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Faith can be changed. You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim, you can become Christian

Expressions researched:
"Faith can be changed. You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim, you can become Christian"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Faith can be changed. You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim, you can become Christian. So this kind of faith can be changed. So this is not actually dharma. Dharma means which you cannot change. That is called dharma. Just like water is liquid.

We have seen it. There was one Mr. Chakravarti. He learned this art, and he made money in cooperation with a circus, Bose's circus, in Calcutta. I have seen it in our childhood, that this Mr. Chakravarti first of all was packed in a bag, and the bag was sealed before all audience, and the bag was put in a box. The box was locked up—not only locked up, it was sealed. Then a curtain, mosquito-curtainlike curtain, was covered. And on the box there was a tablā. You know tablā, harmonium.

So from outside one of the circus men said: "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play the tablā?" The tablā was going on nicely within the curtain. Then he said: "Mr. Chakravarti, will you kindly play on the harmonium?" The harmonium he played. Then he said: "Mr. Chakravarti, will you please come out?" So he immediately came out from the curtain, and he began to round the box, and the man, circus man, asked everyone, "Catch him, catch him, catch him."

So somebody tried to catch him, but nobody could catch him. He again entered in the curtain, and when the curtain was taken, everyone saw that the tablā was there, the harmonium was there, and the box was locked and sealed. And then the seal was opened. The box was opened. Then Mr. Chakravarti, within the bag, he was taken out. And the bag was sealed; it was opened. At that time Mr. Chakravarti was perspiring. He was very fatigued. He remained in such a way, but he came out. That we have seen. So this is called aṇimā-siddhi.

Laghimā-siddhi, there is laghimā-siddhi. You can float in the sky just like cotton swab. That is called laghimā-siddhi. Prāpti, prāpti means a yogī can get immediately . . . suppose a yogī is sitting here. You can ask him, "Give me a fresh pomegranate from Kabul." He will immediately give. So there are so many siddhis, perfection: aṇimā, laghimā, prāpti-siddhi, īśitā, vaśitā. A yogī can manufacture a planet, he is so powerful. Just like Viśvāmitra Yogī. He produced man from the tree.

So these are yogic perfection, not simply pressing the nose. That is not. Yoga practice is to gain material power. That's all. There was . . . say about hundred years ago, there was a yogī in Benares, Kāśī, and he was sitting naked on the road, public road, and the government took objection. So he was taken several times to police custody, and he came out. He became very famous. So there are many yogīs, they can play this magic. But all this yogic power in large quantity . . . just like a yogī can float himself in the air, but by God's yogic power, millions and trillions heavy planets are floating in the air. Millions and trillions.

So the supreme yogic power is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is said, brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe. Yogeśvara. Īśvara means controller. There are many yogic power and yogīs, but He is the supreme controller of everyone. Therefore He is mentioned here, brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe (SB 1.1.23): "The master of the mystic power, Kṛṣṇa, having gone from this planet . . ." Brahmaṇye dharma-varmaṇi. Dharma-varmaṇi means whose weapon is religious principle. Dharma means God, or Kṛṣṇa. Dharma, the Sanskrit word, it is translated into English as "religion," but this is not perfect translation. is different from religion. Religion is mentioned in the dictionary as "a kind of faith."

So dharma is not like that. Faith can be changed. You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim, you can become Christian. So this kind of faith can be changed. So this is not actually dharma. Dharma means which you cannot change. That is called dharma. Just like water is liquid.

You cannot change water to become solid. You can say, argue, that water sometimes becomes solid—ice. But that is not its natural condition. That is artificial. By the temperature going down artificially, it becomes solid. But at the same time, it begins to become liquid. The ice does not remain solid. From the solidification after refrigeration, it becomes to . . . become liquid, because that is its natural state.

So that . . . as liquidity is natural state of water, similarly, dharma is our natural state, the living entity. The living entity being part and parcel of God, it has got a natural position. Natural position. Just like the finger is the part and parcel of your body. It has got a natural position. The natural position is that finger, as you wish to work, the finger works, serves you. The different parts of your body, limbs, they are meant for serving the whole body. The finger catches a nice foodstuff, cake, but the finger does not use it. The finger takes it to the mouth. That means finger serves the body.

Similarly, dharma means the living entity, being part and parcel of God, the living entity must serve God. That is dharma. That service attitude is there in every living entity, but somebody is serving himself, somebody is serving his family, somebody is serving his society, somebody is serving his country. In this way service is there. If somebody has nobody to serve, he takes a dog, a cat, and serves it.

So service is there, but this service is called māyā, illusion. Actually, the service is meant for God, but we have forgotten God. We are rendering service to so many varieties of māyā's presentation. Therefore, when God comes, He establishes what is religion.

Page Title:Faith can be changed. You can change your faith. Today you are Hindu; tomorrow you can become Muslim. Today you are Muslim, you can become Christian
Compiler:SharmisthaK
Created:2022-10-28, 06:24:05
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1