Basis of Any Culture
Any culture, or way of life of people, is based on the worldview of that people, or the philosophical outlook of that people.
Lecture on "Vaisnava Culture" – 13th Oct 2000
Vaisnava Culture
Vaisnava culture is based on the philosophy of understanding the Absolute Truth as described in the Vedic literature, that human life is meant for God-realization. That’s Vaisnava culture.
Lecture on "Vaisnava Culture" – 13th Oct 2000
Mother – The First Guru
Srila Prabhupada told how even his own mother used to eat with her left hand. In Indian culture you only eat with your right hand, but she took a vow that she would use her left hand until her son notices-means he himself, when he was a young boy. So that may seem like some superstition, but in the Vedas it's said that the first guru is the mother.
Lecture on "Vaisnava Culture" – 13th Oct 2000
Teaching The Children
The mother is the first to teach and the teaching begins very early in life, even before the children can comprehend. I’ve seen this in Bangladesh. The Hindu women bring their little children—they can’t even walk or talk—and they will bring them and physically bow them down. They [the children] don’t know what they’re doing; they have no idea what’s going on. They [the mothers] touch their [the children’s] heads to the ground in front of the Deities, or they would come up to a sadhu and touch the baby’s head. So at the very beginning of life they will start teaching these things, and then what happens is that by the age of five years old they [the children] automatically know. As soon as any sadhu comes, they will automatically bow down.
Lecture on "Vaisnava Culture" – 13th Oct 2000