śrī śrī guru gaurāṅga jayataḥ!
Year 7, Issue 6 Dedicated to Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Posted: 17 July 2014
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
Inspired by and under the guidance of
nitya-līlā praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda
We Study What We Wish to Acquire
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
We are now interested in the acquisition of all kinds of worldly facilities. We find it useful to study those sciences that deal with objects that we wish to acquire. But we need not remain confined to such investigation. We are fit to be attracted also by the science of supramundane reality. We are attracted by One who is existence, knowledge and bliss. He attracts us in different degrees. He has given us the fitness to be attracted in different measures. We are subject to His attraction. We can endeavour to attain realization of the science of reality to the extent He attracts us.
There are many people who are not exclusively engrossed in the acquisition of worldly facilities. Many wish to progress in the direction of the supreme function, the supreme facility, the supreme object of desire, the supreme position, which frees us from all illusion. Different people try to do so in different degrees. The language of a person is affected by the progress he makes, and it progresses towards the spiritual realm in proportion to his advancement. Such a person can respond to questions regarding the supreme goal in the proper spirit.
Those who are possessed of mixed aptitude are always subject to the four defects. Such is the condition of all those who set store by worldly facility. The quest after Kṛṣṇa is free from the four defects. Persons with mixed aptitude can know nothing of such a quest. We also know this, but we nevertheless cherish the inclination to approach them. We want to be enlightened in our quest of the truth by the positive as well as negative method. We had sought this contact with the spiritually inclined as we know that we shall be gainers by such contact. Such contact helps in our quest for Kṛṣṇa, which is based on the analytic and synthetic methods. It is our greatest desire to succeed in the quest.
We know that this procedure also has its difficulties. The mixed aptitude is really opposed to the quest for the truth. It is opposed to absolute emancipation, to the supreme function, the supreme need and the supreme goal. Its nature as well as its language is equally opposed to the quest for the truth. They are found to try to baffle our purpose. We know this. We also knew that all this notwithstanding, there is no objection to seek contact with an entity that is so hostile to our purpose. He intended to accept that portion from it which is our due.
There are non-spiritual Puranas, non-spiritual Pāncharātras, non-spiritual philosophical systems and non-spiritual Darśana śāstras. All these are full of varieties of injunctions in the midst of narratives of useful and harmful activities. But they also contain much instruction for the propagation of real good and the suppression of evil. The great sages of old times also studied those works. They were not thereby prevented from attaining the object of their desire. We have felt assured by knowledge of this fact.
Our purpose is to search for Kṛṣṇa. We have to consider in this connection two subjects, namely (1) ‘Kṛṣṇa’ and (2) ‘the search for Him’.
The word ‘Kṛṣṇa’ has an ordinary meaning which is intelligible to all of us. This meaning is supported by history and the conditioned intellect of man. This meaning leaves us ignorant of the truth. We shall not accept this meaning. On the contrary we shall come to know the real, indivisible Truth Himself. There is a meaning which can enlighten us regarding the Truth. The ordinary meaning of the words ‘Kṛṣṇa’ is an entity which is different from Kṛṣṇa. It is something that is enveloped by the deluding energy of Kṛṣṇa. It is an object which is comprehensible to the other gross senses besides the ear. It is a product of our sensuous perception. We shall not defile the word Kṛṣṇa by accepting this meaning.
Adapted from The Gaudiya, Volume 26, Number 5
by the Rays of The Harmonist team
