The Ultimate Bliss--Sharing this Knowledge
It's 5:24am on 4 November 2006. We arrived safely last night from Amsterdam. Since our goal is to bring about the re-spiritualization of the entire human society, it was very enlivening for us that many people we met along the way wanted to know about our lifestyle and philosophy. We explained to them as much as possible as far as time permitted and then encouraged them to sign up for the Ultimate Self-Realization Course.
We encourage all of our students to be enthusiastic to share this ultimate knowledge with everyone that they meet. One of my disciples, Bhaktivinode Das, has especially taken this instruction to heart. Although working a full time job as an industrial engineer, he uses his free time to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. Here is a recent report I received from him:
My dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Srila Gurudeva, I have started including a flyer for your e-course in every book I distribute. This idea given by you is very amazing. With that flyer, the people not only get Srila Prabhupada's and Krishna's mercy, they also come in contact with a bona fide guru. Today, I was trying to distribute a book to one man, he was listening and he looked at your e-course flyer from
www.ultimateselfrealization.com and read your words ".....completely free from all anxieties" and said that if these words are true, he will dedicate his life for these teachings and bought a Bhagavad Gita. Your flyer simply made him buy the Bhagavad Gita and I encouraged him to contact you for guidance. His name is Eddie. He wanted to come to the Atlanta temple for Sunday and said that he will surely dedicate his life for these teachings.
I am keeping in touch with another lady, who bought 8 books is very, very inspired by the teachings and keeps thanking me for the books. She has enrolled in your e-course and is reading all your daily lessons. She keeps appreciating the depth of Srila Prabhupada's teachings. She wanted to give me extra donation for the books and your travel expenses and I will send her donation amount to you online.
Srila Gurudeva, I am feeling that there is nothing more ecstatic than preaching and I pray to you and Krishna that they become devotees very soon. Thank you Srila Gurudeva, you are encouraging me to distribute the mercy of Lord Caitanya. I feel so blissful to hear them appreciate Krishna Consciousness. It is really amazing to see and hear from souls who are so thirsty and ready to become devotees.
Your aspiring servant,
Bhaktivinode das
I can assure you that you will find no greater satisfaction anywhere throughout the totality of existence than by sharing this sublime knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita with everyone that you meet. Why is that? Because when you share this knowledge you attract the special mercy of Krishna. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita as follows:
ya idam paramam guhyam
mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati
bhaktim mayi param krtva
mam evaisyaty asamsayah
na ca tasman manusyesu
kascin me priya-krttamah
bhavita na ca me tasmad
anyah priyataro bhuvi
"For one who distributes this knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita, the topmost spiritual perfection, pure devotional service, is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear."
---Bhagavad-gita 18.68-69
If you would also like to distribute books of transcendental wisdom and receive the Lord's special blessings, kindly inform me and I will help you get started. Write me at: sda@backtohome.com
I have following doubts that most of my friends and relatives ask:
1) One must not waste too much time in repeating the names of Gods and instead direct his energies towards some useful work.
2) One should drink tea and coffee to keep the body warm in cold conditions. Also tea and coffee are required to cure headaches and body pain.
3) Not eating meat in youth to keep the body strong will have adverse affect in old age , as body requires good nutrition.
4) Onions and garlic are very much required for body as they are helpful in building immune system against diseases.
5) Fasting may cause serious health problems like gas formation, headache, weakness in body. One should not punish himself in the name of God.
6) If a person is too religious, he may lose importance in society and people will not respect him.
7) One should take up devotional service only when he has completed his duty of serving his family. i.e. he should take it only when he is 50 years old.
8) Too many restrictions on eating and drinking habits would make life miserable and such a person cannot lead a normal life.
9) One must always work hard to catch up with others in this competitive world or else he will be left behind.
10) Hard work will bestow success and success will bring happiness.
11) One must worship God in the morning for few minutes and carry on his day to day work. Too much spending time on it would affect productivity and cannot find time for self, family and friends.
I kindly request you to provide your valuable guidance.
Your student
Prashant
Bangalore, India
1) One must not waste too much time in repeating the names of Gods and instead direct his energies towards some useful work.
Answer: Chanting God's names is the ultimate useful work because it uplifts the chanter and it uplifts the world atmosphere.
2) One should drink tea and coffee to keep the body warm in cold conditions. Also tea and coffee are required to cure headaches and body pain.
Answer: Hot herbal tea is okay. Caffeine is injurious to the health because it artificially stimulates the adrenal gland and wears it out.
3) Not eating meat in youth to keep the body strong will have adverse affect in old age, as the body requires good nutrition.
Answer: The human body is not designed by nature to eat meat. Thus meat eating causes so many health problems. All nutritional values can easily be derived from a healthy, delicious, uplifting diet of fruits, vegetables, milk products, and grains. The karma from eating the flesh of innocent creatures obliges the meat eater to become an animal in his next birth so that the very animals he ate in this lifetime can take human forms and eat him. Thus meat eating is the activity of those are in ignorance and it keeps them bound up in ignorance.
4) Onions and garlic are very much required for body as they are helpful in building immune system against diseases.
Answer: The Manu Smriti enjoins that onions and garlic are not to be eaten. Milk is the miracle food for making the body strong.
5) Fasting may cause serious health problems like gas formation, headache, and weakness in the body. And one should not punish himself in the name of God.
Answer: Overeating and obesity and major health problems in the world today. Vaisnavas do not punish their bodies by severe fasting. We moderately fast on certain holy days to honor the scriptural injunctions, to reduce unnecessary and unhealthy bodily fat, and to make more food available for those who are going hungry.
6) If a person is too religious, he may lose importance in society and people will not respect him.
Answer: If a person is pseudo religious, he becomes a disturbance. But those who are properly religious are recognized throughout history as the greatest leaders of humanity.
7) One should take up devotional service only when he has completed his duty of serving his family. i.e. he should take it only when he is 50 years old.
Answer: The family will always demand more and more service. The train runs on two tracks. Therefore along with our worldly duties we must faithfully perform our spiritual duties. We have served millions of families in millions of lifetimes and we are still caught up in samsara. If we continue to do what we've always done, we will continue to get what we've always gotten: a material body that is subject to birth, death, old age, and disease. Is it enough? A thoughtful person does not think so. He wants eternity, knowledge, and bliss, and therefore must break away from the bonds of material service by coming to the higher platform of spiritual service. One who serves on the spiritual platform renders the highest service to all living beings. He is not deficient in any way.
8)Too many restrictions on eating and drinking habits would make life miserable and such a person cannot lead a normal life.
Answer: Unrestricted eating and drinking creates in a person a miserable animalistic mentality and obliges him to become an animal in his next birth. Extreme restrictions are also not favorable. Moderate restrictions are enjoined in the Bhagavad-gita in order to free one from all material miseries.
9) One must always work hard to catch up with others in this competitive world or else he will be left behind.
Answer: Transcendentalists work with more energy than materialists because their work is unlimitedly enlivening.
It is not like the drudgery of the materialists, who struggle through their work week.
10) Hard work will bestow success and success will bring happiness.
Answer: Have you ever met a happy ass?
11) One must worship God in the morning for few minutes and carry on his day to day work. Too much spending time on it would affect productivity and cannot find time for self, family and friends.
Answer: If you consider self, family, and friends more important than God, kindly do not mind if we have to speak the truth, but you are a blind fool. You have been serving self, family, and friends through millions of lifetimes and you are still suffering in this material existence. Read again the answer to number 7. When you water the root of the tree, all the leaves and branches are nourished. When you surrender fully to Krishna, you render the best possible service to everyone. No one is neglected.
Thank you very much for asking for our responses to the above typical material attitudes. We hope this will be helpful to you.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
We encourage all of our students to be enthusiastic to share this ultimate knowledge with everyone that they meet. One of my disciples, Bhaktivinode Das, has especially taken this instruction to heart. Although working a full time job as an industrial engineer, he uses his free time to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. Here is a recent report I received from him:
My dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Srila Gurudeva, I have started including a flyer for your e-course in every book I distribute. This idea given by you is very amazing. With that flyer, the people not only get Srila Prabhupada's and Krishna's mercy, they also come in contact with a bona fide guru. Today, I was trying to distribute a book to one man, he was listening and he looked at your e-course flyer from
www.ultimateselfrealization.com and read your words ".....completely free from all anxieties" and said that if these words are true, he will dedicate his life for these teachings and bought a Bhagavad Gita. Your flyer simply made him buy the Bhagavad Gita and I encouraged him to contact you for guidance. His name is Eddie. He wanted to come to the Atlanta temple for Sunday and said that he will surely dedicate his life for these teachings.
I am keeping in touch with another lady, who bought 8 books is very, very inspired by the teachings and keeps thanking me for the books. She has enrolled in your e-course and is reading all your daily lessons. She keeps appreciating the depth of Srila Prabhupada's teachings. She wanted to give me extra donation for the books and your travel expenses and I will send her donation amount to you online.
Srila Gurudeva, I am feeling that there is nothing more ecstatic than preaching and I pray to you and Krishna that they become devotees very soon. Thank you Srila Gurudeva, you are encouraging me to distribute the mercy of Lord Caitanya. I feel so blissful to hear them appreciate Krishna Consciousness. It is really amazing to see and hear from souls who are so thirsty and ready to become devotees.
Your aspiring servant,
Bhaktivinode das
I can assure you that you will find no greater satisfaction anywhere throughout the totality of existence than by sharing this sublime knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita with everyone that you meet. Why is that? Because when you share this knowledge you attract the special mercy of Krishna. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita as follows:
ya idam paramam guhyam
mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati
bhaktim mayi param krtva
mam evaisyaty asamsayah
na ca tasman manusyesu
kascin me priya-krttamah
bhavita na ca me tasmad
anyah priyataro bhuvi
"For one who distributes this knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita, the topmost spiritual perfection, pure devotional service, is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me. There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear."
---Bhagavad-gita 18.68-69
If you would also like to distribute books of transcendental wisdom and receive the Lord's special blessings, kindly inform me and I will help you get started. Write me at: sda@backtohome.com
Answers According to the Vedic Version
Question: Doubts of Friends and Relatives...
I have been practicing Krishna consciousness for the past few years and been trying to the follow the instructions given by senior devotees at the temple.I have following doubts that most of my friends and relatives ask:
1) One must not waste too much time in repeating the names of Gods and instead direct his energies towards some useful work.
2) One should drink tea and coffee to keep the body warm in cold conditions. Also tea and coffee are required to cure headaches and body pain.
3) Not eating meat in youth to keep the body strong will have adverse affect in old age , as body requires good nutrition.
4) Onions and garlic are very much required for body as they are helpful in building immune system against diseases.
5) Fasting may cause serious health problems like gas formation, headache, weakness in body. One should not punish himself in the name of God.
6) If a person is too religious, he may lose importance in society and people will not respect him.
7) One should take up devotional service only when he has completed his duty of serving his family. i.e. he should take it only when he is 50 years old.
8) Too many restrictions on eating and drinking habits would make life miserable and such a person cannot lead a normal life.
9) One must always work hard to catch up with others in this competitive world or else he will be left behind.
10) Hard work will bestow success and success will bring happiness.
11) One must worship God in the morning for few minutes and carry on his day to day work. Too much spending time on it would affect productivity and cannot find time for self, family and friends.
I kindly request you to provide your valuable guidance.
Your student
Prashant
Bangalore, India
Answer: Have You Ever Met a Happy Ass?...
Here are your points with our responses:1) One must not waste too much time in repeating the names of Gods and instead direct his energies towards some useful work.
Answer: Chanting God's names is the ultimate useful work because it uplifts the chanter and it uplifts the world atmosphere.
2) One should drink tea and coffee to keep the body warm in cold conditions. Also tea and coffee are required to cure headaches and body pain.
Answer: Hot herbal tea is okay. Caffeine is injurious to the health because it artificially stimulates the adrenal gland and wears it out.
3) Not eating meat in youth to keep the body strong will have adverse affect in old age, as the body requires good nutrition.
Answer: The human body is not designed by nature to eat meat. Thus meat eating causes so many health problems. All nutritional values can easily be derived from a healthy, delicious, uplifting diet of fruits, vegetables, milk products, and grains. The karma from eating the flesh of innocent creatures obliges the meat eater to become an animal in his next birth so that the very animals he ate in this lifetime can take human forms and eat him. Thus meat eating is the activity of those are in ignorance and it keeps them bound up in ignorance.
4) Onions and garlic are very much required for body as they are helpful in building immune system against diseases.
Answer: The Manu Smriti enjoins that onions and garlic are not to be eaten. Milk is the miracle food for making the body strong.
5) Fasting may cause serious health problems like gas formation, headache, and weakness in the body. And one should not punish himself in the name of God.
Answer: Overeating and obesity and major health problems in the world today. Vaisnavas do not punish their bodies by severe fasting. We moderately fast on certain holy days to honor the scriptural injunctions, to reduce unnecessary and unhealthy bodily fat, and to make more food available for those who are going hungry.
6) If a person is too religious, he may lose importance in society and people will not respect him.
Answer: If a person is pseudo religious, he becomes a disturbance. But those who are properly religious are recognized throughout history as the greatest leaders of humanity.
7) One should take up devotional service only when he has completed his duty of serving his family. i.e. he should take it only when he is 50 years old.
Answer: The family will always demand more and more service. The train runs on two tracks. Therefore along with our worldly duties we must faithfully perform our spiritual duties. We have served millions of families in millions of lifetimes and we are still caught up in samsara. If we continue to do what we've always done, we will continue to get what we've always gotten: a material body that is subject to birth, death, old age, and disease. Is it enough? A thoughtful person does not think so. He wants eternity, knowledge, and bliss, and therefore must break away from the bonds of material service by coming to the higher platform of spiritual service. One who serves on the spiritual platform renders the highest service to all living beings. He is not deficient in any way.
8)Too many restrictions on eating and drinking habits would make life miserable and such a person cannot lead a normal life.
Answer: Unrestricted eating and drinking creates in a person a miserable animalistic mentality and obliges him to become an animal in his next birth. Extreme restrictions are also not favorable. Moderate restrictions are enjoined in the Bhagavad-gita in order to free one from all material miseries.
9) One must always work hard to catch up with others in this competitive world or else he will be left behind.
Answer: Transcendentalists work with more energy than materialists because their work is unlimitedly enlivening.
It is not like the drudgery of the materialists, who struggle through their work week.
10) Hard work will bestow success and success will bring happiness.
Answer: Have you ever met a happy ass?
11) One must worship God in the morning for few minutes and carry on his day to day work. Too much spending time on it would affect productivity and cannot find time for self, family and friends.
Answer: If you consider self, family, and friends more important than God, kindly do not mind if we have to speak the truth, but you are a blind fool. You have been serving self, family, and friends through millions of lifetimes and you are still suffering in this material existence. Read again the answer to number 7. When you water the root of the tree, all the leaves and branches are nourished. When you surrender fully to Krishna, you render the best possible service to everyone. No one is neglected.
Thank you very much for asking for our responses to the above typical material attitudes. We hope this will be helpful to you.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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