I had asked His Holiness Romapada Swami Maharaj a few questions. He has very kindly replied. Here is his reply.
Question part 1: There are still people (at least in India) who believe God is impersonal and say that devotion is just a stepping stone for realizing the Supreme Truth which they say is actually impersonal.
I am really eager to know what the Absolute Truth is.
And I don't like this confusion about the Absolute
Truth. I am aware of all counter arguments that the
Vaishnavas (that is us) give to defeat impersonalists.
But then, I am told (by Vaishnavas) that the
impersonalists will also have strong arguments for
defeating personalism. So, how will I know what the
Absolute Truth is? Is it Krishna (and I dearly want it
to be so) or is it the impersonal Brahman?
I really want to be absolutely fixed in my devotion to
Krishna, but this impersonal philosophy poses an
obstacle in my progress.
Answer: An axiomatic principle in understanding the
Absolute Truth is that it is NOT possible to be
ascertained through arguments, counter-arguments and
debates! Then how are we to know? By following the
mahajanas. This is the advice from Mahabharata (Vana
Parva 313.117):
tarko apratisthah shrutayo vibhinna
nasav rishir yasya matam na bhinnam
dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam
mahajano yena gatah sa panthah
"Dry arguments are inconclusive. One is not considered
a great muni unless he puts forward a new opinion
different from others. Simply by studying the Vedas,
which are variegated, one cannot come to the right
path by which religious principles are understood. The
solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the
heart of an unadulterated self-realized person.
Consequently, one should follow the path advocated by
the mahajanas."
Who these mahajanas are is also spelled out in the
Bhagavatam (6.3.20-21) - There are 12 mahajanas or
authorities on the subject of Absolute Truth: Lord
Brahma, Narada, Lord Shiva, the four Kumaras, Lord
Kapila, Svayambhuva Manu, Prahlada Maharaja, Janaka,
Grandfather Bhishma, Bali Maharaja, Sukadeva Gosvami
and Yamaraja.
Thus if one wants to know the Absolute Truth
conclusively, without doubts, one has to follow these
great mahajanas, and those strictly following in their
footsteps. By treading the path chalked out by such
great souls as Narada, Prahlada, Hanuman, Bhishma,
Arjuna, Sukadeva Goswami and so on up to the great
saintly acharyas of recent times such as
Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya or Lord Caitanya and even
the final teachings of Sankaracharya -- we can rest
assured that we are on the right track, regardless of
the opinion of others. None of these great authorities
have hinted in their teachings that devotional service
to Vishnu is simply a means to realize some higher
truth! Quite to the contrary, both by their precepts
and personal attainment they have demonstrated
devotional service as our eternal occupation, as both
the means AND the ultimate goal of life that can be
achieved.
Even if we were to simply accept the words of the
Supreme Lord Krishna, whose authority is indisputable,
then Krishna amply assures us, numerous times in the
Bhagavad-Gita, that His personal form is the highest.
In fact this very question you are posing was asked by
Arjuna directly to Krishna so that the Lord can give
His conclusive opinion leaving no room for ambiguity.
(See BG 12.1 http://www.vedabase.net/bg/12/1/en)
Krishna promptly replies that those who steadily
worship Him are the most perfect; although the path of
impersonal meditation may possibly bring one to the
same goal of surrendering to Krishna, it is simply
troublesome. (BG 12.1-8) He assures that there is no
truth superior to Him (7.7), that His abode and the
process of devotional service to Him are eternal
(15.6. 9.2) and those who think that He was impersonal
before and has assumed a human-like form later - He
declares them to be less intelligent! (7.24) And His
final instruction is that we give up all other
considerations and surrender to Him alone & become His
devotee (BG 18.65, 66). Is it reasonable to suppose
that the Lord would make so many assertions to mislead
us away from Reality? One who simply accepts Krishna's
direct statements with implicit faith will never be
let down and is sure to achieve the highest
destination of His Eternal Abode.
By great good fortune you have had the opportunity to
hear Krishna's message through His unadulterated
devotees and you also have natural devotion for Him,
so take shelter in Krishna's words whenever false
arguments sway your mind. Regularly meditate on the
purport of His statements quoted above and try to
enter into the spirit of this transcendental knowledge
Krishna has mercifully given to slash all our
misconceptions, and reassure us of His true nature.
Simply on the basis of our faith in Krishna, we can
proceed confidently on the path of pure devotion, free
from doubt, as so many great souls have done in the
past.
Question part 2) Is it possible to defeat impersonalism once and for all? I am told (by Vaishnavas) that the impersonalists will also have strong arguments for defeating personalism. So, how will I know what the Absolute Truth is?
Answer: Actually one who is a true knower of Truth
understands that both the impersonal and personal are
features of the same, non-dual Absolute. This is
stated in Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 1.2.11
www.vedabase.net/sb/1/2/11/en). And Krishna states
that He is the basis of the impersonal Brahman. (BG
14.27) Thus there is no real conflict between those
searching after Brahman realization and those seeking
to worship Bhagavan.
A beginning transcendentalist who is not yet
acquainted with the all-attractive Supreme
Personality, Bhagavan, may think of the Absolute as
non-differentiated Brahman, but when they come in
contact with Krishna's transcendental nature through
association with His message or His devotees, being
already purified of material attachments, they
immediately become attracted to the transcendental
glories of Krsna. This is demonstrated in the lives of
the four Kumaras and Sukadeva Goswami, who were all
initially Brahman-realized and later became devotees
of the Lord. In this instance, we see that quite
contrary to devotional service being a stepping ladder
to Brahman-realization, it actually happens to be the
other way around! So, how fortunate are those who are
right from the beginning trained to become attached to
His personal feature!
A sincere student on the path of Brahman-realization
(a brahma-vadi), however, does NOT minimize the
position of devotional service nor do they deprecate
the transcendental form, qualities and pastimes of
Krishna or consider them to be a temporary, material
manifestation - they have simply not realized this
feature of the Absolute, just as a person seeing a
hill from great distance thinks of it as a massive big
cloud but is not aware of the variegated objects
present on the hill. On the other hand those who
relegate the transcendental attributes of Krishna and
His devotional service to be a material, time-bound
phenomenon - they are known as the mayavadis and are
not in truth seekers of Absolute Truth but in fact
offenders at the lotus feet of Krishna. Their opinion
of devotional service is not substantiated by any
authority.
Apart from considering the authority of scriptures and
mahatmas, a compelling reason to reject the impersonal
philosophy is that it is not practicable. Aside from
the high sounding philosophical wrangling, it is not
something that one can conduct his day-to-day life by.
It is fraught with internal inconsistencies and cannot
really address fundamental concerns such as why are we
suffering and what is the remedy to end our suffering.
"If we are all particles of Brahman why is it that
Brahman is overcome by illusion now? And if it is
simply a lila/pastime (as the impersonalists often
tend to rationalize) then what is the meaning of
'striving' to attain liberation? And meanwhile what is
the point in pursuing one's present course of life in
this world if it is ultimately just illusion?" - these
crucial questions can never be satisfactorily answered
by the mayavadis. Their practical life hardly ever
reflects their theories. Whereas the life of pure
devotees of Krishna is fully consistent with the
philosophy they teach.
The Vaishnava theology explains that this material
world is created to accommodate those living entities
who want to be forgetful of God. By the process of
engaging everything we have in this world in the
course of our daily lives, once again in service to
God, we can purify our existence and return back to
Him again. And for those who are strongly averse to
the personal feature of Krishna, He allows them to
remain forgetful of His nature, and facility is
provided for their gradual purification by focusing on
the impersonal conception of God or the universal form
of God. Considering this, in all likelihood there will
always be a section of people in the material world
who subscribe to an impersonal understanding, with
reasons to justify their position - the Lord Himself
has purposefully allowed for this to happen. The fact
that there are some people who follow such an indirect
path does not preclude a sincere seeker of Truth from
accepting the true conception of Reality when it is
presented to them.
Your understanding that the impersonalists also may
have sound, consistent, justifiable arguments to
defeat personalism is not a fact. Arguments there may
be - in a court of law, two advocates may put forth
strong arguments to defend their respective stand, but
ultimately it is for the judge to hear both sides and
decide what the real situation is. Similarly, in spite
of all the arguments presented by both parties, we
rely on the final judgment of the mahajanas and the
great authorities in their line such as Lord Caitanya,
Ramanujacarya or Madhvacarya to conclusively know the
Truth.
Q part 3) These discussions about the impersonal feature and the arguments and the efforts to defeat the philosophy mean that we are also taking the impersonal philosophy seriously enough to try to defeat it.
Answer: Yes, Srila Prabhupada and all these other
previous acharyas seriously opposed and defeated the
impersonal Mayavada misconception - not due to viewing
contradictory opinions as a threat to their own
convictions, like mundane sectarians defend their
theories. A Vaishnava is by nature meek and humble,
not interested in arguments and asserting over others.
Rather, it is compassion that moves them to speak
forcefully against mayavada - because, in Srila
Prabhupada's words, it is the last snare of maya.
Our real disease is that conditioned souls want to
enjoy independent of God; when one is frustrated in
one's attempts for material enjoyment, one turns to
inquiring into the Absolute, but because of this deep-
rooted spirit of independent-mindedness one becomes
attracted to impersonal speculations by which one can
philosophically put God out of existence and
conveniently continue the illusion of being
independent of the Lord. Obviously, if ultimately
there is only non-differentiated Brahman, there is no
need for my surrender or submission to anyone, you
see! Therefore, not only the acharyas but even Lord
Krishna Himself soundly defeats this dangerous
misconception throughout the Bhagavad- Gita, for the
benefit of conditioned souls, so that we may not be
misled.
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