Jagannatha dasa, 02nd August 2011
Hare Krishna prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I sent the following question to Srila Gurudeva. Both the question I sent, and his answer are copied below. I hope that this inspires you as it does me.
—
Dear Srila Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
hank you for blessing me with transcendental knowledge and with your example of pure love of God.
It is clear that Krishna consciousness is a science, but is Krishna’s mercy a part of the science, or is it beyond the science?
Please enlighten me with real understanding.
Your servant,
-Jagannatha dasa
—
My Dear Jagannatha,
Please accept my blessings.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Science is jnana or perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Krishna is that Absolute Truth and His loving mercy is even sweeter than knoweldge of Him. The Brijabasis do not know who is Krishna is. They think that maybe He is a demigod.
But they love Krishna and have unlimited varieties of loving exchanges with Him. This position of loving relationship with Krishna is higher than scientific knowledge of Him.
I hope this meets you in the best of health and in an ecstatic mood.
Your ever well-wisher,
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
—
Your servant,
-Jagannatha dasa
Premal, 2nd August 2011
Hare Krishna Prabhu
All glories to Swami Prabhupada
Please accept my humble obeisances
Would the brajvasis not know who is Krishna in spiritual world or only it is in material world due to Yogamaya?
Ys servant
Premal
Rama Sita, 02nd August 2011
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada,
All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga
Hare Krsna.
Thanks for that response. That is one reason why I subscribe to Sri Sankarshan Adhikari’s list.
regards
rAma
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 24th April 2012
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I see that your question from 01 Aug 2011 remained unanswered.
Krishna never appears in the material world 🙂 Wherever He goes, is converted to spiritual world, where there is Krishna, that place is completely spiritualized, that is why when we chant Hare Krishna purely then we are not living in material world. So, even in the material world, the Vrindavan here is called “Gokula Vrindavan”, and the original topmost spiritual planet if “Goloka Vrindavan”. The specialty is that only in Gokula Vrindavan Krishna exhibits His baby and childhood pastimes. In Goloka Vrindavan, this is not present.
You mention “spiritual world” below, note that this consists of an unlimited number of spiritual planets, “Vaikuntha”. In all the planets except Goloka Vrindavan, the devotees know that Vishnu or Narayan or Narasimhadeva, They are Supreme Personality of Godhead, and there is a feeling of awe and reverence in those spiritual planets.
In Goloka Vrindavan, the residents are made to forget Krishna’s Supreme position for the sake of His pastimes, and in fact, even Krishna is not in the consciousness of being the Supreme, He is simply reciprocating with the devotees’ loving moods. The Acharyas describe Krishna as simultaneously both “sarvajna” or all-knowing, and “mugdha” or captivated… Krishna is completely controlled by His pure devotees’ desires always, and that is why Srila Gurudeva says that the relationship with Krishna is beyond science.
I hope this answers the question.
Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
Bhakta Jared, 24th April 2012
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
HARI BOL ! Wonderful ! AWESOME ! THANKS SO VERY MUCH,
Your Unprofitable Servant,
Jared
(Oneness=in Purpose)= Bhagavad-gita 18:66
Premal, 24th April 2012
Hare Krishna Prabhuji
All glories to Swami Gurudeva
All glories to Swami Prabhupada
I feel very inspired by your answer.
A question is still in my mind if the pure devotee is always wanting to serve Krishna does he not like living the Goloka Vrindavan topmost planet in spiritual world to come as a acharaya in the material world or does he like to come to get back the fallen souls for Krishna pleasure?
Ys servant
Premal
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 24th April 2012
Dear Premal Prabhu,
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Yes, you are right, a pure devotee is never fallen, even if to untrained materially contaminated eyes, it may appear to be so. For example, the pure devotees who appeared in the western countries, they are sent there to make it easier for those in western material consciousness to accept the way they speak and express themselves. They are not in any way inferior to a pure devotee born in India, though actually pure devotee sees himself as very lowly always, even if he receives respect from others.
For example, it appears that Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura was born in an atheistic family and did not pursue devotional service until his thirties, but He is our Acharya, this means that He is, was, and will always be pure. A pure devotee acting as spiritual master is “Krishna Preshthaya”, that means sent by Krishna.
A pure devotee is not just thinking in the mind, a pure devotees every thought, word, and deed are devotional service, they do not do anything for their own satisfaction, everything only for Krishna’s satisfaction – and how to know if Krishna is satisfied – easy, if our spiritual master is satisfied then we should take that as Krishna being satisfied. If our spiritual master is dissatisfied, then we should understand as Krishna being dissatisfied. So our words and actions are very important.
We should be careful not to see anyone else but ourselves as “fallen” – especially never ever cast any shred of doubt on those who are ahead of us in devotional service in any way, birth, position, knowledge, service, or sincerity. Those who see others, especially other devotees as fallen have every risk of falling down themselves, because that consciousness affects us also.
Krishna confirms this Himself in Bhagavad Gita about persons engaged in devotional service – note Krishna is not saying “thinking” he specifically mentions service to Krishna “bhajate maam”:
api cet su-durācāro
bhajate mām ananya-bhāk
sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ
samyag vyavasito hi saḥ
“Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination.” BG 9.30
In purport, Srila Prabhupada has explained:
“The word su-durācāraḥ used in this verse is very significant, and we should understand it properly. When a living entity is conditioned, he has two kinds of activities: one is conditional, and the other is constitutional. As for protecting the body or abiding by the rules of society and state, certainly there are different activities, even for the devotees, in connection with the conditional life, and such activities are called conditional. Besides these, the living entity who is fully conscious of his spiritual nature and is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or the devotional service of the Lord, has activities which are called transcendental. Such activities are performed in his constitutional position, and they are technically called devotional service. Now, in the conditioned state, sometimes devotional service and the conditional service in relation to the body will parallel one another. But then again, sometimes these activities become opposed to one another. As far as possible, a devotee is very cautious so that he does not do anything that could disrupt his wholesome condition. He knows that perfection in his activities depends on his progressive realization of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes, however, it may be seen that a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness commits some act which may be taken as most abominable socially or politically. But such a temporary falldown does not disqualify him. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that if a person falls down but is wholeheartedly engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Lord, the Lord, being situated within his heart, purifies him and excuses him from that abomination. The material contamination is so strong that even a yogī fully engaged in the service of the Lord sometimes becomes ensnared; but Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so strong that such an occasional falldown is at once rectified. Therefore the process of devotional service is always a success. No one should deride a devotee for some accidental falldown from the ideal path, for, as explained in the next verse, such occasional falldowns will be stopped in due course, as soon as a devotee is completely situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
Das on the Street 