Ultimate Self Realization

As every living being is part and parcel of Krishna, it is our duty to serve all others as a service to Lord Krishna. Our service to them is to interact with them in such a way as to best facilitate their Krishna consciousness. When we think ourselves to be the proprietors and enjoyers of all we survey, we will naturally try to exploit others for our personal self interest. Such a selfish, miserly mood will not make others happy; nor will it make us happy. Therefore the real happiness for all, including ourselves, is that we must always see who is the real proprietor and enjoyer and engage ourselves and all others in His service. This is the true formula for universal peace and brotherhood. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Self Realization and Krishna Consciousness Are self-realization and Krishna consciousness the same thing? D.P. Answer: Perfection of Self Realization When we are in the darkness of night we cannot see anything. But...

Do you want to taste at every minute the nectar of unlimited happiness within your heart? It is not difficult to do so, if you are willing to lay aside all the rubbish mental conditioning which has distorted your vision for countless eons of lifetimes. You need to boldly embrace an intelligent perspective about reality, which objectively takes into account what is actually going on around you. Kindly note that we desire to live forever, but yet the laws of nature are forcing death upon us. This means that we must necessarily be not of this world. We must be creatures of another dimension where life is eternal. If one is fortunate enough to come into contact with a liberated soul who is living in that eternal dimension of existence and he takes full advantage of that liberated soul's association, he can then regain his original position of an eternal, unlimited happy life. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question:Everyone is Originally a Devotee?...

Have you ever had a powerful defining moment in your life when your life's purpose becomes excitingly crystal clear? I had such a defining moment recently on 21 October 2010. I was on an overnight British Airways flight from Mumbai, India to London to begin a 3 weeks lecture tour in Europe. I awoke to see through the airplane window a slight hint of the soon-to-appear sunrise over my left shoulder on the eastern horizon. By the grace of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I was given the vivid realization of an even greater sunrise that is now manifesting in this universe, the dawning of an enlightened age of Krishna consciousness. I knew that I was one of those most fortunate souls who had been tipped off early on, and who had been allowed by the Lord to play a role in this amazing global awakening. It was the most exhilarating, thrilling feeling I could imagine. The cabin was full of sleeping people who were asleep in more ways than one. And...

What this planet is lacking is leadership. The current slate of leaders have neither the knowledge nor the purity to lead the world society out of its ever-increasingly chaotic condition. Disorder and disruption are becoming more and more predominant in every sphere of the social/ecological order, and things will do nothing except get worse, unless and until the world society is willing to be guided by those who are actually qualified the lead it, the pure devotees of the Lord Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Overcome Sentiment? What is sentiment? How does this affect/influence Krishna consciousness? And how can one overcome sentiment? Humbly, Your Servant, Nandan Answer: Spiritualize It Sentiment means feelings. Material sentiments bind us. Spiritual sentiments liberate us. Become free from material sentiments by filling your heart with spiritual sentiments. Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Here in Texas there is a saying that cowboys always die with their boots on. This means that they never give up their determination of being cowboys even up until the moment of death. The devotee of Krishna has a similar mood. Even up to moment of his death he continues glorifying Lord Krishna and pushing forward the Krishna consciousness movement for the deliverance of all living beings. Even if the cowboys don't actually keep their boots on, the pure devotee of Krishna remains solidly fixed in his determination even while he is passing out of his body. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Formlessness After Liberation? When we return to the spiritual world, are we just going to be the spirit, or we are going to have bodies? KC Answer: Transcendental Forms When we regain our original positions in the spiritual world, we will not be formless. Just as Krishna has an eternal form, which is full of bliss and knowledge, His devotees i...

Miser means miserable. So it does not make any sense to remain a miser. The word for miser in Sanskrit is "kripana". This is similar to the English word "creep", which means an unpleasant, obnoxious person, or in other words, a miser. To be a miser means to be a taker instead of a giver. The miser always tries to exploit others for his own personal advantage. He has no desire to serve others, because he thinks that he can only be happy by serving himself. He does not realize how much joy there is in giving service to others. The perfection of serving others is to serve that person who is the root cause of all existence, because when we serve Him we automatically render the best loving service to all living beings. Just as when we water the root of a tree all the leaves and branches are nourished, when give our love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead our love is distributed to all living beings, and we feel unlimited happiness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers A...

My dear spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, kindly bless me that I can become your completely dedicated servant, who is willing to do whatever is required to make your mission of delivering the entire world a success. I am not a very qualified servant. In fact, I am disqualified in so many ways due to my innumerable faults such as false pride and laziness. Therefore I must beg you to kindly help me conquer over all of my deficiencies so that I can become your first class servant. Kindly have mercy on me, Srila Prabhupada. I am crying to you piteously like a small child calling for its mother. Please bless me that I can become your completely pure disciple. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How Does Consciousness Expand? My dear Gurudeva, I offer my humble obeisances to you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! I was studying my Bhagavad-Gita As It Is this morning and a gnawing question came to mind. If the spirit-soul is so small, how can cons...

When you are miserable, what can you do to get rid of your misery? Drown yourself in sense gratification? No. That will only make it worse. To get rid of misery you have to intelligently analyze your situation and understand why you are miserable and then do the needful to eliminate it. Misery is due to our false sense of trying to be the owner and enjoyer of that which is actually the property of someone else, namely the Supreme Lord, the source of all existence. When one is infected with this false sense of overlordship, which is contrary to his constitutional identity as a servant of the Supreme, he will naturally be miserable. To try to be happy in that way is like trying to eat ice cream through your ear. It is completely unnatural and artificial. The natural solution is understand and realize that since you come into this world with nothing and leave with nothing, you are not the proprietor of what you survey and are thus also not its enjoyer. So instead of trying to be propr...

We've got two weeks more here at our ashram in Austin, Texas to get ready for our next tour. There are so many things to do I feel like I am in the middle of a tornado. But in spite of the hectic schedule, I have a wonderful peace of mind simply by taking shelter of my beloved Lord Sri Krishna according to the sublime advice He gives in the Gita: cetasā sarva-karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ buddhi-yogam upāśritya mac-cittaḥ satataṁ bhava "In all activities just depend upon Me and work always under My protection. In such devotional service, be fully conscious of Me." --Bhagavad-gita 18.57 Simply by living in adherence with this guidance from the Supreme Person anybody in any part of the world can be peaceful and happy. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Sometimes Life is Like a Tornado Answers According to the Vedic Version: Challenge: Your Compassion is Impractical There is a verse in the Bhagavad-gita which states: "Out of many thousands among men, one may e...

Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhupada advises us that the only way to attain the perfectional stage of consciousness, Krishna consciousness, is by the intense greed to obtain it. It cannot be had even by pious activities for hundreds and millions of years. He says that if it is available somewhere that we should purchase it without delay. The fantastic news is that it is available right now in the Krishna consciousness movement, which is currently manifested on this planet in the form of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Visit your local ISKCON branch as soon as possible, and make sure to bring along an intense greed for Krishna bhakti, for awakening your dormant Krishna consciousness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Does Krishna Have an Impersonal Form? In Bhagavad-gita 12.2 Lord Krishna says that he who concentrates on His personal form and who worship Him with faith and devotion is to be considered to be most perfect...

Our mission is to see that every man, woman, and child on the face of this planet is peaceful, well-fed, and happy. This is of course is quite a herculean task. It would seem, considering the present world situation, that to accomplish such a mission would be completely impossible. But impossible dreams are the stuff that heroes are made of. Positive thinking is empowering and negative thinking is debilitating. If one thinks positively, he can always maintain his youthful enthusiasm and accomplish much more in his life than those who think negatively. Even though my 63 years ol body is deficient in so many ways, I still feel the same youthful enthusiasm I did when as a 23 year old I joined the Hare Krishnas to save the world. Here I am preaching to a delighted couple at a yajna feast held at New Vrindavan's original old farm house sometime around 1973. I am wearing saffron because I was a brahmacari at that time. I was very enlivened for spreading this supreme knowledge at that t...

If you want to regain your constitutional position of unlimited happiness, you must bring your senses under control because as long as you allow them to control you, you will remain subject to the fourfold miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease. Controlled senses means to engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses, Hrisikesha or Krishna. In other words be a goswami, the master of your senses, not a godasa, the slave of your senses. The easiest way to do is this is to constantly or as much as possible chant the Hare Krishna mantra. If you will seriously adopt this chanting process, you will quickly and easily become a perfect goswami. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Srila Prabhupada, the Perfect Goswami, Chants Hare Krishna on His Japa Beads Answers According to the Vedic Version: Challenge: Why do You Lie? Your efforts will not make the whole world Krishna Consciousness. You should know that in the Bhavisya Purana Krishna states that at the end of the Kali yug...

The root cause of all the problems which are perplexing the modern day society is that the people want the kingdom of God without God. They want to deny God's existence and at the same time create a heaven on earth through the advancement of modern technology. But their foolish attempt is condemned to failure as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ rākṣasīm āsurīṁ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ "Those who are thus bewildered are attracted by demonic and atheistic views. In that deluded condition, their hopes for liberation, their fruitive activities, and their culture of knowledge are all defeated."--Bhagavad-gita Bg 9.12 The proof can be seen all around us. Now as a result of their scientific advancement the ecological balance of the earth planet is being destroyed. We are witnessing an ever-increasing threat from global warming, drought, desertification, famine, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, pollution, terrorism, epide...

My Dear Srila Prabhupada, on 7 September 1971 in a letter from London you wonderfully encouraged me with the following words: "I can see also that you are a very sincere and enthusiastic boy and are anxious for spreading this movement. Those are first class qualifications for making advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So continue enthusiastically as you are doing and Krishna will surely bless you." I have sincerely tried since that day to always maintain my enthusiasm for serving your mission in all varieties of pleasing, not so pleasing, and even downright disgusting circumstances. My loyalty to your instructions has been the greatest treasure of life. It has transformed my life into the ultimate adventure of being a cutting edge spiritual revolutionary fully absorbed in try to save the entire human civilization from the cycle of birth and death. Whether they are saved or not, one thing is for sure: By your grace I am being saved as confirmed by you in the very same l...

Sometimes we hear that it is not possible for the entire world to become Krishna conscious, that the idea of Krishna conscious world is an inconceivable, naive dream. But I don't accept this, and I'll tell you why. I see right now how in the USA there is a black man, Mr. Barack Obama, serving as the president of the United States. Fifty years ago if someone had said that in the future the USA would a have a black president, nobody would have believed it. They would have laughed it off as a ridiculous, foolish notion. I remember how fifty years ago when I was a young boy living in Houston, Texas that a black man was not allowed to enter the white's man's bathroom at our local Sears and Roebuck department store except to clean it. In that same store a black man could not even drink from the same water fountain as a white man. Black people were considered inferior in every way. They lived in different neighborhoods, attended different schools and churches, and were limit...

After nine weeks of traveling and lecturing on the ultimate self realization science of Krishna consciousness in Bulgaria, India, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia, we are heading back to our ashram in Austin, Texas for a three weeks break before heading out again for finishing up our tour by lecturing in South Africa, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and Peru. Traveling and lecturing all over the world on behalf of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is a truly amazing second-to-none experience. There is nothing more inspiring and enlivening that this. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Arrival at Home Program-- Riga, Lativa--13 November 2010 Lecture at Home Program-- Riga, Lativa--13 November 2010 Distributing a Set of Srimad Bhagavatams At Home Program--Riga, Lativa--13 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Why Do I Exist? Respected Gurudeva, Why am I created? What is the...

We are most fortunate to be living in the most exciting time of world history. This is the Caitanya era. It began in 1486 with the advent of Lord Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna appearing in the form of His own devotee. Those who participate in this movement of Lord Caitanya get to taste every day the supreme nectar of being part of the greatest rescue mission in history, saving the entire human race from its suffering condition in the cycle of birth and death. So if you are bored with life, join us today, and you will be in for the supreme adventure. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Questions and Answers on the Absolute Truth Riga, Lativa--12 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Is Krishna or Narayana the Original Godhead? Dear Master, First of all I would like to thank you for the wonderful teachings. Is Krishna the original form of Godhead or is Narayana the original form? And does which one we worship make any difference in o...

There is no need for you to suffer any longer in this miserable material existence, because there is a spiritual awakening now sweeping the planet earth, bestowing the supreme happiness upon all those who are so fortunate to come in contact with this ever-increasing ocean of supreme bliss. If you have not yet been inundated by the waves of this ocean, the good news is that this ocean has just now reached you in the form of this message. Dive now into this ocean of bliss and say goodbye forever to the miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease as you reawaken your original all-knowing, all-blissful identity as the eternal servant of God. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Pure Devotional Service Seminar Riga, Lativa--11 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: How to Be a Good Devotee and a Good Wife? Dear Master, I would like to know about Krishna conscious family life. I am a woman from a Christian background. I cannot live alone in the society. I hope you und...

Our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, has given us the seemingly impossible duty of making the entire world Krishna conscious. He told us, his disciples, on 17 December 1973 in Los Angeles, "Become guru and deliver the whole world." But what we can do on our own? We are a small number of souls struggling to awaken the entire human population to Krishna consciousness. On our own there is no way that we can be successful in carrying out this mission. But if you, and more and more others like you, will now step forward to dedicate your lives to this mission, there is substantial hope that we can be successful. So kindly now step forward and offer yourself as the dedicated servant of the Krishna consciousness movement. This is our humble request. Whatever talents and opulences you possess are the gifts of God. So now, kindly engage these gifts in the service of He who blessed you with them. In this way your talents and opulences will increase...

A life without real meaning is pointless. Imagined meaning is useless. But yet most people resign themselves to such a miserable fate simply because they do not know any better. They work hard their whole life only to be rewarded with a grave at the end. Those who are intelligent and philosophically inclined search diligently for the purpose of their existence until they finally find it by coming in contact with a bona fide spiritual master. The bona fide spiritual masters are very kind because they constantly travel all over the world to enlighten everyone in the science of life's real purpose. I was most fortunate to come into the contact of such a bona fide spiritual master who taught me the science of how to revive my eternal, beyond-the-grave identity and then ordered me to make this science available to all suffering souls all over the world. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Purpose of Life Lecture--Riga, Latvia--8 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question:...

9 November 2010--Today is the disappearance day of my most beloved spiritual maser, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Were it not for him I would be drowning right now in an ocean of perpetual sorrow and illusion. So how is it possible I could ever sufficiently express my gratitude to him for the completely undeserved constant flow of unlimited mercy that he has been bestowing upon me? This is a day of sadness because no longer in this world can I sit at his lotus feet as I formerly did and hear another one of his amazing lectures. No longer can I raise my hand to ask a question and hear his sublime transcendental answer. Nor can I again write him a letter and receive back his written response personally signed by him. Although it is a painful melancholy, it is a sweet melancholy, because the more I pine for his association with a wounded, aching heart, the more he becomes manifested within my heart to relieve me of the distress of his separation. In this day of Sr...

There is nothing more enchanting than chanting the holy names of God because through the process of chanting under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master one is directly connected with God, the source of everything. Since when one is connected with God, he is connected with everything, through chanting one can experience everything wonderful that can be experienced anywhere throughout all of existence. Understanding the amazing benefits of chanting God's names, what sane person anywhere throughout the entire world would not want to chant? Sankarshan Das Adhikari Sunday Feast Lecture Kaunas, Lithuania--7 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Evidence for the Existence of God? How can it proven that there is God and that God is the creator of this universe? Satish Answer: Everything Comes from Something Since it is scientifically verifiable than everything comes from something, that nothing comes from nothing, therefore it is scientif...

Our super nectarean but all too short visit to Russia was again an ocean of inconceivable bliss. To be fully absorbed in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord in the association of His wonderful devotees is the perfection of our existence. Oh Lord, birth after birth may I always packed up tightly in the association of your pure devotees who have no other desire than to constantly deep sea dive in the nectarean ocean of the unlimited glories of your transcendental name, fame, form, entourage, paraphernalia, and qualities. What more could I want than this? Sankarshan Das Adhikari Ecstatic Send Off From Russia Kaliningrad--7 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Nitya Siddha Tattva Respected Gurudeva, They say that Lord Krishna's divine love is "nitya siddha tattva." What does it mean? Please help me understand it. With highest regards, Mitranand Answer: Absorbed Fully in Pure Krishna Bhakti "Nitya siddha tattva" is...

Why remain in a world where you are forced to suffer birth, death, old age, and disease lifetime after lifetime after lifetime? You can easily escape this problematic world. All you have to do is fly away from here on Hare Krishna airlines. The spiritual master is your friendly travel agent. Book your ticket today. Get on board, buckle up, rev up your chanting engine, and take off today into the all-attractive spiritual sky. You can say goodbye forever to all forms of material suffering. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Flying on Hare Krishna Airlines in Russia Kaliningrad--5 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Did We Originate in the Spiritual World? I have been reading your thoughts of the day and answers to questions since April 24, 2010. Your words keep me connected to Guru and Krishna on a regular basis. You have also provided some wonderful explanations to common and uncommon misconceptions of Krishna Consciousness. If only I had just a fraction of you...

On 4 November, 2010 in Kaunas, Lithuania on a chilly, dark, rainy and windy evening I was led into an an old, cold and dingy Soviet era building through an obscure passageway into a hall packed full of eager listeners ready to hear my lecture on the spiritual history of the world. They were super responsive and would often applaud in appreciation of various points that I made during the lecture and the question and answer session. When a girl who was familiar with our prohibition against illicit wanted to know how we could possibly live without sex I explained to her that since chanting Hare Krishna is ten millions more pleasurable than having sex, it is easy to give it up. Someone objected to the constant happiness of Krishna consciousness on the grounds that one must also suffer in order to enjoy happiness. But when I asked, "When you go a restaurant do you order some rotten food from the garbage along your meal so that you can enjoy your dinner?" the objector was defeate...

There is nothing easier than being Krishna conscious because being Krishna conscious simply means being yourself. And what could be simpler than being yourself? The difficulty is that we have been so much programmed and brainwashed into being something that we are not that sometimes there is nothing more difficult than being Krishna conscious. So what to do? How to get out of this quagmire? This is why a spiritual master is required. He helps us to be ourselves. Sankarshan Das Adhikari More Kirtan Bliss-Kaunas, Lithuania--30 October 2010 Even More Bliss-Kaunas, Lithuania-30 October 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Is Krishna a Dictator? It is said in the Bhagavad-gita that we all are part and parcels of God and like Him are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. My questions are : (i) If we are eternal souls, why do we always fear death? (ii) If we are full of knowledge, how can we say we are in darkness and trying to know more and more about ...

Krishna consciousness is absolutely ecstatic. This means that a person who is fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness is always ecstatic no matter what situation he may be in. The reason that he is always swimming in an ocean of transcendental bliss is that he is constantly offering his every thought, word, and deed in the service of the Lord. Krishna, being very, very pleased with His devotee's mood of interrupted devotion, interruptedly showers His devotee with torrents and torrents of indescribably nectarean transcendental bliss. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Ecstatic Kirtan--Kaunas, Lithuania 30 October 2010 Transcendental Kirtan Bliss in Klaipeda, Lithuania 2 November 2010 More Kirtan Bliss in Klaipeda, Lithuania 2 November 2010 Four Sincere Soul Relish Kirtan Bliss Klaipeda, Lithuania--2 November 2010 After Lecture Most Were Inspired to Purchase Books Klaipeda, Lithuania--2 November 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Simultaneous Formness and ...

Our mission is to lead the world out of chaos. We have in the books of Srila Prabhupada the knowledge required to bring a new age of God consciousness to this troubled planet. We simply must now convince especially the intellectual class to carefully read and follow the sublime instructions of Lord Sri Krishna as so meticulously explained by Srila Prabhupada in his books. If we can do so, there will manifest on this planet the greatest spiritual renaissance in the history of humanity. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Initiation Ceremony--Kaunas, Lithuania 30 October 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Is Free Will Lost When One Surrenders?  Lord Krishna has given us free will. If a devotee surrenders himself to the Lord, does the Lord influence the decisions taken by the devotee's free will? 1] If yes, does it mean that God is partial? 2] If not, how should one understand his decisions in life are right or wrong? Vikashwa Answer: Free Will Is Never Lost E...

1 November 2010--Today is the 10th day of the holy month of Kartik. It is also the day of my birth according to the lunar calendar. Since I took birth in 1947, I am now 63 years old. I pray that this human body which the Lord has so kindly given me can be so fully absorbed in the His service, that I will not be obliged to ever accept another material body again. Many people think of retiring when they reach their mid-sixties, but I always remember how Srila Prabhupada started a world wide spiritual movement at the age of 70. So considering Srila Prabhupada's example, 63 is still young. In fact, Srila Prabhupada explains that if one is Krishna consciousness, he can work with the energy of a young man even when he is 80 years old. I pray that this Hare Krishna movement will be so successful that I will see that the entire world has become Krishna conscious before I leave my present body. Today my disciples all over the world are honoring their spiritual master as the current repr...

I've been circling the globe now for so many years to spread the science of Krishna consciousness, that I feel very much at home on the road. Even when I take a break at my home base in Austin, Texas if it is a short break I do not unpack my luggage. I continue living out of it to make it easier to resume traveling. This is the wonderful nature of Krishna consciousness. One can be anywhere in the world without feeling homesick. The reason is that our actual home is in Krishna, not in any place of this material world. If one takes shelter of this wonderful world of Krishna as his only true home, he will always be ecstatic in all times, places, and circumstances. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Bhagavad-gita Lecture--Kaunas, Lithuania 28 October 2010 Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: With No Ambition Will Anyone Work? I am reading your "Thought for the Day" on a daily basis. I have one query: If there is no ambition, then why anybody would work? This questio...