Sankarshan Das: Ecstatic adventure Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam 4th Canto, chapter 22, Text 48

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

SB 4.22.48

maitreya uvāca

ta ātma-yoga-pataya

ādi-rājena pūjitāḥ

śīlaṁ tadīyaṁ śaṁsantaḥ

khe ’bhavan miṣatāṁ nṛṇām

Synonyms

maitreyaḥ uvāca — the great sage Maitreya continued to speak; te — they; ātma-yoga-patayaḥ — the masters of self-realization by devotional service; ādi-rājena — by the original king (Pṛthu); pūjitāḥ — being worshiped; śīlam — character; tadīyam — of the King; śaṁsantaḥ — eulogizing; khe — in the sky; abhavan — appeared; miṣatām — while observing; nṛṇām — of the people.

Translation and purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupada.

Translation

The great sage Maitreya continued: Being thus worshiped by Mahārāja Pṛthu, the four Kumāras, who were masters of devotional service, became very pleased. Indeed, they appeared in the sky and praised the character of the King, and everyone observed them.

Purport

It is said that the demigods never touch the surface of the earth. They walk and travel in space only. Like the great sage Nārada, the Kumāras do not require any machine to travel in space. There are also residents of Siddhaloka who can travel in space without machines. Since they can go from one planet to another, they are called siddhas — that is to say, they have acquired all mystic and yogic powers. Such great saintly persons who have attained complete perfection in mystic yoga are not visible in this age on earth because humanity is not worthy of their presence. The Kumāras, however, praised the characteristics of Mahārāja Pṛthu and his great devotional attitude and humility. The Kumāras were greatly satisfied by King Pṛthu’s method of worship. It was by the grace of Mahārāja Pṛthu that the common citizens in his domain could see the Kumāras flying in outer space.

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 it's an interesting point about flying in space without machines. If one becomes a resident of Siddhaloka one has that power and by great penances and austerities of the yoga system one can also achieve that power. But it takes many, many lifetimes actually of our lifetimes. It takes hundreds of years to achieve such perfection. So we don't bother with it because even if you can travel freely in outer space within this universe, you're still in this universe. So why even worry about developing such powers? Actually, we can get an airplane and fly in the sky if we need to. So we shouldn't worry about developing such mystic powers. We should therefore focus on the supreme mystic power which is going back to home, back to Godhead. In this way one goes beyond the power of the great yogis, surpasses the great yogis.

So then the real question is then what does one do to qualify, to actually qualify himself to go back to home, back to Godhead? The first thing is we have to have proper understanding. Very important. We have to base, you see, your thoughts, your words and your deeds are based on a proper understanding. If your understanding is wrong, your thoughts, your words and your deeds will be wrong. If your understanding is wrong, your thoughts, your words and your deeds will be wrong. Your understanding of reality has to be correct. If that understanding is correct, then everything else follows automatically. Your thinking will be proper, your words will be proper and your actions will be proper.

So let us look now at the proper understanding of reality. Actually in many ways it is just common sense, it is not really blind faith in some dogma or some teaching, its actually common sense. If you think about it very carefully and clearly, you can see this Vedic wisdom, it just makes common sense. Just like, for example, Do your eyes see? Are you seeing through your eyes? Do your ears hear? Are you hearing through your ears? Does your tongue taste? Are you tasting through your tongue? Does your skin feel? Are you feeling through your skin? At the time of death these senses can't do anything. The skin cannot feel, the tongue cannot taste, the ears cannot hear, the eyes cannot see. So it's very common sense to see that actually the self is utilizing the body, not that it is the body. The self is actually situated beyond the body. That is common sense. So we understand the non-material, just by simple logic and common sense we can understand the non-material nature of the self.

Another thing is God, they say that believing in God is blind faith. Is it really blind faith to believe in God? No, it's really common sense. I've explained many times before, one person has so much power, another person has more power, somebody has some beauty, somebody is more beautiful, more beautiful. Someone has renunciation, Somebody has more renunciation. Someone has knowledge. Someone has more knowledge. Someone has money. Someone has more money. Someone has fame. Someone has more fame. So there is some person, if you consider these 6 opulences that are considered very valuable things, power, beauty, renunciation, knowledge, wealth and fame, you consider that not everybody has the same amount of money, the same amount of fame, we're not all equal. There's somebody who has more and more and more. You find that person, there has to be some person in the possession of these opulences who actually exceeds all others. This is common sense. There's some person who in possession of these opulences has more. So that would be the Supreme person. To say there is no supreme person means we are all equal. We all have the same amount of money, the same amount of fame, the same amount of beauty, the same amount of knowledge, etc. But is that true? Do you have the same amount of money that I have? Do I have the same amount of money that you have? No, we are all differently situated. So there is somebody with more, somebody with less. So if I'm that person who has more of these things, more beauty, more power, more beauty, more renunciation, more knowledge, more wealth, the same, that would be the Supreme Person. So the atheists say there is no Supreme Person. So That's a ridiculous dogmatic statement. We don't follow dogma, we follow God-mode. We take the teaching given in the Vedas which is actually the most common sense vision you could ever have of reality. So even though we can understand them by simple logic, simple exercise, we can understand them by not being a material body, but still why we identify with them.

Another example is, here's an example of how we identify with them. You're driving in your car, you come to a stop sign, and somebody behind you rams into you because they spaced out. They didn't realize it was a car and it ran into you. So you jump out of the car very angry, you hit me, you rascal, you hit me. Did he hit you? No, he hit your car, but you're misidentifying yourself as being the car. So in the same way, we misidentify ourselves as being this material body. And we live in a culture that encourages this in every advertisement, every magazine, every movie, everywhere we go, our friends, our neighbors, everybody is reinforcing the false conception that I am this body. So to come to this, if you want to become self-realized, you have to get free from the conditioning that is being imposed upon you by the material society. You've been programmed to misidentify since your very birth, you've been programmed to misidentify with your material body. So to become self-realized you have to cut off your identification with all this conditioning that's been imposed upon you for all these years or all these decades. You have to kick it out with a boot. I'm no longer going to be a slave of this conditioning. I'm going to start using the logic and common sense to understand actually who I am.

And then we can further understand that the Supreme Self is the source of all existence because He has unlimited power. Therefore, His very Self is expanding all of existence. Of course he is self-satisfied, Atmarama is totally satisfied with Himself, at the same time to increase his satisfaction. You can't say, well my dear Lord, you must be satisfied with yourself all alone, you cannot have any loving relationship with anybody else. We can't tell the Lord that He is not allowed to expand from Himself an infinite number of Vishnu Tattvas and Jiva Tattvas, an infinite variety of sweet loving relationships. We can't tell Him, He can't do that. He's absolute, so if He wants to expand His satisfaction infinitely, He can do that by expanding Himself by an infinite number of Vishnu Tattvas , infinite number of Jiva Tattvas.

So, Krishna consciousness is actually just common sense. We have to come out of our... See the problem we have as neophyte devotees is that we have been so conditioned by the material society to misidentify with our body. My satisfaction is my tongue, my belly and my genitals. That's my happiness. That's how we've been programmed. If you want to be happy, you've to gratify your tongue, you've to gratify your belly, you've got to gratify your genitals and your false ego also, and become a little famous and appreciated, you know. We have been programmed to think this is our happiness. So how do we get free from this? How do we get free from misidentifying with the body and making my happiness my tongue, belly and genitals? How do we get free from it? By hearing from the bonafide spiritual master the teachings of Lord Sri Krishna. We have to understand what is our actual satisfaction. We learn that actually the real satisfaction is to satisfy the Supreme Self. And this is logic also. That Supreme Self is the root, I've explained it many times, that the Supreme Self is the root of all existence. So to water the tree you don't water the leaves and branches, you water the root. So the leaves and branches become nourished when you water the root. So we are the leaves and branches of that tree, that Supreme tree. And we become satisfied not by trying to enjoy it separately, but trying to enjoy it by satisfying the supreme enjoyer. So that's why everybody is an enjoyer. I want to enjoy you. Everybody wants to enjoy. Don't you want to enjoy? Bhakta Rob, you like to enjoy, don't you? Our nature is we like to enjoy. We're enjoyers by nature because Krishna, God is also the enjoyer and we are part of Him, our nature also to be enjoyers. It's like the drop of ocean water has the same chemical composition as the entire ocean, although in a smaller quantity.

So Krishna enjoys unlimitedly, and if we try to enjoy separately from him, we can have a limited amount of enjoyment mixed with suffering. But here is the mystical secret, that just as God is the unlimited enjoyer, if we satisfy His enjoyment, we enjoy unlimitedly along with Him. This is the beauty of the Krishna consciousness movement. Everybody wants to enjoy but they are getting sukha dukha, happiness and distress going on. Happiness and distress, happiness and distress, going on and on and on. You get older, there is more distress and less happiness, more distress and less happiness. You get older and older and older. The beauty of Krishna consciousness is just the opposite. By satisfying the supreme enjoyer, who enjoys unlimitedly, you can also enter into that realm of unlimited enjoyment. And the beauty of advancing in Krishna consciousness, of course, is that neophytes are still getting a mixture of happiness and distress because we are still to some extent misidentifying with our bodies. Thinking our happiness is the tongue, belly and genitals.

But as you advance in Krishna consciousness, you become more fixed in your realization that I am not this body but an eternal spiritual being qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, the more you become, that becomes more and more realized and fixed in your consciousness, then the happiness goes up and the suffering goes down. In other words, you get older, you get to the point of 100% happiness and 0 suffering. And That's when you are fully Krishna conscious.

So the intelligent thing is to become more and more Krishna conscious. Because the more you are Krishna conscious, the more you are happy and the less you are suffering. The less you are Krishna conscious, the more you are suffering and the less you are happy. So we want to become more and more and more Krishna conscious. So how do you do that? We don't have to guess, we don't have to speculate, Prabhupada explains exactly what we should do. Rise early in the morning and chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

This is something everybody can do. Get some japa beads, rise early in the morning before sunrise. That's the best time for meditation, for self realization. It's called the Brahma Mahurat hour. Hour and a half before sunrise. You're in a very very auspicious time according to astrological calculations. You have a very very auspicious time for spiritual awakening. So if you are up in that time at least an hour and a half before sunrise, engaged in chanting and worshipping the Lord, then you are going to be blessed with an amazing awakening within you, an incredible miraculous awakening will happen within your heart. You actually come out of your false identification with your body, you come into proper identification I am a spiritual being, qualititatively one with the Lord and I am a Lord's servant.

They say, why do I have to be a servant? My body says don't be a servant, just be God. They say I am God, you are God, we are all God. Brahman is the highest reality. Merge into the light, the divine light. Merge into the divine light. Now become one with the divine light. Merge into the divine light. But where does light come from? Does light come from nowhere? No, light comes from a source, doesn't it? The sunlight comes out of nowhere, it comes from the sun planet. And actually it comes from the residents of the sun planet whose bodies are effulgent. And you have all these millions of residents of the sun planet and the sun god also, their bodies are illuminating their sun, the sun and their bodies are illuminating the whole universe.

So anyway, getting back to the point, the light comes from a source. It's like you light a candle, the light comes from the candle, the light bulb emanates light, the light comes from the bulb. So light comes from a source. You say, I want to merge into the light and become one. Wait a minute, where does the light come from? But it is the source of the light. And that is what Krishna said,

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham

'I am the source of that impersonal Brahman'. So Krishna is the source of that Brahman. So why just meet the emanation when you can meet the Emanator? It's like you can meet a secretary, why not meet the boss himself? I got to meet with the secretary of the president of the US. Oh, I met with the secretary of the US. Why not meet with the president himself? That's a better accomplishment. Instead of merging into the light, meet the person as a source of the light. Krishna is the source of everything. So that's why that's the highest level of Self-Realization. There are 3 levels of Self-Realization. Bhagavan, Paramatma and Brahman. Brahman is the light, Paramatma is the expanded form of the Lord within the heart of all living beings. You could realize that if you are a highly advanced yogi, but that is very difficult, It takes millions of years to achieve it. But if you go straight to the Supreme Source, Krishna, our God, the source of everything, that can be achieved quickly within one lifetime. You can absorb yourself in Krishna consciousness and go back to the supreme abode upon leaving your body.

I just got a report from one of my disciples, her mother just left the body. She was in a complete coma, like unconscious, And then she woke up. Her eyes were all blurry and not focused. Then they put a picture of Krishna in front of her and her mind was completely focused on Krishna. She just tuned in and then she left her body. So just imagine the great fortune. Her daughter was a devotee and she blessed her mother with a darshan of Krishna while she was leaving her body. So it is very auspicious. One can be Krishna conscious when they leave their body.

So even if you are not a devotee, you are in the association of devotees, that can also give you the supreme perfection. My father, he was not a devotee. He was a meat-eating Christian. Smoking, all the time smoking, I remember he used to smoke a pipe. You know, he was addicted to all kinds of things that are not carnival dispensable. But he had a very nice attitude to the devotees, he appreciated the devotees. He actually glorified us in our devotion to Krishna. So he had an appreciation. And because of that he got the great opportunity at the time of death, he was staying in some care home east of Austin, we got the notice he was bleeding right in his eyes, Gurumataji jumped in the car and we got there and we did Kirtan while he was leaving his body. He was all like in all anxiety, but then we had kirtan and his face became very peaceful and then boom.

So even if one is not a devotee, if you can be in the association of devotees, that is also a great blessing. But why wait and say, well if I'm lucky I will get devotee association at the last minute. No. Why take a chance? Let me cultivate Krishna consciousness. I may not be fortunate, I have some devotees there to help me at the last minute. So let me be Krishna conscious now. If I'm all alone at the time of death, I'll be able to focus my mind on Krishna. There's no problem with that all along because I've learned now how to get my mind off this sense gratification platform, the tongue, the belly and the genitals. I've learned how to get my mind off of this platform and get it now onto a transcendental platform. The level of the tongue, belly and genitals may give some temporary pleasure, it doesn't give any lasting pleasure. It's fleeting, it comes and it goes. I can eat, eat, eat, but then I get very sick and I can't eat anymore. My belly feels really good getting stuff. I eat so much it may even vomit, you see. I may have some sex pleasure, but then there's all kinds of problems. A girl gets pregnant and I have to take responsibility, I get married and raise a child and there is a whole life of struggle. But I didn't want to marry that girl but I made her pregnant so I am stuck. So We have to give up this pleasure of the tongue, belly and the genitals and become very sober and very serious. Now let me become fixed in Krishna consciousness, understanding I am not this material body, I am an eternal spiritual being. Let me become fixed in this understanding of who I actually am and dedicate my whole life now for awakening that divine consciousness, that Krishna consciousness, which is sleeping within me.

Krishna consciousness is not something artificial. You're already Krishna conscious. But due to bad association you've forgotten that. So now I've come back to being who I actually am. It's just like fish that got washed up on the beach, the flapping in agony on the beach, because our actual environment is the ocean, not the beach. But then a very kind person comes, a spiritual master or a devotee comes and says, what are you doing suffering here in this material existence? Don't you know you are an eternal spiritual being, qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, your actual nature is to be eternal, full of bliss and knowledge? Here, let me show you how to get back to being who you actually are. Just chant these names. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. So this is the kindness of the devotees. Some questions have come in again.

Bhakt Gabriel : Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudeva, please accept my humble obeisances, in Bhagavad Gita 18.54 it is said that a devotee needs to realize the Supreme Brahman and then one can attain pure devotional service.

Sankarshan Das : Just look that up, see exactly how it is worded, 18.54. Bhagavat Gita 18.54.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

'One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.'

It's not required to have... Actually this automatically happens when you become Krishna conscious. Not something separate, Bhakt Gabriel. But simply becoming Krishna conscious, you will come to the Brahman platform. Brahman is the platform which you attain at pure devotional service. That is automatically achieved. Just like you have a million dollars, you automatically have a hundred thousand dollars. So when you come to Krishna Bhakti, you are going to get, Brahman will come automatically along with it. It is already there. What is that position? It means you are equipoised. You see, happiness and distress is the same thing. You are no longer being buffeted or tossed on the waves of happiness and distress. You see you are happy in happiness and you are happy in distress also. You see they are both beneficial for your spiritual progress. Prasann atma is fully joyful, you become jolly, very happy in every situation, you are equally happy both in happiness and distress. That platform of Brahman will come automatically as you advance in Krishna consciousness. So this is different from merging into Brahman. Merging into Brahman, of course, the Brahman realized persons also achieve this position of a type of happiness, equi-poised in happiness and distress. They also achieve a sense of happiness. However, it's only temporary. It's only temporary. They all, they fall back to material existence because they get a temporary relief from the sufferings of material existence by merging into Brahman and they come back again. But for a devotee, your Brahman realization is permanent asset, it's not temporary like for the Brahman ananda. You get Brahman realization as your eternal asset, as a companion of the devotional service. That's the difference.

Ajamila Das : What should we do to get the mercy of Guru and Krishna?

Sankarshan Das : Follow the instructions of Guru and Krishna. Simple thing. Spiritual Master says, Chant 16 rounds of the Japa Mala every day. You follow the instructions. He says, no illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, gambling, you follow them. Just by being obedient to the orders of the spiritual master and Krishna, you automatically get their mercy. It's not difficult. It's already there. Their instruction is their mercy. The instruction, Prabhupada said, chant Hare Krishna. His mercy is there in the form of that instruction. So by chanting Hare Krishna, you've already gotten the mercy. Not that you have to chant Hare Krishna and wait, when am I getting the mercy? You've already gotten the mercy. The Holy Name itself is the mercy. So when you're chanting you've already gotten the mercy. Any other questions for Bhakt Bob?

Bhakt Rob : Yeah, I have a question. Can you talk more about the importance of the morning chanting?

Sankarshan Das : Yeah, the morning chanting is very auspicious. See, what happens is there are different modes of nature during the day. You can even see it here in Austin for example. The early morning, before the sun rises, is very peaceful and serene. I can just take a walk in the neighborhood and you'll see all the materialists are sound asleep. It's very peaceful and serene. There's no delivery Amazon trucks, it is all very peaceful and serene, the birds are chirping, it is a very serene time. Once the sun comes up, boom, boom, boom, get out there on I-35, get to work, boom, boom, boom, Amazon deliveries are going on, everybody is turning on their mundane radios or whatever. All the vibrations now are sense gratification, sense gratification. Once the sun comes up after the sunrise, it turns in all atmosphere of sense gratification. All the materialists are asleep before the sun rises. There is no mood of sense gratification before the sun hits the atmosphere. But then at night, you get drunk, go to sleep, go into a mode of ignorance. Does that make a little sense?

Bhakt Rob : Yes.

Sankarshan Das : So just like here we get up early. In the temples our standard is that Mangala Aarti is at 4.30am. That means everybody has to get up by 4 o'clock to get a shower. Time for Mangala Aarti. And we have Mangala Aarti online too. You can attend it online at www.livelectures.net. If you want to attend it online, you can get up at 4.30 and have a seat at Mangala Aarti . It's actually very auspicious when you live in a temple. It's easy living in a temple because everybody is up. The lights go on. You say, okay, everybody, it's time to wake up. It's easy living in a temple because everybody is up. Just one of the crowd, one of the crew. So, yeah, it's easy. Of course, Gurmataji and I have been doing this for many decades. We're totally habituated now. We couldn't think. We even get up earlier to do our chanting before Mangala Aarti, Japa. Gurmataji gets up at what time? 02:00, 01:00? She's really austere.

Bhakt Rob : When does she go to sleep?

Sankarshan Das : She takes a nap during the day also, to help her sleep, breaks her sleep up. I don't know the details of her schedule. I try to get up by 2:15 a.m. Sometimes I oversleep to 2:30 a.m. a little later. My standard is to get up by 2:15 a.m. But The normal standard for the devotees in general is to rise by 4am. You see we do deity worship and cooking during the japa period. Normally in the temples they chant japa after Mangala Aarti. Between the Mangala Aarti and the greeting of the deity at 7:15 a.m. it's like almost 2 hours, maybe an hour and a half. Yeah, because we have Talks of Worship too. But Gurumataji and I were totally tied up in deity service, So we don't have any time for japa during the japa period until we get up early and chant japa before Mangala Aarti. Anything else?

Bhakt Rob : Yeah, and in the book it was also kind of talking about the idea of these powers, are these like on the spiritual realm or are these happening on the material realm?

Sankarshan Das : It's in the material realm. Yeah, they are higher, Siddhaloka is the planet in the material world, where the powerful yogis live. And they can fly all over the universe without the need of an airplane. The demigods also, there are higher planets in this universe. See there are 3 different divisions of planetary systems in our universe we are in now. This is called the Chaturmukhi Brahma Universe. They don't know that. It's like every planet has a name, this universe has a name. These foolish scientists, they don't know the name of our universe. The Chaturmukhi Brahma Jagat, that's the name of our universe. The universe of the four-headed Brahma. They have no idea what is the name of our universe. Everybody knows this is Austin, this is Texas. Everybody knows the name of the city, the county, Travis County. We all know the name, the city or the street. We all know these names, but the scientists don't know the name of our universe. They're so unenlightened, they don't even know the name of the universe. It's like living in America and not even knowing the name of the country you are living in. Somebody said what country are you living in? I don't know. He is a very ignorant person. I don't know what country I am in. He wanted to be an ignorant person. What city are you in right now? I don't know what city you are in. Because you are driving me up. These scientists are so learned, they don't even know the name of the universe we live in. The universe of the four headed Brahma. So the universe is 3 divisions. The upper, middle and lower planetary systems. The earth is in the middle planetary system. Now higher planets you have demigods that live for many thousands of years and have all kinds of mystic powers. They don't get sick. They don't have all the problems we have here, heat waves and freezing, like the freezing of the trees and breaking the limbs off here in Austin. They don't have all those problems on the higher planets. In many ways the heavenly planets are like the spiritual world, although it's temporary also. The heavenly planets. So we're here in the middle. And Prabhupada said here's the evidence of the heavenly planets. Let's see. Oh yeah, the first sentence, yeah. Demigods never touch the surface of the earth. They come here, they are floating, they don't actually touch the earth. They come here, but when they come, they won't even touch the earth. They are like contaminated by touching this middle planetary system with their feet.

So, yeah, Anything else? We have questions rolling in now too. Let's see now. I remember to talk slowly. I have a tendency to talk like a machine gun. To talk more slowly and deliberately so it's easier for you all to absorb what I am saying. So I have to tell you this, I give you this like a meal that you can easily digest what I am saying and go in. So now I am going to deliberately try to slow down here and speak in a more slow way.

Paramhamsa : Srila Gurudev, if Krishna consciousness is common sense why the common people do not understand it?

Sankarshan Das : Because they are being misguided by the propaganda mongers. I remember there was an ad when I was a kid, New Ultra Bright Toothpaste. The ad went, New Ultra Bright Toothpaste gives your mouth sex appeal. Like sex appeal is a wonderful thing. You have to go after sex appeal. They have no idea of the value of Brahmacharya, of giving up sex. That's considered the ideal thing for a man actually, to give up sex. But if one is too much carried away by sex desire, then let him get married and have a Krishna conscious wife and raise Krishna conscious children. That's properly utilizing sex. But actually the ideal thing, the Brahmacharis, if they stay Brahmachari their whole life and then become Sannyasis, the ideal thing in Vedic culture is to give up sex life. But the propaganda, as a kid growing up watching television, the propaganda is sex appeal, you need to have sex appeal, sex appeal. So you can attract a girl so you can have sexual intercourse and enjoy yourself. That was the whole propaganda. Let's see here.

Sadbhuja das : Srila Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada translates living entities are part and parcel of Krishna. Not just part of Krishna in there, why any difference?

Sankarshan Das : Part and parcel has a meaning, it's a common phrase in the English language amongst learned scholars. The common people don't use this term part and parcel but it has been used by learned scholars and philosophers. So I would suggest you can do some research on the internet and see how it's utilized by the learned class of men, part and parcel. So Prabhupada has taken from the learned class of men, the philosopher class, he has taken a phrase which is common to them and you put it into his books and his lectures. You are looking at it now part and parcel? Oh you are not. Somebody can look that up on the internet, part and parcel. It is definitely used by philosophers and learned scholars.

Bhaktin Priti : Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev, Please accept my humble obeisances. How to be determined to take your Grace's instructions as my life and soul?

Sankarshan Das : This is a very important question that Bhaktin Priti has asked. How should one take the instructions of the spiritual master as one's very life and soul? Well, the thing is how to be determined to do it is one question, but you have to go back, take a step further and say why should you be determined to do it. The how will automatically come if you understand why. If you don't understand why, the how will not come. Go back to why should I be determined to accept the spiritual master's order as my very life and soul. Spiritual Master's orders are not coming from the Spiritual Master. He is just the delivery man. Just like you may be suffering with financial difficulty, some wealthy person decided to help you out and he sent you a cashier's check for $1 million. Now he doesn't give you that cashier's check directly, he gives it to some delivery service like FedEx for example. It doesn't work in the common mail but something more secure like FedEx. You give it to the FedEx and the FedEx man comes to your door and he hands it to you. Now that FedEx man is having a hard time paying his monthly rent right now, because he just got a higher level apartment, he's having a tough time paying for his rent, but he just gave you a cashier's check for a million dollars. So the spiritual master may not be perfect, but he's delivering you the knowledge from the perfect. That is his perfection. He may be lacking in perfection personally because he is delivering you the knowledge from the perfect person, the instructions coming from the perfect person, the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the line of the disciplic succession. Therefore what he is giving you is perfect. So if you take the instructions delivered by the spiritual master, coming from Krishna himself, then you achieve perfection. You get out of the sufferings of material existence and you regain your eternal identity as a servant of Krishna in his transcendental pastimes in the spiritual world. So if you understand why you should do it, then naturally you will be determined to do it. It's like you are drowning in a river and somebody says, it's pitch black, you can't see anything, it was a pitch black night, there was no moon, you're drowning in a river, you don't know what to do, you're crying, help, help, And somebody says, just come this way, you can hear my voice. Come this direction, we have a boat. Just come, you can't see anything, my dear drowning person, but you can hear the sound of my voice. You just swim towards me to the sound of my voice, and when you reach out, you'll find a boat. Just reach your arms up and I will grab you. Just swim to my voice and get close to me and hold your arms up and I will grab you and pull you back into the boat. So how determined you will be to follow the instructions because you understand this will liberate me from drowning in this river right now. So when you actually understand the importance of why you should follow the instructions of the spiritual master, it's a matter of life, spiritual life or death. It is a matter of getting out of the cycle of birth and death or remaining caught up becoming an animal or something like that in my next birth or a worm or a germ even. Why I should stay in this cycle of birth and death? By taking the spiritual master's order I'll become liberated, I'll regain my original identity in the spiritual world. So naturally you understand why it's important, you understand, you will naturally be determined to do it. I want to force you to be determined. You be determined naturally. Okay. Question number 2, also from Bhaktin Priti.

Bhaktin Priti : We are programmed since childhood to think like we are these bodies. And as Your Grace mentions, everyone in the society reinforces us to think like that. So Gurudev, how to be strong enough to face all this nonsense without being, getting deviated from our actual path.

Sankarshan Das : That's why association is very important Bhaktin Priti. Just like that very nice verse,

saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ

One develops one's consciousness according to the association that he keeps.

So the point is you have to associate with the spiritual master and the devotees as much as possible every day. And that association is also there in the form of Prabhupada's books. And you can even go on YouTube and type in Prabhupada, but avoid all the nonsense. But you can even go on YouTube and type in Prabhupada and see the whole lecture. Yesterday I watched a lecture he gave in Melbourne. Very wonderful lecture, it went for a whole hour and 10 minutes. So I got to associate with Prabhupada for an hour and 10 minutes yesterday. Just sitting there and hearing Prabhupada, seeing his facial expressions, his gestures, his tone of voice, his style of delivery, it was very, very powerful associating with Srila Prabhupada for a whole hour. So the point is, read Prabhupada's books, you can see Prabhupada on YouTube, you can go to the temple, you can come on our online classes here every day. Associate, associate, associate as much as possible with the devotees and then you'll be empowered. You go out into the material world, you'll be empowered to give Krishna to them. Instead of being overpowered by their association, you can go out into the world and overpower them with your association. That's called preaching. Lord Caitanya said,

yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa

āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Whomever you meet, instruct them in the teachings of Krishna and in this way on my order you become a guru and you deliver the people of this world. So instead of being overwhelmed by their association Bhaktin Priti, you go out and overwhelm them with your association. Go out there and make the world Krishna conscious. Let's see if we have any other questions from Bhakta Rob. Or from Vrijakishore Das Brahmachari. Are from your listeners in Lithuania.

He is doing translations in Lithuania. It is amazing how you can hear the lecture and translate at the same time. He has mystic powers, the Brahmachari mystic powers of a Brahmachari. I can never translate and keep hearing. Can I imagine hearing something and translating at the same time? It's amazing. So here we go, Bhakta Gabriel.

Bhakta Gabriel : Could you, Srila Gurdeva, please kindly explain what does realizing the Supreme Brahman mean?

Sankarshan Das : Bhakta Gabriel, we are not interested in Supreme Brahman realization as a stand alone thing. We have no interest in it. But philosophically Brahman realization means everything is spirit. Everything actually, ultimately everything is spiritual because it's all emanating from the Supreme Spirit. See everything is spiritual, that's one aspect. Everything is emanating from God himself. It's all spiritual. Everything is God's energy. That's one way of seeing Brahman. Everything is God's energy. And therefore, but then you come higher to Bhagavan realization. Brahman, you see everything is the energy of God. Yes, It's all Brahman, the energy of God. It's like the sun and the sunshine are one and the same. The sunshine is considered the sun in one sense. But in the higher level, if everything is energy of God, everything will be used in His service. Then you come to Bhagavan realization. So to simply say everything is spirit, that's very nice, but what are you going to do? If You don't engage in His service, you try to engage in your service. That way you become overwhelmed and fall back into material existence.

Bhaktin Priti : Clearly explains Srila Gurudev.

Sankarshan Das : Oh clearly, thank you, Bhaktin Priti, that you clearly understand that now you become an empowered agent who can transform them into Vaishnavas by your spiritual potencies. You become fixed up now so you can have that full potency. You can become fixed and chanting 16 rounds. Are you chanting 16 rounds now, Bhaktin Priti? 16 rounds every day? Now you can answer, type it in. We can actually have you speak. I'm not so good at hearing, but I'll try. I'll try. Oh, you are, okay. And are you following the 4 regulative principles? No illicit sex, no meat eating, no intoxication, no gambling. Okay. So, how soon are you getting initiated? Are you recommended for initiation by one of your ISKCON authorities then?

Bhaktin Priti : Not yet.

Sankarshan Das : So, you need to move in that direction, get recommended for initiation, then you become an empowered representative. Just like a judge for example. He's empowered to make decisions on behalf of the government when he's fully authorized and fully installed as a judge. Not that anybody can be a judge because they want to be. You have to be put in that position, you have to be an authorized person in that position. You can make judgments on behalf of the state. You have been made an authorized judge. So you have to become an authorized representative of our disciplic succession by taking initiation. Anything else? Everybody satisfied now? Okay.

All right, we'll stop. Nothing else? Okay. Everything is okay. We'll Go ahead and stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare