Gems and Realizations You May Gain from Japa

Gems and Realizations You May Gain from Japa

This Material Nature Is Full of Suffering

The editor of the daily Amrita Bazar Patrika, published from Allahabad, began the editorial the other day on a rather sad note:
 The nation's week began with memories of 'Jalhianwallah-Bagh,' and political serfdom no longer troubles us. But our troubles are far from being at an end. In the dispensation of providence, mankind cannot have any rest. If one kind of trouble goes, another quickly follows. India, politically free, is faced with difficulties that are no less serious than the troubles under foreign rule.
Now, if one consults the accounts ledger of India's serfdom and freedom, and views the contents from a spiritual perspective, the conclusion will be as follows: The four yugas, or ages, namely Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, add up to 4,320,000 years. Kali-yuga, which lasts 432,000 years, began from the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit's rule, some five thousand years ago. For approximately one thousand of these five thousand years—i.e., since the invasion of Mohammad Ghori in A.D. 1050—India has been experiencing foreign rule. In other words, when we calculate according to scripture, India has exercised absolute sovereignty over the entire planet Earth for a period of 3,772,000 years, till Mahārāja Parīkṣit's rule. Hence the meagre thousand years of foreign subjugation are not such a lamentable thing. Neither in the past nor at present has India's political serfdom or freedom been the prime concern of India's greatest thinkers and philosophers, who well knew the actual value of such things. The kings of India up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit were able to rule the entire world, and not for a mere couple of centuries but for hundreds of thousands of years. The reason for their rule was not a political one.
India's wise men of yore easily realized that the threefold miseries we humans are condemned to suffer can never be mitigated by the political condition controlling the country—whether foreign rule or freedom from it. At the dawn of modern history, the Armageddon fought in India over a political question lasted only eighteen days. On that historic battlefield the problem of human suffering and its permanent solution was discussed, and this discussion was compiled in the form of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Thus millennia ago the Bhagavad-gītā comprehensively discussed the same topic the editor of Amrita Bazar Patrika writes about in a despondent mood: "If one kind of trouble goes, another quickly follows." In the Gītā (7.14) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "This divine energy of mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome." The Sanskrit words daivī māyā used here can be translated into modern terms as "nature's law." This natural law is so stringent that it is impossible to overcome it, in spite of our prolific articles in the newspapers or our big conferences tabling motions that run into volumes. Our advanced technological and scientific efforts aimed at protecting us from the clutches of nature's law are futile because they are all controlled by the very same nature's law, or daivī māyā. Therefore trying to utilize mundane science to overpower nature's law is like creating a Frankenstein. Efforts to extirpate human suffering through advanced technology and bring about lasting happiness have brought us to the Atomic Age. Western thinkers have become gravely concerned about the extent of destruction an atomic explosion can cause. Some leaders are trying to calm the alarm with platitudes about how atomic energy is to be used solely for peaceful purposes, but this is another form of deception caused by daivī māyā, or nature's law.
It is impossible for anyone to surmount the two-pronged attack of daivī māyā—that is, her covering potency and her throwing potency. The more we try to conquer this divine energy, the more powerfully she defeats us by exciting us through the mode of passion and punishing us with the threefold miseries, culminating in all-devouring death. This struggle between the divine energy and the evil forces is eternal. Our inability to understand this struggle has led us to lament, "In the dispensation of providence, mankind cannot have any rest."
Despite repeatedly tasting defeat at the hands of the divine energy, the evil forces cannot understand why "mankind cannot have any rest." Yet in the Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Personality of Godhead clearly explains this. At first He sternly warns the evil forces with these words, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā: "This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome" [Bg. 7.14]; and then in the next line He tells them how to overcome this divine energy, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: "But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."

Lord please remove brahmajyoti....

O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27), the Lord explains His personal rays (brahmajyoti), the dazzling effulgence of His personal form, in this way:

brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham
amṛtasyāvyayasya ca
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikāntikasya ca

"I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness." Brahman, Paramātmā andBhagavān are three aspects of the same Absolute Truth. Brahman is the aspect most easily perceived by the beginner;Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is realized by those who have further progressed; andBhagavān realization is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.7), where Lord Kṛṣṇa says that He is the ultimate concept of the Absolute Truth: mattaḥparataraṁ nānyat. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the source of the brahmajyoti as well as the all-pervading Paramātmā. Later in theBhagavad-gītā (10.42) Kṛṣṇa further explains:

atha vā bahunaitena
kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena sthito jagat

"But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." Thus by His one plenary expansion, the all-pervading Paramātmā, the Lord maintains the complete material cosmic creation. He also maintains all manifestations in the spiritual world. Therefore in this śruti-mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad, the Lord is addressed as pūṣan,the ultimate maintainer.

The Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is always filled with transcendental bliss (ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt). When He was present at Vṛndāvana in India five thousand years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from the beginning of His childhood pastimes. The killings of various demons-such as Agha,Baka, Pūtanā and Pralamba-were but pleasure excursions for Him. In His village ofVṛndāvana He enjoyed Himself with His mother, brother and friends, and when He played the role of a naughty butter thief, all His associates enjoyed celestial bliss by His stealing. The Lord's fame as a butter thief is not reproachable, for by stealing butter the Lord gave pleasure to His pure devotees. Everything the Lord did in Vṛndāvana was for the pleasure of His associates there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats of the so-calledhaṭha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth.

Of the childhood play between the Lord and His playmates, the cowherd boys, Śukadeva Gosvāmī says in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.12.11):

itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā
dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa
sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ

"The Personality of Godhead, who is perceived as the impersonal, blissfulBrahman by the jñānīs, who is worshiped as the Supreme Lord by devotees in the mood of servitorship, and who is considered an ordinary human being by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities."

Thus the Lord is always engaged in transcendental loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of śānta (neutrality), dāsya(servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vātsalya(parental affection) and mādhurya (conjugal love).

Since it is said that Lord Kṛṣṇa never leavesVṛndāvana-dhāma, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.14-18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as theParamātmā, or Supersoul. Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramātmā. Every living entity is known as ātmā, soul, and the principal ātmā who controls them all isParamātmā, the Supersoul.

This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sāṅkhya-yogīs can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they have very little information of the puruṣa,the Lord. And the impersonal transcendentalists are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti. If one wants to see the Absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and the glaring effulgence as well. Śrī Īśopaniṣad points toward this direction, praying for the removal of thehiraṇmaya-pātra, the dazzling covering of the Lord. Unless this covering is removed so one can perceive the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved.

The Paramātmā feature of the Personality of Godhead is one of three plenary expansions, or viṣṇu-tattvas, collectively known as the puruṣa-avatāras. One of theseviṣṇu-tattvas who is within the universe is known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He is theViṣṇu among the three principal deities-Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva-and He is the all-pervading Paramātmā in each and every individual living entity. The second viṣṇu-tattva within the universe is GarbhodakaśāyīViṣṇu, the collective Supersoul of all living entities. Beyond these two is KāraṇodakaśāyīViṣṇu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. He is the creator of all universes. The yoga system teaches the serious student to meet the viṣṇu-tattvas after going beyond the twenty-four material elements of the cosmic creation. The culture of empiric philosophy helps one realize the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is the glaring effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That the brahmajyotiis Kṛṣṇa's effulgence is confirmed in theBhagavad-gītā (14.27) as well as the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.40):

yasya prabhā-prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"In the millions and millions of universes there are innumerable planets, and each and every one of them is different from the others by its cosmic constitution. All of these planets are situated in a corner of thebrahmajyoti. This brahmajyoti is but the personal rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom I worship." Thismantra from the Brahma-saṁhitā is spoken from the platform of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the śruti-mantra ofŚrī Īśopaniṣad under discussion confirms thismantra as a process of realization. TheĪśopaniṣad mantra is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the brahmajyoti so that one can see His real face. This brahmajyotieffulgence is described in detail in severalmantras of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.10-12):

hiraṇmaye pare kośe
virajaṁ brahma niṣkalam
tac chubhraṁ jyotiṣāṁ jyotis
tad yad ātma-vido viduḥ

na tatra sūryo bhāti na candra-tārakaṁ
nemā vidyuto bhānti kuto 'yam agniḥ
tam eva bhāntam anu bhāti sarvaṁ
tasya bhāsā sarvam idaṁ vibhāti

brahmaivedam amṛtaṁ purastād brahma
paścād brahma dakṣiṇataś cottareṇa
adhaś cordhvaṁ ca prasṛtaṁ brahmai-
vedaṁ viśvam idaṁ variṣṭham

"In the spiritual realm, beyond the material covering, is the unlimited Brahmaneffulgence, which is free from material contamination. That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all lights. In that realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies."

Perfect knowledge means knowing Kṛṣṇaas the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of Kṛṣṇa. InŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the author, Śrīla Vyāsadeva, has established that one will describe the Supreme Truth as Brahman,Paramātmā or Bhagavān according to one's realization of Him. Śrīla Vyāsadeva never states that the Supreme Truth is a jīva, an ordinary living entity. The living entity should never be considered the all-powerful Supreme Truth. If he were the Supreme, he would not need to pray to the Lord to remove His dazzling cover so that the living entity could see His real face.

The conclusion is that one who has no knowledge of the potencies of the Supreme Truth will realize the impersonal Brahman. Similarly, when one realizes the material potencies of the Lord but has little or no information of the spiritual potencies, he attains Paramātmā realization. Thus bothBrahman and Paramātmā realization of the Absolute Truth are partial realizations. However, when one realizes
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ŚrīKṛṣṇa, in full potency after the removal of thehiraṇmaya-pātra, one realizes vāsudevaḥsarvam iti: [Bg. 7.19] Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Vāsudeva, is everything-Brahman,Paramātmā and Bhagavān. He is Bhagavān, the root, and Brahman and Paramātmā are His branches.

In the Bhagavad-gītā (6.46-47) there is a comparative analysis of the three types of transcendentalists-the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman (jñānīs), the worshipers of the Paramātmā feature (yogīs) and the devotees of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa (bhaktas). It is stated there that the jñānīs, those who have cultivated Vedic knowledge, are better than ordinary fruitive workers, that the yogīs are still greater than the jñānīs, and that among all yogīs, those who constantly serve the Lord with all their energies are the topmost. In summary, a philosopher is better than a laboring man, a mystic is superior to a philosopher, and of all the mystic yogīs, he who follows bhakti-yoga, constantly engaging in the service of the Lord, is the highest. Śrī Īśopaniṣad directs us toward this perfection

what should be the goal of everyone ...His holiness radhanath swami

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