Ultimate Self Realization

If the people of this world only knew what is the sublime taste of reawakening their dormant enlightened consciousness what a wonderful loving, peaceful atmosphere would be all-pervading on this planet. But because they are in ignorance the entire world is being dragged into an increasingly more chaotic quagmire. They are blinded by sense desire into thinking that gross and subtle material pleasures are the all in all, that there is nothing more this. But these pleasures do not satisfy us. At best they only give us a temporary sense of titillation which goes away quickly. If however, one comes to transcendental platform, Krishna consciousness, he or she attains a pleasure which is unlimited, never ending, and ever increasing. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Guarantee of Not Falling Twice?... We are all eternal servants of Krishna and have lost our sense of identity due to misuse of independence. Hence we are in the material world. Krishna promises in the Bh

We are not meant to live selfishly and irresponsibly. In this human form of life we are meant to live for the welfare of al living beings. How do we do that? We should make ourselves spiritually perfect and then engage in the supreme welfare activity of the spiritual enlightenment of all living beings. Such a life of selfless service is millions and billions of times more satisfying than a life dedicated to sense gratification. In fact, there is really no comparison at all. "Millions and billions of times more satisfying" is simply a crude approximation to give us a rough idea of the difference between material sense gratification and Krishna consciousness. It does not come even close to an accurate comparison of the difference. The only way to really comprehend the difference is to personally taste the supreme nectar of Krishna consciousness. This taste defies classification and intellectualization. If you want to know it and understand it, you must taste it. The

One of the symptoms of the present Age of Kali is that day by day the quality of forgiveness is disappearing more and more from the human society. Formerly what was forgiven now becomes a reason to fight and kill somebody. Even the slight disagreement can turn into a ghastly murder scene. If one wants to advance in spiritual knowledge, he must develop the quality of forgiveness because without this quality one's mind can never become sufficiently peaceful to be fully absorbed in chanting the holy names of the Lord. Therefore one should excuse the offenses of others; he should not hold grudges against others within his heart. In this connection Srila Prabhupada explains: "The duty of a brahmana is to culture the quality of forgiveness, which is illuminating like the sun. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is pleased with those who are forgiving." --purport to SB 9.15.40 Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: How to Overcome Lust... How can we over

What the world needs now more than ever is one religion that is intellectually powerful enough to convince even the atheists that there is God and broad enough in its perspective to acknowledge God's presence in all religious traditions. The problem with religions nowadays is that they lack sufficient intellectual strength and they also lack broadminded perspective. Therefore people are taking more and more to atheism. Such a world religion cannot be something manufactured by a human being. It must be the original pure form that religion had when it was originally given by God to mankind before it was tampered with by politically minded individuals who decided to use the power of religion for exploiting others. So how we will find that pure essential teaching that is the actual world religion? For that we must look to God Himself. Where has He spoken directly to mankind in full detail in a broad inclusive way that applies to everyone in all times, places, and circumstances?

As long as we are in this material world we are going to face one difficulty after another. That is the nature of this material world. It is a place of difficulties. If we are going to advance steadily on the transcendental path of perfection we have to remain steady in our practice of Krishna consciousness through all varieties of difficult and non-difficult situations. This is why we take a vow to every day without fail chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra on our japa beads and to faithfully follow the four regulative principles of freedom: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat eating, and no gambling. Remaining true to our vows keeps us solidly fixed on the path, no matter what may be happening in the world around us. In this way we can always remain solidly fixed in transcendence and gradually, gradually realize how each and every difficulty is actually nothing more than a blessing in disguise. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Karma

How does one deal in an enlightened Krishna conscious way with chronic pain? The first thing is that one should never panic in any circumstance, no matter how extreme. One should always remember that Lord Krishna ins fully in control and that He has a plan and a purpose for everything. If we find ourselves in a condition of extreme pain, we should try to alleviate it by all available means and at the same time we have to be tolerant of that which cannot be relieved by remedial measures without allowing our minds to become disturbed. By cultivating such a peaceful spirit of equanimity we will able to take complete shelter of Lord Sri Krishna's holy names even under the more dire circumstances. This taking shelter of Krishna's names will be our ultimate deliverance from all anxieties of this material existence. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: The Anti-Christ... Please help me to understand your intent. I am split because of what I have been taught t

As I travel through so many major population centers around the world I am saddened to see how much the human society in lost in the mire of delusion. They have strayed so far away from human existence that it is downright shocking to see their grossly ignorant mentality. I want to reach out and help them, but they do not understand. It is only an extremely rare soul who can actually comprehend the merciful and enlightening message of the Bhagavad-gita. One has to be very fortunate to understand this transcendental message. On the order of my spiritual master I am trying to do whatever I can, along with his other followers, to bring about a global spiritual renaissance, even though it seems from the material point of view that the odds are hopelessly against such a thing ever happening. Such a life, of living for the welfare of all on the order of the Lord and his pure devotee, is most exciting and fulfilling. But I will never be fully satisfied until I see this entire planet fu

I am seated here in the at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam spending the last few minutes of my Spring 2007 European lecture tour reflecting on what an ecstatic two-and-a-half months this has been and writing "Thought for the Day" so I can upload it before I board my flight for the USA. This tour has been truly phenomenal! It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how blissful it becomes to practice and spread Krishna consciousness, it just keeps getting more and more blissful all the time. This phenomenon of the ever-increasing unlimited nectar of Krishna consciousness has me absolutely convinced that someday the entire world will take to this process. After all, who wants to suffer when they can be happy? Sankarshan Das Adhikari Gives Class in Riga, Latvia Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Necessary to Chant in Lotus Posture?... I am a 17 year old and I want to start chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra on japa beads. But I cannot put myself into the

The other day I received an email in which the writer accused me of being a self-proclaimed messiah. Perhaps he was thinking that because so many people all over the world look up to me as a spiritual guide that I must be promoting myself as someone who is very great. But the real fact is that I do not at all consider or claim myself to be great or to be a messiah, savior of the world. I am simply the humble servant of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has given me a message which carries the potency to deliver the entire world, and he has instructed me to make this message as widely known as possible all over the world. I am trying my level best to obey his order. It is only by Srila Prabhupada's grace that thousands of people all over the world are taking advantage of my humble attempt to spread the teachings of Krishna. In this connection I cannot take any credit. If I have any credit at all, it is simply that I have always du

After 2 and a half months here in Europe we are heading back to our headquarters in the USA. The USA is a very special place on this planet because it was the USA that gave Srila Prabhupada the facility to start the Krishna consciousness movement. He tried for years and years in India to attract people to join this movement but not one person came. But after arriving in America in 1965 within one year he was able to successfully launch ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which is now powerfully pushing forward a worldwide spiritual revolution. Just as America has in many fields led the world, it is also America which has led the world on the pathway of Krishna consciousness, because it was the American devotees who traveled all over the world on the order of Srila Prabhupada and established this movement in every corner of the globe. Here in this photo you can see Srila Prabhupada, a brave lone preacher, introducing his movement to the youth of America in

Saturday 20 May 2007 was an especially nectarean day. After giving the morning lecture at the temple I then traveled to the outskirts of Riga where we did a program with kirtan, lecture, and prasadam at the home of a bank executive. Then immediately after that program we traveled to a distant city known as Cesis where a public hall had been rented for an advertised Vedic culture program. The hall was packed with an eager audience who had never been exposed before to Vedic culture. As I began my lecture I was doubtful whether or not they would warm up to such a high level subject matter. They responded very favorably with many intelligent questions and they swarmed our book table at the end of the lecture to purchase Bhagavad-gitas. There is one secret I have learned. The more we distribute the nectar, the more we taste the nectar. Therefore I always like the distribute the ultimate nectar of Krishna consciousness as far and as wide as possible. Sharing the Nectar of the Holy Na

I can never forget how much I was suffering in this material world before I got the shelter of the lotus feet of my eternal spiritual father, my most beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I was tortured by the meaningless of my existence and was intensely desiring to find a way out of this seemingly hopeless existential quagmire. Since that glorious day when I realized that there would be nothing more beautiful and wonderful than to give my life fully to Srila Prabhupada I have tasted nothing but the sweetest happiness. Later on I found out that by taking complete shelter of the bona fide spiritual master that I had acted in full accordance with the Vedic injunction which is stated as follows: tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam sabde pare ca nisnatam brahmany upasamasrayam "Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qu

We have been given a mission by our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, to save the suffering humanity from the ignorance of material consciousness. When one sees how deeply entrenched the modern day civilization is in ignorance, one can easily conclude that it would be impossible for the world to be saved from such deep, deep ignorance. But possibility or impossibility is not an issue when it comes to the orders received from one's spiritual master. One must simply meditate upon and worship his orders and try one's very best to successfully carry them out. Then by grace of Sri Guru and Sri Krishna even the most impossible thing can easily become possible. In this connection Srila Prabhupada states: "A Krishna conscious being is always engaged in planning how to take all of suffering humanity back home, back to Godhead. Even if one is not successful in reclaiming all the fallen souls back to Godhead, still, because he is Krishna conscious, his path to Vaikunthaloka i

On 16 May 2007 our sweet, humble driver, Gediminas, drove us from Vilnius to the northern side of Lithuania just south of the Latvian border. We were on our way to visit the rural devotee community, New Gokula. It is amazing to see how there are so many different pockets of devotees scattered throughout Lithuania. It's very easy to feel very much at home in this country. The harsh Lithuanian winter had disappeared and given way to Krishna in the form of His always most welcome manifestation, the flower-bearing spring. rtunam kusumakarah "Of seasons I am flower-bearing spring." Bhagavad-gita 10.35 We left the main highway for a remote road and then after some time took an even a more remote road. I noticed a beautiful home off in the distance and thought that must the devotees' home. Sure enough. Gediminas turned off and we approached a series of beautiful buildings custom built under the direction of the devotees. They were all expertly put together from squ

On 16 May 2007 in Vilnius, Lithuania I lectured on one of my favorite verses in the entire Vedic wisdom. In this amazing verse Queen Kunti, the aunt of Lord Krishna, reveals the most amazing secret of how to become completely transcendental to all of the calamitous conditions of this calamity ridden material existence. Her technique is so powerful that it can awaken you into another realm of consciousness is which all calamities you were experiencing will be seen as nothing more than a bad dream that you once had when you were still asleep in the realm of material consciousness. In this prayer she addresses Lord Krishna: vipadah santu tah sasvat tatra tatra jagad-guro bhavato darsanam yat syad apunar bhava-darsanam "I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths." --Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.25 The trick is to appreciate every calamity as a great

Since there are no facilities available for our staying at our Vilnius temple, we are staying just outside of Vilnius at the home of Ashvini Kumar Das and his wife, Yamuna devi dasi. We are situated in the middle of a beautiful forest area and are commuting twice daily to the temple in central Vilnius so I can give the morning evening classes. It is very easy to remember Krishna when seeing the natural beauty. The wonderful sunrise this morning immediately reminded me of the beautiful, wonderful dawning of Krishna consciousness that gradually arises in the heart of the devotee who carefully and steadily chants the holy names of the Lord under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master. Even though we find the morning sunrise to be very beautiful, it is nothing compare to the arising of Krishna consciousness within the heart. Krishna consciousness is the one switch that when flipped on immediately turns on the entire world. So what is the world waiting for? Everyone is invi

The times are changing. There is a consciousness revolution taking place right now on planet earth. People are sick and tired of the same old birth, death, old age, and disease. They want something better. More and more people are refusing to be held back from their constitutional birth right of eternity, knowledge, and bliss by the bogus propaganda of blind materialists. This consciousness revolution is happening on the cutting edge of world history. It is the biggest news event happening anywhere in the universe, but the foolish media is so much steeped in illusion and confusion that they do not have any idea of covering it. This is the hottest thing happening, but yet it amazingly remains unknown. This is why Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that this is raja-guhyam, the most secret of all secrets. Here in Lithuanian I have been very much relishing the powerful spiritual awakening that is taking root around Krishna's holy names and the Bhagavat philosophy. So many pe

On Saturday 12 May 2007 after I gave the morning Srimad Bhagavatam lecture at our Kaunas center, we traveled for three hours by car to Visaginas, a remote city 200 kilometers away where there is a strong, enlivened community of devotees. I led Hare Krishna kirtan and gave them a class on the Bhagavad-gita (10.7). Following the class there were many questions from the devotees regarding how to successfully practice Krishna consciousness while at the same time taking care of their material duties. I explained to them that the key is to rise early in the morning and chant their 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mahamantra during the brahma-muhurta hour, the early predawn time, when the mode of goodness is predominant and it is very easy to absorb oneself in chanting and hearing the holy names of the Lord. To be able to do this steadily one has to go to bed as early as possible the night before. They were especially appreciative of my coming to guide them in their practice of Krishna con

One of the regulative principles for those who want to advance on the self-realization place is that they must live in a holy place like Mathura or Vrindavan. So what to do if you are tied down to a job and family situation and cannot manage to pull up stakes and re-locate to one of India's holy places? How will you make spiritual advancement living in the middle of a materialistic city? The answer is quite simple. All you have to do is turn your home into a temple by establishing an altar for Lord Krishna and making it the center of your life. We recently had the pleasure at staying in such a home temple in Russia. Every morning before sunrise we all rose before four am, took our morning showers, and chanted our japa. Then at five am we all assembled before the altar (pictured below) and sang the Guruvastakam prayers and the Hare Krishna mantra. Whatever meals were taken were first offered to Lord Krishna on the altar. You can also do this in your home. Start off with a s

On Thursday evening 10 May here in Kaunas I spoke to a gathering of Lithuanians at a publicly advertised lecture in a meeting hall. The hall was packed to capacity. It was a golden opportunity to teach them what they have forgotten--who they are and how to be who they are. After an ecstatic Hare Krishna kirtan I lectured for 45 minutes and then answered many questions from the interested audience. There is nothing more wonderful and attractive than Krishna and Krishna consciousness. Anybody from any culture or any walk of life who opens their mind to hear this king of all philosophies explained in full by an experienced devotee cannot help but be attracted. Krishna consciousness reconnects the conditioned soul with his eternal identity that has been forgotten since time immemorial. "Know Who You Are, and Be Who You Are." Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Why Don't You Travel to Poor Countries?... I have seen in your travel itinerary that you

Nobody likes calamities, but yet calamities are being repeatedly forced upon us by the stringent laws of material nature. We don't like to hear or admit this, but the fact is that these calamities are coming to us one after another as reactions from our previous sinful activities. This principle is known in the Vedic literatures as the law of karma. It is described in the Bible also: As you sow, so shall you reap. Even Sir Isaac Newton has presented it in his third law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So what can we do about these calamities? Can we stop them? Or do we just have to somehow or other tolerantly suffer through them? The answer is, "Both." There is no doubt that we have to patiently endure the reactions to our previous sinful activities. But at the same time while we are doing that we can live our lives in such as to gradually become completely liberated from all kinds of karmic reactions. This is done by comple

The secret of how to quickly and easily advance along the pathway of self-realization is to hear the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam from the proper source. What is that proper source? That is the bona fide spiritual master, the spiritual master who is coming in an authorized line of disciplic succession from Lord Sri Krishna. Even if one has no other qualification, if he can simply attentively and submissively hear the transcendental message of the Gita and the Bhagavatam from the bona fide authority very soon the Supreme Personality of Godhead will become established within his heart. This is confirmed as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam: dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsaranam satam vedyam vastavam atra vastu sivadam tapa-trayonmulanam srimad-bhagavate maha-muni-krte kim va parair isvarah sadyo hrdy avarudhyate 'tra krtibhih susrusubhis tat-ksanat "Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, thi

I was recently invited to speak on global conflict resolution at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, USA. Due to already having a lecture booked in Vail, Colorado on the same day I had to decline the invitation. This topic is most important because the present age of Kali, in which we are so deeply immersed, is the age of conflict. Conflict pervades the society on all levels. Persons and nations cannot get along peacefully with each other. Atrocities that were formerly unthinkable have practically become a daily affair in today's conflict torn world. There is so much fear now that you cannot even carry water anymore on an airline flight because the authorities are afraid that it might be some kind of explosive liquid. The scenario is not improving. In all likelihood things will continue getting worse. What is the solution for such conflict? If you throw your rock in a pond and I throw my rock in the same pond, the waves from our respective rocks will eventually cla

It is now 7 May 2007. It is 12:36pm. We are on the road now from Kaliningrad, Russia to the border crossing that will take us back into Lithuania. It has been a wonderfully uplifting experience to be here with the Russian devotees. We have very much opened our hearts to each other. It was an experience I will never forget. We are even starting to learn a little Russian. This is our ninth country on our Spring 2007 European Lecture Tour. We've got one more to go, Belgium, before we head west across the Atlantic Ocean for a summer of sharing the ultimate nectar in North America. There is truly no sweeter life than traveling all over the world for spreading the topmost benediction of Krishna consciousness to a world that now needs it more than ever. I am ever indebted to my spiritual master for blessing me with the ultimate lifestyle, spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world. Sankarshan Prabhu Instructs a Soon-to-Retire Russian Gentleman to Dedicate the Remaining P

This morning (6 April 2007) after observing Mangala Arati and Tulasi puja I still had two rounds to go to complete my daily vow of chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra on my japa beads. I was thinking that a brisk morning japa walk in the cool morning air would be both enlivening for my consciousness as well as good for my health. When I expressed this idea to go to my host, Gopinath das, all the devotees present at his apartment decided to come with me. So it was quite a jolly scene: a large group of Vaisnavas sporting their traditional tilak and garb with bead bags in hand chanting the holy names like a transcendental bee hive. Gopinath told me that it was the first time a spiritual master had ever walked the streets of Kaliningrad. We ventured into a wealthy neighborhood where every house had a big dog and all of sudden all we could hear was dozens of dogs barking from all directions. We decided to turn around and seek a more serene street for our morning w