Śrīla Shyam Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja
Gaudiya Gosthi Pati Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanat Sarasvati Gosvami Thakur Prabhupada said that—“Mahaprabhu may release all the misfortunes of the universe upon me millions of times so that I will worship Him. I am ready for that with all my senses. Accepting those calamities, I surrender to His feet, thinking He is protecting me, drawing me toward His lotus feet. He is most merciful to remove my duplicity. He is not allowing me to enjoy my senses. He is making me understand that other than His lotus feet, there is no eternal object of which to take refuge in this world. I am bearing the heavy weight of karmic reactions due to my past actions. If I endure these with a little sufferance and take refuge in my eternal Lord, I will find actual benefit. If I belong to the enjoying category, then when my enjoyment is interrupted I become angry. On the other hand, the renunciant will say that it is proper to give up enjoyment. The devotees of Śrī Gaurāṅga do not tell anyone either to indulge in or renounce enjoyment. They say, “Let the jīva imbibe his natural tendency for real, spiritual objects.” If one accepts all three types of misery, which come upon him in full force, it is of no benefit, and if one wants to artificially renounce attachment, he cannot. But one who performs daṇḍavat to the Lord’s feet with body, mind, and words is the rightful heir to liberation. Whatever drawback may come, he will accept it as the Lord manifesting in the form of mercy. It defies description how much Śrī Caitanya has arranged for our welfare. We are on the path of material enjoyment. To open our eyes He orchestrates that certain obstacles appear, stage by stage, among the objects of attachment. He gave me bad health and step by step gave me accidents. He gave a specific transitory nature to all things, to help put us on the spiritual path.” (Source—Genuine & False Gaura-bhajan)
Also Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāja –“Within this world there is always a fire burning; but there is no necessity of extinguishing the fire, because we have nothing to do with the world that will be burned into ashes by the fire. All our inner demands can be met only in connection with Krishna. All other things are unnecessary. They may be burned into ashes or devoured by flood. We have no real concern with any of those things. Rather, those material attachments are dragging us back towards the wrong thing. And as a result, we can’t allow our mind to be attracted to Krishna. The things of this world, or attachments, are all negative; these things are all our enemy. The whole universe may be burned to ashes, but we will not be affected in any way. The world may be devastated – the Earth, the sun, the moon, the stars – everything may vanish, but still we remain. The soul is eternal. And if we can have a connection with Krishna, the things of this world are all unnecessary for us and for everyone else. Why should we come to live in the mortal world, erroneously identifying ourselves with flesh and blood? We only think that we are being born and dying. But it is a false notion. Everything is conscious.” (Source–Subjective Evolution of Consciousness.)
As Srila Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāja says that — “This world is full of struggle. War, competition, exploitation—these are going on. But this is not our concern. Our concern is to transcend all these.”
What we call war is nothing else than the outburst of our insatiable urge for domination and enjoyment in this material world or after this material life. Almost everybody in this material world is completely hijacked by the ṣaḍ–ripus—kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, and mātsarya. That’s why the real disease is something which is lying deep inside our heart – this is due to the false identification in relation to this material body & mind (ahaṅkāra). If we look carefully into this matter, then we can see that even if there is no fighting, no war visible in this material world but still the conflicting mind always putting me in trouble. Why? Because the root cause has not been addressed. That root is within us. Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s used to say that—“Material lust invokes anger, violence and animosity, both individually as well as collectively. This lust is nothing but an attempt by each and every individual of this world, despite caste or creed, to gratify their material senses. Therefore, lust is a cause for igniting anger, violence and other objectionable attributes among individuals, castes and all common persons of this world. Śrī caitnaya-vāṇī, on the other hand, being the most benevolent incarnation of Bhagavān, who is the embodiment of pure transcendental love, thoroughly spreads true auspiciousness among all living entities of the world, irrespective of caste or community. As śrī caitanya-vāṇī enters my ears, it cleanses my heart, where it then seats itself. By completely dispelling all the accumulated filth in my heart, it has provided me with the opportunity to escape the blazing forest fire of material existence.”
Therefore, the Gauḍīya Matha directs our attention away from the battlefield of nations to the battlefield of the heart. There, a constant and subtle conflict is taking place. Srila B.R. Śrīdhar Mahārāja states clearly, “Within us there is a constant struggle between the higher and lower tendencies. This is the real war” (Subjective Evolution of Consciousness). On one side stands the higher call of the soul—the longing for truth, service, and divine connection. On the other side stands the lower pull of illusion—the tendencies toward selfish enjoyment, control, and forgetfulness of our true identity. In this war, the enemy is not another human being. It is not a nation, nor an ideology, because the true enemy is avidyā—ignorance, misconception, and the false ego (ahaṅkāra) that binds us to a distorted sense of self.
That is for why the mission of Sri Gauḍīya Matha declared war against māya — against illusion, misconception, and exploitation. This declaration is not a call for physical or mental violence, rather it is a call for inner revolution, aimed not to destroy others, but for dismantling the illusions & negative tendencies which all are going to put our real self into the prison of māya. Srila Śrīdhar Mahārāja said that — “The fighting spirit is there, but it must be engaged properly—against ignorance, not against others.” When properly directed, this same fighting spirit becomes a force for transformation. It becomes determination in sādhana. If we look at it in this way then even the analogy of a soldier takes on a new meaning. Just as a soldier is prepared to give everything for a temporary cause, the devotee is called to offer everything for the eternal cause of divine service.
sarvasva tomār, caraṇe saḿpiyā,
poḍechi tomāra ghare
tumi to’ ṭhākur, tomāra kukur,
boliyā jānaho more
Having surrendered everything at Your lotus feet, I remain prostrated at your house. You are my Lord. Kindly accept me as your dog.
In this way we can solemnly say that yes war is real indeed which is unavoidable, but its actual field is lying inside our heart in hidden form, which cannot be traced out by physical effort. External wars may come and go and can give a new shape in the book of history of the world, but the inner war determines the destiny of the soul.
Therefore, in this age filled with the noise of conflict, the sincere seeker must take a pause and reflect. While the whole world looks outward in fear and agitation, we are called to look inward with honesty and courage. Let others engage in the wars of illusion, but our duty is something else which material people cannot understand. We must take up the inner struggle, guided by the teachings of the great ācāryas, and strive to overcome the darkness within. Only then eternal peace can arise in true sense but surely not by the arrangement of any political leader who is shouting externally for peace and prosperity. The Harmonist says that –“A politician must be God-loving first. God-less politics is sure to sow seeds of unrest everywhere.”
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja said that –“Śrī caitnaya-vāṇī is the word of love. Only love can establish true happiness and unity between individuals and between communities. I can say with the utmost confidence that besides love, there exists no worldly policy—whether economic, societal, national or religious—that can succeed in establishing peace among the members of a particular family, community or country, what to speak of the whole world. Therefore, on this very auspicious day, I earnestly pray unto the lotus feet of śrī caitnaya-vāṇī, so that it may sprinkle its mercy throughout the whole world: “O śrī caitanya-vāṇī! Mercifully engage me and all the people of this world in Your service and thereby reveal Your unparalleled mercy for everyone.”
All glories to śrī caitanya-vāṇī! All glories to its servitors and all gentlemen respectful of its existence! May all the people of this world engage in hearing and speaking śrī caitanya-vāṇī, and thereby march forward on the path of true auspiciousness.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol