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  • Hare Krsna, PAMHO,AGTSP

    Krishna gives all souls free will so that they can choose to love him and therein relish existence’s supreme fulfillment but the souls abuse their independence by choosing to not love Krishna but to enjoy matter instead. Impelled by material desires, the souls engage in evil deeds and are subjected to others’ evil actions, as per the inexorable law of karma.

    Krishna doesn’t force or instruct or even want souls to get entangled in matter or to act destructively. When they choose to do wrong, he allows them to fulfill their desires till their karmic bank account runs out. The victims actually reap the results of their own past karma. Though the souls have got themselves into this arena of evil, Krishna is too compassionate to abandon them here. He accompanies them as the Supersoul in their hearts and guides them towards his loving devotion, which is the way out of all evil.

    Your servant

  • Yes Prabhuji's/Matajis  what you all are saying is true for devotees; but it is not the experience of people who are not exposed to Krishna Consciousness. You will find that anybody who is not exposed to krishna Tattva have a different viewpoint. I gather this information and knowledge based on almost 15 years of preaching. Hope you will agree.. You may find my blog useful for your preaching activities

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  • Actually, I have found from my personal experience and from observation that overall it is not true that bad things happen to good people and that good things happen to bad people.

    Rather, exactly the opposite from my observation. I have observed bad people, their bad actions catch up to them surely, even those who try to pretend to be good but have ill intentions and evil in their heart, karma does not have to wait until the next life but rather instant karma will take them to their judgement and bad things strike them, many demons I have seen their demise forthcoming.

    And for the good, many joys awaited them and came true.

    Now here is one dilemma, however, that happens to good devotees. Many are jealous of their goodness. These jealous fools who envy the beauty that devotees relish in devotion plot to hurt the devotees, and indeed we see devotees attacked, victims of evil intent, and this may be described as "bad things happen to good people".

    However, for a good devotee these things are only just a rainy day, soon the Love Light of the Lord shines upon their joyous day and they can never be defeated in this joyous love light that even projects outward like a halo upon the world.

    Soon enough, those evil souls who try to do bad things to the Devotees of Krishna and the Golden One face the very bad things they wanted to do to others.

    Even Nature comes around and She bows to the devotees. No matter how poor, the devotee is rich.

    That is my observation. And so I say, even the friend of Ravana as myself, I would dare not plot evil upon devotees for very long. Or bad things will come upon me, as sure as the insect in the bread cupboard.

    Your servant in devotion, Jai Sri Krishna
  • E-Counselor

    Karma. And Karma Kanda is very complicated. Instead of trying to understand why something bad happened to me, it is better to spend that energy in chanting. Not only will the ill effects of the bad thing that happened reduce or diminish, the good effects of chanting takes place relieving us of all material pains eventually.

    Srila Prabhupada made it simple for all of us - chant Hare Krsna and Be Happy.

    Even after understanding all the philosophy, this is what we have to do, so may as well start now itself.

    Haribol,

    Your servant,

    Rashmi

    • I thank you Mataji for your kind suggestion. However it is of utmost important to understand things in the proper light. Human beings especially people who are at their initial stage of chanting need exacting guidance. People who have already been chanting without offense (or at least try to) will be able to understand these things through humble realizations which are time tested and will be relevant all the time. Great seers especially Srila Prabhupada used to address devotees through personalized letters as you are well aware of , I am sure.You can find loads of such examples like letters by Srila Vamana Maharaja and so on in the Gaudiya stream.

      Such realizations should be put up as and when necessary as part of conversations and exchanges which will be useful for beginner enthusiasts so that they do not carry misconceptions as they chant. This is what is satsanga. To understand the effects of chanting ; one has to share realizations (on a very humble platform and praising the Lord only for this) with beginners . "Chant Hare Krishna and Be Happy" is a  voluminous philosophy in itself that needs to be first understood , practiced and realized. When a person realizes and continues realizing this philosophy ; he shares the same to be understood by someone who has embarked on a mission to realize it as well as seeks guidance during that course. The eventual destiny of chanting is no doubt complete annihilation of material existence so to say but one has to accept material conditions entirely without trying to shy away from it ( even not asking the holy name to cure him of his situation) in the wake of daunting miseries along the way!! This is an express route towards realizing the holy name.

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      • namaskaram Prabhu ji

        you ask .....

        ''Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. This is in general the observation of people who are serious with life....?''

        the article you quote gives one reason , that is that the efects of past Karma now ripen all at once so that we may burn off this accumulations of reactions , ...there is also one other reason or way of explaining the same , .. this comes in the form of a blessing in that , ...were our lives too perfect and too comfortable we would not surrender or take shelter of Krsna . 

        it is true that the reactions of karma are so complex that we canot understand the cause of each individual reaction , nor do we need to concern ourselves too deeply with each individual cause , ...save to say that we all have a storehouse of such reactions waiting to come to fruition .

        what we need to concern our selves with is 'nishkam karma' , ...selfless action , ...

        yes agreed prabhu ji there is without doubt voluminous philosopy to be learnt and to be put into practice , but this is beyond the capability of many who do not have the leasure and good fortune to make such studies possible . However if when one is faced with the problems of this material life , one simply relys on the word of sri Bhagavan when he says .....

        ''Being freed form attatchment fear and anger , being fully absorbed in me and by taking refuge in me , many many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of me , ..and thus they attained trancendental love for me'' ...BG   ch ..4  v .. 10 .

        ... then one who takes the words of sri Krsna to heart gives up all desires for any result , and by doing so becomes freed from all fears of material reactions ,

        only when we give up all attempts to chant for any result , and begin to chant out of love and reverence will we understand this non material happiness brought about by true devotion . when one experiences such bliss one cares little for the temporary nature of this material  platform one becomes free from such concerns even in the midst of calamety .

        personnaly I feel we need to reflect more on the nature and form of the lord and upon what refuge and surrender actualy mean , we may discuss realisations all day but nothing takes the place of the personal relationship which we each will eventualy form through contemplation of sri Hari .

        jai sri Krsna

        • It is alright that Krishna will help ; because at an experiential level it is a fact (people like me though  live on  a self-imagined platform) that only He can make it happen. But what about greedy devotees like me who want to contribute. Kindly out of your mercy , shed light on the same. I am fallen yet I go into an advising mode!!!

          Questions from the heart of a fallen one like me:

          How can I give up my sticky desires?

          I have no interest for chanting at all?

          I fall off to sleep most times...while chanting..yet I feel I can help. Vaishnavas call it egotistic behavior

          While chanting I feel most distinterested

          Although I try to surrender , thought of the results plague me..

          What does surrender actually mean..I dont know what I am thinking about surrendering or maybe imagining ..I dont know whats true

          My calamities scare me too much ..I know on the mental platform that Krishna is there ; but I am still dissatisfied and feel that I need to do something different.

          I am addicted to my thoughts.and my realizations(I sometimes hallucinate)..What is the way forward.

          Mataji Kindly help me..Because although I am advised by Vaishnavas not to speak to others about my so-called realizations I still go on advising and sharing false realizations out of satisfying my false ego.

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