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You've probably heard of the universe, it's that place where, like, everyone lives. Is it all it's made out to be? Bhaktin Dora gives a review of the material world in this interesting article. The material world and the life we live within it is unnatural for the self. First of all we have to realize, which is not difficult, that the living being is always subject to distress. Indeed, during his life, the living being is forced to undertake all sorts of actions with the only aim being to satisfy his family, society, nation and so on. From the very beginning of his life, even a baby is subject to suffering; his parents are not being able to understand when he tries to express himself, and they give him food or medicine without understanding the cause of these cries. When childhood comes, he is forced to go to school without anyone understanding the usefulness of such so-called education. At school, the child encounters all sorts of difficulties with his classmates, teachers or parents. Indeed, everyone here is demanding results from others, so he will be forced to obey the so-called authorities. Then comes the time when we become young adults; society asks us to choose a job that we will practice all our life in order to feed and house ourselves. So every morning we go to work, and only in the evening we come back to rest. For most of us, this kind of life; eating, sleeping and working very hard for needs as simple as food and a place to rest, is normality. Of course, in the meantime, diseases are added to the picture, and consequently our body makes us suffer in different ways throughout our life. We are subject to constant pain, sometimes physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes psychological. These pains are only due to the fact that we do not know who we are, and who is our eternal benefactor. All these sufferings are not natural for the soul. Why should we suffer? Why is this life synonymous with distress? Simply because we are not in the right place. Let us consider our true nature first, and then understand that we have the right to happiness and that anxiety is not natural for the soul. As a matter of fact, all the problems of existence stem from misunderstanding our true nature. The identification with the body is the source of all anxiety since it generates pseudo duties towards society or our family. But these are all illusory and temporary. As this body is perishable, so are the joys and sorrows that accompany it. The soul, on the other hand, is imperishable and eternal and is not subject to the uncomfortable moments that the body is forced to undergo. The soul is eternally bound to the Lord, the Supreme Self, and enjoys unlimited bliss. The mass of men have no knowledge of their eternal, spiritual nature, which is why they strive to serve their gross material senses without ever being satisfied, for as this body is temporary, so are all the actions that are performed on the material level. But the human life is not meant for the gratification of the senses. It is a fact that all living beings on earth eat, sleep have sex and defend themselves. It is not necessary to be an advanced being to live like that. Dogs, cats, insects and everything else moving and non-moving can perform these four gross activities. But the intelligent man must realize that his human form is more advanced and that the purpose of life is not to live like a dog. It is plain to see that great researchers, scientists or philosophers are all humans. We have never seen cats or dogs in politics or making mathematical calculations. Since we have, however, seen animals eating, sleeping, reproducing and defending themselves, we can conclude that such primal activities do not require great intelligence. A sensible man has to understand and question the purpose of his existence in order to avoid living like an animal. If he wants to stop suffering, he will have to inquire about his real identity. His real identity is the only thing that can fulfill him since it is eternally linked to the Lord. He may try to serve his senses, his family or society, but he will never be free from anxiety. The only way to be free is to know one’s eternal nature, which is to serve God, Krishna, the Supreme Person. This is the real freedom. Not this so-called freedom, to satisfy one's own desires, which can only lead one into the darkness of illusion. This human life is therefore meant for the supreme realization, and it is the only way to escape the clutches of matter. is the world a good place

When the gopis felt to be the most fortunate women in the universe, Krishna immediately disappeared from their sight and was nowhere to be found. Krishna accepts everyone's service, but He does not like one devotee to proudly consider himself better than others. If sometimes there are such feelings, Krsna ends them by changing His attitude toward the devotee. Similarly, when Lord Brahma became bewildered by seeing Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in his original form of a cowherd boy, he started doubting whether he is an ordinary boy of this world and thus attempted to test the Lord by stealing all his cowherd boyfriends. But Krishna, through his inconceivable potency immediately manifested transcendental replacements for the stolen friends, which obliged Lord Brahma to fall at His feet and beg for forgiveness. Yet another example of such "curbing of devotee's pride" is the transcendental pastime of lifting the Govardhana hill. Lord Indra, the superintendent of the heavenly planets became furious when Krishna stopped his yajna, sacrifice and instead advised the inhabitants of Vrndavana to worship the famous Govardhana Hill. Everything in Vrndavana is non-different from the Lord and thus everything in Vrndavana is as much worshipabble as the Lord. In fact, Lord Krishna would be incomplete without His dear associates, His pastimes, His holy abode (Goloka Vrndavana). The land of Vrndavana with Govardhana Hill that can be found even today on Indian soil are the transcendental replicas of the original abode of the Lord in the spiritual sky. So when Lord Indra heard of this rebellion of the inhabitants of Vrndavana and how they used the various worship paraphenelia that was meant for his worship to worship the Govardhana Hill, he sends torrents of devastating rainfall with the idea to wipe out Krishna, His associate and the village of Vrndavana off the surface of the world. He became intoxicated with his power as the superindenting demigod and considered himself to be the supreme authority on all matters. Shrila Prabhupada explains: "Demonically, Indra thought himself to be the all-powerful supreme personality. When demons become very powerful, they defy the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead. Indra, though not a demon, was puffed up by his material position, and he wanted to challenge the supreme controller. He thought himself, at least for the time being, as powerful as Krishna.(KB 25: Devastating Rainfall in Vrndavana)" Thus he sent the most powerful of his various rainclouds to flood Krishna and his associates. Krishna then lifted the Govardhana Hill and thus protected all his devotees under a gigantic umbrella. This curbed the pride of Indra who came to his senses and begged for forgiveness for his offenses. One can easily become bewildered by Krishna's pastimes and by His transcendental personality. Krishna as He is is not manifested to the impersonalists and to the gross materialists. For them He is covered by His yoga maya potency and thus they think of Him as an ordinary man. Krishna says: "All of them-as they surrender unto Me-I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha." (Bg.4.11) Similarly, it depends on the attitude of the devotee whether Krishna reveals Himself to him or not. It is therefore important for the conditioned souls not to be proud and not envy the Lord. Otherwise their internal vision of Krishna becomes killed by their offenses. Just as one should not envy the Lord, one should similarly not envy the devotees. We may mention that just like Indra became a victim of mundane pride, sometimes even great sannyasis and preachers become victimed by false pride and in their envy they commit serious offenses that pushed them down to the level of impersonalists etc. Shrila Prabhupada states that he was also envied by some of his unscrupulous Godbrothers in his grhasta lila: "Although they knew that Prabhupada liked me very much, because I am grhastha, I was known as paca-grhastha. Paca-grhastha means a rotten grhastha. And now they say, 'This grhastha has come out more than us? What is this?'" (Morning Walk -- February 3, 1976, Mayapura) Then later on such offensive Godbrothers were taught a lesson, in a fashion similar to Indra's, when the true preaching glory and ability was exhibited by the personality of Srila Prabhupada by distributing the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world and thus fulfilling the prophecy of Lord Chaitanya who said that the holy name of Krishna will be heard in every town and village. One should therefore never judge Krishna nor his devotees by their external features and through the vision of materialistic minds, but should carefully consider everything through the vision of guru, sadhu and sastra. Shrila Prabhupada notes: "Those who think that Krishna consciousness is limited to a certain section of people, a certain section of devotees or a certain tract of land are generally prone to see the external features of the devotee. Such neophytes, unable to appreciate the exalted service of the advanced devotee, try to bring the maha-bhagavata to their platform. (NoI: verse 6 purport) The Lord out of His causeless mercy always curbs the pride of such neophyte devotees by making his devotees successful despite all the obstacles that they face in propagating the Krishna conscious philosophy as it is just like He curbs the pride of demigods when they forget His supreme position.

During the month of Kartik, there are many special festivals for lord Krishna. Join us for Sri Govardhan Puja, on the 2nd, and the disappearance day of Srila Prabhupada, on the 5th of November. Check out the link here .

People are talking about a Third World War, and all I can think is, "Again with this war nonsense?" The second World War just finished and there was a lot of agony: millions of people were killed. It seems like there's enough evil already, but no, It can't stop. People are talking about a Third World War, and all I can think is, "Again with this war nonsense?" The second World War just finished and there was a lot of agony: millions of people were killed. It seems like there's enough evil already, but no, It can't stop. Because war is going on always. There is always some kind of war going on somewhere, not only on this Earth planet but on all planets. The nature of this material creation is that we must fight in order to survive. One living entity is eaten by another living entity.  We fight because we want to artificially occupy the land which does not even belong to us. Everything is possessed by Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. We just came across some property and claimed that "this is mine." Does just saying It mean I am the proprietor? Of course not. If you find some wallet on the street, you must understand that you have found it because somebody had already possessed it before. So all the creations and universes belong to Krishna, including the spiritual world. A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries. [BG 5.29] So, you might just so called find something, "Oh, this is a nice car, let me take it." But why don't you ask the question, "Who is the possessor of that thing?" Let's say you find him out, "Mr. John." Okay, now who possesses the materials for constructing that car? Who put them into nature? Mr. John? Mr. Richard? No, It's Krishna. That is stated In the Bhagavad Gita. The proprietary is written right there. Just like you have on papers written, that this car belongs to you, in the same way, Krishna has said: "Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies." [BG 7.4] And because of this false proprietary claim, there is war and conflict. "This is mine, this belongs to the Americans, this to the Indians and this to Africans etc. We fight like this because we want to exploit each other for resources and wealth. Krishna gives you a quota that you possess, and it that is confirmed in the Isopanishad, "Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." [ISO 1] Considering Krishna is the proprietor of everything in this material world and the spiritual world, everything should used for His pleasure, isn't it? You have borrowed it and a borrowed thing should be returned back to the original proprietor. We must understand that all we have are from and for Krishna and we should used them in order to please Him, in the way He wants. Otherwise any kind of political strategies or organizations etc. won't help you to stop war. People serve their senses which can be never satisfied. The senses are masters you will never satisfy, and they will torture you, until the urge will increase and ultimately you could come to the point where you would even kill somebody just to satisfy those rascal senses. But Krishna is satisfied even if you offer Him a little water, some fruit, a leave or a flower with love. And because you satisfy the real master, Krishna, you will naturally be pleased, "oh, my master is satisfied." A servant is satisfied when his master is satisfied. In this way, we avoid unnecessary war due to constant and nonsense lusty desires. It's better to fight for pleasing Krishna the most and everybody can thus live a blissful spiritual live without any fear.

A short movie by Maitreya Rsi Prabhu to illustrate a recorded conversation with His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Laziness is one symptom of the people of the age of Kali Yuga. Even for the mundaner, indolence is an impediment to life. If you want to earn lots of money, get good grades, get fit, it takes a lot of effort. But especially for the devotee, spiritual advancement is hindered greatly by this disease. Krishna isn't so cheap. Laziness is generated from the mode of ignorance, which we must transcend in order to realize our eternally ecstatic nature. Here is what Shrila Prabhupada has to say on the topic: The Krishna conscious people, they should not be lazy. They should always remember that death is already there. Let me finish my business properly so that after death I may not be a cat and dog. (Shrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lecture, 7 December 1975, Vrndavana) Sleeping is very dangerous. It is to be understood that I am under the clutches of māyā, the more we sleep, because the symptom of tamo-guṇa is laziness and sleep. This is the symptom of tamo-guṇa, laziness and sleeping. And symptoms of rajo-guṇa—very active, but just like monkey. Monkeys are very active, but all injurious. (Shrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lecture, 31 October 1972, Vrndavana) And those who are ignorant, means one does not know what is the value of life, lying down anywhere, lazy, sleeping, unclean, do not know the value of life, they are in ignorance. They are very firmly bound up. So liberation means the more you are enlightened the value of life, the more, then you become liberated. The more you become liberated, the more you are advanced in your spiritual knowledge, sat, sat, sat-saṅga. (Bhagavad Gita Lecture, 22 August 1973, London) Krishna consciousness does not mean laziness. We do not indulge. Just like Arjuna. This Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna. He wanted to retire, that "Krishna, why You are engaging me in this battlefield? Let me retire." So Krishna did not allow him to retire. To understand his position, that is require. Retirement, how you can retire? You cannot retire. So long you have got this body you have to work. If you do not work you have to beg. If you do not beg then you have to steal or you have to borrow. How you can retire? There is no question of retire. Retire means to retire from all foolish activities and engage yourself in real activities. (Bhagavad Gita Lecture, 8 January 1969, Los Angeles) So we have to be enthusiastic, "Yes, I shall become Krishna's devotee." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. Krishna says, "Worship Me," so we should be very much enthusiastic to worship Krishna, offer maṅgala-ārātrika, rise early in the morning. These are all enthusiasm, utsāha. Those who are not enthusiastic, lazy, lethargetic, they cannot advance in spiritual life. Simply sleeping, they cannot make. One must be very, very enthusiastic, positive. Utsāhād dhairyāt. Dhairya means patience, not that "Because I have begun devotional service with great enthusiasm..." So you are already on the perfectional platform, but if you become impatient that "Why I am not becoming perfect? Sometimes why māyā is kicking me?" Yes. That is habitual. That will go on. It will stop. Niśchayāt. Dhairyāt, niścayāt, that "When Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja ( BG 18.66 ), now I have given up everything. I have no other occupational duties. Simply to serve Krishna. So when I have taken to it, then niścaya, Krishna will surely give me protection." That is called niścaya. Don't be disappointed. Krishna is not a false speaker. (Shrimad Bhagavatam Lecture, 7 January 1975, Bombay)

The living entities that reside in the three planetary systems of the material manifestation are suffering from a dangerous virus called Bhava Roga. This Bhava Roga virus means that a living entity assumes the false identity of the supreme purusha and tries to lord it over the resources of the material nature. By doing so, he becomes further and further entangled in the complexities of material existence and suffers birth, death, old age and disease. How to detect whether someone has the bhava roga virus? We must look at the symptoms of this disease? The most common sign of the Bhava Roga disease is the loss of taste in terms of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Another sign of someone being infected with this disease is the material fever. Material fever makes the living entity foolish enough to identify with the material body made of flesh, bones, blood and mucus and pursue the senseless sense gratification as the aim of life. Thus one becomes the victim of lust, which can never be satisfied and which burns like fire. No matter how much fuel we supply to the fire, it is never extinguished by such a process. Similarly, no matter how much we try to gratify our senses or subtle mind, they are never satisfied. To the contrary, our desire for sense satisfaction is ever increasing resulting in the so-called material advancement of knowledge where modern politicians simply cry the words of desperation when threatened with the atomic holocaust, which may destroy everyone. Any intelligent person must take careful precaution and protect himself against the infection of bhava roga and socially distance himself from the asat-sanga, unwanted association of karmis, jnanis and yogis and take the spiritual vacc*ne of the bhava-bhakti brought to this world by the greatest philanthropist of mankind of the name Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This spiritual vacc*ine can be injected aurally through the channel of bona fide disciplic succession of bona fide spiritual masters and must be taken under authorized supervision. One cannot come to the bhava bhakti all of a sudden but must first of all search out an authorized sadhana bhakti center, where he learns first of all the practice of our long forgotten relationship with the Supreme Lord Krishna by following the rules and regulations of the scriptures presented by the spiritual master. This va*ccine must be injected through the ear by hearing the transcendental science from an authorized spiritual physician, the spiritual master who is a certified representative of Lord Chaitanya. As Shrila Prabhupada writes: "His Divine Grace the spiritual master can kindle the spiritual fire from the wood like living entity by imparting proper spiritual messages injected through the receptive ear. Therefore one is required to approach the proper spiritual master with receptive ears only, and thus divine existence is gradually realized." (SB 1.2.32 purport) In this way, one gains immunity against the deadly disease of bhava roga even though he might be situated in the contaminated area of the material world. Those who suffer lack of taste for the transcendental topics of the Lord and yet do not take the sankirtana vac*ccine of hearing from the bona fide spiritual master become the dangerous anti-vaxxers, who simply spread misinformation in the form of impersonal philosophy. It is better that such dangerous anti-vaxxer put on a mask over their mouths in the form of mona vrata (the vow of silence) just so that the virus of bhava roga cannot spread any further.

The following purport by Shrila Prabhupada urges us to spread the teachings of Krishna consciousness all around the world. Knowledge is meant for distribution. Although there is already much scientific knowledge, whenever scientists or philosophers awaken to a particular type of knowledge, they try to distribute it throughout the world, for otherwise the knowledge gradually dries up and no one benefits from it. India has the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, but unfortunately, for some reason or other, this sublime knowledge of the science of God was not distributed throughout the world, although it is meant for all of human society. Therefore Krishna Himself appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and ordered all Indians to take up the cause of distributing the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita throughout the entire world. yare dekha, tare kaha 'krishna'-upadesha amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa "Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krishna as they are given in Bhagavad-gita and Shrimad-Bhagavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land." (Cc. Madhya 7.128) Although India has the sublime knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, Indians have not done their proper duty of distributing it. Now, therefore, the Krishna consciousness movement has been set up to distribute this knowledge as it is, without distortion. Although previously there were attempts to distribute the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, these attempts involved distortion and compromise with mundane knowledge. But now the Krishna consciousness movement, without mundane compromises, is distributing Bhagavad-gita as it is, and people are deriving the benefits of awakening to Krishna consciousness and becoming devotees of Lord Krishna. Therefore the proper distribution of knowledge has begun by which not only will the whole world benefit, but India's glory will be magnified in human society. Kamsa tried to arrest Krishna consciousness within his house (bhojendra-gehe), with the result that Kamsa, with all his opulences, was later vanquished. Similarly, the real knowledge of Bhagavad-gita was being choked by unscrupulous Indian leaders, with the result that India's culture, and knowledge of the Supreme were being lost. Now, however, because Krishna consciousness is spreading, the proper use of Bhagavad-gita is being attempted. SB 10.2.19

Here is a brand new vlog of the B.L.I.S.S Harinam, 12/10/2024. Watch the vlog here !

Shrila Prabhupada refers to school as the ‘slaughterhouse of the soul’. This is what he has to say about the modern education system. There are two kind of men, dhira and adhira. The modern education is producing only the adhira class who are neither sober or educated. (Prabhupada) Actually, at the present moment there is no education, because education means to understand my identity. The so-called education which is going on, that is called art… The modern education, they are simply giving lessons on some art, generally known as technology… But we do not know what is going to happen next life, my soul. That we do not. (B.G class, 17/02/75, Mexico) This life is preparation for the next life. That they do not know. The modern education and its universities are completely in darkness about this simple knowledge. (Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers) The defect of modern education is that the children are taught all nonsense things. They do not receive even the first point of knowledge, that I am pure spirit soul part and parcel of God. (Prabhupada)

Our dear Krishna Prema Mataji was recently featured on the national television show, 'First Dates.' The title of the show is self explanatory, but to give some insight into the premise of the show, two strangers from the UK are paired to go on a first date, and at the end of the show they discuss wether or not they want to see each other again. Watch the preview here !

Another stark description of the world's situation by Shrila Prabhupada. Without reference to the supreme power of the Personality of Godhead, demons assert themselves to be independent kings and presidents, and thus they create a disturbance by increasing their military power. When such disturbances are very prominent, Krishna appears. At present also, various demoniac states all over the world are increasing their military power in many ways, and the whole situation has become distressful. Therefore Krishna has appeared by His name, in the Hare Krishna movement, which will certainly diminish the burden of the world. Philosophers, religionists, and people in general must take to this movement very seriously, for man-made plans and devices will not help bring peace on earth. The transcendental sound Hare Krishna is not different from the person Krishna. nama chintamanih krishnas chaitanya-rasa-vigrahah purnah suddho nitya-mukto 'bhinnatvan nama-naminoh [Cc. Madhya 17.133] (Padma Purana) There is no difference between the sound Hare Krishna and Krishna the person. SB 10.1.23 SB 10.1.23 purport