śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 12, Issue 8
Posted: 19 September 2019
Dedicated to
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Inspired by and under the guidance of
Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
We Are Absolute Infinitesimals – Part One
Part One
We should have firm faith in the Divinity. We are absolute infinitesimals, and we require association with the Absolute. If we express diffidence in doing so, we are likely to be entangled with the ephemeral matters of this world. Our friends stay with us for a few days only. At any moment, when death calls them, they will have to leave us. All that we do should tend towards association with the Divinity. We should not undertake any work for our temporary purposes.
We are His dependents, and as we are infinitesimals, we require to have our final place in Him. We should carry out all of our activities for His purpose only. We should not think that we have anything else to do. Rather than behaving like ordinary people, we should take up the method of exclusively tending to Him, serving Him with everything we have.
The external gross body will last a hundred years, not more. Our mental speculations are conducted while we have our present human form. But we are obliged to leave this mortal coil and cease our transactions with the external world, even though we have every determination to associate with the manifest nature of things. If we wish to associate ourselves with the Absolute, all non-absolute propaganda related to our temporary purposes should be abandoned as far as possible, otherwise we will be led to become no more than materialists.
That non-absolute propaganda will instigate our entanglement with worldly thoughts and ideas. We will think of physical development instead of associating ourselves with the Absolute. We are all absolutes, though infinitesimally small. Because we have shown diffidence to the Absolute, we have proven our indolence to associate with Him. So, like shooting stars, we have simply been thrown off from Him. We have rebelled against that Absolute Entity. Now, to go back to Him, it is necessary, it is essential, that all of our associations and movements should align with the tendency to serve Him.
First of all, we should understand His designation. What is He? What form does He have? And how are we to go to Him? When we come to know that He keeps Himself aloof from everything in this phenomenal world, we feel a necessity to associate with Him. And this association can be had if we can eliminate external impediments, which are like screens between the Absolute Infinity and the absolute infinitesimals.
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Our mental speculations should not be confused with that very thing (the Absolute Entity). Our mental speculations are meant for associating with phenomenal objects. But some philosophers deemed it worthy to tend to Him in His abstract form through mental speculation, instead of approaching His truly manifest nature. But we have His manifest nature here for the purpose of associating with Him.
We cannot have this association by any sort of privations. The phenomenal objects are undesirable. Although they have some effect on us, they are all transient and will not bring us good till the end of time. We do not think, like materialists, that our existence will cease. The materialists think that everything will stop when we die, that all our troubles will end at death. This miserable idea should be thrown off. Since we are absolute infinitesimals, we should engage in all of our activities in order to associate with the Absolute.
We are not the body, or the mind, or the external atmosphere. We require dissociation from these. These undesirable situations should be eliminated at all costs, otherwise we will prove to be destined for the ordinary purpose of the world.
Lower animals are consumed as food by many people. In ancient times, when cannibalism was more prevalent in the world, people used to take even human flesh. They thought that the human body was meant for their consumption. Later on when civilization made progress, people gave up cannibalism, but went on consuming the flesh of lower animals. In India, persons belonging to the higher castes do not consume animal flesh. The development of religious thought has stopped the practice of cruelty to animals in many ways. Science has now proven that vegetables, too, have life and can feel pain and pleasure. But it is not meant that we should commit suicide by abstaining from taking any food. This problem is solved when food is meant for the purpose of the Absolute.
Everything has come out of Him, everything will go back to Him, and everything is meant for His service. All animate and inanimate objects have come from Him and are meant for His service alone. To purloin these things is an attempt to deceive the Absolute. We are absolute infinitesimals and are deluded by the ordinary manifest character of phenomena. We must get rid of this delusion. We must have a glimpse into the Truth, and that Truth must be realized.
If we are sincere, He will reveal Himself to our vision. Whatever we do, we should do it for Him for His eternal purpose, instead of indulging ourselves in ephemeral transactions. It is not our sole function to carry on our works for our own purpose. We should not be attached to being the recipients of the fruits of our endeavours. It is better for us that all we do, we do in His favour and for His service.
We are servitors. If we keep dogs, we will be servants of dogs; if we keep horses we will be servants of horses, and if we become altruists, we will be servants of human beings only. But the Absolute should be served at all costs. We should make it a point that in all our activities we attend to His service. All animate and inanimate beings have emanated from Him. We must serve the Absolute and not become engaged by non-absolute propaganda, as we see happening in this world.
Adapted from The Gauḍīya, Year 17, Number 5 - Part 1
by the Rays of The Harmonist team
