Q. I was watching Good Morning America and they did a story on a man that claims to be Jesus. The question is that when such individuals claim to be God what kind of bad karma will he get for saying he is God, what kind of punishment will this man have to endure for committing this act? I don’t know why but this has been bothering me because I can’t understand why people follow and believe in such people. When they should know that there is only one God, Krishna, why is it that people will believe anything that they are told?
Answer by Romapada Swami: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur summed up this material world as a society of cheaters and cheated. There are many people in this world who want to be cheated, who want to settle for something cheap that pleases their senses and are not serious about purity or truth. So Krishna arranges for a big cheater to mislead them. There have been many such persons in history and the cheaters are themselves in turn cheated and have to meet their end; even at the time of Krishna’s pastimes on this planet, there were some persons like Paundraka who claimed to be God and had his own set of followers for some time, but finally Krishna annihilated him. (Krsna book Ch 66)
It can be seen that the blind followers of such cheaters are generally very much interested in wanting to enjoy sense gratification through the medium of religious or spiritual life, rather than a sincere desire to know and serve the Supreme. This constitutes a cheating mentality on their part – to enjoy the material world in the name of God but without actually surrendering to God; thus they themselves are cheated, although they may otherwise seem innocent and even serious and dedicated in their following. Often it can be observed that such followers are desperate for some quick material gain or relief from suffering, so much so that they would readily accept anyone or anything that promises them such illusory benefits, and Krishna sanctions their desire to follow such illusory goals. Krishna or God, however, can be understood only by those who approach Him with genuine attitude of service and devotion. As Krishna says in BG 7.25, He reserves the right to not reveal Himself to those who do not have such a disposition.
Krishna also explains different types of faith in BG Ch 17, in response to a question that Arjuna asks similar to your question. (See BG 17.1-4) According to the modes of nature acquired by a person, one evolves a particular type of faith. Those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance will worship demons, spirits or select a powerful man to be God, whereas those who are in the mode of goodness tend to worship different higher demigods. By following scriptural directions, those in the mode of goodness have a better opportunity to accept the association a devotee, take up devotional service and gradually rise to the point of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
From the above discussion, it is evident that one should be minimally in the mode of goodness and free from sinful desires, and genuinely seeking to know the Absolute Truth, in order to understand Krishna. However, even if one may not be so qualified, if one is fortunate to come in contact with a pure devotee or his teachings and accepts his direction, one can immediately understand Krishna, and under the guidance of the devotees one can become fully purified of all misconceptions.
This gives a clue how we can respond when we see or hear about such misleading pseudo-incarnations or so-called spiritual processes/groups. The solution lies in educating people and disseminating real transcendental knowledge. Rather than feel disturbed or agitated, we can understand the true nature of this material world and develop compassion for these souls who are unfortunate and embarrassed by their own material desires due to their ignorance of Krishna. Of course a devotee, being para-duhkha-duhkhi, does feel some disturbance to see so many innocent people being cheated, but he takes it as an impetus to strive to disseminate this unadulterated knowledge found in Bhagavad-Gita, carefully preserved and handed down to us through many generations in disciplic succession.
This is what Srila Prabhupada did to fight the many pseudo-gurus and organizations prevalent during his time. He worked tirelessly to translate the Vaisnava literatures and traveled incessantly to teach and personally train the devotees in the actual science of God- realization. But for his sacrifices, we would not have access to this scientific knowledge about Krishna. So you can also strive to become his able representative and transmit this knowledge, not only by speaking about it but more importantly by being a living example of these teachings, such that those who come in contact with you will naturally appreciate and accept these teachings. When people are educated in the right knowledge and culture, then they cannot be cheated.
