Valuable gift

Expressions researched:
"valuable gift" |"valuable gifts"

SB Canto 3

Here mahā-dhanān means greatly valuable gifts befitting the dowry of an empress.

SB 3.22.23, Purport: The custom of giving one's daughter in charity with a dowry is still current in India. The gifts are given according to the position of the father of the bride. Pāribarhān mahā-dhanān means the dowry which must be awarded to the bridegroom at the time of marriage. Here mahā-dhanān means greatly valuable gifts befitting the dowry of an empress. The words bhūṣā-vāsaḥ paricchadān also appear here. Bhūṣā means "ornaments," vāsaḥ means "clothing," and paricchadān means "various household articles." All things befitting the marriage ceremony of an emperor's daughter were awarded to Kardama Muni, who was until now observing celibacy as a brahmacārī. The bride, Devahūti, was very richly dressed with ornaments and clothing.

SB Canto 7

People are simply wasting time and the valuable gift of the human form because a human being who does not cultivate spiritual life but dies like the cats and dogs is degraded in his next life.

SB 7.6.4, Purport: Especially in the present age, every man is in darkness, in the bodily conception of life, not knowing anything of the spirit soul and its needs. Misguided by the blind leaders of society, people consider the body to be everything, and they are engaged in trying to keep the body materially comfortable. Such a civilization is condemned because it does not lead humanity toward knowing the real goal of life. People are simply wasting time and the valuable gift of the human form because a human being who does not cultivate spiritual life but dies like the cats and dogs is degraded in his next life. From human life, such a person is put into the cycle of continuous birth and death. Thus one loses the true benefit of human life, which is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious and solve life's problems.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.39.11-12, Translation: Nanda Mahārāja then issued orders to the cowherd men by having the village constable make the following announcement throughout Nanda's domain of Vraja: "Go collect all the available milk products. Bring valuable gifts and yoke your wagons. Tomorrow we shall go to Mathurā, present our milk products to the King and see a very great festival. The residents of all the outlying districts are also going."

SB 10.45.15-16, Translation: The Lord then brought all His close family members and other relatives back from the various places to which they had fled in fear of Kaṁsa. He received the Yadus, Vṛṣṇis, Andhakas, Madhus, Dāśārhas, Kukuras and other clans with due honor, and He also consoled them, for they were weary of living in foreign lands. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa, the creator of the universe, resettled them in their homes and gratified them with valuable gifts.

SB 10.84.52, Translation: Then, at the appropriate time and according to scripture, Vasudeva remunerated the priests by decorating them with precious ornaments, though they were already richly adorned, and offering them valuable gifts of cows, land and marriageable girls.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

When the Lord receives a little thing in love and affection from His devotee, He considers it a great and valuable gift.

Krsna Book 81: He thus began to think, “From the beginning of my life I have been extremely poverty-stricken, so what could be the cause of such great and sudden opulence? I do not find any cause other than the all-merciful glance of my friend Lord Kṛṣṇa, the chief of the Yadu dynasty. Certainly these are gifts of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s causeless mercy. The Lord is self-sufficient, the husband of the goddess of fortune, and thus He is always full with six opulences. He can understand the mind of His devotee, and He sumptuously fulfills the devotee’s desires. All these are acts of my friend Lord Kṛṣṇa. My beautiful dark friend Kṛṣṇa is far more liberal than the cloud, which can fill the great ocean with water. Without disturbing the cultivator with rain during the day, the cloud brings liberal rain at night just to satisfy him. And yet when the cultivator wakes up in the morning, he thinks that it has not rained enough. Similarly, the Lord fulfills the desire of everyone according to his position, yet one who is not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness considers all the gifts of the Lord to be less than his desire. On the other hand, when the Lord receives a little thing in love and affection from His devotee, He considers it a great and valuable gift. I am a vivid example of this: I simply offered Him a morsel of chipped rice, and in exchange He has given me opulences greater than the opulence of the King of heaven.”

1969 Correspondence

I am so pleased to learn that you have taken Krishna Consciousness as the most valuable gift. One who can understand this, is not an ordinary living entity, but is the most fortunate. I

Letter to Giriraja -- Los Angeles 21 July, 1969: I am so pleased to learn that you have taken Krishna Consciousness as the most valuable gift. One who can understand this, is not an ordinary living entity, but is the most fortunate. I think therefore that in all circumstances you should steadfastly continue your Krishna Consciousness engagement, rather than joining any more universities. So far as the draft board is concerned, I may inform you that we are arranging our institutions to be recognized by the draft board. In that case all our students will be taken as divinity students. Already some of our students have avoided being drafted by this way. So that is not a problem. If you are engaged in Krishna's service, He will give you all protection from all kinds of obstacles.