Vedic Principles for Harmonious Marriage
By H.H. Chandramauli Swami
Question: Krsna is interested in bringing devotees to loving reciprocation with Him, so I am often wondering that we see so many marriages breaking within our movement. Some really want to be devotees. (unclear)
HH Candrmauli Swami: Krsna has arranged for them to be broken apart? (Questioner -Yeah, Krsna breaks relationships all the time we see in sastra.)
I think it is a little dangerous to make that conclusion without getting that complete and clear understanding from one's spiritual master or someone who is in the position of a spiritual master because to think that the marriage breakup is Krsna’s arrangement. It could be the person. The could be many reasons why the marriage may not work but the basic principle is lack of training in both understand what it means to be responsible in married life and practice those religious principles in accordance to the needs of the ashram. Obviously, in our society there has been many mismatches.
If somehow following the regulative principle and this is a very controversial statement but it is mentioned that Prabhupada says that generally, it is due to the weakness of the ladies that the marriage falls apart. Men have big egos and part of keeping your husband happy is to satisfy that ego in a Krsna conscious way. A man gets married because he wants someone to take care of him, understand his nature and to serve that nature nicely and then when he sees that then he is inclined to give himself completely to his wife. But if a woman does not follow the nature of the man then there is always some kind of imbalance.
The Vedic system is the ideal system was a woman understands the nature of the man, not his material nature but what he needs in order to practice Krsna consciousness nicely. Also in a material way by providing affection, by care and kindness and service when that is there then the man is inclined to give himself completely. That is the nature of the male ego. If you get married and then your wife does not cooperate then what is the use of marriage? Or if the husband is not qualified then the wife feels why should she take so much time and effort to satisfy the husband when actually he has got too many material tendencies.
There are various examples throughout history were ladies have made their husbands Krsna conscious by chastity and service and they have won the hearts of their husbands in such a way that the husband actually becomes Krsna conscious and he becomes more inclined of taking care of his wife. So these are the finer aspects or the subtleties of the relationship but still religious principles are the culmination of that.
Now in the early days, Srila Prabhupada also separated men and women. One of my dear God-sisters, Cintamini, she was there, she had just come to England for the first time, and she was describing her she was speaking how Prabhupada arranged for her marriage to Sudama and they got married and at one point Prabhupada was looking for persons to take sannyasa. So Sudama got the idea that it was good to take sannyasa and he wanted to take sannyasa so he came to Prabhupada and said, “Prabhupada, I would like to take sannyasa.” Prabhupada said, “You have to get permission from your wife.”
So he went to Cintamini and he said it in such a way that, “Prabhupada wants more sannyasis. I want to be a sannyasi. Could you give me permission?” And she said, “Okay.” And that was the end of the marriage so he went on and took sannyasa. It was like that, whatever Prabhupada wanted. She thought Srila Prabhupada wanted her husband to take sannyasa so she agreed. The desire of the spiritual master became most important in that situation.
So she got married because of Srila Prabhupada’s desire and she got separated because Srila Prabhupada wanted sannyasis, obedience to authority – really hard to accept!
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Presentation at Bhakti-Vriksha Mahamilan 2019 at ISKCON East of Kailash, New-Delhi – Shri Shri Radha Parthasarathy Mandir
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Video
"Begin chanting. Then everything will be all right. Begin chanting. Then all other things will be adjusted."
Lecture on BG 7.3 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:
Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, you said that by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa you can go back to home, back to Godhead. So if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and not follow the regulations, not reading your books, can you go back to Godhead?
Prabhupāda: Begin chanting. Then everything will be all right. Begin chanting. Then all other things will be adjusted.
yena tena prakāreṇa
manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ
There are vidhi-niṣedhā, regulative principle. If you see that you are unable to follow, then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa sincerely. Then you'll be able to follow the regulative principles. Automatically. ... See MoreSee Less
Photo
Lord Nrsimhadev’s Mercy
Once, Lord Nrsimhadev’s worship was going on as usual when the pujari noticed that one flower fell from Nrsimhadev’s garland. The pujari asked the visitors if anyone was offering any special prayers to Lord Nrsimhadev.
The visitors in front did not say anything, but from the back one lady came forward with tears in her eyes. She said, My daughter got married about four or five years ago and she has no issue. The people in my son-in-law’s house consider it inauspicious. So I was praying to Nrsimhadev that He might help her in her desperate situation.
Then the pujari said, “Your prayer is granted, the symptom is that this flower fell from Nrsimhadev’s garland. Please take this and keep it nicely. You can wash this flower and give the water to your daughter to drink.” Then the lady left, and later the pujari forgot the incident.
After one year, the same devotee, along with her daughter, son-in-law and a newborn baby came smiling to Nrsimhadev. She reminded the pujari about the prayer she made one year back.
As a result of which her daughter gave birth to a very nice baby boy, whom they named Prahlad. And once again they offered a very nice puja (offering) to Lord Nrsimhadev.
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Congregational Preaching – It's History and Importance
By His Holiness Bhakti Brnga Govinda Swami
The congregational preaching mission is the most important aspect of our International Society for Krsna Consciousness. When ISKCON first began it was an ashram-based society. Over the past forty-one years, the society has grown vastly. Now, there are more devotees living outside the temple than within.
In many regions of the world, we have seen attempts to enhance congregational development. Some attempts have been more successful than others. It is very important that all of our devotees embrace congregational preaching.
They should take the faithful members of our congregation, and systematically train them in Krsna consciousness. Devotees should help increase their service spirit for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission.
We should have a group of dynamic devotees who are inspired to spread harinama sankirtana. They will preach the philosophy of Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Caitanya caritamrta and inspire people to become first-class devotees.
The Congregational Development Ministry is an extremely important aspect of our society. I would like to request all of our members to try and understand how we can implement Nama-hatta and Bhakti vriksha groups in a more concrete and sound way. This will help us to further the mission of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
(Excerpt from the book ‘The Nectar of Congregational Preaching’ by ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry)
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