Real Religion is not Man-made

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Krsna Talk 61

 

Real Religion is not Man-made

by

Swami B.G. Narasingha

 

 

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During a recent visit to Europe I had some informal

discussions about religious conceptions with other

Gaudiya Vaisnavas and I was surprised to hear some

devotees speak about such groups as the Sufis,

Whirling Dervishes, Jews, Christians, Catholics,

Orthodox Christians and Muslims as being deeply

'surrendered' souls. Of course, generally speaking

this may be true - but surrendered to what? I would

like to point out in this article that sraddha

[faith], saranagati [surrender] and seva [service] are

spiritual substances and activities that are only

transcendental when in direct connection to Krsna and

that the popular religions of today's world are but

the continuation of a Vedic heresy that began long,

long ago in ancient times.

 

The first point is that dharma [real religion] is

given by God himself - dharman tu saksat bhagavat

pranitam. Real religion is not man-made. Dharma is the

knowledge and activities of the intrinsic relationship

that exists between Krsna and all living entities

eternally. This is sometimes called sanatana-dharma,

eternal religious principles. In a word

sanatana-dharma has been summed up as seva, or the

living entities relationship of service to the Supreme

Being. Therefore, so-called service to various deities

or to icons that are conjured by man can never be

considered seva in the true sense of the word.

 

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura once commented on

the situation of spirituality in India that, " At

present many false meanings have been imported into

the word devotion. Regard for one's parents, loyalty

to man, obedience to the teacher, etc, pass as

bhakti. " (Sarasvati Thakura, lecture, Vrndavana 1928)

 

In a similar way one can say about western

spirituality that all sorts of misconceptions and

innovations have also been passed off as spiritual

practices, devotion, service, love of God, etc, when

in fact they are not.

 

In Sanskrit the root word bhaj means to serve.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura has pointed out by quoting the

Garuda Purana in Bhakti-Tattva-Viveka, Ch.1 as

follows:

 

" The word bhakti is derived from the root verb form

bhaj. It is said in the Garuda Purana (Purva-khanda

231.3)

 

bhaj ityesa vai dhatuh

sevayam parikirtitah

tasmat seva budhaih prokta

bhaktih sadhana-bhuyasi

 

" The verbal root bhaj means to render service.

Therefore, thoughtful sadhakas should engage in the

service of Sri Krsna with great endeavor, for it is

only by such service that bhakti is born. "

 

The basis of dharma is rooted in transcendental

knowledge of the soul [atma], the Supersoul

[Paramatma] and the Personality of Godhead [bhagavan].

In reality no such knowledge of the soul, the

Supersoul or the Personality of Godhead exists in the

world's popular mundane religions. Therefore,

intelligent human beings do not accept the popular

mundane religions as transcendental.

 

Referring to the scriptures of the world's religions

in the west, Sarasvati Thakura commented as follows:

 

" Senselessly killing living beings simply for the

purpose of pleasure is fundamental to all these

religions. Unlike the transcendental words of the

Vedas, none of these paths are eternal. Therefore, one

who deliberates upon these scriptures will naturally

develop doubt about them since they lack a solid

foundation. " (Sarasvati Thakura, purport, Cc. Adi

17.169)

 

Additionally, sraddha and saranagati [faith and

surrender] presuppose seva. First surrender, then

serve: tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya.

This surrender means far more than one's strict

obedience to a master or teacher of a particular

technique or thought. Surrender means, complete

obedience to the will of Krsna and not to that of

anything else. First surrender [pranipatena] then

serving mood [sevaya] manifests. And to surrender one

must have faith, sraddha.

 

If one believes in a particular conception or

philosophy that is not a bona-fide siddhanta, or an

axiomatic truth regarding the Absolute Truth, then

according to sastra [laws and by-laws of dharma] such

so-called belief is only a temporary state of mind

fabricated under the modes of material nature. Such a

mental belief system is not to be confused with

sraddha.

 

Real sraddha is not a state of mind influenced by the

modes of nature. Sraddha is an influence over the

heart that confirms to the living entity the path of

devotional service, krsna-bhakti. Bhaktivinoda Thakura

has written the following in this regard in his

Mahaprabhur Siksa, ch 10.

 

The definition of sraddha is this:

 

sraddhah sabde visvasa kahe sudrdha niscaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva karma krta haya

 

" By performing transcendental loving service to Krsna,

one automatically performs all secondary activities.

This confident, firm faith, that is favorable to the

execution of devotional service is known as sraddha. "

(Cc. Madhya 22.62)

 

To have firm conviction that devotion to Krsna is the

only means for the living entity, and that performance

of karma and jnana devoid of bhakti are useless. Such

a favorable inclination of the heart is called

sraddha.

 

Sraddha is a purely spiritual illumination that

emanates from the internal energy of Godhead, the

hladini-sakti, Sraddha-devi. This energy as it is,

knows no Lord and master other than Krsna and

therefore sraddha does not come to the living entities

to reveal any lesser gods or masters. As Srila

Sridhara Maharaja has said, " Sraddha is the halo of

Srimati Radharani and saranagati is the halo of

Krsna. "

 

Sraddha reveals Krsna [Visnu] and no other. However,

if one finds oneself following or appreciating

man-made religions, such as those of the Abrahamic

tradition, then this is due to one's own misfortune

and karma and not due to the guiding revelations of

sraddha.

 

In brief, sraddha has been described by some of

Gaudiya Vaisnava's greatest acaryas as the halo of

Srimati Radharani and the firm conviction that by

serving Krsna all other purposes will be served.

 

The numerous so-called religions of the world that

exist outside the Vedic system are not transcendental

because they have no real connection to the Absolute

Truth. Over time the proponents of these major world

religions have done much harm to the world and

deceived a multitude of people by engaging them in

impious activities and all in the name of 'good

faith.'

 

If one deeply studies western theology and the history

of religion one will discover that all contemporary

religious thought has originated from the time of the

Rg-Vedic civilization. These religious thoughts

however did not come to the world as wholesome

theology but rather as a Vedic heresy. The first

heresy of this kind was Zoroastrianism that gained a

following in the western frontiers of the Rg-Vedic

civilization, namely in Iran, before the Rg-Veda was

written.

 

Zoroaster the founder of Zoroastrianism preached a

doctrine of monotheism but he did not accept the

monotheistic God [Visnu] of the Vedas. Zoroaster

instead put forward the worship of the Asuras [demons]

and proposed Ahura [Asura] Mazda as the Supreme Deity.

Zoroaster also created other anti-Vedic conceptions to

embellish his new religion and Bhaktivinoda Thakura

explains them in Tattva-viveka:

 

" Zarathustra [Zoroaster] is a very ancient

philosopher. When his philosophy found no honor in

India, Zarathustra preached in Iran. It was by the

influence of Zarathustra's ideas that Satan, an

equally powerful rival to God, made his imaginary

appearance first in the religion of the Jews and then

in the religion based on the Koran. Then, influenced

by Zarathustra's idea of two Gods, the idea of three

gods, or a 'Trinity' made its appearance in the

religion [Christianity] that had come from the Jewish

religion.

 

" At first, three separate gods were concocted in the

philosophy of Trinity. Later, learned scholars were no

longer satisfied with this, so they made a compromise

stating that these three concocted gods were God, the

Holy Ghost, and Christ. " (Bhaktivinoda Thakura,

Tattva-viveka 1/21)

 

Several thousand years after Zoroaster, in

approximately 500 BCE, the Persian Empire brought the

Zoroastrian ideas of monotheism to Judea. In Judea the

Jews abandoned their many pagan deities and adopted

the idea of one God whom they called Yaweh, the tribal

god of the Mountains or the god of Abraham. The idea

that there is one Supreme God took hold in Judea but,

as with the followers of Zoroastar, who the Supreme

God was eluded them.

 

Prior to that time all Mediterranean cultures of the

ancient world had been pagan in their beliefs. From

monotheism, first being introduced into Judaism by the

Persians, later Christianity developed and then Islam

developed along those lines. But in no case was the

nature, characteristics and personality of Godhead

clearly known.

 

In some circles of western Vaisnavas, ideas abound

about personalities such as Jesus Christ being an

incarnation of Lord Brahma, Lord Balarama or even

Srila Prabhupada being an incarnation of Jesus. These

ideas have no sastric basis and devotees should be

cautious about accepting ideas and conclusions that

are contrary to the opinions of previous acaryas.

 

Thus, all the so-called religions west of the Indus

River can rightfully be called a heresy, of a heresy,

of a heresy of the Vedic religion. This continuous

unfolding of man, adding to and subtracting from real

religion, is a process that continues to the present

day in the name of the Protestant Church and New Age

Religions. Unfortunately, none of these said heresies

represent the Supreme Godhead, or do anything except

deceive the living entities about the ultimate goal of

life.