Krsna Consciousness: The Matchless Gift

By A.C. Prabhupda

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912776617
• ISBN13: 9780912776613
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Five-Year-Old Prince Breaks Pinocchio's Record!

I bought this book during a Krishna Consciousness yearly celebration on the grass area near the beach at Venice, California. I had long admired the vegetarian lifestyle of the saffron-robed Krishna followers, having spoken with some of them in Hawai'i, Spain and the U.S. Their facility on the island of Kaua'i in Hawai'i is a beautiful place -- very impressive, with conscientious, considerate people who address the public's questions. This book, as does other Krishna Consciousness literature, contains numerous religious assertions that prospective adherents accept on faith -- or not. Despite everything else of value in this interesting book, one point that people of common sense will probably find simply preposterous is the foundation story of the five-year-old who goes into the woods alone and stands on one leg for six months while eating and drinking essentially nothing the last several weeks of the ordeal. If you, by any megastretch of the imagination, can conceive of a five-year-old boy doing this while alone in the woods day and night for six months, then this may be the religion for you. Frankly, I find it preposterous to a degree that breaks all prior records of preposterousness. So then why do I rate this book five stars? I assign ratings relative to how well I think a book accomplishes its purpose. I think this book fares very well in this regard. When writing about a religion inextricably tied to such a ludicrous belief as mentioned above, an author must meet that belief head on and deal with it openly. The one-legged endurance record, that is, is not the author's fault. When writing about Icarus flying too close to the sun and falling to earth as the result of wax melting from his wings, the author must write about it without sneering or giggling at its ludicrousness. While the five-year-old unileg story pummels sensible minds, this story apparently works very well in attracting converts, as evidenced by the fact that the same story was also included in the Krishna Consciousness people's primary proselyting booklet which I was given free at the same time I bought the book. In the meantime, as for me, I think that Pinocchio the wooden puppet has a far better chance of faring well on one leg for six months. But then maybe I just need to develop more faith and stop thinking so much. And, also in the meantime, the admirable "Hare Krishna" people will continue to live well without my assistance.

We need this education

Humans are originally pure in spirit, pure God, but by living in the world we are contaminated with materialism. Materialistic persons have burdened themselves for temporary happiness. The aim of this book and the work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is to awaken mankind to its original, God-like condition and to inform everyone that the duty of a human is to understand his relationship to God. The purpose of the Vedic scriptures is to develop love of God; they tell of a 5-year old prince who went to the forest to seek God, ate fruit and vegetables every third day, drank a little water every sixth day, restricted his breathing, and stood on one leg for six months. It is not necessary for us to practice such austerities, although Krishna Consciousness is based on self control such as giving up illicit sex, drinking too much, eating meat, and gambling. If one wants to advance in spiritual understanding he must accept a life of restriction. Anyone can adopt the process of Krishna Consciousness and perfect his life. All religious scriptures describe lower planetary systems or hell and higher systems or heaven. A living entity can prepare itself for heaven or hell by the appropriate preparation; as you sow, so shall you reap is the law that governs. Sinful activities can be by thought, word or deed and one has to suffer punishment. People do not believe in the next life because they want to avoid punishment, but one cannot avoid the next life nor save oneself from the laws of nature. We may deny the existence of God and His laws but God and His laws are still there. According to the law of karma if we act properly we are rewarded and if we act sinfully we suffer. Wherever we reach in this life is the starting point in the next life. According to the Vedic way of life, if a person commits a sin and counteracts it by penance, that is atonement; one has to execute the prescribed atonement according to the gravity of the sinful activity. Sinful activities are like diseases and one should follow the prescribed cures to become healthy. The message of this book is summed up in the paragraph: "Modern civilization is in dire need of an educational system to give people instructions on what happens after death. In actuality the present educational system is most defective because unless one knows what happens after death, one dies like an animal. An animal does not know that he is subject to death or that he is going to have another body. Human life, however, should be more elevated. One should not simply be interested in the animalistic functions of eating, sleeping, defending and mating. A living entity may have abundant supply of food for eating, or many nice buildings for sleeping, or good arrangements for sex life, or a good defense to protect him, but this does not mean that he is a human being. A civilization that is based on these activities should be known as animalistic. Since animals are also interested in these functions, what