Mahisasura he's struggling with the weapons of Maya, Durga. He'll be failure,but still--ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham--by false egotism he's thinking, "Ishall conquer over the material..."****Could you please explain this seeming contradiction?Answer by <strong>Suhotra</strong> SwamiJuly 25, <strong>1995</strong>Mahisasura was a devotee of goddess Kali in the sense that he first of allbecame lusty to enjoy her and therefore approached her to take her as his wife.Just like lusty men today are attracted by young women who dress in short blackwitch-clothes and paint their faces with blood-red lips and vampire eye shadow,so he, being a fool, was attracted by the form of Kali. She refused hisoverture. Then he tried to také her by force. That is how the fight started,in which Kali Miller Mahisasura.BRANCH OF GADADHAR PANDITQuestion from Bhagavat Dharma dasJuly 25, <strong>1995</strong>In CC A 12.88 purport it is mentioned that, Sri Vallaba batta (Pusti Marg) is abranch of Gadadhar pandit. Does this mean that devotees in pusti Marg areconsidered to be connected to the Caitanya tree? What does it exactly mean :Branch of Gadadhar pandit? Does it mean that the devotees in this branch werecultivated and preached to by Gadahar Pandit?Answer by <strong>Suhotra</strong> SwamiJuly 25, <strong>1995</strong>The relationship between Vallabhacarya and Sri Gadadhara Pandita is described inAntya-lila of the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, chapter seven.The Pusti-margis are connected through the link of Vallabha to Sri GadadharaPandita, but due to offenses certain Pusti-margis made against Gaudiya Vaisnavapujaris who were engaged in the worship of Madhavendra Puri's Gopal Deity atGovardhana, the link is not strong now. These offenses took place after thedisappearance of Vallabhacarya. The Pusti-margis later removed the Gopal Deityto Nathadvara, where He is now worshiped as Sri Nath, the principle Deity oftheir sampradaya. (See C-c. Madhya 4.1, purport).CONDITIONED AND LIBERATED SOULSQuestion from bhn. SvetlanaJuly 25, <strong>1995</strong>These questions were asked by bhn Svetlana (the architect) and I tried to writethem down in a proper way:- It is said there are eternaly liberated and eternaly conditioned souls. Doesit mean that the liberated and conditioned always stays like liberated andconditioned or there are different categories of living entities which alwaysexist?- Why we desired to enjoy separately from Krsna?- How the living entities become demons? Do the demons always sink down intohell or there is any chance for them to be saved? Does the division of demoniacand godly existed since the begining of creation?
- How to understand there was no creation in the spiritual world?- It is said the soul has nothing to do with the material activities. How thematerial activities make the soul conditioned?- Is it that one should be egocentricly disposed so that he starts to think ofhis self-realisation? YsAnswer by <strong>Suhotra</strong> SwamiAugust 14, <strong>1995</strong>These questions are not expressed very clearly in English.answer them anyway.But I stall try toRegarding the liberated and conditioned souls, Lord Krsna says to Uddhava:"My dear Uddhava, due to the influence of the material modes of nature, whichare under My control, the living entity is sometimes designated as conditionedand sometimes as liberated. In fact, however, the soul is never really bound upor liberated, and since I am the supreme Lord of maya, which is the cause of themodes of nature, I also am never to be considered liberated or in bondage." (SB11.11.1)The propensity to enjoy is intrinsic to the soul. In his introduction to theBhagavad-gita As It Is, Srila Prabhupada writes, "We are all hankering afterpleasure. Ananda-mayo 'bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). The living entities, likethe Lord, are full of consciousness, and they are after happiness. The Lord isperpetually happy, and if the Libiny entities associate with the Lord, cooperatewith Him and take part in His association, then they also become happy." Theliving entity who comes under the influence of ignorance imagines himself to bean independent enjoyer from Krsna. That is the beginning of his materiálbondage. The essential answer to the question, "Why we desired to enjoyindependently from Krsna?", is: because of ignorance.Living entities become demons due to cultivating the modes of passion andignorance in their search for happiness apart from Krsna. Demons do certainlysink into hell. But they can also be saved even from hell by the mercy of theLord and His pure devotees. The division of the divine and demoniac livingentities has existed since the beginning of creation, as confirmed by Bg 16.6.There is no creation in the spiritual world because there is no matter there.Matter is essentially spiritual energy of the nature of nirvisesa (withoutquality). While the substance of matter is eternal, the forms that matterdisplays are temporary, being created in time and destroyed in time. Thespiritual world is comprised of spiritual energy that is full of transcendentalqualities (visesa). Hence the names, forms, qualities and activities displayedin the spiritual world are timeless.The soul is conditioned by material activities through the medium of the subtlebody consisting of mind, intelligence and false ego. Just as the soul hasnothing to do with gross physical activities, it has nothing to do with dreamactivities either. Yet while dreaming, we believe our experiences to be real,and we react to them in happiness, sadness or fear. This is all due to thesubtle body.There is a false ego and a real ego. Self-realization is real egoism. But thisis only the beginning of spiritual life. Krsna is the Superself, and Krsnaconsciousness means to surrender the real self to the direction of theSuperself. Otherwise, trying to realize the real self apart from Krsna leads toMayavadi philosophy.
- Page 1 and 2: DANDA1995Questions and AnswerswithH
- Page 3 and 4: I have already replied to the argum
- Page 5 and 6: Similarly, in an ISKCON temple, a d
- Page 7 and 8: even be well-intentioned (let the c
- Page 9 and 10: Answer by Suhotra SwamiJanuary 15,
- Page 11 and 12: Comment by Vipramukhya SwamiI've me
- Page 13 and 14: i.e. his visible form).to.In the pr
- Page 15 and 16: 1. The self-realization stage just
- Page 17 and 18: ksatriya families worshiped Radha-K
- Page 19 and 20: are banished from Kailasa by being
- Page 21 and 22: always in competition with each oth
- Page 23 and 24: Was that enough, Bhakta Jan? No? OK
- Page 25 and 26: prakampanaloka-gurusrastaparasmai t
- Page 27 and 28: That's they quoted from me.In the c
- Page 29 and 30: to tell how he was abducted to anot
- Page 31 and 32: to come, and these ten avatars corr
- Page 33 and 34: emember and speak the best that has
- Page 35 and 36: devotees, but I gave them as exampl
- Page 37 and 38: CAITANYA UPANISADQuestion from Mukh
- Page 39 and 40: for that. So that... This is going
- Page 41 and 42: A footnote to the previous text:It
- Page 43 and 44: other planets encircle the polestar
- Page 45 and 46: TIME PERCEPTIONQuestions from Rohit
- Page 47 and 48: Answer by Suhotra SwamiJune 27, 199
- Page 49: connected to the Lord's body. And B
- Page 53 and 54: SB 6.14.55 p., 1st par.: The subtle
- Page 55 and 56: could not even get that. And they l
- Page 57 and 58: "Krsna is the supreme living being.
- Page 59 and 60: Answer by Suhotra SwamiSeptember 26
- Page 61 and 62: Answer by Suhotra SwamiOctober 11,
- Page 63 and 64: Vidyabhusana that argued yet anothe
- Page 65 and 66: SELF-ENVYQuestions from Vrajendra K
- Page 67 and 68: I was studying the second canto cha
- Page 69 and 70: Answer by Suhotra SwamiNovember 11,
- Page 71 and 72: Answer by Suhotra SwamiNovember 11,
- Page 73 and 74: ATHEISMQuestion from Jahnu dasNovem
- Page 75 and 76: two years old and under, in accorda
- Page 77 and 78: that sense one would think the exte
- Page 79 and 80: 1) Yes, the message of Jesus is uni
- Page 81 and 82: Paul rationalized that Jesus surviv
- Page 83 and 84: The publication I am working on in
- Page 85 and 86: - From the context of the second qu
- Page 87 and 88: Dear Maharaja,I see that it is a qu
- Page 89: associates, etc. Lord Vamana has Hi