Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan das

What makes Vedic knowledge infallible and human knowledge fallible?
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Why did Krishna choose Arjuna as the recipient of Bhagavad-gita?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Why%20did%20Krishna%20choose%20Arjuna%20as%20the%20recipient%20of%20Bhagavad-gita.mp3
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Why is Vedic knowledge received through disciplic succession?
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Answer Podcast

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Does existence alone go from one life to another without carrying any karma from the past?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Does%20existence%20alone%20go%20from%20one%20life%20to%20another%20without%20carrying%20any%20karma%20from%20the%20past.mp3
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Can spiritual wisdom explain split personality disorder?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Can%20spiritual%20wisdom%20explain%20split%20personality%20disorder.mp3
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How can we strengthen our faith, especially while going through mood swings?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/How%20can%20we%20strengthen%20our%20faith,%20especially%20while%20going%20through%20mood%20swings.mp3
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Can the soul experience anything other than what is displayed on the mind’s screen?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Can%20the%20soul%20experience%20anything%20other%20than%20what%20is%20displayed%20on%20the%20mind’s%20screen.mp3
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Does the level of consciousness indicate the strength of the soul?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Does%20the%20level%20of%20consciousness%20indicate%20the%20strength%20of%20the%20soul.mp3
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How can we know if our intelligence is misleading us through rationalization?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/How%20can%20we%20know%20if%20our%20intelligence%20is%20misleading%20us%20through%20rationalization.mp3
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Will we ever come to a spiritual level when we understand Krishna’s plan perfectly?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Will%20we%20ever%20come%20to%20a%20spiritual%20level%20when%20we%20understand%20Krishna’s%20plan%20perfectly.mp3
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What’s in a name?
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After one of my talks in an American university, a student who had heard attentively and asked good questions approached me and enquired, “What is your name? I couldn’t get it when you were introduced.” When I answered, she shook her head regretfully and said, “I will never get that.” Even just Chaitanya was difficult for her to repeat. One of her friends, who had tagged along with her and had been not so interested in the talk, just rolled her eyes and muttered something about unpronounceable names.

Later, when I shared this incident with some devotees, I came to know that many of them had faced similar problems. I heard several humorous narratives of how Indian names had been mangled by Westerners.

A devotee named Dr Ghosh told me that one of his acquaintances wrote a letter addressing him as Dr Ghost. Another devotee suggested cheekily that he could have signed off his reply with, “Always ready to haunt you, Dr Ghost,” thus repaying the sender in kind by misspelling help as haunt.
In my teenage years, I had noticed that many of my relatives who had emigrated to the West had adopted shorter, westernized versions of their names: Vivek became Vic, for example. When I had cracked GRE about two decades ago, several of my friends, who like me were set to go to the US for higher studies, had started calling me with a shortened and westernized version of my legal name: Chandrahas became Chandu (pronounced as Chaandu). At that time, I had thought such change of names was just a fashion, but now I realized it was often a functional necessity.

Driven by such necessity, devotees who have two-word or three-word names often shorten it to the first word. Thus, Jaya Jagannatha becomes Jaya or even more accessible as Jay. However, some names can’t be easily shortened. For example, Sita-Rama-Lakshmana das when shortened gives the feminine Sita, which becomes problematic when addressing a male.

Later, when I was in Toronto, Canada, and was talking with Bhakti Marga Maharaj about the challenges of outreach to Westerners, he said that the challenge begins with our name itself. He stressed that many people can’t get his name. I realized that shortening his name was not an option for him – the shortened name Bhakti is feminine. When I asked how he introduces himself, he laughed and replied “The Walking Monk.” Of course, that fits his profile perfectly because he has carved out a distinctive, even unique, identity for himself by his celebrated walks across all of Canada from one coast to another. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to have such a distinct identity and an apt identifier to go with it.

Subsequently, one devotee suggested that I could introduce myself as “The Spiritual Scientist.” I was hesitant, feeling that the name was presumptuous, both spiritually and scientifically. From the spiritual perspective, I see the great sages of the past as spiritual scientists and myself as their aspiring servant – my website is simply meant […]

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“What’s your name?” & “What’s in a name?”
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After one of my talks in an American university, a student who had heard attentively and asked good questions approached me and enquired, “What is your name? I couldn’t get it when you were introduced.” When I answered, she shook her head regretfully and said, “I will never get that.” Even just Chaitanya was difficult for her to repeat. One of her friends, who had tagged along with her and had been not so interested in the talk, just rolled her eyes and muttered something about unpronounceable names.

Later, when I shared this incident with some devotees, I came to know that many of them had faced similar problems. I heard several humorous narratives of how Indian names had been mangled by Westerners.

A devotee named Dr Ghosh told me that one of his acquaintances wrote a letter addressing him as Dr Ghost. Another devotee suggested cheekily that he could have signed off his reply with, “Always ready to haunt you, Dr Ghost.” He could have repaid the sender in kind by misspelling help as haunt.

In my teenage years, I had noticed that many of my relatives who had emigrated to the West had adopted shorter, Westernized versions of their names: Vivek became Vic, for example. When I had cracked GRE about two decades ago, several of my friends, who like me were set to go to the US for higher studies, had started calling me with a shortened and westernized version of my legal name: Chandrahas became Chandu (pronounced as Chaandu). At that time, I had thought such change of names was just a fashion, but now I realized it was often a functional necessity.

Driven by such necessity, devotees who have two-word or three-word names often shorten it to the first word. Thus, Jaya Jagannatha becomes Jaya or even more accessible as Jay. However, some names can’t be easily shortened. For example, Sita-Rama-Lakshmana das when shortened gives the feminine Sita, which becomes problematic when addressing a male.

Later, when I was in Toronto, Canada, and I was talking with Bhakti Marga Maharaj about the challenges of outreach to Westerners, he said that the challenge begins with our names itself. He stressed that no one gets his name. I realized that shortening his name was not an option – the shortened name Bhakti is feminine. When I asked how he introduces himself, he laughed and replied “The Walking Monk.” Of course, that fits his profile perfectly because he has carved out a distinctive, even unique, identity for himself by his celebrated walks across all of Canada from one coast to another. However, not everyone is fortunate enough to have such a distinct identity and an apt identifier to go with it.

Later, one devotee suggested that I could introduce myself as “The Spiritual Scientist.” I was hesitant, feeling that the name was presumptuous, both spiritually and scientifically. From the spiritual perspective, I see the great sages of the past as spiritual scientists and myself as their aspiring servant – my website is simply meant […]

The post “What’s your name?” & “What’s in a name?” appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

​Is the golden cord that goes with the soul permanent or temporary?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Is%20the%20golden%20cord%20that%20goes%20with%20the%20soul%20permanent%20or%20temporary.mp3
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​What should we do if we have a near-death experience or a mystical experience?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/What%20should%20we%20do%20if%20we%20have%20a%20near-death%20experience%20or%20a%20mystical%20experience.mp3
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​I saw a shining light during a vision – what does it mean?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/I%20saw%20a%20shining%20light%20during%20a%20vision%20-%20what%20does%20it%20mean.mp3
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​Are reports of people having gone to Yamaraja and returned true?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Are%20reports%20of%20people%20having%20gone%20to%20Yamaraja%20and%20returned%20true.mp3
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​How do medically dead people sometimes return to life?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/How%20do%20medically%20dead%20people%20sometimes%20return%20to%20life.mp3
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What is the difference between near-death experience, out-of-body experience and after-death experience?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/What%20is%20the%20difference%20between%20near-death%20experience,%20out-of-body%20experience%20and%20after-death%20experience.mp3
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​When there are different kinds of jehad, why is jehad associated with terrorism?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/When%20there%20are%20different%20kinds%20of%20jehad,%20why%20is%20jehad%20associated%20with%20terrorism.mp3
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​What is the difference between Arjuna fighting under Krishna and jehadis fighting under Allah?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/What%20is%20the%20difference%20between%20Arjuna%20fighting%20under%20Krishna%20and%20jehadis%20fighting%20under%20Allah.mp3
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Moments of bhakti and momentum in bhakti – Weekday bhakti and weekend bhakti
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The major difference between ISKCON temples in India and in the West that struck me was the difference between weekday activity and weekend activity. As the Indian temples have vibrant monasteries associated with them, these temples are active throughout the week. But most temples in the West have no monasteries at all; so, the activity level there is vey low during weekdays and shoots up during weekends. The highlight in the weekend is the Sunday feast program, where a large part of the local devotee community congregates for association and inspiration.

During my tour to the West, I gave Sunday feast classes at Washington D C, Central New Jersey, Columbus, Los Angeles, Toronto (in Canada) and Leicester (in UK).

Each Sunday feast program would have on an average an audience of several hundred with the number ranging from hundred to four hundred.
Typically, the audience comprised both Indians and Westerners of various levels of spiritual understanding and seriousness. The challenge would be to connect with all of them and give everyone something that they could carry home. This challenge is like that of a teacher, who usually teaches students at a particular grade, being asked to speak to the school general assembly that contains students from all grades. The strategy that I found works best is to start with a level that even new people can connect with, rise step-by-step to a level where even regular practitioners feel that they are getting something substantial and then conclude with a call for action that resonates with everyone, whatever their level. The Sunday feast program is meant to be a moment of bhakti that will give participants momentum in their bhakti for the rest of the week till they can renew themselves at the next week’s Sunday program.

The most exciting and demanding part is usually the question-answer session where some people want to know the answer, some people want to know how much you know and some people want to know whether what you know is right or not. While the class can be delivered according to a prepared script, the question-answer session can’t be scripted.

To give a sample of a typical Sunday feast program in the West, here’s an outline of the program at the Los Angeles temple, where I spoke on “Seek not moments of bhakti – seek momentum in bhakti.” Addressing the New Age tendency to reduce spirituality to sporadic spiritual experiences and the Hindu ritualistic tendency to equate spirituality with ritual specialization, I spoke about how bhakti is a transformational process in which our progress depends not on how we feel from moment-to-moment, but on how we contribute consistently, trying to cultivate a service attitude. Whether we get dreams about Krishna is not as defining of our spiritual growth as whether we serve him after waking up. Srila Prabhupada is the quintessential model for understanding bhakti as dedication to service – and how such dedication eventually attracts extraordinary reciprocation from Krishna that is nothing short of […]

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A Bhagavad-gita view of religious diversity – Talk at Grand Valley State University as a part of a World Religions course
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One of my closest friends, Dr Abhishek Ghosh, who is a faculty member at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA, invited me to speak to his students for a World Religions course. As most of the students were from a Christian background, he asked me to give an insider perspective on how I as a Hindu see Christianity in particular and other religions in general.

I spoke on how God is bigger than the religions we dedicate to him (Religion is meant for God; God is not meant for religion) and that we need to understand the purpose of exclusivist statements found in certain religions: they are meant to create focus, not proclaim an absolute truth.

After the class, when a student asked whether the God of different religions is one or different, I explained that the God of revelation is one, but the gods who are projections of people’s own desires are different: the God of terrorists is not the God of transcendentalists. Towards the end, Dr Ghosh played the devil’s advocate and asked a couple of tough questions but in a jovial tone. I answered and the session ended on a jolly note.

In India, I usually speak to engineering students, practically never to humanities students. While students from the humanities have been part of the audience during many of my talks in Western Universities, this was my first talk to an audience solely of humanities students, and that too as a part of their religious study course. My background in the sciences doesn’t equip me for addressing such an audience; so, I tried to tune my presentation based on what I had learnt from my discussions with devotee-scholars who teach religious studies in Western universities. Overall, I appreciated the thoughtfulness and sincerity of these students – their interest was more than academic.

A week after the class, Dr Ghosh called and told me that his students were still talking about my class, which he felt indicated that an interaction with a living practitioner of the subject they were studying had significantly impacted them.

The talk audio is here:

A Bhagavad-gita view of religious diversity

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​Do pure devotees have no worldly desires or do they have desires but no inclination to act on those desires?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Do%20pure%20devotees%20have%20no%20worldly%20desires%20or%20do%20they%20have%20desires%20but%20no%20inclination%20to%20act%20on%20those%20desires.mp3
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​How can we use in bhakti the qualities we don’t know we have?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/How%20can%20we%20use%20in%20bhakti%20the%20qualities%20we%20don’t%20know%20we%20have.mp3
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​Is there a difference between vairagya and virakti?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Is%20there%20a%20difference%20between%20vairagya%20and%20virakti.mp3
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​How can we deal with bad thoughts that come up subconsciously?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/How%20can%20we%20deal%20with%20bad%20thoughts%20that%20come%20up%20subconsciously.mp3
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When artificial intelligence becomes as good as our intelligence, what will our purpose be?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/When%20artificial%20intelligence%20becomes%20as%20good%20as%20our%20intelligence,%20what%20will%20our%20purpose%20be.mp3
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​Should we just depend on bhakti to purify us or cultivate introspectiveness to check and change our motives?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Should%20we%20just%20depend%20on%20bhakti%20to%20purify%20us%20or%20cultivate%20introspectiveness%20to%20check%20and%20change%20our%20motives.mp3
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Spirituality for caregivers – Talk at psychiatric hospital in New Jersey
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During my stay at New Jersey, I was asked to speak at a psychiatric hospital, Carrier Clinic, in Belle Mead to the caregivers on the topic of “Discover your inner power.” While I had spoken on this topic several times during this trip to the West, in this case, I customized the content according to the occasion, focusing on the theme of “Spirituality for Caregivers.”

The program was organized by Devakinandan Prabhu, the resourceful vice-Temple President of ISKCON, Central New Jersey, and Prema Chaitanya Prabhu (Dr Puneet Kumar), a versatile devotee-doctor who coordinates such events for the Global Foundation For Ethics And Spiritual Health. Those who attended included psychotherapists, physiotherapists, de-addiction counselors, nurses and other caregivers. The hospital President and CEO, Donald Parker, explained that the purpose of the talk was to help heal the healers.

I spoke on how spiritual knowledge and practices can empower us to change the three P’s that shape our response to situations:

· Perceive: How we perceive events,
· Process: How we process our emotions and
· Pursue: What we pursue in that situation and in life at large.

After the talk, some of the participants had a heart-to-heart discussion about their inspirations for caregiving and about how the talk helped them. Several of them appreciated the three P-paradigm as a way to choosing healthier responses amidst difficult situations.
While I have spoken frequently on how mental health is such a huge challenge, hearing about it firsthand from these on-field professionals deepened my conviction about the need to present bhakti wisdom in a way that it speaks to thoughtful, caring individuals engaged in causes that concern today’s world.

The talk audio and ppt are here: http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/2016/10/spirituality-for-caregivers/

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​Why did Rama take people’s criticism of Sita so seriously?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2016%20QA/11-16%20QA/Why%20did%20Rama%20take%20people’s%20criticism%20of%20Sita%20so%20seriously%20-%20why%20didn’t%20he%20just%20neglect%20it%20and%20do%20what%20was%20right.mp3
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