Universal Harmony – Thākur Bhaktivinode’s contribution to post Caitanya vaiṣṇavism

Universal Harmony – Öhäkur Bhaktivinode’s Contribution to Post-Caitanya Vaiñëavism

Radhamadhav Das

A paper presented at the International Seminar on Öhäkur Bhaktivinode and PostCaitanya Vaiñëavism on the occasion of his 175th Birth and 100th Disappearance Anniversary held at Gaudiya Mission, Kolkata, on 16-17th September 2013.

The Seminar was preceded by the inauguration of the Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Museum by Sri Pranabh Mukherjee, President of India.

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Radhamadhav Das, PhD in Philosophy, Florida Vedic College.

Email: radhamadhavadasa@gmail.com

Website: www.diversityinunison.com

Phone: +91 980 4873 108

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Abstract The search for harmony has always been one of the biggest quests of humanity. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode is renowned for his expertise in establishing how the teachings of Lord Caitanya enable the unfolding of the highest levels of universal harmony. In a time in which most people had forgotten the true Caitanyaite principles, he successfully reintroduced them and presented them in a modern context. This paper concentrates on his presentation of acintya-bhedäbheda-darçana as the philosophical backbone of universal harmony. It also explains how saìkértana, the congregational chanting of the Lord’s names, is a very efficient practice to realize universal harmony.

Introduction All Caitanya-Vaiñëavas are deeply indebted to Öhäkur Bhaktivinode. In 1868, the Caitanya-Vaiñëava school was so much disintegrated that it was almost impossible for him to acquire a copy of the Caitanya-caritämåta, a most essential Caitanyaite scripture. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode then initiated a Caitanya renaissance. He travelled all over India and reestablished the principles set up by Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu and His associates.

He published over hundred written works on unalloyed devotion. Most of the kértanas sung daily during äraté in all Caitanya-Vaiñëava temples were composed by him, and the holiest of all holy places for the Caitanyaites, the appearance place of Lord Caitanya at Yogapétha in Çrédham Mäyäpura, was discovered by him. On this most auspicious 175th birth and 100th disappearance anniversary, we offer our heartfelt pranäma unto him, the illustrious Seventh Goswami. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode studied Eastern and Western philosophies and religions in great depths and compared them with the Caitanya-Vaiñëava school of thought. One of the most amazing feats of his teachings is how he was able to simultaneously explore the highest degrees of distinction as well as the highest levels of harmony. Often, people who emphasize distinction fall short of harmony and tend toward a sectarian spirit, and people who emphasize harmony tend to become indiscriminate. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode, on the other hand, is able to teach absolute harmony and absolute distinction simultaneously.

How does he accomplish this? This paper shall present some insight into Öhäkur Bhaktivinode’s approach to universal harmony in relation to the philosophy of acintyabhedäbheda and saìkértana.

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God is Harmony Personified In order to enter harmony with God and His creation, we have to become Harmonists.

When Öhäkur Bhaktivinode’s illustrious son, Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkur, started publishing his father’s Bengali monthly periodical Çré Sajjana-toñaëé in English, he gave it the name ‘the Harmonist’. In the foreword of Vol. XXV, No 2, July 1927, this choice is explained as follows (emphasis added): “‘Harmonist’ is the free English equivalent of the word ‘Sajjana-toñaëé’. (…) ‘Sat’ means the Ever-Existent, the Unchangeable, the One Spirit and Harmony Himself.

The Sajjana is one who belongs to and serves the Sat, ‘Toñané’ is the feminine form and means one who is desirous of pleasing. The journal aims exclusively at pleasing Sajjanas. (…) Her method is that of amandodayä-dayä, the non-evil-producing kindness of Çré Caitanyadeva so beautifully described by Svarüpa Dämodara (…) in the following çloka: heloddhünita-khedayä viçadayä pronmélad-ämodayä çämyac-chästra-vivädayä rasa-dayä cittärpitonmädayä çaçvad-bhakti-vinodayä sa-madayä mädhurya-maryädayä çré-caitanya dayä-nidhe tava dayä bhüyäd amandodayä “‘Thou ocean of kindness, Çré Caitanya, may that vast non-evil-producing kindness of thine be aroused towards me that tends to dissipate all sorrows with ease, to fully reveal everything by reason of its purity, to unfold without reserve the transcendental bliss, to conclude all the wranglings of the çästras, to shower rasa (the quality of harmony), to confer divinely rapturous intoxication of the pure mind, to cause incessantly the natural flow of devotion, to bestow tranquility of the soul, and which exhibits the limit of transcendental sweetness.’ – Caitanya-caritämåta 2.10.119.

“With the above object in view the Sajjana-toñaëé made her first appearance in the year 1879 in the modest form of a Bengali spiritual Monthly edited by Öhäkur Bhaktivinode.”

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Love of God is the Quality of Harmony and the Prime Human Necessity In the above translation, rasa is defined as the quality of harmony. The Harmonist serves the Sajjanas by being a manifestation of Lord Caitanya’s rasa-dayä-dayä, rasa-giving (and thus harmony-giving) mercy. This rasa refers to bhägavata-prema-rasa, relish of love of God. Lord Caitanya is “Harmony Himself” because He is mahä-prema-rasa-pradäya, giving the most glorious relish of pure love of God (Caitanya Candrämåta 11, quoted in Caitanya-bhägavatam 2.28.199). God can only be attained by loving devotion to Him (Bhagavad-gétä 18.55). Because God is harmony personified, it follows that universal or complete harmony can only be attained by getting love of God, by which we can attain God and thus “Harmony Himself”. Since everybody is essentially looking for complete harmony, love of God becomes the prime human necessity. In the eighteenth chapter of his famous Jaiva-dharma, Öhäkur Bhaktivinode writes: “The Taittiréya Upaniñad, 2.7.1, plainly states that prema, love of God, is the prime human necessity, above all other contingencies: yadvaitat raso vai saù rasaà hy eväyaà labdhvänandé bhävati ko hy evänyät kaù präëyät yad eña äkäça änando na syät eña hy evänandayati “‘The purpose of life is to enter a loving relationship with the Lord who is the embodiment of all varieties of rasas, relishes of transcendental relationships. Only by attaining one’s transcendental relationship with Him can one become truly blissful.

Who could breathe without the Lord giving breath? Who could be happy without the Lord giving happiness? It is He who gives transcendental bliss.’”

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Devotees are the True Harmonists Deep inside, everybody is looking for harmony. Lack of harmony leads to the greatest problems of humanity such as war, violence, environmental pollution and mental illnesses. It was Öhäkur Bhaktivinode’s desire to make people understand that the Supreme Lord is harmony personified, and that we can attain Him by relishing pure love of God. Most people look for harmony by trying to make all elements of the world serve their necessities, or at best the necessities of their favored society. Such fruitful activity is called karma, and its goal is bhukti, worldly enjoyment. Because their centers differ, the karma of one person or group always clashes with that of others, and harmony remains aloof. When such activity is thus frustrated, most people opt to approach harmony by increasing impersonal knowledge to the point where all elements virtually merge into an impersonal oneness. This activity is called jïäna, and its goal is mukti, impersonal liberation. However, since the soul is by nature personal and looking for inter-personal harmony, mukti cannot satisfy the soul, who thus again takes to bhukti, where there is at least some personal exchange, even if disharmonious. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode explains that the only way to get harmony is by bhakti, devoting oneself to the one core center of all harmony, Godhead, Harmony personified. If various groups all serve this same center, their interests stop clashing, and harmony can be established. Unlike karma and jïäna, the goal of bhakti is bhakti herself, and this realization is real liberation. The goal of the bhakta is bhägavata-prema-bhakti, loving devotional service to God at the highest stage of love of God. The karmis are elevationists and the jïänés are salvationists. Only the bhaktas, however, are harmonists. They unselfishly embrace harmony as it is by dedicating themselves to God, harmony personified. This is neither an act of work or knowledge, but one of devotion.

The Orchestra Analogy The word ‘harmony’ carries meanings like consonance, accord, symphony, unison, unity, agreement and beauty. It is mostly used in music to describe the simultaneous sounding of different tones or instruments in a way pleasing to the ear. For such harmony or unison to happen in a large orchestra, the different musicians need to be guided by a conductor who knows the entire piece of music and each musician’s part in it. However, no human has the capacity to lead the gigantic ‘orchestra’ of our universe. Compared to a person who would have such a capacity we appear like deaf people. The elevationist who tries to orchestrate the entire world into harmony can thus be compared to a deaf conductor – he is sure to fail. The material world is like a disharmonious orchestra with many such deaf conductors, each one thinking he knows the best way to conduct. From this analogy it becomes clear that humanity will never achieve harmony without a supra-human conductor. The Salvationist may be compared to a child, who, distressed by the terrible noise of the world orchestra, closes ears and eyes, trying to flee into an internal space of impersonal oneness, where there are no more musical parties and thus no more disharmony. But in this state there is no music and thus no harmony, which depends on various parties. Thus the only hope for harmony is to be guided by the supra-human conductor, God. Accepting His guidance, we can realize that He is Harmony Himself.

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Acintya-bhedäbheda-darçana is the Philosophical Backbone of Universal Harmony “The philosophy of acintya-bhedäbheda, inconceivable simultaneous distinction and non-distinction, is the true pure essence of the Vedic Truth. The practice of this philosophy elevates a person to the perfection of developing divine transcendental love for the Eternal Absolute Truth, Çré Kåñëa. (…) Çré Caitanya tooth-combed the entire Vedic literature and formulated His most sublime transcendental teachings, presenting the most elevated philosophy of acintya-bhedäbheda, that the jéva and matter are simultaneously one with and distinct from the Supreme Lord, Çré Hari. (…)

To acknowledge the principle of acintya-bhedäbheda is to accept that prema is eternal.” – Bhaktivinode 3, Chapter 18.

Acintya-bhedäbheda-darçana fosters the development of pure love of God, which is the prime necessity to enter complete harmony. Here the word darçana does not mean philosophy in the common, speculative sense, but in the devotional sense, meaning the vision, (darçana) which is revealed by the Lord’s grace. How things can be simultaneously one and different from each other is materially inconceivable and can only be realized by the Lord’s grace. The purpose behind the jéva’s relation of being simultaneously one and different from the Lord is to enable the highest degrees of prema-rasa with the Supreme Lord, whose very nature is to be the embodiment of all rasas (raso vai saù). In any other relation, prema is not allowed to fully develop or not even accepted as eternal. If the aspect of abheda or non-difference is applied wrongly and exclusively, we arrive at advaita-darçana or exclusive monism, which holds that the non-dual impersonal Brahman is the only reality. Since there is no individuality and personality within Brahman, there is also no prema within Brahman. The earlier mentioned jïänés or liberationists are monists.

“They [the monists] describe the conditions of prema as mäyä, material illusion, and thus the doctrine they preach is known as mäyäväda. It is most degraded.”

– Bhaktivinode 3, Chapter 18.

The reason why Öhäkur Bhaktivinode uses the strong term ‘most degraded’ is that the monistic tendency attempts to erase the basic conditions of prema, prema being the very life of life. This is an example of a high level of distinction by Öhäkur Bhaktivinode.

Despite using strong words, he remains aloof of sectarianism because he judges the activity, not the person. Low activity is unsuitable for a person who is qualified for higher activities, but it may be suitable for a person of lesser qualification. As will be seen later, even such activity can be reconciled because it is a manifestation of the Lord’s potency.

Better than monism is folk materialism 1 because it preserves the individuality of the jéva.

By accumulation of sukåti, pious credits, one can progress from materialism to dualistic theism, which stresses the difference of the jéva and the Supreme Lord. Dualistic theism is a great necessity for the jéva progressing from materialism. As explained earlier, when the elevationists get frustrated, they turn to salvationism, i. e. monism. This tendency often appears in the garb of theism, which makes it all the more perilous. In order to first cut off all wrong tendencies of monism, difference from God is emphasized in dualistic 1

Here ‘folk materialism’ refers to the common materialists’ belief that their individuality is real (strict materialism is monistic; only matter exists without any essence that could account for a classical human experience of individuality).

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theism. Dualistic theism encompasses all major theistic world religions, according to which the conditioned souls are isolated from the transcendental God; they cannot fully approach God; His detailed features are unknown, obscure or a taboo for them, and they will get to see Him face to face only in heaven.

Although it offers very efficient purification, dualistic theism cannot accommodate complete harmony, which requires full-fledged love of God in a personal moment-tomoment relationship. Such intimacy with God requires a great amount of closeness and likeness, which is not supported by dualistic theism due to lack of full unfolding of the abheda (union) aspect of the jéva in relation to God. The full development of abheda is accomplished by the principle of acintya-bhedäbheda of full-fledged theism.

“In addition, just as each spark possesses the fiery attributes of the big fire, so every jéva can manifest the absolute excellences of the Supreme Brahman. A single spark in contact with a flammable object can ignite a raging conflagration capable of consuming the entire world. Similarly, a jéva who attains the ultimate objective – kåñëa-prema, divine love of Çré Kåñëa – can inundate the entire universe with it!”

(Bhaktivinode 3, Chapter 2.)

It is important to note that this prema refers particularly to vraja-prema, the love in transcendental sweetness (mädhurya) for Kåñëa of the inhabitants of eternal Våndävana.

Vraja-prema is so pure that it allows the greatest levels of intimacy in which the devotees forget that Kåñëa is God and relate to Him as His close servants, friends, parents or lovers. The devotional practice aspiring for vraja-prema is called rägänugä-bhakti (which belongs to full-fledged theism), whereas the practice during the stage of devotion in which one reveres God with His divine opulences (aiçvarya) is called vaidhé-bhakti (which belongs to dualistic theism). Vraja-prema is the potential pure original state of all jévas: “Once the consciousness shakes off the shackles of mäyä, it leaves the vaidhé state and manifests its innate rägänugä nature, which is the jéva’s original and pure constitution.”

(Bhaktivinode 3, Chapter 3.)

It is at this stage of bhakti only, where all types of desires for loving intimacy are entirely accommodated and harmonized in transcendence. Therefore, the experience of complete harmony requires the practice of rägänugä-bhakti (after some basic purification through vaidhé-bhakti). Rägänugä-bhakti is the practice of full-fledged theism, whose philosophical backbone is acintya-bhedäbheda-darçana. This explains how acintyabhedäbheda-darçana is the philosophical backbone of universal harmony on the esoteric platform.

We now explore how acintya-bhedäbheda-darçana is the philosophical backbone of universal harmony on a more common platform, namely that of inter-religious harmony and universal brotherhood. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode denoted ten basic philosophical truths (daça-müla-tattva) as taught by Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu. The ninth truth establishes the philosophy of acintya-bhedäbheda, and its first line reads as follows: hareù çakteù sarvaà cid-acid akhilaà syät pariëatiù “Everything in creation, both spiritual and material, should be understood to be a transformation of the çakti of Çré Kåñëa.” (Bhaktivinode 3, Chapter 18.)

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Herein, the process of cosmic development defined by the principle of acintyabhedäbheda is explained. This process is çakti-pariëäma, the transformation of the Lord’s energy. The theory of çakti-pariëäma allows for the most harmonious cosmology, because if everything in creation is a transformation of God’s energy, then everything has its Godgiven purpose. Although there may be parties of protagonists and antagonists, there is no element in creation that is intrinsically bad. What we commonly perceive as bad is revealed to be ultimately good if seen from a broader perspective.

Take, for example, certain bad elements of material creation like disease. Would no such bad elements exist here, then there would be heaven on earth, and none would consider that we have come here because we have turned away from God and need to return to His service. The so called ‘bad’ elements here are good in the sense that they help us to remember that this is not our home, but a disagreeable place of exile, and that we should return to the spiritual world where there is no disease, but complete health in all respects. It is the disharmony of the material world that makes it harmonious in the cosmic perspective. Earthly disharmony is like the pulling of our ear by our loving cosmic Mother to reclaim us. This circumstance does not justify negligence in trying to improve the quality of life on earth – such negligence is prohibited by dharma. But it reminds us that earthly improvement has its limits, and that this is for our benefit. We should not be elevationists, but harmonists, devotees. This includes the art to know how to harmonize different religions and other engagements of humanity in a sophisticated way. Öhäkur Bhaktivinode explains in the introduction of his Kåñëa-saàhita: “Those who consider their own religious principles as real dharma and others’ religious principles as irreligion or subreligion are unable to ascertain the truth due to being influenced by prejudice. Actually religious principles followed by people in general are different only due to the different qualifications of the practitioners, but the constitutional religious principles of all living entities are one. It is not proper for swanlike persons to reject the religious principles that people in general follow according to their situation. (...) Nonsectarian vaiñëava-dharma is the living entities’ constitutional, or eternal, religious principle.” (Bhaktivinode 2, 1880, pp. 7-8.)

Öhäkur Bhaktivinode does not shy away from saying that vaiñëava-dharma is the original religious principle of all living entities, but he does so in a non-sectarian way by holding that other dharmas are a manifestation of the very same dharma adapting to different circumstances and qualifications of different practitioners. Vaiñëava-dharma and other dharmas thus enjoy a complementary relationship, not one of rivalry. How this harmonious complementation arises through çakti-pariëäma is shown in below diagram.

Please note that vaiñëava-dharma and sanätana-dharma (lit. the eternal dharma) are synonymous. Certain Äcäryas have used the term vaiñëava-dharma to generally denote the basis of eternal religion, which is to worship the all-pervading Supreme Personality of Godhead with unalloyed devotion (viñëu literally meaning ‘the All-pervading’).

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Chart taken from Unity in Diversity, Chapter 12 (Das, 2012).

Explanation: The Supreme Lord is çaktimän, the possessor of çakti, and çakti is the personified internal potency of the Supreme Lord who serves Him in manifold ways. The original çakti-çaktimän are Rädhä-Kåñëa, God (Kåñëa) and His Absolute Counterpart (Rädhä). The original çakti manifests mainly as three types of energies: 1.

2.

3.

Spiritual energy (cit-çakti or antaraìga-çakti) Living entities (jéva-çakti or tatañöha-çakti) Material energy (mäyä-çakti or bahiraìga-ñakti)

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The spiritual energy is the pure unalloyed çakti. The transcendental reality is manifested entirely from this original çakti. The material energy is the perverted transformation of çakti and manifests the material universes including various material bodies into which the jévas are injected. The jévas or the living entities are not lifeless matter – they are purely spiritual. They are a tiny part of the Supreme Lord who is saccid-änanda-vigrahaù, the very embodiment of eternality, spiritual consciousness and pure bliss. God is supremely independent. The living entities also possess free will, but they are minute and limited. Thus they are always inferior to the Supreme Lord’s spiritual çakti, and are therefore in a separate category, the jévas. The jévas are situated between the spiritual energy and the material energy; therefore they are called tatañöha-çakti, the marginal energy; they can choose to go either way.

Those jévas who choose to turn away from God and try to enjoy the material world are enwrapped in a material body and consequently think to be male or female, of a certain nation and race, etc. Their particular way of life is determined by their association with a particular combination of modes of material nature (Bhagavad-gétä 13.22).

Material nature manifests in three modes (guëas), by which she conditions the jévas (Bhagavad-gétä 14.5). They are goodness (sattva), passion (raja) and ignorance (tama).

According to karma, the jéva is enamored by different combinations of these three modes.

The different aquired combinations of material modes of nature result in various non-eternal conditionings and occupations of the living entities. This is why there are so many different religions, sciences, philosophies, cultures, etc. Although they often seem to contradict each other, these various occupations are all manifestations of the same çakti of the Supreme Lord, who arranges everything in ultimate harmony and accordance with the Supreme Lord’s will. By explaining this scientifically, the acintya-bhedäbhedadarçana harmonizes all religions and occupations.

The spiritual realm consists entirely of pure goodness (viçuddha-sattva), which, in the material world, is found only in the heart of a pure devotee. Therefore, only when the jévas come in touch with a pure devotee, can they again be situated in pure goodness themselves. Then their eternal occupation, the sanätana-dharma of pure bhakti, is reestablished. By their practice of bhakti, they can realize the transcendental realm even during materially embodied life.

Universal brotherhood is only possible if we acknowledge common parents, because it is the common parents that make their children brothers and sisters. All theists agree that God is everybody’s common parent, and thus they have a big potential of universal harmonization. This harmonization, however, can only take place if we abandon all type of sectarianism, and therefore we need to know the exact science how other religions have their God-given purpose and how they are not rivals, but complement each other. This knowledge was most precicely taught by Öhäkur Bhaktivinode according to the full-fledged theism of the Caitanya-Vaiñëava school and its principles of acintyabhedäbheda and çakti-pariëäma.

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Saìkértana is the Most Efficient Way to Harmony “The religion preached by Mahäprabhu is universal and not exclusive. (...) The principle of saìkértana invites as the future church of the world all classes of men without distinction of caste or clan to the highest cultivation of the Spirit.”

(Bhaktivinode 1, 1896, p. 40.)

Çré Caitanya taught that under the banner of saìkértana, all people can unite practically.

Saìkértana means congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names. Saìkértana is perfomed in all world religions, and thus offers itself as a way how they can unite in a common practice.

Furthermore, by chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord, one comes to the stage of love of God (Çrémad-Bhägavatam 11.2.40). Only one who has love of God can attain God, who is Harmony personified. Çré Caitanya is accredited for having established saìkértana to be the universal and most effective process of transcendence. He said in His own words: ataeva kali-yuge näma-yajïa sära “The essence of all dharma in this age of Kali is the sacrifice of chanting the holy names of the Lord.” – Caitanya-bhägavatam 1.14.139.

In 1885 Öhäkur Bhaktivinode wrote in his Sajjana-toñaëé: “Lord Caitanya did not advent Himself to liberate only a few men of India. Rather, His main objective was to emancipate all living entities of all countries throughout the entire universe and preach the Eternal Religion. (…) In the world now there are so many religious communities, and in their purest mature form they are the religion of singing the praises of the Lord. At the present time there is a great spiritual quest going on in the world, and it seems that one unalloyed religion which is the essence of all the religions will soon emerge. (…) It is plain to see that in western countries and in Asia, religions are engaged in conflicts. (…) Gradually the established religions will then be removed of all specific contradictions, and the secular or party spirit will not remain. Then all castes, all creeds and men of all countries will be united in coexistent brotherhood under the Supreme Personality of Godhead, united by näma-saìkértana.”

Today, over hundred years later, we see that this prediction has taken shape. All over the world, the saìkértana movement is spreading and people from all different countries, races and creeds are joining in. The legacy of Öhäkur Bhaktivinode has enlivened thousands of people’s spiritual lives and is being passed on by devotees of many different missions.

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Bibliography Caitanya-bhägavata. Våndävana Däsa Öhäkur (ca 1550). A biography and collection of teachings of Çré Caitanya from diaries and notes of His personal associates. With the Gauòéya-bhäñya commentaries by Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Prabhupäda. Bengali verses and English translation. Translated by Bhümipati Däsa, edited and published by Puëòaréka Vidyänidhi Däsa (1998). Vrajraj Press, Våndävana, India.

Bhaktivinode 1. Bhaktivinode Öhäkur (1896). Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu: His Life and Precepts. Sree Chaitanya Math, Mayapur (2002).

Bhaktivinode 2, Öhäkur (1880). Çré Kåñëa-saàhitä. A Treatise on Lord Kåñëa. Translated

by Bhumipati Däsa (1998). Vrajraj Press, Våndävana, India.

Bhaktivinode 3, Öhäkur (1893). Jaiva-dharma. A narrative treatise on the eternal function or religion of the soul that covers the essential philosophical aspects and spiritual practises of the Caitanya-Vaiñëavas. English translation and commentary. Translated by Sarvabhavana Dasa (2004). Brihat Mridanga Press, India.

Das, Radhamadhav (2012). Unity in Diversity – Sri Chaitanya’s Achintya Bhedabheda, the Universal Principle of Harmony. PhD thesis. Florida Vedic College Press.

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Gallery

Foundation laying ceremony of the new Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Museum by Sri Pranabh Mukherjee, President of India.

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Program of the Academic Session

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ffw Psdo

Journal containing the academic papers.

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