Diving Ever Deeper in to the Transcendental Bliss of Krishna-bhakti

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Hare Krishna !

( Discourse by His Grace Sankarshan Das Adhikari)

"Gaur Pahu" is a famous song, by Narottam Das Thakur. In this song, Narottam Das expresses his intense lamentation that he was not able to absorb himself in bhakti-yoga (devotional service) . He laments in a deep anguished mood his separation from Krishna-bhakti . A newcomer to the science of bhakti may find this song strange wondering why should a great enlightened spiritual master like Narottam Das Thakur be lamenting that he was not able to absorb himself in Krishna-bhakti . But actually this mood of separation is the highest ecstasy of the great liberated souls . Even in this material world we can note that when a lover is separated from her beloved that her feelings of love for him become even more intense. This mood of separation is called `vipralambha' in Sanskrit, and it is the hallmark, the distinguishing characteristic, of the great liberated souls . By hearing and singing their songs of separation and trying to enter into this mood of lamenting our lack of Krishna-Bhakti we advance very quickly on the pathway back to home, back to Lord Krishna and can thus always taste the sweetest nectar diving ever deeper into the unlimited ocean of transcendental bliss.

Krishna-bhakti is the quintessence, the purest essence, of our existence because we are constitutionally lovers of God . All attempts to be something other than Krishna's pure devotee are contrived ; they are artificial . Why should we strive so hard to be something that we are not, when we can easily and naturally be what we are? This return to our original pure consciousness is called Krishna-bhakti . To achieve it is the only real purpose of our existence. We imagine so many other purposes, but we never become satisfied by pursuing or achieving them. Therefore, instead of wasting any more time and energy, we should simply focus ourselves on one goal and one goal only, namely to become pure lovers of Sri Krishna . Only this totally focused life will give us actual peace of mind .

Questions and Answers

Question -1

Are the descriptions of the Vedas realistic ?... I heard that there are many descriptions in the Vedas that are not logical . I find many of them to be very far fetched. Can you set my mind at ease over this ? Volkmar

Answer

Perfect Knowledge Beyond Our Material Senses... The Vedas are full of many, many descriptions that would be considered far fetched by the ordinary layman . We think that they are far-fetched because we think we know everything about the universe. The real fact is that our senses are very limited . And even though we expand our limited senses through microscopes, telescopes etc. we still remain very limited in what we can perceive. The real fact is that we are perceiving the tip of the iceberg at best. We know hardly anything significant about this universe, what to speak of the spiritual world . Our senses are limited and our knowledge is therefore also very limited . The Vedic wisdom is coming from God Himself and from enlightened Sages who transcended the limits of their material senses and gained perfect knowledge of everything. We can choose which scientists to believe : 1. The material scientists who are constantly changing their theories and who have given us a world that is ever-increasingly polluted and chaotic, or 2. The Vedic scientists whose knowledge does not change and who liberate us from the miseries of life . The results of following the Vedic scientists are scientifically verifiable if we will open-mindedly perform the Krishna-bhakti experiment upon ourselves.

Question – 2

Immediate or Eventual Transfer to Next Body?... There is a saying , "The next body is already determined by superior control. The living entity immediately gives up the present body and enters another." In our various scriptures, it is said that after death, the Atma has to go before Yamaraj, where he will be told about his karma and he will have to bear the fruits of the sinful activities he committed in his life. This seems to contradict the idea about immediate transfer to the next body. Kindly oblige me with clarification; as per your convenience, time availability and finishing your priority jobs.

With kind regards, Raj Mukut Lal Chopra

Answer

Time is Relative... Srila Prabhupada describes in his Srimad Bhagavatam purport : "The conclusion is that the next body is already determined by superior control. The living entity immediately gives up the present body and enters another." purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 4.29.76-77 It is also described in detail in the Third Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam how at the time of death the sinful living is dragged to the court of Yamaraj, the God of Death, to be punished for his sinful activities before he enters his next body . So how can both descriptions be true ? Just as a nightmare, which lasts for a few seconds only, is experienced as a seemingly endless tortuous experience, similarly the sinful living passes briefly through Yamaraja's abode in his subtle body in an experience that seems like an eternity. Time is relative. On the gross plane it is experienced one way and on the subtle plane it is experienced in another way. What on the gross plane can be seen as leaving one body and immediately entering another, on the subtle plane is experienced as a long tortuous side trip to the hellish regions before one enters one's next body.

Hare Krishna!!!