Enjoy By Being, the Servant of Lord Sri Krishna

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Hare Krishna,

Enjoy By Being, the Servant of lord sri Krishna

In this material world everyone tries to enjoy by being the master. Therefore everyone is competing to get ahead of everyone else and it becomes a very bitter struggle for being the topmost enjoyer of material sense gratification. This is futile because no matter what we do we cannot be the master of this material energy. Sooner or later everyone has to bow down to old age, disease and death. So instead of trying to enjoy by being the master we should enjoy by learning how to the servant. The perfection of service is to serve Krishna, the Supreme God because when you do so you are serving everyone. How is that? Krishna is root cause of everything that exists. When you serve Him you are rendering the best service to all living beings, just as when you water the root of the tree all of the leaves and branches are served. If we want to bring in a new era of peace devoid of chaos, we must become completely free from chaos within our own hearts. As within, so without. Whatever state of being we have within will automatically have either an uplifting or downgrading influence upon the atmosphere that surrounds us.

The quickest and most effective means of purifying our consciousness is given as follows in the Kali Santarana Upanisad :

hare krsna hare krsna

krsna krsna hare hare

hare rama hare rama

rama rama hare hare

iti sodasakam namnam

kali-kalmasa-nasanam

natah parataropayah

sarva-vedesu drsyate

("After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krishna.")

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question -1

Is the Self God?

Dear Guru,You wrote, "Self-realization means to realize one's true nature as of servant of God, not that one realizes that he IS God."But dear Guru, is not the Self God? The Self is Brahman is it not? Eternal Bliss. Isn't that realizing the true nature? Even though we might not be all powerful, etc... we are still qualitatively God are we not?Is not self-realization realizing the true nature as God? Servants we may as well be, but is not the Self God? and

realizing it... is that not realizing the true nature as God and not as a servant?Thank you in advance,Ravindra

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Qualitatively God/ Quantitatively Not God

My Dear Ravindra,

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.You are correct in understanding that the self is qualitatively one with God, but this does not mean that he is God. A drop of ocean water is qualitatively one with the ocean because it possesses the same chemical composition as the entire ocean. But quantitatively there is a huge gulf of difference between the tiny drop and the entire ocean. You can float a battleship on the ocean. You cannot do this with the tiny drop.In conclusion, we can understand that the self, although qualitatively one with God, is certainly not God Himself. The self is only part of Him. As the part is always meant to serve the whole, we therefore are constitutionally meant to serve God. The self is the servant of God, and God is served by all of the selves.Our perfection is not to become God. Our perfection is to achieve true oneness and harmony with God by completely surrendering ourselves to Him. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme God commands us to fully surrender to Him. You will not find Krishna saying that we should become Him.The idea of practicing self-realization to become God is absurd. Why would God have to undergo a process of self-realization to become God?. God is always God by dint of His very nature. He doesn't have to do anything to become God. In the final analysis we can understand that God is God and "not God" is not God. Of course in one sense there is no such thing as "not God" because everything is His expanded energy. But still there is there is clear distinction between the source of the energy and the energy. God is the source and we are the energy, like the sun and the rays of the sun.Your eternal well-wisher,Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Question - 2

Does Brahman-realization necessary to attain Krishna ?

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

Does a devotee of Lord Krishna progress through Brahman realization and Paramatma realization before attaining Bhagavan realization? What are the symptoms of Brahman realization, Paramatma realization, and Bhagavan realization?

Your servant,

Hare Krishna Mohanta

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Bhagavan Realization Includes Everything

My Dear Hare Krishna,

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

No. The devotees attain Bhagavan realization directly, which automatically includes the lesser realizations: Brahman realization and Paramatma realization.

In Brahman realization one realizes the eternity aspect of the Absolute Truth. In Paramatma realization one realizes the eternity and knowledge aspects. And in Bhagavan realization one realizes eternity, knowledge, and bliss. One realizes God (Krishna) as the Supreme Person engaged in His eternal pastimes in the spiritual world.

Your eternal well-wisher,

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Question - 3

Don't We Serve God by Serving Man?

Dear Guruji, Pranam.

I am a little confused about when you say that we serve all living things when we serve Krishna. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I mean when we help someone else aren't we serving the Lord indirectly? Please enlighten me on this.

Thank you,

Nisha

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We Serve Man by Serving God

My Dear Nisha,

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

When we water the root of the tree all the leaves and branches are nourished. When we feed our stomach, we nourish all of our bodily parts. Do we feed our stomach by sticking our hand in the rice and trying to digest the rice through our skin? No. By taking the rice in our hand and feeding it to the mouth the food goes to the stomach and from the stomach the hand gets its nourishment. Our so-called service to man will always remain imperfect until we make God the absolute center of our life. We will simply render some service to their temporary material bodies without benefiting their eternal spiritual beings even the slightest bit.

In India it is popularly said, "Manav seva, Prabhu seva--Serving man is serving God," but this is a modern day misconception that is not supported in the Vedic Scriptures. The real fact, according to the Vedic wisdom, is that by serving Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we automatically give the best service to all living beings.

Please try to understand that, we cannot factually help anyone in the real sense unless we are reconnecting them with Krishna. We may provide someone with all material facilities, but they will still get sick, get old, and die. But if we can awaken their dormant Krishna-bhakti, we are eternally and unlimitedly benefiting them. They will become forever free from birth, death, old age, and disease.

In the Vedic culture material help is also given, but it is always understood to be less important than giving them Krishna-bhakti. We give material help and at the same time give them Krishna. Material help gives limited temporary relief. Krishna-bhakti gives permanent relief from all forms of suffering.

Your eternal well-wisher,

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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