A Festival of Bliss at the Melbourne Airport

  After an ecstatic week with the Hare Krishna devotees of Melbourne, Australia engaging in chanting, lecturing and counseling we headed out on 26 December to the airport to fly to Adelaide, to give guidance to the devotees there. A large of assembly of devotees accompanied us to the airport. It's really nice in Australia that non-passengers can also go through security, going right up to the gate to see you off of your flight. It's been many long years since that could be done in the USA. So we took a large entourage of the devotees with us to Gate #2, where we would be catching our flight to Adelaide. Since we had arrived early and the waiting area was totally ours, we turned it into a classroom and had a great question and answer session that went on for over an hour. Krishna consciousness is so nice that you can turn any occasion into a festival of bliss.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari


Ecstatic Final Questions and Answers
Melbourne, Australia Airport--26 December 2014
Sankarshan Das Ecstatic Final Questions and Answers

Sankarshan Das Ecstatic Final Questions and Answers

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: Meaning of Simple Living and High Thinking?

My Dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Yesterday while discussing with friends the meaning of what Srila Prabhupada calls "simple living and high thinking", they said we can make a lot of money and serve Krishna because there is no harm in that. I pointed out to them that if we make money more than is needed to maintain our body, it may disturb our devotional life by making us greedy. Since I am in business and desire to serve your and Srila Prabhupada's mission to spread Krishna's glories and to give the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to one and all freely, please help me to understand how shall I understand the meaning of "simple living and high thinking."

Your servant forever,

Premal

Answer: Engage Everything in Krishna's Service

Simple living and high thinking means that one should not over-endeavor to achieve so-called material success. In this way he can remain always focused on life's ultimate goal, to awaken his dormant Krishna consciousness. Material success is only a perverted reflection of the real success, which is to go back home, back to Godhead.

However, if one is blessed with a talent for making a lot of money, he may certainly do so on behalf of Guru and Krishna. Our preaching mission requires money, so if one can earn money to support our preaching mission, that is a first class utilization of his talents and abilities.

Earning money to support the Krishna consciousness movement is another type of devotional service for Krishna. If one is thinking of how to make more and more money for spreading the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world, that is high thinking. Such devotion facilitates one's living a simple, happy existence of total devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. However, if one endeavors to make a lot of money for material sense gratification, that will certainly spoil his spiritual life and qualify him to remain birth after birth in this miserable material world.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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