Pure Devotion And The Competitive Spirit

[Guest guest]

Pure Devotion And The Competitive Spirit

 

BY SRILA BHAKTI BIBUDHA BODHAYAN MAHARAJA

 

EDITORIAL, Aug 20 (VNN) — Srila B.B.Bodhayan Maharaj, president-

acarja of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math

 

All glories to Sri Guru, Sri Gauranga and the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya

Saraswata Sampradaya!

It is sad to say that in our contemporary Gaudiya Vaishnava

community, many of us are Vaishnavas in name only. We make a show of

devotion, but what we are calling devotion is in fact the observance

of few rules of moral behavior at best. In essence, it is thus not

devotion at all. Moreover, in the name of pure devotion, we are also

abusing the ideal of yukta vairagya, renunciation with proper

adjustment to time, place and circumstances. We are not supposed to

be followers of Ekalavya, who was rejected by even his own guru

Dronacharya. We must take stock of our true standing on the bhakti

marga? Service to the spiritual master is based on surrender, and not

on just following a few moral codes. Service to the guru means

following the pure devotional path according to his instructions. It

goes beyond morality. Krishna proved this when He instructed Arjuna

to kill his own kinsmen.

 

Krishna told Arjuna: "Do it! You will not incur any sin. I shall

protect you." It was not "moral" to kill Dronacharya, Bhishma and all

the other great and pious heroes fighting for the Kauravas, but

Arjuna surrendered to Krishna, his guru. He thus surpassed the

mundane principles of morality, which involve following rules and

regulations to keep peace and order in human society. We must not

neglect the instructions of our diksha guru. For, if we are not

surrendered, we cannot actually render any true service to Krishna.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada gave us the proper

conception of yukta vairagya for our present times. We should try to

understand it properly if we are to serve the cause of Sri Chaitanya

Mahaprabhu.

 

Surrender to Krishna gives life in the Bhagavad-Gita (18.66), Sri

Krishna told Arjuna, "Abandon all varieties of religion (sarva-

dharmAn) and take exclusive shelter of Me. I shall deliver you from

the reactions of your sinful activities. Do not fear." Sarva-dharmAn

indicates "all kinds of religious attitudes." This means that we must

without hesitation reject all other methods of spiritual advancement

other than surrender. Srila Rupa Goswami also recommends that we

cultivate devotion free from personal interests (anyabhilanita-

cunyam) and the tendencies toward karma and jnana (jnAna-karmAdy-

anAvRtam). Surrender is the primary characteristic of bhakti. It

cannot be found anywhere else. Other attempts to reach the Absolute

by adopting the path of karma yoga or jnana yoga, for example, are

destined to disappoint us. Sharanagati, or surrender to Krishna, is

the name Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur gave to a collection of wonderful

songs of his own composition. In the introductory song of that book,

Bhaktivinoda writes,

 

 

zrI kRSNa caitanya prabhu jIve dayA kari

sva-parSada svIya dhAma saha avatari

atyanta durlabha prema karibAre dAna

zikhAya zaraNAgati bhakatera prANa

Out of compassion for the fallen souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya came to

this world with His personal associates and divine abode to teach

sharanagati, surrender to Krishna, and to freely distribute ecstatic

love (prema) for God, which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain.

This sharanagati is the very life (prana) of the true devotee."

 

This song clearly says that without surrender, a devotee is without

life (prana). Surrender to guru, Vaishnavas and Krishna will give us

back our life. We have nothing to lose. This is the benefit of the

bhakti process. On the other hand, if a person has a good character,

but no devotion, he can be considered a moralist at best. The soul

gives life to the body, which is otherwise dead. Similarly, a life of

so-called devotion without surrender is like a useless corpse. It is

impossible to achieve divine love (prema) without surrender. In this

regard, we can learn a good lesson from the famous story of Ekalavya.

 

The story of Ekalavya

 

Once, when Arjuna, the celebrated Pandava, was still a boy, he, his

brothers and his cousins studied the military sciences from the great

master Dronacharya. At that time, Ekalavya, the son of Hiranyadhanu,

the king of an aboriginal tribe, was moved by his faith to approach

Dronacharya and request him for instruction in archery. Dronacharya

refused to teach his prospective disciple because he wanted to test

his faith, but Ekalavya was stubbornly determined to learn archery

from the master. So unbeknownst to Drona, Ekalavya went to the forest

and fashioned an image of him out of clay. He then began to practice

archery in front of this image all day long. Concentrating his mind

on Dronacharya in this way, Ekalavya gradually became the most expert

archer in the world, more skilful than even Arjuna. Arjuna was not

only Krishna's intimate friend, but also Dronacharya's dearest

disciple. The master had once promised him, "No one will ever excel

you in this art. You will become the best archer on this earth and so

will you remain, I promise you!" One day, the Kauravas and the

Pandavas went together for a walk in the forest when they suddenly

saw something quite astonishing. Lying peacefully on the ground was a

dog whose mouth had been sewn closed by seven arrows. The boys

thought that one who could perform such extraordinary feat was

undoubtedly the best archer in the world. They also thought that

perhaps he was even better than Arjuna. As they continued to

penetrate deeper into the dense forest, they came across an unknown

archer tirelessly practicing his marksmanship. It was he who had shot

the arrows at the dog because the animal had been barking and

disturbing his concentration. When the boys returned to the palace,

they related the incident to Dronacharya in detail. Arjuna humbly

reminded Dronacharya of his promise that no one would ever excel him

in archery. Dronacharya, who was very surprised to hear of the

existence of such an expert bowman, went to the forest with Arjuna to

meet him. When they reached Ekalavya's cottage, they saw him sitting

down before the clay image of Dronacharya and shooting arrows with

great expertise. As soon as Ekalavya saw them, he paid them their due

respects, honoring Dronacharya as his master. When Dronacharya heard

that Ekalavya considered him to be his guru, he requested dakshina

from him. Dakshina is the donation or gift given to a priest or one's

own guru. In ancient times, masters used to demand their due dakshina

from their disciples at the time of initiation. Ekalavya stood with

folded palms in front of Dronacharya, and told his master that he was

ready to do whatever he ordered. Dronacharya then demanded that

Ekalavya give him the thumb of his right hand. Though the loss of the

thumb meant that he would no longer be able to shoot, Ekalavya cut it

off without hesitation.

 

A dangerous example

 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur explains that Krishna, bhakti

and the bhakta partake of the same absolute nature. A devotee enjoys

a special position because the Lord is favorably inclined to him. On

the other hand, a non-devotee may have many good qualities and moral

virtues according to the standards of worldly life, but all these

assets have no value in the eyes of the Lord. Any one who thinks that

morality surpasses bhakti will fail to catch this subtle point.

Though Ekalavya had initially been rejected by Dronacharya, he was

moved by his own faith to make an image of clay of his master. He had

then achieved perfection in archery by practising in front of that

image. This seems to be an example of devotion to the master. Indeed,

it seems that Ekalavya was completely surrendered to his guru.

Otherwise, how could he cut away his thumb without thinking twice?

However, it is my humble opinion that a devotee on the path of

surrender must dismiss the example of Ekalavya. When Dronacharya

refused to instruct Ekalavya in archery, he had good reasons for not

doing so. Ekalavya should have waited for his guru's mercy, but he

did not. Instead he concocted his own way of achieving his mercy by

moulding the image of clay and training in front of it. In fact, the

mind of Ekalavya was tainted by the desire to become a famous,

skilful archer. He wanted to surpass Arjuna's dexterity in

bowmanship. This was not at all a good attitude, especially if we

consider Arjuna's status as a pure devotee of the Lord. The desire to

be "bigger" or more famous than another Vaishnava is not devotion at

all. This was also against the desire of Dronacharya. Therefore,

Ekalavya committed guru aparadh by neglecting Dronacharya and

Vaishnava aparadh by being envious of Arjuna. This is perhaps the

reason why later on Ekalavya was killed by Krishna and merged into

His brahmajyoti effulgence. This is the way Krishna deals with the

demons. They achieve sayujya mukti, the liberation that is always

despised by devotees. Ekalavya's dealings with Dronacharya were also

tainted with impersonalism. He really did not take the instructions

of his guru to heart. Instead of following the directions of the

living guru, he used his guru's clay image as a means to achieving

his own cherished ambition. Ekalavya tried to draw his guru's

attention to himself instead of surrendering to his guru. This shows

that his devotion was artificial. In other words, he outwardly showed

the behavior of a disciple, but his heart was consumed by egotism.

Similarly, one should not have the outward dress of a Vaishnava while

harboring the attitude of a mundaner. Penances without the sanction

of the guru and the Vaishnavas do not fall in the category of bhakti.

Materialistic people with a demoniac mentality also perform many

austerities, but their aim is to get material benefit and enjoy sense

gratification. Although Ekalavya was not interested in gross sensual

pleasure, his austerities had not been sanctioned by any senior

authority. Thus the expert Dronacharya was able to detect that his

devotion was mere pretense. For these reasons, therefore, Ekalavya's

example is a dangerous one, particularly for beginners on the path of

bhakti.

 

Remove Ekalavya from our hearts

 

We are living in difficult times. We have to face many problems even

in the association of other Vaishnavas. Senior members of our Gaudiya

Vaishnava community are somewhat puzzled by the nature of these

problems. They too confess that they have no idea of how to bring

about positive solutions. The subject matter is very intricate and

requires more analysis. What must be done? It is true that if we

stick to the instructions of our guru, Krishna will remove the ghost

of Ekalavya from our mind. We must surrender and if we are sincere,

the Lord will accept our service. We should not be Vaishnavas in name

and dress only. We should stop thinking and acting like Ekalavya. We

have to become saragrahi Vaishnavas, not just worshipers of the form

like Ekalavya. In the words of Srila Sridhar Maharaj we have to dive

deep into reality. Lochan Das Thakur stated that we are just chewing

a piece of dry wood instead of sugarcane.

 

 

ikhu daNDa bhAvi kATha cunili man kemone paibi meoha

How will we taste the sweetness of the sugarcane juice by sucking on

a piece of dry wood? Sugarcane looks like dry wood but is sweet and

tasty. Vaishnavas in name or dress may put on many programs, but are

not able to inspire pure devotion in others. Vaishnavas who are

externally oriented are always busy building more temples and

expanding their religious organizations. Unfortunately, they have

little or no time to cultivate devotional practices such as hearing

and chanting in the association of other devotees or counselling

neophytes in how to strengthen their faith. If we chew the dry wood

of false surrender, how can we taste the sweetness of bhakti? Srila

Bhaktivinoda Thakur explained the symptoms of surrender in

Sharanagati:

 

 

dainya, Atma-nivedana, goptRtve varaNa

avazya rAkhibe kRSNa vizvAsa

pAlana bhakti-anukUla mAtra kAryera

svIkAra bhakti-pratikUla-bhAva varjanAngIkAra

"The ways of sharanagati are humility, dedication of the self,

acceptance of the Lord as one's only maintainer, faith that Krishna

will surely protect, execution of only those acts favorable to pure

devotion and renunciation of conduct averse to pure devotion."

 

SaD-anga zaraNAgati haibe jAMhAra

tAMhAra prArthanA zune zrI-nanda-kumAra

 

"The youthful son of Nanda Maharaj, Sri Krishna, hears the prayers of

anyone who takes shelter of Him by this six-fold practice."

 

Unless we surrender to Krishna, He will not accept any prayer from

us. How then will He accept any service? This is indeed very sad. By

nature, we are the eternal servants of Krishna, but as we lack

surrender, sincerity, or both, we are unable to serve Him. The sign

of sincerity is accepting that Krishna comes to us through our guru.

All scriptures confirm this. My spiritual master, His Divine Grace

Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj, told me that so-called

freedom is detrimental on the spiritual path. We should not detach

ourselves from the desire of guru and Vaishnavas as Ekalavya did. We

should not try to establish moral codes other than surrender to the

will of guru and Krishna. We should not feel envious of others'

opulence as Ekalavya did with Arjuna. The example of pretentious

devotion set by Ekalavya can infect the heart of any aspirant on the

spiritual path. Devotion to guru and Krishna should never be

performed with an aim to achieving material benefits. Therefore, we

have to keep very alert and remove the weeds of unwanted desires as

soon as they sprout.

 

In conclusion, I request the readers of this piece with folded palms

to excuse all my offences and bless me so that I may become a true

disciple of my Gurudeva and a true servant of all the Vaishnavas.