Excerpt from Awakening to the Absolute
By Srila Sridhar Maharaj
Bhagavad gita 7.19:
bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma su-durlabhah
So, bahunam janmanam ante… After many births, when the jnanis, those of the impersonal school, come to understand that the Prime Cause of the consciousness of their quest is a personal one, then they come to conceive of Vasudeva [Krishna as the Source-of-All-That-Is and the All-pervading Spirit/Consciousness/Light/Love].
But such jnanis are very rarely to be found. Mostly, jnanis cannot cross this line. They are lost there:
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.2.32:
ye ‘nye’ ravindaksa vimukta-maninasSrimad Bhagavatam 10.2.32:
tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha buddhayah
aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho ‘nadrta-yusmad anghrayah
O lotus-eyed Lord, although non-devotees who accept severe penances and austerities to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence remains impure. They simply speculate in various ways and do not seek the means to take shelter of You. Because they have no regard for Your lotus feet, they simply fall down from their position of imagined superiority into material existence again.
Generally, it is the fate of the jnanis to climb up to the highest position with great effort, and then, when they cannot grasp that consciousness means person — they cannot cross that understanding —, they have to revert back. They have to come back, fall back. And for those who can cross this line, who can understand that “Yes, consciousness means person — a big Personality, I am small….”, bhakti begins there. [—] The higher Entity must be dealt with with devotion.
O lotus-eyed Lord, although non-devotees who accept severe penances and austerities to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence remains impure. They simply speculate in various ways and do not seek the means to take shelter of You. Because they have no regard for Your lotus feet, they simply fall down from their position of imagined superiority into material existence again.
Generally, it is the fate of the jnanis to climb up to the highest position with great effort, and then, when they cannot grasp that consciousness means person — they cannot cross that understanding —, they have to revert back. They have to come back, fall back. And for those who can cross this line, who can understand that “Yes, consciousness means person — a big Personality, I am small….”, bhakti begins there. [—] The higher Entity must be dealt with with devotion.
Commentary (Sd):
Twice in Bhagavad gita, emphatically thus, Krishna says the same thing about the conditions for attaining Him. In 8.22:
purusah sa parah bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable
by unalloyed devotion only”
And again in 11.54:
bhaktya tv ananyaya sakya
“By unalloyed devotion only is it possible”
bhaktya tv ananyaya sakya
“By unalloyed devotion only is it possible”
Srila Sridhar Maharaj's own translation of Bg 11.54:
“Although in this form of Mine I am practically impossible to be seen by all other methods, the pure devotees, by their exclusive devotion unto Me, are capable of actually knowing Me, seeing Me, and entering into My divine pastimes.
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Selected Posts on Krishna Consciousness
(1) The Hare Krishna Maha-Mantra (Srila Prabhupada)
(2) Begin by engaging the tongue (Srila Prabhupada)
(3) Absolute Harmony (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
(4) Truth and Beauty (Swami B.V. Tripurari)
(5) The right vision (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
(7) Neither poetry nor imagination (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
(8) Dovetailing with Krishna (Srila Prabhupada)
(9) Here is Krishna (Srila Prabhupada)
(10) Simply by Chanting Krishna's Name (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta)
(12) Entering the Play of God (Swami B.V. Tripurari)
(13) Beyond immortality, beyond liberation, beyond oneness (Srila Sridhar Maharaj)
(15) Service to The Absolute (Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj)
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