Conqueror of All Quarters

October 25, 2009

Krsna Talk 94 - Conqueror of All Quarters

By

Rupanuga Dasa Brahmacari

Since time immemorial, the world has seen and has gone through many ideas and

conceptions pertaining to mankind and it's ideologies. There have been a number

of political systems in place like monarchy, socialism, democracy, communism,

fascism and many other 'isms' have evolved. The world has even seen great

reformers, thinkers, philosophers, religionists and revolutionaries who have

tried to change the world with their own ideas and theories.

Of course, some of the reformers have been able to expel certain unacceptable

practices in society, and some great thinkers and philosophers have triggered

positive ideas and thesis amongst the people. Some revolutionaries have

definitely upstaged many systems and beliefs in the society.

Hence, a few distinguished people have tried, but have had very little impact

or success in bringing peace, stability, sense or prosperity into this world.

Still, we are living in a world that is in chaos, which was in chaos and which

will be in chaos for a very long time to come. The fundamental aspects or

drawbacks of this material world have persisted along with mankind and its

advancing civilization. Nothing much has changed in a world that has seen wars,

famines, natural catastrophes, poverty and social discrimination for ages.

Does the world need more failed ideas, political systems and leaders or is

there something that is beyond material comprehension? What the world needs to

know is that mankind is in very urgent need of a new outlook on life that the

material and intellectual advancement of modern times has repeatedly failed to

provide. The real necessity is a purely religious movement of God consciousness.

The Absolute Truth can be known, and indeed must be known, if we are to solve

all the problems of material existence. Yet the truth cannot be known by mental

speculation or any other human endeavor. Mundane systems or leaders may create

certain short-term happiness and hope in the world, but they certainly cannot

diminish anybody's material bondage. No matter how good a material system is or

how great a leader is, they cannot deliver any one from birth, death, old age

and disease.

Disparity in human society is due to lack of principles in a godless

civilization. There is God, or the Almighty One, from whom everything emanates,

by whom everything is maintained and in whom everything is merged to rest.

Material science has tried to find the ultimate source of creation most

insufficiently, but it is a fact that there is one ultimate source of everything

that is. This ultimate source is explained rationally and authoritatively in the

beautiful Srimad Bhagavatam. The very first verse speaks of Krsna as the cause

of all causes. He is the primal cause, and He is the very form of eternal being,

knowledge and bliss.

janmady asya yato 'nvayad itaratas carthesv abhijnah svarat

tene brahma hrda ya adi-kavaye muhyanti yat surayah

tejo-vari-mrdam yatha vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mrsa

dhamna svena sada nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dhimahi

" O my Lord, Sri Krsna, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead,

I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Sri Krsna

because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the

creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly

and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because

there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic

knowledge unto the heart of Brahma, the original living being. By Him even the

great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the

illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only

because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the

reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are

unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Sri Krsna, who is eternally existent

in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory

representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the

Absolute Truth. "

The world goes on in its own perfect way. The world stands in no need of any

reformer. It has a very capable and a complete person for guiding its minutest

happenings. The person who determines that there is scope for reform of the

world, himself stands in need of reform.

No person can deflect the direction of the world even a hairs breadth from the

course chalked out for it by providence. When we perceive any change being

actually effected in the course of events of this world by the agency of any

particular individual, we must know very well that the agent possesses no real

power at any stage. The agent finds himself driven forward by a force belonging

to a different category from him. The course of the world does not require that

it be changed by the agency of any person.

All material political regimes under the name of many hundreds of 'isms' are

simply mental concoctions or speculations of a certain class of people

adulterated with materialism. The British writer, Ernest Benn once said,

" Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or

not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy. " The whole

material conception of politics, sociology, philanthropy, altruism etc,

conceived by the conditioned souls is done so on the basis of this misconceived

'I' and 'mine', which are products of the strong desire to enjoy material life.

Identification with the body and the place where the body is obtained under

different conceptions of socialism, nationalism, family affection, and so on and

so forth is all due to forgetfulness of the real nature of the living entity.

The divine nature of the living entity is spiritual and is completely free from

all the concoctions and speculations of any material political system or belief.

Great philosophers of India such as Sri Sankaracarya and Buddha renounced this

material world to practice the means of attaining nirvana or the ultimate

annihilation of all distress. Buddha preached the cult of non-violence. Sri

Sankaracarya preached that this material world is non-reality and the spirit

soul is the Supreme Truth. He stressed renunciation and culture of knowledge as

the means to attain the highest stage of realization. Neither of them however

preached that a material plan, under the guidance of modern scientific and

experimental thought, could bring real happiness to a human being. Both of them

preached different patterns of ultimate voidness and stressed renunciation. In

other words, both of them only stressed the uselessness of the material world.

Yet neither of them gave any positive information of the life in eternity.

On the other hand, Western philosophy and philosophers most definitely failed

in their attempts to give any genuine knowledge of our purpose of existence and

our relation and role in this creation. However, some philosophers of the west

were able to understand and propagate some meaningful theories about evolution

of consciousness, theism and some below par knowledge on creation, sustenance

and assimilation of this material world, But yet again, in the end, these

philosophers and their philosophies only influenced a certain type of people and

may have provoked some sort of change in the mindset of the people during their

time period - but certainly their influence did not pervade the entire world as

we do not find their philosophies being followed everywhere today.

Nowadays it is not so much the reformers and philosophers, but the

pseudo-religionists that are to be seen everywhere. These fake religionists are

there only for the sake of name and fame and easily mislead people. They have

neither knowledge nor detachment from material affairs, for most of them want to

live with the golden shackles of material bondage under the shadow of

philanthropic activities disguised as religious principles. By a false display

of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional service while

indulging in all sorts of immoral activities.

In this way, they place themselves as great spiritual leaders with many

adherents blindly following these bogus leaders, Such worshippers ultimately

follow the pseudo-religionists towards the most obnoxious place in the universe

after the completion of their 'spiritual master business'.

asurya nama te loka andhena tamasavrtah

tams te pretyabhigacchanti ye ke catma-hano janah

" Such killers of the soul, whoever they may be, must go after death to the

world of the demonic which is full of dense darkness. " (Sri Isopanisad, mantra

3)

We find that these so-called gurus are more interested in doing social welfare

activities such as opening hospitals, distribution of food, shelter and clothing

and many programs for uplifting the poor. Such programs have become the most

integral and fashionable part of every spiritual institution and leader because

these acts immediately catch everyone's attention and bring admiration. Such men

are generally atheists, devoid of any true spiritual knowledge.

Without any doubt, these acts are appreciable in today's society, but they are

not the ultimate solution to the condition of humanity. Simply pouring water on

the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves of a tree is not the way to help it grow -

rather it needs to be nourished from the root level and automatically every part

of the tree will be energized.

Charity can be utilized as the initial way of bringing people's attention to

the realization of their existence in this material world and showing them the

real path of spiritual progression for one's ultimate benefit. But just mere

welfare activities should not be the ultimate objective of any individual or

institution. These kinds of welfare activities have been going on in this world

since time immemorial - but has the situation changed?

Poverty, social discrimination, disease, lack of education and many social

barriers still exist in our society. Hence, one should properly understand how

the laws of nature in this material world work before venturing out for any

social service of any kind.

What is necessary for this material world? The prime necessity is to change our

outlook on this temporary world. The greatest example was shown for the

contemporary generation by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Precisely 523 years ago Sri

Caitanya appeared in this world as the personal manifestation of the Absolute

Truth. He is known as the yuga-avatara - the incarnation of the modern age. Many

scholars and historians may see Mahaprabhu as a great social reformer,

philosopher and a religious leader and this is certainly true. Yet He was widely

regarded as the most magnanimous of all spiritual teachers of mankind. He was

the true conqueror of all quarters of humanity. Every true reformer, every

great religious leader and even God Himself comes to this world in order to

reclaim the conditioned souls back to the kingdom of God. That is the real idea

of any genuine reformer, philosopher, religionist or anybody who is willing to

make a difference in this world.

Mahaprabhu gave us the ultimate knowledge of understanding God, understanding

our relationship with Him and taught us the activities that nurture that

relationship. Real knowledge promotes that we are not this body, we are the

soul. Real knowledge shows us that the soul is within the body and explains the

nature of the soul, the necessity of the soul and the goal of soul.

Mahaprabhu and His followers taught us about real humanitarian work and social

reform. Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted everyone in His sankirtana movement. He

didn't differentiate between higher and lower castes, rich or poor, or learned

and illiterate. The teachings of Mahaprabhu give the clear connecting line

between the mentality of modern day social reformers, philanthropists and

philosophers, and the ultimate message of transcendence. The method detailed by

Mahaprabhu Sri Krsna Caitanya is categorically different from the method that is

presently followed as the study of religion in the east, as well as the west.

The futility and inapplicability of the inductive method to the study of

transcendence are self-evident.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's welfare activities were concerned to take the people

'Back to Godhead' by the simple devotional activity of sankirtana. His method of

welfare work is not only simple, but also applicable universally. Sri Damodara

Svarupa Gosvami rightly appreciated the welfare activities of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu as:

heloddhulita-khedaya visadaya pronmilad-amodaya

samyac-chastra-vivadaya rasadaya cittarpitonmadaya

sasvad-bhakti-vinodaya sa-madaya madhurya-maryadaya

sri-caitanya daya-nidhe tava daya bhuyad amandodaya

" Oh my Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the ocean of mercy! Let it be so that my

heart may give rise to such non-corrosive welfare activities which are freed

from all varieties of diffidence, which are completely pure and stainless, which

are full of transcendental bliss, which stop all varieties of arguments of the

revealed scriptures which turn the heart into intense madness, which make the

devotional activities favourably pleasing and which bring in the real sweetness

of happiness. "

That is the picture of the welfare activities of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

People may misunderstand Him because He did not open any hospital, because he

did not canvass for the undertakers or because he did not labor for any

so-called social welfare work. But in fact what He did includes and surpasses

all varieties of social, political, humanitarian, altruistic, moral and

spiritual work.

So far as social work is concerned, He gave everyone an equal chance to rise to

the highest order of life. Sri Haridasa Thakura was born in the family of a

Mohammedan but Lord Sri Caitanya gave him the highest position of a brahmana and

he was declared as the acarya of the transcendental Holy Name. He delivered

Jagai and Madhai from the most fallen position and He turned Sarvabauma

Bhattacarya and Prakasananda Sarasvati, the two great stalwarts of the Mayavada

cult, into Vaishnavas. He engaged the services of Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis in

the culture of devotional science from their political activities as ministers

of Nawab Hussain Shah. Therefore, He gave equal opportunities to all classes of

people - politicians, scholars, the fallen, non-Hindus, atheists, the women,

children, the cats and dogs, the beasts of the jungle etc. That is the universal

application of the common cult and the standard of real welfare work.

He organized thousands of men armed with mrdangas and karatalas, when the Kazi

of Navadvipa banned the sankirtana movement on the streets of Navadvipa. He was

the pioneer of the first non-cooperation movement that finally resulted in the

Kazi giving himself unto the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu.

Thus, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to turn everybody into mahatmas, even from

the lowest position of mankind, by constant engagement in the chanting process

of the transcendental name, fame and qualities of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna.

The Lord was so liberal that by His mercy nobody was incompetent to adopt this

transcendental process. Every human being who is articulate can adopt this

principle of chanting and by gradual purification by this transcendental

chanting process, one can rise up to the highest platform of perfection.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wished to divert the different misplaced channels of

love into their original form, making use of this human form of life which is

most rare to achieve. We therefore request all people in general - religionists,

modern philosophers and all other enlightened men and women to take advantage of

this opportunity and try to attain the ultimate perfection of life.

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-- At the present moment our minds are polluted with the dirt accumulated over millions and millions of lifetimes of sense gratification. Even though our original pure nature is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss, due to our mental contamination we are presently suffering in the realm of temporality, ignorance, and misery. By the purificatory process of chanting the holy names of God we can revive our original, pure nature and thus relish the sweetest happiness at every minute.

Chant:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare