Ranganatha Dasa asked, "What happens to devotees who are initiated, even as brahmanas, and then they go away?" Srila Prabhupada replied, "That is the fault of the recommender

The Lord comes here to reestablish the principles of religion, and the basic principle is the development of an attitude of surrender to Him. This is the Lord's last instruction in the Bhagavad-gita (18.66): sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. "Give up all other processes and just surrender unto Me alone." Unfortunately, foolish men have misinterpreted

When I was speaking in Berkeley University sometimes in the year 1966, one Indian student stood up, and he said, "Swamiji, what this Krsna consciousness movement will do? We require now technology." So I replied, "Yes. You are after technology. So you are a beggar. I am not a beggar. I have come here to give something. That is the difference. I have come here to give

When Akrura entered Vrndavana, he saw Krsna and Balarama engaged in supervising the milking of the cows. Krsna was dressed in yellow garments and Balarama in bluish. Akrura also saw that Their eyes were exactly like the beautiful lotus flower that grows during the autumn season. He saw Krsna and Balarama in the spring of Their youth. Although They had the same bodily

Brahma Samhita is the gist of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the Bhagavad gita as well as in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Krishna is accepted as Supreme Lord & everything about him is nicely described there, similarly in the Brahma-Samhita everything about Krishna is perfectly described. In the very beginning of the book, Krishna is accepted as the Supreme Lord existing

Vedic religion means varnasrama-dharma. Krsna says, God says, catur-varnyam maya srstam [Bg. 4.13]. So that is obligatory. Just like law is obligatory. You cannot say that "I don't take this law." No. You have to take it if you want to have a happy [society]

Srila Rupa Gosvami, after retiring from his minister's seat in the government, went to Vrndavana and lived beneath a tree, like Maharaja Prthu. Since then, many people have gone to Vrndavana to imitate Rupa Gosvami's behavior. Instead of advancing in spiritual life, many have fallen into material habits and even in Vrndavana have become victims of illicit sex

In Vrndavana there are prakrta-sahajiyas who say that writing books or even touching books is taboo. For them, devotional service means being relieved from these activities. Whenever they are asked to hear a recitation of Vedic literature, they refuse, saying, "What business do we have reading or hearing transcendental literatures? They are meant for neophytes." They

Even if you find in devotee something bad, and his behavior is not in the standard, but because he is Krsna conscious, he has no other business, he is sadhu. Api cet suduracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak, sadhur eva sa mantavyah [Bg. 9.30]. He is sadhu. He is saintly man. Even if you find some defect in his character, because he is sticking to Krsna consciousness, he is

We must be purely chanting. But we should not be disappointed, even impure. Therefore we must have fixed chanting process. Because we are not in the pure stage. Therefore, by force, just like a boy in the school. We had this training in our childhood school. Our teacher would ask me, "You write ten pages, handwriting." So that means practicing ten pages, my

Unfortunately, in present day society in the name of suddha-bhakti various types of mixed devotion such as karma-misra (mixed with fruitive action), jnana-misra (mixed with speculative knowledge) and yoga-misra (mixed with various types of yoga processes) as well as various polluted and imaginary conceptions are spreading everywhere like germs of plague. People in

A civilization in which the people do not know how the representative of Narada and Krsna should be respected, how society should be formed and how one should advance in Krsna consciousness — a society concerned only with manufacturing new cars and new skyscrapers every year and then breaking them to pieces and making new ones — may be technologically advanced, but it