Year 5

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

We deprive ourselves for hundreds and hundreds of lifetimes by busying ourselves in acquiring temporary things. There are countless examples of people bravely overcoming severe obstacles and even sacrificing their lives for petty mundane things. In light of this, can not intelligent persons – those with the extreme fortune of being devotees – dedicate their brief lifetime, bravely overcoming any number of problems, to serve that Supreme Lord, who was the Absolute Truth before time began, who is the Absolute Truth in the present, and who will be the Absolute Truth for all eternity?...

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

Sacrificing himself to the desire of his guru was in no way his exclusive aim. Some argue that, in the end, Ekalavya made no objection to the strict instruction of his guru, and in fact, executed his order with joy. However, by reflecting upon this matter with gravity and a little subtlety, we can see that even in this instance, rather than actually valuing transcendental devotion to his guru, Ekalavya considered mundane ethics to be of utmost importance....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

We are given to understand that no foreign thing should be included in the transcendental region, and we do not find the unalloyed position of transcendence in this world. We are mistaken when the idea comes that we are part and parcel of this universe; merely adjuncts to the phenomenon in which we now experience our conditioned life....

by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada

The Name is the very storehouse of all rasa. We should seek the Name without making any distinction between the Name and the Object pointed to by the Name, quite unlike the differentiation we find in this temporal world. Krsna, the person, is identical with the word Hari, with His colour, with His form and with all of His attributes and activities....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

However, by its very nature, lila is beyond the reach of the material senses and even beyond anything the material mind can conceive. It is never tainted by anything mundane, nor is it subordinate to anything mundane....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

As long as Śrīla Gurudeva, the beloved of Śrī Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇa-preṣṭha), is physically manifest, it is wise to render intimate service to him, and thereby attain perfection. But if we are not able to attain perfection because we have failed to develop attachment to him, attachment wherein we consider him to be the lord of our heart; if we have failed to serve him by giving him our full heart in complete sincerity and selflessness, then we have certainly been deprived... we have certainly been deprived....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

Ordinarily the mind controls our senses and the soul is lying in a dormant condition. The soul has delegated its power of transacting with the external world to the mind, and the mind has five ministers to help in the administration of the phenomenal world. But the mind is a not a dutiful agent of the soul. It always tries to injure the interest of the soul....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

When we keep eternal, blissful knowledge (sat-cit-ananda) in the forefront of our perception, dissociation from undesirable things will serve a great purpose if we can trace out their ultimate connection with the Absolute, if we can see their apparent source as irrelevant, and simply welcome them with the consideration that they are solely related to eternity...

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

There is no other alternative for getting rid of our measuring temperament. We are now equipped with senses that are incapable of leading us to the Truth. We are liable to be deluded by the influence of māyā, and māyā is but a trap. If we want to avoid that trap, we are to submit to Him unconditionally. So prapatti, which means full submission, is the essential thing....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

To express one’s humility in front of an atheist who is envious of śrī guru and the Vaiṣṇavas, in front of a demoniac person like Rāvaṇa or in front of a pretentious brāhmaṇa, is not vaiṣṇava-sevā, nor is it tṛṇād api sunīcatā....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

If all those who are only interested in eating and in sensual pleasure, but who have taken shelter of the facility of the maṭha, were asked to leave, one after the other, it would reduce the expenses for the maṭha and minimize other worldly troubles...

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

The extent to which I am deprived of the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, my accomplishment in service is lacking. Only those in exclusive subservience to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī are the rightful owners of absolute wealth. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is the epitome of kṛṣṇānuśīlanam....

by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda

Śrī guru is not mortal. He is an eternal, immortal being. Śrī guru is eternal, service to him is eternal, and his servants are all eternal; therefore so much hope and shelter exists for us. There is nothing such as death for us....