Completed reading ISKCON Bhagavatham.

Completed reading ISKCON Bhagavatham.

I have taken 19 years to read the 18 volumes of ISKCON Bhagavatham.

Atheists Have More Blind Faith Than Theists

Is an atheist more scientific or a theist?

Is Atheism also a religion?

Anybody who has studied little advanced Science or Mathematics would know that, it is very difficult to prove that something does not exist or something cannot be achieved. Except in Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, it is practically not possible to prove that something does not exist in any non-trivial case. Even in Mathematics or its related fields, proving that something cannot be done is very difficult, and typically the proof is very complicated.

Whereas proving of existence of something is relatively easy. You just need to find where it is or show one sample of it. Whereas, proving non-existence of anything is practically not possible.

For example, if somebody has to prove that a particular virus is not present in somebody, practically it is not possible. The tests that we have typically finds virus only if it is in millions. If the body has only handful of viruses, and if the blood sample that one has taken does not have those, then tests cannot find it. To really prove that there is no virus in the body, one has to take out the complete blood and test it. By then, the person would be dead. On the other hand, by luck, if somebody gets the blood sample with virus, then they can prove the existence of virus.

To prove absence of a person in a relatively big apartment is also pretty difficult, if you don't have man power or technology. While you are searching, if that person also moves so as to avoid you, then you can never find him/her, unless you have some support. Even if you have lot of technology and many power, you need to prove that, that apartment does not have any place to hide. The most complex thing is, there are magicians who make people invisible for some time. You need to prove that, there was no magic involved there, which is practically not possible, if you have to convince someone who is not into lot of physics. Also, you need to prove that, there is no unknown technology which can hide that person, which is not possible. Physics rules are not applicable at very small or very big scale. If you want to depend on rules of Physics, you need to prove that, they are not using anything that is at the very small scale. We can safely forget scientifically proving the absence of a person in a city. Let's not talk about state or country.

In software development, most of the testers would have irritated by sporadic bugs which comes very rarely. When they file those bugs, the typical response from developers like me is, "Show me the bug infront of my eyes. Then only, I will take it". Obviously, no tester would be happy with that response. If a customer raises a critical bug, and if the tester says, "I have tested it thoroughly and there cannot exist a bug", then either he/she will lose the job or the customer.

But, for atheists, it is perfectly correct to say that, "God does not exist", irrespective of whether they can prove even trivial things or not.

Scientifically, it is possible that, somebody has seen God and is believing. But, Scientifically, it is not possible to prove the non-existence of God. Many people ask Theists, "How can you be a theist, when you believe in Science". I want to ask them back, "How can you be an atheist, when you believe in science."

An atheist is Millinillion (10^3003) times more unscientific than a theist.

If you don't believe in god, be Agnostic, and not an Atheist.

Conversation Between Two Babies in the Womb

In a mother's womb, there were two babies.

One asked the other: "Do you believe in the life after delivery?"

The other replies, "Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later."

"Nonsense," says the other. "There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?"

"I don't know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths."

The other says, "This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short."

"I think there is something and maybe it's different than it is here."

"No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere."

"Well, I don't know, but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us."

"Mother?? You believe in mother? Where is she now?"

"She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world."

"I don't see her, so it's only logical that she doesn't exist."

To which the other replied, "sometimes when you're in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality."

Bhagavadgita Verse - Treating Everyone Equally

vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah

The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater.

- Bhagavadgita 5.18


I am not a sage like in the above verse. But, I treat Gandhi and KCR equally.

You need to have lot of knowledge to understand this post. If you are desperate to know it, please call me to hear discourses on this.

Wasting Time of A Big Personality

Many people say that, they like one big personality. Whenever they get chance to meet him for a second, they go and visit him, by spending few days in travel. That person is very busy in meeting all the "so called" fans of him. He hardly sleeps 1.5 hours per day. He does not get any off on weekends or holidays. In fact, on holidays, more people come to visit him.

All the "so called" fans of him say that, everyone must visit him regularly. They do not care whether that person is getting some rest or not. How can one say that, they like a person, when they never worry about whether that person is getting enough sleep or not?


Why are you going to Tirupathi?

Law of Karma for Animals

In few philosophies, it says karma is applicable only to humans and not to animals. Since, the animals do not have thinking capacity.

In any place, if there are many dogs, and if a new dog comes to that locality, then all the dogs shout and send the new dog away, as if their government has registered that street to them. If they behave like this, is there any reason why the dogs have to be excluded from the law of Karma? If the dogs are included in the law of Karma, is there any reason why the other animals should be excluded?

Bhagavadgita and Vishnu Sahasranama in Thikkana Mahabharath

Mahabharath was first translated to Telugu by Nannaya, Thikkana and Errapragada. Thikkana translated from Virata Parvam till the end. Bhagavadgita, the most important part of the Mahabharath, is a part of Bheeshma Parvam, translated by Thikkana. But, in the telugu version, He finished Gita in 1/10th of the verses in Sanskrit. Telugu Bhagavadgita by Thikkana contains less than 70 verses, where as the original Bhagavadgita contains 700 verses. Similarly, he did not touch Vishnu Sahasranama also. Few people give commentary saying that, since, they are not important, he just summarized them.

The following is the explanation on the same, given by Sri Malladi Chandrasekhara Sastry, Asthana Pandit of Tirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam.

The three most important parts of Mahabharath are Bhagavadgita, Vishnu Sahasranama and the stories of Sanatsujatha. Thikkana wanted everyone to read the original version rather than the translated version. That's why, he did not translate them completely. Thikkana had met Veda Vyasa, and Veda Vyasa asked him, what did he do with the most important parts of Mahabharath. Thikkana told him that, he did not touch those. [i.e., he did not translate those.]

If one wants to get any credit of reading Bhagavadgita or Vishnu Sahasranama, they must read with the original sanskrit verse. They cannot read just the translated version and get the credit of that.

Ekalavya - Arjuna - Drona - Bheeshma

Eventhough Arjuna and Dronacharya are famous for many things, many people have bad opinion on them for their behavior towards Ekalavya.

Dronacharya promised Arjuna that he would make him as the best archer in the world. Once Ekalavya came to Dronacharya and expressed his interest in learning archery. Drona rejected Ekalavya to teach archery, since he was not a Kshatriya.

Later on, Ekalavya made a deity of Drona, and worshiped him. He practiced archery assuming Drona as his guru and learned many things in archery.

Once Pandavas visited forest. During that time, one dog disturbed Ekalavya a lot by barking repeatedly. Then, Ekalavya used seven arrows in the dog's mouth in such a way that, it does not die and it cannot bark. It went to the Pandava's camp. After seeing this and the way it is used, they wondered who had the capacity of using this. Then, they came to know about Ekalavya. They reported this to Drona, and Drona asked Ekalavya his thumb, so that he cannot practice archery anymore.

This caused many people to have bad opinion on Arjuna and Drona.

Dharma is very complicated, especially in the areas like this. To understand this, one must completely forget our present caste system, and understand the real varnasrama dharma according to the scriptures.

Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vysya and Sudra are according to the nature and the type of the activities performed by one. They are never based on one's birth. If the father is a brahmin, then son won't become a Brahmin automatically. For example, Drona is a Brahmin, but, his son Aswathama is not a Brahmin.

Kshatriyas are supposed to learn warfare to protect people and to rule the kingdom. They are not supposed to use for any other purpose. Whereas, Ekalavya used archery on dogs to show his skill, which was a complete misuse of archery. If he had continued to misuse archery, then, many people would have suffered because of that. To stop the misuse, Drona took his thumb.

Even if he was a proper Kshatriya and learned archery, how can one say that, he is going to beat Arjuna just by showing few skills in archery. The skills that one shows in any show, can be done by any advanced archer. One does not need to be at the level of Arjuna to show those.

Eventhough skill is an important part of the archery, but, in the entire Mahabharath, the weapons that one possessed played major role than the skill. The only reason why Krishna worried about Karna was the powerful weapons that Karna possessed, mainly Shakthi given by Indra and Nagasthram. In both the cases, Krishna directly/indirectly saved Arjuna. Without those weapons, Karna lost even to Bheema many times. Bheema did not kill Karna, because, Arjuna had taken vow to kill Karna.

If Arjuna wanted, he could have used Pasupathastram or any other powerful astras that he had and killed the entire kaurava army in one minute. But, those powerful astras are not supposed to use that way, and he did not use those. [He used Pasupathastram for one specific purpose (to kill Saindhava), and withdrew it immediately after killing him.]

Another thing is, Arjuna is a savyasachi, i.e., he can use both the hands in archery. Even if Arjuna gives his right thumb, still, he can use his left hand and compete with anybody.

Ekalavya does not have any powerful weapons. He knows only sastras and not Astras. In any war, he cannot compete with anyone who has a powerful weapon. Also, Drona had minimum role in the Astras secured by Arjuna. Arjuna got many of his Astras, after he finished his education at Drona.

If one is given boons which they are not qualified to receive, then they may misuse it. Whenever Vishnu kills any demon, first thing that he says to Brahma is, do not give this type of boons to anyone. In the same way, if Ekalavya is left like that, he may create more havoc. So, to stop that, Drona took his thumb.

There is no question of Arjuna feeling jealous about Ekalavya. In fact, Arjuna was never a best archer in the world at that time. Drona could not make him as the greatest archer. Apart from Krishna, Bheeshma is the one who is a better archer than Arjuna. Arjuna could defeat everyone else at some time or other, but, he could never defeat Bheeshma. During the war, Pandavas had to beg him to leave his Bow and Arrows, so that, they could win against him. Except that incident, Bheeshma never lost in any war.

After Bheeshma left this world, probably, one can claim that, Arjuna is the greatest archer in the world after Krishna.

If we include all the warriors and not just archery, then Bheema is no less warrior than Arjuna. He is the one who killed maximum people in the war. He alone killed all the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra. He got multiple chances to kill even Karna. But, he did not kill him, because he wanted Arjuna to kill him.

Sisupala's Criticisms on Krishna

Is Krishna older than his own father Vasudeva?

Is Krishna a better hero than Bheeshma?

Is Krishna a bigger sage than Veda Vyasa?

Is Krishna a better guru than Dronacharya or Krupacharya?

Is Krishna better than all the Kings here?

Is Krishna a better archer than Karna?

Is Krishna a closer relative to you than your father-in-law, Drupada?

Is Krishna your favorite who has to be pacified at any cost?


For those who do not know the answer for the above, it is resounding YES for all the questions.

Few people try to compare bad people as they were Hiranyakasipa, Ravana, Kumbakarna and Sisupala etc., in their previous birth. This is nothing but praising them like anything. Because, Jaya and Vijaya who were the gatekeepers of Vaikunta, have born as these demons because of a curse. Criticizing someone like Ravana or Kumbakarna etc. is nothing but, praising them as the great devotees of Narayana.

Why Should I be Kind to Everyone?

One person stands at the entrance in a train, does all kinds of feats and boards/gets down the moving train in every station. If he gets hurt by that, Why should I be kind to that person?

One person drives bike very rash and fast in a busy location without helmet. If he falls and gets injured, why should I be kind to that person?

When the people vote for bad candidates in the elections, and then suffer for their problems, why should I show sympathy to them?

One person cheats another person, and the second person suffers a lot because of that. After some time, if the first person suffers in the same way the second person suffered because of his action, Why should I be kind to that person?

People like Mahathma Gandhi have distorted the Hindu principles a lot. He says, one should show compassion to everyone. He removed the phrase, if they deserve.

Yama, the lord of death and punishment, is a great devotee of Lord Krishna. He is one of the 12 maha bhagavathas (The authorized people to preach about the Lord Krishna). If we go by the definition of Gandhi, then Yama can never be a great person.

Only the very fortunate people gets the punishment for their mistakes in the same life.

Kapila Aranyam - California

Kapila Aranyam (Forest of the sage Kapila)

Kalipa Aranyam (By a sanskrit rule, where the characters are reversed)

Kaliporniya

California


- Chinnajeeyar Swamy

Having Bad Time in Buying Books

It seems, I am having bad time in buying books. After not buying anything in the books exhibition outside ISKCON store, now, I could not buy even ISKCON books.

ISKCON has published the Bhagavatham in 18 volumes in different languages long back. But, in Telugu, they have taken a lot of time to publish. Starting from 5th volume till 12th volume, I bought the Telugu Bhagavatham books as and when they were published. Recently, I came to know that, they have published all the volumes in Telugu. When I asked for the last 6 volumes, they said, they would sell only the entire set and not individual books. I said, I would buy the entire set, and would sell the first 12 volumes back to them, and asked how much would they willing to pay me. But, they rejected that, and said, they won't buy back, because, they already had enough of the first 12 volumes. I did not want to spend three times money, and have written to the Head office in Mumbai, and they said, they would take around 2 months to publish those books separately.

By using the astrology chart and the present planetary periods, the astrologers say, during a particular period, whether one gets money or loses money etc. Probably, in my present planetary period, the planets are against me buying books.

Definition of Pure Vegetarian

Almost 15 years back, one famous telugu hero released a spiritual movie which was a big hit then. After that, in an interview, he said, he was a pure vegetarian. In the same interview, when he was asked what was his favorite food item, he answered Chicken.

One person that I know, boasts as, everyone in their family are big devotees of Lord Krishna and everyone of them are pure vegetarians. As another statement, I was told by the same person that, their son was not feeling well and he could not eat eggs.

One of my friends is from a caste, in which people do not eat non-veg. He never utters the word meat, non-veg etc. When he wanted to refer non-veg, he says something like, "The one that you eat" (Eventhough, I don't eat non-veg). He eats eggs, and he argues with me that, eggs are vegetarian, and he is a pure vegetarian.

Another person whom I know, eats non-veg, but does not eat on tuesday, friday and saturday. That person says, they are better vegetarians than me. The reason that I was given was, they use different utensils for veg and non-veg. So, on those days, they avoid non-veg completely. Since, I eat in hotels, it is possible that, they might have used the same utensils for non-veg also. So, they are better vegetarians than me.

Many people claimed that, I am not a devotee. After accepting that, now the people who eat non-veg claim that, they are better vegetarians than me.

One must watch video for non-vegetarians. (Vegetarians, please forward it without watching.)



Courtesy of the Video: Rajesh Tiruveedula

Criticisms For the Followers of Religion

Many times, one has to face many problems, if one says himself or herself, that he/she is a devotee or follow certain religious principles.

If the devotee does any activity which others do not like and it is not considered as good by the general public, immediately, they will say, you are a devotee or follow certain religion, and why do you do like this?

For any rule set by the scriptures, it also mentions many exceptions, where that rule is not valid. For example, the scriptures say, drinking alcohol is not allowed. At another place, it says, it is permitted as medicine. There are many exceptions, where one is allowed to lie. If the person is in danger, then most of the rules are exempted. There are many rules in donations (not exceptions). One should donate only if all the rules are satisfied. Otherwise, it may have negative impact.

If anyone has some common sense and knowledge on the situation, whatever the correct action that they take would be almost equivalent to that of what is prescribed by the scriptures. It is just that, they may not be aware that scriptures support their action.

In few cases, the devotees may intentionally do incorrect things, in case the benefit that they get by the sin is far superior than the punishment they get. In that case, they would accept the punishment happily.

Criticism of why are you doing like this, when you follow certain religion, is not valid. The only difference between those who follow and those who do not follow is, those who follow it, are ready to take the results, others are not.

Courtesy: the people who have criticized me in the name of Lord Krishna for the mistakes that I made knowingly.

By the way, in my about me, I changed from devotee of krishna to aspiring to be a devotee of krishna.

Prohibitions in Hinduism

In Hindu theology nothing is prohibited, but a menu of prescriptions and enumeration of consequences of your actions.

Courtesy: Subramanian Swamy, President of Janatha Party on Twitter (@Swamy39)

Finished ISKCON Bhagavatham 7th Canto

After spending 4 years, finally, I have completed ISKCON Bhagavatham 7th Canto (9th volume). Bhagavatham has 12 cantos and ISKCON published those in 18 volumes.

To read the first four volumes (Cantos 1st, 2nd, 3rd first part and second part), I took one year.

For the next four volumes (Cantos 4th first and second parts, 5th and 6th), I took four years.

For the next volume (7th canto - 9th volume), I took four years.

After every four volumes, the time taken is increased by four times. If the same speed continues, then

For the 10th, 11th and 12th volumes, I would take 4*3 = 12 years

For 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th volumes, I would take 16*4 = 64 years

For 17th and 18th volumes, I would take 64*2 = 128 years

With this speed, I think I would take 204 years to finish the entire Bhagavatham, unless I get blessings from Krishna or the devotees of Krishna.

The Case Against Lord Krishna

A nun in Warsaw, Poland, filed a case against ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). The case came up in court.

The nun remarked that ISKCON was spreading its activities and gaining followers in Poland. She wanted ISKCON to be banned because its followers were glorifying a character called 'Krishna', "who had loose morals," having married to 16,000 women called Gopikas.

The ISKCON defendant to the Judge: "Please ask the nun to repeat the oath she took when she was ordained as a nun."

The Judge asked the nun to recite the oath loudly. She did not.

The ISKCON man asked whether he could read out the oath for the nun.

"Go ahead", said the judge.

The oath said in effect that "she (the nun) is married to Jesus Christ". The ISKCON man said, "Your Lordship! Lord Krishna is alleged to have 'married' 16,000 women only. There are more than a million nuns who assert that they are married to Jesus Christ. Between the two, Krishna and Jesus Christ, who has a loose character?"

The case was dismissed.

Source: http://durgeswara.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post_23.html (Don't know the authenticity)

Sent by Rajesh Tiruveedula

---

One common misconception everyone have is, Krishna married to 16,000 Gopikas. Actually, Krishna did not marry Gopikas. He married 16,100 queens of different kingdoms who were captured by Narakasura. After Krishna killed Narakasura, the queens said, since, they were captured by Narakasura, and no one would marry them now, they asked Krishna to marry them. And, Krishna married all of them. Another misconception that people have is, Satyabhama killed Narakasura. It is not correct. Satyabhama helped Krishna, and she even fought with Narakasura for some time. But, at the end Krishna himself killed Narakasura.

Atheist Praying God

An atheist prays the god. "Hey God, I want the power to know where exactly a person is right now. I need this power to follow the girl whom I love whenever she goes for lunch, snacks, or home. If you grant me this power, then I will believe that you exist and I will start worshipping you. Otherwise, I will continue to believe that, you do not exist."

After a few days, his friend comes to know about his interest in following that girl, and gives the following advice.

Install Pidgin and SIPE plugin (replacement for Office Communicator). Add buddy pounces for her, and put alert for any change in her status. With that, you will get an alert whenever she locks her system or signs out etc. If you know her general routine and have her accompanying friends also in the messenger, then it is very easy to predict where is she going, and you can follow her.

The atheist does the same and starts following her regularly. Finally, he says the God, "Hey God, you do not exist. You have not given me any power to find where exactly a person is right now. My friend has given me a technical advice to find out where is she. But, you have not given me anything. So, I don't believe that you exist."

Dasavatharam - A great film by Kamal Haasan

Yesterday, I watched Dasavatharam movie, and I liked it very much. Kamal Haasan acted in ten different roles in that movie. I could not recognize Kamal in many roles. Only after carefully watching, I could guess. The guess was not based on the face recognition (I am very bad at that). It was based on film reviews that I read, and dubbing by S.P.Balu. Balu gave his voice to all the ten roles with nine different voices. Because, Voice of balu is well known to me, I could easily guess it eventhough there were nine different voices.

Before releasing the film, few Vaishnava organizations filed a case against the film for hurting the sentiments of Vaishnavas. But, court ruled out the case that, they cannot file the case without watching the movie.

This is the first movie that I have seen, where there is no incorrect representation of Hinduism. This movie dealt with Vaishnava Philosophy, and all the dialogues delivered by Kamal Hasan (Rangarajan Nambi and Old Lady) and Asin were written by an expert in Vaishnava Philosophy. Only a person who has good knowledge of Vaishnava philosophy can understand those dialogues and it's inner meaning. Writing that kind of dialogues is out of question for a normal person or even for a beginner in Vaishnava Philosophy.

I have watched so many movies/serials about hindu religion, Mahabharat, Ramayana, and many other scriptures. But, in all the movies/serials that I watched, there was change of the story or incorrect representation of the scriptures, or something which is not correct. The Directors/Writers say that, it is difficult to show the exact same story, so they change it. Because of that, I lost interest in watching all the movies/serials which are based on Hinduism. But, in this movie, they have shown Vaishnava Philosophy without any incorrect representation, and it is a great thing.

I really appreciate Kamal Haasan and K.S.Ravi Kumar for making this film. Let's hope that, other directors also make films without any incorrect representation of Hindu Philosophy.

Astrology - Astrologers

I believe in astrology, but not astrologers.

Many people consider astrology is wrong. It is just guessing and not correct. I understand their situation. Only if they see a good astrologer and get correct predictions from them, then only they will understand about astrology. Till then, they will not believe astrology.

Except my close relatives, almost nobody knew my birthday including my close friends and colleagues. If anybody asks my birthday, I simply reject and don't tell my birthday. Whenever I register in any website, and if I have to enter my birthday, I always enter one random date and not my birthday. My official birthday is different from my actual birthday. So, even if someone gets my certificates, license, or passport, still they cannot find my actual birthday. So, technically it is not possible to find out my birthday without asking any one of my relatives.

Few days back, I started chatting with one of my blog readers, Aakanksha. I did not know her before, and I started chatting with her regarding many things in my blog, and many spiritual topics. She asked my birthday and as usual I did not tell. She asked me atleast the sum of all the digits in my birthdate. I told her that, if I tell that, she will have less no.of dates, and she would be knowing my birthday with probability much more than 1/366. I don't want anybody to know my birthday with probability more than 1/366. Then, she gave me 3-4 dates for my birthday, and it is absolutely correct. She found my birthday with probability 0.25 to 0.33, which is much more than 1/366.

She is a good astrologer. She gave explanation on how she found those dates. After chatting with me for 3 days, she understood me very well. Based on that, she matched my qualities with the qualities of people of different sun signs. Similarly she matched my qualities with different groups based on numerology. she found my sun sign, and my number (sum of digits in my birth date). From sun sign, she got the probable months, and from the number, she got the probable dates, and intersected those, and she told me the 3-4 dates. (I am saying 3-4 dates and not exactly how many dates she had given me, because, I don't want to give any hint to the reader to increase the probability more than 1/366). She says it is very easy. She just needs to know about the person, and match with the qualities of the corresponding sun sign and the number. It may be easy for her, but, I never saw/heard in recent times who can tell the possible birthdays just by talking to that person.

Around a few years back, I met an astrologer Siva Sankar Rao Adigopula. He told me three predictions. He gave me one date and one incident, and that incident happened on that date. By guess work, one may predict the incident, but, not date. When he gave the second prediction, I was sure that there is not even 10% of chance to happen that incident. But, it happened in the same year which he predicted. For the third prediction, the chances were 50-50, and whatever he predicted happened.

After interacting with them, I started getting more respect for astrology. At the same time, I am not going to any astrologer for any prediction unless he or she convinces me with very good unbelievable predictions, or tell about past things that nobody knew.

By the way, my brother Rajesh Tiruveedula and the astrologer Siva Sankar Rao Adigopula developed one software for astrology. It can be downloaded from http://www.mangalagiri.org/astrology.html.