Being a preacher Srila Prabhupada wanted his mission spread by devotees who would take responsibility for preaching in various areas. Whether you call the devotee a temple president, a zonal leader, or whatever, the Krsna consciousness movement requires devotees who will dedicate themselves to their prabhu-datta desa. Prabhupada had explained this in a purport to a verse in the Caitanya-caritamrta:
sanatana kahe, -- "bhala kaila upadesa
tahan yaba, sei mora prabhu-datta desa'"
Translation: Sanatana Gosvami replied, "You have given me very good advice. I shall certainly go there, for that is the place the Lord had given me for my residence."
Purport: The words prabhu-datta desa are very significant. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotional cult teaches one not to sit down in one place, but to spread the devotional cult all over the world. The Lord dispatched Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami to Vrndavana to excavate and renovate the holy places and from there establish the cult of bhakti. Therefore, Vrndavana was given to Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami as their place of residence. Similarly, every one in the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's devotional cult should accept the words of the spiritual master and thus spread the Krsna consciousness movement. They should go everywhere, to all parts of the world, accepting those places as prabhu-datta desa, the places of residence given by the spiritual master or Lord Krsna. The spiritual master is the representative; therefore, one who has carried out the orders of the spiritual master is understood to have carried out the orders of Krsna or Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to spread the bhakti cult all over the world (prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama). Therefore, devotees in the line of Krsna consciousness must go to different parts of the world and preach, as ordered by the spiritual master. That will satisfy Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
-- Cc. Antya 4.144
One who takes a prabhu-datta desa has to become responsible in all ways to spread Krsna consciousness in his particular place, and he should be prepared to go to any other place under the order of the spiritual master. Many sincere persons are needed, and only then can Krsna consciousness be spread effectively.
Prabhupada says here that there are four things at a devotee's disposal: one's life, one's money, one's intelligence, and one's words. A devotee-preacher has to give all of these things to Krsna. His is not a part-time occupation. In the early days of ISKCON, dedicating our whole life meant we had to give everything to Prabhupada. Since Prabhupada was personally present, it was not difficult for us to see that he was worth serving with our whole life. Just seeing him completely convinced us of this.
As for dedicating the money at our disposal, large amounts were not required back then. My own paycheck from working in the welfare department paid almost all our expenses, although we soon moved on to bigger things. Whatever money we had we used in Krsna's service; that principle is continuing today, even though the income and overhead has increased many fold and the methods of accounting have become complicated.
As for dedicating intelligence, that meant we had to be willing to preach. We had to be bold. Taking a prabhu-datta desa meant we had to be willing to meet people -- inimical as well as pious. We had to use intelligence to approach people, to respond to them and then lead them in Krsna consciousness, free from maya.
As for dedicating words in the service of Krsna, we simply had to speak whatever Prabhupada said.
After Prabhupada's letter to me on August 29, he wrote a letter to Hamsaduta, who was at that time staying in Boston. In a letter to Prabhupada, Hamsaduta had praised Prabhupada's spiritual master. Prabhupada's reply:
Your appreciation of my spiritual master is very commendable. One who understands and appreciates the disciplic succession is certainly advanced, and we should always be careful to give full respect to those who have so carefully handled this divine fruit of transcendental knowledge before us. Even a slight change will spoil it. That is why I have always been so careful to give you only those things which I have heard from my Guru Maharaja.
When we devotees in Boston read these statements about Prabhupada's faithful transmission of knowledge and how he exclusively repeated only the words of his spiritual master, we were astounded and appreciative. We all resolved to do the same thing -- preach only what Prabhupada had written or spoken. Therefore, it is not small-minded if we persist in being uninterested in other philosophical presentations, even by other Vaisnava scholars, and stick to Srila Prabhupada's presentation. This is the authorized method, and was the method by which Prabhupada achieved great success: "Even a slight change will spoil it. That is why I have been so careful to give you only those things which I have heard from my Guru Maharaja."
- From "With Srila Prabhupada 1966-69" by HH Satsvarupa dasa Goswami
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Dinesh
LITTLE KRISHNA ENGLISH EPISODE 3 "THE HORROR CAVE" ANIMATION SERIES
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No evil eyes
To understand something better it is always easy by studying both sides of a coin. So Arjuna was asking Lord Krishna to drive the chariot in the middle of the two armies in the battlefield of kurukshetra so that he can see both the sides of the army and understand the situation.
Yours
Dinesh
Two sides of the same coin
Let's get on board!
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 9 April 2013, Pretoria, South Africa, Disciple meeting)
You are welcome to get on board and we'll help you as much as we can. But it is up to you, to buy the ticket and you got to pay the price. You might get a discount if you're lucky but still the price has to be paid. I didn't make that price; Prabhupada set the price as low as he could. Now, it is up to you if you want to get on board. I tell you, "Let's do it! And don't worry even if it gets hard, I will try to help you and not only with philosophy."
Somehow, I became a spiritual master and in the beginning, I thought, "All you have to do is preach the philosophy and explain the Nectar of Devotion to the devotees, and things like that!" But then I realised that it's not only about that. I realised that it's about real life and that people bring back real problems from real life that interferes with their service. So, a sloka (verse) from the Bhagavad-gita will not always be enough. When it's about real life you can say,
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ, (Bg 18.66)
"Just give up all varieties of activities and surrender unto me. I will deliver you from all the reactions of your sinful activities. Do not fear." These are the words of Krsna. But sometimes, as Namacintanami (a disciple) said, "When you are really fatigued in the deep dark moment in your life, when things are just going all wrong, at that time you don't want to hear the Bhagavad-gita… you just don't want to."
So I tried to do more, I want to try to help you in a practical way, when the need is there. I'm willing to help you to get there! But then it's up to you. Then it's up to you because I can only do one thing. This number above my head, sixty - it does mean something. Although I may look thirty or forty, it does get a little more difficult to keep up with the pace of things. Before I would have unlimited energy but now it's a little more limited and I'm a little more careful about how I use it. I also have come to the point where I have to sort of say, "What can I do?" Sometimes I just say, "What can I do? I leave it now, it's up to you." I can only do so much. I can speak kind and encouraging words. I can speak strong words; I can speak so many things. But at the end of the day, it is up to you. If you want to get a ticket then please get on board. But you have to buy it, you have to do it and no one can help you.
At the end of the day, although we are all together here - you are all connected with me, so we are all one family. But on the other hand, at the end of the day, we are all alone. We are all on our own in our spiritual life. Prabhupada used the example of the plane. He says, "On the ground, so many people can do something for the plane but in the air, it is only the pilot that is flying. So you're on your own." So ultimately, we can all help you but it is between you and Krsna at the end of the day. And it is your chance to go back to Godhead!
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
Let’s get on board!
Controlling the mind
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Finland, 2011)
Contaminated thoughts come up in the mind. The mind is strong, but we must perform austerities of the mind! The austerity of the mind is…… one is when sinful thoughts come up, then we cut, and we do not allow what we would call, 'the train of thought'. One thought…next thought….next thought…..No! Cut…and if it goes in the wrong direction than stop immediately.
So in this way we do have a duty to control the mind, since we cannot just let the mind go in whatever direction it wants to go. We have to steer it back to Krishna. Soon as the mind is going in the wrong direction….back to Krishna!
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
Controlling the mind
I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence.
Yours
Renunciation of actions or actions in knowledge, which is the best?
Devotees often wonder how long we will have to tolerate the pushings of the mind and senses. Sometimes, they think maya will finally give up on them and leave them alone, and that one morning we will wake up a liberated soul. This verse informs us, however, that we must continue to tolerate sense attraction until death.
We can remain tolerant by fixing our consciousness on Krsna. The pleasure of Krsna consciousness combined with the conviction that nothing in this world can bring lasting happiness will help us tolerate the pushings of the body and mind.
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
How long we will have to tolerate the pushings of the mind and senses?
How will we be able to tolerate these urges of senses and mind over a long period of time?
Posted by dinesh![](http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif)
Srila Prabhupada writes: "Unless one is able to relish happiness from within, how can one retire from the external engagements meant for deriving superficial happiness? A liberated person enjoys happiness by factual experience. He can, therefore, sit silently at any place and enjoy the activities of life from within. Such a liberated person no longer desires external material happiness. This state is called brahma-bhuta, attaining which one is assured of going back to Godhead, back to home."
We must get a higher taste. It is urgent. We have to hear, chant, and find good association. Otherwise, how will we be able to tolerate these urges over a long period of time?
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
How will we be able to tolerate these urges of senses and mind over a long period of time?
When the mind is fully absorbed in Krsna consciousness, it is said to be in samadhi, or trance. Anything done in such transcendental consciousness is called yajna, or sacrifice for the Absolute - Bhagavad Gita # 4.24
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
What is Samadhi?
I am now an old man and an invalid. My hand trembles as I write and my memory fails me. I am going blind and deaf, but still I manage to write and this is a great wonder. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.2.90)
While Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur was once glorifying the superlative character of Chaitanya Charitamrita to his disciples, he instructed them as follows: "If it were to happen that all the books in the world were destroyed, leaving only Shrimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita, then the people of this world would still be able to achieve the ultimate goal in life. Even if the Shrimad Bhagavatam were lost, leaving only the Chaitanya Charitamrita, there would be no loss to humanity, for that which has not been revealed in the Bhagavat is found in Chaitanya Charitamrita. The Supreme Absolute Truth is Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the combined form of Radha and Krishna. The Chaitanya Charitamrita is His sound incarnation. The divine mystery of Radharani's divine status and glories are found therein. Can there be any doubt, therefore, of the supreme status of this piece of transcendental literature?"
Yours
Dinesh
Blog:http://dinesh-krsna.blogspot.com
What if all the books in the world were to be destroyed?
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