Expressions researched:
"humanity at large"
1
"Glory to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious."
Here the words tīrthī-kṛtāśeṣa-kriyārthaḥ are significant. Tīrtha means a sanctified place where charity is given. People used to go to places of pilgrimage and give munificently in charity. This system is still current. Therefore the Lord said, "In order to sanctify your activities and the results of your actions, you will offer everything unto Me." This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you sacrifice, the result should be given to Me only." In another place in Bhagavad-gītā the Lord said, "I am the enjoyer of all sacrifices, all penances and everything done for the welfare of mankind or society." All activities, therefore, whether for the welfare of family, society, country or humanity at large, must be performed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the instruction given by the Lord to Kardama Muni. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira welcomed Nārada Muni: "Wherever you are present, that place becomes sanctified because the Lord Himself is always seated in your heart." Similarly, if we act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the Lord and His representative, then everything is sanctified.
A gṛhastha should not be very much attached to his wife; he should engage even his own wife in serving a guest with all attention. Whatever money a gṛhastha accumulates by the grace of God he should spend in five activities, namely worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, receiving Vaiṣṇavas and saintly persons, distributing prasāda to the general public and to all living entities, offering prasāda to his forefathers, and also offering prasāda to his own self. Gṛhasthas should always be ready to worship everyone as mentioned above. The gṛhastha should not eat anything not offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā (3.13), yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ: "The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food that is offered first for sacrifice." The gṛhastha should also visit the holy places of pilgrimage mentioned in the purāṇas. In this way he should fully engage in worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the benefit of his family, his society, his country, and humanity at large.
In this age, the performance of yajña has been forbidden because no one can properly chant the Vedic mantras. If Vedic mantras are chanted properly, the desire for which a sacrifice is performed must be successful. Therefore the Hare Kṛṣṇa chant is called the mahā-mantra, the great, exalted mantra above all other Vedic mantras, because simply chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra brings so many beneficial effects. As explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (Śikṣāṣṭaka 1):
"Glory to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious."
Glory to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
The material world is a place of confinement for the living entities who are by nature ānandamaya, pleasure-seeking. They actually want to be free from the confinement of this world of conditional happiness, but not knowing the process of liberation, they are bound to transmigrate from one species of life to another and from one planet to another. In this way the living entities are wandering throughout the material universe. When by good fortune one comes in contact with a pure devotee and hears from him patiently, one begins to follow the path of devotional service. Such an opportunity is offered to a person who is sincere. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is giving such a chance to humanity at large. If by fortune one takes advantage of this opportunity to engage in devotional service, the path of liberation immediately opens.
"All glories to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious."
The confidential truth about what constitutes good action is almost impenetrable. Some hold that good action consists of executing one's social responsibilities. This is what common men generally understand by good action. But a few verses after the ones quoted above, Lord Kṛṣṇa uses the phrase brahma-karma to describe good action, and the word brahma points to Brahman. Therefore some say work done on the platform of Brahman is good action. Others say that good action includes works beneficial for the self, the society, the nation, and humanity at large. When a person acts with such lofty intentions, he is surely known as a good man. Indeed, his actions are certainly noble compared with those of persons with warped mentalities. This kind of action is not buddhi-yoga, however, because such philanthropic works can at best replace one set of people's mundane desires with a new set, but they can never completely root out these unwanted desires from within the heart. Philanthropic activities cannot prepare us for unalloyed devotional service, which is uncontaminated by empirical knowledge and fruitive action.
Glories to the śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years together. Thus the fire of conditioned life, of repeated birth and death is extinguished. This saṅkīrtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge, it increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it helps to have a taste of the full nectar for which we are always anxious. Second verse. Oh my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction upon the living beings and therefore You have hundreds and millions of names like Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, etc. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies and there is no hard and fast rule for chanting these holy names. Oh my Lord, You have so kindly made approach to You easy by Your holy names, but unfortunate as I am, I have no attraction for them. Three. One can chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.
Funds are being collected to commemorate Mahatma Gandhiji in a fitting manner and I beg to suggest that the same may be done in the Gandhian way and not otherwise. Gandhiji's whole life was dedicated to the service of humanity at large with special interest for raising the moral standard. His later activities showed that he was equal to every one and all the people of the world knew him more as the spiritual leader than a mere politician. Devotion to Godhead was his ultimate aim and when I say that his sacred memory should be perpetuated not in the ordinary way but in the Gandhian way, I mean that fitting respect to his memory will be done in the following manner.
The matter is so important that it cannot be (now) set aside to be managed by the Sadhus and Sannyasins only but it must be taken care of by all responsible men.
The word "Hindu" is somewhat foreign according to India's spiritual or cultural conception. The exact word used for this purpose is "Sanatanam" or the eternal. Sri "Bhagavad-gita" gives us the message that "Sanatana" religion is meant not only for the "Hindus," the Indians or all the humanity at large but also for all living beings on earth.
Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is Krishna Himself in the Form of a devotee preached the cult of the Bhagavad-gita for all practical purposes and benefit of the humanity at large. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that a person who takes the responsibility of preaching the Bhakti cult by all means is the most most favorite person of the lord. This mission has to be taken up in the modern light of understanding and for this purpose I have registered __ association of the name as above mentioned.
Please continue to think of Krishna & you will feel more & more the Blissful pleasure transcendental to all material contamination. I am very thankful to you for appreciating my humble service. You will be glad to know that I have already secured a visitor's visa to your country & have asked my travel agent to book my seat on the earliest possible date. I think I shall be in your midst by the middle of Nov. I went to your country with a mission & you all good souls were sent by Krishna to me. So let us cooperatively work together to vigorously spread Krishna Consciousness, to the suffering humanity at large. Your country is great & you are all good sons of America. Spread this knowledge so that America will be still greater in the eyes of the world. Keep this point of view in front of you & all your God-brothers combine together may execute this mission.
Less intelligent asuras are attracted by the impersonal manifestation because they have no chance to meet Krishna face to face. In the last paragraph of your letter of the 7th, you have mentioned very nobly that you can work with me on the project of Srimad-Bhagavatam and it will be a great success of my mission if we jointly finish up complete Bhagavatam published by MacMillan Co. The chance is there, let us carefully handle up the situation and as soon as I return to the States, we shall take up Srimad-Bhagavatam in the same Spirit as I have published First Canto. The MSS of Canto two & three is ready and if we jointly work on the other 9 cantos I shall feel very much obliged to you. If I can leave behind me the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Gita Upanisad, and Lord Caitanya's Teachings, & if you continue to work in the spirit of pure Krishna Consciousness, surely we shall be able to do some tangible service to Humanity at large.
Krishna was very kind to me when He sent you to me for cooperating. My hearty thanks for you when you write to say that "Krishna Consciousness is the full perfection of life". Lord Caitanya was eulogized by Rupa Goswami as the latter understood that Lord Caitanya was there to distribute Krishna Consciousness. The only gift for the humanity at large. Lord Caitanya wanted that the message should be distributed in every village and town of the globe. Let us do this service as far as possible in all seriousness. We can not make any compromise with anyone for cheap popularity.
In the Western countries, there is no dearth of men and money, as well as intelligence, simply to get them together and our program will be successful. My present program is that I am waiting for a little warmer climate otherwise I would have gone to N.Y. without waiting further. Therefore my present program is that I shall remain in the Western Coast, Cal., during Feb. and March. Then I shall go to New York in April. When I will come there and we'll meet together. Then I will go to Boston in May, then by the month of June I will go to Montreal. I think that is the best time. I shall remain in Montreal for June and July, then we shall go to England and possibly from England, we may go to Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, etc. Now, man proposes, God disposes. I do not know what is Krishna's desire, but I have chalked out my program like this. Pray to Krishna that He may give me strength to render some service to you and to the humanity at large.
There are the same streets, same people, same cars, same trees, etc. everywhere, somewhere a hill, somewhere sandy, somewhere some water—but what is the profit of seeing so much scenery? It is better if you want to travel, you can travel to preach and spread this Krishna Consciousness to the suffering humanity at large. You can travel with our Sankirtana party if you like. They are presently here in Los Angeles, and they are making program to go to London, then over Europe, then eventually on to India, etc. So if you want to travel I recommend you travel with them, and chant Hare Krishna with them wherever you go. And you will profit by this sort of travel, whereas the other is a waste of time practically. So that is my opinion, that you would do far better not to waste your time in this way.
The main purposes of this institution are as follows amongst others: 1) To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world. 2) To propagate a consciousness of Krishna as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. 3) To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, and thus develop the idea, within the members and humanity at large that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna). 4) To teach and encourage the Sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Regarding the recent upheavals in our Society, that business is finished, now we must all concentrate very carefully on the simple execution of our duty following the principles of regulation very strictly in our daily life. If you remain pure by following the instructions of your Spiritual Master there is no chance for maya to enter into the program. So I do not think you will find any more these politics at our Boston center or elsewhere. So please go there and help print our Society's literature, this is a great opportunity for rendering service to Krsna and the humanity at large.
If this program in Pakistan is successful, the whole world will have to see the transcendental potency of pure Sankirtana Movement and it will be to your credit. I have made Sannyasis for this purpose to spread up Krsna consciousness all over the world and I am confident of your ability to do it. You have now learned the life of a Sannyasi by practical touring and preaching, now it is my desire that you apply for some concrete results in this new field. If you do it, it will be a very great service to the Movement and humanity at large and I will be very pleased with this work. You can immediately make arrangements to go there to East Pakistan and Brahmananda Maharaja to West Pakistan, each assisted by one brahmacari. It will be easier for you to go direct from U.S.A. because your country is on friendly terms with Pakistan. I think you will have no difficulty in introducing Krsna consciousness as a cultural movement. Further hints I can give later on. Now you will have to ply your good intelligence for serving Krsna very diligently and soberly in foreign land.
| Page Title: | Humanity at large |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Serene |
| Created: | 26 of Oct, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=0, OB=4, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=11 |
| No. of Quotes: | 20 |