Transcendental Nectar of Sadhu-Sanga

by

Sushen Krishna Das, Ph.D.

Bhaktivedanta Institute

www.mahaprabhu.net/harmonizer

jaga.suresh@gmail.com

Mob: +91-9748906907 

This is a reply to this message in the group.

Dear Harprit Singh:

God has given all living being a free will. Some scientists are doing research to know the difference between ‘man and machine.’ There is a significant difference between a living being and a machine. All living beings have their own free will. Without free will we are as good as dead matter. We can take the example of a robot which is made by human being. It may function similar to that of a human body but it can’t act as living body does. This is because the soul within the living body has the free will but robot has no free will within. That is why robot can’t love someone, can’t have a friendship with someone and many such things which a living being can do. Because soul has the free will and the soul is present within the body, the activities of living body violate the laws of physics and chemistry. However a machine follows the laws of physics and chemistry. This is the difference between ‘man and machine.’

Having free will is not enough to give us satisfaction. Our satisfaction depends on how we utilize our free will. For example our nation has given us some freedom. But if we misutilize our freedom and do stealing and other activities by assuming that I am free to do anything then we will be punished. Our freedom will be checked. Hence, freedom must be utilized properly.

We can’t force someone to love us. Love is voluntary. Hence God is also not forcing us to love Him. God doesn’t seek happiness with dead toys such as robots. He doesn’t want to make us like robots. God seeks happiness by the loving interaction with most intelligent living beings (His dear devotees) who have voluntarily surrendered to Him completely. When a soul recognizes from his own experiences from the repeated cycles of births and deaths and understands that one’s only safety is at the lotus feed of God, then He rewards the individual with His supreme mercy. In Bhagavad-gita 7.19 Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna says: bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma su-durlabhah, “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.”

Until and unless one make a decision God doesn’t know what will be the outcome. This is because God has given us a free will. But once an individual makes a decision then immediately God knows what will be the outcome of that decision. The following verse and purport of Bhagavad-gita 4.11 will be helpful to understand it more clearly.

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

TRANSLATION: All of them--as they surrender unto Me--I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha.

In purport Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada says: “Everyone is searching for Krsna in the different aspects of His manifestations. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Krsna is only fully realized by His pure devotees. Consequently, Krsna is the object of everyone's realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one's desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Krsna reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Krsna as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Krsna rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him in person and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving service.

As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Krsna helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not admitted into the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance to act on the material planets.

For those who are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as the yajnesvara; and those who are yogis seeking mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependent for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Krsna consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam:

akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih

tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param

"Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Krsna consciousness." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.10)”

Below is the link for an audio lecture (MP3) by Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. about: Whether God knows about the future or not, why there are so many miseries in this world if God is there and many such questions on religion and science recorded on 27^th September 2007.

Listen || Download

You can find many audio lectures of Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. on various topics on science and religion here.

To participate in the online lectures under holy association of Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja please see the details here.

 

Thanking you.

Sincerely,

Sushen Krishna das