Ultimate Self Realization

Now that we have honored and celebrated the most ecstatic appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is time to focus our energies on the upcoming 2 1/2 months of traveling throughout Europe for distributing the ultimate self-realization science. We will first go to Bulgaria, then to Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and finally to the Netherlands. Everywhere we go we see that people are hungry for this topmost knowledge and the practical system of how to fully realize it. Of course, at the present moment it is still a very, very small percentage of the human population who are interested in reviving their dormant Krishna consciousness. But I am sure that the numbers will grow and the world atmosphere will gradually change for the better. We simply must continue undaunted in purely presenting the ultimate theistic science for the benefit of all living beings throughout the universe. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Our Form in the Spiri...

Today is the most auspicious day of Gaura Purnima, the appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It was on this day in 1486 that Lord Caitanya appeared in what is now known as West Bengal, India. He is the most merciful of all the incarnations of God. In His other manifestations He made the condition that first of all you must surrender to me before receiving My mercy. But in this most merciful manifestation of Lord Caitanya there is no such condition. Simply He bestows pure love of Godhead upon everyone without making any distinction between who is qualified and who is not qualified. Therefore we pray in this way: namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namne gaura-tvise namah "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Caitanya, who is more magnanimous than any other avatar, even Krishna Himself, because He is bestowing freely what no one else has ever given -- pure love of Krishna." This day is celebrated by fasting ...

Nowadays it has become very fashionable to concoct one's own pathway of self-realization. Take a little from here, take a little from there, stir it around with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Shake it up, shake it down, shake it all around. Let it sit overnight. And then, lo and behold out comes your own personally concocted pathway of self-realization? No. You have just manufactured your own custom designed pathway of self deception. If you want the actual pathway of self-realization, the pathway which will factually liberate you from the cycle of birth of death, you must follow that trail that has carefully blazed through the wilderness of ignorance by the great saintly teachers of the past. This is confirmed as follows in the Mahabharata: mahajano yena gatah sa panthah "One should traverse the trail chalked out by the previous great acharyas." ---Mahabharata, Vana-parva (313.117) These great acharyas, fully self-realized spiritual masters, also...

What should one on the pathway of self-realization do when the well of inspiration runs dry? Should he take a break from spiritual life and engage in material sense gratification? Or should he tolerate the uninspired phase and continue faithfully executing Krishna conscious activities? If one is serious to awaken his dormant Krishna consciousness, there is no choice other than to execute the second option. If we out of frustration with our lack of spiritual progress engage once again in material sense gratification, all we are doing is pouring water on the fire of bhakti that we have been trying to light within our heart. This will make it harder for us to resume our Krishna conscious activities. The best policy, therefore, is to always remain steadfast in our devotional activities through thick and thin. This steadiness will quickly bring us to the desired goal of pure Krishna prema. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: Difference Between Abodes... How is Krish...

No matter what situation we may face in this often turbulent material existence, we should not despair. The Supreme All-Merciful Lord is always there behind the scenes bestowing His causeless grace upon us. Sometimes things appear to be going great, sometimes not so great, and sometimes completely devastating. But these are appearances only. The real fact is that beyond the dream of this material existence Lord Krishna is bestowing upon us an unlimited flood of loving kindness at every minute. The problem is that because of our false pride we have become blind to see such things. But now if we will agree to be humble devotees of the Lord, we will be able to see the Lord constantly and be overwhelmingly amazed at every minute by His inconceivable kindness. Answers According to the Vedic Version Question: How to Observe Ekadasi?... I have read a little recently about fasting and holy days, especially in regards to Ekadasi. How long should I fast, sundown to sundown? Is it bet...

We are presently deeply embroiled in the Kali Yuga, the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. On the slightest provocation bitter quarrel can erupt between husband and wife, between brothers, between neighbors, and between nations. Even there is the extreme example that two nations went to war against each other as an escalation of a brawl that broke out at a soccer game between their respective national soccer teams. Just see how bad things have become People are edgy and are itching for the opportunity to fight because of an extreme sense of misery and frustration. What can be done? How can we achieve peace and happiness in this material world? Krishna has answered this in the Bhagavad-gita: bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati "If one can understand Me as the supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor of everything, and the supreme friend of everyone, one is established in peace and is free from material agitation." ---B...

The path of Krishna consciousness is pure nectar, but sometimes because of our previous mental conditioning we experience difficulties. However, the more we advance along this sublime pathway, the less we will experience these difficulties. Therefore it is in our best self interest to advance as quickly as possible. The faster we advance, the better off we will be. So what is the secret of rapid advancement? This all-important question has been answered by my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. He told us that for rapid advancement, "...one should be very active and should persevere in the duties specified in the revealed scriptures and confirmed by the spiritual master." If we will stick to Srila Prabhupada's simple formula of always remaining busy in Krishna conscious activities according to the directions of guru and Krishna, we will find that all difficulties will disappear from our pathway back to home, back to Godhead. It will be smooth saili...