Sanctuary

Expressions researched:
"sanctuaries" |"sanctuary"

BG Chapters 7 - 12

You are the original Personality of Godhead, the oldest, the ultimate sanctuary of this manifested cosmic world.

BG 11.38, Translation:

You are the original Personality of Godhead, the oldest, the ultimate sanctuary of this manifested cosmic world. You are the knower of everything, and You are all that is knowable. You are the supreme refuge, above the material modes. O limitless form! This whole cosmic manifestation is pervaded by You!

SB Canto 3

We must take shelter of the sanctuary of Your lotus feet.

SB 3.5.42, Translation:

Simply by hearing about Your lotus feet with eagerness and devotion and by meditating upon them within the heart, one at once becomes enlightened with knowledge, and on the strength of detachment one becomes pacified. We must therefore take shelter of the sanctuary of Your lotus feet.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Tīrtha means place of sanctuary.

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Paris, June 12, 1974:

But śāstra says, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ. A little advanced than, than these fools and rascals, they are religious. What is that religion? "Let us go to the holy place." The Christians are going to the Jordan, and the Hindus are going to the Ganges or Yamunā. They think, "If I take my bath in this river, Jordan, or in this Ganges or in this Yamunā, then I become immediately perfect religious." Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma... (SB 10.84.13), yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile. Salila means water. So they go to take bath in the water. Yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile. Tīrtha means place of sanctuary. So tīrtha-buddhiḥ, yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ. Real tīrtha is to find out a Kṛṣṇa conscious person. That is the business.

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

It is temple, just there is Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity and it's very, a place of sanctuary. If you go there you'll find immediately some impulse of spiritual idealism.

Radio Interview -- March 12, 1968, San Francisco:

Interviewer: What does your temple look like?

Prabhupāda: It is temple, just there is Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deity and it's very, a place of sanctuary. If you go there you'll find immediately some impulse of spiritual idealism.

1970 Correspondence

In this Age of Kali Yuga nobody can meditate perfectly, neither they have sufficient resources for performing great sacrifices, neither they have tendency to attend spiritual services in the temple, churches, or mosques or any such sanctuaries.

Letter to Dr. R. N. Vyasa -- Los Angeles 7 June, 1970:

Generally it is summarized in the process of meditation, performances of great sacrifices and worshiping the Lord in the temple. But in this Age of Kali Yuga nobody can meditate perfectly, neither they have sufficient resources for performing great sacrifices, neither they have tendency to attend spiritual services in the temple, churches, or mosques or any such sanctuaries. Therefore, in the Brhad Naradiya Puranam it is stated that none of these three principles of spiritual upliftment is possible to perform in this Age of Kali. Therefore, the only possible means of spiritual realization is chanting the Holy Name of God or Krishna or Rama. Lord Caitanya propagated this formula of spiritual realization 500 years ago; and by His grace now it is introduced in the Western world, and practically we are experiencing that it is effective.

1976 Correspondence

Other sects also have their holy places of sanctuary. Even the Buddhists' sect have a place in India, Gaya. Our Vaisnava injunction is there in the sastra, that devotees should dwell in the Holy Dhamas.

Letter to Giriraja -- Honolulu 4 May, 1976:

With regards to the question of our devotees being permitted to remain in India, this point should be discussed in Parliament. The point should be raised why our devotees who are coming from foreign lands should not be permitted to remain indefinitely in the Holy Places? We have nothing to do with politics and our cultural and religious movement is being spread throughout the world. When they become actually devotees, it is the instruction of the sastra to live in such Holy Places as Vrindaban, Mathura, and Dvaraka. The references are there in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu.

Other sects also have their holy places of sanctuary. Even the Buddhists' sect have a place in India, Gaya. Our Vaisnava injunction is there in the sastra, that devotees should dwell in the Holy Dhamas; many hundreds and thousands of devotees live in places like Vrindaban, Haridwar, and many other such places. Similarly, foreigners who have accepted this sect and religious process, they should be allowed on our recommendation to stay in India.