Material Suffering is the Pastime of Fools

Those who are actually knowledgeable understand that there is no reason at all to suffer in this material world. They know that such suffering is simply the pastime of fools. Anyone who identifies themselves with their material body is destined to suffer perpetually in the cycle of repeated birth, death, old age, and disease. But anyone who realizes that they are an eternal spiritual being qualitatively one with God and who thus engage themselves in the service of the Supreme Transcendental Personality becomes exempted from all forms of material suffering and regains their eternal position in the spiritual sky.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

The Devotee is Always Blissful in Krishna Consciousness

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Maintain Enthusiasm?

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you so much for your daily inspirational Thought for the Day.

I have a question for you. How do you personally maintain enthusiasm in your daily sadhana (devotional practices). What's your mantra? The feedback will be published in our monthly newsletter for July. This will help our readers in their devotional service.

Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Dwarka Vasini devi dasi
ISKCON Nairobi Communications.

Answer: Hold Tightly to Your Guru's Orders

When I was new devotee I received the following instruction from Srila Prabhupada in a letter dated 7 September 1971 just before he departed from London for Nairobi:

"I can see also that you are a very sincere and enthusiastic boy and are anxious for spreading this movement. Those are first class qualifications for making advancement in Krishna Consciousness. So continue enthusiastically as you are doing and Krishna will surely bless you."

This personal instruction from Srila Prabhupada has the basis of my unbroken enthusiasm for the last 43 years in spite of so many ups and downs that one naturally experiences in their daily devotional life. In other words, the key to unbroken enthusiasm is that you must always hold on tightly to the instructions you have received from your spiritual master and never let go. This is the secret.

Another thing that has given me a lifetime of enthusiasm in this letter was that after signing it with a pen, with the same pen Srila Prabhupada added a PS: "On Friday night we are going to Nairobi." This told me that along with his accepting me officially as his disciple he was also accepting me intimately as his son.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari