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Al-chanan wrote:
>In article rmr@franklin.cc.utas.edu.au, madhudvisa@krishna.org (Madhudvisa dasa ) writes:
>:Al-chanan wrote:
>: TRANSLATION
>: In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth
>:generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and
>:blessed them by saying, ``Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because
>:its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living
>:happily and achieving liberation.''
>Exactly as I have said:
I enjoyed reading your article. It is very nicely presented. But the
conclusion is not so good. You are trying to say that Jesus Christ is
Krishna... Of course we accept Lord Jesus Christ as the son of God, as an
shaktavesha-avatara, an empowered incarnation of Krishna. But he clearly
speaks of his father in heaven, that is Krishna, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. Jesus is the son of God. He is speaking the word of God,
therefore he is not different from God and he should be worshipped as God.
But he has his father in heaven... It is a little difficult to understand.
But Jesus and Krishna are simultaneously one and different and this is
inconceivable.
Krishna Himself personally appeared only five hundred years ago in India
as Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and He established the yuga-dharma of
chanting the holy names of God. He many times stressed:
"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."
Lord Caitanya personally chanted [and instructed His followers to chant]
tha Hare Krishna maha-mantra. It is a specially potent combination of the
names of God and extremely effective in this age of Kali:
Hare Krishna Hare Kriahna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare
But the other names of God are still potent.
As devotees of Lord Krishna we appreciate all the other devotees of Lord
Krishna like Lord Jesus Christ. But we have to follow our spiritual master
and Krishna. As you know even Lord Jesus Christ went to India, to the
temple of Lord Jagannatha to study. He was studying the same Bhagavad-gita
we are studying. He returned from India and taught the same message as is
presented in the Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krishna Himself. So his teachings
in the Bible, as you have noted, are quite compatible with the Vedic
understanding.
But we are folowing Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We are coming in His
line of disciplic succession. We can't really mix everything up as you
have attempted to do in your presentation. It is the same knowledge in the
Bible and the Bhagavad-gita, but we are coming in Lord Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu's line so we follow his instructions. He instructed us to chant
Hare Krishna and to read the Srimad Bhagavatam, so we do that.
There is no need to try and force everyone else to come into your own
particular line of spiritual understanding. You are trying to bring the
Hare Krishna movement into the disciplic succession of Lord Jesus Christ,
which it is clearly not. Although we accept the teachings of Lord Jesus
Christ in the Bible, and, for that matter, the teachings presented in the
Koran, they are presented at a particular time and to a particular
audience. They contain the same message as is presented in the Vedic
scriptures but it is a different presentation. Our Scriptures are the
Bhagavad-gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. We
follow the instructions of our spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. For us everything is very clear.
There is no point in making some hodge-podge mixture of Christianity and
Krishna consciousness. That is nonsense. Take to Christianity or take to
Krishna consciousness one or the other. Of course they are ultimately the
same thing, but we don't want to force all the Christians to be Hare
Krishna's, why should you want to force us to become Christians?
These designations are all nonsense. We are all servants of God. Religion
means to reestablish our relationship with God, that is all. It is a
simple thing...
"By chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord, one comes to the stage of
love of Godhead. Then the devotee is fixed in his vow as an eternal
servant of the Lord, and he gradually becomes attached to a particular
name and form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As his heart melts
with ecstatic love, he laughs very loudly or cries and shouts. Sometimes
he sings and dances like a madman, for he is indifferent to public
opinion." (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.2.40)
Thank you. Hare Krishna!
Madhudvisa dasa
(madhudvisa@krishna.org) /sudarsana
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
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