Faith

Complete Dedication

by Srila 
Bhakti Rakṣaka Śridhara 
deva Goswāmī Mahārāja.

King of Vaiṣṇava Sannyāsīs

Founder of Śrī Caitanya Saraswata Maṭha

Quality is necessary, indispensable in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not partial dedication, but in connection with Kṛṣṇa, the dedication must be of the whole self, nothing less.



The demand from an autocrat is categorically different. Kṛṣṇa is not satisfied with any partial service. He wants to swallow the whole thing, not less than that. This is the demand of an autocrat. But He is the Absolute Good, and He is beauty. He is harmony. He is the law. He is everything. But His demand is such.

The symptom of śraddha is self-giving; Intellectualism, just reading scriptures has no value.



Without faith, śraddha, the physical association of the sadhu, or saintly person also has no value. Insects, germs, and animals are in physical association with a sadhu but without faith there is no value.


The association through dedication, śraddha, is all important. And śraddha means that if we dedicate ourselves to Kṛṣṇa we get everything. We receive whatever is necessary to result in fulfillment of our whole self.

Our Guru Maharaja, Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhakura  laid much stress on service.



We were not allowed to read so much as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the books of the Goswamis.


"Go and do service." he said.  "The serving nature will attract your connection with the real thing."

And no scripture, or knowledge, or even close connection with a saint can help, if there is no dedication, self-surrender, self-giving.

If I am asked by a sadhu, or by the guru, to read a particular book, that is service.



And yet,  if I read a book to enhance or increase my knowledge, that may be jnāna. If I, myself, take the initiative to read śāstra, that may contribute to my knowledge, but there is no service as such  involved in my reading.

Professor Sannyal

As Rupa Goswami states, sevonmukhe he jihvadau, He may be understood through service.  Otherwise, if we do not approach with a spirit of service, then everything may be imitation.

But we don’t come in contact with reality by imitation, but through service and faith. This is the speciality of the Gaudiya Math, ordered by our gurudeva and also by Mahaprabhu and Rupa Goswami.



That is the key to Vaikuntha, to deal with the infinite: surrender, service, dedication.

 Without knowledge and without much energy, one can attain fulfillment. Reading all the religious literatures of the world, just to store them within the belly, that also won’t come to any good.

An example of this principle may be found in Mahabharata.

At the  rajasuya yajna  Yudhisthira  Krsna foretold that everything would be complete when the bell rang automatically.

Add caption

There was some bell at that sacrifice, and when that bell would ring automatically, then everyone would know that the yajna had been completed.

Vidura washing Kṛṣṇa's feet at the Rajasuya of Yudhisthira

So everything was finished, but the bell did not ring.
Then Bhima spoke to Krsna, “The bell is not ringing, although the whole yajna has ended.”
“No, one thing is still remaining,” Krsna replied.
“What is that? What kind of thing?”
“The Vaiṣṇava seva, the service of the Vaisnava.”
And Bhima said, “What do you say? So many munis, big rsis, Narada, Vyasadeva, and Yourself, have eaten and are satisfied. And You say that  vaiṣṇava seva has not been done?”
“Yes.” said Kṛṣṇa.

“Where is that Vaisnava?” said Bhima.

Then Krsna indicated, “Go to the outskirts of the town. There you will find one man of the lowest caste. And he does not go anywhere. He is satisfied with taking the name of the Lord. Going on in his own way, he does not care for the passing of the world. His eyes are always full with devotion.”

And so, they went with their chariots to bring that man, and they found an ordinary poor man of the lower class. They wanted to take him to the rajasuya, so they approached him with folded palms.




The man was perplexed: “Oh, so many big men have come to my cottage. What is the matter?”
He was informed by the Paṇḍavas, “We have come for you. You must go and take some food there.”

 What could he do? He could not avoid the situation; he had to go. Draupadi had cooked many palatable dishes. She was thinking that so many ṛṣīs, munis, had been served, even Lord Krsna had been fed, but vaiṣṇava seva has not been done.



With all her heart’s might she prepared various kinds of cooked food.
And the man was given, and he took. But the bell didn't ring.

"She prepared various kinds of cooked food..."

“What is the matter?” Bhima asked. “It is finished, but the bell did not ring.”
Krsna explained, “There must be some kind of offence committed against the vaiṣṇava seva. So the bell did not ring.”

"The bell did not ring."

“What are you saying?" said Bhima.
And Kṛṣṇa replied, " You have some doubts about something, some conception against him?”
Then they asked one another if anyone had though any evil about the man.

Lord Kṛṣṇa with the Paṇḍavas

And at last, Draupadi admitted, “I had something in my mind: that the man is low-born, I prepared so many curries with utmost care, but the man mixed all the curries together and then ate them. He does not know how to eat because he comes from a very low caste. I had that in my mind.”

"he comes from a very low caste..."

Krsna said, “Because there is some contempt for the vaiṣṇava, the bell is not ringing.”
So they had to go to the man once again, and again he was brought. And this time, all were waiting with great respect when he was taking prasadam. And the bell was ringing with each and every morsel.

"The bell was ringing with each and every morsel."

 We are thinking that we are such sound devotees, but we are devotees in dress only.

"Don't be devotees in dress only"

The real inner hankering should be wholesale, it must, be sincere,  The only price is to really want it. Don’t refuse it. Understand the value of it, want it, and you will have it.

"The real inner hankering should be wholesale..."

Faith, or śraddhā is a real regard to have this. You must feel, "this is  the highest thing, and only that can satisfy my quench, my inner thirst." This is faith.

By giving your small self, you can get the whole infinite. How can we develop that sincere hankering? With the contact of the sadhu and with the help of the scripture, we can try to satisfy that inner demand. The inner demand can only be satisfied by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

"with the contact of the sadhu and the help of the scripture, we can try to satisfy that inner demand."

Transcendence

Nature of Transcendence

"The Absolute Truth is transcendental and, therefore, no human being can attain to Him by his sensuous efforts, i.e., by the ascending process, as all phenomena that are exposed to the faulty, limited senses are, by this virtue, non-transcendental."



 "The Absolute Truth is eternally existent but is not realizable by men so long as they are not relieved of the aptitude. of their defective vision. The Absolute Truth is to be received, undoubtedly in the spirit of honest inquiry, from those wise men who bear no reference to the world of their sensuous gratification."



Professor Nishikant Sanyal, Ravenshaw College.

Письмо, адресованное преданным в России и Украине

Письмо, адресованное преданным в России и Украине.

Письмо Первое.

Моим украинским и российским друзьям

Дорогие друзья, я вернулся в Мексику, здесь лето. Но я вспоминаю декабрь.

Прошло довольно много времени с тех пор, как мы танцевали и пели Харе Кришна на земле, покрытой снегом и льдом, но я не забыл вас.

Мы чудесно проводили время вместе. Я надеюсь, что вы не забыли меня. 

Храм в Лахте расположен вблизи того места, где в старину корабль «Аврора» 

отплывал в Балтийское море. Он напоминает мне об одной поэме Пушкина. Я уверен, что вам это стихотворение знакомо, но я, всё же, хотел бы им поделиться здесь.

Вечор, ты помнишь, вьюга злилась,

На мутном небе мгла носилась;

Луна, как бледное пятно,

Сквозь тучи мрачные желтела,

И ты печальная сидела -

А нынче... погляди в окно: 

Под голубыми небесами

Великолепными коврами,

Блестя на солнце, снег лежит;

Прозрачный лес один чернеет,

И ель сквозь иней зеленеет,

И речка подо льдом блестит.

Вся комната янтарным блеском

Озарена. Веселым треском

Трещит затопленная печь.

Приятно думать у лежанки.

Но знаешь: не велеть ли в санки

Кобылку бурую запречь?

Скользя по утреннему снегу,

Друг милый, предадимся бегу

Нетерпеливого коня

И навестим поля пустые,

Леса, недавно столь густые,

И берег, милый для меня.

В Москве мы совершали совместный киртан, который был великолепен, разделяли превосходные трапезы и вместе вспоминали Говинду Махараджа. А в Украине… мы сравнивали поэзию Шевченко  с духовными идеями Бхагавад-гиты.

Я скучаю по вам всем и надеюсь, что однажды мы встретимся вновь.

Ну-с, как сказал однажды Достоевский, выходя к расстрельной команде в сибирских снегах, 

«До свидания».

«До свидания».

Гаура Хари Бол и Дандаваты всем великим душам. 

Adios amigos.

Inner meaning of the mantra

Commentary on  Gāyatrī Mantra

by Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhar dev Goswāmī

Founder-ācārya of Śrī Caitanya Saraswata Maṭha

Originally published in "Guardian of Devotion"

by Guardian of Devotion Press, 1985

by Bhakti Sudhira Goswami and Bhakti Vidhan Mahāyogī

 What is the meaning of Gayatri? It means in Sanskrit, ganat trayate, a particular kind of song which gives us salvation, relief and emancipation.”  Gayatri is known as the mother of the Vedas and Gayatri has produced the whole Veda.

If we examine the Vedic conclusion from its most condensed aphorism to its most extensive expression we shall find that it begins with oṁkara, the Vedic syllable Om. 

ॐ 

Om

That truth is expressed as the gāyatrī mantra, then it appears in the form of the  Vedas and then as the Vedānta. Finally it is given its fullest expression in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Since the meaning, the purpose of Vedic knowledge progresses in this line, the gāyatrī mantra must contain within it the meaning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

In other words, a close look at the inner meaning of gayatri will give us the purport of the Bhagavata Purāna itself. The first emanation of divine sound is the transcendental syllable Om. 

Then comes the Gāyatrī, the Vedas, the Vedānta-Sūtra and then finally, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam – the mature fruit of all Vedic conclusions. 

What is the purport of the gāyatrī mantra then? It is the Kṛṣṇa conception of Reality the Beautiful.  

The problem is this is an esoteric meaning. It is difficult to understand the inner meaning, but it can be understood through meditation.

ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व: तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ॐ ।।

oṁ bhur bhuvaḥ svaḥ, tat-savitur-varenyam

bhargo devasya dhimahi, dheyo yo naḥ pracodayat

The meaning, the purport of the Gāyatrī, mantra is found in the full-fledged conception of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. This Kṛṣṇa conception of Godhead is the highest. Gāyatrī must give us this meaning. How to extract the Kṛṣṇa conception from Gāyatrī? 

This is the present objective placed before us. How to extract the Kṛṣṇa conception, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from within the womb of gāyatrī? The gāyatrī mantra must say that there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness within her womb and that should be drawn out. 

I heard that Srila Jiva Goswami had given such a meaning somewhere,  but I could not find it. I heard that he had extended the meaning of gāyatrī leading to Kṛṣṇa consciousness but I could not  find his commentary written anywhere. 

However, the tendency was awakened within me to understand this connection. It prompted me to draw the meaning of the gāyatrī towards Kṛṣṇa consciousness and so, I made my commentary.

The general meaning of gayatri is: “That song which grants liberation."

 Now "liberation" must some positive meaning. Liberation means not only "freedom from the negative side," but "continued positive attainment."

This is the definition of mukti or liberation found in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: (मुक्तिर् हित्वन्यथा रुपं  स्वरुपेन व्यवस्थितिः muktirhitvanyatha rupam  svarupena vyavasthitih  S.B. 2.10.6)

It is not only to attain freedom from the negative side, but  positive attainment: Liberation is continued and progressive freedom from conditioning.   

Until and unless we attain our highest possible positive position, true "liberation" is not effected. 

      So according to the definition above, without dedication or bhakti, there is no salvation, or mukti. Real mukti  then, implies bhakti, or dedication.

According to this view,  a mere withdrawal from the negative plane cannot be called "liberation." As the German philosopher Hegel said, “the object of our life is self-determination.” And self-determination is only possible through dedication.

 We must determine our normal function in the organic whole--not through mere emancipation from the negative side, but with our participation in the positive function in the domain of service. 

This is only possible through service in the land of dedication. This is considered to be the highest attainment for the living soul.

This is the true meaning of the gayatri mantra. 

The word, “gayatri” comes from two Sanskrit words – ganat and trayate. Trayate means “Positive attainment to the final stage (svarupena vyavasthitih)”. 

We are to take this meaning. Gānat means “Not mere sound, but musical sound.” That musical sound which grants us the highest positive deliverance indicates the  sankīrtana of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the flute-song of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 

The gayatrī mantra carries the touch of the flute of Krsna.

 We find Divine Sound and music there. Now we shall analyze what is the brahma gayatri Mantra.

ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व: तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ।।

om bhur bhuvah svah, tat savitur varenyam

bhargo devasya dhimahi, dheyo yo nah pracodayat

The purport of the brahma-gayatrī mantra is as follows: the first word is Oṁ.

ॐ

    Oṁ 

Oṁ is the seed mantra which contains everything within it. 


                                            भूर्भुव: स्व:

                                       bhur bhuvaḥ svaḥ

Bhur is   where we are – the world of our experience, the world of our sense perception. Bhuvah is at the back of that – our mental acquisition. The effect of our mental acquisition takes us to our present position of experience. It is not by accidental existence that we are here in this world of our experience. We have acquired such a position by our previous karma. And the area of our previous karma is called bhuvah-loka. 

                                            भूर्भुव: स्व:

                                         bhur bhuvaḥ svaḥ 

Bhuvah-loka is the mental sphere.

This physical sphere is only an outcome of that mental sphere.

The present world of experience is the product of our previous mental impulses. Svaḥ means Buddhi-loka, the plane of decision-making. What to do? What not to do? What I like; what I dislike. This is called sankalpah/vikalpah. I like this; I don’t like that – this is the soil of the mental world of acceptance and rejection. 

You may like to do something, but you may not do that – otherwise you will be a loser. This faculty or reason is svar-loka. 

In this way, in this mundane world, there are different planes of existence – Bhur-, Bhuvah-, Svah-, Mahar-, Jana-, Tapah- and Satya-loka. The negative side has got these seven planes of life from Bhur-loka up to Satya-loka where the creator, Lord Brahma, lives. The master of the whole world of experience of the negative side lives in Satya-loka. The four Kumaras - devotees who hold high positions as saints – also reside in Satya-loka.

                                           भूर्भुव: स्व:

                                        bhur bhuvaḥ svaḥ

These seven layers of the material world, from the gross to the subtle, are dealt with in detail in Śrīla Sanātana Goswāmī’s Bṛhad-Bhāgavatamṛtam. 

The negative side, consisting of the combination of the three modes of material nature that produces this world, finishes in Satya-loka. 

Then begins Viraja, the verge of the equilibrium of the negative side – the last limit of material consciousness. 

And the verge of equilibrium of the positive side is Brahmāloka, the beginning of the “Land of Service” – the equipoised verge of the positive world.

Then, the world of Reality, the world of dedication and service, the soul’s world proper, begins there in Śiva-loka and continues further in the plane of Vaikuṇṭha. 

The devotee Śiva, then Sri Narayana in the Vaikunthas. In this way, they develop into Kṛṣṇ-loka, Vṛndāvana. 

तत्

                                                     tat

The seven planes that are represented in the Gayatri mantra by Bhur, Bhuvah and Svah, are summarized in one word – tat.

तत्

                                                     tat

The next word is savitur.

सवितुर
savitur

Savitur means Surya, the sun. Sun means figuratively, ‘that which illuminates all objects.” This – the three gross and subtle strata of the world – is shown to us by a particular light. 

What is that? That is jīvātma जीवात्म– the soul. 

The sun does not show us the world, but the soul’s influence does. It is not the sun, but it is really the soul that shows us this world. In Bhāgavad-gīta (13.34) we find this: 

एकः कृत्स्नम् लोकम् इमम् रविः ekaḥ kṛtsnam lokam imam raviḥ:

 “This world is really being expressed to us by the ātma, the soul which is just like the sun." 
                                     सवितुर

savitur

 The sun can show us the colour-world, the ear can reveal the sound-world, the sense of touch can reveal the touch-world, etc. However, in the centre is the soul who gives us an understanding of the environment, the world of perception. This perception is possible only because of the soul. The soul is like the sun as it is showing everything.

tat savitur

तत् सवितुर्

To summarize, all these seven strata of our experience are reduced to one word, tat – that. Who is showing us “that”? The illuminator – the sun is showing us. “Sun” here means soul. The soul means not the “universal soul”, but the “individual soul”. The individual soul is the cause of the world. 

“It is not that the mind is in the world, but that the world is in the mind,” said Berkeley. 

The world is in the mind. Everything is also in the sun. Whatever we see – that is in the sun. The sun can show us everything. If there is no sun, then everything is dark and we cannot see anything. The soul is light, the subject, and the objects are these seven planes of experience.
 If the ātma,  the soul – withdraws, then everything is gone. This kind of consciousness gives birth to the path leading to Goloka.

वरेन्यम्

varenyam

Varenyam means pūja: worshipable, venerable and reverential. Our soul is venerable. The soul is the subject and this world is its object. However, there is another domain that is venerated and worshiped by the soul. 


This is the Supersoul area. 

भर्गो

bhargo

Bhargo means the Super-subjective area where the Supersoul, the Super-subject resides. 

भर्गो

bhargo

Bhargo means:
धाम्ना स्वेन सदा निरस्त-कुहकम्́ सत्यम्́ परम्́ धीमहि

dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaḿ satyaḿ paraḿ dhīmahi

In the first verse of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam it is mentioned that here we are going to deal with another world, by whose rays all misconceptions are brushed aside. In its own pristine glory, it shows the very abode of the Lord. I am talking about that world. 

So, the subject is the soul, and the object is the world of mundane experience.

And the subject’s venerable area that is superior to the subject – the soul – is that Super-subjective area. 

Bhargo means, “More subtle than the soul, and holding more important position than the jiva-soul.” That is the Supersoul area. Bhargo means in general, ordinary light. But, really it is the Supersoul Who can see and can show everything in more detail. Just as an x-ray can show us what the ordinary eye cannot see, so bhargo, the svarupa-śakti, the higher more powerful light, can also reveal the soul. 

देवस्य

devasya

Then bhargo belongs to whom? It belongs to deva, pertaining to deva.

देवस्य

devasya

Devasya means belonging to deva. What is the meaning of deva? Deva means, “Who is very beautiful and playful.” That is Śrī Kṛṣṇa – Reality the Beautiful. 

He is non-differentiated substance, but is full of līla – divine pastimes. Deva means beauty and pastimes combined. His domain is bhargo which is venerated by the jīva-soul. What is that? It is the svarupa-śakti, the vaibhava, the extension of Śrīmati Rādhārāni. 

देवस्य

devasya

She holds the full service responsibility and energy to serve Sri Krsna. So bhargo is no less than the vaibhava, the extended body of Srimati Radharani containing everything for the service of Sri Krsna. This is the rasarāja-rahābhava conception. Bhargo represents mahābhava, the predominated moiety, and deva (Krsna) represents rasarāja, the predominating moiety.

धिमहि

dhimahi

Dhimahi in the gayatri mantram means, bhargo devasya dhimahi, we are invited: "come and meditate.” 

What sort of meditation is possible there in that Super-subjective area? That meditation is in the sense of culture – cultivation of service to the Higher by the practice of veneration and worship. This sort of experience is possible there. 

धिमहि

dhimahi

Dhimahi is not abstract meditation but means kṛṣṇānuṣilanam – to participate in the spontaneous flow of the current of devotion in that Super-subjective area, Vṛṇdāvana.

Dhiyo yo’ nah pracodayat – And what will be the result? The capacity of your cultivation will be increased. Kavirāja Goswāmī says:

দাস করে ৱেতন মোরে দেহ প্রেম-ধান

dasa kare vetan, more deha prema-dhana

(Caitanya Caritamṛta Antya-līla 20.37)

We serve and what remuneration will we get? We will receive a greater capacity with more willingness to serve. 

What is the remuneration of service? The serving principle, the serving spirit is increased and enhanced – just as interest is added to capital in the bank. I am getting the interest: I do not draw the money but the interest comesand is added to the capital – in this way.

দাস করে ৱেতন মোরে দেহ প্রেম-ধান

dasa kare vetan, more deha prema-dhana

We shall try to cultivate with all our attention towards that plane. We shall try to serve, to dedicate ourselves, and the dedicating principle will be increased again and again. 

He will give us prema as remuneration. Prema means "the special capacity to render loving service."

 This is the inner meaning of the gāyatri mantra. The gayatri mantra is the song of salvation. In this way, I have drawn out  the meaning of the gāyatrī mantra and have tried to represent it in Sanskrit verse.