A good way to feel fallen is to always look for the good qualities in others. Look! Find them! And when you find them, speak about them. Glorify the devotees. This is what a society of devotees does. Not artificially, because they genuinely know how to see good qualities in others. That’s their vision.
May 2, 2000, Kiev
We can place our faith in so many things that really won’t increase our faith in Krishna, because they give us some temporary shelter. But if we actually want to be sheltered in Krishna consciousness in our relationships with Krishna, we have to seek the association of those devotees who give us shelter in that relationship, devotees who don’t pretend that there are other shelters in the material world, and who increase our own conviction that actually Krishna is our only shelter and that the safest place in the material world is to be chanting Krishna's Holy Name.
May 1, 2008, Kiev, Meeting with disciples
That is his natural characteristic. He never wants to glorify his own qualities. He always thinks himself unworthy and that’s his qualification. And because he has that qualification, the Lord invests in that devotee the qualities required to execute the Lord's will. Then who is doing? The Lord or the devotee? The Lord wants His devotee to do it and a devotee is an individual. He is a person. So because a devotee has his own personal desire, which is so strong, the Lord empowers the devotee to do what even the Lord Himself would not do.
April 30, 2000, Kiev
Devotional service awakens devotional service. Devotional service is the cause of devotional service. But where is that devotional service which causes the devotional service to awaken in the hearts of those who have completely forgotten Krishna? It’s in the heart of the devotee of the Lord.
April 29, 2008, Moscow
Krishna consciousness means we have to be conscious. We have to practice it. If we don’t practice Krishna consciousness, we can’t expect Krishna consciousness. It is not that we are going to wake up some morning and all the sudden we are going to see Krishna face to face in the spiritual world. We have to practice Krishna consciousness.
April 28, 1999, Ulan-Ude SB
Once you start, you have to continue. And then the more you speak, the more you become inspired about speaking and the more others become inspired by hearing you, and then you become inspired because they are becoming inspired. And then it gives you some taste for preaching Krishna consciousness and then it gives you an impetus to also more deeply perform bhajan so that you can give deeper and deeper realizations to those with whom you are sharing Krishna consciousness.
April 27, 2008, Moscow
Prabhupada gives an example that before one can write on the blackboard, one has to erase it. So when one comes before the spiritual master, he erases all his previous misconceptions of what he thinks is right and wrong and he allows the spiritual master to write in his heart.
April 26, 2004, Odessa
Without bhakti, every living entity must be subjected to force. That is what it means to be in the material world. The living entities are forced to struggle for their existence. Whether subtle or gross, the governments are forcing their citizens, the parents are forcing their children, the husbands are forcing their wives, the employers are forcing their employees, etc., etc.. However, bhakti cannot be forced. It must be awakened by hearing.
April 25, 1996, Letter
Prabhupada wanted to see everyone become devotees. That means the heart changes, and that means that that desire that is there lying dormant within the heart has to grow more and more. We need help for that to take place. It is not an individual person's efforts that can overcome the obstacles of material life. We need to take help from the Holy Name of the Lord, we need to take help from the devotees of the Lord. We must always depend upon the association of the devotees of the Lord, because it is in the association of devotees that most of our advancement in Krishna consciousness will come.
April 24, 2001, Kishiniov
That’s actually the beginning of spiritual life. One can actually begin spiritual life when he becomes convinced that there are no material arrangements that he can make any more to enjoy this material world.
April 23, 1999, Dnepropetrovsk