Ultimate Self Realization

As I write these words we are flying from Hong Kong to Delhi, India. This means that in a few hours we will be landing in that country which has just undergone a series of brutal terrorist attacks in which over 100 people were murdered. Such horrific tragedies are a stark reminder of how dangerous indeed this material world is. Once when my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, was asked about terrorism he said that in a world where everyone is like an animal it is natural that some of the "animals" will be ferocious. This profound statement from Srila Prabhupada indicates that the only tangible solution for the terrorism scourge is to elevate the entire society beyond the animal platform to the platform of pure love of God. As long as men remain like animals by engrossment in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending it is inevitable that some of them will come out as terrorists. So if we want true lasting peace we must popularize the Krishna consciousness movement all over the

Life is very short, especially in the Kali yuga. Even though we are supposed to live to be 100, hardly anyone makes it that far these days. You never know when you are going to meet with calamitous death from disease, a stroke or a heart attack, an automobile accident, a terrorist attack, or from any other of a myriad of other possible means of untimely death. Therefore, since life is very short we should try to squeeze as much Krishna bhakti as possible into each and every 24 hour period to maximize our chances of remembering Krishna at the time of death thus enabling ourselves to go back to home, back to Godhead never to take birth again in this miserable world. Some foolish people criticize us for being pessimistic. If you are on a sinking ship, it is better to know that you are sinking so you can abandon the ship and get into a lifeboat? Or is it better to ignore the fact that you are sinking and go on naively trying to enjoy yourself on the ship? Is the person who chooses the

Understanding that making the human life a success requires the expert guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, many of our readers request us to give them guidance on how to find a guru. Since this question has been perfectly answered by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami and Srila Prabhupada in the Caitanya Caritamrita, for your edification here is their answer: jīve sākṣāt nāhi tāte guru caittya rūpe śikṣā-guru haya kṛṣṇa-mahānta-svarūpe "Since one cannot visually experience the presence of the Supersoul, He appears before us as a liberated devotee. Such a spiritual master is none other than Krishna Himself."--Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 1.58 Purport by Srila Prabhupada--"It is not possible for a conditioned soul to directly meet Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but if one becomes a sincere devotee and seriously engages in devotional service, Lord Krishna sends an instructing spiritual master to show him favor and invoke his dormant propensity for serving the

It is the middle of the night. We are currently crossing the Atlantic ocean on a flight from the USA to Amsterdam. Around me on the airplane practically everyone is sleeping. It is a very good opportunity for peacefully engaging in the most sublime of all activities, writing Krishna conscious literature. Although there is no comparing of me with my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, I am reminded that this is the time that he used to use for writing his books without disturbance. After two hours of rest he would rise every morning at midnight and spend the night writing his books. In this way even while circling the globe thirteen times in twelve years, constantly lecturing and explaining the science of bhakti to his disciples and so many others, managing over 100 centers, and writing thousands and thousands of letters to guide his disciples and others on the path of bhakti--he was still able to astound scholars all over the world by writing so many volumes of books. Sankarshan Da

It is stated in the Vedic wisdom: Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt "The Absolute Truth by nature is ānandamaya, always jubilant." (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12) Just as a drop of ocean water is qualitatively one with the ocean, since we are part and parcel of the Absolute Truth our nature is also to be blissful at every moment. Because we are thus naturally constituted to be blissful and because at the same time we are currently trapped in a world which is miserable, we concoct in our minds the idea that we are happy. In this connection one novelist aptly titled his work, "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me." The idea of being stuck in a world of misery is completely unacceptable to the living being. Therefore he must imagine himself to be happy, much like the proverbial ostrich who sticks his head in the sand and thus imagines that he is protected from the predator who is coming to kill him. But why should we settle for such inferior imagined happiness? Would we be willing

In today's world we make a big, big fuss over things that are not of much significance. We waste our time indulging in so many varieties of non-essential pursuits that do not benefit us either materially or spiritually. This wholesale madness is going on because we have based our civilization on a false conception of the self. We consider the blood, flesh, and bones, etc, which constitute the material body, to be the self. Nothing could be further from the truth. Do we consider our cars to be our selves? No, of course not. So why should we consider the car known as the material body to be the self and ignore the driver who is seated on the driver's seat of the heart? A driver who puts gasoline and oil in his car but neglects to feed his body will very soon die from starvation. This is the present situation of our spiritually starved so-called civilization. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice Response to

Our mission is to inundate the entire world with a tidal wave of pure Krishna bhakti. This is the purpose of our lives on this planet. We have accepted this mission from our beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta, and we are fully depending on the mercy of Lord Sri Krishna for whatever degree of success He is willing to grant us in the execution of this most important of all missions. It is intolerable for us to see the suffering condition of the 6.7 billion people on this planet. Therefore we must reach out to them and extend them Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy so that they also taste the transcendental happiness of Krishna consciousness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Is the Guru God? Dear Master: First of all, I am happy to receive your daily thoughts. Thank you very much, and my most respectful salutations to you, to Srila Prabhupada and to all the true masters and to all the devotee friends. My question

Sometimes those who are not solidly situated in Krishna consciousness think that the amazingly wonderful bliss experienced by its advanced practitioners is some kind of imaginative ecstasy, a subjective state of hyping oneself up to have a positive outlook on life. They do not realize that the ecstasy of Krishna consciousness is more solid than titanium. Because of their being blinded by their addiction to material sense gratification they are unable to comprehend that such a thing as genuine spiritual bliss exists. And just as the fox who could not reach the grapes labeled them as sour, they label the inconceivably sublime transcendental bliss of Krishna consciousness as mere illusion. Thus they cut themselves off from experiencing it. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Challenge: You Preach Nonattachment, But Yet You Are Attached Your are so connected with Krishna, but I was seeing that you were also very much worried and depressed due to health prob

When we are traveling out of the wilderness of material existence it is essential that we always carefully stay on the path chalked out by the great saintly teachers of the past because this is the path that will take us back to Godhead. If we veer off the path even slightly, in due course of time we will become lost and once again hopelessly entangled in the quagmire of material existtence. The Vedic injunction is therefore given: mahajano yena gatah sa panthah "Traverse the trail blazed by the previous acharyas." If we branch out trying to invent our own path, we will definitely become lost. Therefore we should always strictly follow the teachings of the great saintly teachers who have throughout the ages clearly described what is spirit, what is matter, and who is the controller of both. This and only this will bring to us lasting peace and happiness and enable us to enter into that wondrous spiritual sky situated far, far beyond the confines of time and space. Sankars

Have you ever had one of those days when the pressure was more than you could handle, but you were forced to cope with it anyway? What to do in such a situation? The first thing to understand is that every cloud has a silver lining, that such situations are a not a curse but are instead blessings in disguise. Such trying circumstances give us the opportunity to call out to Lord Krishna to help us remain in Krishna consciousness in spite of all the difficulties. They give us the chance to intensify our feelings of dependence on the Lord and advance ourselves further along the path of bhakti. So instead of being bewildered when the material energy becomes overwhelming, we simply have to beg for Krishna's special mercy. And then according to the degree of our feelings of dependence upon Him, He will mercifully reciprocate with us. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Can't I Get By Without Having a Living Guru? I am very pleased to be K

I would not trade the Krishna conscious lifestyle for all the wealth of the entire universe. There is truly no more enlivening and exhilarating experience than fully dedicating one's life to the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Who is Krishna Himself mercifully appearing in the Kali Yuga for the deliverance of the fallen, conditioned souls. To dedicate one's every day and every moment in the service of Lord Caitanya and Lord Krishna is the sweetest happiness. You get to live on the vanguard, on the leading edge of the greatest cultural transformation in the history of the universe. Why struggle hard for wealth, fame, and power, which even if attained must soon be given up? Better to engage in the blissful struggle of subduing the rascal senses bringing them completely under control in the service of Sri Guru and Sri Krishna and thus becoming empowered to push forward Lord Caitanya's movement. Why waste time watching boring movies when you can instead play a key role in

In the Bhagavad-gita it is stated that wherever there is Krishna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will certainly be victory, opulence, extraordinary power, and morality. So why not take advantage of this and try to take over the world for Krishna? Why should we allow the entire world to suffer ever-increasing anxiety when we have the supreme antidote for counteracting all the poisons of material existence? If we do not make a sincere effort to try to take over the world for Krishna, will this be an act of compassion? Or will it be an act of negligence? If someone is drowning should we try to save him? Or should we let him drown? If the entire world population is drowning, should we try to save them? Or should we let them drown? Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Can a Christian Practice Krishna Consciousness? Can one be a Christian (a follower of Jesus Christ) study or practice Krishn

It's actually unthinkable that we are living in the midst of a baby-killing civilization. But yet it is a fact. This is not human civilization. This is lower than animal civilization. Which animals do we see that kill their own offspring? When the foolish people of a nation choose leaders who support the killing of innocent children within the womb, it is a bleak day indeed for that nation. Such voters are not qualified to decide who should lead us, nor are those whom they elect qualified to lead us. The rascals who are foolishly accepted as leaders nowadays simply accelerate the further degradation of the quality of life on this planet. Therefore we need leaders of the caliber of Parikshit Maharaja, who gave all protection to everyone who took birth in his kingdom. Such Krishna conscious leaders can bring true and lasting peace and prosperity to this planet. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Disprove Evolution Theory? Hare Krish

In fall of 1965 when I was a freshman at Austin College in Sherman, Texas I began searching to discover what was the purpose of my existence. And after many years of struggle it was in the spring of 1971 that my search finally bore fruit. I realized that my duty was to surrender myself fully to the will of God, to abandon my own desires and fully absorb myself 24 hours a day in fulfilling His desires. I was then quite perplexed to know what He wanted me to do, until I read in the Bhagavad-gita Krishna's instruction that I should surrender myself at the lotus feet of His representative, the bona fide spiritual master. I was indeed very fortunate at that time that the Supreme Lord sent me a bona fide spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I surrendered fully at his lotus feet giving my eternal existence to him. He then taught me the science of bhakti and gave me and his other disciples what could be deemed as an absolutely impossible mission, we are

Because we are living in a materialistic atmosphere the person who has dedicated himself 100% for spreading the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world is bound to sooner or later attract enemies who are vehemently opposed to what he is doing. This is natural in a place where everyone is tinged with varying degrees of lust, greed, anger, illusion, madness, and envy. Such opposition does not dissuade or discourage the spiritual welfare worker. Rather it strengthens him in his resolve to push forward with his benevolent mission. There are so many practical examples of such resistance. Jesus Christ was crucified because he was spreading the bhakti movement in Israel. Haridas Thakur was severely beaten in twenty-two market places for pushing forward Krishna consciousness in Bengal. The preacher of Krishna consciousness is not discouraged by such opposition. Rather he takes it as a positive sign that his preaching is potent, that it is having effect. Of course, by humble sweet de

If we want this world to be a better place we have to cut through the madness by speaking the truth. We have to tell the truth exactly as it is without glossing it over. Instead of striving for so-called political correctness, we should instead strive to simply be correct If something is true, it should be acknowledged and propagated. It's time we expose all the lying and cheating that is going on in the world and give everyone the opportunity to live an enlightened life full of knowledge and bliss by reconnecting them with the real truths of existence. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Islam and Krishna Consciousness Dear Gurudeva, All Glories to Srila Prabhupada! I know you have said that people of all religions can practice Krishna Consciousness but I have a question regarding Islam. In Islam it is acknowledged there is no other God worthy of worship but Allah, that He has no partners and no human form. If Allah has no human form a

M. Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of India's Tamil Nadu state, has recently criticized the practice of wearing tilaka: "What is the need for these things in a country that has accepted all religions and preached equality of the same?" Here is our response to the esteemed Chief Minister: "If your country has accepted religion why are you rejecting the practices of religion such as the wearing of tilaka? This is hypocritical. If you have accepted religion, why then do you reject the practices of religion? This is illogical and nonsensical. Accepting religion means to also accept the practice of religion. Otherwise you are not accepting religion at all. You are simply engaged in political double talk." Sankarshan Das Adhikari Krishna With Tilaka Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Is Chanting on Beads Required? I have heard that by chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra 16 rounds of 108 mahamantras each everyday one is sure to go back to the spi

The Lord's devotees are always compassionate upon all living beings because they desire that everyone should be happy by being completely absorbed in Krishna consciousness. The devotees tolerate all varieties of personal inconveniences for the sake of giving others the opportunity to experience this perfection of existence. Because their happiness is making others happy, and because there is an unlimited supply of people who are needing real and lasting happiness, the devotees derive the greatest satisfaction by engaging in the supreme welfare work of giving Krishna consciousness to others. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Were We Merged into Krishna You have said that Krishna is eternally emanating souls from Himself. Were we not one with God at that point? Why should we not endeavor to regain that state and enter again into Him? And after this emanation of the soul from Krishna does the soul go to Goloka Vrindavan or to the mater

Those who have become advanced in spiritual understanding by realizing and fully absorbing themselves in a state of perfect harmony with the Supreme Absolute Truth, cannot tolerate seeing a world society that is so deeply plunged into chaos and illusion. They deeply and intensely feel compassion for the 99.99% of the world population that is caught up in such a miserable existence. Even though so many people think they are enjoying life, their happiness is imaginary. It is not real because soon their bubble of false happiness will pop and their accumulated karma from heaps of impious activities will cast them into an ocean of devastating anxiety. Therefore those who have realized the underlying reality of this phenomenon that we call existence fully dedicate their lives for saving the suffering souls of this world from their gross illusion and its concomitant threefold miseries. They are out to save the world. This is the purpose of their lives. Whether they are successful or not, the

An intelligent businessman manages his business in such a way that he is in 100% compliance with the laws of the state. While he may in the short run derive more profit by cheating on various laws, by operating illegally he always runs the risk of being caught and suffering a devastating and crippling loss to his business. In other words, although by operating his business illegally he may in the short run make more money, in the long run he will be more profitable by operating in 100% compliance with the state laws. So you may be wondering what this has to do with the science of self-realization. The answer is that this is a highly relevant analogy. While in the short run we may derive more pleasure out of life by violating the laws of God, in the long run we will experience a far, far superior existence by living in 100% compliance with the laws of God. In other words, I may derive some quick cheap sensual thrills by illicit sexual indulgence, intoxication, meat eating, or gambling,

At a home preaching program here in Riga, Latvia a man from the audience wanted to know what are the meanings of the twelve tilaka markings which Vaisnavas decorate their bodies with. He said he had been trying to find the answer to this question for the last seven years. It was then that I noticed that he was not wearing tilaka. Sometimes we may think that we need to get all the detailed answers regarding the science of bhakti before we start practicing it. But this attitude will slow down our progress. The serious practitioner of the self-realization science simply faithfully follows the orders of Krishna and his spiritual master, and by his faith in their instructions he becomes highly realized in all the conclusions of the Vedic scriptures. He joyfully wears tilaka because it helps him and others who see him to be reminded of Krishna. He feels connected with the supreme source of all existence by applying tilaka, especially the tilaka on his forehead. He pleases his spiritual mast

At the present moment we are the slaves of our senses. When our senses dictate, "Give me this or give me that", we dutifully accommodate them. What we fail to realize is that the senses are not us and that satisfying them therefore does not satisfy us. If we want actual happiness, we should limit the senses to what they actually need not giving them everything for which they feel greed. In this way we can channel the major portion of our serving propensity towards the Supreme Person, the source of all existence. When we water the root of a tree all the leaves and branches become nourished. Similarly when we serve the Original Person we become fully satisfied and we give full satisfaction to all living beings. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Feedback Request: Merging with Brahman One who has achieved the highest level of conscious realization is said to realize and become one with Brahman. At this point, all individuality as we know it di

How many animal species do you know that kill their own children? To kill one's own child is a highly barbaric act which places one on a level lower than animals. And it is this caliber of human beings who are being now glorified and accepted as the leaders of the present day human society. This is an indication of how bleak the world situation has now become. We cannot expect any good to come out of society which engages in the wholesale slaughter of its own children. The carefully contrived euphemisms of child-murdering societies such as "reproductive rights" will not save them at the time of death. They will forced by their karma to be murdered in one mother's womb after another again and again and will not see the light of day for many lifetimes. Societies which engage in such grossly sinful acts will experience heavy karmic reactions in the form of such things as terrorism, crime, brutal wars, drought, floods, hurricanes, epidemics, famine, and economic collapse

Many people in the USA are celebrating what is being heralded as the beginning of new era because for the first time in the history of the USA a black man was elected to become president of the United States. However, those who are spiritually enlightened, the knowers of Vedic wisdom, are not feeling the same excitement because they understand that significant change will not come to the world until we have leaders who are qualified to deliver their followers from the cycle of birth and death. In fact the Srimad Bhagavatam states that unless someone is qualified to deliver their dependents from birth and death they should not take the post of leader. So what does this mean for the present slate of presidents, prime ministers, and other leaders all over the world? It means that unless they are willing to qualify themselves to be bona fide leaders they should resign from their posts making room for the leadership of those who are qualified to give proper guidance to the people through t

My last public lecture in Lithuania was on the evening of 4 November 2008 in the city of Elektrenai. I was very happy to see that the city's cultural center was filled up with people eager to hear our message. At the end of my lectures I always allow time for questions and answers. During that evening's question and answer session one nice lady who had been to India asked why is it that in India the cow is considered sacred. I explained to her that because our mother nurtures us with her breast milk she is very dear to us. And who is it that gives us her breast milk after our mother stops giving us her breast milk? That second mother is the cow. So just as the first mother is dear, our second mother, the cow, is very dear to us and is thus given all love and protection throughout her entire life. To this very day those in India who are strictly following Hindu culture treat the cows with the highest respect just as any gentleman would treat his mother. Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Recently one of my students wrote me expressing his confusion over how it could be possible to live in a state of consciousness completely free from all anxiety. Because we are experiencing every day an unending stream of multi-varieties of anxieties we may naturally be doubtful about becoming 100% anxiety-free. But actually such a state does exist. If it did not exist, how could we hanker for it? Could we hanker for water if water did not exist? No. By nature's way we hanker for things which exist. Therefore our hankering for an anxiety-free state of consciousness proves that such a state does exist. Now we simply have to find out how to attain it. This not difficult. All we have to do is find someone who has already achieved it and ask him how we can too. Such a person can easily be found provided we are unflinchingly determined to realize this perfection of consciousness, because if our desire is strong, the Lord within our hearts will manifest externally in the form of the bon

The inconceivably vast population of this material world is situated in 8,400,000 varieties of material forms. There are 900,000 types of aquatics, 2,000,000 kinds of trees and plants, 1,100,000 breeds of worms and reptiles, 1,000,000 classes of birds, 3,000,000 species of beasts and 400,000 different types of human beings. These 8,400,000 different types of forms have not evolved one from the other as foolishly proposed by Charles Darwin. They were all created at the very beginning of the universe by Lord Brahma, the engineer of the universe. So the real meaning of evolution is the gradual transmigration of the living being from lower forms to higher forms through the process known as transmigration of the soul. It is not a process of one species evolving into another species. So the concept of evolution does not originate with Charles Darwin. He simply presented a concocted, distorted version of the original concept which is taught in the Vedas. According to the speculation of Mr. D

Although every living being in his original state of being is a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord, all of the living entities in this material world are covered by varying degrees of demoniac consciousness. After millions of lifetimes of wandering within the cycle of birth and death a fortunate living being who comes in contact with a bona fide spiritual master becomes inspired to free himself of the demoniac consciousness by the revival of his original divine consciousness. When he begins the path of spiritual awakening he must battle against the demon within that does not want him to take up Krishna consciousness. In order to be successful on the path of spiritual awakening he must curb and completely subdue this demon within so his original, pure saintly consciousness can become full manifested. This is why Srila Prabhupada explains that taking up Krishna consciousness means to declare war against maya. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Initiation Ceremony in Russia Answers According to th

Although my flu has gone from bad to worse and I am extremely ill, I am very enlivened to be back here in Russia with these wonderful devotees. This is one of those things that I love so much about Krishna consciousness. It does not matter what the circumstances are on the material plane. If you dive wholeheartedly into the mood of pure devotional service, immediately you experience great transcendental happiness. This is the rare state of consciousness that nobody in the material world has. The happiness or lack of happiness of the materialists is always based on the material circumstances. Therefore they are guaranteed in the final analysis to become frustrated and disappointed with their lives. But a devotee is situated on the transcendental plane far, far beyond the multitudinous sufferings of this world of birth and death. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Blissful Russian Devotees Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Tilaka and Neck Beads How important is applying tilak

Do you know why you exist? If you don't, you are completely missing out. It makes no sense for a human being to go through his life without knowing why he exists. Such an unenlightened life is not a human life at all. Indeed, it is an animal existence. It is said that man is rational animal. So what is that rationality that sets him apart from the other animals? That rationality to is to learn why he exists. As soon as he has discovered why he exists his doorway to an eternal life full of bliss and knowledge becomes opened wide. He no longer lives a glum, hum drum, anxiety-ridden existence. He enters into a dimension of ever-increasing exhilaration. So how does one find out why he exists? He has to find a bona fide spiritual master, a person who has realized the highest truth and become his student. And then under the spiritual master's expert guidance gradually he will realize everything. This is described as follows by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita: jñānena tu tad ajñāna