Very Difficult times for new Bhaktas…
Krishna consciousness is a lifestyle which is about as different as possible from the lifestyle we have been trained up to lead in the West. To make the transition training is required. So Prabhupada created ISKCON where he could train his disciples to live a life centered around Krishna and where they could practice pure devotional service…
Hare Krishna My Dear Madhudvisa dasa
Please accept my utmost respect and devotion for your kindly preaching this Krishna consciousness movement. Your articles on this website are very nice. But I am so ignorant on the one point of the guru, for some time I thought I understood but I need clarification. Do I have to except another guru other than Srila Prabupada to be initiated? Or can I become initiated by a representive of Prabupada as my spritual master, how does this work. Please explain this if you could be so kind, and forgive my ignorance so that even a fool like me can understand.
Your humble servant
Steve
Dear Steve
Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Although your questions seem simple they are not easy to answer. So please forgive the delay. I have been thinking about you.
Prabhupada is living and we can get initiation from him, but the reality is not many can do this, certainly not without the help of the system that Srila Prabhupada set up for training his disciples. Prabhupada does not accept disciples very easily.
Krishna consciousness is a lifestyle which is about as different as possible from the lifestyle we have been trained up to lead in the West. To make the transition training is required. So Prabhupada created ISKCON where he could train his disciples to live a life centered around Krishna and where they could practice pure devotional service and where new people could come and associate with the devotees and in that way become Krishna conscious themselves.
But that whole system is now broken and the training is not available. Now ISKCON has no desire whatsoever to follow Srila Prabhupada and they do not like ISKCON as Srila Prabhupada designed it.
Prabhupada created a society of devotees living together in his temples and farm communities. It is this society of devotees living together and striving for pure devotional service that Prabhupada wants. Realistically for practically everyone it is not possible to become Krishna conscious without living in the association of devotees. So Prabhupada’s ISKCON is this association of devotees where sincere students of Srila Prabhupada can live with other sincere students of Srila Prabhupada and together in the association of devotees practice pure devotional service under the direction of Srila Prabhupada. This is ISKCON. But the leaders of today’s ISKCON hate this. They want to be the guru themselves and they want to have their own disciples. But this did not work. It was a great disaster. So now they are just interested in getting a crowd of Hindus to come to the Sunday Feast and trying to extort money from them so they can eat and sleep comfortably. So this is today’s ISKCON. Hinduism with absolutely no tolerance at all for anyone who wants to follow Srila Prabhupada.
So for new bhaktas who actually want to become Krishna conscious ISKCON is not an option. If you associate with ISKCON your spiritual life will be destroyed for sure. Because they will teach you to disobey Srila Prabhupada and to be offensive to anyone who is actually following Srila Prabhupada. Today’s ISKCON trains anyone who comes to it to be an offender to Srila Prabhupada and and offender to anyone who follows Srila Prabhupada. Associating with ISKCON is a recipe for certain spiritual death.
As far as getting initiated you have to find someone who you can surrender to, someone who you accept as being non-different from Krishna, and not only do you have to accept him as that, he actually has to be on that platform — a pure devotee of Krishna — and as we have discussed before that is very rare.
Right now you do not seem to be very clear about what a guru is or who is qualified and what you should do. So the answers to all these questions are in Srila Prabhupada’s books. You need to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada by firstly:
- Chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily
- Following the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication
- Reading all of Srila Prabhupada’s books.
- Engaging in devotional service as you are instructed by Srila Prabhupada in his books
The situation right now is if you cannot do this you are in trouble. Currently there is no accepted way that devotees can become disciples of Srila Prabhupada. It is not so simple as just finding someone to initiate you on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. The whole system that Prabhupada established to accept and train disciples has been broken. Prabhupada’s standard is generally that you have to live in the temple and serve for at least 6 months under one of his appointed representatives and that representative has to be convinced that you are chanting at least 16 rounds a day and following the 4 regulative principles and engaged in serving Krishna according to the instructions of Srila Prabhupada 24 hours a day. That is Prabhupada’s standard. But there are no temples prepared to train you as a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and no Temple Presidents to recommend you to Srila Prabhupada for initiation when they are convinced you are fixed up in chanting your 16 rounds a day and following the regulative principles and rising before 4 in the morning to attend Mangal Aroti and fully engaged in service. So it is a little difficult to say the least.
So if I was you I would not bother yourself so much about the details of initiation. Rather become qualified as a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Develop a taste for chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, develop a taste for reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books to everyone you meet, don’t eat anything that is not cooked by devotees and not offered to Krishna, that probably means you will have to start cooking for Krishna yourself. Consider the possibility that your life may change as a result of surrendering to Krishna, be open to that.
Basically we have to organize our lives so that we are always remembering Krishna, never forgetting Krishna. That is the regulative principle that contains all other regulative principles.
Prabhupada gives the example of the man who wants to purchase gold but goes to the grocery store to purchase it. He is a fool. He does not know that you can not purchase gold at the grocery store. So the grocer can understand that this man has no idea what gold is. So he takes his money and gives him something yellow. That is what ISKCON’s bogus gurus have been doing all these years. And there is a constant stream of fools waiting to be cheated. So the solution is education. If that man had known what gold was firstly he would not be trying to purchase it at the supermarket and secondly he would have been able to tell real gold from the imitation gold.
So if you want to get a real guru you have to be educated what a real guru is. And that educational process is outlined in Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is not a simple thing, it requires great determination, and it may take some time.
And taking initiation from Srila Prabhupada is also not so cheap. He wants disciples who are prepared to surrender. And surrender is not cheap.
I can not give you a simple answer. You have to take the training and become educated so you know yourself. And that education takes time and effort on your part. If you undergo the training you will get the results.
Krishna is in your heart, He will help you, the more you purify your heart by chanting Hare Krishna and performing devotional service under the direction of Srila Prabhupada the more clearly you will see things.
So I am sorry there is no easy answer to your question, but you have to go through the process of saddhana-bhakti, practicing Krishna consciousness under the regulative principles, and become a little fixed-up in this way you will become educated and will know the qualifications of a bona fide spiritual master. Prabhupada is not going to initiate anyone who is not fixed up in the basic principles of Krishna consciousness. We have to be very fortunate to meet a bona fide spiritual master, the opportunity is very rare. It is by the mercy of Krishna that we get a bona fide guru and by the mercy of a bona fide guru we get Krishna.
If you chant the Hare Krishna mantra sincerely and read Prabhupada’s books and try to put what you read into practice in your life your heart will become purified and gradually you will understand very clearly what you have to do. There is no easy answer.
The situation is difficult. The organization that Srila Prabhupada established to accept and train his disciples is no longer functioning in that way and there is no other organization set up to accept and train disciples on Srila Prabhupada’s behalf.
There is no simple answer. You will find the answer by seriously executing the practice of saddhana-bhakti under the direction of Srila Prabhupada and following all the instructions you get from Srila Prabhupada as you read his books.
It is all in your hands. It is up to you. And right now there is not much support for devotees like yourself. Hopefully this will change, but that is the situation at present. As you chant Hare Krishna and as you read Prabhupada’s books and as you serve Krishna with your mind, body and words, your heart will be purified and you will feel transcendental bliss… And Krishna will direct you from within the heart.
The reality is most people need guidance and training by qualified disciples of Srila Prabhupada to come to the platform of Krishna consciousness, to come to the standard Srila Prabhupada requires before he will initiate anyone. But the other reality is such guidance is not available at the moment. So what to do???
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy
Your servant
Madhudvisa dasa
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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Following the Path of the Gopis →
Srila Prabhupada Addresses The World Health Organization →
Today read the note on Very Difficult times for new Bhaktas… and found it interesting and difficult as well. But true depend on Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada books is the only truth available. Important is being sincere and following the regulative principals and continuing the process of chanting 16 devotional rounds without offenses. This will be only way ahead. Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
If we chant 16 rounds and do other devotional activities, then we become separated from everyone around us unless we can preach and make devotees which seems almost impossible for neophyte devotees and then it will be very difficult to manage household life remaining aloof from society. Or will Krishna help us manage these things?
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. Of course. That is why it is best to live in the association of devotees. Then we will not be separated from them. It’s true that a devotee looses his desire to associate with non-devotee and non-devotees are not much interested in associating with a devotee. It is because the interest is different. Non-devotee is always interested in how he can increase his own personal sense gratification but devotee understands this idea, trying to increase our own sense gratification, it a mistaken conception. Actually it is impossible to increase or reduce our sense gratification. We are destined, according to our karma, our past activities in this and previous lives, to enjoy a certain amount as a result of the pious activities we have performed in the past and we are also destined to suffer a certain amount because of our sinful activities in the past.
So we can not increase or decrease our sense gratification. It will come, whatever is destined according to our karma. We can’t change it.
If we look at the karmis, they are working so hard for happiness, and sometimes happiness comes for them, but not because they were working for it, because they are getting a reaction to some pious activities they performed in the past. The proof of this is no karmi is working for suffering or distress, but they are experiencing so much suffering and distress, without working for it. So they don’t work for the suffering, but it comes, similarly if they don’t work for the happiness, it will also come. Happiness and distress, it is coming and going according to their past karma, it is not that they can get more happiness by working for happiness. No.
So devotee knows all this, and devotee loves Krishna, and devotee only works for the pleasure of Krishna. So this is the difference between devotee and non-devotee. The activities are similar. Devotee is cooking, non-devotee is cooking. But devotee is cooking for Krishna, trying to make something nice that Krishna will enjoy, whereas karmi, also is cooking, but he is trying to make something that he wants to enjoy himself.
So this difference of consciousness, difference of objective, between devotee and non-devotee means there is not much in common. Their purpose, objective is different.
So devotees only associate with non-devotees for the purpose of making them devotees. So certainly we can talk to them about Krishna, convince them to purchase Prabhupada’s books, chant Hare Krsihna so they hear the chanting of the holy names, cook bhoga, offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and feed the non-devotees with Krishna prasadam. In this way we can convert the non-devotees into devotees. Then we will be surrounded by people who have a common objective, purpose, to please Krishna, to worship Krishna. That is the idea. That is our mission.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
How will a devotee find a girl for marrying or a suitable boy or girl for his son or daughter when he is living surrounded by non-devotees? Marriage will be a big problem it seems unless he is an advanced devotee who can turn others into devotees.
Of course ultimately one has to depend on Krishna. Krishna knows our desires, we do not have to ask Him, but He will provide what we need to advance in Krishna conscious if we serve Him nicely. So the answer to all problems is to just become Krishna conscious…
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
I’m sorry for the message I sent you recently. Please forgive me. If you had not stressed so much on Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to chant at least 16 rounds, follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours daily, my life would not have changed so much. I need to get answers to some of my questions from you as I have read only a few of Srila Prabhupada’s books and that too only once or twice. So I still need your help Prabhu.
Yes of course, also you could read Prabhupada’s books and find whatever answers you are looking for in them.
Thanks
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Dandavat Pranam
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhu, when I read that not many can become disciple of Srila Prabhupada without training I feel sad and don’t know what to do.
Hare Krishna Aman
Best training is there in Prabhupada’s books, but most people do not bother to take this training. But if you are prepared to take the training directly from Prabhupada, it is all there, in his books. So don’t worry Prabhu, you are not ‘most people.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Please Accept my humble Obeisances .
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Gauranga.
I am 26 years old .I have been following Krishna Consciousness from 5 years.The only problem which I am repeatedly facing from day one of KC life is breaking “illicit sex” regulative principle.I know it is bad to indulge in it then also i repeatedly keep indulging in it.After breaking the 4th regulative principle i feel guilty ,depressed ,all my enthusiasm and motivation is lost to carry out my activities .Because of this problem I am not able to have good relation with other devotees ,with my family members ,i do not take devotees phone calls nor do i reply to their messages.This has been ruining my spiritual life and personal life.Every time I break the 4th regulative principle I shamelessly ask for forgiveness to lord and again i break it after few weeks/days/month this has become habit now for me .Now I am very much ashamed of myself.I have done very filthy activities prabhu..I am very very fallen prabhu .I think their is nobody more sinner than me !! .Will Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna forgive me for all the mistakes I comiited ? Sometimes I feel like non devotees (general mass of people ) are much better than me!.Even after Knowing what is right and what is wrong.I am still doing which is wrong.Knowingly knowingly I am doing it prabhu.It is not that I am ignorant of the illicit sex.I know it is wrong to associate with women or watch vulgar videos and all other things related to illicit sex.
Please help me prabhu .What do i do ,how should I go through atonement process.It is ruining my life .I do not want to indulge in it anymore!!!!.I want to stop it !!!!
I already wasted my 26 years of life.I do not want to waste what ever time left in my life!!
Ys
Surya Patel,
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes. This illicit sex is a very difficult problem particularly in this age when everything is surcharged with sex. But we can understand, at least theoretically, that it is not a good thing, there is no good in it, we feel bad and depressed and deenergized after it.
So the difficulty is there and it is not only you who is facing this difficulty. At least you are honest about it which is very good. There are many ‘big devotees’ who are totally attached to sex life but pretend to be liberated souls. That is cheating.
The thing is defeating this illicit sex requires full absorption in Krishna consciousness. There are some helpful points. One point is sense control starts with the tongue. So if we can control the tongue we can then control the belly and then control the genitals. So first and most important thing is to control the tongue. So tongue has two businesses: vibrating and tasting. So we have to control the tongue so it only ever vibrates the Hare Krishna mantra and Krishna katha, talks about Krishna and we have to also control the tongue by only allowing it to taste Krishna prasadam. So if we can control the tongue in these two ways and also not overeat that will go a long way to help us control the genitals.
So we have done very bad things in the past, we have to put that in the past, there is nothing we can do about the past, and we have to become determined to not do these things again in the future.
We need some positive engagement, some service to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna that keeps us totally absorbed and busy in Krishna consciousness so we are so busy serving Krishna that we have no time to think about sex life. There is an English saying: “An idle mind is the devils workshop,” and it is very true. So we have to keep our minds always busy in Krishna consciousness, and keep all our senses always engaged in serving Krishna. That is the way. So we have to make actual changes to our lives so we are always in Krishna consciousness, never eating foods that are not Krishna prasadam and always taking about Krishna, always chanting Hare Krishna.
So that is the way. If we follow that and also read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books and put into practice the instructions Srila Prabhupada gives us as we read his books, we will be able to successfully conquer this problem of sex life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna prabhu
I have ordered the book Krishna the supreme personality of godhead original two volumes and one on chanting hare krishna from krishnastore.com.
And i am reading read them.everyday for atleast an hour.
Actually i had krishna the supreme personality of godhead book but after reading half of it later i found out that it was not original srila prabhupada’s version and reading it will be no good. So now will be having the original version almost after 3-4 years. So i am feeling happy and a little fortunate for this that i will now have original srila prabhupada’s books as some years ago i was really worried as from where to get srila prabhupada’s original books!!
Hare Krishna Prabhu.
I am in touch with ISKCON Bangalore. I am following the regulative principles and chanting 16 rounds daily. It may be true that the devotees in Bangalore group are not like those who were there at the time of Prabhupad. But to associate with them is better than associating with other group of ISKCON or should I just practice on my own and stay away from both of these.
My only concern is if I practice alone it is very difficult. It is not possible to practice if I stay in my home.I was thinking of joining b ecause everyone here follows the regulative principles,takes prasadam, there is less material influence. It is a much better place to practice Krishna Consciousness than my home. I also noticed that not all the devotees are strictly following all the rules like they were there at the time of Prabhupad. I always felt that the devotees should have been more serious. But I feel that there is no better option available to associate with Prabhupad and Krishna.
Please guide me Prabhu, if I should join or not.
You have to use your own intelligence as I have no idea what is your situation. If you don’t know what to do then chant Hare Krishna and Read Prabhupada’s Books and keep on chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books until you know what to do.
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I went to a temple that is affliated with iskcon bangalore in some ways in USA. I have been feeling distress after coming from there. The temple named Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir is of the”INDIA HERITAGE FOUNDATION NJ NY INC”. I stayed there for the weekend. I stayed there for two weekends and there the devotee was very rude and unkind to me. Did not treat me as a guest. This person putting condition that if i come to live in the temple then i will be searched fully including my wallet and bags and all for nothing. The temple was unclean a whole lot and the bedrooms very very unclean, unorganized and messy. They do follow Prabhupada’s orders by distributing original books and stress on following Prabhupada’s orders but with the way they treated me i do not think they are devotees at least in the purest and unadulterated sense. I am confused.
How should i view any organizations and what to do about Krishna Consciousnes? What to do about this issue? It is messing with my mind. I do not want anything to do with them but that is the closest i came to devotee association.
Hare Krishna
Yes. I have the same experience with ISKCON Bangalore. Not exactly the same, I have seen, in India, they are very ‘pukka’ brahmins and everything is very clean and organized in India, but in India labor cost is cheap and they do everything with paid non-devotee staff. The actual devotees themselves are not doing much except managing and doing the deity worship. So I suspect they can not replicate this model in the US because they can not pay the people to do the cleaning, cooking, etc.
So in India they are organized, well managed and the temples are clean and they are nice devotees. But they are not like Prabhupada’s devotees. It is strange. They are nothing like what Prabhupada’s devotees used to be like. It is a completely different thing. And I do not find any joy or inspiration from them. They are very organized, they have made a very big successful business. But they do not seem to have the basic idea at all of what Srila Prabhupada’s mission is.
So I think they are more-or-less just as useless as ISKCON.
The problem is everything is broken at the moment, both in ISKCON and in ISKCON Bangalore. So we have not really got any alternative right now except reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and chanting Hare Krishna and becoming Krishna conscious ourselves. That is just the way it is at the moment. There is no organization currently operating that is following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, at least as far as I can determine.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
This person is a young indian boy with mental illness. His actual name is Avikam. Our devotees kindly allowed him to stay in our temple over the weekends as he requested to do services in temple. He has stolen money kept in our gift shop, our devotees caught him red handed. He wore shorts , done crazy things in the temple. He did not do chanting , waking in temple with shorts without taking bath. He was teasing kids by pouring water, their parents were very angry and frustrated. We tolerated him and finally told him that he can not stay in temple on weekends. In fact when he had no money, our devotees paid for commute. His parents rejected him , we tried to help.
He had eaten Bhoga from the plates, eaten fruits before we offer to Gopinath. He is crazy. He also stole books from temple.
Yes. Avikam is totally crazy. So problem is Krishna consciousness can not be understood by crazy people. We have to know this. It is useless trying to preach to crazy or lazy people. They can not understand Krishna consciousness. We have to find sane people and spend our time and energy convincing them to become Krishna conscious, not waste our time with crazy and lazy people.
At times I feel I should immediately leave everything and go into association of devotees where I can live Krishna Conscious life but unfortunately there is no such place now….This material world is very dangerous place! Everyone please take shelter of Srila Prabhupada who has come to save us.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Hare Krishna Prabhu
PAMHO
Iskcon BANGALORE in INDIA is strictly following Prabhupada and neophytes undergo training for 6 months before they may get initiated as disciples of Srila Prabhupada.
Hare Krishna! Lord Krishna’s words that “my devotee never perishes” is the only hope for me and all other neophyte devotees like me whom I have met so far….All I can do and tell others to do is to never give up and keep striving hard to get the mercy of Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Hari bol!
Hare Krishna Prabhu.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
How should we identify myself when someone asks me.. questions like’Are you from ISKCON?’
I know that ISKCON, Hare Krishna Movement, Gaudiya Matha are all bogus.
But if I say I donot belong to ISKCON then how should I identify myself?
Like when Srila Prabhupada was personally present on this planet,when devotees would say that they belong to ISKCON and then everyone understood.
Yours servant
Hrishikesh
We belong to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, that is all.
Hare Krishna Prabhu! Asuras in the previous yugas were far better it seems. These days although they do not have so much power but are more fallen and they are everywhere, in every family. Lord Chaitanya’s pure teachings must be spread everywhere otherwise time is not far when this planet will become hell as people are busy exploiting the material resources and have no real knowledge of God.
Anyway I’m sure Bhakavatsal Bhagavan Krishna is very merciful and when He sees the circumstances He will help the neophyte devotees like me. That is only hope for us it seems.
Hare Krishna Aman
Demons are a joke today. They have no power, no potency. In the past demons followed the Vedic principles and got power in that way. Like Hiranyakasipu. He was the greatest demon but a great Vedic scholar and when he wanted to become more powerful to kill Visnu the way he increased his power was by following the Vedic process of tapasya. But today’s demons do not follow the Vedic principles so they are just weak fools.
Everyone, even the so-called demons, will be attracted by Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtan movement. If we could just get some serious devotees who were prepared to push on Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement seriously…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Will there always be some demons in the material world?
Yes. In the material world practically everyone is a demon. The material world is for demons. Only demons come to the material world. If we were not demons why would we come to the material world. Demon means we want to act for our own personal interest, devotee means we want to act for Krishna’s interest, for Krishna’s pleasure. So we only come to the material world for our own selfish demonic reasons.
The devotees are in the spiritual world, the demons are here in the material world…
So it is normal to be a demon in the material world. Another English saying: ‘It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss…’ So the devotees are wise, but in the material world everyone is a demon and they are thinking that ignorance is bliss… So it can be a bit of a battle to try to become a devotee in the material world.
But yes, material world will always be full of demons… What we want to do is save them. Help them realize they are suffering terribly in the material world and that there is an alternative, there is another place, there is the spiritual world, the Kingdom of God, and that we can go there and be happy. So we want to help all the demons become Krishna conscious and help them go back home, back to Godhead. The problem is they don’t have any idea there is any place beyond the material world and all their hopes and desires and aspirations are firmly rooted to the material world. They have no idea there is such a place as the spiritual world, they have no idea they can go there, and they have no idea they are suffering here in the material world.
We have a big job ahead of us…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Yes! It is really a big job and so if we do it we will please Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna and that will be the best achievement for us!
Hare Krsna prabhuji. Prabhuji when i go on Krishna.org statistics it says ” 403 Forbidden
You do not have permission to view this page.” Prabhuji why does it says that. Am i really forbidden. Can you fix it so that i can access the krishna.org statistics please. Thank-you for hearing the problem.
Hare Krishna Rohit
Stats are back, thanks for letting me know about this problem.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna prabhuji. dandvat pranam. Prabhuji by the mercy of krishna and his devotees, i have left eating onion, garlic, tea and coffee after coming from Mayapur. So, are all the cold drinks considered as intoxicated?
Another query is i want to wear kanthi (tulsi beads) but the thing is that i think i may not be able to offer bhog to krishna everytime i will eat. But, i am trying my best to do that but it needs some more time. So, in this case, can i wear kanthi if i am following the four regulative principles?
Hare Krishna Isha
It is very good news you have given up tea, coffee, garlic, onions, etc.
The real point is these things can not be offered to Krishna and we only want to accept Krishna prasadam. So as you are doing we just have to organize our lives so we can cook and offer the bhoga to Krishna so we will have the prasadam available. It is essential for our spiritual advancement that we must not eat anything which is not Krishna prasadam. So it means we have to organize to prepare and offer the bhoga to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna ourselves if necessary.
As far as wearing the kanthi I can not say. You have to decide these things yourself. If you are following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and making the arrangements to offer the bhoga to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna so you will have the Krishna prasadam to respect and distribute then I think it is OK, but you have to decide these things yourself in the current situation. You can pray to Krishna for inspiration, read Srila Prabhupada’s books for inspiration.
Very often if you have a question all you have to do is pick up one of Srila Prabhupada’s books and read it and he will answer your question for you…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am in a very very difficult situation. In the past few days and even now I am literally facing persecution.
My grandfather caught me giving two SP books of mine to my friends, and has called this book distribution as ISKCON brain washing propoganda. No sooner, my father a computer engineer has taken over my computer and deleted all pdf files of SP books I had downloaded from your website. So I can no longer read 1 hr daily. He is too good in computer to hide anything away from him. Even visiting this website which has helped me all along has become too risky. Moreover daily lectures like “ISKCON will destroy your career(although I stay far from it)””…….. have begun. I am afraid I will fall down without SP books and i also fell lonely without SP books and even no selling. Only 16 rounds I am doing with great difficulty. Will I fall down? Krishna promises devotee will never perish but what if my grand parents destroy my KC by being too strict. Pls pls give a reply to encourage me and give me solace
Hare Krishna Daniel
Yes. You just have to keep on with Krishna consciousness inspite of the demons. It is a fight, we have to realize that and fight.
It is so easy to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. You can download the PDFs or ebooks, you can read online at http://www.prabhupadabooks.com, there are so many ways. So don’t stop reading Prabhupada’s books, don’t stop chanting Hare Krishna, don’t stop distributing Prabhupada’s books.
Don’t stop anything. Of course you can speak sweetly to your family and agree with whatever they say but actually you do not change anything you are doing at all. Rather you read Prabhupada’s books more, you chant Hare Krishna more, you distribute more books…
Just see it for what it is. Demons trying to stop you from becoming Krishna conscious.
We can never give up fighting. The material world is like that. There will always be the attack of the demons. But Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna and His holy names are the most powerful thing anywhere.
So… Chant Hare Krishna and be happy. Forget about the demons. Be Krishna conscious and no one can touch you.
Hare Krsna ,
Prabhu, I am in a difficult situation. Now I am in a college and residing in a hostel. Here the people are fully materialistic. They always talk about sex, women, modern science, drink, smoke etc. etc. They have almost ruined my whole consciousness. There are some mohammedan boys, with one I spoke about Krsna thinking that he is little interested- but I found him to be more interested in girls and thinks that God is formless. He did not accept anything I said and always tries to blaspheme the Vedas. He did not accept anything I said but rather believes in Darwin, Hawking etc etc. What do you think about these mohammedans? Have I done offence to the holy name by trying to speak about Krsna to them? There are also some Hindus who do not believe in God, some believe that God is formless, nature is God and anything rascaldom, within and ouside of my imagination. They always play sex songs, talk about girls.
Prabhu, now I find myself in a very difficult situation. I am now bound to associate with these materialists all day long. Everyone is trying to discourage me in practicing Krishna Consciousness. What should I do Prabhu.
Hare Krishna Hrishikesh
Yes, it is a very difficult situation we find ourselves in for sure. As far as the Muslims I am sure they are OK but only when they stop identifying as Muslims. When people are in a group like that they have to act in such a way that they look good in the group. So if being a Muslim is important to him then he will feel obliged to make fun of the Vedas, etc. But as you say they have no interest in being Muslims either. They are interested in illicit sex and modern science, both of which are against the Muslim ideas also.
The reality is in the material world devotees are rare. But everyone except the devotees is going to Hell. So we have no alternative than to become devotees. And that will mean that the materialistic people will not understand what we are doing.
So there is no mystery what you should do. You should become Krishna conscious. And when you are Krishna conscious as Krishna is within your heart, He will guide you and show you what He wants you to do for Him. So just read Srila Prabhupada’s books and follow the instructions you find him giving you as you read his books. And try to minimize your association with the materialistic people. And try to find a few who you can talk to about Krishna, who will chant Hare Krishna with you, etc.
It seems at times a very difficult task, becoming Krishna conscious, and even more difficult making the whole world Krishna conscious. But that is the mission Srila Prabhupada has left for us. So ultimately we have to do it. There is nothing else worthwhile to use this human form of life for.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I am in a huge problem in a sense that i am feeling very strange. In the other comments i have read you were right that i should try to become Krsna Conscious in the situation i am in instead of changing. I have come to india for six months october 2015 till april 2016 to my grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousin brother. Things are better but still not good enough. They are very supportive of Krsna Conscious on the most part. My aunt is very supportive, inquisitive, interested and calls herself follower of Krsna(although she is not but I admire her liking of me doing my spiritual activities. But i went to vacation with my aunt and uncle and other aunt and uncle(my cousin’s uncle and aunt). Both uncles drank beer and so on and both aunts to my knowledge drank wine. They do not drink at home but did on vacation and that also with us children on the vacation. Prabhuji when coming here I have concentrated and been more sincere in Krsna Consciousness than I have at my own house and plus my aunt shows interest. But I cannot let go of the fact that both my uncles and aunts drank alcohol and plus because of it i am hesitating to associate with them. I myself do not go and talk/associate with them, go with them to badminton which they asked me and answer them when they ask me anything on the most part because I cannot live with the fact that they drank alcohol. I will associate with my grandparents and cousin but not my uncle and aunt. In one way I think that everyone is more or less materialistic so does not matter much but on the other hand I cannot live with the fact that they drank alcohol. And plus my aunt shows great interest in Krsna Consciousness but still I do not want/feel like associating with her. What should I do regarding the matter of association with my aunt and uncle and people like my aunt and uncle and non-devotees in general?
Hare Krishna Mehra
Yes. We are living in a very difficult time. It is hard to find anyone in the material world who is not a materialist. So you are right not to want to associate with them very much. Just officially. Obviously the family members you have to associate to some extent. But minimize it. You are doing the right thing.
As far as your aunt if she is interested in Krishna consciousness you can encourage her. The point is you can not expect everyone to be perfect. We have to try to be perfect ourselves but other people we can not expect them to be perfect. So if she is interested to hear about Krishna and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and if you can cook something nice and offer it to Srila Prabhupada and distribute the prasadam that is very good.
So you should not be nasty towards her. But you are right in not wanting to associate with her very closely. As preachers we have to learn how to give our association to others without taking their association. Otherwise there can be no preaching. Obviously we have to talk to the materialists about Krishna, otherwise they will never be able to become Krishna conscious.
So we have to learn how to talk to them about Krishna without letting them talk to us about all their nonsense material sense gratification. It is an art and we have to learn that art.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. You talk about learning the art in your statements, “So we have to learn how to talk to them about Krishna without letting them talk to us about all their nonsense material sense gratification. It is an art and we have to learn that art.”
So how and where to learn this art. This question you never ever answered but you say we should learn the art. How and where prabhuji.
Krishna consciousness requires training. That training is unfortunately now not really available. That is why Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON, to give that training. But they do not give that training anymore unfortunately.
Srila Prabhupada has put all the training in his books. Everything is in his books. So if you read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books then you will get the perfect training in all matters from Srila Prabhupada himself directly.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
This is in regards to previous post or inquiry. I am going to write a letter or email to the person i am going to be convincing. So if you could help me in how to convince him by writing a email to him it would be good.
avikam
It is very good that you are suggesting they get Srila Prabhupada’s books but as far as the details how to convince them I don’t know Prabhu. You have to chant Hare Krishna yourself and do it yourself. Surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and Krishna will help you. He will give you inspiration from within the heart. That is how Krishna consciousness works.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. In my area in the library i have in the suggest for purchase section i suggested one time to buy Prabhupada Library. And right now even in the present have suggested for purchase Chaitanya-caritamrta in thesuggest for purchase.
Prabhuji can you give me the general reviews or the link to the general reviews of all of Srila Prabhupada’s books they are. (Especially the scholarly ones.) They did not purchase the book because it was not availble from their book supplier.
They say they have three Bhagavad gita as it is. “http://merl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/mcl/search/results?qu=bhagavad+gita+as+it+is&te=”. This is the link to the Bhagavad Gita as it is.
And can you also tell me how to convince them to buy Srila Prabhupada’s books even though it is not available from their book supplier.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Forget about the issue. i have solved the issue of food for now by keeping choosing out of a whole lot of printed to keep some and throw others. feel really bad doing it. really really bad.
I don’t understand what you are saying. As far as food it is simple. We just get nice quality vegetables, fruits, grains and milk products and prepare them, cook them for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and offer them and then we get to respect Krishna prasadam. Simple thing.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I thought a lot of whether I wanted to say this or not but should tell you. My mother is asking me to throw printed material of some of your articles and comments that help me with Krsna consciousness and life. I am refusing to do it. But my mother she has put a condition that she will not cook for me. So I am eating frozen foods and other things I could get my hands on. It has worsened my condition physically. What should I do. I cannot part with it. But whatever you say I will follow. I promise. If I don’t follow I will say I will not follow and never write to you again. I promise that.
Your mother is obviously a demon so it is not possible for her to cook for Krishna. So just cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna yourself.
Eating frozen foods and whatever you can get your hands on means you are eating bhoga, unofferred food. And Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that eating this unoffered food is just eating sin.
So it is not possible for you to become Krishna conscious unless you surrender to the idea that you can only accept Krishna prasadam. And that means you have to cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna yourself. Just stop being lazy and do it. Cook for Krishna, offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and never eat anything else. That is what I do and that is what all devotees do if they are not living in a temple where the prasadam is available.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I would like to have counsel from you on some issues in life that are eating at me. I feel you are the right person to discuss with because no one in life is in support of me through what I am going through and instead blame me for what is happening to me. I am very distressed and baffled in life. No one is fighting for me. I feel all alone and have no one I can truly discuss the issues with. I want to know where I was wrong and where others were wrong. And what I deserved and what I did not. And what type of actions are right or wrong. Externally I am harassed unnecessarily I feel and blame others for it even though it is my karma. I am stuck in a very hard places. And the issues I am in are typical issues in my life. Anyways in short can you counsel me on the issues I have and will be honest and open about every detail of it. I have nothing to hide or lie about. So please help me. In whatever way I respond things just get worse so I need your help sincerely. Please.
Hare Krishna Avikam
I have already advised you what you need to do and you do not do it so I can not help you.
The only solution to your problems, and everyone’s problems is to become Krishna conscious. And that is a science that is perfectly taught by Srila Prabhupada in his books and classes. So you need to learn it from Srila Prabhupada, not from me.
I have told you in every email that I have ever written that you need to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. But you have never done these things. Krishna consciousness is totally impossible for anyone who is not prepared to at least surrender to these basic things. And following these principles strictly is not a very great achievement. It is just the beginning of spiritual life.
So without surrendering to and strictly following these things there is no spiritual life actually. Only sentiment. So sentiment is useless. We have to be serious to seriously follow these things otherwise Krishna consciousness is impossible for us.
So your only problem is you absolutely refuse to follow even the basic things.
I can not tell you any more than what I have already told you and I am absolutely not interested in your life in maya or talking to you about it.
You don’t understand that Krishna consciousness means giving up our own personal interest and just working for and thinking about Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. The only way to solve our problems is to become totally absorbed in Krishna consciousness.
You are to blame for everything that is happening to you. A devotee never blames anyone else for their problems. Even if someone appears to be attacking us we do not blame them or feel bad about it. In the material world no one is working independently. Everyone is controlled. We can be controlled by maya or controlled by Krishna. So we do not blame the actor, we know the cause of the action is our sinful activities in the past.
So you know the way a devotee thinks and the way you are thinking is totally different. You are thinking like a materialist in the bodily concept of life. But we are not the body. We are eternal servants of Krishna. And the only way we can solve our problems is by reinstating our position as servants of Krishna.
I have already written everything I can to you and my suggestion is the same now as it always is. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. That is all. Nothing else from me. Everything else you will learn from Srila Prabhupada.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Okay you don’t want to talk about my life or life in Maya. Let’s not talk about it. And I should surrender to Srila Prabhupada by following the basic principles. I don’t know how to say it but the problems in my life need to be sorted out still and things need to be done by me do you agree. So I should priotize my time between following the basic principles and doing something about the problems of life. Or I do nothing about it or the problems in my life. I am stuck with problems in life. Just somehow accept or just go with the situation life throws at me orwhatever life throws at me and practice Krsna Consciousness with the hope of the it solving my problems in this time.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Becoming Krishna conscious is the only thing that you can do to solve the problems of your life. It is the only solution. As you become Krishna conscious all the problems of your life will disappear. So our only business is to become Krishna conscious. And becoming Krishna conscious is a scientific process. So we have to learn the science from Srila Prabhupada by reading his books and listening to his classes and following the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gives us as he reads the books.
You have to realize that you are not the only one who has problems. Everyone in the material world has huge problems. And those problems are only symptoms of not being Krishna conscious.
So the solution to everyone’s problems is just to become Krishna conscious. There is no need of bothering with the problems because if you just become Krishna conscious then all the problems will go away. Krishna consciousness is the only solution to everyone’s problems…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Just to clear all past things I am sorry for anything bad. I want to leave that past behind. So I would like to request you to please leave the past aside and help me.
I am having too much difficulty in practicing Krsna Consciousness. Its about mind, body and surrounding like people,etc. I just cannot get my mind to do it. I try but not more than 15 to 20 minutes reading books a lot of time. And chanting on beads is more difficult. And plus I am so badly addicted to television and computer (except for krishna.org and two more sites like krishna.org)and games I cannot go without an hour or two especially when have access to to them. It is just too difficult. I pray to Srila Prabhupada , Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu ,Nityananda Prabhu, Balarama, and Radha-rani and Krsna.
But I need more help. I was thinking about it for a long time but thought not to because I wanted to do this on my own but can you pray to Srila Prabhupada, Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Balarama, Radha-rani and Krsna that I can be engaged in surrendering to Srila Prabhupada and Krsna and becoming Krsna Conscious. Can you also chant Hare Krsna mantra for me to get the determination, sincerity and energy to surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krsna.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Of course I am always praying that you will be engaged in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna Prabhu. And so is Srila Prabhupada of course. That is the mood of a devotee. A devotee wants to see everyone engaged in the service of Krishna. But realistically Prabhu the only person who can engage you in Krishna conscious is you. You have to take the responsibility of becoming Krishna conscious yourself.
It is easy actually. Very easy. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna is the owner of everything. Krishna is the enjoyer of everything. Everything belongs to Krishna so we have to use everything in the service of Krishna. If we take something and try to use it for our own sense gratification then that is stealing Krishna’s property. Everything belongs to Krishna so everything has to be used in the service of Krishna for the pleasure of Krishna.
So we have to change our lives. We have to forget about ourselves, forget about trying to satisfy our own desires, forget about trying to satisfy our own senses. Instead we have to concern ourselves with satisfying Krishna’s senses, serving Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna.
And I have told you thousands of times that the beginning point of Krishna consciousness is that we have to actually accept this little tapasya, means voluntary suffering for the sake of making spiritual advancement, of chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. Even if it takes us 8 or 10 hours to do it, we have to do it. We have to be prepared to strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication, and we have to be prepared to start a serious program of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. And this is just the beginning point. It expands from this point.
Anyone can do these things Prabhu. It just requires determination and dedication. You just decide that you will do it and you do it. Of course we may fail, fall down, from time to time. Of course we should never fall down. But sometimes it may happen because of our past bad habits. So if it happens we just have to rededicate ourselves and very sincerely pray to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada to give us the strength to never fall down again. But really it is a science. We have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and learn the science of Krishna consciousness and live our lives according to that science and we will then be very firmly fixed in Krishna consciousness and will not fall down.
So really Prabhu you know I have already written to you hundreds of times what you have to do and I know you do try very sincerely to follow and this sincere trying is of course noticed by Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and you are getting spiritual credits for whatever sincere attempts you make at chanting Hare Krishna, reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, following the regulative principles, etc. So do not feel hopeless. And keep on chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books no matter how crazy your mind is and ultimately you will become a pure devotee of Krishna.
But it requires determination and dedication and tapasya [austerity] on your part. And I do not think you are very much practiced in determination, dedication and tapasya. That is the problem. But you have to train yourself. We have been trained up wrong. We have been trained up as hedonistic materialists who are only interested in trying to satisfy our own desires and senses. But we can never be satisfied in this way. We can only be satisfied by serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
So we have to completely forget our own personal interest and instead work for the interest of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. In this way our personal interests will also be automatically satisfied.
So it is all a great science and Srila Prabhupada has explained everything in his books so please read them yourself and chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Avikam,
Please read Madhudvisa dasa ji’s comment first, then this.
Actually I have undertaken a project of constructing the structure of the universe according to the Srimad Bhagvatam. This is a huge project and requires a few intelligent people are have a good sense of understanding and a good knowledge of computers.
Since you spend 1-2 hours on computer I request that you learn blender so that you can also join this team to construct the universe. Even I am spending 2 hours on computer, 1 hour to read canto 5 of the Bhagavatam to understand the universe and the other hour to learn blender from wiki Blender Noob to Pro document. By the way Blender is one of the popular softwares for even creating the games you play. SO learning it (that too for serving Srila Prabhupada) is 1000 times more interesting than the game itself, I assure you.
By the way as this project progresses, we would require a great labour force. So if you could join us right from the beginning it would be of great help to us and a great engagement to you.
For more info please read this comment.
https://krishna.org/astronomy-debunked-solar-eclipses-are-not-caused-by-the-moon/#comment-83936
Eagerly waiting for you reply.
Your servant
Divine
Hare Krishna prabhuji
please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
prabhu, so should I not associate to much with iskcon devotees since they are not truly following Prabhupada and they also tell me I should move in to the temple. I wanted to but now I’m not to sure. Please give me advice on what I should do. I really want to have associate with devotees so where should I go if not to the temple?
Hare Krishna Omji
Yes. It is a very difficult time for sure. Unfortunately if you move into and ISKCON temple they will convince you that Srila Prabhupada is dead and gone and you need to surrender to a “living guru”. It is not that they will have to force you. The power of association is very strong. Just by living with them you will loose your faith in Srila Prabhupada and you will come to believe that you have to surrender to some admittedly non-liberated conditioned soul “guru” who is authorized by the GBC.
Of course this is insane. Krishna orders in the Bhagavad-gita “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.” (Bg 4.34) So Krishna is ordering you to approach a self-realized soul who has seen the truth. ISKCON will tell you that what Krishna says in the Gita is rubbish. They will tell you that you do not need a self-realzed soul as your spiritual master. You only need a GBC approved conditioned soul. And the crazy thing is you will believe them because you are living with them. Association is so powerful.
So by joining ISKCON you will go to hell by accepting a conditioned soul as your guru and you will never actually know what Krishna consciousness is. Because Krishna consciousness can only be experienced by someone who has the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna. One can never become Krishna conscious if he accepts a conditioned soul as his guru.
So my suggestion is that you stay completely away from ISKCON. They have no power to help you advance in spiritual life but they are very expert in destroying your natural spiritual advancement.
Your key to spiritual life is Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada is living in his books. READ THEM.
Actually surrender to the basic things. Really get out of bed every morning before 4:00 AM. Really actually chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. Really actually strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and really actually read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day.
Most “devotees” say they do these things but hardly any of the actually do it.
You have to be the one who really actually follows the four regulative principles, really actually reads all of Srila Prabhupada’s books over and over again, and really actually chants at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. Without really actually surrendering to these simple basic things there is no chance you will every experience Krishna consciousness…
So stay away from ISKCON and chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa prabhuji,
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
So how then can we become initiated disciples of His Divine Grace? Is a physical formal initiation necessary or can we become initiated by following His instructions? And what about devotee association, are there really no pure devotees in iskcon?
And last, can we go back to Godhead just by following four regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds, reading Srila Prabhupadas original books, preaching and eating Krishna prasadam that was first offered to Srila Prabhupada?
Hare Krishna Omji
Actually the formal initiation ceremony is not the important thing. The important thing is surrender. You can sit in a wonderful fire sacrifice with Srila Prabhupada personally present and with brahmanas chanting so many mantras and a big big fire. But if you do not actually surrender to Srila Prabhupada then you do not get initiated. You do not become a disciple.
But if you just read Srila Prabhupada’s books and surrender to him and follow the instructions Srila Prabhupada gives you as you read his books then you become initiated. You become Srila Prabhupada’s disciple. Disciple means you agree to be disciplined by the spiritual master. So it means you surrender to Srila Prabhupada and agree to follow his instructions. This is initiation. Srila Prabhupada is living in his books and he can certainly initiate us through his transcendental books.
There can not be pure devotees in ISKCON because ISKCON has rejected so many of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and requires all the gurus and disciples in ISKCON to also reject these instructions of Srila Prabhupada. ISKCON is institutional offensiveness. It is an institution that trains its members to disobey so many of Srila Prabhupada’s orders and trains them to be offensive towards any devotee who actually wants to surrender to and follow Srila Prabhupada. So no pure devotee could bear to live in ISKCON nor would they be permitted to live in ISKCON. To live in ISKCON one must surrender to the GBC. Someone who is actually surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna will not be tolerated in ISKCON.
Of course there may be some pure devotees. Who can know. But if they show themselves as actually surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna they will be quickly driven out of ISKCON.
And yes of course we can go back to Godhead just by following four regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds, reading Srila Prabhupada’s original books, preaching and eating Krishna prasadam that was first offered to Srila Prabhupada? There is something else we have to do really. And that is surrender to Srila Prabhupada. We have to surrender. That is the rarest thing, surrender, that is why a pure devotee is so rare. Because we do not want to surrender and without surrender we can not become pure devotees…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I am sorry for you to utilize the time you have for this inquiry but have to ask.
You said “Of course there may be some pure devotees. Who can know. But if they show themselves as actually surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna they will be quickly driven out of ISKCON.”
Why would they be pure devotees in Iskcon if iskcon hates pure devotees and would not let them live in iskcon if iskcon understands them to be pure devotees.
And why would pure devotees choose to live in iskcon and not “show themselves as actually surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna” to not be thrown out of iskcon. There must be really good reasons for pure devotees to live in iskcon according to logic but i don’t think they is any good reason. And how can anyone even be a pure devotee living in iskcon. It is impossible to be a pure devotee in iskcon and even if you are to not show that you are surrendered to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. i cannot find the comment that says to read the Sanskrit text version also along with English text version of the verses. You said to read the Sanskrit text version along with English text version as these are mantras. Mantras meaning that they are spiritual mantras that will have spiritually benefit if i read out loud and hear the sound vibration of the mantras.
What do you say to what i have. Can you confirm the parts that i have said is right ? And reply accordingly to have full understanding of what i am trying to understand about reading the Sanskrit version along with the English version of the text and its benefit(s)?
Hare Krishna Issac
Yes. You have understood it correctly. The Sanskrit verses are all Vedic mantras which have great power when chanted out loud. So you should read the Sanskrit verses out loud and then read the English also. That will help you a lot. If you can read everything out loud that is very good.
Personally I read the Sanskrit Verses and Srila Prabhupada’s translations and purports all out loud and it works very well for me. I do not read the word-for-word so much but it would be good to read that also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have a very important question to ask. I have started meeting with a person most of the times on a weekly basis. And i told him what i do including have read Bhagavad gita a few days ago. He asked me if Bhagavad gita is a religious book and i said yes. He said that whenever we meet i can tell him what i read in Bhagavad-Gita briefly.
What should i do? Should i briefly tell him what i read or convince him to buy the bhagavad gita from krishnastore.com and read it himself to better understand what the gita is saying then what i can describe him briefly or what should i do.
And can i tell him to chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare for 30 minutes like i remember i did when i was seeing back and forth and flipping pages of the Bhagavad gita (revised and enlarged) and after like few weeks or around a month i inclined to search/ go deep into finding out about Krsna Consciousness and starting to practice to certain degree in the beginning. If it worked for me it can also work for him.
But i feel he might not go with chanting or maybe he will. I don’t know unless i tell him and see what is his response.
But main question is what should I do when he is asking me to briefly state what I read in Bhagavad gita?
Hare Krishna Mehra
You can speak with him about the things you read in Bhagavad-gita. You can explain that the first lesson of the Bhagavad-gita is that we are not these material bodies, but that we are the spirit souls who are within and who are the drivers of these material bodies. This is the beginning of spiritual life. Understanding that we are not these material bodies, we are the spirit soul within. And it is very important to understand that our needs as the spirit soul are completely different from the needs of the material body. The material body wants to eat. sleep, mate and defend. But these are not the needs of the spirit soul. These are not our needs. Our needs are different.
So the disease that we are all infected with in this material world is that we are misidentify ourselves with our material bodies. I am thinking I am an Australian man, you are thinking you are an Indian women. But this type of thinking is mistaken. We are not these material bodies. The bodies are temporary only. We have had so many bodies before this body and after this body will may have so many more bodies also. But we, the spirit souls, remain the same.
So this is one point but there are so many more points. If you do not know what to say then I think you need to read Bhagavad-gita As It Is again yourself. If you read it then you will be able to explain to others what is in it. At least to some extent.
And yes, certainly encourage him to get it and read it himself also. But he will be more likely to do this if you can explain what it is about nicely.
You know you can give the background. That it was a family fight between the Kuravas and the Pandavas and the Bhagavad-gita is a relatively short conversation [only 700 verses] between Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His friend Arjuna, that took place just before the fighting started. Arjuna became bewildered because when he saw both armies on the battlefield ready to fight he could see that they were almost all his family members and friends and he was thinking if we fight this battle and even if we are victorious then practically all my family members and friends will be killed in the fight and therefore that victory will be another kind of defeat for us.
So Arjuna came to the conclusion: “Krishna I shall not fight”. So then Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to eliminate the bewilderment of Arjuna and to encourage him to fight in this battle.
You know. You can read it yourself and then you can explain what it is about to others.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. There is a lot of disturbances in the house like rest or some of the family watching t.v a lot of the times during the day. Is it possible and will i get the best result of reading Prabhupada’s books or chanting Hare Krsna mantra.
Hare Krishna Mehra
In this Kali-yuga we have to expect that there will be so many disturbances and inconveniences in our attempts to perform devotional service. So we have to become very patient and determined and continue with our Krishna conscious duties in spite of all disturbances. So you just have to look at your situation and make the best arrangements you can for your Hare Krishna chanting and reading of Prabhupada’s books.
We must chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and we have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. So we just have to do this, no matter what is going on around us, and if we stick to this very seriously in time Krishna may adjust the things around us and it may become more conducive for our chanting and reading. Anyhow we can not stop. We just have to ‘make the best use of a bad bargain’ and keep chanting Hare Krishna and keep reading Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have taken your advice and reading the books despite the noise of the T.V. Is it okay or does it count if i am doing my best and read the books when the T.V is on and making noise.
Hare Krishna Mehra
It is very good, it is OK, you are trying your best to be Krishna conscious in very distracting circumstances and keep on doing it. Gradually you will become more and more immersed in reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and you will not hear the TV at all..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudivisa dasa prabhuji. You say you are very busy always. What in Krsna Conssciousness keeps you busy? Actually i want to know how your daily routine or day is like when you get up in the morning till when you go to sleep at night? Do you go and preach during the day by going to people’s house door to door and/or on the streets?
Why don’t you see how Srila Prabhupada is always busy in serving Krishna. We should all be like that. 100% of our time serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Prabhupada once said that a devotee works like 300 ordinary men. And that is a fact. If we are actually devotees we should be doing the work of 300 men at least.
So you see what Srila Prabhupada does and follow in his footsteps.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Srila Prabhupada did a lot in his life to serve his spiritual master and Krsna. Srila Prabhupada did the work of like 1000 men or 10,000 or 1,000,000 men. He wrote more than 80 books. He traveled all over the world preaching, giving lectures, opening temples and spreading the movement throughout the world.
What Prabhupada did i cannt do in a million lifetimes.
Hare Krishna Sean
Yes. What Prabhupada did no number of ordinary men could ever do. But what Prabhupada did was simple. He surrendered to his spiritual master and made the orders of his spiritual master his life and soul. That is all. That is Srila Prabhupada’s qualification and that is the secret of his success.
We can also surrender to the orders of Srila Prabhupada and make fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s mission our life and soul. If we do this, then we, like Prabhupada, will become instruments in the hands of Krishna. The point is that the wonderful things are being done by Krishna actually. Srila Prabhupada appeared to do so many wonderful things because he was completely surrendered to his spiritual master and Krishna. It was actually Krishna working through Srila Prabhupada.
So if we surrender to Srila Prabhupada Krishna can work through us. That point we need to understand. Yes. We are nothing, we can do nothing ourselves, of our own strength, but if we surrender to Srila Prabhupada and surrender to Krishna then Krishna can work through us and Krishna can do anything. There are no limits.
And that is what Srila Prabhupada wants us to do, he wants us to actually surrender to him and surrender to Krishna and do as he has done. Any one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples can surrender and if he surrenders and becomes an instrument in the hands of Krishna then Krishna can do any wonderful thing He wants to do through such a surrendered soul.
So when you say “what Prabhupada did I could not do in a million lifetimes” means you do not understand what Prabhupada did. Prabhupada surrendered to Krishna and let Krishna work through him. This is clearly indicated by the fact that Srila Prabhupada personally enjoyed reading his books every day. When asked by Srutakiriti Prabhu, his secretary, why he was reading his own books, Srila Prabhupada said, “These are not my books, these are Krishna’s books.” So Srila Prabhupada clearly had the realization that he did not write his books. He sat down and Krishna wrote the books through him.
So the same Krishna is there now, we can surrender to Srila Prabhupada and surrender to that same Krishna and if we surrender the same Krishna can work through us Who worked through Srila Prabhupada. So if you understand this, that it is not us working, it is not Prabhupada working actually, it is Krishna. What Prabhupada did is surrender. And if we also surrender then the same Krishna will work through us and we will be non-different from Srila Prabhupada.
Of course we don’t want to surrender. That is the problem. That is hard for us. But that is the only problem. We don’t want to surrender. That is why such a great soul is so very rare. No one wants to surrender. But if we do surrender then Krishna will work through us however Krishna wants to work though us. Not that He may want to work through us in exactly the same way as He worked through Srila Prabhupada. We have some part to play in Krishna’s grand plan and if we surrender to Krishna then we can play that part.
So we have to surrender. That is the most difficult thing for us. The rest is very easy.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I realize that i seem to sort of or really write a email that does not seem pleasing maybe. And it seems in my head that you will not take me to not be serious and following what you say. If i have offended you in writing this email i am sorry. I am at most a sentimentalist. I felt writing out of desperation being in the position i am in life. And i take full responsibility. I have not been serious and never seriously focused on stopping materialistic activities and not listening and being very willing to follow the process. I should focus on surrendering to Srila Prabhupada seriously by chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra, 4 regulative principles and 1-2 hours of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. And i sort of for now i agreed to my mother in the situation i mentioned. But you are right that i need to follow the process to ultimately solve my problems including the one about treating the books i have to the best and other problems.
Yes.
It is totally impossible to become Krishna conscious if you refuse to follow the process and that is what I have told you all along. Until you surrender to strictly chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and strictly read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day there is no way you can become Krishna conscious.
Of course we can preach to people to encourage them to become Krishna conscious and of course whatever little things that people do in Krishna consciousness are eternal benefits to them and are never lost. But the point of all these things is to raise the person to the platform where they can actually surrender to and follow the process of saddhana-bhakti, follow the rules and regulations as they are prescribed by Srila Prabhupada.
Even this following the rules and regulations is not Krishna consciousness. But it is the path to Krishna consciousness. We can not get Krishna consciousness without following the correct path. That is not possible.
And anyone can do it. It simply requires strong determination to do it. That strong determination and self-control you have to develop. Without tapasya, austerity, voluntary undergoing some suffering for the sake of spiritual advancement, it is not possible to advance in spiritual life.
So it may be difficult for us to follow the regulative principles, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours daily in the beginning. It may be painful even for us. But we have to endure this apparent suffering and pain voluntarily. That is tapasya. And that is necessary to become Krishna conscious. Of course there is no suffering and pain actually in Krishna conscious activities. But in the beginning it may seem like suffering and pain for us to force ourselves to follow the regulative principles, etc. This sort of suffering an pain is required. If we are not prepared to surrender to this and voluntarily undergo this sort of suffering and pain then we will never be able to become Krishna conscious. And that will mean we have wasted our very valuable human form of life. And that would be a great disaster.
This tapasya is actually very little, very easy. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has made it so easy. Even if we can not follow everything if we in the beginning just surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day then very soon, by the strength of chanting Hare Krishna, we will easily be able to follow the regulative principles and will develop a great taste for reading Srila Prabhupada’s books….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Dear Prabhu,
Prabhu, I find, that after all my endeavors to be nice to people and gain some success, my life and effort is always misunderstood by teachers, parents and friends. Somehow, for every small gain, I really have to endeavour a lot and stumble a lot, whereas for others the same task happens so easily. Why does this happen? what could I do to mitigate this?
yours sincerely,
Arun
Our journey in the material world is according to our karma. Some have comparatively easy paths and others find it more difficult. But there is noting we can do about our karma. That is fixed up. It is not true that by working hard one can make a better life. Our life is already largely predestined form birth. But that can be changed by Krishna consciousness.
All we can do is become Krishna conscious. That is the only way we can transcend/ change our karma. And you can find out how to become Krishna conscious in Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhidvisa dasa prabhuji. Can reading Srila Prabhupada’s books can be substituted everytime or at times when i don’t feel the energy or determination to read books with things like hearing his lectures or reading pamphlets like Krsna, the Reservoir of Pleasure and/or On Chanting Hare Krishna or reading his essays like Who is Crazy? and articles on krishna.org and back to godhead magazine site or in print.
And i know i am asking a very unwise question but better to clear my doubts than to to not ask and have doubts. Can bhajans of Srila Prabhupada chanting Hare Krsna sometimes be substituted for chanting Hare Krsna when to not feel like chanting.
And is there audio of Srila Prabhupada chanting Hare Krsna mantra normally or in non-bhajan mode or there is only audio of his chanting in the bhajan mode.
Hare Krishna David
No. We can not substitute any of the basic things. We have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and strictly follow the four regulative principles. These are the minimum beginning things. Of course we can do all the other things. But the chanting of 16 rounds on beads and the strict following of the regulative principles has to be done. If you actually hear them properly you could hear from Prabhupada’s lectures instead but this idea you have of trying to avoid the basic things because you ‘don’t feel like it’ is very wrong.
In the beginning when we are very much covered by maya we do not feel like performing devotional service. We have no taste for it. And the way we become Krishna conscious, the way we become purified, is we have to force ourselves to chant Hare Krishna, read Prabhupada’s books and follow the regulative principles even though we do not feel like doing it.
Unless we surrender to doing these things even when we don’t feel like doing them we are never going to become Krishna conscious.
This is called tapasya, austerity. And this little tapasya is required to become Krishna conscious. So when you don’t feel like chanting Hare Krishna you can know it very well that you are in maya and this is maya’s trick to keep you in maya. And we have to fight with maya. We have to force ourselves to chant Hare Krishna even though maya is influencing us and trying to convince us not to chant.
You have to surrender to these basic things and you have to do them without fail every day. That is required. We have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, we have to strictly follow the four regulative principles and we have to read Prabhupada’s books. If we are not prepared to surrender to these things then we are not going to become Krishna conscious. And this tendency of yours to try and come up with alternatives to these basic things, to try and avoid following these basic things is very bad. You just have to surrender and do these things. Even if you do not feel like chanting Hare Krishna, you have to chant Hare Krishna, even if you do not feel like following the regulative principles, you have to follow the regulative principles, even if you don’t want to read Prabhupada’s books, you have to read Prabhupada’s books. This is the only way to become Krishna conscious and it is natural in the beginning that we will have no taste for Krishna consciousness but the only way we can develop that taste is by forcing ourselves to follow these simple basic principles…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. A long time ago i came across a comment in which you said whatever hurt we have got or hurts we like mental pains or hurts from past events can be gone or cured by Krsna Consciousness. Is it true just asking? It is very difficult to find in almost few comments of yours through krishna,org statistics.
Yes. Everything that hurts us will be cured by Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is being on the platform of ever-increasing transcendental bliss. There is no hurting at all once we are actually Krishna conscious… Of course the body will still hurt but we will realize that we are not the body so we will not be hurt by the body being hurt…
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have two inquiries to put to you. On back to ” Vedic Culture Meens Feeding Unexpected Guests” i was reading that “In every culture, there’s an etiquette for receiving guests, but probably nowhere was this etiquette more developed than in the Vedic culture that flourished in India fifty centuries ago.” And it also says that if an enemy comes to your home you should receive him so well that he does not apprehend any danger. And in Srimad Bhagavatam it mentions that one should receive even an uninvited guest.
Is this Vedic injunction of welcoming a guest even uninvited(including stranger), while Vedic is also a Krsna Conscious injunction or still a wordly wisdom. Are any vedic injunctions not Krsna Conscious in nature?
And in today’s world i hardly have seen hospitality(in this case to a uninvited guest). Is it because what you said that ” This material world is full of suffering and the people here are all more-or-less demons and ultimately they are only interested in their own personal sense gratification. They may go on with some pretense of love and friendship but this is only because they think they will get some personal benefit from it. It is all selfishness.”
And what to do about people who are lying? I sense a lot of times that people are lying and can see how they are lying. People just lie because they don’t want to help you because you are a total stranger or just not help because people are selfish or any other reason but not tell that directly to make me feel bad.
People in today’s times are full of hypocrisy. They lie to you pretending they mean good but they themselves are not doing any good.
I hope prabhuji that you will answer this because these inquiries i feel are very important. Otherwise would not waste your time writing a comment. I hope i am not asking a “non-sense” question.
Hare Krishna Mathur
Yes. These Vedic principles are for Krishna conscious persons. Feeding the unexpected guests, treating all guests as great friends even though they may actually be our enemies.
A devotee actually sees the world in a different way to the way you are describing it. A devotee sees everyone is suffering in the material world because they have forgotten their eternal relationship with Krishna. And a devotee therefore wants to help all the people of the world to get free from their suffering by giving them the way they can reawaken their original Krishna consciousness.
A devotee is not surprised that the world is full of hypocritical people who are lying. He expects this. He knows this is the nature of Kali-yuga and he sees beyond this external manifestation of the mood of Kali-yuga. A devotee sees into the pure spiritual hearts of the living entities who are suffering in the material world and out of a great feeling of love and concern for the suffering humanity he tries to help them by distributing Krishna consciousness.
A devotee sees everyone else as a devotee of Krisha. Only himself, he knows he is totally in maya, but still he knows that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that only because of forgetting this the world is suffering. So a devotee wants to awaken the people, to remind them that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Kali yuga is full of hypocrisy and quarrel. But it is not surprising because quarrel and hypocrisy is seen all over the world in situations that i am not involved in. But it is very difficult to deal with people full of hypocrisy or even quarrel because they are not helpful. I mean look for example Maharaja Parikshit. In the ultimate sense although all this happened to Mahraja Parikshit so that Srimad- Bhagavatam can be spoken or introduced(hope i am right about introduced. if not correct me). And he was thirsty and went to the brahmana to get water. Although the brahmana was meditating but he put a snake on him because he could not tolerate his thirst.
How can a person like me tolerate and not feel bad about people not helping me on purpose like giving me water because i am thirsty and things along this line. It is pretty difficult to get over it. i exactly feel like maharaja parikshit in which he put a dead snake over brahmana to scare him.
Prabhuji when i am suffering and people don’t provide the help i need that i ask them for and instead get suffering from them that does not makes me feel at all compassionate towards the other person at all. I feel very angry towards that person and want him to suffer. People like that are too cruel to tolerate.
You feel like this to other people because you are not a devotee.
You have to become a devotee and then you will feel great compassion for all the suffering living entities in the material world and you will want to help them by giving them Krishna consciousness, you will never think of punishing them by putting dead snakes around their heads.
It is not nice to compare yourself with Maharaja Pariksit in this way. The situation that Maharaja Pariksit was put into was very special and that was the special arrangement of Krishna so that the Srimad-Bhagavatam could be spoken. You can not interpert it mundanely like you have done and compare yourself with Maharaja Pariksit. This is very offensive and you obviously do not realize the highly elevated position of Maharaja Pariksit.
So basically you are writing nonsense. Because you are not Krishna conscious. So you have to concentrate on becoming Krishna conscious. And that means surrendering to following the basic things, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Surrender and let all the good qualities of the demigods develop in your body as a result of your Krishna consciousness, then you will not care if the people like you or hate you. You will love them unconditionally because you will see everyone as part and parcel of Krishna.
A devotee does not mind if a non-devotee treats him badly. He forgives the non-devotees for this. The saying that Srila Prabhupada used to explain this was that the dogs may bark but the caravan will pass. It is like when the circus comes to town and there are many big trucks and vans full of wild animals and so on, and the dogs get very upset about this and bark a lot. But the barking of the dogs does not stop the caravans on their journey. So it is like that. We have our Krishna conscious duties to perform. So the non-devotees may bark at us. But we do not take that seriously. It is their nature to bark. We do not think badly of them because they are barking at us. We just ignore it and continue with our Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I sort of remember i read somewhere something about not being attached to results of the activities. If suceess comes from activities then the success is of krsna. If there is failure then it is his will or his responsibility. Can you tell me if i am right or can you correct me. I remembered this but cannot find where i read about it and if you can correct and me and mention the exact thing will be good. Because i can remember that knowledge in life when i am performing activities in life so that i am not attached to the results of the activities and feel bad and distressed about it.
Hare Krishna Devesh
Yes. This is a very important principle that Krishna establishes in the Bhagavad-gita. The word used is ‘fruitive activities’. We should give up fruitive activities. This means we should be attached to doing our duty for the sake of doing the duty, not because we think by doing the duty we will get some benefit from that in the future.
So we should serve Krishna for the sake of serving Krishna. Not that we are serving Krishna to get some result. The point is to surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna. The point is to be engaged in serving Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna, etc, 24 hours a day without stop. So the point is to be constantly engaged in the service of Krishna under the direction of a pure devotee of Krishna. That is the point, to be constantly engaged in serving Krishna. That is the success. It is not that if we are constantly engaged in the service of Krishna and there is apparently no good result from our activities that we have failed. No. We have succeeded. Because we have been constantly engaged in the service of Krishna. We have been constantly remembering Krishna, we have never forgotten Krishna. That is the point. Always remember Krishna, never forget Krishna. That is success.
So the external success or failure of our activities is not important. We are successful if we always remember Krishna, never forget Krishna, always serve Krishna, even if from the material point of view we appear to be a failure. On the other hand if our activities, from the material point of view, seem to be wonderfully successful, but if we are not constantly engaged in serving Krishna, if we have forgotten Krishna, then we have failed miserably.
So a devotee is not actually attached to the fruits of his activities. He acts out of duty without any consideration of the results of that activity.
We just surrender and do the best we can to serve Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and the results are in their hands. We can only surrender and serve to the best of our ability. That is what we have to do from our side. But we have no control actually over the results of our activities. So the results are not in our control, so we are not responsible actually for the bad nor do we deserve any credit for the good result. Our business is only to surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna. We want to act as instruments in the hands of Krishna. So if we are like that, being worked by Krishna as and instrument in His hands, then it is Krishna who is responsible for the outcome, not us.
This idea Krishna stresses many times in Bhagavad-gita including for example:
Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sāṅkhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Pṛthā, when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself from the bondage of works. (Bg. 2.39)
O Dhanañjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers. (Bg. 2.49)
One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results. (Bg. 3.28)
There are many things. You can search for fruitive at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com yourself and study this in more detail.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. You are not a pure devotee unless you develop pure love of Krsna even though you serve Srila Prabhupada and Krsna by chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krsna mantra, following the four regulative principles and 1-2 hours of reading Srila Prabhupada books and following the instructions as i read it everyday and getting up before 4 am.
Or you a just a pure devotee for just having the interest of serving Srila Prabhupada and Krsna and doing nothing else besides it.
Hare Krishna
Pure devotee means you have no desire other than serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Pure devotee means you are a totally surrendered soul who has accepted the orders of your bona fide spiritual master as your life and soul. Pure devotee means a devotee who has actually surrendered to his bona fide spiritual master. And in this material world that surrender is a very rare thing. So a pure devotee is very rarely found. Even though it is a very simple thing to become a pure devotee. All we have to do is surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow all the instructions he is giving us in his books and classes. But we do not want to surrender. That is the problem. We have our own program. So because the people do not want to actually surrender a pure devotee is very rarely found.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
And yesterday i tried my best to follow Krsna Consciousness. I more than 2 or 3 hours or even more time overall during the day. A lot of thoughts come in my head. Like whatever the non-devotees said and do and think and other incidents in life and other things. What to do. And plus it was not much but between 1-2 hours when i went to walk yesterday night i chanted. I trying to follow at least 2-3 hours of chanting everyday principle.
You said “There is no other way. Only the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. If you are determined to chant 16 rounds every day and do it then today it may take you 1/2 hour to chant a round. Still that means you can chant 16 rounds in eight hours. So do it. And if you keep on doing it then in a very short time you will be chanting your 16 rounds in 2 or three hours.
We have to be prepared to spend the time to chant the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day otherwise there is no hope of Krishna consciousness. We are simply fooling ourselves.”
You said about putting 2- 3 hours in some comments of yours in chanting and i will try to do at least 2 hours if not 3 or 3 and/or more to chant 16 rounds.
Actually should be doing on beads. There is one thing though. In my hands when i hold the beads and chant my finger starts to ache or pain whenever i did long time ago holding it and chanting on it turning the mala. But i will still try on mala to do the rounds.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Prabhuji you in krishna.org articles and comments i have read said it is said this material world is a miserable place. And i get it. In fact i feel like very strongly. I am told by people that you always don’t get what you want in life. And that you need to adapt to it instead of dwell on what you did not get. And i should respond appropriately to what i did not get(like in anger i guess). And that being upset is a choice. But i feel it. I don’t even like the word appropriate or especially in the context spoken. This world is full of suffering. To not exaggerate or lie i did have some good times and got things at times when i need/want it.
But still. It is miserable. I feel the world or the people should be friendly. And i have to deal with it. And there seems to be no way to fix it. I cannot control anything. I feel really hopeless and depressed. How come the people who are saying me that it is a choice to be upset and that in life i don’t get what i want feel happy or not upset like me. I don’t feel this is really life at all.
Hare Krishna David
Yes, this world is a miserable place full of suffering and death only. It is very good you have realized this. Now get over it. Stop trying to enjoy in a miserable world. It is not possible. Surrender to Krishna by surrendering to His pure devotee Srila Prabhupada and if you actually surrender and actually become Krishna consciousness then, even in this body, you can be transported out of this material world and you can enter the spiritual world. Devotees, who are actually devotees, are not in this material world. They are not miserable. No suffering condition of the material world can touch a devotee. Because devotees are in the spiritual world which is anandam-buddhi-vardhanam. An ever-increasing ocean of spiritual bliss.
So become a devotee and get out of the material world and all your problems will be solved.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Is being upset, happy, sad , angry a choice. Well seems like it is not a choice from what you say. But still want to ask it in a very direct way to get direct answer because people keep on saying this to me. I don’t agree with them and never will because i don’t feel they are right and maybe because i am obstinate, stubborn but still creates confusion and doubt. Cannot see through in this matter of whether it is a choice to feel the feelings we feel.
Of course we have the choice of being happy or sad. If we surrender to Krishna and serve Him we will be happy. If we surrender to maya and serve her, we will be sad. It is that simple. Krishna or maya. Serving Krishna is happiness and serving maya is misery. Krishna consciousness is a self-manifest joyful condition. So if we are Krishna conscious we will be happy, joyful, blissful.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
But i don’t have direct control of these feelings right. It is not like i can choose to feel the way i want whenever i want . People who are in maya, not devotees of Krsna say that you have choice to feel how you feel. So you don’t have a choice of feelings in the sense that if we are serving maya we can have a choice to feel happy.
Basically what i am asking we cannot choose to feel happy just because i want to feel happy or sad because i want to. When i feel sad people say you have a choice to be sad, angry or happy. But i cannot feel happy or sad merely by choosing it. Right or what.
You have a choice. You can choose to serve Krishna and be happy or you can choose to serve maya and be miserable. That is up to you. That is your limited independence, that is your only choice.
So in terms of making the choices. The only choices we can make is either serving Maya or serving Krsna. If we serve Maya we are controlled(controlled by Krsna but indirectly and unfavourably) by her. If we serve Krsna we are controlled by him(directly and favourably).
In terms of feeling happy or feeling sad and other negative feelings are you saying that we choose these feelings in terms of the results that we get by choosing or making a choice between serving Krsna and Maya. So basically if i choose to make a particular choice out the two then i automatically also choose the results of the choice.
If happiness or sadness is a result of the choice we choose to make, in which if i choose to make the choice i also choose the results automatically then i understand the concept of the choice of feelings.
.
But people who are in Maya, eat meat and in other ways are servants of Maya(even when they so call believe they is a god and read the bible and say they follow God in some ways but act all materialistic from outside and give the answers that does not even show that know anything about real religion, i mean anything about God. This person a long time ago thinks that one should not just be only engaged in God and not in other activities of the world which are fun if i remember it correctly.
What i am saying is they feel happiness or sadness or any other negative or positive (only happiness to my knowledge ) is a choice to make whether you serve Krsna or you serve Maya. So they saying feeling happy or feeling sad is a choice is wrong right.
Feeling happy or feeling sad is not a choice. We are forced to act in a particular way by the interactions of the three modes of material nature and we get happiness or distress as we deserve it according to our karma. There is no choice by us to feel happiness or distress. The happiness and distress is coming automatically because of our karma. It is not our choice. Of course as you are hinting our karma is influenced by our choices. But when we are in maya we are forced to act by the modes of material nature. We have no independence really unless we surrender to Krishna, and being a surrendered servant of Krishna also we have no independence. We have to do what Krishna wants, not what we want. So there is no independence there either. We are never independent. We are servants eternally. We have to choice of our master only, and there are only two masters: Krishna and maya…
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji you are right. But the pain is the most difficult thing to get over it. In my mind right now i am remembering all the bad experiences i had with people including recent ones from from smallest to biggest. Like in the past i was trying to create friends or have contact with some few people in the future who refused and ask for help and not get it in the smallest way.
Why is it that most of the people in my life are rotten? They just give pain and go away. And cannot even react to them in any way. Prabhuji why?
Is this extreme suffering a sign from Krsna that he wants me to stop being attached to this material world in any way for even the so- called good things and really drive me very badly to practice Krsna Consciousness become a devotee as i have prayed and desired from Krsna to be or become especially in this life before i die or that please don’t let me live to the point unless i become a devotee. And i am reading bhagavad-gita currently and best to chant Hare Krsna. Although i do feel good reading it and feels like i can do reading better than chanting although chanting is the important thing. I feel like not stopping to read until i finish the whole 1st chapter. But i still feel bad being hurt by people’s unfriendliness.
Anyways the Lord is giving me suffering because i am a neophyte and he thinks it good to give me this much suffering because if and when i get good things i get elated and forget devotional service a lot of the times. And i guess he wants me to put in the kind of suffering i am so that i get the determination in a sense to practice the process of Krsna Consciousness.
This place is a world of suffering. But the reason i feel and think i know i am getting suffering is the Lord wants me to stay on the path of becoming a devotee and become.
And the Srimad Bhagvatam verse and its purport will say what i am saying. (SB 1.5.19)
My dear Vyāsa, even though a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes falls down somehow or other, he certainly does not undergo material existence like others [fruitive workers, etc.] because a person who has once relished the taste of the lotus feet of the Lord can do nothing but remember that ecstasy again and again.
PURPORT
A devotee of the Lord automatically becomes uninterested in the enchantment of material existence because he is rasa-graha, or one who has tasted the sweetness of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. There are certainly many instances where devotees of the Lord have fallen down due to uncongenial association, just like fruitive workers, who are always prone to degradation. But even though he falls down, a devotee is never to be considered the same as a fallen karmī. A karmī suffers the result of his own fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed by the Lord Himself. The sufferings of an orphan and the sufferings of a beloved child of a king are not one and the same. An orphan is really poor because he has no one to take care of him, but a beloved son of a rich man, although he appears to be on the same level as the orphan, is always under the vigilance of his capable father. A devotee of the Lord, due to wrong association, sometimes imitates the fruitive workers. The fruitive workers want to lord it over the material world. Similarly, a neophyte devotee foolishly thinks of accumulating some material power in exchange for devotional service. Such foolish devotees are sometimes put into difficulty by the Lord Himself. As a special favor, He may remove all material paraphernalia. By such action, the bewildered devotee is forsaken by all friends and relatives, and so he comes to his senses again by the mercy of the Lord and is set right to execute his devotional service.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also said that such fallen devotees are given a chance to take birth in a family of highly qualified brāhmaṇas or in a rich mercantile family. A devotee in such a position is not as fortunate as one who is chastised by the Lord and put into a position seemingly of helplessness. The devotee who becomes helpless by the will of the Lord is more fortunate than those who are born in good families. The fallen devotees born in a good family may forget the lotus feet of the Lord because they are less fortunate, but the devotee who is put into a forlorn condition is more fortunate because he swiftly returns to the lotus feet of the Lord, thinking himself helpless all around.
Pure devotional service is so spiritually relishable that a devotee becomes automatically uninterested in material enjoyment. That is the sign of perfection in progressive devotional service. A pure devotee continuously remembers the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and does not forget Him even for a moment, not even in exchange for all the opulence of the three worlds.
Hare Krishna David
Yes. This material world is full of suffering and the people here are all more-or-less demons and ultimately they are only interested in their own personal sense gratification. They may go on with some pretense of love and friendship but this is only because they think they will get some personal benefit from it. It is all selfishness. And a world full of selfish people all fighting for their own sense gratification is totally hellish. And that is the world we are living in. So it is good you are realizing this. So chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. You have to surrender to this process. You have to actually follow these things. This is the beginning of Krishna consciousness.
Then you have some chance of experiencing “a devotee of the Lord automatically becomes uninterested in the enchantment of material existence because he is rasa-graha, or one who has tasted the sweetness of the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa.”
Once you have tasted the sweetness of the lotus feet of Krishna you will no longer be attached to the so-called pleasures of the material world.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have a huge problem. Well hopefully you read this mail or inquiry i just sent you. i make a vow any vow like i did of reading books from the start to the finish and follow the process which is chnating 16 rounds following the four regulative principles and 1-2 hours of reading books. But i never do it. And this has been the problem for my whole life as far as i can remember in life( or this life).
Somewhile back on wikipedia i was reading about kali yuga not that it matters to us in Krsna Consciosuness, Prabhupada established or true Krsna Consciosuness really.
One of the things of “With regard to human relationships, Markandeya’s discourse says:”
People will take vows and break them soon after.
Anyways that is my situation. What should i do?
Hare Krishna Sean
In the material world the natural tendency is that we want to have illicit sex, eat meat, gamble and take intoxication. And we have no attraction for Krishna or chanting Hare Krishna or reading about Krishna. We are in a totally diseased condition and in that diseased condition we have no attraction for Krishna consciousness. So the only way that we can recover our original natural eternal Krishna consciousness is through tapasya, austerity. We have to become cured from the material disease. Because in the materially diseased condition we can not understand Krishna consciousness nor do we have any attraction to Krishna consciousness.
It is a bit of a problem because in the beginning although we have no attraction to chanting Hare Krishna and hearing about Krishna this is the only cure to the material disease we are suffering from. It is only after we have cured the material disease to a great extent that we will actually uncover our natural, original attraction to Krishna consciousness.
So the bottom line is we must chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, we must strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and we must read Srila Prabhupada’s books and / or hear his classes for 1-2 hours a day. Because without doing these things there is no hope. This is the tapasya, the austerity, that we must surrender to. This is the cure to the material disease. Of course chanting Hare Krishna, following the regulative principles and reading Prabhupada’s books is not really austerity, it is a source of great transcendental bliss. But in the beginning we can not appreciate it. It seems like poison to us and illicit sex, etc, seems like nectar to us. But actually the sinful activities are poison and the Krishna consciousness is nectar. But we can not perceive this in the beginning because of our diseased condition.
So these things are the cure for the material disease and unless we cure the material disease there is no possibility of ever becoming Krishna conscious. So we just have to make these vows and follow them. There is no other way.
Of course we may fail but if we fail we have to recommit to these vows and vow to never fail again. This may go on for some time but if you are serious you will find you are becoming spiritually stronger and you will also find that your attraction for the material so-called pleasures is decreasing greatly. That is the sign we are making advancement in Krishna consciousness. As we become more attracted by Krishna automatically we loose our attraction for material things like sex life, etc.
So there is no alternative. We just have to surrender to following the four regulative principles, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and reading Prabhupada’s books. It is not difficult actually, anyone can do it, it does however require a great deal of determination at times. And if we want to become Krishna conscious we have to become very determined and surrender.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
But i break the vows i take. Most of them in life. Have been breaking them.
If you break the four regulative principles then you will have to go to Hell and suffer there for a very, very, very long time. It is your choice. Break the regulative principles and suffer in Hell practically eternally, or undergo a little austerity, a little apparent suffering, and FOLLOW THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES.
It is your choice. It is not possible to become Krishna conscious without following the regulative principles. You will never be able to understand what Krishna consciousness is without following the four regulative principles. Krishna consciousness will remain always a mystery to you.
Tapasya, austerity is essential for one who wants to become Krishna conscious. And that tapasya means voluntary undergoing suffering for the sake of making spiritual advancement. So for us, in the material condition of life, abstaining from illicit sex, meat eating, gambling and intoxication, is a little difficult in the beginning because we are attached to, addicted to these things. But if we are to become Krishna conscious then we have to voluntarily force ourselves to follow the four regulative principles. If you do not have the determination and self-control to do this then for you Krishna consciousness is not possible.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa
What is a Vaisistya? I saw it on Vyāsa-pūjā Offering to His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, 1961 on prabhupada books.com. And on Ramesvara 1981 Interview on History of ISKCON — Full Text i saw that Prabhupada books should not be sold like the bibles in any way including the gold gilding and selling it for free. She said should get renumeration for the bible.
Sometime back i read about the mango example on prabhupadabooks.com. And i put the word mango and found it on prabhupadabooks.com.
Essays and Articles : EA 30: The Real Peace Formula : EA 30-1: The Real Peace Formula :
Yet although love of God is being given freely and easily, people do not care for it. Guru Maharaja Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati used to say that if we take a langera mango, which is the highest quality mango in India, very costly, sweet, and tasty, and go from door to door and try to distribute it freely, people will doubt: “Why has this man brought this langera mango? Why is he trying to distribute it freely? There must be some motive behind it.” Similarly, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributes this Krishna consciousness freely, but people are so foolish that they think, “What is there to simply chanting Hare Krishna? This is meant for the foolish who cannot speculate and who do not have any higher standard of knowledge.” But factually this is not the case. In Bhagavad-gita it is said that out of millions and millions of people, only a few are so fortunate as to be interested in Krishna consciousness. We should not neglect this information, for it is very rare. If we prosecute Krishna consciousness, our lives will be successful, and our mission of human life will be fulfilled. The gift of Krishna consciousness is very valuable and very rare. Of the innumerable living entities who are wandering and transmigrating in the 8,400,000 species of life, he who takes to Krishna consciousness is most fortunate, for he has found a great spiritual treasure.
Is it because so that this renumeration for selling for a price(in other words not for free) is to promote a sense of value of Krsna Consciousness and plus that Krsna Consciousness is not a cheap thing to be had. You have to pay the price to acheive it. And i do understand it as it is sort of my case and situation in life really especially with Krsna Consciousness and the books. i have the books and somewhat sincere but not wholly sincere. And no matter what even though i did not pay it is still valuable because it was paid so that i can have it. But no matter what i will be serious. I am in a very tough situation because both my mind my past bad habits, a lot of times my body and other living entities(mostly human) and sometimes if not a lot of the times the environment or weather seems to be a obstacle or obstacles. I owe it to use the books i have gotten even though i did not pay for it by reading it sincerely reading it from start to finish and of course following the instrctions (at least to the best of my abilities in the beginning)
Yes, the point is to get Prabhupada’s books and read them. So you have Prabhupada’s books now, READ THEM. Do not bother your mind with all these other things.
As far as distributing books it is far more effective if you get the person who takes the book from you to pay for it because if he pays for it he will think, “I have given that rascal $10 for this book. Now I have to read this book to get some value for my money.” But if you give it to him for free, then like the free bibles or the cheap mangoes he will not think it is very valuable and will probably not read it.
But you have the books now, don’t worry about how you got them. JUST READ THEM…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Should i give special attention to weight loss or just Krsna Consciousness?
A devotee of Krishna is naturally not fat because he only eats to keep his body and soul together. He is not interested in eating for any other reason. So naturally he is not overweight.
So a devotee of Krishna only accepts Krishna prasadam. Food that is cooked by devotees and offered to Krishna with love. So the important thing is we can never eat anything that is not Krishna prasadam. This is the most important principle. This is the secret to controlling the senses, and for one who has controlled his senses, naturally he will not be overweight.
So the thing is controlling the senses. That is what is necessary, and that control is possible by becoming Krishna conscious, and the most important thing in controlling the senses is very strictly only accepting Krishna prasadam. If we do, in the beginning, accept more Krishna prasadam than necessary, that is not very good, but also it is not very bad. But if we eat things that are not Krishna prasadam then we are never going to become Krishna conscious.
We have to realize that we should only be doing things for Krishna’s pleasure, not for our own pleasure. So we can not eat for our own pleasure. We can only accept Krishna prasadam, the remnants of the foods that have been offered to Krishna.
If you can just do this then automatically you will not be overweight. It may take some time to adjust, but the point is to control the senses by only accepting Krishna prasadam, and if you surrender to this, then the weight will automatically reduce.
Also if you are always active in Krishna conscious, always chanting Hare Krishna and dancing in ecstasy in the Krishna Kirtan, that will also help…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Is the understanding that Krsna Consciosuness is religion but not a sectarian religion. It is based on love of God. And it is based on Vedix civilization the oldest which has no beginning in history?
Hare Krishna Sean
The English word ‘religion’ does not describe what Krishna consciousness is. There is no English word to describe actually what Krishna consciousness is. Sometimes we may refer to Krishna consciousness as a religion but strictly speaking, considering the meaning and usage of the English word ‘religion’ it is incorrect to call Krishna consciousness a religion. Often the Sanskrit word ‘dharma’ is translated into English as religion, but Srila Prabhupada does not translate it as religion, he translates it as ‘occupational duty’. And Krishna consciousness is sanatana-dharma, “eternal occupational duty”, which does not translate to the English word religion at all.
So, strictly speaking, it is incorrect to consider that Krishna consciousness is a religion. Krishna consciousness is not a religion. Religion can be changed. Today I may be a Hindu and tomorrow I can change my religion and become a Christian of a Muslim. But Krishna consciousness is not changeable like this. Dharama is the inseparable quality of something. Water is wet, fire is hot, sugar is sweet. So the wetness, heat and sweetness can never be separated from the water, fire and sugar. If “sugar” is not sweet then it is not sugar, if fire is not hot then it is not fire and if water is not wet then it is not water. So as these qualities can not be separated so Krishna consciousness can not be separated or changed from the living entity.
Actually what can not be separated, what is the dharma of the the living entity, is the fact that we are all servants. The dharma or nature of every living entity is that he has to be engaged in the service of others. Everyone is engaged in service to others. That is our dharma, and Krishna consciousness is ‘sanatana dharma’ or our eternal service. So our original dharma is to serve Krishna. And Krishna consciousness means engaging in the service of Krishna. It is not changeable. It is nothing like the concept of religion at all.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I have a question? “The purpose of this is that ultimately a thoughtful living entity will realize that there is no point to this nonsense in the material world, trying to become the lord and master, and he will surrender to Krishna.”
I don’t want to try to become the lord and master but still i am frustrated a lot. And plus suffering comes not because i did not get what i want or want for sense gratification.
It is not about being angry or upset about what i did not get.
But what i don’t want. I don’t want someone hurting me and me being hurt. That is what angers me more than not getting what i want?
And how to not be entangled into this frame of mind of anger and upsetness over things? I mean i just cannot get it out of my head once i feel hurt. It is like i feel the hurt and cannot get out of it. What wisdom will you give so that if something bad happens to me i don’t get wrapped up or trapped into negative emotions like anger, upsetness.
You have to become Krishna conscious, then you will not feel like this. Feeling like this is a symptom you are not Krishna conscious. And becoming Krishna conscious, that is a great science that Srila Prabhupada has described in 80+ books. So we have to learn the science from him and follow it in our lives then we will become Krishna conscious and then we will be free from the bodily concept of life. You are only feeling like this because you are in the bodily concept of life. As soon as you can get yourself free from this idea that “I am this material body” and actually realize that you are not the body but that you are the spirit soul within the body and that your purpose is to serve Krishna, then you will see the world and others in a completely different way and this sort of problem will disappear from your life altogether.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have a idea. Krsna put it in my head. Every idea in this world’s Krsna. Prabhuji i want to ask if you can create a way on site where people can search particular comments of yours or anyone in all the articles throughout this site.
Along with searching yours or any particular person’s, i would like to search on the basis on time like the date,year, time like for example April 17, 2013 at 7:56 am and the article the comment is on.
Actually every idea that pops into our heads is not Krishna’s idea. We are individuals and Krishna is an individual. The difference is that Krishna is unlimitedly great and we are unlimitedly small. But our nature and Krishna’s nature is the same. So as Krishna has ideas, we can also have ideas of our own. And maya is also there and she is expert at putting ideas into our heads also. So it is wrong to think that any idea that pops into your head is Krishna’s idea…
But it is a good idea, maybe it is Krishna’s idea. A comment search. I will look into it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I don’t understand Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. We think and all and Krsna gives us the intelligence and tools to bring that idea to life. Plus every knowledge material or spiritual is Krsna’s. So ultimately any idea material or of maya or spiritual should also be of Krsna even though we come up with and it and are unique individual. I was watching the Mahabharata by BR.chopra and Bhisma says to his father while talking to him that the he has no knowledge every knowledge is of God. Although it is a tv serial and could be made by a materialist still i want to know about this questions that arose in my mind to your reply.
Yes. These Mayavadi ideas are very strong among Indians and pervade all the Indian television and film presentations of spiritual stories… They do not accept that there is two, Krishna and us. They believe there is only one. This is monism. But that is not correct. Actually in one sense it is correct but it is not the complete picture. That is why Lord Caitanya’s philosophy is Acintya-bedabada-tattva. Inconceivably simultaneously one and different.
So it is true on the absolute platform that there is nothing but Krishna, however we are all eternally individual living entities and Krishna is also eternally an individual living entity. So that means we have our own individual ability to think, feel and will. So it is not that our thinking feeling and willing is Krishna thinking feeling and willing. Just like my thinking does not mean you are thinking it. No. I am thinking it. It is the same with Krishna. If you are thinking something then that is you thinking it. It is not Krishna thinking it. You have to understand duality. It means there is Krishna and we are also there and Krishna is an individual and we are individuals. So we can think, and also Krishna can think. Of course Krishna’s thinking is unlimited and Krishna is omniscient, so He knows what we are thinking, but that does not mean what we think is Krishna thinking. That is a mistake.
What we think is what we are thinking. Krishna knows what we are thinking but it is not Krishna thinking it is us thinking… You need to understand duality…
But at the same time it is not that we have any power to think independently of Krishna. Actually it is Krishna who is giving us knowledge and Krishna who is giving us inspiration.
It is Krishna who gives the Mayavadis their philosophy that explains that Krishna does not exist. So it is not that Krishna is necessary giving us the correct knowledge also. Krishna responds according to the surrender of the person. So if the person is a demon like Charles Darwin who wants a theory to explain the creation without God then Krishna will inspire him with the theory of evolution. So it is all coming from Krishna. But there is an English saying: “Man proposes, God disposes.” So we can have ideas for something but we really do not have any facility to bring that into reality. So Krishna does it actually.
Anyhow these things are very subtle and you can only really understand them by becoming Krishna conscious. And that will happen more and more as you continue chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly follow the four regulative principles and read Prabhupada’s books every day.
You should know that we are all contaminated with the Mayavadi philosophy. Particularly in India this contamination is very strong and it will take us some effort to overcome this. It is a great stumbling block on the path of Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I already wrote to you but i think i forgot to ask. The ideas that come in our head are not really ours. I mean either the ideas can be of Maya or Krsna. It is my idea in the sense that i thought of it otherwise it is Krsna or Maya’s idea.
And ultimately everything spiritual and material is Krsna. So even the ideas of Maya are ultimately Krsna’s.
This is not actually correct. It is you Mayavadi contamination that you are thinking in this way. You can not accept that there is duality, two. You are thinking everything is one. While on one level that is correct, at the same time it is not correct. And there is duality and individuality and we do have the ability to think, feel and will ourselves. In our original spiritual position our individuality and our ability to think feel and will individually is fully developed. You are thinking in the Mayavadi way and once you are contaminated in the Mayavadi way it is very difficult to understand Krishna consciousness. Actually this is a very great problem you will have to overcome.
There would be no meaning to Krishna consciousness if things were the way you are thinking. There are actually real loving personal relationships between Krishna and His devotees and that would not be possible if Krishna was doing everything and there was no individuality as you are hinting at.
So you have to give up these Mayavadi ideas and consider that that the real situation is acitya beddbada-tattva. Inconceivably simultaneously one and different. So I don’t really know how to explain something to you that Lord Caitanya says is inconceivable…
It is possible to get rid of these Mayavadi ideas by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books submissively and hearing his classes submissively. You have to actually surrender to Srila Prabhupada and hear and accept and surrender to what he is saying to you in his books…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna prabhuji. I thought non-devotees in general whether they be my parents, people i have met, counselor or just non-devotees of any kind no matter who they are (including regular people, mental-speculators, Iskcon , others) were my problems.
And others would also include mayavadis.But never thought Mayavadis or their ideas were also a real problem for me.
I already felt angry,upset frustrated confused over the whole world because i seem to be in the dark and blame the world for it. Now i am even more angry and confused and all the four things i mentioned of the world.
Hare Krishna Issac
The Mayavadi philosophy is very insidious and we are all contaminated by it to some degree or other. And that is the greatest disaster for progress in Krishna consciousness. So I can tell you for sure you are quite contaminated by the Mayavadi ideas and it is better to know about the problem so you can work on it and solve it.
The Mayavadi ideas are very attractive to us. Because realistically we have to admit that we are in the material world so we have rejected Krishna. If we were very great spiritual personalities we would not be here in the material world. So we are here, in the material world, because we are envious of Krishna’s position, we want to be like Krishna. Krishna has all the attractive qualities in full. Krishna has all fame, all beauty, all knowledge, all strength, all wealth and at the same time all renunciation. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna is the only master and we are all servants of Krishna eternally. But we do not like that. We want to be the master, and we want people to serve us. That is why we are here in the material world.
So what the Mayavadi philosophy does is take Krishna out of the picture. It is philosophy without God. The Mayavadis believe in Krishna but they think that Krishna is just a temporary manifestation of the impersonal brahman and He will again merge back into the impersonal brahman after His appearance in the material world. For them the impersonal brahman is the supreme. Because it is not a person. It is because they do not want to accept any authority they must surrender to.
Anyhow all these things are very perfectly explained by Srila Prabhupada in his books and very imperfectly explained by me here. So it is better to read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
But be careful to read Prabhupada’s books!!!!
You should carefully note that Srila Prabhupada only translated up to Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto Ten Chapter Thirteen. And beyond that it is translated by Hriydananda dasa who is a big Mayavadi demon, totally envious of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. So you have to understand only a pure devotee of Krishna can explain Krishna. So you see even in the books distributed by ISKCON you can find the Mayavadi contamination. The “Revised and Enlarged” Bhagavad-gita As It Is that ISKCON distribute these days is full of Mayavadi contamination.
It is everywhere, but not in Srila Prabhupada. It is Prabhupada’s mission to destroy this Mayavadi and Voidist philosophies and replace them with Krishna consciousness, pure love of Krishna. So we have a lot of work to do and we have to start working on ourselves and try and get the Mayavadi contamination out of ourselves.
Anyhow, as I said before, it is better to know we are contaminated with the Mayavadi ideas so we can work on it and get rid of it. It is not surprising. The whole world is submerged in the Mayavadi philosophy and particularly in India practically everything ‘spiritual’ there is totally Mayavadi.
It is much more attractive to us, the Mayavadi philosophy, than Krishna consciousness. Because in the Mayavadi philosophy we don’t have to surrender to anyone. In the Mayavadi philosophy there is no one to surrender to! Because ultimately everything is one and we are all God. Very nice… But that is wrong of course. The Mayavadi philosophy is the greatest maya and the greatest stumbling block for us as we try to advance in Krishna consciousness.
Mayavadi bhasya sunali haya sarva nasa: “If one hears the Mayavadi philosophy his spiritual life is doomed…”
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to the EXCELLENT service you are rendering His Divine Grace!
I am 20 and presently studying engineering. Following your advice, I have given up meat eating and have been chanting 16 rounds for a little less than a year now. I am trying to wake up at 4:00 am, take bath and follow the regulative principles (although staying at hostel, I have to eat whatever vegetarian food is given in the mess. I have purchased your Prabhupada Library, and have really developed a taste for reading Prabhupada’s books (by your expert advice!).
However, constantly I receive opposition (though it is decreasing thankfully) from parents. They stress that now I should rather focus on studies to build my career, take responsibility of the family, and look after them as they are getting old and suffering from disease. Although mainly I study Prabhupada’s books for 1 hour daily, sometimes I get carried away by Srila Prabhupada’s books, conversations, lectures, your website, ISKCON and guru controversies, etc. and more chanting – reducing my actual engineering study time. In addition, during the actual study time as well, I feel that am I wasting time by not serving, reading Srila Prabupada’s books? By the way, by Krishna’s grace, I am still somehow getting reasonably good marks in class!
Moreover, although I “read” and am getting deeper into Srila Prabhupada’s books, the instruction: “Engaging in devotional service as you are instructed by Srila Prabhupada in his books”, I feel, is difficult for a newcomer like me to follow in an atmosphere surcharged with non-devotion without some devotee (following Srila Prabhupada, of course) “physically” assisting me.
There is a group of ISKCON devotee teachers in my college, who hold weekly sankirtan, prasadam and lectures. I attend them, mainly because I like sankirtan, and get some chance to get prasadam and see Mangal Arati and Sandhya Arati weekly. They also tell me to associate with them “more”. Nevertheless, truly speaking, sometimes I feel the need for qualified guidance, as this article rightly points out being the case with all “new bhaktas”.
I have faith in what you say. You are the only one I saw vehemently telling people to come to Srila Prabhupada’s books, follow the regulative principles, etc. I would love to be at your service anytime.
Thank you for giving me and telling me to focus on Srila Prabhupada’s books and nothing else!
Aspiring to be a servant of the servant of the pure devotee of the Lord Krishna,
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. i have an experience to share. Please bear with with me. Yesterday i was going for a walk. I stunmbled upon a lady with two kids. But she asked me directions to the hotel and since i know my area and the reasons which is 1. good long walk 2. Good deed. 3. talking about Krsna Consciousness i walked with her to the hotel. So i guess the good deed ultimately in one sense becomes Krsna Consciousness as i after some usual intro talk to know a little about each other. So it was mostly Krsna Consciousness. Although two things that seem a issue 1. I preached to her what i know even though i am a neophyte and read articles about really meditation and yoga is. i could not find a article that can introduce Krsna Consciousness or just an introductory article to her.
2. When going to preach. Should preaching be unconditional or based on how the person you are preaching to receives you. Like letting them come into your home and welcoming you if you are going and preaching to them instead of outside near the door of the house. And i personally have a issue against about people not being welcoming or allowing me to come in inside and discuss because of being careful about strangers or other things like that.
i only preached what i knew or just preached that Krsna Consciousness is the best thing around and will solve all your problems and answer all your questions. So was it still right to preach anything really. And just if you can tell me about preaching unconditionally and conditionally based on how people welcome you.
Hare Krisha Prabhu
First of all we have to accept the reality that our potency to preach is very limited. We are not very advanced in Krishna consciousness. So the value of our preaching will be if we can convince the people to take Srila Prabhupada’s books and read them. So if you did not convince the girl to take one of Srila Prabhupada’s books form you and give you some donation to help cover the printing cost then your “preaching” was a pointless waste of time. Preaching means distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. Without distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books there is no preaching.
This is because really only a pure devotee of Krishna has the power to awaken the dormant Krishna consciousness in another person. So if we are not able to even strictly follow the four regulative principles and every day chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra we can understand that we are not actually really even devotees yet. We are only aspiring to become devotees. So we have some faith in Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, and that is our hope, but until we are really very solidly fixed up in Krishna consciousness we don’t really have any power to preach on our own strength.
But Srila Prabhupada is living in his books. So we can introduce someone to Srila Prabhupada by giving that person one of Srila Prabhupada’s books and convincing them to read it. And as you have done you can read to the person from the books, etc, that is all good. What you have done is all good, but the purpose of all your preaching should be to get the person to take one of Srila Prabhupada’s books from you and then get a donation from them and then you have to strictly use that money only in the service of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. This is a very important thing. For someone to qualify themselves to take to Krishna consciousness they have to do some service. So if they give some of their hard-earned money and you use that money to purchase more of Srila Prabhupada’s books to distribute to other people then you have given her Srila Prabhupada in the form of his books and you have engaged her in some practical devotional service by getting some of her money for printing more books. That is all you have to do.
It does not have to take so long. You do not have to spend hours with one person. You can do that, meet them, talk to them about Krishna, convince them that Krishna consciousness is a good thing, introduce them to Srila Prabhupada and his books and let them know that all the answers they ever wanted and much more are in these books, convince them to take and read the book, and get a donation from them to help with the printing cost. Then you are finished with that person. There is no need to hang around any longer. You let that person go and meet the next person who comes along and do it again. And you just keep on doing this over and over and over again all day and by the end of the day you have met thousands of people and sold hundreds of books and collected enough donations to pay for the books and more. That is preaching. That is service. That is book distribution. That is what we should be doing…
Without book distribution there is no preaching.
We have to realize that actually it is Srila Prabhupada who is really going to preach to the people and convince them to surrender to Krishna, not us. It is our job to introduce the people to Srila Prabhupada and to encourage them to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and also if we can help them, answer any questions they may have, etc. But really it is Srila Prabhupada who has the power to connect them to Krishna, not us…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have a question regarding saying about Krsna Consciousness in writing essays and powerpoints. since i am not a advanced/pure devotee but a neophyte is it okay if i did present Krsna Consciousness to the degree the topic requires as my argument and more if it related to the topic i am writing and presenting on. In most essay and a powerpoint i saw the argument that i could use is Krsna Consciousness from the articles i read here and somewhat from books also. I cannot present any other argument but realted to Krsna or Krsna Consciousness?
Yes. That is the process of preaching. You hear from a bona fide source and repeat that. We can not speculate ourselves. We have to hear the message and repeat that. We do not have to be very intelligent or very advanced to preach actually. We simply have to hear the pure message of Krishna consciosuness from the bonafide source and repeat that.
The main thing is to always remember that the goal is to get the people to purchase and read Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is our service to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, to convince the people to purchase and read Srila Prabhupada’s books. We can judge the effectiveness of our preaching by how many of Srila Prabhupada’s books we are selling.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. (This question or inquiry i am presenting is of a long time ago. Not recently. In my mind yesterday it came that i did not answer the questions asked of me of Krsna Conscious correctly. Not that the person thinks i did. But i know i did. And feeling bad. That is why i asked you this.)
In preaching on in presenting powerpoints or essays, etc. One is asked some particular questions. Like if God is a male or female. And what religion is Krsna Consciousness or something. What to do about those questions “since “i am not a advanced/pure devotee but a neophyte who still needs to read books know everything in Srila Prabhupada’s books to answer these questions precisely.
I never expect such a question as if God is male or female or which religion is Krsna Consciousness.
I answered God is male in short. But i know his energies is female if i am right in what i know from reading these articles and books to the degree i read them to. And about religion in that it is not sectarian like any religion Hindu, Muslim or Christianity. It is Love of God. I was meaning to say it is not about faith. But judging from it i need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
But here is the thing. If though i am firmly established in Krsna Consciousness and even though i know how to answer every question or not at a loss of words as i read somewhere Srila Prabhupada saying are these answers of people deserved to be answered or like you always tell to people who ask these questions that you need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. The books(scriptural books even though written by Srila Prabhupada) are written so to answer questions like this in full detail/full answer. Right? Are these questions worth answering of me in any case or circumstances whether having read srila prabhupada’s books or not(at least not enough to be ready to answer questions like these.) And you are right. The success of preaching includes in how many books i or we have convinced to purchase and read srila prabhupada’s books. But still this is worth it.
I am really asking because i feel guilty since that time and i remember my guilt or feeling bad at various times to answer them wrongly and not being prepared by reading Srila Prabhuapda’s books.
Hare Krishna David
These are very basic questions that you will automatically be able to answer once you are strictly following the four regulative principles, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If we surrender like this we become spiritually empowered and can answer any question that people may ask.
These are simple things, Krishna is male. He is the parama-purusa, the supreme male. Everything is Krishna’s energy, so the energy of Krishna can be considered female. But that does not make Krishna female. Krishna is male. The supreme enjoyer. How can you not know that Krishna is male? You have seen the Deity? You have seen the pictures of Krishna? He is male!
And Krishna consciousness is not religion. Religion is defined as a kind of faith. So that sort of faith can change. One day one can be a Christian and next day he can change and become a Muslim. Krishna consciousness is not like that. Everyone is Krishna conscious eternally. If we are not thinking we are Krishna conscious that is a sign that we are in maya. Our eternal, original Krishna consciousness is covered. But this original consciousness, Krishna consciousness, it can be easily uncovered by anyone by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krsihna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So Krishna consciousness is not religion. It is everyone’s original consciousness. It can not be changed, it can not be lost, it can only be covered by maya for some time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I want to ask and say something. I have a christisn friend who i have talked about religion, christianity and Krsna Consciousness. He considers Jesus as god. And in one article in one comment to a reply you said the concept if god is fuzzy in christianity and like what attracted you to Krsna Consciousness is that you did not have to convert and so on……. . And my friend when i asked him if he will read srila prabhupada’s books. He said he will read it with an open mind but he says he will not start worshiping any other god. I said what do you mean god is one but with a lot of different names. He mentioned about me not agreeing that Jesus is God. And i talked more and when we talked about religion or god he mentions the word christ. And plus he talks about devil or satan and all that christian talk. First of all is this Satan being a angel who turned bad and man eating the forbidden fruit that has the knowledge of right and wrong is truth to any degree. You are a christian and and surrendered soul to Srila Prabhupada who has cleared some concepts i have read like thou shall not kill apply to plants and animals not just humans. Can you please shed light on this christian ralk and tell me how to convince my friend that along with reading Srila Prabhupada’s booksthat Jesus is not god but the son of god even though i tried to explain him that he my friend cannot be himself and his own father and in the same way jesus cannot be his father Christ(God). Please reply to this as soon as possible even though you are working on getting Srimad Bhagavatam published 18 hours a day.
Hare Krishna Mohan
There is no need to understand the Christianity to preach to Christians. There is no point in talking to them about Christianity. The process is to get them to chant Hare Krishna and dance in ecstasy then to feed them up with sumptuous Krishna prasadam and then to get them to read Prabhupada’s books. That’s all. That is our business. That is how we all became devotees. Chanting, dancing, feasting on Krishna prasadam and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is the way.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. My mother tells me that i should be with people who are into belief or faith of Krsna. I thought of not replying because even though the talk will end like okay sure in her mind her view of seeing won’t change and her way of acting. As she acts like that. But okay. I mean i think i should i bother preaching or even telling people to read Srila Prabhupada’s books unless i start reading them and on a regular basis.
But what about non-devotees. I do not take what she says seriously or should not but my mind is giving trouble about what she said. I know first i have to be firmly establised in Krsna Consciousness myself but as i have been hearing that as devotees we also feel compassionate to give non-devotees Krsna Consciousness as they are suffering. Although for now before i am firmly establised in Krsna Consciousness it would be good to not associate with non-devotees for like sense gratification and for preaching Krsna Consciousness right?
You can distribute Prabhupada’s books at any time. That is giving real mercy to someone else. All you have to do is to capture their interest, to try and get them interested to read Prabhupada’s books. And then if you give them the book and if you can get them to give you a donation for the book and if you very carefully keep the donation and only use it for purchasing more books, so they get the benefit of paying for printing Prabhupada’s books, then you have done your part. You have delivered Srila Prabhupada to that person and as soon as they open that book and start reading it then Srila Prabhupada is directly preaching to that person. So you have delivered Prabhupada to that person and he is directly preaching to that person even though you may not be 100% pure yourself.
So this is the beauty of book distribution.
As far as your mother saying you should be associating with devotees, she is right. That is the natural thing, naturally we want to associate with other devotees, but the time is such that many presenting themselves as devotees are not really devotees and it is quite hard to find real devotees… So we may have to preach by distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books and then when the people read the books some will become devotees and then we can associate with them…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji.
In one article you said this.
“So the short answer is that yes we may fall down many times but we can not get into the mood that it is OK to fall down and Krishna will forgive me. If we get into that mood Krishna will not forgive us. That will be sinning on the strength of the holy name, one of the ten offenses. But if every time you sincerely regret your falldown and really genuienly pray to Krishna and Prabhupada and apologize for your nonsense and pray that they please give you strength so you do not falldown again… The thing is we can not give up the quest for Krishna consciousness. It is the only valuable thing that we can get out of this human form of life. It is the only thing that is worth working for. So even if we fail thousands of times we have to keep trying for Krishna consciousness, because there is nothing else worthwhile…”
Prabhuji i have gotten into this mood that it is okay to fall down and krishna will forgive me in the past. And now i feel bad i had gotten into this mood. So what can i do. Is there any way for people who get into this mood to rectify it. And plus can i think it is okay to fall down and krishna will forgive me if i sincerely regret it and pray to Srila prabhupada and krishna not do it again as you you said sometimes maya is victorious and sometimes we are victorious by not being tempted by maya and so forth.
Hare Krishna Mathur
It is a great offense. Committing sinful activities on the strength of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. If we knowingly commit sinful activities thinking that ‘later on I will chant Hare Krishna’ and that will counteract it then that is the greatest offense.
If we get into this mood that it is OK to fall down and Krishna will forgive us then really there is no hope unless we change the mood. Krishna consciousness does not begin until we at least surrender to the basic principles. We have to actually strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex [sex is only for having children in marriage], no intoxication, no gambling and no meat eating and we have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and we have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day.
You know I write these things over and over again but unfortunately almost all the so-called ‘devotees’ do not strictly follow these principles. So the people who do not strictly follow these principles are not followers of Srila Prabhupada and have not yet seriously started the process of Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness only starts when we surrender to Srila Prabhupada.
So we just have to do it. Of course we may fail as I have said many times because of our bad habits in the past but we can never get in the mood that such failure is OK.
At any time we can surrender. That option is always available to us. And if we do actually surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna then of course whatever we have done in the past is forgiven. But it is not that after we have surrendered we can continue with our sinful activities. We have to stop the sinful activities. Otherwise there is no hope of advancement in Krishna consciousness. Performing devotional service and at the same time engaging in sinful activities is like trying to light a fire with one hand and at the same time pouring water on it with the other hand. You will never be able to light a fire in this way. So we just have to do it.
Do not fool yourself that you can avoid any of the regulative principles or not chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and think that you are a devotee and you are advancing in Krishna consciousness. It is not possible. That is not spiritual life, it is only sentiment. There are so many sentimentalists pretending to be devotees, but this has spoiled everything. Without even following the basic regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day Krishna consciousness does not begin. It only begins with surrender and accepting these things and following them is a symptom of surrender…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Is sense gratification or doing things not in connection with krsna or activities in maya sinful activities since you said should not commit sinful activities especially sinful activities on the strength of chanting.
Everything except serving Krishna is sinful.
Krishna is the enjoyer and we are meant to be engaged in the service of Krishna, if we do anything else, if we try for our own sense gratification for example, that is sinful.
That is the definition of sinful. Anything that is not devotional service, anything which is not done for the pleasure of Krishna, that is sinful.
Of course there are so many variations. There are activities in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance, so there are different divisions of activities, but if the object of any activity is not service to Krishna then it is sinful.
So even so-called pious activities like feeding the poor, building hospitals and schools, etc, this is pious, it will generate good karma for the people involved in these pious activities and it may cultivate an attitude that is more conducive to spiritual life than impious activities, still if the purpose of the pious activity is not service to Krishna then it is sinful…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna prabhuji. As of today after really long time i started to chant on mala 1 round It took me like 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete the round with thoughts in my mind and in between talking in the house and Television watching. Can you give me a solution if i take this much time to chant 1 round then how can i chant 16 rounds as of now. i want to. Bur i don’t feel like i would be able to even if i spend 24 hours because i will be tired after chanting 1 round so doing second round itself might take more time than the first.
In the past i have at any random time chanted maybe 1-3 rounds maybe with some mistakes. But this is one with no mistake like i know that i have to start from big bead and really prounced the starting mantra(prabupada mantra) and pancva tatava properly by seeing the written thing instead of the memorized one i got accostomed to in the past.
And what to do of my parents watching Televsion and other disturbances prabhuji.
Hare Krishna Mathur
Yes. It may take a little while in the beginning to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra but we just have to do it. That is the way to become Krishna conscious.
I can not imagine that it could possibly take more than 15-20 minutes to chant one round of the Hare Krishna mantra and as you become practiced you will see it only takes about 10 minutes to chant one round. You just have to practice. And practice means forcing yourself to chant Hare Krishna even though you do not feel like doing it.
And you just have to concentrate on the chanting and hearing the words of the mantra and the more you concentrate on and hear the Hare Krishna mantra the more you will be able to block out and ignore the external disturbances like the television, etc. You have to ignore these things. Not that you can think that I can watch television and chant Hare Krishna at the same time. That is not possible. Chanting Hare Krishna requires your full and undivided attention.
So just keep chanting Hare Krishna and you will see that soon you will be able to chant more quickly and you will begin to feel some transcendental pleasure, some relief from the pangs of the material world, some freedom, as a result of the chanting.
So it is not easy, there will be many difficulties and obstacles in our attempt to become Krishna conscious. But becoming Krishna consciousness is the only worthwhile purpose for which we can use this material body. So we need to put all our energy, strength and determination into becoming Krishna conscious. That is the only valuable thing. Everything else is a complete waste of time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I have a questions/doubts regarding guilt. What is guilt. I heard from some people that they don’t feel guilty when they do something wrong or immoral in anger or out enmity to hurt someone. Are they fooling others or fooling themselves that they don’t feel guilt. Does guilt depend on whether he wants to feel it or admit he is feeling.
And plus if they are fooling me or others when they say to me or othersthat they don’t feel bad or guilty of hurting other even though they are hiding that they are feeling guilty.
like if you lie to others you are lying to yourself. Right?
Yes. There are people who don’t feel guilty when they hurt others. They are demons. But devotees feel guilty when they hurt other people. So demons don’t feel guilty when they hurt others. That is the nature of demons…
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. My inquiry is about Varnasrama dharma and occupation i should do. In the article “The Horrible Indian Caste System” you said
“Of course in Kali-yuga everyone is working in the wrong occupations and that has created havoc everywhere so this idea of Varnasrama is a bit irrelevant right now.
The main thing it to become a pure devotee of Krishna and that transcends the Varnasrama system.”
And in the article “The Indian Caste System” you said
“It is not so important to get overly concerned about your position in the varnasrama society as currently the system in the society is so mixed up and the time is so unfavorable that it is very difficult to revive this original Vedic system of varnasrama. The process for this age is sankirtan, chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. So…”
So are you saying that being Krsna Consciousness is more important than varnasrama dharma or finding what occupation in the varnasrama dharma will suit whether it is brahmana, kstriya, vaisya, or sudra.
So if i do any type of occupation or job it is good as long as i am doing it for Krsna Consciousness.
And if i am aspiring to be a devotee and doing a occupation or job and use it towards being krsna consciousness then it is above varnasrama dharma because Krsna consciousness is above Varnasrama Dharma right?
Hare Krishna Mathur
e b
Only sudras accept service. It is said in Kali-yuga that everyone is a sudra and that is proven because almost everyone is accepting service. So if you have a job with a boss that is a sudra occupation.
Brahmanas only work for Krishna. Ksatriyas have some land and rule the land and take some taxes from the citizens. Vaishyas cultivate the land and sell the produce or do some business. And sudras have to work for someone else.
So anyhow in Kali-yuga everyone is born a sudra. It is the age of sudras and less. So the point is to become Krishna conscious. Varnasrama is completely broken at the moment and there is no requirement for one to belong to any particular caste to take to Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness is open to everyone.
So better to forget about all this caste business and just very seriously take to Krishna consciousness by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and following his instructions.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji.
I have one simple question when you said on this side shelter. By that you mean surrender. And surrender to Srila Prabhupada is 1. Chanting 16 rounds. 2. follow the four regulative principles. 3. Read all of Srila Prabhupada’s books(1-2 hours daily or everyday).4◾Engaging in devotional service as you are instructed by Srila Prabhupada in his books( including following srila prabhupada’s instructions as I read the books right?)
This is all I want to know which is how to surrender to Srila Prabhupada .
Hare Krishna Mathur
Yes. This is correct. We have to please Srila Prabhupada. That is the point. It is only by pleasing a pure devotee of Krishna that one can become Krishna conscious. So Srila Prabhupada asks us to do these things time and time again: chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly follow the four regulative principles and read his books. So if we want to please Srila Prabhupada we have to follow these instructions that he so much stresses…
But the point is to please Srila Prabhupada, that is what we have to do. That is the point of our devotional service.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Guruji,
I have started chanting 16 rounds for 3-4 days a week and 9-13 rounds the remaining days. Of course it is more like austerity even then I like it. However I have a few problems.
I am quite thin and my parents want me to get fatter so they keep on pestering me to eat egg and fish and more of everything and go to gym. I have somehow escaped from fish but egg is forced. As a result, I am unable to follow the four regulative principles(no meat eating). But I am helpless.
I want to protest but chanting has already made my parents a bit angry. They do not show it but as you said, I do not want to agitate them further. So what should I do?
Hare Krishna.AGTSP
Hare Krishna Divine
We don’t take any notice of what other people like parents say. We don’t unnecessarily agitate them, but we do not let anything they say interfere with our Krishna consciousness. So just refuse to eat anything that can not be offered to Krishna and just continue chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and continue following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. We are the only ones that can stop our own advancement in Krishna consciousness. No one else can stop us from practicing Krishna consciousness. So don’t let them interfere with your Krishna consciousness. Just go on chanting Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Yes Prabhu, this guy on the video is in maya and has no idea at all what happiness is.
Actually our constitutional position is to serve, not to enjoy. So all our attempts to try to enjoy will be ultimately frustrated and will not bring us happiness in the long run. Our nature is to serve. And if we try an serve someone in the material world they will exploit our surrender and service and try and use our service for their happiness… So both the materialistic master and the materialistic servant will not end up happy.
This idea behind the guy in the video that if you get what you want you will be happy is the materialistic illusion. Because we ‘want’ materialistic things that will satisfy our senses but we do not realize that we are not this body and not the materialistic senses. And the nature of the materialistic senses is they can never be satisfied. You can supply them with the objects they crave for but that will not satisfy them. They always want more. So satisfaction and happiness is not achievable through sense gratification…
Nor is is possible through material service.
We are all nitya krsna dasa, we are eternally servants of Krishna. So the only way we can experience true happiness is to engaged in the service of Krishna and Krishna’s pure devotees. When, as a result of our service, Krishna becomes happy then the devotee becomes happy. Happiness is not a direct thing. We become happy by serving Krishna’s pure devotee and when he is happy with our service then we enjoy real transcendental bliss and this spiritual happiness is unlimited and ever-increasing and once we taste a little of this real transcendental happiness we will no longer have any interest in the so-called happiness of the material world.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna John
Yes, it is true that there is no actual permanent result from any material activities. You get karma, you get a reaction. So if you do something good then you get a good reaction and if you do something bad you get a bad reaction, but both good an bad reactions prolong your existence in the material world. So the result of any material action, good or bad, is that it will force you to stay in the material world and force you to remain in the cycle of samsara, endless repetition of birth, old age, disease and death. Which is miserable suffering only.
On the other hand any devotional service you do will give you an eternal benefit. Whatever we do for Krishna is remembered by Krishna and it goes to our credit and because this is spiritual it is not lost when the material body is lost. It is eternal. Anything we may achieve in the material world is lost when we loose this material body. But any gain we make spiritually is permanent and will never be lost.
So the logical thing is to give up materialistic activities and only engage in devotional service for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
It will be fine, just read it and enjoy it.
It is all so much maya Avikam. I do not want anything to do with it. Just follow Prabhupada’s instructions. Chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books every day for at least 1-2 hours. You are not doing these things and that is the problem. You will never be able to solve any of your problems until you actually surrender to and actually follow these basic principles of Krishna consciousness. Following these basic principles is only the beginning of Krishna consciousness. If we have not surrendered to these things and are not following them strictly we are in maya, we are not in Krishna consciousness and we will always be confused. So just concentrate on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and strictly following the four regulative principles and don’t expect me to answer such rubbish questions.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. You said that srila prabhupada wrote 80 books. But I don’t see 80 books on this site plus or the prabhupadabooks site which have books lectures and conversation. And is krishna path.org a good site for original books of srila prabhupada.
Why don’t you just spend your time reading all the Prabhupada books that are there instead of counting them? You keep on getting distracted by meaningless things. All you need to do is concentrate on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Read all the books in the Prabhupada Library I sent you and when you have read all of them read the Srimad-Bhagavatam and when you have read the Bhagavatam read the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and then start again and read all of Prabhupada’s books again. This is the way to become Krishna conscious….
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. There is no hardbound or paper copy of Sri-Caitanya Caritamrta currently in the present. Although they might be in some or a lot of the libraries in the United States but don’t know if i will get it or when i will get it to read.
Read the books you already have……. Chant Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day. Strictly follow the four regulative principles. STOP WATCHING THE TELEVISION. Don’t eat anything except Krishna prasadam. Only eat for keeping the body and soul together. Don’t overeat…
Hare Krishna Avikam
When a materialist, a karmi, speaks about living a ‘normal life’ he means a life centered around eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That means his ‘normal life’ is just like the life of an animal. A dog is also eating, sleeping, mating and defending. There is no difference between his ‘normal life’ and the life of the dog. The only think is humans have made these things a bit more ‘civilized’ than the dog. The dog has sex on the street and men are having the same sex but they build nice big houses for doing it in a ‘civilized’ way. So it is, as Srila Prabhupada says, nothing more than polished animal life.
So in this sense Krishna consciousness is not a ‘normal life’ and devotees have no interest in living this so-called ‘normal life’.
Actually Krishna consciousness means surrendering to Krishna and serving Krishna, doing everything for Krishna, and that really is our natural eternal constitutional position. It is really our normal life. But here, in the material world, everyone is in the bodily concept of life, everyone in maya, and they think a ‘normal’ life is serving maya… So there is an English saying: “It is folly to be wise where ignorance is bliss.” So we are in that position. We are wise. We know what the human form of life is for and we are trying to live our lives in that way but practically all the other people are in ignorance and are accepting that they are their material bodies and are living their life only for the satisfaction of their material senses. And this is what your uncle means when he speaks of living a ‘normal life’.
We want to be serving Krishna 24 hours a day, not just one hour…
As far as preaching, we have to preach, but first we have to follow ourselves. Of course we may not be perfect and we can still try to preach. We can say things like “Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” “Please chant Hare Krishna and be happy.” and we will not be wrong and this is nice of course. But really preaching is done by persons who are empowered by Krishna and His pure devotees to preach. I just heard Srila Prabhupada saying this yesterday. That preaching is not such an easy thing that everyone can do it. To preach first one has to be empowered to preach. But of course Srila Prabhupada and Krishna will empower us to preach but we can not expect that empowerment if we do not even surrender to and follow the basic principles like chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, following the regulative principles, and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books.
But if we are doing these things then certainly we should try to talk to the people we meet about Krishna. The best thing we can do is to try to convince them to read one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Our preaching may not be so powerful but if by our preaching we can interest them enough into reading one of Prabhupada’s books then our preaching is perfect. We have delivered them to Srila Prabhupada and that is really the perfection of our preaching.
So you can do this with the people you meet. Talk to them about Krishna and try to interest them enough so they want to read one of Prabhupada’s books and then when they read the book you can ask them about what they thought of what they read in the book, etc.
Not everyone is receptive to Krishna consciousness. Understanding Krishna consciousness requires good fortune. It requires pious acts in this life and in previous lives. So the people who become seriously interested in Krishna consciousness are not actually ordinary people. They are different. So we have to search out these people who are actually open to Krishna consciousness and preach to them.
And we should not be discouraged if our preaching attempts seem to be unsuccessful. The materialists will mostly be completely not interested in spiritual life. That is just the way they are. And then if you do find someone who is actually interested in spiritual life he will usually turn out to be a Mayavadi who is not interested in surrendering to Krishna at all but wants to become Krishna himself.
So this world is like that. Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura often said that this world is no place for a gentleman. And it is like that. Mostly they are all non-devotees and all completely opposed to Krishna consciousness. That is just the way it is. So in this situation we just have to push on with our Krishna consciousness and not become discouraged by the lack of interest of others and even the criticisms of others…
We have to remain firmly fixed in our Krishna consciousness even if there is no encouragement from the family, friends, etc.
Practically everyone is a materialist, a karma, they are driven by sense gratification only, sense gratification is their only purpose in life. So to them a devotee does seem to be not living a ‘normal life.’ But we have no interest in their ‘normal life.’
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji my uncle was talking about yoga and asking about whether they are asanas or what not in the yoga. Actually since i came to know him like since a few years or more he is into yoga doing those physical asanas in the beginning under some instructor. On this site when i searched for yoga i opened the page where they are the the article of yoga in the “yoga section” under introduction.
Can you please tell me if it is true and about all forms of yoga and meditation being to attain God or Krsna Consciousness or meditate on Vishnu or Krishna. I have read that Yoga is not for improving health or the ultimate goal of it to make the mind peaceful. Basically it is not for attaining any kinds of material benefit or yogic siddhis or perfection(for example one of the eight is the power to become smaller than the smallest and more or so on ). The real purpose of yoga is to enable one to end his material existence and then attain the kingdom of God. So this statement is saying in other words to attain Krsna Consciousness or meditate on Vishnu or Krishna right?
and in terms of those asanas am i right to understand that those asanas or bodily pastures are of the hatha or astanga yoga form which cannot be performed in a city in group or at home. It has to be performed in a in sacred place and in seclusion or alone. And these forms of yoga and meditation( or all all forms of yoga and meditation) are for to meditate or attain Krsna Consciousness or vice versa and no other purpose but this purpose only?
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes Prabhu everything you have written here about yoga is correct.
The asanas are for controlling the airs within the body to make everything peaceful so the yogi can see the Supersoul within his heart. So Supersoul is also an expansion of Krishna. So yogi is ultimately meditating on Krishna. Yoga is not the end. It is a process. The Sanskrit word ‘yoga’ means to link. So it means to link the self with the supreme.
So yoga is not for bodily fitness or for achieving any sort of siddhi or perfection or power. It is for reestablishing our forgotten relationship with Krishna.
For more information on yoga it is very good to read the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Avikam
As far as cooking for Prabhupada and Krishna I told you that you have to start cooking for Prabhupada and Krishna if you want to become Krishna conscious because to become Krishna conscious you have to limit your eating to only Krishna prasadam and in your situation how and you going to get Krishna prasadam if you don’t cook for Prabhupada and Krishna yourself.
I never said you can not cook for Krishna and Prabhupada, obviously you have to follow the process. And that is not difficult. How difficult can it be to chant 16 rounds and follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books 1-2 hours a day? You just have to decide to do it and do it. And cook for Prabhupada and Krishna. That is all part of the process.
As far as diet the diet for a devotee is only Krsna prasadam. That is the perfect diet. Standard simple Krishna prasadam. Rice, dhal, capatis and subji. Cooked with love and devotion and offered to Srila Prabhupada. That is all. The diet is Krishna prasadam.
As far as medicine generally devotees do not need it. Yes. There are things that Prabhupada says about medicine. You can search for them at http://www.PrabhupadaBooks.com But really devotees who are seriously practicing Krishna consciousness do not need much medicine.
Krishna prasadam is the perfect diet and Krishna kirtan is the perfect medicine.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
You have to have common sense and use it. What can I say. I can not tell you everything you should do. Read Prabhupada’s books if you are unsure of anything and you will find all the answers there.
Hare Krishna Avikam
No, it is never too late to start Krishna consciousness seriously and whatever you have already done in Krishna consciousness, no matter how small, is already counted by Krishna and you have got the credit for that. Whatever we do in Krishna consciousness is to our eternal benefit. We never loose our advancement in Krishna consciousness. It may become covered for some time but when we start practicing Krishna consciousness again we start from the point where we left off before. We never loose any advancement in Krishna consciousness.
So do not be anxious that it is too late. Of course it is very good for us to feel that we have wasted so much time without Krishna consciousness, that is a fact, and we should feel very regretful about this. But we can not do anything about the past. We have to look forward to the future. We can change the future. And we can decide now that in the future I will not waste any more time without Krishna consciousness.
It is a battle. We have declared war against maya and sometimes we will come out victorious and sometimes maya will defeat us. We simply have to keep fighting the battle. And fighting the battle means chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and applying the instructions we find Srila Prabhupada giving us as we read his books in our daily lives.
If we go on with this program and even if we fail, even if we fall down, if we simply pick ourselves up and start again strictly following the four regulative principles, chanting at least 16 rounds and reading Prabhupada’s books then we will recover again.
It may seem that it is hopeless. It may seem that we are so completely fallen and there is no hope. But actually there is hope. Lord Caitanya is Patita-Pavana. He is the deliverer of the most fallen. So we are the most fallen therefore we qualify for Lord Caitanya’s mercy…
Anyhow for us Lord Caitanya’s mercy is flowing through Srila Prabhupada so we have to please Srila Prabhupada and then we will ultimately become completely successful in our lives and we will become completely Krishna consciousness.
But we have to be patient. It may not happen overnight. It is a battle and we have to fight the battle first…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. is it okay if i pronounce the word Rama in the mantra as Ram instead of pronouncing the “a” while chanting. because in hindi there are a lot of words i don’t pronounce with a. Instead if saying Arjuna i say Arjun. Instead of karma i say or pronounce it as karm.
Hare Krishna Avikam
The ‘a’ at the end of Rama is a short a, not a long one, so it may sound like Ram when pronounced but that last a is there, but short.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Avikam
We should not take anything that has any animal products in it.
The idea of Krishna consciousness is that we should not do anything for ourselves. We should do everything for Krishna. So if we get the very first-class best fresh ingredients and offer them to Krishna for His enjoyment and then respect the Krishna prasadam then all the vitamin values will be there in the Krishna prasadam and we will not need to take other things, vitamin supplements, etc.
These vitamin supplements may or may not be good for health but that is not the main thing for a devotee. The main thing for a devotee is to serve Krishna, to please Krishna, he takes Krishna prasadam and does not make much separate effort for maintaining his own body. That is automatically done by accepting Krishna prasadam.
Of course we are not so advanced and sometimes my have to take some medicine, etc. But if we are actually in Krishna consciousness and actually only accepting Krishna prasadam that has been cooked by devotees with love and offered to Krishna then we will be getting all the vitamin and spiritual values from the Krishna prasadam.
This health supplements industry is mainly a business for making money. You can spend an unlimited amount of money on health supplements with little or no improvement in your health. It is not our business. Our business is to prepare very nice, very first-class offerings for Krishna and offer them and accept Krishna prasadam, and we will then get all the health and vitamin values…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Guruji,
As I am progressing more and more in Bhakti yoga, I am finding maya’s attack to be stronger and stronger. Sometimes, in some conversation of Srila Prabhupada, I feel Srila Prabhupada should have spoken something else instead of what he had spoken. Sometimes, unknowingly I think of imitating Vaisnava Acharyas like Haridas Thakura. In these ways, many times I am thinking that I am greater than or equal to such magnanimous Vaisnava acharyas. I am very much afraid of this madness as such thoughts are even worse than suicide.
Therefore,guruji, could you tell me some remedy to cure myself of this madness and remove such low grade thoughts?
Could you also tell me the secret behind increasing my faith in the words of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada?
Hare Krishna.AGTSP
Hare Krishna Divine
Yes. Our mind is either our greatest enemy or our best friend. If the mind is controlled it is our best friend but if it is uncontrolled then it is our greatest enemy.
Srila Prabhupada says in regard to the mood we need to have to read the Bhagavad Gita that we have to at least theoretically accept that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that He is speaking the Absolute Truth.
And also if we are to advance in spiritual life we have to at least in theory accept that Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee of Krishna and we have to understand that Krishna speaks through his pure devotees so their speaking is perfect for every circumstance.
We may think that we would have said something different but we are not on the same platform as Srila Prabhupada. There is a tendency that as soon as one is chanting a few rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra and has been following the regulative principles for a few weeks that one thinks that “Now I am a great devotee.” But actually we can understand that if we are thinking that we are great devotees then actually we are in great maya. Because a great devotee thinks he is very low and unqualified.
A great devotee realises the greatness of Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the greatness of Krishna’s pure devotees like Srila Prabhupada and has all respect from them and accepts their words as being non-different from hearing Krishna’s words directly.
We have to realize that we are not very great, we are great fools actually and our only hope is Prabhupada’s mercy. Everything Prabhupada is perfect but we may not understand that initially. However we have to have at least the theoretical faith that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that Srila Prabhupada is His pure devotee.
So these thoughts may come into your mind while you are reading Srila Prabhupada’s books but then, as Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says, one has to beet the mind one hundred times in the morning with a broomstick and in the evening one hundred times with shoes. Or the other way around. I am not sure. But the point is the mind is mad and is always tending to get out of control and we have to beat it back into submission.
So when these thoughts come up in your mind beat them down with your intelligence. Your intelligence is higher than your mind so the intelligence can control the mind and the soul is higher than the intelligence so the soul can control the intelligence. So that is the the way. This thoughts are symptoms of the mind being uncontrolled and they are quite natural and we have to expect it and not be too surprised about it but at the same time know that this is just the crazy rascal mind acting up and we have to beat it into submission with the intelligence.
That is the process. It is as simple as that. You have to understand and comprehend with your intelligence that Srila Prabhupada is very great, much greater than us, and he is not speaking his own opinions or own ideas. He is speaking for Krishna. So what Prabhupada has said is always correct. We may not be able to understand it but we have to see that this is our imperfection, not Prabhupada’s.
In time as we advance more in Krishna consciousness we will see more and more how everything Srila Prabhupada said and did is perfect. But now, in the beginning, you just have to understand this intellectually and accept it, and then when the mind tries to tell you something else you just have to beat the mind. That is the process of controlling the mind.
The way to increase your faith in Srila Prabhupada is by reading his books and hearing his classes and by actually putting into practice all the things you hear Srila Prabhupada telling you to do in your life. When you actually follow all of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions like this, both big and small, then you will actually experience a higher taste, a very blissful transcendental consciousness, something far better than you could ever experience in the material world. And in so many ways you will see that Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are working in your life.
But all this happens after you surrender to Srila Prabhupada. Nothing really much happens until we actually surrender. Until we actually surrender Krishna consciousness is more-or-less theoretical. The real Krishna consciousness actually starts when we surrender to Srila Prabhupada and make his mission our mission in life. Many ‘devotees’ never actually surrender and they never actually experience or understand what Krishna consciousness actually is.
Krishna consciousness is a very wonderful thing. It is like the greatest diamond. Very beautiful and everyone wants it. But there is a price. If you want that beautiful diamond then you have to pay the price. Similarly if you want Krishna consciousness there is a price, a very high price, and that price is surrender.
Of course surrender to Srila Prabhupada and surrender to Krishna is very easy. We can do it in a minute. But we do not want to surrender. That is the problem. We have to give up all these ideas that we are great and very intelligent and can understand everything much better than Srila Prabhupada and instead accept the reality that we are great fools, we know nothing, and simply humbly and submissively hear from Srila Prabhupada and accept what he says.
Prabhupada often says that the disciple has to approach the spritual master with a ‘blank slate’. It means that we have to give up all that so-called knowledge and learning and advancement we think we have and just approach the spritual master as a humble and submissive servant. That is the way. As a blank slate.
Whatever we have learned in the material world, although we are very proud of our great learning and advancement, is all nonsense. We have to give all that up and approach Srila Prabhupada as a ‘blank slate’ and relearn everything in the correct way from him.
That is the way to increase your faith in Srila Prabhupada and that is the way to put yourself on the path of becoming a pure devotee of Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Prabhu, My humble obeisances to you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhu- I was thinking that only by the MERCY of (living) Guru, we will be able to follow the regulative principles also. Regulative principles are the good stepping stone to attain Pure service to Krsna. Our idea is to render Pure unmotivated uninterrupted service to Guru and Krsna and for that following all regulative principles will help. So, for all these, a pure representative (called Guru) is very much essential. Otherwise, we are all talking external aspects of devotion, isn’t? I also understand that it is difficult to answer like what you have said so HONESTLY about finding a Guru, but are there any Pure representatives that yourself know belonging to other branches of Lord Chaitanya tree? I respect Srila Prabhupada and I love his great concern for all of us in writing many books very beautifully, clearly. But we must also find some representative and I think Srila Prabhupada will also be pleased because a struggling conditioned soul finding one pure person, isn’t? Please answer when you find time. I know you are very busy in doing so many activities. Thank you. With all obeisances – Ravi
So you think that Srila Prabhupada is not a “living” guru???? You think that it is not possible to follow the regulative principles by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy? You think a “living guru” that the GBC will openly admit is a conditioned soul who is maybe not even following the regulative principles himself can help you follow the regulative principles? You are a fool. Prabhupada is a living guru, he is living in his books and other recorded vani and anyone who takes advantage of Srila Prabhupada who is living in his books can get the full mercy of Srila Prabhupada and of course by Prabhupada’s mercy can follow the regulative principles. It is only when he goes to ISKCON and is convinced that he needs to take initiation from a ‘living guru’, never mind he is not a pure devotee, that does not matter, he is ‘living….’
This is complete insanity and this complete insanity has been going on in ISKCON for the past, presenting ordinary conditioned souls as gurus and cheating so many innocent disciples in this way.
Srila Prabhupada is of course not pleased with this “Guru Business”. If one actually becomes a pure devotee of Krishna and preaches and accepts disciples that is fine. But ISKCON claim that one does not have to be pure and still he can be guru. This has spoiled everything.
Anyhow Prabhu “JIV JAGO JIV JAGO” Wake up sleeping soul! Prabhupada is a living guru and you can personally associate with him by reading his books. You can ask him questions and he will answer you, and yes, certainly by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada you can get the strength to follow the four regulative principles. These ISKCON so-called gurus are not even pure devotees and that is officially stated and admitted by the GBC but they say ‘it does not matter…’ But Prabhu if one is not a pure devotee of Krishna he does not have any spiritual strength at all. He does not even have the strength to save himself, what to speak of saving a bunch of disciples as well. Please wake up. Prabhupada is not dead. He is living completely in his books. What does it mean when Prabhupada says “I am living in my books?”
You know even in Prabhupada’s physical presence so many of his disciples never even met him. They were initiated by the ritvik system he established whereby sannyasis or temple presidents could initiate disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and the only connection these disciples had with Srila Prabhupada was through reading his books and listening to his lecture tapes. And Prabhu they had no problems getting mercy and strength to follow the four regulative principles from Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada is a pure devotee of Krishna. He has the strength and by his mercy we can also get the strength.
You are a fool. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear sir, i have seen how insane way of answering one innocent’s question. If you brilliantly think that Srila Prabhupada is still “living”, then why you are declaring July 9th letter is his “Final Order”. Don’t you think it is not contradictory? You are also subject to questionable. you are not beyond of my questions, or even we can ask questions about Srila Prabhupada? if you are thinking that i should not ask questions about Prabhupada, it is up to you. I am not supporting anyone here, but why Srila Prabhupada was not predicted anything brilliantly? what happened to his ritvik appointed gurus? why didn’t he predict that they will go away? You people are not better than so called fanatic groups of having one guru and one savior for ever. Can you show the proof of Srila Bhakti Siddanta Saraswati takur’s order to Srila Prabhupada to accept disciples? where he ordered him?
Can you ask him now, either from his books or from his physical presence, which is seen by you or your so called brilliant members, which is the right system? you can claim something, i can claim something, arguing based on our own understanding is not the solution. so please check with him and present it here, with solid proof.
in the purport of 4.34 verse, Srila Prabhupada commented like “Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help lead one to the right path. Nor by independent study of books of knowledge can one progress in spiritual life.” now you are advising us to read books only. So to whom we should follow. if i have to follow, Srila Prabhupada, i have to reject you simply, because you are mental speculator. if i follow you, then it is against Srila Prabhupada. whatever arguement you are presenting is like sharp sword, can cut both the sides.
Hare Krsna Jay prabhuji instead of what you wrote “Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help lead one to the right path. Nor by independent study of books of knowledge can one progress in spiritual life.”
This is the correct puport from the original 1972 edition
“Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help one progress in spiritual life.”
This purport that you read and putting in quote is wrong since you read it from the revised and enlarged edition of gita which is unauthorized edition since prabhupada wanted no change.
See this is what Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji is trying to spread. He is spreading Srila Prabhupada original unadulterated teachings or Krsna Consciousness according to Srila Prabhupada (uncontaminated, unadulterated). Madhudvisa dasa is not a mental speculator of any kind especially in preaching and following and practicing Krsna Consciousness according to Prabhupada.
What you read was the adulterated, unauthorized changes in the gita which is made in what today’s iskcon call “revised and enlarged edition”
So instead of reading they unauthorized revised version of the books of today’s iskcon read srila prabhupada’s orginal 1978 edition of the books.
Hare Krishna Jay
Avikam has made some nice points.
You are the insane one and your friend also who posted the original comment when you declare that Srila Prabhupada is dead and gone. That is your insanity not mine.
Any slightly sane person can see the evidence that Srila Prabhupada is living in his books. And living means living. If he is living in his books he can also initiate from his books.
We see this happen so many times. People read Srila Prabhupada’s books and Prabhupada convinces them that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that they should surrender to Krishna and serve Krishna and they do. They surrender to Srila Prabhupada, accept his instructions as their purpose in life, they start chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, they start following the four regulative principles and they become devotees of Krishna. All the 26 qualities of a devotee develop automatically in them and they make rapid advancement in Krishna consciousness. They can easily give up all the bad habits they had in the past [anarta nivriti shat] and they become fixed-up devotees of Krishna.
So this means they have been initiated into Krishna consciousness. Otherwise how is it possible that they have become devotees, they are attached to chanting the holy name, they have lost their taste for sense gratification, they are developing all the 26 qualities of a devotee. How it is possible? It is only possible by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna and that pure devotee of Krishna is His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada who is a bona fide living guru.
So you and your friend are the insane ones when you declare that Prabhupada is not a living guru.
If you would actually read Srila Prabhupada’s books and follow his instructions you would be able to perceive it for yourself that Prabhupada is very much alive and very much ready to help you advance in Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Avikam
The answer is always the same. You have to become Krishna conscious and to become Krishna conscious you have to surrender to the process that Srila Prabhupada has given us of chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you are not prepared to do this then how can you expect to become Krishna conscious and how can you expect to solve your material problems.
Solving our material problems requires spiritual advancement and spiritual advancement requires surrendering to a bona fide spiritual master like His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and actually following his instructions. And if we do that we will make spiritual advancement and will have no reason to become angry except at the demons who are envious of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
This anger and violence comes out of frustration. You want something for your sense gratification but you don’t get it so you become angry. But if you were Krishna conscious you wouldn’t care about your sense gratification and you would understand that actually we can not satisfy our senses in the material world and that this material world is simply a place of frustration so you would not be surprised or angry when you found your senses were not satisfied.
You know Krishna consciousness is a completely different consciousness. We understand that we are all part and parcel of Krishna so that if Krishna is satisfied then automatically all the parts of and parcels of Krishna are also satisfied. So as devotees of Krishna we know the only way we can become happy is by pleasing Krishna and we know the only way to please Krishna is by pleasing the pure devotees of Krishna.
So if you do the things I constantly suggest, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day then that will help you.
That is all I can suggest and you know I have suggested it so many times and obviously you do not or can not follow it.
So if you can not follow it at least you have to chant Hare Krishna. You know if we don’t surrender to Krishna we are just like dolls in the hands of maya and she will throw us around here and there and we will be pushed and pulled by the modes of material nature and we will not be able to control ourselves or our actions. The only way is to become Krishna conscious and the only way to become Krishna conscious in Kali-yuga is by chanting Hare Krishna…
You know I do not really have anything else to say. This is the solution to your problem and you are free to take it or not take it. If you do not take it then you know what the results of that will be.
One who is in the mode of goodness does not act violently when he is angry. And also to become Krishna conscious you have to raise yourself to the mode of goodness.
It is all in Srila Prabhupada’s books Avikam, You have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. It is impossible for me to explain everything in all details here. That is what Srila Prabhupada has written his books for, to explain all these things in detail…. So please read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna prabhuji. I have anger over people who have hurt me in this present live. and at times when i remember some of people or incidents who have hurt me i feel anger in the past. i feel i want rectification of the hurt that has been caused to me. And plus i am sick of my mother or parents telling me or questioning. on the one side i am trying to come to the platform of chanting 16 rounds and reading srila prabhupada books and more and plus i am seriously trapped with my inclination to sense gratification. plus my parents just being after me to do economics and more. my mother keeps on saying bhakti will not give you anything and i am tired of hearing it. you have to do things in life and all that stuff. i feel really frustrated.
I have a question for you. Can you suggest me how i can both study for economics test and do devotional service together like chanting 16 rounds reading prabhupada books and more. if you can suggest that i will be grateful to you. and plus i don’t feel inclined to do economics. i just study for the test and that is it. what can i do. i have still sort of managed to get 100 but that also my parents pushing me too much.
Hare Krishna Avikam
You have to realize Prabhu that everyone in the material world is just like a puppet in the hands of the three modes of material nature. They are not independent. They are forced to act the way they act by the modes of material nature. It is not actually their fault.
When something bad happens to a devotee, when someone tries to hurt him, etc, he does not blame that person. He sees that this is my bad karma. I have done so many sinful things in this life and in my previous lives so now this person is angry at me and it is not the person’s fault but it is my bad karma that is forcing the person to become angry at me.
So if you understand like that then you never get angry at people or feel resentful towards them. Whatever suffering comes to us is our fault. It is caused by our sinful actions in this life and in previous lives. That is the real cause. So we have to ignore the apparent cause of this person being angry at us, this person trying to hurt us. It is not that person’s fault at all. That person is just like doll in the hands of the three modes of material nature, a doll in the hands of maya. Maya pulls the strings and they act. That is all.
And in the material world everyone is envious of everyone else. So if you are ever a little successful at something so many others will be envious of your success and will try to hurt you and try to bring you down. This is just the way the material world works and you just have to understand this and then you can remain completely undisturbed in the midst of all these people trying to attack you. And at the same time you will not feel anything bad towards the people who are trying to attack you because you know they are simply being forced to act by the three modes of material nature and the real reason they are giving you trouble is your sinful activities.
And a devotee is always very grateful to Krishna, even in a so-called distressful or suffering condition. He thanks Krishna, “I am so sinful. I deserve to suffer so, so much, but You have just given me this little suffering.” So a devotee always thinks whatever suffering he is being put through is so much less than what he deserves and he is very grateful to Krishna for that.
As far as studying for economics you can’t study for economics and chant Hare Krishna at the same time. You have to make a time for studying economics and a time for chanting Hare Krishna. But of course chanting Hare Krishna is your main business.
If you are going to live in the material world and have a family and at the same time be a devotee of Krishna then you are going to have two sides to your life. You are going to have the material side where you have to work to get some money to support yourself and your family and you are going to have the spiritual side. Of course you can spiritualize your work by using the money you earn for serving Krishna. But there will be these two streams to your life.
So if you are managing to get 100 for the economics then that is good and just study for it. You can obviously remember the stuff and regurgitate it which is really all today’s education is–nothing practical, nothing useful–so it is all a waste of time really. You would be better of just reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, but at the same time you do need to have some sort of income in your life and if you are going to get married then you need to be able to support your wife and family, so the world is such that you might as well make a little endeavor and study for the economics and do well in the exams. It seems you can do this without too much difficulty.
But you do not have to obsess with the economics. Just listen to their classes and a little revision and study, that is all, and you will do well in the exams. But you don’t care about that. You spend real time and energy on reading Prabhupada’s books and chanting Hare Krishna.
And your parents and family members, just be sweet to them and smile at them, no matter what nasty things they may say or do, and just completely ignore them and go on with your business of becoming Krishna conscious.
Do not worry that there will be many challenges and difficulties and also that sometimes you will fail to come up the standard you are trying to achieve. It is natural. In trying to become Krishna conscious we are declaring war against maya. So we have to expect her to fight back, and we should not be surprised that she is fighting back. As you are experiencing the more seriously you try to become Krishna conscious the more serious maya gets about trying to make it difficult for you.
But these are just tests. Tests to see how sincere we really are to serve Krishna. When we pass the tests maya will not bother us so much. Even she will help us in our attempts to serve Srila Prabhupada by preaching and spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world.
Ultimately maya is a devotee of Krishna and her service is to test us to see how serious we really are about Krishna consciousness. Because only the very serious devotees can succeed. Others, not so serious, they will be mislead by maya…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. So are you or would you also bring forgiveness in the picture of this comment about people hurting me because they are puppets in the hands of the three mode of material nature and are not independent.
Plus something else i want to say. in my life incidents have happened where the authorities have not treated me well. Are authorities also in the three mode of material nature. just asking because of my case with authority treating me badly mainly.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Everyone in the material world is acting under the three modes of material nature and they are not independent and a devotee does not blame them for their actions or feel bad against them because of things they may do to hurt him. A devotee sees the bigger picture and understands that he is being hurt because of his sinful activities in the past, because of his bad karma. This is the real reason we get hurt. It has nothing to do with the people who appear to be hurting us actually. It is our fault, it is the result of our sinful activities in the past.
So a devotee sees like this and therefore has no bad feelings against anyone even if they seem to be inimical to him and are trying to hurt him.
You have to realize that this material world is created for suffering. It is meant that we will suffer here, it is designed so one living entity will hurt another living entity. That is the point. To let the living entities on one hand struggle to try and become the lord and master of everything and at the same time to hurt and frustrate them at every step. The purpose of this is that ultimately a thoughtful living entity will realize that there is no point to this nonsense in the material world, trying to become the lord and master, and he will surrender to Krishna.
So that is the whole point of the material world, to frustrate us to the point that we will finally realize that we should surrender to Krishna and go back home back to Godhead.
The Earth is a middle planet. So here we can see both sides. We see the suffering and we also see some so-called enjoyment. We can elevate ourselves to the heavenly planets where the enjoyment is more prominent and the suffering is less or we can degrade ourselves and take birth in the hellish planets where the suffering is more and there is practically no ‘enjoyment’. But everywhere with the three worlds [upper, middle and lower planets] the same birth, old age, disease and death is there. It is only possible to escape from these sufferings by going back home back to Godhead.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I guess you know also Prabhu that Prabhupada studied economics. He mentions these economic principles in his preaching like this Malthusian theory and Marshals theory, etc, etc. I am sure that Prabhupada got very good marks in Economics also at Scottish Churches College and he used that knowledge of western economics also later in his preaching. Of course western economics is not very good. The proper economics you will find in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Prabhupada always stresses the first economic principle is annanda bhavanti bhutani, “grow food grains”. This is the suggestion of Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. Because if there is an ample supply of food grains then everyone, man and animals also, will be able to eat sumptuously and be very strong. So this “grow food grains” is really the basis of a very strong economy.
But if Prabhupada studied economics and surely got good marks in it and later used it in his preaching then I do not see any problem with you studying it and getting good marks in it….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa what happened to all the comments here.
Hare Krishna Avikam
It is a new comments system but it is supposed to be importing the old comments also. It has imported some of them but I guess there are so many… Anyhow I will keep on trying to import the other comments also…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Okay. But can i ask why have you not been replying to any of my questions i have been asking you besides these ones which pertains to life and krsna consciousness on this article and other article(s) also.
What is my offense against you that you have not been replying to any of my questions. please tell me and tell me what can i do erase the effects of the offense i have caused if i have caused you any offense.
Guruji,
On your advice I increased my chanting and now I chant 10-12 rounds.My aim is to come to the stage of 16 rounds very soon. The biggest obstacle is my father’s fury which I hope I can soon overcome.
My biggest problem now is my school, which is filled with maya to the brim. Very unfortunately, all my friends(aged 15 to 16) are very much addicted to sex. They talk about sex and woman literally all the time. Ironically almost all the students are sex-minded and the only difference is between who is more addicted and who is less. Moreover, they talk about such nonsense so loudly that I am forced to hear it. Listening to such sex talks six hours a day has a very detrimental effect on me, but it seems as if there is no other choice.
The biggest problem is that all schools are similarly hopeless. I avoid their association as far as possible and chant Hare Krishna whenever I have free time. However, sometimes maya makes me totally helpless and I am forced to hear.Guruji is there some way I can overcome this?
Eagerly waiting for your reply.
Hare Krishna.AGTSP
Hare Krishna Divine
I understand your problem completely and this is the nature of the current time, the Kali-yuga. The time is getting worse and worse and the people in general are becoming more and more materialistic and for a materialist ultimately their only object is sex. They have nothing else. In the past people were more subtle and more moral and did not talk openly about sex like this all the time. But underneath their morality and good manners still they were materialists and the only thing they were interested in ultimately was sex.
So in that sense nothing has changed only the people have become less concerned about morals and good manners. We are very fortunate because of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy we have been able to taste at least a little bit of transcendental pleasure by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
and because we have experienced a little transcendental pleasure like this we have experienced something that is unlimitedly better than sex. So the more we become Krishna conscious, the more we chant Hare Krishna, the more we will become attached to Krishna and the more we will enjoy transcendental pleasure on the spiritual platform and at the same time our attachment for mundane sex life will reduce and reduce more and more.
Ultimately devotees do not like to associate with non-devotees for this very reason. The non-devotees have no interest except sex and the devotee is not interested in sex, he is interested in Krishna. So a devotee, a preacher only associates with the non-devotees to talk to them about Krishna. He does not let them talk to him about sex. So it is something of a one-sided conversation. But it has to be that way. If we can capture their attention on Krishna and get them to ask us questions about Krishna and get them to take Srila Prabhupada’s books and interest them in reading Srila Prabhupada’s books then our mission is complete. And when they read Prabhupada’s books they will become purified and some questions other than sex will start popping up in their brains…
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that He would prefer to be locked up in a cage with a tiger rather than have to associate with non-devotees. So your feelings in the association of non-devotees are actually the feelings a devotee has. So it is a good sign. It is a sign that you are making advancement in Krishna consciousness.
So it may not be possible for you to completely avoid their association but as you are doing you should avoid it as far as possible and when you have to associate with them try to talk to them about Krishna and get them to think about Krishna and ask you questions about Krishna. If you can take their minds of sex even for a short time and transfer them to Krishna that will be very good for them. Also try to get them to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and make nice food and offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and try to get them to accept Krishna prasadam from you. These are the ways for awakening the dormant Krishna consciousness that is within everyone. We have to remember that we would be in exactly the same position as them if it were not for Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. So now as far as possible we have to try and give them Srila Prabhupada’s mercy but not everyone will agree to take it. That is the nature of the material world. But we have to try to distribute the mercy. That is preaching and that is our duty to Srila Prabhupada.
So it will not always be easy but you have to simply continue with your Krishna consciousness, continue chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and strictly following the four regulative principles no matter what the others around you are doing. That will make you very strong. So do not worry. If you feel weak chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and after a little while you will be feeling strong again. Even if you fall down and break the regulative principles because of bad association just pick up your japa beads again and start chanting Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and soon you will be back on the proper platform of Krishna consciousness again. Not that you can fall down with the idea of chanting Hare Krishna and become absolved from the sinful reactions. That would be offensive and that does not work. But if accidentally you fall down because of bad association the only thing you have to do is get back into your regular program of reading Prabhupada’s books and chanting Hare Krishna.
You are feeling rightly in not wanting to hear them talk about sex. That is very painful for a devotee and you have to avoid them as far as possible or talk to them about Krishna and distract their minds from sex and attract them to Krishna or just chant Hare Krishna and ignore them.
I know exactly how you feel and I know it is difficult but we have to just tolerate these things sometimes and chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
I hope it is of some help…
Madhudvisa dasa
Guruji,
On your advice I increased my chanting and now I chant 10-12 rounds.My aim is to come to the stage of 16 rounds very soon. The biggest obstacle is my father’s fury which I hope I can soon overcome.
My biggest problem now is my school, which is filled with maya to the brim. Very unfortunately, all my friends (aged 15 to 16) are very much addicted to sex. They talk about sex and woman literally all the time. Ironically almost all the students are sex-minded and the only difference is between who is more addicted and who is less. Moreover, they talk about such nonsense so loudly that I am forced to hear it. Listening to such sex talks six hours a day has a very detrimental effect on me, but it seems as if there is no other choice.
The biggest problem is that all schools are similarly hopeless. I avoid their association as far as possible and chant Hare Krishna whenever I have free time. However, sometimes maya makes me totally helpless and I am forced to hear.Guruji is there some way I can overcome this?
Eagerly waiting for your reply.
Hare Krishna.AGTSP
I have replied to this on your other posting but you have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. Just do this first. That is your main business. Never neglect this. You can not expect anything else to be successful if you do not chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day…
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. I have a question to ask. Is it okay or good way to chant both panchva tatva mantra and hare mantra together or simultaneously. or what do you say about that. and how should i really chant.
plus for some time like a for a while or in comparison a very long time i have not been chanting on mala andif i do chant somewhat i chant like together simultenously both pancva tatva and hare krsna mantra together for 15 minutes for each round. What do you say about chanting.
Don’t do crazy things… We have to follow in the footsteps of the mahajanans. We have to follow Prabhupada’s instructions. I chant one Panca-tattva mantra before each round of the Hare Krishna mantra. But chant 108 Hare Krishna mantras, that is one round. Do not change anything, do not invent these nonsense things. Do the standard things the standard way.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. can you tell me if i can chant hare krsna one round without mala 108 times or with mala 108 times. if i can do both which one is the most effective.
You have to chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day ON JAPA BEADS. Once you have finished chanting 16 rounds on japa beads you can keep chanting Hare Krishna any way you want to but YOU MUST FIRST FINISH CHANTING AT LEAST 16 ROUNDS ON JAPA BEADS!!!
To find a true guru in this material world is difficult. If we have faith in Prabhupad we should consider him as guru and start chanting, doing puja reading Prabhupad books, we will succeed like the Bhil prince Aklavya who wanted Dronacharya as his guru,but as he was the guru of Pandavas and Kurosawa he did not accept Aklavya as his student, so Aklavya made a statue of Dronacharya and put faith in the statue and he learned the dhanurvidya as good as Arjuna.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. One question my father said a long time ago and i bet still says and think that poverty is the worst thing in the world. I disagree with him. What do you say. I think forgetfulness of Krsna might be the worst thing not poverty as my father is saying. And when you said “As far as simply ignoring what the non-devotees say you have to understand that they are like animals. Dwi-pad-pasu, two-legged animals. ” Does that include about devotion and also about things like what is the worst thing in the world type of statements or sayings and more. what i am asking is to what extent should i ignore or just forget or hear it from ear and take it out the other with my parents being non-devotees.
We should not associate with non-devotees. That means we should not hear them speak and we should not bother trying to reply to the things they say unless we are preaching to them. So just do not bother with what they say. Like I say you can just smile and say “very good” and just ignore them. Don’t agitate them but don’t take any notice of them…
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. can you help me or find the article and give me the link. the article name is “The Real Brahmacari” before the site design changed. it was like this Browse>Home/Devotees/ The Real Brahmacari. it was i think some person called madhsudana dasa wrote it.
I do not know Prabhu. You can search for it just as well as I can. Nothing has been deleted from the site so if it was there before it will still be there now.
If you have any specific questions I can answer.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa . sorry for writing a post like the one i last wrote on this article. but i was still expressingf my feelings and just trying to be at peace with what you said. Anyways no matter what we both said to each other. i will do my best in following whatever you say that i should do or just do in asking questions and like that also. Please know this and don’t stop telling me what i should do and what i to do when i ask you questions. Please
Thank-you for listening and thank-you for following my request too in the future for you to tell me what to do and what i should do whether i ask you questions or not.
Hare Krishna Avikam
I am not saying these things Prabhu. I am repeating Srila Prabhupada, that is all. And Prabhupada is not saying these things either, he is repeating Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, his spiritual master, and in this way none of the representatives of the disciplic succession is actually speaking on their own account. As soon as we give our own opinion, as soon as we speak our own ideas we have broken the disciplic succession and we are lost and anyone who follows our advice is also lost.
So in this way we are bound to speak strictly according to what Srila Prabhupada has spoken and what Krishna has spoken. Sometimes this is not so palatable for the the people but we can not change the message because the people don’t like the message. We have to change the people and get them to accept the message.
The knowledge is coming down through the disciplic succession. That is what makes it valuable. It is no my knowledge, I am not making it up.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. in kali yuga there is a example the sex impulse seems so prevalent that some general public reads books like kama sutra and all. i mean i saw it in the barnes and noble book store. i mean americans only reading materialistic aspect of indian literature.
Sex impulse is always prevalent among materialistic people Prabhu. Otherwise why do you think they wrote the Karma-sutra in India so many years ago. This is the central point of material life. Sex. By advancement in Krishna consciousness we can experience a higher spiritual taste and when we have actually experienced this ‘higher taste’ then we will be no longer attracted by sex. The idea of sex will become distasteful to us. This is a platform that we have to actually attain, not one that we should imitate.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
sorry it could be a little confusing the above email .im not the brightest bulb on the shelf. Mother yamuna devi dasi and others ,we are so attracted to them because of their wonderfull qualaties and yet on the other side of the fence the mentalaty of hansaduta his character is worse than any karmi ive associated with. of course he may very well have purefied him self by now but i wouldent give him the time of day. i was initiated by bhavananda in 1980. in s.a. 12 months ago i only found out about all the disgusting going ons at iskcon and this is the only time i have spoken about anything,to anyone i reckon one would have to be mature in his understanding of krsna consicness to continue. at the very moment that devotie said, is the poisen in the milk, srila prubhupada immeditly Opened his eyes and turned his head towards the speaker but very quickly looked away prubhupadas hearing was exceptional good. far superiour than ours.Hare krishna!! bhakta bruce
all glories to his devine grace AC Bhaktivadanta Swami Srila Prubhupada Hare Krishna!! in reply to Mahesh Queston should i seek initiation from Hansaduta. go to the site harekrsna.org Iskcon gbc Blacklist index .also ask yourself why are we attracted to Vaisnavas like Yamuna devi dasi Padmapani das etc. we are all attracted by the Qualities of Srila Prabhupada and no one evan comes close to his qualites.check out the complections of all those bad sanyasis a picture is worth a thousand words they are scarey there is a lot of broken glass in iskcon not many diamonds,Srila Prubhupada says a fool is detected soon as he opens his mouth, amazing the different mentalaties of people.who are they trying to fool .to many people are not reading Srila Prubhupadas Books,i asked 3 brahman initietes does the indavidual spiritual spark1 ten thousand the tip of a hair a spiritual atom Have a form they all said no, its just a energy they said.im 65 years old 6 months ago got my first computor. ever since i declared myself a Prubhupadanuga a Loyalist and a strong beleaver in the Ritvick system a wave of contentment came over me, follow Prabhupadas instructions and he is their in his pictures .untill i find a truthfull devottie and who only repeats Srila Prubhupadas words. i just relish reading Prubhupadas books chanting etc all glories to the Revivalist movement, i have no time for someone who is not truthfull Hare Krishna!!
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. i want to tell you of a event my mother being angry at me for some small things and in general in life in life that are not seeming in order. She always tells me that she will or would at some time burn the devotional books i have in anger. and today she literally in angry threw four books or more soft bound and the one of them have been damagged little severely and one hard book of volume out of 30 volumes i have gotten really damaged like dented on the side since it is hardbound. plus she also threw the mala and the bead bad.
Prabhuji what can i do. how should i respond to this. i feel very angry at this what to do. i really got them from people and she gets angry and throw the books. i know i am not really krsna conscious as of present. maybe a drop worth of devotee but still does my mother not sinnned or done the like one of the worst offense ever.
Hare Krishna Avikam
I already told you not to upset your mother and your other family members. I told you not to argue with them. Not to try to preach with them. I told you that no matter what they say you can just smile and apparently agree with them. But internally you remain completely fixed in your determination to practice Krishna consciousness.
Obviously you have not been doing this. You have been agitating your mother. So you should not do this. Just become Krishna conscious privately without bothering your other family members.
If your mother is too much offensive then you can leave home. You can get a job and rent your own place somewhere.
But really I think you are most likely a very difficult person to live with. It appears that you are very self-centered and very demanding on the people who are living around you. You should not be like this. You are an adult now, you are responsible for your own life, so you should act responsibly and not demand that your mother should help you cook for Krishna, etc, etc, etc.
I think you are not very sensitive to the feelings of others and that you are overly concerned with yourself.
A devotee does not unnecessarily agitate anyone. Even the family members may be eating meat and doing all nonsense, that is not our business, that is their business. You should be just quietly becoming Krishna conscious and not bothering your mother at all about these things.
If you are wanting to stay there then you should reevaluate how you relate to your mother and your other family members. And you should consider their point of view and try not to upset and agitate them. And you should try and understand exactly what it is that your mother is upset at you for. And when you understand what it is then you should apologize to her and take the humble position and try and pacify her.
I do not think that she is actually a big demon as you are painting her, but I think you have driven her so crazy because of the way your are acting. It is certainly very bad preaching on your part to agitate someone to such a point that they try to destroy Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Of course if she is actually such a great demon and can not be pacified and is really just agitated because you are trying to become Krishna consciousness then why stay there? But really I do not think this is the case. I think you would be a very difficult person to live with and you have just pushed her too far this time…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. My father has put what he has called in engish forewarning that if i did not do good in one course i took which is microecomics this semester he will throw me out the house since he won’t see me progress towards independence. i did not like this. i spoke very much against it and said i am going out nowhere. i am not going to care about this or don’t want to but should i do about this. you said i can get a job and rent your own place somewhere. but i am not right now that capable at least not on my own without personal guidance.
and i was going to say yesterday but let me tell you. for you it is easy to say. i don’t think your parents gave you that tough of a time in life. things is really the worst ever. i was going smoothly until now despite everything but this is worst.
Hare Krishna Avikam
If you don’t want your father to throw you out of the house then why don’t you just study and get some good marks then?
If your father wants to throw you out he is quite within his rights to do that. You are over 20 years old, an adult, and you should be able to look after yourself. It is truly embarrassing for a 20 year old man to be completely dependent on his parents like this. You should feel the need to support yourself and not be completely dependent on your parents at this age.
I come from a large family, I have six brothers and sisters and my parents were not that wealthy. So they told me from the beginning that if I wanted something then I had to get a job and work for it. Of course they provided me with food and clothes and a place to sleep in the house and paid for my education, etc, but if I wanted to get anything like hobby or something then I had to work for that and get the money to buy it myself. The first job I had was delivering papers in the mornings before school, I started that job when I was 14. So from that age I had my own money and did not expect my parents to pay for the extra things I wanted at least. And I never thought of my parents as being hard on me for expecting me to pay for the things that I wanted like this. Rather they were giving me a very good education and were training me to be responsible.
So I have always been responsible like that and I do not expect others to support me. A man is supposed to feel like that. Not that he will remain a beggar dependent on his parents forever…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. What in the world did i do to deserve from you not to answer any of my questions. pleasee tell me what is my offense or crime against you. i asked you what can i do about addiction like any type of adddiction.
I already gave you the answer Prabhu but you are not following it. You have to surrender to the process of saddhana-bhakti, bhakti-yoga, Krishna consciousness, as Srila Prabhupada teaches us in his books. So you have to surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily, you have to surrender to following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and you have to surrender to reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. And if you do not surrender to these things then you will not be able to advance in Krishna consciousness and you will remain addicted to sense gratification. The solution to addiction to sense gratification is addiction to Krishna, as you advance in Krishna consciousness then automatically your material addictions and attachments will drop away. But to advance in Krishna consciousness you have to follow the process… You have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, you have to strictly follow the four regulative principles, you have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books regularly. So just surrender to this, actually do it, and you will immediatly see that your material addictions are reducing. But if you are not prepared to surrender to the process and actually follow these things you can not expect to make any progress…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
i read the reply to the post i sent you about my mother burning book and all that in the present today. and seems like quietly accepting my parents view on devotion is madness or not very right or seems the right thing. i mean i cannot smile and just agree with them. of course i am not going on the offensive. what i mean is preaching am not preaching but i still have to stand on what is right. i mean cannot agree with they say blindly just merely not to agitate them. if they are agitated because i don’t agree with them notmy fault. they fault. they should be knowledgeable when speaking about it.
]okay i don’t know why am saying all this in the present. they is no situation like that even close to throwing books.
but right now this reading your reply has made me feel upset tense. maybe because you are right but i am also right in a sense as to not blindly accept what they say especially when i don’t go bothering them.so i feel tense as to what is right really.
What I am saying is right and you should not be asking me questions unless you have faith that I can give you the right answers.
okay i never said what you are saying is wrong. i know that what you say is never wrong always right.
And why are you saying that not to ask you questions unless i have faith that you will give me the right answers. i don’t know what is your good intention in telling me this. please tell me.
i am just not happy or not feel good hearing this that i should not ask you the questions unless i have faith that you will give me the right answers. i mean why.
what i was saying was i could not be happy with what you said about smiling and agreeing with them quietly as if they were right and move on. i mean if they say something that they are wrong i cannot agree with them. is there more to this you said about agreeing. if some non-devotee comes to you and say something about devotion and you know it to be wrong would you agree with him if you know him to be wrong. okay please answer what this mean. why is right to do that.
Even Vibhishan who was Ravana own brother did not agree with Ravana unlike other people in his administration merely not to agitate him that about him kidnapping Mother Sita and not returning her back to Lord Rama.
So why do you think it is okay for me to quietly agree with them. Please don’t ever tell me to not ask you questions with statements like “What I am saying is right and you should not be asking me questions unless you have faith that I can give you the right answers.” or unless you have faith that my answers can be beneficial or something like that.
And i was like that because it made me feel tense about what you were saying right also but i had doubts because i still cannot swallow what you said about agreeing with them quietly and plus in my mind the angry emotion or thing where i could not agree and deep down guilt. so this was a dilemma
this was the tenseness i was talking about. i mean i could not agree with this and plus not fully getting the answer.
anyways i don’t know i am still unable to explain about that tenseness. please do reply to this post i am sendingnow no matter what. i leave the result i will get from you of this post i am sending to krishna.
Hare Krishna Avikam
The first thing about making advancement in spiritual life is to admit that we do not know it ourselves. The second step is to find someone who knows it. Then we have to hear about spiritual life from the person who knows it. If we ask questions to someone who actually does not know the spiritual knowledge then he will mislead us and if we ask questions to someone who does know the spiritual knowledge but refuse to accept his answers and think we know better ourselves then it is a waste of time for both us and for the person who knows the spiritual knowledge.
As far as simply ignoring what the non-devotees say you have to understand that they are like animals. Dwi-pad-pasu, two-legged animals. So there is a saying that the dogs may bark but the caravan will pass. It comes from the days of circuses that go from one town to the next in a convey of caravans, some of these caravans have animals in them and of course the dogs will all bark at the caravans as they pass but the caravans will not take any notice of the dogs barking, they will simply pass.
So what the non-devotees say is nothing more than the dogs barking. It does not matter what they say, we do not take what they say seriously, we are never offended by what they say. We simply smile at them and go on with our business of chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and serving Krishna.
So do not take any notice of what your family members say. Just ignore them but be polite to them, be nice to them, but do not care what they say. They are animals, you can not blame a dog if it barks…
As far as your feeling anxious if you would actually follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and actually chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and actually strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day then all your anxiety will go away.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
By the way i did my first test of the four tests for the whole semester in microeconomics. and in the test if i get 30 out 35 right. i get a hundred. but i got 35 out of 35. although i did one wrong and he marked my answer as right answer by mistake and one question he said he will everyone credit since it was not discussed and in notes. so i got that wrong but he was still going to give credit. so after class i checked with him and got credit for this question i mentioned and the some other two questions i did right but he marked wrong. and plus i told him that he marked on answer right by mistake and he said that is okay. andi got 35 out of 35 questions right and a hundred percent.
plus when my father was talking about kicking me out it was because his job is line. he got lik three to four months at the time i said it. he said it the day afyer i wrote that mail that he might throw me. althoughstill after some time that subsided and my mother was like very nice despite my being not so good. they sort of calmed down on this throwing out and just nicely explaining me to take responsibility and more.
but today i got my grade.
It is very good news that you did very well in the test and that your farther is now no longer threatening to throw you out of the house.
And you should take more responsibility, that is a good instruction from your father.
So just keep on chanting Hare Krishna and as you develop more in Krishna consciousness your parents will see that you are improving in so many ways and they will come to respect Krishna consciousness in this way, when they see it is very much improving you.
So chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji are the books of prabhupada even though BBT print them like Easy journey to other planets and elevation to krsna consciousness that i brought from krishnastore or krishnastore.com original and unedited.
Yes. They are original Prabhupada books. BBT are still printing some original Prabhupada books.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. How can i start chanting 16 rounds immediately it will take some time. and plus if people are getting food and all just because of pious deeds or actions in the past then what about the coming time where it will gradually come to a point where they will be no rain and people will only eat meat instead of vegeatables in kali yuga. how does things come to that externally. so they people would not get their pious actions rewarded but instead punished for sinful actions.
anyways it seems questionable then what of the coming time where things will be much worse than now as i stated about people only eating meat and no rain.
Hare Krishna Avikam
You can’t become Krishna conscious without at least chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. You may take time to do this but why waste the time. You can just start doing it now and that is what I suggest you do. Otherwise all your other questions, etc, are irrelevant. They do not matter. Only these things matter. Chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. If you just surrender and do these things that will solve all your problems and answer all your questions and you will become Krishna conscious. And that is what I suggest you do. That is always what I will suggest you do. And if you do it that will be wonderful for you. But if you don’t do it then I really can not help you further. This is the medicine that will cure your material disease but if you refuse to take the medicine then your disease is not going to get cured.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
You have really made it easy by giving me the answer which as to what are the actions/things i should do like chanting 16 rounds daily, following four regulative principles strictly and reading prabhupada books at least 1-2 hours a day. and telling me that everything else including my questions are irrelevant. thank-you for making things easy. i won’t have to be worried and tense as i seem to be over questions i have.
but the hard part is starting to do and doing them. I mean i have act upon it instead of thinking about doing it and not having started and more.
you are right. you cannot be any right is what i am saying. Plus i am the one that has to perform the actions whatever you said to do as stated above.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes Prabhu, you just have to do it, and only you can decide to do that. It is not actually difficult. It just requires a little practice and determination and really without doing these things [chanting 16 rounds, following the 4 regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books] there is no hope of making advancement in Krishna consciousness and you will remain bewildered. But if you just surrender to these things and accept that you have to do them and when you really start doing these things you will see that everything becomes much clearer and you will begin to see the whole world through new eyes. It is very nice. But the only way you can actually experience Krishna consciousness is by surrendering to the process and following it, and that is up to you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. when you said
“If you just surrender and do these things that will solve all your problems and answer all your questions and you will become Krishna conscious. And that is what I suggest you do. That is always what I will suggest you do. And if you do it that will be wonderful for you. But if you don’t do it then I really can not help you further. This is the medicine that will cure your material disease but if you refuse to take the medicine then your disease is not going to get cured.”
did you mean by disease of any kind both physical, mental or the disease(disease which is associating with maya ) going to go away that is all i want to ask.
and plus i am endeavouring to do saddhana bhakti. i would not say very sincerely or even sincerely but i am.
Hare Krishna Avikam
The problems of the material world are not going to go away because you take to devotional service. We have a material body and the material body will still get old, get sick and die, even if we become a devotee…
But when we become Krishna conscious we realize that we are not the material body and thus become transcendental to the bodily concept of life. Not that the body will not still experience some suffering. But we will be transcendental to that.
You can not understand these things without becoming Krishna conscious and I have so many times given you the basic things that you must surrender to and actually do without fail if you want to become Krishna conscious, so Prabhu you just have to organize yourself to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. You actually have to really surrender and actually do these things every day, not just endeavor to do them. It is not difficult but at the same time it does require a great deal of determination and self-control and if we want to become Krishna conscious we just have to develop this determination and self-control.
It is impossible to understand what Krishna consciousness is without becoming Krishna conscious. So you actually have to do it. So many come to the fringes of Krishna consciousness and maybe follow a few of the principles and chant a few rounds but they do not ever surrender to the actual process so they never become Krishna conscious and never experience what it is to be a devotee of Krishna although many of them are thinking they are devotees. But devotee or disciple means discipline. We have to accept the discipline of Srila Prabhupada and that starts with these basic points: chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. This is the beginning of Krishna consciousness so if we do not come to this point we do not even begin.
Of course something is better than nothing, so this chanting one round and following a couple of the regulative principles may be something, but that is not much and if we do not come to the point of surrendering to these basic things then we don’t even begin. And when we are fixed-up in chanting 16 rounds, and are strictly following the four regulative principles and are reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and are feeling some bliss in Krishna consciousness, that is not the end, that is the beginning.
Krishna consciousness is a great journey and it requires a great deal of dedication and determination and commitment on our part. But it is the most wonderful journey which is a very joyful and satisfying one and the final destination, Krishnaloka, the spiritual world, is of course the best destination. Krishna consciousness is all-auspicious. It is joyfully performed and our advancement in Krishna consciousness is directly perceivable by us. It is like if a very hungry man is served with delicious food then as he eats the food his hunger subsides and he gets strength. As he eats the hungry man knows and feels that his hunger is becoming satisfied and he can directly perceive that he is gaining strength and energy as a result of digesting the food. No one has to tell him that the food is satisfying his hunger. He can directly perceive that. So advancement in Krishna consciousness is just like this hungry man becoming satisfied while eating the food. We feel spiritual pleasure and satisfaction and transcendental bliss and at the same time our material desires and hankerings reduce and also we realize the actual meaning and purports of the philosophy of Krishna consciousness, so all these things are directly perceived by us as we make advancement in Krishna consciousness. So no one has to tell us that we are making advancement in Krishna consciousness. We can feel it, it is directly perceivable to us.
But this will never happen unless we surrender to the process. So all your letters and questions, as I have often said to you, will be answered, if you simply surrender to Srila Prabhupada and accept the simple process of chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. No matter how difficult or inconvenient you may find it to do these things in the beginning you have to surrender and just do it. And you will find the results will be wonderful. But if you do not surrender then you will get no perceivable results at all from your ‘Krishna consciousness.’ Krishna consciousness is a scientific process and we have to surrender to and follow the process as it is described to us by Srila Prabhupada otherwise we can not expect to ever become Krishna conscious nor can we expect that we can understand what Krishna consciousness is by asking someone else questions about it.
It is like you are a starving man who is very weak because of not eating food for weeks and I have a great feast and I am offering the food to you and telling you that “Don’t worry, just sit down and eat this food and then you will feel much better.” But you are refusing to eat the food and asking my why you are feeling hungry. And I am saying “Just eat the food and your hunger will go away.” But then you don’t eat the food and you just ask me something else… It is hopeless. If you want to satisfy your hunger you have to eat the food.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna prabhuji. you are absolutely right. i realize very directly or more directly than ever about Krsna consciousness especially through your hungry man example.
And i just asked this question of disease because the thing is especially for mental disorder which is bipolar disorder or whatever i think that i don’t need medicine because two things 1. i am being told that this medicine is to be taken unless they is a cure in the future(since i am doing good but i don’t think medicine is helping me do good or whatever) and i don’t think how can they be a cure of the subtle or the mind thing.2 since it is a mental disorder and to be honest in a sense i think it is all about the emotions.
to be honest i don’t believe if i have bipolar disorder or what not. i mean sure at time the symptoms or the episode of being extremely manic or exited in one second and being depressed the another manifested in me but it was because of my emotions in life about things and emotions/or state of mind. so i think mental disorder is all based on state of mind and emotions. plus it is about lifestyle also. like if i sleep late or sleep little or what more.
anyways what do you say about this medicine thing. according to your knowledge and level of intelligence. do you think they will be a time when i will or really can be of this or just medicine in general especially mental disorder. if i progress in krsna consciousness
you are right about being transcendental to material body situation and i agree. i agree so much that i feel i would like to be of medicine when the right time comes.
Yes Avikam
Mental disease is mental and it can not be cured by chemicals. All the chemicals can do is suppress it but that does a lot of damage to the brain and the processes of the brain. So it is not good. And these chemicals have also often very bad side effects and often create violence and suicidal behavior… So they are not at all good. And there can be very bad reactions to stopping taking them also. So it is all bad really and if you are taking them you can not just suddenly stop taking them… You have to do it gradually…
As far as this mental disease, it generally comes because of being in the mode of ignorance. Sleeping to much, being lazy, taking intoxicating things like alcohol, drugs, etc, and being unclean. All these things put you in the mode of ignorance and in a position where you become prone to being attacked by and possessed by and haunted by ghosts. So often these things are symptoms of ghostly haunted people. And chanting Hare Krishna drives away ghosts. So if you are haunted by ghosts and in the mode of ignorance chanting Hare Krishna will get rid of the ghosts and get you out of the mode of ignorance. So if that is the case it will solve your mental problems altogether.
But, as I keep on telling you, just surrender to the process and just do it and see the results for yourself…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Is investing in stock market a gambling thing. if not in certain cases like for example long term investment then please say.
And one more thing is watching television bad for krsna consciousness. and plus how can i stop my addiction of television or even watching television at all.
And how come people get food and all the things like rain amd more from Krsna or his agents the Demigods when 99.9% is naradharma not devotees plus they don’t even perform yagnas or any sacrifice. not that i am not compassionate. it is still a very great mercy of krsna but still.
Why do you ask stupid questions? Obviously investing in the stock market is gambling… And how can you not know if watching television is bad for Krishna consciousness. There is nothing about Krishna consciousness on the television. It is all maya, all sense gratification. To stop watch television you just turn it off. If you actually get out of bed before 4:00 AM and actually chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and actually follow the four regulative principles and actually read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day you will have no time or inclination to watch television. But if you do not surrender to these things and actually do them then you are not going to become Krishna conscious. So as I have said so many times you have to concentrate on following the regulative principles, actually chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and actually reading all of Srila Prabhupada’s books… That will solve all your problems. As far as the people who get things they get them because of pious activities they have performed in their previous lives. They may be sinful now but if they have a ‘good’ position in the material world that is because of the pious activities they have performed in the past. If they use this for sinful activities then they are generating heaps of bad karma that they will have to suffer for later.
Hare Krsna prabhuji. Of all the books of Prabhupada which one should i read Gita or the other books. in my case fro now i have got 1972 Gita or the original Bhagvatam which i got today. i am so thrilled with getting Bhagvatam. okay should i read Gita before reading Bhagvatam right.
Yes. Bhagavad-gita first and small books like Beyond Birth and Death, Perfection of Yoga, Easy Journey to Other Planets, Science of Self-Realization, etc, etc, as you get them.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji what type of water should take bath from at all times or at different times if one takes different types of water at different times. i do take bath in hot especially really hot water. but i seem to like it. is it bad taking bath in really hot water.
And i feel very strong urge in engaging in eating a lot. i mean in my case seems like i crave eating. like i get hungry/and/or feel eating like all the time or want to eat more. what can i do. i think it might be the side effect of a medicine i might be taking for bipolar disorder. not sure if it really is anyways what can i do about this hunger/eating problem.
Devotees do not do things because they like it. They do the things Krishna likes. So just take bath to keep your body clean, not that you try to enjoy taking bath… And if you are to become a devotee then you have to first of all never eat anything that is not Krishna prasadam…. If you eat things that are not cooked by devotees and offered to Krishna that is only eating sin and that will only entangle you more and more in maya. And also devotees do not eat because they like it. They eat to keep the body and soul together so they can use the body in the service of Krishna. And devotees do not eat too much and do not eat too little. So you just eat only whatever you actually need to keep your body healthy. It doesn’t matter if you feel hungry. You just have to tolerate this. Not that because you feel hungry you overeat. That is very bad and if it is not prasadam you are eating that is so much worse.
So rather than worrying about all these external things at this point just make sure that you are getting out of bed before 4:00 am in the mornings and that you are actually chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and that you are strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and that you are reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. Without doing these things you are not going to become Krishna conscious. So at this point in time do not worry about anything else. Just worry about these main essential points. If you can become fixed up in these points then automatically every other problem will be solved.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Yes okay. But should i bath in the really hot water or not as it not good for the body or the mind. i mean i feel good of the hot water but still not know if it is advisable. i mean like food if you eat food of the mode of passion and ignorance you are in that mode. so what type of water will be in the mode of goodness to bath in. i am just wanting to know even of the external things like food and all because of the mode of goodness.
It is better to bath in cold water.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. I want to know what are the reactions of performing illicit sex. and how can one stop illcit sex as of the present moment.nor in an hour not the nest day, week or month or year but this moment the present moment.
Hare Krishna Avikam
The reactions of illicit sex are so many problems in so many ways and loosing semen which means loosing your blood and energy and determination. And it means we will be in maya, not in Krishna consciousness.
If we do not surrender to and follow the four regulative principles including no illicit sex then we are not even going to start on the path of Krishna consciousness. These are prerequisites. Things we have to do before we can make any advancement in Krishna consciousness.
And we will not be able to stop illicit sex if we are not engaged in Krishna consciousness. If we are not chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day we will not be able to stop illicit sex.
So the point is we have to become Krishna conscious and to become Krishna consciousness we have to stop illicit sex. So in the beginning we just have to force ourselves to stop it. With determination and intelligence. Just stop it. Of course the desire to do it will remain for some time, but we have to fight that desire and just stop doing it. That is required for becoming Krishna conscious.
It may be a little painful but we have to endure this pain if we want to become Krishna conscious. This is called tapasya. Undergoing voluntary suffering for the sake of making advancement in spiritual life. We just have to stop having illicit sex.
Of course we may fall down. That may happen. But we have to try not to. And if we do fall down we have to again reinstate ourselves back in the process of getting out of bed before 4 in the morning, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. All these things are essential and we will never be able to give up illicit sex or become Krishna conscious until we surrender to the process…
And it may take some time. Of course if you can surrender immediately you can become Krishna conscious immediately. But generally speaking it takes some time…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
What does falling down in spiritual life mean? I have heard that many advanced devotees have fallen down from their spiritual lives.
As a neophyte, am I prone to such a fall down as I advance. Can it be avoided?
Sorry for my ignorance.
Hare Krishna. Jai Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna Divine
To advance in spiritual life we have to follow certain principles. Like we have to follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication] and we have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. There are many other things that we have to follow also but these are the principal ones. So falling down from spiritual life means breaking the regulative principles or not chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, etc.
Of course in the beginning we are prone to fall down but we should not be discouraged by that. There is an English saying, “Failure is the pillar of success.” So if we do fall down then immediately we have to reinstate ourselves in properly following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra again and within this chanting and sincerely following the regulative principles is the power to reinstate us in Krishna consciousness.
Of course falling down can be avoided by becoming a pure devotee of Krishna and you can do that by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and following the instructions he gives you while you read.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji i still have a problem in terms of prasadam. i am still eating mostly non-prasadam food. i feel very alone in this matter. i mean i don’t know how to cook and all. please help me with this situation please. i feel i need guidance in this also. sort of like getting taught. you replied last time and you might reply yes i told you last time but still please help me. i feel that i am weak or strange physically because of not eating prasadam for some reason.
Hare Krishna Avikam
You can not be useless and hopeless like this. We have to cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna otherwise how will we be able to accept prasadam? Cooking is easy. Everyone does it. Srila Prabhupada says that only a lazy man can not cook. You can watch your mother and see how she cooks and you can cook like that but not put in the garlic, etc…
Anyhow I have sent you a cookbook so when you get that you can just follow some of the recipes in the book.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa i got your recipe book you sent to me. but i am still unsure as to how to make food. seems very difficult i have never cooked. and today i asked my mother if she can help me cook the foofd according to the recipe and she says she does not know how to cook anything without inion or garlic. i had argument and all shouting about why can’t she help me learn the cooking i want without onion and garlic so please help me. i feel very worse how can i cook. i havee never. and i feel if i cook just merely looking at the recipe it would be a disaster please help me so that i can personally know how i can cook.
Hare Krishna Avikam
It is not difficult to cook. You just have to do it. What is the problem? You just do it. Look at what your mother is doing and just do the same thing without onions and garlic. Everyone cooks. How can it be difficult? So just do it. It does not matter if it is not perfect the first few times. You will learn how to do it better with practice.
Just cook something. Get some rice and boil some water in a pot and put the rice and some vegetables in it and at the end put in some salt and spices and you have got a nice pot of rice with vegetables that you can offer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Prabhu it is really very easy. It simply requires you to be not lazy and just do it. Cook for Srila Prabhupada to the best of your ability and Krishna will give you intelligence how to do it and you can read the recipe book of course as well.
You can not expect your mother to help you, and you do not need your mother to help you, she is already helping you because she is cooking every day and you just have to open your eyes and notice how she is cooking and you can then do the same thing yourself without the onions and garlic.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa prabhuji. you said in bad things happen to good people that if someone for example comes to stab does not mean that we should not protect ourself. then my question is why did prahlada maharaj and Haridas thakur not protect themselves and saved. and why did srila prabhupada i am sorry jesus christ not protest and die. and plus prabhuji i don’t think anyone of us is kstriya or has kstriya mentality. well prabhuji i do at times i don’t know feel or felt like a kstriya knowing about the nature or storiesand ramayana and mahabharata. But now i want to know that if we are not kstriyas why do we have to protect. although from reading other sites like virtual hare krsna i read Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to be tolerant as a tree and humbler than a straw on a street. so what then i am confused not understanding.
Hare Krishna Avikam
We have to use our common sense. We do not go into the forest and put our heads inside the lion’s mouth just test if Krishna will protect us. So we have to do whatever we can practically but of course ultimately we have to depend on Krishna for everything. Devotees are not non-violent. If violence is necessary it can also be used in the service of Krishna. Ideally if we were living in the association of other devotees there would be devotees who have the ksatriya spirit and they could protect in any case of attack and there would be brahmanas who, as you write, really do not have much ability to protect themselves, they are supposed to be protected by the Ksatriyas.
But still the principle is we can use everything, including violence, in the service of Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Hare Krsna prabhuji you are right about using everything for krishna including violence but still the idea of using violence seem muddy. sure like you said it is not like we will on purpose go to the jungle to test if he will protect us. but life is uncertain just to add to it. and i still seem very confused. On the one hand Krishna protected his devotees Like Haridas thakur and especially Prahlada Maharaj which comes in my head a lot as an example of tolerance of in life. and in a sense i have come to undestand(i don’t know if i am correct right now) but if Prahlada Mahraj can tolerate his father killing him many times why cannot we even though krishna protected.( i mean i am not saying that krishna will protect us like he did to Prahlada maharaj but still). and on the other hand devotees like Jesus Christ and Prabhupada killed so what then. So as far as i seem to understand is you can be protected from Krishna when someone is attempting to kill you while and just you are worship Krsna or you can die worshiping Krishna.
okay but i feel you are right when you say we can use everything for krishna but still seems like they is a line. i mean if you are not a kstriya or have the kstriya mentality why would you use violence. although protecting and defending other devotees i can step in to save them (if violence on my part is necessary then sure) but using violence when attcked myself. i mean i still remember prahlada maharaj’s example and still i remember what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhuji said about being tolerant than a tree and humbler than a straw on the street.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes. Violence is for the ksatriyas actually. Brahminically inclined persons are not very good at violence and not inclined to use it, that is why in the Vedic system the Ksatriyas are supposed to protect the Brahmanas, the old men, the children, the women, etc.
But we have to try and protect the other devotees and our bodies also from any violent attack. Not that we will just sit there and wait for Lord Nrsimhadeva to appear out of a pillar to kill the demon. Of course Lord Nrsimhadeva may appear. And if it is really a hopeless situation like it was for Prahlada, a five-year old boy being attacked by the strongest man in the universe, then we have no choice except to chant Hare Krishna….
But the general point is that we are not non-violent. We do not believe in this non-violence philosophy. Violence is necessary in some situations and devotees sometimes have to use violence. Ideally this would be ksatriya devotees who are inclined and equipped for this, but if the devotees are being attacked then all the devotees have the responsibility to try to stop this attack.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. i have some questions. first are eating snacks produced by company like fried sprouts or moong namkeen a food that is to be avoided as it is produced by non-devotees. secondly i thought today of eating this food without even saying the prayers since after reading your article about prasadam i thought it won’t be accepted by krishna even if i read prayers since whatever food i have eaten till now thought it to be prasadam but the food i was eating was never prasadam until i realized this yesterday. and one more thing
today i was asked by my father if i used his droid phone. at night when he was in the bedroom i used it day before yesterday for reading comments since i was waiting for you to comment and reading one article. i used it secretly. so my question is this am i doing a wrong thing if i am using it for Krsna or Krsna conscious in behind my dad’s back. i mean if he has not allowed me to go on his phone.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes. We can not offer food cooked by non-devotees. Sometimes we may be put in a position where we can not get prasadam. So there may be times that we will be forced to accept some food not cooked by devotees. But that will be bad for our consciousness. We can not actually offer it but we can remember Krishna. So this should be avoided but occasionally it may not be possible to avoid it. But at least in our normal daily routine we have to organize everything so we never taste any food not offered to Krishna.
As far as using your father’s phone without him knowing, in theory these dishonest things can also be done for Krishna, but that is for very experienced devotees who understand how it can be done, and it is not the general thing. Devotees are supposed to develop all the qualities of a Brahmana. And one of those qualities is honesty. So really Prabhu I do not think it is a good idea to act in this dishonest way lying to your father because if you keep on doing it you will ultimately be caught and your father will not appreciate that you are using his phone like this without getting permission. So I do not think this is at all good preaching.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Mahudvisa dasa prabhuji. is there a calendar that you can recommend to follow or check about ekadasi and Lord’s appearance and disapppearance days so that i need to fast. and plus can you also tell me how can i know about the story or significance of each ekadasi or lord’s appearance or disappearnce days. and how can i know about how to fast on these days.
You just fast from grains on ekadasi, that’s all. It is not very important, the significance of each ekadasi, it is important to fast from grains and spend extra time chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books. You can follow the ISKCON calendar which can be printed for many, many locations, you can just pick the location closest to you and print that and follow it. If you just search on google for vaisnava calendar you will find it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa should i worry about what other people(people outside of my home) will say or think when i practice my devotional service anywhere outside including places like college so i should not practice there. my mother told me this about taking mala to college. but i don’t want to worry about what people will think or say. What do you have to say.
I already answered this from you and I said don’t worry about what other people say or do. We do not care about them
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Along with say or do you mean to say think also. You mean to say i should not worry about what other people say, think or do right? I am sorry to bother you but i asked because i am in confusion and bewildered in this point because of my mind and when people like my father told me when i came home with Srila Prabhupada’s audio of Hare Krishna mantra from walking till inside my house today that “don’t you care what what other people think. People will think you are crazy. And i feel you also mean think along with say or do but feel confused and all because of the difficulties being put by my mind and people who put more pressure in my mind to practice Krsna Consciousness. And as of now i am making a program of getting up before 4 am and taking a bath and then japa and/or reading of books.
But i need you to state in full sentence that i should not worry about what people say, think, and do. If you say it it will be more help when i am in difficulty. Please.
Hare Krishna David
Yes. Don’t worry what other people think. We think materialists are crazy. And materialists think that we are crazy. That is just the way it is. Materialists will never be able to understand and appreciate what transcendentalist are doing. And you know there is an English saying: “Misery loves company.” So naturally materialists are miserable because every plan they make to enjoy in the material world is ultimately frustrated by maya. But devotees are not miserable, they are very happy serving Krishna. So the materialists see the devotees are happy and become envious and what to drag the devotees down to the same miserable condition they are in. So the materialists will always try to discourage the devotees and convince them to give up their spiritual activities and come back into the material world so they will be miserable again like the karmis.
This is just the way the world works. Non-devotees can not understand devotees and devotees think non-devotees are crazy. Actually non-devotees are crazy and devotees are sane. But the nondevotees think devotees are crazy and they are sane.
Srila Prabhupada wrote a little booklet about this in the 60’s called “Who Is Crazy?”
You can read it at;
https://krishna.org/krishna-the-reservior-of-pleasure-who-is-crazy-pdf-download/
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madudvisa dasa . how can i agree with my parents. i mean especially about devotion or anything i don’t agree myself.
“So unless your mother becomes a proper devotee and cooks for Krishna [she is not cooking for Krishna if she is using garlic and onions] and is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles, then you can eat what she cooks of course, but that will cause you to become a non-devotee also, and that you don’t want…”
why did you say that i will still be a non-devotee if my mother becomes a proper devotee and cook and if i eat it that will cause me to become a non-devotee. that is what i seem to understand. please tell why
I did not say that actually. It is not very clear sorry. But of course if your mother becomes a devotee you can eat what she cooks and offers to Srila Prabhupada. What I was saying is if she is not a devotee, you can eat it of course, but it will make you a non-devotee. Which is a rather indirect way of saying that unless your mother becomes a devotee and is cooking for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna you can not eat what she cooks. Sorry for the confusion…
I heard by one iskcon devotee opinion that iskcon changes because of technology environment younger generation. He did agree that one should read prabhupada’s original book in the time that we talked and I don’t knowif he knows the full extent of iskcon. Okay well I was trying to bring him to the truth of iskcon and temples but he had to go plus this bothered me hr said it is life it happens in terms of iskcon changing for younger generation and or iskcon changing out changed something like that in reply that Krsna conscious never changes in practice and more in reply to his opinion. Prabhuji please forgive me for my offense. I was just trying to bring a devotee I talked on idkcondesiretree very much to truth. If you can tell me about iskcon changing or adjusting according to time and what not send in terms of talking to iskcon devotees or devotees who I have had contact with since when I was introduced to kc. Although very honestly I have been introduced to kc,real kc by you. If you tell me to stop all association with devotees of iskcon or devotees who are in iskcon and sort of have helped me when I needed helpin bhakti and life in general. Well whatever you say I will follow since you are both a elder person and senior devotee who knows really about kc.
Don’t worry about trying to preach to ISKCON devotees, really don’t worry so much about trying to preach to anyone until you are firmly fixed in Krishna consciousness yourself. If you do not know what to say that means you need to be reading Prabhupada’s books and chanting Hare Krishna, not trying to preach. The time will come to preach but first you have to hear from Srila Prabhupada, you have to read his books and know what is in his books, otherwise how can you preach?
As far as ISKCON devotees generally speaking the watered-down and compromised situation that ISKCON is in means generally serious devotees are not attracted by ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada says this world is full of the cheaters and the cheated. The cheaters are like the cheating gurus, but they are ‘successful’, at least from the material point of view, because most of the people want to be cheated. Most of the people actually do not want to surrender to Srila Prabhupada, so they are very happy to see ISKCON watering down and changing everything, and, generally speaking, it is these people who want to be cheated that ISKCON has gathered up as there followers and supporters. So just forget about them. Better to first become very fixed up yourself and then just preach to ordinary people who have no connections with ISKCON… ISKCON is poisonous and ISKCON devotees are poisoned. Because they are poisoned they think watering down the philosophy and changing everything for the ‘new generation of younger devotees’ is just great…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
okay. i fully agree with you about iskcon devotees. But one more thing won’t ordinary people who have no connection with iskcon but heard of it and not like it would be the same people who are or will be against Srila prabhupada’s teachings and/or real Krsna Consciousness.
Many people will be against Krishna Consciousness Prabhu. We know that. This is the material world, not the spiritual world. So we will except the people to be generally against Krishna consciousness. This is just to be expected, not a problem.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. Is it okay to preach to people about some Krishna Conscious wisdom even though i am not directly preaching to them about Krsna Consciousness. First the conversation started on him quitting smoking then he said if i have a girlfriend or that he has but does not see her much and other things he will give up smoking.
So from quitting cigarettes the conversation when to his having a girl For instance this one person had a girlfriend. I was saying instead of having girlfriends he should get married. If not then should not have girlfriend or extramarital relationships(a word i am using to describe to you). Then this person was justifying himself saying that the bible says it is okay and/or that his mother said it is okay to have girlfriend or sex. Don’t even remember that conversation or interaction properly. And i feel affected by their laughing in my mind as if i am preaching something wrong.
Actually i was preaching or telling him to quit because i myself don’t smoke and personally against smoking, drugs, alcohol. Was it okay to tell him to quit cigarettes no matter what or instead talk about Krishna and Krishna Consciousness which can help him quitting smoking and other issues in his life.
i feel times that i cannot perform Krsna Consciousness i should do good karma because it is better than doing bad karma.
I feel i should just stick to talking and preaching about Krsna Consciousness and Krishna. What do you have to say? Am i right in realizing this fact or am i wrong? I am willing to accept whatever answer you are going to give me.
Hare Krishna Dayalu
Yes. It is pointless telling a materialist to stop smoking or to not have a girlfriend. They are addicted to sex and intoxication so they are not going to stop it no matter what you say. And if you are talking to them like this about sex and intoxication it will disturb yourself also. So it is no the way to preach.
Actually real preaching is to convince the person to read one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is the way. So you should try and sell him some of Srila Prabhupada’s books by convincing him that there is very interesting stuff in these books that is going to help him a lot in his life.
We can not put much faith in our preaching. Our preaching is only good if it convinces the person to purchase and read Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is real preaching. That is our success.
We do not want to associate with non-devotees. That means we do not want to talk with them about their business, their girlfriends, their intoxication, their meat eating, etc. We are not interested in talking about them. That is associating with them and that will make us fall down ultimately. Rather we just talk to them about Krishna and Krishna consciousness and if we can actually preach, if we are actually pure ourselves and really ourselves chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles and really reading Srila Prabhupada’s books ourselves at least 1-2 hours per day then we will be able to talk to them about Krishna in such a way that they will find it very interesting and feel obliged to purchase Prabhupada’s books from us and read Prabhupada’s books for themselves.
We don’t have the power to make someone Krishna conscious but if we can convince them to read Prabhupada’s books then Srila Prabhupada will make them Krishna conscious.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna. the main things of all things how is Prabhupada still with us. i mean i agree that Prabhupada is not dead. every soul is eternal. but does that soul especially pure devotee like Srila prabhupada not going to reside in the spiritual word(Goloka) and forget about this material world when he reaches there. i have read that when the soull goes back to the spiritual world he forgets what happened in the material world.
Hare Krishna Avikam
I do not think that you have read that when a soul goes back to the spiritual world he forgets what happened in the material world. It is the other way around. When a soul falls from the spiritual world to the material world he becomes covered by maya and because of that covering he forgets everything from the spiritual world and from his previous births. This forgetfulness is a quality of the material world, not of the spiritual world. So when a devotee goes back home back to Godhead he does not forget anything. He remembers everything of his time in the material world.
As far as Srila Prabhupada, he was never in the material world. The nature of a pure devotee is because of his constant chanting of Hare Krishna and constant engagement in the service of Krishna he is constantly in Krishna consciousness, which means he is not in any way affected by maya, he is not covered, he is in the spiritual world.
Actually ultimately everything is spiritual and the apparently material things can be transferred into spiritual by engaging them in the service of Krishna. So the bona fide spiritual master knows this science, therefore he can transform the material world into the spiritual world.
And because Srila Prabhupada never left the spiritual world, he is not really that anxious to go back home back to Godhead. You may know Lord Caitanya’s Siksastakam prayers. In those prayers there is one line: na danam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye mama janmani janmani isvare bhavatad bhakti ahoitiki tyai. It means that “I have no desire for wealth, for many followers, for beautiful women, I simply desire my Lord that I will always be engaged in Your service birth after birth.” So this is actually the mood of the pure devotee of Krishna. His desire is to be always engaged in the service of Krishna, so that means he wants to go where Krishna wants him to go. He is a soul completely surrendered to Krishna. So you see in this verse ‘janmani janmani’ ‘birth after birth’. So he just wants to be engaged in the service of Krishna birth after birth. So you see he is not praying for liberation. That is not the main thing for him. He is praying to be always engaged in the service of Krishna. That is what is important to a pure devotee.
As far as Srila Prabhupada he is living in his books and he is living and we can experience a very personal relationship with him. Even if he is in the spiritual world now he has not forgotten his disciples serving him and trying to push on his mission on this little insignificant Earth planet…
So wherever Srila Prabhupada is you will feel a very strong and very real connection with him as you read his books with a mood of submission and service.
You will know that Prabhupada is living and with us when you experience it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
okay so he living with devotees who are sincere in following in his instructions even if he has departed from the spiritual world and/or if you have anything more to say on this and more
Hare Krishna Avikam
You have to realize it yourself, and you will if you surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions like chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. The more you surrender to and serve Srila Prabhupada the more he will reciprocate with you and the more you will know that Prabhupada is living with us right here and now. But I can not really tell you this, you have to experience it for yourself. So…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
okay. and one thing i wanted to ask why are some of my questions like the janmastami one erased. i wrote and asked about it. whatever i said and asked about janmastami including why it was erased or gone is not here anymore.
Hare Krsna prabhuji some devotee told me that i cannot completely avoid associating with non-devotees or people who are not devotees of krishna from christianity and other religion. is it true. i want to know if what he is saying is false. as i like the fact to be true that we can avois complete contact with non- devotees or people who are not devotees from other religion.
okay. and one thing i wanted to ask why are some of my questions like the janmastami one erased. i wrote and asked about it. whatever i said and asked about janmastami including why it was erased or gone is not here anymore.(this i copied so that i can get a answer to this question also)
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes, of course, we can not completely avoid the association of non-devotees. But we have to learn the art of not associating with non devotees. It does not mean that we will not see them or we will not talk to them. It means we will not take their association. This is very important because if we do associate with non-devotees then that association is very powerful and soon we will also become a non-devotee ourselves. So this association with non-devotees will destroy our Krishna consciousness. Because what is association with non-devotees? Non devotees are only interested in sense gratification, because that is all they know. So if you associate with non-devotees the subject matter and the purpose and everything about that association will be sense gratification. And we are of course conditioned in this material world to be very attracted to sense gratification. So by associating with non-devotees we will end up falling down from Krishna consciousness and engaging in sense gratification.
That is why it is very important to associate with devotees… Which puts us in a somewhat difficult position at the moment as it is hard to find proper devotees to associate with.
So anyhow if you speak with the ISKCON devotees unfortunately they will speak all nonsense like this, like telling you that you have to associate with non-devotees. But if you associate with non-devotees you will loose your Krishna consciousness yourself and become a non-devotee. There is no way around this. We are not so strong. Association with non-devotees is very strong, it will have a very bad effect on our Krishna consciousness.
But it is true, you can not avoid seeing and speaking with non-devotees. So when we speak with non-devotees we should speak about Krishna. Try to convince them about Krishna consciousness, and while we are talking about Krishna with them that is all right. But we can not ‘hang out’ with non devotees, or go out to the club with non-devotees, you know. We can not actually engage with the non-devotees. We can talk to them to preach to them and if we are working with them or doing some business then we can interact them in a very official way, politely, for whatever we need to do our work or the business, and if our work is for Krishna then this whole thing becomes spiritualized and everyone benefits. But we can not just talk with the non-devotees about you know their girlfriends and all the stuff non-devotees talk about. We are only interested in Krishna-katha. So we can speak with them Krishna-katha. That’s all.
This is really the way it is if we want to be Krishna conscious. If we do just associate with non-devotees in the normal way then we will soon loose our Krishna consciousness and become a non-devotee also. That is just the way it works. So we have to avoid the association of non-devotees. But at the same time we can not be fanatical and not want to see any non-devotee and not even speak politely and officially with them. We have to understand what association with non-devotees is and avoid that. But we can still speak politely and officially with non-devotees if it is necessary and we can of course speak with them to talk with them about Krishna. And hopefully you will be able to interest some non-devotees around you in Krishna and talk to them about Krishna and convince them to become devotees also and then you will have some other devotees to associate with and that will be very nice. Ultimately we want to change the non-devotees into devotees. So to do this we have to talk to them about Krishna. This is preaching. This is not associating with non-devotees.
The thing is if we do not give our association to the non-devotees they have really not got much chance of becoming Krishna conscious. Because one becomes Krishna conscious by associating with devotees. So we have to learn the art of giving our association to the non-devotees but not taking their association. So we can associate with them to talk to them about Krishna, but we can not listen to them talk to us about sense gratification. We can talk to them about Krishna, get them to ask us questions about Krishna, and then we can answer their questions about Krishna, you know this is very nice. It is Krishna-katha, and we will both benefit greatly from that. But we can not let it slip into them talking about sense gratification and us asking them questions about their sense gratification… That is associating with non-devotees. So we have to learn this. How to give the non-devotees our association without us taking their association. This is the art of preaching.
As far as deleting some of your posts. It happens sometimes. It is not possible for me to answer everything. Please forgive me. I am only one person and there is only so much time in every day.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. this one is the main question. i am the only devotee in my whole family. how can i turn my parents devotees o rwhat can i do so that they can be more accepting and close to practicing towards being a devotee in the coming time.
Hare Krishna Avikam Prabhu
As we become more pure and more devotees ourselves we will develop the potency to help others become pure. So really changing others requires that we change ourselves first. Because if we are not pure ourselves we can not help others become pure. So really the only think you can do is become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself. That is the most important thing and you know underneath all the extreme materialism that Indians are now engaged in Krishna consciousness is there. Krishna consciousness is the culture of India. So I think it is unlikely that your parents will actually try to stop you from becoming Krishna conscious if you are very determined to do this and in their hearts they know that what you are doing is the right thing to do. But as to them taking it up seriously themselves that may or may not happen. You know maya is very strong. Srila Prabhupada said about the Indians coming to America that ‘new crows eat more stool’. So you know Indians are somewhat late-starters in this sense gratification business. So most of them are very much into sense gratification and when you tell someone who is very much into sense gratification to stop it they get angry at you. So you have to take it a bit carefully I think. Concentrate on becoming a pure devotee of Krishna yourself without demanding too much that your family members follow you. The most powerful preaching actually is by your actions. So even if you do not directly tell them to stop sense gratification, etc, if you yourself become a very good example of a Krishna conscious person they will automatically become influenced by your good association.
So at this stage I think you should be very pleasant to your parents and family members and not be very demanding that they change their lives dramatically, only you have to be very determined that you are going to become Krishna conscious yourself and that you are not going to let them interfere with that but in return you can not directly interfere with the way your parents and family members want to live. We can not actually force anyone to become a devotee of Krishna. That does not work. Krishna consciousness is based on developing real love for Krishna and that happens by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna like Srila Prabhupada. So you know with your parents and family members you have to let them make their own decisions in their own time. But I guarantee that if you become a pure devotee of Krishna your family members will become influenced by your good association.
So do not be too anxious to change your family members, be very anxious to change yourself and the more you can become pure yourself the more that will help your family members also. One pure devotee in the family ensures that many generations of the family will become liberated, even if they are not devotees actually. You can read the story of Prahlada Maharaja in the Srimad Bhagavatam to find out the details of this.
So just concentrate on becoming Krishna conscious yourself and be nice to your family members and do not preach to them very heavily that they should give up eating meat, etc. It is more effective if you start cooking for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and if you make very first-class offerings then you can feed your family with sumptuous Krishna prasadam. Then as they become addicted to eating Krishna prasadam naturally they will give up eating meat. That is the way to do it. Rather than telling them to stop doing something that they are attached to doing, give them something better so naturally they will give up the lower thing.
Hope it helps.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Well my father and sister eat meat eggs.my sister i think only chickem except at time stold my by my father to try other meats. my mother is also a vegetarian but she eats eggs. and she is not too conscious if they might be animal ingredients in medicine or food eaten outside because they might not be strict in cooking vegetarian without the hands being clean of cooking non-vegetarian or something. well i cannot also do much about eating outside because iif my mother does not cook i have no choice also. plus my mother most of her meals she cooks except plain dal rice and a few other things are contains onion and garlic. and yes prabhuji
This is also what i wanted to ask should i leave garlic and onion foods no matter. and how can i cook food that is really in the mode of goodness and can offer to krishna.
and also you are right about indians deep down the real culture is Krsna consciousness. although my dad seems to have been mostly atheist or not into religion or god. my mother somewhats practices relgion in years although because of the upsetness and sadness over me in me practicing krsna consciousness and me in life in general she always says i don’tpractice anymore and sometimes curse me if god is there please kill him(referring to me) whenever they seems to have been a conflict in the past. she comes out of nowhere saying about krsna consciousness.
in the beginning when i started practicing i sort of tried to preach but afterwards i am mostly on my own and don’t bother or talk to my parents about KC. but still they come at times to object about kc even if i don’t go to them. and these days my mother seems to be like this. my mother who had practised more religion than my father in any sense even though from a krsna consciouness it is mundane seems more antagonistic towards my devotion. but okay i seem to have tolerated for some time before or since janmastami. Well please tell me also about how to handle situations which seem violent especially about devotional service or Krsna consciouness.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes. As you are doing the best thing is just to get on with your Krishna consciousness and ignore the family members and ignore their complaints. But at the same time you should be very nice to them and never argue with them. Just agree with them, no matter what rubbish thing they say, don’t argue back. But don’t change what you are doing. Just keep on chanting Hare Krishna and and keep on reading Prabhupada’s books.
As far as eating if we actually want to become Krishna conscious we can not accept anything except Krishna prasadam. Food is very powerful, the consciousness of the cook goes into the food, so if we eat food cooked by non-devotees we will become a non-devotee, that is just the way it is, it is impossible to become Krishna conscious if we eat food cooked by non-devotees. This, of course, may seem a bit difficult, but it is the way it is. If we are not living in the association of other devotees who are cooking for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna then we have to cook for Prabhupada and Krishna ourselves. Otherwise we have to eat food cooked by non-devotees and that will cause us to become non-devotees also and everything will be lost.
Controlling the tongue is the most essential thing that is required to become Krishna conscious. The tongue does two things, it tastes and it vibrates. So to become Krishna conscious actually we have to limit the activities of the tongue to only tasting Krishna prasadam and only vibrating Krishna kartha. This is the way. And if we do not accept this then we are not going to become Krishna conscious actually.
So unless your mother becomes a proper devotee and cooks for Krishna [she is not cooking for Krishna if she is using garlic and onions] and is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles, then you can eat what she cooks of course, but that will cause you to become a non-devotee also, and that you don’t want…
It is very easy to cook. I am also by myself at the moment so every day I am cooking kitery [rice, dhal & vegetables together in one pot] and chapatis and offering them to Srila Prabhupada and in this way I am only accepting Krishna prasadam and I do not eat anything cooked by non-devotees. And if you cook it in a pressure-cooker and if you soak the dhal overnight, it only take 20-30 minutes to cook. For me from the time of starting the cooking to the time of offering it to Srila Prabhupada is less than an hour. And if you don’t have the chapatis it takes practically no time at all. If you just cook kitery all you have to do is put the rice and dhal in the pressure-cooker with a few vegetables and close the lid and let it cook for 30 minutes and open it and make a chaunce with the spices and add that and some tumeric and salt and it is finished. That really only takes about 15 minutes because when it is cooking you can be doing other things like chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books. And you can put some of it in a tiffin and have it at lunch time also.
Of course you can cook so many things but for daily prasadam we should be offering simple food. Generally it is rice, dhal, chapatis and subji but if you are only one devotee then if you cook all this you end up with much too much and it takes too long. So I just cook kitery in one pot and chapatis. And after offering to Srila Prabhupada it is really ecstatic. I feel completely satisfied and it is the best thing, it is not that I am ever hankering to eat anything else. I do also, in the mornings, often make porridge, oats and milk and I put dates also and a little sugar and offer this to Srila Prabhupada, and in the evenings before taking rest I offer some hot milk with a little sugar and you can put some spices like cardamon etc.
So if you are serious about becoming Krishna conscious you have to become serious about only accepting Krishna prasadam, because if we do eat foods cooked by non-devotees that will cause us to become non-devotees. It is just the way it works. There is no way we can stop this. If we eat foods cooked by non-devotees we are going to become a non-devotee.
And once you get into the routine it is easy. I learned to cook from the Adiraja Hare Krishna cookbook:
http://krishnastore.com/the-hare-krishna-book-of-vegetarian-cooking-soft-cover-h-krishna-1490.html
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
“As you are doing the best thing is just to get on with your Krishna consciousness and ignore the family members and ignore their complaints. But at the same time you should be very nice to them and never argue with them. Just agree with them, no matter what rubbish thing they say, don’t argue back.”
this is what you said. Prabhuji how can i agree with them. i have never agreed with them. okay please still do although i will try your advise to my best understanding until you reply back to me.
it would be that i agree they are true and in my mind i cannot agree. i am sorry if you have to answer this question again.
“So unless your mother becomes a proper devotee and cooks for Krishna [she is not cooking for Krishna if she is using garlic and onions] and is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and following the four regulative principles, then you can eat what she cooks of course, but that will cause you to become a non-devotee also, and that you don’t want…”
and i don’t understand this part the most why will my mother being a proper devotee and chanting 16 rounds of the Hare Krsna mantra and four regulative principle will make me a non-devotee.
I mean don’t bother arguing with them. Of course you will not agree with them. But just ignore them. Don’t take them seriously. If they say or do something crazy just ignore it. Don’t get upset and basically just don’t react to it. That is what I mean.
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa prabhuji. yesterday i called my mother to tell they are a lot of ants in the bathroom and plus i had one spider. In the ant case she killed with a spray and i felt responsible for killing them because if i would have quietly done something like taking them through some object each of them outside they would not be killed. plus the spider i did but my father came and told me to concentrate on studies instaed of what i was doing trapping in a cup i had on the table of pen and pensils by emptying it and putting it outside. he lied he would do that instead he asked me a paper and killed it and threw in the dustbin. he said insects are to be killed.
prabhuji what can i do so that they can have better or the best next life they can and/or penance for this.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes. Devotees do not want to cause harm to any living entity. Every living entity has a right to live and every living entity has to live out his destined term of life in a particular species so it is very sinful to kill insects even. So we have to avoid this as far as possible. Better to just deal with things like this yourself and not bring in the parents. But the parents will do whatever they do and you are not responsible for that. And all you have to do is become a pure devotee of Krishna and many generations of your family will become automatically liberated. Devotional service is so powerful. So just concentrate on becoming Krishna conscious and do not become too disturbed about what your parents may do. Of course ants come because there is something for them to eat there. So generally speaking if you keep everything very clean then they have nothing to eat and so they don’t come. And spiders are harmless generally speaking. We have a few poisonous spiders in Australia but I think mostly your US spiders are harmless. And you can just take them outside like you were doing.
So overall just do everything properly yourself and in reality you have no control over what your parents are going to do, so do not bother yourself about it. If you get the chance to feed them Krishna prasadam do it and if you can convince them to read even a small book from Srila Prabhupada do it, and let them hear your chanting of Hare Krishna and you know that is all you can do really, and these things will act also in time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you. That was the exact situation I was facing at home. Although, eventually I believe we must strive for the consciousness spoken of in the Gita where we see the king, the beggar, the dog and the dog-eater as the same. Which means we must also not make any distinction between a Krishna-conscious and a non-Krishna-conscious person. I currently just like to think of non-devotees as devotees-in-training, that is they will at some point in the future(perhaps in another life) take up into devotional service and become perfect, since Krishna has said that he is the supreme destination reaching which one never comes back.
Hare Krishna Arvind
Yes. This position of seeing everyone on an equal level, seeing everyone as a devotee of Krishna, that is everyone except ourselves, that is the feeling of the paramahamsas. But Prabhu we should not artificially imitate this feeling when we are not actually paramahamsas. This paramahamsa position is actually a useless position from the point of view of preaching, of course it is the highest platform of spritual realization, but a paramahamsa can not preach. Because he sees everyone else as devotees and sees himself on a lower level to everyone else. So what can he do to push on Lord Caitanya’s mission all over the world? Nothing at all… So that is why the paramahamsas come down to the madhyam platform to preach.
The sankirtan movement is a preaching movement, it is not for paramahamsas. So if a paramahamsa wants to be part of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement then he comes down to the madhyam platform and on the madhyam platform he makes distinctions between the different types of people and relates to the different types of people in different ways. Basically he sees three divisions. He sees the envious, the innocent and the devotees and he avoids the envious, because if one preaches to an envious person he simply becomes angry and offensive and that sort of ‘preaching’ is counter-productive. Instead of helping the person he is trying to preach to the foolish devotee makes him commit more offenses and puts that person in a worse position and he himself is committing one of the ten offenses, “preaching to the faithless”, so it makes it difficult for the devotee himself to continue chanting Hare Krishna because of his offenses. It is not that the madhyama devotees do not care about the faithless, and it is not that they ignore them. They are always trying to help everyone advance in Krishna consciousness, but because they can distinguish between the envious, the innocent and the devotees, they know how to deal with each different category of people differently, thus the madhyam preacher devotee helps everyone to become elevated to the platform of Krishna consciousness.
The madhyam preacher preaches to the innocent. These people are not devotees but they are not envious, they are prepared to listen to something about Krishna and consider it and he associates with the other devotees. And his association with the other devotees is also different depending on the three different types of devotees. The madhyama platform means he can also distinguish the different types of devotees and can therefore relate to the different devotees in different ways. There are three types of devotees. There are the materialistic devotees who do believe in Krishna but their purpose in life is not really to surrender to and serve Krishna, they have material attachments still and their relationship with Krishna is generally to ask Krishna for things to help them in their material life. This is not at all pure devotional service. It is not really even devotion because the materialistic devotee is wanting Krishna to serve him, not that he really wants to serve Krishna. It is somewhat of a mercantile exchange. The materialistic devotee may chant Hare Krishna and perform Deity worship and other devotional service but it is not without strings attached. He is doing these things to please Krishna so Krishna will bless him with success in his material life, with wealth, fame, adoration, etc. So Krishna describes in the Bhagavad-gita actually three types of these materialistic devotees: the one who wants money, the one who is in distress and the one who is inquisitive. So all these materialistic devotees actually want to get something from Krishna for their own benefit but still, in the next verse, Krishna says such materialistic devotees are magnanimous and if they are fortunate enough to get the association of a pure devotee of Krishna they can also become pure devotees of Krishna. So this platform of materialistic devotion is not bad, but still it is not pure devotional service. So the madhyam preacher will offer respects in his mind to such materialistic devotees because they are chanting Hare Krishna but he will not associate with them in any close way. Because even the association of materialistic devotees is harmful to one who is trying to advance in Krishna consciousness. Then there are the second class devotees, and that is the madhyama adhikari we are talking about, so he will associate with other devotees who are on the same platform as himself, and then there are the uttama-adhikaris, the topmost devotees. Of course these uttama-adhikaris are actually paramahamsas, but they have come down to the madhyama platform also to preach. Anyhow these topmost devotees are the spiritual master and our mahyama preacher will accept such an uttama-adhikari as his spiritual master.
So you see if we actually want to advance in Krishna consciousness we have to come to the madhyama platform where we can actually differentiate between the different types of people and the different types of devotees and associate accordingly. Otherwise we will not know who to associate with and who not to associate with and we will develop the qualities of the people we associate with and they may not be the qualities we want to develop…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I do not know what it was Prabhu. You can write it again and I will try and answer it for you.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa. You said “if you surrender to Srila Prabhupada and follow his instructions like chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day.
Along with these three things is cooking for Krishna also important, i mean as important as these three things you mentioned. and for cooking should i just start straight away from recipe book having the ingredients plus setting the kitchen standards you mention in the article how to offer food. or should i observe my mother cooking for a time being.
Following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books are the most important thing. If you are not doing these things you will not be able to cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Surrendering to these things, following the four regulative principles and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily are the beginning of Krishna consciousness. If you have not even begun Krishna consciousness how can you cook for Krishna? So do these things and cook for Srila Prabhupada so you can offer it and so you can restrict your eating to only Krishna prasadam. Because the only way you can control your tongue is by only tasting Krishna prasadam and only speaking about Krishna and if you don’t control your tongue you will not be able to control your other senses like your belly and your genitals. So you see you have to do everything… But the most important thing above everything else is chanting Hare Krishna. So if you find that you can’t follow the regulative principles, can’t cook for Krishna, can’t seem to do anything, then chant Hare Krishna, and that chanting will purify you and give you strength so you will then be able to follow the regulative principles and cook for Krishna. So chanting Hare Krishna is the most important thing and no matter what sort of sinful and fallen condition we manage to get ourselves into if we just keep chanting Hare Krishna that will give us strength and we will be able to be properly situated again soon as long as we keep chanting Hare Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. one more thing you mentioned in one discussion to someone replies that if you are working in a office you are working for money. so you are not working for krishna unless you offer the money where the action or whatever you do to get money will truly be action done for krishna. i did not understand this. tell me about this. arjuna was doing the action for krsna by fighting in the battle of kuruksetra without any fruit. i understand that in today’s time it is true you would not work for someone in the office if you don’t get money but i am very confused about performing action for krishna since you said this.
Hare Krishna Avikam
It is not very complicated. You just ask yourself: “Why am I doing this work?” and if it is not for Krishna then it is maya and you are in maya not in Krishna consciousness.
A devotee actually has to organize his life in such a way that everything he does is for Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness. If we are doing things that are not for Krishna then that is maya, not Krishna consciousness.
Arjuna’s fighting on the battlefield of Kuruksettra is 100% Krishna consciousness because Krishna ordered Arjuna to fight and kill his family members. But you know in the beginning, because of the bodily concept of life, Arjuna was attached to his family members and did not want to kill them. So Arjuna proposed to Krishna: “Krishna I shall not fight. I do not want to kill my family members.” This was maya. Not fighting and wanting to leave the battlefield and accept a non-violent attitude was a symptom of Arjuna’s bewilderment and his bodily concept of life. So Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna to clear up this bewilderment. And later on Arjuna understood that it is his duty to surrender to Krishna and do what Krishna wants him to do. So then he declared “I will fight.” So you see the point is we have to work for Krishna, we have to do what Krishna wants us to do. And to find out what Krishna wants us to do we have to hear that from a pure devotee of Krishna.
So if you go to work for money and if you don’t use that money for Krishna then you are maya and that work is a material activity that will entangle you more and more in the cycle of birth and death.
The way of purifying such work is that you are working for money, so if you use the money for serving Krishna then that work becomes working for Krishna. So the work becomes spiritualized because you are working for Krishna. It is not difficult to understand at all. You have to just see at every moment of your life, every action you perform, you have to ask: “Who am I doing this for?” and if you are not doing it for Krishna then it is maya and you are in maya. Very simple.
So we have to transform our lives actually so that our every action is service to Krishna. And it can be done and Srila Prabhupada is teaching this science in his books so we have to read Prabhupada’s books. And if we read Prabhupada’s books we can learn this science of transforming our lives so our every action is service to Krishna…
That is Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
But you cannot do everything for Krishna directly. I mean if I earn money I will have to also use it to take care of myself physically right. And I think Krsna would also want me to take care of my body also. Plus if the knowledge I gained or know is that Krsna is residing in the body plus it is Krsna property or he is the proprietor of the body I have. So the body I have is a temple for Krsna to stay.
Hare Krishna Avikam
You should read Prabhupada’s books Prabhu. You do not even understand the most fundamental points of Krishna consciousness.
Devotees do not do anything for themselves. The whole philosophy is that Krishna is the enjoyer and our business as devotees of Krishna is to serve Krishna, to provide Krishna with enjoyment. We cook for Krishna, offer Krishna the bhoga and we accept the Krishna prasadam. So we do not cook for ourselves, we cook for Krishna and we accept Krishna’s mercy in the form of prasadam. If you are fully engaged in Krishna consciousness busy serving Krishna and if you accept only Krishna pradsadam then naturally your body will be fit and healthy. Of course we have to take care of our bodies because Prabhu they are not our bodies. They are Krishna’s bodies and they are meant for the service of Krishna. So we have to look after Krishna’s things so they can be used in the service of Krishna. So we have to keep the body clean and regulated but that is really all that is required to look after the body, and accept only Krishna pradsadam.
So looking after the body is part of service to Krishna if the body is only used to serve Krishna.
These are very basic points that are covered very extensively in Srila Prabhupada’s books. Please read Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhusvisa dasa. yes i will. and how do i offer prasadam again. i got standard prayers and in one of those prayers they is prayer for food and i say those prayers and offer food. till now i have been offering directly to Radha-rani and Krishna. but how do i offer to prabhupada and through disciplic succession to prabhupada as you were saying that temples don’t do.
and can i have your email so that i can contact you through email if i have questions and need guidance in following krishna consciousness even while i do all the four things you said. i need guidance very much. and if i can guidance from someone i can talk to like you it will be a boon since you are only devotee i know who truly follows orders of srila prabhupada and serve him and krishna truly.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
On offering Krishna food you can read:
https://krishna.org/how-to-offer-food-to-krishna/
We can not offer anything directly to Radharani and Krishna. That is not the process at all. We have to offer to Srila Prabhupada and the offering goes to Krishna through the disciplic succession.
As far as email I am not able to answer emails at all. I can answer a few comments on Krishna.org, that is all, that is the only way to contact me. But Prabhu you should read Prabhupada’s books. Prabhupada has already answered all your questions in his books. You should read Prabhupada’s books and all your questions will be automatically answered.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa prabhuji. i am a neophyte and i have got the 1972 gita by krsna’s grace through my grand uncle who seems very interested in hinduism that he wants to do a hd in hinduism. he had a lot or various books and 1972 gita of prabhupada was lying there. i could not get the gita as my parents are not supportive of em practicing bhakti.
well in this i want to ask fewt hing. Are all the temples contaminated and corrupted because of disobedience to Srila Prabhupada and are they corrupted especially if they have the “new” edition of prabhupada books which are the changed version as opposed to srila prabhupada orders of not changing the books the way he wrote. And secondly i read that of the nine stages of bhakti first is faith second association of devotees and third is being initiated by spiritual master.
i think you have told about getting initiated by spiritual master for neophyte devotees like me but what about faith and most of all association of devotees.
Hare Krishna Avikam
Yes. The first stage of devotional service is faith. But the faith has to be in a pure devotee of Krishna. There is no point in having faith in a rascal. You know in India and now all over the world and now in ISKCON also there are so many bogus gurus who have actually no real connection with Krishna at all. So if you have faith in a bogus guru then that faith will not help you to advance in spritual life. There are so many people out there who have faith in something bogus and they believe in that bogus thing very, very strongly and are very dedicated to it. But believing in something bogus will never help anyone advance spiritually.
So that faith has to be in a pure devotee of Krishna and through the pure devotee of Krishna we can learn about Krishna and get faith and ultimately realize Krishna. That is how it works. So it is not only faith that is required, but faith in a pure devotee of Krishna is required.
That ISKCON are constantly changing Srila Prabhupada’s books against his direct orders not to change his books is one of the symptoms they do not have faith in Srila Prabhupada. There are unlimited other things that prove that ISKCON does not have faith in Srila Prabhupada. For example they have rejected the Deity Worship process that Srila Prabhupada teaches us of offering everything first to Srila Prabhupada and then through the disciplic succession to Krishna. They have turned this upside down and now offer everything directly to Krishna and offer ‘Krishna prasadam’ to Srila Prabhupada. This is so offensive and so outrageous that you can not imagine. Krishna will never accept offerings made in this way so ISKCON does not even have Krishna prasadam. Krishna prasadam is Krishna’s mercy but you can not get Krishna’s mercy without getting the mercy of Krishna’s pure devotees first. So ISKCON are thinking they are more intelligent than Srila Prabhupada so they have changed everything. And this changing everything is directly against the orders of Srila Prabhupada who constantly orders “NO CHANGES…”
Everywhere you look in ISKCON you find this absolute rejection of the orders of Srila Prabhupada. In regard to management Prabhupada orders decentralized management. ISKCON temples are supposed to be all independent and locally managed and the job of the GBC is simply to travel from temple to temple and inspire the devotees spiritually and he has to ensure that the standards are being maintained. He has to ensure that every devotee in his zone is getting out of bed before 4:00 AM and attending Mangal Aroti and every devotee is chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and every devotee is strictly following the four regulative principles and that the temples are spotlessly clean and that every devotee is going out on book distribution and sankirtan daily, like this. That is the business of the GBC. Now in ISKCON none of these things are emphasized at all. Generally they are not chanting 16 rounds, not strictly following the four regulative principles, not going out on sankirtan, not going out on book distribution… So the GBCs have failed in the mission given to them by Srila Prabhupada and actually they have no interest in following Prabhupada’s orders at all.
There are thousands of points like this where ISKCON has rejected the orders of Srila Prabhupada. So they have disconnected themselves from Prabhupada and disconnected themselves from Krishna. So associating with ISKCON devotees will not help you advance in Krishna consciousness. Rather they will contaminate you with the idea that it is alright to go against the orders of Srila Prabhupada because the GBC knows better.
So association with devotees is very essential to make advancement in spritual life. That is very true. But you can not find this association at an ISKCON temple. We are in a very difficult position at the moment. But you can unlimitedly associate with Srila Prabhupada by reading his books and by hearing his classes and in this way you can easily become a pure devotee of Krishna and you can preach and then you can create some real devotees and associate with them.
That is what Srila Prabhupada did. He did not like to associate with his godbrothers because as ISKCON has now rejected Prabhupada, the Gaudiya Matha also rejected Srila Bhaktsiddhanta after he left his body. So as the Gaudiya Matha became ‘asara’ or useless because of this, ISKCON has also become asara, useless. So there is no question of associating with ISKCON if you want to advance in spritual life. They can not help you but they are very expert at arresting your natural development in Krishna consciousness.
As far as initiation how can a neophyte devotee know who to take initiation from? Srila Prabhupada gives the example of someone who wants to purchase gold but he does not know what gold is and he does not know where gold is to be found. He just has some vague idea. So if he goes to a grocers shop and tries to buy gold there the grocer will immediately understand that this is a fool who does not know what gold is and he can give him anything and tell him it is gold and charge him a lot of money for it. So out of ignorance such a man will be cheated when he tries to purchase gold, because he does not know what gold is.
So we have to first know what a bona fide spiritual master is. And we can learn that from Srila Prabhupada if we very sincerely study all of his books. Of course ISKCON do not want you to know what a bona fide spritual master is. They have there GBC definition that anyone can be a bona fide spritual master, it is just a service, like pot washing is a service, anyone can do it, as long as they are approved by the GBC. That is the current ISKCON guru siddhanta. Of course it is 100% bogus and reading even a few pages of Prabhupada’s books will destroy this nonsense.
So the summary is stay away from ISKCON. If you associate with ISKCON your spiritual advancement will be doomed. Because ISKCON will teach you to disobey Srila Prabhupada…. That is spiritual death.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
Also ISKCON has many Mayavadis who have joined as devotees.. During Janmashtami celebrations, this year, thousands of Sai devotees and other Mayavadi followers throng ISKCON. I witnessed a lady saying the philosophy of “YATO MAT TATO PAT” and the ISKCON members supporting it… Moreover recently I also had come across a person who has been preaching Mayavadi Philosophy last 41 years and has been associated with ISKCON for over 32 years.. Just see. They do not believe in Krishna Conscious Philosophy however you try to explain them.. It is really sad!!
Hare Krishna Reena
Yes. It is very sad. ISKCON has lost all standards. A very large percentage of ISKCON so-called devotees now are actually 100% mayavadis who, as you say, will never accept that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, no matter how much you try to preach to them. It is such a disaster. Once one has heard this Mayavadi philosophy he is poisoned and will never be able to understand Krishna consciousness.
And ISKCON loves the Mayavadis, they make all facilities and encourage and worship the Mayavadis… ISKCON is a total disaster.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhu,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada !!
Please clarify , what about taking initiation through Hansdutta Prabhu, since he is initiating on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and he has been authorised also by Srila prabhupada.
Regards
Mahesh
Hare Krishna Mahesh
I have no idea what Hansadutta Prabhu is doing these days. He was appointed by Srila Prabhupada as a ‘ritvik representative of the acharya’ so he is approved to accept disciples on behalf of Srila Prabhupada.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa