dharovaca

namah parasmai purusaya mayaya

vinyasta-nana-tanave gunatmane

namah svarupanubhavena nirdhuta-

dravya-kriya-karaka-vibhramormaye

dhara – the planet earth; uvaca – said; namah – I offer my obeisances; parasmai – unto the Transcendence; purusaya – unto the person; mayaya – by the material energy; vinyasta – expanded; nana – various; tanave– whose forms; guna-atmane – unto the source of three modes of material nature; namah – I offer my obeisances; svarupa – of the real form; anubhavena – by understanding; nirdhuta – not affected by; dravya– matter; kriya – action; karaka – doer; vibhrama – bewilderment; urmaye – the waves of material existence.

Sankarshan Das: Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Tridandi Goswami Maharaj, Prabhupada.

Translation: The planet earth spoke:  My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, You are transcendental in Your position, and by Your material energy You've expanded yourself in various forms and species of life through the interaction of the three modes of material nature. Unlike some other masters, You always remain in Your transcendental position and are not affected by the material creation, which is subject to different material interactions. Consequently, You are not be bewildered by material activities.

Purport:Purport by Srila Prabhupada. After King Prthu gave his royal command, the planet earth in the shape of a cow could understand that the king was a directly empowered incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently, the king knew everything- past, present and future. Thus, there was no possibility of the earth’s cheating him. The earth was accused of hiding the seeds of all herbs and grains, and therefore she is preparing to explain how the seeds of those herbs and grains can be again exposed. The earth knew that the king was very angry with her, and she realized that unless she pacified his anger, there was no possibility of placing a positive program before him. Therefore, in the beginning of her speech she very humbly presents herself as a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead's body. She submits that the various bodily forms manifest in the physical world are but different parts and parcels of the supreme gigantic body. It is said that the lower planetary systems are parts and parcels of the legs of the Lord, whereas the upper planetary systems are parts and parcels of the Lord's head. The Lord creates this material world by His external energy, but this external energy is in one sense not different from Him. Yet at the same time the Lord is not directly manifest in the external energy, but is always situated in the spiritual energy. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (9.10), mayadhyaksena prakrtih: material nature is working under the direction of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord is not unattached to the external energy, and He is addressed in this verse as guna-atma, the source of the three modes of material nature. As stated in the Bhagavad Gita (13.15), nirgunam guna-bhoktr ca: although the Lord is not affected, although the Lord is not attached to the external energy, He is nonetheless the master of it. The philosophy of Lord Caitanya, upholding that the Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, (acintya-bhedabheda-tattva), is very easily understandable in this connection. The planet earth explains that although the Lord is attached to the external energy, He is nirdhuta; He is completely free from the activities of the external energy. The Lord is always situated in His internal energy. Therefore, in this verse it is stated, svarupa anubhavena. The Lord remains completely in His internal potency and yet has full knowledge of the external energy as well as the internal energy, just as His devotee remains always in the transcendental position, keeping himself in the service of the Lord without becoming attached to the material body. Srila Rupa Gosvami says that the devotee who is always engaged in the devotional service of the Lord is always liberated, regardless of his material situation. If it is possible for a devotee to remain transcendental, it is certainly possible for the Supreme Personality of Godhead to remain in His internal potency without being attached to the external potency. There should be no difficulty in understanding this situation. Just as the devotee is never bewildered by his material body, the Lord is never bewildered by the external energy of this material world. The devotee is not hampered by the material body, although he is situated in a physical body that runs according to so many material conditions, it is just that there are five kinds of air functioning within the body and there are so many organs, the hands, the legs, the tongue, the genitals, the rectum, etc., all working differently. The spirit soul, the living entity with full knowledge of his position is always engaged in chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. It is not concerned with the bodily functions. Although the Lord is connected to the material world, He is always situated in His spiritual energy and is always unattached to it. He is always unattached to the functions of the material world. As far as the material body is concerned, there are six “waves,” or symptomatic material conditions: hunger, thirst, lamentation, bewilderment, old age and death. The liberated soul is never concerned with these six physical interactions. The Supreme Personality of Godhead being the all-powerful master of all energies, has some connection with the external energies, but He is always free from the interactions of the external energy in the material world. (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

Sankarshan Das: So, just like the king, he is situated in his palace, the prison is also under his direction. The prison is also under his order. Does he go live in the prison? No. He stays in the palace, right? So, in the same way, Krishna, even though the external energy is His energy, and He is in one sense present, but actually He is not there. He is in the spiritual world. So, the Prabhupada makes a very nice point here how the devotee is detached from the bodily functions. He mentions these different functions of the body. What is the list he gives? Hunger, thirst, lamentation, bewilderment, old age and death. So, these things happen to us. We get old, it's like we have aging bodies sometimes. We all have bodies that are actually aging every minute. But they age to the point where your kind of old, your old man's body and things are going wrong. Things start going wrong with the body. This is going wrong, the brain starts going wrong, the legs start going wrong, the knees start going wrong, some of the things start going wrong. So, if you are actually Krishna conscious, you say, OK, Whatever Krishna wants to do, his body belongs to Him. If He wants to get old and get sick and die, that's all right. My business is I'm going to keep serving Him. It's not that I am his body, it's just a tool I'm using right now in Krishna's service. When he's working in the kitchen with a cutting knife, the knife gets kind of dull and the head cook says, here is another knife you can use, that knife is getting dull, here is a better knife. So, this body gets dull, here is a better body you can use, Krishna says. So, in this way the devotee is completely detached, he just goes on chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Completely detached from all the pains and pleasures of the body. The devotee's mission is to spread Krishna consciousness. Lord Caitanya said,

yare dekha, tare kaha ‘Krsna’-upadesa

amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa,

whomever you meet, instruct them in the teachings of Krishna, and in this way, My order, you become guru, deliver the people of this world. So, the devotee's business is to go on preaching. He was on his deathbed, just like Prabhupada was on his deathbed, you can see a video of it. Prabhupada is actually translating the Bhagavatam. He is lying there on the bed getting ready to die and his eyes are closed but he is giving Bhagavatam purports. Very last minute and he is dead in Vrindavan. So, in this way a devotee is always aloof. He is always in the mood, hearing, chanting about Krishna.

mac-citta mad-gata-prana

bodhayantah parasparam

kathayantas ca mam nityam

tusyanti ca ramanti ca,

the thoughts of My pure devotees’ dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered unto Me and they derive great satisfaction and bliss by enlightening one another and conversing about Me. So, this is actually the pleasure of the devotees. We don't require sense gratification to be happy. The chair boy thinks, well you have to have sense gratification. Eat, eat, eat, mate, mate, mate, defend, defend, defend, sleep, sleep, sleep. They think they are happy by their sense gratification. Sense gratification is simply keeping the body and soul together to keep the body healthy. Our sense gratification is not our enjoyment. Our enjoyment is hearing and chanting about Krishna, serving Krishna. That is our pleasure. Because we are not the material body. Just like you make your car very happy by having oil, sufficient oil and sufficient gas. Does that make you happy? If you gas up your tank in the car, does that make you happy? Oh, I have a full tank now, I feel really good. Ki Jai, I have a full tank. Haribol! No. You can be an eminent. Your position is different from that of the car. So, in the same way we have different positions in this body. It's not us. The body can be old, it can be young, it can be sick, it can be healthy, whatever it is, that's alright. Whatever Krishna wants. Krishna wants to give me an old sick body, that's okay, a young healthy body, whatever Krishna gives me, that's His mercy. Devotee learns how to have a loving reciprocation with Krishna, an amazing personality, who is having all those wonderful pastimes in the spiritual world and is also manifesting this whole material existence to rectify those of us who are so stupid and foolish we thought we could be happier by enjoying separating from Krishna. So, the material world is there to rectify us, not to punish us, it is to rectify us. Krishna is not punishing anyone; He wants us to rectify. The whole material situation is simply to rectify us, to help us realize that I don't belong in this world of birth, death, old age and disease. I belong in the world of eternity, knowledge and bliss. I need to get back to that relation with that amazing person.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis

tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih

goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami.

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth, substantiality, and is thus full of the most dazzling splendour. Each of the limbs of that transcendental body, of that transcendental figure, possesses in itself the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and it eternally sees, maintain and manifests the infinite universe as both spiritual and mundane. Can you imagine the amazing, Transcendental body of Krishna? He can see with His ears, He can hear with His eyes, He can taste with His nose. His senses are completely interchangeable. See, in our material bodies we are limited. The eyes can only see and they are limited but they can see also. The ears can only hear. All our senses are limited. The Krishna’s senses are unlimited. That's an amazing person. So, we can be back in an amazing relationship having similar characteristics in our bodies as we are qualitatively one with the body of the Supreme Lord. We can have amazing experiences in our original sentimental form. We just have to get back to our original natural state of being loving relationship with Krishna. That's all. Get back to our original nature. Not carrying on this artificial world. We've been going on artificially through millions of lifetimes as a Brahman, as an Indra, as an indragopa germ. We've tried in so many ways to be happy here, but in every situation, we've been frustrated and unhappy. Well, I didn't enjoy as a Brahman, let me try as an Indian, let me try as a this and a that, let me try as a human, let me try as a pig eating stool, having sex with my mother, sister and daughter with no discrimination. They have been trying to enjoy in this way and that way, enjoy, enjoy, but never really finding the satisfaction. Because in every situation we are gratifying the senses, we are not actually taking it serious the atma within. That's the problem. So, it's time to take advantage of the mercy of His Divine Grace Om Vishnu-pada paramahamsa parivrajakacharya ashtottara-shata Shri Srimad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Tridandi Goswami Maharaj, Prabhupada. Time to take advantage of his mercy. Just see how Prabhupada was so dedicated to spiritual master's order. Can you imagine coming to America with no money? Ten-dollars? Forty rupees is worth Ten-dollars. Can you imagine coming to America with only Ten-dollars? Start to make the Westerners into Krishna consciousness. These meat eaters, sex mongers, drug takers, cigarette smokers, completely absorbed in sinful activities. And even in order to go there to spread Krishna consciousness in the English-speaking world, just imagine the dedication, even two heart attacks on the boat, can you imagine? Two heart attacks. The Prabhupada said, if another pain came like that, I'm sure I would die. I mean, it's really heavy. He almost died on the ship. Can you imagine? Almost dying. There was no hospital, no medical care. He was just there all alone, suffering a heart attack, with no doctor to help him, completely just depending on Krishna, whether I die or live. It is just an amazing thing. Just like my godbrother, Mukundamala, she wrote a book called Miracle on Second Avenue. Can you imagine a miracle? Somehow, he got a little, it's amazing how he attracted a bunch of young hippie kids, hippie boys and girls and they totally gave up all their illicit sex and their LSD and their marijuana and they completely dedicated themselves to following Prabhupada's system, chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna mantra every day, giving up illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication, gambling and going out to make a spiritual revolution in the order of Srila Prabhupada attracting thousands and thousands of followers all over the world. It's an amazing, amazing thing. And then I probably went back to India and they had a, in Mumbai, they called it Bombay in those days, they had some kind of a, I forget what they called it, they set up a stage and they invited everybody for Prabhupada to speak, twenty to thirty-thousand people can you imagine came. Twenty to thirty-thousand people came to hear Prabhupada speaking. He even had a wedding, marrying two devotees from two different countries. He said this is a really united nation. He did a wearing ceremony. 

Everybody would see how he is marrying two of his disciples. I mean it is an amazing thing how Prabhupada, how so many people became attracted and they got that wonderful property there. Now we have our Iskcon Juhu temple, beautiful, beautiful temple. There are so many amazing adventures in Prabhupada's pastimes because he was dedicated to serving the order of his spiritual master. So, we can have the same, we can experience the same nectar, the same ecstasy, the same bliss. We can be as devoted to Srila Prabhupada's orders as he was devoted to his spiritual master's orders. There is no limit to the ecstasy we can taste and the moment of how much we can expand this movement and attract the world. There is no limit. We just have to study the example of our beloved Founder acharya, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada and take up that same mood of total dedication to serving the spiritual master's order. So, Lord Caitanya is there, Prabhupada's order is to follow Lord Caitanya and follow the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The more we become knowledgeable and the more we read these books and the more we practice within these books and the more we distribute these books, the more our lives become glorious. So, there is no reason just to live a boring life, you know, just getting up and going to work, coming home, having a dinner and going to sleep, you know, having a little sex life. There is nothing. Living a boring meaningless life, just maintaining the body and bodily maintenance and nothing else. No reason to live such an empty, meaningless life. We take up this mission, we can be Krishna consciousness. Just like we have our practices, we chant our Gayatri three times a day. One disciple wrote me, he says, Gurudeva, I got this job now, how can I chant Gayatri, can I chant some extra rounds to make up for missing Gayatri? He was asking. I said, no, you have a lunch break, right? You chant Gayatri during lunch break. So, I said, all right, Gurudeva, now I'm going to go out to my car during the lunch break and chant Gayatri. So, if you actually don't think you can't practice Krishna consciousness, you can practice. Just like when I first got a job, it was a night shift. We were always, I have always been a a mangalarati, every day, mangalarati is a duty. Prabhupada wants us to go to mangalarati. Then I got this job, it was like from, I think it was from like, it was like 11 o'clock or maybe midnight, I forget, till 8 in the morning. So where is mangalarati? But they tell me, well, I started the job, nobody liked this night shift, so we didn't let him take an extra-long lunch break. So, I took my lunch break from 4.15 to 5.15. I would drive home, drive back to the temple, and I had just enough time to attend mangalarati, my hour lunch break. So, you actually have this, you're determined, yes, I've taken this vow of initiation, I'm chanting sixteen rounds a day without fail, I am giving up illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication and gambling, I am taking up these regulative principles. If you are determined to do this, Krishna will help you to do it in every situation. It is like somebody arriving, you know, Gurudev, you know, I am in this house where there are meat eaters. What can I do? I say, cook your own soup. Cook your own meal. You have to be determined to follow Krishna consciousness principles, whatever your situation is. And if you are determined, Krishna will help you. Krishna wants you to become His pure devotee. So, if you are determined to practice this science of Krishna consciousness, the bhakti yoga system, if you are determined to follow it according to Prabhupada's teachings, Krishna will facilitate it. You can't think, well, my material situation is allowing me to be Krishna conscious. No, Krishna is behind your material situation. So whatever situation you are in, if you are determined I now want to become fixed up in Krishna consciousness, I want to get initiated, I want to strictly follow my initiation vows, if you have this determination Krishna will give you all facilities to do it. Impossible is a word in a fool's dictionary. You can do it, you simply have to be determined that yes, I must do this.

So, if there's any questions now, we can open it up for questions, arguments, disagreements. I remember one very nice instruction I got from Vishnu Janaswami and Prabhupada told me that you have been trained up under the expert guidance of His Holiness Vishnu Janam Maharaj. The advice he gave him was this, you must inquire until your intelligence is satisfied. It was a very, very, very good instruction. Krishna consciousness is not blind following. If something is not understood, it doesn't make sense to you, then you inquire about it. Every little detail, you are welcome to inquire about every little detail. Because you inquire and you inquire and you inquire until your intelligence is satisfied. The intelligence is next to our neighbor's soul. Prabhupada says, it's packed together like two fingers together. See like this. The intelligence and the soul are packed together. So, you get your intelligence satisfied. The mind is a rascal, it's always jumping here, jumping there, jumping, jumping, jumping. So, you have to be fixed in your intelligence, then you can keep your mind under control. The mind is like a naughty child and the intelligence is like the mother. You get your intelligence fixed and then when your mind does these crazy things, well maybe the spiritual master is just an ordinary man, I shouldn't really take him that seriously. My mind may play tricks on you like that. You say, no mind. Get out of here. Get out of here with your nonsense. You become completely sold-out servant of Guru and Krishna. This is your perfection my dear mind. So, we have some questions now.

Bhakta Sunil:  How to understand that Lord Krishna is in every atom yet free from the activities of external energy?

Sankarshan Das: This is a very deep question. I appreciate it. Very nice, very nice, very nice, deep question.

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanaam.

Krishna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. Isvarah paramah krsnah. He has an eternal form, full of bliss and knowledge. He has no origin; He is the origin of all. He is the prime cause of all causes. So, this will help you understand, Bhakta Sunil. Sarva karana-karanam, He is the prime cause of all causes. Everything is going on in His energy and His direction. The sun is a very good example. The sunshine is everywhere but yet it's like the sun. There was one popular song, Here comes the sun. That's the sun shine, not the sun planet. So, the sun shine is also considered to be the sun, but it's not the sun. It is the sun and not the sun at the same time. So, the energy of Krishna is Krishna, like the sunshine is the sun, but it's also not. So, it's acintya-bhedabheda type of simultaneously inconceivably one and different. So, Krishna is the material energy. In the same sense the sun is the sun and the sunshine are one so there is a difference. Acintya-bhedabheda type of sun. But what is the sanskrit Acintya-bheda, it is inconceivably one and different. So, it is hard to conceive of it. It is inconceivable how something can be one and different simultaneously. That is why it is inconceivable. But so how do you realize it? Then we have to experience it. We have to experience it. Just like Krishna says, I am the taste of the water. So how do you experience that Krishna is the taste of the water? Well, you drink water, you remember the taste. Just remember, raso ‘ham apsu kaunteya, I am the taste of water. Don't drink water ordinarily, but drink water remembering this water, Krishna says, I am the taste of the water. So, by actually experiencing these things, inconceivable intellectually, when you actually get the taste, you actually experience it. Then it becomes realized. You have to experience how Krishna is present when you chant His name. You see, these are actually, it's just your mundane tongue. It's just your tongue is a material energy. And the energy from your lungs that empowers the tongue, it's also material energy. But when you chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Prabhupada says Krishna is dancing on your tongue. Krishna actually becomes present in His holy name even though it is a material sound vibration because it is Hare Krishna, it is a spiritual sound vibration, spiritual because Krishna invests Himself within it. If you say Mary had a little lamb, Krishna is not present. Of course He is in another sense, because He is within everything. But you become realized when you chant Hare Krishna. Then you can realize that you can actually experience Krishna is there. So, it's a matter of experiencing it to make it understood deeply.

Hare Krishna Das: Lord is behind our material situation, is it okay to change our material situation?

Sankarshan Das:Whatever material situation is not favorable for your Krishna consciousness, that's what you should do. That's the key. Whatever material situation will best facilitate your Krishna consciousness, that's the key.

Sadhubhusana: What should be understood when someone becomes infuriated whenever I quote words of Krishna?

Sankarshan Das: That means there are demons. Sometimes said don't throw your pearls, don't cast your pearls before a swine. If somebody is offensive or infuriated, then you don't preach to them. Stay awayfrom such association. You find those people who are actually favourable and like to hear about Krishna and that's where you should spend your energy. What about those who are not favourable? Maybe, maybe, maybe prasadam, at least enjoy the relish prasadam. So, we have to be preaching according to the time, place and circumstance. Okay.

Bhaktin Pronamee:  When I face some difficulties with the body, most of the time my attention is absorbed by that difficulty. How can I go beyond the bodily tentative life?

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, we have to do the needful. When you are sick you have to do the needful. You may have to go and make an appointment with a doctor, get in the car and drive somewhere and sit in the waiting room. You know, you spend two or three hours just dealing with some problem with the body. So how do you go beyond the bodily concept of life? Well, when you are sitting in the doctor's office you chant Hare Krishna, or read Bhagavad Gita where you are sitting in the waiting room. You do the bodily, whatever is required for the body, but at the same time you keep your mind fixed in Krishna consciousness. Do the needful for the body but be Krishna conscious while you are doing it. Well, I say, this body is given to me by Krishna to engage in His service. So, it is sick right now so let me do the needful to get it back to a healthy condition, so I can serve nicely. So, in this way you take the bodily maintenance or bodily rectification from disease condition as a service to Krishna.

Okay, that's all here. What about you? Do you have anything? Everything is answered? Okay, another one coming in.

Devotee: By distributing Prabhupada books, what should be the first thing we tell the opponents?

Sankarshan Das: I'm just thinking of a book table now, it's Body, Mind and Spirit Exo coming up in a couple of weeks, two or three weeks from now. So, what if somebody is an opponent, they come up and say, these books are all nonsense. This Hare Krishna philosophy is just garbage. You people are just some brainwashed zombies following some cult leader. What should be the first thing we tell them? We say, well, have a good day. Bye-bye. Somebody is an opponent, what do you do? What do you do? Well, it depends on the situation. Just like one time I was out distributing prasadam in Gainesville on University Avenue. I had a bowl of Simply Wonderful. And I was handing out Simply Wonderful to everybody, and some smart-ass kid, he knocks, he goes, he hits all the sweets out into the street. So, what did I do? I became like a Narasimhadev, I became angry like fire. I pointed my finger right in his face and I yelled at the top of my lung, you better get out there and pick up all those sweets right now, like I was gonna kill him if he didn't do it, because I'm not really a fighter. But I spoke in such a way that if he didn't do it, I would kill him. I would kill him on the spot. And it worked. He went, oh. He ran out and started picking up all the sweets. And I helped him. We got them all picked up before the lights turned green and none of the streets got rolled over by the cars. There was a red light so that we were in the middle of the street picking up all the sweets. So sometimes you got to be very heavy when somebody's an opponent. The thing is if you're in the mood of trying to serve Lord Caitanya's order, Lord Caitanya will give the intelligence how to deal with the situation. Just remember, Lord Caitanya's order,

yare dekha, tare kaha ‘Krsna’-upadesa

amara ajnaya guru hana tara ei desa, whomever you meet instruct them in the teachings of Krishna and this is My order, you become guru and you deliver the people of this country. So, you do the needful in every situation. I can't tell you exactly what to do in every, you have to tune into the super soul so you can know in that situation what is the best thing for this person. There is no hard and fast rule. According to time, place and circumstance. Deśa-kalā-patra. Time, place and circumstance. Preaching is according to time, place and circumstance. He just says, be dedicated to serving the order of Lord Caitanya and then Lord Caitanya will give you intelligence how to deal with the opponents.

Sharada Devi Dasi: Kindly help me. Srila Prabhupada did extraordinary things. Srila Prabhupada was recognizing himself as the servant and instrument of the spiritual master and how to attain that mood.

Sankarshan Das: Well, Sharada Devi Dasi, you are the servant and instrument of the spiritual master, aren't you? So do that. You are the servant of the spiritual master, the instrument of the spiritual master, just do that. Just remember, I'm acting now as an agent of my spiritual master, that he can act through me for spreading this Krishna consciousness movement. So, you just have that mood of being an instrument in the hands of Guru and Krishna and remind yourself that's my position. That's why we offer obeisances. We offer obeisances to the spiritual master. We offer Guru Puja to the spiritual master. I'm a sold-out servant of my spiritual master so now I need to act as an instrument of my spiritual master, so that he and all the previous acharyas can now act through me for accomplishing their mission of delivering the fallen soul of this world back to home, back to Godhead. The potency of all the acharyas is coming down. It's the guru-parampara, the disciplic succession. Krishna's potency is acting through this whole line of acharyas. We're in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya-Sampradaya. So even while I'm giving this class, I'm just trying to act as an instrument of my spiritual master and the previous acharya is to give you the full mercy of Krishna. I'm trying to do that while I'm giving the class. So, whenever you're preaching, you try to act as an instrument of your spiritual master in the whole of the disciplic succession, so the mercy of Krishna can come through you for flooding your listener or whoever you are dealing with, with the mercy of Krishna in this way.

Vishnurata Das: Having once become a friend, is there still a chance of a mind becoming one's enemy?

Sankarshan Das: Until you become an absolute pure devotee your mind will be dancing like a dancing dog flipping back. It's called flippant. Even an advanced devotee has to deal with the flippant mind. Until you become an absolute pure devotee, 10% pure devotee, the mind is completely conquered. The mind will still play tricks. The mind will still play tricks. That's why we have to see through the eyes of scripture. The mind will, even for advanced devotees, they deal with a flippant mind, flipping back and forth. So, you have to become very expert at keeping, just like keeping a dog on a leash. You keep the dog on the leash otherwise you go do some nonsense things. You got to keep your mind on the leash. The mind will tend to, the dog, sometimes the master has to yank the dog, he goes away, tries to run away somewhere, he's going to yank him on a leash to bring him back. There's a running after a she-dog or something like that, yank the dog back. So, we have to keep that leash, keep the mind on a leash and keep it under control even though it tries to run away sometimes and you know thinking about some nonsense things, sex life or this thing or that thing and bring it back. The mind may become attracted to the idea of sex. Start thinking about sex. Ok bring it back. All you need is bhakti. You don't need sex to be happy my dear mind. You just need bhakti. We have to in this way keep the mind under control. Your mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Engaging in Krishna service is your friend. When it slips away it becomes an enemy.

Anything else? Everybody satisfied now? Are you satisfied? Do you have any doubts? Anybody have any doubts? You are completely free from the demons of doubt?

Local Devotee: Do you like for the time being?

Sankarshan Das: At this moment, another hour, maybe an hour from now. So that's it, we can stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in. 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.