Inquiries into the Absolute: Digest17

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Digest 17, October 18, 2001

 

Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

 

Forms of God

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Q.1) After we worship Lord Krishna, why do we only glorify Lord Narasimhadeva

and no one else like Lord Rama, Vishnu, Venkateshwara etc.?

 

Ans.

Vaishnavas adore and worship Lord Narasimhadev as the destroyer of all

obstacles on the path of one's devotional service and protector of one's

devotion, for He came specifically to protect His devotee Prahlada from his

demoniac father. Therefore, devotees offer specific prayers to Him, at the end

of worship begging Him to please forgive any offenses that might have been

committed unknowingly during the worship, and to remove all obstacles in one's

attempts to worship and seeking protection.

 

Q.2) Why is Ananta Sesa "a many hooded serpent?" Serpents are from the lower

planetary system, and are synonymous with "evil". What explanation can be given

for this?

 

Ans.

The form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (as well as His plenary

expansions, or Vishnu expansions) is all-transcendental and fully pure. It is

not to be considered as a mundane form. For example, Lord Krishna and Lord Rama

appeared among the human beings as one of them, but does that mean that they

were contaminated with the frailties of a mundane human being? The answer is

no. Likewise, The Supreme Lord appeared in the form of a hog or wild boar in

His Varaha incarnation. The hog is considered to be a very abominable species

of life by material calculation, but when the Lord appeared as the

transcendental Varaha, His beauty was unexcelled and all the demigods and Vedas

offered prayers to Him as the purifier of the three worlds! In the same way, we

can understand the form of Ananta sesa as a "serpent". It is not a mundane

form, like any other serpent but is all transcendental.

 

Q.3) It is stated that all the Vishnu forms are eternal. Are there separate

lokas for the Kurma, Matsya, Varaha, Narasimha, Rishabhadev, Parasurama forms?

If so why does the Bhagavatam say that the form of Narasimha was never seen by

anybody before? And also what about the form of Lord Caitanya? If He is

eternal, where is His planet?

 

Ans.

Yes, there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets and the various forms of the Lord

preside in each of those planets. Srimad Bhagavatam describes that when Lord

Narasimhadev appeared even the Goddess of Fortune had never seen that form

before, as one of the Lord's lila-avatars. This refers to the fiery form of

half-man and half-lion that the Lord exhibited to kill Hiranyakasipu. Lord

Narasimha's form as Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, exhibiting four arms holding

the symbols of Visnu, exists in the spiritual world.

 

Our Vaishnava acaryas have described that within the innermost whorls of the

Goloka Vrindavana planet, which is shaped like a lotus, is situated the

spiritual counterpart of Sri Navadvipa dhama and Lord Caitanya eternally

manifests His pastimes there.

 

 

Modes of material nature

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Q.4) I was reading about the conversation between Dharmaraja disguised as a

Yaksha and Yudhisthira. One of the questions put forward by Yaksha to

Yudhisthira was - "since Dharma (Virtue), Artha (Profit), and Kama (Desire) are

opposed to each other, how can they co-exist harmoniously?" Yudhisthira

replied- "These three become congenial to one another when one has a virtuous

wife." Could you please explain on this reply of Yudhisthira?

 

Ans.

What seems obvious is that at times dharma, artha, and kama are in opposition.

Virtue and self-interest don't always coincide, at least not superficially, and

sense gratification opposes virtue and even practical self-interest in obvious

ways.

 

A virtuous wife protects her husband by her scripturally-directed service mood

and activity, assisting her husband in each of the three depts. (dharma, artha,

kama). This is no guarantee that her duties being executed properly will

provide a 100% clash-free dynamic in life, but her presence helps the

religious-minded man to stay on course toward the goal, and not fall sway to

excesses.

 

To be more specific, a virtuous wife makes sure that religious duties are

performed at home, as well as with regard to guests, relatives, associates, and

general living beings; in this way she plays a key role in protecting the

family's dharma or virtue, even if the husband is temporarily distracted by

affairs of artha. At the same time, she encourages her husband in his worldly

affairs, protecting artha. And finally she satisfies her husband's material

requirements by cooking and performing other domestic duties, and by fulfilling

his desire for female companionship within the codes of dharma; excesses or

indulgences never originate from the side of the qualified wife, and her

religious nature will help both husband and wife to maintain all the

regulations that lead to freedom from material existence. Approaching this

final goal through the assistance of a qualified wife will bring a very natural

balance to the man who is trying to properly follow the spiritual path.

 

Q.5) I am struggling with the dual concepts of good and evil as they are

perceived from the mundane perspective in relationship to Krishna. I understand

that Krishna is the source of everything, which brings a few questions that I

cannot resolve in my mind. They are: How can Krishna be considered "all-good"

and yet be the source of evil at the same time? Also, Is Krishna's goodness

(Love) superior to his evil or are they qualitatively the same? And lastly, is

there a difference between human evil and Krishna's evil, and if there is a

difference what is it?

 

Ans.

Srila Prabhupada resolved this conflict by saying that for Krishna there is no

good or evil. "Everything within Krishna is transcendental goodness," he

explained.

 

Does that mean that goodness and evil are of the same importance for us? No.

Rather, for God there is nothing evil, just as for the sun there is no

darkness. But for us there is light and darkness. If one keeps one's back to

the sun, one will find darkness. And if you face the sun, there is no darkness.

We create darkness as soon as we deny our constitutional position by turning

our attention away from Krishna. If instead of remaining in front of God we

keep God to our backs, then we will experience darkness. When we forget God, we

experience what is known as evil. As one who remains within the light of the

sun knows no darkness, so also one who remains in true God consciousness can

perform no evil.

 

 

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----- Festivals over the next week ------

Oct 23 2001, Tuesday Durga Puja

 

*** NOTE: All times are for Washington D.C, USA, EST ***

For festival information for your city please go to http://www.iskcondc.org and

click on 'Calendar'

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