Life4krishna

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Conclusion of Teachings to Sanātana Gosvāmī Persons who cultivate knowledge for liberation are of three kinds: those who simply desire liberation, those who are liberated already, even while in this material existence, and those who are actually self-realized. There are many persons in this world who desire liberation, and sometimes they engage in devotional service for this purpose. It is corroborated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.26) that those who actually desire liberation give up all kinds of demigod worship and, without envy, concentrate their minds in the worship of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When such persons come in contact with a pure devotee, they engage in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa and give up the idea of liberation. A verse in the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya states: aho mahātman bahu-doṣa-duṣṭo   ’py ekena bhāty eṣa bhavo guṇena sat-saṅgamākhyena āsukhāvahena   kṛtādya no yena kṛśā mumukṣā “O great soul, although there are many flaws within t...

FOUR The Three Modes of Nature Māyāpur, India – February 28, 1972 (continued) Bob: I have read that in life there are three guṇas – passion, ignorance, and goodness. I was wishing that you would explain this somewhat, especially what is meant by the mode of ignorance and the mode of goodness. Śrīla Prabhupāda: In goodness you can understand things – knowledge. You can know that there is God, that this world was created by Him, and so many things, actual things – the sun is this, the moon is this – perfect knowledge. If one has some knowledge, even though it may not be perfect, that is goodness. And in passion one identifies with his material body and tries to gratify his senses. That is passion. And ignorance is animal life – in ignorance, one does not know what is God, how to become happy, why we are in this world. For example, if you take an animal to the slaughterhouse, it will go willingly. This is ignorance. But a man will protest. If a goat is to be killed after five minutes but ...

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE Neutral Love of God Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī offers his respectful prayers to the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always so beautiful and for whom the pure devotees are always engaged in loving transcendental service. This third division of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu describes the five primary kinds of devotional service – namely, neutrality, servitude, fraternity, parenthood and conjugal love. These five items will be very elaborately explained here, and thus they have been figuratively described as the five waves on the western side of this ocean of the nectar of devotion. When one is actually able to maintain the transcendental position, his stage is called neutrality in devotional service. Some great sages have attained this neutral position by practicing austerity, penance and meditation to control the senses. Such sages are generally called mystic yogīs, and in most cases they are inclined to appreciate the spiritual pleasure of the impersonal feature...

CHAPTER 80 The Meeting of Lord Kṛṣṇa with Sudāmā Brāhmaṇa King Parīkṣit was hearing the narrations of the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. These pastimes are all transcendentally pleasurable to hear, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit addressed Śukadeva Gosvāmī as follows: “My dear lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the bestower of both liberation and love of God simultaneously. Anyone who becomes a devotee of the Lord automatically attains liberation without having to make a separate attempt. Because the Lord is unlimited, His pastimes and activities for creating, maintaining and destroying the whole cosmic manifestation are also unlimited. I therefore wish to hear about other pastimes of His which you may not have described as yet. My dear master, the conditioned souls within this material world are frustrated by searching out the pleasure of happiness derived from sense gratification. Such desires for material enjoyment are always piercing the hear...

CHAPTER 74 The Deliverance of Śiśupāla King Yudhiṣṭhira became very happy after hearing the details of the Jarāsandha episode, and he spoke as follows: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, O eternal form of bliss and knowledge, all the exalted directors of the affairs of this material world, including Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and King Indra, are always eager to receive and carry out orders from You, and whenever they are fortunate enough to receive such orders, they immediately take them and keep them on their heads. O Kṛṣṇa, You are unlimited, and although we sometimes think of ourselves as royal kings and rulers of the world and become puffed up over our paltry positions, we are very poor in heart. Actually, we are fit to be punished by You, but the wonder is that instead of punishing us You so kindly and mercifully accept our orders and carry them out properly. We are all very much surprised that Your Lordship can play the part of an ordinary human being, but we can understand that You are performing thes...