Perfect Understanding

If a boy wants to know who his father is, the simple process is to ask his mother. The mother will then say, "He is your father." This is the way of perfect knowledge. Of course, one may speculate about one's father, wondering if this is the man or if that is the man, and one may wander over the whole city, asking, "Are you my father? Are you my father?" The knowledge derived from such a process, however, will always remain imperfect. One will never find his father in this way. The simple process is to take the knowledge from an authority—in this case, the mother. She simply says, "My dear boy, here is your father." In this way our knowledge is perfect. Transcendental knowledge is similar. Spiritual world is not subject to our speculation. God says, "There is a spiritual world, and that is My headquarters" In this way we receive knowledge from Krishna, the best authority. We may not be perfect, but our knowledge is perfect because it is received from the perfect source.

Although the understanding of God is a difficult subject, God explains Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. He says, "I am like this, and I am like this. The material nature is like this, and the spiritual nature is like that. The living entities are like this, and the Supreme Soul is like that." Thus everything is completely described in the Bhagavad-gita. Although understanding God is very difficult, it is not difficult when God Himself gives us His own knowledge. Actually that is the only process by which we can understand God. To understand God by our own speculation is not possible, for God is unlimited and we are limited. Our knowledge and perception are both very limited, so how can we understand the unlimited? If we simply accept the version of the unlimited, we can come to understand Him. That understanding is our perfection.

Mistake is not a mistake if we learn from the experience

It is so easy to beat yourself up over mistakes you've made. Many amongst us live in the past rather than loving the present and building a brilliant future. Some people stay stuck for years over something they did or a failure they've experienced. A life is a terrible thing to waste.

But let me ask you a question: "Is there really such a thing as a mistake?" First of all, no one tries to fail or mess things up. Every one of us wake up in the morning, walk out into the world and do the best we can do based on what we know and the skills we have. But even more importantly, every so-called "mistake' is actually a rich source of learning. A mistake is an opportunity to build more awareness and understanding and gain precious experience. This experience will help us do, feel and be even better.

Mistake is not a mistake if we learn from the experience and grow with it. Just maybe what we could call failures are actually growth lessons in wolf's clothing. And just maybe the person who experiences the most wins.

Real Awakening

What is spiritual life? Complete freedom. And an eternal, blissful life full of knowledge. That is spiritual life—a life distinct from material life, which is based on the bodily concept. Spiritual life means an eternal, blissful life of knowledge, while material life means a non-permanent, miserable life full of ignorance.

The body is impermanent, and it is always full of miserable conditions. There is no blissfulness in the material world; we are always suffering some kind of distress.
Simply we have to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. It is not very difficult. And if we chant this mantra, our heart will gradually be cleansed and we will understand spiritual life in Krishna consciousness. The whole problem is that due to material association our consciousness is now contaminated; therefore we cannot understand spiritual life. But if we take advantage of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, our heart will gradually be cleansed and we shall be able to understand, "I am not my body: I am a spiritual soul." Then real awakening will come.

Mind – A Thought Factory

Your mind is a “thought factory.” It’s a busy factory, producing countless thoughts in one day. Production in your thought factory is under the charge of two foremen, one of whom we will call Mr.Triumph and the other Mr.Defeat.  Mr. Triumph is in charge of manufacturing positive thoughts. He specializes in producing reasons why you can, why you're qualified, why you will.

The other foreman, Mr. Defeat, produces negative, depreciating thoughts. He is your expert in developing reasons why you can't, why you're weak, why you're inadequate. His specialty is the "why-you-will-fail" chain of thoughts.

Both Mr. Triumph and Mr. Defeat are intensely obedient. They snap to attention immediately. All you need do to signal either foreman is to give the slightest mental beck-and-call. If the signal is positive, Mr. Triumph will step forward and go to work. Likewise, a negative signal brings Mr. Defeat forward.

To see how these two foremen work for you, try this example. Tell yourself, "Today is a lousy day." This signals Mr. Defeat into action and he manufactures some facts to prove you are right. He suggests to you that it's too hot or it's too cold, you may get sick. Mr. Defeat is tremendously efficient. In just a few moments he's got you sold. It is a bad day. Before you know it, it is a bad day. But tell yourself, "Today is a fine day," and Mr. Triumph is signaled forward to act. He tells you, "This is a wonderful day. The weather is refreshing. It's good to be in Krishna Consciousness." And then it is a good day.

Now the more work you give either of these two foremen, the stronger he becomes. If Mr. Defeat is given more work to do, he adds personnel and takes up more space in your mind. Eventually, he will take over the entire-thought-manufacturing division, and virtually all thoughts will be of a negative nature.

The only wise thing to do is fire Mr. Defeat. You don't need him. Use Mr. Triumph 100 per cent of the time. He'll show you how you can succeed.

Complete use of car

Now we are thinking that so-called material advancement is the solution to our problems, but this is not a fact. The real solution is to get out of the material condition entirely by becoming Krishna conscious. Because God is eternal, we are also eternal, but in the material condition we are thinking, "I am this body," and therefore we must repeatedly change from body to body. This is due to ignorance. Actually we are not our bodies but spiritual sparks, parts and parcels of God.

The body is just like a vehicle for the soul. It is just like a motorcar. Just as you go from one place to another in a car, so due to mental concoction in the material condition of life, we are going from one position to another, trying to become happy. But nothing will make us happy unless we come to our real position, which is that we are all parts and parcels of God and that our real business is to associate with God and help all living entities by cooperating with Him. Civilized human life is attained only after a long evolution through 8,400,000 species of life. So if we don't take advantage of this civilized human life to understand who God is, who we are, and what our relationship is, but instead simply waste our life like cats and dogs, going here and there looking for sense gratification, then we will have missed a great opportunity. The Krishna consciousness movement is meant to teach people how to take full advantage of the human form of life by trying to understand God and our relationship with Him.

A Lesson from the Geese

Have you ever wondered why migrating geese fly in a 'V' formation? As with most animal behavior, God had a good reason for including that in their instincts. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. In a V formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone…and quickly gets back into formation. Like geese…… people who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier than those who try to go alone.
   
When a goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position. If people had as much sense as geese, they would realize that ultimately their success depends on working as a team, taking turns doing the hard tasks, and sharing leadership.
   
Geese in the rear of the formation honk to encourage those up front to up their speed. It is important that our “honking from behind” be encouraging.
 
When a goose gets sick or wounded, two other geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and provide protection. They stay with the unhealthy member of the flock until it is either able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out again with another passing flock or try to catch up on their own.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A SCIENTIST...…To learn from God’s marvelous creation; you only need to stop long enough to observe and let God reveal His wonders to you.
   
“Ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?”

Being Immortal

Matter changes in six phases: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, dwindling, and death. But the life within matter, the spirit soul, is eternal; it goes through no such changes. Life appears to be developing and decaying, but actually it is simply passing through each of these six phases until the material body can no longer be maintained. Then the old body dies, and the soul enters a new body. When our clothing is old and worn, we change it. Similarly, one day our bodies become old and useless, and we pass on to a new body.

As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. This means that only the material body of the indestructible and eternal entity is subject to destruction. This material body is perishable, but the life within the body is nitya, eternal.