Srimad Bhagavatham 4.18.15

Sankarshan Das Adhikari:

kṛtvā vatsaṁ sura-gaṇā

indraṁ somam adūduhan

hiraṇmayena pātreṇa

vīryam ojo balaṁ payaḥ

kṛtvā — making; vatsam — calf; sura-gaṇāḥ — the demigods; indram — Indra, King of heaven; somam — nectar; adūduhan — they milked out; hiraṇmayena — golden; pātreṇa — with a pot; vīryam — mental power; ojaḥ — strength of the senses; balam — strength of the body; payaḥ — milk.

Translation in Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

All the demigods made Indra, the King of heaven, into a calf, and from the earth they milked the beverage soma, which is nectar. Thus they became very powerful in mental speculation and bodily and sensual strength.

Purport. In this verse the word soma means “nectar.” Soma is a kind of beverage made in the heavenly planets, from the moon to the kingdoms of the demigods in the various higher planetary systems. By drinking this soma beverage the demigods become more powerful mentally and increase their sensual power and bodily strength. The words hiraṇmayena pātreṇa indicate that this soma beverage is not an ordinary intoxicating liquor. The demigods would not touch any kind of liquor. Nor is soma a kind of drug. It is a different kind of beverage, available in the heavenly planets. Soma is far different from the liquors made for demoniac people, as explained in the next verse.

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

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

So it's interesting this, they got the Soma from the earth. From the earth they melt the beverage Soma. But now it's made in the heavenly planets from the moon to the kingdom of the demigods. So it's not available on the earth right now. People would be very happy if it was, but it is not. You have to be very pious. The demigods are very pious. They are qualified to get Soma. We are not so pious and qualified to get Soma. But we have something better than Soma. By the mercy of Lord Caitanya we have Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Much better than Soma. The Soma does not make them immortal. It only gives them increases their bodily and their mental strength, but it does not make them immortal. It doesn't give immortality. It may extend their, of course, they have a long lifespan, many thousands of years, but they experience it like we do. When it's finished it's over. And then they come down again because of all their sinful activities. In other words, everybody has a chance to go up and down, up and down. Sometimes we are in the heavenly planets, sometimes we are in the hellish planets, sometimes we are on the earth. This is all due to our karma. Pious activities qualify you to go up and impious activities qualify you to go down. So we've been going up and down, up and down. We've actually drunk Soma in previous lifetimes. We've all had the experience of drinking Soma. So instead of going up and down, around and around, this up and down cycle, we should now take this human life very seriously. athāto brahma jijñāsā, now you've got a human form, the Vedic wisdom says, now you must utilize it for self-realization. What is self-realization? You have to know what is the self.

Nilambar, do you know what is the self? You know what is the self? You don't know? Well you should know. The self is a spiritual spark, qualitatively one with the Lord. It is called the Atma. You see you are not that little boy's body. You are actually an eternal living entity, qualitatively one with God. Right now you're a little boy's body, but actually you're an eternal spiritual being. Whether you're a little boy's body, or an old man's body, an old woman's body, a young woman's body, a little girl's body, whatever body we may have, it's not us. We're actually eternal spiritual beings, qualitatively one with the Lord. So we have to understand who is that amazing person, Krishna, that we are part and parcel of. We have to learn how to develop a loving feeling for that amazing person. We should study his amazing qualities. The more we know about him, the more we become and develop our love for him. Just like that one verse, tatte karmasu nathakam. So yeah, no, I don't remember the translation. But being free from attachment, fear, and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, Many, many persons in the past developed pure knowledge of Me and thus they developed love for Me. They became very advanced in knowledge of Me and thus they developed pure love for Me. So the more we know about Krishna, This is why we come and we have these classes so we can know more and more and more about Krishna. So now I must love Him. The more you know about Krishna, the more He becomes lovable. Because there is nobody more amazing than Krishna. Just like Lord Brahma is very nicely, he says,

ānanda-cinmaya-rasātmatayā manaḥsu

yaḥ prāṇināṁ pratiphalan smaratām upetya

līlāyitena bhuvanāni jayaty ajasram-

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose glory ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world by the activity of His own pastimes, being reflected in the mind of recollecting souls as the transcendental entity of ever-blissful cognitive rasa.

Wow, pretty amazing person, huh? His glory ever triumphantly dominates the mundane world. What about all the famous people in this world? If you ask people how many people have heard of Krishna, only a small percentage. How many people have heard of the Beatles, a much higher percentage. So why the Beatles, but this is only temporary you see. All these famous persons in the material world in due course of time, they vanish into oblivion. The famous singers during the Roman Empire, we don't know their names. There were famous singers then too in the Roman Empire, the Greek Empire, they had famous singers also, but they are forgotten. So all these famous people, we think they are all big celebrities, they go down to the animal kingdom and their name and fame is finished. But Krishna's name and fame goes on eternally. So we should become very eager to learn more and more about Krishna because that, He is an eternal personality. He doesn't go down to the animal kingdom like these celebrities in the material world do. We should be very eager to know more and more about Him because the more we know about Him the closer we come to Him. That knowledge actually brings us closer and closer to Krishna. In fact you can even come to the point of having an intimate loving relationship with Krishna. Even the point where Krishna becomes your servant, like He did for Arjuna, He was a chariot driver for Arjuna. Or He is carrying the slippers to Nandamaraj, A little boy carrying the slippers to his daddy. So Krishna can become even the servant, in a pure loving relationship. So we should just try to become more and more and more learned in the science of Krishna consciousness. So wonderfully explained in the Bhagavad Gita, there are so many wonderful verses.

sa evāyaṁ mayā te ’dya

yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ

bhakto ’si me sakhā ceti

rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam

That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by me to you because you are my devotee as well as my friend and you can therefore understand the transmittal mystery of this science. So to become a devotee of Krishna, Krishna not only speaks to Arjuna, but he can speak to you also, from within your heart. Do you know that? Krishna can actually speak to you within your heart. Just as He spoke to Arjuna, He can speak directly to you also. It's a matter of developing that loving relationship, not being carried away by the internet. You see what I'm saying? Not being carried away by the internet. Get carried away by the Krishna net. It's much more powerful than the internet, the Krishna net. The internet you have to have, you know, you may be online or offline. You have to look for a connection, where is there an internet connection? Oh, no internet connection. It's like in a power fair, we have an anxiety internet connection, how we do our classes. But KrishnaNet doesn't depend on, you don't have to worry about the Austin Power Company. The Krishna that is always available, you simply have to open your heart to Krishna. My dear Krishna, let me open my heart to You. And what is that special technique of opening your heart to Krishna? What is that?

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

That gets you online with Krishna. Immediately you get online with Krishna. That amazing person. So kindly enlightening. Person so kindly enlightening.

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin

nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ

ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo

na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

For this soul there is neither birth nor death, nor having once been as he ever ceased to be. He is unborn, ever existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. So that's what we have to come to. We have to awaken our spiritual identities. We have to do that. Because then we become completely free from all the anxieties of material existence like birth, death, old age and disease. But when you awaken your spiritual identity,

dehino ’smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

The embodied soul continually passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age the soul similarly passes another body at the time of death. The self-realized soul does not bewildered by such a change. So what should we become? Self-realized soul. So how do you become a self-realized soul? You hear from the spiritual master. You serve the spiritual master. You take initiation from the bona fide spiritual master, you follow the instructions of the bona fide spiritual master. And that's how you become enlightened. Some people say, well I don't need a guru, I'll just take instructions directly from Krishna. I don't want a spiritual master. I mean, he's going to tell me what to do and what not to do. That wouldn't be very fun. I'm going to do my own thing and Krishna will tell me what to do. See the fallacy there? Now Krishna says,

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Just try to learn the truth by approaching the spiritual master, inquire from him submissively, render service unto him, the self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

So if you want to take Krishna's direction then you take a spiritual master because that's what Krishna is ordering us to do. So then you can actually get connected with Krishna. You can't jump over the head of the spiritual master. It would be bloop. See that? What is this word? Bloop is a popular word in ISKCON. He blooped. He blooped the prep. He was cooking. It's a popular slang word in ISKCON. Bloop. Where does that word come from? When you fell down in the material ocean, when you hit the water of the material ocean, you bloop. So don't be a blooper. Don't bloop. Many devotees have blooped. They left ISKCON. I mean, I've been here for, let's see, 70, 52 years. I've seen so many come and so many go. So.. What's the difficulty? They got initiated, they're chanting it around, they are following the principles, but then somehow they lost their taste. How do you keep the taste? How do you keep that taste? You're always enlightened as you go. Another step, another step, another step, another step. That's very important. You have to have the taste. What is that verse?

viṣayā vinivartante

nirāhārasya dehinaḥ

rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya

paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

Though the embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing what? a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. So How can you get that higher taste? Well, it's very simple.

Chant Hare Krishna and avoid the 10 offenses. We have the 10 offenses. They are called Nama aparads. So you have to avoid the 10 offenses. And the 10 offenses are there. You can look them up on Nectar Devotion. To be inattentive is 1. To commit to be offensive, not to have proper respect for the Vaishnavas, we should be very careful to avoid all these offenses. To be inattentive while chanting, to not have the proper mood for the Vaishnava, the spiritual master. If you chant Hare Krishna and seriously try to avoid the offenses, then you will get a very sweet taste, a very, very, very sweet taste, better than Soma, better than Soma. So let's be very keen to chant the Holy Name and avoid the offenses. I chant at least 16 rounds a day on Japa Mala, even more if you can, but at least 16, because that will actually give us the ability to unlock the pure love of God, which is locked within our hearts. Every one of us is actually a pure devotee of Krishna. We all have pure bhakti within us but it's buried beneath so many layers of dirt, lust, anger, greed, madness, illusion, everything piled deep deep deep deep deep, it's buried deep. When you chant Hare Krishna you're getting rid of that garbage, getting rid of the lust, getting rid of the envy, getting rid of the greed. Washing it away, washing it away. It is like you have a dirty pot in the kitchen. You have to scrub and scrub and scrub. Very dirty pot. The more you scrub, the more the dirt is gone. The more you scrub, you can scrub it up and the dirt is completely gone. So this Hare Krishna is scrubbing the heart.

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

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

Scrubbing away, scrubbing away, scrubbing away. So how much dirt do we have? Well, we've only been here for millions and billions of lifetimes trying to enjoy separately from Krishna. Lot of dirt. We all have a lot of dirt. So you have to be very enthusiastic to keep scrubbing away, scrubbing away, having full faith in the process. By this process I'm not going to be cheated, I'm not going to be misled, I'm not going to be let down. By this process of chanting Krishna, Hare Krishna, I'm going to become a fully empowered living entity, fully re-established in my loving relationship with Krishna and fully empowered for sharing Krishna consciousness with the suffering people in this world. So what are the difficulties? What is the difficulty? Is anybody having any difficulties in their spiritual life? Any difficulties? Yes, we have tons of difficulties, isn't it? Even waking up in the morning is a lot of difficulties. So we have to be enthusiastic to overcome all the difficulties. One may think, well, it's impossible. I gave a story just recently. I can tell that again. It's a nice story.

When Prabhupada was a young, when Prabhupada was a student, he was in, he went to, in Calcutta, Scottish Churches College. He was in the second year class. He must have been a sophomore I guess. And at that time the governor of Bengal was Lord Zetland. It was under British rule. So Lord Zetland was the governor of Bengal and he came, conceived as a Scotsman, he came to the Scottish Church's college to give an address. So that same, many years later, that Lord Zetland was back in the UK and one of the Prabhupada's godbrothers had gone to the UK for preaching. He wasn't successful, but he met a few lords and ladies and went back. He met Lord Zetland and Lord Zetland said, oh, because he knew about Vedic culture, you know, the Brahmins and the Vaishyas, Sutras, etc. So he said, Swamiji, can you make me a Brahmin? And Prabhupada's godbrother said, yes, I can make you a Brahmin as long as you follow these principles, no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling. Lord Zetland immediately said, impossible. So Prabhupada was thinking when he came to America, as soon as I tell these American people no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling, immediately say please go home. But Prabhupada said, let me try. He told this in the lecture yesterday. Prabhupada said, let me try. I said, jai. And then all the devotees thought it was a good time, they followed my Jai, the whole room went Jai. I started it though. Because I knew, because Prabhupada made that endeavor even though he was sure it was impossible. He did it anyway. Because of that determination to serve his spiritual master whether I succeed or not doesn't matter but I must endeavor to serve my spiritual master. That is my perfection because he made that endeavor therefore we became delivered. And then Prabhupada also said later on, impossible is a word in a fool's dictionary. So don't think it's impossible, for you become a pure devotee, qualified to see Krishna face to face. You know that verse in the Brahma Samhita?

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena

santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṇa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.

So it's possible, it's not impossible, we can come to that level. The spiritual master orders the disciple, now you become qualified to see Krishna face to face. That's the order of the spiritual master coming down from Prabhupada. Now you become qualified to see Krishna face to face. Then you know you are becoming Krishna conscious. When Krishna actually comes revealed to you, oh now I am finally making a little progress getting out of this bodily consciousness, thinking I'm this 75 year old body or whatever. I'm a little kid's body, right? Nilambar, a little kid's body. We have to get out of this consciousness. I'm not this body. I'm an eternal spiritual being. Actually, what's your age? Infinity. They always ask about the age of the form. I think I'll put an infinity sign the next time they ask my age. Put an infinity sign. I'm an eternal youth of infinite age. That's my actual position. I'm an eternal youth and my age is infinity. 75 is nothing compared to infinity. Why is it 75 million or 75 quadrillion is nothing compared to infinity. So 75 is nothing. So in this way awaken, kick out the false identification of that material body. Kick it out. Kick it out with boot. Get out of your mundane consciousness. Get out of here. Krishna is so kindly coming.

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya

tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

Whenever and wherever there is a kind of religious practice and predominant by the religion at that time is ascendance.

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ

vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām

dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya

sambhavāmi yuge yuge

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

So Krishna now has appeared in the form of this Krishna consciousness movement. This Krishna Consciousness Movement is an incarnation of Krishna. So just by associating with ISKCON, you are associating with Krishna. Isn't that amazing? Krishna is actually manifested as the Krishna Consciousness Movement. So when you connect with ISKCON, when you serve ISKCON, you're serving Krishna directly. So take full advantage of this movement, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It's the most important organization on this planet right now, more important than the United Nations, more important than the United States or Russia or India or anything else, this is the most important institution on the face of this planet, ISKCON The International Society for Krishna Consciousness. So take full advantage of this movement, become totally dedicated to this movement of Srila Prabhupada, become fully dedicated to the spiritual master who is the representative of ISKCON, and in this way your lives will become unlimitedly ecstatic.

Does anybody have any questions or objections or corrections? Yes.

Devotee: So what was the difference between Prabhupada teaching and Prabhupada's godbrother's teaching? That Prabhupada's godbrother was unsuccessful and Prabhupada was...

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: The difference is that Prabhupada was the only one who was successful. That's the difference. They weren't able to successfully carry out the order of their spiritual master. None of them were able to do it. They were all ordered to spread this movement. Prabhupada was the only one who can do it. Prabhupada is a special, he is the one disciple of Bhakti Sanatana Sarasvati who was successfully able to carry out his orders, spread the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. They weren't able to do it. They didn't had the potency to do it. That's the difference. Any other questions? That's a nice question. Thank you very much.

Devotee: So all the Godbrothers of Srila Prabhupada were disciples of Bhakti Sidhantha?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Yeah, his Godbrothers are, Yeah , Godbrothers means, you all have the same Guru, you are called Godbrothers and Godsisters. So all are Bhakti Sidhantha's disciples, they are the Godbrothers and Godsisters of Srila Prabhupada.

Devotee: So they were the same.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: They have the same father, just like you, in your family why are you have number of brother and sister? Because you have the same father and mother, right? So when you have the same father, then you are all brothers and sisters. So they all have their spiritual father as Bhakti Sidhantha Saraswati Thakur, so they are all God brothers and God sisters.

Devotee: So if they all had the same Guru, so that means they learned the same thing. Then why couldn't they do what Prabhupada did?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: They didn't had the power and potency of Srila Prabhupada, they didn't had the purity and power of Srila Prabhupada. They didn't have them.

Didn't some of them criticize Prabhupada also? They were making the Westerners into Brahmins? Yeah, they even criticized Prabhupada, because they didn't understand the true essence of spreading Krishna consciousness. They were on the bodily platform.

We have more questions coming in now, a whole bunch of them. Wow. Let's see if I can get a bubble on the screen again here now. Okay, here we go. All right. Many questions. Wow. 

Vishnuratha: Srila Gurudev, is it that decades after decades of beautiful chanting is required to come in to the real taste of chanting?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Actually real taste can come within a second, Vishnuratha. It doesn't take.., within one minute. It can come immediately. The taste can be there immediately. It is simply a matter of one's full absorption in the holy name. It can take decades, it can take many lifetimes, or It can take place in one nanosecond. It depends on one's determination to become fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness.

Kirtan Devadasi: Is associating the devotee friends whom we are attached to, temporary, fulfilling particular purpose. 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Depends on your purpose, Kirtan Devadasi. If your purpose is to please Krishna and please Guru, then that association is eternal. Just like remembering Prabhupada, forgetting his association. So if you're serving the longer devotees in a mood of pleasing Guru and Krishna, a pure serving mood, then even remembering those devotees you are associating with them. It is like I have many dear God brothers, just by remembering them I get inspiration and strength. It is by remembering my God brothers. It is like I have one God brother, Balabhadra Bhattacharya, very dear to me. So just by remembering, if your purpose is to please Guru and Krishna, the knowledge will actually be eternal. Just by remembering them, you are getting their mercy and blessings.

Okay. 

Adeti: Gurudev, Krishna knows what is going on in our mind and body, so it is at a time, So is it at a time or will they be with us? 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: See if I can understand your question. Krishna knows what is going on in our mind and body. So Is it at a time or will they be with us? Does that make you understand the question? You need to make it more clear what your question is. Mahaprabhu Kripa, what is the most effective way to cultivate constant humility in our lives? tṛṇād api, Always remember this verse from Lord Caitanya.

tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā

amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Once you chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking yourself lower than the straw in the street, being ready to offer all respect to others without expecting any respect for oneself, In such a state of mind one can go on chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, 24 hours a day. Know that being respectful to others without any respect for yourself. What if somebody is correcting you and chastising you? So you get angry or you should just be in a mood of appreciating being respectful. What if somebody's angry at you, the spiritual master is chastising you, why are you doing that you stupid nonsense? He is telling you a stupid nonsense, why you did that? So you get all angry, what is he thinking? He doesn't realize I am not a stupid nonsense. Or is it, I take it as mercy, humbly accept it. He said, offer all respect to others, that is your spiritual master, your God brothers, to all others, all living. He says all others, all respect to others without expecting any respect for oneself. That's the key, how you can take the nectar of the name. Remember that verse. Offer all respect to others without expecting any respect for yourself. Keep that always going in every situation.

Okay, here's Adeti making it more clear. No, we have... Okay, Right to understand that when we come to Krishna consciousness is because Krishna has chosen us and directed us.

No actually Krishna.. it's not up to Krishna when you go back to Him, it's up to you. Krishna has given us independence. It's not that, well, I haven't gone to the back to Godhead as Krishna has told me to come back yet. No. It's when you, Krishna wants you back right now, but He's not going to force you. You have to make your own conscious decision that I will now become Krishna's pure devotee. Giving up all this nonsense I've been absorbed in for millions and billions of lifetimes, now I'm going to become fixed up in Krishna consciousness. It's not up to Krishna, it's up to you when you go back.

Guru Vandana: So, jumping over the spiritual master means to do something which is not liked by Gurudev.

Yes, to disobey him or displease him, that's jumping over his head. I'll do my own thing, I don't care what he thinks, it's jumping over his head. I'll go to Krishna on my own. I don't need his guidance.

Pancha Tattva: Why was Prabhupada successful in preaching Krishna consciousness to the whole world?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Prabhupada, He had the understanding, the purity that the other God brothers didn't have.

How can ignorance be addressed positively when it seems like all the roads only lead to misery. How can you address poverty?

Actually ignorance is destroyed by the more you hear from Guru and Krishna, the more your ignorance is eliminated. So you have to just keep hearing, reading. Prabhupada's books are there. Just open up the books and start reading. Your ignorance will.. Prabhupada will drive all the ignorance out of your heart. Just open Prabhupada's books. You can hear Prabhupada's lectures. There's so many lectures available on the internet. There's a channel where you can tune in. I forget the, just type Prabhupada Lectures on the search engine and the page will come up with all the lectures that are there. There's so many lectures. Put them in your smart phone. You're driving in work, you can hear Prabhupada Lectures. Very powerful. Prabhupada Lectures is very, very powerful.

Okay, what else we got here? 

Paramahamsa dasa: While chanting Maha-mantra, Why nectar like that of Soma of juice is not felt always?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Because of offenses. Nama aparads. That's why we're not tasting the nectar.

Adeti: Krishna knows what is going on in our mind and body, so is it right to understand that we will become the Krishna conscious because.. 

no I already answered that.

Bhakta Sunil: I got confused about Transcendental Knowledge and chanting. Today I understood that the more one becomes learned about Vedic knowledge, the closer one gets to Krishna. Earlier I understood that chanting is more important and the only knowledge required is that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now if it's true, then why all these books are there? The more we learn about all these great devotees like Bharata Maharaj, just think of the pastimes of Bharat Maharaj, the danger of sentimental attachments. That's a very good lesson to study of Bharat Maharaj. He was such a great, powerful king. He was doing all the Vedic ceremonies and sacrifices. He was so powerful, he ruled the whole planet Earth. That's why this planet still is called Bharata-Varsha named after him. Can you imagine he ruled the entire planet Earth? But then he retired, he divided up amongst his sons and he went to the forest. He was a great sage, fully absorbed in devotional service. But then one day down by the river, a lion roared and some deer in great fear ran over, was pregnant, ran away, actually dropped dead and a little baby came out. A little baby deer was born and there was no mother. So Bharat Maharaj took care of the little deer, feeding it and doing all kinds of things, became a very affectionate relationship with him. He was like a mother, like the mother and the child. And at the time of death he thought of the deer instead of Krishna, because he got so attached to that deer. But in his deer's body he remembered. So all these examples given in the books are very very powerful to help us learn how to practice Krishna consciousness successfully and not to get carried away by sentimental attachments that overrule our Krishna consciousness. So these books of knowledge are very important to help us how to practice Krishna consciousness successfully and how to preach it successfully also.

Lilamanjari: How does one attain that purely when one has tons of difficulties?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: How do you get the pot clean when it's very dirty? You keep scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing. Get some scouring powder, a good scrubbing pad and you work it until It's all gone. It's a simple thing. Same thing with your heart. You've got to get some good scouring powder. Instructions of Guru and Krishna, instructions of the Vaishnavas, take their instructions very seriously and scrub and scrub and scrub and scrub and that day will come when Krishna becomes manifest, an amazing person.

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 that Person. Just imagine that Person, you got to keep scrubbing away. And that day will come. We can see Him face to face eye to eye.

Bhakta Sunil. Okay, thank you. So there's no more questions? 

Anybody have any questions around locals? Yes.

Devotee: Do we have to offer all respects to demons and Mayavadis as well?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Well, we don't offer obeisances. I mean, like a solicitor calls on your telephone, you have to be very friendly and nice. You say I'm not interested in you, but it's okay. But in general, we should be very, we should try to have nice relationships. I was attending a conference the other day and I had a chat window and I said Hare Krishna. I put Hare Krishna in the chat window and the guy said Hare Krishna, that's very nice. He actually glorified the name of Krishna.

It's just a matter of doing it in a seminar. I'm going to have a really successful seminar leader. When somebody said Hare Krishna, he responded very positively and said, that's very good Hare Krishna. He said Hare Krishna, and he said, oh very good Hare Krishna. So this is a mundane conference I was attending to see if I could use it for Krishna. They had something on how you can get speaking engagements. The whole seminar on how to get speaking engagements. I think that might be good for Krishna consciousness. Turn out they want a lot of money.

So yeah, we should try to be very positive and as much as possible. I always say Hare Krishna when I'm dealing with karmis.. Hare Krishna. even, you can call up some tech support and I always say Hare Krishna. I always say Hare Krishna to these karmis because they hear the holy name and they get blessed. That one little thing, it's not some ordinary thing. If you say Hare Krishna to a person, that one Hare Krishna they have heard in their whole life, that has an eternal impact on their destiny. Even hearing Hare Krishna one time from the mouth of a devotee. Take every opportunity even with karmis to give them Hare Krishna. That way you are respecting them as spiritual beings. Letting them hear the Holy Name.

Sharda Devi dasi: Is it that even in the neophyte state it is a must to experience a higher taste?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Actually it is a must. We must endeavor for that higher taste. We must endeavor. It is like what does Krishna say?

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā

vindaty ātmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā

sukham akṣayam aśnute

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

So should I just try for that now or wait for 20 years? Why not try for it now? I mean, you'd be an idiot not to try for it right now. You'd be an absolute idiot. Well, in 20 years I'll try to become a liberated soul. You should try to become a liberated self right here right now in this very minute. If you could die in five minutes there could be an explosion. You never know. Death, Especially on the highway, death can come at any minute. You can.. death can come at any minute. So the smart thing to do is to endeavor to become pure devotee with higher taste right here right now this very nanosecond. That's intelligence.

Sharada: In a neophyte state more time is given to struggling with anartha than remembering Krishna.

That's why you are struggling with anarthas because you are not remembering Krishna. You remember Krishna, your anarthas will go away. You are not remembering, that's why you have these anarthas. You focus on remembering Krishna and that struggle with anarthas become much easier and easier and easier.

Kardama Muni: What about demons and Mayavadis who are offensive?

Sankarshan Das Adhikari: Well, the old story I had, I am going to tell that story. I was handing out, what do you do with somebody when you are handing out prasadam on University Avenue on Gainesville, so you have a bowl of simply wonderful, you pass it out, some hippie comes and he knocks the bowl out in the street, he hits the bowl and knocks all the sweets out in the street. You say, Oh, Hare Krishna. I won't say it as loud as I did to him, but I actually yelled at the top of my lungs, pointing at the thing, like I'm killing it if he didn't. I said, I'll make it very mellow, but I said, you better get out there and pick up all those sweets right now, like that. It was the top of my lung. I mean, it must have been heard half a block away at least. I was yelling at the top of my lungs like I was gonna kill him if he didn't follow my instructions. And it worked. He became a devotee. He ran out in the middle of the street and picket up the sweets. The light was red, so the cars weren't running. I helped him. We got all the sweets picked up before the light turned green. So sometimes you have to be a little heavy with these Mayavadis and demons. Sometimes you just scold them and chastise them. That's your kindness and your love actually. That is your respect for them as eternal spiritual beings. You go to the doctor, you're sick, and he gives you a shot, oh it hurts. But it's his duty, he has to give you a shot because you need it. So the way to give these Mayavadi demons a shot. That's our love for them. That's our respect for them, the spiritual beings that chastise them and scold them and show anger. Remember anger is used as a tool but don't ever become overwhelmed by anger. That's the key. You see, even the parents may have to somebody show anger to keep the kids in line right? The little rascals right? You have to always act on the basis of intelligence not the mode of passion. You understand? You have to always speak and act intelligently. Not carried away by the modes of nature. Not by kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. Not like that.

Can you recommend some strong arguments, please?

Oh, there's millions of strong arguments in Prabhupada's books. Here's one. He was talking about Mayavadis. It's all one. So Prabhupada grabbed him by the shirt and he said, he grabbed him by the shirt and said, it's all one, Why don't you wear a cotton ball?

So there's tons of good arguments, strong arguments. You can look, you can read, you can hear Prabhupada's, go to the conversations in the in the Vedabase or in the that site with the audio recordings. Listen to Prabhupada's arguments with Mayavadis. You get a lot of good inspiration. Prabhupada's books also, you see. Just like another good argument.

They say there's no God. But actually I see that this universe functions just like a machine. Just like a machine it functions. Now I've seen that every, in my experience, I see that every machine requires an operator. There's no machine that can turn itself on without somebody to push the start button. Every machine requires an operator. Therefore I can logically conclude that if every machine requires an operator, this supreme machine must also require an operator. So in this way, there's some strong arguments there.

Anybody else? Everybody satisfied? Everybody take over the world for Prabhupada? Our movement is to take over the whole world. So we want to defeat all these rascals. We want to take over the whole world. Prabhupada told us to deliver the world. Conquer your mind and conquer the world. That's our philosophy. Conquer your mind and conquer the world. We want to make the whole world Krishna conscious. That's our mission. We can't stand to see these people in the human form going out of the animal kingdom. All the people in this neighborhood are going out of the animal kingdom. All over the whole planet, the whole universe, the whole material existence. These people throughout the whole, even the heavenly planets, they're fools and rascals you see. So our mission is to deliver all the living entities throughout all of existence. That's our mission. In that very nice verse in the In the Itihāsa-samuccaya, Nārada tells Puṇḍarīka,

janmāntara-sahasreṣu yasya syād buddhir īdṛśī

dāso ’haṁ vāsudevasya  sarvāḻ lokān samuddharet

After many, many births, when a person realizes that he is the eternal servant of Krishna, he can deliver all the worlds.

So there we go, that's our assignment. Deliver all the worlds. We have to fully realize, completely realize that without any shadow of a doubt, I am the eternal servant of Krishna. Such a person, according to Narada Muni, can actually deliver all the worlds. So let's deliver ourselves and deliver the worlds. So we'll stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

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