hare krishna.
I am the new in isckon more than 5 months. i like the iskcon as it gave the direction to my spirtual journey, but i have few question:-
1. if there is matter of service to a human being should i chant the holy name that time or to serve that person who is in need as it is said nar sewa narayan sewa.
2. as the other forms of diety such as durga or hanumat, mostly degraded by the preacher, is it not a sin to criticise whether it be diety of a human being as our motto is to love not to hate.
3. if a person donate for food the needy one by way of grain to them, is it not good to donate to a temple of society.
4. when we love only krishna then why the too much money spent of function inspite of feeding or medication or education of poor said in grantha daya dharam ka mool hai...paap mool abhimaan.
please clear the queries
with regards
Menro.........Hare krishna
Replies
Hare KRsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
Firslty, sorry for late reply. I somehow missed seeing this post.
To answer your questions :
1) Where it is mentioned nar sewa is narayan sewa? Then that means nar is narayan and vice versa. Ridiculous, isnt it? What kind of service to human being? How does that service hinder your chanting the holy name?
2) Other forms of deity like Durga or Hanuman - who is degrading them prabhuji? In ISKCON, we do not degrade anyone, we simply tell their position vis a vis us and vis a vis the Supreme Lord. We explain who is the demigod and what is his position, what is the responsibility given to the demigod and praying to that demigod should be in what mood? THere is no criticism prabhuji. I am sure Hanuman ji doesnt mind being called Ram Bhakt Hanuman, a servant of Lord Ram, a devotee in the mood of dasya ras. This is what we are saying, so what is wrong? We absolutely do not hate any jiva, let alone demigod. We have utmost respect for them and even pray to them to give us mercy. Hanuman is a top most vaishnava, then how can we degrade Hanuman and praise vaishnavas in our parampara? Same with Durga, she is entrusted to keep the jivas in the material world, as long as they do not develop love for Godhead.
3) Q not understood. Donating food or annadaan is considered very good. We only add Krsna to the food and donate Krsna prasadam. This way, we are benefiting the body and the soul of the person who eats it, as well as the person who sows the grain, harvests it, buys it, sells it, cooks it, distributes it and provides laxmi for it. We tend to donate raw grains to a temple because we are sure that the grains will not be misused. PRasadam will be prepared from it and donated.
4) That is a Sant Tulsidas doha - Daya dharam ka mool hai, paap mool abhimaan, Tulsi daya na chadiye, jab tak ghat mein pran - it means Compassion is the root of religion, ego is the root of sin. Tulsidas, please do not leave compassion, as long as you have life. There is no contradiction at all to our philosophy and way of life in this doha. A devotee is supposed to be utmost compassionate. Money is spent on functions because this money anyways belong to Krsna only. We are using His resource in His service, so what is the problem? Isnt it better to use money in religious functions, rather than in discos or foreign trips? Feeding of poor - we already discussed in previous point, medication or education of poor - the real education is telling about the soul prabhuji. Medication that we do is motivate the soul to go beyond birth, death, old age and disease. Not merely treat one disease at a time.
I hope I have been able to clear your doubts. Please feel free to ask more if you have further doubts.
Welcome to Krsna Consciousness.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD