Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan

Is the universal form Krishna literally material or is it a divine form manifested in matter like his deity form?
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Chaitanya Charan · Is It A Divine Form Manifested In Matter Like His Deity Form
Quotes in BG and SB in connection with the Universal Form being material
From Bhagavad Gita:
Arjuna wanted to see Kṛṣṇa in His universal form, which, although a t…

Why do scriptures urge women to do vat-savitri puja to get the same husband for seven lives when the goal of life is to attain liberation?
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 From: Mukund 

If ultimate aim of the human life is to get liberation from cycle of birth and death then why do scriptures recommend women to perform “Vat Savitri” puja to get same husband for Seven lifes (Saat Janam)? Is this practice at all mentioned in scriptures?

Transcription: ( By Bhavesh P)

 

Answer: The scriptures talk about multiple levels of spirituality. And within karma kanda, which is an important part of the scriptures as vast majority of the scriptures talks about karma kanda although it is not the conclusion of the scriptures. Within that the idea is material enjoyment is ultimately the goal of life and the purpose of dharma is to help us get better material enjoyment. So within the karma kanda sections, it is mentioned that our worldly relationships can be perpetuated at the material level not by avoiding death but by replicating those relationships in future lives. That’s how the problem of death which sabotages all material enjoyments is attempted to be circumvented in karma kanda and as a part of karma kanda there are these sort of rituals where the material relationships are prayed and their worship is done. Prayers and worships are done to perpetuate the material relationships for many many life times.

 

Now if we go beyond karma kanda to gyan kanda, there we have the idea that all the relationships are false. And one should just cut off the bonds of these relationships and move forward to go on towards spiritual life and attain moksha. Beyond that if we come further to bhakti, things become little more complex. Bhakti in and of itself does not reject material relationships but it spiritualize those relationships. That’s why in the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagvatam, chapter fourteen talks about ideal family life. In that chapter, it is mentioned that if the wife assists the husband in performing devotional service and both of them render devotional service together then that devotional connection can be continued not just in the next life in swarga but it can be perpetuated in the spiritual world eternally.

 

The idea here is primarily that we don’t reject the material relationships, we spiritualize them. But at the same time the focus is not on spiritualizing the relationship, the focus is on spirituality, focus is on Krishna. And once we are centered in Krishna then we can spiritualize the relationship concomitantly. Yes these kind of things are there in scriptures but devotees who aspire not just for moksha but beyond moksha to reside in spiritual world where there are eternal relationship centered with Krishna. In the practice of devotional service in this world we try to replicate a similar Krishna centered reality in our home and we try to make all our relationships Krishna centric. Hence we may not at a material level aspire for perpetuating the relationships but we can aspire to focus on serving Krishna and dovetailing all our relationships in that way. That’s how we can spiritualize our relationships and all our relationships […]

​What is the difference between Arjuna fighting under Krishna and jehadis fighting under Allah?
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Transcribed by: Anupama Kulkarni (Pune)

Question: What is the difference between Arjuna fighting under Krishna and jehadis fighting under Allah?

Answer: Firstly, even when one is fighting under God’s guidance, there are certain codes of war prescribed by dharma that need to be followed. The war code generally is that you fight against a warrior who is your equal, who is equipped and alert. For example, an elephant warrior will fight with an elephant warrior; a chariot warrior will fight with a chariot warrior. It is not that you fight with a person who is looking somewhere else and you shoot at him.

When the jihadis launch terror attacks, it is completely the opposite. They are trained, well-equipped soldiers whereas their victims are civilians who are not their equal, neither alert nor armed with any weapons.

The jehadis attack civilians in their usual places of living. It is not a situation of war at all. This is against the war codes. Kshatriyas, when they fought, would always fight with war codes. There is no example in the Mahabharata or the Ramayana of Kshatriyas killing civilians. All the wars were fought in designated areas. The Pandavas and Kauravas designated Kurukshetra as the area for war. Even earlier in the Mahabharata, when the Kauravas attacked the Pandavas when they were staying in the kingdom of Virat, Kauravas did not go and disrupt the cities to injure civilians. To indicate that they had come to fight, they took possession of the grazing cows, not wounding them but simply possessing. When Virat got the news, he came out to fight and the war took place.

Another major difference between the two is from the Islamic perspective itself. Islam talks of a holy war which is primarily fought for protecting oneself. A war fought for attacking others is not considered a holy war. When the jihadis attack the civilians, they are not really following the Islamic codes of warfare. Theirs is not a sacred war even as per Islam.

Moreover, jihadis have no inclusive philosophical understanding. Their idea is that we are right because we are devoted to Allah and everyone else is a kafir (infidel) and they deserve to be killed. Their conception of religion is very sectarian. Krishna was on the battlefield and still he was saying – suhrdam sarva-bhutanam (BG 5.29) – I am the well-wisher of all living beings. He meant he is the well-wisher of the Kauravas also. He demonstrated this by himself going as a peace messenger. Krishna was the greatest warrior of his times and for him to go as a peace messenger was an extraordinary act. It is like say Pakistan is attacking India and the Indian prime minister himself goes as a peace messenger. Krishna tried everything for a peaceful resolution. Here, there is an inclusive understanding of spirituality where Krishna says that I am the well-wisher of even these people whom we are fighting against. Krishna does not differentiate that these are […]

198 Presenting Lord Chaitanya to today’s world via biography writing – The Monk’s Podcast Yogesvara P
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Chaitanya Charan · 198 Presenting Lord Chaitanya to today s world via biography writing The Monk’s Podcast Yogesvara P
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Chaitanya Charan · 198 Presenting Lord Chaitanya to today s world via biography writing-The Monk‘s Podcas…

The Kashmir Files Reflection: Tolerance at the cost of truth destroys both
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The Kashmir Files movie has shocked and enraged Indians — not only because such a horrifying ethnic cleansing occurred in our own country just a few decades ago, but also because the systematic brutality was allowed and concealed. Worse still, the reality was distorted by a nefarious nexus of corrupt politicians, inept law enforcers, negligent media and complicit intellectuals. The movie’s lack of any superhuman stunts makes the story all the more human and hard-hitting, thereby driving home the reality, gravity and brutality of events that happened to people just like us. Actually, such horrors have happened to people just like us, not just once but on many occasions across the world — given that extremist violence has been and continues to be a significant threat to humanity.

One criticism of the movie in some circles is that it may lead to stereotyping of all Muslims as fanatics, extremists or even terrorists. While that is a valid concern, how can that concern be actually addressed? By concealing the truth?

Truth

With regards to the issue underlying the Kashmir files, let’s consider some of the undeniable facts:
● A massive exodus of Kashmiri Hindus happened,
● The exodus was caused by an ethnic cleansing (irrespective of the exact number of people who were killed),
● The Kashmiri Hindus lived for a long time as refugees in desolate and even desperate conditions.
● In India’s mainstream media, the story of their tragedy and trauma remained untold and worse still was often downplayed, denied or even distorted.

Shouldn’t the telling of their experience be a valid concern, even a vital concern? While more may need to be done to avoid negative stereotyping of Muslims, at least something has been done by Bollywood — in fact, entire movies like My name is Khan have been dedicated to this theme. But what has been done to highlight, or even convey, the agony of the Kashmiri Hindus, who were the victims of the ethnic cleansing.

Sacrificing truth for tolerance’s sake?

Once it’s recognized that the truth was concealed, let’s analyze why this might have been done. There could be broadly three reasons:
● Malevolence: The people involved were evil and wanted to harm others or
● Incompetence: Those people just didn’t have the abilities or skills to do the right thing
● Ignorance: Those people didn’t know what was the right thing to do and they did what they thought was right, even if it wasn’t

Let’s consider which of these explanations apply to the denial of the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus. While a few may be malevolent and some may be incompetent, let’s adopt a spirit of charity and assume that they were largely ignorant: they genuinely thought that concealing the truth was the best way to avoid communal violence in India and even in the world at large.

Of course, the way the leftist intellectuals went about concealing the truth was not at all incompetent. The history was not just concealed but also distorted. The movie itself depicts the magnitude of the distortion: a young man whose own parents were killed […]