Ultimate Self Realization

En route from Vrindavan to Mumbai, India for several days of spreading the ultimate nectar of Krishna bhakti there, we stop overnight in India's capital, New Delhi, at ISKCON's celebrated Glory of India temple. This temple's grand opening several years ago was a super gala event attended by the then prime minister of India. It is a very popular place of worship and place of education for the people of New Delhi. The devotees and guests were very enlivened to chant the Hare Krishna mantra and hear detailed information about the science of pure devotion. It's really wonderful how I can circle the globe hopping from one Krishna consciousness center to another city after city, country after country. There is a cultural revolution going on. May it spread more and more all over the world to relieve the suffering population from the clutches of birth, death, old age, and disease. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Spiritual Oasis: ISKCON Temple, New Delhi, India Mahamantra Bliss Ha...

Life is very short; it can end at any minute. So there is no time to waste. As long we have the power to speak we must do everything within our power and, with God's help, beyond our power to bring about an all encompassing world-wide spiritual revolution. Mother Earth is crying in agony while the ever-increasingly overwhelming imbalance of the natural order continues worsening and worsening without any solution in sight. The modern day politicians are completely useless when it comes to solving the problems. In fact it is because of their unenlightened misguidance that the entire world is in chaos. So we would be extremely foolish to wait around for them to rectify the situation. Therefore, we must now take the full responsibility for planet earth within our hands by full dedicating ourselves to spreading the enlightening knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita to every man, woman, and child in every town, village, city, and hamlet throughout every corner of the world. We must, each ...

Every visit to Sri Vrindavan Dham is the most purifying and uplifting experience. Just to be here breathing the air and contacting the sacred dust is an elixir for the soul. This the eternal home of Lord Sri Krishna here in this material world. Krishna's pastimes are eternally going on here at every minute. And my spiritual master said that Vrindavan is his home. So as Krishna's devotee and as the spiritual son of my Guru Maharaja, I certainly also take Vrindavan as my home. So why don't I stay at home here in Vrindavan? My spiritual master ordered his disciples to spread Krishna conscious all over the world. By surrendering to this order I am always in touch with the sacred dust of Vrindavan. By this surrender Vrindavan becomes eternally manifested within my heart and I never set foot outside of its sacred groves. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Temple at Kusum Sarovara in Vrindavan, India Answers According to the Vedic Version: Question: Computer Games Materialistic? When ...

Life in Vrindavan is a life of stark contrasts. We daily witness in the Krishna Balarama temple the unparalleled beauty of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Who are dressed daily in an unending variety of jewelry and outfits. And then when we walk out of the temple into the town we see the street hogs foraging through the garbage for some morsels of food to eat. Of all the animals we see in Vrindavan, the hog is the fattest because he thrives on eating the human stool which is readily available everywhere because of Vrindavan's open sewer system. Seeing Vrindavan's "sanitation engineers" executing their daily duties is a sobering reminder of the stringent law of karma. Those who have no discrimination in the matter of eating are given in their next life the body of hog so they can enjoy eating anything and everything with no sense of discrimination. Therefore one is advised to follow the instructions given in the Bhagavad-gita that our diet should consist entirely of vegetar...

This morning (1 December 2007) I gave the morning Srimad Bhagavatam lecture at the Krishna Balarama Temple. There was a wonderful gathering of devotees in attendance who were enthusiastic to drink deeply the nectar of the Srimad Bhagavatam. It was a wonderful opportunity to share some of my ever-expanding realizations about the science of Krishna consciousness. We follow a traditional system, a standard format, of delivering the Srimad Bhagavatam class according to what we learned from ISKCON's Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. First we sing the beautiful bhajan (devotional song) by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur known as Jaya Radha Madhava. This song is a window to the spiritual world. By entering deeply into its sublime rasas (tastes) those who are highly advanced transcendentalists can actually use it as a portal to enter into the spiritual world. And even for the neophytes it serves an as extremely uplifting and energizing devotional meditation....

Now we are swimming in the memories of yesterday's Govardhan Parikrama. Yesterday six of us did the transcendental trek, Govardhan Parikrama, together. Since Govardhan Hill is one of Krishna's incarnations, gazing upon Govardhan is non-different from directly seeing the form of God. The sacred walk around the hill is accepted by Krishna as direct worship of Him. So the Govardhan Parikrama is an incredible way to be fully absorbed in loving devotion to the Supreme Person for the seven hours it took us to complete our parikrama. We began in the early morning chill at 6:00 am. Our first stop was Manasi Ganga, the sacred pond created by Lord Krishna. To purify ourselves we took Manasi Ganga's sacred water upon our heads and then continued on our transcendental journey. Manasi Ganga, our First Stop One of the first things we saw was a man who was doing his Govardhan parikrama in a very slow way that will take many months to complete. In one spot he offers his obeisances flat ...

What trip to Vraja Mandal, Sri Vrindavan Dham, would be complete without doing Govardhan Parikrama, the circumambulation of Govardhan Hill? We don't have to worry about the answer to this question because today we are doing it. We are out on Govardhan Parikrama, a pilgrimage that is so powerful that it can deliver one from material existence, the wheel of repeated birth and death. The great spiritual potency of Govardhan is confirmed in the Adi-varaha Purana as follows: "Two yojanas [sixteen miles], west of Mathura, is the very rare place named Govardhan. A person who circumambulates this place named Annakuta-tirtha does not return to this world." Of course we should not take this boon cheaply and think that we can do all nonsense and then circumambulate Govardhan for deliverance. We should live a pure life of bhakti under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and also circumambulate Govardhan Hill for the special blessings it bestows. Govardhan is the hill that w...