premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
(Brahma Saṁhitā Vers 38)
“I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Śyāmasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee.”
Gauḍīya Gosthī Pātiḥ Śrī Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda told that—“The Supreme Lord can reserve the right of not being exposed to our sense organs.” The same thing is applicable to Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇavas.
An example which gives light to this tattva happened when the Caitanya Maṭha was established. One day, after the morning ārati, some devotees approached Śrīla Prabhupāda and told him that the doorway to the Deities was too small. They complained that they could not properly see the Deities.
Śrīla Prabhupāda told them that it is not possible for us to see Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda Gaurahari but that instead we should act in such a way that the Lord becomes interested in seeing us.
We cannot see the Supreme Lord with these material eyes. At the same time, it is also not possible in our condition to chant the Pure Name of the Lord. That is why it is written in the śāstras:
ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na
bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234)
“No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.”
The Supreme Lord reserves the right to not be exposed to our sense organs. We cannot see the Supreme Lord with these eyes. We cannot think about the Supreme Lord with this material mind. And we cannot do actual Harīnām in this condition. In this material condition it is not at all possible for us to render any perfect sevā to Śrī Hari-Guru-Vaiṣṇava. We cannot conceive of transcendence with our material senses. All of our senses are material and in this condition it is not possible for us to understand anything about the Supreme Lord. Nothing mundane can help us to get entry into the transcendental world. Any amount of manpower, money power or educational power will not help us in any way in this respect.
Only and only the causeless mercy (kṛpā) of Guru-Vaiṣṇava can help us. Without taking the help of aprakṛta śabdhā brahma, we have no other way available to us to get in contact with the Transcendental World.
Guru-Vaiṣṇava is the only source of transcendental sound so we must depend upon them. If we can fully believe in this transcendental sound vibration, and if we go on hearing Harikathā from a pure Guru-Vaiṣṇava for a long time, and also if we chant Harīnām sincerely, then one day we can automatically find that Harīnām will show his actual feature in front of us.
Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur also instructed us to go on doing sevā with our hands and to continue reciting Harīnām, so that someday we discover that Harīnām has manifested on our tongue. We should try again and again. In the beginning we might not get any positive or sufficient results. But our tireless efforts will soon give us success.
The mind is the number one traitor; it cannot help us because it is material. In the Bhagavad Gītā it is also written:
bhūmir āpo ‘nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
(Bhagavat Gītā 7.4)
“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight comprise My separated material energies. All of these are material items so they cannot help us to get in contact with the Transcendental Realm. That is why we have to increase our realization through actual bhajan. Then automatically, in the course of time, we will find that all of our sense organs become favorable for us. First, we will have to realize the basic difference between the material world and the Transcendental World. That realization should come from the heart.
In all the revealed scriptures it is evident that the jīvas are like countless light particles. They can be likened to photons. Even though the body is material, the spirit inside the body is cinmoey. Each individual spirit soul is a cit particle that is too small to be estimated.
bālāgra-śhatabhāgasya śhatadhā kalpitasya cha
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate
“If we divide the tip of a hair into a hundred parts, and then divide each part into further hundred parts, we will get the size of the soul. These souls are innumerable in number.” (BG 13. 34)
This calculation is a manner of expressing the minuteness of the soul.
nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhya
na medhayā na bahunā śrūtena
yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyas
tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanuṁ svām
“The Supreme Lord cannot be known by erudition, intellect or scriptural knowledge. He reveals His Eternal Transcendental Form to a completely surrendered soul.” (Katha Upaniṣad 1.2.23)
The cit particles seems insignificant in size but it is nonetheless inexplicably important. The spirit soul is a cit-particle yet its influence can be felt throughout the whole body. When this tiny jīvātmā particle is in the body of an elephant, its animating potency can be very clearly seen.
How can we understand Śrī Kṛṣṇa? Everything about Him is cinmoey. His Name, Form, Pastimes, Qualities, Associates, Paraphernalia and Dhāma are all transcendental. In Navadvīp Dhāma, all of the dust particles are cinmoey. If Kṛṣṇa were to appear in front of you, you still might not realize that he is cinmoey.
Sometimes the devotees ask, “Is it possible for us to see Kṛṣṇa?” Some devotees answer that through Saṅkīrtan we can see the Lord. Seeing the Lord through Saṅkīrtan is our procedure. We have to believe 100% in the fact that this Transcendental Sound Vibration (aprakṛta śabdhā brahma) can manifest Kṛṣṇa’s own svarūp. Śabdha Brahma is Kṛṣṇa.
We know that Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is equal to Kṛṣṇa and how Kṛṣṇa Nāma is equal to Kṛṣṇa himself. Aprakṛta śabdhā brahma is equal to the object it means; there is no difference. For example, if your friend’s name is Śuman and you call him but he is too far away to hear you he will not answer. Why? Because his name is not identical with himself. But if you call Kṛṣṇa from your heart by chanting the Mahā Mantra:
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
…then Rādhā Govinda Himself is present in the sound.
When Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in this world, thousands of people had the chance to see Him. This included all classes of people. But by simply seeing Him could they really understand that He was the Supreme Lord?
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives a nice example when he tells of the fisherman who are in their boats all day and all night on the Holy River Gaṅgā. Do they really get the benefit of associating with the Gaṅgā? Not at all. They are murdering living entities by catching fish. So in that way they cannot get the full kṛpā of Gaṅgā-devī.
In the same way, although many living entities were around the Supreme Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they did not enjoy the full benefit of His kṛpā. Only those who have full faith (viśvāsa) can get the full result.
The jīvātmā is so small that we cannot perceive Kṛṣṇa whose whole body is made of the completely transcendental substance. The same is true with the Holy Dhāma. It is completely cinmoey. But since we have only one particle of this substance inside our bodies, we are incapable of fully beholding the Dhāma.
Material people tend to think that blood came out of Kṛṣṇa’s body on the battlefield at Kurukṣetra. They are also inclined to believe that real blood came out of Nityānanda Prabhu’s head when Jagāi and Mādhāi attacked Him. We imagine actual blood when we recount the pastimes, but at the same time we have learned that Their bodies are not made of flesh and blood. This is Kṛṣṇa tricking us. He wants to make us see our foolishness. This is why we need to hear Hari Kathā life after life. Only in this way can we develop the power to see Kṛṣṇa.
In Sanātan Śikṣā, Caitanya Mahāprabhu tells Sanātan that Arjuna is defeated by very low class tribal men who live in the forest. Arjuna was thinking that nobody could defeat him. He even believed that Śankar Bhagavān could not defeat him but then he found himself defeated. Kṛṣṇa gave instructions that the tribal wives should be taken to a safe place. Yet Arjuna was unable to defeat the tribesmen and take away all of their wives. Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained that this Mahiṣī Haran Līlā is pure Māyā and nothing more than the magic spell of Kṛṣṇa.
The same is also true when the chariot is coming to take Kṛṣṇa away. It is written in different Purāṇas that Kṛṣṇa’s dead body was found and then burned. How we can reconcile this? The Yaduvamśas were fighting with each other with sharp grass and ultimately killed each other. So someone can question if they were all transcendental how could they fight each to complete extinction? How can we explain this apparent contradiction? How can we avoid becoming confused by such topics?
to be continued……