Sankarshan Das Adhikari:

tān anādṛtya yo ’vidvān

arthān ārabhate svayam

tasya vyabhicaranty arthā

ārabdhāś ca punaḥ punaḥ

Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts.

Purport by Srila Prabhupada.

At the present moment it has become fashionable to disobey the unimpeachable directions given by the ācāryas and liberated souls of the past. (Can I have some water?) Presently people are so fallen that they cannot distinguish between a liberated soul and a conditioned soul. A conditioned soul is hampered by four defects: he is sure to commit mistakes, he is sure to become illusioned, he has a tendency to cheat others, and his senses are imperfect. Consequently we have to take direction from liberated persons. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement directly receives instructions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead via persons who are strictly following His instructions. Although a follower may not be a liberated person, if he follows the supreme, liberated Personality of Godhead, his actions are naturally liberated from the contamination of the material nature. Lord Caitanya therefore says, “By My order you may become a spiritual master.” One can immediately become a spiritual master by having full faith in the transcendental words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and by following His instructions. Materialistic men are not interested in taking directions from a liberated person, but they are very much interested in their own concocted ideas, which make them repeatedly fail in their attempts. Because the entire world is now following the imperfect directions of conditioned souls, humanity is completely bewildered.

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

So, it is very much explained, Prabhupada is a liberated soul and He is coming in a line of liberated souls called the Guru Parampara system

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam

imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ

This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.

So Krishna came to re-establish that knowledge. But that knowledge in our line coming from Lord Brahma is actually an unbroken line of Disciplic succession. So even though we may have so many defects, as Prabhupada points out in his purport, he said, although may a follower may not be a liberated person, if he follows the Supreme Liberated Person, then he got his actions are naturally liberated. So we can, therefore we can act as representatives of this specific succession. Even though we're imperfect, If we follow the instructions of the Supreme, liberated Supreme Personality of God, that is our perfection. In spite of all of our defects, the tendency to be illusion, committing mistakes, Prabhupada points out the four defects. Tendency to be illusion, committing mistakes, imperfect senses, and cheating tendency. In spite of having these four defects, if we sincerely try to follow the previous Acharyas, we can actually act as teachers, as spiritual masters. It is called as [Inaudible], in the purport. So therefore we must try our best to represent this is by Prabhupada's orders to preach. That's what Lord Caitanya orders us to preach.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa

āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Whoever you meet instruct him in the teachings of Krishna and this by amara you become guru for all those people of this country. So even though we have so many defects, if we sincerely try to preach on behalf of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, on behalf of Srila Prabhupada, on behalf of Lord Krishna, then our actions become a little bit impactful. So let us now sincerely endeavor to preach as much as we can amongst ourselves, always talking about Krishna.

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. So we should preach amongst ourselves, talking about Krishna. And that's why we have these classes every day, Prabhupada established the regular classes. These are very important. We study Prabhupada's books and we talk about what Prabhupada has taught us. In this way we become reconnected with Krishna. The most important sense is actually the hearing sense. If we can engage our hearing, and the tongue is also required, Something has to be vibrated for something to be heard. So the tongue and the ear are engaged in this Krishna katha. This actually enables us to become transcendental to this material existence. In other words, we vibrate on the Transcendental platform. Right now we are conditioned souls caught up in these four defects. But if we vibrate on the Transcendental level, Hare Krishna mantra, the teachings of the Gita, the teachings of the Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charitamirta, etc., if we take these teachings carefully handed down by the previous Acharyas and we vibrate these teachings amongst ourselves and to the general public. That will actually liberate us, become as good as the liberated souls by doing that.

So this is why Prabhupada said this movement is going to sweep the whole world. (Knocking sound... So somebody at the door). This movement is actually going to sweep the whole world on the basis of our preaching. We have to preach. Distribute these books and preaching, taking this process very seriously. So it's not that we have to continue with suffering in this material existence. Actually it's a very suffering position. Birth is a horrible nightmare, to be squeezed in a little tube in your mother's body. They come out screaming, they come out crying. It's a very fearful experience being born. And then you get sick, you get old, and you die. Who wants to go through the pains of getting old and dying? This is not a fun thing. It's a very unpleasant suffering condition. Birth, death, old age, and disease. But if one can transcendentalize one's consciousness, kick out this bodily identification, which is the greatest illusion, thinking I'm the body. If one can kick out this bodily misidentification, identify as a spiritual being, qualitatively one with the Lord. The Lord is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

Krishna is the supreme controller, He is known as Govinda. He has an eternal form, He is full of bliss and knowledge. He has no origin, He is the origin of all. So we understand that we are actually qualitatively one with that Supreme Person. And kick out this bodily misidentification. Even the subtle body, we have to detach from it, and the mind also. The mind is a subtle body. We shouldn't misinterpret it as our mind either. The mind is a tool. It's like the body is a tool, the mind is a tool. If we use it in the wrong way, If we let the mind be dictated by the mature modes of nature, the mind becomes our worst enemy. Your mind can either be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how you engage it. So you want to have an enemy sitting within you or you want to have a friend. So you let your mind dictate, I think this, I think that, but I go with my mental whims. To go with your mental whims are the whims of your gross senses, then you are a prisoner of Maya. You let an enemy take over you and make you a prisoner in their encampment called the material nature. So we should not become prisoners of the mind and the senses. We should be liberated souls by following, mahājana yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ, by following the path of the great mahajanas. We should not take the foolish people who criticize and Prabhupada did this, Prabhupada did that, this kind of doing this, this people, so many criticizing, the envious people, you see. The fools and rascals who don't want to follow Krishna's instructions,

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

Give up all your nonsense activities, fully surrender to Me, I will deliver you from all your sinful reactions, You don't have to worry about anything. Because they don't want to give up their foolish thinking. They are the center of all the existence, consciousness. And actually follow Krishna's instruction of serenity and therefore they find so many faults. Krishna did this, Krishna did that, Prabhupada said this, Prabhupada did that, ISKCON is doing this, ISKCON is doing that. They find so many faults. Actually, they're just envious rascals, that's all they really are. They try to make all these justifications, why they shouldn't surrender to Krishna, why they shouldn't follow Prabhupada, why they shouldn't become a part of ISKCON, etc, etc, etc. We should not be misled by such rascals. We should follow these great Mahajanas, liberators, such as intelligence. We have to look, we have to really deeply analyze. Why do I exist? Let's go to the basic, the most basic thing. Why do I even exist? Do you know why you exist? Do you have any idea why you exist? We exist to give pleasure to Krishna. Krishna is manifesting us from Himself for the sole purpose of enjoying a relationship with us. That is why we exist. We exist for the purpose of giving enjoyment to Krishna. Say what? Give enjoyment to somebody else? What about my enjoyment? But actually the devotee enjoys equally with Krishna. Like that nice verse, 5.21,

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā

vindaty ātmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā

sukham akṣayam aśnute

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.

So it is not that we enjoy anything less by existing to give enjoyment to Krishna. We enjoy equally with Krishna. Krishna enjoys unlimited happiness and similarly that person who connects with Krishna, he also enjoys unlimited happiness.

So, and even sometimes the devotee is greater than God. Just like somebody, just like Krishna has to be chastised by Mother Yasodha, Mother Yasodha is bigger than Krishna. So in this way, Mother Yasodha has actually become the chastiser of Krishna. You rascal, I will tie you up with ropes, you naughty boy, I'm going to tie you up with ropes. We have our deity here, Damodar. I always remember that nice story. We were traveling on the bus. We had these big deities of Radha and Krishna. And because of the bus, it was bouncing, so they tied ropes so They wouldn't fall over. So Prabhupada said, oh you can name that naughty boy, Damodar. They were very famous, the Radha-Damodar traveling Sankirtan Party, a very famous part of ISKCON. And this deity was then named after the big, these are the little Radha-Damodar, named after.. I think They're in New Gita Nagari now, the Radha-Damodar diety. Now these are little, this is a little version, mini, Mini, mini, that's the maxi Radha-Damodar, this is the mini Radha-Damodar. We are very fortunate have Krishna, the naughty boy, who's tied up by His Mother is here to bless us.

So to become the sold out servant of God doesn't mean you are diminishing your position. It means you are increasing your position. Because Krishna becomes a servant of those who become totally surrendered to Him. You don't lose out anything by fully surrendering to Krishna. You gain everything. Even yesterday we heard that material prosperity also comes to dissolution. So even spiritually and even materially one benefits by becoming Krishna conscious. So it's a shame right Now the whole world is completely in a state of illusion, completely carried away by all these nonsense speculators who say that everything came out of a big explosion. I mean it's just ridiculous. It's still going on. You can see the news. It's the latest discovery of some scientists. They found, you know, it's still going on. It's considered a gospel truth what the scientists are discovering about the solar system and the universe. It's all garbage and nonsense. But people accept it, oh yes, the scientists are telling it. There was a big explosion out there and everything came. I mean, how ridiculous can it be? People don't have any common sense. They don't have any intelligence. They are just carried away by their senses. And these foolish rascals are also big, big, carried away by the senseless persons. So at least we should not be carried away by all this bogus propaganda. At least we should understand who I really am.

jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa, The constitutional position of living entity is the eternal servant of Krishna. We should understand who we are. We should not be misled and cheated. I mean, why should you suffer when you don't have to? Isn't it stupid to suffer when you don't have to suffer? Why should one inflict suffering on himself? Isn't that asinine? Stupid to inflict suffering on yourself? They call it masochism. One who inflicts suffering, actually the whole material world is masochistic. They're all inflicting suffering upon themselves because they're embracing a false sense of identity with that which gets sick, that which gets old and that which dies. Would you identify with your car? Because every few years you buy a new model. Do you think I am my car? And actually people do. You're driving down the street, you know, and you actually run into somebody and they gather, you hit me! Get down from their car, you hit me, you hit me! They get real angry, you hit me! They didn't hit their car, but they said me. They'll say, they hit me. You hit me, you rascal, I'm gonna sue you, you hit me. So people even identify with their cars. It's the same thing. This body is the car. So we shouldn't identify with this car. Sometimes Krishna puts us in great difficulties. Like right now we are going great difficulty here in Austin. There's 2000 power outages right now in Austin. It was 1400 and then it went to 1700 and now There's more power outages increasing. So how long can they get around to fix 2,000 power outages? How many workers do they have throughout? You know, there's not 2,000 workers working in the utility department. So we're going through a great difficulty here. No electricity and no heat and it's cold. This is some special mercy from Krishna to help us intensify our taking shelter of His Lotus Feet. If we train ourselves to see everything in a very positive way, see the bright side of everything, then we can't be bewildered by even the most apparently devastating negative situation. Because the moment of death is going to be like that. Everything is being taken away. The moment of death will be everything is being taken away. It will be worse than this. So we have to learn to see everything as a special mercy of Krishna.

I remember Prabhupada told us in that first lecture, the lecture I heard in Ratha-yatra, how he says you can become qualified to see God face to face. It's not you seeing, we see each other face to face, you can see God face to face, probably, but this requires practice. We have to train ourselves. See Krishna within everything and everything within Krishna. Like this, Krishna's the taste of water, The light of the sun and the moon, Prabhupada was explaining like this. Every day you drink water once, twice, thrice, more than that. Every time you drink water, if you remember Krishna is the taste of water, immediately you become Krishna conscious. In the day you can see the sunshine, hopefully we'll see some sunshine here in Austin pretty soon. But actually one has to see Krishna in everything. On the sound and ether. It is like when you hear the thunder, that is Krishna. We heard some thunder earlier this morning, or even a car driving on the street, and the sound in ether. You can learn how to experience, see Krishna with everything, and the ability in man. You see somebody has a talent for singing or cooking or any kind of talent you can see. A talent, someone knows how to drive a car even, that's a talent. Krishna said I am the ability in man. So learn how to speak Krishna with everything. This is the Krishna consciousness process, to where you cannot forget Krishna even for a minute. Always experiencing Krishna in every situation. So the more we read these books, the more we talk about what's in these books, the more we remember what's in these books, the more we serve the instructions of Srila Prabhupada remembering what a great personality he is, he's not an ordinary man, he's a power to charge, he's coming in unbroken disciplic succession. I just remember how, I can just think of so many wonderful personal instructions that Prabhupada gave me, Wonderful, wonderful instructions. Wonderful, wonderful instructions. So there was that policy that, because I was getting so many letters, they said, okay, now only the Temple presidents and GBCs and sannyasis, They can write, but no one else can write. So I was feeling desperate. I felt a need to have that connection with the Prabhupada, to be able to personally ask him questions and get answers. And I wrote him anyway, and then he wrote me a letter, telling me about the new policy, but he said, there's an urgent need. I'm always happy to hear from my beloved disciples. No, he said beloved disciples. So this Prabhupada took us, his beloved disciples and he cared, he had unlimited compassion for every one of us, unlimited compassion. So we have to learn how to reciprocate that love that Prabhupada gave to us and it is coming down to us through his representatives and through his books, through his teachings. Even there is Murthy, His Deity you see. We have to learn how to take this mercy coming from Prabhupada and reciprocate that mercy by following Prabhupada's instructions to become pure devotees of Krishna and to make this world Krishna conscious.

So, I can ask if there are any questions? See we have No questions yet. Here is a question. What is meant by spiritual strength?

Spiritual strength means not being carried away by the material modes of nature. Means to keep yourself fixed in Krishna consciousness. That is spiritual strength.

How to deliver the mind while executing Krishna consciousness.

It means you are keeping your mind fixed in Krishna consciousness. You are not letting it go here and go there. You are keeping it, bringing it back.

yato yato niścalati

manaś cañcalam asthiram

tatas tato niyamyaitad

ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet

From wherever 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 that means spiritual strength. You keep your mind fixed in Krishna consciousness. Do you have any questions? Nothing? Okay. Any questions in the kitchen? I don't think so. They're tied up in service for Lord Nithyananda. It's the appearance day of Nithyananda. We're having a celebration this evening. It will be Online. I'm not sure the exact time.

What is the secret of Srila Prabhupada's pure devotion?

(Hopefully, our battery is running low. We may be disconnected soon. I think we only have 20% left, we should be able to make it) The secret of Prabhupada's pure devotion is his dedication to his spiritual master. When he takes the order of his spiritual master, his very life and soul, that is the secret of pure devotion. Take the order of the spiritual master as one's very life and soul.

What is His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada did we can follow him and become like him?

By taking the orders of your spiritual master as your very life and soul. That's how you can become like Prabhupada and a pure devotee of Krishna. How we can all become pure devotees? By taking the orders of our spiritual master as our very life and soul.

Is it recognized saying in other confession it's consuming me to be taken there as a saint? No, meat eating is actually sinful. The Bible says thou shalt not kill. Even, no, a saintly person cannot be eating meat. That's a sinful thing to do. It doesn't matter what your tradition you're in. Anyone who's eating meat is not a saintly person. They're eating the flesh of murdered animals. They cannot be considered saintly.

Any other questions? Yes, question.

Devotee: Srila Gurudev, How to understand that Krishna is the supreme enjoyer if the devotee also enjoys equally with Krishna?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Because his enjoyment depends on his relationship with Krishna. He can't enjoy independently. But, Krishna enjoys independently, but we can't enjoy independently. That's the point. Our enjoyment depends on our relationship with Him. His enjoyment is independent. That's the difference.

Devotee: Gurudev, so I understand that Krishna is unlimited, infinite, and where infinite has to move. So it's really difficult for me to understand how I'm capable of experiencing.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: By even more powerful than God. You can become more powerful than God. That's by His mercy, by His grace. He may want to enjoy being subordinate to you. If you become His pure devotee, He may take pleasure in being subordinate to you. That's His pleasure. He enjoyed being chastised. He was not disturbed, oh no, I'm being chastised. I'm being chastised, but He was having great fun. That was His pleasure. Krishna is never suffering. He is always enjoying. He is a supreme enjoyer. So He enjoys even being put under His devotees.

Ok, let's see what we got here. We exist to give pleasure to Krishna. How to please Krishna? How to please Krishna? Always please.

The way to always please Krishna is to always think, how can I please Krishna? What can I do to please Krishna? If you are always thinking and praying, my dear Krishna, please bless me that with my every thought, word and deed I can give you unlimited pleasure 24-7. You are always desiring like that and you are chanting in that mood.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

My dear Lord, please bless me now I can give you unlimited pleasure by pure devotional service to You. If you are always in that mood of begging and begging and begging, my dear Lord, please bless me I can be a pure devotee. And you being, Krishna will be very pleased with you.

So I think we'll go ahead and stop here. The battery is almost dead. The internet is going to go away momentarily. And So we thank everybody for tuning in. Take this process very seriously. What time will the program be tonight, Devi? What time will the program be tonight?

06:00, okay. 06:00 Austin time. You can look up on the internet and see what time is in your area. Jai Hare Krishna.