​How can we balance between understanding God as a principle and loving him as a person?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
In general, sambandha jnana is important. So, it’s like in the daytime also the stars are there in the sky.
But we can’t see the stars because the sun is so bright. But although the sun is bright, the stars are there. And in the sunset, the stars are not seen.
So, like that, there is the madhurya, the intimacy of love of the devotees of Krishna that is like the sun in their consciousness. And because of that, the stars of spiritual truth, of philosophical truth, of Krishna’s supreme position, they are not prominent in their consciousness. They’re aware, but that’s not, they know it, but that’s not what their consciousness focuses on.
So, for the devotees, they have come to the level where the sun of prema has already arisen in the sky of their heart. So, for us, we have seen the dark night of the sun. The sun has not arisen.
And for us, the dark, right now, is the star. If it’s completely dark, the stars will show. So, for us, the stars are the philosophical truth.
That’s why we study the Bhagavad Gita, we understand the philosophy and then we move towards Krishna’s pastimes. So, we don’t consciously neglect any aspect of Krishna. But if we find the pastimes more inspiring, not as inspiring in terms of its lightening, its entertaining, but inspiring in terms of increasing our devotion towards Krishna, we can focus on the pastimes.
We study the philosophy and we will find out that, actually, to study the philosophy systematically, because by the siddhanta, our attraction to Krishna will increase. So, the reconciliation of Krishna as a principle and Krishna as a person is that Krishna as a person is attractive, no doubt. At the same time, if we don’t understand Krishna as a philosophical principle, as the absolute truth, then we may think that Krishna is just one attractive thing among many attractive things.
So, Krishna’s form is attractive and the form of the Siddhanta also attractive. But, when we actually understand Krishna as a source of all the yajna, yantra, matrimony, kundalini, all that, then you have a lot of powerful forces in your body, because it was a living attractor in this world and it was a spark of his attraction, that one wanted in the world. So, when we understand his philosophy, then we won’t get attracted to the spark, we will get attracted to him.
So, the philosophical understanding, it is not necessarily that it will take us away from our devotion. It can actually enhance our devotion. So, there is a mental attraction to Krishna.
There is an intellectual attraction to Krishna and there is a spiritual attraction to Krishna. Mental attraction, I don’t necessarily mean that it’s bad, mental attraction means, say, somebody, like once one girl came and asked me, she said, whenever I hear Ram Mata, I feel very nice. I like Ram Mata, I feel bhakti for Ram.
So, is it that Swarupa is an alone man and not a bodhisattva? So, I said to her, this is only just a few years, in practice, is what I said. It’s possible, but it’s not necessary. So, he had been born and brought up in a place where from childhood he was hearing Ram Mata.
So, because he had heard Ram Mata, he was attracted to Ram Mata. Now, it is good that he is attracted to some form of Ram, but this, this attraction, which is from the impressions in the mind from his childhood, it is, in any way that is good. But the mental attraction is not necessarily a spiritual attraction.
The Swarupa of the soul is not an activity. So, when we have that, when our mind feels attracted towards Krishna, we take that as an opportunity. And we accept that, but we don’t stress only on that.
So, there is intellectual attraction towards Krishna means with our intelligence we are convinced that Krishna is the absolute truth, that chunyayitam jagat sarvam govindam vrindam. As emotion, that will come in an advanced stage. But as an intellectual conviction, nothing is substantial without Krishna.
That comes by studying the philosophy. So, that intellectual attraction is more like a conviction. Even if my mind is attracted to other things, I will focus on Krishna.
So, the problem with mental attraction to Krishna and Bhakti is that the focus is not on Krishna, the focus is on the mind. Because this feels good, so I do this. But if you want something that starts feeling good, I start doing that also.
Sometimes people may cry, they may see Ramayana day, you know, how Jatai, Jatai wanted martyrdom, you know, he sacrificed his life in the service of Ramayana, he may cry tears. And the Ramayana gets over and the cricket match starts. And they finally say that Virat Kohli is 1-0 and they start shedding tears at that time also.
So, what has happened, here there is emotion, but we don’t see this emotion. It is good that they are shedding tears while hearing the Ramayana, but it is not necessarily a spiritual emotion. So, it is an emotion which can be favorable for Bhakti, but we need communication, we need connection.
So, we need to have a balance with whatever emotion we feel attracted towards Krishna as a person, that is wonderful. But we also use the philosophy of reason as conviction and gradually by the steady practice of Bhakti, we will come to the level of spiritual attraction. Does it answer your question? Yes, it does.