Question: It is recommended that one who chants with offenses should continue chanting to become free from those offenses. Does this mean that one should continue chanting with offenses or with nāmābhāsa? Answer: No. Why should one chant with offenses? Chant the name and avoid offenses. And why chant nāmābhāsa? Just chant the name. I
Question: Kṛṣṇa’s friends in Goloka are called nitya-mukta-jīvas. Can nitya-mukta-jīvas be placed under antaranga śakti? Answer: No. Jīva is taṭastha śakti, both nitya-mukta as well as nitya-baddha. Moreover, Kṛṣṇa’s friends in Goloka are not nitya-mukta-jīvas. They are nitya-mukta parṣadas. * Question: Since we hear that Paramātmā is a provisional or temporary aspect of the Absolute, accompanying the jīva in
Question: When the guru is situated in a particular rasa and his or her disciples have affinity for another rasa, how is such a paradoxical situation dealt with, and how does the disciple receive specific guidance for his or her budding bhāva? Answer: When it comes to bhāva, prema, or rasa, there are two views
Question: You wrote that if one’s guru falls down, then one should accept another guru. However, some disciples of such a controversial guru argue that it is wrong to give up one’s guru because the guru should never be given up. They also cite the famous Gītā verse, api cet su-durācāro, which says that even
Question: A dīkṣā-guru is accepted by taking a mantra in a ceremony, but how is a śikṣā-guru accepted? Could any Vaiṣṇava, from whom we hear lectures, be our śikṣā-guru? Shouldn’t the śikṣā-guru also accept a person as a śikṣā disciple? If yes, how does this happen in today’s world, where all lectures are available online
Question: I would like your educated opinion about the necessity of a “living” i.e. physically present guru. There are a lot of strong opinions on this topic that are very often one-sided and pushed with an agenda. I am mainly interested to know whether it is legitimate to follow a guru’s teachings without ever having
Question: What happens at the time of conception? How does an ātmā choose a sperm or an egg cell? Does each sperm cell have an ātmā? Answer: There are certain mysteries in this universe, which are not known to human beings. Karma, birth, and death are three such mysteries. These mysteries are under the control
