absence of fullness - mystery resolved?

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> > > > The following is a quote from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

> > > >

> > > > "In the angle there is always the defect in the shape of absence of

> > > > fullness, the evenness of level, of 180 degrees less than 360

> > > > degrees. But in the plain surface, in 360 degrees, there is no such

> > > > defect. Ordinary foolish people fail to grasp this simple truth:

> > > > that in the emancipated state no defect is possible."

> >

>

> > But if you are on the plain surface with no walls, no angles,

>

> Two terms that tend to throw the intelligence in deciphering this are: 1.

> "in the shape of." This phrase could be eliminated to make the meaning

> clearer, i.e. "In the angle there is the defect of absence of fullness."

> Thus, an angle is not full and so is defective.

>

> 2. Note that "plain" means ordinary and is, again, easy to misinterpret

> with all the geometry going on. It isn't the geometric "plane."

>

> My guess is that this may be a transcription or notes taken from a speech,

> or that it is a translation. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura seems

> to be merely reiterating the principle that an angle is incomplete, is

> less than full, by "speaking around" the concept. Somehow the written word

> above doesn't convey that as clearly as the spoken word may have. And if

> it wasn't a transcription, notes, or a translation, then I'm bamboozled.

>

> (Were his lectures ever transcribed?)

 

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

The quotation in question has been a fathomless mystery for myself too,

until today I happened to come accross an interesting excerp from a

conversation of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati with Prof. Albert E.Suthers

of Ohio State University, which, I believe, is self-explenatory and sheds

enough light on the purport of the above analogy.

 

The excerpt is from The Ray of Visnu by HG Rupa Vilasa Prabhu, p.89. Please

note that the conversation was originally held in English (as you can see by

the language of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta), so in this case there is no reason

to suspect any obscurity brought about by an inadequate translation.

 

* * *

 

Prof. Suthers: How can Your Holiness's statements [about Gaudiya Vaisnava

morality as being by far superior than that of Christianity - Mmd] be

reconciled with the descriptions that are found about Krsna's amorous

sports?

 

Srila Sarasvati Thakura: Krsna's Amorous Sports are not temporal like the

lustful sports of dramatic heroes and heroines like Romeo-Juliet or even

ideal spouses. Lust as prevalent in this world is only a mental passion, but

the lust of the transcendental world has its own form. Here lust is alsways

goaded by the enemy (one of the six passions); whereas in the transcendental

region of Krsna, the loveliness of the spiritual Body of Krsna ever drives

the Lust for Krsna, which takes form as sublimated love or the desire to

gratify the immaculate senses of Krsna. ... Krsna's Amorous Sports are not

to be called indecency, because it is Krsna Who is the only one unrivalled

Enjoyer, Embodiment of the Real Truth and the Spiritual Despot.

 

Prof. Suthers: I cannot fully appreciate this; please let me understand it a

little more clearly.

 

Srila Sarasvati Thakura: Suppose there are some angles, two right angles,

four right angles, etc. There is the contracted character of a corner in the

acute, obtuse and right angle. But in the two right angles called the

straight angle, even though called an angle, there is no cotractedness or

want of straightness, as is the case with angles in general. Such is the

case with the Authocrat Krsna. THere is no want or contractedness or

despicable character or indecency in the perfect Entity Krsna, like the

perfect circle of 360 degrees, though the communities of enjoyers or

nrenouncers, championing morality or immorality, may, due to the meagerness

of their intellect, wrongly regard the lustfulness of Krsna, the result of

His despotism which is only His, as vulgar as like that of common men and

other creatures.

 

* * *

 

In other words, we may consider, say, mundane immorality to be an acute

angle, and mundane morality to be an obtuse or right angle. But although in

this terms the "plain surface of 360 degrees" may seem to be a total absence

of morality, it is actually just the opposite - the all-encompassing

transcendental reality, where immoraity and morality are transcended

altogether and where it is the "absence of fullness" which is conspicuous by

its absence.

 

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura avirbhava maha-mahotsava ki-jay!

 

Your servant,

Madana-mohana das