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It is not
necessary for the sadhu to perform the extraneous
circumambulation of Braja for attaining the sight of Godhead. The pure
soul is eternally in the Realm of the Supreme Lord.
The mundane
tract of the countryside that is trod by every passerby must not be
confounded with the Highest Sphere of the Realm of the Absolute. It is
not the glorification of any mundane locality, cause or person for
which the devout pilgrim sets out on the Parikrama
of Sri Brajamandal under the lead of the sadhu
[devotee, spiritual master].
Those who turn their attention to the
landscape and the external features of the Object of worship or choose
to regard the bath and the journey, eating and sleeping, as identical
with the spiritual function, gain very little by their laborious
journey.
The whole
attention of the pilgrim has to be given not to the landscape nor to
any shrine or figures. It is least of all necessary for him to attend
to the activities of himself. It is imperative to turn all his
attention to the minutest doings and sayings of the sadhu under
whose direction he has chosen to perform the devotional journey. If he
goes on indulging his own fancies and viewing with his own eyes the
entities on the spiritual plane he may, indeed, succeed in deluding
himself but he will assuredly miss the only legitimate object of his
pilgrimage. If he attends and acts up to the instructions of his
spiritual guide and does not allow himself to be directed by any other
consideration, he will automatically find himself on the plane of archana
in course of the performance of his spiritual journey, by the
unsolicited and causeless grace of the sat-guru (bona fide
spiritual guide).
The very
first principle, therefore, which all intending circumambulators should
accept in their heart of hearts is to attend fully to the instructions
of the bona fide guide and prefer following them to every other
occupation. If he tries to do so, he will find that the bona fide guide
will put him to activities which may be neither such as are to his
liking nor what he had previously arranged for. The sat-guru
will upset all his prearranged plans. The pilgrim is not expected to be
allowed to guide himself in any way. It is the nature of the
conditioned soul to be tempted to assume his own guidance however much
he may profess to be guided by another.
It is not the
journey but the method of its performance that really matters. Any
journey that is performed under the lead of the sadhu is a
spiritual function. No journey that is not so performed can have any
spiritual value. The circumambulation of Sri Brajamandal has the
further advantage of spiritual association which are of great help to
the novice on the path of spiritual endeavour. The novice is in a
position on such occasions to be put in mind by the sadhu that
he is never to attend to the scene at all, because what he will see if
he does so is not the thing which he should see but something else, the
sight of which will be obstructive of the real function for which he is
out on his pilgrimage. The sadhu himself will see everything
very carefully and minutely, but he will never encourage the novice to
any function of the kind. If the novice submits to be so thwarted at
almost every step and is prepared to do whatever the sadhu
tells him to do with loyal faith, he will have gained the real object
of his pilgrimage.
It is for the
purpose of inspiring a real regard for the transcendental realm of
Braja in the minds of the circumambulators that the function has been
manifested by the sadhu. The mundane realm enables the sadhu
to do this in a concrete way. In the realm of Braja it is not jivas
[us, the living entities] who
enjoy the landscape. It is Krishna who is the Sole Enjoyer of that
Realm. The jivas have no other function but to minister to the
Pleasures of Krishna. The landscapes of that Realm are instinct with
perfect spiritual life. They direct their denizens in their constant
service of Krishna. The sadhu is the whole-time servant of
Krishna. He can understand the directions of the spiritual realm that
does not manifest its responsive nature to the eclipsed consciousness
of conditioned souls. The sadhu alone is thus in a position to
employ the conditioned soul in the service of the Realm of Braja,
although the latter is necessarily not fully aware of the same till
after he has been freed from all obscurity of vision.
It may of
course be asked why the mundane landscape should be at all necessary
for the spiritual purpose. To this the reply is that the land of Braja
is specially privileged for being used by the sadhu for his
purpose. Mundane landscape is no doubt different from the spiritual
realm. But the mundane in this case has a quasi-spiritual value as soon
as it is used by the sadhu for kindling the spiritual
consciousness of dormant souls.
The full
spiritual process is not devoid of distinctive features. So much so is
this the case that the abstract mental function is the furthest removed
from the spiritual. Those, therefore, who choose to suppose, for no
reason whatsoever, that the nature of the difference between the
spiritual and mundane resembles that between the mental and physical,
are, by reason of this very initial misunderstanding, prepared to
disown with special vehemence any spiritual value of the gross mundane
landscape. These persons are however much more condescending to the
claims of the mental process to be regarded as being in close proximity
to the spiritual.
But as a
matter of fact, neither the mental nor the physical process can have
any spiritual quality of its own. Such a quality may be impressed on
either by the Grace of Godhead. The land of Braja has been endowed with
this privilege by the fact of the Appearance of Sri Krishna, Who
performed His All-Holy Pastimes there. Why should it be altogether
impossible for theists to believe in the privileged nature of the land
of Braja in view of the above fact? The land itself is not spiritual.
It will not benefit any person if he serves the inanimate landscape of
Braja by the resources of his mundane nature. The guidance of the sadhu,
however, needs must be allowed to make a vital difference, as it
enables even the conditioned soul to be used in the quasi-spiritual
service of the transcendental realm of Braja apparently to an external
observer in terms of the mundane landscape. But the service of the
mundane tract of Braja is not thereby rendered identical with the
quasi-spiritual service (archan) of the transcendental Realm
under the guidance of the sadhu who uses the privileged mundane
tract for the purpose of enabling conditioned souls to obtain the
unconscious service of the transcendental realm.
Those who
choose to suppose that they are enabled to serve the transcendental
realm of Braja by simply residing in the mundane District of Muttra [Mathura] or
by following mechanically any course of ceremonials laid down in the
Scriptures under the guidance of persons who have themselves no access
to the spiritual plane, are no less deluded than those stubborn
atheists who do not believe in the testimony of the revealed Scriptures
or affect to regard the Scriptures as the concoctions of the fertile
imaginations of barbarous peoples. The perusal of this discourse cannot
materially benefit either description of persons.
The worship
of Godhead can have only the character of an eternal quest of the Truth
in consonance with the principles of transcendental epistemology. Those
who take this mundane existence to be identical with the transcendental
are either fools or knaves. It is of course possible for persons with a
dull intellect to accept (?) anything and everything 'on trust' (?).
But this kind of innocent (?) stupidity will not help any person in
arriving at the real Truth. [Please note that
the question marks are
put there by the author, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur.]
Nor
can any person find the Truth by means of his intellect alone. But that
also is no argument in favour of the least neglect of intellectual
alertness on the path of spiritual endeavour. The Truth makes His
Appearance to the pure cognitive faculty. He refuses to appear to the
non-cognitive aptitude. The reason why the intellect cannot find truth
is not that it is disposed to exert itself but that it does not do so
in the proper manner and with sufficient thoroughness. The legitimate
function of the intellect in approaching the Absolute is of a receptive
nature. The intellect of man commits an offence against itself the
moment it attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible by its own
resources. This type of aggressive intellectualism is the mother of
atheism and is not less harmful than even deliberate stupidity.
It is
possible to desire to have the perfectly receptive attitude towards the
Truth, waiting for Him to take the initiative for enabling us to find
Him. This waiting for the Truth is the only real form of the quest
after the Truth. To a person with such bona fide receptive disposition,
the Truth reveals Himself to the extent that is sufficient for enabling
him to continue the quest in a successful manner. The success consists
in this: that such a person is able to distinguish between the Truth
and non-Truth when either of them presents itself to him for his
receptive acceptance. He is also enabled by the quest to recognise
those persons who are bona fide seekers of the Truth. He is thereby
enabled to cultivate their society by the method of receiving
enlightenment from their words and deed. All this, however, does not
mean that the seekers of the Truth can actually trod the spiritual
plane itself. Neither can he be regarded as being wholly confined to
the mundane plane. He is quasi-free. He is said to be free even in this
life (jivan-mukta) by the Scriptures.
Sri
Krishna
Chaitanya exhibited the ideal of conduct of a person who has been
favoured by the gift of love to the feet of Krishna by the grace of the
sadhu. He did not perform His pilgrimage under the
lead of any other person. He gave an explanation of the cause of His
Own peculiar conduct to Prakashananda, the atheistical pedantic leader
of the sannyasins of Kashi of His day.
He said in effect that
He was a wholly ignorant and dull-headed person. Sri
Gurudeva took pity
upon Him for His extreme dullness and told Him that it would not be
possible for such a foolish person to profit in any way by the study of
the Vedanta. He was instructed to
take the Name of
Krishna instead. As He did so, in a short time He experienced a great
change of disposition. It was no longer possible for Him to control His
own Activities. The Name of Krishna entirely mastered His Whole Self
and made him dance, sing, cry and in short behave like one mad. He was
alarmed by the appearance of those symptoms and repaired to His Guru
and submitted to him His condition. His Guru told Him that he was most
fortunate in having such a disciple as the symptoms were those of a
person in whom love for Krishna manifests itself by the Grace of the
Holy Name. His Guru then explained to Him that the Name of Krishna has
a power to excite love for Krishna if He is chanted without offence,
and that love for Krishna is the one thing needful for the soul and the
end of all spiritual endeavour.
When love for
Krishna makes its appearance in the spiritual essence of the perfectly
pure soul, such a person forgoes all inclinations for any form of
sensuous activity of both the gross and subtle varieties. He is then
entitled to visit the realm of Braja. He is also impelled to do so by
his irrepressible love for Krishna. But he finds the realm of Braja
itself in mourning in its agony of separation from Krishna. The sight
only serves to still further augment his own sorrow.
There is thus
no change of mood for the lover of Krishna when he is in the realm of
Braja. He does not find Krishna in the realm of Braja, but meets
instead the denizens of the place undergoing grief of separation from
Krishna like himself. Krishna is not to be found in this world in this
age. This is a matter of life and death to the person who really loves
Krishna. There can be no happiness nor solace for such a person during
his sojourn in this world. He is never happy in any other sense even by
his residence in the land of Braja.
The
circumambulation of the realm of Braja has no significance for anyone
except those who really love Krishna. Those who love Krishna can alone
understand how the ceremony was performed by Sri Chaitanya. Unless one
takes the Name of Krishna in the manner that is free from offence
revealed by Sri Chaitanya as the Divine Dispensation for this Age of
Discord (Kali-yuga) by His Conduct and Teachings, one can attain to no
real love for Krishna. A true follower of Sri Chaitanya is therefore
alone entitled to perform the spiritual pilgrimage of the realm of
Braja.
Sri Chaitanya
is Sri Krishna Himself, who alone is the source of His Own Service. Sri
Chaitanya is Sri Krishna exhibiting the mood of love for Himself. The
mood of love is only the exterior of Sri Chaitanya. But this exterior
is not less absolute than the Inner Personality who is no other than
Krishna Himself. Krishna is also Chaitanya. The Master is the source of
His Own Service. Krishna, as the source of love of Himself, is
Chaitanya. The two aspects of the Divine Personality are not
complementary, but are IDENTICAL. Sri Krishna is eternally served by
the denizens of Braja. He is thus served in a visible form in the Dwapara Age in this world. Sri
Krishna is also served in a visible form
in the Kali Age. In Kali Age He is served as Sri
Chaitanya by the
denizens of Sri Navadwip, which is identical
with the White Island
(Shvetadwip) of the Scriptures. The service and associates of Sri
Krishna Chaitanya are identical with those of Sri Krishna. The service
of Sri Krishna Chaitanya alone is attainable in the Kali Age. Those who
aspire to the service of Krishna in this Age have no other alternative
but to serve Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Unless they are fully prepared to
do so, they are bound to go astray and be betrayed into a course of
sensuous activities under the garb of religion.
