The Heaviest Responsibility

As more and more of my students around the world are approaching me expressing their desire to become my initiated disciples, I am realizing more and more how heavy is this service given to me by spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. There is no more serious responsibility than to take charge of making sure that a person goes back to home, back to Godhead.

I know that on my own I have no qualification for this most weighty of all tasks. Therefore I am simply bowing down at the feet of Srila Prabhupada and begging for his most merciful benediction that I may be fully empowered by him to successfully carry out this duty.

mukham karoti vacalam
pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande
sri-gurum dina-taranam

"I offer respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada, the representative of the eternal parampara, who has delivered the most fallen, and by whose mercy the lame can cross over mountains and the dumb can speak eloquently."

I know that only by his grace will this be possible.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Atma, Jiva, Prana...

1. Can you please explain the difference between Atma, Jiva and Prana?

2. When we say that a person is suffering or enjoying, 'who' is actually suffering or enjoying?

Your student

Milind

Answer: Jiva Floats within Prana...

Atma is the Spirit-Soul. This term is more or less synonymous with jiva, the living entity. The atma and the jiva and are the same. Prana is the life air that is flowing within the material body. In our conditioned state of consciousness, the atma or the jiva is situated in the body floating within the prana, the life air.

The jiva, the atma is the one who is suffering or enjoying. If he misidentifies with matter. he suffers. If he remembers his spiritual nature and acts accordingly, he factually enjoys unlimited bliss.

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

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more