If you say, "Where is Arjuna? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" but Arjuna's words are there in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa's words are there. So if you take the words as it is, then you hear Bhagavad-gītā. If you change, then you don't hear Bhagavad-gītā. You hear something nonsense. These are very simple things. So hearing is very important. So "Hear from Me." Nobody can be a great authority than Kṛṣṇa. And therefore, by hearing from Him, one receives the greatest opportunity for progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You hear from Kṛṣṇa as He is speaking. He says that "Practice yoga in full consciousness of Me." If you do that, then you hear Him. But if you do something nonsense, that is not hearing. That is not hearing. But they will do something nonsense which is not approved by Kṛṣṇa or His representative. That is their disease. Yes.
Greatest opportunity
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 7 - 12
One should therefore begin yoga practice as directed in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter. Concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa the Supreme is made possible by prescribed devotional service in nine different forms, of which śravaṇam is the first and most important. The Lord therefore says to Arjuna, tac chṛṇu, or "Hear from Me." No one can be a greater authority than Kṛṣṇa, and therefore by hearing from Him one receives the greatest opportunity to become a perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious person. One has therefore to learn from Kṛṣṇa directly or from a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa—and not from a nondevotee upstart, puffed up with academic education.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
An intelligent man should utilize good opportunities. The first opportunity is the human form of life, and the second opportunity is to take birth in a suitable family where there is cultivation of spiritual knowledge; this is rarely obtained. The greatest opportunity is to have the association of a saintly person. Devahūti was conscious that she was born as the daughter of an emperor. She was sufficiently educated and cultured, and at last she got Kardama Muni, a saintly person and a great yogī, as her husband. Still, if she did not get liberation from the entanglement of material energy, then certainly she would be cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy.
SB Canto 4
In the matter of sense gratification, sometimes one who has sufficient food is still not happy in his family affairs or sometimes is not even married, whereas another person, even though not economically well off, has the greatest opportunity for sense gratification. Even an animal like a hog or a dog may have greater opportunities for sense gratification than a human being.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
By karma-miśra-bhakti one is elevated to the celestial kingdom, by jñāna-miśra-bhakti one is able to merge in the Brahman effulgence, and by yoga-miśra-bhakti one is able to realize the omnipotency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But pure bhakti does not depend on karma, jñāna or yoga, for it simply consists of loving affairs. The liberation of the bhakta, therefore, which is called not just mukti but vimukti, surpasses the five other kinds of liberation-sāyujya, sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi and sāmīpya. A pure devotee always engages in pure service (ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167)). Taking birth in the upper planetary system as a demigod is a chance to become a further purified devotee and go back home, back to Godhead. Nārada Muni indirectly gave Maṇigrīva and Nalakūvara the greatest opportunity by his so-called curse.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Antya-lila
Raghunātha dāsa thought, "This is the greatest opportunity to go away because this time there are no servants or watchmen with me."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures
So these are the things to be studied in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Don't be frivolous. Don't waste your time. This is the greatest opportunity, human form of life. We have to understand all these things. They are mentioned in the authoritative books, Vedic knowledge. Just we are reading, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, before you. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī's recommending that prāyaścittaṁ vimarśanam. Real atonement is to be thoughtful, sober, think over... That is called meditation. You think over whether your body, or if you are something else, transcendental to body, what is God. So if you want to know all this knowledge, then you have to practice austerity, tapasya. And the beginning of tapasya is brahmacarya. I've explained yesterday: brahmacarya, celibacy, or restricted sex life. Not unrestricted. That's not good. Then you forget yourself.
Festival Lectures
The purpose of this movement is to cleanse the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanam (CC Antya 20.12). We have created so many problems in our life simply on the platform of misunderstanding. Therefore this movement is meant for cleansing the misunderstanding of the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. What is that misunderstanding? The misunderstanding is that we are accepting this material body as the self. We are all living entities, spirit souls, encaged in this material body. We are transmigrating from one body to another. There are 8,400,000 species of life, and this human form of life is the greatest opportunity for self-realization. Self-realization means to know that "I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I am part and parcel of God." You have... Most of you must have read Bhagavad-gītā. In the Fifteenth Chapter it is said that the living entities are part and parcel of God. God is by nature joyful. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said about the Supreme Absolute Truth, as ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12), by nature joyful. Therefore, as we are part and parcel of God, our aim of life is joy. We are searching after that joyfulness within this material world, but that is not possible. Just like a fish, if it is taken from the water and put on the land, in any condition the fish will never feel joyfulness. Similarly, we are spirit souls. Somehow or other, we have come in contact with this material world. Therefore in this material world we cannot have joyfulness. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. This material world is not befitting our spiritual self. Spiritual self requires spiritual joy. That is beyond these material senses. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for clearing or cleansing or purifying the senses. As soon as we purify our senses, then actually we can enjoy our spiritual sense enjoyment.
General Lectures
We have come from the spiritual world in this material world. We have forgotten our father. So we have to revive this relationship with our father, or God, or Kṛṣṇa. That is the main business of human life. In other species of life lower than the human being it is not possible to revive our old relationship with God. But in this life... Therefore this is the greatest opportunity. After all, we are under the grip of material nature's law. That is explained in there. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). According to our desire, we are creating a different type of body, and after death, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Just like the child is become a boy, the boy is becoming young man, the young man is becoming middle-aged man, and the middle-aged man is becoming old man. So what is next after the old body? The next is tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: you have to accept another body. This is called chain or cycle of birth and death, or transmigration of the soul. This is going on. So if you want to... But nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to change this body. But this is a problem. One should know it. That is the first instruction given by Kṛṣṇa... (break) ...Arjuna, that we are changing. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. So this is the opportunity, human life. If we want to stop this repetition of birth and death under different obligation and different circumstances, we should take instruction from Kṛṣṇa, try to understand Kṛṣṇa—that is Bhagavad-gītā—and make our life successful so that... Understanding Kṛṣṇa means, as it is stated, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). We have come from God; we again go back to God if we simply understand Kṛṣṇa, or God. This is the whole instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā.
So the four types of men who surrender to Kṛṣṇa, they're doing so with some selfish interest. All of the conditioned souls are acting for their own selfish interest. They do not know otherwise. But somehow or other, if one of the conditioned souls will surrender to Kṛṣṇa by the grace of a pure devotee, then that immediately puts him into a situation of becoming purified. The greatest purification is to come in touch with a pure devotee of the Lord. There are many many ritualistic activities prescribed in the Vedic literatures for gradual purification. But, as Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī points out in his Upadeśāmṛta, what is the good of undergoing so much atonement and pious activity if the heart remains contaminated and the living entity remains sinful, ready to..., just acting for his own benefit? Therefore the greatest opportunity for the conditioned soul is when he gets the chance to associate with a pure devotee of the Lord.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: No, that is not. That is not. Just like even in ordinary business, if you transact business in the stock association, you get good business. And outside the stock association you don't get. Because association is there, there are many purchaser and many seller. So if you have to sell, you get immediate purchaser. And if you have to purchase, there is immediate seller. That is... Therefore the stock exchange is there. That is the way, that if we live together in the stock exchange of devotional service, then you can help me; I can help you. So our business will go on nicely. And outside the market, you can live three hundred miles away from the stock exchange. You will not get so many business. Like that.
Devotee (2): You'll miss the opportunities.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore it is helpful. If you want to do business, you must take the first opportunity, the greatest opportunity, do your business. That is intelligence. And if we think, "All right, I shall do slowly. In seven hundred lives I shall become perfect," that is another thing.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: We are associating with different modes of material nature, and according to our association, sat, asat, good birth or low-class birth is there—either as demigods in the higher planetary system or human being in the middle planetary system or as animals, low class. There are three classes of birth. That depends on our association with the modes of material nature—goodness, passion or ignorance. So at least in the human form of life nobody should be kept in ignorance. The facility must be given. That is civilization. Every human being should have the greatest opportunity to make his life successful. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Every human being is open to accept the principles of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and make his life successful. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). This is our propaganda, to give everyone the facility of perfection of life. Now somebody may take or somebody may not take, but the basic principle of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to offer everyone the best facility.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa has sent you His grain. You cannot waste it. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Live that way. And Kṛṣṇa is providing so much facilities for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, and why should we deviate and spoil this life, take the risk of again going into the cycle of birth and death? Commonsense affair. We have got the good, greatest opportunity to solve this problem of repetition of birth. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). And only for little sense gratification we are going to sacrifice so great opportunity of life? This much education is wanted. Na sadhu manye yata ātmano 'yam. Eh? Find out the verse, Fifth Canto. Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter. Na sadhu manye yata atmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti (SB 5.5.4). Very bad civilization. Mad civilization, pramattaḥ. Simply for little sense gratification they are prepared to take so much risk. Next life you may become cat, dog or a small grass or a tree by laws of nature.
Correspondence
1969 Correspondence
You have mentioned about some criticism made by Jaya Govinda which upset you. I do not know exactly what is the point, but if there is some honest criticism, there should be no cause of becoming upset. Krishna has so kindly led you to this path of Krishna Consciousness, and now you have only to follow the prescribed rules and regulations very seriously and sincerely, and surely you will understand how you are making practical advancement in Krishna Consciousness. Actually, Krishna is kind to everyone, but when He sees that a living entity is becoming a little serious to make perfection in life, then Krishna takes special care to give such living entity all necessary facilities. Now you have the greatest opportunity to do very nice service to the Lord, because you are now in a foreign country and are helping to pave the way for a very successful Krishna Consciousness temple in Germany. So continue to take advantage of this opportunity as the Lord has kindly given you, and surely He will bestow all of His blessings upon.
1970 Correspondence
Similarly, a living entity who is desiring for spiritual upliftment, the Lord is giving him the opportunity of the Vedic literatures and the Spiritual Master. But His advice to all living entities is to give up all nonsense and everything else and surrender unto Him. The living entity by accepting one kind of opportunity is going to hell and by accepting the other kinds of opportunities he is going back to home, back to Godhead. So both opportunities are offered by the Lord. Therefore indirectly you can say that one is being sent to hell and one is being sent to the spiritual world by the Lord—but He is simply supplying the opportunities to everyone as he desires. The intelligent person therefore does not desire anything—he simply surrenders unto the Lord or he desires to serve the Lord and that is his greatest opportunity.
| Page Title: | Greatest opportunity |
| Compiler: | Laksmipriya, Archana |
| Created: | 06 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=3, CC=1, OB=0, Lec=5, Con=3, Let=2 |
| No. of Quotes: | 15 |