Spiritual Questions and Answers with Radhanath Swami
Question to Radhanath Swami: I have been practicing chanting Hare Krishna for a while. Still, so many problems, so many obstacles in spiritual life!
Radhanath Swami: One who has faith in the holy name of Krishna will overcome all obstacles. It’s a major difficulty in a devotee’s life—we just don’t have that faith in chanting Hare Krishna. If we just have that faith, there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome.
Question to Radhanath Swami: I am very much interested in Bhakti Yoga. But how do I cultivate enthusiasm and determination to remain steady on this path?
Radhanath Swami: How do you cultivate a plant? You have to protect it and you have to water it. If you’re growing a flower in your garden you must protect it from being ripped out, from being trampled on, from being choked by weeds, and you also have to put water on it. So that is how enthusiasm and determination are also developed.
Question to Radhanath Swami: How can we convince ourselves that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that we have to surrender to Krishna?
Radhanath Swami: By the right association. If we associate with people who are convinced, we will be convinced. If we associate with people who have doubt, we will be deeply drenched in doubt. So we need to decide what we want in life and associate accordingly.
Question to Radhanath Swami: Do we have to give up everything to come close to God?
Radhanath Swami: All the things in this world are meant to be utilized according to our nature, in the service of God. Then it’s wonderful. Not that you have to give up everything; that’s very difficult and in many ways it’s very unnatural. If something can be utilized in a very dynamic and wonderful way in the service of God and for the welfare of others, you should utilize it, you should not renounce it.
Question to Radhanath Swami: I have often heard the phrase, “seeing through the eyes of the scriptures.” What does that mean?
Radhanath Swami: What we may witness in the world, we must learn to process that information through the knowledge we have read in the Holy Scriptures and the knowledge we have heard from the great saintly people.
Question to Radhanath Swami: I was wondering, what the scriptures say about what it feels like upon returning to the spiritual world.
Radhanath Swami: Sanatan Goswami, a seventeenth century saint, describes in his work, Brihat Bhagavatamrita,the reunion of a soul with the Supreme Lord Krishna in the spiritual world.
