Should every action in the Lord’s pastimes be interpreted to get some instruction from it?

Transcript

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Question when the past times of the lord are analyzed sometimes some devotees take out lessons from practically every incident in the past time and often those lessons seem to be more like extracted from the sort of forced onto the past time rather than naturally coming from the past time so to what extent can we consider the lord’s past times to be instructive if we just consider each action to be instructive then won’t that make the lord’s actions more symbolic than literal answer yes this is a valid concern in the Christian tradition because there is such a wide range of people who are Christians so there is a whole concept called elastic Jesus that means people try to find management teachings in Jesus by looking at how he manages his disciples they try to find out not just spiritual teachings not the social teachings there are homosexuals who say that Jesus and his disciples were ideal models of homosexual relationships so now where Jesus and most of his initial disciples were celibates so no question of homosexuality so we may say leadership lessons can be drawn out but can homosexual model themselves on Jesus so the desire to try to make scripture relevant to our life is good but while making it relevant to our life we cannot screw out some meaning which is not only not there but which is actually contrary to what is there that is definitely undesired for example I was once hearing a series of classes so one devotee gave one class on the 7th chapter of the first canto where Ashwatthama is to be punished and then so Arjuna when Draupadi came to Arjuna saying that unless unless you get this wretched Ashwatthama back I will not live in peace in fact I will die so then Arjuna said yes don’t worry I will get him and then so one devotee spoke this is an ideal example of counselling somebody comes in distress you should immediately make sure the person becomes freed from anxiety and you should do whatever it takes to help that person become freed from anxiety then another devotee said that actually this Draupadi’s desire for revenge and subsequently Arjuna’s promise that I will take revenge when we have this desire to take revenge then there is never going to be any end to conflict so if you want to solve conflicts we have to learn to forgive and although Draupadi speaks like this eventually she forgives so we should learn to forgive now these two are practically contrary one is saying that it was a good dealing and counselling was not solved another is saying that it is undesirable now who is right the Acharyas they don’t talk anything like this so we have to be careful of what we use for our own purposes there is reading in the scripture there is reading from the scripture and there is reading into the scripture reading the scripture means looking at what is there Reading from the scripture means reading between the lines understanding the context what is the implication what is the broader meaning Read into the scripture means that we take ideas from our own mind Whatever is in our own mind, we try to impose it on the scripture. Now it’s natural that when we read scripture, we try to relate it with what is going on in our life.
But we can’t twist scripture to make it relate with our life. So, what is the broad guideline? Specific issues will vary. But in general, whatever meaning we are trying to take from the scripture, that should not contradict the overall message of scripture.
The overall philosophical message, the overall devotional understanding, the rasa and tattva of the message should not be contradicted. So, for example, when Krishna wanted to punish Rukmini for his many heinous acts, then at that time, Rukmini, she started a crime. She started an encounter with Bhagavatam.
And then Krishna decided to not kill him and spared him. Now some devotee took this pastime and said, this is how actually one’s family attachment can interfere one’s service to the Lord. So, Rukmini, she is attached to her brother.
And because of that, he was a demon who deserved to be killed. But because of her attachment, she stopped Krishna from doing his service of killing the demons. Now there is no need for this kind of interpretation.
Unless the Acharya has specifically done this. Because we are talking about ordinary characters. Rukmini is directly the consort of the Lord.
And she is herself transgender. She doesn’t have any attachments. So, actually if she is concerned about some person, that is that person’s fortune.
And that is Rukmini’s mercifulness. So, the point is that we should make sure that while doing our interpretations, we don’t malign the characters of great souls, nor do we twist some meaning. Prabhupada writes that the essence of realization is to present the subject in a way that is relevant to the audience, that is interesting to the audience.
But no unscrupulous meaning should be screwed out. So, that definition which Prabhupada gives of realization is very important. Now, it’s not wrong definitely to try to look for lessons and to also give lessons.
But we should not go against the tattva. We should not go against the rasa while trying to extract lessons. And we should not in any way speak things which will show exalted characters in a poor light.
So, now is it that interpreting, trying to extract lessons from everything will lead to symbolizing, reducing the past time to symbolism? That’s possible. But, and it’s possible and that’s not at all desirable. In general, within the Gaudiya Sampradaya, our Acharyas have not focused on giving symbolic meanings.
Jiva Goswami, Saradhan Goswami, Rupa Goswami have written extensive books on Krishna Leelas, which is the 10th Canto. But even amidst all these books, they have practically never given symbolic meanings. Unlike in some other Krishna Bhakti traditions where everything, what is the symbolism of Krishna having a peacock feather, what is the symbolism of his flute, what is the symbolism of his bluish black complexion, what is the symbolism of his pitambar, some people have given like that.
The Acharyas have told us that when we try to give symbolism, symbolic meaning of everything, then that means often the attention goes from what is there to what it symbolizes. But you have to understand that mattaha parataram na anumit krishna samyata. There is nothing higher than Krishna.
So, we don’t know to symbolize Krishna, I think that we have to go beyond Krishna. So, Bhaktivinoda Thakur is of course in his Chaitanya Shikshanapada and Krishna Samyata, given the meanings of say what the demons represent and how they correlate with Anandapasa Narada, it is fine. So, for those who want to do it, there are precedents.
They can do it, but the important point is that we should read scripture and read from scripture, not read into scripture, not that we take conceptions from our mind and impose them on scripture. Then we will not be actually studying scripture, we will be studying our own mind and how that is reflected in scripture. So, broadly ensuring that nothing goes against tattva, nothing goes against rasa, nothing goes against the glorification of the characters involved.
With these broad lines in mind and Raghupath’s definition of realism in mind, we can decide how best to take lessons from the scriptures. And at least in our initial few years, it is good for us to just study scriptures as Prabhupada and our Acharyas have given us and understand the pastimes in that way. The purpose of studying pastimes is not to swoop down on their meaning, thinking that I am higher and I would rush down and analyze and grasp their meaning.
The purpose of studying pastimes is to be swept up by their emotion. We have to go down these pastimes at a higher level and we want to be lifted up by their emotion. And that’s what Krishna says, tattva taha, then what happens? It is not that you become jnani, Krishna says, maam eti.
When we understand janma karamacham eti, Krishna says in 4.9, if you understand my pastimes in truth, then what happens? You will come back to me. Krishna doesn’t say that you will become an intellectual conqueror. He says you will conquer the existence and return back to me.
So, that ultimate purpose of studying scripture and even extracting lessons, that is to become attracted to Krishna, not to just become intellectually titillated by some new lessons or new interpretations or new symbolisms. That purpose should also be kept in mind. Thank you.
Hare Krishna.