20 Jul 2025
1. Did Krishna bear the punishment of the Gopikas who passed only the test of Dareshana or for the 12 who passed in all the tests?
[Ms. Swathi asked: Padanamaskaram Swami 🙏 Swami, did God Krishna bear the punishment in hell for all the Gopikas who passed only the test of Dhareshana (bond with spouse), or only for the 12 who successfully passed all the tests? If many Gopikas were still bound by worldly attachments and couldn't fully overcome them for the sake of God, why did He choose to suffer for them as well? Could You kindly explain the divine nature of God in this context? At Your Divine Lotus Feet 🙏]
Swami replied:- Krishna allowed all Gopikas in the test for spouse-bond to show that anyone can pass this test easily. Since He allowed them, He underwent their punishments also. Moreover, these punishments are not based on the test for spouse-bond. These punishments are based on the fact that the public should be discouraged from imitation. Hence, the basis is quite different.
2. Why did God Krishna suffer punishment twice even though it was the unreal Krishna who took part in the test?
[Padanamaskaram Swami! Swami - why did God Krishna suffer punishment twice in hell — once for each Gopika and once for Himself — even though it was the unreal Krishna who took part in the test of the spouse bond? Since His (one form of unreal Krishna) true bond was limited to only one Gopika, wouldn't that make Him sinless? At Your Divine Lotus Feet 🙏]
Swami replied:- The punishments are taken by real Krishna not for any sin that existed in the procedure of the spouse-bond test since defeating the worldly spouse-bond for the sake of God is not at all sin in Nivrutti. But, such test was falsely framed as a sin by the real Krishna Himself so that nobody will dare to imitate Him and exploit innocent devotees. For this purpose only, God Krishna underwent the punishment twice so that the imitating public will be doubly discouraged from the imitation due to the double punishment. He deliberately does this for the sake of protection of justice in His worldly administration.
3. How were the monkeys able to recognize Rama as God?
[Padanamaskaram Swami! Swami, as far as I understand, animals generally possess only basic awareness limited to their survival instincts. However, the monkeys who participated in God Rama's mission to find Sita displayed a remarkable level of awareness, intelligence and devotion in assisting Him. How were they able to possess such advanced understanding and recognize Lord Rama as God? Could You kindly clarify how were they, despite being animals, attained such spiritual insight and actively supported His divine mission?]
Swami replied:- The monkeys were the incarnations of angels, who had come down in the form of monkeys in order to serve God Rama. Since they were originally angels, they had the supernatural intelligence to recognize Rama as God.
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