Nimananda Das Adhikary

The Way to God Realization
(part 2)

Journal 'The Harmonist'
Edited by
Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur

(No. 6, Vol. XXV, November 1927)

Hitherto, then, we have discussed, at a sufficient length, how we do not realize God. Now we propose to discuss how we realize God. It is needless to say that as soon as we realize our divine nature as servants of God, we realize Him. Realization of God means the same thing as realization of self.
For this let us refer to the scriptures of the three great religions — Hinduism, Mahamedanism and Christianity and see if they offer us any clue to the solution of this most important problem.
Let us take up the Bible first and see what Jesus, the son of God, says on the subject. At one time Jesus preached saying, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you” (St. Mathew, 7.7). Now how shall we knock that the door of heaven shall be opened unto us? To this he replied saying, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal Him” (St. Mathew, 11.27).
At another time he said, “He that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me” (St. Mathew, 10.40). “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father Which is in heaven” (St. Mathew, 10.32).
All these utterings clearly indicate that we are to defend, for our know ledge of God, upon somebody else. This somebody else must be a free man He must be free from the bondage of maya, otherwise how can he be expected to dispel maya from others when he himself is subject to her. Jesus has deprecated the idea of accepting leadership of such people speaking about the Pharisees who were offended with his teaching, he advised his disciples to neglect them saying, “Let them alone; they be blind leaders of the blind And if they blind both shall fall into the ditch” (St. Mathew, 15.14).
Now how to follow a spiritual guide? What are the qualifications that a disciple needs to follow him? Christ’s utterings on this subject are clear. We shall briefly allude to a few such utterings. He said, —
“The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord” (St. Mathew, 10.24,25).
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (St. Mathew, 16.24,25).
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (St. Mathew, 10.37).
From his conversation with a newcomer we may still more clearly understand what his following means. The new comer, a rich man, said unto him, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? He said, “You keep the commandments”. The man said, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” Jesus said unto him, “If thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me” (St. Mathew, 19.16,17 and 20,21).
The disciples of Christ taught the same thing. Paul, having found the people of Athens blindly worshipping God, said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an alter with this inscription, ‘To the unknown God’ whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you” (The Acts, 17.22, 23).
Jhon in his first epistle writes:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”;
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he who doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (2.15–17).
“Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him” (3.6).
In the Koran, the principal scripture of the Mahamedans we find an echo of these utterings of Bible. We shall briefly allude to a few such utterings thereof and supplement them by the teaching of some of the best and acknowledged guides of that religion.
“ Jelika fadlullahe eutihe, maiasaoo ” (Koran).
This means that the acquirement of this knowledge (about God) solely depends upon His kindness. He gives it to him whom He chooses.
“ Mai itiullaha a rasulahu kakad faja kaojan ajima ” (Koran).
This means that he, who carries out the orders of God and follows His prophet is sure to achieve the highest good.
“ Manla sekha lahu fala khuhu Saitanun ” (Muhammad's own uttering).
This means that without guide none can follow God. Hence one, who is without guide, is guided by Satan.
“ Ai bachha iblis o adamruey hasto, Pachh bahar dasto na bayed dade dasto ” (Anichhun Asekin).
This means that there move (on the earth) many Satans in the disguise of men. Therefore, you must not indiscreetly select any one as your spiritual guide.
“ Tabo gupto goey bedari dari, Tujay gupte khaba kaibuye buri ” (Moulana Rome).
This means that as dream is impossible so long as you talk, so you cannot see God, so long as you are attracted towards the things of the earth.
“ Latulhikum amoalukum O aoladakum as jikari — Mahe O mai iak al jalika, fowla eka humul khahirun ” (Koran). This means that your property, wife and children should not turn you away from Me. Those, whom they do so, will surely be loser.
When we refer to our own scriptures, we shall find the same statements made in a more definite and elaborate manner. In the Geeta (7.14) Lord Krishna says,

daivi hy esha guna-mayi
mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante
mayam etam taranti te

which means my divine maya is such as can hardly be overcome, only those, who follow Me, can overcome her.
Though we have forgotten Vishnu but He has not forgotten us. In His overflowing kindness He has disclosed to us, with the help of His prophets or acharyas, the way how to follow Him. Hence in the Mahabharat (Vana-parva, 313.117) Yudhishthira, asked by Dharma in disguise of a crane, said, maha-jano yena gatah sa panthah, that means that His acharyas only know Him, and, as such, the way, followed by them, is the way to reach Him.
These acharyas are angels in human form, and it is only for our guidance, for our salvation that they at times come down to grace the earth with the dust of their feet. Hence in the Shrimad-Bhagabat (11.17.27), the Prince of all shastras, we find a warning given to us by Vishnu Who says, —

acharyam mam vijaniyan
navamanyeta karhichit
na martya-buddhyasuyeta
sarva-devamayo guruh

which means, “know not the acharyya as different from Me, never think little of him, nor grudge him as mortal in as much as he is all divinity in himself”.
Now who is this acharyya whom we shall follow and who will guide us? Answer to this question is found in Narad-pancharatra, which says, —

mahakula prasuto ’pi sarva yagyeshu dikshitah
sahasrashakhadhyayi cha na guruh syad avaishnavah

which means, a man, be he born of a very high caste, initiated into all kinds of yagya or sacrifices, well learned in thousand branches of knowledge, if not a Vaishnava, cannot act as a guru or spiritual guide.
And why? Because only a Vaishnava believes in the existence of Vishnu acknowledges His authority as a supreme Lord, and, ever abides by it. Only he, and none else, propitiate Him. Vishnu, in turn, loves him most and exalts him by raising him to his former glory as His fellow and servant. Hence in Narad-pancharatra Shiva says to Narada, na vaishnavat paro gyani, which means, there is none wiser than a Vaishnava. The world teacher, Shri Gaur Sundar discloses the qualifications of a guru in the following words,

kiba vipra, kiba nyasi, shudra kene naya
yei krishna-tattva-vetta, sei ‘guru’ haya

which means, whosoever, acquainted with the mysteries of Lord Krishna, can be a spiritual guide. It does not matter whether he is a brahmin or a sannyasin or a shudra.
It is by the acceptance of the lead of such Vaishnavas that an honest disciple can expect to achieve the highest good. Leadership of others, notwithstanding their pretensions, is sure to bring disappointment to the followers. The latter, when they will see that their life-long endeavor has not moved them an inch towards the goal, rather has made them recede afar off, will come to woe, and gnash their teeth to find that it is too late for them.
Now, what is the necessity for such an extraneous help? Cannot a man by his own effort regain what he has himself lost? It has been argued before that he cannot. He needs the assistance of a guide. Hence in Shrimad-Bhagabat (11.22.10) we find a passage,

anady-avidya-yuktasya
purushasyatma-vedanam
svato na sambhavad anyas
tattva-gyo gyana-do bhavet

which means, it is not possible for a man, eternally enveloped by ignorance, to realize his self without the assistance of others who are in the know.
Who are, then, those that accept their lead and that do not? In the Padmapuran we find a passage which runs thus,

dvau bhuta-sargau loke ’smin daiva asura eva cha
vishnu-bhakto bhaved daiva asuras tad viparyayah

which means, there are always two classes of men on earth, devas and asuras. Those who worship Vishnu are devas and these who do not are asuras. The same two classes go by the names of 'the children of God’ and ‘the children of the devil’ in Bible. The passage runs thus —
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1st epistle of John, 3.10).
The children of God, the devas realize the necessity of worshipping Him and therefore go for this assistance; where as the children of devils the asuras do not want to worship Him and therefore do not go for it. To talk of such assistance before these people is simply to excite their laughter and court dishonor.
In the Shrimad-Bhagabat when Hiranyakashipu, who for his hatred of Vishnu, has been described as asura, brought his son Prahlad to look for his devotion to Vishnu and was about to chastise him for it, Prahlad told him,

na te viduh svartha-gatim hi vishnum
durashaya ye bahir-artha-maninah
andha yathandhair upanyamanas
te ’pisha-tantryam uru-damni baddhah

which means, the people, who choose to be guided by the wicked and whose mind is captivated by lust after such things as wealth, fame, beauty etc. of this world, can never appreciate the service of Vishnu as being the eternal function of the soul. They, like the blind led by the blind, go astray, and in consequence, become still more tightly fastened with the ropes of Vishnu’s maya.
Hence bhakti or devotion is the only way to God realization. Besides this there is no other way open unto jivas thus entangled in the snares of maya. The so-called ways — karma, yoga, gyana and such others are but few traps with fascinating baits thereon, whereby maya wants to tighten her terrible grip on those, who are unfortunate enough to be allured by them. Hence Shri Gaur Sundar says,

krishna-bhakti haya abhidheya-pradhana
bhakti-mukha-nirikshaka karma-yoga-gyana

ei saba sadhanera ati tuchchha bala
krishna-bhakti vina taha dite nare phala

Shri Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, 22.17,18) which means that Krishna bhakti or devotion to Krishna is the only means where-by God-realization is possible. The fruits that karma, yoga and gyana yield are but very trifling and even these they are not capable to yield independently without the cooperation of bhakti.
Bhakti or service of God, as has been said before, is the fundamental function of jiva, and he is glorified only when he regains the service which he has lost through his own fault. Hence he must begin with service hereon earth, and the service during his sojourn will lead him, at its close, to His service in Baikuntha, his permanent abode, where he will reside through eternity as His associate and servant in form of an angel.
During his terrestrial existence jiva cannot directly serve, God. But never the less his whole hearted and sincere service rendered unto representative or guru on earth will haste a his goal by enabling him to overcome the influence of maya, and he will even while on earth, enjoy the pleasure of serving Him in Baikuntha, or in other words, he will bring down the transcendental kingdom on earth. Hence Shri Gaur Sundar says,

tate krishna bhaje, kare gurura sevana
maya-jala chhute, paya krishnera charana

Which means that if jiva, hereon earth, becomes devoted to Krishna and serves guru, the spiritual guide, he will be able to cut through the snares of maya and regain His service. This guru must evidently be a true prophet or a representative of God, otherwise the service rendered unto a false prophet or guru will defeat its purpose. The present world is full of these false prophets and we must beware of them lest we shall fall into their trap and lose everything. In conclusion, we are very sanguine to note that the marvelous agreement of the statements male on this subject by the great teachers appearing on earth at different times and places, and, their solemn confirmation by the holy deeds of the subsequent leaders or gurus, have left us no shade of doubt with regard to the efficiency of bhakti as the way to God realization, and have enforced us to think that while going by it, we are not embarking ourselves upon uncertainty, and, God blessing us, we are sure to veer our barks of life under the instruction of our pilot, the guru, dash all shoals of errors and difficulties, into the heaven of truth and delight.

Om Hari Om

Дата добавления: 2015-08-05