Ultimate Self Realization

Failure is the pillar of success. So there is no reason to ever allow yourself to become discouraged on the path of bhakti. Take every failure as a valuable lesson for your ultimate success, and you will quickly make progress. Don't think that because you lose a battle that you won't win the war. You do not require any extraordinary qualifications. Simply maintain your desire. That's all. If you will always remain determined to become Krishna's pure devotee, you will definitely win the war against maya in due course of time. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Stumbling on the Path of Bhakti I have been practicing chanting Hare Krishna for a few months and have experienced the real happiness and eternal bliss for quite sometime. However, for some reason something dragged me into the wrong route and wrong doings for a week. I felt helpless and very uneasy. I don't want to get into this mess any more and want to get back to t

In this material world everyone is looking for the honey. Most foolishly they take money as the sweetest honey. Due to their poor fund of knowledge they are looking in the wrong place for their desired satisfaction. They do not realize that there is a vast reservoir of unlimitedly sweet honey within. All they have to do to taste it is reconnect with Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, through loving devotional service. Then they will eternally experience the sweetest happiness. If we have any compassion for them at all, we must try to do something to awaken them from their slumber of illusion so they too can relish this honey. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Dust of Pure Devotee's Lotus Feet Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and his wonderful disciples who are spreading his message. What is the meaning of smearing the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee on one's body? Is it s

How will the world be saved? Can we just wave a magic wand and expect everyone to realize that they are the eternal servant of Krishna? No, of course not. But what we can do is expand this Krishna consciousness movement one person at a time starting with ourselves and branching out to those who are receptive to Krishna consciousness. Invest your time and energy first of all in keeping yourself nicely engaged in Krishna consciousness. And then enthusiastically engage yourself in giving Krishna consciousness to others focusing your energies especially on those persons who show a keen interest. Keep all of your channels open. You never know who may all of sudden become interested to explore the amazingly wonderful Krishna consciousness world. Distribute prasadam and the books of Srila Prabhupada as much as possible. The more you give Krishna, the more you will get Krishna. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Material Memories after Liberation? I

Why is it that in spite of knowing what is the ultimate reality that so many aspiring transcendentalists fall by the wayside overcome by material desires? This phenomenon is observed by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. He says that among thousands of men, one will take to self-realization. And out of thousands who take to the self-realization process hardly even one person will become factually situated in self-realization. It is sometimes stated that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. This gives us the clue as to why so few are actually successful on the self-realization path. The high failure rate is due to a lingering attachment to bodily identification and sense gratification. As long as we continue to identify with and pander to the material senses we will not be able to become perfect in Krishna consciousness. Therefore at the time of initiation our disciples vow to abstain from illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication, and gambling. By strictly giving up these sinful activ

The factual identity of every living being is that he is the eternal servant of God. Therefore if he is going to experience true and lasting happiness, he must revive his original loving-service relationship with the Supreme Person. No amount of material sense gratification has ever made anybody truly happy. So why should we invest any of our energy unnecessarily in the material energy? Such a course of action would not be very progressive. While accepting only as much material sense gratification as is necessary for keeping our bodies fit we should spend the balance of our energy for self-realization because it's a billion times better to know who you are and be you who are than it is to serve the temporary senses. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Contacting a Spiritual Being In what way do you contact a spiritual being? Can you see or hear him in person, dreams, or by meditation? Who is this spiritual being? What is his name? What do

There is no reason to suffer. Suffering is only for fools. Those who are learned and realized in the transcendental science escape all material miseries by diving deeply into the sweet nectarean ocean of Krishna bhakti. Once you have tasted this real nectar of Krishna bhakti you won't look back to the material world with any regret that you gave up something that was in any way desirable. Rather you will feel great pain in your heart to see the countless numbers of living beings who are caught up in the cycle of birth and death, and you will dedicate your entire life to trying to save them by bringing them to Krishna consciousness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: What is Real Happiness? Could you please explain what the real happiness is? So far I thought if a person has a good health, equanimity, and wealthy enough ( actually I know if people have a lot of money they want more and more) is happy, but now I am confused, because I found

This material world is the ultimate obstacle course. If you would like to become fully Krishna conscious and go back to home, back to Godhead in this lifetimes, you must be very determined to the stick with the process under all circumstances. Sometimes the going is easy, and sometimes the going is rough. You must not waver or cave in with the going gets rough. You've got to always remain staunchly determined to stick tightly to the path of bhakti no matter how many distractions the material energy may dangle in front of you to divert you from the golden road of unlimited devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: When the ego dies... It is said, "When the ego of person dies, God lives in Him." -So are the mind and ego the same? If not, then my next question is: To be in Krishna consciousness we need to control our mind, right? To take firm decision means identifying ourselves with identi

The principle of duty is becoming more and more diminished in the modern day human society. It is being replaced by the principle of sense gratification. Instead of acting out of duty people act on the basis of sensual stimulation. But sense desire burns like fire and never satisfied. Therefore no one becomes satisfied by serving their sensual desires. For example, without a sense of duty a man can make a woman pregnant and feel absolutely no responsibility to help her deal with her pregnant condition. He simply abandons her to go off and find another woman to make pregnant. The more that the human society becomes infected with this hedonistic, dutiless spirit, the more it becomes a hell. Krishna consciousness means to accept the principle of duty beginning with our prime duty to the source of our existence, Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Once our duty to Krishna is properly fulfilled we automatically will become perfectly situated in our duty to everyone, just as when we

Equanimity or steadiness of mind in all circumstances is a very desirable state of mind to be in. In fact it is the most desirable of all states of mind. One who has attained equanimity can handle all circumstances, even the most devastating ones, with a cool, intelligent head. So then how does one attain this state of equanimity? While it is practically impossible to reach that state in today's most hectic world, attaining equanimity is not difficult for those who are Krishna consciousness. How is that? A devotee of Krishna sees the loving hand of Krishna at every step. He never feels bereft of the Lord's mercy. When things are going wonderfully he thinks that he does not deserve this but yet the Lord is blessing him with wonderful, happy experiences. And when things are going terribly he thinks that he deserves much worse but that Krishna is being very kind by minimizing the sinful reactions. In this way the devotee always connects with the sweet loving kindness of Krishna a

This material world has a constant slate of super stars that come and go like the changing of seasons. Today's super star is unknown and forgotten tomorrow. Modern day India's first prime minister Nehru was said by an astrologer to have a become a dog in Sweden in his next birth. There are so many super stars among the musicians, athletes, and politicians. But where do they end up after their brief fling of being worshipped by the millions? According to their karma they take their next birth, and they vanish into oblivion. In Paris there is a statute of Napoleon which states, "Napoleon is France, France is Napoleon." But France is still here. So where is Napoleon? No one knows. He could be a rat running around the streets of Paris scrounging for something to eat. So there is no sense endeavoring to become a big famous super star of this world. If one becomes a pure devotee of Krishna he naturally becomes most famous without any endeavor on his part. He achieves the s

I've been writing "Thought for the Day" for over six-and-a-half years now. This means that I written over 2,300 daily editions. How is it possible to write a Krishna conscious "Thought for the Day" day after day, week after week, year after year and always write something that is new and different? Actually it is not at all difficult because Krishna is nava-yauvana, an ever-fresh youth, and everything in relationship with Krishna is of the same nature as Krishna. This means the topics of Krishna never become stale, hackneyed, or old. They are unlimitedly exciting, invigorating, and ever-expanding. So no matter how much we talk or write about Krishna, the subject matter never wears out. These daily Krishna conscious thoughts become sweeter and more relishable ad infinitum for all of eternity. We've got to now turn on the whole world to this inconceivably sweet nectar. All the problems of the modern day society will easily be solved by this one stroke of addi

Some people refuse to have faith in Lord Krishna's teachings. Because they do not want to trust anyone they would rather remain as faithless skeptics. They feel that this position has more philosophical integrity. But total faithlessness is impossible because by our very natures we must put our faith in something. If we have nowhere else to repose our faith, we will repose it in skepticism. But if we take skepticism all the way to its logical conclusion we must ultimately become skeptical of skepticism itself. So in the final analysis we can understand that faith cannot be avoided because it is a natural part of our being. It is intrinsic to our very constitution. So the key then is not to give up faith (an impossible task). Rather we should intelligently analyze where is the best place to put our faith. And "best place" means where we get the best results. So how do we determine the best place for our faith? This can easily be done be experimentation. Therefore we encou

Maya keeps us very tightly in her grip by enticing and entangling us with the illusory pleasures of this material existence. They are called illusory because like a mirage in the desert they offer no real pleasure. Instead of giving us real pleasure, they only give us the illusion of pleasure. In other words, even though we are hankering to be refreshed and revived by cooling waters, all we end up with is hot, dry sand. This being the case it should be easy for us to give up illusory happiness and go for the real happiness. But the difficulty is that our senses have become so addicted to these illusory pleasures that it becomes practically unthinkable for us to give them up. Therefore we must take help from the higher authorities, such as the Vedic wisdom and the spiritual master, and with fixed intelligence cut through the hard knot of sensory attraction to engage our senses directly in the service of Krishna, who is known as Hrishikesha, the master of the senses. This will liberate

The key to being anxiety-free is this: The more we channel our energy into helping others become free of anxiety, the more we automatically become free of anxiety. In other words if we simply focus on freeing ourselves from anxiety, it will not be as effective as living our lives in such a way as to free others from anxiety. The reason it works like this is that the more we are selfish, the more we are in anxiety, and the more that we are selfless, the more more we are anxiety-free. The ultimate relief from all anxiety is to live one's life in such a way that at every minute in all situations one is always fully absorbed in liberating all the living entities in this material world from their countless anxieties. How can we do this? By always cultivating and spreading Krishna consciousness to the fullest possible extent. The more we share Krishna consciousness, the more we will taste it, and the happier and happier we will be. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedi

No matter how healthy, wealthy, powerful, knowledgeable, or famous one may be he cannot put a brake to the inexorable onslaught of time. Therefore instead of wasting time trying to put a stop to time, the best program is to learn the art of how to rise beyond the influence of time into the timeless transcendental dimension. On this plane of consciousness one is no longer pinched by the ravages of birth, death, old age, and disease. One becomes fully situated within the internal energy and then experiences birth, death, old age, and disease as simply something out there in the external energy. In such a state one feels boundless energy and enthusiasm and becomes fully absorbed in serving the Supreme Person, the source of all existence. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Meaning of Illicit Sex? I am curious what no illicit sex means. Does it mean no sex other than for procreation? I don't mean to seem silly, but does that mean masturbation

If we want to qualify ourselves to enter into the kingdom of God at the time of death, we need to at every moment be cultivating pure devotional service because if even there is the slightest tinge of material desire within our hearts, Krishna will fulfill our desire by giving us birth again in this material world. In other words we need to be fixed in the mood of pure devotional service at the time of passing from this body, and this can only be achieved by training ourselves on a regular daily basis to be in mood of pure devotional service. So what is that mood of pure devotional service? This means that I have no desire except to serve the instructions of Krishna as given in the revealed scriptures and by the bona fide spiritual master. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Engage the Past in Krishna's Service? I would be my pleasure if you would let me know how your past can be engaged in the service of the Lord when we say that t

This material world is not a fully blissful place because here we have to always alternate between suffering and happiness. We cannot just enjoy happiness. We must suffer misery also. And even the happiness we experience here is not pure happiness because it is always mixed consciously or unconsciously with the anxiety of knowing that it will end at any time, that it will not last. So why should we endeavor so much to enjoy this world? This is not very sensible. It is better that we apply our energies for realizing and reviving our original all-blissful, all-knowing eternal natures. This will qualify us for eternal residence in the unlimitedly sublime anxiety-free spiritual sky. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Are We Independent or Controlled? As a human being is man independent to live his own life as his own wish or is he under the total control of almighty God? Sharad Answer: Both The human being is simultaneously independent and u

May all living beings throughout the entire material existence now become fully awakened to their original all-knowing, all blissful natures as the eternal servants of Krishna. There is absolutely no reason for any living being anywhere throughout the vast existence to be suffering. The only reason anyone suffers is ignorance. Therefore the saintly devotees of the Lord fully dedicate themselves to enlightening the entire world with the most amazing liberating teachings of the Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, there is no servant of the Lord more dear than he who dedicates his entire life to delivering the fallen, forgetful souls to their original all-blissful, all-knowing natures. Therefore everyone is invited by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to tell everyone they meet about the most sublime science of Krishna consciousness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Lord Caitanya Calls Everyone to Awaken Now Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Past, Present, and Future? Dear Gurudeva, Should we reme

After being on the road for four months, today officially ends our spring 2009 around-the-world preaching tour. After two flights (Vancouver to Dallas and Dallas to Austin) we will back at our home base in Austin, Texas. This is an opportune moment to ponder what this tour has meant for my Krishna consciousness. The wonderful thing to see is that no matter how much difficulty we have had to endure traveling and preaching all over the world, the overall experience has been greatly exhilarating and enlightening. This is because Krishna consciousness is completely transcendental to this material world. If we solidly connect with Krishna, we can be absolutely ecstatic in all times, places, and circumstances. Anyone in any situation in any part of the world can take advantage of this sublime process of Krishna consciousness and live the most happy and fulfilling life possible. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Radio Show Interview in Vancouver "Yoga of Love" Lecture at a Vancouver Yoga

There is no one and nothing more attractive than Krishna and those persons who are in a pure state of harmony with Krishna. This is why the most highly intelligent class of persons, the paramahamsas, absorb themselves fully in Krishna meditation and in the association of other Krishna conscious persons. By doing so they become elevated to the most exalted state of consciousness in which they will never again be allured by any of the so-called attractive features of this material existence. Even the topmost attractive features of this material existence pale into insignificance when compared to the the attractiveness of Krishna and everyone and everything which is in relationship with Krishna. Those who are fortunate enough to become fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness experience the topmost happiness in a most sublime state of mind completely transcendental to all of the miseries of material existence. And at the same time their hearts melt in compassion to see the unbearable suff

There is no superstar more famous than Krishna. While others may enjoy superstar status temporarily before their name and fame vanishes into oblivious, Krishna enjoys the topmost superstar status for all of eternity. This is one of the qualifications for His being God. God cannot be God unless He is unlimitedly famous. He must be the most famous person throughout all of existence for all of eternity. And since there is no one dear to that dearmost of all personalities than His devotees, Krishna lovingly bestows superstar status upon His devotees. Therefore by the divine potency of that supremely munificent person, the pure devotees of the Lord become the most famous influential persons in world history. Indeed, if we study world history we will see that those persons who have had the greatest impact and who are the most remembered and loved are those persons who sacrificed their entire lives in God's service for spreading His glories all over the world. In this connection there is

The present day world leaders are managing the world society like chickens with their heads cut off. In other words, in spite of all their best intentions, they do not have any idea of what they are doing. There is no reason for all of this madness because the Supreme Personality of Godhead has given the knowledge by which the entire world can be peaceful and happy. This knowledge is presented in the Bhagavad-gita. Anyone who purely practices and teaches the science of the Bhagavad-gita will naturally become a powerful world leader. Therefore we request all persons who are unhappy with the present state of global affairs to join with us in this Krishna consciousness movement for bringing about a global cultural revolution. In this connection Srila Prabhupada has given assurance: If we simply repeat this philosophy exactly as it is, without any misrepresentation or adulteration, then this movement will never be checked, and we will conquer the world.-- So now kindly make active partici

After more than a month of being "down under" in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand we are now heading back today to the northern hemisphere, this time to Canada, for the conclusion of 2009's first preaching tour. (The second tour will begin at the end of next month.) This four months tour of sixteen countries has as usual been a most nectarean, unforgettable experience. There is truly nothing sweeter than participating in this supremely glorious Krishna consciousness movement. Throughout the three worlds what could be more exciting or enlivening than this? I am eternally dedicated to my all-merciful spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, for giving me the most sublime, happy, and revolutionary eternal existence as a servant of Lord Caitanya. Today in gratitude I offer Srila Prabhupada this song: I feel so happy today. And I'll tell you the reason why. I've been blessed with a boon by the most gracious of sages, That indeed I'll

Instead of asking what Krishna can do for us, we should be asking what we can do for Krishna. This is the secret of success in spiritual life. Even though millions of people believe in God, it is indeed very rare to find a person who has realized God. This is because everybody is approaching God to serve their own purposes. Practically no one is approaching God to serve God's purposes. In the Bhagavad-gita God Himself, Lord Sri Krishna, states that He rewards us according to our degree of surrender. Approaching God to fulfill our desires is not surrender. It is business. I flatter the Lord that He is great because I want to get something out of Him. This is not love of God. This is love of my own desires. But when we approach Him to serve His desires, we are blessed with the ultimate privilege of becoming one of His eternal associates. He personally gives Himself to us. There is nothing sweeter or more rewarding that this. A person who has fully surrendered to and has thus fully r

A person does not become the spiritual master of the entire world by appointment or election. Nor can one become such a spiritual master by mental speculation or self-promotion. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur explains that unless one is directly empowered by the causeless mercy of Krishna, one cannot become the spiritual master of the entire world (jagad-guru). The true spiritual master spreads the science of Krishna bhakti throughout the world so that the conditioned souls can be liberated from the blazing fire of material existence. In this way the Krishna consciousness movement becomes more and more prominent on this planet. Srila Prabhupada explains that the true acharya, the spiritual master of the entire world, who is spreading Krishna's name and fame all over the world, must be considered an incarnation of Krishna's mercy and that since he is understood to be the most advanced devotee, he is to be called paramahamsa-thakur. (Thakur is a title of honor offered to

Krishna is jagad-guru, the spiritual master of the universe. And anyone who presents the teachings of Krishna as they are clearly revealed in the Bhagavad-gita is as good as the jagad-guru. If someone claims themselves to be jagad-guru but not does present the teachings of Krishna exactly as Krishna has presented them in the Bhagavad-gita, he is simply a cheater and a cause of great disturbance in the human society. Although he may be very expert in manufacturing his own theories and have a big title or be a famous author, he has no power to deliver anyone from the clutches of birth and death because he is himself not delivered from this material existence. Since Krishna is jagad-guru, one who teaches the instruction of Krishna as it is, on His behalf, may be also accepted as jagad-guru. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Initiation Ceremony 4 July 2009--Hamilton, New Zealand Adi Purusha Das Being Initiated New Initiates Offering Grains to the Sacrificial Fire From Left to Right in front of

The most important step to be taken by the aspiring transcendentalist is to become initiated by a bona fide spiritual master. This is so because Krishna mandates that unless we become the devotees of His devotee He will not accept that we are His devotees. In other words until we are initiated by the bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession from Krishna we do not have full access to Krishna. So we have our choice. Do we want partial access to Krishna, or do we want full access to Krishna? Krishna grants us access to His association according to the degree of our surrender. Therefore if we hold back from full surrender by not following His order to become the devotee of His devotee, we will not have full access to His association. We will remain spiritual outsiders. And if we fully surrender ourselves to Krishna's authorized representative, the bona fide spiritual master, we will be spiritual insiders with unfettered access to Krishna's association. We will taste the

We are openly inviting all compassionate souls to join this Krishna consciousness movement. There is nothing happening on this planet more important than this. The entire human society is suffering in the clutches of birth, death, old age, and disease. The Krishna consciousness movement is fully dedicated to saving the people from their precarious condition. So kindly do not remain a bystander. Those who are not a part of the solution are part of the problem. Please join us today and fully dedicate your life for helping to bring about the respiritualization of the entire human society. You will become very dear to the Supreme Lord, and your spiritual perfection of going back to home, back to Godhead will be guaranteed. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Blissful Hare Krishna Devotees Out to Save the World Answers According to the Vedic Version : Question: Can You Request Krishna to Appear? I would like to ask whether you have seen and met Sri Krishna in person after having spent almost 40

A devotee of the Lord sometimes faces very perplexing situations. But because he has complete faith in Lord Krishna he is never discouraged even in the most devastating of circumstances. Once upon a time in the early days of the universe while Lord Brahma was engaged in the process of creation, the earth was inundated by a deluge and fell down into the depths of the Garbhodaka ocean in the bottom of the universe. Even though Lord Brahma was perplexed wondering what could he do to deal with this situation, instead of becoming discouraged he reasoned that the best thing to do under the circumstances was to let Krishna direct him what to do. And when he was thinking like this Varahadeva, the boar incarnation of God, appeared and rescued the earth from it precarious condition. So whenever are bewildered by reverse conditions we should take it as a grand opportunity to take shelter of the Lord. By doing so we will soon be free from anxiety and will be able cross successfully over the ocean

We took our final darshan of Krishna Kaliya at our ISKCON temple in Lautoka, Fiji on 30 June. It was a very heart touching moment for me. After putting some money into the donation box I humbly bowed down at Krishna Kaliya's feet thanking Him for the so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences I have had preaching in Fiji over the years since 1985. In this material world we can never be certain of anything except for death and of course, even more importantly, Lord Krishna's mercy. So I simply offered myself to Krishna Kaliya as His eternal servant praying to Him that He can do with me whatever He likes because He is my eternal lord and master. If He wants to bring me back to Fiji again for more preaching, I am willing. And if He has other plans for me, I am fully surrendered to that also. After I placed my mind into this mood of complete surrender to Krishna's will we then departed for the Nadi airport where we would be catching our flight to New Zealand. So now I car

Seeking paradise thousands and thousands of tourists regularly stream into Fiji from all over the world to enjoy its natural beauty. Ironically at the same time many of those who live here find it to be hell and are looking for ways to emigrate. Even though this material world is sometimes very beautiful, that beauty is never perfect. It is always marred with suffering and sorrow. Therefore those who are factually intelligent do not look to this material world for happiness. Instead of trying to enjoy a paradise in this material world, they find the real paradise within by awakening their dormant Krishna consciousness. This is the real paradise because it is never tainted by suffering and sorrow. It is the realm of pure unadulterated bliss. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Tourists Arriving in Fiji Fiji's Natural Beauty Paradise Marred by Coup Revealing the Real Paradise Within to Devotees in Fiji Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Proof of God's Existence? C