Why only ISKCON says Krishna alone is Supreme and can liberate us?
A girl devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Hare Krishna Prabhu. I am chanting from 1 year. My problem is that although I have read all the proofs reading Krishna being supreme personality of godhead, but do no somewhere I am not able to accept this Truth whole heartedly. These many days I didn’t bother about offenses although I knew. I wanted to satisfy Krishna that’s it. But nowadays I am getting frustrated thinking about this matter. From my childhood I have been listening to all these floating thoughts that all gods are eqaul and Vishnu comes from Krishna and all… My question is when there are many scolers and many great personalities well versed in scriptures and Vedas..why don’t they preach Krishna as supreme. Why only Iskcon..?? Before I started seeing iskcon videos I was watching Chaganti koteswar roa videos.. Prabhu since you are from South you might be knowing him. His teaching coincide with iskcon teachings…most of them, but he preaches about all gods and never said Krishna as supreme. Some even say all gods are eqaul, choose your Ista Dev and worship unconditionally. You will attain salvation. Can we attain salvation when we love unconditionally any other demigod say Lord shiva or Durga ?? Prabhu I have other problem. I have 3 more years to complete my degree and also my marriage. I know this is not correct from my part to think about these matters now. I am sorry, but I have to share with you.. I am getting so much attached to Krishna consioussness process Prabhu. I have some restictions in home to follow all the process, but I don’t want them after marriage. I am scared now a days..what if I don’t get any suitable guy who accepts me and allow me to do my devotion. I don’t want to stop devotion towards Krishna at any cost. In my cast it’s difficult to find someone who doesn’t eat nonveg also.. , I have pored all my feelings to Krishna and surrender to him..still my mind and thoughts just revolve around this topic, I don’t want to get distracted and I want to concentrate on my studies also. There is no iskcon temple near by..my only Ray of hope to all my queries is only you Prabhu please help me. These questions may be simple and crazy kind of but I am struggling to stop these thoughts from inside. Thank you so much for all that you are being doing Prabhu. Please hide my name. Hare Krishna..!!”
REPLY:
If a person is convicted in a lower court, he will approach the higher court. Thus, there are many levels of courts.
Can a company have all its employees as chairman? Chairman is always singular. No plural.
Can a family exist without a head father or mother?
Can a country exist without a ruler?
Can all the ministers equal the Prime minister or President?
It is nowhere possible. Isn’t it?
Then, why the Indian Community hesitates to accept that there can be a god as the leader and Supreme?
This is because, everyone follows a certain deity. Out of love, everyone will consider that deity as supreme.
Whenever a new product is introduced, many similar products are introduced in the market. Even in science, many concepts are discovered by many scientists and everyone claims supremacy.
There is a competition in the space research among the nations. Every country likes to be a super power.
Similarly, when there is a concept that Krishna is Supreme, many other similar concepts with other deities are given.
How can there be many chiefs for an administration?
This entire creations should have been initiated by a single person. He should have employed many employees to administer.
This is what Krishna did. He created all the creations. He employed many demigods to administer each and every affair of the administration.
If there are two chiefs in an administration, the total administration will collapse because of no single authority.
Even in Indian politics, whenever there is a coalition government involving many parties under alliance, the government runs with confusion, pressures, fights, etc.
Similarly, there can’t be two chiefs.
That is why, Krishna alone is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
You ask why ISKCON alone says Krishna is supreme.
Many acharyas have said so.
Even the Adhi Sankara, the origin of advaita theory, has categorically said that Krishna is Supreme in his Bhaja Givindam song.
Sri Chandrasekarendra Swamy Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt near Chennai, a revered Acharya who was honoured by all the rulers and great people, has clearly said that Krishna is the Supreme Personality.
Sri Ramanuja Acharya has spent his whole life to propagate the supremacy of Krishna.
Sri Madhvacharya too has said that Krishna is supreme.
Vedas that are the base of Indian Scriptures say that Krishna is the creator and the topmost authority.
Puranas have many versions to boost the faith of the devotees of many deities. After writing all the puranas, Vyasa deva was not satisfied because he had glorified many deities in many puranas. As advised by Sage Naradha, he wrote his last Purana Srimad Bhagavatham exclusively about Krishna that satisfied him. Thus, the last and Supreme Purana says that Krishna is Supreme and Adhi Purusha.
No other deities claim that they are supreme. Krishna alone said that He is the Supreme Personality, creator and controller of all creations.
Lord Shiva is not categorized like other demigods. He is enjoying a special position and as said by Srila Prabhupada, Lord Shiva is almost equal to Krishna. But, Lord Shiva is also a guna avatar of Krishna and He controls Thamo guna. Because of this, a certain qualities that exist in Krishna does not exist in Lord Shiva and other deities. For example, Shiva is not involved in lilas. Krishna’s topmost level of renunciation is reserved for Krishna alone.
Thus, though Lord Shiva comes NEAR TO Krishna, in a few qualities, Krishna is enjoying an unique position. Hence, He is considered as Supreme in all aspects.
(I will soon write a short serial with all the proofs from all the scriptures to confirm the Supremacy of Krishna. This is my current project and I am collecting the points from the scriptures. They undoubtedly confirm Krishna’s supremacy. This post is aimed to help you to understand that even many other acharyas have accepted the supremacy of Krishna.)
Next, you have asked whether only Krishna can offer liberation.
Yes. It is a clear fact. Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva are controlled by Rajo guna (mode of passion) and Thamo guna (mode of ignorance) respectively.
Durga devi Herself is the controller of material planets. So, she is interested in making us involved in material activities more and more. So, she is not related to liberation matters.
Krishna is not under gunas. One of the names of Krishna is NIRGUNA, that means one who is not controlled by three gunas.
How can a god who is under a guna can liberate others? Liberation means going out of gunas. To offer liberation to a person, one should not be under any of the three gunas.
Other deities may bless you to attain liberation by following Krishna bakthi sincerely. Their blessings can help us to advance in our devotion to Krishna to get liberation.
That is why, only Krishna, who is not controlled by any gunas, is able to liberate a person from three gunas or material bondage that is due to the influence of these three gunas.
If the preacher mentioned by you did not say that Krishna is the Supreme, he has compromised from the fact and he is very careful not to hurt the followers of other gods. If one is well versed in knowledge, he will boldly say the verdict of the scriptures.
All are equal concept is a compromised concept. You are god, I am god and all are gods. This is like playing the preaching game safely to attract all the sects of people.
When the advaita guru Adhi Sankatra himself has said that Krishna is the Supreme, why should you hesitate to accept that fact?
What Srila Prabhupada, Sri Ramanuja, etc did was, to highlight only about Krishna and His direct expansions like Narayana and Vishnu. They too did not deny the special position enjoyed by Lord Shiva. However, they just emphasized that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. That’s all.
Therefore, continue to worship Krishna with full faith that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In my next post about this topic, I will explain the vedic texts and their verdicts.