Srila Prabhupada - Vedic Teachings

  Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others. The material conception of life makes us very eager to receive honor from others, but from the point of view of a man in perfect knowledge—who knows that he is not this body—anything, honor or dishonor, pertaining to this body is useless. One should not be hankering after this material deception. People are very anxious to be famous for their religion, and consequently sometimes it is found that without understanding the principles of religion one enters into some group which is not actually following religious principles and then wants to advertise himself as a religious mentor. As for actual advancement in spiritual science, one should have a test to see how far he is progressing. He can judge by these items. (BG 13.8-12, Purport)

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 (...

  Hayagrīva: This is Plotinus. Plotinus lived from 204-269 A.D. He was not Christian. He took... He's what's called a neo-Platonist, a new Platonist. Much of his philosophy comes from Plato. But he believed in the theory of emanation, that the soul emanates from the intelligence, what Aristotle called the nous, or the intelligence, and the intelligence emanates from the One, what he calls the One, who is omnipresent, transcendental, the cause of all multiplicities, the Lord of all. So there's a hierarchy in Plotinus of the One, the intelligence, and the individual souls. Prabhupāda: The One is Vedic conception, ekaṁ brahma dvitīyaṁ nāsti, Supreme Truth, Absolute Truth, advaya-jñāna. So this is our philosophy, that these living entities, soul, they are of the same quality as the one Supreme, but they are fragmental parts, emanation from Him. He has got the same intelligence, same mind, but limited jurisdiction. God is... That One is omnipresent, but we are not omnipresen...

  "Śyāmasundara: He sees the same kind of hierarchy, that on the one hand the highest types of beings are those who are most actualized, are those who are more perfect. Prabhupāda: Mmm. Śyāmasundara: They have realized their essence. Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa conscious. Śyāmasundara: Yes. Whereas the lower types of entities who are purely potential but have very small existences, like they're animal, plant life, he sees that hierarchy, and he says that the highest summit of man is..., the summit of wisdom, when he becomes capable of loving God lovingly. Prabhupāda: That's right. Śyāmasundara: Then he becomes purely... Prabhupāda: Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, premā pumartho pumān: the highest perfection of life is to attain love of Godhead. And Bhāgavata also says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). That is first-class religious system, (indistinct) develops his dormant love of God. That is religion. That is first-class, transcendental re...

                                 "Religion does not mean to follow some ritualistic process. That helps us to approach, but they are not, I mean to say, primal necessity. That ritualistic process may be different. Hindus may be following a different kind of ritualistic process. The Christian may be following a different kinds of ritualistic process. That does not matter. Just like the same example: your relationship with the state. You Americans, you follow the state laws, keep the car right, "Keep right." In India and in England I have seen also that, "Keep to the left." So the process may be different, but the actual obedience to the state is there, either in India or in America or in England or everywhere. Similarly, religion means love of Godhead. Now, that love of Godhead you may learn under certain process, I may learn under certain process. Just like love between boys and girls may be different...

  „Everything is there in the śāstra. Ācārya does not invent anything. That is not ācārya. Ācārya simply points out, "Here is the thing." Just like in the darkness of night we cannot see anything perfectly or cannot see anything, but the, when there is sunrise, the sunrise, effect of sunrise is that we can see things as they are. The things are not manufactured. There is already... The things are al... The houses, the town and the everything is there, but when there is sunrise we can see everything nicely. Similarly, ācārya, or incarnation, they do not create anything. They simply give the light to see things as they are. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu pointed out this verse from Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. The, the verse was already in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc. Ādi 17.21] This verse was already there in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa, the indication of our activities in the age of Kali...

„Human activities diseased by a tendency toward sense gratification have been regulated in the Vedas under the principles of salvation. This system employs religion, economic development, sense gratification and salvation, but at the present moment people have no interest in religion or salvation. They have only one aim in life-sense gratification-and in order to achieve this end they make plans for economic development. Misguided men think that religion should be maintained because it contributes to economic development, which is required for sense gratification. Thus in order to guarantee further sense gratification after death, in heaven, there is some system of religious observance. But this is not the purpose of religion. The path of religion is actually meant for self-realization, and economic development is required just to maintain the body in a sound, healthy condition. A man should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize vidya, true knowledge,...

  "So religious principle means you have to execute the preliminary formulas, but the ultimate end will be you'll have spontaneous attraction for hearing about God, or Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. If that thing is not done, then you are simply wasting time by going to church or temple or mosque or any nonsense. Notpādayed yadi ratiṁ śrama eva hi kevalam (SB.1.2.8). Simply waste of time. So don't become a show bottle of religious man. Actually try to understand what is religion, what is God, and make your life successful." (Srila Prabhupada: Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban, September 6, 1972)    

  "In the human society, there is always some kinds of religious institution. That is called dharma, faith. Real dharma means—that I have already explained—occupational duty. Constitutional duty, that is called dharma: functional duty. So real dharma, real religion, is to become servant of God, or to render service to God. That is real religion. But we have manufactured so many religions: different societies, different circumstances, different country. Therefore it is advised herewith that you may execute any kind of religious faith or . . . (break) . . . principle, but the result should be . . . (break) . . . perfect. You can say: "I am very perfectly executing the ritualistic ceremonies and the tenets described in my scripture, Bible" or Veda or Koran. That's very good. But what is the result? The result is that you must develop or increase your tendency to hear about God. But if your ultimate truth is impersonal . . . mostly they consider God...