Is the Universe a Computer Simulation? — The Nature of Reality
Scientists are discussing the nature of reality. They have made a discovery in physics pointing to the possibility that the universe is not billions of light-years across as astronomers speculate but may be quite small. So they are speculating that when we look out in the sky at night we may be looking at some sort of projection, similar to what you would see in a planetarium. It looks like the vast night sky but is actually just a piece of film in the projector… Some are speculating that we may actually be living in a computer simulation, something like we see depicted in the move “The Matrix.”
“If recent measurements of cosmic ray particles are correct, then we may have the first evidence that the universe as we know it is really a giant computer simulation.” (wired.co.uk)
Of course this is all useless speculation but it does bring up the question as to what is the nature of reality?
As scientists are starting to realize we can not trust our senses to understand the nature of reality because if we were living in a computer simulation then the computer would provide realistic inputs to all our senses and we would think that was ‘real’. But it is simulated, not real. So we can not trust our senses. They can be very easily fooled.
The way to get knowledge of the true nature of reality is finding a perfect source of knowledge that does not depend on our imperfect senses. And that perfect source of knowledge is the Vedas. The Vedas are aparusa, it means not a product of man. They descend from the Supreme Lord and therefore contain knowledge of the nature of reality independent of the information we can gather from our material senses.
So what is the nature of reality? It is most certainly not a computer simulation. We try to understand things in relation to our own experience. So we have computers here in the material world, we can understand them to some extent, so we are projecting that on the universe and speculating the universe may be a computer simulation. But this computer technology is very crude and primitive compared to the technology which is used to run the universe. The workings of the universe are avan manasa gocara, “Beyond the ability of the senses to perceive and beyond the ability of the mind to imagine.” So without some external and perfect source of knowledge like the Vedas we can not even imagine what the true nature of reality is.
What scientists are pondering when the think of the ‘the nature of reality’, is the nature of this material world we find ourselves in. Paradoxically the Vedas call this material world maya, which means ‘that which is not’. So the scientists have accepted maya or illusion as reality and are trying to understand that… Therefore right from the beginning they are off to a bad start.
So why does the Vedas refer to this world as maya or illusory? At the same time as referring to this world as illusory the Vedas also assert that it is an energy of the Supreme Lord and in that sense is real, not false.
The actual ‘nature of reality’ [of the material world] is it is a reflection of something very real. Everything that we see and experience here in the material world is very real, but not here, it is real in the spiritual world. What we experience here is a reflection of the reality of the spiritual world. If you look in a mirror you see a reflection of your face. That reflection is on the glass. It is a clear reflection, it is a clear image of your face. But if you were to look into moving water you would also see a reflection of your face, but your face would be distorted because of the movement of the water it was being reflected on.
So the Vedas state that this material world is a reflection of the spiritual world, but it is a perverted reflection, because it is reflected on desire, our desire.
In the spiritual world there is only one desire, and that is the desire to serve the Supreme Lord, Krishna. Of course there everyone is an individual with his own personality and everyone’s desire to serve Krishna manifests differently depending on their personality. We all have an eternal relationship with Krishna and our natural constitutional position is to be situated in the spiritual world serving Krishna in our own individual and personal relationship with Krishna.
Our relationship with Krishna is based on love. So love means we have to be free to choose not to love Krishna if we desire that. Otherwise there is no meaning to love. If I take a gun and point it at you and try to force you to love me, that is not love. Love has to be voluntary. So this love for Krishna is our pure desire, but we can also misuse our independence and pervert our natural desires and instead of loving Krishna we can desire to become like Krishna who is the object of everyone’s love and affection.
Of course Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is unlimited in every respect. So we can never really become like Krishna as we are limited in every respect. In every way Krishna is great and we are tiny. But we are the same substance as Krishna. It is like Krishna is the ocean and we are a tiny drop of the ocean water. The ocean is salty and also the tiny drop is salty. But there is a huge amount of salt in the ocean and only a very tiny amount of salt in the drop. You can not say the drop of water is equal to the ocean.
Krishna is the supreme controller of everything so we also have that desire to control within us, because we have the qualities of Krishna in minute quantities. But our natural position is to serve the great, serve Krishna. However there are living entities, like us, who misuse our independence, and want to try to become the lord and master like Krishna. So this is a perverted desire.
Therefore this material world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world and the substance on which it is reflected is desire, our desire. The reflection is perverted and distorted by our desire. There is no actual substance here in the material world. That is why it is called maya, “that which is not.” Because here we see a perverted reflection of the real things from the spiritual world, not the actual real things.
The material world is described as being like a tree with it’s roots up and branches down. Of course we can not see any trees with their roots up and branches down… Unless you are sitting on the bank of a lake. Then if you look in the water you will see the reflections of the trees on the bank of the river, but they will be upside-down, with the roots up and branches down. And the reflection of the trees will be on the water and will be distorted or perverted by the movements of the water.
Now those trees that are reflected in the water look just like real trees. If they were mango trees then you could even see the ripe mango fruits in the reflection. But those mangos are not real, it is only a reflection on the water. You could jump into the lake and try to grab those mangos in the reflected trees but you would never be able to get any actual mangoes… You could not taste the mangoes.
This material world is just like that. We see here reflections of real things that we can only actually achieve in the spiritual world and we become captivated by those reflections and work very hard to try and posses those reflected mangoes and only after so much ‘blood, sweat and tears’ we end up with a handful of water only and the actual mangoes we do not know where they have gone… They vanish like a mirage in the desert.
We have of the idea of ‘love’. And we get the idea of ‘beauty’. And we have the idea of ‘falling in love’ with a ‘a beautiful woman’… These are all realities in the spiritual world but in the material world we only see perverted reflections of these realities. We can never actually experience love in the material word. All of these concepts are illusions here. A ‘beautiful woman’ is just a bag of bones and blood and puss and stool and urine in a nice fresh young skin. So we fall in love with that skin, and very soon the skin of the ‘beautiful woman’ changes and we do not like it any more. The skin becomes old and ugly… And this illusory ‘love’ simply slips through our fingers, just like that reflected mango in the lake…
Everything in the material world is based on the misconception of identifying the body as the self. I think I am an “Australian Man”, but I have nothing to do with Australia or a man. It just happens that in this birth I, the spirit soul, have appeared in Australia as a male in the human species. But I have had millions and millions of births in so many different bodies in so many different species of life in so many planets and so many universes. And I am so forgetful and so illusioned that I have forgotten everything about my real nature as a spirit soul and I am identifying with the particular material body that I happen to have taken birth in this life, so I think “I am an Australian man…”
So the ‘nature of reality’ in the material world is there is no reality here. It is simply a reflection of a reality from the spiritual world and there is no substance in this reflection. It reflected on our desire, so in that sense we have created the material world we live in. Everyone has their own ‘reality’ [which is actually an illusion] and we are simply sharing space with others in this collective ‘reality’ so that we can cooperatively play the necessary parts in each others ‘realities’ in such a way that everyone is able to experience their karma.
Almost everything is an illusion in the material world. The idea that we are free and independent and can do whatever we want to do is also an illusion. The reality is we are completely bound up and controlled by the three modes of material nature. This material world is the ultimate justice. In the human form of life we have a limited amount of free will. So we are responsible for our actions. If we choose to do something good then the result is ‘good karma‘, and if we choose to do something bad the result is ‘bad karma‘. And every one of these actions, good or bad, generates a reaction that we must experience some time in the future, either in this life or in a future life.
So we do not come into this world as a ‘blank slate’. No. We come overburdened with so much karma. There is no chance. It is not that one person is very fortunate and another very unfortunate by chance. No. We create our own fortune and misfortune. If we do something good now that creates something good in the future for us and if we do something bad now that creates something bad for us in the future…
Every time we help someone that person becomes obligated to return the favor to us in the future. Every time we hurt someone that person becomes obliged to hurt us in the future. And everyone must fulfill their karma. The nature of reality of the material world is that it is a platform for the living entities to attempt to become the lord and master but this attempt will always be frustrated and ultimately fail. And in the process of trying to become the lord and master we will generate so much karma, good and bad, and at the time of death we will still have heaps of karmic reactions that we have not yet experienced, so experiencing the karma generated in one birth will take us many future births.
Now you may begin to understand the illusion of freedom and independence. We come into the material world with a certain stock of karma and it is already predestined exactly what we are going to suffer and what we are going to enjoy. And our reality is set up for us by the universe in such a way that simultaneously our karma and the karma of all the others we interact with is simultaneously fulfilled. It is an amazing thing. So the people we have hurt in previous lives will take birth around us and will be forced to hurt us in this life. They will have no idea why they are hurting us, because they can’t remember their past lives, but the laws of nature are so strong that because we hurt them in a previous life they must hurt us now. And people we have helped in previous lives will help us in this life. They must, they will be forced to. Because the law of the universe, karma, will force them to repay their debt, even though they are unaware they have a debt to us…
Everyone is being forced to act by the three modes of material nature driven by the law of karma. And they have no control of this. If they have to kill someone because of their karma they will kill that person and they can not change this or stop it… this is the nature of reality in the material world.
The purpose behind this nature of reality is twofold. On one hand the material world does to some extent allow us to exercise our perverted desires to try to become the lord and master, imitating Krishna’s position. But because our real constitutional position is that we are eternally servants of Krishna so for us lordship in the material world is artificial and can’t last. The other purpose of the material world is to frustrate all our attempts at becoming the lord and master. So it is the nature of reality that every endeavor we undertake in the material world will end in frustration and failure. And the purpose of this frustration and failure is occasionally one thoughtful person will realize that he can not be happy like this, trying to be the lord and master in the material world, and this inspires him to question what really is the purpose of life. And this, in the Brahma-sutra is defined as the purpose of human life. To question.
So we could summarize that the nature of reality in the material world is to bring one to the point of questioning, “What is the purpose of life…”
And the answer to this question… that is a different article.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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Hare Mrishna
If the earth is a computer simulation whose master computer is that? No doubt, everything here is temporary and volatile. Even programmed by some higher power . But how did we get to know these technologies? Does some power simulate all these scenes on this earth? And it gives us the knowledge of science and technology ?This idea makes me feel like a cartoon character . After all this world moving with all its matter is a cartoon , I am just a character in the movie ! I am simulated by some machine that makes all the parts of my body do different chores ! Whatever , it is my hypothesis that my presence may be temporary but not false or simulated by another machine. The proof is simple. My mother took 9 long months to fill up the blanks In my body and mind to deliver a full person of me. So is the case with all lives on this earth. They are made of the five + eight + three different combination of matter Life come and go , scenes change . But the 5+8+3 do not change . Each life come here with this 5+8+3 in different combinations . An ant is as busy and intelligent as people . Life cannot be written off calling it ‘simulated’. But sure Created protected and destroyed . Love and hatred is just two sides of human nature . Only two opposites can meet and create results . Hare Krishna
Very interesting : i will reread with great interest.
Hare Krishna prabhu ji
all glories to srila prabhupad
all glories to lord Shri Krishna ji
strong respect for you
awesome article! everything is there in your article nothing needs to be commented on this topic, the important questions and there answers as well. I totally agree with you.
thanks for this useful shikha.
Hare Krishna prabhu ji
Dear Madhudvisa dasa Ji
We know Krishna is every thing… so the one who knows krishna is every thing and loves him, in initial stage of his growth in bhakti try to associate himself with krishna by developing a sence of belonging to krishna and making some relation with him like friend, mother, father, sister, Lover, student- teacher. Son, etc.as per his feeling towards the lord. Now, the one who knows that all the relations of this birth are illusion and temporary and krishna is the only truth, So he will live with his relatives, perform all his duties but will not let his heart & mind get attached to them…as this will deviate his concentration from lord towards illusion. In such a case he / she may not like to add on some relation to his / her life. suppose he may love krishna as his brother, father a best friend and hence may not like to marry considering we need a life partner to make our life easier but this is not his / her requirement as no one is better than god to take care of him…. so is he correct.?? Can one make multiple relations with lord??
What you are speaking here is nonsense speculation. It is not that someone who is just starting with Krishna consciousness can relate directly to Krishna like this. This type of relations with Krishna is only possible for an advanced devotee. In the beginning we have to find a bona fide spiritual master and surrender to his orders and serve him and only by the mercy of the bona fide spiritual master can we have any connection with Krishna.
Krishna is not directly available like this. This is sahajaism, taking things very cheaply and this type of imagining is not the process to become Krishna conscious at all. Krishna consciousnesses is a science and we have to learn that science under the directions of a pure devotee of Krishna. There is no other way.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Madhudvisa dasa ji..
Please suggest how in initial stage of devotion one can progress in his services toward lord krishna..? the name of god is God himself in form of his name. and it is believed chanting any name of lord cleanses our heart and mind and all previous sins. But is this not what we are doing for our peronal benifit…Waht should one do to please the god…to serve him without self interest.??
What on earth does this have to do with “Is this Universe a computer simulation????”
You have to ask questions that are relevant to the article that you are asking the questions on…
Hi,
You support everything that’s written in the Vedas don’t you? Have you read all of it? Have you read the part in Rig Veda that supports “Sati”. Do you accept and support it?
Les
Yes. Sati was a good system in the past when the wives were actually completely surrendered to and completely dedicated to their husbands. They actually felt that after their husband dies they have no purpose of living without him. That is a very good quality for a woman. It was not forced, it was voluntary. And it is only possible in a spiritual culture where both the husband and the wife realize completely they are not the material body but spirit soul. So the woman knows that she is not the body, that the body is just a vehicle, and she know that by entering the funeral pyre of her husband she will go to the same destination as her husband. She will remain with her husband who she so deeply loves that she can not live without. And actually it is true that if a chaste woman who is completely dedicated to serving her husband enters the fire when her husband has died she will go with her husband and be with her husband. So this is what she wants, to be with the man she loves, and this is what happens with sati.
Of course in the later days some of wives did not want to enter the fire and sometimes they were forced by family members, etc, so then the sati rite became a criminal murder case. So it was banned. It is not possible now because this complete surrender and dedication for the husband is not there any more in today’s women. The times have changed so sati is no longer a practical thing in these godless times. But certainly it is very good for a chaste wife to perform the sati rite like this with her husband.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa Prabhuji,
One question for you.
Are the jivas and the spiritual worlds and material worlds stil
emanating from the body of krishna and will continue endlessly or is it
that krishna has manifested everything that is possible for HIM ?
Brijesh Dani
Hare Krishna Brijesh
Krishna is unlimited and always expanding. There are no limits to Krishna. As far as the material worlds, Krishna’s expansion Maha Visnu is lying on Casual Ocean and every time He breathes out all the universes are manifested and when He breathes in all the universes are again drawn within His body. So the whole universal time, the life of Lord Brahma, is only one breath of Maha-Visnu. But as soon as Maha-Visnu will breathe out again all the universes will again be manifested. So this cycle of manifestation and unmanifestation of the material world will continue endlessly.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
he prabhu
how i can avoid this cycle of creation of karma???
if i do not like some of my family members and i tell this to him or get angry on their action then they also felt hurt. how can i take myself away from this action and reaction………..
The way of becoming free from the cycle of Karma is to become Krishna conscious. And that is the subject of more than 60 books written by Srila Prabhupada. READ THEM!!! Such questions can not be answered in one paragraph. In summary one of the results of becoming Krishna conscious is that all your past karma will be removed and as you act in a Krishna conscious way you will not generate any more karma because every action you perform will be for the pleasure of Krishna, you will not be doing anything for anyone else…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you Madhuvidasa, it makes sense and i understand some of it.Sincerely,Milla
Hare krishna prabhuji,
Recently I got to know that my father is upset due to some family matter.Actually he loves a lot his whole family and also wants to do a lot for them but his elder brother has a black heart.Also my grandparents are somewhat angry these days due to some misunderstanding or whatever.I can’t explain you much of my family history,but the result of all that is that he becomes very sad.He didn’t even ate for two days.Seeing all this I also am very sad.I am living in hostel in same city doing by undergraduate study,But all this makes me so sad that I even now don’t get any interest in studies.Kindly tell some solution so that I can again see same happiness in my father.
Your servant
Pranjul
It does not matter about your father and your family.
Krishna consciousness is about realizing that we are not this material body. And if we realize that we are not this material body we will also realize that we have no connection with this so-called father, mother, brothers, sisters, etc.
So you have to become Krishna conscious and realize you are not the material body and have no actual connection with these so-called family members and that will solve all your problems.
Family is only useful if they really want to become Krishna conscious and if you can actually engage them in Krishna conscious activities. Otherwise there is no point keeping any connection with them.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
pranjul
what hare krishna prabhuji says i totally agree. As in the news latter prabhuji tells creator of all universe is only krishna. krishna is one who controls it. only krishna can help u.chant hare krishna. try to meditate.during meditation try to minimize u r thought process to zero.very calm. it will take 10 to 15 mins.during this meditation process devote u r self to krishna. request krishna to calm u r father and make him happy. repeat this process with very calm mind. try this very soon u will see the difference. as u devote u r self to krishna all problems will be vanished.
Dandavat Pranam Prabhuji,
I found your article ‘nature of reality’ is instructive
and felt that as I was being taken in a lift with enough
clarity. This might really help both neophyte and practicing
devotees. As you rightly said regarding Karma it is not
a blank slate when we enter with a new birth in this material
world, in different species. Otherwise there would be no reason
for attachment, love,fear,angry by each other, which might even
lead to non existence of anything reflected image. As such eagerly
waiting for your next article in continuation.
Thank you very much
Jai Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna:
I have been reading Christ & Krishna, by Swami and he makes alot of sense! I recommend it for anyone who follows Jesus, and I think people who have become disillusioned while following Jesus will enjoy it even more. Please read it with an open mind. Chant Krishna wonderful counselor, prince of peace mighty God I follow you everywhere!
Prabhuji,
Hare Krishna,
Very appreciable for your kind efforts in feeding us with Srila Prabhu Pada’s Teachings. you are guidance is clarifying at places where I was in doubts earlier.
Thank you very much,
Hare Krishna
Namskara,
What is the dark matter & dark energy the scientists are saying about? They are saying 0.4% Stars & etc.,3.6% Intergalactic gas, 23% of dark matter & 73% dark energy in the Universe. As I know the 1/4 of Universe is in material world & rest all are in spiritual world.
Please clarify my conclusion.
Hare Krishna…
Hare Krishna Prasanta Prabhu
The scientists are completely in the dark. They know nothing of the universe. They just guess, speculate and make theories and after a while they forget that their ideas are just theories based on guesses and speculation and they start to accept them as facts. In this way, on the basis of unfounded guesses and speculations, they have built a grand and imaginary model of how they think the universe works. But they are completely wrong. They know nothing. As Srila Prabhupada often explains they are just like a frog living in the bottom of a 2 foot wide well. All he has ever been able to see is that round 2 foot wide hole of the top of his well. But he is Dr. Frog. He has come up with so many elaborate explanations of how the universe works. But what can he see of the universe? Nothing. What does he understand about the universe? Nothing…
As far as the universe we know it perfectly well because we hear about it form a perfect source, the Vedas. Vedas are aparusa, it means not made by man, they descend from the spiritual world, from Krishna. So Veda means knowledge and therefore the Vedas are a source of perfect knowledge about every subject, both material and spiritual. There is a Vedic statement pasyate jnanan sastra chakussa ca, ‘your eyes should be the Vedas’. So we should see through the eyes of the Vedas, not through these imperfect material eyes…
Anyhow from the Vedas we know that there is so much matter in the universe that the scientists are unable to see. The universe is a sphere, and the bottom half is filled with water and on that water Lord Visnu is lying on Ananta-sesa-naga… So the scientists don’t know about all this water at the bottom of the universe. A huge amount of water. And if you read the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavatam you will see that there is a huge expanse of ‘planets’ if you want to call them that, like earth that spread out over a plane that we can not see because they are out of our view. And below that plane there are seven other planes of ‘planets’, and they are the hellish planets. All those ‘planets’ is a huge amount of matter that the scientists are completely unaware of. And going up there are seven levels of heavenly planets.
And in the center there is a huge golden mountain which is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. It is a huge mirror that reflects light… So there are mirrors in the sky… So when we look into the sky things may not be as they appear… It is all done with mirrors. Krishna is very expert… It appears to me that using these mirrors Krishna has made a great illusion that were are sitting in the middle of space on this lonely planet… but actually it is not like that at all. There are so many other planets with so many different grades of intelligent persons living on them, and they are not far away either. But we have our little blue planet floating in the sky illusion… There are more huge golden mirrors also half way out the universe and beyond that it is all golden land also, more mirrors that enable the light of the sun to be spread all over the universe and illuminate everything. There is only one sun in this universe. The stars are not suns, they are like the moon, the moon is a star…
There are so many things, the whole Western scientific understanding of the universe is completely wrong…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa dasa ji namaskar,
As we know “Atma” the soul or we are the part of “Paramatma” as Lord Krishna. But also we know soul can’t be destroyed. Then how “paramatma” the supersoul can be divided as part to create us?
Hare Krishna Prasanta
We are, like Krishna, eternal. So eternal means we are not created and we are not destroyed. So Supersoul is never divided to create us. We are, like Him, eternal.
At the same time we understand everything is an expansion of Krishna. And to our imperfect materialistic brains that appears to be contradictory. But it means we can not completely comprehend these intricate spiritual subject matters with our dull materialistic brains. We try to make everything fit within what we experience in the material world. But the spiritual world is different and we can not begin to understand it with our materially contaminated consciousness.
So do not be too perplexed in trying to comprehend these find points, they will be revealed to you as you make advancement in Krishna consciousness and without that advancement in Krishna consciousness you will not be able to understand them.
But we are eternal and never destroyed and never created. And at the same time we are considered to be expansions of Krishna. There are a number of things like this that we see as apparent contradictions in the Vedas, but they are not actually contradictions, they are our inability to comprehend how the spiritual energy is working.
So we have to hear submissively from a pure devotee of Krishna and chant the Hare Krishna mantra and hear it…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Who is the predominating deity of the “Earth” Planet ?
Are the predominating deities living entities(jivas) and are they pure devotees of the Lord?
Brijesh
Bhumi. Mother earth. They are devotees because they are serving Krishna in this position. But not pure devotees as they are still in the material world. The pure devotees are not in the material world unless they are here particularly on mission…
.
Hare krishna Swamiji pranam in hindu astrology every planet is consideref to be a demi god they have got their own powers . swamiji pl comment on this
hare krishna
Natarajan
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Yes, of course you are correct. Every planet has a predominating deity and is controlled by him under the order of the Supreme Lord.
Nothing is happening by chance. There is intelligent direction behind everything that happens in the universe. Matter can not move without the touch of spirit. So the scientists idea that everything is moving by itself and everything happens by random chance and that there is no intelligence or direction in the universe is childish insanity.
As you say all the planets have their presiding deities and are controlled by them. They are controlled by a living entity. Nothing happens by chance. Matter can only move when it is touched by the spirit.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
JAI SHRI KRISHNA MADHUVIDASA DAS JI
thanks so much for all your divine teachings.
Shambuling
Hare Krishna
Really nice article. Loved reading it. This is the first time I’m posting my doubts on the site.
My doubts maybe silly, but still wanted someone to answer them.
In the article you mentioned that the material world is the reflection of the spiritual world just like a reflection of mango tree in water. I wonder how.the spiritual world would be. Does things like animal killong, murders, etc. happen there as well?
Also, are all the jivas in the spiritual world are in their original form then it means that the 84,000,000 species that exists here are not there in the spiritual world bt all in their original youthful bodies? I dont think that think that to be true because that would mean no trees, no birds, etc. in the spiritual world.
Also, I heard from somewhere that in vaikuntha, even leaves don’t fall.
Then how is it that we were all originally servants of lord and fell to the material world?
And you mentioned that we donot come with a blank slate, we are burdened with karma from our past lives. Then I wish to know that from where did the cycle of karma start? I mean if all of us were originally servants serving the lord in his abode then our service would not have caused karmic reactions and the three modes of material nature I believe donot act in the spiritual world. Then how did we first fell down n started desiring and receiving reactions of karma?
Regards,
Kriti
Hare Krishna Kriti
The material world is a reflection of the spiritual world but the nasty things we experience in the material world are a result of the perversion of that reflection on our desire. So animal killing, murders, etc do not happen in the spiritual world. There is nothing evil and nasty there, there is no envy, only love for Krishna.
The living entities in the spiritual word are in a huge variety of forms. Even the land, the water, the trees, everything in the spiritual world is spiritual and personal and these are all particular living entities who want to serve Krishna in that particular way. So there are unlimited varieties of living entities in the spiritual world, not just in the ‘human’ form.
Of course there is a class of devotees who say that ‘not even a leaf falls in vaikuntha’ but this is not true actually. That would mean that there was no independence in Vaikuntha. We, as the living entities, the jiva-atmas, are by constitutional marginal, tatasta-shakti. It means like the area of the beach that is sometimes covered by the water and sometimes covered by the land. We have a little independence and we can always choose to use that independence to serve Krishna or to serve maya. That small independence we have eternally. Even in the spiritual world we can choose not to serve Krishna, and as soon as we think like that we fall from the spiritual world.
Of course Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that once he returns to the spiritual world he never again falls down. So that is there. And that we can understand because he can remember everything of his adventures in the material world when he is back in the spiritual world so why would he want to come back to this miserable place. But if he wants to he can. That independence we always have.
This is of course a controversial point. But this is what Srila Prabhupada teaches so that is our Siddhana. That is of course why Prabhupada called his magazine: “Back to Godhead”. There would be no “Back to Godhead” if we had not been there before. So anyone who preaches against this idea has rejected Srila Prabhupada and you can know he is a person whose association you must avoid.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krsna! about nature of reality in the matterial world,…I would say,it varies according to the consiousness of the individual soul,reality changes all time even in the spiritual world,according to Brahma Samhita descriptions, (and writtings of the previous acaryas and of course Srila Prabhupadas purports) ,as well as illusion in the matterial world,for example the lion sees the world in a different way,its smell capacity is different than this of the lizard,and every human feels the cold or heat,in different capacity than others,of course reality of the laws of the universe is maybe fixed but at the same time flexible,according to that inconsivible for us Supreme,reality of Krsnas existence.How can we cach the abdolute reality with clever words if we are still bound by imperfect senses,impurities,and speculation??very simply by taking complete shelter to the Supreme Lord krsna and yet, do we all have experienced exactly and in full extent what we preach so far ?So reality is something very personal thing since we have a very personal,relation with Krsna each and every one of us…and i dont think anyone of us even we can describe what is absolute nature of reality since for everyone is different,…is true this world is a projector of our perverted desires to lord over matterial nature,and at the same time a great school to learn realize digest and print forever in our hearts what is our position and what is krsnas position…for a self realized soul there is not difference living here or living in the spiritual world,although Vaikuntha world is eternal and matterial world is temporay manifested,those who are burned and baffled to exersice lordship,and free forever of hot desires to enjoy the matterial world by surrendering their lives in the service of the Lord i think they are eligible to accept the uncommon mercy of lord Caitanya and Lord Nityanada,and be able to cross the ocean of matterial existence with no problem…..
pranam prabhu
i would like to know how the planets are orbiting around the sun is it due to gravitation??
Hare Krishna Ananya
It is not that the planets are rotating because of gravity. They are floating in space by the potency of Krishna and they are moving, following a particular orbit, under the direction of Krishna.
The planets have two movements. They move with the stars and the whole cosmic arrangement we see in the sky on the wheel of time or the kala-chakra, which rotates once every 24 hours. Western astronomers have mistakenly understood this rotating of the kala-chakra, the wheel of time, to be the earth rotating. But that is a mistake. The earth does not rotate. Everything is rotating around the earth. We know that none of the other planets in our solar system rotate so it does not make any sense that the earth rotates. If the earth rotates we should see the other planets also rotating, but they don’t.
But if you look at the planets you will see they do move with the stars, they rise and set with the stars. But you will see that at different times the planets will be in different areas of the sky, or houses as the astrologers call them. So the planets also have another movement which is independent of the movement of the wheel of time, or the kala-chakra, and which is in the opposite direction. So that is why it appears to us that the planets are wandering about in the sky, they are sometimes seen near one constellation and sometimes in a completely different area of the sky. And the other movement of the planets may be connected with ‘solar winds’. The movement of the planets and even the movement of the whole universe is connected to the sun, and of course connected to Krishna.
But for the details please study Srimad-Bhagavatam 5th canto.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvsia dasa
This main rotation of the kala-chakra is caused by the rotation of the wheel of the sun-god’s chariot. So that is certainly not gravity.
thank you so much prabhuji i will be highly satisfied if u could explain about black holes and that universe is expanding as said by the scientist pleaseee
Hare Krishna Anan
“Black Holes” are just a theory that someone had many years ago and now they have practically forgotten it is just a theory and now accept it as a fact. The scientists have difficulty differentiating science from science fiction. Gradually they are introducing the ideas they have seen in Star Trek and so on into science….
So there is no way of knowing if “black holes” are true or not for the scientists. As far as we are concerned we have no information of ‘black holes’ in the Vedas, at least not as far as I am aware, so it is very unlikely I suspect. Of course the scientists imagine they can use these black holes to travel quickly throughout the universe… It is just imagination and speculation on their part. Science fiction, not science fact.
As far as the expanding universe, yes it is expanding now. So in this sense the scientists are correct. All the universes are coming out from the body of Maha Visnu and they come out from the pores of His body, in a similar way that perspiration comes out of the pores of our body. So the universes come out of the body of Maha Visnu in the form of small seeds and as Maha-Visnu breathes out all the universes expand, but when he starts to breathe in the universes contract again and go back to the seed size and when He breathes in all the universes again enter within His body. So the whole universal time is only one breath of Maha-Visnu.
So the universe will continue to expand until half way through it’s life and then it will begin to contract.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna !
I have a doubt over your observation that the Earth does not rotate. We all see earth rotating through satellite images and also various weather phenomenon (monsoon etc) are due to rotation of the earth.
Could you please clarify ?
You can not observe that the earth rotates, you can observe that there is relative rotation between the earth and the things we observe in the sky. So there is a relative rotation for sure. No one is arguing that. The question is if it is the earth rotating or if it is the cosmos rotating. The scientific assumption is the earth is rotating. The ‘assumption’ in the Srimad-Bhagavatam is that it is the cosmos [the sisumara-chakra] that rotates around the earth. The relative rotation is the same and would have the same effects and would look the same to us. So actually we have no way of telling which is happening. Is the earth rotating or is the cosmos rotating around the earth? We have no way of knowing. It could be either way…
Madhuvisa Dasa,
Hare Krishna!!
Many Many Thanks for your elaborate explaination on this. I am really blessed.
– Charan Manjunath P
Hare Krsna,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I just received second initiation from my Guru Maharaja, and asked him for his permission and blessing to worship Radha/Krsna in my home (I have been worshiping Gaura/Nitai for several years) he said “yes” and gave me further instruction. But, my siksha is a 40 year devotee, who still feels that I am not ready. Is the spiritual master’s permission the same as his instruction? or is this different? also, is it an offense to not follow what he has allowed me to do? Thank you for the clarification and I appreciate your service to Prabhupada, please keep up the excellent service.
Your Servant,
Jagat Vira das
Hare Krishna Prabhu
You should not accept instruction from someone that you do not have complete faith in. What is the use of that?
So if you do not have faith in this ‘siksha’ person then what is the point in taking siksha from him?
Without faith it is just a show.
Radha-Krishna worship is serious because, unlike Gaura-Nitai, Radha-Krishna do consider offenses in the worship. But realistically in Kali-yuga there are going to be some offenses in the worship. So Srila Prabhupada stressed that the Deity worship must be accompanied by constant Hare Krishna kirtan. Really in the Kali-yuga the Krishna kirtan is the main thing. But particularly for the householders the Deity worship is required. It is required for everyone because it gives us the idea that Krishna is a person and enables us to engage in some practical service to Krishna.
The Deity worship has to be performed very punctually and very cleanly. So you know best if you are completely fixed up in the Deity worship and if you will always do it every day without fail.
It is not for show. So I do not know you Prabhu or what is your position. But there is no point in taking siksha from someone if you do not have faith in the instructions they give you. So if your spiritual master has given you the authorization and if you are really sure in your heart that you can do the Radha-Krishna Diety worship properly and maintain it every day without fail then you can decide. I can not decide for you…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Your servant
Madhudvisa dasa