Surrendering is a continuous process. A devotee is always looking for the opportunity to increase his surrender. Because Krishna says, ‘As you surrender unto Me, I reward you accordingly.’ If you want to think that our surrender was just something we did five years ago and it is not something we have to do now, then Krishna will deal with us accordingly.
June 8, 1996, Rostov-on-Don
The duality of the material world ultimately doesn’t exist. Actually these dualities of the material world, they exist only because the living entity has conditioned intelligence and this imaginary experience of the world which is separate from Krishna can be compared to the acts of dreaming and desiring.
June 7, 1998, Kishinev
In the same way, the clouds of anarthas and the fog of ignorance are obstructing our experience of the holy name of the Lord. And the process for cleansing these clouds of anarthas and ignorance within the heart is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord and hearing the pastimes of the Lord. And in the association of devotees of the Lord, by hearing such narrations, it awakens our faith. That is the whole purpose of maintaining this body, to awaken our faith in the Lord. It is should be the goal of everything that we do in this world, to awaken our faith in Lord.
June 6, 2001, Ekaterinburg
But the important thing in understanding the unlimited nature of the Lord is that we should not try to capture the Lord and limit Him in any way, that He reveals to us as much as we need to know in order to develop our love for Him. So therefore we should never think we can capture Krishna and limit Him in any way. We can only capture Him by our love. Therefore Krishna reveals enough of Himself that the devotee may love Him. That’s all the devotee needs to know.
June 5, 1994, Moscow
That type of help we need if we want to overcome lust. Therefore, when a devotee is chanting Hare Krishna, what he is praying for? He is praying to the internal potency of the Lord “Help me. I am helpless. I can not overcome anything unless You help me. How can I overcome this material energy?” Prabhupada said like a child crying for his mother. When we chant like that, then we will feel Krishna is here, He is hearing our pleas. Sometimes even tears may come to arise. We may cry in remembrance of the things we have done and lament, but those tears are the price to pay if we want Krishna's help. He is ready, but we have to pay some price.
June 4, 2006, Hartford
The point is by executing the rules and regulations of devotional service according to the principles of vaidhi-bhakti it is meant to actually give us hope that we can actually make progress. It is very difficult if one thinks he has no hope. By association his faith becomes stronger. Without association it is very difficult.
Boston 1992
That is spiritual life, voluntarily accepting inconveniences for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord.
June 2, 2003, Moscow
Therefore thinking about Krishna is not achieved simply by making some external arrangements, especially when we make external arrangements according our own whim. Krishna defines certain arrangements one can make and if one understands, yes this arrangement has been given by Krishna so that I can come to the point that I can always remember Him, then that’s how he gets there. He can’t get there by his own arrangement.
June 1, 1995, St. Petersburg
Millions of births of pious activities will not bring us to that state of pure devotional service. To the degree that we develop the greed to obtain it, that will hasten the process. Just as we explained before – desire. We have to become greedy for Krishna, greedy to serve Krishna, greedy to please Krishna. And if we don’t have that greed, then wherever we see it, we should immediately purchase it.
May 31, 2009, Kiev
Healthy fear is something that helps us remember Krishna, and unhealthy fear is that which only perpetuates us thinking about ourselves.
May 30, 2005, Simferopol