śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 7, Issue 11 Dedicated to Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Posted: 11 December 2014
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Inspired by and under the guidance of
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Oneness, the Senses and Learning
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
There are many obstacles in the way of the search for the Truth. Those obstacles serve to eclipse the real nature of the seer of the Truth, of the search, and of the object of the search. It is the enlightening potency of words that alone is able to destroy all those obstacles. Therefore it is only when the ephemeral manifestation of the deluding potency of words is resolved into the enlightening function that such words prevent the individual soul from being severed from the indivisible knowledge – the supremely True Entity. Then, also, such words do not promote the perversion of pure oneness of the cognitive principle. On the contrary it tears up by the root the blunder of the speculative theory of undifferentiated cognition.
Śrī Caitanyadeva is this oneness of the subject and object of the indivisible knowledge. Nityānanda is the manifestation of this oneness. He is the manifesting aspect of the indivisible knowledge Himself. These two are like the sun and the moon. They reveal the cognitive potency of the spiritual soul. Bhakti bestows the quality of oneness, along with love of Kṛṣṇa. These two potencies, one bestowing oneness and the other producing the pleasure of the indivisible knowledge, are located together in Śrī Caitanya.
In this world we build various structures by means of our cognitive and active sense organs. Among these sense organs the organ of speech is the parent of the hearing of sound. The organ of speech may not be wholly established in the line of the heard, transcendental sound. In such a case there will appear conflict with the heard Divine Sound, and that conflict will lead astray the other four senses. This is to be distinguished from words free from all limitation, which remove the obstructive filth that blocks the path of the auricular cavity. Those words dissipate limited perceptual words. By such operation, the path of transcendental hearing is not prejudicially affected.
There is a ten-fold process of rectifying the defects of the physical body that is produced by semen in the mother’s womb. This tenfold process satisfies the speculative function of the mind. Such purificatory processes enrich our sensuous knowledge, but may produce indifference to indivisible transcendental knowledge. In such a case, our mind may mistake entities possessing relationship with Godhead for things of this phenomenal world. Under such misapprehension and directed by the real entity’s own deluding power, the mind may renounce those transcendental entities, lead us away from the truth and make us predominantly reliant upon the non-spiritual reflection of the realm of true cognition.
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In the act of teaching, there are two parties – namely the teacher and the taught. We find a reciprocal relation between these two. The position of the taught has a special significance: he has to pay his attention to the words and observe the deeds of the teacher, and also perceive the true goal of his efforts. If he is found to be negligent in receiving anything from the teacher, he will simply miss the real bearings of what is being taught. His function as a recipient varies according to the nature, capacity and degree of his whole-hearted attention.
When his nature is under consideration, we find that he must own himself as a follower of an elevationist or a salvationist (a devotee). By availing himself of his teacher’s teachings, he is expected to make up for his inadequacies by rectifying his wrong notions and assimilating the essence of the knowledge he is in the process of receiving. He can regulate his mentality by any addition to or deduction from his store of intuitions.
The teachings of a teacher are, therefore, meant for enriching, regulating and inviting the impulse of reception in the taught in order to enable the latter to make further progress. If the taught has an irreverent mood, he will prove himself a callous and unsusceptible agent. If he proves himself quite worthy of receiving the teachings and enriching himself, he will be deemed fit to undertake further mental training. But some amount of diffidence may hamper him in his dutiful advance.
Adapted from The Gaudiya, Volume 26, Number 9
by the Rays of The Harmonist team
