If pure devotees know everything from all perspectives then why do they have differences as in different commentaries?
- From Anant Gaursundar Pr:
S.B. 4.28.41 translation,” In this way King Malayadhvaja attained perfect knowledge because in his pure state he was directly instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By means of such enlightening transcendental knowledge, he could understand everything from all angles of vision.” If pure devotees understand everything from all angles of vision; then how do they have differences in opinion & different commentaries?
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Yeah. Question from Anant Gaur Sundar Prabhu.
In Srimad Bhagavatam 428-41 translation, in this way, King Malayadbhaja attained perfect knowledge because in his pure state, he was directly instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By means of such enlightening transcendental knowledge, he could understand everything from all angles of vision. If pure devotees understand everything from all angles of vision, then how do they have differences of opinion and different commentaries? Answer.
The jiva never becomes omnipotent or omniscient like God. So God is always God and the jiva is always subordinate. By the grace of God, the jiva may be given some extraordinary powers.
But that doesn’t mean that the jiva is equivalent to God in all ways. So even in this particular verse, whenever such statements come, in the Vedanta Sutra, a whole Adhikaran is called as Samanvaya Adhikaran. Samanvaya Adhikaran means reconciliation or harmonization.
So whenever there are any statements in the scripture, one statement cannot be seen as out of context from the other statements. So only when we see all the statements in their proper context, can we understand their meaning in full. So there in Samanvaya Adhikaran, it is clearly described that if one statement of a scripture is seen to contradict another statement given elsewhere in the scripture, then one has to carefully reconcile all of them without getting into the confusion that one of them is referring to the absolute truth in an absolute way.
That sort of confusion has to be avoided. So for example, it is said in the Bhagavad Gita that that lust, anger and greed, these kill the soul. Now obviously we know that the soul cannot be killed.
So then what do we do when we see such a statement? If we see such a statement, all that it means is that we understand that this is used in a metaphorical sense. So in the same Bhagavad Gita, elsewhere there is a saying, the soul is not to be killed. Never to be killed.
So in this way, one statement has to be taken metaphorically. So basically the whole Vedanta Sutra is about reconciling apparently contradicting statements in the Upanishads. So therefore, here when we see that he knows everything about everything, that is not a literal statement, which means that he becomes God, which would become equivalent to Mayavada.
That basically means that he got enlightenment. So we become full of knowledge, but we don’t have full knowledge. That is the difference between the realized soul and God.
Chitra is a characteristic of the soul, and that means that the soul is knowledgeable. So what does this knowledgeable characteristic mean? It simply means that the soul has knowledge. So what is the knowledge the soul has? That knowledge is that whatever is required for the service to the Lord.
So therefore, this statement is to be taken in that context, that he got enlightenment. It is not that he became omniscient like God, because we will see, leave alone scripture, there are so many statements within the works of Sri Prabhupada himself, his explicit statement, his commentaries, his conversation in the letters where he says that Jiva can never become God. So to become omniscient would in one sense be becoming like God.
Of course, it is not entirely becoming like God, and God can give certain of his attributes to certain people, but at the same time, this particular verse doesn’t indicate this particular point in an explicit way. All that it is saying is that he attained enlightenment. That is the essence of the point over there.
So at the point of enlightenment, we acquire as much knowledge as Krishna wants us to acquire, by which we can serve him properly in the most harmonious way. Regarding why those who are pure devotees, who can see from all perspectives, why do they have differences of opinion? There is a separate answer to this about why Acharyas have differences, and you can hear that for detail on this site. But the key thing is that Krishna may reveal different aspects of his individual beauty to them, and that’s why they may see things differently, and that’s why they may have differences.
So there is no essential difference in tattva. The tattva is as far as Krishna is God, I am his servant, and bhakti is eternal. Prabhupada explained that these three principles, there is never any difference between, even the four sampradayas, what to speak of the Acharyas, within our sampradaya, or what to speak of pure devotees.
But because every devotee has his own individual relationship with Krishna, and accordingly, they have a particular vision of Krishna, and they have a particular vision of the world, in relationship with Krishna. And according to their specific nature of service, Krishna will reveal things to them. So, should Krishna go to the forest or not, every morning, Yashodamayi has a difference of opinion, and the Gopas have a difference of opinion.
Why? Because they all love Krishna, but the Gopas want to play with Krishna, and Yashodamayi wants to protect Krishna. So, this is of course a very transcendental perspective. You know, at night, Yashodamayi wants Krishna to rest peacefully, and the Gopis want him to perform their aasleela with him.
So they have differences because their mood of serving Krishna is different. Similarly, within a particular verse, when Acharyas are writing commentaries, Krishna may reveal different aspects of emphasis for them, and according to their particular rasa, certain things may stand out for them, and so there may be differences. So, because they are not omniscient, because Krishna reveals certain perspectives as specifically resonant with their rasa to them, so they see things accordingly, and that’s why there are differences.
Thank you.