Bhakti is for the less Intelligent

[Guest guest]

One of the prejudices I find quite amusing among the mayavadi school

of thought is the idea that bhakti is for less intelligent people,

people "whose heart is more developed that their brains" as one

Advaitin swami put it. In light of this, some of Lord Caitanya's

pastimes seem relevant.

 

These story are told in the introduction to the Bhagavatam, first

Canto, translated by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila

Prabhupada.

--------------------------------

 

When the Lord traveled to Puri, He agreed to take lessons on Vedanta

from the learned Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, the chief pandit of the

King of Orissa and a follower of the Sankara (mayavadi) school of

thought. While sitting together in the temple of Jaganath Puri, the

Lord heard the Bhattacarya's lessons for seven days continuously

without interrupting. The Lord posed Himself as a foolish student,

but at the end of the lecture He revealed that He already was

learned in the scriptures. He said that although He understood their

meaning, it was very difficult to follow the explanations of someone

who was giving an interpretation contrary to the actual meaning. The

meaning of the Vedanta-sutra was already clear, and no

interpretation was necessary. In this way, the Lord criticized those

who refused to take the direct meaning of the Vedanta-sutra but

simply gave their own interpretations. To give one's own

interpretation on the Vedic literature is to imply that one is a

greater scholar than Srila Vyasadeva; this is simply foolish. The

Lord then proceeded to smash every single point the Bhattacarya

brought up. The Bhattacarya was struck with wonder at the Lord's

scholarship, and he asked Him to give an explanation of the atmarama

sloka in the Bhagavatam (1.7.10). The Lord first asked the

Bhattacarya to explain it, which he did in nine different ways. The

Lord heard each explanation and proceeded to explain the sloka in 64

different ways. After hearing Lord Caitanya's explanation, the

Bhattacarya, who was the most renowned scholar of logic at the time,

completely lost interest in the mayavadi philosophy and fell down at

the Lord's lotus feet. He composed almost 100 slokas praising Lord

Caitanya, and thanking Him for teaching devotional service to the

fallen souls.

 

----

 

Once, when Lord Caitanya was travelling from Vrindavana, He passed

through the city of Varanasi. Everywhere the Lord went, He was

always chanting the holy names of Krishna and urging others to take

part in the sankirtan (congregational chanting and dancing to the

holy name). Varanasi was no exception.

 

At this time, however, Varanasi was dominated by scholars of the

mayavadi line of thought. These scholars were led by a sannyasi

named Sripada Prakasananda Sarasvati. When Lord Caitanya came

through the city with His travelling sankirtan, many of

Prakasananda's disciples, attracted by the transcendental sound of

the holy name, joined Him.

 

When Prakasananda Sarasvati received the report that his disciples

were abandoning him for the sankirtan, he began to deprecate the

activities of the sankirtan, saying that the students should instead

read Vedanta-sutra. One brahmana who later became a Vaishnava did

not like this criticism of sankirtan movement. He immediately went

to Lord Caitanya and gave Him this news.

 

The brahmana told Maha-Prabhu that when he mentioned His name to

Prakasananda, the latter was for some reason was unable to utter the

holy name of Krishna. Lord Caitanya simply smiled and explained to

the brahmana that the holy names of Krishna, along with His

qualities, forms, and pastimes are nondifferent from Krishna

Himself. He explained, "The Mayavadis are offenders at the lotus

feet of Krishna, although they utter always brahma, atma, or

caitanya, etc. And because they are offenders at the lotus feet of

Krishna, they are actually unable to utter the holy name of Krishna"

 

Lord Caitanya further explained that the transcendental pastimes of

Sri Krishna are a greater source of bliss than that of impersonal

Brahman realization. This was why the mayavadis of Varanasi had so

quickly taken to the sankirtan movement.

 

After this, a meeting was arranged between Lord Caitanya and

Prakasananda, in which the latter asked why the Lord was indulging

in sankirtan. The duty of a sannyasi, according to Prakasananda, was

to simply read the Vedanta-sutra. Lord Caitanya replied that He had

taken to sankirtan because He was a great fool, and that the holy

name of Krishna gave Him great pleasure. He said that His spiritual

master had directed Him to simply chant the holy names rather than

playing with Vedanta philosophy.

 

"So on the order of My spiritual master, I chant the holy name of

Hari, and I am now mad after this holy name. Whenever I utter the

holy name I forget Myself completely, and sometimes I laugh, cry and

dance like a madman. I thought that I had actually gone mad by this

process of chanting, and therefore I asked My spiritual master about

it. He informed Me that this was the real effect of chanting the

holy name, which produces a transcendental emotion that is a rare

manifestation. It is the sign of love of God, which is the ultimate

end of life. Love of God is transcendental to liberation [mukti],

and thus it is called the fifth stage of spiritual realization,

above the stage of liberation. By chanting the holy name of Krishna

one attains the stage of love of God, and it was good that

fortunately I was favored witht he blessing."

 

Of course, Praksananda knew that the Lord was actually a very

learned scholar. He therefore asked whether it was okay to study

Vedanta and chant the holy name at the same time. Caitanya

Maha-Prabhu then replied that the Vedanta-sutra was all about

Krishna, and that the interpretations given by mayavadis which try

to separate Krishna from the scripture were blasphemous. He then

proceeded to refute all of the Mayavadi interpretations of

Vedanta-sutra, and in so doing He convinced all present that the

Vaishnava philosophy was more in line with the Vedanta-sutra. The

mayavadi sannyasis then converted to the Vaishnava faith, and the

city of Varanasi became overwhelmed with the transcendental sound of

the sankirtan movement.

 

The activities of great personalities like Lord Caitanya don't seem

to fit very nicely with the mayavadi view that bhakti is for "people

whose hearts are more developed than their brains." Many great

mayavadi scholars like Sripada Prakasananda Sarasvati tried to match

Lord Caitanya in intellectual debate, only to be completely

defeated. Lord Caitanya was the greatest devotee of Krishna and also

the greatest Vedanta scholar and logician. No one could successfully

challenge Him with their mundane, impersonalist speculations.

 

When confronted with such mayavadi prejudices, I find it refreshing

to meditate on this pastime, which proves that logic and scripture

are on the side of devotees of the Lord.

 

Hare Krishna!

 

 

- "Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or

- sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation." -

- -- Srila Prabhupada -

 

 

"Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the

Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, was impersonal before and

have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge,

they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme."

- Bhagavad-Gita 7.24

 

[Guest guest]

when a devotee becomes humbler than the grass,

das of a das of a das...

then it does not matter to him

whether he is looked or addressed

as an intelligent or as a moodha.

 

time is not to fight with the advaitis.

they are gyan yogis as opposed to bhakti yogis.

time is for all the vedic people to unite.

 

why?

because terrorism is every where.

all the vedic people are the target.

 

jai sri krishna!