Chapter 5: The Kṛṣṇa Sun
If we want our shelter, it must come from overhead. Āśraya or shelter is not under our feet; shelter should be over the head. The principal Vedic mantra says:
tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ
divīva chakṣur ātatam
The Holy feet of Viṣṇu who is pervading everywhere (yaḥ idaṁ vyāpnotīti Viṣṇuḥ). His feet, His lowest portion, is towards us. Paramaṁ means ‘very highly qualified, from all standpoints’. That is not to be neglected. From the standpoint of fine existence — knowledge as well as sweetness — the Absolute is paramaṁ padaṁ. Sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ — the scholars are always conscious of the fact; this is the real basis of their life.
Man is not an animal, wandering over the earth, mountain, or jungle, but the real man is in his consciousness, and he is always conscious of a higher entity. He is always seeing or conscious of that ideal. Divīva chakṣur ātatam — vaguely or in a mystic way? No. As conspicuous, as clear and as real as the sun we see in the sky. Tad Viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ. So we should really live and move in that consciousness. We are children of that conscious world.
Animal Consciousness — the World of Death
Tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi (SB: 12.5.2). At the conclusion of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Śukadev Goswāmī gives a warning to Parīkṣit Mahārāj to be conscious of the firm basis of his teachings. Deception is like a serpent that stealthily comes to bite and kill. Ignorance comes stealthily and takes the soul down to the world of animal consciousness, and we are all moving under the deception of this heavy flesh and blood. Therefore, heavier ‘earth’ is necessary to lift us above, up onto its lap.
Divīva chakṣur ātatam...mariṣyeti paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi: “So do away with your animal consciousness that you are flesh and blood. No! You are not limited to flesh and blood, but you are a conscious unit, and you won’t die. You are not a member of this dying world, where everything is sure to die on account of its malidentification. This is forced upon you: ‘you must die, you must become infirm, you must be born, you must suffer from disease’, but all these are misidentification of yourself with your body. This is animal consciousness, consciousness that you are an animal. But you are not so. You are a conscious unit, you are spirit, you are soul.”
Not only is the soul immortal, not only does God exist, not only is He the Absolute Dispenser of good and bad, but we, ourselves, are units of the conscious world. So paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi — separate yourself eternally from that mania, from that misconception and false identification with this material aspect which is the result of your degraded life. Be reinstated in your glorious position as soul. And how is this possible? You are taṭastha (marginal) by constitution, so you cannot stand on your own two feet. You must have some shelter — either mundane within your mundane identification or, above that, you must have some shelter above your head. O taṭastha-jīva, you must have shelter in the svarūp-śakti land, the final land.
The Light of Light
Paramaṁ padam, the Divine feet of Viṣṇu, of Nārāyaṇ, of Kṛṣṇa, are like the sun to you, in the material comparison. That is, chakṣuḥ, or ‘seer’, or that which makes feeling or seeing possible. If He is withdrawn, everything is dark. If Viṣṇu’s supreme plane is withdrawn, everything will be dark. That is the light of light, and you must be eternally conscious that above you is another soil, and your shelter is there, and you are a soul unit. You must bring about this radical change in you. That plane is your shelter. This world is not your shelter. It is a prison-house to you. This broad and graphic comprehensive consideration must be the basis of spiritual understanding; otherwise, there is danger of sahajiyāism or imitationism. Tad Viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ. We have to cross this ‘Hindenburg Line’.
The Land of Service
Basically, this is the advice of Ṛg-veda, the first Veda that descends from the upper world to this world: “The primary requirement for you all is to conceive that there is a world above, and ‘above’ means in the line of consciousness. Your highest identity is that of consciousness, and you must adopt that conscious world above you as your shelter. You will live and move there. This is the radical change. Here, you are in the atmosphere of exploitation, but that is the land of service. There, you have to think in terms of service. That is on your head. That region is superior to the stuff you are made of. So do you want that connection? Or do you prefer to reign in hell than to serve in heaven? What do you like? Consider, and then come forward. You can have a prospect of attaining everything up to Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute. Otherwise, you will have to revolve here in this world of 8,400,000 species”:
jalajā navalakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśatiḥ
kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣakam
triṁśal-lakṣāṇi paśavaḥ chatur lakṣāṇi mānuṣāḥ
“There are 900,000 aquatic, 2,000,000 immobile, 1,100,000 worm-cum-insect, 1,000,000 bird, 3,000,000 animal, and 400,000 human species.”
These are the 8,400,000 classifications of species throughout which you will have to wander, in the world of action and reaction. You need to select your path. Do you want to be a member of the land of immortality? Do you want janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (birth, death, old age, and infirmity) or immortality? If you want immortality, you will have to pay for the ticket. You will have to take the visa. You will have to prepare for such a categorical beginning. And the bond you have to sign is slavery — to Kṛṣṇa. Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — Kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. If you want to go to that mystic land, the land of infinite hope, prosperity, and prospect, you will have to go as a slave because that plane is made of a higher stuff than you yourselves are.
vaikuṇṭhera pṛthivy-ādi sakala chinmaya
māyika bhūtera tathi janma nāhi haya
There, earth, water, etc. — everything is made of consciousness, spirit. And above that, there is ānandam or ecstasy, not only a matter of consciousness. Although medicine seems bitter in the beginning, in a healthy state one may taste its sweetness. Our approach to the divine realm may also be experienced in this way. So, in rāga-mārga, the path of divine love, and in Kṛṣṇaloka, there is not only consciousness, but beauty is the prevailing element there.
Ideal: a ship without a rudder drifts aimlessly in the ocean. But if I have taken to heart the particular ideal of Kṛṣṇa, Mahāprabhu, and Bhāgavatam, then I am captured. My tuft of hair (śikhā) is tied with the feet of Guru Mahārāj and the divine grace. The tuft of hair is captured. The head is captured there, and everything will be done through the head, the part of the body which is most revered in this material world.
One who has a good ideal is in possession of the most valuable wealth. On the other hand, one will only hanker for kanak, kāminī, pratiṣṭhā — popularity, materials of sense pleasure, and money — all these things, but they are all animal consciousness. They are all properties in the land of animal consciousness. A radical change must be effected in us if we really want a life worth living. Such is the importance of our ideal.
A man should be judged by his ideal. The greatness of the ideal he is trying to realise is to be marked. The man of the future, the man of tomorrow, should be judged by his ideal. If his ideal is great, he is great, because if he is sincere, tomorrow or very soon he will reach it. So our ideal is the all-important factor. We may not attain our high ideal very easily. It is not inferior ‘merchandise’ to be disposed of cheaply in the market; it is most valuable. But whatever the cost, no matter.
We should feel within, “I want no less than that highest thing, that Advaya-jñān, that Autocrat. That Goodness Autocrat, the Supermost Commander of everything. I want Him, and nothing less, and I should live and move and feel in myself that whatever I shall do, at every second, I am meant for that. I am meant for my ideal. I have no time to waste, or to hesitate for anything.
If every moment I move in every way with the ideal in my heart, I shall always make some progress towards it. If I can just stay in touch with my ideal, that will guide and inspire me. In any and every action, whatever I shall do or undo, eat, rest, etc., my ideal will be overhead. And that will gradually take me out of all these entanglements and enticements, and one day or other I shall be able to reach it.”
Divine Attraction Reveals the Ideal
jāta-śraddho mat-kathāsu nirviṇṇaḥ sarva-karmasu
veda duḥkhātmakān kāmān parityāge ’py anīśvaraḥ
“For one who has had the chance to acquire a taste and become attracted to talks of Me, My activity, and My movement, no other temptation can any longer hold him under its power. He becomes indifferent to all other activity. The outcome is that he can understand within that all other things bear some unpleasant reaction. Yet, although he can conceive that they are all pain-producing, he is helpless to immediately free himself from their clutches. The debt is already incurred, and his debtors won’t allow him to escape: ‘I am in the midst of so many acquisitions. It is not very easy to leave them at once by my sweet will. Previously, I consciously incurred some obligations, and I cannot abruptly cut off their connection; they won’t let me free.’”
tato bhajeta māṁ prītaḥ śraddhālur dṛḍha-niśchayaḥ
juṣamāṇaś cha tān kāmān duḥkhodarkāṁś cha garhayan
“But the śraddhā or pure attraction he has acquired for Me is of eternal nature. It cannot be subdued or cut off by any mundane or ordinary attempt. Despite undergoing so many sufferings, he goes on remembering Me. His thinking, aspiration, and earnestness is for Me, and the more he is compelled to suffer from the pressure of the environment, a firmness in Me becomes more and more sure, and finally, invulnerable. And by standing the test of all these trials, he will stand — stand and grow beyond the jurisdiction of these mundane forces. The more pressure comes from outside, the more firmness he feels in the necessity of My help to him.
“At that time, he turns his back to all the pains of the world, and he keeps Me in front. He begins to move onward: ‘Whatever happens to me, I can’t complain. It is in my Master’s jurisdiction whether He sees fit for me to undergo these trials or not. But I won’t leave my new ideal; I can’t. Whatever may come, it may happen, never mind’.
“Still, he abuses himself: ‘What have I done? What have I done? It is rather justice that I should be tormented and troubled in such a way! It is not wrong! Really, just dealings have come to be exercised over me. Why should I have committed this wrong? I entered this wrong alliance, entered into the tribe of the guṇḍas for exploitation. The reaction that is coming to me is well and good.’ He blames himself. He does not blame the environment for troubling him, but he sees a concentration camp within. He blames his own self, his own free will and fate. That becomes the nature of his temperament at that time. He does not look to place the fault on the shoulders of others, but he takes the whole burden: ‘Yes, the environment is doing justice to me, the traitor, the ambitious, the oppressor of the environment.’ When he’s in such consciousness, his bhakti-yoga or devotional engagement becomes more and more intense. The intensity of his progress accelerates.”
proktena bhakti-yogena bhajato māsakṛn muneḥ
kāmā hṛdayā naśyanti sarve mayi hṛdi sthite
“With accelerated motion, his intensity towards Me grows. Then, by My appearance, all his internal and external discrepancies are gradually destroyed and evaporated. When by such an approach he reaches My domain, or rather, I come down, extending My existence to his heart, then everything else disappears.”
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante chāsya karmāṇi mayi dṛṣṭe ’khilātmani
Then bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ: all the ties and entanglements, corners and angles, vanish. Crookedness vanishes. He finds himself in the midst of a straight, plain, graphic, spacious, and all-embracing temperament. His atmosphere changes. All the ties of so many attractions to various achievements are at once dissolved. They have no necessity in this land.
Hṛdayenābhyanujñāto (Ms 2.1): internal approval comes to assure you that you have arrived in your own land. Chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ: there is no room for any doubt. You find that all your hankerings are more than fulfilled here: “I was searching; my whole body was searching.”
In Vaiṣṇava-padāvali (Anthology of Vaiṣṇava Songs) there is an expression: prati aṅga lāge kā̐de prati aṅga mora. In the acme of divinity, madhura-rasa, where Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is śakti (the divine potency of the Lord), She says, “My every limb is crying for the respective limb of My Lord; not only My Self, but every part of My body earnestly aspires for the corresponding part of My Master’s.”
Chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ — Every part bears witness: “Yes, we have reached the destination we were striving for; this is our full-fledged satisfaction. This is my soil; this is my home!” Every atom of the body will say it. No trace of any doubt will be found, for there is no longer any room for that. But every atom will find its fulfilment: “This is my home, this is my home! I am in home comfort, I find.”
Our Cherished Goal
Kṣīyante chāsya karmāṇi: [The Lord says about His devotee] “And the force of reaction won’t come to trouble him, to drag him down or attract him backwards. That, too, is severed.” Mayi dṛṣṭe ’khilātmani: “I am the fullest of the full perfection. He will be able to trace My friendship.”
This should be the course of our life, our cherished goal. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam tells us this. Home, sweet, sweet home. You are a child of that soil. In one word, that is the goal.
Why is that the highest goal? Because that is your home. Svarūpe sabāra haya Golokete sthiti. This one word ‘home’ is sufficient to attract you. You are wandering in a foreign land, but here is your home. You’ll get home comfort here, and you won’t be able to deny that. So, back to God, back to home, back to Godhead.
God and Godhead
To avoid the Christian conception of ‘God’, our Guru Mahārāj, Prabhupād, used the word ‘Godhead’. ‘God’ is a particular conception of the Absolute, but ‘Godhead’ represents Bhāgavat or the background of the conception of God, which is Svayam Bhagavān — the Supreme Lord Himself. This is the highest conception of God. This is the meaning. So more than ‘back to God’ is ‘back to Godhead’. Śrīmad Swāmī Mahārāj named his spiritual magazine from this consideration.
Back to Godhead — there is home. Unsettled, we are running hither and thither with no principle of life, so our position is very sad. But this is a troublesome life. To think, “I can’t put my faith anywhere”, means that I can’t find a friend anywhere. I am friendless, moving amongst foreigners or maybe enemies. But I must have a friend or some friendly atmosphere. I must come into such company in which I can put full faith, in which I can believe and trust; otherwise, my life will be miserable. If wherever I cast my glance I think, “I can’t trust, I can’t trust, all are enemies” — to live in such an atmosphere is to live in a particular prison-house. All uncertainty, all untrustworthiness, that is a very deplorable position. So, by God’s grace, śraddhā should come to us: “I can not only trust and believe, but I cannot but show my regard to a personality of the higher position.” Gurum evābhigachchhet.
Guru — the Reliable Source
When we suffer from uncertainty to the extreme, we shall hanker for connection with Guru, the reliable source. I can not only put an inquiry to him with faith and trust, but Guru is a guardian who is my well-wisher more than I am to my own self. ‘Guardian’ means a friend who thinks more of me than I think of myself. He knows more about my welfare than I do. Such is the position to have a guardian, a friend, a Guru.
Narottam Ṭhākur says, āśraya laiyā bhaje tāre Kṛṣṇa nāhi tyāje: “If one can get a bona fide guardian, his future is ensured.” Kṛṣṇa cannot very easily dismiss the guardian, because the guardian has a solid position in the Lord’s relationship, so if I enter into the domain of my guardian’s care, my position will be ensured.
Āra saba mare akāraṇa. Others, who have not yet been able to tie themselves with the holy feet of their guardian or Guru are in an uncertain position, and they may be deviated by any agent. Their future is deplorable. If through our śraddhā we can have a real ideal in life and acquire a real guardian, then certainly our future is ensured practically. Our only duty will be towards our guardian, our Gurudev, and all other duties will be automatically accomplished.
So, to run throughout the length and breadth of this wide world, this land where nothing but various types of exploitation of various planes are existing, is to run as a ship without a rudder that can be swept away by seastorm this side and that, endlessly, without purpose. It is through śraddhā that we can connect with our highest goal of achievement and fulfilment. This matter must be solved. Then, real life begins. Any questions?
Devotee: Mahārāj, you mentioned that the material world is like a prison-house. Are the demigods such as Brahmā and Indra also prisoners?
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: They are also prisoners, but as officers. Even prisoners may become officers on the sanction of the jail government. In the prison government, senior and qualified prisoners are also given a chance for a post. Is it not a fact?
Devotee: Yes.
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: So their position is like that. They are also imprisoned, but their position is a little higher. A duty is deputed to them, but they are nonetheless prisoners.
Devotee: The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam says that there are fourteen planetary systems, and yet when we see the sky at night we see so many stars and planets, it seems that the number is unlimited.
Planes Beyond Planets
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Those fourteen worlds are not only of this physical type, but range from physical to subtle. Creation stems from consciousness, towards matter. The gradation from matter up to consciousness is progressively finer and finer: the gap between matter and soul.
To fill the gap from gross to subtle, there is a progression of more and more subtle planes that finally vanish in the conscious area. The gradation from jaḍa to chetanā, from matter to spirit, or from unconsciousness to consciousness, occurs in so many steps, fine, finer, finest. It is to be conceived of in this way. Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janas, Tapas, Satyaloka, then Virajā, then Brahmaloka or Brahma. In Brahma, we find the real existence of the soul. From Virajā downwards is the area of this material consciousness.
In Bhagavad-gītā we find:
indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir buddher yaḥ paratas tu saḥ
In brief, four stages of mundane elements in the middle are given here. First is matter, second is the senses, third is mind, and fourth is judiciousness or reason. Finally, there is the soul. But in more elaborate detail, there are also seven subdivisions of Bhūr, etc., up to Satyaloka. In this line, the soul is found in Brahma. Paratas tu saḥ. The word saḥ refers to Brahma. Matter may also be subdivided as stone, water, heat, gas, ether, etc. In one word it is matter, but one will also find subdivision of matter from gross to subtle. In stone one will find earth, coal, wood, maybe gold or silver. But all these elements are felt by the senses, and thus the senses are superior to all the gradations of matter.
Then there is the faculty of thinking or impulse: “I want this, I don’t want that.” But further, the faculty of judiciousness, reason or intelligence is superior: “No, don’t want that; it will produce a certain bad effect in you”, and so on. Even more subtle than the intelligence is chitta (consciousness), which is not mentioned in Gītā; further is ahaṅkāra (ego), and finally the realm of soul.