Inquiries Into the Absolute: Digest 162, Is there a sin Lord Krishna

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Digest 162, April 4th, 2006. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

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Is there a sin Lord Krishna does not forgive?

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Q: Does Sri Krishna forgive anybody who seeks His refuge even after sinning?

Are there sins that Krishna cannot tolerate and does not accept?

 

Answer: Krishna promises to forgive and deliver all sinful reactions of those

who surrender to Him exclusively. (Bg 18.66.) This applies to even the most

sinful persons, the only qualification being that they sincerely regret and

rectify their misdeeds and never go back to their sinful ways again by being

situated in devotional service to Krishna. The most outstanding example of this

is Lord Caitanya's deliverance of the two notorious sinners Jagai and Madhai,

infamous for having committed sins of every description, who were by His mercy

transformed into flawless pure devotees. On the contrary, continuing to sin on

the strength of doing devotional activities and thinking this will counteract

the sins is most heinous. Some times people make a habit of confessing their

sins or atoning for them (prayascitta) with no intention of giving up sinning;

this is an offense and simply makes it much harder to earn the Lord's

forgiveness and reinstate oneself.

 

Although Krishna can forgive all types of sins, there is something worse than

sinning, which the Lord does not forgive, and that is Vaishnava aparadha, or

offending the devotees of the Lord. This offense is compared to a wild elephant

that simply destroys, and this is also illustrated in the pastime of

deliverance of Jagai and Madhai. Although both Jagai and Madhai were equal

partners in committing all conceivable sinful activities, while Madhai

assaulted Nityananda prabhu Jagai prevented further assaults. For this one

reason, Lord Caitanya delivered Jagai but refused to accept Madhai's pleas for

apology. Only when Madhai fell at the feet of Nityananda prabhu and begged

forgiveness from Nitai, it was then that he was accepted and forgiven by Lord

Caitanya.

 

 

Q: Why we cannot eat onions, garlic, mushrooms etc?

 

Answers: These foods are known to influence us with the modes of passion and

ignorance. Bhagavad Gita describes how different types of foodstuffs affect our

consciousness with different qualities of nature. (Bg 17.8-10) Based on this

principle, different types of food are analyzed to belong to any one of the

three modes of nature. Those who are on the spiritual path are recommended to

accept only foods in the mode of goodness which are fit to be made as an

offering to Lord Krishna. Onions, garlic and mushrooms which increase the

influence of lower modes are avoided in offerings to Krishna and therefore we

avoid eating them too.

 

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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

 

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