Sometimes we think the 16 qualities come automatically. This appears to be well supported by the well-known Srimad Bhagavatam verse:

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akicana,
sarvair guuis tatra samasate sura,
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna,
manorathenasati dhavato bahi (5.18.12)

Srila Prabhupada translates the verse like this: “All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord’s external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?” Nonetheless Srila Prabhupada emphasized learning the 26 qualities SEPARATELY. One way in which he manifested this separateness was posting the 26 NUMBERED qualities on the doors in his apartment at 26 Second Avenue. In New York City on 6 January, 1966, he said this in a public lecture: “That is the perfection of Krishna consciousness. When we see the twenty-six qualification in full present, that means he is perfect in Krishna consciousness. If those qualities are not present, that means there is still, I mean to say, a touch of contamination of material nature.”

On February 27, 1976 on a morning walk in Mayapur Srila Prabhupada said, “Bengali culture was very much adored all over India. Even one big politician, Gandhi’s guru, Goke, Gokule, he remarked, ‘What Bengal thinks today, other provinces will think tomorrow.'”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes in his Last Will and Testament: “Our only desire is to collect the dust from the lotus feet of Sri Rupa Goswami, who fulfilled the desire of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

I’m told that there is a rule in the Chowpatty temple that runs something like this: if a Brahmacari criticizes a householder for being a householder, he (the Brahmacari) is kicked out of the temple with no recourse to an appeal.

Srila Prabhupada CREATED a taste. He said this on 19 August 1973 in Los Angeles, while lecturing on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.16: “Because at the present moment there are sudras, they are lacking taste. But our propaganda is, by some way or other, even they are sudras, EVEN THEY’RE DEMONS (emphasis mine), we are creating the taste. That is our Krsna consciousness movement. Even there is…, there is no taste for vasudeva-katha-rucih, still, our process is so nice that we create the taste. Nobody was interested in Krsna consciousness, but there are thousand now. How? Because we are trying or we have created the taste, by this process.”

What most people think are curses-things like disease, old age, loss of loved ones, bad luck, and death-are like blessings to a devotee. The essential verse in this regard is when Queen Kunti prays: “I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.” (S.B.1.8.25)

King Yadu learns from the avadhuta brahmana – who claimed 24 gurus – how guru is both one and many. “Although the Absolute Truth is one without a second, the sages have described Him in many different ways. Therefore one may not be able to acquire very firm or complete knowledge from one spiritual master.” (11.9.31) The Lord explains that one shouldn’t use this conversation as an excuse to avoid being a disciple of one guru. Rather, the avadhuta is teaching how “one can strengthen the teachings received from one’s acarya and avoid transgressing his orders by observing ordinary things in nature.” Mad-abhijanam gurum santam, upasita mad-atmakam. “Ultimately, however, one should approach a bona fide spiritual master who is in full knowledge of Me as I am, who is peaceful, and who by spiritual elevation is not different from me.” (SB 11.10.5)

Sometimes devotees think that Krsna will reveal EVERYTHING from within: things such as how to use computers, construction of buildings, cooking, producing books, keeping accounts, making music, and decorating temples. This ignores the principle of “God helps those that help themselves,” or that “man proposes; God disposes.” If we don’t attempt or propose [act] why should Krsna do everything for us. Arjuna had to utilize military science to fight. He had to strain his brain and his muscle to the maximum. In New York on December 22, 1966, Srila Prabhupada said this: “Therefore the common saying is that ‘Man proposes; God disposes.’ Therefore a devotee, he never depends on himself. He never considers himself, ‘I am independent.’ He simply depends on the supreme will of the Lord. That is devotion. ‘If God desires… If Krishna desires…’ Whenever we used to ask our Guru Maharaja something, ‘Is it going to be happened like that?’ some work, he never said, ‘Yes, it is going to happen. Yes, we are going to do it.’ No. ‘Yes, if Krishna desires, it may be.’ He never said like that, positively. ‘If Krishna desires.’ Actually this is the fact. If Krishna desires, God desires, anything wonderful can be done. If He does not desire, however you may try, it will never be done. So just like we are praying to Krishna, if He desires, we’ll have a nice house. If He does not desire, we may remain here. It doesn’t matter. But we shall prosecute our business, Krishna consciousness. There is nothing to stop, in whatever condition we may be. Ahaituky apratihata. Devotional service is, I mean to say, without any impediment, apratihata. Nothing can check it—that is devotional service—in any circumstances. No material circumstances can check your Krishna consciousness. When it is, you are firmly convinced and situated in that position, that is real bhakti-yoga.

We have often heard that Srila Prabhupada said that even if one percent of the world’s people becomes Krsna conscious, the present world situation would change for the better. Here is one such quote from a lecture delivered in London on 8th of September 1971: “Therefore this Krishna consciousness movement… Even a certain little percentage of people become Krishna conscious, the whole face of the world will change. It is so nice.” (SB7.5.22.30)

(This article was posted in the ?Meditations? column of the Hindustan Times on 16 December 2002.) I?ve got to admit it? s getting better, a little better all the time – a Beatles song ?COMPARISONS ARE odious,? said an English Bard, but who doesn?t indulge? For example, are things getting better or worse? Time-honoured tests inform that the soul is indestructible (Gita 2.20). But the surroundings are troubling, because we tend to be concerned with Planet Earth?s and the human condition. Eternal companions of humanity are enjoyment, love, hate, birth, death, disease and old age. But recent leaps in technology have given inordinate ease, comfort and happiness to many. We love ?modernity: entertainment at the push of a button, easier travel, instant global communication, fast food, fashion, medical progress and freedom to choose wider varieties of goods. But at what cost? Satish Kumar, editor of UK?s Resurgence magazine, says people?s activities have contributed to more environmental destruction in the last 50 years than in the 5,000 years before. Plus, we hear of global warming?s dark predictions that within 60 years coastal inundation will force a billion people to relocate their hearths and houses. If it?s all true, Kumar?s analysis indicates that new ways compare badly with the old order. We might also mark the gladiatorial trend in films and TV, and the increasingly violent entertainment that trashes boundaries of decency with multiple images of sex and sadism. Some even say the planet is in the hands of madmen, and that terrorism will breed nuclear warfare. Resources from the past key us into things that have endured for millennia, things like the Himalayas and the seas. We read in ancient texts that mountains flew, when bravery, honesty, truth, cleanliness, voluntary abstinence, and compassion were the guiding stars of people?s lives. Technical advances based on such values could resolve most dilemmas of the modern world. But how to effectively combine the old with the new? Well, spiritual intelligence is the medium, and meaningful questions need to be asked. Spiritual intelligence is neither left- nor right-brained. It is not merely logical, psychological or emotional. It seeks answers to fundamental questions like ?why am I here?, ?where am I going?, ?who am I, and ?why do I keep going?? This type of searching ensures their inner-existence has beauty and life, even when events outside generate hate and destruction. Buddhi yoga, or spiritual intelligence means to reclaim our deepest natures and to ask on the profoundest levels: ?what makes life worth living?? The writer is emeritus member of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission