if we are intelligent. Even supposing there is wife at home, with children, that does not matter, that is no hindrance to our spiritual life. And once we have accepted these things, occupational duties, we should not lightly give them up. That is the point. Of course, our occupational duty is as preachers of Krsna consciousness. So we must stick to that business under all circumstances, that is the main thing. Therefore married, unmarried, divorced, whatever condition of life, my preaching mission does not depend on these things. The varnasrama-dharma system is scientifically arranged by Krsna to provide facility for delivering the fallen souls back to home, back to Godhead. And if we make a mockery of this system by whimsically disrupting the order, that we must consider. That will not be a very good example if so many young boys and girls so casually become married and then go away from each other, and the wife is little unhappy, the husband is neglecting her in so many ways, like that. If we set this example, then how the thing will go on properly? Householder life means wife, children, home, these things are understood by everyone, why our devotees have taken it as something different? They simply have some sex desire, get themselves married, and when the mater does not fulfill their expectations, immediately there is separation-these things are just like material activities, prostitution. The wife is left without husband, and sometimes there is child to be raised, in so many ways the proposition that you, and some others also, are making becomes distasteful. We cannot expect that our temples will become places of shelter for so many widows and rejected wives, that will be a great burden and we shall become the laughingstock in the society. There will be unwanted progeny also. And there will be illicit sex life, that we are seeing already. And being the weaker sex, women require to have a husband who is strong in Krsna consciousness so that they may take advantage and make progress by sticking tightly to his feet. If their husband goes away from them, what will they do? So many instances are already there in our Society, so many frustrated girls and boys. (More...)

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"He is first-class yogi." Who is that? "Who is always thinking of Me." And Krsna is advising, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg 18.65]. Four things only. It is not very difficult thing. Always think of Krsna, man-manaḥ. And without becoming devotee, how you can think of Krsna? You can think of your business, you can think of your dog, or you can think of your family, or you can think of your lovable object, woman or man and so many. But Krsna says, man-mana bhava mad-bhaktaḥ: "You think of Me." (More...)

Because we have to think something. Without thinking we cannot remain. This is the simple process. Instead of thinking so many things, you simply think of Krsna. The sadhu will teach that. Sadhu's business... Why sadhu, to associate with sadhu, sadhu-sahga [Cc Madhya 22.83]? Now, sadhu will not teach anything else. Adau sraddha tataḥ sadhu-sahgaḥ [Cc Madhya 23.14-15]. This is the process of making spiritual advancement. If you have got any faith for making spiritual advancement, then you must associate with sadhus. Adau sraddha. Just like here people come. Here there is no other thing because here all the boys and girls and devotees, they are concerned with Radha-Krsna. That's all. The whole business, whole day's business, whole night's business, is Radha-Krsna. From early morning at three o'clock to night, ten o'clock, they have only business of Radha-Krsna. That's all. Therefore they are sadhu. Therefore they are sadhu. This is the symptom of sadhu. And so many people are criticizing. So many enemies we have got. We are not getting the sanction because there are so many enemies. We are creating "nuisance." We are chanting Hare Krsna mantra-that is nuisance. This complaint is going to the police. (More...)

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Prabhupada: Mental platform is mixed sattva-guna, rajo-guna-not pure. But if you keep always Krsna in your mind, then you are purified. The mind has no other opportunity to keep anything else. Krsna is sitting there, then guarantee. (More...)

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