Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna!
Dear Gurudeva and assembled devotees, please accept my full obiesances and pranams.
Here is a simple vichaara (my thoughts) on the introduction to Srila Prabhupada's ‘Message of Godhead’. Srila Prabhupada's message has never been more relevant and important than it is today, in our present time and situation.
This is my personal vichaara (very simple) of His Divine Grace's words. Please overlook my defects. You are all my inspiration, therefore I humbly offer you all this small service. In hope that our faith may be steadfast and ever-new.
The full vichaara can be downloaded here for offline use.
your servant Nava Gauranga dasa.
http://www.soulssong.blogspot.com/
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Message of Godhead Introduction
At present, we are concerned primarily with two things: one, ourselves; and the other, the place where we live. In other words, we are concerned with two objects: namely, everything that is related to our gross and subtle bodies; and the world at large, with all its paraphernalia.
thoughts by Nava: The jiva soul has been encased in the subtle and gross body. The jiva wishes to enjoy seperately from the Lord, so the Lord out of His impartial kindness offers the conditioned jiva the chance to enjoy. Identifying itself as the subtle body and gross body, the jiva soul therefeore finds itself in a hard struggle for existence, utilizing the gross elements for sense pleasure. Due to misconception the conditioned soul accepts this material world as its playing field, forgetting the true source of pleasure – spiritual existence. It is the duty of the spiritual master to somehow awaken the fallen soul from this misconception.
But there are others above us, the transcendentalists, who are concerned not only with their body and mind and the world at large, but also with the transcendental subject that is above the body and mind and the world at large.
thoughts by Nava: The wise transcendentalist does not simply renounce and negate the world and its objects. Such a process is futile and impossible, due to the stringent laws of material energy. The devotee actually lives a life of application (dove-tailing). This approach utilizes all opportunities offered by the Lord's kindness. It is a sensible and intelligent approach and in due course rises one to the highest perfection – devotional service in full Krsna consciousness.
The transcendentalists are very much concerned with the Absolute Truth, and much less with relative truths.
thoughts by Nava: The devotee has a complete vision. An example being of one who has read the whole book, or watched a full movie, rather than fragments or only parts of the picture. Infact the Lord over time reveals to the devotee all necessary truths for full loving service. For such a soul the incomplete truths are not the main subject matter.
These transcendentalists (ordinarily known as saints, philosophers, reformers, messengers, and so forth) appear in various places in the world at various times. They render transcendental service to the Absolute Truth and to humanity, also, by preaching the message of the transcendental world.
thoughts by Nava: Such realized souls are constantly engaged in devotional service and at the same time engaged in the highest form of welfare work. Offering the perpetually suffering souls a process and path for their highest happiness. Once the jiva awakens to its constitutional nature, even living in the most hellish condition is no impediment. Thus this divine process can alleviate suffering in all places of the world, and upon leaving the body the soul (never having to take a material birth again) attains supreme happiness.
According to these transcendentalists, even lower animals like cats and dogs are also concerned primarily with two things, namely, themselves and the world at large. Living entities other than human beings have no capacity to understand transcendental subjects. The human being is therefore considered to be the highest of all creations, and we must understand the nature of this higher standing.
thoughts by Nava: If the advanced human being does not utilize this rare opportunity for deep self realization, then the human becomes in station no better than an advanced animal. Advanced sense enjoyment. Running the risk of entering lower species of life at the time of death. This is called a waste of a golden opportunity. The human birth is the most evolved of all earthly species, with the greatest faculty at hand for self-realization and harmony.
When man, who is the highest of all created beings, is fully developed in consciousness, he concerns himself not only with his own self and the world where he lives, but he tries to understand the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth regulates man as well as the world, and knowing Him, the transcendentalist regulates his activities on the right path.
thoughts by Nava: This is harmony. This is yoga. This is an example of how developed the human birth actually is. But if this potential is not realized, mankind due to its inherent potency, can be the most dis-harmonious and destructive of all species.
This regulating process is commonly known as a system of faith or religion. All over the civilized world we find some process or form of religion--when man is devoid of any such religion or of transcendental traits, he is nothing but a beast. This subject matter, which the religionists delineate according to different countries, times, and people, is more or less aimed at the objective of the Absolute Truth.
thoughts by Nava: The Absolute Truth is the Complete Non-Dual Truth. Complete harmony. This truth needs to be realized and actualized by the conditioned souls. The intrinsic nature being permanent bliss – service mood.
The Absolute Truth is one without a second, but He is viewed from different angles of vision by different religionists or transcendentalists under different circumstances. Some transcendentalists view the Absolute Truth as an impersonal force, generally known as the formless Brahman, while others view Him as the all-pervading localized aspect, dwelling within all living entities and generally known as Paramatma or the Supersoul. But there is another important sect of transcendentalists, who understand the Absolute Truth as the Absolute Personality of Godhead, possessing the potentialities of being impersonal and all-pervasive simultaneous with His Absolute Personality.
thoughts by Nava: Complete vision. Highest bliss.
At the present moment, the word religion is being sacrificed on the altar of materialistic tendencies. The human race is more concerned now with subject matters related to eating, sleeping, defending, and gratifying the senses, much as are the lower animals. The general tendency is to avoid transcendental subject matters as far as possible or, in any case, not to go into the details. Even the biggest political leaders have been heard to say that the hungry man or woman finds no meaning in God and religion. People in general, under the leadership of such materialistic men, are gradually descending to the status of lower animals, devoid of all transcendental realization, knowing nothing beyond their material bodies and the material world.
thoughts by Nava: Therefore totally missing the potential and intrinsic nature of the organism. This is called conditioned life. The conditioned life identifies with the impermanent, which never fully satisfies. Thus due to this dis-ease, unhappiness or lack of fulfillment underlies the human drives.
Thus, the human race has descended to the qualitative status of the dogs, who are habituated to barking as soon as they come upon another set of dogs who happen to hail from another quarter.
thoughts by Nava: Due to this underlying dis-ease man evolves into a competitive entity, which leads to further suffering and problems, for the whole species, planet, and group organism. Like a tight network, a prison house.
We cannot conceive of a greater degradation of the human being than when he is apt to raise a hue and cry as soon as he sees another human being who does not happen to belong to his quarter or his religious denomination. He raises this hue and cry as if he had been faced with a tiger or a wolf. Without transcendental knowledge, the human race has actually become no more than the tigers and the wolves.
thoughts by Nava: As man develops in so-called material advancement, the network and bind tightens. In due course the network complexifies, thus tightening the bind for the imprisoned souls. The prison house by nature is a master built casing, being in quality a manifestation of the Highest Intelligence. The Supreme Designer. There is no way out of this complex design apart from simple surrender, in constitutional loving service mood. Beginning with hearing from the self-realized.
It is therefore necessary at the present moment to understand something about absolute knowledge if we want to bring the human race back to sanity. Thus intelligent persons or leaders of men should not devote their energies only for worldly betterment in the matter of eating, sleeping, defending, and gratifying the material senses. Leaders who think a hungry man or woman has no use for God and religion should be told emphatically that no man or woman in the world is not hungry--and that it is precisely the hungry man or woman who has to understand the meaning of God and religion now, more than ever.
thoughts by Nava: The highest form of welfare work is to teach the suffering souls true religion. Free of material motives. That religion is selfless devotional service. The most potent medicine for the diseased condition of material entanglement. Contaminated medicine (being mixed with material endevaour) either loses its potency or at worse becomes totally ineffective. Like an antibiotic medicine which has become ineffective against new strains of contaminent. The antibiotic actually becomes the catalyst for more problems.
In this connection, we would like to quote the substance of a speech delivered by Sri Radhakrishnan (former president of India) at a recent meeting of UNESCO in Paris. He said that when a nation proudly turns away from God and concentrates on worldly success and prosperity, it meets its doom. What is essential today is not so much the rehabilitation of schools and libraries or shops and factories but the rehabilitation of man; we must re-create man if we are to create a new world community. It is therefore more necessary than ever to realize the all-important relationship of man with God if we want at all to rehabilitate the human race, which is already shattered more than ever.
thoughts by Nava: That relationship is devotional service. Devotional service free of all material endeavour. If the root of the tree is watered the whole tree is satisfied. If only the leaves are watered the tree develops disease and lack of vitality, and slowly withers.
The philosophers and the logicians have tried to understand the intrinsic relationship of living entities with God by various conceptions and methods, on the strength of their mundane education and scholastic research. But the Absolute Truth remains above the philosophers and their acquired knowledge. The conception of the Absolute is never perfectly attained by such an ascending process, because of its being born of imperfect, material senses. These empiric philosophers and logicians cannot realize their imperfection by the vanity of material knowledge, and the ultimate conclusion of such materialistic philosophers is atheism. They deny the existence of God, who is the Supreme Person, different from all other persons. Under such a vague assumption, we remain in the same darkness as before. We are content with a conception of Godhead according to our own individual idea, without knowing the real relationship of Godhead and ourselves.
thoughts by Nava: Real knowledge is accepting the Supreme Person, the highest intelligence. Through purification the soul can begin to hear that Intelligence and harmonize. Like a cog-wheel fully harmonized in the greater machine. Being cared for by the Master Mechanic. Service mood.
Therefore, the transcendentalists do not recognize such a process of generalization but pass over direct perception to receive the knowledge of deduction in its various stages--from authorities who have actual revelation of transcendental knowledge. This revelation is made possible from the deeper aspect within the human personality.
thoughts by Nava: The holy scriptures are accepted as being revealed from this deeper aspect. The sound incarnation of God. The realized souls who harmonize with revealed subtsance, speak from that deep aspect of human personality, vibrating the divine sounds. Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!
The real knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His relationship with us can be revealed only by this transcendental method. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is absolute, He reserves the right of not being exposed to the mundaners. He can be known by one absolute process, and the relative process of sense perception cannot reach Him ever. If Godhead were subject to being revealed by our relative sense perception, then our sense perception, and not Godhead, would be absolute. The process is therefore fallacious in all its manifold stages. We cannot approach the Absolute by our poor fund of knowledge, but the Absolute becomes revealed out of His own mercy by His own appearance.
thoughts by Nava: The Holy Name!
In the darkness of night, the sun cannot be obliged to appear, even by the power of our highest technology. But in the morning the sun reveals itself of its own accord without the help of any materialistic enterprise of ours. When the sun appears, the darkness of the night automatically disappears. It is therefore a truth that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself or His confidential servants manifest themselves by their own potency and without any help from this material world. They descend out of their causeless mercy, just to benefit the fallen souls who are apt to be illusioned by the material energy of Godhead, called the modes of nature.
thoughts by Nava: In this age of Kali the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Taking the form of a perfect servant, chanting the Holy Name in all purity. Setting an example for all realized souls, who also speak divine sound. The Holy Name of God being the essence of all instruction.
However, if we keep our doors and windows shut when the sun rises in the morning, surely the rays of the sun will not enter into our somber room. In the same way, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His confidential servants manifest themselves and preach the message of Godhead, we must not shut the doors and windows of our body and mind; otherwise, the light emanating from the Lord and His servants shall not enter into us. The lights that emanate from such transcendental sources generally enter into us by our aural reception. So only if we are ready to offer a submissive aural reception to the message of Godhead can we know Godhead as He is and our relationship with Him as it is. This message of Godhead is presented herewith in that transcendental spirit, for the benefit of people in general and real seekers of truth in particular. We do not know how far we shall be successful in our tiny attempt, but we must always apologize for all our defects in this respect.
thoughts by Nava: As one candle is lit from another, our hope is that all souls may receive spiritual light, one by one.
"Message of Godhead " by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This is an evaluation copy of the printed version of this book, and is NOT FOR RESALE. This evaluation copy is intended for personal noncommercial use only, under the "fair use" guidelines established by international copyright laws. You may use this electronic file to evaluate the printed version of this book, for your own private use, or for short excerpts used in academic works, research, student papers, presentations, and the like. You can distribute this evaluation copy to others over the Internet, so long as you keep this copyright information intact. You may not reproduce more than ten percent (10%) of this book in any media without the express written permission from the copyright holders. Reference any excerpts in the following way: "Excerpted from "Message of Godhead" by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, courtesy of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, www.Krishna.com ." This book and electronic file is Copyright 1990-2003 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, 3764 Watseka Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034, USA. All rights reserved. For any questions, comments, correspondence, or to evaluate dozens of other books in this collection, visit the website of the publishers, www.Krishna.com .
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Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna!
Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna!