Ayodhya

In conversations there is a place where some disciples were complaining that they could not convince some Indian man to stop worshipping Shiva. Srila Prabhupada correct them by saying there is no need for that man to stop worshipping Shiva. He can keep chanting Om namo Shivaya because Shiva is a devotee of Krsna and will ultimately bestow Krsna-jnana upon the sincere worshipper. The goal is not to stop respecting Shiva but to give him the high respect he deserves as great Vaisnava that he is.

 

One of the ten offenses against the Holy Name is to consider the demigods on the same level as Krsna.

It would seem that this would be an offense to those who do not consider Krishna to be the highest. But what difference does it make?

You reconcile this by saying that Shiva is a devotee of Krishna? I am guessing that you would say the same about the other Gods (I refuse to use the word Demi-) to reconcile it with your beliefs. Wouldn't a believer in Shakti say the same? That Krishna and all the other Gods bow to Her?

Have you read the Puranas? In the Vishnu Purana, all the other Gods bow to him. In the Shiva Purana, all the other Gods bow to Shiva. In the Shakti Purana, all the other Gods bow to Shakti. Hopefully, you get the picture.

How come no one's talking about Bell's Theorem?

Thanks to Eternal Law for posting it. It seems science is finally catching up. I believe Bishadi has a similar view about life that he is trying to get published...

Also, in the Gita, Krishna says that Vaishya's, Shudras, and even women are of inferior birth, but it is only symbolic, not literal. In the same way, Jesus' teachings may have become misinterpreted from their original meaning. Jesus never said that those who did not believe in him go to Hell, other Apostles said that.

How many of the "Gods" in that long list from A to Z have ever been claimed to descend to Earth and exhibit Godly pastimes?

 

99.99% percent of the Gods in that list are just superstitious figures or names that different tribes and cultures have ascribed to the being they believe is the God.

 

Krishna is known to have appeared on Earth and brought his spiritual abode with him and exhibited his Godly opulence.

 

So, in the list of Gods, we should immediately eliminate any God who hasn't descended to Earth and shown his Godhood.

 

That eliminates ALL so called Gods except for Sri Krishna.

 

First thing to do with the list is eliminate all the fairies, tinkerbells, lesser gods and nature spirits and reduce it down to the Gods that have CLAIMED to be the ONE supreme being, the absolute truth and the Devadeva - the God of gods.

 

I think that leaves only one God in contention.

Perfect. Nicely worded.

Please do not take the following question harshly:

If Rama is an avatar of Vishnu, and Krishna also is an avatar of Vishnu, why is it wrong according to ISKON to worship Rama?

Also, what happens to me, if I worship other Gods and Godesses in addition to Krishna?

I wonder then why the Vedas are called "breath of God" - nihsvasitam brahma - if they are meant to "mislead and not achieve real happiness" because they mostly talk about demigod worship

 

bad breath?

 

you people keep coming up with all kinds of interpretations of the tradition.

 

BG 17.4

yajante sattvika devan

SYNONYMS

yajante--worship; sattvikah--those who are in the mode of goodness; devan--demigods;

TRANSLATION

Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods

 

THAT is our understanding. Yes, there is a platform above mode of goodnes - transcendence, but do not deride material goodness as it is extremely counterproductive for the society in general.

 

the leela is above material goodness, that is why there are different rules.

Not being a Vaishnava myself, I think I can identify better with this idea. The Bhagavad Gita never says the Vedas are wrong, but Krishna says that those who transcended have no need for the Vedas. Those who do not understand them use them for materialistic purposes while non-materialistic people look at them differently, it's all in the point of view.

Also, Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that worshipping other Gods does not make one automatically materialistic. Whatever you hold to be the highest, you consider that the ONE, strive for it, and you will eventually reach Enlightenment. Krishna says take refuge in Me not me (note the capitalization), which doesn't mean Krishna the body, but Brahman. If you have an Indra diety (which I'm guessing no in the world uses), worshipping him is not bad as long as you keep in mind non-materialism.

Also, re-reading the Sri Bhagavatam Purana, Krishna never commands the people to stop worshipping Indra, but instead persuades them everything is One. Besides, Indra is the only God to be so angry and arrogant.

Consider that one day, God came into your body and began to speak the Gita. You, knowing you were God would say take refuge in Me, but in actuality, you are not saying to refuge in your materialistic form, but the form that you represent.

Also, what do you consider a demi-God? Ganesh? Shiva? Saraswati? Lakshmi? Durga? Other saints and sages (Sai Baba)? Our gathering has a Kubera pooja during one of the festivals... not sure which, though.

Well, the whole episode of lifting Govardhan Hill and the floods of Indra are all becaue Krishna didn't want the residents of Vraja to worship demigods like Indra.

 

Srila Prabhupada says in gita purport:

 

 

Demigod worship is part of the karma kanda path, but in pure devotional service demigod worship is forbidden.

As such, Krishna stepped in when the residents of Vraja were attempting to worship Indra.

Krishna seems rather conceited in this episode.

I don't understand why he wouldn't allow them to worship Indra. This sounds very similar to pieces in the Quran and Bible where worship of other Gods is forbidden and seems extremely contradictory.

How should/do members of other sects view this?

Also, technically, shouldn't one, at a certain stage, abandon all names and figures? At a certain stage, certainly, Krishna is no better than Indra?

So, can we come to the conclusion that guys cannot pray to gain a beautiful spouse?

I guess us guys have to hope some pretty girls are thinking of us...

Then that makes it quite obvious that the God of the Bible was one of the Prajapatis who are responsible for populating the Earth and other planets.

 

The God of the Bible was definitly NOT Vishnu or Krishna, nor even Lord Brahma as far as that goes.

What is the definition of Prajapati as it applies to the Christian God?

What is this book about?

Not only is there life on Neptune, but on all the other planets as well, why else should the planets be there. I don't remember my physics class when I was there, but I think it lies forward in time. So we would probably need a time machine to find the life there. My girlfriend is from Mars, I remember flying there the first time I met her, with the out-of-body machine, I guess you can get there now if you have the ability to astral travel. I hope to learn that when I get older. I remember also the intoxicating atmosphere on Neptune, it is almost as the high you get from smoking blue lotus. And on Mars they all like to smoke the leaves of a tree, that I have tried here on earth, called acer palmatum.

 

I remember also my father warned my about flying to earth, because of a time limit there. I was caught by the earth's atmosphere because I forgot about my time, it was like trying to get to the surface of an ocean, but I "drowned", and had to be prepared for being born in a human body, in a layer on earth where there was no people, only me and my girlfriend, and then we were kicked out of our temporary earth bodies, and I was dragged through a singing forest, and when I got out of the forest, then I saw the lights at the hospital, and I was born, and entered a great relaxation, and forgot who I was.

So was the Earth you visited on the same plane of time as the others?

You stated that you visited the other planets in a time much later than our own and then came back to Earth. Was this Earth the same as ours today (because you also stated that the same type of plant was there), or was it Earth in the future (in which we supposedly haven't killed each other already)?

Also, I think Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus...

So I have been on earth before this life, and even lived a short while on Neptune, before this incarnation, I hope to get back there after this life, it is more advanced than living on earth, they have things like an out-of-body machine, and a network that all minds are connected to. I have communicated to my parents on Neptune, after I woke up to who I am, and is now part of the network. I believe gurus too have networks, and I believe it is a very good thing, and it will help keeping bad influence out of your head. We are all one, and all is connected.

There's life on Neptune?

How come scientists haven't picked up on this yet? Or is it on a parallel universe?

I totally agree.

Manmohan Singh recently increased the affirmative action plans for several universities, and although the Brahmins are protesting, he won't budge. He needs to pull the lower castes up and squash them together with the Brahmins and make them feel uncomfortable. Only then will they realize that we must unite to protect our religion.

Another strategy is to build more castless temples like the one Jagannath temple that just opened.

Wars also boost the economy, albeit for a short time.

The smell may have simply been the residue from the crematorium, but there is another reason.

The ashes, being the only remnant of your father, caused your brain to re-create the smell as it was the only part of your father you could ever reason to sense again. There is a reason we Hindus cremate and that is to let go of their spirit, not convene with them in the Afterlife.

I am sorry, indeed, my grandmother passed away last year.

Love that picture of Radha and Krishna, guruji!

What is the problem, Lewix?

This reminds me of the yearning present in Mirabhai's work...

Beautiful.

You really should read her work.

Are there really mantras for acquiring a beautiful spouse?

Who do we pray to, Kama and Rati?

I agree with you, I enterted this realtionship knowing that we both love God in our own way. Somewhere in my heart, my intuition tells me that with time, we willoth have an understanding of our religions and be able to live happily. As such I feel our biggest problem will not be him and I, and "our" differences, we are both afraid, that our families, will try to influence each of us.

 

This is going to be a huge step, I am telling my parenst about him this weekend. Please pray for me, I need all the strength & courage I can get.

hare Krrsna

We have all presented our case on the worst case scenario of his boisterous religion over your children. We obviously do not know who he is or what he is capable of doing.

May the Gods be with you.

Karma is a way of explaining why bad things happen to good people. It is not important to remember what we did wrong because it would place emphasis on the past and not the present.

"Be here now," as Ram Dass put it. Place emphasis on the present moment and you will properly deal with the problem at hand instead of trying to avoid whatever it was (assuming you knew your evil deeds) in the future. This way, you would never be able to cope with other problems that do not deal with the problems you (somehow) knew you committed.

About free will: I don't understand what your idea of free will is, but don't you have it? You state that karma somehow dictates our lives, but the number of possible good and bad deeds in previous lives does not amount to the 80% of your life that you still lead. To think that karma is somehow a determinant (like some Christians will say about how Hinduism is essentially a cycle of violence), you can always embetter your life by coping with problems properly instead of doing more bad deeds to rectify it.

Also, karma need not be simply about good and bad deeds. Karma accumulates from desire prompted activities. Think of it this way. Constantly through life, your soul is a bathtub with the water constantly on. Water (desire) is constantly flowing into your bathtub as it is draining out (by all the selfless activities). When you do not act simply by desire (desire is not simply a want, but a strong attachment to the want. If you need clarification, please ask), the water is turned off, and the drain keeps pulling out. Ultimately, you want to arrive at a dry bathtub.

Thank you so much everyone for your insight.

 

My boyfriend is opposed to the idea of deity worship as he says according to Christian belief, they are not to worship idols or what we call deitys. He asks, "how can a man create a figure of God? and then pray to it? \

 

as far as my vegetarian life style, doing my japs, and having pictures in an album, The Gita, litreature of anykind as someon suggested are all something he is very open to.

 

This is ignorance on my end, so I ask all of you? To be Krishna conscious, does one have to have a deity? I am really torn...he is a very accepting and accomadating guy, but at some point i think he feels he has to follow his religion, also he too is completly against displayinf pictures of Christ even in his present home.

Yes, he is opposed to diety worship, but he won't let you do it?

That sounds like a pretty shady relationship. I would think before marrying this guy. If he won't let you worship your Gods, what else won't he let you do? Does he make you go to Church?

You could also explain to him why we do it and the significance behind it? That God is brought into the diety, that God is in everything?

Sai Baba once said, "Idol worship is scientifically atomic worship."

Also, even if he is against displaying pictures of Christ in his home, it is not essential to do so for Christians.

For Hindus, it is a vital part of the religion. Dieties have much higher importance than the symbol of a cross or Jesus. His loss would not be as great as yours.

Could you please translate "ASHWIN" and "DEVDAS" into Hindi?

Could you translate "ASHWIN" and "DEVDAS" into Sanskrit?

PrabhupAda: KRSNa, Christ... Of course, this question was several times put to me. Christ says that "I am son of God." And KRSNa says "I am God." So there is no difference. Son of God and God, we respect everyone. If I respect your father, I respect you also. Do you mean to say if I disrespect your father, you'll be pleased upon me? No. That is our philosophy. So Caitanya MahAprabhu says that I am servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of KRSNa [Cc. Madhya 13.80]. So if anyone loves KRSNa, he must love Lord Jesus Christ also. And if one perfectly loves Jesus Christ he must love KRSNa. If he says, "Why shall I love KRSNa? I shall love Jesus Christ," then he has no knowledge. And if one says, "Why shall I love Jesus Christ? I shall love...", then he has also no knowledge. If one understands KRSNa, then he will understand Jesus Christ. If one understands Jesus Christ, you'll understand KRSNa.

As far as I know, only the Hindus and Buddhists recognize the divinity in other people's religions. In no other religion in the world will you find sages who exhalt the Devas.

I think this is why in Judaism, you are not supposed to marry anybody but a Jew and in Islam, men are expected to convert their wives if they don't convert at marriage, and men are expected to convert if their wife is muslim and they aren't.

...JUST SEE - this devotee wants to take God out of the equation...

 

As for the 'numbers' I don't go by what wikipedia says I go by what Prabhupada says:

 

It is said in the Mahabharata, Adi-parva (20) that 640,000,000 men were killed in the eighteen days of the Battle of Kurukshetra, and some hundreds of thousands were missing. Practically this was the greatest battle in the world within five thousand years. [sB 1.8.46, purport]

We are talking about the historicity of a man-made book, not the Absolute Reality.

You are a fool to think that that many people actually fought on one single battlefield. You need to start thinking for yourself.

That right there will tell you alot. If all systems are go after that, then I am not sure what your socio-economic status is. Some people hookup with someone to move up economically; if the person has enough money where you can have a shrine room and he never has to set foot in there or bug you about what you do in there, that is one option.

It's all about her and her children.