Bhagavad Gita Series

If one wants to advance in spiritual life and actually experience the nectar of devotional service, he should clearly understand the principle of Austerity. In executing penance, one must be determined to return home, back to Godhead, and must decide to undergo all types of tribulations for that end. Even for material prosperity, name and fame, one has to undergo severe types of penance, otherwise...

In the material world there is keen competition between animal and animal, man and man, community and community, nation and nation. But the devotees of the Lord rise above such competitions. They do not compete with the materialist because they are on the path back to Godhead, where life is eternal and blissful. In the material world, everyone is envious of everyone else, and therefore there is co...

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has performed innumerable wonderful pastimes. He has unlimited devotees, and His pastimes are also unlimited. Let us hear and understand one such pastime of the Lord from which we will understand: 1. Reason behind so many religions 2. Power of Sankirtana Movement 3. Misinterpretation of Vedas

Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (7.3): 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘔𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. It is not easy to attain perfection in spiritual life. One among thousands may become prefect. In Vaiṣṇava philosophy there are three ways for perfection. Anyone trying to become a prefect devotee must know these three...

No kind of material qualification is the means for satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Any material quality or possession like wealth, an aristocratic family, beauty, austerity, education, sensory expertise, luster etc. is ultimately given by Lord only. Lord is not after all these. He is simply after sincere devotional service. A devotee may not possess any of the above qualities but st...

Lord Chaitanya and Nityananda are very merciful. They are the essence of all incarnations, and they have made this process of self-realization very joyful. There are many incarnations, like Lord Rama and even Krishna, who taught Bhagavad-gita, which requires knowledge and understanding. But Lord Chaitanya and Nityananda introduced a process that is simply joyful, simply chant and dance. It is the...

The spirit soul, as part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has all the good qualities of the Lord. When the spirit soul is contaminated by the material modes of nature, one is considered good or bad with reference to the material qualities. But when one is transcendental to all material qualities, all the good qualities come out. A pure devotee is supposed to possess 26 qualities....

"𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴." One attains yogic perfection when he is freed from all material diversions and his mind is fixed upon the lotus feet of the Lord. This is called samādhi or trance. Prahlāda Mahārāja attained that stage beyond the senses. Because he was engaged in service, he felt transcendentally si...

Srila Prabhupada writes 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘒ṛṣṇ𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘒ṛṣṇ𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘒ṛṣṇ𝘢, 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺...

One of the most important aspect of spirituality is worshipping the Lord. After understanding the importance of worshipping one may ask "Whom should I worship ?". Especially in India where we have 330 million Gods. It is not easy to get correct understanding. Some people say that you can worship any one of them, some have the opinion that only Krishna should be worshipped, yet others say that no n...

The activities of the Lord and His devotees are always wonderful and sometimes strange also. When Lord appears as Krishna, He descends in His original form as the enjoyer, and through His sweet pastimes captures the hearts of His devotees. However, many of Lord Krishna’s pastimes are confusing for ordinary persons because He acts in ways that ordinary persons should not. That is why one of the mor...

When a sinful man enjoys material facilities, foolish people sometimes think, "How is it that this sinful man is enjoying whereas a pious man is suffering?" By the will of the Supreme, a sinful man is sometimes given the chance to enjoy the material world as if he were not under the clutches of material nature, just so that he may be fooled. A sinful man who acts against the laws of nature must be...

As stated in the Vedas, parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca, the different potencies of the Lord are always working as an automatic exhibition of His knowledge. It is a fact that Supreme Lord is all-powerful. No one is equal to and greater than Him but still, a demon thinks otherwise. A demon has no experience of the inconceivable power for which the Supreme Lord is ca...

Demons always think that the God of the devotees is fictitious. They think that there is no God and that the so-called religious feeling of devotion to God is but an opiate, a kind of illusion, like the illusions derived from LSD and opium. Contrary to this a devotee who has developed a genuine love for Krishna can always see Him everywhere, whereas a demon, not having a clear understanding of the...

In this material world, everyone thinks that he has conquered his enemies, without understanding who his real enemies are? Everyone is actually dependent on the reactions of material laws, but still, one thinks himself as independent and thinks that he has conquered all directions. Only a fool will think that I have conquered all my enemies.  For a person who is victorious over the six enemies and...

The relationship between a pure devotee and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is extremely relishable. A devotee never claims to be very powerful himself; instead, he fully surrenders to the lotus feet of Krishna, being confident that in all dangerous conditions Krishna will protect His devotee. A demon may think that he can harm a devotee but the fact is that nobody can harm a devotee because he...

As per Vedic culture, one has to perform various kinds of Saṁskāra in order to purify himself. Saṁskāra means "Purificatory Method". There are ten different kinds of Saṁskāra which a human is supposed to perform in order to purify himself. One of the Saṁskāra is marriage which is called Paani Grahan Saṁskāra.  Without understanding the importance of this sacred event some people have started calli...

"Unless one is sufficiently protected by the Lord, he may fall down from his spiritual position; therefore one has to pray constantly to the Lord for protection and the blessing to carry out one's duty. Lord Caitanya also entrusted His missionary work to His devotees and assured them of His protection against the onslaught of material affection. The path of spiritual life is stated in the Vedas to...

The dirty things in the heart of a conditioned soul are the root cause of all troubles for him. A conditioned soul is surrounded by the manifold miseries of material existence, but on account of his gross ignorance, he is unable to remove the troubles due to dirty things in the heart, accumulated during the long prison life in the material world. He is actually meant to serve the will of the Supre...

No one has ever achieved the results he desired from material activities. On the contrary, everyone has been frustrated again and again. Therefore one must not waste his time in such material activities for sensual pleasure, either in this life or in the next. So many nationalists, economists, and other ambitious persons have tried for happiness, individually or collectively, but history proves th...

The Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Supersoul feature always exists within the cores of the hearts of all living entities. Indeed, He is the well-wisher and friend of all living entities, and there is no difficulty in worshipping the Lord. This Lord in the heart is addressed as Paramātmā. Although the Paramātmā is aloof from the living entities, He knows their intentions, and He gives them f...

Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (14.26) "One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.”  By the practice of bhakti-yoga, one immediately comes to the spiritual platform, transcendental to the actions and reactions of the three modes of material nature. The root of ig...

An expert geologist can understand where there is gold and by various processes can extract it from the gold ore. Similarly, a spiritually advanced person can understand how the spiritual particle exists within the body, and thus by cultivating spiritual knowledge he can attain perfection in spiritual life. However, as one who is not expert cannot understand where there is gold, a foolish person w...

We have heard about Srila Prabhupada, this time let us discuss about his glorious spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, The Simha Guru.

An intelligent man knows that death is born along with his own birth. He knows that he is dying at every second and that the final touch will be given as soon as his term of life is finished. He, therefore, prepares himself for the next life or for liberation from the disease of repeated birth and death. He would like to understand this phenomenon called "Death".  A man who is not intelligent enou...