Attracted to Krishna
One of the things I love the most about our ISKCON center in Sofia, Bulgaria is the beautiful poster of Radha and Krishna, which so sweetly and stunningly graces the wall in the temple room. When I see this poster I am wonderfully reminded of that time of great exhilaration and adventure when I first discovered Krishna in Denver, Colorado in 1968.
I was living in a small one-room efficiency apartment at 1271 Lafayette Street. Browsing at an imports store I found an amazing poster. It was Krishna! It was God! I had read His words in the Bhagavad-gita and now here was His picture! Excited by my discovery I bought it, brought it home, and made an altar on which to place the Supreme Lord, prominently situated beneath my apartment's bay window.
I was astounded to read in the Bhagavad-gita that I could directly offer my vegetarian foods to Krishna and that He would accept them. So when I got home every evening from my job in downtown Denver I would offer my vegetarian food to my beautiful Lord, then sit and meditate on His mystical transcendental form, and chant Hare Krishna. I did not know who that girl was who was with Him. But it was obvious by the sweet love in her eyes that she was totally dedicated to Him.
Never in my life had I experienced anything so wonderful as those evenings that I spent absorbed in Krishna consciousness. I felt I had come home after being lost for countless eons. Chanting Hare Krishna and seeing Krishna's beautiful form made me feel like I was being carried away on a magic carpet into a higher dimension of reality far away from the realm of birth and death.
That attraction to this beautiful picture of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna eventually brought me to the lotus feet of my eternal master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. How that happened is a long story, which I hope to tell someday. Srila Prabhupada has shown me the way that I can re-enter the eternal pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna that are going on at this very minute in the inconceivably wondrous spiritual sky.
I hope that you are also attracted to Krishna because there is indeed no other attraction which even remotely compares with this. Other attractions eventually leave us frustrated. But this attraction totally satisfies the living being millions and billions times greater than any sort of satisfaction that he could conceive of even in his wildest dreams.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Link to Radha Krishna Photo:
http://www.backtohome.com/images/Beautiful-Radha-Govinda.jpg
- Does this mean that pious and impious acts in one's present material life have no potency to affect the script of that same life (that has been set in place by the pious and impious acts still outstanding from previous material lives)?
- If one is not fully under the protection of Krishna's internal energy - that is, if one is not fully surrendered (a pure devotee) but only partially surrendered (receiving the Lord's protection only to the degree that one is surrendered) - can the script of the life dictated by one's karma be altered to some degree (as Krishna sees fit)?
Thank you for clarifying my understanding.
Partial surrender means partial relief from karma and partial special arrangements made directly by Krishna through the agency of His spiritual energy. The more we surrender the more we get karmic relief and special protection. So obviously the best thing is to do is surrender to the greatest extent of our capabilities meanwhile begging Sri Guru and Sri Krishna to bless us that we can surrender even more. The greater the surrender, the greater the reward.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
I was living in a small one-room efficiency apartment at 1271 Lafayette Street. Browsing at an imports store I found an amazing poster. It was Krishna! It was God! I had read His words in the Bhagavad-gita and now here was His picture! Excited by my discovery I bought it, brought it home, and made an altar on which to place the Supreme Lord, prominently situated beneath my apartment's bay window.
I was astounded to read in the Bhagavad-gita that I could directly offer my vegetarian foods to Krishna and that He would accept them. So when I got home every evening from my job in downtown Denver I would offer my vegetarian food to my beautiful Lord, then sit and meditate on His mystical transcendental form, and chant Hare Krishna. I did not know who that girl was who was with Him. But it was obvious by the sweet love in her eyes that she was totally dedicated to Him.
Never in my life had I experienced anything so wonderful as those evenings that I spent absorbed in Krishna consciousness. I felt I had come home after being lost for countless eons. Chanting Hare Krishna and seeing Krishna's beautiful form made me feel like I was being carried away on a magic carpet into a higher dimension of reality far away from the realm of birth and death.
That attraction to this beautiful picture of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna eventually brought me to the lotus feet of my eternal master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. How that happened is a long story, which I hope to tell someday. Srila Prabhupada has shown me the way that I can re-enter the eternal pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna that are going on at this very minute in the inconceivably wondrous spiritual sky.
I hope that you are also attracted to Krishna because there is indeed no other attraction which even remotely compares with this. Other attractions eventually leave us frustrated. But this attraction totally satisfies the living being millions and billions times greater than any sort of satisfaction that he could conceive of even in his wildest dreams.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Link to Radha Krishna Photo:
http://www.backtohome.com/images/Beautiful-Radha-Govinda.jpg
Answers According to the Vedic Version:
Question: Karma and Alteration of Karma
In reference to the correspondence published with the 11/8 "Thought for the Day" [about life being scripted according to past karma for those under the material energy]:- Does this mean that pious and impious acts in one's present material life have no potency to affect the script of that same life (that has been set in place by the pious and impious acts still outstanding from previous material lives)?
- If one is not fully under the protection of Krishna's internal energy - that is, if one is not fully surrendered (a pure devotee) but only partially surrendered (receiving the Lord's protection only to the degree that one is surrendered) - can the script of the life dictated by one's karma be altered to some degree (as Krishna sees fit)?
Thank you for clarifying my understanding.
Answer: Qualifying for a Greater Reward
One's pious and impious activities in this life can also affect one's present karma, which is visible in what one experiences in this lifetime.Partial surrender means partial relief from karma and partial special arrangements made directly by Krishna through the agency of His spiritual energy. The more we surrender the more we get karmic relief and special protection. So obviously the best thing is to do is surrender to the greatest extent of our capabilities meanwhile begging Sri Guru and Sri Krishna to bless us that we can surrender even more. The greater the surrender, the greater the reward.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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