1. Our senses should not be employed for sense gratification but for engagement in service of Krishna. This is the goal of human life.

2. A human is identified when he begins to inquire about the Absolute Truth and this implies not only to Hindus, but to Muslims, Christians and entire human race because it is a science. Just like two plus two is four is acceptable by all, so this inquiry into the Absolute is necessray for all human beings.

3. So from where to get this knowledge? The answer is by approaching a Guru, Tasmad Guru Prapadyante and ask him submissively. He will give knowledge because they are seers of truth.

4. How to identify Guru? The first qualification is that he should be a person with brahminical qualities like self control, tolerance, honesty, austerity, truthfulness, cleanliness and he should work like a Brahmana. (6 duties of a Brahmana are Study Vedic Scriptures, Teach Vedic Scriptures, Expert in Worship, Teaching others to Worship, Take Charity and Give Charity). But the most important qualification is to be a Vaisnava. Sat karma nipuno vipro, tantra mantra visaradaha, avaisnava gurur na syad, vaisnava sva paco guruh - Even if he is expert in all duties of a Brahmana and knows all the Vedic mantras but if He is not a Vaisnava or Devotee of Lord Krishna but is impersonalist, voidist or does not what is God then he cannot be taken as Guru. On the other hand a Vaisnava, who knows what is Visnu, what is God, even though coming from the family of dog-eaters, he can be guru. This is the injunction of the sastra. One who knows God, he cannot remain dog-eaters. But sometimes he comes from there. But sastra says, Yes, when he has learned the science of God, then he can be accepted as guru.

5. Even Krishna says, only a devotee can understand Me. (Bhakto si me sakha ceti, rahasyam hy etad uttamam).

6. So to know the Lord we have to do devotional service and free ourselves (i.e our senses) from all designations and then we can see God, Krsna. Eg: A blunt knife cannot cut properly, but if we sharpen the knife then we can cut nicely. So with our blunt senses we cannot see or understand Krishna, but if we purify our senses by devotional service then we can understand Krishna.

7. So to know Krishna, we have to take advantage of this treasure house of Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Instead of wasting time with newspapers which are thrown right after reading, we should take advantage of real knowledge of the Absolute Truth.

- Summary of Srila Prabhupada lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.10

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That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
There are two classes of men, namely the devotee and the demon. The Lord selected Arjuna as the recipient of this great science owing to his being a devotee of the Lord, but for the demon it is not possible to understand this great mysterious science. There are a number of editions of this great book of knowledge. Some of them have commentaries by the devotees, and some of them have commentaries by the demons. Commentation by the devotees is real, whereas that of the demons is useless. Arjuna accepts Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and any commentary on the Gītā following in the footsteps of Arjuna is real devotional service to the cause of this great science. The demonic, however, do not accept Lord Kṛṣṇa as He is. Instead they concoct something about Kṛṣṇa and mislead general readers from the path of Kṛṣṇa's instructions. Here is a warning about such misleading paths. One should try to follow the disciplic succession from Arjuna, and thus be benefitted by this great science of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.

Bhagavad Gita 4.3

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Q: Did Krishna create the jiva soul (atma)? Bhagavad-gita 2.12 says soul was never created. So is God only a maintainer? Is there a difference and gradation between Vaikuntha and Goloka Vrindavan. All the previous acharyas like Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva have talked about Vaikuntha. I have heard about Goloka Vrindavan only in ISKCON.
Hari Bol!
Answer: You are misquoting Bhagavad-gita 2.12. Krishna does not say that the soul is not created. He says that the soul is eternally existing. That is something different. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita 10.8 that everything is emanating from Him. Therefore we can understand that the souls are the eternal creations or emanations of the Lord. Accepting the truth of both statements, it is very easy to understand that Krishna is eternally emanating the souls from Himself. So, the jivas, the souls, are not created by God at a certain point in time. They are eternally existing as emanations or creations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is not that only the devotees in ISKCON talk about Goloka Vrindavan. Millions of years ago at the beginning of universe Lord Brahma revealed the glories of Goloka Vrindavan in the Brahma Samhita as the topmost planet in the spiritual sky:

goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya
devi maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu
te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"Lowest of all is located Devi-dhama [mundane world], next above it is Mahesa-dhama [abode of Mahesa]; above Mahesa-dhama is placed Hari-dhama [Vaikuntha, the abode of Hari] and above them all is located Krishna's own realm named Goloka. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, who has allotted their respective authorities to the rulers of those graded realms."

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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"During the japa session, as the mind howls, don't give up the chanting. However bad the mind's demands, don't give in; let's keep chanting till we complete our daily quota. The lake of mind will eventually settle down. But be rest assured, tomorrow as you sit for another japa session, the mind will once again agitate. Again the solution is the same; do not react."

HH Radhanath Swami

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We are devotees of Krsna. We are meant for eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna… If you want to conquer the tongue, then you fix up your mind that you shall not take anything which is not offered to Krsna. Then your tongue will be controlled. Tara madhye jihva ati lobhamaya sudurmati. Tongue is the bitterest enemy of the living being. The tongue is dragging. Jihva. "Kindly give me this immediately. Kindly give me this wine immediately. Kindly give me this tea immediately. Kindly give me this cigarette immediately. Kindly give me this meat." Why? Control. Krsna says, patram puspam phalam toyam [Bg. 9.26]. So we have to take prasadam, eat Krsna prasadam. Then naturally the other things will be negativated.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 1.21-22 — London, July 18, 1973

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Devotee: How to become humble?

Maharaj: Before coming to the ashrama your attitude towards the devotees were sentimental, somewhat sentimental. And now it is becoming practical. So there is a difference, that is because now you are seeing that from a distance when you looked at them it was so easy to look at everyone as pure devotees, address them as 'prabhu' and become prepared to do anything for them. But when you come close then you began to see that they have their defects, or their dealings sometimes are not that desirable. So whatever it is that you recognize, just as you are practicing to become a devotee, others are also practicing to become a devotee. So they may not be a pure devotee now but some day they'll also become pure devotees. Just as some day you'll also become a pure devotee. So be patient and tolerant. And I tell you the spiritual life is very, very purifying. It's very purifying. I have seen with time how devotees change. Like, I remember when I joined there was one devotee who was so obnoxious. He was very difficult and nobody used to like him. Because he was so cantankerous, quarrelsome, proud, but now that devotee…actually, those days nobody wanted to associate with him but today everybody, he has become so pleasant that everybody loves him.  So how did he change? Because he is practicing the process and the process is purifying. So the point is when you are in the association of devotees don't be critical, but be tolerant and maintain a humble attitude. Yes, when you are close to them you will find many faults with them but at the same time you can consider if they have those faults, how many faults you have? That is how we should maintain our humble disposition and maintain our tolerance. That's how you become humble, as you asked how to become humble.

- HH Bhakti Charu Swami

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Question: Someone may have knowledge but if he doesn't have faith in the knowledge, [inaudible] because you were saying just knowledge is not enough. So if someone really has knowledge and has faith in it, he will definitely execute it also. So if one doesn't have faith then what he has done, studied or heard, can we really call it as knowledge?
BCS: Let's go back to that example I gave, knowledge of food and eating food. If you really have the knowledge of food then you will eat when you are hungry. You understand? Knowledge of the food means knowing the characteristic of food: what is the purpose of food? But just knowledge alone of the food is not enough. How to cook the food is not enough. You have to know how to satisfy your hunger. That is the purpose of food.

Question: In other words if someone has genuine knowledge he is going to be a devotee.
BCS: Yeah, right, devotion automatically has knowledge. Devotion is the mother. Bhakti Devi is the mother and she has two children, Jnana and Vairagya, knowledge and detachment. The person who is situated in pure devotional service he is in full knowledge and he is also detached from everything material.

Question: If someone has a, I mean he is not yet a pure devotee, fully purified, but he is engaged in devotional service and he is experiencing the bliss of devotional service. Such a person, if he doesn't cultivate knowledge at the same time side by side, so despite of being engaged in devotional service is it true that he can easily get distracted by other things?
BCS: Yeah. So, you see, at that stage of sadhana bhakti cultivation of knowledge is necessary. What you are saying is the stage of sadhana bhakti. He is not siddha. He didn't achieve perfection but he is practicing. So when you are practicing, what you are practicing? You have to understand that. Certain degree of knowledge is, cultivation of knowledge is necessary. Like, why do we have Bhagavatam class? We are not saying just always render service. We have called a Bhagavatam class. We have Bhagavad Gita classes. We have other arrangements for cultivation of or understanding the spiritual life.

HH Bhakti Charu Swami :: Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3th Canto, Chapter 24, The Renunciation Of Kardama Muni, Text 36

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