Gaudiya Vaisnavism vs. Sahajiyaism 1/2

Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism vs. Sahajiyāism

PART 1 – REAL AND UNREAL SIDDHA-DEHA

(ISKCON New Māyāpura, France, June 1997)

[The following is a morning lecture given by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in June, 1997, at the ISKCON New Māyāpura Farm Community in France. He requested that this lecture be distributed, in order to check the disease of sahajiyāism in the world.]

Once, a very little boy of three years, sitting naked on the lap of his mother, put his arms around her neck and said with love and affection, “Mother, Mother, I want a very beautiful wife. She should be very golden in complexion, with curly hair and beautiful eyes. She should not be stronger than me, otherwise she will be able to chastise me; and she should also be more lean and thin than me. Also, I want to have two sons and one daughter very soon after our marriage. Quickly Mother, you should arrange for a very beautiful lady.”

The boy’s mother began to laugh. “Yes, I will certainly search everywhere for a good wife for you, but first you must become fatter and stronger. Then, when your śikhā becomes long and thick, I will very quickly arrange your marriage.” This story indicates a phenomenon which is spreading everywhere among so-called devotees nowadays. They don’t want to chant many rounds, nor do they make an effort to develop a devotional mood towards Kṛṣṇa. They don’t want to remember Kṛṣṇa, and they don’t want to enter into a deep understanding of siddhānta.

They can’t chant all day and all night like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. In fact, they can’t even chant one round of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra with their minds absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. They have many requirements for the body and for those things which relate to the body—such as name, fame and fortune. Although they are full of lust and other worldly desires, they still expect their siddha-deha to manifest.

Jumping Into Goloka

Although their minds cannot concentrate on Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, they want siddha-deha—as if it was an Indian rasagullā. If someone has money he can easily purchase two, three or four rasagullās. Similarly, these so-called devotees think that they can attain their siddha-deha just as easily as one buys a rasagullā. This philosophical misconception has very, very dangerous consequences. Neophytes expect to immediately jump into Goloka Vṛndāvana and serve Kṛṣṇa better than Śrīmatī Rādhikā.

They proudly say, “Rādhikā? Who is this Rādhikā? Who is this Lalitā? Who is this Viśākhā?” However, if a beautiful young lady or man were to come, practicing his or her false, so-called devotional life with similar misconceptions, the two will fall down together in a moment. There are thousands and thousands of such so-called devotees.

Although they are not mature in their bhakti, they artificially think, “I have now achieved my siddha-deha; I am Lalitā or Viśākhā, and I am a better sakhī than Rūpa Mañjarī. Rūpa Mañjarī was not as qualified as I am.” As a result of this offensive thinking such persons must go to hell in a very short time—in a day or two. These people also think, “Oh, the Gauḍīya Maṭh has deviated from the ancient paramparā. The previous ācāryas used to think and act like us. Rūpa Gosvāmī and all of the other ācāryas used to do as we do.

From the beginning stage of their devotional lives they remembered their siddha-deha, and in their siddha-deha they served Kṛṣṇa.” Such speculations are quite wrong. Our ācāryas, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa Themselves, who have descended to this world only to give their mercy and teachings, and they set the example for the conditioned souls by beginning from śraddhā in their own lives and devotional activities.

For Advanced Devotees

In his book Jaiva-dharma Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has described all the principles and practices of bhakti, up to the attainment of one’s siddha-deha. There he explained eleven items of perfection (siddha-deha):

• siddha-sambandha
• siddha-vayasa
• siddha-nāma
• siddha-rūpa
• siddha-yūtha
• siddha-veśa
• ājñā
• siddha-vāsa
• sevā
• parākāṣṭhāśvāsa
• pālya-dāsī-bhāva

He discussed this, however, in the next to the last chapter—not in the beginning. One of the principal personalities in Jaiva-dharma is Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Bābājī, the spiritual master of Vijaya-kumāra. Śrī Bābājī taught these principles to Vijaya-kumāra when his disciple was advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and free from all anarthas and material desires.

Vijaya-kumāra had been chanting and remembering Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours a day on the shore of the ocean at Jagannātha Purī. In fact the ocean reminded him of Kṛṣṇa, the ocean of rasa. Vijaya-kumāra had understood and realized the meaning of bhāva, anubhāva, sāttvika and vyabhicāri. He also realized in what proportion they should be mixed with one’s sthāyī-bhāva (eternal mood of service to Kṛṣṇa) to become bhakti-rasa. He had become truly humble—tṛṇād api sunīcena, taror api sahiṣṇunā, amāninā mānadena, and he was on the stage of bhāvāvasthā (bhāva-bhakti).

Even Apsarās, celestial goddesses, like Menakā and others who are more beautiful than any earthly women, cannot disturb the Kṛṣṇa consciousness of a person like Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Yet, even Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura himself was not engaged in the advanced practices of devotees in the Gosvāmī line like Vijaya-kumāra.

We have never seen or heard in any scriptures that he was engaged like this. Only devotees like Śrīla Rūpa, Śrīla Sanātana and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmīs were following all of these principles, and, following them, our entire line of disciplic succession has continued in the same way down to the present day.

A devotee must become mature in bhakti before he can fully follow our disciplic ācāryas. He must come to the stage of śraddhā, then sādhu-saṅga, bhajana-kriyā, anartha-nivṛtti, niṣṭhā, ruci, and āsakti. At the stage of bhāva when there is no scent of desire for sense gratification, when he is quite free from all material thoughts and habits, his siddha-deha will automatically manifest.

The Eight Stages of Devotional Service

When will siddha-deha come? Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has explained this in his book Bhajana-rahasya. There he discusses Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Śikṣāṣṭakam which expresses the eight stages of maturity in devotional service. He writes that first one will have to do bhajana of… ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam:

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

“Let there be supreme victory for the chanting of the holy name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone, which cleanses the mirror of the heart and completely extinguishes the blazing forest fire of material existence. Śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana diffuses the soothing moon rays of bhāva which causes the white lotus (kumudini) of good fortune for the jīvas to bloom. The holy name is the life and soul of transcendental knowledge, which is here compared to a wife (vadhu). It continuously expands the ocean of transcendental bliss, enabling one to taste complete nectar at every step.

The holy name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa thoroughly cleanses and cools the self (ātma), one’s nature (svabhāva), one’s determination (dhṛti), as well as the body both internal and external.” This śloka of Śrī Śikṣāṣṭakam is actually realized after the stage of āsakti. The next śloka is nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis:

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ

“O Bhagavān! Your holy name bestows all auspiciousness upon the living entities. Therefore, for the benefit of the jīvas, You eternally manifest Your innumerable names, such as Rāma, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, Mādhava, Govinda, Dāmodara, and so on. You have invested those names with all the potencies of Your various personal forms. Out of causeless mercy, You have not imposed any restrictions on the chanting and remembrance of such names in regards to any specified time, such as sandhyā-vandana (evening prayer).

In other words, at any time of the day or night, the holy name can be chanted and remembered. This is the regulation which You have established. O Prabhu! This is Your causeless mercy upon the living entities. Nonetheless, on account of committing offenses (nāma-aparādha), I am so unfortunate that although Your holy name is so easily accessible and bestows all good fortune I have not awoken any attachment toward it.”

This śloka represents the stages of sādhu-saṅga and anartha-nivṛtti—removal of anarthas by association with devotees. At present our chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s name is not pure. It may sometimes be nāmābhāsa or nāmāparādha. Pure nāma will appear on our tongue when we become pure ourselves. At that time the quality of tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā manifests automatically:

tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

“Thinking oneself to be even lower and more worthless than insignificant grass which has been trampled beneath everyone’s feet, being more tolerant than a tree, being prideless, and offering respect to all others according to their respective positions, one should continuously chant the holy name of Śrī Hari.” This śloka represents niṣṭhā—firm faith, when one’s chanting will not be just for “show”. The next stage is to realize na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ:

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

“O Jagad-īśa! I do not desire wealth, followers, beautiful women, or salvation described in poetic language. My only desire, O Prāṇeśvara, is that in birth after birth I may have ahaitukī-bhakti unto Your lotus feet.”

This śloka represents ruci, a taste for bhajana.

When we properly practice in good association, everything will develop automatically. We will then realize the fifth śloka:

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

“O Nanda-nandana! Please be merciful upon me, your eternal servant who has fallen in the dreadful ocean of material existence as a result of my fruitive actions. Like a particle of dust affixed to Your lotus feet, kindly accept me forever as your purchased servant.” It is at this stage that one’s siddha-deha begins to manifest. This śloka represents āsakti, or attachment to Kṛṣṇa.

After the stage of āsakti, when tears flow continuously, one feels pūrva-rāga, the intense mood of separation experienced before meeting Kṛṣṇa. As the devotee chants he will think, “O Kṛṣṇa, I cannot live without You; O Śrīmatī Rādhikā, I cannot live without You. When will you give me your darśana?” Then, when he is weeping twenty-four hours daily, rolling on the earth, then nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā:

nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā
vadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā girā
pulakair nicitaṁ vapuḥ kadā
tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati

“O Prabhu! When will my eyes be filled with a stream of tears? When will my voice choke up? And when will the hairs of my body stand erect in ecstasy as I chant Your holy names?” This śloka represents the stage of bhāva—at which time the siddha-deha manifests automatically. From where does this siddha-deha come? It is in our svarūpa, our original spiritual form.

Our siddha-deha does not come from anywhere outside ourselves. In our svarūpa everything is perfect. To realize this, we simply require a connection with svarūpa-śakti. When that connection is made, siddha-deha automatically manifests and all spiritual sentiments of love appear in our heart.

Kṛṣṇa Will Manage Everything

Kṛṣṇa will manage everything; but one should not become mad and imitate this stage artificially, otherwise he will find himself outside this spiritual Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava line; and then he will be ruined. One can only pray, “O Kṛṣṇa! O Gurudeva! When will I have siddha-deha, siddha-nāma? O Śrīmatī Rādhikā, when will I be your maidservant, Your pālya-dāsī? When will I reside near Govardhana and Rādhā-kuṇḍa? When will I attain that position?” An aspiring devotee must be patient.

In the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Nārāyaṇa appeared to Śrī Nārada Muni for a moment, and then He disappeared. Śrī Nārada immediately became very upset and lamented, “Oh, Lord Nārāyaṇa has gone; what shall I do?”

When he began to weep loudly, a voice from the sky called to him, “Don’t worry. You will have to wait, because no one can see Me in his material body. By My mercy I showed you My svarūpa, but now you must wait. Continue chanting My names and remembering Me twenty-four hours daily wherever you are, and preach My hari-kathā to others. One day death will come. At that time you will put your feet on the head of death.”

ārābdha-karma-nirvāṇo
nyapatat pañca-bhautikaḥ
(Bhāg. 1.6.28)

[“Having been awarded a transcendental body befitting an associate of the Personality of Godhead, I quit the body made of five material elements, and thus all acquired fruitive results of work [karma] stopped.” (BBT)]

At the time of death, when Śrī Nārada Muni left his pañcabhautikaḥ (material body), his siddha-deha appeared and he realized himself as an associate of Bhagavān. When did his siddha-deha come? Not in the beginning. It came at the most advanced stage of his Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

It is very helpful to long for the day that our siddha-deha appears. However, we should not imagine that we have our siddha-deha before it has actually manifested. One can pray, “O Kṛṣṇa, I want to be eternally in Vṛndāvana, in a transcendental body.” We should always have that as our objective, and we should hanker to attain service to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. But we should not imagine that we are Lalitā, Viśākhā, or any sakhī.

Otherwise we will be ruined. We cannot expect to attain our siddha-deha before we understand all siddhāntas. If one does not know them, then he will say, “This fire (the activities of artificial siddha-deha) is my mahāprasāda;” he will eat it and he will be finished. This misconception is called sahajism, and there is a great difference between sahajīyās and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī were not sahajīyās. They were practically following the correct process of bhakti. ‘Siddha’ means that a man must first become a siddha devotee. How will siddha-deha manifest when our body is still material? In our Gosvāmīs’ books, especially in the books of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, the bona fide process for achieving perfection is explicitly given. One must first pray for this perfection. “O Kṛṣṇa! O Gurudeva! When will that day come when I will realize siddha-deha and siddha-nāma?”

One must become mature in understanding all kinds of siddhānta. He must first understand Prahlāda Mahārāja in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then Citraketu Mahārāja in the Eighth Canto. Then he must understand the first part of Tenth Canto, especially how Kṛṣṇa manifested His Dāmodara-līlā, and he must remember all these pastimes.

His devotion must mature, so that seeing a beautiful young lady or young man will not disturb him or her. Then, when he has no worldly desires at all, and when he is qualified to be always in Vṛndāvana and Rādhā-kuṇḍa under the guidance of a self-realized soul, a tattvajña, rasika bhakta, at that time he can attain his siddha-deha.

Spreading Like A Plague

There are so many sahajīyā bābājīs—men and women—in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Vṛndāvana, Kāmyavana and many other places in Vraja. They are devotees in name only. Coming to Govardhana and Mathurā to beg money in all the shops and other places, and then spending the entire night counting how much money they collected, how then will they have time to chant and remember Kṛṣṇa?

They don’t even know how to clean themselves after passing stool. They do not know the ABC of siddhānta, and yet they imagine that they have been given siddha-deha. This is very dangerous. Not only in India, but all over the world there is a lack of understanding and good association, and this has created a very serious disease which is spreading like a plague among neophyte devotees. We must try to save ourselves from this.

Nowadays even brand new devotees are reading Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta and saying, “Oh, very good”. They are reading Govinda-līlāmṛta and thinking, “The Gauḍīya Maṭh does not know all these things. They cannot taste rasa. Oh, we are always in rasa.” We should not follow them. Instead of following this very dangerous path, we should try to pursue the bona fide process laid down by our ācāryas like Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. At our present stage we should not buy or read Govinda-līlāmṛta and Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāmṛta.

We must first engage in very good sādhana-bhajana and become mature in bhakti. Until then, we don’t require to read these books any more than the three-year-old boy required a young and beautiful wife. If we follow sincerely, Kṛṣṇa will automatically send a realized soul to help us. He may send Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, or Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī may come himself. We should therefore follow only this bona fide process.

Our Aim And Objective

First we must know the aim and objective of our sādhana, and then we should know how to begin from śraddhā:

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo ‘tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ‘nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ
athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ

1. By hearing the śāstras, pāramārthika (transcendental śuddha-śraddhā) appears. The word śraddhā here implies firm belief in the meaning of the bhakti-śāstras such as Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and so forth.
2. Upon the appearance of such śraddhā, one again obtains sādhu-saṅga and, in their company, begins to receive instructions regarding the methods for executing bhajana.
3. Thereafter, one takes up the practices of bhajana (bhajana-kriyā) beginning with śrī-guru-pādāśraya, and so on.
4. By constant engagement in bhajana, anarthas gradually disappear (anartha-nivṛtti).
5. This elimination of anarthas takes place in successive stages. As one becomes progressively freed from anarthas, he attains niṣṭhā and freedom from all distractions (vikṣepa). At that stage ekāgratā (one-pointedness) and nairantaryamayī (incessant striving) arise in the pursuit of bhajana.
6. Thereafter, ruci (taste) or, in other words, an intense hankering (lālasā) for bhajana develops.
7. When ruci becomes very deep it is called āsakti. The difference between niṣṭhā and āsakti is that niṣṭhā involves application of the intelligence, whereas āsakti is spontaneous. In the stage of niṣṭhā, even if the mind is not attracted, by one’s intelligence one remains devoted to the performance of bhajana. However, when one comes to the stage of āsakti, the sādhaka has no more dependence on any kind of reasoning by the faculty of the intelligence. At that stage he is deeply immersed in the performance of bhajana in a spontaneous manner.
8. After the stage of āsakti, bhāva or rati makes its appearance.
9. At the final stage prema manifests. This is the order of the stages leading to the appearance of prema within the heart of the sādhaka.
   (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu)

We must understand all of these truths, and then adopt the correct process. At the same time we should not think that there are no devotees who are qualified to remember their siddha-deha. There are certainly pure devotees in this world, and we should not try to disturb them by criticizing them. They will not be disturbed, of course, but we will be. It will not profit us to try to drag them down artificially to our level.

There may be thousands and thousands of devotees who are qualified for this perfection, and who are acting according to that perfection at the present moment. Our aim and objective should be the same as theirs, but we should not imitate them. We must be patient, and engage sincerely in sādhana and bhajana, then we will gain all spiritual perfections automatically.

Great Relish For Kīrtana

Have you heard of nāma-gāne sadā ruci? This is one of the symptoms of those who have achieved bhāva-bhakti.

nāma-gāne sadā ruci, laya kṛṣṇa-nāma

“Due to having great relish for the holy name, one is inclined to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra constantly.” [Madhya-līlā 23.32]

Do you know who is the best kīrtanīyā in the entire world—from ancient times to present day? Do you know who sings the most powerful and sweet kīrtanas? It is not necessarily the person who is expert at playing violin, harmonium, tablā, and vīṇā. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is the best kīrtanīyā; all our ācāryas are the best kīrtanīyās, and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja are also the best kīrtanīyās.

Understand this deeply, and try to become kīrtanīyās like our ācāryas. Do not think that you are unqualified if you do not know how to play the harmonium or if your voice is not very flexible for singing rāgas. Even if you have a very raspy voice, this is not an impediment.

Simply chant with feeling, “He Kṛṣṇa, He Kṛṣṇa.” It is the spiritual qualification to describe the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa that makes one the most high-class kīrtanīyā—not a very fine voice. A person with a beautiful voice can fall down at any time, and in fact he may already be fallen. Those who perform kīrtana thinking, “Are the people in the audience inspired or not? Are they pleased with my kīrtana?”, are not actually doing kīrtana. Kīrtana is that process by which the transcendental sound of Kṛṣṇa’s name and glories enters the ears and purifies the heart.

This is the actual meaning of kīrtana. If we have to glorify a person, or if we have to give him rupees, dollars or francs before he will sing, then he is not truly a kīrtanīyā. Money and reputation cannot touch the real kīrtanīyā. We should try to be like that: melting others’ hearts, melting our own hearts, and always weeping for Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The hari-kathā of such a kīrtanīyā touches everyone’s hearts, and anyone who is sincere is bound to follow him.

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

A wise and self-composed person who can subdue the impetus to speak, the agitation of the mind, the onset of anger, the vehemence of the tongue, the urge of the belly and the agitation of the genitals can instruct the entire world. In other words, all persons may become disciples of such a self-controlled person. (Śrī Upadeśāmṛta 1)

Such a person is guru, and his hari-kathā is the most powerful cure for our original disease, which is that we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa.