Unlimited Beautiful Colors

As a college student I studied so many different philosophers: the Greek and Roman philosophers, the medieval and renaissance philosophers, and the modern ones as well. But after wading through all of that philosophical verbiage I found that I was still not even one step closer to understanding the truth. These were supposed to be great authorities for understanding what is reality. But yet they were themselves so much in the dark. How could they possibly lead us out of the ignorance? But then by the grace of Lord Sri Krishna I came into contact with a bona fide spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who clearly revealed to me in no uncertain terms what is reality and what is illusion. Simply by hearing from this great teacher everything became crystal clear. Now by his grace I am no longer confused. There are no more shades of gray. By seeing clearly the black and white distinction between reality and illusion now I can experience the unlimited beautiful colors of eternal existence.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Which is Most Important: Service, Pastimes, or Philosophy?

One of my associates has a doubt. He wants to know which is more important: Krishna's pastimes, Krishna's teachings, or service to Krishna.

If a person doesn't know Krishna's pastimes, how he can develop love for Krishna?

If he doesn't know the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, how can he understand the goal of life?

And, if he doesn't do any service, how will he ever develop the mode of surrender?

Among the devotees here there are some who work very hard to do services like cooking, cleaning, etc. They do not know so much philosophy or about Krishna's pastimes.

And there are those who know more philosophy and who are always read for kirtan and dancing, but are not ready to work hard.

What is the most important?

Your humble servant,

AGD

Answer: All Three, But Especially Service is Important

In the ultimate analysis service always wins. Bhakti yoga means devotional service. If we do not develop a taste for doing service to Krishna we must remain in this material existence birth after birth. Krishna says to give up everything else and dedicate yourself fully to serving Him 24 hours daily. But to understand the philosophy and pastimes of Krishna are also equally important, because without this knowledge and inspiration it is difficult to give one's entire life to serving Krishna. Therefore, the answer is that all three of them are the most important, but if you can only do one of them, service should always be given the first consideration. One who develops a good service mood can dive the most deeply into the unlimited ocean of Krishna's teachings and pastimes. Those without a service mood can only skim the surface of that unlimited ocean of transcendental bliss.

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