07.29.08
Sunday Satsang 27 July 2008
Introductory lecture:
- conditional and unconditional happiness
- krsna as the source of pleasure
- once we actually taste unconditional happiness we don’t want to go back to the old way
Question session:
What is the color of krsna? what does he look like? Why sometimes black and sometimes the color of a monsoon cloud?
- Deity colors are limited by the colors of the available materials. Any artistic rendition of the Lord is limited by the artist’s own realization. Prabhupada sometimes acted out Krsna’s pastimes so that the artists could draw them, facial expressions, postures etc. because Prabhupada was a master of Rasa.
What is the purpose of the existence of the Jivas in the spiritual world? Is it purely to serve Krsna in the form of our eternal identities?
- everything about krsna is fantastic and on the topmost level of artistic and aesthetic beauty, and this includes his relationship with every living entity in the spiritual world.
What happens to all our talents in the spiritual world, like cooking or music? Do we forget them or do we suddenly become expert in everything?
- Where do our talents come from? It has to do with our eternal identity and so they are related to our activities in the spiritual world. The more advanced we become in realization, the more we realize what our real preferences are depending on our mood of service to Krsna. Just like there are different groups of gopis in their mood towards Krsna.
What happens with to a person with Brahman realization or Paramatma realization but does not realise Bhagavam? Where will he go in the next life.
-The scope of where we can go is determined by the range of the Lord that we have realized. So Brahman realization means we can go into the Brahman but there are no activities there. Paramatma realization means we are limited to this material universe because that’s Paramatma’s domain. But when you realize Bhagavan that opens up the whole spiritual world although a devotee will go to a particular planet in Vaikuntha where their object of devotion exists.
what does a person with brahman realization or paramatma realization feel that he lacks? Is there still some unhappiness and incompleteness? Is it still possible to be unhappy in these states?
- Yes it is. Not unhappy, but incompletely happy. The happiness of brahman is incomplete because it lacks the qualities of paramatma and bhagavan.
How is it that Radha opens the path to Krsna ? Why do we need to go through her and not direct to Krnsa?
- Because she is the greatest servant of Krsna and gives Him the greatest pleasure. If you want to see the president you have to win the favor of someone dear to him. How do we develop our relationship with Radharani? Through Lord Chaitanya. And Gadhadhara is the incarnation of Radharani’s mood and he is actually teaching Lord chaitanya how to be like Radharani. Radharani is very difficult to approached; she’s not even mentioned by name in the Bhagavatam. So it’s only by serving the Panca-tattva that we can approach Radharani.
Female personalities like Radha and Tulasi are so important and indispensable to worship Krisna. Is the female expression of love more pure than the masculine expression of love?
- Female nature is more complex than male nature. In the material world this is usually problematic but in the spiritual world it creates more variegatedness and excitement for Krsna. Krsna states that the gopis are his dearmost companions. But we should not confuse male and female in the material world with male and female in the spiritual world. It’s a perverted reflection of the spiritual perfection of female and male natures. These natures are different in the material and spiritual worlds and we should understand these differences intelligently.
How is there an absence of heirarchy and ‘competition’ for Krsna’s attention in the spiritual world? Why would anyone want to be a peacock when one can be a Gopi and be closer to Krsna?
- In the spiritual world everyone thinks krsna is only with them.
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