A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Quotes

Beginning of all knowledge comes from humility.

If you sell diamonds, you cannot expect to have many customers. But a diamond is a diamond even if there are no customers.

Humility means that one should not be anxious to have the satisfaction of being honored by others.

One should not be happy or distressed over desirables and undesirables, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind.

A tree full of ripened fruits bows down naturally, because of the weight of the fruits and its willingness to make its fruits accessible to others.

You should not be carried away by the dictation of the mind, but the mind should be carried by your dictation.

Books are the basis; purity is the force; preaching is the essence; utility is the principle.

Every living creature is the son of the supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even ants being killed

A grain of devotion is more valuable thank tons of faithlessness.

The genuine Guru is God's representative and he speaks about God and nothing else.

When a Krishna Conscious person is elevated to a responsible position, he never becomes puffed up. Just like a tree when over-laden with fruits becomes humble and lower down. Similarly, a great soul in Krishna Consciousness becomes humbler than the grass and bowed down like the fruitful trees because a Krishna Conscious person acts as the agent of Krishna, therefore he discharges his duty with great responsibility.

This chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is enacted from the spiritual platform and thus this sound vibration surpasses all lower strata of consciouness - namely sensual, mental and intellectual.

To kill nothing, that is love.

When a pure devotee or spiritual master speak, what he says should be accepted as having been directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Parampara System.

It's better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite.

The artist draws a picture of a rose very nicely with all attention and artistic sense, and yet it does not become as perfect as the real rose. If that is the real fact, how can we say that the real rose has taken its shape without Intelligence behind the beauty?

Faith is unflinching trust in something divine.

Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation.

Be very humble when you plan so that Krishna is happy with you.

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.

The holy name of Krishna has extraordinary spiritual potency because the name of God is nondifferent from God Himself.

Our first duty is to satisfy the spiritual master, who can arrange for the Lord's mercy. A common man must first begin to serve the spiritual master or the devotee. Then, through the mercy of the devotee, the Lord will be satisfied. Unless one receives the dust of a devotee's lotus feet on one's head, there is no possibility of advancement. Unless one approaches a pure devotee, he cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is said about Lord Buddha sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam. He saw the whole human race going to hell by this animal killing. So he appeared to teach ahimsa, nonviolence, being compassionate on the animals and human beings. In the Christian religion also, it is clearly stated, 'Thou shall not kill'. So everywhere animal killing is restricted. In no religion the unnecessary killing of animals is allowed. But nobody is caring. The killing process is increasing, and so are the reactions. Every ten years you will find a war. These are the reactions.

The Lord has different names according to His different activities. For example, His name is Madhusüdana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses

The spiritual master and Krishna are two parallel lines. The train, on two tracks, moves forward. The spiritual Master and Krishna are like these two tracks. They must be served simultaneously. Krishna helps one to find bona fide Spiritual Master and bona fide Spiritual Master helps one to understand Krishna. If one does not get bona fide Spiritual Master, then how he can ever understand Krishna ? You cannot serve Krishna without Spiritual Master, or serve just Spiritual Master without serving Krishna. They must be served simultaneously.