Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

nalinī nālinī ca prāg

dvārāv ekatra nirmite

avadhūta-sakhas tābhyāṁ

viṣayaṁ yāti saurabham

nalinī — of the name Nalinī; nālinī — of the name Nālinī; ca — also; prāk — eastern; dvārau — two gates; ekatra — in one place; nirmite — constructed; avadhūta — of the name Avadhūta; sakhaḥ — with his friend; tābhyām — by those two gates; viṣayam — place; yāti — used to go; saurabham — of the name Saurabha.

Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada

Similarly in the east there were two sets of gates named Nalinī and Nālinī, and these were also constructed in one place. Through these gates the King, accompanied by a friend named Avadhūta, used to go to the city of Saurabha.

Purport:

The two gates named Nalinī and Nālinī are the two nostrils. The living entity enjoys these two gates with the help of different avadhūtas, or airs, which constitute the breathing process. Through these gates the living entity goes to the town of Saurabha, or aroma. In other words, the nostrils, with the help of their friend the air, enjoy various aromas in the material world. Nalinī and Nālinī are the pipes of the nostrils, through which one inhales and exhales, enjoying the aroma of sense pleasure.

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, if we could broadcast this verse and purport here to thousands and millions of spiritual seekers all over the world, they might ask, what in the world does this have to do with Self-Realization? Talking about the airs coming through the nostrils. Why do we have to study about these nine gates when we're not these bodies, one could ask? Well these nine gates can be understood as our attempt to try to enjoy this world through these different nine gates. So the point is we have to go beyond these nine gates.

The first step in Self-Realization is to understand, I am not these nine gates. I may be living in this city of nine gates, but it's not my permanent residence. Just like someone may go traveling here, traveling there, and take up residence in this place, just like we were in Trivandrum and now we're in Vrindavan. You may go to different places, but it's not that you are those places. So right now we're residing in this city, each one of these, it's like here in this room we have many different cities of nine gates sitting here. We have about ten or twelve cities of nine gates sitting here, you see, different cities of nine gates. So, we're all residing in these different cities, but it's not that we are these different cities of nine gates. We're actually situated beyond these cities of nine gates. But the difficulty is, my dear devotees, the difficulty is we're misidentifying, oh yes, I am this city of nine gates, I am this nostrils, I am these eyes, I am these ears, I am these genitals, you see. We misidentify with these things and that gets us into a lot of difficulties.

dehino ’smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

As the embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age. The soul similarly passes into another city of nine gates at the time of death. The self-realized souls are not bewildered by such a change.

The difficulty is, my dear Listeners, right now we are bewildered. We're bewildered when we get sick, we get old, we find ourselves getting old, we're bewildered by it, oh no, I'm getting old, body's falling apart, what can I do? I have this problem, I have that problem. Now, Oh my God, death is coming. Oh, death.. Ah

So right now, because we're not self-realized, we're bewildered by these changes in the body. It's like bewildering when a young boy attains puberty. His voice changes, he gets a beard, he becomes lusty, all these things come. It's a bewildering change to go through. When he goes from puberty into manhood, it's a very bewildering change to go through. It's very bewildering. All of a sudden Everything is different. I was in this body, but now everything is different. So, these changes in the body are actually very bewildering things. So, the real point is, how do we become self-realized souls and not be bewildered by these changes in the body? That's the real thing. How can we come to this platform of being self-realized souls and not be bewildered by this change? Well, you have to engage the city of nine gates, even though you're not the city of nine gates, even though you're not this body, you have to engage these bodies, Hṛṣīkeśa Hṛṣīkeṇa-sevanam. The master of the senses, Hṛṣīkeśa, you have to engage the Hṛṣīka, the senses, in the service of the master of the senses. That's the key. But the difficulty is, we're not doing that. It's like Bhakti Vinod Thakur is very nicely sung,

jīvana hoilo śeṣa, nā bhajile hṛṣīkeśa..jīvana hoilo śeṣa

This life can end at any minute. But still I'm not serving the Lord of the senses, Rishikeśa. So we think, even though death can come at any minute, any minute, you never know when it's going to happen. Just like one man, he was attacked by his own pet dog. His own pet dog attacked him. He was chewing him to pieces. He almost died actually, his dog almost, his own pet dog, who was petting a few minutes ago, now has attacked him and almost killed him. So we never know. Death can come at any minute. Can come at any minute. So we should never think, oh yes, I will live here a very long time." At any second we can be finished. Any second. Any one of us can drop dead by a heart attack, a seizure, or whatever. So therefore we should be prepared to take shelter of that Holy Name, like Bhaktivinoda Thakura advises, Bhaktivinoda upadesa. How does he say?

'bhaktivinodopadeśa, ekbār nām-rase māto re'

Just once, just even once, relish the nectar of the name. So that's what will save us, my dear devotees. We have to learn how to relish the nectar of the name. Nam rase, just like the rasa. We have to learn how to become intoxicated by the name. See right now, we are bewildered and intoxicated by material nature. We get intoxicated seeing the opposite sex, or we get intoxicated by this or that money or power or fame. We get intoxicated by these things, that's the difficulty. We're intoxicated by the material energy. Maya Devi has us under her spell. That's the problem.

So, we have to get free from the clutches of Maya and to become free the Name is the key. It's like you're in a jail cell. If you can somehow get the key, you can be liberated. The jailer has the keys and you don't have the key, but if somehow you could get, he walked by, you can sneak the key out of his pocket. He's not looking. Grab the key and now you can get out. So Lord Chaitanya has come to give us the key.

harer nāma harer nāma

harer nāmaiva kevalam

The key is here, you see. So take advantage of this key.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

The city of nine gates is a jail cell in which you're locked in right now. So take the key and get out of it. The beauty of this process is even when your body is living, You can be liberated from it. You can be within this body but no longer captured by it. You see what I'm saying? This body is a jail and now we're captured in this body, but you can be in the jail, At the same time be out of the jail. Same time be in the jail and out of the jail at the same time.

Actually I had that experience as I mentioned in my memoir. I was out there distributing Back to Godhead magazine in Leesburg, Florida in a shopping mall and guess what? The local police thought I'd be better situated in their squad car than out there distributing Back Together magazine. And they took me to my new home in the city jail. There's a saying called, behind the bars, meaning you're under arrest, you're in the jail, you're behind the bars. When I looked through the bars there in the window, I looked at the material world out there. There I was chanting Hare Krishna in the jail cell.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare,

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

And I felt that I'm not behind the bars. I looked through the window, I could see the whole material world was behind the bars. They were locked up in the cell, not me. I was liberated. So the point is, even while you're being in this body, you can be liberated from the body, seeing the body as jail cell, but seeing they're behind them, the whole material world is behind the bars and you're on the liberated side. (The water can be brought) So the point is how can we become properly situated now on the other side of the bars, even though we're in the bars, how to see them, how material well is behind the bars, and not I'm behind the bars. Prabhupada has given it so many ways, just like I mentioned many times. The water. Krishna says, I am the taste of water. So just, even when you're drinking water, you remember Krishna. This is called earth juice. The water is the juice of the earth. So just by drinking water remembering. In other words, try to do everything you can to remember Krishna. Take every possible way you can to remember Krishna, every situation. How can I remember here? How can I remember Krishna there? It's like we go to Govardhan. Krishna said He Himself is Govardhan. It's not some mountain. Krishna Himself has manifested as Govardhan. So when you go to Govardhan, you go, Oh, Krishna's been standing here for 5,000 years, and now I can have His darshan. He's still standing here. After 5,000 years, Krishna's still standing here. I can take His darshan right now. So take every opportunity to be Krishna conscious. That's the point. Every single opportunity. So, remembering His divine teachings, they're so powerful. Even take one verse of the Bhagavad-gītā, even one verse can liberate you. It's like, what does Krishna say?

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ

samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat

tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve

sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

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 to gratify the city of nine gates, whether it's the nostril gates, nālani and nālani, Whatever, whatever. Of course, we have so much facility here to enjoy, to get purified by nalini and nalini. Just like every day, that, at the Mangalarathi, some devotee comes by puts the scent on my wrist. Very strong scent, and I get to smell it. It was offered to the deities, Krishna and Balarama. Very strong scent, big, huge.., (indistinct) three of me puts every morning. So that, or we can smell the incense offered to the Lord.

So instead of trying to smell something for sense gratification, like the perfume of a woman, you see, we can smell the beautiful perfume that's offered in the service of the Lord. So in this way, Hṛṣīkeśa Hṛṣīkeṇa-sevanam, engage all the senses in the service of the Lord, not be bewildered by any material desires. Here they come, let them go. We're living in the world of material desires right now, but they should just pass right through us. They shouldn't touch us. That's the point. The material desires like arrows being shot everywhere. Cupid is like a machine gun of arrows, shooting a machine gun of arrows everywhere. Even to sell toothpaste, they use sex to sell toothpaste, what to speak of other things, even microphones, they use sex to sell microphones nowadays. They use sex for everything. They had a microphone they had to show a woman, half naked woman, her breasts half way showing to sell a microphone. You can imagine how bad it is right now. So here we are in this civilization. Why do they call it civilization? Anybody know? Tell me one thing that's civil about it. Is there anything civil about it? Can you say anything that's civil about it? Are you awake? Listening? You're tuned in.

Okay, that's good. Can you name anything that's civil about it? Is there any one thing that's civil about it? Huh?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: You hear me, but what you wish for?

Devotee: No, no, I'm here, go ahead.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: Oh, okay.

Sankarshan Das: Is there anything that's civil about it? So, civilization is a big misnomer. They should call it animalization or something like that. We need to change the word in the dictionary. Civilization. Us, non-civilization, something like that. It's not really a civilization. Civilization means Vedic culture. That's Vedic culture.

cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ

That's civilization, based on Krishna consciousness. Any society that's not based on Krishna consciousness is actually lower than the animals. The Animals are acting in accordance with the laws of nature. Monkeys do their monkey business just like they're supposed to according to the laws of nature. The pigeons, the sparrows, the ants, everybody is totally, one hundred percent in harmony with the laws of nature. Show me which species are polluting the atmosphere on this planet. Who's polluting the water? Who's polluting the air? Is it the dogs? The monkeys? The elephants? No. The human beings are polluting the atmosphere on this planet right now. Just like I was saying warnings of the very bad quality air in Vrindavan. There's warnings. I look on the weather report, there's warning, the air is very bad in Vrindavan. That's not from the animals, but the plants. Actually, the human beings, they're polluting it with all their industrial enterprises. So we have to become a little bit sober, my dear Prabhus and Mathajis, we have to become a little bit sober now and wake up and realize these rascal leaders are completely devastating the peace and happiness of the human population. We need a new set of leaders who follow Dharma. Not these rascals, they're simply power hungry monsters trying to take over the world for their sense gratification. We have rapists and all kinds of low class people trying to rule this planet right now. It's like Jagai and Madai. So, we need to become a little bit sane, a little bit sober, a little bit sensible, and come out of this crazy mentality of putting our faith in these rascals. We have to understand the only ones who can actually lead us properly.

yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas

tat tad evetaro janaḥ

sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute

lokas tad anuvartate

The only ones who qualify to truly lead us are the Acharyas. Those who are not only preaching Vaishnava principles, but practicing them with every thought, word deed, and all times, circumstances. Those who can actually lead us, rascals who are struggling here in the modes of nature. Those persons like Prabhupāda, Bhaktisiddhānanda Sarasvati Thakura, those persons who are actually living examples of the scriptures, they can rescue poor souls like us who are drowning in the modes of nature, take us back to our original identities in Krishna's transcendental kingdom. So we should not remain prisoners here within these cities of nine gates. We should use this city of nine gates very nicely in the service of Krishna.

Use the eyes to see the form of the Lord, the ears to hear the topics of the Lord, the nose to smell the incense and the perfumes offered to the Lord, the likes for walking to the temple of the Lord, the intelligence for how to preach the glories of the Lord, everything utilized for Krishna. Even if you're a businessman, make money for Krishna. Even if you're a worker, try to do your job in such a way that you can be Krishna conscious and spread Krishna conscious to co-workers and Then and then so the point is, engage everything for Krishna. Nothing for my sense gratification Krishna will take good care of you. It's not that you're going to starve to death if you become Krishna's devotee. You'll actually be better than the non-devotees. Everything is there if you give yourself to Krishna. It's all there. You don't lose anything. You gain everything by becoming Krishna conscious. Actually, here's the amazing thing. Krishna owns everything, right? Everything is His property. You see, He's father. Everything is the property of Krishna. It's all His expected energy. So when you give yourself to Krishna, guess what happens? Krishna gives Himself to you. You actually possess the owner of everything. So you become more wealthy than even the biggest wealthy people on this planet right now when you become Krishna conscious. You become more wealthy than Bezos or any of these multi-billionaire people. You become more wealthy than any of them. When you give yourself to Krishna fully, now Krishna becomes your property, the one who owns all the planets, all the universes, all existence is the property of Krishna. And now you own Krishna and everything is your property, as good as your property, you see.

But the key is you can't have any desire for sense enjoyment. You have to engage everything in the service of the Lord. That's all you have to do, Nothing else. That amazing person, you see,

veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam-

barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam

kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.

Just imagine having an intimate, loving relationship with that person. It's like when there's some big famous person, everybody wants to get, how they can have a good, how they can get in close. How can I have a personal relationship with some big famous personality, considered a great accomplishment? You can become personal friends with the Beatles, or be a personal friend with some famous person, considered a big thing. Oh wow, I became a close friend with 1 of these big famous people. Why not do it with Krishna? These other famous people, their fame is fleeting, it comes and it goes. They may be a big famous movie star now and become a dog in their next birth, you see. They become a big famous prime minister, you know, a songwriter, an author, whatever. You may come close, but they're going down to the animal kingdom in the next world. So, why go after these people? Try to develop some relationship with some big famous person in the material world when you can develop. The supreme famous person is ready right now. He's actually your best friend. He's waiting for you to come back.

'suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ' I'm the best, most intimate, well-wishing friend of every single living being. So Krishna is your most intimate, well-wishing friend. Why are you walking away from him? Why are you going away from Krishna? You should be turning around and go back. Why do you keep running away from Krishna? That's our difficulty. We keep running away from Krishna. He's saying, come back, come back, come back. You are saying, no, no, no. I'm going to go off on my own and try to be a Krishna. I'll try to be a Krishna myself. I want to be bigger than you. I'll try to be another Krishna. I'll deny you. You have no form. You don't really exist. I will be another Krishna on my own independently. I'll be bigger than you, Krishna.Who are you? You are just a cowherd boy, you see. I may be a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big bummer, big, big this, you see. It's time for us to stop this idiocy, this madness, and realize I cannot imitate Krishna. He's the source of everything. I can't be the source of everything. He's emanating everyone from himself.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

I'm the source of all material and spiritual worlds. I can't imitate Krishna. I have to get, just understand my position is, I'm the emanated energy of Krishna and He's emanating me for the purpose of enjoying loving relationship, loving rasa. Krishna wants a rasa with me and that's why I exist. So why not just getting back to who I am? Why should I be a fish trying to enjoy the land? It doesn't work. Instead of trying to enjoy independently in the land, just get back to the water, get back to my natural habitat. So all we're saying in this Krishna consciousness movement is get back to your natural habitat. Don't try to live in an unnatural way. It's considered very cool nowadays, be natural. You have to be natural. But the trouble is, we think natural is, we have a wrong idea what natural means. It's like the hippie style, natural means go to the woods, have a nudist colony in the woods, and walk around, I don't need clothes, that's being natural. Just see how idiotic it is. Being natural means to get back to being who you actually are, jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa

That's what it means to actually be natural. So, these great acharyas are teaching us how to be our actual selves. Why do we keep going away from them and try to do something different. Why are we so stupid, so asinine, to prefer being an ass, when I can come to the high-class position of being the pure devotee of Krishna? So let's stop being an ass and become high-class. Let's get back to being who we actually are. That's all the Acharyas are saying. Why don't we listen to the Acharyas? Why don't we listen to these rascal minds who are telling us to try to enjoy, enjoy, enjoy? See that girl, see that guy. Why don't we try to enjoy in this way? Why are we so stupid? Why are we so asinine? We should beat our heads with shoes for being such rascals. It's time to get back to being who we actually are, the eternal servants of Krishna, all full of bliss and knowledge.

ānanda-cinmaya - sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ As Krishna is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, we are qualitatively one with Him, therefore we are also sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. And as Krishna is an eternal youth, nava-yauvanaṁ, we are also eternal youths. So let's get back beings, who we actually are. That's all I need to say. And Guru Mataji now will give us some further enlightening points in this regard.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: Why can't you do that?

Sankarshan Das: But when you ask a question, she'll jump in for sure and give us some very good answers. So let's ask some questions now. And then Guru Mataji and I can both answer your questions. Any questions, any complaints? Am I too light, am I too heavy, or I'm just talking a bunch of nonsense up here?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: You're asking the complaint from those who are...

Sankarshan Das: If I'm wrong, shoot me down. Anybody can shoot me down. I'm getting wrong, that's all challenges.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: They are all your followers, how can they shoot you down?

Sankarshan Das: They can't shoot me down because I'm not preaching my own ideas. I'm giving you what's coming from the previous Acharyas.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: I have a question for you.

Sankarshan Das: Okay.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: You were saying that you hear from Acharyas and others. We do not know which Acharya is going to tell me exactly as it is even within ISKCON and we are just carried away by anybody who gives any philosophy.

Sankarshan Das: I'm sorry, what is the point?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: The point, Hare Krishna, We Acharya to follow, what we are..

Sankarshan Das: We have to follow those, Prabhupada and those who are following Prabhupada without deviation.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: How do we know?

Sankarshan Das: By reading Prabhupada's books. It's very simple. You can see, there's many different preachers in ISKCON, and you can judge them by who, whether you can actually judge them if they're right on, or if they're getting off the track a little bit by reading Prabhupada's books. It's simple thing.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: Nobody can study all the Prabhupada's books to understand who is saying and who is not saying.

Sankarshan Das: For those who worship me with love and devotion, I give them the understanding. The real key is worship Krishna with love and devotion. Krishna will give the understanding. If you have the mood of loving devotion to Krishna, Krishna says, I give them the understanding in which they can come to me. If you're sincerely trying to serve Krishna, he will give you the intelligence to know who you should listen to and who you should follow. That's according to Bhagavad-gītā. Be sincere devotee. Yes.

Devotee: Gurudeva, how important is it to think what's in the scriptures?

Sankarshan Das: How important it is to…

Devotee: How important is it to think like, what's in the books, what Krishna consciousness...

Sankarshan Das: You have to see through the eyes of the scripture. Right now our eyes, we have bad vision, the scriptures are glasses. We have to see through the eyes just like you have glasses.

Devotee: Is it bad to think independently?

Sankarshan Das: Of course. It's aparad. You have to think in accordance with scripture, not according to your own... Thinking independently of scripture means mental speculation. And mental speculation means you're off the track. We're not mental speculators here. Oh, I think. The scripture says, but I think. I think, I sink. So don't think independently. Understand, see thinking is the act, the mind is a rascal, you see. The mind will take you off the track. I think. Think means the mind. Intelligence means understand. There's thinking and understanding. They're two different things. Understanding comes by properly understanding scripture. Then you can understand things whether you're thinking is correct or incorrect. You have to judge. You have to be your own psychiatrist to analyze your own thoughts. Is this thought pukka? Is this thought bona fide or is it nonsense? It's called being introspective. You can analyze, is this thought correct or incorrect? And if you don't know, you ask. Just like I was told by Vishnujnana Swami, if you have a question, write Prabhupada. So I did, I wrote Prabhupada many times. He had clarification at different points. So if you're not clear, then you inquire. For those who are realized in Krishna consciousness, for those who are purely presenting Prabhupada siddhanta, you inquire from them. It gets you clarification. Isn't it simple? It's a simple thing, it's not difficult. But we make it difficult because of our tendency to speculate. That's the problem. So don't be a speculator. Don't be an innovator trying to invent some new version of Krishna consciousness. New improved version, you see. It's like you have so many products, you know. The new improved iPhones, everybody, it was iPhone 14, now we have the new improved iPhone, the iPhone 15. Now that we have the new improved ISKCON, the new improved Vaishnava Siddhanta. We don't need a new improved version that allows, you know, that has a broader definition of no illict sex, for example. I mean, we don't need an improved version. Take it as it is. Bhagavad Gita As It Is, not a new improved version of Bhagavad Gita. That's completely bogus. It's baloney, as they say, a new improved version. We don't need a new improved version of the Prabhupada's teachings. We need Prabhupada's teachings as they are given. And By reading and hearing and by sincere service, you can get the understanding exactly what I should do and actually what I should not do. Exactly what I think about and what I should not think about. It becomes all very clear.

Next. Online now, we have many coming in online. Okay, now Bhaktin Sheela. Guru Mataji, some more points? Okay, here.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev. You mentioned, it's in the Purport also, and you also said that we are all here like cities, with different cities sitting here. So, that really strike me like we are moving from one city to another like trans, transmigrating. So, my point, like, I wanted to ask here, like we are not this body, we are this spirit, soul, but still we follow some customs regarding the body, like I'm in a female body right now, so there are some etiquettes I need to follow.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, good.

Devotee: Being in female body.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, that's right.

Devotee: So, somewhere isn't that, that is also like a body conscious way somewhere.

Sankarshan Das: We have to be aware of our body. Just like male and females have a tendency to enjoy sex, for example. It's there to keep the species going. It's a strong desire to build. Actually, raising a family is a big hassle, but because of sex desires, there are people who do it because they want to gratify their sex desire. So because that male and female have a tendency to enjoy sex together, which should be minimized as much as possible, not be maximized. The modern day society is trying to maximize sex, sex, sex, sex, sex. So we have a tendency to want to get into that thing because of our association in the material world. Therefore, we keep, For males and females, it's like we're sitting, men here, and women here, you see. We keep a separation. The separation of men and women is to protect us from getting carried away with bodily consciousness. It's for our protection. It's not that we hate the women. No, the women, we love the women. They're our mothers. That's a proper mood for the men. Oh, they're very respectable. These are my mothers. I have to respect them and love them like I love my mother, you see. But not the way you mix intimately, like boyfriend and girlfriend.

Devotee: So discrimination on the bodily platform works anyway, so that is for your own protection.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, of course. We have to protect ourselves. The bottom line is we need to protect ourselves from the sex desire. Now those who are very elevated they don't have to worry about it. It's like I was really surprised to read about Ramananda Roy. There was some drama or something. There were so many girls. He was engaging them in training them how to dance. And he was even bathing them and touching their bodies. But we're not on that level. He actually bathed them. He was bathing them and touching their bodies. But we can't imitate Ramana and Roy. You see, we're not on that high enough level to do that. But he wasn't seeing male and female. He was just seeing, engaging everybody in Krishna's service. But we're still so much in the bodily platform that we have to protect ourselves from that. That's the bottom line. We're beginners on this path. We're not like Ramananda Raya, completely beyond the bodily consciousness.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: We can say modern day medical doctors are better like that. They see the patients.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah. That's true.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: That doesn't make them advanced.

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, but sometimes they get carried away, even in the material world they may get carried away.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: They are not someone on the right, but they do take care.

Sankarshan Das: It's like when I go to a health care practitioner, it's like I went to some place for some physical therapy. I'm going to make sure I got a male therapist, not a female therapist. They had both. I went to a male therapist, not a female therapist. How am I having my knee? So we have to be a little careful, as much as possible, to protect ourselves from getting carried away by bodily consciousness. Oh, man, it's like the old thing, Romeo, Juliet, ah. We can get carried away very easily. Cupid, ready to shoot us with arrows. It ain't got to be carried away. Can't be carried away.

Okay, Bhakti-Priya-Devi Dasī. In spite of having theoretical knowledge, Why does it not become an application?

That's because we're still carried away by material desires. We know it, but we don't… If you don't apply it, here's the difficulty, you don't apply it, you lose it. Your theoretical knowledge, if you don't put it into practice, you'll lose it. Use it or lose it. Use it or lose it. If you don't apply your theoretical knowledge, you'll lose it. I've seen so many devotees who left ISKCON because they weren't applying the knowledge they have, and now they don't have the knowledge they once had. If you don't apply this knowledge, you may be happy with transcendental knowledge by hearing. If you don't put it into practice, you'll lose it, you'll forget about it. So to keep your knowledge, put it into practice.

Prabhupada Das. Krishna is the provider of all things. He is the wealthiest personality, and serving Him makes the servant of the richest. This is logically understood, but I'm not able to practically feel it.

That's because you're not fully Krishna conscious. We have theoretical knowledge, we're not fully feeling it. Just like Krishna is there within every atom, between every atom, we know it theoretically, we're not experiencing it. Why? Because we're still misidentifying with the city of nine gates. We know these things, but yet we don't taste them. We know the name has unlimited nectar, we know the two syllables Krishna has so much nectar, you can't even feel the whole material, the whole Atlantic Ocean with the nectar that's contained within the nectar within Krishna. We know these things are true, but yet we don't experience in them because we're still neophytes on this pathway. So we have to get off the neophyte platform and go higher, higher, higher to the pure bhakti platform. It's a simple thing.

Okay, any other questions from the locals? We have a couple of minutes left before our official cut-off time. Yes?

Devotee: (Mataji has a question)

Sankarshan Das: Yes

Devotee: The society of devotees should isolate themselves more from society and develop their education and build their whole life within the society of devotees and Varnashrama Dharma.

Sankarshan Das: Let's see if I can figure it out. Should they isolate themselves in the material society?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: What's that? That's her translation. Say that again, please.

Devotee: The society of devotees should isolate themselves more from..

Sankarshan Das: Let me nail on that 1 point. We should, in many ways isolate ourselves. For example, many devotee parents send their kids to karmic schools, for example. Prabhupad would want us to have our own schools for the kids, Not that they go to karmic schools. Not when we should be more isolated. Our children should not be sent to karmic schools, or the teachers are meat eaters and sex mongers, etc. That isolation should be there. We should develop ourselves to the point where all our kids are going to devotee-run schools. That's bit.

Does that answer your question?

Okay, now we have a question from Vaishnava Priya Deva Dasi. How to take every opportunity to be Krishna conscious?

You just have to do it, that's all. But you have to be enthusiastic, that's the key. You have to be enthusiastic to become a pure devotee, ASAP. If you're not enthusiastic about it, you have a, you know, you have a, I'll take, You have a lazic day, you say, yeah, yeah, later on, you know, later on when I become older, become older, you know, later on. No, you should be, you should be enthusiastic to be Krishna's pure devotee right now. This Prabhupada told me, now you must become qualified to see Krishna face to face. So we have to be enthusiastic to come to that pure platform ASAP. And then if we have that enthusiasm, then naturally we'll take every opportunity at every minute. Whether you're brushing your teeth or, you know, in every situation, how can I be Krishna conscious right now? You see, every situation, whether you're getting up in the morning, whether you're going to bed at night, every situation, what can I do to be fully put into Krishna right here and right now? Let me now enter into pure bhakti right now, this very minute, you see. If they have that enthusiasm and you keep focusing and reminding yourself, then you can be properly situated on the pathway back to your home, back to Godhead as soon as possible.

Okay, anything else? Yes.

Devotee: Something which is powerful cannot be covered by something which is less powerful. So, why..

Sankarshan Das: Because we're not very powerful. We're weak, we're weaklings, spiritual weaklings. That's why we're covered. For us right now, Maya is more powerful than our Krishna consciousness, that's the problem. We're still being overpowered by maya, that's why we're not explaining Krishna directly at every minute. We're not very powerful in Krishna. Maya is more powerful than our Krishna consciousness right now, isn't it?

Devotee: But the relationship the living entity has with the Lord is eternal, but still it gets troubled.

Sankarshan Das: We have still denying that relationship. And our foolish... The free will is there to accept and deny Krishna, but we're still partially denying that relationship, trying to enjoy independently. Isn't it foolish? We're foolish. We're still trying to deny that relationship by trying to enjoy independently from Krishna. Did you know that? You're foolishly trying to deny your relationship with Krishna. Did you know that? You are foolishly trying to deny your relationship. You're still trying to enjoy independently from Krishna right now. Isn't that idiotic? That's what we're doing.

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: Also Krishna says, because you are not Krishna conscious. If you are Krishna conscious, Then maya cannot touch you. Krishna is powerful. Because you are not, that's why.

Sankarshan Das: I think, well, maybe Maya is a pretty good, maybe Maya's deal is pretty good. Maybe Maya is really offering a better deal than Krishna. I mean, wow, I could be enjoying this. I could enjoy having sex. I could take some LSD or whatever. You know, I could just sleep all day. You know, just not worry about having to chant japa or do any puja I could just enjoy, have some fun going to the movies. You know, the mind is maybe still pulled in this way. So we have to be discriminative and kick it out, like Yamunacarya Alabandaru. His mind is something I think about having illicit sex with a woman, but he just kick it out. When he says, here it comes, kick it out, kick it out. So we have to become very discriminative about the thoughts that are going through our brain. We see a good thought, yes, embrace the good thoughts and kick out the bad thoughts. It's like the security guards in the temple. Somebody's in the wrong place, the security guard is there to make sure everybody is in the proper position. Security guard will say, no, you don't belong here. Security guard today, he said, you can't leave the shoes there. So in this way, we have to be good security guards of our own thoughts. Mind you can't think that. You're not mind, that's not good for you, don't think about it. Put your mind somewhere else now at the lotus feet of Krishna. So, it's called discriminative. You have to be discriminative. You have discriminative power, you see. Krishna will give you the power of discrimination if you want it. So you have to desire the power of discrimination, the power to distinguish between what's good and what's bad for your Krishna consciousness. You have to desire that and Krishna will facilitate you.

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante

tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham

In as much as they submit unto me, I reward them accordingly. So Krishna is all set to give you unlimited rewards. I can just put myself on that. Krishna is all willing to give us unlimited rewards right now, you see, but we're not fully surrendering to Him. Of course, the beauty of it is He's gonna give us ten more than what we're giving Him. He's very kind. Whatever one step we take, He'll give us ten steps back in return. So we're not giving very much to Krishna right now. That's why we're not getting very much back. Even though we're getting ten times more than we're giving, so we're only feeling a little bit of advancement because we're inching our way. It's like in the ten million mile journey, we're inching our way in the ten million mile journey. Inching our way. One little inch, another inch towards Krishna. Ten million miles we're taking another inch, another inch, another inch, another inch. Isn't it? We're inching our way back to Godhead instead of taking a jet plane. We're inching our way. Fly Trans-Lat-Air, fly Trancendental Airways, Air Goloka, it will get you there right away. But we're not getting the airplane, no, just walk, thank you.

Yes. Some questions coming on the internet here? No. Okay. If there's no more questions, we can put a stop to it. If there's any more questions, I can take in one or two more. I see two more come all of a sudden. All right, yes?

Devotee: Gurudev, I don't know, I feel almost every day is miraculous here. It's like, The only thing, which I followed after Guru Mataji told me that you should start reading Bhagavad Gita. So post that I am only following one principle in which Arjuna said that I don't want anything besides you. So I don't know, I feel every day, I just want to share an instance which happened with me 15 days back. I was sleeping in my room. I don't know what happened. There was some vibration which happened inside my body and I, in my dream I saw Krishna and I stood up and I started shouting that I was in a deep sleep you know. So I stood up and I fell down suddenly and you know I got shocked and I started speaking, I was like very rude to Him, why did You do this to me and why did You do that to me. But like this didn't happen since last almost all my life. I was like I visited Iskcon Perth in 1997 when I was, it was just a small.. 1997 long time back. I used to work at WACTA, that was Western Australian Cricket Association. I used to work in a weight person there, because I was in good management. But I didn't follow anything in my life. No principles. I was alcoholic. I was into addiction. I'm not any addiction. But why now things are happening miraculously every day? I came here only for two days.

Sankarshan Das: Because you are now making a few steps towards Krishna, that's why. You're making a... Because you make the effort to become more Krishna conscious, now Krishna is reciprocating with you. Krishna wants you back in that pure loving relationship, you're taking a few steps towards him now, now He's giving you a lot of reciprocation to encourage you even more. Okay?

Devotee: The same friends were calling me, I don't, I'm not feeling like talking to them.

Sankarshan Das: Krishna is calling you right now by these instructions, coming through the bonafide spiritual master. The spiritual master is speaking on behalf of Krishna. So actually Krishna is speaking to you through the mouth of the spiritual master.

Another question?

Devotee: Srila Gurudev, Krishna is Sac-cid-ānanda vigraha. And we being part and parcel, we are also Sac-cid-ānanda. But ours is limited, like knowledge is limited. Is the knowledge limited due to our karma or why exactly it is limited?

Sankarshan Das: Our knowledge is limited. Our knowledge is limited. You are asking about the limit of our knowledge? What is the question again?

Vishnu-Priya Devi Dasi: He says knowledge is limited. He said why knowledge is limited?

Sankarshan Das: Because we're not Krishna. Krishna knows everything. You're saying how is it that we're… Are you asking, since we're actually eternal filled with knowledge and bliss, why our knowledge is not limited? Is that what you're asking?

Devotee: Krishna is full life.

Sankarshan Das: Krishna knows everything. If we know Krishna, that's for us, as good as knowing everything.

Okay, now we have some questions rolling in from the internet. Is it good to desire to have some service always? Yes, we should always desire to have service.

Chaitanya Das. How to remain grateful always? I tend to forget the good, I usually don't forget the bad things.

Yeah, an attitude of gratitude, Caitanya das, it's very good you asking that question. We have to always see, in every situation, there's even a saying called, every cloud has a silver lining. We have to see at every moment Krishna is blessing us, you see. You may think there's some misfortune, but you actually realize that was our fortune. We have to see at every situation Krishna is blessing us. And now, Bhagav, Please, how can I get govinda-iccha, the desire for Krishna?" Well, the fact that you're asking that question shows you already have it? So now you have to intensify your mood of desiring Krishna consciousness. Intensify it. You have the fire already there and I could fan the fire. You already have that desire, how do you fan it? By chanting at least 16 rounds of japa every day, by associating with the Spiritual Master and Vaishnava. But you have to, the fire is already lit, the Govinda Itcha is already lit, now you have to fan that fire of Govinda Itcha, until it completely burns away all your material desires.

Okay, anything else? I guess we can stop here, if there's nothing else. We're a little bit over time today, but I'm glad you had some nice questions. We'll stop here, We thank you all for tuning in.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama..

One of the last questions, how to explain false ego? False ego means identifying with a material body. That's false ego. Thinking of the Lord of all your survey, that's false ego.

Jai! Hare Krishna.