Happiness is Not Possible Without Devotional Service
“Unless one is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, the mere renunciation of activities cannot make one happy. The sages, purified by works of devotion, achieve the Supreme without delay.” (Bhagavad Gita 5.6)
There are two types of sannyasis, or persons in the renounced order of life. The Mayavadi sannyasis are engaged in the study of sankhyaphilosophy, whereas the Vaisnavas are engaged in the study ofBhagavatam philosophy which gives the proper commentary on theVedanta Sutra.
The Mayavadis also study the Vedanta Sutra, but they use their own commentary, called Sariraka Bhasya, written by Sankacharaya. Unlike the Vaisnavas who have multiple engagements in the transcendental service of the Lord, the Mayavadi sannyasis, engaged in the study ofsankhya and Vedanta and speculation, cannot relish transcendental service of the Lord. The Mayavadi commentary of the Vedanta-sutra, theSariraka-bhasya twists the real message of the Vedanta-sutra in an impersonal way and one who follows the “logic” of this commentary concludes that there is no Supreme Lord in the ultimate issue, there is only the impersonal brahman with no individuality or personality.
Because Mayavadis reject the conception of individuality and personality and claim ultimately that the Supreme Lord has no permanent existence, they conclude all that exists is oneness with brahman therefore they have no practical engagement in the service of the Lord. They have nothing to do except to study their impersonal interpretions of sankhya and Vedantaphilosophies.
On the other hand the students of the Bhagavata school, the devotees, are engaged in devotional service and therefore have multiple engagements in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The Vaisnavas have nothing to do with material activities, and yet they perform various activities in their devotional service to the Lord. But the Mayavadis, engaged in the study of Sankhya and Vedanta and speculation can not relish the transcendental service of the Lord. The devotees experience real transcendental bliss because Krishna reciprocates with them when they serve Him. Devotional service is not a one-way thing. The devotees serve Krishna and Krishna reciprocates with the devotees in real transcendental and blissful ways. This is the ‘taste’ or the ‘nectar’ that the devotees experience constantly while they are engaged in the service of the Lord.
The Mayavadis can not relish this transcendental taste from service to the Lord because they do not believe in the Lord in the ultimate issue so they see no reason to serve Him. Rather they address each other as “namo narayana…” When one Mayavadi sannyasi meets another he greets him with “namo narayana“, “I offer my respects to you Narayana.” This is their philosophy. They conclude that everything is one, therefore everyone is god…
So they consider themselves to be the supreme and there is no question of them rendering service to anyone else. And certainly they will not render service to Krishna because they believe that Krishna is simply a manifestation of the impersonal brahman within the material energy, maya, and that Krishna has no permanent existence. So this is why the Vaishnavas have given them the name ‘Mayavadis’, because they mistakenly and very offensively think that Krishna ismaya…
Anyhow there is no transcendental bliss for the Mayavadis because this transcendental bliss comes from the loving relationship between Krishna and His devotees and that loving relationship is established and nourished by the service and surrender of the devotees. But Mayavadis will not serve or surrender to the Supreme Lord. They think they are the supreme lord themselves…
Therefore because the Mayavadis can not get any pleasure from the transcendental service of the Lord their studies of Sakhya and Vedanta become very tedious. There is no pleasure in hearing: “There is no individuality, there is no personality, there is no bliss, there is only oneness…” It is very tedious indeed. Because actually we are eternall individuals and our bliss comes from relationships with others. The Mayavadis try to artificially eliminate individuality, personality and relationships so in the process they eliminate all their sources of any sort of pleasure or bliss. Even the perverted so-call pleasures of the material world depend on personality and individuality.
But the Mayavadis claim this personality and individuality is false.
“It is all one…”
So this dry speculation and the artificial interpretations of the Vedantaare all useless for the Mayavadis because their study and speculation simply becomes tedious and they can not get any taste, any pleasure, any bliss from it. So sometimes the Mayavadis take to the study ofSrimad-Bhagavatam because they can not find any bliss in their studies of the impersonal interpretations of Vedanta. They often imitate devotees and even speak on Krishna and the Bhagavatam because they can get a good following in this way. Consequently their study of and preaching of the Bhagavatam becomes troublesome.
The Vaisnavas who are engaged in devotional service are happy in the discharge of their transcendental duties, and they have the guarantee of ultimate entrance into the kingdom of God. The Mayavadis, however, ultimately fall down from the path of self-realization and again enter into material activities of a philanthropic and altruistic nature, which are nothing but material engagements. The Mayavadi preaches: “brahma satyam jagat mithya“–“Brahman is truth and this material world is false,” and they try to renounce the material world, but later on they come back into this so-called false material world and start opening schools and hospitals and doing mundane welfare work.
Therefore the conclusion is that those who are engaged in Krishna consciousness are much better situated than the Mayavadis who can only speculate on brahman or the oneness of everything although they will also come to Krishna consciousness, after many births.
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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Hello there Hare Krishna.
I’m enjoying the e-mails which are very good.
I was under the impression that sankarshan das adhikari was a bona fide spiritual master. I like him very much.
He is part of ISKCON and ISKCON is bogus. So he must be bogus also.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please answer my questions.I am in complete frustration.I left my job and it was my first job.So right now i am staying at home preparing for exams.I chant and read Srila Prabhupada’s books sometimes and spend rest of the day mostly studying but it is not enough to occupy me.Since my family members are not devotees i do not see any opportunity how to serve Krishna.No one understands what i am saying properly and it is becoming quite boring without the association of devotees.Where i was staying previously before doing my job,there were devotees around but here at home it feels completely lonely even with family around.Usually people watch movies and play games and talk to there friends.I was also doing that before i came to Krishna Consciousness but now i find it useless to do.So please tell me what service should i perform in this circumstance.
Hare Krishna Nisihikanta
Firstly you have to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day and strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. It is difficult to do these things without the association of devotees. So better to move back into the association of devotees if possible. Otherwise just adjust your schedule so you can do all these things strictly in your current situation and if you are following everything properly and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books Prabhupada will instruct you and guide you what service you should perform as you read his
books.
We have to remember that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna is in control of everything. So if we genuinely want to surrender to and serve Srila Prabhupada Krishna can make all necessary adjustments in our situation to make that possible.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Thank you for the replay.I will try to do the things you maintained.
Hare Krishna Sir…
Krishna Consciousness is all “ECSTATIC”…. Nothing is all pervasive in this universe other than my vasudeva…
Thanks for your each and every mail..
Hare Krishna!!!
Thanks for your wonderful info. ? What is the difference between the Buddhist void and the Brahmajyoti? How does one know if they have cleaned away enough material contamination to enter Krishna Loka at the time of death. Death for most has got to be quite a dramatic moment being pulled out of ones body after being identified w/ it for years. Remembering Krishna at death I would think would have to be more grace than talent since the change must be somewhat profound. Any insights? Have you a list of ISKCON gurus that you feel are the real deal. Thanks, Andy
Hare Krishna Andy
There are no qualified ISKCON gurus. The system ISKCON has established means gurus are only servants of the GBC. So taking initiation in ISKCON means surrendering to the GBC, it does not mean surrendering to Guru and Krishna. Guru in ISKCON has no authority over his disciples. Authority is with GBC. If GBC likes they can remove guru and force the disciples to reject him. So no actual qualified guru can work in a system like this.
As far as the Buddhist void there is no such thing. There is no void anywhere in the creation of the Lord. It does not exits. It is just their imagination. They imagine they can cease to exist, that is their nirvana. But we are eternal. We can never cease to exist. So Buddhists have just imagined these things. There is no void and it is not possible for the individual soul to cease to exits.
All material contamination has to be cleared away to enter Krishna loka at the time of death. If we have any desire except to serve Krishna at the time of death then we are going to have to come back to the material world because that is our desire.
We get what we desire. So if we really actually desire to go back home back to Godhead to serve Krishna then we will get that. But if we still have some material desires, if we still want to enjoy ourselves, as opposed to surrendering to Krishna and serving Krishna then we have no place in the spiritual world.
We have to be actually spiritual to enter the spiritual world. If we still have some material desires then we have to come back to the material world again.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Renunciation of actions cannot be achieved unless one does selfless-work as dedicated to Krishna-consciousness.
We get pleasure and satisfaction while we are chanting the name of Krishna or any God and we get a good feeling which cannot be written. But when we reaches to material consciousness we cannot understand from where we came and to where we are going and what will happen in the next moment. then I will try to make understand my mind that whatever may happen it will not affect me. But my mind will not accept it fully. Hence please direct me a way to console my mind. This is only a problem according to me.
Thanking you and awaiting a direction,
The way to control the mind is by first controlling the tongue. The tongue has two activities. One is to vibrate and the other is to taste. So if we can control the tongue by only letting it vibrate the Hare Krishna mantra and talks about Krishna and if we also control the tongue by only allowing it to taste Krishna prasadam then automatically our mind will become controlled. If we do not control the tongue in this way it will not be possible for us to control our minds.
Yes, I used to go to temple daily and after worshipping the God, I will prepare the food for my family. Hence for two hours after getting up, I am very happy and peaceful at that two hour’s time. When we goes to temple we will have the feeling of some kind of happiness or same to that. Whenever we thinks of God we will not have any type of sadness or so, even if we are suffering from some disease. It is my experience. But when we come to material life we are not at all happy in all sense. Hence I will try to live as per this news letter.
Thanking You
I read in the Srimad Bhagavatam that devotees who fall down or have do some other sinful things go to one of the Hellish planets after death, am I understanding this right?
Where did you read that? I do not think I have read that. Please let me know the verse number that you read it in and I will check and let you know.
hare krsna prabhuji. please accept my obesisnce. all glories to Srila Prabhupad and thanks a million times for your wnderful work in the service of His Divine Grace.
I stayed two years in Mayapur studying bhakti sastri and bhaktivaibhava at Mayapur Institute. I came to appreciate the great ocean known as bhakti rasamrta sindhu.
My question is if you teach from this great nectar ocean of devotion to subscribe me .
hare krsna
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Really I am just trying to encourage the people to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and in that way I want to see everyone being taught by Srila Prabhupada. I just answer the peoples questions and suggest they chant the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day, that they strictly follow the four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and that they read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. That is all I teach. Srila Prabhupada is very perfectly teaching everything else. We should take full advantage of hearing from Srila Prabhupada and reading his books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu..
PAMHO!!!!
Prabhu what does it mean when someone see Krishna in his/her dreams??? Is it just like we are thinking too much about him that’s y we get dreams related to Krishna or Krishna want to tell something to us??? Is sharing dreams related to Krishna OK??? I have read somewhere that when u see’s god talking to u that means u will soon face ample no. of difficulties and fiasco’s……And my last question… what ever Lord Krishna tell’s us in our dreams should we consider it as TRUTH???? Please advise..
Your servant
Amit
Hare Krishna Amit
There is no such thing as thinking of Krishna too much. We should always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. So naturally if we are always thinking of Krishna we will dream about Krishna also. But that does not mean that Krishna is actually talking to us directly in our dreams. Dreams we can not take very seriously. The way Krishna talks to us is through Srila Prabhupada. So when we hear from Srila Prabhupada and read his books then Krishna is talking to us. That is the truth. We can not consider dreams as truth. They are dreams only. Not the truth. The truth you will hear from Prabhupada and find in his books. That is the truth. Your dreams are just dreams. It is a concoction of your mind, that’s all. But still it is very nice to be dreaming about Krishna. It is not a material thing, it is spiritual, remembering Krishna in your dreams, so it is very nice. But you can not take it as the truth. As I said the truth you find in Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I’d like to help. How can I do it?
You can help by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and actually following the instructions you find in them.
The beginning of Krishna consciousness is we need to surrender to chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day and strictly following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and we need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day. So you can help in this way. By becoming actually Krishna conscious. Without following these basic principles we are in maya, not in Krishna consciousness, and in maya we can not help anyone at all.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna madhudvisa dasa prabhu
I am a college student
19years old
I chant on an average 10 rounds(though I try for 16 but end up at sometimes 12 sometimes 10)
Read books for at least one hour
And while travelling I either Chant
And sometimes hear MP3 of srila prabhupada
I live with my mother and sister and father is in air Force posted in other state
My mother also Chants while doing her Household chores
After reading your articles and books of srila prabhupada
I thought that I would do a job
That would be less demanding.
So this is my current position
Please instruct me what should be done
Hare Krishna Prabhat
Sounds like what you are doing is very good and your family situation is very favorable. Yes. I am sure you can find some job that is not overly demanding and will not interfere with your spiritual program. But Try for chanting at least 16 rounds each day, you can try getting up a bit earlier in the morning to get the extra time. And intensify your program of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. Try to get and read ALL of Srila Prabhupada’s books. He spent so much time and energy writing the books for our benefit, we should read all of his books over and over again.
And try to hear the instructions Srila Prabhupada is giving you as you read his books and act on them. These are practical books, we are supposed to follow Prabhupada’s instructions in the books in our day to day life.
So you are doing very well and if you can add these two things I think you will do even better,
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna, all glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.
Thank you for your nice newsletter. It is very nice.
Prabhuji, in my mind question arises regarding Vaisanava Sanyasis, are they In fully renounced order of life. They do not only preach of Krishna Conciousness from Bhagvatam, they are also involved in meditation of Krishna Lila in different moods.
They are fully surrendered to Krishna as a servant of servant of servant of most pro infant servant of Krishna, Radha.
Dandvat Pranaams.
Humble servant
Srinivas Das
Hare Krishna Srinivas
These days most sannyasis, Vaisnava and others also, are demons, not devotees. There is a class of demonic men who are attracted by this position of religious leader or preacher and their motivation is not pure. They see the position of religious leader as a position where they can achieve and exert their influence over a group of other people. So the vast majority of the sannyasis of any type are demons motivated in this way to use the position of sannyasa to further their own personal goals.
To find a real sannyasi at the current point in time is a very difficult thing indeed.
And sannyasa is for preaching. Sannyasa has different stages. In the highest stage of sannyasa, paramahamas, there is no preaching. On the highest spiritual platform one sees that everyone except himself is engaged in the service of Krishna. So in that highest spiritual level there is no preaching. So for preaching one must come down to the second platform, the madhyam platform, where one differentiates between the demons, the devotees and the innocent. Without this differentiation there is no possibility of preaching and the most elevated persons do not differentiate like this.
So the position of sannyasa is not the highest position in one sense, but Krishna makes it very clear in the Bhagavad-gita that the persons who are most dear to Him are those who preach this message of Bhagavad-gita to the people. So it is the preacher who is dear to Krishna. It does not matter what his external dress is, he may be dressed as a sannyasi or he may be dressed as a householder, it does not matter. If he is educating the people about Krishna’s message in the Bhagavad-gita and if he is purely following his pure devotee spiritual master then he is pleasing Krishna and that is the point.
The external dress, sannyasa, brahmacari, grhastha, etc, does not matter at all. What matters is the consciousness, the purity. If the Krishna consciousness is there, if he is presenting the real message of Bhagavad-gita, then he is the real sannyasi, the real preacher.
As far as the internal medition of a Vaisnava that we will understand when we actually reach the highest transcendental platform. In the meantime Srila Prabhupada’s suggestion is “work now, samadhi later”. We have to engage in the practical service of our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and his greatest desire is that his disciples distribute his books. So we should use our intelligence and energy to distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna, Radhe Radhe Prabhu
very well said that a person who is engaged in loving service of Krishna experiences wonderful bliss. Really doing kirtan,cooking kheer for Krishna,chanting maha mantra,talking about Krishna, gives a wonderful feeling which can not be found anywhere else in this world.
Thank you
Hare Krishna, Radhe Radhe Prabhu
i want all messages in english so that i can understand very well
pranams thak you
pranams
i understand that happiness is not possible without devotional service but i would like to say the same as happiness is possible only with devotional service
having accepted and surrendered unto krsna i want to hear only about krsna
any comparison with mayavadha or establishing anything against other brings only destabilisation of mind to pre krsna thoughts
i donot want to compare krsna with any isms as i am fully conscious that
He is sarva karana karanam
i am sorry for my observations on yours the learned persons but for me krsna is sarvam
yours truly
sankaragururaman
Yes Prabhu, you are correct. Happiness is only possible when one is in Krishna consciousness. And in Krishna consciousness one can experience real, unlimited and ever-increasing happiness. That is because if one is in Krishna consciousness he is no longer in the material world, he is in the spiritual world.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Brahm satya gatat mithya……..
Everything is imaginary and else what left of the material world is satya that is the brahm….!
I want to ask u how can I know the brahm ,as I only know about the imagenary false world …?
There is nothing imaginary about this world. It is temporary but not false or imaginary. It is made from the energy of Krishna, or from Brahman if you must. So something made from the brahman which is not false can not be false…
You have been hearing the rubbish impersonal philosophy of Sankacharaya and that is your problem. You have to give up that rubbish philosophy and surrender to Srila Prabhupada and read his books and follow the instructions you will find him giving you as your read his books. In that way you will come to know everything about Krishna who is the Param Brahman. Krishna is the source of the Brahman, so if you understand Krishna then you will understand everything, including Brahman…
Jai Shri Krishna..!
You Are doing a fabulous work..
Best Wishes.
Hare Krsna Swamiji,
Firsty I Would like to thank u for sending beautiful letters about Lord Krishna. Would like to know the meaning behind seeing god in dream.
There is not much meaning in dreams. Mostly it is imagination. But if you are seeing Krishna in your dreams that is very nice….
vHare Krishna Swamyiji
pranam
A clearcut analysis of mayavadis. Thank ypu. A doubt, it is said Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu aplenary form of Krshna. Yet he preached atheism. What might be the reason for it.
Hari bhol
Ys
Natarajan
Hare Krishna Natarajan
Yes, you are correct, Lord Buddha is an incarnation of Visnu and he indirectly preached atheism. And it is a good question to ask, “Why?”
At the time when Lord Buddha appeared in India the whole land was full of atheists who were meat eaters and who were outwardly followers of the Vedas. They were using the mention of animal sacrifices in the Vedas to justify meat eating and the running of slaughterhouses. So it was a very sad situation in India, punya-bhumi, the land of pious activities. It had been transformed into a land of animal killing and meat eating sinners.
For the meat eaters it is impossible to understand the more subtle aspect of spiritual science. So Krishna wanted to do something to rectify this horrible situation in India. The problem is that atheists do not believe in God and even if God appears to them personally they will still not believe in Him and they will actually try to fight with him as we have seen in so many examples in the sastra where the demons try to attack and kill Lord Visnu. Of course they can never be successful. But they will never stop trying to kill Visnu also…
So it was pointless for Krishna to appear in India at that time as Himself and to try and get the atheists to stop the animal killing and meat eating. They would not have listened to Him, they would have tried to kill Him…
So Krishna came up with the plan of appearing as Lord Buddha who preached that there is no god, that you can all become the Buddha, and that you should stop killing the animals and stop eating meat.
Of course the atheistic demons liked the idea that there was no god and they like the idea that they could also become the Buddha when they became enlightened… So it was a very nice philosophy for them but the idea of stopping killing animals was not very appealing… And they brought before Lord Buddha the argument that “In the Vedas animal sacrifices are prescribed…” So then Lord Buddha decried the Vedas saying that he rejects any scripture that condones animal killing…
But the philosophy of Lord Buddha was so attractive to the atheists that they gave up following [actually misinterpretation] the Vedas and accepted the philosophy of Buddhism which centers around ahimsa parama dharma, “Non-violence is the highest religious principle.”
So by the effect of Lord Buddha’s preaching the animal killing in India was stopped and the whole population of India became again vegetarians.
This set the stage for Sripad Sankacaraya to appear some thousand or so years later. If the people in India had continued being meat eaters and had not been turned into vegetarians by Lord Buddha then by the time Sankacharya appeared they would have been so dull and stupid they would not have been able to understand a word he was saying. However fortunately Lord Buddha had turned them into vegetarians so that enabled them to develop the finer tissues in their brains which make understanding subtle spiritual subject matter possible. Still they were basically atheistic and not ready to surrender to Krishna. So Lord Shiva who incarnated as Sripada Sankacharaya preached ‘covered Buddhism’ but used as his authority the Vedas. So Sankacharaya basically preached Buddhism, but used the Vedas as his authority. So he reestablished the authority of the Vedas in India and everyone again became ‘followers’ of the Vedas. However the interpretation of the Vedas given to them by Sankacharaya was a misinterpretation for Sankacharaya stressed the impersonal aspect of the supreme and put no emphasis whatsoever on the personal aspect. But that is another story.
So you can see the Lord has some plan in all these activities and to understand that plan we have to see the ‘big picture’.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhuvisa, since I’ve been reading your articles I have noticed a difference in my life.I have been in good health and have understanding of life and how to give full praise to Krishna. I have noticed that everytime I say hare krishna mantra my stress goes away and I am refocused on devotion to Krishna. Once again thanks for the inspiring articles. Hare Krishna!
Thank you for the articles you have been sending me. I am also reading Bhagavad Gita As It Is and chanting Hare Krishna. I have been chanting: “Devotion to the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect (Nam Myho Renge Kyo)” for many years and it comes to my mind very easily. Is there any conflict in continuing to chant that mantra? I am retired and not physically active. The temples in my state are not close to my home. I need your guidance regarding how I may proceed beyond solitary practice.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Yvonne
If you want to make advancement in this age of Kali the process is to chant the holy names of God. What you are chanting is not the holy names of God so it will not help you in the ultimate issue. We get used to so many things that are just maya, illusion. We may feel comfortable with maya but that will not help us. It may even be difficult to chant Hare Krishna sometimes and we may not feel comfortable with it but this is the way to making spiritual advancement. It doesn’t matter if you feel comfortable with chanting Hare Krishna or not, in reality we can not expect to have any taste for chanting Hare Krishna in the beginning. We just have to chant Hare Krishna without apparently getting much benefit. But actually the chanting is purifying our hearts and we are getting a great deal of benefit. The taste for chanting Hare Krishna only comes when our hearts are somewhat purified and the only practical way to purify our hearts in this age is chanting Hare Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear prabhu,
I would like to share the devotional mood of my cat when listening to srila prabhupada.she gets quite animated!
Guy
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I did find the answers to my questions and have a good understanding of the current situatiion. Actually the answer came to me in a few things from “The Nectar of Devotion”. Like you keep reminding us, it’s all in the books.
Haribol
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Hare Krishna!
I have a question on one of the regulative principles.
I visited an ISKCON temple this weekend for the first time in a dozen years. I was in a town that had a temple while on a business trip, so when I was done with business I went to Sunday Temple Services.
When at Bhagavad Gita class the teacher asked who chanted even one round daily only a handful out of 60-70 people raised their hands. Then when he asked who read daily, even less responded by raising their hands. I figured people probably didn’t know what he was asking. He told everyone they should say the Maha Mantra at least once every day, which seemed like good advice.
Then he explained that the four regulative principles are:
no meat eating
no gambling
no intoxicants
and no illicit connections (?)
Is this the same thing as “no illicit sex” and is this really what Srila Prabhupada meant?
It sounds a little misleading but I’m no scholar and have not studied as much as I should have so I hope you can give me a little further instruction on this matter.
I have always told children and friends that it means sex for procreation only, but maybe I’ve been wrong. This gentleman who was speaking certainly is better educated and more knowledgable than I am.
Haribol
Hare Krishna Matthew
it is better to stay away from ISKCON temples. They are not preaching what Srila Prabhupada is preaching. They have watered down everything and it is very dangerous to hear from them. No illicit sex means sex is only allowed within marriage and then only for the purpose of having children. That is what ‘no illicit sex’ means, but you will not hear this in an ISKCON temple today… Stay away from ISKCON and chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
pranam prabhu g
hare krishna
i don<t have any question regarding this mail.i just want to say iam realy gratefull to have these mails iam feeling like a blind person is moving to such a bright world where he gets satisfication and his life becomes realy easy to live iam realy indebited of your spiratual mails dhanyavad prabhu g
jai shri hari jai shri krishna
Hare Krishna
Dandvat Pranam
pravuji….i myself is a complete beginner…who has no concept of Bhagvan
but its most surprsing…whenever i read these newsletters …i feel change in my mind…i get some Happiness …but dont understand where it suddenly comes from….
thanks a lot for such valuable newsleters which give people “Happiness”
Haribol
hare krsna madhudvisa dasa guru ji!
am really facing a big prob guru ji!
my younger brother always laughs at krsna n his works,even when some serials are telecasted.he believes in shiva n i believe krsna.
my dad believes all gods,elder brother believes ganapathi,mom believes in krsna too.
my elder brother name is vinay(mom said that vinay=vinayaka,from that day he fixed to ganapathi,when i said that the boons of shiva are only material n that applies to ganapathi too then disagreed n scolded me for which when i made him to watch n read all the articles in this krsna.org,he then started thinking of krsna,but he didnt explained his opinion on krsna)!
younger brother name is abhinay(again mom said that this name connects with shiva,he then fixed to shiva itself).he never believes krsna,he always takes the negative meaning in the works of krsna with all the gopis n his friends.i strictly said that DAIVA DHUUSHANAM IS A SEVEREST SIN AMONG ALL SINS!he then replies to me that krsna is not a god hes just an ordinary man,so ther is no question of sin at all!also makes insult krsna about his avataras that he is the pig which eats all the mans excretory materials!
also says that there is nothing real in considering the KSHEERA SAGARA MADHANAM,n laughs at MOHINI saying that he is NOT A MEN!
n praises shiva that he resqued this world by taking that KAALAKUUTA VISHAM!
one day ma dad brought a story book in that there is a story that in a village there is a temple of ayyappa swamy n in that there is a deity that his forefinger points to his brain in the thinking posture!some body use to talk that when anybody says the exact question in that deitys mind then that deity comes to his original posture!
after some years one guy says that hes in the confusion that “whether i should call mahalaxmi devi the mother or something?”as lord mahavishnu is the mother to him n shiva the father, happened during the mohini avataram!
then that deity returns to its original posture!
bylooking at this story ma brother laughs at vishnu that “is he the male or a female?”n also says that ayyappa swamy is also not a god!
looking at all his sinful acts we lost all our hopes that he’ll never come back to us!
what should i do sir?
not only that he always abuses the others who supports krsna n he supports who accepts shiva!
what am asking is please give me some reply so that i can change my brother!
am expecting a great solution that elevates him to the real counsiousness sir!
hare rama!
hare krsna!!
Just become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself. Then you will understand exactly what to do. Krishna consciousness is voluntary. If someone does not want to become Krishna conscious you can not force them. It is love. There has to be love, you can not force love. Just become Krishna conscious yourself…
ask your brother to pray to lord shiva to give him true knowledge.
One who hates vishnu,even though he is a divotee of shiva, shiva personnally sends him to hell. if u hate shiva and a divotee of vishnu then vishnu also sends him to hell. Both vishnu and shiva love each other so much and one is divotee of another…Please save ur brother from this danger of going to hell..
I read your mail regarding ‘Nothing is possible without devotional service’. I’m a bramhin from Smartha tradition following the path of Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya after becoming exposed to Srila Prabhupada’s teachings.
I’m not so advanced as to understand everything aboutthe differences between advaita and dwaita but I do know a few. You say that opening schools and hospitals is a waste of time? Is rendering service to others a waste of time? Won’t Krishna be pleased by people who render service to others?
The other thing I wanted to ask is why Srila Prabhupada in his books criticizes mayavadis so much? Let them do whatever they want. If people find sense in your philosophy they will shift. I shifted, my family did and so my friends. But constant criticism is not good for spiritual practice. You send me mails regarding ‘not to criticize others’ and Iskon keeps criticizing mayavadis.This feeling of hatred does not lead one to Krishna as one who is in sthita pragjna will never be affected by any of these.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Rendering service to others is not rendering service to Krishna. That is the whole point. It is rendering service to others. And that means if you serve others the people you ‘help’ become indebted to you and have to take birth in the material world again so they can repay the debt to you and you have to take birth in the material world again and suffer birth, old age, disease and death again so you can receive back the debt that is owed to you. So really good karma is not good because it keeps us tightly locked in the cycle of samsara, birth and death in the material world. So this opening of schools and hospitals by spiritual organizations is a waste of time. It is not their business. Srila Prabhupada often speaks about saving the dress of a drowning man. What credit is that? If you save his clothes but the man drowns? So this school and hospital building is just about the needs of the material body, but a transcendentalist is interested in the needs of the soul.
Of course schools and hospitals are required but that is not the business of a saintly man. He is interested in saving the souls and he knows that the bodies can not be saved actually, nor can the amount of suffering or happiness a person is destined to experience be changed by any of this mundane philanthropic work.
We criticize the Mayavadis because they are offenders to Krishna. It is our duty to criticize them and warn the general public about them. They are seriously misleading the people into thinking that everyone is god and there is no Krishna actually in the ultimate sense. So they are offenders and the problems of the world, this rampant materialism and ‘civilization’ based on sense gratification is a direct result of the preaching of the Mayavadis. Because the Mayavadis negate the Supreme Personality of Godhead and they claim there is no spiritual world actually. Everything is one there… So they say ultimately there is no individuality, no personality, nothing. So there is no future for us according to the Mayavadis. Therefore because their preaching is dry and their followers can not taste any spiritual pleasure they are indirectly encouraging the materialistic way of life.
Hearing from the Mayavadis is poison and once someone drinks that poison it is practically impossible for him to understand the personal form of the Lord.
So we criticize the Mayavadis very strongly. That is our disciplic succession, that is our mission. Of course in a positive way, to replace the impersonal and voidist ideas that currently flood the world with pure love of Godhead. So our real business is of course speaking about Krishna and this will automatically defeat the Mayavadis…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna
I just wanted to know the logical explanation of Ekadashi. I was fasting Ekadashi but suddenly I realized that if God is logical, the services served to Him should also be logical. I asked many people why is that fasting on Ekadashi. But unfortunately none of them came up with a logical answer. You may think I am a mayavadi. But no Srila. I follow Srila Prabhupada. I chant 11 rounds a day. I chant that Hare Krsna mahamantra. What is bad in me is I seek logic. I can not believe in superstition. I think seeking logic must be appreciated as it annihilates the chances of false authorities. I got all logical explanations of those devotional services. Recently I messed up some Mayavadis. I discussed Vaishnavism with them. I showed them enough evidences that Sri Krsna is not an enlightened soul, He is the supreme Lord, Supreme Brahmin. But when myelf thought about what is the logic behind Ekadashi, I found no answer. I think it would be very absurd for me indulging in anything illogical activities. So I could not persist on Ekadashi.
I am optimistic that you would come with a logical explanation which will subside my doubt.
Hare Krsna
Hare Krishna Prabhu
We can not understand everything by logic. That is not the process. Our brains are very small. And so many things about Krishna and Krishna consciousness are avan manasa gochara, beyond the ability of the mind to conceive, and beyond the ability of the senses to perceive. So these things can never be understood by logic. We understand Krishna consciousness by hearing of it from a pure devotee of Krishna. That is all. Not everything can be understood by logic and our so-called logic is also faulty because it is based on information that we receive through our imperfect senses. Many of the premises on which our logic rests are false and incorrect so the result of such logic will also be false and incorrect.
As far as Ekadasi we hear from Srila Prabhupada and everyone in the disciplic succession that fasting from grains on the Ekadasi day is very good for our advancement in spiritual life and therefore they advise us to fast from grains on the Ekadasi day. So we accept that instruction from our spiritual master and fast on the Ekadasi because he orders us to fast on the Ekadasi. A devotee does not need anything more than the order of his spiritual master. He does not presume that he can always logically understand all the reasons behind why his spiritual master is ordering him to do a particular thing. No. He is soul surrender to the lotus feet of his spiritual master and he will follow any order given to him by the spiritual master.
Though that surrender and following of the bona fide spiritual master we will gradually come to understand everything from the instructions of the spiritual master and from Krishna within our hearts.
The only thing I know really about the Ekadasi day from Srila Prabhupada is that on that day the sinful activities take shelter in the grains so on that day the grains are no fit to be eaten. Also I know that there is a special potency on the Ekadasi day that means whatever service and chanting and reading we do on that day is surcharged and will have a greater effect than on other days. So it is wise to increase our reading and chanting on the Ekadasi days. And I think you know that if you eat you tend to sleep more and if you are sleeping you are not chanting Hare Krishna. So if we can reduce our eating on the Ekadasi days then we will not sleep so much and will have more time for chanting Hare Krishna. So all this is quite logical actually and that is the understanding I have from Srila Prabhupada and that is enough for me. Prabhupada orders his disciples to fast on from grains on the Ekadasi days so his disciples fast from grains on the Ekadasi days. It is as simple as that..
Hara krisna,
Today morning When I am Reading “Udhab Sanbhad” (The message of Udhab).
How Poromeshwar Bhagaban Sri Krisna affected by his own devotee. Also explain Himself He could give all thing like all His prosperity to His devotee which He gave Braja bala.He also gives us the beautiful world. But my problem here that I am a person could not do any thing for my Krisna but understand evrything. Please Probhu explain me how it is possible and when the beautiful moments come I will give my all things to my Krisna.
With Pranam(Dhandabhat)
Rajkumar
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Becoming Krishna conscious is a science and I can not explain it in a few paragraphs. Srila Prabhupada has written over 80 big books on this subject so please take the time to study all of Srila Prabhupada’s books and you will find everything you need there.
You can not get the answer to this question without being prepared to spend serious time and energy studying Srila Prabhupada’s books and putting what you learn into practice in your life.
It is a practical thing. We have to learn how to live our lives so all we do is serve Krishna. And this is the science Prabhupada is teaching us in his books. If we read them then we will know the science.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
because we are actually eternal indivduals and our bliss comes from relationships with others. ther is a lot to be said and had about having good relationships with others i tend to blow them off for seemingly endless reasons. one bi of the sat and chit g one is the old adage (true as ican see) of people taking kindness as a sign of weakness. do i do that – i must consider that now that i bring it up. friends are very often untrustworthy (they steal and lie and scam
continually. it is freaking me out. it seems to me that from what you have said in one of your responses in this column that i may have some sat and chit but very little ananda. HARE KRISNA MADHUDVISA HARE KRISHNA
HARE KRISHNA MADHUDVISA i actually believe that i am getting my answers from reading these letters from the others here in this column and the expansive answers you provide. i should write again later. HARE KRISHNA
HARE KRISHNA THANK YOU FOR THIS SUBJECT. THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ARE ANSWERING MY QUESTIONS.
Hare Krishna Marty
I am happy you are find some answers here.
The thing about your friends and the whole world practically is they are completely on the material platform. So their motivation actually is their own pleasure. So generally friends are only friends because there is something in it for them. They enjoy your company or they get some benefit. So really the bottom line is about how their relationship with you satisfies them. So because they are are looking out always for their own pleasure if you have something they want they will take it, thinking it will make them happy…. That is all they care about ultimately, “being happy…”
But materialists can never be happy like this. This is not the sort of relationship that actually generates pleasure. The pleasure comes from reestablishing our eternal relationship with Krishna. That is a different sort of relationship. And once we have established our relationship with Krishna we can help others also become Krishna conscious. And that is real friendship, then we are no longer trying to be ‘happy’ ourselves, we become happy by serving Krishna. So we are always trying to serve Krishna in better ways, not to be happy ourselves, but to make Krishna happy, and when Krishna becomes happy we become more happy…
This is actually the secret to happiness. We are actually servants of Krishna eternally and our business is to serve Krishna and that is the source of true happiness.
There no bliss or happiness in the relationships we have with materialistic friends, because they are all just interested in themselves ultimately. But if because of our friendship with them we can convince them to chant Hare Krishna and read Prabhupada’s books and they become devotees then we can start having real spiritual relationships with our friends also.
If we all understand that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and we are together working to try and make Krishna happy then we can all work together nicely as friends and have very sweet relationships between each other also. If you read Sri-Caitanya-caritamrta or Teachings of Lord Caitanya you can see what nice friendly relationships the devotees can have with each other. This is real friendship and really nice for the devotees have a common goal. They want to make Krishna happy. So they are all working for Krishna, not themselves. So they can work together very nicely… And be real friends..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA
HARI BOL
Hare krsna.
I read your article regarding mayawadis but sankaracharya himself is the incarnated form of lord shiva who is also considered is the foremost vaishnava then why he would propagate the oneness philosophy…may be i am wrong in understanding the above said if it is such please accept my appologies
haribol
sridham
Hare Krishna Sridham
Lord Shiva himself says to Parvati “In the Kali-yuga I descend myself in the form of a brahmana and preach veiled Buddhism.” I shoud find the exact verse but you can look it up or someone else can post it. Sankacharaya is Lord Shiva and He is the greatest Vaisnava but for whatever reason in the form of Sankacharaya it was his service to present the impersonal Mayavadi philosophy.
This is all part of a bigger picture. Around 1500 BC when Lord Buddha appeared the whole Indian continent was full of meat eating atheists who claimed to be followers of the Vedas but who had misrepresented the sections mentioning animal sacrifice and used that to justify meat eating. So Lord Buddha, who is an incarnation of Krishna, appeared and presented a completely bogus philosophy based on ahimsa parama dharma ‘non-violence is the highest religious principle.’ Lord Buddha said there is no god, no eternal soul, no spiritual world, and that the highest achievement was nirvana, ceasing to exist.
So it is all nonsense. But this is an incarnation of Krishna speaking this nonsense philosophy. So He must have had some purpose in this. Krishna can do anything He wants to to achieve His purpose. Andin this case He is convincing the atheists in India at that time to at least become vegetarian. You have to understand that even if you know the absolute truth that does not mean if you explain it to someone else that they will accept it. An atheist will never accept the existence of the Supreme Lord and surrender to Him. So in this case Krishna in the form of Lord Buddha tricked the atheists. He appeared, the Supreme Lord, and told them “there is no god, you can also become the Buddha like me…” and of course the atheists liked that philosophy so they started worshiping Lord Buddha… So you see Krishna tricked them into worshiping Him, the Supreme Lord, by telling them that there is no god….
So as Krishna presented so much bogus philosophy to trick the atheists and to get them to become vegetarians, later on Krishna sent Lord Shiva as Sankacharaya to basically present the same bogus godless philosophy that Buddha had presented but topresent it using the Vedanta Sutra as the authority. So Sankacharaya’s real purpose was to reestablish the Vedas as the authority. He was preaching to the atheistic Buddhists, who will also not surrender to Krishna, so Sankacharaya very soundly defeated the Buddhist philosophy and practically everyone in India became his follower and gave up Buddhism. So it is a great achievement. Now they are vegetarians due to Lord Buddha and now they are again followers of the Vedas due to Lord Sankacharya.
But still the philosophy of Sankacharaya is a horrible perversion of the Vedanta Sutra. And he presented this perversion not because he believed but because that is what was needed to convince the Buddhists…
So, although the teachings of Sankacharaya are based on the Vedas, and he is directly quoting from Vedanta Sutra, using word jugglery he makes the meaning very different from the natural meaning you get from reading the original verses of Vedanta Sutra.
So after Sankacharaya the Vaishanva Acharays have come culminating in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is Krishna Himself and who has given the highest philosophy and who has soundly defeated the bogus teachings of Sankacharaya.
And it is our mission as followers of Srila Prabhupada to rid the world of the poison of this nirvisesa sunyavadi, the philosophies of impersonalism and voidism, and in their place establish Krishna consciousness, Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtan movement, as the yuga-dharma, the religion of the age. And this Sankirtan movement of Lord Caitanya has the potency to correct all the problems of this Kali-yuga.
So it is a fact that both Lord Krishna in the form of Lord Buddha and Lord Shiva in the form of Sankacharaya preached philosophies that are not actually correct to achieve particular purposes as I have explained above….
Krishna is best at everything, He is also the best thief, the best lier, the best cheater… But when Krishna does these things they are not bad. Krishna is absolute. Everything done by Him is worshippable and good… You know Krishna is Markanchor, ‘The Butter Thief.’ So if one is a thief it is not good, but if Krishna steals butter he becomes very much worshiped for this…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
this reply is full of spiritual strength
Haribol
Hara Krisna
I am sorry that i gave my all comments in that page. I am very interested about your all articles about Krisna and Bhagbat Gita. Please I want to take Diksha from the ISKON . So Iam preparing myself. Also continue my study to joining the Phd program on my Own subject.So bless me so that i will get the
great love of Krisna and Probupada.
With Pranam(Dhandabhat)
Rajkumar
hare krishna
dandwats
I just wanted to enquire how to relate our daily activites with devotional service.Though in theory we know but how to implement practically.
thanks
haribol
Hare Krishna Chhavi
It is a very important question. Actually knowing about Krishna consciousness in theory is not enough. Krishna consciousness is devotional service. So if we know the theory that we should surrender to Krishna and serve Him then in our life in practice that is what we have to do. We have to spend at least a good percentage of our time serving Krishna.
The practice of saddhana-bhakti or Krishna consciousness is very clearly explained by Srila Prabhupada in his books and he wrote many books because to understand it requires reading many books. Sometimes devotees do not seem to understand that Srila Prabhupada wrote his books for us to read. And every book he has written, every word he has written, is very important. So we have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and then we will know very clearly what we should be doing in our practical life to serve Krishna.
If you start with the basic things like strictly following the four regulative principles (no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) rising before 4:00AM in the morning and offering Mangal-Aroti and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and reading Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day then everything will automatically develop in your life from that point on. My practical experience is that many ‘devotees’ will not surrender to these basic things like rising early in the morning, chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, strictly following the regulative principles, and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books at least 1-2 hours a day, so they do not make any advancement in Krishna consciousness. It is not possible. We have to surrender and in the beginning it may seem a difficult task and it may actually be difficult. But we have to surrender to this tapasys and follow Prabhupada’s instructions–otherwise there is no way to become Krishna conscious.
Krishna consciousness is not something that can be had very cheaply, we have to spend our time and energy chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books and we have to give up our natural tendencies for illicit sex, intoxication, meat eating and gambling. Otherwise Krishna consciousness will always remain a mystery to us…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna prabhu ji,
Please guide me as to how I can avoid material indulgence like money, love (for family), anger etc.
I find it very difficult to completely avoid such eventualities though I am reading Bhagvadgita and chanting hare krishna mantra.
Hare krishna.
Ashish
Hare Krishna Ashish
It is not possible to completely avoid these things like money, love for family members, anger and so on. It is not that devotees are impersonal with no feelings. The feelings will remain. However the process of Krishna consciousness is not to eliminate these feelings but to transfer them to Krishna.
So the way you reduce your attachment and love for your family for example is by increasing your attachment and love for Krishna. As your love for Krishna increases then your love for material things will decrease. Of course when you love Krishna you will also love everyone else because you will see that everyone is a part and parcel of Krishna and they are suffering greatly because they have forgotten their eternal relationship with Krishna. So your love for them will be expressed by your preaching the philosophy of Krishna consciousness and waking them up to their original Krishna consciousness so they can become actually happy. Love of Krishna is the greatest gift you can give to anyone else and everyone will appreciate you very much if you can actually become a pure devotee of Krishna and be experiencing this love of Krishna yourself and sharing it with others. When you are in that position, in love with Krishna, you will no longer be particularly attached to your particular family members but you will be then a member of Krishna’s family and will see all the living entities as your brothers and sisters and you will feel deep love and compassion for all living entities and try to help them all come to Krishna consciousness.
So Krishna consciousness is not really giving up family attachment. It is simply becoming a member of a bigger family, Krishna’s family, and transferring your attachment from your material family to Krishna’s family…
As far as money, money in itself is not good or bad, it is Krishna’s energy and you can use it for good or bad. So the devotee may be dealing with a lot of money but he uses that money in the service of Krishna under the direction of his bona fide spiritual master, then earning and spending that money becomes a transcendental and liberating activity. So earning and spending money for Krishna is not bad. It is not a question of giving up attachment to money, that would not be the correct understanding. Srila Rupa Goswami has instructed us that to renounce something that actually belongs to Krishna is incomplete renunciation. So he is not recommending that you give up the money for example. Rupa Goswami is pointing out that the money belongs to Krishna and real renunciation is to realize this and use Krishna’s money in the service of Krishna. This is yukta-vairagya, practical renunciation.
As far as anger, that can also be used in Krishna consciousness. On the battlefield of Kuruksettra Arjuna had to get angry with the Kurus to fight with them. In that case Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight and Arjuna’s getting angry and fighting with the opposing army is service to Krishna and pleasing to Krishna. If we get angry with the Mayavadis and defeat their nonsense philosophy for example Srila Prabhupada and Krishna will be very happy with us. So even anger can be used in the service of Krishna.
So you can see that it is not a question of avoiding these things but we have to transform these things so our motivation is always to serve Krishna, to please Krishna, in every action in our lives. Then if we are truly in love with Krishna and all our activities are motivated by that love for Krishna then whatever we do that will be spiritual. Even though it may seem to be wrong from the mundane material point of view. There are so many examples. You know Arjuna was arguing that he should not fight the Battle of Kuruksettra because so many of his friends and family members would get killed. And that is a very nice sentiment. From the moral point of view Arjuna’s proposal of non-violence was very nice. But Krishna did not want that, Krishna wanted the fight to go on, so when Arjuna correctly understood the position of Krishna and his relationship with Krishna he surrendered to Krishna and said “I am a soul completely surrendered unto you my Lord, Please instruct me.” So that is the idea. A devotee is surrendered to Krishna and does what Krishna wants him to do even though that may appear to contradict the mundane moral principles. You know that in Vrindavan on the full-moon nights Krishna would go out into the forests of Vrindavan and play on His flute and all the young girls of Vrindavan would be attracted by that flute playing of Krishna and come out in the middle of the night to dance with Krishna. From the moral point of view that is a very bad thing. Young girls going out into the forest in the dead of night to dance with a young boy, and many of them were married also. But because they were in love with Krishna and they were going to dance with Krishna the gopis are accepted at the topmost devotees of Krishna.
So the point of Krishna consciousness is to transform everything in our lives so everything we do is done not for ourselves or for our family but it is done for the pleasure of Krishna, in the service of Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness. We can be attached to Krishna’s family, we can get angry at the Mayavadis, we can earn millions of dollars and spend it for Krishna. The key here is that we have to come to realize that everything is the property of Krishna and everything has to be used in the service of Krishna. Nothing belongs to us, everything belongs to Krishna, and our lives will be very successful if we can just use Krishna’s things in the service of Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hi,
I really enjoy all of your posts and they keep me inspired when I read them, while on my preaching trip. I have a question.
I have been chanting strickly my rounds for years and serving at the feet of my spiritual master faithfully, but it seems I am in what some christians call the dark night of the soul. I have an attraction for chanting, associating with the Lord in His holy name, but am consumed by doubt. I don’t doubt the process, maybe just myself. But I keep focusing on my intention, and from what I can see my intention, no matter what I do, chanting, preaching, is not right. I feel, stupidly, that I need a reason to want to try and Love God. Like I said, I have an attraction for chanting, but feel I don’t know God. So I ask myself, and in asking myself, am asking you. Why am I trying to love someone I don’t know? I know the philosophy, that we are all eternal spiritual souls, part and parcel of God, but this isn’t good enough for me. I am very strick with my principles and my chanting and thought to ask you because your posts are very enlivening.
Hare Krishna!
Timothy
Hare Krishna Timothy
You can know Krishna. Krishna is present in the transcendental vibration of:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
But really the secret to knowing Krishna is to get the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna who knows Krishna. Unless someone knows Krishna himself and has a very direct and real personal relationship with Krishna he can not help you to get to know Krishna.
For example if you want to meet the President of the United States and come to me and I tell you “Yes. I can help you meet the President of the United States.” Just surrender to me, give me money, offer me obeisances, and I will introduce you to the President… But I don’t know the President myself. How can I introduce you to him? So I am simply cheating you, taking advantage of you, taking your money and service but I can not actually introduce you to the President. I can make so many excuses and speak so much. But I can never deliver the goods so to speak.
We can not know Krishna on our own strength. We can only get introduced to Krishna by the mercy of Krishna’s pure devotees. And also knowing the philosophy does not really help that much in knowing Krishna. Even someone who does not know the philosophy, if he somehow surrenders to and serves a pure devotee of Krishna and pleases him will be able to understand Krishna very easily. Just by hearing the pure devotee tell him to chant Hare Krishna and by following his instructions and chanting Hare Krishna Krishna will reveal Himself…
There is a verse in the Bhagavatam where Krishna is saying that He can not be known by a big list of things like austerity, study of the Vedas, following of religious ritualistic rituals, etc. Krishna can only be understood by one who is so greatly fortunate to get the opportunity to associate with and serve His pure devotee. And getting a chance to meet a pure devotee of Krishna is very, very rare. You know I think: brahmananda brahmate kona bhagavayn jiva guru krsna prasadi paya bhakti lata bija: “The living entity is wandering from body to body, universe to universe, and occasionally one fortunate living entity gets the opportunity to associate with a pure devotee of Krishna and by that association he gets the ‘bhakti lata bija’ the seed of the plant of devotion. If he plats that seed of devotion in his heart and waters it with hearing and chanting in time it will grow into a big tree and eventually produce flowers and fruits…”
So that is the process of coming to know Krishna. It can only start by getting the chance to associate with a pure devotee of Krishna and by getting the seed of the plant of bhakti from him and planting that seed in your heart and watering it with the process of hearing and chanting.
So my humble suggestion is that Srila Prabhupada has a huge stock of these seeds to the plant of bhakti and if you can surrender to him, serve him, accept his orders as your life and soul, then surely he will give you a seed and you can plant it in your heart and you will meet Krishna personally face-to-face.
But we have to have a bona fide spiritual master who is really a pure devotee of Krishna and we have to actually surrender to him and serve him. Make his mission our mission. Why not surrender? We have spent millions and millions of births in the material world, every time getting old, getting sick and dying, and coming back to do it again and again and again. We have done all this material stuff millions of times before and it never made us happy in the past and it will not make us happy in this life and it will not make us happy in the future also. So why not surrender to Srila Prabhupada and live the way he instructs us to live in his books?
You become a bit like a green elephant or something. A very strange person in the minds of the other people around us. But who cares. The whole world is going to Hell. Everyone is trained up to accept all sorts of sinful activities as there normal daily activities. So when we take to Krishna consciousness actually we seem very strange compared to them, but you have to remember this world is the prison house, we are all criminals here, and the normal thing is to be Krishna conscious. There are at least three times as many living entities in the spiritual world as there are in the material world and all of them are Krishna conscious.
So if you are in the prison and you become an honest man then it will seem that you are a strange person. But actually Krishna is the all-attractive person, so to the extent that we can actually become Krishna conscious we will also exhibit some of that attractiveness of Krishna. Prabhupada is the prefect example. He was thinking that when he told the Americans to give up illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat eating that they would say, “No Swami, Go home Swami…” But he went to the United States anyhow on the order of his spiritual master and simply presented pure Krishna consciousness with no watering down or adjusting the philosophy and it was amazingly successful. Many young Americans could feel the attractive qualities of Krishna being transmitted through Srila Prabhupada and they were attracted to him, surrender to him, served him and got his mercy and blessings and their lives were very dramatically transformed.
These days in ISKCON we do not see the lives of the devotees being transformed like that, because the gurus are not pure devotees and preach that the guru does not have to be a pure devotee. But this is all lies, all nonsense. Because they are not pure devotees they lie and say the guru does not have to be a pure devotee. Maybe if you don’t want to be a pure devotee, but if you want to become a pure devotee it is completely pointless to accept someone who is not a pure devotee because he does not know Krishna and will never be able to introduce you to Krishna. Like I can not introduce you to the President of the United States, because I don’t know him, and if I tell you that I can introduce you to the President and take your money and service on this lie then I am cheating you.
So there are now so many cheating gurus, even in ISKCON, in fact at this point in Kali-yuga it is safe to assume that anyone who is advertising themselves as a guru or spiritual preceptor at the present time is a cheater who does not know Krishna himself and who has no power to introduce you to Krishna. It is not that it is impossible or even difficult for one to become a pure devotee of Krishna and a qualified Spiritual Master, but there are symptoms of a real bona fide spiritual master. He must do wonderful things. That is a symptom that he is empowered by Krishna. A bona fide Vaisnava acharya rises like the sun in the sky. He is self-effulgent. There is no need to wonder if he is a pure devotee or not. He is like the sun and his presence dissipates the darkness everywhere, only the most envious persons can not detect a bona fide Vaisnava acharya when he is preaching.
So my humble suggestion is that you take full shelter of and surrender to and serve Srila Prabhupada directly and seriously read all his books and actually follow the instructions you find in Prabhupada’s books and you will come to know Krishna personally very soon. I can 100% guarantee this. Krishna consciousness will no longer be a theoretical thing for you but your relationship with Krishna will become a real tangible thing that you can directly experience.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
why good people facing more problems in kaliyug satyug dwapar treta yug
why prabhu bhakt facing stage of exam ? why he*suprem God * doesn’t understand i not angry with my brother father mother friend all is Krishna. i love him so i can not oppose Radhakrishnachandra. question is why people facing suffering ? when devotees continuously doing serving to god
Hare Krishna Vijay
This material world is a prison, it is a place of suffering. Everyone here is sinful. We do not take birth in the material world unless we are sinful. So we are all suffering the karma or the reactions for the sinful activities we have performed in this life and in previous lives.
There are very severe penalties for breaking the laws of God. It is the same as in any country there are the laws of the government. If you break the laws of the government the police will come and put you in the prison and that is not a very comfortable life. You will suffer there, you are meant to suffer in the prison, that is what it is for.
So we have all broken the laws of God and we have been put in this prison of the material world to suffer. So don’t be surprised that everyone is suffering here. This world is meant for suffering, that is the purpose of this world. Krishna describes this world in the Gita as ‘dukalayam asasvatam’, a place of misery where there is repeated birth and death. So it is a miserable place where everyone is dying. How can you expect to be happy here?
The point of the suffering is that occasionally a thoughtful person after many, many births of suffering in this material world comes to the realization that he can not be happy here and he surrenders to Krishna and reestablishes his loving relationship with Krishna and thinks of Krishna at the time of death and is transferred to the spiritual world, the kingdom of God.
We can be happy in the spiritual world, that is our actual home, that is where we belong. But we can never be happy in this material world. It is simply a place of suffering so do not be surprised by the suffering. It is meant for suffering and as this age of Kali progresses the suffering is going to get a lot worse. We have not seen anything yet…
Of course an actual devotee does not suffer even if he is in the material world. That is another thing. A real devotee knows that he is not the material body and even if the body is in a difficult position he knows he is not the body so he does not suffer when the body suffers…. But that is another discussion…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa,thank you for giving us the differrence between mayavadi and vaisnava.On my side it is very clear that being a mayavadi is just a waste of time.THE Best way is to surrender to Krishna.Now my question is about the climate change,is there anything we can do about it? WELCOME.
No. We have no control over the climate.
Indra is in charge of the climate. You can worship Lord Indra, or you can worship Lord Krishna and if He is pleases Indra will be pleased also. But we have no power to change the climate.
The scientists are just fooling around and wasting trillions of dollars trying to control the weather but they will never be able to control the weather actually. Indra can just blow away their nonsense weather modification systems any time he wants to.
The climate will be nice if the Sankirtan, the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, is spread all over the world, that is our responsibility, and that is the way to solve all the problems of the world including climate change.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna ,
While I agree with some part of the article … but what i dont like is the intent of article ….. when it says “The Mayavadis, however, ultimately fall down from the path of self-realization and again enter into material activities of a philanthropic and altruistic nature, which are nothing but material engagements. ” ….. why do u say so … may be they’re doing philanthropic activites realizing this whole world is actually god stuff… thus they are realizing their oneness with everyone….. there may be many methods of god realization Bhakti is one of them … as krishna himself have said that all religions or sects or paths lead only to me as all rivers lead o the ocean… and also everyone has to chgoose his\her path according to his\her nature…. it’s not that only mine way is right and urs is wrong one…
Hare Krishna Visnu,
No, they say jagat mithya, ‘this material world is false’. According to them it is not “god stuff” at all, it is false. And their philosophy is that it should be rejected, it should be given up. And generally in the beginning they do try to reject the world, but because there is no bliss, no pleasure, in their process, it is all neti neti, “not this, not this…” so they are forced to come back into the material world that they have previously rejected as false and start doing something like mundane philanthropic activities, etc. But if the world is false then so are there mundane philanthropic works so why are they doing it? It is a complete nonsense philosophy so do not try to make excuses for them.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
I am curious to know that had your guru late Shri Prabhupada seen Lord Krishna? If not what is the reason behind it?
With Regards
Sunanda
Hare Krishna
Most of the people of Lord Krishna are so devotional to Lord Krishna so I am hoping that most of them might have experienced the presence of Lord Krishna directly or have seen him in naked eyes. If not what are the reasons?
Hare Krishna, Yes. Srila Prabhupada is seeing Krishna and talking with Krishna constantly. That is the position of a pure devotee of Krishna. He knows Krishna and can talk directly with Krishna and Krishna talks with him also.
hare Krishna
My question was when Prabhupada was alive, had he ever seen Lord Krishna in naked eyes? If not why?
You did not answer my second question. That is
Most of the people of Lord Krishna are so devotional to Lord Krishna so I am hoping that most of them might have experienced the presence of Lord Krishna directly or have seen him in naked eyes. If not what are the reasons?
Yes. A pure devotee of Krishna like Srila Prabhupada is seeing Krishna constantly.
You can also see Krishna with your naked eyes. If you just go to the temple of Krishna and look at the Deity form of Krishna you are seeing Krishna with your naked eyes. Because you eyes are covered by materialism however you may not be able to realize that Krishna is standing before you in His original form on the alter in the Temple. But a devotee can see that Krishna is there personally in the form of the Deity and can even talk to Krishna and Krishna will talk back to him.
This is possible for you also if you purify your eyes and make them spiritual. You can only really appreaciate Krishna through spiritual eyes so you need to purify them by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Then, when your eyes are purified and spiritualized, you will be able to see Krishna also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
My above question is related to miraculously happened my most extraordinary direct experience with Lord Krishna which I want to reveal to the benefits of the readers of this blog and before that I need an answer to my question.
I am a sinful person and also very much materialistic but Lord Krishna blessed me with that unique experience which I am unable to comprehend that why he did to me.
Out of my own experience, here, I am sincerely suggesting to the pious readers of this blog that nothing can take you nearer to Almighty Lord Krishna but moments of pure love to him. If any one of you want to have a direct experience with Lord Krishna, love him with pure heart. You can even see him in naked eyes sitting in you home or in you office room or in any place. It does not need any Krishna family to understand lord or to have any blessed direct experience with Lord. There are so many ways to be nearer to Lord Krishna.
Yours Sincerely
Sunanda
I would want to know about the miraculous experience of yours. It can strengthen our will.
I wonder what it is about the Madyavadis that they would want to continue on the road of impersonal speculation without relishing actual transcendental bliss. Is it because at some point in one of their live’s in the material world that the relationships between living beings is less than satisfactory or even sometimes downright horrible experiences?
I have had my share of impersonal meditation, and I must say that I did perceive some higher bliss or happiness coming in from this practice. It was harder to get at than chanting the holy names of the Lord, but there must be something relishable to the Mayavadi who actually makes contact with the spiritual reality, albeit just the impersonal all-pervading brahmajyoti.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
There is the ‘brahmananda’ pleasure. That is the pleasure coming from the impersonal practice. This is a spiritual state of sat and cit, a realization of the eternal nature of the soul and spiritual knowledge. But the impersonalists can not get the ananda, which comes from relationships because they deny their individuality and personality. So if there is no individuality and no personality then there can be no relationships and therefore no ananda, transcendental bliss.
So the ‘bliss’ of the impersonalists is more-or-less simply an escape from the sufferings of the material world. This is a type of bliss also. You may become very disturbed and anxious living and working in a big city so you decide to go and live in a cave in the mountains to ‘get away from it all’. Certainly you experience a type of ananda living in your cave. There is peacefulness, but you are alone and after some time it becomes too much, you are lonely and you have to go back to the city to see your friends and family members and have some relationships and engage in some activities with others in those relationships.
So this impersonal practice is something like this. There is a type of ananda which is basically a freedom from the problems of the material world, but because there are no activities in the impersonal process and no personality and no individuality, the soul is not able to remain satisfied in this position. Because this impersonalism is an artificial imposition on the soul. Actually we are personal eternally. Krishna says to Arjuna in the Gita that both He, Arjuna and all the soldiers assembled on the battlefield are all persons now, they were all persons in the past and they will all continue to be persons in the future also. So the impersonalists are also actually eternally persons. They can never actually merge with or become one with the Supreme. That will always be an artificial and temporary position which they will not be able to sustain for very long periods of time. They are simply trying to suppress their personality and suppress their desires. This can work for some time but ultimately they have to fall back down again to the material platform to engage in some activities. And as they are generally in the mode of goodness this activity often takes the shape of charity work, philantrophic work, helping the sick, helping the poor, etc.
So they come back into the world that they had previously rejected as false and start some activities because ultimately their impersonal meditation and realization becomes very tedious and boring for them…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am a former Swaminarayan Satsangi who is currently on the border of New Atheism and was wondering how I might become an initiated devotee in your sect via ritvik initiation. The IRM doesnt do initiations and the Hare Krishna Society turned me away. thanks
Hare Krishna
p.s I am also a former a”spiring devotee” of Shankarshan Das Adhikari who also turned out to be a complete fool
Hare Krishna Prabhu
There are so many complete fools pretending to be “bona fide gurus…” They like the fame, profit, adoration and distinction, but can not give anyone Krishna unfortunately.
There is no need for a formal initiation ceremony. Initiation is not a ceremony. Initiation is only possible with actual real surrender and service and submissive hearing from a bona fide spiritual master.
You have to know that Krishna is in your heart and He knows everything. He knows what you want and He knows even better than you what you need. So what you need to do is surrender to Srila Prabhupada and actually surrender to the process of saddhana-bhakti that he requires all his disciples to follow. So ‘just do it’. Start getting out of bed before 4:00 AM in the mornings, offer Mangal-Aroti, chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily, seriously study ALL of Srila Prabhupada’s books and do some practical service like go out on book distribution. Purchase some cases of Srila Prabhupada’s books from the wholesale section of the http://www.KrishnaStore.com website and get the book distribution seminar DVD and watch it and learn how to distribute Prabhupada’s books and go out and do a Christmas Prabhupada Book Distribution Marathon.
The thing is the only way to become Krishna conscious is by pleasing a pure devotee of Krishna. You can never become Krishna conscious by accepting someone who is not a pure devotee of Krishna as your guru. So it is very fortunate for you that Sanksharana did not initiate you.
There is nothing holding you back, there is nothing stopping you from surrendering to and serving Srila Prabhupada and that is the real initiation. So ‘just do it…’
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna…
if u think that it is quiet personal…then u can mail them because i want to know whether i can read all the articles iam getting daily from sanksharana das anikari….pls reply
It would be far better for you if you spend the time reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is what I suggest you spend your time doing.
Hare Krishna , Joy Nitai,
I am so lucky and happy that I belongs to Sanatan Dharma. And also greatful of my God who gives me everything specially conversation with that personality who dedicate his important life to the God.So, Prabhu jit please give your blessing to me to do somethig for my God. Hare krishna.
Joy Nitai