The Spirit of Bhagavad Gita
January 2, 2009 by Madhudvisa dasa
Filed under Books, Introduction
As Bhagavad Gita As It Is will be the basis of our discussions on the Krishna Connect website I would like to give you a general overview of the book. This overview will continue in the next few articles.
Even if you have already read the Gita I think you will find this information interesting. Bhagavad Gita is an amazing book. Even if you were to read the entire book every day of your life, every day you will still find new inspiration in it. So please read this carefully. I may be asking you questions about it later!
Firstly I would like to offer my respectful obeisances to my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda, because without the knowledge he has most mercifully given us I would still be completely in darkness as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned. It is only because of his mercy that I can say anything of value.
Bhagavad Gita contains the essence of all spiritual knowledge spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna. Because Bhagavad Gita is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one need not read any other spiritual literature. One need only regularly and attentively hear and read Bhagavad Gita.
At the present time mankind is so absorbed with day-to-day activities related to simply surviving in this world that he does not have the time to read all the Vedic literatures. But that is not necessary, this one book Bhagavad Gita is sufficient.
Bhagavad Gita appears within the Mahabharata. Mahabharata means the “the history of Greater India.” So the conversation we hear between Krishna and Arjuna actually happened. It is history. And if you would like to understand everything that happened before and after this conversation, that is available also, in the Mahabharata. However Bhagavad Gita is the very essence, the very nectar of the Mahabharata. So simply studying the Gita is sufficient.
There are thousands of translations of Bhagavad Gita available and we are not just studying any translaton of Bhagavad Gita, and there is a very good reason for this. We are studying Bhagavad Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and he describes that the reason he has given us this translation is as as far as he can see in America, and even in India, practically all the other translations of the Gita that are available in the market do not convey the real spirit of the Bhagavad Gita. In practically all the other editions the commentator expresses his own opinions without touching on the spririt of Bhagavad Gita.
And what is the spirit of Bhagavad Gita? Arjuna was the first student of the Gita, so we can understand the spirit of the Gita by seeing how Arjuna relates to Krishna, how he accepts Krishna and the instructions given by Krishna.
Arjuna accepts Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he gives evidence that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead also, by saying that all the great authorities in the past also accepted Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Krishna also establishes Himself as the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Gita. Therfore we should take Bhagavad Gita in this spirit. Understand it as Arjuna understood it from Krishna.
Krishna tells Arjuna that the Bhagavad Gita is not new. He tells Arjuna that He originally spoke the Gita to the Sun god, Vivasvan, at the beginning of the creation, and that the knowledge was handed down through the saintly kings from generation to generation, but now that knowledge had become lost, so therefore Krishna again spoke that same original knowledge to Arjuna.
A very important question is why did Krishna decide to speak this topmost spiritual knowledge to Arjuna? Arjuna was a warrior. A fighter. There were many other, seemingly more qualified people who Krishna could have spoken the Gita to. Why did he pick Arjuna?
Krishna tells Arjuna that He is relating this supreme secret to him because he is His devotee and His friend. Therefore the Bhagavad Gita is best understood by a person who has qualities similar to Arjuna’s. That is to say he must be a devotee in a direct relationship with Krishna.
We all have a relationship with Krishna eternally. However in the material state of life that eternal relationship is covered and we are unaware of our relationship with Krishna. But the process of Krishna consciousness can revive that original relationship.
The way Arjuna accepted the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita from Krishna should be noted. His manner of acceptance is given in the Tenth Chapter.
“Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal Divine Person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages like Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me. O Krishna I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the gods, nor demons, O Lord, know thy personality. (Bg. 10.12-14)
So this is the spirit of Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna tells Krishna the he accepts whatever He says to be completely perfect, “I accept everything You say to be true.” Arjuna says that the personality of Krishna is very difficult to understand, that Krishna can not be known even by the great demigods. Therefore if even the beings greater than humans can not understand Krishna how can any human understand Him without becoming His devotee?
Therefore Bhagavad Gita should be taken up in a spirit of devotion. One should not think that he is equal to Krishna, nor should he think that Krishna is an ordinary personality or even a very great personality. Lord Sri Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, at least theoretically, according to the statements of Bhagavad Gita, or the statements of Arjuna, the person who is trying to understand the Bhagavad Gita.
We should therefore at least theoretically accept Sri Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and with that submissive spirit we can understand the Bhagavad Gita. Unless one reads the Bhagavad Gita in a submissive spirit, it is very difficult to understand because it is a great mystery.
Thank you for reading this newsletter. In a couple of days I will post the next instalment, “Just What is the Bhagavad Gita?“
Here krishna
dear Madhudvisa Namaskar….
I have a doubt… in Bhavath Githa Krishna said “worship only the God such as Krisnna,Ram,Vishhnu , not Devas such as Indiran,suriyan” Then whether Krishna Devotes can Worship the god and goddess such as Ganesh,Durga,Kali Madha or not… this is my great doubt… i am looking for your valuable reply….
Here Krishna……
How can you have a doubt? Krishna says the worshipers of the demigods are alpha-medhasam. They are fools with no brain substance. Krishna says “Surrender to Me, worship Me.” He does not say surrender to the demigods and worship them. There is no reason for confusion. Devotees of Krishna do not worship the demigods. They worship Krishna knowing that if Krishna is pleased everyone, including the demigods, will also be pleased.
Although my name sounds muslim. As a Bangla Deshi I know that we were forced to convert. Regarding worshiping the gods(Indra, Brahma,etc..) Krishna says that by worshipping him you worship all of them.
But if you worship ,say, Indra then you are worshipping only one aspect of GOD.
hare krishna,
I just wanted to know more how could Arjuna trust lord krishna and accept n trust all that LORD KRISHNA told him.
hare krishna,
I just wanted to know more how could Arjuna trust lord krishna and accept n trust all that LORD KRISHNA told him.
THANKS IN ADVANCE1
Hare Krishna Pem
Arjuna was Krishna’s friend so he already trusted Krishna but as friends consider each other on the same level and sometimes disagree on some point that is how their conversation starts out in the Bhagavad-gita. Krishna expects Arjuna to do his duty and fight but Arjuna decides that the results of fighting will be too horrible therefore he declares “Krishna I shall not fight.”
After that Krishna continues speaking with Arjuna and in this conversation Arjuna realizes that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and realizes that the only solution to his problems is to surrender to Krishna and accept Krishna as his guru and follow all of Krishna’s orders.
And after Arjuna surrenders to Krishna and accepts Krishna as his guru the mood of the conversation changes. Spiritual knowledge flows from the master to the disciple. So there is no chance of getting spiritual knowledge unless the disciple surrenders to the bona fide spiritual master.
Being able to surrender to Krishna and accept everything that Krishna says is true and being able to follow the instructions of Krishna in one’s life is only possible by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna. So if we can surrender to Srila Prabhupada and serve him then we will be able to surrender to Krishna and accept everything that Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita as true.
It is only possible to surrender to Krishna by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Madhudvisa, Hare Krishna! Thank you for being here. Regarding the demigods, is it possible, in one’s everyday devotional service and practice, to simply ignore the demigods. For many Westerners, the stories in which they appear are a bit hard to accept, if taken literally.
สวัสดีครับ
Ignore and ignorance are the same thing. So how can we put ourselves into ignorance as to how Krishna manages everything in the universe by His agents the demigods? We don’t care what the Westerners think. They are in ignorance and we have to open their eyes with the truth. And the truth is there are demigods and it is the demigods, as agents of Krishna, who are managing the affairs of the material world.
Dear Raja Rao,
Hare Krishna! First we have to understand that the devas do not have eternal life. These are executive posts in the administrative government for presiding over the affaires of the material world. Therefore by your good karma, you also can become Lord Indra, or Chandra, etc. But all of these devas have limited lifespan, even though much longer than our earthly lifespan. Therefore how can they grant you eternal life? Therefore to approach such beings for help in becoming free from samsara, repetition in the cycle of birth and death, this is not a good plan. And therefore Krishna condemns such plans as less intelligent.
Basically, worship of the devas is for persons who want to stay in line with the will of God, but who also want to live most comfortably and profitably within the brahmanda, within the material cosmos, whether on this planet or on the planets of the devas. This can be accomplished. But when the good karma runs out, like any good bank account, then death comes.
Everything that we have in this world comes to us through the devas. However, they are all servants of Krishna. Even Lord Shiva is always seen with his mala, meditating on Lord Krishna. Even Lord Brahma sings in Brahma Samhita, “Govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami.” (“Oh Govinda, Lord of Lords, it is You whom I adore.”) And when Krishna diverted the Indra puja that Nanda Maharaja (Krishna’s father) wanted perform, and Krishna held up the Govardhana Hill on his little finger for 7 days, then Lord Indra came and offered puja and prayers to Lord Krishna. So you will never offend these great personalities by worshipping Krishna, because they all recognize Krishna as their Lord. Just like when you pay your tax to the government head office, all of the offices will get their share. You do not have to pay them each individually.
I hope tht this is helpful. You are a good soul. And you want to do the right thing. Simply you have been trained by others who are not in full understanding. Now you have been given that more full understanding. So you can go ahead with a happy heart, knowing that all of these other offices will be pleased with you when you give your love and service and offerings to the Head office.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
krishna is the embodiment of all these Gods as well as the seen and unseen Parabrahman. Refer to the first two verses of Chapter 12 as well. And you will be amazed that that those who says that they worship Allah or God, they are not sure what they doing.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa
First of all , i would like to offer my profound and humble service and prayers to the Lord of the lords – Sri Krishna.
Swami- i have verey recently experienced a great personal tragedy. I lost my 4 year old daughter – she was all of 4 years old – who was born after a prolonged period after my wedding… I called her a gift of God .
She was healthy with no realy major health issues. Suddenly, following a fever, she breated her last. This was quite sudden and even medical science is unable to explain or know the reason for my little daughters demise.
I and my wife are in a state of shock and grief. Why did it have to happen to an innocent child. I cannot but think of her all the time and grieve.
I pray to Lord Krishna to help us .
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Shantaram
Everything happens because of karma. Because of our actions in our previous lives. So no one is born ‘innocent’. Everyone has many past lives full of activities, some good and some bad. So everyone has to suffer the reactions of their past bad activities and ‘enjoy’ the reactions to their good and pious acts in the past. So it is all karma. We do not know why these things are happening but we know that we are not without blame. It is a practical example of the real nature of this material world which is mrtyu-loka. Everyone is dying here. But we try to forget that and work very hard to try and turn this place of suffering and death into a happy place where we plan to live with our family forever… Of course all our plans will be frustrated.
So do not worry. This is the nature of the world. We are all brought together for some time and then we are separated. With your daughter it was only a short time and that was ordained by your karma and by her karma. She did not die, death is simply a change of body. So she changed into another body.
These things happen. There is no reason to be shocked and in grief. Everyone is dying here in the material world. It is mrtya-loka, the planet of death. So death should not be shocking to us..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I donot wish to sound hard-hearted. But while she was alive, did you give mahaprasadam of Lord Krishna from Krishna’s altar? did you teach her to chant the name of Krishna in kirtan so that she could become attached to chanting the holy names of Krishna and associate in her mind the chanting of the holy names with feelings of love and being loved? Did you teach her to bow down before the form of the Lord, on the altar, to participate in bathing the Lord and dressing the Lord? As a parent, did you give your daughter these advantages in preparation for her inevitable death, or did you simply try to enjoy her presence in your life for your own pleasure?
These are the questions that you must ask yourself. And if the answer is “no”, then you can understand that when you have your next child, you must do everything in your power to give that child every opportunity grow up in an atmosphere in which love for Krishna is the glue that holds your lives together, your family life, your practical life in the world, and the life that you will have after you leave this temporary body.
I never had these advantages as a child. My parents were atheists, and told me there was no God, that it was all superstition. My life was so very empty and meaningless. Then I met Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Swami, my spiritual father. And at age 25 I began to cultivate this Krishna Consciousness, after learning so many ungodly ways of living and thinking. So if you can spare your next child this kind of ungodly experience and give them all facility for developing love for Krishna, and if you will promise this to Krishna, then Krishna will surely give you a beautiful and wonderful baby to grow up and spread Krishna consciousness in this world of death.
The technology for having a spiritual child take birth in your wife’s womb is that you and your wife must have only thoughts of Krishna in your hearts while you are impregnating your wife. The menality of the parents at the moment of conception determines the spiritual quality of the soul that becomes attracted to the mother’s womb. In that way a great service is performed by bringing only spiritual beings to this planet, beings that can help others to grow in spiritual life so that we do not have to return to this terrible painful place.
So you can begin formulating your contract with Krishna. That will be good for you, for your wife, for your child, and for all the people of this planet.
Srila Prabhupada used to instruct his students to chant on their Tulsi mala 64 rounds of japa (in one day) before entering into sexual realtion, both husband and wife, just so that they could attract to her womb an elevated servant of Krishna.
I sincerely hope this may be encouraging to you. Hare Krishna!
Ishan das
Hare krsna prabhuji…
well,many good changes occured in our life ever since you started your preaching..well,i thank the Lord for sending you to help poor devotees in distress like us..prabhu,i’ll only tell you toplz continue guiding us..we need guru’s like you to be able to know our vainavism culture and Our lord more…
HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
Hare Krishna
Namaskar
do i have to chant the mantra in the morning or we can chant it all the day
do i have to chant it in front of lord krishna or i can chant anywhere
can i start with 5 rounds. Please answer me i want to know all about japa and kirtan. how can i get progress towards lord krishna.
HARE KRISHNA
Hare Krishna Anshu
You can and should chant the Hare Krishna mantra constantly, morning, noon and night — 24 hours a day. You can chant anywhere, there are no rules and regulations as to where you can chant Hare Krishna, you can and should chant Hare Krishna everywhere and anywhere. You will not seriously start until you actually become dedicated to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day. If you are not prepared to do this then you have not yet started. You have not taken it seriously. If you want Krishna consciousness to actually work you have to take it seriously which means you have to at least surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day and very strictly following the four regulative principles: No illicit sex, No meat eating, No gambling and No intoxication. If you are not prepared to surrender to these things then you can not start Krishna consciousness actually. This is how you can progress towards Krishna. Surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions!!! And he instructs everyone to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. So we have to do this. Otherwise there will be practically no progress towards Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Anshu
Í can understand your questions for i’ve been through the same. What i did was chant as many times as i could in the beginning which would be 3 times somedays 4 or 6. I’d chant while i drive as well. slowly in a couple of weeks i could increase the number and in 2 months i could get to 16 rounds which included the rounds i did while driving. Then I read in one of the comments that while i can chant when driving, number of rounds done while driving cannot be counted. Since a few months now i’ve been able to do 16 rounds and more leaving aside the chanting i do while driving. What i mean to say here is if you are sincere in your attempt, Lord Krishna will guide to where you intend to reach. So, as you practice deligently you will find time and will be able to do 16 rounds and more easily. When i’m in doubt and have not found satisfactory answers speaking to fellow worshippers or by reading, i ask Lord Krishna to show me the right path and believe me over time HE does show it depending on how sincere you are with the request.
Hare Krishna
Sanat Attavar
Hi,
While reading 1st mail which u have send me It came in My Mind, 1).Why is Kirshna so difficult to Understand, 2).Why there is need for one to Understand that Krishna is god as everything in his life is still going on for those who even dont ask who is god.
3). How one can beocme devotee, what are the things required to become devotee.
Please help
Thanks and Hare Krishna
Dear Madhudvisa Prabhuji, Hare Krishna!
Your post is evry enlightening, Thank you! I try to read the BG every day and due to Gods mercy am trying to slowly understand the purport. You have rightly said that if you were to read the BG every day,you will still find new inspiration in it!
Thank you and I look forward to your upcoming posts,
Hari Bol!
Hare Krishna, Thanks a Ton for Your Mail regairding the Spirit of Bhagvad Gita…I am really Happy to See your mail regarding the teachings of Bahavad Gita, As you have already mastered in Spiritual Knowledge and You Guinding Us really a Great Opportunity for us to Remain in Contact with Krishna while Working as Well…
Can I tell others as well to chant what should I tell them (My Office Colleague).
Hare Krishna Arjun
Yes, certainly, if you are chanting Hare Krishna and feeling some benefits from it then you should talk about it with your friends and work mates. Really you can not ‘tell’ anyone to do anything. You can explain things to people and let them know how it is working for you and describe the benefits you are experiencing and you can suggest that they try it also and see what happens, like that. But don’t be disappointed if your friends and workmates do not take to chanting Hare Krishna. Actually not everyone can do it. It requires something, some special mercy from Krishna and Krishna’s pure devotee. Most people are 100% convinced that sense gratification, money and sex, is the purpose of life. So many times to take seriously to Krishna consciousness a person needs to have become somewhat frustrated in his attempts to enjoy in the material world. He has to be smashed by maya. And then, when he can see the real nature of the material world, he will be much more likely to take to spiritual life.
But you can help your friends and workmates to become Krishna conscious by giving them your good association, by taking with them about Krishna. Not telling them to do things, but explaining interesting parts of the philosophy to them and also you can talk about the many stories in the Bhagavatam and Krishna Book. There is so much material for talking about in Prabhupada’s books so if you read Prabhupada’s books then you can talk about what you read and that will help anyone who hears you.
You can get some of Prabhupada’s small books and give them to your friends and encourage them to read also themselves. This is actually the most powerful way that people become devotees of Krishna, by reading Prabhupada’s books. Actually our preaching does not have much potency. Prabhupada often says “What will your five minutes of preaching do? If he takes a book and just reads one line it will change his life…” So Prabhupada’s books are so potent and actually our preaching will not really be potent until we are actually pure devotees of Krishna and we have really transcended the three modes of material nature and have no more material desires…
The other thing you can distribute prasadam to your friends.
So certainly you should talk about Krishna with whomever you meet and get them to take and read Prabhupada’s books…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I will state my current situation simply.I am a poet and I by change discovered the Bhagavad Gita.It gave me sustenance and I learned of the Mantra.I started doing the Mantra and now I am ready as a derivative benefit to stop smoking.I am urgently preparing for my intent to Honour Krishna for his loving service to me.
I will not incriminate and religion but the Hare Krishna faith has given me a holy sancutary to be myself completely under the guidance of our Lord.
Hare Krishna !
South-Africa.
Hare Krishna Martin
I am very happy that you have experienced some positive results from taking to Krishna consciousness. But you have to know you are just in the beginning stages. To become actually Krishna consciousness is a process that you have to learn and follow. So I humbly request that you very seriously study the books of Srila Prabhupada. Do not try to write about things that you do not completely understand. First become the student and learn from the bona fide guru. Only then when you have completed the course and received the blessings and mercy of Krishna’s pure devotee can you become empowered to write something of value about spiritual subject matters.
Otherwise you writing will just become yet another disturbance in the society…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy.
Hare Krishna
Bhagvad Gita is the spritiual knowledge spoken by Supreme personality of Godhead Krishna.
dear Madhudvisa prabhu,
In bhagavat gita it is said that there are only 8400000 species of life. how is this to be understood as there are already millions of species of insect only?
thank you for giving this opportunity to ask questions.
haribol
Have you seen millions of insects???
Hare Krishna
Dear Madhudvisa Dasa
I have a list of questions that i wish to ask, i have nothing against the god i totally believe in him but due to certain incidences in my life i think i am getting little off the track. I don’t know may be because of symptoms of self realization or may be because of curiosity i need somebody to guide me, i have read few books by Sri A.C BHAKTIVEDANT SWAMI PRABHUPADA and i visited Vrindavan,Mathura and ISKCON temple but i was not able to open up my questions as there were lot of people around me, kindly guide me how i can help my curiosity and be on the right spiritual path.
Hare Krishna
Prabhupada will guide you if you surrender to him and read his books and actually follow the instructions he gives you in the books. It does seem that most people are not capable of this and do need some physical guidance. That is their great misfortune because at the moment we do not see any such qualified physically present guide is there. So better to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and learn how to benefit from his personal association through reading his books and listening to his recorded classes…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
On Janmastami day 2010 a very good friend of mine took me to the ISKCON Temple – Chennai, INDIA and a young Hare Krishna devotee urged me to buy and read some books. I was a regular visitor to Sri Krishna Temple in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman since 1996 but sadly never had understood Sri Krishna as HE is to be understood. Thanks to the books available at ISKCON Temple i was able to understand and suddenly i found meaning to my life, till such time i lived a full life, living life the way it is to be lived which is through prayer, hard work, sincereity, committing mistakes sometimes knowingly sometimes unknowingly and enjoying every moment of it but had never understood why life is such. My reading of the Bhagavad Gita – As it is gave my life a whole new meaning and since then i’ve never felt the need for anything else, its an experience which has to be experienced not narrated, for only then will every individual understand what he is and where he has to eventually go. Thanks to everyone who at every step helped me get till here and from here on i know it is my devotion to Sri Krishna which will take me further to my ultimate destination for which i’m in a great hurry but at the same time i wish to enjoy every bit of the journey to get me there for i know bliss is as much in chanting Hare Krishna as it is in getting to HIM.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa
I live in Avon Park, Florida. A Hindu woman who owns a store near me told me about a temple in Lake Wales, Florida. Are you familiar with that? Also, what is the difference between Hindi and Hare Krishna, anything?
Finally, I would love to have a copy of “Bhagavad Gita, As It Is” for myself to read. I remember in San Diego during the 1970s it was easy to find devotees on the street or at the Ashram in Pacific Beach and I used to have a copy many years ago. At the time I lost interest but am anxious to learn more at this time.
Sincerely,
Michael
Hare Krishna Michael
You can get Srila Prabhupada’s original Bhagavad-gita As It Is at:
http://www.KrishnaStore.com
I am reading Bhagavadgita, a sloka per day. Hare Krishna….
in the 1980′s I read the teachings of Jesus which instructed that I if I wished to see the the Kingdom of Heaven that I must forsake all. I surrendered all including shoes and family and set to the streets to live as a fool. Although 3 or 4 days would go by without food, I did not starve to death. Of the multiple epiphonies and reallizations I experienced the most profound was was a spiritual intuition to travel 100 miles of Highway which led me to a second hand shop where my hands first felt the covers of the Swami’s teachings and I was refrshed in the Spirit of Lord Krisna. Many answers were contained in study and meditation and the simpliest joy is contained in the relationship between The Lord and Arjuna. When you converse about Godhead in the Maya you must see thru the veil of Material Nature and see the eyes of the Lord in your companion. Look to the Supersoul and believe all is one and much will be revealed, we may not like the revelation but it will help us to rise above the illusion and carry on in our journey. I pose a question for the purpose of our relationship in the Lord, “are we really here, or are we dreaming”?
Warm Wishes, David
Hare Krishna! David,
According to our vaishnava teachings, both are true. We are really here, and, we are really dreaming.
The energy that we call “spirit soul” is one of the energies of God. We are this energy, which is eternally alive and conscious. And Krishna has created us in order to enjoy loving exchanges with us.
Our relationship with Krishna is that we can experience unlimited happiness by seeking Krishna’s pleasure with every thought, word and deed. This demeanor of seeking Krishna’s pleasure is bassed upon love for Krishna. And although we were created for this purpose, some of us have opted for desiring not to be loving servants of God, but to want to have His position as the central person who everyone else serves, glorifies, adores, etc. Therefore the material world of gross elements and the subtle mental energy has been created, so that we can try our hand at being the central figure. but the problem is that we are here in the material world with countless other wayward souls who also, like us, desire inappropriately, to be number one. Therefore our envy of God’s position, manifests as envy of each other, so that we are always in conflict with each other.
In the sense that we are asleep to our real nature of spontaneous love for God, and are forced to identify this gross body and subtle perverted mind as our selves, we are dreaming. In this context, we are most subtle while the dream is gross. It is a dream because these identities, one body after another, are all temporary. They dissolve or are recycled into the material nature. Here today, gone tomorrow. Therefore these identities are like dreams – not because they don’t exist, but because they don’t endure. So we are really here, within the material creation, experiencing the successive dreams of one lifetime after another, all with different identities of species, of gender, of race, of nationality, etc.
The material creation is like an insane asylum for disoriented souls who want to be God, rather than engage in loving service to God. The treatment for our perverse inclination is a kind of hypnotherapy in which we are forced to experience these dream identities, birth after birth. Although we are eternal and indestrucable, we experience birth, old age, disease and death, the miseries of the mind, of the body, the miseries infliced on us by other living entities, and the miseries of natural disater, of plague, volcanoe, tidal wave, flood, famine, earthquake, etc. Although nothing is happening to us as pure spirit, we are hypnotized by Krishna’s illuory energy so that we experience these miseries as real. It is not imposed on us as punishment, but out of love, to bring us to our senses, that we cannot be successful in fulfilling ourselves by being self-centered.
When we become exhausted after millions of lifetimes, and choose to seek a solution, Krishna puts us in touch with real information through the various scriptures. And when we take up the path of devotional life, gradually, the illusion is lifted and we experience ourselves as eternal loving servants of God. Although still in a material body, the bodily identification is finished, and the soul experiences boundless ecstacy, and becomes indifferent to material concerns. It is like waking up from the dream and back on track with our real life. Then, when we leave this body, there is no more need to return to the material world.
So, yes, we are really here, and we are dreaming. Self-realization means to wake up from this dream. No one can wake up on their own, but rather this realization comes by grace. That grace comes through the agency of Krishna’s confidential messengers, who write books like those that you have found. Please continue reading and everything will become clear.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
Thankyou that was so excellent, have a great day, Hare Krisna David
thankyou, i am in your debt for your kind attentions to my thoughts. Hare Krisna
HARE KRSNA,
as i have the knowledge little bit about bhagavad gita, and few days ago i was reading sri krishna story from net, in which is written that krishna was born from vishnu due to too many demons on the earth, to protect, later on he died …. and bhagavad geeta say krishna is supreme personality of godhead, he is the supersoul, but the issue is krishna came thru lord vishnu…m so confused at this part kindly clarify mr this…
Thanking you,
Hare krishna
Hare Krishna
Yes. Many are confused about the appearance and activities of Krishna and then his disappearance. Actually Krishna says: janma karma ca me divyam.. “One who understands the nature of My birth and activities in this material world does not take birth again.” So in other words it is very common to be confused about Krishna’s birth and activities in this world — and if one is not confused about this — if one understands the nature of Krishna’s birth and activities in this world — then he is a liberated soul who does not have to take birth in this world again…
So to really understand this you have to become Krishna conscious. And the process to become Krishna conscious is very nicely described by Srila Prabhupada in his books. SO PLEASE READ THEM……
Hare Krishna prabhuji,
yes i have been reading so many books as science of self realization, teachings of queen kunti n then i dont remb the book name but the story was of jamila in which his last son name was narayana and due to this to save jamila krishna came….but my issue as krishna came from vishnu…so krishna n vishnu bhagwan are the same or still krishna is the higher one than vishnu as everybody knows krishna is the supersoul , supreme persoanlity of godhead. OR VISHNU BHAGWAN IS KRISHNA ONLY…
Hare Krishna .
How can one surrender to Krishna ?
Ys.
It is a process that Srila Prabhupada has written about in more than 60 books… READ THEM!!!
Dear Bhupendra,
These words, like “surrender” and “service” will naturally have material connotations for us, because we live in this material world, where surrender and service are not looked upon as positive values.
In this realm no one wants to surrender, but everyone wants to vanquish others. And no on e wants to be a servant, but everyone wants to be served by others. But this is only because we inappropriately want to be Krishna, or God, and have everyone surrender to us and serve us. That is our insanity.
As pure spirit souls, we are eternal (sat), full of wisdom (chit) and full of spiritual ecstacy (ananda). And these attributes are manifest when our spontaneous love for Krishna is re-awakened. This re-awakening process is the path of surrender. These are the activites of bhakti yoga, in which loving service to Krishna is both the means and the goal.
These activites of the pure spirit soul are shravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, or hearing about Krishna, glorifying Krishna, and remembering Krishna, all with a nice attitude, with a desire to develope our love for Krishna. These activites comprise the path of surrender.
As Madhudvisa Prabhu has indicated, we can hear from the pure source of wisdom by reading the books of the pure devotee, His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. By giving submissive aural reception to these teachings from a pure lover of Krishna, you will be automatically engaged in shravanam, and then kirtanam and smaranam will follow. So don’t delay, but begin reading these books, and enjoying the path of surrender to Krishna.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
Hi,
I have few questions……
1. Please tell me how can i trully surrender to krishna, please tell me the krishna mantra to chant.
2. I really love krishna, but my mind controls me, how can i control my mind and fix it on krishna.
3. How can i get the book written by prabhu, are these available online.
Thanks
Kamal
Hare KRishna
Hare Krishna Kamal
Krishna consciousness can not be explained in a few paragraphs.
You have to follow the process. You need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day, Chant the Hare Krishna mantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
at least 16 rounds a day and follow the four regulative principles: No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication.
That is the starting point, then as you read Srila Prabhupada’s books he will answer so many of your questions and give you so much knowledge and as you chant Hare Krishna, Krishna, from within your heart, will help you understand everything.
This is the process. It is a gradual process. You have to surrender to it and follow it and if you do you will see great results in time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prabhu I read your news letter I find it very interesting prabhu I often wonder why do we die and where do we go I have heard that we merge with Krishna but why some one come and tell us can you give me any more information Hari Bhol
Hare Krishna Shanti
Krishna makes it very clear in the Bhagavad-gita about what happens, where we go when we die. He says that whatever state of consciousness one has at the time of death, that state he attains without fail.
So whatever you are thinking about at the time of death determines your next life. So if you are thinking like an animal, animals eat, sleep, mate and defend, so if that is what you are primarily interested, then your next birth will be in an animal body. If you are thinking of Krishna at the time of death then you will go back to Krishna, back home, back to Godhead. So the process of Krishna consciousness is to train ourselves to always remember Krishna so if we are always remembering Krishna then we will certainly remember Krishna at the time of death…
These things are much more fully explained in Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, you should read it…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Shanti, Hare Krishna!
This concept of “merging” with Krishna, this is not the conclusion or understanding as it is given to us in Bhagavad-gita (Krishna’s direct words) or the Bhagavat Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam). This Bhagavatam is given to us by Veda-Vyasadeva, who is the author of the Vedanta Sutra. The Bhagavatam is his own commentary on the Vedanta Sutra.
It would take far too much time and space to provide you with all of the quotes from these vedic literatures, but the conclusions are quite easily stated:
We are eternally individual spirit souls, and our eternal nature is to engage in loving devotional activites in relation with Bhagavan Sri Krishna. All of the activities of bhakti that we do while we are in this realm is only to prepare us for the same activites that we will perform in the spiritual realm. In Krishnaloka, also known as Goloka Vrindavan, Krishna is served by His loving asociates. The very thought of “merging” is completely abhored by them. The very idea of merging is completely distasteful, because by merging, all individuality is lost, and the opportunity to engage in loving service to Krishna is lost.
This merging is a factual experience for those who aspire for it. But it is only the very tip of experience of God, and cannot provide the fulfillment that our hearts are always craving. It is a kind of spiritual suicide. Because material life with all of its relationships is so painful, some yogis have become attracted to the idea of ending our individuality with this merging. But this is a great mistake, because eternal loving exchanges with Krishna is so filled with ananda – ananda that those who merge can never taste.
It is true that those who have experience of merging become somewhat equipoised, but we see again and again that these yogis and swamis are not content with that merging, but because they have no loving exchange with God, they again become involved in the material field of good works. On the other hand, those who establish a loving relationship with Krishna, understand that this eternal loving exchange is available to everyone. Therefore they do not waste time in opening hospitals (that cannot save anyone from dying) but give all their energy for encouraging all of us to cultivate a loving exchange with Krishna so that we can return to Krishna and celebrate eternal life with Him in the spiritual sky.
If you are serious to understand this in all of its authoritative detail, it will be necessary for you to read the Books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is a pure devotee of Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
If fact, those who advertise this merging experience are their own worst enemies because they are enemies of Bhagavan Sri Krishna Himself. This is because they beleive that the highest aspect of God is void, impersonal. But Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that He is the source of that impersonal Brahman that is the brahmajyoti – the great impersonal spiritual light: “brahmano hi pratishtaham”.
This merging is an option, but only for those who are enemies of Krishna, who do not want to bow to Him, and who want to declare themselves as
God.
You must read Srila Prabhupada so that the idea of merging will become completely distasteful to you.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
HARE KRSNA,
I am very happy to be connected with you swamiji…I must say that I am very fortunate to attend your sessions…as those four sessions turned my life..thats all because of your pure service..
I am curiously waiting for your news letter..thank you so much.
Well, maybe so. I gave up on submission or god. Why? Why not is a better question. I’ll tell you, Mr. Harrisons devotion is of great interest to me, I had and have an enormous amount of respect for him. I don’t know anything though, I been ready to leave here for quite a while.
My Mantra has been ‘So What” for a long time.I’d like to enjoy it here but I really wonder if I really can. I’ll keep the connection. We’ll see.
Haribol. This is a very nice article and I am very excited for the next one to come out. Thank you.
my master madhudvisa i just want to ask that i have a month before i go to hostel where no internet is there and so i wont be able to read your mails and newsletters for next 2 years and also not bhagwad gita for 2 years. so i say that i have read gita once and in this remaining time i want to read the whole book and so i thought that i should just try to understand gita at this time rather remerbering it as it is as you recommended me in discipline succesion. because it takes time to exactly memorise one verse on other hand i have no experience of doing it. so far what i have studied was based only on understanding and not learning it word to word . so i think that i should just try to read whole gita and try to remember its contents rather than whole verses exactly same and in future or if i get the book gita then i might practise learning gita exactly same very hardly. please show the path and tell what shall i do and is my thinking right? please tell my bona fide spiritual master
In 2 years you can read the Bhagavad-gita many times…
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa,
Thank you for your sending me newsletter.
I read Bhagavad Gita but very slowly and unable to complete in a day. So I read day by day because I am a working girl. I chant everyday. Morning, noon while I am working in office and then evening. I hear the song of Hare Krishna Hare Rama. I have no doubt for God and no question for him. I just want to know that should we complete Bhagavad Gita in one day and how is it possible or alternative or as I am reading that is also right way???
I am reading Bhagavad Gita it does not mean that I have a full knowledge. I have just started. Yes I started to read this 8 months ago then it left by me between. Now I have started again.
Hare Krishna
Deepali
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji ,
I ‘ve been trying to follow the path of ISKCON for last two years , I have read the perfect question & Answer book.
As being a working class person I get very short time to read Bhagwad Geeta , I am a Professional driver and I have LISTENED to Bhagwad geeta as it is ,while I am driving. Most of the times I do Chant while I am driving .
But still in my mind i feel guilty all the times that I am not doing everything perfectly as I still have not converted my self to be a fully vegetarian person , As the type of job I do We some times have to grab something on the way which is quick to eat .
I have not READ Bhagwad Geeta yet , where as I have Listened to it.
Can you please give me some tips about chanting properly , As While driving I can not chant on beads .
Can you please guide me about the right Path what should I do to become a better person and a better follower of Srila Prabhu Paad ji.
Hari Bol.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
You can chant Hare Krishna anywhere, anytime but you can not chant your 16 rounds when you are distracted by other things. So you can not chant your 16 rounds while driving for example. Just get up early in the morning before 4:00am and chant them then. That is the best time to chant Hare Krishna. You can continue chanting Hare Krishna also all day even when you are driving but that sort of chanting can not count towards your 16 rounds.
To chant properly you have to be able to concentrate on chanting and hearing the mantra. So you need to make some time in your day to do this. And you have to follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication]. It is just a matter of deciding to do it. And again making some arrangement so you have some prasadam to eat when you are hungry. You can take some prasadam with you to work in a thermos or something like that. You just have to analyze your current lifestyle and work out what parts of if are not very favorable to your making advancement in Krishna consciousness and change them….. You can change your life, your daily routine, your habits, that is in your power. A devotee accepts the things that are favorable for his advancement in Krishna consciousness and rejects the things that are not favorable. You just need to do that gradually, one thing at a time, and you will see that your Krishna consciousness will steadily improve.
If you don’t know what to do just chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and Krishna in your heart and Prabhupada in his books will give you inspiration and then you will know what you should do…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Guruji!
Sri Rama Navami wishes to you n all Guruji!
I am feeling very happy sir,’cause iam receiving these letters from now onwards!
actually i completed reading my BhagavadGita As It Is(Srila Prabhupada Guruji) in Telugu language!
somewhere one guruji said in a TV prog that “one who completes reading BhagavadGita for 18 times,then he’ll surely reach Krsna!!!”
i am trying for this guruji!
because of some family n financial problems am unable to do concentrate on my studies guruji!
my mom advices me to wear maha shiva’s Rudrakshas to convert all the things in to favourable factors!my elder bro is still wearing those!
i said that Krsna is everything for me n even to that Great DemiGod Shiva!then why should i wear them?but they are forcing sasying that Shiva is the Greatest devotee of Krsna n if you wear those Rudrakshas n that Krsna will definetely pleases!
but i strictly refused that!
am i wrong in doing this guruji?
before i use to eat non-veg but when i came to know about this site,i totally left all those n even am not drinking tea coffee too!all are shocking by looking at all my changed habits!
now a days everybody use to wear the NAZAR SURAKSHA KAVACH,DHANLAXMI PENDANTS,RUDRAKSHAS,FENGSHUI TIPS(related to VAASTHU SHASTRA)!
should we believe in these guruji?
or in Krsna?!
please answer to all these questions guruji!
am eagerly waiting for your reply sir!
once again Sri Rama Navami wishes to everybody!
Hare Krsna!
Hare Krishna Prabhu
We should just surrender to Srila Prabhupada and hear from him his instructions about how we should serve Krishna. So that means you do not listen to all the nonsense advice given to you by others. You can be very polite and say, “Yes, yes…” but actually completely ignore what they say and follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions which are very simple and that is to follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily on tulsi japa beads. And of course all of the other instructions that we find in Prabhupada’s books including wearing tulsi beads around our necks.
All of these other things are material things, they may perhaps have some material benefit, perhaps not, but a devotee does not need any of these things because ultimately every benediction is coming from Krishna, so if we are worshiping Krishna directly then there is no need for us to worship any other demigod or follow any of these other things…
So you are not doing anything wrong, you are doing the right thing. So just stick to following the instructions you find in Srila Prabhupada’s books and you will be very successful. And not just you, the family members of a devotee also share in the results of his devotional service, even if they are inimical to him or even if they are inimical to Krishna. So you are doing the best service to your family also by becoming a pure devotee of Krishna.
So don’t compromise, but also don’t go out of your way to agitate them too much and gradually they will accept what you are doing also..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Madhudvisa dasa Ji, my obeisance to you. I very much appreciate the time and energy you are giving through this website and through the newsletter. I’ve some questions which I request you to answer:
My grandfather can die any day. I want their next life to be beneficial for them; what can I do for this purpose?
I am considering making them wear Tulsi mala, because I’ve read on some websites that “Upon seeing the Tulasi-mala, the Yamadutas fee like leaves scattered by the wind”. But I’ve many doubts about doing this, as if the Yamadutas really fee then who comes to take care of the soul? Even if you quote for me from our ancient texts, I don’t know how much I can trust the quotes, because when I read such statements:
“In Garud Purana it is stated: All those people of evil argumentative mentality who say why to wear Tulsi beads, what results are attained by wearing them, and don’t wear Tulsi beads around their neck, burn in the fire of anger of Sri Hari and will never get liberated from hell.”
-When I read such statements I get doubtful about trusting quotes from our ancient texts.
Again, what can I do so that my grandfather’s next life is beneficial for them?
Hare Krishna Blue
Best talk to your grandfather about Krishna. At the end of life people are naturally interested in spiritual things. So you can think of how to explain Krishna consciousness to him in a way that he can relate to it and tell him that these beads are very special and spiritual and holy and will help him in his next life. And if he likes the idea then why not put tulsi beads on him. It is offensive for people who are not following the regulative principles to wear Tulsi beads so it is better that you convince him to be vegetarian and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and follow the four regulations before wearing them actually…
The reality is you can’t really become Krishna consciousness against your will. So you have to preach to him to convince him that these final days of his life should be spent coming closer to God. And if he is a Christian then he can read the Bible, or if you can convince him about Krishna consciousness and get him to chant Hare Krishna then that would be wonderful.
Of course there is a way that you can take all your family members for many generations into the past and many generations into the future. You just have to become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and automatically your whole family will benefit from that and they will all go back home back to Godhead, even if they are not devotees at all. So that is the best way actually. Become a pure devotee of Krishna and be confident that in doing that you are doing the best service for your family members also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you so much for the answer. My grandfather because of their old age can’t think properly and for talking they just make sounds. I still have many questions regarding Tulsi mala and Krishna consciousness; I think until I get clarity, what I can at least do is to simply pray to Krishna for them. Madhudvisa Ji, I’ve many diverse questions and then counter-questions; So is there any knower of everything, present today whom I can approach? I think Sathya Sai Baba was such a saint, I had to meet him but he died before I could meet him. Is there anyone else who knows everything and is approachable?
Srila Prabhupada. He is the most approachable. Just read his books. You will not find anyone more qualified then him and you will not find anyone else who can answer all your questions with such clarity.
But no one is going to answer your questions actually unless you follow the process and surrender to them and serve them and offer them obeisances. That is the way that transcendental knowledge flows from the guru to the disciple. But submission and surrender and service.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Blue,
Hare Krishna! It has been revealed that Sai Baba was not a saint. Here is a part of report, many of which you can find online, about Sai Baba, made by a man who was very close to Sai Baba:
“I in fact feel that Sai Baba’s misery has just started and after losing his legs and one hand, soon he will lose his hearing, speech, eyesight and mental sanity, one by one, and his misery will be shown to the whole world, and he will be exposed for what he truly is : the retribution for a lifetime of massive fraud, debauchery, trickery and self seeking, for name and fame as God, resulting in an old age drooling, gibbering, legless, blind, speechless, paralysed and broken, and humiliated old wretch.”
In order to discriminate between who is a real saint and who is actually a first class rascal, you must read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
It is true that the baba had a large following, performed many tricks to dazzle the minds of the innocent, and was involved in various humanitarian efforts. But humanitarian efforts will not save us from the real problems of life which are janma, mrytu, jara, vyadi, (birth. old age, disease and death).
This predicament of being subject to the conditions of samsara is our real problem. If we can be released from samsara, then automatically all of our other problems are solved, so there is no need of such humanitarian work.
Of course we should be helpful to each other, but a real teacher, a real saint will remove the whole range of human suffering in one motion by teaching us how to re-awaken our love for Krishna. This awakening of love for Krishna is our automatic passport to the spiritual realm, and once going there, Krishna declares in Bhagavad-gita, one will never return to this miserable world of birth and death.
The baba that you are referring to did not give this kind of teaching. Nor was he practicing it.
Madhudvisa Prabhu is a gentleman, and so he is not saying anything against that man. As Madudvisa says again and again, you simply must read Srila Prabhupada’s books. In that you you will become convinced as to what is the real standard of saintly life.
Saintly life is not about doing humanitarian work. Such work does not relieve anyone from the terrible suffering of human life, birth after birth after birth. Anyone who pretends to be a spiritual teacher and does not point the way towards the real doorway out of this life of suffering, once and for all, is simply misleading the public. By such misleading, he is the cause not only of their death but of their repeated death, perhaps for millions of lifetimes. In the west such a person is referred to as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He pretends to be nice, but his plan is to take their blood.
I humbly place myself at your feet, and request that you simply begin to read the books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Through the pages of those books is the doorway that you are really looking for, a doorway that will take you out of this world of cheaters, to the realm of eternal life, singing, dancing, and feasting with the one and only Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
All other Bhagavans are simiply envious imitators, who are paving their path to hell.
Hare Krishna, Ishan das
I won’t promise right now that I’ll read any of his books completely. But I’ll surely go through some of his books today (Indian Standard Time) and in later days.
I have read the Gita, pes a lobro spiritual and mysterious, because how you say every time a read it is something new, sometimes I ask him Sri Krishna as the book habro Temgo the answer.
Now I lent the book to another is enriched spiritually.
I’m still as Arjuna with many questions.
Blessings.
Cristina de Jesus.
Hare krishna.
Brothers in krishna blessings, I am very happy
befriend you, concienia of our loving God.
Dear Christina,
Hare Krishna! Thank you for being so intelligent and finding satisfaction and goodness in the teachings of Bhagavad-gita.
This material life is so much filled with suffering. All over the world people are suffering from diseases, wars, exploitation and natural disasters. Not only is this the real standard of life in the material world, but it cannot be improved – not through science, not through medicine, not through politics.
All of these approaches are being made by less inteligent people who cannot see that this life is very short, and will end at any moment, regardless of science, politics, education, economic developement, etc.
The only solution for a sane person is to re-awaken our feelings of spontaneous love for Krishna. If this is accomplished one can leave this world and not be forced to return by the laws of karma. Krishna promises that He will remove all of our karma if we open our hearts to Him.
Thank you for reading Bhagavad-gita and for sharing it with your friends. this sharing of this knowledge with your friends is the greatest kindness, and it is very, very pleasing to Krishna.
I offer you my respects. Welcome to our family of Krishna Consciousness. We are all going Home together.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
Hare Krishna Prabhu .I live in Dubai. I read your news letter. I started associating with Krishna Consciousness only few months ago. I have started chanting and just started reading Bhagavat Gita.
I recently suscribed to krishna newsletter on B.G.I read whole letter i liked it very much..i want to know more about god(lord krishna).please send next letter as soon as possible..hare krishna…
Jai Shri Krishna Swami Ji
My regards always to you.I have started Bhagvad Gita.There are 18 chapters,and it contains time to finish.I want to know that what are those things which are to be ignored during the time when we continues with Bhagvad Gita.Waiting your soonest reply.
With Best Regards
Ravi Kant
Nothing can be ignored in the Bhagavad-gita Prabhu. YOU HAVE TO STUDY ALL OF IT. It is a very small book, only 1000 pages. If you read one chapter a day that will take you less than two hours a day and you will be finished the whole book in 18 days. Most people watch at least 2 hours of television a day. So if you just read the Gita instead you will be finished the whole book in 18 days… And then you can read it again and again and again. And every time you read it the Bhagavad-gita gets better…
Hare Krsna,
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
Thx very much for your regular mails. They are very informative and give lot of encouragement to go ahead in the devotional path. I have been adviced by one of the Hare Krsna devotee that I’m supposed to do 16 rounds of Mala Chanting of Maha Mantra. I was also told that while chanting I have to do it loudly or at-least audio-able to naked ears, but I find doing it in mind is more peaceful and pleasing. Also, I’m told that, if I’m interrupter, due to phone call or some one call me, I’m supposed to start that round all-over-again. Is that true? Kindly advice on above pls.
Thanks.
K.V.Ramesh
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes. The advice you have received from the devotee is correct. You have to chant the Hare Krishna loudly, at least loudly enough so you can clearly hear the mantra yourself. Because the process is CHANTING and HEARING. It is the transcendental sound vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra that is purifying so for the purifying effect you have to chant the transcendental sound vibration. If you just think it in your mind there is no transcendental sound vibration so there is really very little purifying effect. Of course thinking of Krishna is also good but that is not the process recommended for this age. You have to chant loudly the Hare Krishna mantra and hear it. That is the only way…. And yes, if you are interrupted while chanting a round you should start it again. That is also correct. It is not a problem. The more you chant Hare Krishna mantra the more you will become attached to the chanting and you will not want to stop chanting Hare Krishna when you get to 16 rounds you will want to keep chanting Hare Krishna forever…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you
Hi,
Have read the 1st news letter sent by you & i am inspired & impressed.. I would like to join the ISKCON society as a folk member, plz advise how to go abt it..
Thank you
Nikhil Krishna
Hare Krishna Prabhu
I do not recommend joining ISKCON at the moment. They have so much distorted and watered down the teachings of Srila Prabhupada over the past 25 years that you will only get mislead by them unfortunately. I suggest you keep reading the newsletters and make a serious effort to study Srila Prabhupada’s books for yourself so you know actually what he is teaching us.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Pozdrav,that means Hi! on my language.
I have red the first news letter and that is how I felt about it:
Maybe ‘I have just discovered the warm water’- this is a phrase in my language when something is wide world known, but this is the destiny of human kind….so let’s repeat:
I think that the story about Arjuna and Krishna is retold constantly from time to time. But it’s up on us weather we will revitalize the myth or not. The myth is not just the common story, it is a true sacred magic.But it’s up on us weather we will revitalize the myth or not. Everyone of us is invited to be named Arjuna, everyone is invited to harness his or her own horses- that is what yoga is all about- to harness your own thoughts and acts, and everything after that is magic and true happiness of life.
Bhagavad Gita is a pattern made for human kind, but nevertheless there are indeed so few of us who are ready to act from their harts.
Arjuna was the only one who felt the guilt about the battle that is going to occur on Kuruksetra field and killing his many relatives.He was the one who asked a question of what is right and wrong- in that moment he become Krishna’s fried and everything what happened after it’s not so important like this moment of enlightenment. Anything that happen after that was anyway under the Divine’s blessing.
Hare Krishna!
Dear Martan, Hare Krishna!
Bhagavad-gita is not a myth. These ideas such as mythology, and anthropomorphism (imagining a form and character of God in terms of our human experience) are simply the expressions of people who are atheistic. Such people are the university professors, scientists, etc.
The fact is that the human mind cannot understand God, not by any amount of endeavor. God can only be understood by revelation, when He agrees to reveal Himself to us. Therefore, as Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita, He comes to this material realm so that we can understand Him clearly and begin to cultivate our love for Him. When that cultivation of love becomes mature, then Krishna will reveal Himself to us. He gives us the ability to enter into the spiritual realm, by spiritual vision, even while we are still within these material bodies.
“He was the one who asked a question of what is right and wrong- in that moment he become Krishna’s friend and everything what happened after it’s not so important like this moment of enlightenment.”
That moment of enlightenment is only the very beginning. From the moment one becomes an intimate associate of Krishna, one’s every thought, word and deed is only for the pleausure of Krishna. It is not that we become enlightened, and then have no more need to think of pleasing Krishna. That is the teaching of those who think that God is ultimately impersonal. They worship the personal form of Krishna, and when they have an experience of merging into the great light (which emanates from Krishna) then they think they have become God, and no longer try to engage in Krishna’s service. The more we advance in love for Krishna, the more we become concerned in every thought, word and deed to please Krishna. This is our eternal life. Those who try to teach otherwise are in fact the enemies of Krishna, and of mankind. Ishopanishad indicates that persons who teach like that are destined to go to hell.
Although there are so many translations of Bhagavad-gita, for the most part they are written by persons who are rejecting the idea of eternal service to Krishna. Such persons are in fact demons.
You simply have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, and all these misconceptions will be removed from your heart.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
Questions concerning the Bhagavad-Gita after the second newsletter received:
I’m delighted to receive a newsletter from you so fast!
In the Bhagavad-Gita it is described that real studying begins when someone looks for a master to ask questions in a devotional manner. (Please excuse my English, I’m from Austria and try to translate what I have written in German into my notebook to give an answer to your newsletter. This will become a really long text of questioning so I excuse myself right away!)
1.) parampara
Is it necessary to live with a spiritual master to follow the spiritual principles and to fulfill all which is demanded in parampara/ pupil succession or are we able to gain inspiration by writing comments into the forum and talking about Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, while going on to do their daily job/ employment?
I want to give a short insight on how I came to read the Bhagavad-Gita:
I’m from Austria and I’m part of the roman-catholic belief and family, but only my grandmother and mother who have partly both brought me up when I was a child, are believing in god or at least in the immortal soul.
My grandmother is born on the day Jesus Christ was born, on Christmas, and believes in Jesus Christ and also in angels. Once she was able to cure pain and illnesses of her friends by laying her hands on them, she also did this on me because as a child I was suffering with asthma. Today the asthma has disappeared but I’ve got an itchy cold since then tormenting me.
I was tested on allergies and being told I have something like an allergy (Histamin.. ?) – I shouldn’t eat old food which is stored or kept too long before being eaten.
Because of my grandmother I understood the necessity to ask the question all of us want to have an answer to, at least once in life (for example, when a friend or relative dies):
Is there something after death or does everything turn into pitchblack?
Unfortunately, most of my family members don’t think about this mystery, only my grandmother, grandfather, mother and father – sometimes.
Currently I’m in a relationship I’m very happy in – I’m glad to feel secure and sheltered.
I’m not at all interested in other men, but my boyfriend is an unconcealed atheist.
He even believes in the existence of Satan ruling over this world as the eternal seducer, ruling over our material world and the earth. – Even in the bible it is written Satan rules over the world.
Satan offered the whole world to Jesus – but Jesus refused it and sent him away.
My boyfriend believes worshipping Satan results in gaining more wealth to be able to enjoy life more. He hates Christian priests who rape little boys and because of this he left church.
I can’t talk about god with him and he doesn’t like the idea of me thinking about god…
But I find it necessary to ask this question at least once in life – the hope to live on after death, about reincarnation and the community with god.
Friday night this week, his grandmother died….
I loved her character but felt heartless because I couldn’t shed tears about her death.
Perhaps it’s because I really hope life doesn’t end after death, and that she is liberated from her suffering and now she is reunited with her husband, without him she had to live for almost 7 years alone before her death.
She was always in grief for her husband and clinging to her life by learning foreign languages.
She pleased us with her lively manner until cancer overwhelmed her and she forgot all her relatives, except her son and daughter-in-law who took care of her well-being until death.
I didn’t dare to visit her in her last days and hours of agony and delirium because I wanted to keep her in mind as the person I admired:
As a loving widow, who always thought about her passed away husband and was so brave to hide her grief, leading her life completely independent, keeping her mind busy with foreign languages to stay mentally healthy.
Her attitude gave me the strength to believe in a durable relationship – because she only wanted to be reunited with her husband.
Please excuse my long message… but I want to have clarity about all and this is my way to write…
Dear teacher/ gosvami.. I bid you to scatter my doubts because I’m disappointed by the huge amount of suffering humans have to endure.
I wish all humans and animals could be happy!
Now I want to describe something which will lead to my second question which is very important to me.
In my religion, Christianity, there was always a lack of explanation of the human soul in school.
I understand every human is imperfect with imperfect senses and as a result he sins.
Because of this fact Jesus died for us so we were liberated from our sins if we believe in him!
But for sure you have heard there are only 2 paths for a soul described in Christianity, at least like we are told in school:
Our deeds and our faith decide whether we end up in heaven or ETERNAL hell and purgatory.
And if someone doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ he will be condemned and not be revived at the day of the last judgment (?).
The church suppresses the mass so the people stay obedient while threatening them with hell when ignoring that threat. For example, the church says, all who commit suicide or are homosexual will go to hell.
How nice… this should be kindness? Eternal mercy?
2.) God is of immeasurable mercy, isn’t he?
Why should any human dare to threaten someone with hell if god shows mercy to all, even to sinners (and demons!)?
So.. Jesus died for us all to take our sins from us.
Therefore… shouldn’t even find a homosexual forgiveness who believes in Jesus and/ or god?
One day I found the Bhagavad-Gita among books of my other grandmother who didn’t remember where she had it from. She wasn’t interested in it and gave it as a present to me.
(in German language with the comments of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada himself, almost 900 pages)
The depicted person on the cover, Krsna as I should become to know, attracted me magically.
He was with Arjuna on his carriage of war (?).
Krsna is smiling calm, kind, charming, superior, omniscient on this picture… all of his qualities seemed to be present in his smile.
I began to read, instantly being caught by the words when the Lord explained that we all were spiritual souls and little parts of him, who are covered temporarily by a material body, but are eternally existent in reality.
I cried out of joy! So there was a scripture who told us we were immortal in our deepest core!
Overwhelmed by this happy message I continued reading.
Full of gratitude and humility I wanted to accept all as the truth what Krsna told us there.
But there was one point which seemed strange….
Please forgive my human flaws but also help me to understand ….
It’s written god kills all demons or lets them reincarnate again in demonical forms forever and ever.
But Srila Prabhupada explains, everyone is at once liberated when killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
3.) But what is liberation to the demons?
Are they dissolving into nothingness by being united with the brahmajyoti-radiation of Krsna or are they being transferred to the spiritual planets or into heaven?
Will these demons be taught by spiritual masters, so they become faithful souls of god?
Now my real question concerning this…
Krsna instructed Arjuna to fulfill his duty and kill his relatives on the battlefield because it was all predetermined by Krsna that they would die the one or other way.
The Bhagavad-Gita also tells that one shall not kill animals because it would disturb the development/ evolution of the animal… but doesn’t this also count for humans and demons?
So.. why wasn’t there another possibility to save the demonic souls and other people on the battlefield?
Because later, Krsna gave Arjuna the divine view/ sight, so he was able to see Krsna as god himself.
Why didn’t Krsna also enable the others to recognize him?
Or aren’t demons ever able to see him, even with his help?
Krsna would have had much more followers if he had given them the divine sight but he only chose Arjuna whom he referred to as his “friend”.
Why did Krsna exclude all the others?
Or is it the nature of the demons to never surrender to Krsna and they knew who he was but were in fear of him?
Therefore, the story in the Bhagavad-Gita must seem very heartless because Krsna wants Arjuna to kill his relatives. For someone who doesn’t read Srila Prabhupadas comments it is very difficult to accept!
You know.. .there is an anime I like because of the main character… it’s Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon is all-forgiving, she forgives all and everybody. She even loves her worst enemy.
In the last season of the anime she embraces her enemy Galaxia.
Because of her being forgiven by Sailor Moon, she awakes and regains her senses, gives up her demonical manners and is crying deeply moving out of guilt and because she remembers all the bad things she did to others – she had done to others because she was herself deeply hurt!
Sailor Moon converted a demonical person and all of her friends, still she forgave her because she knew, hate will only produce more hate and suffering!
At the end all of Sailor Moons friends are revived by her former enemy Galaxia – happy end.
Please understand it’s not my intention to confuse anyone or to tell anyone they are on a false path!
I’m pretty sure, everyone has got similar questions to mine and I want to ask them now, with the confidence that you will be so merciful to destroy my doubts.
All humans want to be free from suffering but they don’t agree how to accomplish it.
I’m convinced only the knowledge of the immortal soul and god can give us peace..
But on the other hand it was Sokrates who said it was still the same if he knew there was a soul or not. He said, when he died, he would see it anyway – why think about it too much?
This time of life more than ever humans want to have a proof for everything and it’s difficult to make reason to the mind. In my opinion, “blind faith” without questioning is not of very much value because this type of faith can easily be ruined.
Almost nobody today takes the time to meditate and feel the immense source of life which gives us the strength to live or even to see there has to be a big intelligence behind the material world.
When scientists see a miracle they try to explain it by material means and try to weaken the miracle.
For example… the planets rotate in determined paths and scientists give a name to this miracle and say “ it’s all because of the magnetic fields and cores of the planets”.
By giving this natural phenomenon a name, they pretend it’s not a miracle anymore.
But it’s still a miracle, isn’t it? I liked the part where Srila Prabhupada explained it was god who keeps the planets in their paths.
Or for example the shark… in a museum we were told that the shark’s skin was grey on his upper side of the skin and white on the bottom of his skin so he could disguise itself, a camouflage.
Even if the shark developed this skin out of evolution, it’s still a miracle?
Because the shark surely didn’t wish for this camouflage. There must have been a concept of superior intelligence to give the shark the shape it has… right?
The Bhagavad-Gita tells Krsna is god, the one and only god, and the human is an imitation after the shape of Krsna.
The Bhagavad-Gita claims to accept Krsna as the one and only god, just as the bible claims it’s god is THE god.
But still it’s terrifying humans kill other humans because they can’t force THEIR god on somebody who believes in another god..
There is a song of the EAV, an Austrian bands, saying: (originally in German though)
“My god isn’t your god, but which god is god? So we slay ourselves in the name of god!”
A skeptical person said somewhere in the internet (an Indian!) that Krsna has to be rather a demon than a god, because he claimed from Arjuna to kill his relatives and Krsna were in truth an ultimate seducer….
In Christian history there were also many crusades in which people said they killed in the name of god and they were allowed to kill because it was “god’s will”!!! This must stop… v.v
I want to say rightaway that I understand the battlefield of Kuruksetra was an exception – because it was described god himself was personally present, Krsna.
But why didn’t Krsna save the demons in another way ?
Was death the only way out for them?
Was Krsna really full of mercy by killing them?
The one who doubted Krsna to be god also said it’s Jesus we have to believe in because he died for the sinners. He didn’t harm anybody, he even cured ill people!
After his death he rised from the dead and got back into heaven where he now sits beside his father.
4.) Some people think god came down as Jesus and Jesus wasn’t a mere mortal man.
It reminds me of Krsna coming down as Sri Caitanya only to understand Radharanis feelings toward him, beautiful!
I love Krsna and his figure, but I want to understand why he let the demons kill instead of saving them in another way.
Is Krsna not allowed to change the mind of any soul by himself because the spiritual soul has got a little bit of independecy?
Has Krsna come down in the shape of Jesus, like he did in Sri Caitanya and Buddha?
Krsna came down into the womb of his mother Devaki,
Jesus came down into the womb of virgin Mary as a spiritual spark.
Srila Prabhupada explained that no religion has got no meaning unless it doesn’t lead us to love for god.
5.) Is all predetermined?
The Bhagavad-Gita explains, that god dwells in the form of Vishnu/Narayana/Syamasundara in everybodys heart and so he knows everybody. He knows what will happen in future and also how a human heart will develop.
But if the spiritual souls are independent, even the slightest, it would mean to me not even god were able to know the absolute future… because the soul always has got this little indepency which allows her to decide her own future…. ? This is a contradiction to me.
6.) God is described as the ultimate enjoyer.
So he does love his creation and also the earth, doesn’t he? Isn’t this wonderful? I mean, isn’t the ideo wonderful that god learns to get to know his own creation in personal because he is present everywhere?
Thinking this way suddenly I even like the idea the human has to suffer… Only if we are able to be sad we can hope for better times or the happy feeling someone experiences when being loved .
This is the reason I don’t like the idea of the material world only seen as a place of suffering.
In the end our world is the medium, through which we can return to god, isn’t it?
7.) It is described as the highest to-be-without-wishes if one has only the wish to serve god and to get to Krsnaloka to get happy.
But isn’t it even more noble when someone wants to stay in this material world to save many souls and lead them back to god? Without even wishing to return to Krsna? It would be of more use if such a person endures all types of suffering just to get back as many souls as possible.
I have heard of “crystal children” or “indigo children” who are born and immediately know that their soul is immortal, so they also try to convince others about it.
Wasn’t Jesus really unselfish because he died to save many who believed in him?
Srila Prabhupada said, a devotee would do everything god demands from him, even if it means much suffering.
8.) I don’t know why Jesus said on the cross, before he died “God, why have you left/ abandoned me?”
Is this proof he was rather god’s son in the end than god himself? Or did he suffer so much for a moment he forgot about god and there had been moments, when god spoke and took action through him?
9.) Prasadam – sacrificed and purified food/nourishment
The B.-G. tells we shouldn’t eat something which hasn’t been sacrificed to Krsna before and the only food suitable consists milk, vegetables, fruits and cereals.
Not allowed would be meat, fish and eggs…
and we shouldn’t eat something for our own pleasure either…
Does it mean we aren’t allowed to drink coffee, tea, eat sugar? Also no cakes containing eggs, no noodles???
I must admit I only read the new testament of the bible in whole, but I can’t remember any prohibition for such food…
Also, Jesus drank wine, he turned water into wine and he multiplied the caught fish and the bread to spread it to the poor.
Is it possible, the Christian commandment “Do not kill.” is not only referring to humans, but also to animals? That we aren’t told by the church and allowed to eat animals but in reality, we shouldn’t?
There is a passage where it says the humans should turn the animals into their servants, but nothing about killing them to eat them…
Prasadam.. if one should sacrifice the food to Krsna does it mean automatically that we should always cook the food by ourselves? Not going into restaurants or buying food in stores, also we aren’t allowed to eat food which is older than 3 hours?
I must admit, I’m a bad cooker, I can’t cook… v.v
Because of the people around me I can’t become a full vegetarian, because I don’t want to offend a family member when he is cooking a meal with meat in it, but I try to eat no meat when at work etc.
In Christianity, there is a prayer before eating a meal, so we show our gratefulness for getting something to eat, because it’s not natural to have enough to eat – there a many countries in this worlds where people suffer hunger and starve to death.
My grandmother always remembered me of this and waited until I had eaten the whole meal she had cooked. But she also is used to cooking meat and with much vegetables…
Because Christians use to eat meat… are they all sinners condemned to become pigs in their next life? Like it was explained in the B.-G.
Don’t you think it’s a little unfair… Christians don’t know about the prohibition to eat no meat.
10.) Chanting – sankirtana-yajna
Srila Prabhupada told about followers who used to chant Krsnas Name 60. 000 or even 300 000 times a day…
But doesn’t count the love with which it is chanted more than the amount?
Or is this big amount used to keep the mind busy only with Krsna and nothing else?
Does a devotee chant so much because he can’t endure to be a second without Krsna, like Srila Prabhupada said?
In the forum here it was mentioned that chanting the right way is only when chanting without doing something else during it. Someone should stay up early in the morning, at 4 o’clock, to chant and after this go to work.
I’ve got the problem I get home after work at 8 o’clock p.m. and go to bed often at 1-2 o’clock after midnight, then I have to get up at 6:45 a.m… I would only sleep two hours if I stayed up at 4 o’clock..
Till now I tried to chant during worktime and when nobody listens. It’s embarrassing to chant in Austria because the people think you are insane …
Second question…. I’m always singing the sankirtana-yajna in two types of melody… is there a homepage I can learn more types of chanting it?
11.) Out of body experience
It is said someone can have the proof we are eternal souls through an out of body experience.
I know a man who did this many years but stopped doing it because it wasn’t the “ultimate truth” or such he told me. But it’s said to be a method someone can experience the soul.
Do you know anybody who tried it? Are you in any way familiar to it? I was never able to do an OBE.
12.)
God explained he would come in every period of time to re-establish the real purpose of life.
Was Krsnas appearance around 5000 years ago, when he taught Arjuna the Bhagavad-Gita, the only time he came to us in the Kali-yuga?
I feel like religion is falling apart right away now everywhere in the world.
Can’t he come a second time or even later once more?
13.) God – man or woman or both, or superior to all
I heard long time ago women ruled society – matriarchy and god was seen as a “mother of all” – but when men gained the control they described god as a man – patriarchy – god father.
Is Krsna male, female or transcendental? Is he both or can he choose what to be?
Srila Prabhupada explained god gave life to his creation by only looking on it.
The humans are confused by the terms of god being a man or a woman.
I noticed Krsna looks very feminine yet full of male strength on all paintings. Even his waist is narrow.
He doesn’t have too big muscles but yet very much strength when fighting against enemies.
The stories about Krsna describe him very childish, but also wise. He is full of childish joy and pure.
I adore the painting where Krsna is playing in the water with his gopis under the moonlight! It’s my favorite!
But concerning sex…………. there are many paintings with Radha and Krsna having sex… but did they really have sex? I mean, Krsna can reproduce in other ways? Simply by looking at his creation?
14.) About sex and marriage
It is said one should only have sex when married and only to get Krsna-conscious children.
I’m in a relationship and not interested the slightest in other men…. but does this mean, because I’m not married I’m not allowed to have sex with my boyfriend?
He also doesn’t want to have a child either – not in near future time. Also, there was a time I felt the need for sex more than now. The lust I felt doesn’t return.. I tried to revive it, but it won’t come back.
I’m 25 years old now.. and sex doesn’t interest me like it once did.. but I love romantic stories and reading about emotions. I think the humans are beautiful because of the big variety of emotions.
Is it a duty for a woman to get children? Sometimes I feel I will never have an own child.
First I felt sad about this thougt, now I don’t know what I have to feel about it.
15.) Hypnosis
If god is present in everybody’s heart, could we talk to him in hypnosis so he tells us what our purpose in this life is? Can someone beg god to take over our heart and guide us, giving up our little independency?
I want to excuse myself for this loooong text.. and I’m looking forward to getting an answer from you! I would really be grateful and want to say my thanks many times!
If I’m not able to follow the principles I fear it will take me a long time to return to god…
Also, I don’t want to let my friends, relatives and soulmates down…
I think it would be better if we could all return to god together one day.
I would consider myself very selfish if I abandoned my family and friends for the noble goal to return to god alone. Rather I would like to be a burning light for everybody for eternity, if god wishes and also considers it better – to serve others as much as I can.
I wish, god could forgive everybody and I think he will – because he knows, we are all full of flaws.
And I wish I would be conscious of god in every incarnation from now on, knowing he’s there and carrying me through all difficulties, while trying to give others solace.
Amen and Hare Krsna!
Kathi
I can not answer such a big question. Please write a small question and I can answer that.
Dear Kathi, Hare Krishna!
I will try to address some of your concerns.
1) It is not necessary for you to live with the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada has written all of these books so that you can ;earn about Krishna and gradually become more and more close to Krishna through your thoughts, words and deeds. by studying these books, everything will become clear to you.
The mood of Satan is that we can be fulfilled without engaging in God’s service. According to the teachings of the Vedas we all have come here, from the spiritual wolrd, because we have a desire to be happy as self-centered beings. This material creation is provided so that we can persue this orientation. We receive a material body, and also a material mind and intelligence. This material mind and intelligence, is our “software”. And as long as we are under the influence of this software, our tendancy is to be self-centered. That original desire for self-centered fulfillment is our “original sin”, and when we are born in the material creation, with this self-centered software, every activity, every thought, that is enacted with this orientation, begets more of this way of thinking and feeling. This is the law of karma, or as Jesus said, the “sewing and reaping” of activity in this world.
Your boyfriend is correct to disrespect a clergy that is engaging in child-abuse. But he has to understand that these people do not represent Jesus, do not represent God. Therefore to reject God because of the way that such people behave is unintelligent. If one has gone to a doctor who is a “quack”, an unqualified person, one should not conclude that we must reject the medical profession. Rather, we should avoid false pretenders.
No matter how successful one may appear to become in the persuit of material happiness, it all ends with old age, disease, and death. Therefore your boyfriend’s vision is very short-sighted. What kind of happiness is that? Anyone who is trying to become fulfilled in this this way – this is a kind of insanity.
Anyone who will not allow you to talk about God is equivalent to a person who is murdering you. Because by stopping you from such activites, he is causing you to avoid the activities that can free you from the cycle of birth and death. Therefore you will have to die repeatedly as long as you choose to associate with such people.
Satan rules this world. Yes. And if we serve Satan, then we are engaged in only in sin. Anything we do that is not for God’s pleasure is sin. Therefore the Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death. Repeated death. Therefore we should serve Krishna. The material world is the prison house of the spiritual world. Satan is the self-centerd mentality of everyone in this prison. As long as we serve this mentality we must remain in this prison of repeated birth and death.
“.. I bid you to scatter my doubts because I’m disappointed by the huge amount of suffering humans have to endure.”
We do not have suffer like this. We are here in therapy. Although this material body and this material world is gross matter, it is all a kind of dream. It is a dream because is has a beginning and an end. Life after life, we have a new identity – and when we leave that body, that particular identity is disolved. Just like a bad dream that is ended. In fact the soul is full of spiritual bliss – eternally. But when we are in this gross dream, that bliss is covered. In fact nothing is happening to the soul. We do not die. the soul is never diseased. All of the suffering only applies to this dream body and dream mind. this is hypno-therapy provided by Krishna, so that we will voluntarily give up our self-centerd way of being. When we agree to give this up, the influence of the dream is reduced, and we begin to experience our real nature of eternal bliss, even while we have these material bodies. This is called self-realization. That dream of suffering is God’s loving kindness upon us, to convince us to come home to the spiritual world. We do not have to suffer like this. It is only because we refuse to change. We are determined to follow the dictates of Satan within our hearts – so the bad dream continues. This therapy is for the spiritually insane. All who live in the material realm are spiritually insane. We are here to become cured of this insanity. And each has the freedom to choose.
“The church suppresses the mass so the people stay obedient while threatening them with hell when ignoring that threat. For example, the church says, all who commit suicide or are homosexual will go to hell.
How nice… this should be kindness? Eternal mercy?”
This life in the material world is a hell. According to Veda, one can take birth in more painful places than this planet. This planet earth is a middle level planet. We are all imprisoned. We are here in therapy. suicide is an attempt to break out. We cannot get out until we are cured. And we must return again until we we are cured. We are forced to return so that we can have a change of heart. The decision is in our hands. We cannot blame God for this bad dream. We are in this dream because we want it. We have to accept responsability. We have to have a change of heart. No matter how stubborn we are, we are still maintained here by God, always hoping we will have a change of heart. This is eternal mercy.
“It’s written god kills all demons or lets them reincarnate again in demonical forms forever and ever.
But Srila Prabhupada explains, everyone is at once liberated when killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
There is no contradiction in this. When we die, before we are in love with Krishna, we must come back to continue our spiritual developement. But those who were personally killed by Krishna, they are liberated.
“3.) But what is liberation to the demons?
Are they dissolving into nothingness by being united with the brahmajyoti-radiation of Krsna or are they being transferred to the spiritual planets or into heaven?
Will these demons be taught by spiritual masters, so they become faithful souls of god? ”
There are different demons and Krishna may deal with them differently. But we are not going to be killed by Krishna personally, so this is not the most important question. The most important question is how can we wake up to our natural state of love for Krishna?
“Krsna would have had much more followers if he had given them the divine sight but he only chose Arjuna whom he referred to as his “friend”.
Why did Krsna exclude all the others?”
Krishna came here so that the Bhagavad-gita could be held in your hand and my hand. The knowledge of Bhagavad-gita was also available to those on the battlefield. But they were not interested. Most people in the material world are not interested. They are like your boyfriend. they will not listen. Therefore the therapy of the bad dream of brth and death is provided to them. This is Krishna’s decision, based on His love for us. He could make us cease to exist. But he wants us to come back to Him. So the therapy continues. We have to accept the understanding: IT IS REALLY OUR CHOICE!
“The one who doubted Krsna to be god also said it’s Jesus we have to believe in because he died for the sinners. He didn’t harm anybody, he even cured ill people!”
Curing the sick – and other miracles – these are only there to awaken faith in those who are less intelligent. What is the value (long term) is regaining one’s ability to walk, or to see, if we have not come to the point of loving Krishna, and have to return to the world of birth and death? Those who approach God for material enhancement, material prosperity, health – anything material – they are missing the point. That is the religion of the less intelligent. Jesus taught that the first commandment is: “Love the Lord with all your heart.” Improving life in the material world is like improving prison conditions, instead of becoming qualified to leave the prison.
4. Jesus was the son of God. We also are the sons and daughters of God. But we are here in therapy. Jesus came as therapist, as doctor. When he was baptized by John, Krishna spoke and said “This is my son in whom I am very pelased.” So Jesus was a bhakta, who lived only for God’s pleasure. He was a qualified spiritual master.
In some ways we must simply accept that Krishna knows what is the best way to proceed. Just like you are enjoying Bhagavad-gita, that is open to everyone. But they must have the freedom to choose for themselves. Krishna will not make them change. We have to accept this and go forward.
5) We have to understand that the logic of the material mind cannot fully comprehend all of these issues. What we can understand is that love of God is our ticket to freedom, and as we become more and more free we will understand more.
6) Yes, there is some beauty in this world. Some tiny amount of hapiness, perhaps. So you are seeing it this way, and not only as a place of suffering. Let us think then, if you will, that this can give us a tiny idea of how wonderful the spiritual world is. Krishna wants us to come home. He says in gita that those who have realization feel that there is nothing greater that can be gained.
7) Yes, this is more noble. But first let us come to this position . Then we can ask Krishna if we can do this work. Also, you have to remember that those souls who are fully awakened, like Jesus for example, such beings have so much spiritual ecstacy that the dualistic experiences of this realm, heat and cold, hunger and thirst, are not significant to them. They are “in this world but not of this world”. The pleasure and pain of this realm do not affect them because these are the experiences of this gross dream, and such persons are fully awake. Therefore when they are crucified, for example, they are still in ecstacy. And they can pray, “Dear Krishna, please forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing. They are in ignorance.”
8) Jesus is not God. He is God’s ambassador, God’s representative. I cannot tell you why Jesus said that statement. Sometimes even Krishna does things so that the atheist can continue to believe in his atheism. It may be that earlier in the Bible it is written that he would make this statement. I would have to do some research. But we can be sure that his range of feelings is always on the platform of anspiritual pleasure that we cannot yet understand.
9) Meat, fish, eggs. Wine. Foods containing eggs, animal fat. The Vedas explain that the teachings are actually one. Love of God. But according to time and place and the culture, the teachings must be adjustedfor the people who are to receive them. As far as wine is concerned, we are already intoxicated with this material mind. Coffee and teas that contain caffeine, only serve to make us more stirred up, less calm. We are given advice to help us to advance in Krishna consciousness. Lord siva drank an ocean of poison in Krishna’s service. But we cannot. Jesus may have drank wine. But we cannot. We do not have to accept all these rules. It is our choice. But if we do not agree to follow, how can we ask for the blessing of spiritual growth? Somehwere along the line we have to become convinced enough to make an experiment by submitting to the process. But we always have a choice.
When we cause harm to animals, don’t they cry? Don’t they cry out in pain? How can one be trying to get closer to God and do such horrible things? Such heartless things?
The energy of the cook goes into the cooking. Therefore the cook should be the person who is closest to God. The food that is prepared should be prepared by one who is cooking it for Krishna. Otherwise how can we offer it to Krishna? You can learn how to cook nicely. Gadually, you will want to cook for Krishna. And you will not want to eat anything that has not been offered to Krishna. That is my experience. And my father, he was a butcher of animals. How can we offer food to Krishna that was prepared by people who have blood on their hands? Even touching such people will affect our consciousness. We have to make choices. Arjuna had to make choices. There is no way to avoid this. That is part of the purification fire.Part of showing our willingness to become pure.
Christians may not know, but you know. Therefore it is worse if you eat animal bodies. You are responsable for their killing because they are being killed for you. Christians are not serious. If they are serious they will not be able to be so heartless. When something higher is offered, we have to accept it.Otherwise it reveals our real heart. It is inhuman to kill these animals when it is not at all necessary. Can you imagine? I am killing you, simply because I like the taste? That is hell.
You are afraid to offend your family members by refusing to be part of their killing culture. but you must remember that when Jesus was asked about his family members, he said “These are my family”, not those who would not follow him. At first these are difficult choices. But there is no way to avoid these issues. Such activites are demonic. We have to make these choices because we have been given higher knowledge.
I have only adressed your items up to number 9. I will have to return later in the day or tomorrow to complete anwering your questions. You are a very good person. And you are in a very challenging situation. So many of devotees have similar challenges. You are not alone in this. My family would not advise me when my father was on his deathbed, simply because i am trying to serve Krishna. Little by littel we come to understand that these people are not our friends, not our real family. What can be done? It is not easy, but as we grwo spiritually, it becomes much easier. And also, it is explained in Veda that if you becme a devotee all of your family relations for many generations are very much spiritually benefitted. but in the meantime, they will not appreciate that by being a devotee you are serving them. What can be done? You have mentioned coming back to this world to save the masses of people. First you must save yourself.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
Hare Krishna Kathi!
10) Yes, it is important to chant Hare Krishna with feelings of love. But it is also important to understand that this sound vibration, Hare Krishna, this sound vibration is identical to the presence of Krishna, Himself. And so this sound vibration will purify our hearts so that we can begin to feel love for Krishna. Actually love for Krishna is our real nature. But at the moment this natural feeling of love for Krishna is sleeping. When chanting Hare Krishna we are having direct association with Krishna and that asociation is cleaning our hearts so that our desire to feel love for Krishna becomes stronger. When that desire is strong enough, then our sleeping love for Krishna is awakened within our hearts- by grace! When we are in love with Krishna we cannot stop chanting His name. And if we want to awaken our sleeping love for Krishna, then we cannot stop chanting His name.
You can chant always, 24 hours. You can chant when you are doing other things. But we are taught that we should chant 16 rounds on our beads, when we are not doing other things.
I can understand that you have boyfriend and family and job…. You just go on reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and chant as much as you can. And pray to krishna, and gradually you will find your way out of all this involvement. Gradually, as you are sincere, you will not be able to tolerate that kind of association. Non-devotional association will be like being in a cage of fire.
11) Re out of body experience, that is practiced by some yogis. One can learn how to do this. But it is a diversion. There are various different mystic powers, such as becoming so light in wieght that one can walk on water, or levitate, or control the minds of others, even of large groups of people. All of these abilities are not spiritual. They are material abilities. Just like one may become proud by becoming very wealthy, one may become proud by learning these things. They can become great temptations and arouse the desire to have the admiration of others. The pure devotee is automatically granted all of these powers, but he or she is not interested in them. They only want to be engaged in Krishna’s service – not because they are trying to be moral or good – but because Krishna’s service is so pleasing that they are mad after it. All these powers become like garbage to such persons. If you can obtain some DVD’s of Srila Prabhupada you will see how aloof he is from any adoration from people. He is simple content to be in Krishna’s service.
12) Krishna came in this Kali Yuga, about 500 years ago as Lord Chaitanya. he was krishna Himself. But He was in the mood of His dearest servant, Srimate Radharani. Her love for Him is so strong that Her spiritual ecstacy suprasses that of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna wanted to taste that love that She has for Him. And so He came as Lord Chaitanya, Krishna, in the mood of Radharani’s love for Krishna. And He distributed this taste through His sankirtan movement. When you are ready you can read all about this in Srila Prabhupada’s Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, 11 volumes describing all of this in great detail.
Once again, I must say to you that nothing is lacking in terms of Krishna’s mercy on the people of this material world. The truth is that people in this world are simply not interested in spiritual mercy. They are interested in material persuits, self-centerd life.
Krishna is present in His holy name. Even Jesus says this in Bible. “Our Father, Who is in heaven, your name is holy, spiritual. And if we chant it the result will be – they kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.” This means that if we chant, Krishna is right here with us in that sound vibration.And where that sound vibration is made, this material world becomes completely spiritual. Because Krishna is present in His naem, as we continue to chant, we will be able to perceive Krishna’s form and pastimes are present in His Name, and then we will not be able to stop chanting. That is a very advanced stage. So again, there is o lack of mercy. The only lack is that people lack desire to receive this mercy. It is not that we are all calling for help. When krishna comes or His real representative comes to offer help, people say, “No thank you. No help wanted.” They even try to hurt such people – as they did when Jesus came.This is the material world. It is not a very nice place. The people here are against a God-centered life.And they do all kinds of ungodly behavior in the name of God. Gradually you will see that more clearly.
13) Krishna is male. Srimate Radharani is part of Krishna. They are One but they exist as two so that they can have loving exchanges. Everyone is looking for love. That love that we are all looking for exists between Radha and Krishna. When we learn how to take pleasure in Their loving exchange, our spiritual joy will have no limits. Loving God means always desiring God’s pleasure. The devotees in the spiritual world are always engaged in making wonderful arrangements so that Radha and Krishna can enjoy loving exchanges. And it is written in scripture that when Radha and Krishna are enjoying in that way, the devotees have greater pleasure than Krishna.
This is why love of God is such a great gift. Because when we really feel mature love of God, we receive spiritual “feedback”. If the leaf on the tree waters the root of the tree, the leaf becomes satisfied. That invisible feedback loop exists between ourselves and Krishna. That is why material life can never satisfy us. Our cspiritual circuitry for inner satisfaction is such that we obtain our satisfaction by pleasing God. Pleasing God is not about self-denial. Pleasing God is the direct path, direct circuit for pleasing ourselves. “Yoga” literally means making this spiritual connection of this spiritual circuit. “Yoga” means “linking up”. This linking up in feelings of spontaneous love is so pleasing , so satisfying, so thrilling, that the devotee cannot stop trying to please Krishna. By understanding that no one, can please krishna as much as Srimate Radharani, the devotee simply wants to engage in making nice arrangements for that loving exchange. And yet the harder she tries, the more she becomes overwhelmed with spiritual ecstacy.
As far as the love between Radha and Krishna is concerned with sexual activity, I am not qualified to write to you about these things. However, if you read Caitanya Caritamrita by Krishnadas Kaviraj, with commentary by Srila Prabhupada, you will find some of the answers to your questions.
14) Regarding having sex with your boyfirend, as you have admitted, although you are only 25, that passion is now falling away from you. This is because you are becoming more spiritually awake. Sex in this world is about self-centered desires. The desire to please God is not involved in this activity. Therefore it cannot be done as devotional service. However, if one desires to have a very spiritual child that will become a grat devotee of Krishna, that can be done in a spirit of devotional service. For those who have no connection with God, sex is the driving force in this world. And those devotees who are very advanced in devotional service have no desire for physical sex. They are actually repulsed by the thought of it. Spiritual life is not an all or nothing context. It grows by degree, and as it grows we become gradually transformed.
15) ” Can someone beg god to take over our heart and guide us, giving up our little independency? ”
If you can pray to Krishna like that, then there is no higher prayer that you can make. It is a beautiful statement that you have made, and I will save it for my own inspiration.
Actually, we are now hypnotized under the influence of Krishna’s material nature. This hypnotism causes us to think we are these material bodies, and causes us to think that by satisfying these material senses we will become happy. this hypnotism makes us think that we are related to the family of our birth as our family. It causes us to think of the country in which we are born as our motherland.It causes us to think we are male or female, black or white, young or old, rich or poor. We are totally hypnotized. And as we advance in real spiritual life this hypnotism begins to fade, and we understand, little by littel that we are pure spirit individuals. We begin to see all living entities, not interms of their bodily dsignation but simply as Krishna’s servants. And we begin to understand that they can only be happy by serving krishna, and we begin to desire to share this information with others.
We can all return to God one day, as you have written, but someone has to be a leader, so that others can see that the leader is becoming happy , and they will want to follow. so you are , I believe, that kind of person. Your greater family is all of mankind , all of the animals and all of life. Gradually as you advance you will know this and you will be drwn to helping those in this greater family who are looking for real answers.
“I wish, god could forgive everybody and I think he will – because he knows, we are all full of flaws.”
Actaully God has forgiven everyone. He is not angry with us. He only loves us. But we wanted to enjoy outside of the loving yoga circuit of devotion to God. We wanted to be littel self-centered gods. Therefore krishna has provided all of this material creation so that we could try to be happy in this way. We cannot. And he sends His messengers, Hid dear servants to us again and again, and even comes Himself, simply to encourage us to come back to Him. He is so much loving us, and so much wanting us to come back. But because He loves us so much,He is allowing us to decide for ourselves. The real devotee will ask for God’s forgiveness. But All that Krishna wants is our love. There is no question of foregiveness. he loves us so much.
You are a very, very good soul. Thank you for your wonderful questions and thoughts about spiritual life. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions. I am so hopeful that some of the things I have written will be helpful to you.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada, Krishna’s intimate servant who has brought this message of Krishna to us.
Hare Krishna! Ishan das
why is said that ‘Sri Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead ‘. Becuase. if it’s correct as I believe, that there are others Prsonalities of God as Rama, etc etc.
Thaks very thanks fo all!!!
Nora
Yes, Krishna expands as many different Personalities of Godhead. And sometimes they have very different moods and appearances than the original Krishna. But Krishna is the original from where all the other Personalities of Godhead expand. Krishna is the only Supreme Personality of Godhead. All the others like Rama, Nrsimha, etc, are expansions of Krishna.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji…We all know that Lord Krishna is the Supreame Personality of Godhead.And also Lord Vishnu is a part of Krishna…Could you please explain how lord Vishnu is different from Lord Krishna?
Visnu and Krishna are the same but Krishna is the original and complete manifestation of the Personality of Godhead and Visnu is His expansion and does not exhibit all the features of Krishna. They are the same personality but the mood is different. Krishna is much more approachable. It is not possible to worship Lord Visnu in any other mood that that of awe and reverence, as one would worship a king. But Krishna appears as a cowherd boy in Vrindavan and we can play with Krishna as one of His friends. The gopis can dance with Krishna. No one can play with Visnu or dance with Visnu. So you see only dasya-rasa is available for the worshipers of Visnu but we can worship and serve Krishna also in the same mood of awe and reverence but in addition we can play with Him as His friends, we can have Krishna as our child, we can even have Krishna as our lover. Such relationships are completely impossible with Visnu. So Krishna is the original complete Supreme Personality of Godhead and everyone else, including Lord Visnu, are expansions of Krishna. And none of the expansions of Krishna are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Only Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishna all of you
My simple question is that, can we chant “Hare Krishna Mantra” with japa beads
when we travelling somewhere while wearing of leather shoes or sport shoes.
Waiting for your soonest reply
Regards
Ravi Kant
You are not chanting with your shoes… So why not? If you are really worried you can get japa beads that are not tulsi [neem beads], we have them at KrishnaStore.com. You have to be reasonably clean to chant on tulsi beads because Srimati Tulsi devi is a pure devotee of Krishna. And we want to be reasonably clean while touching her body. But if you are chanting on neem beads then there is no problem like this. But if your heart is pure, that is the main thing, means you are following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds a day at least, and your hands are clean, then you can chant on japa beads anywhere, not in the bathroom, but otherwise you just have to use your common sense…
I asked why it’s sais that Krishna in the Supreme Personalit of God?
Thans very much for the mails!!!
Nora
Because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead…
Hi can you tell me why there are so many religions for one (supreme) God only and how can you know that what is written in the Bhagvada Gita is true.Did God come and reveal it to you (no offense though)
There is only one religion Jason. Surrender to God and serve Him. That is all. The many religions, if they are actually bona fide religions, just say this same thing in different ways. They are not different religions.
Yes. God came to me and revealed what is in the Bhagavad-gita is true. That is how I know it is true…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
I strongly believe in the power of mantra meditation/chanting Hare Krishna, but I still do not understand the reason for the counts , ie 16 rounds per day. I have heard from Japa workshop lectures that our Japa can be a relationship between you and Krishna rather than a simple process, if the person is really involved or happy in the process. I do believe in this relationship from my personal experiences, but if you are in relationship with God and you are happy in it how can somebody have mind or presence to count the number of rounds, I fell it is difficult for me.
Hari bol
You count the rounds with counting beads. It is a small string of beads with 20 beads on it and as you finish each round you pull down one bead on the string so when there are sixteen little beads on the bottom of the string you have chanted 16 rounds. So you don’t have to bother your mind counting the rounds, you use counting beads…
My dear Swami JI
Jai Shri Krishna
I have started Bhagvad Gita by Srila Prabhupad Ji.I have completed 7 chapter.
I have understand the meaning of life.Nothing is without Lord Krishna.Now
I cannot worship the demi gods.My family says to me that you are infected
from superstitious powers. But I am not belive in these tasks.Till to my end I cannot worship the demi gods.I have surrender fully to Lord Krishna.I want to know from yourself that whether my thinking is right.
Waiting for your soonest reply
Always Yours
Ravi Kant
Yes. Of course your thinking is right. It is very clear. Krishna says in the Gita: karmis tais hrta janana prapadyate nara devata, “Those who worship the demigods have no intelligence…” The demigods are within this material world. They can, with the sanction of Krishna, give some benedictions within the material world, but they can not help anyone get free from the material world, get free from the cycle of samsara, the cycle of repeated birth and death. So only fools will worship the demigods… The fools want to make a happy, comfortable situation and live in the material world forever. They are fools. They worship the demigods to try to achieve this. But they will never achieve it. Because the material world is a place of suffering where there is repeated birth and death (dukalayam asasvatam). The only way we can get free from the material world and go back home, back to Godhead is by worshiping Krishna and His Visnu-Tattva expansions. We can just worship Krishna and everything else is included.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Chant
hare krishan hare ram thanks for replying me i am not a regular reader of bhagvad gita but when i feel to read i read bhagvad gita yes it has all the solutions whether it be related our life or we wnt any kind of answer spiritually now my query or problem is that iwhen i used to chant hare krishna it soothes my body and soul but when i used to say it is you god who is doing all this suddenly i felt i have god in mee this is proud which i really dont want plzzz help mee
Hare Krishna Milli
It is good that you want to feel humble. That is how devotees actually feel. We all have God in our hearts. Krishna is present within all of us as the Supersoul. When we are in maya we can not appreciate the presence of Krishna in our hearts but gradually as we advance in Krishna consciousness we come to practically realize the presence of Krishna in our hearts. So there is nothing special about you that you have Krishna in your heart, everyone has Krishna in their hearts. You are just starting to realize it because you are becoming purified by practicing Krishna consciousness.
But you have to realize that Krishna in your heart is not you. You are not god. I think that is the problem you are facing. You are confusing Krishna in your heart with you. But there are 2 personalities in your heart. You are there as the actor and Krishna is also there as Supersoul, the observer. So it is actually Krishna doing all these things for you, you are not doing anything yourself except trying to surrender to Krishna. That is in your hands. But apart from trying to surrender to Krishna we can not do anything ourselves. Everything else is done by Krishna.
Many people fall into the trap that it looks like you are trying not to fall in and that is confusing themselves with god. Actually we are tiny, insignificant spiritual sparks and God is great, unlimited, all-powerful. We can never be equal to Him or greater than Him. He is always very great and we are always very small…
As you keep chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books you will get practical realization of these things.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA.
thanks for the beautiful introduction.
Please help me to be out of this material life and to be always in SHRI KRISHNA’s Charan.
My Dear Swami Ji
Hare Krishna all of you
Thanks a lot for your valuable guidance to me.With your thoughts Now I am fully devotee of Lord Krishna.I am not fear of death.The world is different to me as parallel to others.Today I am not going any temple of Shiv and goddesses and not in mind to go any teeraths like amarnath etc.I woke up early in the morning and read Bhagavad by Srila Prabhupad ji and chant the one round(108 times with tulsi japa beads)Hare Krishna Mantra.
Pls tell to me is it sufficient or I have to more worship.
Regards & Waiting for your reply.
Hare Krishna Ravi
It is very good that you are reading Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is an chanting one round of the Hare Krishna mantra in the morning. It is a great start but really it is not sufficient at all. You have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex (sex is only for having children in marriage), no intoxication, no gambling and no meat eating) and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Otherwise it is just sentiment. If we really want to advance in spiritual life then we have to surrender to the process that will help us advance… And that is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Prabhupada’s books daily,. This is the beginning. Until we come to this point we have not begun…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I have utmost respect to Srila Prabhupada and I had the rare opportunity to personally see Srila Prabhupada at Nellore in 1976 January, and I always say Sri Abhaya Charana Bhakthi Vedanta Prabhu pada or Srila Prabhu Pada.I simply dont use initials when using sacred names.Further Bhagavad Geetha to follow in life is almost impossible,kindly give names of few whom you think are following Bhagavad Geetha,like nishkama yoga.Whenever I tell youngsters they are simply asking at what age you left Non Vegetarian food,alcohal,gambling illicit sex when spouse is available,for which I will feel to answer.I strongly believe that one should be member of Sri Krishna Chaithanyam at senior inter level itself,so tnat he can better follow the right way.Further Bhagavad Geetha by so many intellectuals are also good.If any distortion is there then the organisation can point out.I reuest sincere discharging duties in propogating Krishna conciousness is the need of the day.
Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishna
I have two questions.
1) Nothing is without Shree Krishna,evenly wife,children and your relatives like brothers,sisters,parents.All these relations are materialistics or can be says “Puran Swarath’I am totally fedup with this.What’s your views regarding this.
2) Someone says to me “Don’t be read Bhagvad Gita in your home”.Violence appears.
Hare Krishna Ravi
India is very unfortunate. And generally Indians are very unfortunate. They have become practically 100% materialistic and they twist the words of Krishna in His Bhagavad-gita to try and support their 100% materialistic outlook on life. Krishna is instructing Arjuna to kill his family members and friends on the Battlefield of Kuruksettra and the whole idea is to break this materialistic bodily concept of family, friendship and love that everyone in the material world is so infatuated with. So Bhagavad-gita is meant to awaken us so that we become free from the bodily concept of life and realize that actually we have no real connection with these people who have appeared as our family members. As soon as this body will die we will all separate and never meet again and in our next life we will have another set of so-called family members. We have no real connection with these so-called family members and unless we can engage them in the service of Krishna then we have no obligations to them. Our obligation is to serve Krishna so if the family refuse to be engaged in the service of Krishna and become obstructions in our progressive advancement in Krishna consciousness then we have ho obligation whatsoever to them and we can leave them to serve Krishna and to reenter Krishna’s family.
As far as the stupid Hindu myths like ‘don’t read the Bhagavad=gita in family life,’ they are stupid idiots. It is a great misfortune that India has come to this. But generally the Indians nowadays have become very unfortunate and 99.9999% of them or more and just stupid idiots who have absolutely no real interest in spiritual life and are 100% interested in the illusory so-called pleasures of the material world in the form of family, friendship and love which is all maya, all illusion. It is a very unfortunate position for India.
So the summary is the Indians generally only speak nonsense so do not listen to what they say. Listen to Srila Prabhupada who has actually fulfilled the real mission of an Indian and surrendered to Krishna and become a pure devotee of Krishna. Prabhupada will clear up all your doubts and give you the real message that Krishna wants to deliver to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
How do I become a Krishna Devotee? What is Initiation that I hear so many Iskcon gurus talk about? I hear that initiation that Iskcon gurus of the GBC says is an absolute must isn’t necessary to be a Krishna Devotee to be a true full-fledged disciple of Srila Prabhupada. What ways can I join a Hare Krishna Society or Krishna Conscious network that isn’t run by the GBC and become a full-fledged member of the Krishna Devotees? Please help me out! I accept Srila Prabhupada as my only Spiritual Master and read only the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is? Are there other books like Science of Self-Realization and other literatures translated by Srila Prabhupada for free of charge with free shipping in the postal mail? Let me know. My mailing address is:
Please send as many Krishna Conscious literatures as you can for free cost and free shipping to my PO Box for me to read and build up a Krishna Consciousness Library. Any literatures will do, great or small. Thank you. Hare Krishna! I am into becoming a full-fledged devotee and need help in achieving this goal for me to become a member of a Hare Krishna Society.
Hare Krishna Roger
As far as Prabhupada books they cost money to print but we can supply them at practically the printing cost. Please order the Prabhupada Library which is over $135 worth of essential Prabhupada books for only $49.
http://krishnastore.com/prabhupada-library-h-krishna-1734.html
Anyone can spare $49 for Prabhupada and all this money goes back into the fund for printing more Prabhupada books. We do not make any profit on this at all, actually we loose money on it…
If you are unfortunate enough to be misled to take initiation from a GBC guru then you will most certainly NOT become Krishna conscious. ISKCON has separated themselves from Srila Prabhupada and in the process disconnected themselves from the disciplic succession. So ISKCON does not have any potency whatsoever to connect you with Krishna. They will only bewilder and distract you from Srila Prabhupada. That is all they can do…
So you need to, as you are doing, take shelter of Srila Prabhupada directly yourself by reading his books and actually following the instructions you find Srila Prabhupada giving you as you read his books.
This way, as you actually surrender to Srila Prabhupada and serve him, you will make real tangible advancement in Krishna consciousness by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Swami Ji
From Heart Jai Shri Krishna All of You.
You are advised to every person for chant Hare Krishna Mantra and to complete 16 Rounds in a day.What is the secret of 16 Rounds. Waiting for your reply
Ravi Kant
Jai Shri Krishna.
Hare Krishna Ravi
The secret of chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day is get a taste for chanting the holy names of Krishna. Because without having an actual taste for chanting the Hare Krishna mantra we will not be able to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. And how to develop that taste? That is only possible by association with the pure devotees of Krishna. These days you will not find pure devotees of Krishna in temples, actually they have become very, very rare. So the secret is to associate with Srila Prabhupada by reading his books and listening to his lectures and bhajans and be constantly either reading Prabhupada’s books, hearing his lectures or chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
To come to the platform of offenseless chanting is a great science and there are so many things you have to do. First you have to know what the ten offenses in regard to chanting the Hare Krishna mantra are and be very careful to avoid them… Because if we commit offenses while chanting the Hare Krishna mantra it will be very difficult for us to develop a taste for chanting Hare Krishna. But there are so many things. It is a science and you have to learn the science. If you have not thoroughly read all of the small books Srila Prabhupada has written and the Bhagavad-gita then you have to do this. Then you should very carefully study Nectar of Devotion. That is a very, very important book that all devotees need to very carefully study.
And ultimately, without pleasing a pure devotee of Krishna and getting his mercy and blessings, we will not be able to get a taste for chanting the Hare Krishna mantra… So you have to actually do things that really please Srila Prabhupada… That is the real secret.
Krishna consciousness is a way of life. It is something we have to do 24 hours a day. It is a complete change of consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Haribol Madhuvisa Dasa,
Please accept my pranams.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Who is Lord Sri Krishna? I am interested in living as a pure devotee and following Lord Sri Krishna the rest of my life. My wife is supportive of me living as a Krishna Devotee. Prior to accepting Lord Sri Krishna as my Lord, God, and Savior as well as Srila Prabhupada as guru, I would abuse my wife and it only took a report by the local police to make me realize that I needed Lord Krishna in my life. Despite, possibly facing eviction from our housing, and a court appearance, I am ready to follow Lord Krishna as His Pure Devotee. This is my life sentence without parole imposed on me by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, since I have accepted His plea bargain for my soul and my life to become a Pure Devotee and live with my family, of my wife and infant daughter, regardless, of what happens to us and our situation. Just constantly chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra and live and play by the rules set by Srila Prabhupada in the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is and other Vedic Literatures he has translated and all of his writings about the Vedic Science of Krishna Consciousness: The Science of the Soul. Hare Krishna, Madhuvisa Dasa, and please write me back on this. I will regularly update you on these matters as they unfold and you can guide me as needed.
Hare Krishna Roger
It is very good to hear that the difficult incidents in your life have encouraged you to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna as His pure devotee. In reality however it is not in our power to become a pure devotee like this. Pure devotee is not such an easy thing generally speaking because we have spent so many lifetimes as a big demon. We can not generally just click our fingers and say ‘now I am a pure devotee’. And now I will just chant Hare Krishna 24 hours a day… That is not possible for us in the beginning. Krishna consciousness is a science, it is a scientific process, and we have to follow the process. And that process Srila Prabhupada has very elaborately explained in his many books. So we actually have to follow the process. And of course chanting Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day and strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] are requirements, actually we can not become pure devotees of Krishna without serving, pleasing and getting the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna.
So you will not be able to constantly chant the Hare Krishna mantra constantly in the beginning and you may not even be able to follow all the rules and regulations in the beginning. You need to be engaged in practical devotional service under the direction of a pure devotee of Krishna. You have to surrender to a bona fide spiritual master and follow the particular orders he gives you as he knows the way that you can be elevated from your current platform to the platform of a pure devotee of Krishna…
So anyhow chant Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day and strictly follow the four regulative principles, but do not imagine that you have become a pure devotee of Krishna so easily. It requires great mercy from a pure devotee of Krishna to become a pure devotee of Krishna….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa
First you have to know what the ten offenses in regard to chanting the Hare Krishna mantra are and be very careful to avoid them.
I read the above in one of your posts, please tell me what are the ten offences.
Hare Krishna
Sanat Attavar
PLEASE READ NECTAR OF DEVOTION BY SRILA PRABHUPADA!!! How can anyone hope to become Krishna conscious without even reading Srila Prabhupada’s books!!!
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
Hare Krishna
Thank you for your introductory mail on who can read the Bhagavad Gita. I am a typical family man with bigger disturbances of Mind thinking everything about myself , job, family, money etc…. kindly guide me in first bringing my mind to an steady state and start reading the divine knowledge in “Bhagavad Gita”.
Hare Krishna Madhava
You do not have to wait until your mind is in a steady state to read the Bhagavad-gita. Remember it was spoken by Krishna to Arjuna on a battlefield and in the beginning at least Arjuna’s mind was completely confused and he was in the bodily concept of life and unable to make the correct decisions. Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna so Arjuna could control his mind and ultimately fix it on the Lotus Feet of Krishna. So do not wait for the problems and disturbances of family life and job and money, etc to stop. They are not going to stop. That is just the way of the world. Devotees do not expect these disturbances of the three modes of material nature to stop, they transcend them, they come to platform where they are not disturbed by these things.
So you simply need to make a program in your life so you can rise early in the morning an chant the Hare Krishna mantra on japa beads and you need to commit to following the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and read the Bhagavad-gita… The chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra and the strict following of the four regulative principles is what you need to put your mind in a state which is conducive to understanding the Bhagavad-gita. And then you simply have to hear it. It is better if you read the Bhagavad-gita aloud because then you will chant it and hear it. And it is better if you read and hear the Sanskrit slokas and Srila Prabhupada’s English translation and the most important thing is to carefully read and hear Srila Prabhupada’s Bhaktivedanta Purports…
That is the process. Don’t wait. Start now.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
My Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishan
Pls tell me Is it compulsory to complete 16 rounds of Hare Krishna Mantra with tulsi japa beads continues while we chanting in morning or can we complete 16 rounds in a day from morning to till night.Waiting for your valuable reply
Regards
Ravi Kant
Hare Krishna Ravi
We take the vow to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. So that means we have to chant the 16 rounds within the day, not that we have to chant them all in the morning. We can chant throughout the day and in the evening also. As long as before we take rest in the evening we have chanted at least 16 rounds during the day. Of course morning, particularly the brahma-muhurta, is a very special time and a very good time to be chanting Hare Krishna and performing devotional activities we need to be engaged in Krishna consciousness all day and all night, 24 hours a day ultimately…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
I want to know how to concentrate my mind while chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra on Krishna.
Your servant,
Shashank.
Just concentrate on hearing every one of the words of the Hare Krishna mantra. That is all you have to do. Chant it properly and hear it. In the beginning the mind will wander and be out of control but you simply neglect the mind and keep chanting Hare Krishna. The idea is not to concentrate on Krishna while chanting Hare Krishna, the idea is to concentrate on hearing the transcendental sound vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra which IS Krishna. Krishna and Krishna’s holy name are identical. Of course while chanting Hare Krishna Krishna may appear in your mind but He may not also. That does not matter, that is not the process. The process is to simply chant the Hare Krishna mantra and hear it with full attention.
Thank you Prabhu ji.
Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Shashank.
Hare Krishna prabhu ji,
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to SRILA PRABHUPADA
I deeply thank u for ur concern for a fallen soul like me.Please let ur servent have a association of a pure devotee.Please give ur drop of mercy ,so dat i can also hear and read BHAGAVAD GITA in a right spirit…
hari bol prabhu ji
yours fallen servant
ankit
Was involved in Sri Krishna Bhakti since the age of 9 and continued till 16yrs. By that age much of the 5 major Panchkaleshas like kamna(desires )for material/wordly things, Lobh(Greed), Rag(attachment)and Dwesh(jelously)were nowhere in my thoughts and action. Living a life of detachment, with hatred for any material gains, the negative environment however sometimes provoked anger, for which I was immediately punished by my lord Krishna, and I am very grateful to the almighty. My retirement has now brought me further close to Lord Krishna and it is a great feelingof his presence around you.Anyone wanting to achieve permanent ANAND should start Krishna BHAKTI early in life.
can we chant hare krishna without japa beads?
Yes. Of course. But if you accept initiation in Krishna consciousness then you take a vow to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and that should be on japa beads. That is what Vaisnavas do, they chant Hare Krishna on japa beads so if you want to be a Vaisnava that is what you have to do as well…
My Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishan
Can you give diksha’s to your followers or can I say you “Gurudev”.If yes then pls tell the procedure to join yourself.Waiting for your earliest reply.
Regards
Ravi Kant
No. Guru is not so cheap. Please read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books and give up the for types of sinful activities [illicit sex, sex outside marriage that is not meant for having children, intoxication including tee, coffee, smoking and alcohol and all forms of gambling and meat eating and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. You have to do at least these things to begin on the spiritual path. Spiritual life is not a cheap thing and guru is not a cheap thing. To succeed in any material thing you have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it, similarly to succeed in Krishna consciousness you also have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna
Is there any problem in keeping bronze metal idol of krishna in pooja room. pl
No. Why would there be a problem? Krishna can appear in any form according to the surrender and service of the devotee. So if you surrender to and serve Krishna He can accept your service through this form. Why not?
Konwing of krishna is the final full knoledge , Then why we have to wait for death ?? in bhagavat geetha said that in the last stage of ur death what u remains in ur mind is going to be ur next birth , then why dont we suicide think of krishna ???? so my question is ” can i suicide think of kirshna ?? then krishna will accept me ?? can i enter to gologa (krishna loga ) After my death when i think of krishna and suicide because i feel frustrated in my life with all the aspect
pls clarify my doubt
A devotee does not have to wait for death, We can become Krishna conscious and experience the presence of Krishna now, in this life. And if you commit suicide that is sinful and you will be punished by becoming a ghost and being trapped in the material world in a much worse position than the one you left. So that is a very bad idea. You can not become Krishna conscious by killing your material body. You become Krishna conscious by using your material body in the service of Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA PARBHU JI,
I FELT VERY HAPPY AFTER READING YOR NEWS LETTER.I HAVE ONLY ONE DOUBT ON THIS NEWS LETTER THAT IS, WHAT IS A SUBMISSIVE SPIRIT?
You can look submissive up in the dictionary…
hre krishna madhudvisa dasa ji!
i understood all about bhagavat gita but my uestion is that in the battlefield of kuruksetra the lord krishna made arjuna to fight because it was dharma(religion) of a ksetriya to fight but as an engineering student how did we decide that what should be done for dharma and what should not?
In other words i can ask that i should play basketball or not? I know that it can be devoted to lord krishna but it is not saintly activity for girls although it makes our personality very good which is again helpful in getting placed. If i want a good salary it is again for krishna. If i’d have money then it’d be easier to serve krishna and other people would also listen to me otherwise they’d say what did you get after reading bhagavat gita and all srila prabhupada’s book.Sir please don’t take it in wrong way because in my view after a good success(materially) when i’d say that my success is due to bhagavat gita and kindly grace of Srila prabhupada then may be many people follow me that is my aim to make more and more people to read bhagavat gita. But if i’d not have a good success(materially) then due to the widespread philosophy people’d not like to listen me. so sir please tell me should i play basketball or not ?
Sir my problem is although materially inclined but sir i’m not able to make decision and don’t want to take suggestion rather than you.
I offer my obeisances to Srila Prabhupada
hre krishna!
Hare Krishna Joyti
Originally when Srila Prabhupada first gave the four regulative principles to his disciples in New York in 1966 he added “no unnecessary sporting” to the no gambling principle. So Prabhupada so much disagreed with devotees engaging in unnecessary sporting that he added it to the vows that he required his disciples to accept and promise to follow at the time on initiation. So certainly devotees have no interest in these sports. We should be engaged in Sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra and we should keep fit by chanting Hare Krishna and dancing in ecstasy and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books to the fallen conditioned souls…
So no, you should not play basketball. It is a complete waste of time. You can use that time instead to chant Hare Krishna and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and that will be to your eternal benefit. We can not justify our maya by these very indirect and intangible imaginary connections with service to Krishna.
People will listen to us if we are pure. Purity is the force. It is not that if I get a good job and become rich people will listen to me. Therefore I should spend all my time and energy to make a lot of money…. NO. That is a waste of time. If we are going to get money it will come anyhow, even if we don’t work for it, and if we are not meant to get much money then even if we work very hard for money we are not going to get much money. It is our karma, these things are already arranged. So we should be just satisfied with whatever arrangement Krishna makes and spend our time and energy chanting Hare Krishna and studying Srila Prabhupada’s books. Some education and some job may be there but we do not have to make much endeavor for this. Our endeavor should be to become Krishna conscious. Everything else is secondary. And people will listen to us and be affected by our spiritual potency to the degree that we actually have spiritual potency. It has nothing to do with money at all. Srila Prabhupada went to the USA with only $7 and no friends and no job but because he is a pure devotee of Krishna and because of his spiritual potency his preaching was wonderfully successful. So it has nothing to do with getting a good job and making a lot of money. It is all about our Krishna consciousness, our purity. And we can start out on the path of Krishna consciousness by agreeing to chant at lest 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling or basketball and no intoxication] and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If we are not prepared to spend the time and energy to do this at least then we are not going to become Krishna conscious. So we have to make following the regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and reading Prabhupada’s books essential parts of our daily routine. These are the most important things in our life, we can not neglect them ever.
And it doesn’t matter what people think. Most people are materialists, karmis, they can not understand why devotees spend so much time serving Krishna and why they are not interested in sex, drugs and rock and roll for example. Devotees are not interested in the things that materialists are interested in. So naturally the materialists can not understand the devotees. So we do not care what they think or what they say. We only care about pleasing Srila Prabhupada and Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Thank you so much for sending me first newsletter. It is so informative. I really appreciate this site for explaining and accepting comments about reading.
Sincerely,
Sue
Hare Krishna
My dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishna all of you.
I have completed “Bhagvad Gita” One time by Srila Prabhupad Ji Maharaj.
and chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna Mantra daily.
Pls tell whether can I restart “Bhagvad Gita”by Srila Prabhupad Ji Maharaj.
Pls tell which dress is suitable when we read Bhagvad Gita or chanting Hare
Krishna mantra. Waiting for your soonest reply
Regards
Ravi Kant
Hare Krishna Ravi
Yes. The second time you read Bhagavad-gita it is much better than the first. The more you read it and follow the instructions you find in it the more the confidential knowledge of the gita is revealed to you.
It doesn’t matter what dress you are in when you read Bhagavad-gita or when you chant Hare Krishna. Just read the Bhagavad-gita and chant Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA SWAMIJI.
I am in love with lord krishna.I do serve laddu gopal at my place.he is my soul mate.but since i am a chartered accountant(final) student i dont get time to read shrimad bhagwat ji.i am interested in knowing its content.Please help me on this.
Moreover whar other things i can do to express my love for shyam sundar ji?
If you want to know what is in Srimad-Bhagavatam make the time to read it… That is the only way you will really find out…
JAI SHRI KRISHNA SWAMIJI.
Thank you so much swamiji for your mails.These are really very informative and much needed in this material world.
i have a query swamiji.I am having 2 shrimad bhagwatji at my place.one is original and the other one is interpretation of gita by some author.
As a fresher,which one i should start reading first so that i can absorb its content?
And my mother always says that we should always read Shrimad bhagwatji in front of laddu gopal as he likes listening it.Is it true?
Hare Krishna Harshit
Yes. It is nice to read Srilmad Bhagavatam in front of Krishna because He likes to listen. But if you are not there with the deity you can also read Srimad-Bhagavatam. Krishna is also present in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam in the form of transcendental sound.
You should read Srila Prabhupada’s translation of Srimad Bhagavatam and also read his Bhaktivedanta Purports because in the purports Srila Prabhupada explains all the points very clearly and gives references from other sastras. So get Prabhupada’s Bhagavatam and read that….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
JAI SHRI KRISHNA SWAMIJI.
Thank you so much for the information.
i will follow your instructions honestly.
thanks again.
SHRI HARI SHARNAM..!!
This question is for krsna but as i am an impure human-being i cant speak directly to krsna so i wanted to ask a devotee of him as krsna will listen to his devotees!!!
Tell me one reason krsna, why did you kill my mother???
She is so innocent, loved me a lot and used to take care of me a lot. how could you think that i can stay alone in this world with out my mother??
now tell me who will take care of me?? how can i live in this world ??
how could you imagine that a child can live in this world with out her mother?? I am crying like anything why don’t you hear me??
I want to see my mother, want to spend time with my mother and want to stay with my mother and want to talk to my mother…
I need my mother back please krsna please send her back i will touch your foot Please kindly please krsna please help me, this is not as hard as lifting a mountain with little finger and this is not a very difficult task for you.
Can you please give my mother back?? or Please tell me where she is??
other wise tell me what should i do to make her happy ever??
Otherwise Please kindly do one thing please keep her with you and take care of her please, i will do what ever you want.Please don’t take this as an order, this is a genuine request. If she did any mistake i will take the responsibility of that karma because what ever she did that was for me only. PLEASE Krsna… you hear me ??
Hare Krishna Pavani
We have to surrender to Krishna’s plan. No one is killed. We are all eternal. Your mother was not killed. She simply changed from one body to another. We do not understand why things are happening but we are not in control of the things that are happening so as devotees of Krishna we simply accept everything that happens as Krishna’s mercy. It may be hard to see how such seemingly painful things can be Krishna’s mercy but as devotees that is how we see.
Ultimately this strong loving attraction you feel for your mother is simply a perverted reflection of the real loving feelings we all have for Krishna in our original pure state. So from the intensity of the feelings of love you have for your mother you can understand something of the feelings of love for Krishna that you really have which are now forgotten.
So for you this is a great chance for you to repose your loving affection to Krishna. Every relationship in the material world, as you have discovered with your mother, is temporary. And when it is over by death or some other reason we feel pain. But if we can rekindle our original loving relationship with Krishna then that is our original position and our relationship with Krishna is eternal and we will never be separated from Krishna.
So the best thing for you is to take advantage of this oportunity to develop your love for Krishna by chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. As you become more and more a devotee of Krishna Krishna will reveal everything to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Sir
Jai Shri Krishna
I have come to know yourself from my friend who is engaged to you from last 6 months.I am the devotee of Lord Krishna.I read Bhagvad Gita by Srila Prabhupad Ji Maharaj and chant Hare Krishna Mantra 3 to 4 rounds in a day.
I oftenly goes to Jyotisar and chants the hare krishna mantra under the Banyan tree where Lord Krishna teaches the Gita to Arjuna.
I am service man and have to travelling 4 to 5 hrs in day by bus route.I have little family and I have One son and one daughter having age of 6 yrs and 3 yrs.They also chants Hare Krishna Mantra.
Due to all of this I feel tired when I came to my house in night. For this I have drink with in 2 days(Wednesday and Saturday)
Pls tell me what can I do.
Waiting from you
Regards
Jai Shri Krishna
Hare Krishna
Instead of having the drink you can start having a small sankirtan festival in your house with your family and friends on Wednesday and Saturday nights. You can come together and chant the Hare Krishna mantra together and sing some of the songs of the Vaisnava Acharyas and read something from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam and your wife can prepare some simple offering and you can offer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and distribute the prasadam to the family members and friends. In this small sankirtan festival you will feel refreshed. Your tiredness will go away and you and your family will become inspired more and more in Krishna consciousness and it will create a very auspicious atmosphere…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Harekrishna prabhuji,
Nowadays I am doing my japamala 16 rounds, i want to know prabhupada’s which book i’ve to start to read first. me a complete veg for last few years and using tulasi beads as my japamala, now a days started to wear kandhamala. reading bhagavath gita daily also.
harekrishna!
Hare Krishna Sindu
You should read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books. All small books are important including Science of Self-Realization, Beyond Birth and Death, Perfection of Yoga, Easy Journey to Other Planets, Perfect Questions Perfect Answers, etc…, very important books include: Nectar of Devotion, Nectar of Instruction, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Sri Isopanasid. You are already reading Bhagavad-gita. Of course Srimad-Bhagavatam is the next step after reading Bhagavad-gita and after that Sri Caitanaya-caritamrta.
So you have to read all of Prabhupada’s books. They are all important. And not just once. We can read Prabhupada’s books over and over again and every time we read them we will have new spiritual realizations….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabuji. Hari bol for sending and choose for me this beautiful and speech less newsletter. One request and question is “i am daily decided for i wake up early morning and Chant the Mahamantra. But Still i am filed. So prabhuji what i am do for wake early morning. please help me and given some ideas. HARE KRISHNA
Hare Krishna Prabhuji.i am read next newsletter. it is too good. so i request to u given me more and more lesson of the gita. Prabhuji when we are offering to the lord of food, shelter and so on. it means lord is taken all of this as well as lord is satisfy. it means also all humans is also satisfy. But many people in India and Other States, they are not satisfy. They are hungry and poor. So why prabhuji. Prabhuji i have a less Knowledge. so prabhuji i am say anything wrong or unsense, please prabhuji ingore it. HARE KRISHNA.
Jai Shri Krishna.
Thanks a lot for this valuable information swami ji. I have doubt that when did lord shri Krishna born is that he born before the early age,ice age or after dinosaur age.If say ant thing wrong forgive me.
Yours sincerely
Rohith
Hare Krishna
Krishna is never born and Krishna never dies. He appears before us and disappears as the sun appears in the morning and disappears in the evening. But as the sun is not born in the morning and does not die in the evening Krishna is never born and never dies. It is just sometimes He is present before us in the material world. So Krishna was present on this planet in India 5000 years ago. That is not very long ago really and as far as we read from the descriptions of Krishna’s pastimes the world was much the same as it is now except of course not technologically developed and people were living much simpler and more natural lives. You can read Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead and you will very easily get the feel for what life was like for Krishna and His devotees in Vrindavan 5000 years ago.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa ,
Thanks for the newsletter sent to me. I ahve read Bhagvad Gita once. It is said that Bhagvad Gita has solutions to all the problems in life. I would like to know the applications of lesson one in our day to day life.
Regards,
Anita
HARE KRISHNA PRABHUJI. SRILA PRABHUPAD KI JAI. Prabhuji how i m control my car (BODY). My means is how control the badly and dangerous sense. HARE KRISHNA
Read Prabhupada’s books and follow the instructions you find there.
You have to become actually Krishna conscious which is a process and you have to follow the process. It is not so easy. You have to be serious….
Hare Krishna Prabhuji.SRILA PRABHUPAD KI JAI.
My greetings to Madhudvisa dasa ji,I am here to speak freely and I think that you are the only one who can answer me correctly,from the moment I started reading Bagavad Geetha I have been a great disciple of krishna,it interested me in many ways always dragging me to read when ever i felt free,one question I have for you sir “lord krishna is beeing worshiped by many people and take krishna as their idol,everyone follows his path,lord krishna has been with 16000 women,lord Krishna has desire for women then why is it in india belive that being with more than one women is a social crime and having relations with many is considerd to be intolerable,my question is “when people accepts this thing with lord Krishna then why dont they accept with others in the society,why dont they think that it’s his personal”.I am not asking this question because I am of that type ,I am asking it because I found it as a interesting point to be considerd..pls dont think this as imformall,I am a disciple of Krishna and I belive in him..I am a young boy posting this for the first time so if there are any mistakes pls excuse me..
Hare Krishna Hemanth
Krishna’s position is that He is the Supreme Enjoyer. Everything belongs to Him, everything is meant for His enjoyment. Krishna does not have any desire for women. Krishna is complete in Himself. But the women who are his devotees want to serve Him in that particular way so He accepts their service. But we are not Krishna. We are not the supreme enjoyer. We are eternally servants. Our business is to serve Krishna. Our business is to serve, not to try and imitate Krishna by trying to enjoy thousands of women.
Of course many misunderstand the pastimes of Krishna with the Gopis and think that Krishna was interested in enjoying with a lot of women and think because Krishna did it we should be able to do it too. That is a great mistake and a great misunderstanding and all I can suggest is that you seriously study all of Srila Prabhupada’s books so you can remove this misunderstanding from your mind and understand our real position as servants of Krishna. The only way we can actually become happy is by serving Krishna. Our satisfaction, our pleasure can only come from serving Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Hemanth, Hare Krishna!
Krishna is God. All the living beings, the birds the beasts, the humans, the insects – unlimited millions, billions, trillions of individual souls – all of them are eternal servants of Krishna.
In this material realm, the tendancy is to try to immitate Krishna, to be the most important person, the most attractive person, and to have every render service to us. That is our disease. It is demonic, asura. As long as we avoid being Krishna’s servant, we will have to return to this world of birth and death where the suffering is unlimited.
Therefore Krishna can not only have 16000 women. He can 16000 X unlimited trillions of women. Because not only all women, but all of us we can only be happy and saved from this birth and death cycle by becoming lovers of Krishna. Those who try to immitate Krishna will surely go to hell. Krishna not only had so many women who loved Him but also He lifted the mountain called Govardhana Hill, and held it on His little finger for seven days in order to show Indra, the king of the devas that he (Indra) is also a servant of Krishna.
It is more advanced level of Krishna consciousness to understand that in the spiritual world where Krishna lives eternally, everyone there has an individual relationship with Krishna. One will have the mood that Krishna is my child. One will feel that Krishna is my friend. And one will feel that Krishna is my lover, my boyfriend. These things are described in the books of Srila Prabhupada, based on Srimad Bhagavatam. So Krishna can have all of these unlimited trillions of relationships with all of us simultaneously. And there is nothing wrong in any of this. But if we try to immitate Krishna – that is our diseased condition. To learn from Krishna, is not to immitate, but to become a lover of Krishna. And this begins by reading authoritative literatures adn chanting Hare Krishna.
Hare kRISHNA
What Is The PURPOSE of this life? how to known the Purpose.
swamiji
Hare Krishna Rohith
First we have to realize that this material world is a place of suffering and that we can never be happy here. Then the next thing is to question….
Once we have realized this world is not a happy place and never will be we are in a position to consider that there may be another existence, a spiritual world, the kingdom of God, and we may be interested to go there. The place which is our real home, the place where we can live forever in an eternally youthful body full of knowledge and ever-increasing transcendental bliss…
We can only understand the purpose of life by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna like Srila Prabhupada. So if we surrender to him and serve him then by his mercy we can actually realize the purpose of life. I can tell you want it is but telling you what it is and you actually realizing it are two different things. The purpose of this human form of life is to uncover our original spiritual consciousness and realize that we are eternally a servant of Krishna and surrender to Krishna and serve Him. Then at the time of death we will naturally remember Krishna because we have been serving Him all our life. And Krishna promises in the Bhagavad-gita that whoever remembers Me at the time of death will surely come to Me. So that is the perfection of life. Remembering Krishna at the time of death.
And to understand how to mold our lives in such a way that we can always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna we need the guidance of Krishna’s pure devotee. We need a bona-fide spiritual master to guide us on the path back home back to Godhead. And the spiritual master has to be a pure devotee, a liberated soul. He has to have already reached the perfection of Krishna consciousness, otherwise he will be unable to guide us on the path to perfection…
So take shelter of Srila Prabhupada, surrender to Srila Prabhupada, read Srila Prabhupada’s books and you will be in very safe hands.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Madhudvisa dasa swamiji,I am glad to get our mail.Thanks for your response.swamiji,I want to know many things from bhagavad gita.I want to learn it,can u help me?
Thanks,
Regards,
Meena
Just read it and read Srila Prabhupada’s purports and learn from him.
Hare Krishna,
Thank you swamiji for your reply.I also want to study bhagavad gita.But how I have to read that because I don`t have any book.I am staying in canada.wheathere I have the grace to read “gita”.Reply me swamiji.
Regards,
Meena
Hare Krishna Meena
Just buy it from KrishnaStore.ca!!!
It is less than $10…
http://krishnastore.ca/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-compact-1972-complete-edition-h-krishna-1039.html
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
My Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishna
As you know days of ancestors namely “Shradhs”are coming.If we start Bhagvad Gita from the Ist Day of shradhs and fully complete at the ending Day and in
between we chants the Hare Krishna Mantra in a Day with 16 rounds as per your
instructions,whether it will be benefit to our ancestors.
Waiting and Regards
Ravi Kant
“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare”
Hare Krishna Ravi
Yes. Certainly. Chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is very beneficial to the ancestors in the family. We get the proof of this from the narration about Prahlada Maharaja and his demonic father Hiranyakasipu in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Hiranyakasipu was a great demon and was killed by Lord Narasimha because he was trying to kill his son, the pure devotee Prahlada Maharaja. Even though his father was great demon still Prahlada had some affection for him, after all he was his father. So he asked Lord Narasimha about the destination of his sinful father and the Lord informed Prahlada that because of the birth of such a great devotee in the family [Prahlada] all the ancestors of the family for the past 21 generations and the future 21 generations would be immediately liberated.
So the Krishna conscious activities you perform are not only good for yourself, they are good for all your family members in the past and into the future for many generations. So it is a very good idea to take advantage of the sraddha days like this and help the ancestors of your family by the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra and of course also offering them Visnu prasadam.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Is Krishna male or female? He is not woman, man or neuter, nor is He an animal- this verse of Gajendra’s prayer has confused me. Pleas could you solve it?
Hare Krishna!
Krishna is Parama-Purusa, the supreme male.
Dear Inventor, Hare Krishna!
The essence of Gajendra’s prayer is that although Sri Krishna has a human-like form, we must not make the mistake of thinking that He is a human being.
There is a class of yogis, philosophers, and meditators who think that the Source from which everything has come is a great impersonal energy. This great impersonal energy of Brahman is greatly effulgent and is called the brahmajyoti. Those people who worship God according to that concept aspire to merge into that great light, whereupon they loose all sense of individuality, all sense of self, all sense of relationship, and they exerience themselves as Brahman, as inseparabel from the impersonal Oneness of God. They believe that they are God and that worship of God is therefore not necessary.
Because these people think that God is formless, and that spirit has no form, therefore when the avatar comes to our earthly planets such people believe that the formless God has taken on a material body. And they believe that He must be just like you and I, except that He has more realization.
Although shastra states that this kind of realization of God is a true form of realization, still it is the lowest or least significant aspect of God realization. And such persons cannot advance further because that is the concept of God that they hold in their hearts, and therefore they do not aspire to worship God in any other way.
Therefore in Bhagavad-gita Krishna says:
AVAJANANTI MAM MUDHA
MANUSIM TANUM ASHRITAM
PARAM BHAVAM AJANANTO
MAMA BHUTA MAHESHVARAM
Tanslation: “When I appear in this human-like form, those who do not know Me, those who minds are like the minds of the donkey, the ass, (MUDHA), such person do not recognize Me as God. They do not understand my supreme nature (PARAM BHAVAM) and they do not understand My supreme dominion over all the be (MAHESHVARAM).”
IN The Brahma Samhita, Lord Brahma offers his prayers to Lord Krishna:
ISHVARA PARAMA KRISHNA
SAT CHIT ANANDA VIGRAHA
ANADIR ADIR GOVINDA
SARVA KARANA KARANAM
Translation: “The supreme controller of all is Krishna. His form, His body (VIGRAHA) is SAT CHIT ANANDA, (eternal, full of bliss and knowledge). He has no beginning, and He is the beginning from which everything else comes. He is the cause behind all causes.”
So Krishna’s body is an eternal spritual form. And from Him everything comes. He is the Supreme Brahman. Not only that, in Gita Krishna instructs us that the the great effulgence of the brahmjyoti actually comes from Him:
BRAHMANO HI PRATISHTAHAM
And the very first shloka of Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Vyasadeva instructs us:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA
JANMADI ASYA YATO INIAD ITATITAS CHA…..
Translation: “That person Who has appeared as the son ov Vasudeva and Devaki, He is the Supreme Absolute Truth of Brahman, because He is the Source from which all manifestation has come….”
That vesre goes on to tell us that because of His great power, even the devas like Brahma, Indra, Candra, etc., are subject to the illusion of this material world.
The conclusion is that Krishna is God, the Supreme Bhagavan, or as Arjuna says in Gita, He addresses Krishan as DEVADEVA, the God of all Gods.
So this is what Ganesha means when he says that Krishna is not a man. At the same time all that exists including al of our forms are manifestations of Krishna’s power, and so we are the expression of His different SHAKTIS. Because there is no difference between the power and the powerful, therefore we are part of Krishna. So in that sense we are part of God. But we are eternally the servants the God. And Krishna is eternally our Supreme Master.
This is only a brief sketch. So as Madhudvisa Prabhu is always encouraging us, we must read the books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Then all of these concepts will become crystal clear. And all of such questions will be solved. This is the higest knowledge of the Absolute Truth. And it behooves those who are most intelligent to take advantage of this opportunity to receive it. Otherwise there are so many inferior ideas being broadcast by those whose knowledge is less complete – yes – people like to thin that we are all God. But God is not sujected to this process of birth and death. And he invites us to join Him and dance with Him in Vaikuntha. Not to imagine that we are God. Intelligent persons will accept that invitation.
Hare Krishna!
hare krishna, i read the mail,u sent me. i read books of isckon, and trying to connect me with krishna.
I read that since it is not possible to think about Krishna all the time, we should use the fruits of our actions for Krisha’s sake. But how can a school going boy like me do this when there is no fruits obtained. Also I do not know how to cook properly and parents do it, not I. So what should I do??
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Inventor
It is possible to thing of Krishna all the time and Srila Prabhupada teaches us how to do this in his books so you should do it.
‘
The most important things you have to make absolutely certain that you are doing is you must chant the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds every day, you must strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and you must read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you actually sincerely do all these things then automatically you will see Krishna making adjustments in your life and you will see that you will get plenty of opportunities to serve Krishna…
You have to know that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that He is in your heart and He is in everyone’s heart and that He is in control of everything and He can adjust things to make it easy for you to perform devotional service.
Just do it, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, follow the regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and Krishna will give you the intelligence from within your heart and you will be able to understand how you can adjust things in your life so it does become possible for you to think about Krishna all the time…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Swamiji,
I am a devotee of Krishna but I also wanted to know why has Krishna compared women to Shudras worker class in the process of attaining moksha? Was it bcoz our society considered women at inferior level? I also want to join Hare Krishna movement what do i do?
Materially speaking women are less intelligent than men but from the spiritual point of view there is no difference. Everyone is equal on the spiritual platform. So what you have to do to become Krishna conscious is simply surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. You can do this where ever you are, in your house or anywhere, you do not have to join a temple or anything like that. You can continue living your life and not give up your responsibilities but just add Krishna consciousness to your life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
My Dear Swami Ji
Jai Shri Krishna
Pls tell after completion of Srimad Bhagvad Gita What will be the next,Can we repeat Bhagvad Gita or start any other Krishna consciousness.
Regards
Ravi Kant
After Bhagavad-gita you can read Srimad-Bhagavatam.
You can also just read Bhagavad-gita again if you like. And you can read so many other books by Srila Prabhupada but the general thing is after Bhagavad-gita then Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa ji
I have one query to ask you.
I am 25 years old and preparing for Indian Civil Service Exam. As Srila Prabhupada said whatever your profession is, that should be in service of Krishna. How can i utilize my profession as a Bureaucrat or Civil Servant in service of Krishna?
Plz reply
With deep regards
Rishi
Hare Krishna
You work for money. Use that money in the service of Krishna. That is the way.
I am not allowed to chant 16 rounds at home(not because of religious issues but just because it is considered to be a waste of time). So to make up I try to chant in school but the atmosphere in school is least conducive for chanting. What do i do?
Hare Krishna!
Get up early in the morning and go on a walk and chant Hare Krishna in the early morning… No one can complain you are wasting time, otherwise you would be sleeping and completely wasting your time…
It is written in one of the posts that a pure devotee does not even want to go to golok vrindavan. But wants to serve Krishna whenever he can. But my case is different . I don’t want to go to vaikuntha, but I wish strongly for golok. I am confused if I am a good devotee or not. I don’t need much material happiness though. But I want golok and want to play with lord Krishna.And will he give me another beautiful body in golok eternally? How do we worship Krishna in golok?
Hare Krishna Anurag
Yes. A pure devotee does not want plaything for himself, he does not want to play with Krishna to enjoy playing with Krishna. He wants to serve Krishna. That means he is a soul completely surrendered to Krishna and his only prayer is “Krishna, please engage me in Your service.”
He has no desire for liberation, but he is already liberated. In Goloka Vrindavan the devotees serve Krishna in different ways. It is not really worship. It is service. Worship is done by the devotees who worship Narayana in the Vaikuntha planets but in Goloka Vrindavan the feeling of Krishna being the Supreme Lord and the object of worship is not very strong. There the different devotees love and serve Krishna according to their particular relationships with Him.
So realistically we should not be dreaming about enjoying playing with Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan, it would be far more practical to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and serve him because we will never get to Goloka Vrindavan without the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna. So as Prabhupada says: “Work now, samadhi later…” If we want to advance in Krishna consciousness we have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and make fulfilling his orders our life and soul… Then as we advance and actually become serious devotees we will realize that the idea is to please Krishna and to please Srila Prabhupada and that is actually Krishna consciousness and we will surrender and do whatever Srila Prabhupada and Krishna want us to do… Rather than dreaming about enjoying by playing with Krishna in Goloka Vrindavana…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Lord Sri Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been very kind & merciful to me & by the blessings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda I have started to read the Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
I visiting your website today & registering and receiving your email reemphasizes The power of Bhagavad Gita – I am currently on Chapter 10 & your intro email speaks about Chapter 10 – is this coincidence? No.
I seem to be attracted to it like a magnet – in the morning, during the day, in the evening, I am attracted to read & must have the treat of this knowledge nectar before retiring – as I turn the pages, my life is being peeled like an onion & I am able to get answers to so many of my questions – whenever I have a question in mind, its answered in the subsequent verses. We always had this divine guide about Science of Life for so many years but we were made to read mundane books – such a waste of time & energy. I wish I had read this earlier.
Bhagavad Gita was given to me by an ISKON dasa at Newark airport in 2007 & at that point in time, I was so much engrossed in material world, not even a single word made any sense to me. I tried several times to read but everything in it was a bouncer & I just kept it away.
Today when I am in the same situation as Arjuna – faced with difficulties, dilemma, deceit by my own people, losing my balance and trembling, unable to decipher of why all these is happening to me – Lord Krishna automatically came and held my hand & is teaching me this supreme knowledge through His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda. Such a divine scripture, such Supreme is Lord Kirshna!
Like Arjuna I have to complete my duties in this material world, which is an uphill task; however I am able do it easily, based on principals of Bhagavad Gita – strive hard to reach the ultimate goal by being completely submissive to Lord Krishna without expectations. Difficult in today’s world, but I am trying & by gods grace, I know I will do it.
Shatkoti pranam to Lord Krishna for giving this life manual and to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda for making it so simple for an ordinary person like me to absorb this science.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare || Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare ||
Shri Krishanaarpanamastu || Hari hi OM ||
I am raised as a Christian and accept that Krishna and Christ are but different names for the same thing. Is it allowed to be able to worship in a church while practicing krishna consciousness if I cant and attend kirtan with devotees otherwhere as well?
You can chant Hare Krishna anywhere and you can worship Krishna anywhere. You can make your own small alter and have the photos of Srila Prabhupada, Lord Caitanya and Krishna and worship. That is the best thing. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If we don’t do these things we are not going to become Krishna conscious.
And no, it is useless to go and worship with people who are engaged in eating meat, drinking alcohol, gambling and having illicit sex. They are not sadhus, holy men. They are demons actually. The sign of a saintly person is that he must have at lest developed the good qualities. And these people are performing all sinful activities and even in their religious system these sinful activities are all allowed…
So it is not a very good place to worship, surrounded by people who are meat eaters, alcohol drinkers, gamblers and sex mongers, and have no intention of giving up these bad habits, they do not even know that these habits are bad…
I know it is a bit difficult… Still if we sincerely take to Krishna consciousness Krishna and Srila Prabhupada will help us. We can not expect it to always be very easy. Krishna consciousness is a very high goal and we have to expect there may be some difficulties in our attempts to attain it…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Jai Shri Krishna Swami Ji
Can we Read Bhagvad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam Together.If yes then Pls tell me Where I get Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Prabhupad ji Maharaj because Bhagvad Gita which i read daily is also written by Srila Prabhupad ji Maharaj.
Hare Krishna all of you.
Yes you can read Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam at the same time and you can get Srimad Bhagavatam at http://www.KrishnaStore.com or read it online at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com
While reading Swami Prabhupadaji’s purport, I came across a part in which He says that a human soul can at maximum possess 78% of the qualities of Krishna. At another place, Swamiji has written that a human soul is part and parcel of Krishna as so qualitatively one with Krishna. If we are qualitatively one with Krishna, why do we posses only 78% of the qualities and not full 100%?? Sorry if I have made a blunder or misinterpreted any of Swamiji’s words.
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Inventor
When you hear that we are part and parcel of Krishna that does not mean we are equal to Krishna or can ever be equal to Krishna.
It means we are a very small, tiny, insignificant part of Krishna. Like a drop of water in the ocean is a part and parcel of the ocean. Because it is part and part of the ocean it shares the qualities of the ocean. The ocean is salty, and also you will find some salt in the drop. But you can not compare the billions of tons of salt in the ocean with the tiny grain of salt in the drop. The drop is salty for sure but it can never compare to the ocean in terms of the quantity of the salt.
So there are a list of qualities that Krishna possesses and, it is not 100, but say it was 100, then 78 of those qualities we can posses in a very tiny way, in the sense that the drop of ocean water possesses saltiness for example. So even though we can posses these 78% of the qualities of Krishna, still we do not possess them like Krishna does. We posses them like the salt in the drop of sea water compared to the entire ocean.
But the ocean has properties also that the drop can never possess. For example the ocean can produce huge waves and pound these huge waves relentlessly on the costliness of all the countries of the world simultaneously. That is a potency the ocean has but the drop, even though it is a part-and-parcel of the ocean, does not have, and can never have.
For more details on this you can read Srila Prabhupada’s Nectar of Devotion. It is explained there very elaborately…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji…
I have been reading scriptures created by A.C bhakti vedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, such as Bhagavatam, Nectar of devotion, Bhagavad Gita, Teachings of Lord Chaitanya…These greatest scriptures have changed my life and since then Lord Krishna has shown me his path of love through these books…
There are different ways of bhakti described in scriptures…sadhna bhakti, prema bhakti etc…
Sadhna bhakti includes vaidhi bhakti & raganuga bhakti…I have a question regarding this that how would somebody know that he has developed the spontaneous love of Lord Sri Radha Krishna…??
I would be waiting for your reply…
HARE KRISHNA…
Hare Krishna Ajay
You will know if you have developed spontaneous love for Krishna. If you don’t know then you have not yet developed it. It will not develop unless you very sincerely surrender to the basic process of saddhana-bhakti that Srila Prabhupada teaches us in his books with the most essential points being chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily on beads and strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex life, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication). These are prerequisites, we have to be solidly following these principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours daily before we can expect to make any advancement in Krishna Consciousness. And spontaneous love for Krishna. Generally that takes some time to develop. Srila Prabhupada’s advice is “Work now samadhi later…”
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Please help me.
Sir can you please send me the video of the chanting with the beads, coz i think i had done it wrong when chanting, want to know on which finger should you chant holding the beads.
So that i can correct myself.Awaiting for your response
Please read the article:
http://back2godhead.com/meditation-in-the-age-of-quarrel/
It is all explained there.
thank you sir, for the reply this website has been very helpful.
Please read the article:
http://back2godhead.com/meditation-in-the-age-of-quarrel/
It is all explained there.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa,
Thanks for the News letter,i never used to know that i will come in touch to supreme personality of Godhead in this manner.i m very happy.
Thanks & waiting for Further News letters
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram hare Hare
HARE KRISHNA i completely belive to the supreme power i.e.LORD KRISHNA,i have attended SOS1 program from that day i left having egg also now i’m pure vegeterian. and i’m chanting HAREKRISHNA MAHAMANTRA daily. I would like to become busy ony in study with the KRISHNA CONCSIOUS,i want ur suggestion for my plan.
ONE more question as i’m from village usually in village people wil go daily to the temples to mentain a tradition but stil they are materialistic, even my dad go daily to temple, so wt i suggest them to make involve completely in KRISHNA CONSCIOUS.
HAre KRISHNA daily i wil attend sai baba aarati in our native, is baba aarati equals KRISHNA worship.
Hare krishna
thank you so much Madhudvisa dasa ji for the article. I really liked it and i am writing this comment because i want to interact with the devotees of lord krishna, but i never got such chance.
I would like to share some thing with you Please read it and would love if you reply also.
1 year back I was a normal girl, normal like others. I was not athiest but I knew there is something called god who is superior. but what is god, who is god. what is this something when i recall god. i used to pray but dint know that to whom i was praying actually. Now i have a answer the “lord krishna” .
and who gave me this answer ….??? itself lord krishna, this what i bilieve.
1 year back I just used to pray to god for personal things like i want this , i want that at the same time i also prayed for self realization for me…. without knowing properly what the meaning of self realization…
now i understand praying for things which give me pleasure at the same time praying for self realization is contradictory. i guess i am correct because this is what i understood by reading “Bhagavad Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada”
I feel myself very much blessed that with the help of lord krishna mercy, I got to know about GITA about god. I have Bhagavad Gita- As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and i feel that this book has been gifted by lord krishna to me, so that i could understand him… because since childhood i always wanted to read, hear more about god but never got chance. i considered lord krishna as normal as human, i used to think because he is extraordinary human that is why people worship him.i was such a fool. but no one was there to tell me that -girl you are completly wrong.
now why i am saying that lord krishna gifted me bhagavad gita because I found this wonderful book from the mandir of my hostel room one year back in a brand new condition. I dint know who left the book, anyways i started reading it and praying daily morning, before leaving hostel i decided to take the book.
so it was because of lord krishna’s love for me that my love for lord krishna introduced.
I consider myself very fortunate for getting this article in mail. I want to ask you – tell me the means so that i can become krishna conscious. I read Gita daily, I chant harekrishna mantra all the time whenever my mind is free from work, i dont count how many times i chant, but i chant even before sleeping.
is it OK to chant hare krishna mantra in mind?
also i have noticed while chanting hare krishna, often it happens though i chant in mind but i will be thinking something else for eg. regarding my office work, on many things mind wanders while chanting only.
Sorry for the long comment, If you find anything offensive please excuse because i consider myself an ignorant, less inteligent and a very small devotee of lord krishna and i want to grow more towards krishna consciousness. and would say that general mass of people doesnot appreciate such things, I read Gita alone so that i dont get noticed at home because these are the sudden change in me. loads to write, loads to express and hear from you about lord krishna. anyways..
love for you and my father, my friend , my mentor lord krishna
Hare Krishna Sonika
Nice to hear you are advancing in Krishna consciousness.
The process is to chant the Hare Krishna mantra and hear it, actually it is hearing that is the most important thing. So we chant the Hare Krishna mantra so we can hear it. Therefore you should chant aloud, at least loud enough so you can hear it yourself. It does not have to be super-loud but has to be loud enough so you can clearly hear all the words of the mantra yourself.
Of course thinking of Krishna is also good, but that is no substitute for chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and hearing it. It is not at all possible to chant in your mind. Chanting means vibrating the words of the Hare Krishna mantra with your tongue and hearing them with your ears. This is the process.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Sonika
Chanting with japa beads or by counting on your fingers allows one to remain in Krishna Consciousness for that period in time without being disturbed (108 times) and when you do that for 16 rounds (minimum or more) so the time you’ve spent chanting HIS names without interruption has increased. While chanting all the time is ideal, human mind being what it is, is better off when told to do certain number of times, for then you know that you’ve achieved a certain amount of time in HIS consciousness.
Don’t be worried of being appreciated or people seeing you as different for being Krishna Conscious. In time people will notice the changes in you and would want to be like you and may take up to Krishna Consciousness. While chanting or reading alone is good, it is better when we influence people to do the same. The benefits what we’ve experienced from being Krishna Conscious is to be shared so that people also are aware of it and enjoy it just as much as we do. Don’t be disheartened if people don’t take it up, that should not stop you from doing what you are doing.
It feels so beautiful to read of stories of how eachone gets to know Krishna.
Hare Krishna
i have been a regular reader of ur krishna-connect newsletter since summer of 2012. around late september, i ordered your bhagavad-gita offer with the bonus gifts beyond birth and death, perfection of yoga, & guide to self-realizati dvd. i already had a a set of japa-beads with bead-bag to carry them in. usually, i find it much easier to chant hare krishna at will, with no use of japa-beads. often, i use hare krishna mantra-meditation when siting cross-legged with eyes closed to focus more intensely on the hare krishna mantra. i have considered many times of adopting krishna conscious vegetarianism to live healthier and practice my krishna consciosness in my spiritual life, but find it very hard to do. it is something i need to figure out on how i will get beyond eating animal flesh, but as i chant hare krishna mantra more so and read bhagavad-gita as it is and watch srila prabhupada on guide to self-realization, then perhaps, i’ll develop a higher taste for krishna prasadam vegetarian foodstuffs and chantng more and study of prabhupada’s books. i have greatly benefited from your krishna-connect newsletter and i wish to express my joy and gratitude for helping me know more about lord krishna and his topmost science of the soul. thank you and hare krishna to all who make the krishna-store, krishna-connect newsletter, and krishna.org programs online possible for isolated devotees like myself to follow lord krishna and become a pure devotee of srila prabhupada. a yahoo! group i really like and access is: krishna bhagavan: the bhaktipriya. this is where i first learned about lord krishna and found faith starting at this point in my journey in krishna consciousness. thanks.
Hare Krishna Roger, i can understand your predicament when it comes to meat eating. I for one was a voracious meat eater and having lived in the middle east it only became worse. Then at the age of 41 i became Krishna Conscious and just after i became one i consciously stopped eating meat for a week and from then on i just found it in myself to get off it completely. It’s more than 2 yrs now and i’ve stayed away from it and i know it well that i’m off it for good. Yes when i meet friends and we go out for a meal etc i miss it or get tempted but the temptation is only momentary once you get your mind off it, you are fine. What i do is make a joke of it and laugh it off or say to myself and my friends ‘yeah, it was good while it lasted’. Maybe Krishna tests you, just to see your resolve but staying away from it has been far easier than thinking of being away from it and it goes without saying, this is only cos’ of Krishna’s mercy and HIS mercy is always there for people who chant HIS names regularly to remain in HIS consciousness.
Dear Sir
Pls tell can we read bhagvad gita at night just from 11pm to 4pm.
waiting for your reply
Yes. You can read Bhagavad-gita at any time.
1.I have a doubt regarding whether Bramhan is the soul in the body or the shining effulgence of Krishna’s body. Also what is the difference between Brahm and Bramhan?
2.In the 16 books for $49 offer, will we get any book regarding to Krishna conscious cooking.
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna
‘brahman’ is the impersonal spiritual substance that Krishna is made of and we are also made of. The shining effulgence of Krishna is of course Brahman and the supersoul is brahman of course as well. But the supersoul has personal form, of the four-armed Visnu. Visnu is brahman of course also. But He has personal form. So Krishna is also brahaman but He is para-brahman, of the supreme brahman. The source of all brahman.
Anyhow if you do not know these things you are not seriously reading Prabhupada’s books. So please take reading Prabhupada’s books seriously.
There are no cook books in the ‘Prabhupada Library.’ You need to get this Prabhupada Library and read the books Prabhu. That will clear up so many points for you and make you very happy.
hare krishna prabhu while chanting mahamantra my mind wonders here and there so give me some tips to totally absorb in transcdental sound means mahamantra.
Just keep chanting Hare Krishna Prabhu. It is completely normal that your mind may wander like this but the solution is to keep chanting Hare Krishna and concentrate on hearing all the words of the mantra. If you just keep on chanting Hare Krishna the transcendental vibration will bring your mind under control.
i already see Mahabharat in doordarhsn chhanel, so i alreay know about this. and i fill i m great devotee of sri krishna and shiv. but when i read comparison of islam and chrishanity abd talk about this other religion, and i aslo see dr. naik vedios then i have number of confusion about religion like who is the best. but i also know that all religion believe in one god. but why they fight .
i want to know that other religion believe in bhagavtgeeta. and they read , they follow it.
Hare krishna manoj
Even I had recently seen mahabharat by BR chopra and i was so adicted that i completed the whole series in just two days…. and this was the first time that i was impressed by lord krishna and came to know he is lord of lords….. now i am in love with krishna.
after seeing mahabharat i used to do research a lot regarding god, religion…as i had very less knowledge and still i have.. and i understood the more you read articles of commentaries regarding religion or whatever the more you will get confused … my confusion got vanished when i finished reading bhagavat gita.
I believe ppl fight regarding which is best religion or best god they are fools and by fighting or forcing others in the name of god they did not understand god itself i believe they are equal to athiest and by doing that they are hurting lord itself.
Hare krishna Prabhu ji,
Please accept my humble obeisances
In Bhagavad Gita it is writtern ” less intelligent people entangles in the flowery words of Vedas & the one who is Krishna Concious need not to follow the instructions mentioned in Vedas” but match guna while matchmaking is also part of Vedas…then is it necessary to follow it? i do not understand what to follow and what not?plz let me know the significance of Vedas….
Hare Krishna
chant Hare Krishna and be happy
Gunjal
Read Srila Prabhupada’s books and follow them. That is perfection. You do not need to refer to any other books except Prabhupada’s books. That way you will be able to follow everything perfectly.
ALL Glories to Srila Prabhupada
Prabhuji plz tell me what is sruti and smriti.I know that sruti means hearing and smriti means chanting ,but I am not getting this exactly.vedas are sruti or smriti,bhagwat geeta is sruti or smriti..plz answer prabhuji.
Thank you
Please read Srila Prabhupada’s introduction to Sri Isopanisad, and then read the whole book, these things are very nicely described by Srila Prabhupada there.
please tell me are there any specific rules to chant hare krishna mantra like only after taking bath or only with tulsi mala beads.how can a beginner start with can i chant before going to bed or practise writing with pen and paper .how many times does one have to start with initially at beginning.and please forgive me is the original translation of srila prabhupada slightly changed according to this site http://bookchanges.com/category/changes/
Hare Krishna Gourav
You can read Prabhupada’s original books online at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com and purchase Prabhupada’s original unchanged books at http://www.Krishna.org
There are no hard and fast rules for chanting Hare Krishna mantra. You can chant it at any time, in any place, in any situation. The only thing is if you have Tulsi beads you have to respect them by not putting them on the floor and being reasonably clean when you touch them, etc. But you can get neem beads and there are no such restrictions with them.
The start of Krishna consciousness is when you surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and surrender to following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and you will not be able to do this unless you are reading Srila Prabhupada’s books regularly, at least 1-2 hours per day.
I know it may sound a lot and of course in the beginning immediately it may not be possible for you do do all these things. But you should know that Krishna consciousness does not start until you come up to at least the point of chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles.
You have to surrender to this otherwise you can not become Krishna conscious. So you have to decide to do it and work towards the point where you can do it. It may take some time but you have to achieve this goal.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Madhudvisa Ji Namaskar,
In the Dasa Avatar lineage of Dasavathar the which is the 9th Avathar of Lord Vishnu?
Is it Buddha or Balarama?
Hare Krishna Nagender
I am not sure what your first question is but Lord Buddha is in Dasavatara, Balarama is there also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
Dear madhudvisa-dasa,
I am a boy of age 15. I came across the cloning process in a website. Please tell what happens to the soul in this process?
Hare Krishna Madhu Sudana
The soul enters the mixture of fluids in the womb of the mother when the situation is favorable for this. So in the case of a clone it is the same thing. The scientists change things so that the process is different but still if a soul is going to enter they have to create the same situation as in the womb when it becomes favorable for the soul to enter. So each clone will get a different soul. They will have identical bodies but they will be different people. Each clone will be an individual person with his own individual thoughts and feelings and desires. Because each different soul that enters into each clone body is a different individual person.
So although one may be able to create identical [or very similar] bodies through cloning they will not be identical. They will all be separate individual persons with their own separate personalities, desires, aspirations, etc…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
dead madhudvisa dasa sir,
If a new soul enters the body of the new born or clones, then is the no. of souls are infinite?
The number of souls is very, very great. In every atom there is a soul. Every bacteria has a soul. There are so many souls. Practically infinite… There is no shortage of souls. It is a question of consciousness.
Hare Krsna
How can we be sure that Krsna is the supreme personality of godhead himself who compares in every quality to no other, not even earlier incarnations of himself such as Vyasadeva or Rama?
Hare Krishna Pablo
We can not know anything on the strength of our own imperfect senses. The only way we can get perfect knowledge is if we are fortunate to come in contact with a perfect person and if we take advantage of hearing the perfect knowledge from him.
So we have come across Srila Prabhupada, a perfect person, and he tells us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead so if we have faith in Srila Prabhupada then we are sure. This faith in a perfect person is required to make advancement in Krishna consciousness. It is not possible for us to intellectually understand all the fine details of Krishna consciousness. The only way to understand is to surrender to a bona fide spiritual master and accept what he says to be the truth.
Of course on this point Krishna very clearly establishes that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the Bhagavad-gita in many places, so if we are going to believe Krishna then we have to accept that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead… If we don’t believe the words of Krishna and we do not accept and surrender to a bona fide spiritual master then we can not know anything conclusively.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna
I have a doubt, Iam from northeast, I am bishnupriya manipuri and we worship krishna/vishnu, our traditional dance is raas-leela. we are not supossed to eat meat but we eat fish and dry fishes which is our main food items even our traditional food items are made up of fishes and dry fish. why so? does not fish/ dry fish is meat? even brahmins of our community eat. i asked my dad, why our community does not allow to eat meat but eat fishes, dry fishes.
I am in doubt…we worship krishna but eat fish means we are not vagie. pls clear my doubt.. does not fish comes in meat? if not, why?
Hare Krishna Soni
Yes. Fish is meat and it is not allowed to be offered to Krishna. That is the point.
If your people are offering the fish to Krishna then they are great offenders and are doing a very bad thing.
The idea for a devotee is that he does not want to eat anything that has not been first offered to Krishna. He will only eat Krishna Prasadam. So this fish and dry fish can never be offered to Krishna, therefore it can never be prasadam, so an actual Krishna bhakta will never eat it.
Of course if it happened that there was no other food and one would starve without eating the fish then we have to maintain our bodily strength so we can use it to serve Krishna. But even then this fish and fish powder could never be offered to Krishna. That would be bad.
But these days there is no problem. We can get grains, milk products, vegetables and fruits and prepare nice offerings for Krishna, offer the bhoga to Krishna and accept Krishna prasadam, not fish and fish powder…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
after getting up from bed at 4 a.m can i start chanting without taking bath plz clear this thing to me.
Yes. You can. You should clean your teeth, wash your face & hands, etc. You can take bath also if it is convenient, but if not you can chant Hare Krishna. There are no rules and regulations like you have to take bath before chanting Hare Krishna. You can chant Hare Krishna in any situation. Before going to the temple or doing deity worship you have to take bath but not before chanting Hare Krishna.
You can chant Hare Krishna anywhere, at any time, in any situation…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
ALL THE GLORIES TO THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD LORD SREE KRISHNA
ALL THE GLORIES TO HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C.BHAKTIVEDANTA SRILA PRABHUPADA
Hare krisna prabhu
I read bagvat gita which is wrote by sone other person. Not prabhupad .so what should I do know.I chant 3-4 rounds daily.
Get Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and read that. You can read it at http://www.asitis.com or purchase it at http://www.krishnastore.com
You will not get the real meaning of Bhagavad-gita by reading some other Gita…
HARE KRISHNA madhudvisa dasa ji…
i would like to ask…. is there anything that we should touch and read bhagavat-gita after bath, i mean when we are clean. As i always carry bhagavat-gita as it is by prabhupada in my bag and in office or while traveling whenever i feel like i read it. Someone told me we should respect gita very much and should be kept in sacred place (like in temple at home) and should cover it with clean cloth all that.
Hare Krishna Sonika
People will tell you anything at all to try and stop you carrying Bhagavad-gita and your japa beads with you because they are envious and do not want you to read the Bhagavad-gita and chant Hare Krishna. Do not listen to them. Carry the Bhagavad-gita and your japa beads with you and read the Gita and chant Hare Krishna as much as possible.
You can get something to put your Bhagavad-gita in like one of those zip covers some people use for Bibles or as you suggest wrap it in a cloth. But keep it with you and read it and chant Hare Krishna also on your japa beads.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
As a true devotee one has no choice(in PRACTICAL) other than to accept the Krishan as a personality of godhead.
I am currently reading SB 1.14.
Here I came across this line:
A woman approaching a man for contact should never be refused, but at the same time the discretion as above mentioned may also be considered.
However, in some of your articles, I have read that woman is like fire, man is like butter, so man should as much as possible avoid woman association.In Cc,Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tells Raghunatha Dasa to avoid marriage as those in marriage have little or nil spiritual progress.SB Canto 3,Chap 31 also avoids man and woman association. So why did His Divine Grace say in the above line(in SB 1.14) about contact should not be refused?
All glories to Prabhupada ji. Hare Krishna!
You have to read everything in context and above all you have to follow the orders of Srila Prabhupada. So the regulative principles are there. And if you are going to become a disciple of Srila Prabhupada you have to accept the regulative principles and one of them is: no illicit sex. So that means you can only have sex with your wife and only when you want to have a child. What Srila Prabhupada is speaking about here is a traditional Vedic principle for the Ksatriya Kings. You are not a Ksatriya King in the Vedic times, it does not apply to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
you say krsna says that the gita alone is sufficient what about tha bible is that ok or not
Hare Krishna Allan
Bible is OK but it is not very complete or advanced or perfect spiritual knowledge. The Bhagavad-gita is the actual words of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is the only book in the world that even claims to the the direct actual words of God. And it contains the exact Sanskrit vibrations that were spoken by Krishna, so if you just chant the slokas of the Bhagavad-gita then you are vibrating exactly the same words as Krishna spoke. So in the world the Bhagavad-gita has a very special and unique position. It is timeless and eternally relevant.
Even in the Bible Jesus says: “There are so many things I have not told you, because if I told you you could not tolerate them.” So Jesus could not say everything in the Bible because the people he was preaching to were not able to accept everything at that time… Krishna was able to tell his confidential friend and disciple everything, but Jesus could only tell the people he was preaching limited introductory points.
So if you want to understand spiritual knowledge in detail you need to read Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, etc…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear brother Allan,
The Bible, Old Testiment, is maninly concerned with laws, rules aout how to live.
In the New Testiment of Jesus, he teaches that all of those laws and rules are good, but that the highest principal is to “Love the Lord thy God with all of our hearts.”
The idea is that if we actually love God with all of our hearts, He will give us all ability to be a perfect person in all respects.
Just as Jesus teaches through the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed by Thy Name”, and if we take the name of God and chant it with sincerity, love of God will develope in our hearts, and the next step will automatically follow: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, right here on earth, just as it is in heaven.”
So Jesus teaches that if we develope love for God, all the rules will automatically be followed. Therefore love for God is the over-arching rule.
So we find the same teachings in the Bhagavad-gita. The Vedic culture has many books called dharma shastras (scriptural rules for living a progressive, good life). But in the last chapter of Gita, Krishna says most clearly, “Give up all that concern about scriptural rules that have to do with social interaction, etc., and simply develope your sincere love for Me, and I will protect you from all sinful reactions, and surely you will come to Me. Do not be fearful to take this up.”
So we see that in both of these pathways that lead us homeward, the same levels of approach are provided. And that ultimately, God wants our love more than anything else.
Love of God makes “our cup runneth over.” In other words when one developes love of God, all our selfishness, greed, anger, lust, avarice, enviousness – it is all is removed from our hearts, without separate endeavor. And one automatically observes all the hundreds of rules or commandments.
The thing is that in order to develope love for anyone, we have to come to know them intimately. And this also applies to God. Therefore, as Madhudvisa Prabhu has written to you, Jesus says that there is so much more intimate information about God and the spiritual realm that he could tell us. That intimate knowledge is provided in Vedic scriptures like Srimad Bhagavatam, in all detail, just so that we can come to understand God intimately and come to love Him.
Books like Bible and Koran inform us that God is great and deserves our ever-lasting love. Here on earth the president or king is great and commands or demands everyone’s respect, veneration. But at home, those who are intimate with him, they are not bowing or saluting. They are cutting jokes, challenging him in playful ways, hugging and kissing him, singing and dancing with him. And this is so much more meaningful to such great persons.
Similarly, although God will recieve our great respect, He is inviting us to awaken our dormant love for Him so that we can enter into intimate dealings with Him.
Now it is up to you. This kind of knowledge is not kept secret under lock and key. It is freely available. So as your heart dictates, you can look further into this kind of information.
Hare Krishna! (May God live always in your heart!)
I WANT TO KNOW IF I AM STRAYING FROM THE MAIN THEME HERE AND THAT IS THE GITA, PEOPLE NOW -A -DAYS GIVE ME THE IMPRESSION THAT THE HINDU RELIGION IS ONLY FOR THE INDIANS ( EAST INDIANS) ,BUT I HAVE NOT READ THAT IN ANY SCRIPTURES
Hare Krishna Allan
PLEASE do not put your comments in ALL CAPS. It is very annoying and generally any comments in ALL CAPS I just delete.
Many Hindus, Indians think that Krishna is for them only. And very often they resent the idea that Westerners are taking to Krishna consciousness and they can be quite nasty about this.
But you are right of course. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is for everyone. Krishna consciousness is everyone’s original consciousness. Krishna consciousness is within everyone’s heart. And it can be awakened simply by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
And reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is of course. So do not take any notice of Indians who tell you Krishna is only for them. They are wrong, Krishna is for everyone…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
i always speak to krishna… sometimes walking, sometimes sitting… sometimes in mind… sometimes loudly when m alone…. so when i am talking to him looking at the wallpaper of beautifull krishna in my laptop, does he listening what i am saying, what i am speaking to him?
two days back i bought japa beads…. sometimes while chanting i dont notice and i cross over the 109 bead(which means krishna’s head some devotee toldme) is it offensive and i have to do that round again?
Hare Krishna Sonika
I do not know if it is offensive but you should practice not to do it. You should be able to feel that the big bead has come and realize than and then move the counter bead down one and start chanting the next round in the reverse direction. I am sure Krishna will forgive you if there is any offense and when you realize you have done it just go back to the beginning after the ‘Krishna’ bead and start that round again.
But you will get used to it and not do it any more in a day or two if you just remain a little aware of it.
I am very happy to hear that you are chanting and becoming inspired in Krishna consciousness. Keep chanting Hare Krishna, don’t let anything stop you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna prabhu ji….
i am sorry for asking too many questions… anyways … prabhu ji i am very much fond of chandan that devotees put on their forehead even our community people also put on special occation as i am from NE india. Recently i gathered courage to put the chandan even outside home also, while going to office (as i used to put at home only), it is okay right puting the chandan with casuals like jeans, (as i generally wear it)?
my office people are shocked, but i feel it looks good on me
hare krishna….
Yes, it is very good. It reminds people of Krishna and helps them to become Krishna conscious. So you are doing a very good thing!
Dear Sonika, Hare Krishna!
Please feel certain that as much as you are sincere, Krishna is listening to you. Krishna only wants our hearts. So if we are sincere Krishna is pleased.
However, in order to speak to Krishna, we must be sure that we understand who Krishna is in all detail. What does He wear? Who are His most close friends and loved ones. What are His favorite activities? What are His teachings, and advice to us, as He speaks in Bhagavad-gita? Why does He come to our earth planet? What are His activites here?
All of this information can be found in the books of Srila Prabhupada. When we understand these books, then we understand who is Krishna. And when we understand who Krishna is, in all detail, then our talking to Him, praying to Him, will be most meaningful. This is because we are not talking to God as we may imagine Him to be, but we will be talking to God – as He is. Then our talking will be most appreciated by Him.
But because your heart is very innocent and soft, therefore you are so much ahead of so many who know all the facts about Krishna, but have not yet come to the point of being so open-hearted and personal with Him. So knowledge of Krishna without being relational is not enough. And being relational without knowing Krishna in depth is not enough. But when you know Krishna in depth and are also relational, then Krishna will surely welcome your open heartfelt words.
So read, read, read all the books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and you will come to know Krishna so nicely. And when we know Krishna very nicely then real talking will begin, and that talking will bear the fruit of love of God. Then Krishna will take you home, to the spiritual world, to Krishna Loka, where you can sing and dance with Krishna.
Your most innocent, simple demeanor is your strongest asset in developing Krishna consciousness. Now continue to build on that. Just like when you purchase a a computer or any device there is a user’s manual. These books are the user’s manuals for devotional life. Hare Krishna!
Hare krishna ishan das ji….
I am surely going to buy it. any thing for krishna. sometimes while chanting my mind say -why u wasting time, go watch movie, listen songs, have fun. then question arises in my mind – who is more important- shah rukh or krishna, watching tv or krishna. and obviously the answer is krishna only.
i guess lord krishna only questions me whenever my mind says to have fun as he is always in our heart and it directs all wandering souls as he stated in gita. but sometimes i avoid his signals and feel guilty later.
on sunday i bought japa beads for me thinking i would get up at 5 am and chant.
on monday i believe lord krishna woke me up (as i woke up without alarm) also at 5. but my laziness in this winter season forced me to sleep again in warm and cozy quilt. that day i woke up at 7 later i felt very much guilty.
since that day i have been getting up at 5 and chanting on japa beads and would give my best.
.
iam very much new to krishna consciousness even i haven’t started journey yet. i hope lord krishna would give me strngth if i able to impress him
such articles and websites helps new comers. I am expressing all this because i dont have anyone to talk to such things, coz i cant share all this either with family or friends, they would think i am in wrong path.
because i have seen many people, once i had believed it also, that path towards god or krishna consciousness is for old people , this young age is to enjoy, have fun and at the end go towards god.
hare krishna….
Dear Sonika,
Hare Krishna!
I am very much in the same condition as you are describing. We cannot take instruction from the mind – only from shastra and guru. Lately I have been having this understanding and remarking, “Oh, this is just coming from my nonsense mind. If I follow the mind’s dictates, this will not help me.”
So e have to watch the mind very closely and not think that it is always workng for our highest interest.In fact we hav to become somewhat caulous to the mind.
I live in a wooded area, and for bathing I must go to the nearby creek. And now the temperature at night goes below the freezing point and in the morning, just like you are saying, my rascal mind says to stay in the bed where it is warm. But Srila Prabhupada has insisted that we bathe morning and evening, just to be nicely clean for our sadhana, our spiritual practices in Krishna consciousness.
This feeling guilty is our higher intelligence, and we must learn from it. What is the profit of making the same mistakes repeatedly? Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that his guru would say we should beat the mind with a shoe and with a broom.
We have to become used to the understanding that most people will not be able to value what this Krishna consciousness has to offer, and they will be forced to be caught up in the cycle of birth and death.
I also am alone most of the time and therefore this site is a chance to associate with other devotees.
You must push on with courage, and pray to Krishna for some good association.
Now I must go to bathe in the creek as night is bringing darkness, even though there is snow on the ground. Hare Krishna! We are all together in this march to Godhead. Thank you for your good association.
Ishan das
Hare Krishna Madhudvisaji,
Prabhu, a question has been disturbing me a lot… Lord Krishna is jagat guru:
“Vasudeva Sutam Devam, Kansa Chaanuura mardanam
Devaki Paramaanandam Krishhnam Vande Jagat Gurum”
Srila Veda Vyasa is the author of Mahabharata (and Srimad Bagawat Gita), Vedas & Puranas – which is the foundation of Hindu religion.
Several eminent gurus like Srila Prabhupadaji, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji dedicated their lives for propagating the Sanatna Dharama prescribed in Gita, Vedas & Puranas.
We worship Lord Krishna based on principles laid out by Srila Prabhupadaji, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu & others. My question is:
Why Veda Vyasa is not accorded the same status / popularity as other gurus? We see temples and various followers of such gurus across the world; but rarely we see a temple of Srila Veda Vysas or a sect following the grand sire of Vedas, Puranas & Mahabharata. Why is it so?
May kindly guide & help me in getting answer to this query.
Hare Kirshna!
Achyut Rao
Hare Krishna Achyut
Srila Prabhupada is the embodiment of Srila Vyasadeva. He is Vyasadeva for the modern age. So by worshiping Srila Prabhupada you are automatically worshiping Srila Veda Vyasa.
As followers of Srila Prabhupada we follow him and make the sort of temples that Prabhupada instructed us to make. And that is temples of Gaura-Nitai (or the Panca-tattva) and Radha-Krishna. That is because in this age it is necessary to worship both Lord Caitanya and Lord Krishna. Lord Caitanya is the yuga-avatara, and in this Kali-yuga no one can progress significantly in spiritual life without worshiping Lord Caitanya.
So we do not speculate like this. We surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow him. What is needed now is temples of Lord Caitanya and Radha-Krishna and Srila Prabhupada who is Veda Vyasa for this age.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Achyut Rao,
Hare Krishna! Actually we have in all Krishna conscious temples a day which is called Vyasa Puja. On the day the presiding guru is wrshipped as the representative of Srila Vyasadeva. In other words, he is worshipped because his qualification is that he can represent Srila Vyasadeva autoritatively. He is offerred the highest respect because he is representing Sriila Vyasadev.
Our Guru parampara, is coming down from Krishna: Krishna, Brahma, Narada, Vyasa. In our Srimad Bhagawatam, all of this is described. Therefore we are having the greatest respect for Srila Vyasadev, in all ways. As you continue to read Srila Prabhuppada’s books your heart will become satisfied in this respect.
Your concern is intelligent and well considered. And in fact we are in agreement with you. Hare Krishna!
Hare prabhu
As I am doing enggineering .i am not able to maintain time for chanting and reading bagvatgita.six month ago I visited iskcon they took my number .when ever there is program or anything else they call me.what I feel is don’t want go iskcon.
Hare Krishna Arun
If you find an excuse now, when you are a student, for not chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books then you will continue to find excuses for your whole life and will never do it. So you have to get your priorities right. Krishna consciousness is more important than your studies. You have to first chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and then you can study computer programming or whatever…
Just get up before 4:00 AM and chant for two hours and read for one hour and then you will have the whole day for your studies and you will not have ‘wasted’ any time at all. What is the problem with this.
Yes. You are right, you should stay away from ISKCON, but if you don’t chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books then you are lost… So you have to chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books as your primary duty and your studies are secondary.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Thank you so much for answering my question Prabhu! Your answer makes lots of sense & brings clarity.
I recently got enlightened about Vishnu Sahasranama; though I have been hearing this recital since childhood, I never understood the significance of this wonderful and powerful composition by Srila Veda Vyasa who captured the golden advise from grand sire Bhishma Pitamah for the benefit of mankind as told to Yudhisthira on being prompted by Lord Krishna.
The beauty of this Sahasranamavali is the stage & the background, which was set by the Supreme Personality of God Head Lord Krishna. Having delivered Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna himself could have revealed this “secret” to Yudhisthira; however he let Bhishma Pitamah deliver the Sahasranamavali so he could leave his body with Lord’s name on his lips! Such great is my Krishna & his wonderful ways!
Like fools we have been trying to learn the science of living from so called “gurus”; whereas this very supreme knowledge has always been with us since long and told in a simple way by none other than Lord Krishna.
As told in Gita 4:8
Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam
Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge
This is so very correct in my life; when I was going astray (adharma), Lord came, held my hand & got me back on track! That’s why he is called “Prapitãmahaha”.
Through you I request all who read your posts to make it a daily habit to read atleast few lines of Bhagawad Gita by Srila Prabhupadaji & listen to Vishnu Sahasranama – it will change life for good, results guaranteed!
Krishhnam Vande Jagad Gurum!
Hare krisna prabhu
I am very much inspired by ur reply .one more problem prabhu I am staying in hostel .my roomate are not good people they are agianst krisna .they eat meat .they talk vulgarly .thay watch vulgar films using my laptopp.if I get up early in the morning and start chanting .then they tell that the hell ur doing.because even wen I am chanting in evening or I the afternoon they .tell.y ur wasting ur time .thay feel disdurbance.so prabhu what to do……….
Hare Krishna Arun
This is, of course, the nature of the material world and you will find it everywhere. But if you simply ignore them, just go on with your Krishna conscious activities peacefully and do not be affected by their negativity then gradually at least some of them will become purified by your good association. Krishna consciousness is very powerful and if we can actually become pure devotees of Krishna that will help the people around us also. Prasadam is very powerful. Obviously in such a situation you have to cook and offer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna so you can acvecept prasadam yourself. So you can also feed your roommates with prasadam. And even they are doing so much nonsense, that will help them.
And you have to try and arrange it not to disturb them too much. If you wake them up every morning at 4:00AM they will get annoyed with you. But you have to wake up before 4:00 AM and chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books. So just make a plan to do it which is considerate of them, you can not expect them to be very serious about Krishna consciousness but in time they may change. You can go for a ‘japa walk’ like Srila Prabhupada did every morning and chant your rounds walking around or in some park or by some river or whatever arrangement you have around you. If it is a school or some place where there are buildings that are empty in the early morning and people are not sleeping there you can go there and chant Hare Krisha where it will not disturb them.
So they have to see that you are very serious about Krishna consciousness, and you have to be actually very serious about Krishna consciousness, and also they have to see that you are also considerate of them and not trying to force them to be Krishna conscious. But as you become more Krishna conscious, even without you trying to force them to become Krishna conscious, they will automatically become at least more favorable, and maybe even devotees.
But the point is Prabhu we have to become devotees ourselves and we can not become devotees unless we surrender to the basic things like following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. So your primary business is to make sure you are doing this and try to do it in such a way that it does not overly disturb your roommates and do not be too demanding them that they “must” become Krishna conscious. As you become more Krishna conscious they will also become more Krishna conscious…
Let me know how it goes.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna Madhudvisa dasa ji…
with the help of your website, your association and by the grace of lord krishna i am able to do 16 rounds a day. it was a bit difficult starting 2-3 days. as i read all your articles also all the comments i get energize.
i want to ask you as you generally suggest that we can chant while walking. can i chant with japa beads at the same time doing houshold chores like sweeping with othr hand?
as my mother scolds when she gets up and see the room as it is. she tells if i got up early atleast i should sweep the room.
i found it helps me also as generally morning when i chant 2nd round i start feel sleepy.
hare krishna…
Hare Krishna Sonika
Certainly your mother is right that it is good to clean the place, that puts things in the mode of goodness also and creates a nice atmosphere.
And yes, we should be always chanting Hare Krishna as far as possible so we can certainly chant Hare Krishna while sweeping and doing other household chores. The gopis in Vrindavan were always singing songs about Krishna and remembering His pastimes and activities and chanting His holy names. But actually chanting on your japa beads while sweeping the floor is probably not the best idea. The idea of chanting japa is to concentrate on the chanting, and hearing the holy names very carefully, not really to concentrate on sweeping the floor. So certainly while sweeping the floor you can chant Hare Krishna, sing some bhajan, listen to Srila Prabhupada speak or chant, etc, etc. But still we should put aside the japa time when we can concentrate on chanting japa. Of course you have to use a bit of common sense. Srila Prabhupada would go on a walk every morning and chant japa and preach to his disciples. So certainly one can walk and chant Hare Krishna and that helps to keep us awake also. If you can sweep and chant Hare Krishna on japa beads without that distracting you well…
I am sure you will work it out. Krishna is in your heart and He will give you the intelligence to understand how best to organize your morning time.
I am very happy to hear that you are chanting now 16 rounds and it is going on nicely.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
bhagvad gita was suppose to b a conversation between Bhagvan Krishna and Arjuna then how can a third person know what was the conversation?
Sanjaya had the mystic power that even though he was sitting in the palace with King Dhrtarastra he could see within his heart all the activities exactly as they were going on on the battlefield of Kuruksettra. Srila Prabhupada describes this as “spiritual television”. You can understand that you can see something happening in some other place by the medium of the television. So by mystic power a similar thing is possible where a person can see what is going on in another place and describe it exactly.
So that is why you find two conversations going on in the Bhagavad-gita. The main conversation is of course between Krishna and Arjuna but we also hear the conversation between Sanjaya and King Drtarastra. If you just sincerely read Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is he explains these things very clearly in the book, far better than I can explain them. So if you just read Bhagavad-gita As It Is Srila Prabhupada will clear up all your doubts.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
How may I become a Krishna devotee, if IAm not arujna?!!!!
It is so difficult to live nowadays…. WE don’t see
Love and solidariedad!!!!!
I have to have a guru deva in order I get the point!!!!!!!!
Excuse me the mistskes but I am not english.
Hare Krishna- hare hare
Hare Krishna Rosangela
Have Srila Prabhupada as your guru, if you surrender to him, serve him, hear from him [might be a good idea to learn English so you can hear from him directly] then he will guide you and answer all your questions and as your heart becomes purified and by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy you make advancement in Krishna consciousness you will start to see that love and solidarity again.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Madhudvisa dasa,
I am so delighted to receive your mail on Bhagavt Gita and revert you. I dare not to describe myself a devotee of Krishna but i am dying to be. I usually read many a books of spirituality and listen to the discourses of famous devotees and saints but it’s has become very difficult for me to understand how i can balance my physical needs and the spirituality. How i can know how much should i earn to lead my life and what is the certain way to lead life so that he helps me to be close to Krishna without being away from my physicality.
I will be grateful to you if you can address my queries.
Looking forward to your reply!
Sincerely,
Praveen
Hare Krishna Praveen
It is best if you just read Srila Prabhupada’s books. That will solve your confusion. You can get them at http://www.KrishnaStore.com and read them online at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com
The thing is devotees physical needs are automatically catered for. If we surrender to Krishna and serve Him then for example we have to cook and make offerings of foodstuffs to Krishna. So although we do not cook for ourselves, we have to cook for Krishna, and we are cooking very nice things for Krishna so naturally we get to accept the Krishna prasadam and our bodily need for food is satisfied.
Of course to live in the material world we need some money for maintaining the body and paying rent, etc, particularly if you are a family man you need money to maintain the family. But a devotee lives as simply as possible and saves time and energy for chanting Hare Krishna and serving Krishna.
So we are only interested in the bare necessities of life. ‘Plain living and High Thinking’ as Srila Prabhrabhupada says.
Prabhu I do not know your exact situation so I can not give very detailed advice but if you read Prabhupada’s books he will guide you in every way and answer all your questions.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krisna prabhu
My progress in krsna conciousness is increasing day by day .i am very happy because I am getting some courage and enthusiasam.one problem I read 3chapters of bhagvay hits which is wrote by some other author not prabhupad.so i decided to restart from 1st chapter of bagvatgita as it is.and eating of onion and garlic breakss four regulative principle or not.because i am staying hostel .in our mess they onion in each items food .they not offer food to lord .so what to do prabhu
of i ate that good i will become so full……..hope positive reply
Hare Krishna Arun
Keep reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
The thing is as devotees we need to accept only Krishna prasadam. And Krishna does not accept any offering unless it is prepared by a devotee with love for Him and offered to Him.
So you need to adjust things in your life so you can eat only Krishna prasadam. It may mean you have to cook for Krishna yourself. Otherwise where are you going to get Krishna prasadam.
That is what I do personally. Every day I cook kitery and chapatis and offer to Srila Prabhupada so I get to eat prasadam. I do not eat anything prepared by non-devotees. So that is the standard we have to come to.
There is no way you can make what the non-devotees are cooking into prasadam and no way to remove the sinful reactions you get from it. But if there is absolutely no alternative then what can you do? You have to eat something to maintain your body so you can serve Krishna.
I do not know what is your situation so I can not give you exact advice but somehow you just have to organize in your life how you can adjust things so you only eat Krishna prasadam. Otherwise this eating of karmi food will be a great impediment in your attempts to make spiritual advancement.
If you can not immediately adjust it then you just have to go on with the current situation but you have to think how you can accept only Krishna prasadam…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Madhudvisa Prabhu,
I always wondered about Lord Sri Krishna’s statements, Chapter 13, 8-12, where he actually seems to tell Arjuna that it is a good quality to perceive birth, death, disease and old age as evil, etc. So my question is should we perceive this world as evil? If we have to perceive this world as such and Lord Krishna is the creator, maintaining, and the destroyer as he is the supreme controller would it be OK to say that Krishna as he is supremely good that he is also supremely evil? Or does the absolute truth include evil as being a part of Krishna?
Hare Rama, Hare Krishna
Bonita
Hare Krishna Bonita
Krishna is not evil but He is Supreme in everything.
The material world seems evil to us. But to Krishna it is not evil. It is just like the government maintains prisons and those prisons are necessary so the citizens who are rebellious towards the government laws are put there and suffer and are reformed ultimately back to good citizens. So the prisoners may see the prisons as evil, but they are not evil. They are required to reform the criminals.
Similarly we, who have come to this material world, are all criminals, we have rejected Krishna, and He has sent us here to be reformed. So we will suffer here in the material world but that suffering is not evil. It is good, because as a result of that suffering some thoughtful persons are able to realize that there is no happiness separate from Krishna, so as a result of the suffering in this material world which is just like a prison they surrender to Krishna and that is good.
So from Krishna’s point of view this material world is not evil, and Krishna is not evil. Krishna is all good absolute. So even if Krishna seems to be doing ‘evil’ things like killing demons and sending us to the material world to suffer, that good, not evil.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisaji,
I want to share my similar experience as Arun & found a step towards Krishna Consciousness and its helping me significantly, I am sure this will be of help to others too.
Many-a-times, its not possible to strictly maintain prescribed dietary intake (hostel food, hotel food, conference, plane travel etc.). In Bhagwad Gita, God has prescribed very simple food items that he desires – fruit or flower or water or even a leaf. This is practically possible to offer to Lord Almighty in any situation.
So I try (as far as possible) to offer these as prasadam at least two times a day to the Lord before I take my main meals. My approach is that Lord should eat first & I partake portion of it, before I eat. This gives me immense satisfaction & I feel very happy. The day I miss this routine, guilty feeling hurts me from within; that my Lord did not have food today because of me.
Maybe this is the first step towards transformation, but make a beginning & Lord Krishna will guide you to his path.
I must confess, that I was addicted to chewing tobacco (gutkha); from the day I started partaking prasadam after regular puja & continued with my bad habit; my mouth used to burn & bleed (it suddenly turned ugly)! This forced me to quit “gutkha” and I am now a much healthier person – only due to Lord’s blessings & prasadam. So gradually all bad habits will leave you, just trust him & take the first step & then experience his magnanimity.
All stories given by astrologers (Sade-Sathi, Rahu Kalam etc) are all washed off if you get engrossed in Bhakti Yoga to Lord Krishna, as he controls all of this. So get going, keep reading Srila Prabhpadaji’s books – that’s the best way forward!
Another very small experience I would like to share; whenever I feel that I should do something & some unknown negative force pulls me down (e.g., getting up early on a cold morning); I remember “Uthisto Partha” – this word has been used by Lord several times in Bhagawad Gita & is so effective for me, that I just get going & all that negative force disappears!
These incidents may sound trivial, but its helping me a lot to self-realize and come closer to Supreme Personality of God Head – Shri Krishna!
Samkeertya Narãyana Shabta Mãtram Vimukta Dhukka Sukhino Bhavanthu
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
hare krishna achyut rao
thank you for sharing your experience. yes your experience might help others and it helps me too. i am not a devotee of krishna, as i am not yet qualified but i wish to. and iam also in the same league of krishna consciousness. i pray krishna gives me strength and intelligent so that i can conquer all kinds of negative feeling inside me.
hare krishna
I feel all the religions are human creation for discipline living. Everything depends upon one’s faith. Vyas was so talented,than through the divine power he wrote the “Bhagabat Geeta”. Valmiki was so talented, by the divine power he wrote Ramayan. Prophet Muhammad was so talented, that he founded Islam in the whole world. Jesus was so talented that his disciples founded Christianity after his crucifixion. Budha was so talented,that Budhim was founded. Like Jainism also. Nanaka was so talented, for whom Sikhism was established.
Still I am researching Geeta,Bible,Quran and other scriptures of different religion to arrive at the truth. Any how, I will complete the 700 verses of Geeta.
Hare Krishna Sambhunath
Vyas did not create the Vedas. He simply recorded it in writing. The Vedas existed since the creation of the universe, and even before that. Lord Brahma was the first created living entity in the universe and after his meditation and tapasya Lord Visnu manifested the Vedas within his heart. So the Vedas has been current from that time. It is not produced by man.
Other Religious scriptures like the Bible, the Koran, etc, are presented by empowered incarnations of the Lord, they may be living entities like you and me, but have been particularly empowered by the Lord for distributing transcendental knowledge. They could be as you say ‘so talented’, but you have to ask where did that special talent come from? And the answer is Krishna. These scriptures are not timeless like the Vedas. They have a beginning and are presentations of the same subject matter as the Vedas but targeted to a particular audience in a certain country at a certain time. So they are presentations of the Vedic knowledge according to time and place.
So there is some truth in your statements on the non-santana, or non-eternal religions. But the Vedas is certainly aparusa, not made by man…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Sambhunath,
Your are a very intelligent person. You have thought very much about these subjects.
Now you must test this knowledge, this message of Krishna, as it is being presnted by Srila Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Blind following is not recommended.
The process is that you must avoid the eating of meat , fish and eggs. This is simply to purify your mind/heart so that you can receive faith and inspiration. Then you must begin to vibrate the names of God as prescribed:
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
And you must begin to read every day the books of Srila Prabhupada. And if you do these things with sincerity, then surely as you are sincere you will feel a change of heart so that you will understand that Krishna is God and your best friend in all ways.
There are so many scriptures. Most of them are like primary education, simply to bring people to the level of a human being (instead of animal looking like human being). So many rules. Do’s and don’ts. But none of this is actually spiritual. It is all prerequisite to spiritual life.
Then there is religion which is saturated with self-centered interest, wherein people take to spiritual life with the aim of achieving material gains of one kind or another. Some practitioners want mystic powers. Some want to control others, to have followers, adoration from the public. Some want material rewards of wealth, position in society. And some want to rise above all duality and sense their divinity as spiritual essence with the desire to feel that they themselves are God.
All of these approaches are misleading. For in fact we are eternal individuals, spiritual sparks, one in quality with God, but eternally minute.
And this minuteness has a specific function in relation to our Source. That function is to serve with feelings of spontaneous love, with no desire for any return. And this is because when one awakens his dormant love for God he (or she) becomes so filled with spiritual happiness, that one thinks there is no greater thing to be gained. And the desire to express this love for God simply continues to grow, routing out all self-centered conceptions and impulses from one’s heart.
In fact this relationship with God is our real life. And this material world is a kind of insane asylum for those souls who perversely are striving to have the position of God by receiving the service and adoration of others, and becoming lords over all that they can survey. Because we desire in this way, we must return to this dimension of reality, lifetime after lifetime.
But when under proper guidance we are able to rekindle our dormant love for God, wanting only to please Him, then we are relieved of this disease of forgetfulness, and the spiritual world becomes an open book that we can enter, even while we are still in this material body.
No other path of spiritual developement describes in complete detail the nature of the God, and the sprititual realm, and the nature of our relationships of loving exchange with Him. this is only available in Vedas, and further, only in very few books in the vedic literature.
If you read the writings of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, everything will be revealed in systematic way so that you can proceed along the path, not with blind acceptance, but with step by step realization.
So as you are a most intelligent person, I am putting this testimony before you. Now it is up to you to do as your heart dictates.
Thank you for considering our proposal, as it is being placed before you by this very insignificant person. Please do continue your search and surely you will blessed with all success.
In service to my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada,
Ishan das
Respected Madhudvisa Prabhu,
I heard that even in our Vedas we have the thing that god doesn’t have any form which we even see in Quran. My question is “Is Idol worship is advisable according to our vedas or from the sayings of Sri krishna?”
and
Are the 9 avatars of vishnu are the incarnations of krishna itself??
Hare Krishna Pramodh
In most of the Upanisads the impersonal concept of the Supreme Lord is stressed. So yes, it is true that there is an impersonal, all-pervasive feature of the Supreme Lord and of course that information is there in the Vedas. But no where in the Vedas does it say God had no spiritual form. But in some books the spiritual form is not described and the formless, impersonal all-pervading brahman aspect of the Supreme Lord is described. Actually understanding the form of the Lord is not possible for everyone.
But there are three aspects of the Supreme Lord: brahman, paramatam and bhagavan. Brahman is the impersonal and all-pervasive form, paramatma is the form of the Lord within everyone’s hearts and Bhagavan is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So those who do not have complete understand of the Supreme Lord may only perceive His impersonal manifestation and may not know about His personal form.
Ultimately everyone is an expansion of Krishna. In the ultimate issue there is only Krishna. So certainly all the avatars of Visnu are expansions of Krishna. But Krishna expands and then His expansions expand. So it works like that. It is a somewhat complex and lengthy explained that I can not put here but you can read it fully explained in Srila Prabhupada’s Caitanya-caritamrta Adi Lila.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Krishna Pramodh,
Hare Krishna! As Madhudvisa Prabhu has written to you, there are many presentations in the Upanisads that tend to support the conception of an Absolute Truth that is formless. But also, there are unlimited vedic evidences that inform us that in the ultimate issue, God has all the qualities that we find within the creation.
Isopanisad invocation: OM PURNAM ADAH PURNAM IDAM …
tells us that God is Complete (purnam) in all ways and therefore these phenomenal worlds that come from Him also are complete with all detail. Actually if you think on the subject, this verse from Isopanisad makes perfectly good sense; for how can we obtain all variety from that which has no variety?
Similarly: In Sri Brahma Samhita (Prayers by Lord Brahma to Lord Krishna) we find:
ISHVARA PARAMA KRISHNA
SAT CHIT ANANDA VIGRAHA
In other words, Krishna is is the paramishvara, the supreme controller of all that be. And His form (vigraha), unlike our earthly forms, are SAT CHIT ANANDA,
Yes, SAT CHIT ANANDA VIGRAHA. Krishna’s form is eternal, full of spiritual bliss and spiritual knowledge. This verse goes on to state,
ANADIR ADIR GOVINDA
SARVA KARANA KARANAM
I.e., Krishna is without beginning, and He is the beginning from which everything comes. And, Sarva Karana karanam, He is the cause behind all causes of everything that exists.
You see, it is not so much that verses in Veda are not like this. but rather there is a class of spiritual seekers who are not in favor of understanding that God is personal, that we can love Him, and He can love us in return. Rather they prefer to think that they are God, that we are all God. They prefer to think that God is a great light of brahmajyoti into which we can all merge. But in Bhagavad-gita Krishna informs us clearly:
BRAHMANO HI PRATISHTAHAM
“This great light of brahman is actually coming from Me”, Krishna says.
Actually there is so much evidence that God is personal that it can and does fill up so many books; but some will never accept this.
Krishna says in gita: AVAJANANTI MAM MUDHA
Krishna says that those persons whose mentality is like the ass (mudhah), they cannot know who Krishna really is, and surrender completely to Him.
However, as you are a sinsere seeker, we repeatedly beg you to read the books of Srila Prabhupada and all of your doubts in this respect will be cleared up, and you will be able to approach Krishna with an open heart. It is very difficult to love that impersonal conception. But Krishna wants so much that we love Him:
YOGINAM API SARVESHAM MAD GATENANTARATMANA
SRADHVAN BHAJATE YO MAM SA ME YUKTATAMO MATATAH
“Of all yogis, that one who makes Me the goal within the core of his heart, and engages in bhajan to Me, I consider him to be the greatest yogi of all.” B.g. ch 6.
Hare Krishna Pramodh ! do not stop here, but read these books of Srila Prabhupada and yo will be amazed at the overwhelming evidence that God is indeed a person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and this great impersonal manifestation is merely the effulgence emanating from His beautiful eternal form. Sat chit ananda vigraha.
Hare Krishna Sonikaji,
With permission of Madhudvisaji, I respond to you.
Firstly don’t think that you are not a devotee of Lord Krishna; everyone in this world is. Lord loves everyone, as he is residing in each one of us. We are a part & parcel of Shri Krishna. He is our “prapitamaha” (the great-grandfather).
As beautifully put by Srila Prabhupadaji in his various teachings and also by Madhudvisaji several times on these posts; its just the dust which has been accumulated on the surface. Lord will inspire you, but you need to take the first step to start dusting. Like in our home, dust accumulates & makes good things look dull; similarly all these dusts accumulated over many births has distanced you from Lord & you feel dull.
Use a vacuum cleaner (Bhagawad Gita) and suck the dust off you & see how beautiful you will look; how beautiful & serene the world will be. How purified the heart & mind would be.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!
Dear Achyut Rao,
I wish to say thank you for your heart-filled words to Sonika, because they have touched my heart as well, and made my day sweeter.
As devotees of Krishna, we are indeed a family, and we can touch each other through this wonderful medium.
Hare Krishna, Ishan das
hare krishna achyut rao…..
i dont know how to express… whatever you wrote is absolutely correct….i have to take first step and prove to be a sincere and good daughter
, .. i pray lord krishna gives me intelligent and forgives my silly mistakes .
hare krishna
hare krisna prabhu
i am very mmuch ispired by leters .keep sending letters so we can improve more in krisna conciousness .i am chanting 16 rounds from last 8 days i am feeling some thing different &encouraged by chanting .i have one question prabhu.eating of onions and garlic brakes four regulative principle.
Hare Krishna Arun
Please keep chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. Eating onions and garlic really does not actually break the four regulative principles. There is no ‘no eating onions and garlic’ in the four regulative principles. But that order is there and the reason for the order we have to understand. And that is onions and garlic are in the mode of passion and we can not offer foods in the mode of passion to Krishna. So we can not offer onions and garlic to Krishna and devotees do not accept anything which is not Krishna prasadam, not cooked by a devotee and offered with love to Krishna. So that is why we do not accept onions and garlic. They can not be offered to Krishna.
And eating onions and garlic will put you in the mode of passion also which is not conducive to advancing in spiritual life and it is food cooked by non-devotees because devotees do not cook with onions and garlic, so all these problems are there. But keep chanting Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and Krishna will give you the intelligence to sort out these issues.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hi Madam,
im BE(ECE) 2012 passed out..69.7% aggregate
i hav not got job from past 5 months..
im very confused…
can u give any solutions/suggestions please..
thanks & regards
chethan s
Hare Krishna Chethan
The reality is that the Indian economic boom is over and there are not so many jobs available now. There are now many more graduates from the educational institutions than jobs available. So not everyone will be able to get a job.
So of course you have to try in this regard but you can take this as Krishna’s mercy and use your time and energy in reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and chanting Hare Krishna and becoming Krishna consciousness.
You can use the skills of study that you have learned to study Srila Prabhupada’s books and that will give you the real education and will give you the proper idea what you should do with your life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna Madhudvisa ji…….
whatever you wrote that it is krishna’s mercy and using free time towards him is completely correct prabhu. as once i was also in the same condition, got angry with krishna for a while because i was fool asking for material things, like jobs all these. when i started reading Gita in that free time, i just stoped asking all material things. now when i got job I have to strugle with my busy time table to pray to lord daily and chant.
The whole point is its krishna’s arrangment as we are his nice children but forgot our father.
hare krishna
Hare Krsna Prabhu
PAMHO AGTSP
Thank you for the wonderful newsletters, I really am learning alot.
I am about to start reading my copy of Bhagavad Gita As It Is, I just wanted to know what’s the best way to start reading it, i.e.From cover to cover or just open it randomly read the first verse i see?
Thank you
ys
Shivanie
Hare Krishna to all!
I just discovered something & want to share it with all… just read this & you will find as to how we lost our treasures which eroded our value systems:
Lord McCauley in his speech of Feb 2, 1835, British Parliament:
“I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation”.
After this, Britishers established universities in India & started to teach English, which converted Indians into “Brown Babus” and we slowly started to forget Sanskrit & hence our spiritual and cultural heritage. What Lord McCauley did was his duty, but we fell for this & forgot the Supreme Personality of God Head. So this was not an accident but by design.
Its high time, we rekindle our spiritual heritage – else these rapes, murders, corruption, animosity and erosion of our value systems will go out of proportions & make life of our children & next generation hell.
Thanks to spiritual movement from Srila Prabhupadaji (I can now imagine the amount of resistance he would have faced in building this movement). For us, our next generation and for the unflinching efforts and sacrifice of Srila Parbhpadaji, lets get back to our roots and make sincere efforts to build a better world. The only solution I see is Bhagawad Gita & chanting the maha-mantra.
Jagath Prabhum Deva Devam Antham Purushothamam
Sthuvan Nãma Sahasréna Purusha Saththo Thithaha
Rushirnãmnãm Sahasrasya Védhavyãso Mahãmunihi
Chchando-Nushtup Thadha Dhévo Bhaghavãn Dhévaki-Suthaha
A composition by Vyasaraya Tirtha in Kannada language is so relevant in present context:
“Krishna Ni Begane Baro” means Krishna… please come quickly! We need you badly…adharma is on the rise & only you can stop to this & save us.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!
I m so much into chantin nowadays that I feel hypnotic ……..I fear now that I might not go insane……pls remove my fear……..pls guruji hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Mataji
Don’t worry, you will not go insane by chanting Hare Krishna. You will become sane by chanting Hare Krishna. So just keep chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books and follow the instructions you find Srila Prabhupada giving you as you read his books and you will see that your spiritual life develops wonderfully.
We have to realize that it is the materialists that are insane. They are trying to be happy by trying to satisfy their senses but they do not know they are not their material body or their senses and no amount of so-called satisfaction of the senses can make the soul even slightly happy. So they are insane, misidentifying their bodies as themselves and wasting all their time and energy and money in trying to satisfy the body which they are not. They are insane. The devotees are sane.
So don’t worry, keep chanting Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA
JAI ACHARYAS, VAISHNAVAS, BHAKTI MAHARANI AND LORD
I still remember that day when I first commented on this website in this post.
I wrote:
“HARE KRISHNA PRABHU JI! DON’T MAKE ME sinful by calling yourself my servant, You are servant of Krishna and His devotees. I am servant of Maya till now so I am not eligible for any respect.”
Now I see a huge difference after knowing the philosophy. The only thing that I regret is that I am not able to do devotional service- most rare jewel one can get ever. I am not able to chant even 1 round as I feel mind wandering here and there into materialism and I think it is an offense of inattention. SO, I had stopped. But I have again tried to start from atleast 12 to 24 to 48 to 108 names to 2 rounds to… Please bless me. I want an inspiring blessing and a great detachment for materialism. I want to dissociate with my family memebers- all Smartas and ordinary Kaliyuga Indian emodied souls. Actually, now no one cares to follow scriptures. But I have got a reason but I can’t follow. I can’t preach to my parents as they feel I am inexperienced 17 yrs old child who has not seen world. Actually they are more or less Grhamedhi. Their aim is polished material enjoyment as is done in India’s Vaishya families from eras.
ASPIRING DASANUDAS
Hare Krishna Shubham
Just chant Hare Krishna Prabhu at least 16 rounds a day and follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Don’t worry about preaching to your parents and don’t worry what they say or think. Be nice to them, friendly to them, humor them, but do not take seriously anything they say if it would be detrimental to your Krishna consciousness.
In the beginning naturally your chanting will be inattentive and there will be some offenses. But the only way to overcome this inattentiveness and offenses is by CHANTING HARE KRISHNA. So if you stop chanting Hare Krishna you are finished. So do not stop chanting even if you feel it is inattentive, even if you feel you are committing offenses, even if you are breaking the regulative principles. DON’T STOP CHANTING HARE KRISHNA! Because no matter how fallen or offensive or inattentive you are chanting Hare Krishna will solve all these problems for you if you just chant Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day. So please do this Prabhu. Just organize your life and force yourself to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day and you will see a wonderful effect in your life…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna to all!
We are encouraged?/commanded? to “…accept Sri Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead…”
Are there other devotees who accept others as their supreme?
James
Hare Krishna James
There is only one Supreme Lord. So if someone accepts someone else he is accepting a cheater.
Of course the one Supreme Lord Krishna manifests Himself in many apparently different ways. He incarnates in the material world time and time again and sends His empowered representatives. So Krishna and His representatives have appeared in all societies and cultures around the world and have established spiritual and moral principles in these societies in accordance with the particular time and place. So people tend to think these are all different religions and philosophies. But they are not. They are all established by Krishna, all Krishna consciousness, simply the explanation and language is different because a preacher has to explain things in the local language and has to present practical things that the people can actually follow at the time.
It is like Lord Jesus Christ, he is an empowered incarnation of Krishna. That means he is a living entity, but he is empowered by Krishna to preach. So Jesus is preaching Krishna consciousness to the extent the people he was preaching to at the time could understand and accept it. He said: “There are so many things I have not told you because you could not bear them.” So that is the way. He gave them as much of Krishna consciousness as they could take at the time. But it is not that Christianity is different from Krishna consciousness. It is the same, but not a complete explanation.
It is the same with even the primitive tribes who also have some spiritual knowledge. It is coming from Krishna consciousness. The Greek gods are demigods from the Vedas, only the names are changed. It is all the same. There is only one Supreme Lord and His name is Krishna. But He has many other names also by which different people understand Him, and He reveals Himself to the people as the people want to see Him.
So there is only different manifestations of the same Krishna consciousness. But these are all temporary representations, if you want to understand the complete philosophy that brings everything together then you have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am a class 9 student. I am very much inspired by this Hare Krishna movement and want to become Krishna conscious. However my parents are not ready to buy me books of Srila Prabhupada . Instead they are very much against me becoming Krishna conscious. They have reprimanded me for chanting and have warned me not to do it again. They have the rascal idea that this is brainwashing. My spiritual life is in total disarray. Could you advise me on how to continue my spiritual life?
[Whenever I get time, I go to http://www.prabhupadabooks.com
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Divine
Just keep chanting Hare Krishna, don’t let your parents stop you. It is the nature of the material world that it is full of demoniac people who are all envious of Krishna and as soon as they see anyone developing a little Krishna consciousness they want to crush it. That is the way of the world. So we have to become strong and refuse to be crushed. Krishna will help you, do not worry. No one can stop you from chanting Hare Krishna because Krishna will protect you.
But try to be merciful to your parents. Even though the world is full of demons and they are against the devotees the devotees are not angry at the demons, rather they are always thinking of ways to help the demons become Krishna conscious. In Kali-yuga they are not very strong demons and Lord Caitanya is very merciful that He is distributing this Hare Krishna mantra without any consideration of if the people are qualified to receive it or not. So it is a very good time for the demons. It is easy for us to become Krishna conscious.
So just keep chanting Hare Krishna, following the regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and do the things you find Srila Prabhupada instructing you to do as you read his books, even if it seems they are difficult things, do not worry, if you are trying to serve Srila Prabhupada Krishna will help you…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
thanku
hare krishna prabhuji,
i want to become krishna conscious even i am doing mala since 1 year, i initially started with 4 and than raised till 6 but i am very distractive, and that makes me irregular which later creates frustation in me, and all the negativity comes, and this time with more intensity, i dont know why the feelings of lust, anger and insecurity haunts me so much, that i become irregular in my jaap, i dont know whether its my atmosphere that affects or i am weak from myself, please guide me, i am very frustated! i want to be regular….. but its just not happening………
We are all weak and distracted. But we have to get the determination to actually chant Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day, to actually strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If we can not become determined to do these things and actually do them then we will never be able to become Krishna conscious. We will never be able to understand what Krishna consciousness is… So you just have to do it, even though your mind is crazy and telling you not to do it… You have to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and ignore your mad mind…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Kopal,
Hare Krishna! You are not alone. Many of us who have been chanting japa for so many years are afflicted in this manner. It is a question more or less of karma from this life or previous lives.
Now this is my personal experience. Prabhu, you must chant japa until Krishna’s holy name reaches your heart and neutralizes all that karma. Sometimes it will take 8 rounds, sometimes more, before my mind settles down, and I actually become comfortable chanting. Then I feel peaceful chanting japa and actually do not want to stop, because I feel relief and blessed by Krishna.
Srila Prbhupada once told me, “If you are chanting and maya is bothering you, then chant louder. And if you are still troubled, then chant even louder!”
So we are not great saints. We are ordinary people, each coming to Krishna consciousness from our individual backgrounds. So there will be these challenges. I was the son of a butcher, raised in the western world with every kind of anartha, and no Godly intention until I met Srila Prabhupada at age 25. By that time I had formed so many unmentionable habits. But if we give all our energy to our japa, chanting if necessary, so intensely as to make the roof lift off your room, you will find that the holy Name will give you mercy.
The formula for our minds, then, is to chant as many rounds as necessary and as intensely as necessary. Then you will surely feel relief. Like ghosts and demons, all nonsense thoughts will flee from your mind and you will feel safe taking shelter of the holy Name. So make this experiment. Put some time aside, and do a powerful 16 rounds, and you will be very pleasantly surprised at the mercy of the holy Name of Krishna.
You are a good soul. Now you must do the needful. Hare Krishna!, Prabhu.
Hare Krishna! Prabhuji,
PAMHO!
AGTSGAG!
Thank you so much prabhuji for enlightening us with such a transcendetal knowledge of Bhagwat Gita As It Is in such an amazing way. we are eternally indebted to you. Kindly keep educating us in this manner.
I pray for your good health & long life.
Your eternal servant
Radharanidevi Dasi
krishna
1.While reading SB Canto 2 Chapter 1, I came across a purport in which Srila Prabhupada says that VedaVyasa taught Sukadava Goswami from the very first verse.However the conversation between Saunaka Rsi and Suta Goswami took much after Veda Vyasa taught SB to Sukadeva Goswami. So how was it possible?
2.Is it ok to listen to Hare Krishna Kirtana and Nrsimha Mantra while doing maths sums or while reading. I ask this because heard that one of the offenses(while chanting) is lack of attention.
Hare Krishna! Jai Prabhupada!
Hare Krishna Krishna Dasa
Whatever Srila Prabhupada says is correct. We may not be able to understand it with our present level of realization but as we advance more in Krishna consciousness these things will be revealed to us. We can not think that we are so great and advanced and our minds are able to comprehend all the little details like this immediately. It is not like that at all. We are great fools. We simply have to submissively hear the pure Krishna katha from Srila Prabhupada and that is the cure for our material disease. So do not mind about these little things that your mind is telling you appear to be contradictions. There are no contradictions actually. It is simply our imperfect realization. But our realization is imperfect in the beginning. So be patient and just have faith that whatever Prabhupada has written is correct and you will see this is true in due course.
As far as listening to the Hare Krishna mantra while studying or reading this may be possible for listening to a kirtan or bhajan. But you can not listen to Srila Prabhupada giving a class for example while doing something else that requires you to concentrate your mind on it like doing mathematics for example.
You have to use your common sense and not worry too much about these fools that say everything is offensive. You are not actually chanting when you are playing a kirtan recording or a bhajan. You are hearing it and the hearing process even works when you are sleeping. So even if you are sleeping you will benefit from hearing a Prabhupada kirtan. So yes. You can play a Prabhupada kirtan while you are studying, etc. You have to use your common sense with these things…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
The Bhagavad Gita is based on a disaster between two families, a battle for ruler ship and as a consequence over 600 million people died. Basically the Gita justifies war and death based on the notion we are not these bodies but spirit souls. Personally I think it would have been a more monumental tale if Krishna has brought peace and wisdom rather than whole sale slaughter. I think Arjuna should have retired to the forest and become a Sadu rather than kill those he loved! This is the problem with religion it justifies violence which all too often is the outcome. Something being perpetrated even today and that’s ok because the Gita says we are spirit souls! Religion is dangerous and the cause of much suffering throughout history and even today.
ISKCON even though it supports “Chant and be happy” is a deception because its history isn’t a happy one. Even on this web site you are squabbling over the Guru issue, yet love the same God, just like the Christians and Muslims etc. It will never be any different because this is the human condition and no matter how theological and knowledgeable it may be there will never be any harmony because it’s all based on human ego and religious ego whih is one of the most dangerous kind.
I hope you are not offended by this because that is not my intention, it’s just my opinion and nothng more. But this is my conclusion having spent over 50 years trying to fathom the human condition. Of course I wouldn’t expect you to share this on your comments page. I only came to your web site to purchase incense sticks but because you have shared your views with me I thought it only fair to share a few thoughts with you. If I offend as a consequence then please forgive me and remove me from your mailing list. I will continue to use your store which is the only reason why I came here in the first place.
God Is Love Lover and Beloved
Hare Krishna Steve
The Bhagavad-gita can only be understood by devotees of Krishna like Arjuna. As an outsider you can not understand it and I can relate to your confusion about it.
It is true as you note that this material world is a history of suffering only. And there is no happiness in the material world at all. But chanting the Hare Krishna mantra elevates one’s consciousness to the spiritual platform and actually takes you out of the material world and into the spiritual world. So in this way chanting Hare Krishna has the potency to raise your consciousness to the spiritual platform and that puts you in a position transcendental to all the suffering of the material world. The analogy has been given of the lotus leaf. Even though it is in the water it does not get wet.
So a devotee is actually in the spritual world although still externally within his material body. In that state one is full of transcendental ecstasy and is completely happy. So actually chanting Hare Krishna is really the only practical way to become actually happy…
As far as the Bhagavad-gita, you will not be able to understand it until you are prepared to surrender to a pure devotee of Krishna and serve him. You speak here of your opinion. We are all thinking that our opinion is something wonderful. But actually our opinion is useless. Our opinion is a product of our experiences and conditioning and education and of the imperfect information we have been able to gather through our imperfect senses. The result is nonsense. We need to realize that our opinion has no value and find a perfect source of perfect knowledge that does have value…
Anyhow, I am not offended by your statements and can understand where you are coming from but I humbly request that you keep reading Srila Prabhupada’s books more and more and you will find a great reservoir of knowledge opening up to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Yes, God is Love, Lover and Beloved. This is because there is nothing but God. At the same time, this does not mean that everything is God, as the creative Source or Fountainhead.
Just like the sun. From the sun comes the beautiful warmth that we feel and the sunshine that lights up our world. The heat and sunshine are also part of the sun. But they are not the source. Also those things that recieve the warmth of the sun and hold that warmth, they are also part of the sun. So one can say the sun is warmth, warming and the warmed. They are all sun, but they are not source.
So God is the creator. He creates through His different energies. Everything that we see is a manifestation of the energies of God. But God and His energies are One. So this creation is also God, as a manifestation of His energies. Similarly we are also an energy of God as spiritual beings. Therefore we are inseparable from God, and part of God, but we are not the source aspect of God. We are His tiny parts and parcels. And as such our constitutional position is to render loving service to the source, to God. Like leaves on the tree, if they water the root, they become nourished.
At present we cannot sense our loving reciprocal relationship with God because we are identified with the temporary covering of this material body. But by chanting the names of God, and living a godly life, gradually this illusory identification with the material covering is removed.
Of course I can understand that you want peace. But in this world there will always be bad elements. Just like in your city, there will be theives. Therefore you have a police force. That cannot be avoided. That police force is there to insure that you can peacefully live your life and draw your heart closer to God without having to be disturbed by those elements. Even Mohammed had to engage in battle just so that his followers could live a life of Godly pursuit. So sometimes these wars have to be fought.
After all, if you look at the material creation, all of the bodies that now exist, in plant and animal form – all will be destroyed by the workings of nature. And God has designed this material creation. This creation is also part of God. Therefore God is the deliverer of Death, the Dying process, and that which put to Death. If God is Love, Lover and Beloved, so also, God is Daath, Killer, and Killed. That is part of this creation , part of God.
Therefore the peace you are seeking, will not be had in this realm, because it is the realm of birth and death. Your Love, Lover and Beloved philosophy will not save you from that. We cannot be ostriches with our heads in the ground and pretend that all there is is love. Death will come and take everything away. Therefore we require a more comprehensive philosophy that can put the pieces of the puzzle in place. We cannot remain as hippie or as holder of these shallow “peace” values because they will endure the test of time.
Also to understand such things one has to lead a godly life, and give up the eating of animals. As long as one is part of this killing process, one cannot understand this kind of philosophy. You want to live in a world of Love, Lover and Beloved, while keeping the slaughterhouse in full swing. That slaughterhouse is the cause of war between peoples. That is nature’s law.
So you can think over some of these ideas, and according to your sincerity you will be guided from within your heart.
Hare Krishna! Allah ho akbar!
Hare Krishna!
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Pamho
Prabhuji I would like to know if there any Spanish translation of the original Bhagavad Gita and other books written by Srila Prabhupada. I´m from Argentina and some people here can read English.
Thanks a lot for your service!
May Lord Krishna bless you!
Haribol!
Hare Krishna
The original Prabhupada books are in English so really if one wants to read the original Prabhupada books it is best to learn English.
A translation will always be a translation and not the original.
It can not be so difficult to learn English if one really wants to read Prabhupada’s original books. English is a very common language nowadays and many of the words are similar to the Spanish words also…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear sir, Sri Harekrshna HareRama.
The thousands names of sri MahaVishnu srivishnusahasranama is the name of supreme god head I am doing this in my daily prayer along with Purusha suktam from long 4 years .Since then I have many changes in me.I have read this site yesturday & I have seen your reply today Swamy I realy get very happy that I have received letter from lord directly & trilled with joy & happiness .Guruji pls tell me that , Is we have to chant hare krshna mahamantra compulsory r we can do many times the same sri vishnu sahasranama.I want to know more about of sri krishna consciouness but I want in kannada language to understand more easily to me.Guruji I am searching a Guru to guide me the spiritual knowledge towords sri krshna& more How I know that srikrshna accepting my daily prayer plssssssssssssss tell me .After seeying you I cant wait more.plsssssssss sir plss.
Hare Krishna
Of course chanting all the names of Krishna, Visnu is transcendental and very helpful in spiritual life. But for this Kali-yuga the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra is particularly empowered and very important. So we must chant it:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
At lest 16 rounds a day. This Hare Krishna mantra is specifically empowered with the potency to counteract all the bad effects of the Kali-yuga. So please chant it at least 16 rounds a day. You can also chant Visnu-sahasra-nama, but that is less important than chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear HRN,
According to shastra, veda, the name of God and God – they are one and the same. Gradually by chanting with sincerity, that realization will come.
But for the present you must obtain for yourself a nice picture of Radha and Krishna and place it on your altar, no matter how large or small. And you can offer nice incense, a glass of water daily, and nice flower or leaf. And if you do this with sincerity, daily, even if only for some short time, you will begin to feel some connection of love. And when you chant your japa, the names of God, then you can chant nicely before Radha and Krishna. They very much like to hear Their names chanted with love. And as you do this every day, you will begin to feel that Krishna is pleased with you. That is the recommended process for answering your question as to how you can know if God is pleased when you are chanting His holy name. When you become personal with God, God becomes personal with you.
And of course you must also give up eating meat, fish, eggs, all forms of intoxication, all sex outside of marriage, and all forms of gambling. And you must read Srila Prabhupada’s books. This is all part of one formula that is most scientific. It is the prescription, just like doctor’s prescription for disease. We are in a spiritually diseased condition, feeling out of touch with God. If we accept this prescription the disease will be cured. If we are serious, we must accept.
Hare Krishna!
Dear Madhudvisa dasa!
Please accept my respectful obeisances! All glories to Shrila Prabhupada!
Is anybody in touch with you from Russia?
Do you know if original Bhagavad Gita 1972 is planned to be translated by somebody to Russian?
It seems to me that nobody in ISKCON in my country cares of the truth…I didn’t know of bookchanges until I was a little bit pushed to accept the spiritual master out of those 70 gurus. I felt a strong protest in my heart and started searching for the proof of my feelings. Thus I found IRM web site in russian and was surprised to know that nobody in ISKCON wants to read it, since it was prohibited for them. For me nothing is prohibited when it comes to the question ot the Truth. Then I found bookchanges site and was shocked and satisfied at the same time. I took all existing russian versions of Bhagavat Gita as it is from 1984 to 2012, but all of them not only had nothing to do with original 1972 version but had a lot of mistakes in the translation itself. (For instance, in the verses 1-3 of 13th chapter they still translate object as subject and misplace the field owner and field knower). Despite not everything is clear for the Russian they have been reading Bhagavad Gita for almost 30 years…I know that some Russian preachers of Vedas, who directly learned from India, know sanskrit, but it seems that they don’t care of the original translation for Bhagavat Gita. They could have compared sanskrit and Russian texts in BG as it is and been shocked, but they haven’t. So it would take me a lot of time, but I seriously think of translating Bhagavad Gita as it is 1972 Maximillian to Russian. Give me your input, what do you think of it?
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Ilya
Yes. The state of the translations of Srila Prabhupada’s books into other languages is not very good and ISKCON do not seem to care very much about Prabhupada’s books in any language. But realistically a translation will never be the original book and I would encourage all Russian speaking persons who are serious about studying the teachings of Srila Prabhupada to learn English. Then they will have full and complete access to all the teachings of Srila Prabhupada including all his original books, his classes, his conversations, his letters, his morning walks, etc, etc, etc…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
sri hare krshna,namaskaar at the lotus feet of guruji,
what is very dear to sri krshna .How i will get my guruji how i find out pls tell me. or you can accept me as your student??? what r the priciples to fallow to me. but since iam diabetic person now a dys i cont do ekadasi earlier i was doing but now not doing is there any short cut to observe ekadasi.
thanking you. plssssssss write me something if not i will upset. plsssssssssssss
chary.
Just read Srila Prabhupada’s books and at least find out want a bona fide guru is first…
hare krisna prabhu
from past two months i chanted 16 rounds every day .by the my internals came i left chanting from then onwards i didnt chanted 16 rounds….and i purchased a bg as it is ..i didnt read it …simply i kept ……so telll some tips ….
I can not tell you anything except to follow the four regulative principles, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you refuse to do these things then how can I help?
It is not going to be easy to become Krishna conscious. We have to perform the tapasya [austerity] of chanting Hare Krishna when we don’t feel like chanting Hare Krishna, we have to do these things like following the regulative principles when we feel like breaking the regulative principles. We have to force ourselves to read Prabhupada’s books when we don’t feel like reading them.
Otherwise how will we ever become Krishna conscious?
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Sir,I donot qualify as a devotee or a Krsna conscious person yet but have started taking some steps to get there, having been influenced by reading some of your posts as well as the “Gita as it is” and “Krsna consciousness handbook”.Are you absolutely sure that just by chanting the mantra I shall attain peace and happiness and become Krsna conscious.I must say that after listening to the George Harrisson mantra song on the youtube(I have saved it in my pc)I felt a bit different,maybe a bit happy as well.I have 2 questions,would you be kind enough to answer.
How much is 16 rounds of chanting?(ie multiply 16 with what number).
In the introduction of “BG as it is”Shri Prabhupada says that “Lord and the lord’s name is no different,there is no difference between his name, form, quality and pastimes,Krsna and His inner spirit is not different”.I have thought over this statement for sometime.Please could you explain this line.Of course one’s name is not different from him as far as the name identifies the person but one’s name is certainly not the flesh and blood him.I can like a catchy name but I may not like him when I meet him in person.Thank you.Dipanka
Hare Krishna Dipanka
There is a quality to chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Of course chanting the Hare Krishna mantra in any condition is wonderful. But there are things that hinder the effects of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. So that is why we have the regulative principles. It is necessary to follow the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) otherwise if we continue with these sinful activities that will make it very difficult for us to advance by chanting Hare Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has given the analogy of trying to light a fire with one hand and pouring water on it with the other. The pouring water is like engaging in illicit sex, meat eating gambling and intoxication, as pouring water on a fire you are trying to light will make it very, very difficult to light the fire, similarly it will be very, very difficult to make any spiritual advancement by chanting Hare Krishna if we do not refrain from the four types of sinful activities. So as well as chanting Hare Krishna you need to follow the four regulative principles, and in the beginning to give you the strength and determination to keep chanting you need to understand the philosophy of why you are chanting Hare Krishna and for this you need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day.
So I am saying that you will be able to attain Krishna consciousness if you surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions in this regard. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. This is the minimum. If you want to become Krishna conscious you have to surrender to at least this.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Sir,thanks for your reply.
What books do you recommend other than ” Gita as it is” and”teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu”.
My other question remains unanswered.
In the introduction of “BG as it is”Shri Prabhupada says that “Lord and the lord’s name is no different,there is no difference between his name, form, quality and pastimes,Krsna and His inner spirit is not different”.I have thought over this statement for sometime.Please could you explain this line.Of course one’s name is not different from him as far as the name identifies the person but one’s name is certainly not the person.Thank you.Dipankar
Material names and spiritual names are different. You are confused because you think Krishna’s name is just like your’s. A material name. But that is not the case. Krishna’s name is Krishna. Krishna’s name is Krishna’s avatar or incarnation. So Krishna’s name is Krishna. It contains absolutely all the potencies of Krishna in full, Krishna’s name is Krishna. I know you can not understand this. It is something you have to realize by surrendering to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and following their instructions and becoming a pure devotee of Krishna. Then you will experience it personally that Krishna’s name is Krishna 100% full and complete…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Dipankar
1 round is 108 times. Initially when you start it takes longer to get through one round. Like for me it took nearly 15minutes, i’ve been chanting 16 rounds for 2 odd years now and i now take 7 1/2 minutes for one round and in about 2hrs i complete 16 rounds. You don’t have to necessarily do all the 16 rounds at one go – the goal is, ultimately one should only be chanting The Lord’s name and believe me the more you do it the more you want to do it. It’s an eternal high – BLISS is the word i guess.
Follow the 4 regulatory principles strictly and start to chant. Or if you have any vices – ASK GOD to help you quit, be sincere in your request as well as your attempt to quit it. GOD helps those who help themselves. Surrender to Lord Krishna and you have NOTHING to fear or would you want ANYTHING for yourself, just to be with the LORD is what you’ll be craving for. At one point you’ll start to feel – it doesn’t matter what i am doing or where i am going – AS FAR AS I’M WITH SRI KRISHNA. The journey itself is the destination.
Hare Krishna
Sanat Attavar
Dear Sir,thanks for your reply.How do you chant,do I actually need to sing in a tune or just recite as one would recite a poem?Regards.Dipankar.
Hare Krishna Dipankar
You can watch this video of Srila Prabhupada chanting Hare Krishna:
http://krishnatube.com/video/70/Morning-Meditations–Chanting-Japa-with-Srila-Prabhupada
For chanting japa you do not sing it in a tune or recite it as a poem. You just chant the words:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
It is very simple… You just have to chant the words.
For Kirtan you sing the Hare Krishna mantra to a tune but for japa you just chant the words of the mantra.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
My parents bought me Bhagavad Gita As it is 1972 version. I relished it, and I also read Canto 1 SB. On the other hand my parents are still Grhihamedhis eating eggs,fish,garlic,onion, drinking tea etc. I eat food made by my mother as I am still young and not allowed to do so. I know this affects my consciousness as I eat a materialist’s food three times a day. Therefore I am thinking that I will make my mother read BG As it is(Srila Prabhupada lives in his books) so that she becomes devotee.
I want to know whether I am doing correct and will I suceed in my mission ???
Yes. You are doing the right thing. That is the best idea, try and help your family to become Krishna conscious. And you may succeed, but the most important thing is that you try. To succeed in convincing another person to become Krishna conscious you have to be Krishna conscious yourself. And association is very powerful. If you simply become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and then your family will associate with you and benefit form your good association.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
I have a query which has been bothering me for sometime & would be obliged if you can guide me from spirituality standpoint. Everything that we see is created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead – Shri Krishna – whether good, bad or ugly for e.g.,
If I have committed a sin in any of my lives & I have to cleanse it to reach his lotus feet – why was the sin committed at the first place? We are all his child (Shri Krishna is our prapitamaha) so why didn’t he restrict me at the first place before I committed the ‘sin’? I would never allow my child to commit any sin right in front of my eyes – would anyone do? No!
Liquor, illicit sex, consuming non-veg are all sinful – then why was that ‘sense’ created at the first place? Our scriptures mention of ‘som rasa’, prostitution is one of the oldest trades etc. If marriages are carried out as per the rituals (vidhi vidhan) then why commit adultery – aren’t the rituals powerful enough?
So why did god allow ‘dilution’ to come into being at the first place? If the root cause of action is destroyed, then everything will be blissful? Doesn’t God want each one of us to reach his lotus feet?
More importantly, if enjoying is sinful (liquor, illicit sex, non-veg food are all so attractive to human beings and they are in the market because there is a demand, which means its being consumed) why cant god destroy this from the root? What restricts him from doing this?
Evil always initially succeeds and then the good has to fight back to regain its position – this is true even in case of gods – Shri Rama, Shri Krishna everyone…In case of Shri Rama, why couldn’t god keep it simple & could have given wisdom to Manthara / Ravana or similarly in case of Mahabharata Dhritarashtra could have been given a firm resolve by God to tame Duryodhana… so much bloodshed could have been avoided?
Why was the evil required? Why ‘good’ always has to fight back – good is good – so it has to succeed at the first time, but it seldom does! Why?
May please help & guide!
Hare Krishna Achyut
You have to understand that we and Krishna are the same in quality, only Krishna is unlimitedly great and we are unlimitedly small. So as Krishna is ulmimitedly independent we are also in a very limited way independent. Krishna will not take this independence away from us. It is part of us. We are all eternally parts and parcels of Krishna and our business is to serve Krishna. We can only actually be happy by serving Krishna. That is our natural constitutional position. But our relationship with Krishna is one of love. So love means that both the lover and the beloved are independent and they are in love with each other. You can not force someone to love you, so Krishna also does not force us to love Him.
The thing is that we are like Krishna in quality but we are very tiny and Krishna is very great. But sometimes we become envious of Krishna’s position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Controller, the master of everyone. And we want to become the enjoyer like Krishna is the enjoyer. But actually we are not the enjoyer. Our constitutional position is to be enjoyed by Krishna. But we want to become the enjoyer, which is impossible actually. But Krishna, out of his great mercy, creates this material world, which is ‘maya’ or illusion. And that illusion is that we can become the master, we can become the enjoyer, just like Krishna, in the material world. So we come here to this material world in search of the impossible dream of becoming the master like Krishna. So this material world is really a product of our desire to become the lord and master of everything, just like Krishna. And Krishna, with His maya builds this illusory material world which gives us the impression that we can become happy here… But it is of course an impossible dream, to become happy in the material world, it is not possible to become happy in the material world. There is only suffering and death here. The idea that we can be happy here is maya, illusion.
So Prabhu you are taking this illusion of the material world very seriously… You should not be taking any notice of the material world at all. You should not be thinking that you can be happy here. You should not be surprised that the material world is simply full of suffering. You can not expect to be happy here. The material world is for suffering only. You can not be happy here.
We have come her because we misused our independence. Instead of surrendering to Krishna and serving Krishna we have rejected Krishna and want to become like Krishna ourselves, but that is not possible, and that is the reason for all our suffering in the material world.
If we again surrender to Krishna and become Krishna conscious then we will be in our natural constitutional position and we will be Krishna conscious and will no longer be on the bodily concept of life and will actually realize that we are not the material body but the spirit soul and we will be detached from what is happening to our bodies. We will not care what is happening to our bodies. And we will not care when we have to leave our material body [death] because we will be thinking of Krishna at the time of death and Krishna promises that “whoever thinks of Me at the time of death will come to Me…”
So really Prabhu you are feeling all these things because you are not Krishna conscious. Do not mind, Krishna consciousness is not a very cheap thing. I am asking everyone to please at least surrender to the basic things: chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles: No illicit sex life, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. So you have to do these things at least. And this is only the beginning. This is the starting point only…
So you have to understand that we commit sins of our own accord. That is the misuse of our limited independence. It is not Krishna’s fault that we are committing sins. That is our choice. So we have to suffer for our sins. What would be the point if Krishna created a batch of robots whom He controlled and who had no independence? You can not become a friend of a robot that you control? There can be no relationship unless there are multiple independent persons. So we have a little independence and we can use that to serve Krishna or we can use it to serve maya.
If we decide to serve maya we come here to the material world and suffer the consequences. That is our fault, it is not Krishna’s fault. It is Krishna’s great mercy that time and time again He comes Himself personally to this material world in many incarnations and sends His pure devotees like Srila Prabhupada to reestablish the religious principles and to kill the demons and to protect the devotees. Krishna does this time and time again because in the material world time destroys everything. So even if the spiritual principles are nicely established in the material world they will not remain. They will be lost in the course of time… That is the way of the material world.
Anyhow Prabhu you have to come to grips with the fact that this material world is only a place of suffering and you can not be happy here and all the things that are going on here are temporary and not important. The only important thing is that we reestablish our eternal loving relationship with Krishna and remember Krishna at the time of death and go back home, back to Godhead. We have to do this, there is no alternative except for suffering in this hellish material world eternally…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krshna hare krshna
my obeisances to you prabhuji,
krishna himself has come and held my hand ,taken me to a rehab called TULSI, and now it seems is with me 24×7 .i have been experiencing the love of krshna and how much he loves us.my history can be summed up in adjectives and nouns like, brilliant,artist,architect,alcoholic,womaniser,illicit ,champion,extreme egoistic,selfish,and suffered tubercolosis of spine, father wife beater, smokers, meat eating etc etc and etc.but, this was not what krshna was expecting . I WAS SUFFOCATING INSIDE AS TO WHY ME. then last year it happened at the janamashtami festival at radhaparthasarthi temple, new delhi when i got vip card from temple and experienced something of a heavenly experience while dancing in front of the lord. and my life changed forever. i have been followed by his majesty the lord himself to wherever i go as a teacher guardian to protect me from all sins of life. the result, i have given up lmost all practises which prabhupada recommends and read the gita and krshna and othe rprabujis books. i am at peace with myself and want to progress forward by loving krshna more than i can. hare krshna.i was wanting a friend always , and found krshna himself.
Dear Achyut,
Hare Krishna! Your questions are most intelligent, and most sincere. Only one who is coming closer to Krishna can ask such questions. It is Krishna who is giving you the intelligence to ask such questions.
Everything that Madhudvisa Prabhu is telling you is most correct. Also there are slightly different ways of explaining these things so that the answers will appeal to our intelligence.
As Madehudvisa Prabhu has written, we have actually become attracted to the idea of being God, of taking Krishna’s position for ourselves. And therefore Krishna has created the material world so that we can pursue this desire to become like a master, like a lord in so many different ways. In this material world, we are all afflicted with so many desires. But the origin for all of these desires has come from our own hearts. The origin is that we want Krishna’s position for ourselves. And the various shapes of this desire is all the self-centered and sinful desires that afflict us in this material world.
One can think of this material world as a great hospital for those who are spiritually insane. Instead of spontaneously wanting to please Krishna, we want to play the role of being Krishna. Krishna is the Supreme Doctor. And He has the ability to place us under a great hypnotic spell. This hypnosis is for our cure. Under the spell of this hypnosis, we are all having a dream. As spirit souls we are asleep. And we are dreaming. Actually this is a fact. But in this case the dream is gross. When we sleep at night we live within a very subtle dream and when we wake up the dream is gone. But this dream of our life in the material world is also not our real life. But the dream is not subtle. It is gross. And in this gross dream we take on so many different identities, man, woman, young, old, rich, poor, white skin, brown skin…….. All different identities, but none of them real. because we are not these bodies. Therefore we are actually dreaming, and taking these dreams so very seriously, accepting them as reality. But it is all a dream. And in these dreams, we suffer so much.
But the purpose of these dreams and these sufferings is part of our therapy. Actually nothing hurtful, or harmful is happening to us. Because we are not these bodies. No one is hurt. And no one dies. All these misfortunes are simply parts of our individual dreams, our individual hypnosis, implemented by Krishna, so that we can begin to seek for solutions. And when we begin asking for solutions to our suffering condition, we begin to be able to understand the teachings of Bhagavad-gita and other scriptures.
Part of the hypnotized condition forces us to have desires that will bring about more suffering. And therefore these desires are also an important part of our recovery from our spiritual insanity.
We must understand that Krishna is very, very kind, and He wants us to cultivate our love for Him. But in His kindness, He allows us to proceed each at his own speed. He is so indulgent. But He is always encouraging us. And it is up to us how much we wish to accept His encouragement.
It is said that a word to the wise is sufficient. And that word is in the scriptures. If we would agree to take it up, our lives would be immediately successful. But we are not wise. We are stubbornly perverse. And therefore in not taking God’s advice, we are forced by our dream mentality to commit sinful activities, and then we suffer. That suffering is another form of instruction. It is called the school of hard knocks. Those hard knocks are coming from Krishna’s kindness, because we are not agreeing to accept His kind words of advice. Then gradually we will have a change of heart and become interested to hear Krishna’s advice. So it is all kindness. Even the terrible things that we see in the material world. It is all kindness, specifically engineered so that we can be reclaimed. And no one is actually hurt. Because life in this world is all a dream. And the hope of Krishna, and the purpose of this therapy, is that we will come to our senses and wake up from this dream, and understand who we really are. That is called self-realization.
So you are beginning to wake up. And as you read Krishna’s message in Bhagavad-gita As It Is, you will become more and more understanding our good fortune and Krishna’s infinite kindness. Unless we were captivated by this dream we could not be cured. Therefore this harmless dream, which is a dream of great harmfulness, will gradually become understood, as we begin to wake up, as Krishna’s great love for all of us.
Dear Achyuta, I hope so much that this makes sense and is helpful for you. I also am just beginning to wake up. We are going home in Krishna consciousness. We are so fortunate.
Respected Prabhu
Thank you for news letter. i have taken a copy of Bhagvat Gita as it is and started reading it. Please give me your valuable guidance to understand it and follow it in my life.
Thank you prabhu. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna Manish
It is very good you are reading Bhagavad-Gita. It is very important that you have Srila Prabhupada’s original Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the 1972 Complete Edition. That is the book you want to read and it is available at http://www.KrishnaStore.com
There are many translations of Bhagavad-gita but only Srila Prabhupada’s gita is “as it is”. Generally the people who translate and comment on the Bhagavad-gita have their own ideas and philosophy and they inject that into their translation and commentary on the gita. So really they are cheating. They are not presenting the Bhagavad-gita as it was spoken by Krishna and understood by Arjuna, but they are presenting their own ideas and their own philosophy in the guise of the Bhagavad-gita.
This is because Krishna and His Bhagavad-gita are very famous and if one publishes a “Bhagavad-gita” then people will be interested. But if he writes his own book on philosophy no one will be interested in him. Actually the people are interested in Krishna, so these demons use the Bhagavad-gita as a show but actually they have no real interest in what Krishna is teaching to Arjuna or what Arjuna is understanding from Krishna. They are only interested in somehow twisting everything so they can use this conversation between Krishna and Arjuna to convince the reader of their own philosophy.
This has been done by practically every translator and commenter in virtually every Bhagavad-gita that is available today except Srila Prabhupada’s original Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
So please get Srila Prabhupada’s original Bhagavad-gita As It Is and read that and you will find that in the purports Srila Prabhupada is personally giving his valuable guidance as to how you can understand the Bhagavad-gita and how you can apply it in your life. So please read Srila Prabhupada’s purports and you will find all the valuable information directly from him, how you can understand Bhagavad-gita As It Is and apply it in your life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
While chanting, I produce hissing sound sometimes while chanting Krsna. This helps me concentrate on mantra but one of my friends was telling that I should not do this sound. Is this sinful and should I stop doing this?
Hare Krishna. Jay Srila Prabhupada
You have to chant the 16 words and hear them clearly that is all. There is no hissing in it… Just:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
No hissing…
hare krishna ..
prabhu did prabhu pad encouraged brahmachari(who will never marry and become sanyasis) system for devotees in youth?
thank you very much
Yes Prabhu. Srila Prabhupada instructs that all young male devotees must strictly practice brahmacary life. This is not just for those who will not marry, brahmacary is for every young man, even if he plans to get married still he must practice as a strict brahmacary in his youth. That will build his character and strength and determination. The idea is that it is best to remain brahmacary for the whole life but in reality most young men will end up getting married at some point and that is also perfectly OK. They can marry a devotee girl and together practice Krishna consciousness and bring nice Krishna conscious children into the world. But of course there is great danger of falling into maya in this way so it is best if one can to remain brahmacary throughout the whole life.
Of course in reality now we are in the midst of the craziness of Kali-Yuga it is very hard to find any real brahmacary who has never had sex life. But still we have to at least give up sex life and refrain from it. For most of us this is the most difficult problem but if we are to advance in Krishna consciousness and get free from the shackles of maya then we have to conquer this sex desire…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hari bol !! thank you very much… that is all i wanted to know..
To be honest I believe in god but I wanted to know more about ramayana & mahabharath, is a Myth or true.
It is true.
Hare Krishna Paul
Yes. Please keep chanting Hare Krishna on japa beads. That will free you from all negative things.
Bhagavad gita and all other original Prabhuapda books you can get at:
http://www.KrishnaStore.com
You can also read these books online at:
http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Akash
We offer incense before offering flowers.
But you are not supposed to offer just incense. The flowers should be there also.
We wear the kanti mala because Srimati Tulsi Devi is a pure devotee of Krishna and having her around our neck like this is a constant reminder that we are supposed to be devotees of Krishna and supposed to be acting like devotees of Krishna. The beads also remind others about Krishna. One definition of a devotee is someone who reminds others of Krishna, so by wearing the tilak and kanti mala we are reminding others about Krishna. And we are reminding ourselvs also that we are supposed to be devotees of Krishna…
It is very important to wear the kanti mala and the tilak…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!