The Career and Teachings of the Supreme Lord Sree Krishna-Chaitanya
by Sri Narayan Das Bhakti
Sadhukar
CHAPTER
XX
THAKUR
HARIDAS BEFORE HIS MEETING WITH
SREE
GAURSUNDAR—(Contd.)
From Chandpur, Thakur Haridas
came to the village of Fulia on the Ganges near Santipur, the home of Sree
Advaita Acharyya. Haridas was thereby enabled to associate with Acharyya Gosain
who roared with delight on gaining the company of Haridas. Haridas, remarks Thakur
Brindavandas, floated on the ocean of the mellow quality (rasa) of Govinda
(Cowherd Krishna) by obtaining the society of Advaita.
The last sentence mentions
an important truth. The philanthropic sensualists (prakrita sahajiyas) affect
to believe that Thakur Haridas had no access to the Amorous Pastimes of Sree
Krishna, being exclusively devoted to the chanting of the Name. this shows
ignorance of the real Nature of the Holy Name as well as of the transcendental
amour. It is repeatedly declared by the Shastras that the Name of Krishna is identical with
His Form, Quality, Activity and Servitorship. The Bhagavatam (11-2-40) bears
out the statement of Sree Rupa (Bh. R.
Sindhu P. L.: 3-11 ) that liking for the chanting of the Name is the
conclusive sign of the first appearance of spiritual amour. Those, who are
addicted to sensuous pleasures, have no liking for the Name of Godhead. Those
pseudo-ascetics, who do not chant the Name of Krishna, are really indifferent
to the service of Godhead. Thakur Haridas could possess such an over-powering
inclination for chanting the Name of Krishna by reason of his real love for the
Lord and consequent real detachment from the pleasures of the world. Thakur
Haridas, who was acquainted with the mellow quality of the Name of Krishna, is
the greatest of teachers as he is alone authorized to admit one to the meaning
of the Shastras treating of spiritual
amour. The mellow quality of amorous love for Krishna is realized as the effect
of the chanting of the Name of Krishna by the method that is free from offense
against the Name. The philanthropists are effectively shut out from all access
to the experience of the real nature of the spiritual quality of amorous love
by their offensive taking of the Name of Krishna. By reason of their excessive
addiction to sensuous enjoyment, which is aggravated by chanting the Name
without trying simultaneously to avoid committing such offense, the
philanthropists fall into the most heinous blunder of supposing that the
spiritual amour is identical with gross sensuality. The only way of getting rid
of the lust of the flesh is by chanting the Name of Krishna by avoiding the ten offenses against the Name.
These particulars should
enable the unbiased reader to realize the nature as well as the cause of the
misunderstanding that is commonly entertained by both liberationists and
elevationists in regard to the efficacy of the chanting of the Holy Name. Those
who believe in the superiority of fruitive work and empiric knowledge, or, in
other words, the average men of the world, find it impossible to sympathize
with those philanthropists who teach by their preaching and practice that the
taking of the Name Krishna, without really giving up or endeavoring to give up
the life of worldliness, is the highest and only duty of all persons. The
philanthropists have forfeited the sympathies of all honest well-wishers by
leading a dissipated life of idleness and debauchery which is bound to result
from taking the Name without abstaining from the commission of offenses against
the Name. The philanthropists are opposed to those restrictive injunctions of
the Scriptures that endeavor to put down immorality and worldliness. They find
it convenient to suppose that it is possible to approach the Presence Divine
with a heart deliberately bent upon sinfulness. They are profane enough, as the
result of such habitual commission of offenses, under the guise of piety,
against the Name, to dare attribute even carnal desires to Sree Krishna and His
eternal Consorts against the gravest and clearest warnings of Sree Rupa Goswami
who is admitted by all as the Divinely authorized exponent of the nature of
spiritual amour. We shall return again and again to this all-important subject
as the narrative develops.
The life that was led by Thakur
Haridas while he was living in the cave at Fulia, is described as follows by
Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami and it forms the authoritative refutation of the
practices and arguments of the philanthropists. Haridas kept constantly walking
along the bank of the Ganges chanting aloud the Name ‘Krishna’. Haridas
surpassed all ascetics in his aversion to the pleasures of the world. All
praise to his holy mouth which was ever full of the Name of Krishna. He did not
experience a moment’s disinclination to the Name of Govinda. His appearance
underwent a constant and novel transformation under the influence of the mellow
quality of devotion. Sometimes he danced all by himself. Sometimes he made a
sound like that of a maddened lion. There were times when he cried in grief
with a loud voice. Sometimes he would indulge in a mighty laughter that was
haughty and deliberate. At times he shouted forth ejaculations of sorrow with a
deep voice. Sometimes he would lie prostrate in a swoon. He would sometimes
shout forth, in the hearing of the people, sounds that belonged to another
world and would then explain the same in the most excellent manner. Shedding of
tears, horripilation, laughter, swooning, sweating—the spiritual perturbations
that are expressive of devotion to Krishna—manifested themselves all together
in his holy form the moment Thakur Haridas entered the dance. The flow of the
stream of joy was such as to drench all limbs. Even the worst of atheists (pashandas) experienced a great pleasure
on beholding the same and the wonder of the series of the beauteous
horripilation of which the sight is coveted even by Brahma and Siva. All the Brahmana
residents of Fulia witnessed with rapture those holy manifestations. A deep
faith took possession of the minds of all those people. In this manner Thakur
Haridas lived on at Fulia. After bathing in the Ganges he rambled all over the
place, chanting with a loud voice the Name of Hari.
The activities of the
devotees of Godhead are perfectly incomprehensible to the material mind of man
for the simple reason that they do not target anything of this world. The mind
cannot understand super mundane activities. It supposes that it has a right to
be able to understand every occurrence that comes within the range of its perception.
Thakur Haridas appeared to the people of that time as a man living among men.
He appeared to them to possess a physical body and senses. He was being fed in
the ordinary way everyday at Advaita Acharyya’s. He used his senses apparently
in the same way as any other man. He might have probably been supposed to be a
good man and as comparatively indifferent to the comforts of the body. But he
did not as a matter of fact also really neglect anything that is absolutely
necessary for the maintenance of life. There was nothing super-mundane about all this. Would it be proper to regard such a
person on such testimony as a supernatural being? Even if we choose to consider
him as supernatural on such evidence would we not be led from one mistake to
another by such untenable concession to superstition? Would it not be a still
greater folly to try to follow the life and conduct of such a person and ask
others to do the same under such a notion? Is it feasible to follow with a,
clear conscience a person of whose conduct the true meaning is not at all
possible for us to understand?
It would be both possible
and useful to accept the mode of life of another person if by doing so our own
existing interests and convictions would have a prospect of being demonstrably
improved instead of being wholly suppressed. If all persons began all of a
sudden to chant the Name of Hari night and day and to depend on others for the
supply of food which is necessary for them for being able to perform the said
function, would not such course tantamount to an idle and suicidal folly?
The life of the devotee
should have no value if it is not capable of helping us to perform our ordinary
duties in a better way. The life must not only be practicable in itself but a
distinctive and intelligible improvement on the one that it is to be allowed to
replace. The life of Thakur Haridas as depicted above seemed to satisfy neither
of these essential conditions.
As a matter of fact we
shall see subsequently that Sree Chaitanya was regarded as an unbalanced
sentimentalist by even the leading Vedantist Scholar of Benares, the recognized
head-quarters of Shastric culture of
that day and this. Persons who devote their intellect to the study of the Shastras
in a systematic way, need not thereby be rendered devoid of ordinary
common sense. The absence of common sense is the usual charge that is brought
by utilitarian thinkers against such scholasticism. The empiricists accept
without reservation physical Nature, as it appears to their senses, as the Reality
in its immediately available form to be understood for the purpose of deducing
conduct that is proper for us to adopt in regard to the world. If the knowledge
that is acquired has an evident likelihood of making ourselves unsuccessful in
the struggle for physical existence the utilitarian have no patience for such
knowledge.
The error of Vedantism, or
rather of its interpretation by Sree Sankaracharyya, from the point of view of
the utilitarians, consists in this that it does not really provide for the
needs of the life that one and all are under the necessity of actually leading
in this world as the basis of all possible activities. It may not be possible
for the utilitarians to refute the position of Sankara by means of metaphysical
arguments. But it is their contention that the theoretical strength of
Sankara’s position is no refutation of its practical weakness. A Sankarite
cannot himself be in love with the life that he recommends others to live. This
is too grave a defect to be overlooked. It is even necessary to oppose Sankara
in the interest of everybody including his followers. One must be forced to
live, and live efficiently, against every other consideration to the contrary.
The arguments of Sankara consequent,” are appreciated by the utilitarians but
only as a speculative theory of existence that was never intended to be acted
upon in practice. Are we required to have a similar attitude towards Thakur
Haridas also? Are we to suppose that what is perfectly proper and natural for
Thakur Haridas is perfectly improper and unnatural for every other person? The
path of devotion followed by Thakur Haridas is, however, not merely a beautiful
conception of the human brain to be admired from a distance but which cannot
and must not be followed in practice. Thakur Haridas actually led the life
which he tells us is not only practicable but whose full acceptance is the only
thing needful for its own sake.
Love for Krishna is the one
thing needful. Amorous love is the highest form of such love. The realized
practice of love for Godhead is the only natural function of the free soul. It
is possible for all souls to attain to it. Whoever possesses this spiritual
love towards Krishna must be offered, as being a most loyal servant of the
Lord, our unconditional homage. It is, however, not possible for the mind of
man in the fallen state to understand the real nature of spiritual activities.
This is the point of departure of the teaching of Thakur Haridas from that of
Sankara, or rather from the current interpretation of the system of Sankara.
It is, says Thakur Haridas,
practicable for a person in the state of sin to attain to the spiritual plane
by the Grace of the Holy Name of Krishna, but he Grace of the Name can be
gained only by serving the Name in the proper manner. It is at once easy and
difficult to understand how the Name is to be served. The Name is Krishna
Himself. He Appears on the tongue of His devotee in the form of the Transcendental Sound. Listening to the
Holy Name from the lips of a sadhu is the way in which He is to be served. The
Name does not Appear on the tongue of a person who is not a sadhu. A sadhu benefits all by his chanting of the Name. One must be a sadhu in order to be able to serve
Krishna by chanting the Name for the benefit of all.
The only way in which it is
possible for a sinful man to become a sadhu
is by serving the Name by his ear. The Name Appears in the form of the
Transcendental Sound on the tongue of His devotee. This sound is identical with
Godhead, the only object of our worship. The mode of worship of the Name
consists in listening to the Transcendental Sound by means of the spiritual
ear, because the fleshy ear cannot hear the transcendental sound.
The spiritual ear belongs
to the soul, but in the case of the conditioned soul it is in the dormant
state. Its function is then delegated to the material ear. But the soul should
like to resume his own function if he likes and he is also likely to like to do
so when he understands that it is necessary in his own interest to do so. In
the state of willful transgression the soul is forgetful of himself and his
natural function. The sadhu (i.e.,
the pure soul in his natural state) possesses the power, delegated to him for
the purpose by Krishna Himself, of making the transcendental sound be heard by
the forgetful soul. As soon as the fettered soul hears the transcendental sound
the function of his spiritual ear is re-awakened and the enlightened soul is
then fit to serve the Name by his opened spiritual ear by the method of
submissive spiritual hearing.
It is, therefore, necessary
to submit to hear the Holy Name from the lips of the sadhu on his own conditions. Till this duty is properly performed we
can have no access to the plane of the activities of the real devotee. Sankara
is silent about all these details which really matter. His so-called followers
are as a rule opposed to all spiritual activity. It is our function to
introduce the reader to the nature of the spiritual activities of the soul in
course of this narrative. Our Hero is Sree Gaursundar, the Supreme Lord
Himself. He is at once the only Source and the only Object of all worship. We
have seen that the Divine Master and Lover appears in Gaursundar in the role of
His Own Servant and Mistress to teach us how to love Him by making the
experience available to us by Himself tasting the Love for Himself.
But up to the point of His
career that has yet been reached, the Lord has not set up openly as teacher of
the Religion. Sree Gaursundar, to the eyes of His contemporaries of this world,
was as yet no more than a dutiful and learned Brahmana householder, assiduous
in the performance of all those duties that ordinarily fall to the lot of a
God-fearing Brahmana. There was as yet nothing unusual or extraordinary about
Him. Had His career terminated at this point He might have been regarded as
having confirmed by His conduct the mode of life led by the Brahmana
householders of Nabadwip of that period. We now know that this was by no means
His purpose. But His real purpose had not yet been divulged to anyone. That
purpose was not understood, even when it was subsequently fully divulged, by
most of His contemporaries.
The reason of such
misunderstanding is plain. Sree Gaursundar’s Life can be understood only if we
submit to be spiritually enlightened. Thakur Haridas is the teacher, authorized
by Sree Gaursundar Himself, from whom we have to learn how in this Iron Age we
are to receive spiritual enlightenment. The purpose of Sree Gaursundar is not
to teach personally the method that is to be followed in this Age, by those
souls who are in the state of bondage, for attaining the spiritual life. That
function is not directly exercised by Sree Gaursundar or Sree Krishna. It is
the function of Nityananda, but not even his main or direct function. Nityananda
or Baladeva is the second Self of Sree Krishna (or Gaursundar) and they
represent the Supreme Lord in His aspect of the possessor of all-majesty, all-power
and all-grandeur. Baladeva is the Source of all service of the Divinity in the
outer hemisphere of the transcendental world. It is the indirect function of
one of Baladeva’s secondary selves to direct the service of the Lord in this
lower, phenomenal world. This particular secondary self is sty-led Maha Vishnu
in the Scriptures.
But even Maha Vishnu does
not come in direct contact with the material mind or anything mundane. That
function is delegated to Vishnu who is a secondary self of Maha Vishnu. Vishnu
Himself also is located outside this mundane world. All the secondary selves of
the Supreme Lord, issuing ultimately from Sree Baladeva or Nityananda, are
absolutely spiritual in all their Divine activities.
The connection between the
two planes, viz., the spiritual and
material, is established by Siva whose nature is most difficult to understand.
It is a mixed one being both Divine and non-Divine. Brahma, the first
progenitor of all the creatures of this phenomenal world, is associated with Siva
in carrying out the will of Vishnu, who is the direct Divine Master of this
phenomenal world.
It is the object of both
Siva and Brahma, who are the servants of Vishnu, as their highest function to
divert the minds of fettered souls to the service of Vishnu. Brahma appears in
the transcendental Pastimes of Sree Gaursundar in the form of Thakur Haridas
who is delegated the function of promulgating the Dispensation of the Age, viz., the chanting of the Name of
Krishna. This function which belongs ultimately to Sree Gaursundar, is
exercised directly and fully by Thakur Haridas as his authorized function.
The function thus Divinely
Delegated to Thakur Haridas is by no means an unimportant one. It is, on the
other hand, the one thing needful not only for souls in the state of bondage
but for all souls. It is the only function of all souls who of course vary in
their degree of its realization. There is no higher function than love for
Krishna. Thakur Haridas teaches how the conditioned soul may attain to the love
of Krishna in this Age of sophistry by chanting without offense the Holy Name
of Krishna. The life of Thakur Haridas presents us with the career of a pure
soul who practices the chant of the Holy Name of Krishna without offense. The
life of Thakur Haridas at Fulia, described by Thakur Brindavandas in a few
pregnant words, is for this reason one of the most important parts of the
present Narrative in as much as it introduces the reader, if it is rightly
understood, to the true meaning of the other parts.
It will be our endeavor to
establish, by the grace of Thakur Haridas, the truth of the proposition that
the method of chanting the Holy Name of Krishna, in the manner that is free
from offense, is the only perfect service of the Lord having the unique quality
of being both the means and the object of all spiritual endeavor. As means the
Name is accessible to the worst of atheists especially to that stubborn species
that belongs to the present Age who are fortified against the spiritual function
by all manner of sophistries. Access to the Name is closed to none who are
prepared to recognize the name of Krishna as identical with Krishna Himself and
not as a mere passing sound of the mundane atmosphere ; and that the Name does
not, therefore, manifest Himself on the material tongue of the physical body
which cannot serve the Divinity. The Name can be served when He manifests
Himself on the spiritual tongue as the Transcendental Divine Sound. The
spiritual service is possible only on the Appearance of the Name, in the Form
of the Sound, on one’s tongue. The Name first Appears to the listening ear of a
person who submits to receive Him as He Appears on the lips of a sadhu.
The Name of Krishna
appearing on the tongue of a sadhu as
transcendental sound is not a figment of the imagination. He is the only
reality, being the absolute person Himself. If the Name is served by the method
of perfect submission under the direction (of a sadhu, by such service love for Krishna is obtained. By no other
method one may be enabled to realize the love for Krishna. It is for this
reason that the Name is the Highest and Only Means. It is quite in keeping with
the conclusions of our unbiased reason that Krishna in His Own Form can also be
the only Means of His highest service.
But against this if it be
urged that as the Form, Quality, Activity and Servitorship of Krishna are also
identical with Krishna how may the Name be regarded as the only means? This is true. But to the soul who happens to be under
the thralldom of matter the Name alone is accessible. The Form, Quality,
Activity and Servitorship, are attainable in the order of enumeration by the
method of taking the Name without offense. This is not against reason because
the Holy Name alone is least liable of being wholly misunderstood by the
fettered soul who submits to receive Him from the lips of a sadhu for the purpose of serving Him in
the manner that is free from offense.
It is for this reason that
the question as to what constitutes the act of offense against the Name,
becomes all-important. The philanthropists who confound the soul with the
material mind necessarily imagine that the Name and the sadhus are also phenomena
of this world and, therefore, they are as a matter of course comprehensible by
the material mind. This attitude of virtual refusal to recognize the Divine
Nature of the Holy Name makes the recital of the Name of Krishna by the
philanthropists a meaningless mundane process which bears only an external
resemblance to the service of the Holy Name by the devotee. The difference is
of course not perceptible to the material mind but it is, and must be,
necessarily self-evident to the pure soul who has access to the Substantive
Reality.
It is also for this reason
that philanthropists, who profess to be Vaishnavas, suppose that everyone has a
right ab initio of realizing the
Form, Quality and Activity of Krishna and his own distinctive relationship to
Him as His servitor. On this supposition they engage in gross and sensual
idolatry under the persuasion that it is identical with the religion enjoined
by the Shastras and sanctioned by the
actual practice of the most eminent devotees. From this error, if it has
already taken a deep root, it is very difficult to extricate the offending
soul. All the gross immoralities that are practiced in the name of religion in
different parts of the world by certain classes of people, who are very anxious
to keep their activities screened from the view of those who do not belong to
their secret brotherhoods, are due to their neglect to chant the Holy Name of
Krishna, heard from the lips of a real sadhu
in the manner that is free from offense and under the direction of sadhus.
The chanting of the
Transcendental Name is the only admissible form of religion to fettered souls
as He is not capable of being grossly misrepresented. It is of course also
possible to chant the Name of Krishna in the offensive manner. But once we are
put on our guard against the deliberate commission of such offense we would
naturally be unwilling to honour a person as a real sadhu unless he fully satisfied, at any rate to our judgment
enlightened by the chanting of the Name, this crucial test of sainthood. The
offense against the Name is nothing short of willful misapprehension. We must
not understand that the Name or hearing or chanting of the Name is a material
phenomenon. We must insist on being fully satisfied that it is not really a
material process that is being offered to us by any person wearing the external
garb of a sadhu. We must always refer
to the texts of the Scriptures which uphold the spiritual view in the most
uncompromising manner. Thus fortified it should be possible for a sincere soul
to detect every form of mischievous attempts of the cheats and hypocrites.
A person has to thank only
himself for being a victim to pseudo-sadhus.
A person is similarly to blame only himself if he fails to find the real sadhu, or neglects to seek for him. When
once a person attains the condition that entitles him to sing the Name of
Krishna in the manner that is free from offense, he finds that all his wants
have been automatically fulfilled. For example he is freed from all anxiety on
his own personal account. He realizes that he is not any limited entity and
that he is located beyond the jurisdiction of birth, death and wants. He
obtains the vision which is capable of distinguishing between the real and the
apparent. But as those, who either belong to a lower level of the spiritual
plane or do not belong to the spiritual plane at all, have not his perfect
vision, they naturally fail to understand the true bearing of his activities.
The activities of Thakur
Haridas can be properly understood only by perfectly self-realized souls. All
that we may affirm in reward to them at this place, is that they show an utter
forgetfulness of his material surroundings and an over-powering attachment to
the Holy Name of Krishna. We have already seen that he was absolutely free from
sexual weakness and was thoroughly versed in the principles of the Shastras. The idea regarding the real
nature of his personality will be further elucidated by a careful consideration
of the different aspects of the event that we are just going to describe.
The Kazi or Moslem priest under
the employ of the State, who was both priest and judge and looked after the
Moslem religion, soon began to take an interest in the doings of Thakur Haridas.
Being apprised of his antecedents and present behavior he considered it
necessary to bring the matter to the notice of the local Governor. The Kazi
went personally to the Governor and told him everything about Thakur Haridas
concluding with the request that as Thakur Haridas was guilty of the offense of
living as a Hindu, although he is a Muhammedan born, he should be dealt with in
a decisive manner.
“The Governor,” writes Thakur
Brindavandas, “who was himself also of a worldly disposition, on the
representations of the misguided Kazi, ordered Thakur Haridas to be seized and
brought before him at once. Haridas voluntarily offered to accompany the men
despatched to seize his person by violence and to appear before the Governor.”
“By the Grace of Krishna, Thakur Haridas,” says the author of the Chaitanya Bhagavata,
“was not afraid of death not to speak of the Moslem ruler. Thakur Haridas, with
the chant of the Name of Krishna on his lips, set out immediately and presented
himself before the Governor. All the good people of Fulia, apprehending the
worst, were filled with sorrow and dismay on being thus suddenly and violently
deprived of his happy companionship.”
And now an incident
occurred which throws much light on the true personality of Thakur Haridas. As
soon as the tidings of the seizure of Haridas reached the prison of the Governor,
the leading persons of all those parts, who were confined in the jail at that
time, experienced a great joy in the core of their hearts at the news. “They
thought,” writes Thakur Brindavandas, “that as Thakur Haridas was the greatest
of Vaishnavas. The miseries of their captivity were sure to end by the sight of
him. They accordingly persuaded their keepers to afford them an opportunity of
obtaining a glimpse of the great devotee as he passed by the prison house.
Those captives awaited the arrival of Thakur Haridas with their eyes fixed to
the path by which he was to pass. Thakur Haridas came to the spot and on
catching sight of the prisoners he mentally cast the glance of mercy on them.
The prisoners fixing their eyes to the feet of Thakur Haridas remained in the
posture of obeisance. They saw that Thakur Haridas was surpassingly handsome.
His hands reached down to the knee. His eyes were like the lotus flower. His
incomparable moonlike face was, however, the most beautiful of all.
All the prisoners bowed
with a natural and loyal impulse of submissive devotion. They at once underwent
the spiritual perturbations of devotion to Krishna. Lord Haridas noticed the
devotional activity of them all and finding that they were in chains broke into
a smile of mercy. “May you continue to remain in your present condition,” said
Thakur Haridas. He began to laugh merrily after pronouncing this veiled
benediction. The prisoners failing to comprehend the real meaning, which is,
indeed, very difficult to understand, were somewhat depressed on hearing these
words.
Haridas Thakur was thereby
moved to the mood of pity and at once proceeded to explain clearly the import
of his words. “I have indeed conveyed my concealed benediction to you all by
means of those words. You feel dejected because you do not understand this. I
never bless amiss. You will understand this If you give my words your close
consideration. May the minds of all of you remain constantly turned towards
Krishna as they actually are just now. May all of you from now jointly chant
the Eternal Name of Krishna and think only of Him. There is now no malice, no
thought of oppressing any creature, in your hearts. May you meditate on Krishna
by taking His Name with all humility. If you go into the world once more you
run the risk of forgetting Him again by mixing with the worldly people. Love
for Krishna cannot co-exist with any form of worldliness. Know it for certain
that from one who is of a worldly disposition Krishna is always very far off.
The mind, that is engrossed with the pursuit of the objects of this world, is a
great nuisance. Wife, sons and all worldly objects are the toils of delusion.
All these are ‘death’. It is by Providential contrivance that any fortunate
person gains real contact with the pure devotees of Godhead and, being thereby
enabled to give up his attachment for the world, is in a position to devote
himself to the service of Krishna. All those offenses that are now absent from
your minds will once more be committed when you mix with the worldly people. It
is the nature of this world. This is the gist of all that you require to be
told for your benefit. Give it your most attentive hearing. I pronounced this
great benediction which you misunderstood. It is not my desire that you may
continue to remain in this state of captivity. Forget the world and take the
Name of ‘Hari’ night and day. I pronounced this only benediction in a disguised
form. Feel no dejection, no, not even for a moment. I see all persons who are
really in the fetters of this world with the eye of pity. May all of you attain
to firm devotion to Krishna. Have no anxiety. I assure you that you will be
freed from your captivity in the course of two or three days. Whether you
engage in ordinary worldly pursuits, or wherever you be, never forget your
present resolve by any means.” Having sought to promote the true well-being of
the prisoners in the above manner Thakur Haridas proceeded on his way and duly
presented himself before the Governor of the District.
The advice to the prisoners
makes the position of Thakur Haridas clearer. It is necessary to chant the Name
of Krishna, to mediate on Krishna, instead of being engrossed in worldly
pursuits. For this purpose the state of captivity is more favourable than the
state of bodily freedom, provided one is really inclined towards Krishna. It is
very difficult to remember Krishna in the midst of the thousand and one
pre-occupations of the worldly life, Krishna and worldliness having no
connection with one another, the two being perfectly incompatible. It is never
possible to serve both. A worldly-minded person can have nothing to do with
Krishna. It is never possible to worship Krishna in the intervals of
worldliness. The slightest inclination to worldliness should be impossible to a
person who is at all inclined to Krishna. It is necessary to understand clearly
that as long as the least inclination for worldliness persists in our minds
there can be no love for Krishna. The
society of worldly people has this tendency of making us wholly forget Krishna.
Wife and children are cited as instances of the deadly traps that are laid by
the Delusive Energy for encompassing our ruin. The attachment for wife and
children and other worldly objects can be overcome only by association with the
sadhus. In the company of the sadhus our attachments are deflected
towards Krishna. Therefore, Haridas properly enough exhorts the prisoners to
forget the world completely and chant the Name of Krishna night and day.
The function of the soul,
who is anxious to be restored to his natural condition of loving devotion to
the Lotus Feet of Krishna, is very simple. One must willingly turn his thoughts
and activities towards Krishna. He can do so most naturally by association with
the devotees of Krishna. The devotees of Krishna always serve Krishna and do
nothing else. By adopting their life under their direction love for Krishna is
gradually aroused in the fettered soul. Attachment for the world is
automatically dispelled by the dimmest apprehension of such inclination, as
darkness is dispelled by the glow of the reflected light that harbingers the
approach of Sunrise.
The cultivation of
association with the devotees is the only method of attaining to the natural
function of the soul, viz., unalloyed
love for Krishna. This inclination for the society of sadhus, which is inherent in every soul, is liable to be rendered
ineffective by association with worldly people. Pure devotees and worldly
people and worldly objects generally present themselves simultaneously and
claim our service, as rivals. We cannot choose both. If we choose one of them
we completely lose sight of the other. They are related to one another as
darkness and light. The light of this phenomenal world imperceptibly shades off
into darkness, so that it is not possible to fix a line of real demarcation
between the two. But the darkness of the non-spiritual state has a definite
line of demarcation. Until this line is passed we can have absolutely no idea
of the spiritual state. A better analog from this point of view is furnished by
the case of life and death. Death is not an attenuation of life. It is the
complete cessation of life. We cannot have both simultaneously. It is not
possible to mix up the two. It is also possible to ascertain perfectly the
dividing line between the two. A dying person is a living person to the last
moment that he retains his animation in however attenuated a form. When he dies
he passes completely out of life. The smallest fraction of a second makes a
complete rupture, not merely a graduated difference. A dead man cannot also
come into life again.
This is the reason why the
acceptance of a person as disciple by the spiritual guide has been called the second birth. The seminal birth does not give the spiritual life. One is
spiritually dead till the second birth. One is born a third time on receiving the full enlightenment of dîksha.
The first is the seminal birth, the second is initiation or admission for
enlightenment, the third birth is brought about when one attains to the state
of actual enlightenment. The first is the condition of spiritual death, the
second is the quasi-living state, the third is the normal living condition. One
who has any real experience of life and death cannot prefer death to life;
neither can he plead for an unnatural and impossible mixture of the two.
We must not suppose that we
are asked to accept anything blindly when we are told to accept the life that
was actually led by Thakur Haridas. If any one shouts the Name of Krishna three
or any number of lakhs of times everyday and abstains from open debauchery or
detectable forms of gross worldliness, he cannot thereby mechanically attain to
the spiritual plane. It is not mechanical, nor even mental, activities and
attitudes, that we are asked to adopt. As soon as the Name of Krishna manifests
Himself to our spiritual ear we
obtain the power of vision that can distinguish between the substance and the
shadow. The shadow now no longer stands in the way of our dealings with the
substance. Those, who are under the misapprehension that the shadow is
everything and behave and think accordingly, cannot at all understand the ways
of the devotee of Godhead.
The very idea of service is
incomprehensible to the material mind. The material mind is connected by the
relationship of the deluded pseudo-enjoyer to the objects that lie exposed to
the physical senses. It misconceives certain forms of such enjoyment to be
‘service’. It thinks that its very existence is dependent on and consists of
such enjoyment. Therefore, whenever it finds anybody behaving on a different
principle it judges him, consistently enough, to be in the wrong and his course
as suicidal. While the real Truth is that the judge himself is all the time
pursuing the course that leads to death while the sadhu has his face eternally turned towards the Life Eternal.
How can one live at all
unless one eats and tries to procure food, clothing and shelter? Thakur Haridas
also, it is supposed, required all these ‘necessaries’ of life. Once this is admitted
it follows that one must lead the worldly life as a matter of course. But Thakur
Haridas says that nothing is necessary except
taking the Name of Krishna. If he is asked why he himself eats, drinks, sleeps
and does other kinds of work in the same way as another person, he simply
replies that he does nothing of the kind. The objection may prefer to believe
the testimony of his senses and consider Thakur Haridas to be a shameless liar.
It is of course, perfectly open to him to do so. But even by disbelieving Haridas
he does not establish the Truth of his own contention. All that is proved is
that if both of them are assumed to tell the Truth their points of view must be
admitted to differ widely. This brings us back to a re-examination of the bases
on which they take their respective stand. If we do so without bias we should
be impressed by the conviction that the method of Thakur Haridas may lead us to
the Truth, but the method of the mentalist can never do so.
True, we may pretend to
stick to that course into which we suppose we have been born by the Will of
Godhead. But what right have we to suppose that the phenomena of birth and
death themselves may not be as deceptive as any other similar phenomenon? So
the question cannot be solved if we choose merely to stick to the testimony of
our deluding senses on the ground that it happens to be so. If it be our
fore-gone conclusion to adopt that course which seems more likely to enable us
to exploit for our transitory pleasure the questionable so-called facilities
offered by this world, we do not admittedly approach the issue for the
impartial purpose of finding out the Truth before our conclusion is declared.
If by taking the Name of Krishna in the manner that is free from offense the
senses themselves are transformed why should it be still necessary for us to
obey the dictates of the old, non-spiritual faculties? If I actually can see
that it is Godhead Himself Who always feeds and clothes me, why should I still
consider it my duty to maintain it is I who feed and clothe myself? If I
clearly realize my blunder, why should it still be my duty to stick to it? One, who
tries to mechanically imitate Thakur Haridas, without possessing his vision and
purpose, should find it impossible and inconvenient to imitate his whole
conduct, as will be evident from the incident that we are going to describe
just now.
After endeavoring to
compass the good of the prisoners Thakur Haridas made his way to the presence
of the Governor. The Governor was fascinated by the extraordinary charm and
force of personality of Thakur Haridas. He accordingly offered him a seat with
the greatest respect. The ruler of the mulk
himself then questioned him. The questions of the Governor have been
preserved by Thakur Brindavandas in his account of Sree Chaitanya. The Governor
said in effect, ‘Brother, what is the cause of this peculiar disposition in
you? It is no small good fortune whereby you have been born a Yavana. Why then
do you incline to the practices of the Hindus? We don’t touch our food if we
but chance to see a Hindu. Why do you give up the superiority that accrues to
you by your birth in our great race ? You behave unnaturally by transgressing
against your race and religion. You cannot hope to escape the dire consequences
of such gross offense, at any rate in the next world. The malpractices, of
which you have been guilty through ignorance, are a sin against Godhead. By all
means do get absolved form these heinous offenses by uttering the formula (qalma) of the faith.’
Thakur Brindavandas
comments on the speech of the Governor as proceeding from a person whose
judgment was stupefied by the deluding energy of Godhead. Haridas only burst
into a loud laughter, “Lo, the Deluding Power of Vishnu !” said he, and then
began to reply in a sweet manner. “Listen, dear one, there is only one Godhead
and He is the Lord of Everything. It is the mere concocted name that makes all
the difference between ‘Hindu , and ‘Yavana’. The Veda and the Koran alike
declare the summum bonum to be one
and the same for all. The one eternal entity, free from all defect, indivisible
and indestructible, occupies fully the seat of heart of everyone. All the
worlds function exactly in the way in which the one Supreme Lord guides the
minds of His servitors. It is the Name and Quality of the Selfsame Lord on Whom
all persons discourse in conformity with the declarations of their respective
Scriptures. He, Who is Godhead, takes cognizance of the disposition that
prompts the utterances of all persons. Whence I am doing exactly that very
thing to which Godhead directs my mind. It is analogous to the conduct of a
person who, being a Brahmana and born in the Hindu community, is sometimes
found to become a Yavana by his own free choice. What can even being a Hindu
avail such a person? The deeds of every person are entirely his own concern.
What is the good of killing a person who has himself committed suicide? Good
sir, judge my case accordingly. If there be no real lapse on my part, do by all
means punish me for my offense.”
These wholesome and true
words of Thakur Haridas satisfied all the Yavanas who heard them. There was,
however, one solitary exception. An ecclesiastic (kazi), who was a great
offender against Godhead, now tendered quite different advice to the Governor.
He said to the Governor, “Punish this person. This wicked one will lead many
others into his folly. He will bring low the prestige of the Yavana race. For this reason let him be punished in
all seriousness. As an alternative let him recite his own Scriptures.”
On this the Governor spoke
once more to Haridas, ”Dear brother, profess your own Shastra and be relieved of all anxiety. If you do not do so all the
ecclesiastics will band together and punish you. You yourself will also say
your own Shastra in the long run. Then what is the good
of your choosing to be lowered in the estimation of the people?”
Haridas said, “No one can
do anything else than what Godhead makes him do. Know it as certain that it is
Godhead Who awards the punishment that is the fruit of offense committed by
ourselves. If my body be hacked to pieces, if life itself desert me, even then
I will not give up the Name of Hari.”
The ruler of the place, on
hearing his words, put the issue to the ecclesiastics, “What will you do to him
now ?” The Moslem ecclesiastic (kazi) gave his verdict, “Let him be whipped at
the twenty-two market-places. Take his life without any hesitation. If he
survives the beating at the twenty-two markets, then I should he prepared to
admit the truth of what the sages have declared.”
I have tried to reproduce
the actual wording of Sree Brindavandas’s account of the famous trial of Thakur
Haridas. We should now try to put ourselves into the attitude of the saintly
narrator in order to be able to understand the real meaning of his words.
But before we proceed to do
so it is necessary to offer a few remarks as regards the canon by which the
authenticity of a statement is to be tested. It is not the practice in the
conventional history to use the method of direct narration unless the words
actually spoken can be reproduced verbatim,
and even in such case it is very rarely, indeed, that recourse is had to
this direct method. In the Biographies of Sree Chaitanya penned by Thakur Brindavandas
and other contemporaries and followers the method of recording the speeches of
the actors has been used very frequently and the followers of the Lord accept
the version of the Biographies as the actual language used by Sree Chaitanya
Himself.
The value of the actual
words used by the speaker is even greater in the case of theistic history than
in secular narrative. In theistic history only the actual words of the devotees
convey the furl meaning intended by them. The words are living entities. This
is the reason why these authors are so careful to give us the actual words of
the devotees whose views they record. In this connection we should remember
that the method that is being followed in the compilation of the present work
is not the empiric method of induction-cum-deduction but that of manifestation
of the Truth in the Form of the articulated Transcendental Sound. In this
method the value of every single word, actually spoken by the devotee, is worth
preserving and the original text is therefore all-important.
It is possible for the
devotee of Godhead to supply us with the actual words of the Divinity. The
slightest deviation from the Divine Language is also for the same reason
detectable by the devotee. The language in the form of direct narration is,
therefore, not a departure from the Truth in this case, but the closest
adherence to Him. In the form of indirect narration the writer’s personality is
the obtruding and dominating factor. In theistic history the personal equation
should be non-existent; and, therefore, its indirect narration should also be
acceptable in proportion as it approximates the direct form. This is also the
reason why quotations of actual texts are so much esteemed in the theistic
method of narration. Sree Jiva Goswami Prabhu has tried to clothe his highest
conclusions in the language of the Scriptures. The method of Sree Jiva Goswami
is a part and parcel of his function as the real exponent of the Absolute.
If it be urged why it is
necessary also to preserve the actual words of the opponents of the devotees,
as has been done in this case, the explanation is that the words of a person,
who is adverse to Godhead, when directed to the devotee of Godhead even by way
of opposition, do no longer point to the mundane objective and for this reason
acquire special value for the instruction of novices. Nothing can purely
express one’s personality except the words spoken by the person himself. The
indirect method of narration is due to the inability of the writer to
understand the real character of a person with sufficient distinctness. There
need be no categorical distinction between the dramatic or conversational form
and that of indirect narration which has found so great favour, by reason of
its very insufficiency, in all so called serious
compositions of these days. The indirect narration is suitable as medium of
expression in the case of inanimate objects or when the narrative is
intentionally converted into a monologue. Either of these, if properly used in
place of the other, would be a deviation from the Truth, and would, therefore,
be inadmissible, unless required for the purpose of expressing the Truth.
To proceed with our
narrative, the issue, that was put before the Governor by the Kazi and used by
him in punishing Thakur Haridas, is by no means so crude and unimportant as it
may appear to a moderner to whom religious toleration is supposed to be ‘as the
very breath of his nostrils’. The Kazi said that as the Moslem community are
upholders of the Truth, Who can be but One, they have a right to convert others
to their faith by any method, even by force, for the good of all parties. In
case of extreme perversity the true believer has also the benevolent right, on
the same principle, of even putting an end to the earthly existence of a person
who sets himself in opposition to the Truth, for vindicating the supreme
necessity, on the part of all lovers of the Truth, of supporting the cause of
the Truth at all costs to prevent any misunderstanding. If cognizance is to be
taken at all of any lapse from the Truth no sentence. that will not maintain
the claim of the Truth to our fullest allegiance under all circumstances, can
be a true verdict.
Those, who do not profess
to be the exclusive servants of the Absolute Truth, need find no difficulty in
practicing the duty of tolerating untruth without losing their self
complaisance. But the real lover of the Absolute cannot hasten to make terms
with untruth in order to satisfy the tendency of aversion to Truth that is
eternally inherent in the very nature of the dissociable particles of the
Divine Essence, viz. , the jiva souls. The uncompromising and even
violent or impatient opposition of a lover of the Truth to all suggestions of
the lower self, who is always whispering into his ears the counsels of
disloyalty, may appear to be intolerable to
one who is complacently disposed towards the pernicious tendency, but should
not be justified on this ground by those who are not also themselves disloyal.
Thakur Haridas did not
blame the Kazi and the Governor for their intolerance of untruth but for their
hallucination which led them to mistake their own disloyalty to the Truth for
the undoubtedly good quality of uncompromising loyalty. Intolerance, said Thakur
Haridas, is impossible for one who is really a lover of Godhead. Such a person
can naturally blame nobody excepting himself when he finds anything to be
wrong. There can be no activity on any plane except by the will of Godhead. If
any activity is blamed or praised it shows the disposition to judge the doings
of Godhead Himself. Any thought against any person is nothing short of malice
against Godhead Himself. The Scriptures themselves are also not really
different from one another, if they are rightly understood. Those who do not
understand their real meaning are alone disposed to differentiate between the
Scriptures and revealed forms of worship which are all directed to the One
Godhead.
The question of religious
toleration is a matter of the highest practical importance. Those who maintain
the doctrine of intolerance of untruth can only be properly answered by the
higher doctrine of the realization of the Hand of the Supreme Lord in
everything, except in the matter of the individual judgment. The soul can
really do no wrong. Godhead is solely responsible for all activities of the
world. The soul can be deluded and, in the state of delusion only, he can
imagine right and wrong. This deluded condition is full of misery for the soul
himself; and for this he should be an object of pity. The deluded soul is,
however deluded also by the Will of Godhead. Therefore, the delusion cannot be
blamed. The cause of the deluded state is inherent in the jiva soul as the
necessary condition of his dissociable individual existence.
It is, no doubt, necessary to
get rid of the deluded state. But it is not possible to bring this about by a
policy of violence. As soon as one is disposed to be violent he is subjected by
his own activity to the delusion that he, or anybody else except Godhead, is
responsible for the ordering of this world. And if one persists in acting under
such delusion he is himself deluded by his own acts. This is the meaning of the
Koran. Those who imagine that the delusion is cured by putting the unbeliever
to death, are themselves deluded. The only way, in which one can help both
oneself and others, is by trying to avoid falling under the delusion that
anybody except Godhead can do anything either good or bad. There is nothing
good or bad but our disloyal thinking makes it so.
The policy of real
toleration is not inconsistent with, but on the other hand indispensable for,
the relation of the true service of Godhead. The toleration, that is disposed
to dally with untruth is inconsistent with loyalty, is really due to aversion
to the Truth, and is, therefore, more disastrous in its consequences than
intolerance of untruth which it pretends to condemn.
The policy of sincere
intolerance of untruth, although it is better than disloyal tolerance of
untruth, is thus itself a mischievous delusion. The chaste and loyal wife may
consider it her duty not only to cut off the connection with all unchaste women
but to revile and punish them for their misconduct. But if those unchaste women
could be reclaimed by a policy of milder firmness their husbands would have
real cause to thank this loyal wife of another person for her benevolent and
really kind disposition. This would certainly be no neglect of her duty towards
her own husband.
We crave the kind
indulgence of the reader to tolerate an unhappy metaphor to elucidate the
position of the loyal servant of Krishna which cannot be fully explained by our
defective vocabulary. The unchaste wives, in the case of spiritual service.
have really also no other husbands than Krishna. They are, therefore, the
co-wives of the loyal matron. It should, therefore, be a duty of the chaste
wife towards her Husband to try her best to reclaim the unchaste ladies. If the
chaste wife does not do this she is herself proved to be disloyal to her
Husband to that extent.
Krishna is not pleased by
the malice of loveless fanatics any more than by the covert disloyalty of
pseudo-latitudinarians. Fanaticism is due to ignorance of the Perfect Nature of
Krishna and of our common relationship with Him. It is also a proof of our want
of faith in the Dispensation of the Supreme Lord. It is of course absolutely
necessary to keep wholly aloof from all unbelievers in the matter of loyalty to
Krishna. But this should be coupled with the desire to benefit the deluded
souls by trying to win them over to the service of Krishna.
This duty, as the present
episode shows, cannot be neglected with impunity without producing the most
tragic results. The fanatical Kazi could dupe those who were maliciously
disposed like himself to join with him in practicing terrible oppression on a
devoted servant of Godhead, on the strength of a narrow interpretation of
certain texts of the Koran condemnatory of association with unbelievers. Those
passages, if rightly understood, are a condemnation of disloyalty to Godhead. But
malice towards any creature, as Thakur Haridas took care to point out, is
malice against Godhead Himself and such disloyalty is not less condemnable than
any of the other more familiar forms of that pernicious tendency.
Loyalty to Krishna
necessarily means perfect toleration, nay perfect positive good will, towards
all creatures good and bad. Nothing less than this can satisfy Krishna. But
perfect toleration or good-will towards the misguided soul need not be
perversely supposed to mean either toleration or sympathy for the motive that
lies behind the conduct of such a person. There can be no toleration of the
tendency to untruth. There must be perfect toleration of the activities of
misguided persons as Krishna does not cherish any ill-will against them, nay
permits those activities with the object of effecting their reclamation
thereby. Loyalty to Krishna should express itself by serving the perfect
good-will of Krishna towards all creatures and realizing the Mercy of Godhead
in the activities, as distinct from the motive, of even those persons who are
most averse to Krishna. Those, who find fault with the activities of
unbelievers from malice, forget that those activities are possible only by the
Sanction of Krishna and that by one’s malicious opposition of those activities
it is Krishna against Whom our malice is really directed. That this must be so
is proved by the fiendish persecution that was now launched against Thakur
Haridas.
Therefore, the excuse that,
as it is not possible to distinguish between a believer and unbeliever except
by conduct and profession and as it is our duty to Krishna to discourage
disloyalty to Him by all means in our power, the persecution of Haridas can be
defended as being due to a strong sense of loyalty to Godhead, is wholly
untenable. Krishna can be properly served only when we possess the knowledge of
His Real Nature. Krishna does not want us to discourage disloyalty to Him by
hypocritically or maliciously opposing His wise and benevolent method for the
reclamation of disloyal persons. In other words, fanaticism is the result of
culpable ignorance due to a radically disloyal and unserving disposition.
Recourse to violence, either physical, mental or spiritual, is directly opposed
to the Purpose of Krishna, because violence is powerless against the soul who,
being the essence of Krishna, possesses His perfect freedom of will. The
freedom of will of the soul is indestructible. He can be reclaimed only by an
appeal to his judgment and free will. Those, who advocate the policy of
violence, are far away from Krishna and perfectly ignorant of the nature of
their own selves.
Faith in Krishna is the
natural attitude of the pure soul. Fanaticism is the hypocritical and malicious
caricature of spiritual faith by the soul in the state of utter delusion.
Fanaticism, being essentially an attitude of opposition to Krishna, is also
necessarily intolerant of all loyal servants of the Supreme Lord. It is not by
accident that the fanatics crucified Jesus. The fanatics can never tolerate the
good-will of Krishna towards all His creatures. They pretend to show their love
( ?) for Krishna by hating His loved ones.
The fanatics are bound to
hate everybody because they really hate the Supreme Lord Himself. They,
therefore, also hate those who are averse to Krishna. not from a sense of
loyalty to Krishna but, because they themselves are unmindful of the service of
Krishna and want everybody to serve them. Fanaticism always kindles
counter-fanaticism in those of its victims who happen to be equally averse to
Krishna. But it is powerless to move the servant of Godhead to thoughts of
malice against his deluded oppressors.
By command of the Governor
wicked ruffians laid violent hands on Thakur Haridas. They beat him most
ferociously from market to market to put an end to the least sign of life.
Haridas remembered to repeat the Name of Krishna. There was no manifestation of
bodily pain by the bliss of the Name. All good men experienced boundless grief
on witnessing the utmost severity of the beating that was inflicted on the
person of Haridas. Some apprehended the ruin of the whole kingdom from such
treatment of a good person in view of the people. Others openly expressed their
indignation against King and Minister. There was some display of actual violent
opposition also. Intimidation was combined with the offer of bribes to soften
the harshness of those ruffians. But all was to no purpose. They beat him
severely from market to market. Haridas did not experience the least bodily
pain by the Grace of Krishna, even under such ferocious castigation. Thakur
Brindavandas compares his condition to that of the great devotee, the child
Prahlada, who passed unscathed through all hurt inflicted by the atheists
(asuras). The writer assures his readers that inasmuch as one, who remembers
Haridas, is thereby delivered completely from the possibility of all bodily
pain, it is no wonder that Haridas himself was also perfectly immune from all
such pain on this occasion.
Those, who suppose that the
above is the exaggerated version of a petty incident, or may be disposed to
minimize or explain away its real significance, are perfectly free to do so. It
is not also impossible to adduce instances of the marvelous powers of endurance
of the worst of criminals under deserved chastisement. The story of Prahlada
may itself be dismissed as a concoction of the fertile imagination of writers
who find a senile pleasure only in praising deeds of transcendental
performances. The sedulous cultivation of a taste for the super-natural is also
supposed to be that unfortunate trait in the Indian character that
distinguishes the Hindus even in the twentieth century from the saner peoples
of every other part of the world. It is for this reason that foreign writers,
who are really well-disposed towards the Indians, find themselves at the end of
their resources to invent a suitable apology for this favourite defect of the
narrators of the Indian spiritual traditions that are cherished with the utmost
tenacity and reverence by this strange people.
If instead of allowing
ourselves to be obsessed by our indigenous or foreign prejudices we stop to
consider seriously the version of the event from the pen of the contemporaneous
writer in order to arrive at the truth that he is anxious to impress on our
minds, we should not fail to be struck by certain very remarkable points in the
above narrative. In the first place it is evidently not the intention of the
writer to arouse animosity against the Yavanas. Had this been his real object
he would not have taken the trouble of insisting on the point that Haridas
actually suffered no pain. Neither could it also be the object of the writer to
praise Haridas for his courage or power of endurance. In fact he does not want
to praise any worldly merit or condemn any worldly demerit. He is wholly
indifferent to such issues which alone possess any interest for the secular
historian.
Thakur Brindavandas is
trying to understand the experiences of Haridas in terms of his own. What he
means to say in effect is this: ‘I, who have been immune from all bodily pain
by the mere recollection of Haridas, am in a position to testify to the fact
that neither he nor Prahlada can ever really be subject to bodily pain’. So it
is necessary to understand what the writer really means. If it be asked why
others are not similarly relieved of their sufferings by the mere recollection
of Haridas? Why were not those people, who had an opportunity of actually
witnessing all these events, instantly relieved of all anxiety on his account
by the very sight of him, which should not be regarded as less than
recollection?
Thakur Brindavandas could
realize that the devotee of Krishna is not a convict who is put in the prison
of this world of three dimensions like ordinary worldly people. The
difficulties of three dimensions are automatically solved on the plane of four
dimensions although this may pass the understanding of those who are privileged
to have a view of events on the plane of four dimensions from their platform of
three dimensions without being able to dive into their real meaning. By taking
the Name of Krishna one is relieved from all worldly sufferings. If one chooses
to stick to his platform of three dimensions he cannot, merely by uttering the
word Krishna, avoid the sufferings of this world. The sufferings of the body
are a part and parcel of the phenomenal world. The soul does not belong to the
phenomenal world and is, therefore, not subject to bodily sufferings. This is
logical. But how can this be actually realized in practice? It can be realized
in this world by only one method, viz.,
by uttering constantly the spiritual Name of Krishna. This is Divinely ordained
as there cannot be any mere logical way
out of this insuperable difficulty.
The devotee of Krishna is
relieved from all bodily and mental suffering by the realization of his natural
condition, viz., that of the soul.
The tree is to be judged by its fruit. If by uttering the Name of Krishna one
is not wholly relieved from all worldly trouble he cannot claim to have
succeeded in taking the Holy Name. It is only the pure soul who can really
utter the Name of Krishna. It is only by uttering the name of Krishna, by
listening to the same from the lips of a devotee, that one can attain to one’s
natural spiritual condition when alone he is fit to take the Name of Krishna.
It is only by getting out of the sphere of three dimensions or any dimensions
that all unwholesomeness can be finally, logically and naturally eliminated.
Those, who pray to Godhead
to give them the power of endurance under trial; commit a great blunder. Those,
who pray to be permitted to serve Godhead on the plane of the Absolute by His
causeless grace, alone pray truly. Prayer means unconditional reliance on the
Grace of Godhead. The Grace of Godhead is perfectly wholesome and need not be
reminded of our wrong aspirations by the method of selfish, criminal insistence
for their dire fulfillment. Those who pray in order to gain any object of their
present ambition, do not pray at all in the Scriptural sense. The Grace of
Godhead will revolutionize our limited outlook and impart other ambitions than
those that are giving us such interminable and unrelievable trouble.
Those ruffians and
on-lookers, who were interested in the fate of Haridas, were all of them
equally misguided in supposing that a devotee is subject to bodily sufferings
like themselves. It is to prove by his teaching as well as conduct that he is
not subject to any worldly suffering, that Thakur Haridas was displaying those
activities in order to induce them to believe in the absolute Truth of what he
taught. He, who has himself attained to real immunity from all suffering, is
the proper person to be approached as a teacher of the true method for
attaining to the free state. Those ruffians and on-lookers were apparently
innocent of any such purpose, except a very few who were led to reflect
seriously on the real meaning for
themselves of those events.
So the mere sight of a
Vaishnava under the impression that he is only a mortal, or the mere
recollection of a Vaishnava viewed as a mortal, are properly speaking not
seeing or recollecting him at all. The Vaishnava can be really seen and
recollected only on the plane of the Absolute by the pure eye of faith
possessed by the soul in the state of Grace. The recollection of such a sight
has the efficacy of freeing from all difficulties. The endeavour to attain such
sight and recollection is the spiritual practice available to the novice by the
grace of the spiritual teacher. The process of spiritual novitiate under a pure
devotee is not ignored by the words of Thakur Brindavandas. The novitiate
itself being also spiritual in character cannot be attained in this Iron Age
except by the method of perfect submission to the teachings of Thakur Haridas
and of those who are privileged to see as well as remember him as he really is.
He is the Acharyya of this Age of Evil. By following his teaching and practice
one can be easily freed from every difficulty. There is no other way of our final and true liberation.
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