Whether it is because of our seemingly strange hairstyle, our abnormal habits or the fact that we voluntarily steer clear of the activities that mainstream society deems most enjoyable if not mandatory, we Vaisnavas are often asked a simple yet complicated question. i can not count the number of times i have been asked, “so what is your philosophy all about?” while being expected to give a very brief yet complete synopsis of our doctrine.
Nine times out of ten in this situation i like to present our belief system with a visual aide that i crudely sketch out in front of the curious party to give them a general understanding of what we are about. This illustration that i commonly use was inspired by a class that my guru, Srila Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, gave a long time ago that summarizes our philosophy quite well. My guru, of course, heard this instruction from his spiritual master who heard it from his spiritual master, etc., so it is not a new concept at all but, like all core principles, it is timeless.
At first glance of the diagram (pictured on the right) one will notice that one side is complete chaos while the other side is quite organized. What one might not notice right away is that each of the two sides started out precisely the same. i randomly placed twenty five different colored dots on one half and then made an exact duplicate of it for the other side. Then on the left side i made circles of differing sizes centered around each point. On the right side i added a middle point and then drew a circle centered around that point through each of the other dots thus creating twenty-five concentric circles.
This diagram illustrates the difference between material consciousness and spiritual consciousness. Each of the dots represents a person. The left side of the diagram represents material consciousness or self-centeredness, and thus those dots are the center of their individual circles. The right side shows spiritual consciousness or God-centeredness, and thus their circles are each centered around the midpoint.
In the material world we encounter many conflicts on a daily basis (some big and some small), but every single one of these conflicts have the same impetus. The cause of every conflict in this world is that two or more people are claiming ownership over the same thing. In the diagram this phenomena is depicted with overlapping circles. The reason i made the various circles different sizes is that some of us claim more than others do… some are satisfied with a tree to sleep under and a little food while others require a full staff servants to tend to their every whim. But no matter how small our material desire, chances are that someone else desires exactly what we have. In many cases even people become objects of other peoples’ desires. Thus conflict is rampant and unavoidable in the material world.
In the spiritual world there is no desire apart from serving the Supreme Lord, from whom all things and beings are created. Thus there is harmony instead of conflict. Everyone serves the true owner of things and everyone lives in complete happiness.
All it takes to transport oneself from chaos to harmony is a change in consciousness. This is where a lot of people say, “easier said than done” and stop listening, but it is actually less challenging to redirect our consciousness than it is to find satisfaction in this material world. Although both are difficult, only one is possible and therefore placing our endeavor in the pursuit of material happiness is futile while placing it in the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment is practical.
Since the material world is a mere reflection of the spiritual world, attempts at finding happiness here is like trying to eat the reflection of an apple in a mirror. Although the apple exists, its reflection is an insubstantial representation of the real thing and as such will provide no lasting satisfaction. To truly experience its nourishment and flavor, we have to pry our gaze from the reflection and redirect it to the source.
As long as we are self-centered, we will always be trying to find satisfaction in a reflection. We have not created anything and we cannot truly control or own anything, so any attempts to do so are outside of reality. But when we realign our consciousness to be God-centric, we see things as they are in their rightful state and experience harmonic reality.
In my experience in talking with people of many different philosophies and cultures, i find that this concept is not exclusive to our Vaisnava doctrine, but is common in most spheres. All honest religious systems encourage bringing God back into the center of our lives.
But here is where it gets interesting… although this is a simple instruction and can be understood by a child (or even a dummy for that matter), it is actually also the highest understanding of our philosophy. All of the Vedas from bottom to top (including karma-kanda) are designed to gradually redirect ones consciousness in this way (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo). No matter what “level” we are on, this is always our compass that leads us to our ultimate goal. Therefore true intelligence means understanding this principle and applying it in any situation. “All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.”(Bg 2.46)
Our conditioning has compelled us to equate intelligence with academic study and achievements, but this idea is not supported in the Vedas. One does not need to master Sanskrit or scrutinize obscure ancient texts to return to God. We should not count ourselves out as intellectuals because “we are not good at memorizing slokas”. On the contrary, we should each constantly exercise our intelligence by continually working on redirecting our consciousness toward the service of the Supreme Lord. No matter how many slokas we can recite, or how well we can juggle Sanskrit, if we do not understand the principle of having God in the center, we cannot return to the spiritual realm.
Scholastic aptitude has nothing to do with our qualification for spiritual advancement. To think that we cannot make spiritual advancement because of a material designation is foolish. Spirit always trumps matter. Material details cannot limit a spiritual principle.
So with that, i say set aside your material designations, and dispel the illusion of limitations… when it comes to spirituality, forever endeavor.
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