KRSNA'S GODHOOD
How we can say that Krsna is the Lord? What did He do for the people?
(N. Subhashini)
Our Reply: Krsna is described as the Lord in Bhagavad-gita. "There is no truth superior to Me." (7.7) "I am the source of all material and spiritual worlds. Everything emanates from Me." (10.8)
Brahma-samhita (5.l) states: "Krsna is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual form. He is the beginning of everything but has no beginning Himself. He is the cause of all causes."
At Kurukshetra, Krsna showed Arjuna and others a form of the entire universe in one place to demonstrate that He is God.
As a child, Krsna lifted Govardhana Hill with the small finger of His left hand to show Indra that He is in fact God and not any ordinary child.
As for what He did for others, Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita for the spiritual enlightenment of the people. He is seated in everyone's heart and gives the people remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness. He periodically comes to this world and performs pastimes to attract the people to the spiritual world so that they will not have to continue suffering in this miserable world, characterized by disease, old age, death, and repeated rebirth. Actually, whatever benefit people receive is bestowed by Krsna alone.
WHAT MAKES A BRAHMANA?
Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 3, states that one who is fully conversant in Vedic wisdom is a brahmana. Does that mean you may belong to any caste but once you have Vedic knowledge you are a brahmana?
(Khemraj Sewdass)
Our Reply: Possession of Vedic knowledge is part of the brahmanical qualification, but there is more to it. "The symptoms of a brahmana are control of the mind, control of the senses, austerity and penance, cleanliness, satisfaction, forgiveness, simplicity, knowledge, mercy, truthfulness, and complete surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead" (Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.11.21).
And Narada Muni states in Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.11.35), "If one shows the symptoms of being a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, and sudra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification."
Replies to the questions were written by Krsna-krpa Dasa.
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