Putana

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Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura on Putana

 

In one issue of the Harmonist Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura wrote

extensively on the subject of Putana, as follows:

 

(Point 1) (Points extracted by the teacher of this course, not by Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta)

 

Sri Krsna manifest His eternal birth in the pure cognitive essence of the

serving soul who is located above all mundane limitations. King Kamsa is the

typical aggressive empiricist, ever on the lookout for the appearance of the

truth for the purpose of suppressing Him before He has time to develop. This is

no exaggeration of the real connotation of the consistent empiric position. The

materialist has a natural repugnance for the transcendental. He is disposed to

think that faith in the incomprehensible is the parent of dogmatism and

hypocrisy in the guise of religion. He is also equally under the delusion that

there is no really dividing line between the material and the spiritual. He is

strengthened in his delusion by the interpretation of scriptures by persons who

are like-minded with himself. This includes all the lexicographic interpreters.

(Lexicographical means a strict dictionary meaning)

 

(Point 2)

The lexicographical interpretation is upheld by Kamsa as the real scientific

explanation of the scriptures, and is perfectly in keeping with his dread of

and aversion for the transcendental. These lexicographical interpreters are

employed by Kamsa in putting down the first suspected appearance of any genuine

faith in the transcendental. King Kamsa knows very well that if the faith in

the transcendental is once allowed to grow it is sure to upset all his empiric

prospects.

 

There is historical ground for such misgivings. Accordingly if the empiric

domination is to be preserved intact it would be necessary not to lose a moment

to put down the transcendental heresy the instant it threatens to make its

appearance in earnest. King Kamsa, acting on this traditional fear is never

slow to take the scientific precaution of deputing empiric teachers of the

scriptures, backed by the resources of dictionary and grammar and all empiric

subtleties to put down, by the show of specious arguments based on hypothetical

principles, the true interpretation of the eternal religion revealed by the

scriptures.

 

Kamsa is strongly persuaded that faith in the transcendental can be effectively

put down by empiricism if prompt and decisive measures are adopted at the very

outset. He attributes the failure of atheism in the past to the neglect of the

adoption of such measures before the theistic fallacy has had time to spread

among the fanatical masses.

 

But Kamsa is found to count without his host. When Krsna is born He is found to

be able to upset all sinister designs against those who are apprised by Himself

of His advent. The apparently causeless faith displayed by persons irrespective

of age, sex, and condition may confound all rabid empiricists who are on

principle averse to the Absolute Truth Whose appearance is utterly incompatible

with the domination of empiricism.

 

But no adverse efforts of the empiricists, whose rule seems till then to be

perfectly well-established over the minds of the deluded souls of this world

can dissuade any person from exclusively following the Truth when He actually

manifest His birth in the pure cognitive essence of the soul.

 

(Point 3)

Putana is the slayer of all infants. The baby, when he or she comes out of the

mother's womb, falls at once into the hands of the pseudo teachers of religion.

These teachers are successful in forestalling the attempts of the good

preceptor whose help is never sought by the atheists of this world at the

baptisms of their babies. This is ensured by the arrangements of all

established churches of the world. They have been successful only in supplying

watchful Putanas for effecting the spiritual destruction of persons from the

moment of their birth with the co-operation of their worldly parents. No human

contrivance can prevent these Putanas from obtaining possession of the pulpits.

This is due to the general prevalence of atheistic disposition in the people of

this world.

 

(Point 4)

The church that has the best chance of survival in this damned world is that of

atheism under the convenient guise of theism. The churches have always proved

the staunchest upholders of the grossest form of worldliness from which even

the worst of non-ecclesiastical criminals are found to recoil.

 

It is not from any deliberate opposition to the ordained clergy that these

observations are made. The original purpose of the established churches of the

world may not always be objectionable. But no stable religious arrangement for

instructing the masses has yet been successful. The Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu, in pursuance of the teachings of the scriptures enjoins all absence

of conventionalism for the teachers of the eternal religion. It does not follow

that the mechanical adoption of the unconventional life by any person will make

him a fit teacher of religion. Regulation is necessary for controlling the

inherent worldliness of conditioned souls.

 

(Point 5)

But no mechanical regulation has any value, even for such a purpose. The

bonafide teacher of religion is neither any product of nor the favourer of any

mechanical system. In his hands no system has likewise the chance of

degenerating into a lifeless arrangement. The mere pursuit of fixed doctrines

and fixed liturgies cannot hold a person to the true spirit of doctrine or

liturgy.

 

The idea of an organized church in an intelligible form, indeed, marks the

close of the living spiritual movement. The great ecclesiastical establishments

are the dykes and the dams to retain the current that cannot be held by any

such contrivances. They, indeed, indicate a desire on the part of the masses to

exploit a spiritual movement for their own purpose. They also unmistakably

indicate the end of the absolute and unconventional guidance of the bona fide

spiritual teacher. The people of this world understand preventive systems, they

have no idea at all of the unprevented positive eternal life. Neither can there

be any earthly contrivance for the permanent preservation of the life eternal

on this mundane plane on the popular scale.

 

(Point 6)

Those are, therefore, greatly mistaken who are disposed to look forward to the

amelioration of the worldly state in any worldly sense from the worldly success

of any really spiritual movement. It is these worldly expectants who become the

patrons of the mischievous race of the pseudo-teachers of religion, the

Putanas, whose congenial function is to stifle the theistic disposition at the

very moment of its suspected appearance. But the real theistic disposition can

never be stifled by the efforts of those Putanas. The Putanas have power only

over the atheists. It is a thankless but salutary task which they perform for

the benefit of their unwilling victims.

 

(Point 7)

But as soon as theistic disposition proper makes its appearance in the pure

cognitive essence of the awakened soul, the Putanas are decisively silenced at

the very earliest stage of their encounter with new-born Krsna. The would-be

slayer is herself slain. This is the reward of the negative services that the

Putanas unwittingly render to the cause of theism by strangling all

hypocritical demonstrations against their own hypocrisy.

 

(Point 8)

But Putana does not at all like to receive her reward in the only form which

involves the total destruction of her wrong personality. King Kamsa also does

not like to lose the services of the most trusted of his agents. The effective

silencing of the whole race of pseudo-teachers of religion is the first clear

indication of the appearance of the Absolute on the mundane plane. The bonafide

teacher of the Absolute heralds the Advent of Krsna by his uncompromising

campaign against the pseudo-teachers of religion.

 

 

Points from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta' article:

 

1. Kamsa (the chief materialist, in the form of "aggressive empiricism") likes

to suppress the truth before it has time to develop. He has an innate dislike

for anything spiritual.

2. He is associated with like-minded people, including lexicographers (those

who uphold dictionary definitions of subjects that are transcendental to

dictionaries), and he engages these lexicographers to put down Krsna

consciousness at its earliest stage.

 

3. As soon as the transcendental child is born he falls into the hands of

Putana - the pseudo teachers of religion.

4. The attempted success of Putana over the genuine spiritual teachers is aided

by the efforts of organized religion, which is "atheism in the garb of theism."

5. "Organized" religion is an attempt to force the people in general to follow

certain religious principles, without effecting any spiritual advancement in

them, so is doomed to failure.

6. They would like to improve materialism through their "religion," and so

enlist the aid of the Putanas.

7. But Putana cannot be successful once real religion has actually appeared, in

fact she is destroyed at the earliest point in its development. "The would-be

slayer is herself slain. This is the reward of the negative services that the

Putanas unwittingly render to the cause of theism by strangling all

hypocritical demonstrations against their own hypocrisy."

9. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta concludes by saying: "The effective silencing of the

whole race of pseudo-teachers of religion is the first clear indication of the

appearance of the Absolute on the mundane plane. The bonafide teacher of the

Absolute heralds the Advent of Krsna by his uncompromising campaign against the

pseudo-teachers of religion."