Jahnava Nitai Das

I would also think that the people in the conversations would probably be offended if they came across the edited versions. If they had left the person's name out it would probably be better. Because you can't present a philosophical debate while changing someone's words to make him look like the loser in the debate. It would be more acceptable to anonymize the debator and just present it as concepts.

In Kali Yuga the name of God is the only way to attain spiritual elevation. Take shelter of Lord Krishna's names and don't worry about the various secondary processes of purification (yoga, dhyana, mantra upasana, etc.).

"He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man..." This is a very misquoted verse among devotees. I'm not sure who started it, but I saw a booklet printed by Rohini Kumar (ex-swami) around 1986 to 1990 where he took verses from the bible that were against meat eating, and in there he had this quote. He may have gotten it from Hansadutta, because he was into the bible and wanted to write a commentary on it. The entire verse reads as follows, and if one reads it logically and in context it doesnt say anything against killing animals: To me the verse doesnt say killing an ox is wrong, anymore than it says burning incense is wrong. It is spoken against those who offer sacrifices to God while not having faith in him. The sacrifice of ox, lamb, incense and oblations were fully accepted by the God of the bible, but if you didnt have faith then your offering of incense, an ox, or a lamb was sinful. So it all had to do with whether you had proper faith in God. These same sacrifices which God is now condemning were ordained by God himself (in the bible). And later (in many places) he advises his people to offer flesh sacrifices to him. So this verse really has nothing to do with whether or not it is wrong to kill an ox. As far as the old testiment, when reading it I don't see much sign of transcendental knowledge. This is just my opinion and everyone has the right to believe what they like. But to me it reads like some tribal people with a lot of hatred against other races and tribes. Such books can be found in any culture. In Kali yuga people hate each other, discriminate against each other and fight amongst each other, usually while invoking the name of "God" to justify their actions. The losers in history did the same thing (such as other pagan religions in europe). If they had won the wars their religion would have similar stories of God ordering them to kill the non believers and of God punishing their enemies. I also don't see any reason to consider the bible to be the word of God. It was manipulated and more or less written by corrupt popes and fallible men. They borrowed some good things from Jesus, and thats why there is some hint of humanity in the teachings today. The teachings of Jesus were completely different from what God taught in the old testiment. The hatred was gone and there was a new message of love and compassion. The corrupt popes hijacked this popular teaching and then created something they called the bible, while selling tickets to heaven and becoming rich. I don't see anything transcendental or spiritual in their history with the exception of Jesus and a few rare saintly people. The bible was more or less a product of corrupt leaders. So I don't consider it the word of God, even though there are probably some spiritual things they have stolen from saintly people and included in the mix. Regardless of its validity, the bible and Christianity has created some of the most civilized and humanitarian people in modern times, something we don't find much of in India even with the greatest philosophy. So for that I have a lot of respect for them. In India and other third world places like Africa, people getting burnt alive, hacked to death, etc., are daily occurences by the hundreds and thousands. There is a lack of respect for human life, and there is a lot of inner hatred towards fellow man. In modern (usually Christian) countries, such things don't occur because people are more civilized and have respect for human life. There are so many other faults in western civilization (like animal slaughter), but I see some things that we can learn from them as well. And over all I dont see a practicing utopia anywhere in the world, in any of the religions being taught.

"Refutations" will go back and forth for ever. The sanskrit language functions in such a way that one can derive thousands of unique meanings from a single sentence. Thus the pandits have debated the intricacies of certain points for thousands of years. Ultimately debate and refutation has no value for the soul, because it is based on the mind and intellect. Only by personal revelation can one really know what the ultimate meaning of a controversial verse is. One chooses the path of saints he wants to follow and through sadhana things will be revealed to him. The back and forth debates do not establish truth, they establish the intellectual capacity of the pandits to argue.

Though I don't have time to answer the points you brought up, I would just like to point out that these particular teachings you object to are taught directly by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his first disciples (the six goswamis). So your objection really isn't with Prabhupada but with Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his whole lineage. There is nothing wrong with that, and of course you have the right to your own opinion and beliefs. It seems your belief system is closer to Hinduism where you identify all demigods as representations of the "formless God" (Brahman). That is completely opposite to Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings, where he accepts all living entities, including the demigods, to be eternal servants of Krishna, who is the cause of all causes. That the demigods are not God is something very thoroughly expounded by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. If you would like to discuss that topic, we could start another thread.

All actions are physically carried out by the modes of material nature, so the living entity really does no physical action. But the living entity creates the desire to perform the action, which triggers the modes of nature to perform the action. Thus the living entities are responsible for all actions, even though they don't physically perform them. To give a rough example, I want to raise my arm and my arm raises. I think I was the doer and I raised my hand. In reality, I (the soul in the heart) had the desire to raise "my" hand. The paramatma checks our desire with our karma. If the two align, then he sanctions the nature (three modes) to raise your hand. Since there is no visible gap between our desire and the action (our arm raising) we come to think that we have done it - kartaham it manyate, "we think we are the doer". The reality is that all actions were carried out by the modes of material nature. The living entity has the power to choose and create desires for action. And those desires are manifested in this imaginary world through the workings of the three modes of material nature. The living entity still is the one behind the scenes activating the modes through remote control using his desires. Thus he is held accountable for his "actions" even though he did not physically perform the actions. The point is that the modes of nature are never under the control of the living entity even though it appears so, but the living entity is actually under their control and entangled in this net of maya through his desires. When someone says that Krishna is responsible for all bad actions since it is the modes of nature that are performing all actions, they are not seeing the root cause which is the desire created by the living entity. The living entity is ultimately responsible for all actions as the creator of the desire.

No object is good or bad in this world. Everything is a manifestation of the Lord's energy. The only good and bad is the intention of the individual to be selfish or selfless. When we use everything in the service of Krishna we remain pure, and when we become selfish and use such things for our own sense gratification we become impure. Thus wealth can create both a good and bad result, depending on how it is used. Unfortunately most people in the world are under the influence of lust, anger and greed. Thus when they acquire wealth the want to utilize it to satisfy those propensities, which takes them further from God. 1) When someone is addicted to these bad propensities, but still sincerely trying to become a devotee, Lord Krishna shows him special mercy by taking his wealth away from him. 2) When someone is insincere while performing devotional activities, and really only wants wealth (not Krishna), then Lakshmi may fulfill their desires by giving them mundane wealth instead of spiritual advancement. 3) When someone is completely pure and free from lust, anger and greed, Krishna may give them oppulence or take away their oppulence. Both situations are equal for a liberated devotee and mean nothing. The world is imaginary, so how you paint the imaginary story really makes no difference for a liberated soul.

Swami Shivananda wrote a very detailed book on what happens to souls at the time of death based on scriptures such as Garuda Purana. He is the only one I know of who has written a specific book on it. I forget the exact name of the book.

Actually most of the corrupt priests of famous temples make more money than someone in the United States would make. In some of the biggest temples they make thousands of dollars a day, but it doesn't satisfy them. It just increases their greed. That's what this world is designed to do. The more we try to satisfy lust, anger and greed, the more they grow. In Tirupati they have installed video cameras to watch the priests because some of the priests were literally taking suitcases of money. Businessmen used to bring briefcases of money to donate to the "temple", but the priests would come in between. People think they are giving to the temple when they give money to priests, but there practically isnt a single priest in India who will give the money to the temple.

It is mentioned that Lord Krishna had a pet dog. I don't recall the scriptural source at the moment, but if I remember I will post it. The dogs didnt live inside houses with the humans though.

I would stick to Hare Krishna, as that is what nearly all Gaudiya vaishnavas chant. There are some Nimbarka followers in Vraja who chant Radhe Krishna Radhe Krishna Krishna Krishna Radhe Radhe, Radhe Shyama Radhe Shyama Shyama Shyama Radhe Radhe. Not being a follower of their line I wouldn't do it. I would follow the example of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and chant the mantra recommended in Kali Santarana Upanishad (Hare Krishna...).

[ From http://www.foodrelief.org/news/articles/83/1/ ] Dear friends and devotees, Jaya Sita Rama. Please accept my humble pranams. In our previous newsletter we showed you pictures and a video of the children of Randiya and the weekly food distribution we conduct in that village. For the new year we thought it would be nice to give these children a small gift that they could really relate to, something that would allow them to just be children for a day. As most of you know, due to poverty, the children in this village have to start working from a very young age, sometimes at just 6 or 7 years old. They go to the rice fields daily and do manual labor in the hot sun, when most children should be going to school or spending their time playing games. It is very sad to see that these children have lost their childhoods and are forced to "grow up" while still being young kids. A few months ago while preparing the weekly food distribution in Randiya we saw several children sitting and playing with some "toys". I took a photo that day and have included it below so you could see exactly what I saw. It was a group of small children playing outside our Ashram in Randiya. They were waiting for our weekly food distribution to start, and they had brought their toys from home to play with as they waited. Their toys really just consisted of some broken coconut shells and mud. And with these "toys" they quickly had a group of five or six children completely absorbed in cooking "food" in these "pots". They were rolling out chapatis, cooking dahl, and so many other things with their imaginations. But all I could see were the broken coconut shells and some mud being mashed around. Some other children had made a "ball" out of crumpled up plastic bags. They wrapped some string around the crumpled plastic bag to keep it "round", and used it to play cricket. When I saw these children playing with so little I thought that we should try to get toys for all the children in the village, to let them be kids and have the fun they should be having. We all remember how happy we were as kids when we received a new toy. These children in Randiya have never even seen toys in their lives, so for them to receive a toy would mean so much more than we can imagine. Already these children are robbed of their childhoods by the time they are only 6 years old. So we wanted to give them something that would let them be kids again. At least for a short time let them play and enjoy like children. Just after new years day we rented a truck and drove three hours away to Cuttack, where the wholesale toy market is, and filled the entire truck up with all varieties of toys. We planned to give out sets of toys so that each child would get 5 or 6 toys. Every child would get one main "big toy" and then two medium toys and three small toys. An entire set of six toys would cost just $2 each. We made two different sets, one for boys (which contained things like toy cars, a cricket bat, toy soldiers, etc.) and one for girls (which had baby dolls, jumping ropes, etc.). We arrived at Randiya in the truck without warning and began spreading word for all the children in the village to gather at our ashram to receive a gift of toys. Many of the children were out working in the fields, so the crowd of children began small and increased as the day went on. By nightfall all of the children in the village had received toys. The children from the neighboring village also came running when they saw others playing with their new toys. We had purchased extra toys to be safe and had enough for those children as well, so no one went home unhappy. When the children came forward to receive their toys, most of them were stunned. They had never seen toys in their life, what to speak of a huge mountain of toys. It was just too good to be true and many didn't know how to react. Once they had the toys in their hands and went back to sit down they finally realized it was real. Then each began to smile and play with their new toys. It was a very nice sight to see so many children playing happily, especially when we are used to seeing them working in rice fields. When you give a child food, you are helping him, but he won't exactly understand the importance of it. But when you give a small child a beautiful toy to play with, you are actually giving him a childhood, and that is something he can immediately understand and appreciate. These are children, and they should be playing and doing the things that all children do. They shouldn't be working in rice fields, or doing manual labor, or doing so many other things that they are forced to do out of poverty. There is no perfect solution to the poverty of India. It is so vast and widespread that it is almost insurmountable. We cannot stop hunger and we cannot stop poverty in India. But at least we can try to help one child at a time to the best of our ability by giving them something that makes their life better. Let us give them some nourishing food and give them a nice toy so that they also can have a childhood like we did. This may not make any impact on the overall vast poverty in India, but it will make an impact in the life of that one child that we helped. For every village that we go to help, there are a thousand other villages just next door that we can't help. But rather than become hopeless at the vastness of the problem, we have to take inspiration from the face of the single child we helped today, and with that, get strength to help another child tomorrow. Below you will find some pictures of the children of Randiya receiving their new toys, as well as a short video clip of the children playing amongst themselves. Click here to watch video: http://www.foodrelief.org/news/articles/83/1/ Yours in service, Jahnava Nitai Das, Bhaktivedanta Ashram & Bhaktivedanta International Charities http://www.foodrelief.org Children at Randiya playing with "toys" made out of broken coconut shells and mud.

Almost anything we do in this world ultimately leads to some complicated karmic entanglement, even if we are trying to help others or help an animal. You will probably have to choose whatever brings the least karmic reaction. Once you have taken an animal in and given it shelter, you become responsible for it throughout its life. The animal will no longer be able to fend for itself outside, so there is no easy way to be free from your responsibilities. Once the animals are dependent on you and you cannot give them up, you will eventually be faced with the problem of interbreeding, which over generations will lead to deformity or other gene related problems. So again you are put in an ackward situation of having to choose what will bring the least amount of negative karma. If you do nothing, future generations of the animals family will suffer all sorts of problems, but at the same time you can't release them into the wild. So you will be left with two basic choices, neuter the animals or give one away. Now even the act of giving an animal away brings negative karmic reaction, as you may be breaking up a family or splitting apart friends and depriving the animals of company. In some cases it may be best to have the animals neutered rather than split them up or have them suffer other problems in the future.

The second chapter of the Gita deals with the eternality of the soul, and the fact that the soul never dies nor takes birth. That is for philosophical understanding and strength. But to help him you should just personally prayer to Lord Krishna to help him and protect him on his spiritual journey. The soul is eternal and his journey doesn't end when he dies. It's actually just beginning.

The slogan is a paraphrase of a verse from Caitanya Caritamrita: krishna surya sama, maya hoy andhakar yaha krishna taha mayar nahi adhikar "Krishna is the sun, Maya is darkness. Where there is Krishna, there can be no Maya." Also the name "Back to Godhead" was being used at least since 1947, so the western disciples were not an influence on it.

In case anyone wonders, we have upgraded to a newer server this week. Some technical server settings may not have been updated due to small oversights. So if you report error messages here it will help us find any problems and fix them. Overall the server should be faster as it is a much faster computer with double the ram.

Please post here if the error message comes up again. I think I have fixed it today.

No, ISKCON is registered as a society with its head office in Mumbai, and the Bhaktivedanta Ashram is an independent charitable religious trust registered in Chennai. There is no connection between the two, except that both follow the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Everyone accepts that injustice has been done by past Mulsims. But forcibly building a temple on the Janmabhumi site in Ayodhya will lead to riots and at least 50,000 innocent people or more will lose their lives throughout India. This is the main reason why I am against building a temple there. If a temple could be built without the loss of life, then I would support it. But in India this is impossible. Many amongst the Hindus and Muslims are full of hatred and are just waiting for an excuse to seek revenge against the others. Neither group has proper respect for the value of human life. Under such circumstances humanity is not ready for a Rama temple on the Janmasthan site. Justice should not be attained at the expense of other innocent people. And in this case so many innocent people will be killed to attain the justice of building a temple on the Janmasthan site. When justice is beyond the reach of our human endeavors, then we leave it to the ultimate judge to give everyone their punishments and rewards for past attrocities.

Yes, they certainly should give it up. But I would be against anything that would lead to bloodshed, like the BJP attacking the mosque and building a temple. How many innocent deaths would you consider to be justified in order to build a temple on the Janmabhumi site? Is there a limit at which point you would say its not worth the cost in human lives? Suppose 100,000 people get killed in riots, would you still think it was worth building the temple?

I would say its much easier for Indians, who have no real interest to visit Ayodhya anyway, to demand a temple be built there out of pride. If you go to Ayodhya today it is an empty village with no one even walking in the streets. 99% of Hindus do not even take the trouble to visit Ayodhya in their lives. The number of pilgrims visiting that city each day is usually less than 100 people, out of an Indian population of one billion people. The demand for a temple there is something the politicians have created. It is easy for other Indians to sit far away from Ayodhya and demand a temple be built there, but do the residents of Ayodhya want you creating disturbance in their lives? Because of your actions they have to live in fear. They are the one's who will be killed by Muslim rioters, not you sitting comfortably in your home. Ayodhya is in a predominantly Muslim area. All the cities and districts surrounding Ayodhya have majority Muslim populations. Your selfish actions, performed out of false pride, will bring hardship to them and happiness to your ego.

An eye for an eye is not the teaching of Christ, it is from the old testiment. Christ taught to forgive those who have wronged you. Since you are quoting Gandhi, you should also consider what would be Gandhi's view on the Ayodhya dispute. Gandhiji regularly sung, "ishwara allah tere nama..." Allah is a name of Lord Rama. If you had the spiritual vision of Gandhiji you wouldn't feel hatred for other people's religious monuments such as mosques. Furthermore, you are mixing up two completely unrelated topics. No temple or mosque today should ever be invaded, destroyed, and desecrated. For that the rule of law and the government of India are responsible to provide protection as per the constitution. But we are speaking about a completely unrelated event. Something that has occured 500 years ago, which cannot be undone, and which occured prior to the existence of civilized law. Further, the existing mosque has existed on the disputed site for 500 years. So it is not at all related to your analogy, a temple today being invaded and taken over by people from another religion (something the law of India would protect against). I suspect you are unable to see the difference between the two, and thus it would be pointless to discuss finer points of logic. If the Ramjanmabhoomi site had been an ISKCON temple 500 years ago, I would still be against breaking the mosque and rebuilding the temple. Many of our historical Gaudiya Vaishnava temples in Vrindavan had been destroyed by Muslims, and some remain as ruins even today. Injustices that have been brought upon our forefathers need to be forgiven. Building a temple out of anger and revenge for the sake of your pride is not a spiritual act.

The Ram Janmabhumi site in Ayodhya has had a mosque on it for more than 500 years. If in the future the site of ISKCON temple in Vrindavan had a mosque on it for 500 years, and if building a temple there would lead to hundreds of thousands of innocent people being murdered, I would give up the land and build a temple on another location. The physical location is not important.

Most Christians aren't really concerned with the birth place of Christ. They let the Jews and Muslims fight over it, because their religion isn't about a physical place. Vaishnavism also is not about a physical place. It is about making our bodies and hearts temples of the Lord, not about fighting over a tract of land that may or may not have been the birth place of the Lord millions of years ago.

They claim it to be bloodline, just ask them.