Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead 5

      The material manifestation is one fourth of God’s energy. The three-fourths manifestation of His energy is the spiritual world. Paras tasmat tu bhavo ‘nyo ‘vyakto ‘vyaktat sanatanah. Besides the material world there is another nature, which is spiritual. The spiritual nature is described as para, “superior.” There are two energies working: material nature and spiritual nature. Material nature is described in the Bhagavad-gita:

bhumir apo ‘nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca

ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakrtir astadha

    These eight types of energy—earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence, and ego—make up the material nature.

    Bhinna prakrtih. They are separated energies, and they are inferior, apara. Apareyam itas tv anyam prakrtim viddhi me param. Beyond the inferior energy is another, superior energy. That is the living entity.

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     When Krishna was present five thousand years ago, He appeared in His original form of eternity, bliss, and knowledge. But the nondevotees could not understand that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because He appeared to be a human being. Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam. Mudha means less intelligent persons. They may be very great scholars, but in the matter of understanding God, they’re mudhas. Why? Mayaya apahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah—because they defy God. At present, people are mostly asuram bhavam asritah. Asuri bhava means to defy God: “There is no God. God is dead. I am God. You are God. So many Gods are loitering in the street. Why are you searching for God?”

           There are so many such statements. God has become so cheap. There are so many “incarnations” of God, especially in India. It is a breeding ground of “Gods.” That means people do not know what God is. They think God is such a cheap thing. But from the Bhagavad-gita we understand what God is. When Arjuna asked Krishna, “How are You controlling the whole cosmos?” Krishna explained, and then He concluded:

athava bahunaitena kim jnatena tavarjuna

vistabhyaham idam krtsnam ekamsena sthito jagatem

“The whole material world is sustained by a partial manifestation of My energies.”

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      This point is clearly stated not only in Bhagavad-gita but in all other Vedic scriptures. For example:

athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi

janati tattvam bhagavan-mahimno na canya eko ‘pi ciram vicinvan

     One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by His mercy only. Anyone who has received a small particle of the prasadam—mercy—of the Lord can understand Him.

No one can understand the Lord perfectly, because the Lord is unlimited. We have limited, imperfect senses, we are subject to illusion, we try to cheat—we have so many defects. Therefore it is not possible to understand God simply by exercising our senses.

      To know “God is very good, God is great” is one thing, but by studying Bhagavad-gita we not only know “God is great,” but we see what kind of God He is, what His form is, and so on.

    We have heard from the scriptures:

ishvarah paramah krishnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah

anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

“Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes.”

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 And all the great teachers of the Vedic literature—led by Madhvacarya, Ramanujacarya, Vishnusvami, Nimbarkacarya, and Sankaracarya (who professed to be an impersonalist)—accept Krishna as God.

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.”

   This verse is from the second chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. The first chapter is the preparatory study of Bhagavad-gita, and the second chapter is the summary study. Bhagavad-gita means “the song sung by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Throughout Bhagavad-gita you’ll find the words sri bhagavan uvaca: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead said.”

   Bhagavad-gita is the science of understanding God. As everything is understood thoroughly through a scientific process, if you want to know God you have to adopt the process by which one can understand God. That process is described in the Bhagavad-gita: bhaktya mam abhijanati. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says, “If anyone wants to understand Me, he has to take to the process of devotional service,” not the speculative process or the mystic yogic process or fruitive activities.

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      How can one truly understand the greatness of the Supreme Lord, we don’t have to look further than the Bhagavad gita, where Lord Krishna says that “That very ancient science of relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee.” A devotee is one who accepts the supremacy of the Supreme Lord, and he is convinced about his eternal relationship with God.

     Because God is a person beyond all time and space, we can never understand Him by our speculation. He can be understood only when He reveals Himself. To our great fortune. He has revealed Himself in the Vedic literature, which presents the fullest explanation of the transcendental names, forms, qualities, and activities of God. The Srimad- Bhagavatam—the crest jewel of the Vedic literature—specifically expounds the glories of Lord Sri Krishna.

      Krishna’s credentials appear in many Vedic literatures. The Srimad-Bhagavatam in particular clearly and repeatedly states that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavatam’s step-by-step presentation, the complete science of God is given in nine cantos, comprising more than two dozen volumes. The entire Tenth Canto describes exclusively the appearance and activities of Sri Krishna. Lord Krishna alone, the Bhagavatam reveals, possesses all the qualifications of God discussed in the preceding nine cantos.

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      In Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, ye ‘nye ‘ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. There are those who think they have become liberated and have become Narayana, or God. But actually they are not, because they’re subjected to the rules of material nature. They cannot get out of its clutches. Who can? Mam eva ye prapadyante. Krishna says, “Anyone who surrenders unto Me.”

daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”

        Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement is a very pious movement, promoting the most glorious welfare activities. And we are preaching this movement all over the world. Our only ambition is to place Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We don’t want to become Krishna; we want to become the most obedient servant of Krishna. That is our proposition.

       We invite everyone, from all parts of the world, and people are coming. They are joining this movement. Krishna appeared in India, so India has a special advantage in understanding Krishna. But Indians are neglecting to understand Krishna. That’s a great misfortune. But we request everyone to join this movement, study the philosophy, and become happy. That is our proposition.

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     One has to understand thoroughly that he’s not master, he’s servant. He’s completely dependent on the supreme will. If we do not surrender to the supreme will, then we have to surrender to the will of maya. We have to remain a servant. If we reject servitude of the Supreme Lord, then we have to become the servant of the senses. That is maya. Actually, that is going on. The whole world is serving different types of desire.

     Now, we have not manufactured the Krishna consciousness movement. We get it from the Bhagavad-gita: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. Krishna says, “Give up all these nonsense desires. Surrender unto Me” That is the whole purpose of the Bhagavad-gita. Maya dictates our desires, which dictate us. And we want to falsely become the master. That is illusion. We are not master. How can we be master? We may be scientifically advanced. We may manufacture wonderful machines and weapons, but after all, we are subjected to the rules of maya: birth, disease, old age, and death. We cannot escape these four principles of maya’s machinery.

       Therefore the sane man, who is actually learned, surrenders to Krishna. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate. One who becomes wise surrenders to Krishna. Otherwise, one thinks, “Who is Krishna? I am as good as Krishna. I am God.” That is maya. That is not actually knowledge.

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        We cannot but serve, any one of us. That is our constitutional position. Every one of us is a servant. So our proposition is “You are a servant in any case. Why not become the servant of God?” That is the proposition we make in the Krishna consciousness movement.

       In material consciousness we are all servants of our senses. By the dictation of our lusty desires, we will do anything abominable. So we are all servants. Therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, jivera svarupa haya nitya-krishna-dasa: Our real constitutional position is that we are eternal servants of God, Krishna. But in the material condition of life, every one of us is trying to become the master. That is the struggle for existence. Everyone is trying: “I shall become the master. I shall become the Supreme.” But our position is servant. So our thinking is called illusion. I am not master. I am servant. But I am trying to become master artificially. That is the struggle for existence.

       When you give up this wrong idea—”I am master”—and try to become the servant of the Supreme, that is called liberation. Liberation does not mean achieving a gigantic form or so many hands and so many legs. Liberation means to become liberated from the wrong consciousness. The wrong consciousness is to think, “I am master.” We have to change this consciousness That is the purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement.

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       In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna also says, aham adir hi devanam: “I am the source of all the demigods.” There are so many demigods—Indra, Chandra, Varuna, and so on. But Krishna says He is their origin. And He says, aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate: “I am the source of everything. Everything emanates from Me.” In the Vedanta-sutra the Absolute Truth is described as janmady asya yatah: He from whom everything emanates.

         Because of His power, Krishna is Bhagavan. Bhagavan means full in six opulences. God must be the richest, the strongest, the most famous, the most beautiful, the most renounced, and the most knowledgeable. That is the definition of God. Lord Brahma accepts Krishna as God by that definition: ishvarah paramah krishnah, “Krishna is the supreme controller.” Because unless Krishna is the most powerful, how can He be the supreme controller? Every one of us is a small controller. Someone controls in his office, someone controls in his family life, someone controls a few factories, but no one can say, “I am the supreme controller.” That is not possible. The supreme controller is Krishna.

      In this Krishna consciousness movement we are trying to link with the supreme controller. We do not wish to become the controller. We want to be controlled—but by the supreme controller, not by others. That is our proposition. For example, a person who has to render service may hanker after government service, because it is natural to conclude, “If I have to serve someone, why serve a petty merchant? Why not take government service?”

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   We already have power, because each of us is a part and parcel of God. Therefore we have qualities like God’s. But we cannot become one hundred percent God. That is not possible. Great Vedic scholars have analyzed all the demigods and other living entities and have found that only Krishna is one hundred percent God. Ete camsa-kalah pumsah krishnas tu bhagavan svayam. All others are subordinate. There are many other gods, but they are not the Supreme God. Ishvarah paramah krishnah.

We are speaking of the paramah ishvarah, or paramesvara. There are two words: ishvara, paramesvara; atma, paramatma. The param—supreme—is God. We are Brahman; He is Parabrahman. So Parabrahman, Paramatma, Paramesvara—all these are applicable to Krishna.

After hearing the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna admitted,

param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan
purusam sasvatam divyam adi-devam ajam vibhum

“You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest.” That is the position of Krishna.

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     We are not manufacturing these words. They are in Bhagavad-gita. If we claim to study the Gita, we have to accept the statements there. Bhagavad-gita means “the song sung by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

    Our Krishna consciousness movement is meant to preach all over the world that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead: krishnas tu bhagavan svayam.

    You are searching after God. You are taxing your brain so much. But in spite of this, you sometimes say, “There is no God,” or “God is dead,” or “Everyone is God,” and so on. But our proposition is “Why are you taxing your brain? Here is God: Krishna.”

    From authorities, by hearing from the Vedic literature, by hearing of Krishna’s activities, we can know that Krishna is God. If we read about the life of Krishna, we can see that He’s God from the very beginning. God is not manufactured by some mystic power. God is God, and dog is dog. A dog cannot become God; God cannot become a dog.

     Krishna was God from the very beginning. As soon as Krishna took birth, He appeared in His four-armed form as Lord Vishnu. But when his mother prayed to Him to become an ordinary child, He became an ordinary child with two hands. So that is God: He must be God from the very beginning, not that by attaining some mystic power one can become God.

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       Because we have so much evidence, we have to accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no doubt about it. But why do people not accept? Why do so many big scholars and big scientists not accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The reason is given in the Bhagavad-gita:

na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah
mayayapahrta-jnana asuram bhavam asritah

“Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.”

 Krti means “meritorious,” and duskrti means “miscreants”—those who use their merits for mischief-making. Everyone has merits, but some people use their merits for mischief-making. For example, a thief uses his good brain to steal. Such a person is a duskrti.

Another class of people is called mudha. Mudha means “less intelligent,” or “unintelligent.” Another class is nara-dhama, “the lowest of the mankind.” And finally, mayaya apahrta-jnanah, “those whose knowledge has been taken by maya, illusion.” These classes of men do not surrender unto Krishna.

We are not manufacturing these words. They are in Bhagavad-gita. If we claim to study the Gita, we have to accept the statements there. Bhagavad-gita means “the song sung by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

Our Krishna consciousness movement is meant to preach all over the world that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead: krishnas tu bhagavan svayam.

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      Therefore the beginning of spiritual education is to understand one’s self. That is called self-realization. How to realize the self? We have to take knowledge from others. We have to learn from a teacher. Krishna is accepted as the supreme teacher by great sages like Vyasadeva, Narada, Devala, Asita, and all other great sages, and in the modern age by our acharyas, spiritual preceptors: Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Vishnusvami, Nimbarka, Shankaracharya. We have to follow the acharyas. All these acharyas accept Krishna as the Supreme Lord. And five hundred years ago Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also accepted Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Srimad-Bhagavatam says, krishnas tu bhagavan svayam: “Krishna is the Supreme Lord.” Similarly, Lord Brahma says:

ishvarah paramah krishnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

“Govinda, Krishna, is the cause of all causes. He is the primal cause, and He is the very form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss.”

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Mahadwadasi 

       If Mahadvadasi is in force, fasting is prohibited on the Ekadasi, but the observance is done on the Dwadasi. Compound Dwadasi-Mahadwadasi.

 1. If Ekadasi begins after sunrise and ends before sunrise the next day it is considered Lost, too short,      thus not full, and impure. Therefore the next day is called Unmillani Mahadwadasi.

2. If Dwadasi begins after sunrise and ends before sunrise on the next day (Trayodasi), it is also Lost,     and is to be observed as Tri-Sprsa-Mahadwadasi.

3. If Dwadasi falls on the Sunrise two days in a row the first Dwadasi becomes Vyanjuli         Mahadwadasi.

 4. When the following Amavasya or Purnima falls on sunrise two days in a row the preceeding           Dwadasi becomes Paksa-Vardhini-Mahadwadasi, Paksa based. Parama Ekadasi is in the month of Purushottam.

Rules of Ekadasi

Basic Rules for understanding Vaisnava Calendar.

1. The Tithi at sunrise rules the day.

2. If the Tithi begins after sunrise and ends before sunrise of the next day (Lost) it is combined with       the next Tithi.

3. If the same Tithi falls on sunrise two days in a row, observances are scheduled on the first day;           except Ekadasi, Amavasya, or Purnima Tithis which are scheduled for the second day.

Rules for Ekadasi

     Srila A. C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada makes an interesting comment in his purport to Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya lila. 9-24-342: “You should recommend the avoidance of mixed Ekadasi and the performance of pure Ekadasi. You should also describe the fault in not observing this. One should be very careful as far as these items are concerned. If one is not careful, one will be negligent in executing devotional service.”

General Rules for observance are:-

1. Ekadasi must come in prior to the Arunodaya Viddhi (1hour, 12 mins, before sunrise). When it         does so it is called Suddha Ekadasi – pure ekadasi. If it begins after that, it is considered impure and    is therefore to be observed on the Dwadasi ( making Mahadwadasi or Compounded) on the next         day. 

2. If Ekadasi falls on Sunrise two days in a row, fasting is observed on the second day.

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     It is said that idle mind is the devil’s workshop. But if the mind is engaged in chanting.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

     The holy name and remembering god, one can become completely peaceful and the mind can be positively engaged for the whole world at large. In such a pure mind, pure thoughts naturally arise and then we can propagate the pure the pure spiritual knowledge for the benefits of the whole of humanity. And in this way we can achieve peace of mind ourselves and simultaneously benefit others also.

HARE KRISHNA

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     And the moment we leave it unengaged, it starts thinking of unnecessary and undesirable things and fills us with insatiable carvings, anxieties and fears. And what is the ladder to deal with the demon of mind? It is the Hare Krishna mahamantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

    If we constantly chant the mahamantra and remember the lord, then the mind can never disturb us.

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      So in this way whatever he asked for the jinn arranged for immediately. Now the man became alarmed because he had no engagement to give him; he was just too quick in executing his action. So what could he do? He ran back to the sage and screamed to him, “please save me from this, great demon! It is about to devour me. 

      I don’t have any work to give him, “so the sage told him, “you fool! It is easy. Take that ladder with you. Place it next to your house and tell the jinn to climb up and down. Whenever you need him, call him and give him service. And at all times tell him to go up the ladder and come down.” the man acted accordingly and was thus saved from demon.Our mind is just like the demon. It is very powerful; it can do hundreds of things very quickly. 

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        The nature of the mind and the importance of chanting are illustrated in the following story.

       Once upon a time, there was a man who pleased a sage. As a benediction, the sage offered him big jinn and told him, “Take this jinn with you. He can fulfill all your desires; he can do any work you give him,” but the sadhu warned him, “if you keep engaged, then he will devour you. So be careful to constantly engage him.” this man said, “oh! Don’t worry; I have got thousands of thing to do.” so this man took the powerful jinn with him home and ordered him, “plough that thousands acre land.” and jinn ploughed it all in just five minutes. He returned back and said, “My dear sir, give me the next order.” the man was stunned. “Build big bungalow for me”, he said, and the jinn made a big bungalow for him in a matter of minutes.

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      Moreover, the practical experience of many, many devotees all over the world shows that when one chants Hare Krishna one is, in no time, able to give up all the bad habits like smoking, eating meat, taking intoxicants, illicit sex, etc.One can give up all the lower tendencies and can become completely pure. And with a pure heart one’s mind becomes very light, one can grasp any subject quickly and one can act efficiently. In this way, one can achieve the ultimate success in life through controlling one’s mind by mantra meditation.

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          Regularly fixed up devotees chant sixteen rounds and they never feel that they are wasting time in sitting and chanting the lord’s name. Why? Because chanting Hare Krishna increase their efficiency in all fields and gives them an increased capacity to turn out more work in less time. Great productivity can be achieved when one chants Hare Krishna. Therefore the chanting of Hare Krishna will never interfere in your daily work; rather it will enhance daily work.

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    So we should give a prominent position in our life for prayers and pilgrimages, fasts and festivals and for satsang and self- realization. These are all very important to free our mind from the suffering of the world. In our Hare Krishna movement, the ISKCON movement, Srila Prabhupada, the founder Acharya, has established a wonderful program by which everyone can very easily achieve peace of mind: the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Right from a small child to an old man, anyone can practice this chanting on a daily basis. One can chant one or two rounds.

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          For example, by taking sattvika diet- prasadam, wearing sattvika dress, living in sattvika environment coming to the sattvika association of those who are devotees of god and reading spiritual books, we can enhance our understanding about god. And in this way all these sattvika habits can helps us to come closer to god and become internally mature.

      On the other hand, if we associate with those things, which increase the lower modes of passion and ignorance in us, our mind will become more and more agitated. For example, by watching horror movies, seeing pornographic pictures, taking intoxicants, etc., we will go further away from achieving peace of mind.

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        Sometimes people teach some mind control techniques in which they says, “imagine a form,” or” imagine a picture”. But all such methods are futile because they cannot give lasting peace of mind.

       Actual peace of mind can arise only out of spiritual growth and such spiritual growth is greatly aided by external support and greatly marred by external incompatibilities. The aiding supports are all those things, which enhance the mode of goodness (sattva- guna) I us. 

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   So for Arjuna, there was no one as close as Krishna. And the same is true for every living entity because Krishna says: sarvasya caham hrdi sannicisto

 “I am residing in the heart of everyone as the paramatma.”

 So in the hearts of each one of us, besides the soul there is the super soul, who is an expansion of Krishna. And the paramatma is always ready to help us and give us guidance about what to do and what not to do. Therefore we should work for gaining god’s friendship; it is the greatest gain. And when we have that, peace of mind is an automatic byproduct. We cannot achieve peace of mind overnight by taking some pills told by some doctor. Nor can we achieve it by following some godless mechanical methods. 

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      Just as a selfless mother only wants to serve her child always, irrespective of whether he is obedient, dis obedient or naughty, similarly god is always very keen to help us, whether we reciprocate with him or not.Krishna says: suhridam sarva bhatanam

“I am the suhridam well-wisher, of every living entity. I am the heart to heart friend to every living entity.”

         So we should always learn to keep god in the center of our lives.An ideal example of this is Arjuna. Arjuna never did anything unless it was connected in service to Krishna. Even his act of fighting was for the pleasure of Krishna; before going to the battlefield, he circumambulated Krishna and offered him obeisance.

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    God is our only eternal friend. To be frank with you, the harsh reality is that no one in this world is interested in you. Don’t expect the world to rush to your rescue when you are in trouble; It will just not happen. Far from running to help you when you are in trouble. There are many levels of friends- official friends called vandhu, social friend called mitra and so on. But the lord is our only real friend. He is therefore called suhrt, meaning that he is our heart-to-heart friend. There is no one as close as god, although we may not know it. God is such great friend, that even we forget him, even if we neglect him, even if we become envious of him, he still loves us.

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     In a similar way, the whole world is the state of god; after all, he has created it. And he has also made many laws for those who live in the world. These laws of the divine government are given in the bone fide scriptures of the world. So, an intelligent person should hear the scriptures from the saintly people based on scriptural knowledge, he should discriminate between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, and act accordingly. And in this way, when he carefully follows the instruction of god given in the scriptures throughout his life, then he can have peace of mind.

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       Lastly we have to understand that unless we agree to abide by the laws of god, we can never achieve peace of mind. This can be understood from an example. Suppose a person wants to break all the laws of the Nepal government; he wants to steal, he wants to rape women, he wants to murder. And he comes running to you and asks you, “I want to be peaceful. But I also want to break the laws of the state. Please tell me how I can still have peace of mind?” what solution can you offer such person? An intelligent person will advise him, “My dear friend, first of all you follow the law of country. Then when you are living as an ideal citizen, you can be free from persecution and anxiety and can live peacefully.”

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            Some of us can make beautiful garlands to decorate the deities of the lord. Some of us can come to the temple on Sunday and the festivals for assisting in cooking for the lord. Thus according to individual abilities and inclinations, we can all engage ourselves in the service of the lord. By performing such service, the most dangerous enjoying mentality will subside and we will get the serving mentality, which alone can bring us to the platform of sanity and peace. The enjoying mentality is a deadly diseases and the service of the lord is the perfect medicines for it.

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      Just as Hanuman was trying to make arrangements to bring Sita back to Rama, similarly we should try to bring all the things of the world closer to god by engaging them in his service. Then we can achieve peace of mind.

       How can we actually engage all the things of the world in the service of god, especially in the modern times? All of us can use our various talents in the services of god. Some of us who are expert in computers can do computer service for publishing books about god and his

message.

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     And if our mind making too much demand for material enjoyment, still we don’t have it to realize its futility. We can see and learn from the experience of the worldly people. Those who are struggling to increase their enjoyment more and more in the world are only becoming more and more frustrated. Thus, using our intelligence, we can control mind.

        We can derive further spiritual strength by knowing that life, after all, is flickering and temporary; it is just like a dream. Every night, when we sleep, we have an 8- hour dream. But life is an 80- year’s dream that is the only difference. Both are temporary and, after they are over; neither has any factual existence. Knowing that life will pass away like a quick journey, we should cultivate the Hanuman- mentality of serving the lord Rama.

RELISH THE HIGHER TASTE OF SERVICE TO GOD - B

        Service to the Lord gives us a higher pleasure, which enables us to give up the pleasure derived from sense enjoyment. 

   How can one engage the senses in the service of the lord? By using our eyes in beholding the beautiful forms of the deities in the temple, by using hands in cutting vegetables for the lord and in washing the temple, by using our legs in going to the ISKCON temple, by using our whole body for dancing in front of the lord, by using our tongue for chanting the holy names of god, especially the Hare Krishna mahamantra and for honoring Prasadam. In this way all our senses can be purified of the contamination of the desire to enjoy.

RELISH THE HIGHER TASTE OF SERVICE TO GOD - A

     Many people understand, at an intellectual level, that material enjoyment is always the causes of suffering, but still despite their best efforts to restrain themselves, they are unable to give up the desire to enjoy. Therefore, the million-dollar question is: how can we give up the enjoyment mentally?

     It is possible only when we engaged all our senses in the service of god. Our senses are like venomous serpents with the fangs of the enjoying mentality. But if we engage the senses in the service of the god, it is like removing their poison teeth. Without its fangs; a snake can cause no harm. Similarly, if our senses are engage in the service of god, they become harmless.

Be In This World but Not Of This World-5

       We can see with our own eyes the disastrous consequences of material enjoyment. one who smokes is afflicted by lung cancer; one who drinks wine is struck by liver diseases; one who eats gutka is tortured by oral cancer in the teeth and gums; one who wants to enjoy with many women is terminated by AIDS. Thus nature gives severe slaps and kicks to those who try to extract enjoyment from this world.

Be In This World but Not Of This World-4

 Apart from the propaganda of these materialistic people, our senses are also so agitated that they are dragging us in all directions to enjoy. Our tongue is pulling us in one direction to taste varieties of delicious foodstuffs. Our eyes are scanning all the directions in the search of beautiful forms. And the same is true for everyone of our senses. Just like a man having five wives is dragging in different directions by each one of them for enjoyment, similarly, we are also dragged by our five senses in various directions. And if we close our eyes of discrimination and go in the direction dictated by the mind and the senses, then we are on the royal road to hell.

Be In This World but Not Of This World-3

        And one should never even try to extract enjoyment from this world. If we have this enjoyment mentality of dominating others and extracting pleasure from this world by engaging in sinful activity, then we will be inevitably frustrated. Why? Because trying to get enjoyment through materialistic engagement is like trying to extract nectar from the mouth of a venomous cobra. It is an inherently futile attempt; all that one can get from the mouth of a cobra is poison.

        There will be so many people who will tempt us to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy life, but, if we look into the lives of these people, we will find that they are all most frustrated people.