— { SUBJECTIVE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS } —

Science vs. NeScience

Student: I have finished my studies and now I am taking a break, a vacation.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Please don’t take offense, but that you are involved in the present system of education means that you are diving deeply in the ocean of ignorance. You are making progress in the ocean of ignorance.

Student: What do you mean by that?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: As a student of nescience you are moving in the opposite direction from truth. You are being taught that you and other souls of your type are the subjects, the center of the universe, and everything, all else, is an object meant only for your exploitation. You are being taught that we are exploiters and that the entire environment is for our exploitation. That is the foundation upon which the present system of education is based – a conception which is completely false.

In reality, we are not the subject, the center of the universe. The cause is in the higher world. Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth. Simply by His will, everything is brought into existence. He said, “Let there be light,” there was light; “Let there be water,” there was water; “Let there be earth,” there was earth. His will is all-powerful. To know this is real education – subjective learning. What we experience sprang up from the divine will. Just as if He were a magician, He can show one thing to you and something entirely different to me. The Supersubject, the universal subject, has such power. So our idea is completely the opposite of the fossilists. It is not that from time eternal the fossil is developing into this world of experience – it is just the opposite. Therefore, by conceiving of this world on the basis of fossilism, we are diving deep into an intense ocean of ignorance.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj asked a few of his disciples who were research scholars to crush the fossilism of Darwin, that is, the idea that everything is coming from fossils. This idea must be demolished. It is not so.

Everything is coming from above. What we experience at present is like the outcome of hypnosis. In the process of hypnosis, the hypnotist can make us withdraw our consciousness from anything at any moment and show us another way to view reality. In the same way, Godhead is free, and whatever He wills becomes reality. Whatever He imagines becomes reality (satya-sankalpa). He can force us to see something, and when He does so, we cannot see it in any other way.

If you can understand this principle, you can understand how everything is possible with divinity. Then you can have some faith in what is Godhead. Godhead means this: the origin of creation. And yet this creation is only an insignificant part of His divine nature. He has infinite qualities and activities. And this world in which we live is only a negligible part of the cosmic manifestation. The whole basis of everything is there in Him. It comes from up to down, and not from down to up. To the idea that everything is developing from downward to up we must say, “no.” A fossil is not a thing perfect or sufficient enough to create all this. To say that from a fossil intelligence is coming is a fool’s conception.

Intelligence can be traced everywhere. As much as we analyze, we find higher reason, higher intelligence. Scientists are astonished to find the intelligence that is within nature. They continue to discover higher and higher laws. And yet all those laws already existed. It is just that these fools had no awareness of it, but an extremely fine degree of order existed long before their “discovery.” The wonderful laws of nature existed long before their invention. And this is evident everywhere. The physical laws of nature do not exist by dint of their creation. Do the scientists create the laws of nature? They may invent so many things, but the intelligence within nature already exists. And there is something more: Power exists everywhere. Where has it come from? The scientists, intelligence to discover or invent a thing: where has it come from? Is it coming from the brain? Or is it merely a portion of dead flesh? Does intelligence come from somewhere else?

Consciousness, spirit, is all-pervading. It is present even in the trees, stones, earth, ether, air, everywhere. And to know the truth, we must connect with the conscious principle of the infinite. What is the Infinite? He is almighty, omniscient, omnipotent, all sympathetic, all-loving. Our real aspiration must be to have a direct connection with Him, leaving aside the charm of His created substance. We should want to negotiate how we can have a connection with the Creator Himself.

And His position is not simply that of creator. This world is a creation of a lower order. But a higher creation also exists in a plane of reality which is infinitely higher than this world of experience. We should inquire whether it is possible for us to have a life in that soil. We should try to understand what are the layers of reality in that realm of consciousness, and how we can go higher and higher in that plane. We should inquire about that and find out how we can enter there. We must try to understand what is the key to the entrance into that transcendental abode. This should be the basis of our search for truth. We should inquire into how to become free from both the plane of renunciation and the plane of exploitation.

Once, Krishna went to the court of the Kauravas, the camp of Duryodhana and Dhritarastra, with talk of peace. At that time, Karna, Duryodhana, and the others in the party attempted to bind Him down and put Him into prison. They thought that if Krishna were to be imprisoned, then the whole Pandava camp would automatically be finished. They knew that Krishna was the life and soul as well as advisor of their enemies, the Pandavas. They thought, “Now we have Krishna in our fist; we must immediately imprison Him.” They went to tie Him down, but Krishna manifested His Universal Form. At that time, He revealed His divine nature in such a way that the men who went to tie Him down were perplexed. They thought, “What is He!” When Krishna manifested His Universal Form of thousands of heads, hands, and legs, they thought, “This is a gigantic thing! Here in this form we find Baladev on one side, Arjuna on another, and Bhrigu on another. Where are we to apply the rope? We can’t!” They were perplexed.

At that time, when Krishna showed His Universal Form in the assembly of Kurus at Hastinapura, those who were present began to chant in praise of Krishna. Bhisma, Drona, Narada, and Vyasa were present at that time in the assembly and they began to praise the Lord. Hearing their voices, the blind king Dhritarastra was charmed, and prayed to Krishna: “I can’t see You; I am blind. But I hear these great persons chanting Your praises upon seeing Your wonderful form. You can do anything and everything. So for the time being, please remove my blindness; let me see Your figure and color. Let me behold the beauty which they are praising so much. After removing my blindness You may again make me blind.” Krishna replied, “It is not necessary for your blindness to be removed. I need only command that you see Me, and you will be able to see Me.”

That is the very nature of seeing Him. Our vision of Godhead depends on His will. It is not the eye that can see Him, nor the ear that can hear Him. He is above sense experience. Only by His will may He be seen. He said, “You will see Me,” and Dhritarastra saw Him. Although he was blind, still he could see Krishna’s divine form. Then what is Krishna? If a deaf man can hear Him and a blind man can see Him, then what is the nature of that divine substance which is Krishna?

Another time, when Arjuna wanted to see the Universal Form of Krishna – the Vishvarupa – Krishna said: “Yes, Arjuna, see Me!” Arjuna beheld his Universal Form. Krishna asked him, “What do you see?” And Arjuna replied, “I am seeing so many wonderful divine manifestations. It is a wonder of wonders!” So Krishna’s sweet will is the basis of everything. We are living in correlation with that absolute power. There is no stability to the environment where we live at present. All importance is on the divine will of Godhead. He is the cause of all causes. From Him this world emanates and by Him it is maintained.

The plane of dedication, however, is far higher than the mundane realm. And we are told that by dedication, by surrender, we can have a direct connection with the center of everything that be. So our advice to the scientists is “Physician, cure thyself! You have come to give so many dazzling models of civilization to the world, but first you should cure yourself fully. What you have come to distribute is all a hoax. The laws of nature, abided by everything that surrounds us, is only the sweet will of the supreme. The laws of nature are not a rigid thing. Their basis is the sweet will of an autocrat. So what you know – that is nothing; it is no knowledge.” At any moment, the laws of nature may be changed by the sweet will of the Supreme Autocrat, and another set of rules may completely replace them.

The key to enact the change in our ability to experience reality is in His hands. He may easily say, “O Arjuna, you see this, but I am that.” And Arjuna will say, “Yes, now I see that You are that.” Everything may be seen in one way by His will and at the next moment that vision of reality may be withdrawn by Him. So the knowledge we can acquire through materialistic education has no value at all. With this realization we should enthusiastically begin the search for Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful.

Krishna is charm Himself. He is the all-charming Absolute. Our innate need is to find sweetness, beauty, rasa, anandam, ecstasy, happiness. Everyone wants this. No one can say, “I do not want happiness.” No one, from the lowest atheist to the highest theist, can deny this. All will say, “Yes, I want ecstasy; I want sweetness, happiness, peace.” This is the common demand in every conceiving unit. From the worst atheist to the greatest theist – wherever there is conception everyone wants peaceful existence. So our direct necessity is with Him, Sri Krishna, Reality the Beautiful. He is raso vai sah: ecstasy, beauty Himself. We must begin our search for that.

Do not lose a moment. Don’t waste a minute of your time in wild goose-chasing. Give up everything. Sarva dharman parityajya. Leave it behind. Give up all phases of duty that you are so busily engaged in. It is all worthless. Begin the search for that divine principle who is the creator, the master of everything, and the fulfillment of everything. Search for Him directly. Give up all your so-called obligations and duties in your relative position. They are misconceived, misunderstood from your present defective position. Do not rely on them. Make a direct search for the prime cause from which everything is coming as a miracle. He is the fulfillment of our lives. He is the fulfillment of every atomic existence in all worlds.

We must try to march towards Krishna with His blessings upon our heads. And His agents will give us important help in that direction. Others can do nothing to help us in our inner search; we must take shelter of the saints. We must take shelter of His divine name; it is inseparable from His existence. The sound aspect of divinity can help us a great deal on the way back to Godhead. His holy name is our slogan, our war cry. “Hare Krishna!” With that slogan, we shall march on with His genuine agents. We must follow them and withdraw ourselves from all other possibilities and promises, all so-called prospects of life. They are nothing; they are of no value.

Student: There are many inequities in the world; there is a lot of unfairness, is there not? How can we account for that?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Fair and unfair are both false. They are just like a dream. One may have a good dream or a bad dream. In either case it is only dreaming. So one should not waste energy to remove the unfair and to increase the fairness. Fair, unfair – it is all false, completely false. In the Chaitanya-charitamrita (Antya-lila, 4.176) it is written:

‘dvaite’ bhadrabhadra-jnana, saba – ‘manodharma’
‘ei bhala, ei manda’, – ei saba ‘bhrama’

“In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental concoctions. Therefore, saying, ‘This is good, this is bad,’ is a mistake.” The basis of this calculation is false. Our real interest is not there. It is a false scent we are pursuing. Our fulfillment is not to be found in that direction at all.

In this material world there is very little distinction between fairness and unfairness. Everything in this world is based on cheating. Everyone is cheating. There may be cheating of different kinds, but all are cheating. Any fairness or unfairness is an illusion. One may have a good, hopeful dream, or a disastrous dream. But both are dreams. Both are false. And fairness within this world is also false; it is a mental concoction. And what is apparently evil within the relative conception of evil is also false. Why allow ourselves to waste time in a wild goose chase? After all, these relative conceptions of fair and unfair, good and evil, are all false. Whether there is a good hope or a bad hope, all hope within the plane of misconception is based on mental concoction.

Student: But there are so many people that are starving in the world. It seems unfair.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: What to speak of starving, we are in a cave, imprisoned in a cage. That is not desirable for the soul at all. The whole world – suns, stars, moons, oceans, mountains – all are vanishing, and again coming and going. You may be the lord of all you survey, but you are a lord in the cremation ground – a master of the cremation ground, only to deplore, “Oh, everything is passing away. Every second everything is passing away!” In Gray’s elegy he wrote,

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour;
The path of glory leads but to the grave.

Everything here leads only to the grave and will be finished.

Student: I guess what I want to ask is how we can account for these inequities. I know that you are saying that there is no distinction. But why is there suffering?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: The cause is the misuse of the free will of the jiva soul. The misuse of the wealth given to you.

Student: Given by the Supreme Power?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: By the Supreme Power. As a part of a particular potency, you have free will eternally existing within you. And by misuse of your freedom, you have selected to become a king in the mortal world, just as Satan is portrayed in Milton’s Paradise Lost. He wanted to reign in hell rather than to serve in heaven. The free will – the weak, vulnerable, childlike free will – misused. We came here to be a monarch of all we survey: to reign in hell. Inherent adaptability is an innate feature of the soul. We could have selected service in heaven. Then our desires would have been fulfilled. But we have selected the wrong thing. We have moved in the wrong way. We wanted to be monarch. We could not select slavery in the higher realm. We selected monarchy in hell.

This material world is hell, the soil of affliction. And here we face affliction in variegated ways. These are mainly classified as birth, death, infirmity, and disease. These undesirable things must be there in hell. There is the subtle difference. If you are to live in heaven, then you must live there as a surrendered soul. That is a much higher soil than this. And ultimately we see that to serve in heaven is infinitely better than to reign in hell.

CONTENTS

• Preface
• Fossilism, Hypnotism & The Cosmos
• The Creation
• Consciousness & Evolution
• The Plane of Misconception
• A Floating World of Experience
• Thesis, Antithesis & Synthesis
• The Super Subject
• Science vs. NeScience
• Spiritual Evolution
• Pure Devotion
• The Subjective Bhagavad-Gita
• The Gayatri Mantra

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