Sticking to Duty in Spite of All Opposition

The devotee of the Lord sometimes meets with very vicious opposition in his attempt the bless the world with the sublime mercy of the Krishna. Even though he selflessly and unceasingly acts for the welfare of all living beings, he is sometimes tortured and sometimes even killed because of his attempt to enlighten the world with Krishna consciousness. But still because of the unlimited compassion which resides in the core of his heart he never stops giving love to others even though they repay his love with hate.

The Most Merciful Srila Prabhupada

The Most Merciful Srila Prabhupada

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: Where Were We Before the Creation?

Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada

In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that there was never a time when we did not exit, and He further informs us that in future also we will be present. We also know from the Vedic literature that before the creation there was only Narayana and that after the annihilation of this material world only Narayana will be present.

My question is: Where were we before the creation and where will be the conditioned and liberated souls after the annihilation of this material world?

Regards
Saswata Adhikari

Answer: In Vaikuntha or the Body of Mahavishnu

There is no creation of the spiritual world because it is eternally existing. Similarly there is no creation of the spirit-souls because they are also eternal. This eternal existence is joyfully experienced by the liberated souls who have always and will always live with the Lord in His most amazing transcendental abode associating with Him in unlimited varieties of loving relationships.

On the other hand, this material world. in which we are currently situated, has eternally gone through cycles of creation and destruction, just as every 24 hours we experience day and night. The conditioned spirit-souls are former liberated souls who rejected the supremacy of the Lord and were thus obliged to enter into this material existence.

Before the beginning of each creation, only Lord Narayana exists here in His form known as Mahavishnu. All the conditioned spirit-souls are at that time existing in a dormant state within the body of Mahavishnu. When He creates the material universes by the mere act of exhaling, all the conditioned spirit-souls come out and take different forms according to their karma left over from the previous creation. At the time of universal destruction Mahavishnu destroys everything simply by one inhalation sucking all of the conditioned spirit-souls back into His transcendental body putting them back into a dormant state where they remain until the next creation. Again, at that time only Narayana or Mahavishnu exists in the material world until the next period of manifestation.

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

Who is this Krishna?

Image
Krishna is not a myth, nor is He an ordinary historical personality. He is the Supreme All-Attractive Personality of Godhead. He is the oldest of all while simultaneously maintaining the form of a 16 year old youth. He is all-attractive because he exceeds everyone in all of existence by possessing unlimitedly all the qualities that are attractive namely power, beautify, renunciation, knowledge, wealth, and fame. There is no one who equals or excels Him in the possession of these attractive qualities. This is why is accepted by all enlightened spiritualists as being God, the original source of all existence. The perfection of our existence is to re-establish our long forgotten loving relationships with Him. There Is No One More Amazing Than Krishna Video for the Day Don't Be a Hypocrite Answers According to Vedic Wisdom Question: Was Krishna a Real Person? Was Krishna a real person who lived on Earth? Ray Galindo Answer: He Was and He Still Is My Dear Ray, Pleas
Read more