Jayanti » 12 окт 2020, 00:15
TEXT 33
If, however, you do not fight this religious war, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
PURPORT
In the spiritual world, in fact, there is nothing but love and happiness, everything revolves around the relationship between God, God's expansions, and souls. Love is the eternal foundation of everything, but in the material world love between living entities is temporary and mostly impossible. People make plans that fail one after another, fall in love and disappointed. The spiritual soul goes through a lot of sufferings here and it is unbearable to see how having fallen into this hellish cycle of death, instead of happiness he receives torments. When a person sees God face to face he understands that God is the only value. And from that moment all his desire is to tell others about God, but we need to learn how to do it correctly to avoid committing insults. One must become mature, well experienced as the Bible good says: "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Lord Nārāyaṇa wants to see us strong, mature in both victories and defeats. Sometimes they say: "One need faith," but one mostly need knowledge. The "faith" is very flimsy foundation. God is infinitely intelligent and He is not guided by faith in His plans. Of course, sometimes we have to go forward blindly and it is difficult for us to understand His whole plan, but the plan is gradually revealed on the foundation of spiritual knowledge and practice. There is no question of faith for mature devotee; he is absorbed in his beloved God both as the perfect master and also in various rasas and relationships - there is no contradiction in this. Pure devotee studies the science of spiritual life from Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and does not believe in anything unintelligible. He is engaged in practical activities, continuously gaining experience of the truthfulness of spiritual existence. Similarly, the spiritual master gives knowledge to deciple and does not encourage him to believe. Sometimes Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that the path of spiritual life is the formation of faith. Yes, some faith is needed in the beginning, but the main criterion Caitanya-caritāmṛta says about is knowledge.
"One whose faith is not very strong, who is just begging, should be considered a neophyte devotee." (Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Madhya-līlā, 22.70).
"One who is not very expert in logic, argument based on revealed scriptures but who has firm faith is considered a second-class devotee. He also must be considered most fortunate." (Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Madhya-līlā, 22.67)
"One who is expert in logic, argument and the reveals scriptures and who has firm faith in Kṛṣṇa is classified as a topmost devotee. He can deliver the whole world." (Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Madhya-līlā, 22.66)
The level of understanding and knowledge determines the position of the believer. "Deep faith" is the level of spiritual emotions: the initial faith (śraddhā) becomes spiritual emotions (niṣṭhā and higher).
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā
tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas
tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Madhya-līlā, 23.14-15)
At the begging one must have some desire to understand the Truth or have faith in God (śraddhā). This will lead to communication with those who are spiritually evolved (sādhu-saṅga, for example, in the form of reading the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda). Further comes the practice of devotional service (bhajana-kriyā) - reading books, chanting the holy name, preaching. Initiation this is when we have been inspired to follow the spiritual path and have been explained all necessary elements of this process. Person also can take a spiritual master, but one can also study without formal initiation. Equal treatment to the dīkṣā-guru (initiating guru) and the śikṣā-guru (instructing guru) is the secret of success in spiritual life (this is the conclusion of Bhaktivinod Thakur). Sometimes they say that "communication with Vaiṣṇavas" is very important, but mostly important communication with uttamā (Śrīla Prabhupāda) and those who preach "door-to-door". A real Vaiṣṇava is a pure devotee.
Understand, Hindu organizations have to somehow identify themselves, and similarly as followers of Christ are called "Christians" followers of Vishnu are called "Vaiṣṇavas"; but if you look at Śrīla Prabhupāda's commentary, in most cases the use of the word "Vaiṣṇav" refers to a pure devotee, mahā-bhagavata. Of course, we should treat well all the faithful of any confessions, in fact, they are all "Vaiṣṇavas" or worshippers of God in greatness, however, we can rise and receive appropriate guidance mainly by associating with uttama Śrīla Prabhupāda and those who "follow in His footsteps."
Unfortunately, the situation in the material world is such that the more lower position of a person then the more passionate desire to lead he has. The more lower position of a person the more stupid and egoistic he is, so it is a common story when active fools are knocked out as leaders. Modern spiritual masters often gain faithful followers but not preachers; and the congregation is mainly concerned with their material affairs - family, health, money - and it is improbable to find any good leadership among them. This fact applies to any confessions both Hindu and Christian and others. The faithful should not be disdained even if they are materialists, in any case they are innocent souls taking their steps in spiritual life, however, one should not look at them as pure devotees, it would be a mistake. Anyway, this is often situation when the faithful receives incorrect guidance from either parishioners, spiritual masters, or priests. This cannot be avoided in some way and person must have patience and determination to follow the spiritual path - as a result of studying books, over the years, various kinds of delusions will gradually dissipate.
It is also a huge problem for any confession when "spiritual leaders" use their sermons to propagate misconceptions. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us three books with his commentary to study, they are called Bhagavad-gītā, Srīmad Bhāgavatam, and Caitanya-caritāmṛta, so the words of those persons who actively comment on something else and promote other ideas should be questioned. About initiation: it is possible to get initiation from one or another guru, but unfortunately it also happens that it turns out to be only a formal rite, when the guru is not qualified enough and he does not teach the disciple after performing the rite. Therefore, one can simply follow the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda; it is our following has power and not initiation. In other words, without going through the initiation rite, but following the process the deciple will get the same result. On the other hand, such not very qualified gurus can also be useful with some general instructions. In the begging a person is very wary to be “right”, and such gurus can encourage their disciples or prompt them some generally insignificant, but initially important details for the person.
Since many of the spiritual leaders are not qualified, the rotation of people in spiritual societies is often very significant. In fact, this is formal discipleship, although it can be useful sometimes as a general preaching. The situation is that being unable to give real teachings such leaders engage the disciples in temple worship, festivals, and various materialistic encouragements. The dream of these leaders is to create strong social ties, a "friendly community", that's what makes the mass of deciples they recruited, at least, did not run away; but they are still there – all attempts of this kind are doomed to failure.
The creation of a “community of love”, a “community of mutual support and help” is a general trend both among the Vaiṣṇavas confessions and among Christians - Protestants, Orthodox and others. The effect of such ideas is quite insignificant because the congregation recruited by such leaders is mainly materialistic and of course, the society of "friendship and love" can not be created from them for technical reasons. It is funny that Śrīla Prabhupāda has often said that our goal is not to create such communities, anyway, there are many temples or yatras where a small community is formed around the administrative leader. In principle, all of them could be more effective if they did not make any monetary contributions to the center (nowadays the administrative leader is not the president of the temple or the preacher of the temple, but the guru of the entire zone, which leads to disastrous centralization). That means, such small centers can be linked to each other by a spiritual concept, but they should not make monetary contributions in higher center - this is the instruction of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Otherwise, He writes, everything will be corrupted.
There are also "ritviks" who believe that Śrīla Prabhupāda is the eternal spiritual master. As I have already written, this view can be accepted; the difference between the first guru and the second guru is small. If something is bothering you, just practice without joining any of the organizations. In fact, in the age of Kali the vast majority of the faithful are outside of confessions, that's why non-confessional preaching is the most successful and the majority of people are free as they say. In order to develop spiritually, it is not necessary to undergo baptism, communion, confession, initiation, also it is quite pious and not offensive to call things by their proper names. It is clear that all sects (confessions) both Christian and Vaiṣṇavas intimidate the inhabitants into treating them well and praying for them, but one may treat them as they really deserve it. In fact, there was no particular hope for the movement as a physical organization (ISKCON), and the movement is certainly not within any physical, organizational frameworks.
So, either by inspiration or by a sense of duty, a person performs spiritual practice, and a guru is someone who can help him, suggest specific things for spiritual advancement. Then comes appropriate purification (anartha-nivṛtti). Then the disciple reaches "niṣṭhā" - a stable position, and then there is taste (ruchi), then attachment (asakti) which passes into spiritual emotions (bhava) and reaches the love to God (premā). When a person knows God, of course, there is nothing to believe anymore; faith is always a product of ignorance.
Another thing about faith. In the scriptures faith most often refers to a firm conviction based on knowledge and experience, confidence in God, devotion to God, the strength of one's feelings toward God, the strength of one's desire for spiritual life, and so on. In this sense, faith really determines the position of the faithful and his development, but this is not blind faith in something, not "just faith". And yes, really blindly believing is impossible. People usually choose religion not on the basis of faith, but on the basis of their personal subjective preferences, for example, like the Prince Vladimir did when he chose Orthodoxy which attracted him with beautiful rituals, but he did not choose Islam for practical reasons because of the ban on alcohol in Islam.
Person accepts religion based, for example, on local traditions and other things, and almost never he takes religion on faith. Everything is always preceded by research or some facts. Or, alternatively, a person could feel a spiritual uplift in the temple, peace, be attracted by this and call such a state: "I have faith" (or "I believe"). But this is not a faith, this is some direct experience. Sometimes people call some direct (at the same time not explicable by logic) experience the "faith", but in the literal sense it is not a faith. In common parlance people say, “I have faith,” but more often it means “I feel goodness, uplifting, inspiration,” or direct emotions and experience.
TEXT 34
People will always speak of your infamy, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
PURPORT
Lord Nārāyaṇa (Kṛṣṇa) is our Lord, He is full of infinite greatness and power, there is no one equal to Him or superior to Him, and He is always fighting this great battle with materialism. Lord Nārāyaṇa is unshakable, and thus He will win victory after victory with His firm hand. When Kṛṣṇa looked at the battlefield, someone saw Him as a friend, someone as a colleague, others saw Him as incarnate of Eternity, but for all others He became incarnate of death. God does not interfere in the lives of rebellious living beings, but when He wants to do something there is no force that could prevent Him, as can be seen in the example on this battle of Kurukṣetra. And this will still be shown in the future, when through His representative He will establish on Earth one state for the entire planet, varṇāśrama-dharma, after that the Golden age will come into full force. By the way, all this will be established by the "sword" of knowledge. A word is stronger than a sword, as they say. The arrival of this incarnation is also stated in the Book of Revelation.
TEXT 35
The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you a coward.
PURPORT of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda:
Lord Kṛṣṇa continued to give His verdict to Arjuna: "Do not think that the great generals like Duryodhana, Karṇa, and other contemporaries will think that you have left the battlefield out of compassion for your brothers and grandfather. They will think that you have left out of fear for your life. And thus their high estimation of your personality will go to hell."
TEXT 36
Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?
PURPORT
Kṛṣṇa is a God, therefore, He gives Arjuna almost all kinds of arguments. The concept of honor and personal dignity is very important for warriors. Because of a difficult situation, Arjuna wants to act like a brahman - a scholar-priest who having a humble nature does not pay attention to insults. But still Arjuna is a warrior inside and it will be hard for him to bear ridicule. Kṛṣṇa knows everything of this, so He argues to him as to warrior, kṣatri.