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Questions asked by devotees and answered by Bhakti Charu Swami

Questions asked by devotees and answered by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami

Question: According to this statement Srila Prabhupada tells that the souls which are expanded through the material energy of the supreme are the conditioned souls, as we know getting conditioned means thinking ourselves the enjoyer and controller because of which we are suffering. So according to that the jivas are sufferings because they were expended by material energy so then why it is told that jiva suffers in this material wolrd because of its ego then how a jiva is blamed for his suffering because any jiva expands materially will be contioned once it is conditioned all the material qualities will be present automatically?

Answer: I don’t know where you got this understanding that “the juvas are suffering because they were expanded by material energy”. Jivas are not generated in the material nature, but they are from Krishna’s superior spiritual energy. However, due to the jiva’s aversion to Krishna they have fallen to this material nature. In “Prema Vivarta” Srila Jagadananda Pandit mentioned that when a living entity becomes aversed to Krishna, Maya, who is standing near by immediately embraces him and binds him in her clutches.

However, when a living entity decides to serve Krishna and becomes engaged in His devotional service, he becomes free from the bondage of Maya.

The perfect process has been given by Krishna Himself. By following that process we can very easily get rid of your miserable material existence. Otherwise, any amount of intellectual probing will simply waste your time without resulting in any spiritual progress. We have to realize that we are suffering in this material nature due to our desire to exploit the material nature for our sense gratification and if we want to free ourselves from this miserablecondition, we must surrender to Krishna and become engaged in loving devotional service.

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Question: In the spiritual world, is their an infinite amount of souls or is their a limited amount? If their is an infinite number of souls, does this mean that new souls are never created in the spiritual world?

Answer: Spiritual nature is inconceivable and unlimited. Therefore, the activities of that realm will always remain beyond our mental speculation and intellectual concept. With our limited ability we will never be able to understand the activities of the Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is completely independent. He can do anything with His own sweet will. If He wants He can create new souls although they are eternal and He can also destroy the spirit souls although they are indestructable.

The essence is that we will never be able to understand Krtishna’s inconceivable potency. Therefore, in the spiritual nature, we find perfect harmony between two diametrically opposed concepts. Just as Kirshna mentions in Bhagavad Gita: I am in everything, yet I am not in them. Everything is in Me, yet they are not in Me.

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Question: I have heard that the Jiva in the spiritual world has different expansions or the Jiva partakes in different pastimes simultaneously, ie, Vrndavan lila, Dwaraka Lila, Guaranga Mahaprabhu lila. If this is the case, when the Jiva falls to the material realm, does the Jiva leave the spiritual world completely or are we an expansion simply experiencing the material world, simultaneously experiencing the spiritual world.

Answer: When a jiva falls down to the material natural, due to his aversion or offense to Krishna, he loses his conscious contact with the spiritual nature completely.

It is only Krishna’s eternal associates, the eternally liberated souls, due to Krishna’s divine arrangement, can expand and participate in His pastimes in differant realms simulteneously.

This is another such inconceivable phenomenon. If Krishna wants, He can make one into many and many into one. The main point is, from the material perspective, we will never be able to understand.

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Question: We have learned from past that great devotees (such as Pandavas, Devaki and many other devotees in our movement) had lots of problems in their life inspite of they being sincere servants/devotees. These problem are definetly not because of their lack in Krishna Conciousness, how do I understand this?

Answer: Devotees apparently go through some difficulties at times, but those difficulties do not effect them by any means because they are always protected by Krishna’s merciful embrace. Rather, through these difficulties, Krishna proves to the world the devotees’ perfect love for Him and how He always saves them when in difficulty. For example, it seems that the Pandavas were suffering, but when we read Mahabharata, we see what a great time they were having, even when in exile. And eventually, we see how they were reinstated in their rightful position by Krishna’s divine arrangement.

Another wonderful example is Haridas Thakur. Although he was being beaten in twenty-two marketplaces, he did not stop chanting. During His “mahaprakash lila” in the house of Srivas Thakur, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu revealed to everyone how He was prepared to annahilate all the Muslims because of their offense to Srila Haridas Thakur, but His Sudarsana Chakra became ineffective because Haridas Thakur was wishing them well. Then the Lord Himself covered Haridas Thakur’s back and took the beating upon Himself. This is how mercifully the Lord protects His devotees in distress. He puts them in that difficult situation and He Himself protects them from it.

Another way to look at it is, a devotee is Krishna conscious. This means that a devotee’s consciousness is fully projected onto Krishna. Therefore, he does not have any body consciousness. He remains oblivious or unaware of what is happening to his body, just as a person under anesthetics in the operation theater does not feel any pain although his body is cut open. His consciousness has been withdrawn from the body. This is, of course, done artificially through anesthetics. In Krishna Consciousness, however, this withdrawl of consciousness from the body takes place naturally.

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Question: When one leaves the spiritual world, is it always the case that the spirit soul takes the position of Brahma?

Answer: Yes, Srila Prabhupada did say that when a soul falls down from the spiritual sky, he first takes the position of Brahma.

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Question: What happens if one commits suicide?

Answer: Committing suicide is a very serious offense. Mother Nature gives the very wonderful gift of the human body. If we whimsically destroy it, she naturally becomes very displeased and for a long time, she does not give one another gross body. However, a devotee’s destiny is different because the Lord personally takes care of him. For example, when Chota Haridas, an associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, committed suicide, he got a Gandharva body. Nevertheless, a devotee should never commit suicide but continue to serve the lotus feet of the Lord.

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Question: How Krishna consciousness is the solution of all problems? And what is the proof?

Answer: The root cause of all our problems is our forgetfulness of Krishna. It is due to our forgetfulness of Krishna that we fall into this material nature and become subjected to the three-fold miseries. But when we become Krishna Consciousness and re-establish our relationship with Krishna, then we develop our natural constitutional position of eternal life, absolute knowledge and bliss. In that state of existence, there cannot possibly be any problem.

As far as the proof is concerned, just ask yourself whether all your problems have been solved since you accepted Krishna Consciousness. And you can also consider, if at all you have any problems, whether it is due to your Krishna Consciousness or lack of it.

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Question: Why do living entities suffer double punishment by going to Yamraj first then having to take lower birth after that punishment! Have they not already suffered once in Yamraj’s court?

Answer: The suffering that one receives due to Yamaraj’s judgement in different types of Narakas is actually a process to bring one to the lower species of life. It all happens on the subtle platform and the subtle body becomes prepared and shaped for the appropriate gross body.

For example, when one eats all kinds of garbage without discrimination, he is punished to be drowned in a reservoir of stool. In that situation, he gradually becomes conditioned and begins to like the taste of the stool. Then he gets the body of a pig where stool becomes his food and he begins searching for it everywhere.