Ultimate Self Realization

Having been blest with the sweetest, most inconceivable mercy of Krishna by my beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I have no other duty save and except to fully absorb my life in distributing this mercy as far as possible to every man, woman, and child on the face of this planet. The most productive and enlivening places for distributing this mercy are those places wherever people are the most open to receiving it. Therefore, I am regularly traveling the planet looking for the best opportunities to plant the seed the bhakti in the hearts of men. Here in Lima I am experiencing the wonderful hearts of the Peruvian people, how receptive they are to the mercy of Lord Sri Krishna. Therefore, I am very happy to be here sharing this supreme mercy with them. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Distributing Krishna's Mercy in Peru Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Krishna Consciousness at Work With every passing day I get so delude

Krishna consciousness is transcendental to our material surroundings. Sometimes in our world wide travels we find ourselves in comfortable circumstances and sometimes we find ourselves in uncomfortable circumstances. The beauty of Krishna consciousness is that in any and all circumstances the unlimited eternal comfort of Lord Sri Krishna's lotus feet are always available unfailing in all situations. Simply we must master the art of taking shelter of Him instead of taking the so-called shelter of the material energy, which is guaranteed to disappoint us in the ultimate issue. samāśritā ye pada - pallava - plavaḿ mahat - padaḿ puṇya -yaśo murāreḥ bhavāmbudhir vatsa - padaḿ paraḿ padaḿ padaḿ padaḿ yad vipadāḿ na teṣām "For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri , the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf'

On Friday 27 June 2008 I gave a lecture on the science of reincarnation at Lima's Ricardo Palma University at the invitation of its Department of Eastern and Western Classics. I spoke to an auditorium full of eager listeners, who had many sincere questions, who enthusiastically chanted Hare Krishna, and many of whom purchased Krishna conscious literatures at the conclusion of the lecture. This experience reinforced my conclusion that all over the world there are many sincere souls who, if given a chance to hear Krishna consciousness nicely explained, will appreciate it very much and be eager to learn more about it by studying Srila Prabhupada's books and who will then by his mercy awaken their dormant Krishna consciousness and naturally out of compassion dedicate themselves for the revolutionization of this entire planet. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Widely Distributed Poster Advertised the Lecture Reincarnation Lecture Enthusiastic Autograph Seeker Answers According to the V

Leaving behind the sunny, heavenly pristine paradise of Fiji, we have now after a flight that was delayed for seventeen hours and after three nights of travel, arrived in cold, damp, dark, heavily polluted Lima, Peru, where I have yet to see the sun shine. It is a very sharp contrast to say the least. Such dualities regularly experienced by traveling preachers are a great facility for realizing that our real happiness is only in Krishna consciousness. Lord Caitanya so wonderfully taught this principle by praying that he had no desire for wealth, women, or followers, or even liberation from the cycle of birth and death. He prayed that His only desire was to be engaged in devotional service. Consequently, this is the mood that we must also embrace. If we do so, we will always be completely happy and satisfied, no matter what kind of external situation we may find ourselves in. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Natural Beauty of Fiji More Natural Beauty of Fiji "Natural Beauty" of Li

25 June 2008, 4:00am--We are now delayed in Auckland. Our plane that was going to carry us from Auckland to Santiago was struck by lightening as it came from Sydney. Luckily it landed safely, and no one was hurt. But its computer system was knocked out. The airline has put us up in a hotel, and we are due to fly out this morning. But after having tried many ways to contact the devotees in Peru about the change of schedule, I have not been successful. I've tried emails, SMS messages, and phone calls from various phones to many different numbers. The messages tell me that all the phone numbers are all invalid. I do not what is going on, but I know one thing for sure. Krishna is the Supreme Controller, and if we sincerely and intelligent surrender ourselves unto Him, everything will work out perfectly in the end. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Tell about Krishna? I want to first thank you for your visit to Melbourne, I was unfo

23 June 2008, 5:20pm--This is being written in the back seat of a taxi driven by a wonderful devotee named Raja Ram das. He is driving us free of charge (in spite of today's inflated gasoline prices) half way around the Fijian Island known as Vitilevu from Suva to Nadi, where we will catch a flight tomorrow morning to Auckland, New Zealand. In Auckland after a five-and-a-half hour wait in the airport, we will catch a eleven-and-a-half hour flight across the Pacific Ocean to Santiago, Chile. There after a 7 hour wait in the airport we will catch a 4 hour flight to Lima, Peru. Finally after two nights and two days in transit we will reach our next temporary residence on the road in Lima, Peru. So the point is that I don't know if, when, or where I will be able to upload the 25 June "Thought for the Day" during this time. Since in Fiji I have been able to use my mobile phone for uploading it, the safest bet is to upload it here in Fiji before taking rest tonight. I am m

In a world becoming every day more and more polluted by the poison of greed it is natural that the air and water will also become more and more poisonous. On remote tropical islands, such as the Fiji Islands, we get a glimpse of how much more conducive for self-realization the entire world must have been like in the Vedic times before it became so much polluted by multifarious forms of contamination. Clean, fresh air and water, open spaces and panoramic vistas abound here along with multi-varieties of tasty fruits and vegetables growing naturally in the wild. In this place with a small piece of land anyone can easily and comfortably survive without having to worry about the rising price of petroleum. It is a very sattvic atmosphere very conducive for absorbing the mind in the supreme meditation of Lord Sri Krishna's unlimitedly sweet transcendental names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare Sankarshan Das Adhikari I

If we want to achieve the spiritual world at the time of death, we must absorb ourselves fully in thoughts of the Lord at the time of passing out of our bodies. In order for us to be blessed with such consciousness at this ultimately important junction we must cultivate within ourselves an overriding taste to always be absorbed in hearing and chanting His glories. If we are lacking such taste, is there a way that we can easily attain it? According to the authoritative Srimad Bhagavatam, the answer is a resounding "yes." All we have to do to acquire such taste is to serve the pure devotees, those devotees who are completely free from all vice. Such service will enable to quickly enter the wonderful world of ecstatic 24 hours a day absorption in Krishna consciousness and guarantee our entering into the spiritual world at the time of death. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Why Did You Choose the Vedic Version of Reality? Namaste.

We are now here for a brief three day stop in the Fiji Islands, a popular tropical paradise destination for millions of tourists. My purpose of coming here is not fun in the sun. My purpose of coming here is to spread the rays of Lord Caitanya's benediction moon in this place which, like every other nation on the face of this planet, is so much bereft of spiritual knowledge. What amazes me the most about Krishna consciousness that whether I am in hellish northern city or in serene tropical paradise, the taste is the same. The taste of Krishna consciousness is super sweet no matter where we may be in this material world. As soon as we connect with Krishna through the transcendental sound vibration of His holy names we are immediately living in the serene paradise of His transcendental abode. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Explaining Krishna Bhakti to Guru Das in Riga, Latvia Answering Emails in Fiji Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Improve my Faith? I sta

20 June 2008. We are here at the Auckland airport getting ready to board a flight to Fiji. Fiji is a very special place because this is where Kaliya serpent went after being driven by Krishna from the Yamuna River. By the touch of Krishna's lotus feet Kaliya became a great devotee. The local native Fijian people know that that there is a gigantic multi-hooded snake that lives in Fiji. Fiji was also blessed with the presence of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada established in Fiji the Krishna-Kaliya temple in which Krishna is dancing on the hoods of Kaliya. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How Do I Know that Krishna Consciousness is Right for Me? I'm a 15-year old that's lost in a world where there are almost as many ways or religions as there are people. I have been reading about Krishna Consciousness and everything makes sense so far. But I still have one question that keeps on coming: H

It has been a truly delightful stopover for three nights at the ISKCON temple in Auckland, New Zealand. The temple is located outside of the city in the beautiful countryside. The temple's head pujari, Sriman Divyagovinda Prabhu, has taken wonderful care of us seeing to our every need. As usual I am lecturing twice daily morning and evening and writing during the day. The temple is amazingly beautiful. As soon as you enter the temple room you feel how you are being carried away into the transcendental dimension beyond time and space, the unlimitedly amazing Vaikuntha world. From here we travel onwards to Fiji, then to Peru and Atlanta, and finally back to our home base in Austin, Texas, where we will be preparing for another world tour starting in September. The whole world is waiting for a new dawn of spiritual enlightenment to sweep away the madness and confusion. Therefore I continue writing and explaining the secrets of Krishna consciousness as much as possible always hoping a

When will the world leaders wake up and realize that they are on the wrong track? Their attempts to solve the world's problems are only touching the symptoms of the problems because they do not understand the one underlying cause for all the thousands and millions of problems that are troubling the human society. The root cause of all difficulties is our false identification with the material body. Even though we are eternal spirit-souls in quality one with the supreme source of all existence, Krishna or God, we have foolishly misidentified ourselves with a rotting, dying bag of gross material elements known as the material body. Therefore it's no small wonder that no matter in what way we may try to enjoy this world, we are always in the final analysis left high and dry with a depressing sense of bewilderment and frustration. It's only when we reawaken our original but now dormant enlightened consciousness, our Krishna, consciousness that we become actually, factually gen

This material existence is a vast ocean of tribulation. Every day we are faced with so many disturbances and difficulties and sometimes we are also beset with overwhelming devastations. How can we cross over this inconceivably vast ocean without getting wet, without feeling any pinches from the material nature? This is a great art known as the science of bhakti. It has been by all the great saintly teachers throughout the history of the universe and is nicely encapsulated by this verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam: samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam mahat-padam punya-yaso murareh bhavambudhir vatsa-padam param padam padam padam yad vipadam na tesam "For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murari, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is param padam, Vaikuntha, the place where there are no material miseri

The greatest deficiency of the modern day society is the lack of persons of saintly character. Saintly character means to be solidly fixed in truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, and austerity. Quite to the contrary, the current society is plagued by dishonesty, unchastity, cruelty, laziness, and hedonism. We are tortured by the administration of leaders who manipulate themselves into power by their expertise in cheating and lying. And consequently no one can be fully happy, peaceful and satisfied. Illicit sex life, meat eating, intoxication, and gambling are considered to be the very necessities of life even though they are wreaking ever-increasing havoc upon the human society. What can be done to put a stop to all this madness? The first step is that we ourselves must become persons of ideal character, persons who are truthful, clean, merciful and sense controlled. These saintly qualities are easily achieved if one regularly chants the holy names of God and associates with persons of s

Even though the solution for all the world's problems is very simple, the world leaders are completely bewildered and unaware of the solution. Therefore we hope that they will all read this. All we have to do to solve the world's problems is to stop killing the cows. If we do so, all the problems on this planet will be practically eliminated. The modern day so-called leaders do not realize how sinful it is to kill the cow. The cow is our mother because after our first mother stops giving us her breast milk we take advantage of the breast milk of our second mother, the cow. We would not dream of killing our first mother after she stops giving us her breast milk. So how we can think of killing our second mother when she stops giving us her breast milk? It is unthinkably heinous. And because throughout the world we are regularly slaughtering millions and millions of innocent cows, we are suffering karmic reactions of ever-increasing proportions. These karmic reactions are manif

14 June 2008--We are now in the Sydney airport awaiting a flight to New Zealand. This is a wonderful opportunity to reflect back on the wonderful Krishna conscious experiences we have had here in Australia since we arrived on 27 May. Our days have been so much overflowing with sweet memorable experiences that if seems as if we have always been here. Actually there is nothing more wonderful than being in the association of the Lord's devotees engaging in the all-auspicious activities of hearing about, glorifying, remembering, and serving the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. We are eagerly awaiting our return here on 18 December 2008. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Melbourne Farewell: Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Advance My Krishna Consciousness? Please accept my humble obeisances and instruct me with your light. How should I advance in my Krishna consciousness? Thank you for your instruction and advice, and I am very h

An unavoidable aspect of material life is suffering. Sometimes it is mild. Sometimes it is acute. And sometimes it is absolutely devastating. Since devotees also have material bodies, they are also subject to these sufferings of material existence. So how do devotees cope with and transcend these unavoidable sufferings? The first point is that they realize that they are not their bodies. By taking complete shelter of Sri Guru and Krishna they gain a vantage point of being solidly situated in the Lord's internal energy, His spiritual energy. From this position they view all of their suffering in a detached way seeing it as something that does not actually touch or affect them. They see it instead as something happening out there in the external energy, the Lord's material energy. In this way, they never feel themselves threatened by even the most devastating of suffering situations within this material existence. This is described as follows in the Bhagavad-gita: yo 'ntaḥ-

Krishna's mercy is available for all in unlimited quantities so there is plenty of it to go around for everyone. It is not like some material thing such as oil that will gradually run out as the supply becomes exhausted. No. Everyone can get as much as they want without any fear of a shortage. So how will we qualify ourselves to get the mercy of Krishna? Caitanya Mahaprabhu advises that one should be eager to purchase this Krishna consciousness at any price. Is he talking about our spending millions of dollars to achieve this most sublime treasure? No. Rupa Goswami advises that the only price for getting the mercy of Krishna is laulyam, eagerness. We should be very, very eager to see Krishna and speak with Krishna in this very lifetime. Of course this does not mean that we should cheaply demand that He become present before us. What it does mean is that we should attract the Lord to mercifully reveal Himself to us by sincere humble service. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Devotees in Mel

We have not run out of oil yet, but we are rapidly moving in that direction. Before we reach that point we need to realize the practical reality that our oil-based socio-economic system cannot continue indefinitely. It is simple common sense that we need to take a serious look now at the way the world operated before petroleum came on the scene. In those days the majority of the people lived on small family-operated farms depending on cows for milk and bulls and horses for the power to pull the plow and for transportation. Of course, electric and solar powered vehicles are a possible option. But as it is said, "Trust no future, however pleasant." There is no certainty that we can generate a sufficient quantity of power to enable us to maintain our present social structure. Therefore we must now take a very serious look at revamping the human society in the direction of the model which has successfully maintained the human race for thousands and thousands of years on this pla

Life on the road for Krishna is truly an exciting adventure. We never know what to expect next. But we do know one thing for sure. Krishna's mercy is always manifesting at every moment wherever we go all over the world in all times, places, and circumstances. How that mercy will manifest we do not know. But we do know absolutely for sure that it will manifest. The interesting, amazing thing is to watch carefully and see how it is always manifesting without fail wherever we go all over the world. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: When is the Universal Destruction? I have discussed about Kali Yuga as my daily discussion sharing your ultimate thought with my friends and one of my Muslim friend here who was listen very attentively had raised me a question that the entire universe will annihilated at the end 427,000 years or within that period? Please enlighten me. Your humble servant, Jack Answer: 155 Trillions Years from Now The universe

The ultimate provider of everything material and spiritual is Krishna or God. Therefore if He is pleased, He can easily give us whatever we need. In this connection Srila Prabhupada explains, "The Lord is all-powerful, and if He is satisfied by our obedience unto His lotus feet, He is competent to bestow upon us all kinds of blessings for the successful execution of both our material and spiritual lives." So why should be in any anxiety? There is no reason for this. The present day human society is in so much in anxiety about food shortage, water shortage, and fuel shortage. They do not realize that if they will simply surrender themselves unto the Lord that everything they need will be easily provided. Because they are ignorant of this principle the entire human society is in an ever-increasingly chaotic situation. Therefore the science of Krishna consciousness should be taught to everyone for the happiness of all. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Photos from New Gokula Farm Ret

I've said it many times before, and I will say it again. In fact I'll keep saying it again and again until that day comes when it finally becomes fully manifested or I leave my body at the time of death. We've got to revolutionize this planet. We've got to put God back in the center of every facet of the human society. Just try to understand this message very deeply and sincerely that Krishna or God is the source of all existence, and that therefore we are meant to live in a state of total, complete harmony with Him. The entire planet and indeed the entire universe will become totally peaceful and happy. In other words our lives will become amazingly sublime. Even our material needs will be easily met. But if we neglect to properly respect and serve Krishna and His representative, the bona fide spiritual master, and the Vaisnavas the whole planet will plunge into a deeper and darker every-increasingly nightmarish deathlike condition. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers Acc

A special thanks today to Vraja Dhama Prabhu from Brisbane, Australia. On my recent visit there on 30 May 2008 he videoed my lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam 10.4.14. He then uploaded it to the internet so that all of you can now watch it in its entirety. Krishna consciousness is not dry renunciation. We can use anything material in the service of the Lord for the purpose of loudly broadcasting His glories all over the world. What Vraja Dham Prabhu has done is a notable example. Here's the video: http://www.backtohome.com/video/Lectures.htm Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Conquer Lust? How can I subdue this enemy called lust? In starting it seems it is our friend but then I come to know it is my enemy!!! What to do about this enemy? How should I resist this temptation? Vishal Answer: Love Krishna Lust is automatically subdued by reviving your dormant Krishna consciousness. When you become fully satisfied by loving Krishna,

Recently one of my readers attacked me for not accepting Jesus. Such an attack is ridiculous because I have fully accepted Jesus much more so than the so-called Christians. After all, it was he who inspired me to take to the pathway of Krishna bhakti. There is no difference between the teachings of God the Father (Krishna) and God the Son (Jesus). Krishna is the name of God the Father, Who we read about in the Bible. When I explained to her that it was Lord Jesus who called me to the path of Krishna bhakti she replied, "If Christ calls you, he wants you to serve him not other false Gods with contradictory statements. I pray that you come to know what Christ stands for, which is totally different from what Krishna is. " Apparently she has not carefully read the statements of Lord Jesus in the Bible and compared them with the statements of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. If she were to do so, she would see that both of them are teaching exactly the same thing, that we m

Traveling and preaching Krishna consciousness all over the world exposes us to some many varieties of circumstances. Sometimes we have nice living facilities, and sometimes they are not so nice. Sometimes it is easy to write "Thought for the Day". Sometimes it is a real challenge to finish it in time for the daily deadline. Sometimes we are healthy. Sometimes we are sick. And there so many other varieties as well. Therefore we simply have to accept whatever comes our way as the mercy of Krishna and do the best we can to serve Him in all circumstances. The only constant factor we have is His service. Everything else is subject to so many changing circumstances. This means that we must remain always tolerant and steady in our devotional service no matter circumstances we may find ourselves in. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: About Exhausting the Petroleum Supply I am a little worried about petroleum. The remaining available sto

Since everything is the property of the Lord, everything should be used in His service. This is real renunciation, not the so-called renunciation of considering everything to be material and therefore not using things at all. By using everything in the Lord's service everything regains its original spiritual nature. Since everything is coming from the Lord, everything is essentially spiritual. It only becomes material when we utilize it for our own selfish purposes. Therefore if an airplane is available, we can utilize it for traveling and preaching all over the world. And if it is not available, we can utilize an oxcart for the same purpose. Though our vehicle may be different, our message will always remain the same: Dive into and relish the unlimitedly deep nectarean ocean of Krishna bhakti by completely surrendering yourself at the Lord's lotus feet. Sankarshan Das Adhikari We can travel by airplane, if available... Or if necessary, we can travel by oxcart. Answers Ac

If we take complete shelter of Krishna, we will not be in any anxiety regarding whatever upheavals may beset the world society. A devotee's security is the lotus feet of Krishna, not the material society. Krishna lovingly makes all arrangements for His devotees so that they can always be in the best situation for advancing themselves in His loving service. And His devotees put their complete faith and trust in Him because His shelter is always guaranteed in all times, places, and circumstances. Sometimes the devotees face very calamitous situations that appear completely hopeless from the material point of view. In such situations all they can do is to call out feelingly for the Lord's protection. And then out of His loving kindness the Lord rescues His devotees from the danger. Once in Vrindavan all the inhabitants of Vrindavan including the cows and calves were surrounded by and about to be consumed by a devastating forest fire. But when they pleaded for Krishna's hel

It's time to get practical. Over the last century there has gradually evolved a world-wide socio-economic system based on a plentiful supply of oil, cheap oil. That era has now come to an end. There is no reason to panic. God is still in control. He will never let His devotees starve. But we must now immediately begin to reorient our global world order back towards an agrarian family farm model as it was a century ago. These mega cities whose residents survive on foods produced by petroleum powered tractors and trucked in from the agricultural fields by petroleum powered trucks can no longer continue to exist on the massive scale that they do now. All the world governments should now take the initiative to facilitate their citizens who would like to take to an agrarian lifestyle. The basic survival skills of how to protect the cows and bulls and successfully work the land for producing one's eatables should now become available for all to learn in our public educational systems