Bliss and Beyond

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Thus, this book "Bliss and Beyond" provides detailed information about these simple techniques of attaining eternal bliss and contentment. Application of these techniques in your daily life will bring immense joy, satisfaction and happiness and will guide you on how to attain the ultimate perfection of life.

The Author of this book, H.H. Kratu Das Ji Maharaj, was born on 5th July 1944 in a village namely Lachharas located in Gujarat, India. He was born at his maternal grandfather's home. His maternal grandfather was also from a Vaishnava cultured family. Maharaj exhibited leadership qualities right from his childhood. He was the president of the Student Union at Vakal High School, Mobha Road, Vadodara, Gujarat. After completion of his civil engineering from Vadodara, he went to the United States of America and pursued his Masters of Science from St. Louis University in 1972.

In 1968, he married Srimati Amrita Keli Devi Dasi who was also a religious woman and surrendered to Lord Krishna. Both came in contact with ISKCON in 1970 and joined full time in Toronto ISKCON Temple in 1974. In 1976, when they met Srila Prabhupada for the first time, Srila Prabhupada accepted them and gave his blessings. After a year they took initiation from Srila Prabhupada.

Even during his professional life in USA and working as a successful civil engineer in US and Canada, he never got influenced by the western culture. Inspired by Srila Prabhupada, the author resigned his job and became a full-time devotee in ISKCON. He kept himself busy day and night for preaching and pursued various spiritual services. He was the Director of congregational preaching in Toronto, Chicago, and Vancouver temple. Later in 1987, he became the Temple President of ISKCON, Vancouver. He also contributed as a civil engineer in building Vancouver and West Virginia New Vrindavan temple.

After preaching for a long time in western countries, H.H. Kratu Das Ji Maharaj came back to India in 1983 and started preaching in Gujarat. After returning from the USA, he even travelled across the villages by bullock cart and distributed Srila Prabhupada books. Later, Maharaj continued his preaching activities in different parts of India. In 1997, he became the Temple President at ISKCON Sri Radha Parthasarathi temple in New Delhi.

In 2002, he was authorized as an ISKCON initiating Guru, and his preaching activities increased many folds. He travelled to many different countries even during tough situations and changed the lives of many people.

According to the order of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was always participating in various preaching activities all over the world. Though he considers staying at Vrindavana as the best option, but to obey Srila Prabhupada's order, he travels to every corner of this world for the benefit of aspiring devotees. He is enthusiastic in implementing different activities in preaching as instructed by Srila Prabhupada, e.g., book distribution, sankirtan, lecture on Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, serving Vaishnavas, panda[ programs, conducting various bhakti retreats, etc.

He is the author of the books `Sadhu Sanga' (English & Hindi), Anand Ki Aur, 'Maya Ki Maar' and `Mann Ki Manmani' (all in Hindi), which are compilation of evidence and proofs from scriptures as well as his life experiences to establish the importance of Vaishnavas.

The material world is full of distress. This fact has been confirmed by Lord Sri Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. He reiterates by addressing the material world as "Duhkhalayam," which translates to a place of despair and anguish. Birth, Death, Old Age, and Disease are the four categories of the miseries of this world. The modern science has no solutions to these miseries. However, Vedic science does. Everyone wants to be happy and being happy seems to be the ultimate goal of life. People wish to be a doctor, a social servant, and so on for their happiness. But even after achieving these goals, they are not happy. Instead, it leads to frustrations and disappointments that cause miseries. We keep wandering throughout our lives in search of that long lasting happiness, but unfortunately, we don't even get a drop of it. This book "Bliss and Beyond" aims to give you a practical and permanent solution to relieve all distress and simple ways to become happy irrespective of any material condition. The cause of all problems that we see in this world is misidentification of our real self. (In reality, we are not this body but the spirit soul). Since the beginning of our existence, we have been identifying ourselves with the body and live with this conception all lifelong. This misidentification leads to a spiral of never-ending frustration and discontentment. In reality, we are spirit soul which is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna. The Lord Himself states in the Bhagavad-gita:

"The living entities in this conditioned world are my eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind."

Being part and parcel of Lord Krishna, we will be happy only if we serve Him with love and devotion. Serving the Lord leads to the development of love for Him which is an unlimited source of bliss and eternal happiness.

The most sublime and straightforward way to get the love of anyone is by serving them. When we serve someone, we gradually develop a loving relationship with them. (It is an inherent nature of living entity to serve someone: their family, work, country, animals, etc. and get reciprocal feelings). If you serve your dog, he will reciprocate by loving you. Similarly, if you serve Krishna; He will reciprocate by loving you. It's straightforward. When Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied with your service and reciprocates; there will be no distress in your life. You will get eternal bliss and complete contentment. No more hankering! The question arises - How can one serve Lord Krishna? And what is the best method to render loving service to Him? Srila Rupa Goswami says that the most uplifting and easy way of serving Lord Krishna is through the mouth and tongue. The primary function of the mouth and tongue is speech and taste. If we engage ourselves by chanting Lord Krishna's Holy Names and honoring prasadam (food sanctified by offering it to Krishna), then we are serving Him and can expect loving reciprocation. Kali-Santarana Upanishad recommends us this process. In this age of Kali-yuga, chanting the holy name of the Lord is the most sublime method to serve Lord Krishna.

"The sixteen names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra destroy all the inauspiciousness of the age of Kali. This is the conclusion of all the Vedas. (Kali-santarana Upanisad, a part of Yajur Veda)" Thus, this book "Bliss and Beyond" provides detailed information about these simple techniques of attaining eternal bliss and contentment. Application of these techniques in your daily life will bring mmense joy, satisfaction, and happiness and will guide you on how to attain the ultimate perfection of life.