Chapter 4. Transcendental Knowledge
TEXT 1
The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.
PURPORT
It may seem to us that the words about Vivasvān refer us to something distant, incomprehensible, and irrelevant. This is similar to how the Bible describes who gave birth to whom: “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren..." However, developing spiritually, a person can understand and realize the entire hierarchy of the universe. In ancient times, people were associated with demigods, as evidenced by the scriptures, and buildings such as pyramids, and sculptures depicting demigods.
There is life on every planet. It exists both on the Sun and on the Moon, but we do not perceive it, since we have bodies arranged on different principles. Even on our planet there are many life forms that we can perceive only with the help of some kind of device. Among the various forms of life, there are also great demigods who control the planets and entire elements. For example, the water god extends his consciousness to all types of water throughout the universe and can control them. Matter itself is inert and cannot form itself into something. On the contrary, matter is continually disintegrating, and the activities of humans or demigods can maintain relative order. There is an Earth goddess whom we don't see, and a Sun god. In some cases, a person can contact them or even see them, but our goal is to reach God.
Since the demigods are powerful and spiritually advanced, sometimes spiritual practice may include elements associated with them. The demigods can appreciate the attention to them, and when people are on their side, the demigods become more influential, so they can bestow people with good harvests or other benefits in return. Nevertheless, the worship of the demigods is approved only in the case when it leads the worshipper to God. In itself, such worship of the demigods, "paganism," is as meaningless as any other material activity.
The demigods have a luxurious life and it is difficult for them to control their feelings, unlike humans. Therefore, although people are lower, the human form of life is privileged - an easier path of spiritual development is given. The description of creation in the Bible is the description of creation by the demigods: "Elohim" - "gods." The demigods, not God, create the universe directly; God occupies a much higher position. Nevertheless, in a general sense, accepting the context that God creates the universe is also acceptable, since creation is still carried out according to God's plan and it is He who gives the ability to do this.
The totality of all the universes of the material world is created by God, the demigods cannot do that, but the variety within each universe is created by the demigods. When people were created, the demigods were somewhat offended because the body of people consists of "dust" - a gross matter (the bodies of the demigods themselves are composed of more subtle elements, therefore their capabilities far superior those of humans). But then the demigods saw a special blessing for humanity - ease of spiritual development - and they glorified the Creator for this.
As we can see from this verse, the demigods have the opportunity to communicate with God, and also the demigods have a large hierarchy, which is natural. The Sun god told everything to Manu who occupies a lower position and who is responsible for the position of people in the world; and then the knowledge was transmitted even lower. Management principles are universal, in any structure you will find a head and subordinates. Since this is a reflection of the eternal position of God and others, then hierarchy is present in every structure of the universe, in particular, on our planet in ordinary earthly affairs.
Even such a thing as the structure of the universe can be analyzed analytically, it can be understood by analogies and laws known to us; and sages and ascetics can see the structure of the universe directly. All this forms a harmonious system with many harmonious connections, so those who study a spiritual subject have no shadow of doubts about its truth. Thus, spiritual knowledge in all its phases is always scientific.
TEXT 2
This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.
PURPORT
Any knowledge is passed along the chain of succession: people go to school or institute, where they receive knowledge from more experienced authorities. All scientific knowledge is also passed along the chain of scientific succession, where each beginner learns all previous experience. All training is always conducted according to this formula, starting from the birth of a child. Having received the necessary basics of knowledge, later a person must check everything – this will form real convictions. When a person only accepted, learned, but did not check the information received, he will always be at the level of cliches.
Without understanding the essence of the subject, a person will not be able to understand the details and how to apply the acquired knowledge. In the same way, the process of teaching is going on in spiritual science: first we listen to authorities, then we check what we hear on personal experience, logic, and analysis. This is create real convictions and makes a person knowledgeable and stable. So, theoretical study should be accompanied by practice.
In fact, all material sciences, from beginning to end, are in some sense incorrect, since they are relative. They operate with some fictional units that create only an approximate model of processes. But such a model will not be correct in all possible conditions. This applies to all parts of science and to science itself in general. The modern understanding of knowledge presupposes the endless adaptation of this model to real processes, which is considered progressive, natural, "eternal development"; and people take this approach as an absolute truth. However, in reality this is not so and such a process of ascending knowledge in any of its phases is incorrect; but people are not worried about this situation, since they receive the utilitarian result of science. Formally, this is an objective approach when the theory is confirmed by facts, but in reality such methods will never lead to real knowledge.
In contrast to modern relative science, which is based on "axioms" or, in other words, on unconfirmed dogmas that are considered obvious and do not require proof, but in fact they are not, religion operates with stable, non relative units. For example, earth, water, fire, air, and ether are five obvious aggregate states of matter: solid, liquid, and others. People think the approach of religion is primitive, but it can be used to objectively describe the whole world, moreover, including the mind, intelligence, and senses. Modern science considers everything to be derived from atoms, and now it has begun to delve endlessly into the microcosm, thinking that in this way it will find the key to the secrets of the universe. But the study of the microcosm is similar to the study of the atoms of a computer case, which gives an idea of the structure of the case, but it does not explain in any way the main processes taking place inside the computer.
The world was created by intelligence and it was not assembled from beads of scattered atoms; atoms did not form themselves into complex devices, which is fully and unambiguously confirmed by the laws known to us. Modern science in this sense is more of an ideology than science as such; since, for example, evolution is not confirmed by anything and exists on the basis of an ideological cliche or atheistic propaganda. The root of this ideology lies in the denial of God, and although most of the famous scientists were believers, nevertheless, in general, in science the idea of God is rejected due to deception and administrative decisions. If everything in the universe is falling apart, how is evolution possible? They say that this is possible in an open system, but we are not discussing systems, we are talking about the fact that chaos is growing in the world. Modern scientists are mostly engineers, and the very principle of science is bureaucratized, and bureaucrats make decisions about which theory to consider correct, so it would be naive to look for some truth and adherence to facts there.
The situation with bureaucracy in science, state, and religion is standard, this is due to the low universal education and the desire of people to arrange their life, but not to understand the essence. Therefore, science puts forward its own dogmas, and churches - their own, but scientific dogmas have greater practical application; accordingly, religious dogmas are considered obscurantism, and science - progress. Of course, religion has other goals, nevertheless, it also provides answers to questions about the universe. All of these are big topics, I just outlined them briefly.
Spiritual science has come to us along the chain of disciplic succession – this is how it goes through time. There are main teachers or principal figures are indicated in the enumeration of the chain of teachers (paramparā). When such succession is lost or weakened, God sends His representatives again to restore it. In this way all religions are formed. The fact that a spiritual master is “in true succession” means that he is following the main conclusions and ideas of the scripture. At the same time, he may not be formally initiated at all, or initiated in another succession (sampradāya) - there are many such examples, because it is important to understand the scripture and not formal initiation. For example, even Lord Caitanya accepted the renunciation of the Mayavadi succession (who consider God to be impersonal), which does not detract from His position as teacher and preacher.
TEXT 3
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
PURPORT
Being skeptical or hostile to God, it will be very difficult or almost impossible to understand the spiritual message. In any case, a hostile attitude indicates a person's bias, and such people will look for only "contradictions" instead of studying. The obstacle to learning is not a person's abilities, but his desires - when a person wants to dominate, he will not accept the arguments of the scripture. A real scientist or academic will always admit the probability of the existence of God - this is an objective, scientific approach. But a dishonest person, an uneducated person, or a materialist will deny God, although there is no reason to do so. Nevertheless, it is impossible to resist facts and logic, so if one strike with the "sword" of knowledge, this path to God will be seen more and more clearly.
However, spiritual life does not mean blind acceptance. Following a teacher does not mean that one has to accept whatever the teacher says. A mentor can either teach incorrectly or make mistakes, and this can be borne in mind. A spiritual mentor is a thoughtfully practicing person who has many years of experience in following and preaching, but such mentors may have different positions, including the wrong ones, and preach different spiritual principles. At the beginning, as a rule, the student is not able to understand who is who; and in order for such an understanding to appear, it is necessary to study the scripture and follow it. However, those who are not interested in spiritual development, but only outwardly follow some kind of religion, they will not be able to understand that either at the beginning or at the end, since they are not interested in a spiritual subject. It would certainly be great if the initiating mentor were of the highest category (uttama-adhikārī); the result of his initiation would be:
- understanding all parts of devotional service,
- stable healthy enthusiasm,
- constant preaching,
- ability to apply the scripture appropriately to the situation,
- stable position, the achievement of maturity.
But the probability of getting such a spiritual master is low. Since most people want to solve their personal problems, the appropriate "professional mentors" also come to them, and initiation in some way becomes a ritual in the manner of baptism. One way or another, as an option, one can not rely on the initiating guru (dīkṣā-guru); the main process of spiritual development is described by Śrīla Prabhupāda, so one can follow Śrīla Prabhupāda. Accordingly, Śrīla Prabhupāda will be a śikṣā-guru (instructing guru). And such a śikṣā-guru is superior to all dīkṣā-gurus. After all, they are all either His disciples or disciples of His disciples, and if any of them preach something other than Prabhupāda, one can leave him and do not worry whether there was initiation or not.
Someone might remark that this is the approach of ritviks who believe that there is only one spiritual teacher, and all the others are just "ritviks" - priests who represent the spiritual master. As an example, the ritvik approach is implemented in Christianity where the eternal spiritual master is Jesus Christ, and everyone else can only be His ritual representatives (ritvik priests) who a priori never reach the maturity necessary to be a spiritual master. However, this approach contradicts the instructions of Christ Himself, since He said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;" thus, real succession presupposes the attainment of perfection. Therefore, we certainly recognize that a spiritual master may be in the highest position, but then his message should not differ from the main scripture.
Also, in a spiritual society, there is often a set of leaders who are preaching at sixes and sevens, and since any analysis or criticism within society is usually prohibited, it is difficult to trying to make sense of this all. It is clear that leaders forbid criticism out of a desire to protect society from disagreements and discord, but there is an unhealthy moment in this, since in this case it becomes impossible to discuss any mistakes or deviations. In general, when some contradictions are resolved by mechanical prohibitions, this indicates a low level of knowledge and culture. In fact, the discussion and analysis of imaginary or real (constructive criticism) mistakes are useful for spiritual development, there is no offense in this. A society in which there is no dialogue and regulations are set administratively has the hallmark of a sect.
TEXT 4
Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvān is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?
PURPORT
As we have already said, even a liberated soul forgets its previous births. Arjuna is on friendly terms with Kṛṣṇa, so he may not understand Kṛṣṇa's position as God, although this is not a strict rule. He asks a question rather that ordinary people can figure it out. Pay attention: Kṛṣṇa has not said anywhere that a person should believe, then He will begin to describe Himself as God and confirm this to Arjuna practically. In the same way, everyone will be able to become convinced over time that Kṛṣṇa is God. This is one of the goals of spiritual life – connection with God, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Sometimes Christians say that Kṛṣṇa is Satan because he is black and other similar arguments. We have two primary colors: black and white, and God, being the absolute, manifestats them both: He is dark in color, but at the same time He shines. Christians may say to this that Lucifer also shines, but in the spiritual world everyone shines and all saints also radiate shine. Of course, discussion at this level is not a serious thing, but today the situation is such that we have to discuss it this way. Black is the most exalted color, but even greater exaltation is black and gold, or the colors of the bodies of Rāḍha and Kṛṣṇa.