Bhagavatam-daily 314 – 11.14.8 – We need the living tradition to protect us from deviation

Bhagavatam-daily Podcast:

In Bhagavatam 11 14 8 here Krishna is explaining the way different systems of belief different thought systems different paths originate and he states that by tradition by custom by disciple succession depending on the nature and mentality of people different paths originate and there are others who are those who are atheistic they also originate in different ways so essentially now Krishna is stating that the variety in the paths within the Vedic fold and outside the Vedic fold both ultimately reflect the desires of the conditioned souls Vishwachakra Thakur gives an example that those who are for explaining how something deviant can come from something that has come from the Lord and he states in that connection that those who are devoted to the Lord those who are transcendentally spiritually uplifted they understand the message and they transmit the message and they inspire others to be connected with the message that is the normal tradition and the spiritual wisdom coming from the Lord is like the water of the Ganges the Ganga is pure nourishing purifying and yet it is that on the banks of the Ganga one may find a variety of vegetation and while the Ganga gives life through its pure water but the vegetation that grows on its banks may sometimes comprise of plants that are poisonous and those who consume or sometimes even contact the leaves or fruits or flowers of such a plant may become afflicted now similarly there are times when people becoming purified people who understand that knowledge nicely and share it they grow in their lives just like this good vegetation that grows on the coast but there are others who take the Vedic literature and then who take the spiritual wisdom therein and then deviate it being concoctions for their own purposes and thus they create dissensions thus they create conflicts thus they create what can be called as the difference between the the huge difference between what is original and what is deviant quite often the origin of a thing does not necessarily guarantee its present status just as we know that say a medicine that is manufactured by a refuted company if it is known for quality control, it is known for concern for customers, patients then taking its medicine is reasonably safe but still there is no guarantee that during the conveyance someone may not have replaced it or put a counterfeit in it similarly there can be people who claim to be teaching scripture but they may well be deviating people from scripture and thus they end up not being able to create proper conditions for nourishing others whatever they teach that can sometimes far from nourishing it can poison people’s spiritual inclinations that’s why it is vitally important for us as spiritual seekers to know that we have to be connected with a proper living tradition not just a proper tradition but a proper living tradition Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita that that very knowledge I am speaking it to you yoga that is spoken long time ago that is spoken long time ago I am speaking again now and what is the reason Krishna is speaking it because he wants that knowledge to be forever relevant forever available so Krishna doesn’t just teach the knowledge Krishna actually helps his internalize it in such a way that it stays relevant to the current situation whatever the current situation may be at those times now if we look at today there is so much variety in the spiritual circles and much of that variety is populated by people who are not just heterodox heterodox rejecting tradition but people who are also hypocritical hypocritical means these are people who are actually making a business out of religion who are actually not at all interested in elevating themselves through religion elevating themselves spiritually they are interested simply only in getting prestige for themselves and thus creating for themselves terrible even if they mislead people it doesn’t matter their goal is simply to promote themselves there are many Vedic paths there are many Vedic paths which can lead to gradual elevation and there are many other paths which don’t lead to any elevation at all which can even lead to degradation and that’s why we need to be discerning to understand properly what is what by seeing properly through the guidance of the living tradition