Guest guest Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 Questions from "Answers to KC questions" conference: ----- 1.Question submitted by Hari Haresh das: In SB 7.10 ("Prahlad: The Best of My Exalted Devotees) Srila Prabhupada in the summary states that in the family of a pure devotee, the forefathers for twenty-seven generations are liberated. How do we understand this, as our forefathers may be in any species of life according to their karma in any of the fourteen planetary systems like Pitr loka etc? Will they be liberated after completing their duration of their life? Also is it the same for any devotee who goes back to Godhead? Will his forefathers for twenty-one generations be liberated? Response by HH JPS: So in chapter 10, verse 18 where Narasimha Deva explains Prahlad, "O great saintly person, your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified." Srila Prabhupada in the purport says the word, trih-saptabhih means seven multiplied by three. In one's family one can count back four or five generations--to one's great-grandfather or even one's great-grandfather's father--but since the Lord mentions twenty-one forefathers, this indicates that the benediction expands to other families also. Before the present family in which one has taken birth, one must have been born in other families. Thus when a Vaisnava takes birth in a family, by the grace of the Lord he purifies not only that family but also the families of his previous births. Trih-saptabhih normally it says that thirteen generations are liberated; seven before and seven after. For that is the common thing. So the seven forefathers and the seven generations. But in the case of Prahlad it was Trih-saptabhih, previous three births and the seven generations of which of those three births were also liberated. As far as this question do not be worried about where those people are whether they have to finish out their bug birth or their pitra loka births-Krishna will organize all that. The point is that they are going to be liberated. 2. Question submitted by Vakreswari dd: Could you please clarify the following point? You wrote, "Some of the liberated jiva tattvas are rendering personal assistance to the associates of Srimate Radharani. Whatever devotional service they get as a manjari or other assisting position they are fully satisfied in that." If the jivas get liberated while still being situated in the material world, does the above statement refer to them also? I mean can liberated jivas who are still situated in material body render personal assistance to the associates of Radharani or do they achieve this position after quitting their body? Thank you very much for everything you are doing for me. Response by HH JPS: I just remember some of the pastimes of great devotees like Srinivas Acharya. Nearby here near Katwa, there is a place called Jhajigram and there, there is a small temple built on the place where Srinivas Acharya had gone by mediation to help find some missing jewelry of Radharani. He was in samadhi for three days and transported himself to Vrndavan looking for the lost jewelry piece. When he found it and gave it back then he came back to his body. So here is an example of how a liberated jiva could perform a personal service to Srimati Radharani and Her associates. There are similar situations for Syamananda Pandit, Narattoma Das Thakur and Ramachandra Kaviraj. But we also find that these liberated jivas they were also rendering the service of preaching Krsna consciousness. Just like Srinivas Acharya was also the raja guru of the king of Visnupur. He established Radha Krishna temples and he preached to the whole people of that kingdom. He also preached at other Vaisnava festivals in other places. So such great liberated spiritual masters sometimes had this opportunity to do personal service while they were here in this world but otherwise they were engaged in preaching Krsna Consciousness. So at least we can engage in preaching Krishna consciousness and if anyone is so fortunate to get that blessing to be able to render a personal service for Radharani, well, Haribol. All glories to your service. 3. Question submitted by Ganashyam Gopal das, Madurai: May I know the pranam mantra of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, who is the first spiritual master of all Gaudiya Vaisnavas, the one which one should chant on His Appearance Day, puspanjali? Response by HH JPS: Generally we just take the first three pranam given in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. That's what we use for the pushpanjali. Thank you very much. Your well wisher always, Jayapataka Swami ---------- Okay, now we are shifting over here to Mayapur for some live Questions. 1. Question submitted by Madhavendra Puri das: Regarding Srila Prabhupada's instruction, "If you want to please me, distribute my books": Is this instruction applicable to grand-disciples, and if yes, how much it has to do with the life's goal? Response by HH JPS: I don't think Srila Prabhupada was limiting to his disciples. There were many bhaktas and members in ISKCON who may have not been his disciples. Srila Prabhupada was speaking to every one, "If you want to please me, you distribute my books" There are other things that will also please Srila Prabhupada and that is not the only thing. But definitely that was something that would please Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees dedicating to trying to please Srila Prabhupada by distributing his books, he also said to read his books - not just to distribute them he also said to practice what is said in the books. 2. Question submitted by Bhakta Paul, Czech Republic: Could you please describe the plan and project of the Vedic Planetarium and Mayapur City? Response by HH JPS: That could take a few days, weeks but basically in a few words the Vedic Planetarium is a microcosm of a macrocosm of the universe in its architecture. The dimensions and the proportions are calculated according to vastu measurement to correlate with the proportions and dimensions of the solar system. This is also a planetarium because in the temple Krishna (the deities) are correlating to Krishna descending in the material worlds. There also will be different levels in the temple itself in which there will be the material world, Devi Dham and Mahesh Dham. There will be the boundary wall between the material world and spiritual world. There will be the Vaikuntha Dham aspect of the spiritual world and Goloka Dham aspect of the spiritual world. And so in the Goloka Dham there will be another set of deities and people will be able to rise up to the Goloka Dham and see the deities. (I don't know what the names of the deities would be, Radha Goloka or something or Golokanath or whoever would be so we have Radha Madhava in Goloka and Radha Madhava here.) There will also be exhibitions which will include the more temporary planetarium and they explain about the universe in more scientific terms and there will also be other exhibitions highlighting things that mainly HG Sataputa Prabhu has discovered in terms to Vedic science and the planetarium. The Mayapur City is based on a 9 x 9 grid. So the 9 x 9 grid base into nine sections of 3 x 3. In the center most part is where the temple is. Srila Prabhupada's is in the middle. Western part, Srila Prabhupada's samadhi. Again like that according to vastu there are different parts of the city which are dedicated primarily to particular activities. So the northern eastern side is education and that is where Sri Prahlad, the Bhaktivedanta - that's the official name of the gurukula they are doing there and there will be various kinds around the city. For more practical sense we are trying to make it a sustainable ecologically favorable city. We are not practicing everything right now, but the idea is that in the future we are going to have a sewage system which would be recycled, we will be probably be taking drinking water from the Ganges and that is for the latest. Then we'll have a purifying system of settling the Ganges water. We so far have taken the samples of the Ganges water and after nine days it purifies itself from biological impurity. We had to test it for other type of contaminants like pesticides and things that has entered into water but otherwise in our subsoil here at lower depths we have problem of different kinds of arsenic and other kinds of contamination. So it will all contribute to the quality of **pump out the water. So all these things were been studied in the Mayapur city. We were going at a full speed and then things suddenly kind of crashed to a stop and the funding came out but now things are picking up again. We are planning to have deities installed in the year 2004 if Krishna allows. We must pray to Lord Caitanya and Panca Tattva to come and manifest - these deities are amazing! Right now they are almost 2.5 -3 tons for each Deity of Lord Caitanya. It is going to be a little yajna to--- The model is already been made and it is already been cast inside its mold so that they can pour the model in the next few weeks. But I was just discussing with Bharat Maharaja prabhu about metal samples because there is a slight variation of color between the different deities; Lord Caitanya is molten gold color, where Lord Nityananda is a color of slight reddish gold and Advaita Acharya is a slight whitish gold. So accordingly there is a slight variation in the alloy and they are supposed to be sending us the samples in four days. Let's see. So this is the work in progress right now. Those who want to participate in the baking of the deities there is going to be a program where you can contribute kilos of the metals. Like you can contribute a kilo of gold, there are other options you could also contribute copper and brass. That is going to be announced sometime during the festival. 3. Question by Bhakta Gary, South Africa: Maharaja, what is the main difference between siksa and diksa? Response by HH JPS: For all gurus siksa is a kind of the common denominator. All gurus are giving siksa, or instruction. Siksa means instructions which is representing Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead accurately. Srila Prabhupada mentions in his books that usually when a person is getting siksa who is helping him the most in siksa giving him the biggest contribution to his faith that person usually one takes initiation from. Taking initiation, or diksa, is really a commitment to the guru parampara and the spiritual master also is having responsibilities for the initiated disciple. So the diksa guru is simultaneously diksa and siksa guru. Srila Prabhupada said, "I am both the diksa and siksa for my disciples." There maybe other siksa gurus also who help the diksa guru in instructing the devotee to get to serve Guru and Krishna. When a siksa guru gives instruction, he is also obliged to give the instruction which is according to sadhu and sastra and the previous gurus. If he gives mis-instruction then he will be also held responsible. So there can be many siksa gurus but there can only be one diksa guru. Diksa means getting the mantra, siksa means getting instruction. With diksa, siksa is included. 4. Question by Amrta Gopal dasi: Please comment on the difference between faith and belief. Is our Krishna conscious dharma a faith-based religion with the faith rooted in the scientific process of bhakti yoga? Also, why is our Krishna consciousness dharma often called a science? What does science mean? How in our preaching can we explain science as a religious path? Response by HH JPS: Srila Prabhupada was explaining how generally religions are considered as faiths, or beliefs change their faith. So people converting sometimes from Christian and Muslim to Hindu (usually it goes in the other direction) but Absolute Truth, or sanatana dharma, is something which is always there, eternal truth. We are basing our Krishna consciousness on the eternal truths. Of course someone may believe the truths or not, that is another thing because it's not just a belief process. There are underlying realities. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita, 2.13, it says, dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati You grow from childhood to youth to old age, in this way you change your body so many times. And in a similar way you change your body at the time of death and take a new body. Srila Prabhupada explained it doesn't matter whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, Jewish, whatever it maybe, everybody is going through this change of bodies. Therefore, Bhagavad-gita is sometimes described as the science of the atma, or the self, science of self. Many of these things can be verified; some things we don't have the estimation to verify but it doesn't mean it is not the truth it is universally applicable. It is just like the Vedas say that the bones and stool of animals and humans are not clean. If you touch them you should wash yourself. But cow dung or cow urine are pure and conch shells are pure. But these are stool, urine and the bones of the animals. So there are some exceptions and apparently even I read recently a scientific study that putting cow dung in people's houses and courtyards works as a mosquito and fly repellant, and has antiseptic properties. Someone told that if you get a cut and you put cow dung on it-at least from the Indian cows-that it cures the infection. If you put stool from something else on you, you would probably die from gangrene. So some of these things you could verify. There are some things that Srila Prabhupada wanted some scientists to try to verify such as the presence of the soul in the body. It is difficult to prove Krishna. Every body has a soul and they could try to prove that. 5. Question by Jaya Radha Krsna das, Mayapur: While chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra, if sometimes one chants the mantra with improper pronunciation, what is the effect? Should one endeavor to pronounce properly? Even if the tongue is not habituated is it offensive chanting? What about the persons who are unable to pronounce properly Hare, Rama, Krishna? Response by HH JPS: Thank you for your question. Despite we should try to chant the mantra properly, and we should try to hear the mantra properly. Inattentive chanting is offensive. So if we are attentive then we ought to try to pronounce properly. At the same time it says that even if someone is not able to pronounce perfectly, the fact that they are trying to chant Hare Krsna. It's not just a mechanical process. In the Vedas, if you mispronounce a mantra, it will produce a different result. This is not that kind of a mantra. If you are chanting Hare Krishna even improperly, Krsna understands that you are trying to chant His Holy Names and He will bless you. Just like a little child is chanting the name of the parent, "Ba Ba, Daddy, Papa." The parents are really happy. He recognizes me, she recognizes me, my name. So like that, Krsna also appreciates when we try to chant His Holy Names. This is mentioned in SB 7.5.23 on the nine practices of devotional service. 6. Question by Vrndaranya devi dasi, Mayapur: If we must be careful of bad association, how can we be merciful and friendly with all kinds of people? Response by HH JPS: You see that is why preachers take a certain amount of risk to preach Krishna consciousness, and that is why they are so dear to the Lord because they are taking that risk. At the same time, by being merciful and friendly with all kinds of people to preach to them Krishna consciousness we try to give them our association. We can tell them about Krishna, tell them about devotional service, tell them about things related or just be friendly and establish the relationships so we can tell them about these things. We don't go to the extent where we engage in non-devotional activities with these people usually. We are careful about how far we associate so as not to become engaged in some kind of sinful activity. So we give association rather than taking. Srila Prabhupada mentions that some times over a period of time by preaching to materialistic people, their vibration or their consciousness can affect us. That's why visiting the Holy Dham like Mayapur and Vrndavan is purifying from that contamination. Therefore Srila Prabhupada recommended that preachers periodically visit the Holy Dham. So we have Gaura Purnima Festival and people are coming to the festival to get re-aligned spiritually and purified. You are living in the Dham so you have lot of protection. 7. Question by Prahlad Nrsimha das: Gurudeva koti dandavat. Can the safari go towards Mamalapuram to chant and preach meanwhile the casting goes on? Response by HH JPS: Mamalapuram is near to Chennai. I think that the casting is done on Kumbakonam. In any case we are not going to go out on the ocean because we will have to raise the safari cost quite a bit if we are going to take the ocean crews. It may cost about thousands of dollars. If Bhagavatamrta prabhu can investigate for us in the future if we have some you know….usually our budget is quite tight. Marici tries to keep it down. We don't know if we can even pay for the ships that go on the Ganges. But while we are going in that direction our hope is that according to the present plan of the safari is to retrace the route of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu basically from here to Katwa to Santipur down to Jagannath Puri. And so part of the way in the middle portion we plan to go along on the riversides, to Kardah, Panihati and then down to some other places. So we go that route then when Lord Caitanya crossed over the Ganges we just take a little detour, a couple hundred kilometers and then go down to the ocean and there we will see the asrama of Kapila Muni where he burnt the sons of Sagara Maharaja to ashes and where they were delivered. Then we will bathe in the confluence of the ocean and the Ganges. Then we come back again and join up where Lord Caitanya crossed over on the other side of the Ganges and then we continue by land through Vidyapur, Balasore, Orissa, Remuna where Ksira Ksora Gopinath is, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubhaneswar, and then to Jagganath Puri. That is the present plan we are trying to implement. Originally we were thinking about going to Bangladesh but when this Iraq situation is potentially exploding at any moment I didn't want to go with a hundred foreigners in a predominately Muslim country for obvious reasons. While we are bathing in the ocean we can all make a prayer. We can every day make a prayer for the Panca Tattva to manifest. 8. Question by Bhakta Thruses, Cypress : A sign of a liberated devotee is that he doesn't have material desires, why do we find prolonged discrepancies in financial matters? My humble obeisances. Response by HH JPS: Every devotee in the Krsna consciousness movement is not necessarily liberated. Srila Prabhupada was liberated, and those who purely follow him they are also liberated by following him but some times people may not follow accurately either due to inefficiency,or maybe due to material desires or to immaturity or so many other factors, I don't know particularly what. If you find some prolonged discrepancies in financial matters you could report to your local GBC or if it is GBC then could report to GBC Executive Committee, I don't know exactly European RGB (Regional Governing body) I don't know what is it in reference to. Bhakta Thruses: I wrote that when I was last year in Vrindavan some small discrepancy in the temple …… Response by HH JPS: There is a new management system in Vrindavan and they claim there has been an improvement but. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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