By Sj. Nimananda dasa Adhikari, B. Ag, B.T.
(This article was originally published in the Journal Harmonist No. 6, Vol. XXV, November 1927. It has been edited for clarity.)
The descending and ascending paths
From time immemorial investigations after truth are being made along two different lines – one the avaroha pantha or the way of descending where the conclusion directly follows from a cause or proposition, and the other, the way of ascending where the conclusion is sought to be established by argument based on one’s own experience. In the first, deductive reasoning has been employed, and the investigation proceeds from the now inaccessible first principle to the known. In the second inductive reasoning has been employed, and the investigation proceeds from the known to the unknown. Those, who acknowledge the authority of God, have confidence in Him and His acaryas or prophets and depend for their knowledge upon His will or mercy, are the followers of the first, i.e. (avaroha pantha). And their cult goes by the name of bhakti or devotion. The three great religions, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity notwithstanding their differences with regard to the goal they propose to achieve, embrace bhakti as the only means to attain the final goal.
The followers of the second, on the contrary, depend, for their knowledge, upon their own exertion. They do not acknowledge the authority of God, and very often deny it. They are called empiricists or elevationists. From so-called theists like the Karmi (fruitive worker), the Yogi (the seeker of mystic powers) and the Jnani (philosophical speculator) down to a vowed atheists like Carvaka and Epicurus are all but elevationists. The first three, for the sake of expediency, sometimes make a display of devotion; but that is not to be confounded with real devotion or bhakti.
Empiricism and Impersonalism
Of Karma, Yoga and Jnana, the last is a great argumentative philosophy. The followers of this cult seek to establish a conclusion by an inverse argument , “not this, not this”(naiti naiti). Their absolute truth is Brahman (impersonal Absolute Truth) without any attribute and jiva (living entity), in reality, is Brahman. They are therefore popularly known as so’hamvada. This class of thinkers are present among the Muslims also. They aim at ai-nal-huque i.e. oneness with God and are popularly known as Sufis. Although the founder of the faith was mercilessly done to death, his faith is still existent.
Their argument is briefly this – jiva (the living entity) is albeit Brahman and nothing but Brahman, and, nothing short of him. But his ignorance that he is so, is due to maya (illusion) which, according to them, means not it (mā=not and yā=it). The English equivalent of this word is in illusion. This illusion is twofold,–the intrinsic and the extrinsic. If a man suddenly comes on a rope and takes it for a serpent, he is under the intrinsic illusion. But when he goes to describe that it is so long so thick, so coiled, he is under the influence of the extrinsic illusion. By the first the rope is a taken for a serpent, and by the second the properties of the rope; such as the length, the thickness, the position of the rope are attributed to the illusory serpent.
Thus the first kind of illusion relates to jiva’s own self. Under its influence the jiva although Brahman cannot think as such; or, in other words Brahman has forgotten Himself into a jiva. The second kind of illusion relates to the phenomenon of the earth. Under its influence the different names and forms, the different personalities and the individualities seem to have a reality of their own, to subsist by themselves, to exist by themselves, to be real on their own account. But just as carbon appears in charcoal as well as in diamonds, so there is one divinity that manifests itself in all these different names and forms. If we can get beyond these names and forms, if we can rise above these, we shall see that we are everything.
Now let us discuss the merit of empiricism in the matter of investigation of the truth. Let us see if our intellect can at all triumph in this business. Take our senses through which the mind receives impulses from the external objects. These impulses are interpreted in the light of the experience of the senses and not in the light of the objects themselves: or, in other words, we interpret things not as they are but as they appear to us, So Kant, a western thinker says, ‘We know nothing about the external nature except as by the faculty of senses it is represented to us, and we take for granted the objects of our sense-perception.’
The senses are made up of five elements, and as such, they can bear witness to the elements only. Beyond that they cannot go, and, should not venture to go. The objects thus remain uninterpreted and unexplained. The thing in itself ever remains obscure to our intelligence. Herbert Spencer, another great western thinker, comes to the very same conclusion. In his first principles ‘The unknowable’ he writes ‘There shall must exist some principle which being the basis of science cannot be established by science.’
Now if this is true of a region that we see, how much more true it is of a region that we do not see and into which we have no access for the present. All reasoned-out conclusions must rest on some postulate, and to establish any such postulate with regard to the region now inaccessible, we must find a place in it where our intellect cannot go. Our intellect, although it has much to do in the empirical realms, is but completely helpless in the realms of metaphysics. The triumph of our intellect is thus apparent and not real. The empiricist simply founders himself against an ever impregnable region.
The sruti rings a death-knell to all the pretentions of an empiricist when it says,
‘Which means excellent speech, intellect vast learning in scriptures do not able anybody to realize Him. Only him, whom He considers worthy, He show Himself.’
Now, why does not the empiricist triumph? In the conclusions of some greatest western thinkers we have tried to give the reason. Now let us what reasons our Vedic scriptures offer. We shall briefly allude to them.
Underlying all these names and forms we find jiva or soul or atma. Herein all agree. This jiva is a part and God, Vishnu is the whole. Thus in the Bhagavad Gita (15.7) Lord Krishna says, mamaivamso jivaloke jivabhutaḥ sanatanah, which means jivas are my parts, and as such, they are eternal. These jivas are many and are very aptly compared with sparks of fire. God Vishnu being compared with the fire itself. Jivas, like Vishnu, are eternal and spiritual, and, as His parts, ever existent. Vishnu is Sat-cit-Ānanda (eternal, full of knowledge and blissful), and His parts possess in a proportionate degree, all these attributes. The Bible and the Koran agree with the Gita in the post death existence of jivas as separate entities, angels, along with God in heaven.
The greatest of all great teachers, Lord Caitanya, who is Vishnu Himself, teaches us that jiva is jiva and Vishnu is Vishnu. Jiva can never be Vishnu nor can Vishnu forget Himself into a jiva. Forgetfulness is never the character of all-knowing Vishnu. Maya cannot have any influence over all-powerful Vishnu. He is above all, beyond all. He is the highest unchallengeable truth, and ever the Lord of Maya.
Maya, according to Lord Caitanya does not mean illusion as the Jnanis understand, but is the apara prakṛti or the material aspect of God. This is divided into eight elements such as earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego, and is the cause of the phenomenon of this world.
Maya, although it does not enter into the composition of jiva which is, like Vishnu, entirely an atmika (spiritual) principle, does exercise influence over him when Vishnu desires it. As a result of this influence jiva, the real self, is made to put on two mortal garments. One of these garments is suksma sarira or the subtle body which consists of mind, intellect and egotism, and the other, the sthula sarira or the physical body which consists of the other five elements, – earth, water, fire, air and ether.
– Kathopanishad 1.2.23
Jiva, in reality, is ever subject to his Lord Vishnu. His fundamental function is His service. But like his Lord he has a free will also. So long as he does not abuse his free will, he will ever remain conscious to his function towards his Lord. There will be no wavering, no breaking away from it. But whenever he has the misfortune to abuse it and assume the attitude of a master desiring to enjoy things for himself without rendering them unto his Lord, there is breaking away from it. He then shows a mood to plunge into this world, and submits to endless tortures from Mayadevi who is the presiding deity of this world. Mayadevi, at the command of Vishnu, her Lord, now wraps him up in the two mortal costumes above referred to, and casts her illusory gloom over him making him forget his real nature.
Oblivious of his true self, the jiva now identifies himself with these mortal garments or upadhis and designates himself at one time as a Hindu and at another time as a Muslim, at one time as a male and at another time as a female, at one time as a tree and at another time as a wild cat, and so on. There is no end of this false identifications. It is confined not to his own self only but is extended to all things that he sees around him. He is equally blind to the real nature of objects he sees. He accepts everything for his own enjoyment without at all referring it to Vishnu who is the undisputed Lord of all.
The apparent self that now originates from this false identification tries to obliterate the eternal line of demarcation between self and not-self, between cit and acit, between reality and non-reality. Although in essence pure and eternal, he now comes to think that he is subject to births and deaths. But in fact the true self never dies nor is it ever born. Births and deaths belong to his mortal garments only but not to him. They are attributed to him by the apparent self. In the same way it is wrong to say that a man in a running train moves. The man in fact does not move. It is the train that moves, and its movement is attributed to him by those who are not in the train. If we get in the train we cease to say that the man moves. In the same way we shake off this false assumption as soon as we return to ourselves. With the recovery of the self the not- self vanishes and with it all worldly afflictions do so. Now what is the thinking principle in the apparent self? Certainly it is the material mind. It is this material mind that hankers after wealth, fame and beauty of this world. It is ever imperfect, and is always guided by motive or desire. It cannot be made perfect any more than charcoal can be made white. And why? Because it is an offspring of Maya. And as such it cannot be expected to overcome her influence. Whoever believes in its efficacy as a spiritual weapon is deceived. The mind never aims at a spiritual triumph, and we must not attribute any to it. On the contrary, our best endeavor should be made to extricate ourselves from its dangerous clutches.
Hitherto, then, we have discussed, at a sufficient length, how we do not realize God. Now we propose to discuss how we realize God. It is needless to say that as soon as we realize our divine nature as servants of God, we realize Him. Realization of God means the same thing as realization of self. For this let us refer to the scriptures of the three great religions – Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity and see if they offer us any clue to the solution of this most important problem.
Christianity
Let us take up the Bible first and see what Jesus, the son of God, says on the subject. At one time Jesus preached saying ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.’ (Gospel of Mathew). Now how shall we knock that the door of heaven shall be opened unto us? To this he replied saying, ‘all things are delivered unto me of my Father ; and no ‘man knoweth the son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the son, and be to whomsoever the son will reveal Him.’ (Mathew). At another time he said ‘He that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me.’ (Mathew) ‘Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father Which is in heaven.’
All these sayings clearly indicate that we are to depend, for our knowledge of God, upon somebody else. This somebody else must be a free man. He must be free from the bondage of Maya, otherwise how can he be expected to dispel Maya from others when he himself is subject to her. Jesus has deprecated the idea of accepting leadership of people like the Pharisees who were offended with his teaching, he advised his disciples to neglect them saying ‘Let them alone ; they be blind leaders of the blind And if they blind both shall fall into the ditch’ (Mathew).
Now how to follow a spiritual guide? What are the qualifications that a disciple needs to follow him? Christ’s utterings on this subject are clear. We shall briefly allude to a few such teachings.
He said, – ‘The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord’ (Mathew).
‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it’ (Mathew).
‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.’ (Mathew).
From his conversation with a new comer we may still more clearly understand what his following means. The new comer, a rich man, said unto him ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? He said, ‘You keep the commandments.’The man said, ‘All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet’? Jesus said unto him, ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.’
The disciples of Christ taught the same thing. Paul having found the people of Athens blindly worshiping God, said, ‘Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: to the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.’ (The Acts)
John in his first epistle writes:
‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’
‘For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the Just thereof: but he who doeth the will of God abideth forever.’
‘Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.’
Islam
In the Koran, the principal scripture of the Muslims, we find an echo of these utterings of Bible. We shall briefly allude to a few such utterings thereof and supplement them by the teaching of some of the best and acknowledged guides of that religion.
‘Jelika fadlullahe eutihe, maiasaoo.’ – Koran
‘The acquirement of this knowledge (about God) solely depends upon His kindness. He gives it to him whom He chooses.’
‘Mai itiullaha a rasulahu kakad faja kaojan ajima’ – Koran
‘He, who carries out the orders of God and follows His prophet is sure to achieve the highest good.’
‘Manla sekha lahu fala khuhu Saitanun.’ (Muhammad’s own uttering)
‘Without guide none can follow God. Hence one, who is without guide, is guided by Satan.’
‘ai bachha iblis o adamruey hasto, Pachh bahar dasto na bayed dade dasto‘ – Aniclhun 18-kin
‘There move (on the earth) many Satans in the disguise of men. Therefore, you must not indiscreetly select anyone as your spiritual guide.’
‘Tabo gupto goey bedari dari, Tujay gupte khaba kaibuye buri’- Moulana Rome
‘As a dream is impossible so long as you talk, so you cannot see God, so long as you are attracted towards the things of the earth.’
‘Latulhikum amoalukum O aoladakum as jikari – Mahe O mai iak al jalika, fowla eka humul khahirun.’ Koran
‘Your property, wife and children should not turn you away from Me. Those, whom they do so, will surely be loser.’
Vedanta
When we refer to our own scriptures, we shall find the same statements made in a more definite and elaborate manner. In the Gita (7.14) Lord Krishna says, daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya mām eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te, My divine maya can hardly be overcome, only those, who follow Me, can overcome her.
Though we have forgotten Vishnu but He has not forgotten us. In His overflowing kindness He has disclosed to us, with the help of His prophets or acaryas, the way how to follow Him. Hence in the Mahabharata (Vana-parva 313.117) Yudhisthira, asked by Dharma in disguise of a crane, said ‘mahajano yena gatah sa panthah’ that means that His acaryas only know Him, and, as such, the way, followed by them, is the way to reach Him.
These acaryas are angels in human form, and it is only for our guidance, for our salvation that they at times come down to grace the earth with the dust of their feet. Hence in the Srimad Bhagavatam (11.17.27), the Prince of all scriptures, we find a warning given to us by Vishnu Who says, –
acaryam mam vijaniyan- navamanyeta karhicit na martabuddhyasuyeta sarvadevamayo guruh
Know not the acarya as different from Me, never think little of him, nor grudge him as mortal in as much as he is all divinity in himself.
Now who is this acarya whom we shall follow and who will guide us? Answer to this question is found in Narada-pañcaratra, which says, –
mahakulaprasuto’pi
sarvayajñesu diksitah
sahasraśakhadhyayi ca na
guruh syadavaisnavah
A man, be he born of a very high caste, initiated into all kinds of yajna or sacrifices, well learned in thousand branches of knowledge, if not a Vaishnava, cannot act as a guru or spiritual guide.
And why? Because only a Vaishnava believes in the existence of Vishnu acknowledges His authority as a Supreme Lord, and, ever abides by it. Only he, and none else, propitiate Him. Vishnu, in turn, loves him most and exalts him by raising him to his former glory as His fellow and servant. Hence in Narada-pañcaratra Siva says Narada to na vaiṣnavat paro jñanī which means, there is none wiser than a Vaishnava. The world teacher, Lord Caitanya disclose the qualifications of a guru in the following words,
kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, sudra kene naya yei Krishnatattvavetta, sei ‘guru’ haya – Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 8.128, whosoever, acquainted with the mysteries of Lord Krishna can be a spiritual guide. It does not matter whether he is a Brahmana or a Sannyasī or a Sudra.
It is by the acceptance of the lead of such Vaishnavas that an honest disciple can expect to achieve the highest good. Leadership of others, notwithstanding their pretensions, is sure to bring disappointment to the followers. The latter, when they will see that their life-long endeavor has not moved them an inch towards the goal, rather has made them recede afar off, will come to woe, and gnash their teeth to find that it is too late for them.
Now, what is the necessity for such an extraneous help? Cannot a man by his own effort regain what he has himself lost? It has been argued before that he cannot. He needs the assistance of a guide. Hence in Srimad Bhagavatam (11.22.10) we find a passage,
anadyavidyayuktasya purushasyātmanivedanam svato na sambhavadanyas- tattvajño jñanado bhavet
It is not possible for man, eternally enveloped by ignorance to realize his self without the assistance of others who are in the know.
Who are, then, those that accept their lead and that do not? In the Padma Purana we find a passage which runs thus,
dvau bhutasargo loke- ’smindaivasura eva ca Vishnubhaktah smrto daiva asurastadviparyayah
There are always two classes of men on earth, devas and asuras. Those who worship Vishnu are devas and these who do not are asuras. The same two classes go by the names of ‘the children of God’ and ‘the children of the devil’ in Bible. The passage runs thus –
‘In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother’ (Chap 2. 1st epistle of John)
The children of God, the devas realize the necessity of worshipping Him and therefore go for this assistance: whereas the children of devils the asuras do not want to worship Him and therefore do not go for it. To talk of such assistance before these people is simply to excite their laughter and court dishonour.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.31) when Hiranyakasipu, who for his hatred of Vishnu, has been described as asura, brought his son Prahlada to look for his devotion to Vishnu and was about to chastise him for it, Prahlada told him:
na te viduh svarthagatim hi Vishnum durasaya ye bahirarthamaninah andha yathandhairupaniyamanas- te’pisatantrayāmurudamni baddhah
The people, who choose to be guided by the wicked and whose mind is captivated by lust after such things as wealth, fame, beauty etc. of this world, can never appreciate the service of Vishnu as being the eternal function of the soul. They, like the blind led by the blind, go astray, and in consequence, become still more tightly fastened with the ropes of Vishnu’s Maya.
Hence bhakti or devotion is the only way to God realization. Besides this there is no other way open unto jivas thus entangled in the snares of Maya. The so-called ways – karma, yoga, jnana and such others are but few traps with fascinating baits thereon, whereby maya wants to tighten her terrible grip on those, who are unfortunate enough to be allured by them. Hence Lord Caitanya says,
Krishnabhakti haya bhidheya-pradhāna bhaktimukha-nirikshaka karma-yoga-jñana
ei saba sadhanera ati tuccha phala Krishnabhakti bina taha dite nare bala
– Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.17-18
Krishna-bhakti or devotion to Krishna is the only means where-by God realization is possible. The fruits that karma, yoga and jñana yield are but very trifling and even these they are not capable to yield independently without the co-operation of bhakti.
Bhakti or service of God, as has been said before, is the fundamental & function of jiva, and he is glorified only when he regains the service which he has lost through his own fault. Hence he must begin with service hereon earth, and the service during his sojourn will lead him, at its close, to His service in Vaikuntha, his permanent abode, where he will reside through eternity as His associate and servant in form of an angel.
During his terrestrial existence the jiva cannot directly serve God. But nevertheless his whole hearted and sincere service rendered unto representative or guru on earth will hasten his goal by enabling him to overcome the influenced of maya, and he will even while on earth, enjoy the pleasure of serving Him in Vaikuṇṭha, or in other words, he will bring down the transcendental kingdom on earth. Hence Sri Caitanya says,
tate Krishna bhaje, kare gurura sebana mayajala chute, paya krsnera carana
If the jiva, here on earth, becomes devoted to Krishna and serves guru, the spiritual guide, he will be able to cut through the shares of maya and regain His service.
This guru must evidently be a true prophet or a representative of God otherwise the service rendered unto a false prophet or guru will defeat its purpose. The present world is full of these false prophets and we must be ware of them lest we shall fall into their trap and lose everything.
In conclusion, we are very sanguine to note that the marvelous agreement of the statements made on this subject by the great teachers appearing on earth at different times and places, and, their solemn confirmation by the holy deeds of the subsequent leaders or gurus, have left us no shade of doubt with regard to the efficiency of bhakti as the way to God realization, and have enforced us to think that while going by it, we are not embarking ourselves upon uncertainty, and, God blessing us, we are sure to veer our barks of life, under the instruction of our pilot, the guru, dash all shoals of errors and difficulties, into the heaven of truth and delight.
Om Hari Om