Breaking through the Veil of Illusion into the Realm of Eternal Truth

Beyond the veil of illusion lies the all-perfect, all-beautiful, and all-wonderful eternal reality, the Eternal Truth. The Eternal Truth can never be covered by ignorance because it is millions of times more powerful than ignorance. Just as a small amount of light can dissipate a large quantity of darkness, while even a large quantity of darkness can do nothing but be absorbed by the light---Eternal Truth is many, many times more powerful than ignorance. Therefore it is actually not a difficult thing to break through the veil of illusion, to break out of the realm of illusion into the realm of Eternal Truth. We simply must take advantage of the light of transcendental knowledge emanating from the lotus mouths of the great acharyas, spiritual masters who teach perfectly by their example, such as my Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. 

Here is Srila Prabhupada sitting in his full transcendental splendor in his deity form on the Vyasasana at ISKCON's Kaunas temple

Narottam Das Thakur has sung, "My only desire is to my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth." It is certainly a fact. All we have to do is to fully absorb ourselves in hearing the teachings of our spiritual master. From this one activity of submissive hearing from our Guru, all spiritual perfection evolves naturally within the heart of the disciple.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Is Thinking About Krishna Enough?...

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita whatever you do, do as an offering to me, so I would like to know how to do this. I hear from many devotees, that the way to make the offering to Krishna is to think of Him, but still it does not seem enough. If all I have to do is think of Him, I would have long ago been pure. And if you think of Him what exactly do you think about....His lotus feet, His form, His name?

I think the secret to Krishna consciousness is not only in thinking about Krishna, but something more. You have to completely engage your being in His service. All your senses especially should become purified by associating with devotees and learning from them how to chant and how to offer everything to Krishna in a loving and humble mood. It is not about thought alone to my opinion.

You say that you are happy, and you are happy on the absolute platform. My question is therefore, can you be any more happy than that, or does your happiness come to a stop. You sometimes write of unlimited happiness and of diving into more and more nectar. So I would like to know if when someone is happy on the absolute platform, does he need the happiness to grow more and more, or is he satisfied with the happiness he gets from his spiritual activity? Also I would like to know how did you get to this absolute platform? Did you get moments of happiness in doses in the beginning? Or did you completely jump from suffering to an unlimited state of happiness?

with many more questions to ask

your student and servant

Indu pati das

Answer: If You Think Favorably...

You are right in understanding that simply thinking about Krishna is not enough. Kamsa was always thinking about Krishna, but He was a big demon. There are two ways to think about Krishna: pratikula and anukula. Pratikula is unfavorable like Kamsa, always inimical towards Krishna. And anukula is favorable like Arjuna, always loving Krishna. So we must always think about Krishna in a favorable way. Favorable means we are always thinking about how wonderful are His name, fame, form, pastimes, abode, entourage, paraphernalia, and teachings. And we are always thinking of we can glorify and serve our Lord with love. If one is thinking always in this way, naturally he will serve the Lord nicely 24 hours daily with their mind, body, and words.

Spiritual happiness is unlimited and ever-increasing. You may wonder how is it possible for the unlimited to increase. But just consider the example of the infinite hotel. There is an infinite hotel with an unlimited number of rooms and and an unlimited number of guests. Every time a new person comes to check into the hotel the person in room number one moves to room number two, the person in the room number two moves to room number three, etc, etc. In this way even though there is an already unlimited number of guests, more and more guests can be added to the infinite hotel. In this way unlimited happiness can go on increasing more and more for all of eternity. It never becomes boring or hackneyed.

In this connection Srila Prabhupada explains:

"A devotee is inspired by the Supersoul within the heart to advance in devotional service in a variety of ways. The devotee does not feel hackneyed or stereotyped, nor does he feel that he is in a stagnant position. In the material world, if one engages in chanting a material name, he will feel tired after chanting a few times. However, one can chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra all day and night and never feel tired. As chanting is increased, it will come out new and fresh."
(from the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 4.30.20)

One comes to the platform of absolute happiness in a gradual way just like a gradually manifesting magnificent sunrise on an enliveningly sweet spring morning. The key is that you have to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and under his guidance chant at least 16 rounds daily of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. In this way you will gradually enter that ocean of unlimited happiness that has been there within your heart since time immemorial.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari