By Japa Jim Kshamabuddhi das
Lord Caitanya on the Constitutional Position of the Soul
In Sri Caitanya Caritamrita of Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami as translated by Srila Prabhupada A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami we find the teachings of Lord Caitanya to Srila Rupa Goswami on the constitutional position of the soul.
“ Sri Caitanya Caritamrita – Madhya 19.2
TRANSLATION “On the platform of santa-rasa, one realizes only his constitutional position. But when one is raised to the platform of dasya-rasa, he better understands the full opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
In this verse Lord Caitanya explains to Srila Rupa Goswami that the constitutional position of the soul is realized in shanta-rasa. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu further explains that instruction in the verse below.
“Sri Caitanya Caritamrita – Madhya 19.218
TRANSLATION “It is the nature of santa-rasa that not even the smallest intimacy exists. Rather, knowledge of impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma is prominent.
PURPORT Because of an impersonal impression of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a devotee in the santa-rasa relationship worships the impersonal Brahman or localized aspect of the Absolute Truth (Paramatma). He does not develop a personal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna.”
Lord Caitanya explains to Rupa Goswami that shanta-rasa does not possess even the smallest of intimacy with Lord Krishna and than the impersonal Brahman and the Paramatma are prominent. As such, according to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu the constitutional position of the soul is in impersonal shanta-rasa or realization of Brahman or Paramatma. In this way Lord Caitanya explains that svarupa-jnana and understanding the constitutional position of the soul involves realizing shanta-rasa in the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth.
In conclusion, Lord Caitanya does not teach that the constitutional position of the soul is anything more than impersonal realization of Lord Krishna in his impersonal Brahman effulgence.
Has Shrila Prabhupada given purports that only this devotee is aware of because it certainly does not show up in Vedabase. The first paragraph of the “Purport” he quotes about is a verse translation and there is nothing beyond that in Vedabase.
What is the source of the last two paragraphs?
The last two paragraphs were not in quotation marks. As such they are not presented as quotes of Srila Prabhupada but are the words of the person who wrote the article.
Please note the quotation marks around the quotes from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita. There is also a third paragraph not in quotation marks.
However, all of the comments of the author of the article simply emphasize the points being made in the two verses and purports that were quoted. Nothing extra was added.
There was no deception intended in the article.
Anyone who knows rules of grammar should be able to know what quotation marks or the lack thereof indicate.
When Kshamabuddhi Das wrote:
That is not what Mahaprabhu is saying. He is saying that the person in shanta-rasa only realizes his constitutional position and no furthur. A devotee in shanta-rasa does not taste the mellows of servitude or parenting or friendship or lover, rather the shanta-rasa is described as that of a yogi or sage who comes to appreciate bhakti after realizing the truth of the message of the vedas narayanah param brahma tattvam narayanah parah
Devotees in shanta-rasa generally worship the form of Narayana or Vishnu yet do not have the hankering to serve more intimately . Srila Prabhupada writes in Nectar of Devotion:
So it’s not that shanta-rasa is the constitutional position of the jiva, it’s simply that those in shanta-rasa are only aware of the constituional position of the jiva; that the jiva is eternally tatastha sakti of the Lord, both one and different from the Lord, and is inherently or constitutionally a servant of the Lord due to his essential nature of being a sakti of the Lord.
The inherent nature of the Lord’s saktis is that they serve his desires, they are not independent and therefore their constitutional position is that of servant. Those in shanta-rasa understand this but do not have the hankering to directly serve the Lord. That is what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is saying in the verses cited by Khsamabuddhi Dasa. Previous to those verses Mahaprabhu said:
The constitutional position of the soul is servant of Krishna, those in shanta-rasa understand this but do not have the desire to directly serve the Lord. Shanta-rasa is not the constitutional position of the soul anymore so then any other rasa.
Thank y0u Shiva, for clearing this up.
Kshamabuddhi, I think you were trying to extrapolate from some statements taken out of context to suggest that intimate rasas are not the constitutional position.
As Shiva pointed out and very clearly explained, that would be a mistaken interpretation.
The way I always heard it is:
As tatastha sakti or marginal potency, we can be covered by maya and be forgetful of our constitutional position. In this material conditioned state, we are forgetful of our real position and are falsely identifying with our material bodies.
Our constitutional position is pure devotional service, which is expressed in five major rasas. That is, we are really eternal loving servants of Krishna (we are not these material bodies).
Of the five major rasas, shanta rasa, although it may be considered pure because of its freedom from fruitive activities and mental speculation, is not very developed in understanding the Lord’s personal feature. Therefore it is considered inferior by the connoisseurs of the various mellows of pure devotional service.
The soul’s constitutional position as a pure devotee of Krishna is more fully expressed in the other four rasas.
Different individual jivas desire to serve the Lord in different ways, and thus some are eternally situated in the Vaikuntha planets where the rasa of servitorship is predominant. Others are by their own nature attracted to serve Krishna in Goloka, where more intimate rasas predominate.
Lord Caitanya extolled the superexcellence of the pure love of the gopis of Vrndavana.
In ISKCON we do not practice the process of “siddha pranali” where the guru instructs the disciple as to his specific original constitutional form or “svarupa siddhi” at the time of initiation and directs the disciple to meditate on serving in that form. Such meditation cannot be properly performed by those of us who still have many anarthas and whose hearts are not purified from lust and greed and so on.
Still, we are told immediately that we are eternal servants of Krishna, and by the process of sadhana bhakti under regulation we can gradually clean our hearts. Eventually, when we are ready (it may take many years or lifetimes), our guru will reveal our actual original position or siddha deha to us. That siddha svarupa is, more specifically, our actual constitutional position.
But we can say generally that the constitutional position of every jiva is “eternal servant of Krishna”.
I apologize for my earlier comments, I should not have been sarcastic and yes with the quotation marks it is clear.