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Answers by His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaja
From: "ISKCONDC"
Digest 17, October 18, 2001
Submitted by Hardik
Forms of God
Q.1) After we worship Lord Krishna, why do we only glorify Lord Narasimhadeva and no one else like Lord Rama, Vishnu, Venkateshwara etc.?
Ans.
Vaishnavas adore and worship Lord Narasimhadev as the destroyer of all obstacles on the path of one's devotional service and protector of one's devotion, for He came specifically to protect His devotee Prahlada from his demoniac father. Therefore, devotees offer specific prayers to Him, at the end of worship begging Him to please forgive any offenses that might have been committed unknowingly during the worship, and to remove all obstacles in one's attempts to worship and seeking protection.
Q.2) Why is Ananta Sesa "a many hooded serpent?" Serpents are from the lower planetary system, and are synonymous with "evil". What explanation can be given for this?
Ans.
The form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (as well as His plenary expansions, or Vishnu expansions) is all-transcendental and fully pure. It is not to be considered as a mundane form. For example, Lord Krishna and Lord Rama appeared among the human beings as one of them, but does that mean that they were contaminated with the frailties of a mundane human being? The answer is no. Likewise, The Supreme Lord appeared in the form of a hog or wild boar in His Varaha incarnation. The hog is considered to be a very abominable species of life by material calculation, but when the Lord appeared as the transcendental Varaha, His beauty was unexcelled and all the demigods and Vedas offered prayers to Him as the purifier of the three worlds! In the same way, we can understand the form of Ananta sesa as a "serpent". It is not a mundane form, like any other serpent but is all transcendental.
Q.3) It is stated that all the Vishnu forms are eternal. Are there separate lokas for the Kurma, Matsya, Varaha, Narasimha, Rishabhadev, Parasurama forms? If so why does the Bhagavatam say that the form of Narasimha was never seen by anybody before? And also what about the form of Lord Caitanya? If He is eternal, where is His planet?
Ans.
Yes, there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets and the various forms of the Lord preside in each of those planets. Srimad Bhagavatam describes that when Lord Narasimhadev appeared even the Goddess of Fortune had never seen that form before, as one of the Lord's lila-avatars. This refers to the fiery form of half-man and half-lion that the Lord exhibited to kill Hiranyakasipu. Lord Narasimha's form as Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, exhibiting four arms holding the symbols of Visnu, exists in the spiritual world.
Our Vaishnava acaryas have described that within the innermost whorls of the Goloka Vrindavana planet, which is shaped like a lotus, is situated the spiritual counterpart of Sri Navadvipa dhama and Lord Caitanya eternally manifests His pastimes there.
Modes of material nature
Q.4) I was reading about the conversation between Dharmaraja disguised as a Yaksha and Yudhisthira. One of the questions put forward by Yaksha to Yudhisthira was - "since Dharma (Virtue), Artha (Profit), and Kama (Desire) are opposed to each other, how can they co-exist harmoniously?" Yudhisthira replied- "These three become congenial to one another when one has a virtuous wife." Could you please explain on this reply of Yudhisthira?
Ans.
What seems obvious is that at times dharma, artha, and kama are in opposition. Virtue and self-interest don't always coincide, at least not superficially, and sense gratification opposes virtue and even practical self-interest in obvious ways.
A virtuous wife protects her husband by her scripturally-directed service mood and activity, assisting her husband in each of the three depts. (dharma, artha, kama). This is no guarantee that her duties being executed properly will provide a 100% clash-free dynamic in life, but her presence helps the religious-minded man to stay on course toward the goal, and not fall sway to excesses.
To be more specific, a virtuous wife makes sure that religious duties are performed at home, as well as with regard to guests, relatives, associates, and general living beings; in this way she plays a key role in protecting the family's dharma or virtue, even if the husband is temporarily distracted by affairs of artha. At the same time, she encourages her husband in his worldly affairs, protecting artha. And finally she satisfies her husband's material requirements by cooking and performing other domestic duties, and by fulfilling his desire for female companionship within the codes of dharma; excesses or indulgences never originate from the side of the qualified wife, and her religious nature will help both husband and wife to maintain all the regulations that lead to freedom from material existence. Approaching this final goal through the assistance of a qualified wife will bring a very natural balance to the man who is trying to properly follow the spiritual path.
Q.5) I am struggling with the dual concepts of good and evil as they are perceived from the mundane perspective in relationship to Krishna. I understand that Krishna is the source of everything, which brings a few questions that I cannot resolve in my mind. They are: How can Krishna be considered "all-good" and yet be the source of evil at the same time? Also, Is Krishna's goodness (Love) superior to his evil or are they qualitatively the same? And lastly, is there a difference between human evil and Krishna's evil, and if there is a difference what is it?
Ans.
Srila Prabhupada resolved this conflict by saying that for Krishna there is no good or evil. "Everything within Krishna is transcendental goodness," he explained.
Does that mean that goodness and evil are of the same importance for us? No. Rather, for God there is nothing evil, just as for the sun there is no darkness. But for us there is light and darkness. If one keeps one's back to the sun, one will find darkness. And if you face the sun, there is no darkness. We create darkness as soon as we deny our constitutional position by turning our attention away from Krishna. If instead of remaining in front of God we keep God to our backs.
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