Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Hare Krishna But Were Afraid To Ask

Will: [00:00:00] Karen I know a lot of people would consider you to be perfection incarnate. But the question is, are you spiritually perfect?

Karen: Oh, no. , . Try as I might. I'm nowhere near

Will: close. Okay. Well our guest today is gonna help us talk about attaining spiritual perfection.

He's a, an initiated disciple of one of the most elevated spiritual masters in world history, and has been blessed by his spiritual master with the formula of how every individual on his planet can achieve unlimited happiness within his, his or her heart by spiritual awake. how the entire planet can be transformed into beautiful Garden of Eden like atmosphere by everyone.

How to become reconnected in a symbiotic relationship with that supreme person who is the source of our existence now, armed with this formula, his life's goal is to lead the entire world out of chaos as soon as possible and deliver everyone back to their original home in the spiritual world.

[00:01:00]

Will: Okay. This story, I'm sure you must have heard before, but it's so good that just we just have to say it again and read it again and say it again and again, and hopefully it will affect you just as strongly as it affects me. Every time I hear it, it's called the elephant rope, and it goes like this. As a man was passing the [00:02:00] elephants, he suddenly stopped confused by the fact that these huge creature.

Were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could at any time break away from their bonds, but for some reason they didn't. Well, you saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

Well, the trainer said, when they're very young and much smaller, we use the same size rope to tie. and at that age, it's enough to hold them well. As they grew up, they're conditioned to believe they can't break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never tried to break free. The man was amazed.

These animals could at any time break free from their bonds, but because they believed that they couldn't, they were stuck right where they. like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief [00:03:00] that we can't do something just because we failed at it once before? It reminds me that failure is part of the learning.

We should never give up learning and struggling in life because you never know when that rope is not gonna be enough to hold us.

Will: Welcome back to another action packed episode of the Skeptic Meta Physician. I, I say this every time, right? I'm so excited to have this guest on the show, but really truly, I am very excited to have this guest on the show because, I think we are gonna learn an awful lot from him today. So I am thrilled to welcome Saint Khan to our.

Thank you so much for coming on

Shankarshan Das: I am absolutely delighted to be here.

Will: and I hope I didn't massacre your name too badly.

Shankarshan Das: Oh, you're doing well. You're, you're a pro. Definitely a pro. There's no doubt about.[00:04:00]

Will: Well thank you for that. there's a lot of direction that we can head in, uh, and I do firmly. Expect this show to go in myriad of direction. So let's just start with the biggest question here. who has been, who is your master that, that you said you've been elevated to the most spiritual level by?

Shankarshan Das: Divine Grace,

the founder, the of , the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He came, he showed up here in America, just in the, in the heart of the, uh, hippie movement in 1965 and, um, became very popular with the hippies actually in New York and later in the summer of Love in San F. and the hippies joined by the thousands and he sent 'em all over the world and then created a whole movement.

Now, George Harrison got into it also. George Harrison picked it up even, uh, in all the Beatles actually got interested.

Will: you are talking about, Historical [00:05:00] figure that is fairly well known. but the most curious thing for me is when we initially talked, you had mentioned that you had achieved perfect level of bliss. I know that everyone listening in, especially Karen, is gonna want to achieve that.

So how, absolutely. How did you manage to do.

Shankarshan Das: Well, it's very simple. It's called the Science of BTA Yoga. It's a matter of tuning in, turning on, and blissing out 24 hours obeyed, realizing, first of all, I'm not this material body. This is the cover. This. , I'm actually, my actual identity is I'm an eternal spiritual being. Qualitatively wonder that supreme person is a source of all existence.

So my actual natural qualities, the full of bliss and knowledge, that's my actual quality. So we, you simply have to stop misidentifying with that material body, which is basically a rotting, you know, it's heading towards death with every be. So why misidentified with something which is guaranteed to die when you can identify with the [00:06:00] eternal spiritual being within.

Who's full of bliss and full of knowledge. It's a matter of re-identifying with your actual nature, getting rid of the false identification with matter. By engaging that material self, the material body, and the service of that supreme self, you actually realize the supreme self.

Karen: You know, when you put it that way, it sounds rather, you know, it sounds easy enough, but it's just not . What kind of, how can you help people to,

Shankarshan Das: The

Karen: with that?

Shankarshan Das: what makes it easy is associa. If you try to do it on your own, it's difficult. But if you associate with those who are already on, on just like guitar playing, you try to figure out how to play guitar on your own, uh, where are you gonna go? But if you, you have a guitar teacher, some who plays will League Ball, you go, wow, it's not that difficult.

Association is actually the key.

Karen: Oh, I like that.

Will: Hmm. I now I know what I've been doing wrong with the.

Karen: Is that? Is that what it's . So on a complete side note, are you musical? Do you play an instrument? Cause you're talking about the Beatles and the [00:07:00] guitar. I just kind of feel like

Shankarshan Das: I was a, I was a hippie singer songwriter back in the, uh, the old days. I was pop, very popular in Austin, by the way, uh, music Camp of the world before I became a Hari Krishna Dev, a singer songwriter, out to save the world by, by my songs. When I found out, I found the ultimate songs, Dari Krishna.

Karen: Do you find that, that that connection with music has helped?

Shankarshan Das: Oh, absolutely. I, I'm really into cur singing, or it's called Kean and Sank is a very integral part of our daily life. We start off at four 30 in the morning singing with our mor, you know, we, singing is a whole, a very integral part of our day. We singing again and again. So I, it's great for me. My mother was also a voice major in college, so you know, I come from a good back.

I'm really into singing. Singing is a, is a, it's called Mantra Yoga.

Will: Yeah. They say that think mostly in religious organizations, they talk about the fact that singing is praying, but like [00:08:00] tenfold. it connects you with the universe a lot easier, a lot faster

Shankarshan Das: See, the whole thing is you, the whole thing is emotions. If you, you don't wanna just, you put your heart and soul into it, your feelings. Music is a great way to do that.

Karen: Wow, that's true. Because you kind of get out of your physical body when you're singing and you just kind of feel that those vibrations and that music that

Shankarshan Das: It's a very, singing is a very powerful, uh, thing.

Will: So then getting back to the spiritual perfection, you, you're saying by association, you're saying that just by, making a conscious decision that you're not a physical, physical body that we inhabit, that we're much more than that. I assume that's how you are saying that people can attain

Shankarshan Das: Now one, one has to, one has to learn. The BDA is the basic textbook and spiritual perfection. Christian taught it 5,000 years ago to Arjuna in the Battle fever. An actual thing that happened in this book, if you follow the bag vada, which is available on [00:09:00] Amazon am go to Bagga Magda as it is on Amazon Bagga Vada as it is.

This book, if you actually follow it carefully, you will actually achieve spiritual perfection. Christian says, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, or giveaway as well, whatever you may do, and I do that as an offering to. So one learns how to. Krishna is actually that supreme person. It's of course God is unlimited as unlimited names, but Krishna is the all-inclusive name.

It means the all attractive ones. So every aspect of God is an attractive feature, like a multifaceted nine. The name Krishna includes every single attractive aspect of God. So by following these teachings in the bag of Vada, you can actually learn how to tune. To your original divine consciousness as a servant of that supreme person, and actually do it in your ev in your everyday actions from the moment you get up to the moment you go to sleep at night.

Will: Ah, and I will put a link, a direct link to [00:10:00] that book on Amazon on our show notes. So if you're interested in that, in looking deeper into that book, all you have to do is go to skeptic memorization.com, go to the episode, and you'll find a link directly there. I know I'd have a hard time spelling bagga vada, so I'm gonna look it up and put it on show notes.

It'll be much easier

Shankarshan Das: easy. B H A E A v A D dash G i t a. Bagga very simple.

Will: well, thank you, . Uh, it'll make my search much, much easier, so, okay. So then, you also talk about the fact that you have a way, or you know, how to solve all the world's problems. Is it related to what you just told us?

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely. The BA is the if it is applied by the world's leaders, but more than nobody, no more wars. I mean, everything. , everything will become a beautiful paradise atmosphere soon by taking these teachings and putting 'em into practice. It's not my formula. I'm just a servant of it. BA is the formula for perfect individual and global piece.

Karen: So [00:11:00] are you always happy if you've

Will: achieved.

Shankarshan Das: I'm always unhappy

Will: unhappy.

Shankarshan Das: world in which everybody is an illusion, so my unhappiness is my happiness.

Will: Uh, okay. So that, that's hard to wrap my mind around . Yeah. . we opened up the interview by saying that you, you had achieved this perfect state of bliss, but now you're saying that you're unhappy. How, how do you connect those

Shankarshan Das: Perfect unhappiness also, cuz I, my suffering is, my happiness is to suffer, feel suffering on kind of all the suffering people about the whole world. You see, the more you can feel empathy or sympathy for those who are suffering. that is actually a purification of consciousness. It's, in other words, the more you become selfless, the more you achieve actual happiness you see. So if you feel unhappy about the suffering of everyone else, that is actually the supreme happiness.

Will: Okay. So you

Shankarshan Das: I don't care damn about those vows, let 'em suffer. That's not a happy mood to cause actually [00:12:00] feel compassion for the, for the people who are suffering like. That's, uh, that's, that's actual happens cuz that be you become, the more you feel compassionate for the suffering souls who are forgetting God, the more God becomes pleased with you and the more you please become please to God, the more you become happy.

Will: Wow. So you're, you're speaking in, terms that are hard to wrap your head around at first. Listen, right. Um,

Shankarshan Das: but we have some. That's how we have training programs. You go to join course.com and you get get you in a daily lesson. Join chorus.com. My personal course, I got 28,000 people signed up for it right course a daily lesson.

Will: that would help quite a bit. I know, I know. Would help me. Now you feel that our present leaders are unqualified to lead us. What do you mean by that?

Shankarshan Das: They don't, they're, they're not basic in any spiritual principles. They're just simply on some material principles. They're not seeing who's the actual [00:13:00] proprietor of this whole earth planet. Um, they're, you know, they're saying, well, this is American turf. That's Russian turf, you know, We're not seeing that, that everything, actually God is the proprietor of everything.

This is God's property. If we're fighting over who owns this place and who should control it, we're not seeing the supreme owners actually God himself and his, his laws should be the controlling factor in my, what I say to what you say, what God says should be the, the governing principle, the whole planet.

Will: so the, how can we change that? How can we make that happen?

Shankarshan Das: That's why, that's why we wanted, that's why we're distributing this knowledge. I, I got, I did get some response from, from, um, what was his name? Obama? Yeah. I, I have a song called The Peace Formula that he, I sent it and he really appreciated it. It gives, it was a nutshell presentation of the GDAs teaching and a song form, the Peace Formula song.

And, uh, he appreci. So we, we need the leaders to appreciate this knowledge and then put it into practice. So I did make a little progress with Obama. Chrissy didn't get me, [00:14:00] you know, he is not in office anymore, but he was a little short, a little sensitivity for hearing this stuff and appreciating it.

Karen: Well, I think part of the struggle might be that a lot of the, um, leaders feel like they are involving spirituality or religion in their lawmaking, but I think they're kind of picking and choosing different religions and different rules to apply. So

Shankarshan Das: hi. To get elected Hype sister. Hi. To get elected,

Karen: you Yeah. Yeah. There's,

Shankarshan Das: you really care, really care about let 'em close. The slaughtered houses, these cows. Um, we, we grow up with our, our brother's mother's breast milk, and then we go to the best milk of the couch. She's our second mother. How we can kill our second mother and eater?

They need to close these slaughter. There's so much bad karmas coming out of killing all these cows. We can't imagine. We, we sent our mothers to the slaughterhouse and then we had to send our boys to Vietnam Slaughterhouse, also, karmic

Will: So I assume then that you. a carnivore,[00:15:00]

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely. We only, the only vegetarian foods offers lemon devotion of Lord Krishna. Krishna says, if you offer. Love and love a leaf flour, food or water. I will accept it. So we eat. Everything we eat is sanctified san uh, sacred food. I've been doing, I've been for 50 years now. It's pretty good stuff. Even on the airplane, we bring our own and they heat it up for us.

We bring Krishna Krishna, less food on the airplane and they heat heated up for us.

Karen: And where do you get that food?

Shankarshan Das: We make it ourselves. We have a, we have a cookbook. You can. Called, uh, what's it called? Uh, let's see. I forget the name of the cookbook, but it's there. You can, uh, we have, uh, it'll, it'll pop my mind in a minute, but we have, uh, so many cookbooks, any vegetarian food stuff. It doesn't have any meat, fish, or eggs in it.

You can make a nice, you get a special plate that's only for the Lord, but a but a nice picture of Krishna on a nice place and you're cupboard or wherever and just offer Krishna plate of the. [00:16:00] Then, then after you take, give them a few minutes, then you can merge it back into the pots. And it's all offered Krishna it's all sanctified food.

We have re, our restaurants serve. We have a You're in Los Angeles.

Karen: Where In Virginia?

Shankarshan Das: Oh, in Virginia. Okay. Yeah. We have restaurants all over the world. Famous Hari Krishna of restaurants. Very popular.

Will: Wow.

Shankarshan Das: The Hollywood people come to our restaurant in Los Angeles on Motley Avenue, very popular with the Hollywood, the actors and the directors out there in Hollywood,

Will: Wow. I, I did not know that. I did not know there was a Krishna restaurant. I would love to go

Karen: to one. We're such a military community over here, so it's like the opposite. Yeah.

Will: Of that. Yeah. We, we live in, in probably one of the most unenlightened areas of the country.

Shankarshan Das: actually called me up to go fight in Vietnam. They called me up five, but I just, I was really, uh, I was just praying, dear God, please don't let me going. I but hadn't joined the heart of Christians yet. I was just a, a singer songwriter, bra Cher, I mean a singer, songwriter, hippie. But I was praying, dear God, [00:17:00] please don't let me go into the army.

And it amazing. They sent me to a, I put down, I have a psychologically unfit, they sent me to a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and this guy had actually served in Vietnam. Um, seeing all the, all the messed up. Whose minds are totally blown of being an un horrible atmosphere. So he was very sympathetic. So he, I, he said, um, looking right in the eyes, he said, you're sane, aren't you?

And I said, yes, I am, but I just don't want to kill. He said, I'll see what I can do to help you. He gave me a four F deferment, the ultimate deferment,

Will: Oh, wow. Wow. That's

Shankarshan Das: He's kind to me. I was prayed. I, I prayed. I wouldn't have to fight. In my God's grace I. . Yeah. A very pious psychologist. Me from having to fight in Vietnam.

It killed.

Will: so, so it's really all about loving everyone and everything.

Shankarshan Das: When you, it's if you love the source, if you love the supreme person, you [00:18:00] see everything. Everyone else is, is expanded. Energy is offspring. When you give you money, when your water, the root of the tree, your, your, that goes to off all the leaves and branches. When you feed your. You nourish every cell in your body, so when you actually focus on giving your loving service or that supreme person the source of all existence, then automatically you can love yourself and all living entities perfectly.

Karen: So having this enlightenment and this perfect spiritual soul, how is it difficult for you when you're out and about and someone is really rude or , you know, cuts you off in traffic? Or does that just not even phase you

Shankarshan Das: No, I don't. I don't bother. I don't, don't let it bother me.

Karen: see, that's great,

Shankarshan Das: I take it just the

Karen: know

Shankarshan Das: opposite, actually. I just take it the opposite. If somebody's really. Friendly. And I, you know, I give 'em a wave and they wave back, and I take it the opposite side. If somebody is kind, I, I reciprocate. Oh, thank you very much. And they wave back.

You know, I create that kind of a movement world

Will: right? And you read a lot of books and you hear a lot of [00:19:00] people talking about the fact that when you, you put that, that you put the negative energy out there, that's what you get back and positive energy brings back

Shankarshan Das: Yeah,

Will: and you can turn things around

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely. If you, if you will chan Krishna every day, you'll be tuning the ultimate positive energy. Now you can, you can put out positive energy all, all day long, wherever you go.

Will: how long did it take you to get to that point? Because I've been trying for a long time to find that inner bliss, not to flip off the guy that just, you know, that

Shankarshan Das: my spiritual, I, I began my spiritual search in Denver in 1968, and it didn't really take it, I, it took me all the way to the spring of 71. So it looks like took me about three years if I really got. three years. It took me searching.

Karen: and what made you start this search?

Shankarshan Das: Well, I was miserable as hell as a college kid. I, I wanna know the meaning of life. And nobody could tell me. None of the courses tell me none. The philosophers. In fact, I was running the, the aisle of the, um, [00:20:00] campus bookstore trying to find a, a title that would tell me the meaning of life. And there was two essays of, so Sarah Ard painted in one book and it, the tie, two titles read.

I took it as one. it said, fear and trembling the sickness unto death. And I said, oh, now he says that life is simply an experience of fear and trembling. That's so I, I didn't find it then. I, I didn't find it, but I, uh, I heard about the celebration process. Uh, I eventually, I got connected with Krishna and that was my beginning, but I, I didn't know, I didn't really know it in.

It's kind, it's a long story. I'm writing a book about it, actually writing at night now a book Autobi, um, my own Path of Awakening and how you can become awakened. I'm working on the book right now.

Will: Well, I think a lot of people who are listening to this might be, I mean, we, everyone has heard about the ha Krishna, I think what I personally don't know a lot about the [00:21:00] movement, we are hearing a lot from you about the fact that it's, it's about love and it's about loving, the,

Shankarshan Das: Loving the.

Will: person.

Shankarshan Das: Then that love was everyone automatically when you bought lead your belly, all your, all the parts of your body.

Will: Right. So, but, but when people think about Harry Krishna, the image comes to mind, where, people that look very similar to you you have. No hair. You've got, you know, the, the robes on you're, you're dancing, uh, and singing in the, in the airports and things like that. That w is a big hippie movement kind of thought process.

Right. The, that's what people kind of tie into the ha Krishna, but there's a lot more to that. Right. I know

Shankarshan Das: absolutely. Yeah,

Will: Yeah. So, so can you

Shankarshan Das: Now, now our movement is mostly Indians. The,

Will: is, is it really.

Shankarshan Das: a minority, mostly people from India have joined all over the world. We have Indians joining from all over the world.

Will: So then it was, it was prevalent in the sixties here in the us. H how, [00:22:00] what happened?

[00:23:00]

Will: it was prevalent in the sixties here in the us. H how, what happened? Why did, why did it? It

Shankarshan Das: They, they, uh, they mostly gotten, they, uh, so many beautiful young girls joining, nice looking young guys. They all got married and got jobs and had kids. They're still practicing, but they have families and have corporate jobs. Now, they come on Sunday, the temple. That's what happened to most of'em. They got, they, they got.

That nice girl who join, [00:24:00] saw those nice girls who join, they ain't end up getting married and getting jobs like that.

Will: So you don't have to completely devote your entire life to this. You can actually have a life and

Shankarshan Das: Oh, absolutely. We, I mean, I have a, one of my disciples in, um, in LA in, um, let's see, Latia, he's, he owns the, uh, what's called, um, European hit radio. That's his thing. He has. His radio station plays all the top hits. It's a big radio station in, in Viga, Latvia, the European hit Radio. Uh, he's a, uh, he has a full-time business, but he's my disciple also.

Will: So is that what happened to the hippie movement? Everybody just went out and get, Jo got jobs.

Shankarshan Das: Um, well some of us are still, uh, full-time, uh, preachers, some of us

Karen: maybe there's a lot of ERs. Undercover.

Shankarshan Das: Some of us is difficult time preaching, not, you know, there maybe, maybe a few hundred who are still full-time preaching

Will: Yeah. That's a big decline from when it used to be. Right? or

Shankarshan Das: our numbers have increased like anything because we have a huge congregation [00:25:00] now.

Will: Oh,

Shankarshan Das: You see, we have a huge, a huge, huge congregation. Movement is much bigger than it was formally.

Will: oh.

Shankarshan Das: Much, much bigger. It's not so visible before. Cause everybody's working jobs.

Will: that's it. You're not as visible as it used to

Shankarshan Das: Yeah. It's visible. We're much, much more financially, more powerful.

Uh, much larger, the number, much larger number of people in our movement now.

Will: Yeah, so someone joins the movement. What does that mean? What do they have to do? What do they do on a daily basis?

Shankarshan Das: Well, somebody wants to practice Krishna consciousness than they, they, they, um, They get meditation beads called Jacob beads and they chant the ha krishna a set number of times every day.

It's a very powerful way to tune into that supreme source of all existence and elevate your consciousness totally beyond the material literature. You could do it yourself. You could get up every morning and you have your, your Channing bees and you chanting the bees every day before you [00:26:00] begin your your your normal daily.

It's a very powerful way. You just tune into Krishna very intensely, just like George Harrison did, my sweet Lord. You tune into Krishna very, very intensely. See everything in relation to him, and your whole day becomes like a, A magical mystery

Will: Ooh, I like that. . So is there a temple or a church that people go to?

Shankarshan Das: Yeah. Yeah. We have all over the world. We have, uh, Here're in Austin right now we're just, we're kind of a, a small getting started here. We, this, we're using our house as a center here, but we have some property. It's up the street we purchased, um, and we're getting, making plans on the big, a big temple here in Austin, right up the street from this house in,

Karen: Is there a, I don't know, a website or something? If someone was interested and wanted to find a temple in their area somewhere where they

Shankarshan Das: uh,

Karen: help find that.

Shankarshan Das: ISK. C o n.com is com dot.

Karen: Dot

Shankarshan Das: I S K c o n.com. You can check it out.

Karen: wouldn't even know where to start [00:27:00] here.

Will: Mm-hmm. Good point. And there may not be something right here, but it might be, you know, DC or something like that.

Karen: And, and if there's not some, if there's

Shankarshan Das: They can get in my e-course and get connected every day in their, in their, in their emails@joincourse.com. I recommend that also. Then they can ask me questions also. They can take guidance. Even there's no center in their area. They can take guidance instruction directly from me. I answer tons of emails every day from people asking me how to practice Krishna consciousness.

That's my full-time job, is to teach people how to practice Krishna consciousness.

Will: That's a pretty nice job. Yeah.

Shankarshan Das: Oh yeah. Job called being a guru. a real guru. Not one of these false gurus after money and women now real good is likely teaching how to become self-realized. That's what I.

Will: So, do you feel that Krishna consciousness is the only path, the only true

Shankarshan Das: Actually Christ Consciousness and Allah consciousness. Jehovah Consciousness is all really the same thing. This doesn't matter a different, different way of saying it, but Allah is also the supreme person that Allah's in a name for Krishna. [00:28:00] Jehovah's another name for Krishna. So you wanna follow Aah or Jehovah.

That's great. We'll teach you how to do it perfectly. How to be a perfect Muslim? A perfect Christian, A perfect Jew. A perfect. , we'll teach you. You want, you don't have to change religions. We'll teach you to be a perfect Christian.

Karen: Wow. I thought you totally had to change

Shankarshan Das: No, no. In fact, in fact, Jesus brought me to Christian consciousness. It's a pretty interesting story. I was reading the Bible thinking, how can I be like Jesus? And I said, well, he just did, but God wanted. So, but I said, but then I started praying that God reveal to me his will and he revealed to me I should, Krishna.

Will: Wow.

Shankarshan Das: I, I, so I'm a, I'm a Christian. Ha Krishna cuz Jesus brought me to Christian consciousness.

Will: See, I I never knew that. That's

Karen: fascinating. I never in a million years would've thought

Shankarshan Das: it's not a sectarian malignant, it is the universal science of God that applies to everyone. We teach out a perfect seek, a perfect Jane, a perfect Jew, a perfect Christian, a perfect Muslim, everything that.

Will: Krishna movement is not a religion.

Shankarshan Das: No, it's not a [00:29:00] religion, it's the for teaching that is the essence of religion that applies to everyone.

Will: Okay. I'm, I'm so glad we had you on the show. I would not

Shankarshan Das: See all these books back here? It's a whole science. This is all about Krishna Kana. It's all these books behind me. It's a big, big science.

Karen: So what seems to be the most challenging part for people that are new to Krishna Consciousness?

Shankarshan Das: bad association,

Karen: Yeah. How so?

Shankarshan Das: people who, people who, um, who believe that yes, I am this body and I, my purpose in life is to gratifying my tongue and belly general as much as possible. That kind of association is not as bad. People who are totally convinced to eat, you know, My tongue, my belly, and my genitals. It all, the whole, everything centers around that.

And I, as much as possible that, that kind of association, it makes it hard. So that's why we have our meetings where people come associated with us and they get, they use [00:30:00] association in a positive way instead get being, um, have a negative impact on it.

Karen: Yeah, I could see how that would be challenging, especially in, in the American culture, we're so focused on, you know, that self gratification and that instant gratification that after, you know, 20, 30 years, it would be hard to give

Shankarshan Das: That's how we were trained. I remember as a kid, things Co. Coca-Cola, I grew up with that. And you just think, I have to have Coke. I have to have Coke to be happy. But my parents wouldn't not have me having, cause that caffeine. I'm thinking nice parents are no good. They won't let me have Coca-Cola.

That's how I was, that's how I grew up. You see that kind of mentality, American consumerism, right? But you gotta go beyond them. You gotta realize I'm an eternal spiritual. , my actual happiness is to reawaken loving relationship. Whether the supreme person, whether you call him Krishna, all Jehovah, whatever, he has unlimited names.

So just had to reconnect with that supreme person, A loving relationship. That's my actual happiness.

Karen: So was this a gradual process for you, or did you have

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely. Very gradual. Very gradual. I mean, I [00:31:00] first started chanting Har Krishna in 68 and didn't actually come a full-fledged of voting until 70. You can consider. For me, it was very gradual. I didn't jump into it. All of a sudden. It was very, very gradual.

Karen: And, and so there wasn't like that one moment where all of a sudden everything clicked and you're like,

Shankarshan Das: No, for me it was, it wasn't like a big sun. It wasn't sun. Does the sun pop up? All of a sudden it goes from, from dark today instantly. No, the sun is, sunrise is a very gradual process. So it, for me, it was like a sunrise, not like a, a sun going.

It's like a sunrise. Sunlight is gradual process for me. It was a gradual process, like a sunrise little light, a little bit more light, little bit, and then finally, full sun.

Karen: and I guess that question is kind of reflective of, of, again, that whole self, you know, instant gratification. It's like, do you get that all of a sudden, . So yeah. So it's, it's a, I guess a lot about learning patience too. And calmness maybe.

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely become, uh, all, all St. Lee qualities come. , uh, [00:32:00] compassion, patience, all of these saintly qualities come automatically when you awaken your C consciousness

or by natural byproducts.

Will: So here's a question that is near and dear to my heart.

Shankarshan Das: Good. I'm ready.

Will: how, how can everyone live to be a hundred? That's one of the questions that you had on the, on the form. So how can, how can I live to be a hundred?

Shankarshan Das: there's a nice verse in the scriptures that says that. one can aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continually goes on doing work in that sort of way, cuz that sort of work will not bind in the law of karma. And there's no, no alternative to this way for man. So when you take up a life of devotion, you can uh, you can live past a hundred.

Uh, there's actually, um, you can, uh, you can, you take up a life of devotion. Now you're in per harmony with a source of all. You'll definitely expand your lifespan. There's no doubt

Will: so then to follow up on that question, [00:33:00] should I want to live to a hundred? Because

Shankarshan Das: that's actually not really the issue. You should, you should because actually you're gonna live forever. Uh, well actually you will never die. You are, you will live eternally. Sfm. You should tune in your actual e eternal identity and what, whatever can I have of the body? Leave that up to Krishna God.

You

Will: so I should have, I should have specified how can live to be a hundred on this planet ,

Shankarshan Das: I can guarantee you if you take up C recons you, your life plan will, your DPA will definitely expand. If you take up this chanting process, giving up meat, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling would shorten your lifespan, um, you'll definitely inc increase your lifespan. If I eat slaughtered cows, I'm paying somebody to kill the cows.

Now that's gonna shorten my lifespan.

I'm paying for death. I'm paying my mother who gave me milk, my breast milk, her breast milk when I was a little kid. I'm paying to have her killed. That's gonna shorten my [00:34:00] lifespan for sure.

Will: So some of the other things that, that you said you can talk about, obviously I think I know where we're gonna be heading with them, but it was, uh, world Hunger, world Peace, things like that. Is that all in the same vein as what you've been talking

Shankarshan Das: Those are automatic byproducts. When you put God back in the center, every, everything becomes more and more auspicious, more. You put God back in the center,

Will: right? really about a change in focus from your physical reality to God.

Shankarshan Das: it's a manner of being. It's more accurate to say, instead of being self-centered, become God-centered. That's the, that's the, instead of thinking that I'm God walking around like, I'm God, realize I'm not God. I'm a servant of God. So let, let's, let's called Isha Vaha, the God-centered, let's put God back in the center of everything we do, everything we think, everything we say, and the whole world then become trans.

If one or two people start doing it, others will pick it up. So that's what we're trying to do. Trying to, I'm really happy you're getting me giving this access to the radio because [00:35:00] I'm convinced that we can revolutionize this entire universe. Not even the planet, but even the whole universe is living, being is another planets too.

I'm convinced we can revolutionize the whole universe by this, by what I'm teaching.

Karen: but how do we get people to follow it, you know, like the,

Shankarshan Das: It's afternoon. We're doing it every, I'm doing it every day. 300 initiated disciples and I got 30,000 people on my e cor, no, 28,000, excuse me, on, on my sign up for my course. You just gotta keep getting, putting the message out there, putting it out there. How do you catch a fish?

Karen: Yeah.

Shankarshan Das: Mundane example? You push them.

You had to keep putting out debate, so don't you catch one. I just keep putting out the bed, keep putting out the bay and I, I do catch fish.

Will: Mm-hmm. So when you were a kid, did. Always think that you would become a devotee or

Shankarshan Das: as a kid, my dad said, son, your college day is gonna be the happiest days of your life. So I was looking for, oh, [00:36:00] I, there was miserable as hell. And these are the happiest days of my life.

Karen: So what is it that that really just kind of sparked you to start searching for something?

Shankarshan Das: I was a de depressed college student, not, and um, I went through two years of liberal, of liberal arts studies at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. and nothing made any sense that I attended one theatrical production. I said, and I was attracted by it. I said, well, at least in theater I can go into a false reality and forget the, the hellish normal reality I'm living in.

So I decided to major in drama. I transferred it to Austin, Texas, ut, which has a major big, top-notch drama school. So I wrote in the drama school and I was all enlive and yeah, I'm gonna be an actor, an actor, an actor. . And then one day one of our graduates came back and told it was like in the real world of theater and went, oh my God.

And I was, I was so depressed. I, somebody [00:37:00] in the hallway said, how you doing? I said, depressed. They said, don't say that. Said, I wasn't allowed to even be honest until that I was people, I was depressed. But one day I was meeting with one of my first fellow students there in the drama department in the break room.

He said his name was Bob Single to me. He said, there's something called self. and you can achieve unlimited happiness. So I, I signed up for it. It didn't work. Uh, and I, another, someone told me, another guru, I tried that thing, it didn't work. So I was looking for ization, but I was getting teachers who weren't really qualified.

It's a big business ization business, and most people don't know they're talking. But I was using it, using it to make money. But then finally, I, I found a teacher who, who's out to make money. He was just out to save people. And bless them with enlightened consciousness. And that was probably,

Karen: and it all began there. Huh?

Shankarshan Das: it began in the break room at Universe of Texas. My self realization search

Will: sounds like title of [00:38:00] a book, .

Karen: It

Shankarshan Das: Yes. Be an interesting book. I'm having a lot of fun writing. It should be an interesting lead.

Karen: Okay. So was your family supportive of this

Shankarshan Das: Well, um, see, I, I was already a dropout. He'll be living in the streets, so, you know. They had to adjust to that. And um, but I, when I actually, when I came Atti, of course my mother brought a Bible, you know what I mean? But my dad was cool. In fact, it was very interesting thing. We are a little center there in Austin.

Uh, one of our members had just come from the UK where the Beatles were getting interested in Christian, the consciousness. So he had this idea we can get the big people to come. So from my initiation ceremony, he invited the mayor of Austin. My initiation ceremony and the mirror showed up and my dad drove up from Houston.

He's sitting there chatting with the mayor of Austin at his son's initiation ceremony. That really impressed my dad. You can imagine. Wow, the mayor of Austin is attending and I was a really big thing, so [00:39:00] my dad was really cool with it. In fact, even at the, even at the moment of his death, we went there, we chan Krish.

As he left his body, he was leaving his body here in the Har Krishna man, which means he move back to the spiritual.

So, yeah, my dad was cool and mother was always son, you know, here's a bible. She was never, she never could really get into it. My dad. But of course my mom, my mom really liked my wife. I got, I got an nice devoted wife, but, uh, from India, from actually from Fiji Islands.

A Hindu girl. Very qualifying girl. But, uh, yeah, my dad was cool with it. He was really cool with it. He invited all his friends over when I got married to the house for a, to introduce us to the, Very much glorified our movement to all of his friends. My dad was cool with it, even though he was a Christian.

He was cool with it.

Karen: that's great. And, and you talk about your initiation, is that, does everyone have to go through initiation and

Shankarshan Das: Initiation is when you take a serious step that now I wanna be initiated. You don't have to be initiated to practice it. No. [00:40:00] Initiation is when you wanna become a disciple and take these spiritual masters orders. You're very life and soul. That's when you're really serious. Put everything into it. That's called initiation.

many people are not initiated, are very happy members of our movement. Initiation is an option for those who wanna take it very, very seriously and become fully dedicated to, to Lord Christian in this lifetime.

Will: so what, what do people most misunderstand about Harry Krishna

Shankarshan Das: Um, that's an interesting question, but if, I don't know, I didn't ask him. you'd have to ask them. Um, the, the thing where a. , that's a popular thing. You know, they think they were crazy. Um, I don't, I don't know what they misunder, I don't know what the current mis the misunderstandings are, to be honest with you.

I haven't, uh, I don't know. I haven't, I have so many people who are appreciating. I get emails all from all over, all over the world. Every day. People are loving and appreciating it. So, as far as, I don't know. It's a good question. What the current [00:41:00] misunderstanding about Har Krish.

Will: Well, I invite our listeners to send in your answers. What, what do you misunderstand most about Harry Krishna? And if we get some, some good questions, we'll, we'll maybe have you back on the show and we'll talk about it.

Shankarshan Das: That'd be really great. I'd be happy to come back.

Will: Cool. Yeah. Now we've already talked about the ghita and uh, the, the website you mentioned, but there, are there any resources that you would re recommend for people who are interested in learning more about,

Shankarshan Das: Absolutely, just go to my e-course every day. You'll get something in the email, www.joincoursejoincoursc.com and that's, you can write with me pres there. You can have contact or write me personally else.

Will: All

Shankarshan Das: You can even write me personally now if you want SD world leader.com.

Will: Great. Well, we will add those links directly to the show notes so that you don't have to do any searches for yourself. Just go to skeptic meta physician.com and you can find all that stuff. San Khan, thank you so much for being on the show today. This was very [00:42:00] eye-opening for me. Very, very eye-opening.

Shankarshan Das: I might open your eyes all the way, and my goal is to open your eyes all the way. As you become qualified, detain the spiritual world. That's my goal for you, will open your eyes all the way.

Will: Thank you so much. thanks Karen for coming on this journey Discovery with me. It's always a pleasure and thank you listener as well. We'd love to continue our conversation with you on Facebook and Instagram. So please find us there under at skeptic, meta physician, or. Skeptic me.com where you can subscribe to the show or leave us a review or a voicemail.

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Skeptic Me community there for free and enjoy added benefits of discounts for services from some of our past guests, as well as a chance to connect with us directly. I hope you've enjoyed [00:43:00] this episode as much as we have. Sadly, that's all we have for now. Thanks again for joining us today. We'll see you on the next episode of the Skeptic Me physician.

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