Why Wear Tilaka?

At a home preaching program here in Riga, Latvia a man from the audience wanted to know what are the meanings of the twelve tilaka markings which Vaisnavas decorate their bodies with. He said he had been trying to find the answer to this question for the last seven years. It was then that I noticed that he was not wearing tilaka.

Sometimes we may think that we need to get all the detailed answers regarding the science of bhakti before we start practicing it. But this attitude will slow down our progress. The serious practitioner of the self-realization science simply faithfully follows the orders of Krishna and his spiritual master, and by his faith in their instructions he becomes highly realized in all the conclusions of the Vedic scriptures. He joyfully wears tilaka because it helps him and others who see him to be reminded of Krishna. He feels connected with the supreme source of all existence by applying tilaka, especially the tilaka on his forehead. He pleases his spiritual master by wearing tilaka, and by pleasing his spiritual master he makes rapid progress on the path of bhakti. Krishna personally manifests Himself in the twelve markings of tilaka applied on the devotee's body. So it is a great purification and protection for the devotee to mark his body with tilaka in the twelve places.

And by the way, in answer to the man's question, the twelve tilaka markings are named according to the months of the year as mentioned in the Vaisnava almanac. Wearing the twelve markings of tilaka means that the devotee will be blessed with Krishna consciousness throughout the entire year. Here's the breakdown taken from chapter seven of Srila Prabhupada's book "Teachings of Lord Caitanya":

1. Kesava--November
2. Narayana--December
3. Madhava--January
4. Govinda--February
5. Vishnu--March
6. Madhusudana--April
7. Trivikrama--May
8. Vamana--June
9. Sridhara--July
10. Hrsiskesa--August
11. Padmanabha--September
12. Damodar--October

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How Did God Come into Existence?

You have beautifully put forward that God is the source of all existence in your reply to a query. It may sound very silly, but the question that arises in my head is, "How did God come into existence?"

Everything has to have a source? If it exists, it has to have a beginning. Also, if it has an end, there has to be something beyond it. If the universe is created by God, and it exists, then there has to be something beyond it.

Your reader

Answer: He is Eternally Self-Manifested

You have asked how God came into existence. Since there was no time that God did not exist, there is no question of how God came into existence. He is eternally existing, manifesting Himself from Himself, fulfilling His desire to enjoy. Because God means the cause of all causes, if there was a cause of existence other than Himself, that cause would be God, not Him. Therefore God by definition cannot have a cause other than Himself.

Since existence is going on eternally it does not have a beginning or an end. Something which has either a beginning or an end is not eternal.

There is no end to the existence of God and of the unlimited living beings that He is manifesting from Himself for the purpose of enjoying a loving relationship with them.

Because there is an unlimited expanse of universes within this material world, this particular universe in which we are situated is compared to a mustard seed in a bag of mustard seeds. Beyond our particular universe there are millions and billions of universes which constitute this material world. And beyond this material world, which is the ¼ portion of the spiritual world, there is the vast unlimited spiritual sky. If you will surrender to Krishna, you will enter into that transcendental kingdom upon your departure from your present material body.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari