By Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur (1874 – 1937) was a renowned spiritual master in the lineage of the Chaitanya Vaishnava school of Bengal. Known for his erudite scholarship, he wrote and published many books in Bengali, Sanskrit and English which conclusively presented to the world the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He traveled to many parts of India delivering lectures on Vedanta and the science of devotion, and established 64 temples. He is also one of the greatest revivalists of the Vedanta tradition in early 20th century India, pioneering the synthesis of science and technology with ancient Vedic wisdom.
(Note: This article has been edited for clarity and endnotes were added by the editors)
A fanciful landlord once became very anxious to see the sun in a new-moon night sky. The flattering sycophants of the landlord said, “When you, our lord, desires, it must be fulfilled. We should set up in this world such an exemplary deed so that everyone will glorify you and follow the same example.”
Flattering thus, one of the sycophants brought in a huge lantern and held it up toward the sky, saying, “Look here, my lord, can you see the sun?”
Two other sycophants then pleaded, “The sun cannot be seen in such a little amount of light from one lantern. Let us arrange for lighting from ten million lanterns.”
So even that was arranged to please the landlord. Then some of the scientific-minded friends of the landlord made an attempt to show the sun to the landlord with the help of the powerful lighting. But all such efforts made by the scientists concerned were simply in vain.
Then a thoughtful person who was present there explained to the landlord that he could never see the sun in the night even if all the electric lighting arrangements in the world were assemble together – it would simply be a waste of power, money and time. So, he must wait til sunrise to see the sun. Only with the help of sunshine can one see the sun. The sun can never be seen with the help of any other artificial light.
Similarly, every attempt of scientists, archeologists, and other people under illusion, to see and realize the eternal form of the transcendental Supreme Lord, full of bliss and knowledge, with the help of so-called mundane knowledge acquired through material senses and speculative reasoning, is only self-deceiving [1].
As the sun can never be seen in the night even with the help of hundreds of artificial lighting arrangements. Similarly, the constitutional form of Lord Sri Hari [a name of God used in Vedic texts], the spiritual master and the Vaishnavas [devotees of God], is never visible through hundreds of attempts with the help of so-called mundane knowledge acquired by the material senses of the living entities [2].
As the sun is visible only in the sunlight, realization of the constitutional forms of Lord Sri Hari [God], guru [spiritual master] or the Vaishnava [devotee], will only be possible under their mercy. The spiritual master cannot be assessed through a slight understanding. Any living entity conditioned under the illusionary mentality cannot make a proper assessment of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Controller of illusion, or the real Vaishnava who is conversant with Krishna consciousness.
Notes:
[1] The author eludicates that relying on empiric research methodologies to answer the big questions related to life and its origins is futile. The empiric researcher is beset with four defects outlined in the “Essentials” section of this website, namely 1) potential for the observer to become delusioned 2) the tendency to make mistakes 3) the tendency to deceive and4) functional limitation of the senses.
[2] Just as one can see the sun only through sunshine, in the same way transcendental subjects like the Absolute Truth can only be known through knowledge revealed by the Absolute Truth Himself.