Turning Selfishness into Selflessness

Because we chose to be selfish we were given a place where we could indulge in selfishness. But while such indulgence can give a quick short term sense of happiness, it cannot give any deep, long term sense of happiness. Therefore in the ultimate issue no one is satisfied by selfishness. For true lasting happiness one must master the art of selflessness. The difficulty in mastering this art is that we too often mistake extended selfishness to be selflessness and thus do not attain true selflessness. We think that by serving our nation we are being selfless, but we serve our nation merely as an extension of our false ego. Because I am a member of this nation, therefore this nation is great, and I want to serve it. This a round about way of again merely serving myself. It is only when we reach the point of serving the root cause of all existence, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that we become truly selfless by truly serving everyone.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Why Does God Have an Image?

We know that God is in everyone's heart, we practice to worship deities ritually.

Some questions:
- Why God has image?
- Why God is Krishna?
- Is image important for us to remember God? Can't we just aware that God is in our heart?
- Why we need to worship deities?

Please help me to solve my confusion.

your servant,

Ana

Answer: Formlessness Cannot Manifest Forms

Since God the origin of all existence and since within existence we can perceive that there are umpteen billions and billions of forms, we can understand that God must also have an image or form because formlessness cannot manifest forms.

That God has a form or image is confirmed as follows in the Brahma samhita:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna, who has a body of eternity, knowledge and bliss. He has no beginning, for He is the beginning of everything. He is the cause of all causes."
--Brahma-saṁhitā (5.1)

God has been defined by the great sage Parasara Muni as that person who possesses the greatest quantity of power, beauty, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. If we analyze all of the great persons throughout history, we will see that no one can equal or excel Krishna in possession of the above named opulences. Therefore according to the test of Parasara Muni we can rightfully conclude that Krishna is God.

If you want to be aware of God within your heart, kindly note that He is present in your heart with a transcendental form. He is not formless or impersonal within your heart.

The qualification for entering into the kingdom of God at the time of death is that we must have developed a taste for serving Him. Therefore out of His unlimited kindness Krishna manifests His divine presence in the form of the deity so that we can develop a taste for serving Him here in His deity form and thus be qualified to be transferred back to home, back to Godhead at the time of death.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari