Kali Yuga, The Problems and the Solution
The age of Kali is the most condemned age due to its quarrelsome features. Kali-yuga is so saturated with vicious habits that there is a great fight at the slightest misunderstanding. Those who are engaged in the pure devotional service of the Lord, who are without any desire for self-aggrandizement and who are freed from the effects of fruitive actions and dry philosophical speculations are capable of getting out of the
The leaders of the people are very much anxious to live in peace and friendship, but they have no information of the simple method of hearing the glories of the Lord. On the contrary, such leaders are opposed to the propagation of the glories of the Lord. In other words, the foolish leaders want to completely deny the existence of the Lord. In the name of secular state, such leaders are enacting various plans every year. But by the insurmountable intricacies of the material nature of the Lord, all these plans for progress are being constantly frustrated. They have no eyes to see that their attempts at peace and friendship are failing. But here is the hint to get over the hurdle. If we want actual peace, we must open the road to understanding of the Supreme Lord Krsna and glorify Him for His virtuous activities as they are depicted in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. (SB 1.1.16 P Questions by the Sages)
In this age of Kali the propensity for mercy is almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars between men and nations. Men do not understand that because they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they also must be slaughtered like animals in big wars. This is very much evident in the Western countries. In the West, slaughterhouses are maintained without restriction, and therefore every fifth or tenth year there is a big war in which countless people are slaughtered even more cruelly than the animals. Sometimes during war, soldiers keep their enemies in concentration camps and kill them in very cruel ways. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the forest. Proud, demoniac persons do not know the laws of nature, or the laws of God. Consequently, they unrestrictedly kill poor animals, not caring for them at all. In the Krsna consciousness movement, animal-killing is completely prohibited. One is not accepted as a bona fide student in this movement unless he promises to follow the four regulative principles: no animal-killing, no intoxication, no illicit sex and no gambling. This Krsna consciousness movement is the only means by which the sinful activities of men in this Kali-yuga can be counteracted. (SB 4.26.5 P King Puranjana Goes to the Forest to Hunt, and His Queen Becomes Angry)
It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam that in Kali-yuga the heads of government will be plunderers and thieves. These thieves and plunderers take the money and property of the public by force or connivance. Therefore it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, rajanyair nirghrnair dasyu-dharmabhih. As Kali-yuga advances, we can see that these characteristics are already visible. We can certainly imagine how deteriorated human civilization will be by the end of Kali-yuga. Indeed, there will no longer be a sane man capable of understanding God and our relationship with Him. In other words, human beings will be just like animals. At that time, in order to reform human society, Lord Krsna will come in the form of the Kalki avatara. His business will be to kill all the atheists because ultimately the real protector is Visnu, or Krsna. (SB 5.12.7 P Conversation Between Maharaja Rahugana and Jada Bharata )
The modern activities of human society are described in Srimad-Bhagavatam as the activities of go-khara, cows and asses (sa eva go-kharah). Everyone is acting in a bodily concept of life involving society, friendship and love for the improvement of economic and political conditions, and thus all activities are enacted in ignorance. The Supreme Personality therefore comes to teach us how to act according to the Vedic principles. In this age of Kali, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and preached that in this age the Vedic activities cannot be systematically performed because people are so fallen. He gave this recommendation from the sastras:
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.” The Krsna consciousness movement is therefore teaching people all over the world how to chant the Hare Krsna mantra, and this has proved very much effective in all places at all times. The Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in order to teach us Vedic principles intended for understanding Him (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah). We should always know that when Krsna and Lord Caitanya appeared, They appeared in suddha-sattva bodies. One should not mistake the body of Krsna or Caitanya Mahaprabhu to be a material body like ours, for Krsna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared as needed for the benefit of the entire human society. Out of causeless mercy, the Lord appears in different ages in His original suddha-sattva transcendental body to elevate human society to the spiritual platform upon which they can truly benefit. Unfortunately, modern politicians and other leaders stress the bodily comforts of life (yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke) and concentrate on the activities of this ism and that ism, which they describe in different kinds of flowery language. Essentially such activities are the activities of animals (sa eva go-kharah). We should learn how to act from Bhagavad-gita, which explains everything for human understanding. Thus we can become happy even in this age of Kali. (SB 10.2.34 P)
A student is to be considered perfected when he understands the identity of the holy name and the Supreme Lord. Unless one is under the shelter of a realized spiritual master, his understanding of the Supreme is simply foolishness. However, one can fully understand the transcendental Lord by service and devotion. When Lord Caitanya offenselessly chanted the Hare Krsna mantra, He declared that the mantra could at once deliver a conditioned soul from material contamination. In this age of Kali there is no alternative to chanting this maha-mantra. It is stated that the essence of all Vedic literature is the chanting of this holy name of Krsna: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya also told Prakasananda Sarasvati, “In order to convince Me about this essential fact of Vedic knowledge, My spiritual master has taught Me a verse from Brhan-naradiya Purana [38.126]. Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam. kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha: In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.”
In three out of the four millenniums (namely Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dvapara-yuga) people had the honor to be able to understand transcendence through the path of disciplic succession. However, in the present age, people have no interest in the disciplic succession. Instead, they have invented many paths of logic and argument. This individual attempt to understand the supreme transcendence (called the ascending process) is not approved by the Vedas. The Absolute Truth must descend from the absolute platform. He is not to be understood by the ascending process. The holy name of the Lord–Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–is a transcendental vibration because it comes from the transcendental platform, the supreme abode of Krsna. Because there is no difference between Krsna and His name, the holy name of Krsna is as pure, perfect and liberated as Krsna Himself. Academic scholars have no entrance by means of logic and other argument into the understanding of the transcendental nature of the holy name of God. The single path in understanding the transcendental nature of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare is the chanting of these names with faith and adherence. Such chanting will release one from designated conditions arising from the gross and subtle bodies.
In this age of logic, argument and disagreement, the chanting of Hare Krsna is the only means for self-realization.
Because this transcendental vibration alone can deliver the conditioned soul, it is considered to be the essence of the Vedanta-sutra. According to the material conception, there is duality between the name, form, quality, emotions and activities of a person and the person himself, but as far as the transcendental vibration is concerned, there is no such limitation, for it descends from the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there is no difference between the name of the person and the quality of the person. Of course in the material world there is a difference. Because the Mayavadi philosophers cannot understand this, they cannot utter the transcendental vibration.
“All Vedic rituals, mantras and understanding are compressed into eight words: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare.” Similarly, in the Kalisantarana Upanisad it is stated:
hare krsna hare krsna
krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare
iti sodasakam namnam
kali-kalmasa-nasanam
natah parataropayah
sarva-vedesu drsyate
“The sixteen words–Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare–are especially meant for counteracting the contaminations of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination of Kali, there is no alternative but the chanting of these sixteen words.”
Lord Caitanya immediately informed Prakasananda that in the modern age people in general are more or less bereft of all spiritual intellect. When such people come under the influence of Sankaracarya’s Mayavadi (impersonalist) philosophy before beginning the most confidential Vedanta-sutras, their natural tendency toward obedience to the Supreme is checked. The supreme source of everything is naturally respected by everyone, but this natural tendency is hampered when one takes to the impersonalist conceptions of Sankara. Thus the spiritual master of Lord Caitanya suggested that it is better that one not study the Sariraka-bhasya of Sankaracarya, for it is very harmful to people in general. Indeed, the common man does not even have the intelligence to penetrate into the jugglery of words. He is better advised to chant the maha-mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. In this quarrelsome age of Kali there is no alternative for self-realization. (TLC 18-19 The Conversations with Prakasananda)
Of course, there are other yugas besides Kali-yuga. During the Satya-yuga, which lasted eighteen hundred thousand years, human beings lived for one hundred thousand years. The duration of the next age, the Treta-yuga, was twelve hundred thousand years, and the people of that age used to live for ten thousand years. In other words, the duration of life was ten times reduced. In the next age, Dvapara-yuga, the life span was again ten times reduced–people used to live for one thousand years–and the duration of the Dvapara Age was eight hundred thousand years. Then, in the next age, this Kali-yuga, we can live up to one hundred years at the utmost. We are not living one hundred years, but still, the limit is one hundred years. So just see: from one hundred years the average duration of life has decreased to about seventy years. And it will eventually decrease to the point where if a man lives for twenty to thirty years, he will be considered a very old man.
So, kaler dosa-nidhe rajan: The faults of this age are just like an ocean. If you were put into the Pacific Ocean, you would not know how to save your life. Even if you were a very expert swimmer, it would not be possible for you to cross the Pacific Ocean. Similarly, the Kali-yuga is described in the Bhagavatam as an ocean of faults. It is infected with so many anomalies that there seems to be no way out. But there is one medicine: kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet. The Bhagavatam explains that if you chant the name of Krsna–the Hare Krsna mantra–you will be relieved from the infection of this Kali-yuga. (JSD 6.4 Ancient Prophecies Fulfilled)
So therefore these discussions which are going on, that is only for how to get liberation from the four principles of material condition, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. That is called moksa. Moksa, or liberation. So the… It is just like beating the dead horse. Nobody is interested about moksa. Or nobody can conceive even that there is something as moksa. Moksa means to get free from this condition of birth, death and old age. That is called moksa, liberation. So at the present moment modern educated persons, they do not know that there is something like moksa and it can be achieved and there is process and the whole Vedic sastra is trying to educate us for getting moksa. They do not know it. So we have become so dull. Therefore, in this age, Kali-yuga especially, our conditions are described as manda, very, very bad, or very, very slow. Mandah sumanda-matayah. And if one little interested, they will take some path which is not approved, which is not approved. They will invent something, so many “isms.”
So Prahlada Maharaja said, sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat. Because we have accepted this body… So we must not accept this body, that is called moksa-dvaram. That should be the mission of human life. So we are not interested. Mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagyah. In this age they are slow and, and they have got their own manufactured ideas. Why? Now, manda-bhagyah, all unfortunate. And upadrutah, always disturbed. So all these are on account of this body.
The sastra always says that “Don’t work in such a way that you have to accept again body after death.” That is, that is your business. Not that to accumulate crores and rupees and make a very good bank balance and skyscraper house and three or dozens of motorcars. They are struggling, for getting this. But foolish people, they do not know that Krsna will take away all these assets at the time of death. Mrtyuh sarva-haras caham. Krsna says, aham mrtyuh: “I am death, and I will take away everything, what you have possessed.” The foolish persons, they do not understand it. Just like Hiranyakasipu. He possessed. So much so powerful that even the demigods were afraid of him. And Krsna took away everything in a second by…, simply by the nails. Tava kara-kamala nakha…
So in this Kali-yuga nobody is interested even. We are spreading Krsna consciousness, very few people are interested to know about Krsna or the Supreme Being. So that is not human life. Human life means when we inquire about the Absolute Truth. That is human life. So there are so many societies, so many religious institutions. But nobody is interested to know Krsna, or the Supreme Being. Krsna means the Supreme Being, all-attractive. No educational system, no university. Therefore Krsna said, manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye, that is siddhi of… Siddhi means perfection of life, to understand God. Because in the human life if one tries he can understand God, he can understand himself, he can understand what is his relationship with God, he can understand how to act in that relationship and thus make his life perfect. That is human life. So manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye. Siddhi. Siddhi means self-realization. And yatatam api siddhanam. And even though one is siddha, or self-realized, he also does not understand what is Krsna. Even one is siddha. That siddha has still to be progressed. Then he will come to jnanavan. Jnanavan means one who is siddha, one who has understood himself. That siddhi means to understand oneself that “I am not this body.” That is siddhi.
kaler dosa-nidhe rajann
asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtanad eva krsnasya
mukta-sangah param vrajet
“This age of Kali is full of unlimited faults. Indeed, it is just like an ocean of faults (dosa-nidhi). But there is one chance, one opportunity. Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet: simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, one can be freed from the contamination of Kali-yuga and, in his original spiritual body, can return home, back to Godhead. This is the opportunity of Kali-yuga.”
This is spoken by Sukadeva Gosvami after describing the faults of Kali-yuga. There are many, many hundreds and thousands of faults. People will suffer. They are all described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. People’s intelligence, bodily strength, mercifulness–everything will be reduced. And so many things are described. Some of them are very prominent even at the present moment. Just like in the Kali-yuga, it is stated lavanyam kesa-dharanam: “People will think by keeping long hairs they will become beautiful.” Lavanyam kesa-dharanam. So that is very visible now, especially in the Western countries. They keep very long hairs. Dampatye ratim eva hi: “Marriage, husband and wife, they will be simply by agreement.” Nowadays that is happening. You go to a marriage-maker and agree, and marriage is finished. Not like before. Dampatye ratim eva hi. And rati means sex desires. So long their sex desires will be completed, they can live. Svikara eva codvahe. These are stated, all. Vipratve sutram eva hi: “Become a brahmana, just have a sacred thread.” Sacred or not sacred, get a thread. That’s all, without executing the brahminical duties. That is going on. In this way there is a long list of Kali-yuga’s activities.
So after submitting the list, Sukadeva Gosvami says, kaler dosa-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah: “My dear King Pariksit, I have described all the faults of this Kali-yuga. But there is a special advantage in this age. That is,” he said, kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet, “people can become liberated and go back to home, back to Godhead, simply by chanting Hare Krsna mantra.”
harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha
In the Kali-yuga there is no yajna. Therefore there is anavrsti, anavrsti. The Kali-yuga people will forget performing yajna. They will be busy in ghora-rupa activities, horrible and fierceful activities, not yajna. They will neglect yajna. So then how your these bolts and nuts and rubber tires will help you? Therefore there is scarcity of anna. That will increase more and more. It will so increase that now you are getting anna by paying high price, but time will come when even if you are prepared to pay price, there will be no more anna. That time is coming. Naturally, what people will eat? They will eat mamsa and roots and seeds. No milk. No sugar. No wheat. These things will be stopped. As we are becoming entangled in ghora-rupa activities or mudha activities, then the more we shall be entangled with sufferings of material existence. They do not know what is the actually interest. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum.
Either you become santa or ghora or mudha, three kinds of position in this material world… santa. Santa means in the brahminical qualification, and ghora means activities, material activities, fruitive activities, and mudha, just like animal, neither santa nor ghora, simply animal. Udaram bharitah. Svartham udaram bharitah. Svartham, interest, means if one somehow or other fulfills his belly, then he thinks, “Now all my mission is fulfilled.” This is called mudhatvam. Svartham udaram bharitah. Daksyam kutumba-bharanam. Generally in this age, people will be interested to fulfill his own belly. Because that is also very difficult task nowadays. To get sufficient food daily, that is also a problem. And if one can maintain his family in these hard days–family means husband, wife, and a few children–then daksyam kutumba-bharanam, then he is just like Maharaja Daksa. Daksa, daksa means very expert. Those who are maintaining big family, working very nicely, many business, they are called daksa. So in the Kali-yuga, if one can maintain a family, small family, then he will be considered daksa. Daksyam kutumba-bharanam. Otherwise, if one can fulfill his belly only, his all interest is fulfilled. This will be the condition of this age. That means mudhatvam, mostly mudhatvam. They do not know. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum. (750103SB.BOM Lectures)
This is the condition at the present moment. This is called Kali-yuga. The first symptom is: our span of life is very short, decreasing. With the advancement of Kali-yuga, our duration of life is decreasing. Everyone knows that. My father lived so many years, my grandfather lived so many years, but it is certain I am not going to live so many years. And then my son is not… Gradually, it is reduced. Reducing, reducing, reducing. By the end of Kali-yuga, the duration of life from twenty years to thirty years will be considered very, very old age, very, very old. If a man is living for twenty-five years, he will be considered a very grand old man. Yes. That is coming gradually. So therefore it is said, manda, manda. Manda means everything bad or everything slow. Duration of life is bad, then their activities also very bad, always sinful activities. Mandah sumanda-matayo. And if somebody is little anxious to take shelter of somebody for spiritual advancement, then he will accept some bogus thing, sumanda-matayo, some bogus incarnation of God, some bogus yogi, some bogus… They will take sumanda-matayo, will not come to the real. (750304CC.DAL Lectures)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very kind to the fallen souls. His special mission is to reclaim the fallen souls. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission. Reclaim the fallen souls means in this age of Kali, almost 99.9%, they are all fallen. Their qualification is mandah. Mandah means they do not know that the human life is meant for qualifying oneself in Krsna consciousness, spiritual consciousness. They do not know. Mandah sumanda-matayo. Even one is interested about spiritual consciousness, they accept some bogus theory. So many yogis, swamis, all bluffer, they will take care. Mandah sumanda-matayo. Because Kali-yuga, they are already sophisticated, bewildered, and these people come to cheat, they fall the prey of these cheaters. Sumanda-matayo. Anyone who is preaching something else other than God consciousness, he is a cheater. He is a cheater. Sumanda-matayo. Because real progress of life is to become God conscious. That is the real progress. And without God consciousness, the so-called yogis, so-called meditation… What is this meditation? What is the profit? Simply some bogus propaganda. It has no value. Real progress of life is to know what is God and what is my relationship with Him and how to act in that relationship. That is real life. But they do not know it. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum. They do not know it. They think, “By this yoga practice, I shall be perfect, my material condition will be improved,” and so on, so on. They have got their own theories and… But that is not progress of life. There are many rich men, many karmis. Without practicing yoga, they are having material comforts. So spiritual life does not mean that one is improved in material, conditioned life.
Spiritual life means spiritual advancement. But people take it that “Take to religion means to give impetus to our material life.” Dharma artha kama moksa. And when they are disgusted, they want moksa. Moksa means to become one with the Lord. So these things are going on. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to save all these fallen souls. Hinartha. Hinarthadhika-sadhakam. The more one is fallen, he is the better candidate for accepting the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Narottama dasa Thakura sings, patita-pavana-hetu, tava avatara: “My Lord, You have incarnated to reclaim the fallen.” Patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara, mo sama patita prabhu, na paibe ara: “If that is Your mission, then I am the most fallen. So my claim is first to receive Your favor because Your mission is to show favor to the fallen. So I am the most fallen. So kindly accept me.” In this way he has sung. And that is stated here, hinarthadhika-sadhakam sri-caitanyam. (750301CC.ATL Lectures)
I am very glad to hear how the book distribution is increasing more and more. This is our greatest weapon. The more the books are distributed, the more the ignorance of the Age of Kali will be smashed. The world is feeling the weight of this Hare Krishna Movement, especially in your country. We have to increase this book distribution work more and more to firmly establish this Movement, which is the only hope for the suffering living entities. (76-11-23 Letter: Balavanta)
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
About the Author
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.
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Everything that is, is by Krishna’s Grace, – Everything!!!
If tomorrow I am no more, i will have returned to him that is everything!
All I am or will ever be, is by the Grace of Narayana!
Om Tat Sat
Jai Sat Chit Ananda
Jay Sril Prabhupada! ❤️
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisnces
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
There are so many people in Kaliyuga trying to defame Krishna. As I recently joined twitter I’m seeing that there’s a constant war going on between devotees and demons even though the devotees are much less in number than demons. I must stay on twitter to help the devotees and be helped by them and thus we’ll defeat the demons.
Haribol!
Social media is useless for preaching Prabhu. I told you this before but of course you have to experience it for yourself. That is why here on Krishna.org the comments are moderated.
Demons will always attack the devotees and as you say the devotees outnumber the demons millions to one.
The point is Prabhu, you have to understand, that non-devotees can not understand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. It is inconceivable to them. A materialists whole purpose in life is sense gratification. That is how he is motivated, that is the purpose of his life. It comes in different flavors.
Some are very gross, they want sex, and when frustrated by not getting sex they take shelter of intoxication like drugs and alcohol, and some are more subtle, presenting themselves as very religious persons, being married and only having sex with their wife, and being very respectable members of society, giving charity to deserving organizations, opening hospitals, serving the poor, etc. But their goal is still ultimately sense gratification, either their own personal sense gratification or extended sense gratification. They may be working for the sense gratification of their family, their nation or even all the people of the world. But their motivation is to try and be happy in the material world.
But this material world is not a happy place. And it can never be made a happy place.
We do not belong here, in the material world. It is not our home. Our home is Krishnaloka, Krishna’s planet in the spiritual world and our motivation, as devotees, is just to surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna and ultimately to go back home back to Godhead to serve Krishna there.
So materialists can not conceive any of this. So it is not possible actually to preach the philosophy of Krishna consciousness to materialists on Twitter, for example. It will be totally incomprehensible to them.
The only way materialists can become devotees is by the mercy of a pure devotee. And the process is they have to hear the pure devotees chanting Hare Krishna and they have to taste the Krishna prasadam that has been cooked by the pure devotees and offered to Krishna and distributed to the public, and they have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. These are the 3 ways that non-devotees can become devotees:
1. By reading Srila Prabhupada’s books
2. By hearing the pure devotees chant Hare Krishna
3. By appreciating the prasadam cooked by the pure devotees and distributed to the general public
Best thing is they should have all three things, they should hear the chanting of the pure devotees, they should relish the Krishna prasadam cooked and distributed by the pure devotees and they need to read Prabhupada’s books.
So only distributing Prabhupada’s books can be done on the internet. So whatever you can do to encourage people to buy Prabhupada’s books, that is great.
But the problem is how will you convince a non-devotee to buy Prabhupada’s books on Twitter?
If you can do that, then that is good. But you can’t preach on Twitter. If you try and talk about Krishna there, and get someone a bit interested, immediately all the demons will descend and try and get him back in Maya.
There is a an English saying, “Misery loves company.” It is very true. As soon as someone becomes a little seriously interested in Krishna consciousness his friends and family members notice that he is happier and more peaceful than before, and they get envious, they are miserable and he is now happy, so they try to make him miserable again like themselves. This is just human nature.
So the only real way is to do what Prabhupada did. Establish a society of pure devotees and get the new people who are interested in Krishna consciousness to live in that society, in the association of devotees, and let them cut their ties with the material world. Because as soon as someone tries a little seriously to take to Krishna consciousness maya becomes very anxious to get him back in her service. And maya has a lot of servants. Actually there are only two types of people, we are all servants, all we can do is choose our master. So we can choose to serve Krishna or serve maya. And as you know almost everyone in the material world has chosen to server maya, actually we all have, that is the reason we come to the material world, not exactly to serve maya, but because we don’t want to serve Krishna…
But the thing is we are servants eternally. That is all we can do, serve. So we come to the material world because we don’t want to serve Krishna. So, because we are servants constitutionally, then here in the material word we remain servants, but here we serve maya.
So bottom line is I don’t think there is much point trying to preach on social media. Social media is not what it seems. It is controlled by people who have a very demonic agenda, and they are using it to push their demonic agenda, and even if you become a bit successful pushing Krishna consciousness on it, they will shut you down. You have no control actually posting on social media. The controllers of the social media system have the control, and they control who can see your posts and if they find you are successfully convincing people to become Krishna conscious they will block you.
So internet is not a good preaching platform for Krishna consciousness. I have always known this and therefore not taken it very seriously. Whatever I am doing on the internet is just to try for distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Which we are managing to do a little bit, but still, it is basically “preaching to the choir.” That is a Christian saying. In the Christian churches they have a choir, 10 or 20 people who sing the hymns (songs) during the mass. So the people singing in the choir, they are already totally dedicated to the religion. So it is nice of course to preach to them, and actually in Krishna consciousness, this is the real preaching, sadhu-sanga, associating with the devotees and discussing Krishna-katha with the devotees, they are the ones who can understand it actually, so in that sense we are distributing Prabhuapda’s books to the devotees on the internet and that is a very valuable service of course.
But still it is “preaching to the choir”, the people who are purchasing on KrishnaStore.com are generally already devotees, we are not making new devotees.
So that is a problem.
Anyhow enough on this…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisnces
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
There are so many people in Kaliyuga trying to defame Krishna. As I recently joined twitter I’m seeing that there’s a constant war going on between devotees and demons even though the devotees are much less in number than demons. I must stay on twitter to help the devotees and be helped by them and thus we’ll defeat the demons.
Haribol!
No. It is totally useless to stay on twitter. My advice is to get off twitter. You will just become a non-devotee by being on twitter. I tried to explain the reasons elaborately in the previous quote. If I thought it was possible to preach on twitter, I would be on twitter, but I am not on twitter, not on facebook, etc, because you can’t preach in that environment.
To preach you need a receptive audience.
Thank you very much Prabhu. Yes Prabhu I feel very disturbed after going on twitter. So I’ll delete all my accounts because I don’t want to become a non-devotee.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisnces
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhu, I have deleted my twitter account now. I just want to concentrate on preaching in my village now by making people chant Hare Krishna and by distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books and by distributing Krishna Prasadam later on when I’m able to do it.
Yes Prabhu. Well done. Twitter is maya certainly. It is not a platform where we can realistically preach Krishna consciousness. We can try and develop KrishnaConnect. But even that is not ideal. Main thing is to hear properly. Hearing properly means hearing from a pure devotee of Krishna, Srila Prabhupada for example.. And preaching, it works so much better directly person to person. You have to be able to feed them prasadam and chant Hare Krishna with them and you can’t do that on twitter…
is there any solution to solve corona virus and it is an act of god to make less population please make any medicine to solve corona and after many years it will vanish i have read
No, there is no solution, this is the nature of the material world, it is a place of misery, disease, death and suffering. The only solution is to leave this place and go back home back to Godhead by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
O lord , your greatness is beyond greatness, I bow before you My Lord to guide me from where You are
Hare Krishna prabhu
Will you kindly explain to me the purport of bhagavad gita ch2 verse 69- ‘what is night for all the beings is the time….. for the introspective sage?(page 155)
Why don’t you read Prabhupada’s Purport???
There are two classes of intelligent men. The one is intelligent in material activities for sense gratification, and the other is introspective and awake to the cultivation of self-realization. Activities of the introspective sage, or thoughtful man, are night for persons materially absorbed. Materialistic persons remain asleep in such a night due to their ignorance of self-realization. The introspective sage remains alert in the “night” of the materialistic men. The sage feels transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure, feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. The introspective man is always indifferent to materialistic happiness and distress. He goes on with his self-realization activities undisturbed by material reaction.
Thank you for your reply, but I had read this purport already prabhu.
I was only not able to understand the meaning of -“Activities of the introspective sage, or thoughtful man, are night for persons materially absorbed Materialistic persons remain asleep in such a night due to their ignorance of self-realization. .” what does it mean that night for materially absorbed persons?
Does it mean useless/distasteful from the perspective
of materiallly advanced persons?
Hare Krishna Prabhu
It means the interests of the introspective sage or thoughtful man are opposite to the interests of the materialistic persons. As day is opposite to night. So the interests of the devotee are opposite to the interests of the non-devotee. Non-devotee is motivated by trying to achieve more and more sense gratification, for example. But devotee has no interest in sense gratification at all. Devotee is interested in working to please the senses of Krishna. He has no interest in satisfying his own senses. So this is the point. The materialists have no interest in, and sleep during, the activities of the introspective sage. They do not understand the activities of the devotee. So what is day for the devotee is night for the non-devotee and what is day for the non-devotee is night for the devotee… That is the idea.
Hare Krishna
I have a little doubt.
What if one while chanting Hare Krishna on beads, accidentally also chants over the big bead, is this a sin/offense?
I don’t think it is really possible because when you get to the big bead you can feel it is quite different…
But no, it is not a sin, not offensive. Beads are a counting system and the big bead is there to tell you you have finished one round and then you reverse direction and start the next round… I don’t know how you can not know you have got to the big bead..
Hare krishna prabhu,
Why we shouldn’t take tea, plz explain prabhu
Because tea is addictive. You know people who drink tea are addicted to it. If they can not get tea they are always thinking of how can I get tea, they go crazy if they can’t get tea, because they are addicted to it. So as devotees of Krishna we want to be addicted to Krishna, we want to be thinking always of Krishna, not that we want to become addicted to tea and be always thinking of tea.
So all addictive things, except Krishna consciousness, are prohibited for a devotee of Krishna. And this includes drinking tea and coffee and smoking.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
All glories in the lotus feet of prabhupada ?. I am discovering a discomfort in this materialstick world. I feel isolated from the general life, I want to know more and more about Krishna and Krishna consciousness. Anything I do that doesn’t relate to Krishna or serve Krishna makes me anxious. But my parents get highly worried seeing me excessive engagement in Krishna but the thing is I don’t like to do anything that does not bring me a step closer to Krishna.. Also I feel I should spend my whole life in the service of Krishna without indulging in material world . But being a girl I don’t know where to go or will it be safe.. Please guide
Read Srila Prabhupada’s books. Everything you are looking for is there. Prabhupada is living in his books. Take advantage of the personal association of a pure devotee of Krishna by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books.
really fantastic.I too felt the imprisonment within body life .education systems became too worst that they try to teach to earn bread than good qualities and behaviour.thank you it was useful
hare Krishna, SASTHANG PRANAM PRABHU JI, I am 23 and studying for competitive exam. I have a strong desire to became a devotee of the supreme personalities of godhead but a lot of obstacles come in my path of devotion. I am not allowed to chant for longer time, I can hardly chant two to three rounds a day. I had been scolded many times for spending time in devotional practices. I want to clear UPSC but as a devotee. I have tried lot but it is impossible to chant 16 rounds and give up non-veg as I am not allowed to. o devotee of Krishna.. I feel like mercilessly trapped inside this body. this is a horrible pain.
No one can stop you from chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and becoming a devotee of Krishna. So just do it. Krishna will help. But it may be a bit crazy at times. Just keep on chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books..
Madhuvidasa…..is there any way to stop the violence in this world?
Hare Krishna Eric
The material world is a place of misery where there is repeated birth and death. So no, you can not stop the violence in the material world. Devotees can transcend the material world. A pure devotee is no longer in the material world. He is in the spiritual world, even though he still has his body here in the material world. So that is the idea we need to transcend the material world and teach others how to transcend the material world and create a society of pure devotees who are all transcendental to the material world. Otherwise there is no way of stopping the violence in the material world.
The basic underlying principle of the material world is everyone is trying to become the master, everyone is trying to become the greatest enjoyer, and this is all done at the cost of others. So there is a constant struggle in the material world. The strong are constantly oppressing and exploiting the weak. That is the way of the material world. You can not change it. We have to become Krishna conscious and transcend it.
Of course if we can get enough people chanting Hare Krishna, enough people transcending the material world, then that will make a big impact and make the world a much nicer place for everyone, not just for those chanting Hare Krishna. But you can not stop the violence in the material world. Birth, old age, disease and death, these are all violent things, they can not be stopped.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Okay. I feel pain inside when I eat food which is not aaproved by god and gurudev. 🙁 My parents wants me to act according to them and not according to vedas. I think it’s my karma which is creating such difficulties. Please accept my dandavat pranaam. Hare krishna.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisnces
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Is there any way to stop the things from getting crazy while going on with our devotional services in this material world?
There’s no way of stopping things from going crazy in the material world. The material world is a crazy place. It is not our home. The idea is to realize the material world is a crazy place and go back home back to Godhead and take as many other people as possible with us.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Dasa.
I am a cricketer and a stock market trader. i want to know if it is possible to attain salvation in this birth only through devotion to LORD KRISHNA by continuing my activities or do I need to give up everything and focus on LORD only. Also I am a brahmin so the natural inclination towards GOD and religion is there, but face a lot of objection and rejection from the society as most of the people today are involved in bad vices. Please guide.
Thank you.
Rahul Tondulkar.
Lord Caitanya’s instruction was to remain in the position we are and add Krishna consciousness. So do that. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. The more you become Krishna conscious the more opposition you will get from the materialistic people. That is the way. This is the material world. So the materialists are envious of anyone who is making spiritual advancement. You have to ultimately decide what is important. Krishna or cricket.
The problem is that i can chant the hare Krishna maha mantra only 108 times at thr max. After that my jaw starts hurting.
It doesn’t matter if your jaw hurts or not. Keep chanting Hare Krishna. The point is to advance in spiritual life we have to perform some austerities, that means it is going to hurt. No pain no gain. So keep on chanting Hare Krishna, even if it hurts.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
I am amazed by how you devotees adapt so quickly to new technologies. krishna.org and krishnastore.com are just the proof of it. I would like to know whether as devotees do you spend time learning new technologies( say https or web development for example) or do you concentrate on only spreading Krishna consciousness and hire someone else to handle technological stuff? Thanks for guiding me.
Hare Krishna Mananmohan
Devotees do everything in the service of Krishna. This is practical renunciation. Not that we give up material things as false as the mayavadis do. No we understand that everything is the energy of Krishna and the energy of Krishna needs to be utilized in the service of Krishna. So we use everything for Krishna.
So it is not that all devotees are spending all their time chanting Hare Krishna and preaching. Devotees are occupied in all sorts of activities to spread the glories of Krishna all over the world using whatever technology and facilities that are available at the time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Jai srila prabhupada
Hare krishna madhudvisa prabhu ji
Prabhu ji I am chanting 16 round after connected to krishna.org from 1year and 11 month, I read or listen srila prabhupada books, eat krishna prasadam by preparing myself only, distributing srila prabhupada books from January to till now by the mercy of srila prabhupada I distributed near 52 bagWat gita as it is and still going on (15 machmillan edition 1972 bagwat gita as it is +remaning bagwat gita in hindi ) as you always says in ur mail that prabhupada happy to see distributions his books.
Prabhu ji I have one question I sometimes break my regulative principles ..lusty desire come in my mind and fall down and I regret that I am not following srila prabhupada instructions and very depressed.
Plz suggest me how to overcome this lusty desire problem. .
Hare krishna prabhu ji
Jai srila prabhupada
Hare Krishna Pankaj
It is very inspiring that you are distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. All glories to your service.
It is not amazing that sometimes we may fall down from the proper standards of Krishna consciousness. We were badly trained from birth and we are surrounded by non-devotees. So we should be very determined to never fall down and we must make all arrangements in our lives so we do not fall down, but if it happens we can not be very surprised. So if it happens we just have to pick ourselves up from the mess and again get ourselves properly situated in chanting at least 16 rounds, strictly following the four regulative principles, etc. And very soon we will again be properly situated in Krishna consciousness.
So there is nothing required after a falldown except we have to get ourselves again properly situated in Krishna consciousness. And we will very soon be back at the same point we were at before the falldown and will be advancing more and more in Krishna consciousness.
So do not be depressed. Just get back into Krishna consciousness.
It may happen, falldown, it is not so amazing, but we have to make sure it does not happen. But still if it happens we just have to get ourselves again properly situated in Krishna consciousness and get on with our service to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I chant hare krsna 3 times a day it made mw a beter person . but i am addicted to porn which induces LUST on others . i wanted to destroy my lust . guide me
Hare Krishna Barath
You can get rid of the addiction by becoming addicted to Krishna. So you have to take Krishna consciousness more seriously. The sex desire is a very strong attraction and can be very difficult to break. But it can be overcome by becoming more and more attached to Krishna. So we have to increase our Krishna consciousness. As we become more attached to Krishna we become less attached to material sense gratification.
So increase your chanting of Hare Krishna to at least 16 rounds a day and make a program to read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books, preferably aloud. So you can chant the books and hear them as well.
That will have a very good effect and will reduce your attachment to sense gratification and lust and at the same time increase your love for Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Param Vijayate Shri Krishna Sankirtanam!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu!
Hare Krishna i have a ocean of question inside me but among that of all one question which is very important for me to know that i am school student reads in english medium and you know well about todays generation busy with lust but of that all im the one who addicted to krishna”s love and divine purity its difficult for me to go with them because my lifestyle is totally different from them by maturity and thinking level is also very different in that case
it become to difficult to stay with modern generation guys as they make laugh at me how i could dominant over them can u help me how i should i handle all these people always against me,
Hare Krishna Akash
Yes. In today’s world the materialistic concept of life is very, very strong. The general people, who are all materialistic, find it strange to meet someone who is seriously trying to cultivate spiritual life. So as aspiring transcendentalists we all face this problem. In a materialistic world those who are trying to seriously traverse the spiritual path are seen as misfits, are misunderstood, and sometimes made fun of.
The materialistic people do not understand why one would be interested in cultivating spiritual life. Their intelligence has been covered by lust and avarice, so the are more-or-less just like animals. So we can not blame them for not understand our intentions. If you walk past someone’s house and their dog barks at you that may be considered offensive, but because it is a dog, it’s nature is to bark, so we do not take any offense. So with these people we should be merciful. We should not take any offense at their criticizes and we should try to help them advance in spiritual life by convincing them to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, let them hear us chanting Hare Krishna, try to get them to chant Hare Krishna, cook very nice offerings for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and distribute Krishna Prasadam to the materialists.
So the point is in the material world everyone is a materialist. We also were materialists just like them. The only reason we are trying to become devotees now is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his disciples who have preached to us and convinced us that there is no happiness in materialistic life, the only way we can experience actual pleasure is by becoming Krishna conscious…
So don’t worry. It is normal, it is expected, we have to become Krishna conscious ourselves. The more we can become Krishna conscious the more we will have the potency and intelligence to engage others in Krishna consciousness also. We have to become Krishna conscious and save all the materialistic people by delivering Krishna consciousness to them also…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
May god gives mercy those who are really feel sorry from their bottom of heart. To my belief quarrel may happen but its better for all of us to solve the problem . And one more thing son/ daughter is good or bad depending on the parents nature. If god give good parents to everyone the world will me much much beautiful in term of peace, harmony and most importantly mental peace for all.
Hare Krishna
Actually parents of course have an influence on their children, however every living entity is an individual spirit soul with no actual connection with the parents of his material body. So it happens that demons take birth in saintly families and saints take birth in the families of demons. So it is not true that necessarily all children of good people will be good or all children of bad people will be bad.
Actually this is the material world, it is like a prison. Only criminals are sent to a prison. So everyone who takes birth in the material world is a criminal, we are all bad, some of us are worse than others, but we are all criminals. You can not really expect to find many good honest people in a prison.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
what if i will do my parents against shall i leave the home i known if i stay there always be a big wall between me and krishna .They also follower of santoshi maata but for me krishna all godabove they do devtion with selfish inreturn they want something as they thing god is ATM machine for them . All time there is quarell at our home there is no peace . if i convience dirtecly they scold me .what should i do?
It is up to you to work out what you should do to make the situation in your life favorable for advancing in Krishna consciousness. I can not say what you should do. You have to take responsibility for your own spiritual life. Read Srila Prabhupada’s books, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and Srila Prabhupada from his books and Krishna from within your heart will guide you and you will understand what you should be doing.
The point is to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and pray to them and ask them to engage us in their service. So if we do really surrender and follow the regulative principles and read Prabhupada’s books and chant Hare Krishna then Krishna and Prabhupada will guide us and we will know what to do. If we don’t know what to do then we can chant Hare Krishna and read Srimad-Bhagavatam until we know what we should do.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Who is Maa Kali? Kali Demon or any other godess.. If godess is she how can animals neck cuts she take
Hare Krishna
Actually they offer meat but it is not accepted by the goddess. She has many demon, raksasa followers, and they accept the offerings.
I am not a brahmin . i am 15 yrs old . I eat animals .
but i love to chant hare krsna mantra atleast 3 times a day.
is it good ? or any other tips for me
Yes. Only accept Krishna prasadam. Krishna does not eat animals. So if you only accept Krishna prasadam, Krishna’s mercy, then automatically you will stop eating animals also.
Hare Krishna prabhu how long can it take for one to come in real Krishna consciousness means reach god when one is born in materialistic family who keep attachments with others
One can become Krishna conscious in an instant or one may not become Krishna conscious after millions and millions of lifetimes. It depends on firstly getting the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna, without the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna it is not possible to become Krishna conscious. Then one has to actually surrender to the instructions of that pure devotee of Krishna and make his instructions ones mission in life. It is very rare to get the chance of getting the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna, but we have got that chance, we have the chance to associate with His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, but unfortunately it is very rare to find anyone prepared to actually surrender to a pure devotee of Krishna. Such a great soul is very rare…
Does one goes to god head some time or the other or keeps coming in the material world
Hare Krishna Vivek
Most of the living entities are in the spiritual world. Not many of them come here to the material world. This material world is something like a prison. It is like in a country the government knows there will be a small number of people who are criminals and if left in the general society will create problems. So every government builds prisons to house and punish and rectify these criminals so they can be reformed and again released back into the general population.
So Krishna has created this material world for us, the criminals. And we are here, in prison, being punished and hopefully being rectified. So when we have been cured of our materalistic consciousness and are again Krishna conscious then we will again return back home back to Godhead.
So Srila Prabhupada’s books describe the scientific methods we can use to transform our materilistic consciousness into transcendental consciousness. So please read Srila Prabhupada’s books and put Srila Prabhupada’s instructions into practice in your day-to-day life and if you do this seriously you will remember Krishna at the time of death and will go back home Back to Godhead after the end of your current material body.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare Hare. ..
Please tell how long kaliyuga will continue.
Kali-yuga runs for 432,000 years. It has just begun 5,000 years ago after the departure of Lord Krishna from the planet. So it has still got 427,000 years to go.
JOY GURU—EXCELLENT—JOY GURU
I feel very lucky to myself because i want to listen about Lord Krishna. only the one person. Keep continuously post these stories.
I am a bit afraid of the direction in which krishnaconnect.com is progressing. Many psuedo devotees have signed up and in the guise of serving Krishna are preaching stuff contrary to Prabhupada’s teaching and hence very degrading to the consciousness. Sometimes non devotees are posting rubbish. Amidst all this, a few sincere devotees are getting carried away from KC. Isn’t there some way to stop this? Is it a fact that whenever someone one to start something to serve Krishna, psuedo devotees rush in and spoil everything?
Hare Krishna Rohan
Overall KrishnaConnect.com is going nicely. Of course there will be psudo devotees. So if they are preaching nonsense then you have to defeat them. Defeat the nonsense with the absolute truth and if you can’t then read Srila Prabhupada’s books, get the knowledge and get the strength and defeat the rascals! Destroy the darkness with light!
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I live in hostel in engineering college.I chant minimum 4 rounds and maximum 16 rounds daily and I also have Radha-Krishna photoframe in my room.I am single in my room.
I follow all principles except I cannot eat prasadam because in our canteen there are onions and garlic in food.
What to do please tell me?
Hare Krishna Vivek
You can adjust. Make it minimum 16 rounds and there is no maximum. You do not need to stop chanting Hare Krishna once you reach 16 rounds. 16 is minimum only. There is no maximum. Srila Bhaktsiddhanta instructed his disciples to chant minimum 64 rounds but for us our minds are too disturbed to chant 64 rounds so Srila Prabhupada has prescribed minimum of 16 rounds only. We have to do it. At least 16 rounds. Then everything will become clear for you and all other problems like prasadam will be solved. Main thing is to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. If we don’t do this nothing else is going to work in our Krishna consciousness.
If you have your own room you can get a small pot and cooker and cook kitery each day and offer it to Srila Prabhupada in your room and you don’t have to eat the food cooked by non-devotees.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu, PAMHO
i am a fallen soul trying my very best to gradually progress on the path of KC. I am following the four regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds daily(at times 2-3 rounds), now following the kartik month as directed in the scriptures but when it comes to the habit of having tea (once a day), i am finding it difficult to give it up.I constantly get a feeling that Krishna will not accept my devotion. It is constantly acting on my conscience. I need your sincere guidance on this
Uma
Just give up drinking tea. It is a very easy thing to do…
Please also enlighten if we are justified or any use to go to astrology for solving our problems. Or it simply doesn’t work in kali yug.
Hare Krishna Pramod
Astrologers are bogus in Kali-yuga. So it is a waste of time really. Just seriously take to Krishna consciousness. That will actually solve all your problems. Astrology can not change anything. A proper astrologer will be able to tell you things about your past and things that are likely to happen in the future but he has not got any power to change anything at all. The laws of karma are very strong and destiny can not be changed by an astrologer. But if you chant Hare Krishna, if you become a devotee of Krishna, then, for His devotees, Krishna takes a special interest, Krishna will change everything and your karma will be erased and all the bad things that should happen to you won’t happen… So best thing is to forget astrology and become a pure devotee of Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Prabhu is it true if we keep on doing our duty towards Krishna and serve him with loving devotion our past karma will be demolished? So far I have suffered alot and still suffering that makes my faith upon Krishna to fade slowly. But deep down inside I know Krishna is helping me and loves me tats y I have to face so much struggle so that I would be closer to him. Again I’m tired of the struggle and sadness in this material world. I don’t want to face these all again. I knew my karma from my past experience is too bad that I have to suffer now. If I keep on trying to surrender to Krsna will he ease my pain and shower his mercy upon me so that I can excel in spiritual advancement.
Hare Krishna Radhika
We have to transcend the material world. And to do that we have to become serious about Krishna consciousness. Which means we have to surrender to actually chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, we need to actually read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and we need to seriously follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] If we do not take Krishna consciousness very seriously it will always remain a mystery to us.
Devotees do not feel the way you are feeling. They do not become distressed seeing the suffering and reality of the material world. They understand material world is a miserable place and do not expect it to be anything else.
They transcend the material world, we have to learn how to do this by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and following the instructions he gives there.
Then there will be no pain, only transcendental bliss in the service of Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna hare hare , hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare, hare Rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I was once talking to some and mentioned that they are four ages and how much do people live according to the age. In Satya yuga people lived 100 thousand years in average, in Treta yuga 10 thousand years in Dyapara yuga 1 thousand years and in Kali yuga 1 hundred years. And the person laughed at me for saying this as if i was saying something strange or fictitious but i was serious. Where did i went wrong. What type of people should i mention these things to. It is very irritating that people laugh at me. A few people laugh at me when i mention about Krsna Consciousness or something related to Krsna consciousness or things i heard in Srila Prabhupada’s books, comments and articles.
Hare Krishna Dayalu
Yes. People can not understand anything that is beyond the realm of their experience. We can find the innocent people who are out there and who are ready to hear about Krishna. It is our purity and realization that really enables us to speak in such a way that it will be appreciated by others. So we have to become pure devotees of Krishna and realize the philosophy of Krishna consciousness ourselves then when we speak people will appreciate it.
Of course there are many people who will not appreciate it even if a pure devotee speaks to them. That is the art of preaching. How to engage anyone you meet in some level of Krishna consciousness. Best thing is to get them to chant Hare Krishna, give them some Krishna prasadam and sell them some Prabhupada books. The philosophy of Krishna consciousness can only be appreciated by people who are already a little purified.
Our movement is the sankirtan movement. So sankirtan, chanting that Hare Krishna mantra congregationally and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books and prasadam is our business. So we need to concentrate on feeding them prasadam, getting them to chant Hare Krishna and getting them to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is our business. And if we do it very sincerely it will be very effective also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Need moksh,nothing in this world except name of Krishna , we hv to go from here one day .its true .instead of we trying to get meterial world , where there is no life at all ,why we are so thrust about meterial world .its enough now ,make the way to god , fade with life .need god any how
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
Recently I came across this statement from Srila Prabhupada on Sampradaya Sun :
“The world is miserable for the materially infected person, but for a devotee the
entire world is as good as Vaikuntha, or the spiritual sky.”
It is a very bewildering statement.
what i did not understand was how can this world be vaikuntha when there is so
much of suffering in this world.
The current age on planet earth is Kali-yuga and 99% of people on this planet are
performing sinful activities.
It is indeed difficult to grasp the vision of a pure devotee of the Lord.
It would be very nice of you if you can explain what Prabhupada really means.
Thanking you.
Hare Krishna
Brijesh Dani
Hare Krishna Brijesh
A devotee does not see anything as material. A devotee sees Krishna’s hand working in everything. A devotee is not on the material bodily conception of life. He does not see materially, he sees spiritually. So a devotee does feel some pain seeing the suffering condition of the living entities in the material world, and he knows the cause of their suffering is forgetfulness of Krishna. So a devotee is always busy trying to remind the living entities that they are eternally servants of Krishna and that they will be happy if they surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna.
A devotee is not in the material world. He is in the spiritual world and wherever he goes he transforms that place into Vrindavan by his transcendental potency.
The material energy is also Krishna’s energy and it is also ultimately spiritual. If the material energy is engaged in the service of Krishna it then acts as spiritual. Srila Prabhupada gives us the example of putting an iron rod into a fire. Gradually the iron rod heats up and becomes red-hot. Then when, by the association of the fire, the iron rod becomes red-hot, it acts as fire. If you take that red-hot iron rod and touch it against something it will burst into flames. So the iron rod is now, by the association of the fire, acting as fire.
Similarly this material world, by the association of Krishna and Krishna’s pure devotees, can be transformed into spiritual. It can act as spiritual, by the association of pure devotees of Krishna.
The vision of a pure devotee we can only really understand by becoming pure devotees ourselves. But a pure devotee does not see this world as material. He sees everything in its relationship with Krishna. He sees Krishna everywhere. And as I said a pure devotee is not in the material world. He is in the spiritual world.
A pure devotee has no desire to do anything except to serve Krishna. He has no idea of adjusting the situation to improve his personal material situation. So a pure devotee is very happy in the material world as long as he is engaged the service of Krishna. That is the point. A pure devotee knows that his only business is to serve Krishna and even if that serving of Krishna appears to go against his own personal comfort or desires he does not care about his personal situation, he cares only about serving Krishna, pleasing Krishna.
We can see this from the Bhagavad-gita. In the beginning Arjuna is playing the part of a materially attached karmi. Krishna is instructing Arjuna to fight in the battle of Kuruksettra but Arjuna is refusing Krishna’s order, saying that “If we fight this battle surely most of the people who are arrayed on this battlefield, who are all our friends and relatives, will be killed and even if we are victorious, if all our friends and relatives are killed, then there will be no reason for us to live…” So this appears to be a very reasonable and logical argument by Arjuna for not fighting. But this is maya. This is Arjuna’s personal consideration. Krishna wanted him to fight. And ultimately Arjuna realized this is the correct thing to do, surrender to Krishna and follow Krishna’s orders no matter what.
So the point is a pure devotee’s only business is to serve Krishna. And he does not mind any material inconveniences. If a pure devotee finds himself in the material world or even in Hell, anywhere, he knows that his Lord and Master, Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has put him here, and that Krishna has some plan for him. Some service that He wants him to perform. So the pure devotee’s only business is to surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna. In this surrender and service he is transcendentally situated on the spiritual platform and is actually in the spiritual world.
So that is the way. There is no material world actually for Krishna’s pure devotees.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare.
How can i start book distrubution service in mumbai, india.
Just get some books and distribute them…
hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare,
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare….
how can i join kc.
You can become Krishna conscious by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and by following the instructions you find Srila Prabhupada giving you as you read his books. That is the way. Hear from Srila Prabhupada, a pure devotee of Krishna, surrender to his instructions and serve him.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!
Pranam Swamiji!
Hope you are fine.
Happy to wish you the Biggest Day” 18th August, Sri Krishna Janmashtami! in advance which is approaching soon. Here in India we have a very long weekend 15th August being Independence Day which falls on Friday, and Monday SriKrishna Janmashtami!…
We decorate our homes, prepare, various types of snacks prasadam made of salt & sugar… we believe, Lord Krishna visits each home as baby Krishna!… We celebrate, a baby boy has taken birth in our home!… We put little toes from outside gate to our puja room!.. we offer as much prashad items as we can offer… Anxiously waiting for our dear Lord Krishna’s Birthday!.. Proud to born in Krishna’s Land! Hope you will also celebrate Krishna Janmashtami enthusiastically. I thank Lord Krishna for your association.
Please accept my pranam and pray for my spiritual growth…
With pranam!
Hare Krishna
Your Servant
Uma Sridhar
Hare Krishna
thankyou for the permission of printing articles from Krishna.org. I will obviously now do that 12 pages booklets work, great idea!
and yes people have forgotten their own culture and are crazy about foreign lifestyle, but Krishna consciousness can bring it back in a lovable way, if they try it for once.
I’ll preach…preach…and preach…and make suffering people experience some true goodness through prabhupad’s litrature, and if they started they will finish it (Krishna consciousness), as they will be attracted to Krishna and their sanatana dharma (the soul’s original work).
thanx for great advice
my deep respect
Hare Krishna
This article is by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta swami prabhupad ji, and is just as as awesome as his books, so if madhudvisa Prabhu ji grant me permission, so can i print this and make photocopies and distribute them to people?
in morning when i go to school or come from school in noon, i see many people and really want to distribute books, but i am afraid that will they really read it or throw in some corner of their house, its really risky and difficult to distribute awesome books in Delhi, even if u ar giving for free! They are not interested…. I DON’T KNOW WHY??? Materialists…materialists…materialists…today when i was chanting a guy was looking at me like…like…i was doing something weird or u know that kind of look, but he was a literate guy, who came and sat with the seat next to me, then i got it..ok..okay…i can give the book to him…but will he really read it?????, or throw it in some scared drawl or Elmira where no one will be able to read it?
but with this page, they will have some clue to Krishna, chanting, sinful activities their reactions and solutions, in short and maybe if i see someone like him again so i can also give a book…
Prabhu ji please give me some tips…. What to do…i am confused….
all glories to Srila Prabhupada
respect
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Vanshika
Yes. You are welcome to print out whatever you want from Krishna.org and distribute as much as you can. You can distribute books. All you have to do is get the people to give some donation for them. If you just give them for free then they may, as you say, throw them away, but if you get them to pay some money for the book then they will be thinking “I have paid this money, I must read the book to get my money’s worth.” Even if it is only some small donation they will think like this, they will value the book because they paid something for it.
And everyone understands that books cost money to print. So if you can interest them in Krishna consciousness they will be willing to give some donation for the book.
So it is a good idea also to make some small booklet yourself. You can use word or some desktop publishing program and make a small booklet. Say three sheets of paper then you print two pages on each side and take the three sheets of paper together and fold them in half and staple it in the middle then you have a 12 page book you can distribute that only cost you a few rupees to make…
So just do it. Everyone you meet tell them about Krishna and try to give them some literature from Srila Prabhupada they can read about Krishna. Don’t let your mind discourage you. Your mind will always come up with these doubts like this. People do not have to actually read the whole book to be benefited. Of course we want them to read the whole book. But even just meeting a devotee and talking to a devotee about Krishna, that is an incredible benefit to a materialistic person. If they give some donation, no matter how small, they benefit so much. And even if they just touch the book they benefit so much. If they read one page, one line, even if they read one word, then their Krishna consciousness has begun. And I think you know that Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that once one has started this Krishna consciousness he will complete the program. It may take some time but he will become a devotee. He will become Krishna conscious.
In a big city like Delhi of course people are very materialistic. And it is dangerous. Everywhere in the material world is dangerous. But Krishna will protect us. Anyhow we can not just lock ourselves up in a room because it is dangerous. No. We just go out and preach. And yes people may think we are strange, chanting Hare Krishna, but in India chanting Hare Krishna is not so strange, not like in the Western countries. Actually in India Krishna consciousness is the traditional culture of India. Everyone in India has Krishna consciousness in their hearts. They are all devotees actually. Taking birth in India is a very special thing. You are right near Mathura and Vrindavan, so you are very close to Krishna’s place and everyone there is very fortunate to have taken birth in Krishna’s place. And this fortunate birth is only possible because the Indians have performed great pious activities in the past and they are devotees.
The problem is that over the past 200+ years the foreigners have spoiled India by encouraging the Indians to give up their own culture and take on the British culture first and now the American culture. So Indians are now crazy about money and materialism. But that is unnatural for the Indians. They are meant to be spiritual personalities. India is meant to be Punya-Bhumi, the land of pious activities. Now it is the opposite, now it is the land of sinful activities. But you know that spiritual power, spiritual potency is there in India. So it is a sacred place. So it is very favorable for the cultivation of Krishna consciousness. So I think you will find that even in Delhi if you persevere with the preaching that underneath this materialistic presentation the people of Delhi are almost all nice devotees of Krishna. You just have to uncover their original Krishna consciousness. It is there in everyone but in the Indians it is not very deeply buried. It is easy to uncover.
So keep on preaching, keep on distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, keep on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books yourself and keep on encouraging your family and friends to do the same thing and this will develop into something very nice and Srila Prabhupada will be very happy with you and that is what we want. We want to please Krishna’s pure devotees, then if they are pleased with us Krishna will be pleased with us.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
i just want to meet him once. he is the one when no one is with me, i find him everywhere when i have lost hopes . his love is unconditional. i find peace, bliss in doing his bhakti.he listens to me , he is always there for me in time. in the worst cases of my life i found his as saviour. o lord krisha, meet me, once i need moksha. let my mind always think about you, let my tongue always chant your name. i love you . i am trying to see you in my 1 year old son, ia m searching you from so many years.let me sleep on your foot ..
such great knowledge nowadays when spoken is considered as brainwashing. people only appreciate loud music (me included). i like the idea of moksha, but the world is full of too many distractions. for people my age(20) ,krshn is no longer the most interesting. in my collage i am among a tiny fraction of students who keep tilak on the forehead.
Hare Krishna Prashanath
Yes. In Kali-yuga the mass of the people are very much materialistic and completely distracted from spiritual life and have no taste for spiritual life.
These distractions are maya and there is no substantial lasting pleasure or enjoyment in any material so-called pleasure. Everything turns out to be completely frustrating and completely disgusting.
It is very important to understand and realize that we are not these material bodies but that we are spirit soul within these bodies. The body is born as a child’s body, changes to a boy’s body, changes to a man’s body, then an old man’s body and then it is finished at death. But “I”, the soul, I continue to exist unchanged throughout all these different bodies. And at the time of death I will continue to exist also. The time of death is just another change of body. Just like the child’s body changes to a boy’s body, at the time of death the soul is simply changing again from the old man’s body into another body.
And the next body we get depends on our actions in this life.
This endless process of changing from one body to another and again suffering birth, old age, disease and death, is called samsara. It is the mission of human life to end this cycle of samsara, the cycle of endless suffering for the soul.
But if you just dance in the loud music with everyone else you will go to Hare Krishna Anil Prabhu
There will be so many obstacles in our trying to come closer to Krishna. Although chanting Hare Krishna in itself is enough we need a strong philosophical understanding to give us the strength to keep changing in spite of all the obstacles. That is why it is very important to read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
There are many parts to the process of Saddhana Bhakti. The chanting of Hare Krishna is the main part but there are many other things also that will make the chanting more effective. So if in addition to your chanting you make a serious study of the books of Srila Prabhupada, starting will all small books like Beyond Birth and Death, Perfection of Yoga, Easy Journey to Other Planets, King of Knowledge, Elevation to Krishna Consciousness, The Topmost Yoga System, Path of Perfection, Science of Self-Realization, etc. Then to Bhagavad-gita As It Is, then Nectar of Devotion, then Teachings of Lord Caitanya, then Srimad-Bhagavatam, then Teachings of Lord Caitanya, then start again and read all the books again and again. Every time you read the books you will find so much new wonderful transcendental knowledge. And in this process you will learn everything you need to know and your chanting will become very much improved.
We should chant on tulsi japa beads. We have a big variety of these at http://www.KrishnaStore.com and you can get some and a bead bag and chant and don’t worry what others say. Also chanting is very good early in the morning during the brahma-muhurta, so if you get up early and chant then everyone else is asleep and you can chant on beads.
You can also chant the rounds on your fingers. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to do this. Keep track of how many rounds He had chanted on his fingers. If you ask someone who has brahmin initiation to show you how they chant the gayatri mantras on their fingers then you will know how to count from one to ten on one hand and you can do the same thing on the other hand to count from one to ten every time you finish ten on the first hand then you chant another eight mantras and you have chanted one round. You do this sixteen times and you have chanted sixteen time.
Of course it is better to chant on tulsi beads. We should try and stick to the standard ways as given to us by Srila Prabhupada. No matter what you try to advance in Krishna consciousness there will always be so much opposition from maya. You have to expect this. As soon as you try and free yourself from the clutches of maya she will try harder to keep you in her grip. You can see that with your chanting. hell with them and you will have missed a great opportunity to escape from this endless cycle of suffering and death.
Most people are quite happy to dance themselves into hell. But there are a few thoughtful men who can see beyond the temporary flickering so-called pleasures from the senses and wonder if there is something more than this… I think you may be one of those rare men.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Prabhu,
is it ok to pray Lord Krishna, the supreme personality of Godhead to solve our personal and family problems?
I feel ashamed to walk in my shoes. I am a lowly individual. So far I have strayed from the path. Turned my back on all I know to be right. Drawn to the temptuous lure that has been offered. As if in a daze.
I have loved God since I was a child. Always had a fascination to know
Him. How is it that I, who was described as a golden child in my youth. Who spent countless hours studying the Bagavatam and the Gita. Scrupulous study of the Christian Bible. Who dedicated himself to the Lord, the One without comparison. “Krishna”. How is it that I have lost my way? Even after such blessings! Angelic visitors. Vivid visions of the future. Angelic dreams.
Even distant memories of falling to the floor, my whole body trembling in ecstatic love, uncontrolably vibrating in pleasure. Surrendered. How? How? How is it that I have become what I am today. Fallen from grace. A meat eater. An uncontroled pleasure seeker. With only memories of my former life. I am such a loathsome creature. I disgust myself. I am unworthy of such blessings. I am not fit to stand before You.
I look around at the world today. Even in the 18 years since my first vision, how things have changed. Including me. People are so consumed by thier temporary bodies. So blind to reality. Wrapped in fantasy people work so hard for thier material wants. Desires.
Kali Yuga is undeniably here. Oh how you lure me. Want me to fail. Today I want to ask anyone and everyone who reads this to pray for me. For I am weak. I hate what I have become. Ask that I may be forgiven. Restored…
I would like to share something that happened in my youth.
While staying in indonesia I curiously started reading the Bagavad Gita. I didn’t know very much about it, but was fascinated by it.
One night I decided to chant. Not the Hare Krishna mantra mind you. It was a chant that a friend had told me. But I dare not write it down.
After chanting I turned off the lights and went to bed. I had drifted off to sleep. However something wasn’t quite right. I was sleeping however very alert. I could hear and see 3 dark entities, cackling, shrieks of laughter outside my window. I was unable to move as they entered my room and attacked me. They were strangling me and I was unable to do anything. I couldn’t breath. Suffocating. Then without reason, in my mind I chanted,
“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishnsa Hare Hare. Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”
and immediately these shadowy flying spirits disappeared from my room.
Ofcourse at the time I was very frightened about what happened. As this is not an everday experience that many people have. Infact I have knowledge of only one other person this happened to. But i am sure thier must be others.
Later in life and my studies I came to realise that evil spirits and demons cannot stand to hear the names of God. This experience, even though it was so terrifying at the time, came to show me the great power of the Hare Krishna mantra. These are no ordinary sounds/words.
Father. The First. The infinite fantastic. “You” that dwell beyond the reaches of my mind. My “Love” The unfathomable. I yearn for you. Forgive me for my wretchedness. Please help me. Help me from my shameful state.
“I love You Krishna”.
My love for you will never change.
“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishnsa, Hare Hare.
Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”
Hare Krishna,
It has been also said that peple in Sayta yuga were able to effortlessly attain sublimity or union with God, which is a salient feature of Satya Yuga.
its that correct?
Hare Krishna.
HARE KRISHNA……….,
Its my humble question form the peple of ISKON Templew that in whoch of the Vedic books gives hint that Lord Krishna will in carnate in the form ofLord Chaitnya in this Kaliyuga…..
I m not aware of such adeclaration by any of the Vedic Book can You Please shed some light on this & can please clerly expalin me through evidence from those books.
SHREE KRISHNA ARPANAM NAMASTU.
HARE KRISHNA
Refer to Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.32
Hellow, I’m 12 years old and I take alot of interest in worships of the indian gods. I started worshipping maa Durga at the age of five and till now I’m still worshippoing her. She’s my mother, and I want to attain her in my every seven births I’m goner have in this Kaliyuga. Oh Srila Prabhupad, today you have given me, a very unknowlegdeble little girl some mind, lord Krishna is so cute and to me he’s just like my brother. I know that during kaliyuga there will be no respect for such a saint like you, but I also know that whatever happens, always happens in the way my dear lord wants it to happen and I’m happy, I just want to thank-you for sharing us such a beautiful truth, even in kaliyuga. Thank-you, From Pravita
All glories to Srila Prabhupad
Dear Prabhus, when would the website Harekrishna-movement.org be activated? it would be great if it would provide the list of Hare Krishna temples affiliated to ISKCON Bangalore in India.
your servant
vivek, Hyderabad