Philosophical Articles

All-accomodating potency, unlimited methods

sabā nistārite prabhu kṛpā-avatāra sabā nistārite kare cāturī apāra SYNONYMS sabā—all; nistārite—to deliver; prabhu—the Lord; kṛpā—mercy; avatāra—incarnation; sabā—all; nistārite—to deliver; kare—did; cāturī—devices; apāra—unlimited. TRANSLATION Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in...

Make the Best of Bad Bargain

by Srila B.B. Tirtha Goswami Maharaja Sree Sree Guru Gaurangau Jayatah! It will not be wise to devote our valuable time and energy of this precious...

Obstinacy in Mind Makes it Unbalanced

by Srila B.B. Tirtha Goswami Maharaja Sree Sree Guru Gauranga Jayatah! Every conditioned soul in this world has got defects as well as good qualities. Gurudev's...

Mysticism

by Swami B.V. Tripurari, originally published in Sacred Preface. Mysticism is found in all of the major religious traditions. It constitutes a spiritual experiential orientation,...

Supreme Person

by Krishna dharma das In its most recent survey on the subject of God, the National Centre for Social Research found that some ninety percent...

The Divinity of the Guru

The Divinity of the Guru by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda First published in the Harmonist, August 24, 1933

Theism necessarily implies the distinctive personality of the guru. If there is to be any real distinction between God and man, there must also be a means for making this distinction possible. This third entity is the guru. He is the means.

There is another line of argument also by which the personality of the guru can be entertained. This line of argument is concerned with the nature of worship. If God and man exist separately from one another, it becomes also necessary to find out their relation to one another. This gives rise to an endless series of considerations which is represented by the conception of the divine power, or śakti. Man is subservient. God is absolute master.

Absolute subserviency is the characteristic quality of power. Between subserviency and mastership, there should be an unbridgeable gulf of separation, one being separated from the other by the difference of functioning. But as nature abhors a vacuum, the very basis of thinking requires us to find out some principle of intermediacy between the two. Guru, or the principle of this intermediacy, is absolute master. The guru is the divine giver of the efficient as well as the material relationship between the master and his relative subservients.

In his aspect of absolute servant, the guru is the source of all relative subservient entities. He is the cause of the soul of man and of all spiritual entities by whose help the soul of man is enabled to serve God in and through the guru. In his aspect as master, the guru allows or disallows man the service of God. But guru is never disallowed the service of God.

All these considerations have to be carefully kept in onex92s mind if one is to approach with the proper attitude of enlightened faith and submission, the subject of the divinity of the guru.

Guru x96 A Double Personality

Let us now turn to the concrete Reality Himself. The guru himself has a double personality. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is served by Śrī Rādhikā and Śrī Baladeva. There is a distinction between the services rendered to Śrī Kṛṣṇa by Śrī Baladeva and Śrī Rādhikā. The aspect of Śrī Baladeva is subordinate to Śrī Rādhikā. The aspect of the mastership of Śrī Baladeva has no authority over Śrī Rādhikā. Śrī Baladeva has His masterx92s jurisdiction over entities that are collectively called jīva. Over the realm of the jīvas, Śrī Baladeva rules with absolute supremacy. This realm is divided into the lower half of the absolute sphere, Vaikuṇṭha, and the shadow of the absolute sphere, namely the mundane world.

Śrī Baladeva is the object of worship of the entities of Vaikuṇṭha. His domination is not directly exercised over the concerns of the mundane world. The creation and government of the mundane world are functions of distinctive, divine persons emanating from Him as His plenary portions. They are known as the puruṣas. The puruṣas are the transcendent creators and immanent sustainers of the mundane world. There is also no direct contact even between Them and this mundane world.

Māyā x96 The Principle of Limitation and Ignorance

That aspect of the power of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, which serves as the principle of limitation and ignorance enshrouding the jīva, is called māyā. Individual souls emanating from Śrī Baladeva are permitted the option of being dissociated from Śrī Baladeva by the exercise of their freedom of will. Jīvas who choose to be separated from Śrī Baladeva are, by the will of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, deprived of the sight of Śrī Baladeva by the contrivance of the deluding potency which functions in this mundane world.

Māyā means x91that by which things are capable of being measuredx92. In the realm of Vaikuṇṭha, things are not measurable by the faculties of the jīvas. It is only on the plane of māyā in this phenomenal world that it is possible for the jīva to comprehend anything by his unaided faculties. But such comprehension is useless for the real purposes of the jīva in as much as it does not give him access to the real entity of anything.

The subject and object, as well as the process of knowledge in this world, are a contrivance of the deluding energy for enabling jīvas who are averse to Śrī Baladeva to have a plane of existence that is congenial for the practice of their aversion to Śrī Baladeva.

Those souls who are not with Śrī Baladeva are necessarily against Śrī Baladeva. The faculty of reason in man is capable of going against itself. But as soon as it chooses to do so, it cannot also claim to be reasonable.

The Absolute Will

The ultimate reality is the personality who manifests Himself as the Absolute Will behind the activities of the plenary, undivided cognitive principle. The operations of the cognitive principle in the jīva tend to lose all cognitive value as soon as they cease to consciously manifest the divine will behind them. They cease to manifest the guiding hand behind them as soon as the jīva chooses to become unreasonable.

It is not possible for the cognitive faculty of the jīva to function on its own unguided initiative. In other words, the will in man is not the master. The will in man is a will to choose to act. It is not free to encroach upon the equal freedom of choice of any other individual. When it chooses to suppose that it is the master and desires to behave accordingly, it is degraded to the level of limited choice that prevails in this world. But the unreasonable mastership that it thus chooses to have is a contradiction in terms. It is not really mastership but the deliberate stunting of itself by the sheer desire for the commission of suicide. It is malice against oneself and against all entities. It is the height of folly and the lowest depth of possible degradation for reason in the jīva.

It is not possible for the individual to avoid this degradation till it agrees to submit to the guidance of the Absolute Will in all sincerity. The jīva is not the source of his own being. He does not become the source by merely wishing to be so, against the dictates of his own reason and for no other purpose except to do harm to himself and to others. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, fortunately for us, knows full well how to deal with such meaningless perversity, without Himself ceasing to be perfectly reasonable.

Instead of allowing the perverse soul to function in Vaikuṇṭha, Śrī Kṛṣṇa permits him to choose this mundane realm for his permanent place of residence and the congenial sphere of his malicious activities. But as the soul can never be master, he is deluded into the belief that it is quite open to him to aspire for the domination of this world. He is constantly tempted to accept the offer of the Tantalusx92 cup of unlimited enjoyment of the so-called mundane falicities. These felicities themselves are proverbially, and are doled out to the miserable exiles from the realm of real felicity by a power that has no intention of serving such unworthy masters. So instead of the promised domination of the world, man only receives the empty punishment of constantly broken promises. He becomes in fact the slave of māyā and not her master. But he always chooses to suppose that he is her present and would be master.


* A Pythagorean cup (also known as a Pythagoras cup, a Greedy Cup or a Tantalus cup) is a form of drinking cup that forces its user to imbibe only in moderation. (Wikipedia)

Objection to the Guru x96 an Objection to Fundamental Individuality

The principle of the individual is co-ultimate with the Absolute Integer. There is room for both in the final position. Any doctrine that tends to contentless monism is a denial of the fundamental principle of intelligence.

The proper employment of the faculty of judgement that happens to be the prerogative that distinguishes man from all other entities of this world is to seek to be acquainted with the nature of distinction in respect of function, as between the Integer and the individual soul, the jīva, instead of seeking to perversely ignore the existence of the distinction. There would be no necessity of exercising onex92s judgement for any rational purpose if the only object of such functioning was to find the effective method of committing the final suppression of this meaningless faculty by the attainment of the state of complete mergence in the One.

The objection to the guru is at the bottom of an objection to the fundamental nature of individuality. If there is distinction between the individual soul and the Absolute Integer also, in the final position there is necessarily room also for the respective functions of both. The Integer is both master and servant. The function of the Absolute as servant is the function of the guru. As servant, the Absolute is the stay of the functions of all individual souls. The individual soul is an eternal, dissociable infinitesimal potency of the Absolute as servant and not as master. As part of the potency of the absolute servant, the individual soul is also servant of the divine servant.

The form of the Absolute as servant is necessarily distinct from his form as master. We thus get the specific personality of the guru, identical with that of the Absolute as servant. The absolute nature of the further distinction between the function of one individual and another is established by the fact of their associated co-existence in the function of the divine service of the guru.

From The Harmonist, August 24 1933 Published in Rays of The Harmonist, Volume 2, Number 2, Kartika 1998

Spiritual Progress

If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga and yet continues to engage in activities that are detrimental to spiritual progress, his spiritual progress will be very slow. This does not mean that a person must be completely free of all bad habits before he can even begin the process of bhakti yoga. For example, in the Philippines, one teacher saved many young people who were addicted to heroin and other drugs by teaching them the process of bhakti yoga. It took some time before they could completely give up all drugs; but eventually they did.

Sometimes a person is still addicted to cigarette smoking or meat-eating. If he follows the process of bhakti yoga, then gradually he will be able to give up such habits. It is a question of tasting a higher taste. If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga, he will gradually begin to taste the higher spiritual happiness, and he will be able to give up all vices naturally. After he gives up such bad habits, then his progress will be very rapid.

Spritual Progress

If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga and yet continues to engage in activities that are detrimental to spiritual progress, his spiritual progress will be very slow. This does not mean that a person must be completely free of all bad habits before he can even begin the process of bhakti yoga. For example, in the Philippines, one teacher saved many young people who were addicted to heroin and other drugs by teaching them the process of bhakti yoga. It took some time before they could completely give up all drugs; but eventually they did.

Sometimes a person is still addicted to cigarette smoking or meat-eating. If he follows the process of bhakti yoga, then gradually he will be able to give up such habits. It is a question of tasting a higher taste. If a person engages in the process of bhakti yoga, he will gradually begin to taste the higher spiritual happiness, and he will be able to give up all vices naturally. After he gives up such bad habits, then his progress will be very rapid.

How to Become Free

In this world, everyone wants to be free. No one likes to be controlled. Whether an individual, a community, a race or a nation, there is always a hankering for freedom. Even a small child never likes to be controlled. The moment we try to control a child, he or she will rebel. Factory workers revolt when the management tries to control them by imposing restrictions. A student adversely reacts, sometimes even violently, when a teacher attempts to discipline him. Thus, there is an innate tendency in all living beings, including animals and birds, to be free. That is why when a rat is released from a rat trap, it simply flees and when a bird is let out of a cage, it flies out with lightning speed.

Why is everyone anxious to be free? It is because freedom brings happiness. In fact, complete happiness is actually possible only in a state of full freedom. Conditioning brings unhappiness. This is because the person controlled has to carry out the instructions of a controller compulsorily against his willingness. There is a constant psychological stress and a physiological strain in the absence of full freedom.

History teaches us that many have sacrificed their lives to achieve freedom for their nation. The world has been periodically witnessing mass revolutions in many countries and civilizations whenever people were deprived of their freedom. There is only suffocation in slavery, whereas freedom brings infinite joy.

However, what we do not understand is that freedom obtained in this world is not real freedom. Therefore, there is no lasting happiness. People of a free nation continue to suffer although they might have become free from the clutches of a tyrannical President or a dictator. Similarly, a bird may enjoy temporary freedom only to be again caught by a hunter. A rat freed from a trap has all the possibility of getting trapped again. In other words, the struggle for achieving freedom in this material world is an exercise in futility because such freedom cannot bring actual joy or bliss that a living being has been hankering after, life after life.

Aiming at and working for social, political, economic and such other freedoms is just like a prisoner asking for a laptop computer, television and air conditioning comforts inside the prison. This fool does not understand that such comforts cannot mitigate the miseries of prison life. An intelligent prisoner should try to present his case to higher courts by engaging an intelligent lawyer to attain freedom from prison rather than appealing for various comforts in the prison.

A living being in this world is basically a spirit soul. The physical body with limbs like hands and legs is only a covering. The nature of the spirit soul is complete freedom and unlimited happiness. In the material atmosphere, it has somehow become trapped and has acquired a material body. Embodiment means conditioning, just like a rat caught in a trap. Loss of freedom has resulted in unhappiness perpetually felt by all living beings, life after life. Thus, the living entity, because of its conditioned existence, is forced to act according to the dictates of the material energy of God as explained in the Bhagavad Gita x96 Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani savashah x96 Ignorant people try very hard for material pleasures.

According to the Vedas, innumerable heavenly planets cater to different muli-coloured pleasures for the people. Right from the creation of this universe, people have been greedy to attain the heavens for higher levels of enjoyment. For achieving these, the general masses as well as learned Vedic scholars endured great penances, performed fire sacrifices, conducted rituals and donated to charities. There is no actual pleasure in enjoying a sumptuous meal if one is running a high fever. The so-called pleasures of the earth or the heavens are only imaginary.

As long as one is forced to grow old, suffer diseases and ultimately die, where is the scope for real enjoyment? Hence, the Supreme Lord Krishna says, x93Dukhalayam ashashvatam,x94 x96 This ephemeral world is a place of distress.x94 Therefore, to get freedom from perpetual inhabitation in the material world and to be promoted to the spiritual abode is the only mission of human life.

Fearsome demons like Ravana and Hiranyakashipu tried to attain immortality to enjoy unlimited sensuous objects. Ravana tried to build a staircase to the heavens, whereas, saintly people of high vedic learning strictly and meticulously followed the directions to attain celestial pleasures. Therefore, the Supreme Lord Krishna vehemently denounced this approach emphatically by instructing Arjuna, x93Traigunya Vishaya Veda nistraigunyo bhava Arjuna.x94 The Vedas merely deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature, O Arjuna! Rise above these modes!x94 Rising above the three modes means understanding onex92s actual identity of spiritual existence, to stop identifying oneself with the material body and recognizing onex92s actual identity as a spirit soul. This is self realization. But again, by this realization, one has to learn to disentangle oneself from the illusory network of material activities. In the absence of complete freedom, despite this spiritual knowledge, one may fall down, i.e. patanti adha from the exalted spiritual position into the trap of illusion. So, what is the way out? The Supreme Lord Krishna says, x93Mameva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te,x94 i.e. x93only those who surrender unto Me can cross beyond Maya.x94

How to surrender? Again, Lord Krishna suggests in the Gita that one should first surrender and take shelter with a pure devotee of the Lord, who only can properly teach and guide an aspirant as to how to how to surrender to Krishna. Krishna further says not merely to surrender to a Jnani Guru but emphasizes that one surrenders to a tattva darshi Guru who has actually seen the Supreme Truth, Krishna himself. A pure devotee constantly sees Krishna everywhere and sees everything in Krishna. This position is called sama darshanam. At that point, the living being realizes that he is the eternal servant of Lord Krishna, being His fragramental position, as He Himself explains in the Gita - Mamaivamsho jiva loke jiva bhoota sanatanah." When such a relationship becomes established between the Jivatma or Jiva and the Parmatma, the Jiva becomes fully free and starts tasting intense ectasy through devotional service. This is the highest perfection of spiritual knowledge. When we surrender ourselves to our parents, wives, children, brothers, or sisters, we continue to remain conditioned and controlled with lack of freedom and happiness. When we surrender to Lord Krishna, we become fully free and happy. The problem with us is that we don't want to surrender. What obstructs our surrender is the love of physical pleasures that comes from our past lives. In fact, this intense desire to enjoy perpetuates our continued existence in this mundane realm.

To ensure unimpeded gratification of our senses, we have been making great efforts, generation after generation, to control the very material nature. All the scientific and technological inventions and innovations are aimed to achieve this. This is ridiculous because nature works under the direction of Lord Krishna, as the Lord said to Arjuna, "Maya adbyakshena". Therefore, the unbending laws of nature cannot be changed or manipulated to our advantage, as the modern scientists seem to think. By simply obeying the orders of Lord Krishna, and by His grace, we can quickly become liberated from the clutches of material illusion. This is real freedom or Mukti. Giving up the material conception of life and becoming reinstated in one's original spiritual status, as a servent of Lord Krishna, is known as Mukti or Moksha. If we want to achieve full freedom, we should give up this "Boss" mentally and cultivate "das" (servant) attitude. This can be cultivated by taking up devotional service under the guidance of a spiritual teacher who is a mature devotee of Lord Krishna, himself situated in pure devotional service. With our present polluted senses and contaminated consciousness, it will be easy for us to serve Lord Krishna by serving His servant rather than serve the Supreme Lord directly. In this way, we can get rid of our dominating attitude. No one has achieved liberation or full freedom in this world without rendering sincere service to a very pure devotee of the Supreme Lord of gods - Krishna. Devotional service begins with the tongue, i.e. jihva adau by accepting Krishna Prasadam and chanting the Holy Names of the Supreme Lord such as Govinda, Krishna, Rama, Narayana, and so on. No other effective means of deliverance exists in Kali Yuga, the age of dissension and dispute. To purify our currently polluted consciousness and assure ourselves total freedom, the most effective method suggested for Kali Yuga is to start chanting the Hare krishna Maha-Mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare