PEOPLE WHO DOUBT there's life after death sometimes say, "No one has ever come back to tell us about it."
But what if someone claimed to have come back? Would we believe him? What kind of proof would we want?
Trying to prove that Krsna is God presents a similar challenge.
Someone might ask, "If Krsna is God, why doesn't He come and prove it?"
Well, there's evidence that He does come. For example, when He came five thousand years ago, millions of eyewitnesses saw Him, He did things only God can do, and Vyasadeva, a reporter with impeccable credentials, kept track of it all.
Vyasadeva recorded not only Krsna's matchless deeds but also the testimonials of the greatest spiritual authorities of the time, a time when large numbers of people pursued spiritual realization with every ounce of their being. The consensus of these saints and sages masters of spiritual learning and discipline was that Krsna is God.
People today tend to doubt the credibility of Vyasadeva's writings, thanks in large part to a smear campaign started by the British during their takeover of India. Yet despite their efforts, the light of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and other books from Vyasadeva's prolific pen keeps shining. As Devamrta Swami shows in this issue, great Western thinkers who received the Vedas without prejudice were astounded. Vyasadeva's writings were superior to anything they had ever come across.
But what about the "stories" Vyasadeva wrote? Was there really a boy named Krsna who lifted mountains and killed monsters? Scholars for whom Vyasadeva's "mythology" seems incompatible with his erudite philosophical works might propose that Vyasadeva didn't write both things. But that argument fails if we look at just one example of his work: Srimad-Bhagavatam. There Vyasadeva has written both profound philosophy and as the climax, no less charming stories about Krsna.
The great leaders of India's spiritual lineages since Krsna's time have concluded that a great philosopher like Vyasadeva wouldn't frivolously insert fanciful stories into his treatise on the Absolute Truth. Vyasadeva's gravity alone is solid evidence that his stories of Krsna's exploits tell of actual events.
Like many nineteenth-century scholars, anyone who reads the Vedic literature with an open mind is sure to be awed. But readers need help, too. Traditionally, a student of the Vedas gets guidance from a self-realized person coming in a line of authorized teachers. Four main lines have directed India's spiritual culture for hundreds of years, and each of them asserts that Krsna, or His expansion Visnu, is God.
I find it disturbing to read media coverage of Krsna conscious events that refers to devotees as worshipers of "the god Krsna." For the average person in the West, the writer might as well be saying we worship "the god Zeus." Why would anyone take seriously a group of people who have arbitrarily chosen to worship one god out of a whole stable of contenders?
But our choice is far from arbitrary. It's founded in the Vedic scriptures, the credibility of saints of respected spiritual lines, and the realized conviction, persuasive writings, and pure character of Krsna's emissary His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
– Nagaraja Dasa