karthik_v

Bhaktajoy Prabhuji, Hare Krishna! AGTSP! PAMHO! Not all Muslims are fundamentalist,God has not given up on them...they are learning. I agree with you that not all Muslims are fundamentalists. In fact most are not. They are as human as we are. But, Islam is very fundamentalistic. It advocates eradication of other religions and its adherents. That is what I am questioning. It brooks no criticism and the critics meet with death. That should be cause for serious concern in any civilized society. Kindly allow me to clarify that I am not against Muslims at all. We must forgive,forget and move on. We can forgive certain crimes - not all. We should not forget. History revisits those who forget it. Yes, we should move on - that also mandates that we correct the terrible things that Islam stands for. If we don't, our move shall end up going backwards. Again I am pondering to what extent we can really forgive. I am wondering how easy it is for a Hindu man in Kashmir whose daughter, sister, wife or mother has been raped or forcibly taken away by the Muslims, to forgive the Muslims or Islam. It is very easy to advocate these things, so long as we are safe. You may ask if Islam should be blamed for the crimes of a few Muslims. Yes, I would say. Islam has codified intolerance towards and violence against other religions. Mohammad has done the very same things. The extremist Muslims are just following that in letter and spirit. India has seen rape and plunder at the hands of Muslims for the past 1000 years. Knowledgeable Hindus find it hard to forgive. More so, when the Muslims haven't changed a bit and Islam remains as it was then. That is dangerous. If a muslim man who is very kind hearted who dosen't distinguish between religions closes his eyes and prays sincerely to Allah with humility,God will not listen.Are you saying this? A very interesting question. I recall reading SP's commentary [don't remember where] where he says that those who follow a bogus guru also suffer either in this life or another. There is also a story about a false guru who becomes a snake and his disciples end up as ants. SP was against sentimental religion. So, praying with sincerity and humility isn't enough. I am sure that the followers of Sai Baba are humble and sincere too, but are they worshipping the Supreme? So, one must worship the Supreme as well as follow His bonafide representative. Only then will Krishna deliver him. On the other hand, if one follows a criminal like Mohammad, no matter how sincerely, he will have to suffer. That is my take. I would like your as well as other devotees' thoughts on this.

Hari Bol Sushil, I want to ask Audarya, what is it, an act of serving GOD ???? When I asked the same thing to the muslim people, you know Karthik what explanation they gave me ?? As Ayesha was an orphan & there was no one to look after him that's why he married that 4 years old infant. They are just bluffing. Ayesha was Abu Bakr's [a close associate of Mohammad [actually pronounced as Maha mudha]. She was 6 years old when Mohammad cast his lusty eyes on her. Mohammad was 53 then. When he asked her in marriage, Abu Bakr was unenthusiastic. Which father would be? But, since Mohammad insisted, he consented. [Perhaps out of fear. Everyone knows what Mohammad did in Sufyan]. He just put one condition that Mohammad not consummate the marriage until Ayesha turned 9 years old. Mohammad agreed and acted accordingly [raped a child], once Ayesha turned 9 [he was 56 then]. Bhaktajoy Prabhu: Bhavishya Purana predicts the coming of Prophet Muhammed.Lord Krishna sent him to lay out a spiritual path for the people of middle east who were not very intelligent. It is better to take BP with a pinch of salt. Most puranas were interpolated during the past 1000 years. No school of Hinduism regards BP as reliable. If I remember correctly, the redaction of BP we have was compiled in the court of Aurangazeb. It was in the same court that Allopanishad was written and the present version of Manusmriti compiled. I think that Krishna has better standards for His messengers. Just look at our own SP and what a glorious life he lived. Please don't elevate Mohammad to the same levels as SP or Ramanuja or Sankara. 99.99% of population is demonic(Godless) today.It's not our business to condemn.Once we were also in a Muslim body who knows? May be I was once in the body of a rapist and murderer. Should I approve those acts? So-called "evil" does not really exist, at least not in the way it is thought of on earth. What passes for "evil" is really ignorance (i.e. darkness). Could you kindly say that to the devotees whose temple was razed in Turkmenistan? Or to the innocent who were killed in Godhra? Audarya Lila Prabhuji, You may have heard of it - the name is Malaysia. There are many hindu temples in Malaysia and the people get along with each other very well. I sold a set of Srimad Bhagavatams to a wonderful Mulim gentleman in that country. Also, you may want to know that the Muslims are pressing for Ismaic rule in Malaysia. There are always good Muslims. I have no problem with them. The problem is with ISlam, which needs to be eradicated. Muslims are just afflicted by that disease. No, I don't want to kill the patient - just the virus. I think when you get the folio you should look carefully through what Srila Prabhupada had to say about Allah. You may also want to look at how Sriman Mahaprabhu dealt with Muslims. I will certainly do that. I am not dogmatic and will change my views, if shown to be wrong. BTW, what has SP said about Islam? I have heard from some devotees who associated with SP that SP spoke very little about Islam, though he has praised Jesus lavishly. I have not read the Koran, except in very small bits and pieces, so I cannot comment on your remarks other than to say that your characterization of Muhammad is certainly not found in that book. If you are interested, I can post the relevant sections from the Koran and Hadiths to prove my point. What I have read and from my exchanges with various Muslims I gather that their theology is not unlike Advaita theology. With due respect to you may I say "Please spare me this torture"? Kindly read the writngs of H H Swami Chandrasekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi Sankara mutt, before you set out to compare Advaita and Islam. Please click on Hindu dharma and enjoy the rest: http://kamakoti.org Mahaprabhus movement is not about hate or vilification of others. Agreed. I don't hate the Muslims. As an aspiring devotee of Krishna, I want to liberate them from the clutches of Islam. Lord Nityanada gave out his mercy to Jagai and Madhai, maybe if you two really think that Muslims are so bad and unqualified you should try to distribute the mercy of Mahaprabhu to them. Certainly this will be pleasing to the Lord. Perhaps, it will be pleasing to the Lord, but not to my dear wife and my twin little children, because if I try to ditribute the mercy of Mahaprabhu to the Muslims, some mullah will issue fatwa against me!!! I would rather be less merciful and be a responsible family man!!

I think that could be an exaggeration. My great grand parents and grand parents lived in remote rural Tamilnadu. they never had any access to vaccines, hospitals or doctors. Yet, even they didn't face such a high child mortality rate. 20% may be. When we talk of much remote past, preceding 17th century, we are talking of an era free from industrial effluents etc. So, the mortality couldn't have been higher. Also, we should seriously look at the literature that describe 2 or 3 children - not a dozen every time. Even at your suggested 70% child mortality rate, still each family gets to see 3 children surviving. That should have still made the popu;ation reach the critical mass to bust at the seam. It didn't happen. Could it be thta most families had just one child? Or could it be that the phased out 2 children by several years? I am not taking a dogmatic stance, but this is one area hardly researched. Modern medicine would be very hesitant to admit that old timers had certain skills which our medical folks just acquired. Wasn't there a big opposition to Chinese system of medicine till 2 decades ago? Isn't there still a stiff opposition to chiropractic [though less vocal]?

Hare Krishna, I agree with Sushil Kanoria. Why is that we accept Islam as a bonafide religion in the first place? Just because someone says that he is God's empowered prophet, should we accept that? Would we also accept a Sai Baba who is harmless? Would we have accepted Nazism as a religion, had Hitler claimed to be God's representative? Or is it that we accept Islam out of fear? Somewhwre I read that the world understands the language of force and respects it. I have read the Quran and I don't see anything spiritual in it. Instead it is a criminal document, on par with Mein Kempf. Mohammad was no more than a pedophile, rapist, murderer and arsonist. It is time we call a spade a spade. I can never fathom that those who condemn a bonafide school like Advaita will never say a word about Islam. They even glorify it. Nothing can be more of an aparadh than to say that Allah and Krishna are the same.

Hare Krishna Abhi the great, Very nice post from you. I agree that if we are attracted to sex and other material pleasures, it is because we are spiritually less advanced. So, we should pray to Krishna and the guru for advancement. I was not rebelling against SP. I am not even fit enough to be intiated by any guru, leave alone rebelling against SP. I was just pointing out the excessive emphasis placed on repressing sex, often leading to deleterious effect. Second, I am also interested in knowing the shastric basis for sex only once a month. If no acarya such as Ramanuja or Sankara has ever stated anything to that effect, one should certainly seek the reasons for such pramanas. I am still not convinced that there should be any restriction on sex between married couples. By their very nature, people in grahastha asrama are less evolved spiritually. That is the primary reason they are into that asrama. The moment they transcend the desire for material things, they take to vanaprastha or sannyasa. So, my contention is, so long as you are in the grahastha asrama, live like a grahastha - and sex is very much a part of it. So, I am not rebelling. I am just questioning. I am certainly puzzled that speaker after speaker in ISKCON/GV attacks Sankara and Advaita in a derogatory manner. Shvu: Liberation according to Shankara, is the realization of the nature of one' self as nothing but Brahman. He gives a nice anology too. If you have 4 pots filled with water, then you will see 4 reflections of the sun. If you smash the pots, all that remains is the Only real Sun. What remained earlier was a mere perception in the structural context. As per Sankara, any dichotomy between the jiva and the Brahman is purely a phenomenon that has relevance only when you look at it from the framework of the structural world. Smash the pots and the dichotomy is gone. But, so long as you are attached to the pot, you won't accept that the reflection is not the real sun. To make it more clear, a person *cannot* be liberated and then decide to help people to find what he found, etc, for there is no person there anymore. I don't get this. How do you explain the concept of Jeevan Mukta, which is very much accepted in Advaita? In general, life expectancy improves with education and better standards of living. Has the life expectancy in India improved so much as to allow a geometric progression of population growth rate? I don't think so. Further, there is little data to actually show that the life expectancy really has increased beyond a few years. Even assuming that till the 17th century Indians died young [say at 40], since they also married early [20 for men, 16 for women], they still had enough years to produce many progeny. If there had been so contraceptive, then each couple should have had 20 children. Assuming 50% died, still they should have been left with 10 each. That means that each generation gives birth to the next that is 10 times as large. Yet, that didn't happen. Further, we have many literary sources that talk of smaller families of just 3 or 4 children. Sometimes just 1. I am not saying that we should blindly accept that there were contraceptives in Ayurveda. But, blind rejection is even worse. It is worth investigating. More so, when there were no epidemics in India, unlike Europe, till the 17th century.

Since there is a discussion on natural family planning going on here, I thought adding my own thoughts. Till the 17th century India's estimated population was just around 50 million. Unlike Europe, there is no historical record that India ever faced epidemics that wiped out populations. This only gives raise to the possibility that there was some kind of natural contraception in vogue, which is now either forgotten or not being paid attention to. I am sure that the Ayurvedic texts must have something on this. It will be nice if some knowledgeable member can shed some light on this. I have read parts of Kamasutra, but I don't know if it talks of natural methods of contraception.

Hari Bol gHari Prabhuji, AGTSP! PAMHO! A quick question. I know that Vedabase costs a little under $600. But Folio costs only $ 30 [for books alone] and $ 75 [for books + MP3 lectures]. Here are the links to both: http://folio.bhaktivedanta.org/ http://mp3.bhaktivedanta.org/ How is this Folio different from Vedabase? Any idea?

Some of you may have read this book. Now this is available for free online. The author, Shrikant Talageri, systematically refutes the much touted Aryan Invasion Theory. For those unaware of the background, many Eurocentric scholars have, for over a century, propounded an Aryan Invasion into India, based on their interpretation of Rk veda. They treat Rk veda as a historical record and claim that therein they find evidence of Aryan invasion into India. In this book Shrikant Talageri has systematically deconstructed all such arguments, using the same Rk veda. He has proven that going by Rk veda [and treating it as a historical record], there is mention of only one type of movement - out of India. He has also given many references to topography, fauna, flora, hydronomes etc., in Rk veda and has shown that they all refer to the terrain in and around Kurukshetra. He has also dedicated an entire section deconstructing the arguments of Prof. Michael Witzel [who vehemently supports Aryan invasion]. None has been able to refute Shrikant Talageri so far. The best [or the worst] Witzel could do was to abuse him as a petty banker. Of course, it might be interesting to note that Witzel also tried bribing Talageri with a scholarship to Harvard, if he could amend his work. Talageri declined and made the mail public! Happy reading: http://www.bharatvani.org/books/rig/

Shiva: My reply,to why criticize,if everything is the will of God. This is the meaning of enlightenment,to discern between knowledge,and ignorance. Are you by any means suggesting that Sankara was ignorant that he couldn't discern what real knowledge is? Or could it be that there are many paths to the Supreme as Rk veda says Ekam sad vipra bahuddha vadanti? Theist: Why do those who hold the view that this world is false, and that ultimately there are no individual souls, bother opening up mathas and preach etc.? I imagine Sankara was considered jivanmukta, so who was he writing his bhasya on the Vedanta sutra for? Was that effort just considered the winding down of his prarabdha-karma or something? What the larva calls the end of life, the master calls a butterfly - Richard Bach. Could it be that Adi Sankara, the master, was presenting the picture of the world that he alone is capable of knowing, unlike the larva [jiva] who has never seen beyond the cocoon [the material manifestation]? Has Adi Sankara ever discounted free will? If not, then his works are addressed to the free will in the jivas. Can't an advaitin turn the argument on us and ask if Krishna is the doer, then why bother with all the efforts at entering His eternal abode? After all it will happen anyway, if Krishna wishes. The answer is, whether you follow Advaita or Vaishnavism, you still exercise your freewill to merge with the Brahman or become the eternal resident of Goloka respectively. The acaryas, be it Adi Sankara or Srila Prabhupad, have written for those who want to deploy their free will for that purpose. Hari bol.

Simply beautiful. I really tried to disagree with atleast one word of what you have written, but couldn't. Wonderful prabhuji. The key, as you have nicely stated, is to keep Krishna at the centre, accept our present position and strive in harmony to reach the transcendental state as the eternal servitors of Krishna. Not only ourselves, but also wives and children.

Jagat Prabhu and Theist, Thank you very much.

There is a Moti Lal Banarasidass in every city in India. When my friends are coming here next, I can ask them to get the books, one at a time. Is there a Mahabharat from gita press? I must have missed it. I do have their Valmiki Ramayan which my friend borrowed. But, I have seen another Mahabharat with original Sanskrit verses and translations, in 4 parts. I think it costs Rs. 4000 [uS $ 90]. Can you please check out the following 2 sites and let me know which books are priority for you? www.mlbd.com www.giritrading.com You can also email me at karthik_v@ I will check when my friends are visiting next and request them to carry some.

Hare Krishna Audarya Lila Prabhuji, AGTSP! PAMHO! First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question in detail. Your response was very profound. I am entirely in agreement with you that one has to transcend mundane sense gratification to realize Krishna [or Brahman for Advaitins]. But, my only contention is that it has to happen because we have developed such a love for Krishna that we are no more attracted to sex or earning in dollars or in false designations such as ERP consultant. But, I agree with you that we have to perform certain sadhana as given by spiritual masters to head that way. Second, when Krishna talks of dharmic sex in Bhagavad Gita, why should it be interpreted to mean that sex for sensual pleasure between a man and his wife is adharmic? Does Krishna say that only sex for begetting KC children is dharmic? I am not challenging you. I fully understand that sex itself is qualitatively different among various couples. For some visiting prostitute is fine. For some one night stands are ok. I think that only sex that is bonafide is with one's loving wife. There are certainly spiritually advanced couples who have sex only for begetting KC children. But are such couples attracted to even more mundane things like money or job? So, when some speaker insists that a person who is yet to transcend those more mundane things give up sex, is it not artificial? Third, I am also more concerned that some speakers in ISKCON create such an aversion towards sex in the minds of impressionable young people. I think it is dangerous. Not everyone can become transcendental in 5 years. Most just marry, have children, earn money, but chant and read. Now, when those people develop aversion towards sex, it doesn't signify transcendence. It just leads to frustration. Fourth, I am not at all opposed to an acarya advising his spiritually advanced disciples in privacy, who are married couple, to give up sex for sense gratification. But what I find disturbing is across the board advocacy of the same in lectures. Fifth, I would really like to know the shastric basis for rejecting sex for pleasure, even in marriage. Especially since no other acarya of the past has done that. More so, because horoscopes which are based on shastra, match couples on sexual compatibility. Also because Kama shastras are depicted in temple engravings. Of course, I am not suggesting that marraige depends on sex alone. As you have rightly said it depends on real love and care. But, sex is an important part of the marriage. I am sorry for hinting that sex is the reason why many ISKCON marriages failed. That was inaccurate. But, one has to really analyze the cause. I am wondering if over emphasis on negation could be a cause. I find everything in ISKCON/GV enjoyable and dear to me except 2 things - one, denigration of Adi Sankara and Advaita and two, extreme opposition to sex within marriage. Neither is done with shastric basis.

Jijaji Somawala, That was real selfish of you. I guess that I need to launch my own version of Samudra manthan [this time it is to extract soma instead of amrut]. Since you are not sharing the soma, you will be declared an asura. Just wait, let me find my Vasuki. Shvu, would you like to lend a helping hand [after all 2 Tamils need to support each other!].

True...but I went to Delhi for job right after university and lived there for 6 years before coming abroad. So, we have both capatti and rice.

Tarunji, If you want any KC books from India, I can either get it when I go there next time [which will be early next year] or ask some friend to carry it. Last time, I brought the entire CC for a devotee in east coast. I understand that it is lot cheaper in India.

Prabhuji, I am in the USA, but I am not selling my books. Also, most of my books are in India and I don't have CC. I am very hesitant to add more books to my already bulging collection. So, I want to add this CD to my list. Have you ever used it?

Jijaji, Is there a way you can teleport it for me?!!! Today, I have been through teleconference [and posting here in between] and it is boring.. In an hour, I am heading off home for lunch..My wife would have made the usual Capatti and sumbzi...A dose of soma before that may add some zing!!!!

Hari Bol! AGTSP! PAMHO! I am planning to buy Srila Prabhupad's Folio CD-ROM, as that is a lot more portable than so many heavy books. I have questions for those already using it: Does it contain the complete text of Srimad Bhagavatam [all cantos] and Caitanya Caritamruta? Does it contain the verses in Sanskrit [Devanagari] as well as transliteration and word by word translation for both CC and SB? How good is the search option? Thank you in advance for the information.

Jijaji: sorry kartikji your one of the smartest dudes here..but your theory sounds like ..'Sorta, Kinda, maybe...' catvaari vaak parimitaa padaani taani vidur brahmana ye manishina: guha trini nihitaa nengayanti turiyam vaaco manushyaa vadanti [Rk Veda 1:164:45] Translation [based on Sri Aurobindo, but Sayanacarya doesn't differ much]: The hymns are in four tier. Three are cavernous and the fourth expressed in humanly language. Vedic thoughts are expressed in the higher three tiers. So, the vedas themselves mean little if we take their words literally. I read somewhere that the meaning of the vedic verses is whatever is rendered by the realized soul. Doesn't Rk veda itself say Ekam sad vipra: bahuddah vadanti. So, if we look for literal translations, there shall always be loose ends in the vedas. But, if we accept that the vedas are in a metaphorical language and that the purport is hidden to be revealed by a realized soul, then those ends get tied up. Of course, it also implicitly means that we replace empirical logic with faith and reasoning. Since I am not a realized soul, I use a lot of qualifiers like may be.

Avinash: If we believe this, then many incidents mentioned in Mahabharata, Puranas should be assumed to have happened somewhere other than Earth. To take just one example, Bharatvarsa mentioned in Mahabharata can not be the India or any other place on this planet. If that is the case, how are we justified in glorifying the past of this country by quoting verses from our scriptures? May be we are not justified. I think, this reactionary thing is of recent origin. The Eurocentrists demeaned India and its scriptures and misinterpreted our vedas as historical documents. So, Indians are reacting by quoting the same books to show that India had a great past. Shvu: The MB itself does not say anywhere that it was from a different Yuga. Does it not say that it happened in Dwapara yuga? Also, isn't the wait of Bhisma for uttarayana to pass signifying the end of Dwapara yuga? Itihasas and Puranas were targetted towards the non-scholarly public, because they had no means of gaining spiritual knowledge thru the Vedas. That is the view taken by Sri Aurobindo as well. He says that puranas are easily understandable representations of esoteric vedic verses. Of course, this can be debated, but I did find from another scholarly person that Valmiki Ramayana has its roots in Rk veda. Actually the verses themselves are talking of Shri Rama. As per Nilakanta, in Mantra Ramayana, Valmiki clearly states that Ramayana is nothing but an exposition of the 24 bija aksharas of Gayatri mantra. So, may be Sri Aurobindo and Shvu have a point. Please read in detail from this page: http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/articles/ Click on Rig vedic Ramayana at the bottom and read all the 5 parts. Avinash: Does anyone here know the recipe for soma juice? Soma wasn't a juice at all; nor an intoxicant. Has anyone ever thought that it could actually signify the third eye? Some very old and esoteric Tamil scriptures like Thirumanthiram talk of Soma that way. Sri Aurobindo talks of Soma that way. I have read the translations and commentary of Sayanacarya and he too hints at it. Sayanacarya was totally into Karma kanda, but even he doesn't suggest that Soma was an intoxicant. I think this entire misconception sprang from the western translators and interpolated puranas. We should also not forget that Aurangazeb commissioned many Brahmins to interpolate puranas. He even had Manusmriti drafted. In fact, the present version of MS doing rounds came from Aurangazeb. There is not one epigraphic record of Manusmriti being deployed by any Indian king. So, given that context, to rely upon smritis or western translators to understand esoteric concepts like Soma is dangerous. We should hear them from a vedic guru.

Alexander hardly proved anything in Punjab. What can one really prove after getting defeated by Porus in just 8 hours and after losing 75% of his forces? His toughest battle before the one on Hydespes was against Darius III, in which he lost 16% of the forces. Darius III himself lost 22% and was routed. Of course, the Eurocentric historians presented a very different picture. Never ask the uncomfortable question as to how someone can emerge the winner after losing 75% of his forces and getting critically injured himself. Also, please don't ask me as to where Bucephalus, the city that Alexander the tyrant built in Punjab after his "victory" is. Fertile imaginations, especially the ones used for wiping off wounded Greek pride and resurrected by Eurocentrics, leave no trace.

3 possibilities. One, Mahabharat happened in a different yuga and there was a massive destruction afterwords erasing all traces. Two, Mahabharat happened in a different plane or dimension and not on this physical earth. Three, there have been obvious interpolations and we need not take these details too seriously. Or should I say all the 3? BTW, even our GV acaryas have, at times, blindly accepted the baseless dates given by western historians. One such example being SP blindly accepting the date of Buddha. Some mutts, like the Kanchi Sankara mutt, have been more objective in this regard. They never toe the western atheistic lines. They go by srutis and accept the smritis only if they follow the shrutis. False history has no place of significance for them.

Theist: I wonder why the fuss over what iskcon sannyasi's say about sex.I prefer to hear from SP's tapes. I have read in Lilamruta where SP also holds similar views on sex. He clearly states that sex among married is allowed only once a month. Unless, you suggest that Lilamruta is not authentic, as some people think [which I think is quite possible]. You must note that I am not questioning this statement in itself. I want shastric basis for the same. Nobody has been able to provide that. Rati: Thanks for your nice posts on Caitanya Mahaprabhu's initiation. I have never come across ISKCON devotees calling themselves Saraswat though. It is best to learn all shastras(shruti & smrti), but if one can only repeat the words of Mahaprabhu without false interpretation, he is also learned and he is dear to the Lord. I agree 100%. Chanting the name of Krishna is all we need. That also means there is no need to criticize or abuse Advaita or Adi Sankara, especially without knowing what that philosophy is and worse resorting to filthy language. Talking abt fanaticism, its better to see what Yadava Prakash, the fanatic Guru of Ramanuja tried to do to him. Instead of arguing and defeating, he simply tried to kill him. If Gaudiyas are talking heavily against Adhvaita, I do not see it as much offendable as murdering Ramanuja. Are Advaitins glorifying Yadava Prakash? Does he even figure in their scheme of things? All Advaitins only talk of Adi Sankara and the shrutis. On the other hand, our sannyasis go about abusing Advaita and Adi Sankara, often without basis. Shvu: Thanks for the link.

But do Hndus really consider Mahabharat or Ramayana to be Apaurusya. Is it not true that only vedas are Apaurusya? I think most schools agree that there have been interpolations in the smritis. That is why, when there is a conflict, they seek the srutis.