(Article from The Harmonist (Sree Sajjanatoshani) VOl.XXXI, June 27, 1935, No.21/page 493, by Prof. Nishi Kanta Sanyal M.A. Bhaktisastri)
When Sree Rupa and Sanatana met Sree Krishna Chaitanya at Ramkeli, the two brothers behaved with great humility. They said to Him that they were worse than anybody else. They were not merely addicted to evil deeds but were occupying the worse position of the servants of a tyrannical king who was an enemy of the true religion of the country. Jagai and Madhai whom Sree Krishna Chaitanya had delivered were very much better than they. Jagai and Madhai were Brahmins by caste, they lived at Nabadwip and they were not the slaves of Godless enemies of their religion. The only defect was that they were addicted to vices. “But we are outside the pale of Varnasrama Dharma and are helpers of those who delight in persecuting Brahmins”. They besought Him to accept them as His servants by delivering them from their evil condition. Sree Krishna Chaitanya said that He knew their hearts. Their humility was most distressing to Him. And then the Lord informed them that He had composed a couplet which He had already sent to them for their consolation and instruction. It ran to this effect:
kuṣṭhī-viprera ramaṇī, pativratā-śiromaṇi,
pati lāgi’ kailā veśyāra sevā
stambhila sūryera gati, jīyāila mṛta pati,
tuṣṭa kaila mukhya tina-devā
(Sree Chaitanya Charitamritam, Antya-lila 20.57)
The wedded wife, who is violently attached to other persons than her husband, while performing with apparent fidelity and zeal all her domestic duties, is in a position to mentally indulge her passion for her paramours.”
It is possible for a person to serve God in the midst of the discouraging environment of this world. It is not necessary for such a person to take the world into his confidence. This world is on principle opposed to the service of Godhead. Therefore, the external conduct of a pure devotee never needs correspond to his real sentiments. It is only if the activity of tasting the transcendental quality of the love of Godhead is aroused in the pure cognition of a person with sufficient intensity that he is enabled to overcome all his difficulties, and can be really benefited. The relationship with Godhead is the one thing needful. Srimad Bhagabata informs us that Godhead is Adhokshaja. In other words. He has reserved the right of not being exposed to the human senses. Sree Rupa and Sanatana were instructed by Sree Krishna Chaitanya to engage themselves in the service of the Transcendental Lover and of those who serve Him. It was possible for them to do so although outwardly they might be the servants of a king who was opposed to the religion of Love practised by the Vaishnava. It is not possible to actually understand the nature of worldly delusions until one is relieved from the experience of both the sleeping and waking states of this life. Spiritual enlighten is not at all like the awaking state of this life. In this world as soon as a man wakes up he realises the triviality of the pleasure of the sleeping state. But during his waking condition he is no less subject to night-mares in the shape of the difficulties of this world which are as unreal as the nightmares of his troubled dream. On the attainment of spiritual enlightenment alone he is actually relieved of these difficulties.
Rupa and Sanatana were beyond the reach of the difficulties of this world. They did not mistake any form of activity of their external life as their real function. The seeming face of things did not obstruct their vision of the truth. Their external activities did not clash with their real function. A conditioned soul cannot have any idea of the function of his soul. It is for this reason that it is necessary for him to have recourse to the Guru who has the power of restoring the true vision which is dormant in his case. But in the enlightened condition it is still necessary to admit the external conditions of this world. It is necessary to admit the propriety of ethical living and the truth of the altruistic theory. These cannot satisfy the requirements of the soul. But it will not do to disregard them in one’s external conduct. Such external practices will not prevent a person from serving Transcendental Godhead. The real difficulty we have to guard against is that of the insincere attitude in approaching the transcendental teacher for his guidance. It is not necessary to carry any of our worldly thoughts and convictions to such a person.
The real spiritual preceptor will not agree to misguide us. He will not flatter our vanities. He never accepts any worldly riches from his disciples. But his conduct and his words cannot be understood by the ignorant people of this world. It is possible to deceive immoral persons by the trade of religion. The pseudo-gurus have been setting up hovels of brick, which they miscall temples of God, by misappropriating the wealth of their disciples. But Godhead does not abide in a temple made by the hands of man.
Aurangzeb demolished the temple of stone which misguided people thought to be the temple of Govinda. The seeming face was mistaken both by Aurangzeb and other conditioned souls to be the temple of Govinda. It is in this way that persons addicted to the pleasures of the world wage an eternal war against Transcendental Godhead, Their victories over the seeming face are contrived by the Will of Govinda for deluding those who are not prepared to admit the transcendental nature of the worship of God and His Personality. Sree Krishna in the same way enacted the role of being killed by the arrow of a fowler. But the body of Sree Krishna cannot be destroyed. The real preceptor can hardly be popular in this world. Worldly people, who resort to him for instruction, are disappointed by not getting from him what they want. There may be occasions when such disappointed persons set themselves actively against the preaching of the truth. But in spite of their seeming successes it is never possible for them to oppose the Will of Godhead.
When Babu Sakhicharan Roy conceived the desire of building a temple and endow the service of Govinda in his native village, His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj opposed his proposal. But the same gentleman was allowed to build the great Temple of God at Sreedham Mayapur with the approval of the Acharya. There is apparently no difference between the building of a temple at Sreedham Mayapur under the direction of the Acharya and doing the same thing at another place independently of such sanction. It is very easy for a person by the manipulation of the seeming face of worship to get the reputation of a great saint from the thoughtless people of this world. But one must be very careful against such temptations. One must never put his faith in the seeming face of things. Srimad Bhagabata tells us that this world is not intended to be enjoyed by our senses. But it is the unanimous belief of mankind that the world is to be so enjoyed. It is the belief of psilanthropists that if the Name of Hari is mechanically chanted the body of flesh is thereby transformed into a spiritual entity. People of this world fail to distinguish between the performance of the kirttan by the pure devotee and the similar unspiritual and offensive activity of the psilanthropists. The seeming face is always in our way and prevents us from desiring or understanding our own real good.