Verse of the Week

translation and purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto One, chapter two, verse twenty-three

We felt today's verse was one of the most scientific explanations we've ever heard of the difference between God and other living beings, why living beings wind up in a temporary world, and how the universes are created and maintained .

"Even if someone accepts the whole concept as 'myth,'" we reasoned, "they would have to admit that whoever came up with the idea must have thought about it from every angle imaginable."

Here it is:Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.23

TRANSLATION

The transcendental Personality of Godhead is indirectly associated with the three modes of material nature, namely passion, goodness and ignorance, and just for the material world's creation, maintenance and destruction He accepts the three qualitative forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Of these three, all human beings can derive ultimate benefit from Vishnu, the form of the quality of goodness.

Here it is:Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.23

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.2.23

sattvam rajas tama iti prakrter gunās tair

yuktah parah puruṣa eka ihāsya dhatte

sthity-ādaye hari-viriñci-hareti samjñāh

śreyāmsi tatra khalu sattva-tanor nrnām syuh

SYNONYMS

sattvam — goodness; rajah — passion; tamah — the darkness of ignorance; iti — thus; prakrteh — of the material nature; gunāh — qualities; taih — by them; yuktah — associated with; parah — transcendental; purusah — the personality; ekah — one; iha asya — of this material world; dhatte — accepts; sthiti-ādaye — for the matter of creation, maintenance and destruction, etc.; hari — Visnu, the Personality of Godhead; viriñci — Brahmā; hara — Lord Śiva; iti — thus; samjñāh — different features; śreyāmsi — ultimate benefit; tatra — therein; khalu — of course; sattva — goodness; tanoh — form; nrnām — of the human being; syuh — derived.

TRANSLATION

The transcendental Personality of Godhead is indirectly associated with the three modes of material nature, namely passion, goodness and ignorance, and just for the material world's creation, maintenance and destruction He accepts the three qualitative forms of Brahmā, Visnu and Śiva. Of these three, all human beings can derive ultimate benefit from Visnu, the form of the quality of goodness.

PURPORT

That Lord Śrī Krsna, by His plenary parts, should be rendered devotional service, as explained above, is confirmed by this statement. Lord Śrī Krsna and all His plenary parts are visnu-tattva, or the Lordship of Godhead. From Śrī Krsna, the next manifestation is Baladeva. From Baladeva is Sańkarsana, from Sańkarsana is Nārāyana, from Nārāyana there is the second Sańkarsana, and from this Sańkarsana the Visnu purusa-avatāras. The Visnu or the Deity of the quality of goodness in the material world is the purusa-avatāra known as Ksīrodakaśāyī Visnu or Paramātmā. Brahmā is the deity of rajas (passion), and Śiva of ignorance. They are the three departmental heads of the three qualities of this material world. Creation is made possible by the goodness of Visnu, and when it requires to be destroyed, Lord Śiva does it by the tāndavanrtya. The materialists and the foolish human beings worship Brahmā and Śiva respectively. But the pure transcendentalists worship the form of goodness, Visnu, in His various forms. Visnu is manifested by His millions and billions of integrated forms and separated forms. The integrated forms are called Godhead, and the separated forms are called the living entities or the jīvas. Both the jīvas and Godhead have their original spiritual forms. Jīvas are sometimes subjected to the control of material energy, but the Visnu forms are always controllers of this energy. When Visnu, the Personality of Godhead, appears in the material world, He comes to deliver the conditioned living beings who are under the material energy. Such living beings appear in the material world with intentions of being lords, and thus they become entrapped by the three modes of nature. As such, the living entities have to change their material coverings for undergoing different terms of imprisonment. The prison house of the material world is created by Brahmā under instruction of the Personality of Godhead, and at the conclusion of a kalpa the whole thing is destroyed by Śiva. But as far as maintenance of the prison house is concerned, it is done by Visnu, as much as the state prison house is maintained by the state. Anyone, therefore, who wishes to get out of this prison house of material existence, which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must please Lord Visnu for such liberation. Lord Visnu is worshiped by devotional service only, and if anyone has to continue prison life in the material world, he may ask for relative facilities for temporary relief from the different demigods like Śiva, Brahmā, Indra and Varuna. No demigod, however, can release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence. This can be done only by Viṣṇu. Therefore, the ultimate benefit may be derived from Visnu, the Personality of Godhead.

Diwali & Govardhana Puja

Diwali is a five-day festival widely known as the Hindu New Year, and comes from the Sanskrit word dipavali, withdipa meaning lights and vali numerous. The festival is commonly observed by illuminating hundreds of candles in homes, temples and public spaces, and by offering opulent preparations of food to the deity. In ancient times, Diwali was first observed by the citizens of Ayodhya to celebrate the return of their king, Lord Ramachandra, an incarnation of Krishna. The joyful day on which Lord Rama returned from 14 years of exile became known as Diwali. In another era, this was also the day when Lord Krishna performed His childhood pastime of breaking the pots of yogurt and letting Himself be bound by Mother Yashoda.


Govardhana Puja

The day after Diwali is called Annakuta, or Govardhana Puja. On this day the inhabitants of Vrindavan (Lord Krishna’s abode on Earth) used to hold a festival to honor King Indra, the demigod responsible for providing the rains essential for a successful harvest.

Why do you still chant the Hare Krishna mantra?

With Hari-kirtana das

Yoga instructor Hari-kirtana das tells how he has benefited and continues to benefit from chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

How did Krishna consciousness affect your social life?

With Hari-kirtana das

Yoga instructor Hari-kirtana das relates some of the ironic/humorous elements that led to his introduction to the spiritual practice of Krishna consciousness.

The name Krishna means...

A few references discussing why Krishna is called "Krishna."

A selection of Srila Prabhupada's commentaries and conversations about the name "Krishna," including its Sanskrit etymology (word origin). Where possible, we've provided links for further exploring the topic or obtaining your own copy of the book quoted.

The meaning of the name "Krishna":

"The name Krishna means 'all-attractive.' God attracts everyone; that is the definition of 'God.' We have seen many pictures of Krishna, and we see that He attracts the cows, calves, birds, beasts, trees, plants, and even the water in Vrindavana. He is attractive to the cowherd boys, to the gopis, to Nanda Maharaja, to the Pandavas, and to all human society. Therefore if any particular name can be given to God, that name is 'Krishna.'"

—The Science of Self-Realization

Etymology of the word 'Krishna':

''The word 'krish' is the attractive feature of the Lord's existence, and 'na' means spiritual pleasure. When the verb 'krish' is added to the affix 'na' it becomes Krishna, which indicates the Absolute Truth.''

—Mahabharata (Udyoga-parva, 71.4)

—[cited: Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila 9.30]

The etymology of the name 'Krishna':

If we analyze the nirukti, or semantic derivation, of the word 'Krishna,' we find that na signifies that He stops the repetition of birth and death, and krish means sattartha, or 'existence.' (Krishna is the whole of existence.) Also, krish means 'attraction,' and na means ananda, or 'bliss.'

—Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.8.15

The name 'Krishna,' meaning 'all-attractive,' can be applied only to God:

Srila Prabhupada: ... Krishna means 'all-attractive.'

Bob: Oh, I see.

Srila Prabhupada: Yes. God has no name, but by His qualities we give Him names. If a man is very beautiful, we call him 'beautiful.' If a man is very intelligent, we call him 'wise.' So the name is given according to the quality. Because God is all-attractive, the name Krishna can be applied only to Him. Krishna means 'all-attractive.' It includes everything.

About Lord Nityananda

Lord Nityananda (also known as Nityananda Prabhu, Nitai, Nityananda Balarama) appeared as Lord Chaitanya’s principal associate for spreading the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. He especially spread the holy name of the Lord throughout Bengal. He is considered an incarnation of Lord Balarama.

Devotees of Lord Nityananda celebrate by fasting until noon, cooking a feast, and chanting the glories of Nitai.

Lord Varaha—Krishna's Boar Incarnation

Celebrating the appearance anniversary of Varaha avatar. Varaha is Krishna appearing in the extraordinary form of a gigantic boar—gigantic enough to carry the Earth on His tusks. Sound amazing? It is. And why should the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead be anything less than supremely amazing?

Krishna.com is not devoted to discussing the ordinary activities of average people.

But exactly how, and why, would God Himself make His appearance as such an extraordinarily humongous swine? What was the idea? Here's how that particular story begins—a few verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, chapter 13:

"Brahmā thought: While I have been engaged in the process of creation, the earth has been inundated by a deluge and has gone down into the depths of the ocean. What can we do who are engaged in this matter of creation? It is best to let the Almighty Lord direct us.

O sinless Vidura, all of a sudden, while Brahmā was engaged in thinking, a small form of a boar came out of his nostril. The measurement of the creature was not more than the upper portion of a thumb.

O descendant of Bharata, while Brahmā was observing Him, that boar became situated in the sky in a wonderful manifestation as gigantic as a great elephant.

Struck with wonder at observing the wonderful boarlike form in the sky, Brahmā, with great brāhmanas like Marīci, as well as the Kumāras and Manu, began to argue in various ways.

Is this some extraordinary entity come in the pretense of a boar? It is very wonderful that He has come from my nose. . ."

Srila Prabhupada visits Advaita Acharya's house

by Mulaprakriti devi dasi

In 1980, the head priest from Sri Advaita Acharya's house in Shantipura, West Bengal came to ISKCON's Chaitanya Chandrodaya Mandir in in Mayapur, carrying with him a copy of the Back to Godhead article about Srila Prabhupada, entitled "A Lifetime in Preparation." The following is what he's reported to have said:

"Just recently an amazing realization occurred to me that I wanted to share with devotees everywhere.

"I have been the pujari and sevaite (priest and caretaker) at the house of Advaita Acharya for many years. I was also there back in the 1940's and 50's. At that time, I noticed that one grihasta (married gentleman) Bengali devotee used to come to the temple quite regularly. He was dressed in a white khadi dhoti and kurta and he always came alone. He would sit in the back of the mandir (temple) without speaking, and would chant harinama (holy Names of God) on his mala (beads) very quietly and deeply. I noticed that he came on the weekends, usually once every month or two in regular way.

"After chanting there for many hours, he would always thank me when he left. His presence was profound and I became attracted to him. Since his devotions were solitary, I never spoke to disturb him. Sometimes I happened to notice that while he was chanting, his eyes would be full of tears and his voice would be choked up."

Jiva Goswami

Jiva Goswami (1513–1598) was the nephew of Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. He received initiation from Rupa Goswami and became the acharya (spiritual master) after Rupa and Sanatana. Jiva Goswami was a Sanskrit scholar par excellence. Some contemporary Sanskritists call him the greatest philosopher and scholar who ever lived. The youngest among the six Goswami followers of Lord Chaitanya, Jiva Goswami was also the most prolific writer. He wrote some twenty-five books, including the Sat-sandarbha, Gopala-champu, and Hari-namamrita-vyakaranam. His samadhi stands in the Radha-Damodara temple compound, in Vrindavana.

Blog: Is there sex after death?

by Karnamrita dasa

No, this isn’t a racy title to increase readership of my blogs. This is the name of a movie from 1972. While on an errand, Srila Prabhupada happened to see the ad for this movie on a billboard, and mentioned it in a Shrimad Bhagavatam class. He spoke about it with a mixture of wry humor and seriousness. As an ideal acharya (exemplary teacher), he took note of whatever he encountered, and by giving a Krishna conscious perspective, taught us to do the same in our lives. Prabhupada observed that since the mass of people are preoccupied with sex, they wonder if sex will continue in any afterlife. The implications are that if sex isn’t available there, then any existence after death mustn’t be a very desirable destination.

When I was growing up and attending grade school and college, it would seem that although learning was the supposed purpose of education, the mingling of the sexes seemed to mainly be what was on everyone’s mind. In my own life I can see practically that what we are absorbed in during youth becomes very ingrained, and if we build on this in adulthood, it is practically impossible to conceive of living without it. As the saying goes, “Old habits die hard.” The more, and longer, we think of or focus on something, the stronger its influence upon us. Thus the title of the movie is actually very telling.

Blog: Year of the Tongue

by Mitrasena dasa

Why not make 2012 the Year of the Tongue?


I had been asked to give a brief talk for New Year's Eve, "Something about what you've learned this year and resolutions for the next, whatever seems appropriate to you," offered Ramachandra.

I chose a verse from Bhagavad Gita describing temperance of speech. Sri Krishna advises that our speech should not cause distress to others, should be Truthful, Pleasing, Beneficial and one should recite from the Vedas regularly.

Priyam, pleasing speech, is sought after by everyone. If you can give a few kind words to someone, a compliment, or express appreciation, this will be remembered and cherished more than all the gifts received at Christmas. There is no cost, why not take advantage of this? Be open and lavish with praise. We are trying to develop good habits. These things take skill. Any skill, such as basketball or music, requires practice. You won't be perfect at every shot, but you must keep practicing. Eventually these become part of our nature.

The most challenging people to practice on are your close family members, your children, your parents, brothers, sisters, and your spouse. These are the most important people in your life, yet we feel that it is all right to vent our anger on them. We must also be kind to ourselves. Your inner dialog should also follow these principles. Adopting these habits will bring about a change for the better in your life.

"How can you practice satyam (truth), priyam (pleasing speech) and hitam (beneficial speech) when you're dealing with your kids?" She asked this in a joking tone as we waited in line for prasad. I had to lean closely and speak loudly to be heard over the other discussions.

Blog: Mushrooms or no mushrooms?

by Kurma dasa

I have never published a blog about mushrooms, but I am asked about them constantly. Since the Hare Krishna diet appears to be almost identical with many classic Buddhist vegetarian diets where mushrooms are used profusely, people usually presume that mushrooms would be acceptable.

And why are there no mushroom recipes in my books? The reason is that in the ancient culinary bhakti-yoga tradition to which I subscribe, mushrooms are not cooked. No Vishnu, Krishna or Rama (Vaishnavaite) temple kitchen will ever prepare them. They are considered unfit foods to prepare in sacred food offerings due to their fungal nature.

Yes, they are nutritious, and yes some Hare Krishna devotees will occasionally eat them. I eat them occasionally. The following exchange, originally about yeast, will shed some light:

Q: I was wondering about some of your recipes. Some of them have yeast in it. I was wondering if this is acceptable to be offered to Krishna. I thought yeast is a living organism, just like mushroom is. Please forgive my ignorance and help me understand this.

A: Thanks for your letter. Yeast is not a traditional ingredient in Vaishnava cookery, yet we do prepare and offer to Krishna fermented things like khamir poori, dosa, idli, jalebis etc. These are all fermented naturally, with the help of airborne yeasts.

Yes, yeast could be compared with mushrooms. However, it was not specifically banned by our founder Srila Prabhupada (like meat, fish, eggs, garlic, onion, alcohol are). When he first arrived from India, Prabhupada tasted western yeast-risen breads, but he said he found them dry and tasteless, and much preferred his hot, freshly cooked unleavened chapatis.

Prabhupada did not eat mushrooms, and recommended we (his students) don't. Most Hare Krishna devotees never touch them, though some do. I have seen devotees in Russia pick them from the forest and cook them. So why this apparent grey area?

Why the shaven heads, Indian clothes, and face paint?

With Ravindra-svarupa dasa

Ravindra-svarupa dasa (William H. Deadwyler, Ph.D.) gives some well-considered reasons for making spiritually-inspired wardrobe, hairstyle and makeup choices.

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura (1874–1936) was the spiritual master of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

He was a lifelong celibate and a powerful teacher of bhakti. By all historical accounts, he was extremely intelligent and excelled in math, astronomy, Sanskrit, and other languages. The University of Calcutta offered him a chair, but he declined so that he could dedicate his life to continuing the spiritual work of his father, Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati met with scholars, educators, and other leaders and wrote more than 108 essays and books, striving to present Bhakti as a theistic science. He established 64 temples, known as Gaudiya Maths, inside and outside of India.

He asked his disciple A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to go to the West to teach Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada went to New York in 1965 and carried on his spiritual master's mission on a grand scale.

Followers of Srila Prabhupada observe this day by fasting until noon, then feasting.

Naraka Chaturdasi : Monday, 12-11-2012

Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi of  the month of Kartik is known as Narak Chaturdashi. Narak Chaturdashi is also known as Narak Chaudas, Roop Chaudas, Roop Chaturdashi, Narak Chaturdashi or Naraka Pooja. It is believed that the god of death, Yamraj is worshipped on this day. In 2012, Narak Chaturdashi will be celebrated on 12th November, Monday.

Narak Chaturdashi is also known as Chotti Deepawali. It is celebrated a day before Deepawali by lightning a candle in the evening. Lord Yamraj is worshipped on this day to get freedom from death and attain good health. There are many mythological stories and scriptures explaining the importance of lightning the candle and worshipping Lord Yamraj on this day.

Naraka Chaturdashi Story

According to an ancient tale, a king named Ranti Deva was a religious and wise man. He was highly involved in religious works and service of mankind. At the time of his death messengers of Yamraj came to take his soul. The moment messengers stepped towards the king, he asked them that, “despite of not doing any evil deed throughout my life, why you all have come to take me to hell. Please tell me my sin due to which i am being taken to hell.” Hearing the compassionate voice of the King, the messengers told him, “once you let one priest go back hungry from your door, due to which you got hell.

On listening their reason, King asked them to grant him a year time. The messengers gave it a thought and increased his life for another 1 year. On the departure of the messengers the king visits the saints and tells them the entire story.

The saints tell the king to observe the fast on the Kartik Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi, feed the priests and apologise them for your mistake. This will give you relief from your sins. As per the rituals told by the priests he observed the fast and got relief from his sin. Since then this fast is observed on Kartik Chaturdashi to get freedom from going to hell.

According to another tale, Lord Krishna killed the demon, Narkasura on the Kartik Chaturdashi of Krishna Paksha and protected the gods and the saints from his wrath. He also freed 16000 girls from his captive home. People lighted the kingdom with lamps to celebrate the victory. Since that day Narak Chaturthi is celebrated in India.

Roop Chaturdashi

Narak Chaturthi is also very well known as Roop Chaturthi. Lord Krishna is worshipped on this day to get beautiful looks. According to an ancient tale, there was a man named Yogiraj  in Hirnagarbha Kingdom. Once he attempted to hold his own grave to please god and suffered a lot during his penance. He got bugs on his body and lice into his hair and eyebrows.

Seeing the adverse condition of his body he became sad. After a while Lord Narad visited him and asked Yogiraj the reason of his sadness. On which Yogiraj tells him, “I observed penance to please the god, but had to go through lot of sufferings. Why did it happen?” Listening to his sad voice, Lord Narad tell him that, “ you adopted the right path, but forgot to follow the body ethics, due to which you had to go through these problems.

Listening to Lord Narad, Yogiraj asks him the ethics of body. On which he replies, “that first of all observe fast on Kartik Krishna Paksha Chaturthi and worship the god to get a healthy and beautiful body. Then only you will be able to follow the body ethics told by me”. Yogiraj observed the fast as told by Lord Narad and gained back his health and beauty. Since then this day is knows as Roop Chaturdashi.

Naraka Chaturdashi Pooja

On the day of Narak Chaturdashi the observer should apply a paste made with wheat flour, oil and turmeric powder on his body and take a bath by sprinkling water with rough leaves. A special puja is performed on this day as per the ritual. First of all light a lamp of four mouth along with sixteen small diyas and worship the god with roli, kheer, jaggery, abeer, colours and flower. After that worship your work place and keep the diyas in different corners of the house. Then worship Lord Yamraj in the evening by lightning a lamp with proper rituals to get salvation.

Lord Krishna - "Always think of me"

Lord Krishna (chapter 18) -" Perfection of Renunciation" - "Always think of me, become my devotee, worship me and offer your homage unto me, thus you will come to me without fail. I promise you this because you are my very dear friend"

Lord Krishna- "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear"

Lord Krishna - "This confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not austere, or devoted, or engaged in devotional service, nor to those who is envious of Me."

Lord Krishna = "There is no servant is this world more dear to me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear"

Glimpse of the Gita

Some really interesting words from the Bhagavad gita:

• To Remain absorbed in Krishna Consciousness
• That Reactions to all actions are burned up when action performed is devoid of sense gratification thus renouncing all material desires, no fruitive action is performed.
• Engaging in devotional service to the lord and abandoning all attachments to results of actions, be satisfied of gain which comes of its own accord.
• To remain steady in both success and failure.
• That work performed should be un-attached to the 3 modes of material nature, ie.mode of goodness, passion and ignorance.
• Acts of sacrifice should never be given up and these should always be performed like - mind control, control over the hearing process, restrained sex life, charity, helping the needy, no meat eating, no alcohol, pranaayam etc.
• That Without sacrifice one cannot live happily on this planet or in this life, what then of the next?
• To Practice remaining in a state of shutting out all external sense objects.
• That Mind is said to be a friend of soul and his enemy as well,one who has conquered his mind, mind will remain his best friend and to such a person happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor all are same thus one remains neutral.

Greedy Humans!!!

I read somewhere that God gave equal life span to Humans, donkeys, dogs and Owl, It was to live 40 years to each, but then donkey whose life was meant to be a labour and carry goods on his back requested God to cut down his life by 50% to 20 years and on his request God agreed and that time greedy human asked god to transfer those 20 years in his span of life and increase it to 60 and to which God agreed and said to human "take this donkeys balance 20 years as you desire", then dog came forward and requested God that all his life he has to sit at the doorstep or in one corner of the house which is very painful and requested to God to cut his dog life to 50% ie.20 years and immediately the greedy human asked God to give him this balance 20 years of the dogs life and increase his life from 60 to 80 and to which God agreed and told the human "Take this dog life of 20 years as you desire", then Owl came forward and prayed to God that for his entire life of 40 years he cant sleep which is extremely painful and a punishment and hence requested to cut down his life span to 20 years and again the greedy human jumped forward and requested God to add this Owls life of 20 years in his 80 years life span and make it 100 years and as usual God agreed to this request also and said " Take this Owl life of 20 years as you desire". Thus the human life span which was without any pain and struggle for 40 years was added by 1st 20 years of donkey and hence from 40 to 60 all are struggling very hard, working very hard for survival and further 20 years of dog from 60 to 80 hence between 60 to 80 due to ill health and other health problems and old age, low energy one remains at home most of the time just waiting for his end to come soon and further 20 years of Owls life added and hence from 80 onwards one can hardly sleep, remains awake most of the time, no proper sleep, uneasy sleep, even if one is able to sleep its for a very short period.

Audio - Lord Rama kills Ravana

A dramatized excerpt from the epic : Lord Rama - valiant king of the world and incarnation of the Supreme Godhead, Krishna - tracks down and fatally shoots Ravana, who had kidnapped Rama's wife, in the great battle of Lanka.

First broadcast on the Nectar of Devotion audio magazine. Excerpted from the original one hour Padayatra Puppets production. We would like to thank Parasurama dasa of Padayatra Puppets for his kind permission to use this recording.

Written and Produced by Janardana Dasa & Dwarakadhisha Dasa.
Music : Composed and Performed by Dwarakadhisha Dasa.
Copyright © Padayatra Puppets 1996

Basic Premises

The presentation given in the Teachings section of Krishna.com rests upon these premises:

1. An absolute reality exists.

2. True success in life comes only by understanding reality and our place within it.

3. Science gives a limited picture of reality; abundant evidence suggests that part of reality exists beyond the reach of our senses and scientific instruments.

4. The scriptures of the world purport to reveal the spiritual aspect of reality, including God, the source of all existence.

5. God can reveal Himself to us and explain reality.

6. God primarily reveals Himself through scripture, and the scriptures known as the Vedas contain a vast amount of knowledge about God and reality.

7. Among them, the Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita provide the most focused explanation of God and reality.

8. Religion should be understood to mean, not faith, but our intrinsic nature and eternal relationship with God.

9. Discovering that relationship is the goal of life, and it is possible by following time-tested, scientific spiritual principles under the guidance of the Vedas and self-realized souls.


An absolute reality exists.

For any reasonable discussion to take place, those involved must agree on certain things that cannot be proven. Both science and religion rest on unproven assumptions, some agreeable to both, some not. Premise 1 is generally accepted by both. It states, to put it simply, that reality is what it is. Reality is an objective fact, independent of our subjective beliefs. The statement “Everyone has their own reality” is incorrect. There is one reality, and the scientific method is just one way of trying to comprehend that reality.

True success in life comes only by understanding reality and our place within it.

Because we are part of an objective reality that encompasses everything, for us to wonder where we fit in is natural. Our human nature drives us to pursue happiness and success, but how can we achieve these things without understanding reality? Not seeing the whole picture, we may be inviting harm to ourselves and others. The mere fact that happiness seems so elusive inspires mankind’s perennial search for the meaning of life.

Science gives a limited picture of reality; abundant evidence suggests that part of reality exists beyond the reach of our senses and scientific instruments.

Generally speaking, the scientific quest as we know it today seeks to explain all of reality in terms of fundamental elements and forces and the laws that govern them. According to science, reality is simply matter and energy. Despite this belief, however, scientists have yet to explain convincingly the most important part of reality: consciousness, or the subjective experience of conscious awareness.

Science hypothesizes that the brain generates consciousness, but the brain is simply a complex machine, executing huge numbers of operations at every moment. Even if a computer could be programmed to mimic human behavior, there is no reason to believe that it will ever be conscious.

Besides consciousness, another aspect of reality that seems to elude scientific investigation and explanation is the realm of the paranormal. Credible experiments by scientists at places like Princeton University have shown that people can do things with their minds that contradict the laws of physics. (For example, with their thoughts, test subjects have been able to influence the output of a computer that generates random numbers.) And many people claim to have had out-of-body experiences, witnessed apparitions, accurately foretold the future, and experienced a number of other things that science can’t explain—and therefore refuses to accept.

The world seems to consist of more than the pushes and pulls of sub-atomic particles. To fill in the picture, we need to go to another source.

The Reading Room

Looking for an overview of everything on Krishna.com, or for an article by your favorite Back to Godhead Magazine/Krishna.com author? Searching for historical articles written by previous generations of spiritual teachers? Speaking of Back to Godhead Magazine, want to search back issues or find out more about the magazine in general? See an assortment of Q and A on a huge variety of Krishna conscious topics?

The Science of Knowing God

Can the investigation of God through the method of Krishna consciousness really be called scientific?

God: The Evidence; The God Delusion; God: The Failed Hypothesis; The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Apparently, writing about God is the latest rage among scientists, both theistic and atheistic. Many of these authors have also been invited to speak to college crowds, and they are causing quite a stir. But is this really the best way to approach the question of God’s existence? Conventional science, particularly in its “hard” forms such as physics and biology, doesn't seem to offer the right tools and techniques with which to come up with a definitive answer. On the other hand, many religious approaches seem to preclude the rigorous application of reason and the opportunity for individual experimentation. Between these two less than satisfactory alternatives, the Vedic literature of ancient India offers what could be a promising third option. To satisfy ourselves that this is so, we’ll first have to look at why conventional science can’t get the job done, and then move on to understand how the spiritual science of the Vedic literature succeeds in this task without compromising what modern people like about science.

Two cardinal doctrines present major obstacles to conventional science as a way to know God. First is the doctrine of naturalism, the assumption that all natural phenomena have natural causes. (Natural in this context means empirically observable, or perceivable through the five senses.) This is a foundational assumption of scientific research, and its acceptance in effect rules out any reality beyond the reach of the senses.

That being said, there are somewhat softer interpretations of this doctrine. Some scientists distinguish between metaphysical and methodological naturalism. Metaphysical naturalism is the view, described above, that behind everything in the world is an empirical cause. According to this view, the sun rises because of the rotation of the earth, and certainly not because it is pulled along by an imperceptible entity riding a golden chariot. Methodological naturalism, however, merely limits how we study the world to empirical observations (things we can touch, see, feel, and so on), while not necessarily ruling out supernatural explanations for these observations. According to this view, a chariot could possibly pull the sun, but the only acceptable way to test this proposition would be to use telescopes and similar instruments. Thus, supernatural phenomena may exist, but supernatural means are not permitted as a way to verify them. Although this perspective is more accommodating, we’ll see below that it is still unnecessarily restrictive for one serious about investigating the existence of God.

The second hindrance is the doctrine of falsification. Popularized by the philosopher of science Karl Popper, this doctrine holds that for a statement to be considered scientific, one must be able to prove it false. In other words, if scientist A makes some claim but there is no way for scientist B to show that it is wrong, then the claim is considered unscientific. It can’t be tested, so it’s disregarded. An interesting consequence of accepting such a criterion for science, and one we’ll explore more fully later, is that it becomes impossible to prove anything. One is only able to disprove.

Nevertheless, such is the functioning of science under the doctrine of falsification. Science accepts a theory if it can be used to reliably explain and predict natural phenomena and if no data contradict it. If it is refuted at some point, then another theory is accepted, and so the cycle continues. While the mercurial knowledge produced from such an approach might be acceptable for other purposes, it is not a proper basis for understanding God.

Double Blinders

Why do these twin doctrines of conventional science, naturalism and falsification, become so problematic when applied to the study of the divine? Because they're unwarranted blinders. Let’s perform a thought experiment to find out how. Suppose vehement and gifted theists, peerless in their execution of conventional scientific investigation and consummate in their dedication to an omnipotent divine being, suddenly took over all the great research universities and institutes. Given decades of time, what is the farthest such God-fearing geniuses could take us? They could surely discredit every scientific theory ever proposed that did not include a rigorous conception of God. They could also propose elaborate models of their own that both centered on God and perfectly accorded with every piece of empirical data ever observed. But the million-dollar question is, Would they have proven the existence of God?

The answer is no. They would certainly have turned atheism into an unreasonable stance that no intelligent person could hope to justify. And they would have elaborated a comprehensive picture of the world as dependent on God in every way. But they would not have proven that God exists. Naturalism would prevent them from introducing data and evidence that transcend the five senses, and falsification would prevent them from establishing any kind of conclusive truth. Shackled by these ideological handcuffs of conventional science that limit it to disproving theories using natural data, they would never be able to produce positive evidence of a supernatural entity.

So where does that leave us, the spiritually inquisitive rationalists? If even in such an ideal scenario, conventional science could not give us the satisfaction of knowing that God exists, are we left with only blind faith in what the authorities tell us? Is there no way to employ rational methods of observation and experimentation to understand the Supreme? As it happens, the Vedic scriptures of ancient India provide us with just such an alternative.

How Free Are We?

The Vedic contribution to one of the central debates in Western philosophy.

Sam Surya goes to his city’s orphanage one day and makes a large donation. Elsewhere in town, Andy Andhakara robs a bank. What led these two to make such drastically different choices? Was it their own volition, or the force of some other factor? In other words, were their actions predetermined, or did Sam and Andy have free will?

These questions concern one of the pivotal debates in Western philosophy. Are human beings destined to follow a set course? Are we like children on an amusement park ride lets them steer right and left but inevitably takes them along a fixed track? Or are we free to desire and do as we like, our lives a blank slate upon which we may write anything and everything?

In this article we’ll take a brief look at how Western philosophy has addressed the problem of determinism versus free will, and then suggest how the Vedic literature can offer additional insight into this most elusive yet important issue.

Before we begin, let’s be clear about the term will. From a philosophical perspective, it is a nuanced concept that has undergone shifts in meaning over the years. Nevertheless, for all practical purposes it can be taken as synonymous with “action.” Hence the debate over determinism versus free will is essentially a quest to identify the cause of human behavior. Keeping this in mind should help keep you from getting lost in what might otherwise become a hazy jungle of abstract philosophical jargon.

Strict Determinism

One perspective on this debate is to say that Sam Surya was destined to donate and Andy Andhakara was destined to steal, and neither ever really had a say in the matter. This is the theory known as strict determinism. It holds that all human actions are the direct results of a sequence of causes and effects such that they are predetermined and can unfold in one and only one way. Thus, we do not actually play any part in determining our actions. Rather, they are caused by something beyond us. Western philosophers have generally been loath to embrace this view, and with good reason: strict determinism is contrary to both common experience and the norms of civilization. (The doctrine of the predestination of souls, espoused by St. Augustine in the fifth century and championed by the leaders of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, is one major exception.) Far from feeling forced into every action we take, we instinctively feel we can make choices in our lives. Therefore, the thought that we have no control whatsoever over what we do is repulsive. And the laws that govern society have meaning only if citizens can decide to follow them or not. For example, we would perhaps support punishing Andy Andhakara to send a message to the community that stealing is bad and others should not follow his example. But if citizens don’t have the power to decide to steal or not, then what’s the use of sending such a message? Therefore, strict determinism can be rejected as counterintuitive and highly impractical.

Categorical Free Will

Having rejected this extreme, let’s test out the other. As strict determinism tells us that Sam and Andy each had to act in a particular way, the opposite perspective tells us they could have acted in absolutely any way. This is the theory known as categorical free will. It holds that human actions are in theory completely unconstrained and can unfold in an infinite number of ways. Our behavior is not the preset product of any grand universal scheme, but is fluid and flexible. It essentially has no cause, for that would limit its course.

Unlike the theory of strict determinism, which has had few adherents among Western philosophers, the theory of categorical free will has been embraced by many, including the French philosopher Rene Descartes in the early seventeenth century and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the late eighteenth century. Indeed, it is a welcome relief from the stifling rigidity of determinism, and it resonates with Western notions of liberty and independence. But as other philosophers have pointed out (including those named in the next section), it goes too far. They argue that a phenomenon either has a cause (or causes) or is completely random; there is no third option. Therefore to say that human actions have no cause is to say that they are random. But observation of the world around us shows that this is clearly not the case. We don’t see mothers hugging their dirty laundry and throwing their babies into the washing machine. Rather, in place of such inexplicable chaos (the logical consequence of this theory) we observe order and meaning in human behavior. Hence, categorical free will must also be rejected as illogical and unrealistic.

Life and Afterlife: Does Modern Science Have it Right?

The intellectual community fails to even consider the validity of evidence of reincarnation.

I recently read one of the latest books by Ian Stevenson, entitled European Cases of the Reincarnation Type. Dr. Stevenson is a research professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, and he has been doing research on the subject of reincarnation for more than thirty years. Over this period, he has accumulated several hundred accounts of young children who consciously remember details of past lives, exhibit birthmarks or phobias connected with a former person’s death, or even speak fluently in languages with which they have had no prior contact.

Stevenson and his team have rigorously investigated and verified many of these accounts through interviews, historical record searches, and visits to the often-remote areas described by these children. And yet few people are familiar with his work, and even fewer scholars in conventional academic circles address it seriously. Why such indifference? What is it about the intellectual community that prevents it from embracing Stevenson’s research and the idea of reincarnation?

I’m a graduate of the Science, Technology and Society program at Stanford University, and this is not the first time I have thought about the nature of the modern scientific establishment and its relationship with mainstream culture. Among the public there is a perception that scientific inquiry is a dispassionate endeavor that uncovers value-neutral truths about reality. As a result, people are expected to regard scientific knowledge as belonging in a different category than knowledge from other sources, such as opinion, intuition, or scripture. This is justified on the grounds that science is supposedly free from the bias, prejudice, and blind faith that may characterize these other sources.

But this distinction is artificial. Science is far from the objective arbiter of truth it is commonly perceived to be; rather, it is routinely affected by all manner of subjective considerations. Not only these more general mundane influences, but a more profound spiritual one as well, have played a part in the low esteem with which scientists hold Stevenson’s body of work and the concept of reincarnation.

Tainted Perception

The effect of irrational factors on empirical scientific research has been discussed, most notably by Thomas S. Kuhn in his classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Among the issues he highlights that I view as bearing on reincarnation are the theory-laden nature of perception, the role of paradigms in scientific research, and the social nature of such research.

The first influence refers to the unconscious effect of existing attitudes and worldviews on what someone perceives. A popular notion is that scientists collect hard facts and then process them in a straightforward, rational way to come up with a theory. Stevenson points out, however, that “prior beliefs influence judgments about evidence; and they influence even more the primary observations that furnish the evidence.” A researcher’s underlying system of values unwittingly shapes the conclusions he or she comes to. What’s more, even the original facts themselves are subjective in that they may mean different things to different people. In this light, the image of the open-minded scientist transparently studying the world to extract an objective truth rings false. What a researcher believes before beginning an investigation necessarily affects what he or she ultimately discovers.

Kuhn cites an interesting psychology experiment as an example of this phenomenon of perceptual bias. In it, the experimenters asked their subjects to identify a series of playing cards that were shown to them in increasingly lengthy exposures. Mixed in with the normal deck, however, were some anomalous cards, such as a red six of spades and a black four of hearts. When the cards were shown in short flashes, almost all of the subjects correctly identified the normal cards but, without hesitation, misidentified the anomalous ones (i.e., they would identify a black four of hearts conventionally as either a black four of spades or a red four of hearts). As the exposure time increased, the subjects started to hesitate in identifying these anomalous cards, until, often quite suddenly, they were able to identify them correctly without difficulty. At first, the subjects fit the strange cards into one of the normal conceptual categories they had derived from experience. Only with an extremely exaggerated exposure time, perhaps forty times as long as that required to identify normal cards, were they able to correctly identify the anomalous cards. One is almost forced to conclude that, until the end, many of the subjects were actually “seeing” something different than what was actually before their eyes.

Navina-Syama Dasa

Navina-Syama Dasa (Navin Shyam Jani) grew up going to ISKCON temples, first in Cleveland, Ohio, and later in Laguna Beach, California. He became serious about spiritual life while studying at Stanford University, and after graduation he spent time in several North American temples and farm communities. Later, he traveled to India with his wife, Krishna Priya Devi Dasi, where he earned a Bhakti Shastri degree with High Honors from the Mayapur Institute of Higher Education. He ultimately found shelter at the feet of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, from whom he has taken first and second initiation.

Navina-Syama has a passion for Vedic culture. He is particularly interested in the ancient Indian art of spatial design, Vastu Veda, on which he has conducted research at the University of Florida and the University of California, Irvine, and for which he offers freelance consulting services through his website, VastuShyam.com.

His current plans are to move to New Vrindaban, West Virginia, where he will live with his wife and daughter, Varada Lila, in a custom eco-Vastu home, spending his days as an attorney in nearby Wheeling.

Bhakti: Life’s Highest Goal

In the stage of pure devotion, one can rightfully say, "I am Krishna's, and Krishna is mine."

Bhakti, devotional service to Lord Krishna, is the most powerful, pure, and exalted of all activities; it is the dynamic, variegated activity of the soul. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam Prahlada Maharaja lists nine kinds of devotional service: hearing about Krishna, chanting His names or speaking about Him, remembering Him, serving His lotus feet, worshiping Him, offering Him prayers, becoming His servant, becoming His friend, and surrendering everything to Him. When we do one or more of these activities with the intent to please Krishna, He comes closer to us and we come closer to Him.

Remembering Krishna

Each of these processes of devotional service is spiritually potent, and by performing one or more of them purely one can attain love of God, life’s highest goal. For example, let us consider the service of remembering Krishna.

The vast Vedic literature encompasses the four original Vedas (Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda) and their corollaries, including 108 primary Upanishads, 18 main Puranas, numerous Samhitas,the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and other works. The essence of the knowledge contained in this immense canon is the Bhagavad-gita.Vaishnava commentators have written that of the Bhagavad-gita’s eighteen chapters, the middle six are the essence. Of those six, Chapter 9 ("The Most Confidential Knowledge") is the essence. And of Chapter 9, the last text, 34—the very middle of the Gita—is the essence. Krishna begins that verse with the words man-mana: "Always think of Me." So, of all Krishna’s instructions, the instruction to always remember Him is the essence of the essence of the essence.

The potency of pure thoughts of Krishna is so great that simply by the power of remembering Him, Prahlada Maharaja, the emblem of one who always thinks of Krishna, was able to evoke the personal presence of the Lord (Krishna as Nrisimhadeva). The Lord then defeated the most formidable demon in the universe, Prahlada’s father, Hiranyakashipu. Because Prahlada was only five years old, his example shows that age is no impediment to performing devotional service. As long as one has the power to think, one can choose to think of Krishna.

Pure vs. Mixed Devotional Service

Pure devotion like Prahlada’s is free of selfish motives: The pure devotee's interest and the Lord’s are identical. But not all devotional service is pure. Service to God performed by those who are envious, proud, violent, and angry, and whose interests differ from the Lord’s, is considered to be in the mode of ignorance. Those who do devotional service in this mode often think they are the best devotees. Devotional service that’s motivated by the desire for fame, opulence, and material enjoyment, or service by those who think the Lord should fulfill their demands, is devotional service influenced by passion. And devotees acting in the mode of (material) goodness want to free themselves of the results of their actions—karma—by devotional service.

Even a pinch of personal interest means one’s devotion is mixed. Pure devotion is exhibited “when one's mind is at once attracted to hearing the transcendental name and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is residing in everyone's heart. Just as the water of the Ganges flows naturally down towards the ocean, such devotional ecstasy, uninterrupted by any material condition, flows towards the Supreme Lord.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.29.13) Pure devotees want no material or spiritual benefit from their service; without stopping, they serve the Lord and His devotees simply to please them.

Karuna Dharini Devi Dasi

Karuna Dharini Devi Dasi, a disciple of Virabahu Maharaja, practices Krishna consciousness in New Dwaraka, the temple community established by Srila Prabhupada in Los Angeles, California. She cooks for and attends to the temple's beautiful Radha-Krishna deities, Sri Sri Rukmini-Dwarakadisa.

Karuna Dharini has participated in ISKCON educational seminars to better understand the fields of  communications, teaching, and child protection. She facilitates and teaches classes on Srila Rupa Goswami's Nectar of Instruction and a course on Vaisnava Etiquette to women beginning their practice of Krishna consciousness.

Her husband is Jagadishananda Dasa, disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He serves as mail-order accountant for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. They have one daughter, Gaura Sundari, who sometimes helps new devotees to become more involved in temple functions by inviting them into her home and introducing them to the benefits of the Krishna conscious way of life.

As a child, six of Karuna's family members worked for LA newspapers in reporting, editorial, composing, typesetting, photography and graphic arts. Karuna spent Saturday mornings playing in the editorial rooms of the newspaper. She believes she was influenced to see written communication as highly valuable through the minds of her family members. She studied comparativ

Karuna is glad to explain and distribute the transcendental news in the viable and beautiful form of Srila Prabhupada's books. She has distributed Srila Prabhupada's books to people from all over the world.

The Mission of Book Distribution

Srila Prabhupada inherited the mission to distribute books on Krishna consciousness from his spiritual master, and passed it on to his disciples.

“I felt disillusioned with performing the Catholic rituals I grew up with,” explains Christina Camacho. “I abandoned them and went looking at various Eastern doctrines. I finished my master’s degree in counseling and took a trip to Japan to study Buddhism, but it didn’t touch my heart.”

In 1976, Christina, now known as Pavaka Dasi, bought a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is from a devotee at the Los Angeles airport. She read it and was inspired to order the rest of Prabhupada’s books, one after another, through the mail.

“Only through Srila Prabhupada’s books," Pavaka says, "was I able to become centered on myself as the soul and take up the process of devotional service. For ten years I didn’t spend much time at a temple, but Prabhupada became my guru through the purports in his books.”

Now Pavaka acts as coordinator for the life membership program at the ISKCON temple in Los Angeles. She got that first book because a devotee of Krishna went to a public place and sifted through hundreds of passersby to find a person who showed interest. Those who embrace the uplifting concepts found in Srila Prabhupada’s books often like to share his books with others.

Formerly the Sanskrit literature was not easily available, even in India. Some well-to-do people had copies in their homes, but the books were more or less the treasure of the brahmanas, the priestly class, and often kept within the temple. Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had a more liberal attitude and encouraged his disciples to print and distribute the Vaishnava scriptures generously. Srila Prabhupada carefully translated and wrote commentary on these transcendental scriptures and took up the task of distributing them on a grand scale.

Srila Prabhupada gave his full blessings to disciples who accepted the mission to distribute the books he translated.

Bhrigupati Dasa, a full-time distributor of Srila Prabhupada’s books for thirty-five years, explains, “On more than one occasion, Srila Prabhupada told us that preachers are very quickly recognized by Krishna. That's our objective, so why not take shelter of a particularly effective way to achieve it? I very much like the experience of Krishna's using me as His instrument to engage the people I meet in devotional service.”

Srila Prabhupada Initiates Book Distribution

With powerful determination, Srila Prabhupada acted on his guru's ideas for printing and distributing books. Before departing for America in 1965, with little financial support he began translating and publishing the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a monumental work about God and His devotees. He carried a trunkload of the first three volumes with him as he crossed the Atlantic on an ocean freighter to America. Alone in his early days in the West, he was not shy about selling the three-volume set to anyone who showed genuine interest.

In 1972, the Macmillan Company published Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is. It received acclaim from scholars at many leading universities and quickly gained popularity. It can now be read in over one hundred languages.


Soon after, Krishna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead was printed in Tokyo. Known in ISKCON as "the Krishna book," it is Prabhupada's summary study of the Tenth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which describes Krishna's activities on this planet fifty centuries ago. When Prabhupada was presented the first carton of the Krishna book, one book was missing—the disciple delivering the books from Japan had sold one to a businessman on the plane.

“Ah, this is very auspicious," Prabhupada said. "The first book has already been distributed.”

He told his disciples to sell the rest of the books, not even keeping one for himself.

But his disciples were unsure how to sell the books. Then one day two devotees got the idea to trade a book for a tank of gasoline. The station attendant readily agreed, and they became convinced that the books could be sold in other ways.

Devotees tried selling the books at concerts and found interested customers. It was exciting for them to share Krishna in this way. They sold the book by talking about the philosophy it contained and felt deeply connected to their spiritual master by doing so. News spread from temple to temple that distributing books was a great way to please Srila Prabhupada. The excitement grew. Many locations for book distribution were attempted—shopping malls, parking lots, fairs, airports, and so on.

There were few vegetarians then, and terms such as yoga, karma, and guru were new. Americans were pledging themselves to rapid material advancement through science and technology. Yet Srila Prabhupada’s books, which denounce the godless life of materialistic sense gratification, poured forth like a sudden flood from an unlimited ocean.

The Evolution of Consciousness

Although Darwin was right in proposing a process of evolution, he was wrong about what was evolving.

Listen along:

Consciousness, or awareness in the simplest sense, is not a characteristic of humans alone. Take dogs, for instance. Not only can they sense their surroundings (through smells, sounds, sights, tastes, etc.), but they can also recognize places, odors, flavors, and sounds. One might argue that even machines can sense with detectors, so what differentiates them from a dog? A dog can experience pain, fear, anger, comfort, excitement, and so on, whereas a nonliving machine cannot. All mammals, vertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, aquatics, and so forth, are conscious, even though what they sense may differ for individual species. Dolphins and bats navigate with sonar; snakes and some nocturnal animals see with infrared vision; sharks and some other fish sense electricity. No matter how varied their sensations, they all share the faculty of consciousness.


What about insects? If you block an insect’s path, it will turn around. Or if it senses danger, it may run to safety or bite as an act of self-defense. So the instinct of survival is present. But this alone does not suffice as a differentiating attribute of conscious, because even a robot could be programmed to avoid certain dangers. But a robot does not have desire, whereas the insect desires to live. It desires to survive.


Are microorganisms—bacteria and single-celled creatures—conscious? They can move in response to stimuli such as light and chemical changes in their environment. Now, even a robot could reposition itself just as a bacterium does in response to external stimulus, but the difference here is that the robot is itself only a nonliving system controlled by a living person, either manually or through code written by a programmer. But who controls the motions of a bacterium? Who decides how a bacterium will rotate its flagellum?


Instinct is the one-word answer that comes to mind. Some geneticists say that the organism's inborn patterns of behavior, or its unlearned and inherited fixed-action patterns, are encoded in its DNA. In this sense, the organism, a biochemical system embedded with DNA code, is just the biological counterpart of the robot, a silicon-based machine programmed with a computer language. But just as no robot, computer, or machine can function without a living person's commanding it, the bacterium, a biochemical machine, cannot function without a living being controlling it.


Now the skeptic may challenge, "The bacterium is living by itself. There is no need for a separate living being to control it." This rebuttal is based on a mechanistic theory that reduces the life of an organism to its internal biochemical reactions. Srila Prabhupada responded by pointing out that if life is just a result of chemical reactions, then scientists should be able to create it in the laboratory, but no scientist can claim to have created even one living cell.


Atma: The Source of Life


Every organism is alive only because of the soul dwelling within it. To the skeptical, belief in a soul sounds superstitious. But occurrences documented by medical practitioners suggest its validity. In his book Light and Death, cardiologist Dr. Michael Sabom reports the surgery of Pam Reynolds, a patient suffering from an aneurysm (a sack-like widening of an artery) in her brain stem that was on the verge of rupture, which could be fatal. Since the aneurysm was at the base of Pam's brain, her surgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler, director of Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, had to drain all the blood from her brain to flatten the brainwaves and stop her heartbeat and breathing. Pam was clinically dead during the surgery. After the successful operation, however, she could recollect exact conversations among the surgeons and accurate descriptions of medical instruments (only uncovered after the patient is anaesthetized) used in her surgery, during which she was supposed to be unconscious. During the operation, Pam could see her body from above; she was floating outside her body, so to speak. This and several other documented near-death and out-of-body accounts suggest the existence of the soul, the spirit particle, as a metaphysical being that is the actual source of consciousness.


According to the Bhagavad-gita, a spirit soul resides within each living organism. The spirit soul, or atma in Sanskrit, is the source of consciousness. The spirit soul enters a body at conception and departs at death, transmigrating to a new body arranged by the laws of nature according to the soul's desires and past deeds. During this cycle of birth and death (or reincarnation), the soul can travel to lower or higher forms of life. But the further down the atma travels in the ladder of life forms, the more dormant the consciousness, and thus the less the symptoms of consciousness are exhibited. So even though each bacterium is possessed by a spirit soul, the soul's presence is not as evident as it is in mammals and other advanced species.

Maha Navami : Tuesday, 23-10-2012

Maha Navami : Tuesday, 23-10-2012

Mahanavami is celebrated on Ashwin Shukla Paksha Navami,the ninth and the final day of Durga  Navratri.On this day,the goddess Durga is worshipped in the form of Aparajita,by offering her sugarcane stalks.Mahishasura Mardhini Puja is also observed on Mahanavami,when the Goddess Durga is decorated and worshipped in the form of Mahishasuramardhini alankaram.
Matangi Dasamahavidya too, is worshipped on Mahanavami as a part of Dasamahavidya pooja in Navratri. Mukteshwari is the Goddess to be worshipped on ninth day of Navratri as part of Saptamatrika and Ashtamatrika puja.As per Hindu beliefs,Durga pooja on Maha Navami is equivalent to the Durga pooja performed on all nine days of Durga Navaratri.

Goddess Siddhidatri puja is also performed on Mahanavami day,by the Navadurga Shakteya sampradaaya people.In Bihar,Kashmir,Punjab,Uttar Pradesh,Haryana and Bihar; Kanya Puja is performed,when nine young virgin girls(kumarika),are worshipped,who symbolically represent the nine forms of the goddess Durga.Their feet are washed,kumkumis applied on the forehead and they are feasted and given gifts and new clothes by the worshippers.

On Mahanavami day, in South Indian states especially in Kerala, Ayudha(arms) Pooja is performed.Tools, instruments,muiscal instruments and books are worshipped.The next day of Mahanavami is observed as Vijaya Dashami.In some rural places, Janthu bali (animal sacrifices) are performed on Mahanavami daywhich is against the Hindu culture and society.

Suvasini Puja, Kanya Puja, Dampati Puja, etc. are observed on Mahanavami day in Navratri. In some places of Telangana region of  Andhra Pradesh, Bathukamma festival is celebrated.On this final day Saraswati Visarjan(immersion)or Saraswati Udyapan is done.It also concludes the Devi Triratra vrata (3-day or 3-night Devi vrata).