Krishna or Shiva?
June 5, 2004 by nirantara-dasa
Filed under India, Letters
For many years I have thought myself a devotee of Lord Shiva. Recently my daughter was diagnosed with cancer and i find myself worshiping Lord Krishna and have had many incredible Krishna and Jagannath experiences.
This of course leads me to think I am supposed to be with Krishna. Which is what I felt many years ago as a teenager. Would you please tell me the best way to investigate this?
Dear Asha
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Shree Guru & Gauranga!
in matters dealing with the understanding of the Absolute Truth, we use three paths, namely guru, sadhu & shashtra. of the three, the focal point is shashtra. i will answer you inquiry based on Shashtra as taught to me by my spiritual master, ISKCON Founder-Äcärya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Shreela Prabhuapda as follows…
Shree Krishna personally says Himself in Bhagavad-geeta that four kinds of persons approach Him : O best among the Bhäratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me-the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.”
In the Shreemad-Bhagavatam, Shukadeva Gosvämee recommends the following: “A person who has broader intelligence, whether one be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the Supreme Whole, the Personality of Godhead, Krishna.”
Now to answer your question directly, yes, you ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WITH KRISHNA. The whole Bhagavad-geeta, nay, the entire Vedic library, is targeted to this most important point: that every living entity is meant to love Krishna. Everyone of us is part and parcel of Krishna, just as your daughter is part and parcel of you. Since we are part and parcel of Krishna, we are meant to love and serve Him eternally, and that is the only reason why we exist in the first place. Of course, as soon as we use the word “love & serve” that means there is free will, minute independence. Love means there cannot be force, it has to be voluntary. Krishna never interferes with our free will.
It is usually after a long cycle of birth and death, one after another, that a particular person surrenders to Krishna once and for all, as mentioned by Krishna Himself in Bhagavad-geeta as follows: “After many births and deaths, one who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”
If you want to understand fully your eteranal relationship with Krishna, then i beg you to purchase from www.krishna.tv as many books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Shreela Prabhupada, especially Bhagavad-geeta and Shreemad Bhagavatam, because ISKCON is dedicated to this single mission… that everyone should scientifically understand their individual and eternal relationship with Krishna.
Even if you have other versions of Vedic texts, such as Bhagavad-geeta, etc., you should read the ISKCON versions only because other versions will not be as authoritative or as accurate or truthful as ISKCON’s
Krishne matir astu
Nirantara dasa
I am very new to the path of Krsna Consciousness. The hardest struggle has been learning to be a vegetarian. Raised in the heart of cattle country, “beef” was “what’s for dinner.” This was drilled into my brain, along with “you will eventually die without meat.”
Now that I am older and I know many “old” vegetarians, and also know facts that I did not know before, I feel well-equip to become a proper vegetarian.
Here is the hang up, i.e. my problem. I have been able to give up meat MOST of the time. The issue comes into play around my menstrual cycle. I then CRAVE it. The rest of the month I am perfectly happy and DO NOT crave nor eat meat of any kind. I have limited myself to only eat chicken, shrimp, or tuna, I would like to get to the point I can limit ALL.
Has this been an issue for other women as well?
How to rid myself of this craving?
Any insight would be most wonderful.
Hare Krsna!
Hare Krishna Anna Marie
We all have attachments to different material things and part of making advancement in Krishna consciousness is to be able to become determined to “do the right thing” even though we may want to do something else. The real answer to this problem is prasadam. If you have nice prasadam to eat, food cooked with love and devotion by devotees and offered to Krishna, then this will not be a problem. So if you learn how to cook and offer your food to Krishna and you only eat the food that has been offered to Krishna, prasadam, you will find it these things are not so much of a problem.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Hare Krishna,
10 or so years ago i found myself living with a Hare Krishna diciple and read the Bhagavad Gita and other literature from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada which i tried to follow as best i could after having an outer body realisation which was that, i was loved for what i am not who i am…… Whilst meditating a fuzzy grainy light over took my third eye, the colour was like when you put your hand over a torch in the dark, an orangy pinky colour, but like when the tv is when its not tuned in, and i was filled with love….. that was the moment i recognised Krishna as the supreme godhead!!!
Unfortunately throughout the years maya has slowly returned to my life and although i have a wonderful family now, with 2 teenage step sons and 2 beautiful very young daughters with wonderful souls and a partner that i love dearly. I find myself missing the light and love i once had. I have very recently returned to eating meat and although i know i am eating my brothers and sisters it is a path i am going down at the moment due to convienience, at least that is the word i have given it.
I have always thought it wrong to chant “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare” if your whole being is not connected as i refuse to chant for materialistic value because i feel it defeats the object!!!!
What i want to ask is, i need to get back to where i was and although i am walking beside the path, not on it, is it wrong to meditate using the Krishna mantra, i am sure once my routine includes meditating the lord will provide the energy and will that i need to get myself back on the road to love and enlightenment.
Thank you for your time.
Hare Krishna
I am very disappointed with the posts here gloryfying one god and rebuking other is not a mark of a devotee but of a power hungry person .Look only thing that a god wants from a devotee is complete surrender to him .Then be it to any god we mortals should not question their powers or compare his powers with others.It doesnt matter if you are a krishna bhakt or a shiv bakht what matters is that your devotion to him your trust in him is pure.If u rebuke a person for being a bhkat of another god then you are not a devotee but your a trader .There are people of different faiths who had many such experiences would tell them it was a myth.Not even saints compare one lords power to another then we are just common people .
Om Nama Shivaya … God of all forms…
Krishna = Vishnu = Rama.
Worship of any will do . Shiva is a demi god according to Vaishnava tradition whether Gaudya or Sri.