Ultimate Self Realization

Calamity is a wonderful teacher because it both reminds us and gives us the opportunity to put into the practice the many wonderful lessons that we have been learning from Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita such as: mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata "O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." Bhagavad-gītā 2.14 Sometimes we are comfortably situated in a nice place of residence. Sometimes we are not. If we base our happiness on being happily situated in a nice place of residence, we are setting ourselves up for devastating anxiety because everything in this material world is temporary. But if we base our happiness on being securely situated at th...

It was a normal day in the material world, the world where there is danger at every step. We were on our way back to Austin from the super ecstatic Baltic Summer Festival. We had a overnight stop in London to catch our ongoing flight the next day to Chicago, which connects with a flight to Austin. Upon our arrival in London we discovered that Finnair had lost a piece of my luggage. Lord Krishna says that we have to be tolerant of the dualities. So I took it in stride. Whatever Krishna arranges I am prepared to accept. Then in the middle of night I kept receiving calls on my mobile phone. Half awake I was thinking that someone was probably calling the wrong number, so I ignored the calls. But when they kept calling I came to my senses and realized that somebody was in fact urgently trying to reach me and I answered the call. It was my disciple, Abhay Charan das, urgently trying to reach me from India. He had been notified by a devotee in Austin that the ISKCON temple in Austin, which ...

Two days ago it was reported in Thought for the Day that Doyal Govinda Prabhu was the organizer of the Baltic Summer Festival. We failed to mention that the main organizer of this wonderful festival was Kedaranath Prabhu. So today we want to especially express our deep appreciation to this wonderful devotee Kedaranth Prabhu for his dedicated labor of love to create such an uplifting experience for the nearly one thousand devotees who participated in the 2013 Summer Baltic Festival. This stimulating forest retreat featured six days of wonderful deity worship, super-enlivening kirtans, sumptuous prasadam, and many informative and inspiring classes and seminars on many different transcendental topics. There was even a children's Ratha Yatra! All of us who had good fortune to attend this festival will cherish many memories of it within our hearts for many years to come. Also not to be forgotten are the hundreds of devotees who volunteered their time and energy in the many, many depart...

When I was giving a lecture several days ago at the Summer Baltic Festival in Lithuania someone asked me how to keep the same joyful spirit alive in our hearts after the festival is over and we return our respective places of residence. I explained to them that you simply have to keep the festival going non-stop 365 days a year by always maintaining an atmosphere of loving exchange with the devotees of Krishna. If we always reciprocate in all of our dealings with the Lord's devotees in loving ways, we all always be relishing the mellows 24 hours day of a sweet Hare Krishna festival of bliss. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Giving a Seminar at the Summer Baltic Festival 23 July 2013--Harmony Park, Lithuania Answers by Citing the Vedic Version : Question: Why Chant Only One Mantra? Dear Master, Somewhere I have read that one should only chant one mantra. But all the names of Vishnu attract me. Although I do chant the Hare Krishna mantra, also I chant the following: "Sri Rama ...

This material world is a world of dualities. We are constantly being tossed in the waves of pain and pleasure, happiness and distress. If we want to experience actual tangible happiness in the real sense of the term, we have to transcend the ups and downs of this material world and enter into the divine world of Krishna consciousness in which one is always associating with Krishna, the all-powerful, supremely beautiful, totally renounced, all-knowing, unlimitedly wealthy, all-famous Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such contact with Krishna reconnects us with our eternal, all-blissful nature, and immediately relieves us from the stress and duress of this material existence. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Our Special Thanks to Baltic Summer Festival Organizer: Sriman Doyal Govinda Prabhu Question and Answers with Disciples Answers by Citing the Vedic Version Question: Do Lust, Anger, and Greed Come from Krishna? In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says that lust, anger, and greed are the door...

You are covered by ignorance, and the entire world population is covered by ignorance. Therefore you are suffering, and the entire world is suffering. So what is the solution? By hearing from the bona fide spiritual master you will become free from your ignorance and misery. And by following Lord Caitanya's order that you should become a guru by telling everyone you meet about the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna, you will help the entire world to become delivered from ignorance and misery. In this way by hearing and repeating what you have heard to others you will turn on your soul and turn on the world to the transcendental blissful life of Krishna consciousness. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Meeting with Some of My Students 23 July 2013--Summer Baltic Festival--Lithuania Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: How To Satisfy My Hunger For Love? I have realized in my life that I have always been looking for love and expecting to be loved. Whether it is from family, friend,...

Srila Prabhupada often quotes the English saying, "If you love me, love my dog," to illustrate the necessity of loving Krishna's devotee as a prerequisite to loving Krishna. This is a most important point to remember while following the path of Krishna bhakti, because Krishna says that His devotees are more dear to Him than His very self. Krishna will never accept us as His devotees unless we are first of all dedicated to His devotees. How much we truly, not superficially, love Krishna's devotees is the test of how much we have actually awakened the dormant love of Krishna that is sleeping within our hearts. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Loving Relationships With Devotees Seminar 22 July 2013--Summer Baltic Festival--Lithuania Answers by Citing the Vedic Version: Question: Can You Help Me to Be Ecstatic? To tell the truth I don't think I am ecstatic. Any help there? Sincerely Ray Escobilla Oaxaca, Mexico Answer: Chant Hare Krishna As Much As Possible If y...