Prabhupada at Home
Of all his various contributions, Srila Prabhupada considered his books most important. In fact, he would often describe his work of translating and explaining the ancient Vedic texts as his very life and soul. In 1970, Srila Prabhupada founded the Bhaktivedanta Boot Trust, now the world's largest publisher of Vedic literature. Through its work over the last quarter of a century, millions of people have read at least one of Srila Prabhupada's books and have felt their lives genuinely enriched. Here is a brief introduction to the spiritual knowledge you will find within those books.
Srila Prabhupada's Books Highlight the Importance of the Human Form of Life
There are many forms of life on this planet. There are immovable forms such as trees and plants, and a vast array of aquatic, insect, bird, beast, and mammalian forms as well. Our human form is also one among these varied forms of life, yet even a casual observer would have to agree that we human beings are endowed with unique capacities that distinguish us from all other forms of life. What exactly are those unique capacities?We can begin answering this question with another. What is it that distinguishes a living form from a nonliving form? The answer is consciousness, or awareness. All living forms display this symptom of consciousness to one degree or another. That is why we call them living rather than dead. Even the small microbial germ or the common houseplant shows signs of consciousness, whereas our dining table and chairs do not.
It is also evident that different forms of life display different degrees and levels of consciousness, and the human form represents the highest development of consciousness that we know. It is this greater development of consciousness, then, that distinguishes the human being from all other forms of life on the planet.
But what is it aobut our consciousness that makes it so different from the insect, the bird, the beast, or even the monkey? These creatures eat and we also eat; they sleep and we also sleep; they reproduce and we reproduce; they defend themselves and so do we. That we can perform these functions with greater sophistication may be one indicator that we possess higher consciousness, but it does not fully explain our excellence above all other forms of life.
A more satisfactory explanation is found in our ability to quastion our existence, reflect upon our selves, and inquire into our own nature and the nature of God. We can create languages, ponder the meaning of life, and puzzle in wonderment over the nighttime sky. Such an endowment is not present in any other form of life.
The Vedas therefore advise that in this human form of life we should be inquisitive to know who we are, what the universe is, what God is, and what the relationship is between ourselves, the universe, and God.
We should inquire about the solution to the ultimate problems of life, namely birth, death, old age, and disease. Such questions cannot be asked by the cats and dogs, but they must arise in the heart of a real human being.
Srila Prabhupada's Books Reveal the Perfect Knowledge of the Vedas
If we can accept the importance of this type of inquiry, our next consideration will naturally be where to find authoritative answers to such questions. Clearly, if perfect knowledge concerning questions of the self, the universe, and God exists at all, it would have to be of a standard higher than just your opinion of my opinion, or for that matter Freud's or Einsteing's or anyone else's opinion.Because all of us have imperfect senses and because we are all prone to make mistakes, our relative opinions abotu matters beyond our experience can supply neither valid nor reliable information.
Thus our attempt to approach such matters empirically will be fraught with various imperfections and ultimately fail. Therefore, so-called truths established exclusively on the basis of mental speculation cannot help us understand the Absolute Truth, which is beyond the reach of the imperfect senses and mind.
The Vedas explain that if we want to know about things beyond the jurisdiction of our experience - beyond the limitations of human perception and cognition - the process is to hear from one who knows. The transcendental knowledge of the Vedas was first uttered by teh Supreme Lord Himself.
The Lord, the supremely powerful being, cannot fall under the influence of any other force. As a logical consequence, His knowledge must be perfect. And anyone who transmits that knowledge without change gives the same perfect knowledge. We need only accept this proposition theoretically to progress in our understanding of Vedic thought.
The idea is that the perfect knowledge of the Vedas has been preserved over time by transmission through an unbroken chain of spiritual masters. Srila Prabhupada represents one such disciplic chain or succession. That succession goes back thousands of years to Lord Krsna himself. Thus the knowledge found within Srila Prabhupada's books is nondifferent from that which was originally imparted by the Supreme Lord. Srila Prabhupada did not manufacture "truths." He merely delivered the timeless teachings of the original Vedas without addition, deletion, or change.
The writings of Srila Prabhupada are represented mainly by three Vedic text - the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Caitanya-caritamrta. Together these works of literature comprise more than 25 volumes of detailed information constituting the original Vedic science of God-realization, or bhagavata-dharma. Their translation into the English language, along with elaborate explanations, constitutes Srila Prabhupada's most significant contribution to the spiritual, intellectual, and cultural life of the world.
Srila Prabhupada's Books Present a Universal Science of God-Realization
The Vedic teachings presented in Srila Prabhupada's books can be summarized under three general headings, known in Sanskrit as sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Sambandha means our relationship with God, abhidheya means acting in that relationship, and prayojana means the ultimate goal or perfection. These three divisions of understanding represent universal principles common to all religious teachings of the world.The knowledge described in Srila Prabhupada's books enables anyone to advance in his or her understanding of God without having to change current religious, national, or cultural affiliations. The science of how to understand God, how to understand one's relationship with God, and how to develop love for God has nothing to do with sectarian designations like "Christian", "Hindu", or "Jew". These are objectives no religion in the world could deny. They are, in other words, the essence of religion - universal features by which all religions may be understood.
Preferences regarding God's holy name may differ from one religion to another, modes of worship may differ, and details of ritual and doctrine may differ as well. But the test is how much the practitioner actually develops knowledge of God and love for God. Real religion means to learn to love God. And how to love God is the sum and substance of the teachings found in Srila Prabhupada's books.
Srila Prabhupada's Books Explain the Difference Between the Self and the Body
Without exception, all material phenomena have a beginnging and an end. A prominent idea of modern culture is that consciousness is another such material phenomenon. Thus it is believed that consciousness (or the self) also ends with the death of the material body. This point of view, however, remains only an assumption. It has not been proven true by any scientific observation or experiment.Nonetheless, the idea that the self ends with the body remains one of the great articles of faith of modern materialistic thought, and most of us have been educated from early childhood to think of ourselves in terms of such beliefs. Few of us, however, have thought through the philosophical implications of this type of thinking, which draws us unconsciously toward voidistic and nihilistic styles of life.
The most basic of the Vedic teachings stands in direct opposition to the modern scientific view of consciousness and life. According to that teaching, individual consciousness is not at all dependent upon neurobiological functions but permanently exists as an independent reality.
The presence within the material body of a conscious observer who remains ever present throughout changing bodily and mental states indicates the existence of two energies - the spiritual energy (represented by the conscious self) and the material energy (represented by the temporary body). The Vedas explain that this spiritual energy, symptomized by consciousness, continues to exist even after the material body is finished.
If each of us is an eternal soul covered only by different temporary bodily dresses, we can reasonably conclude that the highest welfare activity for all of human society is that which awakens us to our true spiritual identity and our dormant relationship with God. That activity is called Krsna consciousness.
Just as there is neither glory nor profit in saving the dress of a drowning man, there is neither glory nor profit in humanitarian efforts aimed exclusively at improving conditions for the temporary, material body, which in the end is destined to grow old, become diseased, and die.
As Srila Prabhupada himself notest in Srimad-Bhagavatam: "The actual self is beyond the gross body and subtle mind. He is the potent, active principle of the body and mind.
"Without knowing the need of the dormant soul, one cannot be happy simply with the gratification of the body and mind... The spirit soul's needs must be fulfilled. Simply by cleansing the cage of the bird, one does not satisfy the bird...
"There is dormant affection for God within everyone... Therefore we have to engage ourselves in activities that will evoke our divine consciousness. This is possible only by hearing and chanting the divine activities of the Supreme Lord.
"Thus any occupational engagement which does not help one to achieve attachment for hearing and chanting the transcendental message of God is said... to be simply a waste of time."
External links:
Srila Prabhupada speaks
KK Bindu
Cooking with Kurma
Mayapur Worldwide
Sri Mayapur - The Spiritual Capital of the World
Vaisnava Calendar
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