Bound by Golden Chain

" What is the use of wasting so much time after God, just do good to people, perform pious acts   and you do not need God "

      The above phrase depicts the mentality of general populace, this is what many devotees  have to hear from the general people when they see devotees practicing devotional service , by chanting , dancing , and giving their lives for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna .   People in general thing of religiosity as an act of piety  by which one may  go to heaven and enjoy .However the Ancient scriptures from India like the Srimad Bhagavatam define this kind of religion to the cheating religion , kaitava dharma. Since as per the Vedas real religion means to surrender  to GOD in devotion , in other words render loving devotional service to GOD fro HIS Pleasure , in turn the  individual living entities who are parts and parcels of that Supreme Being  become blissful automatically , just like watering the root of the tree provides nourishment to individual  leaves and branches of the tree. However in todays day and age  it has become difficult to understand or even know this essence of religion, because almost all the religions of the world today have deviated from this principle and  now the common man thinks of religion to be  only a means of earning piety and achieving more better material comforts in heaven . Religion is not a kind of faith  as mentioned in dictionaries today , faith can be changed  , Religion or Dharma as translated in Sanskrit means  occupation, like the dharma or occupation of sugar is to be sweet, similarly Dharma or Religion or occupation of a living entity is to be eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord.  Vedas describe the Supreme  Being to be Sat- Cit- Ananda, which means, eternal, full of knowledge and  blissful , being his fragmental parts and parcels, us the living entities are also Sat- cit- ananda . So the questions is then why dont we feel so? The reason being because of our material desires to lord it over the material nature  and become controllers, we  are trapped in the material energy of the lord which is exactly opposite in nature to that of the spiritual nature , which means it is asat, temporary , acit, full of ignorance and nirananda, full of misery .  We have been trapped in this material energy for many many lifetimes hence we are not able to perceive our real identity as spiritual  spark .

   Having said this, the notion that we  may only act piously only and need not bother about religion is just another way of getting bound up in this material energy , only with a goldern chain . As explained above, we are eternal spiritual sparks, who are above the duality of pain and pleasure, pious or impious acts, since we are in this material world and have this material body we are subject to these dualities,  and we perceive everything as right or wrong. It is certainly good to act piously however there is a higher principle that human life is meant for and that is devotional service or Bhakti. Pious acts will direct you to our ultimate goal , they are not the end in themselves. If we simply act piously then we will have to come back to this material world to reap the benefits of those activities hence  only by acting piously we are just binding ourselves with a golden chain  instead of an iron chain . The problem is not of the chain , the  problem is that we are bound , hence either we are bound by a golden chain or iron chain, we are still bound . As in this human form of life we  need to inquire on the higher principle on how to get released from this bondage. How do I get beyond this dualities of piety and impiety? How to become reinstated in our original spiritual identity and act according to that ? How to free myself from the repitition of birth and death ? These are the questions that need to be answered.

Fortunately in this age of Kali , the solution is simple as compared to other ages, Simply by Chanting the holy names of the Lord  Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, we can understand all these questions and free ourselves from the bondage of either Golden or Iron chain , which means we can transcend both pious and impious activities and become blissful in this life and Go back home Back to Godhead in  the next life. 

Living with the Enemy

Just think about living your whole life with someone whom you do not like. It is a scary thought isn't it , what to speak of living with an enemy , people would prefer not to live instead of living with a enemy . Based on Our consciousness and our natural inclinations we create friends and enemies in this world. People who agree with our propositions and thoughts are our dear most friends , and those who do not accept our ways  tend to become our enemies. Many times friends turn into enemies and enemies seem to become friendly . All these things are difficult to figure out , who is our friend and who is our enemy? 

Bhagavad Gita, the ancient science Spoken by Lord Sri Krsna , The Supreme Personality of Godhead, clarifies all the confusion and provides us with clear transcendental intelligence  to discriminate who are friend really is  and whom we should be cautious of .  On the battle field of Kurukshetra  Arjuna was in a similar dilemma,when his cousins were standing on the opposite side as enemies to kill him and his brothers. It is in this state of confusion Arjuna instead of using his confused intelligence to resolve the confusion , turned to his eternal friend and guide Lord Sri Krsna  to find out an answer, Entire Bhagavad Gita as then Spoken by Lord Krsna to relieve his friend of this dilemma, and put him back on track of righteousness. 

As mentioned before , living with someone whom you do not like could be a night mare , what to speak of living with your enemies for life. Yet  most of the people today not only live with their enemies , but trust is completely and follow the orders of their enemy  and amazing thing is all of us thing that we are all independent. This is called maya the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna . The enemy I am referring to here is our uncontrolled mind and senses. In fact there is no enemy or friend outside of our mind, mind is the one who  dictates one to see someone as an enemy or a friend, and since from time immemorial we are accustomed to obeying the orders of the mind, we cannot even detect that we are under the control of our mind.  In Bhagavad Gita Sri Krsna explains, 

uddhared ätmanätmänaà

nätmänam avasädayet

ätmaiva hy ätmano bandhur

ätmaiva ripur ätmanaù  [ Bg. 6.5 ] 

"One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well." 

The very next verse from the 6th Chapter Krsna explains how  the mind could be  ones friend or enemy 


bandhur ätmätmanas tasya
yenätmaivätmanä jitaù
anätmanas tu çatrutve
vartetätmaiva çatru-vat [ Bg 6.6] 

"For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy." 

So from the above mentioned verses, it is quite evident that our uncontrolled mind is the one which makes friends and enemies in this material world. For one who has controlled his mind , the mind is a friend and hence he sees that actually nobody is my enemy, however for one who is unable to control his/ her mind and obeys the orders of ones mind for them mind remains a enemy and hence they would find faults in even the most friendly person. 

Krsna also mentions in Bhagavad Gita that for one who has controlled his mind, the Supersoul is already reached. Supersoul or Paramatma, is the partial expansion of Krsna who lives in every one's heart and is the witness to every living entities activities, every desire or activity of any living entity becomes a success only when it is sanctioned by the Supersoul. As per the vedic scriptures, one who has attained the Supersoul becomes blissful , Realization of the Supersoul is the ultimate goal of the mystic yogis who perform severe austerities  for years .


jitätmanaù praçäntasya
paramätmä samähitaù
çétoñëa-sukha-duùkheñu
tathä mänäpamänayoù [ Bg. 6.7 ]

"For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquillity. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same."

One who controls the mind, he becomes equipoised in the dualities of this world, for him happiness , distress, heat and cold ,etc are all same.  

Unfortunately the civilization and the age we live in practically whole of the population is unaware of this knowledge hence are suffering with the miseries posed by the uncontrolled mind. Constantly flowing in the ocean of material dualities, people have accepted this as a way of life and do not even want to inquire about the transcendental state of happiness . For transcending these dualities is the duty of this human form . The nature of the soul as stated by the Vedic Scriptures is Sat -Cit - Ananda, which means it is eternal, Full of knowledge and completely blissful. It is practically impossible to control the mind with the methods of meditation  in this Age of Kali, since there are too many disturbances in this age which makes the mind very turbulent. Every living entity at every step of life is overwhelmed with dualities of life   which makes it impossible for controlling the mind which is more turbulent then the raging wind as stated by Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita [Bg.6.33 and 6.34]

Looking at the degraded condition of life in this Age of Kali, Lord  has given concessions to the people in this Age of Kali, which was not available to people of previous ages. Sukadeva Goswami Mentions this to Pariksit Maharaja, 


kaler doña-nidhe räjann
asti hy eko mahän guëaù
kértanäd eva kåñëasya
mukta-saìgaù paraà vrajet  [ S.B. 12.3.51]


 Simply by chanting the holy names of the Lord with a sincere heart one can become free from these dualities and would be able to control the mind and transform an enemy into a friend. Only by Chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare one will be able to live happily in this world in any situation and become liberated at the end of his life to reside in the Supreme Abode of  Lord Sri Krsna. So why should one suffer the dualities of this life  and get tossed between happiness and distress, pleasure and pain, why should one  become  a servant of our uncontrolled mind and live in captivity of our enemy thinking ourselves to be free. Taking to the process of chanting holy names of the Lord is sweet and enjoyable requiring no special yogic postures or going to the Himalayas to perform austerities. As Srila Prabhupada used to instruct his disciples , Chant and be happy . 

Delicious Sins

Delicious Sins, this phrase sounds very ironic. How can sins be Delicious, they are supposed to be bad and full of misery and suffering. What we as human beings perceive as sins and what sins actually are based on the scriptures   are two different things. In the modern world , sins are  become more personalized, more often than not we hear the phrases, "Oh this could be sin in your religion , for our religion is it not considered as sin" or  " Sins or no sin is good as far as on thinks like that , its all in the mind". It seems that everybody has his philosophy of life, however foolish he or she may be, but they follow their own concocted philosophy. Although the free will provided by Krsna ( God) to every living entity allows one to have his or her own philosophy and idea or concept of what is sin and what is not sin, but whether such an idea is in compliance with the scriptural evidence or not, that is often not verified, hence people misunderstand and have to pay for those sins which they carried out in ignorance. Some may argue that sins carried out in ignorance should not be punished, but just like if a child in ignorance touches the fire, fire still burns the child, similarly if one commits all kinds of sinful activity in ignorance of scriptural teachings he or she is still liable for punishment. In short ignorance is no excuse, since if a person so desires there are many avenues to learn and understand,the things as they are.

 One such sin which everyone of us commit in ignorance is related to eating food hence the name Delicious Sins.. Although it sounds astonishing that how come eating food be sinful , since everyone tends to think that all the food in the world is meant for human consumption. To some extend many can understand even though they may not agree, that meat eating involves cruel killing of animals which according to Vedic literature is sin, since we are taking life of a living entity to satisfy our tongues. Not only meat eating but even eating vegetables, fruits, grains, etc which are obtained from the plants are also sinful, since that also involves killing of living entities, even though killing of plants and killing of animals are not at the same level, still it imposes a minor sin on part of the person eating vegetables etc. Material nature is designed in this way that one will not be able to escape sin and its sinful reaction, since the law of this material nature is that one living entity is food for another, jivo jivasya jivanam.  So how is that one can be freed from these sinful reactions, since without being sinless it is not possible to be liberated from this material entanglement and Go back home back to Godhead.

Sri Krsna solves this apparent contradiction , when he instructs Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita , that  persons who perform sacrifice and take the remnants of the food offered in Sacrifice for the satisfaction of Lord Vishnu are freed from all the sins.  Following two verses establish the necessity of performing yagna or sacrifice and consequences of not doing so.

"In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation." [ B.g. 3.10]

 Also the following Bhagavad Gita Verse  explains the glory of getting relieved of sins by offering food stuff in sacrifice to Vishnu.  

yajïa-çiñöäçinaù santo
mucyante sarva-kilbiñaiù
bhuïjate te tv aghaà päpä
ye pacanty ätma-käraëät  [ B.G. 3.13]



"The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin."

Now one may argue  that it sounds logical and we may agree to offer food stuff in sacrifice to Lord Vishnu and take his remnants to get freed from sin, but why there is restriction for eating only vegetables and not meat. Like vegetables it is possible to offer meat to the Lord and it will be purified and then it can be taken as prasadam what is wrong there . The answer to this is also given by Lord Krsna when he specifically mentions how and what food should be offered.

patraà puñpaà phalaà toyaà
yo me bhaktyä prayacchati
tad ahaà bhakty-upahåtam
açnämi prayatätmanaù 
[ B.g. 9.26] 


"If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it."


 Lord Krsna in this verse specifically mentions that the he accepts foodstuff from family of leaf, flower, fruit and water, which means in general vegetables, grains etc, he has not mentioned anything related to meat. Moreover he mentions that only when one offers him these simple food stuffs with Love and Devotion ,he accepts them, otherwise gorgeous preparations of foodstuff prepared without love and devotion are not accepted by the Lord.

There is a nice story in Mahabharata which expalins the nature of the Lord and  proves as a evidence to the statements of Lord Krsna from Bhagavad Gita. Once Lord Krsna visited Hastinapura to visit Pandavas and other relatives. During that time, Duryodhana and Sakuni has some ulterior motives and wanted to Please Lord Krsna to get some favors from him, in general they did not like Lord Krsna , but since they wanted his favor they had prepared a massive feast for Him with a variety of preparations all very tasty and delicious. On the other hand Vidura who was a minister in the court   offered lord Krsna some simple fruits with great devotion and love without wanting anything in return , just to please the Lord for his Pleasure. Lord was overwhelmed by Viduras devotion and accepted those simple offerings and did not even touch the offering made by Duryodana , knowing his intent.

So it is evident that any person who want to be free from eating sins should offer  whatever he can with love and devotion to the lord and then partake of his remnants as prasadam which will certainly purify and elevate the soul to spiritual understanding leading them closer to Love of Godhead. Though in this age of Kali yuga , people generally do not believe in these evidences , since most of the people are after enjoying the senses to the fullest, nevertheless the laws of material nature do not change and one has to suffer the sinful reactions. The laws of nature are working at a very subtle level and nobody in this mortal world has the power to change them. So knowing all this why should we become victims to such sinful reactions, a wise man will take necessary steps to rectify the sins after getting this knowledge. It is best to prepare food in goodness and offer this simple food to Lord Krsna and be satisfied with the prasadam of the lord. We have seen practically people who follow this practice develop such a love for Prasadam that they then do not even look at the  ordinary foodstuff. Just like if one develops a higher taste for a sweet meat , one can give up eating chipped rice. This simple process of cooking simple food and offering to Lord Krsna will rid on of the "Delicious Sins" and will elevate one slowly but steadily to achieve the spiritual enlightenment which will ultimately rid one of all miseries in life