Citraketu dasa: We have discussed the only way in previous postings. This is the only way according to Krsna consciousness.
*Work for Krsna
*Study for Krsna
*Prayer for Krsna
The following are passages relevant to this understanding and demonstrating a progression of understanding that culminates in the pure devotion of Bhakti Yoga.
“Acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are not to be given up; they must be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great souls.” Bg 18.5
“Learned circles have positively concluded that the infallible purpose of the advancement of knowledge, namely austerities, study of the Vedas, sacrifice, chanting of hymns and charity, culminates in the transcendental descriptions of the Lord, who is defined in choice poetry.” SB 1.5.22
“Everything that can be achieved by fruitive activities, penance, knowledge, detachment, mystic yoga, charity, religious duties and all other means of perfecting life is easily achieved by My devotee through loving service unto Me. If somehow or other My devotee desires promotion to heaven, liberation, or residence in My abode, he easily achieves such benedictions.” SB 11.20.32-33
“A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices, undergoing austerities, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode.” Bg 8.28
“Devotional service unto Lord Krsna is attained by charity, strict vows, austerities and fire sacrifices, by japa, study of Vedic texts, observance of regulative principles and, indeed, by the performance of many other auspicious practices.” SB 10.47.24
“Firm faith in the blissful narration of My pastimes, constant chanting of My glories, unwavering attachment to ceremonial worship of Me, praising Me through beautiful hymns, great respect for My devotional service, offering obeisances with the entire body, performing first-class worship of My devotees, consciousness of Me in all living entities, offering of ordinary, bodily activities in My devotional service, use of words to describe My qualities, offering the mind to Me, rejection of all material desires, giving up wealth for My devotional service, renouncing material sense gratification and happiness, and performing all desirable activities such as charity, sacrifice, chanting, vows and austerities with the purpose of achieving Me-these constitute actual religious principles, by which those human beings who have actually surrendered themselves to Me automatically develop love for Me. What other purpose or goal could remain for My devotee?” SB 11.19.20-24
One should hear, glorify and meditate upon the wonderful transcendental activities of the Lord. One should specifically become absorbed in the appearance, activities, qualities and holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus inspired, one should perform all of one’s daily activities as an offering to the Lord. One should perform sacrifice, charity and penance exclusively for the Lord’s satisfaction. Similarly, one should chant only those mantras which glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And all one’s religious activities should be performed as an offering to the Lord. Whatever one finds pleasing or enjoyable he should immediately offer to the Supreme Lord, and even his wife, children, home and very life air he should offer at the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” SB 11.3.27-28
“Although one may neutralize the reactions of sinful life through austerity, charity, vows and other such methods, these pious activities cannot uproot the material desires in one’s heart. However, if one serves the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead, he is immediately freed from all such contaminations.” SB 6.2.17
“My dear friends, O sons of the demons, you cannot please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by becoming perfect brahmanas, demigods or great saints or by becoming perfectly good in etiquette or vast learning. None of these qualifications can awaken the pleasure of the Lord. Nor by charity, austerity, sacrifice, cleanliness or vows can one satisfy the Lord. The Lord is pleased only if one has unflinching, unalloyed devotion to Him. Without sincere devotional service, everything is simply a show.”
SB 7.7.51-52
“O best of the Kuru warriors, no one before you has ever seen this universal form of Mine, for neither by studying the Vedas, nor by performing sacrifices, nor by charity, nor by pious activities, nor by severe penances can I be seen in this form in the material world.” Bg 11.48
“Even though one engages with great endeavor in the mystic yoga system, philosophical speculation, charity, vows, penances, ritualistic sacrifices, teaching of Vedic mantras to others, personal study of the Vedas, or the renounced order of life, still one cannot achieve Me.” SB 11.12.9
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, by associating with My pure devotees one can destroy one’s attachment for all objects of material sense gratification. Such purifying association brings Me under the control of My devotee. One may perform the astanga-yoga system, engage in philosophical analysis of the elements of material nature, practice nonviolence and other ordinary principles of piety, chant the Vedas, perform penances, take to the renounced order of life, execute sacrificial performances and dig wells, plant trees and perform other public welfare activities, give in charity, carry out severe vows, worship the demigods, chant confidential mantras, visit holy places or accept major and minor disciplinary injunctions, but even by performing such activities one does not bring Me under his control.” SB 11.12.1-2
Dharma Comments:
The passages above were selected to demonstrate a comparison of thought presented in the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam in relation to the “only way” as found in Krsna consciousness.
The soul cannot remain idle and so the mind cannot remain idle. “The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” If the body and mind are not properly engaged we may fall prey to temptations in illicit, sinful and even different types of criminal activities. As human beings we have some intelligence and to make the best use of our intelligence is making the best use of our human form of life. Lord Krsna has given us the essentials a number of times in both the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. We should see the relevance of the following passage spoken by Lord Krsna Himself.
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, because I desire that human beings may achieve perfection, I have presented three paths of advancement-the path of knowledge, the path of work and the path of devotion. Besides these three there is absolutely no other means of elevation.”
SB 11.20.6
To put this most ancient passage in more common terms we could simply say:
*Work for Krsna
*Study for Krsna
*Prayer for Krsna
“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform-do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” Bg 9.27
*Karma Yoga is achieved by working for Krsna.
*Jnana Yoga is achieved by study for Krsna.
*Mystic Yoga is achieved through devotional service in Krsna consciousness since Lord Krsna is pleased to offer anything and everything to the pure devotee. The Supreme Personality of Godhead provides His pure devotee with all facility and protection.
Whether it is just attachment or even addiction. Even if we are addicted to drugs or sex to the extent of being considered a criminal we know that in the ultimate the root of all addiction goes beyond the chemicals of the brain, beyond the mind and even beyond the intelligence. The intelligence is higher than the mind, higher than the intelligence is the eternal soul. The soul cannot remain idle, but will only be satisfied by spiritual engagements. Spiritual engagements should be as there are eternal engagements in the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The soul is not satisfied by unhealthy and ungodly activities such as meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication or gambling. The soul is not completely satisfied by eating and sleeping. In ISKCON centers the residents give up so much eating and sleeping to engage in morning worship of the deity and mantra meditation. Similarly, some devotees, which includes congregation members, help with raising funds for all these devotional activities. These worship services are to engage everyone as souls engage in devotional activities in the eternal spiritual world. We can work on our Varna inclinations to serve Krsna in Bhagavat Dharma or we can work towards full-time Sadhana Bhakti. But, either through Varna in Bhagavat Dharma or Sadhana-Bhakti, we must seek full engagement in Krsna consciousness to completely satisfy the self, the eternal spirit self.
There are many ISKCON projects. We may suffer some uncertainty as to which project we should involve ourselves. We may even find the whole society of Krsna consciousness and even the whole belief system to be too extensive to fully understand. But, the whole society and the whole belief system all becomes one in the pure devotion of Bhakti Yoga.
We must find some engagement in Krsna consciousness one way or another. Otherwise, we may suffer from dissatisfaction of the eternal soul. Whether living outside or inside an ISKCON commune we still work according to Varna inclinations. But, in centers of Krsna consciousness our Varna is more directly Bhagavat Dharma and should help us to more quickly achieve 2nd class and finally 1st class levels of pure devotional service. However, we can also make our private home a center for Krsna consciousness by keeping up with devotional observances.
There are now many free and low cost resources for Krsna consciousness available online and through the mail. Those who may have trouble living more closely with an established ISKCON center, a center for Krsna consciousness, they can still make their own home a center for Krsna consciousness. There are a few essentials to consider.
*Rise early for morning program of meditation, prayer, and study of the sastra
*It is very helpful to always offer obeisances and Dandavats to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Guru, the Sadhus, and the Sastra.
*Learn to follow the four regulative principles as well as all godly and Sattvic standards in living if we have not already done so.
Of course, we will have to balance our schedule of devotional observances with our schedule of work and other material concerns.
At an ISKCON farm community there are the same devotional observances found at temples in the city as well as agricultural self-sufficiency concerns. Agricultural self-sufficiency is more sattvic which is apparently more pleasing to Lord Krsna. We can see that Lord Krsna is very pleased with the brahmanas and cows since they are more sattvic.
Agricultural self-sufficiency is something that will take some effort at learning. There are many new educational resources on perfecting agricultural self-sufficiency so as to be pollution and cruelty free. Agricultural self-sufficiency is now so much forgotten in many areas of the world and must, therefore, be relearned. This should be on our list of concerns at ISKCON farm communities. Perhaps our list of concerns would look like this.
Learning to:
*Follow 4 regulative principles
*Have an appreciation of Brahmanism or the brahminical way
*Agricultural Self-sufficiency to the extent of “Off the Grid” which is actually the more brahminical way of living. “Off the Grid” means agricultural self-sufficiency to the extent of not depending on public power, public water, public sewerage, and even to not use any machines. Since there has been difficulty in realizing all this we can at least place this concern under our “research and development” list category.
*Learning Vedic principles, Varnasrama Dharma, and actually Bhagavat Dharma
*Becoming a brahmana
*Becoming a 2nd class and then 1st class Vaisnava
*Becoming an Acarya competent to sit on the Vyasasana…
(The items are listed above according to levels of realization. Some items may seem rather lofty, but conceivable. We are to do whatever possible to make the most use of our human intelligence and all of this can be corroborated or verified in the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.)
In conclusion, there are many essentials, basics and concerns in Krsna consciousness considering our material situation. But, all becomes one in Krsna consciousness as is found in Vaikuntha and Krsna Loka. There are unlimited Vaikuntha planets with Krsna Loka, the planet of Lord Krsna, being the topmost. Within Krsna-loka is Vrndaban which is supermost. It is in Vrndaban that Lord Krsna allows Himself to be controlled by His pure devotee confidential associates.
Please accept my humble obeisances!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
and all pure devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead!
http://vedabase.net/sb/en
“Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna manifested in their hearts within a short time.” Srimad Bhagavatam 2.8.4
It is hoped that these references will help some to have a better understandings of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. If you do not wish to receive these educational messages then please send us your email address.
Your servant in Krsna consciousness,
Citraketu dasa
“C.J. Flores”