Guest guest Report post Posted October 8, 2005 hare krishna, prabhuji could you please answer my questions. why some of the people are borned as mentally challenged or handicaped? was their life very sinful in there previous life? what is the solution for them? can this person become a devotee? if they cannot then how they can attain krishna loka? Gour haribol. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted October 8, 2005 Aren't we all mentally challenged? I mean, we chose this world over Krishna, didn't we...? Bad things happen NOT due to karma, that's just an excuse given by most Hindus. Bad things happen because only bad things can happen in the material world. That's that. So our job is to transcend this world, and the only way we can do it is by loving Krishna. Only his grace can save us. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sumedh 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2005 Hare Krishna please accept my pranams To this the most beautiful answer i ever read is by Srila Ramakrishnananda: walter: Dear Master, I would like to know what is your opinion about people who were born disabled? You are probably asking yourself what is the reason for my question.... well, I have a daughter that was born disabled. I am always asking myself "why"... I don't except it. I don't understand why. Everyone is telling me that I'm wrong .... I don't know maybe I am, maybe I'm not. That is why I would like to know your opinion about the subject; it is very difficult for me and on the same topic, do you have any children? Dear Master?Peace and spiritual harmony- to you Master of life. Thank You. Ramakrishnananda Swami: I offer my humble obeisances unto the lotus feet of my paramaradhya (most worshipable) Srila Gurudeva, nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad His Divine Grace Gracia Srila Bhakti Alok Paramadveiti Swami Maharaja. I offer the same unto my siksa-guru, nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Narahari das Babaji Maharaja and unto the lotus feet of our whole guru-parampara. I offer my puspanjali unto their lotus feet. We have created a utilitarian society, where a human being is nothing more than simple merchandise, sold by the hour… What we call "work" is nothing more than selling hours of our lives in order to fill our bellies… We learn and prepare ourselves to acquire more qualities and properties that will get us a better price on society's market. Schools and universities, with their certificates and diplomas are like quality tags, allowing us to get a higher price… something more elevated. But the terrible problem is that we are wondering around in life not communicating with human beings, but with products. To each and every one of them we set a determined price... In a world where the only importance is your utility, how difficult it has become to love… your price is set according to your beauty, intelligence, and skills… according to your ability to be useful... to be utilized... We put canaries and nightingales in cages, and we charge a price according to their usefulness... Fortunate enough, they do not understand our illness… our disability... if they would understand; the sadness in their hearts would stop them from singing… "WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN DISABLED?" Walter… for me there is only one disability… lack of ability to love... Our disability to open our hearts and appreciate the other, not only in relation to his utility… the disability of seeing people just as merchandise, objects intended to give us pleasure and comfort. Children are not born disabled…. It is us, by the way we were trained by a utilitarian society that have have lost our natural ability to accept and appreciate ourselves… to honor beings not as objects with a certain price and a determined quality set according to your necessity. I have 3 children and one memory… I say memory, because a few years ago a tender and sweet flower was born to me, with little usefulness perhaps, and with a lot of health problems… she lived for 2 years and then finally passed away... in that time laps, between hospitals and suffering, that girl allowed me to get rid of my disability... she expanded my ability to love. Walter, believe me, being enlightened is not a matter of knowledge or mystic experiences, it is about loving more and more, day after day. I send you my humble blessings, that your daughter will overcome each and every problem, but first of all my blessing is to you, that you'll be able to stop seeing your daughter, life, and yourself and others as something useful… as a packet of cigarettes, as a beer can or a notebook to take notes. Humanity and its way of perceiving people, does not allow us to express our ability to love… I know that it is difficult… difficult not because of you Walter… but because we were trained only to buy, rent and sell!... to get a value! To set and categorize others according to their rate... we go through the world with that small machine that pastes price labels… pasting them on others, and that which we call "human relationships". How sad!!... We feel so threatened when another product is put on display next to us… another object with a higher price. We feel the fear of losing the customer… fear that our value will drop. Always remember ... love isn't a comfort, love isn't useful. I don't love you because you are convenient... no, no, no... Loving you can be a huge inconvenience... I don't love you because you are useful... no, no, no... We love, because love is our natural song. It is the essence of our life. Didn't you notice yourself the moment you loved? ... How alive you were? You think that life it difficult and unfair... no Walter, it is wonderful… But it doesn't always understand our illusory foolishness. I admire Mother Teresa. Do you know why? Not because she helped disabled children. No! She truly helped parents, she helped us - a sick humanity... she helped thousands of parents and an incapacitated society to love. It is written in the bible, "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE THY SELF"… and I say to you, be careful!... because you'll be able to perceive the other, only as you perceive yourself... If you see yourself as cheap merchandise, it will be impossible for you to love. Products fight, compete and get sold... it is sad but they are also being dumped... to the trash bin or to "elderly citizen's home"... when their utility is expired... Products might have value, but have no soul. They have no heart... they do not cry...they do not suffer; they do not feel... it is possible to store and to reduce their value… according to their utility. As much as you serve, that’s your value. Do you know why humanity never accepted masters in good spirits? Because they are not comfortable, because they are the ones who object to see humanity as preservative cans. Masters do not accept this game in which you are being asked to be a basic product... Because in this huge market of ambitions, wars, exploitation, competitions, we are so inconvenient... inconvenient to man and his society... A master is the sound of a bubbling brook... A sunset, the sound of the river does not join any political party; you can't even send them to fight a war... In short, sincerely, what can this poor society do with them? They are not useful. What have they got to teach? Only the art of smiling... the profession of flying... the skill of listening to the wind… the gift of ingenuousness… the doctorate of star gazing whilst strolling on the she shore... only such similar professions. Now tell me why wouldn't they want to kill you? A Master is one of those things like a night lightened by a full moon, which helps so much but at the same time is so useless... Your daughter is a star, a sunset; who can help you tremendously even though being useless. Hari Bol!, and a huge hug my friend... I call you a friend even though I found no real use in you... and if I would have found, I would have doubted if our friendship is true... I'm not sure if you understand what I am saying in this moment... But only by getting close to someone, who has no use to us, someone who gives us nothing but inconvenience, One can learn true love. This daughter is a star! A flower! ... Disabled? No my dear Walter ... the disabled, the handicapped, the limited are us. We are a sick society in which even a tear is no more than a weakness. Farewell, and remember always: what turns us into true humans, is exactly those things we love, respect and accept, even if it is not for their use… Hari Bol! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dawncurry 0 Report post Posted October 8, 2005 I got stuck into astrology for a while,and I became aware that where people are challenged in life or disabled (in many forms)they are compensated greatly by the lessons they can learn from it.How well someone is compensated depends on how they co-operate with their spiritual lessons. We all have these karmic lessons. It is a hard thing to do for anyone to accept responsibility for thier circumstances...very hard but if we can do this even a little we can help ourselves progress.Nobody is outwith the love of God. They are part of God.But we are all here in the material world to be reformed and corrected through our own experiences... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted October 9, 2005 You honestly don't believe in Karma? How do you transcend this world? Where is your proof of this being accomplished? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted October 9, 2005 for non-devotees. Devotees know that their love for Krishna is 'burning' all of their karma. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mark 0 Report post Posted October 21, 2005 Haribol! I cannot read Srila Ramakrishnananda's reply to his devotees question without crying.. (literally) I must be going soft in my old age! Could you (or anyone) tell me a little about Srila Ramakrishnananda please ? Still being relatively new to KC I am very ignorant of the various spiritual masters with the obvious exception of Srila Prabhupada (although I am still learning new things about his divine grace on a regular basis) Hare Krishna Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
child 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2005 this is an excerpt from a near death experience which i will post later to subdue the hostility here: Note: Sadly, I never knew that living for self was sin, until this moment. My friend, the pain of these realizations was beyond words. Even thinking about all this now, sixteen years later, is still extremely painful. In this divine light, I saw God’s heavenly barometer. I was on the lower end. Because of my arrogant, puffed-up attitude for which I considered myself on the top, I was actually on the bottom. Some of my bedfellows were the arrogant lawyers and businessmen that most people despise because of their egotism. I was spiritually as low as them because, inwardly, I was as prideful and egotistical as they were. I was shown that the masses of people - the silent majority - were above me. They also were living in darkness, but not as deep of a darkness as myself because their love was greater than mine. At least they served their families, whereas I only served myself. I saw that the handicapped and mentally retarded, the ones at whom I had once laughed at, were exalted above the masses of people because they were humble and innocent. They had remained relatively pure because they had not looked down on others or thought badly of and never judged their neighbors. They were similar to cars idling in neutral. They were not moving forward spiritually, but neither were they moving backward as most of the human race sadly is! In hindsight, I came to realize that, spiritually, they are situated at the same neutral level as the animals. Since animals do not have free will, they cannot pollute themselves with sin. Therefore, they are innocent and do not live in darkness like the majority of the human race. Orthodox Judaism teaches that if a man or woman does not serve God in his life it would have been better for this person to be born a worm; for a worm is only capable of being a worm. But a person, because of free will, can either rise to great spiritual heights (higher than an angel), or sink to degraded realms (becoming like a devil). Unfortunately, since most people misuse the gift of free will by not striving to be faithful to God in all things, it would have been better if they never had been born! This is the sad and shocking truth I saw with my own eyes! Note: And at the time of death this God of love is stuck with the disgusting task of being involved with punishing the overwhelming majority of the human race ... billions of us! Bible: In the story of Noah, it states that God was sorry that He had created man. Now you know why! Note: Today, there are far, far more people on the earth than in the days of Noah. One doesn't have to be a genius to realize that sinful mankind has become a much heavier burden to our Creator than in the days of Noah! Next, above the innocent retarded and crippled folks were the soul-talkers. Remember those brainwashed religious fanatics that I had so often mocked in college? Well, I saw that these people were so exalted in God’s eyes because they were consciously using their free will to seek out God and please Him with a total commitment of their lives. Even though they were not as humble and innocent as the retarded and handicapped people, they were more exalted in God’s eyes. I saw that this was the case because their holy efforts were appreciated by God and had made them dear to Him - earning His respect. Holy effort earns God’s respect! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted October 23, 2005 <font color="blue">this God of love is stuck with the disgusting task of being involved with punishing the overwhelming majority of the human race </font color> Actually God doesn't have to do anything. We end up punishing ourselves. How? Simply by not trusting in him. We separate ourseleves from our maker. Everlasting darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth. ___ <font color="blue">they were more exalted in God’s eyes... earning His respect. Holy effort earns God’s respect!</font color> Is God a respector of persons? ___ <font color="blue">seek out God and please Him... their holy efforts were appreciated by God</font color> Seek out yes, but in the book of Isaiah God says "even the good things you do are like filthy rags before me." When did you say you studied the scriptures? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
child 0 Report post Posted October 23, 2005 Actually God doesn't have to do anything. We end up punishing ourselves. How? Simply by not trusting in him. We separate ourseleves from our maker. Everlasting darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth. TRUE, THE BIBLE SAYS JUDGED ACCORDING TO OWN MEASUREMENT. Is God a respector of persons? NO, HE RESPECTS ANYONE WHO SERVES HIM. THE RESPECT YOU GET FROM GOD IS THE RESPECT YOU GIVE TO GOD AND YOUR FELLOW MAN. Seek out yes, but in the book of Isaiah God says "even the good things you do are like filthy rags before me." When did you say you studied the scriptures? THIS IS ONLY A SMALL PORTION OF DANIEL ROSENBLITS NDE. HE SPEAKS OF FILTHY RAG WORKS. HE SAID THAT ALL GOOD WORKS ARE FILTHY RAGS IN GODS EYES WHEN THEY ARE NOT DONE IN COMPLETE SELFSACRIFICAL LOVE. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
