Questions & Answers
Philosophy Questions & Answers

God’s Personal and Impersonal Features – Part 1

The following is an excerpt from a discussion following a seminar in Terre de Ciel: Part I Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji: We accept some kind of God who is the Creator and Manager, but is He a personal being or an impersonal manifestation? What do you say? Reply: He is certainly impersonal because he is everywhere.

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Philosophy Questions & Answers

Questions on Sankhya and Buddhism

Question:  I have studied Sankhya very briefly as part of another course I took at the Hindu University and I have been interested in it ever since. Your notes on the topic are very clear, but I have some questions. Lesson 12 says: “The appearance of an effect is only its passage from potentiality to

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Questions & Answers Shastra

The Essence of Philosophy

Question:  I heard that Sukadeva Gosvami was in his last life the parrot of Krishna, and in this life first he was a Brahman-realized person. How to understand this, if he’s an eternal associate of the Lord? Is this lila? Answer: Try to understand the essence of the philosophy. These stories are there to explain the

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Questions & Answers

Different Types of Yoga

Question: What is the difference between the yoga which Krishna describes in the Gita or which Lord Kapila describes in the Bhagavatam and the process given by Patanjali and this sampradaya from Lord Siva? Answer: It is the same thing, but Lord Kapila is speaking from the devotional point of view. Patanjali has nothing to

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Questions & Answers

First śraddhā or sādhu-saṅga?

Question:  I am confused about a fundamental aspect of the bhakti-krama, or the gradual development of devotion, as discussed in Rūpa Gosvāmin’s Bhaktirasāmṛtasindhu, as well as the commentaries on this, e.g. Jīva Gosvāmin’s Durgamasaṅgamanī and Viśvanātha Cakravartin’s Mādhuryakādambinī. My question is – in the development of śuddha-bhakti, what comes first, śraddhā or sādhu-saṅga?  I am

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Questions & Answers

Observation of the Yugas

Question: I have a new observation to share with you regarding the yugas.  SB 1.4.14 says that the Vyasa began his work when the Second Age was on the verge of beginning. SB 1.4.20 says that he began by creating the Rg and other three Vedas.  SB 1.4.23 indicates that the further development of literature

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Questions & Answers

Jiva Gosvami’s Sandarbhas

Question 1): I am highly appreciating the depth of your work on the Sandarbhas and very much honoring Sri Jiva for his organization of the Bhagavat Siddhanta. Thank you so much for this offering. A few quick questions:

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