Is There Life After Death?

[kcp1982]

"People like Kcp have no idea what Krishna consciousness is all about."

 

What non-sense.

 

KC is about preaching the message of the Bhagvad-gita to all in the world. That is what I am doing.

 

By being blind to the truth is not promoting KC but promoting irreligion.

 

In Kali Yuga there is religion and irrligion. Knowing the difference is what KC is all about.

 

We should respect all but at the same time be firm in our beliefs and not promote irrligious values like cow killing, rejecting karma, rejecting reincarnation and so on.

 

As I stated before, most Gurus only preach what the people want to hear and not the truth. This kind of preaching is irreligion.

 

The conclusion of the Bhagavad-gita is:

 

"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. " (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita 18.66)

 

If you don't get this message and promote it then you are not KC and are wasitng this rare human birth. Dicrimination is important, otherwise you are no better than a hog. Who does not discriminate it's food (eats anything) nor sex life (mates with anyone).

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

It is explainded in Manu-samhita (2.159-161):

 

created being must be instructed in what concerns thier welfare without giving them pain, and sweet and genlle speech must be used by a teacher---

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

www.backtohome.com --Sankarshan Das aDhikari is doing & guiding an e-mail self realization course

[Guest guest]

I hope Kcp understand this point.

[Guest guest]

All glories to Srila Prahupad. I offer my humble obeisances unto him.

[mark]

I don't want to join in the KCP bashing Kamlesh. You are preaching the truth, but rather forcefully. You are a very, very dedicated devotee, but perhaps a little more diplomacy might get your arguments across without getting people of other religious backgrounds offended.

 

You will catch more flies with honey than vinegar as the saying go's! That does not mean you should tell any lies, just use a softer tone, even if you feel like shouting at the hypocrisy that you encounter.

 

Sometimes Srila Prabhupada was quite strong in his comments

about certain aspects of other religions, such as arguing with Cardinal Danielou as in the following extract from Science of Self Realisation, but at the same time Srila Prabhupada would practice diplomacy such as by praising devotees of other religion traditions, such as Jesus Christ, while still condemning irreligious practices that had crept in, corrupting/replacing original teachings.

 

"Thou Shalt Not Kill" or "Thou Shalt Not Murder"?

 

At a monastic retreat near Paris, in July of 1973, Srila Prabhupada talked with Cardinal Jean Danielou: "... the Bible does not simply say, 'Do not kill the human being.' It says broadly, 'Thou shalt not kill.'... why do you interpret this to suit your own convenience?"

 

Srila Prabhupada: Jesus Christ said, "Thou shalt not kill." So why is it that the Christian people are engaged in animal killing?

Cardinal Danielou: Certainly in Christianity it is forbidden to kill, but we believe that there is a difference between the life of a human being and the life of the beasts. The life of a human being is sacred because man is made in the image of God; therefore, to kill a human being is forbidden.

Srila Prabhupada: But the Bible does not simply say, "Do not kill the human being." It says broadly, "Thou shalt not kill."

Cardinal Danielou: We believe that only human life is sacred.

Srila Prabhupada: That is your interpretation. The commandment is "Thou shalt not kill."

Cardinal Danielou: It is necessary for man to kill animals in order to have food to eat.

Srila Prabhupada: No. Man can eat grains, vegetables, fruits, and milk.

Cardinal Danielou: No flesh?

Srila Prabhupada: No. Human beings are meant to eat vegetarian food. The tiger does not come to eat your fruits. His prescribed food is animal flesh. But man's food is vegetables, fruits, grains, and milk products. So how can you say that animal killing is not a sin?

Cardinal Danielou: We believe it is a question of motivation. If the killing of an animal is for giving food to the hungry, then it is justified.

Srila Prabhupada: But consider the cow: we drink her milk; therefore, she is our mother. Do you agree?

Cardinal Danielou: Yes, surely.

Srila Prabhupada: So if the cow is your mother, how can you support killing her? You take the milk from her, and when she's old and cannot give you milk, you cut her throat. Is that a very humane proposal? In India those who are meat-eaters are advised to kill some lower animals like goats, pigs, or even buffalo. But cow killing is the greatest sin. In preaching Krsna consciousness we ask people not to eat any kind of meat, and my disciples strictly follow this principle. But if, under certain circumstances, others are obliged to eat meat, then they should eat the flesh of some lower animal. Don't kill cows. It is the greatest sin. And as long as a man is sinful, he cannot understand God. The human being's main business is to understand God and to love Him. But if you remain sinful, you will never be able to understand God--what to speak of loving Him.

Cardinal Danielou: I think that perhaps this is not an essential point. The important thing is to love God. The practical commandments can vary from one religion to the next.

Srila Prabhupada: So, in the Bible God's practical commandment is that you cannot kill; therefore killing cows is a sin for you.

Cardinal Danielou: God says to the Indians that killing is not good, and he says to the Jews that...

Srila Prabhupada: No, no. Jesus Christ taught, "Thou shalt not kill." Why do you interpret this to suit your own convenience?

Cardinal Danielou: But Jesus allowed the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb.

Srila Prabhupada: But he never maintained a slaughterhouse.

Cardinal Danielou: [Laughs.] No, but he did eat meat.

Srila Prabhupada: When there is no other food, someone may eat meat in order to keep from starving. That is another thing. But it is most sinful to regularly maintain slaughterhouses just to satisfy your tongue. Actually, you will not even have a human society until this cruel practice of maintaining slaughterhouses is stopped. And although animal killing may sometimes be necessary for survival, at least the mother animal, the cow, should not be killed. That is simply human decency. In the Krsna consciousness movement our practice is that we don't allow the killing of any animals. Krsna says, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati: "Vegetables, fruits, milk, and grains should be offered to Me in devotion." (Bhagavad-gita 9.26) We take only the remnants of Krsna's food (prasadam). The trees offer us many varieties of fruits, but the trees are not killed. Of course, one living entity is food for another living entity, but that does not mean you can kill your mother for food. Cows are innocent; they give us milk. You take their milk--and then kill them in the slaughterhouse. This is sinful.

Student: Srila Prabhupada, Christianity's sanction of meat-eating is based on the view that lower species of life do not have a soul like the human being's.

Srila Prabhupada: That is foolishness. First of all, we have to understand the evidence of the soul's presence within the body. Then we can see whether the human being has a soul and the cow does not. What are the different characteristics of the cow and the man? If we find a difference in characteristics, then we can say that in the animal there is no soul. But if we see that the animal and the human being have the same characteristics, then how can you say that the animal has no soul? The general symptoms are that the animal eats, you eat; the animal sleeps, you sleep; the animal mates, you mate; the animal defends, and you defend. Where is the difference?

Cardinal Danielou: We admit that in the animal there may be the same type of biological existence as in men, but there is no soul. We believe that the soul is a human soul.

Srila Prabhupada: Our Bhagavad-gita says sarva-yonisu, "In all species of life the soul exists." The body is like a suit of clothes. You have black clothes; I am dressed in saffron clothes. But within the dress you are a human being, and I am also a human being. Similarly, the bodies of the different species are just like different types of dress. There are soul, a part and parcel of God. Suppose a man has two sons, not equally meritorious. One may be a Supreme Court judge and the other may be a common laborer, but the father claims both as his sons. He does not make the distinction that the son who is a judge is very important and the worker-son is not important. And if the judge-son says, "My dear father, your other son is useless; let me cut him up and eat him," will the father allow this?

Cardinal Danielou: Certainly not, but the idea that all life is part of the life of God is difficult for us to admit. There is a great difference between human life and animal life.

Srila Prabhupada: That difference is due to the development of consciousness. In the human body there is developed consciousness. Even a tree has a soul, but a tree's consciousness is not very developed. If you cut a tree it does not resist. Actually, it does resist, but only to a very small degree. There is a scientist named Jagadish Chandra Bose who has made a machine which shows that trees and plants are able to feel pain when they are cut. And we can see directly that when someone comes to kill an animal, it resists, it cries, it makes a horrible sound. So it is a matter of the development of consciousness. But the soul is there within all living beings.

Cardinal Danielou: But metaphysically, the life of man is sacred. Human beings think on a higher platform than the animals do.

Srila Prabhupada: What is that higher platform? The animal eats to maintain his body, and you also eat in order to maintain your body. The cow eats grass in the field, and the human being eats meat from a huge slaughterhouse full of modern machines. But just because you have big machines and a ghastly scene, while the animal simply eats grass, this does not mean that you are so advanced that only within your body is there a soul and that there is not a soul within the body of the animal. That is illogical. We can see that the basic characteristics are the same in the animal and the human being.

Cardinal Danielou: But only in human beings do we find a metaphysical search for the meaning of life.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. So metaphysically search out why you believe that there is no soul within the animal--that is metaphysics. If you are thinking metaphysically, that's all right. But if you are thinking like an animal, then what is the use of your metaphysical study? Metaphysical means "above the physical" or, in other words, "spiritual." In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, sarva-yonisu kaunteya: "In every living being there is a spirit soul." That is metaphysical understanding. Now either you accept Krsna's teachings as metaphysical, or you'll have to take a third-class fool's opinion as metaphysical. Which do you accept?

Cardinal Danielou: But why does God create some animals who eat other animals? There is a fault in the creation, it seems.

Srila Prabhupada: It is not a fault. God is very kind. If you want to eat animals, then He'll give you full facility. God will give you the body of a tiger in your next life so that you can eat flesh very freely. "Why are you maintaining slaughterhouses? I'll give you fangs and claws. Now eat." So the meat-eaters are awaiting such punishment. The animal-eaters become tigers, wolves, cats, and dogs in their next life--to get more facility."

 

Keep up your good work Kamlesh, but perhaps just try to moderate the tone a little. My humble obeisances to you for you dedication!

 

Hare Krishna

Mark /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

Is that even though Prabhupada preached, He is an Achaya and can say and do many things, just like Krishna said to Arjuna 'you are a coward' We cannot say this, nor can we say it to anybody else. Without being a Spiritual Master.

 

Ps Mark here is Video about Jesus was a Vegitarian:

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?27000000036903

It didn't really help me understand that much, but I guess

it was a little help, Prabhupada explains it better.

[Guest guest]

Srila Prabhupada said anyone who is KC can become a spiritual master.

 

You don't have to be a sanyasi or someone big to preach the truth.

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

Guru can call me a Raskal or somebody else, but I cannot. So there is a difference between me and Guru. I maybe preach, and in a sence can be called 'Guru'. But REAL Guru is He who is 100% Surrendered to Krishna.!!

[Guest guest]

I agree with Govindaram that we should not try to imitate Srila Prabhupad or other great personalities rather we should follow their instructions.