Frequently Asked Questions

I haven't really put a FAQ together yet -- I am working on it. But Sarah-Anne wrote to me a couple of months ago with lots of nice questions so I am putting my answers to her questions here for the time being. If you have a question please write.

• What would be some good reading material?

  There are many small introductory books by our spiritual master, His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, you will like them. Some of my favorites are, "Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers", "The Science of Self Realization", "Beyond Birth and Death", and many others. You can also read the articles on this web site.

  The main book is the Bhagavad-gita, but be careful to get Srila Prabhupada's "Bhagavad-gita As It Is", there are many translations, but the special quality of Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita is he has presented it "As It Is". He has not added anything new or changed the meaning of the verses as almost all the other translators have done.

  I'll check out those books. would I find them at a liberary, or more likely a very diverse bookstore?

  Hopefully the Library will have some. Unfortunately they are not very available in bookstores unfortunately. There is a mail order service in the US called "Krishna Culture" and they have a free order "hot-line". I think that would be the best thing. Just ring them on:

               1-800-829-2579
               
  

• Do you believe in one all-powerful being?

  Yes. Krishna -- The Supreme Personality of Godhead

• What are your major beliefs?

  We know there is a God, a supreme person. He has many names, the principal one being Krishna -- the all-attractive person. He has many names and He is the same person the Christians call "God", the Muslims call "Allah".

  We are all eternal servants of Krishna, but here in the material world, we have forgoten that. Instead of serving Krishna, trying to please Krishna, we are trying to please ourselves. But this is not our natural position so it will always end in frustration. So this world is not our real home, we belong in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God, it is our real home.

  To reestablish our original relationship with Krishna in this age the chanting of the holy names of God, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is the recommended method.

• Were you born into your religion, or did you chose it?

  I was born a Catholic but when I started reading Srila Prabhupada's books I could see he was describing the Absolute Truth, something beyond all the different designations of religion I had experienced before. So I became a devotee of Lord Krishna, but that doesn't mean I don't still accept Lord Jesus Christ. He is presenting the same thing, the science of God, Krishna consciousness. Jesus is just preaching to a different audience, the message is the same.

• I'm glad you accept Jesus, because I'd have a hard time throwing him out.

  Yes. It is possible to be a Christian and a Krishna at the same time. There is no conflict. Here, in Australia, we even have a few priests who are devotees too. Krishna is the same God Jesus talks about in the Bible.

• Are you saying that Krishna is the equivalent of Jesus in the Christian religions?

  Krishna is like "God the father" Jesus refers to.

• Did Krishna send his spirit into a human form to go about teaching people?

  yada yada he dharmasya
  glanir bhavati bharata
  abhutthanam 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 Krishna Himself comes to this world sometimes (as He did 5,000 years ago as Krishna and 500 years ago as Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu) and sometimes he sends his pure devotees, or sons like Jesus Christ and Srila Prabhupada.

• Do you believe that God/Krishna has come down from Heaven to lead his people through different earthly forms? (Buddha, Jesus etc.)

  Yes. That is what Krishna has said Himself in the Bhagavad-gita in the verse I quoted above. Jesus is the son of God [Krishna} and Lord Buddha is one of the incarnations of Krishna -- but his philosophy is different. That is a long story. But the Buddhists are, more or less, atheists.

• Is your entire life devoted to studying Krishna Consciousness?

  Yes. Not just this life, but our eternal occupation, our real business is to serve Krishna, God. When we come to this material world we become bewildered. We identify with the material bodies we are currently in. I think I am an Australian man and you think you are an American woman [I don't know for sure of course]. But that is our bodies only. The body is born, it gets old, it gets sick and ultimately it will die also. But I, the person, the spirit-soul don't die, I don't get sick or get old. I am sat-cit-ananda, eternally youthful, full of knowledge and full of bliss. But I am covered by this Australian man's body...

  So Krishna consciousness means to reestablish our original, spiritual identity as servants of God, Krishna. The best and most effective way to do it in this age is by chanting:

  Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
  Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

  By your life being devoted to Krishna, do you mean you spend all of your time chanting and meditating etc.?

  It is difficult for us, brought up in the western world, to just sit down and chant and meditate. There are some great devotees who have done it in the past. There was one great devotee about five hundred years ago called Haridasa Thakura. He would chant 192 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day. That means chanting:

  Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
  Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

  108 times 192 times, that's 20,736 times a day! (chanting the mantra 108 times = one round)

  So Haridasa Thakura was able to just sit down at Jaganatha Puri [a holy city in India] and chant Hare Krishna but it is not possible for us. We vow to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra each day (it takes 2 - 3 hours only) and the rest of the time we spend engaged in Krishna's service. For me at the moment I am answering mail about Krishna on the internet. This is meditating also. I have to think of how to explain Krishna to you. So it is also spiritual. Some devotees distribute Srila Prabhupada's books, some worship Krishna in the temple, some go out chanting Hare Krishna on the streets, some work on farms looking after the cows and growing grains and vegetables to offer to Krishna.

  The idea is we should arrange out life in such a way that we can always remember Krishna. It's not that we have to go to some mountain cave and live there. Krishna consciousness can be performed anywhere. But we should give up doing things for ourselves. We should do everything for Krishna. Krishna is likened to the roots of a tree. If you want to supply water to a tree and you give it to the roots of the tree automatically the whole tree will get the benefit. But if you try and water all the branches, leaves, flowers, etc without supplying water to the roots then it will be useless. So if we try to please ourselves that will not be successful. It will end in frustration. But if we try to please Krishna automatically we will become satisfied ourselves and also everyone else will benefit too. Krishna is the root of the entire creation. If you succeed in pleasing Krishna, everyone will benefit.

• Why do you say Hare Krishna like a greeting?

  We try to always chant and remember Krishna's names. Because Krishna and His name are nondifferent. Krishna is present in the sound vibration of His holy name:

  "The holy name of Krishna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Krishna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krishna's name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krishna Himself. Since Krishna's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, and there is no question of its being involved with maya, Krishna's name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are Spiritual." (Padma Purana)

• I've read that the Hare Krishna sect doesn't believe in the use of drugs, is that true?

  We have four regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. So we don't take drugs, smoke, etc, we don't even drink tea or coffee. In the beginning this sounds rather difficult, but it is not really difficult at all. Krishna consciousness is a positive thing. The pleasure you get from serving Krishna, from chanting Hare Krishna is so great that we are not interested in the so-called pleasures of the body any more.

• What do you mean by studying under or following a certain person?

  We accept a guru, or spiritual master. That's the way to get spiritual knowledge. In fact if you want to learn anything you have to find a qualified teacher. If you want to become an expert carpenter you have to find a qualified carpenter and learn from him.. It is the same with spiritual life. If you want to find out about Krishna you have to find someone who knows Krishna and can teach you.

  How would I go about finding a guru to learn from?

  That is a very touchy question these days (since Srila Prabhupada left our physical presence in 1977). I am now not connected with ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) because of some disagreement on this point. But the main thing is the guru has to be qualified. Unless you find a pure devotee, a liberated soul, it is useless. An ordinary man in the dress of a guru can't help you. Srila Prabhupada is present in his books, he is a pure devotee, a liberated soul, and you can get his association through reading his books. That is my advice.

  brahmanda brahmite kona bhagyavan jiva
  guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

  "According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets the opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master, by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, one such person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service."

  So you see it is not such a common thing, only "a very fortunate person" gets the opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master. The thing is most people don't really want a spiritual master... Many want a "spiritual master" who will say, "whatever you are doing, that is allright -- just give me some money and you will be god in six months." So there are many cheating spiritual masters and they are doing a good business because the people generally want to be cheated. They want something very cheep. So a real spiritual master is rare indeed.

• Are you given a name once you are a 'devotee'?

  You get a name of Krishna or one of His devotees at the time of initiation. That is the time you accept your spiritual master and he accepts you as his disciple. It is not a cheep thing. One has to actually surrender. So you have to find a qualified person. At the time of initiation we make a vow to follow the four regulative principles (no illicit sex life - sex is for having children within marriage, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) and to chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra every day.

• What is your opinion on violence?

  Violence really means any act which obstructs a persons spiritual advancement. That is real violence. Anything that makes one more forgetful of his relationship with God [Krishna].

  Physical violence is sometimes required. If the country is being invaded by some enemy country then the government has to do something... Non-violence is not a very practical political platform. It may be popular with the general public, but it is not practical.

  About the vegetarianism and violence, do you not believe in harming any living creature? Insects included?

  A devotee doesn't want to kill anything, even an ant. Every living entity has a right to live and to kill another living entity is sinful. Even the vegetarians are sinful if they kill vegetables to eat. But there is the law of nature. Every living entity is living by eating some other living entity. So as human beings the proper food for us is grains, milk products, vegetables and fruit. But unless it is prepared with love and offered to Krishna then it is sinful also. We should do everything for Krishna, even cooking. If we purchase some nice vegetables, milk products, grains, etc and prepare a nice meal for Krishna and offer it to Krishna then it becomes "prasadam" or Krishna's mercy. Krishna tastes the offering, He accepts the love the devotee prepared it with.

  It is impossible to avoid killing some insects, etc, unknowingly. When you drink water so many small creatures are killed, sometimes, even if you are careful, you may step on an ant or some other insect, and these things are sinful also. But because all a devotees activities are performed in the service of Krishna, there is no sin. Service to Krishna is completely transcendental to all material reactions. [not that a devotee can knowingly commit a sin and think, "I am working for Krishna - Krishna will protect me." No. That is one of the ten offenses and is not forgiven. It is something the Catholics do. They go to confession, and they think their sins are forgiven, which they may well be if it is done offensively -- but many times they just go out and commit the same sins again and come back to confession to be forgiven again. But that is offensive, to knowingly commit sinful activities thinking they will be counteracted by chanting Hare Krishna or going to confession. They are never forgiven in this way.

• What kind of afterlife do you believe in?

  We are eternal, the soul never dies. At the time of death we are placed in the womb of our next mother according to our consciousness. There are 8,400,000 species of life all designed in such a way so we can enjoy something or suffer in some way. So it depends on what you are thinking of at the time of death, what your consciousness is at the time of death. If you are in human consciousness you get another human body, if you are in animal consciousness you get an animals body, if you have lived a sinful life you go to hell, if you have been very good you go to heaven, but if you are Krishna conscious then you go back home, back to Godhead, the you can see Krishna, hear Krishna and play with Krishna... That is the highest perfection.

  I'm not quite clear on the afterlife thing... If you lead a non-sinful, but not totally devoted life, you're reincarnated and live another life; if you were sinful, you go directly to Hell, if you were very good you go to Heaven, and if you were Krishna conscious you go to him? So Krishna doesn't meet and greet in Heaven?

  There are heavenly planets within this material world, they are much better than this earth. You can live for millions of years there, the people are much more beautiful, they don't get old, the food is better, etc.. But it's still the material world. Eventually the people in the heavenly planets have to die also, even if their life is for millions of years. Then generally they come back to this earth again. But the Kingdom of God Jesus talks about is not these material planets. There is a spiritual sky, far beyond this material sky, and as there are many planets in the material sky so also there are many spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. They are all predominated by various forms of Krishna and the supreme planet is called Goloka Vrndavana. It is a lotus-shaped palnet and it is the destination of the pure devotees after they leave their material bodies.

• Do you have a caste system?

  Krishna describes there are different types of people suited to different types of occupation, it is a fact also. Even in America, some people are intellectuals, some are business minded, some farmers, some just workers. But the system Krishna describes is not by birth.

  The current Indian system is not right because they say, "Because my father is a Brahmin [intellectual, priest], I am also a Brahmin..." But it is a nonsense idea. You have to be qualified. Krishna says to be accepted in a particular caste one has to have the qualities (guna) and work in that way (karma). For example, my father may be a Supreme Court judge, but that doesn't make me a Supreme Court judge. I can only be accepted as a Supreme Court judge if I get the qualifications (guna) and if I actually get appointed and work as a judge (karma)... So it is a natural system.