By Madhavananda Das
The proud practice of using our dull material senses to try to judge who is sadhu and who is not is the same as the neti neti endeavor of the impersonalists. The impersonalists try to understand what is spirit by using their material senses. “Net, neti” means, “not this, not this”. In the process of neti neti, the impersonalists try to ascertain what is matter and what is spirit by examining matter through the medium of their mundane senses.
Such empirical endeavor is doomed to failure from the beginning. The material senses are the chains that bind us to this world and prevent us from seeing spirit. They are taking shelter of aroha-pantha or the ascending process wherein one tries to attain spirit via material endeavor. Vaisnavas follow avaroha-pantha, the descending process of mercy.
Inspired by faith in their empiric senses and the empiric senses of others, such aroha-panthis or persons trying to ascend spirit through the medium of matter, feel faith in the departed saints in the past, but they fail to appreciate any present sadhu. Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode has described:
“For various reasons, common people do not easily develop faith in exalted persons who are still living, whereas they tend to develop great faith in the activities of mahajanas who have passed away.” (Jaiva Dharma chapter 22)
We should always remember the principle of drasta and drsta or the seer and the seen. We are not the seer. With our dull material senses we cannot see who is sadhu. Our position is to be the seen. If we try to proudly judge the Lord’s devotees we will only fail, and thereby suffer problems and embarrassment.
Our only hope is to cry out for mercy. Guru is thus krsna-krpa-sri-murti â or the manifestation of Krishna’s mercy. Sadhu-guru is sent by Krishna, he or she appears to that sincere soul who is piteously crying and chanting from the heart.
Here is a question I received recently about this article followed by my response:
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Question: I wish to ask a query based on your article, “Impersonalism and the Doomed to Fail Attempt to Judge Sadhus” published on Dandvats.com.
How can I understand, your article, and reconcile with respect to the below practical aspects of KC.?
Before I came to associate with Iskcon, I was cheated badly by a false godman, and my life was badly affected.
In the “nectar of devotion”, it is mentioned that, one needs to know how to distinguish between the kanistha , madhyama and uttama categories of devotees in order to advance in KC.
Distinguishing inevitably involves judging of devotees by their conduct and symptoms etc. also during the life long process of association of devotees, since there are all kinds of devotees, including sahajiyas, judging devotees seems inevitable, to avoid troubles.
Also in one place, Prabhupada states, “to buy gold, one has to know the qualities of gold.” This statement seems to imply, that in order to accept someone as a sadhu, one has to judge him by the conduct and symptoms, or else, one can get cheated.
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Answer: You are correct, we must take shelter of sastra to help us understand sadhu and guru. If we don’t know the standard from sastra how will we have any idea about sadhu? You are also correct, in seeking out good association, we must distinguish between neophytes and advanced devotees. Sastra gives us a good guide to help us understand who is a neophyte and who is advanced. It is necessary for us to study sastra and be familiar with these descriptions to protect ourselves.
For example in Upadesamrta it is said that an uttama adhikari is one who never criticizes anyone, and who is expert in devotional service.
But is that enough? Should we accept anyone who knows about bhakti and doesn’t criticize others as an uttama? I have met scholars who know more about the bhakti tradition than most of our devotees. If you got around someone like that and they didn’t say anything bad about anyone for a week or so then you might think, “Yes they are an uttama devotee.”
Sastra gives us some idea of the standard of a sadhu and thereby inspiration to get such association. Yet, just reading such sastric description by itself is no guarantee that we will find a bona fide sadhu. there are many histories of demons and unqualified persons who disguised themselves as sadhus and devotees. For example Ravan and Indra both disguised themselves as sannyasi sadhus.
Or consider other examples:
* The Caitanya Bhagavata says that Gadhadhar Pandit was not able to recognize Pundarik Vidyanidhi (who is an incarnation of Brishabhanu Maharaja, Radharani’s father) as a sadhu.
* If you met someone smoking tobacco would you consider them a sadhu? However, Vamsidas Babaji used to sometimes do that, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada said he was a pure devotee.
* What if you saw a sadhu staying at the home of a prostitute? How would you feel about him? Yet Gaura Kishore Das Babaji sometimes stayed in the courtyard of a prostitute so that people would not consider him a sadhu and would leave him alone.
* Vatsasura was a great demon. Indra killed him, but although he was born in a demon family, he was actually a great devotee.
* Neither Yasoda, nor Rohini were able to recognize Putana. They thought she was a great devotee demigoddess come to have darshan of Krishna.
* None of the Brijabasis recognized Vatsasura, a great demon who came in the form of a calf.
* Until he revealed his true demoniac nature and Balaram killed him, the cowherd boys thought that Pralambasura was Krishna’s friend.
* When the demon Shankhachuda came to Vraja, Vrinda Devi thought that he was the demigod devotee Surya Dev.
Although, sastra helps us to understand something about a sadhu and encourages us to have such association, with our dull material senses we cannot recognize who is a devotee or not. Srila Prabhupada describes this in many places:
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“The Supreme Personality of Godhead can be seen or unseen according to His own transcendental desire; similarly, a devotee, being jivan-mukta, can be seen or not, as he chooses.” (Purport to Bhag. 9.13.11)
“It is said, vaisnavera kriya-mudra vijne na bujhaya. Even if a man is very advanced in learning, he cannot understand the behavior of a Vaisnava.” (Purport to Bhag. 7.7.14)
“A highly advanced Vaisnava lives in such a way that no one can understand what he is or what he was.” (Purport to Bhag. 7.13.14)
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Similarly, Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur describes in Caitanya-bhagavata:
vaisnava cinite pare kahara sakati
achaye sakala siddhi, dekhaye durgati
Who has the ability to recognize a Vaisnava? Although a Vaisnava possesses all perfection, he appears to be afflicted. (madhya-khanda 9.238)
visaya-madandha saba e marma na jane
suta-dhana-kula-made vaisnava na cine
Persons who are blinded by the pride of material enjoyment cannot understand this mystery. Intoxicated by their children, wealth, and family prestige, they cannot recognize a Vaisnava. (madhya-khanda 16.148)
Therefore the only solution is to take shelter of Krishna and he will reveal to us who his true devotee is. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura has described:
âAt the dawn of our spiritual life we sincerely and with complete submission and self-surrender pray to God for receiving the protection of Sad Guru. The Supreme Lord, perceiving our earnestness and devotion with a view to guide us on the true path, will send a real guru to us. Otherwise it is impossible for us to find Sad Guru by our own fallible energy. If we guide ourselves by our own energy we shall come across the pseudo-gurus and being caught hold of by them by their temporary pleasing manners, run down to hell.â â Harmonist p. 139 Vol. XXVII, No. 5. Oct 1929.
I hope this is some help. Thank you again for your honest question.
Your servant,
Madhavananda Das