Guest guest Posted October 1, 2002 Report Share Posted October 1, 2002 Digest 42, Oct 1, 2002 Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja Devotional service *************** Q.1) Regarding the recent passing away of His Grace Tamal Krishna Maharaja, how should one interpret his leaving his body in an accident? Is this karma? Do pure devotees also have karma? What mental state would maharaja have been in? It has happened all of a sudden. Will he go back to Godhead? Why such a death? How does Krishna's statement that my devotee will not perish fit in this? Lastly I am convinced Maharaja went back to Godhead but how to preach in a congregation if asked these questions? Please forgive me for any offences committed due to the nature of my questions. All glories to His Grace Tamal Krishna Gosvami ki, Jai! Answer. Tamal Krishna Gosvami's exceptional dedication and devotion to Srila Prabhupada's service is a well-known fact within ISKCON and he exhibited nothing but unswerving surrender to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and unfailing service to the vaishnavas. He rendered incalculable volumes of service, with great resourcefulness, perseverance, and dynamism - all for the purpose of fulfilling Prabhupada's desires. While making no claim that he was a flawless and perfect person, there can be no question of Tamal Krishna Goswami's being completely protected by Krishna. Those who have completely surrendered themselves to Krishna are no longer under the influence of the external energy of the Lord, the agent of karma, and that is Krishna's solemn promise. Such devotees are acting under the internal potency of Krishna, and even where there is some difficulty coming from the material energy, it is to be taken as a direct reminder by Krishna of their past misdeeds, directly orchestrated by Krishna for their further advancement in their devotion. Such events are NOT to be seen as enactments of the external material energy. We should not misunderstand Krishna's protection as absolute material protection and this is indeed a point that devotees often tend to misunderstand in the initial excitement and idealism when coming in contact with Krishna consciousness philosophy. And this could be a wonderful opportunity for you to also address this point to congregation devotees! Does Krishna's promise to protect His devotee mean that a devotee's body will never dwindle or that it will never die? Or that devotees will never meet an accident or lose in a venture? No. Rather, a pure devotee is not affected by these external changes, being situated in their constitutional position and absorbed in their relationship with Krishna. Not that Srila Prabhupada's departure from his body was in any manner equal TKG's, yet one may similarly question the apparently depleted condition of Srila Prabhupada's body towards the end of his physical presence with us or the physical ailments he apparently suffered. Quite to ! the contrary, instead of diminishing his disciple's faith, these very symptoms enhanced their appreciation of the glories of a pure devotee, since Prabhupada's consciousness always remained transcendental right until the last moment unaffected by the external. We cannot ascertain what Maharaja's mental state might have been, now why his departure happened precisely in the way it did. Krishna, being completely independent, has very special ways of dealing with His devotees, and whatever it may be, the devotee doesn't complain. But Krishna's promise for His devotee's ultimate victory will never be made in vain. In one sense, Tamal Krishna Maharaja's passing away was also glorious because it was within Navadvipa dhama, the holiest of dhams, in Puliya where Haridas Thakur performed many wonderful pastimes. As you may know, anyone who leaves their body in the Holy Dham is liberated. Also it was at a very auspicious hour during Brahma muhurta, and as Krishna says in Bg. Chapter 8, the yogis who leave their body at such auspicious moments are sure to reach Him. But factually even these are not important considerations in the case of an unalloyed bhakti yogi; wherever such a pure devotee is, that place is a holy dhama itself. Also Prabhupada once assured his disciples: if a devotee gives his entire life to serve the mission of Lord Caitanya, then at the end of his life, even if by some adverse condition he is unable to remember Krishna, Prabhupada said, Lord Caitanya will personally appear in the mind of the devotee and take him back to Godhead. We can conclude that Tamal Krishna Maharaja, much like Srila Prabhupada's statement regarding Jayananda Prabhu, has either attained the highest auspicious destination, or is engaged in some manner in the eternal confidential service to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya. This incident has, among many other realizations, given us an opportunity to appreciate that the association of such great souls is very rare and invaluable and we should take the association of the exalted devotees amidst our presence with very seriously. Q.2) If a person takes to Krishna consciousness based on his or her prior karma, then what is the need to preach to them? Is that why there is no really no concept of preaching in Hinduism? Answer. Actually, you may be surprised to know that a person's taking up Krishna consciousness is not in the least created by one's previous pious or impious activities, because Krishna consciousness is completely beyond the jurisdiction of material activities. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarthy Thakur elaborately discusses this in his book `Madhurya Kadambini' (Chapter 1) where he states that Bhakti is supremely independent. If a material activity can be the cause of one's attaining bhakti, it means bhakti has a material cause and is therefore not completely spiritual! Then how at all does one get bhakti? If it were causeless, why is that only some people take to Krishna consciousness? He examines different possibilities finally concluding that bhakti is the cause of bhakti. More specifically, one gets the seed of bhakti from another bhakta. When one meets a devotee carrying bhakti in his/her heart, one is entitled to receive that seed of bhakti if one responds favorably to that associat! ion, irrespective of what their previous pious / impious credits are. So the conclusion is there is actually GREAT need to `preach' or distribute Krishna consciousness. I would not agree that there was no concept of preaching in the Vedic tradition, because as we see, all the great acaryas such as Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, even Sankaracarya, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers extensively traveled, preached, wrote books and trained their followers similarly, driving out opposing materialistic and atheistic conceptions and inspiring the masses towards spiritual life. It is an intrinsic principle of Vedic culture to share with others the knowledge and good fortune one receives, especially the fortune of transcendental knowledge and try to engage everyone in devotional service, knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, the whole social structure of varnashrama was structured in this way so that the brahmanas could teach all others in the community to live a god-centered life and that is a wonderful, natural way of preaching to and training every member of society! Q.3) In one of Bhakti-vriksha [cell] edification material, I read the following line: "UNLESS YOU TAKE TO KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, YOU CANNOT BE HAPPY." Can you please let us know, what is sastric or sloka reference for this emphatic statement? Answer. This statement is just in accordance with the ultimate conclusion of all scriptures. For instance, Suta Gosvami makes a similar statement when questioned about the highest welfare for all of humanity: sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje / ahaituky apratihata yayatma suprasidati (SB 1.2.6) This verse says that only unmotivated, uninterrupted devotional service to the transcendent Lord can lead to complete self-satisfaction. Further he continues, "Everything else, if they do not lead one to this point of causeless devotion is simply a waste of time." (SB 1.2.8) This is also echoed by Krsna das Kaviraja Gosvami in Caitanya Caritamrta: bhukti mukti siddhi kami sakali ashanta, krishna bhakta niskama atha eva shanta: only an unalloyed devotee of Krishna is fully peaceful, everyone else, be they ordinary materialists, those seeking for mystic perfection or seeking liberation, is ashanta or unhappy. Krishna Himself declares in Bhagavad-gita that without sacrificing one's work to Vishnu, no one can be peaceful or happy. (Bg 3.9, 4.31 etc) This of course is not a dogmatic statement, however, and should not be taken in that sense. The basis of this statement is that the original, natural position of a living entity is in loving servitorship to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna; under any designation other than that, one is in an unnatural position just like a fish out of water and cannot therefore be truly happy. [Note that here we are defining HAPPINESS in an absolute sense, not in the sense of sense pleasures, or the diminution of distress.] ------- x ------------- x ---------- x ----------- x ---------- x ---------- x ---------- x ----------- ----- Festivals over the next week ------ Oct 02 2002, Wednesday Ekadasi Indira (Break fast 06:06-10:00) (Fast) *** 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' - --------------------- ******************************************************************************* ****** * Special Note for disciples and aspiring disciples of His Holiness Romapada Swami: * ******************************************************************************* ****** >>>> In case you have not, please email your Vyasa-puja offerings to indulekhadd (AT) hotmail (DOT) com at the earliest conveneance <<<< ** A brief biography of His Holiness Romapada Swami available at :http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl?ndx=2 ** This and all previous digests are available on the internet, sorted by topics and date. ** They can be accessed at: http://www.iskcondc.org -> Philosophy -> Inquiries into the Absolute You can also directly link to our Philosophy website by add the following URL to you website: http://www.prastha.com/cgi-bin/uncgi/renderphilo.pl - ---------------------------- This Email has been sent to you by the ISKCON temple of Washington D.C. 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