Bowing Down

In the Vedic culture bowing down is part of one's regular daily life. Is a way of showing great respect. One regularly bows down to one's superiors such as one's parents and one's spiritual master. Also upon entering and leaving the temple one bows down to the Lord. Outside of the circle of devotees we nowadays rarely see this bowing down. So this morning here in Japan I was pleased to see that in this country this custom of bowing down to offer respect is still going on. We had to go to the Japan Airlines customer service desk to get our boarding passes reprinted. When we were finished and were walking away from the counter the two Japanese ladies who had serviced us both bowed down. Now if we can just get everyone to bow down to Krishna the entire planet will become non-different from the spiritual world.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Devotees Bow Down to Srila Prabhupada

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Why Does Krishna Give Pain to Us?

I understood that we are responsible for our presence in the material world. But why must Krishna employ very painful treatment such as death, old age, disease etc so that finally we are convinced that we are His servants? Why not a milder treatment?

Krishna has programmed the material world so subtly that even if we slightly engage in sense gratification, we are immediately bound. Are such rules just for the benefit of conditional souls, so that when everyone are aware of this, they don't create disturbance in the material world?

very humbly and patiently waiting for your reply!

Kishan

Answer: Krishna Gives Pleasure. We Create Pain.

You have understood correctly that we are responsible for our presence in this material world. After all, it was we who chose to leave Krishna's association because of a desire to be God ourselves. But you have wrongly concluded that Krishna employs painful treatment to convince us that we are His servants. To revive our memory of our original identity He comes here and delivers the message of the Bhagavad-gita. And to make it even more attractive for us He blesses us with bliss by displaying His transcendental Vrindavan pastimes.

The material world is given to the living beings in accordance with their desire to enjoy separately from the Lord. What they want is what they get. It is not that Krishna wants the souls in this world to become bound up within the modes of material nature. His only desire is that they should be released. It is they who have bound themselves up tightly within the modes of nature. Krishna personally comes again and again to deliver them. And He also acts through the agency of the bona fide spiritual master to deliver the fallen, conditioned souls.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari