Revival of Vedic Culture
In the last 5,000 years since the beginning of the Kali Yuga (the Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy) many, many civilizations have come and gone. Before that there was period of 3,772,000 years during which one civilization, the Vedic civilization, flourished throughout the earth bestowing peace and prosperity upon all. Now, by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Who advented Himself in 1486 and by the divine mercy of His most empowered representative, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that Vedic civilization is being revived all of the world. You are welcome to join us in this most ecstatic spiritual revolution for the benefit of all living beings on this planet.
Your first step is to revolutionize your own consciousness by awakening your dormant Krishna consciousness. The next step is to spread Krishna consciousness to others as far as possible. In this way you will be doing the greatest good for yourself and the highest welfare work for all others. You will experience unlimited happiness, and you will be empowered to give unlimited happiness to everyone else also. There is no greeting feeling than this. Why not join us today?
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
My questions are:
1) What is religion and what is faith?
2) Is Krishna Consciousness a faith or a religion?
3) How many forms of religion exist?
Your humble servant
Religion is generally taken to be a kind of faith that develops according to time and circumstances. Just like someone may I say that I am member of the Christian religion, the Islamic religion, etc. But that is not the real meaning of religion.
The English word "religion" comes from the Latin word "religio", which means "reverence." Religio is a combination of the Latin "re", which means "again" and "ligare", which means to reconnect (as in the English word "ligament). So the actual meaning of "religion" is to reconnect with God, the source of our existence.
Just as we reconnect with another human being through love, the reconnecting process with God is through loving service to Him. This reconnecting process is completely transcendental to any conception of this religion or that religion. Thus, real religion is to completely surrender ourselves unto the Supreme Person. It is completely transcendental to this faith or that faith. Therefore Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear."
--Bhagavad-gita 18.66
Krishna is not telling us to abandon religion. He is telling us how we can fully embrace real religion by rejecting all pseudo-religion that is masquerading as religion and fully surrendering ourselves to Him.
Krishna consciousness is actual religion because it is teaching us simply to surrender to the Supreme Person. It is not a kind of faith. A Krishna conscious person recognizes the validity of all the different names for God. He does not say that the Supreme Being can only be known as Krishna.
Just as there is only one sun in the sky although it has hundreds of different names according to different languages, actual religion is one, to become a lover of God, whether this universal science is taught in Vedic terms, Christian terms, or Islamic terms.
The final test if someone is actually religious is that they are no longer attracted by any type of material sense gratification and that they have become completely endowed with all saintly qualities. One does not become religious by adopting this label or that label and condemning all those who have not accepted the same label. One becomes actually religious by abandoning the labels and fully giving oneself to the Supreme Person, Krishna, or whatever authorized scriptural name one chooses to address Him.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Your first step is to revolutionize your own consciousness by awakening your dormant Krishna consciousness. The next step is to spread Krishna consciousness to others as far as possible. In this way you will be doing the greatest good for yourself and the highest welfare work for all others. You will experience unlimited happiness, and you will be empowered to give unlimited happiness to everyone else also. There is no greeting feeling than this. Why not join us today?
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
Answers According to the Vedic Version:
Question: Religion and Faith...
I think you are doing a very good work just like Srila Prabhupada. Somebody asked me some questions and I was unable to answer them. Could you please help me?My questions are:
1) What is religion and what is faith?
2) Is Krishna Consciousness a faith or a religion?
3) How many forms of religion exist?
Your humble servant
Answer: Real Religion is Beyond this Faith or that Faith...
It is nice that you are appreciating my humble attempt to push forward Krishna consciousness all over the world. But please try to understand in this connection that I can take no credit for what I am doing. Whatever I am accomplishing is all by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. If I have any credit, it is simply that I am faithfully carrying out the instructions I received from Srila Prabhupada.Religion is generally taken to be a kind of faith that develops according to time and circumstances. Just like someone may I say that I am member of the Christian religion, the Islamic religion, etc. But that is not the real meaning of religion.
The English word "religion" comes from the Latin word "religio", which means "reverence." Religio is a combination of the Latin "re", which means "again" and "ligare", which means to reconnect (as in the English word "ligament). So the actual meaning of "religion" is to reconnect with God, the source of our existence.
Just as we reconnect with another human being through love, the reconnecting process with God is through loving service to Him. This reconnecting process is completely transcendental to any conception of this religion or that religion. Thus, real religion is to completely surrender ourselves unto the Supreme Person. It is completely transcendental to this faith or that faith. Therefore Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita:
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear."
--Bhagavad-gita 18.66
Krishna is not telling us to abandon religion. He is telling us how we can fully embrace real religion by rejecting all pseudo-religion that is masquerading as religion and fully surrendering ourselves to Him.
Krishna consciousness is actual religion because it is teaching us simply to surrender to the Supreme Person. It is not a kind of faith. A Krishna conscious person recognizes the validity of all the different names for God. He does not say that the Supreme Being can only be known as Krishna.
Just as there is only one sun in the sky although it has hundreds of different names according to different languages, actual religion is one, to become a lover of God, whether this universal science is taught in Vedic terms, Christian terms, or Islamic terms.
The final test if someone is actually religious is that they are no longer attracted by any type of material sense gratification and that they have become completely endowed with all saintly qualities. One does not become religious by adopting this label or that label and condemning all those who have not accepted the same label. One becomes actually religious by abandoning the labels and fully giving oneself to the Supreme Person, Krishna, or whatever authorized scriptural name one chooses to address Him.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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