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Your religion?

• Subject: Your religion?
• From: Tracy <madhudvisa@krishna.org>
• Date: Mon Nov 18 19:10:29 1996
• Message-Id: id7048

>I am not even sure what religion you are referring to in your site, but 

>it was very interesting to read, as I have never come across anything 

>quite like it in my experience.  What I question however--what is 

>Krishna?  And why did the Vedas know everything?  Wasn't their knowledge 

>by this desire to cheat and limitations that we have? Please respond...

>

>                           --your friend--

>



Dear Tracy



Hello. Hare Krishna!!



Thank you very much for visiting the Sudarsana site and sending some 

wonderful questions. You have asked "What is Krishna"? Krishna is the 

Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the Supreme Person. You and I are 

people and God is a person too. The only difference is He is unlimited 

and we are limited. He is very great and we are very small. But the 

quality is the same. God has desires, He has feelings, He has hands, He 

has legs, He has a very, very beautiful face. Actually "Krishna" means 

"all-attractive". So Krishna is the person who has all attractive 

qualities in full. He has all knowledge, He has all strength, He has all 

beauty, He has all knowledge, He has all fame and He has all 

renunciation. So He is called "Krishna", the all-attractive person.



You can understand it by our daily experience. If we see a beautiful 

person we are attracted, if we see a very wealthy person we are 

attracted, if we see a strong person we are attracted, etc. So just 

imagine how attractive Krishna is. He has all these attractive qualities 

in full at the same time!! You might find a very wealthy man here, but he 

may not be beautiful... No one here has all the attractive qualities in 

full, only Krishna does.



The Vedas are the scriptures from India. But they are persons as well. 

Generally we think of them as being in book form. The reason they know 

everything and can present perfect knowledge is because it is not 

knowledge gathered by mundane research and sense perception. It is 

knowledge descending directly from Krishna via the disciplic sucession. 

After the universe is created the first person born is Lord Brahma. He 

practices meditation for many years in the empty universe and then 

Krishna reveals the Vedas from within his heart. So with this knowledge 

Brahma goes about creating the universe and generating population. He 

instructs the same Vedic Knowledge to his sons and they teach it to their 

sons and so on. So if the knowledge is passed purely in this way from 

spiritual master to disciple then it is perfect. Sometimes the knowledge 

is lost and when that happens Krishna appears Himself or He sends his son 

or representative like Lord Jesus Christ or Srila Prabhupada to 

reestablish the message. To present it in a way the people can understand 

and use in their lives...



So Krishna Himself appeared on this planet in Mathura, India about 5,000 

years ago and He displayed His transcendental pastimes as a child in 

Vrndavana and the devotees like to remember His pastimes and 

activities... Later on He spoke the Bhagavad-gita, the essence of the 

Vedas to his friend, Arjuna just before the one of the greatest wars this 

planet has ever seen. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna says:



   "The Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, said: 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.



   "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.



   "That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is 

today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend 

and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science." 

 (Bhagavad-gita 4.1-3)



So this is the way the Vedas is transmitted. From Krishna through the 

disciplic succession. If it is transmitted purely by self-realized souls 

who simply present the same message as their spiritual master has 

delivered to them without change and without adding their own ideas and 

speculations then there is no effect of the four defects on the 

transmission of the Vedic knowledge (cheating, imperfect senses, mistakes 

and illusion). The key is the speaker is simply delivering the perfect 

message, he's not actually entering into it himself. Of course he may 

explain it in a particular language or style suitable for the audience's 

understanding, that is the art of preaching, but he cannot change the 

message or add his own ideas and speculations -- if he does everything is 

lost.



I would strongly recommend you to read the books of His Divine Grace A.C. 

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as he has so perfectly explained the 

science of Krishna consciousness. There are many introductory books like 

"Beyond Birth and Death," "Easy Journey to Other Planets," "Life Comes 

from Life," "Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers," "The King of 

Knowledge," "The Science of Self-Realization," etc. There are also 

translations of the major Vedic scriptures like "Bhagavad-gita As It Is," 

"Srimad-Bhagavatam," "Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"... There are so many 

books. So try to get them and read them, that will answer all your 

questions about everything...



As for Krishna consciousness being a "religion". It's not a religion in 

the ordinary sense of the word. It's not something that one can change. 

For example one can change from the Catholic religion to the Hindu 

religion. These are temporary designations only. Krishna consciousness is 

something different. It is called "Sanatana Dharma", it means the eternal 

occupation of the soul. If you study what everyone is doing you'll find 

everyone is serving someone else or they are serving their senses. This 

is all temporary material service and it can never satisfy us. We are not 

the body, we are the eternal spiritual soul within. we have this body for 

a few years only, then we will be forced to change into another body at 

death. So any pleasure on the bodily platform cannot satidfy us for we 

are not the body, we are the eternal spiritual soul within the body.



The only way we (the soul) can be satisfied is if we transfer our service 

mentality to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we use our 

energy for serving Krishna, instead of using our energy to try and 

satisfy the unlimited desires of the body, the result will be completely 

spiritual and that's the Krishna consciousness movement, training us to 

serve Krishna 24 hours a day seven days a week, training us to understand 

we are not the material body, we are eternal servants of God, Krishna. 

It's not a religion, it's not a church you go to every Sunday, it is a 

way of life, a state of mind, and when one seriously takes to Krishna 

consciousness very quickly all his material desires disappear. 



These days illicit sex life, drugs, alcohol, meat eating and gambling are 

very prominent in our society, but they are all "anartas", unwanted 

things. These things block our advancement in spiritual life. Ordinarily 

it would be very difficult, practically impossible, to give these things 

up, but devotees of Krishna, upon tasting the bliss, the spiritual 

pleasure from serving Krishna are no longer attracted to such mundane 

material "pleasures". It is quite amazing really.



Thanks for the letter. Please read Srila Prabhuapda's books and write 

back with any questions.



Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!



Madhudvisa dasa

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