Taking to Krsna Consciousness 85
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namask:uru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam matparayanah
‘Always think of Me. Become My devotee. Worship
Me, and offer your homage unto Me. The result is
that you will come to Me without fail. I promise you
this, because you are My very dear friend. Engage
your mind always in thinking of Me, engage your
body in My service; and surrender unto Me. Com-
pletely absorbed in Me, surely will you come to
Me.” (Bg. 18.65, 9.34)

The phrase man-mana bhava mad-bhakto means
“just be always conscious of Me.” This then is Krsna
consciousness. In Bhagavad-gita Krsna is repeatedly
saying that we should worship Him, offer obeisances
unto Him and then come to Him. Bhagavad-gita
clearly points to the absolute necessity of Krsna
consciousness, and Bhagavad-gita is accepted as the
essence of the Upanisads. Even from the historical
point of view, it has no comparison. It has been cal-
culated on the basis of archeological evidence that
Krsna spoke Bhagavad-gita on the Battlefield of
Kuruksetra more than five thousand years ago. So
this Krsna consciousness movement, even from the
historical point of view, is five thousand years old. Its
philosophy is the oldest in the history of the world.
If we wish to trace it even further back, we find
that Sri Krsna spoke it earlier to the sun-god. Krsna is
eternal, and consciousness of Krsna is also eternal. In
