LIVE YOUR FAITH

LIVE YOUR FAITH

By His Holiness Sacinandana Swami Maharaj

My life in our little ashram by the lake is as peaceful as you can imagine. Thinking, writing, chanting, reading, praying, worshiping and hosting the many guests who come by, including the swans. But from time to time my peace gets unsettled when I have to think about an answer to a difficult question. A few days ago such a question was found inside my inbox. Here it is for you:
“My question is, how can I bridge the gap between the deep faith I feel for Krishna who is so mercifully affording me in mounting installments as the years go by and the frequent inaccessibility to it on a moment to moment basis?”

This is what I wrote back:
Let me thank you from the deepest corner of my heart for your wonderful question which I have thought about over the last few days. I have found deep inspiration in exploring it but needed time to formulate my answer.

This maybe is the central question for all practitioners. It has to do with living one’s faith.
I believe that your overarching faith has been given to you by Krishna. It is a divine investment from above. Now, it is necessary for you to learn – step by step - how to realize what you believe in. In other words – after Krishna has moved into your life, He wishes to see that you are moving into His. You will now have to close that gap between what you believe in and your actual experience. Experience is the best proof that something is true.
In my mind there are three steps you need to take in the journey of faith: Improve your practice, pray for divine empowerment, take a risk.

IMPROVE YOUR PRACTICE

I would really like to help you understand this essential point with the help of a little story, which will both inspire and make you think:

Once there was a well-known saint. He lived by the side of a mountain in a little straw hut. Because he was old, he could no longer travel, so he stayed mostly by himself, absorbed in the Lord. Some considered him a guru who had answers to their questions and therefore he was occasionally visited by people – but on the whole he stayed on his own.
Once, a hermit came down from his cave in the mountains. He had heard about the saint and hoped to get an answer to an inner dilemma he was facing. After he sat down, the saint nodded silently indicating that he should speak. “I know very well what is the purpose of life, I have faith in the scriptures and in the practice”, said the hermit. “And yet, I often find myself unable to live according to my knowledge and am often overcome with clouds of dullness and a painful emptiness within the heart. What should I do?”

The old saint sighed and remained silent for a long time. Then he said: “Please, come back tomorrow. I myself am interested in the answer. Let me stay up and pray.”
When the hermit returned the next morning, the holy man had the answer: “There is a big ocean with currents and waves. It is almost insurmountable. On the other shore there is a crystal white beach. A little further you will find a city with golden roofs, a market place where you can get everything for free and temples where the Lord personally talks to His devotees.”
Then the old saint again became silent. After some time he stared intensely into the eyes of his visitor and decisively said: “Brother, let us stop talking for now about that place. You first need to find a boat, a boatman, some oars and a compass. Then he became silent again.
The visitor understood. Instead of meditating on his spiritual ideal (the golden city) he needed to turn his attention onto the process of how to get there.
In the same way, I think you need to concentrate on your practice – the boat, so to speak - put everything you got into it, consult an experienced seaman and use the oars. There is an ancient song which talks about this:

WHO WILL GO – OH WHO WILL GO, BROTHERS?

hari-nama naukakhani om guru-khandari
sankirtana koroyala dubahu pasari
The holy name of Hari is the boat,
Sri Guru is the captain,
and the singers of kirtan, moving with upraised arms, are the oars.
(By Locana Dasa Thakura)

The author of this song gives further encouragement; all souls can cross over the ocean of birth and death with the favorable winds of prema by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
But, what is the compass, you might ask. In my humble understanding, the compass is the Scripture, Srimad Bhagavatam. By regularly reading this purest of all scriptures, one can get all the light which one requires to walk one’s path – even in this darkness of Kali-yuga.

PRAY FOR BHAKTI WITH TASTE

Most probably you are already practicing this – but is it alive within you? Do you experience deep taste? The acaryas talk about bhakti with nectar and bhakti without nectar. Pray for that bhakti with taste like a drowning man for a boat, a man dying of thirst for water, a lover for the long absent beloved. Only bhakti with taste will take you beyond where you are already.
But please know that you cannot force your way into the kingdom of God. It is not by your own strength that the door which leads you further opens. That door can only be opened from the inside – by the hand of the Lord. However, our efforts can show the Lord that we are not indifferent to receiving His gifts. Diligent practice puts us into a position whereby we can receive. Thus, they are important, but it is always up to Him to answer in exactly the way He chooses. Maybe He has already done so – but because you expected something else and looked out of the back window, you might not have recognized the gifts already laid before your door.

START NOW, TAKE THE RISK

I have always said that the whole path only shows itself when we start walking it. Have we not all stood at some time before a path going into the forest and did not know where it would bring us? And have we not struggled with the question: Should I stay or should I go? Then, when we took the risk of stepping into the unknown, we were actually most of the time pleasantly surprised by what we had found.

There is a secret: When you go forward in your spiritual life you are never alone. According to how much you wish to know, the Lord will reveal accordingly. To the degree we make spiritual progress the priority in our life, to that degree we will actually realize and move forward – it works immediately. If we make it our first priority in life then we will make rapid progress. Our faith comes alive with the nourishment of realization. However, if we make it a second or third priority, reaching our ideal becomes progressively slower – and the gap between what we believe in and what we actually experience remains open.
So, please, do start enthusiastically and know that you are not alone: Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

"Chant Hare Krishna and be happy"
हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे || हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे||

Proper Association:

The car has 4 tyres, and it is very important that those 4 tyres are balanced properly. What if you put too much air in one tyre? What will happen to your drive?

For our life to go on a smooth drive, we need to properly balance it using our intelligence.

Sometimes you want to go into so much of your spiritual life that family life is neglected, and your career is collapsing; that is unsustainable. Sometimes you go into so much of your career that every moment is so precious, that every moment means progress, that every moment means working towards promotion, towards more money and more power and because of that your family is suffering and your spiritual life is nil. And sometimes you just immerse into doing things for family that spiritually and economically things are collapsing. You see, if any one of these is not properly nourished, everything else suffers.

Proper association is where we come together to actually become inspired to balance our lives in such a way that we are on the path to liberation, to perfection, to pure love of God.

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness and distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone....Lord Krishna Bhagwad Gita 10.4-5 

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 10.4-5

buddhir jñānam asammohaḥ

kṣamā satyaḿ damaḥ śamaḥ

sukhaḿ duḥkhaḿ bhavo 'bhāvo

bhayaḿ cābhayam eva ca

ahiḿsā samatā tuṣṭis

tapo dānaḿ yaśo 'yaśaḥ

bhavanti bhāvā bhūtānāḿ

matta eva pṛthag-vidhāḥ

SYNONYMS

buddhiḥ — intelligence; jñānam — knowledge; asammohaḥ — freedom from doubt; kṣamā — forgiveness; satyam — truthfulness; damaḥ — control of the senses; śamaḥ — control of the mind; sukham — happiness; duḥkham — distress; bhavaḥ — birth; abhāvaḥ — death; bhayam — fear; ca — also; abhayam — fearlessness; eva — also; ca — and; ahiḿsā — nonviolence; samatā — equilibrium; tuṣṭiḥ — satisfaction; tapaḥ — penance; dānam — charity; yaśaḥ — fame; ayaśaḥ — infamy; bhavanti — come about; bhāvāḥ — natures; bhūtānām — of living entities; mattaḥ — from Me; eva — certainly; pṛthak-vidhāḥ — variously arranged.

TRANSLATION

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the senses, control of the mind, happiness and distress, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — all these various qualities of living beings are created by Me alone.

PURPORT

The different qualities of living entities, be they good or bad, are all created by Kṛṣṇa, and they are described here.

Intelligence refers to the power to analyze things in their proper perspective, and knowledge refers to understanding what is spirit and what is matter. Ordinary knowledge obtained by a university education pertains only to matter, and it is not accepted here as knowledge. Knowledge means knowing the distinction between spirit and matter. In modern education there is no knowledge about spirit; they are simply taking care of the material elements and bodily needs. Therefore academic knowledge is not complete.

Asammoha, freedom from doubt and delusion, can be achieved when one is not hesitant and when he understands the transcendental philosophy. Slowly but surely he becomes free from bewilderment. Nothing should be accepted blindly; everything should be accepted with care and with caution. Kṣamā, tolerance and forgiveness, should be practiced; one should be tolerant and excuse the minor offenses of others. Satyam, truthfulness, means that facts should be presented as they are, for the benefit of others. Facts should not be misrepresented. According to social conventions, it is said that one can speak the truth only when it is palatable to others. But that is not truthfulness. The truth should be spoken in a straightforward way, so that others will understand actually what the facts are. If a man is a thief and if people are warned that he is a thief, that is truth. Although sometimes the truth is unpalatable, one should not refrain from speaking it. Truthfulness demands that the facts be presented as they are for the benefit of others. That is the definition of truth.

Control of the senses means that the senses should not be used for unnecessary personal enjoyment. There is no prohibition against meeting the proper needs of the senses, but unnecessary sense enjoyment is detrimental for spiritual advancement. Therefore the senses should be restrained from unnecessary use. Similarly, one should restrain the mind from unnecessary thoughts; that is called śama. One should not spend one's time pondering over earning money. That is a misuse of the thinking power. The mind should be used to understand the prime necessity of human beings, and that should be presented authoritatively. The power of thought should be developed in association with persons who are authorities in the scriptures, saintly persons and spiritual masters and those whose thinking is highly developed. Sukham, pleasure or happiness, should always be in that which is favorable for the cultivation of the spiritual knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And similarly, that which is painful or which causes distress is that which is unfavorable for the cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Anything favorable for the development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be accepted, and anything unfavorable should be rejected.

Bhava, birth, should be understood to refer to the body. As far as the soul is concerned, there is neither birth nor death; that we have discussed in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Birth and death apply to one's embodiment in the material world. Fear is due to worrying about the future. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has no fear because by his activities he is sure to go back to the spiritual sky, back home, back to Godhead. Therefore his future is very bright. Others, however, do not know what their future holds; they have no knowledge of what the next life holds. So they are therefore in constant anxiety. If we want to get free from anxiety, then the best course is to understand Kṛṣṇa and be situated always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In that way we will be free from all fear. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.37) it is stated, bhayaḿ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear is caused by our absorption in the illusory energy. But those who are free from the illusory energy, those who are confident that they are not the material body, that they are spiritual parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who are therefore engaged in the transcendental service of the Supreme Godhead, have nothing to fear. Their future is very bright. This fear is a condition of persons who are not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Abhayam, fearlessness, is possible only for one in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Ahiḿsā, nonviolence, means that one should not do anything which will put others into misery or confusion. Material activities that are promised by so many politicians, sociologists, philanthropists, etc., do not produce very good results because the politicians and philanthropists have no transcendental vision; they do not know what is actually beneficial for human society. Ahiḿsā means that people should be trained in such a way that the full utilization of the human body can be achieved. The human body is meant for spiritual realization, so any movement or any commissions which do not further that end commit violence on the human body. That which furthers the future spiritual happiness of the people in general is called nonviolence.

Samatā, equanimity, refers to freedom from attachment and aversion. To be very much attached or to be very much detached is not the best. This material world should be accepted without attachment or aversion. That which is favorable for prosecuting Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be accepted; that which is unfavorable should be rejected. That is called samatā, equanimity. A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has nothing to reject and nothing to accept save in terms of its usefulness in the prosecution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Tuṣṭi, satisfaction, means that one should not be eager to gather more and more material goods by unnecessary activity. One should be satisfied with whatever is obtained by the grace of the Supreme Lord; that is called satisfaction. Tapas means austerity or penance. There are many rules and regulations in the Vedas which apply here, like rising early in the morning and taking a bath. Sometimes it is very troublesome to rise early in the morning, but whatever voluntary trouble one may suffer in this way is called penance. Similarly, there are prescriptions for fasting on certain days of the month. One may not be inclined to practice such fasting, but because of his determination to make advancement in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he should accept such bodily troubles when they are recommended. However, one should not fast unnecessarily or against Vedic injunctions. One should not fast for some political purpose; that is described in Bhagavad-gītā as fasting in ignorance, and anything done in ignorance or passion does not lead to spiritual advancement. Everything done in the mode of goodness does advance one, however, and fasting done in terms of the Vedic injunctions enriches one in spiritual knowledge.

As far as charity is concerned, one should give fifty percent of his earnings to some good cause. And what is a good cause? It is that which is conducted in terms of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not only a good cause, but the best cause. Because Kṛṣṇa is good, His cause is also good. Thus charity should be given to a person who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. According to Vedic literature, it is enjoined that charity should be given to the brāhmaṇas. This practice is still followed, although not very nicely in terms of the Vedic injunction. But still the injunction is that charity should be given to the brāhmaṇas. Why? Because they are engaged in higher cultivation of spiritual knowledge. A brāhmaṇa is supposed to devote his whole life to understanding Brahman. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ: one who knows Brahman is called a brāhmaṇa. Thus charity is offered to the brāhmaṇas because they are always engaged in higher spiritual service and have no time to earn their livelihood. In the Vedic literature, charity is also to be awarded to one in the renounced order of life, the sannyāsī. The sannyāsīs beg from door to door, not for money but for missionary purposes. The system is that they go from door to door to awaken the householders from the slumber of ignorance. Because the householders are engaged in family affairs and have forgotten their actual purpose in life — awakening their Kṛṣṇa consciousness — it is the business of the sannyāsīs to go as beggars to the householders and encourage them to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. As it is said in the Vedas, one should awake and achieve what is due him in this human form of life. This knowledge and method is distributed by the sannyāsīs; hence charity is to be given to the renouncer of life, to the brāhmaṇas, and similar good causes, not to any whimsical cause.
Yaśas, fame, should be according to Lord Caitanya, who said that a man is famous when he is known as a great devotee. That is real fame. If one has become a great man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and it is known, then he is truly famous. One who does not have such fame is infamous.
All these qualities are manifest throughout the universe in human society and in the society of the demigods. There are many forms of humanity on other planets, and these qualities are there. Now, for one who wants to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa creates all these qualities, but the person develops them himself from within. One who engages in the devotional service of the Supreme Lord develops all the good qualities, as arranged by the Supreme Lord.
Of whatever we find, good or bad, the origin is Kṛṣṇa. Nothing can manifest itself in this material world which is not in Kṛṣṇa. That is knowledge; although we know that things are differently situated, we should realize that everything flows from Kṛṣṇa.

Life in the Womb

CERTAIN PSYCHOLOGISTS and folklorists imagine that the womb was a very nice place—a comfortable, warm home where food .and shelter were provided without our effort. Some even say that throughout our adult lives, we unconsciously desire to return to that protection and security, “floating undisturbed in the warm, dark, quiet world of unparalleled intimacy with the beloved mother.” By the scientific method of hearing from Vedic literature, however, we get the actual account of a human being’s conception, his pre-natal condition, and his birth. Contrary to what our psychologists and folklorists have imagined, life in the womb is among the most painful and miserable of human experiences.

The Srimad-Bhagavatam, a 5,000-year-old spiritual classic containing the essence of Vedic knowledge, gives the following vivid description of the living entity’s experience from the point of conception to the time of birth: “Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord (Sri Krishna) and according to the results of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter the womb of a woman through the particle of a man’s semina to assume a particular kind of body. On the first night, the semina and ovum mix, and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a bubble. On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that it gradually turns into a lump of flesh. In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months, hands, feet and other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely, the eyes, nostrils, ears, mouth and anus. Within four months from the date of conception, the seven essential ingredients of the body (lymph, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semina) come into existence. At the end of five months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of six months the fetus begins to move in the abdomen—on the right side if the child is a male and on the left side if female.”

Painful Confinement

The actual experience of the fetus, however, cannot be known by mere medical observation. For this information we must go to the Vedic scriptures, which give us direct knowledge of events beyond our normal experience. The Bhagavatam continues, “Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in that abominable residence of stool and urine, which is a breeding place for all kinds of worms. Bitten again and again all over his body by these hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after moment. When the mother eats bitter, pungent foods or food that is too salty or too sour, the body of the child incessantly suffers pains that are almost intolerable. Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the intestines, the child remains lying on the side of the abdomen, his head turned toward his belly and his back and neck arched like a bow.” An adult would be unable to endure such a difficult confinement. The child’s pain is beyond our conception, but because his consciousness is yet undeveloped, he is able to tolerate it.

As adults, we have forgotten all this suffering and absorbed ourselves in trying to become happy in material life. Life in the womb may seem remote; no one has ever .told us before about its actual nature, and it has not concerned us. Writing on this topic, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada comments, “It is an unfortunate civilization in which these matters are not plainly discussed to make people understand the precarious condition of material existence.”

Astounding Remembrance. At the end of seven months in the womb, the child remains just like a bird in a cage unable to move freely and suffering without relief. At that time, if the soul is fortunate, he gains one astounding facility: he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred lives. The vision of his wasted attempts to be happy makes him grieve wretchedly. While in the womb, the living being realizes that he has unnecessarily entered the material world. In this frightful condition, he prays with folded hands, appealing to the Lord, who has put him there.

Sometimes a woman in labor promises herself that she will never again become pregnant and suffer such severe pain. Or a man on the operating table may promise himself that he will act in such a way as to never again become diseased and undergo surgery. Similarly, the child, deeply repentant, prays to the Lord that he will never again commit sinful activities and be forced into another womb. He prays as follows: “I take shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who appears in His various eternal forms. I, the pure soul, appearing now to be bound by my activities, am lying in the womb of my mother by the arrangement of the Lord’s illusory energy. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him, who is also here with me, but who is unaffected and changeless. He is unlimited, but He is perceived in the repentant heart.”

Repentant Prayer

The child in the womb, praying out of bewilderment and repentance, realizes he is not independent or supreme. He seeks shelter from the Supreme Lord, perceiving that the Lord in his heart is the supreme master and that he is subordinate. By the grace of God, the child in the womb can understand his actual relationship with the Supreme Lord, and he realizes that he has been reduced to his abominable condition because of his forgetfulness of God. He wants to get out, but he understands that he can do so only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, and thus he asks for the Lord’s blessings.

After nine months, however, the child in the womb makes an extraordinary request to the Lord: “Although I am living in a terrible condition, still I do not wish to depart from my mother’s abdomen to fall again into the blind well of materialistic life.” The child foresees that the trauma of birth will destroy his clear knowledge of the miseries of material life and his remembrance of Lord Krishna. If he forgets the ordeal in the womb and again assumes the false position of an enjoyer, it would be better for him never to be born. Although bitten and burned and surrounded by blood and urine, at least in the womb he is able to remember Krishna. The thought of his future miseries makes him reluctant to take birth, but of course he cannot possibly live in the womb much longer. While he thus extols the Lord, the wind that helps parturition propels him forth with his face turned downward. Pushed down suddenly by the wind, the child comes out with great trouble, breathless and deprived of his memory due to severe agony. He cries piteously, having lost his superior knowledge in the ordeal of birth.

We should not take lightly this account of life in the womb. One may say, “I cannot remember such pain in the womb. I am not suffering now, so why worry? Besides, I don’t care.” According to this way of thinking, ignorance is bliss. But it is only a temporary illusion of bliss. Although we now have no idea of the suffering in the womb, by reading such scriptures as the Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita, we can understand the terrible condition there and learn how to act in such a way that we will not suffer again. We learn from the Bhagavad-gita that, as individual souls, we are never created, but are eternal, fragmental parts of the Supreme Lord. By misusing our small independence, we desire to be supreme and are thus cast into the material world. Then we wander, according to our material desires, from body to body in each of the different species, until we finally evolve to the human form of life. All this happens under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. As Sri Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita (18.61), “I am seated in everyone’s heart, and I direct the wanderings of all living beings.” If, upon reaching the human form of life, we do not utilize the opportunity for self-realization, we will again be forced to enter a womb and undergo repeated tortures there. We should therefore thoughtfully reflect, “What can we do to avoid such miseries?”

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa
jantur dehopapattaye
striyāḥ praviṣṭa udaraḿ
puḿso retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ

The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.

As stated in the last chapter, after suffering different kinds of hellish conditions, a man comes again to the human form of body. The same topic is continued in this chapter. In order to give a particular type of human form to a person who has already suffered hellish life, the soul is transferred to the semen of a man who is just suitable to become his father. During sexual intercourse, the soul is transferred through the semen of the father into the mother's womb in order to produce a particular type of body. This process is applicable to all embodied living entities, but it is especially mentioned for the man who was transferred to the Andha-tāmisra hell. After suffering there, when he who has had many types of hellish bodies, like those of dogs and hogs, is to come again to the human form, he is given the chance to take his birth in the same type of body from which he degraded himself to hell.

Everything is done by the supervision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Material nature supplies the body, but it does so under the direction of the Supersoul. It is said in Bhagavad-gītā that a living entity is wandering in this material world on a chariot made by material nature. The Supreme Lord, as Supersoul, is always present with the individual soul. He directs material nature to supply a particular type of body to the individual soul according to the result of his work, and the material nature supplies it. Here one word, retaḥ-kaṇāśrayaḥ, is very significant because it indicates that it is not the semen of the man that creates life within the womb of a woman; rather, the living entity, the soul, takes shelter in a particle of semen and is then pushed into the womb of a woman. Then the body develops. There is no possibility of creating a living entity without the presence of the soul simply by sexual intercourse. The materialistic theory that there is no soul and that a child is born simply by material combination of the sperm and ovum is not very feasible. It is unacceptable.

Why Be Vegetarian?

 

On the spiritual path, there are several reasons why a person is recommended to be vegetarian. One primary reason is that we need to see the spiritual nature within all living beings, and that includes the animals and other creatures as well. Universal brotherhood means nonviolence to both humans and animals. It consists of understanding that animals also have souls. They are alive, conscious, and feel pain. And these are the indications of the presence of consciousness, which is the symptom of the soul. Even the Bible (Genesis 1.21; 1.24; 1.30; 2.7; and in many other places) refers to both animals and people as nefesh chayah, living souls. Those who eat meat, however, because of their desires to eat animals or see them as a source of food for one’s stomach, are not so easily able to understand the spiritual nature of all beings. After all, if you know that all living entities are spiritual in essence, and that all living beings that are conscious show the symptoms of the soul within, then how can you kill them unnecessarily? Any living creature is also the same as we are in the respect that it is also a child of the same father, a part of the same Supreme Being. Thus, the killing of animals shows a great lack in spiritual awareness.

 

Many portions of the Vedic literature describe how the Supreme Being is the maintainer of innumerable living entities, humans as well as the animals, and is alive in the heart of every living being. Only those with spiritual consciousness can see the same Supreme Being in His expansion as Supersoul within every creature. To be kind and spiritual toward humans and be a killer or enemy toward animals is not a balanced philosophy, and exhibits one’s spiritual ignorance.

 

The next reason for being vegetarian is to consider the amount of fear and suffering that animals experience in the slaughter industry. There are countless stories of how in fear cows cry, scream, and sometimes fall down dead while inside or even before they are taken into the slaughter house. Or how the veins of dead pigs are so big that it shows they have practically exploded from the fear the pig felt and the adrenalin that was produced while it was being led to slaughter. This certainly causes an immense amount of violence to permeate the atmosphere, which goes out and falls back on us in some form. Furthermore, the adrenalin and fear in the animal also produces toxins which then permeate the body of these animals, which meat-eaters ingest. People who consume such things cannot help but be effected by it. It causes tensions within them individually, which then spreads in their relations with others.

 

The ancient Vedic text of the Manu-samhita (5.45-8) says, “He who injures innoxious beings from a wish to give himself pleasure never finds happiness, neither living nor dead. He who does not seek to cause the suffering of bonds and death to living creatures, but desires the good of all beings, obtains endless bliss. . . Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to the attainment of heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun the use of meat.”

The Bible (Romans 14.21) also says, “It is neither good to eat flesh, nor to drink wine.” Another biblical commandment (Exodus 23.5) instructs us to help animals in pain, even if they belong to an enemy.

 

The Buddhist scripture (Sutta-Nipata 393) also advises: “Let him not destroy or cause to be destroyed any life at all, or sanction the acts of those who do so. Let him refrain from even hurting any creature, both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.” It is also said in the Buddhist scripture, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, “The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion.”

For Jews, the Talmud (Avodah Zorah 18B) forbids the association with hunters, not to mention engaging in hunting.

 

In the New Testament Jesus preferred mercy over sacrifice (Matthew 9.13; 12.7) and was opposed to the buying and selling of animals for sacrifice (Matthew 21.12-14; Mark 11.15; John 2.14-15). One of the missions of Jesus was to do away with animal sacrifice and cruelty to animals (Hebrews 10.5-10).

We especially find in Isaiah where Jesus scorns the slaughter and bloodshed of humans and animals. He declares (1.15) that God does not hear the prayers of animal killers: “But your iniquities have separated you and your God. And your sins have hid His face from you, so that He does not hear. For your hands are stained with blood. . . Their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed innocent blood. . . they know not the ways of peace.” Isaiah also laments that he saw, “Joy and merrymaking, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine, as you thought, ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” (22.13)

 

It is also established in the Bible (Isaiah 66.3), “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.” In this regard St. Basil (320-379 A.D.) taught, “The steam of meat darkens the light of the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts.”

Thus, we should find alternatives to killing animals to satisfy our appetites, especially when there are plenty of other healthy foods available. Otherwise, there must be reactions to such violence. We cannot expect peace in the world if we go on unnecessarily killing so many millions of animals for meat consumption or through abuse.

 

The third factor for being vegetarian is karma. As the second law of thermodynamics states, for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. On the universal scale this is called the law of karma, meaning what goes around comes around. This affects every individual, as well as communities and countries. As the nation sows, so shall it reap. This is something we should take very seriously, especially in our attempt to bring peace, harmony, and unity into the world. If so much violence is produced by the killing of animals, where do you think the reactions to this violence goes? It comes back to us in so many ways, such as the form of neighborhood and community crime, and on up to world wars. Violence breeds violence. Therefore, this will continue unless we know how to change.

Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, asked, “How can we pray to God for mercy if we ourselves have no mercy? How can we speak of rights and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood?” He went on to say, “I personally believe that as long as human beings will go shedding the blood of animals, there will never be any peace.”

 

In conclusion, we can mention the March 10, 1966 issue of L’Osservatore della Domenica, the Vatican weekly newspaper, in which Msgr. Ferdinando Lambruschini wrote: “Man’s conduct with regard to animals should be regulated by right reason, which prohibits the infliction of purposeless pain and suffering on them. To ill treat them, and make them suffer without reason, is an act of deplorable cruelty to be condemned from a Christian point of view. To make them suffer for one’s own pleasure is an exhibition of sadism which every moralist must denounce.” Eating animals for the pleasure of one’s tongue when there are plenty of other foods available certainly fits into this form of sadism. It stands to reason that this is counterproductive to any peace and unity or spiritual progress we wish to make. It is one of the things we need to consider seriously if we want to improve ourselves or the world. So here are a few reasons why a genuinely spiritual person will choose to be vegetarian.

 

The Vedic scriptures establish nonviolence, called ahimsa, as the ethical foundation of vegetarianism and for a peaceful society. According to the Vedas, God is the Supreme Father of all creatures, not just humans. Therefore, slaughter of innocent animals is considered equivalent to killing one’s brother or sister.

Krishna devotees follow a wholesome lacto-vegetarian diet excluding meat, fish and eggs. Although it may be argued that vegetarians are guilty of killing vegetables, foods such as fruits, nuts, milk, and grains do not require killing. But even when a plant’s life is taken, the pain involved is dramatically less than that of a highly-sensitive animal such as a cow or lamb.

According to karma, nature’s law of action and reaction, human beings must suffer for any killing that is against God’s laws. For this reason, as well as to show recognition and appreciation for the supreme proprietor and supplier of all food, devotees prepare vegetarian meals as devotional offerings to Krishna, God. Then food is called prasadam (spiritual food), which can be fully enjoyed without karmic reaction.
 

 

Perfection of going back home

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.12.37

śāntāḥ sama-dṛśaḥ śuddhāḥ

sarva-bhūtānurañjanāḥ

yānty añjasācyuta-padam

acyuta-priya-bāndhavāḥ

SYNONYMS

śāntāḥ — peaceful; sama-dṛśaḥ — equipoised; śuddhāḥ — cleansed, purified; sarva — all; bhūta — living entities; anurañjanāḥ — pleasing; yānti — go; añjasā — easily; acyuta — of the Lord; padam — to the abode; acyuta-priya — with devotees of the Lord; bāndhavāḥ — friends.

TRANSLATION

Persons who are peaceful, equipoised, cleansed and purified, and who know the art of pleasing all other living entities, keep friendship only with devotees of the Lord; they alone can very easily achieve the perfection of going back home, back to Godhead.

PURPORT

The description of this verse fully indicates that only devotees are eligible to enter into the kingdom of Godhead. The first point stated is that devotees are peaceful, for they have no demands for their personal sense gratification. They are simply dedicated to the service of the Lord. Karmīs cannot be peaceful because they have immense demands for sense gratification. As for jñānīs, they cannot be peaceful because they are too busy trying to attain liberation or merge into the existence of the Supreme. Similarly, yogīs are also restless to get mystic power. But a devotee is peaceful because he is fully surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thinks of himself as completely helpless; just as a child feels complete peace in depending on the parent, so a devotee is completely peaceful, for he depends on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

A devotee is equipoised. He sees everyone on the same transcendental platform. A devotee knows that although a conditioned soul has a particular type of body according to his past fruitive activities, factually everyone is part of the Supreme Lord. A devotee sees all living entities with spiritual vision and does not discriminate on the platform of the bodily concept of life. Such qualities develop only in the association of devotees. Without the association of devotees, one cannot advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore, we have established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Factually, whoever lives in this society automatically develops Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Devotees are dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead is only dear to devotees. On this platform only can one make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Persons in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotees of the Lord, can please everyone, as is evident in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We invite everyone, without discrimination; we request everyone to sit down and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and take as much prasāda as we can supply, and thus everyone is pleased with us. This is the qualification. Sarva-bhūtānurañjanāḥ. As for purification, no one can be more pure than devotees. Anyone who once utters the name of Viṣṇu immediately becomes purified, inside and outside (yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam). Since a devotee constantly chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, no contamination of the material world can touch him. He is, therefore, actually purified. Muci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje. It is said that even a cobbler or person born in the family of a cobbler can be elevated to the position of a brāhmaṇa (śuci) if he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Any person who is purely Kṛṣṇa conscious and who engages in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the purest in the whole universe.

Dreams

Modern materialistic science is not sure about the origin and nature of most psychic phenomena including dreams. This information can be found in Vedic scriptures.

Srimad Bhagavatam 6.16.53-54, 7.7.25 or 7.15.61 describes three material states of consciousness:

1. jagrata, awakened state (beta, 14 - 20 Hz)

2. svapna, dreaming state (alfa, 7 - 14 Hz)

3. susupti, deep sleep (theta, 4 - 7 Hz)

Beyond them is the fourth state (turya) which is non-material (SB 6.5.12, 7.9.32, 7,15.54). On this level the Supreme Lord can be perceived. Gaudiya Vaisnavas describe another, fifth state (turyatitah), dimension of love between the jiva and Krsna.

What follows are paraphrases of Vedanta-sutra (by Suhotra Swami) and corresponding Srimad Bhagavatam verses:

Dreams are created by the Supersoul to award the living entity with the results of insignificant karma. (Vs 3.2.1) SB 6.16.55

The Supersoul causes objects of desire to appear in dreams as they do in other situations (e.g. the waking state). (Vs 3.2.2) SB 11.13.32

Dreams are features of the Supreme Lord's maya. (Vs 3.2.3) SB 11.13.33

Some dreams are omens; sastra and experts so declare. (Vs 3.2.4) SB 10.42.26-27

Objection: When one awakes from dreaming, he knows that his dreams were unreal. Therefore no value should be imparted to dreams.

Reply: The manifestation and the withdrawal of the dream world within the consciousness of the living entity is effected by the Lord. In the same way, bondage and liberation proceed from him also. (Vs 3.2.5) SB 3.7.10-12

The state in which consciousness is focused on the physical body (the waking state) is created by the Supreme Lord. (Vs 3.2.6) SB 6.16.53-54

Different statements in the Upanisads indicate that deep sleep is the result of the soul entering 1) the nadis (subtle channels that pervade the body from the center of the heart), 2) the pericardium, or 3) the Supersoul. The resolution is that the soul sleeps within the bed of the Supersoul, after having entered the palace (the pericardium) through the door of the nadis. (Vs 3.2.7) SB 11.3.35, 1.10.21

Because the Supersoul is the resting place of the soul in deep sleep, it is the Supersoul alone who awakens the sleeping soul. (Vs 3.2.8) SB 3.26.71

[Koran 6.60: "And He is it who takes your souls at night (in sleep), and He who knows what you acquire in the day (...)."]

When the living entity awakes from deep sleep, he is the same person. This is certain because of four proofs: 1) the living entity continues his unfinished karma, 2) he retains memory of his identity, 3) the scriptures so describe him as returning to the same body, and 4) he is bound by the scriptural injunctions (i.e. it is enjoined that the jiva cannot attain liberation while in the state of deep sleep, so he is obliged by sastra to return to the body from that state). (Vs 3.2.9) SB 11.3.39, 11.13.27,28

The state of swoon (mugdha) is midway between deep sleep and wakefulness. That is to say, the soul partially attains rest in the Supersoul. (Vs 3.2.10) SB 7.13.5

Interpretation of dreams can be found for example in Agni Purana, ch. 229.

Some dreams are produced by ghosts (Garuda Purana 2.23.1-12):

Garuda said:

1. What do the ghosts do in their ghosthood? When do they speak sometime? Please tell me, o Lord of gods!

The Lord said:

2. I shall tell you about their form, signs and dreams. Being oppressed by hunger and thirst they enter their former home.

3. Though possessed of airy forms, they give signs to their sleeping descendants, o bird.

4. They visit the place where their sons, wives and relatives sleep.

5. If a person dreams of a horse, an elephant, a bull, or a man with deformed

face, if a person awakened from sleep sees himself in the opposite side of the bed, this is all due to the workings of a ghost.

6. If a man is fastened with chains in dream, if his dead ancestors demand food in dream,

7. If one snatches the food from him while he is eating in dream, if thirsty, one drinks water,

8. If in dream one rides a bull or moves with bulls or if one springs up in the sky or goes to a holy place hungry,

9.-10. If one speaks aloud among cows, bulls, brahmanas, horses, elephants, deities, ghosts and demons - this is due to the working of a ghosts. Many are the signs of ghosts in dream, o bird. It is due to a ghost if one sees his wife, relative, son or husband as dead.

11. He who begs in dream oppressed by hunger or thirst should give pindas to the manes to ward off coming distress.

12. If one sees in dream his son, cattle, father, brother, wife, getting out of house, it is due to the working of a ghost.