Great Throughts Treasury

"All of the world that I created was created by the effulgence [the brahmajyoti] of His existence, just as the fire, the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars [radiate after His effulgence]."

"All the unpleasant that happened I think, is the inescapable effect of Time; you, just like the rest of the world with its ruling demigods, fall under that control just like the clouds that are carried by the wind."

"All of you united in His quality be therefore engaged in the devotional service of directly the Supreme Lord who is the actual cause [pradhƒna] of Time, the original Person and the One Supreme Soul of the unlimited number of individual souls *, He who by His spiritual power is aloof from all emanations of the self."

"All sins are destroyed and all good fortune is created by the Supreme Lord's qualities, activities and appearances and words that describe them animate, beautify, and purify the world. On the other hand, words bereft of His glories are like the decorations on a corpse."

"Although the mind may work imperfectly at the time of death, Krishna gives a devotee shelter at His lotus feet. Therefore, when a devotee gives up his body, the mind does not take him to another material body. Rather, Krishna takes the devotee to that place where He is engaged in His pastimes. One?s consciousness, therefore, must always be absorbed in Krishna and then one?s life will be successful. Otherwise, the mind will carry the soul to another material body."

"Although the motive (of a devotee) might be impure, the Lord does not consider the motive; He is concerned with the service. However if a devotee has a particular motive, the Lord directly or indirectly knows it and therefore, He does not leave the devotee?s material desire unfulfilled. These are some of the special favours by the Lord to a devotee."

"Animalistic envy exists in human society as long as there is no performance of sankirtana-yajna."

"And yes, what can You say about Eternal Time that represents the eternal and original form of the Supreme Ruler ruling over all the other rulers and under the influence of which the common people in act piously?"

"And thus time, my best one, can be measured by the motion of the minutest and largest forms of combinations of particles, of which the Supreme, unmanifest Lord is the great force that controls all physical action."

"And what about a day of Brahmƒ [a kalpa] and the periods between them [vikalpas]? What can you say about the time measures we call the past, the future and the present? And how about the lifespan allotted to embodied beings?"

"Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness (Krishna Consciousness) must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation."

"Anyone whose work is not meant to elevate him to religious life, anyone whose religious ritualistic performances do not raise him to renunciation and anyone situated in renunciation that does not lead him to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered dead, although breathing."

"As Krishna's form, qualities, pastimes, etc. are all on the absolute platform, material senses cannot therefore appreciate them. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Krishna consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord's Holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord's food, the tongue is purified and one gradually comes to understand who Krishna really is."

"Anyone, even a person in an impure state, who absorbs his mind in Lord Krishna for just a moment at the time of death burns up all traces of sinful reactions and immediately attains the supreme transcendental destination in a pure, spiritual form as effulgent as the sun."

"As soon as a devotee can chant the holy name and glories of the Supreme Lord, he certainly comes to the liberated position. Attachment for glorifying the Lord by hearing and chanting the holy name and activities of the Lord (Sravanam Kirtanam Visnoh) certainly brings one to the position where material contamination is absent."

"As long as the people of the world are engaged in unwanted activities and in the activities of their self-interest despise the by You as beneficial pronounced devotional activities, the struggle for existence of these people will be very tough and under Your Vigilant Rule [of Time] lead straight to a shambles. Let there be my obeisances unto You."

"Bearing in mind the words spoken by Govinda, I remember how attractive they are, and how they, imbued with importance and appropriate to the time and circumstance, put an end to the pain in the heart.' ""

"Because of the superintendence of the original person the creation of the mahat-tattva [the 'greater reality'] took place, from eternal time there was the transformation of the modes and from these specific natures the different activities found their existence."

"Because of having entered the lifeless form of this globe at its time of creation, he [Brahmƒ] is known as Mƒrtanda ['the god of the suns']. The designation known as Hiranyagarbha ['the gold inside' or Brahmƒ] came about because he received his body from that [golden splendor]."

"Atomic time is the time taken by an infinitesimal particle in occupying [or vibrating in] a certain atomic space. The greatest of time is the time taken by the existence of the complete of all atoms."

"Both for spiritual and material prosperity, everyone should devotedly chant the Hare Krishna mantra."

"Birth and other transformations are undergone by the body but never by the self, just as change occurs for the moon's phases but never for the moon, though the new-moon day may be called the moon's "death.""

"But Time, insurmountable and imperceptible in its being, surpasses inimitably those who are inattentive and engrossed in the mind of attachment to family affairs."

"But remember that even Brahmƒ, the Creator of the mobile and immobile manifestations who is the source of Vedic wisdom, as also the sages and the masters of yoga, the Kumƒras and the other perfected ones and original thinkers of yoga who attained the original Person of the Absolute Truth, the first one of all the souls, by dint of their detached, egoless actions, despite their independent vison and all their spiritual qualities, again take birth to assume their positions when this manifestation of the Lord is recreated through the operation of time and the three modes. And that is also true for all others who enjoyed the divine opulence that resulted from their pious deeds, they also return when the interaction of the modes again takes place."

"By hearing about and glorifying the Lord, all a person?s activities become molded into spiritual activities and thus all conceptions of material miseries become completely vanquished."

"By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world."

"By scrutinizingly reviewing all the revealed scriptures and judging them again and again, it is now concluded that Lord Narayana [Krishna] is the Supreme Absolute Truth and thus He alone should be worshiped."

"Children and foolish people are attached to materialistic, fruitive activities, although the actual goal of life is to become free from such activities. Therefore, the Vedic injunctions indirectly lead one to the path of ultimate liberation by first prescribing fruitive religious activities, just as a father promises his child candy so that the child will take his medicine."

"Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord."

"By transformation of the ether the air found its existence which is characterized by the quality of touch. Along with it sound also appeared as a characteristic that was remembered from the ether. Thus air acquired a life of diversity as well with energy and force. Air on its turn again transformed under the influence of time and generated from its nature the element of fire in response to what preceded. With its form there was likewise touch and sound [as the hereditary burden or the karma of the previous elements]. Fire transformed [or condensated from oxygen and hydrogen] into water. Thus the element of taste came about which consequently was accompanied by touch, sound and form. But because of the variegatedness of that transformation of water next followed the smell of the juice which assumed form [as the earth element] together with the qualities of touch and sound."

"By tolerance only can one conquer desires and avarice."

"Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society."

"Devotional service is called kirtana-yajna, and by practicing the sankirtana-yajna, one is very easily elevated to the planet where the Supreme Lord resides."

"Do not discriminate in your heart between enemies and friends. Make your mind equipoise towards everyone. Except for the uncontrolled and misguided mind, there is no enemy within this world. When one sees everyone on the platform of equality, one then comes to the position of worshiping the Lord perfectly."

"Even though one may be very learned and wise, he is mad if he does not understand that the endeavor for sense gratification is a useless waste of time. Being forgetful of his own interest, he tries to be happy in the material world, centering his interests on his home, which is based on sexual intercourse and which brings him all kinds of material miseries. In this way one is no better than a foolish animal."

"Even the very sound of the holy name of Lord Krishna or Rama can at once surcharge the atmosphere spiritually."

"Even the entirety of whatever there may be within the three worlds to satisfy one's senses cannot satisfy a person whose senses are uncontrolled."

"Even though You have no desires You engage in all kinds of activities, even though You're unborn You still take birth, as the controller of eternal Time You take nevertheless shelter of the fortress out of fear for Your enemies and despite enjoying within Yourself, You lead a household life in the association of women; this bewilders the intelligence of the scholars in this world."

"Every creature is born alone and dies alone. Alone one experiences the just rewards of his good and evil deeds."

"Every man should act like this: When he meets a person more qualified than himself, he should be very pleased, when he meets someone less qualified than himself, he should be compassionate toward him and when he meets someone equal to himself, he should make friendship with him. In this way one is never affected by the threefold miseries of the material world."

"Every one should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Every one should praise another?s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaisnava thinking, Vaikuntha thinking."

"Everything is possible by the grace of the Lord."

"Everything that exists emanates from the Lord."

"Everything is produced by Him. We simply offer everything to the Lord to show our love and gratitude towards him."

"False Happiness in the material world is the source of distress."

"Eyes appeared in the gigantic body which offered a position to Tvashthƒ, the director of light and the power of sight by which forms can be seen."

"Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called maya."

"For a person who is suffering in the fire of countless miseries and who desires to cross the insurmountable ocean of material existence, there is no suitable boat except that of cultivating devotion to the transcendental taste for the narrations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?s pastimes."

"Fearfulness is the result of material involvement."

"For advancement of material knowledge there is a need for personal ability and researching aptitude, but in the case of spiritual knowledge, all progress depends more or less on the mercy of the spiritual master. The spiritual master must be satisfied with the disciple. Only then is knowledge automatically manifest before the student of spiritual science."