[Prev][Next][Index]
Caste System and Varnasrama Dharma - varna.txt [2/5]
is absolute and that which is offered is of the same spiritual
nature.
This verse explains how one can attain spiritual knowledge by performing
activities that please the Supreme Lord.
Sripada Sankaracarya proupounded the impersonal theory, citing phrases
like sarvam khalv idam brahma: "By nature everything is Brahman, spirit."
Sankaracarya's theory has caused great confusion about established
scriptural conclusions, but this phrase clearly supports the Gita verse
quoted above.
At this point it is urgent that we discuss how one can perform devotional
service for the Supreme Lord's pleasure. In this regard it is also
noteworthy how saintly leaders like King Janaka executed karma-yoga, or
devotional service, by performing sacrifice. The aim of all sacrifices should
be to please the Supreme Lord, Visnu or Krsna. Contact with matter is
unavoidable in our present conditioned state, because while performing
activities to sustain the body and to accomplish other purposes, we
become intimate with material nature. But if we can spiritualize these
activities by performing every one of them as a service to Brahman, the
Supreme Absolute Truth, then these activities become yajna, or sacrifice.
When the Vedic phrase sarvam khalv idam brahma is interpreted in this
way, it is acceptable. In other words, when one invokes the spiritual or
transcendental or absolute in everything, then matter loses its
mundaneness, and then only can one realize the perfect meaning of the
phrase sarvam khalv idam brahma. The Vaisnavas say that anything
connected with the Lord in devotional service is transcendental. In other
words, it is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord Himself, Madhava. Just as
iron in long and constant touch with fire loses the characteristics of iron
and becomes fiery, so everything offered in sacrifice to the Absolute, or
the Transcendence, becomes absolute, or transcendental.
In the Bhagavad-gita (14.27) Lord Krsna says, "And I am the basis of the
impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is
the constitutional position of ultimate happiness." This verse
unequivocally declares that Brahman is Lord Krsna's bodily effulgence.
Since Lord Krsna is the source of Brahman, devotional service to Lord
Krsna establishes the true meaning of sarvam khalv idam brahma. A
sacrifice is properly performed only when all the sacrificial ingredients -
the offerings, the fire, the ghee, and so on - become spiritualized, or reach
the stage of Brahman, by their contact with Lord Krsna. And since the
performance of sacrifice culminates in the manifestation of real love for
Lord Visnu, loving devotional service to Lord Visnu is the very best form of
sacrifice. Such a stage can be also described as total absorption in
Brahman.
Persons who act in this way become progressively detached from matter
and attached to Lord Krsna's devotional service. Thus they are able to
purify the morror of their hearts, extinguish the forest fire of material
exstence, and become situated in their original, spiritual position. They
exist at a level of realization far above the impersonal realization fo the
Absolute, for they are free form the contamination of vainly trying to
merge with the Supreme and usurping His Absolute position. They never
fall from this stage of consciousness.. Fully absorbed in their own
transcendental identity, they are the complete masters of their senses.
They are the perfect persons to rule this universe, if they so desire, and
they alone bring good fortune to everyone. The conditioned souls,
however, are unable to benefit the world in any way. The purified, rare
souls continuously perform karma-yoga and are always in a liberated
state. In the Bhagavad-gita (5.7) it is stated,
One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls
his mind and senses is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear
to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.
There are those who live and act in a manner exactly opposite to that of
the pure souls, who are constantly acting in karma-yoga. Such fruitive
workers have no connection with the Supreme Lord, Krsna. Therefore,
they cannot cleanse their heart of material contamination. They are slaves
of their sensual urges, spending their time in gratifying their senses
according to their whims. Yet they shamelessly say that all their actions
are prompted by the Supreme Lord. Being cheaters and atheists, they
speak like this so that their impious acts may be acceptable, and thus they
inflict untold misfortunes and calamities on the world. By contrast, the
pure, self-realized souls are constantly absorbed in serving Lord Krsna's
lotus feet with their body, mind, and words. They never associate with
atheistic people. The Supreme Lord is absolutely independent and can
exercise absolute free will over all; because the spirit soul is qualitatively
the same as the Supreme Lord, the Lord does not annul his minute free
will.
The spirit soul unfortunately misuses this God-given minute free will and
falls into the dark well of nescience and illusion. Once the spirit soul takes
shelter of maya, the illusory material energy, he develops the material
qualities of goodness, passion, and ignorance. The spirit soul loses his
original characteristics and develops a new nature, which is controlled by
the three modes of material nature, and this continues until such time as
he transcends them. His actions are prompted accordingly. If it happened
in any other way, then material variegatedness would not be visible in this
phenomenal world. So if a person fails to inform himself about the very
subtle laws and workings of material nature, and at the same time he
argues that all activities are sanctioned and inspired by the Supreme Lord,
then he is reducing the Supreme Lord's position and making Him out to be
partial and unjust. The Lord never favors one and discriminates against
another. Factually, He advises everyone to give up all material activities,
which are by nature unstable and temporary. Because of forgetfulness, of
God, a man becomes an eternal victim of ignorance, which then colors all
his actions. The Bhagavad-gita (5.14) says,
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not
create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does
he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the
modes of material nature.
Therefore all activities except those performed as a sacrifice to Lord Visnu
are whimsical actions done of one's own volition. They are not performed
under the Supreme Lord's direction or sanction. Since such activities stem
from the material modes of nature, they are automatically under nature's
total control. The Supreme Lord is merely an impartial and silent witness
to such actvities.
The actions of the karma-yogai, or devotee, are always connected with the
Avsolute Truth. Hence the devotee remains situated on the transcendental
platform, far beyond the mundane sphere. In such a realized position, he
does not see this material creation as separate from the Supreme Lord but
as a transformation of HIs energy. Such perceptions are unhindereed by
the material modes of nature. Indeed, the karma-yogi's realization of
everything's inherent connection with Lord Krsna is equipoised and
transcendental. The Gita (5.18) states, "The humble sages, by virtue of true
knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an
