Questions & Answers
Questions & Answers

Types of Worship, Impersonalism, Universal Form

Question: Why would a Vaiṣṇava Upaniṣad, like Gopāla Tāpanī Upaniṣad, recommend that one meditate on the concept “I am Gopāla” or “I am He”? This is a little confusing to me. How do we understand such statements in śāstra? Answer: Śastra is for all. But not everything in it is meant for everyone. It is like a

Read More
Questions & Answers

Sadness and Material Attachment

Question: I have been struggling for some time now with having a purpose. I am still not sure whether I believe in God because I don’t feel like it helps even if God exists. The world is filled with so much horror and suffering. For a billion years animals have been tearing each other to pieces

Read More
Questions & Answers

Vaiṣṇava Attitude toward Lord Śiva

Question: Is there any pūjā or any kind of prayers for a family that has converted from Vaiṣṇava to Śaivite earlier? Answer: There is no pūjā for that. The only solution is to convert back to Vaiṣṇavism. If they remain Śaivites, then no pūjā will help. Question: Also what are the effects of such conversion? Answer: If they convert

Read More
Questions & Answers

Vedic Cosmology, Golden Age

The Universe of the Purāṇas Question: Could you please shed light on how to reconcile puranic cosmology as described in the Purāṇas with that of Jyotiṣa, which is called the eye of the Vedas and which matches modern cosmology? I’ve heard answers that our senses are imperfect and hence we cannot grasp the message but this,

Read More
Questions & Answers

Free Will or Forced to Act?

Question: There are different stages of existence. One is when we have no knowledge. Here we have no control over our mind—this is māyā and we are in the material world. Then in the second stage, we have knowledge. Depending on how deep our knowledge saṁskāra is we have the capacity for control. Then when

Read More
Questions & Answers

The Purpose of Prayer

QUESTION:   The more I seek to get closer to God, the more I find myself asking God for less and having less desires.  The more I find myself asking God for less, the more I question the purpose of prayer and how the world prays to Him. Am I correct in saying that it

Read More
Gaudiya Philosophy Questions & Answers

Vaikuṇṭha-Fall in Grammar

Question: In his Hari Nāmamṛta Vyākaraṇa, in one of his vṛtti commentaries, Jīva Gosvāmī analyzes the declension of words “vaikuṇṭha-dhvas” and “vaikuṇṭha-sras”, which both mean “one who falls down from Vaikuṇṭha”. One may, of course, argue that the words refer to Jaya and Vijaya. But if they were indeed the only souls who fell down from

Read More