Another of the four principal Vaisnava Sampradayas is called the Rudra Sampradaya. It too is one of the Visnu Sampradayas.

Not too long ago a BTG article told the story of Damocles, the Greek ruler who suspended a large sword over the head of one of his intimate but envious servants. The king allowed this servant to become ‘king for day,’ sitting on the throne and enjoying entertainment, royal garb and food, and the power to rule and decide on all affairs of state, internal and external. But all the time the servant sat on the massive throne, Damocles had arranged for a huge sword to be suspended just above the servant’s head, held by a thin, almost invisible thread. The lesson was that Damocles, although enjoying all the facilities granted to monarchs, lived in constant fear of being defeated, overthrown, or in some way falling out of favor with his subjects.

Deterministic chaos is a physics concept that says the flutter of a butterfly wing can change the course of a hurricane by hundreds of miles. Like the weather, especially in maritime (seagoing vehicle) and high altitude (airplane flying) situations, life is wholly unpredictable. In this age in particular, asteroid showers, el-nino currents, and other increasingly frequent freak happenings like tornadoes, earthquakes, flash floods, hurricanes, storms and tidal waves, underscore the fact that we live in unpredictable and dangerous times. And sudden human upheavals including terrorism, political violence, warfare, terrorism and tribal hostilities, make this world a perilous place to be.

“Just like sometimes we take pleasure in a swimming pool, lie down and closing our eyes. Who expert swimmer, they’re lying down. Why it is not possible for the Supreme Lord? What is the difficulty? Sukhanubhavah. We take that pastime for pleasure, for pleasure, lying down on the water, closing eyes. So when we speak, The Garbhodakasayi Visnu lying down in the Causal Ocean,' these rascals, fools, they sometimes criticize,And how it is possible?’ How it is not possible? If a ordinary man can take pleasure lying down on the water, closing and lying for hours-we have seen it-so what is the difficulty for the Supreme Lord? You have got this tendency to lie down on water, half on the water, and close your eyes. So where your tendency has come? Your tendency has come because the same tendency is there in the Supreme Lord. This is the explanation.” (Extract from a Mayapur lecture on March 10, 1976)

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna claims to be the ocean. He says, “of bodies of water I am the ocean.” (BGAII 10.24)

On October 16, 1972, in Vrindavana Srila Prabhupada said this: “preaching work is not easy-going. There are many difficulties. All the big, big preachers Sri Ramanujacarya. His life was attempted to be killed. Why Ramanujacarya? My guru Maharaja was attempted to be killed. Twenty-five thousand rupees were raised fund for bribing the police officer. He told me personally. The Navadvipa, Navadvip Gosais, they wanted to kill him. So preaching work is always risky.”

The Srimad Bhagavatam is known as the “spotless purana.” Blemishes, imperfections, excretia, lesions, and contusions are found in everything. The selling of literature, warts and all, is fashionable. Faultless literature is considered non-existent. But even Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu ordered that Srimad Bhagavatam reading was one of the five most important activities a human could perform.

Although it is mostly clear and we walk in it and see through it every day, air is an element composed of gases, molecules and atoms. It’s also mentioned in the Gita as the element known as vayuh (7.4). Air is subtle and heavy and forms foam in water, which makes it both dry and wet at the same time. Understanding more about it has enabled human beings to fly. And air “conditioning” is something some people in hot climates say they can’t live without.

In Srimad Bhagavatam 1.17.38 (purport) Srila Prabhupada presents recommendations for the establishment of better state government. He writes, “The state which wants to eradicate corruption by majority may introduce the principles of religion in the following manner: 1. Two compulsory fasting days in a month, if not more (austerity). Even from the economic point of view, such two fasting days in a month in the state will save tons of food, and the system will also act very favorably on the general health of the citizens. 2. There must be compulsory marriage of young boys and girls attaining twenty-four years of age and sixteen years of age respectively. There is no harm in coeducation in the schools and colleges, provided the boys and girls are duly married, and in case there is an intimate connection between a male and female student, they should be married properly without illicit relation. The divorce act is encouraging prostitution, and this should be abolished. 3. The citizens of the state must give in charity up to fifty percent of their income for the purpose of creating a spiritual atmosphere in the state or in human society, both individually and collectively. They should preach the principles of Bhagavatam by (a) karma-yoga, or doing everything for the satisfaction of the Lord, (b) regular hearing of the Srimad-Bhagavatam from authorized persons or realized souls, (c) chanting of the glories of the Lord congregationally at home or at places of worship, (d) rendering all kinds of service to bhagavatas engaged in preaching Srimad-Bhagavatam and (e) residing in a place where the atmosphere is saturated with God consciousness. If the state is regulated by the above process, naturally there will be God consciousness everywhere.”

Several sastric citations purport that worshiping Krsna’s representative is ‘better’ than worshiping Krsna directly. There are many such quotes, and this one was taken from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam: “The Lord says, ‘Worshiping My devotees is better than worshiping Me directly.’ ” (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.19.21, written in the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 10.5.15-26).