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| Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:38 |
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The following is an excerpt from Srila Acharyadeva's anthology in the making, compiled from various lectures and writings of his, taken from the category "God," subcategory "Krishna": * “Krishna is infinitely loveable therefore we can love him infinitely.” * "There is a popular idea that God is something other than Krishna and that He just comes in His Krishna-uniform. However, that is not supported in the scriptures. Krishna says, “I am the source of everything.” (“Bhagavad-gītā is Revolutionary,” March 19, 2008, place unknown, USA) * If we study any aspect of reality there is oneness and difference, also regarding the material and spiritual world. Everything can be reduced to one fact – Krishna – in whom there is infinite variety. Krishna’s will manifests in various objects. (October 1, 2003, New Dvarka temple, Los Angeles) * The Vedas are not polytheistic. Krishna may be presented there as oṁkāra or Nārāyaṇa, but these are just other names of Krishna. In the Upaniṣads, He is addressed as īśvara. He has many names, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is only one God. Brahmā’s conclusion is īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Krishna says, “By all the scriptures I am to be known.” That is the conclusion of all the scriptures. (see also Vedas) (from a debate with Prof. Bharaty, “The Bharaty Debate”, USA 1973)
* Regarding the status of the Deity, this is of course, ultimately, an ontological question regarding the existential status of an image of the Lord. I cover this extensively in my course on the Religions of India. Here's the essence: Those religions, primarily Middle Eastern traditions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, that teach a dualistic system—wherein God is fundamentally and almost irrevocably different from his creation—tend to eschew the worship of visible images. The strident dualism of such thought leads to a very negative view of the physical world, and of matter as an unsuitable vehicle for divine revelation. On the other hand, traditions of Indo-European origin, such as those of India and pre-Christian Europe, often conceive of the physical world as an emanation of the Absolute, and thus different, but also one with, its source. Thus in contact with God, the physical world is restored to sacredness and, at God's will, may become a vehicle for His epiphany. Of course, even in Roman Catholicism, we can historically observe a penchant for worshiping visible images, and the Old Testament describes various epiphanies or manifestations of God within the physical world. One famous example is God's appearance to Moses as a burning bush. In Krishna consciousness we understand clearly that matter is the inferior energy of Krishna, and souls are His superior energy. Yet even matter, by the will of God, can reveal its creator. Within traditional Indian ontological debate, this is called sat-karya-vada, or the claim that a cause is somehow present in its effect. Thus God is imminent within the material world, which is an effect of His creative acts, and this imminence may be brought to the surface when material objects, such as marble or metal, are directly engaged as vehicles of worship according to authorized prescriptions. Prabhupāda used to give the example that we cannot drop a stamped letter in any box and hope it will reach its destination, but if we drop the letter in an authorized post box, it will be delivered. Similarly we can offer our worship to Krishna thru authorized physical media in the form of Deities. Finally, in practice, it is the universal experience of those who take it seriously, that such worship does greatly facilitate the cultivation of love for God, and is thus seen as a merciful concession, by God, to conditioned souls whose consciousness is presently trapped in God's physical creation. (private letter, January 19, 2009) * It was Anselm’s—and also Rūpa Goswāmī’s—argument that, “God is that being than whom no greater being can be conceived.” So can a person conceive a God much greater than the one that you say exists? Rūpa Goswāmī says in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that Krishna is the original form of God because He has the greatest qualities. Anselm and Rūpa Goswāmī are basically giving the same argument, that because God is infinitely great, the greatest conception is closest to the truth. (lecture “Krishna is Trying to Make You Free,” December 10, 2008, Gainesville) |
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 January 2010 12:08 ) |
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