Sankarshan Das: Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto four, Chapter 17, Text 24.

tvam khalv osadhi-bijani

prak srstani svayambhuva

na muncasy atma-ruddhani

mam avajnaya manda-dhih

tvam – you; khalu – certainly; osadhi – of herbs, plants and grains; bijani – the seeds; prak – formerly; srstani – created; svayambhuva – by lord Brahma; na – do not; muncasi – deliver; atma-ruddhani– hidden within yourself; mam – me; avajnaya – disobeying; manda-dhih– less intelligent.

Sankarshan Das:Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace Om Vishnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacharya ashtottara-shata Shri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Tridandi Goswami Maharaj, Prabhupad.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Srila Prabhupad Ki Jai.

Translation: You have so lost your intelligence that, despite my orders, you do not deliver the seeds of herbs and grains formerly created by Brahma and are now hidden within yourself.

Purport:  While creating all the planets in the universe, Lord Brahma also created the seeds of various grains, herbs, plants and trees. When sufficient water falls from the clouds, the seeds fructify and produce fruits, grains, vegetables, etc. By his example, Prthu Maharaj indicates that whenever there is a scarcity in food production, the head of the government should take steps to see why the production is being held up and what should be done to rectify the situation. (End of Purport)

Vande ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaishnavams ca sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa jivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana–sahitam krishna-caitanya-devam sri-radha-krishna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine

nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

mukam karoti vacalam

pangum langhayate girim

yat-kripa tam aham vande

sri-gurum dina-taranam

Sankarshan Das: So, the government is responsible. It's their duty to make sure that there are proper grains for everyone. There's no starvation, people going hungry, suffering from malnutrition, etc. It's also the government's duty to make sure the cows are protected. So, what kind of governments we have nowadays? These are raksasa governments. They are not giving the protection to the cows; they are not seeing that proper grains are available for all the population. So, what to do? Well, we have to make the people Krishna conscious. So, when they go to vote for the leaders, they'll vote for Krishna conscious leaders. That's the way it becomes to that point. Actually, at one point we had a party called the In God We Trust Party, but it's illegal that we have to stop it. Actually, we had In God We Trust Party in Gainesville, the temple President was running for City Council. He got a lot of votes too, a lot of votes. In God We Trust Party, you can even read it in the database, In God We Trust Party, you can read about how it's going on for a short while there. But devotees outside of ISKCON can certainly do such things. Not ISKCON itself cannot do, but devotees outside of ISKCON can certainly try to make some inroads into the political situation. Of course, the real solution is to educate the people. We have to educate the voters to vote for Krishna conscious leaders. Otherwise, fools are going to vote for fools. If you have non-devotees, you are going to vote for non-devotees. We have to make people devotees, so they will vote for devotees. So, the real question is why do we want to have devotees? What's the purpose of even being a devotee? Is it just being a member of some club or having some tilak on the nose and a kandi mala on the neck? What's the purpose of being a devotee? Actually, the purpose of being a devotee is to get back to being who we actually are. We have nothing to do with these material bodies. The material body is just like a vehicle we are using right now. It's a constantly changing vehicle. Every nanosecond your body is changing. The body you have now is not the same body you have when I began this sentence. There's a constant flux going. It's like a river. The Constant flow of molecules going through the river. So, the body is constantly changing. So, we have to get out of this bodily consciousness. You see the great illusion of the modern-day society is everybody identifying with the body. I'm American, I'm male, I'm female, I'm Russian, I'm Indian, I'm Aussie, I'm this, I'm that. You see, I'm a Hindu, I'm a Sikh, I'm a Jain, I'm a this. It's all bodily consciousness. This misidentification of the body is the source of all misery, you see. Because the body is destined to get sick, old and die. Sickness is not fine, old age is a bummer. We know from our practical experience. [indistinct] is really a problematic situation. And then death is the ultimate whammo! But if you are Krishna conscious, you become transcendental to all these things. So, we have to pray for Krishna consciousness. Actually, to be Krishna conscious means you are completely transcendental to all the dualities. What does Krishna say in chapter 5?

na prahrsyet priyam prapya

nodvijet prapya capriyam

sthira-buddhir asammudho

brahma-vid brahmani sthitah.

(BG 5.20)

A person who does not rejoice upon achieving something pleasant nor lament upon achieving something unpleasant is a self-controlled omnipotent and knows the science of God is probably situated in transcendence. So, in our present neophyte condition, when things are going great, we say, oh this is great. When things are going bad, oh this is horrible. We are affected by the dualities, up and down, up and down, like a yo-yo, up and down, up and down, up and down. Yo-yo consciousness, the duality, feeling great when things are going good, feeling horrible when things are going bad. So how do you develop that equal vision? What's the key? What's the secret? How to develop that equal vision and see everything equally and be equipoised? Well, we have to understand, we stupid neophytes, we have to understand that everything that is happening is actually the mercy of Krishna. Krishna is giving unlimited blessings in a minute. If I am suffering, that is the mercy of Krishna. If I am enjoying, it is all Krishna's mercy to help us come back as soon as possible to what? Pure devotional service. Krishna wants us back in that He wants to have that loving reciprocation with us. Like he reciprocated with all the Vrajavasis, the associates of the spiritual world. He has unlimited ecstatic reciprocation with each and every devotee in the spiritual world and He wants to have that with us also. So, we've been denying that. We've been denying Him of that loving reciprocation by our selfishness, by our greed, by our stupidity. We have only been torturing ourselves by doing that. It is time to stop torturing ourselves, inflicting all this unnecessary misery on ourselves, and come back to that position of unlimited reciprocation, loving reciprocation with Krishna at every minute. See, at every minute He is blessing me with unlimited mercy, So, now let me reciprocate with His love. Krishna gives me unlimited loving kindness at every minute, every situation. That is why we also have that nice verse,

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya

sitosna-sukha-dukha-dah

agamapayino ‘nityas

tams titiksasva bharata.

(BG 2.14)

The non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress and their disappearance in due course are like the appearance and disappearance of the winter and summer seasons. One must learn to tolerate them, O Scion of Bharata, without being disturbed. So, this is the key, how to tolerate them. See them all as Krishna's mercy. Say, oh, thank you, Krishna. We should always be in the mood; it's called an attitude of gratitude. Thanking Krishna every minute. So, I'm suffering some horrible pain, well, thank you, Krishna. Thank you for blessing me with this horrible pain I am going through right now. So, I can realize that this is not me, I am not this rotting corpse, this aging rotting corpse. So, we have to, by remembering this and saying, okay my dear mind, stop being such a rascal and stop becoming elated and depressed, my dear mind. My dear mind, you go through elation and depression, elation and depression, elation and depression, my dear mind, stop it. Stop being caught up in the dualities my dear mind. Now fix yourself at the lotus feet of Krishna.

bhajahu re mana sri-nanda-nandana

abhaya-caranaravinda re, my dear mind fix yourself now at the lotus feet of the Divine son, Nanda Maharaj, having all those amazing pastimes in Goloka right now. What happened was five-thousand years ago, it was a little sample of what's going on in the spiritual world actually. It's not that those pastimes are dead and gone. It's called Nitya Leela. Every single pastime is going on eternally, simultaneously. Every single pastime is going on eternally. So, you can actually, in the spiritual world, you can be in whatever pastime you want to be in. You can be whatever you want. You can be a Gopi, you can be a Gopa, you can be a cow, you can be a peacock, whatever you are most alive and inspired to be in the spiritual world you can be that. You can be whatever you want in the spiritual world. There's full freedom there. Full freedom is there. So let us now then bring these rascal minds under control and become transcendentally situated. Remember that I am not really this body.

na jayate mriyate va kadacin

nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah

ajo nityah sasvato ‘yam purano

na hanyate hanyamane sarire,

(BG 2.20)

for the soul there is neither birth nor death. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being.  He is unborn, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain and the body is slain. When were you born? When were you born? I was never born. I'm unborn. Only this body was born. What's your birthday? They ask you that. You tell them, what is your birthday? So many forms, you put your birthday. What is your birthday? That's an illusion, that's not my birthday. Actually, I was never born, I'm unborn. So, we have to kick out this bodily misidentification that's causing us so much unnecessary suffering. And we can be in a state of unlimited ecstasy at every minute. What is that verse?

bahya-sparsesv asaktatma

vindaty atmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktatma

sukham aksayam asnute,

(BG 5.21)

such a liberated person does not misidentify with material senses. He is always in trance realizing he is an eternal servant of Krishna. This way he experiences unlimited ecstasy at every minute. So, we have to learn how to come to that position, become liberated souls instead of conditioned souls. Right now, we are conditioned. Even as devotees we are still neophytes, we are conditioned, we are still thinking I am this body, still identifying the pains and pleasures of the body. We have to get free of this bodily consciousness and realize my actual identity. Come to that transcendental position beyond all these dualities. Not difficult because simply remember Krishna. That's why we have to bring our minds back to Krishna. By offering everything, by engaging in the loving service of Krishna 24 hours a day, how can I think, speak and act in such a way that pleases Krishna, that pleases my spiritual master, the representative of Krishna. By taking that mood, then we can become liberated souls. Even while we are here in this material world being liberated souls, qualified to see Krishna face to face, eye to eye. So, it is not difficult, it simply requires practice. But as it says, it is difficult, it is simple for the simple and difficult for the crooked. Why do we have difficulties? Because we have a crooked mentality of trying to be the enjoyer of separation from Krishna. That is the difficulty. We have to get rid of this crooked criminal mentality of trying to enjoy separately from Krishna. Since I remember that amazing personality.

ananda-cinmaya-rasatmataya manahsu

yah praninam pratiphalan smaratam upetya

lilayitena bhuvanani jayaty ajasram-

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami.

(Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.42)

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose glory ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world by the activity of His own pastimes, being reflected in the mind of recollecting souls as a transcendental entity of ever-blissful cognitive rasa. His glories triumphantly dominate the mundane world. But that's not recognized in the newspapers and the websites and the advertisements. His glories are hidden in the material society. How many billboards do you see that glorify Krishna Up and down the I-35 here in Austin. How many websites, how many advertisements, how many newspapers articles, how many magazines. Not that Krishna is unheard of, except in Back to Godhead magazine and Prabhupad’s books. But that's because they are blind. His glory is ever triumphantly dominating the mundane world. So actually, Krishna's pastimes are so glorious that everything else is merged into insignificance. One actually becomes awakened. And who cares about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln or Mahatma Gandhi and all these. They merge into total insignificance when we consider the pastimes of Krishna. It's not even of interest. It's like insignificant. Who cares about it? The real history is Krishna and the pastimes of Krishna, Bhagavad Gita spoken by Krishna, the great acharyas also are non-different from Krishna because they purely represent Krishna. This is what is actually worth talking about and thinking about and remembering instead of who won the World Series last year or whatever it is. Those things are irrelevant, completely irrelevant. We have to get back to understanding the amazing pastimes, qualities, characteristics of Krishna. The sixty-four artistic activities in association with his confidantes (sakhis), the embodiment of the extensions of Her bodily form. Actually, that is what Radharani is thinking about.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis

tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih

goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami,

(Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā 5.37)

I worship the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm Goloka, with Radha, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes (sakhis), the embodiment of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His efforts of spiritual cognitive rasas. So, these are things that are actually of interest. These are amazing things going on, these pastimes of Krishna, the gopis, Radharani, Mother Yasoda, Nanda Maharaja, Vasudeva, Devaki, so many things. I was just hearing Prabhupada speaking yesterday about Vasudeva and Devaki. They were doing all these penances and austerity even though they were husband and wife. They weren't having any family, any sexual relationship. They were just doing tapas. They weren't doing household life. It's tapasya, sadhus. Unless they could have Krishna as their child, they didn't want to become householders. Unless they could have Krishna as their child. But finally, they got that blessing, they have Krishna as their child.

So, we have any corrections, Gurumataji, any corrections?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I would say that something that, Lord Caitanya's teachings are very, very valuable for beginners, although we have been practicing many many years, but we need emphasis on Lord Chaitanya's teachings very much.

Sankarshan Das: You are saying we should emphasize Lord Chaitanya's teachings.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Lord Chaitanya is giving us a valuable teaching. It's not just that we are going to chant Hare Krishna and we are going to become Krishna conscious. There is a lot of things out there.

Sankarshan Das: Well, we have to be in the mood of spiritual revolutionaries. Lord Chaitanya is a spiritual revolution. Whoever you meet instruct him in the teachings of Krishna and this way, My order you become a Guru and liberate the people of this world. Lord Caitanya's orders to be preachers.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji:  Yes, preachers also have to practice in a way that they can emanate the empowerment of Lord Chaitanya.

Sankarshan Das: Okay, any questions? No questions, any questions locally?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I wasn't correcting you for anything.

Sankarshan Das: okay.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I was just emphasizing the realization.

Sankarshan Das: That’s nice. So, anything else. Let’s see, look at the verse again. Now the government has to, again we have to see the bad government we have nowadays, unbelievable bad government, such demoniac things going on. The learning of our mentality is like Russia wanting to take over Ukraine, killing innocent civilians, bombing an apartment complex and killing so many people. Innocent civilians, husbands, wives and kids, and an apartment building, the residents blow up the apartment building. What's the point of all this? They want to expand the borders of our country. Why don't they just see everything belongs to Krishna? This is the most important thing.

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam

sarva-loka-mahesvaram

suhrdam sarva-bhutanam

jnatva mam santim rcchati,

(BG 5.29)

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam, the enjoyer of all sacrifices. sarvaloka-mahesvaram, the owner of everything and suhrdam sarva-bhutanam, the most intimate, well-wishing friend of all living beings. This is we have to do. We have to come back to seeing Who is the actual owner and who is the enjoyer? Everything that exists is a property of Krishna, therefore everything is meant to be enjoyed by Krishna. We should not try to enjoy that which is supposed to be enjoyed by somebody else. You can't enjoy somebody else's property. You have to let the owner of the property is the rightful enjoyer. So, Krishna is the rightful enjoyer of everything. Everything is His property. But He is not some impersonal rascal. He is the most intimate, well-wishing friend of everyone. He wants to enjoy equally with Him. Inviting him, come enjoy with me. He says, No, no, I think you don't exist, I think you are a myth. God is a myth, there is no God, he is an atheist. See how offensive, there is no God. God is an invention of some moralists, you know, who want to scare you into being good. If you are sinful then God will punish you. They invent God as some idea of forcing morality on the people. This is bogus misinformation coming from these atheists, these impersonalists. God exists but he is just a oneness. You have to merge and become God. Right now, you are thinking yourself suffering from God and you are suffering now, come back and be one with God once again and that way become full of bliss. That's what they teach us, the impersonalist. Just merge now, become God. I am God, you are God, we are all God. Come on, just merge back into the ocean. But now, the nature, Krishna is the source of everything but at the same time simultaneously one and different, acintya-bhedabheda tattva. The absolute truth is simultaneously, inconceivably one and different. Is that oneness? Yes, because everything is Krishna, but is there the expanded Krishna and the expander Krishna. Well, there is both things. Just like with the sun, I can see the sun rising through the window shining in the fence. I can see the bright sunlight shining in the fence. But that is the sunshine, not the sun planet. There's a popular song, here comes the sun. But that was the sunshine. If that was the sun, they wouldn't be singing here comes the sun, they'd be dead and gone, burned to a crisp. Here comes the sun, or here comes the sunshine. So, there is Krishna and the Krishna shines. So, we are the shine of Krishna, we are the living entities of the shine of Krishna. This all-material world is the shine of Krishna, even the spiritual world is the shine of Krishna. So, we have to get back now to being living in a state of harmony with Krishna instead of disharmony. Don't merge. Of course, in a sense harmony means there is a oneness. But there is a difference in the harmonies. Just like in music we have what's called a chord. You have a series of notes that now blend very nicely with each other. Guitar chords, we used to play chords. We had six strings on the guitar and you play them in such a way that they all vibrate nicely together. It is called a chord. But still there are six separate notes. It is one chord but within that chord there are six separate notes. So, we have to be in accord with Krishna, not that we become Krishna. This is a very important difference, very important distinction.

See if we have any questions. Yeah? No questions? I guess nobody is inspired. We go to questions. Right.

Local Devotee: Srila Gurudev, you were mentioning about the body like pains and pleasures and all that.

Sankarshan Das: Body what?

Local Devotee: The pains and pleasures of the body.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, the pain and pleasures of the body.

Local Devotee: So, is it my correct understanding that if one focuses more and more and fully on Krishna, then we disassociate with the body or how does that, how do I not identify with those pains and sensations?

Sankarshan Das: By becoming Krishna conscious, you will naturally no longer identify with your material body. It will happen naturally. When you become fully Krishna conscious you will see the body for what it is, it is the energy of Krishna, it is not you. If I am Krishna conscious, I am automatically disidentified from my material body. Not as some separate thing. On one hand I cultivate Krishna consciousness and on the other hand cultivate detachment from the body. No. See my body, they try to detach from the body without cultivating Krishna consciousness. But they fall, tantric, they fall back again in material existence. We cultivate love of Krishna then automatically we see everything is His energy to be used in His service and we won't identify with the material body anymore. So, if we are suffering some bodily pains, then we should just become more Krishna conscious. Of course, we take medicine or whatever treatment is recommended. We can take medical care. It is like I am going to a medical advisor today about the pain in my leg. But pain is no pain. If I misidentify with this body, I would be miserable in any case. I would be miserable in any case. But if I identify with Krishna where this body is finished, I become an indolent in a wheelchair. If I am fully Krishna conscious, I would be in total ecstasy. I would be an indolent in a wheelchair. I can't even walk anymore. So, the key is to be Krishna conscious. That's the key. Isn't it? Is this harder or is it true? It's true. It's easy to say, but hard to realize sometimes. It's very easy to say but sometimes very hard to realize. And I'm walking around the block and I almost collapse on the street. It's easy to say but a little more hard to realize. But if we remember it and we vibrate it, it will help us remember it the next time we are attacked by some bodily pain, some bodily distress. We keep it in the ether, keep it vibrating with Him. We can remember Him, not this body. I take care of the body but it's not me. Krishna gave it to me to use in His service and now let me keep it in good shape for His service. But it's not my happiness. Having a healthy body is not my happiness. My happiness is pleasing Krishna.

Okay, so there's nothing else we can stop. Here's a question coming in.

Devotee: Why does the change in subtle body experience the passage of time?

Sankarshan Das: Well time is not, the gross body goes through changes in the course of time, birth, death, old age and disease. The subtle body remains the same, actually. And the subtle body is the same. But due to misidentification with the material gross body, we experience, on the subtle plane, we experience things differently because of our misidentification with the gross body. The subtle body is always, it doesn't change. It's the same subtle body. You actually even birth after birth after birth you have the same subtle body. If you're going through the cycle of birth and death in the material world, you keep the same subtle body you had in millions of lifetimes, the same subtle body. But when you become a pure devotee, then you leave the subtle body behind. But that same subtle body has carried you through birth, death, all those diseases, millions and millions of lifetimes. So, the only reason we experience, the reason we have different attitudes is due to our misidentification of the body. Okay now.

Lilamanjari: What is the way to measure how deep I am taking Krishna consciousness?

Sankarshan Das: One is how much you are detached from your material body. How much, that's one way of measuring, how long are you misidentified, how much are you now that disidentified from your material body? How much nectar are you relishing and chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. How much nectar are you tasting by engaging in devotional service? How much nectar are you tasting when you have the darshan of the Deities? You see them as a statue or do you see Krishna Himself standing there blessing you with His darshan? So, there are many ways we can engage our Krishna consciousness, our lack of Krishna consciousness. Many, many, many different ways. Any one of them is good. How much you are surrendered to serving the order of the spiritual master? How much you are absorbed in propagating the order to become a guru and deliver the whole world? How much are you thinking, I can be an instrument for the deliverance of the entire world? How much can I be an instrument in the hands of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu for the deliverance of the fallen souls of this world back to home, back to God? That's another way of measuring how much you are Krishna conscious. How much you realize you have a duty to deliver the world.

Anything else? Here's another one.

Yugadharma: How to understand more deeply that Krishna is waiting for us to return to Him?

Sankarshan Das:  Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita, it is Krishna coming to get us back. Bhagavad Gita is the proof. Otherwise, He wouldn't have come to speak Bhagavad Gita. He spoke Bhagavad Gitafor the purpose of getting His back and His loving devotional service.

sarva-dhaman parityajya

mam ekam saranam vraja. Give up all your nonsense and surrender unto me. He's ordering us to come back to Me right now.

Paramahamsa:Someone feels horrified at the thought of losing a loved one. How can they come to understand they are not the body?

Sankarshan Das: By engaging in devotional service. That's the key. By engaging the body in the service of Krishna, engaging your thoughts, words, your thoughts, your words, your deeds, everything, engaging everything you have in Krishna's service, you automatically become detached from the material body.

Anything else? Now we have a big question coming in. Wow!

Panchatattva Das: Kindly enlighten, even a person at oldage with disease is not interested in balancing Krishna consciousness.

Sankarshan Das: Because they are ignorant. They still misidentify with their body. They plan for taking care of finances, health, covering and again being young at any cost because they foolishly misidentify with a material body. It's not realizing they're an eternal youth. The old age person is not even willing to accept old age themselves. Why is this mentality not accepting? See, Actually, we don't want to become old because old is unnatural for us. Actually, we want to remain young. We don't want to be some old person with a body falling apart. Because that's not us. We're eternal youths. So that's why old age is unnatural. We don't want old age. We try to avoid it in any way we can.

Devotee: Why this mentality is not accepting Lord Krishna? And about myself, I fear before getting into old age I should at least become a pure devotee. Such fear for me is healthy or imaginary.

Sankarshan Das:  We should be afraid of the ma sucah, fearless. We should be afraid of being fearful actually. Being fearful means I am misidentifying with this material body. So, we should have a healthy fear of maya. We should not want to become under the grips of maya devi, misidentifying with the material body. That should be our fear, afraid of being under maya's influence. We should become, abhay charan, become fearless by taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna. You see. Prabhupada name, Abhay charan. Becoming fearless, they see, Abhay caranaravinda, becoming fearless by taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna.

Anything else? There's nothing else. We'll stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in. 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. 

Here's the last question sneaking in. We'll go ahead and cover it. This will be the last one.

Devotee:  What advice would you give to a family who have just started Krishna consciousness, not chanting yet.

Sankarshan Das: We can tell them that chanting is enchanting. By taking up chanting they will actually enter into a higher state of consciousness. Chanting is opening up a world of entering into the world of transcendental bliss. 

Hare Krishna.