When we may reject the regs.

[Bhakta Devarsi]

 

BG 2.52

 

 

 

yada te moha-kalilam

buddhir vyatitarisyati

tada gantasi nirvedam

srotavyasya srutasya ca

 

Translation

 

 

When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.

 

PURPORT

There are many good examples in the lives of the great devotees of the Lord of those who became indifferent to the rituals of the Vedas simply by devotional service to the Lord. When a person factually understands Krsna and his relationship with Krsna, he naturally becomes completely indifferent to the rituals of fruitive activities, even though an experienced brahmana. Sri Madhavendra Puri, a great devotee and acarya in the line of the devotees, says:

sandhya-vandana bhadram astu bhavato bhoh snana tubhyam namo

bho devah pitaras ca tarpana-vidhau naham ksamah ksamyatam

yatra kvapi nisadya yadava-kulottamasya kamsa-dvisah

smaram smaram agham harami tad alam manye kim anyena me.

"O Lord, in my prayers three times a day, all glory to You. Bathing, I offer my obeisances unto You. O demigods! O forefathers! Please excuse me for my inability to offer you my respects. Now wherever I sit, I can remember the great descendant of the Yadu dynasty [Krsna], the enemy of Kamsa, and thereby I can free myself from all sinful bondage. I think this is sufficient for me." The Vedic rites and rituals are imperative for neophytes: comprehending all kinds of prayer three times a day, taking a bath early in the morning, offering respects to the forefathers, etc. But, when one is fully in Krsna consciousness and is engaged in His transcendental loving service, one becomes indifferent to all these regulative principles because he has already attained perfection. If one can reach the platform of understanding by service to the Supreme Lord Krsna, he has no longer to execute different types of penances and sacrifices as recommended in revealed scriptures. And, similarly, if one has not understood that the purpose of the Vedas is to reach Krsna and simply engages in the rituals, etc., then he is uselessly wasting time in such engagements. Persons in Krsna consciousness transcend the limit of sabda-brahma, or the range of the Vedas and Upanisads.

 

 

The key word being the word When. The speaker, the spiritual master, is asserting that this is a prescription to the Currently diseased disciple, and it will have effect When?, in the future. Only then shall one become indifferent to all mundanity and able to transcend the rules and regs.

 

So we see in the purport, Srila Prabhupada offers us a prayer from a devotee who is ALREADY THERE AT THE GOAL, and gives us other indications of the symptoms displayed by someone who is ALREADY AT THE GOAL. He does this for encouragement and to whet our palate.

 

Next he begins giving the instruction to the beginner, us, on what we need to do to make the When into a Now.

 

"The Vedic rites and rituals are imperative for neophytes: comprehending all kinds of prayer three times a day, taking a bath early in the morning, offering respects to the forefathers, etc."

 

Imperative until the day we become indifferent to them. And what are the symptoms that one has become qualified to just become indifferent to the rites and rituals (rules and regs of vaidhi sadhana bhakti)?

 

"when one is fully in Krsna consciousness and is engaged in His transcendental loving service, one becomes indifferent to all these regulative principles." And he adds, this person has "Already attained perfection."

 

Fully Krsna Conscious. Already PERFECT. In loving service. Loving. Love of Krsna is required to serve him with love. The goal is love of Krsna. So only one who has reached the goal can ever become indifferent to the rules and regs, what to mention begin to interpret them to neophytes.

 

"If one can reach the platform of understanding by service to the Supreme Lord Krsna, he has no longer to execute different types of penances and sacrifices as recommended in revealed scriptures."

 

Here I would like to see some input from others.

 

Are penances and sacrifices as per scripture considered under the rites and rituals?

 

Because all he indicates here as requirement to give these up is reaching something he calls the platform of understanding. And that one gets to this understanding by service to the Supreme Lord Krsna.

 

The level of service in this case is open to broad interpretation if you equate his use of the phrase "service to the Supreme Lord Krsna" with his different aspect of the Siksa Guru, but if Oneness is invoked here, then direct service to Lord Krsna sounds like service in Dwarka to me with face time.

 

Next he mentions understanding again,

 

"And, similarly, if one has not understood that the purpose of the Vedas is to reach Krsna and simply engages in the rituals, etc., then he is uselessly wasting time in such engagements."

 

Here equating it with simply having some conceptual impression that the goal of one's practicing rules and regs is to "reach Krsna".

 

I would say that most neophytes engage in the rather austere and unusual cultural activities of the Iskcon movement because they have some understanding they are trying to get some further awareness of who Krsna is, who he is to them, who they might be to him.

 

But taken as it is, to "REACH KRSNA" sounds pretty personal in the oneness category.

 

So each person has some mental concept of who Krsna is. As long as there is some factual substance to that persons understanding, even if it is very immature and crude, truth is the truth.

 

And the platform of understanding is only reached by service to the Supreme Lord Krsna.

 

So the question is, under what circumstances does a neophyte who has barely begun to engage in rules and regs, suddenly get perfection, and can shun the rituals?

 

How often does that occur. Contrast that with how many neophytes seem to need the rituals for a while.

 

So, lets see, counting in my mind, doing the math.....

 

I would say a million to one.

 

So it seems like this would be evidence that Srila Prabhupada is speaking of the highest degree of qualification, and using the Name of Krsna to specifically represent his Personal Form in its highest glory, service to him personally in a loving relationship.

 

And we know from the CC Adi lila 4 21-22 purport.

 

 

Flawless execution of regulative principles is exhibited in the Vaikuntha planets. By strictly executing these principles one can be elevated to the Vaikuntha planets. But spontaneous pure loving service is found in Krsnaloka alone.

 

Of course if these rules and rituals are so valuable that they can bring us into a loving relationship with the Lord as Sri Naryana in his personal service, I would consider that the rules as a group be carefully categorized and kept whole, kept sacred, and actual enacting them in our lives a goal as high above our head as the moon is above mine when I look at the night sky.

 

Hare Krsna