The Supreme Mission of God's Preaching
Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the Supreme Lord is the ultimate spiritual master of the universe. By studying his instructions, we can understand how the Lord establishes the original philosophy of religion, how He tailors His preaching to different historical circumstances, and how He personally inaugurates the sublime chanting process for the present age.
The Original Ideal of Religion
The foundation of all true philosophy and religious principles comes directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that whether the Lord appears as Śrī Kṛṣṇa or Kapila Muni, He establishes the ultimate standards of knowledge that all bona fide spiritual masters follow.
- Original idea of philosophy is practically demonstrated by Krsna. The ideal, original ideal of religion and philosophy is preached by Krsna. And all the acaryas followed that.
- Kapila Muni. He is also incarnation of God, and He preached the sankhya philosophy, original. Later on, in the, just in this Kali-yuga, there is an imitation sankhya philosophy. So there are two sankhya philosophies: atheistic and nonatheistic.
- Svayambhuva Manu had two daughters, named Akuti and Devahuti. From their wombs, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as two sons named Yajnamurti and Kapila respectively. These sons were entrusted with preaching about religion and knowledge.
Preaching According to Time and Audience
The Lord is expertly compassionate and knows exactly what the conditioned souls need at any given time. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the Lord descends in various incarnations—such as Lord Buddha—to preach specific doctrines, sometimes even rejecting portions of the Vedas to stop degraded practices like animal slaughter.
- Every God conscious man must have respect for Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about it. My Guru Maharaja had very great respect for Muhammad, Jesus Christ. We pray Lord Buddha. Although he preached atheistic philosophy, but we know that he's incarnation.
- He (Lord Buddha) knew that, "These foolish men will come and give me evidence that 'Here in the Vedas animal sacrifice is recommended. Why you are preaching? Why you are preaching stoppage of animal killing?' " Therefore he completely rejected Vedas.
- I offer my respectful obeisances to Vasudeva, who is all-pervading, to the Lord's fierce form as Lord Nrsimhadeva, to the Lord's form as an animal (Varahadeva), to Dattatreya, who preached impersonalism, to Lord Buddha, and to all the other incarnations.
Preaching the Religion of the Age
Every cosmic age requires a specific method of self-realization. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights how Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu descended specifically to establish the yuga-dharma for Kali-yuga, replacing the meditation of Satya-yuga with the congregational chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa.
- In this Age of Kali, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has descended to preach the religion of Krsna consciousness. Therefore the chanting of the holy names of Lord Krsna is the religious principle for this age.
- In the present age of Kali-yuga - the Lord incarnates to preach the chanting of the holy name of Krsna.
- Lord Caitanya says that in the Satya-yuga this incarnation of God in white color, He preached meditation, dhyana. Therefore meditation is for the Satya-yuga.
The Saṅkīrtana Movement
The most merciful feature of the Lord's preaching is seen in His appearance as a devotee. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally traveled and preached the saṅkīrtana-yajña everywhere, showing humanity how to escape the dark influence of the present age.
- Although Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is personally the Supreme Lord, Krsna, He comes as a devotee to preach the Krsna consciousness movement. Yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa. One must therefore become a sincere servant of Krsna.
- Caitanya preached this method of yajna, and it is understood that the sacrificial method of sankirtana-yajna may be performed anywhere and everywhere in order to drive away the personality of Kali & save society from falling prey to the influence of the age.
- It is in Kali-yuga that the Lord engages in preaching love of Godhead through the sankirtana movement, and those living entities who are intelligent adopt this process of self-realization.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda definitively illustrates that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not a distant, inactive force; rather, He actively engages in the upliftment of the conditioned souls through His divine preaching mission. Throughout the various ages, the Lord appears in different incarnations to disseminate the knowledge most appropriate for the time and circumstance. Whether He is presenting the original ideal of philosophy as Śrī Kṛṣṇa, teaching analytical knowledge as Kapila Muni, or deceiving the atheists to stop animal slaughter as Lord Buddha, His underlying motive is always immense compassion. In this current degraded age of Kali-yuga, the Lord has made His most magnanimous appearance as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Assuming the golden complexion and the mood of a pure devotee, He actively preaches the saṅkīrtana movement, proving that simply by chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, anyone can overcome the polluting influence of the material world and return back home, 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 God's Preaching. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.