Revealed Scriptures - an essential subject

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People in general always require a leader who can teach the public by practical behavior. A leader cannot teach the public to stop smoking if he himself smokes. Lord Caitanya said that a teacher should behave properly before he begins teaching. One who teaches in that way is called ācārya, or the ideal teacher. Therefore, a teacher must follow the principles of śāstra (scripture) to teach the common man. The teacher cannot manufacture rules against the principles of revealed scriptures. The revealed scriptures, like Manu-saṁhitā and similar others, are considered the standard books to be followed by human society. Thus the leader's teaching should be based on the principles of such standard śāstras. One who desires to improve himself must follow the standard rules as they are practiced by the great teachers.

Srila Prabhupada's books, lectures, conversations and letters offer a comprehensive presentation of this essential subject as seen in the Vaniquotes Revealed Scriptures category. An introduction from his books is given below in the following 8 quotes.

Quotes from Srila Prabhupada's books


vanipedia.org 		According to revealed scriptures, a teacher or spiritual master is liable to be rejected if he proves himself unworthy of the position of a guru or spiritual master. A guru is called also an ācārya, or a person who has personally assimilated all the essence of śāstras and has helped his disciples to adopt the ways. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.43)



vanipedia.org 		According to the revealed scriptures, if a spiritual master can convert even one soul into a perfectly pure devotee, his mission in life is fulfilled. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura always used to say, "Even at the expense of all the properties, temples and maṭhas that I have, if I could convert even one person into a pure devotee, my mission would be fulfilled." (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.91)



vanipedia.org 		According to the Vedānta-sūtras (śāstra-yonitvāt), the Supreme Lord is the author of all revealed scriptures, and all revealed scriptures are for knowing the Supreme Lord. Veda means knowledge that leads to the Lord. The Vedas are made just to revive the forgotten consciousness of the conditioned souls, and any literature not meant for reviving God consciousness is rejected at once by the nārāyaṇa-para devotees. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.5.15)



vanipedia.org 		According to Vedic civilization, one has to see through the authority of the revealed scriptures. Śāstra-cakṣuḥ: one should see everything through the medium of the Vedic literature. In this way, one can distinguish between the spiritual world and material world. Those who ignore such instructions cannot be convinced of the existence of the spiritual world. Because they have forgotten their spiritual identity, such materialists take this material world as the all in all. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 12.184)



vanipedia.org 		Actions that are performed in terms of one's prescribed duties, as mentioned in the revealed scriptures, are called karma. Actions that free one from the cycle of birth and death are called akarma. And actions that are performed through the misuse of one's freedom and that direct one to the lower life forms are called vikarma. Of these three types of action, that which frees one from the bondage to karma is preferred by intelligent men. (Sri Isopaniṣad, Mantra 2)



vanipedia.org 		By following the instructions of the bona fide spiritual master in conjunction with the principles of revealed scriptures, the student will rise to the plane of complete knowledge, which will be exhibited by development of detachment from the world of sense gratification. The mundane wranglers are surprised that one can detach himself from the world of sense gratification, and thus any attempt to be fixed in God realization appears to them to be mysticism. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.37)



vanipedia.org 		A devotee's body becomes at once surcharged with the transcendental qualities as soon as he is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. It acts like the magnetic influence of a touchstone upon iron. The influence of transcendental devotional service is like that. Therefore change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of three qualitative modes of material nature upon the pure devotee. There are many instances of this in the revealed scriptures. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.6.28)



vanipedia.org 		To surpass the influence of the illusory energy is very difficult, but those who are determined to catch hold of the lotus feet of the Lord are freed from the clutches of māyā. Therefore, pure devotees can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but demons, because of their miscreant behavior, cannot understand the Lord, in spite of seeing the many revealed scriptures and the uncommon activities of the Lord. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 3.89)


Revealed Scriptures - explore more within this category.

Vanipedia has now over 903 introductory articles compiled from Srila Prabhupada's books under the series titled Essential Subjects. All these articles can be seen in the Table of Content on the right side of this article and also here in this Umbrella Category. Browse through them to relish the breadth and depth of Srila Prabhupada's teachings - There is a subject for everyone.


   
 

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