Prabhupāda Explains What His Disciples Want to Achieve in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
The fundamental goal of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to bring genuine, lasting happiness to all living entities by reviving their dormant relationship with the Supreme Lord. Through the practical application of transcendental knowledge and pure devotional service, Śrīla Prabhupāda meticulously guided his followers to abandon selfish desires and instead work tirelessly for the spiritual upliftment of humanity. This dedication manifests not in seeking personal liberation, but in establishing ideal communities, profusely distributing spiritual literature, and demonstrating the perfection of human life.
Seeking the True Happiness of All Living Entities
A pure devotee naturally feels deep compassion for the suffering souls wandering throughout the material world. Therefore, the foremost desire of those participating in this spiritual movement is to see everyone become perfectly happy by reestablishing their connection with God. Rather than exploiting others or engaging in superficial welfare work, they strive to deliver the ultimate blessing of spiritual realization to human society, transcending all sectarian designations.
- We want to see that everyone is happy. That is our mission. We don't want to exploit others.
- If we actually want peace, then we must learn how to surrender to the Supreme Lord. It doesn't matter through which process. Either by Hindu, Muslim or Christian religion, it doesn't matter. We want to see that everyone is becoming a perfect lover of God.
- We want to see everyone happy. Sarve sukhino bhavantu. But people do not know how to become happy. They do not take the standard path to become happy. They manufacture their own way. That is the difficulty.
- Purpose of Krsna consciousness movement. We want to . . . We want to give to the human society the highest blessings, the most perfectional platform of life.
- Our mission is very nice. We want to see everyone happy. We don't want anything from anyone.
Distributing Transcendental Literature
To counteract the rampant ignorance and speculative philosophies that plague modern civilization, a massive distribution of authorized Vedic knowledge is required. Followers actively dedicate their time and energy to publishing and distributing books that present the absolute truth exactly as it is. By flooding the world with this transcendental literature, they aim to give people a solid foundation for spiritual advancement and a tangible escape from the cycle of birth and death.
- As much as possible go on reprinting all the books and distributing them profusely. Your idea for issuing a series of Transcendental Teachings is good. We want to flood the market with Krsna consciousness publications.
- Books means solid ground. What we want to preach, it is recorded, not any concocted ideas.
- We want to distribute our books as far as possible to all classes of men, because anyone who reads them is sure to become Krsna conscious, they are so nice.
- This program (distributing books, particularly to the schools and universities) is so important and should be increased more and more. We want to flood the world over with our books. So go on in this way and Krsna will surely bless you.
- These two books, Bhagavata and Bhagavad-gita, if they actually read and assimilate, their life will be successful. So we want to organize widespread publicity of these books. They'll be benefited.
Establishing Ideal Spiritual Communities
Beyond theoretical knowledge, there is a profound need to demonstrate the practical application of spiritual principles in daily life. Therefore, members of the movement work diligently to create ideal communities, farms, and educational centers that function purely on the basis of devotion to the Supreme Lord. These communities serve as tangible examples to the rest of the world, showing how a society centered on simple living and high thinking can thrive peacefully without unnecessary material endeavor.
- In our society we want to establish divine society. Therefore there is need of all classes of men and all classes of social orders. Our Vedic conception is varnasrama-dharma.
- We want to create some ideal men. People will see them, and at least they will understand that "Here are the ideal men." They will be ashamed. So those who are in Krsna consciousness movement, they should be sreyan - the best men in the society.
- Very crude, unsophisticated, but intense love for Krsna - that is Vrndavana. We want to introduce this farm project means intense love for Krsna.
- We want to establish a small gurukula as mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, accommodating willing Vaisnavas who will follow the Vaisnava behavior strictly; arranging worship of the Deity by the sincere devotees who will not take any remuneration.
- That is our mission: Cow protection and agriculture and if there is excess, trade. This is a no-profit scheme. For the agriculture we want to produce our own food and we want to keep cows for our own milk.
Dedicated Service Over Personal Liberation
A striking characteristic of pure devotion is the complete absence of desire for personal salvation or liberation from material distress. Disciples are trained to reject the idea of merging into the impersonal void, preferring instead to retain their individuality to render loving service eternally. This selfless attitude perfectly reflects the mood of the great ācāryas, who willingly accepted all types of inconveniences simply to assist the Lord in reclaiming conditioned souls.
- Being in the disciplic succession of Prahlada Maharaja certainly we are not interested for our personal liberation as much as we want to work for the liberation of the conditioned souls because Krsna desires it.
- We do not want liberation. We want to serve the purpose of the Gosvamis, in association with pure devotees. To stop birth and death is not our purpose.
- We Vaisnavas, we do not accept that suicidal policy. We want to keep our individuality, not merge. We don't want to finish our identity.
- We want to serve Krsna. We want to offer everything to Krsna. We do not want to enjoy anything ourself. That is Vaisnavism.
- We belong to the Vaisnava philosophical school, Vaisnava. Vaisnava means we want to worship God as He is, and we keep our separate identity eternally to serve Him.
Rectifying Material Misconceptions
Modern society is deeply entrenched in the bodily concept of life, causing endless division, suffering, and misdirected energy. The spiritual movement aims to eradicate these false identifications, such as race, nationality, and social status, by elevating individuals to the platform of pure spiritual consciousness. By actively challenging speculative philosophies and exposing the cheating propensity of worldly leaders, the disciples strive to establish the absolute authority and true teachings of the Supreme Lord.
- The Krsna consciousness movement means they want to educate people, rectifying the basic principle of misconception: "I am body," "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am fat," "I am thin," "I am black," "I am white" - all bodily conception.
- We do not want to keep the human society in the category of cats and dogs. We want to raise them to the real understanding of the identification. That is our mission.
- The members are somebody are cheating, and somebody are cheated. The association of cheaters and cheated. So we want to save them from this society of cheaters and cheated.
- Because Bhagavad-gita is wrongly preached all over the world by nonsense commentation, we want to rectify it. Therefore our society is specially named "Krsna conscious."
- If you do not agree with Krsna's proposal, you (indistinct), why you present Bhagavad-gita in the name of Krsna and cheat Him and cheat yourself? That we want to stop.
Conclusion
Through these powerful instructions, Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly defines the selfless and dynamic nature of his worldwide mission. The disciples do not seek to retreat from the world for their own salvation; instead, they step forward to engage all available resources in the service of the Lord. By distributing authorized literature, building spiritual communities, and rejecting materialistic conceptions, they work to fulfill the deepest desire of the spiritual master—to see every living entity become truly happy by returning back to Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category We Want To (Disciples of SP). We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.