Amogh Lila Prabhu On Journey To Reaching God

“Nobody can escape the law of nature.” – Amogh Lila Prabhu

‘The Ranveer Show’ is known for its spiritual conversation, which was not my intent while starting my podcasting journey. But I am glad that it is one of the brand identities.

This blog is a conversation that I had with Amogh Lila Prabhu, the monk from ISKCON. I have had conversations with monks from ISKCON in the past, and it is fascinating to talk to them. 

In this podcast, we spoke about his secret to the immense energy that he has, his learnings from the Bhagavad Gita, how to get closer to God, etc.

Hope you all enjoy reading this blog. Happy Reading!

Secret Of His Energy

The day we were recording this podcast, I was exhausted. But as soon as Amogh Lila Prabhu walked in, there was a surge of energy. As mentioned earlier, I have met a few monks, and every monk carries this kind of energy in them. 

In modern-day, we all struggle in keeping up the energy. I asked him what is his secret to having this level of energy?

“There is a beautiful analogy that says when the spark is near the fire it illuminates and when you move it away from the fire, it extinguishes. Similarly, the more we are closer to God,  we naturally shine. It is by the grace of God that we are illuminated”. 

“This is not only for monks, even a householder can be close to God and possess this level of energy”.

Who or what is God? 

My next question to him was, what is God?

“Some would say God means G-generator, O- operator, and D- the destroyer. But God is much more than this. God in Sanskrit is Bhagwan, which means someone who has opulence, grandeur, majesty, and that too in completeness and forever”.

Evil In The World

There is so much evil going around us, maybe it be a terrorist attack or war where people are being killed. So my question was, what is God’s role when it comes to evil?

“Evil is nothing but an absence of God. When we choose absence, we are automatically choosing evil. It is like when we choose light, darkness is gone. Similarly, evil cannot exist in the presence of God”. 

You cannot see evil in children. It is something that creeps as anger or jealousy when you are growing up. So my question was, when does God leave and evil take its place?

“In children there is innocence, but since there is no knowledge, that’s why they are vulnerable to evil. So they are very impressionable, good or evil, anything can make an impact. We should be very conscious during parenting, especially in the early days, that’s why the good energy and vibrations need to be given out more”. 

“As we grow up, we use our intelligence. As we use our intelligence, we have a choice to choose God or the absence of God. When you choose evil, there is always an inner voice that says don\’t do it, it’s wrong but it’s your choice”. 

“When we keep choosing evil, the absence of God increases as the guilt of doing something wrong becomes lesser. Therefore terrorists don’t feel guilty for killing people”.

Karma

So what happens to the souls of these terrorists?

“To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is Newton’s law, and the same applies to Karma. They have to face consequences. Even Bhagavad Gita says that our actions will have consequences. When you do good deeds, good things happen, and when you do bad, bad things happen. Repercussions will be there for all your actions”.

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Past Life

What do you think happened in the past life that you chose monkhood in this life?

“I don’t know, but my parents told me I have been a monk for the past two lives, and that’s what an astrologer said. So he said that this is my last lifetime. I don’t know how much of that is true. But I feel this life is blessed as it is full of grace and blessing and I treasure that a lot”.

Gratitude

As children, we all are curious. We have a lot of questions in our heads and parents just ignore these questions because they also don’t have an answer. I asked Amogh Lila Prabhu whether he questioned reality?

“Yes, I used to question reality, but with a sense of gratitude. It was because I could see God has given me a healthy body. I was good at sports, dance, and singing. So I used to question that reality by thinking I should also give him something in return. I always had a thought that I was ungrateful and because of that every new achievement used to suffocate me”. 

“Gratitude is a blissful feeling. Now as a monk I can use all these abilities back in the service of God and humanity, which is satisfying”.

“I had a lot of questions and I could not find the answers. But I got all my answers in one place and that was when I went to ISKCON. The answers are satisfying and have a scientific logic to them as their principle is based on Bhagavad Gita”.

What is Srimad Bhagavatam?

“Srimad Bhagavatam is a sequel to the Bhagavad Gita, in terms of knowledge and the content. It contains around 18000 verses. In the age of Kalyuga, it is the most reliable book, and it is all about pure devotion”.

“There are 12 volumes of Srimad Bhagavatam. If someone is reading Srimad Bhagavatam, they are reading about the character of Lord Krishna”

“From Srimad Bhagavatam, I learned knowledge, devotion to God, and all my doubts were cleared. Reading this book thrice is also not enough, the knowledge in this book is so vast”.

Amogh Lila Prabhu’s Recent Learning

“In Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a beautiful prayer, by mother Kunti. She says, 

‘Oh Lord, let my heart be like a river, just like the rivers flow towards the ocean even with all the obstacles in between, the river does meet the ocean. Similarly, oh Lord, make my heart desperate for you, let me dodge all the obstacles and reach you’

There are such beautiful verses that give us a template on how to reach God”. 

“The soul is more powerful than the Maya, but since this place that we live in is of Maya, she will be more powerful. Even though we are struggling in this Maya, if we pray to the Lord, we can be free from Maya”. 

“When you recite the name of the Lord, he will help you. People have come out of depression and darkness by chanting the name of the lord”.

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Journey To Meet God

When I started meditating, I meditated every day. After around two weeks of meditating every day for 20 mins, I read something on Facebook about gratitude and I thought today I will start my mediation by thanking the lord, and that day my meditation was deeper and around 18 or 19 minutes into it, I felt like someone had put a bright light on my face, but when I opened my eyes, it was completely dark and then I closed my eyes again and started meditating; I saw that light again and after a while; it faded. Then I got up and called my spiritual mentor and asked him what was happening and he said it was a good sign. I asked Amogh Lila Prabhu what he wanted to say about that light?

“Light is the first introduction to the lord. The supreme is not just light, he is much more than that. Light is formless, but when you keep on meditating, you realize God is much more than that. God can be seen only by his grace, not by our strength, but when you keep praying, you can see him. When he is happy with our devotion, then he makes us see his divine form”. 

“When you see a light in your meditation, it is a sign that you are in the right direction, go on”. 

Dealing with Addiction

I had asked one of my mentors years ago, how can I get rid of drinking alcohol or eating meat? And he said, as long as you wish to leave it, you just pray for it and have willpower, but don’t force yourself. Once I stopped putting the pressure on myself, I left these addictions. So, I asked him whether this is a path to deaddiction?

“Life is all about taste. People who drink or eat meat, enjoy the taste of it. But, there is a higher class of taste. When you taste it, you relinquish the lower taste. You can conquer the lower taste when you cultivate the higher taste. Now the question is how to get this higher taste?”

“You should start associating with the people who have the higher taste because the taste is contagious. So go for higher addiction, intoxication which uplifts you. Devotion is also intoxication. It cannot be described, it can only be experienced”.

Reaching God With Meditation

I don’t know which yuga we are living in as different people have different opinions about it. But I know for sure that only chanting a mantra is not enough. When you chant it with emotions and by understanding it, it becomes stronger. So I asked, is there a way to climb this mountain of reaching God faster?

“There are birds known as albatrosses. They fly long distances. They fly using their strength, but they can do so because they fly together. When you are meditating, you need inspiration and inspiration comes from association. You need someone who can guide you”.

Ending Note

“One should be enthusiastic, determined, and patient about it. Inpatient means I am patient, it takes time. Ultimately this human form of life is to fight a battle with the mind”.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. It was a fun and spiritual conversation with Amogh Lila Prabhu and it did answer a lot of my questions about life and suffering. 

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