Planet ISKCON

Answer Podcast

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Answer Podcast

Transcription :

Transcriber: Suresh Gupta

Edited by: Raji Nachiappan

Question: How to understand the Bhagavatam’s cosmology? This seem to be very difficult to understand.

Answer: This subject is something which I have studied, contemplated, prayed, discussed, for over twenty years. It is not an easy question to answer. There is a five-step reflection to understand this, as described below:
I. Understand the purpose of science
II. Understand the purpose of scripture
III. Understand the scope of science
IV. Understand the scope of scripture
V. See how science and scripture can be harmonised.

I. The purpose of science:
Science, as understood in today’s world is a methodology which is used for getting material explanations for material phenomenon. When Newton saw the fruit falling, he questioned the cause which led to the fruit falling. He could have said god caused the fruit to fall. Yes, while that is true and Newton also believed that the laws of nature came from god, he was looking for a material cause, and not to God as a cause. Science focusses on looking for material explanations for material phenomenon. In the scientific world, this is called as naturalism or methodological naturalism. Science in itself does not make any statements about anything non material and whether it exist or does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of science is to look for material explanations for material phenomenon.

II. The purpose of scripture:
When we consider the Bhagavatam, it is spoken to Parikshit Maharaj when he was about to die in seven days. The purpose of Shukadeva Gosvami speaking to Parikshit Maharaj is to help him to fix his mind on Krishna. The Bhagavatam’s Fifth canto cosmology is also spoken with that same purpose. It is said in the starting of that section in the fifth canto that, while meditating on the universe in this way, one’s appreciation and devotion to Lord Hari will increase. Therefore, the purpose of everything in the Bhagavatam is to help us to fix the mind on Krishna. It is not that Shukadeva Gosvami was giving Parikshit Maharaj knowledge about how he could go on space travel. That was not the purpose. Everything has to be seen in the light of its purpose. The purpose of science is to give natural explanation for natural phenomenon and the purpose of scripture is to help us fix the mind on Krishna.

III. Scope of science:
Science does not offer us reality; it offers us models of reality. For example, there is quantum physics and there is relativity. These are two fundamental branches of physics and both of them are violently contradictory. The model of reality that is offered by quantum physics is very different from the model of reality offered by relativity. This is a technical subject but suffice it to say that these two are just not reconcilable. Scientists use whichever model works. When dealing with the subatomic realm, it is quantum physics that works and for cosmic distance and cosmic objects, it is relativity that works.

Now, what is the nature of reality: is it particles or is it waves? Or is it something else like space-time? What is it? In science, there is the ontological approach to reality and the functional approach to reality. Ontology means the study of reality as it is. Functional means reality as we can function with it. If we go seriously into the study of science, science makes no pretentions of giving us knowledge of reality. It simply gives us models of reality. Quantum physics offers one model and relativity offers another model. What reality actually is, that is something else. We do not know it from science. Reality may be something entirely different. These are working models offered by science. When we say models, it does not mean they are false. They are useful, but they give one particular picture of reality. For example, if we have a map of America, the map is a very useful tool, however the map does not contain everything. If we use a map to go to our friend’s house and everything on the map turns out to be true, our confidence in the map increases. When we finally reach our friend’s house and when our friend welcomes us, we do not look at the map and tell our friend that since they are not present in the map, they do not exist. The map is not meant to show people, the map is a model of a territory and hence it does not depict everything.

Science does not have a monopoly on the explanation of reality. Science offers an explanation that works within a particular framework, however there can be other explanations and other perceptions from other scales of observations. For example, if I take a white chalk and black coal and I grind both of them into powder and then I mix the powder together, I will have grey granules. However, if I look at the mixture under the microscope, I will not see any grey granules, I will see white and black particles. Hence, what is it really? Is it grey granules or is it white and black? Therefore, what it is, depends on our scale of observation. In the same way, science can offer us particular models of reality that comes from a particular scale of observation. There can be other models of reality that can be from other scales of observation and science cannot inherently disapprove them. Science offers one model, there may be another model from another perspective.

IV: Scope of scripture:
The Bhagavatam offers a particular cosmology. At the same time, the Bhagavatam’s cosmology is not the only cosmology in the Indian tradition. If we consider astrology, it is based on the Jyotisha Shastra where a different cosmology is given. The Bhagavatam’s cosmology is different from Jyotisha’s. No astrologer uses the Bhagavatam’s cosmology for predicting anything. They all use Jyotisha cosmology, including Vaishnava astrologers. Even Vaishnava acharyas, who have commented on the Bhagavatam, if they had to do anything with astrology, they used the Jyotisha cosmology. That means, the Bhagavatam’s cosmology is even within the Vedic tradition, not considered to be only cosmology. Bhagavatam offers a particular vision of reality which is Krishna centred. However, for functional purposes even in Vedic tradition there is other cosmology which is used. The Jyotisha Cosmology in many ways is similar to modern cosmology. The point of is, the acharyas are not saying that the Bhagavatam cosmology is mythological or imaginary. It is just of a different scale.

V: How science and scripture can be harmonised:
We do not have to position science and scripture as competitors. If we position scripture as competitor to science, we devalue scripture. Science gives us functional knowledge for operating in this world. Scripture give us knowledge for raising our consciousness and going beyond this world. Sometimes, scripture may also give functional knowledge for living in this world and we can use that. However, that is not the purpose of scripture. Parikshit Maharaj was not interested in learning how to make a plane or how to make a mobile. He was interested on how to focus his mind on Krishna and how to attain Krishna. Hence, these two have different purposes, and without that understanding if we position scripture as a competitor to science, we actually devalue scripture.

In this world we have to take care of our material needs and there can be different ways for taking care of the material needs. To cure a bodily ailment, we may take Ayurveda or we may take Allopathy. The important point is not that we become a campaigner for or against allopathy or Ayurveda. As devotees, our purpose is to get healthy, so we can serve Krishna. Similarly, we do not have to become a campaigner for science saying that everything science says is right or we do not have to become campaigner against science saying that everything science says is wrong.

Our purpose is, science is functional and scripture is transcendental. For practical purposes, we do what is required. What we should not do is to let science determine our values and goals. Science does not actually give knowledge on values and goals because that is outside the scope of science. If we understand what the purposes of science and scripture are, then we will not unnecessarily obsess over certain sections of scripture, which are difficult to make sense of. The Bhagavatam offers a cosmology which is primarily meant to help us to fix the mind on Krishna. If we find that by studying the Bhagavatam cosmology, it does not make any sense to us or that it seems strange and even agitates us, then the purpose of fixing the mind on Krishna is not being served. Srila Prabhupada, even in the Bhagavatam’s fifth canto cosmology purports, does not go too much into the technicalities. Rather, Prabhupad expertly focusses on the principles of the spiritual life. Those principles are important to us. Hence, if we have the purpose of fixing of the mind on Krishna, then we can ourselves understand scripture appropriately and more importantly present it in a way that helps people to come close to Krishna.

End of transcription.

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Kaiman Wong and Dan Chung meet the devotees (video)
Former presenter, co-producer and writer of DigitalRev TV (now gone solo) K...

The recordings of the “Holy Name Festival 2017 Videos”
Srila Prabhupada: When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert. (Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, 4.71 purport, Vidagdha-Madhava 1.12)
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4QA0sP

Krishna Wisdom: Making a Difference in the World (2 min video)
Balaram Nityananda: Honoured to be working with our Temple President at Bhaktivedanta Manor Srutidharma Prabhu as he encourages devotees to help fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire by taking part in outreach activities aimed at local people completely new to Bhakti, through www.krishnawisdom.com
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/QIGVEp

Keshav Das, 30, an ISKCON of Washington D.C. devotee, won the gold medal at his tri-county Special Olympics meet on Sunday May 21^st, competing in the 100-meter track and field. Keshav, who was born with Down Syndrome, had been training for the past year with his coach, and was cheered on by thirteen family members, including father and mother Sachchida and Sharmistha Gupta, and brothers Gopal and Vishal.

Bhakti Gauramani Swami’s last class in NVD.

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The Telangana, South India Padayatra On The Road Again.
Vishnu Swamy Dasa: The state of Telangana is located in south India. It is the twelfth largest state in India with an area of 112,077 square kilometres (43,273 square miles) and a population of 35,193,978. Its major cities include Hyderabad, Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Nalgonda. The first Telangana padayatra started on December 6th 2012 and was completed on November 1st 2015. The padayatra travelled approximately 4500 kilometres to all 10 districts in Telangana and visited 500 villages and towns there. Our small team of devotees decided to do another padayatra in Telangana. We set off on January 22nd 2017 and have covered 500 kilometres and visited 60 villages thus far.

Our daily routine on padayatra starts with mangal arati at 5 am, Guru-puja and Bhagavatam class from 7 am and prasadam at 9:30 am. We generally travel from one village to the next after mangal arati or in the evenings according to the weather conditions. We usually have supper prasadam at 5 pm and then sankirtana with our Gaura Nitai chariot from 6 to 9 pm. When people give us donations we give them a book in return. Many people also give us donations of rice and flowers and other things.

We originally started with four padayatris: another devotee named Vishnu Swamy Das, Srinivasa Sevananda Dasa, Ramanuja Dasa and myself. Ramanuja Dasa had to leave after a month so there are just the three of us of now. We travelled to the area of Narsampeta in the Warangal district from April 7th to April 13th. While there we stayed at the ‘Narsampeta Orphanage’.

We all took darsana of the beautiful deity of Lord Adi Kesava Perumal and performed kirtana in the temple while circumambulating the deity. The vigraha (deity) is said to contain up to 16,008 shaligrams We stayed there for three days preaching and distributing books in the nearby areas. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited this temple in 1510 AD during His South India tour. It was here that He discovered the 5th Chapter of the Brahma-saṁhitā, which, is said to contain a hundred chapters. This scripture is so old and so sacred it was practically lost to the general population at the time. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu understood the supreme importance of this scripture and therefore He rediscovered it in the Sri Adi Kesava Temple . During Lord Caitanya’s visit to the temple he discussed spiritual matters to highly advanced devotees. He also bathed in the Tamprapani river before taking darsana of Sri Adi Kesava Perumal. Continue reading "The All India Padayatra Visits The Adi Kesavaperumal Temple In Thiruvattar, South India
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Krishna Arjuna Temple - The Glory of Kurukshetra (Album with photos)
ISKCON Vedic Cultural Centre Update - 30th May 2017. Have a look at Srila Prabhupada’s Dream Project!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/ljc6pZ

The “Hare Krishna!” movie’s premier in Sedona sold out.
Visakha Dasi: Front page of Sedona’s local paper Kudos - Verde Valley Newspaper featuring Prabhupada! We are in town all week, our premiere is sold out but due to popular demand there is a second screening on Sunday 4th at 10.20am at the Sedona Performing Arts Centre, buy tickets through our website harekrishnathefilm.com

Srila Prabhupada and Kirtan (video)
“Being part of the prophecy!” Vaiyasaki Prabhu’s lecture at ISKCON Los Angeles, 5-28-17
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/CK1JUp

I worship the one absolute truth, Krsna, who is eternal bliss and supreme consciousness, (Nityananda, Advaita-Caitanya), personified as the eternal Bhagavatam which is the complete form of Brahma-sutra, in its most embellished form and who resides with eternal bhakti and the eternal devotees in the eternal spiritual abode. I take shelter of the eternal form, name and qualities of Krsna known from Bhagavatam, which I studied for a long time by the mercy of guru. After having studied the Vaisnava-tosani of Sanatana and after having understood the conclusions of Lord Caitanya from the Sandarbhas of Jiva, by the mercy of Sridhara Svami, I produce this commentary to show the essence of Bhagavatam. I am not learned. Oh! I am rash in this attempt! The cause, being either my own foolishness or the causeless mercy of the Lord, gives rise to its manifestation, even in an unqualified person. If its cause is my foolishness, it will produce mockery, and if its cause is mercy of the Lord, it will produce bliss with every word for the devotees. Continue reading "Ambrosial Srimad Bhagavatam
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This message was given to me on a magnet many years ago from a friend who sold it at her store. It is a cute and funny saying, but never more true for me than at this time. For those of you in anxiety trying to figure out your life mission or calling, take some solace that I am still figuring that out for myself at 67! You can do it at a much younger age than I have. I am learning what I want to do when I grow up, and for me that time is now, and every day thereafter! I just got pushed out of the nest and I have to fly, or die! We all have our time to flower. The past is over, and useful only to learn from, and today, well, I may die today, so what shall I do to make a difference in my life and that of others? As long as we are growing as a person, we have service to do in our body, in the world, to make as an offering to our conception of Divinity--for me, Radha-Krishna. Conversely, when we stop learning and becoming more as a person, we aren’t truly living. Continue reading "It Is Never Too Late To Be What You Could Have Been!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 June 2014, Stockholm, Sweden, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.5.14)

I used to think, before I came to Krsna consciousness, that now I would join a movement of very like-minded people and that I would feel very intimate friendship. Then, I was shocked to see that that person who I kind of detested for his views, he also had joined! (laughter)

I thought, “How is this possible? Not this guy! How is it possible that he became a devotee!?” Well, because of the universal nature of Krsna consciousness, people of all kinds, from all walks of life, even from opposing world views, can join the Krsna conscious movement and therefore it is not always easy to have that kind of intimate friendship with everyone. We do not!

Some devotees never get beyond colleagues. We do have some friends also, in this movement. With colleagues, it can get very impersonal and very distant with virtually no affection; and therefore we can feel alone, especially if we have not deeply developed our relationship with Krsna. If we have deeply developed our relationship to Krsna, then there we find a satisfaction that nourishes us even when we are alone or with people. Then once one is nourished in that relationship, one has to bring it back down to the social platform and begin to develop real relationships with people. But without first going up to Krsna – and first up to Krsna means developing a relationship of attachment to Krsna, intimate interaction with Krsna and always feeling that he is interacting with you – without that, we are on the normal social platform! Then we will only be able to deal with people who are kind of like-minded, and others remain strangers even when they chant Hare Krsna. Then we are a movement of strangers with a few friends because how many people can you relate to, anyway?

When we go up in attachment to Krsna and really interact with Krsna closely at every moment, and we bring that down into our relationships with others, then we can become like Prabhupada! He had that capacity. He was not limited by his social background and he could be completely relevant to hippies in America although they were culturally so different and in such a different stage of life and so on… Prabhupada was so relevant and that is what I am talking about because he went to the root of the things. Yes, unless we have that, we will just still be alone because we will just still associate on the level of like-mindedness and the normal social dynamics will still apply. That is what I see and it is all over the world. Loneliness is becoming an issue in our movement…

A video by ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry.

On May 21-22^nd, the Krishna Institute in New Raman Reti Florida along with the Bhaktivedanta Institute of Gainesville, organized a lively onsite and online workshop titled, “Unraveling the Mysteries of the Sacred Universe, Level 1.” Bhakti Caru Swami, ISKCON’s GBC Chair, opened the workshop on both days with an inspiring talk sharing his realizations on the significance of Prabhupada’s outreach program engaging this subject.

Music and video by Ledevo.

Sanatana Goswami on Guru and Disciple.
Kripamoya das: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu begins his teaching to Sanatana Goswami by explaining that the soul wanders the universe, life after life, and then in one special life, by the grace of Krishna and the guru, he begins the journey of bhakti.
When Srila Rupa Goswami wrote about the sixty-four elements of bhakti, the first five on the list are related to the guru and disciple; and when Sanatana Goswami wrote his Hari Bhakti Vilasa along with his friend Gopala Bhatta Goswami, the first two of twenty chapters in the manual explain the guru and disciple relationship. This is a brief extract of his quotations from several scriptures.
“The human body is a ship, the guru is the captain, the instructions of God are the favourable winds.” – Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20.17
“Any person who desires happiness must seek a guru and take shelter of him. The qualification of the guru is that he has realised the conclusions of scripture and is able to convince others.” – Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3.21
“One should approach a guru who is in full knowledge of me as I am, who is peaceful, and who by spiritual elevation is non-different from me.” – Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.5
“To learn about transcendence one must approach the guru with wood in his hands for the fire sacrifice. The symptom of such a guru is that he is expert in the Vedas and therefore he constantly engages in the service of God.” – Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.12
“The disciple should be free from false prestige, active, never lazy, and should give up all proprietorship. He should have feelings of friendship towards the guru, and should not become bewildered or deviated. The disciple should always desire advancement in spiritual understanding, should not not envy anyone and always avoid useless conversation.” – Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.6
“The guru and disciple should reside together for at least a year, testing each other before they decide to enter into a guru-disciple relationship. They should examine each other to find out their nature, character and compatibility.” Mantra Muktavalli
“A disciple must endeavour with his life, wealth and work for the favoured projects of the acarya and serve him with body, mind and words. In this way the disciple attains the highest spiritual good.” – Vishnu Smriti
“When a person obtains the mercy of his guru, he receives the Vaishnava mantra from him. By constantly chanting the mantra he inherits unimaginable opulence and ultimately the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. Those who have performed immense pious deeds and austerities over many hundreds of years chant this mantra and thus are able to deliver the entire world.” – Agama Shastra
“When a person who has been properly chanting the Vaishnava mantra constantly for a long time glances on anyone, that person is instantly freed from the worst type of fear and anguish.” – Vishnu Purana

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Srila Prabhupada: We are trapped souls in a state of forgetfulness of Krishna, ...

THE ALL INDIA PADAYATRA IN KANYAKUMARI, TAMIL NADU (Album with photos)
Acarya Dasa: The Southernmost tip of India!
We reached Kanyakumari on March 29th, also known as Kanniyakumari and formerly referred to as Cape Comorin. It is located in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu and situated at the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent at the confluence of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. These bodies of water are the final destination of most of India’s holy rivers such as the Ganges and the Yamuna. The nearest town, Nagercoil, serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kanyakumari district and is twenty-two kilometers away. Kanyakumari is less than a three hour drive from Trivandrum.

A special place for Vaishnavas

dakṣiṇaṁ tatra kanyākhyāṁ
durgāṁ devīṁ dadarśa saḥ

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.79

Kanyakumari is a significant place for all devotees. It is mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 10, Chapter 79, in verses 16 to17 that Lord Balarama visited Kanyakumari on pilgrimage. It states that He went to the shore of the southern ocean, where He saw Goddess Durga in her form as Kanya-kumari.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also visited there during His South India tour.

kanyā-kumārī tāhāṅ kaila daraśana

Translation: “Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to Kanyakumari. Lord Caitanya took His bath at the holy confluence of three oceans” (CC Madhya 9.223).

Other great souls have also visited this place. On his way to America, Srila Prabhupada sailed through here on the Jaladuta. However, the main reason why we, as Vaisnavas should visit Kanayakumari is because Lord Caitanya visited there. Wherever the Lord went that place was transformed into Vrindavana. Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami explained that what Lord Caitanya didn’t give in Navadvipa, He gave in South India. During that time many people in Navadvipa were very materialistic and ritualistic but in South India people were simple, and they opened their hearts to receive the Lord’s mercy and thus attained perfection.

The All India Padayatra’s experience in South India

We stayed at the Vivekananda ashram in Kanyakumari for three days. While there we visited the sea shore, Lady of Ransom Church, Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Sunrise Point and Sunset Point and performed sankirtana along the way. We went to the temple of mother Kanyakumari as well and took darsana of her foot prints. Mother Kanyakumari is a great Vaishnavi, she is always chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. When Lord Caitanya visited Kanyakumari, He gave her darsana. She becomes very happy when Vaishnavas come to take darsana and so we all prayed to her to give us unalloyed devotion to Lord Krishna. All the padayatris took bath at the same place that Lord Balaram and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu took bath at too.

During the sankirtana we met many pilgrims from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bengal all of whom joined us in loudly chanting the mahamantra. It was a great pleasure being in Kanyakumari –as padayatris we travel all over India from North, to South, to East and West all by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, who gives us the strength to walk.
Photos and videos: https://goo.gl/L2rvEH

Dubai April 10

All the video recordings from the SADHU-SANGA 2017!
Annual Kirtan Mela in North Carolina.
Find them here: Read More...