Transcendental Nectar of Sadhu-Sanga

by

Sushen Krishna Das, Ph.D.

Bhaktivedanta Institute

www.mahaprabhu.net/harmonizer

jaga.suresh@gmail.com

Mob: +91-9748906907 

This is a reply to this message in the group.

Dear Dr. D. Bhattacharya:

Thank you for sharing your personal thoughts on religion. A few points need more clarification for a better conceptual understanding of religion. Modern scientific advancements in climate research, materials science, astrophysics, supercomputers and advanced medical research are significant. However, the important dimension of scientific investigation concerning the real needs of life is still to be addressed. For e.g., Szent-Györgyi ( Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1937) said, “in my search for the secret of life, I ended up with atoms and electrons which have no life at all. Somewhere along line, life has run out through my fingers. So, in my old age, I am now retracing my steps ...”

Religion is the real and the broader science which aims at educating society about the science of the soul and science of God or ultimate reality. Thus ordinary so called science is only cheating the people by avoiding the real problems of life. We are not atoms and molecules. We are all living beings and we must inquire properly what life is? And how to achieve sat (eternity), cit (real knowledge or Krishna consciousness) and ananda (joy) which we are always hankering for. These three aspects are there within all of us and there is no need for a scientist to break his head and propose a theory to prove it. We all don’t want to die, we are inquisitive to know about the cause of all causes and we all are searching for happiness. This is because these are the prime qualities of a soul. What is the contribution of the present so called science in this direction? Rather present so called science is only focused on bodily benefit which anyway is going to be lost one day or other.

In past the scientists were telling that apes are our forefathers and now some of these scientists are telling that human beings are the forefathers of apes (as cited by Jonathan in his reply to Dr. Hari Warrior’s message). All these years of advanced scientific research could not help these scientists to know whether apes are our forefathers or human beings are the forefathers of apes. We can see that ape babies are born from apes and human babies are born from human. We never find a human being giving birth to an ape baby or apes giving birth to a human baby.

There was also a news article that appeared in BBC entitled “Killer dino 'turned vegetarian'.” The scientists who published their paper in Nature magazine are guessing that dinosaur became vegetarian because they had found flowers appearing before them. It is mentioned in the News "At the same time Falcarius appeared, the world was changing greatly because flowering plants were appearing," Dr Sampson said. "They would have provided a new food source. It could be that Falcarius was exploiting an open ecological niche." How much trust we can put on this blind faith of scientists and their so called scientific reach (or guessing science)? It is very interesting to note that these scientists want to know the truth from the graveyard.

If one has to know who is his/her father then is it proper that he/she will guess someone as his/her father and try to validate that guess. If someone thinks his/her father is not alive then what he/she shall do? By digging different graveyards and doing DNA tests can someone find the father? Is it a scientific process to know father? The scientific process to know father is to ask mother. If that is not followed then there is no way by which we can know our father. Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna is the original father of all living beings. To know Him He Himself has given us a bonafide process. In Bhagavad-gita 15.15 He says: vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo, “By all the Vedas I am to be known.” If we don’t follow that process out of our ego then we will be bewildered and can never know God by our puppy brain.

You said: [We have so many sects in each religion - all because some one felt that they also wanted a pie of control and started a new branch. No religion is immune from this fragmentation, each saying I am the best to reach the one and only God and so that the small time preachers can attain immortality.]

We have ordinary private engineering colleges, good government engineering colleges, National Institute of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University and names goes on. Each institute may be teaching the same subject matter but there is difference in the level of their education. Following your arguments can we say that the modern educational system is polluted, otherwise why so many institutes are there. That is not a proper argument. According to the qualification of a student he/she can go to a particular institute.

There is gradation everywhere including religion. For this we don’t criticize religion. Once one American Sannyasi, Sripad Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaja from our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math went to Russia to present the teachings of Lord Chaitanya Maharaprabhu which he has learnt from Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaja. The Russian people started questioning him. They said why you came here to teach us another religion. We are already practicing some religion (they were all Christians). Sripad Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaja said, “Your country has a currency called ruble. Why you people also want other currencies such as dollar, pound etc in your nation? Even though they all are currencies but there is a difference in their values. Why you think that there is no gradation in religion?” They were all convinced by this argument.

In the present times most of the people don’t have any idea about their own religion. Especially in India the situation is worst. Most of the people in India even don’t know Who is Supreme Personality of Godhead? They think Ganesha, Durga, Sarswati, etc, all are Supreme Personality of Godhead. Actually Ganesha, Durga, Sarswati, etc are demigods. Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita 7.23: antavat tu phalam tesam tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam devan deva-yajo yanti mad-bhakta yanti mam api “Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.” Any living being can elevate himself to a post of demigod by his/her piety. But that will not help the soul to surpass the cycle of birth and death. Even demigods have to under go the cycle of birth, death, old age and disease. To teach us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead He stopped the worship of demigod Lord Indra during his pastime of lifting Govardhana hill in Vrindavana in dwapara yuga.

The present situation is so worst that some people worship even some cheaters and call this or that baba as incarnation of God without any scriptural support to that. When this misconception goes to an extreme, some even start thinking I am god, you are god and everyone is god. This is because they have never cared to study the Vedic teaching like Isopanisad, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, etc from a bonafide spiritual master (Sri Guru).

Some people think that scriptures as some books. These days some mundane professors and scholars have also started writing some speculative commentaries on books such as Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic literature. Many spiritually uneducated people due to lack of proper discrimination are happily reading those misconceptions. Vedic scriptures are actually sruti sastras. Sruti means sabda brahman, the message descending from above. It is descending from Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna to a sincere soul though a bonafide chain of disciplic succession. Balmiki explained pastimes of Lord Ram in Ramayan before those pastimes appeared on this earth. Balmiki was not moving behind Lord Ram and recoding the pastimes. Balmiki got this knowledge from his spiritual master (Sri Guru) Sri Narada Risi. The transcendental knowledge is revealed in the heart of a sincere soul who is following a qualified guru coming under a bonafide disciplic succession.

Srila Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyasa is a literary incarnation of Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna and is an authority for all Vedic knowledge. He has given us all the Vedic literature. Srila Krishna Dwaipayana Veda Vyasa has written in the Brhan-naradiya Purana that in the Kali-yuga (the present yuga or age) when people in general are short-lived, slow in spiritual realization and always disturbed by various anxieties, the best means of spiritual realization is chanting the holy name of the Lord.

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy name of the Lord Hari. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." The yuga-avatar Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared around 500 years back in this special Kali Yuga to begin the Yuga Dhrama of congregational chanting of holy names of Lord Hari: Hare Krsna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Lord Krishna knows that in the age of kali it is very difficult to find a pure Sadhu. To teach us how a Sadhu must be, Krishna came Himself as Sadhu. sadhu paba kasta bada jivera janiya sadhu-bhakta-rupe krsna aila nadiya: “It is very rare that the jiva can receive sadhu-sanga. Knowing this, Bhagavan Sri Krishna Himself has descended in the form of a sadhu and bhakta in Nadiya (Navadvipa).” To teach us Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu strictly followed the principles of spiritual life and preached the same. In Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 3.20 Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, apani karimu bhakta-bhava angikare apani acari' bhakti sikhaimu sabare: “I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.”

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted 500 years back that my holy names will spread all over the world. This prediction came true by the sincere efforts of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada and his students Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaja and Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Now people from all over the globe (USA, Germany, UK, Japan, China, Iran and all parts of the world) are chanting joyfully the holy name of Lord Hari. Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaja is the present spiritual representative of this line of disciplic succession.

In other religions there is no conception of Sri Guru and due to that they don’t know about the pastimes of God and His activities in greater details. When I was working in Korea Ocean Research and Development Center  in Seoul once I had a discussion with my scientist friends who are Christians. I asked them that what does your scripture say about the activities of God. They replied we know from Bible that there is God but what God does we don’t know. I had told them that in our India, from our Vedic literature not only do we know that there is God but also the divine pastimes of God are explained elaborately. Also a process is given in the Vedas by which we can even make our self elevated to enter into those eternal pastimes of God. They became very much joyful and excited after hearing this and further asked me to give a power point presentation on the pastimes of God.

To an atheist who doesn’t accept existence of God, if we help him/her to accept the existence of God, then that is a big spiritual progress for that individual. Being empowered by God Himself Mohammed and Jesus preached to a highly atheistic class of people and gave them some discipline though a particular religion suitable for their consciousness. Without any discipline a human is as good as an animal. We must appreciate the goal and purpose of each religion.

Thanking you.

Sincerely,

Sushen Krishna das