Ultimate Self Realization

Things have gotten too far out of hand. Madness now reigns supreme in every sphere. The time has come now more than ever for a spiritual revolution to uplift the global consciousness, to deliver the masses who are suffering the disease known as bodily consciousness. People are foolishly trying to base their happiness on the interaction between the sense and the objects of the senses. But this is a losing proposition. They can never have happiness in this way. If we want actual peace and happiness throughout the world, there must now become fully manifest a global spiritual awakening. The purpose of my life is to play some role in helping to bring it about. I am requesting that you should also fully dedicate your life for this effort. There is no greater, more exciting, more fulfilling life than this--to dedicate yourself fully to reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness and trying to inspire everyone else to do the same. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Ve

Why rot in this material existence when you can live in transcendental existence at every minute? In transcendental existence all material miseries are conspicuous by their absence. In other words, there is no birth, no death, no old age, and no disease. There is simply an eternal existence full of knowledge and full of bliss in the association of the Supreme Lord and His eternal associates. Some people such as atheists and skeptics object to the idea of transcendental existence. They say that it is not possible to experience bliss unless you also experience misery. But they are thinking in a very limited way in terms of relative happiness. They do not understand what is transcendental happiness. In this regard they are like the fox who after repeatedly and unsuccessfully trying to jump high enough to taste the grapes concluded that they must be sour. There is no need for sour grapes philosophy. The bona fide spiritual master teaches his disciples how to taste the sweet nectar

There is no brighter future than an eternal existence in the spiritual world with Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In that abode there is no birth, no death, no old age, no disease, no taxes, and no terrorism. We are all actually eternal citizens of that transcendental abode who somehow or other got sidetracked somewhere along the line. If we take full advantage of Krishna's most merciful manifestation in the form of His holy names, we can easily qualify ourselves to re-enter our eternal home. Simply utter these names with love and devotion as much as possible on a regular daily basis. Your life will never the be the same: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Overcoming Boredom... I want to know how to overcome boredom. Thanks in advance John Answer: Through Delightful Bhakti... If you want to overcome boredom, al

The empiricists doubt or deny the existence of the transcendental dimension which exists beyond time and space. In this connection they are like the owl philosopher who closes his eyes in the daylight and denies the existence of the sun. Anyone who is brave enough to expand their consciousness beyond the limitations of time and space can take to the process of Krishna consciousness and positively experience the awakening of their original divine consciousness beyond the confines of time and space. This is confirmed in the Narada Pancaratna as follows: dik-kalady-anavacchinne krsne ceto vidhaya ca tan-mayo bhavati ksipram jivo brahmani yojayet "By concentrating one's attention on the transcendental form of Krishna, who is all-pervading and beyond time and space, one becomes absorbed in thinking of Krishna and then attains the happy state of transcendental association with Him." In other words, through the ultimate self realization process, Krishna consciousness, one con

It is sad to see that terrorism is becoming more and more loosed upon the world. But this is not at all surprising. Given that the human society is training everyone to live on the animalistic platform of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending--it is inevitable that, just like in the jungle some of the animals will be ferocious, some human beings will naturally come out as terrorists. There is really no way around it. It cannot be prevented through military readiness. Terrorists will always find a way to beat the system. However, if the human society can be elevated beyond the animalistic platform of sense gratification to the enlightened platform of Krishna consciousness, terrorism will be relegated to a page in the history books because no one will desire to be a terrorist in the first place. The problem with accomplishing this is that the current leaders of the human society are themselves terrorists. They are terrorizing the babies in the abortion clinics and they are terro

Sometimes I wonder, "What am I doing with my life? Am I really doing the right thing?" But if I carefully and thoughtfully consider the options, it is again reconfirmed that there is no other meaningful course of action than the one I am taking. Why should I dedicate my entire life to only serving a rotting material body and to a culture which enslaves people in such a meaningless existence? This does not make sense at all. Serving the needs of the actual self, the eternal spiritual being who resides within the body is what makes real sense to me and nothing else. The atheists will criticize me for being a stupid person of faith, but I clearly see that they are the ones who are guilty of blind faith, not me. I can easily understood the scientific proof for the existence of the soul and the Supreme Soul. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Does God Desire?... I have heard many people say, "God wants this" or "God

We've just arrived a few minutes ago in the USA. Even though materially speaking there is a gulf of difference between Peru and the USA, spiritually speaking both countries are in the same category. So what we are seeing is nothing but the same old wine in a new bottle. The citizens of both countries are deeply engrossed in bodily consciousness considering themselves to be male, female, American, or Peruvian. The actual reality is that we are eternal spiritual beings in quality one with God, and are therefore naturally meant to serve Him eternally with love and devotion. Any nation which can fully adopt the principles of God consciousness or Krishna consciousness will become a paradise on earth. It does not matter whether they are rich, poor, or in the middle. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Can the Absolute Vibrate?... Recently, I posted Srila Prabhupada's purport on the Maha Mantra to one of David Icke's message boards

At 7:00am on 24 July 2007 morning we are scheduled to fly out of Lima and return via Atlanta, Georgia to our headquarters in Austin, Texas. This week in Peru has truly been another one of those amazing unforgettable experiences that I have tasted on the pathway of Krishna consciousness. As soon as we connect with Krishna we enter into the dimension of transcendental bliss far, far beyond the miseries of material existence. I pray for the day when the leading people on this planet all realize how auspicious it is to be Krishna conscious. That day will mark the beginning of a glorious new chapter for the human race. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Evening Lecture at Lima's Wilson Avenue Temple Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Responsible Nondoer?... In Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 2, verse 47, Krishna tells Arjuna, "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of you

22 July 2007--I'm here for the day in Chosika, Peru where I gave the morning Srimad Bhagavatam class to the assembled devotees at the local ISKCON temple. The second part of the class was a lively question and answer session with a stream of questions that kept coming like a flowing river. At ten a.m. when I arbitrarily called the class to a halt many devotees came forward and continued asking questions. This enthusiasm to hear about Krishna consciousness is the wonderful quality of the devotees here in Peru. Materially they do not have much. Peru is a very poor country. But spiritually they are some of wealthiest people in the whole world because they are so eager to hear about the science of Krishna consciousness and put what they hear into practice. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Questions & Answers in Chosika, Peru Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Be A Sincere Devotee?... I try everyday to surrender my life to Krishna, but I keep on postponing it. So

In spite of my being very sick and staying in a cold, damp but rainless and heavily polluted place, Lima, Peru, where the sun and sky is never visible and the surrounding mountains hidden in smog are completely desolate devoid of vegetation, and in spite my room being next door to a construction site which exposes me to constant barrage of machine noise throughout the day, by the mercy of my beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, I am tasting transcendental bliss because I have so much facility for teaching the local people how to be truly happy by reviving their dormant Krishna consciousness. This brings the greatest joy to my heart. My main concern along with keeping up with my daily lecture assignments is how I can catch up on my email correspondence so that my sincere students and disciples throughout the world can as soon as possible get the guidance they seek for their spiritual advancement. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Lima, Peru Air Pollution Answers According to the Vedic

Sometimes some of my readers put forward the argument to me that the highest conception of the supreme is formless and impersonal. They argue that the personal conception of God is a mental crutch to help the neophyte transcendentalist fix his mind on the supreme until he is advanced enough to keep his mind fixed on the impersonal, formless supreme. However, these sort of arguments do not hold any weight at all if we consider the words of Krishna as spoken in the Bhagavad-gita 7.8: mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya mayi sarvam idam protam sutre mani-gana iva "O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread." If we try to present a truth higher than the person Krishna, we are speaking against the authority of Bhagavad-gita. If we try this, we are foolishly presenting ourselves as someone who thinks they know more than God Himself. This is philosophically a very dangerous position to take con

Some .people are like honey bees always looking for the honey. They always try to find the good in a thing. Others are like flies, always looking for the sores. They want to find what is wrong with something. Those who always absorb their thoughts in what is bad tend to manifest bad qualities in their own character because that is what they are always thinking about. Conversely those who always absorb their thoughts in what is good tend to manifest good qualities. In other words, you become like that upon which you meditate. This is why the devotees always choose to absorb their minds on Krishna, the Supreme Good and develop all saintly qualities. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Continuing to Sin and Feeling Ashamed... I was following the regulations of the Vedic lifestyle but recently I started smoking again and having occasional drinks. I still don't eat meat. There have been occasions in the past few years that I've

My spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, has very nicely described that the characteristics of an acharya, a bona fide spiritual master are as follows: 1. He knows the conclusions of the shastras (revealed scriptures). 2. He follows in the footsteps of his predecessor acharyas. 3. He endeavors to preach the ultimate self-realization science (Krishna consciousness) all over the world. And then after enlightening us as to what is a acharya he ordered us, his disciples, that we must become acharyas. So now on his order I am endeavoring by his mercy to do just that. It is not always easy to preach the science of Krishna consciousness all over the world. Just like I am now in Lima, Peru. Upon arriving here I immediately fell very sick. This is makes it very difficult for me to do my duties of giving two lectures daily and keeping up with my correspondence. But yet I must carry on in my sincere endeavor to obey the instructions I have received from my spiritual master. I know that by

In material consciousness problems can be devastating and overwhelming to such an extent that people sometimes have nervous breakdowns and even go so far as to commit suicide. But for those who are fixed in Krishna consciousness there is no such thing. Why is that? Because for one who is fixed in Krishna consciousness, the topmost platform of spiritual realization, every problem, no matter how great, is an interesting, exciting challenge, an other obstacle to successfully deal with in the Lord's service. Just as some people solve puzzles as a recreational sport, the Lord's devotees take relish in dealing successfully with the problems and obstacles of material life because when anything material is engaged in the Lord's service it regains its original spiritual nature. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Why is there Stress?... Why do people experience stress? Anil Answer: Environment is Unnatural... People experience stress

There is nothing sweeter than the bliss of Krishna consciousness except for sharing the bliss of Krishna consciousness, because when you share the bliss of Krishna consciousness that bliss becomes magnified millions and billions of times. Lord Sri Krishna has blessed me with such an opportunity here in Atlanta. I flew in on Friday afternoon and shortly thereafter went to give a lecture. On Saturday I gave three lectures. On Sunday I gave two lectures plus I met with a group of individuals to explain further the techniques of this supreme self-realization science. Now it's Monday at noon. I gave a lecture this morning and now I am trying to catch up on my writing before catching an 11:30pm overnight flight from Atlanta to Lima, Peru for another nectarean week of sharing the supreme bliss with those who are eager to hear it. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Sharing the Ultimate Bliss at the ISKCON Atlanta Sunday Feast Program on 15 July 2007 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Qu

One of the essential items for advancing in Krishna consciousness is that one should live in a holy place like Vrindavan or Dvaraka. For most people it is not practical for various reasons to pick up everything and relocate to India to reside in Vrindavan or Dvaraka. So how will the sincere practitioner of the bhakti yoga system fulfill this requirement to live in a holy place? He can do this by transforming his home into a holy place. How to do this? Here are some pointers: The home should be full of things that remind one of Krishna. The bookshelves can be filled with the most potent transcendental literatures, the writings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The walls can be adorned with transcendental paintings and posters so wherever you walk you are reminded of Krishna. A room or a corner of the house can set aside as the temple room. In that room or area exclusively set aside for Krishna you can make a Krishna altar on which all of one's food is

There is nothing more important than self-discovery. If we do not even know who we are, how can we make a meaningful utilization of our existence? It will not be possible. Because the modern day civilization is based on mere guesswork regarding the nature of the self, therefore we see that everywhere throughout the world there is chaos and uncertainty. Even though we hanker for eternity, in a state of ignorance we base our sense of identity on a temporary bag of material elements. Therefore in spite of so much technological advancement in regards to the manipulation of material elements, we are still very much dissatisfied. The solution for this quagmire is that we must now focus our energies on the ultimate science, the science of self-discovery. So how do we begin? We begin from the simple point of our own awareness of our existence. You know that you exist because you are aware of your existence. The next step is to analyze what is the nature of your existence. We see

Things do not always go on pleasantly in this material world. Sometimes all hell breaks loose. Just imagine if you were in the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. Or just imagine if you were in an automobile going into a head-on collision. Like it or not, we all live in a world of calamities. So what are we supposed to do when we find ourselves in a calamitous situation? The starting point for dealing with calamities is to always remember that you are not your material body. Like a garment that you can wear today and discard tomorrow, this body is simply a covering of the actual self, the eternal spirit soul. What this means is that these nightmarish situations are going on in a dream state only. Your factual existence is somewhere else. Spiritual enlightenment or Krishna consciousness is the process of waking up from the bad dream. You simply have to remember that you are the eternal servant of Krishna and stay factually tuned into that reality by always remaining abso

In this material world sex is undoubtedly the number one rated pleasure. People go mad over satisfying their sexual desires. But for a realized transcendentalist, sex pleasure is not of much interest. It is not very important because he is enjoying pleasure on a much higher level. He has fully realized that he is not his body and is relishing the sweetest nectar of a loving relationship with the supreme person, the source of all existence, at every minute. Because his pleasure is completely transcendental to his material body and because sex is a pleasurable sensation which is experienced in the body, the transcendentalist prefers not to be brought back down to the lower level of bodily sense pleasure by sex indulgence. In other words, because sex brings him down to a lower level where the pleasure is of an inferior quality, he naturally avoids it. It is not that he is feeling frustrated from abstinence. He enjoys abstinence because it frees up his consciousness to absorb him

If you want to be situated on the transcendental platform relishing the sweet bliss of eternal cognizant bhakti existence at every moment, you've got to devote some quality time every morning to revving up the spiritual energy within you. The reason this is of the utmost importance is that when we sleep at night we go deep into the mode of ignorance. Therefore the first thing to do upon rising is to get situated on the transcendental platform. The easiest, quickest way to do that is as soon as that alarm clock goes off utter a transcendental sound vibration such as, "Hare Krishna." Then take your morning bath, purify your body and consciousness by marking your body with tilak (sacred clay), and sit down in front of your altar absorbing yourself deeply for one-and-a-half to two hours in chanting the holy names of God on japa beads. If you get sleepy, you can chant while standing or even while pacing back and forth. It is also recommended that you should sing the beau

There is nothing sweeter and more sublime than reviving one's original divine consciousness. Why suffer unnecessarily in the nightmare of material existence? We are not these material bodies, but yet we dream that we are. Therefore we think ourselves subject to birth, death, old age, and disease. If we can awaken our sense of spiritual identity by realizing who we actually are, the eternal servants or Krishna or God, and acting on that platform, we then enter into that sublime transcendental dimension far, far beyond the suffering conditions of this material existence. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Regarding Skepticism... Since we are all skeptical on some certain things, how can you say that we cannot be skeptical? Thanks Hayden Answer: Handy and Impediment... Skepticism is handy when dealing with the material energy, but it is an impediment when we are dealing with Krishna. Sankarshan Das Adhikari

In the last 5,000 years since the beginning of the Kali Yuga (the Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy) many, many civilizations have come and gone. Before that there was period of 3,772,000 years during which one civilization, the Vedic civilization, flourished throughout the earth bestowing peace and prosperity upon all. Now, by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Who advented Himself in 1486 and by the divine mercy of His most empowered representative, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that Vedic civilization is being revived all of the world. You are welcome to join us in this most ecstatic spiritual revolution for the benefit of all living beings on this planet. Your first step is to revolutionize your own consciousness by awakening your dormant Krishna consciousness. The next step is to spread Krishna consciousness to others as far as possible. In this way you will be doing the greatest good for yourself and the highest welfare work for all others. You will exp

The basic underlying problem of life is death. If this one problem can be solved, immediately all other problems become automatically solved. One may have so many financial problems: a hundred dollar problem, a thousand dollar problem, and a ten thousand dollar problem. But if he has a billion dollars, all of his financial problems are immediately solved. Therefore the intelligent person seeks first the solution to life's underlying problem, the problem of death. After attaining deathlessness by the complete revival of his eternal, blissful, knowledge-full, existence, he then glides effortlessly through every one of the so-called problems of life. They all become a piece of cake. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: In Defense of Skepticism... Without a bit of skepticism how would you find the truth in things? After all one should not be to gullible, as there are a lot of bogus things. Science is not like the dogma of most religions

A Krishna conscious person is someone who has completely conquered over anxiety. Such a person has completely surrendered to Krishna and completely depends on Krishna for everything. Therefore he is totally fearless, 100% anxiety free. How does someone who is currently in a state of anxiety become anxiety free? The answer is very simple. He must completely surrender himself to Lord Krishna. The difficulty is that we want to be free from anxiety, but we do not want to surrender to Krishna. This is called cheating. We want to purchase the diamond ring, but we do not want to pay for it. This will not work. If we want the diamond ring, we must pay for it. If we want to become completely free from anxiety, we have no choice except to completely surrender ourselves at the Lord's lotus feet. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Have You Seen Krishna?... Sankarshan Das Maharaja, my respectable namaskarams to you. My father is aware of Lo

Thousands of years ago the Vedic culture flourished all over this planet. It was a very sublime culture centered around the spiritual enlightenment of all living beings. When the materialistic age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the Kali Yuga, began five thousand years ago, that Vedic culture gradually disappeared. Now we are faced with a world culture which is grossly materialistic. Even though millions and millions of people claim devotion to any of variety of spiritual paths, they mostly approach God for the purpose of getting better facility for material sense gratification. Such superficial spirituality does little good to uplift the global consciousness and often does more harm than good. So now there is no greater need in the human society than to re-introduce the Vedic culture, the culture of spiritual enlightenment, all over the world. This will bring about the desired peace, happiness, and prosperity that is greatly desired by everyone. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers Acco

There is far more to reality than meets the eye. Beyond the screen of the material energy is a vast spiritual existence where life is eternal, full of bliss, and full of knowledge. In that abode there is no birth, no death, no old age, and no disease. There the Lord and His devotees are engaged in the sweetest, most nectarean activities for all of eternity free from any kind of disturbance. We are originally from that place, but we have fallen down into this world of birth, death, old age, and disease and have been entrapped here for so long that we have forgotten our original identity in that most amazing transcendental existence. Now all we have to do is reconnect with our original nature under the guidance of enlightened transcendentalists. By their mercy we will awaken. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Loving God... How is it possible to have a relationship with God? I do the chanting and read the books and associate with the dev

This material existence is a vast desert because the actual water we require, namely a loving relationship with the Supreme Person Who is the very source of our existence, is very difficult to find here. Instead of our clearly perceiving the desert-like nature of this abode we are bewildered by Mayadevi's incredibly sophisticated mirage which deludes us into thinking that this material existence is the all-in-all and can thus satisfy all of our desires. If we want the actual water, we must take care not to enticed by the mirage into running after a life of material sense gratification. We must take information from the acharyas, the great fully realized saintly teachers who give us precise instructions how to find the oasis in which we can unlimitedly taste the sweetest, purest water of love of Godhead and eternally relish an eternal existence, full of bliss and full of knowledge. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Formlessness.. . It