Суд над Бхагавад-гитой / Attempt to ban Bhagavad-gita

Again in the
Caitanya Bhagavata (Madh. 23.76-79):



hare Krishna hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

prabhu kahe kahilam ei mahamantra

iha japa giya sabe kariya nirbandha

iha haite sarva-siddhi haibe sabara

sarva-ksana bala’ithe vidhi nahi ara



“The Lord said, ‘Regularly chant japa of this maha-mantra. In
this way you will attain all perfections. Chant at any time and in
any circumstance. There are no other rules for chanting. Gather


together, five or ten, in your own homes, clap hands or play
cymbals and sing kirtana of these holy names.’”

Shastric evidence such as this, however, in no way poses
to preclude the sadhaka’s need to be esoterically instructed.
Sambandha-abhidheya-prayojana-tattva-vicara demands the
consideration of each individual’s specific internal devotional
requirements. It is not meant to remain a general discussion
devoid of any concern for the individual disciple’s personal
spiritual objective. After all, the ascent to prema is a personal
affair involving the delicate unfolding of personal sentiments
based on personal desires to personally please the particular
Personality of Godhead whom one considers to be one’s
personal ista-deva. We must always remember that we are
persons. Krishna is a person, the Holy Name is a person, and we
are all unique individual persons who need to personally
conceptualize the unique personal goal of our chanting before
we can expect our chanting of the Holy Name to yield the
superlative personalized fruit of love for Krishna we personally
require to be all we can personally be to be personally satisfied
that Krishna is personally satisfied with our personal attempts
to please Him in all personified personal sweetness. Chanting
with specific wrong conceptions bears specific wrong results,
chanting with no specific conception bears no specific result,
chanting with specific inferior conceptions yields specific
inferior results, and, unsurprisingly, as one might reasonably
gather, chanting the Holy Name with specific superexcellent
conceptions yields specific superexcellent results. Ye yatha
mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham... It’s not all one.

The obvious implication of the above Caitanya-caritamrita
verse is as follows: Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasamrita-
sindhu clearly delineates two basic levels of devotion – sadhana-
bhakti (bhakti in practice done by ajata-rati sadhaka-bhaktas)
and sadhya-bhakti (bhakti in perfection done by jata-rati
bhavukas and siddha-bhaktas). Sadhana-bhakti includes two
distinct paths – vaidhi-marga and raga-marga – correspondingly
leading to two distinct types of perfection – maryada-prema
(reverential love) and kevala-madhurya-prema (unadulterated
sweetest intimate love). Raga-marga-sadhana is not to be


equated with spontaneous devotional service; rather, it is
deemed spontaneous devotional service in practice wherein a
sadhaka covetously endeavors to internally emulate the perfect
spontaneous mood of one of Krishna’s intimate eternal
ragatmika associates. Only fortunate practitioners adequately
endowed with lobha-maya-shraddha may legitimately take up
this path. To the extent that one has not gained steadfastness in
the pursuit of raga-bhajana, to that extent one is obliged to
allow shastra-vidhi to prompt one’s adherence to the external
practices of devotional service. As one’s affinity for bhajana
prevails, lobha itself becomes the driving force, and the need to
rely on shastra-vidhi becomes relatively superfluous. Likewise,
sadhya-bhakti is divided into two progressive levels – bhava
(preliminary love of Godhead) and prema (advanced love of
Godhead). The stage of relishing prema-rasa, realized at the
highest level of purity, comes only after the arousal of sthayii-
bhava by the influence of vibhava, anubhava, sattvika, and
vyabhicari, generated from the fragrance of the flower of rati or
bhava. Prema never appears before svarupa-siddhi, which is
realized at the stage of bhava. The stage of bhava and apana-
dasha are basically synonomous. Bhavapana-dasha is the
sadhya, or outcome of intensified sadhana, which progresses
through the stages of shravana-dasha, varana-dasha, and
smarana-dasha culminating in bhakti-samadhi. As previously
indicated, shravana-dasha appears in two phases – krama-hina-
shravana-dasha (haphazardous or unqualified hearing without
aspiration to a particular rasa) and krama-shuddha-shravana-
dasha (systematic, offenseless hearing with the ultimate aim of
pleasing Krishna). If as a kanistha-adhikari shraddhavan jana one
hears Krishna-lila in an unfocused way without having
undergone sufficient purification via advanced devotional
association, clouds of anarthas will obstruct the discernment of
one’s natural inclination toward a particular rasa. Such hearing
designated as krama-hina-shravana may in fact retard the
arousal of one’s latent proclivity for raganuga-bhakti if one does
not scientifically endeavor to improve one’s approach to the
hearing process. However, when faithful upper class neophytes
who are antarmukha (looking inward in the spirit of self-


discovery) attentively and methodically hear (nityam
bhagavata-sevaya) about Krishna’s nitya-lilas and naimittika-lilas
under the wholesome guidance of experienced raganuga-
sadhakas and rasika Vaishnavas, they, by such krama-shuddha-
shravana, swiftly and without difficulty dissipate the clouds of
anarthas (nasta-prayesu abhadresu) and come to the nistha
platform (bhaktir bhavati naisthiki). Purposeful krama-shuddha-
shravana appreciably manifests the enchanting sweetness of the
Lord’s pastimes, spontaneously arousing the hearer’s latent
predilection for raganuga-bhakti. As anarthas (material lust and
greed) decrease in the course of extensive hearing (ceta etair
anaviddham), one gradually recognizes within oneself a special
natural appreciation for particular pastimes of the Lord enacted
with a particular ragatmika associate endowed with a specific
rasa. This indicates one’s natural constitutional inclination
toward a particular rasa. The awakening of a basic yet firm
eagerness to attain a kind of relationship with the Lord similar to
that of one’s esteemed ragatmika archetype constitutes one’s
specific innate lobha.

It should be emphasized here that the details of a
disciple’s ekadasha-bhava are generally to be sussed out
between the disciple and the guru during the krama-shuddha-
shravana-dasha stage in light of the disciple’s specific lobha.
acarya-vani has it that these constituents of raga-marga-sadhana
may be inculcated to the disciple quite early in the course of
events if the guru sees that the disciple’s association is pure,
elevated, and siddhantically solid. When, satisfied that the guru
has correctly ascertained one’s inner greed for achieving a
specific devotional perfection, one vows to heartily accept the
compatible bhava for continuous cultivation, only then does one
come to the stage of varana-dasha, which is the very basis of
raganuga-bhajana-nistha. Having become “fixed-up” and
satisfied on the brahminical platform of goodness (sthitam sattve
prasidati), one becomes freed from the major lot of gross
material distractions. At this point one may gradually focus and
absorb one’s mind and heart (from smarana, dharana, dhyana,
anusmriti, to samadhi) in the remembrance of one’s given vraja-
svarupa while cultivating the mental service of Radha-Krishna’s


eightfold daily pastimes (asta-kaliya-lila-manasa-seva). apana-
dasha, as a sequel to all this, comes quite later in the chain.
Hence, it would be erroneous to conclude that raganuga-
sadhana and the prerequisite greed (lobha) to pursue the path
of raga would commence from the stage of bhava. Moreover, it
would be terribly clumsy to suggest that sadhakas must first
attain vaidhika bhava-siddhi on the path of reverential devotion
before gaining the credibility and the go-ahead to even dare to
consider the prospect of pursuing the principles of raganuga-
sadhana. It is preposterous to in any way deduce that sadhana
would begin after sadhya (apana-dasha [rati]) has been
achieved. Jata-rati Vaishnavas are bhava-bhaktas, not sadhana-
bhaktas.

After the attainment of svarupa-siddhi, a siddha-bhakta
anxiously cries to be reinstated in his or her original
constitutional relationship (vastu-siddhi) with the Lord. This
state of intense eagerness is technically termed lalasamayi. It is
incorrect to equate lalasamayi, which is manifested in the
perfectional stage, with lobha, the basic element needed for
embarking on the path of raganuga-sadhana while in the state of
bondage, the position of imperfection. It is not that one must be
perfect (jata-rati) before one can practice to become perfect. If
sankirtana of the Holy Name can bring the sadhaka to the
highest perfectional platform of unalloyed Krishna-prema, why
should we not expect the Holy Name to grace the sadhaka with
the relatively lesser adhikara required to merit hearing esoteric
ekadasha-bhava instructions from the lips of Shri Guru –
instructions that are actually required for the tangible practice
of proper asta-kaliya-lila-smarana and manasa-seva in pursuit of
the internal achievement of raganuga bhava-siddhi, svarupa-
siddhi. Whether or not the present generation of gurus have the
adhikara to adequately deliver the goods is a question in and of
its own. God knows; it’s a question that the guru-figureheads
themselves will ultimately have to honestly acknowledge and
answer. But in principle it should not be presumed that just
because the general mass of people tends to be prone to
degradation and hypocrisy, genuine people don’t exist, and that
such genuine people should not be instructed and encouraged