Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 31

In Bhagavad-gita (6.29 and 31) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"A true yogi observes Me in all beings and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realised man sees Me everywhere.
"He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison with his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, both in their happiness and distress, O Arjuna."

In Bhagavad-gita (9.29) the Supreme Personality of Godhead again explains:
"I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him."

In the final passages of Bhagavad-gita (18.62-63) the Supreme Personality of Godhead declares:
"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart. O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy."
"O scion of Bharata, surrender to Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode."

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There is enough in the world to fulfill everyone’s needs, but not enough to fulfill everyone’s greed. In some parts of the world, people are dying from severe undernourishment, while in other parts of the world people are dying from obesity.


Siddhaswarupananda - Jagad Guru Speaks


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In Srimad Bhagavatam (3.29-21-27), Lord Kapiladeva explains:
"I am present in every living entity as the Supersoul. If someone neglects or disregards that Supersoul everywhere and engages himself in the worship of the Deity in the temple, that is simple imitation.
"One who worships the Deity of Godhead in the temples but does not know that the Supreme Lord, as Paramatma is situated in every living entity's heart, must be in ignorance and is compared to one who offers oblations into the ashes.
"One who offers Me respect but is envious of the bodies of others and is therefore a separatist never attains peace of mind, because of his inimical behaviour towards other living entities.
"My dear mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and paraphernalia, a person who is ignorant of My presence in all living entities never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the temple.
"Performing his prescribed duties, one should worship the Deity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead until one realises My presence in his own heart and in the hearts of all other living entities as well.
"As the blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to whoever makes the least discrimination between himself and other living entities because of a differential outlook.
"Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention, as well as through friendly behaviour and by viewing all to be alike, one should propitiate Me, who abide in all creatures as their very self."*

In Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka it is said:
"Devotional service to Lord Krsna pleases the heart, satisfies the senses, makes impersonal liberation seem very insignificant, fulfills all desires, and plunges all living entities into an ocean of bliss."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 30

In Bhagavad-gita (9.13-14) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.
"Always chanting My glories, endeavouring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion."

In Bhagavad-gita (10.8-11), the Supreme Personality of Godhead again explains:
"I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts."
"The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me."
"To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give them the understanding by which they can come to Me."
"Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance."

In the Mahabharata, Santi-parva, Moksa-dharma, it is said:
"O Sauta, neither following all the rules of varnasrama-dharma nor bathing in all holy rivers bring the same result one obtains by hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Narayana.

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An impersonalist yogi can be very dangerous because he may try to take the position of the Supreme Lord, believing himself to be the Supreme dominator and enjoyer of all that he surveys. This is the darkest region of ignorance. He may try to act on the illusion that he is God and that the world is his playground. He may become, in other words, a “super-hedonist.” One such “I am God”ist, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), formerly a professor at Harvard University, declares that no one exists except oneself, and that after merging with the impersonal Brahman, one returns to the world and is the world and is everyone.
If you come back into form from having merged with God ... you fill the forms [bodies] though there is no one home, it is just more lila, the dance of God.1
The late Swami Muktananda, a well-known “I am God”ist who had thousands of followers, wrote:
Assuming physical bodies, He appears as separate entities.2
According to the “I am God”ist, the apparent existence of others is just a hallucination. And since you are God, you are the creator of the laws of the universe (or as Ram Dass puts it, “You are the laws of the universe!”).3 And since you are the laws of the universe—since you are God—then there is no higher person or law to which you must subject yourself. Your will, your desire, is God's desire—God's will—so there is no need whatsoever to check or control your desires or actions. As another “I am God”ist, Werner Erhard puts it:
What you're doing is what God wants you to do. Be happy.4
So according to the “I am God”ist, since you and I—each of us—is God, whatever you and I and others are doing is what God wants us to do. You can be engaging in the most illicit or the most heinous activities, but since you are God, you are doing the will of God. Your will is God's will. In other words, he believes his will is God's will because he wrongly believes he is God.



Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda
1Ram Dass, Grist for the Mill (Santa Cruz, CA: Unity Press, 1976), p. 166.
2Swami Muktananda, Siddha Meditation, p. 59.
3Ram Dass, Remember, Be Here Now (Albuquerque, NM: Lama Foundation, 1971), p. 86.
4Quoted in Adelaide Bry, est (Erhard Seminars Training): 60 Hours That Transform Your Life (New York: Harper and Row, 1976), p. 66.


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In the Visnu Purana it is said:
"O sage, a person who day and night remembers Lord Visnu will not go to hell, for he is already purified of all his sins."

In the Visnu Purana it is also said:
"The best atonement for sins is remembering Lord Hari."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (7.5.23) it is said:
"Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Visnu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words serving Him with the body, mind and words), these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (11.29.30) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains:
"You should not share this instruction with anyone who is hypocritical, atheistic, or dishonest, or with anyone who will not listen faithfully, who is not a devotee, or who is simply not humble."

In Srimad Bhagavatam (3.21.31) the Supreme Personality of Godhead tells Kardama Muni:
"Showing compassion to all living entities, you will attain self-realisation. Giving assurance of safety to all, you will perceive your own self as well as all the universes in Me, and Myself in you."

Aphorisms of the Truth - by Bhaktivinode Thakur part 29

In the next sutra the author reveals the truth of the various other limbs of this secondary kind of devotional service (upaya-bhakti).

Sutra 35
The secondary limbs of upaya-bhakti begin with hearing and chanting, for these activities help to increase intent devotion to the Lord.

Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
The secondary limbs of upaya-bhakti begin with hearing and chanting, for these activities help to increase intent devotion to the Lord. Hearing and chanting about the Lord are different ways to worship the Lord. In Bhagavad-gita (9.14) the Supreme Personality of Godhead declares:
"Always chanting My glories, endeavouring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion."

In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.3.1 and 1.3.4) it is said:
"By the process of executing regulated devotional service, one is actually elevated onto the transcendental stage, beyond the material modes of nature. At that time one's heart becomes illuminated like the sun.
"After the outward appearance of these ecstatic symptoms, they stay within the mind and continuation of the ecstasy is called samadhi."

In the commentary on Sandilya's Bhakti-sutras it is said:
"Do fish not live in the Ganges? Do birds not perch on the roofs of temples? Still, they do not become overwhelmed with ecstatic love for the Lord. They do not obtain the spiritual benefits from the holy waters and the Lord's temple."

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There's a saying: “Misery likes company.” So-called religious fanatics are so miserable that they want to create as much havoc in society as possible. They want others to join them in their misery.


Science of Identity Foundation - Siddhaswarupananda


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Srila Rupa Gosvami (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.6) explains:
"When there is no attachment or spontaneous loving service to the Lord, and one is engaged in the service of the Lord simply out of obedience to the order of the spiritual master or in pursuance of the scriptures, such obligatory service is called vaidhi bhakti."


In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.293) Srila Rupa Gosvami says:
"Therefore, in the beginning, everyone should strictly follow the regulative principles of devotional service according to the injunctions and the spiritual master. Only after the stage of liberation from material contamination can one actually aspire to follow in the footsteps of the devotees in Vrndavana.”

In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.72) Srila Rupa Gosvami says:
"Hari-bhakti-vilasa was complied for the guidance of the Vaisnava and therein are mentioned many rules and regulations to be followed by Vaisnavas."

Srila Rupa Gosvami (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.264) again explains:
"There are nine different kinds of devotional service, which are listed as hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshipping the Deity in the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Krsna as friend, and sacrificing everything for Him. Each and every one of these processes is so powerful that if anyone follows even one single one of them, he can achieve the desired perfection without fail."

In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.245) Srila Rupa Gosvami says:
"Some scholars argue that simply by following the principles of varna and asrama one can gradually rise to the perfections reached by practicing devotional service, but this argument is not accepted by the great authorities. The advancement of varna and asrama is merely external. There is a higher principle. The higher principle is ecstatic love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the most important attainment."