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Re: Animal-Killing, and Soul-Merging Condemned
gmadras@pinto.engr.ucdavis.edu (Giri) wrote:
>
> I *used* to read alt.meditation regularly; i no longer do. I have
>seen this excerpts from this page referred to and even twisted beyond belief.
>For example, I have seen the following :
>
>1. According to the Vedas, Shankara was an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
This is mentioned in Shiva and Padma Puranas.
>2. According to Shrimad Bhagavatam by Srila Prabhupada, Jesus was an
>incarnation of Krishna [not vishnu].
Where in SB does he say that? I have SB by Prabhupada, and he makes no such indication as far as I know. He has on other instances said that Jesus could be considered a devotee, but I know of no such place where he said the Jesus was an incarnation of Krishna.
>
> I know ISKCON is not responsible for the views of its members and
>I am not even sure whether they belong to ISKCON except that they say
>*only* the path of worshipping krishna is correct and they quote from
>Srila Prabhupada.
They say that only worship of Krishna (or some form of Him) gives liberation, and they quote from Bhagavad-Gita as well as from Srila Prabhupada. The Gita itself says that worshipers of other gods go to the planets of those gods. But it also says in 8.15 that all planets of the material world, right up to the planet of Lord Brahma, are places of misery and repeated birth and death. This is not a question of some sectarian interpretation. The facts are there in the Gita itself, and it remains for the people who claim to respect Gita as to whether or not they will accept its conclusions.
> I haven't questioned them on alt.meditation on this, since they
>are on a right path [of worshipping Lord Vishnu], but not neccessarily right
>on saying that only their path is their correct path.
Please quote from one of their books wherein it was asserted that their path was the only path. It has repeatedly been asserted by Prabhupada and by scripture that there are several Vaishnava sampradayas which are to be considered genuine.
I wish Hindus on SRH could learn to stop thinking in extremes. It seems that the prevailing logic is that a religious organization can only believe that:
1) Theirs is the only path, or
2) All paths are good
Gaudiya Vaishnavas accept four sampradayas as genuine for distributing Vedic knowledge, as described in Padma Purana. They do accept more than one path for obtaining liberation, but that does no mean that they accept that all paths are okay.
regards,
-- HKS
