QA Audio : 2013

Why do scriptures urge women to do vat-savitri puja to get the same husband for seven lives when the goal of life is to attain liberation?

Why should one not go to the temple after there is a death in the family? Can we chant on Tulasi beads in a crematorium?

Why does Krishna talk about controlling the senses to Arjuna when the purpose of the conversation seems to be to incite Arjuna to fight?

How can we cultivate the mode of goodness when we are puppets of the modes?

Is it really possible to be happy while you yourself see so much suffering in yours like as well as everywhere around?

Wasn’t it immoral for Rama to exile Sita on just a rumour?

Were kshatriyas allowed to eat meat in Vedic culture?

Why does Ayurveda prescribe medicines with non-veg ingredients when meat is forbidden in Vedic culture?

Can food with onion and garlic be offered to Krishna during emergencies?

How should we respond when sacred characters from our tradition are criticized?

Isnt the Pandavas’ killing their own relatives over a property dispute immoral?

Why is the Vedic Sanskrit and Puranic Sanskrit different?

How are karma and jnana the cause of material desires?

Do the ends justify the means, as your Mahabharata explanations imply? Won’t that justify terrorism too?

How can we differentiate between a dharmika and a fanatic?

Is our relationship with our guru a vertical relationship or a horizontal relationship?

Is offering the heart to Krishna easier and more fulfilling than offering the head?

How can an aspiring devotee-precher put one’s heart in a career that increases people’s illusions?

How can we avoid the ego’s feeling that service to others is demeaning?

If Krishna frees the surrendered of sinful reactions , why do pure devotees suffer?

How can we avoid pride during times of material success and remain thankful to Krishna?

In our efforts to become pure, pride somehow or the other sneaks in. How to avoid this?

When we have to spend time on family duties, how can we stay strong in our devotional standards?

What can we do when the mind gets agitated by a tempting sense object that can’t be avoided?

We surrender to Krishna’s will sometimes but mostly act for our own pleasure. What is our hope?

When something happens, how do we decide whether it was due to past karma or present actions?

If gambling makes people do foolish things, why are kshatriyas ordained to gamble when challenged?

Though Yudhishthira is the oldest Pandavas, why does Gita chp 1 mention him after Arjuna & Bhima?

Are the four defects hierarchical: imperfect senses cause illusion, illusion causes mistakes etc?

Among the four defects, can the first three be unintentional, but cheating is always intentional?

As all the bodily forms we take are temporary, does that mean the eternal and real is formlessness?

What can we do when religions use surrogate advertising for converting unsuspecting needy people?

Is institutionalization alien to Vedic culture? Did Gaudiya acharyas import if from Christianity ?

When Hinduism is not a missionary religion, why does ISKCON stress missionary activities so much?

If we are served more prasad than what we can eat, can we throw it away?

When even Americans are concerned about Christian conversions in India, why is ISKCON unconcerned?

When Prabhupada did many things different from his spiritual master, how did he not change anything?

How can we identify false ego while doing services?

When do questions move from being inquisitive to offensive? What kind of questions can be asked?

Is chanting with beads more blissful because the fingers are connected with certain brain parts?

When sex is an experience of Krishna, as the Gita states, why does Yamunacharya spit at sex desire?

Is Ramananda Raya’s decoration of devidasis a standard devotional practice or an exception?

Is it possible for a human being to be entirely free from sex desire?

Are the beliefs “kshatriya martyrs attain heaven” & “jehadi suicide bombers attain paradise” different?

When so many microbes are present in a cm, isn’t the idea of a God who loves everyone impractical?

Isn’t Prabhupada’s Gita 18.65 call to worship Krishna alone and no other Vishnu form fanatical?

Don’t descriptions of Krishna’s form make us imagine as spiritual our material attraction to forms?

Is Gita 18.55’s impersonal message (vishate tad anantaram) overridden by Prabhupada’s translation?

If the Gita is a manual why is it so confusing? Why couldn’t it have been clearer?

Is the Gita an attempted reconciliation of different Upanishadic thoughts and not a revelation?

What is the destination of those people who die after receiving blessings of advanced devotees?

Does “knowing in truth” (Gita 4.9) happen by “experiences of Truth” or by “understanding”?

When Prabhupada’s perfect purports to the Gita are there, why are Gita daily articles needed?

Considering “gurushu naramati..”, isn’t thinking about spiritual teachers’ human failings offensive?

Does ISKCON promote subtle emotional enjoyment in the name of spiritual enjoyment?

Is ISKCON’s conception of God like the Abrahamic religion’s jealous God?

Could the unbelievable stories about Krishna not be some poets’ fabrications?

What does sound travels to ether mean when science says ether doesn’t exist?

As Brahma has come as Haridasa Thakura what is the meaning of the statement that Maya could tempt Brahma but not Haridas Thakura?

Does having some ambitions in life mean having material attachments and doing tenth offence?

Why do we take shelter of Krishna more in difficult times like exam period but not during sadhana and service?

How is the material world non-existent as Prabhupada states in the Gita introduction?

In Gita 13.12 is there any difference between atma-vinigrahah and indriyartheshu vairagya?

What is the meaning of kavitam in the na dhanam na janam verse?

In the namo-brahmanya devaya prayer, why does hitaya come twice?

What does Shad-Goswami Ashtakam mean by ‘the devouring mouth of liberation’?

Should a devotee oppose crimes like rapes? Should he feel compassion for the criminal?

Does Prabhupada’s request to cooperate with devotees mean that we allow them to exploit us?

How can we pray for those who are troubling us?

How can sitting erect like Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati help in our chanting?

How can a devotee use the ambition to research in Physics in Krishna’s service?

How can a student who wants to become a brahmachari in future feel inspired to do academic studies?

How can we avoid getting caught in doubts about unimportant issues while studying scriptures?

Did Ekalvaya fight in the Kurukshetra war?

If Vrajavasis love each other doesn’t that mean Krishna is not all-attractive for he can’t exclusively attract their love?

How do we understand our love for our relatives from the soul point of view?

Why does Srila Prabhupada criticize Mayavadis but not mlecchas who desecrate Deities?

Can we use Tulasi as medicine in life-threatening diseases?

Why do devotees quote as authorities scientists who belong to Christian-funded institutes?

When devotee-scientists’ books are criticized by mainstream scientists can we quote them as scientific evidence for KC?

Will counteracting the causes of falling down also prevent falling away?

As we can’t independently control matter, how do our senses function in the world?

Should we avoid discriminating between male and female to avoid agitation by lust?

How can we increase our tolerance to temptations?

Do instincts come from genes or from the Supersoul’s guidance?

If dharma is the innate characteristic of a thing, how can it differentiate humans from animals?

If we feel grief-struck on losing a loved one, how do we relate with Krishna thereafter?

How do we understand Prabhupada’s statements about the Holocaust?

Which varna do doctors belong to?

What is the Gita’s position on deontology?

What is the Gita’s etiology?

What is the Gita’s ontology?

What is the Gita’s soteriology?

What is the Gita’s eschatology?

How can we best offer prayers from the Bhagavatam?

Does Gita 9.32 which says that anyone can begin bhakti apply to those who fall while practicing bhakti?

Is the Gita 18.66 exclusivist or inclusivist in spirit?

If we need to see intellectually before we can see visually, what about non-intellectual practitioners?

Isn’t unconsciousness of Krishna more harmful than unconsciousness of our faults?

Is there any difference between dambha, darpa and abhimana in Gita 16.04?