Krishna consciousness is Yoga in Action
When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in Transcendence–devoid of all material desires–he is said to have attained yoga. (Bhagavad-gita 6.18)
A person practicing Krishna consciousness is a yogi and he is different from an ordinary person. An ordinary person is on the bodily platform, he thinks that he is his material body and he believes by satisfying the senses of his material body he will become happy. This is called maya or ‘that which is not’ or illusion.
The conception, that one is his material body, is a mistake, an illusion. So the ordinary person, bewildered by this illusion of maya, works very, very hard to get things that will satisfy his senses in the mistaken belief that if he satisfies his senses he will be happy.
The problem is the ordinary person does not know he is not the material body, but the spirit soul within the body, and that satisfying the demands of the senses of the material body has no connection whatsoever with satisfying his actual self, the spirit soul.
It is something like if the driver of a motor car identifies with the car and begins to think he is the car and forgets about his own needs and works only to satisfy the needs of the motor car. The car needs petrol and oil and other things. So if the driver identifies with the car, thinking the car to be himself, and simply works to supply the petrol and oil the car needs, then he will starve himself. He has made a great mistake. He is not the motor car and satisfying the needs of the motor car will not satisfy himself.
So the ordinary person in the material world is like this, he misidentifies his self as his body and he simply works very hard to try and obtain things that will satisfy the senses of his body. These bodily needs are summarized as: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. So ordinary people are completely consumed by trying to arrange to feed themselves and their families nicely, to get a nice house to sleep and have sex in, and to defend themselves and the things they have. These are simply the needs of the material body, but we are not the material body, we are the spirit soul within the material body, just like the driver within the car.
Although the devotees also have material bodies and have to maintain them (so they can use them to serve Krishna) they do not identify with their material bodies.
They know they are not the material body but the spirit soul within the body and are aware the food for the spirit soul is hearing and chanting about Krishna and honoring Krishna prasadam and engaging the body in devotional service under the direction of a pure devotee of Krishna.
So the activities of the devotee or yogi are distinguished from those of an ordinary person because they are not disturbed by any material desires–of which sex is the chief. A perfect yogi is so well disciplined in the activities of the mind that he can no longer be disturbed by any kind of material desire. This perfectional stage can automatically be attained by persons in Krishna consciousness, as is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam(9.4.18-20):
“King Ambarisa first of all engaged his mind on the lotus feet of Lord Krsna; then, one after another, he engaged his words in describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord, his hands in mopping the temple of the Lord, his ears in hearing of the activities of the Lord, his eyes in seeing the transcendental forms of the Lord, his body in touching the bodies of the devotees, his sense of smell in smelling the scents of the lotus flower offered to the Lord, his tongue in tasting the tulasi leaf offered at the lotus feet of the Lord, his legs in going to places of pilgrimage and the temple of the Lord, his head in offering obeisances unto the Lord and his desires in executing the mission of the Lord. All these transcendental activities are quite befitting a pure devotee.”
This transcendental stage may be impossible for the followers of the impersonalist path to achieve, but it becomes very easy and practical for a person in Krishna consciousness, as is apparent in the above description of the engagements of Maharaja Ambarisa. Unless the mind is fixed on the lotus feet of the Lord by constant remembrance, such transcendental engagements are not practical. In the devotional service of the Lord, therefore, these prescribed activities are called arcana, or engaging all the senses in the service of the Lord.
The senses and the mind require engagements. It is not possible to simply stop activities. Therefore, for people in general–especially those who are not in the renounced order of life–engagement of the senses and the mind as described above is the perfect process for transcendental achievement, which is called yukta in the Bhagavad-gita.
Although it is relatively easy to understand, in theory, that we are not the material body but the spirit soul within the body, this theoretical understanding will not be sufficient to enable us to control the senses and to free us from the disturbance of material attachments.
To become truly transcendental to the desires of our material senses we have to engage those senses in the service of Krishna. It is not possible to give up activities, it is not possible to stop the mind from thinking about and meditating on things. The impersonalists try to make the mind ‘still’ and try to stop activities. But they always fail in the end because both the mind and the senses are active by nature and any attempt to supress this activity is artificial and will not last.
For example you can force a basketball to stay under the water with your hands. But it will not stay there by itself. You have to exert a constant force and as soon as you slacken that force the basketball will pop up and float on the top of the water again… So artificial repression of the senses is like that. A person can understand it is bad not to have illicit sex for example, and he can believe in this, and he can force himself to avoid such activities. But without positive service, positive engagement in Krishna consciousness his attempts to repress his sex desire are just like trying to hold that basketball under the water. As soon as he becomes a little weak and loosens his hold a little that basketball is going to pop up again and float on top of the water.
So the secret to controlling the senses is, as we see in the example of Maharaja Ambrisa above, to engage all the senses in the service of Krishna. And the most important sense we have to engage is the tongue. The tongue has two activities: vibrating and tasting. If we can limit the tongue to only vibrating Krishna katha, only talking about Krishna, and limit it to only tasting Krishna prasadam, foodstuffs cooked by devotees with love and offered to Krishna, then automatically we will be able to control our other senses.
It is a great science and there are other points also but the most important principle is the senses can not be controlled simply by repression. The senses need some positive engagement in Krishna consciousness.
Therefore devotional service, activities which engage our senses in real work under the direction of the bona fide spiritual master for the pleasure of Krishna, are required.
If we can keep all our senses constantly engaged in the service of Krishna then there will be no time left for serving maya. Therefore we have to aim to be engaged in serving Krishna, hearing about Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna, reading Prabhupada’s books, etc., 24 hours a day. Because, as the Christian’s say: “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” And that is very true actually. In reality we are all eternally servants. We have no option but to serve.
And we can only choose between serving Krishna and serving maya. So if we are not serving Krishna we are serving maya. There is no third option…
So we need to come to the platform of serving Krishna 24 hours a day…
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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Sir,
really received true, scientific and absolute knowledge. Now I got the complete and satisfying answer.
Great service to all souls.
Thanking you and with kind regards
Dr. Pradeep Saxena
Are there any classifications of BHAKTI ?
Yes. There are.
I suggest you read Srila Prabhupada’s “Nectar of Devotion” and learn all about them.
My son is in dry what shall I do
Hare Krishna Punam
Sons follow their fathers. So you can become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and your son will follow you.
Actually we can not force anyone to do anything. Everyone is an individual and they will do what they want to. So the only way is to become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and to be enjoying the ever-increasing blissful mellows of devotional service and your son will see how blissful you have become in Krishna consciousness and he will want to become blissful too and will follow in your footsteps.
This is the way. This is the only way.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Can the soul ever be satisfied? If I was with Krishna in the beggining and was not happy serving, what’s the possibilities serving Krishna in material world???
Why is Krishna only enjoyer???
The soul can only be satisfied by serving Krishna. Krishna is the only enjoyer and we are all servants of Krishna. Of course we enjoy also, by serving Krishna. The soul can be completely satisfied and can experience unlimited transcendental ecstasy by serving Krishna. That is the way. That is the only way. If we try to be happy separately from serving Krishna that will always fail and cause so much suffering, anxiety and distress..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
How can one serve Lord Krishna while one is consumed by sexual desire ? How do you control this desire ?
One can not serve Krishna while being consumed with sexual desire. That is why to become Krishna conscious there are four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and one has to agree to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day.
This is the process of saddhana-bhakti or the process of following the regulative principles. If you surrender to chanting Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day and strictly follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day then quickly you will become consumed with Krishna consciousness and you will forget sex. Krishna consciousness is much nicer than sex. So for one who has a little taste of Krishna consciousness the idea of sex becomes very distasteful. He spits at the thought of it.
This is a symptom that we are a making a little advancement in Krishna consciousness, as we advance in Krishna consciousness automatically all of our material attachments, of which sex is the principle attachment, diminish. If we do not see that on one hand our love for Krishna is increasing and on the other hand our attraction for sex is decreasing then we are not making advancement in Krishna consciousness. We are doing something wrong. Krishna consciousness is a scientific process. If we follow it properly our love for Krishna will increase and our attraction for sex will decrease. So if this is not happening in our life there is a problem in our practice of Krishna consciousness. So if this is the case we have to find out what is the problem and correct it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
ram ram ram krishna hari,govid goal ram krishna. hari…………….
hare krishna. hare krishna. krishna. krishna. hare hare,hare Rama hare Rama Rama Rama hare hare.
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji
all glories to srila prabhupad
all glories to lord Shri Krishna ji
deep respect for you
very nice article and explanation, your examples are always too good ! .
i want to tell you that from last year’s august i have read mini books of srila prabhupad which are :perfection of yoga(Hindi), transcendental teachings of prahlada maharaj(Hindi), beyond birth and death(Hindi), a beginner’s guide to krsna consciousness[Hindi (some topics)]. I have read these books without reading srila prabhupad’s introduction. Now i am reading science of self realization(Hindi) the proper thick book not the mini book. Till today i have read words from Michael grant(mukunda dasa) and some words from the publisher, all this was of ten pages. I read about prabhupad that how Michael grant was with him in his physical appearance, all how he used to give speech, his words, his expressions and power in them. How he had a room full of his writings and how simply he lived and believed in simple living High thinking. I read when people asked him that are you god? He used to answer ” i am not god, i am his das… I am his das, trying to be his das, being a god’s das is not an ordinary thing”. These words of him and simplicity have left me speechless.
When i was reading a paragraph that said that he was the only one who never thought about himself but really about others and left his comforts for them, i got tears in my eyes because those ten pages had too much about that pure devotee which touched the soul and gave a strong feeling of being inspired, being proud to have a guru like him. From tomorrow onwards i am going to start with the first chapter of the book. I not only have the hope but i am sure its going to be very very nice.
Thankyou very much for your mails, replys and kindness of showing the right way.
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji
Hare Krishna Vanshika
It is very nice to hear your realizations while you are reading Srila Prabhupada’s books.
You will enjoy this Science of Self-Realization very much. It is a wonderful book. So please keep on reading it and let me know what are your realizations.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Guruji,
I am in a very vulnerable state of mind. I was terribly harassed in my marital home by my husband & in-laws. My husband used to abuse & beat me & my in-laws used to threaten me all the time & force me to bring 25lakh. I could not bear all the harassment and came to my parents home. My husband since then never bothered to contact me and never picked my calls. For past 5 months I have kept myself engrossed in Reading Bhagvad Gita, books of Srila Prabhupada and chanting Hare Krishna Hare Rama due to which I could come out of the trauma of harassment I was subjected to. I intend to continue doing it but at the same time I feel will I ever get justice? Will they ever understand that they have done wrong to me. I am still unable to remove and forget the hurt and harassment I was subject to in my marital home.
Hare Krishna Anushri
A devotee sees that everything is Krishna’s mercy. So you should see that this harassment you had to suffer in the family is Krishna’s mercy unto you. If you family had been very loving and you were very comfortably situated there then you would have had no reason to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. So their harassing you has caused you to take shelter of Krishna and this is a very wonderful thing for you. So your family members have done you a very wonderful service by being nasty to you like this. You should see it like this. As Krishna’s mercy. And forget about them. Move forward in Krishna consciousness. Become a pure devotee of Krishna and take on some serious responsibility to help Srila Prabhupada in spreading this Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. Forget about the family. Your real family is Krishna’s family…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna !!
Thank you for sharing such inspiring articles. The motor car example is really very good.
kindly tell me how to train my child now he is only five months old.
Hare Krishna Sivaranjana
You have to train a young boy like this by your own example. He will look up to the example of his father and do thing like his father does. So if you are yourself very fixed up in Krishna consciousness and having a nice spritual program in the mornings, chanting Hare Krishna kirtan, offering aroti, reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, chanting japa, your son will always remember this. And he can also take part in the aroti and the kirtan and he will even chant japa as well in imitation of his father if you set the good example yourself.
This is the way. You have to become Krishna conscious yourself and your son will follow in your footsteps.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna
If I ask someone about himself will reply I am Fine , But my question is that “are they really expressing the reality” !!! Will we are really happy with our own world,Could we speak Truth in every angle ??? What is the Basic need of Human being ??? What is our Basic Vision and Mission ??? As I heard from my Parents that If we comfortable with our selves the we will be comfortable with any living materials in the world.. Is it true ??? I think the creator of this universe is Sun (Lord Vishnu), coz when we are doing pujas we first chant the mantras for “Shuddhi” Om Vishnu Om Vishnu Om Vishnu, Tawat Vishnu, Paramam Padam,Shyada Pashyanti suraya, Diviba Chkhshu Raa Tatam ” Is it right ??? Please clear my qurries .. Hare Krshna,
Hare Krishna Tuhin
We can not come up with perfect knowledge by mixing up what we think with what we have heard from our parents and our life experiences. That results in confusion and ignorance. The only way to get perfect knowledge is to get it from a perfect person. And we are very fortunate to have His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada available to us. Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee of Krishna and in his books which are mostly translations of the timeless Vedic scriptures like Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta; he has given us easy access to the perfect knowledge. You will find all the answers to all of your questions in Srila Prabhupada’s books and a lot more. So please take the time to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. You can purchase them at http://www.KrishnaStore.com and read them online at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Absolutely said well. The example of car and driver suits very well to the soul and body
thanks………….
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
Hare krishna prabhuji..
Prabhuji I want to know the days that are forbidden for worshipping tulsi devi.
Like at my place, my mother says that we should not water tulsiji on sunday and tuesday..
It would be a great help if you can guide me on this..
Jai shri krishna
Krishna’s servant
harshit.
Hare Krishna Harshit
There is no forbidden days for worshiping a pure devotee of Krishna. We worship Srimati Tulsi Devi every day without fail.
Exactly how this has started at your place I do not know, not watering Tulsi on Sunday and Tuesdays. A lot of these Hindu things start up and have no real basis. It just becomes a family tradition and gets passed down but where these things come from who knows?
But I do not know if there is any point in arguing with your mother about such things, but Prabhu we worship Srimati Tulsi Devi every day. That is what Srila Prabhupada has taught us to do and that is what we do.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Swami Madhudvisa dasa,
Thank you for the emails, it’s very spiritually inspiring.
Kind regards,
Shanti.
Hare Krishna Hera Rama.
This is really valuable words to every human .This is helps to change himself everyone .Lord Krishna will help every one who want to knows really about God.
Thanking You.May Lord Krishna helps every life from Maya.Chant Hare Krishna Mantra Daily and get your life happy all time.
By B.Subramanyam.
Hare Krsna MadhudvisaPrabhu
Beautifully and succinctly explained.
Please bless me and all the readers to put this into practice regularly. Thank you.
may Krsna help us all to serve Him well, with love and joy.
Haribol!
Hare Krishna Prabu Padala.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
please accept my humble respect.i wish to thank you for sending
the valuable emails which is really inspiring me to develop
krishna consciousness.
I have one doubts, please tell me
If one can get realizee God(krishna consciousness) by loving him
why the NAGA babas doing these things
like i.living naked
ii.having long hair,nail
iii.taking Gangas
iv.using ashes to whole the body…….
Are they doing right ?
Are they getting krishna consciousness ?
with humble respects,
Purna chandra nanda
Hare Krishna Purna Chandra Nada
The naga-babas are generally yogis, impersonalists, mayavadis. Not Krishna-bhaktas. What they practice these days I do not know actually, everything has become perverted and degraded now. But originally they practice meditation and austerities in holy places like the Himalayan mountains and only come out for these Kumba-mela festivals. This living naked and not taking care of their bodies is a sort of austerity and that is the voluntary acceptance of some suffering for making spiritual advancement. So one can become advanced in even material things by accepting some sort of austerity.
But overall the Naga-Babas are on the path of yoga, not bhakti, and for this age the path of bhakti is recommended…
Honestly I can not tell you if they Naga-babas are doing right or not because really I have no idea what they are actually doing… This idea of meditation in a secluded and sacred place is a valid process but of course, like in Krishna consciousness, there are many rules and regulations one has to follow for that process to be successful, so I do not know if the Naga-babas are actually following these rules and regulations properly or not…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I’m so happy to read this article.Thank you so much for sending me these emails.Being in Krsna consciousness is the greatest boon one can ever have.All glories to Srila Prabhupada and all Vaisnavas,who trying their best to releive the conditioned souls by properly educating them about their real goal and destiny.
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN.ALL GLORIES TO YOUR LOTUS FEET.
revered hare krishna swamiji
pranam. i am happy over the resumption of the writings on gita. It is all the causelessl mercy and grace of Krishna. Hare krshna.
Natarajan
How do you know when to fight? Arjuna was instructed to fight for a worthy cause. How do I chant when I spend nights waiting for my husband to come home. When I know he is with another woman? Tell me what words should I have for him or his lover? How do I behave in such turmoil and see this as illusion?
Hare Krishna Sounji
You have to give up this idea that you can be happy in the material world and give up the idea that your husband will be faithful, all these nonsense things are just on the bodily concept of life and it should not disturb you one way or the other. The think is you have to reestablish your loving relationship with Krishna. You need to adjust your life so you can always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. The best thing is you become Krishna conscious yourself, only worry about this, and then you can cook nice offerings for Krishna and feed your husband Krishna prasadam.
A devotee is everyone’s friend. So you should remain the friend of your husband no matter what he does. Of course if he is attacking you physically or something like that then you probably have to get out of there, but I do not think that is happening. Better to just overlook what he is doing and just chant Hare Krishna and read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
This is the nature of the material world. Everything we become attached to in the material world will be taken away from us and the pain that causes us will be in proportion to how much we are attached to that material thing. So these family relationships also are material and temporary and will break in the course of time.
So even though we have a responsibility to act in the family relationships and we should not give these relationships up whimsically still we have to become detached from the family relationships also.
As a devotee you can see your husband as a conditioned soul who is also suffering due to a lack of Krishna consciousness. So you can try to help him become more Krishna conscious and then whatever discrepancies their may be in his actions will be corrected. That is my suggestion. Concentrate on becoming Krishna conscious yourself and give your good association to your husband and feed him with sumptuious Krishna Prasadam…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am very impressed by the simple but effective way that is here described for escaping the trappings of maya. Many religious systems teach their adherents strategies that represent a suppression of the senses and an implication that the senses are evil.
The emphasis on positive actions represents a simple but often overlooked way of mastering the senses, serving The Lord Krsna, being a true yogi and attaining Krsna or Cosmic Consciousness.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obesiances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Yes, it is true that we are all servants either of maya or Lord Sri Krishna.
The benefit of engaging the senses in the Lord’s service is that we become joyful eternally , knowledgable eternally and attian the eternal abode..
This can be achived once we are engaed in 24 hrs of service for Sri Krishna …
Your servant
Sudhakar
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
Thank you for these words of true wisdom.
Hare Krishna!
mw
Hari Krishna,
Provo i am interest to know whose persons always pray to Krishna why their life and family are sorrow? example my family. my parents always pray to God Krishna and we are two brothers also try to pray God Krishna. In our life are so sad. Many persons cheat with us.
Why?
I want to know from your experience.
Hari Krishna
Hare Krishna Shovash
“Pray to Krishna” is nice. But every pious person anywhere in the world prays to God in their own way and God hears them. But mostly He does not very much like what He hears. Mostly the people ‘pray to God’ but their prayers are very selfish. Asking God to give them things. Mostly the people who pray to God are completely in the materialistic conception of life and their prayers are for things that really would just deepen their entanglement in the material world.
So Krishna is very merciful to His devotees. He does not give them things that will entangle them more and more in maya. Rather Krishna’s great mercy to His devotees is He sometimes takes away everything they have so they have no option left but to surrender to Him.
So you see it is not the purpose of Krishna consciousness to live happily in the material world. No one can live happily in the material world. Krishna declares in the Bhagavad-gita that this world is ‘dukalayam asasvatam’, it is a place of miseries where repeated birth and death are going on. He also says that we are always suffering from three types of miseries, adiatmatic, adibhutic and adidevic miseries. That is miseries from the mind, miseries causes by other living entities and miseries caused by the demigods. So this miserable condition is the nature of the material world. Everyone is miserable here. It is not that praying to Krishna will stop the miserable conditions of the material world. It is a miserable place. Nothing is going to change that.
The purpose of Krishna consciousness is to give up the idea of trying to be happy in the material world and transfer our consciousness to Krishna consciousness so we are always serving Krishna, always remembering Krishna, never forgetting Krishna even for a moment. And if we can actually transform our consciousness from material consciousness to Krishna consciousness then we will no longer be in the material world and we will no longer be affected by the material miseries. We will become transcendental to all the miseries of the material world just like a lotus flower grows in the water but remains untouched by the water.
So Prabhu if you just seriously read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books he will teach you all these things much, much better than I can explain them to you. And once you understand that the material world is a miserable place and will always be a miserable place and stop trying to make it into a happy place, and at the same time transfer your consciousness to Krishna consciousness you will become happy but you will no longer be in the material world, you will be in the spiritual world and you will see everything very differently.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Helpful and fine response, befitting SrIla PrabhupAda’s disciple.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji
Please accept my humble obeisances
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
Very superb article!
Fantastic!!
With humble respects,
Sunil Vaswani
Everything what you say here is true and is said by all the other religions. I am an alcoholic and I am sober from past three years just by following what is said in this article. I go to AA meetings and AA principles follow the same what you say here. Thank you for reminding me again. Hare Krishna.
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
I wish to thank you for all the effort you have are and will continue to put into this newsletter. Every issue you have sent to my email to this date has been awe-inspiring and extremely satisfying. I wish you all best in your future endeavors.
Hare Krishna
Suresh