There is no real happiness in the material world-- only temporary relief from suffering. The devotees are experiencing real happiness. And the more that they tolerate the nonpermanent appearance of material happiness and distress, and continue to serve despite all obstacles, the more they can sustain this real happiness. Krishna is waiting for us to turn to Him, and He wants nothing more than to fulfill all of our desires. Don't you forget that.
Simply studying Bhagavad Gita is not sufficient in itself to know Krishna, but if we simply hear the message of Bhagavad Gita, even if we only hear one sentence, that can be sufficient to give one perfection of life, because as soon as one actually hears the message of Bhagavad Gita, then his life of devotion to Krishna can begin. That is all that is required to go back to Godhead.
November 23, 1991, St.Petersburg
So Krishna dictates from within the heart according to one's surrender to Him. In other words, when one hears the instructions of Krishna's devotee, he gets help externally from the devotee of the Lord, who is speaking the same message and has the same purpose as the Lord, who is dictating from within the heart.
Our way of giving thanks to Krishna is calling His name with an intense eagerness, with an intense desire to please Him, to serve Him, to satisfy Him and to remember Him.
Krishna actually cares for all of us, but we actually have to show Krishna that we want Him to care. Otherwise He will let us do what we want.
A person cannot be straightforward in his dealings if he always has some personal interest. Only a person who is actually a Brahmana can be truthful. A Brahmana is supposed to be able to speak the truth to everybody. Why can he speak the truth to everybody? He is not dependent upon anybody for anything. He is dependent upon the Lord.
November 19, 1998, Almaty
The point is that when one wants to establish an eternal or real, permanent connection with the spiritual master one has to establish the connection on this basis, in relationship to the holy name.
Until we come in contact with the Holy Name of the Lord, there is no solution. All there is, is mental speculation, mental concoction and stopgap immediate measures to the prevailing problems of Kali Yuga.
November 16, 2006, Boston