Don't Cheat Yourself
You are an eternal spiritual being, qualitatively one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all existence. Therefore you should not cheat yourself out of your constitutional birthright, which is an eternal existence full of knowledge and full of bliss. The great Vaisnava acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, explains in this regard that pure Krishna consciousness is the birthright of all living entities because every living entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. The conclusion is that if you focus your life on anything other than awakening your dormant enlightened state of Krishna consciousness, you are simply absolutely cheating yourself. And there is not much more to be said in this connection.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you.
I have many questions. They are as follows. Please answer them:
1) Is it correct that inquiring from the spiritual master means we simply ask the question and accept as the only truth whatever reply is given to us. And by accepting it, in due course of time, we will see that it was indeed correct. Is that the correct method? Please verify.
I ask this because the usual tendency is to ask and then judge the answer with our brain, and then counter question.
But if, "Ask and simply accept," is the right method, then why is Arjuna asking so many questions to Krishna in Bhagavad-gita?
Please clarify regarding the right method of spiritual inquiry.
2) When I pray to Krishna for security, is that a material prayer? What is the right thing I should ask Krishna for?
3) Is it okay to maintain diplomatic relations with our material family members and keep honestly intimate relation only with Guru and Krishna? But then when our family members go through periods of problems and difficulty how to overcome the guilt of being the cause of their suffering? Is it true that in a material family spiritual advancement of one person is always going to be at the expense of other. So we should be wise?
4) How to become fixed up?
5) What ashram would be best for my spiritual advancement?
6) What should I do? I am very very confused.
7) It says that to become spiritually convinced we should first cut off materialistic association. But one protest comes to my mind. What conviction is that which is association based? If something is actually true I don't need to be in a particular association to become convinced of its truthfulness. For example, sugar is sweet, so I don't need to be in a particular association to become convinced that sugar is sweet. Its a universal truth. Why conviction of spiritual facts is borne only in the association of devotees?
8) Isn't it then like the Islamic schools who confine and brainwash their followers into jihadis?
Please reply as soon as possible. I will try to check e-mail again in morning. I think I need to hear from you more and more.
Your foolish disciple,
2) For security you can pray to Krishna as Lord Caitanya prays:
"O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krishna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.”
This is the ultimate security.
3) Your practicing Krishna consciousness does not impose suffering on your family members. Actually it is just the opposite. By your taking to the path of Krishna bhakti you are liberating them from their suffering. Of course, it may take some time for them to realize and appreciate this. So in the meantime you should be a little tolerant and forgiving of their nonsense and give them as much of your kindness as possible. In this mood, you should help them to awaken the dormant Krishna consciousness, which is currently sleeping within their hearts.
4) The secret for becoming a fixed up devotee is to become the totally sold out servant of your spiritual master.
5) It is best for a man to be a life long brahmacari (celibate student.) So your first attempt should be to try for that. If you cannot be peaceful in this way, then you may marry a Krishna conscious girl and have a family.
6) Arjuna got himself out of all confusion by fully surrendering unto his spiritual master, Lord Sri Krishna. Now you can also get out of all confusion by fully surrendering yourself unto Krishna's representative, the bona fide spiritual master, i.e. by accepting my instructions as your life and soul.
7) We develop our consciousness according the company we keep. For example, if we associate with drunkards, we will become drunkards. Therefore we should always associate as much as possible with those who put a high value on spiritual progress. In this way, simply by their association we will make spiritual progress.
8) Our teachings are not based on fanaticism. Our teachings are scientific.
I would always like to reply quickly to all questions from my beloved disciples, but at the present moment I have over 200 emails in my inbox. So kindly be a little understanding of my situation and be a little patient.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Srila Prabhupada Enlightens His Disciples
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Answers by Citing the Vedic Version
Question: How to End My Confusion?
Dear Srila Gurudeva,Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to you.
I have many questions. They are as follows. Please answer them:
1) Is it correct that inquiring from the spiritual master means we simply ask the question and accept as the only truth whatever reply is given to us. And by accepting it, in due course of time, we will see that it was indeed correct. Is that the correct method? Please verify.
I ask this because the usual tendency is to ask and then judge the answer with our brain, and then counter question.
But if, "Ask and simply accept," is the right method, then why is Arjuna asking so many questions to Krishna in Bhagavad-gita?
Please clarify regarding the right method of spiritual inquiry.
2) When I pray to Krishna for security, is that a material prayer? What is the right thing I should ask Krishna for?
3) Is it okay to maintain diplomatic relations with our material family members and keep honestly intimate relation only with Guru and Krishna? But then when our family members go through periods of problems and difficulty how to overcome the guilt of being the cause of their suffering? Is it true that in a material family spiritual advancement of one person is always going to be at the expense of other. So we should be wise?
4) How to become fixed up?
5) What ashram would be best for my spiritual advancement?
6) What should I do? I am very very confused.
7) It says that to become spiritually convinced we should first cut off materialistic association. But one protest comes to my mind. What conviction is that which is association based? If something is actually true I don't need to be in a particular association to become convinced of its truthfulness. For example, sugar is sweet, so I don't need to be in a particular association to become convinced that sugar is sweet. Its a universal truth. Why conviction of spiritual facts is borne only in the association of devotees?
8) Isn't it then like the Islamic schools who confine and brainwash their followers into jihadis?
Please reply as soon as possible. I will try to check e-mail again in morning. I think I need to hear from you more and more.
Your foolish disciple,
Answer: Fully Surrender to Your Spiritual Master
1) You should inquire from the spiritual master until your intelligence is fully satisfied. If you accept things blindly, soon you will also reject those things blindly. By intelligently following the spiritual master you will realize the absolute nature of his teachings.2) For security you can pray to Krishna as Lord Caitanya prays:
"O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krishna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet.”
This is the ultimate security.
3) Your practicing Krishna consciousness does not impose suffering on your family members. Actually it is just the opposite. By your taking to the path of Krishna bhakti you are liberating them from their suffering. Of course, it may take some time for them to realize and appreciate this. So in the meantime you should be a little tolerant and forgiving of their nonsense and give them as much of your kindness as possible. In this mood, you should help them to awaken the dormant Krishna consciousness, which is currently sleeping within their hearts.
4) The secret for becoming a fixed up devotee is to become the totally sold out servant of your spiritual master.
5) It is best for a man to be a life long brahmacari (celibate student.) So your first attempt should be to try for that. If you cannot be peaceful in this way, then you may marry a Krishna conscious girl and have a family.
6) Arjuna got himself out of all confusion by fully surrendering unto his spiritual master, Lord Sri Krishna. Now you can also get out of all confusion by fully surrendering yourself unto Krishna's representative, the bona fide spiritual master, i.e. by accepting my instructions as your life and soul.
7) We develop our consciousness according the company we keep. For example, if we associate with drunkards, we will become drunkards. Therefore we should always associate as much as possible with those who put a high value on spiritual progress. In this way, simply by their association we will make spiritual progress.
8) Our teachings are not based on fanaticism. Our teachings are scientific.
I would always like to reply quickly to all questions from my beloved disciples, but at the present moment I have over 200 emails in my inbox. So kindly be a little understanding of my situation and be a little patient.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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