Hello and welcome to the blossom, your awesome podcast, episode number 29. Today on the show, we have got spiritual leader Son Carsen thoughts. He is a disciple of swami Bhakti vedanta Prabhu Bada, the founder of the Hari Krishna movement and today saying Carson Das is a world renowned spiritual leader with thousands of disciples of his own. I am so honored and delighted to have him hair sharing his wisdom and light with us. Thank you so much and welcome to the show. I'm delighted to be here, thank you so much. So let's start with your background, how you got into this.

I know that's probably a long story, but anything you'd like to share about how you got into this um only only took about six years, but uh huh if I can come, you know describe six years and three minutes I'll see if I can do them. My dad always said son, your college days is gonna be the happiest day of your life. I got there, I was miserable as hell because I didn't know why I existed and want to know why do I exist. But no other professors told me none of the textbooks told me. But then in my junior year that's for being frustrated, not knowing what to do. One student told me about self realization. You can actually achieve unlimited lists of becoming self realized at all. That's what I needed to become self realized, I tried this guru, I tried that guru, nothing worked. And but then, but then a friend of mine turned me onto this mantra and then we're like this Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Krishna Krishna Harry, Harry and I got a bag of Algeria where Lord Krishna talks about how you can offer him your food and he will accept it.

So I was went wow and I made a little altar, I was offering my food to Krishna and I was trying to deny my everything in this material world and I said well I'm just going to go to the India and be a holy man, that's what I'm going to be, my career path and give him it was in the sixties that was really cool. Many hippies went to India, you know what I mean? I just gotta get India and renounce the world, become a holy man in India. Not even wait a minute, I've renounced everything that renunciation is also something. So I had to renounce renunciation also and accept something transcendental and ah world deliverance, mission spiritualized the whole universe. So then I instead of going to India I grabbed a guitar and I hitchhiked out too san Francisco um to be part of a spiritual revolution for turning world history right side up. But I didn't see much going on out there but I started singing and playing my guitar up and down Haight street and become a minstrel, they said you're going to make a dash very beautiful again.

So I got some kind of encouraged, I went over to Berkeley became established minstrel on the Berkeley campus but you know, I was thinking about with this, this music, we can actually you know the Woodstock had been a big thing and now they're gonna have a west coast Woodstock. Yeah, we're gonna have a beautiful love and peace revolution now. So I went to the Altamont concert, it was a horrible nightmare that they somebody got murdered there and I said this is too much, I can't handle being a you know a spiritual revolutionary. And was going to go back to being a college student again, I can't handle this, living like a hippie, you know, and on the streets and singing and playing here and there. So um I went back to the university of texas and I'd be in bo I got a job as a janitor. Oh my God. And but I couldn't handle it, I just couldn't plug in. So I actually dropped out of school again. I became a big sensation on the University of texas campus. The campus minstrel attracting huge crowds every day with my concerts on the south mall.

But then I was still looking looking, looking, looking, looking how can I actually achieve spiritual protection? I was thinking, well Lord jesus was perfect. So how can it become like that? What was his secret? And I went ah he said father, not my will, but I will be done. That's it. You just got to do what God wants, not what you want, but I had one trouble. I didn't know what God wanted me to do. I was waiting for the Voice from the sky but nothing was coming to tell me what my mission was. Oh my God what to do. But I was doing a little gig vegetarian co op one day that there was singing and playing with my guitar and there was only one little girl in the audience kind of uh you know, depressing from my musicians ego, right? But after the sun that little girl came up to me, she had read my mind, I was depressed. He was the only one hearing, she said don't worry God can hear you. And I went, wow! He was a messenger from God. I've been waiting for God to reveal to me my mission.

He, I can't hear him. But she, she said God can hear you. And ah I should start praying to God asking him to reveal to me how I can become his perfect servants. So that became my daily thing. I'd be the bible. I pray dear God, please guide me how I can become your perfect servant. And Hari Krishna swami shows up in town to start up Hari Krishna center in Austin and I realized this was the answer to my prayer that actually I'm getting back to my original connection with Krishna. And so at that time George Harrison, I just come out with my sweet lord, you know, hardy Krishna Hari Krishna. Big mega hit. I was thinking yeah I would be a Krishna conscious, you know, singer songwriters like George and become a, become a big become really successful in that way. But then one day I was hearing a beautiful song, I was living in the heart of Krishna center. Now let me move in. Azahari Krishna singer songwriter used to live with them. They gave me a free place to stay, you know room and board for free because I appreciate what I was doing.

But then I realized that actually I heard one song and I realized these devotees once we were cemented has become disciples, you know, full on monks, they were tasting a pleasure. That was amazing. Pleasure, So beautiful, so wonderful. So then I decided that I that I was missing out on the nectar that they were tasting something that I wasn't tasting. So I decided to throw in the towel and become a full fledged month. That was 50 years ago I became a and his family property pot and now for the last 50 years and his order, I'm trying to pull off a global spiritual revolution as soon as possible. Oh that's that's that's that's a scary in brief. Okay wow, that is amazing. So 50 years as a monk, tell us what this is, I mean you're on a different level, you're playing a bigger game here so help us understand. Well actually our movements, the monks can also become married. So I, I met a very nice female monk and we got now we're husband and wife, but we live like monks actually, if you don't have any sex relationship, we just live like two monks as a team.

A very, very Exalted, grew up from the indian indian, grew up in the Fiji islands. Very exalted. So I've been married for a, I don't know, maybe I've lost track 2025 30 years, something like that. And I think 30 years or so. So now I'm working with this with this very exalted um female devotee, they actually call her guru monarchy, which means guru mother, she's very, very exams. She and I work as a team. We've been actually been starting in the globe twice a year on lecture tours for many years. But now because of Covid, we're sitting here in an Ashram for the last two years in Austin not going anywhere, just keeping keeping safe. And of course on the internet, I've gotten really big, I've got 28,000 people signed up for my daily lessons on the, not via the internet. I have disciples all over the world. I have, you know, 30,000, almost 30,000 students on my e course. So I'm trying to pull off a global spirit spiritual revolution now as soon as possible to turn world history right side up, wow.

And now, so can you tell me just for you what that's been like your kind of daily practice of you know being a monk for 50 years. What are you experiencing? I rise early in the morning at two. Am I doing meditations and I did my studies. Then we have a worship service at 4 30. And then I cook a breakfast. We make we are cooking is also spiritual. We offer our food to Krishna before eating. So I cooked the breakfast. And then I go for a morning walk, hearing a lecture from my spiritual master. And then we come back and this morning my wife gave a lecture and then we have breakfast and then I get back. I come here to my office and start answering my emails and work on my daily broadcast that goes all over the world. Mm hmm. And just on a deeper kind of spiritual level. What is that like for you? Like what has made it really exciting thing? You could ever imagine It goes beyond even being a multi billionaire like Brazos or you know, having sex with some heavenly goddess.

I mean it's just a pleasure you can't even describe. It's a it's a pleasure beyond any pleasure. This material wealth. Whether it's sex or money or power or fame or any anything. It's a pleasure goes beyond any pleasure of this material world. It's called transcendental pleasure. Mm hmm. And can you kind of um elaborate on that? I mean, what, what is that pleasure like? Here's how it works. You see there's a supreme person, here's the source of all existence? Some call him Krishna, some call him Allah, some call him God, some call him the father of, father of jesus as the supreme person who's the source of everything. Now. He is manifesting us from himself for the purpose of enjoying loving relationships with us. But love can't be forced, it's voluntary. So everybody has a choice to love God and to leave God. Now, most people stay with him there in the spiritual world, but a small insignificant fraction of the infinite number of living entities, they decided to leave him and check out the world where I can think that I'm God, write the material world, I'm God.

Um so, so here we are trying to enjoy separately from God. But when you actually reconnect with him, it's just like the hand can't enjoy the food separately from the body. You can squeeze the food and the fingers, but the hand can't get any benefit from the food unless it actually gives it to the mouth and goes to the belly. You see someone, you actually reconnect with Krishna or God by loving service by thinking about him talking about him chanting his names, offering service to him. Now, you're reconnecting with that supreme person is a source of all existence. You're actually watering the root of the universal tree and you're actually rendering loving service to him and every single living entity through all of existence. Can you imagine if you can engage in a loving relationship giving pure love to all living beings and all the existence at every minute and how good that would feel. That's what we're doing, wow. And now tell me so, you know, just kind of going back here, you said you kind of tried the college thing that wasn't for you, Did you always prior to that feel like a longing.

Did you feel some sense of something I knew I wanted to know in college, I wanted to know what is the purpose of my existence, What is the meaning of life? And they did not tell me, they just said, you know, get get a degree, you know, get a good degree, make good grades so you can get a good job and a good house and a good bite and a good car and some good kids and a good dog and a good cat and a dog. Dog house. So you're gonna have to retire and have a good retirement in ST Petersburg until he puts you in a good grave and put some good flowers on your, on your grave every year. That wasn't enough. Sorry, mm hmm. And what is that? So going deeper with this, what are we missing? Like what is that ultimate end goal? Like not connected with our actual identities, you see were foolishly thinking I'm this body, I'm a male and a female, I'm an american. I'm an indian were foolishly misidentifying identifying ourselves as they're being.

These material bodies. You see if you thought that you were your pants, wouldn't that be stupid? But but we misidentified these bodies we have are just garments that were wearing were actually spiritual beings, the eternal spiritual beings that never gets sick, never gold and never die. These bodies go through birth, death, old age and disease. We are foolishly misidentifying with these material bodies and thus putting ourselves into a miserable situation. Mm hmm. And is that so that when you say miserable situation that is kind of longing for the superficial stuff, That's really not going to fulfill us. We're not really tasting the real pleasure of our existence and that we only imagined actually there is no happiness in this material. We only think we're happy. The rolling Stones really had it. They really hit the nail on the head. I can't get no satisfaction. That's our position material. Well, we're not getting satisfied. We're really not. We're going, we're going there, we're smoking this, we're drinking this. But I can't get no satisfaction in the rolling stones.

Really hit the nail on the head and they really did. That's our position. That we're not getting any satisfaction. We're not really getting any real satisfaction here. We only imagine it, but actually we never get any real satisfaction in mature life. Now for you, you know, when you met swami. Prabhu pasta and you're a direct disciple of his. Correct? That's correct, yeah. And what was that like for you? Oh my goodness gracious is the most wonderful experience in millions of lifetimes. Be connected with the great uh Spiritual master has the power deliver all living entities through all of existence. I got a letter from London actually and dated august 12th 1971 accepting me as a disciple and give me the name Suncor Son dos. And then I wrote him a letter, I told him I was enthusiastic to spread this movement. He wrote me another back, he said, I can see you're a very sincere enthusiastic boy eager to spread this Krishna consciousness movement, he said now continue enthusiastically as you were doing and surely Krishna will bless you.

That order has been going with me strong for 50 years for 50 years and I'm feeling how Lord Krishna is showering his unlimited blessings upon me every minute now, you know, I've heard just through my own kind of spirituality and reading and stuff that those who find of their guru and are able to connect with that guru are just the luckiest people. So wow, actually, Krishna gives the instruction in the back of I'll give you the sand script, just trying to learn the truth by approaching the spiritual master, inquired of him, submissively render service unto him. The self realized souls can impart knowledge on to you because they have seen the truth.

When you actually file that instruction from Krishna, you become connected with him, become connected with the spiritual master and it actually you actually, you enter into immortality. You live even in your, even though you have your in your present body, you're you're not living in in mortality. You're now living in immortality, achieve deathless when you surrender modified your spiritual master, you attain deathless nous mm mm mm mm mm mm mm I love that breathlessness. Yeah. You know, and it's kind of, it seems that's what we're all after. But that's but we don't know how to go about it. So for those people who, you know, because this is you are like I said on a different level, right? You're able to do this day in and day out. Can we is there a way to kind of touch tap it without, I can bring you to this level. Also sign up for my e course www dot join course dot com. I will train, you have to come to this level.

I'm training people all over the world and to come to this level. I have radio station magnates, I have lawyers, I have all kinds of people. Doctors, I got all kinds of people. I'm training them how they come to this level, wow. So it is possible for the ordinary person to just elevate and get to this kind of liberated space. Absolutely, absolutely. You can everyone can become a little, I don't care if your dish digger, you're a homeless bum on the street. I think if you're the president of the United States, whatever your position is, I can train you how to achieve breathlessness. Mm hmm. And now for people who are this is kind of a foreign concept, help us kind of understand that philosophy. I'm in very simple terms. I'm not this body. I'm an eternal spiritual being, the servant of God. Now by actually enter the end of the service of God, I become a liberated soul from all the sufferings of material existence. That's in a nutshell, the whole thing. Mm hmm. And now you know, so was there some direct guidance when you met swami problem papa was there Okay, this is gonna be I know he named you already already gave it to you and he said continue I see your continue enthusiastically as you were doing to make the broad krishna conscious and Shirley krishna will bless you.

That's the that's my marching orders right there. Make the world world krishna conscious wow. And for in that moment did it feel like okay, I've arrived, this is what I was waiting for. That was the message. It was actually when I got my chanting beads in the name, that's when I had arrived this assembly made it even more wonderful because now I have a now he told me what my duty is in his service. But I already when I actually when he, when he accepted me and gave me my name, that's when I really arrived more powerful when I get in my lifetime service and what has it been like for you to lead this life of service? It's it's more feeling than anything I can explain to you. It's more filling than anything that you can experience anywhere winning the lottery. But anything is, it's more filling than anything you could ever experience in material life, millions of times worse for them. And now, you know, for people who are resistant to things because they just don't have that deeper understanding what is your kind of guidance to that person to kind of well who are you?

You have to understand what is your identity? Do you have that body? Your body is changing it every minute. You can remember an experience that you had your little kid, That body is long gone. So you should have to understand that you're not even into your body. Your body is changing every moment. The old blood corpuscles are dying off and new blood corpuscles are taking their place. But yeah, you have a constant remembrance even in those days when you were a little baby, you see. So therefore you're not your material body. So what are you? You have to understand what you actually are and you have to now live in that dimension where you actually are your actual identity? If you want to truly become happy. Otherwise you're just kidding yourself, You'll never be happy the time of death, you'll be lamenting how you lost everything. But actually for those who are Krishna conscious at the time of death they gain everything, they don't lose anything, they gained everything. Ah that is so powerful, that's so beautiful now. So you know, let me ask you this for 50 years in this space, Headspace, heart space, spiritual space, who are you, who have you become?

Are you very simple on the eternal servant of Krishna? You know, by in order to become a spiritual master, I've been ordered to become guru and deliver the world, that's my mission, deliver the world, wow. And um now you know for people who are kind of stuck in life struggling, what kind of higher wisdom do you have for those people? The holy names, if you're a christian, you can share the name of christ a muslim, you can chant Allah, you're buddhist, you can chant buddha, your hindi, you can chant Hari Krishna or chant Hari Ram but our b you have no name, just chanting Hari krishna mantra, chant the holy names of God and you will revive your original spiritual identity that's sleeping within you right now every day chant the holy names of Godhead Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna hare hare and you'll awaken your actual identity which exists beyond your temporary body, you feel it, you taste it, you're living it and can you tell us, I know I've asked this but I just to go deeper what we're missing.

Like what is that like for you? I'm so curious. I know you kind of we touched on this but to live in this like how magical is that you're missing. You're missing out on an actual love. You're living in a world of exploitation and greed. You're missing love actual love. Love means pure loving, pure loving relationship without any tinge of egotism or selfishness. You're missing out on pure love. Mm hmm And that is so ironic because that's really what everyone's in search of, right? But we're just going about it the wrong way. But they maintain lust. They call it love it actually lust. Mm hmm. You want to use others for their enjoyment. And they call it love. That's not what that means. Service. Mm hmm. Now what um wisdom can you share with people who are you know scared like it's just too overwhelming for them. Well, if you if you if you want to remain in the world in the in the cycle of birth and death.

You can do them. You think you think this is scary But just wait till that comes. Mhm Do you think this is scary. Just wait till death comes to how scary it out of me. You like to become fierce at the time of death and start chanting the holy names of gods or regular daily basis. Train yourself to think of the supreme person and then you become fearless, but otherwise, you're opening yourself up to a horrible experience at the time of that horrible, horrible nightmarish experience, remember that, you can remember the supreme person, your God at the time of death, you go into the spiritual world, you don't stay here in the cycle of breath and then so is it, it's like hair, you're in this physical form, but living in this way with this ID ideology and philosophy, you're kind of just already you're already with God, you're already one with God. Absolutely. When it actually, when you awaken your Krishna continues, you're living with God at every minute as good as being in the spiritual world, even right here in the in the material world, and it seems like this is what we're all missing, right?

We come here in this physical chaos right now, that's why they have all kinds of things like covid 19 going around because they're not living in harmony, the laws of God, wow. So it's it's that's it right there. It's like we don't when we start living in that way, it's kind of exciting to transcend the physical because now we're just going back home, we're getting back on the state of perfect harmony again right now, because we're not living in occurrence of the laws of God, we're creating so much havoc in the world. You see, there's a lot of karma and what goes around comes around if you engage in activities which against the laws of God, you're not in harmony with the will of the supreme and it creates all kinds of bad reactions like Covid 19 like tornadoes, hurricanes, murders, etcetera, rapes, etcetera. What is your advice for people who have some sort of guilt that they might be carrying a guilty conscience?

We're all guilty. Everybody was whether we admit it or not, we all have ross will have been guilty because we've we've we've defied the authority of the Supreme Lord and tried to act independently of him. So the simple solution is so Krishna says in the gives up all varieties of duties and fully surrender yourself unto me. I deliver you from all your guilt from all your simple reactions. Do not fear. That's all we have to do is say, okay my Supreme Court. Now whether you call him, I'll let you have a christian or whatever. That supreme person, the source of all existence. Now I fully surrender myself unto you and that immediately frees you from all the reactions, all those things, you're feeling guilty about all the things you did wrong. It seems model so and there is a way to do that without being committing yourself. Like as a monk, you can still go to work, have your life, do whatever social order. There's four, there's four classes that the priestly class, administrative class, the american middle class, the architectural class and the working class doesn't, you can remain in any class.

You can make an employee. You can be a businessman, You can be a farmer, you can be a politician, be a military man or a priest. It doesn't matter. You can be in any social position, become apparent ability of God. Mm hmm. Most of my disciples are not amongst their, you know, I got one who's a I got one disciple. He's um, he's a businessman. He's running what's called european hit radio and plays the top hits of pop songs in uh, in europe. He's the owner of european. Him. He's my disciple that your owner of european hit radio. He's not a monk. But so it doesn't, you can be in any position and the and the amount of priest politician, a military man, a businessman, Agriculturists, worker or whatever in any position to become a part of that. You've gone now, this is just, wow. It's like, um, it's just, this is kind of what people are missing. This is what absolutely the whole world is missing and that's why the world is in chaos right now.

If the world leaders would just listen to me and take my instructions, we can solve all the problems, all the wars, all the terrorism, all the disease. I if they will follow my instructions, we can solve all the problems of the world. And within a very short time they want the trouble is they're not listen to me. I wrote that didn't even write me back then rascal mm hmm. And now in closing this has been so powerful and you know, I'm going to have links to all of your stuff for listeners so they can reach out to you and have access and um contact information and all of that. Can you? Just in closing, I'm gonna ask you to leave us with some words of wisdom, love, power, light, whatever you would your message you would like to share. Okay ito come yoga today to those who are constantly devoted and virtually with love. I give them the understanding a colleague can come to me.

Lord Krishna speaks in the bag. Mm hmm mm wow that was amazing. I just I feel like I need to go grab my bag and then read it again. And I'm just so inspired right now. This was So do you have to get it as it is that the authority of Edition, my understanding, you have that edition back together as it is. Um you know, I don't actually, I don't get that one because the others they mess around with the actual meaning. They don't present the mineral meaning. They screw the meaning around. They say, well it's not the krishna your cemented with the un boarding and manifest. No, you have to be back to get it as it is. That's the authority of Edition which actually clearly explains according to the great saints of India, the actual meaning about as it is. You can I can send you a link where you can order it. I'll send you aboriginal fishermen, wow.

Um, I am going to do that. That was really powerful and amazing. And I just thank you so much for your time and your wisdom and your love and your light. And um yeah, I just feel so honored to have had this time with.