THE SPIRITUAL WISDOM

Vedas are the literature of revealed knowledge descending down from the platform of absolute transcendence, which contain the science of spiritual reality. The most prominent among the subject matters of the vedas are, - knowledge about the Supreme Reality, the highest welfare of the living entities, salvation from material bondage, true happiness, relationship of jivas with God, the ultimate goal of human life, the main duty of the human beings, the phenomenal nature, divine majesty and sweetness, universal brotherhood etc. The superficial study of the Vedas by the common people does not reveal the hidden meaning of the vedic texts. Vedas appear to speak in worldly language, but they essential deal with the transcendental knowledge. The less intelligent people think that, the Vedas instigate human beings to adopt the path of elevationism. Through the prescribed actions, vedas intend to release the humanity from the evil bondage of mundane activity. Unless the ignorant people of the world conduct the prescribed vedic activities, they cannot secure release from the destructive spell of unrighteousness.

One should perform the relevant sacred duties without expecting for their results. All the fruits of the virtuous deeds should be offered to the Lord, to save oneself from material bondage. Selfless duty alone can produce universal welfare. The vedic accounts indicating celestial pleasures attached to the prescribed activities are just to create a taste for relevant duties. Release from material bondage is the initial purpose of the vedas, the ultimate objective is to make people eligible to taste eternal transcendental bliss. Those who are attached to the performance of fruitive activities, are deluded regarding the secret of the vedas and regarding the true purpose of human life. The followers of Karma - Kanda belong to this category.

The apparent students of vedic literature wrongly conclude that, Vedas instigate people for sense - pleasure, meat - eating and drinking liquor through the performance of sacrifices. Infact, Vedas try to save the people from all these and many more evils. Just as, slipping down is quite natural for a careless mountaineer, the negative trends are quite natural for the fallen souls who have forgotten the righteousness. The Vedas apply restruction in the worldly activities and guide the humanity towards permanent welfare. Sense pleasure is restrained by the vedas through monogamy. Meat - eating is restricted through certain sacrifices and liquor is restrained by sacrificial rites.

After imposing various restrictions for the worldly - minded people, the Vedas finally allow only the smelling of the liquor without drinking it. During sacrifice, only touching of a sacrificial animal is allowed without killing the same. Similarly, conjugal affair is just permitted for begetling children and not for sense - pleasure. Without knowing the real purpose of Vedas, those who engage in abominable acts undergo degradation and downfall. When a man kills an animal, in their next life they interchange their positions and the killer becomes killed by the killed - animal which becomes killer. The foolish and wicked people forget the rule that, every action as equal and opposite reaction. The wicked activities produce series of chain - reaction in the society. The Supreme Lord dwells in the hearts of all the living beings. The stupid people disrespect the Lord and for maintaining their own perishable bodies they kill other living beings and eat their flesh. This cruel act takes them to hell.

Among the Vedic followers those who chant the vedic verses without having absolute faith in the lord of the vedas, are quite unfortunate like those who maintain barren cows. Without pure devotion to God, Vedas shall not yield any permanent welfare. For an ordinary understanding the vedic literature deeds with action, demigods and sacrifice. In reality, the vedas teach devotional service of the Supreme Lord.
As the vedic revelations are most abstruse and transcendental, the empiric intelligence of worldly people fails to comprehend their teachings and significance. Devotional faculty of the pure spirit alone can understand and realize the Vedic truths. This devotion can be imbibed only from a pure devotee. Those who do not have absolute devotion to the Supreme Lord, are debarred from Vedic wisdom. Bhakti is the life - breath of the Vedas. Studing the Vedas without devotion is just like dealing with a lifeless body. The superficial students of the Vedas, out of their empiric intellect learn only the secondary meaning of the Vedas. This verbal manifestation of the Supreme Lord transcends the limitations of senses, mind and intellect of the ordinary human beings. Lord Krishna is the only reality to be known by the entire Vedic literature. He is the creator and the knower of the Vedas. Vedas establish monotheism and devotional worship for the universal welfare. Foolish people engage in atheism, polytheism, pantheism, nihilism and many other unrealistic thoughts and get deprived of their real well - being.

Lord Krishna says to Sri Uddhava that, one should learn the meanings of various significant terms to know the purport of the Vedas. The virtues like non - violence, truth, non - stealing, detachment, modesty, non - accumulation, theism, celebacy, reticence, steadiness, forgiveness and fearlessness ;- these are the twelve qualities that produce mind control. The twelve kinds of virtues that form sense - control are ;- internal purity, external purity, chanting, penance, fire - sacrifice, faith, hospitality, deity - worship, pilgrimage, altruism, contentment and service to the preceptor. By adopting these qualities one can succeed in achieving the desired goal.
As per the Vedic terminology, constancy in the devotional process is known as tranquillity (shama), sense control is the real control (dama), tolerating sorrows is known as endurance (titiksha), victory over tongue and genitals is known as composure (dhriti), not to punish others is known as charity (daana), discarding lust is known as penance (tapasya), braveness (shourya) is to win over meanness and equanimity (sama darshana) is known as truth. Factual speech also is termed as truth. Detachment towards mundane activity is known as purity (soucha), renunciation is the real abnegation (tyaga). Righteousness (dharma) is the real wealth for the human beings. Lord Krishna is the very purpose of sacrifice (yajna). Bestowing divine knowledge is the real charity (dakshina). Mind control through breathing exercise (pranayama) is the source of strength. Lord Krishna's opulence is known as majesty (bhaga), devotion to Lord Krishna is the highest achievement (uttama labha). Freedom from nescience and self - realisation is the real learning (vidya). Contempt towards forbidden acts is known as modesty (hree). The good qualities like dispassion etc, are to be known as the richness (shree). Indifference to sorrow and pleasure is the real happiness (sukha). The one who knows about the bondage and liberation is a scholar (pandita). Those who misidentify the body as self are idiots (murkha), the divine ordainment of spiritual culture is the blessed path (pantha), mental perversion through material attachment is the misdirection (utpatha), development of sattvaguna itself is heaven (swarga). Increase in tamoguna is equal to hell (naraka), Lord Krishna Himself is the real friend and preceptor for the living beings. Human body itself is the house for the spirit, a person of noble qualities is a rich person. A dissatisfied person is a destitute (daridra), miser (kripana) is he who has not conquered his senses, a master is he who has conquered his senses from worldly allurements, the one who is entangled in worldliness is a slave. These are the terminologies explained by Lord Krishna.

All that exist in this entire cosmos can be divided into two categories known as the sentient and the insentient. These are originated respectively from the marginal potency and the external potency of the God. The eight kinds of elements of the external material potency are as follows earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. All these are finite and transformable. Individual sentient entities are the infinitesimal fractions of the marginal potency. They are infinite in number. When these individuals serve the Supreme Lord and dwell in the divine sphere, they remain free from grief, fear and death. Such pure jivas exhibit eight types of pure qualities such as free from sin, free from old age, immortal, free from grief, free from hunger and thirst, transcendental in nature, of truthful resolve and of accomplished desires. The lord who is the Supreme Autocrat has kindly bestowed a tiny free will for every jiva soul for their progress and welfare. The jivas who misuse their freewill and prefer to enter into material world with an intention of selfish enjoyment, come under the jurisdiction of the external potency Maya Shakti and start their worldly course of birth, death, old age, disease, fear, anxiety, rebirth and so on. Until and unless they stop the misuse of their freewill and start serving God in holy company, the cycle of their mundane ordeal continues unabated.

The fallen jivas come under five kinds of divisions such as covered sentience, contracted sentience, budding sentience, blooming sentience and fully bloomed sentience. The enlightened state of the jivas is characterized by the quality of goodness(sattvaguna). Along with the increase in passion (rajo guna), the jivas begin to fall down from the spiritual standards and finally they reach the lowest level of ignorance (tamo guna). Although the jivas lose their merit and brilliance due to the eclipsing nature of inert matter, yet they do not lose their distinguishing features such as feeling, willing, discriminating and responding. Knowledge being an eternal property of sentience, living beings does not lose this faculty even in the most fallen condition. Knowledge in gross material level manifests as the basic animal instinct such as eating, sleeping, mating and defending. In the mental level, just as in the case of human beings, the knowledge assumes the stage of reasoning or logic, which is the shadow of the real knowledge, eclipsed due to the relativities of the time, space and person. When the human knowledge is purified in the divine association of noble souls, the enlightening faculty of the divine potency comes to the rescue of those surrendered souls and bestows spiritual awareness and devotional aptitude. By the help of devotional culture, a pure devotee transcends the phenomenal and shall eternally taste the bliss of divine love.
The holy treatise "Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta" exactly explains the entire human situation and the scientific method of human progress to reach the ultimate level of final well being as follows

Similar to tiny sparks of a huge blazing fire, infinite crores of living beings in the cosmos keep on transmigrating in eighty four lakhs of various species. These living beings are divided as movables and immovables. Among the movables there are three types such as terrestrial, aquatic and aerial. Among those living entities, human beings constitute a very small percentage. Among them, many are mleccha, tavana, pulinda, shabara, boudha etc., who do not follow the Vedic instructions. Among the small group who accept the Vedas, almost half of them are theatrical followers who do not hesitate to commit forbidden acts that go against the Vedic injunctions. Among the practical followers of the Vedas, most are elevationists who are attached to frutive desires. Among the millions of elevationists, one may be a Salvationist  who strive for detachment form worldly bondage. Among such millions of Salvationists, one may be a liberated soul. Among crores of such liberated souls, a rare devotee of Lord Krishna is found. A devotee of Lord Krishna is absolutely desire less and therefore is always peaceful. All those who desire for enjoyment, liberation, occult-power etc are always found to be restless.

During the course of wandering through the entire cosmos by undergoing repeated births and deaths, a fortunate soul shall happen to acquire the seed of devotion by the combined grace of Guru and Lord Krishna. The devotee, as an honest gardener sows the seed in his heart, cleansed of the negative principles like sins, offence, materialism and disservice. After sowing the seed in the ground of pure heart, it should be regularly sprinkled with the water of 'scriptural hearing and chanting' in holy association. Thus the sprouted seed grows as the creeper of devotion. This divine creeper after reaching the boundary of the mundane cosmos, by passing through the fourteen worlds, it penetrates the demarcation line ' viraja ' and further crossing the spiritual abode Brahmaloka of divine effulgence, it reaches the divine abode Vaikuntha. The creeper of pure devotion further proceeds to grow and then reaches Goloka -- Vrindavan, the all  blissful abode of Lord Krishna. Here the creeper attains the desire tree in the form of Lord Krishna's Lotus Feet and becomes stabilized. Then it starts to spread in all directions. During this stage of accomplishment, it yields the fruits of divine - love. The devotee as an efficient gardener carefully nurtures this finest creeper by regularly supplying the water of hearing and chanting.
While nurturing the creeper of devotion, the gardener has to take extreme care and caution to see that it is not destroyed due to various kinds of dangers. The offence against devotion when committed, they act like herds of mad elephants that root out the creeper within no time. Therefore, first precaution the devotee has to take is to see that these offences against devotion are never cropped up, by effectively fencing the creeper and implementing safe guards. During the devotional cultivation, the devotee should be alert, careful, cautious, submissive, honest, dutiful and enthusiastic. Sometimes there may grow various kinds of weeds, which suck the water and deprive the main creeper. The innumerable kinds of negative principles such as:- desire for enjoyment and liberation, forbidden acts, duplicity, selfishness, desire for name and fame, greed for reverence and honor, cruel behavior,- all these act like weeds that dwindle the growth of the main creeper. The vigilant gardener should immediately root out these weeds as and when they raise their heads. Thus the creeper of devotion should be fully facilitated to reach the highest divine abode. By the help of this creeper, the devotee attains the Lotus Feet of Lord Krishna and then tastes the glorious fruit of divine love. This is the quintessence of spiritual well - being. As compared to this divine love, the four fold summum bonum such as :- piety, wealth, objects of desire and salvation are significant like grass blades. This is achieved by the help of pure devotion, which again is secured only by the holy association. All that one has to do is to become eligible for receiving this devotion by discarding all kinds of inhuman wickedness and by totally