QA: Audio

If people aren’t ready to take the giant leap of faith to come to Krishna, how can we help them?

When we see some devotee doing something wrong, what should we do?

How can we attract scientifically minded people to scripture?

How can we deal with the global population explosion?

When we surrender to our guru, are we surrendering to the guru or to the guru tattva or to Krishna?

If we had been initiated by some other guru, would we have been given the same instruction as from our initiating guru – how exactly does Krishna’s instruction come through the guru?

Can we see the inner seat of consciousness beyond the raw sensation of awareness?

How does quantum entanglement happen – is it because of the Supersoul?

What is the hard problem of consciousness?

How does jnana-yoga progress to dhyana-yoga?

Why does the Left appeal to so many people – how can it have any spiritual promise?

Should we not have children because the earth is overburdened with too many humans?

My father committed suicide and I am feeling terrible – what can I do?

How can we ensure that we aren’t limited by functional vision when things are functioning well?

Can morality be derived from science – does sociobiology fit that bill?

If something in our movement is managerially seriously wrong, should we consider what Srila Prabhupada wanted and whether we are qualified to bring about a change?

If someone is managerially incompetent or immoral, can their continuance in power be justified by saying that it is Krishna’s plan?

When our natural varna can’t be changed, does taking brahmana diksha makes us all brahmanas?

Is consciousness intrinsically divine – is it the same as the mind?

How are yajna, dana and tapa relevant in today’s world?

How can we better use sleep to grow spiritually?

Why is scientific knowledge like gravity not present in scripture?

Why does Indra commit so many mistakes?

Why did Vishvamitra lose his power on creating another heaven?

Are all spiritual explanations of life’s sufferings just mental adjustments?

What is the concept of the evil eye – what is its rational and scriptural basis

Aren’t we trivializing initiation by equating the promises of initiation with the promises of hearing Krishna’s pastimes?

When initiation frees us from all sins, why do initiated devotes suffer?

When you say that you are struggling with selfish desires, what do you mean?

When we fail in life, how can we immediately understand that past karma is at work?

When spiritual growth requires faith, what can we do if doubts keep coming?

When people don’t get what they desire, they sometimes become angry and sometimes depressed – are anger and depression twins

When love for Krishna is so far away for most of us, should we even talk about it in our classes?

When Krishna doesn’t reciprocate, how can we avoid becoming cynical?

What lesson does the Mohini Murti pastime teach?

What is the easiest way to control our emotions?

Was Ravana intelligent in fighting Rama, knowing that his followers would get liberation by being killed by Rama?

Was Ravana from north India?

To what extent is metaphorical understanding of scripture acceptable or unacceptable?

The painkiller of entertainment is easily available, but does the cure of enlightenment needs to be given by someone enlightened

Should devotees give up all pious religious duties and focus only on bhakti?

On attaining success, how can we be happy without becoming proud?

Just as our strengths are manifestations for a higher being, are our weaknesses manifestations of some being?

Is it possible to be constantly on guard against temptation?

Is frustration a wrong motive for starting spiritual life?

If someone hurts us repeatedly, is that because of our past karma?

If someone is facing with a life-threatening disease, how can we explain to them that life has a higher purpose?

If someone has been betrayed repeatedly and has become cynical, how can they recover?

If Sita in Lanka was Vedavati, why do we say Sita, not Vedavati, prayed for Hanuman?

If kshatriyas were allowed to eat meat, why is meat-eating considered wrong for everyone?

How should devotees see scientific research involving animal testing or organ donation?

How may we be cynical in our relationship with Krishna?

If we keep doing something that we had resolved to give up, what to do?

If we can’t go to heaven in human bodies, how do some kings like Dasharatha fight for the gods in heaven?

For chanting, why are Tulsi beads recommended?

If Brahma is the creator of the universe, from where did the lotus on which he was born come?

If the author is not present in the book, how is Valmiki present in Ramayana?

How do we realize that Krishna consciousness is like 5 million dollars and worldly things are like 5 dollars

How can we work with difficult people?

How can we suffer insufferable people?

How can we be humble without appearing weak?

How can we balance between overthinking about other people’s actions and being thoughtful?

How can living in the present be reconciled with having an optimistic attitude?

How are faith and knowledge related – how is faith in the dharmic tradition differnt from faith in Christianity?

For self-control, should we just focus on chosing our desires or should we also chose our situations?

Does sarva dharman parityajya mean that we should give up our rationality and just surrender?

Did Ravana have immense knowledge?

Can atheists and theists come together to make a better world?

Can Abhimanyu’s getting trapped in Chakravuha be compared to our getting trapped in samsara-cakra?

Does spirituality cure depression or manage depression?

Does emotional pain indicate something wrong that needs fixing or should it just be tolerated

How can we help those who can’t put past bad things in perspective?

All the people in the Malaysian airlines crash died – was it due to their own past karma?

Are our present sufferings because of our past karma?

Are there any brahmavadis in the world today?

Do great devotees like Prahlad just focus on Krishna and not bother about problems at all?

Does bhakti become more and more complicated as we go into the details?

Does the upside-down tree metaphor of Gita chapter 15 imply that there’s a separate tree for each individual soul?

How can we avoid getting infected with material desires because of the triangularity of desires?

How is Paramatma realization an evolution from Brahman realization?

How can we ensure that our children follow our culture?

How can we share bhakti with Western audiences?

How do we balance not repressing ourselves and avoiding things unfavorable to Krishna consciousness

How do we refute secular humanism?

If repression can’t accomplish anything – Gita 03.33 – why should we restrain our senses, Gita 03.34?

Is Brahman the effulgence of the Absolute or is it the realization of our own eternality?

Is blaming past karma for bad things just a way to avoid blaming God?

Just as Bhishma chose the wrong side, so do we – how can we learn properly from such role models?

When a mother will keep mud away from a child, why does Krishna make lust so easily available in this world?

When analyzing issues, how do we know whether we are putting them in the right context such as material or spiritual?

When nothing works, we surrender to Krishna – how can we surrender to him in the beginning itself?

Won’t it help us spiritually if we remember our past lives?

Is parents wanting their children to become Krishna conscious a sign of dependence, independence or interdependence?

Why did Vidura not instruct Dhritrashtra to apologize to the Pandavas and to thereby become offense-free for practicing bhakti?

Is heaven attained by any warrior who fights a war in obedience to authority and dies?

What is the destination of those who obey their authorities and fight in unfair wars such as Vietnam – will their obedience elevate them to heaven?

Which path of yoga burns our karma to what extent?

What is wrong with ancestors falling from higher planets to earth, as only from earth they can be liberated?

If offensive chanting is ineffective, then how was Ajamila’s chanting effective?

Why did Vyasadeva give Vedic rituals instead of just giving bhakti, as Prabhupada did?