Don't Cheat Yourself

We have a choice of being thoroughly honest with ourselves and realizing the highest truth or we can cheat ourselves by running after the cheap thrills of material sense gratification. The choice is ours. An intelligent person will carefully analyze both options to see what the results of each are. And then he will naturally go with the choice which is most beneficial for his long run happiness. So now we have our choice whether we would rather be foolish or intelligent.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Can I Chant a Different Mantra?

I have a query about the Hare Krishna mantra. I chant the mantra daily, but I get more bliss when I chant the mantra "Sri Krishna Govinda Hare Murari hai Nath Narayana Vasudeva".

Can only the Hare Krishna mantra give us liberation or can I chant the mantra I have specified above? This mantra helps me concentrate on the Lord better.

Parul

Answer: Take the Most Effective Medicine

If we are sick is it better to take the medicine that tastes better or to take the medicine which is the most powerful to cure our disease? It is confirmed in the Kali Santarana Upanisad that the most powerful mantra for freeing us from the disease known as the repetition of birth and death is the Hare Krishna mantra:

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare
iti ṣoḍaśakaṁ nāmnāṁ
kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanaṁ
nātaḥ parataropāyaḥ
sarva-vedeṣu dṛśyate

"After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of self-realization more effective for this age than the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra."

So now you can decide for yourself which medicine you would like to take: the one which is most effective to liberate you from birth and death or the one which you find to be more tasty. Actually there is no mantra more tasty than the Hare Krishna mantra, although for some it may seem to be a little bitter in the beginning due to their material conditioning.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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