Say No to Mayadevi

Mayadevi, the super powerful material energy, has us tightly in her clutches and is doing everything possible to keep us permanently entrapped. Therefore to successfully become liberated from the cycle of birth and death we must with great strength and determination break free from her grip. The greatest obstacle we experience on the path of spiritual perfection is our tendency for sense gratification, i.e. unnecessarily indulging our senses beyond what is required for keeping body and soul together. Therefore when our senses scream at us for sense gratification we must firmly and resolutely respond with, "No, you cannot have it!" In this way, if we are strong, we will become free from all material distractions and will be able to fully absorb ourselves in transcendental meditation upon the unlimitedly nectarean name, fame, form, pastimes, entourage, and paraphernalia of that inconceivably wondrous Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. This transcendental absorption will situate us solidly on the spiritual platform and guarantee our passage into the eternal spiritual sky at the time of death.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Kirtan Bliss in Sofia, Bulgaria

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Can Bhakti Yoga Be a Science?

In today's "Thought for the Day," you referred to bhakti yoga as a science. How can we understand bhakti as "science"? Many people cannot relate to a religion that is science.

Hare Krishna,

Thank you

Bruce

Answer: Bhakti Yoga is the Perfection of Science

Science means to discover what is true. There are many fields of scientific study through which the scientists try from different angles of vision to discover what is true. But in spite of hundreds of years of research going on in these various fields of science, the scientists are still groping in the dark to try to figure out what is true. This is why the scientific textbooks have to be constantly updated.

Unknown to the modern day scientists is the original field of science in which one can quickly and thoroughly understand and realize what is true both in this world of matter as well as in the anti-material world, which lies beyond this material world and from which the sustaining, supporting energy manifests to give this material world its very existence.

This original field of science is known as bhakti yoga. Unlike the modern day science, in which the scientists generally keep themselves separate from their experiments, in the bhakti yoga science the scientist puts himself fully into the experiment and personally experiences the result of his experiment. Instead of relying on imperfect and limited scientific instruments such as microscopes and telescopes he personally awakens his own ultimate knowledge acquiring instrument, pure consciousness. With this perfect scientific instrument at his disposal he can then easily perceive and understand all of the secrets of the universe and what lies beyond the universe.

The word religion comes from the Latin word religare, which means to reconnect. Therefore the real meaning of religion is to reconnect with the original source of all existence. This grossly abused word does not refer to a dogmatic set of rules and rituals. When the bhakti yoga scientist fully awakens his pure consciousness, he naturally, in a state of intense love, reconnects himself with the original source of all existence, Lord Sri Krishna. Therefore when he becomes perfect in science he naturally simultaneously becomes perfect in religion.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari