Archive - Jul 2008

In the Upadesamrta, Rupa Goswami has taught us that without enthusiasm, Krsna consciousness will not be possible (3rd verse).

This isn’t exactly a “Thought for the Day,” but wouldn’t it be wonderful if married couples could live on large ISKCON properties (100 acres plus) such that they could have a sense of ownership, almost like having their own land. That day will come.

A rather well-known saying (by Christ) is “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Srila Prabhupada publicly commented on this once, saying that God will never forgive offenders, but a devotee will. He said it was for this reason that Jesus Christ prayed for his enemies.

We are conditioned to think that high temperatures always sterilize and that even germs cannot live when the mercury climbs above a certain number. But Srila Prabhupada taught us that living entities exist on the sun. He even went so far as to say that houses, cars and roads also exist on that fiery sphere. (Srila Prabhupada's Lecture recorded in London on August 27, 1973)

Philosophical points unique to the philosophy of ISKCON include:

1.    There is a spiritual universe and higher material realms.
2.    The spiritual universe is larger and more populous than the material universe.
3.    God is always ultimately in charge of everything.
4.    We are not these bodies.
5.    The soul is always reborn in the material world, where he/she is one out of 8,400,000 forms of life.
6.    The soul is more powerful than the body.
7.    God and His Name are the same.

Many highly learned, highly educated and highly intelligent people are atheists. ISKCON members often quote great literati like Emerson, Thoreau, Tolstoy and Goethe, who read and appreciated the gita but who never became devotees. As Prabhupada repeatedly taught us, only a devotee can fully understand the message of the Bhagavad-gita.

Often concepts of God are based on one’s seeing God with awe and reverence, on fear and guilt, even if God is thought to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. But the most important element is love, as Srila Prabhupada said once in Los Angeles, lecturing on the Bhagavad-gita in January, 1973. He said, “The devotee loves God, and God loves devotee. This is the only relationship. That's all. God is after devotee, and devotee after God. This is relationship. So one has to establish this relationship.”

The Gita, which is at the heart of the Hare Krishna Movement was spoken millions of years ago.

In the first verse of the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Lord Krsna states, “I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku.”

Srila Prabhupada indicated that a perfect devotee of Jesus Christ would obtain Svarga loka or the heavenly planets and that Christ himself has a spiritual body. (Letter, March 2, 1970; lecture in LA, January 3, 1969).