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

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