Who Convinced Me to Surrender to Srila Prabhupada

In 1971 in Austin, Texas seeking spiritual perfection I was praying to God every day to guide me how to become His perfect servant. In answer to my prayer Lord Sri Krishna sent His Holiness Vishnujana Swami to Austin to teach me the science of pure devotion. Since I was a locally popular singer/songwriter at the time I thought that I would then write and sing Krishna conscious songs like George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," which had been recently been released. Visnujana Swami mercifully welcomed me to moved into the temple to cultivate Krishna consciousness and write Krishna conscious songs, even though I did not want to become an initiated disciple.

But then one morning all that changed. My daily service was to vacuum the temple room rug. We had been given a copy of the Radha Krishna Temple album sung by the London devotees with George Harrison, which I was playing as I vacuumed the rug. Hearing the devotees singing the Gurvastakam prayers offering their loving devotion to Srila Prabhupada and tasting a little drop of that love in my heart I became overwhelmed with feelings of love for Srila Prabhupada. As tears streamed down my face I thought, "Wouldn't it be beautiful if I gave my life to Srila Prabhupada?". After that I inquired from the devotees when I could get initiated, which finally happened on 12 August 1971 when Srila Prabhupada accepted me as his disciple in a letter from London.

Here's the sound clip that changed my heart.

Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom

Question: How Many Children Can We Have?

Prabhu, I have heard that a Vaishnava cannot have more than one child, but Srila Prabhupada had two children. Why is it so?

Arya Sarita

Answer: Two or Three

My Dear Arya,

Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

You have been misinformed. Only take instructions from those who are purely teaching you what Srila Prabhupada has taught without any additions or subtractions. Regarding how many children, Srila Prabhupada has instructed us as follows in a Bhagavad-gita lecture that he gave on 21 February 1969 in Los Angeles:

"A householder may have wife, may have sex life, but that is for having children only, that's all. A householder does not mean he gets license to legalize prostitution. That is not householder. Householder can simply have
sex life to beget nice child, that's all, no more. That is householder life; completely controlled. Householder does not mean whenever he has got this machine and he can use it. No. Householder, husband and wife, both
Krishna conscious, engaged in Krishna conscious business, but when they require a child, Krishna conscious, that's all. That is also voluntary contraceptive method. One or two or three children, that's all, no more. So householder life does not mean sex life without any restriction."

I hope this meets you in the best of health and in an ecstatic mood.

Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Sankarshan Das Adhikari is one of the spiritual masters of the worldwide Hare Krishna Movement. He has dedicated the last 50 years of his life for bringing a spiritual revolution to planet earth by spreading the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna all over the world. He is based in Austin, Texas and when there is no pandemic regularly travels all over the world teaching his audiences how to attain Krishna consciousness, the highest stage of spiritual awakening. He is available for media interviews and to speak to groups and organizations either in person or via the internet.