Stages and Varieties of Faith - Part 2

[Gauracandra]

Continuing with excerpts from Sri Caitanya-siksamrta published in 1886 by Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinode Thakura

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According to his condition man attempts to please the Lord for four reasons:

1) Bhaya - out of fear

2) Asa - for satisfying material aspirations

3) Kartavya-buddhi - out of a sense of duty

4) Raga - out of genuine attraction to the Lord.

 

Persons who worship the Lord out of stimulation of fear, bhaya, include those who are afraid of hell, poverty, pain, and death. Persons who worship the Lord to satisfy their material aspirations, asa, worship and pray with great intensity for material happiness and for the gain of greater material advancement. There is so much pure joy in the process of isvara-sadhana, worship of the Lord, that although beginning their worship out of motivations of fear or desiring material aspirations, many eventually give up such motivated worship and become attached to suddha-bhajana, pure worship of the Lord. Then there are those who have begun to worship the Lord with feelings of gratitude arisen from conceiving of Him as God the creator. Their mode of worship is known as kartavya-buddhi. Although not impelled by bhaya, asa or kartavya-buddhi, those who approach the Lord with natural affection begin to worship Him in raga. Simply by seeing a particular object, one's heart instinctively runs after it without any consideration. One in whose heart attraction spontaneously arises as soon as he thinks of the Lord is worshipping according to raga. Those who take to worship of the Lord out of bhaya, asa, or kartavya-buddhi are not on such a pure level. Those who worship the Lord according to raga are real worshippers.

 

The living entity and the Lord have a deep relationship. When raga appears, this relationship becomes visible. The relationship is eternal, no doubt, but for the materially bound-up jiva (soul) it remains hidden. Given the right opportunity, it apears. Just as fire appears when you strike a match or a flint, by sadhana, practice, this relationship makes its appearance.

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Gauracandra

[Sarva gattah]

Very nice, also Bhakti is the last stage of realization that that only bring peace to the living entity via simple service. The jnani's cannot understand that such service or Bhakti is the only way to achieve the lotus feet of Krishna. One must somehow learn to serve the servants of the devotees of Krishna - there is no other way

[bhaktajan]

Bg 13.5

"That knowledge of the field of activities and of the knower of activities is described by various sages in various Vedic writings. It is especially presented in Vedänta-sütra with all reasoning as to cause and effect."

 

 

 

PURPORT

 

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kåñëa, is the highest authority in explaining this knowledge. Still, as a matter of course, learned scholars and standard authorities always give evidence from previous authorities. Kåñëa is explaining this most controversial point regarding the duality and nonduality of the soul and the Supersoul by referring to a scripture, the Vedänta, which is accepted as authority.

First He says, “This is according to different sages.” As far as the sages are concerned, besides Himself, Vyäsadeva (the author of the Vedänta-sütra) is a great sage, and in the Vedänta-sütra duality is perfectly explained.

And Vyäsadeva’s father, Paräçara, is also a great sage, and he writes in his books of religiosity, aham tvaà ca tathänye. .. “we—you, I and the various other living entities—are all transcendental, although in material bodies. Now we are fallen into the ways of the three modes of material nature according to our different karma. As such, some are on higher levels, and some are in the lower nature. The higher and lower natures exist due to ignorance and are being manifested in an infinite number of living entities. But the Supersoul, which is infallible, is uncontaminated by the three qualities of nature and is transcendental.”

Similarly, in the original Vedas, a distinction between the soul, the Supersoul and the body is made, especially in the Kaöha Upaniñad. There are many great sages who have explained this, and Paräçara is considered principal among them.

. . . The Taittiréya Upaniñad, for example, which is a branch of the Yajur Veda, describes nature, the living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

As stated before, kñetra is the field of activities, and there are two kinds of kñetra-jïa: the individual living entity and the supreme living entity.

As stated in the Taittiréya Upaniñad (2.9), brahma pucchaà pratiñöhä.

There is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord’s energy known as:

1) anna-maya, dependence upon food for existence. This is a materialistic realization of the Supreme. Then, in

2) präëa-maya, after realizing the Supreme Absolute Truth in food, one can realize the Absolute Truth in the living symptoms or life forms.

3) In jïäna-maya, realization extends beyond the living symptoms to the point of thinking, feeling and willing.

4) Then there is Brahman realization, called vijïäna-maya, in which the living entity’s mind and life symptoms are distinguished from the living entity himself. The next and supreme stage is

5) änanda-maya, realization of the all-blissful nature.

Thus there are five stages of Brahman realization, which are called brahma puccham.

Out of these, the first three—anna-maya, präëa-maya and jïäna-maya—involve the fields of activities of the living entities.

Transcendental to all these fields of activities is the Supreme Lord, who is called änanda-maya.

The Vedänta-sütra also describes the Supreme by saying, änanda-mayo ’bhyäsät: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is by nature full of joy. To enjoy His transcendental bliss, He expands into vijïäna-maya, präëa-maya, jïäna-maya and anna-maya.

In the field of activities the living entity is considered to be the enjoyer, and different from him is the änanda-maya. That means that if the living entity decides to enjoy in dovetailing himself with the änanda-maya, then he becomes perfect. This is the real picture of the Supreme Lord as the supreme knower of the field, the living entity as the subordinate knower, and the nature of the field of activities.

One has to search for this truth in the Vedänta-sütra, or Brahma-sütra.

It is mentioned here that the codes of the Brahma-sütra are very nicely arranged according to cause and effect.

Some of the sütras, or aphorisms, are na viyad açruteù (2.3.2), nätmä çruteù (2.3.18), and parät tu tac-chruteù (2.3.40).

The first aphorism indicates the field of activities, the second indicates the living entity, and the third indicates the Supreme Lord, the summum bonum among all the manifestations of various entities.

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Ys,

Bhaktajan