Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Ecstatic adventure Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam 4th Canto, chapter 25, Text 35

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

ete sakhāyaḥ sakhyo me

narā nāryaś ca mānada

suptāyāṁ mayi jāgarti

nāgo ’yaṁ pālayan purīm

ete — all these; sakhāyaḥ — male friends; sakhyaḥ — female associates; me — my; narāḥ — men; nāryaḥ — women; ca — and; māna-da — O very respectful one; suptāyām — while sleeping; mayi — I am; jāgarti — keeps awake; nāgaḥ — snake; ayam — this; pālayan — protecting; purīm — this city.

Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada

Translation

My dear gentleman, all these men and women with me are known as my friends, and the snake, who always remains awake, protects this city even during my sleeping hours. So much I know. I do not know anything beyond this.

Purport

Purañjana inquired from the woman about those eleven men and their wives and the snake. The woman gave a brief description of them. She was obviously without full knowledge of her surrounding men and women and the snake. As stated before, the snake is the vital force of the living being. This vital force always remains awake even when the body and the senses become fatigued and do no work. Even in the state of unconsciousness, when we sleep, the snake, or the life force, remains intact and awake. Consequently we dream when we sleep. When the living entity gives up this material body, the vital force still remains intact and is carried to another material body. That is called transmigration, or change of the body, and we have come to know this process as death. Actually, there is no death. The vital force always exists with the soul, and when the soul is awakened from so-called sleep, he can see his eleven friends, or the active senses and the mind with their various desires (wives). The vital life force remains. Even during our sleeping hours we can understand by virtue of our breathing process that the snake lives by eating the air that passes within this body. Air is exhibited in the form of breathing, and as long as breath is there, one can understand that a sleeping man is alive. Even when the gross body is asleep the vital force remains active and alive to protect the body. Thus the snake is described as living and eating air to keep the body fit for life.

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 oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

So today we are reading about the living force. The living force means the power of the Atma, the Self. According to the materialists, when the body dies, everything is finished. But that is not the conclusion of the great sages, nor does it make any common sense also. Just like when someone dies, we say, he has passed away, he is gone. Why do they say he? Something separate from the body. Even a gross materialist, when someone dies, they say, oh, he is gone, but the body is lying there. Why do you say that he is gone? Because you understand intuitively that the he and the body are 2 different things. So we should use some common sense and take the advice of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

The soul passes from this body from boyhood to youth and old age, it simply passes to another body at the time of death, the self realized souls are not bewildered by such a change. So We are being enjoined by the great Acharyas, by our great founder Acharya and the bonafide spiritual masters. We are being enjoined to come out of this bodily consciousness. Foolish to think ourselves to be this flesh and blood, this bag of stool and urine and pus. Isn't it disgusting to think that we are this bag of stool and urine? If I gave you a bag of stool and urine, I'd say, yeah, here's a nice bag of stool and urine, you can enjoy it. Who will say, oh, how wonderful, a bag of stool and urine ki jai! But Maya has done an expert arrangement. She's packaged stool and urine to make it appear a very, very, very wonderful thing. So, we should not be deluded by this material nature, by maya-devi. We should not agree to be deluded any longer, to be fooled by this expert package arrangement to think, oh, it is very nice, how wonderful it is, ah Romeo, ah Juliet, let us not be carried away any longer, let us come to our senses.

There's the senses, There are two ways of relating with the senses. One is to be a servant of the senses, go-das. The other is to be a master of the senses, goswami. You have a choice. You can be a go-dasor you can be a goswami. You have your choice. Which one do you want? They say, come to your senses, it's a popular saying. Come to your senses. But how do you come? That's the question. There are two ways you can come to your senses. Are you the servant of your senses or the master? Come to your senses, that's all right, but what does it mean? In what way do you come to your senses? That's the point. Do you come as a servant or do you come as a master? If you come as a servant, you're called a materialist. If you come as a master, you're called a spiritualist. So let's compare the difference. What are the pros and cons of being a materialist and what are the pros and cons of being a spiritualist? Let us analyze very carefully. Let us not just be fools. They say fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. Let us not be foolish. Let us analyze very carefully and clearly what are the pros and cons of being a spiritualist and the pros and cons of being a materialist.

Well, the materialist, he can get some instant gratification. I'm lusty, I immediately gratify my senses. I don't care about any regulation, just immediately gratify the senses. That's the pros of being a materialist. But the con is, you don't really get satisfied. You may think you're getting satisfaction, but you don't really get satisfied. And then, the more you engage in sense gratification, here's the bottom line, the more you engage in sense gratification the more you desire sense gratification you see it's like you know the fire doesn't go out the fire desire doesn't go out but the fire becomes hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter the more you gratify your senses the more they say more give me more give me more give me more you see. When it's not satisfied by at any level of sense gratification. No matter how much you gratify the senses, they say, more, more, more, more, more. It's the downside of being a materialist. You get instant gratification, but on the other hand, it's a very bad position.

But for the spiritualist, he has to withhold himself from instant gratification. I want to enjoy that, but no, can't do it. Can't do it, you've got to hold back. I want to have that gratification of the tongue, the belly, the genitals, I want to have it, but no, you've got to hold back. So that's the downside of being a spiritualist. But the plus side is you find an inner satisfaction that goes far beyond any type of satisfaction you can get from your material senses. Far, far, far beyond any pleasure you can get. Therefore, Bhakti Vinod Thakur advises just once,

Bhakti Vinod Upadesh Ek Baar Naam Rasa Mata Rai

just once, just once, get intoxicated by the name. It's all it takes. Even one hit, it's all it takes. You get really one solid hit of Krishna, even one time, you can relish it once, and you'll spit it out on any type of sense pleasure. You'll spit at it. You say, then I've gotten a pleasure far greater,

viṣayā vinivartante

nirāhārasya dehinaḥ

rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya

paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. So you can get that lower taste or the higher taste, you have your choice. You have your choice. Taste is there, we are taste desirers by nature. We desire taste. We are taste desiring creatures. That's a fact. The Mayavadis tried to deny taste, you see, but they tried to get their taste from tastelessness. They're still after taste. We are taste desirers by nature. So let us find that taste which is superior taste. That is the taste of Krishna consciousness. The taste of sense gratification may appear to be very nice, but it's fleeting, it's temporary, it doesn't satisfy the self. So we have to learn how to become transcendental to all these material desires. These material desires keep bombarding us. This, give me this, give me that, give me, give me, give me, I could have this. We have all kinds of these fantasies, I could have this, I could have that. These desires are bombarding us constantly. But what does Krishna say?

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ

samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat

tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve

sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

Very nice verse, Bhagavad Gita 2.70.

"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires."

So desires come. It's like all these rivers are flowing into the ocean, right? So our mind is like the ocean. And all these desires come floating into the mind. I could have this, I could have that, I could have this, I could have that. All these desires flood in, you see. But if you let them evaporate, OK, here you come, evaporate, evaporate. I desire this, evaporate. I desire that, evaporate it. Let the desires evaporate. Then you can keep yourself equipoised, steady in consciousness. Let the desires evaporate. Don't grab, oh yeah, I could have this, let me go for that. No, let the desires evaporate and you'll be okay. And that's the whole key. Desires come, let them go. Desires come, let them go. Now I have one desire only. This should be our steady consciousness. I have one desire and one desire only, and that is awakening pure love of God within my heart.

You see? Any other desires, kick them out with boot. Kick them out. You're not welcome. This desire, that desire, gross desire, sad desires, kick them out with boot, you are not welcome in my heart, just get the hell out of here and don't ever bother me ever again, you see, that's the determination. Get out of here you damn rascal desires, get out of my heart, I want only one desire in my heart, and that is Krishna Bhakti. I want Krishna Bhakti, I want nothing else. That's called steady determination.

We have to be determined. We got a little sparrow. We all know the story of little sparrow. She was very, very, very, very determined. We have to take that sparrow as our Shiksha Guru, our patha pradarshaka Guru, one who show us the path, how to become perfect. We have to follow the example of little Sparrow. She was very determined to dry up that ocean. Right now we have an ocean of material desires flooding our consciousness, you see.

But within that ocean, like the eggs were there in the ocean, within that ocean there is the egg of pure bhakti. That little tiny speck of pure bhakti in that ocean of material desires. So we want to dry up that ocean of material desires so all we have left is that pure bhakti. So they were all laughing, that little sparrow is going to run herself to death, a drop of water in the ocean, land, drop to the land, a drop to the land. Ha ha ha ha ha! Just see that stupid little bird, she's gonna run herself to death. That idiotic little creature, is it? But she had a big brother, we all know. It was the big brother Garuda. And he's not, he's got it together, he's not a little frustrated materialist like us people here. He's got it together. So he came swooping in, just seeing how they're making fun of my little sister, okay, you rascal ocean, you give those eggs back immediately, I will dry you up with my mystic power, you see.

So we want to take help of great personalities like Garuda, you see, who has the mystic power, you see, to help us dry up this ocean of material desires. This great Garuda is like he can help us dry up this ocean of material desires, flooding our consciousness. The great Acharyas, our disclipic succession, our Srila Prabhupada, all these great Acharyas, Bhakti Vinod Thakur, Gaurkishore das Babaji, all these great Acharyas that are waiting to help us. They're not dead and gone. Trust me, they're not dead and gone. The potency of these great Acharyas is right here, right now in this room we sit here. And wherever you are listening on the internet, the potency of those great Acharyas is right there with you right now, waiting to bless you to get out of this quagmire of material existence. So we have to take advantage.

How do you connect to the bonafide Spiritual Master? The bonafide Spiritual Master is the link, just like we have our internet connection. We log into the internet and when we're logged in we connect with being connected with unlimited places all over the world. That one link you have to have but through that one link you connect with everything. So in the same way the bona fide spiritual master you log in you see log in to the bona fide Spiritual Master and through that link you connect with everything. You connect with Krishna, with Radharani, Lalita, Vishaka, Jamuna, Ganga, it's all there, Brahmaji, everything is there. It's all there, You have to connect to the link of the bona fide spiritual master. Now you're tuned in, turned out, you're blissing out, because you're tuned in.

Log in to the bona fide spiritual master's mercy and now be fully connected with all the pastimes of Krishna, the teachings of Krishna, the qualities of Krishna, the forms of Krishna, the entourage of Krishna, even the cows, even that fifth note in the flute that Radharani is hankering for, it's all there through the mercy of the bona fide spiritual master. So now we'll ask Guru MataJi to give some enlightening words to bless us all with her sangha and her wisdom.

Gurumataji : You did very good. It was all right. Take the questions so that we can answer.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Oh, questions. Questions, yes.

Sachinandana Das : In India, when somebody leaves the body, they say that, may her soul rest in peace. Instead of…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: They're acknowledging the soul. Isn't it? They're acknowledging the soul when they say that, may he rest in peace. That means they acknowledge that he's not the body, isn't it?

Sachinandana Das : But they say, may her soul rest in…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Where does he rest in peace? What is the question?

Sachinandana Das : Her soul, her soul. Like, is it okay to say, may her soul rest in peace?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : No. May that soul go back to home, back to Godhead. Their question, their idea of peace is a nice soft bed. No, we should say, may that soul become, attain the perfection of going back to home, back to Godhead. That's real resting in peace. They don't know what rest in peace means. You don't know what it means. We should say, maybe that's so achieve perfection of it, of going back to the original home in the spiritual world. That's really rest. They don't know what rest in peace means.

Gurumataji : Rest in peace means that for them to became zero, that they won't transmigrate. The soul is just going to sit peacefully.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Is that clear? Is it clear for you? Any other questions? Yes.

Devotee Mataji : Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudev. Srila Gurudev, the way Garuda helped the little sparrow to dry up the ocean, will Krishna also help us to dry up the material desires?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Especially as Lord Caitanya, he just says chant, dance in ecstasy. All you have to do is sing and chant, dance in ecstasy. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. And Lord Caitanya will drive all those material desires out of your head.

Gurumataji : Like Sparrow was determined, you have to be determined. Then you will be able to go away.

Devotee Mataji : Like if we try from our side little by little, it can take a whole lifetime also.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : The point is you have to absorb yourself. It's not that you're chanting and dancing and looking at the men. Do they appreciate how I'm dancing? Not like that. You have to absorb yourself deeply in the mood of Lord Caitanya. Chanting and dancing in the mood of devotion to Lord Krishna and Radharani. Then all the material desires will be driven out.

Gurumataji : And there should be always endeavor to let it pass by. As Lord Krishna says, apurya māna ācala pratisthām. Otherwise, it will never go away. It will burn like fire.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari :  duṣpūreṇānalena ca. Burns like fire and is never satisfied. You have to kick all the, you have to, all material desires gotta go. You don't hang on to it. You say, okay, material desires, you're not welcome anymore, just get out of my heart. You'd be determined to get rid of all the material desires. The Yamunacharaya Bandhu prayed like that. Let them all go away. Have that desire, all material is gone. I don't want all material, all I want is pure bhakti. Have the determination. No more material desires, zero. Bhakti desires, unlimited. That's the mood. Unlimited desires serving Krishna and Guru, and zero desires of material sense gratification, subtle or gross. That's about determination. You think you'd be unhappy if you do that? No, you'll achieve unlimited happiness.

brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam. You'll achieve unlimited happiness if you embrace that mood. You have to have faith in this process and fully embrace it. Kick out all their nonsense.

Gurumataji : Like some of it you have given up, don't go back to it.

Devotee Mataji : And Srila Gurudev, when the material desires come, like let it pass by, what does it mean? How to, Should I not contemplate on it? Like how to let it pass by?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Well, if you're contemplating on it, then kick it out. Just like Yamunacharya, sometimes he would contemplate, he would remember when he had illicit sex, that he would spit on it, get it out. You have some, anything is there, it's not welcome, kick it out. Just like if a dog comes into your house, you do hut, hut, kick it out. Hut, hut, hut, get out. Like a dog coming into your house, of course in America it's considered a very wonderful thing, oh, I got a dog in my house. But in Indian culture, having a dog coming off the street to your house to look for scraps of food, hut, hut, take your stick and go, hut, hut. So you got to hut, hut, any material desires, hut, hut, get them out.

Gurumataji : Don't you know that? What you have to do?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Okay, I have a question from the internet.(Reads question from the chatbox)

Bhaktin Satya : Today I was serving Prasadam in the temple, if I meet a person I say to him, Hare Krishna, he said he's a Hindu, he's not depending on Krishna.

Sankarshan das Adhikari : (laughs)Ha ha ha ha ha. So what's the question, How do you deal with this kind of person? Tell me you think you're a Hindu. If you think I'm a Hindu, then you're really nowhere because that means you're identifying with your body. The real meaning of Vedic culture, is to understand I'm not a Hindu, I'm not a Jain, I'm not a Sikh, I'm not a Christian, I'm a Muslim. As long as you think I'm a Hindu you're on the bodily platform and you can't realize anything about spirituality as long as you identify with bodily identification. Of course if he's willing to hear that's another thing. Maybe just give him some prasadam and let him go, because if somebody's willing to try to preach to somebody who's not willing to hear, then he'll become offensive. So if he's willing to hear, then you can say, my dear sir, did you know that you're the atma? You have nothing to do with this designation or that designation. You're actually a spiritual being, having nothing to do with Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Jain or Muslim. Depends if he's willing to hear or not, otherwise just give him prasadam and let him go. So, any other questions from the locals here? Yes.

Devotee Mataji : Hare Krishna Shrila Gurudev, as you keep mentioning that we have to get intoxicated with the Harinam, so…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Bhakti Vinod says. Bhakti Vinod. I'm just repeating his words.

Devotee Mataji : Okay. So, Gurudev, my question is that even after doing so much of chanting, why we are not getting…

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Nama-Aparādha. Nama-Aparādha.

Devotee Mataji : The 10 offenses.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : The 10 offenses. You are committing offenses, that's why you are not tasting the nectar of the name. : Nama-Aparādha. We're Nama-Aparādhis. That's why we're suffering in birth and death. We're suffering in the cycle of birth and death because we're Nama-Aparādhis. We're offending against the name.

Devotee Mataji : Is it also because I have some material desires?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Those are aparadhas.

Devotee Mataji : One of the aparadhas.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Because you disobeyed the order of the spiritual master and did not become free from material desires.

Gurumataji : I think that is to chant the holy name and keep on the material desires. That's an offense. One of the offenses.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : To maintain material attachments, even after understanding so many instructions in this matter. So material desires is a Naam-Aparadha. We're supposed to give them all up. Flush that stool down the toilet. Don't try to enjoy the stool in the toilet. Oh look, there's some nice stool in here in the toilet. It's pretty gross, but that's what it's like. We're passing stool and want to eat the stool. That's how bad it is. I'll be honest with you. It's so bad, like somebody passes stool and they want to eat the stool.

Devotee Mataji : That means we are so much fool.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Stool fools.

Devotee Mataji : Even after knowing...

Gurumataji : Don't say we, say I. Say I.

Devotee Mataji : Even after knowing if I have any desire, that means I'm a stupid person.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : We are foolish. We know it's wrong and we know it's sinful. We go on maintaining these desires. It's absolute foolish. We're the greatest fools. Maha-mudas, holding on to material desires. Even though they're not good For us, we still hold on. The reason is we're addicted to them, that's the problem. We've been addicted to sense gratification for millions and billions of lifetimes, as elephants, as cows, as anteaters, as giraffes, as demigods, as human beings. And through all these millions of species, we've clung on to material desires as our very dear friends, you see. So we have this addiction to material sense gratification going on for millions and billions of years. That's why it's not easy to give it up. We're addicted to sense gratification, that's the problem. We're sense gratification addicts, that's the problem. That's why we have to take a drug to get free of our addiction. Isn't it? What's that drug? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. That's the drug that will cure our addiction. So we have to take, the doctor has given a dose, isn't it? You get sick, the doctor says, you take this medicine 3 times a day. What's the dose? The dose is 16 rounds a day at least. And doctor says don't eat this and don't eat that. Well that means no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling. So if you follow the doctor's orders, our doctor Prabhupada has taught us 16 rounds minimum and avoid these things. If you do that faithfully, in due course of time, you'll become awakened to pure bhakti. That will come. You can actually see Krishna directly, face to face. That day will come. I saw her first, then you're next.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev. So we chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra just to reduce the material desire.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : No, not just for that, to please Krishna.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : Yes, to please Krishna. And through the regular chanting our material desire goes away?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : And gradually, gradually, because gradually you find more taste in the Name in place of your material desires.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : So in the beginning, like since I'm...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : In the beginning you're going back and forth. Gradually the forth goes... Gradually the back goes away and the forth becomes stronger.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : So there is one offense to commit sinful activities on the strength of holy name. So that means if my consciously while chanting, if I will maintain that attitude to commit again mistake, that will be considered as an offense?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Yeah, of course.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : Because if somebody tells me...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Of course it is. We're still committing offenses. That's a fact.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : Because as a neophyte, if someone said that first you become desire free, materially desire free, then chant, that is really not possible.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : No, no. It's not that first you become a pure devotee and then you can chant Hare Krishna. It's like saying, no, we have to chant Hare Krishna and become pure devotees.

Gurumataji : Prabhupada gives an example of a mango. Mango is very nice. Whether it is green or when it is ripened. So, which ever one you have, still you eat it, it's tasty. So Hare Krishna maha mantra is like that. Whether green or ripened, it is all valuable. And if you do it right, then it will ripen and it will become more sweeter.

MahaPrabhuKripa Devi Dasi : So that means if I see that my desires are going away slowly, afterwards I should not again commit that mistake again. That will be considered as an offense later on.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Question over here.

Devotee : In the translation here, Sri Prabhupada is writing that snake which is protecting the city, what does the snake mean? Does it mean the soul or the mind?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : You can read the purport, it explains it. The snake is an allegory for the living force, the Atma.

Devotee : Is it the soul or the mind?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Yeah, the mind, no. Living force is the soul. Snake represents the soul. You can study the purport. It's all explained in the purport. The purport makes it very clear. Let's see if we can look in the purport. Let's see, the snake represents the life force. See? Snake or the life force. Written right there on the stasis, snake or the life force remains attacked and awake. That's the consciousness, the center of the soul. The consciousness is still there, even after leaving the body, the consciousness still exists. Consciousness is not a symptom of the soul. Does that make it clear?

Devotee : Srila Gurudev, what does the city represent? Does it represent a material body? What does the city represent, the material body or something else?

Gurumataji : The city represents 9 gates of 9 gates. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita. The body is the city of 9 gates.

Devotee : How is the soul protecting the body?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : It's very simple. Somebody comes to shoot you, you'll defend yourself, isn't it? Somebody comes to attack you, you defend yourself. It's like when we had the robbery in Miami. Thieves came with a gun to rob us. The temple President said, get the gun. So we defended ourselves from the thieves by taking a gun, shooting the gun at the thieves. Does that make sense?

Devotee : But the city also goes to bad activities that we should not. How is the soul protecting it? Protection means to keep away from bad things.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : One naturally protects one's body if there's some danger, isn't it? It's like you're driving the car, right? And somebody comes to hit you, you turn the car to avoid being hit, isn't it? Naturally. Somebody's coming, you turn the car to avoid a head-on collision. Wouldn't you do that? Of course you would. So the atma is protecting the body, the city. Isn't it?

Devotee : Then how we are still doing so many offenses, so many mistakes?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Because we're not aligned with the teachings of Kṛṣṇa. We're acting independently of Kṛṣṇa's instructions again and again and again. That's the problem. Isn't it? Krishna says, "Always engage in thinking of Me, offer obeisances of worship Me, surely you'll come to Me." Our mind is not always thinking of Krishna, it's thinking about other things, sense gratification, isn't it? We're not fully absorbed in pleasing Krishna and Radharani, with every thought, deeds in all times, places and circumstances. Our disease is we're still trying to enjoy separately from pleasing Krishna. It's like the hand is, instead of feeding the stomach, is trying to enjoy the food separately. We're still trying to enjoy separately. That's our disease, our problem.

Someone's asking about ADHD medication. I'm not a doctor. I can't speak about that medication. If a bona fide doctor gives medication that's not intoxication. But I don't know if this ADHD is bona fide medication or not. I'm not a doctor to answer that question. You can ask a doctor if it's bona fide medicine.

Anything else? Gurumataji, you want to add some more points? Here we have one.

Sitanath Das : Srila Gurudev, how I am serving Krishna by chanting the holy names? If I'm chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra, so I'm benefiting myself. So how am I serving?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari : Because Krishna says, chant my name, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ you're following Krishna's instructions, so you're serving him by chanting Hare Krishna, naturally. And you're automatically benefited as well because when you feed the stomach all the limbs of the body are nourished. So you're automatically serving yourself whenever you serve Krishna. You're part of Krishna. When you serve Him, you're automatically serving yourself in the proper way. We don't say don't serve yourself. We're saying serve yourself intelligently by serving Krishna. Serving yourself foolishly is trying to enjoy separately from Krishna, but serving yourself intelligently, you can do everything for the pleasure of Krishna. That make sense? Anything else? Everybody satisfied now?

Okay, let's tune in, turn on and bliss out.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Just once, relish the nectar of the Holy Names. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.