Practical Krishna Consciousness
Four regulative principles
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"Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia, and pastimes of Lord Visnu, remembering these, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything to Him--these are the nine processes of pure devotional service." |
In order to take up these processes seriously, one must accept the regulative principles for spiritual life: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, and no gambling. Then one will be able to accept the injunction to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and always be engaged in the service of the Lord in one of the above nine ways. If we accept this authority, our life will be successful, both spiritually and materially. Otherwise, we will have to be satisfied with indulging in sense gratification, performing sinful activities, suffering like dogs and hogs, and enduring repeated birth, old age, disease, and death." A Second Chance, Chapter 9
Initiated devotees vow to follow four regulative principles
These are :
1. No Eating of Meat, Fish, or Eggs
2. No Gambling
"And no gambling or unnecessary sporting. People are wasting time. So many sportings they have invented--sporting balls, this ball, that ball. You see? Human life is very short. We do not know when we shall die. Before that, we must prepare ourself for the next life. Next life means directly going back to Krsna, highest perfection."
Srila Prabhupada Interview, 12-19-68, Los Angeles
3. No Intoxication
4. No Illicit Sex
"Sex life, intoxication and meat eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification. Marriage on principles of religious life is therefore current in all civilized human society because that is the way for restricted sex life. This restricted, unattached sex life is also a kind of yajna because the restricted householder sacrifices his general tendency toward sense gratification for higher transcendental life."
Bhagavad-gita 4:26 Purport
The early morning worship - “Mangala Arati”
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