​What is the relationship between studying exalted devotional states and experiencing those states?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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So, there is a tension between our studying exalted texts and our experiencing what is described over there. So, how can we move from, how is the relationship between the two? In bhakti, studying is also in the mood of service.
So, in that sense, study is not something separate from bhakti. Study is also bhakti. So, at one level, in the bhakti samrat sindhu, gyan and vairagya are not included as one of the 64 items of bhakti.
But then, hearing the bhagavatam is one of the five potent forms of devotional service. So, hearing bhagavat katha, that is also, at one level, we are using our intelligence to understand, to appreciate. So, in that sense, the knowledge aspect or learning aspect is integrated within bhakti itself.
And we see the same mood in the end of the Bhagavad Gita also, when Krishna says in 18.70, अतिष्यते चगेमा धर्म्यं सम्मादमावयो ज्ञान्यज्ञेन तेनाः इष्टस्यामुतिमेमति Those who study the sacred conversation of ours, they are worshipping with their intelligence. So, that means, when we study the sacred books, if we do them in a mood of service, not in the mood of intellectual conquest. Now, I studied this, now I understood this, now I memorized it, and now I am a master of this.
Not in that mood, but this is actually a way in which I can serve Krishna. So, when I did my bhakti shastri for the first time, I was studying Bhagavad Gita with Purnachandra Maharaj. And I used to ask him a lot of questions.
So, almost after every class, I would have 7-8 questions for him. So, initially, he tolerated my questions. He entertained me quite a bit.
He says, Chaitanya Charan is ananta prashna sagar. He is an ocean of unlimited questions. But then, one day when I asked too many questions, he said, you are an engineer.
You have to understand that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not an engineering object to be analyzed. So, then after that, we had around, I think, 9 chapters he taught once. And after that again, he came and taught 9 chapters.
So, then next time, after about one year when he came back again, then I met him. I told him, Prabhu, I am sorry, I troubled you with a lot of questions. This time, I won’t trouble you.
He says, I know you won’t trouble me. I said, what do you mean, Prabhu? He said that one year of chanting Hare Krishna will have softened your heart. So, you love talking to me so much.
So, the point I am making is that there is, we do have our intelligence and we use our intelligence to analyze, to understand as much as we can. But analysis should not be the only mode in which we approach Shastra. That can be one mode.
And for those who are intellectually oriented, that is an important mode in which we approach Shastra. But if that becomes the only mode, then it becomes a problem. So, we approach Shastra in a mode of service.
And this is the verse which is spoken by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, let me recite it. Let me memorize it if possible.
Let me repeat it again and again. And it says that we have some classes on it. We have some commentaries on it.
Then we hear it more and more. And that means even the intellectual approach can be a part of service. And if it’s service, then even through the study itself, we can get realizations.
We can get some experience. But broadly, this is one way of looking at it is, knowledge is itself, it’s not knowledge, but it is also a limb of bhakti. And that is taking us closer to Krishna.
And another sense we could say, knowledge provides us the map. And then after I have the map, I have to walk along the path that is shown in the map. Only then I’ll get to the destination.
So, in that sense, study of Shastra itself is not the way, it shows us the way. And we have to go along that way. And going along that way means internalizing the mood of service.
Not just twice a day Shastra, but throughout our whole life. The more we cultivate that relationship of service with Krishna, the more Krishna reveals himself. ये थामां प्रपद्यते थाम सथाई वजान निहां.
As all people surrender to me, I reward accordingly. So, the more we have that mood of service in relationship with Krishna, the more Shastra will reveal itself. ये थामां प्रपद्यते थाम सथाई वजान निहां.
So now, revelation is not something which is in our hands. Now, revelation is something which comes from Krishna. Now, even this, actually it can be at two levels.
Sometimes some realizations just come at one moment. It’s like a flash of insight that comes. It’s just, oh, I never thought of this.
I never understood like this. We may be studying something and sometimes we may not even be studying. Just going through life and we suddenly remember something and we get insight.
So, sometimes some insight, some realization may come like a lightning bolt. Suddenly they come from somewhere. But other times the realizations can be gradual.
Gradual means every morning if we wake up and we come out. If it’s dawn, it’s dark. It’s twilight.
And then as if we are chanting, chanting and then suddenly we notice that it’s morning. The sun has risen. But the sun has been rising constantly.
It’s been constantly rising. The sunrise itself is a gradual process. But our realization that the sun has risen that is a sudden realization.
We are just going around and we are chanting, walking and the sun has risen. So, like that, realizations or experience of Shastra it can also be like this. Now, every day we are chanting, every day we are practicing Bhakti, the sun of Krishna is rising, rising, rising.
So, the rising is happening gradually but at one particular point we realize it. Oh, yes, this is how it is. So, in terms of experiencing Krishna it can either happen this way, suddenly it’s like a lightning which from the darkness suddenly everything becomes light.
Or it can be a process that is daily happening, moment by moment happening but we realize it’s happening. But either way, that process is not, that process of realization or revelation, that is not in our control. What is in our control is our application, our absorption.
So, now, if we see scriptural study also as a part of absorbing ourselves in service to Krishna, then we do that and through it gradually experience will come. So, the tension in that sense is healthy because when we read and we realize I’ll talk about this tension when we talk a little bit about Ayananda Turuja Ki Inkaram and how we are at a very low level and what we are talking about is very high level but the tension is not necessarily a bad thing. When it becomes bad is if I pretend to be on that level when I am not on that level and then I act superior either I think that I am very advanced or I portray to others that I am very advanced and then that creates a creates not just mismatch between what I am and what I am showing myself but actually that creates a mismatch further between us and others and then that hurts personal relationships and that can lead to uproars and that can create problems but in a sense that distance between where we are and where we aspire to be that distance is itself the spur for further motion.
So, in that sense it’s not unhealthy tension it’s a positive tension which helps us to move onwards. So, thank you very much. We’ll continue in our next session after 15 minutes 20 minutes, half an hour and 5 minutes.
All of you 15 minutes is fine?