Ultimate Self Realization

The mission of our Hare Krishna movement is to make the entire world Krishna conscious as soon as possible because there is absolutely nothing besides this movement that can solve the problems of the world and thus make everyone happy. This e-course is an important part of that effort. For this purpose we want to increase our subscriber base more and more until we have millions of people enrolled in this e-course. In order to do this we require your help. Here's what we request you to do: Ask everyone you meet if they would agree to try out a free e-course that will give them unlimited happiness, a life completely free from anxiety. If they agree, write down their names and email addresses and then as soon as possible input them at http://www.backtohome.com . If you have online access with a smart phone or iPad you can have them input their info right there while you are speaking to them. If you are not able to input the names and email addresses, another option is that you can e

The difficult times are the sweetest times because when you become overwhelmed with difficulties there is nothing you can do except completely take shelter of Krishna. When times are easy we tend to forget Krishna and think that we are the controllers. Therefore difficult times are the best of all times. But the difficulty is that we do not recognize this. We think that the easy times are the best. Krishna and Krishna Consciousness Are Both Unlimitedly Sweet Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Result of Chanting in Different Modes? Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja, Please accept my humble obeisances. What is difference between chanting in pure goodness, goodness, passion and ignorance? Your eternal servant, Vidura Das Answer: Experience Sleep, Agitation, Peace, or Krishna Himself When you chant in ignorance you fall asleep. When you chant in passion your mind is agitated by material desires. When you chant in goodness your mind is peaceful. When you chant in pure g

Due to our foolish conditioned natures we always think of serving ourselves first instead of serving Krishna. We think that serving Krishna or God is a good idea because it allows us to think highly of ourselves, but only after serving ourselves first. We constantly forget that the only way we can factually serve ourselves is by serving God. Just as the only way that the hand will get nutrition is by giving food to the stomach, unless and until we start putting Krishna first in all times, places, and circumstances we are starving our very selves by denying ourselves genuine happiness. This is why the Krishna consciousness movement is of the utmost importance for the happiness of the human society. It is training everyone how to experience genuine happiness at every moment by always putting Krishna or God first. Krishna-Balarama on Rama Navami ISKCON Vrindavana--28 March 2015 Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Why Is Krishna Not Visible to Us? Dear Gurudeva, I have

Water scarcity, the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region, is a sad ever-worsening reality on this planet. It is now experienced on every continent by almost 3 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people currently lack access to clean drinking water. And the problem is going to continue getting worse and worse until the leaders finally recognize that the root cause for the lack of water is our lack of Krishna consciousness. Regarding water, Lord Sri Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita: annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ yajñād bhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ "All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties." --Bhagavad-gita 3.14 The sacrifice or yajña for this age is the congregational chanting of the holy names of Go

Srila Prabhupada has written wonderfully about Mathura-Vrindavana as follows: "Srila Rupa Gosvami has described Mathura-mandala: 'I remember the Lord standing by the banks of the Yamuna River, so beautiful amid the kadamba trees, where many birds are chirping in the gardens. And these impressions are always giving me transcendental realization of beauty and bliss.' This feeling about Mathura-mandala and Vrindavana described by Rupa Gosvami can actually be felt even by nondevotees. The places in the eighty-four-square-mile district of Mathura are so beautifully situated on the banks of the River Yamuna that anyone who goes there will never want to return to this material world. These statements by Rupa Gosvami are factually realized descriptions of Mathura and Vrindavana. All these qualities prove that Mathura and Vrindavana are situated transcendentally. Otherwise, there would be no possibility of invoking our transcendental sentiments in these places. Such transcendental

Even though we bemoan them, we are all indeed fortunate that there are so many miseries here in this material world, because they all serve as poignant reminders that this material world is not our actual home. If it were not for these potent miseries we would be content to remain perpetually in this world so far apart from Krishna, thus doing the greatest disservice to ourselves. Therefore instead of lamenting that we must suffer here in so many ways, we should be very happily celebrating that Lord Sri Krishna, through the agency of His material energy, is giving us so much mercy. It is very easy to say this, but very difficult to practice it. However, by diving deep into the sweet transcendental ocean of Krishna consciousness this will eventually be fully realized. One can pray fervently to Krishna that this day may come soon. Krishna Constantly Bestows Unlimited Blessings Upon Us Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Can Krishna Fall Under Maya? We are parts and parc

The material society wants you to be a complete idiot who spends his entire life serving his senses under its misguidance only to be rewarded with nothing but death. So what are you going to do? Are you going to succumb to their brainwash propaganda and serve your senses, or are you are going to serve your real self-interest by engaging your senses in the service of the Supreme Person and thus escape the prison of material existence? The choice is yours. Krishna Awaits Your Return to His Abode Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Depend on Astrology or Krishna? I am chanting sixteen rounds of Hare Krishna mantra japa mala every day for the past six years and attending bhakti vriksha classes ,taking bhakti shastri training, and attending temple programs. I have a doubt whether devotees should follow astrology or they should just totally depend on Krishna. Two astrologers told me that my future is not good. I will not get married soon. (Already it is too late.) If by cha

Our stopover in Copenhagen, Denmark from 19 through 23 March 2015 was short but super sweet. I gave seven lectures; plus I was interviewed by a Christian magazine. The Sunday Feast lecture was especially relishable. There was a nice, super-interested crowd who responded well to every point I made. A Muslim lady also attended the program along with her son. So I emphasized in my lecture that one can chant either the name of Allah or the name of Krishna. After the lecture my wife, Vishnupriya devi dasi, sat and preached to the Muslim lady who turned out to be very receptive asking many sincere questions. We look forward to our return visit to Copenhagen next year around the same time. ISKCON Copenhagen Sunday Feast Lecture--23 March 2015 Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Benefit from Chanting Japa on a Clicker? Hare Krishna Please accept my humble obeisances All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I want to know that, as we saw the devotees are chanting with clicker machin

After a most wonderful and delightful few days of teaching the science of Krishna in Copenhagen, today we are heading for the holiest of all places in the universe, Sri Vrindavana Dhama. We are going to be staying for several weeks in the place where 5,000 years ago Lord Sri Krishna displayed His intimate loving pastimes with the inhabitants of Vrindavana. Where is there a fortune greater than this, to be living in the very place of Lord Sri Krishna's transcendental pastimes? Every particle of dust in Vrindavan is more valuable than the vast wealth in the treasury of Kuvera, the treasurer of the demigods in the heavenly planets. Sri Vrindavana Dhama--The Holiest Place in the Universe Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Difference Between Raganuga and Prema Bhakti? Dear Srila Gurudeva Please accept my humble obeisance. All Glories to you and to Srila Prabhupada. What is the difference between Raganuga Sadhana Bhakti and Prema Bhakti? My understanding was that the

The present day world civilization is gradually disintegrating into total chaos due to its not having God in the center. People either deny God's existence or use Him as a tool to facilitate their own concentrated or extended self-centered lifestyle. This deficiency of non-God-centeredness simply does not work. With no center to hold things together we are every day moving step by step closer and closer to total anarchy. The Krishna consciousness movement is giving the real solution for this collapsing world civilization quagmire. Those who are intelligent will accept this solution and adopt it wholeheartedly, while those who are fools and rascals will reject it and continue to contribute every day to the demise of human civilization. Srila Prabhupada Teaches How to Put God Back in the Center Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How Can There Be Envy in the Spiritual World? Respected Gurudeva, So far as I understand envy is a product of Maya or illusion. Since Maya

Thanks to my disciple Atmamedha Das, an expert artist from ISKCON Kaunas, Lithuania who skillfully designed the sign, there is now a beautiful, informative sign at our newly acquired Hare Krishna Land in Austin, Texas USA. Now anyone who drives by our land on Ida Ridge Drive will be invited to our weekly program here at this auspicious site. We hope that thousands of people will be attracted to come and chant, dance, and feast with us. Sign Being Installed at Austin Hare Krishna Land The Sacred Hare Krishna Land Awaits a Temple Close Up of Austin Hare Krishna Land Sign Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How Can I Serve You? Dear Srila Gurudeva, Please accept my humble obeisances, All glories to Srila Prabhupada. How can I serve You? Your servant, Kamile Answer: Become Pure Devotee and Deliver the Fallen Souls I want you to become a completely pure devotee of Krishna and to fully absorb your life in delivering the fallen, conditioned souls of this material w

Do you want to taste the real, unlimitedly sweet bliss of your existence? Are you tired of the up and down rocky road of material existence on which you experience happiness and distress, thrill and boredom, honor and dishonor, poverty and wealth, sickness and health, with emphasis on the negative side of things most of the time? It you want to taste the real bliss, the solution is very simple. All you have to do is absorb yourself as much as possible in chanting the holy names of God. Try it; you'll love it. Don't punish yourself by neglected the unlimitedly auspicious boon of the holy names of God. Diving Deep into the Nectar of Hare Krishna in London Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Is Krishna Forcing Us to Love Him? Dear Gurudeva, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I have one doubt in the context of Lesson 196 in your e-course: You are saying that the jiva has the independence to love or not to love Krishna. The Lord

We hear many people giving their opinions as to what will solve the world's problems, and we certainly applaud them for thinking in terms of what will benefit the entire human society. But the fact of the matter is that unless we penetrate to the root cause of the world's problems any solution that we may implement will have benefits that are at best only temporary. Just as an electric lamp produces no light if it is not plugged into electricity, in a similar way because the present global society is unplugged from its source, it is totally enveloped in darkness. That source is the Supreme Person, who is described in all revealed scriptures and who is personally experienced at every minute by those who have awakened their inner consciousness, their Krishna consciousness. Only when the world society harmonizes itself with that Supreme Person by hearing, understanding, and following His teachings as He so clearly reveals them in the Bhagavad-gita, will there emerge a world societ

Previously I was a dead man lost in the land of delusion consumed by confusion in profusion. I wanted to find life's answers, but being misguided by so many false teachers I had no idea why I existed and what was my life's duty. I wanted to do the highest good for the pitiably suffering world society, but I had not a clue of what that highest good would actually be. In the midst of all this chaos came a great saintly teacher, His Holiness Vishnujana Swami, who helped me to understand what is the Absolute Truth and how to fully realize it through the ultimate science known as Krishna consciousness and who introduced me to his spiritual master, the greatest of all saintly teachers, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Awestruck by the magical potency of Vishnujana Swami to elevate people to the transcendental platform by his heart-melting singing, awesome spiritual strength, cool wit, incredibly delicious cooking, super attractive story telling, deep humility, am

On Sunday evening 15 March 2015 we had our first program at ISKCON Austin's newly acquired most wonderful property, Austin Hare Krishna Land. It was such a thrilling, magical, mystical experience to be a part of the inaugural program at Hare Krishna Land. I was visualizing how one day on this now sacred ground there will there a beautiful temple. There was such a wonderful feeling in our hearts as we all chanted Hare Krishna for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. We progressed from a sitting kirtan to a chanting and dancing kirtan. Even though as the moments went by it became darker and darker with the sun majestically setting in the western sky, as we all went deeper and deeper into Krishna consciousness we become more and more illuminated within our hearts. The finishing touch for an unforgettable evening of transcendental bliss was a prasadam feast that cannot be beat. Finally at the very end when it came time to pack up, we had to use flashlig

The impersonalists want to kill all relationships by asserting that everything is one. Because they were wounded in love, now they want to completely deny love. This is like cutting off your head to cure a headache. It is a madman's proposal. The sane thing to do is learn the art of perfecting your relationships, not denying them. Therefore the more we perfect our loving relationship with Krishna's representatives, the spiritual master and His devotees, the more we will experience the transcendental awakening of love of God within our hearts. This is Krishna's order. He instructs that unless we are the devotees of His devotees, we are not His devotees. Loving Devotees Brings Unlimited Happiness and Loving Devotees Bring Unlimited Happiness. Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How Does Loving Krishna Make Me Happy? Guru Maharaja, Pranam. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. My question is: How am I to understand that I shall be happy when I love Krishna? Y

If you want to awaken the pure ecstatic love of God within your heart as soon as possible, it is essential that you chant the holy names of God as much as possible every day. This is why Lord Krishna orders us in the Bhagavad-gita to constantly chant His holy names. Because we are so much distracted by so many so-called duties on the material plane for keeping body and soul together, we find it very difficult, if not completely impossible, to constantly chant the holy names of God. Srila Prabhupada, therefore, has very kindly given us a concession that we can awaken the pure love of God within us simply by chanting a mere 16 rounds a day of the Hare Krishna mantra on japa beads. But we are so fallen down in material consciousness that we even sometimes find this minimal concessionary amount of chanting to be difficult. Therefore to help us maintain this minimum standard, when we get initiated by the bona fide spiritual master we make a solemn that every day for the rest of our lives we

If you want to qualify yourself to escape this material existence, you must become 100% convinced first that God exists and second that Krishna is God. Just as the inhabitants of the spiritual world are 100% dedicated to Krishna, you must also become 100% dedicated to Krishna. Until you reach the point of 100% conviction you are not qualified to return to your original home in the spiritual world. Therefore you must take developing this complete, total conviction as the number one priority of your life. This is real intelligence. By hearing from and serving the bona fide spiritual master you gain the necessary conviction for qualifying yourself to enter the spiritual world. Krishna Is Indeed God Himself Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Can Only a Sannyasi Initiate Disciples? Yesterday I had an argument with my co-devotee in our local ISKCON temple. He said that a disciple must take initiation only from spiritual master who is a sannyasi, a non-married spiritual mast

Don't be a slave of your tongue. Be a master of your tongue, and you will open up the gateway within your heart to the transcendental realm of eternity, bliss, and knowledge. In other words, engage your tongue only in Krishna consciousness. Instead of garbage in, garbage out, i.e. eating unoffered foods and talking mundane topics, your tongue should be engaged in the pastime of nectar in, nectar out, i.e. eating only Krishna prasadam and talking only about Krishna and things related to His service such as Krishna's teachings and pastimes and how to inundate this planet with Krishna bhakti. This proper discipline of your tongue will bring you quickly to the liberated platform of eternity, perfect knowledge, and unlimited bliss. Prabhupada Tells Baron von Durkheim About Krishna Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How to Get the Special Mercy of Guru and Krishna? Please accept my dandavat pranam, In the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 8.20.3 Srila Prabhupada writes:

In this material world all living beings are suffering like anything in the clutches of birth, death, old age, and disease. They try to get free from their suffering through so many artificial means but always remain still caught up in the same old miserable rut. The devotees of the Supreme Lord, however, taste great transcendental bliss by embracing within their hearts the mission of relieving the entire suffering humanity from their miserable condition by helping them to revive their original state of pure loving devotion to the Supreme Lord. Narahari Das Teaches the Science of Krishna Consciousness Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Why Are People So Afraid of Death? Gurudeva, why are people so afraid of death, as it is a fact that one who is born has to die one day, no one can avoid this? Why they are not able to accept this truth? Thank you! Your unworthy servant, Nandapriya Devi Dasi Answer: It Is Simply Due to Ignorance We do not want to accept the inevita

Go deep, deep within the innermost region of the essence of your being, and there you will exhilaratingly discover a totally peaceful, happy, and knowledgeable eternal youth who is none other than your very self, who is an unalloyed servant of the Supreme Person, and who is the fully magnanimous well-wisher of all living beings. The way to achieve this exalted state of perfect consciousness is to give up all sinful activities and to regularly chant every day the holy names of God under the expert guidance of the bona fide spiritual master. You Are an Eternal Resident of the Spiritual World Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How to Deal With Failures? My dear Gurudeva, Please accept my humble obeisances All glories to you. All glories to Srila Prabhupada Please tell me what to do when we do something wrong directly or indirectly. How to diminish our lusty mind? Why are we so lusty towards sex, money, fame, etc.? How to finish these materialistic qualities. Deepak

Just as our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, was given the duty by his spiritual master to spread Krishna consciousness throughout the English speaking world, we the followers of Srila Prabhupada have been given by him the duty to deliver the entire world. How are we to go about trying to accomplish this herculean task? We have to begin with ourselves. We must first situate ourselves properly in Krishna consciousness by fully surrendering to Sri Guru and Krishna. Then we must tell everyone we meet about Krishna, taxing our brains how to present Krishna in such a way that the entire human civilization will become attracted to awaken their Krishna consciousness, the pure love of God which is lying dormant within them. This will bring a new unparalelled age of peace and prosperity to this planet. So let's try for it with our full determination, patience, and enthusiasm. This is a win-win proposition. If we fail in our present lifetimes to inun

Last Saturday my wife and I met with an old friend who had helped the Krishna consciousness movement get started in Austin back in 1971. She, being a Christian, told me that did not accept that Krishna is God. So this raises the question, "How do we know that Krishna is God?" The answer is that He reveals Himself to be God in the Bhagavad-gita and through the purificatory process of bhakti yoga revealed by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna we can also personally meet Krishna and directly experience with our own purified senses that He is indeed God, the source of all existence, just as Arjuna was able to personally experience that Krishna is God. Krishna Reveals to Arjuna that He is God Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: What Exactly Did Srila Prabhupada Say? I read something horrendous and sacrilegious about Srila Prabhupada on Facebook yesterday. A statement that women enjoy rape was attributed to Srila Prabhupada. In fact, the person who has posted s

Don't be a slave of your tongue. The uncontrolled tongue both in speech and eating is your greatest enemy because it drags you into a hellish, nightmarish existence and keeps you there as long as you remain the slave of your tongue. Always remember that of all the senses the tongue is the most voracious and uncontrollable. It is very difficult to conquer over the tongue in this world. An uncontrolled tongue is very detrimental for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Therefore the most important discipline that you need to learn is how to control your tongue. The simple, easy, and natural way to do that is to chant Hare Krishna as much as possible every day and only eat prasadam, foodstuffs that have been offered to Lord Sri Krishna with love and devotion. And when eating prasadam you should avoid gluttony by only taking what is necessary to keep body and soul together. Krishna prasadam is so satisfying, nutritious, and spiritually powerful that by taking it you imme

Bhaktivinoda Thakur very nicely describes the importance of not criticizing the saintly devotees of the Lord in the following excerpt from his classic edifying book Harinam Cintamani: "It is concluded that one who is solely devoted to Krishna and sings His name is known as a sadhu. Other than the devotees of Krishna, no one else is considered to be a sadhu. One who considers himself a sadhu is filled with material pride. But one who thinks himself to be the lowest rascal, humbly takes shelter of Krishna and sings Krishna's name, is the real sadhu. Knowing himself to be less than a blade of grass, considering himself like a tree of tolerance, not expecting honor for himself and giving honor to all other living entities, he chants the name and attains attraction for Krishna. "If a person of the above qualities chants the holy name even once, he is considered a Vaisnava, and should be respected. The Vaisnava is the friend and spiritual leader of the universe; he is an ocea

You should never base your happiness on your situation in this material world. If you do so, you are the biggest fool because whatever happiness you may think that you are enjoying is illusory and only temporary at best. The intelligent person bases his happiness instead on his relationship with his spiritual master and Lord Sri Krishna because when you become perfect in this you become perfect in eternal happiness. In other words your happiness can never impinged upon by anything that happens to you here in this material world. Otherwise you are simply throwing yourself into the whirlpool of repeated birth, death, old age, and disease in the 8,400,000 species of life. Disciple Submissively Hears from Srila Prabhupada Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Spirit-Soul Has Human Form Before Falling? Does the spirit soul exist as a person ( meaning human shaped ) before falling into material illusion and obtaining one of 8.4 million physical shapes? It is really an amazing

Today is the appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, appearing in the form of His own devotee to bestow what no other incarnation has bestowed before, pure love of Godhead. It was on this most glorious day in 1486 A.D. that the greatest of all mercy was bestowed upon the suffering people of this age. The auspiciousness of Lord Caitanya's appearance is described as follows in the Sri Caitanya Caritamrita: vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya- nityānandau sahoditau gauḍodaye puṣpavantau citrau śan-dau tamo-nudau "I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauda to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all." --Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi Lila 1.2 Let us all take advantage of this day to beg for the causeless mercy of Lord Caitanya to rescue us from our entanglement

Srila Prabhupada has given us the mission of delivering the whole world from suffering and ignorance by awakening the dormant Krishna consciousness within the hearts of all. Therefore we must fully embrace this world deliverance mission as our very life and soul. While maintaining this broad global vision, at the same time we must focus on our daily devotional activities as well as giving Krishna consciousness to everyone we meet. In this way by acting locally and thinking globally we will gradually attain our goal of delivering the entire world. Harinam Sankirtan in New York City Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How Was Vedic Culture Restored in India? I understand that after Lord Buddha denied the Vedas in 600 B.C., teaching that everything is void, there was a series of acharyas who gradually restored the complete understanding of the Vedic teachings. Who were those acharyas and what did they teach? Thank you, Y.S. Answer: By a Series of Vaisnava Acharyas E