Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Guru is not for fashion

Go to guru, to surrender. Surrender means that one will accept whatever the guru says. It is not that one thinks, "I do not care for my guru's order. Still I am a disciple." That is not actually accepting a guru. Just like Arjuna surrendered to Krishna. You must find out guru where you can surrender. Not that you keep guru your order supplier, "Give me some ashirvad and I may be benefited." He is not guru; he is your order supplier, your servant. Guru means he must order, "You must do this." If we agree, then he is a guru. Not that "I shall order my guru, and he will execute my order." that the dog will do, not the guru. You ask your dog, "Sit down here," a dog will sit. That kind of guru keeping has no value. We shouldn't go to a guru simply because a guru may be fashionable at the moment. Just as you sometimes keep a dog as a fashion, if you want to keep a guru as a fashion—"I have a guru"—that will not help. You must accept a guru who can extinguish the blazing fire of anxiety within your heart. Everyone in the material life, in all species and varieties of life, is full of anxieties. So if you want to be anxiety-less, then you must take shelter of the guru, the spiritual master. And the test of the guru is that by following his instructions you'll be free from anxiety. However, a guru is not a person who simply manufactures gold or juggles words just to attract foolish people and make money. An actual guru is one who is fully trained in the ocean of spiritual knowledge.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Make someone else feel good

If you want to feel good about yourself, make someone else feel good! It really is that simple. Perhaps it is because this idea is so simple that we sometimes forget to do it.

It seems that anytime I go out of my way to make someone else feel good, it ends up brightening my day and making myself feel better as well. It reminds me that so often the nicest things in life aren't "things." Instead, they are the feelings that accompany acts of kindness and nice gestures. It's clear to me that "what goes around does indeed come around."

Whether it's taking the time to write a note of congratulations for a job well done, a written or verbal compliment, a friendly phone call, an unasked – for favor, a note of encouragement, or any number of other possibilities, making someone else feel good – however you do it –is almost always a good idea. 

Acts of kindness and good will are inherently wonderful. 

There's an old saying: "Giving is its own reward." This is certainly true. Your reward for being kind and making someone else feel good are the warm, positive feelings that invariably accompany your efforts.  

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Be Responsive

"Responsive" means acting appropriately to the issue at hand. Rather than being driven and controlled by habitual, knee-jerk reactions, being responsive means having the ability to maintain perspective and to choose the best possible alternative or course of action, given your unique situation. 

Because responsive people are able to see the entire picture so well, they are able to factor into every equation all the variables, instead of being limited to their usual way of doing things. 

Responsive individuals are willing to change direction, if necessary, and admit their mistakes when appropriate.

For example, it's common for a builder to run into unexpected changes in the original plans – unknown soil conditions, a shortage of money, or unforeseen design problems. A reactive builder will panic, overreact and become difficult to work with. A good builder will take the changes in stride, be responsive to the changes, rise to the occasion and get the job done.

Be responsive!

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Krishna or Christ - The Name Is the Same

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

No one is “all right”

Whatever one may desire, the ultimate end is happiness. Nobody can deny this. But if a diseased fellow thinks, "I am happy," that is false happiness. A diseased man cannot be happy unless the disease is cured. Sometimes we go to a diseased person and ask, "How are you?" "Yes, I am all right." If he is all right, why is he lying down? He is not all right. He is artificially saying that "I am all right." What is this "all right"? Similarly, people are thinking, "I am happy." What is their happiness? A learned man always sees, "What is the value of this happiness? I will have to die, I will have to accept old age, I will have to suffer from disease. And as soon as I die, again I will have to enter into the womb of a particular mother to take birth again." So where is the happiness? Ignorantly if we accept something as happiness, that is not happiness. Full of anxieties always: "What will happen next?'' They're suffering, but they are accepting, "I am all right.'' So this is called maya. Real happiness is when you are free from birth, death, old age, disease. Otherwise, where is your happiness? But if you think that "Although I am dying, I am happy," that is another thing, a fool's paradise. Bhagavata says, "Purify your existence, and you'll get perpetual, eternal happiness." So everyone is working hard for happiness, but how happiness can be attained in diseased condition? So cure the disease. If you go when there is ailment, if you go to a physician, "Sir, cure me." "Why?" because it is impediment to happiness. Similarly, the real disease is birth, death, old age, disease. You cure this, then you get real happiness.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Do not live in imagined future

If you want to be a happier, less-stressed person, there is no better place to start than with becoming aware of "anticipatory thinking," or an imagined future.

Essentially, this type of thinking involves imagining how much better your life will be when certain conditions are met – or how stressful, or difficult something is going to be at some point down the road. 

Typical anticipatory thinking sounds something like this: "I can't wait to get that promotion, and then my life will be great." "Life will be so much simpler when I can afford an assistant." "These next few years will be really tough, but after that I'll be having a smooth ride." 

You get so carried away by your own thoughts that you remove yourself from the actual present moments of your life, thereby forgetting the act of living effectively and joyfully.

There are other, more short-term forms of this type of thinking as well: "The next few days are going to be unbearable," "I am going to be tired tomorrow," "I just know my speech is going to be a disaster." 

There are endless variations of this stressful tendency. The details are usually different, but the result is the same –stress! Do not let your thoughts get caught up in the negative expectations and imagined horrors of the future. 

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Seven wonders of the world

 A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the world." Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:

1.Egypt's Great Pyramids

2.Taj Mahal

3.Grand Canyon

4.Panama Canal

5.Empire State Building

6.St. Peter's Basilica

7.China's Great Wall        

While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one quiet student hadn't returned her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: To see, to hear, to touch, to feel, to laugh and to love." The room became so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.

The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and which we take for granted are truly wondrous!

Next time when we complain about things which we don't have, let's remember these seven wonders of our lives.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Why do you need a guru?

People generally go to guru, "Sir, I have got some pain. Give me some ashirvad so that my pain may be cured." "But why you have come here for curing your pain? You can go to some doctor, or you can take some tablet. Is it the purpose of coming to guru?" But generally they come to guru and ask for blessing for some material benefit. It is not the guru's task to supply gold and medicine. Not that "I have got some pain here, I have some trouble or some..." These are not problems. This problem one should tolerate. They do not know what is the problem of life and why go to guru. And the so-called gurus also take advantage of this ignorance of the public. The guru does not know what is his responsibility, and the public do not know what for one should go to guru. This is the difficulty. You should be intelligent. Why do you accept so many cheaters as guru? First of all you know what is the subject matter of knowledge. Just like if you want to become a carpenter, you should go to an expert carpenter. If you want to be a medical man, you must approach the medical college. So first of all, you do not know what you want. Therefore you get so many cheaters. You do not know what is the aim of human life. To be happy? You do not know what is happiness. Your happiness is that you do not like to die: but you die. You do not like to become old man: you become old. This is unhappiness. Intelligence is that "I do not want death. Why death comes upon me?" This knowledge will lead you to understand what is happiness.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Trying to please every one

The fact that someone is virtually always going to be mad or at least disappointed with you is inevitable because while you're busy trying to please one person, you're often disappointing someone else. Even if your intentions are entirely pure and positive, you simply can't be in two places at one time. So, if two or more people want, need or expect something from you – and you can't do it all – someone is going to be left disappointed. 

When you have dozens, even hundreds of demands on your time, and requests being fired at you from all different directions, a certain number of balls are going to be dropped. Mistakes are going to be made.

Four people asked you to call them before five o'clock. The second call took much longer than anticipated. The two who didn't receive calls are probably going to be upset. If you hurried the call you were on, you risked upsetting that person. Either way, someone's left upset. Or you go the extra mile to do an excellent job on one project – but only have time to do an adequate job on another project. Again, you let someone down.

When you make peace with this fact of life, a huge weight is lifted off your shoulders. Obviously you would never intentionally hurt or disappoint someone. In fact, most of us will do everything within our power not to, yet it's still going to happen. And when you know it's inevitable, your gut reaction to the disappointment is going to be much more peaceful.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

But there are still going to be errors

You can try and try – you can make allowances for contingencies and mix-ups, but there are still going to be errors. And when errors happen, forget a promise, meeting, or commitment; then someone is going to be hurt, upset, mad, or disappointed. 

Rather than becoming upset, defensive, or guilty, maintain your bearings and remain compassionate. You should understand that there's simply nothing you can do – other than your best. You didn't intend for it to happen, you did everything you knew how to prevent it, yet it happened. 

In fact, most of us will do everything within our power not to, yet it's still going to happen. And it will happen again. It's time to let it go and focus on doing the best you can.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

The King Of Knowledge

The knowledge given in the Bhagavad-gita is raja-vidya, "the king of knowledge." 

The following lecture given by Srila Prabhupada on Bhagavad-gita chapter 9 verse 2 explains why: "This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed."

Click below to listen to the lecture. 

Everybody follows somebody

Everywhere there must be, one chief man. Either you are a political party or social party or religious party or Communist party... Just like Communist party, they have got their chief men. Lenin, Stalin. I asked this question from Professor Kotovsky, "Where is the difference of philosophy between your Communist philosophy and our Krishna consciousness philosophy? You have to accept one chief man, that Lenin or Stalin, and we have also selected one chief man, or God, Krishna. So you are following the dictates of Lenin or Stalin or Molotov or this or that. We are following the philosophy or the instruction of Krishna. So on principle, where is the difference? There is no difference." You cannot conduct your daily affairs without being dictated by somebody else. So that is the law of nature. Then why don't you accept the supreme authority? It is not possible that we can live without leadership. Is there any party, is there any school, or is there any institution that they're conducting without any chief leader or director? No. The principle is there, that you have to accept one chief. We have to accept the servitorship or to become underhand of some person. So the intelligence is that "Whom we have to accept?" There lies intelligence: "What kind of leader we shall accept?" So our principle is that Krishna should be accepted as the leader because Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, "There is no more superior person or superior position than Me."; and "God" means that. In the dictionary "God" means the Supreme Being. Supreme Being means nobody is greater than Him; nobody is equal to Him. 

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Today before you complain about

Today before you think of saying an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Today before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Today before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Today before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

Today before you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

Today before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us are without sin.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Mistakes are unavoidable part of life

Some mistakes are big. An air-traffic controller's mistake or one wrong move by a surgeon can be deadly. 

A vast majority of the mistakes we make, however, are not life or death. It's true that even small mistakes can cause inconvenience, conflict, or extra work – and, can be expensive.

 

While no one enjoys making mistakes, there is something very freeing about learning to accept them – really accept them – as an unavoidable part of life. When we do, we can forgive ourselves, thus erasing all the stress that usually results from cursing ourselves. 

So the suggestion is simple. Forgive yourself; you're human.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

Transcendental Teachings of Prahlada Maharaja - - Ebook

Hare Krishna

Hope you are doing great! This month we have got this very special E-Book – "Transcendental Teachings of Prahlada Maharaja" for you which you can download right away.

The chapters in this book are based on a series of talks  given by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1968 on the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 7, Chapter 6. It explicitly covers Prahlada Maharaja's instructions to his class friends. In speaking to his friends, who were all sons of demons, Prahlada Maharaja stressed that every living entity, especially in human society, must be interested in spiritual realization from the very beginning of life. 

Please find the E-book as an attachment with this mail.

Again become mouse

A mouse came to a saintly person: "Sir, I am very much troubled. This cat troubles me very much." "So what you want?" "Let me become a cat." "All right, you become a cat." So he became a cat. Then after few days, he came back. "Sir, still I am in trouble." "What is that?" "The dogs trouble me very much." "So what you want?" "All right, you become." Then after few days he came again... "The tiger troubles me." "What do you want?" "Now I want to become a tiger."  "All right, you become a tiger." Then, when he became tiger, he began to stare at the saintly person. The saintly person, "What do you mean by this?" "I shall eat you." "Oh, you shall eat me? I have made you tiger, and you want to eat me. All right: Again you become a mouse." So our civilization is like that, that in the gradual process of evolution we have come to the platform of human being. This human being is meant for understanding God, but we are forgetting God. Just like the tiger; instead of becoming obliged, if you want to eat, then again become a mouse. If the saintly person has got the power to make you from mouse to tiger, then he can convert you again from tiger to mouse. You must always remember this. So by the grace of God, Krishna, you have become so powerful, rich, beautiful, educated. But if you misuse it, if you forget Krishna, then you are again going to be mouse. Therefore we should be very, very careful. This Krishna consciousness movement is simply a very scientific movement that will help the human society not to be degraded again, to be elevated.

Srila Prabhupada Nectar

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