Our Sweet Lord Krishna

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Hare Krishna,

Our Sweet Lord Krishna

There is nothing so sublime sweet as remembering our beloved Lord Krishna. How beautiful He is ! He's standing there on the bank of the river Yamuna playing on His flute producing the most inconceivably enchanting melodies the likes of which no other musician can come even remotely close to duplicating. From His unlimitedly relishable Vrindavan pastimes He's beckoning all of us to come and join Him.

Obtaining His mercy is not difficult. All we have to do is become expert in the art of remembering Him.

yad-anudhyasina yuktah

karma-granthi-nibandhanam

chindanti kovidas tasya

ko na kuryat katha-ratim

"With sword in hand, intelligent men cut through the binding knots of reactionary work [karma] by remembering the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, who will not pay attention to His message?" Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.15

Currently we are in the midst of a devastating storm known as the Kali Yuga, the Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy. The world civilization is falling apart at the seams. It is gradually deteriorating more and more into ever-increasing chaos. A devotee of Krishna , feeling compassion upon the suffering souls of this age, is of course very unhappy to see such a situation. But at the same time he is always able to remain blissful and

peaceful within his heart by constantly taking shelter of Lord Krishna's holy names:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

He is also very happily engaging in spreading Krishna-bhakti to others because he knows that the more the movement of Krishna-bhakti spreads, the more the influence of the Kali Yuga will decrease. The spreadng of Krishna-bhakti will eventually lead to a complete reversal of the downward trend. Then the world atmosphere will gradually become like the Satya Yuga, the Age of Spiritual Enlightenment. May that day come soon.

 

 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Questions and Answers

Question -1

Topics of Devotional Service

My Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I have some questions. Could you please explain to me topics of devotional service more thoroughly? If I understand it correctly, there are nine types of devotional service activities. I don’t quite understand the following :

1. Serving the Lord's lotus feet.

2. Worshiping.

3. Executing the Lord's orders.

4. Fraternizing .

5. Fully surrendering.

Does the 1st principle mean that we have to offer our food, thoughts and deeds to Lord Krishna?

Does the 2nd principle mean the same what the 3rd or just offering our bows to the Lord?

What does the 4th principle mean? How the Lord gives us orders?

What does the 5th principle mean?

I hope I understand it right that (3) remembering is remembering throughout the day by chanting, offering our thoughts and deed and (5) praying is praying to progress in the devotional service for Krishna and not to fall.

My Dear Srila Gurudeva, please guide me.

Yours sincere servant,

 

Roman

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Devotional Service Explained

My Dear Roman,

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Devotional service or Krishna-bhakti consists of nine different types of activities as follows:

1. Hearing about the name, fame, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Krishna 2. Chanting about them 3. Remembering them 4. Serving the Lord's lotus feet 5. Worshipping the Lord 6. Praying to the Lord 7. Executing the Lord's orders 8. Making friendship with the Lord (fraternizing) 9. Surrendering everything unto the Lord.

Srila Prabhupada describes serving the Lord's lotus feet as "Being intensely attached to thinking of the Lord's lotus feet."

Worshipping is the Deity worship being conducted in the temple. By coming to the temple and observing the arati ceremony you are worshipping the Lord.

If you consider yourself to be Krishna's eternal servant and you follow the instructions given in the Bhagavad-gita , you are executing the Lord's orders.

Lord Krishna wants everyone to surrender to Him because everyone is constitutionally His servant. Therefore if you preach the philosophy of Krishna-bhakti requesting everyone to surrender unto Him, then you are acting as His sincere friend, fraternizing with Him.

Surrendering everything to the Lord means offering Krishna everything, including one's body, mind, intelligence and whatever one may possess.

Offering your food to the Lord comes under the category of worship.

Offering your thoughts to the Lord comes under the category of remembering the Lord.

Offering your deeds falls under the category of surrendering everything unto the Lord.

There are actually a lot of overlaps between the nine different aspects of bhakti yoga. But that's all right. The whole point is to become completely absorbed in Krishna-bhakti.

Your understanding is correct in regards to remembering and praying.

Your eternal well-wisher,

 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Question -2

Fate and different Deities

Hare Krishna.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada. My sincere obeisances to all the Gurus.

Kindly guide me on the following:

A) People say that whatever happens will happen. Brahma Ki Barah. Whatever Brahma God has written on the fate will happen. Is it right ? If so then why one has to believe the existence of God except Brahma in the first place.

B) Every person in this world is worshipping at least one Deity. Many people are worshipping many Deities too as I do. I feel it's very difficult for all to come out from all this worship. As my experience is that many a times I am blessed/ helped by these Deities in different ways as I have been realizing. What's the solution?

C) To concentrate stubbornly in the devotional service to Krishna , the tired day may not allow even if I wish to chant Hare Krishna with full wish. I wish....... I chant today so many times but I am unable to do so..... partly because I am lazy & partly because I am tired mentally & may be physically too. Why can't I come out from laziness.

D) Some people has the quick grasping power problem, listening problem like me. I am facing these problems personally & also at my office / office related workings. How one can come out from this?

E) Further I strongly feel that, Krishna’s servants should endeavor to encourage the movement of spreading Krishna Consciousness in every primary School. I say this because if the person starts this at his child age he/she will be more conscious towards Krishna. Then there won't be any hurdle in his/ her life in achieving the Krishna's mercy. I am writing this because I am facing lot of problems as I become too lazy now { may be it's because my day to day routine tiredness, mental & physical unfitness etc}, & it's very difficult for me to come out of this & concentrate fully on devotional service for the Lord .

Kindly guide me on all the above. I am truly sorry for wasting your very precious time.

Yours sincerely,

 

Thimmappa

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Please Fix Your Mind on Sri Krishna, the God of Gods

My Dear Thimmappa,

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I am responding to your points as follows :

A) God has given you the ability to choose either spiritual life or material life. This is not controlled by fate. This is controlled by you.

B) Whatever help a particular Devata is giving you is being provided by the Supreme God Sri Krishna through the medium of that Devata. If you give all of your worship to the Krishna you will get all of desires fulfilled. Why shop here and there going all over town, when you can finish all of your shopping in one stop?. Please fix your mind on Sir Krishna, the God of Gods and worship Him with total faith and devotion.

C) If you love someone you will not be lazy in the matter of serving them. You will take the opportunity to serve them to be the greatest blessing. If you love Lord Krishna there will be no question of laziness. You will find great joy in serving Him and never feel tired.

D) To improve concentration, practice celibacy and drink hot milk at night before retiring.

E) We accept your proposal that Krishna conscious education should be provided at the primary school level to every child in the entire world. Kindly dedicate your life for helping us to make this a practical reality.

Your eternal well-wisher,

 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Question -3

One God or Many Gods

Dear Gurudeva,

There are many gods and goddesses and several mantras to chant, and there are references that Sri Ramachandra worshipped the mother goddess to kill Ravana. Lord Krishna chanted Gayatri Maha Mantra. Why do you insist to follow Vishnu or Krishna alone? While following Lord Krishna or Vishnu should we ignore others? Do each God really want own names to be chanted by the people on the earth? I understand that God wants us to act as per His will and we must learn to know what we should do or should not do