I have a two part question:
- What holy books do you have?
- How do you know they are true? Know that I’m not trying to sound rude in saying that. I just think of how Catholics believe the Bible is divinely inspired, and am honestly wondering what similar beliefs would be for other religions.
As you know, “holy books” are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or of central importance to their religious tradition. Regarding the holy books that the Hare Krishnas read, the “Bhagavada-gita” (The Song of God) was one of the first books translated for us into English by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement. Of course there have always been translations of the “Gita” available to English readers, but this was the first translation by a devotee of Lord Krishna, who is speaking in the book. By the way, there are many, free, on-line versions of our books that you can search for; books such as the “Shrimad-Bhagavatam” and the “Chaitanya-charitamrita. “ You can also buy books such as the “Chaitanya-Bhagavata” and “Jaiva-Dharma,” a book that I am now reading by Bhaktivinode Thakura.
I understand that all these titles and names look odd and are difficult to even pronounce, but you get use to them quickly. Many American, British, and European Hare Krishna devotees have become quite fluent in Sanskrit and the other languages of India, some even having mastered Sanskrit on the scholarly level.
You ask, “How do you know that they are true?” As for myself, I kind of got “dumped” into the Hare Krishna religion overnight back in 1976, really knowing very little about it. Actually, I was on my way to California with no intention, whatsoever, of joining any religious movement. I was about 30 years old at the time. Of course, this is a separate story but I did end up joining, settled down and soon began reading my first holy books from India.
My initial impression was how thorough the material was both presented and explained, easy to understand and accept, and whether I agreed or not, I couldn’t help but appreciated the fact that the author (translator) - (His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) - had impeccable, spiritual credentials, as far as the religion he was both part of and presenting (just as if you were to read about Pope Francis, you would see a long and important history of his life as a Catholic). Furthermore, in the Vaishnava tradition of the Hare Krishna Movement, our spiritual leaders are all connected by an unbroken chain of spiritual masters, which is a system that both empowers , certifies, and gives enormous credentials to our leaders. You can actually look at this “family tree” of spiritual masters and see how Bhaktivedanta Swam Prabhupada is directly linked to Lord Krishna, and that all the spiritual masters in the Hare Krishna have this family-tree connection.
I will also say that in those early days of my involvement (starting in 1976) I was very impressed with the character, intelligence, and other nice qualities of the young Hare Krishna devotees I was meeting for the first time. Then what happened, gradually, as more books were translated and became available for me to read (especially books that gave me an in-depth look into the lives of our previous spiritual masters), I began to realize that I had become part of something with a very rich history, of the most excellent quality; that anyone could ask of his/her religion.
But what made this all even more exciting for me was that only 500 years ago, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (maha>great; prabhu>master) appeared on the scene and was reportedly none other than God, Almighty (Krishna). So, what we have here, are more ancient scriptures, such as the “Bhagavada-gita” and “Shrimad-bhagavatam” that described divine events that happened 5000 years ago and even further back than that. And then we have more recent scriptures (only 500 years old), such as the “Chaitanya-charitamrita” (The Nectar of Lord Chaitanya) and “Chaitanya-bhagavata,” fully describing the life and teaching of Lord Chaitanya. And as I said, thrown into this mix, now, are so many books on our past spiritual leaders; who they were; their lives and teachings. To this day when I read about their lives and just who these men were, I am so impressed with their impeccable credentials and saintly behavior. I mean, who am I - reb108 – but a nobody with half a brain. But Bhaktivedanta Swami Prahupada; Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati; Bhaktivinoded Thakura; Srila Vrindavan das Thakura; Srila Krsnadas Kaviraja and all these many Hare Krishna Saints; now we are talking about men of such high spiritual and moral qualifications that if they can accept Krishna and Lord Chaitanya as God, without the slightest doubt, then this has helped me tremendously with my new faith. If nothing else, I am certainly going to approach this whole subject of Krishna with the greatest respect and openness, just as respectful as I am toward Catholicism.
As far as Krishna being God; as far as Sri Krishna Chaitanya being God, let me just say that after personally looking into this claim for nearly 40 years, I have no problem accepting this as being true. But it has taken a significant investment of time to check this all out. Trust is the bottom line. Who am I willing to trust my soul with? The holy books I have mentioned above have helped me enormously with this question.
