Inner Fulfillment

· Part 6: Homeward Bound ·

Devotion is above all. Saranagati, surrender, is the highest property of everyone. If we surrender to Him, He may graciously make His Name known to us, then we will be able to know Him. In the Upanisads, it is said, “Yam evaisa vinute tena labhyah: He can be known only to those whom He chooses to make Himself known to.” Otherwise, no one can know Him against His will—He has reserved all rights of not being exposed to the senses of anyone and everyone. He is so high that He can do that. If He does not wish to make Himself known, no one can know Him, and whenever He wishes to make Himself known to someone, they can know Him. This is His position.

On the order of his gurudev Devarsi Narada, Vedavyas gave the scripture Srimad Bhagavatam as the conclusion of his teachings. After he gave the Vedas, Upanisads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Bhagavad-gita, etc., the last gift of Vedavyas in the world of scriptures was Srimad Bhagavatam. The message of this Bhagavatam is that beauty is above all, not knowledge or justice. Mercy is above justice. Affection, love, beauty, charm, harmony are above all, and this absolute conception of the ultimate reality is in the Krishna conception. Beauty is above knowledge and power. Knowledge is above power, and beauty, charm, love are above knowledge. That is the supreme. Srimad Bhagavatam has declared, “Krsnas tu Bhagavan svayam: the Krishna conception of Godhead is the most original conception of the Absolute.” This is the prime declaration of the Bhagavatam: the Lord (Beauty) is above all, and awe, reverence, power, etc. are below Him.

Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanyadev pointed out, “Go to the beautiful—Reality the Beautiful. He is your highest attainment. Hanker for neither power nor knowledge, but hanker for service of the Beautiful, then you will be taken in and given entrance into the land of the Beautiful.” This is the highest realization. Do not waste your energy by engaging yourself in any other pursuits; go straight to jnana-sunya bhakti (devotion without any pursuit of knowledge). With the help of sadhu-sanga (association of saints), take the name of the Lord and try to march straight onwards to the Krishna conception of Godhead. Krishna consciousness is our highest achievement, which was given to us by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srimad Bhagavatam.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommended, “Do not waste your energy on anything else. Utilize your energy for the Krishna conception of Godhead.” So, we are trying to make our progress in this line. At the same time, we are also asking our friends to try to embrace this life, too. The fulfillment of life for every particle of existence in this world can be found here. March towards universal good. It does not matter wherever you are or whoever you are—take your course towards Krishna consciousness. This is the highest fulfillment of the life for everyone. You are only to turn your face towards Him and march, and the Sweet Absolute, Sri Krishna, will welcome you. This is the campaign of Gaudiya Vaishnavs.

Srila Rupa Goswami described Krishna in a scientific way as akhila-rasamrta-murtih. Our hearts hanker for satisfaction and happiness of different types, but Krishna is the emporium of all such rasas, or flavors of ecstasy. All types of rasas are there in Krishna; He is the personification of them all, so everyone can find their corresponding place in Him alone, and nowhere else. He is Krishna, akhila-rasamrta-murtih (embodiment of all types of ecstasy): all our necessary satisfaction is personified in Him. So, only He can say, “Give up everything and come to Me. You will not have to repent—you will find your highest satisfaction here.” No one else has ever said such a thing in any place. Only Krishna has said this, and Mahaprabhu pointed out, “Go directly to that side, do not go any other way. March straight towards the Krishna conception—that is your home.”

It is easy, and it is also difficult. It is easy because it is our inborn tendency, it is our home, and we will not find satisfaction anywhere else, so we must go there and there is hope that we may reach there one day. But the difficulty is that we are far away from that home comfort now, we have lost that land.

Simplicity is the first prerequisite qualification. If you are really sincere, then you cannot but automatically come under the divine feet of Mahaprabhu Sri Chaitanyadev. It is so plain and so unartificial. Love is a plain truth that should attract everyone. Even more so than general love, Divine Love will attract all normal persons, it cannot but be so. It is only necessary to be sincere and unprejudiced. The antithesis is the only thing drawing us back from God; otherwise, we will find that plane to be a plane of universal love. ‘Universal’ does not mean a particular part of a universe but the whole. Love comes from the Absolute. Is there such a fool in the midst of mortality in this world who will not worship Him who even the immortal worship? It is a great wonder that there can be such a person who will avoid such worship just to undergo all the mortal sufferings.

“Achintya-bhedabheda.” Everything is His will. It is the greatest adventure to search for Krishna, to search for the root of the whole infinite. It requires sufficient courage and preparedness to face the risk. When so much courage is required and so much risk is involved to go to discover the North Pole or the highest peak of the Himalayas, then what to speak of the courage required to find out the absolute cause of the whole. It is necessary to have internal, or spiritual, courage. We are to have soul’s courage and have the confidence of deep faith. We are to understand the noble character of the faith within us. Without electricity, we cannot have connection with the moon and other planets—our hands and eyes cannot contact that. We cannot even see what is within our own body without the help of some apparatus. But faith can connect us with the farthest things. All other methods fail. Faith is substantial, it is not part of an illusion of the mind. The whole mind is a concocted thing, a source of forgery, but faith is not to be found there—faith is a function of the soul. Through faith (sraddha), the soul can approach and see the higher world. So, it is by faith that we can approach the highest, noblest things, not by our hand or by the help of any mundane elements.

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CONTENTS

Preface

(1) Searching for the Solution

(2) The Vision of Goodness

(3) Happiness in Higher Thought

(4) The Happiest Form of Life

(5) A Labour of Love

(6) Homeward Bound

(7) The Land of Beauty

Epilogue: The Key to it All

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