Category Archives: Incarnations

Krishna

General, H.H.Romapada Swami, Incarnations, Krishna

Q. What does Lord Krishna have to do with His lila (pastimes) with this samsar (material world), where almost everyone is envious of Krishna? Does the Lord have anything to enjoy in this material world or He simply comes to teach us out of His kindness?

A. The Lord is atmarama, fully self-satisfied  and always enjoying His own internal potency in the spiritual world.

He has nothing to enjoy in this material world  but He comes out of  His great compassion to not only teach us but by displaying His wonderful spiritual pastimes to attract the forgetful souls to the spiritual world and to His association.

Krishna-The Supereme Personality of Godhead

General, H.H.Romapada Swami, Incarnations, Krishna

Q. What are some facts that help people understand why Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

A. When Arjuna saw the Universal form he mentions some such facts as to why Krsna is considered the Supreme Personality of Godhead: All the great authorities, such as Asita, Devala, and Vyasa and all the scriptures have accepted Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only that, Krsna Himself asserts and explains this in so many ways in Bhagavad Gita, how He ‘s the source of everything and there is no truth beyond him.

He does not simply make these empty statements, but He actually shows His universal form in the battlefield. All the great mahajanas beginning from Brahma, Narada, Siva, Sukadeva Gosvami and Bhismadeva, glorify Krsna as the Supreme Absolute Truth and are engaged in His devotional service. Besides, throughout His lila, all of His uncommon, supramundane activities bear testimony to this fact, such as the lifting of Govardhana Hill at the age of seven, showing the universes within His mouth, expanding Himself into all the cowherd boys and calves, marrying 16,108 princesses, etc. Thus there are innumerable evidences within the Vedas about Krsna’s identity.

In fact, as stated in Bhagavad-gita, the purpose of the Vedas is itself to know Krsna only.

Krishna as the Origin

General, Incarnations, Krishna

Q. Lord Rama appeared in treat Yuga, (much before Krishna). Then how Krishna is called the supreme? How Lord Rama is inferior to Krishna?

A. There is no question of inferior, both are Supreme Personality of Godhead. Both are Vishnu tattvas… and have eternal spiritual planet in the spiritual world. And they come again and again into this world to perform their pastimes.

About all the Vishnu tattvas, Brahma ji gives the example of candle…. After many candles are lit by one candle all candle look alike, still original candle which was used to lit all the candle that has special place.

And that original candle is Krishna…Krishnas tu bhagavan svayam…

Krishna is that Original candle from whom all other comes…

The Mahabharata War

Devotee, General, Incarnations, Krishna

Q. Why krishna wanted Arjuna to fight the Mahabharat war? What was the aim behind this fighting?

Q. One of the purpose of coming for Krishna into this world is to establish religion(yada yada hi dharmasya…..). So the aim of this war was to remove the irreligious people.

Srila Prabhupada writes in Bhagavad gita 1.1  purport…..

Both the Pandavas and the sons of Dhritrashtra belong to the same family but Dhritrashtra’s mind is disclosed herein. He deliberately claimed only his sons as Kurus and he separated the sons of Pandu from the family heritage. One can thus understand the specific position of Dhritrashtra in his relationship with his nephews, the sons of Pandu. As in the paddy field the unnecessary plants are taken out, so it is expected from the very beginning of these topics that in the religious field of Kurushetra, where the father of religion, Shri Krishna, was present, the unwanted plants like Dhritrashtra’s son Duryodhana and others would be wiped out and the thoroughly religious persons headed by Yudhishtra would be established by the Lord.

Krishna would have killed everyone Himself. As He showed, everybody was going in to His Universal form. But Krishna loves to give credit to His devotees and that is the reason, He engaged Arjuna….(nimitta matra bhava savyasachi……….) in this fight, so that whole world can glorify Arjuna.

Krishna as Narayana

General, Incarnations, Krishna

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.

Ans : 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.

Deity Worship,not idol Worship.

Deity Worship, General, Incarnations, Krishna, Practices In ISKCON

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

Lords incarnation

General, Incarnations, Krishna, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Q.  Is it true  that amongst Their Lordships Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Gaura means Lord Gauranga who is considered  Lord Krishna himself and Nitai means Lord Nityananda, incarnation of Lord Balarama?

A.  Yes.  Lord Gauranga is Lord Krishna Himself and Lord Nityananda is Lord Balarama.  Both of them appeared in Kaliyuga to spread the chanting of the holy names:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

which is the most powerful way of reviving our God consciousness.

Finding real guru

General, Incarnations

Q. I have heard many people saying ‘sai ram sai shyam’, whereas sai baba himself use to say ‘sabka maalik ek’ while pointing his finger in the sky. On the other hand people also call him sadguru, so if sai baba is sadguru how can people call him by the name of ram and shyam? It is a humble request to please kindly explain the actual fact.

A. In Kali-yuga, it is not surprising to find someone claiming to be God, or a mass of ignorant people declaring someone else to be God. To know whether someone is an incarnation of God or if he is bona fide representative of God (sadguru), one needs to consult the sastras, or authentic scriptures. If there are specific details mentioned in the sastras (e.g. the birth, the place of birth, the parents, etc.), then only we accept such a person as an incarnation or a sadguru. Otherwise we do not.

Regarding Sai Baba, there is no such mention about him in the sastras. He may be a social reformer who may have performed some miracles and helped people, but that does not make him an incarnation.