Man cannot judge God

Krsangi Radhe Dasi, the communications manager for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Durban, responds to a column by Yogin Devan titled ‘Religious dogmatism, Loudspeakers not essential to religion’, (POST, November 8-12).

TO UNDERSTAND Lord Krishna and his pastimes, one has to delve deeper into the Vedic texts with a full purport offered by a qualified spiritual master. There are various commentaries.

However, the devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement follow the teachings of the Founder-acharya His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Being followers of Srila Prabhupada, there is a clear line of succession that can be traced to the origins of Vedic literature.

On this point, I refer to Srila Prabhupada as a great spiritual authority and will reference his commentary on the relationship between Lord Krishna and the gopis (cowherd girls).

In the opinion piece “Religious dogmatism, Loudspeakers not essential to religion”, Lord Krishna was cited as a playboy in Vrindavana. How foolish are we to think in these terms.

However, Srila Prabhupada did mention that one will view the relationship of Krishna and the gopis in this way, just by looking at it through a material consciousness.

We are likening Lord Krishna to an ordinary being.

Srila Prabhupada describes various pastimes of Lord Krishna in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Of the innumerable spiritual teachings in Vedic literature, the Srimadis considered the topmost. It is in the first nine cantos of the Srimad-Bhagavatam that the description of Lord Krishna being the supreme being is revealed.

It is only in the tenth canto that the pastimes of Lord Krishna and the gopis are discussed.

The reason for this is that one cannot meddle into such pastimes without having the full understanding and appreciation of who Lord Krishna is and his position as the Supreme Lord.

The Bhagavatam rather begins by explaining the Supreme Lord as the original source of the creation ( janmady asya yatah).

Scholars will need to pass through and graduate the nine cantos of Bhagavatam.

It is unfair to comment on Lord Krishna’s relationship without full understanding.

We are seeing Lord Krishna’s pastimes in a material sense – in the spiritual world, everything is love.

Here in the material world, relationships end – there is unhappiness and heart-break.

In the spiritual realm, relationships are everlasting, and this shows that true love exists only in spirituality.

Of course, the Vedas provide comprehensive understanding of the different personalities and their positions.

We are all hankering for love and the Vedas teach us that the ultimate loving relationship is that of our eternal love for the Supreme Lord.

So, too, we can only aspire to achieve this peace through understanding that we are all children of God and that our eternal place is at His abode.

One may then ask if we as mortals can also lift the mighty Govardhan Hill or destroy many demons as described in the Vedas.

Therefore, there can be no similarity or comparison between God and man.

Instead of being scornful to these teachings, let us be followers to promote peace and harmony by embracing each other as brothers and sisters, striving to attain pure love for God.