Deliverance from the Existential Quagmire

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 qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters."--Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.21

So my best advice to any of my readers who are serious about achieving real happiness is that they should do exactly as I have done. They should seek out and take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master by initiation. Such a course of action will elevate them to the plane of unlimited happiness.

Answers According to the Vedic Version

Question: Only Devotees Utilize Free Will?...

I have subscribed to your daily "Thought for the Day" since one year. You have helped to shed the ignorance in me. Thank you for showering so much mercy on me and all others who are reading your daily Thought for the day. I appreciate you valuable service.

I have a question in regard to the question put forward by Sandeep Gera:

How is it possible that only devotees utilize free will? I was under the impression that all souls have both free will and are also in the grip of the karma chakra.

Please kindly help me to understand this.

Thank you,

Deepa

Answer: Everyone Uses or Misuses It...

Everyone has free will, and they utilize it either to fully manifest their freedom as spiritually liberated beings by surrendering to Krishna or to suspend their freedom by allowing themselves to be slaves of Maya, the material nature. Those who use their free will to come the spiritual platform achieve an eternal life full of knowledge and full of bliss. Those who abuse their free will in a futile attempt to imitate God end up becoming slaves of the material energy helplessly dragged from one situation to the next according to predestination as dictated by the stringent law of karma.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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