Sankarshan Das Adhikari:

Today we are reading Srimad Bhagavatam, 4th Canto, Chapter 17, Text Number 27. Maharaja Pruthu becomes angry at the earth.

tvāṁ stabdhāṁ durmadāṁ nītvā

māyā-gāṁ tilaśaḥ śaraiḥ

ātma-yoga-balenemā

dhārayiṣyāmy ahaṁ prajāḥ

tvām — you; stabdhām — very much puffed up; durmadām — mad; nītvā — bringing into such a condition; māyā-gām — false cow; tilaśaḥ — into small particles like grains; śaraiḥ — by my arrows; ātma — personal; yoga-balena — by mystic power; imāḥ — all these; dhārayiṣyāmi — shall uphold; aham — I; prajāḥ — all the citizens, or all the living entities.

Translation in Purport by His Divine Grace, Om Vishnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacharya ashtottara-shata Shri Srimad A. C. Bhaktivedanta Tri-dandi Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada.

You are very much puffed up with pride and have become almost insane. Presently you have assumed the form of a cow by your mystic powers. Nonetheless I shall cut you into small pieces like grain, and I will uphold the entire population by my personal mystic powers.

Purport

The earth informed King Pṛthu that if he destroyed her, he and his subjects would all fall down into the waters of the garbha ocean. King Pṛthu now replies to that point. Although the earth assumed the shape of a cow by her mystic powers in order to be saved from being killed by the King, the King was aware of this fact and would not hesitate to cut her to pieces, just like small bits of grain. As far as the destruction of the citizens is concerned, Mahārāja Pṛthu maintained that he could uphold everyone by his own mystic powers. He did not need the help of the earthly planet. Being the incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu, Pṛthu Mahārāja possessed the power of Saṅkarṣaṇa, which is explained by the scientists as the power of gravitation. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is holding millions of planets in space without any support; similarly, Pṛthu Mahārāja would not have had any difficulty supporting all his citizens and himself in space without the help of the planet earth. The Lord is known as Yogeśvara, master of all mystic powers. Consequently the planet earth was informed by the King that she need not worry about his standing without her help.

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

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

So Mahārāja Pṛthu is not under any difficulty. He has the being Viṣṇu himself, an incarnation of Viṣṇu. He can do whatever is required to do. He can't be threatened or discouraged by any kind of impediment because he can overcome all impediments. This is the great mercy of being Krishna conscious also because when you take shelter of Krishna who can overcome all impediments then you can also overcome all impediments. We face so many impediments in this material world that are causing so much disturbance to our minds, birth, death, old age and disease, adhyatmic miseries, adhibhautic miseries, adhidaivic miseries. We are being tortured and tormented in so many ways here in this material world, isn't it? Aren't we tortured in so many ways? This problem, that problem, this problem. But Krishna can overcome all problems.He has no problems.

So actually we have only one problem. We don't have many problems. We have one problem and one problem only and that is to remain Krishna conscious. We have to come out of this platform of not being Krishna conscious and become Krishna conscious. It is like Krishna explains so nicely in the Bhagavad Gita,

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā

vindaty ātmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā

sukham akṣayam aśnute

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense gratification, that he is always in trance, embellishing the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized soul enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme. So we have to come to this level now where we are fully concentrating on Krishna, fully absorbed in Krishna. We are not under the influence of the modes of nature, the mode of ignorance, the mode of passion, the mode of goodness. We want to become transcendental to all these modes. These modes, even the mode of goodness is a contamination. So we have to become this level of pure Krishna consciousness.

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Give up all your nonsense, so that they surrender to me and I deliver you from all sinful reactions. mā śucaḥ. Don't hesitate, don't worry, I'll take care of everything. Krishna can take care of everything. So why are we so foolish, we don't surrender to Krishna, we keep thinking on my own I can solve all my problems but actually we can never solve these problems. Never solve the problems. We have unlimited problems here. Problems, problems, problems all day long. That's our position. One problem after another problem after another problem after another problem. And we actually take seriously these teachings given by the Lord in the Bhagavad Gita and also these teachings here in the Bhagavatam, these wonderful instructions given to us by Prabhupada on how to connect with Krishna.

This is the real key, this is our real happiness. Our happiness is not in sense gratification. The foolishness we have, we think, well I can be happy by sense gratification. You know, eating, sleeping, mating and defending, in this way I can be happy. But you can't be happy by these things, because that's simply for the body. You eat, sleep, mate and defend for the body, but that's not you. By putting air in the tires of your car and putting gasoline in the car's gas tank, will that satisfy you? No. Satisfying the vehicle does not satisfy the driver. So we are the drivers of this vehicle called the human body. So we have to actually satisfy the driver, not the vehicle.

So that's why we have to learn how to be Krishna conscious. Just like Krishna nicely explains in the Bhagavad Gita,

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā

bodhayantaḥ parasparam

kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ

tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully surrendered unto Me and they derive great satisfaction and bliss by enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

That's our actual bliss, you see, by engaging in Krishna conscious activities, talking about Krishna, hearing about Krishna, bowing down to Krishna, serving Krishna, remembering Krishna, pushing forward the movement of Krishna on the order of Srila Prabhupada. This Krishna consciousness gives us unlimited bliss. Devotees sometimes feel as they think, no I have to have sense gratification to be happy, but actually sense gratification, if we over indulge in sense gratification what does that mean? It means I am misidentifying with my material body. If We take more than is necessary to keep body and soul together, that means I am misidentifying and thinking I am the body. So we have to get off this platform of thinking I need this so much sense gratification to be happy.

Real happiness becomes totally absorbed in Krishna consciousness 24 hours a day.

yato yato niścalati

manaś cañcalam asthiram

tatas tato niyamyaitad

ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet

From whatever and wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.

So this tendency we have for the mind to go here, here, here, kick it out, okay mind, give up this tendency of running here, running there, running, running, running, running, trying to get pleasure in this way and that way. My dear mind, you can get one pleasure, there is only one place for pleasure and that is in Krishna consciousness. That is the only place. You cannot be satisfied going anywhere else. There's no way to be satisfied going anywhere else. Only by fixing the mind in Krishna consciousness. That's why Prabhupada has given it this mantra.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

The second lecture I heard, the first lecture I heard was at the beginning of the Ratha Yatra festival, before the parade began. And then after we got to the side, Prabhupada gave another lecture. In this lecture, Prabhupada chanted Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare. Then the whole audience, the whole crowd, everybody, they also chant and Prabhupada said, thank you very much. So Prabhupada very much appreciates it when we chant Hare Krishna. When you chant Hare Krishna, Prabhupada likes to say, thank you very much. Prabhupada is pleased. See the whole idea is that we have to please the spiritual master, especially Srila Prabhupada, the big Jagadguru, we have to please him. And we chant Hare Krishna, he's pleased. We bow down to Krishna, he's pleased. We take prasadam, he's pleased. Remember Krishna, he's pleased. It's like he was telling about this pastime, it's actually an amazing pastime. The whole Ratha Yatra is commemorating a festival. It is not just some parade. It is commemorating a Leela of Krishna. Krishna was there in Dwaraka, Balaram, Subhadra, they all went to Kurukshetra. And then the Brijabasis, they also came to Kuruksetra. They wanted to bring Krishna back to Vrindavan. So Lord Caitanya, when He was dancing in front of the Ratha Yatra Cart in the mood of bringing Krishna back to Vrindavan, He was in the mood of Radharani. Lord Caitanya was in the mood of Radharani in the mood of bringing Krishna back to Vrindavan, back to Vrindavan.

So this Ratha Yatra is not just some parade pulling some Deities, it is actually a commemorating of a Leela. With a Brajabasis, they want to bring Krishna back to Vrindavan, back to Vrindavan, back to Vrindavan. So it is such a nice thing to remember this Vrindavan and all the pastimes of Krishna.

jaya rādhe jaya kṛṣṇa, jaya vṛndāvan

śrī govinda, gopīnātha, madana-mohan

All those wonderful places.

śyama-kunḍa rādhā-kuṇḍa, giri-govardhan

kālindi jamunā jaya jaya mahāvan

keśī-ghāṭa baṁśi-baṭa, dwādaśa-kānan

jāhā saba līlā koilo śrī-nanda-nandan

śrī-nanda-jaśodā jaya.. śrī-nanda-jaśodā jaya, jaya gopa-gaṇ

śrīdāmādi jaya jaya dhenu-vatsa-gaṇ

jaya bṛṣabhānu jaya, kīrtidā sundarī

jaya paurṇamāsī jaya, jaya paurṇamāsī jaya, ābhīra-nāgarī

Jaya, in this way, so nice, just thinking about these pastimes of Krishna, the associates of Krishna, the holy places of Krishna's pastimes. This is the whole point, We have to keep bringing the mind back to Krishna. And Krishna means also those things in relationship with Krishna. Nanda Maharaj, Mother Yasodha, Vasudeva, Devaki, Radharani, Balaram, keśī-ghāṭa baṁśi-baṭa. All these different places where Krishna plays, blows on the flute. All these wonderful, wonderful descriptions by Brahmaji. Such amazing descriptions, isn't it?

veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ

barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam

kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord. What is He adept at? He is adept at everything. He is especially adept at playing on His flute and He has blooming eyes like lotus petals. Can you imagine eyes like lotus petals? And His head is bedecked with a peacock feather and His figure of beauty is tinged with what? What kind of hue? The hue of blue clouds. Can you imagine? What kind of body He has? This is Sri Krishna. The body is tinged with the hue of blue clouds, not ugly bodies like ours.

Jaya, Hare Krishna..

So we have to just tune in to Krishna. We have to tune in, tune in, tune in, turn on and bliss out. Is it right? Isn't it? Tune in, turn on and bliss out. Tune in to Krishna, turn on our spiritual identities. We tune in to Krishna and we turn on jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa, the constitutional position of the living entities, the eternal servant of Krishna. When you tune in, you turn on, and what happens? You bliss out, you become ecstatic. Instead of being overwhelmed by devastating depression, you can celebrate exhilarating ecstasy. Can you imagine exhilarating ecstasy 24 hours a day? That's Krishna consciousness. So I'm not celebrating, exhilarating, if I'm not celebrating, exhilarating ecstasy it means I'm forgetting Krishna. That's all. I'm not connecting with Krishna. If I'm not exhilaratingly ecstatic at every minute, it means I am not properly connecting with Krishna. So that's why you have the 10 offences against the Holy Name.

There is static and there is ecstatic. If there is static in the way, it is like you hear a broadcast on the radio but it is not tuned in properly, you get static (Srila Gurudev mimics static sound). Static comes through. It is not ecstatic when you have static. When you are trying to hear some nice music, some of your favorite songs on the radio and you hear all this static coming through. It's not ecstatic. So we want to get rid of the static and become ecstatic. So that's why we have the 10 offence against the holy name. You can avoid all these offences. Then you can become ecstatic and even the Prabhupada says when you become free of all offences you become Jagadguru, under your influence.. Under your influence, the whole world takes up chanting Hare Krishna.

So just see the power of developing pure chanting, how significant is our job every day. We tune in, turn on, bliss out and also empower, stimulate a global spiritual reawakening. All right [inaudible], it's amazing thing. So chanting is absolutely enchanting, we just have to get into it, that this is the greatest thing. Why stop at 16? You can chant extra rounds too. Actually the real standard was sixty-four. The devotees couldn't do it, couldn't manage it. Prabhupada said, okay, thirty-two, they couldn't handle that either. All right, 16 is a concession. But the actual scriptures say 64 rounds. So anyway there's no reason to stop at 16. 16 is just getting warmed up. Do extra rounds whenever you have time. Study a few .. Another program is a chapter a day that keeps Maya away. Read a chapter a day of Prabhupada's books, Maya won't touch you. A chapter a day keeps Maya away. There are so many lectures, you can hear Prabhupada's lectures. So many nice kirtans, you can hear lectures of the spiritual master, lectures like Guru Mataji's lectures, you can tune into her classes every day. So there is so much opportunity for us to tune in to Krishna consciousness. We have to be very aggressive to get Maya completely out of my heart. Maya get out of here, I kick you out with boot. Get out of my heart. You see, You are not welcome in my heart, Maya devi. Get out of my heart. I want only Krishna in my heart from now on. Krishna and the associates of Krishna, the pastimes of Krishna, the Leela places of Krishna, that everything is in my heart be filled up with Krishna consciousness in every situation. I remember that first lecture I heard, Prabhupada said, he said, every day you drink water, once, twice, thrice, more than every day. If every time you drink water, remember that Krishna is the taste of the water, immediately become Krishna conscious. You become Krishna conscious by drinking water, can you imagine? And water is free, you can get it free. Every time you drink water you can remember Krishna is the taste of the water. Ah! raso 'ham apsu kaunteya I am.. O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water. You look out your window and oh there is the sun. Oh look there is the moon. I am the light of the sun and the moon. So we just have to learn how to see. It is called Śāstra-cakṣus, one who sees through the eyes of scripture. He also the ability in man. You see somebody is very expert. Just like Guru Mataji is very expert in making garlands. That ability she has, that is Krishna. So in some way somebody can sing very nicely, somebody can offer an arati very nicely. Anytime you see an ability in someone, that is also Krishna and the ability in man. So we have to, that is why by reading these books we gain so much knowledge and insight how to become free.

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā

man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ

bahavo jñāna-tapasā

pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me — and thus they all fully surrendered unto Me by transcendental love, they all attained transcendental love for Me.

So this is a wonderful thing. We have these enemies attachment, fear and anger. But by taking shelter of Krishna you become free from fear, you become abide, fearless. What's the most fearful thing? Death, right? But what is death? What's the fear of death? It comes by bodily misidentification. I understand I'm not his body, there's nothing to be afraid of. I understand that Krishna is the supreme controller and I will leave my body when he wants me to leave my body. It could be today, tomorrow, next week, 20 years from now, 40 years from now. It's totally in the hands of Krishna. It's like some lady, she lived like 118, she just had an advertiser on the news. She lived 118 years. Actually the yogis could live up to 300 years. They withhold their semina, they wouldn't pass semina. By withholding semina you can actually extend, you can live longer. It's like the idea of going to a disco that recreational sex is okay, it's a stupid idea. Because it's stated right there in Prabhupada's books, like with holding semina you expand your life, the more you pass semina it means you are calling death near. So I don't know why devotees, I guess they are not reading Prabhupada's books. They are thinking that recreation of sex is okay as long as you don't kill the baby. They think that if we are having an intimate relationship, a happy marriage, we have to have sex pleasure. But actually that is not true.

Krishna says, the thoughts of my devotees dwell in me by engaging in Krishna Katha, they take great satisfaction and bliss. So there is actually more bliss in talking about Krishna than there is in sex pleasure. So instead of being bed buddies, be Krishna Katha buddies. This is what we recommend for our householders. Don't think you have to be a bed buddy to have a happy marriage. Be a Krishna Katha buddy. Be like two brahmacharis. Talking about Krishna, serving Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna. In this way you can have a delightful marriage with no questions about it. A very, very happy marriage by basing it on Krishna, not on sex pleasure. So in this way we have to take full advantage of these teachings of Srila Prabhupada and this way we can actually have an amazing transformation of consciousness. When we actually come to that point we can see Krishna everywhere. We can experience Krishna within and without. Experience Krishna everywhere, always in contact with Krishna at every minute. His amazing qualities, His amazing pastimes, the names of Krishna, actually unlimited names, unlimited qualities, unlimited pastimes, just absolutely amazing person. We can actually be, we can revive in our intimate loving relationship with him. To the mercy of the bona fide spiritual master, Krishna says,

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Just try to learn the truth by approaching the spiritual master, inquire from him submissively, rendered service unto him, the self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because, because what? Because they've seen the truth. The spiritual master was blessed by his spiritual master, the realization of the absolute truth. And now he will bless you also in the realization of the Absolute Truth. But sometimes you think, I don't need a spiritual master, I'll just be a devotee of Krishna. Is that possible? Well, what does it mean to be a devotee of Krishna? It means you obey Krishna, right? Krishna says approach the spiritual master. Well Krishna, I'm your devotee, but I don't want to obey You, right? Isn't that stupid? Krishna, I want to be your devotee, but I refuse to follow You. If you're actually Krishna's devotee, that's great, now do what He says. Krishna says, approach a spiritual master, inquire from him and render service unto him. So in this way we have to give up all these bogus new ideas. They are trying to water down Krishna consciousness with all these ridiculous ideas of how I can enjoy it separately basically. I want to make a show of being a devotee but I don't actually want to surrender. What is the value of being a show bottle devotee with tilak on the nose, Kanti mala on the neck, but not even following the principles of Krishna consciousness. What is the value of such a thing? These are pseudo-Vaishnavas.

A real Vaishnava, he takes the order of the spiritual master, his life and soul. That's a real Vaishnava, not a pseudo-Vaishnava, a show bottle, so-called devotees. But let's not be so-called devotees. Actually, you are only cheating yourself. You may think I can enjoy, let me have some enjoyment, you know, water down the process with a little sense gratification here and there, but that doesn't actually work. It actually doesn't bring one to the ecstasy of Krishna consciousness. You're polluting it. When you put sand in the sweet rice, you ruin it. Don't put sand in the sweet rice. Take the sweet rice as it is, take Krishna consciousness as it is, take Krishna consciousness as Prabhupada has given it. Don't pollute it with sense gratification. This is what the Christians have done. They polluted the pure teachings of Jesus with all this sense gratification. The whole thing is a show bottle, it's not real Christianity, it's a show bottle of Christianity. The Bible says thou shalt not kill. I used to go to the potluck dinner every Wednesday night in our church and there was so many meat dishes, how many animals were killed, we were eating killed animals right there in the church. And Thanksgiving and thanking God eating a turkey, a killed bird. How is this actually following God when The Bible says thou shalt not kill. The Bible doesn't say thou shalt not kill humans, it says thou shalt not kill period. So all this cheating is going on, but you don't want to do this to ISKCON also, by introducing all this cheating philosophy and cheating practices into Krishna consciousness. You want to keep this ISKCON as Prabhupada has given it to us, in its pure form, just as Prabhupada has given it to us without mixing it with any kind of sense gratification.

So in this way this movement will actually become the world religion. Become established as a world religion if we keep it pure. If we water it down, this will become another nonsense religion, another church on the block. Another nonsense church on the block. If we keep it pure, if we push for it as it is as Prabhupada gave it to us, it will conquer the whole world and the whole world will become a world religion in every town and village.

Pṛthivīte āche yata sa.. Pṛthivīte āche yata sa.. How do it go? Pṛthivīte āche yata. Pṛthivīte āche yata. I am forgetting the Sanskrit, Bengali.

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra hoibe mora nāma.

Lord Caitanya said, In many towns and villages as there are throughout the entire world, this Krishna consciousness movement will be spread. So that means that some devotees are going to keep it pure. Some devotees are going to keep it pure in spite of all this pollution that is introducing in ISKCON. Some devotees are going to keep it pure because of their pure preaching this movement will become established as a global vision. Every town and village it's going to happen. So it's pretty exciting actually. Just imagine living on a cutting edge of a global spiritual revolution. Living on the cutting edge. What could be more exciting and thrilling than that? Being on the cutting edge of a complete transformation of the entire world. You see, Prabhupada is taking it upside down and turning it right side up and we get to be his instruments for him to do that through us. We can be his instruments so Prabhupada can save the world using us as his instruments.

So in this way actually Prabhupada told us, He said you can become perfect in understanding science of Krishna, become Guru and deliver the whole world. And He helped, he told us to actually take that position, become the world deliverers. Somebody asked me the other day on an email, well how do you become a world deliverer? How can I do that? How can I possibly? Well it's very simple.

yāre dekha .. Lord Caitanya said, how you can become a world deliverer.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa āmāra ajñāya guru hañā tāra ei deśa

Whomever you meet, instruct him in the teachings that Krishna, and this way on my order you become guru and you deliver the people of this country. Take every opportunity you can to tell people about Krishna. Even when I am talking on the phone, I say, Hare Krishna. We even have our call back trained, says Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So take every opportunity. We talk to some person on the phone and they say, well have a good day. I say, yeah, have a great eternity. Chant Hare Krishna have a great eternity. Take every opportunity to tell people about Krishna. We have an opportunity to go, actually, we are having the mind and body spirit expo coming up, we have a book table there, it can be ecstatic, we have a book table there, you can be preaching for whole two days of preaching, distributing books, you can come here next month, the Mind, Body, Spirit Expo, we always get a table there. And there's so many places we can go out, I would like to go out, there's a really nice spot we can go out and do Harinam and book distribution, whenever We have free time.

Now I'm at the University of Texas, there's a place where all the students cross the street. Hundreds of students come through there every day. Hundreds and hundreds of students. That's where actually the Vishnujana came and first started preaching here, that spot there. It used to be a hippie street market there, but now it's just a sidewalk. But there's a nice place, everybody can go there and distribute books, We can go to Harinam there. There are so many opportunities we have for preaching and distributing Krishna consciousness. We need to take every opportunity that is available to us and to revolutionize this planet. Distributing books, chanting the holy names, inviting people to our programs. We need to be very aggressive now while we can turn world history right side up. We need to be very very aggressive. Everything we can possibly do.

So anyway, let's see if they have any questions. I've been rambling on here quite a while.

Question.

Devotee: Srila Gurudev, during the class you mentioned somewhere that Srila Prabhupada, he mercifully reduced the rounds to 16 and the scripture mentions 64. So somebody can take that position as well and they say, yeah well, now the world can't follow these regulative principles and that is why we are watering down these.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: They think they have the same power as Prabhupada and adjust the regulative principles?

Devotee: Yes.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: They think they have the same power as Prabhupada. Good luck. They think they are a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada who understands Krishna's desires perfectly. They think they are on the level of Srila Prabhupada. All they say is good luck at the time of death.

Devotee: Because during Prabhupada's time, Prabhupada was Acharya and now during my time…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Yeah, I have the same power as Prabhupada to adjust it. I'm also, I'm an initiating guru, so I can change Prabhupada's instructions. I can make a new version of what is Krishna consciousness. Good luck. I'll say good luck at the time of death. Prabhu or Maharaja, whoever you are, Do you think you can change Prabhupada's instructions? Good luck. May you have good luck at the time of death. You think you are on the level of Prabhupada? Good luck. Good luck. You are going to need it. That is called Guru aparad. He is a Guru Aparadi. He thinks he is on the same level as Prabhupada. Any other questions? Yes.

Devotee: Srila Gurudev, you mentioned saying everything through Śāstra-cakṣu. So getting so much knowledge from scriptures, there is also a danger of becoming just a Gyani. So, how to prevent that from happening?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: How do you go above being a Gyani? Look at that verse again.

Look at that verse again.

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā

man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ

bahavo jñāna-tapasā

pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

Being free from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons of the past attained transcendental knowledge of Me and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me. They became purified by knowledge of Me and thus they all attained transmittal love for me. So becoming purified by knowledge of Krishna is very good. But then you have to also engage in devotional service, that's the point. The knowledge itself is very good, it purifies you. The more you know about Krishna, what it is to know Him is to love Him. The more you know about Krishna, you are not bringing your own interpretation, but you are actually submissively hearing from the bonafide spiritual master, hearing from the scriptures, the more you know about him, the more you want to love him and serve him naturally. But the jnanis, the jnana which is no good is the jnana of the impersonalists. I'm very learned in Vedas. They come with an impersonal misinterpretation. The jnanis who don't get bhakti, those are the impersonalists. But bhakti jnanis are very good.

The more you read Prabhupada's books, you are associating directly with Srila Prabhupada. By that association you get inspiration. Saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ, One develops one's consciousness according to one's association. If you associate with a jnani, someone who doesn't serve Krishna and is simply talking about reading scriptures, you won't get bhakti. But if you associate with a bhakti jnani, like Prabhupada, one who has full knowledge of Krishna, but they are fully absorbed in loving service to Krishna at the same time. By that kind of a jnana you will get bhakti. You take jnana from bhakti you get bhakti also. You take jnana from a jnani you only get jnana. You take jnana from a bhakti you get bhakti jnana. Devotional service and practice. Does that help a little bit?

Any other questions of the local, the on the internet? Maybe they all fell asleep or something. Let's see if they are still there. No, they are still there. I have no questions from the internet yet. Let's see if anybody else is local here. We should end the class. Yes.

Devotee: Gurudev, knowledge about Krishna is also non-different from Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: That's correct.

Devotee: So then getting knowledge about Krishna, isn't that also bhakti?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Absolutely. Hearing about Krishna, hearing, chanting, remembering, when you hear, just by hearing this class, it's devotional service. By reading this books, it is devotional service. That's reading is silent hearing.

Devotee: So then how do we distinguish jnana, just jnana from…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Well if you don't, I'm hearing but I refuse to chant. I'm not going to bow down. I refuse to do a service. I don't want to do any service. You're not fully, your hearing is incomplete. It's imperfect hearing. When you hear perfectly, you see, actually these Navavidha Bhakti, you can become perfect through any one of these nine activities. Hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, Any one of these nine activities can make you perfect if you do it perfectly. It's like Arjuna, he heard perfectly. What was the result? He fought the battle. He was very revered.

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ

pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ

yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me

śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.

So if you hear in that mood you are in good shape. If you can hear in the mood of Arjuna, I am very bewildered so right now I am depressed, I am bewildered, I am confused, I have all these difficulties so please enlighten me my dear Lord. Confused about my duty. Arjuna was very confused, he was bewildered. He didn't know what to do. But he heard some [inaudible] from Krishna and then Krishna chastised him.

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ

prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase

gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca

nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

So Krishna then enlightened him.

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ

na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ

na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ

sarve vayam ataḥ param

He was thinking, how can I kill these kinsmen on this battlefield? These are my kinsmen. How can I kill my own? Krishna says, actually you can't kill anyone. For the soul, there is never birth and death, nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. He is unborn, ever existing, primeval, he is not slain when the body is slain. So Krishna said, don't worry, you are not really killing them, not really killing them. So, by hearing from Krishna, you see, then what was the result? He fought the battle. Krishna was a charioteer and Arjuna was a warrior. He went in and fought the battle by hearing.

See if we have any questions now coming in. No questions. The internet people are, oh here's one from the internet. Two came in now. Mahaprabhu Kripa Devadasi, how can I comprehend our propensity to yearn for love in this world derived from numerous relationships while engaging in Krishna Conscious practice?

The desire for loving relationship is natural. We have to understand unless it's based on Krishna, it's polluted by selfishness and greed and lust. We have to understand the perfection of loving relationships is Krishna consciousness. I remember when that book came out, The Nectar of Instruction, I think it was in 1975. I have been a devotee for like four years, And Krishna.. Prabhupada came out with this book, The Nectar of Instruction. What is that verse? It talks about the 6 kinds of loving exchanges between the devotees. Wow, that's wonderful. I always felt that, but We never heard about it so much. We just heard, you know, surrender to the spiritual master, surrender to Krishna. Now loving relationships between devotees, it was wonderful. So we have the six kinds of loving exchanges with devotees to help us awaken our Krishna consciousness. So that is the perfection of relationships. Study that nectar of instruction. I don't remember the verse. Anybody remember the verse? How does it go?

Bring the book. We will look it up. That is the best way to get it straight and proper. See the book right there. Okay. You didn't know what page it was on? Okay. See I got my flashlight. Yeah, I saw this verse and went wow, this is wonderful. What is that verse? Let's see. Let's see, text 4, O! thank you very much. Yeah.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti

guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati

bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva

ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.

So Prabhupada says in this verse Rupa Goswami explains how to perform devotional activities in the association of the devotees. There are six kinds of activities. 1, giving charity to the devotees, 2 accepting from the devotees whatever they may offer in return, 3 opening one's mind to the devotees, 4 inquiring from them about the confidential service of the Lord, honoring pashadam or spiritual food given by the devotees and feeding the devotees with prasadam. So this is a very nice, so if you want loving exchanges then this is what you do. Follow this instruction of Rupa Goswami and that will enhance your Krishna consciousness.

Okay now we have, let's see, Vishnuratha, if someone is not teaching according to the Srila Prabhupada, if someone is not teaching according to Srila Prabhupada, but distributes Bhagavad Gita, will have an effect on the reader.

If you get Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita, you are in good shape because you got Prabhupada. If they give you another Bhagavad Gita which says, I am God, you are God, we are all God in one world. But Even if someone is not purely preaching, but Prabhupada says that they give you Prabhupada's books, they just connect you with Prabhupada. So they get the mercy of giving you Prabhupada as he is.

Caitanya das, if one honestly wants to become a pure devotee, realizes he is not anywhere near to that.

That means you are in good shape. You realize you are not anywhere near to it, you are in good shape for actually achieving it. How do you keep going with enthusiasm when it seems hopeless?

It seems... actually it is not hopeless. The more you can, what does the Lord say, look at Siksastakam prayers. Feeling yourself lower than the straw in the street. Being ready to offer all respect to others without expecting any respect for yourself and such a state of mind you can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. So feeling you are in a very low position, that is very good. You can chant out to Krishna, desperately begging for his mercy, I am in a hopeless position, what is the hope for me? I am so lusty, I am so angry, I am so greedy, I am so envious, I have laziness, craziness, I am in such a horrible state, my dear Lord, please save me, save me. The more you feel yourself unqualified, that is your qualification, Caitanya Das. So call out to Krishna in that mood, feeling totally helpless, and now my dear Lord, please save me, please save me, I'm in a helpless hopeless position, now please save me.

Mahaprabhu Kripa, does it lead to frustration or can I have a hope that one day I will transform to a pure love?

We have to base all of our relationships on pleasing Krishna. Not pleasing, if I think that somebody wants, some mundane person wants to be, no. We have to, These relationships have to be based on Krishna consciousness principles. Somebody wants to have sex and I give him sex, can I please them? No, that's not favorable for my Krishna consciousness or their Krishna consciousness. Somebody wanted some sense gratification so I gave it to him. No. Yet, love seems to me is what is beneficial for that person. How can I benefit that person's Krishna consciousness? That's a loving relationship. That's a real meaning of loving relationship.

Preetam Manhas, Gurudev, I know that envy and anger are enemies and still these energies dominate every time what to do.

Envy and anger. The way to get rid of anger is forgiveness. I'd be a very forgiving person. Not holding grudges. Be very forgiving. Understand, somebody dealt with me in a way that was imperfect, well I'm also imperfect, so I shouldn't be so angry, because I'm also full of faults. Somebody deals with me in a faulty way or in an improper way, I could get all angry and say, why you are treating me like this, who do you think you are? No, but I also make mistakes, I also do things wrong So let me be a little tolerant on the mistakes of others.

And as far as envy is, which spiritual envy means, that somebody is more Krishna conscious than me and let me try harder so I can also become more advanced in Krishna consciousness. You should spiritualize your envy. Here is somebody more advanced than me, spiritual envy, how can I try harder so Krishna will notice me also? Spiritualize your envy.

Okay, let's see what else we have. Okay, if one mostly has services other than preaching, so unable to focus on preaching, whatever your services do it perfectly. That is preaching by your example. If you are a pujari or a cook, you are all day in the kitchen. Just like I remember the old days in Gainesville, Pundarikakshan Prabhu was the cook. He was the head cook. He was in the kitchen practically all day cooking. And I would take the Prasadam and go out and preach on the campus to all the students and make devotees on the campus. So was his preaching any less than mine? He was cooking the Prasadam and I was distributing it. So he also gets the credit of preaching because he was cooking the Prasadam and I went out for preaching. So you do nice Deity worship, people come to the temple and are inspired to become a devotee. O! the Deities are worshipped so nicely, they become inspired to become devotees. So your pujari work is also preaching. So learn how to do everything, everything you're doing in the preaching by doing it a first class way.

Okay, let's see here. All right. Alakananda Devi Dasi. What is the right way to implement spiritual education in schools?

How about books? Teach them to be devotees. In the schools it should be only Prasadam served to the students. They should have pure thoughts. Make it Krishna conscious. Others religions may object to Bhagavad Gita. Yeah that other religion will object to everything. They'll object to Krishna Prasadam only in the kitchen and for the meals also. They'll object to everything because they're not truly following Christ or Mohammed. They have a watered down mixed with sense gratification version. Just like in my life I was sincerely trying, I was studying the Bible trying to understand how can I actually follow Jesus perfectly? What is his example? Because of that, I was praying, Dear God, please guide me. Jesus said, Father, not my will, but thy will be done. I said, that's it. I just have to do what God wants. That is my perfection. How can I do that? I started praying, Dear God, please guide me how I can become your perfect servant. And then He sent His Holiness Vishnu Janaswami to start preaching here in Austin, Krishna consciousness movement. So they are actually true Christians, true Muslims, true Sikhs, Jains or whatever, if they are truly following, trying to follow their teachers with absolute total surrender, they all come to Krishna consciousness. Because they are cheaters and rascals, they won't accept. It's not the fault of their religion, they are not following their religion's path. That's the problem, they are cheaters, They are rascals. They are taking God as the order supplier. Instead of how I can serve, how God can serve me? Such paths will never accept.

Okay, let's see. How to enjoy the knowledge within? The knowledge within? You have to see things as they are. I am the eternal servant of Krishna. My perfection of my consciousness is to always remember Him, serve Him with love. If you actually properly train yourself, you see, bahir nrisimho hridaye nrisimho, as we sing in the Narasinga prayers every day, bahir nrisimho hridaye nrisimho, may Lord Nrsingadeva dwell within my heart, killing all my bad propensities, so my mind becomes completely clean and I can bring peace to the entire world. So if you are actually probably situated within, all the lust, anger, greed, mad delusion will be kicked out and love of Krishna will become awakening in your heart. Attraction for Krishna, attraction for Vrindavan, attraction for the spiritual master, attraction for the Prasadam, attraction for the Deity. These attractions become more and more and more powerful.

Okay, let's see what else we got here. Bhaktan Poraname. Should one try to preach every next person with whatever knowledge they have of Krishna or heard from Guru and Vaishnava?

Yes. Whatever you have heard about Krishna, share it with the world and Krishna will give you more realization, more realization. The more you push forward Krishna consciousness, the more Krishna will give you realization. If you dedicate your life to making the whole of Krishna conscious, then Krishna will become fully manifest to you.

Okay, let's see. Sadhu Bhusana. Krishna is addressed as Satyam Param Dhimahi. How important do you feel is Satyam for becoming the devotee of Krishna? What is the translation? Satyam. What does Satyam mean? Eternity? I don't know this translation. Truth. Truth? What does Param Dhimahi mean?

Satyam Param Dhimahi. I forget the translation. Satyam is truth. It's very important. Satyam means truth. So it's very important to know the truth. You have to know the difference between truth and untruth. It is very important to know things as they are, to see things as they are. So the acharyas are giving, right now we are in the darkness of ignorance, they are opening the eyes, the Śāstra-cakṣus, they are giving us the eyes of scripture to see things as they are. So when you know things as they are, the truth is you are not your material body, you are an eternal servant of Krishna and your only happiness is to be fully observed in loving service to Krishna 24 hours a day. So it's very important to know that. Absolutely essential.

Anything else? We're going a little overtime today. But it's okay, today we can go overtime. Because Guru Mataji is not back yet. Is there anything else? Ready to call it quits? Yeah, you're ready to call it quits. So what do you think? Is this encouraging? What I am saying is encouraging or discouraging? Encouraging? Why do you say it's encouraging?

Devotee: Because Krishna can solve all the problems.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: That's right, Krishna can solve all the problems.

Even a body that's falling apart, even you have some body that's falling apart, this thing going bad, it is actually natural. Old age means the body starts falling apart, it is a natural thing. So if one thinks I am the body, then you can be very depressed. But you realize I am not the body, it is just a vehicle Krishna gave me to use and I'm going to get a new one soon anyway. So why worry about it. This car is getting ready to be turned in for a new one, so no problem. Just keep doing my service to the best of my abilities. Whatever Krishna has given me, let me utilize it to the best of my ability for pleasing him and pleasing Lord Caitanya and pleasing Srila Prabhupada, pleasing my spiritual master. In this way, you see, just keep that enthusiasm. Prabhupada recognized me for my enthusiasm. Just remembering that instruction always gives me great enthusiasm. So I'll repeat it again. He said, I can see you're a very sincere and enthusiastic boy, eager to spread this Krishna consciousness movement. Now continue enthusiastically as you were doing and surely Krishna will bless you. So I'm trying to give this class very enthusiastically. It's also very encouraging to see my name is in the purport today. That was nice. Sankarshan. Wow. That was very enlightening to see my name in the first place. It was very encouraging. It's enthusing for me to see Prabhupada's Sankarsana, the power of gravity. I just pray that the power of gravity is all powerful in this world. I just pray that Krishna, the power of my preaching, has as much impact on the world as the power of gravity. I'm praying that Krishna can give me that much, he will bless me with that much potency. Because Prabhupada told us to deliver the world. It hasn't happened yet, but I am praying that Krishna please bless me and give me the empowerment that I can actually carry the earth in my spiritual master to deliver the world.

We will stop here. Thank you everybody for tuning in.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare