Dear Krishna Devotees.
Please suggest of drinking alcohol is bad . Is there any harm if a person drinks,within his limits,say a glass of beer & is perfectly within himself.I have seen persons who get more spiritual when they are mildly intoxicated.
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Hare Krishna,
By drinking alcohol we have to face punishments which are described in Srimadh Bhagavatham.. The first pic depicts it...
Your servant
law3.jpg
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
I know people who drink tea/ coffee initially simply because all adults in India drink them, then slowly they become so addicted to it that if they do not get their morning tea/ coffee, they start getting headaches. Therefore, they even fast and drink their morning and evening cup of tea/ coffee. You will agree that tea/ coffee is much less intoxicating than alcohol, still it can be addictive.
All alcoholics start with one glass only. Absolutely nobody aspires to become an alcoholic. Still people end up being, because they cannot understand when it is too much.
The idea is we have to be free from all slavery - of addiction, of lust, of anger etc so that the divine father accepts us. Its like this - suppose there is a child in the house and the father returns from work. The mother will not hand over a dirty child to the father, she will clean the child and then give the child to the father or even to an outsider. Unless we are free from all vices, we cannot expect the lord to even look at us.
I gather from your posts that you agree it is not to be done and you do not drink - you want to know the scriptural basis. For us sadhakas, the words of our guru is enough. Srila Prabhupada made these rules and we are followers of His Divine Grace, therefore the words of the spiritual master is enough for us. He has promised to deliver us provided we chant 16 and follow 4. That much we should do. Anyways, I do not have much intelligence, so if I can simply follow the instructions of my guru, then that much should be enough for me.
Regarding somaras drinking by demigods, to my knowledge it is amrit - that which elongates the lifespan, but cannot escape annhilation at the time of pralaya.
Siva is a pure devotee and is in the role of destroyer, the lord of tamoguna. Therefore, he drinks somaras. We do not emulate Siva ji.
I hope I have been able to satisfy your query,
Your servant,
Rashmi
I can only comment on last sentence. May be its true that people get more spiritual when they mildly intoxicate but there spirituality will be for few minutes and on the other hand intoxication increase day by day
I can't be remain at one stage. may be m totally wrong.
Hare Krsna.
Dandavat pranams. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. All Glories to Sri Guru & Gauranga.
Wonderful statement. I really appreciate. I wish, even if I could get a little fraction of this devotion, I would consider myself so very fortunate. All Glories to the Mataji.
Mataji, I wish to submit a humble request at you lotus feet, that you should kindly pray for me and all of us here, that we may taste and relish the love of the Lord some day. (And may that day be soon)
Please forgive any offenses and please give blessings.
Hari Bol. Dandavats.
I dont have much to say about the topic you seem to be confused about but surely believe in one thing and that is the ability to have self restraint.. drinking or not drinking alcohol is simply a question of how far one can control the desire of consuming something that can be easily done away with.. I belong to Indian Civil services and as per the common man's perception of bureaucracy, the officer class is indulged in all such luxurious activities but as per reality, many of my YOUNG colleagues dont even drink it in social gatherings or official parties. they might not be related to KRISHNA Consciousness or other bhakti movement as such but they abstain from it simply because they find no rationale or any dire necessity in having it while some do consider it an issue of morality as it might lead them lose control over themselves at one point or another as there is a very thin line of distinction between less and more quantity of it as once one starts having it.. so it is nothing but what you think you should or should not and subsequently realizing if you indeed can or can not....
thank you and apologize if said anything overboard.
HARI BOL
Jai Sree Krishna.
Yes it can be an alternative.For all lucky ones Charanamrit does suffice. But I need to understand cons of having a glass of wine!
Hare Krishna pr,
pamho, AGTSP.
I think that drinking alcohol for medical purposes recommended by a doctor is bad for sure as firstly it breaks the regulative principle of 'no intoxication' . And as far as SP pastimes are concerned, there are no rules for a pure devotee (absolutely no rules, but still they follow just to set example). But such esoteric pastimes of devotees like kalidas in Chaitanya lila, the babaji playing dice with lord Srinivasa (related to tirupati temple) etc. etc. are all transcendental in nature and if a conditioned soul like me imitates or even thinks them on a material plane, I am sure to fall down even more.
To the second statement about more spiritual nature of mild intoxication, it is possible if he/she is intoxicated with the deities, holynames etc. But, I think that intoxication with non-spiritual things can take a person into material illusion rather than spiritual reality....I heard from lectures that the hippies tried everything possible and wanted to experience happiness on a higher level, so they took to drugs as it gives some intoxicated effect and gives some sort of a different feel. Same thing true with cigrattes and alcohol...I heard that they temporarily stretch the nerves and give a feel of relaxation, but once that effect is removed they come back to reality (may be some MBBS devotees should comment :)).
@ Sarvopama pr, thank you for your vedic evidences pr and SP pastimes.
Kindly correct me if required, I tried to put forth the info. I heard.
Also, you may refer to this link for more interesting details regarding the same. The article is named Alco-hell.
http://thespiritualscientist.com/documents/topics/ALCO-HELL%20wo.pdf
your aspiring servant,
Chaitanya.
Hare Krsna,
Dandavat pranams. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada. All Glories to Sri Guru & Gauranga.
Religion stands on 4 pillars of - Austerity, Truthfullness, Purity,& Mercy.
Intoxication destroys the pillar of Austerity.
Intoxication (Alcohol) is bad because one forgets the reality. One itself is so much on the bodily platform, and when intoxicated, goes into more ignorance and forgetfullness about the reality. Once one is intoxicated, with Alcohol, or anything, he doesn't like to do austerity. One likes to relax and rest in falseness.
So Alcohol, destroys Austerity and forgetfullness of our real position.
No Arguments, about this. If one wants to be truly religious one has to be non-alcoholic, non-smoker, non-intoxicater, whaterver... (If at all there is a problem, its with some material thing here with me.)
Hari Bol. Dandavats.
In this material world the conditioned soul is always inclined to sex,
meat-eating and intoxication. Therefore religious scriptures never
actually encourage such activities. Although the scriptural injunctions
provide for sex through sacred marriage, for meat-eating through
sacrificial offerings and for intoxication through the acceptance of
ritual cups of wine, such ceremonies are meant for the ultimate purpose
of renunciation.
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