Explosion-Proof Soul

While finalizing our air travel arrangements for our upcoming around-the-world lecture tour, we were informed that there was a terrorist plot to commit mass murder upon air travelers by causing a series of mid-air explosions on different jetliners flying over the Atlantic ocean from Britain to the USA. Such news is not at all surprising for those who are learned in the Vedic wisdom. That the material world is a dangerous place is confirmed as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam:

samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam
mahat-padam punya-yaso murareh
bhavambudhir vatsa-padam param padam
padam padam yad vipadam na tesam

"For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murari, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is param padam, Vaikuntha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step." Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.58

By shelter of Lord Krishna we can easily cross over this dangerous place. Indeed this now-more-than-ever dangerous world becomes reduced to insignificancy for those who fully place themselves at the Lord's lotus feet.

The fact remains that the time of my death can not and will not be determined by a terrorist. The time of my death remains always under the control of God. There is a very nice Bengali saying in this connection:

rakhe krsna mare ke
mare krsna rakhe ke

"If Lord Krishna protects a person, who can kill him? And if Krishna desires to kill someone, who can protect him?"

So a devotee has nothing to be afraid of. He executes due caution to protect himself from danger, while understanding fully well that ultimately everything is in the hands of Krishna. A devotee feels always safe and secure knowing that Krishna, the Supreme Controller, is always protecting his explosion-proof soul.

Questions and Answers

When Does the Spiritual Master Take Complete Responsibility...

I have a small doubt regarding accepting a Spiritual Master.

In ISKCON, a person who is interested to take diksha (initiation) from a Guru, should first of all take shelter from him and then slowly proceed towards taking diksha. When exactly, does the Spiritual Master take the complete responsibility of his disciple, at the time of giving shelter or at the time of giving diksha?

Your servant in Krishna Consciousness,

manoj kumar

When the Disciple Surrenders...

In the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna submits himself unto Lord Sri Krishna as follows:

karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

"Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me."
Bhagavad-gita 2.7

Here we see the mood of full surrender to the spiritual master. When the disciple is like this, the spiritual master can take full responsibility for delivering his disciple back to home, back to Godhead.

The spiritual master takes responsibility for delivering the disciple according to the degree of surrender of that disciple. One's degree of surrender is a matter of the heart. It is not a matter of merely sitting for an initiation ceremony.

The answer in short is that the spiritual master takes responsibility when the disciple surrenders.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Who is this Krishna?

Image
Krishna is not a myth, nor is He an ordinary historical personality. He is the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. He is the oldest of all while simultaneously maintaining the form of a 16 year old youth. He is all-attractive because he exceeds everyone in all of existence by possessing unlimitedly all the qualities that are attractive namely power, beautify, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. There is no one who equals or excels Him in the possession of these attractive qualities. This is why is accepted by all enlightened spiritualists as being God, the original source of all existence. The perfection of our existence is to re-establish our long forgotten loving relationships with Him. There Is No One More Amazing Than Krishna Video for the Day Don't Be a Hypocrite Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Was Krishna a Real Person? Was Krishna a real person who lived on Earth? Ray Galindo Answer: He Was and He Still Is My Dear Ray, Pleas
Read more