The
Vedanta-sutra begins with the key inquiry about the
Transcendence, athato brahma jijnasa:
"One should now inquire about Brahman, or the Transcendence."
It would be tempting for a parent to shield a child as long as possible
from such a painful reality. But the Chamerniks have chosen a different
path -- one of gentle honesty. Theirs is the story of two parents doing
the best they can to help their children understand and cope with
terminal illness.
The process began that night more than two years ago with a question
from their son. It has only led to more questions -- and even on their
toughest days, the Chamerniks have attempted to answer each one. go to
story
When
this body is worn out by old age and disease, and the soul can no
longer function in it, at that time the soul leaves this body. In
ignorance we say, "Mr. So-and-So has died," but he has not died; he has
simply gone to another location. He has left this body. That is also
described in Bhagavad-gita (2.22) where Krishna says, "As
a man gives up an old and useless dress and gets a new dress, similarly
the soul gives up an old and useless body and gets a new body." How
that occurs is also described: "Wherever and whatever your mind is
fixed upon at the time of leaving this body, that state you will attain
without fail." (
Bhagavad-gita 8.5) more
A
small child walking with his father goes on inquiring constantly. He
asks his father so many odd things, and the father has to satisfy him
with proper answers. When I was a young father in my householder life,
I was overflooded with hundreds of questions from my second son, who
was my constant companion. One day it so happened that a bridegroom's
party was passing our tramcar, and the four-year-old boy, as usual,
inquired what the big procession was. He was given all possible answers
to his thousand and one questions regarding the marriage party, and
finally he asked whether his own father was married! This question gave
rise to loud laughter from all the elderly gentlemen present, although
the boy was perplexed as to why we were laughing. Anyway, the boy was
somehow satisfied by his married father.
The lesson from this incident is that since a human being is a rational
animal, he is born to make inquiries. The greater the number of
questions, the greater the advancement of knowledge and science. The
whole of material civilization is based on this originally large volume
of questions put by young men to their elders. When elderly persons
give the proper answers to the questions of the youngsters,
civilization makes progress, one step after another. The most
intelligent man, however, inquires about what happens after death. The
less intelligent make lesser inquiries, but the questions of those who
are more intelligent go higher and still higher.
Among the most intelligent of men was Maharaja Parikshit, the great
king of the entire world, who was accidentally cursed by a brahmana
to meet death from the bite of a serpent within seven days. The brahmana
who cursed him was only a boy, yet he was very powerful, and because he
did not know the importance of the great king, the boy foolishly cursed
him to meet death within seven days. This was later lamented by the
boy's father, whom the king had offended. When the king was informed of
the unfortunate curse, he at once left his palatial home and went to
the bank of the Ganges, which was near his capital, to prepare for his
impending death. Because he was a great king, almost all the great
sages and learned scholars assembled at the place where the king was
fasting prior to leaving his mortal body. At last, Shukadeva Gosvami,
the youngest contemporary saint, also arrived there, and he was
unanimously accepted to preside at that meeting, although his great
father was also present. The king respectfully offered Shukadeva
Gosvami the principal seat of esteem and asked him relevant questions
regarding his passing from the mortal world, which was to take place on
the seventh day thenceforward. The great king, as a worthy descendant
of the Pandavas, who were all great devotees, placed the following
relevant inquiries before the great sage Shukadeva. "My dear sir, you
are the greatest of the great transcendentalists, and therefore I
submissively beg to ask you about my duties at this moment. I am just
on the verge of my death. Therefore, what should I do at this critical
hour? Please tell me, my lord—what should I hear, what should I
worship, or whom should I remember now? A great sage like you does not
stay at the home of a householder more than necessary, and therefore it
is my good fortune that you have kindly come here at the time of my
death. Please, therefore, give me your directions at this critical
hour."
The great sage, having thus been pleasingly requested by the king,
answered his questions authoritatively, for the sage was a great
transcendental scholar and was also well equipped with godly qualities,
since he was the worthy son of Badarayana, or Vyasadeva, the original
compiler of the Vedic literature.
Shukadeva Gosvami said, "My dear king, your inquiry is very much
relevant, and it is also beneficial for all people of all times. Such
inquiries, which are the highest of all, are relevant because they are
confirmed by the teachings of the vedanta-darshana, the
conclusion of the Vedic knowledge, and are atmavit-sammatah; in
other words, liberated souls, who have full knowledge of their
spiritual identity, put forward such relevant inquiries in order to
elucidate further information about the Transcendence."
The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the natural commentary upon the
great Vedanta (or shariraka) sutras,
which were compiled by Srila Vyasadeva. The Vedanta-sutras
are the topmost Vedic literature, and they contain the nucleus of basic
inquiries about the transcendental subject of spiritual knowledge. Yet
although Srila Vyasadeva compiled this great treatise, his mind was not
satisfied. Then he happened to meet Sri Narada, his spiritual master,
who advised him to describe the identity of the Personality of Godhead.
Upon receiving this advice, Vyasadeva meditated on the principle of bhakti-yoga,
which showed him distinctly what is the Absolute and what is the
relativity, or maya. Having achieved perfect realization of
these facts, he compiled the great narration of the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
or beautiful Bhagavatam, which begins with actual
historical facts concerning the life of Maharaja Parikshit.
The Vedanta-sutra begins with the key inquiry about the
Transcendence, athato brahma jijnasa: "One should now
inquire about Brahman, or the Transcendence."
As long as a man is in the full vigor of life, he forgets the naked
truth of death, which he has to meet. Thus a foolish man makes no
relevant inquiry about the real problems of life. Everyone thinks that
he will never die, although he sees evidence of death before his eyes
at every second. Here is the distinction between animalism and
humanity. An animal like a goat has no sense of its impending death.
Although its brother goat is being slaughtered, the goat, being allured
by the green grass offered to it, will stand peacefully waiting to be
slaughtered next. On the other hand, if a human being sees his fellow
man being killed by an enemy, he either fights to save his brother or
leaves, if possible, to save his own life. That is the difference
between a man and a goat.
An intelligent man knows that death is born along with his own birth.
He knows that he is dying at every second and that the final touch will
be given as soon as his term of life is finished. He therefore prepares
himself for the next life or for liberation from the disease of
repeated birth and death.
A foolish man, however, does not know that this human form of life is
obtained after a series of births and deaths imposed in the past by the
laws of nature. He does not know that a living entity is an eternal
being, who has no birth and death. Birth, death, old age, and disease
are external impositions on a living entity and are due to his contact
with material nature and to his forgetfulness of his eternal, godly
nature and qualitative oneness with the Absolute Whole.
Human life provides the opportunity to know this eternal fact, or
truth. Thus the very beginning of the Vedanta-sutra
advises that because we have this valuable form of human life, it is
our duty-now-to inquire, What is Brahman, the Absolute Truth?
A man who is not intelligent enough does not inquire about this
transcendental life; instead, he inquires about many irrelevant matters
which do not concern his eternal existence. From the very beginning of
his life, he inquires from his mother, father, teachers, professors,
books, and so many other sources, but he does not have the right type
of information about his real life.
As mentioned before, Parikshit Maharaja was given a warning notice that
he would meet death within seven days, and he at once left his palace
to prepare himself for the next stage. The king had at least seven days
at his disposal in which to prepare for death, but as far as we are
concerned, although at least we know that our death is sure, we have no
information of the date fixed for the occurrence. I do not know whether
I am going to meet death at the next moment. Even such a great man as
Mahatma Gandhi could not calculate that he was going to meet with death
in the next five minutes, nor could his great associates guess his
impending death. Nonetheless, all such gentlemen present themselves as
great leaders of the people.
It is ignorance of death and life that distinguishes an animal from a
man. A man, in the real sense of the term, inquires about himself and
what he is. Wherefrom has he come into this life, and where is he going
after death? Why is he put under the troubles of threefold miseries
although he does not want them? Beginning from one's childhood, one
goes on inquiring about so many things in his life, but he never
inquires about the real essence of life. This is animalism. There is no
difference between a man and an animal as far as the four principles of
animal life are concerned, for every living being exists by eating,
sleeping, fearing, and mating. But only the human life is meant for
relevant inquiries into the facts about eternal life and the
Transcendence. Human life is therefore meant for research into eternal
life, and the Vedanta-sutra advises one to conduct this
research now or never. If one fails to inquire now into these relevant
matters about life, one is sure to go back again to the animal kingdom
by the laws of nature. Therefore, even if a foolish man appears
advanced in material science—that is, in eating, sleeping, fearing,
mating, and so on—he cannot get free from the cruel hands of death by
the law of nature. The law of nature works under three modes—goodness,
passion, and ignorance. Those who live under conditions of goodness are
promoted to the higher, spiritual status of life, and those who live
under conditions of passion remain stationed in the same place in the
material world where they are now, but those who live under conditions
of ignorance are sure to be degraded to the lower species.
The modern setup of human civilization is a risky one because it offers
no education about relevant inquiries into the essential principles of
life. Like animals, people do not know that they are going to be
slaughtered by the laws of nature. They are satisfied with a bunch of
green grass, or a so-called jolly life, like the waiting goat in a
slaughterhouse. Considering such a condition of human life, we are just
trying to make a humble attempt to save the human being by the message
of Back to Godhead [the magazine
founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada].
This method is not fictitious. If there is at all to be an era of
reality, this message of Back to Godhead is the beginning
of that era.
According to Sri Shukadeva Gosvami, the real fact is that a grihamedhi,
or a person who has tied himself, like the goat meant for slaughter, in
the business of family, society, community, nation, or humanity at
large in regard to the problems and necessities of animal life—namely
eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating—and who has no knowledge of the
Transcendence is no better than an animal. He may have inquired about
physical, political, economic, cultural, educational, or similar other
matters of temporary, material concern, but if he has not inquired
about the principles of transcendental life, he should be regarded as a
blind man driven ahead by uncontrolled senses and about to fall into a
ditch. That is the description of the grihamedhi.
The opposite of the griha-medhi, however, is the griha-stha.
The grihastha ashrama, or the shelter of spiritual family life,
is as good as the life of a sannyasi, a member of the renounced
order. Regardless of whether one is a householder or a renunciate, the
important point is that of relevant inquiries. A sannyasi is
bogus if not interested in relevant inquiries, and a grihastha,
or householder, is bona fide if he is inclined to put forward such
inquiries. The grihamedhi, however, is simply interested in the
animal necessities of life. By the laws of nature, the grihamedhi's
life is full of calamities, whereas the life of the grihastha
is full of happiness. But in the modern human civilization, the grihamedhis
are posing as the grihasthas. We should therefore know who is
what. A grihamedhi's life is full of vices, because he does not
know how to live a family life. He does not know that beyond his
control is a power who supervises and controls his activities, and he
has no conception of his future life. The grihamedhi is blind
to his future and has no aptitude for making relevant inquiries. His
only qualification is that he is bound by the shackles of attachment to
the false things he has contacted in his temporary existence.
At night such grihamedhis waste their valuable time by sleeping
or by satisfying their different varieties of sexual urges by visiting
cinema shows and attending clubs and gambling houses, where women and
liquor are indulged in lavishly. And during the day, they waste their
valuable life in accumulating money or, if they have sufficient money
to spend, by adjusting the comforts of their family members. Their
standard of living and their personal needs increase with their
increase in monetary income. Thus there is no limit to their expenses,
and they are never satiated. Consequently there is unlimited
competition in the field of economic development, and therefore there
is no peace in any society of the human world.
Everyone is perplexed by the same questions about earning and spending,
but ultimately one must depend on the mercy of mother nature. When
there is a scarcity in production or there are disturbances caused by
providence, the poor planmaking politician blames it on cruel nature
but carefully avoids studying how and by whom the laws of nature are
controlled. The Bhagavad-gita, however, explains that the
laws of nature are controlled by the Absolute Personality of Godhead.
God alone is the controller of nature and the natural laws. Ambitious
materialists sometimes examine a fragment of the law of nature, but
they never care to know the maker of these laws. Most of them do not
believe in the existence of an absolute person or God who controls the
laws of nature. Rather, they simply concern themselves with the
principles by which different elements interact, but they make no
reference to the ultimate direction which makes such interactions
possible. They have no relevant questions or answers in this regard.
The second of the Vedanta-sutras, however, answers the
essential question about Brahman by asserting that the Supreme Brahman,
the Supreme Transcendence, is He from whom everything is generated.
Ultimately, He is the Supreme Person.
Not only is the foolish grihamedhi ignorant of the temporary
nature of the particular type of body he has obtained, but he is also
blind to the actual nature of what is happening before him in the daily
affairs of his life. He may see his father die, his mother die, or a
relative or neighbor die, yet he does not make the relevant inquiries
about whether or not the other existing members of his family will die.
Sometimes he thinks and knows that all the members of his family will
die today or tomorrow and that he also will die. He may know that the
whole family show—or, for that matter, the whole show of community,
society, nation, and all such things—is but a temporary bubble in the
air, having no permanent value. Yet he is mad after such temporary
arrangements and does not concern himself with any relevant inquiries.
He has no knowledge as to where he has to go after his death. He works
very hard for the temporary arrangements of his family, society, or
nation, but he never makes any future arrangement either for himself or
for others who will pass away from this present phase of life.
In a public vehicle like a railway carriage, we meet and sit down
together with some unknown friends and become members of the same
vehicle for a short time, but in due course we separate, never to meet
again. Similarly, in a long sojourn of life, we get a temporary sitting
accommodation in a so-called family, country, or society, but when the
time is up, we are unwillingly separated from one another, never to
meet again. There are so many questions relevant to our temporary
arrangements in life and our friends in these temporary arrangements,
but a man who is a grihamedhi never inquires about things of a
permanent nature. We are all busy making permanent plans in various
degrees of leadership, without knowing the permanent nature of things
as they are. Sripada shaìkaracarya, who especially strove to
remove this ignorance in society and who advocated the cult of
spiritual knowledge in regard to the all-pervading impersonal Brahman,
said in despair, "Children are engaged in playing, young boys are
engaged in so-called love affairs with young girls, and the old are
seriously thoughtful about adjusting a baffled life of struggle. But,
alas, no one is prepared to inquire relevantly into the science of
Brahman, the Absolute Truth."
Sri Shukadeva Gosvami, who was asked for direction by Maharaja
Parikshit, responded to the king's relevant inquiries by advising him
as follows:
"O descendant of Bharata, it is the duty of mortal men to inquire
about, hear about, glorify, and meditate upon the Personality of
Godhead, who is the most attractive person because of His fullness in
opulence. He is called Hari because He alone can undo the conditional
existence of a living being. If we at all want to be freed from
conditional existence, we must make relevant inquiries about the
Absolute Truth so that He may be pleased to bestow upon us perfect
freedom in life." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.5)
Sri
Shukadeva Gosvami has particularly used four words in regard to the
Absolute Personality of Godhead. These words distinguish the Absolute
Person, or Parabrahman, from other persons, who are qualitatively one
with Him. The Absolute Personality of Godhead is addressed as sarvatma,
or all-pervading, because no one is aloof from Him, although not
everyone has this realization. The Personality of Godhead, by His
plenary representation, resides in everyone's heart as Paramatma, the
Supersoul, along with each individual soul. Therefore every individual
soul has an intimate relationship with Him. Forgetfulness of this
eternally existing intimate relationship with Him is the cause of
conditional life since time immemorial. But because He is Bhagavan, or
the supreme personality, He can at once reciprocate the responsive call
of a devotee. Moreover, because He is the perfect person, His beauty,
opulence, fame, strength, knowledge, and renunciation are all unlimited
sources of transcendental bliss for the individual soul. The individual
soul becomes attracted by all these different opulences when they are
imperfectly represented by other conditioned souls, but the individual
soul is not satisfied by such imperfect representations, and therefore
he perpetually seeks the perfect one. The Personality of Godhead's
beauty has no comparison, nor do His knowledge and renunciation. But
above all, He is ishvara, or the supreme controller. We are at
present being controlled by the police action of this great king. This
police control is imposed upon us because of our disobedience of law.
But because the Lord is Hari, He is able to cause the disappearance of
our conditional life by giving us full freedom in spiritual existence.
It is therefore the duty of every man to make relevant inquiries about
Him and thus go back to Godhead.