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Everybody is looking for KRISHNA.
Some don't realize that they are, but they are.
KRISHNA is GOD, the Source
of all that exists, the Cause of all that is, was, or ever will be. As GOD is
unlimited HE has many Names. Allah-Buddha-Jehova-Rama: All are KRISHNA, all are
ONE.
God is not abstract; He
has both the impersonal and the personal aspects to His personality which is SUPREME,
ETERNAL, BLISSFUL, and full of KNOWLEDGE. As a single drop of water has the same
qualities as an ocean of water, so has our consciousness the qualities of GOD'S
consciousness... but through our identification and attachment with material energy
(physical body, sense pleasures, material possessions, ego, etc.) our true TRANSCENDENTAL
CONSCIOUSNESS has been polluted, and like a dirty mirror it is unable to reflect
a pure image. With many lives our association with the TEMPORARY has grown. This
impermanent body, a bag of bones and flesh, is mistaken for our true self, and
we have accepted this temporary condition to be final.
Through all ages, great
SAINTS have remained as living proof that this non-temporary, permanent state
of GOD CONSCIOUSNESS can be revived in all living Souls. Each soul is potentially
divine. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita: "Steady in the Self, being freed from
all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of
happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness." (VI,28)
YOGA (a scientific method
for GOD (SELF) realization) is the process by which we purify our consciousness,
stop further pollution, and arrive at the state of Perfection, full KNOWLEDGE,
full BLISS.
If there's a God, I want
to see Him. It's pointless to believe in something without proof, and Krishna
Consciousness and meditation are methods where you can actually obtain GOD perception.
You can actually see God, and Hear Him, play with Him. It might sound crazy, but
He is actually there, actually with you.
There are many yogic Paths--Raja,
Jnana, Hatha, Kriya, Karma, Bhakti--which are all acclaimed by the MASTERS of
each method. SWAMI BHAKTIVEDANTA is as his title says, a BHAKTI Yogi following
the path of DEVOTION. By serving GOD through each thought, word, and DEED, and
by chanting HIS Holy Names, the devotee quickly develops God-consciousness. By
chanting:
Hare
Krishna, Hare Krishna - Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama - Rama Rama, Hare Hare
one inevitably arrives at
KRISHNA Consciousness. (The proof of the pudding is in the eating!)
I request that you take
advantage of this book KRISHNA, and enter into its understanding. I also request
that you make an appointment to meet your God now, through the self liberating
process of YOGA (UNION) and GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (KRISHNA)
HARI BOL.
GEORGE HARRISON 31/3/70
Apple Corps Ltd 3 Savile Row, London WI Gerrard
2772/3993 Telex Apcore London
- From
original Krishna Book -
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami prabhupada
Who is KRISHNA
by His
Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
(from the Preface of "Krishna")
In these Western countries,
when someone sees the cover of a book like Krishna, he immediately asks, "Who
is Krishna? Who is the girl with Krishna?" etc.
The immediate answer is
that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How is that? Because He conforms
in exact detail to descriptions of the Supreme Being, the Godhead. In other words,
Krishna is the Godhead because He is all-attractive. Outside the principle of
all-attraction, there is no meaning to the word Godhead. How is it one can be
all-attractive? First of all, if one is very wealthy, if he has great riches,
he becomes attractive to the people in general. Similarly, if someone is very
powerful, he also becomes attractive, and if someone is very famous, he also becomes
attractive, and if someone is very beautiful or wise or unattached to all kinds
of possessions, he also becomes attractive. So from practical experience we can
observe that one is attractive due to 1) wealth, 2) power, 3) fame, 4) beauty,
5) wisdom, and 6) renunciation. One who is in possession of all six of these opulences
at the same time, who possesses them to an unlimited degree, is understood to
be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These opulences of the Godhead are delineated
by Parasara Muni, a great Vedic authority.
We have seen many rich persons,
many powerful persons, many famous persons, many beautiful persons, many learned
and scholarly persons, and persons in the renounced order of life unattached to
material possessions. But we have never seen any one person who is unlimitedly
and simultaneously wealthy, powerful, famous, beautiful, wise and unattached,
like Krishna, in the history of humanity. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
is an historical person who appeared on this earth 5,000 years ago. He stayed
on this earth for 125 years and played exactly like a human being, but His activities
were unparalleled. From the very moment of His appearance to the moment of His
disappearance, every one of His activities is unparalleled in the history of the
world, and therefore anyone who knows what we mean by Godhead will accept Krishna
as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. No one is equal to the Godhead, and no
one is greater than Him. That is the import of the familiar saying, "God
is great."
There are various classes
of men in the world who speak of God in different ways, but according to Vedic
literatures and according to the great acaryas, the authorized persons versed
in the knowledge of God, in all ages, like acaryas Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva,
Visnusvami, Lord Caitanya and all their followers by disciplic succession, all
unanimously agree that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As far as
we, the followers of Vedic civilization, are concerned, we accept the Vedic history
of the whole universe, which consists of different planetary systems called Svargalokas,
or the higher planetary system, Martyalokas, or the intermediary planetary system,
and Patalalokas, or the lower planetary system. The modern historians of this
earth cannot supply historical evidences of events that occurred before 5,000
years ago, and the anthropologists say that 40,000 years ago Homo sapiens had
not appeared on this planet because evolution had not reached that point. But
the Vedic histories, the Puranas and Mahabharata, relate human histories which
extend millions and billions of years into the past.
For example, from these
literatures we are given the histories of Krishna's appearances and disappearances
millions and billions of years ago. In the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita
Krishna tells Arjuna that both He and Arjuna had had many births before and that
He (Krishna) could remember all of them and that Arjuna could not. This illustrates
the difference between the knowledge of Krishna and that of Arjuna. Arjuna might
have been a very great warrior, a well-cultured member of the Kuru dynasty, but
after all, he was an ordinary human being, whereas Krishna, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, is the possessor of unlimited knowledge. Because He possesses unlimited
knowledge, Krishna has a memory that is boundless.
Krishna's knowledge is so
perfect that He remembers all the incidents of His appearances some millions and
billions of years in the past, but Arjuna's memory and knowledge are limited by
time and space, for he is an ordinary human being. In the Fourth Chapter Krishna
states that He can remember instructing the lessons of the Bhagavad-gita some
millions of years ago to the sun-god, Vivasvan.
Nowadays it is the fashion
of the atheistic class of men to try to become God by following some mystic process.
Generally the atheists claim to be God by dint of their imagination or their meditational
prowess. Krishna is not that kind of God. He does not become God by manufacturing
some mystic process of meditation, nor does He become God by undergoing the severe
austerities of the mystic yogic exercises. Properly speaking, He never becomes
God because He is the Godhead in all circumstances.
Within the prison of His
maternal uncle Kamsa, where His father and mother were confined, Krishna appeared
outside His mother's body as the four-handed Visnu-Narayana. Then He turned Himself
into a baby and told His father to carry Him to the house of Nanda Maharaja and
his wife Yasoda. When Krishna was just a small baby the gigantic demoness Putana
attempted to kill Him, but when He sucked her breast He pulled out her life. That
is the difference between the real Godhead and a God manufactured in the mystic
factory. Krishna had no chance to practice the mystic yoga process, yet He manifested
Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead at every step, from infancy to childhood,
from childhood to boyhood, and from boyhood to young manhood. In this book Krishna,
all of His activities as a human being are described. Although Krishna plays like
a human being, He always maintains His identity as the Supreme Personality of
Godhead.
 Since
Krishna is all-attractive, one should know that all his desires should be focused
on Krishna. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that the individual person is the
proprietor or master of the body but Krishna, who is the Supersoul present in
everyone's heart, is the supreme proprietor and supreme master of each and every
individual body. As such, if we concentrate our loving propensities upon Krishna
only, then immediately universal love, unity and tranquillity will be automatically
realized. When one waters the root of a tree, he automatically waters the branches,
twigs, leaves and flowers; when one supplies food to the stomach through the mouth,
he satisfies all the various parts of the body.
The art of focusing one's
attention on the Supreme and giving one's love to Him is called Krishna consciousness.
We have inaugurated the Krishna consciousness movement so that everyone can satisfy
his propensity for loving others simply by directing his love towards Krishna. The
whole world is very much anxious to satisfy the dormant propensity of love for
others, but the inventions of various methods like socialism, communism, altruism,
humanitarianism, nationalism, and whatever else may be manufactured for the peace
and prosperity of the world, are all useless and frustrating because of our gross
ignorance of the art of loving Krishna. Generally people think that by advancing
the cause of moral principles and religious rites, they will be happy. Others
may think that happiness can be achieved by economic development, and yet others
think that simply by sense gratification they will be happy. But the real fact
is that people can only be happy by loving Krishna.
Krishna can perfectly reciprocate
one's loving propensities in different relationships called mellows or rasas.
Basically there are twelve loving relationships. One can love Krishna as the supreme
unknown, as the supreme master, the supreme friend, the supreme child, the supreme
lover. These are the five basic love rasas. One can also love Krishna indirectly
in seven different relationships, which are apparently different from the five
primary relationships. All in all, however, if one simply reposes his dormant
loving propensity in Krishna, then his life becomes successful. This is not a fiction
but is a fact that can be realized by practical application. One can directly
perceive the effects that love for Krishna has on his life.
In the Ninth Chapter of
the Bhagavad-gita this science of Krishna consciousness is called the king of all
knowledge, the king of all confidential things, and the supreme science of transcendental
realization. Yet we can directly experience the results of this science of Krishna
consciousness because it is very easy to practice and is very pleasurable. Whatever
percentage of Krishna consciousness we can perform will become an eternal asset
to our life, for it is imperishable in all circumstances. It has now been actually
proved that today's confused and frustrated younger generation in the Western
countries can directly perceive the results of channeling the loving propensity
toward Krishna alone.
It is said that although
one executes severe austerities, penances and sacrifices in his life, if he fails
to awaken his dormant love for Krishna, then all his penances are to be considered
useless. On the other hand, if one has awakened his dormant love for Krishna, then
what is the use in executing austerities and penances unnecessarily?
The Krishna consciousness
movement is the unique gift of Lord Caitanya to the fallen souls of this age.
It is a very simple method which has actually been carried out during the last
four years in the Western countries, and there is no doubt that this movement
can satisfy the dormant loving propensities of humanity. This book Krishna is another
presentation to help the Krishna consciousness movement in the Western world. This
transcendental literature is published in two parts with profuse illustrations.
People love to read various kinds of fiction to spend their time and energy. Now
this tendency can be directed to Krishna. The result will be the imperishable satisfaction
of the soul, both individually and collectively.
It is said in the Bhagavad-gita
that even a little effort expended on the path of Krishna consciousness can save
one from the greatest danger. Hundreds of thousands of examples can be cited of
people who have escaped the greatest dangers of life due to a slight advancement
in Krishna consciousness. We therefore request everyone to take advantage of this
great transcendental literature. One will find that by reading one page after
another, an immense treasure of knowledge in art, science, literature, philosophy
and religion will be revealed, and ultimately, by reading this one book, Krishna,
love of Godhead will fructify.
My grateful acknowledgement
is due to Sriman George Harrison, now chanting Hare
Krishna, for his liberal contribution of $19,000 to meet the entire cost of printing
this volume. May Krishna bestow upon this nice boy further advancement in Krishna
consciousness.
Hare Krishna
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami prabhupada
Advent Day of
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
February 26th, 1970
ISKCON Headquarters
3764 Watseka Avenue
Los Angeles, California
- From
original Krishna Book -
- download Krishna
Book here -
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami prabhupada
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