Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan das

Despite your conservative training how did you become so accommodating?
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Transcription :

Transcription by: Suresh Gupta

Question: Despite your conservative training how did you become so accommodating?

Answer: I would not really use the word liberal or conservative or orthodox because each word comes with a certain connotation. The word becomes charged with certain meanings that later resides in the minds of people. Most liberals use the word progressive for themselves but that also implies that those who are not progressive are regressive. Hence, there is a kind of negative labelling there. I would prefer to use two words – sensible and effective. When I got my training, it was a very rigid practice of Krishna bhakti and I felt nourished by it for some time, but then I had intellectual needs which were not addressed by the kind of philosophical classes I was hearing. After being introduced to the world of intellectuals, I realised that scriptures and the broad bhakti tradition was much bigger. In general, by interacting with devotee scholars who were aware of the bigger picture of the world, I started becoming aware of the realities.

When we live in a monastery as monks, there is tendency to demonise the outer world as an abode of maya. However, a part of maturation is to recognise and appreciate that there are shades of grey. For me, it started by first intellectually appreciating that there are shades of grey and that there are many scholars who may not be devotees but have lot of sensible things to say, not just about the world but even about religion and ISKCON.

Hence, I think it was an intellectual study of the broader world, that broadened my horizons. As I started travelling, not just in India but across the world, and started interacting with people, I realised that the situation and dispositions from where each people came is so widely different from where I was coming. Thus, I realised that they will naturally practice Krishna consciousness according to their situation and dispositions. At first, I went through a phase of being judgemental but over a period, I realised that by being judgemental I was ending up failing to see Krishna, where he was undeniably present. Being sensible and being effective means that while interacting with the world, we can see how Krishna is present somewhere or not. We could see the absence of Krishna consciousness is the problem or we could see the potential for Krishna consciousness as an opportunity.

If we look at the first vision, then the world can appear very dreary and dark place with very little prospects for Krishna consciousness. We might give ourselves a self-congratulatory pat that how demoniac the world is, and how insightful we are in exposing the demoniac nature of the world but such analysis can only be convincing to the convinced or be appealing only to those who are already totally fried out with the world. If we want to appeal and present Krishna consciousness to people who are the movers and shakers of the world […]

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When does philosophical speculation change to mental speculation – what makes certain explanations of scripture unacceptable? (Vedic wisdom)
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T…

Why did Vidura not instruct Dhritarashtra to apologize to the Pandavas and to thereby become offense-free for practicing bhakti?
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If we resolve to wake up at a particular time and wake up at that time without an alarm, is that due to our subconscious mind?
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How can motivate us to move on in our spiritual life – can the saints’ realizations inspire – don’t we need our own experiences?
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Can you explain the concepts of anvaya and vyatireka practically and as explained in Bhagavatam 3.9.36?
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If a child was abused and God didn’t answer their prayers for protection, how can we help them develop faith now?
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Transcription :

Transcriber: Suresh Gupta

Question: If a child was abused and God did not answer their prayers for protection, how can we help them develop faith now?

Answer: Whenever we want to develop faith in God or question his existence, we need to understand God and how He works? God has created systems in this world for our protection and sustenance and usually he offers his care and attention to us through those systems. It is very heart-breaking to hear when a child has been abused. Such abuse can leave permanent emotional scars on them. At the same time, we all need to recognise that God has given everyone free-will but unfortunately, people can misuse their free-will. Humans misuse their free-will and humans also create systems to protect others from such misuse and victimisation. They also need to take the initiative to protect themselves. For example, if thugs beat up someone on the street then it is for other people to stop the thugs or, the person being victimised needs to run or call for emergency or do what is required to protect himself.

In case of children, they have very little intelligence or strength to protect themselves but then children also have guardians who are meant to be very available and protective. If a child has been abused, then it is important that the child be alerted and trained by the parents to report that abuse. Unfortunately, we live in a society where perverted individuals or those who are psychopaths or sociopath prey upon the weak and helpless. People in close family or extended family, whom we would normally trust, turn out to be the ones who betray our trust and commit horrendous abuses. Therefore, belief in God or the expectation from God that he should act as a replacement for the breakdown of human system of protection and rectification, is an unrealistic expectation. When things go wrong at human level, then things need to be rectified at human levels. A child praying to God when in pain; is good, but the child also needs to go to the doctor.

Abuse is not like shame or sickness, it involves element of shame, horror and trauma because the children may feel that they did something to agitate the other person and attract the abuse and unwittingly think that they deserved it. Unfortunately, abuse is widespread in today’s society and it is important for parents to educate the children about “what comprises abuse” and to make them feel safe in reporting anything that they may feel as abuse. This culture of alerting people needs to be created in schools, families, society otherwise children may suffer in silence and it can leave life longs scars on them.

But then, what is God’s role? Is it that when the human system fails then we may turn towards God and expect God to intervene? Well, God also intervenes often through a human agent. In exceptional situations, God may intervene by super-natural or para-normal means or […]

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While struggling with conditionings how can we avoid the extremes of becoming hopeless and becoming shameless?
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When the holy name is self-fulfilling, why do we need other things such as elaborate analysis of the mind?
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