Well, what I think it means that everything is a dream in the sense in that it is temporary and causes illusion not that it is an illusion (just as a dream is temporary and falsely deludes one into thinking that what is inside it is true knowledge, but it is infact not; so the Maya and the 3...
Yes, and my principle can equally explain these above example. In fact the organ donation example supports my first premise, namely that cannot one disrupt another's intact rights as a means to restore an already violated right. I cannot be forced to give my organs to save another's life (right...
In this scenario the house has already burnt down. The women autonomy has already been violated after the act of rape.
Its like, let's say someone burn's down your house. You are not allowed to steal another's house as a means to restore your home. In cases of rape I do sympathies with the...
We've had this debate before. Basically:
1) If a fetus has a right to life then that right of life cannot be violated even as a means of restoring another right (autonomy, life etc). An action that does this is morally wrong.
My rationale:
There is no strong imperative to restore violated...
I think abortion is generally unethical (morally wrong). There are exceptions that are morally excusable however (cases where child is severely disabled or mothers life at risk).
Yes, that is the purpose of life and sadhana, to escape the conditioned life and rekindle relationship with God, By God's Grace they enter into the divine pastimes, which are spiritually blissful, and thus they never desire to return to this world again. It is also a reason why there is...
Its a bit complicated but I will try to explain what I have learnt from my elders.
Bhakti can be divided in 9 progressive steps
1) Sraddha
To even reach this stage is a direct result of pious credits in previous birth. When a fortunate soul, due to the grace of the Vaishnavs, gains faith (or...
In the material world, generally yes, the Jivas there have been conditioned from even before time was manifest (hence why they are called eternally conditioned.The designation doesn't mean they will always be conditioned ).
There are however certain Jivas in this world that either become...
Jaya Nitai!
Jiva refers to atma (the spiritual soul, being part and parcel of Krsna) in association with the upadhis (i.e the subtle body, mind, false ego, physical body etc).
There are two types of jivas, eternally conditioned (i.e atmas with material upadhis), and eternally liberated (or...
Yes, there is a verse from the upanishads,
"oḿ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaḿ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate"
"He who is complete here, is complete there. From complete emanates only completeness. If one takes a complete portion from the complete, then...
Yes, generally in Sayujya Mukti (merging with Brahman), if the Lord wished to create again, then even the liberated souls may enter back into samsara. That is why, merging into Brahman is only a temporary Moksha.
Jaya Nitaai!!
You will be attracted in accordance with your own inherent personal form and nature, so these feelings are natural. But, the question of whether I am attracted to this or that form of Krsna is actually something that only becomes important near the end of sadhana. What can happen...
amsha means partial expansion. It is when Lord Hari Himself appears (or a portion of Him) as an avatar (amsha avatars are like Lord Narasimha, Ramachandra etc). They perform many pastimes with the Lord's associates. Then avesha avatars, also known as shaktyavesha are actually Jivas who are...
Yes Maya is called the illusionary energy, not because it itself is false, but rather because when the Jivas make contact with Maya, they are put under illusion.
So, the clay is the energy or prakriti (which is Maya) but in order for Maya to be directed, will is required, and that is supplied...
Its a little difficult to explain, everything is made of Maya which is a unified energy consisting of the three gunas, sattva, tamo and raja (sorta like clay), but that clay differentiates into matter during manifestation of the world, i.e the clay differentiates into the pancha bhutas, or...
Vedanta is interesting but the metaphysics really are diverse depending on which school you follow. It doesn't follow an atomic metaphysics like Nyaya, but leans more towards the Samkhya concept of Purush-Prakriti (where the world is a tranformation of Prakriti consisting of the three gunas)...
I'm not sure I understand. Varuni and Revati devi are both eternal consorts of Lord Balarama. I'm not sure they even have an origin. They are also not Jivatmas but rather Shakti tattva . Although, as understand it, in many traditional philosophies, if Balarama is amsa of Krsna, then Revati and...