Miracles – Does God appear in paranormal visions? – OMG Series 2 Mumbai

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
And how do we know about the authenticity of such miracles? Before that, are any of you coming today for the first time? And if they are not present for yesterday’s seminar, fine. So, I will just create a quick recap of what we discussed yesterday and then we will move forward.
So, yesterday we primarily focused on discussing the triple level causation that characterises events in material nature, whatever happens. So, triple level causation means when anything happens, there is a immediate cause, there is a remote cause and there is a ultimate cause. So, when a person gets malaria, the immediate cause is the infection that is caused by mosquito bite.
The remote cause is the karma of that particular person. And the ultimate cause is Krishna. So, Krishna is not the desirer.
It is not that Krishna’s will that people suffer, but Krishna is a sanctioner, depending on whatever people’s desires are and whatever the reactions that they are supposed to get for those particular actions. And then we discussed elaborately about the problem of evil and how when we understand that life doesn’t begin with birth and doesn’t end with death, only then we can understand why there is evil in this world, why is there inequity, why there are some people wealthy, some people poor. So, we discussed the example of a match with multiple innings, that if a team is starting with, match is starting with one team 0 score, another team 200 score, it would seem that the person who either the scoreboard is operating by chance or the organiser of the match is biassed.
So, this is the idea that everything happens by chance in the world, why are some people wealthy, some people poor, it’s just chance or it’s arbitrary will of God. So, that is God is biassed for or against some people. Both are difficult to digest these options.
So, actually the understanding could be that one team has a higher score because it’s playing the second innings. And in the first inning they have scored better. So, that way, we understand that in this world, whatever we experience that is dependent on what people have done in their previous lives.
So, the inequities of this world can be reconciled with the conception of a just God, when we consider life from a multi-life perspective. So, different people have different starting points, different levels of wealth, different levels of looks, different levels of social status, because of what they have done in their previous lives. And then lastly, we discussed about how we respond to situations in this life by acting at various levels.
So, we do act at the immediate level also to deal with problems. So, if the seed catches fire, then I don’t analyse this fire caused by my past karma or what, I respond by moving away from the fire. But I understand also there are other causes.
And we try to get a complete picture of the situation. So, we deal with all levels of causation. So, now today, I will talk about the concept of in general paranormal visions and specifically paranormal visions of the divine.
So, paranormal, what does the word mean? Normal means what we see. So, for example, now you are looking at me, I am looking at you. And now not only can you see me, if I come near you, I can actually touch you.
If you come near me, you can touch me. So, we are seeing each other and we are a tangible, visible and tangible presence. Visible is what we can see, tangible is what we can touch.
So, there are some people who claim to have paranormal visions. That means they claim to see certain things, which others don’t see. So, in the movie, Oh My God, there is the central protagonist, the character Kanjibhai, who sees Krishna.
And actually, at other times, or even at those times, nobody else sees Krishna. So, he sees, but nobody else sees. So, now, in this particular movie, it is curious because Kanjibhai is an atheist.
So, God doesn’t appear to any of the godmen, but God appears to atheists and he favours the atheists. And on top of that, even the particular vision of God that appears over there, that God actually criticises deity worship. And he says that I am not present in all these idols.
So, now, can people have paranormal visions? And if somebody claims, what is the authenticity of this? So, in general, when we talk about paranormal visions, first thing is, it is important to be, to have a healthy level of scepticism. So, now, as I said, I will be using this as an improvised blackboard. So, whenever there are important points, even in the question and answer, I will speak some points over there.
So, the Bhagavatam describes that doubt is a sign of intelligence. So, the Bhagavatam, the third canto, when Devahuti is describing that the characteristics of the various elements of material nature, what are the characteristics of water, what are the characteristics of air, what is the characteristic of ether. So, in that, the characteristics of intelligence.
So, he describes that intelligence has five characteristics. There is doubt, there is misapprehension, then there is discernment and these are three main characteristics which are connected with us right now. So, what does it mean to doubt? An intelligent person alone can doubt.
A person who does not have much intelligence, whatever is told, that person will believe it. So, for example, there are ads, which, so there is a popular ad in which, in which a very well-known Bollywood star comes along and there are some women who are walking along and there is a man who is looking at those women, they are not, those women are not even noticing this man and suddenly this Bollywood star comes along and all of them run and hug him and start kissing him and they fall for him and this young man is feeling envious, feeling lost and then the Bollywood star comes along and says, you want to know my secret? And that secret, he says some cream, some face lotion, some cream which inspires a person to look good and then when he hears the secret, then the next time this person apparently applies that face lotion and then comes along and then all the women come and start hugging him and kissing him and they fall for him. So, now such an ad is actually an insult to both male and female intelligence.
Why? Because, first, the idea that a female will fall for some man just because he has applied some lotion on the face, that’s an insult to female intelligence and the idea that males will believe this kind of fairy tale, that’s an insult to male intelligence. But, you know, people, they have, these are actually the fairy tales of materialism. The whole advertising industry is offering fairy tales.
These are fairy tales of materialism and people who don’t have adequate level of critical thinking, adequate level of the doubting faculty, they just start believing these things. So, doubt is also a sign of intelligence. However, doubt is not the only sign of intelligence.
That means, if somebody always keeps doubting, then the person will not come to any knowledge. For example, if I go to a doctor and now I have stomach pain and then doctor says we have to amputate your leg. What? I got stomach pain.
What is that going to do with the leg? So, I should have some doubts. At the same time, if I am always doubtful, whichever doctor I go to, I keep doubting, doubting, doubting, then at the end, I will not be cured. So, doubt is a sign of intelligence, but doubt is not the only sign of intelligence.
That is why I said three. First is when we hear something, there are doubts. Does this make sense? Then after that, when there is doubt, then there are two possibilities.
One is misapprehension, the other is discernment. This misapprehension means, okay, I understand whatever I had heard that was wrong. And discernment means I understand, okay, whatever I heard was right.
So, the whole process of intellectual processing begins with doubt. When I hear something, I will get some questions about it. And through those questions, I can move towards understanding that it is right or it is wrong, whatever.
So, doubt is important. And Srila Prabhupada explains in the Purport to this Bhagavatam verse, that actually, spiritualist needs to learn to doubt material life. Now, whatever material life offers, is that really enough for me? Is it going to satisfy me? Now, we build our dreams about how we want to live, what kind of house we want to have, what kind of career we want to have, what kind of family we want to have.
And we spend so much of our thought, our emotional energy, and our money in building up those dreams. But despite all our efforts, you know, it can just one bug, one blow, one bang, can finish everything. So, naturally, a wise person will question, is this all that there is to life? It is not that this is unimportant, but is this all that there is to life? Isn’t there something more? So, doubting material life does not mean rejecting material life.
But doubting material life means that whether material existence is the totality of what we are meant to live. That is the beginning of the spiritual search. So, doubt is important.
Now, doubt is important, not just in material life. Even when we come to spiritual life, there are so many people who claim to teach spiritual things. But in the spiritual circles also, there is so much chikanar, there is so much cheating happening.
So, we have to use our intelligence to discern. So, this itself is a whole subject, but let us focus primarily with respect to miracles. So, when we, when somebody, somebody makes a miraculous claims, so, generally, there are three questions that we should ask.
The first question is supernatural actions and visions. So, for example, long ago, there was, may few years ago, there was this whole issue that some Ganesh deities were drinking milk. So, now, the first question which we ask is, did it actually happen? Whenever somebody claims that, say, I saw God.
So, first question is, did it actually happen? Second question is, does it have no natural explanation? I will explain this first. And third question is that the supernatural explanation comprise an act of God, comprise a something divine, something spiritual. So, if somebody claims that, the Ganesh, Ganesh deities drank milk.
So, first question is, did it actually happen? And many times, now, there are two kinds of deceptions. There are deceptive deceptions and there are non-deceptive deceptions. Now, what does it mean non-deceptive deceptions? Deceptive deceptions means somebody makes a claim because that person wants to deceive others.
But non-deceptive deceptions means that person has just got a misapprehension. The person thinks, I saw this. And actually, that person doesn’t intend to cheat, but that’s just the belief of the person, I saw this.
And whether it actually happened or not, we don’t know. So, first question, does it actually happen? Second is, okay, something actually happened. We see that in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastime, the Chaitanya Charita Amrit, there was, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Vrindavan, at that time, the people in Vrindavan started saying that, oh, Krishna has appeared.
And Krishna is in a boat and Krishna is dancing on Kaliya in Jamuna. And then, even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s servant, what happened? He said, Mahaprabhu, I want to go and take darshan. Mahaprabhu was annoyed with him.
And he said, don’t you know the scriptures? Krishna doesn’t appear in Kali Yuga. And he says, no, I want to go. And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, no, Krishna doesn’t appear in Kali Yuga.
And after that, some people came along. And then they said, actually, it was not Krishna coming on Kaliya. It was just a fisherman who was going in his boat.
And that boat had some illumination. So, people were thinking that the illumination is the hoods of Kaliya. And the fisherman on top of that is actually Krishna dancing on Kaliya.
So, here we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself being doubtful. Somebody says that I saw Krishna. You say, oh, yes, somebody has seen Krishna.
It’s so wonderful. People are getting devotional visions. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu increased scepticism in this particular example.
They said doubt is a sign of intelligence. So, first thing is, does it actually happen? Second is, if it actually happened, is there no natural explanation for it? So, in this case, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they found that there was a natural explanation. It seemed like it was a vision of Krishna, but it was not a vision of Krishna.
And third is, okay, when there is no natural explanation, if there is some supernatural occurrence that is happening, does that necessarily comprise an act of God? What does this mean? One time some devotee came and told Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada, you came in my dream and you told me to take drugs. So, Prabhupada said, it was not me. It was maya coming in my garb and telling you.
So, in general, whenever something supernatural happens, something which is not normal happens, that does not necessarily mean that it is divine. It can come from various sources. See, the Vedic scriptures explain that there are multiple levels of reality.
So, we know that there are 14 planetary systems. So, this is like a 14, the universe is like a 14 story house. So, we are on the seventh story.
So, there are, there are upper planetary systems where the divine beings and there are lower planetary systems where there are lower beings. So, in the western country, there is a tremendous fascination about UFOs and aliens. You know, some people see some flying saucers and some other people saying that there are little green men and there are science fiction movies about ET and things like that.
And it is a very high phenomenon. So, now, are there aliens actually? Well, the scriptures tell us all of us are actually the aliens. What does that mean? We do not belong to the material world.
None of us belong to the material world. The earth is not our home. We are travellers through a journey.
So, in that sense, all of us ourselves are aliens in this world. But from our worldly experience, it is not that all life is restricted to the earth. There can be, there are living beings who are other parts of the universe.
They have different kinds of bodies. That is why we cannot perceive them. This idea of there being something which we cannot perceive, something invisible beyond what we can perceive is fundamental to advancement of knowledge of any kind.
For example, one of the defining events in scientific history is Newton’s postulation of the law of gravity. So, Newton, it is said he saw the fruit falling. And then what did he do? It is a visible event.
So, he saw the fruit falling, most people the fruit fell, come on, pick it up and eat it. That would have been the reaction of most people. But what did Newton think? He saw a visible event and from the visible, he postulated an invisible law, that is the law of gravity.
So, knowledge usually progresses by moving from the visible to the invisible. Similarly, spiritualists look at the design in the world and the visible design is there. From there, the understanding is there that the invisible design.
So, all knowledge, whether it is scientific or spiritual, it progresses by moving beyond the visible to the invisible. Most of the scientific rules, scientific theories, scientific laws, in and of themselves, they are invisible. We can have some mathematical equations to describe them.
We can have some experimental demonstrations to provide evidence for them. But ultimately, those principles themselves are invisible. Nobody can see gravity.
Nobody can see electrons. Nobody can see the God particle. So, even science talks about so many invisible things.
So, the idea that there is much that is invisible in the world is not just some pre-scientific or unscientific religious imagination. It is something which is there even within science. And it is at the core, in many ways, at the core of science.
From observations come theories and theories in general are invisible. So, the Vedic scriptures explain that beyond this world is the other arenas of existence, other areas of existence. So, it is quite an anthropocentric assumption.
Anthropocentric assumption means human-centric idea that all life all over the universe has to be like our life. Now, when scientists do research to try to find out whether there is life on other planets, how do they do the research? Basically, they look for conditions suitable for life. And in that they look at the temperature levels, they look at the presence of water, they look at the presence of oxygen, they look at the presence of nutritional sources.
And based on that, they try to infer whether those conditions are suitable for life or not. But with this framework of analysis, there is a very fundamental assumption that life everywhere has to be the way the life as we know it here. And that is not necessarily true.
Why? We can look at from a spiritual perspective, philosophical perspective and even from an empirical perspective. Now, scientists on the earth itself have found life forms called as extremophiles. Extremophiles means extreme as you know is extreme conditions, feel is to love.
So, these are life forms which love extreme conditions. So, they live at extremely high temperatures, for example, there are fire bacteria or they live at extremely low temperatures. Now, deep under the ocean bed, actually they have found some not just microscopic organisms, but organisms visible to the naked eye, large enough for that.
They never see sunlight, they never get oxygen, they live in the rocks and they actually get all their necessities of life from within their environment. So, this was inconceivable just a couple of decades ago. But now this kind of life forms are known to exist.
So, even from our empirical perspective, life exists in various ways. And it is not necessary that all life has to be the way we know it. And from the Bhagavad Gita perspective, the Bhagavad Gita makes it very clear that life or consciousness or atman is not destroyed by anything material.
So, in 24-25 verses in the Bhagavad Gita, second chapter, Krishna describes that the soul cannot be destroyed by all the things which destroy matter. So, achaityo, now weapons can penetrate the body, they cannot penetrate the soul. Fire can burn the body, fire cannot burn the soul.
Water can wither away, wind can dry away material things, but they do not dry away the soul. So, that means the soul in principle can exist anywhere. And when the soul exists anywhere, then the soul can get an appropriate body according to the environment over there.
So, that’s why the Vedic scriptures accept the fact that there are aliens, in the sense that there is life on other planets, in other areas of the universe. And those people from other areas of the universe can also visit here. So, there is Vanishla Prabhupada’s scientific disciple, the late Dr. Richard L. Thomson, Sadaput Prabhu, he has written a book called Alien Identities.
And in this book Alien Identities, he compares the description of the flying saucers that modern UFO researchers have come across with the description of Shalya’s aeroplane which attacked Dwarka. You know, Shalya got an aeroplane from Lord Shiva. And that is a mystical aeroplane.
It is described in the Bhagavatam, that tenth canto, that the aeroplane would appear at one place, suddenly disappear, appear at another place, or just move rapidly in one direction, second direction. And it had all sorts of mystical abilities. And that is the kind of description that is often found in the flying saucers.
So, what basically he says, it is not that we are saying that any particular visual flying saucer, somebody makes it true. What we are saying is that there are explanations for this in the Vedic worldview. Whereas in the modern scientific worldview, there are just no explanations for it.
The first reaction is that dismiss it as imagination, disreject it as some sort of sentimental gullibility. So, the Vedic worldview is broad enough to accommodate these kinds of events. But that does not mean that whenever anything like this happens, we say that, it is something divine, it is something spiritual.
No, it is not necessarily like that. So, does the supernatural explanation comprise an act of God? That is a very important question. For example, there is this whole concept of ghosts.
Now, what exactly are ghosts? Now, I have written an article about it in BTG. And I have a diagrammatic description of this. So, now, what are we discussing over here? Anything that is supernatural, that is a it is not necessarily divine.
So, supernatural can also be ghostly. So, let us understand what are ghosts. So, I hope you can see these three circles over here.
So, there is a soul, there is such a body and there is a gross body. So, now, we exist at these three levels, the physical, the psychological and the spiritual. Now, the physical and the psychological, both of these are material levels.
Beyond that, the soul is at the spiritual level. And of course, God is also at the spiritual level. So, bhakti is performed at the spiritual level, relationship between the soul and God.
Now, when we die, at that time, the soul comes out of the body along with the subtle body and the soul goes to the next body. So, see, here you will see that the gross body is dead on the departure of the soul. And then the soul along with the subtle body comes out.
So, normally speaking, the soul along with the subtle body will go into another body. But if by some peculiar karma, the soul does not get a new body, a new gross body, then such a disembodied soul is called a ghost. So, what are ghosts? Ghosts are souls like us, in the sense that they are similar to us as souls, but they do not have bodies like us.
So, because they don’t have bodies like us, so, they are actually in a different way of existence right now. Now, the ghosts, when they exist, now what happens with these ghosts? They have desire just like we do. Because those desires are present in the mind, in the subtle body.
Just like when a person is sick, imagine somebody is sick and there is a birthday party at home. And that person has got sickness because of which he can’t eat anything. So, everybody else is feasting and this person is told to fast or maybe just eat some soup or something like that.
Now, what happens? The desire to eat is there because the mind still has all those desires. But the bodily instrument for eating is no longer there. It’s not suitable.
Then it’s a state of misery. Similarly, in the case of ghosts, in the subtle body, the desires are there. But those desires cannot be fulfilled because there is no gross body to fulfil those desires.
That’s how the ghosts are actually in a state of suffering. They have the desires to enjoy. So, suppose a person was very attached to eating gulab jamun and that person dies and becomes a ghost.
Now, the desire to eat the gulab jamun is there, but there is no tongue only. So, what to do? So, what do the ghosts do? They are miserable. And then in some cases, these ghosts possess people.
Now, what exactly is a possession? So, you see, there is this possessed person and there is a possessing ghost. So, normally, it one soul, for example, now I am here. So, I the soul and then I have a subtle body and this is the gross body around.
But in some cases, if a ghost enters, then when the ghost enters, that soul along with the subtle body enter into that gross body and temporarily take over that body. So, the original person gets that person’s personality, that person’s activity gets suppressed. And then the possessing ghost takes over.
Now, there are many documented phenomena of people just speaking differently, entirely differently. For example, there is a reasonably well documented phenomena called xenoglossy. Glossy means language, xeno means foreign, xenophobia is fear of foreigners.
So, xenoglossy means knowledge of foreign languages. So, there are people who, for example, say, are born in America and they have never been outside America, they have not met throughout their life anybody from a country like, say, Somalia. And suddenly they start speaking Swahili, fluent Swahili.
Now, how that happens? There is just no way they could have known that language. And xenoglossy, there are, I am writing a book on reincarnation, so in that I describe further, not only there is xenoglossy in terms of speaking, there is xenoglossy even in terms of writing. But these people, they do not know that language and they should write fluently in that language.
And in some cases, people have also written in languages which, practically speaking, nobody in their country, not only they did not know, like, for example, some people in India itself, there are so many local dialects that are there. So, those dialects outside those geographical areas, nobody knows them. So, these are just incomprehensible in terms of modern science.
So, actually, when the ghost possess, at that time, the person’s behaviour, person’s speech, person’s actions often change completely because the original person has been suppressed. And then somebody else has come over there. And that somebody else, that ghost who has possessed, that is acting through that person.
So, now, again, with respect to ghosts also, you know, there was one devotee who wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada. He said that, you know, I am feeling a lot of lusty desires. I think some ghost has possessed me.
And Prabhupada replied, it’s not ghost, it’s simply weakness of the mind. Chant Hare Krishna, become serious about Krishna Consciousness, all these desires will go away. So, although, again, in principle, we accept that ghosts do exist and ghosts can possess.
But it is not that we just very gullibly, anybody, anything happens, oh, some ghost has possessed me. No, it’s not like that. In principle, we accept it as possible.
But in practise, again, we are sceptical. It’s not that anything that goes wrong, suddenly we say, it’s because of ghosts. So, actually speaking, we also have our mood swings.
That’s just because of the effect of the moods. Sometimes you’re affected by goodness, sometimes the passion, sometimes by ignorance. But it’s possible that ghosts can also possess.
So, we are discussing these three questions that did the event happen? Did the event actually, did, can, is there no natural explanation for the event? And if there is no natural explanation, does that constitute an act of God? Now, if somebody, as I said, if you, somebody starts behaving or speaking in a language that they never knew, does that necessarily mean that person is speaking, is speaking, God is speaking through that person? Not necessarily. A ghost could be speaking through that person also. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an act of God.
Now, because, going back to this earlier thing now. Yeah. So, it is because, you know, the scientific worldview doesn’t have any explanation for anything supernatural.
So, the idea is, anybody claims something supernatural happening, it said that this is just, this is just didn’t happen. It’s just imagination. It’s just the sentimental gullibility of people.
But there are many people who do have experiences like this. And when they don’t get any explanations, then often they just ascribe it to the divine. And that’s why there are many people in India who claim to be God.
And what is the basis for their claiming to be God? That they are able to perform some miracles. Now, again, if somebody claims that, you know, one time, some devotee came to Prabhupada and he said, not some devotee, some guest came to Prabhupada. He said, Swamiji, my guru is God.
He said, why? He said, no. Whenever he touches my head, you know, electricity flows through my body. I get a short jolt of energy.
I get a shock. Can you give me a shock? He said, yeah, come here. Put your hand in the electric socket.
You’ll get a shock. You know, material nature is as it is giving us so many shocks. The guru is not meant to give us more shocks.
The guru is actually meant to give us the knowledge and the devotion which will become like a shock absorber, which will help us to face the shocks of life with grace and grow through them. So it is not that if somebody is able to perform miracles, that is necessarily an act of God. So there are many people who claim to perform miracles and actually if you go into that, they are not performing miracles.
It’s just lay of hand. You know, they are producing something by moving their hands here and there, but somewhere else they are producing that object. There are magicians who do these things.
They don’t have any magical powers, actually. But they just, the whole principle of magic shows is based on indirection or misdirection. That means, you know, people’s attention we focus on one side and on the other side we are doing something and we make it appear as if something miraculous is happening.
So that’s why when magic happens, does it actually happen? Did somebody take out a hat and a rabbit came out of it? Did it actually happen? That is the first question. Second is, if it actually happened, is there a natural explanation for it? Maybe in that hat only the natural explanation, natural in terms of what we consider natural with respect to modern science. Then does that necessarily comprise an act of God? So if some people are able to say produce some ashes.
So yes, some people may have some, in the Vedic culture described, there is something called mystic siddhis. So there are mystic perfections by which people can do something miraculous. So now, in general, whenever we don’t know the process by which something happens, we call it a miracle.
As soon as we understand the process, then often we stop calling it as a miracle. That means, say, if there is acid and alkali, a red acid and a blue alkali, which you mix it together, and right proportionally mix it, and then we get a white product. Then we get salt and water.
So now, somebody may say there is a red liquid, there is a blue liquid, and suddenly a white liquid came out, it’s a miracle. Now somebody who doesn’t have any knowledge of the process by which that is happening will consider that to be a miracle. But one who knows the process understands that it is not a miracle.
For example, if I have a cell phone. Now, a person who has lived in a tribal area and knows nothing about telecommunications, suddenly you press some buttons and you hear the voice of a person who is thousands of miles away. This is a miracle.
Now, one who understands the basic principles of telecommunication, understand that it is not a miracle. There is a process. So generally, when we don’t understand the process by which something happens, we call it a miracle.
And when we understand the process, understanding the process demystifies the event, demystifies the event, and then we think, okay, it’s not a miracle. So similarly, when somebody is able to produce an ash. So somebody just moves some hands and utters some mantra and suddenly ash comes out.
And they say it’s a sacred ash, it’s a holy ash. So now, is that really an act of God? No, the Vedic scriptures explain that there are various siddhis. So there is a siddhi called as prapti siddhi.
Prapti siddhi means that there are yogis who have access to higher dimensions of existence. You want to mean by higher dimensions? Now, if an ant wants to go from the top of this wall to the bottom of that wall, how will that ant go? That ant will have to climb down and then go like this. But on the other hand, a mosquito wants to go.
A mosquito will just fly diagonally. So the diagonal distance is lesser than the distance if you go in two dimensions. So the ant cannot fly.
So the ant in general is actually acting in two dimensions. First vertical, then horizontal. But when an insect has the capacity to fly, it can have access to a third dimension.
It can just move faster. So in general, when we have access to more dimensions, there are the distances become shorter and the methods of access become more sophisticated. So there are higher dimensions of existence by which by accessing those dimensions, the distances as we know get shrunk.
So prapti siddhi means what? That when this yogi is claiming to produce some ash. So basically, there is some fireplace, there is some storehouse where ash is kept. And the yogi when he is moving the hand around, at that time, the hand extends through that access to the higher dimension and reaches the ash and produces it over here.
So even in modern physics, they have a concept called the wormhole. There is no empirical evidence for this concept of a wormhole. But what is that, but it is a well accepted concept within science and it is quite a popular concept in science fiction.
So what is the idea of a wormhole? Now Einstein has proposed that actually space time that they are a, it is a continuum. So space and time are one integral sort of fabric of existence. And then Stephen Hawking also came up with the idea that space time is spherical.
So now, if there is a sphere, the idea that this is a purely scientific idea. I am not saying that it has any basis in scripture. I am just giving an example from science of how access to some other dimensions can shorten distances or shorten distances in two points.
So the idea is, if there is a sphere, say there is America here and India here. Now if I want to go from America to India, if I have to go, the earth is spherical, then I have to go around. So space time is spherical.
If I want to go from here in space time to here, then I will have to go all the way around. But if there is a worm which wants to go, the worm can burrow through the earth. And when it burrows through the earth, goes right through it, then the distance will be much lesser.
So the idea is the wormhole, the wormhole means going through space time, that can shorten the distance. And that is how, because according to current science, the maximum limit at which an object can fly, move is the speed of light. And if that is the upper limit, then there are so many long, long distances, which are hundreds and thousands of light years away, we will never be able to reach them.
So the concept of wormholes and jumping space, space time through wormholes is a popular concept in science fiction. So again, the point is, wormhole is not something which is physical. But it is conceptual in terms of science and it is accepted within science.
So the point is, there are people who can access higher dimensions of existence. So there is a process when people do ashtang yoga, by doing austerities, people access the subtler levels of existence and then they acquire certain powers. When they acquire those powers, by acquiring those powers, they can do certain things that other people cannot do.
So prapti siddhi is one such siddhi. So those yogis who have done some austerity either in this or previous lives, then they have access to the subtle dimensions and that’s how they can move their hands through subtle dimensions and reach a particular place and come back and produce some ash. It is not that they have produced the ash from a thing.
They have actually gone somewhere where the ash was there and produced it from there. Now, gone means they are not physically gone, they were physically here only, but they have access to higher dimension. So there is a process by which this happens.
And Srila Prabhupada explains that in one sense, the mystic siddhis are like modern technology only. Modern technology enables people to do what they cannot do by normal physical means. So we can’t normally fly very far, we can’t fly at all in fact, but through aeroplane we can fly.
So similarly, there is anima, there is laghima, there is a kind of siddhis which will become very light. There is the whole concept of levitation. Levitation means people become sort of weightless and float in the air.
So it is not that everybody who claims to be levitating is actually doing that. But in principle, it is possible within the Vedic worldview, because people can acquire these siddhis. But again, these siddhis are not spiritual.
They are simply material and people have acquired these by some powers. So this third question, does the supernatural expression comprise an act of God? If somebody has produced ash, does that mean that that person is God? No. Prabhupada would simply say that, you know, if somebody says that, that this person has produced ash and so that person is, so that person is God, then he says, you know, one who wants ash as the proof of God is an ass.
So it is a very, very low level intelligence to think that just something, something magical, doing something miraculous is the proof of divinity. So there are subtler powers in existence by which people are able to do some things like this. Now, it is interesting that there is, there is much, which modern science has discovered, which indicates this, that there are, there are subtler dimensions to existence that we do not know about.
For example, researchers have done experiments called as staring experiments. Now, what are the staring experiments? Suppose I am sitting here right now, and then there is a person sitting behind me. When that person is sitting behind me, now I have to guess, is that that person is told, sometimes you stare at the person sitting ahead of you, and sometimes you do not look at, do not stare at the person.
Now, I have to guess, is that person staring at me or not? Now, normally, if I was just doing guesswork, and that person was arbitrarily doing, so my chance would be, at 50% I will be right, 50% I will be wrong. Basically, whatever would be the probability of my coming right, in general, this experiment has been done lots of times, hundreds of times with hundreds of subjects, and therefore, almost everybody gets the right percentage more than what would be if we had no capacity to know at all. And there are some people, so if the normal capacity would be 50%, then there are people who, on an average, almost everybody gets it right 60%, 65%.
Some people get it right 90, 95% also. Now, how does that happen? Now, we all know that we see through our eyes, and there are no eyes at the back of the head. So, how can I know whether somebody is there or not? Now, all of us also know that it happens, sometimes we are sitting and we just get a feeling that somebody is looking at me, and then we look at that person, that person looks away.
Okay, that person was looking. So, we all have that sensation. Now, where does that come from? We do not know that, in the sense that we do not know in terms of our current conceptions of how things happen.
But this has been observed that the observation is undeniable, the explanation is unavailable. That is what is the state in modern science. The observation is undeniable, it has been happened so many times that is undeniable, but the explanation is unavailable.
So, again, this is not to minimise the contributions of modern science. Science has also processed, progressed in its reach of knowledge in particular spheres of knowledge. So, science has progressed a lot in the understanding of gross reality.
We discussed about this, and there is gross matter, subtle matter and so on. So, science has studied the gross matter quite extensively, and has got a lot of insights about that. But the subtle matter, it has not understood much and spirit also not much.
That is why there is much that science has not actually understood. So, in principle, when something supernatural, something paranormal happens, that does not necessarily mean it is an act of God. So, now, after going back to these two, third question where the answer is no.
So, was that supernatural intervention act of God, we discussed it can be an act of ghosts, it can be act of aliens, it can just be our, our own feelings. Now, let us look at some examples where God acts in such ways. So, we see that in the famous pastime of Madhavendra Puri, getting, discovering the deity of Krishna in Vrindavan, Krishna appeared in paranormal visions on several occasions.
And actually, if you see there are four occasions. First is, how many of you know the story of Madhavendra Puri and Krishna’s, Madhavendra discovering the deity of Krishna? Okay, okay, half of you. So, I will not go into the full story, but I will just describe briefly the story over here.
So, Madhavendra Puri was a great saint who lived two generations before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was 500 years ago. So, he was approximately 550-600 years ago.
And he was completely devoted to Krishna. So, when he came to Vrindavan, and he was so renounced that he would not even beg for food. Somebody would come and give food, he would accept.
So, when he was in Vrindavan, a very attractive looking young boy came. He said, you have been hungry, please take this food. So, he was surprised.
He says, who told you? He said, there were some women over there, they were drawing water from the well and they saw that you have not eaten. So, we have brought food for you. So, then he said, I have brought food in the pot.
You drink the milk and afterwards I will come and collect the milk. And he drank the milk and it was so nourishing, so delicious. And he washed the pot and he kept it ready and the boy never came back.
And then that, when he fell asleep, and he says, Krishna, that same boy appeared in the dream and there he realised, he said, this is Krishna. And he says, actually, I have, I have been, I have been lying in the forest for a very long, long time. Please come and take me out and build a beautiful temple for me.
And then, Madhavendra Puri just, just sleep snapped and he realised, Krishna himself, that boy who had come was actually Krishna. And he says, this is Krishna and I did not recognise Krishna, how unfortunate I was. I just treated him to be an ordinary boy.
He was lamenting. He said, no, there is no point in my lamentation. Actually, I am a servant of Krishna and I should serve him.
Krishna has given me a particular service. So, then he went and started searching. And then he went into the forest and he got the villagers together and they all went and they searched, searched, searched.
They hacked their way through the thick vegetation. They found there is a beautiful deity of Krishna. The deity of Krishna is called, this is Gopalji.
Actually, this is Gopalji deity only. And then they discovered the deity and they built a beautiful temple for that. So, in this case, Krishna appeared firstly in a vision when he was conscious.
And secondly, he appeared also when he was sleeping. In both these things, in both the situations he appeared. And what happened? He got those paranormal visions of Krishna.
So, in the Vedic, now there is a long story, but the point is, Krishna did appear. So, in this case, Krishna can appear. Now, for example, in the Vrindavan, Leela it is described that Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill.
So, now, lifting of Govardhan Hill, if there is any paranormal event, that is a big paranormal event, how can you get lift a hill? Now, some sceptic may ask, you know, if Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill, you know, how did he find a centre of gravity to put his finger over there, so that he could lift up? Well, Krishna does not have to find a centre of gravity, because he is the source of gravity. You know, he is the source of gravity. And as a source of gravity, the law of gravity functions under his will.
So, Krishna described that middle nature is working under his will. So, under his will, when it works, then by his will, the law works. And when he wants, the law can be suspended.
So, Krishna has the power to intervene middle nature and change his normal course of function. He can do that. And there are examples in scripture.
As I gave Govardhan Hill example, Madanipur is example. So, Krishna can appear in paranormal visions. So, now, the important point is, if we see this past time, it goes further.
And then, so, first time when Krishna appeared in this vision, and then he told, and then he came in the dream and told, please find this deity. And when they found the deity and they built the temple, all the villagers over there glorified Madanipuri, you are such a great saint, that the Lord Krishna came in your dream. And then, because of you, the deity has manifested, the temple has manifested, they started glorifying him a lot.
And then after that, what happened? Krishna came in a dream again. And he said that, actually, I have been exposed to the elements for so long. I am feeling terribly hot.
And please get some chandan for me. And chandan was not available in Vrindavan. He said, please go to Jagannath Puri and get chandan from there.
Now, he had to, at that time, he was not a king. Even kings had to go through horses and chariots. He would have to walk and go all the way.
Now, he could very well have said, no, I didn’t get the dream only. Now, if you could see, the first dream, what happened? The first dream gave him glory. And the second dream caused him a lot of trouble.
Trouble in the sense that he had to do so much hard work, travel through so many dangerous areas. Actually, at that time, that part of the country was ruled by Muslims who were quite inimical to the Vedic culture. Then Bengal was ruled by, again, Muslims.
And then Puri, the area of Utkal, it was called at that time, that was ruled by Hindus. So, going through these areas itself was very difficult. And surviving was going.
And then after that, having a chandan and coming through that, that would have been even more difficult. So, it was quite a difficult thing for him to do. But what did he actually did that? So, now, if suppose tomorrow some devotee comes to us and says, Prabhuji, Mataji, yesterday Krishna came in my dream.
Now, how do we react to that? You know, can Krishna come in our dreams? Well, who are we to say that Krishna can’t come in our dreams? Krishna is independent. And if he wants, he can come in my dream, he can come in your dream, he can come in anyone’s dream. So, once some devotee came to Prabhupada, some person came to Prabhupada and said, Prabhupada, Krishna came in my dream yesterday.
Prabhupada said, then serve him today. Serve him today. What does it mean? He says, you know, Krishna can come in our dreams.
But Baladeva Devotion explains actually what are dreams. This is an elaborate subject. What exactly are dreams? I’ll just explain it very briefly here.
But there are four levels of consciousness. So, here if you see, is this figure visible to everyone? So, now, you see the same figure it is, there is soul, subtle body, gross body. So, now, these four levels of consciousness, if you see now, if you take a longest arrow, I do not know, you can see my cursor here.
So, this arrow, which is going straight outwards, this is the state of Jagruti. Jagruti is the state in which all of us are, hopefully. So, some of us may be in the next state, that is Swapna.
So, we are sleeping. So, now, what is the difference between Jagruti and Swapna? The soul is the source of consciousness. Now, when this consciousness of the soul comes through the subtle body, through the gross body to the outer world, that time we are aware of the outer world, that is in the Jagruti state of consciousness, Jagruti.
We are aware of the world around us, that is Jagruti. Now, when the soul’s consciousness is rooted to the subtle body, but not through the gross body, at that time we are in the Swapna stage. In the Swapna stage, what happens? The soul is there, the soul’s consciousness is there, it is expressed, but through the subtle body.
And that is why, generally speaking, when we are sleeping, we are not so much aware of what happens around us, because the soul’s consciousness is not rooted. Now, what do I mean by rooted? Rooted means, for example, now I am sitting here, there is a door over here. If the door is closed, then I cannot see what is outside the door.
If the consciousness is not rooted outside the door, it is within the room. So, like that, when we are asleep and the consciousness is not rooted from the subtle level to the gross level, and that is why we are not aware so much of the gross reality. And beyond that, so every night when we go to sleep, the consciousness gets withdrawn from the subtle body.
And when we get dreams, then the consciousness is active at the subtle level. And then when the consciousness is entirely withdrawn, that is very deep dreamless sleep, that is called as Sushupti. Sushupti means the consciousness is not at all expressed outwards.
So, Sushupti in its, in actual Sushupti stage is when the whole universe is destroyed and the souls are actually withdrawn back into the body of Mahavishnu at the time of the destruction of the whole universe. That is the Sushupti occurs. And beyond that, when the soul’s consciousness is redirected towards the spiritual realm, that is called as Turiya or it is also called as Samadhi.
So, now, what is shown on this side is the, what is shown on this side is the spiritual reality. This is the material reality. So, when the soul’s consciousness is directed towards the spiritual reality, that is the state of Turiya or Samadhi.
So, now, Baladevidyabhushan is one of our very prominent Vaishnavacharyas. He has written a very scholarly book called as Govindabhashya. So, that is a commentary on the Vedanta Sutra.
And in Govindabhashya, he analyses, are dreams real? This is what happens in the dreams. Is it real or is it not real? Now, the point that he makes is that in the dream state, events happen. And in some events, we are observers.
In some events, we are participants. But in none of the events are we the supreme controllers. Even when dreams happen, it just happens.
And I did this and that happened, that happened. But it’s not that everything even in dreams happens according to our plan only. You know, we say it’s a dream come true.
But actually, if you look at our dreams, it’s not that everything that happens in the dream is so wonderful. So, what does that indicate? So, it explains that when things happen in the dreams, it’s not that we are the controllers. We are observers, we are participants.
In some of our dreams, we just observe this, this is happening. And in some dreams, we are also participating in certain things. But we are never the controllers, even in the dreams.
So, he explains that the dream level of existence is also real. Real in the sense that it is also created ultimately by God to give us some minor reactions to our karmic activities. For example, some people get nightmares.
As soon as they sleep, they start getting nightmares. Now, they just, because they get so many nightmares, they are afraid of sleeping. Now, physically, they need sleep.
Psychologically, they are terrified of sleeping. It’s miserable existence. So, now, why does that happen? Why do some people get nightmares, others don’t get nightmares? So, that’s because of karma.
Certain people have done certain karma by which the reactions are coming in dreams. So, now, even the material world, there is a gross level. As I said, some people are born wealthy, some people are born poor.
So, some people say who are born poor and their day may be a constant struggle. Their lives may be a constant struggle. Of course, wealthy also have their own struggles in a different way.
But there will be different levels of struggles that are there. So, why is this variety there? This variety is there because according to karma, we discussed earlier, previous innings. So, the same applies even to dreams.
So, whatever kind of dreams we get, the dreams are also, we are getting reactions to our own past activities. Some people get pleasant dreams. So, pleasant dreams are also reactions.
They are good reactions coming up to us. Now, the difference is that the gross material world is created using gross things. And through those gross things, we get reactions.
So, for example, if I am in this room and it becomes very hot, then the gross heat will be a reaction for me. Now, it is very cool and comfortable and cosy. That’s another reaction.
It’s a positive reaction. I’m getting comfortable. So, now, in the subtle realm, actually speaking, whatever happens is made to happen using subtle things.
That means what is subtle? Mind, intelligence and ego are subtle. So, everything in the dream world is made of subtle things. But the important difference from with respect to dream experiences and swapna experiences and jagruti experiences, the critical difference is that in general, we can’t really consciously exercise our free will.
But things happen to us and we respond. But it’s not as you see in a dream, we consciously plan, should I do this or should I do that? And then after that we plan. It doesn’t happen like that in the dreams.
So, he explains that actually this can God appear in the dreams? God can appear in the dreams because the dream level is also created by God only. The dream level in the sense that it is orchestrated by God to give us our karmic reaction. In some cases, God can appear.
But we make spiritual advancement when we exercise our free will properly. Ultimately, what is spiritual advancement? Spiritual advancement essentially means learning to love Krishna. Now, the more we love Krishna, the more we become spiritually advanced.
And loving Krishna is something which we have to choose to do. Each of us has to choose to love Krishna. Now, we can love the things of this world, we can love Krishna.
So, when the things of the world tempt us, we reject those things, we turn away from these things and we turn towards Krishna. By exercising our free will in this way, we learn to love Krishna and by that we make spiritual advancement. So, in the jagruti stage only can we exercise our free will.
In the swapna stage, we do not exercise our free will. Now, why am I talking about all this? Because I told this in the anecdote of Srila Prabhupada that somebody said that, Prabhupada, Krishna came in my dream yesterday. And Prabhupada said, serve him today.
See, what happens in the dream is Krishna’s grace. So, Krishna’s grace is wonderful, you get the grace. But what will make us spiritually advanced is our exercise of our free will.
So, only when we are awake and we exercise our free will and we choose to love and serve Krishna, will we make spiritual advancement. So, can Krishna come in our dreams? He can. Now, we may get certain dreams in which we think we are seeing Krishna.
Is it really Krishna coming in the dreams? How can we know? Whether Krishna comes in our dreams or not, we will become spiritually advanced not because Krishna came in our dreams. We will become spiritually advanced because we wake up and start serving Krishna more diligently. So, the important thing is not what happens in our dreams.
The important thing is what happens after we wake up from those dreams. That is really more important. So, for example, if somebody claims that Krishna came in my dream.
Now, we don’t have to suddenly fall at the feet. Oh, you are a Mahabhagavata Vaishnava, Krishna came in your dreams. Nor do we have to become very cynical.
You know, you are a sahajiya, sentimental. Now, how can Krishna come in your dream? I saw what you do, you know, what kind of TV programmes you watch, what kind of channels you browse. I know how materialistic you are.
How will Krishna come in your dream? You know, we don’t have to go to either of these extremes. Yes, Krishna can come in somebody’s dreams. But the important thing is what happens to our commitment to serving Krishna.
That is important. You know, if somebody claims that Krishna came in my dream, then it’s OK. If Krishna has come in the dream, it’s wonderful.
But what would Krishna want you to do? If Krishna came in my dream and told, stop chanting Hare Krishna, don’t go to the temple, don’t associate with devotees, then that is not Krishna coming in the dream. That is Maya coming in the form of Krishna. So, in general, again coming back to this point, yesterday there was a question about how can we do the will of Krishna? So, I explained that Krishna reveals his will to us through guru, sadhu and shastra.
To the scriptures, to the spiritual master and to the saintly teachers. So, generally for us, our primary praman, praman is the source of knowledge, the reliable source of knowledge. So, our primary praman is guru, sadhu, shastra.
And Krishna reveals his will to us through guru, sadhu, shastra. And Krishna is independent. Krishna can communicate to us through paranormal means also.
He can come in dreams, he can come in mystical visions. It’s possible. But Krishna’s paranormal instructions will always reinforce his normal instructions.
That means Krishna in the scriptures tells us, think of me, love me, serve me. And Krishna in the dreams when he comes, he will also tell the same thing. So, if Krishna’s paranormal instructions are contrary to his normal instruction, normal in the sense of coming from guru, sadhu, shastra, then we should be ourselves a little bit suspicious.
This might not be Krishna. I shouldn’t take this very seriously. So, certainly Krishna can come in paranormal visions.
But the test is not whether Krishna has come in the paranormal visions. What is Krishna saying? So, if my normal commitment to Krishna conscious is increasing by Krishna coming in my dreams, that’s wonderful. And I don’t have to, see, I don’t have to go around claiming to the world that Krishna came in my dreams.
I may tell you to some close devotee friends, if you see, now Srila Prabhupada, he had a darshan of Krishna. When he was in Jaladutta, he got the two heart attacks and after that Krishna came and told him, I will take care of everything. And I have arranged everything for you.
But when Srila Prabhupada is doing his normal preaching, Srila Prabhupada did not claim that his authority for preaching came because he had darshan of Krishna. He said, I am preaching because my spiritual master has given me instructions. And I am coming in a parampara that comes from Krishna.
So, he did not rest his authority on any paranormal visions. He rested his authority on the normal channels of authority. The normal channels of authority is the connection of the spiritual master and the connection with the parampara that goes on to Krishna.
So, the same applies to deities. I started this with Ganesh deities. Now, there are many temples where some people may say that, oh, the deities perform some pastimes here.
I didn’t know deities do this, deities did this. Now, we know that Kheer Chor Gopinath Deity, the same pastime Madhavidri Puri goes on. So, actually there is a temple in Ramuna in Bengal, where the deity kept some pot of Kheer so that that could be given to Gopinath.
So, now deities can do miraculous things. But now some devotees say, this deity has performed this pastime. Now, how do we know? There may be some temples in Mayapur where certain deities perform some pastimes.
Now, how do we know that particular pastime is performed or not? Ultimately, it depends on the credibility of that person who said, you know, Lord Narasimhadev came here, Lord Jagannath went here, Lord Jagannath did this. So, now every tradition has its primary sources of Pramana and its secondary sources. You know, there is folk traditions or there are folk stories, there are folk traditions.
And these sort of claims of pastimes with devotees of the deities, they can be true, they can be, they may not be true. We don’t have to make a judgement about them. There may be very advanced devotees with whom the deities can actually reciprocate.
And if we say that it is false, it can be wrong, it can become offensive. On the other hand, it’s not that everybody and anybody who claims that deities are performing some pastimes with me, it’s necessarily true. So, in general, we understand that this is not our primary Pramana.
Now, OK, at a level of folk culture, folk stories, we may discuss, OK, you know, this devotee said this, this deity did this and this. But when we are giving classes, when we are talking with new people, when we are sitting on the Vyasa Asana and discussing, we will not discuss these kind of pastimes. Vizhishla Prabhupada, he did not focus on these kind of things too much.
He focused on the normal process of Krishna consciousness. So, that means we accept the possibility of miracles in principle. But we are reserved of the occurrence of miracles in practise.
In principle, the Vedic worldview can explain how miracles occur. And we also accept that miracles do occur at times. But in practise, we are reserved.
So, whether a particular event is a miracle or not, we are reserved. We will not make a public judgement on the top of a terrace of a building or something like, oh, miracles have happened here, miracles have happened here. And moreover, even if miracles have happened, we don’t consider them to be the primary Pramanas.
Our primary Pramana is Guru, Sadhu, Shastra. And what the scriptures have taught in Guru, Sadhu, Shastra. So, now, in the Oh My God movie, we have Krishna appearing and Krishna is saying don’t do deity worship.
Now, when Krishna is saying don’t do deity worship, actually speaking the same Krishna we see in the Srimad Bhagavatam, in the Uddhav Gita, there is a whole chapter, 11th canto, 27th chapter, Krishna is giving elaborate instructions about deity worship. Now, worship the deity like this, do this, do this. The whole chapter is actually about deity worship.
So, we see that this Krishna who is speaking in a particular movie is speaking something which is contrary to what Krishna has spoken in the scriptures. So, this sort of claims of paranormal visions, we don’t give them much authority at all because they are contradicting scripture. So, scripture and the scriptural tradition through which we get scriptural knowledge, that is Guru, Sadhu, Shastra, that is our primary source of knowledge.
And paranormal visions are possible, but they are not our primary sources of authority. So, Srila Prabhupada focused on the practical, verifiable, empirical, empirical transformation that happened through Krishna consciousness. You know, Srila Prabhupada, as we know, that when people would come to India and say that, when he brought his disciples to India, Swamiji, can you perform some miracles? So, what would Srila Prabhupada say? He says, my disciples are my miracles.
The people who had just a few years ago not even heard about Krishna, what happened to them? Actually, the level of lack of spiritual knowledge in the West about Krishna was so profound. When first time the devotees had some pictures of Hanumanji over there and some devotees, they were proper committed devotee Prabhupada, they said, what is this picture? Is this a cat? They looked at Hanuman, they found it was a cat. So, they had no awareness of Krishna, practically speaking.
But those people, they gave up everything and they devoted themselves to Krishna, chanting 16 rounds every day, following the four agenda principles and travelling all over the world to share the glories of Krishna with the world. So, Prabhupada said, the hippies have become happiest. They have become transformed.
And this inner transformation of the heart from materialism to spirituality, from love of matter to love of God, that is the actual miracle. That is the ultimate act of God. The ultimate act of God is not some deities performing some pastime with someone.
The ultimate act of God is not somebody getting some dream. The ultimate act of God is our heart turning from worldly things towards Krishna. And that is something which can happen to each and every one of us.
If we practise the process of devotional service, we will see our love for Krishna developing. And we will turn away from material things because we will understand that there is life. There is so much higher in life, so much better things in life to relish and to share with others.
So this is a miracle which all of us can experience. And this is the miracle that we focus on, that we highlight. And then we can safely practise Krishna Conscious.
We incorporate other possibilities of other miracles, but we don’t highlight them too much. So I’ll summarise and then we can have questions. I started today by talking about the possibility of miracles.
The three questions which are primary in this. What are the three questions? Does anyone remember? Yes, it’s there. Did it actually happen? Then? Is there no natural explanation for it? Did it actually happen? Somebody claimed that, OK, I saw Krishna over here.
So or something happened. Somebody produced ash over here. But if you look at it, the ash was just there.
Only this person picked it up and nobody was seeing it. There’s no miracle over there. Did it actually happen? Is that an act of, is that, is there no natural explanation? So I gave the example of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the claim of seeing Krishna on Yamuna.
That was just a boatman. And does the supernatural event or occurrence or explanation comprise an act of God? This was the elaborate part of the discussion. And in this we discussed about aliens and aliens, their concept of aliens and the concept of life on other areas in the universe.
Then we discussed about ghosts. Then we discussed about siddhis. Then we discussed about actual cases of the supernatural events being acts of God.
OK, actually it should not be supernatural explanation, it should be supernatural event. Does a supernatural event comprise an act of God? So then we discussed that even if Krishna comes in supernatural ways, then Krishna’s paranormal instructions reinforces normal instructions. So Krishna comes in a dream and tells us serve me.
So a devotee, we see Madhavendra Puri, when Krishna’s paranormal intervention came in the form which gave him glory, he accepted that. When it caused him inconvenience, he accepted that also. Both cases he was centred on serving Krishna.
So rather than focussing too much on these miraculous events, which we accept in principle are possible and there are explanations of how they can happen, we are in general reserved about acknowledging miracles in specific events or acknowledging specific events to miracles. And we focus on the ultimate miracle, that is, the redirection of our heart from the world to Krishna. And because that alone will purify us, that alone will take us back to God, that alone will free us from this miserable material existence and take us to the abode where there is always eternal supreme happiness.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Hare Krishna Guru, what is the basic difference between material and spiritual? Second, what is the example of Bhagavad Gita, Upside Down Banyan Tree? And third, what does Tarchitana mean? What is the difference between material and spiritual? There is a difference at a compositional level and there is a difference at a functional level. Compositional level means the things which are made of matter.
So, for example, this wall is made of matter. There is earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, ego, all these are material things. So, those which are made of matter are called as material.
And those things are not made of matter, they are called as spiritual. So, what are the characteristics of material things? They are asat, achit and nirananda. They are temporary, they are unconscious and they are non-joyful.
They are actually not really permeated with happiness. So, at a compositional level, the material is made up of these material elements, earth, water, fire, air, intelligence, ether, feelings and mind, false ego, like that. Whereas, spiritual is made up of sat-chit-ananda.
At a functional level, something which is material can also be used in spiritual service. Specially Prabhupada would give the example of this mic. This mic is made of material elements.
But when we use it for Krishna’s service, the mic becomes spiritualised. So, in a functional sense, in a compositional sense, it is material. But in a functional sense, it is, it has become spiritualised.
In that sense, we can say it is spiritual. Now, regarding what is sat-chit-ananda? Sat-chit-ananda is actually the composition of that which is spiritual. So, now, we generally think of the spiritual in a very simplistic geographical or compositional sense.
You know, for example, you know, people think that where is heaven? Heaven is up. But now, you know, people in India think heaven is up. People in America think heaven is up.
The earth is round. Up is two opposite directions. So, where is up actually? So, actually when we say up, that is not in a simplistic geographical or geometrical sense.
That up is a higher level of existence based on karmic qualifications. Similarly, we see the map of the universe, which is there in the cover of the Bhagavatam. OK, the material world is over here.
And then there is a spiritual world starting over here. You know, we think of it as if they are just geographical neighbours. The material world is just like India and China are geographical neighbours.
The material world and spiritual world are geographical neighbours. It’s not like that. It’s a completely different level of existence.
For the sake of our conceptual understanding, it is correct. OK, the material world is here, the spiritual world is here. But it’s quite subtle, it’s quite profound.
So, the idea of something comprising of sat-chit-ananda, that is quite difficult for us to understand. So, essentially, in the spiritual world, everything is conscious. Everything is Chinmaya.
It’s filled with consciousness. And everything is eternal. Everything is sat-chit-ananda.
Everything is permeated with bliss. So, sat-chit-ananda is the composition of everything spiritual. So, sat means eternal, chit means conscious, ananda means blissful.
So, everything in the spiritual world has these characteristics. That is the meaning of sat-chit-ananda. And there is the metaphor in 15.1 in the Bhagavad Gita, urdhva-mulam adhah shakham asvattham prahur aviham chhannam syasya parnaaniyastam vedasavedavid So, it describes that there is a urdhva-mulam, mula is roots, urdhva is up, and adhah is down, adhah shakham.
Shakha is the branches. So, the roots are upwards and the branches are downwards. There is a banyan tree, asvattham prahur aviham, ancient banyan tree.
So, what is this describing? This is a metaphor. What is it describing? It’s describing an inverted state of existence. Normally, in a tree the roots are down and the branches are up.
So, what does the inverted state of existence indicate? That our current mental existence is not as it should be. It is inverted. So, what is inverted? Actually, the inversion is in our understanding of ourselves and what we are supposed to do.
So, we are meant to enjoy with God, but we are trying to enjoy like God. That’s the inversion of our position. So, just as in a reflection, we see a tree upside down.
Similarly, in this world, we have got things upside down. So, this says beyond the reflection there is a reality. In fact, the reflection is present because there is a reality.
So, similarly, beyond our mental existence, there is a spiritual existence, there is a spiritual reality to which we actually belong. So, that whole metaphor, it goes on for five verses from 14.1 to 14.5. And it ends with the process of detaching oneself from this tree. Asangasya strena drudhena chitva.
By detachment cut oneself off from this tree and go back to the reality. Tatha padaṁ tat parimārgi taupyaṁ yasmīṅgataṇanivartantibhūya tam eva cādyam puruṣaṁ prapadye yathā pravṛttiḥ prasṛtaḥ purāṇi. So, in 15.4 Krishna describes that cut yourself off from material existence and then return back to the spiritual reality and there connect with the eternal person from whom everything has come about.
So, that is a metaphor which conveys three things. First is that our current existence is an inverted existence. It’s upside down.
It’s wrong. And the very fact that it’s upside down, it’s a reflection, indicates that there is some reality. And then it says that by becoming detached, by turning towards the reality, we can attain that reality.
Does it answer your question? Any other questions? So, what about superstitions? Say, for example, a black cat going along the way that considered to be a or some part of the body, twitching, is that some sign, an auspicious sign? Yeah, actually speaking, there definitely are many superstitions that exist in today’s culture. But the basis of calling something as a superstition is not that it doesn’t make scientific sense. The basis of calling something as a superstition would be that it doesn’t have any scriptural basis.
You see, just because something doesn’t make scientific sense, doesn’t mean that it is wrong. Because as I said, there is much that science has advanced a lot in many ways. But the more science has advanced, the more we have more actually we have understood how little we know.
Or how much more there is to know. For example, when man went into outer space. So, at that time, the space probes proved our greatness and also showed our smallness.
Why? Okay, man, we can go into space. That proved our greatness. But actually when we went into space, we understood that the universe is so much bigger than what we thought it to be.
And from the perspective of outer space, when we look at earth, the earth is actually just one tiny pebble. It’s just a tiny pebble. And it’s so vulnerable.
There are missiles shooting all around. From the earth’s perspective, the earth is a gargantuan of water and land. But from outer space, it’s just a tiny pebble.
And there are dangerous missiles shooting around throughout space. We are so vulnerable. So, you know, if a person is truly honest in the scientific perspective, will understand that science has shown our greatness and also our smallness.
Okay, we have been able to do many things, which in the recent past we were not able to do. But then we understood there is so much more to know. So now, for example, when there are earthquakes.
Now, this has been empirically demonstrated repeatedly that before earthquakes, animals start behaving in abnormal ways. You know, dogs may start maybe barking a little bit too much or becoming very silent and apprehensive. And ants, this is again being understood that ants, their behaviour changes.
You know, they instead of just going around and normally collecting their food, they may stay more in their own anthills. So scientists have found that these animals, they behave in different ways. And now scientists are seriously considering that actually we can aim where there are areas where we are prone to earthquakes.
They can they can have sensors or they can observe us to observe the behaviour of animals. And through that, we can predict earthquakes. So now the question comes up, you know, we with our all our scientific technology, we can’t predict earthquakes.
And how are the animals able to predict? So now scientists try to come to some explanation that maybe even before an earthquake is going to happen, there are the tectonic plates which are vibrating and they are going to shake. So maybe they give up some subtle vibrations and the animals have some. So those vibrations are that which we don’t know.
How the tectonic plates are those vibrations, produce those vibrations, we don’t know. And how the animals can sense those vibrations, we don’t know. But this is something happens like this by which the animals are able to sense it.
So the point is, if the history of science has shown us anything, has taught us anything, a true scientist would admit that it has taught us humility. It has taught us humility. That means just because science cannot make sense of something today, we shouldn’t necessarily dismiss it as superstition.
There could be explanations for this. There could be indicators of things to come. So in the Vedic scriptures, it is described that there are omens of things.
Omens means that basically they are like traffic signals or weather forecasts. So traffic signals do not create the problem. Some people if there is a black cat going along, you know, maybe I’ll make sure that we’ll kill all black cats in our neighbourhood.
So no black cats will go along. You know, that is not the point. It’s like saying I have a road and I see the red signal on the road, I’ll just destroy all red signals.
Then I can go without any stopping on the road. No, that’s not the solution. So just as we understand that when there is a red signal, for me, for a person who has never travelled in traffic earlier, all of you are moving along, suddenly somewhere light changes, all of you are stopping.
Why are you stopping? It doesn’t make any sense. But for a person who understands that the whole system of management of traffic, stopping at the red signal makes sense, perfect sense. So similarly, there are systems of omens which are much more subtle and much more, much less comprehensible for us at our level.
So that’s why, again, we accept that the principle of omens are there and they can happen and they do indicate certain things. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, they talk about omens. But at the same time, it is not that we are constantly observing things and are paranoid.
Hey, this happened. Is this a good omen? Is this a bad omen? Is this a good omen? Is this a bad omen? No, we primarily focus on doing what is right, on doing what is good, especially if we are devotees of Krishna and we are trying to serve Krishna. Krishna is above all auspicious and auspicious things.
So we take care of things. We are careful in doing things, but we are not paranoid. So again, to summarise, omens are possible, that they are basically like traffic signals or as weather forecasts.
And there is a whole system by which, subtle system, which science doesn’t know about, by which these things happen. So how can, does the cat know that something bad is going to happen to me? No, it’s not like that. Actually speaking, the super soul is present in the heart of all living beings.
Vishwara sarva bhootaanam hrideshe arjuna tishthati, brahmayan sarva bhootaani yantra rudhani mayaya. Super soul is present in the heart of all living beings. Super soul directs the wanderings.
So it’s that super soul which makes particular living beings behave in particular ways at particular times. And through those, so through that, we are provided certain omens. So the omens do indicate certain things.
But in general, in the bhakti culture, we don’t focus too much on omens. We certainly don’t live a paranoid existence. We focus on serving Krishna and whatever is best for serving Krishna, we do that.
Does that answer the question? Any other questions? Yeah. You mentioned that even the subtle experiences that one goes through, they are also controlled by the law. So in connection to that topic, we also hear sometimes that people talk about astrology, even among devotees, that probably you have Shalini or Rahu in particular, how it is like.
So how do we actually reconcile, how do we understand this? I mean, what is the role of astrology and how do we reconcile that with the bhakti culture? OK. So how do we as devotees reconcile astrological influences with the bhakti culture? See, again, astrology is in itself a science because how things work is that, for example, the horoscope. See, the planetary positions, the planets are not just just insentient blocks of matter as the concept of the materialistic concept.
Certainly they are blocks of matter, but they are also presided over by higher beings. And those beings are appointed to us, are appointed by the supreme law to deliver certain specific karmic reactions. So Shani, now from the modern cosmology point of view, Shani is Saturn.
So Saturn is certainly a celestial object which is at a particular place, particular distance from the earth. But along with that, there is only a partial vision. Beyond that, there is also a presiding deity who is in charge of Shani.
And just as to the trained eye, you know, the clouds are positioned here, here, here. That indicates that rains are going to come. That, OK, the winds are going this way.
If it is a trained boat person, then when the winds are flowing this way, then if we go this way, we’ll have to struggle more. If we go this way, we’ll have to struggle less. Or now a storm is going to come.
Better come out of here. So there is much which the trained eye sees, which the untrained eye doesn’t see. So similarly, with respect to the position of the planets, because these particular devatas who are in charge of the planets are meant to give us certain karmic reactions based on what karma we have done.
Their positions at particular times, they are portenders, portenders means indicators or predictors of certain courses of events that are going to happen in our life. So in that sense, astrology, which is based on various factors like the position of particular planets, that is also a science of subtler dimensions which involve higher beings and karmic justice that goes over and extends over multiple lifetimes. So it’s a science.
Now with respect to its practise, today astrology is a huge business. And it is such a business that actually you go to two different astrologers, if there are two predictions possible, they will give two different predictions. If there are four predictions possible, they will give four predictions.
And ultimately somebody will come out to be right. So that’s why in practise we have to be careful. Now as devotees we understand that if we are serving Krishna, then Krishna will take care of these influences.
So there is the gross material reality, the subtle material reality, the spiritual reality. So when we are trying to connect with Krishna at a spiritual level, then Krishna takes care of everything. That is the meaning of sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja.
So in principle, if devotees are very serious about devotional service, then there is no need to pay much attention to astrology. But then some devotees may feel, OK, I’m not practising bhakti so seriously. Maybe there will be astrological influences which will come along.
Maybe I should look into that. So then it is up to individuals. So do these planets influence us? They definitely influence us.
Can Krishna protect us from those influences? Krishna definitely can. We see in Govardhan Leela, Indra got angry, but Krishna protected the Bajawasis from Indra’s wrath. So Krishna can protect us.
So in principle, as devotees, we don’t have to necessarily concern ourselves too much with astrological influences. But in case of some major life events, we can consult astrology. For example, if we have got a child and then we want to know, OK, what this child’s inclinations are.
We may consult an astrologer if somebody has the inclination for artist. And then we just force that person to become an engineer or doctor. And then that person may be, because of incompatible feel, may be miserable.
So in certain major factors, or for example, if somebody wants to get married, then to check at the compatibility of the spouses, if some people want, then they can consult astrologers. Some devotees can also consult astrologers. So with respect to major life events, to understand broad patterns of compatibility or broad patterns of nature, we can refer to astrology.
But with respect to specific events, OK, will this happen? Should I do this? Should I do that? We don’t want to become more dependent on an astrologer than on Krishna. So we don’t have to make an astrologer what often a psychologist is for depressed people. You know, people are depressed, everything is a problem, go to psychologist, go to psychologist.
As devotees, we don’t have to become so dependent on astrologers. So even if we don’t consult astrologers and if we are seriously practising devotional service, that is fine. If you feel, if by our culture, our upbringing, our social circles, you know, we feel that we should consult some astrologers, then for major life events we can consult astrologers.
But we don’t have to focus it on for every single event in life, every single thing. So in general, we focus on depending on Krishna and practising devotional service. And that is the way we express our faith in Krishna and we focus on the practise of devotional service.
Does it answer your question? Any other questions? I have a question to you. I saw a super poster. In the Gita, it is said that during death, the living entity, Atma takes away the senses.
And in the birth, it is said, I don’t know whether it is said, but the Atma in the womb prays to the Lord. And when it comes out, it forgets about the world. So during the transition period, does the Atma talks or reacts with the Paramatma? And second is, when we talk about the ghost, so where was the super soul? When it comes to ghost, where does the Paramatma goes? Okay.
So in the stage of the child being in the womb, does the soul talk with the super soul? Not all souls. Certainly the souls who are in the wombs of lower species. For example, there is a soul inside an egg which is going to become a chicken.
That doesn’t talk with the super soul. Because that particular biological form is not suited for so much development of consciousness. So generally lower species it doesn’t happen.
In the human species also, it’s not that all souls, all souls undergo misery. But it is not that everybody who becomes miserable takes shelter of Krishna. In this world also we see many people become miserable, they take shelter of alcohol, they take shelter of television, they take shelter of so many other things.
So the Acharyas describe that actually those souls who have some spiritual inclinations already, then in that stage of extreme and helpless misery, they turn towards Krishna. And that time, yes, there is a interaction. The soul speaks the heart, speaks its heart out to Krishna and Krishna also reciprocates.
So in some cases it does happen. But this is Bhagavatam, it primarily describes the miseries that are there in the existence in the womb and also says that how the Lord offers relief. But the Lord’s offering relief is when the soul fervently calls out for Krishna.
That doesn’t necessarily have to happen for all souls. With respect to the ghostly beings, the soul is always there, the super soul is always there with the soul. In fact, wherever the soul is going is guided always by the super soul only.
So even for the ghost, now in this particular analysis, my focus was on super soul. That’s why I did not, even with respect to the body, mind and gross matter, subtle matter and spirit, I was not showing the super soul. That’s why I am not showing.
But the super soul is always accompanying the soul. In fact, without the super soul’s intervention, the soul cannot interact with any kind of matter, whether it is gross or subtle. So even for the soul who is in a ghostly body, that means there is soul and there is gross matter, subtle matter around it.
For the soul to interact with the gross matter also, that is done through the medium of the super soul only. So the super soul is always there. And super soul never leaves the company of the soul.
It is always there. So Gajendra describes in his prayers to Lord Vishnu that you never abandon me. You never get tired of helping me.
So even when the soul goes into ghostly being, the super soul doesn’t abandon that soul. The super soul is always there with us. Any other questions? There is one question from yesterday.
I will just quickly answer that. So, you know, it is described that, say, if some suffering comes upon us. So if there is two persons A and B, you know, A attacks and harms B. So now B was supposed to get some karma.
B was supposed to get some karmic reaction. And that karmic reaction requires an agent. So now that reaction for B came through A. So if B gets a reaction through A of the karma that B only had done earlier, then why is A responsible? If yes, why? If not, why not? So actually speaking, you know, giving a soul the karmic reaction for the misdeeds is not the responsibility of you or me.
You know, it is actually the responsibility of the super soul. So, for example, you know, if I become angry with somebody and I blast and insult somebody and then I tell nothing happens without the will of the super soul. So I became angry means you had done some past karma, you are getting the reaction.
Well, whether that person is getting the reaction or not, I am going to get the reaction. Because I am doing karma over here. See, in general, when we are dealing with people, we deal with people based on their dislike perspective.
So if I am insulting somebody, I am behaving, yesterday you remember I talked about destiny and I talked about duty. So one aspect of our duty is to behave responsibly, is to behave sensitively. So if I become short tempered, if I become angry, if I disrespect or insult someone, then I am acting improperly.
It is not. So when I am behaving with somebody, it is not my concern what that person’s karma was. That my concern should be what my dharma is, what is my duty and how I should act.
So now, yes, we had to get the karmic reaction and that is the super soul’s responsibility, how to give the karmic reaction to me. A’s responsibility is what is my duty? How should I behave responsibly in the situation? So that’s why A gets the karmic reactions because A acted in a irresponsible way. A acted in an inappropriate way.
A succumbed to anger and spoke insultingly. So there is the, now Krishna is so expert that Krishna can even use somebody’s anger, A’s anger to give B the karmic reaction that was due for me. But in the process, A was not thinking I am serving Krishna.
A was simply having his or her own ideas of what is to be done. And that’s how the person acted. So in general, we don’t rationalise our misbehaviour by saying that other person’s karmic reaction is coming.
Nor do we, if somebody else is behaving wrongly with us, it’s not that we just have to continuously tolerate it, tolerate it, tolerate it and just go on in abusive relationship thinking that this is just my karmic reaction. No, we have to do whatever is required to deal with that situation in an intelligent way. And at the same time, we also recognise that there are certain situations that are unavoidable.
So when they are unavoidable, we accept them as karmic reactions and we continue on in our life, tolerating them and finding a way forward. So the important point with respect to the whole principle of karmic reactions is that we should focus on our duty. So what is my duty in the situation and how can I best execute that duty? So it is nobody’s duty to just go on suffering continuously.
And it is nobody’s duty to give suffering to somebody else. Yes, the king can give karmic reactions. The king is responsible for that.
King is appointed for that. But that is the, these are exceptional situations. In general, we have to act in ways that are in accordance with our duty and not bring about other people’s karma in that framework of discussion.
Is that clear? Any other questions? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Were you present yesterday? Oh, actually we discussed this elaborately yesterday. So I’ll explain briefly. So, for example, there were the flash floods and a lot of devastation that happened and especially when something happens in holy places.
So this lowers people’s faith in God. How do we understand this? So actually speaking, whatever happens in material, the material world, that is not directly the will or the desire or the intention of God. It is sanctioned by God depending on one’s own circumstantial karma.
So the rains, when they come, they can lead to the growth of weeds or they can lead to the growth of crops. The rains are not responsible for what grows because the seeds are involved. Seeds determine what grows.
The rains are a general cause, but the seeds are a specific cause. So now when natural disasters like this happen, they are caused not by God directly. Actually, there is a whole subtle system of action-reaction and that action-reaction system is triggered by our actions.
So our actions bring reactions. Now, these actions bringing reactions can be comprehensible to the human mind or sometimes they may not be comprehensible to the human mind. For example, if I put my hand in fire, I get burned.
There is an immediate comprehensible connection. If I smoke, I get cancer. That is not immediate and comprehensive.
One has medical knowledge, that person understands that. But beyond that, there is the whole karmic science that is there, karmic knowledge that is there. So based on that, the actions that we do produce certain reactions.
So the fury of nature is not the intentional or malevolent wrath of God. That is actually the reaction to the actions that people have done. So, you know, if you look at the history of humanity and if you look especially at, you know, we have destabilised the ecology so terribly.
You know, we have destroyed the forests. We have ruined the topsoil. We have polluted the rivers.
We have slaughterhouses which kill so many animals. And we have wreaked havoc on the planet. So when we destabilise nature, that nature also produces certain reactions by that.
So what we are experiencing are reactions to our own destabilisation of nature. Now, this will happen in various places. And when it happens in the form of natural calamities, and for example, when it happens in holy places, what do we understand is that the holy places are holy, not because they are immune from material disturbances.
They are holy because they enable us to connect with Krishna. The Bhagavad Gita is holy, not because, you know, if I put the Bhagavad Gita in fire, it will not burn. The Bhagavad Gita’s holiness is not because of its fireproofness.
The Bhagavad Gita’s holiness is because it can connect us with Krishna. It can give us the wisdom. It can give us the insights by which we connect with Krishna.
Similarly, the holy places are holy because they offer us an arena to connect with Krishna. So their holiness is not that they are immune to material disasters. Material disasters that happen in other places can happen in these places also.
And they are caused not by God. They are the reactions to the actions that we have done in the past. Is it clear? So yesterday we had discussed about karma elaborately and you can get a recording of that and maybe you can hear that further to understand this.
So we will continue tomorrow and we can have more question answers tomorrow also. Tomorrow I will discuss more about fate and free will and how the two interact. We discussed about it yesterday.
We will discuss about it more. Tomorrow we will have much more time for question answers also. Thank you very much.
Shila Prabhupada ki Jai. Gaur Bhakta Bindaki Jai. Jai Gaur Premanand.