Devotional Perception as a Subjective Reality

Devotional Perception as a Subjective Reality

By: Babhru Dasa (BVKS)

In todays world it is very common to hear the phrase, “spiritual life is different for everyone, everyones path is different, or Spiritual life is what you make it.” This is often heard amongst younger generations who are heavily influenced by the post 1960 hippie generations.  Ironically enough, these statements are true in the higher sense, but are incorrect in the context from which they are being spoken. Generally, if not always, the individuals saying such things are tightly gripped by the illusory potency of maya and are fully engaged in serving their “freely spirited enjoyment based consciousness.” Thus we can conclude such statements are being made from a material platform and are “externally true” but hold little to no value due to the incorrect internal basis from which they manifest.

Within the material world we see that every living entity perceives things a little if not a lot differently. For example, if several people are engaged in an activity with each other, they will all experience the situation and the other persons involved differently. No two people will act the same exact way towards each other and more importantly, their internal feelings towards each person and interaction will surely be different.

When the soul is encaged in the material body, many factors come into play in regards to ones individual perceptions. In the material world the basis of an individuals perceptive reality is deeply connected to and in accordance with their ego-centric, self-centered understanding of them self. In this connection Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita describes that this ego-centric outlook on life is a direct manifestation of ones desire to enjoy the material world and all its happenings.

“As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust.

Thus, a man’s pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.”   BG 3.38-40

This false understanding of the self is based on innumerable experiences, impressions, and desires that were cultivated in many, many births prior to the present one. Due to these past impressions (samskaras,) a person attains a new physical body to carryout out such previous desires and pursuits. To make things more complicated, such physical bodies are equipped with very limited and defective senses of perception (subtle and gross) as well as a quite an incapable and perishable “working” body.

By understanding the above concepts we can now scientifically see how a persons perception manifests within the material sphere. The reason why its important to understand how reality is subjective in the material world is because it will help us to understand how the reality of the spiritual world is also subjective but at the same time, categorically different.  As we hear many times, “everything that exists in the temporary material realm has an eternal spiritual counterpart.” Actually, such material manifestations are simply but a very minute and perverted fraction of their original spiritual source.

“The material world is simply a shadow of the spiritual world. So real life, real variety, real beauty, real knowledge, everything in reality is there in the spiritual world. This material world is only reflection. Just like if you create a clay doll, a very nice beautiful girl. But it is imitation. It is shadow of the real beautiful girl.”  – Srila Prabhupada

To start off we should understand that the subjectiveness of the spiritual realm is almost completely different from that of the material realms. The subjectivity of an individuals perception within the spiritual realm is based entirely off of ones personal, selfless, ambitions to love and serve Krsna in different ways. Unlike its material counterpart, which is founded on the basis of personal, selfish, ambitions (to serve them-self).

Actually, pure selfless love for Krishna has to be subjective, otherwise their would have been no reason for Krsna to create unlimited unique souls. The whole reason for Krsna creating souls as unique individuals, is so He can taste the wonderful, unique love each living entity has to offer Him. In this way, His divine pleasure potency, as well as His unlimited ecstasy saturated pastimes eternally increase.

Each devotee who is on the path of pure devotion will see Krsna’s name, forms, qualities, and pastimes differently. What to speak of those devotees who are already completely on the transcendental platform! This especially attractive form of Krishna which a individual person hankers after is called the “ishta-deva.” The love one feels for such a form Krsna is extremely powerful. In this regard Srila Rupa Gosvami describes such love in the following words.

“love composed of all-consuming attachment to the beloved object one has an inherent taste for.” – BRS 1.2.272

From the words “all-consuming” it is easily understood that their is absolutely no room in the devotees consciousness to facilitate anything other than pure devotional sentiments which flow to the ishta-deva. In this way these devotees perceive absolutely everything in connection with these sentiments and the ishta-deva.

For example, when mother Yashoda sees Krishna, she sees him as a helpless, restless, tender boy. She thinks that she always has to protect Him and always make sure He eats properly. She is always in anxiety about His daily trips to the forest and eagerly awaits His return so she can feed and bathe Him. In regards to chanting the holy name, the devotee who is engaged in cultivating the mood of parental love will always hanker to chant in the mood of parental separation. They will experience the names of Krishna as being non-different from the helpless, restless, and boyish Krishna.

On the other hand, Krishna’s cowherd boyfriends see Him and his activities in a completely different way. They see Krishna as a strong, playful, and energetic youth. The cowherd boys perceive the forest (which Mother Yashoda is deathly afraid of) as the best of playgrounds for them to sport and play in with Krsna. Once again in regards to chanting, the devotee cultivating sakhya-bhava will always chant the holy name meditating on Krishna’s forms, qualities, and pastimes which are directly connected to His divine existence as the best friend of all the cowherd boys. The underlying perception of these devotees is that they see Krishna as their equal, and thus relate to Him in this way.

Furthermore, when the gopis witness Krsna enter the forest they get plunged into the fire of conjugal separation. And in this way the gopis will chant Krsna’s names accordingly.

So we can see each of the primary relationships with Krishna (servitorship, friendship, parenthood, conjugal love) will bestow a different perceptional mood upon the soul who beholds it. Even within those groups there are several sub-groups and so they will also perceive events, individuals, and relationships differently. We have to remember, EVERYONE IS UNIQUE.

Once being perfectly situated in such a wonderful loving mood toward Krishna, the living entity is never subject to change. The pure devotee is completely overtaken by their unique loving feelings and furthermore, their body, soul, and mood all become non-different from one another and thus do not operate separately. They operate as one eternal spiritual body. In this way the pure soul is eternally overflowing with unique loving sentiments which permeate all aspects of their being. So much so that they experience everything and everyone from within the context of that deep emotional makeup (bhava.)

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited such consciousness many times throughout his life. One famous example is when he ran after the sand dunes in Puri. He was so intoxicated with love of Vraja that He thought those sand dunes were Goverdhan Hill. Similarly he viewed the ocean at Puri as the Yamuna river and in a wild ecstasy jumped in it with no reserve.  And yet another time he displayed the following pastime in the mood of a gopi. From Chaitanya-charitamrta Antya 15. 28-30 :

“One day, while going to the beach by the sea, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu suddenly saw a flower garden. 

Lord Caitanya mistook that garden for Vṛndāvana and very quickly entered it. Absorbed in ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa, He wandered throughout the garden, searching for Him.

After Kṛṣṇa disappeared with Rādhārāṇī during the rāsa dance, the gopīs wandered in the forest looking for Him. In the same way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wandered in that garden by the sea.”

Aside from Sri Caitanya exhibiting such pastimes, many great vaishnava saints have also displayed such unsuppressed vision. One can especially refer to the book entitled, “Sri Vamsidas Babaji” by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami. Therein one can read of many pastimes where  Srila Vamsidas Babaji externally displayed his perception of his surroundings and events that took place all from within the context of his deep vatsalya-bhava (parental love.)

Factually, it is not possible for these divine personalities to experience any emotions and sentiments which do not directly correlate with and fuel the raging fire of their love for Krsna. In this way, each soul is completely perfect and reaches new heights of spiritual ecstasy at every moment. Most importantly, the existence of such dynamic and focused variety is what gives Krishna the utmost pleasure.

In the material world, the living entity has little or no understanding of the soul, and their body and mind are constantly changing (mostly due to the aging process.) Due to aging and other factors, every person in the material world is forced to undergo such drastic changes in their perception of reality. They never attain a strong footing in their existence, mood, love relationships etc. Because of the time factor and the absence of Krishna Consciousness, the soul is constantly bewildered.

“The material modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — whose permutations are observed within a person’s mind, are set into motion by the power of time.” – SB 12.3.26

In regards to the subjectivity of chanting the holy name, as briefly mentioned in the above paragraphs, each vraja-vasi (or raganuga-sadhana-bhakta) will perceive the names of Krsna and the maha-mantra in accordance with their internal bhava (or that which they are cultivating.)

For support of this truth we can refer to Srila Raghunath Dasa Gosvami’s “Sri Harinamartha Ratna Dipika.” In this writing he describes that he conceives each name within the maha-mantra as a name of Krsna.  He meditates on Krsna’s names in the same way Srimati Radharani does. I.E always seeking to relieve herself of the suffering of separation, ultimately by complete union with Him. Srila Gopal Guru Goswami conceives the holy names as both Radha and Krishna and one can see his mentality behind this in his “Explanation of the hare krishna mantra.”  In yet a different way, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura describes each of the names of the maha-mantra being a name of Hari except for the eleventh name which he sees as Sri Radha.

At this point it would be important to note that Srila Raghunath Gosvami’s meditation on the names seems to be more within the context of the perfected stage of spiritual life whereas it seems Srila Gopal Guru Gosvami and Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura are describing the names as a template for sadhakas.*

In any case we can easily see that the chanting of the holy names is also subjective and will be meditated upon based on the devotees mood. This subjective perception of the names is a reality for sadhakas as well as siddhas.

It is also interesting to note that in Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura’s “Jaiva-Dharma” there is a portion which describes the subjectivity of the perception of ones Guru.

“Then a miracle happened, form that moment on Vijaya’s heart throbbed with anticipation, waiting for the slightest indication to perform any service for Lalita devi. He saw Raghunath dasa Babaji with a new understanding- as a manifestation of Lalita devi, in person.

On the other hand, Vrajanatha saw his guru, Raghunath dasa Babaji, from that moment on as a manifestation of Subala.”I

In this connection Srila Bhaktisidhanta Saraswati Thakura also makes a very clear reassurance. Quoted from Gayatri Mahima Madhuri of Mahanidhi Swami:

“Sri Guru is the daughter of Vrsabhanu (Srimati Radhika) in the madhura-rasa. There are different ways in which different persons, whose faculty of spiritual consciousness has been aroused, judge about their own requirements. Every enlightened person is privileged to have a sight of Sri Guru in accordance with his particular mode of judgement. Sri Guru is that real entity who thus reveals himself to the view of the enlightened soul in a variety of ways.

 “Realized by the method of vatsalya-rasa (mellow of parental affection), Sri Guru reveals himself as Nanda-Yasoda. In sakhya-rasa (mellow of friendly affection), Sri Guru is Sridama-Subala. In dasya-rasa (mellow of servitude to the master), the lotus feet of Sri Guru act as Citraka-Patraka. The consideration of all these ashrayas (shelter) of the vishaya (Krsna—the object of love) arises in the heart while progressing in the service of Sri Guru. They arise spontaneously in the consciousness of fortunate souls upon the appearance of the disposition for spiritual service of the Divinity. We have no other function than the service of Sri Guru.” (Sri Caitanya’s Teaching) **

So in this way, we can see that as the devotee advances in bhakti his external and internal perception will also change according to his level of realization. Gradually the sadhaka starts to perceive all existences in connection with his developing internal mood. By examining these shastric references we can understand that the process of spiritual life is not so “cut and dry,” and neither is the goal itself.

*From http://www.living-mrdangas.com/2015/02/raganuga-nama.html

** From http://www.living-mrdangas.com/2015/02/raganuga-bhakti-and-vision-of-guru.html