SLOKA OF THE DAY:

Bhagavad Gita As It Is -
Chapter 7 Text 8
raso 'ham apsu kaunteya
prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh
pranavah sarva-vedesu
sabdah khe paurusam nrsu

rasah--taste; aham--I; apsu--in water; kaunteya--O son of Kunti; prabha--the light; asmi--I am; sasi-suryayoh- -of the moon and the sun; pranavah--the three letters a-u-m; sarva--in all; vedesu--the Vedas; sabdah--sound vibration; khe--in the ether; paurusam--ability; nrsu--in men.

TRANSLATION

O son of Kunti, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.

JOURNAL:

This is one of my favorite slokas. As a musician the last part, "I am the sound in ether and the ability in man", is very meaningful to me.

In the book "Teachings of Queen Kunti" Srila Prabhupada has this to say about the above sloka; ... when Krishna describes Himself in Bhagavad-gita, He says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: [Bg. 7.8] "I am the taste of liquids." So one can remember Krishna by tasting water. Even if one is drinking liquor, if he thinks, "The taste of this drink is Krishna," he will one day turn out to be a great saintly person. So I can request even drunkards to become Krishna conscious, what to speak of others, because Krishna says, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya: "I am the taste of liquids." Generally in this context "liquid" is taken to mean water. But liquor is also liquid; it is only sugar and molasses or some other combination fermented and distilled. Of course, it is bad because it creates intoxication. Although in one sense nothing is bad, liquor is bad because it creates bad effects. In America there are many drunkards. There is no scarcity of them. But I may request even the drunkards, "When drinking wine, kindly remember that the taste of this drink is Krishna. Just begin in this way, and one day you will become a saintly, Krishna conscious person."

How kind Srila Prabhupada is!