Question Bank for Canto 1.

5
1) Explain the particular defect, Srila Naradadeva is stressing, in the Vedic literatures
compiled by Vyasadeva.
2) What was the necessity of explaining Vedanta-sutra in the form of Srimad Bhagavatam.
3) Explain the statement. "Knowledge of self-realization, even though free from all material
affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God].”
4) Srila Prabhupada writes in purport to 1.5.16. "The expert devotees also can discover
novel ways and means to convert the non-devotees in terms of particular time and
circumstance. Devotional service is dynamic activity, and the expert devotees can find
out competent means to inject it into the dull brains of the materialistic population.
Discuss how this statement reflects Srila Prabhupada's mood and mission.

5) Summarize in your own words verse 17 & purport.

Jiva Goswami..
O King! One who has given up all varëäçrama duties and has taken full shelter of the lotus feet
of Mukunda, who offers shelter to all, is not a debtor to or servant of the devatäs, great sages,
ordinary living beings, relatives or Pitås. (SB 11.5.41) Canto

If he is not qualified to attain the Lord by short lifespan or attains the Lord in another body
because of offense (Citraketu) or acts as a fool (Bhärata), and even when he does not have
bhakti, his rejection of sva-dharma is not a fault, since bhakti’s impressions remain
uninterrupted. In any circumstance, there is no fault or sin. What is the gain for nondevotees? At
all times it is impermanent.

6) Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to 1.5.18: “… everyone has his destined happiness
also. No one can get more or less of these things simply by personal endeavors." Discuss,
with reference to 1.5.18, verse and purport, the relevance of this principle in your practice
of Krsna consciousness.

True, but the wise are not deluded by this at all. That is expressed in this verse. A person
with discrimination (kovidaù) should endeavor for that cause which is not attained by the
jévas wandering up to Brahma-loka or down to non-moving bodies. But there material
happiness is attained without endeavor (anyataù), due to ancient karmas, even being born
as pigs or being born in hell, just as distress is also attained without endeavor
(duùkhavat). It is said: aprärthitäni duùkhäni yathaiväyänti dehinäm | sukhäny api tathä
 manye dainyam aträtiricyate || Just as one does not pray for misery, and it nevertheless
comes to all creatures, in the same way happiness predominates over suffering.

By good work only, as prescribed in the scriptures, can one obtain birth in a good family,
opulence, good education and good bodily features. We see also that even in this life one
obtains a good education or money by good work. Similarly, in our next birth we get such
desirable positions only by good work. Otherwise, it would not so happen that two
persons born in the same place at the same time are seen differently placed according to
previous work. But all such material positions are impermanent. The positions in the
topmost Brahmaloka and in the lowest Pātāla are also changeable according to our own
work.
7) Summarize Sri Narada's comparison of Krsna conscious literature with literature that
does not describe the glories of Sri Krsna. Include specific reference to analogies and
metaphors cited in the verses and purports of 1.5.8-22.

Mostly the market literatures which attract men of the crow’s categories are literatures containing
refused remnants of sensuous topics. They are generally known as mundane talks in relation with
the gross body and subtle mind. They are full of subject matter described in decorative language
full of mundane similes and metaphorical arrangements. Yet with all that, they do not glorify the
Lord. Such poetry and prose, on any subject matter, is considered decoration of a dead body.
Spiritually advanced men who are compared to the swans do not take pleasure in such dead
literatures, which are sources of pleasure for men who are spiritually dead. These literatures in
the modes of passion and ignorance are distributed under different labels, but they can hardly
help the spiritual urge of the human being, and thus the swanlike spiritually advanced men have
nothing to do with them. Such spiritually advanced men are called mānasa also because they
always keep up the standard of transcendental voluntary service to the Lord on the spiritual
plane. This completely forbids fruitive activities for gross bodily sense satisfaction or subtle
speculation of the material egoistic mind.

8) Explain how a devotee does not undergo material existence like others.

a devotee is never to be considered the same as a fallen karmī. A karmī suffers the result
of his own fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed by
the Lord Himself. The sufferings of an orphan and the sufferings of a beloved child of a
king are not one and the same. An orphan is really poor because he has no one to take
care of him, but a beloved son of a rich man, although he appears to be on the same level
as the orphan, is always under the vigilance of his capable father. A devotee of the Lord,
 due to wrong association, sometimes imitates the fruitive workers. The fruitive workers
want to lord it over the material world.

9) Explain why Srila Vyasadeva accepted Sri Narada as his spiritual master, even though he
was not at all dependant on a spiritual master.

Although formally Śrīla Nārada Ṛṣi is his spiritual master, Śrīla Vyāsadeva is not at all
dependent on a spiritual master because in essence he is the spiritual master of everyone else.
But because he is doing the work of an ācārya, he has taught us by his own conduct that one
must have a spiritual master, even though he be God Himself. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Lord Śrī Rāma
and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, all incarnations of Godhead, accepted formal spiritual
masters, although by Their transcendental nature They were cognizant of all knowledge.

10) Describe the life of Narada in reference to basic training.

Śrī Nārada Muni in his previous birth, it is clear that the service of the Lord begins with the
service of the Lord’s bona fide servants. The Lord says that the service of His servants is greater
than His personal service. Service of the devotee is more valuable than the service of the Lord.
One should therefore choose a bona fide servant of the Lord constantly engaged in His service,
accept such a servant as the spiritual master and engage himself in his (the spiritual master’s)
service. Such a spiritual master is the transparent medium by which to visualize the Lord, who is
beyond the conception of the material senses. By service of the bona fide spiritual master, the
Lord consents to reveal Himself in proportion to the service rendered. Utilization of the human
energy in the service of the Lord is the progressive path of salvation. The whole cosmic creation
becomes at once identical with the Lord as soon as service in relation with the Lord is rendered
under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. The expert spiritual master knows the art of
utilizing everything to glorify the Lord, and therefore under his guidance the whole world can be
turned into the spiritual abode by the divine grace of the Lord’s servant.

11) How did Sri Narada become infected with the qualities of the Bhaktivedantas?

The bhakti-vedāntas as above mentioned were pure devotees, and the boy became infected with
their qualities of purity by their association and by eating once the remnants of the foodstuff
taken by them.
 12) Identify three principles that can be drawn from the previous life of Narada Muni, as
described in SB 1.5.23-1.5.31, and discuss their relevance to your own life and how these
principles can be applied in preaching.
13) What is the relationship between bhakti yoga and karma yoga and jnana yoga?
bhakti-yoga is above both karma and jñāna. Bhakti-yoga is independent of jñāna or karma; on
the other hand, jñāna and karma are dependent on bhakti-yoga. This kriyā-yoga or karma-yoga,
as recommended by Śrī Nārada to Vyāsa, is specifically recommended because the principle is to
satisfy the Lord. The Lord does not want His sons, the living beings, to suffer the threefold
miseries of life. He desires that all of them come to Him and live with Him, but going back to
Godhead means that one must purify himself from material infections. When work is performed,
therefore, to satisfy the Lord, the performer becomes gradually purified from the material
affection. This purification means attainment of spiritual knowledge. Therefore knowledge is
dependent on karma, or work, done on behalf of the Lord. Other knowledge, being devoid of
bhakti-yoga or satisfaction of the Lord, cannot lead one back to the kingdom of God, which
means that it cannot even offer salvation, as already explained in connection with the stanza
naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitam. The conclusion is that a devotee engaged in the
unalloyed service of the Lord, specifically in hearing and chanting of His transcendental glories,
becomes simultaneously spiritually enlightened by the divine grace, as confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gītā.