Questions and Answers

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj

All Glories  to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada

Q,What is paramartha or highest knowledge and what is contamination also what is the basis of religon

A.Praamartha here means the highest goal of life. Those of mediocre thinking identifying themselves with the gross body and mind usually follow the desires of their  mind hence resort to ordinary   scriptures to help fulfill their mundane desires. Whatever that is written in the Smrti scriptures if followed to the letter are able to provide the necessary desired fruits .It  is for this reason many aspirants leave the higher path and follow the path of the ritualistic workers (smarta)to engage in fruitive work. On the reverse there are those who consider such work not befitting to  the soul give up all these mediocre scriptures  to take up to the actual  spiritual path as enunciated in the Bhagavatam. Those on the spiritual path do justice to the holy Bhagavat by hearing and chanting the verses as dharmah projjita kaitavo paramo and sa vai pumsam para dharma yad bhaktir adhoksaja and in this way try to advance to the highest goal of human life. The meaning of artha means in connection with the Lord. Just as in the main four verses of the Bhagavatam ,Maya is defined as rte artham yat pratiyeta na pratiyeta catmani.  In short  the word artha refers to paraphernalia connected to the Lord .Our desirable things for our   selfish  enjoyment are actually known to be anartha .These types of desires  become a covering or bondage on our real selves. Therefore all such desires simply takes us away from the service of the Supreme Lord and become the cause of our bewilderment. These three as acquirement of pious activities ,monetary gain and lusty desires are the root of the enjoying tendency of the living entity. Once the  primary goal (artha) is established in the form of devotion to the Lord, then one does not simply endeavour for material enjoyment. Those who mind and gross bodies are centred on material enjoyment  can never take to the Supreme Goal.

Q.The Veda has the mahavakya in form of pranava or Om ,can we just chant this to clear our material contamination/ Further if we are able to maintain our mood of servitude to the Lord with chanting this mantra are we be able to advance in our devotions to the Lord.?

A.The mahavakya of the Vedas is the pranav or Om, the Vedas had expanded from that pranav which is the non expanded form of the Vedas existing in the form of the seed. The expanded form of the pranav too  is the holy name of the Lord which can be chanted as well as sung in unison with other devotees. There is allowance for chanting the pranav and performing congregational chanting of it. In the former Yugas as Satya, Tretya and Dwarpa qualified people used to chant the pranav but in the age of Kali such qualified people began to dwindle by the influence of the Age ,still at present the holy name  serves as the best resort and complete with energy.  Those who are expert in Yoga practice this chanting of the pranav mantra  but as in the Bhagavatam yama adi yoga pathair kamalobhah hata muhuh that the yogi may be bound under the influence of lust and greed. As an example, one wandering in the jungle may try to collect some branch in order to defend himself against roaming dangerous beasts. However ,while doing so he is attacked by the beasts same he feared and the end result will therefore be not so pleasing. Therefore the best recourse would have to taken precautions before the journey in case of an attack and similarly the best type of path. Those who chant japa as the pranav mantra at the same time able to  perform service somewhat  to the Supreme Lord is fortunate. Nonetheless ,one has to the qualification to chant the pranav mantra. Still in case of chanting the holy name ,all are qualified to chant the holy name irrespective and together with the proper knowledge be able to advance. As Lord declares in the Geeta: esam sattam yukatanam bhajatam priti purvakam dadami yogam tam yean upayanti te. During the time when impediments was comparatively less at that time the pranav mantra was easily chanted upon. However at the start of Kali Yuga on the onset with  inability ,materialism ,laziness and  with such bad qualities the best recourse would be to chant the holy name. The fruitive workers and knowledge seekers have no relish for the holy name while though they try to chant the pranav  but with very little success for their pains.

Q.As Brahma is spiritual so those worshiping Brahma are also spiritual. If some person takes to chanting the pranav and while meditating on the Brahman  able to give up sense gratification. Then is is it ok to take shelter of such a person to progress in spiritual life?

A. True ,Brahma is not imaginary but established in truth. Still even though it is spiritual yet those who meditate on Brahma will gradually understand that the meditator ,the meditation process and  Brahma all merge into one. Since all these  three do not have a separate partition  and receptacle, such mergence will cause the meditation to be imperfect  ,temporary and without any gain .Hence this cannot be called a spiritual path. Although related with spirituality, it is eternal and blissful yet there cannot be any devotional mood in such worship. In one sense the Lord's difficult appearance as the Brahman  is mentioned by Jiva Goswami in Bhagavat Sandharabha. In short ,those who chant the pranav meditating on the Brahman will be without gain as mentioned for  there will be no difference between the meditator ,meditation and the aspired goal Brahman. Further, the meditator cannot impart any knowledge as one renounces  all his qualities as being  a guru in such meditation.  There will be no difference between guru and disciple and  simply no necessity of such meditation.

Q. The pancho upasak worshippers as the Saivas ,Saktas ,Vaishnavas are all awarding their respective mantra to their  own disciplic succession starting from Brahma. So it is true that each according to their relevant mantra are all continuing till now? 

A. The votaries in that group are laden with many lusty material desires and their individual demigods are temporary too, As soon as their individual  form of deity is given up ,then their next step is worship of the impersonal Brahman. Their mind is not steady nor their form of worship. There is a obstruction by the illusory energy between the mantra and the demigod. The demigods and mantra are influenced by time from their creation hence there is a huge difference between the surrendered devotees and the former class of panchopasak worshippers. As in their disciplic succession, there is great difficulty in establishing the eternality of their particular line or their mantra as these are concocted beliefs or simply the workings of the illusory energy in the temporary light as the worshipper, process and demigod. They are not part of the eternal religion from Brahma. It cannot be part of the eternal religion but  speculative reasoning.

Q. The liberated souls out of compassion come down to instruct the bonded souls with bestowing the mantra as the path of deliverance and show them the way ,is this the way  the disciplic sucession is going on now?

A. Those apparently liberated souls who meditate on the impersonal Brahman are in real light completely bonded souls.They are not able to help other souls. They are not able to deliver their own selves further they look on others with a differential mood short of leading them in the wrong path.How can such people take the role of Guru?In their  likes of an disciplic succession there is lack of an eternal solid truth. Further, there is confusion on practice and on actual perfection ,the way and the actual goal to be attained and in such confusion where is the question of acquiring spiritual knowledge..Most likely they will return to bask in material enjoyment.

Q. If a  Vaishnava disciple practising panchapasana were to worship Vishnu with  hearing  and chanting  the holy name  giving up all forms of sense gratification ,will he be accepted in the association of  pure Vaishnavas and  be considered as a  good devotee .

A. The Vaishnava who is worshipping the other 5 demigods are not actual devotees as worship of other demigods in an equal mood will actually be an impediment to devotion. It is only due to intense  material desires that a person gives up the worship of Lord Vishnu. On  really giving up the impulse  to sense enjoyment will result in  enthusiasm to the unalloyed  service of Lord Vishnu. It is because of the lack of devotion to Lord Hari, that other forms of demigods become worshipped for increased sense enjoyment and  with the  resultant happiness and distress. On realizing that Lord Vishnu is the Supreme  Lord, then the name and and the Lord becomes understood as  non different. In renouncing sense enjoyment only does devotion to the Lord Vishnu becomes steady. Those who equate sense enjoyment with devotion are termed as prakrta sahajiya. They are never under the category of Vaishnavas leave alone pure devotees. Asat sanga tyaga ei vaishnava acahar .The Vaishnava does not want to mix with non devotees or  materialistic people  as a rule.

Q. Since it is prohibited to concoct any form of the Supreme ,can we utilize  gods as the Sun god, Agni in the worship of Lord Vishnu? Therefore in order to get the mercy of the Supreme ,can we not involve other Gods as Surya and thereby able to get rid of all our anarthas?

A. In respect to one's identity all  are  considered Vaishnavas  so in this sense, we can  utilize the Sun God and others such demigods as being devotees so that they   directly worship of Lord Vishnu .But otherwise simply involving them , we run the risk of being straying from pure devotional path to the Lord. Only causeless and unceasing devotional endeavors to the Supreme can bring about the peace and contentment in our hearts. All other types of speculative knowledge  cannot lead us to service of the  Supreme.    Artha here denotes Vishnu and anartha means where Vishnu is not  present  at all. In short , anartha means simply serving our own senses.

Q. Were the Goswamis of Vrndavan     chanting the holy name or Hare Krishan mantra with a fixed count  ?

A.     The Goswamis and pure associates of Mahaprabhu like HariDas Thakur were all chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.In the Bhagavatam, of the nine limbs of devotional service  the congregational chanting of the holy name is said to be the best in order to acquire devotion to the Lord.

   Q. We have heard that mantra, Radhe Krishne ,Krsna rame,Sita rame    ,Siva Siva so smi namo niyam ,so smi namo stu te       

A. Those who are into liberation and sense gratification usually preform worship to  Lord Siva and other like demigods .The one who desire religiosity  worships  the Sun God, for wealth one worships Ganesh, For sensual pleasures one worships the Goddess and for liberation one worships Siva. Those in the mixture of the modes of passion and goodness worships Surya, while those in the mixture of goodness and ignorance worships Ganesh, in the modes of passion  one worship the Goddess  while those in the  modes of ignorance worship. Lord Siva.  Nevertheless, the Vaishnava Sambhu or he who is situated  in Golok Vrndavan as Sada Siva  cannot be considered as the other material demigods. One who worships the mediocre demigods for merely sense gratification  and this cannot  be  equated with the constitutional function of the soul which is to serve the Lord in devotion.

Q .If a person offers the Lord a flower ,fruit water with devotion, The Lord accepts it  as quoted in  the  scripture Geeta .Does He do the same for a person who strives very hard but is not initiated in the line?

A. Devotion is eternal and pure and hence lust cannot never touch it. Just as in the Christian Religion it is said that one should not take the Lord's name in vain which goes to to show even here all types of selfish enjoyment  are taboo when taking the name .This means all that which is offered to the Lord with faith ,without any form of unwanted desires in return and  together without  any other mundane knowledge or work bound with it that the Lord will surely accept in reciprocation. One who is not initiated and those worshipping the horde of demigods both do not qualify because of their lack of  sincerity and devotion.