Spiritual Emotion

[Guest guest]

Krsna consciousness is especially meant for the intelligent persons. Of course our movement in America has begun on a very grass roots level. But ultimately, it is meant for the most intelligent persons. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita Krsna said ???, this knowledge coming down from Krsna is especially for two classes of men, raja and rsi. Raja means political leaders… of course nowadays the political leaders leave something to be desired. But formally there was a noble class. And rsi means wise, sages, intellectual class. Previously the higher classes were very religious. But nowadays religion is considered to be for the lower class. And if someone is very intellectual it's considered to be beneath him.

 

From the viewpoint of material analysis, if someone becomes very excited or emotional, generally his cognition becomes impaired. From the material point of view it's better to remain calm. Therefore, scientists or so-called scientific people don't trust someone who is too fervent or too emotional. They feel things should be presented objectively in a neutral context, not emotionally. So, because in spiritual life there is emotion, there is intense emotion of love of Krsna or love of God, sometimes pseudo-intellects suspect that in Krsna consciousness there cannot be objective perception. Sometimes when they see the devotees singing and dancing, they feel that such intense emotion denotes a lack of objectivity or open-mindedness because an open-minded person should not be committed to anything except open-mindedness itself.

 

But actually on the spiritual platform, perception heightens as one increases his spiritual emotion. It does not decrease it. In other words, one can increase his understanding by increasing his love of Krsna or love of God. Of course there are many religious ceremonies and religious practices which are also mundane. For example sometimes people desire some type of material prosperity or whatever. They approach God or go to some church and have religious fits and so on and so forth. But it's actually a material experience because the motive is material. So when I say Krsna consciousness I'm referring to a transcendental state where one gives up the identification with the gross material body understands himself to be spirit soul without any material designation. He also defines his position as an eternal servant of God and performs that service without any expectation of personal reward. Of coarse, that desire to serve without any expectation of reward is the definition of love. So on that transcendental platform of love of God, as one increases his emotion by singing or dancing or speaking about Krsna, he's not becoming sectarian, but actually his consciousness is expanding. So actually for many thousands of years there has been this conflict between the religious persons and the so-called secular scholars. That conflict has always been there.

 

And of course sometimes religious emotion is misused. Just like in American history there were so-called great awakenings; no philosophy, no understanding, simply rolling on the ground and then smoking cigarettes. In India also, this is called in Sanskrit ??? which means taking the advanced stages of religious life very cheaply. For example in India there are a class of men who want to imitate the activities of Krsna, so they cry and scream and act as if they are seized with ecstacy. But as soon as this ecstacy is over they smoke cigarettes and seduce women and so many things. So in America there have sometimes been so-called revival movements where there's a cheapening of these very advanced stages of ecstacy. We are also aware of that.

 

A prominent symptom of one who is actually on the stage of spiritual ecstacy is that he has no more material desires. He cannot be attracted to material things. Just like for example you can put a dog on a king's throne and he can sit there. But if you throw a bone on the ground he reveals himself and jumps off the throne for the bone. So someone may be a very good actor and pose himself as someone in spiritual trance. But as soon as soon some material object comes before him he'll try to enjoy it. And therefore he reveals that he's not actually advanced spiritually. So the symptoms of spiritual ecstacy is not only external, but there also must be a complete detachment from material sense gratification. This is spiritual psychology. In this way there are different symptoms which have to be studied.

 

But spiritual emotion is not the same as material emotion. Therefore all the attempts to study religion by ordinary psychologists and sociologists cannot be fruitful because the impetus or the stimulus for spiritual ecstacy is not material. There's no material explanation. That's stated in the Bhagavatam ???, that by this process of bhakti-yoga or devotional service to Krsna the result is ???, very quick result is… or two results ???. In Sanskrit raga means material attachment or material pleasure. So vi, the Sanskrit prefix vi is “negates”. So therefore viragha means without material desire. And from this word viragha a derivative noun is ???. So the word viragha means the state of detachment from material pleasure. And also jnana. Jnana means knowledge, specifically knowledge that I am not this body which is the conclusion of analytic knowledge. Analytic knowledge means to separate things into their component parts. Just like chemistry has the periodic table of elements. So the basis of chemistry is to reduce or separate things into the lowest common denominator or the basic essential ingredients and then study how these ingredients combine and so on and so forth. So in the same way, by analysis we come to the ultimate conclusion that there are many material elements but I am not any of them. This is called Sankhya philosophy. There are many material elements and there are different ways to categorize them. There are different systems of categorization.

 

But ultimately I am not any of these material elements. I am consciousness. So that's another element. A different antimaterial element. Self in Sanskrit is called atma. In Latin languages it is called ulma. Atma, soul or cit… also the word cit, pure consciousness. We are cinmaya. Maya means composed of. So we are cinmaya. We are composed of consciousness. So that is jnana, the basic knowledge that I am not this body, I am consciousness. So when one is actually engaged in spiritual service to God there are two symptoms ???. Viragha and jnana, detachment and this clear understanding that I am not this body. I am spiritual soul, I am servant of God.

 

Now at that point of understanding I am not this body, I am consciousness, there is another danger or impediment, and that is I may falsely assume that I am God. This is a misunderstanding. God and I are both conscious or cit. But to assume that I am therefore God is bogus logic. This is the logic that you say, “The president of the United States is an American. I am also American. Therefore I'm president. 'Cause things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.” This is an example of kunyiya or bad logic. So in the same way these so-called yogis say that according to Vedic knowledge God is brahmin. I am also brahmin. Therefore I am God. And everyone responds, “Oh, very nice.” So in this way, this kind of hallucination is being preached in the name of yoga, mysticism or cosmic consciousness… all bluffing, simply a bluff. Especially in the Bay Area it's a very big business. There are hundreds and thousands of bluffing groups. They offer to guide you. It's actually material. They will never give a clear understanding of God. They will never state what God is. Everything is stated very ambiguously, esoterically, mystically like the Wizard of Oz.

 

So the purpose of human life is that we have to come to this stage of Krsna consciousness or spiritual understanding. Otherwise our life is a failure. ???. This meansif we do not understand what we are, atma-tattvam, then our life is a defeat. Human life is meant to understand God. If we are not able to understand God, then whatever else we are doing is useless. This is the challenge of the Vedas.

 

ancient paztriot