Dåñta nahe dåçya haiyä sevakera
kärya
The Attitude of a Servant:
Being the Seen not the Seer by Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja [NOTE: This page uses Balarama font (available here) for better transliteration of Sanskrit into English. Click here for a version without Balarama font.]
It is
mentioned in Çré Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (13.2): akñëoù phalaà tvädåça-darçanaà hi tanoù phalaà
tvädåça-gätra-saìgaù jihvä-phalaà
tvädåça-kértanaà hi sudurlabhä
bhägavatä hi loke Devotees
of Bhagavän are extremely rare in this world. Therefore the perfection of the
eyes is to see them, the perfection of the body is to touch them and the
perfection of the tongue is to glorify them.
Upon seeing the title of this essay and reading this verse, many people
will object to this essay even before reading it. Offering our brothers, the
readers, prostrated obeisances (säñöäìga-pranämas) and keeping a straw between our
teeth, we earnestly beseech them to hear us.
By submissively approaching the lotus feet of an äcärya
who is the
personified conclusion and the manifested embodiment of çästra,
we can understand
that our consideration of çästra is based on external perception and is nothing but
the whim of our minds. Whatever çästra refutes or rejects we, according
to our desire, accept as the subject and essence of çästra. In this
verse, a fortunate person who has been blessed by darçana
of a bhägavad-bhakta
is overwhelmed with
bliss. He says, “To have the darçana
of a Vaiñëava is
indeed the perfection of the eyes, to touch him is the perfection of the body
and to glorify him is the perfection of the tongue, because in this world such bhägavad-bhaktas
are rare. ” Such
a statement has been delivered by the servant of a Vaiñëava at his lotus feet,
after the servant has received the Vaiñëava’s mercy and been overwhelmed by
gratitude for him. Unless a Vaiñëava bestows his mercy upon us and reveals his svarüpa, there is no possibility of us
knowing and understanding him. When the Vaiñëava mercifully reveals his svarüpa, the jéva
remembers his
previous mundane, sensual, worldly perception of that Vaiñëava and he naturally
feels a deep anguish in his heart. That specific form of the Vaiñëava who is
devoted to the service of Bhagavän, attracts him to such an extent that as soon
as a previous mundane conception of the Vaiñëava appears on the path of his
memory he feels disgusted by it. It is stated in the above verse, akñëoù
phalaà tvädåçadarçanaà hi – the perfection of the eyes is to have darçana of a Vaiñëava. In such darçana
the mood to render
service under that Vaiñëava’s guidance is indeed expressed. Vaiñëavas know no one other than Bhagavän.
In turn, the vaiñëava-sevaka knows nothing but rendering service according to
the direction of the Vaiñëava. This sevana-dharma, service attitude, of the servant
does not aim at attaining his own enjoyment through acts of seeing and touching
that Vaiñëava. Bhagavän and Bhagavän’s devotees only accept our nature (svarüpa) that is devoted to service. They
never accept our mundane nature, which is devoid of service. Bhagavän
is not a mundane entity (präkåta-vastu). Similarly, the çuddha jévätmä is also not a mundane entity. In his pure state, the jévätmä
is naturally devoted
to service that pleases Bhagavän. The intense eagerness for the darçana
of Bhagavän that is
observed in him is solely to render service to Bhagavän. The perfection of the sevaka’s
feet in visiting the dhäma
of Bhagavän is to
attain the service of Bhagavän. He cleans the temple of Viñëu with his hands,
thus enhancing Bhagavän’s pleasure. The sevaka’s two eyes become blessed by
collecting all types of beautiful objects solely for the service of Bhagavän.
With the help of his nostrils the sevaka is led to gather various fragrant
objects to assist in satisfying Bhagavän. With his tongue the sevaka
performs the kértana
of Bhagavän’s name,
form, qualities and pastimes, thus enhancing His bliss. Besides
this, he offers extremely tasteful foodstuffs to Bhagavän, having examined them
with his tongue. The sevaka (the worshipper) has a spiritual body so that the sevya
(worshipful) Bhagavän
can experience the pleasure of touch from that sevaka. The Vaiñëavas of the Çré-sampradäya
are devoted to the
conception of vidhi-märga, or regulated devotional service, and cannot embrace the
purport of this in their hearts. However, in comparison, the service in the
higher adhikära of
the Gauòéya Vaiñëavas devoted to the path of räga, or deep attachment, attains the
highest extent of perfection for all the senses by this method only. We have
entitled this essay: “The Attitude of a Servant: Being the Seen, not the Seer.”
This means that one should not consider himself the subject (seer) of Bhagavän.
A person should never hurry to have darçana of Bhagavän with the aim of self
enjoyment. When a person has käma, or the desire to please his own senses, the door to the
transcendental abode of Bhagavän closes to him. And when mundane endeavours for
personal enjoyment and false renunciation have been completely eliminated from
the heart that has been illuminated by exclusive surrender to Kåñëa (kåñëaika
çaraëatä), the
servant’s sole disposition is to execute service exclusively for the pleasure
of Bhagavän. The
transcendental gopés of Vraja dress solely for the pleasure of Kåñëa. Phalgutva, to falsely renounce that which
pleases Kåñëa can never result in finding a place in hearts. Their obsession
for Kåñëa is solely to render service to Him. Their act of looking at Kåñëa’s
lotus face without blinking their eyelids, is also for enhancing His bliss.
When Kåñëa sees that
the gopés are looking at Him, He becomes delighted. Knowing this the gopés
are exclusively
intent on attaining darçana of Him. When they look at Kåñëa, it is not with the
intention of personal enjoyment by being the subject (seer). In other words,
they become visible to Kåñëa; they become the object seen by Him. Only to give
Kåñëa bliss do they ‘show’ Him their nature (svarüpa), which is completely devoted to
His service. Here the act of ‘showing’
does not express their ego, but indicates the excellence of their service. Thousands
and thousands of pilgrims visit holy places in order to have darçana
of Bhagavän. Although
most think that they received His darçana, they are actually unlimited
miles away from receiving it. When one has actually attained darçana
of Bhagavän, he is
unable to utter statements like, “The deity is made of wood”, “The deity is
made of stone”, “The deity is made of clay” and “Jagannätha is devoid of hands
and legs”. Their act
of ‘seeing’ is endowed with the spirit of personal enjoyment, which is not the
spirit of a servant of Bhagavän. Such statements show that their very act of
‘seeing’ Bhagavän concealed, or barred, their sight. Many have lost the path by
which they can have darçana of Bhagavän, being covered by the darkness of the newmoon
night (the spirit of personal enjoyment). Therefore, for their deliverance my çré
gurupäda-padma has
cautioned: “Do not go to see Jagannätha with a spirit of personal enjoyment,
which is born of aversion for Him and which is prevalent in this world. Enter
the temple of Çré Jagadéça carrying the necessary ingredients, that is, a
service attitude that delights Jagannätha. “Always
keep in mind that the act of ‘seeing’ Jagannätha with mundane eyes is not how a
servant sees Him. The servant’s disposition is to show Him the nature (svarüpa) of his service attitude – in
other words, to become the object (the seen). It means to come within His sight
in such a way that delights the worshipful Bhagavän. The servant’s attitude is
not to derive pleasure himself by seeing Bhagavän. Rather, brilliantly situated
within the servant’s heart is the attitude – ‘Bhagavän will be delighted by
seeing me.’ ”
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