International Non-Violence Festival

We were invited to appear at Kaliningrad's International Non-Violence Festival on Sunday 4 October. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to offer the non-violence formula of Krishna consciousness. Krishna describes in the Bhagavad-gita that one of the symptoms of a devotee is that he is friendly to every living being. Therefore Krishna consciousness is the epitome of non-violence. While Krishna consciousness allows the use of violence to defend oneself against the violent attack of aggressors, it does not allow one to commit violence against the innocent, including unborn babies, cows, and other creatures even down to ant. Even plants should not be unnecessarily killed. Because the devotee of the Lord sees all living beings as his brothers and sisters, he is naturally non-violent.
We were only allowed twenty minutes for our presentation so we first did a short kirtan and then I gave a short explanation of non-violence according the Bhagavad-gita. It was a wonderful and very enlivening experience for us all to share Krishna consciousness with the Russian people. I told that although I am from the USA I feel as much at home in Russia as I do in the USA because the entire world is God's country. Men have made artificial boundaries over which they fight and kill each other. But the Lord's devotees have a far more enlightened vision of reality.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Measuring Our Level of Devotion?

Kindly please accept my humble obeisances. Al glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Please tell me how can we know for sure that we are on some particular level of devotion as mentioned in the shastras? If we don't try to find out, then how can we advance? And if we do try to find out, does it contradict the rule of humility? I have always heard that we are just servants of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, and I have also heard that we should always endeavor to make spiritual advancement. So please kindly explain to me.

Thank you,

Your servant,

Rukminipriya devi dasi

Answer: It Is Naturally Perceivable

Just as one becomes aware of how his belly is getting filled by eating without any measuring device, one who advances in Krishna consciousness naturally become aware how he is advancing without any measuring device. Such advancement does not make him proud because the more he advances in Krishna consciousness, the more he naturally feels meek and humble. So if somebody is proud of what their perceive to be their spiritual advancement, they are not advancing in Krishna consciousness. They are instead advancing in self-delusion.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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