Gita

Question 1

What is the Gita?

Answer 1

“Song of God or Song of the Lord”

Question 2

The Gita is part of what larger work?

Answer 2

The Gita was originally part of the great Indian epics Mahab-har-ata

Question 3

What is the theme of the Gita?

Answer 3

The Bhagavad-Gita is the conversation between Arjuna a supernaturally gifted warrior about to go into battle.

Question 4

Who sends Arjuna into battle?

Answer 4

Krishna, Arjuna’s charioteer
(Cherry-a-tear)
Charioteer is a person who drives a chariot.

Question 5

What is the battle of Kuruk-she-tra

Answer 5

A man named Pandu, of the Kuru dynasty, was the king of Hast-in-apura. While he ruled he shared power with his brother Dh-ritar-ashtra. However, Pandu died young, and Dh-ritar-ashtra was born blind, so he couldn’t be named king under the laws of Hastinapura.

Therefore, Pandu’s son Yud-hish-thira should have been the next king, but he was too young to take the throne. Dh-ritar-ashtra continued to rule in Yud-hish-thira’s stead until he became old enough to take the throne himself. However, when Yud-hish-thira came of age, Dhritarashtra began plotting for his own son Dur-yod-hana to succeed him instead. That scheming led to the current conflict between the Pandavas, the supporters of Yudhishthira who call themselves the sons of Pandu; and the Kauravas, the supporters of Duryodhana and so-called sons of Kuru—though, in reality, both sides are part of the Kuru dynasty.

Before the battle begins, prince Duryodhana of the Kauravas studies the opposing army. He reports that there are many great heroes among the Pandavas, but that their own army has equally great men and is much larger. He ends with a call for his soldiers to stand firm and support Bhishma, the eldest of the Kurus and the leader of their army. Bhishma responds to this by blowing a conch horn—a call to arms, which is taken up by the rest of his army. The Pandava army responds with horns and drums of their own.

Question 6

What does Krishna explain to Arjuna?

Answer 6

• Karma
• The Self
• The Supreme Self
• The purpose of yoga
• The difference between our self and our material body.
• How our environment affects our consciousness
• How to attain the perfection of life.

Question 7

Who founded Hare Krishna?

Answer 7

A.C. Bhak-tive-danta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977)

Question 8

What is ISKCON

Answer 8

International
Society
of Krishna
Consciousness

Question 9

What is the Hare Krishna mantra?

Answer 9

Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna,
Hare Hare
Hare Rama,
Hare Rama
Rama Rama,
Hare Hare.

Question 10

What is “Kirtan?”

Answer 10

Chanting and dancing in the street.

Question 11

Who do Hara Krishna’s believe is the Supreme Lord?

Answer 11

Krishna (an avatar of Vishnu)

Question 12

What do Hara Krishna’s believe about humans?

Answer 12

Humans are eternal spiritual beings trapped in a cycle of reincarnation.

Question 13

What constitutes the nature of the cycle individual beings?

Answer 13

Karma

Question 14

What is “Karma”

Answer 14

The law of consequences of past actions.
Which return beings back to physical existence.
According to the movement’s doctrine, it is possible to change one’s karma by practicing extreme forms of yoga; however,
the Lord has provided an easier method,
the recitation of his holy names,
Krishna and Rama.

Question 15

Hara Krishna devotees

Answer 15

Devotees live to serving Krishna and spend several hours each day chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.
They are vegetarians,
and they renounce the use of alcohol and drugs.
Sex is allowed only for procreation within marriage.
Male devotees shave their heads,
leaving only a small tuft of hair called a sikha,
a sign of surrender to their teacher.
Each morning male and female believers mark their foreheads with clay as a reminder that their bodies are temples of Krishna. TallakaWhy

Question 16

Why don’t Hara Krishna’s eat meat?

Answer 16

Hindus believe that animals are children of Krishna,
created by God with a soul.
Therefore, to eat an animal is an affront to God.
Moreover, it’s bad for your consciousness:
Because the slaughter of animals is violent,
when you eat meat, fish or fowl,
you are subjecting yourself to more violent thoughts and, perhaps, violent behavior.

Question 17

What is cooking to a Hara Krishna?

Answer 17

In Hinduism, cooking is intertwined with spirituality. Hare Krishnas believe they are cooking for the pleasure of God. They never sample the food they are cooking, since it must be offered to Krishna first. Moreover, Hindus believe that food absorbs the consciousness of the cook.

Question 18

How does consciousness get absorbed into food?

Answer 18

If you are angry and elbow deep in the lentils or kneading dough for chapattis (unleavened bread), Hindu philosophy claims that your emotions are transferred to the food — and then to the person who eats the meal. It is one reason monks don’t go to restaurants, because it raises the question, “Whose consciousness are you eating today?”

Question 19

What is the conundrum of Hara Krishna “monotheism?”

Answer 19

The “monotheism” of Hare Krishna is a little muddled,
however,
as Sri Krishna has an “eternal consort” named Srimati Radharani;
together, Krishna and Radharani comprise the “Divine Couple.”

Question 20

What is the ultimate goal of Hara Krishna’s?

Answer 20

Transcendental,
loving relationship with Lord Krishna.
Hare refers to “the pleasure potency of Krishna.”
Due to their mystical devotion expressed in chanting and dancing,
the Hare Krishnas can be compared to Sufi Muslims (“Whirling Dervishes”) and some mystical expressions of Christianity that emphasize ecstatic experiences and mystical transcendence.

Question 21

Who brought Hara Krishna movement to the US?

Answer 21

In 1965 the Hare Krishna movement came to America by means of
Abhay Charan De Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The Hare Krishna movement grew quickly in the ready soil of the 1960s. Western values were being questioned, and Eastern thought was becoming fashionable. ISKCON is a wealthy organization today, having gained its wealth largely through soliciting funds and distributing its literature, including the Bhagavad Gita and its periodical Back to Godhead. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hare Krishnas were so prevalent in public places such as airports that laws had to be passed to prevent them from accosting people with their often aggressive and intimidating demands for money.

Question 22

What is demanded to a Hara Krishna?

Answer 22

Becoming a member involves choosing a guru and becoming his disciple. This guru is critical to attaining enlightenment: “Without [the guru] the cultivation of Krishna consciousness is impossible.” On the devotee’s side, “initiation means that he accepts the guru as his spiritual master and agrees to worship him as God” And the whole of one’s life is to be encompassed by Krishna-centered practice and devotion. ISKCON pulls its members into communal settings where everything is deliberately centered on Krishna. Much of Indian/Hindu culture is imported into these communes. It must be noted that these communes have been harshly criticized by ex-members, and ISKCON has faced criminal charges alleging illegal and immoral practices, including widespread child abuse, taking place within the movement.

Question 23

Hara Krishna beliefs.

Answer 23

The beliefs of the Hare Krishnas are typically Hindu and are incompatible with biblical Christianity.
First, the view of God is basically pantheistic,
meaning that they believe God is all and in all.
For Hare Krishnas, God is everything and everything is God.
For the Christian, God is transcendent—He is above all that He created. One of the tenets of ISKCON thought is that we actually achieve relational unity with God ourselves. The goal of the Hare Krishna is to reach “Krishna consciousness,” a kind of enlightenment. This is the deepest identification with Krishna. Insofar as ISKCON is truly Hindu, it can ascribe to a pantheistic view of God and therefore teach that man is ultimately identical to God. This is an old lie dating back to the Garden of Eden: “You will be as God” (Genesis 3:5).

Question 24

Hara Krishna salvation

Answer 24

Like all false religions, Hare Krishna requires a series of works for salvation. Yes, devotion and relationship are packed into their belief system, but these are built up from works, from bhakti-yoga to meditation before an altar to soliciting funds. Chanting is a major part of Hare Krishna. Sri Chaitanya recommended that his followers chant 100,000 holy names every day. The chanting is facilitated by the use of a mala, a rosary of 108 beads. Eating meat is disallowed, as is dining in restaurants, due to the belief that food retains the consciousness of the cook—ingesting food prepared by an angry chef will make the eater angry. In Hare Krishna, there is always a push to chant more, dance more, and work harder lest some bit of karmic debt is retained and cause one to fail to enter Krishna consciousness.

Question 25

How is self sacrifice crucial to Hara Krishna salvation?

Answer 25

Self-denial and sacrifice are also crucial for salvation in Hare Krishna. Salvation, according to ISKCON, is thoroughly entwined with the Hindu concept of karma, or retributive justice. This teaching requires belief in reincarnation and/or the transmigration of the soul. One’s works, good and bad, are measured and judged after death. If one’s deeds are good, he continues to be reincarnated into higher life forms; if his deeds are bad, he will become a lower life form. It is only when one’s good deeds have counterbalanced the bad that he can cease the cycles of rebirth and realize his oneness with Krishna.

Question 26

How is Krishna different from the God of the Bible?

Answer 26

How different Krishna is from the compassionate and merciful God of the Bible who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Bible is clear that salvation is by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). No amount of good deeds can ever achieve salvation for anyone. Hare Krishnas, like all humanity, have only one hope for eternal life: Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and exalted forever. All other paths lead to destruction. Jesus Himself said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6), and “there is salvation in no other one; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).