Obstacles Along the Path

2 June 2011--When one takes up the all-auspicious path of Krishna consciousness one should expect that there will sometimes be obstacles. The key to handling them properly is not to become discourage or bewildered, but to instead accept them as exciting opportunities to make progress in Krishna consciousness.

I faced such a challenge as I was departing from Sofia this morning. Just before getting on the airplane for London my computer software crashed. All attempts to get it to boot up failed. Now I am staying up past 2:30 am, the time I normally rise, to completely reinstall the operating system from scratch and then write and upload "Thought for the Day." By Krishna's grace I did a back up this morning, so there was very little data loss. Only a few emails that I received this morning were lost. So if you emailed me recently and don't hear back from me within two days, you should send your email again.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Prove that "Me" in Gita Refers to Krishna?

I am having problems in convincing my friends that "Me" in the Gita refers to Krishna and Krishna alone. Please help me with strong quotations and references that it is only Krishna. Is there evidence to show how absurd it is to say that He is not referring to Himself when He says "Me?"

Servant of your servants,
A.V.

Answer: How Can it Not Refer to Krishna?

How when Krishna says "Me", this cannot not refer to Krishna. Their analysis is not very intelligent. Ask your friends if when they say "me" they are referring to someone other than themselves. To say that me refers to someone other than oneself is absurd.

Just see how much Krishna is referring to Himself in the follow verse:

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah

SYNONYMS
mat—manah—always thinking of Me; bhava—become; mat—My;
bhaktah—devotee; mat—My; yaji—worshiper; mam—unto Me;
namas-kuru—offer obeisances; mam—unto Me; eva—completely;
esyasi—you will come; yuktva—being absorbed; evam—thus;
atmanam—your soul; mat—parayanah—devoted to Me.

TRANSLATION
Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.
--Bhagavad-gita 9.34

To argue that Krishna is not saying to think of Him, is not saying to become His devotee, is not saying to offer obeisances to Him, is not saying to become absorbed in Him, and is not saying to come to Him is patently absurd. This is simply the ridiculous word jugglery of the impersonalists, who refuse to surrender to God because they consider themselves to be God. We are not so foolish as to believe them.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Who is this Krishna?

Image
Krishna is not a myth, nor is He an ordinary historical personality. He is the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. He is the oldest of all while simultaneously maintaining the form of a 16 year old youth. He is all-attractive because he exceeds everyone in all of existence by possessing unlimitedly all the qualities that are attractive namely power, beautify, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. There is no one who equals or excels Him in the possession of these attractive qualities. This is why is accepted by all enlightened spiritualists as being God, the original source of all existence. The perfection of our existence is to re-establish our long forgotten loving relationships with Him. There Is No One More Amazing Than Krishna Video for the Day Don't Be a Hypocrite Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Was Krishna a Real Person? Was Krishna a real person who lived on Earth? Ray Galindo Answer: He Was and He Still Is My Dear Ray, Pleas
Read more