Real purpose of philosophy is to discover our true self and connect it with the Divine.
In more plain terms: How parts are related to the Whole Absolute; to find our right place in a bigger picture. Such quest creates a life journey of joyous search, and all our dreams fulfilled in the process.That's what we live and die for... to eventually transform into a state of unborn immortality.
As by watering the root of a tree we water its leaves, similarly by returning everything to the Supreme cause we satisfy all other necessities of life without separate effort.
This constitutes the spirit Isavasya, further explained in Sri Isopanishad. This realization leads to direct Spiritual experience. As the building rests on its foundation, all spiritual Life is built on Shanta Rasa.– neutral relationships with the Supreme. All other Rasas grow from that and all further Truths, are derived.
Sri Chaitanya wrote: “One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”
However Such Absolute tolerance can not be imitated or achieved by anything other then Realization of Absolute, through the Isavasya principal - the process of returning everything to the Supreme. Practically Isavasya sets first basic qualification to glorify God constantly by Chanting his Name as outlined by Sri Chaitanya.
Other important truths derived through Isavasya:
1. No one is fallen as long as we return everything to the source.
This is the only justification and higher purpose, for our coming into material existence. No, we are not under punishment. Our existence has a higher meaning. We were simply given the opportunity to explore and to return. And no matter how perverted our experiences here may seem to be, (if all being returned to the source), then it becomes all important and necessary part for building our spiritual bodies, on our way of devotional exploration.
2. Reintegration/Transformation. Sin is simply a misdirected effort, and the seeds of impure potentials within our consciousness. To get free from Sin is simply to redirect our effort and reconnect our intent to its True origin by tracing everything to their root cause (Visnu). In this way pride becomes transcendental pride, anger becomes transcendental anger, lust becomes transcendental lust and everything transcended in this way.
3. All confusion and misfortune come from not knowing the Truth. But knowing, and not following, is the biggest deviation.
4. Man is always under control of either material or spiritual nature. Liberation is simply choosing Divine Grace.
Guru and Krishna Nama
To seek Spiritual advancement in this material world one is to seek Guru - qualified Spiritual master. This is the only way to overcome conditioned state. And from a point of view of the disciple - Guru becomes more then God Himself and Scripture Supports such view. On the other hand Scripture clearly states to put God and his transcendental name before everything else, including Guru. As Kali Santarana Upanishad states – there are no rules for chanting Hare Krisna mantra. That means: no regulative principals, sampradayas, formal initiations needed and the chanting process is freely accessible to everyone.
The only initiation is our undivided attention that comes from proper intent and a sense of purpose. And a job of a true Guru is to invoke such higher sense in a disciple, to increase transcendental motivation.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur elaborates on this saying – the only requirement is our undivided attention to the process of Hearing and Chanting – "Shravanam Kirtanam" of Krishna Nama itself. All offenses to the Name disappear if we simply focus all our attention on Divine name. How is that Divine controversy of Guru being God and God being the Guru being reconciled:
When we deal with modes of material nature we should place Guru before Maya, because his instructions enable our proper conduct and they are perfectly tailored to our life situation. But when we chant Mantra we should forget all that and place Krishna – ultimate cause, before everything else and even before Guru. Otherwise that would be an offense to the Holy Name -thinking that it is insufficient and needs some external help. Moreover we should listen carefully to the melody produced by mantra at the very moment of chanting. At different times and different surroundings Mantra will produce different tunes and mellows that descend directly from the Spiritual realm and set our unique mode of transcendental service. So that constitutes a proper treatment of Maha Mantra. Otherwise Imposing “favorite tunes” and treating chanting process as some exercise in classical Indian singing is another offense, as our attention deviates from the Holy name towards gratifying our False Ego and creates the impediment for the entire transcendental process. Because Holy Name has Absolute power, Any interpretation of the Holy Name is an offense. As Brahma said – no rules required . So Unconditional Attention is the only rule. After consulting Authoritative scriptural sources we should conclude that Maha Mantra and in fact any other mantra should be chanted with undivided attention and as unconditional outpouring of the Soul, as Transcendence can be achieved only with proper effort and not otherwise. And when properly chanted, then correct tune and voice harmonic sponteneously emerges from the Transcendence without any separate effort or concern. Melody comes from Mantra, but Mantra does not emerges from melody and such understanding draws the line between Spiritual practice and Musical entertainment.
And to test basic qualification of a Guru is to inquire on all these topics.
Higher Learning - All about proper understanding and relationship.
Scripture says that Love of God and salvation are beingachieved not by scholarly studies of scripture, not by following rules and regulations, austerities, not by own effort, not even by faith but buy CAUSEESS MERCY of GOD. Bible and Vedas completely agree at this point. Everything else will come instrumental only in conjunction and after Causeless Grace factor being fulfilled. Veda says BY RANDOM ACTS OF GOOD FORTUNE and in Vedas LAKSHMI is a personification goddess of good fortune - consort of VISHNU.
So true learning is to understand that transcendental relationship is beyond our understanding and is being acheived by the means of the Glorification of the Transcendental names of God in a state of Unconditional Attention.
We can't make people and ourselves God conscious by merely putting everyone through heavy scriptural study, because higher knowledge is pure and random act of fortune and has nothing to do with scholarly achievements or reshaping character, reducing one's false ego, nose, weight loss, breast enlargement, ethnic fashions, etc.
On the other hand if someone is spontaneously attracted and sincerely seeking answers, scriptural advice is available. So LOVE OF GOD is a grander SCIENCE then a mere scripture learning curriculum or change of fashion. It requires transformation on a deeper level.
B.S.Prabhupada's story rather proves this point. When he came to the west with his Vedic books and monk fashions he was seeking support among scholars and business people, but nobody was interested. So after he became sufficiently discouraged he simply sat under the tree and began chanting. People started to come and chant with him and ask questions. And that's how the movement started and eventually it gained monetary support as well. So Vedic books and ethnic fashions did come instrumental but only in conjunction with and after the Causeless Mercy factor was fulfilled.
So Love of God and higher learning always have to have causeless random aspect of Grace. We can't put it in the bottle or in the box with our stamp on it. It has its own ways and we should look for signs and move with the flow of Causeless Grace.
Genesis of Divine Consciousness.
Vrindavan Das Thakur specifically says - not even by Faith, but rather by good fortune, where FAITH - shradha itself comes from good fortunes.– causelessness and notbelief system.
So If we build a catholic like church based solely on faith as a belief system it would inevitably turns into "organized religion" prone to hypocrisy. If we institute mere Guru system or Pope system or chosen people system, same decay of Authority into Authoritarianism will occur. So any transcendental organization in order to advance their spiritual practice has to put Causeless Grace principal first and view the rest as instrumental. To have some sort of inspirational causeless mercy randomizer built in its core. Meaning simply allow unplanned events in God's name to come and take place, be on the constant look for such unplanned opportunities - Harinam/Sankirtan - as manifest causelessness and become expert in recognizing the favorable signs for such events.
When we randomize spiritual experiences and interactions, it makes spiritual transformation process genuine as it brings more of "CAUSELESS MERCY FACTOR" into “EVERYTHING IS IN DIVINE OR GOD IS THE ULTIMATE CAUSE” equation. That's why sanyasi is the mendicant who always travel for example.
To make it schematic:
CAUSELESS GRACE OR PURE ACTS OF GOOD FORTUNE => FIRM FAITH IN TRANSCENDENCE => SPIRITUAL PRACTICE =>GURU,SHASTRA,SADHU => SELF REALISATION
So these are complete schematics and order of higher learning, if we miss a point, process becomes ineffective or can even create opposite effect
Buttom line - God moves in mysterious ways and our business is to watch for signs and discover opportunities – hankering for Divinity.
