Dear David,

Good to hear from you! I wonder if you’re at all like the guy I once knew.

Wow…good tunes but, to be quite honest, the lyrics seem to be a little repetitive.

I read some of your articles. Since I still consider you to be a friend allow me to be honest with you. I believe that you have some good principles there but…my initial reaction is that you seem to be trying to put yourself on a pedestal. I mean when you claim that your writings are the “oldest and most complete tradition of the Absolute Truth on this planet” you’re kinda pushing the envelope on ego. Sure, I’d desperately like to know the absolute truth and for I all I know you DO know it. But when trying to determine if what you say is true, I’m left with basically 3 alternatives:

1) What you say is completely true.

2) What you say is completely false.

3) Some of what you say is true and some is false.

The big question is what you believe about what you’re saying. My initial reaction is that you believe what you’re saying and some of it is true and some of it isn’t. But as a fallible and non-omniscient human being, I’m as much subject to error as the next guy. So…where does that leave us?

Jim P.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your message. I appreciate your honesty and candor. Your doubts are very natural. Yes, I am the same person you knew, and have had these beliefs and attitudes since the day we met. I'm glad that after all this time these issues are finally out in the open so we can address them effectively.

It is a fact that from the platform of conditioned consciousness, we cannot independently ascertain the Absolute Truth. Therefore we require assistance from someone who is not in a conditioned state of consciousness; to put it another way, to attain self-realization we need instruction from a spiritually enlightened being. This quandary is exactly what motivates sincere seekers to undertake the arduous search for a Spiritual Master who has realized the Absolute Truth. I traveled all over the world in my formative years in just such a quest, and by the grace of the Lord I was successful.

As a result, I became a formally initiated disciple of Abhay Charanaravindam De, a very prominent Spiritual Master in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, one of the four Vaiṣṇava (monotheistic Visnu-worship) lineages in the universe. I have therefore received both my name and other spiritual designations, and ancient knowledge of ultimate Transcendence through the medium of this lineage. This knowledge is the Absolute Truth, also known as the Esoteric Teaching or the message of the Vedas.

The Vedas manifest directly from Lord Visnu, the Creator and Maintainer of the universe, and are revealed within the heart of the first created being, Lord Brahma, who later incarnated in this world as Lord Jesus Christ. This same Esoteric Teaching has been passed down without change through a chain of enlightened Spiritual Masters since that ancient time. You may find it interesting that the Sanskrit Vedic literature contains a checksum arrangement to prevent errors in copying.

The only real proof of the efficacy of this knowledge is that if somehow or other one has enough faith to put it to practical use, he makes immediate spiritual advancement and transcendental knowledge of the spiritual dimension is causelessly revealed within his heart. This is the actual object and goal of all spiritual culture, and has to be experienced to be understood.

This direct transcendent personal experience of the Absolute Truth is known as the King of Knowledge, the Most Secret of all Secrets. One who gains this thinks that there is no greater gain, for he becomes causelessly enlightened, experiences deep spiritual ecstasy and becomes completely detached and independent of all external material circumstances.

I do not consider myself to be a perfect being, in fact far from it. Nevertheless I have one quality of which I can be proud: that by the mercy of my Spiritual Master, I have received this knowledge and have wholehearted faith in it. I practice it every day and guide my entire existence by it. I have had innumerable experiences of profound ecstasy and enlightenment through it, and it has served me well and reliably over the years, despite the constant ups and downs of my ordinary external material existence.

As a result, I have an inner window, as it were, into the transcendental world, and have discovered my eternal spiritual identity in relationship with the Lord. I am using this realization as the basis for my artistic creations, which have no value except that they introduce people to the maha-mantra of God's Holy Name:

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Anyone who hears or chants these Holy Names, even once, gets incalculable benefit. They are not ordinary material designations but are saturated with transcendental potencies. I have written much more about this subject in my books. If you would read them carefully, you would get great benefit. I have an introductory piece that explains how this chanting is different from ordinary material sound vibration here.

Any benefit I claim you will receive from reading or hearing my works is certainly not due to me. My sole credit is that I have received this knowledge by hearing very carefully from my Spiritual Master, understood it by years of patient study and contemplation, and realized it by putting it into practice in my everyday life. Now I am trying my best to express it in contemporary language without changing the meaning even slightly. 

I also distrust most spiritual teachers because I can see that they are making up their own path; this, obviously, is nonsense, as you intelligently have pointed out. But if you were to go to the trouble of comparing my writings with my spiritual master's writings, his spiritual master's writings, and his spiritual masters' writings etc. etc. you would see we're all dancing to the same tune. Actually I invite you to do this practically. Take Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is and compare it with my books. The cogent similarities speak for themselves.

So if my writings have any value it is because I have not manufactured anything independently, but am accurately passing down the message I received through my lineage from personalities far more qualified than myself. If I were to soft-pedal it ("I think..." "it may be..." "perhaps..." "so-and-so has said...") it would denigrate the Esoteric Teaching to the platform of relative speculation of merely human origin. The Spiritual Masters of our lineage are representing the actual literal words of God, Kṛṣṇa Himself, when He appears in this universe and speaks the Absolute Truth, the complete knowledge of spiritual life, for our benefit. I am simply the messenger of these great personalities.

In my humble opinion, if you have not read Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam by my spiritual master Srila Prabhupada, you are not really in a position to evaluate any of this because of insufficient information. My plea to you is that somehow or other you read these very important books. If you really want to know the Absolute Truth, go there and get it.

The topics you have raised are extremely important. I'm sure other readers have the same or similar issues. With your kind permission I would like to post this exchange on my site.

Hare Kṛṣṇa,

David Bruce Hughes

 

Dear David,

Feel free to post our discussion.

I guess one principle which I lean towards is that spiritual truth shouldn’t be a secret or something which requires years of wrestling with complicated details or paradoxes but should be self-evident to all if we can step out of our daily preconceptions and distractions. Of course, since I cannot claim to know the absolute truth this may be simply wishful thinking on my part. As Shakespeare said, “There is more in heaven and earth then is dream of in your philosophy”. I hope you DO know the absolute truth (it would be nice to think that at least some people do) and perhaps one day I’ll be able to make that claim as well. Good luck to us all.

Jim P.

 

Jim,

Thanks. Actually, you are completely correct. The major struggle in spiritual life is precisely to 'step out of our daily preconceptions and distractions.' If we could overcome them even for a moment, the Absolute Truth would indeed be self-evident, and shine forth from within our hearts.

That we cannot do so, just by wanting to, underscores our need for the assistance of those who have seen beyond the veil of the illusion in which we are stuck. The false material bodily conception of life is deeply rooted in our psychological and physiological conditioning. To give it up and perceive transcendence is a lifelong struggle demanding complete dedication and difficult austerities, even under the most favorable conditions.

I wish it wasn't so hard, but it is. Spiritual enlightenment was made out to be an easy thing in the 60s: just tune in, turn on and drop out. We who followed the Pied Piper's call soon found out what a rat trap that program turned out to be. So most of us became bitter and disillusioned, and Yuppie materialism took over with a vengeance. By now I think it should be obvious that that was a wrong turn.

Very few of us stayed on the path and traced the dim reflected glimmer of spiritual illumination of those days back to its ultimate source: the Esoteric Teaching of the Vedas. And fewer still elected to climb to the pinnacle of that knowledge.

But actually, complete eradication of material suffering and total realization of the Absolute Truth shouldn't be a cheap thing. As one of my friends, an expert Vedic astrologer, wrote me: "You meet fewer folks at the top of the mountain."

So the essential question of human life is, can we remain satisfied to sleep in the valley of materialism, or do we accept the arduous climb out of the mists of ignorance to the summit of spiritual self-realization?

There really is no question. Once one is aware of the mountain, its call will no longer permit one to sleep peacefully. It seems from your writing that you yourself are not sleeping so peacefully these days. In this connection, please read a piece I wrote titled Parable of the Mountain Path.

I have heard this call my whole life, and it has led me to give up my materialistic sleep and embark on the ultimate quest: the Search for the Absolute Truth. Not an impossible dream, but one that requires great dedication, unwavering determination and bold initiative.

By following in the footsteps of those who have trod the path before us, we can avoid so many pitfalls and mistakes. I wish I had the guidance of my Spiritual Master's writings when I was 20 years old. They would have saved me so much wasted time and effort.

So take the advantage and read some of my books or even better, my Spiritual Master Srila Prabhupada's books, and you will benefit. That's really the bottom line in this kind of discussion. We are not going to attain the ultimate truth by exchanging email. But if I can help you by pointing you toward some bona fide spiritual literature, both of us will be benefited. I will have helped a friend and sincere seeker find the truth, and you will have some substantial guidance for your inner life.

I hope this addresses your issues.

Best always,

David Bruce Hughes