(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada)
"Dhairyat means with patience. Suppose I have begun immediately. So if there are so many impediments, I am not immediately successful, oh, that does not matter. I must be patient."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, August 8, 1966)
"Dhairya means patience, not that 'Because I have begun devotional service with great enthusiasm...' So you are already on the perfectional platform, but if you become impatient, that 'Why I am not becoming perfect? Sometimes why maya is kicking me?' Yes. That is habitual. That will go on. It will stop."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Bombay, January 7, 1975)
"The ability to overcome unsteadiness is called firmness or steadfastness (dhrti). And when one is fully qualified yet is humble and gentle, and when one is able to keep his balance both in sorrow and in the ecstasy of joy, he has the opulence called patience (ksama)."
(Bhagavad-gita As It Is 10.34, Purport)
"So utsahad dhairyan niscayat (Upadesamrta 3). The first principle is one must be very enthusiastic. He must believe that Krishna has said that, na me bhaktah pranasyati, 'My devotee will never be vanquished.' So 'Let me become Krishna's devotee sincerely. I must become Krishna's devotee sincerely.' This is called enthusiasm. Then dhairyat. 'I have become Krishna's devotee, but still I'm not feeling happy. How is that?' So therefore you have to become patient. The enthusiasm must be there, you must be patient also. And niscayat. Niscayat means you must be confident. 'Oh, Krishna has said that His devotee will never be vanquished, so surely I shall not be vanquished, even though I don't feel now. Let me do my duty."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, L.A., November 29, 1968)
"I am very glad to say that our this boy, Mr. Paul, he says sometimes, 'Swamiji, I want to increase my spiritual life immediately.' Take patience, patience. It will be done, of course. When you have got such desire, God will help you. He is within you. He is simply trying to see how much sincere you are. Then He will give you all opportunities to increase your spiritual life. Tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam (BG 10.10), dadami buddhi-yogam."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, April 27, 1966)
"So I shall request all friends and audience here to take up the matter very seriously and just try to execute it, although there are some impediments. So any good thing you do, there will be so many impediments. But we have to execute our mission."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, August 9, 1966)
"Suppose you are in this Krishna conscious society. Now, you cannot expect that all the members of the society will be first-class men. How can we expect? We are collecting members of the society from all classes of men. So there may be a man in goodness, a man in the passion and a man in the ignorance. But if you think, 'Oh, this man is not good. That man is not good,' oh... No. You should be tolerant. You haven't got any connection with this man or that man. You are connected with the philosophy, with the process of life, and you are connected... Just like the same example: suppose you are on the ship. You do not find just all men to your choice. There may be different kinds of men. But what is that to you? You have to cross the Atlantic Ocean, patiently cross. Just sit down tightly on the ship and take advantage of the opportunity. That is your business."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, January 3, 1967)
"You should be patient. Utsahān dhairyat (Upadesamrta 3). Dhairya means patience. Just like a girl is married and she wants a son. You cannot expect today is marriage, and tomorrow is child. That is not possible. You have to wait."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New Mayapur, August 5, 1976)
"You have got developed consciousness, you have got intelligence, but that intelligence, consciousness, depends also on your mode of living, on your mode of behavior. Therefore one has to become a brahmana, sattvika, in the modes of goodness. Then you will be patient, patient, santa, peaceful. If you become hesitant, then you cannot."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, January 3, 1967)
"If we hear patiently, with a little attention, and hear Krishna's words, what Krishna is saying in the Bhagavad-gita or what is spoken about Krishna in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, simply if we hear. We don't require any qualification, any education, any Ph.D., M.S.T, this, that. No. Simply Krishna has given you the ears, so you can hear. What is the difficulty? Krishna is so kind."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, August 20, 1972)
"Krishna is situated in everyone's heart. It is not that because I am a sannyasi, Krishna is sitting within my heart. No. Krishna is sitting in everyone's heart. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati (BG 18.61). And He is sentient. He is perfect in knowledge. So this very act, that one is trying to understand Krishna, that makes Krishna very pleased. Because he has kindly come here, so Krishna is within you, and because you are giving your patient hearing, He is already pleased. He is already pleased with you."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Montreal, June 20, 1968)
"Maya srstam means anything created by God, you cannot nullify it, you cannot reject it. That is not possible. You have to accept it and possibly utilize it. Therefore devotees, they take it for granted, even there is distressed condition of life, they take it that 'It is created by God. I am now in distress. It is creation of God. So why shall I hate it? Let me tolerate. Let me undergo this distressed condition of life.'
Just like suppose you are suffering from cough. Now there has been some hygienic law disregarded, so I have caught cold and cough. So why shall I deride upon it? It must be created either, you say, by bodily nature or by God. So, so long it is there, let me suffer patiently. It has come; it will go. That is instruction in the Bhagavad-gita: agamapayinah anityah."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, May 16, 1973)
"If you engage in Krishna consciousness, and suppose you do not become perfectly mature, some way or other you fall down... We should not fall down. Because if we have got enthusiasm and patience, we shall not fall down. But suppose we fall down. Sastra says, tasya abhadra abhud amusya kim. There is nothing inauspicity, because whatever you have done sincerely, that is recorded in the book, in the Krishna's book.
Krishna has got accountant. He keeps nice account of the activities of His devotees. That's a fact. Just like the nondevotees' accounts are kept by Yamaraja for punishment, similarly, devotees' accounts are kept by Krishna, personally. Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham (BG 4.11). Unless He keeps account, how He says, 'I respond to the devotee to the proportionate surrender'? Ye yatha mam prapadyante. The real business is surrender to Krishna. If we surrender immediately, cent percent, then Krishna also gives you the result immediately, cent percent."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Vrindavan, October 20, 1972)
"Now you are placed in some awkward circumstances for rendering devotional service as you have mentioned in your letter to me. Devotional service is so powerful that it cannot be stopped in any circumstance. There are histories of many great devotees, like Prahlada Maharaja, who was living in the house of his demon father, Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu did not even like to hear the name of Krishna, but Prahlada had perfect faith in chanting the Holy Names of the Mahamantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and in this way Krishna saved Prahlada in the end. So please be patient and go on chanting Hare Krishna and try to visit the temple as much as possible. Krishna will offer you all protection and make all suitable arrangements for His devotees to engage in His service."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, April 27, 1976)
"How to acquire the quality of patience. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has already given us that answer: One can chant the Holy Name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street, more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. So there will be, that in our preaching we will meet with many tribulations, that is patience."
(Srila Prabhupada Letter, May 12, 1974)
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