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Re: Reserarch from Brazil, South America


Dear Paulo



Hello. Hare Krishna!! 



Thanks for visiting the Sudarsana site (now at www.krishna.org also). Many of 

the answers to the questions are there also. You can search using the search 

button (magnifying glass) on the button bar at the top of the screen. I will 

try and answer them for you here though.



> 

>         My name is Paulo, I live in Brazil, South America.

>As I'm

> working on a College research on the Hare Krishna religion, the idea of

> sending a mail to related site on internet should solve some questions

> of my own. If you have any time here they go:

> 

> 1 - What's the historical origin of the Hare Krishna religion?



Krishna consciousness is eternal. It existed before the creation of this 

universe. It is described in the "Bhagavad-gita", the "Song of God" -- a book 

spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, Himself while he was on 

this planet personally five thousand years ago:



        imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam

        vivasvan manave praha manur iksvakave 'bravit



"I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and 

Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn 

instructed it to Iksvaku." (Bhagavad-gita 4.1)



So Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita, the science of Krishna consciousness to the 

sun-god and the science was passed down through the human society as above 

mentioned. After some time the science of Krishna consciousness was lost so 

Krishna appeared again and spoke it to His devotee and friend, Arjuna.



         evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh

         sa kaleneha mahata yogo nastah parantapa



"This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic 

succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of 

time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to 

be lost." (Bhagavad-gita 4.2)



So Krishna appeared on this planet 5,000 years ago and presented the science of 

Krishna consciousness again and you can read His words in the Bhagavad-gita. 

The book Bhagavad-gita and the person Krishna are not different so if you read 

a bonafide translation of the Bhagavad-gita ("The Bhagavad-gita As It Is" by 

His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) you can get the full 

benefit of associating with Krishna personally.



So Krishna consciousness is eternal. It's the natural occupation of the soul. 

It means devotional service. Serving God. Everyone is serving someone, that is 

our natural occupation and perfection of that serving spirit is to serve 

Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.



> 2 - I would like to know about the hierarchy in your religion.



It's a little mixed up right now. Since His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta 

Swami Prabhuapda left our physical presence in 1977 there have been many people 

trying to take his place but none who exhibit his qualities of purity, 

compassion, knowledge, and love... It has become something of a political 

struggle between various camps. So it is a little difficult right now.



> 3 - How does your religion work?



      Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

          Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

 

> 4 - How do you pray?



In this age the chanting of the Holy names of God are specially stressed. Every 

religion has some process for glorifying the name of God and in the Vedic 

literature the chanting of the maha-mantra:



      Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

          Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare



Is especially stressed:



                kaler dosa-nidhe rajan

                   asti hy eko mahan gunah

                kirtanad eva krsnasya

                   mukta-sangah param vrajet



"My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one 

good quality about this age; simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, 

one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental 

kingdom." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 12.3.52)



           kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara

           nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara



"In this age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, 

is the incarnation of Lord Krishna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one 

associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly 

delivered." (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 17.22)



                 harer nama harer nama

                   harer namaiva kevalam

                 kalau nasty eva nastya eva

                   nastya eva gatir anyatha



"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the 

chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no 

other way. There is no other way." (Brhad-naradiya Purana 3.8.126)



> 5 - What are the sacred symbols of your religion?



Some sacred symbols are the Chakra, seen on the tops of Visnu temples and the 

teelok mark seen on the faces of the devotees... 



> 6 - What does sacred and non-sacred mean in your religion?



Ultimately everything is Krishna's energy. For a pure devotee he sees only 

Krishna. He even sees the material energy in its relationship with Krishna. 

Something is material if it is detached from the service of Krishna. So 

so-called material things can become spiritual if they are engaged in the 

service of Krishna. So if you take a beautiful chandelier and hang it in a 

temple to glorify Krishna it becomes spiritual. Of course one can take the same 

chandelier and put it in your lounge room for your pleasure -- that is 

material. So Krishna consciousness is the science of engaging everything in the 

service of Krishna thus spiritualising everything.



> 7 - What's your point of view about life and death?



                 dehino 'smin yatha dehe

                    kaumaram yauvanam jara

                 tatha dehantara-praptir

                    dhiris tatra na muhyati



"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth 

to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober 

person is not bewildered by such a change." (Bhagavad-gita 2.13)



So the soul is eternal. As God, Krishna is eternal and as we are tiny parts and 

parcels of God, so we are also eternal. We have the same qualities as God, but 

He is great and we are small. So we are eternal, the soul is never born and the 

soul never dies. It is the material body only that is born and dies. During our 

life we act in a certain way, we develop a certain consciousness. Our 

consciousness at the time of death determines our next body. If we die in 

animal consciousness then our next body will be an animals' body. If we die in 

human consciousness we will get a human body again and if we die thinking of 

God, Krishna then we will go back home, back to Godhead. That is the goal of 

life. To end the cycle of samsara, the cycle of birth and death. We have been 

taking birth, getting old, getting sick and dying in different species of life, 

on different planets and even in different universes for a very, very long 

time. This human body is a chance to end this cycle of repeated birth and 

death. So we should take full advantage of this human life. 



Unfortunately modern "civilisation" trains us to live like animals in this 

human form of life. Modern life is centred around the animal instincts of 

eating, sleeping sex life and defence. We may be eating in a nice restaurant, 

sleeping in a beautiful house, defending ourselves with atomic bombs and having 

so many arrangements for sex life... But the business hasn't changed. The dogs 

and cats are doing exactly the same thing: eating, sleeping, having sex and 

defending themselves... So we are becoming two-legged animals as a result of 

the modern "education"... So most people are headed for animal births in the 

next life or worse. 



There are hellish planets and heavenly planets also. We don't necessarily take 

birth again on this planet... It all depends on our activities, karma, in this 

life. Our activities now are shaping our future body...





> 8 - What's your point of view about other religions?



                 yada yada he dharmasya

                    glanir bhavati bharata

                 abhyutthanam adharmasya

                    tadatmanam srjamy aham



"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant 

of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion -- at that time I descend 

Myself." (Bhagavad-gita 4.7)



So the purpose of this material world is two-fold. It gives us, the rebellious 

living entities, a chance to try and enjoy separately from God, Krishna. At the 

same time it will frustrate us as the very nature of the material world is 

foreign to the nature of the soul, the person. We, the soul, are eternal, full 

of knowledge and full of bliss (sat-cit-ananda) whereas this material world and 

our material bodies are temporary, full of anxiety and full of ignorance. There 

is an incompatibility here. The material world is not a comfortable place for 

us, the spirit souls. Nothing material can satisfy us. We are not in our 

natural environment, it is something like a fish out of water. If you take a 

fish out of the water there is nothing you can do to make it happy... You can 

bring lots of female fish, lots of nice fish-food, etc... But the fish will 

never be happy unless you put him back in the water... So it is with us. We are 

spiritual by nature, we belong in the spiritual world. We cannot be happy here 

in the material world.



So to give us a chance to get out of the material world and to go back home, 

back to Godhead Krishna appears Himself or sends His representatives like Lord 

Jesus Christ or Mohamad. They reestablish the principles of religion according 

to the time and place. So it may be that one religion appears different to 

another -- but it is simply a different presentation of the same eternal truth. 

There is only one religion -- to reestablish our loving relationship with God 

and all the bonafide religions of the world aim to do this. So we do not say 

other religions are wrong. They are different presentations of the same 

absolute truth. However they are presented according to time and place, they 

are not eternal. If something has a beginning in the history then the time will 

come when it is no longer current. Eternal religion has no beginning. So 

Krishna consciousness is not a religion in the same sense as Christianity, The 

Muslim Faith, Hinduism, etc. It is the natural occupation of the soul, it is 

sanatana-dharam, our original, eternal business... 



> 9 - What's the point of view of your religion about the capital

>penalty, birth control and the abort?



Killing a murderer by the government (capital punishment) is good as it helps 

clear up the sinful reaction of the murderer. In the Vedic scriptures 

describing the laws for mankind, the Manu-samhita, it is stated that a murdered 

must be killed. So that is good.



As for birth control that is naturally achieved when there is a search for the 

absolute truth on the part of the population in general. If people are busy 

serving God and finding out about Him they will naturally follow the regulative 

principles and only have sex life for the purpose of begetting nice 

God-conscious children. So the birth-control problem is automatically solved.



We do not believe there is overpopulation. There is plenty of food. It is 

simply that some men are greedy and therefore others are suffering... When 

someone is born in the world God will provide for his maintenance. So there is 

no food problem at all. Only a greed problem.



> 10 - How do you earn money to keep your religion alive and difuse it?



Some devotees are married and have jobs like everyone else. So they give 

donations. The temple devotees distribute Srila Prabhupada's books and collect 

some donations that way and they are used for printing more books and 

maintaining the temples.

> 

>         Thank's for your attention and I hope my English was clearly

>enough.

>                                 Paulo 



Thanks for the letter. If you have more questions please write.



Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!!



Madhudvisa dasa

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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!