View source for You cannot manufacture religion, you cannot concoct religion. You just try to follow the great personalities, and that is religion

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{{terms|"You cannot manufacture religion, you cannot concoct religion. You just try to follow the great personalities, and that is religion"}}
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{{compiler|Nabakumar}}
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[[Category:You Cannot]]
[[Category:Manufacture]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Concoction]]
[[Category:Just Try]]
[[Category:Try To]]
[[Category:Follow]]
[[Category:Great Personalities]]
[[Category:That is Religion]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - NABAKUMAR]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>General Lectures</h3>
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Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad . . . sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That is religion, that "You have manufactured so many types of religion. You give it up. Kick it out. This is religion: you surrender unto Me." So if you become a surrendered soul to God—that means you become a devotee—then you are religionist. Otherwise you are criminal. Therefore śāstra says that you should follow the great devotees. That is religion. You cannot manufacture religion, you cannot concoct religion. You just try to follow the great personalities, and that is religion.
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[[Vanisource:750525 - Lecture - Honolulu|750525 - Lecture - Honolulu]]
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So people do not know. They manufacture religion. So how you can manufacture religion? Law can be given by the king, by the state, by the government. If you manufacture some law at your home, consulting your wife or father and mother, who will accept it? Nobody will accept. You may be puffed up that you have manufactured a law, but nobody will care for it. The law given by the state will have to be accepted, either you like it or don't like it. The law will not depend on your liking and disliking. You must accept. If you don't accept, then you are a law breaker; you will be punished. Similarly, the religion means, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad . . . sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ([[Vanisource:BG 18.66 (1972)|BG 18.66]]). That is religion, that "You have manufactured so many types of religion. You give it up. Kick it out. This is religion: you surrender unto Me." So if you become a surrendered soul to God—that means you become a devotee—then you are religionist. Otherwise you are criminal. Therefore śāstra says that you should follow the great devotees. That is religion. You cannot manufacture religion, you cannot concoct religion. You just try to follow the great personalities, and that is religion.

So there . . . in the śāstra there are great personalities. They have been mentioned. Just like Lord Brahmā, Nārada Muni, Lord Śiva, then Kumāras, then Kapila, Manu and Prahlāda. Prahlādo janako bhīṣmo ([[Vanisource:SB 6.3.20-21|SB 6.3.20]]). Prahlāda Mahārāja, he is one of the great personalities who knows what is religion. So he practiced it. Unfortunately, he was born of a atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. But by the grace of Nārada Muni he knew what is religion. You have seen in the play that when his mother was pregnant, the demigods were taking her to the prison just to keep her observed, observation, that the child which is born of a atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, may not be missed. They wanted to kill him also. But although he was born of an atheist father, demoniac father, he became a great devotee by the instruction of Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni took his poor mother. He asked the demigods, "Why you are harassing this lady? After all, she is woman. She is dependent." So by the order of Nārada Muni they let her go, and her husband was engaged in tapasya, so she had no protection. Therefore Nārada Muni took her at his āśrama and instructed her about God consciousness. That is the duty of saintly person. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, while he was within the womb of his mother, he heard all those instructions. His mother, in due course of time—that is the nature of woman—she forgot the instruction. But Prahlāda Mahārāja remembered; therefore he became a great devotee. This is the history of Prahlāda Mahārāja.
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