Bowing Down to the Spiritual Master

As we were preparing on 26 April 2012 for my evening lecture on Mantra Yoga at the Vilnius Pedagogical University, my disciple Sankirtan Das informed me that the devotees here have a policy of not bowing down to the spiritual master in public because people will find it strange and not want to hear anything from us or take our books. I found this policy to be questionable because when Srila Prabhupada was here with us we always bowed down to him either in the temple or in public places without the slightest bit of hesitation. After all, it is a sastric injunction that as soon as see your spiritual master you should immediately bow down on the ground offering him your humble obeisances. At the same time I did want to rock the boat by challenging the local ISKCON policy. So I proposed that we make an experiment. All the devotees should bow down to the spiritual master when he enters the lecture hall, and then we will judge by results of the program whether it was good thing or not. I also instructed my disciple that when he makes his introductory remarks that he explain why the devotees bow down to the spiritual master. Because the spiritual master is a representative of God he is meant to be shown the same respect that we give to God. In fact Krishna teaches us in the Bhagavad-gita that we should bow down to the spiritual master.

I did not know what the result would be of my radical proposal. But I knew that because I was simply trying to see what would be the best thing for attracting the people to Krishna consciousness, Krishna would be pleased my endeavor. So what was the result? The people were keenly interested and asked many sincere and intelligent questions. Especially indicative of their keen interest was that practically all of them purchased one of our hardbound books at the end of the program. So now there is new policy in Lithuania, at least when I come.

Revealing the Secrets of Mantra Yoga-26 April 2012
Vilnius Pedagogical University-Vilnius, Lithuania

Sankarshan Das Revealing the Secrets of Mantra Yoga, Vilnius

The Audience Was Keenly Interested

Vilnius Audience Was Keenly Interested to hear Sankarshan Das

Practically Everyone Bought Our Hard Bound Books

Sankarshan Das Handing Out Hard Bound Books,Vilnius, Lithuania

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: What Happens to the Soul When Sleeping?

Dear Gurudeva,

What happens during sleep, from a spiritual point of view, to the soul and mind?

Your humble servant,

Krishna Kumar,
Mumbai, India

Answer: He Travels in His Astral Body

The soul leaves the gross body and travels in the subtle astral body composed of mind, intelligence and false ego to other places. When he awakens he returns to the gross body.


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

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more