What is the similarity between the Bhagavad-Gita and the Vedanta Sutra? There are actually many similarities since they describe the same Absolute Truth, which is ultimately a person, and the process of connecting with Him. The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the 108 Upanisadis, while the Vedanta Sutra describes the conclusions of the Upanisadis, and so on. These two books are actually very closely connected.
Another thing they have in common is that they describe the same five tattvas, or truths:
Isvara (The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supreme Controller).
Jiva (the individual souls, who are controlled by Him).
Prakrti (the material nature).
Kala (time, which governs the duration of the existence of the whole material manifestation).
Karma (material activity).
These five points and the interactions between them are very important topics because when they are not properly understood, all kinds of philosophical misconceptions appear.
Srila Prabhupada explains these five points in his introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita as it is, and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana describes the same points in his introduction to the Govinda Basya, his commentary on the Vedanta Sutra. This is a list of points from both explanations.
Often younger devotees ask me how to find a good wife and settle into a good marriage. I answer that it is actually quite simple, but it requires one to be able to control his senses.
The problem with most men is that they are too much attracted to women. And not exactly to women, but just to their external bodies. No one likes to be treated like an object, and therefore they tend to be rejected by the women they approach, even if they have good intentions. When they finally find some women who accept their proposal, she often just accepts because there is no better option, and then the man has to work his whole life to fulfill all her material desires, understanding that if he doesn’t do that she will leave him. That’s a very miserable position to be in.
Instead, we can get the example of a good marriage in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Kardama Muni wanted to marry, but he didn’t go out chasing ladies. Instead, he focussed on his spiritual practice and asked Krsna to take take of it, surrendering the choice to Him.
At the same time, because he was so serious about his spiritual practice, Narada Muni became greatly pleased and narrated his glories to Swayambhuva Manu, which was in turn overheard by Devahuti. Hearing about the austerities and personal qualities of this great sage she immediately got attracted to him. Eventually, her father got to know about this and decided to offer her in marriage to the great sage, who had been told by the Lord that it would happen, and was more than pleased to accept her hand.
By the time they got married, Kardama Muni was still practicing austerities, so Devahuti had to be patient and serve him in the forest for many years, facing many hardships. These austerities of Kardama Muni served a higher purpose and were beneficial for both, but of course, it was not easy for her. However, because she loved him, she was able to tolerate it, and eventually, they reaped the results of such austerities.
Kardama Muni became so powerful that he was able to create a flying castle inside which they could travel through the celestial planets, and not only did they have seven beautiful daughters, but the Lord himself appeared as their son, Lord Kapila, and instructed both in the devotional science making sure that both would go back to Godhead.
How does this apply to our modern life?
The point is that reconciling married life with spiritual practice requires sacrifice, especially on the part of the wife, because usually women have many material desires and mature human life requires one learning that they can’t be all satisfied. Married life in general requires a lot of sacrifice, and married life with a higher purpose requires even more. The only way for a lady to accept going through it is when she is sure that she married the right man, or in other words when she married the man she loves. Although still technically material this love is actually quite high and can act as a powerful transforming force, that can help a selfish lady to become a selfless mother and wife.
Instead of chasing ladies, the best approach for a man is to work on his spiritual practice and other personal qualities. Become a great man who can control his senses and give shelter to others, and then accept a lady who truly loves him for his qualities. When a man is self-controlled and develops good personal qualities (and especially if through these qualities he is able to perform some great deeds) then a number of ladies will become interested.
When a man can control his senses, and the lady is in love with him, he can properly guide his family, and their family life can be not only happy but also spiritually progressive. Such a couple can beget good children and serve as a wonderful example to society. That’s the only way I know it works, especially in modern times.
In 2019 the GBC approved a resolution opening the doors to Vaishnavas in female bodies to also start acting as diksa gurus, just as their male counterparts. In one sense, this question seems to be easy enough: the relationship between guru and disciple is spiritual and not material, therefore it is a relationship between two souls and not between two bodies. The soul in a female body is not different from a soul in a male body, therefore it should not be a big question.
It may look simple in theory, but the implementation revealed much more polemical and divisive than perhaps originally thought. Although the resolution was passed almost five years ago, the topic is far from settled. There is a lot of opposition to it, especially in India, and there are even groups that want to separate from ISKCON due to it.
What makes this question so difficult, it that it mixes actually three separate factors:
The first is the philosophical discussion, if it is correct or not according to the sastras and the instructions of our acaryas. This discussion is not so simple, because the sastras deal with different principles that are applicable to different circumstances and such principles are often very difficult to reconcile. The fact that many tend to debate based on isolated quotes also does not help.
Who is Maha-Vishnu? Who is Saṅkarṣaṇa? Who is Narayana? Who are Karanarnavasayi Vishnu, Garbhodakasayi Vishnu and Ksirodakasayi Vishnu? What is the difference and the relationship between them? Who is Sadha-Shiva? What is the difference between him and the Shiva present in our universe?
Everything starts with Krsna. Krsna is the original, Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna is just like a candle that ignites other candles. All candles may provide a similar illumination, but still, there is a candle that ignited all the others and is thus the origin of the illumination. Similarly, there are many forms of Vishnu and they are all powerful, but still, Krsna is the original, Supreme Personality of Godhead. kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
Krsna expands Himself into Balalarama, who is the original Servitor God. Krsna is the Supreme God, and Balarama is the Servitor God. Both are God, and both are equally worshipable, but between them, Krsna is served, and Balarama is the servitor. Balarama expands himself into all forms of paraphernalia used by Krsna, and even most of His associates, facilitating Krsna’s pastimes. Balarama also appears to us in the form of the spiritual master to teach us how to serve Krsna.
From Balarama comes the first Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the origin of all the different Vishnu forms. From the first Sankarsana comes Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of Vaikunta, and from Narayana comes the second Saṅkarṣaṇa, who is the origin of all the Purusa avataras, the expansions of the Lord who take charge of the creation and maintenance of the material universes.
Vyasadeva did a monumental work in compiling the Vedic literature. All the Vedic texts we have today, including all the Puranas, Upanishads, and so on are estimated to be just 7% of all the verses compiled by Vyasadeva that survived the passage of time. Originally he wrote much more.
Vyasadeva originally divided the original Veda into four and passed each division to one of his disciples. They in turn subdivided the knowledge amongst their different disciples, giving birth to all different branches of knowledge:
In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a verse that we may have a little trouble explaining:
“Sūta Gosvāmī said: When the second millennium overlapped the third, the great sage [Vyāsadeva] was born to Parāśara in the womb of Satyavatī, the daughter of Vasu.” (SB 1.4.14)
Prabhupada mentions in the purport:
“There is a chronological order of the four millenniums, namely Satya, Dvāpara, Tretā and Kali. But sometimes there is overlapping. During the regime of Vaivasvata Manu, there was an overlapping of the twenty-eighth round of the four millenniums, and the third millennium appeared prior to the second. In that particular millennium, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa also descends, and because of this there was some particular alteration.”
Just in case you are wondering, the literal translation of the verse is:
“Coming in the second millennium (Dvāpara-yuga), at the time the third (Treta-yuga) appeared before it, he (Vyasa) was begotten by the great sage Parāśara in the womb of the daughter of Vasu. He is the plenary portion of the Personality of Godhead.”
Our spirtual process starts with hearing. After we become eager to hear, the cleaning of the material desires from the heart starts and as we become free from material desires we become progressively happier. However, it’s a long way back to Godhead. There is a very special verse in the Srimad Bhagavatam that explains how to make this process faster:
“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.” (SB 1.2.18)
The verse mentions “nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā” (regularly serving the Bhāgavata). Srila Prabhupada explains that there are two Bhāgavatas: the book bhāgavata and the devotee Bhāgavata. As he explains: “A devotee Bhāgavata is as good as the book Bhāgavata because the devotee Bhāgavata leads his life in terms of the book Bhāgavata and the book Bhāgavata is full of information about the Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees, who are also Bhāgavatas. Bhāgavata book and person are identical.”
When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu started His sankirtan movement, he very quickly filled Navadwipa with love of Godhead, which quickly overflowed and submerged the whole of India. At the time, not only the direct associates of Mahaprabhu were pure devotees, but also the distant associates, people who came into contact with them, the family members of the people who would come in contact with them, and even people who would come in contact with people who came in contact with them. In this way, Prema spread like a powerful virus, quickly taking over India.
However, just a few hundred years later, Vaishnavism had already degenerated into a conglomerate of sects that had little to do with the original movement of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Baulas were living degraded lives and chanting fold songs, just like hippies, Ativadis were worshipping Lord Jagannatha with the goal of becoming one with Him, Saki Bekis were dressing in saris and pretending to be Gopis while at the same time doing the most immoral things, and so on.
How could the original movement, where practically everyone was not only a pure devotee at the level of Prema degenerate so badly? And if it went so wrong the first time, what is the possibility of transforming the current materialistic society into a society of pure devotees, starting the Golden Age that is predicted in the scriptures?
Krsna has three main energies: The spiritual energy (or internal potency), the material energy (or external potency), and the marginal energy (the individual souls, who can choose between staying under the internal energy, or the external energy).
The internal potency composes all the spiritual planets and everything else that exists there. There everything is eternal, composed of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. It equals 75% or more of the creation, and 90% or more of all souls live there. All souls come originally from this spiritual potency and thus are eternally connected with Krsna with a bound of love. This love for Krsna, or Prema, is already inside the soul. More specifically, it is part of the soul, and can’t be separated or lost. As Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains:
“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.” (CC Madhya 22.108)
One facet of our movement that bothers some is the frequent comments that women are Maya. This is the source of much exasperation since it leads to all kinds of negative interactions.
It’s easy to understand that this is prevalent amongst neophytes and that as devotees advance they gradually learn to have a more balanced approach to human relationships. However, why do we have to wait? Is there not a way to fix things from the start, so devotees from all devotional levels can just relate between themselves as normal human beings, without having to go through these different phases?
While this is possible, it can be difficult. The problem is that as long as a person is affected by passion and ignorance, his vision will always be clouded by duality, which will manifest as attachment and aversion. Nowadays, 99% of the world’s population is in this situation, and almost all new devotees come from it. As a result, practically all of us start from this platform of passion and ignorance, and we have to work hard from there to gradually progress into goodness.
