Ultimate Self Realization

Srila Prabhupada presents in the Krishna Book a gopi's description of why Krishna plays the flute and one of the many results of this: "Beautiful Krishna plays His flute in order to enliven the hearts of many devotees. He is the only friend of the suffering living entities. When He plays His flute, all the cows and other animals of Vrindavana, although engaged in eating, simply take a morsel of food in their mouths and stop chewing. Their ears raise up and they become stunned. They do not appear alive but like painted animals. Krishna's flute-playing is so attractive that even the animals become enchanted, and what to speak of ourselves." He mentions another gopi's talkinjg to mother Yasoda as follows: "My dear mother, your son is very expert among the cowherd boys. He knows all the different arts of how to tend the cows and how to play the flute. He composes His own songs, and to play them He puts His flute to His mouth. When He plays, either in the m

The world, now more than ever, is in desperate need of being awakened to Krishna consciousness as soon as possible because there is truly no other solution for the ocean of difficulties which is presently drowning the human society. It is for this purpose that we have fully dedicated ourselves to Lord Caitanya's world deliverance mission, which is the mission of all the Vaisnava acaryas, even though we are just tiny, insignificant souls struggling to awaken our own Krishna consciousness. All Hell is Breaking Loose on this Planet Right Now Video for the Day Our Mission: Deliver the Whole World Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: When Will My Marriage Happen? Dear Sir, I am totally confused about my marriage with below queries; 1. When it will happen? 2. How long should I wait? 3. Whether or not I should believe in horoscope matching? What will happen If I don't believe in horoscope matching? -- Ajithbabu Nair Answer: Not the Most Important Questi

Srila Prabhupada writes as follows: "You have asked if it is true that the spiritual master remains in the material universe until all of His disciples are transferred to the spiritual sky. The answer is yes, this is the rule. Therefore, every student should be very much careful not to commit any offense which will be detrimental to this promotion to the spiritual kingdom, and thereby the spiritual master has to incarnate again to deliver him." (From a letter to: Jayapataka -- Los Angeles 11 July, 1969) This is the amazing mercy of the spiritual master. But Prahlada Maharaja is even more merciful as described here by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, Fourth Canto, Chapter 17, Verse 26: "As far as the field of spiritual activities is concerned, when a devotee is self-satisfied and does not preach the glories of Krishna, he is not considered a first-class devotee. A devotee who tries to preach, who has compassion upon innocent persons who have no

Srila Prabhupada writes as follows in his purport to  Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 5, Text 21: "Śrī Yāmunācārya, a great devotee in Krishna consciousness, said: yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca 'Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Krishna, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste.' A person in brahma-yoga, or Krishna consciousness, is so absorbed in the loving service of the Lord that he loses his taste for material sense pleasure altogether. The highest pleasure in terms of matter is sex pleasure. The whole world is moving under its spell, and a materialist cannot work at all without this motivation. But a person engaged in Krishna consciousness can work with greater vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids. That is the tes

Srila Prabhupada told us in Los Angeles on 2 December 1968: "This is the only solution: to push on Krishna consciousness movement, love of Godhead. Everyone will be happy, the human society. Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate. Whole universe will be just like Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha means without anxieties." And then he told us in Miami on 25 February 1975: "So this is our Krishna consciousness movement, to distribute perfect knowledge, Krishna consciousness, and that will make the whole world happy. So try to distribute this knowledge to your best capacity. Krishna will recognize you, that you are trying your best to work on His behalf because He comes down to distribute the knowledge." The same point he made in Mayapur on 1 April 1975: "If you can propagate Krishna consciousness constantly, then, by spreading this Krishna consciousness movement, you can make the whole world Krishna conscious, and then it will be Vaikuntha." And then he reconfirmed this on 25 Fe

There is no reason to ever be doubtful or confused while engaged in the ultimate self-realization system, Krishna consciousness. All you have to do when you need some guidance is inquire from the spiritual master, and he will explain things to you in a such a way as to make things clear. This is why Krishna orders us in the Bhagavad-gita 4.34 as follows: tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ "Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth." If you are still confused after inquiring, inquire again. And if even then you are still confused, inquire again. In this way continue inquiring until all of your doubts are completely eradicated and you are absolutely sure that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that you are His eternal servant. Devot

Why cheat yourself? Your actual position is that you are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. So don't cheat yourself out of who you actually are, relegating yourself to repeatedly be dragged through birth, death, old age, and disease. That would be insane. So don't be insane. Come back now to your original pure state of Krishna consciousness and relish ever-increasing bliss at every moment for all of eternity. Are you with me on this point? I certainly hope so! Why Be Miserable When You Can Be Ecstatic? Devotees Chant Hare Krishna in Ecstasy Video for the Day Consciousness Upgrade Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: How to Obtain Guru and Love of Krishna? How can I get Krishna's love? And when in this life can I get my spiritual master? Krishna Raaj Answer: I Am Nothing, Really From: ISKCON Austin, Texas USA My Dear Krishna Raaj, Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. You already have Krishna’s love. He l

In the Krishna Book, Chapter 35 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully describes the gopis' feeling of separation from Krishna: "The gopis of Vrindavana were so attached to Krishna that they were not satisfied simply with the rasa dance at night. They wanted to associate with Him and enjoy His company during the daytime also. When Krishna went to the forest with His cowherd boyfriends and cows, the gopis did not physically take part, but their hearts went with Him. And because their hearts went, they were able to enjoy His company through strong feelings of separation. To acquire this strong feeling of separation is the teaching of Lord Caitanya and His direct disciplic succession of Gosvamis. When we are not in physical contact with Krishna, we can associate with Him like the gopis, through feelings of separation. Krishna's transcendental form, qualities, pastimes and entourage are all identical with Him. There are nine different kinds of devotional service. Devotional service t

When Krishna plays His flute everyone is enchanted. There is no musician in this world who can compete with Him. Beautiful Krishna plays His flute in order to enliven the hearts of many devotees. He is the only friend of the suffering living entities. When He plays His flute, all the cows and other animals of Vrindavana, although engaged in eating, simply take a morsel of food in their mouths and stop chewing. Their ears raise up and they become stunned. They do not appear alive but like painted animals. Krishna's flute-playing is so attractive that even the animals become enchanted. When He plays on His flute and calls the cows with Balarama, the river Yamuna stops flowing and waits for the air to carry dust from His lotus feet. When Krishna walks on the bank of the Yamuna, He is seen nicely decorated with tilaka on His face. He is garlanded with different kinds of forest flowers, and His body is smeared with the pulp of sandalwood and tulasi leaves. The bumblebees become mad a

At the present moment you have within you an ocean of unlimited bliss. Therefore all you have to do to experience unlimited bliss at every minute is to learn the art of how to tap into and always swim in that ocean of bliss. This art is learned from the bona fide spiritual master. I have learned it from my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. And now, if you like, I will teach you how to do it also. The choice is yours. You can remain on the roller-coaster of happiness and distress or can you dive forever deeper and deeper into that ocean of unlimited bliss. I hope you make the right choice. I don't like for anybody to be unhappy. Unlimited Bliss on Govardhana Parikrama Video for the Day Welcome to the Human Form of Life Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Why Does Hatred Exist? Why does hatred exist? Why does a gentle person have to always suffer? Recently I had major surgery, and now I am very much in anxiety. Please tell

If you're feeling suicidal, you just can't stand to live. Everything is hopeless, you're fully inoperative. Meet the Supreme Person who loves you unlimitedly. Give your love to Him, and He will set you free. . ​​​​​​​But there is no God the atheists say. His existence just a myth. Everything comes from nothing they claim. Life's a hopeless abyss. But nothing comes from nothing I scientifically declare. So just find the original something And you'll no longer be ensnared. That original source is a loving person So gentle and sublime. He's inviting you back to your original home To re-enter His eternal pastimes. So if you're ever suicidal Just remember this. Your actual cognizant being Is eternal overflowing with bliss. God's devotee with take you there Back to your original home. You will no longer suffer here In birth and death cycle to roam. Depressed Student Wants to End His Life Video for the Day Lord Krishna's

The school shooting violence has gotten so bad in the United States that now there is an average of one school shooting every week in the US. For example, on Friday 18 May 2018 ten people were shot dead by a disgruntled student at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. Our leaders all over the world, in spite of making a big show of being competent, are factually unqualified to lead their people on the progressive path to truth peace, happiness, and prosperity. Their idea of how to stop violence is to beef up the security. They do not realize that beef is the real problem. Because they are sending their mothers, the cows, to the slaughterhouses now their schools are become slaughterhouses in which their own sons and daughters are being killed. ​​​​​​​When oh when will that day come when people will agree to hear from the Supreme Authority, Lord Sri Krishna, and make their lives perfect? May that day come soon! May that day come very soon! Disgruntled Student Prepares to Murder

Nobody likes to be afraid. The good news is that nobody has to ever be afraid ever again. All one has to do is take complete shelter of Krishna putting all one's faith and trust completely in Him. Then one becomes completely free from all fear and anxiety. In this connection Srila Prabhupada writes as follows in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 17, Text 22: "A devotee of the Lord is always fearless because of the protection given by the Lord. Material existence is something like a blazing fire in the forest, which can be extinguished by the mercy of the Lord Sri Krishna. The spiritual master is the mercy representative of the Lord. Therefore, a person burning in the flames of material existence may receive the rains of mercy of the Lord through the transparent medium of the self-realized spiritual master. The spiritual master, by his words, can penetrate into the heart of the suffering person and inject knowledge transcendental, which alone can extinguish

Srila Prabhupada has wonderfully stated in a lecture given on 25 February 1975 in Miami, Florida USA: "So this is our Krishna consciousness movement, to distribute perfect knowledge, Krishna consciousness, and that will make the whole world happy. So try to distribute this knowledge to your best capacity. Krishna will recognize you, that you are trying your best to work on His behalf because He comes down to distribute the knowledge." And he has also similarly stated in Los Angeles on 2 December 1968: "So when I pass that United Nations building, I simply see the flags are increasing. Instead of increasing the peace movement, the flags are increasing, that's all. So this sort of bluffing blind leaders cannot make happy the human society. This is the only solution: to push on Krishna consciousness movement, love of Godhead. Everyone will be happy, the human society. Viśvaṁ pūrṇaṁ sukhāyate. Whole universe will be just like Vaikuntha. Vaikuntha means without anxieti

Regarding the below photo, I was there in the group of devotees standing with Srila Prabhupada. It was 27 June 1971. Srila Prabhupada had just arrived at the San Francisco airport and he was waiting on the curbside for his ride to take him to the site of the Ratha Yatra to be held that day in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. His ride should have been there, but it was not. It took quite some time for it to arrive. Still without any complaint he simply patiently waited for his ride standing there like an aristocrat gentleman. In this way he was the perfect acharya teaching us by his example the art of patience. My Beloved Spiritual Master: ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Video for the Day Srila Prabhupada at the San Francisco Airport Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: What is Heart, Soul, and Mind? Dear Sankarshan Das Adhikari Prabhu, Hare Krishna!. My name is Chitta, originally from India (Puri) but now stayi

Krishna consciousness is indeed most wonderful because it makes you deathless. It elevates you to the plane of immortality. In this regard, Srila Prabhupada writes as follows in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 16, Verse 8: "Every human being dislikes meeting death, but he does not know how to get rid of death. The surest remedy for avoiding death is to accustom oneself to hearing the nectarean pastimes of the Lord as they are systematically narrated in the text of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It is advised herein, therefore, that any human being who desires freedom from death should take to this course of life as recommended by the rishis headed by Saunaka." The easy way to accomplish this is to regularly read the pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna as so wonderfully described in Srila Prabhupada's book called "Krishna." Gain Immortality By Reading the Krishna Book Video for the Day How to Become Deathless Answers According to Vedic Wisdom

Krishna is so kind that He has appeared in the form of prasadam, the vegetarian foodstuffs that have been offered to Him with love and devotion. Srila Prabhupada gave us a wonderful prayer that we can say before we take prasadam. It goes like this: "O Lord! This material body is a lump of ignorance, and the senses are a network of paths leading to death. Somehow or other we have fallen into the ocean of material sense enjoyment, and of all the senses the tongue is the most voracious and uncontrollable. It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world, but You, dear Krsna, are very kind to us. You have sent this nice prasada to help us conquer the tongue; therefore let us take this prasada to our full satisfaction and glorify Your Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krsna and in love call for the help of Lord Caitanya and Prabhu Nityananda." We do not eat prasadam like ordinary food. Rather we joyfully, reverentially honor it as the special mercy of Krishna. Prasadam empo

In the material world everyone is trying to enjoy. Unfortunately they do not know how to enjoy. Thus they live frustrated, miserable lives until they finally die. And then because they committed so many sinful activities in a life based on material sense gratification they descend to the animal kingdom in their next births. How sad and pathetic can you get? If they could only somehow or other taste the the topmost pleasure of Hare Krishna kirtan, their lives would be completely changed. This is why our goal is to induce the entire world to chant Hare Krishna. We are praying to Krishna that very soon we can attract the entire world to dive deep, deep, deep, into the sublime pleasure of chanting: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare May that day come soon. Lord Sri Krishna, please bless us that that day may come very soon. Super Ecstatic Kirtan in Seattle Video for the Day Super Ecstatic Kirtan in Austin (Click on Photo)

Here are a few of the unlimited reasons why one should chant Hare Krishna: ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna awakens the dormant love of God present in all living beings. ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna brings liberation as a by-product. ✅ When one chants Hare Krishna, s/he automatically develops knowledge and detachment. ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna gets one out from the repeated and endless cycle of birth and death. ✅ It is the most effective means of self-realization in the present age of disagreement. Nothing else works better than this. Try it, you have nothing to loose. ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna cleanses the heart of all illusions, evil and dirty things. ✅ By chanting Hare Krishna, you become free from all anxieties. ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna helps one attain enlightenment — and shows us how to live a life of self-realized soul. ✅ Chanting Hare Krishna keeps us ever mindful of Krishna, the reservoir of all pleasure. ✅ There are no hard and fast rules for chanting. One can chant anywhere, any time, under a

As a young spiritual seeker 50 years ago my conception of liberation or freedom from all the miseries of material existence was the complete, total negation of absolutely everything. In India this is known as the path of "neti neti--not this, not that." Thus I was on the path of the philosophical negation of utterly, unconditionally everything in all of existence. For this purpose my decision was to completely renounce this material world by going to India to spend the rest of my life as a mendicant, a holy beggar. However as I was heading east towards India one evening I had the most astounding realization, which I immediately wrote down on a piece of paper: "I denied and denied until I could deny no longer, and then I had to start accepting." Having unequivocally dedicated myself to the absolute denial of everything, in the final analysis I reached the point of denying the last thing left to deny. In other words now I had to also deny denial itself. When one reno

When our hearts become completely pure we will see Krishna eye to eye, just as I can see you or you can see me. In this regard Srila Prabhupada explains as follows in a Bhagavad-gita lecture given in New York City on 27 November 1966: "Krishna is within you. We have no realization. Due to my material conception of life, I have no realization. So you have to realize that Krishna is there, and you have to purify yourself by service attitude. Then Krishna will reveal. You will see, eye to eye." He also explains in a Bhagavad-gita lecture given in New York City on 14 August 1966 as follows: "Because I cannot see what is happening beyond this wall, oh, that does not mean there is nothing beyond this wall. So everyone wants to see God immediately. God you can see when you are perfectly qualified. When you are in perfect knowledge, you can see God eye to eye just like you are seeing me, I am seeing you. But that requires qualification. You have to wait. That qualification is

As a youth back in the 60's who was supposed to be choosing a career, I could not relate to any kind of career for earning a livelihood in this world. My only desire was to become self-realized. For this purpose I was on my way to India to renounce the world as a holy beggar fully absorbed in the quest for self-realization However, along the way I realized that to become perfect and complete in renunciation I would also have to renounce renunciation. I realized that renouncing the world was not perfection, that the real perfection was to remain in the world for bringing about a spiritual revolution on this planet for bringing true peace and happiness to all. For two years I tried unsuccessfully doing that on my own. But when I saw that the Hare Krishna movement was successfully making a spiritual revolution I surrendered to its founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, as his completely sold out disciple. So now for almost 50 years I have been fully dedicated

Depression is a mental condition characterized by feelings of severe despondency and dejection, typically also with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, often accompanied by lack of energy and disturbance of appetite and sleep. It is indeed a very miserable state to be in. Those who are in depression find life to be unbearably miserable and often think of dying and sometimes even go so far as to commit suicide. Depression is described as follows in the Srimad Bhagavatam, 11th Canto, Chapter 25, Verse 18: sīdac cittaṁ vilīyeta cetaso grahaṇe 'kṣamam mano naṣṭaṁ tamo glānis tamas tad upadhāraya "When one's higher awareness fails and finally disappears and one is thus unable to concentrate his attention, his mind is ruined and manifests ignorance and depression. You should understand this situation to be the predominance of the mode of ignorance." So what can the depressed person do to conquer over this miserable state of mind and become fully jolly and enthusiast

If someone is hitting you with a hammer and they stop hitting you, you will feel some relief although you will not be in an ecstatic situation. This is compared to the Brahman realization attained by impersonalists after thousands and millions of years. Of course there is a sense of relief or happiness when the impersonalist becomes free from the cycle of birth and death. But it is practically nothing compare to happiness easily attained by the devotee even within one lifetime. Here is how Srila Prabhupada describes the difference: "The last word in knowledge is certainly not self-realization or Brahman realization. There is more to realize -- namely, that the jiva is the eternal servant of Lord Krsna. This realization is the awakening of supramental consciousness, and the activities a jiva performs in such consciousness are the beginning of his eternal life. When the jiva performs all his activities under the direction of the Lord's internal, spiritual energy, he enjoys ete