Posted on: 03 Jan 2024
Updated with Part-2 on 3rd Jan 2024
O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,
[Questions from Smt. Chhanda Chandra on the Bhagavatam and answers from Swami.]
Part-1
1. What is the background of the four vyuuhaas proposed by the Vaishnava philosophy?
Swami replied: The vyuuhaa contains the main design of the divine power of God in doing creation. The creation of infinite crores of macro universe (Brahmandas) indicates the infinite divine power of God. For human beings, Vaasudeva vyuuhaa is very important because God coming down as human incarnation called Vaasudeva (the son of Vasudeva) because for humanity the human incarnation is very much relevant. The Sankarshana vyuuhaa indicates Aadishesha as Balarama standing as elder brother of God Krishna (Vaasudeva) indicating the dualistic devotion in which the devotee becomes the master and God becoming a servant.
2. Yogamaayaa and Mahaamaayaa are said to be different and Mahaamaayaa is praised while Yogamaayaa is condemned. Why?
Swami replied: Yogamaayaa means the part of the inherent power of God that is involved in the creation. Mahaamaayaa is the total inherent power of God. It can be concluded that Yogamaayaa stands for the world and Mahaamaayaa stands for God. The soul attached to God is praised while the soul attached to the world is condemned. The word ‘yoga’ in Yogamaayaa means the association with world. The word ‘mahaa’ in Mahaamaayaa indicates the sense of greatness, which is the meaning of the word Brahman (mahat brahma iti proktam, mahattvāt mahatāmapi). The word ‘maayaa’ has two meanings: i) ‘wonderful’ and this is linked with Mahaamaayaa, ii) ‘that which does not exist’ and this sense can be linked to Yogamaayaa.
3. The soul changes bodies due to its mind. How is this possible?
Swami replied: Mind is the faculty of awareness that changes the thoughts (samkalpa–vikalpa) due to which the soul is entangled in worldly births. This means that the soul changes births due to the worldly mind. The same soul changes bodies due to a devotional mind also. If the mind is worldly, all the births are worldly only. If the mind is devotional, all the births will be divine assisting the mission of every incarnation of God in this world.
4. Why does the Gita recommend not to meditate upon the unmediated-unimaginable God?
Swami replied: When you cannot even imagine the unmediated-unimaginable God (Parabrahman), how can you meditate or worship such God? The Gita says that if you try to meditate upon such God, you will utterly fail and this leads to a lot of tension. A soul must always meditate upon the mediated-unimaginable God (God Datta) and His energetic or human incarnations based on relevance. Nirguna Brahman cannot be meditated upon and only Saguna Brahman can be meditated upon.
5. How to select a human incarnation of God based on a specific quality?
[We can select the energetic incarnation having a specific quality because there are several energetic incarnations. In the case of human incarnations, since only one human incarnation is possible in a generation, the devotees will not have such chance of selecting God based on a specific quality. How to solve this problem?]
Swami replied: Every incarnation is taken by God Datta only. In God Datta, all the three qualities exist. Brahma is rajas, Vishnu is sattvam and Shiva is tamas. The incarnation will appear with any quality liked by the devotee and hence, there will be no such problem.
6. Why does God not harm the devotee, who does not care for Him?
Swami replied: The view of God is to reform the soul and uplift it. Even through harming, the ultimate aim is only to uplift the soul and not to harm. Even the hell is created by God in view of His kind anxiety to reform the sinner immediately through the punishment. The parents request the doctor to give injection to the child in view of rapid recovery of the child, which is only the love on the child and not the anger to give the suffering through injection.
7. How to reconcile that both Krishna and Datta are the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the world?
[A follower of Krishna will say that Krishna is the ultimate God, who is the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the world. We have now realized that God Datta is the ultimate God, who is the creator, maintainer and destroyer of the world. How to reconcile these two contradicting facts? The devotee of Krishna is very strong in his devotion.]
Swami replied: God Datta appears in different divine forms. God Datta is the naked person and Krishna is the external dress of God Datta. When a person is dressed and says that he often becomes angry, does this anger belong to the person or to the dress? Similarly, when Krishna says that He is God, it refers to the inner God Datta and not to the outer Krishna. You may doubt, why Krishna is the external dress and Datta is the internal person. The reasons for this are: i) the Veda says that one personality (Ekamevādvitīyaṃ Brahma) and that one personality alone is creator, maintainer and destroyer of the world (yato vā imāni…). These two parts of the Vedic definition are applied in God Datta through perception itself because Datta is one person creating, maintaining and destroying this world through His three faces of God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva respectively. ii) The incarnation of Krishna came to kill some demons and to preach the Gita to the world, but the incarnation of God Datta appeared in the context of search of ultimate God by sages. Therefore, Krishna is the incarnation of Datta and Datta is not the incarnation of Krishna. Krishna appeared in the end of dwapara age whereas Datta appeared in the first Kruta yuga or Satya yuga.
Part-2
8. Some people say that Narayana is the extension of Krishna. Please explain this.
Swami replied:- You have to understand this point by analyzing the incarnation of Krishna. God Vishnu became the fullest incarnation called Krishna. God Vishnu exists in Krishna. God Vishnu is the incarnation of God Datta. So, God Datta exists in God Vishnu. God Datta is called Hiranyagarbha (Brahma), Narayana (Vishnu) and Iishwara (Shiva). So, Narayana is God Datta. In God Datta, Parabrahman exists. Therefore, Parabrahman, Narayana (God Datta), God Vishnu and God Krishna emerged in sequence one by one. Therefore, in Krishna, Parabrahman exists. In the Gita, Krishna declared that He is Parabrahman. So, we can take Parabrahman as Krishna and Krishna as Parabrahman. Narayana (God Datta) is the extension of Parabrahman. Since Parabrahman is Krishna, Narayana becomes the extension of Krishna. This means that any incarnation of God Datta is Parabrahman and other than Parabrahman, all the other names indicate various media worn by Parabrahman.
9. God has no worldly birth and Krishna has a transcendental body having no birth and death. Kindly explain this.
Swami replied:- Krishna had a human body that had birth and death as per the Bhagavatam. The body was born and was also cremated by Arjuna. The divine form of Krishna, which is Vishnu emerged out and reached His abode called Vaikuntha. God Vishnu came from God Narayana (God Datta). The original body of God Narayana is an energetic form and is set to be beyond natural creation (Apraakrutika), which means that it has unimaginable-unnatural power. This concept was told by Ramanuja. Therefore, it is better to say that the transcendental body of Narayana is within the human body of Krishna. You should not say that the human being of Krishna is the transcendental body because its birth, death and subsequent cremation are mentioned in the Bhagavatam. God is not born but His human body or medium is born and it alone met with death. Hence, He is not having birth and death and only His medium is having birth and death. The birth and death of His medium is superimposed on God and based on this, Krishna directly says that He is born (Sambhavāmi yuge yuge, Janmakarma ca…). After mentioning His birth, He also says that death is inevitable follow up of birth (Jātasya hi dhṛvo mṛtyuḥ…).
10. Is there any mention in the Bhagavatam where God Brahma praised Krishna asking for the feet-dust of Krishna’s devotees?
Swami replied:- There is no surprise in this point because it is told that God Brahma stole the cows and cow-herds of Brindavanam for one year thinking that the soul cannot be created again because the soul is eternal. This very concept is not correct because every soul is a part of the creation (Prakriti) and is called as Paraaprakriti in the Gita. You must note that God Brahma did not do this foolish thing. His associate called Prajaapati, often referred as Brahma, did this and realised the truth because the same souls were exactly created again by God Krishna. It is the Prajaapati, who praised the feet-dust of Krishna’s devotees.
11. Did Prajaapati commit a sin in the above incident?
Swami replied:- You cannot call it a sin because sin means effecting a good person to suffer. All this was done by Prajaapati due to error in his spiritual knowledge. He thought that soul is eternal being a part of God and did this mistake. Soul is a part of the external world surrounding God, treated or assumed as the external body of God. The external world is only an outer coat and the soul is a thread in that external coat and hence, soul is not a part of God. His wrong knowledge was corrected by God Krishna, who told in the Gita that soul is a part of the creation and not the creator. He clearly stated that soul called Paraaprakriti, which is a part of His creation (Prakṛtiṃ viddhi me parām, Jīvabhūtām… Gita). Hence, this is a practical proof of the theoretical concept mentioned in the Gita. The soul is called ‘Ajah’ meaning that the soul has no birth. But this meaning cannot be correct because soul is a part of the creation and the creation has birth being created by God. Here, the word ‘Ajah’ means that item for which its birth is not known to us even though it was born. Therefore, we should not think that the soul is birthless like God. God is also Ajah because He doesn’t have any birth. Therefore, Ajah means either the item having no birth or the item for which the birth is not known to us even though it had birth.
12. Is Brahma, the son of Krishna?
Swami replied:- This means that the grandfather is the son of grandson. But, as per the Vaishnava philosophy, God Brahma is born from the lotus generated from the naval pit of God Narayana. Since ISKON people treat God Krishna as the root source Parabrahman, all this is possible. Actually, God Krishna is the incarnation of God Vishnu. God Vishnu is the incarnation of Narayana (God Datta) and God Datta is the incarnation of Parabrahman. Parabrahman exists in every energetic or human incarnation and every incarnation results as Parabrahman. Based on this concept, you can say any order possible taking the incarnation as the root Parabrahman.
13. What is Antaranga Shakti and Bahiranga Shakti?
Swami replied:- Antaranga Shakti means the will power of God Datta and Bahiranga Shakti is the externally expressed creation created by the will power of God Datta. The relative or imaginable awareness or soul of God Datta attained unimaginable power due to the merge of the unimaginable God or Parabrahman. You cannot use the statement ‘unimaginable awareness of Unimaginable God’ because two or more unimaginable items result in one unimaginable item.
14. It is said that the trees, animals and birds in Brindavanam are devoted souls waiting to serve God Krishna. Is it true?
Swami replied:- It is very much true because the devoted souls taking these low births to serve God are far far better than the human beings, who do not even remember God. There is no surprise at all!
15. Is it true to say that God Varaaha and Adishesha are parts of the incarnation of Balaraama?
Swami replied:- There is no scriptural authority for this and we can leave this to the experience of the respected devotee.
16. Wives of Kaaliya praised Krishna as God. Do they have prior information about Krishna as God?
Swami replied:- When a small boy called Krishna is able to defeat and is almost going to kill the most powerful serpent like Kaaliya, it is a very easy general inference for the wives to know that Krishna must have been the ultimate God. Based on this inference, the wives of Kaaliya praised Krishna as God.