HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE 10 страница
Mere rudimentary vaidhika devotion to the feet of Lord Caitanya can hardly evoke a highly evolved nectar-flood of Radha’s direct influence upon anyone. “Extent,” as applied to the principle of gaura-bhakti, refers to the degree of internal devotional qualification in one’s approach far more than to any externally quantifiable mass of regulative devotional practice. The factual proof that the nectar of Radha’s lotus feet is extensively flooding one’s heart will be seen in one’s attentiveness to deeply understand and practically pursue the path of vraja-bhakti-bhajana. Either sambandhanuga-bhakti (dasya, sakhya, or vatsalya-bhajana) or kamanuga-bhakti (madhurya-bhajana) will be practiced under the guidance of the Gosvamis according to one’s progressively perceivable natural internal inclination or aptitude for a particular mellow of loving service to divinity. The edict seva sadhaka-rupena siddha-rupena catra hi / tad-bhava-lipsuna karya vraja-lokanusaratah mentioned in Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu truly for all time applies both externally and internally to sadhakas who have yet to transcend material bondage as well as to siddhas who are jata-rati Vaishnavas having attained the perfect realization of sthayii-bhava, or constant devotional ecstasy. There is no broadly applicable streamlined institutional lame way out. No founding acarya of any Krishna conscious establishment ever casuistically instructed in such a way so as to shrink from the responsibility of deliberately enhancing or nourishing the deserving disciple’s progress onto the path of beatified vraja- bhakti-bhajana.
When purposefully prescribed to forcibly inculcate the principles of Krishna consciousness, vaidhi bhakti certainly functions to coercively rehabilitate a conditioned soul’s misdirected or unconstitutional raga (attraction) or asakti (attachment) to worldly objects of material sense gratification, by obliging one to focus upon Krishna-ized sense objects. This is, no doubt, a step in the right direction, and in the beginning it is actually required. If, however, one does not intelligently endeavor in the present life to surpass the rudimentary stage of obligatory, reverential devotion strictly governed by scriptural regulations and embark upon the path of spontaneous, internal raganuga attraction (para bhakti), one will almost invariably remain a kanistha-adhikari or prakrita-bhakta, moored to the modes of material nature. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. At best, one may come to the platform of aishvarya-jnana-mayi bhakti, gaining fitness for mahima-jnana-yukta-prema. This type of bhakti, contaminated with knowledge of the Lord’s supremacy, leads to the spiritually conditional realm of Vaikuntha-loka or the majestic Vaikuntha-vrindavana on Krishnaloka, where the aishvarya-lilas of Radha and Krishna are served in awe and veneration or, at utmost, the opulent realm of Dvaraka.
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Vraja-lokera bhave yei karaye bhajana / sei jana paya vraje vrajendra-nandana. “One who worships the Lord by following in the footsteps of the inhabitants of Vraja-bhumi attains Him in the transcendental planet of Vraja, where He is known as the son of Maharaja Nanda.” (Cc. Madhya 9.131) All bona fide Gaudiya Vaishnava Acaryas agree that the madhurya- lilas of Vraja can only be attained by ascending to the terrace of kevala-madhurya-prema via the path of raga-bhakti under the merciful guidance of an emissary of Vraja Dhama. Furthermore, it is clearly declared by Kaviraja Gosvami in his Shri Caitanya- caritamrita, with reference to the appearance of Vrajendranandana Shyama, that raga-marga bhakti loke karite pracarana. Pracarana means to propagate, to make the super- excellence of the path of raga-bhakti known to the conditioned souls of this world. Unless one is exposed to the vibrant, esoteric transcendentally erotic principles of the spiritually constituted damsels of Vraja, which surpass all considerations of mundane morality, one can hardly expect to clearly construe the lie of its lustful perversion projected upon the illusive material panorama. It is imperative that the preachers of Krishna consciousness become solidly acquainted with the truths regarding the propriety of the sublime pastimes of Radha and Krishna so as to powerfully eradicate the misgivings concerning these affairs abounding among scholars, theologians, and the general populace. It is not enough to unconvincingly cower behind a glib formula that denounces any open discussion of the matter before the unconversant. Taboo, prudery, and timidity concerning the enlightened free propagation of the correct conception of the thing have only paved the way for rampant misconception amid those victimized by the vigorous, widespread propaganda of the Mayavadi impersonalists, Sahajiyas, professional preachers of the Bhagavata, and other such demonic elements waylaying an already darkened contemporary world view devoid of properly developed personal understanding of the Absolute. Shripada Shankaracarya purposefully preached his concocted illusionist philosophy of impersonal monism with the intention to create within the minds of the people in general an aversion to the proposition of a tasteless impersonal outcome of religious life. In this way he indirectly promoted irreligion in the form of materially “tasteful” lawless sexual indulgence, the result of which would be a profuse influx of low-life progeniture (varna- sankara) upon the face of the Earth. His mission was simply to preface the descent of Lord Gauranga by kindly giving the most condemned conditioned souls a chance to gain the highest good upon encountering the sankirtana movement with the Lord’s maximum munificence in view. Unless the preachers of the Rupanuga-sampradaya systematically and forcefully present the topmost personal conception of God as the supreme lover, the ultimate purpose of Shankaracarya’s undertaking will not be fulfilled. Moreover, people will not have the opportunity to clearly see an all-attractive raso vai sah alternative to the relatively tasteless brahman conception of spirituality, without which they could hardly have much impetus to abandon the quest for rasa on the mundane plane. Knowledge of the true nature of the original spiritual mellow of conjugal love as the ultimate cause of its dull, shadow-like material reflection effectively alleviates the problem of mundane affinity by the power of superior magnetism. Scientific exposition of the highest madhurya aspect of the Personality of Godhead will naturally preclude all philosophical aberrations thereof to benefit the open-minded. Offenders, determined to deny the authoritative persuasion of the Vaishnava Acaryas, will go to hell anyway of their own accord. What can be done? We should not be overly concerned about that.
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Aishvarya-jnanete saba jagat mishrita / aishvarya-shithila- preme nahi mora prita. “Knowing My opulences, the whole world looks upon Me with awe and veneration. But devotion made feeble by such reverence does not attract Me.” (Cc. adi 3.16) Aishvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya / vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana. “By performing such regulated devotional service in awe and veneration, one may go to Vaikuntha and attain the four kinds of liberation.” (Cc. adi 3.17) Lord Shri Krishna desired to appear in this world at the very end of Dvapara-yuga for two reasons – to personally taste the quintessential mellows of love of God (prema-rasa-niryasa) and, beyond that, to purposely propagate the process of raga-marga- bhakti in the world. In doing so, He would herald the highest good to the most fallen people of this Age of Kali, who would get the opportunity to learn of His enchanting vraja-lilas from the scriptural accounts of His earthly pastimes. Krishna, as lila- purusottama, tasted prema-rasa from the standpoint of the visaya-vigraha, the supreme enjoyer and object of prema. Being relatively unimpressed by reverential devotion, He deliberately revealed the beauty and sweetness of the Vrajavasis’ purest love for Him to the world by practically evincing that love in the course of His manifest pastimes. Yet, until His advent as Lord Caitanya, His purposes remained largely unfulfilled. Retrospectively, it appears that Krishna-lila, in fact, simply paved the way for the Supreme Lord’s appearance as Lord Caitanya who, for the most part, merely expanded upon and, in His own way, dynamically reinforced the two original (internal and external) objectives of Krishna. By tasting prema-rasa from the standpoint of the ashraya-vigraha, Shri Radha – the resplendent abode of the highest prema, whose relishment is ten million times greater than that of Her beloved – Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, as prema-purusottama, became increasingly moved to compassionately distribute vraja-prema in an unprecedented and unparalleled way. In fact, as detailed throughout the Gosvamis’ writings, He exuberantly preferred to bestow that most succulent, mysterious prema that follows in the wake of Radha’s matchless expressions of maha-bhava (samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-shriyam). In this way, Mahaprabhu abundantly fulfilled what remained unfulfilled in Krishna’s attempt, by powerfully preaching the process of unalloyed devotion as He demonstratively practiced it Himself. If Lord Krishna desired to propagate raga-marga bhakti in the world by way of exhibiting His madhurya-lilas, Lord Gauranga, the self-same Lord Krishna appearing in Kali-yuga as the most munificent devotee of Himself, desired it a thousandfold on the basis of His aud rya disposition. That is precisely what distinguishes Him as the maha-vadanyavatara. Kindly bear in mind that the Lord’s aim to propagate the vraja-bhavas is but an aspect of the external reason for His divine appearance, an aspect that was not meant to be kept hidden. In fact, to further this propagation work, the Six Gosvamis and many of their contemporaries and followers took great pains to elaborately illustrate both gradual (external) and sophisticated esoteric (internal) methods of raga-marga-bhajana in their volumes of literature. Thus, scientifically expounding the principles of vraja- bhakti, they continue to perpetuate the greatest act of mercy upon the world’s Kali-yuga populace down to the present day. That few would be chosen (qualified) does not imply that many should not be called. We, as living vibhinnamsha jivas, are eternally parts and parcels of Lord Caitanya. Part and parcel means “partner.” We are meant to act as partners in the “business” of the Lord, having the same shared interests at heart. Suffice to say, more mature “business partners” representing the Lord’s sankirtana movement should recognize the gravity of their assigned “business” responsibilities. Following in the Lord’s footsteps, we should likewise personally pursue the matchless mellows of love of Godhead (vraja-prema). Similarly, whenever and wherever possible, we should also purposefully preach raga-marga-bhakti in the world, showing the highest munificence to the fallen people of this Age of Kali. Mercifully spark the lobha or greed for the thing by facilitating an inspired regard for, and attraction to, the Bhagavata’s essential message, and then, in due course, help to diligently fan that spark of lobha-maya-shraddha into a blazing fire of raga- mayi spontaneity – not that we should beat about the bush, becloud the issue, sweep it under the rug, or altogether exterminate the thing. If out of devotional ineptitude, immaturity, oversight, deceitfulness, miserliness, or sheer ignorance, we were to grossly neglect or faithlessly sidestep the forward implementation of this prime, two-fold missionary objective, then how could we, in good conscience, deem ourselves as compliant, competently instrumental, magnanimous agents of guru and Gauranga’s grace?
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Deliberating upon the profoundest precepts of the Gaudiya-sampradaya and the progressive navigation of the Krishna consciousness movement, we might guardedly examine how a number of individuals in key ecclesiastico-administrative positions, due to either inexperience, imprudence, unadorned obtusity, neglect, or self-aggrandizing, perhaps even diabolical intents, are, as a matter of fact, irresponsibly steering the movement in a direction that may not so closely adhere to the actual course intended by the sampradaya’s founding Acaryas. So, fine! Let them do like that. Whatever nonsense they think to do, let them do it. Because in any case the flow of the kevala- bhakti cult, by the decree of Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, will be apratihata, unobstructed. It will not be checked by any faction’s substandard, foolish, materially conceived, watered-down misrepresentation of the sankirtana movement’s fundamental principles. Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu doesn’t really need the help of any individual or any group of individuals to accomplish His missionary goals. They who are internally advanced enough to precisely distinguish and wholly surrender to the Lord’s divine loving network undoubtedly inherit the privilege of assisting Him as His authorized sampradayic agents. If we don’t act as His instruments to purely propagate the full gamut of essential teachings of the Rupanuga tradition, it is not that no one will come forward to do the needful. Lord Krishna instructed Arjuna, “Even if you do not fight, all the warriors assembled on this battlefield are already put to death by my arrangement. Therefore, relinquish your petty weakness of heart! Acting as My instrument, stand up and fight!” Similarly, Lord Caitanya has enjoined that the Krishna consciousness movement be spread to every town and village throughout the world. And “spread” means to spread in terms of the afore- mentioned purpose for which the movement is actually meant – to raise people to the path of spontaneous loving devotion, principally by way of congregational chanting of the Holy Name
– thus giving them the chance to evolve to the stages of raganuga-bhava and vraja-prema in this lifetime, not after some future millions of births, who knows how far down the road. Mahaprabhu’s purposes will certainly be fulfilled in some way or other by someone; do not think otherwise. It’s just a question of who gets the credit.
Neither the territories nor the by-laws nor the treasuries, logos, or various other external accoutrements of an institution necessarily constitute the spiritual essence or sampradayic spirit of the institution, any more than the body of an individual constitutes the soul of the individual. Just as an automobile is important in so far as the automobile serves the purposes of its owner, a spiritual institution can be considered important to the extent that it actually serves to further the spiritual objectives of the sampradaya it claims to represent. If the car breaks down or crashes, the owner may want to junk the thing and accept another more reliable conveyance. Often it is moralized that the spiritual master’s institution is the “body” of the spiritual master. But the body of the spiritual master may become diseased. If some part of the spiritual master’s body becomes gangrenous, then it may become necessary to amputate that part of the body. In other words, the body may become at least partially if not wholly dysfunctional in the matter of serving the purposes of the spiritual master. That is not impossible. It is not that the body of the spiritual master, either in a healthy condition or in a diseased condition, is the spiritual master proper. The institution is his body, the printing press is the heart of that body, his magazine is the backbone of that body, his disciples are his bodily limbs, the collected hoards of money are that body’s precious blood, but what constitutes the consciousness, the essential supra-cognitive aspect of the acarya’s eternal spiritual existence? One might proffer that his consciousness is tantamount to his teachings, his personal ecstasies expressed in the purports of his books. Who would disagree? But then we should ask whether or not we have even begun to understand the most basic of those teachings – that we are not this body. The body of the spiritual master is not the eternal cognizant essence of the spiritual master proper. The spiritual master is not his body anymore than we are our bodies. To say that the spiritual master’s institution is the body of the spiritual master does not imply that the spiritual master’s institution is the quintessence of the spiritual master’s existence. So the conclusion should be that the institutional “body” of the acarya is not to be equated with the acarya’s cognitive, essential spirit – the eternal sampradayic truths. Rather, the body is to be seen as merely the chariot of the soul. The institution is a body through which the realizations of the sampradayic soul are to be expressed. Service to the acarya’s real self interest is not merely a bodily (institutional) affair; it is to recognize, embrace, uphold, and disseminate the tenets of his sampradaya’s highest ideology, an ideology expected to be embodied by his institution.
From another angle, we may say that the body of the acarya is factually identical with the acarya’s soul, at least in a qualitative sense, in that the acarya’s body is fully absorbed in yajna, sacrifice. Bramarpanam brahma havir, brahmagnau brahmana hutam / brahmaiva tena gantavyam, brahma-karma- samadhina (Bg. 4.24). All things connected with the performance of sacrifice – the firewood, the fire, the ghee, the offered grains, the officiating priest, the performer of sacrifice, and the sacrifice itself – become merged in transcendence. They become one in purpose, one in quality, as constituents of Brahman via pure devotional yajna for the satisfaction of Visnu. Things that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other. So in that sense the body of the spiritual master is respected on the same level as the spiritual master’s soul. Even if his body becomes diseased or a portion of it becomes gangrenous, he may still remain fully determined to engage the body in acts of sacrifice. However, the spiritual master may observe that the disease of his body is such that it unremittingly obstructs the body’s reasonable absorption in yajna, by which it could viably stand as a useful Brahman constituent of his existence, so much so that he may blamelessly opt to discard his body as useless for all practical purposes. If the body becomes in some way contemptuous toward the spiritual master’s real pure devotional ideal, or if the body becomes contemptible in the eyes of the spiritual master, then what’s the use of such a body? In other words, if the institutional “body” of the acarya becomes deviated from its true purpose, in terms of the function intended by the acarya’s sampradayic “soul,” then that body becomes rejectable. We would have to question whether the institutional body of the acarya is, in truth, fully engaged in yajna. To the extent that the constituents of the acarya’s institutional body are fully absorbed in yajna, to that extent they are spiritual. Conversely, to the extent that they are deviated toward sundry gross and subtle material pursuits or substandard, conditional spiritual pursuits, to that extent they could hardly be considered spiritually fit – or perhaps their legitimacy as actual constituents should be dismissed. In other words, we should sagaciously question whether the “constituents” that are materially or in other ways conditionally absorbed are at all real constituents of the spiritual master’s institutional body, or are only apparent constituents having no genuine relation as parts and parcels of the true form of the acarya’s institution although seeming to be integrally related. Viewed sanely, they may be deemed as reflections (pratibimba) of constituents, shadows (chaya) of constituents, partial constituents, or perhaps atrophied constituents.
If we accept the body of the acarya as qualitatively identical to the soul within that body, we might analogously conclude that the institutional body of the acarya should be seen as identical to the acarya himself, the sampradaya’s pure representative. We would then have to willingly admit that those customarily seen as constituents of the institutional body who are not purely absorbed in unalloyed devotional yajna as per the ideals and standards of the acarya’s sampradaya could hardly be accepted as parts of the acarya’s institution in the true sense, although claiming to be or masquerading as such. Granting that the acarya is a maha-bhagavata, an unalloyed devotee of the Lord, the institution purported to be his body would necessarily have to embody his ideals as a completely spiritual manifestation of the purest sampradayic principles, as an external exemplar of internal devotional substance, qualitatively one with the acarya. If that were so, then wherever we would see a dearth of unalloyed devotional substance, we would have to question whether what we are seeing before us is, in fact, the real form of the institution. Otherwise, since the quality of the disciples is said to reflect the quality of the guru, someone might wonder whether the institutional anomalies represent impurities or a lack of qualification on the part of the acarya himself. Hence, they who, though declaring institutional membership, consciously or ignorantly undermine, either by precept or by personal conduct, the true sampradayic standards and decline to comply with the sampradaya’s ultimate purpose of facilitating the total range of unalloyed devotional experience in its members, could scarcely themselves be accepted as bona fide representatives of the acarya’s institution. In other words, we would have to very seriously question what or who actually constitutes the institution of the acarya? Once again, we would have to discerningly separate form from substance or spirit.
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