"I am so glad to hear how nicely you are attending the Deity. Please continue this activity along with your other godsisters. The more you beautify the Deities, the more your heart will be beautiful and you will understand Krishna Consciousness very distinctly."

- Letter to Citralekha - 15 June, 1971

"Ignorance means misfortune. The unfortunate persons are those who are ignorant, uneducated. Therefore you have to take education to become fortunate. And that education is being imparted by Krishna, but you don't take it. That is misfortune. If you take education from Krishna, you become fortunate. So why don't you take it?"

- Srila Prabhupada - Evening Darshan - 10/8/76

Prabhupada: These wars where the demons fight the demons they don't mean anything because just the demons win. But if you have a war where one side there are devotees and the other side demons then its Krishna Conscious. Then its Krishna Conscious. First you say "No. No. No. And finally .. a slap on the hand."

Ravindra-svarupa das: You envision a time when the Krishna Conscious devotees will command armies and run whole countries. How can we be sure, under those circumstances, that we won't become demons?

Prabhupada: Chant sixteen rounds a day and follow the four regulative principles.

Ravindra-svarupa das: That's enough?

Prabhupada: That's enough.

-----

This is sourced from a seminar entitled 'ISKCON - The enemy within' by His Grace Ravindra-svarupa Prabhu.

• Part One
• Part Two

Many more lectures from Ravindra-svarupa Prabhu are here.

"Regarding preaching work: If you simply reproduce verbatim the purports which I have given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and chant Hare Krishna with ecstasy, that will be sufficient for your preaching work, and as you do it seriously and sincerely, Krishna gives you more and more strength for this noble missionary work. "

- Letter to HariVilasa Prabhu - June 10, 1968

Devotee: "We would like to know what would please you the most."

Prabhupada's reply was brief and to the point. "Understand Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, become perfect and distribute this knowledge to your fellow countrymen."

Guest: Swamiji, what is Krsna consciousness?
Prabhupada: What Krsna says, you hear and do.

- Morning Walk, December 5, 1976 Hyderabad

"So this paramparā system, the subject I was discussing, that how I become the representative of Kṛṣṇa, it is not very difficult. Everyone can become a representative of Kṛṣṇa provided he exactly presents what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. Just like a peon, he is also representative of the postal department, ordinary peon. How he becomes representative of the whole postal system? If he delivers your letter or money order without mishandling it, as it is. You have... Some friend has sent you some money order. He gives you the paper, you sign, and he pays you. But if he pilfers the method(?), then he is no longer representative. He becomes thief, rogue.

So representative of Kṛṣṇa is also in the same way. If you present Kṛṣṇa's word as it is, without pilfering, without any adulteration, then you become Kṛṣṇa's representative. There is no difficulty. But, unfortunately, people want to show their scholarship, that "I understand Bhagavad-gītā from this angle of vision." Why should you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā from a different angle of vision? The first preference should be given to the author. The author has given you some knowledge, so he has got some particular aim and objective. So why should you change that? You have no right to change that. If you want to speak something from your side, you write your own book. Why should you take advantage of the popular book of Bhagavad-gītā and misrepresent it? That is the fun. You see?

So Kṛṣṇa has said, "Surrender unto Me," I say "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa," I become guru. Even though I am a fool number one, I become guru, because I am repeating what Kṛṣṇa has said. That's all. I don't require any education. Very simple thing. Everyone can become guru if he simply repeats what Kṛṣṇa has said, that's all.

Umāpati: I was reading the writings of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in Jaiva Dharma.

Prabhupāda: Ah.

Umāpati: And he is explaining the word "śraddhā," and he defines it in there as the tendency of the mind towards devotion without regard to jnāna or karma.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Yaśomatīnandana: Śraddhā.

Umāpati: Śraddhā. And I have heard it variously interpreted as meaning "faith" or "belief," which really falls short of that interpretation.

Prabhupāda: What is that interpretation?

Umāpati: Could you elaborate on the definition of śraddhā?

Prabhupāda: Śraddhā is explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Śraddhā means firm conviction. That is śraddhā. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the Supermost." So if you have firm conviction in Kṛṣṇa's words, that is śraddhā.

Umāpati: Yes.

Prabhupāda: If you have doubts, then that is not śraddhā.

Umāpati: So therefore one can understand only if one is in śraddhā.

Prabhupāda: No, that śraddhā has to be increased.

Umāpati: How it is increased?

Prabhupāda: The beginning of śraddhā means firm conviction.

Umāpati: How is it śraddhā does not exist in one person, and it does exist...

Prabhupāda: No, śraddhā is there. It has to be awakened.

Umāpati: Śraddhā is in every person then.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore I say it is covered. It is covered. That covering has to be taken away. That is called culture.