Ultimate Self Realization

Srila Prabhupada writes in Chapter 26 of the Teachings of Lord Caitanya: "Lord Caitanya pacified the Bhaṭṭācārya and asked him to go home. The Bhaṭṭācārya again began to praise the Lord and said, 'You have descended to deliver all the fallen souls of this material world.'" So since Srila Prabhupada ordered us to deliver the world, should we desire and pray that all this fallen souls of this whole material world can be delivered or just this planet Earth or our particular universe? We can get a very nice answer to this question from a letter that Srila Prabhupada to his disciple, Balavanta Das, on 22 December 1971 when Srila Prabhupada was in Mumbai. Here's what Srila Prabhupada said: "We should always be enthusiastic to try for shooting the rhinoceros. That way, if we fail, everybody will say 'Never mind, nobody can shoot a rhinoceros anyway.' And if we succeed, then everyone will say, 'Just see, what a wonderful thing they have done.' ...

Regarding Vyāsa-pūjā, the appearance day of the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada writes as follows in his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 18, Text 75: "In Bhagavad-gītā, all the yoga systems—karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga—are explained. Kṛṣṇa is the master of all such mysticism. It is to be understood, however, that as Arjuna was fortunate enough to understand Kṛṣṇa directly, so, by the grace of Vyāsa, Sañjaya was also able to hear Kṛṣṇa directly. Actually there is no difference between hearing directly from Kṛṣṇa and hearing directly from Kṛṣṇa via a bona fide spiritual master like Vyāsa. The spiritual master is the representative of Vyāsadeva also. Therefore, according to the Vedic system, on the birthday of the spiritual master the disciples conduct the ceremony called Vyāsa-pūjā." Therefore, even though I don't worship my birthday, for my disciples and followers according to the illuminating Vedic system, the day I was born is to be worshipped and it is my...

Today I am giving initiation to many sincere souls who are serious about spiritual life. Initiation means a second birth. We get our first birth from our mother and father. And if we are one of the most fortunate people in the history of the universe we get our second birth from a bonafide spiritual master and Lord Sri Krishna in the form of initiation. The most glorious day of my entire life was the day when I become the initiated disciple of my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktvedanta Swami Prabhupada after suffering for millions of births through the 8,400,000 species of life here in this material existence. And it is my greatest happiness than now on Srila Prabhupada's order I can initiate many sincere souls today who now become my disciples and his grand disciples. I will be their spiritual father, and Srila Prabhupada will their spiritual grandfather. I must also express my eternal indebtedness to my beloved wife (my better half) known to my disciple...

Srila Prabhupada revealed in a letter written on 5 May 1967 to Kirtanananda that some of his disciples were cultivating Krishna consciousness in their past lives and were now placed by Lord Caitanya for His pleasure in the western part of the world to assist Srila Prabhupada in spreading Krishna consciousness in the western countries: "I think some of you like yourself, Satsvarupa, Brahmananda and Mukunda and Gargamuni, Acyutananda and all of you had already cultivated this Krishna Consciousness in your past lives, now Lord Caitanya wants that this movement should be spread in the western countries, so most probably in your previous births you were all Indians and cultivated this Krishna Consciousness. Now Lord Caitanya has placed you in the western part of the world so that you can now combine together and broadcast the holy message all over the world." This especially feels true in my case also because my life's career choice as an American university student was to ren...

Our ultimate mission is to deliver all the fallen souls of this entire material existence, not just our present universe. This is confirmed in Chapter 26 of the Teachings of Lord Caitanya wherein Srila Prabhupada writes regarding Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya: "The Bhaṭṭācārya again began to praise the Lord and said, 'You have descended to deliver all the fallen souls of this material world.'" So it's time to get really serious about being successful in accomplishing our ultimate mission of delivering ourselves and all the fallen souls of this material existence back to Home, back to Godhead for the pleasure of our spiritual master and for the pleasure of Lord Caitanya. Sankarshan Das Adhikari Lord Caitanya Delivers the Fallen Souls Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: Was I Dog? If I can bark like a dog, does that mean in my past life I was a dog? A Mo Answer: Yes, You Were Whether you can bark like a dog or not you were definitely a dog in a previous li...

Recently in Mayapur we were blessed with the opportunity to visit the samadhi of Srila Prabhupada's spiritual master, His Divine Grace Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Bhaktisiddhna Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada. This reminded me of the beautiful Vyas Puja homage that our Srila Prabhupada wrote for him which is as follows: Adore ye all, The happy day. Blessed than Heaven, Sweeter than May. When He appeared at Puri, The holy place, My Lord and Master His Divine Grace. Oh! my Master The evangelic angel. Give us thy light, Lift up thy candle. Struggle for existence A Human race, The only hope His Divine Grace. Misled we are All going astray, Save us Lord Our fervent pray, Wonder thy ways To turn our face Adore thy feet Your Divine Grace. Forgotten Krishna We fallen souls. Paying most heavy The illusion's toll. Darkness around All untrace, The only hope His Divine Grace. Absolute is sentient Thou hast proved. Impersonal calamity Thou hast moved. This gives us a ...

Do you know what is the secret of success in spiritual life? It is very simple. Do not do your devotional activities mechanically as some kind of mundane routine. Do them with feeling as an offering of love to your spiritual master and Krishna. This point is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 9, Verse 26 in which Lord Sri Krishna declares: patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ TRANSLATION "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it." So the key is "bhaktyā" which means "with devotion." If we do our service mechanically, Krishna will not accept it and we will not be satisfied. But if we do it with love, Krishna will be satisfied and we will be swimming in the ocean of unlimited bliss. So we should keep this mood going 24 hours a day whether we are offering an arati, cooking an offering, taking darshan, singing and dancing in kirtan, readin...