We wake up to horrible headlines every day. People in leadership roles, people who are “highly educated” act in terrible ways.
We come up with band-aid solutions every day, whack-a-mole style. But have we examined the root cause of the problems we face in our world?
Could there be a problem with our education system?
What does it mean to be “educated”? What is the standard of education? What is the bar? How do we know if someone is educated or not?
I was shocked and disgusted to see news like this in the media…
Bengaluru student raped, blackmailed by college professors; three arrested
Former professor charged with raping multiple victims from El Salvador
Two women say Stanford and UC Berkeley professors raped them
UP professor booked for raping female students
Muslim Schoolteacher rapes and marries 12-year old student
Mumbai Teacher Gave Student Anti-Anxiety Meds, Sexually Assaulted Him
How is it that teachers and professors did this to their own students?
We are very proud of our education system in the modern world.
We gush about our kindergarten, primary, secondary, tertiary education… about Montessori and Waldorf, and other types of education.
We talk about degrees, undergraduate, graduate, PhDs.
We talk about vocational training, we laud the trades.
And yet, on a daily basis, we see scandals in the world around us. They occur in the corporate world, the medical profession, business, and government…
There are many band-aid solutions floating around, but do we know the real cause?
Our education system is a failure
Why do I say that?
Because education is meant to produce cultured individuals of high character. Someone objects that this is a subjective thing. Who can define what is a “cultured” individual with “high character”?
That is yet another failure of our education system. We don’t even know what the definition of simple things is.
The definition of “well educated” has been known for millions of years.
If someone does not trust the pedigree of Vedic culture, there is more recent definition. More than 1,500 years ago, the great thinker Chanakya Pandit wrote:
mātṛvat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭravat ātmavat sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyati sa paṇḍitaḥ
“One who considers another’s wife as his mother, another’s possessions as a lump of dirt and treats all other living beings as he would himself, is considered to be learned.”
But there is hardly such a person trained by the modern education system… And if you can actually find such a person, that is in spite of their education. It is not because of their education.
We don’t teach such things in our education system. What do we teach?
We teach how to compete, how to defeat, how to win at any cost. We teach how to beg, borrow, or steal. We teach how to be passionate or ignorant, but never how to be “good”. We simply teach people how to make a dollar, or a rupee, or a pound or euro. That is not education!
Education means to raise a student above their low class impulses, to be good in the face of temptation! But it is impossible for our education system today to do any better.
The very definition of “goodness” is unknown in the modern world!
Here are a few definitions of “goodness” from the Vedic scriptures…
nitya–sattva–sthaḥ — in a pure state of spiritual existence BG 2.45
ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā – Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets BG 14.18
sattva–saṁśuddhiḥ — purification of one’s existence BG 16.1
sāttvika – that which increases the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction BG 17.8
na dveṣṭy akuśalaṁ karma kuśale nānuṣajjate tyāgī sattva-samāviṣṭo medhāvī chinna-saṁśayaḥ
The intelligent renouncer situated in the mode of goodness, neither hateful of inauspicious work nor attached to auspicious work, has no doubts about work. BG 18.10
There are many many wonderful definitions of what it means to be “good” in Vedic literature. When we look at the few definitions of “goodness” above, we see that our education system does not touch these at all:
Spirituality
Understanding of the evolution of the qualities of life
Purification of our very existence
Renunciation, Contentment, etc.
As a result, no matter how educated someone is, they inevitably indulge in this:
Look upon other women (or men) as objects of their own gratification
Covet others’ wealth and try to make it their own
Emphasize and amplify the differences between others and oneself, treat others differently from how one would like to be treated
There is plenty of evidence to support the above claims.
Do you not see how things are in this world? Everyone is searching after one sexual experience after another… constantly, in real life, in the media, on social media, on the Internet… our society has become a cesspool of illicit sexual indulgence.
The men do not see other women as mothers. Nor do the women hold themselves in high enough regard to act and behave as mothers should. In fact, there is hardly any understanding of the exalted nature of mothers in our world! Some women, even elderly women, balk at being called “mother”, preferring to remain sex objects or identify with other designations.
With wealth, it is a free-for-all, “finders keepers losers weepers” goes the saying taught to tiny tots these days! No one sees others’ possessions as good as worthless. They are constantly envious of what others have, and how to take it from them, by hook or by crook. This goes all the way from individuals to corporations to countries!
And almost everyone treats everyone else differently from how they would like to be treated… There is widespread harassment, racism, sexism, ageism, nationalism, ableism, classism, and so much more.
The education sytem does not teach that we are all spirit souls, equal spiritually!
So, dear reader, our education system has failed.
We need to bring it back to this standard of education.
“One who considers another’s wife as his mother, another’s possessions as a lump of dirt and treats all other living beings as he would himself, is considered to be learned.”
All teachers, lecturers, instructors, professors, and other educators who can’t uphold this principle must be educated. They must reach the right standard before being trusted to educate anyone.
Until then, the education system will stay broken… and we will continually experience fresh horrors from the “products” of this demonic education system we push.
Anyone who can’t uphold the above principles must be seen as uneducated. They should not be given any position of leadership in any part of society.
Most of the modern leaders, including are uneducated, unfortunately. This includes this representative sample of those who lead our society today.
How can we take the cow’s milk, and then kill her? Which religion supports this kind of ingratitude? How can we be so inhuman as to kill and eat the flesh of cows, bulls, and calves? Do we not see how this is causing havoc in human society? Please protect cows, and be peaceful and happy!
Sometimes, we see that people eat meat of animals, and that makes us sad.
We are sad because the killer becomes responsible for being killed. This cycle of violence can continue endlessly.
Sometimes we are shocked to see that they eat the meat of cows and bulls, calves too. It’s called “beef”.
They don’t seem to feel anything about this. Sometimes they even say their religion “supports” or “encourages” such meat eating.
But do you know that the cow is our mother? The bull is our father. All the calves are our brothers and sisters.
Sounds strange?
Well, when you were born, did you take the milk of your mother? Did your father contribute to your birth in this world? At least some of you have brothers and sisters older or younger to you? Do you kill them and eat their flesh?
Most of us take cow’s milk when we are babies. We continue when we are children. In most cases, we even continue as adults. We take yoghurt, buttermilk, cheese, milk sweets, and so many preparations made with cow’s milk.
If we take the cow’s milk, is the cow not our mother? Do we not owe a debt of gratitude to mother cow in return for her milk? How can we take the cow’s milk, then slaughter her?
The cow gives milk when she gives birth to a calf… then is the calf not our brother or sister?
The bull is responsible for making the cow pregnant. So, is the bull not our father?
What civilization is this? In our modern “animalization”, we have forgotten these debts to so many living entities.
We mercilessly slaughter the poor cow and her family.
But beware my dear reader – what goes around, comes around, it’s the law of karma.
We are cruelly slaughtering the cows, bulls, and calves. Similarly, our other “brothers and sisters” will slaughter us.
It will happen as war, it will happen through exploitation, it will happen as mass shootings. But happen it will.
For every hair on each body of every cow, bull, or calf we have killed, we will face the consequences. We have killed them unnecessarily. We will suffer slaughter ourselves. We will endure the same fate.
The war in Palestine is a result of cow killing.
The war in South Sudan is a result of cow killing.
The war in Ukraine is a result of cow killing.
Do we want more?
Which religion allows you to kill and eat your father, your mother, your brothers and sisters?
No religion of God!
A society devoid of cow protection and brahminical culture is not under the direct protection of the Lord, just as the prisoners in the jails are not under the protection of the king but under the protection of a severe agent of the king. https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/1/14/34/ Purport
Why is the middle east always in turmoil? Why is Africa always so violent? Why are the Muslims killing the Christians, the Christians killing the Muslims? The Jews killing the Muslims, the Muslims killing the Jews? Why are the Muslims killing each other?
Is a Muslim who kills unnecessarily even a Muslim?
Is a Jew who kills unnecessarily even a Jew?
Is a Christian who kills unnecessarily even a Christian?
Are Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists who tolerate such killing even Hindus, Sikhs, or Buddhists?
Is it really necessary to kill the cows, bulls, calves in the presence of so much other less violent food?
Only a demonic understanding of religion would allow you to kill your own mother, father, brother, and sister, and eat their flesh.
If your “religion” is encouraging you to kill your family members, then it is questionable. What type of religion promotes such acts?
Do you regularly eat the flesh of your mother, father, brothers, and sisters in the form of beef? Can you answer whose religion you are following?
Look deeper into your respective scriptures, find gratitude and compassion
Stop it! I implore you! Most of the heinous violence in the world is caused by this… until we stop killing cows, bulls, and calves, there will never be peace on earth.
God Loves Cows! God does not like to see cows killed. Please protect cows!
God says, in His Song of God (Bhagavad Gita)
कृषिगोरक्ष्यवाणिज्यं वैश्यकर्म स्वभावजम् ।
Farming, cow protection and business are the natural work for the vaiśyas…
Why does Krishna take birth in this horrible material world? How does contact with Krishna help a soul? And what if we cannot associate with Krishna personally?
Today is the Appearance Day of Krishna. The festival is celebrated by hundreds of millions around the world. This festival is also called Sri Krishna Janmashtami or Gokulashtami.
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna has many names.
But when someone learns that Krishna comes to this material realm via “birth”, that too in a prison cell, and then they learn that Krishna has parents… Vasudeva, Devaki, and foster parents Nanda and Yashoda… they are bewildered.
Are you sure, they ask, that this is God we are talking about? How can God have parents, and how can God have a form like you and me, how can God take birth?
But dear soul, please consider that if you and me, we have a form, then is God lesser than us to have no form? Krishna’s form, though, is not like ours. Krishna’s form is purely spiritual. Even in His deity form, Krishna’s form is purely spiritual.
Also consider that the “parents” of Krishna eternally love Him and want to serve Him in that way. Everyone knows that parents serve a child unceasingly! So why can God not grant that wish to His devotee?
But so many accept Krishna as a historical personality, famous, smart, strong, influential, but an ordinary person like you and me, a mortal with a material coil. Some accept Krishna as a soul on the way to spiritual perfection. Some go further and accept Krishna as a prophet, a messenger of God, one among many.
But of course, Krishna declares this in the Bhagavad Gita and the great spiritual masters like Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, and Madhva have accepted His words.
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
So, then, why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead come here, to this nasty place where most people misunderstand Him, defame Him, insult Him, try to kill Him, ignore Him, or in the worst case, never even come across Krishna!
Krishna takes birth so we don’t have to take another birth ourselves.
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः । त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥ ९ ॥
janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.
परित्राणाय साधुनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थानार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥ ८ ॥
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.
But to be honest, Krishna does not have to personally come to accomplish all this. He has many competent energies and empowered agents who can do this themselves.
So why does He come then?
No matter how you see God as, as God the Father, or God the Ultimate Master, or God the Best Friend, or God the Lover, or God Second to None… ultimately, Krishna is concerned about us, souls trapped in the material realm.
He comes to free us. How does he do that? In many ways.
We are here in the… material realm trying to enjoy. But what can we enjoy with these imperfect senses and decaying dying bodies? It is a mere reflection of enjoyment, a mere shadow of the real thing.
Krishna comes here and brings His eternal associates, places, paraphernalia, and pastimes, and with them, shows us the standard of real enjoyment.
Enjoyment that is:
Ever increasing
Never ending
Unlimitedly variegated
Regardless of what our own standard of enjoyment is here in the material realm, it is fluctuating and temporary, and the more you try to enjoy, the more it is the same old same old… And time takes it all away! Take any sensory experience. Why is anyone dissatisfied in the world with material sense gratification? Because it is, immediately or eventually, boring. Materialists are always looking for something more, something different, but ever dissatisfied despite tremendous endeavour.
It is a fact that when presented with genuine pleasure, the materially entrapped soul cannot appreciate. However, the more the conditioned soul comes in contact with Krishna, the more they are purified.
When Krishna comes and shows the standard of His character, then we are all attracted to following such a wonderful magnanimous person.
Take the example of Putana. Putana was a witch. She specialized in killing. Not just anyone, but little babies and children. She had killed thousands. She enjoyed various ways of torturing and killing them, and sucking their blood. She developed this into a way of life. She was expert in all kinds of murder, from poison to weapons. She was commissioned to kill Krishna by Kamsa, the demoniac tyrant.
She carefully thought about her modus operandi, and dressed herself as a beautiful celestial woman. So exquisite did she look that no one stopped her. She approached Krishna as a wet nurse, to feed Him. Her disguise and manner was masterful. And in a village, mothers often feed each other’s children. No one stopped her, so trusting and simple were Krishna’s associates.
She had smeared a deadly poison on her breast. Her plan was simple. Baby Krishna sucks, end of story.
But Krishna, He is impossible to kill. Even the rest of us are impossible to kill, because the spirit soul is immortal.
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च । नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥
acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same
Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.
In fact, Krishna only appears to enter the material world, but actually He never enters or leaves! After all, what does it mean to enter or exit when Krishna is all-pervading, inside and outside of everything and everyone simultaneously?
स एव स्वप्रकृत्येदं सृष्ट्वाग्रे त्रिगुणात्मकम् । तदनु त्वं ह्यप्रविष्ट: प्रविष्ट इव भाव्यसे ॥ १४ ॥
sa eva svaprakṛtyedaṁ sṛṣṭvāgre tri-guṇātmakam tad anu tvaṁ hy apraviṣṭaḥ praviṣṭa iva bhāvyase
My Lord, You are the same person who in the beginning created this material world by His personal external energy. After the creation of this world of three guṇas [sattva, rajas and tamas], You appear to have entered it, although in fact You have not.
Krishna sucked the poison, sucked the milk, and sucked out her very life!
Good riddance, someone might say. After all she was quite wicked.
Ah, but here is how Krishna is not only great but so sweet!
Krishna didn’t merely suck out the poison from her outside, Krishna sucked out the poison from Putana’s very heart! He washed her completely clean. Just by coming in contact with Krishna, Putana became spotless!
And because Putana approached him as a mother, even if with a heinous devious motive, still Krishna took the best of what she had to offer… she approached as a mother, and that position Krishna gave to Putana in the spiritual realm.
अहो बकी यं स्तनकालकूटं जिघांसयापाययदप्यसाध्वी । लेभे गतिं धात्र्युचितां ततोऽन्यं कं वा दयालुं शरणं व्रजेम ॥ २३ ॥
Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
Krishna chooses the highest and best of everyone to amplify, magnify, and enhance.
I got out on Sankirtan often. I sing Krishna’s names in public, and speak about Krishna, distribute spiritual literature, and try to get souls to serve Krishna in some way, according to their capacity.
Some take to it enthusiastically, singing along, dancing, taking books, making donations, having deep spiritual conversations. These are really the fortunate souls.
Some engage with Krishna, but not in such positive ways… they try to make fun, they tease, they try to insult or abuse. They are also fortunate souls.
Why is that?
If Krishna can give the highest position of “Mother of God” to a witch who came to poison Him, then what to speak of those who engage with Him?
Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth!
নাম চিন্তামণিঃ কৃষ্ণশ্চৈতন্যরসবিগ্রহঃ । পূর্ণঃ শুদ্ধো নিত্যমুক্তোঽভিন্নত্বান্নামনামিনোঃ ॥ ১৩৩ ॥
“ ‘The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.’
In other words, by associating with the name of Krishna, you get the same benefit as associating with Krishna personally. There is no difference betweeen Krishna and His Name!
Do you want proof that Krishna and His Name are nondifferent?
In what is modern-day Kannauj (ancient Kanyakubja) in Northern India, there was a very decent young man named Ajamila. Trained to be a Vaishnava priest, he once went to the forest to collect some ingredients for the worship of Krishna.
In the forest, he saw what is a very common sight today… he saw an uncouth man embracing a prostitute in a sensuous way. Such a sight is sure to agitate a young man.
Not a self controlled soul as Krishna describes, but anyone who is below this standard…
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥ ७० ॥
āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
Poor Ajamila was attracted to this uncultured woman, and became her keeper. The husband of a prostitute is most unfortunate. He cannot be happy, no matter how hard he may try to satisfy his wife. He gave up his wife and parents, and engaged in all sorts of abominable occupations like thieving, robbery, gambling, and murder, to maintain the prostitute and the 10 children he had with her.
Time flies, but like most of us, Ajamila didn’t notice.
Somehow or other, by inspiration from Krishna who sits in the heart as Paramatma, the Supersoul, he named his youngest son “Narayana”, which is another name of Krishna.
He was very attached to this little child, and would constantly call out “Narayana take your milk”, “Narayana wake up”, “Narayana, it is time for bed”, “Narayana careful that you don’t fall into that pond” and so on as a typical loving parent calls out to a small child.
Even thought he was 88 years of age, he didn’t notice that death was creeping up on him, so attached he was to this little child.
One day, the moment of his death arrived and he saw the Yamadutas, the servants of Yamaraja, the demigod in-charge of death. They were quite frightful looking. They engaged their tools in extracting Ajamila’s soul from the inner reaches of his heart.
In great pain and anxiety undergoing the process of death, he called out with tears to that which he was most attached to, his little child Narayana.
Hearing his plaintive cry, made in helplessness, the Vishnudutas, the servants of Lord Vishnu, appeared and forbade the servants of death from taking the soul.
Ajamila witnessed the conversation between the two sets of personalities, the Vishnudutas and the Yamadutas. The essence was that by that one cry of the name of Krishna, “Narayana”, his previous sinful activities were completely nullified.
Ajamila got a second chance to reform himself, and he took the second chance.
The key point to note here is that in recognition of some past spiritual service, Krishna inspired Ajamila to name his son after Himself. So he arranged for Ajamila’s deliverance.
Those of us who have already received the Holy Name of Krishna into our life, we should simply sincerely continue chanting.
When the Holy Name of Krishna appears, it means Lord Krishna Himself has appeared in our life.
And this is why we are saved by the Holy Name of Krishna.
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.
Dear reader, my dear Jivatma. Please chant the name of Krishna incessantly.
Krishna says that for a materially entangled spirit soul, the only way out of suffering is to surrender unto Him completely, abandoning all other attachments…
It may feel very difficult to unconditionally surrender, but, if you simply chant the names of Krishna, such surrender will be yours very soon.
You will feel unlimited ecstatic joy, if not immediately, then in due course of time, but very soon.
If someone like myself, a sinful former atheist can recover and feel ever increasing joy by chanting Hare Krishna, then what to speak of you, who are surely much better than me in every respect?
Some people say that God has only one son. But God is unlimited. So why can’t God have more than one son? And why not daughters? Are we misunderstanding something here?
One of the ideas floating around in this world for quite some time is that God has only one Son.
And that Son is Jesus Christ. Originally known as Jesus of the Christ.
So, the argument goes, that if you’re not an “official” Christian, or following the dogma of the present-day so-called Christians, then “you sir, are going to hell” as I’ve been told often.
Unfortunately, these angry so-called Christians have never stopped and calmed down long enough to have a proper conversation, so I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of this with them. But I hope it will help others of all denominations, faiths, affiliations, and orientations.
There is no doubt that Jesus Christ is indeed a Son of God, God the Son. If you look at his teachings and his life, it is clear that Jesus Christ purely followed the word of God and lived trying to spread the word around.
In fact, what to speak of his life, even the so-called death of Jesus Christ was simply a way to spread the glories of God. It is superficial to understand that Jesus Christ was killed, because we know, of course, that spirit soul, Atma, can never be killed.
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि- न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः । अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥ २० ॥
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.
पिताहमस्य जगतो माता धाता पितामह: । वेद्यं पवित्रम् ॐकार ऋक् साम यजुरेव च ॥ १७ ॥
pitāham asya jagato mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ vedyaṁ pavitram oṁ-kāra ṛk sāma yajur eva ca
I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable oṁ. I am also the Ṛg, the Sāma and the Yajur Vedas.
In other words, God, in His feature as God the Father, declares that He is the father of the entire Universe, not just Jesus Christ.
Interestingly, God declares that He is also the Mother of the Universe! Indeed, how could God not be omnipotent to also be the Mother of the Universe?
Finally, God states that He is the grandsire, or the grandfather of this Universe. Why does God say that? Because while God is the Primary Creator of this Universe, he employs the services of one of His sons, Brahma, as the secondary creator. In other words, God gives birth to Lord Brahma, who then, under instruction from God, creates the Universe, the many different planetary systems, the species, and so on.
प्रचोदिता येन पुरा सरस्वती वितन्वताजस्य सतीं स्मृतिं हृदि । स्वलक्षणा प्रादुरभूत् किलास्यत: स मे ऋषीणामृषभ: प्रसीदताम् ॥ २२ ॥
pracoditā yena purā sarasvatī vitanvatājasya satīṁ smṛtiṁ hṛdi sva-lakṣaṇā prādurabhūt kilāsyataḥ sa me ṛṣīṇām ṛṣabhaḥ prasīdatām
May the Lord, who in the beginning of the creation amplified the potent knowledge of Brahmā from within his heart and inspired him with full knowledge of creation and of His own Self, and who appeared to be generated from the mouth of Brahmā, be pleased with me.
As we have already discussed hereinbefore, the Lord, as the Supersoul of all living beings from Brahmā to the insignificant ant, endows all with the required knowledge potent in every living being…
In the beginning of the creation, Brahmā is born first without any father and mother because before Brahmā there were no other living beings. Brahmā is born from the lotus which grows from the abdomen of the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and therefore he is known as Aja…
A spiritual master is not a theoretical speculator, like the mundane scholar, but is śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham.
In Christianity, there are 3 concepts of God, and all of them are supported by the Vedic Literature.
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
God the Father is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His “non-different” expansions, known as Vishnu Tattva, or the Quality of being endowed with the full potency of God Himself.
God the Holy Spirit is called Paramatma, or the Supersoul dwelling within… not just within each living entity but also within every atom and within the space between the atoms.
The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.
Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.
In other words, the inspiration to act is provided by God according to the desires and earnings of the individual spirit soul.
Which brings us to the question, who is then God the Son?
Srila Prabhupada makes this clear.
The example of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is appropriate in regard to understanding the spiritual master. The spiritual master is called sevaka-bhagavān, the servitor Personality of Godhead, and Kṛṣṇa is called sevya-bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is to be worshiped. The spiritual master is the worshiper God, whereas the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the worshipable God. This is the difference between the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The servitor Personality of Godhead is called the Son of God.
When we look at the life and example of Lord Jesus Christ, it is clear that Jesus Christ can be called the servitor Personality of Godhead, or the Son of God. This is similar to Lord Brahma, who, in addition to be born directly from the navel of an expansion of God, also acts in accordance with the will of God.
So far we have detected at least two sons of God. So, does God only have two sons?
An ordinary animal or insect in this world can have more than two, a dozen, even thousands of offspring, and God can only have one or two?
But God said that every living entity is a son (or daughter) of Him above. But we don’t worship every living entity as a child of God, even though we do respect all living entities as part-and-parcel of God.
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
So while we respect every living entity because they are claimed by God, we don’t necessarily give them all the same respect as given to Lord Brahma or Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is that? It’s called “oneness in purpose” or “na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ” or “no difference in purpose”, or in completely harmony.
Let’s take a mundane example… suppose we have a great businessman, and the businessman has several sons and daughters.
Some of the businessman’s sons and daughters act according to the direction of the father in the father’s business empire, and yet others rebel against the father and act against his instructions.
In the general world, the obedient sons are known as the “real sons” of the father, whereas the other children are known as “sons or daughters in name only”.
This example applies to many souls in so many different contexts, for example, “true citizens” are those who act in the interest of the nation, “true students” are those who fully follow the instructions of the teacher, “true professionals” are those who act for the good of the profession. Such souls act in a certain way even if it is not according to their own personal interest… in other words, they put the higher common interest ahead of their own.
Which brings us to our answer.
The Spiritual Master is the True Son of God.
And the Bibilical statement:
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
John 14.6 (King James Edition)
What this means is that unless someone acts in the spirit of Lord Jesus Christ teachings, example, and actions, they cannot approach God the Father.
And what is this “way” of Jesus Christ? This humble attitude…
Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done.
When we look around in our own limited knowledge of the scripture and history, there are many such sons (and daughters) of God.
So, the understanding that Jesus Christ is the “Only Son of God” is incomplete, at best.
To claim that is to have no understanding of God’s infinite unlimited potency. Unlimited names, Unlimited forms, Unlimited pastimes, Unlimited qualities, Unlimited activities, Unlimited Universes, and naturally Unlimited sons and daughters.
As we are now living on this planet, there are many sons and daughters of God who walk the earth with us. Let us learn to recognize them and follow in their footsteps.
And if we can’t spot them? Then we are just as unfortunate as those poor fools who couldn’t spot Jesus Christ when he was here on this planet in person, and those who cannot spot how great is Jesus Christ even today. These poor fools cannot spot others who are purely following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, sons and daughters of God.
How does a mother take care of the child? Your intelligence should take care of your mind the same way. Read to find out more!
Hearing a class by my spiritual master Srila Sankarshan Das Adhikari on SB 3.31.15, he made this statement “The mind is like a child, and the intelligence is like the mother of that child”.
When I first heard this many years ago, I was startled by the clarity of the example, especially when after some time, I observed my wife with our son.
Even though every child is unique in a way, children are also very similar to each other. They often have short attention spans, are easily distracted, can be either very easy to convince or stubbornly refuses to co-operate. Children are also extremely imaginative and inventive, and usually don’t bear grudges against the mother even though the mother may be strict.
When we compare our mind to a child, the comparison fits very nicely! So, for most people struggling to control the mind, look no further than the means adopted by an expert mother.
What does a mother do? The mother treats the child very lovingly. She coaxes, cajoles, and pleads with the child. But she is also firm with the child when it is time to be firm. She sometimes shouts at the child, she also sometimes yells and when it comes to it, offers correction in an appropriate way. It sometimes happens that the mother walks away from the child too and the child often suddenly complies with the wishes of the mother and follows along with her. Sometimes, others may see a mother as being harsh, but more often than not, she knows what she is doing!
The playful child, the whimsical child, the recalcitrant child, the stubborn child, the angry child, the sad child, the moody child, they all find their match in the same mother, behaving in specific different ways.
This is how intelligence is meant to be used, to act just as a mother.
The mind has three functions, thinking, willing, and feeling. And the mind is like a flip-flop switch – the same situations will cause it to react differently and keep changing around, often for no rhyme or reason. Sometimes the mind will think positive, sometimes it will act negative, sometime it will be cheerful, and sometimes it will be gloomy, sometimes it will be hardworking, sometimes it will be lazy. But just as a mother can get a child to act for his own welfare, similarly the intelligence is meant to perform that service.
Here are some examples, conversations between the intelligence and mind.
OK mind, so you want to do that? Why is that? Does it make sense? (the mind rambles on) “Hey look at this!” (intelligence distracts the mind)
Mind, mind, my dear mind, do you know what an amazing surprise I have for you today? (mind eagerly follows the intelligence waiting for the surprise).
Mind, if you continue to do this, I will have to take (names a privilege) away.
Mind, you can do whatever you want, but I’m not going there with you (mind follows).
OK, I cannot do justice to the nuances of the range and subtleties of the conversation between any mother and child in such an abbreviated manner, but I am hoping the examples point you in the right direction. On the spiritual path, the mind may present many such obstacles every moment, but we are meant to use our God-given intelligence properly.
It may take some time apparently (it does not have to, many have attained spiritual perfection in a moment, but that is rare), Sri Krishna instructs us in this encouraging way…
शनै: शनैरुपरमेद्बुद्ध्या धृतिगृहीतया । आत्मसंस्थं मन: कृत्वा न किञ्चिदपि चिन्तयेत् ॥ २५ ॥
śanaiḥ śanair uparamed buddhyā dhṛti-gṛhītayā ātma-saṁsthaṁ manaḥ kṛtvā na kiñcid api cintayet
Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence sustained by full conviction, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else.
yato yato niścalati manaś cañcalam asthiram tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmany eva vaśaṁ nayet
From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.
Again, please note that we are not the mind. We are spirit soul. The intelligence, mind, and our sense of identity all are part of what is known as our “subtle body”, but more on that another day.
And how to make sure that our intelligence is being a “good mother” to the mind?
अध्येष्यते च य इमं धर्म्यं संवादमावयो: । ज्ञानयज्ञेन तेनाहमिष्ट: स्यामिति मे मति: ॥ ७० ॥
adhyeṣyate ca ya imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṁvādam āvayoḥ jñāna-yajñena tenāham iṣṭaḥ syām iti me matiḥ
And I declare that he who studies this sacred conversation of ours worships Me by his intelligence.
With gratitude to my spiritual master, who mercifully came back to the material world just to save me, and many others like me. Dear Srila Gurudeva, I pray to assist you in your mission, moment after moment, day after day, and life after life, more and more and more eternally ever-increasingly.
Spiritual Knowledge often stresses Detachment. How can a Mother be detached from her children? Is there something wrong with this instruction? What is the proper understanding?
Rashmi Chhabra 09 Apr 2019
Hare Krishna all.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada
I m at a very beginning stage of Krishna consciousness. Please forgive my offenses.
In a recent class of Srimati Gurumataji, I heard about the weapon of detachment. I have 2 small kids, well whom I love a lot as a mother. And I think they are the only ones with whom I m attached at most in material life. Most rest things don’t matter to me.
My question is, should I start getting less attached to them? Or at least start that process of detachment?
Kindly enlighten.
Thank you all.
Hare Krishna.
Rashmi
Amogha Lila Das, 10 April 2019
Hare Krishna mataji. Please accept my pranams. All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
We are all relatively new to Krishna consciousness, some little more some little less.
The idea of detachment can be understood as not deliberate but through the process of bhakti. When we engage our mind, body and intelligence in Krishna bhakti, then gradually we shall lose taste for material mundane things, not by force, but through getting a higher taste.
Arjuna wanted to detach himself from his duties as a kshatriya warrior, but eventually surrendered to the will of the Lord.
By doing our duty keeping Krishna in the center, we can utilize our lives for Krishna.
Every thing belongs to Krishna. Caring for your children is your duty as a mother and love for them is natural. Raising them in Krishna consciousness will be the best thing you can do as a loving mother, because our aim is to utilize everything that we possess in the service of Krishna.
Hence detachment will come from the understanding that everything is Krishna’s property and we just have to utilize what already belongs to him in his service.
Hope this helps somewhat….
your humble servant,
Amogha Lila Das
Rupa Manjari devi dasi, 10 April 2019
Hare Krishna Mataji,
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Gurudev
All glories to Srimate Gurumata
All glories to Srila Prahbupada
Prabhu gave a very nice answer.
For further clarification I suggest you read this book by Sila Prahbupada, from start to finish. ‘The teachings of Queen Kunti. ‘ This is a wonderful book which Prabhupada explains your question perfectly. As you read this book you understanding and realization will increase step by step so by the end of it everything will be perfectly clear to you.
your servant
Rupa Manjari dd
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 11 April 2019
Dear Mother Rashmi,
Hare Krishna!
Your question is simply wonderful! Many parents must have this question, but may not ask… worse they may keep a misunderstanding within their hearts also. We must educate the whole world on this point.
What Amogha Lila Prabhu and Mother Rupa Manjari have written is truly profound.
To be detached actually means to be attached to Krishna and Krishna’s… To learn to see how Krishna has given you this important service of raising His own dear part-and-parcel souls “mamaivaamsho” is a great exercise in humility and gratitude. Please protect these children from untoward association, especially television, phones, computers, newspapers, food that is not cooked as a loving offering for Krishna, and materialistic association… Please give them Krishna constantly, in a way that they can accept… please make them best friends of Krishna.
Whatever Amogha Lila Prabhu wrote is fully supported by scripture… here it is from SB 10.14, the stealing of the cowherd boys by Lord Brahma, Krishna expanded Himself as all of them. The cowherd boys’ mothers and the calves’ mothers loved the expansions of Krishna appearing like their offspring more than they loved their own offspring – this was surprising, since a mother loves her child more than anyone else, so the Q&A between Maharaja Parikshit and Shukadeva Goswami is below, it is very nectarean, please dive into it prayerfully:
Text 49:
King Parīkṣit said: O brāhmaṇa, how could the cowherd women have developed for Kṛṣṇa, someone else’s son, such unprecedented pure love — love they never felt even for their own children? Please explain this.
Text 50:
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, for every created being the dearmost thing is certainly his own self. The dearness of everything else — children, wealth and so on — is due only to the dearness of the self.
Text 51:
For this reason, O best of kings, the embodied soul is self-centered: he is more attached to his own body and self than to his so-called possessions like children, wealth and home.
Text 52:
Indeed, for persons who think the body is the self, O best of kings, those things whose importance lies only in their relationship to the body are never as dear as the body itself.
Text 53:
If a person comes to the stage of considering the body “mine” instead of “me,” he will certainly not consider the body as dear as his own self. After all, even as the body is growing old and useless, one’s desire to continue living remains strong.
Text 54:
Therefore it is his own self that is most dear to every embodied living being, and it is simply for the satisfaction of this self that the whole material creation of moving and nonmoving entities exists.
Text 55:
You should know Kṛṣṇa to be the original Soul of all living entities. For the benefit of the whole universe, He has, out of His causeless mercy, appeared as an ordinary human being. He has done this by the strength of His internal potency.
Text 56:
Those in this world who understand Lord Kṛṣṇa as He is see all things, whether stationary or moving, as manifest forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such enlightened persons recognize no reality apart from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Text 57:
The original, unmanifested form of material nature is the source of all material things, and the source of even that subtle material nature is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. What, then, could one ascertain to be separate from Him?
Text 58:
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.
All the purport are amazing, just like the verses… everyone should please read these carefully, and this will be the perfection of all our relationships if we can implement properly.
In the purport to SB 10.14.50, we find this (italics mine):
quote
Sometimes modern thinkers become puzzled when they study the psychology of moral behavior. Although every living entity is inclined toward self-preservation, as stated here, sometimes a person voluntarily sacrifices his own apparent interest through philanthropic or patriotic activities, such as giving his money for the benefit of others or giving his life for the national interest. Such so-called selfless behavior appears to contradict the principle of material self-centeredness and self-preservation.
As explained in this verse, however, a living entity serves his society, nation, family and so on only because these objects of affection represent the expanded concept of false ego. A patriot sees himself as a great servitor of a great nation, and thus he sacrifices his life to gratify his sense of egotism. Similarly, it is common knowledge that a man feels great pleasure by thinking that he is sacrificing everything to please his dear wife and children. A man derives great egotistic pleasure by seeing himself as a selfless well-wisher of his so-called family and community. Thus, to gratify his proud sense of false ego, a man is prepared even to lay down his life. This apparently contradictory behavior is yet another demonstration of the bewilderment of material life, which has neither rhyme nor reason, being a manifestation of gross ignorance of the nonmaterial soul.
unquote
And in the purport to SB 10.14.55, we find this (italics mine) :
In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līla, Chapter Twenty, text 162, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows: “Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī why Kṛṣṇa was so beloved by the residents of Vṛndāvana, who loved Him even more than their own offspring or life itself. At that time, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied that everyone’s ātmā, or soul, is very, very dear, especially to all living entities who have accepted material bodies. However, that ātmā, the spirit soul, is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. For this reason, Kṛṣṇa is very dear to every living entity. Everyone’s body is very dear to oneself, and one wants to protect the body by all means because within the body the soul is living. Due to the intimate relationship between the soul and the body, the body is important and dear to everyone. Similarly, the soul, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is very, very dear to all living entities. Unfortunately, the soul forgets his constitutional position and thinks he is only the body (dehātma-buddhi). Thus the soul is subjected to the rules and regulations of material nature. When a living entity, by his intelligence, reawakens his attraction for Kṛṣṇa, he can understand that he is not the body but part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Thus filled with knowledge, he no longer labors under attachment to the body and everything related to the body (janasya moho ’yam ahaṁ mameti). Material existence, wherein one thinks, ‘I am the body, and this belongs to me,’ is also illusory. One must redirect his attraction to Kṛṣṇa.Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7) states:
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
‘By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.’”
In the purport of SB 10.14.56, we find this written (italics are mine):
quote
Everything exists within Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Lord Kṛṣṇa exists within everything. Still, the order of progression is always from the energetic to the expanded energy. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original identity, from whom all other identities emanate. He is the supreme energetic, from whom all categories and dimensions of energy become manifest. Thus, our personal bodies, self, family, friends, nation, planet, universe and so on are all manifestations of the Supreme Lord, who expands Himself through His personal potencies. Lord Kṛṣṇa is certainly the supreme object of our love and attraction, and other objects, such as body, family and home, should be secondary objects of our affection. Moreover, a close analytic study of the actual situation will reveal that even the secondary objects of love are also manifestations of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The conclusion is that Lord Kṛṣṇa is our only friend and object of love.
In his Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse as follows: “Without being an expansion of Kṛṣṇa, nothing can be attractive. Whatever is attractive within the cosmic manifestation is due to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the reservoir of all pleasure. The active principle of everything is Kṛṣṇa, and highly elevated transcendentalists see everything in connection with Him. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is stated that a mahā-bhāgavata, a highly advanced devotee, sees Kṛṣṇa as the active principle in all moving and nonmoving living entities. Therefore he sees everything within this cosmic manifestation in relation to Kṛṣṇa.”
unquote
When you see your children as Krishna’s children and love them as Krishna’s children, and they realize that they are Krishna’s, then your devotion will be perfect, and their lives also will be perfect. All of you will be attached to Krishna’s lotus feet, and there will be no one more happy than Srimati Gurumataji and Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva and Srimati Gurumataji
What a wonderful question and what glorious answers from Amogha Lila Das Prabhu and Rupa Manjari mataji. Jaya! And what nectar from Mahabhagavad Das Prabhu. Thank you for guiding and enlightening fallen souls like me. Vaisnava association is the highest blessing anyone can get and it is possible only by the mercy of Guru and Krishna. We are indeed fortunate to have this in the form of this online bhagavata academy and devotees group.
Rashmi mataji, your question is wonderful and is in the mind of any parent. I am a mother of two and I have had this question in my mind in various ways every day. Just to add on to all the above wonderful answers, I had asked Srimati Gurumataji in one of the morning online Bhagavatam classes what should I do as a mother to guide my children towards Krishna. And she gave me a straight amazing answer. She said, “First become fixed in devotion yourself. Work towards become an initiated devotee and then you will automatically become an example for your children to follow.” [Her words in quote].
You will be doing the greatest service to them if you guide them towards Krishna.
your humble servant
Priya
Rashmi, 11 April 2019
Hare Krishna everyone
Thank you so much for explaining. It’s really helps
Rashmi
Rashmi Chhabra, 11 April 2019
Hare Krishna Mahabhagavat Prabhuji
All glories to Gurudeva and Prabhupad
Thank you so much for guiding. I really need guidance at every step it seems, as I am the most useless person. Sometimes I have so many questions to enquire I myself don’t know where to start.
The ways you have devised to follow for bringing up kids in Krishna consciousness are superb. I was doing something like that, but little. Now i have been guided for the same.
It will definitely take time and patience from my end, but I’ll definitely put my best efforts in it.
Again thank you,
Hare Krishna
From Rashmi
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