Sastra is old? Modernize?one who preaches without compromise is confidential servant

[Yesu_Bhaktan]

 

What an elegant way to store those ingredients! What a beautiful arrangement! This is God! He is not just practical. Everything He does is full of beauty and elegance.

 

 

Yes, if He were just practical most everything could be created in black and white, squares and straight lines.

 

Couple days ago I was refilling this hummingbird feeder I keep outside my window. As I was putting it up a hummer came by. He smelled the sugar water and couldn't wait. He was just inches away and had the most amazingly beautiful colors on his head and neck. And they changed dramatically with every angle as he moved. Brilliant blues to deep reds with so many shades in between all so beautiful.

 

I thought, why? The evolutionist would try to find some purpose for each color that worked towards the survival of the species. Yawn...how dry....how dreary...how dead.

 

The theist sees something beautiful in nature and it reminds him of the beauty of the Lord's ways. In this way scripture is also designed into nature. Not just the mechanics of how things function. Krishna is the Supreme Revealer of Himself as well as the Supreme Artist and Supreme Engineer.

 

So to the artist we can point out one angle which is more atractive to their mind, to the engineer another and the philospher yet another. Same with cultures in different time place and circumstances.

 

It is just angle adjustments not changes.

[krsna]

So if this confidential knowledge, one who preaches without any compromise, he is the confidential servant of Krsna. There is no compromise. This is real religion.

Krsna says, na ca tasmad manusyesu kascid me priya-krttamah. So this is the person who has received the authority to draw mercy water from the ocean of mercy of Krsna. Saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastraih. And what Krsna said five thousand years ago, the same thing Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, same thing. There was no change, as there was no change between the statement of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Narottama dasa Thakura. Sadhu sastra.

As sastra, there is no change. Not that “Modernize. The sastra should be changed.” No. That is nonsense. That is not sastra. Sastra cannot be changed. “Circumstantially, it will be changed, seasonal changes.” No. That is not sastra. Sastra means it is perpetual. What Krsna said five thousand years ago or Krsna said some forty millions of years ago to the sun god… Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [bg. 4.1]. He says, “I am talking to you that puratanam yogam.” Not that “Because it has passed millions of years and now it is a different time, so I will have to change.” No. He said, “I am talking to you that very old system.” Is it not? Just see. The sastra cannot be changed. God’s word cannot be changed.

Then what will be the difference between God and ourself? He is always perfect. He is always perfect. What He said forty millions of years ago, what He said five thousand years ago, that is also correct up to date. That is sastra. Not that “So many years have passed and it has become old. Now let us reform it and put it into new way.” No. You can put the same thing in a new way, but you cannot change the principle. Sadhu sastra guru-vakya, tinete kariya aikya. Sastra is never changed. And the sadhu… Sadhu means who follows the sastras. He is sadhu. He also does not change. Sadhu, sastra.

And guru? Guru means who follows the sastra and sadhu. So there are three, the same. A guru will not change, that “It was spoken five thousand years ago. That is not applicable now. Now I am giving you something new, jugglery.” He is useless. Sadhu sastra guru-vakya tinete kariya aikya. Yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya vartate kama karatah, na siddhim avapnoti [bg. 16.23]. These things are there.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.6.8 — Vrndavana, November 30, 1976

[Guest guest]

 

And guru? Guru means who follows the sastra and sadhu. So there are three, the same. A guru will not change, that “It was spoken five thousand years ago. That is not applicable now. Now I am giving you something new, jugglery.” He is useless. Sadhu sastra guru-vakya tinete kariya aikya. Yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya vartate kama karatah, na siddhim avapnoti [bg. 16.23]. These things are there. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.6.8 — Vrndavana, November 30, 1976

 

I wonder how do we understand the approach Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took when it comes to shastra in the light of this statement? (see earlier part of the thread)

[gHari]

Perspective beyond. In case anyone missed it the first time (like I did):

 

The Bhagavata

By

Kedarnath Dutta Bhaktivinode

 

The Bhagavata teaches us that God gives us truth and He gave it to Vyasa, when we earnestly seek for it. Truth is eternal and unexchausted. The soul receives a revelation when it is anxious for it. The souls of the great thinkers of the by-gone ages, who now live spiritually, often approach our inquiring spirit and assist it in its development. Thus Vyasa was assisted by Narada and Brahma. Our shastras, or in other words, books of thought do not contain all that we could get from the infinite Father. No book is without its errors. God's revelation is absolute truth, but it is scarcely received and preserved in its natural purity. We have been advised in the 14th Chapter of 11th skandha of the Bhagavata to believe that truth when revealed is absolute, but it gets the tincture of the nature of the receiver in course of time and is converted into error by continual exchange of hands from age to age. New revelations, therefore, are continually necessary in order to keep truth in its original purity. We are thus warned to be careful in our studies of old authors, however wise they are reputed to be. Here we have full liberty to reject the wrong idea, which is not sanctioned by the peace of conscience.

 

Vyasa was not satisfied with what he collected in the Vedas, arranged in the Puranas and composed in the Mahabharata. The peace of his conscience did not sanction his labors. It told him from inside "No, Vyasa! you cannot rest contented with the erroneous picture of truth which was necessarily presented to you by the sages of by-gone days! You must yourself knock at the door of the inexhaustible store of truth from which the former ages drew their wealth. Go, go up to the Fountain-head of truth where no pilgrim meets with disappointment of any kind." Vyasa did it and obtained what he wanted. We have been all advised to do so. Liberty then is the principle, which we must consider as the most valuable gift of God. We must not allow ourselves to be led by those who lived and thought before us. We must think for ourselves and try to get further truths which are still undiscovered. In the 23rd text 21st Chapter 11th skandha of the Bhagavata we have been advised to take the spirit of the shastras and not the words. The Bhagavata is therefore a religion of liberty, unmixed truth and absolute love.