Srila Prabhupada consoles a devotee

I heard after coming from Puri that the Boy ' Tota' had passed away.though Tota is your son ,he is a devotee of the Lord. a Vaishnava had come to your house and you have served him and he taking whatever services from you has left accordingly.The living entity comes into this material world by the effects of his previous works and later after the demise of his body is sent by Baladeva according to his merit to a proper situation.If you have considered serving Lord Vishnu in the form of your son then you would not have such a loss;The Lord as the Supersoul existed in your son ,continue serving the Lord and do not be disturbed.The body of Tota' has mixed with the elements though he is still steadfastly engaged in the service of the Lord somewhere.Actually the real enjoyer is the Supreme Lord and Tota is in his proper place in his devout service to the Lord somewherelse.The Lord is showering His causeless mercy on you because he is taking you over the conditioning of this world.Remember the action taken by the son of Vyasa on the event of his birth,also in the Chaitanya Bhaghavat,Mahaprabhu did tell his mother,wife and relatives on the day of taking the renounced order,' that as a human being I have different relationships with all of You but please give me a chance to serve Lord Hari in my independent way and endeavour to establish in my absence the connection you have for me with the Supreme Lord.You should take this advice to heart and in the absence of Tota to establish the relation with the Supreme Lord.Everything the Lord does is for the good of humanity.I am only a conditioned soul and that is the limit of my understanding.

anathas and how to overcome it

Most people are fixed in following their own devious methods which are not recommeneded by scripture or saintly people therefore the gaudiya sampradaya does not give give indulgence to such.This is the nature of 'anartha'Those who indulge in blasphemy accumalate offences and suffer greatly.The devotees follow the divine message of Mahaprabhu and give up the path of inauspiciousness while renouncing all bad association.Our predecessor acaryas have always exclaimed that one should give up Bad association and take to Holy association whilst doing our bhajan.It is of paramount importance to give up those who are are enmeshed in their anarthas so to speak and take to the spiritual teachings of the highly evolved saints who can cut out our anarthas.Sometimes a devotee who is full of anarthas may pretend to serve the Lord whilst engaging in all sorts of wrong doings , but that cannot be in any way termed as bhakti or devotion to the Lord.
There are many who are completely deviant in their understanding of the gaudiya siddhanta or
conclusions and by nurturing such they end up to become the greatest enemies of the sampradaya.Such type of bad association should definitely be avoided if one wants to make spiritual advancement.The other way to overcome anarthas is to keep a fixed count on the chanting of a lakh of holy names daily and endeavour to maintain it.
Those who are eagerly accumalating weath and objects of pleasure for sense enjoyment fall down ,the devotees are always compassionate upon such people and that is the real compassion exhibited in their preaching.Those who have become overcome by offenses should follow Mahaprabhu's regime and instruction in order to overcome such offenses.Still,for the sincere disciple who may be committing offenses ,the divine spiritual master may easily wipe out such offenses and set his disciple afresh while those who do not have a guru will certainly die in their anarthas.

eclipse of the moon

Usually the time of the esclipse whether of the sun or the moon is considered an impure time .In this context, impure time is in regard to the performance of religous activities which is conducted usually and in this inauspicious time all such are regarded as taboo.According to Srila Prabhupada, one who is following the regulated principles of devotional service in our disciplic sucession should not neglect such rules completely but adjust in such a way that the maximum service to the Lord can be made possible in these circumstances.Before Mahaprabhu preached the doctrine of love at that time the devotees used to bathe in the Ganga at the time of eclipse according to regulation.But after the propogation of the Holy Name the holy name is considered the most important in comparison to other rituals and should chanted all the time'There is no auspicious or inauspicious time in regard to this.Those who want to aquire pious activities think greatly in terms of all the above rituals and are very rigid in observance of such rules to the letter.In contrast the devotees of the Lord think all these rules as insignificant and do not do any works in expectation of the results.

Sriman Mahaprabhu did not advocate caste differenciation

During one time a scholar of the Brahma Samaj came to see Srila Prabhupad and he was of the opinion that Mahaprabhu was an advocate of the caste differentiation that was prevalent in those times. Srila Prabhupad firmly refuted this point by remarking that Sriman Mahaprabhu was neutral on that score and unattached but in order to make for less chaos in society, he externally followed the strictures of behavior as exhibited by all people especially the ritualistic workers ,he being of the higher caste Himself. Notwithstanding, there was never a time that he regarded a devotee of the Lord in terms of his birth or caste while on the other hand, he rigidly did not accept cooked food from non devotees even though the person concerned may hail from a high caste. This was typical in all His dealings .Only the Brahmin who daily chanted a lakh of holy names and worshipped Vishnu purely was able to able to serve and offer Him cooked grains. In this context there is the example of the Sannodiya Brahmin who was a simple and pure devotee and disciple of Madhvendra Puri who’s cooking would be taboo in normal circumstances for ascetics to accept but Mahaprabhu did eat in his house. In short, one of the most important instruction that Mahaprabhu had left the world is not to consider and treat a devotee on the stigma of his previous birth or caste and also to view the remnants of the food offered to the Supreme Lord in the perspective of ordinary rice, dhal or grain. The servants of the Lord and the food offered to the Lord are all transcendental and cannot be compared to as material therefore Mahaprabhu forbade such differentiation in this respect. The smarta or ritualistic workers are adamant in their defense of caste preservation while the Brahma Samaj and like societies want to end it all together .In this respect the devotees only want to serve the Lord and act favorably to carry out devotional service while giving up all such designations which is in the bodily conception of life .

The Names of Gaura and Nityananda

In our materially contaminated state the holy name of Krishna which is transcendental cannot be savoured to the full measure, for the offender to the Name is not able to attain devotional bliss or love of Godhead.In that impure condition, if the living entity is able to chant the name of Gaura- Nityananda with devotional sincerity then his impurities gradually fade away.Conversely, if one takes the Names of the Lordships in order to increase his bodily enjoyments including one's name and fame then his chanting of the name of Gaura will not have any spiritual bearing in the least.A simple example to illustrate this point is say Calcutta is 2 miles west of Howrah but if any one walking two miles in the eastern direction from Calcutta were to audaciously claim that he had reached Howrah, then he will definitely be in illusion.In the same way a pilgrim who though chanting offensively is unaware of the fact thinking his chanting is on a divine plane but the fact remains that he will never be able to get Love of Godhead.There are some goons and rogues too who also take the name of Gaura-Nityananda to commit robberies and looting,however such type of chanting can never bring any auspicious results.Their Lordships Gaura -Nityananda are most compassionate and therefore the sincere souls who take their names in submission and humility will receive their mercy to the full measure in that their offences will be mitigated and they will be able to obtain Love of Godhead.The son is important only because he is able to save his father from hell but if the son does not do devotional service to Lord Hari then the name son is merely a farce because his father will never derive any benefit in his after life and his attempt in raising such children is simply troublesome endeavour.

The best solution to all the common problems facing the world today

SriChaitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed the devotees to perform welfare work for society,many people have a muddled conception of welfare work thinking it in the context of helping the poor or the unfortunate amongst society,In actual fact, real help is not some tiny,narrow,fluctuating temporary benefit for the individual as fathomed by the majority.Most of the so called welfare work that had been misconstrued by different people for the individual or nation benefit has never succeeded in solving the main problems that society faces today.The Bhagavat announces :
vedyam vastav atra vastu sivadam tapatrayonmulanam
which means only delving into the real truth which is auspicious can provide succour from the three forms of material miseries besetting the misguided people of now .Those people who have tried to counter these miseries by their speculative methods have only been able to provide some temporary relief for the public but such have failed to avert continual distress in the long run.As long as the cause of all our problems is not investigated there will never be a permanent solution.An example is if the root of a Banyan tree is uprooted then only will the tree be destroyed but simply cutting of its numerous branches time and again will not stop the tree from growing.Another comparison is of all the methods devised by man for so called world benefit is like trying to dry a ocean with thousands of people using their palms to scoop out the water.Do you think we can dry an ocean in that manner?Artificial methods are simply in vain for the real problems that face society except for the one mentioned above regarding the Supreme Truth.The insurmountable, illusory energy of the Supreme Lord covers us in manifold ways and until and unless we can mitigate this there will be always constant difficulties.In short, until we can perform devotional service to the Supreme Lord by service and surrender, there is no other way to escape distress.The Supreme Lord is the only complete Being ,full of all opulence's and the supreme of all truths ,by glorifying Him and service to Him alone can all nations and individuals alike aspire for peace and contentment .He is beyond the mind and senses of ordinary men so it is foolish to evaluate the Creator by the ordinary,puny mind which He has endowed all mortals .He is the goal of all who want to drink immortality.The only way to know him is to ascend the eternal path traversed by the great souls who have actually realized the Supreme Truth in the heart and stand testimony to the words of the Holy Scripture by their actions.The basis of all is simple faith and obedience to His words and with the guidance of saintly people all of a nation's woes will definitely go to naught,but unfortunately blind leaders who cannot see only warrant chaos for the general bewildered population for they do not see what is essential for the permanent welfare of the populace.

the Truth of Sriman Mahaprahu

Sriman Mahaprabhu played the part of a householder in Nawadvip not only to rejuvenate the consciousness of the afflicted people who was immersed in material consciousness but also to award practical instruction to the majority of the householders of how to lead a spiritually attuned life.He told his wife and mother to view the Supreme Lord Krishna in the mood of , husband and son respectively and thus be able to overcome ordinary attachments of affection.Later, He took the renounced order leaving his young wife and old mother to mitigate the distress of the fallen suffering souls of the world.There is a difference between the renunciation of Lord Buddha and that of Sriman Mahaprabhu for Mahaprabhu did not aspire for either enlightenment nor was he trying to give up the bondage accruing to family life.He was replete in knowledge and all the godly opulence but out of compassion for the fallen souls ,He took the renounced order to be able to shower the highest gift of pure devotional service to the masses that had never been given so easily by any other incarnation of the Lord .For that reason, He is acclaimed as the most magnanimous.He was never in lack of anything, no fear of that for He was the Supreme Lord Himself, for the reason ,He had the sole monopoly of that pure devotional mellows and only He was eligible to give that spiritual nectar which is aspired by even the demigods including Lord Siva and Lord Brahma.Nobody else can give what He had given except the Supreme Lord ,Krishna so that stands to testimony that He is the Supreme Lord.He did not discriminate in the matter of giving for even trees and many fierce animals like elephants and tigers were subjects of His mercy as the records unravel.He awarded his mercy to the most fallen and lowly who were humble to plead before Him, ignoring those who were puffed up with their wealth,knowledge and so called aristocratic birth .To the Supreme Lord such arrogance and exhibition were comparable to straw.To those that were repentant and approached him with humility he gave them the nectar of pure devotional service irrespective of their birth and creed .Women,untouchables all received such favours equally from Him.This is the compassion of God and true religion .It is true that many great divinities like the Christ and others had walked this earth but Mahaprabhu 's extreme compassion stands as a testimony for he gave freely what had never been given before which is pure devotional service. He reestablished the process of achieving spiritual enlightenment in this Iron age which is by the chanting of the Holy names of the Lord without offences.I, the author supplicate at His lotus feet in the event of His appearance day admitting myself as the lowest of all and Begging for His mercy and compassion