Sankarshan Das:Reading today from Srimad Bagavatham fourth Canto, Chapter 18, Text number 16.

daiteya danava vatsam

prahladam asurarsabham

vidhayaduduhan ksiram

ayah-patre surasavam

daiteyah – the sons of Diti; danavah – demons; vatsam – the calf; prahladam – Prahlada Maharaja; asura – demon; rsabham – the chief; vidhaya – making; aduduhan – they milked out; ksiram – milk; ayah – iron; patre – in a pot; sura – liquor; asavam – fermented liquids like beer.

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

Translation: The sons of Diti and the demons transformed Prahlada Maharaja, who was born in an asura family, into a calf, and they extracted various kinds of liquor and beer, which they put into a pot made of iron.

Purport:  The demons also have their own types of beverages in the form of liquors and beers, just as the demigods use soma-rasa for their drinking purposes. The demons born of Diti take great pleasure in drinking wine and beer. Even today people of demoniac nature are very much addicted to liquor and beer. The name of Prahlada Maharaja is very significant in this connection. Because Prahlada Maharaja was born in a family of demons, as the son of Hiranyakasipu, by his mercy the demons were and are still able to have their drinks in the form of wine and beer. The word ayah (iron) is very significant. Whereas the nectarean, soma was put in a golden pot, the liquors and beers are put in an iron pot. Because the liquor and beer are inferior, they are placed in an iron pot, and because the soma-rasa is superior, it is placed in a golden pot. (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 subject matter of today's class is wine and beer, the demons in an iron pot. Actually, this wine and beer are very popular with the non- devotees. There are so many brands of beer and wine and liquors available. They have liquor shops in the grocery store. There is a big section for all the liquors. It is a very big thing. They drink this liquor because they are suffering like anything, when they get a little drunk, they can forget their suffering, but actually they become even more miserable you see. This drinking the liquor actually shortens their life span, it has a detrimental impact on their brain and their health because they are intoxicated and they think they are happy in their intoxicated state and they go on drinking these things shortening their life spans, ruining their brain, ruining their health, etc. Etc. Etc. They have an offense called DWI, driving while intoxicated. If you are caught driving a vehicle while you are intoxicated you can be arrested for driving while you are intoxicated. Because when you are intoxicated you can't function properly, you can't drive a car properly, you can't do anything properly when you are intoxicated. Sometimes they drink so much they vomit and they throw up because they drink so much. So, this is the so-called enjoyment of these materialists. But what is the enjoyment for the spiritualist? sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā sukham akṣhayam aśhnute So, the liberated soul is not attracted to wine and beer, to material sense gratification, but he is always in trance relishing the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized soul enjoys unlimited happiness. Why? Because he always concentrates on the Supreme. So, what is the Supreme? Is it liquor and beer? Or is it soma-rasa? No, not any of these. The Supreme is Krishna.

isvarah paramah krsnah

sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah

sarva-karana-karanam. Krishna is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal form, full of bliss and knowledge. He has no origin. He is the origin of all and He is the prime cause of all causes. These materialists, they don't accept the existence of God. They have different theories, well it all just came out of an explosion or popped out of the void or it's just a manifestation of the oneness of the divine light. But we have to understand there's actually a Supreme person out there behind the whole thing. It's like I have a father, my father has a father, his father has a father, you go back, back, back, back, back, the original father has no father and that's God, Krishna, God. But some would say actually there is just an infinite chain of causality. There is no original person who just goes on into infinity. There is no origin, it just keeps going into infinity. But just consider an infinite chain of action and reaction. There is an action and reaction, something has to start it off. There has to be an original cause. You can't have a cause after cause, there is no original cause that started us. An infinite chain of causality requires a Supreme person that started us. So, the chain of causality actually comes back to the original starting point. It doesn't keep going into infinity. It may seem like infinity because it's so long, but actually it's not infinite. There's a finite chain of causality and there's a original person out there starting the whole thing off. So, we have to understand there's actually a Supreme Personality of Godhead there. We have to learn how to absorb ourselves in His loving devotional service and the more we do that, the more we become rewarded.

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah It is all surrendered unto me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path, O son of Prtha. You may say everyone follows, how a krishna can say, everybody follows my path. Not only that they say only the devotees follow Krishna's path, but actually just consider this. Everybody follows the laws of the state. The law-abiding citizens and the criminals. The criminals are put in the jail, they are forced to follow the laws of the state. So, everybody is following the state, either the law-abiding citizens are voluntarily following the state, and the criminals are by force following the laws of the state, in the prison house. So, everybody is actually following Krishna, either directly or indirectly. So which way do you want to follow? As a free citizen or a prisoner, an inmate in the modes of nature? We have a choice. You have to follow Krishna one way or the other whether you like it or not. But actually, when you understand what it means to follow Krishna, you'll love it because that's the natural nature. The hand may complain, I don't want to feed the stomach, why should I have to feed the stomach, he just sits there and doesn't do anything, you know I'm working so hard moving my fingers this way and that way, and the stomach is sitting there, he doesn't deserve any service, I'm not going to feed the stomach anymore. But by nature, the hand gets its enjoyment by serving the stomach. So, by our very nature we get our happiness by serving the Supreme source, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So instead of trying to concoct some new program, well I'm going to get my nutrition just by squeezing the food in my fingers. Instead of trying to concoct some program which will not work, trying to enjoy separately from the Supreme, we should just surrender and do the needful. The hand has to surrender and do the needful to get its nutrition. So, we should not follow the pathway of these foolish demigods, or dumb foolish demigods who are going after soma-rasa. It may be very pleasant intoxicating liquor, not liquor, but drink that enhances the intelligence and strength and increases your life span as opposed to the wine and liquor of the demons. But even that is still a suffering condition actually. Some of us are also a different type of suffering. Thinking I can be happy is separate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead here in this material world. Everybody, even the demigods are actually suffering. Their suffering is less. Everybody is suffering here. This is martya loka. Even the demigods have to die. They have a very long-life span but still they have to end up dying. So why should I try to enjoy in a place where ultimately, I have to die. Why should I try to do that? Whether I am a beggar on the street or I have a nice million-dollar house in South Austin, I still have to get old and die. So why not take seriously this process of Krishna consciousness? Why not take it seriously and get out of the cycle of birth and death. Krishna makes it very easy.

janma karma ca me divyam

evam yo vetti tattvatah

tyaktva deham punar janma

naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna. When he knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activity, it is not upon leaving his body to take his birth again in this material world, but he attains My eternal abode, arjuna." Somebody asked me, well, why do you need a guru then? You just remember the transcendental nature of Krishna's appearance and activities. That's all you need. You don't need a spiritual master. You just need to remember Krishna. But here's the point. If you're actually remembering Krishna's appearance and activities, what are His activities? Speaking of Bhagavad Gita. If you are actually remembering what He spoke in the Bhagavad Gita,

tad viddhi pranipatena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānam

jñāninas tattva-dārṣinah He is actually remembering His activities, namely speaking the teachings of Bhagavat Gita and you follow His instructions. So, the point is, if you think you can disobey His instructions and remember His activities, you won't be able to do that. If you don't follow His instructions, your mind will not be inclined to remember His activities because you won't be in harmony with Him. His activity was to tell you that you need a spiritual master, that's why His name is activity. So, if I don't take a spiritual master I won't remember His activities. I won't be able to remember His activities because I'm not in harmony with Him. So, to remember the transcendental nature of a Krishna's appearance and activities means you have to be in harmony with the instructions and then you will be able to remember Krishna at that time. That is because you are in harmony with it, you are vibrating with it, you are in harmony with the instructions. So don't try to cheat. It is amazing how people try to cheat. They take the instructions of Krishna and they twist them around their material attachments trying to draw out a new meaning. This is why it's very important to have the purports of Srila Prabhupad. It's very important Srila Prabhupad's purports. There was one Bhagavad Gita, if you can imagine, it says, it is not to the person Krishna that we have to surrender, but the unborn, the unborn self that is within Krishna, that is within you, within me, within everything. That's what we have to surrender to, not to Krishna. Can you imagine how much they twisted? Krishna says, sarva dharman surrender unto Me. You see, Me means the unborn, unmanifested, it doesn't mean the person Krishna. Because the unborn or manifest, the impersonal one is higher than the person Krishna. So, see how they twist the teachings. That's why we have to hear from the pure devotee, not from the mental speculators. There are so many nonsense garbage things out there. There is a popular book back in the 60s called ‘The Book’. The subtitle was on the taboo against knowing who you are. And this book said actually you are God. There is a taboo, you are not supposed to know that you are God. It is taboo, it is taboo Prabhu. You are not supposed to know who you are; you are actually God. He said actually you are God but right now you are playing hide and go seek with yourself. So simply come out of hiding and be God once again. That's what the book is telling you. It's a very popular book. How you can be God is by following Alan Watts. You can be God again. I tried it. I bought the book and it was pretty good. But I tried it and it didn't work. If things weren't happening the way I wanted them to happen, it was obvious that he was a cheating thing. We should not follow the cheaters. Krishna comes to annihilate the cheaters actually.

paritranaya sadhunam

vinasaya ca duskrtam

dharma-samsthapanarthaya

sambhavami yuge yuge to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants as well as to re-establish the principles of religion I Myself appear millennium after millennium. So, Krishna actually annihilates all these rascals either by killing them directly or letting the normal cycle of birth, death, old age and disease kill them off. They are all killed off eventually. All these miscreants are killed off. But the devotees are delivered back to Krishna's transcendental abode. They go back to home, back to Godhead. They don't continue to ride in this hellish nightmare of material existence. So, we should be a little intelligent, we should not be carried away, we should try to be equal in all situations. Seeing that Krishna's mercy is always acting,

matra-sparsas tu kaunteya

sitosna-sukha-dukha-dah

agamapayino ‘nityas

tams titiksasva bharata the non-permanent appearance of happiness in 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, whether I am happy or I am unhappy, take everything as Krishna's mercy. Be equipoised. Sometimes I'm very healthy, feeling vibrant and healthy. Sometimes I'm feeling very sick and weak. But take everything as the blessing of Krishna to help me connect with Him. Actually, everything that happens to us at every minute is Krishna's mercy to help us connect with Him. So, we should take everything, whether I'm being honored or dishonored, or being praised or criticized, whatever the situation may be, I should take it all as the mercy of Krishna. In this way one can never be carried away by the multi-material nature. Seeing everything in relation with Krishna. This is the secret of success in Krishna consciousness. We have to understand this knowledge is coming down to us through an ancient line of disciplic succession.

evam parampara praptam

imam rajarsayo viduh This knowledge is thus achieved through the saintly disciplic succession and the saintly kings understood in that way. So, we take this knowledge coming down to us by the mercy of these great acharyas, Srila Prabhupad, Srila Bakti-Siddhanta Saraswati, Gaura Kishore Das Babaji, Bakti-Vinod Thakur, Jagannatha Das Babaji going back, back, back, Narottam Das Thakur, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur, Srila Prabhupad  and Lord Chaitanya, the six Goswamis, all these great personalities have very carefully understood and transmitted this knowledge to our benefit. So instead of being carried away by our mental whims, we have to learn this mind is either our best friend or our worst enemy. If you let the mind wander here and there, here and there, neglecting the orders of the spiritual master, then we can be in big trouble. There was one sannyasi actually, he became very sick, there was a female therapist, a married woman who had the medical skills or the professional skills to deal with his sickness. He made the mistake of meeting her alone again and again and again. The sannyasi, he got carried away and he end up having illicit sex. The sannyasi is actually a guru also. He completely spoiled his position as a spiritual master and as a sannyasi just because he didn't strictly value the spiritual master, not to never be alone with a woman, one should never be alone with any woman except with one's wife, that's the Vedic system. So, you think, well, I can, it doesn't really apply in my case, you know, I can do it. No. If you become loose in following the rules and regulations, the standards, then you can easily fall down and be carried away by the illicit sex. So, we have to be very careful to always follow the instructions that the Prabhupad has given to us, not to water it down and twist it around in material attachments. The tendency now I see in this Iskcon is to water it down and mix it with material attachments. But we have to take it as it is, as Prabhupad has given to us. Not that I like this part of Prabhupad's teachings and this part I don't like. So, I am a good disciple of Prabhupad because I am doing this. Of course, I am neglecting that but I am doing this. That's called half hand logic. Ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya There was this one farmer who had this hen and she laid very nice eggs, big fat hen, laid really big nice eggs. The farmer was very happy, all these eggs, did she eat so much food, so much chicken feed I have to feed to this hen, so I know what I will do, I will cut off the head, I like this head, nice side that lays the eggs, but this side that eats the feed I will cut that side off, so then the hen was finished. So, this half hen logic, well I like the Prabhupad, I am said you know, this was very nice, he said, no illicit sex means no sex outside of marriage. Ok, that's very good. So, I'll just follow that. But this other side, he said, any sex besides once a month is illicit sex even for a married couple. I don't like that side so I'll take this side, no sex out of marriage and I'll ignore this side. And what's the result? You lose your Krishna consciousness. You're engaging in illicit sex and you think it's not illicit sex because I'm just taking this instruction and ignoring this one. So, we have to read carefully these instructions of Srila Prabhupad and know exactly what he's saying. To at this knowledge is very important. So, sa yat pramana,what is it? Bagavat Gita 4.10. Let's see. I'm forgetting it now, the Sanskrit. Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became liberated, became purified by knowledge of Me and they all changed and all attained transcendental love for Me. Bagavat Gita 4.10. So, we should become very learned in Prabhupad’s teachings. Read the books. These books are not just for selling, these books are for reading. The most important thing is to read these books. Because the more we read these, it's called sastra caksus, one who sees through the eyes of scripture. The more we see things through the eyes of the scripture, the more we become liberated and freed from the influence of the modes of material nature. We have to learn how to think, speak and act in terms of what the Prabhupad is saying in his books, in his lectures, in his conversations. We have this, if we gain this kind of a vision, then the material nature, Maya devi will never be able to divert us from the path of Krishna consciousness.

So, any questions? We are getting a little early today, we have kitchen service, Sunday feast service we're going to do. Anybody have any questions?

Local Devotee: You, Your Grace, you were mentioning the sannyasi that fell down. Is there any way to, if that happens, for somebody to reclaim the position they were once in? Or is that finished?

Sankarshan Das: Well, you can again take up the sanyasi activities and purely follow it. But it doesn't erase what happened. And you can still become qualified to go back to Godhead, but your reputation as a sanyasi is definitely impacted and it's not going to go away. Your history of having that fall down will not go away. It will still be there for the rest of your life to … them. So, still become qualified to go back to Godhead. Your reputation of sanyasi will be impacted for rest of the life. Any other questions? Here we go.

Devotee: Is it possible to save a drunkard from approaching death? He's not willing to take Krishna consciousness.

Sankarshan Das:Somebody's not willing to take Krishna consciousness, you cannot save them. You can't save them from going down to the animal kingdom. As far as leaving drinking, give them prasadam, higher form of intoxication. Get higher prasadam, better than soma-rasa even. Give them prasadam, fill them up with prasadam, nectar drink.

Any other questions?

Local Devotee: Why is it that the, what makes the unmanifest more attractive than the personal aspect of Krishna to some people?

Sankarshan Das:Because you can think you are God. The very disease that God is here to begin with, you can embrace it once again. We came here because we wanted to be God, that's why we came here. We are our first person, Brahmaji, we are all Brahmas in our first birth, we are the God of the whole universe. We wanted to be God, So the impersonal philosophy says that actually you are God. You have to come back and be God once again. It is the same disease as God. It is a twisted Ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya version of the Vedic wisdom. Krishna says, I am within everything and everything is within Me. So, they can twist that to the Lamb God. They take it and twist it to re-establish, they don't take it as it is, but they take a twisted version and establish that I'm God. That needs the Vedas to do that. And the Vedas affirm that everything is spirit. But there is the original, there is the emanator spirit and the emanated spirit, there are two differences. It is like the sun shines, it is like we can say here comes the sun, there was a popular song actually, here comes the sun. So that's the sun shining, the sun planet, that was the sun shine. You can call the sun shine the sun, that's acceptable but it's not the sun planet. So, the emanator, so that's in that sense .. to establish that I'm God. Anything else?

Local Devotee: How did that even come into being?

Sankarshan Das: What is this?

Local Devotee: How did these thoughts even come into being?

Sankarshan Das: How did what come into being?

Local Devotee: The thoughts of impersonalism and Mayavadi.

Sankarshan Das:  It's our original disease. It's already there. That's why we saw material world. The misuse of the free will. Free will can be either properly utilized or improperly utilized. Because free will is there, you can't have love without free will. So, the ability to reject Krishna is also given by Krishna. So, you can actually love Him. So originally, it's in Krishna. It's a misuse of free will. The free will is in Krishna. Free will can be used or misused, either one. The free will they have gotten from Krishna, they have misused it. The vast majority of living entities are in the spiritual world. This is all an infinitesimal portion of a portion that are here in the material world. The vast majority are there in Krishna's pastimes in the spiritual world, or the Vaikuntha planets that are of Vishnu form. That's the vast majority of it. That's why the spiritual world is three-fourths and the material world is only one-fourth. It's like here in the state of Texas, the prisons, how many square, what's the square footage of the prisons compared to the square footage of the areas of the free system? Much smaller.

Local Devotee: Right.

Sankarshan Das: Any corrections, Devi? Mike, any corrections?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Sorry, we are not in the class.

Sankarshan Das: Ok, I thought maybe you heard part of it. Now Dhananjaya Das.

Dhananjaya Das: How to make myself steady in devotional service amidst so many disturbances?

Sankarshan Das: Well, that's why quality sadhana is very important. You rise early in the morning, you chant 16 qualitative rounds of japa, you go to the temple for mangalarati, you have a mangalarati at home, you observe mangalarati every day and Tulasi worship also. If you worship with Tulsi, have a Tulasi arati and a mangalarati and you chant very qualitative rounds every day and read Prabhupad books, attend Bhagavatam class, read Bhagavatam. Then if you have that basis for your day, before you begin your normal activities of going to work, going to school or whatever it may be, your material duties, you have your spiritual duties first. If your spiritual duties are there as a foundation for your day, the material duties will not distract you from Krishna, but you will be able to absorbed in Krishna's service. So that's the key for that.

Any other questions? There's one thing I want to share with you all. It is a wonderful, wonderful verse from Rupa Goswami.
na premā śravaṇādi-bhaktir api vā yogo ’tha vā vaiṣṇavo

jñānaṁ vā śubha-karma vā kiyad aho saj-jātir apy asti vā

hīnārthādhika-sādhake tvayi tathāpy acchedya-mūlā satī

he gopī-jana-vallabha vyathayate hā hā mad-āśaiva mām

(CC Madhya 23.29)

The Prabhupad translates this very nicely in the Nectar of Devotion. Prabhupada says, in this connection one prayer by Rupa Goswami is sufficient to exemplify this hopefulness. He says, I have no love for Krishna, nor for the causes of developing love of Krishna, namely hearing and chanting. In the process of bhakti-yoga, in which one is always thinking of Krishna and fixing His lotus feet in the heart is also lacking in me. As far as philosophical knowledge or pious works are concerned, I don't see any opportunity for me to execute such activities. But above all, I am not even born in a nice family, therefore I must pray to you, Gopis, Anubhava, Krishna, maintainer of the Gopis, simply I wish and hope that some way or other I may be able to approach Your lotus feet and this hope is giving me pain because I think myself quite incompetent to approach that trembling goal of life." Then Prabhupad comments, he says, "...the purport that under this heading is Asa Bandha. One should continue to hope against hope that some way or other we may be able to approach the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. The Rupa Goswami is a fully liberalized soul, but he's a fully realized, self-realized, liberated soul, but he's showing what our mood should be. We're struggling neophytes who are still battling it out with so many mistakes, so many offenses, so much lack of knowledge, so much lack of enthusiasm for devotional service in many ways, so much disqualifying. But here he is giving us hope. He says, even this is giving me pain, because I am not able to approach Your lotus feet, I am so disqualified, it is paining me very much, I am not able to approach Your lotus feet. But then there's a great hope. Hope against hope. Some way I'm able to approach the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. So even though we are in a most fallen position, we carry away with the modes of nature, we are some full of offenses and nonsense, waste of time, activities, but still there is a great hope for us that if we beg for this mercy of Lord Krishna, sincerely beg for His mercy in spite of our very fallen positions, there is a great hope that we can actually become liberated and get out of the cycle of birth and death. So going to stop here. We thank you everybody for tuning in.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare.