Is a Devotee of Krishna a Muslim?

Presently on our around-the-world lecture tour we are staying in Shah Alam, a city in the Muslim country of Malaysia. Naturally while here in a country full of Mosques and Muslims I consider the relationship between Islam and Krishna consciousness. According to Wikipedia, "Islam" means voluntary submission to the will of God and the one who does so is a Muslim. If we strictly accept these definitions, a Krishna conscious person or for that matter anyone else who voluntarily surrenders to God's will would also be considered to be a Muslim.

So why is there so much strife in the world over religious designations? The difficulty is that we have divided religion into this ism and that ism. Religion is one, to fully surrender to the will of God. Whether we describe religion in Arabic as Islam or in Sanskrit as Dharma, the same principle of complete surrender to the will of God remains the same. Quarreling over whether one should practice Dharma or Islam is meaningless because in essence they are the same thing. Instead of fighting and killing each other over these designations we should get serious about developing the saintly qualities recommended in all of the scriptures. We should stop killing innocent creatures and start loving all living beings as God's children.

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: Is Each of Us Important to the Lord?

Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Is each and everyone of us important to the Lord?
How do I control the mind?
I feel as if I fail everyday in pleasing the Lord. Will he forgive me?
When we feel pain, does the Lord care?
What is the purpose of my being here?

Thank you
S.C.

Answer: Every Soul is a Dear Child of God

Here are the answers to your questions:

Just as every child is very dear to the parents, every living being is very, very dear to the Lord.

Control your mind by always remembering Krishna.

Krishna will forgive millions of years of sinful activities if we fully surrender to Him. But it's not that we can go on knowingly committing sinful activities and expect to be forgiven. One who sincerely desires forgiveness will strictly follow the instructions of the Lord as He gives in the Bhagavad-gita.

Krishna is very unhappy that we are suffering so much here in this material world. This is why He personally comes to deliver us and sends His representatives also to deliver us.

There is no reason to be here. It was your foolish mistake to give up the Lord's service. Now your only thought should be how to qualify yourself to return to His kingdom as soon as possible by complete surrender at His lotus feet.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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