In the Bible, there are many stories describing the miracles
of Jesus Christ, how he healed the sick, raised people from the dead,
multiplied one loaf of bread into many, walked on water etc. To none of these
stories, one can find hard evidence as defined by modern science. In fact, there
is no concrete evidence to prove even the existence of Jesus Christ. Yet, the modern
day Christian community does not believe Jesus and his miracles to be myth.
They do not believe it is mythology. They believe it to be true that Jesus
Christ was sent by God and that he has the ability to perform such miracles.
However, when we talk about Krishna lifting the Govardhan
Hill or Krishna showing His universal form or Krishna killing putana when he
was less than one month old, etc we dub all these incidents as myth? The stories
from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are considered mythology by modern day
scholars and common man including the devout so called hindus? This reflects the
amount of faith one has on Krishna and Rama. In fact by calling Krishna and
Rama mythology is an indirect way of saying all this is not true and not very
important. The only reason today Krishna or Rama is taken seriously in India is
either from a historical/archeological standpoint or from a
religious/sentimental standpoint. In both cases, the assumption is Krishna or
Rama may or may not exist and more probably be mythological characters. But
even if they are not a myth, people do not have faith that Krishna would have
lifted a mountain? This sort of understanding is prevalent in modern day India,
unfortunately.
There are many reasons attributed to such a lack of faith.
One reason is that there is no systematic educational system that teaches the
omnipotency of God Krishna from very young age. Another reason is that India
became such sycophants to British culture that they believed anything the
British said. So the early Indologists starting with Max Mueller successfully
mythologized the pastimes of Krishna and Rama and has been institutionalized
ever since. However, one of the main reasons I believe is the lack of interest
towards spiritual life by so called Hindus and the lack of bonafide spiritual
teachers (currently there are more fakes in the guise of sadhus – holy men) who
can teach the siddhanta (philosophical conclusions) of Krishna. According to
the pure spiritual masters (who live a life of devotion and service to Krishna)
Krishna (or God) must be understood within the concept of achintya shakti. This
is how we can rationalize such super human activities of Krishna. Achintya
shakti means the power of inconceivability. In other words, Krishna is inconceivable
beyond our mundane mind and thoughts. We cannot limit Krishna within the limits
of our imagination because He is beyond our imagination. Therefore, Krishna can
do anything at any place at any time. He
is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest.
Here is another display of His inconceivable powers. Krishna
descended to appear within His material creation some 5000 years ago. So
despite the fact that Krishna is present inside His creation, still when He
opened His mouth, Mother Yasoda saw the entire breadth and width of the
material creation. So although Krishna is inside His own creation displaying
pastimes, still the entire creation is within Him, how is this possible? If we
try to analyze this story through the linear methods of modern science, we will
become athesists or at best impersonalists. So the way the pure spiritual
masters teach us is that Krishna is inconceivable and we have to leave it at
that. But to accept the words of a spiritual master requires faith, humility
and devotion.
But in this jet-paced world, who stops to cultivate faith in
an otherwise faithless world. So Lord Chaitanya recommends the easiest method
to cultivate that faith – that is –chant Hare Krishna and offer whatever you
can as little as a leaf, flower or fruit to the picture of Krishna in
devotional mood. In this way, when we cultivate faith, we will see how Krishna
will reveal His inconceivable nature to us although our position is very
insignificant.
Krishna is real, His activities are real, His names are
real, and calling Him through His names will actually attract the attention of
Krishna and eventually He will display His true inconceivable nature. Try it
and you will not be disappointed.
Chant Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
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