Inquiries about the Absolute

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna !!

 

We are pleased to offer a new weekly segment for the devotees. Here

questions of general interest will be answered by His Holiness Romapada

Swami. We hope devotees will take advantage of this to ask more questions

for their own benefit and that of others. Any feedback with respect to

this is welcome.

 

Digest 1, April 19, 2001. Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami

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Qn 1) Why did Arjuna, a great devotee of the Lord approach Lord Indra a

demigod for help? Does this not contradict the teachings of Srila

Prabhupada that intelligent men worship only Krishna?

 

Answer:

My reply will be a two part response. First, bear in mind that the message

of Bhagavad Gita and the message of Srimad Bhagavatam are describing

unalloyed devotion to Krsna as the ultimate goal. This is the highest

teaching and the means of the highest attainment of life. While this is

true, the Mahabharata is presenting another important lesson of life,

namely the principles of ethics and morality which should guide human

society, whether one is an exalted unalloyed devotee of Krsna or not.

Everyone should be ethical and moral, and these instructions are found in

Mahabharata. The reference of Arjuna seeking weapons from the demigods

adds to the grandeur of the figure of Arjuna, who was a most exalted

friend of Krsna. Because of that dearness to Krsna, he had the capacity to

even travel from the earthly planet to the svarga loka region, etc. What

I am indicating here is that there are two levels of instructions which we

find in scriptures. One level is describing the highest possible

attainment, the other is describing the religious principles which should

guide our life. You should not become confused when you read various

literatures and find that there are different levels of instructions or

teaching-by-example exhibited by great devotees. The second part of my

answer has to do with the exalted nature of Arjuna. Because Arjuna was

Krishna’s unalloyed devotee, therefore whatever Arjuna did was exclusively

in the line of service to his master and dear friend Lord Krsna. On the

other hand, if someone less qualified than Arjuna were to go to the

demigods for divine astras, their purpose would not be the same. They

would want to do this for name and fame, or for influence, of for some

personal aggrandizement. That is not the case of Arjuna, given his exalted

and pure devotion to Krsna. Therefore his activities are not subject to

the same defects that others might be subject to, even when performing the

same activities.

 

Qn 2) If someone say's even Hitler was vegetarian but he created so much

havoc. How can one support the argument that vegetarian food results in

pleasant thoughts.

 

Answer:

You have asked a question about Hitler's vegetarianism, yet obviously he

did not `have pleasant thoughts'. Certainly one can do one thing that

induces the quality of goodness, and fifty other things that induce

ignorance and passion. What will prevail, or which mode is likely to

predominate? Fifty to one, ignorance and passion will prevail.

Vegetarianism is not everything in determining disposition, in other

words.

 

Qn 3) If Krishna is all powerful and wants us to come back to Him, then

why does He not simply do it?

 

Answer:

The answer to your question, which you have said is a very fundamental

one, rests on the understanding of the living entity's free will. Because

there is free will, the living entity can choose to misuse their free

will. When this choice of misuse of free will is exercised by the living

entity, the Lord may sanction it. But the punishment is also there along

with the sanctioning, so that the living entity learns the lesson that

misuse of free will will not bring happiness. If you look on the other

side of the question, `Why is it that God does not restrict our free will

so that we cannot misuse it?', then you have a situation where love is

also not voluntary but forced. That is not love, that is something else.

In order for there to be real love for God, there must also be the

opportunity for free will, including the misuse of free will.

 

Qn 4) I thought that Sampradaya applies only to those initiated in

disciplic succession (according to BG AS IT IS). For eg. I am not

initiated in the ISKCON sampradaya at present. But I don’t think that it

would be right if I claim to be part of the sampradaya. My question

arises due to the fact that even though Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura is not

the initiating guru of Gaura Kishora dasa babaji maharaja but still he

appears in our sampradaya. Actually Gaurakishora dasa babaji maharaja is

disciple of Srila Bhagavata Dasa Babaji who is a disciple of Srila

Jagganatha Dasa Babaji (the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktivinod

Thakura).

 

Answer:

One can be considered to be part of a sampradaya if one receives

instructions and faithfully adheres to those instructions according to the

sampradaya. Initiation into the sampradaya is a formalization of the

acceptance of the teachings and instructions of that sampradaya. In our

particular disciplic succession, the lineage is traced by the source of

primary instruction that one receives. Another way of saying the same

thing is that our disciplic line is a siksa line, not a diksa line. You

most certainly can be considered part of the sampradaya if you receive

instructions from Srila Prabhupada's teachings. He is your primary siksa

guru and others may also be guiding you very nicely in your spiritual

progress. This is what constitutes being part of a sampradaya. At some

point in time diksa will formally connect you with the disciplic

succession, but you may very well be presently part of this sampradaya by

taking primary instruction from Srila Prabhupada's books and teachings.

 

Qn 5) Both in spiritual life and also in material life people speak of

attitude. What should be the approach of a spiritual aspirants towards

other spiritual aspirants and with materialists?

 

Answer:

The answer to this can be found in a number of places, where

qualifications of a madhyama adhikari are described. Amongst spiritual

aspirants, there are those more advanced, those who are peers and those

who are less advanced. In all cases, we should try to render service to

the vaisnavas. Those who are more advanced, we should hear from them and

serve them favorably. Amongst those who are peers, we should exchange

realizations in the matter of spiritual understanding. With regard to

those who are less advanced, we should try to extend ourselves in a

helpful and compassionate way. As far as the materialists are concerned,

their individual attitude should be carefully determined. It should first

be determined whether the materialist is simply innocent and requires good

association, or is adamant and opposed to the supremacy of God. If the

non-devotee is simply innocent, then we should carefully try to give some

association to help that individual progress in his spiritual life. Those

who are overt atheists, we should carefully guard against taking

confidential association with them.

 

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Thursday, April 19, 2001 Ekadasi Varuthini (Break fast 05:25-08:46, USA

EST)

 

 

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Email : mail (AT) iskcondc (DOT) org

 

 

 

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