Dear Dennis Hello. Hare Krishna!! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! It's great to hear from you again. I have had some email problems over the past few months but now I am trying to answer my mail at least once a week... I know what you mean about intellectually adjusting everything. My mind is expert at that too. But we have to ignore our minds. We have to simply hear Srila Prabhupada by reading his books and listening to his tapes and accept his instructions -- even if our mind is saying something else... We have to decide to finish this endless cycle of birth, old age, disease and death... And that will require a little tapasya, austerity... We have to undergo some voluntary suffering to make advancement in Krishna consciousness and that means following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex life, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) and chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare It seems like austerity in the begining -- but it will turn into nectar later... We have to become determined to follow Srila Prabhupada's instructions and Krishna will give us the strength to do it... There's no point in using our energy to simply become more and more entangled in the material world, we have to use our energy for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna... That will be a different experience altogether... Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!! Madhudvisa dasa. >Name: Dennis Burke > >Madhudvisa - I'm still a miserable conditioned soul, >intellectually excusing for everything! 10,000,000,000,000 >lifetimes here I come!!! Pretty stupid eh? > >