Beyond the Gross and Subtle Bodies

In the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Chapter, verse 33 it is stated:

yatreme sad-asad-rūpe
pratiṣiddhe sva-saṁvidā
avidyayātmani kṛte
iti tad brahma-darśanam

"Whenever a person experiences, by self-realization, that both the gross and subtle bodies have nothing to do with the pure self, at that time he sees himself as well as the Lord."

So just see how important it is for the aspiring transcendentalist to be firmly convinced that he is not his gross body or his subtle body, which consists of the mind, intelligence, and false ego. This transcendental conviction gives him the all-important and essential access to realize his true self as an eternal spirit-soul servant of God and to realize the Supreme Self, as his eternal master, Lord Sri Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Karma and Free Will

Please explain what is karma and what is free will. When we consider these words it seems that they are contradictory. But the shastras or scriptures speak of these two principles existing simultaneously .

Sandeep

Answer: Make Your Choice

Karma means that for every action there is a reaction. When you do something good, you are rewarded. And when you do something bad, you are punished. The law of karma acts upon those who are serving the Lord's illusory energy here in this material existence and binds one to cycle through an endless repetition of births and deaths in the material world. Those who opt to serve the Lord's spiritual energy are freed from the good and bad reactions of this material existence and enter into the Lord's transcendental abode at the time of death to live an eternal life, full of knowledge and full of bliss.

Free will means that you can decide whether you want to serve the Lord's spiritual energy to become free from karma's clutches and attain the spiritual world, or whether you want to serve the Lord's material energy and remain in karma's clutches in the endless cycle of birth, death, old age, and disease.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Sparrow Who Conquered the Ocean

Image
In his purport to Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 24 Srila Prabhupada wonderfully teaches us the power of determinations by telling us the story of the little sparrow who conquered the ocean: "As for determination, one should follow the example of the sparrow who lost her eggs in the waves of the ocean. A sparrow laid her eggs on the shore of the ocean, but the big ocean carried away the eggs on its waves. The sparrow became very upset and asked the ocean to return her eggs. The ocean did not even consider her appeal. So the sparrow decided to dry up the ocean. She began to pick out the water in her small beak, and everyone laughed at her for her impossible determination. The news of her activity spread, and at last Garuda, the gigantic bird carrier of Lord Visnu, heard it. He became compassionate toward his small sister bird, and so he came to see the sparrow. Garuda was very pleased by the determination of the small sparrow, and he promised to help. Thus Garuda at once asked t
Read more

Heart Melting Reunion with Amarendra and Gayatri

Image
On Friday 26 June 2015 I was blessed with the greatest good fortune of meeting with two of the dearest devotees of my entire life, His Grace Amarendra Prabhu and his good wife, Srimati Gayatri devi dasi. I am eternally indebted to these great souls for how much they helped me in my spiritual life when I was a young devotee. When I was young brahmacari monk in 1973 I joined with the two of them in Gainesville, Florida. We were a three person preaching center, and they were just like a mother and father to me. I had so many wonderful Krishna conscious experiences in their association that I can hardly begin to describe them here. But at least may it suffice for me to say for now that Gayatri taught me what it means to be a soft-hearted devotee of the Lord and she gave me my first cooking lesson, teaching me how to make cauliflower pakoras, and Amarendra taught me the art of how to preach strongly, intelligently, and coolly to defeat opposing arguments. Recently Gayatri almost died. But
Read more

Misguided Fools Say that Masturbation is Healthy

Image
Foolish modern day materialists recommend masturbation as follows: "Masturbation is a common activity. It’s a natural and safe way to explore your body, feel pleasure, and release built-up sexual tension. It occurs among people of all backgrounds, genders, and races. Despite the myths, there are actually no physically harmful side effects of masturbation." They are wrong. To get a proper understanding on this this topic read the question and answer section below. Answers According to the Vedic Wisdom Question: What are the Ill Effects of Masturbation? Since you answered questions related to understanding the real need of sex in a human being's life, so I also request you to please enlighten us with the knowledge about semen conservation, it's importance, and the consequences of frequently releasing it thorough sex or masturbation. Since today most of the youth are indulged in mansturbation and they think it to be good in comparison to doing sex with some female for
Read more