yadā ratir brahmaṇi naiṣṭhikī pumān

ācāryavān jñāna-virāga-raṁhasā

dahaty avīryaṁ hṛdayaṁ jīva-kośaṁ

pañcātmakaṁ yonim ivotthito ’gniḥ

Upon becoming fixed in his attachment to the Supreme Personality of Godhead by the grace of the spiritual master and by awakening knowledge and detachment, the living entity, situated within the heart of the body and covered by the five elements, burns up his material surroundings exactly as fire, arising from wood, burns the wood itself.

Purport: It is said that both the jīvātmā, the individual soul, and the Paramātmā live together within the heart. In the Vedic version it is stated, hṛdi hy ayam ātmā: the soul and Supersoul both live within the heart. The individual soul is liberated when it comes out of the material heart or cleanses the heart to make it spiritualized. The example given here is very appropriate: yonim ivotthito ’gniḥ. Agni, or fire, comes out of wood, and by it the wood is completely destroyed. Similarly, when a living entity increases his attachment for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is to be considered like fire. A blazing fire is visible by its exhibition of heat and light; similarly, when the living entity within the heart becomes enlightened with full spiritual knowledge and detached from the material world, he burns up his material covering of the five elements — earth, water, fire, air and sky — and becomes free from the five kinds of material attachments, namely ignorance, false egoism, attachment to the material world, envy and absorption in material consciousness. Therefore pañcātmakam, as mentioned in this verse, refers to either the five elements or the five coverings of material contamination. When these are all burned into ashes by the blazing fire of knowledge and detachment, one is fixed firmly in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unless one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and advances one’s attraction for Kṛṣṇa by the spiritual master’s instructions, the five coverings of the living entity cannot be removed from the material heart. The living entity is centered within the heart, and to take him away from the heart is to liberate him. This is the process: one must take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and by his instruction increase one’s knowledge in devotional service, become detached from the material world, and thus become liberated. An advanced devotee, therefore, does not live within the material body but within his spiritual body, just as a dry coconut lives detached from the coconut husk even though within the husk. The pure devotee’s body is therefore called cin-maya-śarīra, “spiritualized body.” In other words, a devotee’s body is not connected with material activities, and as such, a devotee is always liberated (brahma-bhūyāya kalpate), as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26). Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī also confirms this:

īhā yasya harer dāsye

karmaṇā manasā girā

nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu

jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate

“Whatever his condition may be, one who is engaged fully with his body, mind and speech in the service of the Lord is liberated, even within this body.”

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

This is something to anchor for. Can you imagine? Like a coconut, and the dry coconut is in the husk, but he is not attached to those. He is completely detached. So he becomes like this, completely detached from these bodies. These bodies have so many difficulties, namely birth, death, old age and disease, adhyātmik, adhibhautik, adhidaivik, so many miseries are being tortured by that minute after minute after minute after minute after minute. As long as I continue to think I'm in this body I'm going to be in difficulty. Actually just like here, here's a 75 year old body. If I think I'm in this body I have so many things to worry about. Death is coming soon. I got this problem, that problem. The older the bodies get, the more they become problematic. But what I realize is I have nothing to do with this body. It's just something I'm using right now in Krishna's service, but it's not actually me. Actually, I'm an eternal youth. I'm an associate of the Lord in His transcendental pastime, but because I misused my free will, now I'm being taught a lesson by being sent to this material world to satisfy my desire to enjoy independently, but now by the mercy of Guru and Krishna I have been reminded this is not actually me, I am not a separate enjoyer, actually you cannot enjoy separately. My real happiness is to get back to being who I actually am. Someone actually sees from the spiritual standpoint, someone sees from the Shastric viewpoint, sastra-caksu, when he sees through the eyes of scripture, then there's nothing to worry about anymore. When we give up the Sastric vision and we see through our material eyes, then we have problems. One problem is another problem is another problem. Problems, problems, problems all day long. So you might have a life of problems, you might have a life of bliss. What do you prefer? Do you prefer problems or do you prefer bliss? You want misery or you want ecstasy. What do you want? Intelligent one will think well, you're intelligent, you should think why should I suffer when I don't have to? The difficulty is we have a false conception of enjoyment, that's the problem. We think We can enjoy with these senses, the senses combined with the sense objects.

dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ

saṅgas teṣūpajāyate

saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ

kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate

krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ

sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ

smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo

buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.

So we have to reorient ourselves that this material body is not my place of happiness. It's not actually me. Why should I try to enjoy in a false way that's not even me at all? There's no actual happiness in the material world. It doesn't exist. Happiness is completely non-existent in this material world, totally non-existent. Only the false conception of enjoyment exists. Maya Sukhaya, illusory happiness exists. There is no genuine happiness in this place. So why should I go after false happiness when I can get the real happiness. It's like what's called fool's gold. Sometimes the miners would, it's actually iron pyrite, they would think it was gold, be panning for gold, looking for gold. Oh, I found gold, but it's actually iron pyrite. It's not real gold, you see. It's called fool's gold. So this is fool's happiness. The tongue, the belly, the genitals, fool's happiness. So you want to be misled by iron pyrite when you can get real gold? You want to be misled by false happiness when you can get real happiness? The intelligent person thinks no, I don't want to be misled by false happiness and cheat myself by the genuine happiness. Let me get out of this conception of false happiness.

bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ

tayāpahṛta-cetasām

vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ

samādhau na vidhīyate

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, the resolute determination for the devotional service of the Supreme Lord does not take place.

So we should not be misled by this false happiness. We are, we will be able to become determined to become Krishna conscious. If we want to be determined to become Krishna conscious we have to reject this false happiness. No thank you, I don't want it, leave me alone, don't bother me anymore, I don't want the false happiness of the senses combined with the sense objects. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing at all to do with me. Let me get to my genuine happiness, Krishna consciousness. This is intelligence. When you can actually understand, I am an eternal, 'jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa', the constitutional position of living entity, is the eternal servant of Krishna. Then I can get to some real happiness. So the difficulty is even people who come to the spiritual platform, I understand I'm not the body, but they don't want to take proper guidance. They think, well, I'll do it my own way. Is that what you were saying, my way or the highway? I want to do it my way. You want me to do it some other way, then forget it, get out of here, get the highway, Jack. You want me to follow your instructions? No, I'll do it my way. So that's the problem. Even when they come to spiritual platform, they think, no, I'll do it my way. I don't want to take the guidance of a spiritual master. I'm a spiritual master, I'll do it the way I want to do it. But you don't become Krishna conscious by doing it your own way. You have to follow, you have to take shelter of the bona fide spiritual master, taking his words as your orders as your very life and soul. See this is the problem. People come to Krishna Consciousness but they don't want to follow the instructions. They want to invent some new version of Krishna Consciousness through watered down system different from what Prabhupad taught. And they think well we have to make it popular, water it down, so more and more people. Prabhupad didn't water it down. He didn't water it down to westerners. He explained it before, he didn't think he would be successful. Just like that Lord Jetland, he was there during the British rule in India. He asked Prabhupada's Godbrother, Swamiji can you make me a Brahmin? He was thinking well I am a British Lord so now I am an Indian Brahmin. Swamiji can you make me a Brahmin? Yes, no problem. Simply follow these principle, no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, gambling. So the gentleman said, impossible. So Prabhupad was thinking, when he came to America, as soon as he said no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, gambling, he said, please go home Swamiji. But no, they said, alright. We tried everything else, We tried free sex, we tried LSD, we tried this and that. But now Swamiji is saying if you chant Hare Krishna and follow these principles, you can taste Transcendental Bliss. And we did it and it worked. It worked. We actually experienced Transcendental Bliss. This Swamiji Bhaktivedanta is something special. I am not one of these so called gurus coming to cheat us and this guy says I am God, you are God, we are all God. Not one of these bogus gurus coming to try to make money and get followers and money. No, this is this Swami who came here to give us something. He gave us his love, he gave us his knowledge, he gave us a system that actually works. And thousands and thousands of young boys and girls said yes, this is very good. They gave themselves to Prabhupada.

Now some of them are still going. Some of them didn't make it. Many of them couldn't maintain it. They took it for a while and they gave it up because their desire was not pure. They wanted something mixed. But Prabhupada doesn't give something mixed. They wanted some mixed version of Krishna consciousness. There are a good number who have stuck with it for all these decades. No, we are speaking about what Prabhupad gave it. This path is genuine, this path is pure, this path is liberating me from the cycle of birth and death. I have been caught up here in the material world for millions and billions and quadrillions of lifetimes, but now here's a process that will factually bring me back to my actual identity in the spiritual sky. Why should I take a cheater who tells me that I'm God? It should simply keep me more and more entangled in the cycle of birth and death. That's the illusion that brought me here to begin with. I'm God, I'm God, I'm God. Why should I surrender to anybody else? I'm God. That's the illusion that brought us here to begin with and some guru tells you the exact same thing that brought you here to begin with. What kind of rascal cheater is that? Simply rascal cheaters posing as spiritualists. We don't want these rascal cheaters posing as spiritualists. We want the genuine bona fide spiritual master.

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam

imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ

sa kāleneha mahatā

yogo naṣṭaḥ paran-tapa

This knowledge was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly teachers understood it in that way. But then they, these Rascals, broke it. So we are very, very very fortunate that the bona fide knowledge was not broken. We have an unbroken line in the disciplic succession. You can look in your Bhagavad Gita, it's right there in the beginning. It goes from Brahma all the way down to the great Vaishnava, to Lord Caitanya, the great Vaishnava, all the way down to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Tridandi Goswami Maharaj Prabhupada. Now we're trying to continue it on his order. He said, become guru and deliver the world, the order he gave us. Now we are trying to do it on his order. He said he did it on his order, on the order of his spiritual master. We are doing this on the order of him. We want to bring a spiritual revolution to this planet. We can't stand to see all the nonsense going on. It's very painful actually going out, just coming back from the airport. It was so painful to see fried chicken, hamburgers, I mean it's horrible what's going on. It's horrible what's going on in this supposedly a nice place, but actually it's not a nice place. Now it used to be the national pastime for football and baseball, but now mass shootings have become the national pastime. And somebody just for fun, they just take a gun and start shooting. It's called fun, entertainment. Just like the one murderer here in Austin, he said he was looking forward to his next victim. Right here in Austin, Texas. He was looking forward to his next victim. It's like a pleasure pass, to find somebody and murder him. Can you imagine the mentality is now coming forward? You see, what do you expect? They're killing their mother, the cow, and thinking it is very nice. It is natural this will come. Why? I can kill my next door neighbor also for some fun.

So the only solution is to bring them to Krishna consciousness. Therefore we have to do our duty. Prabhupada gave us this duty to deliver the world. It's not just the gurus, it's not just the sannyasis, it's a family business. The Sankirtana movement is a family business. Everybody is coming forward to join this movement, to get initiated. It's a family business. Every and every one of us has our personal responsibility to deliver the world. Every one of us has that duty and responsibility. So how do we become qualified to deliver the world? The way is to deliver ourselves. That's where it begins. Living in the world begins with yourself. The mind, the words, the anger, tongue, belly and genitals fully absorb the service of the Lord. That's where it begins. We have to deliver ourselves. We have to see how much we're deviating at every minute. Our mind is jumping here, jumping there, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping. Chota Haridas took itself seriously, his mind, he realized to renunciate but he got attracted to a beautiful young girl, lusting after her. He was banned, it was such a heavy offense, he was banned from Lord Chaitanya's Company. From just his mind, taking existence for a brief second, lusting after a young girl. He was banned from Lord Chaitanya's Association and he committed suicide, as a penance for his lusty thoughts.

So how much we are deviating? We don't advise you all to commit suicide, but we have to kill our tendency to enjoy separately. That we have to kill. Our tendency to enjoy separately from Krishna, that must be killed. Kick it out with boot. It is an illusion. It is not possible to enjoy separately from Krishna. Absolutely impossible. So we should not try to do it anymore. Should come back to being who we really are. So if we take this process seriously, then we can actually become awakened. The difficulty is even when the genuine process of awakening is given to us, we think, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe, later, later, later, later. That's the problem. We are given the genuine process of Self-Realization, but we don't take it seriously. It's actually a crying shame that here we are, we've been given the bona fide process, we've been given the books, the knowledge, everything to get out of the cycle of birth and death, but yet, it's like they say, poco a poco, take it easy, take it easy. No, it's time to get serious now. Actually death can come at any minute. I may die today for all I know. Of course I'm not going to die, but I could, this body may die at any time. So I should understand, I should take this process very seriously that now I must give up all my nonsense, all my so-called independence. I must now fully take shelter of the bonafide spiritual master and Lord Sri Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

That's actual intelligence. So I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. No. We must do this now. Krishna once said, sarva-dharmān parityajya, sarva-dharmān, give up everything now and fully surrender to Me. Why surrender to Krishna? Well, Lord Krishna is not an ordinary person. Krishna happens to be God, the source of all existence. As confirmed by Lord Brahma,

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, Krishna is the supreme controller. He has no origin. He is the origin of all and he is the prime cause of all causes. So surrendering to Krishna means getting back to being who you actually are. You are not that material body. You are actually an eternal spiritual being qualitatively one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. God is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss and you just like you take a drop of ocean water the ocean has a certain quality, certain quality.. certain salty quality the certain chemical composition within the ocean. Each drop of water has that same blend of chemicals, same amount of, same percentage of salt, the same percentage of everything. So this is a job of ocean water is qualitatively one with the entire ocean, we being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord are qualitatively one with it. You are actually one with God. But the difficulty is we are trying to enjoy separately from God. That is the difficulty. The job of ocean water belongs in the ocean. If you try to enjoy separately, it evaporates. We need to get back to our actual identities. Here we are trying to enjoy separately from Krishna and we are actually punishing ourselves and putting ourselves through unnecessarily anxiety and suffering day after day after day after day. So the bonafide spiritual (master) kindly teaches us, get out of your false sense of enjoyment, get back to being who you actually are. Don't cheat yourself any longer. You've been cheating yourself for millions and millions of births here in the cycle of birth and death, but now you're very fortunate that you're going through these 8 million different species, the plants, the fish, the birds, the worms, you're going through all these different species, but now you're very fortunate that Athāto brahma jijñāsā, now you have a human form. Do you realize how many millions of lifetimes you've gone through to get this human body? So it's the greatest tragedy that the entire human civilization is not taking up self-realization. It's frankly,

What does Krishna say?

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ

Out of a thousand among men, one may endeavor liberation, becoming spiritualized with liberation. And out of a thousand who take the liberation, hardly even one knows Me in truth. So to actually take to the process of awakening your spiritual identity as a servant of the Lord is extremely, extremely rare. So somehow you've gotten this knowledge, you've gotten this knowledge, this opportunity, to awaken your eternal identity as a servant of the Lord. jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dās, you consider it as a greater benediction than winning the Supreme Lottery. I mean nothing in this, even if all the gold in Fort Knox became your personal property, that's nothing compared to the good fortune of coming, being blessed with the opportunity to awaken your Krishna consciousness. This is the greatest opportunity that one can have in millions and billions of lifetimes. So if you've gotten this opportunity to awaken your Krishna consciousness, take it as the greatest blessing and don't let it pass you. Take it very seriously, chant the Chapa Mala every day, offering all your food to Krishna before eating, avoid illicit sex, meat eating and intoxication and gambling and take this process very seriously because now you have the opportunity to get back to being who you actually are.

Instead of going in the false conception of I am this body, I am a man, I am a woman, I am a bird, I am I'm an orangutan, I'm an elephant, I'm an alligator, I'm a fish, I'm a worm, I'm this or that. You've gone through all these false identifications, all these false egos and even now you think I'm a man or I'm a human this is also false ego. That body is not you. Just by the law of karma you've gotten this human body, so now utilize it. In this one form you can become self-realized, the animals, they cant. Of course there are rare cases, the animals became, but that's not usual. There was one case, five hundred years ago during the time of Lord Chaitanya. Every year they would go to, from Bengal, they would go to Jagannath Puri for the pilgrimage. It's a very holy place, Jagannath Puri. So there was one devotee named Sivananda Sen, he was the leader of the group. So Sivananda Sen was going with all these pilgrims on the way to Jagannath Puri there was no bridges or trains or cars in those days, it just walking. You came to a river there would be a boatman, you pay a little fare and he'd take you across the river. So they were going along the pathway of the roadway to Jagannath Puri and one dog started tagging along. The dog was tagging along, no one said anything, they just let him keep tagging along. They got to the boat, the boatman, they all got in the boat and the dog jumped in the boat too. The boatman said, wait a minute, this dog can't go for free. You want the dog to come, you have to pay a fare for the dog. So Sivananda Sen paid for the dog also, he can come. And then they got on the other side and the dog separated from the group and where did the dog went? He's gone already to Jagannath Puri, and when they came to Lord Chaitanya who was there in Jagannath Puri, who was Krishna Himself in the form of a devotee and Lord Chaitanya was throwing green, the dog was going, huddy, huddy, and He was throwing green coconut puffs at the dog and the dog was catching, Lord Chaitanya was feeding the dog, and the dog was not seeing anymore, its turned that he had gone back to the spiritual world, he had attained his original form in the spiritual world. So There are some cases where even animals become self-realized but that's a very rare thing. But now we have this human form which we very seriously take it and now I have the chance to get out of the cycle of birth and death. So let me be very serious now to become servant of life and don't mess around with material energy anymore. I've messed around with Maya Devi, the material nature for billions and billions of births, not going to mess around with it anymore. I'm not going to give up this messing around with Maya. Become very serious now to become an awakened pure devotee of the Lord.

Let's see if we have any questions rolling in from the audience here. 70 people tuned in today. Let's see we have Pooja Sharma. Okay, that's an apology for a network problem.

Hare Krishna Das:Kindly enlighten, certain activities arrived in the job. Sometimes need intense tension like preparing for presentations, etc. If a person exerts this intense endeavor on this mundane activity, wondering how can he facilitate it, if a person exerts this intense endeavor on this mundane activity, facilitate this forgetfulness of his real identity, if it is there, then how to always remember oneself to be the soul in these situations?

Sankarshan Das: Well, you're not doing it for fun, you're doing it to earn a livelihood. And what's the livelihood for? To maintain a Krishna conscious lifestyle. Just like somebody wrote me an email, he is a comedian on the YouTube. He was wondering can I do this?

Can I crack jokes on YouTube? I said if you use your fun for livelihood, for livelihood you can do. For certain things you can have, you can't be a butcher or a prostitute. But normal livelihood, which is not engaged in sinful activities.. I wouldn't be a liquor store owner or a tobacco manufacturer. But things that don't promote sinful activities, you can have the livelihood. So to be successful in your livelihood, you have to make good presentations, you have to be well prepared. Even Prabhupada said that Krishna conscious businessman, can inspire to become the wealthiest businessman in the whole world. So we have no problem with you doing your job very expertly, so you can be well paid and get promoted or whatever it takes to be successful in your job. You do that in the service of Krishna. You can say, Krishna, I am doing this presentation, so I will be successful in my job, so I can earn some good money, so I can support your movement and maintain a Krishna conscious lifestyle for myself. You just have to connect it with Krishna. That's the point Hare Krishna Das. Connect it with Krishna. If you can't connect it with Krishna, then you're in trouble. Because you have to see how to connect it with Krishna. You can talk to Krishna about it.

Leela Smriti Devadasi: How come every now and then we want to enjoy separately from Krishna as we are very happy in Krishna consciousness?

Sankarshan Das: Because we are conditioned, Leela Smriti Devadasi, we are conditioned for millions and millions of births to enjoy separately from Krishna. We have a habit. We have to break our habit. We are habituated to try to enjoy separately, try to enjoy separately from Krishna, which is not even possible. But our habit is to do that. So we have to break the old habit by giving the new habit. That's why we chant everyday in the Japa Mala beads, 16 times around the beads everyday. We offer all of our food, we come to classes regularly, we do all these things and create new habits. But you have to intensify your new habits so the old habits go away, they fade away.

Leela Manjari: The present senses are provided because of one's desire to enjoy separately.

Sankarshan Das: Yes, having a material body is there, but the human birth is a special facility. Human body is a facility to enjoy separately. It's also a facility to become self-realized. The human birth.., All these lower species, it just sense enjoyment, that's all you get. We don't see any dogs coming for Bhagavatam class. We don't see mosquitos or flies hovering around, so they can get the knowledge from the Bhagavatam. We don't have that. But the human life is a dual opportunity. You can become self-realized and you can continue to try to enjoy the material world. You have a choice. Human life gives you the choice. So they call it free will. The animals, they have no free will. They're just being carried by the modes of nature. The dog has to bark. They all have to just act according to the modes of nature. They are puppets in the modes of nature. The lower species are all completely puppets. In human life, they are pretending not to be a puppet any longer. Not to be a puppet of maya, I want to get free from the clutches of maya. You can cut the strings, The puppeteer is pulling your strings, the modes of nature like the strings of the puppeteer. You can cut those strings. But how do you cut it?

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

And hearing the Bhagavata. Like you're doing it now. By chanting and hearing, you can cut those strings and you're no longer being pulled by the modes of goodness, the modes of passion, the modes of ignorance, the modes of passion, the modes of goodness. Now you're transcendental to the modes of nature by engaging in Krishna consciousness.

Vishnuratha Das: One devotee was giving an argument that the devotee is supposed to be Brahmin, not work any other job, and still they accepted compromise for it. So, okay, let me slow down. In other words, the body is supposed to be Brahmana, it's supposed to be spiritual teachers and they shouldn't do anything else for a livelihood.

Sankarshan Das: So if the spouse asks for recreation for sense gratification, one is wrong to deny.

There are two issues. The first issue, Prabhupada said that, actually, look at Bhaktivinoda Thakur. He was a magistrate. He was working for the British government. He wasn't a Brahmin. No, for livelihood you can take up different occupations, be a government officer. Prabhupada was a... What is that... What was his business? Prabhupada's business? Cloth business. What?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi:Prabhupada's father had a cloth business.

Sankarshan Das: Cloth business?

Visnu-Priya Devi Dasi:Cloth, they were selling

Sankarshan Das: Cloth business and Prabhupada also had a factory what was his factory?

Visnu-Priya Devi Dasi:Pharmacist, Prabhupada was a pharmacist

Sankarshan Das:That's right, pharmacist. Prayag pharmacy.. that's right. Prabhupada was a pharmacist. So, if Prabhupada can be a pharmacist and his father can be a cloth merchant, Bhakti Vinod can be a government magistrate, there's nothing wrong with having a livelihood. And it doesn't mean he's not, probably didn't lose his Braminical position by having a pharmacy. So that's one thing, we can put that argument aside.

Then the next thing is, if a spouse wants a recreational sense gratification, one is wrong to deny? One must be practical, that was his point. His point is, given the argument, well, you have to earn a livelihood to be practical, even though you are a Brahmin, you have to earn a livelihood, this or that, like one of our disciples here, he is kind of an engineer with Amazon. So if devotee can work a job to compromise, you can also have recreational sex to compromise. That's the argument. Get in bed and have some fun. Yippee, whoopee, whoopee, have some fun with my genitals. What kind of nonsense is that? The livelihood is necessary So he has a place to live and food to eat. Is recreational sex necessary? Actually it drains one semina.

(What's this phone call coming in?)

Recreational sex. Semina is meant, ulvareta, in Vedic culture they pass semina as little as possible, just for having kids and nothing else. Semina is meant to raise to the brain, to nourish the brain for spiritual understanding. The yogis know the art of withholding the semina. By that art they can live for hundreds of years actually. So withholding the semina is actually the Vedic principle. Passing semina only for having children and nothing else, not for fun. And actually Prabhupada is saying that passing semina, the more you pass semina, you are calling, you are asking for a sudden horrible death. Withholding semina actually gives you, increases your life span and gives you a peaceful death where you have an opportunity to remember Krishna, being surrounded by loving devotees, chanting the holy names, etc. So this idea of recreational sex, they are promoting it now in ISKCON, that is a deviation from Srila Prabhupada. And Guru Mataji Ji and I are fighting against it like anything. The idea in ISKCON that the recreational sex is okay as long as you don't kill the baby. These people are losing their semina, they're losing their brains. The people who are making this argument, they must have done it themselves, that's why they don't have proper brains for pushing the philosophy that Prabhupada gave us. Actually, one devotee is moaning, he may have been doing it also when he was married. And that means he doesn't have proper brain power because he passed so much semina.

Okay, let's see now.

Nanda Priya Devya Dasi:We are in association with material nature since long. The conception of false enjoyment is taught, seen from the very beginning and coming to Krishna consciousness, taken the process (indistinct) serious only.. Sense of enjoyment is still there. As they say, old habits die hard.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, that's right, that's the point I was making. Must be a question.

Bhaktin Gabriel: A few days ago you or Guru Mataji said that it's more important to come to spiritual master's class than any other ordinary.

Sankarshan Das: Actually according to the prayer we sing every morning, hearing the spiritual master is very important. What is that prayer? My only desire is to have my consciousness purified, that the words emanating from his lotus mouth. So all the classes are important and my disciples should hear classes of all the devotees, because they should understand the most important classes for them to hear from the spiritual masters. That's the shastras, that's what we're told. In the Prema Bhakti Chandrika it's stated that my only desire is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth. So the disciple should have a very much desire to hear from the spiritual master. That is the shastric version, how to take it.

So there's a class, but if somebody, a devotee is coming to preach locally, the online class in the same time. But I encourage you to go to the local devotee, to some local devotee. I don't know what the timing is in the... What's the timing now in the Baltics? The timing?

Devotee: Now four twenty-one.

Sankarshan Das: There is generally no classes at four twenty one in the afternoon.

Devotee: He's traveling now.

Sankarshan Das: Oh, okay. I recommend hearing the basic classes in the temples. If you are in the temple, go to Bhagavatam. That's my instruction. Not skip the Bhagavatam class in the temple to hear the online. No, that's my instruction. Hear the regular Bhagavatam class given in the temple.

Okay. How to break down the old habits as more of the inclination is for sense enjoyment?

Well we have to get the higher taste.

viṣayā vinivartante

nirāhārasya dehinaḥ

rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya

paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

The embodied soul may be restricted to sense enjoyment of the taste that sensuality remains, but ceasing that engagement by experiencing a higher taste is fixed in consciousness.

So the key is you have to get a higher taste. So how to get a higher taste? By being enthusiastic to chant, enthusiastic to hear, enthusiastic to read, enthusiastic to do service, enthusiastic to attend the Aratihik ceremony, be enthusiastic to do these things because these will liberate you from the hellish nightmare of material existence. Be enthusiastic to come to Bhagavatam class every day. You see what I'm saying? So enthusiasm is the key. 'Utsaham', the first principle in spiritual life to be enthusiastic. So by that enthusiasm to do all things you get a taste. Wow this is really, this is nectarian. Wow this is really nectarian. Let me get more and more into this, more and more into this, more and more into this. So that the enthusiasm to engage in these activities will give you a higher taste and the old taste you can spit at the thought just like Yāmunācārya Ālabandāru said. Everything is about engaging in the transmittal loving service of Shri Shri Radha and Krishna, enjoying newer and newer pleasures and this, whenever I think back to my previous days of sex enjoyment, my lips curl with distaste and I spit at the thought. So learn how to relish this higher pleasure so you can spit at the thought of material sense gratification. Don't need it.

Bhaktin Pranami: How to accept the truth that I'm not this body when going through bodily suffering and pain.

Sankarshan Das: Actually here is the key, I will never ever suffer ever again. Would you like to never suffer ever again for all of eternity? Here is the secret of how to do it. Whenever suffering comes, see it is a special mercy of Lord Krishna to remind you that you are not your material body. Thank you Krishna for blessing me with this suffering I am going through right now. So remind me this is not actually me. I am actually an eternal spiritual being full of knowledge and full of bliss. That's my actual identity. So please thank you my dear Lord for blessing me with this suffering. So that's the key. Be thankful for all your miseries.

Because it actually means, you are not, it reminds you that you are not your material body.

(Three twenty, Ok). Akuti Devadasi. If soul will not die. (Ok)

Leela Manjari Devadasi:Becoming fixed in Krishna consciousness means there are no weeds in the heart anymore.

Sankarshan Das: Actually you can become fixed when a few weeds are still there but you are busy picking them out. I don't say you have to be a pure devotee of seeing Krishna face to face, eye to eye to be fixed in Krishna consciousness. There are different stages of Krishna consciousness. And until you get to Krishna prema, the weeds are still there. The thing is if you are enthusiastically picking out those weeds, the lust, the anger, the greed, the madness, the illusion, If you are out there weeding a garden, you can have a beautiful garden if you have some weeds still there. It is like a very expert gardener, they have to go in every day because the new weeds come in. So they have a beautiful garden and still have some weeds. So as long as you are picking the weeds out, you are steadily removing the weeds, you can be fixed in Krishna consciousness even if you have the weeds, as long as you are steadily removing them.

Anything else, Guru Mataji? Do You want to add some points? Any questions here? No questions? Is everything clearly understood? You ready to practice it and put it into full practice? Not now, maybe later. Or now? You want to focus on your Krishna now? Or you want to postpone it? All right. Very good. You've given your word now. You keep your word. Okay, we have more questions coming in now. Let's see. Akuti Devadasi. I, the soul, will not die. Why one's soul is punished to the next birth by his karma?

The soul doesn't die, but it's due to the tendency, the desire to enjoy separately from Krishna, it gets another material body. And he has to get the results. When you surrender to Krishna, you are free from all the results of your previous karma. But as long as you are trying to enjoy separately from Krishna, you have to take all the karma. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, you got to take all the karma, whatever it may be. You help an old lady across the street, you can be an old lady and be helped across the street. So whatever you did you are going to get it back. Karma means it bounces back on you. When you surrender to Krishna, it doesn't bounce back on you anymore. You're free from all the bounces back.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi:But what about if you're taking the old lady across the street while chanting Hare Krishna, you still get that karma?

Sankarshan Das: Oh.. If you are preaching her about Krishna, then you don't get any karma. My dear old lady, don't you realize you are not the old lady's body, you are actually eternal Spiritual being? Try chanting His Names while we cross the street, Hare Krishna, Hare... Then you won't get any karma.

That's why devotees preach wherever they go. Even a solicitor calls up. Like a solicitor called Guru Mataji. You preach to a solicitor for half an hour, 45 minutes plus, Devi? Solicitor called, you preached to him for how long? Half an hour. He gave up solicitation and heard Krishna Katha for half an hour from Guru Mataji. He appreciated it all. Actually, he was from India and they hire people in India to call in America. And he said about he felt his connection, he realized that I'm getting reconnected with my real Indian culture now. I felt like a guru in the sound, a Guru Mataji.

So let's see what's else coming up here. Pooja Sharma. If a person has attachment with his own family, so is it considered to be natural or is it because of sense enjoyment?

Actually you can, I mean I have attachment for my family? That's body, when my father was dying, he got some word, he was in some old folks' home here on the east side of Austin. He got the word he was getting ready to die, he immediately jumped in the car and made it to Kirtan, he left his body. I have attachment for my dad, actually he very much appreciated my Krishna consciousness. Actually when Guru Mataji and I got married, he had a reception, he invited all his friends, they had a reception at our house there in Houston. My father very much appreciated my Krishna consciousness. So when I, when he gave me a little body, (indistinct) he got a kirtan and he left his body. It was really wonderful. We went in there with all that anxiety, because he knew death was coming. But then we started the kirtan and his eyes became peaceful and he must have gone back to Godhead. So I look forward to seeing him when I go back to home, back to Godhead. So it's natural, but use it in Krishna's service. You have a family affection, use it for Krishna's service. But at the same time, who are your family members? You have to understand who your actual family members are. All living entities are your family members. Every single living entity in all of existence, because we are all.. Krishna is the Father of all living entities. So your family means everyone. So you should be attached to deliver everyone back to home, back to Godhead. Because everybody's your family member.

Okay, let's see what else got coming in here.

Bhakta Gabriel: We don't ask enough questions. How to make this desire intense to listen to your classes and be so lusty for listening?

Sankarshan Das: Well, you had a nice chance. You asked a question. That's good. You were corrected or not in inquisitive mood and now you are inquisitive, you are inquiring, very good. So how did it develop? It's very good to ask questions, to think well, but, because actually the more you inquire, the more you get your answers, all your doubts removed, the more you become awakened in Krishna consciousness. So inquire, inquire, inquire. Very good to inquire. See that? It's very good to ask a question. So how to intensify the desire to listen? You have to understand that, if I don't listen to Krishna Katha, I'll listen to my rascal mind, And by listening to my Rascal mind I'll stay caught up on the cycle of birth and death. So I had to become very eager to come to these classes and hear the classes on a regular daily basis. Because this is, otherwise I was listening to my own mental concoction and staying entangled in the cycle of birth and death. So it's become to develop the intensity to hear just like Pariksit Maharaj. Well how long a class did he attend? His Bhagavatam class, was 7 days. What's 7 times 24? 7 times 20 is 148 hours, isn't it? 148 hour class. 168. 168, OK. I'm thinking about a better mathematician. 168 hour class. Can you imagine sitting, being very eager to hear for 168 hours, with no trips to the bathroom, no eating, no sleeping, just sit and hear for 168 hours. So what's our 45 minutes or an hour? It's nothing compared to the original Bhagavatam class. So we should take every opportunity we can to hear Bhagavatam, to inquire, to dive deeper and deeper and deeper into the ocean. What does Krishna say?

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā

bodhayantaḥ parasparam

kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ

tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

The thoughts of my devotees dwell in me, their lives are fully dedicated unto me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss by enlightening one another and conversing about me. So just like giving the class is enlightening, it should be equally enlightening to hear the class. Some of you all, we have to learn, some of us have to learn this art. We fall asleep in hearing the class, we are wake while giving the class. Some of us have to learn.

Sahil Zalay: What should be the mood of listening to the Hari-Katha?

Sankarshan Das: Eagerly drinking the nectar into the ears. Take it into the ears, take it deep deep into the heart. To the ear holes go deep deep deep deep, as deep in the heart as possible. It driveway all the lust, the anger, the greed, the madness illusion and envy, the craziness, the laziness, to drive it all away, that only pure bhakti can be present in your heart. That should be your mood for listening.

Anything else? Anything else? Anything else? Anything else? Here we go,

Leela Manjari: Does picking up weeds mean to ignore them and not be allowed them to grow?

Sankarshan Das: No, you should notice, you should be able to recognize this weed has to be taken out. You should be able to see this is a weed. You should recognize it. I'm getting lusty, I'm getting angry, I'm becoming offensive. This is a weed. I want you to recognize that weed so you can get it out. You don't ignore them, you should be present with them, You should be conscious of them. You should be conscious. There's a weed. I've got to get it out.

Vishnuratha: Why does the plan to become unlimitedly happy in this world result in unlimited distress?

Sankarshan Das: Because we're trying to be happy in the wrong way. Our happiness is not to enjoy separately, our happiness is to please Krishna. It is like the hand doesn't enjoy separately. The hand wants nutrition, right? So does the hand become nourished by squeezing the food in the fingers? No. The hand knows, I become nourished by giving the food to the belly. That's how I become nourished. So we, Krishna's like the belly and we're like the hand. We try to enjoy separately, we're not going to be happy at all. We'll die of malnutrition. But if we give happiness to Krishna, how can I speak in such a way that Krishna is pleased? How can I hear in such a way that Krishna is pleased? How can I think in such a way that Krishna is pleased? How can I act in such a way that Krishna is pleased? Krishna is the supreme enjoyer and we enjoy by being enjoyed by Him. That's how we enjoy. We don't enjoy separately. We can only suffer separately. But we enjoy by being in such a situation that Krishna can enjoy. How can I speak in such a way that Krishna is pleased with me? How can I do everything in such a way that Krishna is pleased with me? That's the key that always be happy.

Rob: What is material consciousness that was mentioned in the Purport?

Sankarshan Das: Okay, let's look at the Purport. Material consciousness, let's see if I can find it. Its a big purport. Okay, here we go. A blazing fire is visible by its exhibition of heat and light. Similarly, when the living entity within the heart becomes enlightened with full spiritual knowledge and attachment to the material world, he burns up his material covering of the 5 elements, earth, water, fire, air and sky and becomes free from the 5 kinds of material attachments, namely ignorance, false egoism, attachment to the material world, envy and absorption, and material consciousness.

Bob, material consciousness is the tendency or the mentality of enjoying separately from God. Material consciousness means I'm trying to enjoy separately. There may be a God, there may not be a God, but I'm going to be happy. Everything I can to be happy. I don't care if God exists or not, but I'm going to be happy. Material consciousness is trying to enjoy separately from God.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi:Material consciousness means that I have to, gratify my senses.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, my happiness, my time, eat, eat, eat, my genitals, mate, mate, mate, let me just enjoy, you know, space out on the internet, my mind, you know, space out on YouTube, maybe a little porno, but get some enjoyment here and there, as much as I can to titillate my senses, That's material consciousness.

Leela Manjari: I have another follow-up question. When I recognize the weeds I get disturbed, I haven't progressed anywhere, so I should see.

Sankarshan Das: Actually recognizing the weeds is very good. I mean it's embarrassing. Here I am, here I am, I see myself getting angry or getting lusty, It's kind of embarrassing. Here I am, an initiated devotee, trying to become a pure devotee, but yet I still get lusty or angry or greedy. It's a little embarrassing, but it's good to be honest with yourself and see, well, see how fallen I actually am. I mean, even the pure devotee, How does Prabhupada pray? Save me a fallen, your divine grace. Even pure devotee, Srila Prabhupad, sees himself as a fallen soul, begging his spiritual master to save him. So if you see yourself overwhelmed by lust or anger or greed or madness, illusion or envy, take it as an opportunity to feel very humble and beg your spiritual master to save you. Use it in Krishna's, use that vision you have of your weeds as an opportunity to humble yourself for Guru and Krishna.

Leela Manjari: It is an alarm to intensify your sadana (that's right).

Sankarshan Das: Anything else? Everybody satisfied now getting ready to become a pure devotee and make the whole world Krishna conscious, dedicate your life for turning this upside world and world right side up. That's the order Prabhupad gave us, become a guru and deliver the world. It doesn't mean initiate disciples, but it means you become a teacher of the science of Krishna, Siksha Guru, instructing spiritual master. Every follower of this movement should become an instructing spiritual master and dedicate their life delivering the world. That's a family business, become Guru and deliver the world.

Anything else? Anything else over here? What's there on your, what you're looking at on the internet? Is that something separate from the class? The mundane news? Just see, you can't even sit in the class and stay focused. The mind is running, running, running, running, running. You have to learn how to tune in, turn on and bliss out. Not be carried away by the internet.

Okay, we'll stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in. 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.