Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.2

धर्म: प्रोज्झितकैतवोऽत्र परमो निर्मत्सराणां सतां
वेद्यं वास्तवमत्र वस्तु शिवदं तापत्रयोन्मूलनम् ।
श्रीमद्भागवते महामुनिकृते किं वा परैरीश्वर:
सद्यो हृद्यवरुध्यतेऽत्र कृतिभि: शुश्रूषुभिस्तत्क्षणात् ॥ २ ॥

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt

which means in English language :

Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagvata Purana propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Srimad Bhagavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyasa deva in his maturity, is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of the Bhagavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.

The Advice of Krishna to Uddhava

My dear Uddhava, one can give up false pride and prestige by engaging in the following devotional activities.

One may purify oneself by seeing, touching, worshiping, serving, and offering prayers of glorification and obeisances to My form as the Deity and to My pure devotees.
One should also glorify My transcendental qualities and activities, hear with love and faith the narrations of My glories and constantly meditate on Me.
One should offer to Me whatever one acquires, and accepting oneself as My eternal servant, one should give oneself completely to Me.
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Human body is most difficult to achieve

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 25

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.

Hari Bhakti Kalpa Latika – 14-15

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.

Hari Bhakti Kalpa Latika 11

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

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

Uddhava-Gita – 23.22

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.

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About Sri Govardhan

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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from Garga Samhita

A few verses from Garga Samhita, describing Giriraja’s glories.

Chapter 10
Text 14

The liberated soul said: Glorious Govardhana Hill, the king of mountains, is the personal form of Lord Krishna. Simply by seeing it, one attains the supreme goal of life.

Texts 18-19
Even though he has committed hundreds of sins, a person who on Mount Mangala gives gold in charity attains a spiritual form like Lord Visnu’s. That same result is attained simply by seeing Govardhana Hill. No other holy place is as sacred as Govardhana Hill.

Texts 20-21
O brahmana, simply by visiting Govardhana Hill one attains piety a hundred thousand times greater than the piety he would attain if on the sacred mountains
Rishabha, Kutaka, and Kolaka he had worshiped many brahmanas and given in charity ten million cows with golden horns.
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