How does time affect the dhama in the material world?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you so how does time affect say the dham in the material world Krishna manifests in any way in the material world, those manifestations have a particular purpose the manifestation’s purpose is to give an opportunity for us to remember to serve to practice bhakti or to develop bhakti the purpose of those manifestations is not to prove their transcendence to the faithless the purpose of those manifestations is not to prove their divinity or their supremacy it’s like when we consider the deities is Krishna himself manifesting as the deity and Prabhupada would say that those who see this as Krishna with the other eyes will be revealed that this is Krishna but then we see also in the history of Kaurya Vaishnavism and in much of the history of India there are many invaders who came and desecrated the deities so if Krishna is God how could the deities be desecrated the deity is Krishna but the deity is not manifested to demonstrate his omnipotence so we see that when there is any threat to the deities often the devotees don’t ask the deities you protect us rather the devotees say we will protect the deities and from Vrindavan many of the devotees in very adventurous ways took the deities to Jaipur which was a Rajput king, more devoted king, dharmic king so the point is the manifestations of the lord in this world are not meant to demonstrate their transcendence to material laws they are meant to elevate our consciousness by giving us an opportunity for remembrance and service so if somebody tries to test those manifestations for their transcendence of material laws then they are misunderstanding so the same what applies to the deities so yes if the deities are made of marble and then we expose them to water then the marble may get eroded Krishna is not going to get eroded but Krishna as deity is not manifested to demonstrate the transcendence Krishna is manifested to give us the opportunity for service so if you keep that purpose clear so the dharm manifests in the material world at the material level if there is mismanagement, if there is adharma if there is uncleanness at the material level these things may happen the transcendence of the dharm is unaffected but the transcendence can be accessed only by transcendental vision and that’s why Bhaktivinoda Thakur in Navadeep Dham Mahatma says that that the dhams like Navadeep or Vrindavan they are covered by an avaran of maya they are covered by a covering of yoga maya by which ordinary people cannot perceive these dhams and only those who become purified or at least those who have the desire for service they have service attitude they will be able to perceive so yes, now specifically for Govardhan Singh there are particular pastimes which are there which explain that but I will not get into the specifics of the pastimes the principle is that the dhams manifest in this world and in its spiritual potency the dham is unaffected by any changes that may happen at the material level but in its material appearance then whatever is the way people are acting over there that will have its effect but that is only for the material appearance that is not for the transcendental substance so if we just look only at the material appearance then we will not appreciate the dham at all if the appearance doesn’t seem attractive that’s why we need to go to the dham in the association of devotees who reveal to us the spiritual essence the spiritual substance of the dham and generally when there is hearing there is intellectual comprehension and there is prayerful contemplation first we philosophically understand and then there is prayerful contemplation then there is devotional revelation and when the devotional revelation happens then what the dham specially is that is revealed so when we hear that is intellectually we comprehend and then there is intellectual comprehension plus devotional plus prayerful contemplation will lead to the divine revelation and then we will understand how even amidst the amidst whatever materially problematic things are there the dham still remains pure and important thank you very much