Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that for self-realization the austerities and penances performed by the queens at Dvārakā have no comparison. The objective of self-realization is one: Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, although the dealings of the queens with Kṛṣṇa appear just like ordinary dealings between husband and wife, the principal point to be observed is the queens' attachment for Kṛṣṇa. The entire process of austerity and penance is meant to detach one from the material world and enhance one's attachment to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa is the shelter of all persons advancing in self-realization. As an ideal householder, He lived with His wives and performed the Vedic rituals just to show less intelligent persons that the Supreme Lord is never impersonal. Kṛṣṇa lived with wives and children in all opulence, exactly like an ordinary conditioned soul, just to teach those souls who are actually conditioned that they must enter into the family circle of Kṛṣṇa, where He is the center. For example, the members of the Yadu dynasty lived in the family of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa was the center of all their activities.
Enter into Krsna's family
Expressions researched:
"enter Krsna's family"
|"enter Krsna's great family"
|"enter into Krsna's family"
|"enter into real family life with Krsna"
|"enter into the family circle of Krsna"
|"enter into the family of Krsna"
|"enter into the spiritual family of Krsna"
|"entering into Krsna's family"
|"entering into the family of Krsna"
|"enters into My family"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
In this verse the words strīṇām asatīnām indicate that womanly love is just to agitate the mind of man. Actually, in the material world there is no love. Both the woman and the man are interested in their sense gratification. For sense gratification a woman creates an illusory love, and the man becomes enchanted by such false love and forgets his real duty. When there are children as the result of such a combination, the next attraction is to the sweet words of the children. The love of the woman at home and the talk of the children make one a secure prisoner, and thus he cannot leave his home. Such a person is termed, in Vedic language, a gṛhamedhī, which means "one whose center of attraction is home." Gṛhastha refers to one who lives with family, wife and children, but whose real purpose of living is to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One is therefore advised to become a gṛhastha and not a gṛhamedhī. The gṛhastha's concern is to get out of the family life created by illusion and enter into real family life with Kṛṣṇa, whereas the gṛhamedhi s business is to repeatedly chain himself to so-called family life, in one life after another, and perpetually remain in the darkness of māyā.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Where this idea came from, that "I shall be happy within society, friendship and love, children?" Wherefrom this idea came? Where is the origin? The origin is there in Kṛṣṇa. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Janmādy asya yataḥ. The origin of love. Just like Kṛṣṇa is loving Rādhārāṇī. So the loving idea came from Kṛṣṇa. Anything that is within our experience, that is in Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa cannot be impersonal. That is nonsense. Kṛṣṇa is exactly a person like me, you. But the difference is that He's very, very, unlimitedly powerful. I am limited. This is the difference. So Kṛṣṇa also wants that to live with His family. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is just to train ourselves again to enter into the family of Kṛṣṇa. This is our movement. With these families, the so-called families, we are suffering. We are suffering. But this family idea is there this. That is perfect in Kṛṣṇa, with Kṛṣṇa. The family idea, wherefrom family idea comes without it is being situated in Kṛṣṇa? Because nothing can be visible without being in Kṛṣṇa. He is the origin. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: (BG 10.8) "I am the origin of everything."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So here Kuntīdevī says that "Please help me in cutting my affection with my family." Sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi: "Please cut off. Please help me cutting this family connection." Then Kuntī says that tvayi me ananya-viṣayā matir madhu-pate asakṛt. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to cut off family connection and enter into Kṛṣṇa's family, not void. We are not impersonalists or voidists. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are impersonalists. They think, "Kṛṣṇa is person. Kṛṣṇa's activities are all personal. So this is also māyā." Because they are Nirviśeṣavādī, their ultimate goal is nirviśeṣa-brahman. So anything personal, they cannot accept it. And the Buddhist philosophy is to zero, śūnyavādi. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi. The whole world is now corrupted with these two kinds of philosophies: nirviśeṣa-śūnyavāda, impersonalism and voidism. But Vaiṣṇava philosophy is not voidism, not impersonalism. Vaiṣṇava philosophy means to know the Absolute Truth as person. Impersonal realization of the Absolute Truth is partial knowledge. It is not complete, because the Absolute Truth is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1).
So this is bhakti, that we have to give up the illusory attachment. Here the attachment is illusory. It will not stay. We want to live in family—husband, wife, children, father, mother—but it is not possible to live here permanently. That is not possible. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa says that "You may think that you are very happy in family relationship, but I'll not allow you to stay here. I will take everything from you as death." Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham. So we should understand that.
Therefore intelligent men, they should inquire, "Where we shall enter in family life and we can eternally enjoy?" That is Kṛṣṇa's family. You enter into Kṛṣṇa's family, Vṛndāvana family, where Kṛṣṇa has got His father, mother, His friends, His lover, His beloved, His cows, His garden, His Yamunā. You enter that, that family. Then yad gatvā na nivartante (BG 15.6). Then you will not have to return back again to this temporary family, which will not stay. But if you enter Kṛṣṇa's family... Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes. Kṛṣṇa is so kind that—you are so much family, fond of family life—"Just here see. I have got My family. I am not impersonal. I have got My family. I have got My father. I have got My mother. I have got My friend. I have got My beloved, Rādhārāṇī, and the gopīs. Everything I have got. You can enter also. Come. Why you are rotting here?" That is Kṛṣṇa's mission.
So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to practice in this life how to enter Kṛṣṇa's family. You enter Kṛṣṇa's family as you like. There are five rasas: śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sākhya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, and mādhurya-rasa. That is reflected in this world also, the same. Tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ vinimayaḥ. This..., this material world is reflection of the spiritual world. Chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). Here there are rasas, śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa. Here also there is master and servant; there is friend and friend; there is father and mother and the son; there is beloved. Everything is there, but they are imitation, chāya. They are not reality. So if you want real friendship, then make friendship with Kṛṣṇa.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So we have to, according to the śāstric injunction, according to the spiritual master instruction, everywhere we have to organize this Kṛṣṇa family. So Kṛṣṇa family does not mean starvation. Kṛṣṇa family means to enjoy simply. Simply minus this material contamination. Chāḍi anācāra. Anācāra. Anācāra means not proper behavior. Proper behavior means to remain always pious, and improper behavior means to become impious, sinful. If you become sinful, then you cannot enter into the family of Kṛṣṇa; that is not possible. Kṛṣṇa is described in the Bhagavad-gītā by Arjuna—paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Pavitra. Pavitra means pure, completely pure, without any material contamination.
So if you want to enter into Kṛṣṇa's family, then you have to become also completely pure. Otherwise, there is no chance. Completely pure of all material contamination. That can be done when we give up our designations. That can be done. If I think, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am vaiśya," "I am white," "I am black," these are upādhi, designations. And if we think like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that "I am not this, I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya, I am not a śūdra, I am not a brahmacārī, I am not a..., not, not this, not this..." Then what you are? Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor' dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ: (CC Madhya 13.80) "I am simply servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Then you'll remain pure. And as soon as you will think in the bodily concept of life, then you will remain impure. This is the process how to give up this bodily concept of life. That is called sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam.
So in this way, in one life we may practice how to become free from this material contamination and execute devotional service as it is prescribed in the śāstra and by the instruction of spiritual master. If we keep ourself pure without material contamination, then we become fit to enter into the family of Kṛṣṇa. This is the process.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
We have to give up this body. That's a fact. But this person who has understood Kṛṣṇa, he is not coming back again to accept another material body. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Mam eti. If he does not take birth again, so does he become zero? Śūnyavādi? No. Mām eti: "He enters into My family." Kṛṣṇa's family... Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana has got a great family. He has got His father. He has got His mother, mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja. He has got so many friends, hundreds and thousands-boyfriends, girlfriends. The trees, the plants, the flowers, the fruits, the land, the water, the cows, the calves—He is surrounded by a great family. He is not a single person. Suppose if we say, "Now the president is coming." So president means he is not only coming alone; he is coming with secretaries, his ministers, his military secretary and so many other people, some soldiers and bodyguards. He is not alone. So if a material president, insignificant, is always surrounded by his associates, so the Supreme Being, how He is associated with His surroundings, you can just imagine. He cannot be alone. That is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not zero, śūnyavādi, as they say that "Everything zero after this," or nirviśeṣa, "Everything like sky." No. He is individual, person. And He says in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter, "My dear Arjuna, you, you are a person. Me, I am also a person, and all these soldiers and kings who are assembled here, they are also person. So don't think that we were not person in the past, and we are not person at present, and in future also we shall not become person. We are all person, eternally person." And whenever there is person, there is associates, there is family, there is exchange of love. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to become trained up sufficiently how to enter Kṛṣṇa's great family. In Kṛṣṇa's family there is no sannyāsī. Have you seen, anyone, a sannyāsī in Vṛndāvana? At least in the books? Sannyāsa means to make this material life sannyāsa, finished, "No more this," renounce. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu did. He renounced His material family life. He had very nice wife, young wife, and He was young man, twenty-four years old, and there was a very affectionate mother. He had very good position in the society, Nimāi Paṇḍita. Yesterday you showed one play called Chand Kazi. So He was so influential that simply by His calling, hundreds and thousands of men immediately joined to go to the Chand Kazi's house to perform kīrtana. So just imagine what was His social position, so popular, leader. He had very good position. As a learned scholar, He was known as Nimāi Paṇḍita. Beautiful, very beautiful body, Gaurasundara. Very beautiful wife. Very honored brāhmaṇa, Jagannātha Miśra's son, grandson of Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, very social, aristocratic position. But still, He gave up everything. That means that although He had nothing material, but to show us that material things should be renounced, that is sannyāsa; and enter into the spiritual family of Kṛṣṇa. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). He does not become again entangled in these material varieties of life. In material world there is also varieties, but that is false. This morning we were discussing this point, mirage. In the mirage there is a show of false water, and the animal runs after it. But there is no water, and finally he becomes more thirsty, and it is desert; he falls down and dies. So the material world means we are running after false family. But don't think that there is no real family life. There is real family. That is Kṛṣṇa's real family, eternal family, blissful family. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to train up people to be detached from this false family and to enter into the real family. That is the point. Not that if I give up this false family I will become zero. No. There is no such disappointment.
So long there is sinful life, you cannot be allowed to enter into Kṛṣṇa's family. That will not be allowed.
- yeṣām anta-gataṁ tu pāpaṁ
- janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām
- te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā
- bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ
- (BG 7.28)
So avoid sinful life. We have given you prescription: no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication, no meat-eating. Avoid the sinful life and make your children Kṛṣṇa conscious purely. Then you can produce hundreds of children. There is no objection. And so far maintaining your children, we are taking charge. Come on. We are taking charge. We shall supply everything. Of course, not to the whims of these material man, but as much which is needed to maintain them, that we take, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, ISKCON society will take charge...
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: ...otherwise, we recommend everyone become sannyāsa. What is the use of not becoming? (all laugh) We are giving up this world. We are preparing ourself for entering into the family of Kṛṣṇa. So why should we be very much anxious to maintain this family. So actually... Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says; "I'm not a sannyāsī. I'm not a sannyāsī. I'm not a gṛhastha. I'm not a brahmacārī." These four, eight varṇāśrama-dharma is unecessary for spiritually. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was speaking with Rāmānanda Rāya... You'll find in the Teachings of Lord Caitanya... As soon as he suggested varṇāśrama-dharma, Rāmaṇanda Rāya, immediately Caitanya Mahāprabhu: "It is not very important. If you know better than this, you go on." He did not give any, much stress on this varṇāśrama-dharma. But for regulated life, that is required. And ultimately, it is not required. So it is not recommended for ordinary persons. But this is also unnecessary. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching is so sublime, that such things, which is the beginning of human life, that is also unnecessary. Iha bahya age kaha ara. Bahya means "this is superflous. You speak something higher than this." That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So that is not very easy thing. First of all, we have to live very regulated life. Sannyāsa life is that regulated life. And then we can enter into the real life. That is ideal.
Prabhupāda: You are trying to adjust things, threefold miserable condition, but you should understand that as soon as you get this material body, it will be suffering only. Therefore whole Vedic civilization is a culture how to stop this material body. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are also trying. The Buddhists, they are also trying. But they are thinking that "There is no soul. Finish this body." This is Buddhist theory. But they know that this is suffering. Similarly, the Māyāvādī, they also know this body is suffering, so they want to come out of the body and merge into the existence of God. The senses are already there, either Buddhist or Māyāvādī. And Vaiṣṇava philosophy is "Not only come out of this miserable condition of life, but enter into Kṛṣṇa's family and live peacefully." But so far the body is bad, it is accepted by all philosophies. Any kind of Indian philosophy, they will accept that body is bad.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Rāmeśvara: So, then they will say, "We do not want this movement in our country because it is breaking up the families."
Prabhupāda: You do not want? Who cares for you? We shall go on with our movement. Who cares for you?
Rāmeśvara: "You are ruining family life."
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Rāmeśvara: We are simply ruining our families.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. We are ruining the dog's family, cat's family. That's all right. We are entering into Kṛṣṇa's family. That is our improvement. What is the use of keeping with the dog's family, cat's family? The dog has also family. So to remain in the dog's family, it is very prestigious position? We have now constructed our own family, Kṛṣṇa family. We are entering there. What is the use of remaining in the dog's family, cat's family?
| Page Title: | Enter into Krsna's family |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 29 of Apr, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=9, Con=3, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 14 |