Secrets of the Soul 16

dehino ’smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.13]

The more we consider that “I am this material body,” the more we become bewildered by the sufferings and anxieties of material existence. After many, many lifetimes of being kicked by the constantly shifting, illusory qualities of material nature, by some causeless good fortune we come into association with a great soul, a Master Teacher of the Esoteric Teaching. At that time we can understand the real situation:

kamadinam kati na katidha palita durnidesas
tesam jata mayi na karuna na trapa nopasantih
utsrjyaitan atha yadu-pate sampratam labdha-buddhis
tvam ayatah saranam abhayam mam niyunksvatma-dasye

“O my Lord, there is no limit to the unwanted orders of material lusty desires. Although I have rendered these desires so much service, they have not shown any mercy to me. I have not been ashamed to serve them, nor have I even desired to give them up. O my Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, recently, however, my intelligence has been awakened, and now I am giving them up. Due to transcendental intelligence, I now refuse to obey the unwanted orders of these desires, and I now come to You to surrender myself at Your fearless lotus feet. Kindly engage me in Your personal service and save me.” [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 3.2.35]

So we do not wish to accept the control of the senses or the mind, but we are willing to surrender to the unconditional, unlimited eternal loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Controller. Otherwise,

na yāvad etāṁ tanu-bhṛn narendra
vidhūya māyāṁ vayunodayena
vimukta-saṅgo jita-ṣaṭ-sapatno
vedātma-tattvaṁ bhramatīha tāvat

“As long as the conditioned soul accepts the material body and is not freed from the contamination of material enjoyment, and as long as he does not conquer his six enemies and come to the platform of self-realization by awakening his spiritual knowledge, he has to wander among different places and different species of life in this material world.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.11.15]

In ordinary materially conditioned consciousness, we are servants of our own limited mind and senses, and thus we are afflicted by six enemies: kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya—or lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy. Then, dictated by our impure intelligence, false philosophies and material desires, we are willing to do anything abominable in their service.

Tesam kati na katidha palita durnidesah [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 3.2.35, quoted above]; we jivas are all servants; everyone without exception is serving someone or something at every moment. Therefore, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu says,

jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya——kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’
kṛṣṇera ‘taṭasthā-śakti’ ‘bhedābheda-prakāśa’
sūryāṁśa-kiraṇa, yaiche agni-jvālā-caya

“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a fiery subatomic particle of sunshine.” [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.108-109]

Our constitutional ontological condition is that we are eternal servants of God, Kṛṣṇa. This spiritual service is our real eternal nature. But in material conditioned consciousness, we are trying to become the master. That is the cause of the competitive struggle for material supremacy. Everyone is saying, “I shall become the master. I shall become the Supreme.” But our actual position is servant. That ontological misconception is called moha, illusion.

I am not a master; I am a servant—but I am trying to become master artificially. That is why we have to struggle for existence in this material world. And mukti, or liberation means giving up this wrong idea that “I am a master of the material world,” and trying to become the servant of the Supreme. That is real liberation. Liberation does not mean that after liberation we’ll have a gigantic, powerful form or many hands and legs. Liberation means to become liberated from illusory materially conditioned consciousness, and to give up being controlled by temporary material desires.

The consciousness that “I am master” is illusory. We have to change this consciousness to attain liberation. That is the meaning of the Esoteric Teaching. One has to understand thoroughly, on a practical level, that one is not a master but a servant.

We are completely dependent on the supreme will of the Lord. If we do not surrender to the loving control of the Supreme Lord, then we have to surrender unto the harsh will of maya. In any case we have to remain a servant. If we reject the service of the Supreme Lord, then we have to become the servant of the material mind and senses. That is maya. Actually, the whole world is serving the senses, serving different concocted desires. Therefore they are suffering in material illusion.

The Esoteric Teaching is not manufactured by us. We get it from Bhagavad-gita:

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” [Bhagavad-gita 18.66]

Kṛṣṇa says that “You give up all these nonsense desires. Just surrender unto Me.” That is the whole purpose of Bhagavad-gita. We are controlled by different types of desires dictated by maya, and we want to falsely become a master. This is called illusion, or maya, and this illusory conception keeps us trapped in material consciousness.

Actually, we are not masters. How we can artificially become masters? We may be very scientifically advanced; we may manufacture very wonderful machines and powerfully destructive weapons, but after all, we are subjected to the rules of maya:

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-
duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

“The perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease [I hereby declare to be knowledge].” [Bhagavad-gita 13.9]

You cannot get out of these four principles of maya’s machinery: janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi or birth, death, old age and disease. Therefore a dhira, a sane and sober man who is actually learned, surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, as recommended in the Esoteric Teaching.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

“After many, many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.19]

Jnanavan mam prapadyate: when one actually becomes wise, he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, if you think, “I am as good as Kṛṣṇa; I am God,” that is maya. That is not actually knowledge, but the greatest ignorance. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said,

ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah
aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho ’nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah

[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord’s lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahma and the other demigods said:] “O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.32]

The impersonalists think that they have become liberated, become Narayana, or God. Maninah, they are only thinking like that. Actually, they are not at all liberated, because they are in material consciousness and therefore are controlled by material nature. They cannot get out of the clutches of illusion, or get free from birth, death, old age and disease. Who can get out of the trap of maya? Kṛṣṇa says, “Anyone who surrenders unto Me.”

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.14]

This Esoteric Teaching is based on Kṛṣṇa’s authority. Therefore it is a very authentic spiritual school, and helping this Teaching is the most glorious welfare activity for all kinds of people. We are spreading this Esoteric Teaching all over the world, but our only ambition is to place Kṛṣṇa in everyone’s heart as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

We don’t want to become Kṛṣṇa; we want to become the most obedient servants of Kṛṣṇa. That is our value proposition. We invite everyone, from all backgrounds and from all parts of the world, to take up this wonderful Esoteric Teaching and get the benefit. We request everyone to join this esoteric school, study the spiritual ontology and philosophy, and attain liberation from all material suffering. For this Esoteric Teaching of spiritual consciousness is the ultimate perfection of yoga.

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