Kapila introduces the Sankhya system (Sankhya #03)
Up to this point, Lord Kapila gave a summary of His teachings, speaking about how one can get elevated to the platform of devotional service. Now he will describe the Sankhya system in more detail.
« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila
Up to this point, Lord Kapila gave a summary of His teachings, speaking about how one can get elevated to the platform of devotional service. Now he will describe the Sankhya system in more detail.
"Lord Kapila said: The senses are symbolic representations of the demigods, and their natural inclination is to work under the direction of the Vedic injunctions. As the senses are representatives of the demigods, so the mind is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The mind’s natural duty is to serve. When that service spirit is engaged in devotional service to the Personality of Godhead, without any motive, that is far better even than salvation.
Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.
A pure devotee, who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages in the service of My lotus feet, never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities." (SB 3.25.32-34)
In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna says that of the senses, He is the mind. The senses represent the different demigods, just as the mind represents the Lord, and thus the senses are meant to be used to serve the Lord.
The Sankhya system counts the senses in a different way than popularly accepted nowadays. There are five senses used to obtain knowledge (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) and five senses of action (the tongue, hands, legs, genital and excretory system). Often the mind is also counted as the 6th or 11th sense. The senses have a natural propensity to act, which is very difficult to stop, but when they are used in devotional service to the Lord, they are engaged in their natural position.
When we work materially, there is always some selfish motive, but when we act in devotional service, it's possible to act without the desire for profit, in the pure platform. When the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, we become situated in the platform of devotional service, which is a transcendental position, better than mere liberation.
Mukti, or being placed in the impersonal brahmajyoti is not a complete form of liberation. Ramanujacarya compares it to a deep sleep, where one is freed from bad dreams, but is not yet awakened. In this position, one becomes free from material contamination, but his original propensity for serving Krsna is not revived. As a result, there is all possibility of falling back into the material world. Devotees take impersonal liberation as worse than life in the material world because even in the material world one can serve Krsna, but in the impersonal brahmajyoti one becomes practically unconscious and there is no opportunity for serving. For a devotee, such a position is hellish.
If the impersonal liberation that is so much cherished by impersonalists is rejected, what is considered desirable for a devotee?
"O My mother, My devotees always see the smiling face of My form, with eyes like the rising morning sun. They like to see My various transcendental forms, which are all benevolent, and they also talk favorably with Me.
Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his unwillingness, he attains liberation without separate endeavor.
Thus because he is completely absorbed in the thought of Me, the devotee does not desire even the highest benediction obtainable in the upper planetary systems, including Satyaloka. He does not desire the eight material perfections obtained from mystic yoga, nor does he desire to be elevated to the kingdom of God. Yet even without desiring them, the devotee enjoys, even in this life, all the offered benedictions." (SB 3.25.35-37)
A devotee cultivates a personal relationship with the Lord. The Lord appears in unlimited forms, and He is ready to reciprocate with the love of His devotees in any of these forms. In the material world, we are engrossed in our material senses, and thus we are not able to perceive the spiritual form of the Lord, although He is very near, inside our own hearts. To facilitate our service, the Lord appears in the form of the deity, in a form that we can see. By serving the deity, even a neophyte devotee can be immediately elevated to a transcendental position, by concentrating his thoughts in the service of the deity. Even at this stage, his position is considered higher than the position of others trying to achieve impersonal liberation.
The fact that a personal relationship with the Lord is superior to impersonal liberation is proved by the fact even great impersonalists, such as Sukadeva Goswami and the four Kumaras, who were already in the liberated platform, became attracted to the personal form of the Lord and became devotees as soon as they had the opportunity. This is described in the famous ātamarāma verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Just as Sukadeva Goswami became attracted to the Lord by hearing about His glories, we should focus our thoughts on Him by regularly hearing recitations of the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, as regularly done in the temples, as indicated by the word vilāsa on verse 36. Just as we become absorbed in material thoughts by hearing about material things, we can become absorbed in thoughts of Krsna by constantly hearing about Him. By doing so, we can keep ourselves in the liberated platform, even at the neophyte stage.
In the beginning, one desires liberation as a way to become free from material suffering, but later in devotional life, even this desire for liberation ceases, as one becomes satisfied with the service to the Lord. At this stage, all one prays for is to be able to be engaged in the service to the Lord constantly, birth after birth. However, even if unwilling, a pure devotee is not deprived of liberation. The difference is that instead of achieving impersonal liberation, which is reserved for the enemies of the Lord, a pure devotee is promoted to the spiritual planets, where he receives a transcendental form in which he can be engaged in the service to the Lord eternally, according to his natural inclination.
Similarly, although a devotee does not desire any of the mystical perfections, they become available as one progresses in spiritual life, just like servants waiting at one's door. If somehow a devotee desires to spend time on the higher planets, enjoying the facilities available there, this is also offered.
In this way, a devotee is not bereft of the results offered in any of the other processes offered in the Vedas, such as karma, jñāna, or yoga, but because he is fixed in the ultimate goal of love of Godhead, he is not attracted to these things.
Eternal opulences
What happens to the devotees after they achieve liberation? For how long do they keep the opulences they get by the mercy of the Lord?
"My dear mother, devotees who receive such transcendental opulences are never bereft of them; neither weapons nor the change of time can destroy such opulences. Because the devotees accept Me as their friend, their relative, their son, preceptor, benefactor and Supreme Deity, they cannot be deprived of their possessions at any time.
Thus the devotee who worships Me, the all-pervading Lord of the universe, in unflinching devotional service, gives up all aspirations to be promoted to heavenly planets or to become happy in this world with wealth, children, cattle, home or anything in relationship with the body. I take him to the other side of birth and death." (SB 3.25.38-40)
When one attains some material opulences or is elevated to the celestial planets, his position is never permanent, because of the temporary nature of such achievements. One may thus be a demigod or a very rich man today, but a horse or a cat tomorrow. However, devotees are promoted to the Vaikunta planets, and therefore their transcendental opulences are never destroyed. One may live on the same planet where the Lord resides, gain the personal association of the Lord, attain the same bodily features, or even attain similar opulences as Him, and all these positions are eternal. When we speak about Vaikunta, this also includes Goloka Vrindavana, just as when we speak about a country this automatically includes its capital. A devotee may be either promoted to the Vaikunta planets or directly to Goloka Vrindavana, according to his personal preference in the service of the Lord. However, this is secondary, the main point is to attain pure love for the Lord.
"The terrible fear of birth and death can never be forsaken by anyone who resorts to any shelter other than Myself, for I am the almighty Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of all creation, and also the Supreme Soul of all souls.
It is because of My supremacy that the wind blows, out of fear of Me; the sun shines out of fear of Me, and the lord of the clouds, Indra, sends forth showers out of fear of Me. Fire burns out of fear of Me, and death goes about taking its toll out of fear of Me.
The yogīs, equipped with transcendental knowledge and renunciation and engaged in devotional service for their eternal benefit, take shelter of My lotus feet, and since I am the Lord, they are thus eligible to enter into the kingdom of Godhead without fear. Therefore persons whose minds are fixed on the Lord engage in the intensive practice of devotional service. That is the only means for attainment of the final perfection of life." (SB 3.25.41-44)
Some think that different demigods are on the same level with the Lord and thus it doesn't matter who one worships. Some think that all paths lead to the same destination or even that we are all one and thus one can achieve perfection by just worshipping oneself. However, none of this is true. All these different philosophies are just different allurements to keep one bound to this world. As stated by Lord Kapila, one can't become free from material conditioning without taking shelter in the Supreme Lord.
Some philosophers are dualists, believing that the material nature is different and separated from the Lord. Some are monists, believing that only Brahman exists and everything else, including the material creation, is false, the fruit of illusion. As Vaishnavas, however, we understand that the Lord has inconceivable energies that are completely under His control. The fact He has potencies proves he is a person. He is thus the Supreme Controller and there is nothing separated from Him. We are also part and parcels of the Lord, fragments of His marginal energy, and therefore we are eternally connected with Him. This eternal relationship just needs to be revived by the practice of devotional service.