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Spiritual help needed....

• Subject: Spiritual help needed....
• From: Ashok K
• Date: Fri Jun 09 11:04:36 1995
• Message-Id: id505

Dear Ashok Krishnamurthy Prabhu,


I was very interested to receive your reply.

I thought it may have been a personal problem you were facing and you have
confirmed this. I have heard rumors that some demoniac people [even those who are
pushing this "New World Order"] might be using this occult knowledge and
spirits... I didn't take it very seriously, but maybe they are.

I am very pleased to hear you have the great fortune of being born into a pious
Brahmin family in India and that your good mother gave you a nice education in
spiritual matters. This is the best birth one can get in the universe. Even Lord
Brahma and the demigods pray to be able to take birth on this earth in India...
One has to have great pious credits to take such a birth.


                                 TEXT 41

                         prapya punya-krtam lokan
                           usitva sasvatih samah
                          sucinam srimatam gehe
                          yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate

The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the
planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people,
or into a family of rich aristocracy.

                                 PURPORT

The unsuccessful yogis are divided into two classes: one is fallen
after very little progress, and one is fallen after long practice of yoga.

The yogi who falls after a short period of practice goes to the higher
planets, where pious living entities are allowed to enter. After prolonged life
there, one is sent back again to this planet, to take birth in the family of a
righteous brahmana vaisnava or of aristocratic merchants.

The real purpose of yoga practice is to achieve the highest
perfection of Krsna consciousness, as explained in the last verse of this chapter.
But those who do not persevere to such an extent and who fail because of material
allurements are allowed, by the grace of the Lord, to make full utilization of
their material propensities. And after that, they are given opportunities to live

prosperous lives in righteous or aristocratic families. Those who are born in such
families may take advantage of the facilities and try to elevate themselves to
full Krsna consciousness.


                                 TEXT 42

                           atha va yoginam eva
                           kule bhavati dhimatam
                         etad dhi durlabhataram-
                           loke janma yad idrsam


Or [if unsuccessful after long practice of yoga] he takes his birth
in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom.
Certainly, such a birth is rare in this world.

                                 PURPORT

Birth in a family of yogis or transcendentalists--those with great
wisdom--is praised herein because the child born in such a family receives a
spiritual impetus from the very beginning of his life. It is especially the case
in the acarya or gosvami families. Such families are very learned and devoted by
tradition and training, and thus they become spiritual masters. In India there are
many such acarya families, but they have now degenerated due to insufficient
education and training. By the grace of the Lord, there are still families that
foster transcendentalists generation after generation. It is certainly very
fortunate to take birth in such families. Fortunately, both our spiritual master,
Om Visnupada Sri
Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, and our humble self had the
opportunity to take birth in such families, by the grace of the Lord, and both of
us were trained in the devotional service of the Lord from the very beginning of
our lives. Later on we met by the order of the transcendental system.


                                 TEXT 43

                        tatra tam buddhi-samyogam
                           labhate paurva-dehikam
                          yatate ca tato bhuyah
                          samsiddhau kuru-nandana

On taking such a birth, he revives the divine consciousness of his previous life,
and he again tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success,
O son of Kuru.

                                 PURPORT

King Bharata, who took his third birth in the family of a good brahmana, is an
example of good birth for the revival of previous
transcendental consciousness. King Bharata was the emperor of the world, and since
his time this planet has been known among the demigods as Bharata-varsa. Formerly
it was known as Ilavrta-varsa. The emperor, at an early age, retired for spiritual
perfection but failed to achieve success.

In his next life he took birth in the family of a good brahmana and was known as
Jada Bharata because he always remained secluded and did not talk to anyone. And
later on he was discovered as the greatest
transcendentalist by King Rahugana. From his life it is understood that
transcendental endeavors, or the practice of yoga, never go in vain. By the grace
of the Lord the transcendentalist gets repeated opportunities for complete
perfection in Krsna consciousness.

(from chapter 6 of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is by Srila Prabhupada)

You should certainly purchase and read daily Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As
It Is AT ANY COST... It is the most important thing.

>
>>One has to remain very clean. Ghosts can enter in unclean circumstances.

>
>I am married and we have a son also.  Does it mean that I need to practice
>strict celibacy for some time at least until I get the situation under control?

Sex life is unclean but in family life it is allowed for begetting nice children.
But not otherwise. To do this we have to busy ourselves serving Krishna and as we
become more and more purified our desire for sex will be much less. If possible
all the members of your family could regularly hold kirtana, chanting the Hare
Krishna mantra and worshipping Krishna. Your wife could cook and offer prasad...
In this way you can spiritualize your whole family and also give your son a good
spiritual education. It is a very difficult time and there may be many
difficulties in implementing such a program... but you should try for it. It is
the best type of family life.

>
>
>>We have to make an organization of devotees of the Lord and spread
>>spiritual consciousness all over the world. It is in everyone's heart, but
>>unfortunately currently there is so much evil that most people have become
>>evil... but the goodness is there in their hearts. It just has to be
>>uncovered. The best method for this age is chanting the Hare Krishna maha
>>mantra.
>>
>>              hare nama hare nama arer namaiva kevalam
>>        kalau nasty eva nasty eva nastya eva gatir anyatha
>>
>>"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is
>>the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There
>>is no other way. There is no other way." (Brhad-naradiya Purana 3.8.126)
>
>
>
>Would it be better to join an organization or work alone for the welfare of
>others (assuming that we are already well on the way to purifying oneself)?
>In any organization, these days, (I am not refering to  ISKCON) there seems
>so be  a lof of politics, etc.
>

Yes. Organizations are becoming very difficult. ISKCON is also full of politics
and the original principles Srila Prabhupada established are being lost... I was a
devotee within ISKCON but now I am on my own. I do not like being on my own, I
would much prefer to be with the other devotees, but this is the way it has worked
out so I have to take it as Krishna's mercy and go on with the preaching... There
is nothing else to do. I think in your case at the moment it is better if you read
Prabhupada's books, chant Hare Krishna and serve Krishna with your family... Maybe
in the future there will be a nice spiritual organization dedicated to serving
Krishna... Perhaps the problems within ISKCON will be solved? I hope so.

>
>You mentioned:
>
>>By your own example. We have to become "acarya", it means teach by
>>example. We have to become spiritually advanced ourselves, we have to
>>become free from all the evil influences ourselves -- otherwise how can we
>>help anyone else? A drowning man can't save another drowning man... He has
>>to be able to swim himself.
>
>
>If I may make a comment, this is a very, very important point.

Yes. So many rascals who have no spiritual advancement and no love for Krishna are
posing as acaryas... It has spoiled the whole thing.

I am very pleased to have met you and I will be interested to hear of your
realizations while reading Srila Prabhupada's books and the results of your
attempts to spiritualize your life more and more. If you have any questions I can
try to answer them for you. I am sure if you do the things we have talked about
your current problems can be solved in a short time.

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