Don't Be Carried Away by Liquid Beauty

In this material world we are attracted to each other as males and females. But what is that attraction? It is only skin deep. Beneath that thin layer of skin is a conglomeration of grotesque bodily ingredients: mucus, bile, stool, urine, blood, vomit, etc. The only reason we are attracted to this disgusting bag of elements is that Mayadevi has done a super excellent job of packaging them in such a way that we are completely enamored by the body of the opposite sex. The great sages such as His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada have mercifully liberated us from this spell of maya or illusion by teaching us about the eternal spiritual identity of the self, which is millions and billions of times more attractive than this temporary material body. In this connection for our benefit Srila Prabhupada has told us the story of liquid beauty as follows:

Once a man who was very powerful and strongly built but whose character was very doubtful fell in love with a beautiful girl. The girl was not only beautiful in appearance but also saintly in character, and as such she did not like the man's advances. The man, however, was insistent because of his lustful desires, and therefore the girl requested him to wait only seven days, and she set a time after that when he could meet her. The man agreed, and with high expectations he began waiting for the appointed time.
The saintly girl, however, in order to manifest the real beauty of absolute truth, adopted a method very instructive. She took very strong doses of laxatives and purgatives, and for seven days she continually passed loose stool and vomited all that she ate. Moreover, she stored all the loose stool and vomit in suitable pots. As a result of the purgatives, the so-called beautiful girl became lean and thin like a skeleton, her complexion turned blackish, and her beautiful eyes sank into the sockets of her skull. Thus at the appointed hour she waited anxiously to receive the eager man.
The man appeared on the scene well dressed and well behaved and asked the ugly girl he found waiting there about the beautiful girl he was to meet. The man could not recognize the girl he saw as the same beautiful girl for whom he was asking; indeed, although she repeatedly asserted her identity, because of her pitiable condition he was unable to recognize her.
At last the girl told the powerful man that she had separated the ingredients of her beauty and stored them in pots. She also told him that he could enjoy those juices of beauty. When the mundane poetic man asked to see these juices of beauty, he was directed to the store of loose stool and liquid vomit, which were emanating an unbearably bad smell. Thus the whole story of the beauty-liquid was disclosed to him. Finally, by the grace of the saintly girl, this man of low character was able to distinguish between the shadow and the substance, and thus he came to his senses.

So let us all take lesson from this highly instructive story and no longer be carried away by the liquid beauty of this material world.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

The Beautiful Maiden Separated Her Beauty Keeping It In Clay Pots to Be "Enjoyed" by Her Suitor

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Can Krishna Come From Himself?

My Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet.
All glories to you and Guru Mataji.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Srila Gurudeva, I have a question. I know Krishna came from Himself but I don't understand how can that be.

Your servant,

Kirtan

(a six year old boy)

Answer: He Must Because There's Nowhere Else to Come From.

Krishna must come from Himself because there's nowhere else to come from. Since Krishna is the origin of everything and since He is also included with everything He must therefore originate in Himself. Since He is the origin of all, there can be no other cause for His existence other than Himself. In other words, He is self-manifested. He exists merely by dint of His desire to exist with no other cause.

Since Krishna is the origin of everything, if it were not for Him there would be no existence at all. There would be simply void. There is no example of anything else which originates from itself that we can give you as an example to help you understand Krishna's ability to manifest Himself. The understanding of Krishna goes completely beyond any sort of mundane logic. His mysteries are revealed to the sincere disciples through the transparent via medium of the bona fide spiritual master to those devotees whose eyes are tinged with salve of love of Godhead.

This is described as follows in the Sri Brahma Samhita:

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Krịsḥṇa Himself, with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love."

So if you want to understand Krishna, kindly chant His sweet holy names every day with love and devotion:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

In this way, by chanting with love, you will someday personally meet Krishna and be able to directly see by your own bhakti empowered perception how Krishna is the origin of everything including Himself.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari