Amongst all the religions established in the world or all existing religions, the Vedic Āryan dharma is superior and most liberal. The particular excellence of Vedic Āryan dharma is that this dharma ensures the auspiciousness of the jīvas in all kinds of situations. All other religions are suitable for only certain specific conditions of the jīvas. They cannot function in all situations. All the religions that are prevalent in the world can be divided into five categories, namely:

Religion which aims at the eternal happiness of the jīvas.
Religion which destroys the happiness and distress of the jīvas.
Religion that promotes temporary happiness for the jīvas.
Moral religion which increases the collective happiness of the jīvas.
Religion which enhances the material capacity of the jīvas.

Another name for that religion which aims at the eternal happiness of jīvas is bhagavad-bhakti. The religion wherein a jīvā is recognised as eternal and it is understood that eternal bliss is the supreme necessity of the jīva is called bhakti. In that religion, the principal subjects – the nature of Godhead (bhagavad-tattva), the eternality of the jīva, the jīva’s servitude to Bhagavān, the impermanence of that which is in connection with matter, the eternality of the principle of divine love (prīti), etc – are universally accepted. All those religions in which the aforementioned principal subjects are recognised must necessarily be called religions aimed at the eternal welfare of the jīva. Whoever examines all religions, from a scientific perspective, will acknowledge that Christianity, Islam, Brahminical dharma, etc are all focused on the eternal happiness of the jīva. No matter what kinds of false distinctions exist within those religions, at their core, they are fundamentally of the same class.

The religion which destroys the happiness and distress of the jīvas is observed in many forms in the world. Amongst them, Buddhism, Pessimism, and Kevalādvaita Vedānta are foremost. This philosophy has arisen from time to time and has spread to many places in the world. In various countries, its form is different. However, the ultimate conclusion is the same everywhere. All these philosophies can be called religions that destroy the happiness and distress of the jīvas, because according to all these perspectives, the very existence of the jīva is inauspicious. The extinction of the jīva’s existence is considered to be the highest benefit. The elimination of existence is established in two ways. One kind is that the singular entity alone is eternal, possessing no qualities, and devoid of any transformation. The existence of the jīva, being full of faults and distinctions, is thus false and full of suffering. The state in which all these relative distinctions merge into the ultimate principle of non-differentiation is known as mukti, or nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa alone is the eliminator of happiness and distress arising from duality. The religion through the practice of which that nirvāṇa is attained is called the religion that destroys the happiness and distress of the jīvas.

Scholars advocating nirvāṇa, such as Xenophanes and Parmenides, propagated this viewpoint in Greece. With the European region, this view was propagated in various forms by scholars such as Spinoza, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Scholars such as Schopenhauer and Hartmann promoted this philosophy in the world in a different form, calling it Pessimism. In our country, Jainism, Buddhism, and Kevalādvaita Vedānta are followers of this doctrine. Modern figures such as Nanak, Śiva-Nārāyaṇa, Gorākṣanātha, Āule Cāṅda, and Jagannātha Dāsa* have introduced this philosophy into the community of those who worship God. Whatever form it may take, the doctrine that seeks ultimate dissolution in the form of mukti can boldly be said to be a religion which destroys the happiness and distress of the jīvas.

*Translator’s Note: One can read more about Jagannātha Dāsa here: Ativāḍī Apa-Sampradāya by Swami B.G. Narasiṅgha Mahārāja

Religion promoting the temporary happiness of the jīvas is observed in many forms in the world. This is known as the path of karma. According to this perspective, in some places Īśvara is acknowledged, while in others He is not. Bodily pleasure, pertaining to a divine body and other sensory enjoyments after the material body’s demise – is the tenor of this ideology. Through the gathering of ingredients and specific activities, that goal is achieved. In many ways, this doctrine has also secretly crept into various religions aimed at eternal happiness. In principle, the Muslim religion is indeed a religion aiming at the eternal goal; yet upon examining the sensual nature of the pleasures of its heaven, it becomes clearly evident that a religion focused on temporary happiness has surreptitiously entered into it. Religion striving towards temporary results is not so predominant in the Christian faith, but to say that it is entirely absent there would be incorrect. When the topic of resurrection is carefully examined, our doubt becomes stronger. Similarly, all the ideas concerning the Garden of Eden nourish that doubt.

Moral religion which increases the collective happiness of the jīvas which relies upon material science, has become favoured by many scholars. Materialism, positivism, socialism, and all such atheistic religions are included within the moral religions that promotes communal pleasure. It is not that moral religion for increasing collective happiness cannot exist within the three aforementioned religions. When the doctrine of collective happiness becomes independent of the above religions and beckons mankind, then it becomes materialism, positivism, or socialism. Religion aimed at the temporary happiness of the jīva always acknowledges religion which improves general pleasure. The reason for distinguishing them is this – in some cases, religion aimed at the temporary happiness of the jīva is not always a religion which seeks collective happiness; but the doctrine of collective happiness will, in all circumstances, be aimed at temporary happiness. In many ways, karma-kāṇḍa is considered as a religion of collective happiness. According to the doctrine of collective happiness, the ātmā has no eternality; the results of whatever actions a jīva performs are received by the aggregate jīvas. Some say that it is energy alone which is the driver of all these results. Some say that it is only fate which grants those results. Some say that the principle known as apūrva causes the jīva to enjoy those results.*

*Translator’s Note: According to karma-kāṇḍa, karma gives rise to a principle known as apūrva (that which is exceptional), which calculates and distributes the result of one’s karma.

Various kinds of religion that enhance the material capacity of the jīvas is observed in different countries. In some countries, one finds advice solely for increasing the scientific potential of the material body. In some countries, or according to some philosophies, one finds specific instructions for manifesting the hidden capacity of one’s previous physical body, or of the subtle or astral body. All kinds of tantrika, mechanical, mūdra-based, yogika religious practices prevalent in various countries are included within this philosophy. Ṣaḍaṅga Yoga, Aṣṭaṅga Yoga, Buddhist yoga, and Theosophy – all these are included within this doctrine. Although Theosophy has some connection with religion which destroys the happiness and distress of the jīva, its own foundation belongs to religion which propagates material potential.

If it is examined more deeply, it must be admitted that all types of religion that have been prevalent and can be prevalent are included within these five kinds of dharma. It must also be acknowledged that all types of religion that have been prevalent up to the present either belong to one of the aforementioned five, or exist based upon one of them. Apart from Vedic Āryan dharma, no other dharma shows the presence and harmony of the above five kinds of religion. Rather, within it, only one is acknowledged as dharma, and all other religions are rejected. In such a situation, no religion ensures the welfare of the jīvas in all circumstances. Therefore, except for the Vedic Āryan dharma, no other dharma is complete.

In Vedic Āryan dharma, proper guidance and harmony of the aforementioned five kinds of religion are present. Whatever state a living being may be in, in the Vedic Āryan dharma, when a particular state requires committed practice, proper guidelines are provided for temporarily suspending or adjusting that practice according to one’s eligibility. Is there any doubt that in Vedic Āryan dharma, the jīva achieved true auspiciousness? Many stages are observed from the jīva’s entirely material state up to the attainment of the pure spiritual state. If one does not follow the steps to reach the highest point, one will certainly never achieve perfection in one’s activities. In other religions, only a single step is shown, but they do not indicate how the lower steps are to be crossed. The result is that a religion becomes a single, isolated object of practice. By no means is the true natural propensity of life achieved. As long as religion does not become the very life of a religious person, it remains like a transient guest in one’s home. In that case, what benefit will the jīva attain? Materialists remain materialists, karmīs remain karmīs, and jṣānīs remain jṣānīs. They do not achieve a higher positions. In Vedic Āryan dharma, all those philosophies have been taught in various places, however, to perform practices according to one’s eligibility, guidance has been repeatedly given. That person who does not quickly achieve the highest progress of supreme prema by following Vedic Āryan dharma is most unfortunate. The greatness of Vedic dharma is that through it, the welfare of many is possible, whereas in other religions, welfare rarely occurs. This is because in those religions, in particular circumstances, the religion itself becomes an obstacle to the jīva’s advancement.

In order to clearly demonstrate that in the Vedic Āryan dharma, proper guidance exists for the aforementioned five kinds of religion in their respective places, the following Vedic statements are quoted. No particular consideration can be made here. There are statements from the śruti regarding religion aimed at the eternal happiness of jīvas, such as:

tad vijṣānena paripaśyanti dhīrā
ānanda-rupam-amṛtaṁ yad vibhāti
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.28)

The meaning of this is – “The Supreme Truth, which is in the form of bliss, immortal by nature and eternally manifest, is perceived by the wise through their knowledge.”

There are statements from the śruti regarding religion that eliminates the pleasure and pain of the jīvas, such as:

na bhayaṁ sukha-duḥkhaṁ ca tathā mānā-pamānayoḥ
etad-bhāva-vinirmitam tad grāhyaṃ brahma-tatparam

There is no fear, pleasure and pain, and honour and dishonour – that which is devoid of these states should be firmly understood as the Supreme Brahman. (Teja-Bindopaniṣad 14)

And in the Bhāgavata, Third Canto, Chapter 25 it is stated:

yoga ādhyātmikaḥ puṁsāṁ mato niḥśreyasāya me
atyantoparatir yatra duḥkhasya ca sukhasya ca

The system of yoga concerning the ātmā which benefits the living beings is approved by Me. Through that, there is detachment from material happiness and distress. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.25.15)

In regards to religion aimed at the temporary happiness of jīvas, the śruti states:

svarga-kāmaḥ aśvamedhaṁ yajeta

One who desires Svarga should perform the aśvamedha-yajṣā.

yāvajjīvam agni-hotraṁ juhūyāt

One who desires offspring should perform the agni-hotra sacrifice.

Men desiring the temporary pleasures of Svarga should perform yajṣas such as the āśvamedha. Regarding religion which promotes the collective welfare of the jīva, it has been stated as follows:

tad etat satyaṁ mantreṣu karmāṇi kavaye
yātanyapaśyaṁstāni tretāyāṁ bahudhā saṁjṣāni
tānyācaratha niyataṁ satyakāmā eṣa baḥ panthāḥ svakṛtasya loke
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.1)

“In Treta-yuga, the ṛṣis saw that when actions prescribed by the Vedas were performed properly, they inevitably yielded results. If all those actions are performed, the collective welfare of you all will be attained. This alone constitute your sole path.”

Regarding religion which enhances the material capacity of the jīvas, it has been stated in the Amṛtabindu Upaniṣad of the Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda as follows:

anena vidhinā samyan-nityam abhyasataḥ kramāt
svayam utpadyate jṣānaṁ tribhir māsair na saṁśayaḥ

“If one practices according to the proper rules of yoga for three months, all material knowledge becomes manifest.” *

• Translator’s Note: This śloka is actually 29 of the Amṛtanāda Upaniṣad.

Upon considering all of this, it appears that all kinds of atheistic or theistic religions, which have been propagated in the world under various names, have been scientifically examined and discussed within Vedic Āryan dharma. The arrangement for religion can be seen as necessary for all people, according to their different qualifications. Therefore, the Vedic Āryan dharma is the only religion that is beneficial to the jīva.

The Vedic Aryan dharma is called Hindu dharma. Nowadays, people ignorantly condemn such a liberal religion. Our prayer is that, without taking any specific person into account, no one should criticise any religion.

In the sub-division of Ukhḍa , within 20 miles of Śrīdhāma Māyāpura, the appearance place of Śrī Nadīyā-canda, near to where the founder of the Kartābhajā movement, Aula-canda, was found as a child by Mahadeva Barui, one very dynamic personality on the path of bhakti appeared at that place to dispel all sorts of delusional misconceptions, in order to drive the human intellect engrossed in worldly knowledge towards the path of the highest spiritual truth, and again propagate the flow of pure bhakti initiated by Śrī Māyāpura-candra all over the world.

A few years after his appearance, Ulanagar became depopulated due to an epidemic. Based on the severe effect of that epidemic, that nitya-siddha litterateur, who appeared in Ulagram, composed an epic poem named Vijana-grāma (‘The Empty Village’) in the amitrākṣara metre* for the very first time in the Bengali language. The period in which he composed it was 1863 of the Christian era.

*This is known as blank verse in English.

This Ulagram is in the sub-division of Ukhḍa, within the district of Nadīyā. From Calcutta, it’s distance is 51 miles. Immediately after the Ranaghat station on the Murshidabad line of East Bengal Railway is Birnagar Station, which is merely the new name of the well-known and ancient Ulagram. The specific site within this city where Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared, the house in which he was born, still stands and sings songs of its past glories.

A little more than three hundred and fifty years has passed from the time when the revealers of Śrī Nadīyā – Śrī Māyāpura-candra and His associates – manifested Their own audārya-līlā (pastimes of magnanimity) in order to demonstrate progressive service which is contrary to the enjoying mentality of the jīvas contaminated by the filth of Kali. In 352 Gaurābda, 1760 Śakābda, 1895 Samvat, 1245 Baṅgābda, * on 2nd September, 1838 of the Christian era, and on the thirteenth lunar day on the 18th of the month of Bhādra of the Bengali calendar, one great personality who was three and a half hands length in height (approx. 5 foot, 3 inches), who was a supremely dear personal associate of Śrī Śrī Māyāpura-candra, appeared.

* There are various calendars used in India. Gaurābda is counted from the time of Mahāprabhu’s appearance. Śakābda is a luni-solar calendar introduced by Mahārāja Śalivāhana who defeated the Śaka tribe. Samvat is the ancient calendar introduced by Mahārāja Vikramāditya. Baṅgābda is the traditional Bengali calendar, aligned with Emperor Akbar’s revenue reforms in the 16th century.

In order to expand His own mahā-vadānya-līlā (pastimes of supreme magnanimity), Puruṣottama – the bestower of auspiciousness to the world and possessor of infinite potencies – revealed the example of attaining bliss through eternal, transcendental knowledge while traversing the path of pure bhakti. Yet, as His mutually contending potencies gradually unfolded, the jīvas of this world became fearful that the cooling rays of the spotless religion of prema might grow faint and become eclipsed by the ocean of impurity. To once again uncover those pure, soothing, and beautiful sun-rays of prema, His intimate associate – that exalted soul devoted to the service of Puruṣottama – appeared in this world as the āśraya-vigraha of the viṣaya, Śrī Caitanya-candra.*

*Here, viṣaya refers to the Supreme Lord, and the āśraya refers to His devotee.

When he came, people perceived by their external vision that he had appeared in a family  of pañcopāsakas.  In actuality, a worshipper had appeared in the house of pañcopāsakas who was far beyond the material world. A weak-hearted man, overwhelmed by material enjoyment, depending on his own strength, roams the land of karma and assumes the responsibility of various kinds of virtuous and non-virtuous deeds. Yet if some potency of Bhagavān or bhagavat-prakāśa-tattva (that principle which reveals Bhagavān) appears in the world as the ideal of the pure jīvātmā’s nature and function, then alone can the welfare of the world be accomplished.

* Pañcopāsakas refers to the Smārtas who worship the impersonal Brahman in the form of five deities – Viṣṇu, Śiva, Durgā, Sūrya and Gaṇeśa.

The unsteady mind repeatedly engages the bound jīva in topics other than Kṛṣṇa, giving indulgence to reckless behaviour. It could never be that in the land of pious activities, beyond the sphere of Brahma-vārta, upon the eastern hills of Āryāvarta, within the sky of Gauḍa, some ideal star, free from selfish karma and jñāna, should arise – such was the delusion to be dispelled. For the purpose of making an unblessed land blessed, of sanctifying an unsanctified soil, of transforming the age of Kali into a pure Satya-yuga, for removing all inauspiciousness from the world and inviting auspiciousness – for this cause, the appearance of the Moon of Gauḍa and His constellation of attendant-stars was, in fact, the rightful claim of those very inhabitants of that unfortunate land, who were unworthy, impious people.

In Gauḍa-deśa, flooded by Tantras in the mode of ignorance, where the darkness resounded with the shrill ballads of Yogī Pāla and Bhogī-Pālas, and with the folk-songs of Maṅgala-Caṇḍī and Viṣahari’s cricket-like commotion* – there, the effulgent light of the divine proclamation from Śrī Hari’s own holy lips, ‘kīrtanīyaḥ sadā Hariḥ’ (‘the Name of Hari is to be constantly chanted’), completely dispelled that mass of gloom.

* Yogī Pāla (also known as Chowranginath) was a prince of the Pāla Dynasty of Bengal, who gave up his royal lifestyle and became a tantrika yogī. Less is known about Bhogī Pāla. Maṅgala-Caṇḍī is a goddess worshipped in rural Bengal; Viṣahari is another name for Manasā Devī, the snake goddess, who removes the effects of snake bites.

In that land at that time, among those very assemblies of the heroes of karma where practices such as bhūta-siddhi (control over spirits), vaśīkaraṇa (enchantments), pañca-pakṣi-sādhana (omens based upon five specific birds), and pañca-deva-vāhana (invoking the five deities) etc, were powerful – to those very people there, the appearance of one supremely transcendental embodiment of all-auspiciousness was nothing other than a sign of Bhagavān’s amandodaya-dayā (strong and progressive mercy).

After the concealment of Śrī Gaurasundara’s prema-līlā, Ācārya Śrīnivasa, Ṭhākura Narottama, and Prabhu Śyāmānanda became the divine triad for showering that prema upon the world. They infused the waters of śravaṇa and kīrtana drawn from the ambrosial ocean of bhakti-rasa into the heart-fields of those driven by selfish desires, karma, and dry jñāna. Due to many years of draught and scanty rainfall, the desert-like heart of the jīva had become incapable for the sprout of prema to emerge.

Hence, no one can deny the necessity of proper arrangements for delivering the cultivators of ulterior desires from the overwhelming power of time. The expectation of the rise of prema can be considered as timely, as the accompanying medicine for all sorts of diseases such as indulgence in intoxicants, the restless efforts of morally bewildered hearts, intense thirst for argument, and the craving for unlawful material advancement. At that time, the Supreme Person, who is the Reality of truth, knowledge, and unlimited bliss, sanctioned the service regulations in this world established by Saccidānanda, the servant of Puruṣottama. Instead of flowing in hundreds of streams, the threefold flow of Srinivāsa etc., being felicitated by the favourable service-flow to the Six Gosvāmīs while travelling to the confluence of the sea which is the abode of all nectarean rasas, instead faced obstacles such as dryness scarcity etc along the way.

At this time, from the devotional ocean of nectarean rasa, the kṛpā-śakti (mercy-potency) of Śrī Navadvīpa-candra, who is a rising ocean of strong and progressive mercy, once again caused the current of the Bhāgīrathī of pure bhakti to flow, thereby rejuvenating the wish-fulfilling tree of auspiciousness. In the midst of dense darkness, even two bright stars are incapable of fully expanding their powerful influence. After the light of the sun disappears in the western sky, the constellation of stars help the viewers by dispelling the darkness of night. Even at twilight, for some time, light and shadow continue to give the traveller a little assistance to a certain extent. Once again, with the arrival of the lord of night (the moon), the mind of the jīva becomes joyful with hope.

Far be it from seeking eternal life, the jīvas, intoxicated by the commotion arising out of karma, in their thirst for peace, desire to enter into the dense darkness of Kevalādvaitavāda (absolute monism) – that is itself a deviation. When there is a scarcity of persons to give caution against such deviation, then the majority of society becomes afflicted by various conflicting opinions.

When all the jīvas, who are scorched by distress, hear the loud declaration of those philosophers who claim that there is no distinction in the self, one’s race, or that of others, they then pursue the search for kaivalya (oneness) in order to find the akāśa-puṣpa of imaginary peace.* At that time, the humble, quiet voice of the guileless devotee engaged in bhajana announces the futility of the shrill tones of the followers of Kevalādvaitavāda – that voice becomes favourable to the attainment of the most auspicious fruits of the wish-fulfilling tree of auspiciousness.

* The phrase akāśa-puṣpa (sky-flower) is a common analogy used in Indian philosophy to denote something which is illusory. The sky does not produce flowers, therefore, anything that is referred to as an akāśa-puṣpa suggests that it is a misconception not based in reality.

The jīva has the aptitude to receive suffering in the thorny field of bhoga (enjoyment) and tyāga (renunciation) at every moment. Reasoning possessed of carelessness and short-sighted vision is incapable of bestowing ultimate auspiciousness. For this reason, we must take constant support by considering bhakti which is under the guidance of the aśraya (Śrī Guru). As the medicine suited to the disease, the bhakti-latā (creeper of devotion) that originated in Vṛndāvana was revealed in the Eastern region. However, the worshippable forms of the Lord that signify the principles of sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana, attract the sincere souls. They alone can progress in accepting that truth which is nirasta-kuhaka (without deceit). This itself is called sukṛti. Those travellers who regard karma, yoga, jñāna, tapasya, etc. as the true path, become anxious upon losing their way and go astray – for them alone there is the necessity of an honest guide. Śrī Caitanya-candra, encouraging those who had taken shelter of Him, and constructed the road of bhakti, leading from the entanglement of worldly existence toward the transcendental path. Yet, since that path was also inaccessible and filled with thorns, fear arose, and the travellers on the path of life encountered dangers and obstacles in many places. Through the simple and direct path of bhakti, the supreme joy attainable establishes the prayojana-tattva. Yet, there was an absence of an exemplary life to make this known. To what extent Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda has fulfilled all those deficiencies is to be observed with the awakening of pure knowledge.

Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda has shown the purpose of the conscious and unconscious worlds in relation to Kṛṣṇa. Service to Bhagavān is the only abhidheya, and that the desire for material enjoyment is an obstacle to it – he preserved these teachings through the propagation of proper conduct. Peace, enjoyment, and bliss – all culminate in supreme peace and true kṛṣṇa-bhakti. By revealing this, he has pointed out prayojana-tattva. When one considers the greatness of those who glorify or discuss other subject matters, it becomes clear that relying upon the greatness of those who cannot direct us to that strong and progressive mercy of the Lord, is not at all necessary for those who seek auspiciousness.

Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda’s compassion, through his conduct and propagation, serves to demonstrate the unparalleled nature of the manner in which Śrī Gaurasundara and His own pure devotees distributed mercy;  it is the subject of hearing, chanting, and remembering during the time of His annual appearance.

The śāstra says that by rejecting bad association and establishing oneself in good association, one can become free from the influence of inauspiciousness through hearing, chanting, and remembering. If we advance by taking shelter of Bhagavān and His own associates by cultivating the threefold process of hearing, chanting, and remembering, then only we will surely become an object worthy of the eternal mercy of Jagannātha, the Supreme Protector. May He, who bestows boundless mercy to protect us from sinking in this ocean of material existence, and who is the knower of the principles of sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana – in other words, that wise one possessing knowledge of subjugation and liberation – may he guide us like the Pole Star on the path of life.

Only a pure Vaiṣṇava, or a sajjana, is truly peaceful. It is true that no one desires to become asajjana (impious); yet, due to a lack of eligibility, when one commits offences at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava, one begins to identify such a mundane nature to be one’s own inherent self. Thus, such a jīva who is bound by māyā and filled with false ego becomes known as aśānta (one who is devoid of peace).

From prakṛti (material nature) intelligence arises, and from ahaṅkāra–tattva (the principle of false egotism), the false ego itself manifests. Due to offences to the Vaiṣṇavas, the asajjana falls from the plane of the mahat-tattva (principle of material existence). Having turned away from transcendental vision, he becomes agitated in the enjoyment of material form, taste, smell, sound, and touch. Thus, the workings of his false ego become manifest. Being so afflicted by that poison, he becomes restless and, overcome by egotism, even projects the same egoistic faults upon the pure devotee, the sajjana – considering him to be of a nature similar to his own.

If, by giving up his material ego, he can one day achieve the vision to behold the ideal of the peaceful sajjanas, then he will understand that only the sajjanas are truly peaceful – whereas those of narrow, mundane intellect, who crave the designation of ‘Vaiṣṇava’ while being prākṛta-sahajiyās, are the only ones who are not peaceful. Śrīman Mahāprabhu has said (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 139-149):

keśāgra-śateka-bhāga punaḥ śatāṁśa kari
tāra sama sūkṣma jīvera ‘svarūpa’ vicāri

If one were to divide the tip of a hair into one hundred parts, and again divide one of those parts into another hundred, the jīva’s real nature is still more subtle than that.

keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatāṁśa-sadṛśātmakaḥ
jivaḥ sūkṣma-svarūpo ’yaṁ saṅkhyātīto hi cit-kaṇaḥ

The jīva, whose form is subtler than one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair, is an atom of pure consciousness, innumerable and beyond all material calculation.

bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca
bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeya iti cāha parā śrutiḥ

The śruti declares that the jīva is to be known as one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair, divided again a hundred times – exceedingly minute.

sūkṣmāṇām apy ahaṁ jīvaḥ

Of all things that are minute, I am the jīva.

aparimitā dhruvās tanu-bhṛto yadi sarva-gatās
tarhi na śāsyateti niyamo dhruva netarathā
ajani ca yan-mayaṁ tad avimucya niyantṛ bhavet
samam anujānatāṁ yad amataṁ mata-duṣṭatayā

If the embodied beings were infinite and omnipresent like You, then naturally there could be no Supreme Ruler over them – that would logically follow. But, because they are born of You, and exist only within Your energy, they can never be independent of You; You alone remain their eternal Master. Those who think that the individual jīva is equal to You are misguided by defective intelligence.

tāra madhye sthāvara jaṅgama dui bheda
jaṅgame tiryak-jala-sthalacara-vibheda

Among them (the jīvas), there are two divisions – the sthāvara (inanimate) and the jaṅgama (animate). The animate beings are further divided into those that fly, those that dwell in water, and those that live on land.

tāra madhye manuṣya-jāti ati alpatara
tāra madhye mleccha, pulinda, bauddha, śabara

Among all of them, the human species are very few. And among humans, there are the mlecchas, pulindas, Buddhists, and śabaras.

veda-niṣṭha-madhye ardheka veda mukhe māne
veda-niṣiddha pāpa kare, dharma nāhi gaṇe

Among those who claim to follow the Vedas, half of them accept the Vedas by lip-service only. They still engage in sinful acts forbidden by the Vedas and do not truly care for dharma.

dharmācāri-madhye bahuta karma-niṣṭha
koṭi-karma-niṣṭha-madhye eka jñānī śreṣṭha

Among those who follow dharma, many are devoted to karma. Among millions of those who are engaged in karma, a jñānī is supreme.

koṭi-jñāni-madhye haya eka-jana mukta
koṭi-mukta-madhye durlabha eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta

Among millions of jñānīs, only one attains liberation. Among millions of liberated souls, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa is most rare.

kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma, ataeva śānta
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta

The devotee of Kṛṣṇa, being desireless, is peaceful (śānta). Those who are attached to enjoyment, liberation, or mystic perfections are all restless (aśānta).

Relying upon mundane analysis, those who consider themselves knowledgeable of the principles of sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, yet by their natural disposition remain distant from engaging in the service of Hari, never escape committing offences even after countless millions of lifetimes. Such persons remain eternally offensive and restless, and driven by their desire to oppose Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas, they repeatedly take birth again and again.

Some of them accept the Vedas only through lip-service, while others, even though they know that the Vedic injunctions forbid sensual enjoyment, live a life of illicit sexual indulgence and, and with prideful arrogance, establish themselves as preachers or mendicants in an inferior śūdra-like manner. By the desire of Kṛṣṇa, all people generally disregard them. Therefore, being neglected, they become disturbed due to committing offences against the Vaiṣṇavas and gradually sink deeper and deeper into degradation.

They cannot comprehend the sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana of the Vedas, and they propagate their tendencies based on asat-śāstras (non-bona fide scriptures) under various pretentious names, thereby accumulating offences at the feet of the Vaiṣṇavas. Accepting the Vedas in word only, such arrogant and inimical jīvas remain averse to hari-bhajana and continue to commit sins forbidden by the Vedas, and in vehement opposition, they criticise the society of devotees. After experiencing no peace for countless lifetimes, such jīvas eventually, upon the exhaustion of their sins, attain pious births in successive lives and become elevated to the position of karmīs (followers of karma-kāṇḍa). Later, transcending such poisonous paths of karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, as well as false bhakti-kāṇḍa, they achieve peace at the pure lotus feet of the sajjanas.

As long as he does not realise the turbulent disposition found within the venomous consequences of those who are opposed to Kṛṣṇa, and while he does not obtain the glories of the pure lotus feet of the sajjanas by gathering sukṛti, the egotistical jīva continues to loudly declare the Vaiṣṇavas to be like himself – restless, proud, and deceitful. The sole dharma of a pure Vaiṣṇava is to ignore all such ignorant, immature, and disturbed jīvas.

 In the same way, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the virtuous tridaṇḍī devotee, while being oppressed by the restless and egotistical jīvas, disregarded them. That particular section is a subject to be constantly discussed by every Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī. The Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs, or the paramahaṁsas who have given up the daṇḍa, will not deliver these agitated jīvas from their unrest, but will merely disregard them – this indeed is the dharma of the tridaṇḍī, or of those who have given up the daṇḍa.* Śrīman Mahāprabhu has established such tridaṇḍi-dharma alone as the highest discernment of the conditioned jīvas who are attached householders who claim to be servants of gṛhī-gaurāṅga (‘householder Gaurāṅga’).**

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is the expounder of this tridaṇḍī dharma, and Śrī Gaurasundara Himself accepted sannyāsa, personally establishing it as the very standard for the tridaṇḍī Vaiṣṇavas. If one can grasp the essential meaning of this, the jīva’s restless nature will be eradicated. A bound jīva, abandoning artificial sāttvika–vikāra (so-called ecstatic symptoms) or false identifications such as being ‘the son of Bābā Ṭhākura,’can become a sajjana.*

Wicked persons showed various forms of hostility toward the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī, including contempt, insult, ridicule, physical assault, harassment, and restraint. Sometimes, they showed hatred towards the tridaṇḍī, by spitting on his body, urinating upon him, and causing various disturbances during his worship of Bhagavān. Despite the words of the wicked, the tridaṇḍī personally endured everything without abandoning his firm bhajana. Śrī Bhagavān told Uddhava that such a sādhu who is not angry at the words of a wicked person is rare in this world. The harsh words of the asajjana are unbearable; one can only tolerate them if he has hari-bhakti.

In the province of Avantī, a wealthy brāhmaṇa accumulated money in various ways and gained fame in society. Due to his miserly nature and greed, the villagers, the Devas, and many others became opposed to him. As a result of this unfavourable treatment, he withdrew from all material pursuits and achieved true renunciation. As soon as renunciation arose in him, he realised that the unalloyed mercy of Bhagavān had manifested towards him. He recognised himself as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa and directly took up the tridaṇḍa, kamaṇḍalu, and other practices of the renunciate āśrama himself, because artificially, such practices cannot be imparted by one person to another, and no one can accept counterfeit renunciation from another. At the time of taking sannyāsa, Śrīman Mahāprabhu and a few others showed respect towards the formal priesthood. However, such sajjanas do not say that it is appropriate to adopt artificial renunciation from a guru in imitation of such an ideal. In vivitsā or vaidha sannyāsa,* formal ritualistic priestly officiation is accepted.

When the noble renunciate of Avantī, having abandoned all worldly possessions, household duties, and all hopes and reliance on domestic yajñas, went out for the purpose of hari-bhajana in order to exhibit proper conduct by accepting the tridaṇḍa, the agitated yajñika priests who were attached to their households, mocked and obstructed him, and grabbed his tridaṇḍa. The old men, the youth, and the children tried to snatch away his water-pot, blanket, sacred thread, and beads; the asajjanas spat and urinated on the alms he had received. They slapped him on the head to insult him, and they began to say: “This tridaṇḍī is a thief, unable to protect his possessions, incapable of enjoying – that is why he has become a tridaṇḍī!”

In order to gain recognition among the people, by using various tricks, they tied up the tridaṇḍī, plotted together to kill him, seized the insignia of his sannyāsa, and, being deceitful religious pretenders, maintained silence or spoke many malicious words like cunning cranes.* Such ill-treatment constantly befell the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍī.

The tridaṇḍī did not feel aggrieved by these unbearable words, or by the cruel behaviour of the wicked, but maintained steadfast, sattvika tolerance. He thought, “All these ignorant, foolish materialists, who have become intoxicated with sense-pleasure and who regard Bhagavān as a mere illusory avatāra are not Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs. I do not seek any worldly peace by changing their nature, temperament, and conduct. The day they obtain the good fortune to become Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs, those kinds of bad habits will cease by themselves. Why should I become an obstacle to their intense attachment to sense pleasure? Since a jīva is naturally kṛṣṇa-dāsa by constitution, their intense hostile mischief will cease sooner or later.

 At present, why should I abandon my bhajana and go about instructing the wicked – either in response to their provocations, or to satisfy their inquisitive curiosity? They are devoid of faith; in their present intoxicated state, they cannot accept any words of mine. I am a tridaṇḍī servant of Bhagavān, therefore, I do not wish to cause them any anxiety by word, mind, or body. Following the path of the pure mahājanas, I will not wander on the path of the fourfold desires, or the threefold path of karma, and jñāna of these wicked people.* Just as the peaceful sajjanas, taking shelter solely at the feet of Kṛṣṇa, have abandoned all worldly misdeeds and engage in hari-bhajana, I will do likewise. I will not cause an increase in the unrest of wicked people by becoming fuel for the fire of their hostility.”

By singing these verses and personally demonstrating to the Vaiṣṇava tridaṇḍīs the path of śrī-hari-bhajana, Śrī Gaurasundara established that the ancient veśa-paddhatis (manuals for accepting sannyāsa) have recorded the procedure for accepting the tridaṇḍa. All the words of an attached yajñika brāhmaṇa householder who claims to be a servant of gṛhī-gaurāṅga will never penetrate hearts absorbed in sense-enjoyment. Taking shelter of contaminated māyāvāda, they become both lawful and unlawful prākṛta-sahajiyās,* and declare material enjoyment itself to be prema. But the peaceful devotees, rejecting with heart and soul, the doctrine of both the lawful and unlawful prākṛta-sahajiyās, will advance along the specific path of śrī-rūpānuga-bhajana- established by the Gosvāmīs residing in Vraja. In every way, they completely disregard the loud and intense protests of the sahajiyās, which are full of violent sense-indulgence.

* Lawful (vaidha) means those sahajiyās who give lip-service to the śāstras, and unlawful (avaidha) refers to sahajiyās who do not follow any śāstrika injunctions whatsoever.

The Forgetfulness of the Humanists – Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
This article was originally published in The Harmonist on Sept 19th, 1934 Volume XXI No.2.

The Fountainhead of all eternal and temporal manifestations is confined in Sree Krishna alone. The non-absolute phases are emanations from a particular potency whose analytical distributions are known as gunas or qualities. In the factor of time, they are branched as past, present and future and their material representations have three characteristics viz. evolution, sustenance and dissolution. The Fountainhead is Absolute and His borderland emanations are absolute infinitesimals, though they are recognized in the same qualities. Their quantitative reference is then considered as apart from the Absolute, but swayed by a quality and their special characteristic is that the infinitesimal bearing should not be confused with the Infinitude.

The resources of manifestive nature have their common origin in the absolute existence of the Fountainhead. The delegation of the power of the Absolute Infinity is traced in the spirit and the matter. The family of qualitative temporal representations possesses numerous isolated entities and so the absolute infinitesimals are grouped together in magnitudinal difference form the Fountainhead.

The present human figure or the figure of a member of the Zoo or of one of the family of the phytographic species has got a restrictive and depending position and it is liable to change in the shape of growth and deterioration. The internal nature of the absolute-infinitesimals is spirit and takes the initiative; whereas, the difference of quality cannot show the power of taking initiative, similar to that of living entities.
The two potencies possessed by the Fountainhead are known as spiritual and material. The frame of the living should never be confused with the life itself. so there is a broad distinction of aspects between the two families of spirit and matter. The predominating phase is exercised in the material atmosphere which is liable to be controlled by animation. The animal world differs from materialistic structure, though it is endowed with a material association in its outward appearance.

We may often distinguish between a living body and a dead one. The generative advent has a smaller beginning to undergo development and growth and the elimination of the life principle from the structure itself has got different denominations.
In the Semitic thought we do not find any metensomatosistic speculation; so they are prone to consider the spirit as a composition of chanced incident, and this material combination as the starting point of the souls. So these thoughts are opposed to the theory inculcated by the conception of Seelenwanderung or metempsychosis. The spiritistic view is quite different from the idea of material congregation which is wrongly considered as the composition of the eternal soul. On the other hand, the non-Semitic thoughts make a departure from the Semitic ideas of non-transmigrating accidental composition.

The explanation of the different methods of the two bearings – the tabernacle and the inner temporal animating entity – can lead us to a differing element in the transcendental entity beyond our sensuous conception when we bring into consideration the true eternal position of the absolute infinitesimals, by following the analogy of wrapping the entity by two kinds of garments covering the same as incorporations. The covers, though foreign, are amalgamated to create a confusion of their natural isolated position.

Portions of matter, in the factor of time, are liable to change. But the substratum – the spirit – is not obliged to undergo transformation like the foreign parts attached to the same by conventional practices. The very theory is explained in other words by the encountering attitude of a different potentia of the Fountainhead to effect the conversions by means of temporary decorations. The exercising function of the spirit is more or less impeded by the counteracting agency of a different potency of the Absolute. So the susceptibility of being attacked is an inevitable element in the spirit infinitesimal which is different from the spiritual Infinite.

Conversion in or mixing with the temporary material dust should not and cannot disable or disfigure the Spirit Infinity, as the value of spirits infinitesimals should not and could not be identical with the Fountainhead and His emanation, just like a particular pencil of ray should not be misconceived as the glowing disc from which the rays come. The Absolute Fountainhead of spirit should not be considered to slumber like absolute infinitesimals who are subject to the other potentia of the Absolute.

The nature of the spirits of borderland potency of the Fountainhead need not be affirmed with the objective knowledge of the mixed up conception. The nature of the Absolute Infinite should not be standardized in the same line as His infinitesimals. The spirits are observed in two different stages; whereas the eternal Fountainhead of all spirits has no bifurcation. The Absolute Infinite cannot be expected to be accommodated in the finite reference of phenomena which have limiting merits.

The Fountainhead alone has the reservation of Ubiquity; whereas all ubiquitous aspects are wanting in infinitesimals. So isolation and association of infinitesimals with the Infinite should not be recognized as two different entities. Pleasure and pain are of the same temporary stay and they are counted differently in their gradatory condition.
The eternal and temporal potencies have got their two realms, and on the border of the two, the border-land potentia can easily be traced. The members of the border-land potency can claim one of the two potencies at a time which are double-winged places of their habitation. The mundane phenomena have got a temporal situation; whereas, the eternal manifestations of the Transcendence are not subject to the atmosphere of inadequacy, limit and imperfection of phenomena.

The border-land potency can be traced to exhibit her neutral position which is normal and does not espouse at that time the cause of temporal or eternal manifestation of the Fountainhead. The members of this potency are apt to be forgetful of their eternal situation, when they have stronger affinity to live in this temporal region as lords and by their inherent free-will want not to submit to their eternal functions of the transcendence.
The forgetful demeanor posed by a member of the border-land potency cannot welcome the guidance of the eternal blissful wisdom of a devotee. The misguiding and tempting objects of phenomena often dictate the necessity, in the heart of a weak, cringing forgetful spirit, of his wonted participation in the enjoyment of this material sphere.

The eternal acquisition of the members of the border-land potency cannot be dissociated from their persons. The impersonalist has got a non-differentiative impression of all spirits into one. If an erroneous argument is offered by a silly person of his having been endowed with the susceptibilities of forgetfulness of his eternal function, and therefore, because the Fountainhead is to be blamed for delegating to him inadequate power, he should not have been held responsible for the incomplete investiture on him alone with complete freedom, then this polemic character of the Semitic school can easily be met by an acquaintance of prepossession of spiritual independent element inherent in the border-land potency to entangle themselves in undesirable situation. Free will of an absolute infinitesimal cannot be denied as a limited quality like the material characteristic of phenomenal nature.

The absolute infinitesimal has got his free will, and by his free will he can either pose himself as a forgetful agent or he can awaken himself for his original eternal function of remembering his own eternal exploits. The Fountainhead does never wish to delude nor oblige His parts – the infinitesimal spirits by devoiding them of such free will but allows them the freedom inherent in them.
The conditioned souls, out of their own discretion, rush into moods quite apathetic for not serving the Fountainhead when He Himself sends His message of delivering them through His messengers who act as spiritual guides to the wrong-doers. Both the Semitic and the non-Semitic people live in the impersonality of the Absolute; whereas, the clear eyes of the devotees can see the personality of Godhead as the Fountainhead of many conflicting and contending energies that foster the whims of different parties. Proneness to forgetfulness is afforded by the free will of non-devotees who are found to adopt wrong processes as their guiding principles.

By Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Goswāmī
22nd Kartik, 1928, Friday Afternoon

I have no capacity to tend to the feet of the denizens of this holy place. Yet by the grace of Śrī Gaurasundara and urged by your good wishes, I stand here to speak only if I may thereby serve the servants of Śrī Gaurāṅga. Indeed if we can truly serve the feet of the devotees of Śrī Gaurāṅga, by whose graceful glance alone all desires, hopes, and aims in life are easily fulfilled, then that will be a crowning achievement.

We are proud of our ego. We are either given to judge sinful and pious acts or think how we can lord it over others by acquiring power. These are all base self-glorifications. But one devoted to Gaurāṅga says that all desires actuating every object from the pillar to the highest being (Brahmā), all labour for worldly possessions, all longing for enjoyment and every kind of renunciation after satiety, are all pseudo-existent and evanescent, i.e., subject to change and time. When we lose anything so acquired, life seems vacant and useless. But it is quite futile to try to straighten the tail of a dog-such being the end of all enjoyments in the fourteen spheres. All pleasures acquired as the fruits of worldly work are transitory.

Carried away by sense-perceptions of eye, ear, touch, taste and sound we turn into ego-worshippers. In this state the pure activity of the soul lies dormant. Then we also desire the pleasure in heaven. And when such ideas are strong in us we err by identifying ourselves with this mind, which thus seems to be the enjoyer of the things of this world. This propensity for selfish enjoyment deadens the pure function of the Soul.

But the Soul knows that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the One Absolute Truth.
Śrī Nārāyaṇa is the embodiment of His Majesty. Nārāyaṇa though is the ultimate source of the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa’s transcendent designation, form, qualities, and sportive activities (lila) excel Nārāyaṇa’s Majesty by His display of sweetening Beauty. In Kṛṣṇa the fullest majesty is mellowed by the most delicious sweetness (madhurya) which predominates. When we do not know all these and forget our true selves, we cannot understand the activities of a Vaiṣṇava and the transcendental truth underlying such activities, and so give ourselves up to worldly enmity and friendship, taking things transitory and illusory as eternal and real.

Secondly, Kṛṣṇa is completely all-cognisant. Material objects are not self-conscious. God is ever existent. It is, indeed, through mistake that we consider ourselves as Brahman. It is only then that such useless arguments for the effacement of all super-sensual diversity or variety in Absolute Truth take hold of us. The function of the spirit is clogged and our minds run after worldly enjoyment. The materialised mind thinks that sensual enjoyment is obtained at Kṛṣṇa’s feet. But at the feet of Kṛṣṇa everything is spiritual and so not an object for the gratification of our senses. When truth is obscured in us carried away by egotistic tendencies, we take things material as of the spirit.
Kṛṣṇa is bliss. In Him dwells perfect joy-He is the embodiment of it. Sensual knowledge or joy is not perfect;-therein all our longings are not realised. Under the spell of sense perceptions we imagine that there might be unalloyed happiness in ego-worship or in the kaivalya state of Pataṅjali.

All seeking after joy is the function of the soul. When the desire for joy wakes up in our minds we commit a blunder in running after worldly objects and enjoyment. It is only when we receive a spiritual sight of Kṛṣṇa that we understand that His service must, of necessity, be the sole aim in life. As long as we thus hanker after our own pleasures we try to enjoy the world through the senses and are given to hollow argumentation. But this world is not made for our enjoyment. When spiritual bliss will appear in us like the incessant flow of oil then shall we be truly tied to the feet of Kṛṣṇa.

Such numerical variety as that of one, two and three exists only in worldly diversity. This diversity acquires a certain inexpressible sameness in the world of spirit. Then we can appreciate that Kṛṣṇa alone is the eternal Truth Absolute. When the very existence of Truth and sensiency in our own selves becomes solely relative to Him only then we are established in our real normal state.
At present many false meanings have been imported into the word “devotion.” Regard for one’s parents, loyalty to man, obedience to the teacher, etc., pass as bhakti. But the root “bhaj” means “to serve.” If we do not clearly judge as to what must be the medium of that service then it is sure to be misapplied. As Caitanya-candrāmṛta sings:

kalah kalir balina indriya-vairi-vargah
sri-bhakti-marga iha kantaka koti-ruddhah
ha ha kva yami vikalah kim aham karomi
caitanya-candra! yadi nadya krpam karosi
“This is the quarrelling age. The senses, which are our enemies, are now very powerful; and crores of thorns choke the path of pure bhakti. I am quite at a loss to know what I shall do or where I shall go unless Caitanya Candra shows mercy unto me.”

We live in the Kali-yuga-this is an age of strife. So it happens that the self-luminous path of pure devotion is completely covered up with millions of thorns in the shape of foolish argumentations and wordy wranglings. In these circumstances it is absolutely impossible to have the knowledge of pure devotion without the mercy of Caitanya Candra. Śrī Caitanya Candra is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is the Godhead. We cannot know God by the exertions of our senses. As the Kaṭha Upaniṣad says:

nayamatma pravacanena labhyo
na medhaya na bahuna srutena
yam evaisa vrnute tena labhyas
tasyaisa atma vrnute tanum svam
“The knowledge about the all-embracing Oversoul cannot be attained either through reasoning, argumentations or hearing the Vedas; only to him does He manifest His person whom He accepts.”

Godhead is eternal. We cannot attain to Him unless we realise He is bliss Himself. One confined within his psychic range in a hundred ways cannot know what God is and so accepts things other than God as objects of his worship. Unable to understand the true subject and object of enjoyment, as well as the nature of enjoyment itself, he imagines the world as created to afford him every kind of pleasure. This materialised mind strives only after selfish enjoyment. By this fleshly form we cannot serve Kṛṣṇa. It is possible only in spirit. The atomic theory of the world knows nothing of that service.

In the variety of His manifestations, Absolute Truth Himself is to be determined from Nārāyaṇa. In Kṛṣṇa exists Nārāyaṇa, Who is His Majestic form. Baladeva is the manifestation of His Self. He is the all-pervading Oversoul. With the revelation of the function of supreme knowledge in our soul, we come to know that Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth. He is also perfect bliss, reverence does not stand in His way. Intimate service cannot be rendered if one is actuated by reverence. Yet Kṛṣṇa is the eternal object of the devotees’ whole-hearted service. But He is to be served with the ever-existent senses of the soul. We cannot serve Him through imagination or sentiment. Super-sensuous knowledge of our relation with Him is essential. There is nobody whom I can call my own except one who is solely devoted to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa alone is the one object of my service. This faith is the one glory of the Vaiṣṇava. This is the supreme necessity of life. Material fame full of the idea of selfish enjoyment is never desirable.

Time is running short. The time for the evening wave-offering ceremony is drawing nigh. I must no longer encroach upon your time of service. If it be Kṛṣṇa’s wish I shall again try to serve you. A thousand obeisances at the feet of the devotees of Kṛṣṇa.
A Lecture in Calcutta

We have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of welcoming this grave charge. All the audience have accepted ordinary seats, I alone have been provided with a lofty seat. All are being told in effect-“Do have a look at a big animal from the Zoo-gardens. What arrogance! So foolish! So wicked! Have you ever seen such a big brute? Garlands of flowers have been put round his neck! What laudations! What bombastic long-drawn, and hyperbolic adjectives! And how complacently too he is listening to the praise of his own achievements, how intently, and with his own ears! He also evidently feels delighted in mind! Is he not acting in plain violation of the teaching of Mahāprabhu? Can such a big brute, so selfish and insolent, be ever reclaimed from brutishness?”

I happen to be one of the greatest of fools. No one offers me good advice on account of my arrogance. Inasmuch as nobody condescends to instruct me I placed my case before Mahāprabhu Himself. The thought occurred to me that I would make over the charge of myself to Him and see what He would advise me to do. Then Śrī Caitanyadeva said to me:

“Whom-so-ever thou meet’st,
instruct him regarding Kṛṣṇa,
By My command being Guru deliver this land;
In this thou wilt not be obstructed
by the current of the world;
Thou wilt have My company once again
at this place.”

In these verses is to be found the proper explanation of the apparent inconsistency noticed above.
He whose only teaching is humility greater than that of a blade of grass, said—”By My command being guru save this land!” In this instance Mahāprabhu Himself has given the command. His command being “Perform the duty of the guru, even as I do it Myself. Also convey this command to whom-so-ever you chance to meet.” Caitanyadeva says, “Tell them these very words, viz. By My command being Guru save this land. Deliver the people from their foolishness.” Now who-so-ever happens to hear these words would naturally protest with palms joined—”But I am really a great sinner; how can I be Guru? You are Godhead Himself, the Teacher of the world. You can be Guru.” To this

Mahāprabhu replies:
“In this thou will not be obstructed
by the current of the world;
Thou wilt have My company once again
at this place.”
“Do not practice the craft of a guru for the purpose of injuring others through malice. Do not adopt the trade of a guru in order to get immersed in the slough of this world. But if you can, indeed, be My guileless servant you will be endowed with My power-then you need not fear.”

I have no fear. My gurudeva has heard this from his gurudeva. And it is for this reason that my gurudeva has accepted even such a great sinner as myself and has told me: “By My command being guru save this land.” It is only those who have never heard these words of Gaursundara who say “How odd! To listen to one’s own praise!” While the guru is instructing his disciple in the eleventh Skandha of the Bhāgavatam what a great sin, in their opinion, is he not perpetuating! What is the ācārya to do when he has to explain the śloka, ācārya māṁ vijaniyat: Never disregard the ācārya; never entertain the idea that the ācārya is your equal in any sense.” These are the words of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself by which the jiva is to be benefitted. Is the guru to take himself off, to desert his seat-the seat of the ācārya-from which these words are to be explained? That office his gurudeva has conferred on him. If he does not act up to its requirements he is doomed to perdition by reason of his offense against the holy Name in the shape of disrespect towards the guru. He has to do it in spite of the fact that such procedure is apparently open to the charge of egoism.

When the guru imparts the mantram to the disciple should he not tell him by this mantram to worship the guru? Should he say instead, “Give the guru a few strokes of the shoe or the horse-whip?” The guru is never to be decried. The guru is the abode of all the gods. Should the gurudeva abstain from communicating these words to his disciple while reading the Bhāgavatam to him? “To him alone who possesses guileless spiritual devotion, similar to the transcendental devotion that is due to Kṛṣṇa Himself, to the gurudeva, the holy mysteries are manifested.” Is the gurudeva not to tell these things to his disciples? Athau gurupuja: the worship of the guru has precedence over all others.” The guru is to be served just as Kṛṣṇa is served. The guru is to be worshiped in a particular way. Is the guru to desert his seat without telling all these things to the disciple? In the angle there is always the defect in the shape of absence of the fullness, the evenness of level, of 180 degrees or of 360 degrees. But in the plain surface, in 360 degrees, there is no such defect. That in the emancipated state no defect is possible, this simple truth ordinary foolish people entirely fail to grasp.

As the saying goes, “Having started on the dance it is no use to draw close the veil.” I am doing the duty of the guru, but if I preach that no one should shout “Jai” to me, that is to say, if I say in a round about way, “Sing Jai to me,” it would be nothing short of duplicity. Our Gurudeva has not taught us such insincerity. Mahāprabhu has not taught such insincerity. I have to serve God in the straightforward way. The word of God has come down to the gurudeva; I have to obey it in all sincerity. I will not disrespect the guru at the instance of any foolish or malicious sectarians. Especially as Śrī Gurudeva has directed me saying, “By My command being guru save this land.” This command has my gurudeva preached. My gurudeva in his turn has conveyed the command to me. I will not be guilty of any insincerity in carrying out that command. In this matter I will not accept the ideal of ignorant, insincere, pseudo-ascetic sectarianism. I will not learn insincerity. The worldly-minded, the malicious, the pseudo-renunciationists, the selfish cannot understand how the devotees of God, spurning at everything of this world by command of God, never, not even for a second, deviate from the service of God through all the twenty-four hours.

Hypocritical sectarians, pseudo-Vaiṣṇava sects, those sects that cherish internally the longing for earthly fame, naturally enough think “What a shame it is for one to listen to the eulogies of disciples occupying the seat of the guru.” But every Vaiṣṇava regards everyone of the Vaiṣṇavas as the object of his veneration. When Ṭhākura Haridāsa exhibits the attitude of humility Mahāprabhu says-“You are the greatest of the world, the crest-jewel of the world. Be agreeable, let us have our meal together.” He carried in His arms the body of Ṭhākura Haridāsa which is eternally existent, self-conscious and full of spiritual bliss. In the community that follows Śrī Rūpa, the qualities of desiring no honor for oneself and of readiness to duly honor others are fully present. Those who detect any disparity are, like the owl, blind while the sun shines. They commit an offense by such conduct.

If I disobey the law which has come down to me through the chain of preceptorial succession, the offense due to omission to carry out the command of the guru will sever me from the lotus-feet of Śrī Gurudeva. If in order to carry out the command of the Vaiṣṇava guru I have to be arrogant, to be brutish, to suffer eternal perdition, I am prepared to welcome such eternal damnation and even sign a pact to that effect. I will not listen to the words of other malicious persons in lieu of the command of the gurudeva. I will dissipate with indomitable courage and conviction the currents of thought of all the rest of the world, relying on the strength derived from the lotus feet of Śrī Gurudeva. I confess to this arrogance. By sprinkling a particle of the pollen of the lotus-feet of my Preceptor crores of people like you will be saved. There is no such learning in this world, no such sound reasoning in all the fourteen worlds, in no man-gods, that can weigh more than a solitary particle of the dust of the lotus-feet of my gurudeva. Gurudeva in whom I have implicit trust can never spite me. I am by no means prepared to listen to the words of any one who wants to hurt me or to accept such a malicious person as my perceptor.