The Spiritual World — And how to get there
January 22, 2009 by Madhudvisa dasa
Filed under Krishna Connect
Hare Krishna
All the newsletters so far are coming from the introduction to Bhagavad Gita As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada which, if you do not have, you can get from here. Also I have recorded the introduction to Bhagavad Gita and if you would like to listen to it you can do that here. I am just giving some main points and a summary, there is a lot more information in the book, so please read the book also.
Krishna means the highest pleasure:
Krishna means the highest pleasure. We are all hankering after pleasure. We, the living entities, like Krishna, are full of consciousness, and we are looking for happiness. Krishna is perpetually happy, and if we associate with Krishna and cooperate with Him we will also become happy.
Krishna descends to this material world to show His pastimes in Vrndavana, which are full of happiness. When Lord Sri Krishna was in Vrndavana, His activities with His cowherd boy friends, with the gopis, with the inhabitants of Vrndavana and with the cows were all full of happiness. The total population of Vrndavana knew nothing but Krishna.
The purpose of Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan on this planet is so we can see such wonderful pastimes of Krishna and therefore come to understand something of what life in the spiritual world, the abode of Krishna, will be like when we go there.
The Spiritual World:
Krishna gives a description of the eternal sky in Bhagavad Gita: “That abode of Mine is not illuminated by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. And anyone who reaches it never comes back to this material world.” (Bg. 15.6)
This verse gives a description of that eternal spiritual sky. We have a material conception of the sky, and we think of it in relationship to the sun, moon, stars and so on, but in this verse the Lord states that in the eternal sky there is no need for the sun nor for the moon nor fire of any kind because the spiritual sky is already illuminated by the brahmajyoti, the rays emanating from the Supreme Lord.
Krishna resides eternally in His abode in the spiritual sky on a planet called Goloka, yet He can be approached from this world, and to this end He comes and manifests His real form in Vrindavan and performs wonderful pastimes there.
When Krishna manifests this form, there is no need for our imagining what He looks like. To discourage such imaginative speculation, He descends and exhibits Himself as He is, as Syamasundara. Unfortunately, the less intelligent deride Him because He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being. But because of this we should not consider that Krishna is one of us. It is by His potency that He presents Himself in His real form before us and displays His pastimes, which are prototypes of those pastimes found in His abode.
In the effulgent rays of the spiritual sky there are innumerable planets floating. The brahmajyoti emanates from the supreme abode, Krsnaloka, and the anandamaya-cinmaya planets, which are not material, float in those rays. The Lord says, “One who can approach that spiritual sky is not required to descend again to the material sky.”
How to travel to the spiritual sky:
In the material sky, even if we approach the highest planet (Brahmaloka), what to speak of the moon, we will find the same conditions of life, namely birth, death, disease and old age. No planet in the material universe is free from these four principles of material existence. Therefore the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita that the living entities are traveling from one planet to another, not by mechanical arrangement but by a spiritual process. No mechanical arrangement is necessary if we want interplanetary travel.
Bhagavad-gita informs us how to travel to the higher planetary systems (devaloka) with a very simple formula: yanti deva-vrata devan. One need only worship the particular demigod of that particular planet and in that way go to the moon, the sun or any of the higher planetary systems.
Yet Bhagavad-gita does not advise us to go to any of the planets in this material world because even if we go to Brahmaloka, the highest planet in the material world, through some sort of mechanical contrivance by maybe traveling for forty thousand years (and who would live that long?), we will still find the material inconveniences of birth, death, disease and old age. But one who wants to approach the supreme planet, Krsnaloka, or any of the other planets within the spiritual sky, will not meet with these material inconveniences.
Amongst all of the planets in the spiritual sky there is one supreme planet called Goloka Vrndavana, which is the original planet and the abode of the original Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna. All of this information is given in Bhagavad-gita, and we are given through its instruction information how to leave the material world and begin a truly blissful life in the spiritual sky.
Who can reach the spiritual planets?
The spiritual world can be reached by one who is nirmana-moha. What does this mean? We are after designations. Someone wants to become Lord, someone wants to become the president or a rich man or a king or something else. As long as we are attached to these designations, we are attached to the body because designations belong to the body. But we are not these bodies, and realizing this is the first stage in spiritual realization. We are associated with the three modes of material nature, but we must become detached through devotional service to the Lord. If we are not attached to devotional service to the Lord, then we cannot become detached from the modes of material nature. Designations and attachments are due to our lust and desire, our wanting to lord it over the material nature. As long as we do not give up this propensity of lording it over material nature, there is no possibility of returning to the kingdom of the Supreme, the sanatana-dhama. That eternal kingdom, which is never destroyed, can be approached by one who is not bewildered by the attractions of false material enjoyments, who is situated in the service of the Supreme Lord. One so situated can easily approach that supreme abode.
How can we get to the Spiritual World?
Next, one may raise the question of how one goes about approaching that abode of the Supreme Lord. Information on this is given in the Eighth Chapter of Bhagavad Gita. It is said there: “Anyone who quits his body, at the end of life, remembering Me, attains immediately to My nature; and there is no doubt of this.” (Bg. 8.5)
One who thinks of Krishna at the time of his death goes to Krishna. One must remember the form of Krishna; if he quits his body thinking of this form, he approaches the spiritual kingdom. One who leaves this body thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead at once attains a spiritual body, as is promised in the fifth verse of the Eighth Chapter where Lord Krishna says, “He attains My nature.”
This life is a preparation for the next life. If we can prepare, therefore, in this life to get promotion to the kingdom of God, then surely, after quitting this material body, we will attain a spiritual body just like the Lord.
Therefore at the end of life the devotees think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna. And because he is in personal touch with the Supreme Lord, he enters into the Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky. The Lord further adds that of this “there is no doubt.” This must be believed firmly.
We should not reject that which does not tally with our imagination; our attitude should be that of Arjuna: “I believe everything that You have said.” Therefore when the Lord says that at the time of death whoever thinks of Him as Brahman or Paramatma or as the Personality of Godhead certainly enters into the spiritual sky, there is no doubt about it. There is no question of disbelieving it.
The information on how to think of the Supreme Being at the time of death is also given in the Gita: “In whatever condition one quits his present body, in his next life he will attain to that state of being without fail.” (Bg. 8.6)
So we can remember Krishna at the time of death we must always engage our minds in reading the Vedic literatures like Bhagavad Gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Just as materialists engage their minds in reading newspapers, magazines and so many materialistic literatures, we must transfer our reading to these literatures which are given to us by Vyasadeva; in that way it will be possible for us to remember the Supreme Lord at the time of death. That is the only way suggested by the Lord, and He guarantees the result: “There is no doubt.” (Bg. 8.7)
“Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me, and at the same time you should continue your prescribed duty and fight. With your mind and activities always fixed on Me, and everything engaged in Me, you will attain to Me without any doubt.”
Thank you for reading this newsletter. I am looking forward to the next one which I think may be called “Do I have to give up my occupation to serve Krishna?”
Your servant
Madhudvisa dasa
I love your post and totally agree. Very beautifully said. Keep comming out with these posts for they are very informative. Seldom we find people kind enough to spread the vast knowledge and information of Lord Krishna in such a wonderful way.
very nice! simple for the simple. A reminder of what REALLY matters in this life.
All glories to Srilaprabhupada,
Hari bol Prabhu,
I am from delhi(India).I am very grateful to u that u are replying to the mails of krishna devotees out of ur precious time.U are really fulfilling the objective of srilaprabhupada to make this society spiritual.This is the higest service to the society which u are providing.Prabhu plz clear one thing how can i get sadguru within me so that i may get all spiritual knowledge from him .If i will get that sadguru ever so that i will be replied all questions within me from that sadguru.I dont know why i have this feeling that u can not get libration even after reading so many books untill & unless sadguru present within u gives u all knowledge.Plz clear my doubts on this.
Dandvat to u prabhu,
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan
Guru within is there. But we can not expect to get without the mercy of pure devotee guru from outside. That is the only way. We are thinking somehow by my strength, by my studies of the Vedas, by my austerities, then I can please Krishna and He will appear in my heart and instruct me personally. This is not the process. Krishna recommends in the Bhagavad Gita, tad viddhi pranipat… “You must approach a spiritual master, offer obeisances, enquire submissively and render service. Such a self-realized soul can give you real knowledge because he has seen the truth.” So many people try for spiritual life but fail because firstly mostly the do not find a spiritual master who is a self-realized soul and who has seen the truth. Without this there is no hope. And even if they are so fortunate to find such a person generally they do not surrender to him, serve him, make his order their life and soul. So this is the only way. Otherwise Krishna consciousness will remain a mystery. It is not possible without a liberated soul, a pure devotee, as your spiritual master, and it is also not possible if you do not surrender to such a liberated soul and offer him obeisances, hear from him, serve him, make his order your life and soul. It is only by pleasing Krishna’s pure devotee that you can get any access to Krishna. Krishna is not so easy to approach…
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Hari bol prabhu,
Prabhu if i put my faith in srilaprabhupada as my spiritual master and after following his instructions ,reading his books can i get liberation or if i have to approach some spiritual master in second case then plz suggest me whom should i approach to accept as my guru.
Dandvat to u prabhu
Rajan
Thank you, All glories to Srila Prabhupada, I really liked the Article Sanatana Dharma as well as this article. There is this great video tour on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyZznOXpPw Journey to Goloka Vrindavana. the Srimad Bhagavatam says in canto that ” The Illusory Energy of the Lord cannot take prescendece being aware of her position those who are bewildered by her always talk non-sense thinking in terms of I and mine. Chant Hare Krsna, Think of Krsna, eat foods offered to krsna and be happy and go back home to Godhead!
Hare Krishna madhudvisa
you mention that approaching Krishna is not so easy.
you are right, but usually it is customary to think that the bhakti path is an easy path, or the easiest path of all, though we can see practically that this is not true for everyone, look how many things a devotee has to do in order to attain the goal, so we can see it is very hard actually. in other paths like the path of prapatti one can attain the goal much more easily by letting the gurus and saints have a blessing on you and take away your karma.
in scriptures it also says that there are many conditions for a soul to practice bhakti yoga, conditions that even the demigods are hardly able to commit.if i will find these verses or sentences i will send them to you if you want.
Hare Krishna
Indu.
Dear Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
Many thanks for your e-mail abought Lord Krishna I am looking foreward to the next installment of knowledge
Regards
Wayne
Hare Krishna,
I am delighted to read your newsletter.I love reading Vishnusahasranama and lalithasahasranama.But whenever I read any article of god or goddess I keep remembering that god.Do I have to think of one name of god only ?If I read Bagavadgita I think of Krishna If I read Lalitha sahasranama I think of Durga.How to think of only one god when all gods are same.How to surrender myself which I am trying to do it for a long long time because of this materialistic world we are so surrounded by the materialistic things that we forget to remember god at almost all the time Please advice me…………….
I have answered a similar question just now at:
http://krishna.org/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=332
If you can please refer to this and ask me any further questions.
Hare krishna,
Well i am not qualified to answer ur query but with my limited knowledge i would say as a person u take help of hands for eating ,use feet for movement,use eyes for seeing surroundings ,use ear for listning.Similarly god is full of different energies which are looking after the functioning of universe.All energies resides in him only.So as a person he is one only but when we worshop any god then it personifies a particualr governing power or part of him.Every power or god when we worship denotes a particular path to follow & a particular destination to be reached by yogi.So that is why there are diffrent religions in world.Impersonalists reach brahamjyoti after liberation & krshna devotees reach golok vrindavan so are other destinations.Every path says they following the supreme destination & there god is greater than other.But where that supreme person has hidden himself even i like any other person does not know but everybody has known & realised that supreme person in his different manifestations.
HARE KRISHNA PRABUJI, please accept my humble obesiences,
AGTSP,
Prabhuji please clarify my doubt that when Lord Krishna said to Arjuna “Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me, and at the same time you should continue your prescribed duty and fight. With your mind and activities always fixed on Me, and everything engaged in Me, you will attain to Me without any doubt.” -How to do the activities and think of Loard simultaenously. for example i am working in office and how to think of the Lord both at the same time. if i am doing some work means i will concentrate on it at the same time i would not be thinking of anyother thing. please clarify prabhuji.
Hare Krishna
your servant
T.Suryaprakash, Gurgaon, India
Hare Krishna Suryaprakash
It is a very good question. The answer is that yes, when performing our duty there may be times when we are concentrating on performing that duty and not directly thinking of Krishna. So the solution to this problem is you are going to the office to earn money basically. So you are doing the work to make money, therefore if you take the result of that work, the money, and do something with it that is related to serving Krishna, then that work that you did to make the money becomes devotional service. This is actually called “Karma Yoga.” It means doing some work and then offering the result of that work to Krishna.
That is why in India throught the ages many big Kings and big businessmen have built temples with their profits. Because they know that while they are busy working in their business they are not directly remembering Krishna, so they feel an obligation to do something for Krishna with the profits of their work.
Even if you are using the money you earn at work to maintain your family this can also become a service to Krishna if you install the Deity of Krishna in your house and together with the other members of your family each morning you worship Krishna by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and reading from and discussing books like Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Then because you have the Deity in your house when you go shopping for vegetables and grains you can be thinking that “I am going shopping for Krishna.” Because if the Krishna Deity is there in the house whatever you cook in the house that will be first offered to Krishna and the prasadam will be distributed to the family members and the guests.
So when you have everything organized like this and you are sitting in your office working you can be quite peaceful knowing that the only reason you are there in the office is to earn some money so you and your family can worship Krishna very nicely in Krishna’s house.
Everything can be transformed from material to spiritual if we can simply transform the mentality, instead of thinking “I am working in the office to get money for me and my family,” if you think “I am working in the office to get some money so my family and I can worship Krishna nicely,” then it is a completely different thing. The first activity is simply a material activity and you will get implicated in so much karma with this mentality, but the second mentality, thinking I am working so my family and I can worship Krishna nicely, is a completely spiritual activity. And even though the work itself may be quite mundane and have no connection with Krishna, simply changing your mentality like this turns it into a completely transcendental activity and as you work in this way you will feel very happy and very quickly make advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Hari bol prabhu,
As u have rightly said it is very difficult to find right spiritual guru.Plz suggest me that whom should i approch to take diksha?who is the person who can take me back to godhead.I want to have diksha from that person who will take me back to god head.Plz guide me what is the difference between diksha guru & shiksha guru.I think i need shiksha guru first who can give me knowledge of ultimate.Plz guide me in this.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan
Only someone who is already a pure devotee of Krishna can guide you how you can become a pure devotee of Krishna.
But this is not a one way process. You say “Who is the person who can take me back to Godhead.” The bona fide spiritual master can show you the way back to Godhead but you have to follow his instructions and actually he helps but you have to make the journey yourself.
Siksha Guru and Diksha guru is the same. Different manifestation of the same principle. One can only have one Diksha guru but he may have many Siksha gurus. Diksha guru is also siksha guru and in addition to giving knowledge & instruction [siksha] he also initiates the disciple [diksha].
The only qualified diksha and siksha guru that I know of who is capable of showing you the way back home, back to Godhead is Srila Prabhupada.
There are so many others claiming they know the way. But time has taught us to be very careful about so-called gurus making these claims. One simply has to look at how many men ISKCON have advertised as “Bona Fide Spiritual Masters” since Srila Prabhuapda left our material vision and see how many are left now. It is not many. And the unfortunate disciples of these fallen gurus have had a very devastating blow to their spiritual lives, a blow that is very, very difficult to recover from. So you have to be very careful not to make the mistake of accepting someone as your guru who is not capable of guiding you back home, back to Godhead.
ISKCON have turned the guru into such a cheap thing. But guru is not cheap. Guru is heavy. Real guru is very rare. Sa mahatma sudurlabha.
My suggestion is you take shelter of Srila Prabhupada. Everything is available. You can get all of Srila Prabhuapda’s books and audio and video recordings at http://www.KrishnaStore.com and simply study them. You will find everything you need there. You will have to take the help and guidance from Srila Prabhupada, he will show you the way, but then you have to follow the path. Knowing the way is not enough. Even if you know the way, if you do not follow the path you will be lost.
Hari bol prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Prabhu as u explained, The only qualified diksha and siksha guru that I know of who is capable of showing you the way back home, back to Godhead is Srila Prabhupada.
U have explained the things in a very nice manner.Plz clear my doubt, to consider srila prabhupada as my diksha guru if i have to take initiation from some disciple of srilaparbhupada or what is the process to have srilaprabhupada
as my guru.Why srilaprabhupada did not evolve a system so that after him someone can do initiation on behalf of him for the beginers like me .It is high
time that ISKON should think of something if they want to really spread the movement of srilaprabhupada .Otherwise all the efforts srilaprabhupada made to take the disciples back to godhead will fail.& devotees will forgot their way to backgodhead.As i am a beginner but i want to spend my remaining life in service of krishna but i dont know whom to approach who will take me back to krsnaloka.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Srila Prabhupada did establish a system so that disciples could accept initiation from him after he left our physical vision. He clearly described this in a letter on July 9th 1977. That he was appointing eleven priests to accept disciples on his behalf. Not that they would be their disciples, they would be Prabhuapda’s disciples. But unfortunately as soon as Srila Prabhuapda disappeared they changed the system and claimed that Prabhuapda appointed them as his successor acharyas and they took all the disciples for themselves. Unfortunately they were not able to guide the disciples properly and the whole thing has turned into a huge disaster.
I am just suggesting that you take shelter of Srila Prabhuapda and follow his instructins. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily, strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex life, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and read all of Srila Prabhuapda’s books in a systametic way. In this way Prabhupada will instruct you and you will know what to do.
Prabhupada is with us in his books. We simply need to take advantage of his association by reading the books and all of our dobuts and problems will be cleared away.
I am telling you that if you want to go back to Krishnaloka then you should approach Srila Prabhuapda and he will take you, if you surrender to him and follow his instructions. So the process for you should be that you are very seriously studying Srila Prabhuapda’s instructions and you are also applying them in your practical life.
For the time being the guru system in ISKCON is broken and you will not get any help there. So take shelter of Srila Prabhupada. Do you have all of Prabhuapda’s books, do you have the Prabhupada MP3 set, do you have the Prabhuapda DVD set? The first thing is to have all these things and if you do not have you can get from http://www.KrishnaStore.com
The important thing about our relationship with our spiritual master is that we hear from him. So all of Srila Prabhuapda’s classes are recorded and we can hear them, we can read aloud from his books and in this way hear from Prabhupada. And when we practically follow the instructions we find there in Prabhupada’s books gradually all the material contaminations will be cleared away. So there is no mystery about this process. It is chanting Hare Krishna mantra, following the four regulative principles and hearing from Srila Prabhupada and following his instructions…
Currently there is no place you can go to get trained up as a disciple of Srila Prabhupada but I do have a desire to start such a place and we will be offering three year courses. After the first year of the course if the students are doing nicely they can get Hari-Nama initiation from Srila Prabhupada and if the three year course is properly completed and the devotees are nicely advancing in Krishna consciousness then they can get the second initiation. So this idea is there and hopefully we can get the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and the blessings of Krishna and the blessings of the Vaisnava’s to establish this college so that the devotees who want to take initiation from Srila Prabhuapda will be able to go somewere and undergo the training which is required for this. But right now I am suggesting that you make a very serious program in your life that you are rising early in the morning, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and studying Srila Prabhupada’s books carefully. This will keep you safe.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Hari bol prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Prabhu i take tea 3 times a day.if it is contrary to the spiritual
advancement.Secondly to chant hare krishna for 16 rounds need lot of time.I dont have that much time .But i always think of krishna while walking & doing work & chant mahamantra in between .Plz suggest me how to make time for chanting as it needs lot of time to do that.Let me know if u have any questions.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan
If we want to make advancement we have to follow the principles. Otherwise it is just a show. We have to adjust our life so we can do these things. We need to get the priorities right. It only takes 1.5-2 hours to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and there are 24 hours in the day so finding just 1.5-2 hours to chant Hare Krishna should not be a problem. We must find this time and chant, otherwise there is no question of Krishna consciousness for us. These things are minimums. It is not that we can chant less than 16 rounds and really expect to make much advancement. Of course it is very good to do anything for Krishna. So chanting one round a day is wonderful. But we can not be satisfied with that. We can not think, “I am chanting one round a day and that is very nice.” We have to think actually that I am such a rascal that I can not even come up to the minimum standard set by Srila Prabhuapda of chanting 16 rounds. We have to be a little hard on ourselves and force ourselves to come up to the proper standard.
Ultimately Krishna consciousness is a voluntary thing. No one can force you to chant Hare Krishna, you have to come to the realization of the importance and value of chanting Hare Krishna yourself and then when you realize how important and powerful chanting Hare Krishna is you will naturally chant at least 16 rounds a day.
Like I have been writing in some other comments this is not an easy thing to do in the beginning. We have to become very determined to do it and set aside the time to do it. The early morning hours are very good for chanting Hare Krishna. If you get up at say 4:00 am, then that is a very peaceful time and no one will bother you. You will be free to chant Hare Krishna, to worship the Deity, to read the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. No one will distrurb you, the phone will not ring, you will not have to go to the office. This morning time is just for you and Krishna. And if you live with your family and can convince the other family members to join you also in the early morning hours chanting Hare Krishna and worshipping Krishna, that will be so good for the whole family.
And this getting out of bed early in the morning is simply a matter of practice. You set the alarm for 4:00am and get out of bed and have a shower when it goes off. First couple of days you may feel a bit tired, but you very soon get used to it. And you can take rest in the evening at a reasonable time like 9:00pm. So then you will get still 7 good hours of sleep which is plenty for anyone and you will have that time from say 4:00 am to 6:30 am to chant Hare Krishna and read the books and worship Krishna. And still you can do all your material duties. You can go to work, do your duties for the family. And you will be able to do everything much better because of the clarity and higher consciousness you get from your morning program.
And why not stop drinking tea? You will not die if you stop drinking tea.
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Hari bol prabhu,
Plz start that place where the beginners like me can start spiritual practice.I am obliged that u repy to my queries from ur heart .Plz come to my home in delhi (india) whenever u visit india.If u have any work in delhi where i can be helpful to u plz let me know regarding that.Once again thanks for everything.
Dandvat to u
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan Prabhu, All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for the kind invitation to your house and your offer for helping with some work in Delhi. I am trying to start something on the interenet with this “Krishna Connect” newsletter and my humble request is that you patiently read the newsletters I am sending every few days and try to apply the information in your life and please ask any questions you would like answered and it will develop like that.
I think there will be many more programs in the future but at the moment this is the start, “Krishna Connect Newsletter.”
Hari bol prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Prabhu upload ur photo on this website & plz send me details, where are u located .I always want to be in touch with the devotees of sri krishna.I pray to krishna to shower mercy on everyforgotton soul who wants to go back to godhead.I have went through so many difficulties in my previos life & now i want to live in that environment in my remaining life where i can feel presence of krihna every moment.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan. Yes. I will upload photo when I have one some time. I am currently in Sydney, Australia and trying to organize the distribution of Srila Prabhuapda’s original books here as well as running these websites. I want to create that environment that you want to live in because I want to live in it also. When Srila Prabhuapda was physically present on the planet that is what ISKCON was like, but unfortunately it is not like that now. So we do need to recreated this atmosphere where we can feel the presence of Krishna at every moment. It is difficult to do this by ourselves. We need to live in the association of like minded devotees, and that will make us all much stronger. So, yes, I have a plan to establish “Prabhupada Sankirtan College” here in Sydney and you can come here and we can learn from Srila Prabhupada and preach together. But it is not established yet. If you pray for this and ask Krishna to bless this plan then it may well happen. But in the meantime, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. We can have so many plans but the real practical thing is to be Krishna conscious now and we can always immerse ourselves in that environment where we can feel the presence of Krishna always by chanting: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare….
All glories to Srilaprabhupada,
Hari bol prabhu,
Prabhu u have a very nice plan.Prabhu build some temple even if it is small in vrindvan of shri radha krishna after the name of srila prabhupada & rooms there so that anybody from around the globe can stay over there & recharge the spitual battery.That came to my mind.For that funds are needed & u can approach Krishna devotees who might be helpful in this great work
Well any how what ever u are thinking of doing in sydeny is really great.Prabhu give that platform to eligible krishna devotees where they dont have to pay for getting knowledge about krishna.I think that will be the greatest service to krishna what a person can think.I can not think of that level as i am a very small person but persons who have funds & knowledge of shatras & have faith in srilaprabhupada should take initiative.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan Prabhu
There are plenty of temples in Vrindavan. It is full of temples and dharmshalas and everyone is a devotee. There are so many temples there. We need temples in the big busy cities of the world where the poor conditioned souls are suffering. We need to create Vrindavan all over the world. That is our mission. Yes. Vrindavan is nice. I was living there for six months last year, but that is not where our work is. We have this mission given by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu the the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra should be heard in every town and village of the world. We can not do that by sitting in Vrindavan. This sitting in Vrindavan, while nice, if you have some practical service there, otherwise it is not very good. We have to be fully engaged in the preaching work. We are not so advanced that we can sit down like Haridas Thakura and chant Hare Krsihna all day.
And you say that you want to live in a temple without paying? Why? That is the whole point of living in a temple. To pay with service. The Karmis are working so hard for sense gratification, so we also have to work for Krishna. So temple life is not some lazy life and expecting some rich businessman to pay the bills. No. We will go out on Sankirtan and chant Hare Krishna and sell Srila Prabhuapda’s books. And this way we will make money also for Krishna. So in that way you have to pay with your life, with your energy. We have to take the responsibility for paying for the temple. Anything worthwile that you want, one way or the other there is a price for it and you have to pay the price. Actually the price for Krishna consciousness is the highest price. Surrender.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Hari Bol Prabhu,
I am feeling good with the sublime & pure thoughts u expressed.Prabhu practically by selling srilaprabhupada books we can not earn for our needs.We should have means so that we can earn for our all needs & also for future when we will be old as then there will be no body who will look after us .Only lucky persons can remain healthy & independent in old age.Prabhu if i am not financially independent how can i involve my self for my remaining life in krishna consciousness.That is the biggest problem in front of me.Because now i dont want to remain in the company of materialistic people & if i will be financialy independent i can involve my 100% in krishna consciousness.Prabhu plz do write to me ur personal mail id also.What ever u expressed that is 100% right but everybody has differnt circumstances so i think blessings of krishna are needed in every case so that he gets means & atmosphere to go ahead for krishnaconsiousness.I can give lectures after studying books & taking guidence from u .But that is not going to give me food & place to live so that is why i have left myself to the will of Krishna what ever direction he wants to give to my life i go in that direction.But sometimes i feel very sad when maya pulls me in the world as i am not living in the company of spiritual people like u.I am of krishna only.But i have 200% experince from my past life that without the will of krishna u can not go for this path unless u are blessesd with krishna mercy.Plz do write to me ur personal mail id if u dont mind.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
You can be Krishna conscious in any situation of life. So it is better not to worry about all these things and just become Krishna conscious by chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhuapda’s books and preaching in whatever condition of life you are in now. You do not have to change your position to become Krishna conscious. And yes, we have to work to maintain ourselves. We need the blessings of Krishna’s pure devotees to go forward on this path. So stop worrying about all these things and just go forward on the path of Krishna consciousness. We have to surrender to Krishna and what will happen then is up to Krishna.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa-Dasa probhuji,my question is:
1.what kind of sex activities falls under the category of illicit sex life? Is masturbation considered illicit sex?
Hare Krishna Gautam. Any kind of sexual activity that is not within marriage and then not for the purpose of having children is illicit sex. The whole idea that we can enjoy through sense gratification is a mistaken idea. But as conditioned souls in the material world the desires to satisfy the senses of the body are very strong. However, if we want to advance spiritually, then we have to control these desires. We have to become masters of the senses, not servants of the senses. There is no actual benefit from masturbation. Actually, on the contrary, it takes so much blood and energy to produce a drop of semen and if that is kept within the body then one becomes very strong and determined and his brain develops very nicely. He gets a very good memory and whatever he sets out to do he has the determination to complete it. So controlling the sex desire has very good results, even from the point of view of material things.
You know the history of India. For two hundred years India was under the subjugation of England, and really the way India became free from the British Empire was through the determination of Mahatma Gandhi. And his strength to do this came from the fact that he was a strict brahmacary. So this is a material, polititcal, thing, but I am just making the point that brahmacari life also makes one very powerful and successful even in his dealings with the material world.
The whole idea of Krishna consciousness is to get off the bodily concept of life. Practically everyone here in the material world is in the bodily concept of life, thinking “If I satisfy the senses of my body, I will be happy.” However this is a mistake. We will simply become more and more frustrated by this attempt to satisfy our senses. The only way to be truly happy is to work to satisfy Krishna’s senses. Anyhow, the first step to getting free from the bodily concept of life is to strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex life [including no masturbation], no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. In addition to this we must vow to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Hare Hare
This is the beginning of the spiritual process. So please read Srila Prabhuapda’s books more and more and become convinced, at least intellectually, about the importance of giving up sex life, and take to chanting the Hare Krishna mantra seriously and surely you will be able to follow the regulative principles.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
thankyou for your news letters my brother peter smith has been involved with hare krishna for 8 years he is helping me understand l love krishna and wont him in mylife now for ever l no l have a lot to learn and am looking forward to learning please could you answer me in my life l have been strugling with a lot of fears and need help with this l wont krishna to come into my life and to help me to live the right way thankyou so much for sending me the newsletters my brother is so happy and he gave me this book called on the way to krishna its helping me thankyou jay
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa-Dasa probhuji,
Thanks a lot for clarifying my doubt.My problem is that among the regulative principle till now I have been able to follow three only i.e. I do not eat meat (gave it up 4-5 years ago),I do not gamble and neither do I smoke or drink i.e. no itoxication but I have not been able to follow the other two i.e.chanting the Mahamantra 16 rounds everyday (till now I can only manage 1 round a day) and keeping away from illicit sex life.About chanting I am not that much worried because i am confident that my rounds will increase with time but I am really worried about that ‘no illicit sex’ principle.I have tried several times and in several ways to eliminte my lusty desire but in spite of all these it just keeps coming back.All kinds of hellish thoughts keep coming in my mind even if I try hard not to think like that.I feel that some kind of invisible force is driving me towards this dirty drain of lust.can you please please please please please help me out????????
Hari bol gautam prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
These are all the activities of material desires present in our body.If u read bhagvadgita as it is & chant hare krishna mahamantra u mind will be attached to bliss & perfection which comes after chanting mahamantra instead of running towards sexual enjoyment.Always keep ur mind busy in the thoughts of krishna & try to live in the company of spiritual people.I think it will help u out but even if that does not help u then have some water in some bucket & put senda salt in it & dip ur feet in the water for 20 minutes& recite mahamantra or om namha shivae all negative energy in ur body will be sucked in water .After that dipose of all the water in toilet that water should not touch ur body while disposing .Ur all problems will cure this way.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
I wish someone would have told me about that “senda salt” 40 years ago !
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Hari Bol prabhu,
Simply by putting ur feet in senda salt does not work.
We will have to follow the instructions of srilaprabhupada& chant mahamantra.That alone is sufficient .But the beginners who are not advanced in krishna consciousness can take help of this method as senda salt has quality to suck negative energy with the recitation of mantra shri gurudev dutta.Guta dutta trey is the combined representation of brahma,vishnu,mahesh.This mantra scintifically removes doshas of negative energy acc to vedas.I wish both of us would have got benifit if somebody would have told us about this.
Ur humble servant
Hare Krishna Gautam Prabhu
Yes, it is a difficult thing, but if you are to conqure this you have to follow the process. And the beginning of that process is chanting Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day. Unless we can somehow get a taste for chanting Hare Krishna our taste for the mundane things like sex life will remain. We can not artificially suppress these things. Sometimes people undergo great austerities to control their senses and for some time they are able to refrain from these things, but the desire remains within the mind, and as soon as there is a little break in the austerity then such a “yogi” again falls down into sense gratification. Srila Prabhupada has covered this point extensively in his books and classes and we have to take advantage of his instructions otherwise how we can expect to be able to control our senses.
There is really no question of not being able to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra at least daily. If we do not do this then we can not hope to become Krishna conscious, there is no way we can become free from the clutches of maya. I am putting a small section from one of Srila Prabhuapda’s classes on this point below, please read it and please become determined to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and actually do it. In the beginning it is difficult to chant. It is an austerity. But if we actually want to advance, if we actually want to become free of these lower desires, then we must undergo this austerity and chant Hare Krishna.
There are a lot of questions like this always. “Oh Prabhu, I can not do this I can not do that… Help me Prabhu… How can I do this, how can I do that.” And then we ask and they are not even doing the very basic things like chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles. So no wonder it is not working because we are not following the process. Krishna consciousness is a scientific process and like any scientific process there is a method that has to be followed. So we can not get the result without following the process, and in the beginning it can be quite painful actually to give up these things like illicit sex and to spend two hours a day chanting Hare Krishna. But we need to become convinced by the philosophy that if I do surrender to this process of Krishna consciousness, even though in the beginning it may be a little painful, in the long run the result will be very good for me.
The following is from: http://prabhupadabooks.com/g=157356&f=268758#268758
Simply by artificial controlling… Just like a child. The mind is just like child, sometimes accepting something, sometimes rejecting something. Saṅkalpa-vikalpa. That is the business. So it is very difficult to control the mind. Arjuna, when he was asked to control the mind by yoga practice, he said cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham: “My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are asking me to control the mind, but I think it is impossible. Especially we are in the political field, royal order. We have to deal with so many political subject matter.” So he said that
cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa
pramāthi balavad dṛḍham
tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye
vāyor iva su-duṣkaram
[Bg. 6.34]
“I do not think mind can be controlled. It is very, very difficult, as difficult as to control the breeze or wind, strong wind blowing. It is not possible to control them.” That was the verdict of Śrī Arjuna. It will be explained in the sixth chapter.
Actually, it is very difficult to control the mind. So artificially, by controlling the breathing system, there is the process, but still, it is difficult. As I explained yesterday, even a great yogi like Viśvāmitra, he also failed. There are many instances. There was another, Saubhari Muni. He was practicing yoga system within the water. And as soon as he was little agitated by the fish, he wanted to come out and marry and one king’s daughter. He wanted to marry all the eight daughters. So there are many instances like that. It is very difficult to control the mind.
But our process, as it is stated here, that ātma-saṁyama-yogāgnau. Ātma-saṁyama. Saṁyama, control. The mind is the principle sense. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ [Bg. 3.42]. Mind is the central figure of all the senses. Just like madman. Because he cannot fix up his mind, he cannot work properly. Therefore he is called madman. So our process is that we cannot control the mind. But if we engage the mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then everything is controlled. Kṛṣṇa will help. If some way or other, you engage your mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ [SB 9.4.18]. then gradually everything will be controlled.
There is another version that sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [Brs. 1.2.234]. Jihvādau, to control the jihvā. The jihvā means the tongue. It is very difficult to control the jihvā. People do not know it, but actually this is there. Everyone becomes a servant of the senses just beginning from the tongue. They eat anything and everything. Therefore they cannot control others senses also. This is the experience of big, big yogis. Therefore in the yoga practice, yama-niyama… In the yoga practice also, it is forbidden, not to allow the tongue to eat anything and everything, no. That is not possible. Similarly, we also ask our devotees not to allow your tongue to touch anything except kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Tongue’s two business: eating, tasting something, and vibrating sound. So if we can control the tongue not to touch anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa, and if we do not allow the tongue to talk anything except Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then you become the greatest yogi. The greatest yogi. Simply two things. Of course, we have to eat. That’s a fact. Without eating, we cannot exist. So eat. We have got so many nice things, offered to Kṛṣṇa. We offer to Kṛṣṇa all nice things.
As Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay, swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he was a gṛhastha, practical. He experienced. He said, śarīra abidyā-jāl: “This body, material body, is a network of ignorance.” Śarīra abidyā-jāl. Just like a network. If you are put into a net and bound up and thrown into the ocean, then what is your condition of life, just imagine. Similarly, we, pure souls, we have been put into this network of material body, and we are thrown into the ocean of nescience. This is our position, struggle for existence. How to get out of the network? How to get out of the ocean? This is… Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati [Bg. 15.7]. This is our position.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says this body is the network of ignorance, simply sense gratification. “I shall eat this. I shall eat that. I shall hear this. I shall…” The ear is engaged in hearing nice cinema songs, and the tongue is engaged, going to the restaurant, so many so-called palatable dishes. Similarly, other senses, they are engaged. So the… According to bhakti-yoga system, the first control is recommended to the tongue. That is said, that ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136].
Now, we receive knowledge through the indriyas, but if the indriyas are impure—senses, they are impure—they cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi, na… Beginning. Because beginning is śravaṇam. Bhakti-mārga begins by hearing.
Now, what is śravaṇam? Chanting. If there is chanting or there is some speaking, then we can hear. That is recommended by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that simply hear. There are many places, recommended, that “Hear.” So but it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc. Madhya 17.136]. These present blunt senses, material senses, cannot receive even this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. They say, “This is nuisance.” Bhagavān says in the Bhagavad-gītā, catur-vidhā bhajante mām: “Four classes of men who begins bhagavad bhajana,” sukṛtina, “those who are pious…” But the modern leaders, they say, “This bhajana nuisance.” This is our misfortune. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg. 9.14]. These are the explanation in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Prabhu six gosamies of vrindavana ,sriala bhaktivedant sarasvati,srila prabhupada all these great souls after disappearing from this material world if all these souls went to go lok vrindavana.I want to know if they were transferred to golok vrindavana after their disappearence from this material world.Secondly if any devotee wants to see universal form of krishna or two hand form of sri krishna ,krishna shows to him his both forms as he shown to arujna.so if there is any provision by krishna for his devotees to show his devotes his form so that devotees can follow the path of bhakti in their remaining life with greater determination.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan. Only Krishna knows where the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati and Srila Prabhuapda are now. They are all souls completely surrendered to Krishna and they will have gone wherever Krishna wants them to go. For such pure devotees carry Vrindavana with them and they can create Vrindavan wherever they are. So they could be anywhere. There are so many universes and somewhere right now all the pastimes of Krishna and going on and somewhere else all the pastimes of Lord Caitanya are going on. The pastimes of the Lord are called “nitya lila,” it means that they are eternal, going on constantly in some universe or other. So even though Krishna is not lifting Goverdhan hill now on this planet, He is lifting Goverdhan hill somewhere else. So it may be that these great devotees are with Krishna in the spiritual world, they may be with Krishna in his pastimes within the material world or they may be preching Krishna consciousness on some planet.
Hari Bol Prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada.
Prabhu thanks for ur reply . Prabhu i read mails from iskon like thoughts of the day.If there is any bonafide guru in Iskon after the disappearence of srilaprabhupada.I have received a mail from thoughts of the day that srila prabhupada was 11th in disciple succession & 12th is disciples of srilaprabhupada.Plz guide me who is the bonafide guru after srilaprabhupada now in iskon.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan. All glories to Srila Prabhuapda!!
Yes. ISKCON Srila Prabhuapda said that. That he is the 11th in the line of disciplic succession and his disciples are the 12th. There is no question that Prabhupada’s disciples have the potential to become bona fide spiritual masters. And there is also no question that this is what Prabhuapda wants. But there is that little issue of qualification. And if you have been reading the answers I have been writing to the other devotees you will know that qualification, while seemingly quite a simple thing, is very rarely found.
But it is very difficult to find bona fide guru in ISKCON nowadays. This is more an organizational problem than an individual disciples of Prabhuapda issue. It is quite complex but really it is impossible to be a bona fide guru in ISKCON these days. One reason is ISKCON have changed many things and now do things in ways that are completely against the teachings of Srila Prabhupada and to be a guru in ISKCON one would have to agree to teach their disciples these things that are completely against the teachings of Srila Prabhupada. So any guru who agreed to go along with todays ISKCON would immediatly be non bona fide.
There are many examples of this but one very good example is deity worship. Srila Prabhupada taught us to first offer everything to the spiritual master, to him, and then the spiritual master would offer to his spiritual master and so on up through the disciplic succession to Krishna. So the idea is that we are not qualified to offer it directly to Krishna, but we will offer it to Prabhupda and Prabhuapda will offer it to his spiritual master and in this way the offering goes to Krishna, through the disciplic succession.
When it became obvious in ISKCON that most of the gurus were not qualified devotees started to worry and and not want to accept prasdam that was offered to these ISKCON gurus because they began to think that maybe the gurus were just enjoying the offerings themselves, and not offering them to Srila Prabhuapda.
So they decided to completely reject the system of deity worship given by Srila Prabhuapda and introduced a new system where now in ISKCON temples the pujari will directly offer everything to Krishna and then he will offer the disciplic succession “Krishna pradsadam.” This is because they do not trust that if the ISKCON gurus offer to Krishna Krishna will accept. So they are thinking let the pujari offer directly to Krishna and we will give the gurus Krishna prasadam.
I hope you are folowing this, it is quite a subtle point, but a really dramatic change to the system of deity worship that Prabhuapda introduced. And Prabhuapda warned us specifically not to change the deity worship system:
Letters : 1973 Correspondence : January : Letter to: Dhruvananda — Bombay 4 January, 1973 : 73-01-04 :
“Why you are pouring water over the head of Radha and Krsna deities? Big deities should not be bathed in this way, using water or other things. Rather they are bathed daily by mantra, do you not know these things? Under no circumstances shall we bathe the Jagannatha deities with anything water or liquid, they should be bathed with mantra also. Now you are asking if Lord Jagannatha carries flute? Why this nonsense question? You are asking me so many concoctions and manufactured nonsense. Don’t bother my head in this way any more. From now on unless I order you do something change or in addition, go on with the usual standard way. You manufacture ideas and then I have to waste my time. I have given you everything already, there is no need for you to add anything or change anything. Why you are asking these things? Who has given you such freedom? Pujari should operate entirely under the supervision of temple president and GBC, not independently. The greatest danger to our movement will come when we manufacture and create our own process for worshiping the deities. So don’t ask any more new questions, whatever is going on, follow it just to the exact standard as I have given you, that’s all.”
So you see the problem. ISKCON have completely changed the fundemental principles underlying the deity worship system and to be a guru in ISKCON one has to accept this and instruct his disciples in this new, bogus deity worship system. So that makes him a non-bonafide guru.
This is just one example, there are many.
Another point is in ISKCON guru is under the authority of GBC. He is not independent to instruct his disciples as he is inspired to from Srila Prabhuapda and Krishna. All his instructions to his disciples have to be in accordance with the GBC and the the Temple President. So in ISKCON guru actually has no authority over his disciples. The authority is with GBC and Temple President. If GBC doesn’t like the guru, maybe because he disagrees with them on some point, GBC can cancel his “guru licence” and throw him out of ISKCON and tell his disciples to take reinitiation from another guru.
So no bona fide guru would ever accept to work in such a situation where his ability to instruct and guide his disciples is restricted like this.
So the bottom line is you will not find any bona fide gurus in ISKCON at the present time. But you have found a bona fide guru in Srila Prabhupada, however you have not accepted his instructions, in that you are not yet chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily.
So forget about this searching for a guru business, you already have a guru, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, but you are not even following his first instruction: “chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha mantra daily.” Before you accept a guru you have to know who is a qualified guru and who is not. Because there are so many cheating gurus, even in ISKCON, who will accept you as their disciple, but who actually have no power to take you back home, back to Godhead. They will take your guru daksina but they can not fulfill their side of the bargin.
This is simply a historical fact. If you look at all the devotees who got initiated by ISKCON gurus since 1977 you will find that at least 90% took initiation from gurus who were not at all capable of guiding them back home back to Godhead. And now the gurus are gone and mostly the disciples are gone also. There is nothing more destructive that can happen in your spiritual life than accepting someone as your guru who is not a pure devotee of Krishna. Many devotees have in the past surrendered to such incapable gurus, and the result is disasterous for them, for the guru and for ISKCON. You have not really seen yet what happens to the disciples and to ISKCON when a big guru falls down. Overnight the preaching in the whole country is destroyed. We have seen this time and time again. A few years ago Harikesa fell down in Europe, now ISKCON in the whole of Europe is devastated because all devotees left in disgust and disapointment and temples are sold or empty and noone has any energy any more for service and no one trusts anyone else.
This happened in USA, in Australia, in England, in Europe. And we have not seen these countries recover since. In Australia up to the 80’s the preaching was so dynamic and powerful, then in 1987 it was revealed that “Visnupada,” Bhavananada was not at all a qualified guru and everything collapsed. And it never recovered. Devotees feel disgusted, cheated, used, abused. And they do not trust anyone anymore and will not surrender to anyone again.
I have seen thousands of my friend’s lives destroyed because they were unfortunate enough to accept bogus ISKCON gurus. There is nothing more dangerous than this. There is nothing that can destroy your spiritual life more effectively than this.
And it is not that the gurus were demons, mainly they were very sincere, trying to help the disciples, but they did not realize the incredible responsibility of the task they took on and didn’t realize they were not qualified to do it. It is like the example I have given before, if you see a man drowning in the strong ocean waves, but you can not swim yourself, it is a very nice sentiment to jump into the water and try to save him. But you can’t swim, so you will both drown.
So, you have the perfect guru now, in Srila Prabhuapda, but you are not even following the first instruction, “Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily.”
So guru is only for people who are prepared to surrender to the instructions of the guru and follow them. Therefore you need to think carefully about this.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
You stated that the Gita states that in Krishna’s abode, it will not be illuminated by sun or moon or electricity. Since there was no electricity when the Gita was written, how is this word in there? Did Krishna know that thousands of years later we would have electricity? Thank you and
Hare Krisha!!
Chris
Hare Krishna Chris. It is a good question. How can they mention electricity if it is not invented. Actually in the Vedic time they had very, very advanced technology, much more advanced than the technology we have today. Our technology is very gross, their technology was more subtle. For example as you read further on in the Bhagavad Gita you will see they are fighting with many advanced weapons unknown to modern science. They had the brahmastra, a weapon like the nuclear bomb, but much more controlled and directed, they could use jewels and crystals to illuminate their palaces in the night time. They had space ships capable of interplanetary travel. So certainly they knew about electricity. They knew about everything. Since the beginning of time Indian astrologers have been able to plot the exact positions of all the planets and constellations in the sky, even the ones they could not see. They could predict to the fraction of a second the time of the solar and lunar eclipses. This is something that western astronomers have only worked out how to do in the past 100 years. So it is a mistake to think that now we are so advanced and five thousand years ago these people in India must have been primitive people living in caves. It is not correct. They were very advanced people knowledgeable in all aspects of science as well as philosophy.
hello there, i am king billy,and i am definatly in agreement with what lord krsna has to offer me at the time of leaving the material universe, i cant wait…although gods creation earth is amazing,i dont like what goes on in this world,its not a good place to be,heaven is my origonal home and that is where i want to live for ever…as for spaceships,well actualy there still is spaceships on earth,i have got one and lord krsna has got one also..he is my friend..the technology hasnt vanished from existance,i now live in area 51 amoung all types of aliens,i love it…ha ha ha brrrrrpppp.do do do agabaga.
Hare krishnha maharaj,
thank you for your wonderful letters.I always wait for your letter it gives me more pleasure.since you gave info about spiritual world.I have radhashyamsundar deity in my house.I worship accordind the iskcon temple way. as abhishek , shringar with flowers,aarti,offering bhoga. it takes me 3 to 4 hours.I do job in call center i dont get time to chant 16 rounds but i do at least 2 rounds. but i wish to chant 16 daily. idoing deity worship i sing vaishanav songs during aarti and offering bhoga.i have prapbupada deity. praphupada books dvd lectures.i want to come that platform of chanting 16 rounds n worshipping my beautiful deities. please help me maharaj waiting for your reply
Hare krishna.
Thankyou very much for sending me the articles and i am very impressed about the articles.Kindly mail me your next artcile asap becos i want to know how to get closer to god with our current occupation.
What activities are considered devotional service?
Thank you for the newsletter. I really appreciate receiving it.
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Hari Bol prabhu,
How are u prabhu?I wish u more & more bhakti & devotion to Shri Krishna with passing of everyday.So many days of my life passed since i wrote anything to u.My life is also passing with each day.Prabhu suggest me onthing if u have time that In some book it has written by aurobindo that Lord Krisna descends by leaning upon his para parkriti.It is only the nature of becoming not the nature of being.Para prakriti is not jiva mikkam but jiva bhutam.It is one with supreme being only in quality not in power of being.But srila prabhupada says that the jiva belongs to the supreme energy of the supreme.Which one is true.
Ur Humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan
We need to have faith in Srila Prabhupada. Auribindo is a mayavadi, an impersonalist. So naturally he is trying to establish that when Krishna descends into the material world He is somehow inferior to the impersonal brahman which the impersonalists take to be the ultimate source of everything. Ultimately they are saying Krishna is an emanation from the impersonal brahman and he comes here to the material world and performs His pastimes and then returns and again merges and becomes one.
So this is actually incorrect. The Krishna that appeared in India 5000 is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. And He is not touched by the material energy at all.
The Vaisnava understanding is that Krishna brings the spiritual world with Him. When Krishna is in Vrindavan He is not in the material world, He is in the spiritual world.
All the associates of Krishna are His eternal associates. Before Krishna appears in this world His devotees also appear to take part in the pastimes of Krishna.
So the real point is you have to have the faith that Prabhupada is right and the mayavadis and impersonalists are wrong. You will get that strong faith by carefully reading Srila Prabhuapda’s books. So please keep on reading Srimad Bhagavatam. And then read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. These points are covered very deeply in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.
Great to hear from you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
Haribolprabhu,
Thanks prabhu for sparing time for the ignorant & undesrving seeker like me.U are a very respected person for me as u are explaning things in detailed way.U know i was shocked to see the comments of different saints in india regarding BG explaining with logic that how their truth is superior to the form of krishna.U really deserve to answer all the queries on BG as it is as a most proper choice of beginers like me.May lord krishna gives u highest devotion & means to acheive it which is higest prasadam.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Hare Krishna Rajan Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for the nice questions. Yes. Generally speaking practically all the commentaries on Bhagavad Gita you will find in India and in the West except Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is have all been produced to make some point by the author rather than to just present Krishna’s message humbly and “as it is” as Srila Prabhupada has done in Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
When we say this people sometimes think we are being unreasonable but the reality is a pure devotee of Krishna is a very rare thing indeed. And only a pure devotee of Krishna can understand Krishna. Therefore the only commentaries on the Gita that are useful are the commentaries made by pure devotees of Krishna.
We are very fortunate to have come in contact with Srila Prabhupada prabhu, so we should take full advantage of the association of Srila Prabhupada by reading his books, listening to his classes and watching the video recordings that were made of him.
So this is why I am suggesting that we should simply read Srila Prabhupada’s books. He is giving us the pure message about Krishna, and we know that. Others we do not know if they are giving the correct information or not.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Hare Krishna, Thank you for your wonderful service to Guru & Krishna, There is a paragraph which goes like this
“He comes as one of us and plays with us as a human being” , Does this mean while in the Material world Lord also has a material body made of up earth, water, fire, ether, sky, mind,intelligence and eog?
I understand that His consciousness is pure, not contaminated like us, in other words not conditioned like a jiva has. But does he takes a material body of bone and flesh like a common human being?
Pls forgive me if my question is offesive in nature.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Ashok
Krishna does not have a material body. Material body means being controlled by the material nature. But Krishna is the controller of the material nature. He is never controlled by anything.
However when Krishna appears in the material world he appears to be one of us and His associates and His enemies associate with Him as if He was one of us. That is Krishna’s yoga-maya. Yoga maya is the potency of Krishna that covers His real position and makes it appear that He is a small boy wandering in the forrests of Vrindavana. This yoga maya is the potency that Krishna uses in relation to His devotees to make His pastimes in the material world sweeter. The thing is there are devotees who want to have Krishna as their friend, devotees who want to have Krishna as their child, and devotees who want to have Krishna as their lover.
So it is not really possible for a devotee to be Krishna’s mother or father, but because some devotees want this, Krishna uses his yoga-maya potency to make it appear that He is an ordinary child and that a certain devotee is His mother and another devotee is His father. So in this way when Krishna appears within the material world He appears to be one of us, but he is always the Supreme Lord and he never accepts a material body like us.
But that doesn’t mean that Krishna is a ghost or that if you are playing with Krishna and you touch Him He will not be there. No. When He appears in the material world He appears to be exactly like us. Except He is exceptionally beautiful, strong, famous, wealthy, knowledgeable and renounced.
This appearance and disappearance of Krishna within the material world is a bit difficult to understand. There is one verse in Bhagavad-gita (4.9): http://prabhupadabooks.com/?g=1505
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna
TRANSLATION
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.
So if we can actually understand this, how Krishna appears and disappears within the material world aparently as one of us but actually not one of us, then we do not have to come back to the material world again after leaving this body, but we will go back home, back to Godhead…
Thanks for the nice question. Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Hari Bol Prabhu,
All glories to srilaprabhupada,
As replied above u have not replied whether krishna had material body of flesh & bones when he descended 5000 yrs ago as we have or it is his trancendental form in cosmos which appeared for devotees to liberate them from material entanglement.Plz reply me categorically so that i can realize that if my understanding of realization of supreme science of Krishna is right or faulty.I put same questions to several persons but did not understood it properly.
Urs humble servant
Krishna does not have a material body.
If you understood this you would be liberated.
Some things you can not understand immediatly. You have to follow the process of Krishna consciousness as it is given by Srila Prabhupada and gradually you will understand this.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
All glories to Srilaprabhupada,
Hari Bol Prabhu,
Thanks for ur reply.AS impersonalists are
trasferred into impersonal effulegence of Lord Krishna by the path of gyana
in this life which they state as mukti or nirvan into brahma.Which is the
end goal.By following the path of Krishna consciousness what destination ,end devotee reaches in this particular life.If there is mukti also for the
devotee.I mean if a devotee is transferred to golok vrindavana during this
life.
Ur humble servant
Rajan
Plz reply my questions Madhudvisa dasa ji…My ques is, I mean to say about Self-Realisation that awakening of Kundalini Energy. Can the seven chakras and this kundalini energy be awakened by chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra? Please reply me.
yo man..lord krsna can take on any form in appearance,i know him…he can also see all things at once…he can also multiplie himself into being in two places at the same time,,on earth..word up!lord greenman.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa,
Please accept my most humble obeisances to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
I already received my Bhagavad-Gita, The Perfection of Yoga, Beyond Birth and Death, and the Library of Vedic Culture. Thank you so much for all of these books. I was looking the pictures in Gita and I noticed that I saw some of them in my dreams. These are my dreams over and over. Srila Prabhupada, plate 3, plate 4, plate 5, plate 12, plate 24, plate 29, plate 31, plate 32, plate 43, and plate 44. Some of my dreams I saw myself inside the temple and singing, dancing, and worshipping the deties with lots of devotees I had never seen before. The things that made me wonder was that when I had these dreams and I woke up but then later I went back to sleep again, then my dreams was continued wherever it stops. When I was living at Lathrop, I went to temple with my brother and this is are first time see the temple. Everything I saw that night in my dreams were here. Deties, devotees, prasadam, and more. They were here and talking to me now. I was speechless at that time. I cannot expressed how I feel and how happy am I that day. When I moved to Sunnyvale, another dream came to me again. The Deteis, Prabhupada’s standing poster, and devotees. This time I found a closer temple in San Jose. I found this temple because my Prabhupada’s book that I never touch or read fell down by itself and came out a small paper with one devotee home number on it.I never known her in my entire life. I called her and she said she was a devotee. She was shocked how I got her number and I was shocked too because I don’t know the answer to that. She was nice and humble and trusted to gave me the number and address in San Jose temple and that is how I found out. The paper with the devotee number on it, I put back in my book that day but I never saw or found it again. Now I moved here to south in Long Beach but I don’t know any devotee or temple around that I can go to. This website krishna connect just pop out in front of me when I could no longer see and reach Krishna. Some of these dreams, I still don’t understand and why? Haribol, maybe you could help me understand or interpret my dreams? I would appreciate this so much. I am looking a closer temple around here in long beach or torrance but there is none. Thank you very much for your advice and especially to your devotional service to our Lord Krishna helping me and others to understand Him more and make advancement spiritual in our life. You are a very kindly and humble saint and devoted your time and life to serve our Personality of Godhead!!! Hare Krishna!!!!!!!!!
Your servant,
Mohan
Hare krisna Provu
just give me an idea ..why so many religious are exist if lord krisna is the only one..why Muslim says without Allah there is nothing. what is the difference
between Krisna,Allah & other God. I believe myself is the servant of Krisna but sometimes confused. So Provu give me clear concept .
Hare Krishna Swapan
There is only one God. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that He appears time and time again whenever the principles of religion are not being followed properly. So Krishna Himself comes and also sometimes sends His pure devotees. So we are accepting Lord Jesus Christ and Mohammad as representatives of Krishna. Jesus says He is son of God and we accept that, Mohammad says he is a prophet and we accept that. When Krishna or His empowered representative appears naturally he explains things in the local language and according to the ability of the local people to understand. So when people compare the teachings of Krishna and Mohammad and Christ they may see some apparent contradiction. But actually the mission is one. Allah is just another name for Krishna. The Christian concept of the heavenly father or God is also another way of referring to Krishna. I strongly recommend you make a serious study of all the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhuapda and then these things and so many others will be very clear to you and you will no longer be confused.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
I use to wonder the samething.. why are there so many different religions in the world when there is only one God. Born and brought up as a sikh I always had faith in one God but never really knew who that God was, Sikhs usually worship the “Brahman” form of God. Nirankar (formless) but those who understand this fully know that Nirankar is just being used here not because God is formless, but because he and his forms are unlimited… One day I was reading some of the verses from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (the holy book of the Sikhs) and found this verse in there by Guru Nanak Dev which describes God. After reading this and many other verses from the SGGS I realized that it was Krishna whom we Sikhs refer to as Waheguru. So there might be many religions; like Madhudvisa-dasa prabhu said, each religion comes due to time place and circumstance to elevate those particular people to the level of human beings who would begin to engage their minds on God.
Heres a verse from the holy book of the Sikhs (Sri Guru Granth Sahib) that describes God (Krishna).
SORATH, FOURTH MEHL:
“The Beloved Himself commits some to His service; He Himself blesses them with the joy of devotional worship. The Beloved Himself causes us to sing His Glorious Praises; He Himself is absorbed in the Word of His Shabad. He Himself is the pen, and He Himself is the scribe; He Himself inscribes His inscription. || 1 || O my mind, joyfully chant the Name of the Lord. Those very fortunate ones are in ecstasy night and day; through the Perfect Guru, they obtain the profit of the Lords Name. || Pause || The Beloved Himself is the milk-maid and Krishna; He Himself herds the cows in the woods. The Beloved Himself is the blue-skinned, handsome one; He Himself plays on His flute. The Beloved Himself took the form of a child, and destroyed Kuwalia-peer, the mad elephant. || 2 || The Beloved Himself sets the stage; He performs the plays, and He Himself watches them. The Beloved Himself assumed the form of the child, and killed the demons Chandoor, Kansa and Kaysee. The Beloved Himself, by Himself, is the embodiment of power; He shatters the power of the fools and idiots. || 3 || The Beloved Himself created the whole world. In His hands He holds the power of the ages. The Beloved Himself puts the chains around their necks; as God pulls them, must they go. Whoever harbors pride shall be destroyed, O Beloved; meditating on the Lord, Nanak is absorbed in devotional worship.” SGGS Ji (Page: 606)
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna prabhuji, You are saying in the following paragraph “Krishna means the highest pleasure. We are all hankering after pleasure. We, the living entities, like Krishna, are full of consciousness, and we are looking for happiness. Krishna is perpetually happy, and if we associate with Krishna and cooperate with Him we will also become happy.” that we are full of consciousness like Krishna. But what I feel is that my consciousness is almost completely lost. Forget about reading a technical book, i get lost in the simple conversations among my friends. I am unable to grasp the words of people while listening to them. My mind is agitating too much without having any concentration in any aspect of life. I feel too much frustration and always a feeling of guilty among my colleagues. Therefore, I cannot talk with confidence with anybody. How the above statement under discussion is true?
Hare Krishna,
Sunil Agrawal
Hare Krishna Sunil
The statement refers to one who is in purified consciousness. Our consciousness, like pure crystal clear water that comes down from the sky as rain, but when the rain mixes with the mud on the ground it becomes muddy. So what you are experiencing is this “muddy” consciousness. If you can purify your consciousness then you will see that you are full of consciousness like Krishna, then you will become perpetually happy.
Our original, pure consciousness is covered by the mud of this material world. And fortunately in this age there is a very easy and very powerful way to purify our muddy consciousness. That is simply by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So please seriously try this chanting of Hare Krishna and you will see that your consciousness is quickly becoming purified and you will feel that you are coming back to life again.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
I must have alot of mud on me because I have no attraction to this chanting. I guess I’m doomed, eh ? No chant, no mercy. One of them eternally conditioned souls I guess.
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Thank you very much for the reply. As you have suggested, I will try to chant the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra with full devotion. The only problem with chanting is that I can not control my senses and my dirty imaginations. They destruct me from doing my job of chanting. Even though I am forcefully doing my chanting.
Hari Bol,
Your servant,
Dr. Sunil Agrawal.
All gories to srilaprabhpada,
Hari bol prabhu,
How are u prabhu?How is ur life going on?
Prabhu if i recite om namah shivay mantra apart from mahamantra is it contradictory.Why ISKON people prohibit for offering of prayers to lord shiva.If u prayer to any other hindu God apart from krishna ie. lord mahamritanjya & bhagvati sanjivni if we can pray to them for a cause as they have healing powers jurisdiction in the administration of universe .So if we pray to them apart for praying to krishna for the same is wrong.
AS impersonalists merge in impersonal brahma what is the final& highest destination of devotees during this life time.If i asked any thing wrong plz forgive me.
Ur humble servant
Hari Bol prabhu,
Vedas say that brahma is infinite,all pervading,indivisible.
Parmatma is present in every particle of universe. If that means that consiousness is present everywhere & that consiousness is indivisible.Kindly clear my doubts regarding this.
Hare Krishna! I was just wondering, is it better to chant all the 16rounds at one time or can you chant them throughout the day?
You can chant Hare Krishna any time and we are not limited to chanting only 16 rounds. You can chant more rounds also.
Actually when we get a taste for chanting Hare Krishna we will chant Hare Krishna constantly, 24 hours a day. So that should be the goal, constant chanting of Hare Krishna mantra.
The early morning hours are very good for chanting Hare Krishna, but Hare Krishna can be chanted at any time. So yes, you can chant at different times during the day or you can also chant all 16 rounds in the morning…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Blessing to you Madhudvisa-Dasa Prabhu:
“We are associated with the three modes of material nature, ….”
Pl shed further light on this.
Thanks
Charles
hare krishna , your literature is so intoxicating that i dont want to come out of it. hare krishna.
Hare Krishna Madhuvias dasa,
Thanks for sending very important messages abour lord krishna, from to day, shift my focus from material literatures to spiritural literature.
Thanks again for guide me road to Krishna Dharshana.
Yours servant
Visweshwar Rao Potula.
Hare Krishna Prabu.
How are you prabu?
Im very happy to receive prabu’s posts.
The post’s are very helpfull for me.
i want prabu send for me, more post’s like this.
Haribol.
From,
Yss.
i want to know who u r madhudvisa dasa
I have written many articles on http://www.Krishna.org
You can search for all the articles by me, it is possible to get all the articles by a particular author. And simply read them.
If you read what I have said on many different topics then you will come to know me.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna,
what is goloka and what is vaikunth and kshirsagar which are known as abodes of lord.
please reply
Hare Krishna Anurag
There are different parts of the spiritual world. Different abodes of the Lord. The topmost abode and the largest by far is Goloka. That can be called “The planet of the Cows.” Goloka is much larger than all the material and spiritual worlds put together and Goloka is the home of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There Krishna and the cowherd boys look after the cows. Taking them daily into the forests and fields for grazing.
It is perhaps very hard to understand that God is a cowherd boy and He spends his time playing with his cowherd boyfriends and dancing with His young girlfriends. But that is Krishna and Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes.
The Goloka planet is the topmost planet in the spiritual sky, below the Goloka planet there are many Vaikuntha planets, they are also spiritual planets and each Vaikuntha planet has a different form of Visnu as the worshipful Lord. There are many different Visnu forms and you can tell them apart by seeing in which hands they are carrying their weapons. Lord Visnu has four hands carrying four different weapons. He carries the conch shell, the club, the chakra and a flower.
In the Vaikuntha planets Visnu is worshiped in the mode of reverence. In the way one would worship a King. This is the way the Christians worship God, as the Almighty. That is the mood in the Vaikuntha planets. But in Goloka the devotees become Krishna’s cowherd boyfriends or His gopi girlfriends and play with Him or dance with Him. So the relationships between Krishna and His devotees are much more sweet and intimate in Goloka than in the Vaikuntha planets.
As far as “Ksirsagar” That is the island surrounded by the ocean of milk in this universe. On that island Ksirodakasayi Visnu is residing and He is the collective supersoul of all living entities in this universe. It is this form of Visnu who is present within everyone’s heart in the form of supersoul. This abode of the Lord is in one sense temporary as it is manifest and unmanifest as the universe becomes manifest and unmanifest.
When there is some problem in this universe, often caused by the demons, Lord Brahma and the leading demigods travel to the shores of the ocean of milk and from there Lord Brahma prays to Ksirodakasayi Visnu and although Lord Brahma does not directly see Visnu there is some message transmission to the heart of Brahma from Lord Visnu and in this way Lord Brahma and the demigods then understand how to solve the problems facing the universe.
Thank you for the nice question.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Jai Jagannath
I am form orissa thats why i represent lord Krishna to lord Jagannath becoz lord Jagannath is also lord Krishna, do u know the story of hw lord Krishna became lord Jagannath?
Your articles are very nice and should be read by every person in this world. I also chant Hare Krishna Maha Mantra most of the times in mind…Can you tell me can we attain Self-realisation by chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra? Plz reply me soon….
Yes. We can attain self-realization by chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra.
The reason this is possible is that Krishna and Krishna’s name are identical. So when we are chanting the Hare Krishna mantra we are actually associating with Krishna personally.
We develop the qualities of the people we associate with. This happens subtly, sometimes without our noticing it. If you associate with people who have bad habits then gradually you will also develop the same bad habits. Association also works in a positive way if you associate with good people or saintly people.
Of course the best association is to associate with Krishna, and in this age Krishna has made it very easy for us to associate with Him personally. So simply by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
you can get all spiritual benefits even way beyond liberation.
Liberation is only the beginning actually. There is a lot beyond the stage of liberation and understanding what that is is the science of Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am satisfied that you replied me but i just want to repeat the question about Self-Realisation, I mean to say about Self-Realisation that awakening of Kundalini Energy. Can this energy be awakened by chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra? Please reply me.
This is a nonsense question. What are you talking about? Kundalini energy? Chanting Hare Krishna will awaken your love for Krishna and that is all you need.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Respected Mahprabhu jee,
Thank u very very much for sending me your precious, valuable and encouragious E-mails in regular basis. I love my GOD , Almighty, Paramatma, my friend , Parampita, Parammata, … Sri Srikrishna, Sriradha and his all things. Please do not stop your e-mails to me. I am a devotee of Lord Srikrishna and I would like to meet WITH him under the guidance of GITA and your suggestion also. Meet with my LORD Radhakrishna is my ultimate desire before dying. I trying to chant Hare Krishna always - but the families and official activities compel me to stop and suddenly I forget to chant or Uttering Nam Jop.
Is it possible to feel his presence OR meet with him before dying? because we are not good enough… BUT I WANT TO FULFIL MY PURPOSE OF LIFE.
HARE KRISHNA
I am a responsible Family member. I residing in a Joint Family with my Father, Mother and Other Two brothers with their wives and childrens and I also have a Wife and Daughter. Here how can I attain Self-Realization and Is it possible to attain self-realization only by Nam-Job of Hare Krishna ? What can I do to meet with my Krishna ? And how can I get rid my bad habits like anger, vanity etc. etc.? and I want to serve the poor .. and others people.
Please please Reply my answere. I eagarly waiting.
Hare Krishna Surajit
The process of attaining self realization is something that we really have to dedicated ourselves to if we want to achieve it. It means having a different outlook to the other people in the world who are generally simply interested in satisfying their material desires.
It is not possible to give a complete answer to your question in a few paragraphs. That is why Srila Prabhuapda has given us so many books and the subject of these books is how we can attain self-realization. So to answer your question you need to study all the books of Srila Prabhupada.
In this age of Kali the only practical method of self realization is the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha mantra. But there is a science to this and so many other aspects that you need to learn through reading Srila Prabhuapda’s books.
Bad habits like anger, vanity, etc, will automatically disappear as you gradually make advancement in Krishna consciousness when you are following the process of Saddhana Bhakti. So you need to learn this process and follow it and the instructions for this you will find in Srila Prabhuapda’s books.
Serving other people can best be done by giving them spiritual knowledge. That is real service. There is no much point in serving the material body. The body is temporary. The soul is eternal. We should serve the soul by giving him spiritual knowledge. That is the best welfare work.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
Dear Mahaprabhu ji
I was very much influenced by reading ur newsletter-The spiritual world and how to get there.
Guruji,
You have said that any one who remembers Krishna even at the time of death reaches to goloka.
How can this be possible?
suppose he had done big sins in his life and is in no harmony with people and then he remembers Prabhu Krishna at the time of death.
Is his KARMA doesnt matter.
please explain.
yours faithfully
Rajneesh KY
Generally one things of the most prominent thing in his life at the time of death. So if one is sinful or if one is very attached to his family he will think of his sins or his family at the time of death and this will keep him in the material world.
If one has spent his whole life thinking of Krishna and serving Krishna and he has a loving relationship with Krishna then naturally he will think of Krishna at the time of death.
One will think of the thing that is most important to him at the time of death. If the most important thing in your life is Krishna you will remember Krishna. If the most important thing in your life is your family you will think of your family…
There are exceptions. There is a the situation of Ajamila who was initially a good brahmin boy but later became a very sinful man who had a son whom he named “Narayana.” At the time of death he was calling out the name of his son, “Narayana” so it was taken by the Visnudutas that he was calling out the name of Visnu at the time of his death so he was saved and went back home, back to Godhead.
So the chanting of the holy name of Krishna is so powerful that even a sinful man can be saved if he chants the holy name of Krishna offenselessly at the time of death. But you can not count on this. Thinking that I will lead a sinful life and chant Hare Krishna at the time of death and be saved. If you live a sinful life you will not be thinking of Krishna at the time of death and if somehow you do chant the name of Krishna at the time of death that will be offensive chanting. One of the ten offenses of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is to perform sinful activities on the strength of chanting Hare Krishna. This is the Christian concept of confession. A Christian will perform sinful activities thinking that later I will go to confession and the sins will be forgiven. Unfortunately this process does not work. Sins committed in this way will not be forgiven by confession or by chanting Hare Krishna.
So that is is basically, if one remembers Krishna at the time of death he will go to Krishna, but generally one can not remember Krishna at the time of death unless Krishna is the most important thing in his life… And if some sinful man does happen to chant the name of Krishna offenslessly at the time of death then he will go to Krishna…
Madhudvisa dasa
how comes ajamila was chanting offenslessly if he did not practice devotional service all of his life?
best thing is to chant the mantraraja, the mantraraja does not accept any offenses.
Nityananda Gauranaga
Hare Krishna
Indu.
Hare Krishna Indu
Ajamila did practice devotional service as a young man. He was brought up as a good brahmin boy but one day while he was out in the park he saw a low-caste man practically engaging in sex with a prostitute and this attracted his mind so much that he could not get rid of the idea and eventually he left his faithful wife and family and went to live with that prostitute and in her association Ajamila developed all the bad qualities. But he had one son and fortunately called that son Narayana.
So at the time of death he was calling out the name of his son “Narayana.” He was actually calling his son, but also it is stated that he was remembering that same Narayana that he used to worship as a youth. But he was not chanting offensively. He was calling his son. So that chanting was pure and as a result he was liberated by chanting the name of Narayana at the time of death.
As far as what is the best thing to chant that we have to take from the authorities and you are not the authority in this matter. From the authorities, even Lord Gauranaga Himself, we hear:
Hare Nam Hare Nam Hare Nam eva Kevalam Kalu naste kalu naste…. “In this age of Kali, the only way, the only way, the only way, is the chanting of the name of Hari.”
So the most important thing is to chant:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
But as you point out there are offenses considered when chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, therefore before chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra one should chant the Pancha-Tattva maha mantra:
Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhar Srivasadi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda.
Lord Caitanya and the Panca Tattva do not consider any offense. So by chanting this Panca-Tattva maha mantra one can purify himself of offenses and get the mercy of the Lord Caitanya and the Panca-Tattva to chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra. So the point is to become qualified to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. That is ultimately the only way.
Please do not concoct your own philosophy. We have to accept the knowledge as it is handed to us through the disciplic succession. Even Lord Caitanya is instructing us to chant the name of Hari. But you are saying, “No, I will just chant the names of Nitai Gauranaga.”
Although it is nice to chant the names of Nitai and Gauranga, Nitai and Gauranga are preaching, begging us to “Chant the name of Hari…” So we have to follow their instructions, not concoct our own process. This concocting of one’s own process is the business of the sahajiyas. They concoct some chanting process which is not coming in the disciplic succession and generally they take things very cheaply. There are so many sahajiyas chanting so many concocted mantras. Of course they are chanting the names of God. There is “Nita Gaura Radha Shyam Hare Krishna Hare Rama,” of course these are all names of God and chanting the names of God is good. But these mantras are not authorized by the disciplic succession. They are concocted mantras. So they are not recommended.
What is recommended is to chant the Pancha-Tattva Maha Mantra:
Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhar Srivasadi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda.
followed by the Hare Krishna maha-mantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So if we want the best results we should follow this authorized process.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thanks for sending me such nice letter.
Jay Sri Krishna !
I belive in bhagwadgita.
Trying to follow it in this material world.
Jay Shri Krishna Praphu
You May have answered this query many times in the past,inspite of that I would be very greatful if you can answer this question I follow Hinduism We have so many deities even though we too beleive in one god how do we justify the exisitence of So many God and Godess You may beleive the God to be only Krishna but this is also a fact that we have many God and Godesses how do we justify this to the followers of Islam
Hare Krishna Manish
Firstly we do not have to justify anything to the Muslims. Muslims are meat eaters and will not be able to understand very subtle philosophy. There is no point in arguing with them. Just encourage them to chant the name of God [as they understand it].
The actual situation of God has been much simplified in the Christian and Muslim religions, however in the Vedas the complete information is given.
God is one but He is manifest in many different ways. He expands. From the original Krishna many other Visnu forms have expanded. The expansions are described as being like candles lit from one original candle. So all the candles have the same power and the same light, but one of the candles is the original.
So there are many Visnu-Tattva forms that together make up the “Godhead” and Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So in India there are many Visnu-Tattva forms worshiped like Lord Rama, Lord Narasimha, etc.
But there are also many “demigods.” A demigod is generally an ordinary living entity, a jiva-tattva, like you or me, who has been elevated to a position of power in the management of the universe by Krishna. There are many demigods. Sometimes the number 33,000,000 is given. As the different demigods are presiding over different departments of the material world one can select the appropriate demigod and worship him for a particular boon. Most Hindus confuse the Visnu-Tattva incarnations of God and the Jiva-Tattva, ordinary living entity, demigods and consider them all one and make no distinction between God and then demigods. So complete confusion reigns among the Hindus…
So the reality of the Godhead is a little complex and can only really be understood by a devotee of Krishna who sincerely takes to Krishna consciousness and studies these subjects.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Respected Prabhuji,
Thank you very much for your wonderful study / article. I eagerly await for your next article.
Hare Krishna
Subir Das
Hare krishna madhudvisa dasa ji,
I have gone through your article ” spiritual world- how to go there” and also read the post by other reader and found it highly informative. I have no other queires because being a follower of swami prabhupada my knowledge is complete and it agrees with all of what u have wruitten above…..I just want to ask you one thing….THAT WHY DONT YOU SEND THESE ARTICLES TO YOUR INDIAN ISKCON TEMPLE BRANCHES SO THAT THESE CAN BE PRINTED IN BIG INDIAN NEWSPAPERS SO THAT THESE TOPICS CAN REACH A NORMAL PERSON WHO DOESNOT HAS ACCESS TO KRISHNA.ORG OR INTERNET? DONT U THINK THIS STEP WOULD BE OF GREAT HELP FOR THE WHOLE HUMANITY IN BECOMING KRISHNA CONSCIOUS?
PLEASE DO ACT IF POSSIBLE AND LET ME KNOW WHAT U THINK….
LOOKING FORWARD FOR YOUR REPLY..
HARE KRISHNA..
Dear prabhuji
I just want to ask one question …..
Please throw some light on this
does a living entity being a part ant and parcel of the sopreme lord has any independence at all .
I hope u pick up my meaning ..
Hoping to c ur answer ASAP .
Regards,
Atul Maken .
Yes, we have “minute independence.”
We can choose between serving Krishna and serving maya [the material energy]. That is our only independence. We are always servants. We will never be the master.
Hare Krishna James W. Blount, Jr.
Understanding how to travel to the Spiritual heavens.
Yes, self-programming is very necessary for separations of spirit
At the time of death. If one goes about there life without
Harmony of one’s creator then returning to the one whom sent you will
Be impossible.
Self-programming helps to prepare one’s spirit for programmed travel.
Normally, ones spirit operates like an auto-pilot at death.
One spirit will simply travel to a place where spirit exchange takes place.
The growth of harmony with our God, will prepare ones own spirit for
Correct travel back to the one who created our spirit in the first place.
I think enrichment of one mind is important in sprit growth. Yes, doubt,
And Disbelieve are negative factors the causes backward spiritual
Dilation. For some reasons, at time of death the spirit tends to shrink to
Microscopic sizes. I do not really know why. However, the physical Universe may play an important role in that process. Since, we are moving
At great speeds Within the physical heavens perhaps this causes some forms of spiritual Dilation.
Those who excel in science are promise re-birth of lost life in this Universe.
So a fruitful and very harmony relationship with ones own God perhaps
Provides a way for the spirit to expands or grow larger. This growth may
Provide the energies that allow travel back to ones own God.
I found the reading of Travel to the Spiritual Heavens very interesting.
And I wanted to offer my opinion and insights into this very dark
Mystery.
Can i ask is there anything that would stop you thinking of Krishna at the time of death? Is this is all there is to do to reach the heavenly planets in the spiritual sky?
Yes. There are so many things that can cause you to not think of Krishna at the time of death.
You will remember at the time of death what was the most important thing to you during your life. So unless Krishna was the most important thing in your life it is very unlikely that you will remember Krishna at the time of death.
It is a great science. How to ensure one remembers Krishna at the time of death. Srila Prabhuapada has written about eighty books which contain this science. So please study them and make serving Krishna the purpose of your life and then you will have a good chance of remembering Krishna at the time of death. And, yes, if you can remember Krishna at the time of death you will go back home, back to Godhead for sure. Krishna guarantees this in the Bhagagvad-gita. You can look up the verse: yanti deva vrata devan…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hello All,
Well I wanted to say I still with you.
However, I feel true happiness is life in the absence of fear!
I do not think happiness is having freedoms that run against the law.
Harmony is the best way to live ones life.
One can never be free if ones mind is unbalanced with preceptive distortions.
I simply disagree with you!
Our Heavenly Father states that man’s nature is one of sinfulness.
Brother James….
yes i agree with u..everyone have to think about krishna at the time of death..so we can easily goes to krishna kingdom…HARE RAMA..HARE KRISHNA..thanks for sending this newsletters..i love to read it..
I am currently reading the Bhagavad-gita, it came in the mail yesterday. Also a DVD and two companion books. I watched the DVD last night. If I have no problem with the ‘idea’, what is the necessity of the ‘right guru’?
Hare Krishna David
Having the right guru is essential. You will find as you read the Bhagavad-gita that Krishna will advise you to approach a bona fide guru, render service, offer obeisances, and inquire from him submissively. Why? Because such a self-realized person can give you real knowledge because he has seen the truth.
So it is essential that if you accept a spiritual master he must be a liberated soul, a self-realized person. Otherwise accepting a guru who is not self-realized will be a complete and utter waste of time for you because unless one is self-realized he has not seen the truth. And if he has not seen the truth he can not explain the truth to you…
This is very basic. Krishna consciousness 101 if you like. But somehow these days so many devotees are confused on this basic first point of Krishna consciousness and they accept initiation from gurus who they even know in advance are not self-realized. It is quite insane. But it is Kali-yuga and people have lost their intelligence.
But David, you should not loose your intelligence, you should hear this instruction directly from Krishna and believe Krishna. Krishna says the spiritual master must be a self-realized soul because only a self realized soul has seen the truth and therefore only a self-realized soul can give you real knowledge.
Really we are coming to Krishna consciousness to become ourselves ultimately self-realized. We want real knowledge. And this is only available from a pure devotee of Krishna. As I said these are very simple basic points. Krishna consciousness 101. But unfortunatly ISKCON does not agree with this basic fundamental teaching of Krishna and they preach the opposite… They say the spiritual master does not have to be a liberated soul. And they say a conditioned soul can give you real knowledge. But they are crazy. So it is better not to listen to crazy men. It is better to listen to Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
This is on of good idea to know the lord Krishna. I am very glad to read this letter. Hope keep in touch. thank you.
“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare.”
Hare Krishna Sir
I am hightly delighted after reading your article.
after readind this particular article i felt this exactly the same thing i am looking for. sir, i have hindi edition of sri bhagwad geeta as it is and i have started reading the same however, it is bit difficult to understand the same without someone’s guidance but knowledge given by your articles is superb.
sir i awant to share one thing with you personally that as the changes are bound to happen and no one can stop that but i found myself in big difficulty whenevr any change arises in anyone’s behaiour. sir, i want to learn the art of tolerance as well. please sir help me with your divine guidance.
Hare Krishna!
Regards
Lata Prajapati
hare krsna danvat pr ,this is ankit in ur service
first fal i would like to thank u for all the mails u r sending
and pr i totally agree with u and wat supreme personality thinks
so for the above mail i have no queries regarding the same
i m very glad to communicate with u
thank u
hari bol
HARE KRSNA
MAHARAJ YOUR IDEA OF THE PODCAST OF THE BHAGAVAD GITA IS VERY AMAZING. I REALLY ENJOYED IT.IT IS REALLY TOO GOOD. AND YOUR LAST MAIL WHERE YOU WROTE ABOUT THE GOLOKA VRNDAVANA IS REALLY AMAZING. I AM REALLY FORTUNATE THAT KRSNA IS SHOWING HIS MERCY TO ME THROUGH YOU. MAHARAJ PLEASE ME SEND ME MORE INFORMATION SPECIALLY PRACTICAL INFORMATION EXAMPLES THAT I CAN DEVLOP MY “KRSNA CONSCIOUSNESS”.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa prabhu
thank you for sending me the newsletter.
the article is extremely fresh and enlightening.
any discussion about spiritual world is really very hope inducing.
i would like to ask one question
in the article it is written that “one has to cooperate with krishna in order to feel the pleasure”
what kind of cooperation does Krishna demand that is required to become blissful?
i hope my question is clear.
thanks and regards
GOD bless you Madhudvisa prabhu
Brijesh
Revered Madhudvisa Das ji-Hare Krishna, I express deep gratitude for sending newsletter through emaildescribing the way to ‘Spiritual world. it is inspiring.Whatever Lord Krishna has said in GITA is required to be imbibed and realized.But our bad habits and Rajo AND tAMOGUNAS ARE THE STUMBLING BLOCKS IN THE WAY TO THE sPIRITUAL WORLD WHICH i experience personally.Although I HAVE NOT SEEN GOD BUT I KNOW AND BELIEVE WHAT-EVER IS THAT IS GOD. Following the sermon of LORD KRISHNA I WANT TO CONTINUE ”HARI CHARCHA” WITH YOU FOR-EVER[as per Gita-10/9],AND THEREBY REALIZE GOD FOLLOWING THEPROCEDURES AND MEANS IN VERSES-10,11,12 OF CHAPTER-10 PRACTISING THE INSTRUCTIONS OF CHAPTER-6 OF MOTHER GITA. I seek your Guidence and long co-operation-please reflect light and enlighten me, HARI OM-Yours-S.P. Thakur
hare Krishna prabhu, Im 25yr old, Doctor in India. I have attended Folk classes conducted by Iskcon. My question is if i sincerely follow the four regulative principles and chant 16 rounds daily and eat food by preparing Prasadam at home, that is food offered to the Lord, is it possible to go back to Godhead in this birth itself, if im doing all these by being in family..
Hare Krishna Sanjay
Yes Prabhu, you can go back home back to Godhead by chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles even if you stay with your family. But it is not a mechanical process. You have to think of Krishna at the time of death not your family. And if you live with your family until the time of death and remain involved in the family affairs it is likely that you will remember your family at the time of death and then you will have to come back into the material world.
That is why the Vedic culture recommends that family life should not be permanent. After the age of fifty there should be a son who can take over the family affairs and then the father and mother can leave home and use the final years of their lives to become closer to Krishna. And to become detached from the family…