We Can Live in the Spiritual World

It's wonderful to be staying here again at ISKCON Melbourne. It is especially sweet because Melbourne is one of the places of Srila Prabhupada's transcendental pastimes. When he came here 1974 he declared on Tuesday 25 June:

"So you can be in the material world or the spiritual world as you desire. If you want to remain in the spiritual world, this temple is the spiritual world. We are not living in Melbourne. This temple is not Melbourne. It is Vaikuntha. It is Vrindavana."

It is simply up to us which world we want to live in. If we choose to try to be an independent enjoyer, then we must live in the material world, which is so full of stress and anxiety. And if we choose to live as Krishna's servants to let Him enjoy us, we will then live in the spiritual world free from all anxieties tasting ever-increasing happiness.

The choice is ours. What do you choose?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Srila Prabhupada in Melbourne, Australia

Srila Prabhupada in Melbourne, Australia

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Why Gita As It Is Emphasizes Guru?

I have read the Bhagavad-gita many times but have yet to read the Bhagavad-gita As It Is. What is the difference? And how come it seems to stress having a spiritual master so much in the "As It Is" edition when I don't believe I have ever read it in the many translations that I own.

Thank you very much.
God bless.

Travis Gardineer

Answer: Because Krishna Emphasizes Guru

There is only version of the Bhagavad-gita, and that is the Bhagavad-gita spoken by Krishna. Lord Krishna clearly states in Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12: ācāryopāsanaṁ, that approaching in spiritual master is one of the items of knowledge and that not approaching a guru is ignorance.

Therefore any Gita translation which accurately translates the Sanskrit must bring forward the necessity of having a bona fide spiritual master. If they do not do so, that edition, according to Sri Krishna, is in ignorance.

If other authors are using the popularity of the Bhagavad-gita to present their own philosophy that a guru is not required, we are not interested in such so-called Bhagavad-gitas. Instead we are interested in what was actually spoken by Krishna to Arjuna because it is this pure, accurate presentation of the Bhagavad-gita that will deliver us from the cycle of birth and death, not other editions which change the words of Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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