Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, a revered spiritual leader, imparts profound insights on the path to divine realization through love and devotion. In this Q&A session, he elucidates the nature of divine grace, the concept of ignorance, and the eternal teachings of divine love consciousness. Prakashanand’swisdom teaches us that true connection with God arises through devotional love, trust, and understanding of the eternal forms of Radha and Krishn.
Question & Answer with Swamiji…
Question: What do you mean when you use the word ‘grace’?
Answer: Grace is a power. It is the power that reveals Krishn’s closeness, beauty, and charm.
Question: What happens when people receive the Grace of God?
Answer: They receive Grace all the time, but sometimes they forget. Grace means feeling Krishn close to you. When you have trust in Krishn, you have unity with Him internally. When you are united with Him internally, His Grace is transferred to you. Grace means you feel His closeness, His love. There are two aspects of Grace: in general, and special. General Grace you receive all the time, and special Grace means the final enlightenment. That happens when a soul has reached the maximum of heart purification.
Question: What causes ignorance?
Answer: Ignorance is eternal. There is no cause, it is with every soul. Every soul has ignorance, but that could be broken when he finally receives the ultimate goal of God-realization.
Question: What is the origin of the teaching of divine-love-consciousness?
Answer: Divine-love-consciousness, bhakti marg, bhakti yog, and raganuga bhakti are all synonymous terms. Divine love refers to Radha-Krishn. Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji said that ahladini shakti is the main power of Brahm (God). Ahladini word is from “ahlad.” The word ahlad means extreme happiness.
The extreme happiness of God is “ahladini shakti.” Mahaprabhuji says that the concentrated form of ahladini power is called Divine love (prem tattva). Prem means love. Tattva literally means substance. So, prem tattva means Divinelove substance or Divinelove, and the form of prem tattva is Radha and Krishn. Nam (Name), Roop (Form), Gun (Virtues), Leela (Divine plays), Dham (Divine abode), Jan (Rasik Saints) are all one. This whole phenomenon is the expansion of divine love.
To receive that Divinelove you have to love Radha-Krishn. The Bhagwatam says “Bhaktyasanjatayabhaktya…” From love you receive love; from devotional love you receive Divine love. So devotional love and longing is your devotion, and receiving final prem tattva (Divine-love) is the goal.
Divine love consciousness was introduced by God Himself. Krishn Himself tells how to reach Him. Radha Herself tells how to reach Her.
When Radha and Krishn descended on the earth’s planet, they explained and revealed Their form of Divine love. All the Saints who come with Radha and Krishn love Radha and Krishn, and their love is called rag or anurag. Following that path of love is called raganuga bhakti.
The path of raganuga bhakti (divine-love-consciousness) is an eternal path. It was re-introduced millions and millions of times, but there was no beginning because the path to reach God and the form of God along with the abodes of God are all eternal.
Thus, divine-love-consciousness is the eternal path introduced by Krishn Himself.
Immerse yourself in Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s profound wisdom with his books on surrender and devotion to Radha-Krishn