Lord Krishna Forum - Krishna Talk

Radian · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 19 Location: NEW YORK , USA

I AM A PROUD VEGETARIAN FOR 4 YEARS NOW AND ALSO A PROUD DEVOTEE OF LORD KRISHNA BUT THAT DOES NOT COUNT AS BEING A PROUD DEVOTEE OF LORD KRISHNA IT IS ALSO THE WAY HOW WE PRAY,THE WAY WE DRESS OURSELF,THE WAY WE THINK IN OUR MINDS,AND EVEN WHAT WE EAT,AND THE WAY WE ACT TOWARD PEOPLE IN OUR LIFE.IT'S ALL BEING JUDGED BY LORD KRISHNA WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOU'RE OPINIONS ARE WELCOMED YOU ARE WELCOMED TO SEND YOU'RE REPLIES TO MY E-MAIL;PM AND ETC. ON WHAT MAKES A PERFECT LORD KRISHNA DEVOTEE.

CHANT AND BE HAPPY

RAJESHWAR RAGHUBIR

Abhir Dhar · Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 1 Location: SouthEx Part-1

Well, what makes a true devotee of the lord is first to follow the four requistes which have been laid down by the ISCKON namely:
No meat eating
No use of intoxicants
No illict sex before marriage
and No gambling.
I think if you follow these four rituals strictly, which im still trying to follow with all my faith in almighty. You will automatically become compassionate and generous towards mankind and not to forget the chanting part everyday and reading the Bhavadgita as it is...Frankly saying is very easy than doing it. Also the true devotee in my opinion is one who sees oneness and the presence of god in all beings, which will come by completely surrendering onself to the wishes of almighty, no matter what if it is good or bad and by connecting onself to "God Consciousness". :D Hare Krishna

vespertine212 · Joined: 19 Oct 2005 Posts: 42

Both of these answers were perfect, but I think more can be said to refine the point.

If we'll review Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya lila Chapter 8, concerning the talks between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya we may get a fuller understanding of the gradations of pure devotees in terms of the gift Mahaprabhu came to give.

When Lord Caitanya asks about the ultimate goal of life, Ramananda Raya progressively describes the karmi, karma-yogi, jnani, jnana-yogi, devotee, prema-bhakta, dasya-bhakta, sakhya-bhakta, vatsalya-bhakta and madhurya-bhakta. And who is the senior-most devotee? An uninitiated, beautiful little cowherd girl who is only 14 years, 2 months and 15 days old: Srimati Radharani! She is the greatest devotee of Krishna, with the purest type of love for Him. Ramananda Raya explains that for us to attain the goal of life we will do best to take shelter of the pure devotional surrender of the girlfriends of Srimati Radharani. The great Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas of our line, beginning from Rupa and Raghunatha, down to Narottama das Thakura, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Gaura Kishor das Babaji, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati all serve Radharani as Her maidservants.

madhu · Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 37 Location: london

Abhir Dhar wrote: Well, what makes a true devotee of the lord is first to follow the four requistes which have been laid down by the ISCKON namely:
No meat eating
No use of intoxicants
No illict sex before marriage
and No gambling.
I think if you follow these four rituals strictly, which im still trying to follow with all my faith in almighty. You will automatically become compassionate and generous towards mankind and not to forget the chanting part everyday and reading the Bhavadgita as it is...Frankly saying is very easy than doing it. Also the true devotee in my opinion is one who sees oneness and the presence of god in all beings, which will come by completely surrendering onself to the wishes of almighty, no matter what if it is good or bad and by connecting onself to "God Consciousness". :D Hare Krishna

Dandavats Prabhu, what you said is somewhat sectarian...these 4 principles were not laid down by Iskcon, but existed long B4 Iskcon ever existed. Also one may follow these rules very strictly and NEVER become a devotee...impersonalists and mayavadis also follow them. Actually according to Sri Prahlada, the ONLY way to become a devotee is take the holy dust of a pure devotee upon one's head. Also only one who woships Krsna's Devotee can become a Devotee. please also it is better not to give "opinions" but to quoute Guru,Sadhu,Shastra.my apologies if i cause you any hurt or offense, i merely want to tell the truth,which i can see you do also, Jai Srila Prabhupada

Sri Joyan · Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 35

Radian wrote: I AM A PROUD VEGETARIAN FOR 4 YEARS NOW AND ALSO A PROUD DEVOTEE OF LORD KRISHNA BUT THAT DOES NOT COUNT AS BEING A PROUD DEVOTEE OF LORD KRISHNA IT IS ALSO THE WAY HOW WE PRAY,THE WAY WE DRESS OURSELF,THE WAY WE THINK IN OUR MINDS,AND EVEN WHAT WE EAT,AND THE WAY WE ACT TOWARD PEOPLE IN OUR LIFE.IT'S ALL BEING JUDGED BY LORD KRISHNA WHAT DO YOU THINK? YOU'RE OPINIONS ARE WELCOMED YOU ARE WELCOMED TO SEND YOU'RE REPLIES TO MY E-MAIL;PM AND ETC. ON WHAT MAKES A PERFECT LORD KRISHNA DEVOTEE.

CHANT AND BE HAPPY

RAJESHWAR RAGHUBIR

Eating, thinking, dressing properly is all important. But the most important thing of all is to cause as little suffering as possible and to spread as much love as possible. That's the mark of a Krsna devotee.

honeyflowerservant · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 76

Quote:
If you have any idea that material life is happy, you cannot become Krsna
conscious.

Srila Prabhupada, quoted in BTG 35-04, 2001