Beyond Pain and Misery

In this material world we are always being attacked by various kinds of pains and miseries. If we want to become free from their pinching effect, we must come to the spiritual platform. The spiritual platform is not some kind of imaginative ecstasy or mental adjustment. No. It means to become fully absorbed twenty four hours a day in loving service to Lord Sri Krishna under the expert guidance of the bona fide spiritual master and the revealed scriptures. It is only when we give up material sense gratification and fully absorb ourselves in devotional service that we can become free from the material miseries. As long as we continue to indulge in material sense gratification it is sure and certain that we will be pierced by the sharp arrows of the material miseries

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Aerial View of Govinda Valley Retreat Center

Aerial View of Govinda Valley Retreat Center

Blissful Participants from Last Year's Retreat

Blissful Participants from Last Year's Retreat

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Guru is Krishna Himself?

Maharaja, I am having a little trouble understanding this point and how it all comes together. Can you please elaborate?

I understand that the spirit soul is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. In "Thought for the Day" for 11/27, you gave the quote from the C.C.Adi Lila:

"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

And I have always seen that the bona fide spiritual master is the representative of Krishna. Can you please explain how all of this comes together?

Your servant,

Tiffany

Answer: Guru is as Good as Krishna

The spiritual master is the external manifestation of the Supersoul. Even though he is a jiva soul, because he purely represents Krishna he is as good as Krishna Himself. When he gives us an instruction it carries the same weight as if Krishna personally gave us that instruction.

Here is a mundane example. Let's say that your next door neighbor is a police officer. One day if you are speeding and you happen to be caught in the radar trap that he has set up for speeders, it is his duty to act as the government and issue you a ticket. When he orders you to pull over your car, you must do so because when he is on duty as a police officer he is the government. If you disobey his order to pull over, you are disobeying the government and you are subject to arrest. So in the same way that the government agent, even though an ordinary citizen, is as good as the government, the spiritual master acting under the authority of Krishna is as good as Krishna Himself. Krishna manifests Himself through the spiritual master for engaging you in His service and delivering you back to home, back to Godhead. Is this clear?

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