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Portray

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 6

Intelligent persons can see God in His personal form, as stated in the śāstras, but if one is very eager to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead immediately, face to face, he can see the Supreme Lord through this description, which portrays the various internal and external parts of His body.
SB 6.4.46, Translation and Purport:

My dear brāhmaṇa, austerity in the form of meditation is My heart, Vedic knowledge in the form of hymns and mantras constitutes My body, and spiritual activities and ecstatic emotions are My actual form. The ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices, when properly conducted, are the various limbs of My body, the unseen good fortune proceeding from pious or spiritual activities constitutes My mind, and the demigods who execute My orders in various departments are My life and soul.

Sometimes atheists argue that since God is invisible to their eyes, they do not believe in God. For them the Supreme Lord is describing a method by which one can see God in His impersonal form. Intelligent persons can see God in His personal form, as stated in the śāstras, but if one is very eager to see the Supreme Personality of Godhead immediately, face to face, he can see the Supreme Lord through this description, which portrays the various internal and external parts of His body.

To engage in tapasya, or denial of material activities, is the first principle of spiritual life. Then there are spiritual activities, such as the performance of Vedic ritualistic sacrifices, study of the Vedic knowledge, meditation upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Message of Godhead

When we enter into such culture of knowledge, it is called transcendental knowledge. Marshal Arjuna portrayed himself as a materialistic fool, without any transcendental knowledge, just to teach us, who are cent-percent materialistic fools.
Message of Godhead 1:

A learned man never laments over a subject which appears and disappears as a matter of course. The material body, which we get from the womb of our mother, becomes transformed after some time into ashes, earth, or stool, as the case may be. And the subtle mental body, which is also material and composed of false ego and intelligence, likewise vanishes when the soul is liberated. Therefore, those who are truly learned do not give much importance to this material body and mind, or to the happiness and distress that pertain only to the material body and mind.

On the other hand, such learned men do give much stress to the happiness and distress of the soul proper, which is spirit and transcends the existence of the body and the mind. When we enter into such culture of knowledge, it is called transcendental knowledge. Marshal Arjuna portrayed himself as a materialistic fool, without any transcendental knowledge, just to teach us, who are cent-percent materialistic fools. For His part, the Personality of Godhead imparted the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā, because He found Marshal Arjuna the most deserving person to hear it.

Correspondence

1970 Correspondence

Regarding Brijbasi posters, just take out pictures portraying Krishna with cows, with Gopis—just Krishna pictures, no pictures of demigods. Those pictures are alright.
Letter to Jagadisa -- Los Angeles 25 April, 1970:

I am very glad to know that your Maha-sankirtana. with coordination of Buffalo are so successful. Please continue this program as you have suggested and surely Krishna will see that your more vigorous efforts to spread His movement are successful more and more.

Regarding Brijbasi posters, just take out pictures portraying Krishna with cows, with Gopis—just Krishna pictures, no pictures of demigods. Those pictures are alright.

Regarding your questions about how and from where did the conditioned souls fall, your first question if someone has a relationship with Lord Krsna on Krsnaloka, does he ever fall down? The souls are endowed with minute independence as part of their nature and this minute independence may be utilized rightly or wrongly at any time, so there is always the chance of falling down by misuse of one's independence. But those who are firmly fixed up in devotional service to Krsna are making proper use of their independence and so they do not fall down.

This newspaper clipping which you have sent is just portraying the point of our business, and I have made xeroxes and am distributing them to various parties as example of our work.
Letter to Bhagavan -- Los Angeles 8 May, 1970:

I am so pleased to see how you are carrying our Sankirtana program amidst the demonstrations of the people. This newspaper clipping which you have sent is just portraying the point of our business, and I have made xeroxes and am distributing them to various parties as example of our work. This Sankirtana Movement of Lord Caitanya is most practical and authorized, so such incidents are to be expected, but this is a great credit for our propaganda efforts.

You are all being inspired just how to portray the Lord and His associates for the devotees' eyes, so everyone who sees to these transcendental pictures will turn to become devotees—that is our aim.
Letter to Jadurani -- Los Angeles 26 May, 1970:

We have now received the full set of paintings for the first volume of KRSNA book, and they are all very, very excellent. So your art department is doing very nicely, and surely the production will improve even more by the grace of Krsna. You are all being inspired just how to portray the Lord and His associates for the devotees' eyes, so everyone who sees to these transcendental pictures will turn to become devotees—that is our aim.

1971 Correspondence

Practically, the whole world is going to hell. There is no decency, no gentleman anywhere. So we have to portray to the people of this fallen Age of Kali-yuga what is the right standard for their behavior.
Letter to Nayanabhirama -- Bombay 22 December, 1971:

Everyone enjoys play-acting, only there is at present a dearth of proper material for elevating the general mass of people to the proper standards. Practically, the whole world is going to hell. There is no decency, no gentleman anywhere. So we have to portray to the people of this fallen Age of Kali-yuga what is the right standard for their behavior. When they see that, Oh, here is such nice activity, such nice people, they will automatically become changed, simply we have to engage their senses in the right taste. So this drama-playing is very good presentation for attracting their attention and displaying Krishna Consciousness very beautifully. Make everything very simple, without too much fancy costumes, and the real message will come out very nicely.

1972 Correspondence

Your wife is fully trained as classical dancer, even she taught in such big university, so she can organize classical dancing to portray stories about Krishna and His Pastimes and that will be very nice proposal.
Letter to Prajapati -- Mayapur 25 February, 1972:

Because your wife is fully trained as classical dancer, even she taught in such big university, so she can organize classical dancing to portray stories about Krishna and His Pastimes and that will be very nice proposal. Recently in Bombay we have held a benefit charity performance called "Hare Krishna Benefit" performed by the Javeri Sisters, a famous classical dancing group from Manipur. These dancers were depicting stories from Krishna's Pastimes, and the dancing was very nice. So this art of dancing, as any art, can be also employed in the service of glorifying the Supreme Lord. If she is expert dancer, your wife can organize a dancing group to depict very exquisitely stories from our Krishna Book.

1977 Correspondence

Generally Yamaraja is portrayed in a fearful way and so is often pictured as black. That is all right.
Letter to Artists -- Unknown Place Unknown Date:

The picture of Yamaraja and Skanda is all right. But generally Yamaraja is portrayed in a fearful way and so is often pictured as black. That is all right. But actually he is a demigod and must be fair complexion. He is a mahajana and a Vaisnava as well and he is also very good looking. Skanda is Kartikeya. He is very beautiful and is situated on a peacock's back with bows and arrows and two hands. From the photograph, he appears to have many heads. But that is not correct. He only has one head. And he is considered the most beautiful personality next to Cupid. In India if a person is very beautiful, he is compared with Kartikeya.

Page Title:Portray
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:05 of Dec, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=6
No. of Quotes:8