Yogeśvara: She’s asking… This is a French nun, and she wishes to know whether for us Christ is the son of God or is He God Himself, or what is the identity of Lord Jesus Christ? ¶
Prabhupāda: Yes. Jesus Christ says that he’s son of God. That’s all right. We accept. ¶
Yogeśvara: [translates French throughout] [break] ¶
Prabhupāda: …ordinary son. And he’s powerful son. [break] ¶
Yogeśvara: …question. She asks what is the difference between our understanding of reincarnation and the Christian concept of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ said he would come again. Is there a difference? Is it the same thing? ¶
Prabhupāda: I don’t find anything. ¶
Yogeśvara: There was this gentleman this afternoon who was asking you about people who are constantly…, constantly being tested by all kinds of miserable circumstances. She asks: Is it not a sign of a soul that God has chosen to favor that he sends them such miserable conditions of material life? ¶
Prabhupāda: Yes. Devotee, in miserable condition, they accept it as a favor of God. [break] …in the Bhāgavata: ¶
tat te ‘nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk
[SB 10.14.8]
We are put sometimes in difficult position. But a devotee takes the difficult position as mercy of God. [break] ¶
Yogeśvara: She, she asks you for an explanation of an event that happened to her sister. Her sister died at the age of five and a half years. And just before her death, she apparently was able to explain some of her past lifetimes to her mother, that she had formerly been a princess or of noble birth, and that now she was being called. Is there some explanation for that? ¶
Prabhupāda: Yes. She remembers of her last birth. That is quite possible. Because we are changing body. So one who can remember about his past life, they are called jāta-smaraṇa. ¶
Yogeśvara: Jāta-smaraṇa? ¶
Prabhupāda: One who can remember about his past life. [break] …means forgetting everything of the past life. [break] …times a person remembers. [break] ¶
Yogeśvara: She asks for a definition of the word “occult.” What is something that is occult, something occult, or mystic? What is it? ¶
Prabhupāda: Mystic? ¶
Yogeśvara: Mystic. What is mysticism? ¶
Prabhupāda: I do not say anything on mysticism. Mystic, something, it is called rahasya. ¶
Yogeśvara: Rahasya? ¶
Prabhupāda: Rahasya. Something wonderful. Is that meaning, mystic? ¶
Indian man: Mystic… I mean. I think when Western historians and literators explain Indian religious literature, especially literature of bhakti-mārga, they term that those are the mystics, and also they term the Sufi poets are mystics. [break] ¶
Prabhupāda: …say mystic means rahasya. ¶
Yogeśvara: Rahasya. ¶
Prabhupāda: Rahasya means it is little difficult to understand. [break] ¶
French Nun: [French] [break] ¶
Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, rahasyam, rahasyam etad uttamam. Rahasyam etad uttamam. This Bhagavad-gītā is the first-class mystic. Rahasyam etad uttamaṁ, bhakto ‘si me priyo ‘si me [Bg. 4.3]: “Because you are My devotee, you are My dear friend, you’ll understand.” ¶
So mysticism is not understandable by common man. It requires a special qualification. Just like to understand, it is also mysticism—understand, to understand God. This is also mystic. It is not understandable by ordinary man. ¶
Yogeśvara: [French] [end] ¶