But the path of Impersonalists is troublesome and very difficult
aTwo groups of transcendentalists discussed
Jnana-yogis – Those who follow the path of inconceivable, unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord
Bhakti-yogis – Those persons who are in full Krishna consciousness and engage in devotional service of the Lord
bBhakti-yoga vs. Jnana-yoga
Same goal – Both ultimately bring one to the same goal
Process of Jnana-yoga is very troublesome – It is very difficult for him to simply theoretically understand that he is not this body
Process of Bhakti-yoga is direct – It is a process of being in direct service with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
The Bhakti-yoga accepts the Deity of Krishna as worshipable because there is some bodily conception fixed in the mind, which can thus be applied FOCUS OF LEARNING: PURPORT 12.5 continued…
cDeity worship is not idol worship
Ref. Vedic literatures – Worship may be ‘saguna’ or ‘nirguna’ of the Supreme ‘possessing’ or ‘not possessing’ attributes
Worship of the Deity in the temple is ‘saguna’ worship – because the Lord is represented by material qualities
Absolute nature of the Lord – The form of the Lord although represented by material qualities like stone, wood, etc. is not actually material
Analogy: Deity Worship compared to a mailbox
The Deity is the authorized representation of God, known as ‘arca-vigraha’
The Deity is a incarnation of Supreme Lord to accept service from the living entities
The Lord is omnipotent, all powerful – Therefore He can accept the services of the devotee in His ‘arca-vigraha’ form, just to make it convenient for the man in conditional life
dFor an embodied soul, there is always a difficulty with the unmanifest, both at the time of ‘practice’ and at the time of ‘realization’
eDifficulties in the ‘practice’ for the Impersonalists
They have to understand the unmanifested representation of the Supreme
Process is difficult: e.g. Studying Vedic literatures like Upanisads, learning the language, understanding the non-perceptual feelings
fIn contrast, Krishna consciousness provides simple ‘practice’
Simply chanting Hare Krishna
Guidance of bona-fide spiritual master, simply by offering regulative obeisances unto the Deity, hearing the glories of the Lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord
gDifficulties in terms of ‘realizations’ –
Impersonalists – They take the risk of practicing difficult path and still do not realize the Absolute Truth in the ultimate end
Partial realisation – They can achieve only ‘sat’ and ‘cit’ realizations
Difficult to give up the idea – A jnani-yogi may come to the point of Bhakti-yoga by the grace of some devotee, but still long practice in impersonalism becomes a source of trouble, because he cannot give up this idea
Against one’s real nature – Every living soul is partially independent and therefore this unmanifested realisation is against the nature of his spiritual blissful self
Personalists – They have no risks, trouble or difficulty in approaching the Supreme Lord directly
Complete realisation – They realize ‘sat’, ‘cit’ and ‘ananda’ which implies even the blissful portion of the Absolute Truth is realized
Ref. SB – If surrender or Bhakti is the ultimate goal, then why to take the trouble to understand what is Brahman and what is not Brahman and spend one’s whole life in that way, when the result is anyway going to be troublesome
hBest solution — For every individual living entity, the process of Krishna consciousness, which entails full engagement in devotional service is the best way
WARNING! – If one wants to ignore this devotional service, there is the danger of turning to ‘Atheism’ SUMMARIZED THEME 12A COMPARISION OF IMPERSONALISTS & PERSONALISTS S. NO IMPERSONALISTS PERSONALISTS IN TERMS OF PRACTICE Meditate on formless Meditate on form of deity 1 • difficult for embodied • easy for embodied Unimanifested is beyond the senses Senses can percieve the Deity and sound of 2 • restricts the senses mantra
engages the senses Must understand the brahman through Understands Krishna through devotional service 3 Upanisads etc. • simple chanting hare krishna
learn the language sanskrit • guidance of bona-fide spiritual master,
understand the non-perceptual simply by offering regulative obeisances feelings unto the deity, hearing the glories of the lord, eating the remnants of foodstuff offered to the lord 4 Long practice makes it difficult to take up Completely natural bhakti 5 Troublesome Miseries mitigated by relationship with Krishna
no relationship with the lord 6 Depends on our own endeavour Krishna delivers devotee from Maya. why?
because krishna himself recommends the process
by his causeless mercy IN TERMS OF REALISATION (Brahman vs Bhagavan) Brahman Bhagavan 1 Nirguna (without qualities) Saguna (with form, qualities, etc.) 2 Inconcievable Possess inconceivable potencies 3 All pervading All pervading by energy and as supersoul 4 Unchanging, fixed and immovable Unchanging, fixed and immovable 5 Cannot perceive any opulence because of lack Possessor of six opulence’s in full of activity 6 Risk of not realizing absolute truth at the end Success is guaranteed as nothing is lost 7 May realize the eternal (sat) and knowledge Realises eternity, knowledge and bliss (includes (cit) aspects of his original nature(partial brahman and paramatma realisation) realization)