Avoid the Path of Self-Deception
Nowadays it has become very fashionable to concoct one's own pathway of self-realization. Take a little from here, take a little from there, stir it around with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Shake it up, shake it down, shake it all around. Let it sit overnight. And then, lo and behold out comes your own personally concocted pathway of self-realization? No. You have just manufactured your own custom designed pathway of self deception.
If you want the actual pathway of self-realization, the pathway which will factually liberate you from the cycle of birth of death, you must follow that trail that has carefully blazed through the wilderness of ignorance by the great saintly teachers of the past. This is confirmed as follows in the Mahabharata:
mahajano yena gatah sa panthah
"One should traverse the trail chalked out by the previous great acharyas."
---Mahabharata, Vana-parva (313.117)
These great acharyas, fully self-realized spiritual masters, also did not concoct their own path. They took their information from their predecessor acharyas, who took their inform from their predecessor acharyas, all the way back, back, back until we come to the original spiritual master, God Himself, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This true pathway will liberate anyone who sincerely follows it.
If we came to this Mrityuloka, the world of birth and death, because we wanted to be independent enjoyers - enjoyers independent of the Lord, then what is the guarantee that after all these efforts when we get back home - back to Godhead, we will not again make the same mistake?
Again, Srimad Bhagavatam speaks of the state of `sada pashyanti surayaha', ie. a state from where the living entity, the jivatma only sees light, light and light. Never again, can Maya then suppress him under her might.
If once we were in the spiritual sky, how did the jivatma, the living entity, come under Maya? If we say that the jivatma was under Maya from the very beginning, and has never had the great opportunity of divine light, then that makes sense.
But if we say, that the jivatma was once in the spiritual sky and subsequently came down to the world of birth and death, Mrityuloka, to undergo this torture, then I am afraid the same history may be repeated. We may go to the Kingdom of God and again opt out of it. Kindly give in your comments.
Yours in the services of Lord Krishna,
B H Sharma
There is no absolute guarantee that one would not make the same mistake twice of falling into material existence, just as we cannot absolutely gaurantee that a child will not stick his hand in the fire a second time after burning himself the first time he stuck his hand in the fire. But the odds of that happening are very, very small. They are practically nil.
The mantra you have quoted is not from the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is from the Rig Veda 1.2.22.20. It means that those who are advanced in transcendental realization always look to the lotus feet of the Lord. It does not establish the impossibility of someone's leaving the Lord's transcendental abode. If out of curiosity or envy they lay aside their transcendental realization to taste the forbidden fruit of taking the Lord's position of supreme enjoyment, they will certainly lose their attraction for the Lord's lotus feet and will become attracted instead to the Lord's illusory energy known as Maya.
If even a simple child is unlikely to stick his hand in the fire twice, why the living entity, the jivatma, who falls into this material existence cannot gain good sense from his torturous experience in the cycle of birth and death? If a child can learn, why the jivatma cannot learn?
It is a fact that one is always free to opt out of the kingdom of God because the devotees there are not slaves. They have full freedom. They may make the mistake once out of curiosity of wondering what it is like on the other side of existence, but it is extremely unlikely that they would make the same mistake twice.
The living being came under the influence of Maya by the misuse of his minute independence. If the potential for misuse were not there, we cannot say that the living being has any independence. And if the jiva, has no independence, there is no meaning to his existence. Love can only be expressed by a living being who possesses independence. Without independence he is nothing more than a robot. It is not possible to have loving relationship with a robot.
This is why Krishna has given us independence. We can choose to love Him or to leave Him. He leaves it up to us to decide which we want. To understand how or when we fell into this material existence is a very difficult subject matter. The easiest program is to fully qualify yourself to regain your original position.
One major difficulty with this philosophy that we were not originally in the spiritual world is that time does not exist in the spiritual world. This means that once you attain it there will be no time that you were ever not there. In the other words, it will be impossible for you to have ever not been there. What this means is that actually we are always there. It's just that right now we do not realize this. We are currently suffering from amnesia.
Once you regain it, you will then understand everything perfectly. If you are shot with an arrow, what is your first business? To understand where the arrow came from? No. Your first business is to get the arrow out of your chest. Then you can investigate where it came from in full detail. Right now you are pierced by the arrow of conditioned consciousness. Become free from this by total surrender at Lord Krishna's lotus feet, and then you will understand everything perfectly. In short, go there and you will then fully understand.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
If you want the actual pathway of self-realization, the pathway which will factually liberate you from the cycle of birth of death, you must follow that trail that has carefully blazed through the wilderness of ignorance by the great saintly teachers of the past. This is confirmed as follows in the Mahabharata:
mahajano yena gatah sa panthah
"One should traverse the trail chalked out by the previous great acharyas."
---Mahabharata, Vana-parva (313.117)
These great acharyas, fully self-realized spiritual masters, also did not concoct their own path. They took their information from their predecessor acharyas, who took their inform from their predecessor acharyas, all the way back, back, back until we come to the original spiritual master, God Himself, Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This true pathway will liberate anyone who sincerely follows it.
Answers According to the Vedic Version
Question: How Could We Have Originated in the Spiritual World?...
The philosophy some how does not fully satisfy me.If we came to this Mrityuloka, the world of birth and death, because we wanted to be independent enjoyers - enjoyers independent of the Lord, then what is the guarantee that after all these efforts when we get back home - back to Godhead, we will not again make the same mistake?
Again, Srimad Bhagavatam speaks of the state of `sada pashyanti surayaha', ie. a state from where the living entity, the jivatma only sees light, light and light. Never again, can Maya then suppress him under her might.
If once we were in the spiritual sky, how did the jivatma, the living entity, come under Maya? If we say that the jivatma was under Maya from the very beginning, and has never had the great opportunity of divine light, then that makes sense.
But if we say, that the jivatma was once in the spiritual sky and subsequently came down to the world of birth and death, Mrityuloka, to undergo this torture, then I am afraid the same history may be repeated. We may go to the Kingdom of God and again opt out of it. Kindly give in your comments.
Yours in the services of Lord Krishna,
B H Sharma
Answer: Go There, and You Will Then Fully Understand...
Philosophy alone will never satisfy us because it can never take us to the platform of transcendental realization. If you want full satisfaction you must absorb yourself daily in chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, at least 16 rounds daily, with complete love and devotion. If you do this, all the imports of the Vedic wisdom will be fully revealed to you.There is no absolute guarantee that one would not make the same mistake twice of falling into material existence, just as we cannot absolutely gaurantee that a child will not stick his hand in the fire a second time after burning himself the first time he stuck his hand in the fire. But the odds of that happening are very, very small. They are practically nil.
The mantra you have quoted is not from the Srimad Bhagavatam. It is from the Rig Veda 1.2.22.20. It means that those who are advanced in transcendental realization always look to the lotus feet of the Lord. It does not establish the impossibility of someone's leaving the Lord's transcendental abode. If out of curiosity or envy they lay aside their transcendental realization to taste the forbidden fruit of taking the Lord's position of supreme enjoyment, they will certainly lose their attraction for the Lord's lotus feet and will become attracted instead to the Lord's illusory energy known as Maya.
If even a simple child is unlikely to stick his hand in the fire twice, why the living entity, the jivatma, who falls into this material existence cannot gain good sense from his torturous experience in the cycle of birth and death? If a child can learn, why the jivatma cannot learn?
It is a fact that one is always free to opt out of the kingdom of God because the devotees there are not slaves. They have full freedom. They may make the mistake once out of curiosity of wondering what it is like on the other side of existence, but it is extremely unlikely that they would make the same mistake twice.
The living being came under the influence of Maya by the misuse of his minute independence. If the potential for misuse were not there, we cannot say that the living being has any independence. And if the jiva, has no independence, there is no meaning to his existence. Love can only be expressed by a living being who possesses independence. Without independence he is nothing more than a robot. It is not possible to have loving relationship with a robot.
This is why Krishna has given us independence. We can choose to love Him or to leave Him. He leaves it up to us to decide which we want. To understand how or when we fell into this material existence is a very difficult subject matter. The easiest program is to fully qualify yourself to regain your original position.
One major difficulty with this philosophy that we were not originally in the spiritual world is that time does not exist in the spiritual world. This means that once you attain it there will be no time that you were ever not there. In the other words, it will be impossible for you to have ever not been there. What this means is that actually we are always there. It's just that right now we do not realize this. We are currently suffering from amnesia.
Once you regain it, you will then understand everything perfectly. If you are shot with an arrow, what is your first business? To understand where the arrow came from? No. Your first business is to get the arrow out of your chest. Then you can investigate where it came from in full detail. Right now you are pierced by the arrow of conditioned consciousness. Become free from this by total surrender at Lord Krishna's lotus feet, and then you will understand everything perfectly. In short, go there and you will then fully understand.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari
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