Guest guest Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Dear devotees ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Letter PAMHO:6562425 (285 lines) [W1] Eka Gauranga (das) JPS (Mayapur - IN) 03-Mar-03 06:30 (01:30 -0500) Tusti Mohan Krsna (das) JPS (JPS Off. MYR-IN) [81107] Question & Answer session - 26-Feb-03 --------------------------- Q&A 26/02/2003 1 Question Submited by Marici Das:How do you explain the fact that there are so many atrocities happening in the world to so many innocent people including new born. For example the fact so many millions of innocent Jews were killed in such a horrible way during the war including woman and young children. Today she was reading in the paper that 1 year old child was killed in a horrible way. What is the K.C. explanation as to why these horrible things take place. Why in Krishna allowing this to happen innocent children who haven't even had a chance to do anything in their lives? Thank you very much. Note: this is a question asked by a lady that has taken very keen interest in KC and is chanting regularly. The question was sent by international call from malasya. Response by HH JPS: the question as to why things happen to children because we understand that this is not our first birth, we had many births in the past so therefore we can suffer even as a small child and receive the reaction of previous karmas up to 100 births before the karmas are accumulating that's why something can happen even to a child. Say that person who was killing a child in the last life they may be killed as a child in this life something like that. At the same time the devotees they don't feel that ok someone a person is injured ohhh that's your karma, we don't feel like that , we want to help people they should be free from all the suffering. Why atrocities happened in the world? All material world is a prison house we are here in this dark world far away from the kingdom of god, we belong to the spiritual world but to misuse of our independence we have been put here in this material world, so here in the material world people have certain amount of free will so some people in this age of kali especially, there is more tama guna and more tama guna with little raja guna that's the mode of goodness, some people they maybe inclined to do some atrocious thing for their own woman fancy, so there is more scope to do that in Kali yuga. That's why we are trying to make the people God-conscious so that the inclination to do this type of horrible things will not be there. In the time of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, 500 years ago there was Jagai and Madhai this two brother they were like the mafia criminals and they hobby was to make other people suffer if some blind man was being taken by his young teenage daughter, and they came out and ask for a donation, they say "you want a donation?", they would beat up the blind man they'll kick him and kill him by kicking him to death and then they will rape the teenage daughter. This was Jagai and Madai, this is how bad they were, this is one example, there is thousands. They were murderers, they were cruel, they were vicious, they were the scum of the earth you can say, but somehow lord Nitiananda delivered them and then afterwards they were begging for forgiveness, and they were doing social works building bathing gaths in the ganges, serving all the people, very much repentant for all their sinful acts. So this chanting of the names of Gods is so powerful that it can change the sinful nature, this violent that horrible nature of people, it's the only hope for the world today, to get rid of this hatred except that they get the blessings of Lord Caitanya, giving the blessings to chant the holy names of God purely otherwise this material world is not a place to be here forever, we need to develop out God-consciousness and go back to home back to Godhead. 2 Question Submited by Madhavendra Puri Das: It's said that supposing an Ashram resident commits wrong, then the temple President has to suffer 1/6th of the reactions. So the point is, does the other residents devotees have to suffer as well? Response by HH JPS: They wrote this question to Srila Prabhupada and he said "WHO SAID 1/6th? WHY 1/6th HUNDRED PERCENT THEY HAVE TO TAKE THE REACTION!!.. King is 1/6th of his citicens, good or bad karma, temple president if fully responsible of what it is going on in his temple", you have to engage your people in the temple more and good works more KC activities and you get also full benefit. Generally the other devotees they don't have to take responsibility, if it is an offence to the deity then it may also affect the others, when the cook is not following and you are eating that food, that can also affect you. If you hear an offence, like someone blaspheming Krishna or something like that and you don't object or don't protest or live the place then you could also be responsible for some reaction otherwise we didn't hear that others are responsible. 3 Question Submited by Bh Paul: Srila Prabhupada has written in His books that in the spiritual world 1+1=1 because the spiritual world is absolute. Could you please give an explanation in this point. Response by HH JPS: It's an absolute math 1+1=1, 1-1=1, makes perfect sense right? Because absolute is complete even there is anything coming out from the absolute still it only adds up to the one absolute truth nothing is independent of the absolute truth, no mater how many parts one Krishna or 16.108 Krishnas still equal one Krishna. So Krishna is always om purnam there is one verse of Sri Isopanisad om punam adah purnam idam… The absolute truth is complete but the absolute truth also comprises of many other truths that are also complete units in itself, even if you want to take something out, the absolute truth always remain full. So it's a different dimension, 4th dimension logic. 4 Question Submited by Braja Gauranga das: In Australia we do a fair amount of fund raising for assisting the preaching mission. This is raised under the banner of "Food for Life" but it's not necessarily used in conjunction with this program. Nonetheless it is used in the preaching mission. It is correct to request donation under one premise and then used in another. Response by HH JPS: Quite some time ago the GBC pass a resolution that if we collect funds for food for life that the major percentage of that fund has be use for food for life. Even according to international laws, professional fundraisers, lets say you see sometimes those people are collection for salvation army, or some red cross or something, maybe what they collect only 15% actually go to the fund, that's the kind of license they get, they sell candies, cookies, this or that, if they get 15 or 20% they are happy. I don't remember what percentage the GBC say that have to go for food for life, but some percentage have to go, otherwise it's not considered very ethical and could endanger the preaching if there is a kind of exposition, generally the principle we follow is when people gives for something is to use for that purpose but at least a significant portion of it. 5 Question Submited by Amrita Gopal dasi: Regarding those devotees engaged in Nam-hatta preaching: how can those preachers avoid committing the 9th offence to the holy name? Are those preachers given the full protection of Lord Nitiananda and are exempt from this offence? Response by HH JPS: It is said "Don't preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless." We preach to people chant Hare Krishna be happy we don't tell so many exoteric glories of the holy name, an example we give is, say you tell someone chant the holy name and you get rid of your sins, but if somebody is a real atheist like Jagai and Madhai -"I don't believe in sin!" so then you commit some offence to the holy name, so we taught people, because Lord Caitanya order us to tell everyone to chant, so we don't tell them all the glories we just tell them chant, chant and be happy, chant because is a nice thing to do, whatever, we say things without going beyond their level of faith up to what digestive capacity they have that much we tell them, when we see they have faith we tell them more, so because Lord Caitanya order us "whoever you meet tell them the glories of Krishna, tell them the message of Krishna" so we are following that instruction, so we don't tell the glories, the mahatmia of the holy name to everybody or anybody who is a faithless person. 6 Question Submited by Teja Gaurangi dd: Recently on the lecture you said that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya are not finished, are still going on. Please can you explain more about that? Response by HH JPS: Lord Caitanya predicted that the message of Lord Caitanya would be spread through all the towns and villages of the entire world therefore that it's still going on, at least there are extended pastimes of Lord Caitanya going on, Srila Prabhupada explain in the Caitanya Caritamrita that the same thing that were going on the time of Lord Caitanya the same things are going on now just time, place and circumstances are changed. We are chanting Hare Krishna, we are awakening the sleeping people, we are facing some obstacles or overcoming some obstacles so that verse is from Caitanya Bhagavat "that the time of lord Caitanya is still going on even today, and those who are very fortunate can witness it" 7 Question Submited by Sugopi Sudarshana: Dear Gurudeva. Please explain the terms of: 'raga', 'anuraga', 'bhava', 'maha bhava'. Response by HH JPS:It is depending on the context these words can have different meanings. Sometimes these words refers to different levels of prema, we have the eight levels of devotional service from faith, association with devotees, devotional practices, getting rid of the unwanted habits, getting fix, taste, attachment and extatic love. So bhava also means extatic love, then when we get to the level of prema, pure love, then there are eight other levels, in that prema is also another prema-bhava, and maha-bhava is a highest level of prema. Raga also can mean spontaneous devotion. 8 Question Submited by Nitay-daya das: Does Krishna has relationship with everyone in the spiritual world? Response by HH JPS: Krishna has a relationship with everybody everywhere, we also have a relationship with Krishna, we forgot the relationship. In vaikuntha everyone is conscious of their relationship but that is going to Narayana, the form of Krishna as Narayana, and in goloka vrindavana people are directly relating with Krishna. We have a relationship and that is coming through the Paramatma the Super-Soul in our heart. The Super-Soul is with us and is waiting for us to surrender to Him. 9 Question Submited by Amrita Gopal dasi: I have heard that listening lectures on cassettes or MP3 is not bonafide sravanam. Please comment on this and elaborate how we can perfect our hearing. Response by HH JPS: What sastra says that listening to MP3 is not bonafide? I read in the Folio that Prabhupada wanted, when a lady said that they were to busy to read or while they are cooking they can listen to cassettes, maybe hearing directly is more powerful for many people, but Prabhupada recommended listen to cassettes, he has all his lectures in tapes. 10 Question submited by Sri Radhika dd: How do you treat materialistic persons who are against KC when they are your loving relatives. Response by HH JPS: We found that Srivas Thakur he treated his relatives very respectfully, normal social dealings, you should act as a gentleman or gentle-lady. When his own mother in law was disturbing Lord Caitanya's Kirtan he grab her by the neck and push her out the door, so his standard was very high, he would sacrifice his family relation and give priority to his relationship with Lord Caitanya as a servitor, but it is hard to everybody to follow Srivas example. Krishna das Kaviraja, when his relative was offending Lord Nitiananda then he couldn't tolerate it so he left the house and went to vrindavana. We can be couteous and nice but if someone really offends we have to defend Krishna, or at least walk away. 11 Question Submited by Sankalpa dasi: Some prabhu started to visit some life members in Calcutta to present a fund raising program. He told us that most of them are very frustrated with the devotees because they gave money with full trust to the devotees but then lost the connection with the devotees completely. Also the promises that were given to the life members were not kept, so they feel cheated and they lost their faith. Are there any plans to recover those life members and winning back their faith? How could we cultivate them if they have had so bad experiences? Response by HH JPS: This is a big problem, Prabhupada wanted that the life membership program or life patron program should be a fund rising program, that people give a donation and then we reciprocate with them, this idea was the life membership fee was in the beginning even only Rs.1111 it wasn't very much and in response of that we would give them a guest room facilities in our temples and we would give them prasadam up to 3 days. Prabhupada's ideas was that if you treated them very nice then they will become please with us and they will give a lot of repeated donations, and they will engage in more devotional service. In this regard I remember Tamal Krishna Goswami he was very active at one point in ISKCON in India to establish a cultivation program, even in the west, for the donors, Giriraj Maharaj also. So that every life member maker is to see, some of them use to be really making life long friendships, and some of the older life members, even today they are initiated devotees or they are very sincere devotees, that's what our goal is of course and as far as how to correct the people feel like that, of course sometime life member may say so many things, you said that they want a little attention. I remember that it was gargamuni prabhu, he use to come he will always bring the life members gifts, say if he went to Kumba mela he filled little bottles with water from the triveni, ganga, yamuna and sarasvati, if he get a shipment of pure ghee from Australia he filled up little bottles with pure Australian ghee which in that time was not easily available in India, now import and export is much open what you can get some many things in India, but in that time it wasn't, he come with his briefcase, some members commented, whenever he comes was like, they way they expressed sounded like Santa Claus coming or something, you didn't know, when he opened that briefcase what he was about to give them, so today I have got holy water from radhakunda, so that water didn't cost anything, doesn't have any commercial value, a little bottle nay cost Rs.1 or something, but that was so pleasing to these multimillionaires that the devotee came and give them a little gift or he gave them some books or a calendar or sometime he said "I bring some Australian ghee.- Really?..", all Indians know how to test ghee, they take a little ghee a they rub it, they can tell you if it is buffalo or cow, cow ghee has a distinctive smell, and buffalo smell like sweat or something. Doesn't take too long to make those people friends you have to go there, talk to them, give them some prasadam, little things, they have all big things they don't have the little spiritual things, you go there talk to them, hear them talk, give them some little spiritual mercy, little association and after awhile they also will become friends. No matter any time we take over usually there is a change of temple president or change of preacher then we will find always many people like this saying all this things, I quite normal, if you go to a place where the temple is really down, I have to take over so many disaster places, you just figure out if 6 months or 1 year passed it's time to give, you go out and give them little things, filling them prasadam, cultivate them and the after a while they become very pleased, you have to do what wasn't done by so long. That's what any successful preacher… if you forget the present just talk to them, half the battle is won, the worst is when they refuse to talk to you. They want association, they want to a relationship, but some how, Sridhar swami maharaja was the fund raising minister use to give this seminars and use to say find them, please them, forget them, this use to be our fund raising policy, I don't know if you know what please means but get the money out of the by hook or by crook and then forget, he said that fundraising must be really friend-raising we are helping people to engage in Krishna's service so it's a big task, you find some people to cultivate, you find some people who say like this, some people are unreasonable, they already got so many things but still they say I didn't get anything, all kinds of people, its not exactly what they say, but usually the little things like giving them prasadam, have them come to Mayapur, give them a nice tour, all they want it's a little attention a little relationship, it takes weeks, months, doesn't take more than a year for re-establish for most cases, but in middle east once we face the problem that people from London they came and collected big money from the richest people loads of u$s5000 from the richest people, and then they never repaid the loan, they never wrote an apologize, they never wrote and said sorry we have this problem…so they wont talk to ISKCON, they are the richest people in these countries, only after now, after 7 years of preaching and visiting them, they finally say anyway because actually for them the 5000 dollars was not much, they are billionaires but was the feeling cheated that they gave the money and the person never wrote back, at one point we were thinking we collect the money and give the 5000 just to get back the relation, he give so much more, but now everything it's ok, recently just recently after so many years, he appreciated ok you devotees are doing so nice work. So in our institution there is all kind of people nobody is the same so I see all you are nice people so that's the latest, now what we are trying to do with the congregational ministry we want to make friends and we want to make the people Krishna conscious, and making a good donor relationship and cultivating the it's a very important aspect, maybe fundraising should be part of our ministry but I don't feel qualified … rather we liked so much to talk about the fund raising aspect but to do it responsibly that's probably something that our ministry is more concern about, we want to see that all the people is KC in life long terms. (Text PAMHO:6562425) ------ ------- End of Forwarded Message ------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.