Q. How can I improve my daily japa practice?
A. There has to be the right attitude behind your chanting. We should have a serving attitude. We should serve Vaisnavas and hear from them. Our only healthy concern in life should be, “Is what I am doing of some value to a Vaisnava, a spiritual person of some consequence?”
Vaisnavas are very broadminded, very kind and very generous. How can they not be? They are bathing in the generosity of Krishna and their own gurus. They are the very ocean of compassion. They can find a way to connect what you are doing in your life, somehow, to that which has eternal consequence. So try to anchor your determination to practice to the ship of the Vaisnava and then you will be able to cross over the difficult waves of the mind that come and give you tens of thousands of reasons not to practice. The more we can be in a position of serving then the higher our position is, and the closer we come to the nature of the Absolute reality.
Q. But will that connect us with the higher rasas?
A. We should never forget that all of the wonderful relationships we hear about that great souls have with Krishna in Krishna lila, whichever one we may be attracted to, we should never forget that the foundation of all of them is ‘dasya,’ servitude. They are all forms of service. This point we have to understand. Then, to the extent that we do, we will be able to think about one of those relationships in Krishna lila in a way that will be helpful to us. But our tendency is to be possessed of a very different way of thinking, the enjoying mood.
Q. But isn’t spiritual life about enjoyment?
A. That’s true, because in one sense we are meant to be happy. Just as the Absolute’s nature is joy, so too are we. We are conscious, we lend our consciousness to matter and give meaning to it thereby. So we are very dissimilar from matter, and very similar to God who is independent will, free will itself. So we also have some freedom, but if we come under the modes of nature then that freedom is lost and the material nature determines our existence, life after life after life, in a cycle of karma. We think we are doing our own thing but we are simply a puppet in the hands of material nature. Nevertheless, if we can have good spiritual association, we can change our course. Our will is so minute, but it is there if we can desire that ‘Thy will, let that be my will.’
And then we will really enjoy. Because if we come into Krishna lila, Krishna expresses his own joy through us, that is what it is all about. We say we are all individuals, we emphasise this point. And it is charming for us to think about. But we should understand it properly – in Krishna lila, our will becomes his will. He wants to dance and celebrate his existence and as we become willing to participate in that, he does so through us. Then there is the appearance of a relationship between us and him, but our philosophy is as much ‘bheda’ as it is ‘abheda,’ as much ‘one’ as ‘different’. Our goal is to become one with Krishna’s will. That oneness will be expressed in varied ways through those who are willing to be a part of that.
So that is our ideal, to become one with Krishna’s will. There is really one person. Reality is a person, we think it is us. But it is not. It is Krishna – Bhagavan and his shaktis. [Excerpted from Sanga CD, ‘Japa-yoga vs. Other Forms of Spiritual Practice.’]
Q. In a recent Sanga you wrote that ‘Maya cannot approach the Lord.’ Could you please explain?
A. Srimad Bhagavatam says that Maya, being ashamed of herself for punishing the baddha jivas, cannot approach God directly. She cannot tolerate that the jivas are turning away from God, yet she is embarrassed by her own lack of tolerance and her thankless undertaking. Thus, she herself turns away from him, ‘maya paraity abhimukhe ca vilajjamana.’ The important philosophical point here is that she remains at a distance, and thus cannot bring God under her influence, ‘mayam ca tad apasrayam.’
Q. In Goloka, does Krishna manifest in different ages and forms according to his devotee’s desires or do they simply see him differently according to their love?
A. They see him differently according to their love. Goloka is Krishna’s deva-lila, as opposed to his nara-lila. While these two are one in essence, the details are different. The oneness is in terms of the bhava that pervades the lilas. Whatever bhava is manifest in the deva-lila of Goloka is also manifest in the nara-lila of Gokula. The prakata lila is in essence the same as the aprakata lila.
Q. In the Jnanasankalini Tantra, Lord Siva says to Parvarti, ‘Meditation is not meditation unless the mind is united with sunya.’ Could you comment on this verse?
A. Unless the mind is empty (sunya) of thought, meditation can only reach samprajnata samadhi. When it is empty of all thought, one attains asamprajnata samadhi. In dhyana, one generally practices fixing the mind on one object, restraining it from all other thoughts. This is the mental stage of ekagra (one pointedness), which occurs in sattva guna. When one is proficient in this practice, one can eventually restrain all thought – the mental stage of nirodha leading to asamprajnata samadhi.
The culture of samprajnata samadhi leading to asamprajnata samadhi is detailed in the sixth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita. According to the Gita, the cessation of material existence (nirvana/sunya) is subsumed within Brahman, and both of these are subsumed within Krishna himself. Krishna says santih nirvana-paramam mat-samstham adhigacchati. The highest peace that lies beyond the cessation of material existence is incorporated within the experience of Krishna himself. What then must the direct experience of Krishna be for his devotee? This is asamprajnata samadhi, in which thought is restrained (niyata-manasah), stolen by the charm and beauty of Krishna.
You have cited a very obscure text. Rupa Goswami warns that one should not read many books.
Q. Why is there a difference in guru-pranali in Hindu Encounter with Modernity by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami? Obviously, one of them is incorrect.
A. Hindu Encounter With Modernity was not authored by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It is a PhD dissertation on the life of the Thakura. The guru-pranali given therein is the diksa guru-pranali of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It represents the Pancaratra line. The guru-pranali given in Bhagavad-gita As It Is represents the Bhagavata line and consists mostly of gurus who were related to one another on the basis of siksa, although some disksa relationships are also found there.
Diksa is governed by the Pancaratra, from where the diksa mantras are drawn, etc., whereas preaching (siksa) comes under the Bhagavata marg. Within the Bhagavata guru-pranali there are many Pancaratra guru pranalis running in different directions. So both are correct. For example, Jagannatha dasa Babaji is not mentioned in the guru-pranali given in Hindu Encounter With Modernity, yet we would be foolish to think that he did not have considerable influence upon Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Indeed, he may have had equal or even greater spiritual influence on him than his diksa guru, Vipin Bihari Goswami.
The idea is that while all initiates are in a particular diksa pranali, some may also have a siksa guru who has influenced their spiritual outcome and this must be taken into consideration. Furthermore, all initiates are part of the Bhagavata guru-pranali, for if they were not, they would not be in the line of Rupa Goswami unless he was in their diksa pranali. And we are called Rupanugas.
