By Hari Sauri Dasa
Adapted from a paper delivered at a seminar on “Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Universal Brotherhood,” hosted by the Gaudiya Mission and held on February 20–21, 2012, in Kolkata, India.
The post-industrial world is international and multi-cultural. Thoughts can be shared at the speed of light, communication between individuals or groups anywhere on the surface of the globe happens instantaneously, and technology transcends what were once insurmountable barriers.
In the last century, colonialism has been shunned, the exertion of racial superiority has been made illegal in most civilized countries, and the concept of one gender as superior to the other has been overturned. Nations now share their trading and wealth and participate in multinational endeavors across the globe as well as in space. Political differences are being reduced, and the vision of a world of nations united is anticipated.
Here in India the differences of caste are being abolished, at least legally, communalism is condemned, and the democratic rights of every sector of society are being exerted.
Discrimination has become an ugly word, and great effort is being made through legislation to remove it. The call of the day is for unity and equality. There is a great desire to eliminate the differences that divide us, with the hope that we can realize a oneness of human existence where peace and satisfaction abound in a global community of mutual respect.
Yet despite our best intentions, the power of legislation, economic forums, and social engineering, disparity and dissonance abound. The platform of real equality and true respect remains elusive and distant, and the disadvantaged far outnumber the privileged and prosperous few. Differences remain, and the sense of superiority of one over the other continues to cause conflict. In our attempts to be politically correct, we have created the phenomenon of reverse discrimination.
Failed Attempts at Equality
Artificial attempts to establish equality have in their own turn created further conflict and subjugation and finally proved to be futile failures. In the great global communist uprisings of the last century, feudal hierarchy and capitalist exploitation were overturned and replaced by idealistic proletariats, only to see new ruling classes established that were as brutal and suppressive as the ones they replaced. The attempts to eliminate the financial sectors and replace them with communal systems of enterprise led to the bloody destruction of tens of millions of the very people they were meant to represent, and all to no avail. The entrepreneurial spirit could not be suppressed, and within a few short decades exerted itself once again. Nowadays so-called communist countries have become world financial powerhouses. Here in Bengal we were recently entertained with a pre-election declaration by the leader of the communist party that he is now “a capitalist communist.”
And what of the pursuit of gender equality and women’s rights? If in the name of women’s liberation we allow the rampant killing of children by abortion, how is that equal? Try telling the yearly cull of approximately forty-two million fetuses that their sacrifice is making the world a better place.
While we pass legislation to make all citizens equal, we ignore the plight of our less-than-human fellow living beings. Indeed, the advocates of equality are happy to gorge themselves upon the estimated forty-eight billion land animals slaughtered annually to satiate their tongues.
The truth is that nature is diverse and irrepressible. While the goal of equal rights is laudable, the attempt to establish it cannot succeed at the expense of reality. Artificial and forcible measures, well intentioned as they may be, result in the burden of disadvantage being shifted to other sectors of society, rather than eliminated.
True Unity in Diversity
In this short paper we shall suggest a worldview that encompasses all living beings and creates a platform of true unity in diversity. This can be achieved through the philosophy and example of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great emissary of divine love and equal opportunity. Lord Gauranga’s message of achintya-bhedabheda-tattva, or inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference, offers to all living beings an equal opportunity to attain the perfection of happiness while remaining individual and unique.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu advised us:
yare dekha, tare kaha
‘krishna’-upadesha
amara ajnaya guru hana
tara’ ei desha
“One should simply instruct everyone he meets regarding the principles of krishna-katha [topics of Krishna], as expressed in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.” (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 7.128) Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that human society has four natural divisions, or varnas: intellectuals, administrators, merchants, and workers. The propensities of the members of these divisions always exist. Legislation and socio-political manipulation cannot eliminate nature’s varieties. If it were true that everyone is equal, then why do Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, IIT, and every other educational institution hold entrance exams? Why do they not simply offer a place to anyone who walks through the door?
Everyone is not created equal. What then of our attempts to find a platform of mutual respect and harmony? Where does the commonality of living beings lie?
The answer is given by Lord Krishna. He describes two natures at work in this phenomenal world. One is temporary and subject to constant flux and change:
bhumir apo ’nalo vayuh
kham mano buddhir eva cha
ahankara itiyam me
bhinna prakritir ashtadha
“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.” (Bhagavad-gita 7.4) And the other is permanent and changeless:
apareyam itas tv anyam
prakritim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho
yayedam dharyate jagat
“Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.” (Bhagavad-gita 7.5)
We living beings are not temporary manifestations of chance combinations of matter. Consciousness is the cause of the material phenomena, not its effect. Consciousness is eternal and original and exists even when the material realm is wound up.
As eternal living beings we are embedded within material nature and are struggling within its midst. We acquire a variety of material bodies in a never-ending cycle of repeated birth and death, entering into and then exiting one cadaver after another.
The Vedas say that there are 8,400,000 varieties of life, ranging through aquatic life, plants, insects, birds, animals, human beings, and above. The embodied atma, or soul, superficially acquires a certain nature according to the body he currently occupies. Further, even within the same species, every soul is individual and unique. Thus none can be said to be equal in every respect, and the pursuit of equality therefore is seemingly futile.
As Lord Krishna says,
sadrisham cheshtate svasyah
prakriter jnanavan api
prakritim yanti bhutani
nigrahah kim karishyati
“Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can repression accomplish?” (Bhagavad-gita 3.33) Yet, after describing these different natures, Lord Krishna also states:
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
shuni chaiva shva-pake cha
panditah sama-darshinah
“The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].” (Bhagavad-gita 5.18)
On what basis then is this equal vision established? How is an elephant equal to a dog, or a learned man equal to a cow? Shall we all sit down with the animals to eat and share our beds? An elephant cannot sit down to recite the Vedas, nor can a man eat a hundred pounds of hay a day. A women can never be identical to a man, an intellectual cannot be forced into manual labor—equality cannot be achieved on the external level. Everyone must act according to his or her acquired nature.
The Solution in a Higher Understanding
The solution to this dilemma lies in understanding the higher nature of the living beings. A true sage sees equally because he looks beyond the body. The first step is knowing that the living being is not the body but the eternal soul within it. The current body of a living being is not his true nature. In a short spell of time it will be abandoned and changed. But the soul himself does not change:
na jayate mriyate va kadachin
nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah
ajo nityah shashvato ’yam purano
na hanyate hanyamane sharire
“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.20)
The vision of the sage is spiritual. He sees the oneness of all living beings in their common eternal spiritual nature while simultaneously recognizing their varied temporally acquired natures.
All souls are eternally parts of the Supreme Soul, Lord Krishna, who claims all living beings to be His offspring:
sarva-yonishu kaunteya
murtayah sambhavanti yah
tasam brahma mahad yonir
aham bija-pradah pita
“It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” (Bhagavad-gita 14.4)
The frustrations of life are experienced due to forgetfulness of our common eternal connection with the Supreme Person, Sri Krishna. When the parts of the tree—the leaves and branches—become separated from the root, they dry up. Similarly when the soul forgets his eternal relationship with the Supreme, he comes to this world of matter and tries to be happy separately from his source. His search for happiness results in a great struggle for existence, each soul trying to lord over the others in a futile bid to be controllers and enjoyers:
mamaivamsho jiva-loke
jiva-bhutah sanatanah
manah-shashthanindriyani
prakriti-sthani karshati
“The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Bhagavad-gita 15.7)
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught that each soul is meant for service to the Supreme and that the true identity of each individual is as an eternal servant of God:
jivera ‘svarupa’ haya
krishnera ‘nitya-dasa
“The living entity is an eternal servant of Krishna, the Supreme God.” (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 20.108)
True happiness must be eternal. It is found in harmonious coexistence in common service to the Supreme Lord. Krishna accepts the service of every one of us, regardless of our different natures. He looks only to see the bhakti, or love with which we serve Him, regardless of whether we are man or woman, rich or poor, clever or simple, merchant or intellectual, black or white, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, or Christian, Indian, American, British, adult or child. Anyone can take part in the sublime process of bhakti-yoga—linking with the Lord through loving devotion.
Therefore Lord Chaitanya, who is understood to be the same Supreme Lord Krishna come again as His own devotee, established His sublime doctrine of achintya bheda- and abheda-tattva—simultaneous oneness and difference. Anyone, from whatever diverse material situation one has acquired, can approach the Lord with love and affection and be accepted by Him into His eternal lila of prema, His pastimes of pure love.
A Common Father
The Lord promulgated an easy and effective method for achieving this. Simply by the process of glorifying the Supreme by chanting His holy names—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, or any bona fide name of God—anyone can attain the highest state of ecstatic love and live in harmony with all living beings, seeing them as brothers and sisters under our common father, Lord Sri Krishna.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating” is a famous saying. In the modern age my Guru Maharaja, His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, as the humble servant of the great acharya Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja Prabhupada, has carried this universal doctrine to every corner of the globe, transcending all barriers of race, caste, creed, and social diversity to create an international movement of universal love and peace. Because of his ability to see every living being spiritually, he knew the true potential of millions of bewildered souls. He has demonstrated the power of the true sage and has enjoined all of us to share that vision and thus make our lives perfect.
If the present leaders of society want true equality and its consequent product of common happiness and respect among all living beings, they can do no better than to seek the advice of the true sages whose equal vision can factually unite all living beings in common purpose.
We are very glad to have the opportunity to share our thoughts and realizations with our brothers and sisters from the Gaudiya Mission, and we look forward to a future of cooperation and mutual endeavor for the glory of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga and the benefit of the world.
I am told this history by now departed Srila Govinda Maharaj. Srila Prabhupad in the early days of ISKCON Mayapur invited the Gaudiya Math bhaktas to honor prasadam at the Chandrodaya Mandir with Srila Prabhupad and his western disciples. They were very reluctant to sit with and take prasadam with the westerner “mlecchas”, having not yet accepted them as vaishnavas. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was highly respected amongst his Godbrothers and insisted that they honor prasadam with the western devotees. They were reluctant until the last minute when they heard the western devotees begin to chant “sarira avidya jal…etc.”. They were melted by the recollection of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and perhaps even his prediction that devotees from all over the world would someday chant the Holy Names together in Sri Mayapur Dham.
There will always be barriers to becoming purified, free from all designations. We are being invited into the spiritual realm of Sri Krishna. There, the only designation is that one is the servant of the servant of the servant of the Maintainer of the gopis. Truly, we are not seeking to become religious in the material sense. Lord Chaitanya is offering the true Sanatan Dharma, jivera swarup hoy nitya Krishna das.
It has always been my sense that ISKCON must take the high road in showing the way for all of the Vaishnavas. We too by the grace of Srila Prabhupad and
Sri Nityananda Prabhu understand the ontologic position of Srimati Radharani, Hladini Shakti, the very core of Sri Krishna’s ecstatic loving sentiment. We do not want to risk any sahaja contamination to enter our service here. When Sri Krishna will desire for any soul to enter the higher realms of divine service, He shall by his own sweet causeless mercy reveal this for the aspiring soul. But, and this is most important, the spirit of Lord Chaitanya’s mercy as expressed by Sri Haridas Thakur, by Sri Nityananda Prabhu, and by the line of acharyas from that time, have expressed that service to the vaishnava-acharyas are the life and soul of the aspiring bhaktas.
When the vaishnavas of all kinds will unite with that spirit, free from envy, then they will discover that ISKCON is not interested or inclined to “swallow up” the missions of other Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharyas. We are all united in service to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. That there are varieties of missions that go on reflect the necessity to give a home to the varieties of individuals who have come to the vaishnava fold. Sri Krishna has mercifully provided these opportunities. And, we know that the favorable winds of Krishna consciousness will be stronger in one line and weaker in another line, at any one time. That can and will change without any doubt. So, when there is weakness or difficulties, there must be encouragement of the stronger toward the weaker. The roles can be reversed at any time. We must never see a time of weakness be used as an opportunity to exploit the situation in any way. That will be considered a great offense against the vaishnava-acharya. It is never acceptable. And when there is weakness, the group that is stronger at that time must not think, “just see the reaction for prior acts against us.” There must always be a spirit of encouragement, and a realization that there are many branches of the tree of Lord Chaitanya. There must be that recognition, always. I have heard Srila Prabhupad express these sentiments to me personally during his presence in 1976.
So, the genie is out of the bottle! Lord Chaitanya’s prediction has come to pass.
First genuinely seen in our time as a true prediction by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, then nurtured by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad, and then manifest in the preaching mission of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, we now have witnessed bhaktas coming forward from the farthest reaches of the world. Not merely to find a place to live in an ashram, but to further expand the mercy of Lord Chaitanya without limit. Some bhaktas have risked and even lost their lives in glorifying the sankirtan mission. Some have been jailed and tortured. These are no small sacrifices. These are expressions of the highest sacrifices for the Holy Name. We must all fall in the dust of their holy lotus feet.
Glory to the Sankirtan Movement! Glory to the devotees engaged in loving service to the Lord in their respective capacities. Humbly offered, Pusta Krishna das