TEXT 1
śrī-nārada uvāca
bhrātary evaṁ vinihate
hariṇā kroḍa-mūrtinā
hiraṇyakaśipū rājan
paryatapyad ruṣā śucā
TRANSLATION
Śrī Nārada Muni said: My dear King Yudhiṣṭhira, when Lord Viṣṇu, in the form of Varāha, the boar, killed Hiraṇyākṣa,
Hiraṇyākṣa’s brother Hiraṇyakaśipu was extremely angry and began to lament.
PURPORT
Yudhiṣṭhira had inquired from Nārada Muni why Hiraṇyakaśipu was so envious of his own son Prahlāda. Nārada Muni
began narrating the story by explaining how Hiraṇyakaśipu had become a staunch enemy of Lord Viṣṇu.
TEXT 2
āha cedaṁ ruṣā pūrṇaḥ
sandaṣṭa-daśana-cchadaḥ
kopojjvaladbhyāṁ cakṣurbhyāṁ
nirīkṣan dhūmram ambaram
TRANSLATION
Filled with rage and biting his lips, Hiraṇyakaśipu gazed at the sky with eyes that blazed in anger, making the whole
sky smoky. Thus he began to speak.
PURPORT
As usual, the demon is envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and inimical toward Him. These were
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s external bodily features as he considered how to kill Lord Viṣṇu and devastate His kingdom,
Vaikuṇṭhaloka.
TEXT 3
karāla-daṁṣṭrogra-dṛṣṭyā
duṣprekṣya-bhrukuṭī-mukhaḥ
śūlam udyamya sadasi
dānavān idam abravīt
TRANSLATION
Exhibiting his terrible teeth, fierce glance and frowning eyebrows, terrible to see, he took up his weapon, a trident, and
thus began speaking to his associates, the assembled demons.
TEXTS 4–5
bho bho dānava-daiteyā
dvimūrdhaṁs tryakṣa śambara
śatabāho hayagrīva
namuce pāka ilvala
vipracitte mama vacaḥ
puloman śakunādayaḥ
śṛṇutānantaraṁ sarve
kriyatām āśu mā ciram
TRANSLATION
O Dānavas and Daityas! O Dvimūrdha, Tryakṣa, Śambara and Śatabāhu ! O Hayagrīva, Namuci, Pāka and Ilvala! O
Vipracitti, Puloman, Śakuna and other demons! All of you, kindly hear me attentively and then act according to my
words without delay.
TEXT 6
sapatnair ghātitaḥ kṣudrair
bhrātā me dayitaḥ suhṛt
pārṣṇi-grāheṇa hariṇā
samenāpy upadhāvanaiḥ
TRANSLATION
My insignificant enemies the demigods have combined to kill my very dear and obedient well-wisher, my brother
Hiraṇyākṣa. Although the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, is always equal to both of us—namely, the demigods and the
demons—this time, being devoutly worshiped by the demigods, He has taken their side and helped them kill
Hiraṇyākṣa.
PURPORT
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.29), samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu: the Lord is equal to all living entities. Since the
demigods and demons are both living entities, how is it possible that the Lord was partial to one class of living beings
and opposed to another? Actually it is not possible for the Lord to be partial. Nonetheless, since the demigods, the
devotees, always strictly follow the Supreme Lord’s orders, because of sincerity they are victorious over the demons,
who know that the Supreme Lord is Viṣṇu but do not follow His instructions. Because of constantly remembering the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, the demons generally attain sāyujya-mukti after death. The demon
Hiraṇyakaśipu accused the Lord of being partial because the demigods worshiped Him, but in fact the Lord, like the
government, is not partial at all. The government is not partial to any citizen, but if a citizen is law-abiding he receives
abundant opportunities from the state laws to live peacefully and fulfill his real interests.
MAHARAJ:
Pranam mantras.
This is the beginning of the chapter and the previous verses were just explaining how Hiranyakasipu was upset
because his brother was killed by the Supreme Lord in the form of Varaha. Here he is addressing everyone and
criticizing the devatas and criticizing the Supreme Lord because of this great problem to his family member.
Apparently it looks as if he is accepting Vishnu and saying he is equal to everyone but now He is not equal, etc.
Sometimes we see that the great demons do seem to accept the Supreme Lord in some way or the other. But we
always see that they actually don't accept Him because to accept the Lord means that He is faultless. Immediately
here, though, Hiranyakasipu says well He's supposed to be equal to everybody but actually He's not. He is partial to
the devatas. He has taken their side. He's finding fault in the Supreme Lord.
Sometimes, of course, it is a little difficult for us to understand the Lord's actions. It may look like there's no apparent
fault, especially when it comes to Krishna because He does such strange things sometimes that are contradictory to
the normal rules. Krishna is even more subject to criticism by ignorant people than others. That is why it says that it is
very hard to understand Krishna because of all the different activities He does which look a little bit subject to criticism
by people who don't understand.
In any case, those who are ignorant, and particularly the demons, will find every opportunity to find fault in another
person and particularly the Supreme Lord. Though they are talking about Vishnu and seemingly accepting Him in one
sense, they actually don't accept Him. They don't accept His position. They accept Him as an ordinary person to that
extent because they have seen Him visibly. He's not a fiction at all. But they think He is a material person.
This goes not only for Hiranyakasipu. When Ravana saw Rama he thought oh, same person again. Vishnu is here
again. He killed me last time as Nrsimhadeva. Now He is Rama. He's got that position because of pious activities.
Again, I will try to kill Him. Maybe this time he'll succeed. He doesn't really believe that the Supreme Lord has
extraordinary powers and that no matter what you do, you cannot really defeat Him. Even if it looks like the Lord is
defeated, He's not defeated.
In other words, the demons may politely praise the Lord or accept the Lord in some sense but they just take Him as a
material person. When they show hostility towards the Lord to an extreme degree, then we call them demons. We see
that demons are always present just before Krishna's appearance. Kamsa became a big demon and had many, many
allies also who were in the same category.
Not only do they not accept the Lord, but they actually hate the Lord. They hate Him as a material person. At that time
the Lord manifests himself in this material world.
We see in the Bhagavatam that the demons are present from the very beginning. When Brahma creates the material
world he creates demons. Later on we see through the Ditti and Aditti that we get devas and demons from the same
family. Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa coming out as well as the vasus and the devas and other persons. It's more or
less inherent in the universe because the universe is made up of gunas. It's material.
So we have sattva, rajas, and tamas. When the lower gunas combine and become strong we get big demons. The
material world is such that the gunas are always changing. Sometimes tama guna becomes strong. Sometimes raja
guna becomes strong. Sometimes satva guna becomes strong.
It's explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam that when sattva guna is prevalent, that means that the devatas are in their
proper position and powerful because they are the sattva controllers from svarga loka etc. When sattva is strong, then
the devatas are dominating. They control the material world and rule very nicely. When tama guna and raja guna
become prominent, we get the demons and the rakshasas and others rising up and becoming very prominent.
Why does it happen like this? We see it throughout the Bhagavatam that the demons become powerful. They become
so powerful that they take over svargaloka temporarily. Then they get kicked back down again. Sometimes they
become so strong that the Lord, Himself, has to intervene as in the case of when Krishna comes, or Rama.
Why is it like this? It's like this because this is the nature of the material world. It's made up of gunas. The gunas do
not stay the same all of the time. They fluctuate. We see the fluctuation takes place on a broad scale. We have satya
yuga, treta yuga, dvarpa yuga, and kali yuga. In satya yuga it's very satvic. And in kali yuga it's very tamasic. In
between we get this gradual decline - from satva into raja into tama guna. At the end of kali yuga again, the cycle of
material nature itself under the operation of Brahma and the Supreme Lord, create a sattvic situation. And again it
declines into tama guna. Thus is one thousand times in a day of Brahma. This goes on every day of Brahma's month
and Brahma's year for one hundred years. The rotation of satva to tama, satva to tama. That's the general thing. And
then at the end of one day it's too much and then it's night and everyone goes to sleep for millions of years. Then they
wake up the next morning and they start all over again. After the one hundred years everyone sleeps, even Brahma
disappears. Big sleep.
This whole rotation of the gunas goes on in bigger cycles and smaller cycles. Then within the yugas themselves we
have uprising sometimes. Within kali yuga we will have a rise of sattva or a degradation into tama guna. In satya yuga
itself sometimes will rise tama guna, in spite of the fact that satva guna is prominent in satya yuga.
All of these variations take place because it is the nature of the material world. This fluctuation is always taking place.
Therefore we have, from the very beginning of creation, we have tama guna people, raja guna people, and satvic
people. We have people in all modes of material nature. At the extreme ends we get the demons and the devatas.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna classifies into two types of people the devatas and the demons. Of course we have
people in between also. They may go one way or the other. But at the two ends we get these polarities, the devas and
demons. Ultimately, it may end up in conflict, not because of the hostility of the devatas, they don't want conflict. They
are satvic. The demons cause the conflict. Then the devatas are forced to counteract. We get some battles and so on.
So, we see these battles taking place. Sometimes it's the devatas verses the demons and the Lord sides with the
devatas. Sometimes, the Lord Himself comes and intervenes as we will see here in the case of Hiranyakasipu and
Nrsimhadeva. When there is a big problem, then the Lord Himself interferes.
Though the Lord is equal to all living entities, we should not misapply this term. Therefore they said He should not
interfere at all in anything. If the Lord were to do so, then we would criticize the Lord more. Why does the Lord just
make a world like this and then not interfere and help anybody at all, not help the people who are doing the proper
thing and punish those who are not?
The Lord rewards according to your qualification. Or, He punishes according to the qualification. In that sense He is
sama. But He doesn't have to do it directly. He does it through the law of karma. The whole material world is such that
it operates by the law of karma. So those people who commit sinful acts, ultimately, they have to suffer for that. That's
the law of karma.
The Lord does not personally interfere, but He makes a law. That law is stuck to material nature and we can't separate
the two things. We have prakriti which is the substance of the material world in a subtle state. Of course it evolves into
all of the other elements, subtle and gross, ahankara and manasa and the five material elements which form into
bodies, etc. We have gross and subtle bodies. All of that is material, it's matter.
The other aspect of the material world is the subtle aspect of maya that is time and karma. They are not substance by
their material. They are aids of the Supreme Lord to make this material world operate according to the Lord's plan.
Therefore time operates in such a way that we get rotations of yugas, days of Brahma, lifetimes of Brahma, repetition
of creations of universes, etc. That's the time factor.
Then, to make sure that everybody is getting their proper rewards or punishments, He has the law of karma. It's
inevitable for all the bodies in the material world to have to accept karma. This is how the Lord is sama.
However, this law of karma operates in favor of the Lord we can say, in one sense, it's made in such a way that if you
do satvic activities you get good rewards and if you do tamas activities you get punishment. Why does the Lord favor
the satva and give rewards for that?
Krishna also explains in Bhagavad Gita that satva guna is the best of the gunas. Of course, all of the material world is
bad, even satva guna is like golden chains compared to iron chains. It's all chains anyways. The guna of satva is
better, golden chains. But it is still that the Lord prefers it.
Why does the Lord prefer satva guna? Why does He praise the gunas when they are all actually bad, when all gunas
are material? It's because the Lord is very clever. Built into prakriti itself, within satva guna, there is an escape hole by
which you can get out of the material world. It's material but it also has something very interesting in it.
The nature of satva guna is vidya, knowledge, jnana. The jnana does not mean material knowledge because you can
get that in raja or tama guna a little bit. In satva guna the jnana takes the form of beginning to understand that we are
not the material body. This is the natural result of satva guna. We become detached from material enjoyment and
begin to understand that we are not the material body but that we are atma. We begin to accept scriptures.
This is the door to getting out of the material world. Built into the material world is the method of getting out through
satva guna. In that sense, it's considered to be better than the other gunas. It's the doorway to get out of the material
world as well as to stay in the material world. In other words, liberation is the quality or the goal that becomes manifest
in satva guna. Whereas in tama or raja guna we have arta, dharma, and karma manifesting. In that sense, better.
This is one of the natural arrangements of the Supreme Lord for raising peoples consciousness so that they can get
out of the material world. Why? For the betterment of the jiva. The whole interest is for the betterment of the jivas in
the material world. He makes arrangements like this. We can say these are indirect arrangements. The gunas, etc.
Then the Lord makes direct arrangements as well. The Lord establishes scriptures, eternal Vedas, He comes as
avatars to show that He is present, that He actually is a real entity. He is not an abstraction, He is a real person. He
has devotees in the material world manifesting to preach the glories of the Lord. He has different methods to raise the
jivas from lower to higher gunas. That is His varnashram system, then jnana yoga, sthanga yoga, and bhakti yoga.
The Lord places all of these in the material world to help the jivas and, in this way, benefit them. We can say that this
is not simply being equal because the Lord does show partiality in the material world. He rewards those who rise up
and improve their consciousness. But, still, the Srimad Bhagavatam says, Krishna Himself says in the eleventh canto,
I don't really care for these other processes, even karma yoga, jnana yoga, asthanga yoga, sankhya, and vyragya,
and all of these things. I care for bhakti.
That of course is what the Lord says. Yes, I am equal to every living entity, but, I favor the devotee. The Lord does
show some sort of sama on a normal level. Again, His intention is to actually aid the jivas to get out of the material
world. When the jiva responds in the best way by becoming a devotee, then the Lord is no longer sama, He can no
longer control Himself. He begins to interact with that particular person, that devotee.
We have six qualities mentioned in the Nectar of Devotion. The last one is Krishna karshani. Krishna is attracted to
bhakti. That particularly refers to the highest level, prema, where Krishna comes under the control of the devotee. Not
only Krishna, even Vishnu will come under the control of the devotee as we see in the case of Ambarish. Ambarish
was insulted by Durvasa. Durvasa went to the Supreme Lord and the Supreme Lord said I can do nothing, the
devotee is in control. Go to him and apologize and maybe the sudarshan chakra will stop following you and burning
you up. But it's My devotee, I gave the sudarshan chakra to him. It's his.
The Lord comes under the control of the prema bhaktas especially. It doesn't only apply to the prema bhakta. It also
applies to the person in the material world who is practicing bhakti. The Lord definitely favors His devotee. Therefore
He says that very quickly the devotee comes to me. That means that he is not perfect yet, but he quickly comes to Me.
He does not make this promise to the jnani, karmi, or the yogi. But He promises to the devotee, yes, He is very quickly
relieved from this material world. Why? Because of the intervention of the Lord. The Lord is affected by the response
of that particular person, the devotee.
This is the outstanding quality of the Lord. It is not a fault that the Lord is partial to the devotee. This is actually His
greatest quality. If we were to say that the Lord should be equal to everyone and should not show emotions,
favoritism, or a special liking to a devotee, etc., then He's also subject to criticism. The more we surrender and
sacrifice for the Lord, the more the Lord should be attracted and sacrifice for us.
So, that's exactly the nature of the Lord. If we show affection for the Lord, then He shows equal or more affection for
us. That is the proper mode of devotion or love, when there is an equal or greater response. For the Supreme Lord,
we can say this is His ideal quality. He responds ideally and perfectly for each individual on all levels.
On the highest level of course, He responds to each individual. If the devotee sees the Lord as their child, then He
becomes a child and the person is able to express vatsaliya rasa, madhurya rasa, or sakhya rasa. The Lord responds
individually for every jiva according to his desire. Of course this is a high level.
Even on a lower level before we even manifest preference for rasa, etc., the Lord is there. It's not just paramatma
witnessing everything in the heart. When Krishna says that I give the intelligence by which you will come to Me, it's not
just paramatma acting as a mechanical feature. It is Krishna Himself, guiding the devotee personally and interacting
with that particular devotee.
It is not on the same level as a premabhakta, but, as we know accordingly, as you surrender unto Me, I respond to
you. If you surrender a little, Krishna gives a little. He responds according to the amount of devotion that you show.
Therefore, the devotees who are practicing seriously get a response from the Supreme Lord. He gives them
intelligence and guidance by which they can progress in this material world.
Even though the gunas are always fluctuating and we can never predict which guna is going to be prominent, satya
yuga will have tamasic situations, kali yuga will get satvic situations. Ultimately, the devotee gets trained to not be too
attached to the situations in the material world. They are all gunas, they are all material, and they are subject to
change.
The body is subject to change. We don't know what's going to happen to the body at any moment. You can have a
nice satvic situation and still you can get sick or whatever. We don't know the reason. We can't predict it.
The devotee learns to be a little impervious to that and instead concentrate upon his relationship with the Supreme
Lord and increase his surrender and attraction to the Lord. Consequently, the Lord responds. What happens through
that? The devotee gets happiness. That is the ultimate goal of the jiva, his capacity for happiness or bliss. It is the
process of bhakti which yields that bliss, ultimately, more than any other process.
Very fortunately, the process of bhakti surpasses the gunas in its very essence. We may think, well, if you're in prema
you're beyond the gunas. But bhakti is beyond the gunas. It's very nature is beyond the gunas. It is nirguna by its
nature. They holy name is non different than Krishna. It is beyond the gunas.
Chanting the holy name is beyond the gunas. We may not be able to appreciate that if we are so covered over. But
still, it is beyond the gunas. Even if we can't appreciate it, it still helps to get us beyond the gunas in spite of that. So
when we do the activities of bhakti, engaging our voice, or our eyes in seeing the deities, or chanting the holy name,
hearing Bhagavatam, etc. with some sincerity, then that act is nirguna. It is beyond the gunas. It is the svarup shakti of
Krishna Himself. It's non different from Krishna. It's His best part. His hladini shakti is operating for the jiva. The whole
process of bhakti is beyond the gunas.
By practicing bhakti, and particularly, by chanting the holy name, we can surpass all of the problems of the material
world in any situation whether it's satya yuga or kali yuga. Through the process of chanting we can surpass all of this.
In the second chapter of the tenth canto, Srila Prabhupada remarks in one of the purports that yes, Krishna is no
longer here. Previously He manifested Himself. He killed Kamsa and protected Vasudeva and Devaki and the Yadus
and the Vrajabasis from Kamsa's wrath. But it doesn't really matter now that he's gone because the holy name is non
different than Krishna.
So He is still present. Krishna is present in the kali yuga through the name. We chant the holy name which is non
different from Krishna. Therefore, we have the protection of Krishna in any case. Even though He is not personally
present, He is present because we have the holy name. Through the holy name we can counteract all of the bad
situations of tama guna, raja guna, and even satya guna. We can go beyond the material gunas simply by the
chanting of the holy name.
The whole goal of chanting is not simply to go beyond the gunas. If we simply do that then we end up with liberation,
which is not our goal. The whole process of chanting is simply to please Krishna. If we do that as our goal then
certainly we do get beyond the material problems but we also attain the lotus feet of Krishna.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: Chanting is beyond the gunas but we are in the gunas. Ok. That is the what happens in sadhana bhakti.
We're not beyond the gunas as such because we're going through anartha nivriti. We still have a material body. We
are still in the material world. So we cannot escape at this point. Even if you're at prema you are still in the material
world. So there is no real escape as long as we have a material body and are in the material world. Somehow the
gunas are there.
If we are doing sadhana, we are not in prema, obviously, our body can still get affected by the gunas. We're not pure.
Even in bhava there is a slight vijna or a slight obstacle which can cause you to fall or waiver from that stage.
Definitely in the process of doing sadhana bhakti then yes, we are going to have different effects, different obstacles,
different anarthas, different gunas manifesting at different times. However, we have to follow the instruction of the
Nectar of Devotion and that first principle. Well, look, I'm not free from desires. How can I practice pure bhakti and
sadhana, I'm not free from desires?
Obviously we're not because we're going through anartha nivriti which goes all the way into the bhava stage. It's a
contradiction of terms to do sadhana bhakti and be beyond material desires, in one sense. What that means is that in
sadhana bhakti also because at least in the performance of our bhakti we are not constantly praying for things. Hare
Krishna please get me married. Hare Krishna please get me money. Hare Krishna please get me a better job. That's
not our thing.
We have to be a little careful when we're doing sadhana bhakti and we're chanting or doing our deity worship so that
our mind is focused on let me try to give up all of my desires and simply please Krishna. Then it is pure bhakti in
sadhana bhakti.
Of course, we're not always in that state. Underneath we have all of these desires still in us. Gradually, as we go
through anartha nivriti, they become less and less but they are still there. But we call the whole process pure bhakti
because that's the only way, at least excluding them when we are doing our particular sadhana, that we can get to the
higher stages of bhava and prema where there is that absolute state of surrender to Krishna. It's not the ideal state,
sadhana bhakti, but still we call it pure bhakti because consciously we are trying to reject the desires in spite of the
fact that they are there.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: We can say that when we do the act of bhakti we deliberately reject our material desires. Consciously, we
have the goal of pure bhakti. We try to do our best. That is our intention. We can say that even though we are
contaminated, our intention is pure bhakti. Therefore, Krishna accepts that as part of the pure bhakti process.
It's a lower stage. That's why sadhana bhakti is considered less than bhava bhakti or prema bhakti. It's not as pure. If
we just begin with sraddha then it's less pure than when we are at nistha or ruchi or asakti. That's why we grade it. We
have the different levels according to the amount of attraction for Krishna and the less amount of material desires or
gunas or ego. The less it becomes, the better it is. That's how we measure progress.
One who has less attraction for material things, less gunas, etc., then he is more advanced. One with more of those
influences is less advanced. Never the less, we accept them all as devotees, especially if they are practicing the
process of pure bhakti. If they are not practicing pure bhakti as such, we still accept them as devotees.
As explained in the Caitanya Caritamrita even the sahajiyas, we can accept in one sense, are chanting the holy name
but we don't associate with them. We can accept them in one sense but we really accept those devotees who are
following this process of pure bhakti as stated by Rupa Gosvami and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Even if they are in the
low sadhana stage.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: Not literally pure, but, the intention is to attain that purity.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: I think He always does. Whatever we do, He is eager to give more. He is very, very eager. He is reciprocal
but no body is going to criticize if He gives more. We will say He is very good if He gives a little more than necessary.
If He gives more, is it real reciprocation? If He gives more than He should give? Although, the nature of Krishna is that
He gets uncontrolled with the devotees so sometimes He may give more than He should, even, as we see in the case
of Krishna with Sudhama. He started eating the rice and he was eating too much and then his wife said, don't take
anymore, don't take anymore, you're giving him too much mercy. But He wanted to take more because He was so
enthusiastic because of the devotion that Sudhama showed.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: With the devotees? No, definitely it's not equal. He's more eager to give than you can express yourself.
Devotee question: (inaudible)
Maharaj: Yeah, and again, we are not going to criticize that. It's the eagerness of Krishna for the devotee that He will
do anything for the devotee. In the story also of Gajendra, I think Parasura Bhakta describes that, he has the whole
thing about the Gajendra lila, that it's Vishnu and not even Krishna. Even Vishnu is so eager to help the devotees that
when He heard the cry of help from Gajendra - He was in Vaikuntha enjoying with Laksmi - but immediately when He
heard that crying, He forgot about Laksmi completely. He jumped on Garuda. Immediately He was trying to get
Garuda to move faster and faster to come to the material world and rescue Gajendra from the crocodile. He forgot
about Laxmi who is His sakti, His consort, and He was attracted to the devotee.
We can say that is unequal also. He wasn't even a pure devotee. He was praying to the Lord because he was eaten
by the crocodile. It wasn't even pure bhakti but still the Lord was very attracted. We can say that is excessive
attraction to the devotee even when he wasn't doing pure bhakti.
The Lord does do that. He gives extraordinary mercy. He gives extraordinary mercy even to the demons. Krishna kills
Putana who tried to murder Him and she got a place in the spiritual world. We could say that is a completely unequal
response. But it is expected of the Lord that He will do extraordinary things, show extraordinary mercy for
extraordinary circumstances, and for extraordinary demons, even. The Lord does extraordinary things sometimes
which we do not even expect in terms of His mercy.
Devotee: Maharaj, you are talking a lot about the modes of nature. In the Gita Krishna is saying that whatever mode
you die in, that will determine your next birth, up, down, or middle. In western religion they don't understand the modes
of nature but they have the idea that you have faith in God, or their concept of love of God, and by doing that you will
go to heaven, the spiritual world. Sometimes we will say that my mother was a very religious person and so we
consider that she went up. But by action in western culture, it's mostly passion and ignorance. How does faith deal in
this whole mixture? Is it purely the actions in the modes of nature, or, is it actions in modes plus your religious faith? I
don't know if you would call western religion religious activity as always religious, but it's done in a religious institution.
You understand what I'm saying. Does that nullify it or is it purely material laws? Just that you believe in God, but your
life was in ignorance, so you're going to take birth as an animal.
Maharaj: Well, if we have material religions and they are sattvic religions, then if you practice it then you will rise up in
sattva. Just as in karma yoga and you worship devatas without attachment to material results, then you rise up in
sattva guna, generally. If you worship rakshasas you're in raja guna. If you worship ignorant creatures and ghosts then
you're in tama guna. According to the guna of your faith, you worship different objects, you have different religions,
and you get different results.
It may be a little difficult to classify Christianity or something as to which guna it is. Some of the sects may be tamasic
and some may be rajasic and some may be sattvic. Some may be transcendental, even. Some aspects of it may be
nirguna even.
Devotee: Let's get specific. You drink wine. You eat meat. And you go to church. You sing praise to God and you read
the Bible. Is that transcending your tama guna activity or is tama guna dominating because it's your law of nature if
you're in ignorance.
Maharaj: Well there is something like that even in the varnashram system. The people in the lower gunas, traditionally,
they can eat meat or they can take liquor or whatever. The whole idea is that with gradual restriction they rise through
the gunas over many lifetimes. Of course, they don't have that concept in Christianity.
For us we would say that by practicing something they gradually get purified over many births and rise in the gunas
until come to sattva guna. Then they will renounce a lot of these things completely and end up with what we would call
a more bonafide form of religious activity. At that point the probably get into atma jnana and that I'm not the material
body at all if they get to sattva guna.
We can say that it's something like karma yoga that helps raise them up gradually over many births.
Hare Krishna.
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