The Lord is constrained to award punishment upon the wrongdoer, but He is not happy to award such punishments because the living entities are originally His parts and parcels. He is harder than the thunderbolt for the wrongdoer and softer than the rose for the faithful. The wrongdoer is misled by bad associates and by ill advice, which is against the established principles of the Lord’s order, and thus he becomes subject to punishment. The surest path to happiness is to live by the principles laid down by the Lord and not disobey His established laws, which are enacted in the Vedas and the Purāṇas for the forgetful living entities. (SB 3.3.13)

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So far as common sense is concerned, we come to the conclusion that there are three identities, namely matter, spirit and Superspirit. Now if we go to the Bhagavad-gītā, or the Vedic intelligence, we can further understand that all three identities, namely matter, individual spirit, and the Superspirit, are all dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Superself is a partial representation or plenary portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavad-gītā affirms that the Supreme Personality of Godhead dominates all over the material world by His partial representation only. God is great, and He cannot be simply an order supplier of the individual selves; therefore the Superself cannot be a full representation of the Supreme Self, Puruṣottama, the Absolute Personality of Godhead. Realization of the Superself by the individual self is the beginning of self-realization, and by the progress of such self-realization one is able to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead by intelligence, by the help of authorized scriptures, and, principally, by the grace of the Lord. The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary conception of the Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the further explanation of the science of Godhead. So if we stick to our determination and pray for the mercy of the director of intelligence sitting within the same bodily tree, like a bird sitting with another bird (as explained in the Upaniṣads), certainly the purport of the revealed information in the Vedas becomes clear to our vision, and there is no difficulty in realizing the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. The intelligent man therefore, after many births of such use of intelligence, surrenders himself at the lotus feet of Vāsudeva, as confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19).

( Excerpt from SB 2.2.23, referred to in the discussion )

https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/2/2/35/

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This hearing process is very important. Lord Caitanya, who preached Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place. Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning. One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee. In this verse particularly, the process of hearing is strongly recommended, and this is very appropriate. Although the common man is often not as capable as so-called philosophers, faithful hearing from an authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to Godhead, back to home. (BG 13.26, purport)

While we're in the material world, there's always the chance, even though I'm a declared theist, I can become an atheist very easily. In fact, the word "atheist"—you can divide, push the letter A over a little bit, and you say, "I'm a theist," but if it moves a little closer to the word and becomes "I'm atheist," that's how close I am to being a functioning atheist in this world, even if I declare myself a theist. And so, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, don't hesitate to be very humble and consider yourself really fallen and with no qualification because only in that mood can you really sincerely be a theist. Otherwise, the moment there's a sense that, "No, I have some qualification. I'm very smart; actually, my memory is better than everybody else's," or whatever it may be, then that "a" moves over very quickly. It's only a fraction of an inch, and whoever you say you are, I become a functioning or a function—I'm functioning as an atheist.

So, we pray to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, whose appearance day is on Monday, to please instill in us this sense of humility so that we can always chant The Holy Name with purity.

(excerpt from the talk)

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Mādhavendra Purī, when he found out that he was going to be glorified, he left town. And we should also, Kṛṣṇa says be nirmāna, nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā. Nirmāna means māna means the man like you're the man, so nirmāna means don't be the man, let Krishna be the man and be very humble. So here we can pray to Mādhavendra Purī. You can pray whatever you wish, but it's just a suggestion to ask Mādhavendra Purī to have this sense of deep humility and not wanting anything in return for our devotional service.

Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, dear Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu dear Mādhavendra Purī Pāda, if you so desire, please let us embrace the verse 'tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā' and become free from māna or the desire for recognition in our devotion service. (Excerpt fro the talk)

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...and He goes on to explain in great detail what is the real qualification. It's not that one has the status of a brāhmaṇa, but it's one's a devotee. In Prahlāda Mahārāja's prayers (SB 7.9.10), he says, "viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha-pādāravinda-vimukhāt śvapacaṁ variṣṭham manye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha-prāṇaṁ punāti sa kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ." He says that I think that even if somebody's from a brahmana status and has all twelve of the brahminical qualifications—there's a book called Sanat-sujāta that describes all the ways that one should conform to brahminism—he says even if somebody has all those qualities, but they're not a devotee, they're averse to devotional service, he said such a person can't purify himself even with all these brahminical qualifications.

He said but a person who comes from a low family, how low? Somebody who's got a pretty inferior diet, śvapaca. It's one of the ways that status is meted out, is by what people eat. That's pretty common. So if somebody comes from one of those families where they eat things that would cause other people to cringe who are in the mode of goodness, Prahlāda Mahārāja says if they come from that background, but they've become a devotee, then they're purified. What's more, they can purify not just themselves, but also their families and everybody else. It's the main consideration if one's a devotee or not a devotee. And so, Mahāprabhu, when He found out that... (excerpt from the talk)

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Oh! In the towns and villages of Nadiya, Lord Nityananda dances and dances ecstatically while singing these divine names, and Bhaktivinoda falls down at His reddish lotus feet. ( Translation)

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In the Gita, Kṛṣṇa gives some indication (BG 3.9): yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara. That if you do some yagya in any place, any time, then you'll feel naturally satisfied because this is our eternal constitutional position. We enjoy unlimitedly by serving Krishna. The more we give to Krishna, the happier we become. Naivātmanaḥ prabhur ayaṁ nija-lābha-pūrṇaḥ mānaṁ janād aviduṣaḥ karuṇo vṛṇīte yad yaj jano bhagavate vidadhīta mānaṁ tac cātmane prati-mukhasya yathā mukha-śrīḥ (SB 7.9.11).

Prahlāda Mahārāja says that those who are properly aligned know that the more they give to Kṛṣṇa, the happier they become because he says, and he gives it an example, we're parts of Kṛṣṇa. We're like reflections of Kṛṣṇa. The way if you look in the mirror, you'll see your reflection, and if you stand in front of the mirror and decorate your face, put on nice tilak or gopi dots, then you'll look and see that the reflection is also decorated. So, he gives this example that we feel naturally happy when we make an arrangement for Kṛṣṇa's senses to be satisfied.

One of the ways that Ekadasi is especially honored is because it's a day in which there's a surge from the moon, and the senses become more active. So, the devotees' reasoning is, well, Kṛṣṇa's senses can get more enjoyment on this day of Ekadashi, so we'll just fast and feed Kṛṣṇa and serve Kṛṣṇa as much as possible on Ekadashi. Because the devotees' idea is that the more sense gratification we give to Kṛṣṇa, then the happier we are. Of course, they're not considering, are the devotees, that I'll be happy by serving Kṛṣṇa. They're just aware of the fact that they only want to serve. They're just aware of the fact that they only want to serve Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa, of course, notices that the devotees in serving him selflessly, are enjoying more than he is. This is the reason for.... (Excerpt from the talk)

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