Existing to Love
By Swāmī Śrī Bhaktivedānta Tripurāri Mahārāja, published in Namarupa Magazine.
Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān are well known Vedāntic terms referring to the Absolute—terms that are often considered synonymous. However, while Gauḍīyā Vaishnavas agree that Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān are different names for the Absolute, they emphasize that the three are, at the same time, not synonymous. They are God’s effulgence, his manifestation as the oversoul of the world, and his form for līlā in the world beyond, respectively. The Gauḍīyā further contend that the former two manifestations arise from the latter.
Analyzing in this way, these three manifestations of divinity would seem to be three distinct, objective realities. However, they also constitute subjective experiences of the Absolute relative to different approaches to the Godhead. But first let us look at them as objective realities—as eternal aspects of the Absolute: aspects of existence (sat), knowledge (cit), and love (ānanda), corresponding to Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān.
Love, it would seem, includes in its scope knowledge and existence. One can exist but not have knowledge or love, but one cannot have knowledge without existence. Similarly, one can exist and have knowledge but not love, but one cannot love without both existing and having knowledge. Because in the view of Vedānta Bhagavān is that manifestation of the Absolute that loves and is loved by his devotees, Gauḍīyā reason that Bhagavān is also the all-encompassing expression of the Absolute.
If we were to isolate the Godhead’s existence—the manifestation that is Brahman—it would not be devoid of knowledge or love. However, neither would its knowledge or love take precedence over its existence. If we were to isolate the Godhead’s knowledge—the manifestation that is Paramātmā—it would not be devoid of existence or love; indeed, it would exist more fully than Brahman unto itself. However, neither would its existence or love take precedence over its knowledge. Finally, if we were to isolate the Godhead’s loving aspect—the manifestation that is Bhagavān— we find that such love entails the culmination of existence and knowledge, even while they only serve as a backdrop to lila, the divine play of love.
However, one may legitimately ask, “Can we really isolate these three aspects of the Absolute from one another?” As valid as this question appears, it is readily dismissed by Gauḍīyā Vedānta merely by pointing out that Eastern revelation delineates three distinct paths to transcendence: jñāna, yoga, and bhakti.1 These three practices (sādhanas) correspond to three distinct goals (sādhyas). Jñāna seeks the Absolute’s existence in isolation—Brahman; yoga seeks the Absolute’s knowledge in isolation—Paramātmā; bhakti seeks the Absolute’s love in isolation—Bhagavān.
Still one may question further, “Do not both jñāna and yoga ultimately seek all three aspects of the Absolute—existence, knowledge, and love, as well? “Yes and no,” the bhakta will reply. In order to understand this reply, let us look carefully at these three ideals and their corresponding paths.
The jñāna mārga, the path of knowledge, is four-fold in practice. It entails transrational introspection (viveka); detachment (vairāgya); the cultivation of six virtues—1) tranquility (sāma), 2) rational control of the senses (dama), 3) satiety (uparati), 4) tolerance (titikṣā), 5) faith in revelation (śraddhā), and 6) mental concentration (samādhāna)—that together are taken as one practice (sad-sampat); and lastly, a longing for liberation (mumukṣutva).
In the jñāna mārga, the practitioner seeks complete unity with the Absolute, as all difference is thought to arise from ignorance born from attachment. The identity that arises from attachment to objects and experiences that do not endure is not a lasting one, and infinitely more important than such objects and experiences is the experiencer itself: consciousness. While in the ephemeral world things are “here today and gone tomorrow,” that which experiences them—consciousness—endures eternally. In the jñāna mārga, consciousness is understood to be primal and irreducible, in part because the very attempt to reduce the conscious entity to matter requires consciousness. In other words, the very act of making the claim that consciousness is reducible refutes its premise. One can no more deny the foundational role and irreducible nature of consciousness than one can rationally say, “I am dead.” One can say that consciousness is not this and not that material object or force—neti neti—but this does not make consciousness any less meaningfully. The fact that consciousness is not comparable to anything of the physical or natural world leads logically to the conclusion that it is non-physical or super natural.
Realizing the temporal nature of the world and its false variety in contrast to the eternal nature of consciousness and its likeness to the underlying, unified consciousness of Brahman, the jñāni seeks to realize an eternal existence devoid of the illusion that gives rise to attachment. Thus eternal existence is the jñāni’s ideal. His or her knowledge is primarily knowledge of the ephemeral nature of the world and the disappointment that lies in attachment to it. The jñāni’s knowledge thus fosters detachment, which in turn serves his or her pursuit of eternal existence, upon attaining which, knowledge itself, the individual knower, and the object of knowledge are thought to merge in oneness of “absolute being.”
The love of the jñāni constitutes merely forgoing worldly exploitation—karmic acquisition—and the corresponding relief derived from the absence of karmic repercussions. To the extent that loving is about giving, we find love in the jñāni’s ceasing from taking, but there is no sense of lasting reciprocal love in the jnani’s ideal. Thus for the jñāni, both knowledge and love are centered on existence. Indeed, Brahman is pure existence without dualities and thus without any Other to know or to love. The jñāni is satisfied to know that he or she exists.
Yoga sādhana, on the other hand, consists of an eightfold practice. It begins with the embrace of that which is favorable to yoga (yama) and a rejection of that which is not (niyama). This is followed by sitting (āsana), breath control (prāṇāyāma), withdrawal of the senses from sense objects (pratyāhāra), concentration (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and yogīc trance of omniscience (samādhi). Yoga is a very sophisticated methodology for gaining control over one’s entire physical body, both the outer limbs as well as the internal organs and their functions—from posture and agility to control of one’s digestion, evacuation, sexual energy, etc. It also achieves control over the subtle, psychic dimension of one’s material experience, giving rise to psychic powers. Such comprehensive control and subsequent powers imply attainment of knowledge, knowledge like that of the all-knowing Isvara or Paramātmā.
Paramātmā is the aspect of the absolute that oversees and permeates this world and therefore, as opposed to extreme forms of the jñāna mārga in which the world is dismissed altogether, in yoga, an acute awareness of the world is attained through meditation on the Paramātmā in the course of attaining perfection. There is no more effective means to attain yoga samadhi than Īśvara praṇidhāna, submission to and prayerful meditation on the Paramātmā.
The yogī never becomes the Paramātmā, but the knowledge of the Īśvara becomes the yogī’s knowledge as well. Unlike the jñāna mārga, in yoga there is eternal existence and also someone else to know, to contemplate—Paramātmā. From the absolute unity of Brahman, the yogīc perception of Paramātmā involves a subtle differentiation of the divine, culminating in a beatific vision in eternal passive adoration. Thus the perfected yogī exists eternally like the jñāni, but also knows something more than mere existence. The yogī knows of an Other and also loves in a passive yet positive sense, as opposed to merely knowing of the One and loving only in the abstract sense of ceasing exploitation, as in the case of the jñāni. This passive love of the yogī takes two forms: passive adoration of and identification with the Paramātmā and a compassion for others resulting from understanding their sorrows as the omnipresent Paramātmā does.23 Thus the existence and love of the yogī are centered on knowledge. Yogī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-nāmācārya calls this attainment Vaikuṇṭha, ((From the Gauḍīyā perspective, the successful yogī attains śānta rasa. Such an ideal typically leaves one uninterested in Bhagavān’s līlā, but rather his Paramātmā feature as manifest in Vaikuṇṭha.)) an ideal that is distinctly theistic in comparison to the monistic ideal of the jñāni.4
From the existence of the jñāni and the knowledge of the yogī we come to the love of the bhakta. While bhakti is a yoga in one sense, Yogeśvara Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the master of yoga, also distinguishes the two. Concluding his teaching on mystic yoga in the sixth chapter of the Bhagavād-gita, Śrī Kṛṣṇa encourages us to become yogīs, for it is better, he says, to be a yogī than it is to be a jñāni.5 Here he indicates that a knowing existence (knowing of a spiritual Other) is more transcendentally perfect than merely existing and knowing what is ignorance. However, Kṛṣṇa, goes on to say that better than the yogī is the devotee.6 In other words, Kṛṣṇa advocates the life of transcendental love, within which existence and knowledge are present and even culminate, although the devotee experiences them as incidental to loving.
Reasoning that Bhagavān, on account of his loving nature and capacity, is the primal aspect of the Absolute, Gauḍīyā Vaishnavas reason further that Kṛṣṇa is the primal form of Bhagavān, being that face of Bhagavān with whom the fullest range of loving relationships take place.7 The practice of Kṛṣṇa bhakti as taught by the Gauḍīyās’ central text, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is primarily focused on three expressions of love: śravaṇam (hearing), kīrtanam (chanting/singing), and smaraṇam (meditating). Hearing about the object of one’s love fosters singing about it, and this singing in turn fosters deep meditation upon it.
Devotees hear and recite about Kṛṣṇa in the form of the philosophical and theological teachings that underlie the Godhead’s eternal existence, which includes realization of Brahman and Paramātmā. Devotees also hear about and glorify the names, forms, qualities, and various līlās of Śrī Kṛṣṇa that constitute the love life of the Absolute, its movement in ecstatic celebration of its fullness. Gradually the bhakta becomes absorbed in deep and continuous meditation upon these līlās such that a meditative body arises out of identification with a primary loving sentiment for Kṛṣṇa exemplified within the līlā, enabling the devotee to enter the circle of the Godhead’s own love life in this meditative spiritual form and spiritual identity.
The bhakta is uninterested in eternal existence in the sense of emancipation experienced by the jñāni. He or she cares not for liberation from the confines of material existence because loving Kṛṣṇa has such power to attract him that he himself comes within the world as various avatāras and devotees within whom divine love resides.
Similarly, just as the devotee does not approach Kṛṣṇa for eternal existence, neither does he or she approach Kṛṣṇa for knowledge of his Godhood, controlling power, or omniscience. Indeed, the devotees seek loving union in intimacy with Kṛṣṇa that is only possible when his Godhood is suppressed. Such is the divine ignorance of Kṛṣṇa bhakti in prema, divine love. Prema makes the omnipotent, the infinite, appear finite for the sake of intimacy. The devotee wants neither eternal existence nor transcendental knowledge in and of themselves, but rather he or she experiences these two incidentally as a byproduct of bhakti. The devotee desires only love of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in whom the transcendent being of Brahman and the immanent, all-knowing influence of the Paramātmā are integrated and relegated to supporting roles in Bhagavān’s life of love. In love, knowing and existing take on their greatest meaning. While the jñāni loves to exist and the yogī loves to know and exist, the bhakta exists and knows only to love.
The inner circle of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s līlā is so love laden that Kṛṣṇa himself loses sight of his Godhood and the world (knowledge), and in the face of Bhakti-devī’s love for him, personified as Rādhā, he undergoes an existential crisis, questioning his position as Rasarāja, the king of love. Love, in other words, subordinates not only existence and knowledge in the life of the bhakta, but in the case of Kṛṣṇa it subordinates the existence and knowledge of God himself.
Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān are one nondual Absolute known variously by the distinct paths of jñāna, yoga, and bhakti. Steam, ice, and water are one substance, but water is at the same time that from which steam and ice are derived. Similarly, Bhagavān is the full face of the nondual reality, while Paramātmā and Brahman are derivative. Furthermore, it is the Guadiya Vaisnavas’ conclusion that if the loving aspect of the Absolute is the primal aspect, then Śrī Kṛṣṇa, with whom the full range of transcendental love can be experienced, is the fountainhead of all manifestations of Bhagavān. It is he and his devotees who exist only to love and do so independently of any knowledge of Kṛṣṇa’s Godhood.
- The path of karma is not a path leading to transcendence unto itself. When, however, karma becomes niṣkāma, or without desire for the results of one’s action, it becomes a “yoga,” leading to transcendence. [↩]
- Bhagavad-gita 6.32. [↩]
- While some may be quick to point out that jñānis also possess compassion for others, there is an important distinction. The compassion of the jñāni arguably lacks action, resting as it does in inaction. Yoga on the other hand is active and dualistic, leaving more scope for compassionate action. [↩]
- Some yogīs aspire for paramātmā sāyujya, merging with the Paramātmā, as opposed to the eternal beatific vision of śānta rasa. After fixing their minds on the Paramātmā (īśvara), such yogīns then try to withdraw it from Visnu as well in pursuit of nirvikalpa samādhi. While their minds are fixed on Paramātmā, they attain a shadow of the ecstasy of the bhakti-mārga. See Bhaktirasamrta-sindhu 1.3.41-48 [↩]
- Bhagavad-gita 6.46 [↩]
- Bhagavad-gita 6.47 [↩]
- See Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.28 and Bhaktirasamrta-sindhu 1.1.11 [↩]
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