Srimad Bhagavatham 4.25.23

Sankarshan Das Adhikari:

piśaṅga — yellow; nīvīm — garment; su-śroṇīm — beautiful waist; śyāmām — blackish; kanaka — golden; mekhalām — belt; padbhyām — with the feet; kvaṇadbhyām — tinkling; calantīm — walking; nūpuraiḥ — with ankle bells; devatām — a denizen of the heavens; iva — like.

Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

The waist and hips of the woman were very beautiful. She was dressed in a yellow sārī with a golden belt. While she walked, her ankle bells rang. She appeared exactly like a denizen of the heavens.

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, our original position is in the spiritual world with Lord Shri Krishna engaged in so many varieties of loving relationships, in 5 different kinds of primary rasas. Enjoy unlimited happiness. You give the example sometimes, the cow is grazing in the grass, but the fence is there. So the cow wants to stick her head on the other side of the fence, as they're saying the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. So the same mentality is there sometimes of living entities in the spiritual world, thinking, well, maybe it's better on the other side of the fence, let me check out that side of the fence.

So then we find ourselves here in this material world going through the 8400000 species again and again and again and again. And it's been a reading here today how the man is very joyful as seeing a woman with raised hips and breasts, very nicely dressed. So this is what keeps him in the material world, this attraction. And the woman's side is being attracted to the male, you see.The male is attracted to the female, the male in this way. They're attracted to each other. This mutual attraction between male and female is what keeps them entangled here in the cycle of birth and death.

Of course, this attraction is natural, is there between Radha and Krishna. But here it takes a perverted form, you see. Because we try to take the position of being the enjoyer, that's the difficulty. Woman wants to be the enjoyer of the man, and the man wants to be the enjoyer of the woman. But the real position is we are the enjoyed, we are enjoyed by Krishna. That's the actual position. But instead of agreeing to be the enjoyed, we want to be the enjoyer. And this attraction to the opposite sex is keeping us birth after birth after birth after birth. As The male, the human male is attracted to the human female. The male pig is attracted to the female pig in this way, for being attracted, male and female going on. Romeo and Juliet is going on again and again and again, lifetime after lifetime, millions and millions of births. Now this satisfaction we get by enjoying with the opposite sex, it may give us some temporary pleasure but that is called maya sukha, illusory pleasure. That pleasure actually doesn't leave us satisfied. The man may enjoy a woman, the woman may enjoy a man. How long that enjoyment lasts? It's going on, this so-called enjoyment. Actual enjoyment is never ending.

From a self comes the TAM. That is actual enjoyment. This male-female enjoyment doesn't bring actual satisfaction of the self. So instead of looking for this male-female enjoyment, We should take advice from these great sages who have gone beyond this male-female relationship. Just like we see Haridas Thakur, he was tasting unlimited nectar. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama. Unlimited nectar in the holy names. So much so that even a beautiful young prostitute was sent to allure him in the dead of night, all alone in his little bhajan kutir. A beautiful young girl came, She showed her naked parts of her body to him, begging for sex pleasure. Oh, you must give me sex or I will die. And he was so detached, he had no attraction whatsoever for sex enjoyment with this beautiful girl. He was just going on, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. He could have just gathered here, but no, he was so compassionate and so detached, he could sit here with a beautiful girl, lusting after him, all night long, and not even be disturbed at all, going on for hours and hours. The beautiful girl who wanted sex with him, then gets there peacefully going, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Out of his compassion, he went with the girl to come to me for sex. Actually, I want to deliver this poor girl, he said. He was so detached, we are not on that level. Not that we can be on that level, a beautiful young girl, begging for sex, and we say, just sit here. No, we have to go away. We have to run away as fast as we can, to run the level of Haridas Thakur. He was so compassionate, he heard this chanting again, He said, my dear girl, I'm so sorry I couldn't satisfy you last night. I hadn't finished my vow. So you please come again tonight. And I will certainly satisfy your lusty desires tonight. Please come again. Again. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama. Oh my dear girl, I wanted to satisfy your lusty desires tonight, but I just didn't finish my rounds. You come tomorrow night, I'll surely satisfy you. By that time, she was going on hearing him chanting. She was starting making fun of him. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna. Making fun of him. Going on, okay, Hare Krishna. By that, even making fun of his chanting, even making fun of his chanting even making fun of his chanting, guess what, she was telling the holy names and she became a devotee.

Oh my dear sage, I'm so sorry I came to pollute you now. Please accept me as a disciple. And this way she became completely liberated. So we're not on a level we can imitate Haridas Thakur. We have to stay separate, you see. Brahmachari stays separate from the women, you see. Actually, even thinking of women can make him fall down. What is speaking of seeing a woman, or talking of women, is a secluded place. So we practice this separation of the sexes, you see. We protect this because we're not very advanced devotees. We haven't crossed over anartha nivrithi, we have this lust still sitting in our hearts. Therefore we keep some separation, protect ourselves. We can't imitate Harayana Thakur. So we have to act on the level we are, you see.

And Bhagavatam is giving us very good instructions, very good points. "yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ ". That pleasure was considered maithunādi, the number one pleasure by materialists maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ indeed is insignificant.

So we, Haridas Thakur was on this level, and we have to try to come to this level also. Taking the sex pleasure, hi tucchaṁ, indeed, insignificant. So, the question is, how do we come to that level? Sex pleasure is insignificant for us. Well, that's the whole process about the sadana bhakti. We have to go deeper and deeper into hearing, chanting, remembering, offering prayers, serving the deities, the sacred... The other day we mentioned the five potent forms of devotional service given by Rūpa Goswāmī.

Residing in Vṛndāvana-dāma is the first

The second one is deity worship

The third one is serving the Vaishnavas

..

And then, the Holy Names

What was the other one? Remember the other one?

There was residing in the Holy Dham, Deity Worship, Serving the Vaishnavas, Chanting the Holy Name. Ahh.. Bhagavatham, we're doing now. So these five things, we really take these seriously, residing in Vrindavan Dham, of course we're not in Vrindavan, we make our place as good as Vrindavan. If you're not living in Vrindavan, make your residence or your place as good as Vrindavan. You have nice pictures of Krishna, a nice altar, a nice kirtan going on. If You're not living in Vrindavan, make your place as good as Vrindavan. So living in Vrindavan, deity worship. Even if you don't have deity, you can have a nice photograph, nice picture of Krishna. The idea is you have to have a form of Krishna there, either deity or a picture. And offer your obeisances, offer your foodstuffs, offer the aarathik.

In this way, make him have that deity worship. It's very important, because one of my students, he wrote me, he said that, I'm here in Kashmir, they're mostly Muslim, they say, You Hindus are so foolish, you're worshiping a stone as if it's God, you see. Making fun of us.

But actually, they say, how can a stone be God? What can I say to them? I put this in thought for the day. What can I say to them when I say, you Hindus are so stupid, your religion, you worship stone as God? So I said, ask them, is God limited or unlimited? See what they say. Is God limited or is God unlimited? How about I say, if He's unlimited, He can do whatever He wants. If you say He's limited, I say, who are you to put a limit on God? Who are you to put a limit on God?

If He's unlimited, He can do whatever He wants. Even in the Bible it says that God appears in the form of a burning bush. In the Bible. Even the Christian Bible admits that God can appear in a material form. So if Krishna is unlimited, He can appear in any form, wherever you can give your love and devotion. Whether it's a deity or a picture. It's like here we have a picture of Radha and Krishna, see it with Them? Now if you treat that form as Radha and Krishna, They will be there, you see. If you bow down, you offer your foodstuffs. So in this way, even if you don't have a Deity, you can have a nice picture. And offer your worship and your aarati and your food stuff. So Krishna will appear wherever you're giving your love and devotion. So that's important. Residing in Vrindavan, make your places good in Vrindavan, worshipping the deity, hearing the Bhagavatam like we're doing now. You say, well there's no class, but you can read the Bhagavatam. You can read the Bhagavatam. Studying the Bhagavatham, reading the Bhagavatam. That's also an important form of devotional service, serving the devotees. Well, we have Vaishnavas. You have the spiritual master. By taking the spiritual master's orders, your life and soul, and following the instructions of the spiritual master, that's serving a devotee, you see. And then chanting Hare Krishna. So we take these five potent forms of devotional service, we get beyond this lust.

Right now we're tormented by lusty desires, but by serving these five potent forms in devotional service you come free from these lusty desires, enter into that sublime realm what is it called? Krishna consciousness, wonderful realm of Krishna consciousness.

So, we many times stated this process is simple for the simple and difficult for the crooked. So you gonna be crooked or you gonna be simple? Be simple to be simple, that means take things that they're given spiritual masters giving these things. All right let me accept.. we don't say except blindly. We should study very carefully.

To accept blindly, you can get in big trouble, because there are so many bogus gurus out there. People are taking your money, they're taking whatever. I was misled by bogus gurus in the past. It didn't work. So I was skeptical about gurus after that. But then I was finally to the point where I could realize that Srila Prabhupada is a bona fide spiritual master. And there's nothing sweeter than giving my love to him, the most wonderful experience I could ever have in billions of lifetimes, is to give my love to this great spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. So this way I was ushered by the association of the devotees into the divine, sublime realm of this Krishna consciousness. But we don't accept these things blindly, this is the whole science, you see. If you take it blindly, sentimentless or you can even a fanatic. We don't take it blindly, we take it scientifically, philosophically.

As Prabhupada says, religion without philosophy is sentiment and sometimes fanaticism. And philosophy without religion is mental speculation. So we combine these two things. Combine religion with philosophy. The science of God, you see. By taking these things together, then you become solidly situated in Krishna consciousness. You understand the science of God, then you become solidly situated.

In other words, you need to know, The point is you need to know what you're doing. Don't just be a blind follower. Of course, we do follow, but not blindly. We know why we're following. We don't know the science of why accept the spiritual master, why I become obedient to the spiritual master, why I serve the Vaishnavas. We know, we scientifically understand all these things that would become paka-sadana. So, that's why we have so many books, the science of God, isn't it some stories, some enjoyable stories. No, it's a science. If we understand this science, how the great sages understood this science and they teach this science, we will have to learn this science, how it works. Like Krishna said,

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ

yo me bhaktyā prayacchati

tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam

aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.

Can I say, well, can you offer meat to Krishna? Say, well, my dog wants meat. Can I offer the meat to Krishna and give the prasadam meat to my dog? No. Because it's a leaf, flower, fruit or water. Leaf means vegetarian. There's no mention of meat. You can offer me meat. So if Krishna wanted meat, he would say, you can offer me meat, a flower, no, he says, a leaf, a flower, fruit, and water. So fruit also means, so many fruits are there. The milk is also the food of the cow. So we understand the leaf, flower, food or water. This is what Krishna would accept. And this is the beauty of this process. This is what that really amazed me as a young spiritual seeker when I found this first, I can offer something to God and accept it from me, that's amazing, in other words Krishna consciousness you can have a personal relationship with God Himself. Can you imagine? Having a personal one-on-one relationship with God Himself? That's pretty amazing, isn't it? A personal one-on-one relationship with God Himself. I can offer Him something and He'll accept it from me, yes. That's how a person, even though Krishna has thousands of millions of devotees, as I mentioned the other day, just like in Dvaraka, He has 16,000 women and men, queens. Each queen had Krishna all to herself. Pretty amazing, isn't it? Each queen had Krishna all to herself. She didn't have to share Him with anybody. She had Krishna all to herself. And the same thing all of His devotees. You can have Krishna all to yourself. You don't have to share him with anybody. When you give yourself fully to Krishna, you can have Krishna all to yourself. That's the amazing thing. Like those queens at Dvarnaka. You can have a tight, one-on-one, totally packed intimate relationship with Krishna. Just you and Krishna reciprocating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for all of eternity. So that's available. That's called Krishna consciousness. So we have to learn how to enter this process very seriously, very sincerely, very determinedly, and very enthusiastic, and very patiently. Because we've been caught up in the cycle of birth and death since time immemorial. We cannot even begin to calculate how long we've been in this cycle of birth and death.

So you can't really measure it in time. It's timeless how long you've been caught up in this cycle of birth and death. So to get out of this position, not gonna be easy. We've been entangled for millions and billions of, now to get out of it, it's not gonna be easy thing. But if you take it seriously, seriously. Krishna says, time I am. So Krishna can actually utilize everything that you've gone through to help you get out. You can actually take advantage of all the hell you've gone through, the stepping stone to get out of the cycle of birth and death. So, if we understand this process, it's given by Krishna, without any addition or subtraction, keeping it as it is. What do we call the Bhagavad Gita? Bhagavad Gita As It Is, isn't it? So there's so many Bhagavad Gitas out there. There's so many people teaching this thing and that thing. You can jump to Gopi Bhava. I think I'm a Gopi. Yes, I'm a Gopi. I'm a Gopi. And start reciprocating with Krishna as a Gopi. No, that's only for highly elevated souls who attain the asakti stage. You can't jump to, I think I'm a Gopi, I'm a Krishna's Gopi. I'm gonna kiss Krishna, He's gonna kiss me. No, not on that level. Such ideas are not for us to even consider. We're meant to bow down to the lotus feet of Krishna. Then once we become liberated souls, beyond even the ruchi stage, when we have unlimited nectar and chanting the holy name, then we can think about having a Gopi, a Gopa, a mother, a father, a cowherd boy, or a cow, so many relationship. So that's far beyond our present position. We shouldn't try to jump to some position. First of all, do a relationship with Krishna in one of his Vrindavan pastimes. No, we cannot do that. We have to think, let me be dasa dasa dasanu dasa, the sold out servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna, that's our position. And even the liberated souls remain like that within our hearts. Even the liberated souls in the spiritual world are still hanging on the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of my spiritual master. So that mentality being totally dedicated to what the spiritual master has never given up, Even for liberated soul, it's not a who need, then bye bye guru, I don't need you anymore, no. Not in relation to the spiritual master, you're eternally unique, go back to the spiritual world, you still have a relationship with your spiritual master, you still are dedicated to your spiritual master.

So let's see here. If any questions are rolling in I can try to take them. Let's see by the chat window. If any questions have come here. Here we have one and you all may have some questions too. You're welcome to ask questions. You're Number two.

Okay. Kindly enlighten, atheists say religion is blind faith. Is that because they ignore the process of realization?

That's because they don't know the science. Atheists have not, they have not considered things very logically and carefully. Actually, atheism is blind faith. That's a thing. Atheism is blind faith. Theism is scientific and atheism is blind faith. Because I can see that every machine has an operator. The cars have operators. Even if there's artificial intelligence, they want to have artificial intelligence now to drive the cars. That's a new thing. But still, somebody programmed the artificial intelligence. So, there's always a driver behind a machine. Machines don't turn themselves on unless they are programmed to do so. It's like this light here we have. When you turn off, we have a light on the altar that goes on when the electricity goes off. But that was programmed to do that. It's like, in the morning I get up, and I wake to these, I program that light to go on when the lights go off. I program to do it. My first thing after, when I wake to these, I program that light, you see. So there's a person behind every operation that's going on. There's always a person behind anything that's happening. So this universal machine is also a universe. The universe actually functions like a machine. So therefore behind this universe there is also a person. Every machine has an operator. So I can guess that this universal machine must also have an operator. So in this way, atheism is blind faith and theism is scientific and is logical understanding. So, the atheists, their position is because they're sentimentalists, they're not thinking scientifically or philosophically. That's why they have their atheistic philosophy. They've not considered things very thoughtfully. They're just blind faith of some atheist said something and they blindly accepted it. Okay, your turn.

Devotee: So, Gurudev, can an illiterate person who doesn't know the science of Krishna, but has full blind faith in Krishna, can he go back to Godhead?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: How does he know that Krishna exists?

Devotee: Because of his upbringings he has been...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Somebody told him.

Devotee: Somebody told him.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: So that means he's heard. Even if he's literate, he still can understand Hindi or English or whatever. So if somebody has taught him the right thing, that's as good as... If someone tells you that Krishna is God, or you read it, Krishna is God, what's the difference? You see? If somebody explains to him that Krishna is God, nobody just... What If he just accepts it, that nobody really told him, he just told Krishna is God and he just followed him. Does he still go back to Godhead? Yes. If he, such a person, even if he doesn't know the signs of God, if he just, because even the association, everybody's chanting Hare Krishna, he's just in a habit of doing it because of his association. He'll still go back to Godhead, sure. But, he could be misled by an atheist. That's the advantage of knowing God scientifically, that protects you from the onslaught of atheism or impersonalism or voidism. You understand? To know it scientifically protects him. The sentiment will liberate him, but he can be misled also if he's not scientifically understanding it. Okay? Yes?

Devotee: So every action that we perform on a daily basis, if we don't introspect, then will it not be considered as science? What would that mean, science?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Scientific means know why you're doing it. Yes. You know, do it blindly without knowing why, that's unscientific. To know why you're doing it, that's scientific. So why are you chanting Hare Krishna, for example? You know why you're chanting?

Devotee: Yes.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Because somebody told you to? Is there some reason you're chanting Hare Krishna? That's science to know why you're doing something. (Yes) Why are you chanting Hare Krishna?

Devotee: To develop the real connection with the Lord.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: That's science. (Yes) You know, you have a reason why you're doing it, that's science. (Yes) Because somebody, without knowing why you're doing it, that's blindly. To know why you're doing it, that is science. Okay? Does that make sense?

Devotee: Yes.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Okay, hang on then, over there.

Devotee: Guru, I just wanted to know one thing. What's the difference between Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Yes, what's the difference between a bachelor's degree and a Master's degree? And a PhD. Bhagavad Gita is the bachelor's degree, Bhagavatam is the master's degree, Chaitanya Charitamirta is the PhD. Like that. Bhagavad Gita is the introduction. Bhagavatam is more advanced, and Chaitanya Charitamirta is even more advanced. That's the difference. The same thing presented in a more advanced way. But with Prabhupada's purport, you can even start off with Bhagavatam. It's OK. Because his purport has explained everything, even for a beginner. So you can read Bhagavatam even as a beginner. The first book that Prabhupada gave us was Bhagavatam, not Gita. Gita came later. He came on this ship from India with 3 volumes of the first canto of Bhagavatam. So the first book that devotees got was Bhagavatam. They got Bhagavad Gita later on because Prabhupada's purports make it understandable for a beginner. You have Bhagavatam?

Devotee: No, actually my father, he is 75 plus. So he does seva since last birth. I mean, he is not birth, but he was like young. So He always told me to read Bhagavatam, Bhagavatam, but unfortunately I was in the materialistic world, so I could not. So, Bhagavatam, he also used to call Bhagavatam in our house as Sukh Sagar. I don't know, there was some book. Bhagavatam, its second name was Sukh Sagar.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: You had Bhagavatam from ISKCON?

Devotee: No, no. I actually, I started...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: The thing is it's important to get the purport, Prabhupada's Bhagavatham has the purport, that's how we understanding the meaning. It's good he's attached to Bhagavatham, it's very good. Questions more?

Devotee: Yes, Guruji. How will I understand that super soul is reciprocating to me?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: How to understand that the super soul is reciprocating? Well, from the scripture, there's one place. Guru's scripture. Scientifically, how to understand that the super soul is reciprocating? Well, sometimes it happens. Guru Mataji had an experience that we were traveling from Bulgaria to Lithuania. Bulgaria is outside of the... If you can help me understand it, It's the European Union, right? Bulgaria is not part of the European Union.

Vraja Kishore Das: Which country?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Bulgaria. It has a different status than, like, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland. It has a different status. So, anyway, I know how to explain it. I can go from Lithuania to Latvia without going through a border check or Estonia. Once I'm in there, it's like one country. But Bulgaria into Lithuania, you have to go through a passport control. So anyway, Guru Mataji and I were traveling from Bulgaria to Lithuania. And we had an interim stop in another country which is part of the passport situation of the European countries. In other words, we had to go through passport control and we landed in this one country. Now, I got the passport control, we had to go to the whole thing, big queue, you know, go to security, and then I accidentally left my passport behind and the security made me go back and get my passport. There was this delay, another delay. And now we're going to miss our flight. We're going to miss our flight. It was kind of not very happy. I think I'm going to find a hotel, we're going to book another flight tomorrow. We missed our flight. Oh, we were running, running in the game. We knew it was too late, but what can you do? And the plane had already boarded and it was all over finished. But then there was something wrong with the plane. Everybody had to get off the plane. The flight was delayed. That's how I know it was getting the reciprocation with the Supersoul. The flight was delayed. We were late and the flight was also delayed. We got there, everybody, we sat down, everybody got off the plane back to the waiting area the whole flight was delayed so we knew how the Supersoul reciprocating with this in that experience.

Now we have more coming in, let's see. Since there are no no kinds of material energy in the spiritual world, what is the impurity come from that causes the jivatma to fall down? Krishna said, I explained this many, many times. I have a perfect scientific answer and I'll explain it again. Love means voluntary. I put a gun on your head, Krishna say to love me or I blow your brains out. You must love me. It doesn't work. Love means I put the gun down, and now you can love me or leave me if you're free of choice. Love can only exist when it's voluntary, not under force. That's the first thing you have to understand, okay? Love must be voluntary. It cannot be forced. So now, since everyone in the spiritual world then has a choice, love me or leave me. If you have no choice, love cannot exist. The choice must exist in the spiritual world. Every single living being in the spiritual world must have the free choice. Otherwise, love can't exist. So then what are the odds, since there has to be some probability that one can misuse the free will, or there is no free will. There has to be some probability that the free will can be misused, otherwise there is no free will.

So what would be the probability, mathematically speaking, what would be the probability of somebody misusing their free will? It would be the smallest possible number, right? What is the smallest possible number? Do we have any mathematicians here? What is the smallest possible number that exists? Who can explain? Infinity. One divided by.. the smallest. It's 1 divided by infinity, the smallest number that exists. So what is the probability that somebody can misuse their free will? And there has to be some probability otherwise free will doesn't exist. So what is the probability somebody can misuse their free will? That's the one divided by infinity. That's the probability. Now how many living entities are there in the spiritual world? 10,000, 10 million? How many? How many living entities are in the spiritual world?

Devotee: Infinity.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Infinite. Infinite, that's right. So, little simple mathematics, 1 divided by infinity times infinity equals infinity. So, therefore, mathematically, we've just proven that an infinite number of people fell down from the spiritual world. Mathematically, we've proven it.

Devotee: And what is that one?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: One?

Devotee: Yes. Like, this is an example.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: One, one is the number. Okay. It's like here's 1 finger 1 is means 1

Devotee: Yes, I thought that one is Krishna

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: no, no, no, no, no That's something else. We're talking about the living entities, not Krishna. Krishna never falls down. Okay, so now, So, save it Krishna, save it. We've just shown you mathematically that there has to be the fall down has to happen otherwise there's no free will fall down has to happen otherwise there's no free will. It's not a nice thing and hardly anybody does it, but being such a huge number of, infinite number of living entities in the spiritual world, and even though it's hardly anyone does it, probably nobody does it, still we end up with an infinite number of them. That's mathematically understood. OK, now we have, if that is not clear, you can ask for clarification, Krishna Seva. But it's a mathematically pucca analysis.

Tarun Krishnadas, why are material intelligence compared to beautiful women? That's not in today's purport. That's a different class. This verse tells, this verse explains how one becomes joyful of seeing a woman with raised hips and breasts. That's today's purport. This is a question of a previous purport, Not from today's purport. Today's purport is not making that comparison. Today's purport is just talking about how one becomes attracted by a beautiful womans raised hips, raised hips and raised breasts. That's today's purport. So I'm talking about that topic today. So you have to face this question another day when we're talking about that topic. OK.

Why does Narada Muni give such descriptions as current sloka because they may aggravate the mind to enjoy? That's an interesting question. Why should we even think about a woman's raised hips and raised breasts? Because such a description may get us all agitated. That's his question. That's an interesting point. But the thing is, we're already attracted to raised hips and raised breasts. It's already there. So now we have nowhere to attach ourselves from it. That's the real point. We already have that attraction. So now we have to, the Bhagavatam is telling it like it is. So we can understand. In other words, You go to the doctor and he tells you what disease is. You say, my doctor, I've come to get free from the disease. Why are you telling me I have to tell what you tell me about my disease is? Just give me the medicine. Don't tell me about my disease, just give me the medicine. But actually it's good to know what the disease is, so you know why you need to take the medicine. Otherwise you may not know why you need to take the medicine. So it's good to know that I'm attracted to the raised breasts and hips of a woman. It's good to know that, because now I know what my disease is. The doctor gives the cure. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare I can be more serious about chanting Hare Krishna. I know, and also I can know not to look at, not to check out the raised breasts and hips of women. Because that's what lures my mind. So it's good to know what my disease is. Because it helps me get free from the disease? So I don't infect, I don't get worse than the disease. Instead of looking at Playboy magazine, which was very popular in America when I was a kid. Now the internet is loaded with porno sites. I should know, I don't need to go to a porno site. Even if I'm looking on the internet and they show some woman, you know, I'm just looking at some news on the internet. I'm just looking at Amazon to buy something, and they show a book with a woman's, I see a book cover with a woman's looking, and I immediately block it, you see. Just like the other day, we were, Vraja Kishore and I was sitting in the park over here, and 2 monkeys were having sex. Vraja Kishore immediately put his hand, 2 monkeys are having sexual intercourse about 20 feet away from us, So he made he put his face with hand and block it out. So we have to know what our disease is, So we are not carried away. It's good to know that this is our disease. So if you see some monkeys having sex, you won't look at it, you'll block yourself, nope, don't want to see it, you see. So it's good to know with the diseases, we're lusty people, we're carried away by sex desire, so we have to know anything that, with stimulating, we've got to block it, you see. I want, no, I don't want to see monkeys having sex, I want to see the, I want to see the beautiful form of Radha Damodar, you see. So in this way we have to train ourselves not to be carried away by lusty desires, so it's good to know this we have this disease that we attracted to the raised breasts and hips of women it's good to know that so we can know not to get carried away, teaches us okay.

Okay now let's see. Srila Gurudev, is sex the main cause for bondage?

Absolutely sex is what's keeping us here. That attraction to the opposite sex has been keeping us millions of lifetimes. Male elephants attracted to female elephants and it goes on and on and on the list all millions of times million different categories of being attracted to the opposite sex. We have to know that's what our cause of bondage is. So now we have to in this lifetime no more sex attraction. That's why even if sex attraction is there, when it's utilized, they use it. When it's recommended, you stay brahmachari, if at all possible. But if when it's not possible, it's too much for you, then get married, have some kids, and then give it up. Have 2 or 3 kids and then give it up. No more sex life. Even become great husbanding, only using sex for procreation, not for fun in the bed. Only for procreation, that's it. Even the house holders have to give up recreational sex. It's not for sex in the material world. Sex is supposed to be the number one entertainment. Have sex for fun. No. We don't have sex for fun in Krishna consciousness. We only have sex producing kids. Otherwise, cut it with a knife and get rid of it. We have to cut it with a knife and get rid of it. We have to cut it with a knife and put our mind to the lotus feet of Sri Radha and Krishna.

Okay. Any questions from the locals? Yeah.

Devotee: Is it possible to control our mind so that it never acts on our lusty desires?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: When you have lusty desires how to control the mind?

Devotee: Is it possible to control forever?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Control forever there's no more lusty desires? Absolutely that's so once you get it beyond anartha nivrithi become the nishtha, then you're no longer being carried away. nishtha means you're fixed in Krishna consciousness, see in anartha nivrithi, we're still being attracted to women men or women still being attracted for gays attracted the same sex. Anartha nivirthi is still we are battling it out, but these are anarthas, Sex, lust, anger, greed, madness, illusion, envy. But in Nishtha now you're fixed. So yeah, when you come to Nishtha stage, you won't be attracted by the opposite sex anymore, the nishtha stage. Something to work for, let me come to nishtha, you see. Nishtha stage, when I'm fixed, I'm steady now, no more being diverted by lust, anger, greed, madness, illusion, envy. Nishtha. We have to say, OK, it's there, waiting for us, the nishtha stage is waiting. We understand it's waiting for us, this process of bhaji bhakti, you know, remembering, chanting, offering of prayers, all these things will give us a higher taste. You know the verse,

viṣayā vinivartante

nirāhārasya dehinaḥ

rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya

paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment or the taste which sense the sense object remains. In the beginning, I'm saying okay I'm not going to be attracted to women but my mind keeps running to women you see. But when you get, but, when you come to the higher taste, who needs women anymore? I get something better I got Krishna who needs sex I got Krishna. Krishna Consciousness is millions better than sex. Well I can. Well the holy name is so sweet It's much better than having sexual intercourse, you see. I can, based on the Holy Name. So, that's the key. It's waiting for us, the nistha stage is waiting for us, then on to, on to Ruchi. Ruchi is when it's, you know, the Holy Name is just unlimited, unlimited oceans of nectar in the holy name. So it's all they're waiting for you. You just gotta keep working on it. Just like you wanna play a piano, you gotta work at it. Or Prabhupad gives the example of the typewriter. The beginning you're typing, you gotta look at the keys, you know. After a while you're just going, shh, shh, shh, shh. The Supreme personality of God. You're not looking at the keys anymore. So, in the beginning, I'm thinking, well, I can't be attracted by the women or men, and I can't be attracted. But after a while, it happens automatically. Because you're so absorbed in Krishna Consciousness, sex, what's that? It's typing away, you see. So in this way, we have to come to the point where Krishna consciousness becomes automatic. And then there's no more allurement of the sex desire. It becomes automatic.

Okay. Let's see here. Okay. Vishnuratha. When one has conquered his mind, why is it said that he conquered the world?

No, he hasn't conquered the world yet. But, by conquering the mind, you can conquer the world. The world is not conquered immediately, obviously. It's out there waiting to be conquered. But it's said that when one conquers his mind he can conquer the world. What is the basis of that statement? It's based on a purport by Srila Prabhupada. He says, when one chants the holy name of the Lord without offense, under His influence, the whole world will become Krishna conscious. So that's a bona fide statement, conquer the mind and conquer the world. But the thing is, we haven't conquered our minds yet. That's why we haven't conquered the world. That's the fact. We have not yet conquered our minds. We're not steady. Our minds are still running here for material contemplations. That's why we haven't conquered the world yet. Yeah, when our mind becomes totally absorbed in pure bhakti, we'll see that this whole world becomes Krishna conscious. So we have to become, as per that purport, when one's mind, when one chants the holy name of the Lord without offense, he becomes Jagadguru. And then his influence, the whole world, becomes Krishna conscious. It's also stated similarly by Rupa Goswami,

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ

jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam

etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ

sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

One conquers mind, words, anger, belly, and genitals. Prabhupad translated it this way, in one place, he can make the whole world his disciples. pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt. He can make the whole world his disciples. Prabhupada translated that on one occasion. So yeah, the more you bring your mind into control, the more you have an impact to change the world around you, it's a fact. To whatever extent you've conquered your mind, to that extent you have the potency to conquer the world. We haven't conquered the world yet because we haven't conquered our mind yet. We're still in the process called Vaidhi Bhakti, we're trying to conquer our mind.

Bakhtin Ellison. I do my chanting when I'm not feeling very good. I love to do my chanting when I feel good.

Well, the thing is, the more you can do your chanting when you don't feel good, The more you start feeling good. So you go on chanting all the time, whether you feel good or bad, it doesn't matter. Be steady in your chanting and gradually you'll always feel good chanting Hare Krishna. That's called advancement in Krishna consciousness.

I love doing my chanting in order to get initiated by the Ellison, bhaktin Ellison. I appreciate your determination. You've been gone through some difficulties, I know that, some fall down some slip-ups have been there and you with you and but I know because you're determined very determined for years you've been going on I want to be initiated I know about your determination it's gonna happen surely one of these days.

I will keep my neck beads on when I get initiated. I will not remove neck beads. Yeah, right now you can wear one strand, and after initiation you go to 3 strands. I'm convinced you're going to be initiated one of these days, and your authorities recommend you. Recently you tried to cheat. You sent me a false initiation recommendation. That's slowing up the whole process. You sent me a bogus initiation recommendation. This is hurting you, Bhaktin Ellison. Don't do any cheating like this. Sending me a bogus, concocted, counterfeited initiation letter. Don't do this kind of stuff. It's going to slow up your process. You've got to be very humble and sincere and patient. And it will happen in due course because of your determination.

OK. Now we see Tarun Krishna. Can we tell the story like Narada is telling to someone in the form of some game?

We're not so advanced we can just imitate Narada Muni. We have to preach according to time, place, and circumstance, in a way that our audience can understand what we're talking about. It's called desha kala patra, Tarun Krishna. We have to speak according to our audience. Narada Muni is speaking to a certain audience. We may not have an audience of that caliber, nor do we have the caliber of Narada Muni to preach on such a level. We have to preach according to day, time, place, and circumstance, according to what your audience can understand.

Any other questions from the locals here? Yes.

Devotee: Are the material pleasures a trick of the mind to keep us entangled?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Say it again.

Devotee: Are the material pleasures...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Are material pleasures...

Devotee: A trick of mind?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Oh yeah. That's definitely a trick of the mind. Because there is no such thing as... Material pleasure doesn't really exist. You see? Material pleasure doesn't exist actually. It's a trick of the mind. I like your point. The trick of the mind is a very nice point you make. Actually, there is no such thing as mature pleasure. Material life is simply suffering and nothing else. But the mind tricks us into thinking this is enjoyable. Actually, there's zero pleasure in material sense gratification. Zero pleasure. We're tricked by the mind and thinking it's pleasurable. That keeps us locked up in the cycle of birth and death. So simply a trick of the mind is a very good point you made. Nothing but a trick of the mind, That's all it is. Yeah, very good point. Very good. Congratulations on bringing that point. It's only a trick of the mind and nothing else. There's zero pleasure material sense gratification. It absolutely doesn't exist. Material happiness does not exist.

brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam 

Spiritual happiness is unlimited. But spiritual happiness, but material happiness is happiness that doesn't exist. No such thing. māyā-sukhāya, illusory happiness.

Devotee: Gurudev, it's like God created either choose this or either choose Me.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari:Say it again.

Devotee: It's like on one side he created all this materialistic world. Everything in all places. Is that your point? Everything which is like, it is created by God itself. Even desires are created by God. Desires also...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Everything coming from Him, that's right.

Devotee: So, on one side he has given everything, all kinds of comforts. We can even sleep on the floor, but he has given us a ...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Both sides are there. Spiritual world and material world. Now, let me ask you this. The government controls everything, isn't it? If you're a law-abiding citizen, you obey the laws of the government, and you're awarded for obeying the laws of the government, isn't it? But if you're a criminal, you're under the law of government also, in the prison. So whether you're a free citizen or a criminal, either way you're under the government. Which is the best deal? Be a free citizen. You still have to obey the laws, You're under the government in either case. You're under the government in a favorable way, as a free citizen, or under the government in an unfavorable way, as a criminal. It's your choice. Every citizen has a choice. I can be a law-abiding citizen, or I can be a criminal. Those who are intelligent, they become law-abiding citizens. Those who are foolish, they become criminals. So everything is under God's direction.

Devotee: Like it's upon us if we drive, if we drink and drive or if we choose to drive safely.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Drink and drive is for foolish people. The government makes it illegal.

Devotee: But again, the materialistic world is like that. It's upon us if you want to go, it's upon us.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: The materialistic world is the prison. It's a prison. Prison. So you can be, you can get, by being a good prisoner, you can be released from the prison also. So you become a good prisoner by following the path of bhakti. Bhagavad Gita tells you how to get out of the prison, how to be a good law-abiding prisoner, so you can be released from the prison. You understand?

Devotee: But God only created these two things, I mean...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: There's two realms. For those who don't want to serve Him, they go to the material world. For those who do want to serve Him, they stay in the spiritual world. But it's not forced. The government doesn't force you to be a law-abiding citizen. They give you an option to be law abiding citizen. They don't put a gun here and say you know drive a follow of our laws we're gonna shoot you, they give you a free choice you know law-abiding citizen of your criminal either way we get to be under our law.

Okay let's see, Sharada Devi Dasi. How can one deepen the connection between the disciple and the spiritual master and go on increasing?

How do you increase your connection between the disciple and the spiritual master? Well, I'm just thinking about my own relationship with Srila Prabhupada, and how I try to strengthen it, increase it. I remember personal instructions he'd given me. Only a very few, not like somebody who got hundreds of instructions. Of course, in one way it was very good. I only got a few instructions, so it's easy to remember them. I didn't get hundreds of instructions. One Godbrother said, well, Prabhupad said so many things. For me, just a few things. So for me, it's easy. Prabhupada told me, he said, continue with enthusiasm as you are doing, and surely Krishna will bless you. That's easy to remember. He also told me, I've become qualified to see Krishna face to face. Oh, that's really quite an order. He also said, I could aspire to become Jagadguru, the spiritual master of all the universe. But he said, but all material desire to zero. With his pen in the letter, all material desires, he underlined it with his pen. But that means all material desire to zero. So I've got something to shoot for, you see. I have a desire to make the whole world Krishna conscious. That means Jagad Guru, but how to do it? All material desires to zero. He underlined it. So I got these few instructions, but they're very powerful for me. I had to become completely all material desires, kick them out with boot. Even as subtle material desire, kick it out with boot. So from my own experience, take whatever instructions you've gotten and embrace them as your very life and soul. Meditate on them, pray that you can achieve them, and pray to your spiritual master. My dear spiritual master, please bless me, I can come to this level. And, when you have the worshipers there, the spiritual master, take it deep, as deeply as you possibly can into your heart. Not just go through the motions. When you do Guru Puja, your spiritual master, do it with Great intense love and devotion. All these things will help.

Okay, Bhaktan Allison. How can I get to know my spiritual master according to how Krishna wants me to know my spiritual master? By becoming totally obedient to him. No more bogus recommendations letter. That's the first thing. And no more falling down, that you went to your boyfriend had illicit sex, no more thought no more associating with this so-called boyfriend, he's a boy enemy, not a boyfriend. Don't associate with that boy enemy anymore and no more bogus counterfeited recommendations letters, that will help you.

Anything else? okay let's go ahead and 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