One Must Become a Paramahamsa

In a Srimad-Bhagavatam class given in Mayapur, India on September 30, 1974 Srila Prabhupada stated: "Paramahamsa, one must be only spiritually interested like the swan. He is interested only to drink the milk, not the water. Similarly, one must become paramahamsa. One must be interested with spiritual advancement of life, not material."

A paramahamsa is a pure devotee of the Lord, who has no interest at all in this material world. Even while in this material world by his divine consciousness he extracts Krishna from it leaving aside the material energy, just as a swan can with his beak extract milk from a mixture of milk and water leaving aside the water.

How does one know when he has reached the paramahamsa stage? Srila Prabhupada answers:  "The symptom is that he cannot waste a moment without glorifying Krishna. That is paramahamsa. At that time, you can know, that when you cannot remain even for a single moment without describing Krishna, then you can know that you are on the paramahamsa stage."

Srila Prabhupada cautions us that it takes time to become a paramahamsa that we should not foolishly think that all of a sudden we have become paramahamsas.

On July 30, 1973 in London, in a Bhagavad-gita lecture, Srila Prabhupada taught us: "So everyone should think that 'What is my value?' That is really learned, humble and meek. Nobody should think that 'Now I have learned everything. I can surpass everyone. I have become above all rules and regulation. Now I have become paramahamsa.' This is rascaldom. Everyone should always think, 'I am fool number one.' Therefore the endeavor will go on, to become perfect. If we think that 'Now I have become perfect, paramahamsa,' then the spiritual regulative principles will never be followed, and you will fall down."

So let us always remember these sublime instructions of Srila Prabhupada and all endeavor to become paramahamsas as soon as possible.

Home Program--Werribee, Australia--27 June 2014

Sankarshan Das Home Program--Werribee, Australia1

Sankarshan Das Home Program--Werribee, Australia 2

Sankarshan Das Home Program--Werribee, Australia3

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: How to Make Krishna Conscious Decisions?

How can we make sure that our decisions will keep us connected with Krishna?
Regards,
Karthik

Answer: Only Do What Is Favorable for Krishna Consciousness

When making a decision we simply see what is favorable for our Krishna consciousness. If something is favorable for our Krishna consciousness, we should accept it. And if it is not favorable for our Krishna consciousness, we should reject it. We should not make decisions on the basis of sentiment. We should always intelligently make all of our decisions based on this principle of seeing whether something is favorable or unfavorable for our Krishna consciousness and the Krishna consciousness of others.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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