THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
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My Guru Maharaja, Part 3
(Srila Prabhupada's guru maharaj, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada)

"If I create one moon, that is sufficient. I don't want many stars. That was my Guru Mahārāja's principle, and that is my principle. What is the use of having number of fools and rascals? If one man understands rightly, he can deliver the whole world."

(Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, Bombay, March 23, 1974)

"My Guru Maharaja used to say, 'Anything material, if it is used for the service of Krishna, it is a mistake to give it up.' Because I have understood this principle, he used to appreciate me in front of my godbrothers."

(Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 20, 1971)

"My Guru Mahārāja used to say if somebody complained that 'We go and chant, but nobody attends our meeting,' so Guru Mahārāja would reply that 'Why? The four walls will hear you. That is sufficient. Don't be disappointed. Go on chanting. If there are four walls, they will hear. That's all.' So chanting is so effective that it benefits even the animals, beasts, birds, insects, everyone. Go on. This is the best welfare activity."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Vrindavan, November 7, 1972)

"My Guru Mahārāja used to say that 'Don't make a guru just like you keep a dog, as a fashion." Nowadays it has become a fashion to keep a dog. In the European, American countries it is a compulsory fashion to have a dog. Everyone keeps a dog. And they love dog very much, more than anything."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Vrindavan, September 30, 1976)

"My Guru Maharaja used to say 'don't worry about money, Do something nice for Krishna and money will come.' So we should always be thinking how to distribute the message of Krishna and surely He will give us facility. Even an ordinary man if he wants publicity then he gives so much money for the propaganda work. Similarly Krishna is not poor. He can supply any amount for the devotees who are engaged in broadcasting His glories."

(Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 30, 1970)

"My spiritual master used to say this, that 'Philosophy without religion is mental speculation, and religion without philosophy is sentimental.' We cannot separate these two things. Simple philosophical speculation will not help, and simple sentiments, rituals, formalities, will not also. They should be combined. So this combination is here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā."

(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, Rome, May 24, 1974)

Prabhupāda: My Guru Mahārāja used to say, "When our men will be sahajiyā, he will be more dangerous."

Devotee: Our own men.

Prabhupāda: Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said that "When our men will be sahajiyā, oh, they'll be more dangerous." So our men are becoming, some of them, sahajiyās. This very word he said, that "When our men will be sahajiyās he'll be more dangerous."

(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, Bhuvanesvara, January 24, 1977)

"We have to see how much his love for Kṛṣṇa has increased, that is the test. Not the formalities. That is the test, how much he has sacrificed for Kṛṣṇa, how much he is prepared to sacrifice for Kṛṣṇa. If one takes Kṛṣṇa for making business, that is different thing, that is not devotion. Śālagrāma, my Guru Maharaja used to say śālagrām bir badam hoy... Just like you have seen śālagrāma. So if somebody takes that and breaks peanuts, so there is no devotion. It is a show during, attracting the visitors, it is nicely decorated, but in their absence, take it and you will have stone. So all this mostly the temple show is going on like that. They have made it a show of business. The devotees will come and pay something and I may have devotion or not devotion, it doesn't matter."

(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, Jaipur, January 19, 1972)

"My Guru Mahārāja used to say that 'Instead of earning your livelihood by presenting yourself as a Vaiṣṇava, better you become a sweeper in the street and earn your livelihood. Don't cheat.' That was the order of my Guru Mahārāja. 'It is better to become a sweeper in the street than to become a false Vaiṣṇava.' That is real philosophy."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Surat, December 19, 1970)

"Suppose you get another human life. Is it guaranteed? You may fall down again. So my Guru Mahārāja used to say that 'Finish all business in this life.' Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum (SB 5.5.18). Finish this business of birth, death, old age and disease in this life. You can do that. This is our main business, not to make arrangement for eating, sleeping, mating and defending under different garb, under different pretext. That is not our business."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Honolulu, January 20, 1974)

"So Kali-yuga, people are suffering. They're all fallens, all meat-eaters, all drunkards, all fifth-grade, sixth-grade men. They are puffed-up, but actually they are fifth-, sixth- and tenth-grade men, not even gentlemen. Therefore my Guru Mahārāja used to say that 'No gentleman can live here. The society is so polluted.' But the, there is opportunity of serving Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because the society is so fallen, therefore there is good opportunity to serve Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's incarnation is to reclaim these fallen souls. So you have got the opportunity to serve Śrī Caitan..., to please Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu because He wanted the fallen souls to be delivered."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Vrindavan, August 4, 1974)

"When there is fight, my Guru Mahārāja used to say, 'Some of our soldiers will die. It doesn't matter.' You don't expect that not a single soldier of your party will not die. No, some of them will die. Still fight must go on. Fight cannot be stopped. So fight like brave soldiers, Kṛṣṇa will help you. Don't make any compromise. No truce with these demons. Fight must be."

(Srila Prabhupada Conversation, Bhuvanesvara, February 3, 1977)

"My Guru Mahārāja said that 'You go to the western country.' If he had said that 'You go to the jungle,' I would have gone. Preacher... either the jungle or the city is the same. Nārāyaṇa-paraḥ na kutaścana bibhayati. One who is devotee of the Lord, he does not make any discrimination that 'This is jungle and this is city.' Svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ (SB 6.17.28). For them, everywhere, Kṛṣṇa's property. So where Kṛṣṇa asks him to go and serve, he will go. That's all."

(Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, Chicago, July 8, 1975)
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