consciousness – Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress

Moonlight wakeup call

I strive to follow the spiritual practices such as rising early for meditation, but sometimes, being encased in dull matter, even though I am a spirit soul, I stumble. But by divine serendipity this morning, I got a loving moonlit wake-up call!

Generally, a spiritualist strives to rise early in the morning.

The time before sunrise is extremely precious for persons on the spiritual path. A most conducive time for meditation, spiritual reflection, and worship of the Supreme Lord.

It may appear like the depth of darkness to the materialist, but the early morning hours are very sublime.

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ॥ ६९ ॥

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ
tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī
yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni
sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/69

I too try my best to wake up as early as possible in the morning, but am encased inside a material body.

In general, a spiritualist is enjoined to practice perfect balance in the matter of rest, recreation, work, and food…

युक्ताहारविहारस्य युक्तचेष्टस्य कर्मसु ।
युक्तस्वप्‍नावबोधस्य योगो भवति दु:खहा ॥ १७ ॥

yuktāhāra-vihārasya
yukta-ceṣṭasya karmasu
yukta-svapnāvabodhasya
yogo bhavati duḥkha-hā

He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/6/17

Sometimes, even the most well-meaning spiritualist can succumb to imbalances, as I do, ever so often.

My subtle material body consisting of mind, body, and false ego constrains me too often from pursuing spiritual life freely. Sometimes, the spirit and the mind may be willing but it could be the gross material body, made of earth, water, fire, air, and space that constrains me.

ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूत: सनातन: ।
मन:षष्ठानीन्द्रियाणि प्रकृतिस्थानि कर्षति ॥ ७ ॥

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/15/7

This morning, my alarm was set for 4:00 AM, but somehow or other I did not rise, resolving to rise at 5:00 AM instead.

But then, shortly thereafter, the moon, who is almost full right now, positioned himself in the sky so he shone on my sleeping face with his full brilliance. As if to help the moon, the mirror behind my pillow on the mat joined in with a secondary reflection of the moonrays.

It was impossible to continue sleeping!

Krishna can be perceived through the light of the sun and the moon.

रसोऽहमप्सु कौन्तेय प्रभास्मि शशिसूर्ययो: ।
प्रणव: सर्ववेदेषु शब्द: खे पौरुषं नृषु ॥ ८ ॥

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ
praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu
śabdaḥ khe pauruṣaṁ nṛṣu

O son of Kuntī, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable oṁ in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/7/8

My alarm clock and my determination to rise early may have waned, but the waxing moon got me!

Within a few minutes, I was energized by this merciful radiation, reminded of Krishna, and was able to rise refreshed and dive deep into meditation and worship.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

The moonlight is an energy of Krishna, the ability for me to engage in acts of Krishna Consciousness are also a gift from Krishna. So it is best to engage my God-given ability in the service of Krishna.

Thanks to that completely undeserved beautiful start to the day, despite all other obstacles or distractions, it has been a most blessed day!

Dear Krishna, thank you for making so many arrangements to help me, a dull recovering atheist, rise to the purpose of human life. Dear Srila Gurudeva, my dear spiritual master, thank you for your prayers and blessings on my behalf, which allow even me, a wretched lost soul, to bask in Krishna Consciousness, even if some of the time.

Descartes did not understand Consciousness

Many believe that animals and other species in other bodies outside of humans are not souls, that they are mere automations. The misunderstanding can be traced back at least to Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum”, where he sadly misunderstood something very important…

René Descartes was a great thinker, an eminent Christian scholar, and his thoughts have arguably shaped the foundations of Christianity.

Unfortunately, he got at least one basic thing wrong, “cogito ergo sum” – translated as “I think, therefore I am”. This statement shows Descartes’ ignorance. Consciousness is not dependent on “thinking”.

Consciousness is the fundamental symptom of life – all living entities have lower or higher consciousness, some can think at a more advanced level based on how evolved their consciousness is, and some at a less advanced level.

Who am I to be criticizing the great Descartes? Yes. I must admit that I am not even a tiny fraction of that mighty thinker. I am just a little recovering atheist. But my knowledge, that is not mine, it is not original. I am not speaking on anything that I have come up with myself, but relying on the words of God Himself. The Bhagavad Gita is quite literally “The Song of God”. I rely on the Bhagavad Gita. But there are way too many mis-translations and misinterpretations of this Divine Book unfortunately, which have been written by speculators with a poor fund of knowledge.

So I rely on the great Acharyas, teachers who received this knowledge in disciplic succession from God. If I threw a mango from the top of a tree to the ground, it would smash, and become unfit to consume, but if I organized a chain of people from the topmost branch of the mango tree to the ground, with ladders and so on, as needed, then the mango could make it safely into my hands.

In the disciplic succession, Parampara, each person in the chain acts as an honest messenger – they repeat everything exactly in line with what their predecessor did, without any addition or subtraction – and you can verify what they said by checking up on what their spiritual master said. So, even if a particular link in the chain may be accepted as ordinary (though none of them can actually be ordinary, that is a matter for another day), still, the message is pristine and perfect.

So I rely on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is 32nd (from Krishna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead), 28th(from Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa, the Literary Incarnation of Krishna), or 11th(Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Krishna Himself, appearing as His devotee to show us how to be one) link in the chain originating from God Himself. And even though I have not met Srila Prabhupada personally, I am a disciple of His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari, who is a direct disciple of Srila Prabhupada, which makes my spiritual master 33rd, 29th, or 12th in line from God Himself. Not only my own spiritual master, but I have benefited from the thousands of disciples of Srila Prabhupada, and I have benefited from many other souls who are in other branches of the same tree of disciplic succession, going back at least 5,000 and 500 years. However, the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita has been extant in civilized society in our Universe for at least 40 Million years. However, as the Universe is 114 Trillion years old, this knowledge is that ancient in this Universe.

However, as this Universe is just like a flash in the pan, a proverbial flash of lightning in the fabric of eternity, this knowledge is actually eternal.

The fact that my knowledge is not “original” but is coming from a long line of teachers originating from God Himself, that is my only strength. On the purity, strength, and intelligence of these great souls, I dare say Descartes is wrong.

A crude example is that a small child may say 2+2=4, not know how that is so, but it does not change the fact that the child is right. The child heard this from someone who does understand numbers and addition, so on the strength of that person’s knowledge, the child is right.

Or let’s take the example of a normal person, perfectly capable when sober, but when they are intoxicated, they are no better than an animal, at least temporarily. If another man were to kill the drunken person, would that not count as murder? So even a short-term mental disability is not grounds for ny mistreatment.

Now take for example two sons of the same father. One, the elder, is strong, intelligent, and capable… the other, younger, let’s say, for the purpose of this example, a whimpering idiot, cannot learn anything, cannot do much, and cannot, for the life of him, stand up to his brother. Comparing

If the capable boy were to propose to the father that they kill the retarded younger son, because, he might say, let’s face it, he’s no better than an animal, would the father agree? Even if the father agreed with the elder son’s assessment of the younger brother, still, he would not allow the younger son to be killed, even with his long-term disability.

On the streets of various cities in the world, I have personally met many drunk or drugged humans, and to be honest, they are actually lower than some animals!

Animals are no less than the mentally challenged human, whether long-term or short-term. They are spirit souls encaged in a body and mind that don’t permit higher consciousness, not very difficult from a drunk or drugged human. But this conflation of thinking with the presence or absence of a soul has caused a grave injustice in this world.

If only Descartes was fortunate enough to receive instruction from the Song of God!

सर्वयोनिषु कौन्तेय मूर्तय: सम्भवन्ति या: ।
तासां ब्रह्म महद्योनिरहं बीजप्रद: पिता ॥ ४ ॥
sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ
tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir
ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/14/4/

Descartes’ grave error has encouraged the Christians around the world to commit murder with impunity. They interpret the commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill” as “Thou shalt not kill another human unnecessarily”. This is leading hosts of Christians into endless lifetimes of suffering birth, death, old age, and disease, being born as animals repeatedly, only to be mercilessly slaughtered.

In modern times there is really no excuse for eating meat. Fruits, Roots, Nuts, Vegetables, Grains are abundantly available and milk products obtained from Ahimsa farms can be made available too.

Christians and others who follow any kind of spiritual tradition need to rise above the sad ignorance of Descartes and stop eating meat unless it were a matter of life and death, because Meat is not for spiritualists, meat is for animals, even if the animals happen to be in human form.

Read the Bhagavad Gita As It Is today, and be a better Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, or Jain or any other type of spiritualist. Do you need a copy?

The “science”(dogma) of conjecture

Evolution is a fact. But not the way it is commonly understood… How to understand evolution scientifically?

You may have heard about Darwin’s theory of natural selection… yes, where the claim is that one species evolved into another species because the fittest who evolved survived and the others died off, thereby creating a natural evolution of species just sort of accidentally and randomly. It is in line with the magical wishful thinking of the Big Bang.

But according to the Vedic scripture all 8.4 Million species are created by the arrangement of God. 400,000 of those species are human in nature, and the remain 8 million are sub-human.

“jalaja nava lakshani, sthavara laksha-vimshati, krimayo rudra-sankhyakah, pakshinam dasha-lakshanam, trinshal-lakshani pashavah, chatur lakshani manavah”
Jalaja (Water based) – 0.9 million, Sthaavara (immobile like plants & trees) – 2.0 million, Krimaayo (Reptiles and germs) – 1.1 million, Pakshinaam (Birds) – 1.0 million, Paashavah (terrestrial animals) – 3.0 million, Maanavah (human-like bodies, including human species, demigods, danavas, gandharvas etc) – 0.4 million.
Padma Purana

Some species may be visible at some times, and other species may be present at other times. So what determines whether there are any specimens of any given species are actually on a planet at any given time?

Karma! Karma is the law action and reaction – every action has an equal and opposite reaction, that is the law of Karma. This most basic law of nature drives the circumstances of a living entities trajectory in the material world… simply put, certain deeds are classified “karma” or deeds that bring pleasing reactions, and certain deeds are classified “vikarma” or deeds that bring unpleasant reactions. Karma and Vikarma is only accrued in human forms of life, the sub-human species are simply living our their karma – the tiger suffers no reaction for killing a deer but a human does.

अधस्तान्नरलोकस्य यावतीर्यातनादय: ।
क्रमश: समनुक्रम्य पुनरत्राव्रजेच्छुचि: ॥ ३४ ॥
adhastān nara-lokasya
yāvatīr yātanādayaḥ
kramaśaḥ samanukramya
punar atrāvrajec chuciḥ
Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of his sins, one is reborn again as a human being on this earth.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/3/30/34/

After transmigrating through the millions of different species, we get a human life. What we do in our present human life determines our future trajectory.

It takes a lot of transmigraton through species to get a human life…

Of course, trying to piece together the effects of the law of karma is a fool’s errand, because here’s something – let’s say you have one seed – one karmic action. That seed sprouts, grows into a tree, flowers, and fructifies – each fruit contains many more seeds… those result in more trees and more and more and more. Pretty soon, you don’t know where you started and why you’re enjoying or suffering. All sorts of apparently anomalous phenomena occur, and people ask questions like “why do bad things happen to good people”. In the material world, no one is really fully innocent. We all came here by our own free will, due to the original sin of trying to displace God after all.

There is one kind of action, called “akarma” which can be loosely translated as “inaction in action”…

कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः ।
अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः ॥ १७ ॥
karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ
boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ
akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ
gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ
The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is and what inaction is.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/17/

कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म यः ।
स बुद्धिमान्मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् ॥ १८ ॥
karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed
akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ
sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu
sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt
One who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/4/18/

Statements like this can be mysterious and confusing, and they did end up confusing a lot of western scholars who studied the Bhagavad Gita without the guidance of the disciplic succession, a bona fide Guru.

But it is quite easy to understand with the context, go ahead and click on the link to BG 4.18 and you will get a crystal clear explanation. Basically, you might think you are inactive, but you could be accumulating karmic reactions just by your breathing… but there is a way to do everything so that not only are there no karmic reactions but your existing karmic reactions are burned away…

Coming back to the speculative idea that somehow or other one organism adapted and evolved into another species, and that the fossil record is to be taken as proof is fallacious. The fossil record, is at best, a conjecture.

Why is that?

Fossils are not truly reliable as evidence for evolution…

Because the fossil record simply represents certain events or accidents depending on whose viewpoint you are looking at – some hapless animal got caught in some clay that solidified to rock preserving the skeleton as a fossil, and just because this didn’t happen a billion years before or after doesn’t necessarily give us the time when that species was around. A fossil is essentially like a little child pointing and clicking a camera randomly – you can’t decide what exactly happened that day just from the photos. A lot of room for error.

A great book on this subject is Nature’s IQ by by Balaz Hornyansk and Istvan Tasi.

The introduction to the book reads “It is not at all surprising that insects behave like insects, birds behave like birds, and mammals behave like mammals. They execute most of their intricate behavior in a predetermined, instinctive manner. But how do they know when and how they should act? Where did the intelligence that is manifested in nature come from? Can the current view be true, that inert matter (lacking consciousness) somehow acquired intelligence over the course of a vast span of time? Darwin’s theory of evolution is widely accepted as the explanation for the varieties of life. Evolutionists attempt to explain the origin of behavioral patterns by gradual modifications of more simple behavior forms. But when we try to explain complex animal behavior this way, it becomes impossible! Nature’s IQ invites the reader to investigate an alternative explanation. Is it possible that our world reflects, in many different ways, a supernatural intelligence that has applied its own infinitely ingenious solutions to create the living world?”

One of Darwin’s ideas is that some fortunate specimens of a particular species developed a particular advantage that helped them survive while their peers perished due to the lack of that advantage.

The key idea is that for example, it is conjectured that a giraffe needed a long neck so it could eat the leaves from trees that were very tall and thus have an advantage over those animals that depend on grass and other short plants… one day, a short-necked ancestor of a giraffe developed a slightly longer neck, and its descendants developed longer and longer necks… but the authors make an argument like, OK, what advantage did the giraffe ancestor with a neck only slightly longer than its previous generation have? How could that change continue in the absence of any tangible advantage? What about more complex instincts and behaviours? What about the intelligence that many animals exhibit?

Such examples abound in nature… Michael Cremo writes in his foreword… “These complex behaviors involve many behavioral steps, linked in specific sequences. Without all the parts of the behavior being present in proper sequence, the behavior would not be executed. We can thus say that not only biological form but biological behavior can be irreducibly complex. That means these behaviors cannot have arisen in the step by step fashion that evolution requires. Thus biological behavior also provides evidence of intelligent design.”

In other words, the theory of evolution of species is not much more than mental speculation combined with healthy doses of conjecture. It is the dogma of conjecture.

Another great book is Rethinking Darwin, by Leif Jensen.

What can we do then? We can evolve back to a higher consciousness with our efforts and lots of mercy.

The Vedic Scriptures say:

aprārabdha-phalaṁ pāpaṁ
kūṭaṁ bījaṁ phalonmukham
krameṇaiva pralīyeta
viṣṇu-bhakti-ratātmanām
For those who are engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all sinful reactions, whether fructified, in the stock, or in the form of a seed, gradually vanish.
Quotation from the Padma Purana in purport of https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/2/

Here is real science. You can know this, follow the process of Bhakti, Loving Devotional Service to the Supreme, and go back home. It is a repeatable process. Countless have done it. You can too. Dear Spirit Soul, you are already perfect in your original state. Over countless lifetimes, you have devolved from your original perfection to a state which is an embarrassment to your true identity. Wake up! Know yourself! Be yourself! Go back home to the spiritual realm where you belong! I pray to serve you on your journey back home, that is why I exist. Ask me how!

Whose Consciousness have you eaten?

What is the most intimate act? Do you know how consciousness can get transferred just from the food you eat? Did you know you are literally eating someone’s consciousness?

What is the most intimate physical act?

What is the most intimate mental act?

What is the most intimate thing you can share with someone else?

I don’t know what your answers were to the above questions, but I will tell you what the most intimate is…

The most intimate thing you can do is to eat something prepared by someone else. When a person cooks something, it is not just the ingredients getting combined and heated together to produce something… the consciousness of that cook quite literally descends into whatever they are making.

This is why something that your mother or grandmother made can never be replicated by anyone else.

So when a person cooks, especially with grains, then every single element of their consciousness enters into the food they are preparing.

Every source of jubilation
Every source of anger
Every source of sorrow
Every single source of satisfaction
And Frustration
Every hope, desire, longing
Every single fear, every single moment of embarrassment
Every intention, every belief, every single trait
It is all there in that food they have prepared.
It is all there, in what you eat.
Consciousness, you eat

And you are eating it. You will imbibe it all, all their joys and sorrows, their satisfaction and their frustration, every single one of their hopes, desires, and longing will be in your heart too. Every single fear and moments of embarrasmens, every single intention and belief, their very character descends in your heart.

And there it all mixes and mingles with all the other consciousness you have imbibed, from all the other food you have eaten in your life.

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said

viṣayīra anna khāile duṣṭa haya mana
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in https://vedabase `.io/en/library/cc/adi/12/50/

Srila Prabhupadw writes in the purport to that verse…

It is very risky to accept money or food from materialistic persons, for such acceptance pollutes the mind of the charity’s recipient…In fact, a Vaiṣṇava should not even accept charity or food from persons who do not follow the rules and regulations of the Vaiṣṇava principles.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in purport to https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/adi/12/50/

My grandparents never used to eat outside in restaurants, etc. This was exactly for this reason, that they did not want to pollute their consciousness.

Do you know who works in those restaurants? Do you know what goes on there? Do you know the character of your cook? You should, because you are about to eat his consciousness, quite literally.

Next time you feel tempted to order take-out or go to some fancy restaurant or even a fast-food place, remember, you are buying more than just a plate of food. You are inviting all those people who work there to come and sit in your heart, feed you their thoughts and desires… it could be a lot more than you bargained for.

Before the pandemic, there were more than 70,000 restaurants in Canada alone. In the United States there were over 660,000 restaurants! Just think of how many meals of darkness are being spread? How many are inside you?

It is no use of course, to tell someone not to do something without giving them an alternative!

The ideal would be to take food prepared by an advanced spiritualist in sacrifice to God. Not meat or other dirty things, but clean pure vegetarian foodstuffs, prepared in a clean state of body and mind, clear consciousness, and in loving devotion to Krishna. The person should be cooking only to please God, not for money or any other such mundane reason.

But there are various grades of consciousness, try to find the person with the best consciousness then.

Of course, you can try cooking yourself. Cooking for God is such as wonderful loving personal service to God. Why don’t you try it?

Recovering from the arrogance of modern civilization

We are an arrogant bunch, no doubt. But we have been brought to our knees by this insignificant little virus. While we’re on our knees, here’s something useful we can do…

Modern civilization is arrogant beyond bounds. We think we can do whatever we want with impunity, thinking ourselves the be-all and end-all, the crown jewel of the Universe. We think that the Universe came out of nothing, that there is no Supreme Soul in control, that everything happens randomly. We mistake lust for love, and we are, in general, fools.

As I write this, around the world, everything is gradually shutting down, airports, railways stations, educational institutions, businesses, restaurants, cinemas, people are terrified. A single throat-clearing cough sends people scurrying for safety. A single sneeze caused by a particle of dust is enough to put one in quarantine.

World leaders have gone into hiding. The rich and the powerful have practically disappeared from society, leaving the hoi polloi to bear the brunt of this virus crisis.

And yet, this is the civilization that talks about immortality and how humans will live forever one day. This is the civilization that foolishly talks about “colonizing” other planets. This is the civilization that believes that we are capable of anything we want. And this is the very same civilization cowering from a tiny microscopic organism that’s travelling the world, piggybacked off us.

Yes, it is true that human life is the crown jewel of 8.4M species in the material manifestation. Yes, you read that right. Eight Million, Four Hundred Thousand species. Of these, Four Hundred Thousand Species are human.

The key difference between the various species, apart from all the wondrous physical and biological features, is actually consciousness. A plant is conscious, an insect is more so, a fish, animal, primate, human, all gradually getting more well-endowed in terms of consciousness.

When it comes to humans, we have a very finely honed sense of consciousness, with a key ability that is not to be found in another 8 Million species – the ability to inquire into the Supreme Absolute Truth.

However, leaving aside the main purpose of human life, we have degenerated into all sorts of abominable behaviour.

श्री भगवानुवाच
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भ‍वः ।
महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥ ३७ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa
rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā
viddhy enam iha vairiṇam
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/37/

You might be forgiven for thinking that the Coronavirus pandemic caused by COVID-19 is the main enemy of this world. It is not. In fact, the COVID-19 is simply a symptom of this degraded consciousness.

It is our degraded consciousness that is the real enemy of this world. Time to turn the tide!

Time to reverse this manifestation of our own lust and anger, envy, greed, illusion, madness, caused by that one problem, a degradation of our consciousness from the divine to the mundane.

This inquiry is the beginning of the Vedānta-sūtras, wherein it is said, athāto brahma-jijñāsā: one should inquire into the Supreme. And the Supreme is defined in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś ca, or, “The origin of everything is the Supreme Brahman.” Therefore the origin of lust is also in the Supreme. If, therefore, lust is transformed into love for the Supreme, or transformed into Kṛṣṇa consciousness – or, in other words, desiring everything for Kṛṣṇa – then both lust and wrath can be spiritualized. Hanumān, the great servitor of Lord Rāma, exhibited his wrath by burning the golden city of Rāvaṇa, but by doing so he became the greatest devotee of the Lord. Here also, in Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord induces Arjuna to engage his wrath upon his enemies for the satisfaction of the Lord. Therefore, lust and wrath, when they are employed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, become our friends instead of our enemies.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/37/

May we wake up and see where our arrogance has once more brought us. While we are on our knees would be a good time to look back upon our Best Friend and Well-Wisher.

Rama. Krishna. Allah. Jehovah. Yahweh. Adonai. Rahman. Rahim. Buddha.

Call upon these names with love and see for yourself how it transforms the consciousness of the world, starting with yourself.

Wake up sleeping soul.

Consciousness, Higher or Lower

The quality of our consciousness can be chosen, either actively or passively. Where do you want to take your consciousness today?

Everything we think, say, or do, affects our consciousness. Everything we eat or drink affects our consciousness. Everything we hear or see affects our consciousness too. Our consciousness is shaped by our experiences. Does that sound hopeless or hopeful to you? You can choose your consciousness!

Recently I met one young aspiring spiritualist who had once imbibed some intoxicating substance to “reach a higher plane of consciousness”. I told him that if attaining to a higher plane of consciousness was so cheap that a mere substance could take us there, then all the drug addicts of the world would be sages, great saintly souls who can see the past, present and future, act with perfect equanimity, and help everyone they meet. But this is not the case.

A drunk man may be entertaining or irritating, but a drunk man is a drunk man, not a sober human even.

When we are intoxicated, we hallucinate. Hallucination is not a “higher plane of consciousness”, no matter what the drug peddler might tell you. Hallucination is a lower form of consciousness. Don’t hallucinate with substances, you can reach a higher plane of consciousness by proper meditation.

Substances like tea, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, cannabis, opioids, and drugs, they are all intoxicants. They don’t take our consciousness to a higher level, but to a lower level.

These are, at a high-level, states of consciousness:

Unconscious
Sub-conscious
Conscious
Super-Conscious

When most of us are asleep, we’re mostly unconscious, though there are certain things that happen at a sub-conscious level also.

When we’re awake, we’re generally conscious, but there are certain things that happen at a sub-conscious level too.

At the sub-conscious level, usually it is instincts, but also other complex phenomena, like for example suggestions and advertisements that are on a subtle level, always playing with our consciousness, inserting suggestions into our consciousness… making us feel that it is us who want those things or experiences…

यथा प्रकाशयत्येक: कृत्स्‍नं लोकमिमं रवि: ।
क्षेत्रं क्षेत्री तथा कृत्स्‍नं प्रकाशयति भारत ॥ ३४ ॥ yathā prakāśayaty ekaḥ
kṛtsnaṁ lokam imaṁ raviḥ
kṣetraṁ kṣetrī tathā kṛtsnaṁ
prakāśayati bhārata
O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/13/34/

Because consciousness is the symptom of the soul, a symptom of life itself, all living entities are conscious. The quality, the fidelity of consciousness varies though. A plant is aware of very little, and hence conscious at a very low level, insect at a higher level, animal at an even higher level, and so on. Both a drunk human and a sober human are conscious, just that the drunk human’s consciousness is said to be closer to the consciousness of an animal than the sober human’s, in most cases anyways.

A soul in a dog’s body, even though conscious, can’t do much about it’s level of consciousness except accept whatever consciousness was imposed upon it by nature, viz, act like a dog.

Humans, on the other hand, possess a rare gift, in it that they can actively choose a state of consciousness. Consequently, humans can, if they choose to, act like animals or like trees or fish or birds or insects. That is a freedom afforded in human life.

However, only humans can actively choose a higher form of consciousness, super-consciousness. To be aware of what is going on, inside us at a spiritual level, inside our bodies and minds… to be able to see what consciousness someone else is at, and as this gets further developed, know more than can be afforded by the limits of space and time.

Every single thought, word, and deed we engage in, or are part of, for example, reading a novel or a newspaper, watching a movie or television, hanging out with a friend who loves politics or sports… each such experience shapes our consciousness.

When someone practices a genuine form of meditation that is centered around the Supreme Absolute Truth, such as, for example, the chanting of the Maha Mantra “the great chant”:

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे |
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे ||

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare

When properly heard and chanted, this mantra lifts the consciousness of the chanter towards super-consciousness. Try it out. Just hear yourself saying this mantra, and let me know if I can help.

इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागता: ।
सर्गेऽपि नोपजायन्ते प्रलये न व्यथन्ति च ॥ २ ॥ idaṁ jñānam upāśritya
mama sādharmyam āgatāḥ
sarge ’pi nopajāyante
pralaye na vyathanti ca
By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain to the transcendental nature like My own. Thus established, one is not born at the time of creation or disturbed at the time of dissolution.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/14/2/

Where do you want to take your consciousness today?

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Ikigai – What keeps you going in Krishna Consciousness?

What is your ikigai, your raison-de-etre, your reason for being? Especially when you are following a spiritual path, why are you on the path? Why are you (trying to be) in Krishna Consciousness?

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 26th April 2016

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krishna!

Welcome everyone!

This group has been active since May 2011, and we have done some amazing things in this group, and we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Recently, I came across the Japanese word Ikigai (pronounced ‘icky guy’, but doesn’t mean the same). Roughly translated, Ikigai means “a reason for being”. Of course, on the deepest level, we are because Krishna is.

But still, it can be understood as the reason we start something, stick to something or even just get out of bed.

So, I am curious to hear, and I beg you to dig deep within your hearts and minds… what is your “ikigai”, what is your reason for being in Krishna consciousness in any way?

I mean, some of you are experimenting with Krishna consciousness. Others know it theoretically but yet to fully embrace, and others you live and breathe Krishna consciousness, everything is you do is so you can somehow be Krishna conscious.

I’d like us to get a feel of what the members feel is their “Ikigai” in Krishna consciousness?

Please don’t hold back, please write, this will inspire and encourage us all.

What say, dear fellow travellers on the road to Ultimate Self Realization?

Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das

Hitesh Patel, 26th April 2016

My reason for being in Krishna Consciousness is to get away from the trouble of the material world and be in kirtan. Sunday 8 o clock arati is my favorite time of the week because I can take all the stress that’s accumulated throughout the work week and let it out on the mridanga drum. Sometimes I hit the drum so hard that my hands hurt. It’s a great feeling.

Hare krishna!!

Sincerely,
Hitesh Patel

Ned frazee, 26th April 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad!
All Glories to Guru-dev and Guru-Mata!
All Glories to the assembled devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances. This is a wonderful letter and I would like to participate in the discussion.

What I feel mostly as my “reason for being” in Krishna Consciousness is endeavoring each day, moment to moment, for a drop of mercy. You see, I am the most fallen and very unqualified for this Bhakti-yoga. Although, I am most fortunate to have come into contact with His Grace Sankarshan Das Adhikari.

I feel when I endeavor to take Guru association in my heart, if not physically present, then this gives me the opportunity to take hold of Krishna’s lotus feet within my mind.

Through his transcendental instructions emanating from his lotus mouth, he delivers the whole world from the ocean of birth and death.

There are so many drops of mercy that we get from so many great personalities. I pray Lord Krishna will give me the intelligence to drink this transcendental nectar through my ears and if there is any bit of interest of anyone to hear, I may fan this spark.

Yours eternally,

Sincerely,
Ned

Vasudevan.k, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,

All Glories to Srila Prabhupad!

All Glories to Guru-dev and Guru-Mata!

All Glories to the assembled devotees!

Please accept my humble obeisances. This is a wonderful letter and I would like to participate in the discussion.

What I feel mostly as my “reason for being” in Krishna Consciousness is endeavoring each day, moment to moment, for Prasadam.

Always an insignificant servant,
Vasudevan K

Gita ajith, 27th April 2016

Hare Krsna Devotees

My Personal reason for being in Krsna conscious is that it relieves me from all worldly stress and strain.

Whenever I am in a conflicting situation or depressed mental state I start chanting the Maha Mantra and start feeling the mercy of lord by feeling very light and my thought moving towards Krsna and nothing else. There are so many things keeps me going in Krsna consciousness especially almost all the writings of Srila Prabhupada about Krsna ….especially his book KRSNA which I love to read again and again especially when I read the chapter about Sudama visiting his friend Lord Krsna one of the beautiful chapter which enlightens me a lot .

Every single thought that comes to my mind about all attractive Krsna has a great feeling and keeps me moving further…..Hare Krsnaaaa!!!

Sincerely,
Gita

Manjula Nellore, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna,

My pranams to the Acharyas and Gurus.

My best wishes to all.
Being associated with Krishna Consciousness is a journey which I wish to travel sharing experiences of one another, which would in turn help all of us to get closer to the lord himself.

yours,
Manjula.

Manian VB, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna Hare Rama.

Being associated with Krishna consciousness is a wonderful; experience. we cone to know of the Supreme being and practicing Krishna Consciousness gives us peace of mind and takes us away from the material contamination.

your unworthy servant,
Manian VB

Sarvasakti devi dasi, 27th April 2016

Dear Devotees
Hare Krishna

My reason for being in krishna consciousness is to get rid of all material attachments. To be honest whenever am in the temple busy with my services and surrounding with devotees really feels amazing and that happiness and peace i get is just wonderful. Once I go out of temple I get so sad , people’s words just keeps hurting me. For me I love serving and helping everyone. During week days we have harinam here in fiji island and that’s the best part of my life . I get to meet so many people to talk to about lord krishna. Book distributions , dancing and delicious prasadam.

This is just a short reason I have shared .

All glories to srila prabhupada
All glories to srila gurudev

yours servant
Sarvasakti devi dasi

Kamal Caran Das, 27th April 2016

Hare Krsna.

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Sri Sri Gaur Nitai.

I was and I am an extremly fallen soul. Very arogant, egoistic and unfaithful one. And I could understand that this is the reason of all the pity situations in my material life. I could sense that Krsna Consciousness movement initiated by Srila Prabhupada is the only way out of such a horible condition. This was the only and only “ikigai” to start with ISKCON.

But now, after almost EIGHT year of association of Harinam & devotees of Krsna & Krsna in the form of almost everything, the “ikigai” is to realize Krsna in every happenings in the life – mine & others.. and to learn more and more abuot how beautifully & mysteriously Krsna performs.. Krsna says.. Mayadhyakshen prakrutihi.. hetunanen kauntey, jagat viparivartate.. How prakruti works on us and how we fool behave under the clutches of maya — though we consider ourselves in Krsna consciousness.. Suddenly a spark comes in the mind and we realize — “oh, i got trapped again..!” its wonderful.. and adventurious and delicious…and so on..

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare,
Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare….!

your servant..
Kamal Caran Das

Nirmala Devaki Devi Dasi, 27th April 2016

HARE KRISHNA

Please accept my humble obeisances…

For me KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS is everything….Sometimes i feel if i would not be there in this KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, how boring my life would be.

I feel very fortunate that i get to know about this KRISHNA consciousness.

Yadi Prabhupada na hoito tabe ki hoito ye jeevan bahita kishe……

Its really a fact that association of devotees can’t be compared 2 anything valuable in this world..i feel each moment to be very precious that is being spent with the devotees.

Every sunday, every yatra gives more and more bliss to our life.

Srila Prabhupada books are the source of life.

And the Ultimate self realization course everyday make me realise the urgency for being KRISHNA CONSCIOUS every moment.

Thanks.

yours insignificant servant
Nirmala Devaki Devi Dasi

Sadhna bhim, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna to all

All glories to Srila Prabhupad!

My reason for being a devotee is, always I wanted to know what is the purpose of our life. is there anything that after birth and death is there anything beyond that. I found my answer in Srimad Bhagwatam. We must prepare ourself for a spiritual body to go back to God head. In this material world we must use everything for Krishna. My wish is what can I do to help everyone to become Krishna consciousness’ especially our family members which is very difficult to preach them.

servant of the servant of the servant
Sadhna

Jayapal M, 27th April 2016

Dear devotees,

Hare krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances,

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,

My reason for being in Krishna Consciousness is that I strongly believe and being experienced of Chanting Holy Name as the simplest way of doing continuous service to Krishna, Supreme Personality of Godhead. Chanting and sticking to 4 regulatory principles are the most enjoyable and self purifying activities of my life now, though it was found to be very difficult once upon a time.

Looking for devotees’ merciful; blessing to continue in Krishna consciousness forever.

your humble aspiring servant,
M. Jayapal.

Premananda das, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories o Srila Prabhupada

Krishna consciousness or the reason of my being in Krishna consciousness are as follows:

1)To be a servant of Guru,Krishna and Vasinavas
2)To take risks for Krishna and explore the journey as I understand if you love someone you will sacrifice and give your best eat to please that person.Similarly to please Krishna’s pure devotees and become an instrument in Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya mission.
3)Hearing Srimad Bhagavatam lectures and purifying myself,for furthering scriptural understanding and developing my love for Krishna .
4)Srila Prabhupada has given an spiritual institution Iskcon to assist in the local temple by asking higher authorizes in the temple.Srila Prabhupada mentions that if anyone wants to please him they must follow his instructions .He said that co-operation between devotees will please him.I wish to develop that mood as the goal is for the pleasure of Krishna ,services could vary from devotee to devotee.
5)To remember Krishna and never forget Him.Just as tripod stands on three legs.Guru ,sadhus and scriptures are require even one leg missing will not make the camera stand on tripod.Association of devotees and exchanging loving exchanges between devotees is another aspect of my being in Krishna conscious. This is my Ikigai.

Thank you Mahabhagavat prabhu for this wonderful book club where I learn so much with realization and experiences from devotees and reading and relishing the nectar of different books of Srila Prabhupada.

your servant
Premananda Das

Amogha Lila Das, 27th April 2016

Hare Krishna prabhu’s and mataji’s. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Gurudeva. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I would say my ‘ikigai’ in Krishna consciousness is the realization that there is nothing else real even though how much real it may seem. Krishna consciousness helps me to look forward to weekends and events where I can get devotee association. And this in turn makes all other seemingly mundane activities somewhat meaningful.

your servant,
Amogha Lila Das

Vandana Neeraye, 27th April 2016

Hare krsna

Please accept my humble obeisance

All glories to Shrila Prabupada

All glories to Shrila Gurudev and Guru mataji

Krsna consciousness makes me realize that we are all part and parcel of lord krishna, He resides in our heart and we are His eternal servants.

Being in krsna consciousness also gives me immense pleasure to serve the devotees, to do my japas, to read Srila Prabupada books and to associate with devotees and discuss Sri krsna pastimes

your servant,
Vandana

Jayakrishna, 29th April 2016

Hare krishna dear devotees!

I dont know it, but i think i am special to Krishna,and i feel He loves me as his dearest! just like i feel that i am special to my mother! But i know as a father that i love my children equally:-) Regarding ISKCON,i appreciate them only because they serve Krishna better than anyone, and regarding Srila Prabhupada, i dont know a man more dedicated to the mission of Krishna and a Guru who distributed the priceless benediction of krishna to the whole world lavishly in modern days.

with dandavats,

Jayakrishna

Damodar Vilas das, 29th April 2016

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisance
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thanks for very introspective question :-

Q. what is your reason for being in Krishna consciousness in any way?

Ans. Reason for me for being in Krishna Consciousness

Being able to derive inspiration from the association of the devotees who are living with teachings of an Acarya who taught by His own example. Our ISKCON founder acarya Srila Prabhupada!!!
Relationship with the spiritual preceptor/Guru Maharaja. Who are extending the most sublime teaching & love of entire disciplic succession.
Bhakti perform under guidance of these teaching gives provide immense happiness to keep going. Also Vaishnava Seva.

your servant,
Damodar Vilas das

Paramraj bhatt, 29th April 2016

Hare Krishna !

Please accept my humble obeisances .

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada !
All Glories to Srila Gurudev !

First off all thank you prabhuji for bringing up this question it really made me ponder a lot about it “Ikigai ” I mean what is my reason for being ?

Even though I knew that I was in Krishna consciousnesses for ” Athato Brahma Jigyasa”, which shares some what similar meaning to Ikigai ,I think reason for my being is to understand exactly why do I have to be ?

Understanding the importance of doing things and how to do them perfectly .The feel of having an intense desire to know or have that curiosity (jigyasa ) is what keeps me going.

your servant,
Paramraj

Ajanta Rao, 29th April 2016

Hare Krishna devotees,
All glories to Srila Gurudev and Gurumataji
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you Mahabhagavat Prabhu for asking the question. The reason that I am Krishna conscious is that it makes me feel truly peaceful, blissful, clean, healthy, and normal. I feel lost and confused if I’m not Krishna conscious. The material world is so corrupted by maya/illusion that nobody knows who they actually are and what their true purpose in life is. Everybody is busy trying to boost their false egos and indulge in sense gratification which doesn’t make sense to me. On the other hand, Krishna consciousness makes complete sense because it is based on Bhagavad-Gita, the teachings of Lord Krishna who is the Supreme Lord of the Universe. Reading Srila Prabhupada’s “Bhagavad-Gita as it is” was an epiphanous moment for me. It awakened me and enlightened me about my true nature and the true purpose of my life. I realized that I am actually an eternal servant of Lord Krishna and my duty is to serve Him with love and devotion. Ever since I started practicing Krishna consciousness- by doing japa, mangala-aarathi, associating with devotees, following Gurudev’s and Gurumataji’s instructions, cooking and serving Krishna prasadam, serving in the temple, and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, I was gradually cleansed of material contamination and felt increasingly blissful. I know there is more and more cleansing required for this fallen soul and hence I shall continue to be Krishna conscious forever.

I enjoy participating in the online book reading because it helps to improve my knowledge and strengthens my Krishna consciousness. Thank you to all the devotees for their valuable insights and mercy.

yours humbly,
Ajanta Rao

Bhakta Sunil, 29th April 2016

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,

my Ikigai for being in Krishna Consciousness is :

a) Getting the association of persons who are your true friends,

b) automatically avoiding abominable mundane habits because of higher taste,

c) the satisfaction of serving and doing good for some one is immense,

d) eating sanctified food,

e) experientially feeling the purification in the heart,

f) being aware that this is the Absolute Truth, and this is the topmost lifestyle for a human being,

g) being sure that even in difficulty God is helping , so simply to depend on Lord and His representatives,

this is my humble realization,

your insignificant servant,
Bhakta Sunil

Shridhar Das, 02nd May 2016

Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please accept my humble obeisance!
All glories to Srila Gurudeva!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I also heartily thank His Grace Mahabhagavat Prabhu for giving an opportunity to dig deep into “whys”. My counsellor once spoke if “what?” and “why?” of our life’s goal is clear, then “how?” shall automatically be known. Stronger the why, better the how.

Honestly sharing, my mind is mixed up. Above ikaigais however helped me.

I had given myself to this movement because I was eager to experience the mystery if really there is a person who knows me, understands my feelings and shall guide accordingly, because I couldn’t ever find such a person in material world. No one would reciprocate properly. Those whom I considered my best friends were best of worst bargain to keep myself going in life. I felt I was odd one out in this world. I was disappointed to see flaws in all relations.

Today my spiritual master, other vaishnavas and Krishna have taken that place and answered my mystery.

Having gone through permutations of combinations of all experimentations to remain happy, I have concluded reason or no reason, nothing except Krishna Conscious will satisfy. So this is one thing. I know this is Absolutely “The One”, no choice.

The main impetus or ikigai to practice the Krishna Consciousness regularly is anything that will help me to become established in my real identity beyond conflicts and bewilderment and the other ikigai is to become qualified to live up to the expectations of my spiritual master from me.

Eager to know Prabhuji’s “ikigai”.

your servant
Shridhar Das

Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 02nd May 2016

Hare Krishna!

My “Ikigai”… I know that all problems are caused by a lack of Krishna consciousness. I know I am not Krishna conscious. Thus I have no other hope other than to be truly Krishna conscious, and I know only too well how much I am lacking in every single area of my attempt, so truly, no other hope other than to trying being truly and genuinely Krishna conscious.

Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das

Brhadnath dasa, 04th May 2016

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Srila Gurudeva.

I could not believe that this thought has been echoed by YG, my idol. “I know I am not Krishna conscious” Prabhuji, these words are to be found in the minds of neophytes like me who do not care to utter but cannot be adduced to YG .Could be a slip of some keys on the board.
I took to Krishna consciousness in the autumn of my life after going to so many places of so called godly consciousness. When I read BG as it is for the first time, Srila Prabhupada just mesmerized me with altogether different purports. I had been reading BG(some other editions) for long but could not proceed beyond Ch-2 and that too without fully going through Ch-1, thinking that the Lord appears in Ch-2 But when I started reading ‘BG as it is’ and came to verse 1/41, I read the purport several times. Prabhuji,we observe shradha kriya and perform certain rituals with the help of brahmanas and then offer food and other articles to them. But Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to offer remnants of prasadam to ancestors and virtually uplift them struck me and with half reluctant family members we followed Srila Prabhupada. The brahmins were also offered the usual money etc with prasadam, but without performing ritualsetc. This is still being followed in our family and some other relatives. This way Srila Prabhupada entered our life. we would listen to lectures and try to understand with the help of devotees. I started chanting 16 rounds within a fortnight. Yadi prabhupada na hoite, then what would have happened.Srila Prabhupada ki jai. As earlier shared, my punishment at work became a wonderful sojourn to some other world. But the real take off was after joining the “ultimate self-realization” course. Srila Gurudeva is really from Golokadhama showering mercy profusely on sinful souls like me. Reading Prabhupada books with the group is another experience. I’m learning the steps to Krishna consciousness due to your mercy and think myself on the stage of bhajan-kriya. Srila Prabhupada in one lecture has said that,”as you are more and more engaged in spiritual activities, so, proportionately, your material activities and affection for material activities will diminish. Counteraction. When you engage in the spiritual activities, your material activities diminishes.” HH Gopal Krishan Goswami, once said that if you attain the stage of anartha nivriti during this life time then the achievement is more than sufficient , may be His Holiness had householders like me under reference. I also take solace from reading SB 11.20/27,28 and repent on my occasional bursts of anger and other material activities and taking shelter of the group.
My “Ikigai” is to attain the stage of “anartha-nivritti” with the help of the group, but if not in this life due to previous / or present sinful actions may be in the next, and I’ve no regrets.

Brhadnath dasa

Sundar Gopal Das, 04th May 2016

Hare Krishna!
Dear devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisance.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All Glories to Srila Guru and Gauranga

First of all hats off to HG Mahabhgavat Prabhuji for coming up with such an brilliant idea to instigate all of us to ponder over the ‘ikigai’ factor of our Krishna Consciousness at individual level.

I can summarize my ‘ikigai’ of Krishna conscious as- a truly and significantly purposeful progression of life towards an eternal and blissful reality.

A brief break-up can be as follows :

Incredible HD Philosophy: Before coming to Krishna consciousness I (and all of us) knew “Man is mortal”. Whereas here the rudimentary foundation of Krishna Consciousness is based on “Every living entity is immortal”. The na hanyate hnaya mane sarire revolutionize the entire definition of our so-called life and take us towards a resolution of Higher Dimensional (HD) existence of eternity, knowledge and bliss.

Elixir of life : The process of chanting of Holy Name
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
and sravanam i.e. hearing of Krishna Katha for the natural revival of our innate divine nature is simple, but at the same time so necterean that I can’t help but keep on experiencing the exponentially increasing bliss -anandambudhi bardhanam-by the mercy of my spiritual masters and vaishnavas.
Enlightening Variegatedness : Previously I had a misconception that religiosity or spirituality means some ritualistic activity or just om shanti om type inactivity. But here Srila Prabhupada has presented the real essence of spiritual culture with so much enlightening engagements that soul’s instinctive dynamism is perfectly aligned to dovetail the wandering senses at the service of their true master- hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170) .

That’s all about a brief sketch of my ‘ikigai’ of Krishna consciousness…..

With regards,
Sundar Gopal Das

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Is there a difference between Consciousness and the Mind?

Geetha, 16th June 2013

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

What is the difference between the Consciousness and mind?

your servant,
Geetha.

Rohini Devi Dasi, 18th June 2013

Hare Krishna Mataji,

All Glories to Srila Gurudev and Srimati Gurumataji,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances.

Will try to explain the difference between consciousness and mind according to my little understanding.

Earth,water,fire,air,either,mind,intelligence and false ego are 8 separate inferior energies of the Supreme personality of Godhead.
The gross body also known as the “Sthula Sharira” is made up of 5 elements- earth,water,fire,air and ether often known as “pancha maha bhuta”. The mind,intelligence and false ego constitutes the Subtle body. The Subtle body is also called as the “Sukshma Sharira”

Consciousness is the energy of the soul where as the mind is the part of the material body one of the elements of the subtle body.
Just as our eyes have the ability to see and we direct our eyes to the particular object and our eyes sees that object. Just as the power of seeing is the characteristics of the eyes same way the power of consciousness is the characteristics of the soul. The consciousness in that sense is spiritual whereas mind is the one of the objects in which the consciousness gets focussed.

Thus mind is material being one of the ingredients of the subtle body and consciousness is spiritual.

From practical perspective we sometimes use mind and consciousness wrongly stating that, my mind is disturbed or my consciousness is gone down we may use these words interchangeably but from philosophical point of view they are significantly different.

To understand our situation in the material world from philosophical point of view the verse 13.22 explains:
puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi
bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān
kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo ’sya
sad-asad-yoni-janmasu
The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil among various species.
For the purpose of enjoying, the soul gets lodged, gets situated in material nature with the desire to enjoy.eg while watching cricket match our eyes can see the entire room but our eyes and vision is focussed on the television screen. Through the TV screen our vision enters the cricket ground and we start experiencing ,identifying what is happening in the cricket ground and feel the emotions accordingly. The events that are happening in the cricket ground are like the events happening in the material world and the screen on which the events are displayed is like the mind and what is happening in the cricket ground for eg the video camera captures the event ,the sound recorder records the sound and all different things are integrated and brought on the television and the television screen integrates the various inputs and offers them for enjoyment or suffering for the cricket watchers.

similarly what our senses ie eyes,ears nose and other perceive, all the inputs are integrated by the mind and offered for perception by the soul. The mind offers some objects for perception and soul focusses the consciousness in that objects then the soul desires changes… e.g the picture of the mind is offering the agitating feeling, and if the soul focusses on that picture of agitating, the consciousness also feels agitated ,angry and if the picture is sensually alluring than the soul by focussing on that becomes allure .This way the mind proposes various objects and situations for the material enjoyment for the soul and to the extend the soul focusses on the consciousness on the mind to that extend soul gets affected and thats the reason we say that the best way to deal with the mind is to neglect it.
If tv show is going on in the house and if we don’t look at it it will continue and get over we can continue our work and not waste our time similarly the mind may offer some inputs but as a soul we might decide not to put our consciousness in it then the mind will not affect us. In this way by thoughtful internal observation we can de-link our consciousness from our mind and not get influenced by the minds feeling and moods and our consciousness will stay good even when our mind is in irritated mood.

In Short mind is subtle material whereas the consciousness is spiritual being an integrated energy of the soul and by careful introspection we can avoid mind influencing our consciousness.

Hare Krishna

your Servant,
Rohini Devi dasi

Ashok Sahu, 19th June 2013

Hare Krishna Mataji,
All Glories to Srila Gurudev and Srimati Gurumataji,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept my humble obeisances.

Thank you for a wonderful answer. I just have a follow up question.
when we say our consciousness should not focus on mind what it offers us, how can we function in this world?
So is it that we should accept the thoughts that mind offers us that are favorable to Krishna Consciousness and not otherwise?
one more question, when it is generally said that “our heart needs to be purified” does this means our consciousness to be purified by chanting right?
Please explain.

your Servant
Ashok Sahu

Rabindra Das, 19th June 2013

All glories Sri Guru & Sri Gauranga
All glories Srila Prabhupada

What a wonderful, clear and concise description of the mind and soul
My day has become extra enlivened – thank you

your servant
Rabindra Das
Geetha, 19th June 2013

Hare Krishna mataji,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Thank you very much very nice explanation.

your servant,
Geetha.
Shreyas, 20th June 2013

Hare Krsna Mataji.

Dandavat Pranam
All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

I was quite convinced by the wonderful reply above. Just that I couldn’t understand few of the concepts:
1) You mentioned that the soul focuses its consciousness on what the mind is showing or projecting? Is that really true that the soul itself focuses because then there is also another fact that the soul is 100% pure and so is it really focusing,the soul?

This is how I limited-ly used to think of it. The mind hovers and thinks of so many things and there is something(which now you mention as soul) which sees to it ,all this and gets illusion-ed. So Soul being pure, seeing impure things and mind thinking I am not this soul is not quite befitting. So I wanted to know when it is said that the mind thinks I am not this soul, how on a subtle level is this happening? Because if soul is watching the projections in the mind then who is thinking or getting illusion-ed? Who is out of foolishness failing to realize the soul?
My so far thinking was that we interpret or think, etc because of the mind. Obviously, the feeling and sensation is because of the consciousness but I used to think consciousness is just like the facility and because of it we are able to think,etc from our brain, or visual gratification, etc.
Sorry for my complex way of communicating. I can only hope that I am clear.

Kindly enlighten.

Your fallen and aspiring servant
Hare Krsna!
Shreyas

Bhakta Sunil, 20th June 2013

Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Regarding this question I researched and would like to share the following :

http://vedabase.com/sb/7/15/41

Transcendentalists who are advanced in knowledge compare the body, which is made by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to a chariot. The senses are like the horses; the mind, the master of the senses, is like the reins; the objects of the senses are the destinations; intelligence is the chariot driver; and consciousness, which spreads throughout the body, is the cause of bondage in this material world.

Humble respects from,
Sunil
Rathin Mandal, 21st June 2013

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances,
All Glories to Srila Gurudev and Srimati Gurumataji,
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I had something of a similar query which Mahabhagavat Prabhu helped me to understand. So I will give a try to explain this with my limited knowledge.

The soul is always pure, because it is part of Supreme Personality. In it is actual position it is qualitatively same as God, but it is also interacting with the material nature due to which it gets affected by illusion. I will take help of following two verses to explain.
BG 3.5: Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

Sri Krishna has said that everyone is affected by the material modes of nature, and when the one is not aware of his real position then he remains in illusion.

BG 3.27: The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.
Also this statement of Sri Krishna says that the soul gets affected by the mode of material nature.

Now some material example as how even the minds gets bewildered by the environment. I hope you would have seen boys playing video games like driving and shooting games. The player gets so much engrossed into the game that at tight corners instead of making the car move, he moves his body. Or while playing a shooting game, when the opponent shoots, the player tries to duck instead of making his game player duck. The mind knows that it is just playing a game on the computer but being heavily interacting with that instrument, the virtual affects get reflected in the real body also.

So I think, similarly the soul en-caged inside the material body is bound to see and feel through the body. Until and unless it receives devotees assistance, he cannot differentiate between real and illusion.

your Servant
Rathin
Rohini Devi Dasi, 24th June 2013

Hare Krishna shreyas prabhuji,

All glories to Srila Gurudev and srimati Gurumataji.
All glories to Srila Praphupada!

Please accept my humble obeisances.

Prabhuji I m not an expert in this topic,it’s what I have heard from great preachers and senior devotee s of our sampradaya m writing .Will try to answer your question but m not sure how much of your doubts will be resolved.
Question

1) You mentioned that the soul focuses its consciousness on what the mind is showing or projecting? Is that really true that the soul itself focuses because then there is also another fact that the soul is 100% pure and so is it really focusing,the soul?
Soul being pure, seeing impure things and mind thinking I am not this soul is not quite befitting. So I wanted to know when it is said that the mind thinks I am not this soul, how on a subtle level is this happening? Because i f the soul is watching the projection of the mind who is thinking or getting illusion-ed? Who is out of foolishness failing to realize the soul?
Ans: The Vedic wisdom-tradition states that the soul is by its very nature sat-cit-anand, eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss.

The mind, like our physical body, is material. So it is non-living and unconscious. When the mind appears to be conscious, it is simply prompting us towards actions that we have repeatedly done in the past. Thus its actions are similar to the actions of a competent software program that remembers our past choice among multiple options and prompts us towards making that choice again. When we make that same choice repeatedly, the program may make that choice as our default option. Then, even if we don’t choose that option consciously, still it gets chosen automatically. Eventually, we may feel that the computer program is conscious and is choosing on its own. We may even feel that its choice and our choice are the same. But neither of these feelings is true. And we can realize their falsity by consciously stopping the default choice and consciously making an alternative choice.

The same principle applies in our dealings with our mind. When we repeatedly respond to particular stimuli in the same way, the mind makes that response as our default option. So, for example, when we let our mind go towards thoughts of sex whenever nothing urgent occupies it, then carnal thoughts become our default thoughts. This may give us the misperception that we are innately lusty. But we aren’t. All of us, as souls, are innately spiritual, and the spiritual soul has nothing to do with physical lust.

To correct our misperception, we need to consciously say no to the default option and say yes to an alternative option, that is, we need to take our mind away from its habitual object of thought and fix it on some other object. Many such alternative objects of thought may present themselves before us, but we will soon discover that fixing the mind on them is not easy; redirecting the mind involves dragging and wrenching that strains and drains us. After some struggle, we may even feel that disciplining the mind to be an exercise in self-torture and futility. While this opposition that the mind presents to our plans can be discouraging, it can also serve as undeniable confirmatory evidence that we are different from our mind.
Vedic wisdom facilitates and accelerates the process of redirecting the mind by offering us an object of thought that is empowering, purifying and fulfilling. That object is Krishna – especially in his form of the holy name.

Hare Krishna!

your servant,
Rohini Devi dasi
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 25th June 2013

Hare Krishna!

My short note, to support what Rohini Mataji has so eloquently explained, is that it is the soul which perceives, sees, observes, etc., subtle body and gross material body are just the instruments through which those sensations are coming into the soul. Without the presence of the soul, the mind or body cannot do anything on their own. It is the living force, the spirit soul, atma, which provides consciousness which is the basic ingredient before any other activity can occur.

Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
Shreyas, 25th June 2013

Hare Krsna!

I first of all thank Sunil Prabhuji, Rathin Prabhuji, Rohini Mataji and Mahabhagavat das Prabhuji for devoting their time to my frustration or misunderstanding and doubt. Yes, it was explained quite nicely and easily. I was over-thinking. It’s very clear to me. I am indeed fortunate to join this group.
I am very clear with this topic and depth now.

Haribol!
your fallen and aspiring servant!
Hare Krsna!

Shreyas

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