The Sanatana Dharma

[KrishnaBhakta]

Could someone please tell me about this dharma? I would like to know a lot about it. I have read it is monotheistic. TO support this, I have read this also: Lord Krishna is the ultimate cause of all and he created Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. Did Brahma create the Universe or was it Lord Krishna? Please tell me all you can, or at least what you feel appropriate for me. A little about me. My name is Kiran Patel and was born in Gujarat. My family beleives in the Swaminarayan Dharma. I used to also, but I now have lost my beleifs about that. The followers of this beleive in Swaminarayan to be the lord, and worship him as the lord. Although a book written by him, called the Shikshapatri, says that the only lord is Krishna; people should worship him and none other, even if he is a devotee of the lord. One day, when a neighbor was leaving our house, she said Jay Shree Krsna, to which my brother and I replied Jay Shree Krsna. My mom told us that this was wrong, and we should say Jay Swaminarayan, instead of Jay Shree Krsna. As of now, I beleive in Shree Krishna to be the ultimate cause. I try to do mala everyday, and chant Jay Shree Krishna or the Hare Krsna maha mantra. Can someone, or more than one, PLEASE help me in strengthening my beliefs about this relegion, about Krishna,

 

Thank You, and Jay Shree Krishna,

Kiran Patel

[Guest guest]

Dear Kiran Patel,

 

My obeisances to the Lotus feet of Guru,Sadhu,and Shastra.

I am certainly no expert but i would advise looking into the Srimad Bhagavatam. This is the 'cream' of India's vedic knowledge. A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami published his books in many languages,and this 18,000 verse scripture is written in at least English. It tells of all the "Gods and Goddeses" but is mostly about the yadu dynasty. Krishna was from this family. So from the begining

of the "Bhagavadtam",you learn the "Sanatana Dharma."

Sanatana means eternal (basically) Dharma is characteristic. Our Eternal Characteristic (we being spirit) is all layed out in this book. This is the most confidential knowledge from Bharat Varsha or Greater India(the world) It was held in secret code (sanskrit) which A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami ulocked and gave freely as predicted by Lord Caitanya. Read His books to gain spiritual knowledge. He taught the Only Perfect Ancient philosiphy available on this planet, and in simple english.

 

I have imperfect body and mind and may have made mistakes in the above but i think i am close to the way our Sampradaya Acarya Guru would present the facts.

 

Go to the Srimad Bhagavatam to learn about Brahma ,Shiva, and other great Vaisnavas. Vaisnava being the devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Shree Krishna.

 

das anu das

servant of the servant /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Pankaja_Dasa]

"Can someone, or more than one, PLEASE help me in strengthening my beliefs about this relegion, about Krishna"

 

Just chant Hare-Krishna Mantra

(try to do 16 Rounds each day, if possible)

 

and read Gita here is link: Bhagavad Gita As It Is & Srimad Bhagavatam

 

Hope somebody else can help you as well.

Please ask questions if you need help.

There are many people that can help

you here /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bebot]

you can follow all the suggestion above but the most important thing is go look for a bonafide guru. Be a servant of the servant of the Lord and your life will be perfect. One doesn't even need to read all the scriptures, memorize all the verses as long as you are pleasing to the spiritual teacher. This relationship is comparable to being in Vrindavana, follow His instruction and your spiritual life should be perfect.

 

p.s. don't based your search for a guru on the size or number of his followers but the fruits of his actions.

Shastra, Paramatma and guru, the only way...

All gloris to Sri Guru and Sri Guaranga, jaya jai Gurudeva.

[Guest guest]

Jaya Shri Krishna and Hare Krishna

 

I can understand your dilemma. The solution is simple. Just refer to Guru, Sadhu and Shastra. Just accept what all the three accept. If one of the three does not accept then that is not a fact.

 

Remember how we learn everything in the class? There is a teacher (Guru) who teaches us from the text books (Shastra or Scriptures) written by some Acharyas (well read persons who have been approved by the university). When we learn like this and appear for the exams then the board accepts all our answers and we pass. Isn't it?

 

Do we buy books from a pan-shop? Do we learn from some bhel-puri wala? NO.

 

This is exactly how we accept anything spiritual. Our Guru says Shri Krishna is God. All the sadhus say Krishna is the Supreme God and all the bonafide scriptures say Sri Krishna is the original Ishwara. He is the cause of all causes. He is the Adi Purusha from whom everything comes.

 

So now you can use this knowledge and tell your people to follow. You are right HH Swaminarayana never said he is God. Follow his instructyions rather than the instructions of someone who is misleading and confused.

 

Chant Hare Krishna and slowly all your doubts will melt like the snow which melts when Sunlight hits it.

 

Hare Krishna

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna to all

 

Bhakta Kiran Patel,

 

What I can suggest you from my personal experience is you should believe in the gurus words. If you cannot find a physical guru then our shastras are our real gurus. But we follow a disciplic succession system in our devotional service path. Our brains and minds are so much in distress and have the material dirt on them that it is impossible to learn bhakti by ourselves. Thats why we must have a bonafide guru. You must accept a guru by all means. You must have a surrendering mentality. It is only by surrendering we can learn this science of bhakti or bhakti yoga.

In Bhagvad gita Arjuna said to Bhagavan Sri Krishna, that I accept all you said is true. Only then krishna told him the gita.

 

As far as my very small knowledge is concerned, I know that Lord Swaminarayan is one of the bhaktas of Lord Sri Krishna. He always preached that we must have obeisence towards Lord Sri Krishna. He is devotee of the lord. And if you become the devotee of Lord Swaminarayan then it is the utmost in bhakti you can do. What you are doing is perfectly correct. You are following a dasa of sri krishna. then you are the dasa of the dasa of sri krishna. That is perfectly what you must be.

And you are doing the correct thing according to me. We should follow the aacharyas and shastras. One of the aacharyas is Lord Swaminarayana. He is avatar of lord as a devotee himself.

 

a servent of the servent in the devotional path.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

Pawan Deshpande.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

You are right and Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan does say in the Shishapatri that Lord Krishna is the ultimate being. The followers or Swaminarayan follow him and pray to him because they like his avtar. BUT, whatever your mom told you about "Jai Shree Krishna" being WRONG, is not true at all. Why do you think people belive in different Gods, although knowing that there is only one God out there?....It because they understand their avtars better or like their avtars. God said, and so does the Geeta, it does not matter to whom you pray to, all the other Gods are merely branches, a path that you take to get to the Ultimate God himself. therefore, u dissing on Swaminarayan satsangi's is not right. Ever been to a Swaminarayan temple? Lord Krishna is placed right nest to Swaminarayan on his left. We do follow his preachings, it's just that Krishna's avtar as swaminarayan on this earth is pleasing to us, and we follow that. Either way, we praise Lord Krishna, although in an indirect way. bye, take care

 

Jai Swaminarayan

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna!

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him!

 

Dear Bhakta Kiran Patel, first of all congratulations on inquiring about Krishna Consciousness. You are doing the right thing. Srila Prabhupada has said that simply showing interest in Krishna Consciousness one must be a great person, for you are inquiring about the Supreme.

 

You are right by saying Krishna is the Supreme.So common sense tells us we should serve HIM and no other. Krishna says in the Gita that whoever prays the DemiGods are fools. We are not disrespecting the DemiGods, in fact we make them happy by serving Lord Krishna. So if you can satisfy SwamiNarayan by serving Lord Krishna. Krishna says, you pray me and I will take care of you. All the Demigods will shower blessing on you once you serve Krishna.

 

Iam a neophyte like you so it will be inappropriate write something and confuse you. But the basic point is we should serve Krishna with love and unalloyed devotion. It is very difficult but we sshould always try. You might not succeed in this lifetime but thats ok.But we should slowly elevate ourselves to offer love and devotion. For that, one should practice-sadhana.

 

Start to chant the Maha-Mantra slowly. Probably start with 1 round and slowly increase. But make sure you chant the number of rounds consistently. The quantity of rounds is not important but the quality. So try to chant 1 round and slowly increase. Dont do things too fast in excitment and get burnt out fast. Regularly, go to the Krishna temple,ISKCON preferrably if there is one in your town. Make it a point to go to the temple every sunday and spend time Krishna and Sadhus. Sadhu sanga is very important in spiritual knowledge. Buy a Bhagavad Gita As it is by Srila Prabhupada(no other) and start reading it. If you think that is too technical, buy a small Krishna book by Srila Prabhupada and start reading it daily.

 

So now, you will chant atleast 1round daily, read Prabhupada's books daily, and go to the temple every sunday. Iam sure Prabhupada will show you the right way to the Supreme. Have an attitude of humbleness, surrender. Again, this is all difficult but when you start, keep practicing in the right way. Srila Prabhupada always said one should consider oneself useless and approach Krishna. This will help us to be simple and humble. When you read books or inquire about Krishna, have an attitude of surrender and not a belligerent mood.

 

Do all this steadily and CONSISTENTLY and you will know everything in due course of time. Iam also like you learning. So hope we become good devotees.

 

Hare Krishna

 

anand

[Guest guest]

Lord Swaminarayan is the supreme lord & avatar na avatari. All avatar's came from lord swaminarayan & went back to lord swaminarayan. Lord swaminarayan is the purna purshottam bhagavan & came on earth to arrange real ekantik dharma. He promise that he will alive on earth for ever using his saints. He fulfilled his promise through P.P Gunatitanand swami, P.P Sashtriji Maharaj, P.P Yogiji Maharaj, P.P Hariprasadswami, P.P Pramukhswami maharaj

 

JAI SWAMINARAYAN jthakkar@sympatico.ca

[kcp1982]

Hare Krishna.

 

I know about the swaminaryan movement and the sikspatri. Please visit my site and read why Lord Krishna is God and the Sikaparti written by Swaminaryan confirms this.

 

www.gitamrta.org/god.htm

www.gitamrta.org/swaminarayan.htm

 

The followers of swaminarayan are totally ignorant to the truth, they have no interest in Lord Krishna or the Bhagavad-gita. They are simply ignorant fools.

 

All the Vedic scriptures confirm that Krishna is the only God. The swaminaryan movement is an anti-Vedic movement, out to destroy Sanatam Dharmma.

 

Before 300 years ago there was no such as Swaminarayan, so how can he be God? He himself says Krishna is God and he himself worshipped Krishna. In the temple built by Swaminaryan himself, Lord Krishna is the center of worship. Why? Because he is God.

 

The swaminarayan followers are most ignorant fools who are trying to destroy the Vedic religion throught their concocted irreligion.

 

Visit Gitamrta.org and learn more.

 

 

[kcp1982]

Hare Krishna.

 

Questions for those believe swaminarayan is god.

 

1. Why did swaminaryan write the sikspatri?

2. Whe did he pray to Lord Krishna.

3. Why did he have Lord Krishna's deity in the center of all the temples he built, like the one in vadtal?

4. In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna clearly saye he is the only god. Is Lord Krishna a lier or what?

5. Why is it that a diety of Lord Krishna is present in 99% of the Hindu temples around the world. And less than 1% have a deity of Swaminarayan?

6. Why is it that millions of Hindus visit Vrandavan, Mathura and other Lord Krishna areas.

7. The Srimad Bhagavatm and other Vedic scriptures are all based on Lord Krishna and there is no mention of swaminarayan. Why?

8. Why is the swaminaryan movemnet in 4 parts (baps, vadtal etc..) and increasing. It's basically breaking up with each split. Why? The Gurus in the swaminarayan movement all concoct their beleifs that's why they set-up new movements.

[vishnu]

To not pray to anyone but God/jesus/krishna.

 

[Guest guest]

This is the message of all religions,For muslims Allah is the only god ( they call their god Allah),Hindus call by many names and forms.Message is simple God is One.

[vishnu]

all those hiindu gods of yours are not Gods. only Krishna is comparable with the christian and maybe muslim God.

[Guest guest]

Hare krishna.

 

Vinshu, you say all the Hindu demi-gods are not comparibale to Jesus. The Hindu demi gods like Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and others were much more powerful than Jesus. They performed miracles which would make the miracles performed by jesus just toys.

 

You should first learn than make jidgement. Have you read the past times of Lord Shiva or Lord Brahma and thousands of other Hindu sages like Sant Ganeshwar, Tukaram etc..

 

If you knew their pastimes, Jesus would seem like an ordinary man (with respect).

[vishnu]

Well, those miracles jesus did, i assume your talking about healing and so on, when in fact, jesus cocreated the earth with God. He is Vishnu. im sure of it. i think mahavishnu is God the Father.

and as for demigods, the bible says we are Gods too, i think humans might be very well equal in rank if not higher after death, than the demigods. at least i am against worshipping any other God than God the supreme.

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

Vinshu, I think you are sincere devotee but you should learn the facts.

 

Jesus never said he was God nor did he prove it. He was a Guru, a good one, but not God.

 

God would not allow his own creations to crucify him.

 

May Lord Krishna bless you.

 

Please visit www.gitamrta.org and listen to the Bhagavad-Gita.

 

 

[vishnu]

Hare Krishna

Hello /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I am sincere, i dont like lies, ive been called more sincereand honest than anyone else he met by some person even.

Jesus did say he and the father are one. maybe JHWH the father is mahavishnu and jesus vishnu. i have my sources, it wasnt decided by reasoning.

 

If you think that, you don't know Gods ways. He was always in control from higher plane, the crucifiction was no weakness, but great strength. id say its brave, and having such a big ego that you dont do this for your flock, that is lame and ungodly. God is not a proud God.

May he bless you /images/graemlins/smile.gif

sorry the boxes of my computer dont work /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[sumedh]

Dear Vishnu

Hare Krishna and dandavat pranam

 

If jesus has said that he and his Father are one, then it is a very nice exposition of the gaudiya philosophy which is acintya-bheda-abheda i.e. inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference, and which describes the basic nature of the spiritual realm. It is inconceivable because apparent contradictory features co-exist simultaneously and eternally in the Lord. Jesus first distinguishes himself from Father, and then says they are one. A pure devotee is considered included in vishnu-tattva (or intrinsic part of the Lord) meaning all his desires and thoughts are those of the Lord and since he is has attained the internal potency of the Lord he is non-different from the Lord; the difference is from the tattva point of view in that Lord is the Whole while jiva is part of Him and the fact that a Guru is servitor while the Lord is the served one. So both aspects exist simultaneously and eternally. (i may add that in the spiritual realm there are no small parts or big parts since there is no measuring tendency, only the Whole and infinitesemal jivas and other energies).

 

One point is that maha-vishnu and vishnu are one and the same (same person in different "roles"), and not as Father and son. They are completely identical in all respects and so are all the various forms of Lord (Rama, Nrsimha, Baladeva, Kurma, Matsya etc.) who are called vishnu-tattva Deities. In gaudiya theology, of course, Krishna is understood to be the "Original" Personality of Godhead or the original form and the source of all other forms (although all of them are eternal and are truly One and the same) and some vaishnava sampradayas consider His Narayana form to be the Original, this actually makes no difference when we are considering from the tattva point of view (i.e. their true nature).

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

Vishnu, according to the Vedic scriptures, even a dog can say he and God are one.

 

Everything is a part and parcel of God, thus every living being is part and parcel of God.

 

Thus Jesus saying he and father are one, is not unique to him. Any living being can say the same thing.

 

The drop in the ocean and the ocean are one, but the ocean is vast and the drop is not.

 

Even living being is the son of God, not just Jesus.

 

Please follow the scriptures, don't concoct your own beliefs.

 

 

 

[vishnu]

Hare Krishna

Hello guest and sumedh. i fear that in jesus case, i go along with sumedh, his thoughts and spirit and heart is one with God, and without sin. not like other people or a dog.

Jesus is the only Son of God. I dont know how you define son, but jesus is without sin, equal in light and shekinah (jewish) glory to God.

we are children at most.

I dont concoct, i find the truth and scriptures are one way-and part of what i 'use'.

 

[Guest guest]

Hare krishna Vishnu

Well you do not concot and neither do we as we state the facts as spoken By krishna through the line of disciplic succession following a very strict Parampara.Whether Jesus is son of God or Not u have to accept Krishna as the supreme as stated by Vyasadev,Narada and other exemplary souls.

[Guest guest]

Krishna welcomes all.

 

Please pray to krishna but don't get to the cheap thinking that your mother is wrong or right, and she's going to be unsuccessful or you are going to be more successful because she doesn't pray to krishna like you ..etc. Stop judging. Else you'll see your ego Bloat and stink, while you may still be able to take the name of beautiful krishna. Wonder how you feel like expressing your judgements of right or wrong, while divinity is a personalised experience of a universal being.

 

I would say Krishna or swaminarayan is just a name. A mother can have a favourite name, and you might have another favourite maha mantra. So what. favourite maha mantras can do wonders to oneself. Your mother's favourite maha mantra might match with that of her family custom. Your's might not match with the custom, but match with your neighbour's. So what. Don't seek the comfort of being a rebel to your mom or your family custom. Consider the comfort of you following your family custom, and also being a greatest devotee of krishna (forget how you say bye). Don't come to spirituality if you like the ego-posture of being a rebel to your own family. Spirituality is not a place of egoistic people.

 

Another point. 'Who created the world' is your ego asking, which considers you as seperate from the rest of god's creation. Let me assure you that you are NOT going to be worldly wise or anywhere near spiritual by chasing answers to questions like "who CREATED the world, WHY did so-&-so say this or that, WHY-NOT this or that etc..".

 

Let me assure you that even in a recognised corporate, you'll be FIRED if you were to ask whom you consider really created the company and who did not, or if you were to ask why did so-&-so in senior management say so-&-so thing etc. You'll be fired for poor teamsmanship or with poor integrity.

 

Learn to accept the self discipline of good actions in ones own life as taught in Bagawad geetha (just as corporate culture teaches you good actions for the company). Bagawad geetha teaches you good actions for the world and society.