Sometimes, a wife may ask someone, “Please pray for my sick husband”. We don’t usually take the time to contemplate this kind of statement, or to understand what it really means, and instead, we just try to say or do something to pacify the distressed person. Depending on what kind of empathy we have, we
Question: Are there a precise number of souls at the beginning of creation, or do the souls multiply? Answer: Do you mean to ask, at the beginning of this particular creation? This is not the first creation but the latest one. Creation follows dissolution, and then it repeats. The cycle of creation and dissolution has
Question: Who are the ācāryas we take as final authorities to settle differing opinions? Answer: Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the propounder of our sampradāya. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the ultimate authority. But He did not write any philosophical works, as is seen in the case of the propounders of other sampradāyas, such as Śrī Rāmānujācārya. However, he personally instructed
Question: I am of the opinion that politics and religion should be separate. One should not mix them while working for the government. Is it wrong to have such an opinion? Answer: Wrong from whose point of view? Politics is called rājanīti—the principles followed by a king for administering his kingdom. The king or ruler
Question: My understanding is that the commentaries to the Brahma-vimohana-līlā are used by the Gosvāmīs to show how Kṛṣṇa expands into Nārāyaṇa and other Viṣṇu forms. Apart from SB 1.3.28—kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, is this conclusion, that Kṛṣṇa is the source of all other Viṣṇu forms, based purely on Śrīmad Bhāgavata? My observations from the
Question: In present times, other cultural literature is deemed as mythology by the general and intellectual masses. These include Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Greek, Roman, Japanese, Chinese, Norse, and other literature. While I would like to believe that Hindu philosophy is true, I wonder about other literature and cultures. There has to be one truth; consequently,
Recently I received a few emails from devotees, inquiring if my Gurudeva said that Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Advaita Ācarya could not grant mādhurya-bhāva or mañjarī-bhāva. It seems that one of my satīrthas (the Sanskrit word used for a person who has the same guru as oneself, commonly translated as “godbrother”) posted a conversation between
