Stone-Alive

While I was zooming along on the beautiful tree-lined highway, suddenly I hit the brakes! Screeeech! Thud! Generally, when your car tire runs over a tiny little squirrel that chooses to scamper across the road just late enough so that you cant do much about what’s about to happen, you get that sinking feeling. And unless you are quite stone-hearted, the next few minutes are not so joyful. That guilty feeling lingers on for a while before it’s replaced by things more important than the life of an innocent squirrel that chose the wrong moment. But this time, I was not feeling any remorse. Because I had just overrun, not a tiny little squirrel, but a little boulder. It was just a stone, and by definition, it was already dead. Stone-dead.

Just suppose for a moment that this stone had life. It still has all the characteristics of a stone, but just that it knows that it exists. No matter how many trucks choose to trample it, since its after-all a stone, it does not feel any pain. And just as is fit for a stone, it cannot feel any joy when the spring is round the corner. Isn’t that the most coveted state of existence? Well, granted that there is no experience of the exhilaration before the promising spring, but then definitely that’s not a bad price to pay for escaping the agony of being crushed to pulp under the nonchalant tires of a nameless truck. Yes, the stone is so happy to be alive, as alive as a stone!

Wait a moment! This does not sound quite right. Are we saying that the life of a stone is better than our present lives? Suppose you go to someone and open up your heart to him: “I have such and such problem in life. What could be the reason? What is the remedy?”. And that person replies: “Because you are not yet dead, you are suffering.” Its not an answer that will fill you up with so much joy that your heart cant contain it. Such a stone-hearted reply will hardly help you. And yet, there are so many philosophers who will tell you just this. Not quite as bluntly, but that will pretty much be the essence of their philosophy. You are suffering, they will say. Suffering is because of your desires. Put an end to all your desires. Do not rejoice for anything, and do not lament for anything. And so on. That means one must eventually, not immediately, but eventually, try to become qualitatively just like a stone, or something equivalent that has the same qualities of lifelessness as does a stone!

The philosophy I am referring to is known as impersonalism. It has got many flavors, but all of them have one central theme. That ultimately, the highest truth, the source of everything, is an un-variegated oneness. And therefore, since the ultimate truth is that quality-less oneness, attaining the ultimate truth lies in merging oneself into that oneness. Once merged into that oneness, since its all oneness, there is no question of the dualities represented by happiness and sorrow, pain and pleasure, good and bad, and so on. Hmmm, sounds quite like our friend, Mr. Stone. And what’s more, in such a merged state, true to the definition of oneness, all individuality of the “merger” is lost.

Lets think for a moment or two about this. Who will get really hooked onto such a philosophy whose end goal is negation of all that characterizes life? The immediate response that pops up in our minds is: those who are so totally frustrated with their lives that life has become an unbearable burden for them. To them, the philosophical escape to featureless oneness gives relief from the pains of their routine lives. They do not mind the concomitant philosophical relinquishment of all pleasures either, since they don’t have much to rejoice in their lives anyway. The other category of people who would hook on to this philosophy is of those who have understood the miserable and temporary nature of this world. Since their understanding is based on sound philosophical understanding of the truth of the temporary nature of all things in this world, they choose to not be part of any of it. Due to this strong philosophical conviction, it is not so tough for them either to desire becoming desire-less.

So yes, people do have valid reasons for accepting the impersonalistic philosophy. But if I ask myself to write an essay on “The Happiest Day of My Life”, it will hardly glorify a day I spent in nothingness doing nothing thinking nothing feeling nothing with no one around. Instead it will perhaps glorify a day which I spent in a scenic natural place with a stream of crystal clear water flowing nearby, joking and playing around with my best friends, and feeling a strong current of joy surging through me. Someone else might have a different essay, but surely it will not describe a day full of nothings.

Why then is the impersonalistic philosophy so prominent? Because, most people of this world hardly ever actually live the “happiest day of their life” that they would describe in the essay. And even if they live some, the number is just too insignificant compared to the number of other days. In order to make all their days the “happiest days”, they redefine their happiness as oneness, or even nothingness. This way, their happiness means the absence of all sorrow. Since positive happiness of this world has the dual counterpart of unhappiness, to eradicate the unhappiness, they would go to the extent of eradicating the happiness too!

But what if one could live the happiest day of one’s life every day? For ever. Would you still like to take the other alternative of living days full of nothings? What if every day of your life is in a place where every step is a dance and every word is a song? A place where not only is there no sorrow, but where positive happiness abounds in boundless abundance? A place where happiness does not have the unhappy counterpart. Who in their right minds would reject such a destination and opt for a mindless existence devoid of anything at all!

The make-or-break question is whether such a place of boundless happiness really exists? The answer is that it does. This place is called the Spiritual World or the Kingdom of God. A place full of life and joy where all the inhabitants are always engaged in the loving service of God and as a result are completely blissful at all times. The essential difference between this world and that is that in the spiritual world every thing is spiritual, i.e. eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. As opposed to that, in this world everything is material, i.e. temporary, devoid of knowledge, and devoid of any bliss. Further, the oneness that the impersonalists desire to become desire-less in, is just the spiritual sky in which the spiritual Kingdom of God exists. Any person who is convinced about the existence of the spiritual world will quite naturally make this choice. Because this is the place which more than fits the place we described in our “The Happiest Day of My Life” essay. Those philosophers who make this choice are known as devotees of God. By serving God, even in this world, the devotees experience spiritual bliss. They do not have to attempt desirelessness, because all their desires are centered around serving God. Such desires are all spiritual, and the happiness derived from them does not have the unhappy counterpart. Contrast this with the impersonalists’ understanding of desirelessnesss where it means no desires whatsoever. The impersonalists do not know that the spiritual kingdom of God exists beyond the oneness of the spiritual sky. Therefore they settle for the lower platform of happiness defined as “absence of sorrow”.

Our journey started with a dead stone. Then we wandered around for a while in nothingness with our imaginary not-quite-alive Mr. Stone. Eventually we crossed over the featureless oneness (or nothingness), and fortunately reached where we really wanted to be! The spiritual world. Since everything there is spiritual, even the stones there are spiritual, i.e. they are eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss! Stones that are truly alive - Stone-Alive!

The Mechanism of Faith

Introduction

Throughout history, faith has been the bedrock for all spiritual advancement. Indeed, it is said that faith is the most essential ingredient for success in spiritual matters. This article tries to put this statement into perspective. It is essentially for readers who have faith that faith (more particularly, faith in a higher and more powerful living being) works. Even for others, this article will have some good food for thought. It will discuss the origin and rationality of faith, its advantages and absolute necessity, and how it works. The article will then go one level deeper when it concludes with an analysis of the different kinds of faith and their respective gradations. This article should strengthen the faith of the faithful, and inspire the faithless to become faithful.

Faith refers to a strong belief in something that cannot be proven empirically. And advancement can be defined as the process of going to a state of existence which is better than the present one. Since spiritual matters are beyond the conception of the limited material senses, and hence cannot be perceived empirically with the use of the limited material senses, it is only with at least a little initial faith that one can endeavor for spiritual goals and make advancement in that direction.

Faith – Origin, Rationality, and Advantages

Faith in someone originates from past experiences or knowledge of wonderful acts performed by that person. If those acts were actually performed by that person, then how can one claim that faith in that person is irrational? However, blind faith is irrational. Blind faith is a perversion of reasonable faith. It is reasonable faith gone wrong. For example, suppose a medical doctor named John has accomplished some marvelous feats such as curing seemingly hopeless medical cases, then putting faith in him is reasonable faith. However, putting faith in every person named John is blind faith, and is clearly based on ignorance of the simple fact that all Johns are not the same.

Once one has logically and philosophically ascertained a particular personality as one’s object of worship, the real role of faith begins. Life is full of ups and downs. To follow a particular way of life according to the instructions of the object of worship, in all circumstances, requires unflinching faith in the instructions of that person. To attain any goal that requires a process to be followed, perseverance is most essential. And perseverance through all the reversals is not possible without such unflinching faith. Thus, not only is the initial faith required (along with sound philosophical understanding) to start off on a spiritual journey, faith is required even more for continuing on that journey so that with such perseverance the sought after spiritual goal is eventually attained. This is why faith is absolutely essential for spiritual progress.

Faith also plays an important role in keeping oneself calm even in the midst of upheavals. A faithful person, not only carries on with his/her chosen path, but he/she is also confident, by dint of his/her faith, that his/her chosen path will carry him/her through all these upheavals.

The Mechanism of Faith

Faithful people always find themselves amidst three kinds of people: 1) those who are totally faithless and have faith in no one, 2) those who have the same faith as themselves, and 3) those who have faith in someone else. Faithful people thus find themselves caught up between these two classes of people, the faithless and those with faith in someone else. We have already explained earlier in the article that having faith in someone who is quite evidently highly powerful cannot be termed as irrational, and therefore those who are faithless are actually irrationally dogmatic in rejecting faith as irrational. But what about the other class of people, those who have some other faith?

To answer this question, we need to understand the mechanism of faith. How faith works? When one worships a more powerful living being, that living being if pleased bestows benedictions on the worshipper. Thus, the results of a particular kind of faith depend on the power of the corresponding object of worship of bestowing benedictions. Thus, there can be as many kinds of faith as there are different objects of worship. All these faiths can be reasonable faiths because all these objects of worship might surely be powerful personalities. However, some of these personalities are more powerful than the others and therefore the kind of benedictions they can offer will differ. Thus, one can clearly grade the different kinds of faith according to the magnitude of benedictions that the various personalities can offer. Obviously, faith in the person who can offer the best benedictions can be considered as the best faith. To say that all kinds of faith are same is saying that all the different personalities have the same power, which is not the case.

This discussion naturally leads us on to the question: Who is the most powerful person in whom I should repose my faith and offer my worship? Srimad Bhagavad Gita deals with this subject matter in quite some depth. At the very beginning of the 7th chapter, Lord Sri Krishna instructs Arjuna as follows:

BG 7.7: O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.

And a little later, in the 7th chapter, Lord Krishna explains why. We will get the answer shortly. Also, if Sri Krishna is clearly the Supreme object of worship, why are so many other faiths prevalent all over the world?

BG BG 7.20 : Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.

Who are these demigods mentioned by Lord Krishna in this verse? Just like a national government, which has a prime minister along with a cabinet of ministers each heading a particular administrative department, similarly, the universal government has one Supreme God, and a lot of subordinate gods. These subordinate gods are in charge of the various administrative affairs within the universe. For example, someone is in charge of the rainfall, someone is in charge of the sunlight, and so on. These subordinate gods are technically called demigods. And the one Supreme God is Krishna Himself as He has proclaimed in the Bhagavad Gita verse 7.7 that we cited earlier in the article.

And what are material desires? To answer this, one must first understand what is ‘material’ and what is ‘spiritual’. The Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all that exists. Thus, to put it simply, a thing is considered material when that thing is seen as being independent of the Supreme Lord. Since everything is owned by the Lord, everything is thus related to Him. Therefore, those desires which have no motive of serving the Supreme Lord are called material desires. In most cases, the corollary of this definition is that material desires are those desires whose sole motive is one’s own sense gratification. On the other hand, spiritual desires are those whose sole aim is to please the Lord by acting according to His instructions.

Because of material desires, one’s intelligence is covered up and one cannot understand that worship of Sri Krishna is the highest. This is so because the desired material results are quickly obtained by the worship of the demigods. On the other hand, even the material desires of one who worships Krishna are purified into spiritual desires. Less intelligent people, whose intelligence is lost due to material desires, cannot understand this as the greatest mercy of Sri Krishna, and therefore do not worship Him.

However, even if one wants to worship someone else, it is Krishna Himself who facilitates it, as stated in the following verse.

BG 7.21: I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.

Further, even the results of such worship are actually given by Sri Krishna though it looks as if they have come from the other object that is being worshipped!

BG 7.22: Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.

However, even though the results are given by Sri Krishna, these results are of a different nature than the results obtained from Sri Krishna by His direct worship. How?

7.23 : Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.

Even though all results are given by Sri Krishna, those obtained through the medium of others are temporary, and those obtained by direct worship of Sri Krishna are permanent.

A question may arise here that if the results of worshipping some one other than Sri Krishna are temporary, and that worship of someone else is also facilitated by Sri Krishna, then why does Krishna facilitate it at all? That is explained by Srila Prabhupada as follows: “The answer is that if the Supreme Lord as Supersoul does not give such facilities, then there is no meaning to independence. Therefore He gives everyone full independence — whatever one likes — but His ultimate instruction we find in the Bhagavad-Gita: one should give up all other engagements and fully surrender unto Him. (BG 18.66) That will make man happy.” (BG 7.21p)

At this point, we can briefly mention that if the worship of such authorized representatives of the Lord, the demigods, is not proper, then what to speak of worshipping some human beings as God? Unfortunately, especially in India, there are so many human beings who are either self-proclaimed Gods or who are Gods by popular opinion. In the light of the above discussion, it will suffice to say that if not even all persons mentioned in the authorized scriptures are the highest objects of worship, then how can those who have absolutely no mention in the scriptures be appropriate objects of worship? The scriptures are there to guide humanity, and it’s safest to follow the scriptural injunctions, especially in critical spiritual matters.

The Only Faith

Thus, even though we have earlier referred to faith in any powerful person as reasonable faith, in the light of this above knowledge from the Bhagavad Gita, in the strict sense, faith in anyone but Sri Krishna is blind faith because in actuality the others are not capable of giving any benedictions on their own. It is only due to lack of intelligence and due to ignorance about the supreme position of Sri Krishna and the subordinate position of all others, that people worship others instead of Sri Krishna. Just like not all Johns are as powerful as the one powerful John (in the example we cited earlier in this article), no one is even remotely as powerful as Sri Krishna. In fact, Sri Krishna is the only one powerful, and everyone else derives his/her power from Sri Krishna.

Conclusion

In summary, we have seen in this article that having faith in a more powerful personality is quite rational. Having faith has a lot of advantages including peace of mind and the ability to face daunting situations in life. However, its most important role is in keeping one going, even amidst reversals, on one’s chosen path. In the second half of the article, by citing from the Bhagavad Gita, we analyzed the different kinds of faith in terms of the results that they produce, as well in terms of the actual provider of those results. The clear conclusion that came out of that discussion was that Sri Krishna is the Supreme and the only object of worship in whom one should repose one’s faith.

From this article, the three kinds of people can derive their respective benefits as follows. Those who are already worshipping Lord Sri Krishna can strengthen their faith in Him by this empowering knowledge from the Bhagavad Gita, the universally acknowledged book of sublime knowledge. Those whose faith presently lies elsewhere may want to rethink and assess why they have put their faith in someone other than Sri Krishna. What final destination are they going to reach by continuing to practice their faith? Is the result of their worship going to be temporary or permanent? And those who presently claim that faith is irrational can surely start thinking why putting faith in an obviously powerful personality irrational? By this contemplation, they might soon change their mind and start worshipping the supreme object of worship, Lord Sri Krishna.

Hare Krishna!

Jayapataka Swami - Back in the Field!

January 25, 2009


Applause. The kind that bursts out from the hearts of the audience after a moment of stunned silence. The kind that seems to last forever. The kind that no one wants to ever end. The kind that follows a moment that everyone wants to etch into their memories for all time to come. The kind that typically follows an awesome performance that touches the hearts of the audience very deeply. Today, I was part of one such applause.

I am writing this while watching His Holiness Jayapataka Swami who is sitting in a wheelchair about twenty-five feet from me. It’s the 22nd annual Pune Yatra, in the bungalow of H. G. Krishna Chandra Prabhu in Pune, India. It’s as if the celestial giants have descended upon earth. What else would you say if you are amidst HH Radhanath Swami, HH Bhakticharu Swami, HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Chandramouli Swami, and HH Bhakti Vishwambhar Madhava Swami? A couple of days ago, on the first evening of this four-day Yatra, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja indicated at the possibility that perhaps HH Bhakticharu Maharaja might join us all. This news was received very enthusiastically. But when he also told us that perhaps HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja might also join us, the cheers were uproarious.

And why not? HH Jayapataka Maharaj is a darling of all the Vaishnavas. Srila Prabhupada declared that he is an eternal associate of Lord Chaitanya. Prabhupada gave him Sanyaas when he was just 21. He took up, and continues to execute, major responsibilities in Srila Prabhupada’s mission, including the Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir and many others. He is pretty much the spiritual master of the whole Navadwip Dham! One can’t think of Sri Mayapur Dham without thinking of Srila Jayapataka Swami Maharaja. His glories are unlimited. Not for nothing did Srila Prabhupada give him the name Jayapataka – the victory flag – signifying the victory of Lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan Movement. Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam.

But recently, by the inconceivable will of the Lord, this glorious and extraordinarily brave soldier of Lord Chaitanya was put into a precarious situation. In the Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari Temple of ISKCON Juhu, Maharaja had a severe stroke of brain hemorrhage. Doctors said he had no chance. And even if he did survive, he would be no better than a vegetable. Devotees all over the world were shocked! The whole Vaishnava community of ISKCON united in their prayers to the Lord to let Maharaja stay longer on this earth and shower upon everyone his matchless association and mercy. Kirtans roared all over the world. HH Radhanath Swami Maharaja dedicated the Karthik Vrindavan Yatra to HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja, where all devotees prayed fervently to the Lord for Jayapataka Swami Maharaja’s recovery. Thus there was hope, but the situation was still critical, and tense.

Over the next few weeks, I kept myself updated about Maharaja’s health by visiting http://www.jpsoffice.com/. His condition has been steadily improving. According to the doctors, that’s a miracle. But for Krishna nothing is impossible. And how could it be, because He is the cause of all causes. Just before the Pune Yatra, only once, this thought had struck my mind: How nice will it be to have HH Jayapataka Maharaja with us in the Yatra? Surely, due to these recent events, devotees all over the world remembered the glories of Maharaja and thus got purified.

Maharaja is still recuperating, but things look in control now. He traveled for around four hours in an ambulance from Bombay to Pune just to give us his divine association. This is an example of his unlimited mercy. He addressed us briefly yesterday evening. He told us how grateful he was for all the devotees for praying for him. We were all touched. And then again, today while HH Radhanath Maharaja was showering us with the lotus words from his lotus mouth during the Srimad Bhagavatam class, entered the scene HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaja. As was planned, HH Radhanatha Swami Maharaja stopped his class and handed over the Vyasasana to HH Jayapataka Maharaja.

Maharaja’s speech is not completely back yet. So he had a devotee repeat his words, although one could understand quite a bit of what he spoke directly. Just his presence was electrifying. He spoke about his last year’s Bangladesh trip, his various helicopter rides, and also he spoke very fondly about his recent stay at the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital in Bombay. His every word was nectar for all the devotees. He informed us that every month around twenty-five patients become devotees in the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital. And then, out of his natural humility, he said that now that he had also been a patient in that hospital, he might also become a devotee.

More than once, my eyes were moistened by his words. He spoke for about an hour. The devotee who had made tens of thousands of devotees was all the while exhibiting his natural humility. Who can fathom the glories and sweetness of a true Vaishnava?

But what was it that was touching everyone’s heart? I had not been able to put it in words. That thought was there somewhere in my sub-consciousness, but I had not yet expressed it in words. HH Radhanath Maharaja had hinted at it more than once. This was a historic event, he said. But exactly what was historic? After enthralling the devotees by his humility, love, and humor, even in his far-from-perfect medical condition, he ended with: “It’s good to be back in the preaching field.”

That was it! That was the historic event. This great general of Lord Chaitanya’s army was back. Back from the dead. There was no chance for him, but here he was. Inspiring devotees, distributing Krishna Prem. Once again! “It’s good to be back in the preaching field”, he said.

Stunned silence. Applause!