Duty to Enlighten the World

Although I'm sixty years old now, ever since I was a youth I've envisioned that this entire planet can be transformed into a paradise on earth by the introduction of an all-encompassing spiritual revolution. Therefore back in 1968 I abandoned any idea of a career, dropped out of college, and fully dedicated my life for this purpose. For years I struggled on my own trying to ignite such a spiritual revolution through writing and singing hundreds of songs until I realized that unless I first revolutionized my own consciousness my efforts would be completely useless. How could I possibly enlighten the world when I was not enlightened? It was the dream of a fool. I realized that I needed a spiritual master who could teach me how to become spiritually perfect. Then in 1971 in Austin, Texas I was blessed by the divine association of His Holiness Vishnujana Maharaja, who introduced me to his spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the foremost exponent in the modern age of Krishna consciousness, the ultimate self-realization science. Srila Prabhupada was not only teaching his disciples how to become spiritually perfect. He was also engaging them in pushing forward a spiritual movement for the re-spiritualization of the human society. Talk about a perfect fit! I knew that I had found my eternal guru. So now here I am 37 years later trying to execute the duty that Srila Prabhupada gave us that we must enlighten the world with Krishna consciousness. I am praying to Sri Krishna that we will successfully be able to carry our our duty so much so that the entire world population will adopt the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna as explained by Srila Prabhupada as the guiding principle for the human civilization for many generations to come.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: What is My Duty?

Please accept my humble obeisances.

I am a Grihastha, a married man, practicing Krishna consciousness as a member of ISKCON. My wife is also a devotee. Presently we both are serving and leading a Grihstha life.

My question is when Lord Krsna says "leave all religion and surrender unto me". Does it mean that we should renounce Grahtha life and live in temple? What is my duty with respect to Lord Krsna's instruction?

Ajit

Answer: Follow Krishna's Instructions as Given in the Bhagavad-gita

Why do you think surrendering to Krishna means to give up married life, Grihastha life? Arjuna was a grihastha. After hearing Bhagavad-gita directly from the Lord Arjuna surrendered himself fully unto the Lord. He did not give up grihastha life. So why would you think that you should? Surrendering to Krishna means that we should strictly follow the instructions given by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita under the guidance of our spiritual master. There is nowhere in the Bhagavad-gita where Krishna says to give up family life.

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