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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Two words are used in Sanskrit literature; one is gṛhastha, and the other is gṛhamedhī. The difference between gṛhamedhī and gṛhastha is that gṛhastha is also an āśrama, or spiritual order, but if one simply satisfies his senses as a householder, then he is a gṛhamedhī

SB 3.22.11 Purport: The words gṛhamedhiṣu karmasu mean "in household duties." Another word is also used here: sarvātmanānurūpām. The purport is that a wife should not only be equal to her husband in age, character and qualities, but must be helpful to him in his household duties. The household duty of a man is not to satisfy his sense gratification, but to remain with a wife and children and at the same time attain advancement in spiritual life. One who does not do so is not a householder but a gṛhamedhī. Two words are used in Sanskrit literature; one is gṛhastha, and the other is gṛhamedhī. The difference between gṛhamedhī and gṛhastha is that gṛhastha is also an āśrama, or spiritual order, but if one simply satisfies his senses as a householder, then he is a gṛhamedhī. For a gṛhamedhī, to accept a wife means to satisfy the senses, but for a gṛhastha a qualified wife is an assistant in every respect for advancement in spiritual activities. It is the duty of the wife to take charge of household affairs and not to compete with the husband. A wife is meant to help, but she cannot help her husband unless he is completely equal to her in age, character and quality.

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda's compiled teachings

Śrīla Prabhupāda was a prolific spiritual and social commentator who resourcefully drew from the vast and timeless wisdom of the Vedas. The shear volume of his comments sometimes makes it difficult for readers to grasp the proper conclusion.

• Vaniquotes collects Śrīla Prabhupāda's comments under naturally accruing themes, thus giving the reader better access to the powerful messages that Śrīla Prabhupāda is giving.
• Quotes are presented in scriptural order and by date. Each quote is also linked to Vanisource (Prabhupāda's books, lectures, conversations and letters), thus keeping everything in context.
• The reader can approach Vaniquotes via philosophical and social themes, the different personalities who present them, or from such interesting directions as Śrīla Prabhupāda's usage of the English, Sanskrit and Bengali languages.
• As Vaniquotes develops, Śrīla Prabhupāda's lectures and conversations will be compiled along with the audio version, offering a profound hearing experience for the reader and thereby keeping the individual quotes even more in context.
• Vaniquotes will supply the resources to further develop the Vanipedia website; other sections, such as Vanipedia articles, Vanibooks, and Vaniversity online courses will draw from Vaniquotes. The more pages we have in Vaniquotes, the richer the articles in Vanipedia will be, the more comprehensive the compendiums in Vanibooks, and the more variegated and inclusive the Vaniversity online courses will be – and all representative of the siddhanta of our disciplic succession.

A Work in Progress

Compiling in Vaniquotes can be compared to building a very big temple. There are lots of stages, and at times the construction site looks a little messy. However, there is a team of architects, engineers and workers of many different capacities all serving together to finish the offering of love to glorify God. Over time the beauty of the temple becomes self manifested. Similarly we are attempting to build a valuable resource of Srila Prabhupada's teachings and when completed it will manifest as a beautiful Vani Temple for all to experience.

Completing all the petals of Vanipedia is a Herculean task, that will take either

• a few committed people a long period of time;
• many committed people a short period of time.

"Before enlightenment, copy & paste. After enlightenment, copy & paste."

Our simple motto for Vaniquotes reflects the massive task of compiling all of Srila Prabhupāda's teachings. It also reflects our conviction that Srila Prabhupāda has said it all, and it reflects our resolve to stay fixed in our duty until the task is completed.

Authorized and empowered

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is a self-realized, pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. While physically present among us he shared the essence of Vedic knowledge liberally and without prejudice. His only desire was to fulfill his spiritual master's desire – to introduce the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the world.

Srila Prabhupāda showed us the importance of living life according to the directions given in scripture. He spoke and wrote profusely so that many may have this guidance in life, and he wished that every person on the planet had the oppotunity to read his books now and in the future.

Śrīla Prabhupāda translated and commented on over fifty volumes of ancient Vedic scripture before his physical demise on November 14, 1977. His authority to write, and to teach and train students in the science of self-realization was given to him by his guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja (1874-1937), who came in the disciplic succession from Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486-1534), Himself an incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON.

Vaniseva

Completing the Vaniquotes petal is essential for the development of Vanipedia, Vanibooks and Vaniversity petals. We are currently working to achieve our first goal of 10,800 completed pages. At present we have 8,203 pages, either completely finished, partially finished, or have only a name attributed to them. Please visit Vaniseva.org to see how you can help.

• Our ultimate aim is to have 100,000 completed pages.
• We are currently working on making the compiling process as easy as possible for volunteer compilers.
• We will begin to invite participation after the summer of 2008.
• If you want to find out more about the whole project then everything is explained here.
• If you do not have the time to help out, please consider to contribute by making a donation.