Simply by changing dress, one does not improve unless he seriously takes the principles of devotional service. But in Kali-yuga, they’ll think, Because I have changed my dress, I have become a big sannyasi. You see? Because I have got a sacred thread, now I am a brahmana. No. There must be regular training.

Vrindavan, March 12, 1974

In this age, Kali-yuga, to kill the demons means to stop their demonic activities by the weapon of kirtana, hari-sankirtana, which is spread by Lord Chaitanya’s associates.

London, March 10, 1975

I received this inspirational story recently and would like to explain a little bit with some of the relevant instructions from Srimad Bhagavatam.

When Yudhishtira Maharaj was ruling this planet, Bhima used to help in solving problems of people, hence people whoever has any questions / problems would come to Bhima and ask him for help. One day, one citizen came and told Bhima that he noticed a strange thing that day that his fence is moving into other’s place and he is wondering why it happened like that. Bhima can help if a demon is troubling but not these kind of puzzles so he asked him to approach Yudhishtira Maharaj.

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In the evening, sitting on a little bench out in the courtyard, Swamiji tells us that if he could just make one person Krishna conscious, he would consider his mission successful.

"Now more people are coming to the kirtans because we are getting some notice in the papers," he says. "But because I do not lie to them and tell them they can be Krishna conscious while having sense gratification, they go away. What am I to do? Change Krishna’s message to suit Americans? That cannot be done. It is not my message to change. I can only deliver it as it is. If I have to sit under a tree with just one sincere disciple, that will be all right. We do not require many stars. just one moon. One moon will light up the sky. "

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In Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.1.16, the sages of Naimisaranya while requesting Srila Suta Goswami to narrate the glories of the Lord say,

ko vaa bhagavatas tasya / punya-shlokedya-karmanah
shuddhi-kaamo na shrnuyaad / yashah kali-malaapaham

Who is there, desiring deliverance from the vices of the age of quarrel, who is not willing to hear the virtuous glories of the Lord?

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yad akṣaraḿ veda-vido vadanti
viśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ
yad icchanto brahmacaryaḿ caranti
tat te padaḿ sańgraheṇa pravakṣye

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September 8, 1966. Janmastami. Lord Krishna, we learn, is not born like an ordinary child. He appears. Five thousand years ago, in Mathura, India, He appeared as four-armed Narayana, attired in His transcendental garments. At His mother’s request, He assumed a two-armed form, like an ordinary child. Sri Krishna is most obliging to His devotees.

"Today we will fast," Swamiji tells us. "Normally we do not fast all day. Krishna consciousness is not for one who eats too much or too little. Gandhi fasted many days for political reasons, but we don’t. In Bhagavad-gita, that kind of fasting is considered rajasic, or passionate. We fast according to regulations: Ekadasi, the eleventh day of the full moon, we take no grains. That is a partial fast. And Janmastami, there is complete fast all day until midnight. So today we will fast and chant, and tomorrow there will be initiation."

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September 8, 1966. Janmastami. Lord Krishna, we learn, is not born like an ordinary child. He appears. Five thousand years ago, in Mathura, India, He appeared as four-armed Narayana, attired in His transcendental garments. At His mother’s request, He assumed a two-armed form, like an ordinary child. Sri Krishna is most obliging to His devotees.

"Today we will fast," Swamiji tells us. "Normally we do not fast all day. Krishna consciousness is not for one who eats too much or too little. Gandhi fasted many days for political reasons, but we don’t. In Bhagavad-gita, that kind of fasting is considered rajasic, or passionate. We fast according to regulations: Ekadasi, the eleventh day of the full moon, we take no grains. That is a partial fast. And Janmastami, there is complete fast all day until midnight. So today we will fast and chant, and tomorrow there will be initiation."

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Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad Gita that if one offers him with devotion a leaf, fruit, flower or water with love and devotion He will accept it. This verse encourages everyone to take to the path of devotional service highlighting the simplicity of devotional service. Devotees all over the world offer these four items by keeping them in front of the Lord’s picture/deity form and chanting the offering prayers. However offering these four items to the Lord does not end with this alone. By performing sincere devotional service we can offer these four items to the Lord always in our lives. This is explained by great acharyas as follows.

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arjuna uvāca
yo ‘yaḿ yogas tvayā proktaḥ
sāmyena madhusūdana
etasyāhaḿ na paśyāmi
cañcalatvāt sthitiḿ sthirām

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śrī-bhagavān uvāca
anāśritaḥ karma-phalaḿ
kāryaḿ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca
na niragnir na cākriyaḥ

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The recent mail by HG Sudarshana mathaji on surrender to Lord is very wonderful especially with regard to realization of Indra who is always being tainted by us as a bad person. In the same way we also see in Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Dhrtarashtra was always portrayed as a blind man spiritually and materially. We condemn him as being very selfish and very much attached to his sons and kingdom. But such a person being in such a state of mind being overly attached to family and sons has realized in one second the spiritual knowledge from Vidura and take it to the heart and at once quits the house of Pandavas without notice. Just by hearing few strong dose of instructions from Vidura, Dhrtarashtra immediately quits the house. So much of detachment is not possible unless one is empowered by the Lord to get detachment from the strong cord of material affection (uru dhaamni baddha). Vidura was instructing all the time before the final instructions to Dhrtarashtra but nothing was going inside him. It does not mean that Dhrtarashtra is a bad person. He is really an exalted person but he is acting on behalf of Krishna. We are all 100 million times worse than Dhrtarashtra because we hear the instructions daily and continuously but still we are not taking it to the heart.

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In celebration of Srila Prabhupada’s return, Visnujana arranges dramas and puppet shows for the pleasure of his Guru Maharaja. The first presentation, "The Age of Kali," depicts the entrance of Kali-yuga. More than a hundred Sunday feast guests crowd into the temple room along with the devotees to see the performance with Prabhupada.

Sahadevi: We started the play with Arjuna and Krsna. Krsna is leaving the planet. Srila Prabhupada was sitting on his vyasasana up on the stage alongside the Deities. Muralidhara played Arjuna. He did such a heart-breaking performance. He cried while reciting that speech about Krsna being his friend. I mean he really cried. I couldn’t believe it. It was so beautiful.

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There are that three things we should be satisfied and three things we should not be satisified.

Three Things to be satisfied – Wife, Food and Wealth.
Three things not be satisfied – Study of scriptures, Chanting and Charity.

This the secret of our eternal happiness. But we are not happy at all with the present position. We are always satisfied by chanting 16 rounds, charity we do, scriptures we study. We are never satisfied with wife, food and our wealth. In the above, one item is common for both. That is wealth. We should be satisfied for accumulation of wealth and not for the amount of charity we do. The recent mail from HG Ananda murthi on satisfaction is very nice where he vividly explains Maharaj’s wonderful explanation on satisfaction. Our spiritual existence is permanent and material existence is temporary. But we are so much fools that we take most of the time the material existence as permanent and we completely neglect the spiritual existence. Because of this nature we are unable to be satisfied at all even though we claim ourselves as devotees in Krishna consciousness for more than 10 years. We are still in anxiety. The most lingering aspect of our material existence is wealth and that is the reason we cling on to it so tightly but we forget that all the money will be in bank but we will not be able to enjoy it.

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Now there are third-class, fourth-class men, dressed like President and king, but their business is to plunder money from the citizens and kill cow. This is Kali-yuga’s king. Dressed like king, but sudra. Very expert in cow-killing.

On 17 September, 1965

“One night, Abhay had an unusual dream. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta appeared before him, beckoning. He was asking Abhay to leave home and take sannyasa. Abhay awoke in an intensely emotional state, “How horrible!” He thought. He knew it was not an ordinary dream, yet the request seemed so difficult and unlikely. Take sannyasa! At least it was not something he could do immediately. Now he had to improve the business, and with the profits he would print books. He went on with his duties, but remained shaken by the dream.” (Satwarup Goswami. 1980. Prabhupada Lilamrta. Page 118.)

In 1948, Abhay closed his Lucknow factory. He had fallen behind in employees’ salaries, and since 1946 he had been paying past rent in installments. But when sales dropped off, continuing the factory became impossible. He lost everything.

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paritrāṇāya sādhūnāḿ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saḿsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

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"The sixteen words of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra—Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—are especially meant for counteracting the sins of the age of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination of this age there is no alternative but to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion for this age so sublime as the chanting of Hare Krsna."

Lord Brahma – Kali santarana Upanisad 5.6

Disclaimer: The daily ‘Vedic thought’ are posted by Deepak Prabhu in the Yahoo Groups – Govindadwipa. All credits goes to him and the groups. Hare Krishna.