In2-MeC

Sridhama Mayapur,
5 April 2003

The Introduction to the series of essays on Transcendental Psychology was first posted to In2-Mec in a raw format. The margins were not properly fixed and the Sanskrit quotations were not set down in four- line verse format. A few days later that raw version was replaced by a corrected Introduction. If you only downloaded the old version, please go back online to the same entry date (12 March 2003) to download the new one.

Anyway, my writings here are works in progress. Nothing you read here is "final. " The series on Transcendental Psychology is a basis for a seminar I will give throughout the coming year. Later on, after I've gotten feedback from the seminars, I will think about polishing these essays into chapters of a book.

My humblest respects go out to all of you intelligent devotees who wish to investigate with me the subject of psychology from the point of view of Vaishnava siddhanta. This is the first essay of the series I call Transcendental Psychology. In writing it I have tried my best to connect each argument clearly with Srila Prabhupada's teachings. You, dear reader, may find the different quotations and philosophical insights difficult to absorb. I am sorry if they tax your brain. But each item of information should be noted as significant because it probably will be developed in essays to come. This first essay, I hope you will see, is built upon basic ideas I laid down in the Introduction. This is how I plan the series to move forward, as a steady clarification of points that came before.

It is only to be expected that any process of clarification will be more difficult in the beginning. But step by step, as we become more familiar with the issues, the subject matter gets easier to grasp. This is especially true of Vedic psychology, which starts with principles (harder to grasp) and progresses to practical behavior (easier to grasp). Western psychology proceeds oppositely; it tries to uncover principles by starting with the study of behavior. This approach leads one deeper and deeper into confusion.

I'd like to make clear now, at the start, that even when this series arrives at behavior, I will be more concerned with "how to see one's self" than "what one's self should do. " I'm aiming at the subject of psychology, after all, not at rules of conduct, social issues, institutional reform, or controversies of the moment. Psychology certainly has a lot to do with those concerns. But I think of Transcendental Psychology as self-realization, which for devotees means spirit-soul realization, eternal servant of Krishna realization. Srila Prabhupada said "realization means discrimination. " When one is self-realized, one is blessed with proper discrimination in all kinds of practical affairs.

A major theme of this first essay will be one Sanskrit word, anyonya, a contraction of anyah anya (literally "other-other"). It crops up repeatedly in Srimad-Bhagavatam. From Srila Prabhupada's word-for- word translation for different verses we learn that anyonya can mean "one after another," "each other," and "one another. " In essence, this word is about relationship.

Relationship is the central issue of psychology. I have before me a book by an American psychiatrist. He begins the prologue with a Yiddish proverb: "The one wishes to remember, the other wishes to forget. " So here we have it: "one," "another"--anyonya.

A conflict between two persons usually means that one wishes to remember something that happened between them, while the other wishes to forget it. Even a single individual can be torn by opposition between "one-another. " This is called mental conflict. One part of us wants to remember something, another part wants to forget. According to the Western disciplines of psychiatry and abnormal psychology, the condition of neurosis--which includes anxiety states, obsessions, and hysteria--is all about mental conflict.

The Conflicted Mind

In Srimad-Bhagavatam 11. 13. 8, Uddhava asks a question of Lord Krishna about the conflicted mind.

Sri Uddhava said: My dear Krishna, generally human beings know that material life brings great future unhappiness, and still they try to enjoy material life. My dear Lord, how can one in knowledge act just like a dog, an ass or a goat?

In the course of His answer to Uddhava, Sri Krishna recounts a question the four Kumaras asked of Brahma. This is found in verse 17 of the same chapter. In this question of the small sages to their father, the word anyonya makes its appearance.

sanakadaya ucuh
gunesv avisate ceto
gunas cetasi ca prabho
katham anyonya-santyago
mumuksor atititirsoh

The sages headed by Sanaka said: O Lord, people's minds are naturally attracted to material sense objects, and similarly the sense objects in the form of desire enter within the mind. Therefore, how can a person who desires liberation, who desires to cross over activities of sense gratification, destroy this mutual relationship between the sense objects and the mind? Please explain this to us.

Here the word anyonya is translated as, "of the mutual relationship between the sense objects and the mind. " It is extremely important for us to note that this verse outlines for our understanding the mechanics of material attachment. What topic is more sensitive, more provocative, more painful in the lives of devotees than material attachment?

Today I heard a Bhagavatam class given by an ISKCON sannyasi. He remarked that even senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada have confided to him how difficult they find it to completely overcome the mind's attachment to material things. Now, through the pages of Srimad- Bhagavatam, let us now try to see clearly just how attachment works.

The Puzzling Nature of Attachment

Yes, we all know from Gita that when we contemplate the pancha- tanmatra, the five objects of the senses--sabda or sound, sparsa or touch, rupa or visible form, rasa or taste, and gandha or smell--the mind becomes attached to those objects (Bg 2. 62: dhyayato visayan pumsah sangas tesupajayate). Out of this relationship between the mind and the sense objects, desire makes its appearance (sangat sanjayate kamah).

The Kumaras pointed out a dimension to this process that we may not have considered from our study of the Gita. It seems quite an insidious arrangement, but the fact is that the mind and the sense objects are made for each other. They fit together so seamlessly that the four great sages found no way to separate them. So invaded is the mind by the sense objects, and so invaded are the sense objects by the mind, that trying to precisely tell them apart is a profound challenge to the intellect.

Consider for a moment the smell of puris being fried in ghee. As soon as you perceive that smell your mind forms an attachment to it: "Hmmm, this is good. " But where is the good?

Is the good of the smell objective, meaning that the vapors of the fried food "outside you" are themselves good? Or is it subjective, meaning that the sensation "inside you" stimulated by the vapors is good? After thinking about it awhile, we'd most likely venture that the good in the smell is a result of the combination of objective and subjective factors.

Fine. Let's accept that for starters. Next question: is the good of the smell real? "Yes!" would be our answer as devotees of the Lord. The reality of the good smell is confirmed again and again by our collective experience.

When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's disciples were frying up feast preparations for a Hare Krishna festival in Burma, the local people complained about the horrible stench. Burmese people consider a good smell to be that of fish sauce left to ferment inside a clay pot for three years. If the "good" of the smell of fried puris is a real, substantial value, and not just a matter of personal attachment, how could the Burmese react as they did?

Does a smell exist in any way, good or bad, if there are no minds around to perceive and judge it? Consider the same problem from the opposite approach. Would a mind really be a mind if it was absolutely devoid of even the slightest impression of sense objects? Such questions are paradoxical, and they provoked this witty response from Thomas Key (1799-1875): "What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind. "

Beyond the ontological problems of where to position the existence of a good smell (outside us? inside us? inbetween?), and whether a good smell all by itself is really anything at all, and whether a mind all by itself is really anything at all, there is the psychological consideration: if, as the Kumaras said, the mind and sense objects are always and inseparably attached to one another, then desire must be ever-present in us. If so, how can a person seeking liberation ever overcome desire?

Complementarity

Allow me, dear reader, to observe that the question of the four Kumaras is about "the principle of complementarity in attachment mechanics. " Now just what do I wish to indicate by using such cumbersome terminology? My hope is that you may better appreciate that the question the Kumaras posed to their father is capable of baffling even the greatest intelligence in the universe. Thus the problem of the relationship of the mind and sense objects can be compared to the principle of complementarity in quantum mechanics, which baffles the greatest minds among our present-day scientists.

I ask the reader to kindly indulge me while I take a few moments to try to make the above paragraph as clear as I can. There is a system of mechanics that is supposed to operate at the subatomic level. Scientists call it quantum or wave mechanics. It is based on a duality observed in, for instance, radiant phenomena like light. Experiments show that photons, the subatomic units of light, behave as waves and as particles, depending upon circumstances. In 1927 the Danish physicist Neils Bohr put forward a principle derived from such experiments. It is called the principle of complementarity. It argues that an experiment on, for example, the wave aspect of photons destroys the possibility of learning about the particle aspect. The opposite is true as well: an experiment on the particle aspect destroys knowledge of the wave aspect. Thus a photon is called a wave-particle because the two aspects are complementary. Even though scientists cannot observe both simultaneously, the wave aspect and the particle aspect complement one another to form a more complete theory of what a photon is like. I stress the word theory because what scientists do observe--"photon as wave" and "photon as particle"--exist only as experimental models. . . models that are not only incomplete but mutually contradictory! Since they contradict one another, they do not add up to a concrete whole. Thus a wave-particle is not a "real thing" like a pebble or an orange. Yet light is a "real thing," and light appears to be made up of wave-particles. Of course, this state of affairs is baffling. Thus Neils Bohr concluded that the study of physics reveals only what we can say about nature, not how nature actually is.

It is possible that you, o intelligent reader, are already glimpsing from the above explanation the complementarity that the four Kumaras found baffling in the relationship of the mind and sense objects. But kindly allow me to strengthen the bridge between wave-particle complementarity and mind-sense objects complementarity. I shall now turn to a book entitled Physics and Philosophy (Cambridge 1948) by the eminent British scientist Professor Sir James Jeans. In a section beginning on page 136, he argues that the wave aspect of a photon may be understood as "waves of knowledge" because they are nothing other than mathematical maps of probability. He writes on page 139 that "the waves, as we have seen, are mere mental constructs and possess no physical existence. " Hence the quantum waves are mind. But what are the quantum particles? From page 201: "The particle-picture depicts the phenomena; its ingredients are those of the ordinary picture of the material world. " In other words, quantum particles are sense objects. On page 204 he comes to this conclusion: "There is no longer a dualism of mind and matter, but of waves and particles; these seem to be the direct, although almost unrecognizable, descendants of the older mind and matter, the waves replacing mind and the particles matter. "

A word of caution: it is not my purpose to endorse, or speculate upon, the philosophical link that Professor Jeans draws between the complementarity of wave-particles and that of mind and sense objects. What I find useful is that both dualisms, one described by modern science, and the other described by the ancient Vedic sages, tax the intellect severely.

Mind and Sense Objects: Dual Aspects of a Higher Reality

Kindly allow me to make one more point in this regard. Some scientists propose that the wave-particle is all that we know of a higher- dimensional state intruding into our lower-dimensional awareness. A thought experiment is given as an illustration. Set up two video cameras to view an aquarium with a single large fish in it. Focus one camera on the front of the aquarium, and train the other to view one side of it. Connect each camera to one of two monitors positioned side-by-side in another room. The one fish will always look like two fish when observed through the two monitors. This is because the fish itself exists in three dimensions but the monitors are only able to show us two dimensions. Whenever in one monitor we see the front of the face of the fish, in the other we see only its side. And so it may be with the wave-particle. As we shall learn shortly from Srimad- Bhagavatam, this is precisely the case with the dualism of mind and sense objects: it is of a higher order of reality than we are able to grasp.

Even Brahma Had No Answer

Let us return to Sri Krishna's narrative about the question put by the Kumaras to their father Brahma. "My dear Uddhava," the Lord says in Text 18 to His dear friend and devotee, "Brahma himself, who is born directly from the body of the Lord and who is the creator of all living entities within the material world, being the best of the demigods, seriously contemplated the question of his sons headed by Sanaka. The intelligence of Brahma, however, was affected by his own activities of creation, and thus he could not discover the essential answer to this question. "

Again I must beg the reader's indulgence as I attempt to shed light on why Brahmaji found the question of his sons so challenging. Here Lord Krishna points to Brahma's activities of creation as blocking his sight of the answer. This indicates that the structure of the universe (i. e. its cosmology) is so subtle and involving that it diverts even the creator's intelligence from the Absolute Truth.

Modern science invests much brainpower in problems of cosmology; in the world of antiquity it was no less a topic of investigation, although then the investigation proceeded along Vedic lines. This was true even in the ancient Western world. I shall take the liberty of citing a British philosopher of mysticism, G. S. R. Mead, from a book he published in 1919 entitled The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in the Western Tradition, page 9.

The astral or sidereal religion of antiquity revolved around the central notion of an intimate correspondence between man's psychical and sensible apparatus, or his inner embodiment, and the subtle nature of the universe. . . The ground conviction of astral religion held that there was a subtle organon of great nature, an interior economy of the world-soul. Man's nature was so to say an excerpt from this greater nature; and it was conceived of as a germ or seed as it were of the universal tree of life. Man was the microcosm of the macrocosm.

On page 8, Mr. Mead notes that in India, this doctrine ("of an intimate correspondence between man's psychical and sensible apparatus. . . and the subtle nature of the universe") reached its most mature expression.

Now, even my most attentive readers may find Mr. Mead's language somewhat obscure. His style of writing harks back to the Victorian era. Let me try to make it plainer.

The Subtle Nature of the Universe

I will start with Mr. Mead's term, "world-soul. " Visvatma (soul of the universe) is a name of Sri Vishnu, the Supersoul. "In the Vedic hymns it is said: patim visvasyatmesvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu. " (Bg 3. 10p) In the same purport Srila Prabhupada writes, "The praja-pati is Lord Vishnu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. " Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagavat-gita 13. 5:

The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet He is without senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time He is the master of all the modes of material nature.

For the purpose of creation, the Supersoul invests His son Brahma, born from the lotus of His navel, with the fiery spiritual essence that foments the rajo-guna (see Brahma-samhita 5. 62). Thus Brahmaji, though not a direct vishnu-tattva expansion of the Lord, also acts as the world-soul. In the Vedic literatures he too is addressed as Prajapati. But unlike Sri Vishnu, Brahma is himself possessed of material senses even as he bestows material senses on all other creatures. Brahma tends to become attached to his work of creation, while the Lord Himself is never attached. Brahma is not beyond the modes of nature, for he is the rajo-guna avatara of the Supersoul. This is why Brahma was unable to answer the question of his sons. From the purport to SB 11. 13. 18:

Srila Jiva Gosvami has quoted three verses from the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam as follows. In the Ninth Chapter, verse 32, Lord Krishna blessed Brahma with realized knowledge of the Lord's actual form, qualities and activities. In the Ninth Chapter, verse 37, the Lord ordered Brahma to rigidly carry out the Lord's injunctions and affirmed that Brahma would thus never be bewildered in his cosmic decision-making. In the Sixth Chapter, verse 34, Lord Brahma assured his son Narada, "O Narada, because I have caught hold of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, with great zeal, whatever I say has never proved to have been false, nor is the progress of my mind ever deterred, nor are my senses ever degraded by temporary attachment to matter. " In the present verse in this Thirteenth Chapter of the Eleventh Canto, Lord Krishna states that Brahma unfortunately did become bewildered by his creative functions, thus providing a grave lesson to all of the Lord's empowered representatives. Although one may be elevated to an exalted position in the Lord's transcendental service, at any moment there is danger of false pride polluting one's devotional mentality.

Mr. Mead wrote of "the astral or sidereal religion of antiquity. " The words astral and sidereal refer to the patterns of stars and planets we see arrayed in the night sky. "This great machine, consisting of the stars and planets," states Srila Sukadeva Gosvami in Srimad- Bhagavatam 5. 23. 4, "resembles the form of a sisumara [dolphin] in the water. It is sometimes considered an incarnation of Krishna, Vasudeva. Great yogis meditate upon Vasudeva in this form because it is actually visible. "

Mr. Mead used the term "subtle organon of great nature. " This means that the subtle principles of the cosmos are comparable to the organs of a living body. As we see in Bg 13. 3p, there are three principles fundamental to reality: bhoktya (the individual jiva-souls), bhogyam (matter) and prerita (the controller of both). On the cosmic scale of manifestation, bhoktya, bhogyam and prerita are the triune (tri-vidham) of 1) four-headed Brahma who leads all other jivas in creation, 2) the virat or the elemental universe, and 3) Lord Vishnu. In our own body, we find countless microscopic cells, which Srila Prabhupada confirmed are each animated by an individual jiva. Out of all these jivas, we ourselves are the one individual soul chosen by the Lord to execute the mission He has ordained for this body. The body is a conglomeration of material elements (earth, water, fire, air and so on). The localized Paramatma dwelling in the core of the heart is the antaryami (inner controller).

Mead stated that there is "an interior economy of the world-soul. " Here the word economy is not to be understood in its ordinary usage as the management of national wealth; rather, its theological usage is intended. In this sense economy means God's management of His creation. Thus the universe functions as a vast organic system, as a single living entity of tremendous proportions.

Man's nature, according to Mr. Mead, is a germ or seed of the universal tree of life. In Srimad-Bhagavatam 3. 8. 15 and its purport we learn that the lotus flower upon which Brahma appeared is the virat or universal form of the Lord. The source of this virat is the subtle Hiranyagarbha (a feature of Garbhodakasayi Vishnu) who is glorified in the Vedic hymns as having thousands of heads, eyes and feet (see Cc. Madhya 20. 292). He is the master of the universe; the tri-murti of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu who attend to the universe's three modes of nature are His secondary expansions (see TLC Chapter 8). Merged within Hiranyagarbha are countless individual souls who, like so many seeds, await germination (see Brahma-samhita 5. 22). Within the lotus stem sprouted from His navel are fourteen planetary systems (see Cc. Adi 5. 103). Brahma appears within the center of the blossoming petals of that lotus as the creative force of Hiryanagarbha; he brings forth the seedlike jivas from the body of the Lord, physically embodies them, and positions them within suitable planets according to their karma. Thus Srimad-Bhagavatam 7. 14. 36 states, "The entire universe, which is full of living entities, is like a tree whose root is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Acyuta [Krishna]. Therefore simply by worshiping Lord Krishna one can worship all living entities. "

Mr. Mead concluded, "Man was the microcosm of the macrocosm. " Hence the mind and senses of mankind (his "psychical and sensible apparatus") are tiny reproductions of the cosmic form of Prajapati. The perceptions, thoughts, desires and activities of an individual person are related to the entire universe in a most intimate and subtle manner. Srimad- Bhagavatam 11. 28. 16 informs us, jivo 'ntar-atma guna-karma-murtih sutram mahan ity urudheva gitah, that the individual living entity's qualities, activities and form are bonded to the original form of material nature by sutra-tattva, a fundamental tie. (For more insight into this tie, see SB 5. 17. 23-23 about the sutra-yantritah, and Bs 5. 21 and 22. ) The tie is actually personal. For example, the cogitations of intelligent human beings on questions of cosmology and the duality of mind and matter are, on a deep level, stimulated by the world-soul Brahma's thoughts on the same issues.

I hope, dear reader, the scientific and philosophical evidence presented in the preceding pages has not sidetracked you from the main path of this essay. I do not intend here to delve into the structure of the macrocosmic mind and its recapitulation in microcosmic human psychology. (That will be examined in the next essay. ) For the present we are concerned with the mystery of relationship--particularly the relationship of the sense objects and the mind--and how attachment flows, honeylike, out of relationship to glue the attention of the soul to this material world.

The Reply of the Hamsa-avatara

Even Brahma, the first of Vedic sages, was stymied by his sons' inquiry into the nature of relationship and attachment. And so he fixed his mind upon the Lord, who then appeared as the Hamsa- avatara to separate Brahma's consciousness from the modes of nature, just as a hamsa (swan) drinks the milk alone from a blend of milk and water. Let us now take a close look at two verses spoken by the swan incarnation:

manasa vacasa drstya
grhyate 'nyair apindriyaih
aham eva na matto 'nyad
iti budhyadhvam anjasa

Within this world, whatever is perceived by the mind, speech, eyes or other senses is Me alone and nothing besides Me. All of you please understand this by a straightforward analysis of the facts.

gunesv avisate ceto
gunas cetasi ca prajah
jivasya deha ubhayam
gunas ceto mad-atmanah

My dear sons, the mind has a natural proclivity to enter into the material sense objects, and similarly the sense objects enter into the mind; but both this material mind and the sense objects are merely designations that cover the spirit soul, who is part and parcel of Me. [SB 11. 13. 24, 25]

These verses make clear that at any time, place, or circumstance, the only real relationship the jiva has is with the Lord. But--and here, dear reader, kindly excuse me for introducing an exotic word into this explanation--this relationship is multivalent. The word valence means "the capacity of something to unite, react or interact with something else. " In short, valence is the potential for attachment as well as attachment's opposite, aversion. Now, a thing is called monovalent when it has only one site of attachment. For example, a room in which there is just a single electrical wall outlet could be said to have a "monovalent power point. " If you live in that room and are in need of house current to run your laptop computer, you have only one site of attachment to insert the plug. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, is unlimitedly multivalent.

Everyone Relates to Krishna Only

In the course of His reply to the sages, the Hamsa -avatara indicated that the living entities relate with Him in multiple material and multiple transcendental ways. But to relate with the Lord materially yields a different result from relating spiritually with Him. In his purport to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Adi 1. 56, Srila Prabhupada brings out the difference with the sharpest clarity.

One should understand, through the transparent medium of the spiritual master, that the Supreme Lord exists everywhere in His transcendental spiritual nature and that the living entities' relationships with the Lord are directly and indirectly existing everywhere, even in this material world. In the spiritual world there are five kinds of relationships with the Supreme Lord-- santa, asya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya. The perverted reflections of these rasas are found in the material world. Land, home, furniture and other inert material objects are related in santa,or the neutral and silent sense, whereas servants work in the dasya relationship. The reciprocation between friends is called sakhya,the affection of a parent for a child is known as vatsalya, and the affairs of conjugal love constitute madhurya. These five relationships in the material world are distorted reflections of the original pure sentiments, which should be understood and perfected in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. In the material world the perverted rasas bring frustration. If these rasas are reestablished with Lord Krsna, the result is eternal blissful life.

The material ways of relating to the Lord are hinted at in the two verses ( SB 11. 13. 24, 25) cited earlier. Even a nondevotee who is firmly absorbed in mundane consciousness has only Krishna to think about, to look at, and to discuss. Though agreeing with the Kumaras that the material mind pervades the material sense objects and the material sense objects pervade the material mind, the Hamsa- avatara pointed out that the covering of the spirit soul by designations of "I" (identification with mind) and "mine" (identification with sense objects) does not separate the living entity from Him. These designations are false. The fact is that in his true transcendental identity, the jivatma is always intimately related to Krishna as His part and parcel.

Earlier in this essay I remarked, "As we shall learn shortly from Srimad-Bhagavatam,this is precisely the case with the dualism of mind and sense objects: it is of a higher order of reality than we are able to grasp. " So now we have learned from Lord Hamsa's own lotus mouth that "Within this world, whatever is perceived by the mind, speech, eyes or other senses is Me alone and nothing besides Me. " The reality of what we think about, see, and discuss is found in the transcendental dimension of Krishna's own existence. It is outside the sphere of material consciousness.

Are the Mind and Sense Objects Real?

If everything we think about, see, and discuss is actually Krishna and His energy, we ought to have a care for comprehending rightly how the Lord's energy divides our consciousness from Him. It is careless logic to first concede that our conceptions of "I am the mind" and "the sense objects are mine" have no substance at all, and then proceed to the conclusion that the mind and sense objects are not real. (This is the logic of the fox and the grapes, by the way. ) If it be so that the mind and the sense objects are actually void, then ridding oneself of material consciousness would be snap. But it is not so, as we see so clearly from these prayers of Sri Prahlada Maharaja.

tvam vayur agnir avanir viyad ambu matrah
pranendriyani hrdayam cid anugrahas ca
sarvam tvam eva saguno vigunas ca bhuman
nanyat tvad asty api mano-vacasa niruktam

O Supreme Lord, You are actually the air, the earth, fire, sky and water. You are the objects of sense perception, the life airs, the five senses, the mind, consciousness and false ego. Indeed, You are everything, subtle and gross. The material elements and anything expressed, either by the words or by the mind, are nothing but You. [ SB 7. 9. 48]

tvam va idam sadasad isa bhavams tato 'nyo
maya yad atma-para-buddhir iyam hy apartha
yad yasya janma nidhanam sthitir iksanam ca
tad vaitad eva vasukalavad asti-tarvoh

My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, the entire cosmic creation is caused by You, and the cosmic manifestation is an effect of Your energy. Although the entire cosmos is but You alone, You keep Yourself aloof from it. The conception of "mine and yours," is certainly a type of illusion ( maya)because everything is an emanation from You and is therefore not different from You. Indeed, the cosmic manifestation is nondifferent from You, and the annihilation is also caused by You. This relationship between Your Lordship and the cosmos is illustrated by the example of the seed and the tree, or the subtle cause and the gross manifestation. [ SB 7. 9. 31]

The mind (the focal point of the false sense of "I") and the sense objects (the focal point of the false sense of "mine") are very real and, even more importantly, are very personal energies. Right now they are working against us. They work against us because we are plugged into a lower order of relationship--a sinful relationship--with their Lord, the Supreme Person. Therefore His energies punish us by enshrouding our consciousness with bewilderment. In our lower order of relationship with Krishna and His energy, we are helplessly sucked into dilemmas of "What am I and what is mine?" "What is mine and what is yours?" "What is mind and what is matter?" "What is true and what is false?" "What is good and what is evil?" "What is bondage and what is liberation?" This is dvandva-mohah, the illusion of duality (see Bg 7. 27). Srila Prabhupada said, "This dvandva-mohah exists with the sinful man, but one who is freed from all sinful reactions, resultant actions, he can understand Krishna. "

Lord Hamsa explained that as long as we do not understand the Lord's transcendental nature--which includes our own nature as His pure, nonmaterial parts and parcels--our relationship with Him will remain steeped in falsity. At present we believe ourselves to be the controllers and enjoyers of all we survey. But all we survey is really Krishna, Who is the real controller and enjoyer. This, our material perspective, forces upon our consciousness the material mind, senses, and sense objects, just as looking through red lenses forces us to see the world as red. But the world is not red. Similarly, Krishna and His energy are not ours to control and enjoy. Nor is consciousness a product or function of mind, senses, and sense objects. All that is merely the false perpective of material vision.

When materialism is renounced, the mind, senses and their objects are at last understood to be different from the true self. "A person who has thus achieved Me by understanding that he is not different from Me," said Lord Hamsa in Text 26, "realizes that the material mind is lodged within the sense objects because of constant sense gratification, and that the material objects are existing prominently within the material mind. Having understood My transcendental nature, he gives up both the material mind and its objects. "

A Useless Question

Because our identification with the mind and sense objects is false, in Text 23 the Lord mildly chastised the four Kumaras with the phrase, iti vah prasno vacarambho hy anarthakah. This means that their inquiry about the self as something involved in the mutual relationship ( anyonya)of the mind and sense objects was a useless string of words. The self is never enmeshed in the interaction of the mind and sense objects; its relationship is with Sri Krishna alone. Thus all the talk since the beginning of history about our mental problems, about our struggles with our attachments, amounts to merely the persistence of human illusion.

The destruction of that illusion starts when we seek to revive our relationship with the Lord as per His instructions. In verses 39 and 40, the Hamsa- avatara approved Vedic methods of knowledge, action, austerity, culture and so on by which the living entity may begin to associate with Him and thus share His transcendental presence everywhere.

O best of the brahmanas,please know that I am the supreme shelter of the yoga system, analytic philosophy, virtuous action, truthful religious principles, power, beauty, fame and self-control.

All superior transcendental qualities, such as being beyond the modes of nature, detached, the well-wisher, the most dear, the Supersoul, equally situated everywhere, and free from material entanglement--all such qualities, free from the transformations of material qualities, find their shelter and worshipable object in Me.

The Instructions of the Hamsa- avatara Summarized

According to My instructions, one should fix the mind on Me alone. If, however, one continues to see many different values and goals in life rather than seeing everything within Me, then although apparently awake, one is actually dreaming due to incomplete knowledge, just as one may dream that one has wakened from a dream. [ SB 11. 13. 30]

You will recall that the Hamsa- avatara's transcendental instructions are narrated by Lord Krishna in reply to a question of Uddhava about the conflicted self: how can it be that a man of knowledge is still capable of acting like a dog, an ass, or a goat? This verse 30 above is a beacon into the heart of the problem raised by Uddhava. That person is simply dreaming who fails to see that his immediate field of activities and the world beyond are ever within Krishna. He may believe himself awake due to some theoretical knowledge or pious conviction. But in fact his spiritual nature is still asleep. Now, we all have ample experience of the craziness of the dream state. Yesterday a friend told me that he dreamed of playing golf with a prominent ISKCON guru who has thousands of disciples around the world. Such irrational mental imagery illustrates the power of our subconscious desires over our surface thought processes. In verse 30 the Hamsa- avatara warns us that a person who is not Krishna conscious lives twenty-four hours a day in such a dream-world. At any moment, despite the neat structures of reason he has installed in his head, his mind may be overcome by irrational desires. He will suddenly find himself acting like a dog, an ass, or a goat.

Human Mentality is a Passionate Dream

In a later chapter of this Eleventh Canto, Sri Krishna reveals that beneath our wakeful thoughts and perceptions is an undercurrent of mental energy known as svapna, the level of dreaming--which, as we shall soon see, Srila Prabhupada identifies as "the subconscious mind. " This svapna is an effect of the mode of passion upon consciousness.

sattvaj jagaranam vidyad
rajasa svapnam adiset
prasvapam tamasa jantos
turiyam trisu santatam

One should know that wakefulness is born of the mode of goodness, dreams from the mode of passion, and deep dreamless sleep from the mode of ignorance. The fourth element, pure consciousness, is different from these three and pervades them. [SB 11. 25. 20]

A detailed understanding of the three modes of material nature is indispensible to Vedic psychology. But now I must limit the scope of this essay to the key points of relationship and attachment. These are features of the mode of passion.

In Srimad-Bhagavatam 10. 24. 22, Lord Krishna tells Nanda Maharaja, rajasotpadyate visvam anyonyam vividham jagat. Here again we meet the word anyonya, by which the Lord refers to sexual relationships. He says that the mode of passion is the cause of 1) universal creation, 2) the sexual relationships of all creatures, and 3) all varieties within creation. In Bhagavad-gita 14. 12 He tells Arjuna that as the mode of passion increases, great attachment is the result.

The material intelligence is described by Lord Kapiladeva in Srimad- Bhagavatam 3. 26. 29. He says its function is to distinguish between varieties of sense objects and to help the senses make choices among them. This type of buddhi, which plans our relationships with the objects of the senses, is a creation of the mode of passion. Explaining the effect of the mode of passion on intellectual activities, Srila Prabhupada states in a Gita purport that it gives rise "to many theories and doctrines by dint of mundane logic and mental speculation. " [Bg 18. 22p]

In another Gita purport, Prabhupada writes:

There are two classes of intelligent men. One is intelligent in material activities for sense gratification, and the other is introspective and awake to the cultivation of self-realization.

Activities of the introspective sage, or thoughtful man, are night for persons materially absorbed. Materialistic persons remain asleep in such a night due to their ignorance of self-realization. The introspective sage remains alert in the "night" of the materialistic men. The sage feels transcendental pleasure in the gradual advancement of spiritual culture, whereas the man in materialistic activities, being asleep to self-realization, dreams of varieties of sense pleasure, feeling sometimes happy and sometimes distressed in his sleeping condition. [Bg 2. 69p]

This is life in the mode of passion. This is our life, o fellow human being! Srimad-Bhagavatam 3. 6. 28 informs us that the human species is rajah-svabhavena, of the nature of the rajo-guna. Psychologically speaking, what this means is that we have a strong proclivity for dreaming even while we are awake. Day and night we relate to varieties of sense objects that pervade the mind. Day and night we form emotional attachments to mere mental images! Remember, as was explained before, even the greatest intellects of earth and heaven are unable to separate the "mental" from the "image" and so reveal a factual anyah (other) with whom we could have a real exchange.

In dreams we create so many things out of various impressions in the subconscious mind, but all such creations are simply temporary and unreal. In the same way, although apparently we are awake in material life, because we have no information of the soul and the Supersoul, we create many friends and enemies simply out of imagination. [SB 4. 9. 33p]

We become attached to these imaginary friends and enemies, develop strong desires for them--especially sexual desires--and then, as happens in dreams, our lives spin out of control due to these same desires born of attachment. Attempting to make sense of all this, we resort to many theories and doctrines, including those of mundane psychology. These ideas too are simply products of the mode of passion.

Who is Behind Passionate Attraction?

avidyamano 'py avabhasate yo
vaikariko rajasa-sarga esah
brahma svayam jyotir ato vibhati
brahmendriyarthatma-vikara-citram

Although thus not existing in reality, this manifestation of transformations created from the mode of passion appears real because the self-manifested, self-luminous Absolute Truth exhibits Himself in the form of the material variety of the senses, the sense objects, the mind and the elements of physical nature. [SB 11. 28. 22]

Here the attractive features of creation are depicted as illusory exhibitions of the Lord's Brahman feature (brahma svayam jyotir); but another verse describes how the bodies, senses, minds, names and forms of the world are exhibitions of the transcendentally beautiful forms of the Personality of Godhead and His divine consort.

guna-vyaktir iyam devi
vyanjako guna-bhug bhavan
tvam hi sarva-sariry atma
srih sarirendriyasayah
nama-rupe bhagavati
pratyayas tvam apasrayah

Mother Laksmi, who is here, is the reservoir of all spiritual qualities, whereas You manifest and enjoy all these qualities. Indeed, You are actually the enjoyer of everything. You live as the Supersoul of all living entities, and the goddess of fortune is the form of their bodies, senses and minds. She also has a holy name and form, whereas You are the support of all such names and forms and the cause for their manifestation. [SB 6. 19. 13]

As Srila Prabhupada explains in a 1976 Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture, there is no contradiction between the One Absolute Truth presented in SB 11. 28. 22 and the Divine Couple depicted in SB 6. 19. 13. "She [Goddess Laksmi] is Narayana in a different energy only. Radha-krsna- pranaya-vikrtir ahladini saktih. She is the manifestation of the pleasure potency of the Lord. The Lord has got unlimited potencies, parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate. So one of the potency is Radharani or Laksmi or Sita. They are equal. There is no difference. Radha- krsna-pranaya-vikrtir ahladini-saktir asmat: these loving affairs between Radharani and Krsna or Narayana and Laksmi or Sita and Rama. They are both of Them the same. One is potency; another is potent. That is the difference, potent and potency. "

In our human condition of the mode of passion, we mistake the pure, spiritual, intimate affairs of the supreme potent and His potency to be the macrocosmic and microcosmic exhibition of material relationships and material attachments. This is due to the bedazzling hold of the Lord's potency over the fallen souls: iyam hi prakrtih suksma-maya- saktir duratyaya--"Mother Laksmi is extremely difficult to understand because she is so powerful that the jurisdiction of her power is difficult to overcome. Mother Laksmi is represented in the material world as the external energy, but actually she is always the internal energy of the Lord. " [SB 6. 19. 11]

Finding the Truth in Relationships

Fortunately for us, there is a program of rectification built into the passionate, perverted misconception of the relationship between the Lord and His consort.

tasya adhisvarah saksat
tvam eva purusah parah
tvam sarva-yajna ijyeyam
kriyeyam phala-bhug bhavan

My Lord, You are the master of energy, and therefore You are the Supreme Person. You are sacrifice (yajna) personified. Laksmi, the embodiment of spiritual activities, is the original form of worship offered unto You, whereas You are the enjoyer of all sacrifices. [SB 6. 19. 12]

It was explained before that the "subtle organon of great nature" means the organic relationship of bhoktya, bhogyam and prerita (soul, matter and Supreme Lord). Matter is actually Mother Laksmi, who is the original form of worship offered to the Supreme Lord. The Lord is the personification and enjoyer of yajna, sacrifice. The soul is nondifferent from the Lord as His subordinate part and parcel. Thus the soul is the Lord's assistant in yajna. The ideal organic interaction of bhoktya, bhogyam and prerita is therefore devotional sacrifice, in which the soul follows the Lord's instructions: tam eva yuyam bhajatatma-vrttibhir mano-vacah-kaya- gunaih sva-karmabhih, "Unto Him, the Supreme Controller, you, the spirit soul, are to render worshipful engagements of body, words, and mind according to the qualities of your work. " [SB 4. 21. 33] In the purport Srila Prabhupada assure us, "If one engages himself seriously in devotional service, working with body, mind and intelligence, he is sure to be successful in going back home, back to Godhead. "

Such is the "subtle organon of great nature," the healthy state of thought and action throughout the universe. Unfortunately, we who exist at the human level of consciousness are susceptible to the infection of the mode of passion. This perverts our part in the rasa (relationship) of the Lord and His consort; and as we have seen Srila Prabhupada explain before, the perversion of rasa brings frustration.

Frustration and Voidism

In frustration, under the influence of passionate mental speculation, we worry our brains about how to negate the natural relationship of the energies of the Lord and His consort. In Srimad-Bhagavatam 3. 27. 17, Devahuti asks her transcendental son Lord Kapila a question very similar to the the one the four Kumaras asked their father Brahma. She too employs the word anyonya:

purusam prakrtir brahman
na vimuncati karhicit
anyonyapasrayatvac ca
nityatvad anayoh prabho

Sri Devahuti inquired: My dear brahmana, does material nature ever give release to the spirit soul? Since one is attracted to the other eternally, how is their separation possible?

We saw before that Lord Hamsa regarded the inquiry of the four sages to be anarthakah, "useless. " In his purport to Devahuti's question, Srila Prabhupada writes, "This question asked by Devahuti of Kapiladeva is more or less impelled by the philosophy of voidism. The voidists say that consciousness is a product of a combination of matter and that as soon as the consciousness is gone, the material combination dissolves, and therefore there is ultimately nothing but voidness. This absence of consciousness is called nirvana in Mayavada philosophy. "

The Reply of Lord Kapiladeva

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One can get liberation by seriously discharging devotional service unto Me and thereby hearing for a long time about Me or from Me. By thus executing one's prescribed duties, there will be no reaction, and one will be freed from the contamination of matter. [SB 3. 27. 21]

Srila Prabhupada comments, ". . . the liberated soul is not affected, although he is in the material nature. Even the Supreme Personality of Godhead is supposed to be in association with material nature when He descends, but He is not affected. One has to act in such a way that in spite of being in the material nature he is not affected by contamination. Although the lotus flower is in association with water, it does not mix with the water. . . Yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra: all activities should be performed simply for Yajna, or the satisfaction of Vishnu. Anything done otherwise, without the satisfaction of Vishnu, or Yajna, produces bondage, so here it is also prescribed by Kapila Muni that one can transcend material entanglement by acting in Krishna consciousness, which means seriously engaging in devotional service. This serious devotional service can develop by hearing for long periods of time. Chanting and hearing is the beginning of the process of devotional service. "

Commenting upon a statement by Maharaja Pariksit in Srimad-Bhagavatam 10. 1. 4 (nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad bhavausadhac), Srila Prabhupada adds, "Actually, chanting can be perfectly done by persons who are already liberated. But those who are not liberated? Then he says, bhavausadhi. But it is the medicine of this material entanglement for becoming liberated. That is also, it is also medicine. When we are liberated, we'll chant and relish what is actually love of God. That is liberated. But even if we are not liberated, this will act as medicine to become liberated. So any stage, nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad bhavausadhac. Those who are chanting, they'll be liberated. "

The Topmost Relationship, the Topmost Attachment

Thus the infection of the mode of passion is cured by chanting the holy names of the Lord. And when one is cured, the chanting is the pure expression of transcendental relationship. In Srimad-Bhagavatam 10. 22. 6 it is said of the anyonya or relationship that the gopis enjoyed amongst one another:

usasy utthaya gotraih svair
anyonyabaddha-bahavah
krsnam uccair jagur yantyah
kalindyam snatum anvaham

Each day they rose at dawn. Calling out to one another by name, they all held hands and loudly sang the glories of Krishna while going to the Kalindi to take their bath.

We have seen that in reference to the material world, the word anyonya indicates passionate sexual relationships. In reference to the spiritual world, it means the pure passion of conjugal rasa. The following verse, so stunning in its beauty, is a perfect illustration of that divine love:

tatrarabhata govindo
rasa-kridam anuvrataih
stri-ratnair anvitah pritair
anyonyabaddha-bahubhih

There on the Yamuna's banks Lord Govinda then began the pastime of the rasa dance in the company of those jewels among women, the faithful gopis, who joyfully linked their arms together. [SB 10. 33. 2]

The Middle Ground

So far, much of this essay has compared and contrasted rajas and rasa: passionate material attachment and the attachment of transcendental love. As seen from the reply of Lord Kapiladeva, graduating from the lower attachment to the higher takes a long time (ciram) of serious devotional service (tivraya mayi bhaktya) and hearing about Krishna (sruta). During that long time, we must stand upon a middle ground between the attachment we have but don't want (rajas) and the attachment we want but don't have (rasa). What is that middle ground?

It is not my wish to overload the reader's mind with an excess of information. But as I cited from an Upanisad in the Introduction to this series of essays, only one who desires liberation can attain it; and the desire for liberation is evident in one's willingness to investigate the philosophy of liberation, Vedanta. So, in order to explain the middle ground between rajas and rasa I must introduce you to two important terms of Vedanta philosophy: vyavahara and paramartha. You will meet these words again as this series of essays develops. Let us now go through the small austerity of learning what they mean.

A simple definition of these two words is found in Cc Antya 4. 159. Here vyavahara means "ordinary dealings" and paramartha means "affairs of spiritual advancement. " In his purport to Bhagavat-gita 7. 24, Srila Prabhupada cites a verse by Sri Yamunacarya (Strotra- ratna 12) that classifies the characteristics, form and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as paramartha (transcendental subject matter). This verse concludes, naivasura-prakrtayah prabhavanti boddhum, those of demonic nature (i. e. those whose minds are polluted by rajas and tamas) never understand paramartha. In the Manu-smrti, the Vedic lawbook of mankind, vyavahara means eighteen institutions of social, moral and justice administration that keep in check the demonic nature. Among these eighteen institutions are marriage, obeying orders, keeping promises, legal settlement of disputes, civil speech and civil behavior. In short, vyavahara is the relationship of human beings guided by Vedic regulation. Paramartha is the transcendental relationship of liberated souls and the Supreme Lord.

But it is a mistake to think that vyavahara affairs, being "of this world only," are unrelated to the Supreme Lord. In fact He has His own vyavahara pastimes:

virad hiranya-garbhas ca
karanam cety upadhayah
isasya yat tribhir hinam
turiyam tat pracaksate

In the material world the Lord is designated as virat, hiranyagarbha and karana. But beyond these three designations, the Lord is ultimately in the fourth dimension [i. e. the transcendental realm of paramartha].

yadyapi tinera maya la-iya vyavahara
tathapi tat-sparsa nahi, sabhe maya-para

Although these three features of the Lord deal directly with the material energy, none of them are touched by it. They are all beyond illusion. [Cc Adi 2. 53, 54]

We have met with the words virat and hiranyagarbha already; the first is the universal form of the lotus flower upon which Brahma sits to do his work of creation, and the second is Garbhodakasayi Vishnu out of whose navel the lotus grows. The word karana refers to Maha- Vishnu. He is known as Karanabdhisayi Vishnu because He lies down on the karanabdhi, the Causal Ocean. Garbhodakasayi Vishnu or Hiranyagarbha has thousands of heads, eyes, arms and legs because He expands from Maha-Vishnu into thousands of universes. The universal form (virat) that expands from each and every Garbhodakasayi Vishnu is said to be a feature of Ksirodakasayi-Vishnu, who lies on the Milk Ocean and guides the wanderings of the living entities from within their hearts (see Cc Madhya 21. 39p).

As we have seen above in Cc. Adi 2. 54, the three Vishnus are said to be maya la-iya vyavahara, "taking up dealings with the material energy. " But, tathapi tat-sparsa nahi, "they are not touched by maya. " The verse that follows the two quoted above begins with the words etat isanam isasya, which means "This is the opulence of the Lord. " The Lord displays the wonder of His material creation for the spiritual upliftment of souls in the lower modes of nature. Srila Prabhupada explains in Nectar of Devotion:

Even uncivilized men like the aborigines offer their respectful obeisances to something wonderful exhibited by nature's law, and they appreciate that behind some wonderful exhibition or action there is something supreme. So this consciousness, though lying dormant in those who are materially contaminated, is found in every living entity. And, when purified, this is called Krishna consciousness. [NOD Ch. 2]

Now, a sadhaka may ask, "What do the Lord's vyavaraha pastimes have to do with me?" Well, sadhana-bhakti is like a regimen of medical treatments aimed at curing the infection of the lower modes of nature. One of the treatments is learning about the cosmic opulence of the Lord. This knowledge curbs down our passionate propensity to imagine ourselves the lords of creation. In Narada-bhakti-sutra 23, Narada Muni harshly condemns those who attempt to penetrate the intimate paramartha pastimes without having been schooled in the greatness of the Lord's vyavahara pastimes of creating, maintaining and destroying the material manifestation.

tad-vihinam jaranam iva

Shows of devotion without knowledge of God's greatness, on the other hand, are no better than the affairs of illicit lovers.

As the Lord performs His own vyavahara duties ever untouched by maya, so should the Lord's devotees. Narada-bhakti-sutra 62:

na tad-siddhau loka-vyavaharo heyah kintu phala-tyagas

Even after devotional service has been achieved one should not abandon his responsibilities in this world, but rather should surrender the results of work. And while still trying to reach the stage of pure devotion one certainly must continue executing prescribed duties.

Lord Caitanya says, dharma-sthapana-hetu sadhura vyavahara: "A devotee's behavior establishes the true purpose of religious principles. " [Cc. Madhya 17. 185] In other words, sadhura vyavahara--the behavior of devotees within the material world--is the middle ground where dharma-sthapana-hetu, the difference between right and wrong, is made clear. Furthermore it is said, bhava-grahanera hetu kaila dharma-sthapana, "To accept ecstatic love is the main reason Lord Caitanya appeared and reestablished the religious system for this age. " [Cc. Adi 4. 53] Thus by following the practical example of Lord Caitanya and His pure representative Srila Prabhupada, we too can obtain ecstatic love, which is paramartha. The conclusion is that since paramartha is beyond our present comprehension, we must form our understanding of healthy psychology from the vyavahara pastimes of the Lord and His pure devotees.

Mental Torment

Srimad-Bhagavatam 11. 28. 28 describes the abnormal psychology of devotees who are somehow or other slow to the cure of vyavahara (relationships regulated by Vedic culture).

Just as an improperly treated disease recurs and gives repeated distress to the patient, the mind that is not completely purified of its perverted tendencies will remain attached to material things and repeatedly torment the imperfect yogi.

Therefore a well-known verse encourages us to enter strong relationships with devotees who are nicely situated in devotional service; thus in their association, our attachments will surely be purified.

prasangam ajaram pasam
atmanah kavayo viduh
sa eva sadhusu krto
moksa-dvaram apavrtam

Every learned man knows very well that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement of the spirit soul. But that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the door of liberation.

[SB 3. 25. 20]

But it is right here, in our relationships with devotees, that a working understanding of transcendental psychology becomes crucial. As I stated in the beginning of this essay, "relationship is the central issue of psychology. " If we are not aware of the workings of our own mind, if we are not aware of the nature of its interaction with other minds, if we are not attentive to the vyavahara culture of relationships, then we won't be able to guard ourselves from envy. When envy creeps into the relationships of devotees, the purification of lusty desires that sastra says comes from sadhu-sangha is severely hampered.

In the following verse we once again meet the word anyonya, "relationship. " But now it is coupled with vairah, "enviousness. " Just see the terrible result!

lokah svayam sreyasi nasta-drstir
yo 'rthan samiheta nikama-kamah
anyonya-vairah sukha-lesa-hetor
ananta-duhkham ca na veda mudhah

Due to ignorance, the materialistic person does not know anything about his real self-interest, the auspicious path in life. He is simply bound to material enjoyment by lusty desires, and all his plans are made for this purpose. For temporary sense gratification, such a person creates a society of envy, and due to this mentality, he plunges into the ocean of suffering. Such a foolish person does not even know about this. [SB 5. 5. 16]

Siddhanta-alasa

In Prakrta-rasa Sata-dusini, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes, siddhanta-alasa jana anartha to' chade na: "A person who is siddhanta-alasa, lazy in understanding philosophical truth, cannot cross over the obstacles of his material conditioning. "

In Srimad-Bhagavatam 5. 14. 29 and 30 we find a link between a careless, misguided and lazy attitude toward the investigation of the Vaishnava Vedanta philosophy and the appearance of lust, envy and offensiveness in association with devotees.

The pseudo svamis, yogis and incarnations who do not believe in the Supreme Personality of Godhead are known as pasandis. They themselves are fallen and cheated because they do not know the real path of spiritual advancement, and whoever goes to them is certainly cheated in his turn.

(My dear reader, I am shortly interrupting this quotation to point out that most of us came to ISKCON after having been cheated by bogus spiritualists. These cheaters infected us with siddhanta-alasa, laziness to know the science of Godhead. Now let us continue the translation of SB 5. 14. 29, 30. )

When one is thus cheated, he sometimes takes shelter of the real followers of Vedic principles (brahmanas or those in Krsna consciousness), who teach everyone how to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the Vedic rituals. However, being unable to stick to these principles, these rascals again fall down and take shelter among sudras who are very expert in making arrangements for sex indulgence. Sex is very prominent among animals like monkeys, and such people who are enlivened by sex may be called descendants of monkeys.

In this way the descendants of the monkeys intermingle with each other, and they are generally known as sudras. Without hesitating, they live and move freely, not knowing the goal of life. They are captivated simply by seeing the faces of one another, which remind them of sense gratification. They are always engaged in material activities, known as gramya-karma, and they work hard for material benefit. Thus they forget completely that one day their small life spans will be finished and they will be degraded in the evolutionary cycle.

The Sanskrit of the above two verses is too lengthy to reproduce here in full, but a couple of phrases are of special relevance. One is ati-krpana-buddhih, "whose intelligence is dull because he does not properly utilize his assets;" and another is anyonya mukha-niriksana- adina, "by seeing the faces of one another (when a man sees the beautiful face of a woman and the woman sees the strong build of the man's body, they always desire one another). " No need to elaborate. There are enough graphic illustrations of this tragic process of falldown in the nearly forty years of ISKCON's history.

Humility or Argumentation?

With sincerest humility, Sri Prahlada Maharaja counts himself among the souls who have drifted down to the abominable state of helpless addiction to sense gratification. He is most embarrassed to observe how his senses drag him in many directions at once.

jihvaikato 'cyuta vikarsati mavitrpta
sisno 'nyatas tvag-udaram sravanam kutascit
ghrano 'nyatas capala-drk kva ca karma-saktir
bahvyah sapatnya iva geha-patim lunanti

My dear Lord, O infallible one, my position is like that of a person who has many wives, all trying to attract him in their own way. For example, the tongue is attracted to palatable dishes, the genitals to sex with an attractive woman, and the sense of touch to contact with soft things. The belly, although filled, still wants to eat more, and the ear, not attempting to hear about You, is generally attracted to cinema songs. The sense of smell is attracted to yet another side, the restless eyes are attracted to scenes of sense gratification, and the active senses are attracted elsewhere. In this way I am certainly embarrassed. [SB 7. 9. 40]

Therefore in the next verse Prahlada Maharaja prays most fervently to the Lord to deliver him from anonya janma-marana-asana-bhita-bhitam: birth and death, one after another, which come from asana, consuming vulgar sense objects on one side, and bhita-bhitam, being pursued by many fears on the other side.

Unlike the great soul Sri Prahlada, that person who has turned his back on devotion to the Lord due to enviousness and offensiveness does not humbly pray for deliverance from birth, death, sensual hunger, and gnawing fear. He resorts instead to passionate speculation and argumentation. Lord Krishna tells Uddhava:

The speculative argument of philosophers--"This world is real," "No, it is not real"--is based upon incomplete knowledge of the Supreme Soul and is simply aimed at understanding material dualities. Although such argument is useless, persons who have turned their attention away from Me, their own true Self, are unable to give it up. [SB 11. 22. 34]

Such endless speculative argumentation over various dualities--the sort of topics discussed at many a vegetarian pizza party in our present day--is a symptom of mental disturbance. That is the verdict of Krishna Himself in Srimad-Bhagavatam 11. 28. 36.

Whatever apparent duality is perceived in the self is simply the confusion of the mind. Indeed, such supposed duality has no basis to rest upon apart from one's own soul.

This means that as long as we are not self-realized, the problems we complain that we meet "out there" in the world around us are really met by us within our own selves. Repeatedly in this chapter 28 of Canto 11, Lord Krishna dismisses the spirit soul's troubled experience of the material world as being no better than a dream, which is just an illusory vision seen by the soul within the mental layers of his contaminated consciousness. (See 11. 28. 3, 13, 14, and 32; and elsewhere in Srimad-Bhagavatam, see 3. 27. 4; 4. 29. 35 and 73; and 11. 22. 56. )

In 11. 28. 37, Krishna sweeps away all attempts to argue otherwise.

The duality of the five material elements is perceived only in terms of names and forms. Those who say this duality is real are pseudoscholars vainly proposing fanciful theories without basis in fact.

Unfortunately, I have observed a tendency in more than a few members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to sweep away all such statements of Lord Krishna as being "just for the karmis. " It is as if we have just to place a tilak mark upon the forehead of the dream of duality, just "ISKCONize" it, then it is real. But rather than sweep away pages and pages of Bhagavatam verses with a shrug, we should investigate their proper application.

Lord Krishna does not say that the disturbances of duality that affect the lives of devotees are to be ignored because they are just dreams. He does not say we ought to do nothing about them. What he does say is that speculating, gossiping, and arguing about them is no solution!

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One should neither praise nor criticize the conditioned nature and activities of other persons. Rather, one should see this world as simply the combination of material nature and the enjoying souls, all based on the one Absolute Truth.

Whoever indulges in praising or criticizing the qualities and behavior of others will quickly become deviated from his own best interest by his entanglement in illusory dualities.

One who has properly understood the process of becoming firmly fixed in theoretical and realized knowledge, as described herein by Me, does not indulge in material criticism or praise. Like the sun, he wanders freely throughout this world. [SB 11. 28. 1, 2 and 8]

The Psychological Treatment Prescribed by Krishna Himself

"So what should we do about our problems?" comes the agonized wail. Well, the first step is to take the humble position. That means to accept that we are struggling with duality (which means only that our minds are giving us trouble) because we are weak in knowing ourselves to be pure spirit soul. Having accepted this, we can go on to accept Lord Krishna's personal prescription for curing our weak psychological condition. (Remember, psyche means "soul," so real psychology lifts us up to transcendental self-realization. )

As we have seen above, in Chapter 28 of Canto 11 Lord Krishna instructs Uddhava how to separate the soul from duality by transcendental knowledge. But Uddhava, like Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita 6. 33, feared the mind is too powerful to be subdued by yogic knowledge alone. In the first verse of Chapter 29 he says:

My dear Lord Acyuta, I fear that the method of yoga described by You is very difficult for one who cannot control his mind. Therefore please explain to me in simple terms how someone can more easily execute it.

In the next verse he makes an important observation:

O lotus-eyed Lord, generally those yogis who try to steady the mind experience frustration because of their inability to perfect the state of trance. Thus they weary in their attempt to bring the mind under control.

The word frustration (visidanti--"becomes frustrated") is indicative of the mode of ignorance, which is where passionate endeavors end up. The human being, situated as he is in the mode of passion, works himself to frustration even in "spiritual" activities. Thus he grows weary of sadhana and may become victimized by voidistic ideas. Like the Kumaras and Mother Devahuti, he may speculate on how to separate the mind from the sense objects. He soon finds himself facing only two choices: to either negate his existence, or to surrender to "his nature" (meaning material nature). Nowadays the second choice is by far the more popular one. It is defended by arguing wrongly from the Gita, "What can repression accomplish?"

Sri Krishna answers Uddhava by speaking about the performance of devotional service in unbroken consciousness of Him. The Lord's reply in Chapter 29 of this Uddhava-gita covers many verses; I shall only cite a few here.

kuryat sarvani karmani
mad-artham sanakaih smaran
mayy arpita-manas-citto
mad-dharmatma-mano-ratih

Always remembering Me, one should perform all his duties for Me without becoming impetuous. With mind and intelligence offered to Me, one should fix his mind in attraction to My devotional service. [SB 11. 29. 9]

Kuryat sarvani karmani: a devotee should do all his duties. This may place him in the midst of conflict, just as Arjuna found himself at Kuruksetra. But that is no excuse for becoming impetuous (passionate). Here the word sanakaih means we should go forward "gradually" or "step by step. " The same point is made by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita 6. 25 (sanaih sanair uparamed). As a poet wrote, "The bird that flutters least is longest on the wing. " A bird like the albatross soars along the wind currents above the ocean for hundreds of miles with hardly a beat of its wings; the wings of the small birds we see in our garden flap rapidly, but these birds travel short distances only. We should patiently work at becoming truly attached to the Lord in all our services, and through that attachment, always remember Him. Thus by His grace we may soar like the albatross over the great ocean of material existence, back home, Back to Godhead.

naresv abhiksnam mad-bhavam
pumso bhavayato 'cirat
spardhasuya-tiraskarah
sahankara viyanti hi

For him who constantly meditates upon My presence within all persons, the bad tendencies of rivalry, envy and abusiveness, along with false ego, are very quickly destroyed. [SB 11. 29. 15]

Here Lord Krishna explains how envy steals into our minds to poison our relationships. When we are with equals, it appears in the mind as rivalry. When we are with superiors, it appears as envy in the sense of resentment towards those in higher positions. And when we are with subordinates, it appears as abusiveness. The cure is in learning to see Krishna within the hearts of all our associates, whether they are above, below or equal to us.

A question might be, "What about when we are with people who are themselves bad? How do we relate to them?" In vyavahara culture there are codes of civilized conduct. Civilized persons, whether personally "good" or "bad", observe these codes out of respect for the social order. Someone who flouts such codes is barbaric and thus subject to punishment by law, if not the law of the state then certainly the law of karma. However, if we view a person, no matter how barbaric, as wicked to the core, then that is the beginning of wickedness in ourselves. Beyond the wickedness that our senses and mind perceive in passionate human nature is the all-good Sri Krishna. We must gradually come to the paramartha platform of seeing and hearing Him always.

Coming to the paramartha platform is likewise the answer to all our questions about personal low self-esteem. Low self-esteem is the condition of an individual who relates badly to his own self. He is discouraged, ashamed, despairing, and angry at his imperfections and falldowns. We should learn to see beyond the faults that cover our hearts to Krishna within the core of our hearts. Furthermore we should learn to see how Krishna sees us. Only looking at "ourselves" (our minds) through the modes of nature that pervert our minds is the problem of the conflicted mind described at the beginning of this essay. In the following verse, so wonderfully inspiring and strength- giving, the Lord assures Uddhava:

samahitaih kah karanair gunatmabhir
guno bhaven mat-suvivikta-dhamnah
viksipyamanair uta kim nu dusanam
ghanair upetair vigatai raveh kim

For one who has properly realized My personal identity as the Supreme Godhead, what credit is there if his senses--mere products of the material modes--are perfectly concentrated in meditation? And on the other hand, what blame is incurred if his senses happen to become agitated? Indeed, what does it mean to the sun if the clouds come and go? [SB 11. 28. 25]

The next verse from Chapter 29 of the Uddhava-gita is a hammer-blow to the mode of passion that infects our human minds and emotions.

yo yo mayi pare dharmah
kalpyate nisphalaya cet
tad-ayaso nirarthah syad
bhayader iva sattama

O Uddhava, greatest of saints, in a dangerous situation an ordinary person cries, becomes fearful and laments, although such useless emotions do not change the situation. But activities offered to Me without personal motivation, even if they are externally useless, amount to the actual process of religion. [SB 11. 29. 21]

We get so excited over our relationships and attachments. We burn up so much emotional energy in fear, anger and lamentation. But for what result? All human relationships must end, all human attachments must break. Yet it is difficult for us to find the energy to do a little service for Krishna, to chant his holy name and offer Him a flower, because in the mode of passion we fail to catch the eternal benefit of such acts of devotion.

This verse is also an interesting lesson about boldness and self- control in Krishna consciousness. One who thinks the greatest evil is danger to his body, his mental peace, or the security of his social position cannot be bold in serving Krishna, even though he may be self- controlled. One who thinks that the greatest good is the reward, respect and honor that follows his doing externally useful service cannot be self-controlled, even though he may be bold.

Now I shall cite three verses from Chapter 29 of this Uddhava-gita in which Lord Krishna echos 18. 68-71 of His Bhagavad-gita.

One who liberally disseminates this knowledge among My devotees is the bestower of the Absolute Truth, and to him I give My very own self.

He who loudly recites this supreme knowledge, which is the most lucid and purifying, becomes purified day by day, for he reveals Me to others with the lamp of transcendental knowledge.

Anyone who regularly listens to this knowledge with faith and attention, all the while engaging in My pure devotional service, will never become bound by the reactions of material work. [SB 11. 29. 26-28]

To conclude this essay, let me remind the reader of a statement made by Kapiladeva concerning bhakti-yoga, the process Sri Krishna recommends to Uddhava and to Arjuna for overcoming the uncontrolled mind.

jarayaty asu ya kosam
nigirnam analo yatha

Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat. [SB 3. 25. 33]

Srila Prabhupada explains:

Bhakti is in a far higher position than mukti because a person's endeavor to get liberation from the material encagement is automatically served in devotional service. The example is given here that the fire in the stomach can digest whatever we eat. If the digestive power is sufficient, then whatever we can eat will be digested by the fire in the stomach. Similarly, a devotee does not have to try separately to attain liberation. That very service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the process of his liberation because to engage oneself in the service of the Lord is to liberate oneself from material entanglement. Sri Bilvamangala Thakura explained this position very nicely. He said, "If I have unflinching devotion unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, then mukti, or liberation, serves me as my maidservant. Mukti, the maidservant, is always ready to do whatever I ask. "

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