Six Phases of Faith

1. Six Phases of Faith

2. Dream • Desire • Delay • Difficulty • Dead End • Deliverance

3. Based on the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founder Acharya International Society for Krishna Consciousness

4. Complete Conviction • Unflinching trust in something sublime • 1/10,000 tip of hair • Planets float like body • Brahma svayam bhu • Krishna can make anything possible “if you surrender, all duties finished”

5. Adventure • Sour faced devotees, like vinegar • Wants to do great things in your life • According to your faith it will be done • You get to choose how much I bless your life. You believe & I’ll bless. Everything is possible for the person who has faith • Muscle building • God uses a predictable process to build faith

6. “Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me. They return to birth & death in this material world.” Gita 9/3

7. Most Asked Question • Why is this happening to me? • Without knowing six phases, depressed, resentful, fearful, worried, can’t cooperate with God • Oh I’m in stage four etc..

8. Dream • How do you know it’s God and not the bad lasagna you ate last night “According to the modes of nature acquired by the embodied soul, one’s faith can be of three kinds - in goodness, passion, or ignorance. As one exists under the various modes of nature, one evolves a particular kind of faith.” Gita 17/2,3

9. I Have a Dream

11. True Equality “The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned & gentle brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog & a dog eater.” Gita 5/18

12. adau sraddha tatah sadhu- sango 'tha bhajana-kriya tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha rucis tatah (Cc Madhya 23.14 "In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sadhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles.”

13. Regulative Principles

14. Diksha

15. God able to do more than we can dream of, so big can’t do it on your own • Krishna’s will will never contradict his word, not leaving family & Hollywood

16. Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. Langston Hughes

17. Bhaktivinode Thakur

18. Soon, by the single handed efforts of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, a beautiful temple was erected on the spot and Srila Bhaktivinode's vision began to expand. He predicted in his Sri Chaitanya Sikshamrita a day when people of foreign lands would join with their Indian brothers at the holy land of Sri Mayapur chanting "Jaya Sachinandana, Jaya Sachinandana" and dancing in the ecstasy of Sri Krishna Sankirtan. And he wrote of a great personality who would soon appear to fulfill this prediction.

20. Some people prefer bondage rather than risk. They'll put up with a bad situation that is not God's will rather than take a risk and trust God on some situation; the risk to be open, the risk be to free, the risk to confront a problem.

21. Decision • Do something about your dream • For every 10 dreamers, only one decision maker • Faith active & not passive • Decision is a faith building activity, use your muscles

22. Prabhupada is the dream fulfiller of Bhaktivinode Thakura under the direction and guidance of his dearmost Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada.The conception came in Thakura Bhaktivinode and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave shape to that in the form of Gaudiya Matha. From that he sent out his missionaries and one of them, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, took that dream and fulfilled it all over the world. We are proud being associated with him." He did what only others could dream of.

23. Invest • Time • Money • Energy • Reputation

24. “Sacrifices take different forms according to the particular faith of the performer. When one’s faith reaches the stage of transcendental knowledge, the performer should be considered more advanced, for without attainment of knowledge there is no spiritual benefit.” Purport Gita 4/33

25. Let go of security..examples • To walk on water get out of the boat • Trapeze can’t hold on both bars, second there in thin air, 100 feet up, no net • If you don’t let go and grab, swing back and stop Plunge

26. "Fix an ultimate goal for your life. Decide where you will have to go and what you will have to do, so that your soul will be happy. Don't go towards material enterprises. One day this mundane body will become old and, poisoned by many diseases, it will then be finished. Yet, at that time, if you have given your body to Krsna for His service, your life will be a success. Offer this very wretched body to Krsna.” Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati’s last words

27. Delay • Americans hate to wait, fast everything • Especially in a hurry when God isn’t • Mills of God grind slowly Krishna wants to work on you before working on the project • Degree at ULTW (University of Learning to Wait)

28. “Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive”

29. Learn to Wait • Prabhupada waited • Valmiki waited • Even Hiranya Kashipu waited • Waiting teaches us to trust in Him & His timing • Delays do not destroy the purpose • ‘No’ and ‘Not Yet’ different

30. Difficulty • Not only waiting, but problems while you wait • Circumstances & Critics

31. Following the desire of his spiritual master, Prabhupada began publishing his Back to Godhead magazine in 1944. It was difficult in the beginning. He wrote them himself, had them printed, and even rode into town on the bus to distribute these one page sheets. But he never stopped. Srila Prabhupada had also written a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita that was 1100 pages long, but somehow it was stolen. He had also started his League of Devotees, a small organization of Krishna conscious people. This was a forerunner of what was to be The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which he founded after he came to America. Prabhupada's wife, however, was not interested in all this spiritual stuff. She used to protest about the meetings and his preaching activities. This was getting in the way of his mission.

32. Dead End • Difficulties become so bad • Hopeless, Good company • Problems become impossibilities • Did I miss Krishna’s will, is this something I thought up?

33. “Devotees take pleasure in hearing & glorifying the Lord in devotional service. They are convinced that by doing so, all their objectives will be fulfilled.” Purport Gita 7/30

34. Then, in a dream, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta appeared to him and called him to take sannyasa, the renounced order of life. Prabhupada later related, "I was horrified. Take sannyasa? Leave my family? Give up my business? I did not want to do this. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta forced me to do it. That is his mercy." Thus, in 1959, Srila Prabhupada accepted the order of sannyasa at the Gaudiya Matha Keshava Temple in Mathura to give up materialistic life and further execute the order of his spiritual master by preaching and writing in the English language.

36. Prabhupada was staying in the bowery with a boy named David. The area, known as ‘skid row”, was inhabited by drunks and vagrants. It was the most corrupt place in the world. It was no place for a gentleman. Undaunted, Prabhupada chanted and translated. One day David went mad on LSD and attacked Prabhupada with a knife.

38. Deliverance • Krishna loves to turn dead ends into deliverance • Devotee gets the glory • Kunti prayer, “Vipadah Santu…”

39. Dream What is the dream Krishna has given me? If you don't have a dream, start praying, ”Krishna give me Your dream." If you can't write down the dream God has given you, you need to be praying. If you don't have a dream you're not living, you're just existing. Krishna didn't plan that. You're here on this earth for a purpose. When you discover that purpose, that's your dream Krishna wants you to go for.

40. Decision Some of you have got a dream from Krishna but you've not made a decision to go for it. You're still sitting on the fence. God's word for you at Phase 2 is "Go for it!" Some of you need to make the decision to surrender to Krishna.

41. Delay What has caused my dream to be delayed? If your prayer hasn't been answered, it's OK. You're in Krishna's waiting room. Do not detour. When things don't happen on our time table, we tend to run ahead of Krishna and create detours to make it happen. You may end up making the wrong decision. Wait, wait, wait for Krishna to work His hand.

42. Difficulties What difficulties have I faced waiting for the dream to be fulfilled? You are being tested, but it's not going to be the last time. You'll go through many, many tests in life. Krishna says, "I know exactly what you're going through. I see it. I'm watching. Don't think I've forgotten you; I haven't."

43. Dead End Have I come to the dead end yet? Some of you are there ready to give up. You're right where Krishna wants you. You're getting prepared for deliverance. God's word for you is "Hang on! Keep on believing! Don't give up!"

44. Deliverance Do I expect and trust Krishna to deliver me? He will. "According to your faith it will be done unto you." Krishna is faithful. What He tells us to do, He will do. But it doesn't happen overnight. You go through Dream, Decision, Delay, Difficulty, Dead End. And then comes Deliverance.