Ask a Hare Krsna a question

  • Thread starter Thread starter reb108
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
PietroPaolo said:
Is Jesus Christ uniquely God or one of many gods? You say “for me” in the above quote, is your view standard among Hare Krsnas?
Click to expand...
We say, uniquely God. However, whereas the Christian view limits God to a Holy Trinity, the Hare Krishna theology has this same multi-God view, but the Vedas present more diversity. I don’t have a problem with this. “With God all things are possible.”
 
reb108 said:
I lived in as a full time monk in a full time community for 5 years. Haven’t heard of that book.
Click to expand...
Life of PI is fiction and the movie came out a few months ago. I’m going to contradict myself here, but wiki gives a good summary of what the movie was about but probably won’t help you answer my question. Although this part comes close:
Pi is raised Hindu and vegetarian, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and starts to follow all three religions as he “just wants to love God.”
Click to expand...
A fiend and I were talking about the movie so it was on my mind.

edit:
Just looking now and I will have to read it. Is the movie any good???
Click to expand...
I liked it and I liked as much of the book I read before I lost track of it :o. Books are always better. I’m finding that there are many threads in my life right now and they seem to be weaving themselves together in an interesting way. Life of Pi is one of those threads. If I listed of the “threads” and described the connections I think I would sound crazy.

Thanks for your answers.

(BTW I still remember how the mantra was sung by the Hare Krishnas on the Mall.)
 
Are the events of the Bhagavad Gita viewed as historical? Did Krishna actually incarnate on this earth? How long ago did that happen?

I recently visited the large Ganesh Hindu temple in NYC (I have some Hindu relatives and ancestry), found it very interesting. 👍 Missed abhishekam but saw arati.
 
reb108 said:
We say, uniquely God. However, whereas the Christian view limits God to a Holy Trinity, the Hare Krishna theology has this same multi-God view, but the Vedas present more diversity. I don’t have a problem with this. “With God all things are possible.”
Click to expand...
Does the multi-god view of the Hare Krishna theology maintain that there is only one G-d in distinct but non-separate persons, as does the trinitarian view of G-d?
 
reb108 said:
Definition of PANTHEISM
1 : a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe
2: the worship of all gods of different creeds, cults, or peoples indifferently; also : toleration of worship of all gods (as at certain periods of the Roman empire)

God is certainly the author of nature and can remind of Him…“but a spark of my splendor.” There is only one, uncreated loving God. But the Lord has many servants.
Click to expand...
Is Krishna God?
 
**I served in the Honolulu Temple for over two years, among the pujaris, managing somehow to teach in public school also. I truly don’t know how I did it; I was the only one working ‘outside.’ Began in Boston with HK, moved to Hawaii, and stayed with it until converting in 2010. Could write two books on what I have observed, one a kind of sociological, cultural take, the other the deep philosophical and spiritual differences. In fact, not reconciliable, and I can prove this, but do not want to appear confrontational even though chiming in seemed appropriate and necessary.

I came at this from many angles, chanted 16 rounds a day, rising at 3:15 am to serve. I was determined to take this to the limit, so to speak - and chanted 16 rounds a day for many years. As you can see, it didn’t ultimately ‘take,’ at least with me.

There are many many beautiful aspects to Indian culture: food, music, art, people, and variegated spiritual offerings and approaches. Though I spent most of my time with HK, was initiated at the highest levels, and spent lots of time listening to traveling Indian gurus, I did spend time, at other times in my life, with other aspects of Indian thought, including Self-Realization Fellowship. When I meditated using kriya, I did indeed see lights. I went through many intellectually global changes to arrive at where I am now, where my spirituality is fully and single pointedly engaged, and more humbly so.

There are several angles I simply won’t bring up here or even hint at, concerning American or indeed western cultural vulnerability over the last 40 years.

Making the decision to STAY Hare Krishna isn’t one you even need to think about, until the day you realize you are beginning to think about it.

After all is said and done: I am positive I felt as you do now for an extended period of time, in fact, many years, but that changed. It fell away from me as the truth emerged. There is something solid about Catholicism, and Christ.

Please go ahead and answer questions; I won’t be back into this thread. If any one wants, they can go search my past posts which detail my experiences, written closer to the time of conversion. I think they are still around on the forums.**
 
reb108 said:
We say, uniquely God. However, whereas the Christian view limits God to a Holy Trinity, the Hare Krishna theology has this same multi-God view, but the Vedas present more diversity. I don’t have a problem with this. “With God all things are possible.”
Click to expand...
Holy trinity is not limiting God. It is fullness of truth about God. It is not multi God view. Three persons in God. Shares common substance. Father , unkowable to human , but through christ (son - word of god- Logos) he revealed himself to us. Holy spirit is spirit of God proceeds from father and son , third person in trinity. Spirit of God is in each and everything in this universe …“For your imperishable spirit is in everything” wisdom 12:1.Hope this video will help you to understand trinity.

youtube.com/watch?v=2KSx6nhUJvo&feature=share
 
reb108 said:
Yes, Hare Krishna’s are vegetarians (no meat, fish, or eggs). The thing is to be free from our sins; past and present. As Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska writes about in her “Diary,” God is so merciful and as you know, His “fountains of mercy” have manifested themselves in the Catholic tradition in numerous places and ways. I think any sincere seeker will throw themselves at the feet of the Lord and ask for His mercy, His forgiveness, His blessings. We can’t undo the past. Big and small mistakes riddle our lives. Divine mercy forgives.
Click to expand...
Why don’t you spend some time learning about the Catholic Faith, seems you agree with some of it. God Bless, Memaw
 
Bruised_Reed said:
Life of PI is fiction and the movie came out a few months ago. I’m going to contradict myself here, but wiki gives a good summary of what the movie was about but probably won’t help you answer my question. Although this part comes close:

A fiend and I were talking about the movie so it was on my mind.

edit:
I liked it and I liked as much of the book I read before I lost track of it :o. Books are always better. I’m finding that there are many threads in my life right now and they seem to be weaving themselves together in an interesting way. Life of Pi is one of those threads. If I listed of the “threads” and described the connections I think I would sound crazy.

Thanks for your answers.

(BTW I still remember how the mantra was sung by the Hare Krishnas on the Mall.)
Click to expand...
I am going to watch the movie tonight. Thanks for that. The mantra is simply three names of God that are chanted on beads or sung, just like you experienced: Krishna, Rama, and Hare.
 
LivingWaters7 said:
Are the events of the Bhagavad Gita viewed as historical? Did Krishna actually incarnate on this earth? How long ago did that happen?

I recently visited the large Ganesh Hindu temple in NYC (I have some Hindu relatives and ancestry), found it very interesting. 👍 Missed abhishekam but saw arati.
Click to expand...
Yes, 5000 years ago Krishna divinely appeared in Vrindavan, India. The events of the Bhagavad-gita are viewed as historical. All of our temples are Radha-Krishna temples or Gaura-Nitai temples. There are no Hare Krishna Ganesh temples. In the five years that I lived as a full-time monk, we never had a Ganesh ceremony or specific holy day for Ganesh. But Ganesh, as you know, is very popular in India and Krishna devotees salute Him. The art depicting Ganesh is often very attractive. In some of our larger temples, there might be a Ganesh festival sponsored by the Hindu community. I would think so, but I never saw this happen.
 
Jesus Christ teaches He is the only way to God and the only path to salvation (cf. John 14:6). Further, He clearly taught the existence of Gehenna or Hell (cf. Matt 23:23 et al). You would disagree with both these teachings, correct?

An aside. For interfaith dialog to have any point, we must charitably but clearly speak to one another. You seem to be trying to agree with the Church through equivocation, which only serves to confuse matters. For example, if you say you agree with the above teachings of Christ, but believe Hell to be suffering in another life on Earth or something then you are equivocating on the word Hell (i.e. you don’t mean the same thing Christ did, you don’t really agree with Him). Or if you say you agree that Christ is the only path to salvation, but believe that Christ is also known as other gods in Indian culture, then again you are not agreeing but equivocating. You came here seeking to answer questions, please do so clearly - we’d like to understand what you believe.

God bless.
 
meltzerboy said:
Does the multi-god view of the Hare Krishna theology maintain that there is only one G-d in distinct but non-separate persons, as does the trinitarian view of G-d?
Click to expand...
For example, in the book I am now reading, “Diary” by Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, it is clear that God exists as three distinct personalities, but are in fact equal or one. God can be compared to the original candle and from this divine candle, other candles by divine will manifest, a different but non-different Divinity. So we have God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; different but non-different. This original candle is called Krishna (Krsna) and simply means all-attractive.
 
Nandarani said:
** Please go ahead and answer questions; I won’t be back into this thread. If any one wants, they can go search my past posts which detail my experiences, written closer to the time of conversion. I think they are still around on the forums.**
Click to expand...
Dear Nandarani, Please do not feel you are intruding. Krishna and Catholicism is a fascinating and rewarding subject. My warmest regards. And yes, the Catholic religion is very nice.
 
jerry_joseph said:
Holy trinity is not limiting God. It is fullness of truth about God. It is not multi God view. Three persons in God. Shares common substance. Father , unknowable to human , but through Christ (son - word of god- Logos) he revealed himself to us. Holy spirit is spirit of God proceeds from father and son , third person in trinity. Spirit of God is in each and everything in this universe …“For your imperishable spirit is in everything” wisdom 12:1.Hope this video will help you to understand trinity.

youtube.com/watch?v=2KSx6nhUJvo&feature=share
Click to expand...
First, thank you very much for the video. I have bookmarked it. I am sorry you don’t like the "multi-God view. Spiritually speaking, “multi” doesn’t necessarily detract from oneness and I use the word in that sense.
 
Memaw said:
Why don’t you spend some time learning about the Catholic Faith, seems you agree with some of it. God Bless, Memaw
Click to expand...
Thank you for you kind blessings and words of encouragement and good advice.
 
reb108 said:
Yes, 5000 years ago Krishna divinely appeared in Vrindavan, India. The events of the Bhagavad-gita are viewed as historical.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks, that’s very interesting.

Are there historical evidences (in books, articles that I could read) that point to the historicity of the Bhagavad Gita, and/or Krishna’s incarnation? I’d definitely be interested in reading that (I’m in a “seeking” religious mode now, and have been exploring the faith of some of my family/ancestors).
All of our temples are Radha-Krishna temples or Gaura-Nitai temples. There are no Hare Krishna Ganesh temples. In the five years that I lived as a full-time monk, we never had a Ganesh ceremony or specific holy day for Ganesh. But Ganesh, as you know, is very popular in India and Krishna devotees salute Him. The art depicting Ganesh is often very attractive. In some of our larger temples, there might be a Ganesh festival sponsored by the Hindu community. I would think so, but I never saw this happen.
Click to expand...
Yes I know that it isn’t an ISKCON related temple, just thought I’d mention it (if you’re interested, here’s a short video showing the NYC Ganesh temple (I find it very peaceful) and a Ganesh festival recently).

So the focus in ISKCON is on Krishna, and not other deities?

Also, what is the Hare Krishna view on what happens after death? If it’s reincarnation, then what’s the ultimate “end” for the soul?

What is the relationship between Vishnu and Krishna? From what I understand, “mainstream Hindus” view Krishna as an incarnation of Vishnu.

Thanks!
 
PietroPaolo said:
Jesus Christ teaches He is the only way to God and the only path to salvation (cf. John 14:6). Further, He clearly taught the existence of Gehenna or Hell (cf. Matt 23:23 et al). You would disagree with both these teachings, correct? God bless.
Click to expand...
Since hell is taught by both religions, who am I to say it doesn’t exist? I accept the existence of hell. As far as Jesus Christ being the only way to God, at this point I am not prepared to agree or disagree. I am not here as an official spokesperson of any “one-way.” But I see more to agree upon to disagree with. Christianity has the Holy Trinity and Mary. Orthodox Hinduism has Krishna, Chaitanya, Nityananda and Radha.
 
reb108 said:
Yes, and Krishna (Krsna) is a Holy Name of God, as is Christos. God is non-different from His Holy Name. Krishna is also called Govinda.
Click to expand...
Are you suggesting Krishna and Christ are the same?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top