Authority Of The Gita

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna!

 

You have wonderful preaching mission to engage yourself in convincing these

"mayavadis" and other speculators! Count on me for any and all the help!

 

Here is an interesting conversation between Srila Prabhupada and John Lenon

and Yoko, establishing the "authority of SriMad BhagvadGita" .

 

RED PORTIONS SPOKEN BY SRILA PRABHUPADA

 

You've been speaking of the Maharishi. Hasn't he written some book on

Bhagavad-gita [A sacred Vedic text]?

JOHN: Yes, that's the one we've read.

PRABHUPADA: So why is he using Krishna's book to put forward his own

philosophy? Bhagavad-gita is a Krishna's book. Why is he taking Krishna's book?

GEORGE: Well, he didn't. He just translated it.

PRABHUPADA: Why? Because Krishna's book is very well respected.

JOHN: I've also read part of another translation by Paramahansa Yogananda.

PRABHUPADA: Yes, all these men take advantage of Krishna's book to lend an

air of authority to their own speculations. Vivekananda has done it, Sri

Aurobindo has done it, Dr. Radhakrishan has done it, Mahatma Gandhi has done it.

Thousands of them have done it. But why do they use Bhagavad-gita as the vehicle

for their own ideas?

GEORGE: In the versions I've read, the authors all claim theirs is the best.

And sometimes I get something from which I didn't get from another.

JOHN: I found that the best thing for myself is to take a little bit from

here and a little bit from there.

YOKO: I mean, we're not just saying that. We want to ask your advice. In

other words, what is your answer to this question of authority?

PRABHUPADA: If we don't take the Gita from the authorized disciplic

succession, it won't help us. In our introduction to Bhagavad-gita we have

carefully

explained that aside from Krishna there is no authority. Krishna is the

authority, because Bhagavad-gita was spoken by Krishna. Can you deny that?

JOHN: What about Yogananda, Maharishi, and all these other people who have

translated the Gita? How are we to tell that their version isn't also Krishna's

word?

PRABHUPADA: If you seriously want to understand this, you should study the

original Sanskrit text.

JOHN: Study Sanskrit. Oh, now you're talking!

GEORGE: But Vivekananda said that books, rituals, dogmas, and temples are

secondary details anyway. He said they're not the most important thing. You

don't

have to read the book in order to have the perception.

PRABHUPADA: Then why did Vivekananda write so many books?

JOHN: who says who's actually in the line of descent? I mean, it's just like

royalty, Yogananda also claims to be in line, he talks about his guru's guru's

guru's guru, like that. Maharishi claimed that all his gurus went way back. I

mean, how are we to know?

PRABHUPADA: Whatever Maharishi may be, his knowledge does not extend up to

Krishna, not up to His personal feature.

JOHN: That's what he used to say in exactly the same way about everybody

else.

PARAHUPADA: But factually he cannot be an authority, because he does not

speak anything about Krishna. If a postman comes and does not know anything

about

the post office, what kind of postman is he?

YOKO: But does he talk about his post office?

PRABHUPADA: No, you cannot create your own post office. There is only one

post office, the government post office. If a postman comes and says, "I belong

to another post office," then at once you know he is unauthorized.

JOHN: In the Bible or any other holy book, they talk about one God. So it's

just the one Being everywhere, in all the books. So why isn't Hare Krishna or

something similar in the Bible?

DEVOTEE: it is in the Bible. In Psalms it says, "Praise the Lord with every

breath. Praise the Lord with drums and flute."

JOHN: But they haven't got very good tunes. They haven't been passing on any

good chants, have they? I mean, would it be effective to chant, "Lord Jesus,

Lord Jesus, Hail Lord Jesus?"

PRABHUPADA: Lord Jesus says that he is the Son of God. He's not God, but the

Son of God. In that sense, there is no difference between Krishna

Consciousness and Christianity. There is no quarrel between God and God's Son.

Jesus says

to love God, and Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, says, "Love Me."

It's the same thing. All right?

your humble servant

 

Dr Prayag Narayan das Misra, BhaktiVedanta Cultural Center

100 S Weber Dr, Chandler, AZ 85226-3216, USA

(480) 705 4900

http://www.paradharm.com

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna

Dandavat pranam, to all preachers.

 

I read some interesting replies on the Mayavad philosophy on

http://www.hindu-religion.net/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=hinduism&Number=80397&page\

=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=all&vc=1

 

Two fellows (Nitairam and Guest #) are especially good quoting even from

Upanisads in favor of personalistic philosophy. If you like you can check that

out.

 

 

 

 

 

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