CC daily 101 – M 6.108 – Strive for a Krishna-centered, not self-centered, vision of argumentation

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Thank you.

This is a verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam, 6.4.31. यच्चक्तयो वदताम्वादिनाम्वई विवादसंवाद भुवभवन्ति वूर्वन्ति चैशाम्हुरात्नमोहम् तस्मैनमौनन्त गुणायभौमने यच्चक्तयो By whose energy वदताम्वादिनाम्वई those who are contending and opposing those who make one proposition and those who oppose that proposition विवादसंवाद भुवभवन्ति विवादसंवाद so there is विवाद is dispute and संवाद is conversation भुव is भवन्ति they become so in the process of disputing through discussion and argumentation कुर्वन्ति चैशाम्हुरात्नमोहम् so by his energy what does his energy do? कुर्वन्ति it makes people quarrel and चैशाम् of them मुहरात्ममोहम् the result is आत्ममोहम् they stay deluded unable to understand what is what तस्मैनमौनन्त गुणायभौमने तस्मैनमौ therefore I offer my obeisances to that lord अनन्त गुणाय who has unlimited qualities भुवने who is the supreme this is a fascinating way of appreciating the supreme lord of offering obeisances to the supreme lord and here this is being quoted by Gopinath Acharya as a more or less a conclusion of the discussion by saying that the inconclusiveness is itself indicative of illusion so here we see a glimpse of a devotee's attitude towards debates and argumentation we see that the devotee does not hesitate in trying to persuade others to help others understand the truths of life at the same time if the process becomes too argumentative and it is becoming argumentative and inconclusive then the devotee just ceases from the debate we are not interested in fighting for fighting sake we will see in this context that whereas Gopinath Acharya ceased from the debate over here what he was not able to do Lord Chaitanya was able to do later Lord Chaitanya convinced and converted Sarovar Bhattacharya so what this means is that we as devotees need to have a healthy dose of humility that different devotees have different capacities for outreach and based on individual capacity will vary in terms of how much we are able to convince others and generally speaking we need to study the philosophy systematically scrutinizingly and be able to present and train ourselves to present it effectively at the same time logic and argumentation are skills and different people will have different levels of skills so if we find that with our level of knowledge and skill we are not able to counter a particular person then it is best to desist from the debate we don't have to spoil that relationship by alienating that person we need to see things from a broader perspective and what is the broader perspective that we are not just it's not I versus he or she it is not we versus they it is ultimately we are I and we and they are both parts of the supreme we are both energies of the supreme and we are both subject to coming under the illusory energy subject to being dragged by the lower modes and when we see this then we understand that rather than getting carried away by the lower modes we understand that the illusory energy is controlled by the supreme lord and Aishwarya Prabhupada wrote in his Jalduta prayers the bhagavata dharma so he says it is by your will that all living beings have come under illusion and if it is your will they will also come out of illusion and it is my desire oh lord that they be delivered so if that is also your desire then please make my words understandable to them so here we see such a Krishna centered vision of outreach Aishwarya Prabhupada is not thinking that I have so much knowledge I have so much logic I have so much charisma by my power I will convince others he is thinking that Krishna controls me Krishna controls this person and if Krishna desires to free this person from illusion then Krishna will give me the words and use me as an instrument to free this person so therefore I pray to Krishna now a similar Krishna centered vision of debate is being depicted in this verse wherein it is said that when people are fighting actually they are fighting they are debating and muhuratma moha essentially the debate just goes on and atma moham people forget their true identity and their true purpose in the process of argument how is that? because once we start arguing with someone it becomes very much I vs we vs they I vs he or she and then with that attitude it is very difficult to focus on Krishna and even the I becomes a material conception of the I and I want to prove I am right and I will prove that you are wrong so when that happens then atma moham we forget who we are and we forget what our purpose is our purpose is not just to prove intellectually the superiority of our thought system or someone else's thought system our goal is not to prove the correctness of our opinion and the wrongness of someone else's opinion our purpose is to help others to come closer to Krishna and that can't happen unless we learn to keep Krishna in the center and see Krishna's connection with whatever is happening so if a person is arguing too much and that means we understand that it is by Krishna's energy that this person is being directed in a particular way and if it is Krishna's energy which is directing this person then I cannot counter Krishna's energy I am a servant of Krishna so I will pray to Krishna to if he wills and when he wills help this person come to truth now we may say doesn't Krishna always will let a person come to the truth yes Krishna is the well wisher of all living beings and he does want everyone to come to truth at the same time it is not that Krishna overrides other people's individual free will he has given all of us free will and we need to direct our will and each of us has to individually choose to direct our will towards Krishna and as Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita 15.15 from me come knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness so Krishna gives us intelligence according to our desires and intentions and aspirations and Krishna knows the right time when to give spiritual intelligence and we need to have faith in Krishna's plan and pray to Krishna to if he so desires make us a part of his plan Aishwarya Prabhupada prayed that now if it is your desire that they be delivered then please make my words understandable to you this verse similarly Krishna centered vision of debate that when two people start arguing endlessly then both of them get deluded and both of them forget the purpose of life and how wonderful it is that although both of them have intelligence the illusory energy has perverted their intelligence so that they got caught in a debate without understanding or pursuing the ultimate purpose of life and that lord whose energy can delude even such intelligent people I offer obeisances to such a lord. Thank you.