Gaudiya Math Chennai / The Gaudiya September 2011 Special Issue

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THE GAUDIYA SEPTEMBER 2011 1
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THE GAUDIYA Vol. LV No.1 2
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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL EDITORIAL EDITORIAL EDITORIAL
Founder Editor:
Nityaleelapravishta
Sri Srimad Bhakti Vilas
Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
Editor:
H.H.Tridandiswami
Sri B.V.Madhusudan Maharaj
Associate Editors:
H.H.Tridandiswami
Sri B.K.Harijan Maharaj
H.H.Tridandiswami
Sri B.P.Janardan Maharaj
Prof. R.N.Sampath
Sub-Editor :
Sri Gauranga Prasad
Brahmachari
Manager:
Sri Sujan Krishna
Brahmachari
T
he Lord took many Avataras to
show the world His many good
qualities. His Sree Vigraha or
Deity Avatara is One of Them. It is not only
the learned, but even the unlettered who can
attain Bhakti. All that is required is faith
towards God.
A very young boy Raghunandan the son
of Sri Mukunda in the village of Akai, West
Bengal, who knew nothing beyond his own
love for his Gopinath Deity installed in the
house-temple for which he was prepared to
give up his life itself. He saw God in the Deity
as a living presence and so offered food with
the belief that the Lord eats the food normally
offered by His devotees.
Once it so happened that his father
Mukunda being an ayurveda doctor had to
away from home for a few days. The
responsibility of offering to the Deity given to
his young son Raghunandan. Raghunandan
neither can even pronounce the offering
prayer properly nor he knows any formality
to offer, but as per the direction of his father
he offered very delicious dishes to the Deity
thinking that the Lord definitely eats every day
when his father offers to Him. Because of
the innocence faith of the young boy the Lord
appeared and eaten up the food offered to
Him. Like this continued till his fathers return.
On his return father surprised to know it. How
could an Deity eat food? Raghunandan might
have eaten himself. He chastised
Raghunandan and siad, Raghu! I believe if
you show it in my presence. Innocent
Raghunandan as usually offered to the Deity,
DEITY WORSHIP
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but today the Lord is reluctant to accept
the offering made by him. Young
Raghunandan cried out and said, O
Lord! everyday You have been eating
my offerings, but today what happened
to You? Why are You not taking food?
If You dont eat I will fail to prove my
sincerity to my father and definitely he
will punish me. It is better to cut my
throat and die in front of You. So
saying, soon he took a knife in hand.
Immediately Lord appeared and took
a Laddu from the plate offered to Him,
while his father with curiosity opened
the temple door and found the Lord in
the mood of eating Laddu. Even today
the Lord with same posture being
worshipped by thousands of devotees
there. Thus Deity worship too leads
to the Darshan of the Lord.
Here to there are some important
things to be remembered. We may go
to temples and worship the Deities we
see there, but does this guarantee
confidential Bhakti to all of us? The
answer would be that only those who
are cent per cent free from the material
contaminations and can dedicate to
Lord and see Lord Himself in the Deity
would benefit.
As a story goes of a man who
worshipped an Deity of Lord Krishna.
He hoped the Lord would appear
before him, but this did not happen.
So the man decided that it was futile
to worship a mere stone. So he
wrapped up the Deity and put it away
out of sight in the loft. Why it so
happened to the man, because he was
an unathorised person with no Bhakti.
A lay man cannot instal a Deity
(Vigraha) of Lord. It is said that
Mahat bhi supratishthaitah those
Mahatmas or mystic devotees only are
the authorised persons to establish the
Deity of Lord and introduce the method
of worship.
Sri Vigraha or Deity is not the mere a
piece of stone that is worshipped and to
be thrown in the dust bin or water as now
a days people are doing. A man of
realisation who is an authorised devotee,
to him the Deity worship has got an
enormous value, like a cheque is not a
mere piece of paper to an authorised
account holder in a particular bank.
In Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, we read
the story of an young boy for whom an a
Deity of Gopal came on Foot all the way
from Vrindavan to Orissa to give the
witness in his marriage dispute.
It so happened once an old Brahmin
from Orissa went on pilgrimage to
Vrindavan. He being so ripen age took
along with him another young Brahmin
boy as his helper. By the help of the young
one the old Brahmin after complition of
entire Vrindavan Darshan in the evening
they rested in a Gopal temple where the
young helper served the oldman a lot.
With his service the old Brahmin became
so happy that he wanted to give something
to the young boy. Although young man
refused to take anything return but the old
Brahmin promised in front of Gopal Deity
saying I shall give my daughter in
marriage to you. They came back home.
After some time at his adolescence age
the young man approached the old
Brahmin and reminded the promise that
he made in front of the Gopal Deity at
Vrindavan and asked his daughters hand.
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At this the sons and relatives of the old
Brahmin became so furious, came to hit
him saying, you bloody fool, being so
lower rank in caste how you dare to
marry our sister? The mentally
disgusted young man convened a
meeting of villagers and submitted his
complaint to them. The villagers said,
do you have any prove? The young
man said, this conversation took place
in front of the Gopal Deity at a temple
in Vrindavan. Therefore my Gopal
knows the whole subject. The villagers
ridiculously told alright, if your Gopal
come over here and tell the truth then
only we would believe it. The young
devotee went back to Vrindavan to the
same Gopal temple and fell in
prostration and prayed , O Lord! You
should save the word of a Brahmin and
come over to my village for witness.
The Lord responded the ardent prayers
of His young devotee appeared and
spoke thus O dear one! Have you
ever heard that a Deity walks? The
young one replied O Lord! I never
heard too that a Deity speaks like this.
Therefore the Deity Who speks, He can
walk also. The Lord with a sweet simle
told, O clever boy! Today I am
defeated by you. Anyhow, I would
come with you, but there is a condition
that while I walk behind you, you should
not look back. The boy said, how can
I know that You are walking behind me?
The Lord said, you will hear the jingling
of the tinkling anklets of Mine by which
you know that I am following you. With
this condition they started. The Gopal
Deity was walking behind the young
devotee making a sweet tinkling sound
of His anklets. To see this beautifl Form
of the Lord the demigods appeared in
the sky. The young boy became so
curious to see how the Deity walking
behind him. He thought that, now we
are very nearer to the village. Even here
Gopal stops there will be no harm,
people can come and see. Thinking like
this the young devotee soon looked
back then and there the Gopal Deity
stopped. The news run all over. People
in thousands rushed to that place and
had the darshanof Gopal Deity, Who
walked all the way from Vrindavan to
Orissa. The Deity of the Lord gave
witness therefore He is called as
SAKSHI GOPAL. The village
where this incident took place is named
after the Lord as Sakshi Gopal village,
situated fifteen kms. north of the present
Puri Jagannath Temple. Thousands of
devotees visiting and offering their
prayers even today.
B.V. Madhusudan
The desire for the worship of the Feet of the Lord growing day
by day in intensity washes away all accumulated stain of the
mind through innumerable births and rebirths in sages like the
sacred Ganga that issues from the Feet of the Lord.
Bh.IV.21.31
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OURSELVES
SRI KRISHNA JAYANTI
S
ri Krishna Jayanti was
celebrated at Sri Gaudiya
Math, Chennai with great
festivity and eclat. The celebrations
commenced on 9th August which
included Ekadashi, Jhulan Yatra,
Disappearance of Srila Rupa Goswami
and Srila Gauridas Pandit, Sri Baladeva
Avirbhava, Sri Krishna Jayanti, Sri
Nandotsava and Sri Radhashtami having
the special features of Theistic
Exhibition, a fortnight long special
Bhajans, Bhagavat discourses and
Prasadam distributions etc. The Math
was tastefully decorated and beautifully
illuminated with electrification.
The Theistic Exhibition and Sri
Krishna Jayanti Celebrations were
inaugurated by His Divine Holiness &
Grace Srimath Sriman Narayana
Vasudeva Yathindra Mahadesika
Yaadhaadri Jeeyar Swamiji. He was
taken around the Exhibition and was
explained about each stall.
The Jhulan Yatra started when the
Vijaya Vigrahas of the Lord were taken
in procession from the Temple to the
Prayer Hall where a beautiful pandal
was erected, with Samkirtana and Sri
Radha Govinda were placed on the
Swing. And Aratrica was performed
followed with Bhajan and discourses upto
8.30 p.m. His Divine Holiness & Grace
Srimath Sriman Narayana Vasudeva
Yathindra Mahadesika Yaadhaadhri
Jeeyar Swamiji spoken very lengthily
about the Supremacy of Bhagavan Sri
Krishna and described His Pastimes.
Jhulan Yatra was concluded on 13th
August.
On the 10th being the disappearance
day of Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila
Gauridas Pandit, a special discourse was
held in which glorious life and teachings
of those saints were discussed.
On 13th August, the day of Advent
of Sri Baladeva was observed with fasting
and special Bhajan, discourse, bhoga-raga
were performed in the midday; and during
the evening hours in a special meeting
Baladeva Tattva was discussed.
During the Jhulan Yatra every day
the Deities were taken in Samkirtana
Procession from Temple to the Prayer
Hall and Aratrica was performed. From
9th August to 13th August every day there
were bhajans by different parties. During
these days hundreds of devotees were
served with Tirtha Prasadam in hands.
From 14th to 17th August we had
melodious Bhagavat Discourse by Sri V.
Alamelu and Dr. V. Subbaraman.
The 22nd August was the glorious
day, the Advent Day of the Lord Sri
Krishna and the function started with
Mangala Aratrica at 4.30 a.m. There
were Bhagavata Discourse, Bhoga-raga
almost the whole day. Special Bhajan was
conducted by the Swamijis of the Math
from 4.30 to 6.15 p.m.
The Math was most pleasingly
decorated with electrical illuminations,
colourful garlands and flowers
decorations. The Temple Deities and
Sanctum Sanctorum was tastefully
decorated with flowers. The fragrance
of the flowers. The fragrance of the
flowers, the incense surcharged the
Temple atmosphere creating delight in the
hearts of the devotees.
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At 6.15 p.m. all the Swamijis
alongwith the elite of the city were ready
to receive the guest. Sri K.V.
Varadharajan, Senior Commercial
Manager, Passenger Marketing, Southern
Railway arrived. The Swamijis and the
elite of the city received him with great
respect.
After showing all the Exhibition
Stalls, Honourable Guest was taken to
the Lord, when he paid homage to the
Lord and he was led to the dias, where
devotees welcomed and greeted him.
Our long time devotee Sri N.
Varadarajan welcomed the Honourable
Guest and audience to the august
function. Sri Lalit Krishna Brahmachari
garlanded the Swamijis and Guest.
H.H. Tridandi Sri B.V. Madhusudan
Maharaj spoke about the significance of
the Advent of Lord Sri Krishna in length.
The guest Sri K.V.Varadharajan spoken
a few minutes only. After him H.H.
Tridandi Sri B.K. Harijan Maharaj also
gave a speech and finally our another
staunch devotee Sri Suresh J.Shah gave
vote of thanks.
After the meeting was over
everybody attended Aratrica and
Parikrama.
In the meantime the special Bhajan
Party of the day Bhaktaswaraa Bhajan
Mandali got ready for their devotional
Bhajan performance. The Bhajan was
so soul-thrilling that whoever entered the
Math sat at least a few minutes to hear
their Bhajan. The Bhajan continued upto
12.00 midnight which followed by the
Bhagavata Discourse by H.H. Tridandi
Sri B. V. Madhusudan Maharaj.
Exactly at midnight at the time of
the Advent of the Supreme Lord Special
Abhishekam, Puja were performed.
Afterwards several varieties of eatables
were offered to the Lord.
This year the front side of the
Sanctum Sanctorum was beautifully
decorated by professional event
decorators.
The eagerly waiting devotees were
surcharged when the Temple doors were
opened for Special Aratrica, as the Deities
and Sanctum Sanctorum were so
beautifully decorated and everybody
could feel the Divine Grace of the Lord.
After the Aratrica, everybody did
Temple Parikrama which followed with
distribution of Tirtha-Prasadam.
Afterwards everybody was given Laddu
Prasadam in queue. At about 2.30 a.m.
the function came to a conclusion.
Next day from the morning onwards
devotees started pouring in to the Math
for getting their Mahaprasadam.
Afternoon there was special offering to
the Lord as it was Sri Nanda Maharajs
Ananda Mahotsava day. In the evening
there was special Bhajan performed by
Sri S. Vasu Rao & Party, followed with
Aratrica.
Sri Krishna Jayanti Celebrations
came to a close on 5th September with
the celebration of Sri Radhashtami.
We are extremely thankful to the
Print and Electronic Media for their wide
coverage.
On the advent of Sri Radhashtami,
i.e., on 5th September, the Deities were
so tastefully decorated to the delight of
the devotees. At the noon special dishes
were offered and more than 2000
devotees were served with
Mahaprasadam sumptuously.
These functions were celebrated
befitting in all other branches too.
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||4= 4||| -4-
y TpuNz bN @@
+-=+ |+|-| a=:||,
+++4+ +| |=+|-=|
=+ |-=+ ~|=| + a+=|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++| +
=+ |- +|=| ++|=++||,
|+- +|--| -|=|a4=|
+++=4 --| |=+|a==|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++| -
|- |- | ~| |~|,
+ +=|-4| +:=|+| +|
+-4| +-44|-|+=|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++|.
||+4 |++| ++|4| =|,
|4 +|4 ||~-|| -+-|
|-- +|- +|n| ++a+a|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++|
W pYm @
+++ +:| +|+-|a|-||,
=+=+|+|| =+|+++||
+=|+4| ++||+ =4|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++|
|-=|=-4|| 4+|-4||-|,
+|- +|- |+| =4|+|=|
|+=4~|4| +|-|||+|a|,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++| .
|-=+-| +++a|-|,
=+| | =|=|a a+|+|
|-=4 | 4|-| | -|+| ,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++|
|4 |+4=|| =| =-|+||,
4|= +|+|| |+-4 4+|+-v|
+~4 |+|| +||++--|4-| ,
~- ~- - +| ||++|++|
;+ +| --| a4| 4 +:|,
||++|++| |=|a+| +| =4 :
Fuo y Tz u uuYo y TpuNz bN m| @@
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||4= 4||| -4-
yuT uuXZnuuXZn @
v -|-||-4 |+4-4 4|r4|-
;+ ||4 -- 4- 4-4 --4 ||4-4
+||:|-.-4+||:|- 4-, -| 4=
-- |-4|=-|- , = | |~ -||+
+=|+| +|4|| 4v | |+ -
|4 |++ -4| -|4| = .|+ -- 4v|
+|+|=a-4 +-4 -v|| +
+:|+ +|.|-:|-|+|' ,|...
++) ;-4 +-| 4- 4||+ -4|+|-
--||+ 4| .- +4 |+|'' ,|...
+.) ;|-
|-||4| +4|- =|- |--
+-4- |+|+|- |+4|-||
-- 4|4|+ +|v4| 4|4+-|n|-''
,|..+.) ;|- .~ |-+ ||
+|v| - =||- .~||4| |4|''
,|..+) ;|- , = 4| +=| ~|
| :|n||'' ,|.--+) ;|-,
4||-4| ||-- 4| +||-- = -+|-+
=||-'' ,|.+.) ;|-
4|-| +4+ :|+|- |- -
-|-| ) =4|++-|-4|= |+| +
=-~|- +| -4| +|| 4||+ -|-4
+= 4 |+|- 4 4- ;|- + -+ :|+
4 n a|-|4-4-|- = =| =-~-||-
|~| +||:||+|+| =|-4+ a|-|4-4--

+| |+||+| =|-4 + a|-|4-4--
|+ - |- --|+|-4 |=4| 4|4|r4|
-|4+4+|4| )+4n= ||-
+|r4-4 a|+|-+ --4 ++=-4
|| |=a||-- =-+a||- -||+-
--v|| +4|- '' ,4.=.+-.-) 4v|
=-+|a|-4|4 |-| -v| +4|- --
4--- a|+||~||+|-|+
||+ +|-- '' ,|...++) ;|-
|--+ =-| |4-|+-+ ++|-
- a|+ | --4 | )--4|-+| ||+-4
+ =--||n||=+ ,|...+-)
;-4||++| =|+4=|+|||-
||4 a= = - 4-4 |~|4
4v| --
+. =++ | --a+|+-|-'' ,4.=.
.-+) ;|- -4 =-4 ~|4 4v| -
- a+ -4||+a- +- + -+ a-|:| =+;n-
-|+|-, -v=+'' ,4.|..)
;-4||+-|
~| |-+|+| =+||~ - 4| .=| +| 4-
=+|+- a|= + -+4=- + '' ;|-
|--4
-.a+||| 44 '' ,4 .= ..-+) ;|-
~|4 -- 4+| +4 +4- =+ ''
, ..+.), 4| | 4= a+ ''
,| . +. +), = 4| | -''
,-....+.), ;-4||+-|+|| + 44
|=n=+-|- 4v| n ||+a+|
||+.|+ =n4||+a+|-||+4|
.. | -| '' ,4 .= ..-+.);|-
~|4 -- =n4 |4-''-- =+-4
-- |= -|4|-||
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|a|+|++|-+|--4a-44=|||-
|++|- + | )+ =- 4 +|
4|+ -|--v 4 - +4|- +||--|
=n ||- +-| ''-- ,+ --+.,
|-||- .+-) ;|- -+|n|4|
. + 4|- |v| .|+ -4 - '' ,4 .= .
.-+) ;|-
~|4 -- +4|- |++-=+-''-
- -|a|+ + +|+4|- +|| |++=+-
4|~||-'' ,...--) ;|- |-
a-+|+=| |=+ |+|+
|-4|- 4|-+|4 a|+=+|- '' ;|-
|--4
|++ 4 n| =+ '' ;|-
~ +|++ | 4- -v| |~|4 ,--+)
)|+|- -4-| --
=s =n4+| a|+~| =-+|+
a|+a|+ =n| r4 = | +|n''
;|-
| | | + -| | +| - --
---a| ++ |- '' ,4 .= .++-) ;|-
~| 4 -- +-4 4 n|
|+|n= 4a-4+|+|+-a|+|++ +-=+-4|
=+=-|=n-4 -|~||+|+|-4|=r44-
+-4|4 4|| =|- -+ -||~-|+ -
=++=+||-4|+4|a-|+-4|+|+|-4|-
--4=| +4 =| 4+-=| + |4 -=|4-4| +|+--
4 |+|+ |+4=+|+ -|~||+-|--
-+|+|=+|+4 -a-a|-+4+=+-=-v|+
+| -4+|+|=4-=| |-4-|-=-4| +|4 --=|+|+-
|+--||n=- 44+| .+-+|-| + 4 n
+=|a| +||4 ;|- ''
4-| | ;||+ ~ -||+ -|4- ''
,-.+), =+ =|-4+4|=|-'' ,|...
.-+), |-| | ;+ + )|4 |=|- '',
,)-.+++), )+| +||4 |=|-,
+ 4 n| + |+'', ,| +.++) ;-4||+ |+|n=
-4+++|-4|4--4 +-4 4n =-4
a|++- 4n'' ,-.-+.) |a|+|++
4 n'' ,4 .|.:-) ;-4||+ -~ - -=+-
|-44-4- |+4'' ,|-|+|+-)
|+|+'' ,|-|| .+:) +-+|-|
|-| | -4| | +| ||--=| .|++|=
=-4+| =-4=-+''--- ,|...+)
+ --4 +|4 +| |-, + --,
=||4|++| 4- +|-4 |=||+
4- , -|~||+| a|+4=|+ 4| ' ,| ..)
-|||| + |, - +-|+|
+| +- = +| +||++||++|, +
|-4 +||-||+-| + ||++ '' ,| ..,:)
=|| =+|| ||-4 +|| +|||+
+-||~++ 4+|-- '' ,|..)
+| - + = |--||+-4 -=
+--|- '' ,|..:)
= |+| -|a |- +=|+|+''
,- .+||. +) ;-4||+ +-4 4 n a|+ - 4-
4|+ a|+-4+=-4+ -=+4-|-
=-4+| a|-|4 +-4|4 |+ +-4|=+|
+|- -|++ -|~||+ =++|=+|+-
4 -- a|-+4+ 4 |+| + + 4||+= -v|+
+||- -4 ++|=|+| ~4|+
-|++| |-,-- -|4|+| 4 +|
|-|4-'' ,+= =) ;|- -|-|, -
-| .|+ =:|44|-| ~ -|+| '' ,4|-| .)
;|- +|||4 =|++|'',4|-| )
;- 4| | + =| +| n +| =+ | ''
--+|||s4, |+|+-- ++-|
|+| =-+| -+-+a a+|-
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-||+|4'' ,4|-| .) ;-4||+ a+|-
-| '' ;|- a+ |- -~| -
-~||-v|4, + ==|| -~||-4v
|-|44 |-'' ,4|-| .) -=-+
=+ a|+ + -4v |4| 4 + a|+ ''
, +|+ | + 4 --=| +) ;|-
a|++4|4|+ |4|+ ++| +|4-
| ~4|+ +|
=--| =4| -| +|+ 4 a|-|-|
-||=+=-4 =+4a-''
=--|==+|| -- +||- -+|
+|-4 +4|r4|||- -=|=4|''
-4-|++||4 + =| +|+|+a-|''
,|.::) ;|-
|~|- .|4+| |-|=+-4|-4-
a|+ -- 4- , -- + ~ -=;= -v|+| + | .-4
+|-+'' ;|-
- +-4 4 n ) =+-
=+|+4|+ --4 + '' ,|~|4
+++) ;|-
- - |+ ||=+| =n4- +
-=+|- +| | -a+4=|:| |+|
-=+ +| ~ |+-4 -+ |4| +
;-4|4--+, 44++|+ =--|=a|+~|-
+--+ -=+-||+-, - +-|
-|| =4| |+- |-+-|~||+
|=4 ;|- -|=||+ -++ |+-
- +---4 a|+~||4-- +-
+-+|4--||- -v| +|4 a|||
~|=+ =-4+| =-4=-+ |+||-|
= + | = + | = 4+ = =
= |+4|a| .|+4+|+'',|....+-)
;-4|+ - ;+| , -- +| 4'-- +| a +
+=++ 4|n, a||' - ;|- -4|-
=| a||+| +|+ ~|=+' ~|-=+,
-- a|+ --|=|+|-|+|-4-+-4|-
|+4=+ + |+|-4+||--4 = ;-4v
|+||-|',--|+|- =-=+,-
=+=-+|-4|- ~- ;|- |+||-|, --
-4| a+|- .4| | a+|4-||- |+||-|
) = +| ',--|+ 4- ;|- + ,--= -4+-4
+ =| | |+ 4| 4-4|=| = +|
=+|',--+|-4- ;|- +|| ~|4~|4|+-
+|+4-- +| a| = |+|---4 =-|-4v
= 4+' = =',--+-+ ''
;-4||++| a|+ -4+||+|+ +|+a|+ --4|=|+||
|+| |+|-4|, +-4|| -~|4~-|
=|+| 4+=|---4 =-|-4v =|+-
4|a .=|+ +4- =|+ +-4|4-|-
-|+ -|+ 4|a' ;|- ~ =| 4 |n|''
;|-- +- |= a|-+a4 |+| |4 |=
=|-4 +|--|-4|+| + - ;-4|--+|+'
;|- |--=--+|-+|+-4|~||+|+-
|- -)||+| --+|+ ;|-
a|| ;|- a|+ +|=+|+|
+| ;-4v ;-4|+ -v| a|4|-
=||- a| + 4n | 4-4 = ;-4v
;-4|+ 4|r4|+ -
+-- ' ;-4||+ + | ||
,~|..:..) ;-4 --4 |-, 4||-
a+:|' ,~|.+++) ;-4|+| =|+=-
4|r4|-+=-+|+-++|+4-|-4|=4-
--)|||+ v||:-| |-+ =|+
|+ |' ,~|..:.) ;-4 |+ + | =
.=|||-
+ |v|-4||+ ,~|.+++..)
4+::|-4| '' ;-4||++ )
|+|4
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Srila Thakur Bhakti Vinode
Diurnal Worship
Y
ou will have to rise at
Brahma-muhurta i.e., at
early dawnat a
moment, before sun-rise and think over
what workworldly and spiritual are to
be done by you in day and night. You
will clear your bowls in hygienic places
early in the morning, wash your face,
hands and other organs. You should
take due clothes by bathing in clear and
transparent water. Then you will have
to earn money by following the
profession, prescribed by your caste
and colour. Depending on your health
you can bathe in the noon, worship God
and make oblation of water to the
manes and gods. When meals are
ready, you keep some portions for
other beings, some for fallen and
wretched persons and stand at the
door if any guest may come in. If you
get any guest you should feed him with
great care. No need to pay extra
hospitality to a peson belonging to your
place. You should pay hospitality to a
person who has come from a different
place and has no tie of relation with you
and who is poor and hungry. Do not
be curious about his caste or creed. If
any holy Brahmin happens to come to
your house you feed him reverentially.
Take your meals by sitting before the
east or north direction. Take rice or
other whole-some diet in a sacred and
broad plate, untouched by sinful men.
Do not eat at odd hours. At the
end of taking meal you think of God.
Giving up idleness, you engage yourself
in light work which will not give you
strain. Spend the last part of the day,
by discussing about holy Shastras. At
the approach of night make your evening
prayer absorbed in deep meditation. In
the night also take your food after giving
a portion to the guests just as during day
time. Give him room and bed for his
sleep at night. Sleep in a neat and clean
room on a cot free from insects by
placing your head towards the east or
south side. You will fall ill of you sleep
with your head in the west or north side.
Do not have company with your wife in
an improper way. In short it may be
said that you will have to maintain
yourself, your family, superiors, guests
and helpless persons by earning money
in an honest way and with diligence and
observing the rules of body and mind.
Whatever rules are found in the
Shastras for performing bounden daily
duties of life can not be followed strictly
in these days. It is very difficult to
observe the ancient rules in the face of
modern foreign politics and behaviour.
In the present age, all works are done
in the noon. So it is necessary to take
meals first and then earn money.
Specially, the laws of health have been
changed in course of time. So it is not
proper to take meals at late hours in the
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day or bathe thrice a day or to be
wakeful till late hours in the night etc.
The purport of the sayings of the Rishis
is that it is proper to do works of eating,
bathing, sleeping and all bodily works
in a such a way that these may be
performed safely and un-sinfully.
Therefore, the Ashramis should do
prescribed duties daily with proper
regard, after paying due attention to their
individual circumstances. (Bh.VII.15.
47-49)
Rules relating to body, mind,
society and after-life are included under
the performance of daily duties. Rising
early in the morning, cleaning body,
doing due work, eating in proper time,
taking invigorating wholesome and
nutritious food, drinking clean water,
walking, wearing neat and clean dress,
sleeping not more than eight hours in
day and night etc., come under the
category of daily performance of
physical work. We should do also
mental works such as thinking over daily
works, learning of meditation, domestic
affairs, geograpy, astronomy, history,
geometry, arithmetics, chemistry,
physics, medicine and motion of Jivas
etc., as the necessity arises.
The life of a house-holder should
be virtuous and free from sin, so far the
state of a virtuous man is shown. In
order to teach lessons of virtue the main
vices are now being discussed (Bh.XI.
23.18,19).
Main vices are of eleven kinds.
(1) Violence or envy, (2) Cruelty,
(3) Anger or crookedness or mental
confusion, (4) Wantonness, (5)
Falsehood, (6). Disregard for superiors,
(7) Lewdness, (8) Selfishness, (9)
Impurity, (10) Impoliteness, (11)
Destructiveness.
Violence is of three kinds. Violence
towards men, violence to animal and
violence to gods. The desire for killing
others is violence. Envy generates
violence. To be attached towards
something is called raga. To be
indifferent to anything is jealousy.
Proper raga is counted as virtue but
improper raga (i.e. affection) is
lewdness. Jealousy is the opposite
virtue of raga. Proper jealousy is also
regarded as virtue. Improper jealousy
is the root of envy. Living in this world
everybody should behave with others
with affection. Those who are vicious
are inclined to show hatred and jealousy
to others by behaving with them in an
opposite way. Violence is a great sin.
Everybody should give up hatred.
Violence to men is the greatest sin.
Violence done to a man is determined
as serious or less serious in consideration
of the quality of the man to whom
violence is committed. Violence to the
Brahmin, violence to kinsmen, violence
to the Vaishnavas, violence to the Guru
are of the highest order of sin. Violence
to animals is no less a sin. Voracious
people who prescribe killing of animals
out of selfishness are guided by their
lower animal propensity. If we do not
refrain from killing animals, our human
nature does not shine.
The purport of animal sacrifice
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and killing which has been
prescribed in the Vedas is to reduce
the animal propensity of man
gradually and then to do away with
it completely (Bh XI.5.11,13). In fact,
animal sacrifice is the religion of animals.
It is not the religion of man. Envy or
hatred to gods is also a great sin. For
meditating of God people have
prescribed different practises according
to different countries. Following these,
the supreme virtue of worshipping the
ultimate Reality can be obtained
gradually. But the religionists who are
in-experienced and not conversant with
spiritual truth consider their ways as
good and hate the ways of others. Even
they destroy the temples and images of
God. God is only one and not two.
By such deeds they simply hate the
Supreme God. All good men should
therefore refrain from doing those
improper and animal like works (Bh.
XI. 5.6).
Cruelty is of two kinds i.e., cruelty
to man and animal. If we do cruelty to
man and woman, it will bring a great
danger to the world. Kindness will
disappear and in its stead, vice of cruelty
will reign in the world. Worst type of
people like Siraj-ud-doula and Nero
brought a great havoc in the world. If
any one has hidden cruelty in his mind,
he should gradually remove it by
cultivating kindness and learning how to
show it to others. In modern petty
religions, cruelty to animals has been
prescribed. That only speaks of the
infamy of these evil prescribers. A
sympathetic heart melts when it sees the
cruelty done by some greedy cruel
persons to their horses and bullocks
when driving their carts. We should
refrain from such acts of cruelty.
Hypocrisy is a sin. If anybody out
of his self-interest or habit does some
in-sincere behaviour to another, that is
called hypocrisy or in-sincerity.
Hypocrisy which causes deep anxiety
called cruelty. Those who are addicted
to such vice are called deceitful.
Illusion of mind (Bh.I.17.38,39), is
of four kinds: Intoxicating, prevalence
of six enemies of heart, atheism and
dullness or stupidity. It can hardly be
said how much evil has been brought in
the world by intoxicants. All kinds of
evil cling to the things required for
preparation of intoxication. All kinds
of liquor, hemp, hemp leaves, charas,
opium, tobacco, betelnut are included
in the group of intoxicating things. Some
kind of intoxication disturbs the mind and
brakes down health. Opium makes the
heart narrow and turns it to animal mind.
Tobacco following these two kinds of
feelings stupefies mans nature and
makes man subordinate to it; smoking
is a severe vice. Man should not resort
to smoking. Lust, anger, greed, pride,
infatuation, and malice are six enemies
of heart. If they take possession of
heart, they make man a sinner. If we
desire for wealth or any such thing which
is helpful to maintain our body easily and
un-sinfully, that is not called lust. Except
these, desire is lust. That lust drags us
to various dangers. If desire becomes
un-fulfilled, it begets anger. If anger
arises vicious things like quarrel,
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infamous words, wounding the feelings
of others etc., ensue. Gradually, greed
comes in and creates sin. To think
oneself as great is pride. Really
speaking, the more we think ourselves
as small, the more affection will appear.
Not that, one should shed off his
greatness, but what good advice people
have received should be followed.
Especially if we consider ourselves as
servants of God then there cannot be
any touch of pride. Infatuation is always
bad. Not to bear the prosperity of
others is malice. It lies at the root of all
evil. If a person is attached with any
one of these, his mind will be perturbed.
From illusion appears atheism. Atheism
is of two kinds, one is to determine there
is no God and the other is to be
suspicious about God. That atheism is
an illusion of mind has been seen time
and again. People attached with
insanity like illusion are mostly atheists
or suspicious. Some believed in God
when they were hale and hearty but if
per chance some disease attacked
them, they lost their belief. When they
were cured of this disease, they
recovered their faith. Some fanatic
persons though pronounce Hare
Krishna day and night, but there is no
change of their heart. These are all
illusions. Dullness or idleness are
counted under sin. A virtuous person
should drive away dullness.
False behaviour is of four kinds
(i) To tell a lie, (ii) Hypocrisy in religion,
(iii) Deception or deceitful behaviour,
(iv) Partiality. To tell a lie is strictly
prohibited. To tell a lie by swearing is
regarded as a great vice. Therefore
never tell a lie in any circumstances.
Nobody trusts a man who makes false
behaviour, at last he is hated by all.
Hypocrisy in religion is a great sin.
Those who are implicated in this kind
of sin are false duties. Those who
decorate their outer body with religious
marks such as paste on the forehead,
wreath, wearing a piece of cloth over
the priorities, outer garment as sacred
thread etc., but have no devotion in spirit
are hypocrites. Those who make false
behaviour with others and express
something other than what is in their
mind are disregarded by the people as
artful or cunning. To support a wrong
party for some reason or other without
siding the rightful party is called partiality
and this should be avoided by all means.
Disregard for elders is of three
kinds. (1) Negligence to parents, (2)
Negligence to advisers, (3) Negligence
to other superiors. Even if the superiors
scourge improperly or erroneously, yet
we should not disregard them. Be
careful to get their favour skilfully and
with humility. If will be a disregard of
elders if we do not obey their right
command.
Lasciviousness is of three kinds.
(1) Lasciviousness for money, (2)
Lascivousness for female, (3)
Lascivious-ness for honour.
Lasciviousness for wealth and property
is called money lasciviousness. In
course of time, this lasciviousness makes
man prosperous by giving him wealth
and property gradually but at the same
time makes him poor by taking away
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his happiness. So we should drive
away this money lasciviousness. Our
aim should be to maintain ourselves
and our family with money and
property as little as possible so that we
may not cherish this desire in our heart.
Lasciviousness for women is a great
sin (Bh.III.31.33,34). One should
never come in contact with other mans
wife or prostitute. Even if one cohabits
with his married wife, he will have to
observe certain laws regarding body
and society. Nobody should be
uxorious. If one cohabits in an unjust
way, one will suffer loss of memory and
intellect and become parent of weak
and short lived children. At the present
time, it seems improper to cohabit for
the Indians before the age of 16 years
for woman and 21years for man. It is
our bounden duty to remove sex
lasciviousness by means of religious
tendency. All works of men who are
after fame and establishment become
grossly selfish. So remove that
lasciviousness as a sin. We should
practise religion candidly.
Gross selfishness is a great sin.
For the improvement of mans life and
also for the good of after-life whatever
is done is also called interest. But there
is no such injunction to leave that
interest. It is a wonderful and real
interest towards God that, performance
of which wll be simultaneously for the
good of one self and of the world. If
we leave that interest, we will desist
from doing good to the world. The
interest which is blame worthy is that
which is for the evil of others. From
that selfishness arise various sins viz.,
miserliness with those whom we will
have to maintain, miserliness for doing
good works and also dispute, theft, dis-
satisfaction, pride, malice, envy,
lasciviousness and waste. The extent
of selfishness found in a man shall cause
the same proportionate extent of evil for
himself as well as for others. Therefore
if the sin of selfishness is not removed
from mans heart he can not be engaged
for doing any good work (Bh.VII.9.44).
Impurity is twofold in respect of
bodily and mental division. Whether
bodily or mental, impurity is of three
kindsimpurity due to place, impurity
due to time and impurity due to
recepient. If we go to impure place, we
will be contaminated with local impurity.
This is due to the impure acts done by
the local people. So it is found in
religious treatise that we will be liable to
get local impurity if we go to heathen
countries or live there. But there is no
prohibition to go there for the sake of
acquisition of knowledge or to do good
to them by saving them from the hands
of the wicked by fighting or by any other
tactics or to preach religion. It will be a
downfall of the Aryan race to go there
for learning trivial things, their imperfect
religion or for cohabiting with them. The
man whom such sin touches is subject
to penance. In the intercalary month,
holy works should not be commenced,
in that case, there will be impurity
relating to time. Because the bounden
duties should be performed in the
auspicious time it will be advantageous
if these are allotted by making division
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accordingly. The residual time of the
division and certain big phenomenal
events such as eclipse etc. are
inauspicious. To do works in these
times will be impure acts. To cohabit in
undue time, eating and sleeping in undue
time and doing such practical works in
undue time come under the category of
time-impurity. If any work is done in
impure vessels, that work will be treated
as impure due to impure recepient. If
cooking is done by a drunkard or
voluptuous person and if that object is
offered to gods, that also will be impure
due to touch of impure person. If we
keep our body, clothes, bed and house
unclean that also will come under the
category of impurity. Illusion and malice
also bring impurity. Those things are
therefore to be removed.
Un-mannerliness is a sin.
Disregarding the manners and customs
approved by good persons, if any one
adopts some other practice, following
the way of the non-Aryans he will be
un-mannerly. Keeping company with
the non-Aryans for some time, if
persons forsake their holy religion
based on caste and social order and
become despotic like the non-Aryans,
they go against their good conduct and
fall down. They are also subject to
penance.
Work of destruction of the world
is fivefold; (1) Standing in the way of
doing good, (2) Feigned asceticism, (3)
Introducing wrong work in the name of
religion, (4) Wrongful battle, (5) Loss
or waste. To throw obstacle in the way
of good works undertaken by others
wilfully or unwilfully, will be a
destructive work of the world. It is good
to be free from worldly attachment,
arising out of devotion to God or
Spiritual Knowledge, if we try to become
indifferent by our own efforts, this will
be the root of many evils.
Living in this world, it is the duty of
the common people to discharge their
domestic works efficiently. If real apathy
arises, austerity should be practised,
according to prescribed rules of
stoicism. Or being devoted to God we
should reduce gradually our greed for
domesticity. This is real mendicants life.
Many leave their hearth, being afflicted
with various house-hold troubles or due
to some mishap. But this is sin.
Temporary indifference does not entitle
man to leave ashrama. Some people
are under erroneous impression that they
will obtain devotion afterwards, assume
false garb of a mendicant by putting
certain marks on the body. It is their
illusion, because it is not the product of
natural feeling of asceticism, but it is the
by-product of some temporary feeling
of indifference. As a result, that felling
vanishes in the long run and drags him
to evil practice and voluptuousness.
The ascetic right only is the proper
ground for changing his behaviour. The
custom and behaviour which have been
fixed in the individual ashrama to which
a perrson belongs are good conduct for
him (Bh. XI.21.2). Without deciding his
right, if he follows certain other conduct
to which he is not entitled, it will not only
be an evil to him but also to the entire
world. Without being fit for higher stage,
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if he follows conduct of superior type
of ashrama either erroneously or
craftfully, it will bring gradual destruction
to the world. It is often seen that in the
name of religion, certain evil practices
are preached in many places. To
introduce religion by abolishing duties
based on Varnashrama by feigned
ascetics and efforts in contravention of
these duties on the part of some lower
type of Vaishnavas viz: Nera, Baul,
Kartabhaja, Darvesh, Kumbhapatia,
atibari and arbitrary followers of
Brahmo are very injurious. By doing
these works, the sin which they commit
craves the way for world destructon.
The wrongful cohabitation with females
by Nera, Baul, Kartabhaja etc. which
is usually found is utterly against sacred
religion. The unjust war which is waged
for territorial extension is irreligious and
is a work for world destruction.
Except, war which is for right cause
other wars or battles have not been
approved by religion. To spend time,
money and other things and to exercise
power for right cause is the precept of
religion. But if these are spent in a
wrongful way, these will be regarded
as a sin of waste. In respect of the
seriousness and lightness of object, all
kinds of sin become serious or light. Sin
assumes different names such as sin,
great sin, greater and greatest sin in
accordance with the seriousness or
lightness of it. If it is committed to God
or a pious man, it will be called a serious
offence. It is the most heinous one and
to be avoided.
In this small treatise, I have given a
birds eye view of religion and irreligion,
virtue and vice, injunction and
prohibition. Those who are desirous of
learning more may read what has been
recorded in detail in the twenty religious
scriptures compiled by the sages, history
and Puranas. Religious life is only the
best in this mortal world for which every
one should aspire (Bh. XI.18.47).
These good works are of two kinds i.e.,
which give three fold pursuits of human
life and other salvation. Religion which
aims at the three fold ends of man is
transient, full of actions trivial and self
interested. Religion, the aim of which is
salvation is high. It gives emancipation
of the soul. The religion of the purest
kind of salvation such as devotion to Sri
Krishna is superior to all and is to be
followed. That eliminates desire for
Moksha. Its characteristic is devotion
only.
S
If a person, on seeing devotees engrossed in the chanting of the
Name, becomes attached to them, he achieves Goloka of Sri Krishna
and rejoices in His company, i.e., with Me. Hence, O Partha!
Take the Names with a firm determination, as a person who is
saturated with the Name is dear to Me; hence O Arjuna!
I again implore you to take to the service of the Name.
Adi Puranam
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MONOTHEISM
Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur
I
t is a common belief
prevalent among the
uninformed circles that the
Vedantins are all monotheists, but the
critics can demarcate the line of
distinction between monotheistic
vedantins and henotheistc vedantins.
Some are apt to confound that the
henotheistic thought of Impersonality of
Godhead has created the view of
personal Godhead. They are surely
mistaken. Monotheism strictly
dismisses the idea of henotheistic view
of different mundane figures of the
Impersonality, the subjective existence
of which is no other thing than
symbolisation of the Infinite
Impersonality within the cavity of human
senses by material components. The
henotheistic idea has misguided the true
conception of monotheism which has to
establish the Unity and Personality of
Godhead together not in the mundane
but in transcendental sphere whereas,
the Impersonalists differ from the former
by assuming the idea of abstraction from
concrete matter. This particular turn of
mind of the latter misunderstands the
true figure of Godhead beyond
phenomena and wants to accommodate
the figure of the Absolute Truth into
something inconceivable and indistinct.
The distinctive monism has shown
clearly that the indistinctive nature of
concocting the subjective existence of
the Personal Godhead is rash and
foolish.
The impersonal idea of monism
being a part and parcel of the mundane
idea of unending Space and Time has
no locus standi when numerical
difference is not welcome and by his
meddling with numerical difference, he
has forfeited the chair of his unalloyed
monism. The supreme fountain-head
has got the potency of manifesting His
Nature in temporal and perpetual
existences. The indistinctive view of
monism has explained the phenomena
in non-realistic Idealism. In the
Chicago Parliament of Religions held a
hundred years ago one henotheistic
calling himself a pioneer of Hindu
Preachers had cut a good figure which
had been appreciated by the then
congregational community. This
propagation work on the opposite side
of the globe has decidedly got a footing
in everyday talk of Indias
advancement in philosophic
speculation. But the idea of monism has
been distorted to some extent by the
said messenger of Bengal. He had not
done full justice to Achintyabhed-
abheda or the theory of inconceivable
simultaneous difference and non-
difference advanced by the Suprme
Lord Sri Chaitanya Deva whose line
of interpretation is quite contrary to the
alleged ideas of the indefinite absolute
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school that start their arguments from
sensuous philosophical speculations.
The preacher of unalloyed absolute
monotheism had a different line of
progress from what is maintained by
the sensuous argumentators. His
Epistemology has been traced to Vedic
source instead of free admission of
challenging everything, be it Absolute
or flickering. Many a monist under the
shelter of henotheism has more or less
exposed himself to a point which may
pass as polytheism, the henotheists
though declaring themselves to be
monotheists in their final reach.
Now what did the henotheist
preacher alleging himself to be a
monotheist give which was considered
by the Chicago Assembly as the highest
gift? What did he speak which made
the nations of the world respectful to
Hinduism of which they had known
very little a little before and which they
had looked down upon with great
contempt? It was the so-called
Vedantism of the Mayavadi school
expounded by Shankaracharya and
not the true Vedantism warranted by
the shastras which is explained by the
Vaishnava Acharyas. We have already
pointed out that the theistic sages of by-
gone days condemn the pantheistic
philosophy of Shankaracharya which
ignores the fundamental distinction
between God and His servants. It has
also been explained in these pages that
Vaishnavism is not sectarianism as is
wrongly supposed by people in
general. Hinduism simply means the
religion of some particular local
community viz. Hindus. It is not the
universal religion. Whereas Vaishnavism
means, literally as well as in fact, the
service of Vishnu, the all-pervading
Supreme Lord, by all eternal individual
souls. It is not the religion of Hindus only
but of all manifested beings of the world,
a universal religion in the true sense of
the word. It embraces Christianity and
Mahommadanism as well. He whom
Christ and Muhammad designate as
God and Allah respectively is essentially
a partial concept of Sri Krishna. But
the names God and Allah which are
symbols to designate the unmanifested
Reality do not beong to the same
category as the Name by which He
manifests Himself. The Name Krishna
is the actual Name of the Ultimate Reality
or the Positive Absolute, and not a mere
designation like God or Allah. Whoever
is actually privileged to hear and see
God, hears and sees Him, as Krishna.
Those who have not seen God and
therefore, do not really know Him, strive
to designate Him by any names in their
vocabulary that they imagine to be
sufficiently expressive of the unknown
Reality. These man-given designations
are changeable as regards their form and
import but the transcendental vocabulary
in which the denizens of the spiritual realm
speak and which is identical with the
Name Krishna possesses eternal and
indivisible form and import. Hence the
Name Krishna like the Personality of the
Godhead is the unchangeable Reality
both of them being identical, a
realtionship which is inconceivable to the
empirisicist and possible only in the
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them conversed with Him through a
medium. This medium in case of
Chrisian was the Holy Ghost and it was
Zebrail in the case of Muhammad.
Zebrial mercifully took up Muhammad
on the back of a borak (a species of
animal?) and made him see the Nur
Elahi or the Light of God. At the sight
of this Light of God Muhammad
fainted and could not see what was
there in the Light. Our scriptures say
that in the Light there is Krishna. He is
discernible only to the eyes chastened
by willing selfless service of His most
loving devotees. The service of the
unknown God is necessarily vague and
devoid of that real love and life which
characterise the service of the concrete
Absolute viz. Krishna. This real love
of Krishna which is the highest and only
duty is self-manifest as the eternal
function of the individual souls. The
Christian and the Muhammadan have,
therefore, no cause to differ from the
Vaishnava. Every being, be he
Christian, Muhammaden or Hindu,
man, woman, tree or cat, is potentially
a Vaishnava. The only difference
between one individual soul and
another consists in the greater or less
degree of realisation of love towards the
real, personal God viz. Sri Krishna.
None need then quarrel with a true
Vaishnava. All apparent religious
differences are truly adjusted in
Vaishnavism. What the true
Muhammadans and Christians find
in the Koran and the Bible is fully
and properly realised in the
transcendental perfection of the
religion of the Bhagavat. All those
historical religions will one day
admit that they are approaches
towards the fully manifest eternal
religion embodied in the Bhagavat
only a glimpse of whose distant
reflection they have been enabled
to attain.
The Bhagavat proclaims Sri
Krishna as the Supreme Lord. Hari
or Krishna is the Lord of Maya or the
phenomenal world, where as Siva,
Shakti and the other gods and
goddesses are comprised within the
created world. As watering at the
roots of a tree nourishes its trunk,
branches and twigs, and as food
offered to the vital principle bring about
the nourishnment of all the senses, so
only by the worship of Krishna all the
gods and goddesses are properly
served. This is corroborated by the
Geeta. Krishna is the sole Lord and
Enjoyer of sacrifices. Those who think
of other gods as His rivals and as
existing independently of Him, do not
really know Him and fall into error.
Those who worship loyally other gods
and goddesses worship, indeed,
Krishna, but in a wrong way. Such
worship enables its votaries to attain
the transitory regions of those gods and
goddesses. It does not lead them to
the spiritual and eternal realm of God.
The Rik Veda says, The transcen-
dental suris (seers) always see Vishnu
manifesting Himself, just as the sun is
visible in the sky. Krishna, says the
Brahma Samhita, is the Supreme
Lord, His form consisiting of the
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principles of existence, cognition and
bliss, and is the cause of all causes.
All this is summed up by the Chaitanya
Charitamrita, Krishna is the Lord of
all, the Supreme Ruler of the world;
the other gods and goddesses are His
servants.
Quotations can be culled from all
the Shastras to prove the scriptural
unanimity regarding the absolutre over
lordship of Krishna. The existence of
the holy hierarchy of the gods and
goddesses does not desecrate the
monotheistic doctrine of true
Vedantism or Vaishnavism any more
than the presence of the Son, the Holy
Ghost and a hierarchy of angels in the
case of Christianity or that of Nabis,
Zebrail and a host of Ferestas in the
case of Muhammadanism demolishes
the monistic character of those
religions.
Thus Shastras furnish us with a
connected history of the worship of
Krishna through the Ages. the
Scriptures divide a cycle into four
yugas viz. Satya, Treta, Dwapara and
Kali. We live in the Kali yuga. In the
Satya yuga there was no distinction of
caste or varna. There was only one
homogenous community the name of
which was hamsa. Vishnu was the
only God worshipped by this
community whose spiritual guide went
by the name of Paramahamsa.
Towards the latter part of this yuga the
tastes of the people in matters spiritual
came to differ. Some in quest of
material propsperity began to worship
other gods and goddesses. This
deviation gave rise to the terms daiva
and asura. The devotees of Krishna
were designated daiva and those who
did not worship Him were called
asura. ( Padmapurana). Thus
while Prahlad is called a sura i.e. one
belonging to the daiva class, his father
Hiranyakashipu is named asura for his
hostility towards Vishnu (Krishna). In
the Treta Age this variation of tastes
became wider and gave rise to the
division of the four varnas of
Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and
Sudra. The Brahmanas were those
who worshipped only Vishnu (Krishna).
Those people of the other varnas who
developed this tendency to strict
monotheism were also freely admitted
into this class. Thus the Brahmana
Vasishtha admitted the Kshatriya
Viswamitra into his class when the latter
showed Brahmanic trendency. The
sura or daiva class of the Satya
yuga now came practically to be
represented by the Brahmana varna. In
the Dwapara yuga, this progressive
variation of tastes became still more
extensive in consequence of which the
different castes and creeds had their
origin and there appeared sub-groups
within the class of the Brahmanas also.
Charvaka, a Brahmana by class, held
non-Vaishnavite ideas for which he was
contemptuously called by the other
theistic Brahmanas as an Atheist or
rakshasa (a demon). This scornful
epithet was also given to Ravana in the
Treta yuga for his enmity towards
Rama, Who is same as Krishna. Due
to this degradation of the Brahmana
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class very few even of those who called
themselves Vasihnavas retained the
characteristics of the original hamsa
community. The mass of the
Brahmanas ceased to designate
themselves as Vaishnavas and to be the
repositories of the Vaishnavite
tradition. Thus we find Romaharshan
and his son Suta, not hereditary
Brahmanas explaining the Bhagavata
to a huge assembly of leading
Brahmans. It is very difficult now-a-
days to find a Vaishnava possessing the
pure monotheistic religion of the original
hamsa community, although there are
crores of people in India at the present
who profess hereditarily to believe in
the overlordship of Krishna, the
Positive, Ultimate, Absolute Reality,
Knowledge and Bliss.
S
The following injunctions are to be observed by the devotees
in order to purify the heart: (i) practice of daily duties without aiming
at the result thereof, (ii) to worship the Holy Image with pure and
desireless heart, (iii) to visualise and to make obeissance before
the Holy Image with a sincere heart, (iv) to realise the Supreme
Lord in every entity and every entity in the Supreme Lord, (v) to
take recourse to forbearance and genuine asceticism, (vi) to show
due respect to the genuine saints, (vii) to show compassion to the
poor, (viii) to make friends with the devotees of similar nature, (ix)
to control the internal and external senses, (x) to hear Transcendental
themes regarding self and Godhead, (xi) to chant the Holy Names
of Sri Krishna with a sincere heart, (xii) to associate with the holy
personages without any pride of high lineage, erudition, wealth, name
and fame. Such observance of the sacred rules as laid down in the
Scripture (Srimad Bhagavatam) will enable the devotees to attain
to My Lotus Feet.
(Bh. III.29.15-19)
PURIFICATION
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Fundamental Vaishnavism
Srimad Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaj
T
his is the opportune time
to build up and establish
the solidarity of our
Vaishnava faith against the waves of
atheism and godlessness, now
sweeping over the country. We have a
great responsibility to our Supreme
Lord and to humanity alike to check
the godless movement and so-called
material progress which is fraught with
destructive weapons that have
threatened the entire humanity with
complete annihilation and wiping out our
religious thoughts, philosophy, culture
and age-old civilisation. It is a crime
against God and humanity to develop
and pile the nuclear weapons capable
of destroying the human beings and
civilisation on the fact of the entire
globe. It is high time for the religious
and spiritual heads of India to take the
lead to spread faith in God and destroy
all that is anti-God, to establish equality
between man and man. There cannot
be equality between man and man
except on the footing of devotion to
God.
We all know the difference
between God and maya. God
predominates over maya. There is none
equal to or greater than Brahman. Maya
causes us to take birth and rebirth while
we are in complete oblivion of God.
This world is nothing but the evolution
of maya, and we call it Shakti-
Parinama Vada. There has always
been a difference between Antaranga-
shakti and maya-shakti. There has
always been a fight between gods and
demons, between good and bad. Our
Lord has certainly ordained us with this
great responsibility to impart and spread
Brahmavidya or divine knowledge in
order to check and curb the influence
of maya or avidya. We must check the
present wave of atheism and godless
materialism. We do not believe that
any progress can be good or
permanent or conducive to human
happiness and peace without a
spiritual background of faith in God.
We must sow the seed of sraddha or
faith in God. It is only faith in God
that can create character, and it is
this faith which is miserably lacking
in the present-day world.
We have seen and heard that the
United Nations, the greatest of all
human organisations had failed or is
going to fail in achieving its object of
creating and maintaining peace among
the nations of the world. The great
nations of the world are racing in
inventing destructive weapons capable
of wiping out all life from this world.
There is complete distrust in each other,
there is no sincerity in the politics of any
nation. Every nation is selfish. Every
nation is anxious to impose its policies
on others. The great nations by their
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acts and conduct are provoking other
nations. There is at the root of all
troubles the problem of godlessness
in our education, life and career.
Now there is an awakening
among the spiritual and religious heads
of the world. The Christian Church
seems to have been perturbed by the
ammunition race among the nations.
We, the heads of the theistic schools
of India cannot remain quiet and shirk
our responsibility while the godless social
structure is raising its head. It is a great
mistake on the part of some sections of
society to think that the spiritual heads
of India have no business to poke their
nose in the social affairs of the people.
It is also mistake on the part of
some sections of people to think that
the spiritual heads of India are busy with
the administration of their maths and
their properties and do not take any
interest in building a healthy society. We
must accept the challenge of godless
society. We should not be satisfied only
with our progress and that of our
following as against godlessness,
lawlessness, selfishness, exploitation
and other products of maya. We cannot
shut our eyes to the realities that confront
each and every one of us. We must
employ all our resources, both
intellectual and spiritual, to eradicate
godlessness which is at the root of all
troubles. If we only recollect how the
leaders of our respective sampradayas
fought mayavadins and atheists, we
cannot now remain indifferent as silent
onlookers of the rampant atheism and
perverse and unwholesome worldly
progress.
We know the difference between
karma and jnana, jnana and Bhakti.
Every system has its place in society.
This is a relative world. Karma has its
relative value, so has jnana. We cannot
destroy them. But we must employ
them towards the realisation of God
through Bhakti in a peaceful manner.
Apart from the above
responsibility towards society and the
world we have another duty towards
our sampradayas interest. We must
exchange our thoughts and experiences
in the matter of the realisation of God.
We have a sadhana system of our
own. The founders and leaders of our
respective schools have given us the
sadhana systems base on their spiritual
experience and realisation. We believe
in spiritual leadership of our Guru. We
believe in the Guru system. We believe
in Shrouta-pantha. We believe that the
divine knowledge has been descending
from Lord Narayana through the
spiritual successors from generation to
generation. We believe in surrender
and dedication of ourselves to
Godhead. We believe in Avatara, we
believe in the descent of the Mukta
Purusha from Vaikuntha to Prapancha
for delieverance of the fallen and the
spiritual regeneration of mankind.
The worshippers of Vishnu are
called Vaishnavas. The worship of
Vishnu was prevalent from time
immemorial. In Rig Veda we notice the
monotheistic conception in the highest
conception of gods, with concrete name
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in Vishnu with His omnipotence
omnipresence and omniscience.
Before the appearance of the universe,
there first appeared Hiranyagarbha.
He, being manifest, became the one
Lord of the manifested universe. Out
of Him came the invisible world, out of
Him came the sky and this earth. Unto
Him Whose Being is unknown and
unknowable, Whose desire it was that
this universe be created, Who is the
Source of happinesswe offer our
sacrifice. Unto Him Who is the purifier
of our hearts, Who is the Giver of
strength, Whose command all beings,
together with gods, obey ... we offer
our sacrifice. (Ibid.X.121.1,2).
Innumerable references to Vishnu may
be found in Rig Mantras, Samhitas,
Brahmanas and Upanishads.
In the next stage, the
Pancharatrika form of Vaishnava seems
to have been introduced into Vedic
Vaishnavism. The Pancharatrika Sect
was derived from the old Vaishnava
Sect. The famous four-handed Chatur-
Vyuha theory of Vishnu, under the
names of Vasudeva, Samkarshana,
Pradyumna and Aniruddha is the distinct
contribution of the Pancharatrika sect
of the Vaishnavas, which was gradully
adopted in the country, as early as the
5th century B.C. Panini (Ibid.IV)
mentions Vasudeva. Patanjali makes it
clear that the Vasudeva refered to, is
the name of one who is pre-eminently
worshipful. The Niddesa, one of the
Pali Buddhist canons, mentions the
followers of Vasudeva and Baladeva
among other sects that prevailed in the
4th century. The Besnagara Pillar
inscriptions (Gwalior) tell us that a
Yono Duta (Greek), Heliodora, was a
Vaishnava (Bhagavata), who erected a
Garuda column in honour of his God
Vasudeva. It belongs to the 2nd century
B.C. The Ghasundi inscriptions
(Narayana-vata), almost of the same
date, refer to the Puja stone wall (Sila
Prakara) for the worship of
Samkarshana and Vasudeva. The late
Dr. Niranjana Prasad Chakravarti,
Government epigraphist for India,
discovered another important Brahmi
inscription of the first century, B.C. at
Nagari, eight miles North of Chitorgarh,
in the Udaipur State, Rajputana. It has
been found on the wall of a structure
called Hathibaba. It shows beyond all
doubt, that the Hathibaba was originally
a holy enclosure set up round the deities
Samkarshana and Vasudeva by a king
called Sarvatata long before the
Christian era. Again the king Sarvatata
who was a Bhagavata or Vaishnava and
who ereted the enclosures for the
worship of these brother deities, is
represented as having clelebrated an
Asvamedha-sacrifice, which at that
early period could be performed only
by a paramount sovereign (March 27,
1935). The Nanaghat inscription
invokes Vasudeva and Samkarshana.
Nayanikas, Vasudevakas (Panini,
IV.3,95), Bhagavatas, and the like,
seem to be terms denoting various
classes of devotees of the
Pancharatrika Vaishnavas.
Our Lord Sri Krishna was
worshipped as the Supreme Being
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incorporating all the divinity of Vishnu,
in the great epic Mahabharata and more
precisely in the Gita and finally in the
Puranas, especially in the Bhagavata
Purana.
During the early centuries of the
Christian era, the Vishnu cult suffered
to some extent owing to the rise of the
Saka and Kushana kings of Northern
India who were either Buddhists or
Shaivas. Dr. H.C.Raya Choudhury
goes so far as to say that their anti-
Vaishnava attitude was probably one of
the causes which brought the foreign
kings (Saka and Kushana) into conflict
with the Vaishnava monarchs such as
Chandra of the Meherauli inscription,
and the Chandra Gupta of the Gupta
dynasty.
According to the tradition,
Vishnuswami flourished in the pre-
Christian era. Vaishnavism was
prevalent in the South of India at this
time. He was a worshipper of the
Narasimha, Incarnation of Vishnu. The
Nanaghat inscription (1st century B.C.)
distinctly shows that Vaishnavism
penetrated into the Deccan in the pre-
Christian era. (Luders No.112). The
China inscription of the time of Yajna
Sri Satakarni (2nd century A.D.) found
in the Krishna district of the South
contains an invocation to God
Bhagavata Vasudeva (Luders Ins.
No.1340). The worship of Krishna,
Balarama in the temples in the South
was prevalent in the early Christian era.
The ancient Tamil poems such as
Silappatikaram and the like refer to the
temples dedicated to Krishna and
Balarama at Madhura, Kaveripattinam
and other cities (Kanakasabhai is the
Tamils 1800 years ago P.13.26). The
poet Karikannan of Kaveripattinam
refers to Baladeva and Krishna (Ibid.
P.68.9). Apart from the orthodox view
that the Alvars lived in a very remote time,
the earliest saints of the line of the Alvars
seem to have flourished in the early
centuries of the Christian era. These
Alwars were the ardent devotees of
Krishna, Narayana and expressed their
devotion in a great number of poems
known as Prabandham.
With the rise of the Vaishnavite
monarchs of the Gupta dynasty (4th
century A.D.) a great impetus was given
to all-round development of
Vaishnavism. Numerous Vishnu-
Krishna Temples and inscriptions
discovered throughout the Punjab,
Rajaputana, Central India, Western
India, Magadha and Bengal of the Gupta
age, decidedly prove the wide
prevalence of Vaishnavism. The Gupta
monarchs call themselves Parama-
bhagavata in coins and inscriptions. The
Traikuta king Dabrasena describes
himself as Parama Vaishnava on his
coins (456 A.D.). Chandra Varma of
the Susuna inscriptions calls himself a
servant of Chakraswamin (Krishna-
Vishnu). Chanda of the Meheruli Pillar
inscription built a lofty column to
Bhagavata Vishnu on a hill called
Vishnupada. Sometrata, the donor of
the Tusham rock inscription discovered
in the Hasser district of the Punjab, who
made two reservoirs intended for the use
of the Bhagavata, was the grandson of
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the Bhagavata Bhakta Yasastrata.
Druvasena of the Vallabhi dynasty
(circa 530 A.D.) was called Bhagavata.
The worship of Krishna as divine
lover of the milkmaids of Vraja seems
to have been widely prevalent during
the Gupta period.
After the fall of the Gupta dynasty,
under the non-Vaishnava kings such as
Mihirakula, Yasodharma and Harsa
Vaishnavism lost its royal patronage but
it had succeeded in capturing the
popular imagination and was a
developing cult. Vaishnavas were then
the exclusive worshippers of Vishnu and
had no connection with other gods
except Krishna-Vishnu. That is why
Varaha Mihira (587 AD) says in his
Brihat Samhita that the function of
installing Vishnu-images should be
assigned only to the Bhagavatas (Ibid
60.19).
In the 8th Chapter of the Harsha
Charita (Ferguson and Burgess cave
Temple p.407), Bana (middle of 7th
century) mentiions that the followers of
the Bhagavata and Pancharatras lived
in a country surrounded by the Vindhya
mountains. Mangalisa (678 AD) of the
early Chalukyan dynasty caused a fine
cave temple to be scooped out, in
which he installed Images of Vishnu such
as Ananta Vishnu, the Boar and Man-
lion Incarnation, etc.
The Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga
(8th century) erected the famous
Dasavatara temple at Ellora, in which
are found the images of Narasimha,
Vamana, Varaha incarnations of Vishnu
as well as of Krishna holding the
Govardhana mount on His hand and
destroying Kaliya. The temple of Osia,
32 miles north of Jodhpur contains the
images of Krishna, Balarama. The
temple cannot be later than the 9th
century. (Bhanderkars Vaishnavism
P.46).
In the South, the Alwars flourished
and popularised the devotion to Krishna
-Vishnu in the period extending from the
early centuries of the Christian era to
the 8th century and successfully fought
against Buddhism. Images of the
principal Alwars are to be found in the
various temples in the South. One of
the later Alvars, Thirumangai Alvar
destroyed the Buddhist monastery at
Nagapatnam and vanquished the Shaiva
saint, Tirujnana Sambandhar, who was
a contemporary of the Pallava king
Narasimha Varma of Kanchi who
reigned from 625-645 A.D. The age
of the Alwars was followed by that of
the Acharyas, such as Ramanuja,
Madhva and their successors. The
famous Bilvamangala Thakur, author of
Krishna Karnamrita, seems to have
flourished in the period between the end
of the Alvar age and the rise of the
Acharyas; the later contributed their
solid philosophy to Bhakti to combat
the mayavadism of Shankara. The age
of the Vaishnava Acharyas must be
regarded as the finest period in the
history of Vaishnavism from an
intellectual point of view.
There are four recognised
sampradayas of Vaishnavas tracing their
origin to Lord Narayana as will appear
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Purana. Those Mantras which belong
to no sects are not effective and
therefore in the Kali age, there shall be
the followers of four sects of Sri,
Brahma, Rudra and Sanaka. They shall
be the Vaishnavas purifying the world.
Sri-sampradaya selected Ramanuja, the
Brahma-sampradaya selected
Madhva, Rudra-sampradaya selected
Vishnu-swami and Sanaka-
sampradaya selected Nimbarka as their
principle Acharyas.
Sri Madhva is one of the four
classical Acharyas of the Vaishnavas.
We, the Gaudiya Vaishnavas are more
connected with him and his sampradaya
than any others. Historically we have
traced our origin to the Madhva-
sampradaya. Our Sri Jiva Goswami,
the recogised philosopher of our
sampradaya, has given Sri Madhva the
highest plae among those from whose
writings he borrowed material in
formulating our Gaudiya Vaishnavite
philosophical system, in his famous
Shad-Sandarbhas (Tattva Sandarbha
28). He particularly mentions
Madhvas commentaries on the
Vedanta, the Bhagavata, the
Mahabharata and so on as his source.
Sri Jiva Goswami tells us that he could
not consult many books in their original,
such as Brahmataraka, Bhagavata
tantra, but he has taken references to
them from Madhvas writings, believing
that Madhva had studied them. Sri Jiva
Goswami also mentions Vijayadhvaja
and Vyasa Tirtha of the Madhva-
sampradaya in this connection. Sri Jiva
Goswami had actually found the
Gaudiya Vaishnavite philosophical
system of Achintya-bhedabheda-vada
in Madhvas Bhagavata-tatparya
(Ibid.XI.7.51). Sri Madhva traced it
to Brahmataraka. Another philosopher
of our sampradaya, Sri Baladeva
Vidyabhushan in his writings
acknowledge supreme allegiance to
Madhva, saying that our philosophical
system is after that of Madhva.
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushan
invoked the blessings of Sri Madhva in
the following verse: Ananda tirtha
nama sukhamaya dhama jyotirjeya-
sat. Samsararnava tarani jyamiha
janah keertayanti budhah ||
It is apparent from the nature of
references to Madhva literature that the
Gaudiya Vaishnava writers on
philosophy thoroughly studied the
Madhva literature before they wrote
their doctrines. Our Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu Himself visited the
headquarters of the Madva-
sampradaya at Udipi and had discussion
with its head Raghuvarya Tirtha. Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and other
writers of our sampradaya accepted
Madhvas views from his various
writings and the particular line through
which they traced their own origin to
the Madva sampradaya and that
particular line was some what different
fro the main line of Madhva. Dr.
Farquahar tells us that the Madhva
Vaishnavas introduced the kirtana form
of worshiip into their sampradaya as the
result of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhus
visit to their headquarters (Outline of
the Religious Literature of India p.303).
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My Gurudeva, the founder of our
Mission, has introduced Madhva
literature as a text book at our
theological schools; and published
many Madhva books with their
Gaudiya commentaries; dedicated our
Dacca Math to the memory of Madhva
and held great festivities on his birthday.
We have translated the Sanskrit
biography of Madhva into Bengali and
published it to ineterst the Bengalees
in the life and teachings of Sri Madhva.
We have installed the image of Sri
Madhva for daily worship at our
headquarters. We have greatly
assimilated the teachings of Sri
Madhva.
Sri Madhva has been described
as an incarnation of Vayu (Madhva
Vijaya 1.55) presumably on account of
his possessing an unusually strong
physique and extraordinary intellectual
power for which he was famous. He
was born as if with the definite pupose
of dispelling the mists of Mayavadism.
His advent was hailed with great delight
and relief by his preceptor Achyuta
Preksha and the latters preceptor
Prajna Tirtha who were being hard
pressed and maltreated by the
Mayavadins. We know from the
account given by Narayana Bhatta in
his Manimanjari how cruelly Prajna
Tirtha was tortured, his temple at
Nandigrama and his books on
unqualified dualism were set fire to by
the Shankarites headed by one
Padmapada. It is recorded in his
biographies that Madhva took sanyas
from Achyuta Preksha in the 11th year
of his advent and lived a year with him
at the Anantesvar temple at
Rajatapithapura near Udipi. The cruel
treatment meted out to his preceptors
of two generations made Madhva an
uncompromising and terrible enemy of
the Shankarites, to whom he was really
an object of constant fear.
Sri Madhva was conferred the
distinctive appellation Sarvajnayati as
the result of his victory over his rivals.
He visited Badarika in the Himalayas,
Dwaraka, Kurukshetra, Naimis
(Nimsar), Allahabad, Benaras, Gaya
and other places, and established his
conception of dualism by defeating rival
doctrines.
The important Acharya after
Padmanabha in the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Line is Jayatirtha, author of the famous
Nyayasudha and twenty another
treatises. Nyayasudha is a monumental
work on logic. The next and most
important in the Gaudiya line is Vyasa
Tirtha whose Nyayamrita is a wonderful
work on the Vedanta, sometimes
compared to Vishnus wheel, an
infalliable deadly weap on used against
the Mayavadins who had to admit its
unfathomable depth of intellectualism.
Madhusudana Saraswati of the
Shankarite school wrote Advaita-siddhi
as a rejoinder to it but failed to take up
its challenge. Ramacharya Tirtha, from
among the Madhvas, in his Tarangini,
refuted the arguments contained in the
said Advaita-siddhi. It is really a
wonderfully interesting study, how
obstinately the two schools fought each
other. The disciple of Vyasa Tirhta is
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Lakshmipati Tirtha, preceptor of
Madhavendra Puri, who was the grand
preceptor of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu.
Until the advent of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, the influence of the great
Acharyas of South India did not make
any headway and was not known in
Bengal and North India. In the early
part of the 16th century our Lord Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made an
extensive tour of South India from Puri
upto Cape-Comorin, visiting Udipi,
Srirangam and all other important places
of the pilgriage, had discourses with the
then heads of the various institutions,
collected books and materials, and
exchanged His thoughts with them and
gave them His philosophy and system
of devotion. Sri Chaitanya Maha-
prabhu toured on foot from
Kurukshetra in the North to Cape-
Comorin in the South, from Pandarpur
in the West to Puri in the East. The
then India which was under muslim
domination, suffered a set-back in the
spread of Hindu philosophy and
religion. The Hindus in large numbers
were then being converted to Islam
under the royal patronage and their
governing policies. At this juncture, Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in
this world, turned the tide of anti-Hindu
movement, and infused the country with
His new message of love for God, as a
result of which many savants of the
Country joined His mission. Sri Rupa
and Sri Sanatana Goswami who were
then the ministers of the Navab Hussain
Shah of Bengal, and their nephew, Sri
Jiva Goswami came under the direct
influence of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, gave up their worldly
position and wealth to become
ascetics, took their abode in the
Mathura Mandal and produced a huge
quantity of literature on Vaishnava
philosophy and Rasa and on other
branches of literature including
Vaishnava grammar. One of the six
Goswamis, Sri Gopala Bhatta who
came from Srirangam and settled at
Vrindavana, contributed immensely to
the success of Sri Chaitanya Maha-
prabhus misison under Sri Rupa and
Sri Sanatana. It is through Sri Gopala
Bhatta Goswami that the assimilation
and cohesion of the philosphy of the
Acharyas of South India in the Gaudiya
Vaishnava literature were brought
about.
The six Goswamis under the
teaching and inspiration of Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu produced a
huge quantity of Bhakti literature and
made the Gaudiya sampradaya self-
sufficient and complete.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
accepted Srimad Bhagavatam as the
authoritative commentary on the
Vedanta Sutra. Sri Sanatana
Goswami was pre-eminently a deep
philosopher and thoughtful lawgiver to
the Vaishnava sampradaya.
Sri Sanatana Goswami in his
Briahat Bhagavatamritam gave a
shape to the philosophical ideas of the
Gaudiya sampradaya and the said
philosophy was further developed by
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his nephew, Sri Jiva Goswamis
Sandarbhas in a great and profound
study of the Vaishnava philosophy in
six volumes. Sri Jiva Goswami
surveyed the whole of the philosophical
system of India in comparison with and
in contrast to the Gaudiya Vaishnava
view of Achintya-Bhedabhedavada in
the light of which he interpreted the
philosophy of the Bhagavata as the
official doctrine of the sampradaya.
He follows the main points of Sri
Santana Goswami as fundamental,
such as the supremacy of shabda or
Sruti over all other Pramanas. Sri Jiva
Goswami has shown his extraordinary
scholarship in refuting Shankaras
doctrine of Nirvishesavada and
showing the imperfections of the other
philosophical systems and establishing
the Achintya-Bhedabhedavada. Sri
Jiva Goswami tells in his Tattva
Sandarbha that Sri Gopala Bhatta
wrote a book deriving its material from
all that is best in the works of old
Vaishnava Acharyas such as Madhva,
Ramanuja, Sridhara and others. As this
book of Sri Gopala Bhatta was not
strictly systematic and continuous, Sri
Jiva Goswami undertook to write the
Sad-Sandarbha by developing and
enlarging the incomplete book of Sri
Gopala Bhatta. Sri Jiva Goswami
admitted that he had gathered many
references from Sri Madhvas
commentaries on the Bhagavata,
Mahabharata and Vedanta. Sri Jiva
Goswami refuted the Vivarta theory of
Shankara and came to the conclusion
that Isvara is the Lord and Mainstay
(Asraya) of maya, Jiva is liable to be
overwhelmed by maya and the
abhidheya-Bhakti is the means of
freeing oneself from maya. God differs
from maya because He is the Lord of it
and does not come under maya while
Jiva cannot be independent of maya.
How is this possible? God, Jiva and
maya are both similar and dissimilar at
one and the same time. Sri Jiva
Goswami establishes the system of
Achitnya Bhedabhedavada which is
incomprehensible difference and non-
difference at the same time. This is the
official doctrine of our sampradaya. In
our system, both the theories of quality
and non-quality by themselves confront
us with some difficulties but both the
theories are simultaneously true and
possible in a way which is
incomprehensible. Sri Madhva and Sri
Ramanuja uphold pure duality and
qualified non-duality. But according to
our view, the theory of incomprehensible
duality, non-duality is real and possible
by reason of Gods power. I must admit
that although Sri Madhva is an exponent
of pure duality, he is perhaps the first to
give expression to the theory of
Achintya-Bhedabhedavada in the
Tatparyha on the Bhagavata as pointed
out by Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri
Baladeva Vidyabhushana of our
sampradaya.
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushan who
flourishned in the 17th century or in
the early part of 18th century at
Vrindavana has done great service to
our Sampradaya by his commentaries
on the Vedanta and Upanishads in the
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light of our official system of Achintya-
Bhedabhedavada. His Gaudiya
Bhashya on the Vedanta is a
monumental work on the philosophical
system of our Sampradaya in which he
establilshed beyond all doubt and
controversy the supremacy of
Achintya-Bhedabhedavada. Before
him, neither Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
nor the Goswamis accepted Sri
Madhvas duality in its entirety as the
official version of our sect although the
Goswamis quoted commentaries and
view of Sri Madhva in support of their
faith. They took as much from
Madhva as from Ramanuja and
Sridhara Acharyas.
Sri Baladeva Vidyabhushana
accepted some of the fundamental
points and doctrines of philosophy from
Sri Madhva while emphasizing the orgin
and contribution of the doctrine and
practice of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas
towards its perception. The Gaudiya
Vaishnavas did not differ from the
Madhvas but on the contrary
contributed much to the Madhva
philosophy on the question of difference
between Jiva and Godhead.
Apart from the contributions of
our Gaudiya Vaishnava masters
towards the Vaishnava philosophy, our
masters introduced for the first time
Rasa-shastra in developing Bhakti or
devotion to God. This is a distinct
contribution of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas
to the philosophy of Bhakti.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhus Love
of God was in the shape of Love-in-
separation for Krishna. Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhus tender Love-in-
separation for God finds its echoes and
re-echos in Bhramara Gita and
Mahishi Gita (Bh.X). But the note
of His Love-in-separation for God is
traceable to a single sloka of His grand
preceptor Sri Madhavendra Puri on the
Gaudiya line from the Madhvas.
Ayi deenadayrdra natha he
mathurntha kada avalokyase
hridayam dayita bhrmyati kim
karomyaham.
O compassionate Lord of the
poor and humble, O, the Lord of
Mathura! When shall I behold Thee!
Thy absence has made my afflicted
heart ache beyond endurance. O my
Lord, What shall I do?
It was Madhavendra Puri who
really sowed the seed of this particular
kind of devotion which distinguished
the Gaudiya Sampradaya.
Madhavendra Puri was disciple of
Lakshmipati Tirtha of the Madhva sect.
The faithful disciple of Madhavendra
Puri, Isvara Puri, was accepted as the
preceptor of Sri Chaitanya.
Swarup Damodara Goswami,
one of the most intimate associates of
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave the
following distinct conception of Sri
Chaitanya:
Sri Radha is the consumation of
Sri Krishnas Love and the
embodiment of His beautifying
Attribute (Hladini-Shakti). Though
together forming one entity, She and
Sri Krishna separated into two halves
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at Vrindavana in times gone by but
now the separated Being is again
united into one in the person of Sri
Chaitanya. I make my obeisance to
that One Who is the embodiment of
the sentiment as well as the golden
complexion of Radha, and Who is
identical with Krishna at the same
time.
Sri Chaitanyas sentiments
towards Krishna are the basic thing
upon which Rupa Goswami produced
the Rasa literature in two Voluminous
books, namely, Bhakti Rasamrita
Sindhu, and Ujjvala Neelamani.
Love-in-separation for Krishna is
the striking note of Sri Rupas work
which deeply stirs the heart of the
Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
Rupa in his Bhakti Rasamrita
Sindhu treated Bhakti from the
Sadhana to Prema-Bhakti through
Bhava-Bhakti.
Rupa Goswami in his later book,
Ujjvala Nilamani discussed the
psychological developments bringing
out the niceties between Sambhoga
and Vipralambha, that is to say, Love
of God in union and in separation.
He particularly emphasises the
latter aspect because Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu practised it in His Own
Life. Sri Rupa Goswami draws his
examples from the Life and practices
of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by way
of illustrating the psychological contents
of the Love-in-separation of God.
S
O Bhagavan! The Sun of Krishna Name!
Who can aptly describe Thy enduring Fame ?
Thy dim reflection, dispelling Universes ignorance,
Confers on all the boon of Krishna-Premis affluence,
The deeds of past births, which the Vedas call,
Destiny, remain undestroyed unless endurd by all;
Yet, unendurd, Thy dim reflection destroys them as well,
Tho meditation on Brahman fails to save them from their spell.
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The Summum Bonum of Life
Srimad Bhakti Hriday Vana Deva Goswami Maharaj
(Lecture delivered at the University of South-West, Exeter, England, on the
30th of November 1933. Dr. John Murray, M.A., D.Lit., Principal of the
University College, presided.)
Mr. President and friends,
The senior students of the
university have requested me to talk
about the purpose of our life.
We are human beings. We live in
society. We cannot do without it.
Aggregate is the sumtotal of units.
It is the composite whole. Hence the
actions and reactions of the units affect
the whole. In one word, Aggregate is
the universal form of the unit.
In days of yore there was a belief
that men were born of Manu and hence
they are called Manava. But it is a thing
of the past. In these days of matter-
of-fact world, many new discoveries
have been explored by the Scientists
of modern age who are not prepared
to accept that theory of antiquity. They
want to see the unit through the
Aggregate. Hence their unit is the ideal
unit that stands prominent in their
scientific and chemical laboratories. In
their politics and social fabric, in their
industrial arts, literature and philosophy
which consitute the Aggregate.
The positivism or Religion of
Humanity as expounded by Comte in
the middle of the 19th Century assumed
an all-embracing attitude in the middle
of the 20th. What was Grand Etre
(Universal form) to Comte was
humanitypast, present and future,
conceived as a Great Being to Morely.
Various nomenclatures were ascribed
such as, Grand Man. Universal
Man, Super Man, Eternal Man,
Man of the age, to the Grand Etre of
Comte. Mr. Herbert in his lecture said
I felt that I had found my religion at
last, the religion of man, in which the
Infinite becomes defined in humanity
and come close to me so as to need
my love and co-operation.
The philanthropic ideas permeating
the modern Bengali literatures though
adumbrated to be in tune with Comtes
line of thoughts, were once replete with
the subtle analytical dissertations about
mans religion. The erectic descriptions
prevalent in the modern literatures of
Bengal are the distorted representations
of the lyrics of Vidyapati and Chandidas
minds man (or man after my heart)
of the philanthropist school has
completely engrossed the thoughts,
diction and tone of the modern
literatures, poets, religionists of Bengal,
representing the man of the age or
Universal Man.
The thoughts of the heart of the
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contemporareans civilised and cultured
West cannot correspond with those of
the philanthropic literatures of the East
divorced from Western civilisation and
culture. Hence the spontaneous flow
of thoughts of the individuals, either of
the East or the west, is the innermost
religion of Humanity. When it occupies
the entire Whole it becomes the religion
of the Grand Etre, or the Aggregate
Man, in the widest sense of the term.
We shall discuss afterwards the
utility of such farfetched meaning of the
word Great Man. That the imaginary
creations of Minds Man, man is
truth, of the philanthropic school and
the Grand Etre of Comte go hand in
hand with those of Great man, World
man etc., of the modern great poets
and the Grand man is offering the all-
in-all of man into that great rejoicings
of man! Some are loud in decrying
Elevationism. Humanity is now the main
theme that carries the world. We are
studying human love and affection
reflected even in the nature of the animal
kingdom. We are searching the
harmony of the Infinite in the wide
expanse of the Universal Aggregate.
Man is Truth this expression has a
bearing which has been dovetailed or
engrafted in our ideas and thoughts.
Man is truth, this body is truth
these expressions have made us
suppliants of Apotheosis, whether overt
or covert.
Materialism is the most favourite
offspring of Apotheosism. The
enormous capital in the Life insurance
of the Co-operative Society of the
Aggregate under the Directorships of
the Apotheotic School for the
amelioration of materialism shall never
be bankrupt in any age. All individuals
belonging to the Composite Aggregate
must have their due share from that
Royal Bank of Nationality as the
bountiful donations of Apotheosismthe
immense divident of which has been
distributed right and left all the world
over!
Man is truththere is no other
truth than manthese expressions find
their mother-tincture in the Chaitanya
Charitamrita of Sri Kaviraj Goswami
in the following passage Of all
Krishnas Sports, His Human Sports is
the best. Human Form is His Final
Form, and also in the Bhagavatam, the
Super man hidden in Human Form
etc. But instead of giving a right
interpretation these expressions of the
Scriptural Texts have been forcibly
misinterpreted by the empiricists in
alliance with Comets Great man.
The Socialism and Communism of
the 20th century have swallowed up the
positivism of the 19th and have come
into being in a new form. Positivism
preached sympathy for the Aggregate
Man, whereas Communism out of
popularising sympathy has created the
universal form of the poverty stricken
Proletariate of the Aggregate Humanity
and has succeeded in attracting the
attention of the Aggregate.
Apotheosism or Elevationsism has
been the creed of materialism rather
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than Man is truth. Despite the bitter
experience of the perishableness of
human form men have been prone to
be apotheotic and are preaching the
doctrine of atonement with the
Aggregate man under the pretence of
relieving the distress of humanity.
The Communists of Russia, as
atheists, have declared Crusade against
Christianity and have established
Communism as the only religion of the
Aggregate man, giving rise to anew
doctrine of Bolshevism under the
pretext of humanitarianism. Whether
this creed of Bolshevism or
Communism has any bearing on the
modern creeds of India, viz. Nara-
Narayana, Daridra-Narayana,
Harijan etc. it is for the learned
readers to judge.
The mind of the Aggregate man
has been deluded by these creeds of
Humanitarianism and Man-truth, etc.
Beautifully depicted under the garb of
religion. Hence by religion of man we
are given to understand the religion or
nature of his body, his mind, his subtle
body and removal of his physical and
mental wants. In other words,
facilitating ease or make easism the
religion of the Aggregate man!
Animality is the common factor in
man, beasts, birds and trees etc., and
eating, sleeping, fear and sexuality are
common nature in animality. Hence
man is superior to all other animals in
respect of his religion although the
above four kinds of common nature
have been refined through the help of
scienceSelf-enjoyment being their
mother tincture. This self-enjoyment
when diluted under the various subtle
forms of thinking manifests itself in four
different aspects. viz., piety, wealth,
passion and salvation, in all of these
self-enjoyment is the key-note.
However Subtle and refined they may
be, there is nothing truth in them. They
may be the religion of the whole world,
but they are not the true religion or
Eternal Nature of the soul. Just as a
magnet attracts a piece of iron so
predilection or taste is the magnet of
mans religion. Religion of man must
be congenial to his taste. There are
some tastes which are mental and some
physical or gross. The enjoyment
underlying eating, sleeping, fear and
sexuality refers to his gross taste. The
enjoyment permeating piety, wealth,
passion and salvation appertains to his
subtle mental taste. The later is the
refined, developed, tempered and
civilised form of enjoyment of the gross
nature of the former. Temperate food,
drink, sleep, fear, sexuality gives rise to
virtue, wealth, moderate passion,
known as Trivarga (triple end), and the
fourth end or Salvation is the negation
of enjoyment by non-self which is a
subtler enjoyment of mind (negation of
self) than the gross enjoyment by
senses. Those who follow this path of
enjoyment, either gross or subtle, say
that trivarga is the means of attaining
of the fourth i.e. salvation. When one
finds a satiety in Dharma, Artha and
Kama (trivarga) he is naturally inclined
to attain salvation which is freedom from
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that triple bondage.
Parama (Superior) has its
correlative Avama (inferior). There is
nothing superior or equal to Parama.
So says the Sruti The Parama has
no workno sensesno superiorno
equal. His innate powers viz.
Intelligence, will and Actionare sung
by the Vedas. Hence Parama is the
subject (enjoyer) and all other entities
(Avama) are the objects of His
enjoyment. When the relation between
Parama and Avama is established, the
means of attaining to Parama is also
parama. So the means as well as the
end are one and the same.
The four Chapters of the Brahma
Sutros or the Vedanta consist of :
(1) Samanvaya (reconciliation
of all aphorisms.)
(2) Avirodha (consistent reconci-
liation of apparently conflicting hymns.)
(3) Sadhana (Process of attaining
the goal.)
(4) Phala (the Desired End of
such process)
Self-enjoyment is the key-note of
all common Nature or religion of the
sentients. Thirty-crore gods have come
into being for the gratification of thirty-
crore human senses. In outside India
they are more or less variegated in
different manifestations. These gods
have again been abridged into five
principal ones, viz. the Sungodthe
giver of heat and lightrepresents
Dharma (piety) and the aspirants of
piety worship the Sungod. So seekers
after wealth, passion and salvation
worship respectively Ganapati, Durga
the Executrix of the mundane world, and
Shivaall for the purpose of self
aggrandisementopen or hidden. Not
being satisfied with these results they
have fancied a Sattvik form of Vishnu
(the All-pervading Over-soul) for their
fruitive worship. In the beginning the
worshippers of these minor gods invoke
them to satisfy their desired end but
when ultimately they consign the images
into a river they betray their hidden
impersonal idea of God-head which is
Brahman or It-God, whether the Image
imagined to be worshipped be male or
female at the outset. It-God, which is
devoid of senses and attributes cannot
accept our worship, hence cannot be
the object of our worship. A female
god cannot be so, because nothing can
produce without the combination of
male and female. The pseudo or
functional homo-Sexuality as
propounded by Dr. Freud proves that
one is male the Enjoyer, and the other
is female the object enjoyed. The
feminine aspect of both the worshipper
and the worshipped cannot give us the
desired end. When the object of
worship becomes female and the
worshipper becomes male, there the
self-enjoyment of the worshipper
predominates. The mother at last
becomes a woman or the object of
enjoyment of the worshipper. So a
feminine form cannot be the object of
our worship. Hence Leela
Purushottama i.e., the Eternal
Masculine Aspect of the Supreme Lord
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is the Eternal object of our worship. He
is the sole Enjoyerthe most Beautiful
Subject, and all other entities are the
objects of His enjoyment.
The Grand Etre of Humanity as
conceived by the world-man does not
submit to any human laws. This is
Proletarianism or Leninism of the West.
Forced by circumstances a dictator of
proletarians comes into being to feed
fat the capricious whims of the latter.
Again they are entrapped into the
delusion of ChaturvargaDharma,
Artha, Kama and Moksha.
The World-man cannot conceive
anything beyond the scope of three
dimensions of length, breadth and
thickness. So his conception of the
Grand Etre is confined within the four
walls of time and space. But the
Supreme Lord and His Kingdom are
transcendental. Hence the true nature
or religion of man must also be
transcendental.
Hegals follower Dr. Fireback
holds that all religions of the world are
nothing but the productions of their
mental mould and that it is man that has
created God and not God that has
created man and that all the ethical rules
are meant for the ease and enjoyment
of man. Hence mans religion must be
in tune with his tastes and predilections.
But Karl Marx (1818-1883) pointed
out this mistake of Fireback and said
that religion of man should be the
opinion of the people. It must be social,
and religion, like a narcotic, brings
drowsiness over mans free thinking.
So the communism of Kerinsky and
Socialism of Marx have created a
bloodless revolution in the West. They
are nothing but the Western editions of
the Eastern conceptions of pure
consciousness and cessation of
consciousness.
Both experience and history prove
that the so-called religion of man is
nothing but the exploit of their mental
speculation. Common sense cannot
conceive transcendence. So religion to
them is a reformed Grand Etre of their
mental concoction. To deliver them
from their mental exploitations in regard
to religion man, Scriptures come
forward as Pathology and Acharya or
Preceptor as Physician. The world-man
is a patient who cannot diagnose his
disease. Hence a good doctor
prescribes infalliable specific with diet
which cures the patient of the disease
which rather aggravates when the
patient poses himself as a doctor.
To remedy this incurable malady
of the world-man, the Divine Vyasa
Deva, as an Expert Physician, has
prescribed a sure cure in the form of
Transcendental words known as the
Vedas which are the Receptacles of
self-revealed truths from which all other
Acharyas have drawn their inspiration.
But those who have deflected from Him
having divergent views have been
rejected by the Acharyas who are in
touch with Him.
There are sundry Vyasas,
compilers of sundry Puranas divided
according to the qualities of Sattva,
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Raja and Tama. But the Divine Vyasa
Deva not having self-approbation
composed the Paramahamsa Samhita
or Sattvata Purana known as Srimad
Bhagavatam under the Divine
Guidance of Narada Goswami in which
the Parama Dharma or Eternal Religion
of Divine Love has been fully depicted.
The life and deeds of Sri Chaitanya are
S
the visible embodiment of the life and
deeds of Sri Krishna described in the
Bhagavatam with this difference that the
Former by his life and Teachings has
shown to the world how to lead a
devotional life that will pave the way to
the realisation of a perfect life of Divine
Love for Krishna in the Blissful Abode
of Vraja.
BHAKTI YOGA
Karma-yogis, Jnana-yogis, Ashtanga-yogis, Hatha-yogis etc., etc.,
being infatuated by the Deluding Potency of the Supreme Lord, do not
seek absolute shelter in His Lotus Feet. Only the Hamsas (Absolute-
realised souls) who are expert in discriminating between Truth and untruth,
take absolute shelter in the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord dedicating
whatever they possess to His Service. The Supreme Lord Himself, as
the Indwelling Monitor inside and as the Sat-Guru outside, dispels all
darkness of ignorance from the mind of the deotee and reveals His Own
Real Self in his heart of hearts. Every action should be performed for the
Pleasure of the Supreme Lord in devotional aptitude. One should live in
a Vishnutirtha (holy shrine of Sri Vishnu) where pure Bhaktas abound in
large numbers, and perform the worship of the Supreme Lord and festivals
in connection with the same. By knowing that Sri Krishna is the Soul of
all souls, a person becomes Samadarshi (vision of God in every entity
and vice versa) and is thus able to free himself from all evil propensities
such as jealousy, pride etc. Being established in this principle, one should,
without caring for the vainglorious relations, difference of bodily high or
low status and giving up all shame, make prostrated obeisances to all
Jivasfrom the highest to the lowest grade. So long as one has not
realised the Supreme Lord to be the Presiding Deity of all souls, one
should practise the above Bhaktiyoga. This Bhagavata-Dharma or religion
of Divine Love is Transcendental and propagated by the Supreme Lord;
for this reason even the slightest attempt to practise this Dharma is not
fruitless.
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The Qualified for the Universal Religion
Srimad Nitai Das Brahmachari
A
mong sentient beings
human life stands
foremost in all respects.
The Lord has given this precious life
with discriminating faculty and all
cognition, volition, emotion etc.,
enabling us to perform the fundamental
duty, which cannot be performed in any
other life except human. Even gods of
paradise, though situated in a much
more felicitous position than human
beings still they desire to obtain a
human life for performing the
fundamental duty, which is service to
the Divinity.
Srimad Bhagavatam teaches us
that we must perform Bhagavata
Dharma, which is the best utilization
of this valuable human life, from very
boyhood as soon as we get a little
knowledge. If it is asked Why from
so young an age as there is plenty of
time for us. Let us first see the world,
learn, earn and enjoy the life and then
we shall perform our religious duty at
old age it is answered by Sri Prahlada
at the age of five years while advising
his co-students. He says that this human
life though it is most important as it can
be utilized for earning the highest
spiritual wealth (Divine Love), is also
greatly uncertain as to duration of its
existence. Just like a drop of water on
a lotus leaf is not steady even for a
moment so also in this life there is no
certainty at to when it will perish.
Nobody can give a guarantee that one
will live upto very old age. Again, it
may be argued that if one dies earlier
also it will not matter much as he may
take a chance to perform Bhagavata
Dharma in the next life. This argument
also is refuted in the text itself which
says that this precious life is also rarest
and difficult to obtain and where is the
certainty that one will get a human body
in the next life? So none should neglect
or postpone his spiritual duty from the
very start of his life as it is most precious,
most rare and most important, though
ephemeral, for obtaining the highest goal
of life.(Bh.VII.6,2; 11.7)
What is the speciality of Bhagavat
Dharma if it is asked.
The unequalled greatness or
speciality of Bhagavata Dharma is this,
that it is not introduced by any human
being or even by any saint, sage or
prophet but it is preached and
prescribed by the Supreme Lord, Sri
Bhagavan Himself (Bh.VI.3.19).
Once upon a time when king Nimi
of Mithila was performing Yajnas, by
Lords will, nine God-realized
celebrated saints known as Nava
Yogendra graced the occasion by
presenting themselves at that place.
The pious king understood by their holy
presence that they were not ordinary
visitors. He received them accordingly
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and with great humility first expressed
that the human life is very rare and still
more rare was it to get a chance of
beholding and associating with a
beloved devotee of Vaikuntha Sri Hari
(Bh.XII.2.29; I.18.13).
He then asked what is the highest
and eternal good of all mankind and also
entreated to explain the Bhagavata
Dharma by which the Lord becomes
pleased and gives His Own self to the
performer?
Hearing these important questions,
Sri Kavi, one of those nine God-realized
saints said, O king! the straight and
definite method spoken by Bhagavan
Himself adopting which, even most
ignorant people also will be able to
realize Him without any difficulty, is
called Bhagavata Dharma
(Bh.XI.2.34,35).
The special characteristic of
Bhagavata Dharma is this, that if one
once takes recourse to this royal road
with unflinching faith he can run even
closing his eyes, with no fear of any
downfall and deviation for ever. And
not only the performer is benefitted:
even if somebody heartily supports and
sympathizes with the performers of
Bhagavata Dharma, he is also
benefitted. This Bhagavata Dharma
is of a wide range-beginning, from
dedicating even the daily usual activities
performed by the body, mind and
senses, to Lord Sri Narayana, up to
hearing and chanting His Divine Names,
Glories and Pastimes under the guidance
of an Absolute realized teacher.
Bhagavata Dharma does not depend
on time, space and individuality. It is
self-revealed, and can be performed by
any sentient being; nor does it depend
on any caste, creed, station of life, status
and circumstances.
Srimad Bhagavatam enlightens us
by illustrating some practical lives of
historical personalities who were
performers of Bhagavata Dharma
though placed in the position of
exceptional extremities. For reference,
the lives of Sri Prahlada and Dhruva
two noble princes, realized the Lord in
their very boyhood at the age of five
years only, which shows that Bhagavata
Dharma or Bhakti does not depend
upon any mundane experience or age-
limit. Gajendra (an elephant) had not
studied any scriptures but for its whole
hearted prayer for Lords help was
favoured by the Lord. Sri Vidura, born
of a maid-servant, yet was dearest to
the Lord, which establishes that it does
not require one to be born of a high
lineage. What beauty did Kubja (the
humpbacked woman) possess, who got
the rarest chance to render service to
the Lord with her body, mind and soul?
Sri Sudama was not a multimillionaire,
on the contrary, he was the poorest of
the poor, and still was one of the best
friends of Lord Sri Krishna, the King of
Dvaraka. A cruel hunter got the rare
sight of the Lord by the grace of devotee
(Padyavali.83).
Now some people may remark
that those who face some difficulties
and calamities, they only are seen to be
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devotees, but that people with
responsibilities and affluence are not
seen to perform Bhagavata Dharma
or Bhakti in history.
These reasons and remarks are
quite untenable and show lack of
scriptural and historical knowledge.
We shall see this from a person
performing Bhagavata Dharma who
is placed in the other extremity of life,
and there are so many such famous lives
in the history.
In Srimad Bhagavatam it is stated
that the son of king Nabhaga, king
Ambarisha, was the emperor of the
whole earth and there was none in the
whole world with whom his wealth,
powers and glories could be compared.
When king Parikshit heard that king
Ambarisha was such a high soul that
even the curse of a very great and
powerful sage which is always infallible,
left him totally unaffected, he eagerly
requested Sri Sukadeva to narrate some
surprising events of that wonderful life.
Sri Sukadeva said that though king
Ambarisha was ruling the whole earth
and possessed an inexhausible treasure-
house, which is rarest to be obtained
by human beings, and by obtaining
which people generally go into more
darkness, but only for his single-minded
love for Lord Vasudeva and His
associateswhich he considered to be
the most valuable treasure, the wealth
of the whole universe appeared to him
like a clod of earth. In fact, though he
was the biggest of all householders, his
was a life of a pure Maha Bhagavata
(Parama-hamsa). He used to
administrate the earth through many
expert administrators, keeping himself
fully engaged in performing Bhagavata
Dharma undisturbed.
It is stated that king Ambarisha
used to spend his precious time engaging
his body, mind and soul in Lords different
loving services. Instead of trying to
control the wicked mind by some
unnatural rigid penance and austerity, he
first of all engaged his mind in constant
contemplation of the twin Divine Lotus
Feet of Lord Sri Krishna. He kept
engaged the speaking function of the
tongue which has got two functions,
tasting and speaking, in chanting and
glorifying the Divine Names and
Pastimes of the Lord. Though by merely
a hint he could have thousands of people
at his disposal still out of strong and
spontaneous love, he himself used to
pluck flowers from the garden, sweep
and wash the temple of the Lord, make
sandal-wood paste, and worship the
Divine Deities, thus engaging his hands
in Lords service. His ears were kept
attentively ready to receive the Divine
Revels of Lord Achyuta (Sri Krishna)
in the form of descended Divine sounds
emanated from the holy lips of pure
devotees; eyes were being used by him
in beholding the holy image of the Lord
in the temple and His devotees; the
sense of touch he engaged in touching
the holy feet of Lords pure devotees
and in embracing them; through the nose,
he used to take sweet fragrance of the
holy Tulasi leaves offered at the Divine
Feet of the Lord; the other function of
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the tongue he used in tasting the Divine
remnants of the Lords dishes. He used
his legs in circumambulating the holy
places like Sri Mathura, Sri Vrindavan
etc., his head, he used to bow down to
the Holy Feet of the Lord. He offered
his desires in rendering loving service
to the Lord and not for enjoying
mundane objects (Bh.IX.4.18-20).
In this way, king Ambarisha
directed his body, mind, senses and soul
towards the best course to satisfy the
Divinity. O f course, he being the
emperor of the earth had so many other
pious activities as charity, performing
Yajnas etc., but he was doing all those
activities like administration through
representatives, keeping himself
directly and fully engaged in Hari-
Bhajana (unalloyed devotion) to Lord
Hari uninterruptedly. Thousands of
people, including hundreds of Vedic
Brahmins were maintained by him. He
was so humble and sweet, to each and
every one in his demeanour, that all
loved him as more than an emperor.
His spiritual activities were so perfectly
done without any flaw, pride and
hypocrisy that Lord Sri Hari was fully
pleased with him. Even his subjects,
who also got the opportunity to hear
and chant the Lords Divine Names,
Qualities and Pastimes in his
association, had no desire even for
celestial pleasures.
Once king Ambarisha with his
equally devout wife observed
Dvadashi Vrata (religious vow) for
one year to please Lord Sri Hari and
at the completion of the same both
fasted three days and worshipped Lord
Sri Krishna at Madhuvan in Vraja after
taking bath in the sacred Yamuna with
all required offerings and paraphernalia.
Then after feeding all Brahmins and
other innumerable visitors, invited and
uninvited, with Mahaprasada and after
giving in charity lacs of rupees he just
intended to break his fast with the
permission of all Brahmins by taking
Lords Prasada.
At that very moment the powerful
sage Durvasa presented himself on the
spot as a chance-guest. The king at
once received the holy chance-guest
and worshipped him with flowers etc.,
and then sitting near his feet entreated
him for dinner. Sage Durvasa gladly
consented and went to Yamuna for a
bath where he entered into a long
Brahman-meditation. King Ambarisha,
who was waiting for the venerable
chance-guest, found himself on the
horns of a dilemma as, unless the sage
returned from his bath he could not take
food; at the same time, there were only
a few minutes left within which he must
break the fast, otherwise the religious
vow would become defective. Sage
Durvasa was extremely proud of his
superhuman Yogic powers and
intolerably envious of king Ambarishas
name and fame as a great devotee and
so he purposely timed his arrival and
wilfully prolonged his oblation by
entering into meditation so that he might
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get some loopholes to underestimate the
king. Durvasa thought king Ambarisha
to be a hypocrite and a pretentious
worldly-minded king, and himself to be
a Brahmin and a great sage, possessing
all superhuman powers and with
attachment to none.
Placed on the horns of a dilemma,
as stated above, king Ambarisha in
consultation with all learned Brahmins
broke his fast by sipping a little water,
which was according to scriptures equal
to both eating and non-eating. Then
the sage, knowing everything by his
psychic powers, came back furiously
and began to scold the pious king very
badly.
Oh! said Durvasa, how this cruel,
haughty king, proud of wealth and
power, has transgressed the religious
path! You invited me to dine and before
feeding the chance-guest, you have fed
yourself. I will teach you just now a
good lesson for this unpardonable crime
of yours. Saying these words with
extreme anger, he tore some of his own
clotted hair and made a deadly fire-
image with a sharp-pointed sword in
its hand which vehemently ran towards
the king to kill him outright. But
Mahabhagavata Ambarisha did not
move even an inch from the spot. He
was not at all afraid of anything because
he had already completely surrendered
himself at the Lotus Feet of the
Supreme Lord; he knew that if he was
destined to die it was the Lords Will
and, if not, then not a thing can do any
harm to him. He also thought that a
Brahmins power, anger or curse are
not to be defended but always to be
tolerated. But the Sudarshana Chakra
(Divine disc of Lord Sri Krishna),
which is always vigilant to protect the
pure devotees, burnt then and there that
angry image into ashes and turned
towards Durvasa. Sage Durvasa
observing his utter failure to kill
Ambarisha and that the glowing disc
was coming to kill his own self, got
terribly afraid, and to protect his life
began to run in all directions. But just
as a big flame of forestfire follows and
burns the snakes, so Lords Divine Disc
also after burning the image closely
followed Durvasa. The sage then
entered into a mountain cavity and from
there he tried to relieve himself from the
unbearable heat by running to all sides
of the nether worlds, then entered into
the ocean, went to paradise but
everywhere he saw the disc was cosely
following to kill him. Then feeling
helpless, he went to Satyaloka and
approached creator Brahma with the
crying request to kindly save him from
this weapon of the Lord.
Sri Brahma told him, How can I
protect you when you have committed
a great offence at the holy feet of a very
dear devotee of that Supreme Lord Sri
Krishna, by Whose mere Will, at the
time of the great cataclysm, the whole
universe including this Satyaloka is
completely destroyed, and under
Whose subserviency great personalities
like Daksha, Bhrigu and all we senior
gods carry out with bent heads His kind
and beneficial orders (Bh.IX.4.53,54,
56,57).
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Being refused by Sri Brahma.
Durvasa took shelter in Shiva at
Kailash. Sri Shiva too said to sage
Durvasa, My dear, I will tell you the
truth, we have no power to do anything
in this case. All great personages like
Sanat Kumara, Narada, Brahma,
Devala, Yama, Marichi etc., and
myselfthough we are omniscient, still
we get confused and cannot fathom the
Lords inconceivable powers and we
too are terribly afraid of that Supreme
Lord Sri Haris Divine disc. So nothing
can be done by me. We are not
independent. But I advise you to go
and take refuge at the Lotus Feet of
Lord Hari Himself.
Now being instructed by
Mahadev, Durvasa ran to Sri Hari with
great hope of getting free from the
intolerable burning heat of Sudarshana
Chakra and fell prostrate at the Holy
Feet of Lord Sri Narayana and cried,
O Supreme Lord! by my utter
ignorance, I have committed great
offence at the holy feet of your dearest
devotee, be merciful to me and make
me free from this formidable offence.
Oh, for Thee, by only uttering Whose
Names, one gets rid of horrible hells,
there is nothing impossible.
Lord Sri Narayana spoke, O
Sage! I am also fully dependent on my
beloved devotees. As Brahma and
Shiva, being dependent on Me could
not save you, I too am dependent on
My beloved devotees and hence
cannot protect you from this danger.
My humble devotees, who cherish no
desire even for emancipation, have
totally captured My heart by their
selfless devotion towards Me. Not to
speak of them, even their servants are
dear to Me. But I will tell you the way
how you can save yourself from this self-
hostility. Go just now to My devotee
Sri Ambarisha, whom you wanted harm,
and know that any power or weapon
used to torment a devotee, that very
means turns to kill the offender.
Austerity and learning both are
beneficial to a real Brahmin but they
become harmful to those Brahmins who
are arrogant and wrathful (Bh.IX.4.63-
70; XI.14.15).
Getting Lords kind advices,
Durvasa hurried to king Ambarisha and
caught hold of both his feet with penitent
heart. Maharaja Ambarish felt
embarrassed noticing the Brahmin
touching his feet. For full one year, since
Durvasa had left, the king had not taken
any food and lived only on water. He
was constantly praying to God for
Durvasas relief. Observing the
Brahmin still in danger the king began
to pray with all sincerity and humility to
Sri Sudarshana Chakra who was
incessantly burning Durvasa.
After listeing to the whole-hearted
prayer of Sri Ambarisha, the Divine
weapon of the Lord became gradually
calm and graceful.
Thus being immune from the
excited disc, Sri Durvasa felt relieved
and uttering benedictory words to Sri
Ambarisha Maharaj began to praise him.
Sage Durvasa expressed, with
ecstasy, O king Ambarisha! only today
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have I practically experienced the
unequal magnanimity of Lords
servants. Though I have committed an
unpardonable offence still you are all
the time anxiously desiring and praying
for my good. What is impracticable to
and unattained by those unalloyed
servants who render loving services to
the Holy Lotus Feet of that Supreme
Lord Sri Krishna by simply listening to
Whose Divine Names Jivas become
completely free from all sins
(Bh.I.5.14,16).
Dear friends! Now think and judge
the wonderful power of Bhagavata
Dharma and the inconceivable
greatness of Lord Sri Krishnas humble
devotees. If we compare the fitness and
outward positions of these two great
personalities it will be seen that sage
Durvasa had abnegated everything
worldly except a small piece of cloth
put on his person and possessed all
superhuman powers. There was
nobody to weep if he died and there
was none for whom he was to care and
he was absolutely free from all
responsibilities and worries. Whereas
king Ambarisha, was a Kshatriya
householder with wife and children, and
besides he was not an ordinary king,
but the emperor of the whole earth,
comprising the seven islands (Jambu,
Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Krauncha,
Shaka and Pushkara) with great
responsibilities. But when Durvasas
infallible weapon was coming to kill him
he did not move even an inch to save
himself from imminent death and instead
of taking revenge on the sage, and
though in fact he was not in fault, when
he saw that the Sudarshana Chakra had
destroyed Durvasas fireweapon and
was after him, may almost touching his
back the king was thinking and praying
to the Lord for Durvasas relief.
O Lord! for me this Brahmin is
put into troubles, for my sake this great
sage is suffering, kindly save the Brahmin
from troubles.
Can there be any kind and nobler
heart than this? And Sri Durvasa who
was a great saint and Brahmajna sage,
when the Lords Divine disc came to
burn him he began to dash about heaven
and earth in vain to save himself.
For showing the greatness of the
Bhakta, the Lords affection towards His
devotees, the surprising and tremendous
power of pure devotion or Bhagavata
Dharma and the malicelessness and
inimitable humility, tolerance, kindness
and sincerity of selfless devotees, the
Lord has shown all these in this episode
through sage Durvasa and king
Ambarisha.
S
I am telling you, Oh Sambhu! Nothing but the bare truth, which is
to be properly cherished. Sri Krishna Nama is the Divine Elixir to
restore even death itself or like the life-restoring remedy to the dead.
Hari Bhakti Vilas
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Ninefold Devotion
Srimad Raghava Chaitanya Das
W
hen comapred to the
sixty-four modes of
devotional practices,
the ninefold ways of devotion are
highly powerful (Bh.7.5.23,24). In
fact, all the above ideas are included
in the ninefold ways of devotion. Each
method in this subsequent group is
independently potent enough to
procure us the loving devotion to Sri
Krishna and even Sri Krishna Himself.
Those who constantly listen to
your Glorious Topics again and again,
sing Them with spontaneous love, utter
Them before others, contemplate on
Them, and rejoice with great delight
when spoken by others, alone behold
Your Lotus Feet that put an end to the
repeated cycle of births and deaths,
before long (Bh.1.7.36). Therefore,
O descendant of Bharata! He who is
desirous of attaining the eternal fearless
state, the abode of perpetual
happiness, should listen to recite, and
meditate upon the Transcendental
Glories of the Supreme Lord Sri Hari,
the Lord of all Jivas, the Sole Shelter
of the entire universe (Bh.II.1.5).
Shravana:
Shravana means the act of
listening the Names, Divine Pastimes,
Attributes, etc., of the Supreme Lord
Sri Krishna. The scrupulous
observance of any one form of the
ninefold ways of devotion brings
success to its aspirant. Yet, for the
purification of ones heart, it is desirable
to follow the laid-out course.
Accordingly the first procedure is to
hear the Holy Name. On hearing the
marvels of the Name, when the mind is
purified, the next stage of hearing the
topics relating to the Transcendental
Form of the Lord is to be followed.
This renders the aspirant eligible to
realise the nature of the Form of the
Lord. When he is fortunate enough to
have a full realisation of the Form, he is
spontaneously favoured with the
experience of the various Transcen-
dental Qualities. Similarly, the other
effects of hearing in succession bring
gradually the realisations of the
Entourage and finally the Transcendental
Pastimes. This is the proper order for
hearing. The same course is effective
and prescribed for Kirtan, and Smarana
as well. If the exposition of the Shastras
on the Name, Form, Qualities, Pastimes
and Entourage of the Lord is heard from
a genuine Bhakta, it is far more effective
than having the same from a Sadhak.
Hearing from one who is a disbeliever
and who does the same, influenced by
various worldly desires, often brings a
detrimental effect. Lifeless and
mercenary explanations may be no
doubt, charming, learned, humorous,
and even sometimes, rationally
convincing, but they fail to stir up the
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dormant feelings in the hearers and
awaken in them any sense of
detachment from the worldly objects
or devotion to Godhead. Their words
do not touch the heart or have any
permanent impression there, since they
do not originate from the depth of their
hearts. These expositions of Shastras
can only attract the admirations of the
public towards these mercenary
speakers, and that too, of a superficial
nature, resulting in their sympathetic
outlook and lavish presents.
Shastras caution us to hear only
such spiritual topics as are narrated,
composed, or approved by great
realised Bhaktas, ancient or modern
(Mahat Kirtita or Mahat Prakatita).
Any composition may be on Godhead
from the pen of worldly-minded
people, does not provide us with the
desired result. They shape things in their
mental mould, and give often an entirely
new form or even wrong shapes. As
such, it is beneficial, preferablenay,
compulsoryto hear spiritual discourses
from persons who have realised what
they preach and whose lives are living
examples of the same valuable
teachings.
Of all kinds sacred books
prescribed for the purpose of hearing
(Shravana), the act of listening to
Srimad Bhagavatam is spoken of as the
best. In it we get the combination of
both the aforesaid qualifications. It is
composed by the great Krishna
Dvaipayan Vedavyas, one of Lords
Manifesta-tions, and narrated by great
Bhaktas like Shukadeva, etc. In
addition, it contains the quintessence of
all the Shastras of the world. Oh
Rasikas (devotees belonging to any of
the five important spiritual Rasas of
Shanta, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and
Madhura), and Bhavukas (in whom the
spontaneous love for Bhagavan has
made its manifestation)! Drink deep this
Nectarine Rasa till you are completely
saturated with the ocean-like
Everlasting Bliss. Srimad Bhagavatam
is the fully ripened fruit of the wish-
yielding tree-like Vedas. This fruit has
dropped down from the tree to the
earth from the holy mouth of the great
sage Shukadeva and this fruit is unllike
other fruits, in that, this is free from any
waste substance, such as the skin, fibre,
seed, etc., and is condensed Rasa itself
(the most marvellous and captivating
Transcendental Pastimes of the Name,
Qualities, etc., from the nectarine
contents of this incomparable fruit)
(1.1.3.).
It is imperatively necessary to
verify the authenticity of what we have
heard and get fully convinced of it.
Before starting with any course of
spiritual procedure, we must be
thorough with its theoretical side.
Hence, Shravanam occupies the first
place in the list of devotional practices.
The act of listening is prayed for by
many devotees even after realising
Bhagavan. They have prayed to
Bhagavan to bless them incessantly with
the benefits of hearing His
Transcendental Glories. Some of the
Bhaktas, like Prithu Maharaj, etc., went
a step further in their demands
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influenced by this burning ardour for
hearing. They have accepted the
inadequacy of having only two ears and
appealed to the Lord to provide them
with a thousand ears to do full justice to
the act of listening the Divine Topics,
wherever They are told.
Those who are desirous of
crossing this terrible ocean of triple
afflictions extremely difficult to cross
over, have no other vessel than hearing,
i.e., enjoying the Nectarine Narratives
of the Glorious Deeds of the Supreme
Lord Sri Krishna (Bh.12.4.40). Sri
Krishna, the Eternal Benefactor of those
Sadhus, the hearing and chanting of
Whose Name are great purifying
factors, manifesting in the hearts of those
who listen with rapt attention His
Transcendental Glories, uproots the evil
propensities of their hearts as their
Indwelling Guide (Bh. 1.2.17).
Those who drink in the narration of the
nectar-like Glorious Deeds of the Lord,
Who is the Delight of the devotees,
poured into the cavities of their ears by
the Bhaktas, purify their hearts which
are awfully contaminated by the
thoughts of the senses and sense-
objects and attain His Lotus Feet
(Bh.2.2.37). The Elixir of Thy
Narratives is life itself to those who are
distressed by the pangs of Thy
separation. Great devotees like
Prahlada, Dhruva, etc., too sing Thy
Glories, the best remedy to strike at the
very root of all sins, most auspicious to
hear, capable of imparting all prosperity
and above all the sublime gift of Divine
Love. As such he who spreads it in this
world is the best and the most
munificient of all the generous-hearted
persons (Bh.X.31.9).
Kirtana:
Chanting aloud the Names, Form,
Qualities, Entourage, Lilas, etc. (B.R.S.
1.2.145). All the instructions that we
have so far heard in Shravana are
equally applicable to Kirtan. The order
of performing Kritan also is the same.
After hearing the blissful and auspicious
Glories relating to the Divine Births and
Deeds of Sri Krishna manifested in the
world, one must chant Them unabashed,
moving in the world undisturbed by the
ups and downs, and unattached to the
sense objects and its evil temptations
(Bh.11.2.39). Any one who has fallen
into this stormy ocean of worldliness
and is caught in its eddies of births and
deaths, can get deliverance from it in no
time, by uttering His Name, even
helplessly, of whom even Mahakal, the
personification of fear itself, is awfully
afraid (Bh.1.1.14).
Smarana:
Remembering the Name, Form,
Qualities and Sportive Activities of the
Supreme Lord is known as Smarana.
Smarana is fivefold, according to its
stages of development: (1) The primary
stage of Smarana consists in recalling
to ones mind the Holy Name, Form,
Attributes, etc., of the Lord, as in a flash,
the chief aim being the purification of the
heart. As this is inferior to Kirtan, no
specific instances are quoted. (2)
Dharana: This is a hard stage reached
after regular struggle by the striver. A
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regular tug-of-war between him on one
side and his mind withall its senses as
the other is in progress. The mind
running mad like a mad harse escaping
from its keeper, is to be restricted from
its wanderings. Withdrawing the mind
from all its diverse objectives and fixing
it in remembering the Lord is the
meaning of this state of mental pursuit.
(3) Dhyana: Special concentration of
the mind on the Form, Activities etc.,
of the Lord is meant by Dhyana. In
this, the striver has succeeded in his
attempts to control the mind. Free from
outside distractions and the mad
influence of the fickle mind, he can
concentrate it upon the Lord. (4)
Dhruvanu Smriti: The incessant flow
of the mind (like a continuous stream
of nectar towards the Lord like the
unbroken flow of oil to bring the simile
nearer to us). (5) Samadhi: The
spontaneous manife-station of the Lord
in the heart. This stage of Samadhi is
different from the one that is attained
by the jnanis generally known by the
Asam-Prajnata-Samadhi or Brahma-
Samadhi. In the case of Bhaktas, they
get an uninterrupted realisation of the
Transcendental Sports of the Supreme
Lord. Their heart is converted into a
stadium for the Lord to play and the
various alluring sports take place in their
hearts like the surging waves of a rough
sea.
There is also the act of
remembrance both in the process of
chanting the Name (Nama Smriti), and
in muttering the Mantra (Mantra
Smriti). The remembrance that
automatically materialises while chanting
the Divine Name, keeping the number
on a rosary of Tulasi beads is known
as Nama Smriti. The remembrance
that takes place while muttering the
Mantra keeping its number on ones
finger, is the process of Mantra Smriti.
Just as we do not dream when we
attain the waking state, even so, by the
mere entrance of the Supreme Lord into
the heart by His inconceivable power,
all the illusions displayed by the Asurik
forces are completely dispelled.
Because remembrance of the Lord is
the remedy for all our calamities (Bh.
8.10.55). Oh Lord! I am extremely
fortunate to behold Your Lotus Feet
today. The pupose of my birth is fulfilled
by beholding Your Feet that are being
constantly meditated on in their hearts
by Brahma and others of
incomprehensible learning; Your Feet
are higly blissful and are the eternal
resort of all devoted souls, and the only
recourse to those fallen souls struggling
in the deep well of worldly sufferings.
Have mercy upon me so that the
memory of Your Lotus Feet may remain
incessantly in me and I may be able to
roam about in this world, constantly
meditating upon Them (Bh.X.69.18).
Oh Nalinanabha (Sri Krishna)! Your
Lotus Feet are being constantly
meditated on in thier hearts by brahma
and other masters of Yoga and vast
learning. They are the only support for
deliverance of all Jivas from the depths
of this well of worldly existence. May
the remembrance of Your Lotus Feet
continuously manifest in our hearts,
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enmeshed, as we are, in domestifc life
(Bh.X.82.49).
Padasevana:
This mode of devotion is the act
of seeing, touching, circumambulating
the Holy Image and the sacred temple,
sacred abodes like Vrindavan, Mathura,
Jagannatha, Dvaraka, Ayodhya, etc.,
going on pilgrimages, bathing in the holy
rivers like the Ganges, Yamuna, etc.
Taking shelter in any of the sacred
abodes of the Lord, or a holy temple
for life, also comes under the category
of Padasevana. The service of the
sacred Tulasi, the most favourite of
Bhagavan Sri Hari is also included in
this mode of devotion.
Discarding the performance of
daily routine religious rites enjoined by
the Varnasrama Dharma, those who
serve the Lotus Feet of Sri Krishna,
need not in the least be afraid of any
evil befalling them, even if they meet
with a fall from their devotinal practices
or with a premature death, owing to the
inborn indifference to past fruitive
activities. In whatever circumstances
they are placed or in whichever species
of births they are born, no evil shall
befall those who are devoted to the
Lord. Because of their natural
inclination to render service to the Lord,
they never experience any failure.
Whereas, those who regularly perform
their daily routine religious rites, but lack
in devotion to the Lord, achieve nothing
substantial (Bh.1.5.17). Oh Lotus-
eyed Lord! The wise ever fix their mind
in deep contemplation of You, the
Abode of all goodness. Following in
the footsteps of the great sages of yore,
they have adopted Your Lotus Feet as
an ever safe boat and find this vast
ocean of worldly existence as a mere
small pit of water made by the hoof of
a calf (Bh.X.2.30). Oh Krishna
(Primeval Being)! If a mortal, inhabiting
this mundane world, being scared by
the serpent of death and after roaming
about in all the worlds including that of
Brahma and finding no safe shelter free
from fear, fortunately and through the
blessings of saints, happens to take
shelter at Your Lotus Feet, he then
rests, in peace. Death itself runs away
from him (Bh.X.3.27). Oh God! Oh
Bhagavan! One who is fortunate
enough to receive even a particle of
Grace from Your twin Lotus Feet, alone
knows the Truth of Your inconceivable
Glories, No one else is capable of
realising It even if he devotes his whole
time and energy till eternity
(Bh.X.14.29).
Archana:
Ritualistic worship of the Lord is
Archana. Every householder is
expected to follow this process. This
ultimately leads him to the Lord. Just
as watering the root of a tree nourishes
its main trunk, branches, and twigs, so
also the worship of SriVishnu results in
the satisfaction of all souls including him
(Bh.7.5.49). Just as watering the root
of a tree, nourishes its trunk, branches,
sub-branches, leves, flowers, seeds,
and all its other pars and by feeding the
body alone (by taking food), all its other
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parts and by feeding the organs of
senses are nourished, so also by
worshipping Sri Krishna alone, all the
other gods are as good as worshipped,
without their being actually
worshipped, either individually or
jointly. The analogy lies in the fact that,
we have to take the food through the
mouth alone and not through other
parts like the eyes, ears, nose; etc.,
which means that all the other parts of
the body require to be fed through the
proper channel of the mouth only.
Similarly, if Sri Krishna is served, all
the lesser gods are definitely served
(Bh.IV.31.14).
When a sincere person, with a
clean heart, who pours water at Your
Lotus Feet and performs Their worship
by offering even tender blades of Durba
grass, attains the sublimest goal; how
can this Bali who with a cheerful mind
and loving heart dedicted the three
worlds to Your Lotus Feet, come to
any grief? (Bh.8.22.23). Wise men,
viewing through the medium of the
Shastras on the eternal welfare of all
human beings, have declared this
worship of Sri Vishnu as the best
method of attaining mental peace and
the righteous course that invariably
brings deliverance from the thraldom
of miseries and complete satisfaction
of the Atma (Bh.X.84.36). He who
worships Me thus adopting the
regulated processes prescribed by the
Vedas and Tantra texts, receives from
Me rewards in fulfilment of all his
desires here and hereafter(XI.27.49).
Vandana:
Vandana, though it forms an item
in Archana, is spoken of as an
independent process too. The sense
of extreme humility on hearing the
unparalleled Glories of the Lord is the
main basis of this method. The word
Namaskar indicates the giving up of all
types of material ego. Shastanga
Namaskar means bowing down to the
Lord as a mark of respect and in utter
humility, utilising all the Indriyas, viz., (1)
the arms, (2) the legs, (3) the knees,
(4) the breast, (5) the head, (6) the eyes,
(7) mind and (8) words (H.B.V.
1.7.360). One must bow down to the
Lord with his heart and soul, with the
eyes slightly opened and earnestly
feeling and uttering, Oh Lord! I am
Thine with my body, mind and soul.
Besides this there is the other method
knows as the Panchanga Namaskara,
which means prostrating oneself before
the Lord with (1) the knees, (2) the
hands, (3) the head, (4) with words and
(5) mind dedicated to Him
(H.B.V.1.7.367).
Therefore, he who bearing all the
consequences of his previous actions,
anticipating Thy Mercy with eagerness,
and surrendering himself to Thee
unconditionally in body, mind and
words, lives by offering salutations to
Thee, richly deserves to attain Thee
(MuktipadamSri Krishna Himself)
(Bh. X.14.8). To day all my evils have
left me, the very purpose of my birth is
fulfilled; because I offer my prostrated
obeisances at the Lotus Feet of Sri
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Krishna, which are always meditated
upon by Yogis (Bh. X.38.6). With
single minded devotion, one should
bow down to all movabe and
immovable objects, such as the sky, air,
fire, water, earth, stars, planets like the
moon, etc., all living beings, the cardinal
points, trees and the like, rivers, ocean,
etc., as the limbs of Bhagavan Sri Hari
(Bh.XI.2.47). He who has fallen in a
well, a ditch, or a pit, etc., or has
slipped from a staircase, and is afflicted
in manifold ways, and utters even once
loudly I bow down to Thee-Sri Hari,
is freed from all his sins
(Bh.XII.12.46).
Dasya:
A sincere feeling that one is the
servant of the Lord and the
accompanying acts of servitude are the
signs of Dasya mode of devotion. Let
alone the various efforts of the votary
of this method in the worship of the
Lord, the very feeling itself is alone
capable of leading him to the realisation
of the Supreme Lord. A servant of the
Lord occupies a position second to
none. In all forms of devotion this
feeling of rendering service to the
Supreme Lord plays the most
important role. In this connection our
Shastras, in a single voice, emphatically
declare the incomprable grlories of the
servants of the Lord. To attain the
position of a servant of the Lord, needs
Herculean efforts. Is there in all the
worlds anything yet to be attained on
the part of the servants of the most
auspicious Feet of the Supreme Lord,
by the mere hearing of Whose Name,
the fallen Jivas get rid of all their sins?
(Bh. IX.5.16). Oh Krishna! As long
as man does not become Your servant,
so long alone love etc., act as thieves
(as they deprive us of our inherent
knowledge and bliss), the house
becomes a prison (owing to the
existence of endless sufferings), and
delusion as fetters on legs (Bh.
X.14.36). Whatever man does, guided
either by the rules and regulations of the
sacred scriptures, or inspired by natural
instincts, through the medium of his
physical body, words, mind, senses,
intellect, or even by inherited habits, he
should dedicate them all to the Supreme
Lord Sri Narayana (Bh.XI.2.36). Oh
Achyuta! Oh the Benefactor of the
universe! Through great gods like
Brahma prostrate themselves with their
splendid crowns, the tops of which brush
against Your Footstool, You, in Your
Descent as Sri Raghuram, accepted the
alliance of friendship of the monkeys.
Hence, what wonder is there, that You
exhibit Your extreme addiction and
subservience to Your great servants who
have taken absolute shelter in You alone
and none else (Bh. XI.29.4).
Sakhya:
Great confidence and friendly
relationship form the features of Sakhya
devotion. Attending to the various
comforts and timely service of the Lord
in a Friendly way is the characteristic of
a Bhakta of this order. Just as a sincere
friend in the world, is always eager for
the welfare of his companion, so too a
genuine devotee of this order, puts in all
his loving efforts in the interest of the
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Lord. This feeling of friendship is
twofold: (1). Mixed with reverence
(Gaurava), and (2) undiluted friendship
(Vishrambha). Lo! How incomparable
is their fortune! It is simply impossible
to measure the luck of Sri Nanda
Maharaja and other Vrajavasis, whose
Dear Friend is the Eternal Lord Sri
Krishnathe very Embodiment of
Bliss!
Atmanivedana:
Complete sefl-surrender is the
essence of this form of Bhakti. This
consists of surrendering unconditionally
ones body, mind, words, soul and all
that one feels as his own to the Lord.
A devotee of this order is utterly
indifferent to make efforts even for his
own purposes. But, he never abstains
from rendering services to the Lord.
Even the very idea of maintaining himself,
does not cross his mind, as he ever
remains busy in the service of his Lord.
Service to the Lord is the very essence
of his existence. Their condition is like
that of a beast that has been sold.
When once it is sold to a new customer,
the entire responsibility of maintaining
it rests on the shoulders of the new
master. The beast too, is out of his
hands and never renders any service to
its erstwhile master. Even so, after
complete self-surrender, the
surrendered soul feels that he is the
property of the Lord and he has nothing
that he can claim as his. Accordingly,
such a devotee never worries for his
daily necessities, such as food, clothing,
etc., or even medicine during all sorts
of illness. Atmanivedan distinguishes
itself from Saranagati in respect of
certain special characteristic. In a wod,
Atmanivedan is the fully developed
condition of Saranagati.
S
O Uddhava! The wise pay no heed to those mundane fruitless
words which do not bring forth Eternal Bliss to the world, which
do not narrate My Deeds relating to the creation, sustenance and
destruction of the universe nor desrcibe the Deeds of My Descents
which enkindle devotional love and are, therefore, destructive of
evils and productive of eternal good to the world. (Hence a devotee
of the Supreme Lord is the most munificent and intelligent being in
the whole world) (Bh.XI.11.20)
4-4| + +|+ + |-v-4aa||+|+-4
=|=|-||-=-- | -4|+ 4| |4 -| |4~4|:| +|
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Gaudiya Math Chennai / The Gaudiya September 2011 Special Issue

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