Why Am I Still a Hare Krishna After 44 Years?

Sometimes people are amazed that I could still be a Hare Krishna even after 44 years or practice because they think that Krishna consciousness is something whimsical or sentimental. But actually to remain in Krishna consciousness is not all amazing because, as confirmed by Lord Caitanya, the constitutional nature of the living being is that he is the eternal servant of Krishna. In other words, being Krishna conscious is simply a matter of being who you are. It is not something artificially imposed upon the mind.

In conclusion, the real and most amazing thing is when someone does not take to Krishna consciousness.

Krishna Consciousness Means to Regain Your Original Nature

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: When Cruelty Free Milk is Not Available?

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

Thank you for the wonderful and informative website. A friend has just made me aware of it and I have been relishing in it recently. A wonderful service! I noticed you have a questions section, which I feel is important, invaluable and rare that an elevated guru as yourself takes the time to answer the public's questions.

I have a question relating to cow protection:

I have heard that we should only use ingredients in our prasadam offerings that have come from sources where no exploitation or suffering of animals occurred. So the milk industry in Australia (where I live) is basically the brother of the meat industry. So by buying milk we are supporting the slaughter of cows. But sastra says that milk is very important to us. So to be vegan seems the best for protecting the cows or at least not fuelling the meat industry, but milk is also important. What is the best course of action if getting ahimsa (non-violent) milk is not an option?

I hope this meets you in good health.

Your humble servant

Answer: Use a Thorn to Remove a Thorn

Srila Prabhupada explains in Light of the Bhagavat, "No brain can assimilate the subtle form of knowledge without fine brain tissues. For such important brain tissues we require a sufficient quantity of milk and milk preparations." Therefore in such circumstances where non-violent milk is not an option Srila Prabhupada authorizes us to use milk from regular commercial dairies. For example, in a letter to Makhanlal Das written by Srila Prabhupada on 14 July 1971, we read that Prabhupada was very pleased when the devotees were getting milk donated from a dairy, which was not a non-violent dairy:

"I am so glad to hear that, because the sales manager of Darigold dairy is sympathetic to our Krishna Consciousness movement, you are being supplied 20 gallons of fresh milk weekly and free of charge."

Since our goal is to eventually convert all of the dairies of the world into non-violent cow-protected dairies, we can, until we attain that goal, accept milk from regular dairies and use it in Krishna's service. This is the principle of using a thorn to remove a thorn. If one gets a thorn stuck in his skin but does not have tweezers available to remove it, he can use a second thorn to remove the first thorn. In a similar way by using the milk of dairies which are not non-violent in Krishna's service we will get sufficient brain substance for eventually converting all of such dairies into non-violent dairies.

Therefore when you don't have tweezers, use a thorn to remove the thorn. When you don't have ahimsa milk, uses non-ahimsa milk and endeavor to get ahimsa milk as soon as possible.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari