Bhakti Shastri (008) – Sri Isopanisad Mantra 06

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Vishwa Upanishad section 2 verse 6 we will take today, so here is the overview, in the second section the main topic is how to understand the Ishwara by cultivating spiritual vision, so the first two verses which comprise the first sub-section of the second section where about how the Ishwara possesses inconceivable attributes now to understand that Ishwara possesses inconceivable attributes we need to develop spiritual vision so spiritual vision cannot be developed suddenly about God because God is not in our perception so first spiritual vision is developed by seeing worldly things, events and people with equanimity with an equal vision towards the things of this world, we begin so that is the theme of verses 6 and 7 so let’s look at the verse mantra 6 yas tu sarvani bhutani atmani eva anupashyati sarvabhuteshu chaatmanam tato na vijugupsate so yas tu sarvani bhutani that person who sees all living beings atmani eva anupashyati sees them at the spiritual level sees them as atma sarvabhuteshu yap chaatmanam and that person sees all living beings residing in spiritual reality Srila Prabhupada translates this as one who sees everything in relationship with the Supreme Lord who sees all living entities as parts and parcels and sees the Supreme Lord within everything yas tu sarvani bhutani atmani eva anupashyati so the atma is a part and parcel of Krishna mamai vamsho jiva loke Krishna described in 15.7 so the atma one who sees as a part and parcel of Krishna and sees all souls like that that’s the first part sarvabhuteshu chaatmanam and one who sees that the super soul is within everything so there are two aspects to this one is he sees within every living being there is a soul and he doesn’t see those living beings he sees them as souls who are parts of Krishna and then amazingly he sees that supreme being of whom everyone is a part that supreme being is also present inside all living beings sarvabhuteshu chaatmanam that means that Lord is situated as a super soul in the heart of all living beings and in fact not just all living beings super soul is situated in all living things andantarastha paramanu sarvabhuteshu chaatmanam Brahma Samhita describes that he is situated even in the atoms so in this way one who sees spiritually everything in relationship with the supreme lord seeing everyone as a part of him and seeing him as present in everything acha person tato na viju grupsa te acha person doesn’t hate anyone or anything what does it mean hate anyone mean it means that a person is able to stay equipoised stay undisturbed and in this way basically this verse indicates the person has transcended material duality because in the material world there is something which we like, something which we dislike and based on that duality is created so tato na viju grupsa te now Srila Prabhupada in his parpot correlates this with the verse from the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam which we will discuss and he talks about the three adhikaris, so let’s look over the parpot once so firstly Prabhupada talks about the kanishta adhikari in the first paragraph then the madhyam adhikari in the second paragraph the uttama adhikari in the third paragraph and actually the uttama adhikari has equal vision has the vision of oneness and so Prabhupada describes that vision of oneness and contrasts that with the false conceptions of oneness that other people have, so this way Srila Prabhupada not only tells us what this vision of oneness is but also outlines the stages by which one can come to that level of oneness and the possible misconceptions that one can have while moving towards the stage of oneness so now let us look at the Bhagavatam wherein this Bhagavatottamaha this person who is having this vision is talked about so this is the verse which Srila Prabhupada quotes right at the beginning of his parpot not directly, but indirectly Prabhupada is paraphrasing it, this is the description of the Bhagavatam sarva bhuteshu ya pasyed bhagvat bhavam atmana bhutani bhagvatech atmani esha bhagvatottamaha so this is describing 11 to 45 in the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam so the Navyogindras are speaking to Maharaj Nemi and Sri Havi one of the Navyogindras is describing that sarva bhuteshu ya pasyed, same point bhagvat bhavam atmana one who sees that all living beings are spiritual they are parts of bhagvat bhavam they are situated in spiritual reality bhutani bhagvatech atmani and he sees that in all living beings the lord is situated so he sees systematically everything in relation to the supreme lord understand that everything that exists is generally situated within the supreme lord so in this way he sees within everything, the soul of all souls the supreme personality of godhead so this is the bhagvatottama, this is the pure devotee who sees everything spiritually, this is a very advanced vision and before we can go to that vision there is a preliminary stage so that is described in the next two verses the first stage is the madhyamadhikari stage, sorry that is the kanishtadhikari, second is the madhyamadhikari so let’s start with the kanishtadhikari and then we will move upwards to madhyama and uttama, so kanishtadhikari Srila Prabhupada has not commented on these purports, these are the disciples who have commented but we will look at the verses and we will look at how it correlates with the point which Srila Prabhupada is making in the isopanishad purport so essentially Srila Prabhupada is saying that our consciousness has to expand to perceive god’s presence everywhere so the kanishta, kanishta means junior beginning so a person worships Hari he does puja with shraddha so the word archa here especially refers to temple worship but a person is a beginning devotee, what is his qualification? that he worships lord Hari but what is his limitation? he doesn’t respect devotees that means a person’s god consciousness is limited only to the deity people often come to the temple and they take darshan of the deity, they look around and they go away they don’t associate with devotees they don’t try to learn about god from devotees, they don’t learn about how to practise god consciousness from devotees so they think god is there I am here and I have a direct relationship with god that is actually the sign of a kanishta devotee and because the person doesn’t respect devotees the person cannot really make much spiritual advancement bhakti sanjayate bhakti bhakti is developed in the association of devotees so when the person doesn’t have bhakti at that time the person cannot directly very deeply be attracted to the lord one may have some attraction to the lord but bhakti at a deep level develops by the association of other devotees when there is no association there is no development of bhakti so sabhakta, prakrita, smrita such a bhakta is a prakrita prakrita comes from the word prakriti prakriti as we know means nature, material nature that’s the way it is used purusha and prakriti in sankhya these two terms are used and prakriti from that the adjective comes prakrita that means such a person is a materialistic devotee that means the person’s spiritual vision has not yet developed so the prakrita bhakta is not able to see god’s presence and god’s connection with the things and people of the world and because of this spiritual advancement remains limited actually Ropal writes in the purport that such a prakrita bhakta often quarrels also because he thinks that this religious system is better than that religious system, my guru is better than your guru my temple is better than your temple I am better than you and these conceptions keep the person in a quarrelsome mood now let’s look at this from a broader perspective before we go into the technicalities basically we can categorise people into these four broad categories so who is that person on the left one extreme is described the materialist the mayavadi, sahajiya and the devotee and their relationship with matter and Krishna so the materialist is attached to matter and detached from Krishna detached from Krishna means the person doesn’t care for Krishna whether Krishna exists, whether Krishna is pleased, nothing matters to that person all that matters is my enjoyment now the mayavadi is detached from matter but is detached from Krishna also mayavadi thinks I will not enjoy the material world but doesn’t care for pleasing Krishna also and because of this there is dryness there is no material pleasure the mayavadi can indulge in because the mayavadis consider material pleasures to be false but then they can’t release spiritual pleasures also because they are not having any devotional reciprocations they have detached themselves from Krishna who is the source of all happiness now the sahajiyas correlate with this prakrita bhaktas in many ways what we are talking about they are attached to matter and they are attached to Krishna because they are attached to matter their attachment to Krishna cannot be very deep because their attachment to matter keeps dragging them back again and again to lower consciousness but still they are attached to Krishna to some extent in the sense that they want to practise bhakti and they are doing some of the rituals of bhakti quite diligently so the serious devotees that means the pure devotees definitely and those who are aspiring for pure devotion they also what is their state? they are detached from matter and they are attached to Krishna so devotees don’t necessarily have to renounce everything material but they can engage material things in Krishna’s service only when they are detached from those material things if they are attached to those material things then they will not be engaging those things in Krishna’s service, they will be engaging them for their own gratification so that which is the ideal situation for a devotee is the devotee’s heart is attached to Krishna and in this world the body the talents, the resources are all used for the service of Krishna without any attachment this is essentially the principle of Yukta Vairagya so this is a stage which will come later on initially when we all start off in bhakti we have some attraction to Krishna but on the other hand we are attached to maya also so in a sense all of us are the prakriti bhaktas but Shri Prabhupada presented Krishna consciousness in such a way that he emphasised the association of devotees constantly that’s how he gets devotees by his emphasis at least to the madhyama level so what is the madhyama level? let us look at that so madhyama level basically is characterised by recognising that God’s presence is not limited to the deity but extends beyond the deity also so so there are four different categories of people and there are relationships with them appropriately so the four categories are that is the supreme lord that is the devotees then that is the innocent people is child is the innocent child like people that is the envious so in English sometimes two lists are given and the first list gives a list of names and second list may give a list of relationships and it is said respectively this correlates with this so like that this is respectively there is no explicit word respectively but that is indicated so the prema is for Ishwara that means the madhyama adhikari madhyama adhikari understands that the Ishwara, the supreme lord should be the object of my prema and then tad adhineshu those who are attached to him those are his servants, his devotees what should be my relationship with them? maithri I should be friendly to them then krupa is for the third category that is balisheshu those who do not know about Krishna one should give them knowledge about Krishna that is the way one extends Krishna’s mercy to them so krupa and dvishetsu those who are envious what does the madhyama adhikari do towards them? upeksha, neglects them why neglect? because they are envious of Krishna and the more they hear about Krishna’s glories their envy becomes more and more so that is why it is better for them that they do not come in contact with Krishna right now and by doing upeksha, the madhyama adhikari protects them from committing further apraads against the lord because they hear Krishna’s glories and they blaspheme him more, they commit more apraads and also by hearing the blasphemous statements one can oneself become contaminated also so the madhyama is the well-wisher of everyone but the way the madhyama adhikari the intermediate level devotee can serve the dvishetsu is by praying for them from a distance this is the madhyama adhikari actually Prabhupada describes that a devotee should at least come to the level of madhyama adhikari and the basic difference between the krishna adhikari and madhyama adhikari is that the madhyama adhikari has understood my relationship with Krishna doesn’t depend on my relationship with Krishna alone that means that my relationship with Krishna depends on my relationship with everything else because Krishna is related with everything else for example if a person wants to please a friend then he has to behave nicely not only with that friend but maybe that friend’s friends, maybe that friend’s parents maybe that friend’s spouse maybe that friend’s children so my relationship with my friend depends not only on my relationship with my friend but also those who are related with him and how they are related with him similarly when the kanishka understands that the lord is a person who has feelings and his presence pervades everywhere and everyone has a relationship with him then my relationship with him will depend not only on how I relate with him but also on how I relate with everyone else this leads to the expansion of god consciousness and then the kanishka comes to the madhyama platform third level to the second level so as devotees we also should be able to discriminate if somebody is blaspheming the lord we cannot just be silent we can go away from that place and at least avoid hearing the blasphemy so this is the characteristic of madhyama now what is the connection of all this with the ishvapuja verse we are discussing actually we are building up to how one can come to the level of seeing god everywhere seeing the spiritual reality everywhere that is what this verse was talking about so first stage is that at least see the spiritual reality in the temple in the deity and second stage is see that in relationship with everyone see lord and see his relationship with everyone now an even higher level is actually one does not see people materially at all one sees them spiritually entirely one sees that actually everybody is a devotee of Krishna actually Prabhupada writes in Krishna book in the rasatila pastime that everybody is dancing Krishna’s rasatila dance but some people know it some people don’t know it some people are dancing directly in Krishna’s rasatila some people are dancing indirectly through the maha maya so everybody is actually dancing to Krishna’s tune so the uttamadhikari can see this way where everybody is seen not based on their external material coverings but as their spiritual essence now generally the preacher comes down from the uttama level to the madhyama level for the sake of preaching because at the uttama level one sees everyone is a devotee so one can’t preach but at the madhyama level one sees ok this person is unaware of Krishna’s glory let me share those glories with him and that way I can bring this person closer to Krishna so after giving this background now Srila Prabhupada moves forward and talks about another important thing in the parpot so we discussed about kanashtamadhyama uttama then we come to the point of oneness false and real so bodily oneness is false the idea that everything and everyone is equal at the bodily level does not work different people are talented differently different people’s looks are different their speeches are different their physical abilities are different their intellectual abilities are different so actually speaking to assume that everybody is equal just doesn’t work so at the same time we want to recognise that everybody is equal ultimately everybody is human being we are all a part of the same human family this is the humanitarian idea and so all of us are equal but still that alone that humanism alone is not enough because we can’t deny the fact that people are different in a classroom even if the teacher is equal to everyone still not everybody performs equally well because the students are of different intellectual calibres students have different talents different abilities and they will perform differently so we cannot artificially bring about oneness imagine oneness at the material level there is diversity at the material level so what is the process we accept bodily diversity and we realise spiritual unity we accept bodily diversity means yes I am different from you in the Vedic culture there is Varanashram Dharma and Varanashram Dharma began by accepting bodily diversity ok I have the propensities of Vaishya that person has the propensities of Brahman so let me serve in a particular way let that person serve in a different way and in this way one can move forward and eventually everybody makes spiritual advancement and everybody comes to the level of realisation of the soul so the basic principle underlying Varanashram is spiritually everyone is equal materially everyone is different so as souls all of us are equal all of us are parts of Krishna all of us are endowed with wonderful precious qualities but materially everyone is different so the idea that everyone is one doesn’t work materially now Prabhupada gives the example that if I see a tiger as one with a human being I may embrace a human being if I try to embrace a tiger afterwards I won’t be there to embrace anyone I will be inside the belly of the tiger and maybe my relatives will come and embrace my skeleton at that time whatever is left after the tiger is consumed so it doesn’t work that way so now actually Prabhupada explains in this last section that Anupashyati so oneness how do we understand it we have to see according to Shastra we cannot imagine oneness artificially how exactly everyone is one that is Shastra another level of oneness which Prabhupada talks about is that the scripture has one message scriptures don’t teach different things which are contradictory to each other they are complementary they raise one to a higher level of understanding and consciousness gradually and then Prabhupada says liberated person’s vision is actually truly beneficial a person who is not liberated artificially imagines equality that person’s vision is not actually beneficial so let us look at these points Anupashyati Anu is to see systematically or see with knowledge now actually we all see with knowledge we don’t see with our eyes for example if we see a graph a computer and there is a downward curve in the graph based on our knowledge of economics we understand there is a recession in the country and the economy is going down actually all that is there on the screen is just one line how am I able to make out there is a recession that’s Jnana Jaksha with the eyes of knowledge similarly when astrophysicists study the distant regions of the universe and then they look at the way light is passing through a certain area and when light instead of moving straight like this if the light moves a little bit like this and comes back like this that means light gets pulled this way now they don’t see any object over there but when light is pulled that way they understand oh there is an object with a very strong gravity pull over here and that’s why the light rays path has become tilted in that direction and then for that here a black hole is present the light that goes over light rays that go over there they get completely absorbed in the black hole but other rays they often get shifted the point which you are making over here is even scientists have to see with Jnana Jaksha just seeing with the eyes we don’t understand much so actually if we don’t see with the eyes of knowledge if we just see with our eyes gross eyes seeing is believing many atheists can you show me god but actually seeing is believing is a permanent progress stopper it is a progress stopper why? because if one just simply believes what one sees one doesn’t think about the unseen beyond the seen then one makes no advancement in knowledge for example Newton saw the fruit falling that’s true the fruit did fall but thousands of people have seen the fruit below before Newton and thousands are seeing after it but what happened when Newton saw the fruit falling most people would have thought oh the fruit has fallen let me pick up and eat it and enjoy but Newton thought why did it fall and then he considered it fell because there is gravity so he inferred an invisible principle from an observation that was visible so if we just stick to seeing is believing intellectually we can make no advancement and behaviourally also seeing is believing is a progress stopper when an animal is going through a desert the animal sees a mirage now the mirage it appears as if there is water over there although actually there is no water so now if the animal believes what it sees it will chase after the mirage and just get burning sand in its mouth and again see another mirage keep chasing keep chasing so the animal will never get to the water so seeing is believing is not actually advanced level of intelligence it’s a preliminary animalistic level of intelligence and it’s a progress stopper so this applies all the most to the spiritual realm when you want to understand spiritual truths it is Anupashyati see with knowledge see with scriptural knowledge see with systematic understanding based on scriptural knowledge then there will be understanding of oneness what actually oneness is and how real oneness is to be achieved so let us look at the point of this oneness which Sri Prabhupada says one point of oneness is Shastra has one message which Prabhupada says so Veda Ek Vakyata this is what Madhavacharya says in his Vishnu Tattva Vinayana that Vedas have one message Vishnu Tattva Vinayana is one of the most important books that Sripad Madhavacharya has written and one of the fundamental tenets that he emphasises over there is although the Vedas may seem to say many things but ultimately their conclusive message, their essential message is one Veda Ek Vakyata their one message is what ultimately Vishnu is supreme and he is to be glorified so how is this Veda Ek Vakyata to be understood scripture is Omniform Omniform means that we have uniform uniform means all the students come to the school in one dress that means everybody has one form of dress Multiform means many forms are there Omniform means all forms are there So, in some way, the scripture is Omniform, in the sense that the scripture gives instructions for people at different, different levels and the scripture gives instructions for people at different, different levels Then, the instructions are customised for people at that level and when those instructions are customised for people at a specific level, they may not be relevant for people at another level. So for example, if a person is having acute diabetes, the doctor may say that, don’t take sugar and take this medicine.
Patient says, no, I can’t live without sugar. I must have sugar. Then the doctor may say, okay, take sugar, but only once a week.
Very regulated, not more than necessary. Not more than this, what I allow. On the other hand, if there is another patient who is ready to forego sugar, then that doctor may say, okay, you can avoid sugar.
That’s very good. No need to take sugar. Sugar is actually harmful.
Give sugar up. Now if these two patients meet and he says, you know, doctor allowed me to take sugar. Oh really? Hey, the doctor is partial to you.
Why does the doctor give contradictory instructions? He didn’t allow me sugar, he is allowing you sugar. Doctor is useless. Doctor gives contradictory instructions.
One may start blaming the doctor like that. But actually, for one who can live without sugar, sugar is not really recommended. For one who cannot, it is given in a regulated way.
So like that, the scriptures, for example, tell us that the Bhagavatam says there are four regulative principles. No meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit sex. These create a foundation by which one can practise spiritual life in a steady way.
Some people quote some verses, say the Mahabharata says that somebody ate meat. Or this is a verse from the Rig Veda which says that people used to eat meat at that time. Yes, the Vedas do talk about people eating meat.
But if you look at the context, it’s always a concession. It’s not an instruction. When a doctor tells a diabetes patient that you can eat sugar once a week, that is not what the doctor wants the patient to do.
That’s what the doctor allows the patient to do because that’s what the patient wants. So it’s a concession, not an instruction. Concession means what I want to do and I’m allowed to do it.
Instruction means what my authority wants me to do, what my well-wisher wants me to do, and I agree to do it. So meat eating is not an instruction, it is a concession that is given for some reason. So like that, because scripture is omniform, the multi-level message seems contradictory to the uninformed.
Contradictory to the uninformed means those people who are not knowing very well, they feel that, oh why? There the scriptures are saying don’t eat meat, here they’re saying eat meat. What is this? It seems contradictory to uninformed but it’s seen as complementary by the well-informed. Complementary means it completes.
It is actually for people at different levels, different messages are given. So this way it is seen as complementary. So this is a oneness which one can see only through anupasyati.
When one studies scripture under the guidance of a proper authority, then one understands what is the actual truth of the scripture and then one moves forward in one’s understanding progressively, progressively, progressively. So, now Sri Prabhupada also talks about the Veda Eka Vakita in various other ways. He says the conclusive message of the Vedas is to know Krishna.
Veda is to survey, ameva vedayo. That’s what Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita. So what exactly is the idea of oneness? The idea of oneness is that all souls are ultimately spiritual and all have the opportunity to practise spirituality.
So this oneness is not artificial in terms of saying that all paths are equal. Why? Because all paths are not necessarily equal. Different paths can lead to different results.
It depends on what a person is following. So when the scriptures talk about one, Sri Prabhupada was once in India and some people came to meet him. At that time, they said, Swamiji, actually the saintly people should have equal vision.
Pandita samdarshina, saintly person should see equally. Why don’t you see equally? You actually discriminate. You say this teacher is not teaching this properly, this teacher is not good, this is not good.
Why do you criticise like this? You should be able to see everything equally. So then, first this person was criticising Sri Prabhupada and Prabhupada said, ok, if you are at that level, then the Bhagavad Gita says that we should In the sixth chapter, Krishna says that one should see all living beings. In 6.9 he says that one who is a saintly person, a pious, virtuous person and one who is a sinful person, both should be seen equally.
So now how is it possible that we can see both equally? Is it possible that a person who is a criminal, who has committed many crimes and is in jail and a person who is a virtuous person who is getting a Bharat Ratna award, can we see both of them equally? So this person became very sceptical and he said, you know these scriptures were written long ago and probably those who read the scriptures have committed many mistakes. So Sri Prabhupada said, just see, first you are finding faults with me, now you are finding faults with Vyasadeva. What is your qualification for judging what is the content of the scriptures? There is a profundity to the scriptures that has to be understood.
So what is the profound point over here? At a spiritual level, when a person is a yogi, renouncing the world, the qualification for being able to renounce the world in the path of yoga is that one should be able to see everything materially equal. That means one sees beyond the body to the soul. He says, are you at that level? Can you function at that level? That is a reality at a particular level of consciousness, but that is not the reality at which we can function.
Sri Prabhupada said, what is your equality? You say that actually everybody is equal and in the name of everybody being equal, what happens is everybody does whatever they want to do. They live all sorts of godless, sinful ways of living and by that they all suffer and they continue on living lifestyle that will eventually take them to heavy suffering. So this artificial equality that all paths are equal, that whatever everybody is teaching that is alright, all that, that sort of equality, artificial oneness means that everybody suffers.
So sometimes people say all paths lead to the same goal. We will discuss this elaborately in a future class, but yes, in Kali Yuga we can say that all paths lead to one goal, they all lead to hell. The way materialistic people are living, not all paths, but most paths, people are living ways which are godless, which are sinful, which are going to lead to a lot of suffering.
So we cannot say that whatever way a person is living, it is all the same. That kind of oneness is false. So oneness is from the point of view of the potential of the students spiritually.
Oneness is not from the point of view of the capability of the teachers. Let me explain this. It is a classroom.
Now if a student wants to study, the student cannot say that everybody is one. If the student wants to study engineering and the student goes to a cobbler on the street, please teach me engineering. I see all living beings equally.
So I see the professor in the college who has a doctorate in engineering, I see you equally. Please teach me engineering. So with respect to learning, there cannot be equality in terms of who is qualified to be the teacher.
One has to find the right teacher. So there has to be intelligent discernment, discernment means distinguishing, to find out who is actually spiritually realised and who can make me spiritually realised. So this is at the madhyama level, one differentiates this person at this level.
Now from the student to teacher point of view, the student should be intelligent enough to check whether the teacher is qualified or not. From the teacher-student point of view, the teacher may check at a material level, which students have how much qualification, what talents they have, but the teacher doesn’t discriminate. The teacher wants to give knowledge to everyone.
Knowledge may be customised according to the student’s nature and level, but the teacher wants to give knowledge to everyone. So from the teacher’s point of view, there is an equal vision in the sense that everybody, all the students, the teacher desires their well-being, their academic growth, their educational upliftment. So like that, Prabhupada said, what is my equal vision? My equal vision is that everybody in all parts of the world has a right to become spiritually advanced, has a right to go back to Godhead, to love Krishna and to return to Krishna for a life of eternal happiness.
And with this equal vision, Prabhupada said, I have gone to America, I have gone to Africa, I have gone to Russia, I have gone to Australia, all the inhabited continents of the world. So Prabhupada went and shared Krishna consciousness. For what purpose? Because he saw everyone as spiritual.
He saw everyone as souls who were ultimately having the capability for practising spiritual life. And this was his equal vision. So, as well as Bhaktivedanta Maharaj would often tell an anecdote, that when he joined ISKCON, that was the time when the civil rights movement in America had eventually grown and it had become that the blacks and the whites, the blacks were demanding rights, although they had been liberated from slavery over a hundred years ago, but still they were discriminated against.
They were saying this discrimination should end. So, when Bhaktivedanta Maharaj heard about the spiritual philosophy of not the body and the soul, he was very delighted and he got introduced. He started coming and staying in ISKCON and he found that even among ISKCON devotees, because he was from a coloured background, he was African American, so some people were discriminating against him even within the devotee community and he became a little concerned and he went to Srila Prabhupada and then Srila Prabhupada did not deny that reality but enabled him to see beyond that reality.
Srila Prabhupada told him that if they think that you are black and if you think you are black, then what is the difference between you and them? Now, they are acting in the ignorant bodily conception, if you respond by being in that same ignorant bodily conception, by identifying with the body, what is the difference? So, through this answer, Bhaktivedanta Maharaj understood that Srila Prabhupada accepted him. Srila Prabhupada did not see any material discrimination in terms of spiritual potentiality and Srila Prabhupada was encouraging him not to try to fight this at a material level but to rise to a higher level of consciousness and when he rose to a higher level of consciousness, others would see that and others would also become similarly inspired and they will rise to a higher level of consciousness. So, rather than reinforcing the identity of what colour one’s skin is, he was enthusiastically practising and sharing Krishna Consciousness, distributing books and eventually became a leader in the devotee community with the fearless and brilliant ways in which he distributed books.
So, Srila Prabhupada’s equal vision was that everybody should have an opportunity to practise Krishna Consciousness, everybody, whatever be their external appearance and this is actual equal vision. So, this verse talks about that tohanna vijju kupsate, one should not hate anyone. So, a real, a serious devotee doesn’t hate anyone.
A devotee sees everyone as a potential devotee and tries to share Krishna Consciousness with others. Srila Prabhupada was in Africa at that time, he noticed that the devotees whom he had sent to share Krishna Consciousness in Africa, they were going mostly to the Indians and they were sharing Krishna Consciousness with the Indians. Prabhupada said that, no, this land, Africa, belongs to the Africans.
The Indians are immigrants. You can preach to the Indians also but focus on Africans. So, at that time in Africa, there were practically three levels.
There were the whites, there were the blacks and there were the Indians. So, there were the African-Americans and then African-Americans were considered even lower than the Indians because that was the way the segregation was there. Indians were considered lower than the whites.
So, actually, the devotees were going straight to the Indians, the Hindu Indians and they were sharing Krishna Consciousness with them and they were taking it up, not very seriously, mostly ritualistically, but they were taking it up and they had built their own temples and the blacks would never come to their temples. So, actually, Prabhupada told the devotees, Brahmananda Prabhu was the leader over there, he said, hold the renouncement kirtan, you keep the temples open. When the singing is there, the dancing is there, people who are passing by will see and they will want to come in.
So, at that time, the Hindu organisers of the temple, they were apprehensive, these African-Americans come to our temples, what will happen? But when they saw that devotees were dancing and singing, they started coming in and the devotees invited them to dance and sing, they also started dancing and singing. They were clapping and dancing, their faces became jubilant and then as everybody was dancing and singing, the Indians were there, the Africans were there, they were all dancing in one circle and actually the devotees understood that they are all souls, they can all get Krishna’s mercy and become happy in serving Krishna. Even the Hindu managers of the temple who were initially apprehensive, what will happen if our temples are open to these African-Americans? They were happy to see them also dancing and singing.
And then Srila Prabhupada gave very well-received classes over there. Srila Prabhupada told those African-Americans, the natives of the African countries, he told them in various classes that, you know, you all want to develop, but don’t develop in the materialistic way alone in which the West has developed. Because I have been to America and there all that has happened is, there people are becoming hippies, they have prosperity but they don’t have any happiness.
Develop in a holistic way, develop spiritually. We have come to give you the universal spiritual message. So Srila Prabhupada saw all living beings as potential devotees and he tried to give Krishna consciousness to everyone.
When Srila Prabhupada went to Australia, a reporter asked him, Swami, what is your message for Australia? So Prabhupada replied, my message for Australia is the same as my message for everywhere else. It is the message that all of you have forgotten God and by loving God you will become happy. So this is real oneness, to give everyone the opportunity to practise spiritual life and thereby become advanced.
So let’s look at the purport in more detail. So here Srila Prabhupada in the first purport talks about Kanishtha Adhikari, then he talks about the Madhyam Adhikari, then he talks about Uttam Adhikari and then he talks about those who imitate Uttam Adhikari by flaunting a sense of oneness or fellowship but who behave on the bodily platform are actually false philanthropists. So those who say that all of us are equal at a material level.
They can’t do good to anyone because different people are of different levels. We will discuss about philanthropy more in a later class. But here the important point is we cannot do good to everyone by adopting similar measures.
Different people are of different levels and accordingly they have to be benefited. So if a person who is of a Vaishya nature is given books in charity, that person, what will the person do? Why are you burdening me with books? And a person who is of a Brahminical nature, that person is given tools for doing menial labour. What are you doing? So we cannot give, we cannot benefit everyone in the same way.
So artificially oneness doesn’t work. Then Srila Prabhupada explains that Anupashyati, Anu means to follow, Pashyati means to observe. So Anupashyati means that one should not see things as he does with the naked eye but should follow the previous Acharyas.
That is how we learn to see. And then lastly Srila Prabhupada talks about how at the time of independence and post-independence there are many politicians who pretended to be spiritual. They carried a Bhagavad Gita or they quoted some verses from the Gita and they were talking about oneness.
But Prabhupada says this Uttamadhikari vision of oneness cannot be had by politicians who are always after some material gain. So because they want material gain, they don’t have equal vision. They think this is good, this is bad.
So they cannot have the equal vision. So one who imitates the symptom of an Uttamadhikari may serve another’s outward body for the purpose of fame or material reward but he does not serve the spirit soul. So actually when we talk about welfare, there is the body and there is the soul and taking care of the body is important but that is not spiritual.
So if somebody in the name of spirituality takes care of the other’s body and considers that spiritual, then that such a person is not actually doing true good. The person is not doing good at the spiritual level and by making people think that the material good is spiritual good is confusing people. So the Uttamadhikari sees the spirit soul within the material body and serves him as spirit.
Thus the material aspect is automatically served. Means when we take care of the person, it’s not that we separate the body and the soul. We say I’ll take care only of the soul, I’ll not take care of the body.
No, we take care of the complete being. When the focus is on the soul, when the person’s soul is taken care of, the person is internally satisfied, then the bodily needs are also regulated and taken care of. So we’ll discuss about social service a little bit later.
Let’s summarise what we discussed today. We started by talking about the expansion in one’s God Consciousness. So this word describes one who sees God everywhere and sees everything, in everything God’s presence.
So how is that possible? First we begin by seeing God as the deity. That is the Kanishtha platform, Prakrita Bhakta. Then we start seeing God’s relationship with everyone.
That is the Madhyama platform. And Uttam platform is one sees everyone beyond all their material differences as just souls who are serving Krishna. So all this can be seen Anupashyati through scriptural knowledge, and we discussed about how a graph or a path of light, ray, all that, the meaning can be understood only through knowledge.
Seeing is believing is a permanent progress stopper, intellectually and behaviourally. And then what is real oneness, what is false oneness? We discussed that false oneness is to equate everyone to material level when people are different. And false oneness is to think that actually everybody can be brought equal at a material level.
So we discussed oneness with respect to seeing everyone as potentially capable of making spiritual advancement. So spiritually everyone is equal and seeing that spiritual potentiality of everyone is true equality. But equating everyone as equally qualified spiritual teachers is wrong.
It’s like equating a cobbler and an engineering professor. So there has to be differentiation based on intelligence. And lastly, we discussed about how by this vision of real oneness, Vedic Vakita, scriptures are not contradictory, they are complementary at multiple levels.
So by understanding how scriptures give one message we develop the true oneness towards all living beings. And with that oneness we can work to elevate everyone. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna.