Nama Om Vishnu paadaaya..
Hari Haraya Naama Krishna …
Jaya Radha Madhava…
Mukham karoti…

Hari Om tat sat!

I was evaluated by a Russian speaking therapist, and he said short evaluation – took two and a half hours! He said I should exercise 5-10 times a day for two minutes. He said that by his assessment I should be able to walk, but he didn’t know how long it would take. Minimum two months, maximum two years! Hope so. So since it is late, what should we have? Today is Amalaki Ekadasi. Amalaki is the first tree created by Lord Brahma. It is considered a sacred tree and the Amalaki fruit has 30 times more vitamin C than an orange. Once when we had a safari to Kurukshetra, we saw the place where Bhagavan Sri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita. I gave all the devotees special amalaki sweets. It was candied amalaki and very tasty! But I could not take. The devotees liked it. So amalaki is known to keep away the subtle entities. So if you have any problem with subtle entities, please plant a bunch of a trees around your house. So amalaki, and then of course, the most sacred is Tulasi. She can be offered at the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu or Krishna. In fact, He does not take any offering if there is no Tulasi. So Tulasi is essential. I saw in Poland and Sweden, they had rooms with ultra violet lights, where they grow Tulasi because outside was -10, -15, -20 C, so they kept the Tulasi inside a special room. They sprayed the Tulasi with water and had the ultra violet light. Tulasi although is very nice. We have here in India, Tulasi is everywhere. People have Tulasi at their house, and then we can chant and offer water to the Tulasi. So Tulasi is very worshipable. Mrigari the hunter was initiated by Narada muni and he was made to chant in front of the Tulasi tree. Vrndaya Tulasi devyaya priyaya Keshavashyacha Vishnu bhakti prade devi Satyavatye namo namaha. Also, “Oh king of Maandata, the venerable Vashistha muni concluded, anyone who observes the sacred Amalaki Ekadasi, will undoubtedly attaint the Supreme abode of Lord Vishnu. So great is the religious merit earned from the observance of this most sacred fast day.” This is from the Brahmanda Purana. Brahma bole Chatur Mukhe, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Mahadeva Pancha Mukhe, Rama Rama Hare Hare. So if any one has any questions, since it is late, and since tomorrow we are going to Shantipur, in the morning. And I will have breakfast there. And by taking prasadam we get the special blessings of Lord Gauranga! So any questions?

Question: If someone selects a guru and he does not have eagerness to serve his guru, how can he get that eagerness to serve his guru?

Guru Maharaj: Strange question! You should select a guru, if you have eagerness to serve him. If you think, how the guru is helping you, then naturally you want to serve him. If you think how the guru is serving Prabhupad and previous acharyas, then naturally you will be eager to serve him. If you associate with people who are eager to serve the guru, then you will naturally be able to serve him. Maybe you need some association with the guru. Or could be that you are committing some offences so therefore you don’t have eagerness to serve guru and Krishna.

Question: Hare Krishna dear Guru Maharaj, how to keep our mind steady in Krishna consciousness when we are having family problems? Sri Gauranga Priya devi dasi

Guru Maharaj: The material world is such that even without you wanting it there will be some kind of problems. Maybe family, maybe health, maybe in laws, maybe other living entities, natural problems, tsunamis, earthquakes, storms. So we don’t want to stay eternally in this material world. We want to take shelter of Krishna. So it is not that we can solve all the problems but we should learn how to manage the problems, and not get upset, if there are some problems. Because that is the nature of the material world, that there are problems. So if we are fixed in serving Krishna, then He promises to give us intelligence, how to serve Him. So we can take the proper guidance to get over our family problems or to manage them. Prabhupad, he told that sanyasis should not deal with family problems. In fact, even though he was a grihastha earlier, he would send his disciples to talk to some senior grihastha god brothers. In Mayapur we have some grihasthas that have a good track record for grihastha counselling, so if you need I can refer you.

No personal or management questions.

Question: Suppose I am in a very difficult situation and I am not able to follow all the rituals properly, so what should I do? Should I wait for my time to avoid all the difficult circumstances and I should try to do the rituals fully? Like arati, darshan, eating prasadam.

Gur Maharaj: I don’t understand why you are not able to follow the process. (Due to some family problems or circumstances, the devotee said.) So send me an email personally.

Question: We went for parikrama, we went to Kolavecha Sridhar’s house and we heard the pastime how Kolavecha Sridhar was offered so many benedictions but he didn’t want any benedictions and he wanted only pure devotion to Krishna. I wanted to ask, as aspiring devotees how can we also have that desire that we want only pure devotion and we do not get affected by material benedictions that we are offered as test by Krishna? How can we develop that desire?

Guru Maharaj: By following in the footsteps of Kolavecha Sridhar! Ha! If you understand that material things are all temporary, and that benedictions that were offered to Kolavecha Sridhar which he rejected because they were material benedictions. Being a king – a king also has problems – there may be an attack, there may be some political intrigue, maybe he is poisoned and some mystic powers. Modern science has now almost got those mystic powers, like you can fly anywhere by air plane, you can see small things by microscopes, you can see big things at a distance by telescope, so basically what their mystic powers have are something that, they are all material. The real valuable treasure is love of Krishna. That is eternal, that is fully satisfying. That is something that is very rare. Haribol!

Question: Hare Krishna dear Guru Maharaj! (Guru maharaj said THAKNK YOU!) I was just wondering, what is the best method to get rid of false ego? And how do you distinguish between what is our real ego and false ego? Could you tell?

Guru Maharaj: False ego has us identify, I am the body. This is me. I am skinny or fat, I am white or black, sometimes someone says your nose is too big. Oh no, I have been offended. Oh nooooo… You have a pimple on your nose. Oh no… I curse you! So we should not have these false identifications with the body, not I body. So the body sometimes is young, sometimes get old, and then it dies. We then take a new life. So false ego means, we think we are the body. In real ego we understand our eternal relationship is with Krishna. jivera swarup hoi nitya Krishner das.

If you have no more questions, then darshan.

Question: Mukunda Vilas das wife of Tapta Kanchini devi dasi: (Guru maharaj said: Oh my dear spiritual daughter). Today is amalaki Ekadasi. Due to our bad luck and previous sins probably, I broke this Ekadasi and forgot about it and took one cake. Ha! That is my bad luck. But they say you can fast on the day of Dvadasi. But then I understood that I was dreaming for a long time to get that prasad at Shantipur and at Shantipur it is Dvadasi tomorrow. So I am in a troubled situation. I have to fast tomorrow and at the same time I want to take the prasad at Shantipur. So what is your advice?

Guru Maharaj: Prabhupad said better to fast on Trayodasi. Dvadasi is never a fast day. So you can always observe it the day after Dvadasi. So you can still take prasadam at Shantipur, but the day after that you should fast.

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
17 March 2019