View source for It does not matter you learn to love God through Christianism or Hinduism or Muslimism, any "ism," but the result should be how much you have advanced in the art of loving God

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{{terms|"It does not matter you learn to love God through Christianism or Hinduism or Muslimism, any"}}
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{{compiler|Krsnadas}}
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[[Category:Does Not Matter]]
[[Category:you]]
[[Category:How to Love God]]
[[Category:Love of Godhead]]
[[Category:through]]
[[Category:christianity]]
[[Category:hinduism]]
[[Category:muslim]]
[[Category:any]]
[[Category:This Ism or That Ism]]
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[[Category:result]]
[[Category:should Be]]
[[Category:how Much]]
[[Category:you Have]]
[[Category:advanced]]
[[Category:The Art Of]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="General_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="11" parent="Lectures" text="General Lectures"><h3>General Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureatStPascalsFranciscanSeminaryMelbourneJune281974_0" class="quote" parent="General_Lectures" book="Lec" index="151" link="Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974" link_text="Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974">
<div class="heading">Para means the supreme, not ordinary thing, supreme. "The supreme religious system is that which teaches the follower how to love God." That is supreme. It does not matter you learn to love God through Christianism or Hinduism or Muslimism, any "ism," but the result should be how much you have advanced in the art of loving God.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974|Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary -- Melbourne, June 28, 1974]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">The Father Greene hinted the common platform of religion. Common platform is not very difficult to understand because religion means to know God and abide by the orders of God. That is religion. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that dharmaṁ tu sākṣāt bhagavat-praṇītam. The... Religious system cannot be manufactured by man. No. Man-made religion is not religion. Religion means God-made religion. That is religion. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣāt. Just like law. Law means the orders enunciated by the government. You cannot manufacture law at home. That is not law. Similarly, religion means the orders given by God. This is simple definition of religion. So we must know God, and we must know what is His order, and we should abide by the order. Then that is religion. So you take any type of religion, these three things are there: that we must try to know God, and what does He desires, and to fulfill it. Therefore in the Bhāgavatam it is said,</p>
:sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
:yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
:ahaituky apratihatā
:yayātmā suprasīdati
:([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.6|SB 1.2.6]])
<p>It is said here that that is first-class religious system. It does not say Hinduism, Muslimism or Christianism. General definition: "That is first-class religion..." Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo. Why it is said, para? Para means the supreme, not ordinary thing, supreme. "The supreme religious system is that which teaches the follower how to love God." That is supreme. It does not matter you learn to love God through Christianism or Hinduism or Muslimism, any "ism," but the result should be how much you have advanced in the art of loving God. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ([[Vanisource:SB 1.2.6|SB 1.2.6]]). Bhakti, this word, Sanskrit word is used, "devotion," bhakti. To render service to God, that is bhakti. We are rendering service to so many things. That is not bhakti. Bhakti means to render service to God. And adhokṣaje. There are many terminology of understanding God, but here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, God is mentioned as adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond your sense perception. Another word is used, avāṅ mānasa-gocaraḥ, "beyond the expression of your mind, words." Avāṅ gocaraḥ. And another meaning, literal meaning, adha: adha means subdued. Adhakṛta akṣaja-jñānam. Akṣa. Akṣa means eyes, or... In Sanskrit there are letters beginning from a, a, i and, at last, kṣa. So beginning from a to kṣa, a-kṣa, means we understand by combination of words. So you can combine so many words, but still, it is beyond that expression. That is called adhokṣaja. So God is realized... Not by vocabulary we can understand what is the nature of God, or, in one word, that God is beyond our this material sense perception.</p>
<p>It is said in the Vedic literature that ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Kṛṣṇa is a name of God. So it is said that Kṛṣṇa's name, Kṛṣṇa's form, Kṛṣṇa's attributes, Kṛṣṇa's activities... Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi begins from the name. So ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 17.136|CC Madhya 17.136]]). Indriya means senses. We cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, or God—His name, His form, His attributes, His pastimes... We cannot understand by these blunt material senses. Then how it is to be understood? After all, this human life is meant for understanding God. That is the only business of human life. The nature, material nature, gives us this opportunity to have this human form of life. The facility of this life, of this form of life, is given to us just to understand God. Other forms of life, cats and dogs, trees and so many other things... There are 8,400,000 forms of life. So in other forms of life it is not possible to understand what is God. If we call all the dogs of your country, "Come here. We shall talk about God," no, there is no possibility of understanding. But in the human form of life there is possibility. It doesn't matter whether it is in India or America or Australia. Any human being, if he tries and if he reads the scriptures—never mind, Bible, Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata—then he will understand God. Therefore this life, human form of life, is only meant for understanding God. If we divert our attention to any other business, that means we are spoiling our energy. Because what are the activities? That... Everyone is active for sleeping, eating, having sexual intercourse and defending. So these things are present even cats and dogs. They also eat, they also sleep, they also have propensity for sex intercourse and they also defend, in their own way. So if human life is also spoiled only on these activities, then you are missing the chance. Human activities should be to understand God or the Absolute Truth. That is the philosophy of Vedānta philosophy. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Vedānta. Veda means knowledge, and anta means ultimate.</p>
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