Solving the Existential Riddle

We all exist. We all know that we exist by dint of the mere fact that we can ponder our existence. But how and why we exist have remained the greatest of all enigmas throughout the entirety of human history. These unknowns have always baffled even the greatest of our philosophers. The reason they remain riddles is that the how and why of our existence cannot be understood through mere intellectualism. One must transcend the platform of the intelligence to finally awaken or reconnect with the real, existential self. This awakening is accomplished through the yoga system, the process of yoking or reconnecting with the original source of our existence. Of all the yoga systems the easiest and most effective is the bhakti yoga system, the yoga of divine love. This process consists of chanting the holy names of God on a regular daily basis and giving up sinful activities such as illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication, and gambling. Through this bhakti yoga process one quickly and easily realizes how he exists and why he exists.

Srila Prabhupada Reveals the Mysteries of Existence

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: What Kind of Person Are You?

Dear Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus divine feet

Gurudeva, I told one of my friends yesterday that it is most important to have a spiritual master and to serve him with the same respect given to Krishna. Then she wanted to know what kind of person the spiritual master is. Gurudeva, though I have never met you in person, in my heart you are the most merciful person in my life. Can you please tell me what kind of person you are? What kind of person is the guru? Gurudeva, please forgive me if my question is impolite and offensive.

Hare Krishna

Your humble servant

Deodat

Answer: Insignificant Servant of My Guru Maharaja

I make no claims to being a great person or a great transcendentalist. I am nothing but the insignificant servant of my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. By his mercy I have been saved from the life of a materialist and fully engaged in the loving service of Lord Sri Krishna.

I accepted initiation from Srila Prabhupada in 1971 and have faithfully served his orders without interruption since that time. By his grace since 1971 I have been 100% free from the sinful pillars of illicit sex life, intoxication, meat eating, and gambling. Also since that time I have regularly chanted at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day without deviation on the japa mala beads personally given to me by Srila Prabhupada. This is 1,728 repetitions of the Hare Krishna mahamantra every day.

Srila Prabhupada ordered us, his disciples, "Become guru and deliver the entire world." Even though I feel myself most incompetent and inadequate in this regard, as a matter duty and also because of feeling so sad to see so many millions and billions of people suffering in the cycle of birth and death, I am trying to do my little bit for the deliverance of the suffering souls of this planet. I am taking Srila Prabhupada's foot dust upon my head and begging for his mercy that I may be successful in my humble attempt to serve his order.

My headquarters is at Bhaktivedanta Ashram, an ISKCON center in Austin, Texas. This is where I stay when I am not out travelling. I travel all over the world seven months out of the year with my devoted devotee wife, Her Grace Srimati Vishnupriya devi dasi, with whom I have been happily married for almost 30 years. We travel for encouraging and guiding my disciples. who are situated in many different countries throughout all six of the inhabited continents of this planet.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari