Help People By Giving the Gift of Krishna Conscoiusness

There are many very nice people in this world. They help their fellow human beings to the best of their ability. I'll give just one example that comes to my mind. Once, in 1982 on the coldest day of the year, a plane crashed into the Potomac river in Washington D.C. One man, a bystander, dove into the icy water to rescue a woman. Another man, a survivor of the crash, helped others to grab the rescue line and finally drowned after saving others. These are inspiring examples of goodness in this world. Then there are some very rare persons, great souls, who come into this world to deliver people from the otherwise endless cycle of birth and death (karma samsara). Sometimes God Himself comes to deliver the fallen souls and sometimes his dear devotee comes. Around 5000 years ago Krishna Himself appeared with His personal expansion Balarama in Vrindavan, India. In 1486 A.D. Krishna and Balarama appeared again as Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda in Bengal, India. Great devotees who came include Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Jesus Christ, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, H.D.G. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja and many others. They and/or their followers are still present giving the gift of Krishna consciousness to others.

Devotional Service To Krishna frees One From Sinful Reactions

We all have a karmic bank account, so to speak. We are suffering because of our past sinful actions or enjoying because of past good deeds. Devotional service to Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, frees the performer from past bad karma. Krishna is pure and powerful like the sun. The sun purifies a contaminated place by its powerful rays, and by Krishna's power we can be purified of sins. When we are completely free from sin then we can get out of this material world of repeated birth and death. So the process is to dedicate our lives to Krishna's service and avoid sinful activity.  As per the Vedas the 4 pillars of sin are 1]  meat eating  (meat, fish, and eggs)  2] intoxication, 3] fornication, and 4] gambling/cheating.

Protecting Freedom and the Right to go to Hell

Modern secular societies guarantee certain human rights and freedoms. This is very good, but according to the timeless Vedic wisdom, human beings also need to be protected from sinful life. People are acting sinfully, accumulating vikarma (bad karma), all of this being condoned by the state. The result is suffering in this life and after death also. Sinful actions result in suffering for the performer. Pious actions result in material happiness for the performer, but hapiness in the material world is temporary. All here are subject to aging and death. Action in Krishna consciousness (devotional service to Krishna), however, results in promotion from the material world to the eternal Kingdom of God. Under the circumstances it is in the interest of all sincere persons to accept the path of Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness means becoming situated in our constitutional position as eternal servant of Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna is the original source of everything and service to him brings about transcendental happiness and pleasure. This transcendental happiness of Krishna consciousness, or bhakti-yoga, is the natural alternative to sinful activities.

How I Came To K. C.

When I was a young boy I used to wonder if there was a next life or if death was the end of my existence. Sometimes while thinking about it I would become distracted by opportunities for fun with friends etc. but the issue would always come back to my mind. I looked for the answer by listening to music lyrics; reading books; talking to people about religion; etc. I had not really embarked on a serious study of different philosophies as I was still relatively young. One Sunday in 1978, when I was 16 years old, my older sister asked me to come with her, dad and step mom to the Hare Krishna temple in Potomac, Maryland. I didn't want to go, but my sister smiled and insisted, so I went.

Rupanuga prabhu at Prabhupada's lotus feet

After the first visit I didn't know what to make of it. The temple served a free vegetarian feast on Sundays. I had recently become a vegetarian and the feast was delicious. My dad also liked the feast so we went again. On my second or third visit I was listening to Bhagavad-gita class by Srila Rupanuga prabhu, an early disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Rupanuga prabhu was making the point that the secular leaders of society are actually in ignorance of the fact that we are not our material bodies; we are eternal individual spirit souls each residing in a material body. And we are eternal servants of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Somehow his words entered my heart and my faith awakened. I started reading Bhagavad-gita As It Is and my faith and understanding increased. So with the help of my sister and by the mercy of Rupanuga prabhu and Srila Prabhupada, I was fortunate enough to find the truth and begin devotional service to Krishna.                                                                                                     

With my sister circa 1965

Imagine

 His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness once discussed the following idea. I will look for the exact quote later but the following is the gist. He said he was ready to join with the Christians and Muslims to spread God consciousness throughout the world. That he would put pictures of Christ and Mohammed on the alter to worship along with Krishna.  -------   So I was thinking about this idea because there are many values that the Krishnaites, Christians and Muslims have in common. Belief in One Supreme God; Traditional  marriage and family values; Sobriety; Cleanliness; Austerity; Etc. These values are under attack by many so called leaders in government, media, entertainment industry, etc. So all the believers in One Supreme Lord can form an alliance to resist the onslaught of degradation in the world today.

Krishna Thesaurus

Krishna Consciousness noun    Synonyms: bhakti-yoga, devotional service, Vaishnavism, Hare Krishna, monotheism, pure knowledge, pure goodness, Vasudeva sattva, samadhi, spiritualism, love, redemption    Antonyms: materialism, atheism, ignorance, delusion, evil, hate, ruin