Spiritual FAQs

Q. I completely agree with Krishna’s being the source of all identities of God, including Lord Vishnu (Bg. 10.8). However, I have a different explanation for the identity of Lord Narayana. Etymologically, Narayana consists of two parts: nara, “living beings,” and ayana, “ultimate goal.” Thus, Narayana means the ultimate goal for all living beings, namely Krishna. (Everything else we do is Prayana, “a sojourn.”) Therefore, the name Narayana is congruent with Krishna Himself. – Mysore N. Prakash,Via the Internet

A. Thank you for the analysis. We might add that all names that indicate the Supreme, including the name Narayana, naturally refer to Krishna. But Lord Krishna is generally not referred to as Narayana, except when He manifests a four-armed form. And that form is considered to be, in a sense, lower than the two-handed form of Krishna. For example, Krishna once hid from the gopis by taking on His four-handed Narayana form. The gopis respectfully offered obeisances to “Narayana” but kept looking for Krishna, who alone can please them.

Q. Why does the Lord influence the living entity to forgetfulness of original identity and allows to suffer in this material world?

A. In Srimad Bhagavatam, second canto  —–  Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport of first verse of ninth chapter (SB 2.9.1)………….

The spirit soul is distinct from the material conception of his life, but he is absorbed in such a material conception because of being influenced by the external energy of the Lord, called atma-maya. The external energy is controlled by the Lord, and the living entities are controlled by the external energy—by the will of the Lord. Therefore, although the living entity is purely conscious in his pure state, he is subordinate to the will of the Lord in being influenced by the external energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (15.15) also the same thing is confirmed; the Lord is present within the heart of every living entity, and all the living entity’s consciousness and forgetfulness are influenced by the Lord.

Lord clearly wishes that every living entity be in his pure consciousness as a part and parcel of the Lord and thus be engaged in the loving service of the Lord as he is constitutionally made; but because the living entity is partially independent also, he may not be willing to serve the Lord, but may try to become as independent as the Lord is.

All the nondevotee living entities are desirous of becoming equally as powerful as the Lord, although they are not fit to become so. The living entities are illusioned by the will of the Lord because they wanted to become like Him. Like a person who thinks of becoming a king without possessing the necessary qualification, when the living entity desires to become the Lord Himself, he is put in a condition of dreaming that he is a king.

Therefore the first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forgets his factual life and thus dreams of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord.

The child cries to have the moon from the mother, and the mother gives the child a mirror to satisfy the crying and disturbing child with the reflection of the moon. Similarly, the crying child of the Lord is given over to the reflection, the material world, to lord it over as karmi and to give this up in frustration to become one with the Lord. Both these stages are dreaming illusions only.

There is no necessity of tracing out the history of when the living entity desired this. But the fact is that as soon as he desired it, he was put under the control of atma-maya by the direction of the Lord. Therefore the living entity in his material condition is dreaming falsely that this is “mine” and this is “I.” The dream is that the conditioned soul thinks of his material body as “I” or falsely thinks that he is the Lord and that everything in connection with that material body is “mine.” Thus only in dream does the misconception of “I” and “mine” persist life after life. This continues life after life, as long as the living entity is not purely conscious of his identity as the subordinate part and parcel of the Lord.

Q. What is the significance of one’s free will and efforts?

A. As Krishna has unlimited freewill, so we have minute freewill, by which we can choose and desire to enjoy in so many ways in this world, and make efforts to attain them. Alternately, by our freewill we can choose to act in relationship with Krishna and offer our efforts in His service. By doing our prescribed duties without attachment to the results, as advised by Krishna, we are still exercising our freewill, but in subordination to or in harmony with the Supreme Will.

Srila Prabhupada often gave the simple example of the finger in relation to the body. If a finger decides to feed itself instead of doing its prescribed function of bringing the food to the mouth, and detaches itself from the body, then despite working hard, its efforts will bring no benefit to the finger. Similar will be our efforts for obtaining our individual interests in this world apart from Krishna. Such efforts may bring some temporary enjoyment but ultimately leaves the soul suffering the miseries of material existence.

Q. I have been struggling for some time with questions such as: Is
everything pre-determined?Do we have to accept that everything is pre-determined and occupy ourselves with devotional service while still performing our duties? Or do we have to strive toward a goal (even if that means being competitive) while still performing devotional service?

A.  If I understand correctly, it seems that your question focuses on whether or not someone performing devotional service should strive to achieve something in the field of their occupational duties, or in some specific way strive to improve their present life situation.

Devotees also have goals and aspirations that they strive towards, but their impetus is simply to please Krishna and increase their devotion, and not the achievement of any material objective in itself.

In the course of trying to cultivate our Krishna consciousness and steadily progress towards the spiritual plane, we are advised to carefully perform our prescribed occupational duties, and so we do. In the course of executing duties there may be standards to achieve and milestones to be reached. Our acharyas recommend that devotees should live very simply,but whatever is needed to perform one’s duties nicely, one should strive
according to their best capacity and to dedicate such endeavors and all facilities provided for that service fully unto Krishna. While working industriously the devotee also knows fully well that the result of one’s endeavors is in Krishna’s hands, not merely a product of their personal efforts.

Finally, there is a clear connection between devotionally-based endeavors
and the notion of predestination.

As concluded in previous Digest discussions, our past actions “pre-determine” our present circumstances in life, but they do not pre-determine what we choose to do now. Our present choices determine our future. What we choose to do now can be executed on the material plane (deliberately or mindlessly, impelled by past conditioning), yielding temporary material results; or our present choices can be enacted on the spiritual plane, thus lifting us completely out of the cycle of karma. In other words, a devotee is not so directly interested in changing their karmic destiny nor overly concerned with improving their material circumstances per se, simply for sake of material welfare; however they are keenly interested in cultivating their relationship with Krishna. The devotee is contented to base their spiritual endeavors upon whatever position or within whatever circumstance of life they find themselves. In turn, Krishna takes charge of such a surrendered devotee, and their life is orchestrated by Krishna, and not karma.

Q. How is it that Srimati Radharani, who doesn’t have the inherent freedom to turn away from Krishna as the jivas do, can still be considered a Person who experiences love for Krishna? As Maharaja states, if the jivas didn’t have this free will our forced love wouldn’t be considered love at all, yet when it comes to Radharani, who by nature doesn’t have this freedom, Her experience is still called love. Would you please explain this apparent contradiction?

A. There are three principal categories of energies of the Supreme Lord: internal potency, external potency and marginal potency (antaranga, bahiranga and tatastha sakti). The jivas are by constitution the marginal potency of the Lord; as the name indicates, they are marginal in the sense that they can go either way, i.e. take shelter of either the internal or external potency. Srimati Radharani and other eternal personal associates of the Lord, however, are in the category of internal potency. It is not that they have no free will, but being ‘not marginal’, they ALWAYS choose to serve Krishna, and never become subject to the external energy. This is due to the constitutional difference between the two types of energies.

A crude analogy would be that of the fire and spark, as explained previously. The blazing fire is never separated from its heat and light, or for that matter, a big log in the fire blazes with the fire, but a small spark of that fire can easily drift away.

Q. If Krishna is all powerful and wants us to come back to Him, then why does He not simply do it?

A. The answer to your question, which you have said is a very fundamental one, rests on the understanding of the living entity’s free will. Because there is free will, the living entity can choose to misuse their free will. When this choice of misuse of free will is exercised by the living entity, the Lord may sanction it. But the punishment is also there along with the sanctioning, so that the living entity learns the lesson that misuse of free will will not bring happiness. If you look on the other side of the question, `Why is it that God does not restrict our free will so that we cannot misuse it?’, then you have a situation where love is also not voluntary but forced. That is not love, that is something else. In order for there to be real love for God, there must also be the opportunity for free will, including the misuse of free will.

Q. In Chapter 7, verse 20–23, of the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna describes the worshipers of devas (demigods) as less intelligent. But in Chapter 10 He describes Himself as many devas, such as Indra, Shiva, and Brahma. So is Chapter 10 saying that worship of the devas is all right? – Dhenulover,Via the Internet

A. In Chapter 10 Lord Krishna reveals that the best of everything in this world represents Him. In that sense these things are Krishna, but Krishna doesn’t suggest we worship Him by worshiping examples of His opulence. He says that among fish He is the shark, but we don’t worship sharks. Similarly, because Indra, Shiva, and Brahma are chief among the devas, they represent some aspect of Krishna’s unlimited power, but Krishna says in the ninth chapter that worshiping them is avidhi purvakam, or against the rules. Because everything in the material world is Krishna’s energy, it is in a sense Krishna. But Krishna tells us to worship Him—the person—and not His energy.

Q. Why do you worship idols?

A. We don’t worship idols. Idolatry is the worship of an imagined form of God. Deity worship is not idol worship, but is worship of the Lord according to His instructions.It is an incarnation of the Lord just like many other incarnations like Lord Nrisimhadev,Lord Vamana & Lord Ramchandra.

God is spirit, but as Krishna reveals in the Bhagavad-gita, matter is His energy. Because we cannot perceive spirit in our present condition, Krishna allows us to see Him in His Deity form made of material elements. He tells us that the Deity installed according to the directions of the scriptures is identical to Him.Whatever service we offer to the deity,Krishna directly accepts it.There are several instances in the past where Krishna in His deity form has reciprocrated with His loving devotees.But to realize that there is no difference between Krishna and His deity form,we need to purify our senses.We need to have a pure heart.And the most powerful way to do this ,according to the scriptures, is to chant and attentively hear the holy name of the Lord:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Q. In several places in BTG I have read that while departing the body, if the soul thinks of Lord Krishna as the last thought, then it reaches only Lord Krishna, the Supersoul, as its final destination. How does this fit with the laws of karma, where your past works determine your next life and destiny in the material world? Is it not saying that all your life you can commit sins and in old age run to the shelter of Lord Krishna and try to develop the skills to think of Him in your last thoughts and thus reach Him—in other words, attain liberation? – Amit Pande,Via the Internet.

A. One of the main teachings of Bhagavad-gita is that karma, or work, done for the satisfaction of Krishna brings no reaction. Such work is called akarma. The devotee serving Krishna under the direction of Krishna’s representative, the bona fide spiritual master, performs spiritual activities that not only have no material reaction; they act to purify the consciousness. Purified consciousness means Krishna consciousness.

Unless we develop Krishna consciousness during our life, to remember Krishna at the time of death will be very difficult. Srila Prabhupada cautions, “Remembrance of Krishna is not possible for the impure soul who has not practiced Krishna consciousness in devotional service.”

At death, we’ll naturally remember whatever we’re attached to. If we spend our life developing attachments to things other than Krishna, we’ll remember those things—look to them to save us—at the time of death. So while it is true that whoever remembers Krishna at death goes to Him, we should understand that doing so will be impossible unless we diligently practice and awaken our love for Him.

Q. I have a question about milk. As a Vaisnava, I follow the path of ahimsa, the path of nonviolence and compassion toward all of God’s creatures. Srila Prabhupada taught us that milk and milk products are an acceptable food to use in the preparation of prasadam. But due to the ways of Western dairies, milk cows are bred to be slaves, kept in small restraint pens, shot full of drugs, used for many years, and finally slaughtered for pet food. That sounds extremely violent to me. Although I do partake of milk products, I feel the cow’s pain. Do these feelings make me less of a Vaisnava? Should I just consider that the cow is suffering because of her karma? – K. K. Wirth,Crescent City, California

A. Your compassion for the cow is a natural Vaisnava  sentiment. Even though devotees know that everyone suffers because of their karma, devotees still feel the pain of others. The devotees’ solution is to do whatever possible to engage everyone in Krishna consciousness, devotional service to Krishna. That is the only sure way to end all suffering.

ISKCON doesn’t have an official position on drinking milk from commercial dairies. Some devotees don’t drink dairy milk for the reasons you mentioned. Others argue that, as Prabhupada taught, milk is so important in developing the brain for spiritual understanding that despite the current situation, we should drink milk anyway. Besides, by offering Krishna the milk of abused cows, they get great benefit.

On a practical level, our boycott of the dairy industry would probably have little effect, but we can help the cows by offering their milk to Krishna. And, of course, devotees should work hard to develop Krishna conscious villages where we demonstrate real cow protection through the proper use of both the cow and the bull.