This book is a perfect starter for anyone who wants to pursue the path of spirituality. This collection of articles by Srila Prabhupada from Back to Godhead magazine covers knowledge of the soul and the practice of bhakti-yoga. These interviews, lectures, and essays cover topics such as the goal of human life, seeking a true spiritual teacher, reincarnation, super-consciousness, Krishna and Christ, and spiritual solutions to today’s social and economic problems.
Episodes playlist 461 – 533
This book is a perfect all inclusive guide for anyone who wants to pursue the path of spirituality and self-realization from A to Z. This is a collection of articles by Srila Prabhupada from Back to Godhead magazine covers knowledge of the soul and the practice of bhakti-yoga. These interviews, lectures, and essays cover topics such as the goal of human life, seeking a true spiritual teacher, reincarnation, super-consciousness, Krishna and Christ, and spiritual solutions to today’s social and economic problems. Links to read the book: sravanamdiaries.com/the-science-of-self-realization
Favorite Quotes
This process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is based on knowledge received from Kṛṣṇa, the most perfect being. Knowledge received from others is defective because the conditioned soul is certain to commit mistakes, certain to be illusioned, certain to cheat, and certain to have imperfect senses. The knowledge received from Kṛṣṇa, however, actually enables us to see Kṛṣṇa. Someone may challenge, “Can you show me God?” and our answer is, “Yes. God can be seen at every moment.” Kṛṣṇa says, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya: “I am the taste of water.” We drink water every day, and the taste of water is there, so if we think of this taste as Kṛṣṇa, we will have begun realizing God every day. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa further says, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ: “I am the light of the sun and the moon.” Every day we receive sunlight, and in the evening there is moonshine, so if we think of the source of these emanations, we will ultimately become God conscious. There are so many similar instances given in the Bhagavad-gītā, for Kṛṣṇa is the beginning, middle, and the end of all manifestations. If we want to become God conscious and realize our own essence, it is not very difficult. We only have to understand God in truth – how He appears, how He disappears, and what His functions are – then we can become eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. After quitting this material body, a person who understands God, Kṛṣṇa, does not return again to earth to accept another material body. Where does he go? Kṛṣṇa says, mām eti: “He comes to Me.” That should be the aim of any intelligent human being.
The Science of Self-Realization
CHAPTER EIGHT
The plain truth so vividly explained in the Gītā, which is the central lesson of the Vedas, is not understood or even suspected by the most powerful scholars of the empiric schools. Herein lies the secret of Śrī Vyāsa-pūjā. When we meditate on the transcendental pastimes of the Absolute Godhead, we are proud to feel that we are His eternal servitors, and we become jubilant and dance with joy. All glory to my divine master, for it is he who has out of his unceasing flow of mercy stirred up within us such a movement of eternal existence. Let us bow down at his lotus feet.
Gentlemen, had he not appeared before us to deliver us from the thralldom of this gross worldly delusion, surely we should have remained for lives and ages in the darkness of helpless captivity. Had he not appeared before us, we would not have been able to understand the eternal truth of the sublime teaching of Lord Caitanya. Had he not appeared before us, we could not have been able to know the significance of the first śloka of the Brahma-saṁhitā:īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam“Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes.”
Personally, I have no hope for any direct service for the coming crores of births of the sojourn of my life, but I am confident that some day or other I shall be delivered from this mire of delusion in which I am at present so deeply sunk. Therefore let me with all my earnestness pray at the lotus feet of my divine master to allow me to suffer the lot for which I am destined due to my past misdoings, but to let me have this power of recollection: that I am nothing but a tiny servant of the Almighty Absolute Godhead, realized through the unflinching mercy of my divine master. Let me therefore bow down at his lotus feet with all the humility at my command.
The Science of Self-Realization
CHAPTER TWO
