Answer
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the fully blissful and enlightened state of devotional service. Therefore, this buddhi-yoga is actually nothing but bhakti-yoga.
The word buddhi specifically refers to intelligence. So why does Kṛṣṇa use the term buddhi-yoga instead of directly saying bhakti-yoga? Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that buddhi-yoga refers to the transcendental quality of the work we perform. It means engaging one’s intelligence in practical action performed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa.
When one works in buddhi-yoga, there is no separate endeavor required for liberation, because liberation is automatically included within buddhi-yoga itself.
Those who work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are already liberated because they are situated on the transcendental platform. Their actions are no longer influenced by the three modes of material nature, and therefore they are free from material bondage. The characteristic influence of the material guṇas no longer acts upon them.
Thus, buddhi-yoga naturally means freedom from the influence of the guṇas — in other words, liberation itself.
Devotional service of the highest quality is performed not for one’s personal enjoyment, but solely for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. That selfless service attitude is the true meaning of buddhi-yoga.
refine-to be uh celibate means to completely abstain oneself from
sense gratification particularly abstain from sex life or the sex life is a characteristic of
material law existence because in material existence the
predominating Consciousness is I want to enjoy materially
and material existence also means the differentiation
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between male and female by the external bodily
characteristics particularly the genitals and connected with that there are so
many concoctions in the mind also um so this whole business of sense
enjoyment culminating in sex pleasure is actually a
contamination of the desire for material enjoyment
now this contamination is there in the material world because simply because
the living entities want to falsely declare themselves as independent and also want to falsely
enjoy lording over other words
the living entities who are given up the natural uh transcendental happiness in
association of Krishna in devotion service are the ones who are seeking this
independent enjoyment and lording the tendency over other jivas
or everything else whose position is it to be the Lord of everything and
everyone it is krsna's position so material existence means
the tiny living entity who's got a tiny bit of freedom
or free will modern freedom I would say Free Will is misusing the free will
to imitate Krishna and that is never possible this Krishna is unlimited and each one of the jivas
is very very very very tiny part of Krishna limited Limited
so therefore Krishna makes Arrangement because of the
strong desire and the misuse of the Free Will I want to be independent
so Krishna satisfies the Jiva by creating this material world in which
krsna remains in the background even though he is the Lord of the material energy the spiritual energy Lord of everyone and everything
still he remains in the background he animates this body that we have got
he makes arrangement for our material enjoyment he helps us to concoct some kind of
pleasure which really doesn't exist because simply because krsna wants to
satisfy her desire for independent enjoyment and our desire for lording over this material world
so this is krishna's kindness on us but because it is something which is not
natural for us something which is unconstitutional we cannot um
enjoy for long he cannot enjoy forever it is a
flickering happiness it is uh flickering pleasure it is there one moment next moment is
not so we become either frustrated or we become
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inquisitive to find out where is real pleasure
now coming to the specific question here uh somebody is not having the fire Taste
Of krishna's Consciousness but still they are able to maintain celibacinis women free from sex Indulgence or sex
pleasure sensual pleasures that is because they are practicing the
other recommended spiritual methods of self-realization
like Karma Yoga yoga Ashtanga Yoga
they work without fruitive results the sacrifice the results of their activities for the supreme or they
cultivate spiritual knowledge are they
practice severe austerities as recommended in the scriptures of course then only they can maintain celibacy so
then by all these methods they are able to remain celibate yes but
the effort is involved in maintaining celibacy in abstaining from uh since sensual pleasures
by rigid practice whereas in Krishna consciousness
the followers of Krishna Consciousness practice bhakti yoga Pure devocation service and they also strictly follow the rules
and regulations but by following the rules and regulations of bhakti when one makes
advancement in krishna's consciousness then one doesn't have to uh
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very uh rigidly hold on to some kind of rules
when a devotee develops the higher taste then the uh attractions material
allurements material attractions of sense pleasures will become very very insignificant
very unattractive proper gives an example from the scriptures
just like a child when it is growing up uh at a certain stage of the development of the child it starts eating uh mud or
anything that comes to hang um then the mother wants to prevent the child from eating
something other than edible she gives but somehow the child Won't Give Up
putting in the mouth whatever it gets in its hand and especially if it is playing in some mud or some
holding something which is not edible and tries to eat that the mother becomes very very anxious to prevent the child
from eating that which is not edible the mother tries to forcibly stop the
child from eating mind even Krishna performed this past time that once when he was playing with this
when he was very small uh boy just started walking and he would
go out and play with his uh friends of his own age and while playing Krishna ate some
mutton then uh all the other covered boys they came and complained to mother yashoda
and we told him don't eat and he would not listen to us he is eaten mud
so yashoda became very anxious oh Krishna while eating mud I'm giving you
such nice butter such nice sweets milk sweets all that
cream everything why are eating mud and Krishna is like no no I am not eaten any money then how is it that all these boys are
telling your Wheaton man then he's telling no they're telling lies then okay I should have said okay let me
see you open your mouth let me see whether there's any Mart in your mouth I said okay you want to check you can
check just now open this mouth you show the saw the entire universe inside Christmas
Bond basically Krishna is performing this leader
uh yes to educate us not yashoda not the covered boys not as
devoters but they're not devotees that even in the form of a child Krishna is
the Supreme personality content with all his powers all his potencies
so coming to the point that I was trying to make that a mother who tries to stop a child from eating mud
you will find it very difficult to prevent the child from eating mud instead with a mother very
intelligently tells the child who is holding blood to eat to prevent him from eating that mud he is holding in his
mouth a hand the mother intelligently replaces that mud very intelligently
gently with a sugar candy piece then the child will take that sugar candy in his hand with the mother is
replaced and simply eat that because his tendency is to eat whatever comes in the hand so when the child tastes that
sugar can be definitely sugar candy is much more relishable than the mud
so obviously the child will throw away the mat and we want to eat the sugar candy same way for a devotee
who abstains from sense Pleasures immediate sense Pleasures by practicing
Krishna consciousness and by practice for some time not very long time
rigid practice for some time when the devotee makes advancement and develops this higher Taste of Krishna
consciousness then the devotee automatically loses interest attraction
and taste for material sense enjoyment um
so then the advantage of krsna-bhakti or Krishna Consciousness over other practices
what is the advantage the devotee develops the higher taste
and effortlessly abstains or gives up all uh material enjoyment
whereas the practitioners of the other yoga system they have to rigidly follow all the
rules and abstain from a material sense of joint they cannot give up the rules even
for a short time
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so then what is their future Now by practicing the other yoga systems
they are expected to come to the platform of accepting
the practice of bhakti all these yoga systems other than bhakti yoga are meant
to bring one to the point of nothing Romper Compares that to a ladder
when ladder is used for going from I'm going to say the ground to the topmost
level then when one tries climbing the ladder step by step naturally when one climbs
are ladder to go to the top against which the ladders placed to go from the ground to the top
then one prime step by step by step so profile explains these different
steps of the ladder can be compared to the different yoga systems because in the yoga ladder
the goal is to reach the topmost Perfection of krishna's consciousness so those who cannot accept the
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direct process of krishna's consciousness in the beginning
they are advised to accept the process beginning with
karma yoga and then Elevate themselves
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then Elevate themselves to understand the yoga then Elevate themselves
the step-by-step process for whom for those who are faithless
those who don't have shutdown in the ninth chapter the bhagavad-gita third words it's explained the question
is the meaning of this verse is that those
who are faithless they cannot practice krishna's consciousness
they cannot take up Krishna Consciousness directly that means they have to develop the
father by practice of Karma Yoga Yoga Yoga
whereas those who are fortunate to come in contact with the pure devotee
they by the mercy of the pure devotee if they accept to follow
Krishna consciousness a big positively uh influenced and attracted
by the pure devotee of Krishna who's preaching krishna's consciousness then they directly accept the process
gift of Consciousness by developing that shraddha immediately in contact
with the pure devotee there's a secret please understand the secret of krsna's consciousness
accepting to follow bhakti by coming in contact with a pure devotee spiritual
Master who's preaching uh pure devotional service you can see in the life
proper went to America and in the beginning he was able to uh
you know meet some hippies but the qualification
recipes was they were attracted to prabhat they were seeking
uh the truth the absolute truth and they started following whatever robot brought
beginning with accepting prasadam and chanting Hare Krishna so they followed
and by contact with prabhupada very quickly they became developed that became faithful in
krsna's Consciousness and very quickly they made advancement and very easily after a little practice they gave up all
their old habits now please remember it is not easy to give up these habits
by other methods of purification it's not easy to give up it takes a lot
of time whereas in Christopher Consciousness giving up old habits bad habits
undesirable habits giving up attraction for material sense enjoyment
is very quick and very effective very effective practice of Krishna
Consciousness but this only requirement is this Krishna Consciousness has to be accepted
from a pure devotee spiritual Master only if somebody accepts krishna's
Consciousness through somebody other than a pure devotee of krishnam
and pure devoted spiritual Master then that krishna's Consciousness will not act quickly it will be slow
it will be slow the practice will be slow the effect will be slow the practice had to be done longer
so those who want to see quick change in their heart
they should accept the process of pure devotional service Krishna Consciousness or bhakti
yoga from a pure devotee spiritual Master only and this is also explained in the
bhagavatam's only also explained in the bhagavad-gita foreign
Consciousness you have to approach a Bonafide spiritual master you have to surrender to him
you have to serve him and you have to inquire from him now what are the qualifications the
Bonafide spiritual Master what does Krishna say about that that he says
he is full of transcendental knowledge he's completely realize the transnetal
knowledge means he has realized the absolute truth as Krishna the Supreme personality his
Krishna realized so is Krishna realized a spiritual master
means he is is the topmost devotee of krsna
he is 10 percent pure devotee of krsna such a spiritual Master Krishna says
your approach surrender to him inquire from him and serve
so therefore we have to approach srila prabhupada
the pure devotee spiritual Master we have to surrender to prabhupada
and we have to inquire from prabhupa and we have to serve prabhupada
how do I approach and prabhupada is not present now physically
so proper has taught us by his own system he established before
his departure ever since he started Consciousness movement in the form of iskcon proper
establishes this the actual system even for the future let's say proper is traveling
but all the devotees who wanted to take deeksha from prabhupada or accept proper spiritual Master were not able to meet
him we're not able to see him we're not able to see him or meet him immediately
but still they were they were instructed that if they are serious about Krishna consciousness
they should accept as the spiritual must and then they should follow
by just taking his instructions and practicing them in the association
of other devotees who are following him exactly whatever prabhupada established as a
system for taking shelter without physical contact without personally meeting
and by reading his books and understanding by hearing
by reading by practicing by prayers but everything proper has told us to do
we do it works there are a good number of devotees who
never met prabhupada though they accepted initiation by the system proper establishment proper is physically presented on this planet
let me not meet him in fact when the movement grew nobody could even uh
personally ask a question to prabhupada you can see in the conversations
morning of conversation so many conversations are in the class
in the beginning days the class devotees would always ask so many questions very few differences and proper answer all
the questions but later on when Robert started traveling he would say that all the questions you
ask are answered in my books kindly read my books or discuss amongst yourselves
you can discuss amongst our other devotees who have read them and to be able to show you where in my
books I have answered your specific question if you're not able to find it immediately so like that Pro pod made the system
that his physical presence or his personal um uh physical personal physical
contact is not required proper establishment and that is a system properties given us
everyone in this Con within the Krishna conscious movement he established is given a system and the difference is
that when you accept from prabhupada then immediately it has effect
immediate effect like it had the effect on the devotees who came in touch with profile at the beginning
poor came in touch with so his movement his mission
is he's himself not different from him so proper says to serve me means to
serve my mission foreign to inquire from me means to inquire and
search for the answers in the books in his teachings in those who are
propagating these teachings Faithfully to hear from them or learn from them where in prabhas books he has answered
my question and you can search or you can take help of somebody else who's red and who is
practicing and is understood and knows can take their help and immediately find the answer in prabhas books
whatever question you have everything is there
To be celibate means to completely abstain from sense gratification, especially from sex life. Sex attraction is one of the fundamental characteristics of material existence because material life is based on the consciousness, “I want to enjoy materially.” Material existence also begins with bodily identification and the distinction between male and female based on external bodily features, particularly the genitals. From this bodily conception arise countless mental concoctions and desires.
Thus, the entire process of material sense enjoyment, culminating in sex pleasure, is actually a contamination arising from the desire for independent material enjoyment.
This contamination exists because the living entities desire to falsely declare themselves independent of Kṛṣṇa and attempt to enjoy separately from Him by trying to lord it over material nature and other living beings. But the actual position of the living entity is different. The living being is naturally meant to experience transcendental happiness in loving devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. When the jīva turns away from that constitutional position and seeks separate enjoyment, material existence begins.
The tendency to be the supreme enjoyer and controller belongs only to Kṛṣṇa. The living entity is only a tiny part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, possessing minute independence or free will. By misusing that free will, the jīva tries to imitate Kṛṣṇa, although that is never possible because Kṛṣṇa is unlimited whereas the living entity is infinitesimal and limited.
Therefore, Kṛṣṇa mercifully creates the material world to facilitate the living entity’s desire for independent enjoyment. Although Kṛṣṇa remains the supreme controller of both the material and spiritual energies, He stays in the background and allows the conditioned soul to attempt material enjoyment. He animates the body, arranges facilities for material activities, and permits the living entity to pursue temporary pleasures. In this way, He fulfills the soul’s desire for separate enjoyment and false lordship over material nature.
Yet such enjoyment can never satisfy the soul because it is unnatural to the soul’s real constitutional nature. Material pleasure is temporary and flickering — present one moment and gone the next. Therefore, conditioned souls eventually become frustrated or inquisitive to discover real happiness.
Now regarding celibacy specifically: a person may not yet have developed a higher taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, yet still remain celibate. This is possible through the practice of other authorized spiritual disciplines such as karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or aṣṭāṅga-yoga. Through austerity, self-control, sacrifice, cultivation of spiritual knowledge, and strict discipline according to scripture, one may maintain celibacy and control sensual desires.
However, in such paths, maintaining celibacy generally requires constant rigid effort and restraint.
In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, devotees also follow strict regulative principles and practice discipline. But by sincerely practicing bhakti-yoga, one gradually develops a higher spiritual taste. When this higher taste awakens, attraction to material pleasures naturally diminishes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda gives the example of a child who tries to eat mud. The mother may forcibly try to stop the child, but the child still persists. However, if the mother intelligently replaces the mud with a sweet sugar candy, the child naturally gives up the mud because the candy provides superior taste.
Similarly, when a devotee experiences the higher taste of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, material pleasures become insignificant and unattractive. The devotee does not renounce material enjoyment merely through force or suppression, but because spiritual happiness is far superior.
This is the special advantage of bhakti-yoga over other yoga systems. In other systems, one must maintain strict discipline continuously in order to control the senses. But in bhakti, advancement becomes natural and joyful because of the awakening of higher spiritual attraction.
The other yoga systems are ultimately meant to elevate a person gradually toward bhakti. Śrīla Prabhupāda compares them to steps of a ladder leading to the topmost perfection, which is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Those who cannot directly accept bhakti in the beginning are advised to gradually rise through karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, or other processes.
But those who are fortunate enough to come in contact with a pure devotee can directly take to bhakti immediately. By the mercy and association of a pure devotee, faith in Kṛṣṇa consciousness awakens quickly.
This was seen in the life and mission of Śrīla Prabhupāda. When he went to America, many young people initially had undesirable habits and little spiritual qualification. But because they sincerely associated with a pure devotee, accepted prasādam, chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa, and followed his instructions, they rapidly developed faith and quickly gave up their previous habits.
This transformation through bhakti is extremely powerful and effective. However, it works most effectively when Kṛṣṇa consciousness is received through a bona fide pure devotee spiritual master.
Bhagavad-gītā explains that one must approach a genuine spiritual master, surrender submissively, inquire sincerely, and render service. Such a spiritual master is fully realized in transcendental knowledge and has realized Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Śrīla Prabhupāda established a system by which people could take shelter of him through his teachings, books, instructions, and mission even without direct physical association. He repeatedly emphasized that physical proximity is not the essential qualification; sincere hearing, reading, inquiry, practice, and service according to his teachings are what truly matter.
He instructed devotees to study his books carefully because all essential spiritual knowledge and answers are contained there. By faithfully following the teachings, associating with sincere devotees, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and engaging in devotional service, one can gradually experience purification, spiritual realization, and the higher taste that naturally frees one from material attraction.
