Expansions, Forms, and Energies

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..Expansions, Forms, and Energies

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"This is the nature of God/Krsna/nondual consciousness, who expresses

himself in three phases: Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan."

 

Q. I am currently re-reading your commentary on Sri Jiva Goswami's

Tattva-sandarbha. I have always wanted to know the philosophical

position of Gaudiya Vaisnavism regarding the love of Krsna for the

jiva. Love is the center of Vaisnava theology, but it is rarely stated

that Krsna loves the jiva before the jiva begins devotional service to

develop love for Krsna. I guess I am contrasting this with the

Christian doctrine that God passionately loves the soul of each person

and longs to be united with them and acts in ways to bring the souls to

him. Is Krsna's love strictly reciprocal or, being God, is his love for

us eternal and prior to our desire (which develops at a certain point

in time) to love him? Does Krsna love us before we love him? Thank you

so much for your books and all your service.

 

A. God's love for all souls is different from Krsna's love for his

devotees. God oversees the world in his form known as Maha-Visnu. Out

of love Maha-Visnu desires to become many. Thus he manifests the world

(lokavat tu lila kaivalyam) and the jivas expand from homogeneous deep

sleep into a heterogeneous life in the world. Then in the form of the

Vedas, Maha-Visnu manifests his guidance for human society. Maha-Visnu

is filled with compassion for all souls in the material world, and

because he is a partial manifestation of Krsna, it can be said that

Krsna is also filled with such compassion. Close to his heart he wears

a kaustuba mani (lapis lazuli stone), which represents all jivas. So

God does love us before we love him, before we are even conscious of

him.

 

However, some souls choose to love God, while others do not. Among

those who choose to love God, we also find a gradation of love. Some

love God because he provides for them. Others love God in a more

abstract sense by giving up material exploitation--that which is not

love--in pursuit of salvation. Love of Krsna, however, is devoid of

these two motivations. Furthermore, it is constituted solely of acts

motivated by the desire to please him. This kind of love is called

uttama-bhakti. It manifests in the form of a spiritual practice

(sadhana-bhakti) as well as in perfection (bhava/prema-bhakti). When

this love reaches the stage of prema, it has the power to completely

captivate Krsna.

 

There is, however, a point in time at which Visnu's love for all souls

practically merges with Krsna's love for his devotees. This occurs when

Sri Krsna appears as Sri Caitanya taking the place of the Visnu avatara

of Kali-yuga, who is designated to establish the recommended dharma of

the age. At this time Krsna gives prema to anyone and everyone.

 

Q. I believe there is one God who has different names and forms. Some

know him as Krsna, and others know him as Jehovah or Siva, and there's

nothing wrong with this. In my opinion sectarian problems are the

result of God or gods being explained in terms of a different

tradition's frame of reference. Any comments?

 

A. It is true that there is one God who has many forms and names.

However, people approach God for different reasons. Thus all forms of

worship are not equal. The extent to which God is present in one's

worship is determined by the motive with which one worships God. Some

people worship with a view to improve their material situation, some

seek salvation, and some worship God dutifully because it is the right

thing to do as mandated in scripture. While all of these motives bring

reciprocation from God, none of them constitute the fullest expression

of love and thus none of them connect one with the most complete

expression of divinity--the heart of God.

 

Sri Caitanya teaches how to fall in love with God. In his approach

there is no concern for material gain or salvation, nor is God merely

served dutifully because it is the right thing to do. His method of

worship is solely concerned with doing that which personally pleases

God, as opposed to only following his laws as detailed in scripture. It

is concerned with loving God such that the distance between worshiper

and worshiped is bridged. His ideal is exemplified by the milkmaids of

Sri Krsna's pastoral lila. Sri Caitanya opined that in the religious

history of the world, no better example of selfless divine love can be

found. Under scrutiny it becomes apparent that his point is well

reasoned.

 

While Sri Caitanya advocated this standard of love, his followers

respect all genuine forms of worship. To whatever extent God is present

in a particular sect or in the life of a practitioner, that sect and

person should be respected. Indeed, how could a lover of God think

otherwise?

 

Thus I believe that sectarian problems result more from a lack of real

acquaintance with God than from anything else.

 

Q. An astrologer told me that on certain days of the week I should

worship Surya, the sun god. What is the benefit of worshiping the sun

god?

 

A. Generally people worship Surya for good health. However, you should

be concerned not only with the health of your mortal frame but, more

so, with the health of your soul. Therefore you should worship not

merely the demigod Surya, but rather Surya-Narayana--the Supreme

Light--and you should do so every day of the week. Visvanatha

Cakravarti Thakura explains that the actual life and soul of all living

entities within this universe is the sun, and therefore the sun is

venerable, surya atma atmatvenopasyam. The idea is that we should see

the sun as representative of Narayana (God) and meditate on the sun as

a metaphor for God, who is the Supreme Light that dispels the darkness

of ignorance and nourishes the souls of all living beings.

 

Q. I read an article saying that NASA images from space showed that an

ancient bridge once existed between India and Sri Lanka. According to

one archeologist this bridge is 30 km long and could date back

1,750,000 years. Is this the bridge of Rama spoken of in the Hindu epic

Ramayana?

 

A. The bridge of Rama built by Hanuman and his associates will be

discovered by those courageous persons who choose to endeavor to

conquer the evil in their own heart through unmotivated service to

Godhead. This is a very different science than that of archeology.

Rama's bridge was built by his devotees, simple uneducated ones. They

built it to unite Rama with Sita, a by-product of which involved the

slaying of evil personified: Ravana. We should try to build a bridge

within our hearts, a bridge to Sita. That is where Sri Rama resides.

 

Q. What is the Gaudiya Vaisnava equivalent of the Christian concept of

the Holy Spirit?

 

A. Perhaps the closest parallel in Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the Christian

notion of the Holy Spirit is Sri Krsna's svarupa-sakti (internal

energy). This sakti empowers his devotees, enabling them to conduct

themselves in a state of grace, mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim

prakrtim asritah.

 

Q. In Srila Prabhupada's book Teachings of Lord Caitanya, it is said

that the twelve months of the Vaisnava calendar correspond to twelve

forms of Lord Visnu. There early October is known as the month of

Damodara, however the book says that this Damodara form is actually a

different manifestation than Krsna as a small child who has pastimes

with his Mother Yasoda. This confuses me. Can you explain?

 

A. In Vaikuntha there are many Visnu forms, one of which is named

Damodara. However, this four-armed form of God is different than Krsna,

who is known as "he whose belly is bound by rope (dama-udara)," in

remembrance of his lila in which his mother, Yasoda, tied her child up

with the rope of her affection. Although the Vaisnava calendar months

are named after twelve Visnu Deities, devotees of Krsna should remember

his form as a small child bound by his mother during the Damodara

month. They should also think of all Visnu forms as expansions of

Krsna.

 

Q. I understand that Krsna has many expansions. What is the position of

Laksmi devi, the eternal consort of Lord Visnu?

 

A. Sakti-tattva stems from Sri Radha and Visnu-tattva stems from Sri

Krsna. Thus all of the personalities appearing as Bhagavan and his

consorts are partial manifestations of Radha and Krsna. Laksmi is a

partial manifestation of Radha, just as Narayana is a partial

manifestation of Krsna. While Laksmi and Narayana are persons unto

themselves, at the same time they are not independent of their source,

Radha and Krsna.

 

Q. Srila Sridhara Maharaja wrote that a jiva could take the post of

Siva, but acaryas have written that Sadasiva is a direct expansion of

Visnu. Even Sanatana Goswami wrote that the second offense to the holy

name is to consider the names of Siva and Visnu to be different. So can

you explain how a jiva could take the post of Siva?

 

A. In the case you cited, Srila Sridhara Maharaja spoke of Siva in

terms of the word meaning "liberation." Thus the jiva can become siva

or liberated.

 

Otherwise, the "post" of Siva referred to by Sanatana Goswami and other

acaryas is not the position of Sadasiva, but rather a manifestation of

Siva in this world known as the Raudra expansions. Thakura Bhaktivinoda

explains this in his Kalyana-kalpa-taru thus, sivatva labhiya nara,

brahma-samya tadantara asa kore' sankaranugata: "If one attains the

post of Siva, the only thing left to be attained is the 'oneness' of

merging in the Brahman effulgence."

 

Q. If the jiva situated in the marginal plane makes a choice to turn to

God rather than choosing the material world, how is it decided which

area of the spiritual world he goes to?

 

A. The Lord's tatastha-sakti (marginal energy) is a partial

manifestation of his svarupa-sakti, which is the source of all saktis.

The jiva (individual soul) is a particle of tatastha-sakti. When the

jiva gets a capital investment from the svarupa-sakti, it enters into a

relationship with God that amounts to God manifesting his love

(svarupa-sakti) in the heart of the jiva. The choice of the jiva to

serve God and God's approach to him are simultaneous, ye yatha mam

prapadyante.

 

The nature of the relationship that follows is something that develops

of its own accord. One particular relationship with God is not better

than another in that all devotees serve in accordance with how God

chooses to accept their service. When the jiva is purified through

reaching out to God and the corresponding descent of God's grace, the

devotee's spiritual bias fully manifests and takes him or her to a

particular plane of love of God.

 

Q. The following verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam says that the Absolute

Truth is nondual knowledge/consciousness (advaya-jnana tattva). It also

tells us that the Absolute is threefold, namely Brahman, Paramatma, and

Bhagavan. Can you explain this in relation to the soul's identification

with Brahman?

 

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti

paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate

 

"Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this

nondual substance Brahman, Paramatma, or Bhagavan." (SB 1.2.11)

 

A. This important verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam is cited four times in

Caitanya-caritamrta. In his Bhagavata-sandarbha, our Gaudiya

tattvacarya, Sri Jiva Goswami, writes about it as follows:

 

"In the description of Srila Vyasa's perception in spiritual trance of

the Supreme (described in the Tattva-sandarbha), the individual living

entities are clearly described as different from the Supreme. For this

reason no one should claim that the jivas are identical with the

Supreme, and no one can artificially add the phrase jiva iti ca

sabdyate (and the Supreme is also known as jiva) to this verse of

Srimad-Bhagavatam."

 

Here Jiva Goswami explains that the jiva is not Brahman in all

respects. Rather it is a particle of God's energy (sakti), known as

tatastha, or marginal energy. Tatastha-sakti is characterized by its

ability to be influenced by its environment, thus it may come under the

influence of God's illusory energy (maya-sakti) and forget its

spiritual nature altogether.

 

Brahman, on the other hand, is always supremely independent and never

comes under the influence of illusion. This is confirmed in the first

verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The jiva is identified with Brahman only in

the sense that it is an eternal unit of consciousness. Bhaktivinoda

Thakura writes that when its covering of ignorance is removed, the jiva

can experience Brahma jnana and Brahmananda--knowledge of Brahman and

the joy of Brahman. Still, mere removal of the jiva's ignorance does

not reveal the whole identity of the jiva. After all, its ignorance is

a result of turning away from God and thus its enlightenment requires

turning toward God (bhakti). Thus Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told his

disciple Sanatana Goswami that the natural condition of the jiva, its

svarupa, is "Krsna dasa" and that service to Krsna is beyond even

Brahmajnana and Brahmananda.

 

This is discussed in the following Bhagavata verse:

 

bhayam dvitiyabhinivesatah syad isad apetasya viparyayo 'smrtih/

tan-mayayato budha abhajet tam bhaktyaikayesam guru-devatatma//

 

"Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material

body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the

Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he

also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord.

This bewildering, fearful condition is effected by the potency of

illusion, called maya. Therefore, an intelligent person should engage

unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under

the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as

his worshipful deity and as his very life and soul." (SB 11.2.37)

 

A practical example of the relationship between Bhagavan Sri Krsna and

his sakti is the relationship between fire and heat. Fire and heat are

one and different at the same time, heat being the energy, or sakti, of

fire. Similarly, this is the nature of God/Krsna/nondual consciousness,

who expresses himself in three phases: Brahman, Paramatma, and

Bhagavan. Krsna is one and different from everything that exists (his

saktis)--material nature, the living entities, and the demigods and

goddesses.

 

Svetasvatara Upanisad confirms this, parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate

svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca: God acts by manifesting his unlimited,

variegated energies. Bhagavad-gita puts it like this: "Everything rests

upon Krsna, as pearls are strung on a thread."

 

 

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sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org Sunday, January, 7, 2007, Vol. IX, No. 1

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