Guest guest Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Digest 148, December 20th, 2005. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja **You are welcome to send in your questions to HH Romapada Swami at iskcondc with the word "Question" included in the subject line. Lord Visnu and Lord Krsna, Isavasya - God is the proprietor *********************************************************** Q: What are the similarities and differences between Vishnu and Krishna. Answer: Vishnu is a plenary expansion of Krishna or Lord Narayana for the purpose of material creation. He is the same as Krishna in the sense that all plenary expansions are equally powerful as Krishna. In that sense, all the expansions such as Narayana in Vaikuntha are called 'Vishnu tattva' as opposed to the jiva-tattva or the miniscule living entities. The difference is that Vishnu is worshiped in awe and reverence while the pastimes of Krishna with His pure devotees are very intimate and sweet. Srila Prabhupada compared Lord Vishnu as God in an official mood, and Krishna as God at home -- just as a king may be venerated, worshiped and obeyed by all citizens including great ministers, while at his own home the king acts subordinate to his beloved children, while both are the same person, exhibiting different aspects of their relationships. Similarly Krishna becomes subjugated by the intimate loving dealings of His pure devotees, as we see in the Damodara-lila and other pastimes. The Nectar of Devotion (Ch 21) gives a list of 64 transcendental qualities of Krishna. It is explained that all living entities can have upto 50 qualities in minute degrees of perfection and Lord Shiva upto 55 qualities. Lord Vishnu has 60 of these qualities unlimitedly in their fullness whereas svayam bhagavan Krishna alone has four special unique qualities not manifested even in Vishnu viz. His superexcellent beauty, the attraction of His flute playing, the wonderful varieties of His intimate pastimes (such as childhood pastimes) and His being surrounded many devotees endowed with wonderful love of God. (For further details please refer to Digest 132 & Digest 39) http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest132 http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest39 Q: How would you explain the concept of "isavasya" given in Isopanisad? Ans. I am not sure if you have some specific angle or point of clarification on this. The basic idea of 'isavasya' is to recognize the Lord's proprietorship over everything, since everything in the universe including all spirit souls (us!) are emanations from Him, and therefore conducting our life accordingly. When we recognize the Lord as proprietor, we would work only for His interest, and use everything at our disposal - including our body, our mental faculties, social relationships etc, in His service. We should take steps to mold our life in such a way that this becomes possible. This means being satisfied with whatever priveleges are given to us by God's grace and not endeavor ever-increasingly for greater material gains (this is called prayasa, in the language of Upadesamrita, and it destroys bhakti). As Krishna says in the Gita, we are to perform our prescribed duties without claiming proprietorship over the results. One who is living by the principles of isavasya would not envy or covet the position or possessions of others but is satisfied to execute the duties given to him nicely to his utmost ability, for the pleasure of the Lord. Isavasya also implies conducting our activities according to the laws of God as given in Vedic scriptures, without being affected by undue attachments and aversions -- in oth er words, we not only offer the results to Krishna but also do the work itself according to His directions, not whimsically. Srila Prabhupada gives some examples of application of this idea in the purport to Isopanisad Mantra 1 - such as offering all our food to the Supreme Isa and accepting only Krishna prasadam. Another example is that a laborer cannot claim proprietorship over a building he has constructed simply because he worked hard to manufacture it. Thus a devotee does not think that he/she is being maintained or evaluated by the results of their own hard labor or personal abilities, rather one recognizes that all the ingredients including one's physical and intellectual capabilities come from Krishna, and thus Krishna is the actual doer, proprietor and maintainer. Srila Prabhupada often described nicely how young brahmacaris were trained within the Vedic system in this spirit within the Gurukula: the students would collect and bring alms for the Guru, and whatever they bring becomes the property of the spiritual master. The student will eat only when invited by the spiritual master and if the guru neglects to call him, he will fast; although it was the student that labored to collect the alms, he was trained to see it as Guru's property and not think of eating without permission. Thus from the outset they are trained to later on see everything as the property of Guru and Krishna. ----- This digest on the web: http://iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest148 All previous digests in one file (with responses to about 400 questions): http://iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest00 Responses to Some Frequently Asked Questions (Karma, free-will, demigods, Lord Siva, why are we here, how to control the mind, Deity worship, marriage, Jesus Christ, spiritual and material relationships and morality of Lord Krsna's conjugal pastimes, spiritual master, spirit soul/jiva/living entity): http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?digestname=digest999_faq To , or change/add your email address please send email to iskcondcr Please reply to this email at iskcondcr if you choose to discontinue receiving these digests. If you have received the "Inquiries Into the Absolute" digests despite requesting removal in the past, please let us know immediately by emailing us at iskcondcr These functions are currently not available at the ISKCON DC website or by emailing admin (AT) iskcondc (DOT) org. ----- ** A brief biography of His Holiness Romapada Swami is available at: http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl?ndx=2 ** This and all previous digests are available on the web** They can be accessed at: http://www.iskcondc.org -> Inquiries into the Absolute http://www.iskcondc.org/cgi-bin/renderphilo.pl?ndx=132 ISKCON DC Philosophy Website: http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl Related Sites: http://www.romapadaswami.com, http://www.caitanya.com ----- This email has been sent to you by the ISKCON temple of Washington D.C. 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