A FUNNY THING HAPPEDED

     

     In sadhu sanga this morning as we were reading from Chaitanya Mangal by Lochan das the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya just after His pastimes at the house of Lord Adwaita, there is a section of about four short paragraphs where Gauranga illustrates the path of bhakti by clenching and unclenching His fist on His outstretched arm.

   "At home Mahaprabhu enjoyed discussing Krishna consciousness with His devotees. Shri Visvambhara said, "Krishna is the only Lord of creation, He is the soul of all." To demonstrate the process of creation, the Lord extended His arm and repeatedly opened and clenched His fist.

    "Listen," the Lord continued, "The truth of the Lord's creation can only be understood when one is absorbed in devotion. Although it is difficult to understand, I'm trying to describe this so that conditioned souls may obtain liberation from material existence. Without being liberated, one can't understand Krishna.

    "See My five fingers. One is covered with honey and the other four smell bad. You would gladly lick the finger smeared with honey, yet you would reject the other four. In the same way, a liberated soul will accept the Lord and leave everything else behind.

    After pausing briefly, Gauranga again delivered His mercy. "There is nothing except Krishna-bhakti. Through bhakti one can know Lord Krishna who is the essence of all things. One's devotion will become steady when one realizes this. He will quickly attain causeless devotion for Lord Krishna." Then Prabhu meditated on Krishna's lotus feet while repeatedly chanting, "Hari! Hari! Hari!"
CHAITANYA MANGAL BY LOCHAN DAS MADHYA 3

     At first the Lord says, "...creation can only be understood when one is absorbed in devotion..."

Then He says, "I'm trying to describe this so that conditioned souls may obtain liberation from material existence. Without being liberated, one can't understand Krishna."

     At first it looked to me like the Lord was saying how important liberation is since without liberation no one can understand Krishna. But on deeper analysis what is really being said is, yes, without liberation no one can understand Krishna but through devotion liberation is automatically achieved, no extra endeavor required, that bhakti contains everything. Not only liberation from material conception of life but also all good qualities come from bhakti and ultimately ecstatic love of God. 

     It took me some time to see what was being said here and I wondered why. Because try as I might I kept seeing the verse as saying liberation was something that needed to be striven for. Then it became clear, we see what we want to see. We hear what we want to hear. It is as if we have a filter made of desire covering our eyes and ears. That is why so many different conclusions can be derived from the Vedas such as...God is a great void or oneness...He has no form or qualities. These things can be extracted from passages in the scriptures if one desires to see like that.

     But what the Lord is saying is that the taste of bhakti is so sweet He compares it to a finger that is covered with honey as opposed to the other four fingers which can be understood as dharma, artha, kama and moksa (duties, religiousness, fruitive activities and liberation) which are compared to the four fingers with a foulness on them. True liberation is seen in the person who accepts the honey of bhakti(devotion) and leaves the other practices behind as if they had a bad odor. 

     For the devotee who sees with eyes covered with the salve of love the Lord reveals Himself. He cannot be seen in any other way. This ointment of love is readily available in the association of devotees of the Lord who relish hearing and chanting about Him, His Activities, His Pastimes, His Form, His Name. In such association the real meaning of the verses are  revealed.