Q1
: I feel that my faith in god is very
hollow. How do I know that god exists? |
| Ans
1: We can know that God exists just
like we know that a government, made
of people, exists when we see traffic
lights and just like we know an artist
exists when we see a painting or just
like we know that parents exist (or
did exist) when we see a child. We
know that this God must be intelligent
beyond our imagination, and that this
God must be a person, because only
a person has intelligence. In the
material world we see that to put
a small satellite into the orbit so
much effort goes in. There is a control
room and scientists monitor the orbit
of the satellite. So there is a human
brain behind the feat. Similarly just
imagine how many planets are moving
around in the universe. And each one
is keeping its orbit. Imagine if the
sun were to change its orbit one day
- what a catastrophe it would be.
Everyday it rises and sets on time.
So there is a brain behind it. And
that is God.
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| Q2 : How should
I understand the personification of
God? |
Ans2: How do scientists, when discovering
artifacts of an old civilization,
determine whether or not what they
find is from humans or nature? There
is always a clear indication of an
intelligent, personal creator in the
creation. Similarly, there is ample
evidence in nature of an intelligent
person behind it. How could God be
less than His creation which includes
so many individuals, not only humans?
The impersonal idea defies common
sense and observation, although Krishna
has His impersonal aspects, also.
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| Q3 : Is Lord Krishna
personal or impersonal? |
Ans
3: The impersonal brahman effulgence
is one aspect of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, but
it is only a partial representation
of the Lord and is ultimately a subordinate
emanation from His personal feature.
Thus if one stops at the impersonal
understanding of the Absolute Truth,
his or her knowledge of God remains
incomplete.
The
Lord has two other features known
as Paramatma and Bhagavan. In His
Paramatma feature the Supreme Lord
exists within each and every atom
of His creation and also within the
hearts of every living being In this
way he pervades and supports the entire
universe. This feature of the Lord
is also a subordinate emanation from
His eternal, original personal form.
The
word Bhagavan indicates the personal
form of the Lord, which is the ultimate
source of all other existences and
energies, and all other aspects and
manifestations of Godhead. That is
why Krishna is described as the "Supreme
Personality" of Godhead. This
personal feature of the Lord is most
sublime and therefore the Lord is
known as Krishna, or He who is "all-attractive".
To
deny the Lord His beautiful personal
feature, by which He reciprocates
in loving exchange with all living
beings who desire His association,
is insulting because it denies the
Lord all of the most attractive and
appealing aspects of personal existence.
With our tiny brains and limited understanding,
we may not be able to comprehend how
it is that the Supreme Lord can maintain
His eternal, individual form and personality,
while simultaneously expanding into
everything else. But this poor fund
of knowledge is no reason to deny
the Lord's unlimited, transcendental
form.
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| Q4
: Aren't you limiting God by giving
Him a form? |
Ans
4: Certainly not. You are limiting
God by saying that He doesn't have
a form. God is the source of all that
exists, and since the source cannot
emanate that which it doesn't possess
we can understand that the Supreme
Lord has His own. That form, however,
is not limited as our material forms
are. God has a spiritual form and
from that form the whole creation,
spiritual and material, is coming.
'
angani yasya sakalendriya-vrttimanti
pasyanti panti kalayanti ciram jaganti
ananda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami '
"I worship Govinda, the primeval
Lord, whose transcendental form is
full of bliss, truth and substantiality
and is thus full of the most dazzling
splendor. Each of the limbs of that
transcendental figure possesses, in
Himself, the full-fledged functions
of all the organs, and eternally sees,
maintains and manifests the infinite
universes, both spiritual and mundane".
(Brahma-samhita 5.32)
He
has an impersonal aspect and a personal
aspect. God's original supreme form
is that of Sri Krishna, as confirmed
in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.3.28),
'krsnas tu bhagavan svayam' : "Lord
Sri Krishna is the original Personality
of Godhead Himself".
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| Q5 :Is there anything
known about the disappearance of Lord
Krishna? |
Ans
5: Lord Krishna's disappearance is
presented in the 30th and 31st chapters
of Canto 11 of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
To briefly summarize, the Lord entered
the forest and sat down in meditation.
A hunter-devotee thought His lotus
foot was the face of a deer and fired
an arrow which grazed the Lord's foot.
The hunter then came before Krishna
and begged forgiveness for his offense.
Showing His four-armed form, encircled
by His personified weapons and symbols,
He blessed the hunter and sent him
to the spiritual world. The Lord then
sent His weapons, symbols and His
divine chariot to the spiritual world
with His chariot driver Daruka. And
then, in the view of Lord Brahma,
Lord Shiva and all the demigods, Lord
Krishna ascended back into the spiritual
world Himself.
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| Q6
: In this age of Kali would it not
be logical to think that Lord Krishna
would come down to wash this society
of all it's bad deeds? I mean, can
things get any worse then they are?
Or will the Lord just sit back and
let us foolish humans destroy our
own home? |
Ans
6: According to the teachings of
the Vedas and the opinions of authorities
on the spiritual subject, Lord Krishna
has descended in the Kali Yuga as
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who appeared
five hundred years ago to inaugurate
the sankirtana movement which Srila
Prabhupada brought to the Western
world in 1966 in the form of this
Hare Krishna movement. It is said
that people who are actually intelligent
will take advantage of this movement
to obtain spiritual knowledge and
participate in the public glorification
of the name, form, pastimes and qualities
of the Supreme Lord. In this way they
will get, and help to give others,
relief from the unfortunate state
of affairs in this modern society
in the age of Kali.
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Q7 : How could Krishna
have 16108 wives? |
Ans
7: When Lord Krishna comes to this
world He exhibits transcendental activities.
He is exhibiting the activities from
the spiritual world here. To be really
the friend of all living entities
Krishna has time for unlimited living
entities. Not that in the spiritual
world we have to make an appointment
and can see Him every one billion
years for two seconds. In order to
be always with us in the material
world He expands himself as the Supersoul
in everyone's heart and accompanies
us through millions of forms, trying
to convince us to come home. In the
Spiritual world there is no 'paramatma'
feature. Instead, Krishna expands
Himself there into unlimited forms
according to the nature of the souls
there to communicate with them all
the time. And just like in the spiritual
world Krishna expands Himself in so
many forms to give us His association
all the time, so when He comes down
He exhibits the nature of the spiritual
world by expanding Himself in so many
husbands (in Dvaraka) or so many lovers
(in Vrindavan) or so many dancers
as there were in kirtan parties (as
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri).
This
is the superexcellent power and mercy
of the Supreme Lord. What concern
for each and every one! What incomparable
kindness to all! Yet in our mundane
conception we mistake the wonderful
exhibits of His kindness to be mundane.
With our impure mind we are misunderstanding
His wonderful activities by projecting
our mundane conceptions on Him.
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Q8 : If God is
so wonderful, why was I sent here
to suffer? If He can do anything,
can't He get me out of here?
|
Ans
8: Yes, it is true that God can do
anything. But He will not interfere
with our minute independence, He will
not impose Himself on the living being.
Our suffering in this world is due
to the misuse of our own independence.
We are going to have to face our own
responsibilities in this regard and
stop blaming God. The sufferings we
are currently undergoing are like
the suffering of the dreamer in a
nightmare. Ultimately they have no
reality nor do they affect the soul
who is simply undergoing the dreamlike
conditions of material life due to
his misidentification of the self
with the material body.
One
might still say that while the dreamer
dreams his sufferings are very real
to him. True. But there is another
purpose to our sufferings. They are
meant to gradually move us in the
direction of inquiring into the problems
of life and into our relationship
with God. The ultimate suffering of
the living being is the feeling of
incompleteness and dissatisfaction
that the part must feel unless it
is in proper relation to the whole.
We are all suffering in this world
due to the fact that we have voluntarily
separated ourselves from God and thus
we will always feel unfulfilled, incomplete
and unsatisfied, no matter how much
we attempt to enjoy this world, because
we are functioning artificially outside
of our loving relationship with God.
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