It
is a completely mistaken idea that one can worship Krishna in any form or in
any way and still attain the ultimate result of receiving the favor of the
Lord. This is a decision made by gross materialists. Generally such men say
that you can manufacture your own way of worshiping the Supreme Lord and that
any type of worship is sufficient to approach the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Certainly there are different means for attaining different results in
fruitive activity, speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and austerity. Crude men
therefore say that one who adopts any of these methods achieves the Supreme
Personality of Godhead’s favor. They claim that it doesn’t matter what kind of
method one adopts. A general example is given: If one wishes to arrive at a
certain place, there are many roads leading there, and one can go to that place
by any one of these roads. Similarly, these gross materialists say, there are
different ways to attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They
claim that one can conceive of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as goddess
Durgā, goddess Kālī, Lord Śiva, demigod Ganeśa, Lord Rāmacandra, Krishna, the
impersonal Brahman or whatever, and one can chant the Lord’s name in any way
and in any form. Such materialists claim that since ultimately all these names
and forms are one, the result is the same. They also give the example that a
man who has different names will answer if called by any one of them.
Therefore, they claim, there is no need to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. If
one chants the name of Kālī, Durgā, Śiva, Ganeśa or anyone else, the result
will be the same.
Such
claims made by mental speculators are no doubt very pleasing to mental
speculators, but those who are actually in knowledge do not admit such
conclusions, which are against the authority of the śāstras. A bona fide ācārya
will certainly not accept such a conclusion. As Krishna clearly states in the
Bhagavad-gītā (9.25):
yānti deva-vratā devān pitrn yānti pitr-vratāh
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām
“Those
who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods, those who worship
the ancestors go to the ancestors, those who worship ghosts and spirits will
take birth among such beings, and those who worship Me will live with Me.”
Only
the devotees of the Lord can be admitted to His kingdom—not the demigod
worshipers, karmīs, yogīs or anyone else. A person who desires elevation to the
heavenly planets worships various demigods, and material nature may be pleased
to offer such devotees their desired positions. The material nature gives a
person his own nature, by which he increases affection for different types of
demigods. However, the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20) says that demigod worship is meant
for men who have lost all their intelligence:
kāmais tais tair hrta-jnānāh prapadyante ’nya-devatāh
tam tam niyamam āsthāya prakrtyā niyatāh svayā
“Those
whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods
and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their
own natures.”
Although
one may be elevated to the heavenly planets, the results of such a benediction
are limited:
anta-vat tu phalam tesām tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām
devān deva-yajo yānti mad-bhaktā yānti mām api
“Men
of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and
temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods,
but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet.” (Bg. 7.23)
Being
elevated to the heavenly planets or other material planets does not mean
attaining an eternal life of knowledge and bliss. At the end of the material
world, all attainments of material elevation will also end. Again, according to
Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), only those who engage in His loving
devotional service will be admitted to the spiritual world and return to
Godhead, not others:
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvatah
tato mām tattvato jnātvā viśate tad-anantaram
“One
can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by
devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such
devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.”
Impersonalists
cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore it is not
possible for them to enter into the spiritual kingdom of God and return home,
back to Godhead. Actually one attains different results by different means. It
is not that all achievements are one and the same. Those interested in the four
principles of dharma, artha, kāma and moksa cannot be compared
to those interested in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.2) therefore says:
dharmah projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarānām satām
vedyam vāstavam atra vastu śiva-dam tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-krte kim vā parair īśvarah
sadyo hrdy avarudhyate ’tra krtibhih śuśrūsubhis tat-ksanāt
“Completely
rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this
Bhāgavata Purāna propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those
devotees who are pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from
illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries.
This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Śrī Vyāsadeva, is
sufficient in itself for God realization. As soon as one attentively and
submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, he becomes attached to the
Supreme Lord.”
Those who aspire after liberation attempt to merge into the
impersonal Brahman. To this end they execute ritualistic religious ceremonies,
but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam considers this a cheating process. Indeed, such people
can never dream of returning home, back to Godhead. There is a gulf of
difference between the goal of dharma, artha, kāma and moksa and
the goal of devotional service.
The
goddess Durgā is the superintending deity of this material world, which is made
of material elements. The demigods are simply different directors engaged in
operating the departments of material activities, and they are under the
influence of the same material energy. Krishna’s internal potencies, however,
have nothing to do with the creation of this cosmic material world. The
spiritual world and all spiritual activities are under the direction of the
internal, spiritual energy, and such activities are performed by Yogamāyā, the
spiritual energy. Yogamāyā is the spiritual or internal energy of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Those who are interested in being promoted to the
spiritual world and engaging in the service of the Lord attain spiritual perfection
under the control of Yogamāyā. Those who are interested in material promotion
engage in ritualistic religious ceremonies and economic development to develop
sense gratification. They ultimately attempt to merge into the impersonal
existence of the Lord. Such people generally become impersonalists. They are
interested in worshiping Lord Śiva or goddess Durgā, but their return is one
hundred percent materialistic.
Following
the example of the gopīs, the devotees sometimes worship the goddess Kātyāyanī,
but they understand that Kātyāyanī is an incarnation of Yogamāyā. The gopīs
worshiped Kātyāyanī, Yogamāyā, to attain Krishna as their husband. On the other
hand, it is stated in the Sapta-śatī scripture that a ksatriya king named
Suratha and a rich vaiśya named Samādhi worshiped material nature in the form
of goddess Durgā to attain material perfection. If one tries to mingle the
worship of Yogamāyā with that of Mahāmāyā, considering them one and the same,
he does not really show very high intelligence. The idea that everything is one
is a kind of foolishness indulged in by those with less brain substance. Fools
and rascals say that the worship of Yogamāyā and the worship of Mahāmāyā are
the same. This conclusion is simply the result of mental speculation, and it
has no practical effect. In the material world, sometimes one gives an exalted
title to an utterly worthless thing; in Bengal this is known as giving a blind
child a name like Padmalocana, which means “lotus-eyed.” One may foolishly call
a blind child Padmalocana, but such an appellation does not bear any meaning.
In
the spiritual world the Absolute Lord is always identical with His name, fame,
form, qualities and pastimes. Such identity is impossible in the material
world, where the name of a person is different from the person himself. The
Supreme Lord has many holy names like Paramātmā, Brahman and “the creator,” but
one who worships the Lord as the creator cannot understand the relationship
between a devotee and the Lord in the five types of transcendental mellows, nor
can he understand the conception of Krishna. One cannot understand the six
transcendental opulences of the Lord simply by understanding the Supreme
Personality of Godhead as impersonal Brahman.
Impersonal
realization of the Absolute Truth is certainly transcendental, but this does
not mean that one who has attained this realization can understand the
sac-cid-ānanda form of the Lord. Similarly, Paramātmā realization—realization
of the plenary expansion of the Absolute Truth within everyone’s heart—is also
an incomplete understanding of the Absolute Truth. Even a devotee of the
Personality of Godhead Nārāyana cannot actually understand the transcendental
attractive features of Krishna. Indeed, a devotee of Krishna who is attached to
the sublime attractive features of the Lord does not consider Nārāyana very
important. When the gopīs sometimes saw Krishna in the form of Nārāyana, they
were not very much attracted to Him. The gopīs never addressed Krishna as
Rukminī-ramana. Krishna’s devotees in Vrndāvana address Him as Rādhāramana,
Nandanandana and Yaśodānandana, but not as Vasudeva-nandana or Devakī-nandana.
Although according to the material conception Nārāyana, Rukminī-ramana and
Krishna are one and the same, in the spiritual world one cannot use the name
Rukminī-ramana or Nārāyana in place of the name Krishna. If one does so out of
a poor fund of knowledge, his mellow with the Lord becomes spiritually faulty
and is called rasābhāsa, an overlapping of transcendental mellows. The advanced
devotee who has actually realized the transcendental features of the Lord will
not commit the mistake of creating a rasābhāsa situation by using one name for
another. Because of the influence of Kali-yuga, there is much rasābhāsa in the
name of extravagance and liberal-mindedness. Such fanaticism is not very much
appreciated by pure devotees.
[Bhaktivedanta
Purport to the Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 8.90]
samam
