sumedh

Hare Krishna

 

The purports describe the true situation here

http://srimadbhagavatam.com/10/89/57/en1

and here

http://srimadbhagavatam.com/10/89/58/en1

or http://srimadbhagavatam.com/10/89/62/en1.

 

Just as Nanda maharaja cannot be "trusted" when he says that Sri Krishna is just an ordinary being and not the Supreme Lord, these statements appearing to be contradictory cannot be "trusted".

Hare Krishna

 

I was talking about the philosophical position of those who normally put the three lined tilak which opposes the principles of devotion. Anyone can do anything as service and still please the Lord if done in pure devotion, which is another matter. Even entering the arena of bhakti is not easy, what to speak of pure devotion, then the only way is to follow the recommendations of acharyas.

 

 

God finds nothing offensive because God is unoffendable.

 

 

 

Who would think that God is offended; its our own devotional creeper that suffers as a result of offences. As you said, the intent is what matters, and so if we imagine ourselves to be on the same platform as the Supreme Lord then naturally all He will do is ignore us so that we may go ahead with our imagined reality independently.

 

 

I leave all that to Sri Lord Krishna to figure out. The fact that one has Life and that Everything is made and comes from Brahman -- is enough for me to know that God is behind everything, even the "sinner". And if God is behind it, it may be a "sin" to our eyes or maybe even to God's eyes -- is it still a sin caused by God? regardless the Lila must happen and all lilas and creation come from and are sustained by God

 

 

 

what is this, why do you try to pass your own responsibility as God's lila or whatever. That everything is Brahman and comes from the Supreme Brahman only speaks about the nature, and not of the (limited) freedom of action of individual jivas and the responsibilities arising thereof. God may be said to be "behind" only in the sense of aiding to fulfil the desire of the jiva (whether appropriate or inappropriate), nowhere close to having any tinge of responsibility. "Sinning" in the material realm may atmost mean suffering the consequences materially only, but "sinning" in our spiritual practise may make us unfit to receive devotion towards the Lord. There seems to be some confusion, or lack of differentiation between apparent "sins" on the spiritual platform and "sins" on the material platform. The behaviour in Sri Rama's avataar, as you described, is strictly reserved for the eternal associates of the Lord or other liberated souls on the spiritual platform (or others by orders of such personalities) and has no relevance to the suffering jiva shackled in the maya energy.

 

Thanks for explaining the meaning of the three lines and the links. But, the essential point is that when one wears the three lined tilak, he/she is normally understood to be having allegience to a philosophy which is opposed to the culture of bhakti. But you seem to have a completely different notion of bhakti.

Hare Krishna

 

I was not familiar with wicca but mistakingly assumed them to be similiar to witchcraft -- my apologies for that. So then is wiccan mode of worship is more like mixed passion and goodness?

Hare Krishna

 

 

how could wearing the three lined tilak be an offense?

Saivites are devotees of a great devotee of lord krishna...

they are following Lord Shiva...

 

 

 

Some shaivites are impersonlists and their tilak signifies this, so it is an offense as it denies the personality of Krishna. Others consider Lord Shiva as the Supreme Lord and Lord Vishnu as being subservient to him, which is also an offense. Worshipping Lord Shiva in the proper understanding as the greatest vaishnava is certainly very good, even Srila Narada sometimes did it.

Hare Krishna

 

These practises can give some material powers (when properly known and executed and are just like some of the left-handed tantric practises of india) and are in the mode of ignorance.

 

BG 9.25

"Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me."

 

BG 17.4

"Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods; those in the mode of passion worship the demons; and those in the mode of ignorance worship ghosts and spirits."

Hare Krishna

 

Proofs of God by consciousness/energy/causality etc. have been provided before, maybe i missed something. Their high degree of fixation with trying to identify satan and his followers, payment being the blood of Jesus etc. -- really was quite a pain to read all of it. I had found a much better and thorough critique of evolution here: http://spider.innercite.com/~tstout/cs/welcome.shtml, chapters 1-8.

Hare Krishna

 

Actually, the basic thing is that if one brings up any pets (or children for that matter) in Krishna Consciousness by feeding Krishna prasadam etc. then it is perfect (we also take a resposibility in such cases and cannot abandon them) but when it is for other purposes then it only binds them and us further into material realm and in Srila BhaktiSiddhanta's words is like "feeding milk to a serpant".

Hare Krishna and dandavats

 

Srila Prabhupada deals with this point quite bluntly here http://www.prabhupada.org.uk/sp_expose/what_kc/human.htm.

 

There is material competition and there is spiritual competition. Since our aim is to be situated on the spiritual platform the former has to be avoided while the latter is sublime and difficult to understand. As sashin prabhu has said, we cannot compare to Arjun who was a pure devotee and shouldn't try to base judgements or philosophy on the behaviour of such powerful personalities. As with other things material, the desire for material aims in the form of ambition or by competing with others has to be given up to rise above the material platform. When the centre point of our occupation, whatever that may be, and all our activities (physical or mental) is Krishna then also there is competition in trying to serve Him but being on the spiritual platform it is free from any blemish, rather it is most pleasing and increases our devotion.

Hare Krishna

please accept my dandavat pranam

 

 

I may be mistaken, but I think Lord Krishna and Balarama had many pets?

 

 

 

But we cannot compare -- their pets would be great God-realized souls.

The important thing is our devotion to Krishna. See story 17 here

http://www.iskcon.net/govinda/page8.html for when Srila Prabhupada disapproved of a cat as a pet and story 18 here http://www.iskcon.net/govinda/page9.html for when he didn't mind (actually all of the stories by Mother Govinda dasi are really good and i couldn't stop reading them once started)

Hare Krishna

 

 

"..His transcendental attributes cannot even be measured by such masters of mystic powers as Lord S'iva and Lord Brahmâ."

 

when the original did not even mention Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma.

 

 

 

O, what to speak of Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma, even He Himself as Lord Ananta cannot measure the transcendental attributes -- just illustrates the meaning of Supreme limitless nature of the Supreme Purusa.

 

How does the Hare Krishna undermine the authority of Lord Shiva? Could you give some examples. But for that the correct position of authority of Lord Shiva must be known, no.

Hare Krishna

 

In the vaishnava tradition a devotee would only marry another devotee. In the more traditional system, brahmins were not allowed to marry others but then a devotee automatically comes to the level of Brahmin.

 

 

Is conversion from christianity to hindu possible?

 

 

 

How does it matter if one labeled as hindu or christian, the thing that matters is whether one's spiritual practice is bona-fide and leading to deeper love for God.

Hare Krishna

 

 

Is there any truth to the accusations that Jayendra Saraswati conspired to have Thiru Sankararaman murdered?

 

 

 

I do not have an idea, and we have both sides of the story. Personally, my inclination is more towards his being not involved. Actually most of the spiritual minded (including Vaishnavas) are opposing at least the manner of arrest. Such respected personality should be kept under house arrest atmost, not put in a jail. Otherwise i think it will be better to stay put for the time being and let the law to take its own course.

Hare Krishna

 

In my opinion, for this reason one should not worry too much to this and take heart from the fact that the Holy Name is available to us despite our being so much fallen. Everyone has to proceed with whatever little one may have; there is no other option and sometime or the other we have to do it anyway.

Hare Krishna

 

The post is about Jayendra Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Kanchi peetham (one of the math's of Shakaracharya) who was arrested recently in connection with some suspicion of being related to a murder of a former member of math.

Hare Krisha and dandavat pranam

 

Prabhuji why do you think so; the post itself shows your sincerity, humility and your responses to the posts by other devotees are demonstrative of submissiveness. Complete surrender to Lord is itself the perfection.

 

A lover of God always thinks himself to be devoid of it; similar is the case with these qualities. Such thoughts of unsuitability come to my mind also sometimes, and the only thing to hold-on to is the Holy Name. Also consider: why should i be concerned about my spiritual progress; its His job now that i have decided to offer myself to Him.

and Srimad Bhagavatam presents the simple definition of first-class religion as one which makes one a lover of God. It is really that simple, but our doubting minds make it complex.

 

Hare Krishna

no, he is not the musician ravi shankar.

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

In my opinion, formal or not, whether by shiksha or diksha, affiliation to an authorized sampradaya is neccessary else how is one going to determine if he/she is on the right track.

 

If one starts to read the whole of Vedic literature to find its conclusions then he will be forever confused and this has been emphasized many times. Say just reading Bhagavad-Gita scholarly no one will come to know that unconditional surrender to Krishna is the best. Lord Chaitanya presented to all that sankirtan is the yuga dharma; and similarly from the huge amount of literature written by the Gosvamis and other disciples, the Acharyas have presented to us their conclusions. I think, what is important is not what is presented more in books rather the word of Spiritual Masters and we have the word of Srila Prabhupada in this connection.

We have also been told that when one is sincere enough, Krishna sends him a Guru.

 

 

Perhaps more focus should be to challenging the atheist philosphers and scientists, the demonic 'gurus' of this age, then other mono-theists.

 

 

 

i agree, Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushan refused to accept persons of Ramanuja sect, who he defeated in the challenge, as disciples saying he didn't want to undermine their sampradaya.

Hare Krishna

 

I have also not read Chaitanya Bhagavat, so cannot say about it. I think just because it is not mentioned in CC, concluding that Sri Chaitanya did not stress it would not be correct. His philosophies have been expounded by Srila Rupa-Sanatana-Jiva Gosvami, and their writings should be considered as Sri Caitanya's desire and same is with other acharyas in the succession. I do not recall seeing even the Hare-Krishna maha-mantra as such in the text of CC, though it is there is Chaitanya Bhagavat. This tells me that not all can be known only by reading some texts (on the other hand Srila Prabhupada says that all that one needs to know to return to Godhead is there in his books).

 

The flavours of writings of earlier acharyas and recent acharyas (from Srila Bhaktivinoda) are quite different since the recent acharyas have adopted books as one of the main medium of preaching, so they write more about the things neophytes need to know in their writings. Earlier, the method of spreading the movement was more personal in nature, thus it is understandable that not all things necessary for neophytes are in a few books rather different acharyas dealt with different matters in their books (their writings are more exclusive). I mean to say things are more "scattered around" if we consider the writings of immediate disciples of Sri Chaitanya and earlier acharyas.

Gaura-Ganodesa-Dipika is a very important text for Gaudiyas since it mentions the eternal identities of the associates of Lord Chaitanya in His lila, and the sampradaya is mentioned in the beginning -- that to my mind makes the sampradaya connection quite important.

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

Somewhere i read an opinion that probably it was due to Srila Madhvacharya's staunch opposition to impersonalist philosophies, and of course the appearance of Srila Madhavendra Puri in the Madhva line was one of the reasons.

 

Since Lord Chaitanya only left the siksastaka we can know if the sampradaya connection is important only through the successive acharyas, and from Srila Kavi Karnapura to Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti, Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana (and Srila Prabhupada) have stressed it.

no, maybe someday.

Hare Krishna

 

Okay, thanks. I got Jaya and Vijaya swapped. Also, i read that putana was the sister of Bali maharaj in Vamana avataar.

 

Hare Krishna

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.36

Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of sańkīrtana.

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

Thanks. So i guess, i will have to do without installing the Deities for the time being.

 

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

Please correct me if i am wrong, acintya-bheda-abheda is from Sri Chaitanya and not from Madhavendra Puri from what i have read (though from what Sri Chaitanya says to Prakasananda Saraswati, chanting as main principle was most probably also from Madhavendra Puri).

 

Gaudiyas draw their distinction from Sri Chaitanya and since He is Krsna Himself, the sampradaya could have been taken to originate from Him but for the fact that others may not recognize so (in addition many self-proclaimed gods nowadays), and Sri Chaitanya playing the part of a Guru prefers to be connected to an authorized sampradaya.