Beyond Bodily Consciousness--Entering the Supreme Lifestyle.

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Hare Krishna,

 

The self-realized life is the ultimate lifestyle because it elevates the

practitioner out of the realm of temporality, ignorance,and misery into the

dimension of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. In thismaterial world everyone is

striving for this. However, due to a poor fund of knowledge they are striving

for it in the wrong way. It is generally felt that money, power, and prestige

can purchase happiness, but the anxiety-ridden lives of those who have attained

money, power, and prestige proves that this is not where happiness is found.

 

Sometimes those who have wealth, influence and fame may temporarily

think they have attained happiness by these things, but sooner or later it

becomes obvious that they have not. Sadly this is usually too late for them to

be able to get free from their entanglement in the material energy to devote

their energy fully to the self-realization process.Therefore it behooves one to

solidly embark on the self-realization pathway as early as possible. In ancient

times even the young boy,Prahlada, became a great self-realized soul. In fact he

is celebrated even today as one of the twelve great Mahajanas, the most highly

realized personalities of history.

 

So how does one begin the self-realization process? The first thing you have to

realize is that you are not your body. As long as we think that the self and the

body are the same we can never become self realized. This illusory state of mind

is called bodily consciousness. The devotee of self-realization must be firmly

fixed in understanding, " I am not my body. "

 

The body is constantly changing. At every moment the old blood corpuscles are

dying and new blood corpuscles are taking their place. Just as the water in the

river is constantly changing, the cells that make up our bodies are constantly

changing. What today is a water molecule of Mississippi River water was

yesterday Ohio River water. Next week it will be Gulf of Mexico water. So what

actually is the Mississippi River? It's a place that attracts the water

molecules to flow through it . Similarly you are actually the atma, an eternal

spiritual being, who attracts the molecules that constitute your physical body

to conglomerate around you for a certain period of time until they flow

somewhere else. Just as the water molecules in the Mississippi River constantly

change, the cells that make up your body are constantly changing.

 

To enter the supreme self-realization lifestyle you must completely discard the

conception that you are male or female, black or white, old or young, Russian or

American, etc. However, simply negating your physical existence is not

sufficient. Mere negation is impractical . It does not give you any platform

on which you can function. Therefore you must positively assert your spiritual

identity . There are some philosophers who assert that the self is simply false.

But if this is the case, who is asserting that the self is false? If they

(according to their philosophy) do not exist, how can they assert that the self

is false? They cannot do so.Therefore this absurd philosophy cancels itself out

and cannot be accepted as valid.

 

It is confirmed by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita that we are not this

body:

 

dehino 'smin yatha dehe

kaumaram yauvanam jara

tatha dehantara-praptir

dhiras tatra na muhyati

 

" As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth

to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person

is not bewildered by such a change. " Bhagavad-gita 2.13

 

We can remember experiences we had when we were small children even

though the cells that constitute or make up the material body have all

changed. Therefore it is obvious that I and my body are two, not one. At the

time when someone dies we lament that they have passed away, but yet their body

is lying there in the funeral home. It is obvious from our intuitive

understanding at such moments that the self and the body and not the same. But

yet every day we get up and look into the mirror foolishly wondering, " How do I

look today? " We constantly identify the body as the self. This is our present

state of illusion.

 

By hearing the words of God from the authorized scriptures such as the

Bhagavad-gita, and by hearing the words of self-realized souls who are situated

perfectly in spiritual consciousness without any tinge of bodily consciousness,

we can understand that we are not these bodies.And then if we can fully

implement the instructions we receive from the Lord and from the spiritual

masters, we will fully realize that we are not these through the complete

awakening of our original consciousness as eternal spiritual beings.

 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

 

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

 

Question -1

 

How to Achieve Self Realization?... How can I achieve self realization? What

is the benefit of chanting Hare Krishna?

Which is the best time for chanting? .

 

Answer

 

Amazing Things...

 

The means of becoming self-realized is to fully surrender yourself at the lotus

feet of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If you will

carefully study the Bhagavad-gita , you will gain complete understanding of how

to become fully self-realized. Read the Bhagavad-gita and regularly attend the

programs related to Krishna. In this way you will learn everything you need to

know for achieving spiritual perfection. Chanting will clean all the

impurities out of your heart. It is best to chant the Hare Krishna mantra at

least 16 rounds daily on japa beads in the early morning before you begin your

daily activities.

 

 

Question - 2

 

Why is there Disunity Amongst Devotees?.. Why is there disunity between

followers of Krishna in India and the West ? Don't you think this will bring

disunity among the Indians who might think that Krishna belongs to them? Is

there a solution to this way of thinking? In the Kaliyuga this division will

further bring the world to doom. Those devotees will find it hard to accept if

there is a perceived division.

 

Answer

 

Coming to the Platform of Unity...

 

There are three types of devotees:

 

1. Kanistha adhikari

2. Madhyama adhikari

3. Uttama adhikari

 

The kanistha devotee is respectful only to the Deity in the temple. Some of them

may not know how to properly respect the devotees. The madhyama and the uttama

devotees are respectful to all devotees and all living beings.

 

The only disunity amongst devotees of God is amongst some of the kanistha

class.Whether someone is a Krishnite, a Christian, or a Muslim, if they are

prejudiced kanistha they will not give proper respect to other followers of God.

 

Amongst followers of religion we see so much fighting going on both

within and between sects. This simply means that they are kanisthas who have not

understood the real meaning of religion. Amongst those who have come at least

to the madhyama platform there is complete peace and harmony. To come this

platform we must see four divisions:

 

1. The Lord

2. The Lord's devotees

3. The innocent

4. Those who are envious of the Lord

 

The madhyama devotee surrenders to the Lord, takes the spiritual guidance of

the Lord's devotees, enlightens the innocent seekers of truth, and does not

waste time trying to enlighten those who are envious of the Lord.

 

The solution is that all religionists must at least come to the madhyama

platform. The easiest way to do this is to associate with devotees on the

madhyama platform .

 

Sankarshan Das Adhikari