Qualifying to See Krishna’s Beauty
I go to the temple regularly and also chant God’s names, but still I cannot enjoy God’s beauty. How can we enjoy His beauty? – K. Jaisankar
Our reply: What you mean by “enjoy His beauty” is unclear, but if there are deities at the temple you are going to, then God is there, and He is certainly beautiful. Perhaps the problem is that you don’t yet have the eyes to see His beauty. A wonderful prayer says, “I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Syamasundara, Krishna Himself, with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.” (Brahma-samhita 5.38) One has to be qualified to see God, what to speak of enjoy His beauty. He does not reveal Himself to everyone on demand. First one must become qualified, which means developing love of God and the exclusive desire to serve Him with love. The true devotee wants to attend to God’s enjoyment, not enjoy God.
Without becoming free from material desire, it is not possible to see and truly appreciate God’s beauty. As stated in the prayer above, His attributes are inconceivable. First we have to chant His names, engage in His service, and purify our consciousness. Then gradually, in His own time, Krishna will reveal Himself to us.
Be patient. Take the time to chant with the intention to serve God, to share His holy name with others, and to understand who He is and what He wants. Then you will develop the qualification to get to know Him better. And to know Him is to serve Him with love.
Aliens Among Us
I want to know, who is God? Some people say that aliens came from the outer world and modified us, changed our thinking capability and made us human beings. If that is true, why did they do that?
Are there really gods or an advanced species that can play with our minds?
What is the purpose of our life? Why are we here? – Jingyansu Choudhury
Our reply: This planet is an alien place for all of us because we are from the spiritual planets; we don’t belong here, where there is birth and death, disease and old age. We are eternal parts of the Supreme Person. We are the same in quality as God eternal, full of knowledge and bliss but we are minute and He is unlimited. From Himself, God emanated all of us, desiring to eternally enjoy with us in all kinds of relationships. But we decided we wanted to be in the supreme position, so He sent us here to the material world to pretend to be God and attempt to enjoy without Him. We keep trying, but with only dissatisfaction as the result.
All relationships here are temporary and difficult, promising love but ending with frustration. We are meant to finish our business here and get out of this situation. We souls in the human form of life are more intelligent than animals and are therefore responsible for our actions. If we are always thinking of what we can get for ourselves, we suffer bad karmic reactions. If we instead inquire about our real position as God’s loving servant, we can get help from His representatives, who teach us how to rectify our mentality and actions.
Our original consciousness is to know that we are the eternal servants of God. That consciousness is now polluted by contact with our material situation. We can learn the arts and science of transcendental activities meant to please Him, called bhakti-yoga. The word yoga means “to connect,” and bhakti is devotional service. Modern times are tough on our consciousness, with so many distractions. Therefore, the Lord Himself recommends that we chant the Hare Krishna mantra to keep connected with Him all the time. The vibration is identical to Krishna, since He is absolute. If we go deeply into the chanting, we can revive our original Krishna consciousness.
God, Krishna, is foreign to us only because our spiritual vision is clouded. Try the chanting, and read Krishna’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gîta. They are practical, doable advice on how to transcend this material world and return to Krishna in our original home.
Why Chant?
I want to know what is beyond life and death and why we chant God’s name. What proof do we have for any of this? – Prasad Renuk
Our reply: The human form of life is the jumping off point for the spiritual platform, and it begins by enquiry into the Absolute Truth. If we don’t get involved in the progression from material to spiritual, we will return to this temporary material existence. There is life after death, which can be a life free of old age, disease, and death. The Vedic literature gives direction on what we have to do to become transcendental to the selfish, envious material consciousness that keeps us here. We have to change our consciousness to Krishna consciousness, or God consciousness, by glorifying Him and remembering Him and our position as His servant.
Chanting God’s name is the recommended process to revive our lost pure consciousness. So we encourage everyone to chant Krishna’s holy names all the time. The proof of the effectiveness of the chanting can be seen in the expansion of the chanting all over the world since Prabhupada introduced it outside India in 1965. Nothing can compare to the amazing life-changing effects of chanting this mantra anywhere at anytime. Regardless of nationality or other bodily designation, people’s hearts are becoming cleansed, and their natural love of God is awakening. Please try chanting and experience it yourself. Chanting is the seed of the science of self-realization, and you need to experiment to see the result.
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