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• Çré Kåñëa The The by Çré Çrémad Bhaktivedänta Svämé
Mahäräja [NOTE: This page uses Balarama font
(available here) Published in 1950 Bhagavänera Kathä 6 Transcendental Communism Our
previous mahäjanas have created a
platform upon which people can perform karma
yoga, by establishing service to Viñëu in the ordinary household through
the rules of arcana. Arrangements for
people to serve Viñëu must similarly be made in every big factory, commercial
enterprise, large hospital and other worldly institution. This will in fact
establish transcendental communism. Do
designate Näräyaëa as daridranäräyaëa, “destitute Näräyaëa”. It is enjoined in the
scriptures that one is to show mercy to the poor by establishing the worship of
Näräyaëa, the Lord of all beings. This Näräyaëa is viñëu-tattva, in the category of the Personality of Godhead.
Although many forms of viñëu-tattva are
manifest eternally, the mahäjanas
have revealed the process of service to three principal deities - namely, Çré
Çré Lakñmé- Näräyaëa, Çré Çré Sétä-Räma and Çré Çré Rädhä-Kåñëa. Service to
Them is propagated throughout I request the owners of the large factories
and mills to establish the service of one of these three forms of Bhagavän
accompanied by His çakti, and to
distribute Their prasäda.
If this is done, hostility between the wealthy and the working class will
cease, because by such service both will become karmayogés. The workers in big factories are usually
unable to maintain their natural innocence, and thus they gradually regress to
the lowest levels of society. There can be no auspiciousness for society if
most of its people are infused with such tama-guëa,
the material mode of ignorance. Therefore, if the factory owners can simply
distribute this bhagavat-prasäda,
which is the remnants of sacrifice, to their workers, then gradually an
inclination for Bhagavän will awaken in both the distributors (i.e. the
wealthy) and the people who honour that prasäda
(i.e. the working class). Thus people in all divisions of society will
unite in their affection for each other. As long as people are controlled by
their own selfish desires, however, apparent unity will be temporary and indeed
the cause of all calamities. If those who are driven by self-interest try
to agitate the working class, whose members have fallen from their true nature,
they will be unable to better themselves or perform any welfare work for such
labourers. Opposition to the ideal expressed above actually results in the
workers becoming the enemy of the wealthy. What, then, can be said about their
fate? By acting with envy towards Viñëu, both the prosperous and the working
class are tainted by the influence of Kali-yuga and resort to fallacious
arguments. This leads to great enmity between them and to a general state of
chaos in the world. The members of the communist party, for
instance, have expended so much wealth, mental prowess, andenergy, even to the
point of sacrificing their own lives, just to promulgate the communist ideal.
On the strength of communism, the Bolsheviks cherished dreams of happiness
within a large family, and to safeguard their own interests the working class have formed unions and persecuted those of wealthy descent. The only easily
achieved remedy for this kind of complicated crisis is the performance of karmayoga, or activities for the purpose
of yajïa. Service to the Absolute Centre Our human society has created UNESCO, the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, to forge an
ideal unity centred around the family unit. UNESCO’s
message broadens out from the family to include the village, from the village
to incorporate the nation, and from the nation to embrace the continent. The
Organisation was meant to expand and disseminate its ideas through this
strategy. However, if propaganda will be spread in this way, we should devote
our attention to redirecting people’s focus towards the Supreme Lord, the
centre of everything. If we apply UNESCO’s strategy of aiming for
the centre to our own bodies, we see that prominent within the body are the
senses, but superior to the senses is the mind. The intelligence is higher than
the mind, and the false ego is still higher than the intelligence. Although the false ego is pre-eminent, the
pure, conscious self - the “I” - is even superior to the false ego, as it is a
part and parcel of viñëu-tattva. In
the universe, the root cause of attraction and the absolute centre is viñëu-tattva. Prahläda Mahäräja
therefore states: na te viduù svärtha-gatià hi viñëuà duräçayä ye bahir-artha-mäninaù -Bhägavatam (7.5.31) They are wicked-hearted who, having turned
away from the centre, consider the external world to be of great value. Such
sinful people are quite blind, and are therefore unable to accomplish anything
auspicious for the world. They may put forward many deceitful proposals for the
welfare of their fellow blind men, but such persons remain subject to “the will
of ... Kåñëa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead In the Bhagavad-gétä
(7.7) Çré Kåñëa declares: mattaù parataraà nänyat kiïcid O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Hence, the non-dual original centre can be
none other than Çré Kåñëa, because He alone is the supreme fundamental
attractor of all that is moving and non-moving. Our great thinkers from
previous ages and our scholars have established through their investigations
that Çré Kåñëa alone is the Supreme Person and the root cause of all viñëu-tattva manifestations. This is
proclaimed in Çrémad-Bhägavatam
(1.3.28): ete cäàça-kaläù puàsaù kåñëas tu bhagavän svayam All incarnations are either plenary portions
or portions of the plenary
portions of the Supreme Lord, but Çré Kåñëa is Svayam Bhagavän, the original
Personality of Godhead. Despite the fact that all viñëu-tattva expansions are essentially one in nature (svarüpa), according to the vision of siddhänta, some are parts of viñëutattva while others are kaläs, parts of a part. We shall provide
a detailed exposition of viñëu-tattva later
on. At this point we need to understand that Çré Kåñëa alone is parameçvara, the supreme controller. In
this regard, Çré Brahma-saàhitä (5.1)
states: éçvaraù paramaù kåñëaù sac-cid-änanda-vigrahaù anädir ädir govindaù sarva-käraëa-käraëam The Supreme
Personality of Godhead is Kåñëa, who has a body of eternity, knowledge and
bliss. He has no beginning, for He is the beginning of
everything. He is the cause of
all causes. Hence, we can be related to each other in any
meaningful sense only by accepting that original enjoyer, Bhagavän Çré Kåñëa,
as the original centre and thereby crossing this ocean of illusion. Only on the
basis of establishing our relationship with Kåñëa can we actually understand
the meaning of such terms as “fraternity” and “equality”. Realizing Our In RAYS OF THE HARMONIST • 49 In the same way, by making their country the central
reference point, many people identify themselves as “Bengali”, “Punjabi” and so
on. Moreover, by keeping religion at the centre, people identify themselves as
Hindu, Muslim and so forth. But if we accept such inadequate designations, the
results we obtain will be worthless and deficient, despite all our efforts to
use them in promoting ourselves. We are parts and parcels of the viräöa-puruña, the Supreme Person, and by not directing our service
efforts towards Him we have deviated from our constitutional position and
become completely degraded. If any part of the body becomes incapable of
performing its natural function, it becomes useless. Similarly, by not placing
the original, supreme enjoyer, Çré Kåñëa, at the centre of all our activities, our
every effort has become futile. We must place Kåñëa at the centre for we are
all His servants. Bereft of activities that accord with our constitutional
nature, we are experiencing various types of difficulties and becoming
degraded. To reawaken our intrinsic nature towards the centre is therefore the
one and only duty of human life. Performing one’s duties in karma-yoga is the first step toward
this. ‘kåñëa-nitya-däsa’ - jéva tähä bhuli’ ei doñe mäyä tära galäya bändhila Çré
Caitanya-caritämåta (Madhya-lélä
22.24) The jéva
is the eternal servant of Çré Kåñëa. He is known as vibhinäàça-tattva, a separated part and parcel of the Supreme. In
order to help others again manifest this eternally true state of existence, karma-yogés are able to very skilfully
bring supreme benefit to those who are attached to their karma, without causing any disturbance in their minds: na buddhi-bhedaà janayed ajïänäà karma-saìginäm joñayet sarva-karmäëi vidvän yuktaù samäcaran Bhagavad-gétä
(3.26) A learned person should not disrupt the minds
of ignorant people attached to the fruits of their labour by inducing them to
give up their work. Rather, by properly working in a spirit of devotion, he
should encourage them to engage in their own prescribed duties. The Bewildered Fruitive Worker It is very difficult to reinstate the
materialists, who are attached to the fruits of their work, in the eternal
service of Kåñëa. This is because the majority of them are foolish, degraded
and entirely bereft of any pious credits. On account of their demoniac
activities, which are induced by their unbridled desires and behaviour, their
intellects and knowledge are fully engaged in activities inimical to the
Supreme Lord. Such persons are devoured by mäyä.
Either imagining themselves to be Kåñëa or becoming one of Kåñëa’s competitors
under the guidance of Çiçupäla, they attempt in various ways to enjoy the
world. Their misguided desire to enjoy is induced by mäyä, and their delusions of enjoyment quite fittingly cheat them. Nonetheless, such persons are unable to
abandon their misguided desire to enjoy, and have therefore been described as mäyayä apahåta-jïänäù, “those whose
knowledge has been stolen by illusion”, and müòhäù,
“grossly foolish”. Upon seeing their attempts to enjoy bear no fruit, they may
exhibit a deceitful renunciation, but this too is simply their fantasy of
securing a greater form of enjoyment and is another bewildering trick of mäyä. In pursuing their various schemes, the
fruitive workers labour very hard like oxen, and, thinking themselves the
enjoyers, they are completely bewildered by the illusory potency of the Supreme
Lord. Those who are intelligent must therefore
engage such misguided and delirious fruitive workers in performing whatever type
of work they are most skilled at while keeping Çré Kåñëa at the centre, without
disturbing their intelligence. By such work they will gradually re-establish
their eternally perfect relationship with Kåñëa. This is true expertise in karma, held by the wise and intelligent.
Therefore, the devotees of Kåñëa, who are free from the bondage of karma, perform karma-yoga like ordinary workers attached to the fruits of their
labour, in order to educate the people of the world and secure their supreme
welfare.
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