Uniting the Different Religions of the World With the Bhagavad-gita
The plain truth is that the Supreme Godhead is the Father, the Nature is the Supreme Mother and all living entities so many children of Almighty Father Godhead and the Mother Nature. The whole arrangement is therefore a family unit and one should wonder as to why there is so much anomaly in this universal family affair.
Calcutta May 1949
Dear Sir,
On the conclusion of the All Religious Conference held at Bombay very recently, I may submit that nothing practical has come out of it for uniting the different faiths of the world. The practical solution is lying in the transcendental message of Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead as given by Him lately in the Bhagavad-gita.
In this sacred philosophical discourse the Supreme Godhead declares Himself as the begetting Father who impregnates the seeds of living entities in the womb of Mother Nature who in turn gives birth all varieties of living species. So the plain truth is that the Supreme Godhead is the Father, the Nature is the Supreme Mother and all living entities so many children of Almighty Father Godhead and the Mother Nature. The whole arrangement is therefore a family unit and one should wonder as to why there is so much anomaly in this universal family affair.
The answer for this is also given in the Bhagavad-gita. It is said that there are two classes of children in the creation of Godhead and nature. One class is called the daiva (godly) and the other class is called the asura (demonic or godless). As sons of the almighty Father Supreme Godhead, all the living entities have individual independence and when some of the children misuse the godgifted independence for their sense gratification and not to fulfill the plan of Godhead, they develop the demonic qualities and become asuras. But those who do not misuse the the godgifted independence for sense gratification they continue to remain as the Daivas. For sense gratification the asura children of Godhead and Nature forgets the plan of Godhead and thus they begin to exploit and trouble the mother Nature and other obedient children of Nature, for their own benefit sometimes centralized and sometimes extended. Those children who do not do like this are gods themselves distinguished from the asuras.
The Mother Nature is, as She should naturally be, the most faithful mistress of Godhead and She becomes angry for the behavior of the Asura and thus assume the role of Daivamaya (generally known as the Mohakali, Durga, Bhadrakali etc.) and take at once Her grim trident and inflicts the weapon in the heart of the asura who is also Her son. The asura thus becomes subject to threefold miseries and this is done according to the plan of Godhead as the mother has to chastise the disobedient son in order to make him alright. This process of chastisement is necessary for the benefit of both the asura and the daiva sons in order to stop disorder in the great plan of Godhead.
As soon as the asura, however, surrenders unto Godhead as the obedient son and servitor of the plan of Godhead the asura is turned into a devata. The angry mode of Mother Nature at once subsides and she appears to such godly sons as the most affectionate Mother in the role of Yogamaya (commonly known as Laksmi, Sita and Radharani etc)
So according to Bhagavad-gita the whole trouble of the world is due to the increase in the number of the asura and decrease in the number of the daivas. Who is a daiva and who is a asura is clearly defined in the Bhagavad-gita. Thus the whole problem has to be solved according to expert advices and it is not possible to solve the world problem so easily as by holding occasional discussions by some who are already themselves under the influence of the asuric qualities. This should be done most scientifically which is above mistakes and illusion.
As stated above the asura, as soon as he surrenders to Godhead makes the whole problem solved. But unfortunately the ____ to the threefold miseries of mother Nature and thus befooled by his repeated foolish activities will not easily surrender unto Godhead due to his long forgetful relation with the almighty Father.
It is a hard job therefore to turn the asura to be a daiva but the process has been made easy by the Personality of Godhead Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. Mahatma Gandhijee took up this cause to begin with but he is gone without further progress in the matter. If we are intelligent enough we should again take up the matter more scientifically and do the job very nicely for the peace of the world.
I have, according to the instruction of my spiritual master, chalked out a programme of work according to Bhagavad-gita and I wish to discuss it personally with your good self to give the plan a practical shape. Will it be convenient for you to see me for this purpose? I am prepared to go to you at my cost at wait upon you if so desired by you. Awaiting your early reply and thanking you in anticipation.
Yours faithfully,
49-05-00
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
About the Author
HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Founded the Hare Krishna Movement in 1966 in New York. In only 11 years he spread the movement all over the world. He wrote more than 80 books including Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Sri Isopanisad. Prabhupada's books constitute a complete library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.
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A tremendously clear statement concerning our relationship with the Eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead.Sadly, the water has been muddied in relation to the clarity that otherwise might have been perceived by Christians in the West.many of whom appear to be under heavy delusions.I will share this commentary at my Facebook site to our community outreach, and Community Health and Psychiatry Caregivers in the British Jamaican Association of Integrative Medicine. Namaste!
Hare Krsna Prabhu,
Prabhu, as you have advised I have stopped reading these books. But I have one last question regarding this.
Why are most of the followers of these religions so dogmatic. They do not want to accept that Krsna is God. Some even say that these are mythology, Krsna cannot be God and so many things. Just like we respect Hazrat Muhhammad and Lord Jesus Christ as representatives of God and have re-established the principles of religion. But they are only trying to prove their superiority and their path is the only path otherwise go to hell. They do not know who is God, then why they are finding it difficult to accept Krsna as God?
These people today, Christians and Muslims, are far removed from the actual teachings of Lord Jesus Christ and the prophet Mohammad. They do not follow their own religions and they do not want to follow their own religions. It is a social club only and often it is hijacked for political purposes also. So they are not actually interested in surrendering to God and serving Him. Maybe one or two, but the general mass of people in the material world will never be seriously interested in surrendering to and serving God. So we can not expect them, as a group, to be seriously interested in Krishna consciousness.
It is only a rare soul that is seriously interested in Krishna consciousness. That is because this material world is the prison house where all the criminals who are envious of Krishna and who want to take the place of Krishna are sent. So no one comes to the material world unless they are envious of Krishna and want to become Krishna themselves. So it is not surprising that when we preach “Surrender to Krishna, serve Krishna” there is not much favorable response. But there are devotees out there, among all groups of people, including the Christians and the Muslims, just waiting for us to reintroduce them to Krishna.
So do not give up. Become a pure devotee of Krishna yourself and then whomever you meet talk to them about Krishna and you will find that Krishna will send to you sincere souls who want to hear about Krishna from you. And they will come from all walks of life, all religions, all countries, etc.
It is all ultimately about our purity. If we are ourselves pure and Krishna conscious then we will get some potency to be able to distribute Krishna consciousness to others. But still we have to find the people who want to hear about Krishna. And they are out there. We just have to become pure ourselves and go out and find them and talk to them about Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
Prabhu, I have some questions regrding the Bible and the Koran. I thought if they are also science of God, there is no harm in reading them and now I have ended up in total confusion. Whatever I have read till now, nothing matches with these two books. Prabhu, please explain the following points-
1. What is the day of judgement? They say that the body will rise at that day, does this really happen?
2.They say that all the unbelievers will be sent to hell to suffer eternally and the believers will be sent to heaven eternally. But it is written I another part that both the heaven and hell is created. How can a created thing become eternal?
3. Where do the devotees fall in all these? Are we safe?
4. They say that they will meet God in heaven? They even donot believe that Krishna is that God. Than whom they are going to meet there?
5.If they can see God just by believing in Him then why are we undergoing so many penances? How can someone go to a eternal place so easily?
Prabhu, I have just started my spiritual life but I am losing all hope. I thought I will strenghten my spiritual life by reading those books but the opposite has happened. Please help me!
Please consider answering my questions in your free time, but please reply this letter. My spiritual life is dwindling….
Hare Krishna Hrishikesh
The Bible and Koran are not authoritative books like the Vedic literature such as Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. You will find as you read Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavtam that everything is perfect and correct. But when you read the Bible and Koran that is a totally different thing.
Yes. We accept Lord Jesus Christ and Mohammad as empowered incarnations of Krishna. And yes, they were empowered personalities, however they were preaching to meat-eaters. And meat eaters can not actually understand spiritual life. Jesus lamented “There are so many things I have not told you because you could not bear them…”
Lord Caitanya confirms in his conversation with Chand Kazi that the scriptures of the meat eaters are contradictory.
So you have found some of these contradictions. Actually an intelligent person can not be satisfied with the Bible of the Koran. Because as you have discovered they are not logical, they are contradictory. So if one is intelligent and wants to understand the philosophy logically he has to advance to the Vedas.
As far as your points:
1) This body rising from the dead is nonsense. I know the Catholics believe this. That is why Catholics forbid cremation. They bury the bodies and imagine they will come back up again out of the graves when Jesus returns. It is nonsense of course. The bodies rot in the graves. They are never coming back. The soul leaves the body at death and the body is then useless. The soul will never come back to that body and that body will never come out of the grave. It is just nonsense. Rubbish.
2) The Bible and Koran are only talking about the material world. The Heaven and Hell they talk about are planets within this material world. And Jesus is like a demigod. So they can worship Jesus and be elevated to his planet ‘Heaven’. That is their ‘Kingdom of God’, it is one of the Heavenly planets within this universe. So it is created and will be destroyed also at the end of Lord Brahma’s life. It is true that their are nitya-baddha [eternally conditioned] and nitya-siddha [eternally liberated] souls. So practically speaking the nitya-baddhas, the souls in this material world, are conditioned eternally. They can not get out. It is only possible to get out of the material world by the causeless mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna, the bona fide spiritual master.
So the idea of ‘suffering eternally’ is true. But they do not know the whole material world is a place of suffering. There is only suffering in the material world. It is just a question of degrees. There is more suffering in the hellish planets, less suffering here in the middle planets, and still less suffering in the heavenly planets. But the suffering, the bith, old age, disease and death, that is everywhere, even in the heavenly planets.
3) Devotees are not safe unless they are pure devotees. We have to be pure devotees of Krishna, then we will be safe. If we are not very serious, then we are not actually devotees. “Devotee” is someone who has devoted their life to serving Krishna by surrendering to and following the orders of a pure devotee of Krishna. Realistically there are very few ‘devotees’ who actually surrender to a pure devotee of Krishna. So without this full surrender we are not devotees actually and we are not safe. The full surrender is required and we have to surrender to an actual pure devotee of Krishna and follow his orders. Then only we are safe.
4) Their ‘heaven’ is a heavenly planet in the material world. So they could meet Jesus there and his father… But of course they are not following Jesus even. So they will not get there even so they will not meet anyone… Really Jesus Christ, Christ is Jesus’s father. So Christ is a mispronunciation of Krishna. So they do know actually that Krishna is the father of Jesus. But you know they are not following. It is so long ago and the Bible was not written by Jesus, it was written by the disciples, and not until at least 30 years after Jesus died. And since then it has been changed so much. So they have no direct connection with the teachings of Jesus. Only the faulty memories of the disciples that have been so much changed over the years…
5) It is not possible to see God by just believing him. God can only be seen if one has the eyes to see God. And those spiritual eyes can only be given by the mercy of God. So God can only be seen if He reveals Himself to us. He can not be seen by our endeavor. And Krishna can only be approached by the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna. So we have to find a pure devotee of Krishna, hear from him, surrender to him and serve him, and by his mercy we may be able to see Krishna. It is not possible to directly approach Krishna, we have to go through the pure devotee of Krishna.
So just stop reading these nonsense books and read Srila Prabhupada’s books and then you will automatically understand everything about Bible, Koran and everything else.
We only need to read Srila Prabhupada’s books. Everything is in Prabhupada’s books…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa