Beyond the Quagmire Cocktail

This material world is heavily polluted by the three modes of material nature. At every step we are having to deal with a quagmire cocktail composed of varying mixtures of these three modes: goodness, passion, and ignorance. Under their influence we become carried away by passion for material sense enjoyment and thus completely ignore the needs of the real self, the spirit-soul who is within the body. Lord Krishna very expertly describes our predicament in the Bhagavad-gita while at the same time mercifully giving us the way out:

tribhir guṇa-mayair bhāvair
ebhiḥ sarvam idaḿ jagat
mohitaḿ nābhijānāti
mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāḿ taranti te

"Deluded by the three modes [goodness, passion and ignorance], the whole world does not know Me, who am above the modes and inexhaustible. This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."
BG 7.13-14

If we will simply surrender ourselves fully to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, we will quickly and easily be able to become free from the contaminating effects of the three modes of nature. We will become qualified to enter into the sweet, all-blissful, all-effulgent, eternal transcendental atmosphere of the spiritual sky.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Gain Faith?

In regards of my devotional practice I would like to ask:

1. I have detected that I have very weak faith in the process of Krishna Consciousness. How to gain faith? Some say that it is given by Lord only as His mercy? Is this true?

2. How to pray to Lord Krishna properly? I mean via who the prayer is to be done? And does the request about mercy for other people take place in our tradition? How to accomplish it properly?

3. What is the way of realizing the scriptures?

Your servant in Lithuania

Answer: Serve Those Who Have Great Faith

Gain faith by serving those who have strong faith. It is a fact that we develop faith by the mercy of Krishna. By serving those who are advanced in Krishna consciousness we attract the mercy of Krishna so that He will bless us with strong faith.

You may pray to your spiritual master and to Srila Prabhupada. You may also directly pray to Lord Krishna and Lord Caitanya. You should pray that you will become delivered from the clutches of maya by developing pure love for Krishna. You can also pray for the empowerment to be successful in giving Krishna consciousness to others.

If you have unflinching faith in your spiritual master and in Lord Krishna, you will realize all the imports of the Vedic wisdom.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Who is this Krishna?

Image
Krishna is not a myth, nor is He an ordinary historical personality. He is the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. He is the oldest of all while simultaneously maintaining the form of a 16 year old youth. He is all-attractive because he exceeds everyone in all of existence by possessing unlimitedly all the qualities that are attractive namely power, beautify, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. There is no one who equals or excels Him in the possession of these attractive qualities. This is why is accepted by all enlightened spiritualists as being God, the original source of all existence. The perfection of our existence is to re-establish our long forgotten loving relationships with Him. There Is No One More Amazing Than Krishna Video for the Day Don't Be a Hypocrite Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Was Krishna a Real Person? Was Krishna a real person who lived on Earth? Ray Galindo Answer: He Was and He Still Is My Dear Ray, Pleas
Read more