It is YOU who have to maintain the Hare Krishna movement. Don't look to the next person. It is YOU who have to maintain the Hare Krishna movement. I'll say it again. It is YOU, not the person next to you or somebody else. We have to maintain and preserve and push forward the Hare Krishna movement, because in course of time it will either progress or digress. There is no standing still in spiritual life. You all are to preserve and maintain the integrity, the teachings, the worship, the gift of Srila Prabhupada to the world that can give Krishna consciousness to others. Be Krishna conscious, receive it nicely, and give it to others. Don't look to someone else to do it. Take that responsibility. Take it into your heart and carry it forward.

Srila Prabhupada has given us something so wonderful -- his teachings, harinama-sankirtana, Deity worship, temples, the association of devotees, his books -- and we are to preserve it. It’s one of the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave:“If nothing else, even if you don't expand the Hare Krishna movement, at least maintain what I've given you.”

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami.

Steadiness is spiritual steadiness. Spiritual steadiness arises directly from the soul, not from the modes of nature. Steadiness doesn't come from circumstance, nor is it interrupted by circumstances. That’s what real steadiness is – from the soul. It takes purity. Purity takes time. It takes purification efforts sustained over time, and lots of mercy. Steadiness will flow from purity, which will follow eagerness to receive the mercy and eagerness to undergo the prescribed method of purification.

Adapted from the a lecture given by His Holiness Romapada Swami entitled “Steadiness”, given during the Namamrta Experience in Gita Nagari during September 2012.

The essence of devotional service is choosing to subordinate oneself to love. Willingly, we subordinate ourselves to love. We become controlled by love!!

Love is on another platform besides and beyond duty. Bhaktivinoda Thakura teaches this. To engage in some activity because we are obliged to do so or because it is our duty, that is good. But it is not on the same platform of love. On the platform of love, one does so because of the dedication to the beloved – “because I want to do so”.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami entitled Subordinating Our Free Will (Day 6), given at Mangalgiri, Vijayawada during the South India Yatra in 2011.

For us to come to the stage of steadiness, there must be a steadiness of mind, practice, and speech. Practice spiritual sound vibration, and avoid the other kind. Then comes steadiness of bodily activity, which means steadiness of service, or sensual steadiness, not allowing the senses to stray. We have instructions from our Founder-Acarya in his writings, abundantly. We also have instructions from those who are guiding us in our spiritual life. We control our senses according to those teachings and instructions, and we don't stray. If we do stray, then it is like stepping outside of Rama rekha to where there is Ravana waiting for us. We are protected as long as we stay inside those instructions. “Here is My bow…stay inside here.

Keep your senses, as well as your speech and your mind, within the purview of the protection of Krishna conscious instruction.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami on Steadiness, from the Namamrta Experience in Gita Nagari in September 2012.

It is one thing to receive teachings; it is another thing to understand them. To receive them is mercy, and to understand them is empowerment.

Adapted from a lecture given by His Holiness Romapada Swami on Srimad-Bhagavatam at ISKCON Chicago on August 19, 2012.

You tolerate the dualities that are going on and just take exclusive shelter of the Holy Name.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami on the 32 Round Day of the Festival of the Holy Name in Chicago in July 2012.

Take shelter of the Holy Name. It will give you strength. Krishna will give you strength to face any obstacle.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami on the 32 Round Day of the Festival of the Holy Name in Chicago in July 2012.

We have sambandha-jnana. Are we always remembering Krishna? What's the missing ingredient? The missing ingredient is what Dhruva has that we don't have: a grateful heart. He realizes where he was before, where he is now, and how it happened. It happened by the spiritual energy of the Personality of Godhead through His various representatives, which Dhruva very enthusiastically received and acted upon. He is feeling extremely grateful.

Adapted from a lecture by His Holiness Romapada Swami on the Prayers of Dhruva Maharaja (Part 2), given in Hyderabad in November 2005.