Absolute Knowledge
Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva-Goswami Maharaja explains the fundamental position of surrender in the pursuit of absolute knowledge. Originally published at Gaudiya Darshan.
vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah
Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.7
janayaty asu vairagyam jnanam ca yad ahaitukam
Devotion to the Supreme Lord quickly produces detachment and self-revealed knowledge.
Spontaneous knowledge (ahaituki-jnana) will come in its full purity only when the Lord comes down to your heart and shows to you, “I am such and such.” Knowledge about the Lord is possible when he wills it. Knowledge about him is real when he desires to reveal himself to you. Your conjecture made up during so many lives in the mundane plane is all misconception.
To attain God, or to do his work, knowledge of the English language may be necessary or may not be necessary. It is necessary to learn English if I am teaching people who only speak English. Similarly, if I want to convince and convert a man who has a strong sense of logic, then I need some knowledge of logic in order to talk with him. For no other reason is knowledge of English or logic necessary. I need to be knowledgeable if I want to make a man who is proud of his knowledge submit to my words. In this way, knowledge may be used in the service of the Lord under certain conditions.
siddhanta baliya citte na kara alasa
Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 2.117
iha ha-ite krsne lage sudrdha manasa
Srila Krsna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami says, “Don’t sit idle and think that to be illiterate or foolish is the only condition needed to get the Lord’s grace.”
Knowledge should come to help me make my position secure. To meet the negative tendencies that may spring up within me and stop them, some knowledge is necessary to a certain extent. But the real thing cannot come through knowledge. It comes only through submission, by sincerely waiting and showing him that I am really qualified because I feel myself to be most insignificant. “I am a bona fide candidate for your grace because I am the most in want.” This is dainyam. Only through saranagati can we expect to have Him, and dainyam, sincere humility, is the first part of saranagati.
jagai madhai haite muni se papistha
Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi-lila, 5.205
purisera kita haite muni se laghistha
I am more sinful than Jagai and Madhai. I am lower than a worm in stool.
trnad api su-nicena taror iva sahisnuna
Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 17.31
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih
The Lord’s Name must be chanted with humility greater than that of a blade of grass.
Sincere helplessness, realization of one’s helplessness, is trinad api sunicata being ‘lower than the grass’.
dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
Saranagati 1.3
‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa palana
Dainyam and atma-nivedanam. “I can’t stand alone; I am not able to stand independently on my own legs. I must seek the shelter of He by whose grace alone I can live.” In this way, the tendency of atma-nivedanam (self-surrender) will naturally come from within because I feel that I cannot stand independently. I am that insignificant and thus desire shelter.
Then goptritve varana and ‘avasya raksibe krsna’—visvasa palana. I must ardently and sincerely accept him as my guardian. I must have confidence that He will protect me. “I am not shelterless—my guardian cannot but save me.”
bhakti-anukula-matra karyera svikara
Saranagati 1.4
bhakti-pratikula-bhava varjanangikara
We are to accept what is favorable to the life of a devotee and forsake what is unfavorable. These are the characteristics of a real devotee.
The finite wants the infinite. The quest must be very unusual; it cannot be an ordinary thing. The finite wants to have the infinite. This can only happen through submission and through prayer. It can happen only by showing that I am helpless. “Without you, I can’t go on; I can’t do. I can’t do.” By gradually attracting his kindness and pity, my object may be fulfilled. There is no other way. There is no other way than to present myself before him in a naked way. “I am such. I am the most needy. I am far away, and I am the most needy. Thus I have come to seek your help. Without that I cannot be saved; I cannot live at all.” Such sincere craving is the real qualification of a devotee. He may be a good scholar, but this submissive tendency must have the upper hand within him. He may have many qualifications in the worldly sense but only if this feeling is predominant in him will he get the Lord’s grace.
It is not that everyone who is graced with devotion to the Supreme Lord is poor in all worldly respects. Some may be highly talented or resourceful men who at heart are very humble and think themselves to be nothing.
niskincanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya
Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka 8.23
param param jigamisor
(Those who desire to cross over the ocean of material existence and serve the Lord feel) I have nothing to boast. I have nothing. If I analyze myself, I see that I have nothing. I am the most needy. I am the most needy.
This must be the leading feeling of a devotee regardless of what qualification he may have. He may be Brahma, he may be Siva, he may hold any position, but to attract the attention and grace of the Lord this quality of feeling needy must be predominant. Otherwise, one cannot attract him.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
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“Sincere helplessness, realization of one’s helplessness, is trinad api sunicata being ‘lower than the grass’.”… difficult the first, what to say the second, far very far… again to intent, now how Isidoro. Pranams and Thanks – _-