durlabho mānuṣo deho
dehināḿ kṣaṇa-bhańguraḥ
tatrāpi durlabhaḿ manye
vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam
For the conditioned souls, the human body is most difficult to achieve, and it can be lost at any moment. But I think that even those who have achieved human life rarely gain the association of pure devotees, who are dear to the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha.
SB 11.2.29
Hari Bhakti Kalpa Latika
TEXT 25
nindantu priya bāndhavā guru-janā-gañjantu muncañtu vādurvādaṁ parighoṣayantv api janā vaṁśe kalaṅko ‘stu vātādṛk prema navānurāga-madhunā mattāyamānaṁ tu mecittaṁ naiva nivarttate kṣaṇam api śrī-kṛṣṇa-pādāmbujāt
O dear friend! Let my friends criticize me! Let my elders chastise or reject me! Let people accuse me! Let my family become infamous! Still, my mind will not be distracted from the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa even for a moment, for it is intoxicated by the pride of being attached to Kṛṣṇa.
Amrita Vani
Q&A by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Thakura Prabhupada
Q : Who is a materialist?
A : A materialist is one who accumulates material objects for his own pleasure and who engages them as ingredients of his sense gratification. One who accumulates material objects for the Lord’s service is not a materialist but a devotee. It is not possible to differentiate between a material enjoyer and a devotee on the basis of their respective activities, but it is possible to differentiate by studying the motivation of each. One who eats for personal sense gratification is a materialist; one who eats to maintain the body for Krsna’s service is a devotee. A devotee is neither a material enjoyer nor a dry renunciant but a servant of the Lord. A devotee engages wealth, material objects, and everything in this world in the Lord’s service.
Q. What is karma?
A. Work done for one’s own happiness and the happiness of others is called karma. There is nothing about trying to please Krsna in the performance of karma. The goal of karma is to search after one’s own happiness and the happiness of others, whereas searching for Krsna’s pleasure is called devotional service.
This material world is the field of karma for ordinary people, but for the devotees the material world is a place in which to cultivate devotional service. Whatever is performed in this world with the prideful thought, “I am the doer,” is called karma, whereas whatever is done for the Lord’s pleasure, induced by the Lord, with the idea, “I am Krsna’s servant,” is called devotional service.
Q. How long should we engage in karma?
A. The Bhagavatam (11.20.9) states:tavat karmani kurvita, na nirvidyeta yavatamat-katha-sravanadau va, sraddha yavan na jayateOne should continue to perform the Vedic ritualistic activities until one actually becomes detached from material sense gratification and develops faith for hearing and chanting about Me.
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TEXT 14
tanū rūpe netraṁ tava yaśasi nāmni śruti yugaṁsunir malye ghrāṇaṁ tvag api mahadāliṅghanavidhautvadīye nirmālye vasati rasanā cen mama sadātadā kṛṣṇāsmābhirjitaṣiha nitāntaṁ viṣayibhiḥ
O Śrī Kṛṣṇa! If we engage our eyes in seeing Your beautiful Deity form, our ears in hearing Your holy names and glories, our noses in smelling the flowers that have been offered to You, our bodies in embracing devotees, and our tongues in relishing food that has been offered to You, then You are always conquered by us even though we are engaged in pleasing our senses.
TEXT 15
bhavad dāsye kāmaḥ krudhapi tava nindākṛtijanetvaducchiṣṭe lobho yadi bhavati moho bhavati catvadīyatve mānas tava caraṇa pāthojam adhunāmadaś ced asmābhir niyata ṣaḍ-mitrair api jitam
O Lord! If we engage our lust in serving You, our anger against those who blaspheme You, our greed in honoring Your remnants, our illusion in trying to achieve Your Lordships, our ego in being Your devotees, and our pride in drinking the honey of Your lotus feet, then, we may easily defeat these six enemies of lust, anger, greed, illusion, false ego, and pride, which are always surrounding us.
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Everyone is rushing into the jaws of death. This the sum total of the news of this world; it is the only news. Every second everyone is entering the jaws of death. This is the real problem–nothing else. The whole problem, if summarized, will come to this, that every second, every atom here is entering into the jaws of death. This is the great and only danger in the world. So, all other talks are irrelevant to the real problems of life; try to help them from entering into the jaws of death. This is the only problem in the whole world.
Go forth and tell everyone about Krsna. Whatever you do, make them talk about Krsna, Krsna, Krsna. Save yourself, and prepare yourself for the highest goal. Whenever you meet anyone, wherever you meet anyone, only talk of Krsna. All other talks are irrelevant and redundant.
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TEXT 11
gṛhāsakto yuktaḥ svajana bharaṇe ‘mukta viṣayaḥprasaktaḥ ṣaḍvarge na
kṛtasukṛtaḥ sevita-khalaḥtathāpi tvad dāsyaṁ satata sad upāsyākhilaguroyad īhe
nirlajjastava tad anukampaiva śaraṇam
O worshipable Lord of the devotees, O spiritual master of the entire universe, O Śrī Hari, I am attached to family life. I am always engaged in maintaining my family members. I am attached to material enjoyments. I am decorated with six principles such as lust, anger etc. I am devoid of piety. And I am engaged in the service of sinful people. Still, O my Lord, knowing that Your causeless mercy is my only hope, I shamelessly pray for devotional service.
How can we become determined?
Hari-katha should be heard from Hari’s devotees.
By constantly hearing the powerful topics about Hari from the lotus mouths of those who always serve the Lord, we will be able to understand the Lord’s energies and glories. By faithfully and attentively hearing hari-katha from a living source or a powerful saintly person, we will become determined. Gradually, as we attain faith, attachment, and love of God, we will achieve perfection.
Then Maya’s prowess cannot defeat us.
Amrita Vani
Q&A by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Thakura Prabhupada
TEXT 23.22|| SB 11.29.22 ||
esa buddhimatam buddhir manisa ca manisinam yat satyam anrteneha martyenapnoti mamrtam
This process is the supreme intelligence of the intelligent and the cleverness of the cleverest, because by following it, one can make use of that which is temporary and illusory to achieve Me, the eternal reality.
COMMENTARY
Why do people often execute devotional service in the hopes of gaining fame, and other personal advantages? The reason is that they are not actually intelligent. This is the purport of this verse. One who poses as a great devotee to enjoy immense prestige is not actually intelligent. Simply to imagine oneself to be a great preacher of devotional service, or a great relisher of transcendental rasas, simply for enjoying fame and reputation, is also not the sign of good intelligence.
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Every part of a pure Vaisnava – his wrath, his abusing, everything in him- is pure, is good. It cannot but be. Whether his blessing or his curse, through him Krsna is giving something. Nalakuvera and Manigriva were cursed by Rsi Narada to become trees; but that misfortune was managed in such a way that they came to have their birth in Vrindavan, so that when their tree-form would be broken, uprooted by Krsna, they would get the chance to go to Goloka, for their eternal service.
So any connection with a Vaisnava is able to give such an ultimately beneficial result. But that does not mean that we shall deliberately go to offend him! It is not meant like that and we should not take it in that way. To do so will be inconsistent with the meaning; it will be suicidal.
The Lord Himself says, aham bhakta-parardhino asvatantra iva dvija, “I am dependent on My devotees.” This was told by Lord Narayana to Durvasa Muni, in the case of Ambarisa Maharaj. Through affection, the infinitesimal jiva-soul, though by constitution the Lord’s potency, and fully dependent on Him, can conquer or control his Possessor, his Lord.
We find that the law of affection is such. In India, in the family, the mother formally has nothing, she has no property, no right; but she commands reverence and respect, a high respect, and through this, she holds a superior position even to that of the father. The father holds the property; the mother holds no such property, no such right, formal right, but she has ‘social right’,and through it she holds the greatest respect of the children. There is a popular sloka which says that the father is considered ‘higher than the heaven’, and the mother, ‘higher than the land where we stand.’ And it is also said, and we see, that both the mother and the father help to raise the children, but in that the mother’s quota is far greater than that of the father, so her dignity, her superiority, is much greater than his. This is the custom in varnasrama-dharma: the mother has no legal possession, but she has social or moral possession.
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Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar deva Goswami
deve varsati yajna-viplavarusa vajrasma-varsanilaih sidat-pala-pasu-striyatma-saranam drstvanukampy-utsmayam utpatyaika-karena sailamavalo lilocchilindhram yatha bibrad gosthamapan mahendram adabhit priyan na indro gavam
“May that lord of the cows be satisfied by us. Who is Indra when compared to Krishna? Krishna is the master of Indra. And yet he has appeared as the master of cows; the Supreme Absolute Truth has accepted a simple position as the keeper of cows. Superficially, he is a mere cowherd boy. But let that cowherd boy, who holds within him the power of controlling the whole universe, be satisfied with us. We want to worship that Lord who has taken the humble position of the king of the cows.”
The very gist of the Govardhana lila, the very substance of the pastime, is represented in this verse. The milkmen in Vrindavana used to observe a sacrifice to satisfy the king of heaven, Indra, at whose command the rain, clouds, and other subtle elementary powers move. The main wealth of the cowherd men is the cow, and the cow’s main food is grass. Only rain can produce grass, and so the cowherd men used to perform sacrifice to satisfy the subtle power who is supposed to be in command of natural substances like rain.
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