Inquiries into the Absolute: Digest 46

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Digest 46, Nov 22, 2002

 

Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja

 

Modes of material nature

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Q.1) I always thought that the spiritual and dharmic role of a person is to be

calm and never get angry, under any circumstance, and sacrifice one's own life

before resorting to violence. However, in the Mahabharata, Krishna keeps

saying so many times that it is a coward that backs down from a war. At the

same time, He says that war is inevitable when all other options are exhausted.

However, I don't understand this because whenever He says this, the war is

referring to protecting one's honor. I can understand a king resorting to war

because it is his duty to protect his kingdom, but protecting one's "honor" is

like justifying one's false ego. I would have thought that Krishna would have

suggested not to fight, since, tolerance, forgiveness, and patience are the

highest levels of dharma and spirituality (as stated by Yudhisthira).

 

Answer:

The ultimate goal of all spiritual and religious principles (dharma) is

satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. svanusthitasya dharmasya samsiddhir hari

tosanam. (SB 1.2.13) In and of itself, nothing is intrinsically good or bad;

the real test of the merit of any action is found in the satisfaction of the

Supreme. If Krishna is pleased, that is the highest perfection of dharma, and

if He is not served by one's meticulous upkeep of morality and ethics, such

endeavor is simply useless labor! notpadayed yadi ratim shrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

 

Certainly tolerance, forgiveness etc. are highly virtuous qualities; but a

higher principle is executing the will of the Lord. For example when Krishna

wanted to Yudhisthira to tell a lie, doing so was his dharma; if he had

disobeyed the Lord's order on the grounds of mundane morality, it would have

been adharma. Under ordinary circumstances one must always speak only the

truth, again because that pleases Krishna. Conversely, materially ignoble and

even despicable qualities like anger become glorious when used in God's

service. For example, in a mood of transcendental anger Hanuman burned Lanka;

such anger is not a sign of Hanuman's spiritual disqualification rather it

exemplifies his intense devotion and attachment to serving Lord Ram very

gloriously. Contrastingly, anger or violence should certainly not be used for

self- aggrandizement nor exhibited because of one's inability to control one's

senses.

 

All this is not to recommend transgression of moral principles, but to keep in

focus the real purpose and goal of all religious principles, and not to be

stuck upon their external aspects. Through these and many such seemingly

adharmic situations in His pastimes, Krishna is actually reinforcing his final

teaching: sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja, "Give up all other

so-called dharma and just surrender to Me. That is the highest dharma."

 

Having said all of the above, there are several reasons why Krishna wanted the

battle to be fought. One reason is He wanted to establish the righteous kingdom

of the Pandavas and reduce the burden of demoniac kings.

 

Another reason is that Yudhisthira was the rightful king and the Pandavas asked

for at least five villages to rule but were refused; as ksatriyas they could

not live by any other means and they had to gain the kingdom for the execution

of their livelihood. They were thus left with no choice but to resort to war.

 

Even from the material point of view, non-violence is not the dharma of a

ksatriya; they have to show heroism and chivalry in establishing righteousness

and must not ignore, in the name of nonviolence, acts of adharma and other

forms of wrongdoings brought before them. "Upholding the Pandava's honor" was

thus not an appeal to their false-ego but rather to their mandate to uphold

righteousness.

 

Q.2) I have one query about prasadam. Prasadam is transcendental and hence free

from karmic reactions. But it is said that the consciousness of the cook goes

into the prasadam and it effects the consumer of prasadam with that

consciousness. I have seen devotees who take prasadam which is cooked by

brahmana-initiated devotees only and not by any other, because it may affect

their spiritual consciousness. I am confused that if prasadam is transcendental

then how is it possible that the consciousness of the cook remains in the

prasadam and affects even after offering to the Lord.

 

Answer:

"The chanting of the holy name," Srila Prabhupada recommended, "should be heard

as far as possible from the lips of a pure devotee." One might ask a similar

question to yours re. the chanting of the pure Holy Name of the Lord, as with

prasadam.

 

When an offering is made to the Supreme Lord, He accepts the offering due to

the love and devotion that has gone into the offering. As He states in the

Bhagavad-gita, ye yatha mam prapadyante (Bg 4.11): "As one approaches Me, I

reciprocate proportionately." To the degree of devotion and care with which an

offering is prepared, and and then brings the offering to Him with sincere

devotion, to that degree Krishna relishes that offering. Thus, when a qualified

and pure devotee cooks in a thoroughly clean atmosphere and cleansed

consciousness, the prasadam correspondingly becomes that much more

transcendentally enjoyed by Krishna. Conversely to the degree one is not

purified, Krishna does not accept the offering.

 

Although there is no bar for anyone to begin devotional service by chanting the

Holy Names and so on, one should come at least to the platform of goodness in

order to render intimate personal services for the Lord such as cooking for and

worshiping the Deities. Krishna is pure goodness, so someone influenced by

passion and ignorance and not trained in the principles of devotion by

qualified devotees is unable to approach and serve Him properly. Therefore, in

our temples, it is the standard that only properly trained and brahminically

qualified devotees are to perform direct service to the Deities such as

cooking.

 

Q.3) Is there a science that explains miraculous activities like assuming a

gigantic form, multiplying into many forms etc.?

 

Answer:

There are different yogic siddhis, which may be attained by practice of yoga,

such as Patanjali's yoga system. They work on the principle of manipulating

subtle matter, such as by sound vibration (chanting of mantras), just as modern

science manipulates gross matter. Specifically, there are eight mystic

perfections such as mahima (assuming giant form), anima (becoming smaller than

the smallest), prapti (attaining whatever one desires) etc.

 

These mystic capacities are derived from the Supersoul.

 

 

Q.4) I've read that if one chant a 1000 names of Visnu it gives the same result

as one name of Rama and if one chants 3 names of Rama is gives the same result

as Krishna.

 

Answer:

>From SB 1.19.6- "According to the VarAha PurASa, as quoted by Srila Jiva

Gosvami, there is no difference between the water of the Ganges and the Yamuna,

but when the water of the Ganges is sanctified one hundred times, it is called

the Yamuna. Similarly, it is said in the scriptures that one thousand names of

Vishnu are equal to one name of Rama, and three names of Lord Rama are equal to

one name of Krishna."

 

We can understand from the above statement the nondifference feature of the

Ganges and the Yamuna. We can also understand the difference between the two.

Same re. the names of the Lord. The names of Visnu can deliver one to Vaikuntha

but not to Goloka Vrndavan in a state of Krishna-prema. While there is a

non-difference feature of these two names there is a simultaneous distinction

as well.

 

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