Discourses
Discussions
with Michael Cremo and correspondents
10-5-04
Hello Mr. Cremo,
You may recall that we exchanged a few letters back in 1996 which eventually
ended up in Forbidden
Archeology's Impact. Thanks again for including them
in that book. I'm happy to see that you continue your work. And, if
you
have some time to answer, then it is with your latest book that I have
some
questions.
1) If we, as humans, are "fallen", then why don't I remember where I
came
from? Why is it that the majority of us humans know nothing of a prior
life? It's like this: I know that I was raised by my parents and then
eventually chose to move out and gain independence, but I completely
remember where I came from. Why is there any mystery at all about whether
or not we were once part of a God-Head? If Krisna really, really wants
us
to learn from our poor choice of independence and return to him, wouldn't
he
want us to remember the pain of a material world?
Michael: There may be other things that
God wishes us to learn, as part of His
program for preparing us to return to the spiritual world. One reason
why we
are here may be that we made the mistake of placing complete reliance
on
our own powers of perception and judgement. Accepting knowledge from
a
higher source may be part of what's necessary to return to the spiritual
world.
Eric: 2) If Krisna loves us and wants us to come back to the God-Head,
why is he
so vague about his existence? After all, if he is omnipotent and omnipresent
(I
assume), then he should have no trouble at all communicating his existence
to
all of us without dispute. Why the big mystery? This question is the ultimate
which asks if God even exists and really applies to any and all religions.
Michael: For some people, God's existence
is not vague. For the pure
devotees of the Lord He is always visible. But not everyone is on that
level.
Why not? Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita that as people
surrender
to Him He rewards them accordingly. As much as we desire to see Krishna,
He will make Himself visible. And as much as we want to forget Him, He
will enable us to forget Him. If we want to perceive God, He will enable
us
to do so. Although there is a process for that, God will not force us to
take
it up. We have freedom, and without freedom there can be no love. The
original relationship of the soul with God is one of love, and love must
be
free, not forced. So our forgetfulness is a function of our own exercise
of
our free will in our loving relationship with God...
Eric:
[You said that] God will
allow us to see and perceive him if we want but
there was a process for it. Can you explain the process?
Michael: Originally, we have spiritual senses
that can perceive God directly. These
spiritual senses have now been covered by the material energies. Therefore
our
perceptions are now material. There are processes for removing the covering
energies.
In our current state, the covered senses are like a mirror covered with
dust. Although
the mirror is capable of reflecting clear images, it cannot because of
the dust. But
when the dust is removed, the mirror properly reflects images. Our material
consciousness
is like that. Pure consciousness, and pure sense perception are there.
But they have
been covered with the "dust" of the material energy. So there are processes
given in the
Vedic literature, and in other world religions, for removing the dust.
One of these processes
is meditation (contemplation). The Vedic literature recommends mantra meditation,
and
prescribes different mantras for different ages. In this age, the Vedic
literature recommends
chanting names of God, such as the names Krishna, Rama, and Hara. If one
likes, one
can meditate on other names of God, like Jehovah, Allah,, etc. The process
is characterized
in Sanskrit as ceto darpana marjanam. Cetah means consciousness, darpana
means
mirror, and marjanam means cleanse, i.e. cleansing the mirror of consciousness.
The
mantras are invested with spiritual energies that have the power to restore
consciousness
to its original pure state, in which it is possible through spiritualized
senses to perceive the
form of God.
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