kaisersose

Wrong Again. You are still holding on to the Shaivism = Advaita theory, which is wrong. Shaivas see their final abode as Kailsas where they will reside with Shiva. Most of them never even heard of Brahman nor are are they interested. There is a world beyond the little iskcon world you live in, in case you want to explore and learn the truth. Cheers

Wrong answer. You are as usual ignorant about the difference between Shaivism and Advaita. The Lingayats believe Shiva is the Supreme God. So do most Shaivas in Tamilnadu and the rest of India. And what about Radha worship, Subadhra, Balarama worship, etc., among the Gaudiyas claiming Radha is the soul of Krishna? By your logic, the Muslims and Christians are better than Gaudiyas for they simply deal with a single God! And why is worshipping a single God better than worshipping multiple Gods? Please do not quote the Gita as Gaudiyas worship multiple gods themselves. Cheers

Correct. This univeral definition does not exactly apply to Prabhupada. He made no pretensions of downplaying the value of non-Vaishnava beliefs from inside India as they played no role in his agenda. But he was careful not to rub Christians and Muslims (from foreign countries) the wrong way as their endorsement was critical to the success and future of his mission. Hence, the position of Jesus = Vaishnava, Allah = Krishna, Mayavada = poison, Vaishnavas are not Hindus, Shiva = demiGod, etc. He said what he had to say for his circumstances. Does not take much to separate out Vaishnava concepts from the sales pitch in the above list. Cheers

I dont think there is anything sad about it, unless someone is eager to seek the stamp of Prabupada's approval and I do not know anyone who is thus inclined. Cheers

You are kidding, right? Please tell me you are... To view Allah as a person is to invite his wrath - and the wrath of his followers. Ironically, Shiva, Ganapathi, the tamil God Ayannar, etc., are persons, but thee is simply no way Prabhupada is going to call their followers Vaishnavas just because they accept personal Gods. However, he had no problems aligning foreign [non-Indian] beliefs with Vaishnavism though they were not personal, rejected idol worship, ate meat, etc. Coincidentally, these beliefs come from countries where the $$$ is better than the Indian INR. Is this a religious position or a political position? Requires some good old fashioned honesty to come out of denial* and call a spade a spade. *Denial in this context - Keep telling myself that my beliefs are flawless, my Guru never said anything incorrect and if anyone shows evidence, call him a Prabhupada hater and a Christian hater. Cheers

Idol worship is an integral part of Vaishnavism, which is a big no-no for the faceless Allah, Mohamed, and his followers - a crime punishable by death. It is impossible for Chaitaya or anyone else to prove that Islam = Vaishnavism. It is only possible if one takes the position that anything = anything. Cheers

Ranjeet as usual is unable to keep his nose out of Mayavada and continues to produce bogus quotes from Shankara, with no sources mentioned. But for argument, let us assume Shankara did say Krishna is the basis of Nirguna Brahman (1). Ranjeet has on numerous occasions shouted & screamed on these forums that Mayavada is false (2). Since the alleged Shankara statment is part of Mayavada, Ranjeet's position from (1) and (2) says that this statement is false too. Therefore, it is established that Krishna is not the basis of Nirguna Brahman. QED

I fail to understand how anyone with even a modicum of intelligence would accept that the events on planet earth are due to a God's pleasure. If it is true, then this almighty is worse than the sickest mind that one can possibly perceive. If I believed in the almighty, I would most certainly never say he is having fun at the expense of human emotion. Anything else is serious "Aparadha" and I am not kidding. My position is that there is no freewill - irrespective of the existence of an almighty being. There is only the apparent effect of freewill, which is the cause of most problems. Cheers

This is what happens when idiots try to poke their noses into Advaita. Shankara took birth, lived and died like very other human on the planet. In usual Indian style, death of celebrity Gurus is deified as "disappeared" or "rose to heavens", etc., by their followers and biographers. It has happened to countless Gurus before & after him. If you lack basic intelligence required to differentiate between allegory and reality, then you have more important problems to attend to in life, before you will pontificate on Advaita. Cheers

Sheesh...know your facts, people. Yavana/Yona = Greek. It meant Greek when Ashoka referred to Antiochus as a Yona and it means the same as of 2009. It is derived from the word Ionian (as used by Homer) & nothing has happened to change it meaning in between. Mlechcha is a more general term, used to describe all outsiders (invaders) in general, who did not follow the common socio-religious practices of the region. A Yavana is a Mlechcha too. Cheers

They are very common and have been used in the sub continent for thousands of years. Solely, for religious reasons, some sections of Indian society have refrained from consuming onion and garlic. But a lot of it has changed in the last 100 years or so. The west played no role in the usage of onion and garlic in India. However, Red chili peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Green string beans, Cauliflower, etc., came to India from the west in the last few hundred years. The long pepper (Green) and Black pepper are native to India and have been long time export commodities. Cheers

Let's see if you get this...You may have to work a little hard. The Hare Krishnas are no different from the Tamar Lanes and the Hitlers. They all had/have a common goal - world domination. Hitler wanted his pure race to be the only race on the planet; Tamar wanted Islam to be the only religion; Hare Krishnas desire exactly the same - a world full of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, which they think is the best thing to happen, just like Hitler and Tamar believed their ideas were the best. The only difference is the Hare Krishnas have not engaged in murder to further their ambition of world domination. The muslims I know are not hunting idolators. There is no sense to be drilled into their heads. On the other hand, there is no shortage of Hks on this forum who speak condescendingly on Hinduism, Shaivism...the list is long. They actually believe they are one cut above the rest. And evidently, as you do not have a problem with the derogatory view HKs have on Hinduism, you need to be educated too. And I am perfectly happy to do it. Cheers

Tamar Lane believed it was his solemn duty to his master Allah to eliminate idolators or in other words, Indians who worshipped idols of Rama, Krishna, Ganesha, etc. And clearly the best way to eliminate is to kill. To execute his duty and please Allah (and also collect some booty in the process) he invaded India, lined up idolators on streets, beheaded them and made a hillock of heads on each street. The worth of his soldiers was measured by the number of infidel scalps they took. However, as a devout, sensitive muslim, he was "kind enough" to spare Muslim sections of the society. Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf about his thoughts on the "different looking" Jews and the "strange" religion they followed - both factors eventually forming the foundation of his persection campaign. People who believe there have been no wars based on religion, should read a book or two. Cheers

Hope. Because they hope to get cured through magical powers. That is why people with insurmountable problems run to Sai Baba, Krishna, Amma etc., - for they are seeking some kind of divine intervention, magical relief through a touch or a blessing. It is the timeless system of barter. I will do something that pleases the God - in the form of prayer, bhajan, offering coconuts, hair, etc., and in exchange the good Lord is expected to return the favor by giving me what I seek. What I seek can vary from candy, toys, better grades to liberation, a place in heaven, no reincarnation.... Cheers

Interesting that you are looking in a religious forum for an answer! What do you expect beyond the usual superficial (& totally illogical) Karma excuse, with perhaps a scriptural quote or two thrown in for effect? Cheers

</CENTER><CENTER></CENTER> Thanks Smiley, If we had had video cameras in India 3000 years ago, there would be no Rama or Krishna worship today. No stories of talking monkeys or sudarshana chakras. But unfortunately there were no video cameras back then...so we are now stuck with these stories. At least we are intelligent enough to accept that current miracle mongers are playing tricks. Now if we can only take that extra step and accept that 3000 year old miracles were just as fraudulent as today's miracles...that would be a real miracle! Cheers <CENTER></CENTER>

There is no shortage of Vishnu avatars in India (outside the documented 10). But most of them are now dead...Swaminarayan, Chaitanya, Gangaram, etc. The most popular of the avatars who are currently alive is Sai Baba of Puttaparthi. Cheers

And Vaishnava Puranas classify Shaiva Puranas as tamasic. But which Shaiva heeds that nonsense? Similarly, Devi worshippers do not attach value to the opinions of Vaishnava, Shaiva sects. Cheers

Applying the same logic, Allah is the Supreme; No vision can grasp him...Quran 6:103 So, this mean that Allah, not Krishna is God. The Gita has no value to the the Kali worshipper. He has his own sources. It is a display of stark ignorance to imagine my scriptures apply to the entire world. Cheers

You mean like the Chaitanya Upanishad, the Navadwipa Dham Mahatmya and the Bhavishya Purana? I totally agree. Never mind the fact that there are countless devout Devi worshippers in India. Their beliefs collide with mine, so per the "holier than thou" principle, they must obviously be clueless, low class and bogus. Very simple, really. Cheers

Bhaktajan has been on my ignore list for a few months now. I maintain a list of the "ten smartest things I have done in my life" and adding BJ to my ignore list ranks in the top five. Cheers

You can start by learning to write coherently. That would mean, using the right case, appropriate punctuations and complete sentences. Where does the Shiva Purana say "Brahman is attributeless, but we assign Shiva's form to him anyway"? Where does the Shiva Purana say the goal is to merge with Brahman? If you are copy-pasting this nonsense from some Vaishnava source (you most likely are), then my advice is go find something better to do with your time. It is highly unlikely that anyone here will be inspired by your posts enough to switch from Shaiva to Vaishnava. Cheers

Good point. An ambitious plan to have one religion as the sole religion in the world is just as evil as Hitler's ambitious plan of having one pure race on the earth. The Western Hare Krishna's would do well to shed their "holier than thou" attitude and learn some tolerance. But it is my opinion that it is not going to happen anytime soon. It is the very belief that their religion is somehow better than all other religions, that keeps them interested in religion. Else, they would have moved on a long time ago. It also explains why we see "holier than thou" threads such as "Religions with no meaning" pop up on this forum regularly. Cheers

So what's new? That is an age old tactic of separating the founder from everything around him, with the objective of criticism. The Buddha was a super-duper guy, but Buddhism is false. Shankara was an avatar, but his religion is false. People who folllow his teachings are evil. Jesus was a pure Vaishnava, but his followers are hell bound.. Prabhupada was a wonder, but his organization is corrupt... In my opinion, this separation is rooted in cowardice (aka fear of Aparadha). Lacking guts to criticize the founder for he has attained celebrity status, this separation is a little cunning trick. But it doesn't fool anyone. Criticizing Christians is no different from criticizing Jesus and criticizing the evil Mayavadins is the same as criticizing Shankara. If anyone was fooled by this trick, he should take go take an IQ test and enroll in special ed. And finally, how is this thread any different from the countless "holier than thou" threads started on this forum by fanatic Hare Krishnas in the past? Theist used to lead this pack, but as he has disappeared for sometime now, others are taking his place. Cheers

Thanks for the question. I'll explain why. The number of reasons are obviously too many, so pardon me for mentioning only a few (in no specific order). 1) For opening threads titled "meaningless religions", "Mayavada is false", "Hinduism is not a religion", etc... in a general spiritual forum. 2) For not being able to grasp the simple fact that similar criticisms can and do render your own religion as "meaningless". 3) For not realizing that, there is absolutely no benefit in nit-picking on others by starting such dumb threads. 4) For making up stuff as you go along that Krishna does not accept eggs, etc., without evidence and failing to realize that you are kidding yourself more than anyone else. 5) For believing without evidence that the eskimo will be born as a seal in his next life. All these are reasons from this thread alone. Now imagine how long the list would be, if we were to begin inspecting other threads! Cheers