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Questions and Answers About Krishna
Dear Dave
Hello. Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank's for reading "What Happened to the Hare Krishna's" </archive/msg00089.html>. It is sad. It's why the streets of the
world's cities are now quiet (no more chanting symbols and "Hare Krishna Hare
Krishna" ringing out over the traffic noise in our big cities... And where are
the devotees distributing Srila Prabhupada's books?) So it is a very sad
situation. But we have to try to please Srila Prabhupada and preach Krishna
consciousness anyhow. His movement will go on, that's certain, however it may
not be done by ISKCON. Time will tell. But Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement
will not be stopped!
I do very much enjoy talking about Krishna, answering questions about Krishna,
as you have noted from the Sudarsana archive. It's our business. To read about
Krishna from Srila Prabhupada's books, to put it into practice in our own lives
and then to try and tell others. It's beneficial for both the speaker and the
hearer. Both make spiritual advancement. The Srimad-Bhagavatam is spoken by
Srila Sukadeva Goswami and it is heard by Pariksit Maharaja. Both of them
became liberated, Sukadeva by chanting and Pariksit by hearing. So I like to
answer questions about Krishna because such questions and answers are
all-auspicious. It's good for the person asking the question and it's good for
me also. If you look around the world you will find everyone is asking
questions and giving answers. It's going on in the market (what is the price?),
it's going on in the schools and colleges, it's the subject matter for the
newspapers and television... But this mundane questioning and answering simply
entangles us more and more in the tangle of material actions and reactions...
But when that same questioning and answering mentality is transferred to the
subject of Krishna it is the source of liberation, it's a means of cutting
through the tangled web material life... So it is very auspicious, questions
and answers about Krishna.
It's probably good you are not involved with ISKCON at the moment. They have
missed the point. I think you can understand this from reading "What Happened
to the Hare Krishna's" and your limited dealings with them. I have tried so
many times to live in ISKCON temples and serve Srila Prabhupada there but the
mood is all wrong. I don't want to talk about these things. It is not very
enlivening. But it is a fact, they have missed the point.
I am very happy you have most of Srila Prabhupada's books and have studied some
of them very deeply. It's a pity that you let the non-response of ISKCON to so
many of your letters get you down. We have to be very determined in practising
Krishna consiousness. There will be so many difficulties, practically becoming
Krishna conscious means declaring war on maya (the material energy). So maya
will try her best to distract us. We have to be very alert and not let her
disturb our devotional service.
As for the Lilamrta, it's nice, but it is certainly not on the same level as
the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada often said "If you want to know me --
read my books". So that is the real way to know Srila Prabhupada. He is the
person Bhagavatam and the person Bhagavatam and the book Bhagavatam are the
same. So if you know the book Bhagavatam you will come to know the person
Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada, as well. There are many subtle problems with
Satsvarupa's presentation of the Lilamrta, but it is a historical documentation
of Srila Prabhupada establishing the Krishna consciousness movement and it is
the best we have. I'm sure if Srila Prabhupada had to have a biography written
he would have chosen Satsvarupa to do it. But it doesn't replace reading Srila
Prabhupada's books and it is written in the middle of the "Zonal Acarya" days
and is trying to support that system...
As for "bathing in the transcendental waters" of Srila Prabhupada's books -- it
is not something one can stop if he develops a taste for it but developing a
taste for it may be difficult for us materially conditioned souls. It is the
highest nectar, an ocean of ever-increasing transcendental bliss, but we have
no taste for reading Srila Prabhupada's books and chanting Hare Krishna. That
is the symptom of our disease. As the disease is cured we will want to chant
Hare Krishna and read Srila Prabhupada's books 24 hours a day. 24 hours will
not be enough... Srila Ruganatha dasa Govami is the perfect example of this. He
was working in Krishna consiousness writing books, studying, chanting Hare
Krishna and other services 22 hours a day. He was sleeping less than two hours
a day and only drinking some buttermilk every second day. He was so absorbed in
the ecstasy of Krishna consciousness that he practically forgot to eat and
sleep. Of course we are not on that platform, nor should one imitate the
activities of such great devotees. But we have to develop a taste for chanting
Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada's books.
As for not getting any answers from the temple or the visiting Swami's, of
course they should have answered your letters, but you will find that you have
had all the answers all along. Everything is in Srila Prabhupada's books. The
answer to all questions is there. We just have to submissively and attentively
hear them. It is beyond the intellectual platform, it is on the level of the
soul, not the level of the mind. So the pure vibrations from the lips of the
pure devotee act to purify the heart and uncover our real, original, Krishna
consiousness. Krishna consiousness is not something we learn, something new
imposed on us from outside, it is present within our heart, it is our original
consciousness, it simply has to be uncovered.
"Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not
differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the
Vedas, whih are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which
religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is
hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as
the sastras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahajanas
advocate." (Yudhisthira Maharaja from Mahabarata Vana-parva 313.117)
As for addressing me "Madhudvisa dasa" is fine. Devotees often address each
other as "Prabhu". "Prabhu" means master. So we see the other devotees who are
actually surrendered souls to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna as our masters, we
want to serve the other devotees engaged in Krishna's service as well. Krishna
is pleased if we please His servants. So you can also say "Madhudvisa Prabhu"
if you like. Really spiritual questions can only be put to a proper authority
who is qualified to answering them and who is living the philosophy in his own
life. Anyone can "cram the verses" and answer the questions. But the real
result of questions and answers about Krishna is the awakening of Krishna
consciousness within the hearts of both the questioner and the answerer. That's
only possible when both the questioner and the answerer are qualified. Anyhow
please send your questions and I will try to answer them.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Your servant
Madhudvisa dasa
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Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!