The Search for Sri Krishna

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We love to read a book which we have never read before. We are anxious to gather whatever infor- mation is contained in it, and with such acquirement our curiosity stops This mode of study prevails amongst a great number of readers who are great men in their own estimation as well as in the estimation of those who are of their own stamp. In fact, most readers are mere re positories of facts and statements made by other people. But this is not study. The student is to read the facts with a view to create, and not with the object of fruit- less retention. Students, like satellites, should reflect whatever light they receive from authors, and not imprison the facts and thoughts just as the magistrates imprison the convicts in the jail!

Thought is progressive. The author's thought must have progress in the reader in the shape of correction or development. He is the best critic who can show the further development of an old thought; but a mere de- nouncer is the enemy of progress, and consequently of nature. Progress certainly is the law of nature, and there must be corrections and developments with the progress of time. But progress means going further or ris- ing higher. The shallow critic and the fruitless reader are the two great enemies of progress. We must shun them. The true critic, on the other hand, advises us to preserve what we have already obtained, and to adjust our race from that point where we have arrived in the heat of our progress. He will never advise us to go back to the point whence we started, as he fully knows that in that case there will be a fruitless loss of our valuable time and labor. He will direct the adjustment of the angle of our race at the point where we are.

This is also the characteristic of the useful student. He will read an old author and will find out his exact position in the progress of thought. He will never pro- pose to burn a book on the ground that it contains thoughts which are useless. No thought is useless. Thoughts are means by which •we attain our objects. The reader who denounces a bad thought does not know that a bad road is even capable of improvement and conversion into a good one. One thought is a road leading to another. Thus, the reader will find that one thought, which is the object today, will be the means of a further object tomorrow. Thoughts will necessarily continue to be an endless series of means and objects in the progress of humanity.

The great reformers will always assert that they have come out not to destroy the old law, but to fulfill it . Valmiki, Vyasa, Plato, Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu assert the fact either expressly or by their conduct.

Our critic, however, may nobly tell us that a reformer like Vyasa, unless purely explained, may lead thou- sands of men into great trouble in time to come. But dear critic! Study the history of ages and countries! Where have you found the philosopher and reformer fully understood by the people? The popular religion is fear of God, and not the pure spiritual love which Plato, Vyasa, Jesus, and Chaitanya taught to their respec- tive peoples! Whether you give the absolute religion in figures or simple expressions. or teach them. by means of books or oral peeches, the ignorant and the thought- less must degrade it.

It is indeed very easy to tell, and swift to hear, that Absolute Truth has such an affinity with the human soul that it comes through as if intuitively, and that no exertion is necessary to teach the precepts of true religion, but this is a deceptive idea. It may be true of ethics and of the alphabet of religion, but not of the highest form of faith, which requires an exalted soul to understand. All higher truths, though intuitive, require previous education in the simpler ones. That religion is the purest which give us the purest idea of God. How then IS it possible that the ignorant will ever obtain the absolute religion. as long as they are ignorant?

So we are not to scandalize the Savior of Jerusalem or the Savior of Nadia for these subsequent evils. Luthers, instead of critics, are what we want for the correction of those evils by the true interpretation of the original precepts.

God gives us truth as He gave it to Vyasa, when we earnestly seek for it. Truth is eternal and inex- haustable. The soul receives a revelation when it is anxious for it. The souls of the great thinkers of the bygone ages, who now live spiritually, often approach our inquiring spirit and assist it in its development. Thus, Vyasa was assisted by Narada and Brahma. Our sastras, or in other words, books of thought, do not contain all that we could get from the infinite Father. No book is without its errors. God's revelation is Absolute Truth, but it is scarcely received and pre- served in its natural purity. We have been advised in the Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.14.3) to believe that truth when revealed is absolute, but it gets the tincture of the nature of the receiver in course of time, and is con- verted into error by continual exchange of hands from age to age. New revelations, therefore, are continu- ally necessary in order to keep truth in its original purity. We are thus warned to be careful in our studies of old authors, however wise they are reputed to be. Here, we have full liberty to reject the wrong idea, which is not sanctioned by the peace of conscience.

Vyasa was not satisfied with what he collected in the Vedas, arranged in the Puranas, and composed in the Mahabharata. The peace of his conscience did not sanc- tion his labors. It told him from inside, "No, Vyasa! You can't rest contented with the erroneous picture of truth which was necessarily presented to you by the sages of bygone days! You must yourself knock at the door of the inexhaustible store of truth from which the former sages drew their wealth. Go! Go up to the fountainhead of truth, where no pilgrim meets with disappointment of any kind. Vyasa did it and obtained what he wanted. We have all been advised to do so.

Liberty then, is the principle which we must consider as the most valuable gift of God. We must not allow ourselves to be led by those who lived and thought before us. We must think for ourselves and try to get fur- ther truths, which are still undiscovered. In the Srimad Bhagavatam (11.21.23) we have been advised to take the spirit of the sastras, and not the words. The Bhagavata is therefore a religion of liberty, unmixed truth, and absolute love.

The other characteristic is progress. Liberty cer- tainly is the father of all progress. Holy liberty is the cause of progress upwards and upwards in eternity and endless activity of love. Liberty misused causes degra- dation, and the Vaisnava must always carefully use this high and beautiful gift of God.

The spirit of this text goes far to honor all great re- formers and teachers who lived and will live in other countries. The Vaisnava is ready to honor all men with- out distinction of caste, because they are filled with the energy of God. See how universal is the religion of the Bhagavata. It is not intended for a certain class of Hindus alone, but it is a gift to man at large, in what- ever country he is born, and in whatever society he is bred. In short, Vaisnavism is the Absolute Love binding all men together into the infinite unconditioned and absolute God. May peace reign forever in the whole universe in the continual development of its purity by the exertion of the future heroes, who will be blessed according to the promise of the Bhagavata with powers from the Almighty Father, the Creator, Preserver, and the Annihilator of all things in Heaven and Earth.

We are very fortunate to hear His Divine_Grace, Om Visnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajak Acharya Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Maharaj, By age and by experi- ence, in both ways, he is senior to me. I was fortunate to have his association since a long time, since perhaps 1930. At that time he had not accepted sannyas, but had just left home. He went to preach in Allahabad, and on that auspicious occasion we were connected.

Sridhar Maharaj lived in my house for many years, so naturally we had very intimate talks. He has such high realizations of Krishna that one would faint to hear them. He was always my good advisor, and I took his advice very seriously because from the very beginning I knew that he was a pure devotee of Krishna. So, 1 wanted to associate with him. Krishna and Prabhupad, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, liked him to prepare me. Our relationship is very intimate.

After the breakdown of our spiritual master's institu- tion I wanted to organize another institution making Sridhar Maharaj the head. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur told me that Sridhar Maharaj is one of the finest preachers of Krishna consciousness in the world, so I wanted to take him everywhere. This was my earnest desire. But since he could not go around the world and preach, at least the people of the world should come to hear from him.

For spiritual advancement of life we must go to someone who is actually practicing spiritual life. So if one is actually serious to take instructions from a siksa guru, or instructing spiritual master, I can refer him to one who is the most competent of all my Godbrothers. This is B.R. Sridhar Maharaj. I consider Sridhar Maharaj to be even my siksa guru, so what to speak of the benefit that others can have from his association.

Introduction

Everyone is searching for rasa, pleasure. The status of rasa is the highest. As persons we have our subjective existence, but rasa, pleasure, has his supersubjective existence. He is a person. He is akhila rasamrtamurth: the reservoir of all pleasure. He is Krishna. Rasa is Krishna, there cannot be rasa in any other place but Krishna. He is the fountainhead of all different types of rasa. So, by the nature of our constitution we have to search after Krishna.

In the Brahma-sutra it is said, "Inquire after the supreme cause of this world, Search!" From where has everything come? By whom? And ultimately, where does everything enter after death? That is brahma, spirit the most fundamental plane from where everything springs up, remains, and ultimately enters.

Where is brahma? The Brahma-sutra advises us to inquire after the prime cause, the biggest, the all-accommodating. But Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replaced that, Srimad-Bhagavatam replaced that with krsnanusandhana: the search for Sri Krishna.

Brahma-jijnasa, the search for spirit, is a dry thing. That is only the exercise of your thinking faculty, a jugglery of reason. Leave that behind, begin the search for Sri Krishna and quench the thirst of your heart. Rasa jijnasa raso vai sah. The things acquired by your reason won't satisfy you. Jnana, knowledge, cannot really quench your thirst, so instead of brahma-jijnasa accept Krsnanusandhana and begin the search for Sri Krishna.

Where is Krishna? Our real want will be satisfied only by getting the service of Krishna; not by anything else. We want to satisfy the innermost demands of our hearts. We don't care to know where we are or what is controlling everything, but we really want to quench our thirst for rasa, for madhurya, for sweetness. We must search neither for knowledge nor for the controller of this world; we must search after rasa, anandam, after beauty and charm.

Sri Chaitanya Maha prabhu and Srimad-Bhagavatam have taught us what to beg for , what to pray for, what to want. They have taught us, "if you beg, beg for Krishna, not for anything else." So, the fate of the Vaisnavas, the students of the Bhagavayta and the followers of Mahaprabhu is sealed in the search for Sri Krishna. We want nothing else but Krishna.

The Vedas say, srnvantu visve amrtasya putrah: "O you sons of nectar, sons o the nectarine ocean sea: you were born to taste nectar, and you must not allow yourselves to be satisfied by anything but nectar. So, however misguided you may be for the time being, awake! Arise! Search for that nectar, that satisfaction." The Vedas tell us "Om!" Om means a big "Yes!" What you are searching for that is! Don't be disappointed." The Vedas say that the object of our inner search exists. The common search of all your hearts is existing, and your thirst will be quenched. By your constitution you are meant for that and you deserve that, so don't be afraid; don't be cowed down. It is already given in your being. And you can never be satisfied with anything else. So prepare yourself, after your long search, to receive that longmissing nectar in its full form and quality. Awake! Arise! Search for your fortune and you cannot but have that. It is your birthright. It is the wealth of your own soul. It cannot but be within you. You have no other business, no other engagement but Krsnanusandhana, the search for Sri Krishna: Reality the Beautiful.