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Some questions...
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Subject: Some questions...
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From: Wolfgang B
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Date: Tue Feb 13 09:13:02 1996
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Message-Id: id735
Dear Wolfgang
Hello! Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada!
Thanks for reading some things in the archive. I found preaching on the newsgroups
quite heavy. There are so many demons! And as soon as you post something even
vaguely spiritual they attack. And I found they are not very logical either --
even the big, big scientists...
I only did it [preaching on the newsgroups] for about three months. Maybe I will
go back and do some more this year. I have spent most of the last few months
answering mail from my www home page. I hope to get another archive together soon
containing much of that.
The main thing with preaching is we have to be solidly convinced of Krishna
consciousness ourselves and we also have to be very expert in the philosophy. We
have to be able to present the right thing from Srila Prabhupada's books without
concocting or adding our own interpretation. That is a great art. And it has to be
presented in such a way that the people will read it.
For most people to underatand the philosophy of Krishna consciousness is very
difficult, it requires some qualification. Srila Prabhupada often says that if one
wants to purchase diamonds then the qualification has to be there. One has to have
the money. Otherwise how can one purchase diamonds? If one goes to purchase
diamonds but is not prepared to pay the price he's not going to get real diamonds
-- perhaps he may be able to get some cut glass that looks a little like a
diamond. But he can't get the real thing.
yesam tv anta-gatam papa
jananam punya-karmanam
te dvandva-moha-nirmukta
bhajante mam drdha-vratah
"Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose
sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the dualities of delusion,
and they engage themselves in My service with determination." (Bhagavad-gita 7.28)
So you see it requires pious work in the past for people to take to Krishna
consciousness. While there are some pious people around, the vast majority of us
are completely sinful. Some of the early devotees asked Srila Prabhupada how it
was they were able to take to Krishna consciousness even though their backgrounds
were so degraded. And Prabhupada said: "I have created your pious activities." So
that is the Krishna consciousness movement. It is to give people a chance to
become pious. They won't be able to appreciate the philosophy until then. So how
to make them pious? Let them hear the Hare Krishna maha-mantra chanted by pure
devotees, let them taste the remnants of the foods offered to Krishna by pure
devotees, let them give some practical service to Krishna, let them donate some of
their hard-earned money to help spreading the Krishna consciousness movement.
These activities will purify the people so they can understand the philosophy.
Otherwise they will not understand it.
>
>1. I've heard, in India people worship Laksmi without Krishna. (To get
>more money.) I thought that is not better than worshiping Durga, but
>Sarvabhavana Prabhu (disciple of Srila Prabhupada) told me it's not
>the same. What you are thinking about this
>Laksmi-without-Krishna-worship?
>
Worshiping Laxmi without Krishna is completely demoniac. Laxmi is Krishna's. Laxmi
is meant for the pleasure of Krishna. So we worship Laxmi-Narayana, Radha-Krishna,
Sita-Rama, etc. Krishna's internal potency and Krishna. We never try to enjoy
Laxmi ourselves. Laxmi is Krishna's and should always be engaged in His service
for His pleasure, not ours. Worshiping Laxmi without Krishna is Ravana's policy.
He kidnapped Sita from Lord Ramacandra. He wanted to enjoy Sita, Lord Rama's wife
for himself. But what was the result? Firstly he didn't get Sita anyhow -- he got
maya-Sita, a material representation of Sita -- but the result of his attempt to
enjoy Sita without Rama was his whole kingdom was destroyed and he was killed
himself. So the future of the demons who worship Laxmi without Narayana is not
good.
As for what the ISKCON devotees say about these things -- don't listen to them.
They are completely contaminated by the Mayavada ideas and so many of them are
trying to make Krishna consciousness compatable with the hodge-podge religion that
is called Hinduism today. We have nothing whatsoever to do with Hinduism -- but
many ISKCON devotees are trying to turn ISKCON into some sort of Hindu church.
>2. Sometimes devotees seems to be hurt by the "half-dead-disease".
>After years of serving their spiritual master and Krishna, everything
>wents down. Chanting, reading, serving, worshiping and so on... Looks
>like a burn-out. No more inspiration. What is the reason for this
>symptom and how to get rid of?
Devotees are never "half-dead". Krishna consciousness is "anandam buddhi
vardhanam", an ever increasing ocean of transcendental bliss. If you see someone
who is "half-dead" he is not in devotional service at all. Mostly ISKCON devotees
are sincere souls but nowadays ISKCON is completely contaminated with the Mayavadi
ideas so just by living in the temples and hearing classes from such contaminated
devotees will kill any love for Krishna that may be there in their hearts. The
Mayavadi philosophy is so poisionus.
mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa
"Srila Vyasadeva presented the Vedanta philosophy for the deliverance of
conditioned souls but if one hears the commentary of Sankaracaraya, everything is
spoiled." (Caitanya-caritamrta Mad.6.169)
There is no "burn-out" in Krishna consciousness. It is not a material thing. The
more you serve Krishna the more inspired you become to serve Krishna even more...
>
>3. It is said, that if someone offers something to Krishna, the items
>are no more material. But prasadam will be bad after some time,
>flowers wither, even the deities has to revive - as if they where in
>fact material. How to explain?
It requires a spiritual vision. Material things, when engaged in Krishna's service
no longer act materially. They become spiritual. Just like when an iron rod is
placed within the fire the iron rod gradually becomes hotter and hotter untill it
is red-hot and it acts exactly as fire. So what to speak of prasadam, even our
material bodies can become completely spiritulalized by being engaged in Krishna
consciousness. That's why the spiritual master's body is not burnt, but it is
placed in samadhi, a tomb, because the spiritual master's body is completely
spiritual.
There are perminent and non-perminent manifestations of Krishna's spiritual
energy. Actually for a devotee everything is spiritual -- he doesn't see anything
without its relationship with Krishna. But the universal form for example is not a
perminant incarnation of Krishna. Also the Deity in the temple, prasadam, etc...
They may appear to be created at a certain point and the material elements which
appear to make up Their form may deterioate after some time but a devotee can see
it is Krishna there -- not a material representation of Krishna. Krishna is
actually there on the alter -- He has mercifuly appeared in a form we can see and
serve with our material senseses. But He is the same, original, eternal Krishna.
You have to realize it practically by serving Krishna. You can talk to Krishna in
the temple and He will talk back also... But we have to come to that point.
You might like to read the story of Saksi Gopal in the Caitanya-caritamrta. It is
very nice. There you see the Gopal Deity walked along the road behind His devotee
to bear witness to a prommise made in front of Him some time before.
As for prasadam you can read about Raganatha dasa Goswami in the Caitanya-
caritamrta. He was very renounced, he was taking some rice from the place where
they were throwing the old prasadam. He was washing it and eating it and relishing
it as Lord Jaganatha's prasadam. Then lord Caitanya came to Ragunatha's place and
saw him eating the rice and said, "What kind of delicious prasadam are you
eating?" and snached away some of the rice so He could eat it Himself. He was
relishing the remnants of Ragunatha dasa. So these things can only be understood
by devotees. There is no point tryint to understand them from the platform of
mundane logic and argument. It is beyond that. Better we concentrate on becoming
pure devotees ourselves then we will get some realization on these matters.
>
>4. Someone has to verify a brahmana because of the qualities. But what
>about Jada Bharata and Rsabhadeva, who are also called brahmanas (SB)?
They are avadhuttas. They are beyond the regulative principles. They are always
internally completely in Krishna consciousness -- but externally it appears they
are not following the strict rules and regulations. It is not to be falsly
imitated as is often done these days. We should strictly follow the regulative
principles.
>
>5. The name of the Lord is not material. But we can hear this sound
>with our material ears. So this sound could not be spiritual. What is
>the name of the Lord?
It is not material at all. And you can hear spiritual sounds with your "material"
ears. Why not? What do you think spiritual is? It is not void or empty. It is the
original, pure state of which this material world is a reflection. So there is
sound in the spiritual world and when that sound is pervertedly reflected it
becomes material sound, but if it is purified it regains it's original spiritual
nature and it is spiritual sound.
>
>6. In the Srimad Bhagavatam (6.17.8) it is said, that Sivas body is
>material. But Siva is an incarnation of Vishnu. How could his body be
>material?
Shiva is between Visnu and the jivas. He is Visnu in contact with the material
energy. So he is not exactly Visnu and he is not exactly a jiva either. The
analogy of yoghurt is often given. While one can say yoghurt is milk -- it is
nothing but milk transformed. But it doesn't act at all like milk. The properties
of yoghurt are completely different from the properties of milk. So it is with
Visnu and Siva. All these things require realization. There is no use in going
through the scriptures trying to find apparent contradictions. It is better to
read them, to accept them as being absolutely correct and continue hearing from
the proper source [Srila Prabhupada] If you continue hearing all the apparant
contradictions will be resolved. There is no contradiction, it only appears to be
contradictory to us in the beginning.
>
>7. One of Krishnas highest interest is the shelter of the cows. How is
>it possible, that most of the cows are maltreat by many so-called
>civilisations?
Krishna gives us independence. He doesn't force us to protect the cows, but He has
told us the cows are very dear to Him and should therefore be protected. So we can
ignore Krishna's instructions and kill the cows -- Krishna doesn't want us to, it
gived Him great pain to see us doing it, but He has given us that independence --
it is up to us. That is what independence means. But we will have to suffer the
consequences, that is another thing. Cow killing is VERY sinful and the the
resultant bad karma is causing terrible suffering and it will become much, much
worse unless the cow-killing is stopped.
>
>8. In the spiritual world the name, the form, the pastimes of Krishna
>are the same. Everything ist the same. But then why is Krishnas name
>so special?
No. Everything about Krishna is equally special. It is just that in this age it is
most appropriate for us to appreciate Krishna by chanting His holy names. There
are nine processes of bhakti and one can become completely liberated by following
any one of them and there are examples of devotees who have become perfect by
following just one process and there are other devotees who have became perfect by
following all the processes. In Kali-yuga chanting and hearing the Hare Krishna
maha-mantra is very important because the other methods are now very difficult to
perform, so practically speaking there is now no other way than chanting Hare
Krishna.
hare nama hare nama
hare 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)
So chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Your servant
Madhudvisa dasa
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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!