| From Knowledge to Knower, God to
Devotee |
 |
By Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
[Poojya
Swamiji speaks a few words of guidance at the conclusion of
the daily morning Pushpasamarpana (flower offering) at the
Narayanashrama Tapovanam. These profound words on saadhana,
like the effulgent morning rays, would illuminate many a
dark corner in the listeners' minds. This series is titled
“Prabhaata-rasmih” (Morning rays). The following is the
text of one such talk by Poojya Swamiji on 17th June 1998.]
When you look from the earth, the
moon appears to be a brilliant orb, sometimes with a
majestic halo around. But as one goes near the moon, or
alights on its surface, does the moon any more appear to be
a brilliant orb? The real nature of the surface, the rocky
structure and other details are revealed. Similar is the
truth about seeking God, Soul or the supreme Reality. You
start with some imaginations or preliminary concepts. These
are all right and serve their purpose as long as you choose
to remain distant from God and do not want to experience God
or go deep into the Reality.
When you go
deeper and deeper into the Truth, nearer and nearer to God,
you will find that your understanding changes radically.
Although the basic descriptions remain true, your
understanding of the saadhana undergoes revolutionary
changes. In fact, with the progress of seeking, the
imaginary concepts and hearsays get replaced by experiential
knowledge.
Sreemad
Bhaagavata says: When devotion grows and overwhelms the
devotee, the devotee, enraptured by devotion, may cry, weep,
laugh, dance or sing shedding all sense of shame. But
ultimately what happens is that he becomes quiet and silent.
So, what for are all those emotions? Can we not become quiet
right now? Some may wonder.
No. That is
not generally possible. Some experiences will have to be
undergone to become purer and more sublime. Only through the
ecstatic devotional experiences, the devotee becomes purer
and quieter. But to attain this higher level of devotion is
quite rare. The devotee must aspire for it. He must be
exposed to the higher, more refined and sublime, levels of
attainment. He has to be led to these levels through proper
guidance and exposure.
In the
second chapter of Bhagavadgeeta, Sri Krishna spoke about the
Soul – its immortality, infinitude and all-pervasiveness.
With various reasons and contrasts, he described the Soul
and extolled the Knowledge of the Soul. The discussion
progressed through various elucidations about God, devotion,
devotee and many other related points, and finally in 13th
chapter Krishna lists about twenty virtues and says:
Etat jnaanam iti
proktam Ajnaanam yadato anyatha
Bhagavadgeeta 13.11
All these
virtues together constitute Wisdom; so it is considered by
the enlightened. Whatever is different from these goes under
the name of Ignorance.
So, where is
the single Soul Krishna exposed in the second chapter and
where are the twenty virtues or disciplines he lists in the
13th chapter? Is it a single Soul to be singly understood?
No. To realize the single Soul, one has to approach
through a multiplicity of disciplines. To attain the
knowledge of the single Soul, one has to process his
personality through a number of refinements.
So, Jnaana
is not something like knowing two plus three equals five. It
is a kind of an integrated development of the human
personality through purification, sublimation and
refinement. We must undergo sensory refinement and
restraint, mental moderation and sublimation, intelligential
enlightenment and stabilization. Our heart must revel in
emanating a number of interactional and behavioural virtues.
Only when all these adorn the personality of the seeker, he
becomes a Knower, says Krishna. And everything else is
ignorance, he concludes emphatically.
You cannot
have knowledge impersonally. The knowledge will always be
associated with a Knower. Disconnected from the Knower,
there cannot be any knowledge. Initially one seeks
knowledge. Later on, he does not seek, but he wants to grow
as a Knower. For that, Krishna describes the characteristics
of a man of wisdom (Sthitaprajna-lakshanas) in 2nd
chapter. The seeker must strive to imbibe those
characteristics to become a Knower.
Similarly, a
devotee may initially seek God – a glimpse or vision of
the God of his imagination. But as he progresses on the
path of devotion, the focus shifts from God to his own
personality. His saadhana becomes to cultivate
the bhakta-lakshanas, the characteristics of a
devotee. That is why in the 12th chapter of Bhagavadgeeta,
the concluding chapter on Bhakti-yoga, Krishna
discusses the characteristics of a devotee. “The
devotee whom I like will have these refinements,” he says.
So, whether
it is the path of knowledge or the path of devotion, as the saadhaka
progresses, the focus of his saadhana has to shift
from Soul or God to his own personality, to the virtues and
refinements he must imbibe as a Knower or as a devotee. This
is where mere enquiry or mere religiousness gets transformed
into a serious spiritual saadhana.
Harih Om Tat Sat.
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