OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYAH-OM
NAMO NARAYANA – HARE KRISHNA, HARE RAMA
Srimad
Bhagavatham has existed from time immemorial and is the oldest of all ancient
texts. Bhagvatham is a contribution by
the legendry Sri Vyasa who was a medium appointed to
spread HIS teachings. Sri Chaitanya and Sri Aurobindo, in
later years have contributed immensely to understanding the relationship
between the individual soul and the Supersoul (GOD or Superconsciousness) as
contained in the Bhagavatham. Incidentally both the latter two were born in
Bengal. Sri Chaitanya appeared on this
earth about 500 years back and Sri Aurobindo appeared about 60 years back. Sri
Chaitanya was also called Sri Krishna
Chaitanya by his followers as they believed
that he was Lord Krishna himself who descended on the earth as foretold in the
Bhagavatham. Both were well conversant with the contents of the Bhagavatham.
Sri
Chaitanya wrote several poems and books in glory of Lord (Sri Krishna) and helped in discovering the lost secrets of the Vedas, namely Bhakti
Yoga. Bhakti Yoga means devotional
service to the Lord and his devotees. It is a method of Lord worship. Bhakti
Yoga flourished for some time after him, which resulted in the establishment of a new order or Sampradaya called the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Sampradaya. They believed in the Bhakti path propagated by Sri Chaitanya. They
also staunchly believed in the Guru Shisya Parampara for learning and spreading the teachings of
the Gita and the Bhagavatham and passing the esoteric knowledge from the Guru
to the Shisya. Bhakti Yoga today is
largely a marginalized method of worship. In particular Bhakti had ceased to be
attractive after the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Industrial Revolution slowly took the
people away from God to material living. Many succumbed to the attractions of
the material aspects of life and took to demi-god worship to seek short term material favours.
Later
In about the A.D. 1910s to A.D.1950s, Sri Aurobindo
came out with a series of books
explaining the essence of his Integral Yoga and how it will change humans to usher
in super consciousness among humans. His books were however different and were mainly
in the question and answer form. He narrated his actual experiences during and after meditation on a regular basis i.e
when the soul meets the supersoul. This was done in his talks as well as his
writings. His writings were the result
of intense meditation over prolonged
periods. He also laid emphasis on the
devotional aspect as is recommended in the Gita and the Bhagvatham.
Sri
Chaitanya’s and his successors’ writings
describe the intense joy that arose out of bhakti, dos and donts, etc. People around Sri Chaitanya too went ecstatic with joy when he was around. There was a liberal
approach to his Bhakti in the form of
singing and dancing accompanied by the playing of mridangams and other musical instruments. However
there is not a single book of his time or thereafter from the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Dhara which narrates the physical feelings
that Sri Chaitanya or his devotees or followers had when
the soul met the supersoul. This is despite the fact that he had a huge
following and several books had been
written on several other matters. Or is it a case that the experiences have
been stored in a secret vault and left hidden but unattended for all these
years. If it is so, that is indeed a
very sad loss for posterity.
The
saving grace is that for the benefit of mankind, materials written by Sri Aurobindo which makes
up for the above loss. He has written volumes on Integral Yoga. His Yoga had more of a regimental approach. Silent
meditation which is in sharp contrast to
the loud method of expression of devotion advocated by the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Dhara. Sri Aurobindo made it a point to convey openly in his
conversations with the people the physical feelings he had when his soul met the supersoul. The
distinguishing feature of his books are that there are several references to physical
feelings that he had when the Grace from
above (Supersoul) descended and merged with his soul.
Sri
Chaitanya’s technique of Bhakti was unique because he experienced and spread
amongst the devotees joy that was literally
of a very high voltage or intensity. But how this high voltage joy impacted or felt on the body is not known to the world at large
and can only be felt if we understand and
practice Bhakti Yoga or read and
understand the Bhagavatham. The following are the basics to understand and to be
remembered before reading it :
1.
I (i.e Lord Krishna) is the only Purusha (man). All else in the
Universe are females, individual souls included. Therefore by implication it means
that in the Bhagavatham, Radha or Radhe
is a name given to the soul of an individual devotee who is an intense devotee of
the Lord. Gopi is the name given to those souls (devotees of
the Lord) and who are Radha’s friend and they experience joy because of their association with the Lord through Radhe. Therefore Radha Rani or
Radhe or Gopis are all devotees. They
can physically
be a man or a woman as we understand in
common parlance.
2.
We are not a body. We are a soul.
3.
I (Lord) ) created all of this universe and the inhabitants. All individual souls
are a part of ME (Lord) only. Individual souls
can connect to ME through intense Bhakti ( note : soul and not the physical body is the medium to connect to the supersoul
or Lord).
Any
deviation from the above three interpretations
will only confuse a reader of the Bhagavatham. Many will also loose out on the
spiritual journey if they go adventurous with any of the interpretations.
When
narrating the Raas Leela, the
Bhagavatham also describes the feelings of a true devoted soul named Radha and the Gopis. Both Radha and the Gopis
are deliberately portrayed as females ( please refer point no. 1 above). The
feelings of Radha and Gopis are explicitly contained in the Bhagavatham which only a devotee of the Lord will be able to understand and appreciate. But
basics described in point no. 1 to 3 should
always be borne in mind. Further a
person who does not know the meaning of soul should not even attempt to read or hear
the Raas Leela. Such a person will misunderstand the divine soul – supersoul relationship.
Sri
Chaitanya tried to understand his relationship with the Lord by stepping into Radha’s place. An intensely devoted person, he
found that only love of a very high intensity from Radha can attract the Lord towards her and vice versa. When Sri Chaitanya discovered the intense love
relationship, he spread it to people
with and around him. Afterall an enlightened person is capable of attracting several
people towards himself. Those with and around
him went crazy with joy. No wonder he had rediscovered the lost secrets of the Vedas i.e Bhakti Yoga.
There
were also the Alwars (who
all wrote poems in the Nayaki or female bhavam) and Andal, all
saints from South India who, in intense
Bhakti, wrote poems in glory of Lord Krishna
(Supersoul) which resulted in the
creation of the 4,000 Divine Strotras or Divya Prabandams. The Alwars and Andal appeared on earth
between the 6 and 9th century A.D. All of them were enlightened souls
and expressed their joy in a poetic form. But none appears to have expressed the
impact of joy they felt on their physical being. Was it again vaulted
and forgotten?
After
the Alwars, there was a long gap before Sri Chaitanya appeared and rediscovered
Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti movement suffered during
the intervening period.
After
the Bhagavatham, we therefore have on
record only Sri Aurobindo’s writings. He wrote explicitly about his physical feelings
when the soul connects to God (superior consciousness). This is indeed a divine
contribution from this highly elevated soul. These revelations are made in several
of his books, but in particular a book authored by Satprem titled “ Sri Aurobindo or
The Adventure of Consiousness.” is worth any number of readings to get the essence.
There
are works or slokas by others which pointedly talks of a superior joy experienced by a soul when it connects to
the supersoul . Notable is the work by Jayadeva
in the 12th century A.D. In
one of the Sanskrit slokas composed by him, he reveals that he felt the
Supersoul moving on a private and
sensitive part in his body. Noises are made
by some after translating the Sanskrit sloka
overlooking the hidden or esoteric meaning in the sloka. This is gross
ignorance. All chakra points are high sensitive regions in our body. Our body has
not got 6 chakras as made out by many. There are chakra points in every part of
the body. The soul permeates every part of our being. Unfortunately people for
and against have drawn wrong meanings from
the Sanskrit wordings. The point to
understand is how the experience impacts our physical body. There is no
meditation, call it Pranayama or Kundalini or Chakra or Japa or Bhakti or by
any other name that does not impact our mind, body and the soul. Impact varies
from person to person depending on the devotion inputed by the person.
This
blog is primarily posted to enable
1.
Clear the misunderstandings that people have about Sri Radha Krishna
relationship as contained in the Bhagavatham.
2.
People know how Sri Chaitanya rediscovered the lost secrets of the Vedas,
3.
People know what Sri Aurobindo wrote about the after effects on the body when
the soul meets the supersoul. After the
Bhagavatam, only Sri Aurobindo’s recorded experiences are available to posterity. And
4.
People know that high voltage joy can be
experienced through high voltage bhakti.
