There are three stages of God realization. God has three forms: brahman (not Lord Brahma), the in-dwelling supersoul in all souls (paramatma) and the complete Bhaghavan. The first two exist only due to support from the Bhagavan feature.
brahmeti paramātmeti
Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.
HH Romapada Swami writes on how to perceive the differences between them:
Q:What is the difference
between the dictation of the Parmatma and the mind? How can one tell if the mind or Parmatma is
speaking to us?
In BG 2.22's purport,
Srila Prabhupada gives the example of two birds sitting on a tree. One bird (Jiva-atma) is eating the fruits of
the tree while the other bird (Parmatma) is simply watching His friend. If the Parmatma is just watching, how can the
Parmatma dictate the soul? Can you please
help me with this confusion? Please help me understand this by some other
citations in the BG.
Ans (prepared primarily
with assistance):
In Bhagavad-gita
Chapter 6, Krishna talks about the importance of controlling the mind. In
particular, with regard to your above questions, verses 5 and 6 of Chapter 6 give
us a good understanding of the interaction of the mind with the living entity.
Krishna tells Arjuna:
Verse 5: One must deliver himself with the help of
his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned
soul, and his enemy as well.
Verse 6: For him who has conquered the mind, the mind
is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will
remain the greatest enemy.
The main point is that
one must renounce the desire for sense gratification, or else his mind will
degrade, not elevate him. Unless one develops a higher taste (spiritual taste, or
bhakti), this becomes impossible. Within the purport to Verse 5, Çréla
Prabhupäda emphasizes controlling the mind:
“It is stressed herein
that the mind must be so trained that it can deliver the conditioned soul from
the mire of nescience. In material existence one is subjected to the influence
of the mind and the senses. In fact, the pure soul is entangled in the material
world because the mind is involved with the false ego, which desires to lord it
over material nature. Therefore, the mind should be trained so that it will not
be attracted by the glitter of material nature, and in this way the conditioned
soul may be saved. One should not degrade oneself by attraction to sense objects.
The more one is attracted by sense objects, the more one becomes entangled in
material existence. The best way to disentangle oneself is to always engage the
mind in Kåñëa consciousness. The word hi
is used for emphasizing this point, i.e., that one must do this.”
From this purport we
can understand that the mind’s dictations when not under the control of bhakti
will gyrate towards sense gratification and will lead one to further
entanglement with the material nature. Çréla Prabhupäda then explains in the
purport to Verse 6:
“Unless the mind is
controlled, the practice of yoga (for show) is simply a waste of time. One who
cannot control his mind lives always with the greatest enemy, and thus his life
and its mission are spoiled. The constitutional position of the living entity
is to carry out the order of the superior. As long as one's mind remains an
unconquered enemy, one has to serve the dictations of lust, anger, avarice,
illusion, etc. But when the mind is conquered, one voluntarily agrees to abide
by the dictation of the Personality of Godhead, who is situated within the
heart of everyone as Paramätmä. Real yoga practice entails meeting the
Paramätmä within the heart and then following His dictation. For one who takes
to Kåñëa consciousness directly, perfect surrender to the dictation of the Lord
follows automatically.”
In the book Dharma: The
Way of Transcendence, Çréla Prabhupäda writes:
“By serving the guru and
inquiring from him, we can come to the point where Kåñëa will enlighten us from
within. Kåñëa, the supreme guru, first imparted knowledge into the heart of
Brahmä, the original person in the universe (tene brahma hådä ädi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]). Kåñëa is situated in
everyone's heart as the Supersoul, and as you become purified He speaks to you
from within. Actually, He is always speaking to us, but in our impure condition
we cannot hear Him. In the Bhagavad-gétä (15.15) Kåñëa confirms that He is the
source of our knowledge: sarvasya cähaà
hådi sanniviñöo mattaù småtir jïänam apohanaà ca. "I am situated
within the heart of everyone, and from Me come all remembrance, knowledge, and
forgetfulness." So as Paramätmä, the Supersoul, Kåñëa is always prepared
to help every one of us, provided we serve Him and take His instruction. He
says in the Bhagavad-gétä (10.10),
teñäà satata-yuktänäà bhajatäà
préti-pürvakam
dadämi buddhi-yogaà taà yena mäm upayänti te
"To those who are
always engaged in serving Me with great love and devotion, I give the
understanding by which they can come to Me."
If we want to know the
Absolute Truth, we have to follow the proper process, and that process is
simply to engage oneself in the loving service of the Lord. That will enable us
one day to directly perceive the Absolute Truth. With our present blunt material
senses we cannot perceive the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. For example, with a blunt knife you cannot cut anything. You must
sharpen it first; then it cuts very nicely. Similarly, to understand the
Absolute Truth you must sharpen and purify your senses by engaging them in the
service of the Lord. Now you cannot see God, or Kåñëa. But if you purify your
eyes and your other senses, you will be able to see God, to hear God, to talk
with God—everything. That is possible by the process of bhakti.
So Çréla Prabhupäda’s
point is very clear – unless we perform devotional service it is not possible
for us to speak to the Paramatma or listen to His instructions in our hearts.
In fact when we do not heed Him, then He simply fulfills our desires to enjoy
based on our karma. And He simply witnesses our foolishness. Due to the minute
free will of the living entities, the Paramätmä does not interfere with their
choices until they take up devotional service. Çréla Prabhupäda writes in the
purport to BG 2.22 thus:
"Although the two
birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and
moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree. But if in some way or
other he turns his face to his friend who is the Lord and knows His glories—at
once the suffering bird becomes free from all anxieties."
When the living entity
becomes slightly devotional the Paramätmä ‘speaks’ to him through the
scriptures, through his guru, through the devotees or through certain actions
or behaviors of others. By heeding such indicators, the living entity makes
progress to performing pure devotional service where the Lord may personally
speak to him.
In conclusion, the
dictations of the Paramätmä are only understood through devotional practices
which includes guru, sadhu, and sastra whereas the dictations of the
uncontrolled mind are directed at sense gratifications.
Finally there is a story
regarding this which happened a few years ago in San Diego. A devotee was
actively involved in Facebook. So somehow or other, he got involved with an
under-aged girl on Facebook. After some time, the girl invited him to her
place. He accepted the offer and went driving there. While driving there he got
lost several times and many times he felt he should just give up and go back to
the temple, but in his mind he wanted to meet the girl. Finally after several
hours of driving and losing directions he somehow got to the destination. He
knocked on the door and was invited inside. Once inside, the police immediately
arrested him for under-aged child sex exploitation etc. He went to prison. The
devotee later realized and understood that when he wanted to go there, there
were so many signs and indications from the Lord that he should not go there
but because of lust, his mind was uncontrolled, he did not heed the instructions
of the Paramätmä.
In all aspects of life, we
really must distinguish the difference between the
mind’s dictation and the indications of Paramätmä!
No comments:
Post a Comment