Chapter 3: Evidence of The Conception of a Personal God in The Scriptures of India
Where is the evidence of a personal conception of God in the scriptures of India?
Mahāprabhu said, “Śrīmad-Bhāgavataṁ pramāṇam-amalam: the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the proof and evidence of this conception.” Śrīmad Bhāgavatam contains the gist of all the Vedas, and its 18,000 ślokas are spotlessly pure and unalloyed; therefore, it is given more honour than any other scripture.
The third śloka of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam says, “Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ: the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the mature fruit of the tree of Vedic literature and Vedic knowledge.” If we try to realise the meaning of this verse, we will realise nigama means the Vedas. Kalpa-taror means a wish-fulfilling tree, and galitaṁ phalaṁ means a delicious and fully ripe fruit which is without the skin or seed and is extremely palatable and enjoyable like condensed ecstasy.
And the knowledge given in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is made even sweeter because it comes through the mouth of Śukadev Goswāmī, the son of Vedavyās. Vedavyās was searching for a disciple who could express transcendental knowledge, so he chose Śukadev Goswāmī because Śukadev Goswāmī was qualified to receive transcendental knowledge; that is, he is always situated in the plane of such knowledge:
pariniṣṭhito ’pi nairguṇya uttama-śloka-līlayā
gṛhīta-chetā rājarṣe ākhyānaṁ yad adhītavān
Kṛṣṇa: the supreme controller and original source
The Lord has many forms. He has manifested Himself as Dvārakeś, Mathureś, and Gopeśvar. He has many different manifestations and forms. From His first expansion, which is Baladev, comes Vāsudev, Saṅkarṣaṇ, Aniruddha, and Pradyumna, and a little lower, Nārāyaṇ. From Nārāyaṇ, there are various manifestations: Guṇāvatāras, Līlāvatāras, Śaktyāveś-avatāras, etc. Many Avatāras come from Nārāyaṇ, and they are all manifestations of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
But it is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā: Īśvaraḥ Paramaḥ Kṛṣṇaḥ sach-chid-ānanda vigrahaḥ. The different manifestations are īśvaraḥ, but the Parama-īśvara is Kṛṣṇa. He is anādir ādir Govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam: the original One, the cause of all causes.
No cheating religion
Mahāprabhu said the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam contains the gist of the Vedic knowledge. The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is pramāṇam-amalam, which means its evidence, its proof, and its statements are all pure and unalloyed. There are no alloys mixed with the statements of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Amalam means unalloyed. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.1.2) itself states:
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
Kaitavo means cheating. There is no cheating in the religion given in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.
Once, Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj told me I was “cheating my stomach”. When I was staying with him in Kolkata, I used to study Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā from him in the morning. Sometimes, he would ask me if I had taken breakfast, and whenever I would answer, “Yes”, he would say, “What did you have?” If I would answer, “Muḍi (puffed rice)”, he would say, “Oh, you are simply cheating your stomach!”
Religion can also cheat us. My “stomach” may be “full” of some religious conception, but it is being cheated! It is possible that religion can fully exist in our body but in a cheating way. It may be possible that we are being cheated of the real substance.
One must be a sādhu
Sādhus have a variety of different qualities, but extremely good sādhus are paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ. They are not envious or jealous of anyone. Matsarāṇām means enviousness. It is a very bad quality. Many sādhus have matsarāṇām. The Bhāgavatam says, “There is no possibility of matsarāṇām in the knowledge I am giving. This is a unique type of knowledge; it is free of matsarāṇām.”
How will one get the knowledge of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam? Sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt. If one is fully surrendered and has a good service mood, he will immediately get this knowledge. If one is fully surrendered and does not mix with any bad qualities, he will get transcendental knowledge. But the first condition is one must be a sādhu.
A sādhu means one who is honest and saintly. A sādhu is not one who just wears a saffron cloth. Saffron cloth is a symbol of Vedic identification. A deer hunter may be a sādhu if he is not envious and is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. Another good quality of a sādhu is that his heart is always hankering for the service of Kṛṣṇa.
If one has these qualities, he will get the transcendental knowledge given in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Mahāprabhu said, “Śrīmad-Bhāgavataṁ pramāṇam-amalam: the knowledge which is revealed in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is spotlessly pure, it is the ripened fruit of all the Vedas, and that fruit is love for Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa-prema.”
Real Kṛṣṇa-prema: stronger than a cobra’s poison
The English word love cannot fully express the real meaning of prema as given in Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, but it is the only equivalent word we have heard in the English language. As conditioned souls we do not know what prema is, and we do not know how to properly express it.
Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī, the highest cultural representative of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, has written many beautiful expressions about prema, but the word love is not sufficient to express the ideas he has written about. For example, he says:
pīḍābhir nava-kāla-kūṭa-kaṭutā-garvasya nirvāsano
nisyandena mudāṁ sudhā-madhurimāhaṅkāra-saṅkochanaḥ
premā sundari nanda-nandana-paro jāgarti yasyāntare
jñāyante sphuṭam asya vakra-madhurās tenaiva vikrāntayaḥ
“Once you get love for Kṛṣṇa, you cannot live without it for a moment, or you would die. The ecstatic feelings you experience in union with Kṛṣṇa are inconceivable. Kṛṣṇa-prema transcends all other types of ecstatic beauty and tastes. Nothing can surpass it. Whoever has a touch of Kṛṣṇa-prema cannot live without it. If he was to leave it, he could not conceive of the pain of separation. It is stronger than a cobra’s poison. The burning sensation that comes from a cobra’s poison is nothing compared to the feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa.”
Expressions of divine love
Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī has given many beautiful expressions regarding the sweet sound of Kṛṣṇa’s flute, His beautiful, charming, and all-attractive personality, as well as the sweet association of chanting and dancing with Him.
vaṁśī-gānāmṛta-dhāma lāvaṇyāmṛta-janma-sthāna
ye nā dekhe se chā̐da vadana
se nayane kibā kāja paḍuka tāra muṇḍe vāja
se nayana rahe ki kāraṇa
“Of what use are eyes if one does not see the face of Kṛṣṇa, which resembles the moon and is the birthplace of all beauty and the reservoir of the nectarean songs of His flute?”
kṛṣṇera madhura vāṇī amṛtera taraṅgiṇī
tāra praveśa nāhi ye śravaṇe
kāṇākaḍi-chhidra sama jāniha se śravaṇa
tāra janma haila akāraṇe
“Topics about Kṛṣṇa are like waves of nectar. If such nectar does not enter one’s ear, the ear is no better than the hole of a damaged conchshell.”
mṛga-mada nīlotpala milane ye parimala
yei hare tāra garva-māna
hena kṛṣṇa-aṅga-gandha yāra nāhi se sambandha
sei nāsā bhastrāra samāna
“One’s nostrils are no better than the bellows of a blacksmith if one has not smelled the fragrance of Kṛṣṇa’s body which is like the aroma of musk combined with that of the bluish lotus flower. Indeed, such combinations are actually defeated by the aroma of Kṛṣṇa’s body.”
Mahāprabhu showed these ecstatic symptoms of love of God when He was mad with Kṛṣṇa-prema. He could not live one second without Kṛṣṇa. He was always fainting. When He regained consciousness, He would again madly search for Kṛṣṇa.
Revelation by hearing
All these things have been expressed in Bengali or Sanskrit in Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, but the language in which they appear is not the vital factor. Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī declares that you do not need to know Bengali, Sanskrit, or any language in order to understand the expressions of the Chaitanya-charitāmṛta. You only need to hear them. Their meanings will reveal themselves in your heart simply by hearing.
The Vedānta is a good example of this. Who knows the meaning of the Vedānta? No one. When we initiate students, we give them various mantras like the Guru-mantra, the gāyatrī-mantra, the Kṛṣṇa-mantra, etc. The students do not know the meaning of these mantras, and it is not necessary to know the meaning. If one meditates on these mantras, their meaning will reveal themselves in one’s heart.
One day, Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī was a little disturbed by others who were criticising him for using so many Sanskrit verses, so he said:
yebā nāhi bujhe keha śunite śunite seha
ki adbhuta chaitanya-charita
kṛṣṇe upajibe prīti jānibe rasera rīti
śunilei baḍa haya hita
How will those who do not know Bengali or Sanskrit understand the meanings of the verses of Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta? He advised, “Just try and hear the transcendental sound of the verses. Take them into your heart. They will reveal themselves automatically, and you will see everything. They are not dead matter but a living substance. The transcendental sound vibration is also a living entity. You can feel it and you can see it. Yebā nāhi bujhe keha śunite śunite seha: even if one does not know the language, he will understand the subject matter simply by hearing the verses of the Chaitanya-charitāmṛta attentively.”
When Rādhārāṇī heard the Name of Kṛṣṇa, She said:
kebā sunāila śyāma-nāma
kānera bhitara diyā marame paśila go
ākula karila mama prāṇa
nā jāni kateka madhu śyāma-nāme āchhe go
parāṇa chhāḍite nāhi pāre
japite, japite nāma avaśa karila go
kemane pāiba sai, tāre
nāma-paratape yāra aichhana karila go
aṅgera paraśe kibā haya
yekhāne vasati tāra nayane heriyā go
yuvatī-dharama kaichhe raya
“I don’t know who said these two syllables ‘Kṛṣ-ṇa’, but when they entered My heart, My whole body became intoxicated with that Name. I do not know whose Name it is, and I do not know how sweet it is, but I need that association.” Rādhārāṇī became mad with the Name of Kṛṣṇa, and Chaṇḍī Dās has expressed this in his poetry.
Transcendental transmission
Transcendental knowledge exists everywhere. It is like ether. Ether exists everywhere, but we cannot see it. Transcendental knowledge, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, exists in everyone’s heart — Kṛṣṇa is in everyone’s heart. A Mahābhāgavat devotee can see Kṛṣṇa’s full manifestation everywhere. Yā̐hā yā̐hā netra pāḍe tā̐hā Kṛṣṇa sphure: a Mahābhāgavat will see Kṛṣṇa wherever he looks. Gaura Kiśor Dās Bābājī Mahārāj, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur, and Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj were like this.
The transmission of transcendental knowledge from one’s heart to another’s is possible. We can understand this if we take the example of a radio or television set. What is inside these machines? Electronic components, transistors, tubes, and other material elements. Electricity is a material element, and it is also present.
When everything is properly adjusted and the electrical current is made to flow, the television set will work. It will give sound, picture, and everything. If such transmission is possible in this mundane world through electricity, then wherever there is transcendental knowledge, that transcendental knowledge can also certainly appear. It is only necessary to make our hearts like a radio or a television receiver.
Living substance
Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said, “Everything exists in consciousness.” We have a transcendental body and a transcendental form. So, if we have such a body, why can’t transcendental knowledge reveal itself in our heart? It can and we can feel it. We can see transcendental knowledge. It is a living entity, a living substance. It is only necessary to adjust ourselves like a receiver, or a television set, and then transcendental knowledge will reveal itself in our hearts.
Once, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur was asked if he had seen Kṛṣṇa. His reply was, “What benefit will you get by knowing whether I have seen Kṛṣṇa or not? How will that benefit you? I can show you Kṛṣṇa, but you must make your heart like a receiver by doing what I tell you. It is not important to know whether I have seen Kṛṣṇa or not. If you want to know Kṛṣṇa and if you come through the proper channel, you will see Him.” This was the answer given by Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur. Mahāprabhu said this is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or the full-fledged theism of the jīva-soul. We must try and get it.
Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur has given a very nice expression:
ṭāniyā ānite vṛkṣa e karkaśa mana
nāśila ihāra śobhā śuna sādhu-jana
tomarā sakale hao e vṛkṣera mālī
śraddhā-vāri diyā punaḥ kara rūpaśālī
“I brought a wish-fulfilling tree, the kalyāṇa-kalpa-taru, down to this world from the spiritual sky. As I was bringing it down, it lost some of its beauty; but if you water it, take care of it, and give it good nourishment, it will reveal itself in your heart.” This is the benedictine tree of divine aspiration.
Sacrifice, service, dedication
Mahāprabhu delivered transcendental knowledge to the conditioned souls in order to rescue them from the illusory environment and to give them their real service life, which is a life full of service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He said real liberation is muktir hitvānyathārūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: it is more than simply liberation from the material world. Real mukti is when we get a life of complete and full service in the service world.
There are three planes of existence: the plane of exploitation, the plane of renunciation, and the plane of dedication. We need to go to the plane of dedication and leave the plane of exploitation. The plane of renunciation is also not a suitable place to exist. There is nothing there except equilibrium and non-differentiation (abscissa). The plane of dedication is necessary, and it is the most important plane for us. We need to go there; we need to sacrifice ourselves there.
All the Vedic mantras say we must sacrifice ourselves in the plane of dedication. In the Vedic mantra, svāhā means, “First dedicate yourself. See to your own self first.” Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (6.5), “Ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ: the mind is the conditioned soul’s best friend or his worst enemy.” We must see to our own self first — charity begins at home.
Since we live in this illusory environment, we cannot see Kṛṣṇa, His devotees, His glories, His Dhām, His Pastimes, or His Name and fame. We cannot see anything of Kṛṣṇa in this environment because our eyes are covered by illusion. First, it is necessary to clean our mirror, and then we can see our figure in the mirror.
Mahāprabhu said: cheto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ. What should you do first? When you return home after a long trip, there must be dust in your room, so first clean your room. When you first get Kṛṣṇa consciousness, try and clean the mirror of your mind — cheto darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahādāvāgni nirvāpaṇaṁ — then you will see your position. You will see what is happening in your mental and physical position. Clean up everything and then you will see Mahāprabhu’s conception, which is expressed in this śloka by Śrīla Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākur:
ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam
ramyā kāchid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā va kalpitā
śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ pramāṇam amalaṁ premā pumartho mahān
śrī-chaitanya-mahāprabhor matam idaṁ tatrādaraḥ naḥ paraḥ