Srila Prabhupada - Vedic Teachings

  "So it was Krsna's grace that He saved you from a dangerous position. This dangerous position is dangerous if it does not go away after its appearance for a while. But if it goes away, then it is friend. A devotee's angle of vision being that everything is emanating from the Supreme, danger is not danger—that is the conclusion of Srimad-Bhagavatam. A devotee takes danger as also mercy of Krsna because in everything there is a purpose of Krsna and without His sanction nothing can take place." (Srila Prabhupada’s letter to: Rupanuga—Los Angeles 15 June, 1970)

  Therefore there is no difficulty in coming in contact with the Supreme Lord ( ko  ’ti- prayāsaḥ ). On the other hand, going to hell requires great endeavor. If one wants to go to hell by illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication, he must acquire so many things. For illicit sex he must arrange for money for brothels, for meat-eating he must arrange for many slaughterhouses, for gambling he must arrange for casinos and hotels, and for intoxication he must open many breweries. Clearly, therefore, if one wants to go to hell he must endeavor very much, but if he wants to return home, back to Godhead, there is no difficult endeavor. ( SB 7.7.38)

Prabhupāda: Everyone has got his particular type of religion or occupation. That's all right. Dharma. Svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsām. The result will be... By executing your particular type of religion, the result must be there. The result is "How I shall go back to home, back to Godhead." If that desire is not developed, it is simply waste of time. You may profess this religion or that religion or this religion, or that religion. It doesn't matter. You are simply wasting time by following the dogmas and ritualistic this or that. That will not help you. Phalena paricīyate. Whether you have come to this consciousness, "What I am? I am not matter; I am spirit. I have to go back to my spiritual." That... That is wanted. So either you may be Hebrew or may be Hindu or Christian. We want to see whether that consciousness has arisen. If it is not, then you have simply wasted time. Either you be Hindu or brāhmaṇa or this or that, it doesn't matter. Śrama eva hi kevalam (...

  “Good things do not come so easily; you know the difficulties that I encountered in my first year in your country. Sometimes I did not even know where I was to live, neither when I - came did I have any friends. But I was always determined that somehow I would do everything possible to fulfill the desire of my Guru Maharaja, and despite all difficulties I always remained enthusiastic.” (Srila Prabhupada’s letter –Bombay, 72-01-05)

"One who is free from illusion, false prestige, and false association, who understands the eternal, who is done with material lust and is freed from the duality of happiness and distress, and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme Person, attains to that eternal kingdom.   PURPORT The surrendering process is described here very nicely. The first qualification is that one should not be deluded by pride. Because the conditioned soul is puffed up, thinking himself the lord of material nature, it is very difficult for him to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should know by the cultivation of real knowledge that he is not lord of material nature; the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Lord. When one is free from delusion caused by pride, he can begin the process of surrender. For one who is always expecting some honor in this material world, it is not possible to surrender to the Supreme Person. Pride is due to illusion, for although one comes here, st...

  „   … Guest (5): But if man be part and parcel of God, how do you explain the evil deeds of man? Prabhupāda: Because he likes to do that. Guest (5): That means God also likes to do evil? Prabhupāda: No. God gives simply facility. That's all. Guest (4): Therefore he must have the same power as God. Prabhupāda: Not same power, but it has got a little independence. Guest (1): It will exists on us. Prabhupāda: Yes, independence. By misusing the independence, he can . . . just like a child, a small child, and his father. The father gives the little child little independence. But the child is not as powerful as the father. But still, the father, out of affection, he gives little independence to the child. Even to the dog, a master gives a little independence to the dog. That is affection. Indian man (3): But if you say this affection . . . the child is doing something wrong, say, for example, he has taken a knife to do, and . . . that he kills someb...

  „In the Tenth Canto, Fifty-first Chapter, verse 57, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is the following statement by King Mucukunda: "My dear Lord, because of my bad deeds in the past I am everlastingly aggrieved. I am always suffering from my desires, but still my senses are never satisfied with material enjoyments. Somehow or other, by Your grace, I am now in a peaceful condition because I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet, which are always free from all lamentation, fear and death. O supreme protector, O supreme soul! O supreme controller! Kindly give me Your protection. I am so much embarrassed." This statement by Mucukunda is an instance of humility resulting from a severely miserable condition of material existence.” (Nectar of Devotion 29)  

  “Now you must guide them very nicely in Krishna Consciousness, because you are a veteran devotee and practically speaking the future of our Krishna Conscious Society rests in the hands of my older disciples. Give them all facility to perfect their lives by protecting them and instructing them nicely, that is now the  duty of my senior disciples.” (Srila Prabhupada’s letter to: Karandhara—Delhi 71-12-03)

  “Foolishly, people who are enamored of the glimmer of modern materialistic advancement are thinking that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for less intelligent men. "I am better off being busy with my material comforts-maintaining a nice apartment, family and sex life." These people do not know that at any moment they can be kicked out of their material situation. Due to ignorance, they do not know that real life is eternal. The temporary comforts of the body are not the goal of life, and it is due only to darkest ignorance that people become enamored of the glimmering advancement of material comforts. Śrīla Bhaktivinode Thākur has therefore said that the advancement of material knowledge renders a person more foolish because it causes one to forget his real identification by its glimmer. This is doom for him, because this human form of life is meant for getting out of the material contamination. By the advancement of material knowledge, people are becoming more and more...