1956 Back to Godhead vol 3 part 05 - Sufferings of Humanity
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DELHI, Saturday 5th May 1956,
Fortnightly published.
Printed and Published by the Editor,
at Surendra Printers Private Ltd., Deputyganj, Delhi
and published by him from 'Back to Godhead' Office,
I. M. H. Press, Fountain, Delhi under declaration Dated 28-2-56.
_____________________________________________________________
Sufferings of Humanity
Is Providence responsible for it?
Dr. Sharma of Delhi asked this question to one well known Swamijee (?) and the reply which he received from him did not satisfy him. The doctor asked the Swamijee whether the sufferings of humanity were created by God. If so, why did He create such sufferings? The Swamiji replied that it is His Leela (?). The doctor said if it is the Leela of the Providence why a living entity should be put within the purview of the Law of Karma? The doctor publicly declared in the meeting that he was not satisfied with the reply of the Swamijee and the innocent public looked askance.
So far as we have met with many gentlemen, we are also questioned with the same type of enquiries. The monist and impersonalists who think in terms of oneness only of the living entities with the Supreme Lord, cannot but reply in the manner as replied by the Swamijee to the doctor. But such imperfect reply can hardly satisfy the heart of a living entity.
The Lord is described in all the scriptures as 'Leela Prushottam' or the Personality of Godhead who is by His own nature always engaged in the transcendental pastimes. In the Vedanta Sutras He is described as (In Devanagari:) anandamaya abhyasat. The monist and the impersonalist try with great difficulty to explain this Sutra in diverse ways in order to keep pace with his imperfect theory of oneness and impersonality. "Ananda" a pleasure cannot be enjoyed alone. Variety is the mother of enjoyment that is a well known English proverb. The city of Delhi is attractive because it contains varieties of things. The living beings are attracted by the city of Delhi because it has varieties of enjoyable things. There are attractive streets, buildings, cinemas, parks, conveyances, business, employment, foodstuffs etc. of different varieties and therefore the city of Delhi is so beautiful. English poet Cowper said that country is made by God but the city is made by man. It does not mean thereby that country has no varieties of enjoyment. The country is full of natural variegatedness in crude form, while in the city, the varieties are displayed in the modernised scientific set up. Poets like Cowper may be attracted with the variegatedness of the natural beauty of the country and prosaic people, who live in the city, may be attracted by the colourful varieties manufactured by man. In any case both the rural and urban population is attracted by some form of varieties, without which there is no possibility of enjoyment. That is the right explanation of the axiom of 'Vedanta' Sutra (In Devanagari:) anandamaya abhyasat.
The so-called Swamijee who is so frequently attracted by the city of Delhi or any other city must be seeking a sort of pleasure in society of the fair sex as well as the aristocrats as we generally find. He is not attracted by the natural beauty of the woods although he assumes the dress of a 'Banachary' or the man who is meant for living in the woods. This very fact implies that the Swamijee or any other man, all of them are seeking enjoyment varieties in the matter because they have no information of the varieties of the spirit. If in the matter there are so many varieties of enjoyment, why should you deny the spiritual variegatedness in the Absolute? But because they are pledged to the theory of monism and impersonalism they must deny everything of the matter in the spirit. According to them, the spirit is a denial of the matter. But in fact spirit is not a negation of the matter but matter is a perverted reflection of the spirit.
As such the real pleasure of varieties is existent in the spirit without any delusive relativity while the inert matter in association with the dynamic spirit manifests a false or shadow representation of the spiritual varieties so adversely denied by the class of so-called Swamijees.
The Supreme Lord is joyful by nature (In Devanagari:) sac-cid-ananda vigraha and therefore He expands Himself by His different energies, parts differentiated and plenary portions. The Supreme Lord is Absolute Truth and He is one without a second including His diverse energies, parts and plenary portion. The diverse energies, parts and the plenary portions are simultaneously one and different from the Absolute Truth. Because He is joyful by nature, He expands Himself in different diversities in the above manner and this act of His diverse expansion is called by the name Leela or transcendental pastimes. But this Leela is not blind and inert. There is full sense, independence, actions and reactions. This complexity of actions and reactions of the diverse energies of the Absolute Truth is the subject matter of a vast science called it the transcendental science and the Bhagwat Geeta is the A B C or primary book of knowledge for the students interested in that science.
Every intelligent human being is meant for becoming interested in this transcendental science and according to the opinion of the sages, human life is meant for learning this science only. In the 'Vedanta' the first axiomatic truth is (In Devanagari:) "athato brahma-jijnasa" Atha Ato Brahma Jijnasa i.e., now this is the time for asking about the transcendental science.
The human life is full of miseries and the life other than the human being is still more full of miseries. Any sane man with properly discriminating senses can understand it that the life in the material world is full of miseries and nobody is free from the actions and reactions of such miseries. This is not pessimistic view of life but it is an actual fact and one may not be blind to see to it. The miseries are calculated to be of three varieties namely miseries pertaining to the relation of body and mind, miseries pertaining to the relation of other living being and miseries pertaining to the control of unseen forces. A sane man must look to these miseries consciously. Everybody is unconsciously aware of these miseries and the activities of the present life means some attempt to overcome these miseries and thereby become happy in life. Every living being is trying to achieve this goal of happiness and get rid of these miseries unconsciously and in the higher intelligent circles, they attempt to get rid of all these miseries by plans and designs. But the power that baffles all these plans and designs of the highest intelligent person is called Daivi Maya or illusory energy. We have several times discussed about this Daivi Maya in the pages of "Back to Godhead." The law of Karma or the result of all actions and reactions in the material world is controlled by this "Daivi Maya" or "Prakriti" or the all-powerful nature. The acts of this Prakriti are all psychological, regulative, principled and conscious under the direction of the Supreme Lord. Everything is acted with full consciousness of the Prakriti and nothing is blind or accidental. She is called also by the name of 'Durga' or the force which is very difficult to surpass. Nobody can therefore surpass the laws of 'Durga' by any amount of childish plans. To get rid of the sufferings or miseries of the humanity is simultaneously very difficult and easy affair also. So long the plans to get rid of them will continue to be manufactured by the conditioned souls who are themselves bound up by the laws of nature, there would be no solution of these miseries. The plans and designs are those mentioned in the Bhagwat Geeta and one has to adopt it in practical life for his own benefit. The miseries are not the Leela of the Supreme Lord. As mentioned above He is eternally joyful. His Leela or transcendental pastimes are not different from Him because He is Absolute Truth. The Name, Fame, Qualities, Pastimes etc. are all identical with Him. His Leela or Pastimes therefore cannot be full of miseries. The answer of the questions in respect of human sufferings therefore cannot be given by such evasive reply as Leela. The Leela or pastimes of the Supreme Lord is transcendental to miseries and sufferings of human being.
The suffering of humanity is the result of its misuse of discriminative power or the little independence which is given to the individual soul.
The Swamijee as above mentioned in order to keep his pace with the theory of monism may wash off such miseries as Leela but actually they are only the enforced actions of the Daivi Maya inflicted upon the misguided conditioned soul.
The living entities are part and parcels or different energies of the Supreme Lord. The part is not equal to the whole. The part can join transcendental Leela in his unconditioned state of life but so long he is conditioned by the laws of Karma, his sufferings are his own creations out of a gross misuse of his little independence. The Mayabadies or the impersonal monist misguide the people by mistaking the threefold miseries as Leela(?). Such impersonal monist has to misguide like that because he wrongly thinks the Supreme Lord and the individual soul equal in all respects. The individual souls are equal in quality with the Supreme Lord but not in quantity. Had he, the individual soul had been quantitatively equal with the Supreme Lord, he would not have been subjected to the laws of nature. The material nature is subordinate to the will of Supreme Lord. As such He cannot be subjected to the laws of His own inferior energy. The individual souls who are put into the miseries of the material world are therefore different parts and parcels of the Supreme Being and their sufferings are resultant reaction of the misuse of their little independence. That is the verdict of the Bhagwat Geeta.
The parts and parcels are meant for serving the whole. When such parts and parcels misuse the independence, they are subjected to the laws of miseries as matter like police action.
The citizens of a state is the part and parcels of the complete nation. The citizens are meant for serving the national cause and that is the function of independant people. When a citizen misuses his relative independence in the discharge of his duties towards the state he is put under police action by the state. The life of a citizen in the free state and the life of a citizen in the state prison house are not identical. Those who make such two different phases of life of the citizen in a state as one and the same must be suffering from the disease of insanity. Similarly those who speak of the sufferings of humanity as Leela of the Supreme Lord must be possessing a poor fund of knowledge.
The State Government does not want that its citizens would act in such a way so that they may go into the prison house and suffer its tribulations. The prison house is undoubtedly constructed by the State Government but that does not mean that the Government wants to invite the prisoners to come in. Indirectly, the disobedient citizens force the Government to construct the prison house. It is no pleasure for the government to construct and maintain a prison house. On the contrary, the government would be glad to demolish altogether the existence of the prison house provided there is no disobedient citizen in the state. In the same way this material world, although it was created by the will of the Supreme Lord, the residents of this material world which is full of miseries are different from those who are eternally engaged in the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord.
The impersonal monist have no information of a full-fledged independant life in the eternal realm of spirit. According to them the spiritual realm is a place of voidness. The life outside the prison house is undoubtedly void from the life of prison house but that does not mean inactivity. The eternal soul is eternally active. The impersonalist wants to kill the activity of the soul in the spiritual realm and miscalculate the prison life of miseries as Leela of the Supreme Lord (?). That is the sign of poor fund of knowledge.
The Supreme Lord never creates the actions and reactions of an individual soul. In the Bhagwat Geeta the matter is clearly defined as follows:- (B.G. chapter V 24/26)
(In Devanagari:)
Wordings
- na kartrtvam na karmani lokasya srjati prabhuh
- na karma-phala-samyogam svabhavas tu pravartate
- nadatte kasyacit papam na caiva sukrtam vibhuh
- ajnanenavrtam jnanam tena muhyanti jantavah
- jnanena tu tad ajnanam yesam nasitam atmanah
- tesam aditya-vaj jnanam prakasayati tat param
Synonyms
Na=Does not, Kartritwam=Direction of, Na=Neither, Karmani=the work, Lokashya=of the living entities, Srijati=create, Na=Neither, Karmaphala=The resultant of work, Samyogam=Relativities, Swabhaba=One's own inclination, Prabartatey=Induces.
Na=Does not, Adatte=Award, Kashyachit=of any body, Papam=Vices, Na=Neither, Cha=Also, Eba=Certainly, Sukritam=Pious acts, Bibhu=The Almighty, Ajnanana=By poor fund of knowledge, Abritam=Covered, Jnanam=Pure knowledge, Tena=By that only, Muhyanti=Misguide, Jantaba=The living entities.
Jnanena=By knowledge, Tu=But, Tat=That, Ajnanam=Nescience, Yesham=Of those, Atmana=Of the spirit, Tesham=Of them, Adityabat=Like the sun, Jnanam=Pure knowledge, Prakashayati=Does manifest, Tatparam=In respect of the Supreme.
Translation
The Supreme Lord does not create any direction nor the programme of work of the ordinary living being. Neither does He create such relativities of work but they are induced by one's own inclination.
Neither does He award any direction of committing vices nor that of any act of virtue. The animals (living beings) are covered by poor fund of knowledge and by that only they are misguided in action.
Of those whose nescience is dissipated by the awakening of pure consciousness, for them only knowledge regarding the Supreme Being is manifested like the sunrays.
It is clear from the above passages that the sufferings of humanity are not the Leela of the Supreme Being as explained by the learned Swamiji(?). The Lord is never responsible anyone's Papa or Punya. By actions of Papa (vices) one is put into more and more distressful conditions; while by actions of Punya or Sukriti (pious acts) one is put in the path of happiness. Man is the architect of his own distress or happiness in the material sense of the term. The Lord does not want living entity to do anything of vice or virtue. He wants everyone to go back to Home, go back to Godhead. As long as one has not awakened of his pure sense of eternal relation with God, he is certainly bewildered in his actions. His actions, in respect of vice and virtue, are all performed out of a lack of pure knowledge. The pure knowledge is the pure sense of living being as the eternal servitor-enjoyer in the transcendental Leela or pastimes of the Lord. The Supreme Lord is the Master-enjoyer of that Leela and living entities are the servitor-enjoyer of the Leela. The Swamiji or persons of his ilk of thought do not know what is the Leela due to poor fund of knowledge and therefore they misguide the people by misplacing the transcendental Leela in the realm of sufferings or enjoyments of the material plane. That knowledge is attainable by 'Para Bhakti' only as described in the Bhagwat Geeta. By such 'Para Bhakti' only and not by merely acquiring a bulk of discriminating knowledge can one know the Supreme Lord as He is. When a person knows the Personality of Godhead in reality, he can then enter into His Leela. That is the verdict all revealed scriptures.
Conception of Universal Brotherhood
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu quoted the following sloka from the Vishnu Puran in support of His real conception of universal Brotherhood so anxiously imagined by the diplomats, politicians and leaders of the human society. There is a gulf of difference between such conception made by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu the idol of the Vaishnavite cult and that of others of the groups of Duskritina, Mudha, Mayoa Apahrita Jnana and Ashurabhabamaspla. The sloka, as it was set up in the issue of 5th April 1956 of 'Back to Godhead,' runs as follows:—
(In Devanagari:)
Wordings
- praninam upakaraya yad eveha paratra ca
- karmana manasa vaca tad eva matiman bhajet
Synonyms
Praninam=Of the living being, Upakaraya=For the benefit of, Jad=Whatever, Eba=Is certainly, Iha=In this life, Paratra=In the future life, Cha=Also, Karmana=By fruitive actions, Manasa=By contemplation, Vacha=By speeches, Tad=That, Eba=Only, Matiman=A sensible man, Bhajet=Render service.
Translation
A sensible man must do render service to the living beings for their benefit only by those fruitive work, contemplative plans and speeches whatever is certainly beneficial to them both in this life and that in the next.
Purport
Conception of universal brotherhood by the Mudhas, Naradhamas or the grossly foolish persons and the lowest of the mankind etc., is different from the conception of universal brotherhood of the Lord-because the Mudhas and Naradhamas contemplate in terms of their own benefit while Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His bonafide followers do contemplate of such universal brotherhood in terms of benefit for the complete set of the living being. Where we speak of universal brotherhood it must comprehend all brothers and not such brothers and allies as are accepted by the politician who have always some design of self-interest.
The ideal of brotherhood is clearly mentioned in the Bhagwat Geeta which is comprehensive enough to include all living beings. The living entities namely those who belong to the vegetable kingdom, to the aquatics kingdom, to the reptile kingdom, to the aerial kingdom, to the animal kingdom and lastly to the human kingdom—appearing in different outward shapes and inward dresses of the gross body and subtle mind, all have been claimed by the Personality of Godhead as His own offsprings. He is the father of all living beings appearing in different species of life according to one's fruitive work in different spans of life.
A father may have different types of sons and some of them may be very intelligent while others may be fools. The intelligent brother cannot disown the fool brother if he is at all interested in the common fatherhood. Factually of course both the fool son and the intelligent son of the father are legitimate sons and both of them are rightful successors or shareholders of the father's property. The law awards this benefit to the fool as well as to the intelligent sons of the father. The father also does not behave differently between the fool and intelligent sons. The father is of course specially interested with the intelligent son if the latter is intelligent enough to obey the orders of the father in the management of family affairs.
In the Bhagwat Geeta the Personality of Godhead says clearly that He is equally kind to all living entities. Nobody is His favourite nor inimical. He is but leaned towards one who renders spontaneous loving service to Him.
So the Personality of Godhead, the Supreme father of all living entities, is favourably disposed to the living being who is a devotee of the Supreme father. Others are given equal chances of living but He is not responsible for their actions performed for self interest. The intelligent son, who does everything in the interest of the whole joint family, is certainly very dear to the father. There is nothing surprising in this behaviour of the father.
As such the conception of universal brotherhood is perfect only when it refers to all living being. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommended this type of universal brotherhood quoted from the Vishnu Puranam. The word particularly [TEXT MISSING] brotherhood creates the idea of particular or family, community, national, religious or utmost international brotherhood of the one section of the living being. Such imperfect brotherhood excludes the foolish brothers namely the animals, the birds, the aquatics etc. But the word (In Devanagari:) 'praninam' is all comprehensive and it does not exclude the foolish brothers also.
Imperfect conception of brotherhood makes it possible that human being is given all protection of law and order, while the foolish brothers namely the animals are sent to the slaughterhouse for being killed to satisfy the palate and tongue of the intelligent brothers.
The intelligent brothers create a constitution of Habeas Corpus and thinks nationally for the community of men. Such intelligent brothers are called Duskritina and Mayoa Apahrita Jnana because they have no idea of giving national rights to the foolish brothers who are also born in the same land. The foolish brother is disinherited from the legitimate share of his father by intrigues of the intelligent brother in the name of so-called universal brotherhood.
A cow, a goat or a hen or even a vegetable plant all of them are born in the same land. But unfortunately the national right of a state is not extended to the foolish mute brothers because they are dumb and cannot make any agitation like the intelligent brothers. They are even denied the right of living peacefully at the cost of the Supreme Father. The foolish dumb brothers are supplied foodstuff by the laws and arrangement of mother Nature, but the intelligent brothers do kill them for their own satisfaction although they have nothing to do for their proper maintenance in the jungle. The intelligent brothers play with the life of the fool. The imperfect idea of Daridra Narayan(?) is applied to the poor class of men only at the cost of life of the dumb millions of animals, and Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never dreamt of such narrow altruistic activities of the Mudhas and Duskritinas.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the living encyclopaedia of the terms of knowledge inculcated in the Bhagwat Geeta and other revealed scriptures. He therefore recommended brotherhood of all living being.
His conception of doing good to such brothers both foolish and intelligent was meant not only for this life but also for the next, by an assured policy. That is the most perfect conception of universal brotherhood as against such contemplation of the Mudhas and Duskritinas.
When we deviate from such perfect order of universal brotherhood and manufacture an imperfect pattern of it, in the name of different political groups [TEXT MISSING] material disease manifest in virulent type. We have tried to present the picture in our article 'The S.R.C. Catastrophe' in Part I, Vol. III. Such narrow imperfect and self-interested designed manifesto of universal brotherhood may hoodwink the set of Mudhas and Mayoa Apahrita Jnanas but that will never bring in the desired world peace so anxiously awaited by the disgusted people. The blind leaders of men do not know the techniques of peacemaking plan. The plan is already set up in the Bhagwat Geeta. It is said there that peace can be enjoyed only by Owner of everything, by accepting Him as the enjoyer of everything, and by consulting Him as the only friend and philosopher of all living being. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wants to teach this cult of universal brotherhood and when He agitated the movement, He practically proved that men and the jungle beasts and all other living entities can live peacefully under the cool banner of 'Bhagwat Dharma' or the cult of devotional activities.
Theism in active service-which includes in right adjustment all contending and conceivable patterns of religiosities or creeds manufactured so far by the human brain. There is no difference between the cult of Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that of Bhagwat Geeta. His interpretations of the Bhagwat Geeta is the deeper aspect of it and Shri Krishna is understood through Lord Krishna Chaitanya the devout feature of Shri Krishna Himself.
Lord Buddha
The emblem of Theism
Transcendental Poet Shree Joydev Acharya worshipped Lord Buddha in his prayer song of the ten incarnations of the Personality of Godhead Keshava (Sree Krishna). He sang like this.
(In Devanagari:)
Wordings
- "nindasi yajna-vidher ahaha sruti-jatam
- sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam
- kesava dhrta-buddha-sarira jaya jagadisa hare"
Synonyms
Nindashi=Speak ill of it, Yajna=Sacrifice, Bedhe=In the matter of, Aharaha=Constantly, Shruti=Vedic literatures (The science of hearing), Jatam=In pursuance of, Sadaya=Compassioned, Hridaya=Heart, Darshita=Having observed, Pashughatam=Slaughter of animals, Keshava=The destroyer of demon of the name Keshi, Dhrita=Having accepted, Buddha=Empowered incarnation of the name (The knower of everything), Shareera=In the Personality of, Jaya=All glory for, Jagadisha=The Almighty Lord, Hare=Oh Hari the Godhead!
Translation
Oh my Lord the Personality of Godhead Keshava! all glory unto you; because you have accepted the Body of Lord Buddha-who spoke ill constantly of the animal sacrifices in pursuance of the rites of the Vedic literatures.
Purport
The Vedas are transcendental literatures learnt by the process of aural reception from the right source. The Vedas are therefore called "Srutis" i.e., the science that is learnt by the process of hearing. In that Vedic literatures, sacrifices of animals are sometimes recommended under religious rites.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had some arguments with Maulana Chand Kazi Saheb, the then city magistrate of Nabadwip (W. Bengal). When Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked Kazi Saheb why do the Mohamedans sacrifice cows, the Kazi Saheb who was also very learned replied that cow sacrifice is also recommended in the Vedas. On this Lord Chaitanya said cow sacrifice is recommended in the Vedas not for killing it but to give it new span of life. In the Vedas the sacrifice of animals are recommended by perfect rituals and as the result of such sacrificial rites, the animal sacrificed would again be renewed to a new life with perfect health. This sacrifice was done in order to exhibit the powerful Vedic mantras which properly chanted can perform wonders of life. An old bull was therefore selected for such sacrificial purpose and after sacrificing it on the altar of 'yajna' the animal was again resurrected by new span of life. Unless therefore one is able to give a renewed life to the animal, no such animal sacrifice should be attempted. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu thus quoted a verse from some authoritative scriptures in which it is said that in the age of Kali (iron age), sacrifice of horse and cow, adopting the renounced life of a Sannyasi, propitiating forefathers offering meats in the "Sradh' ceremony, and begetting of a son by one's husband's younger brother-these five items must be avoided. The reason explained by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in favour of restricting cow sacrifice in the Kali Yuga was that there was no expert ritualistic Brahman in this age who could help resurrection the life of an animal so sacrificed.
Exactly that is the purpose of animal sacrifice recommended in the Vedas. Another explanation of meat-eating by sacrifice is given in the Bhagwat Purana. It is said there that sexual intercourse with woman, meat-eating or indulgence in intoxication, recommended in the Vedas, are not for encouraging such habits of animal nature. By natural instincts such desires in the animal are already existing. Therefore there was no need of recommending it under the garb of religious rites. The idea is different. Recommendation in the Shastras for such concessions was meant for restricting the animal habit by allowing meat-eating by sacrificial rites, allowing sexual intercourse by legalised marriage etc. in order to bring in regulation of the extravagant sense-gratifying instincts. The regulative principles are so designed in due course the animal propensities may be subdued completely with the progress of reviving the divine nature.
Prior to the advent of Lord Buddha the animal sacrificial portions of the Vedic literatures were grossly misused and instead of subduing the animal propensities of man they were indulged in an unrestricted extravagance. As stated in the Bhagwat Geeta, the Personality of Godhead appears Himself as incarnation, it was necessary to put things in the right order and Lord Buddha as incarnation of Keshava (Sree Krishna) appeared as the emblem of Theism. In the Bhagwat Puranam, the incarnation of Buddha is stated as follows:
(In Devanagari:)
Wordings
Tatah kalau sampravrtte sammohaya sura-dvisam buddho namnanjana-sutah kikatesu bhavisyati
Synonyms
Tatah=After that, Kalou=In the age of Kali (Iron age), Samprabritte=Just in beginning of, Sanmohaya=In order to bewilder, Suradbhisham=The demons who are envious of the devotees, Buddha=Lord Buddha (Power incarnation of Godhead), Namna=Of the Name, Anjanasuta=As the son of Anjana, Kikatesha=In the province Gaya (Bihar), Bhabishyati=Will appear.
Translation
After that just in the beginning of the age of Kali, Lord Buddha the son of Anjana will appear in the province of Gaya in order to bewilder the demons who are always envious of the devotees of the Lord.
Purport
Bhagwat Puran was compiled almost 3000 years B.C. Under the circumstances the word 'Bhabishyati' is significant. Revealed scriptures of India are all corollaries of the Vedic literatures. They are production of transcendental mode of thinking as against the scientific mode of thinking. As we have already discussed to some extent the basic defect of scientific mode of thinking, any literature which is not derived from the authentic sources of Vedic literature is considered as ordinary country news with no effect of actual knowledge. Such literatures are full of mistakes, irrelevancy, cheating and imperfectness. They are so because they are compiled by persons who are by contact of materialism imperfect in respect of thinking, calculating, dealing, and sense perception.
The Vedic literatures are revealed literatures and they are received through an authoritative chain of disciplic succession called the Parampara system which is the most important and the perfect system of receiving knowledge in an unadulterated form. Sreemad Bhagwat Purana is therefore revealed scripture and it is quite possible for it to foretell many things like the advent of Lord Buddha even 500 years before His appearance. Not only of Lord Buddha, the appearance date and place of Kalki, the 10th incarnation of Godhead, who is still to appear at the end of this Kaliyuga-is also stated in the Bhagwat Purana. Lord Kalki is stated to make His appearance at the end of Kali Yuga i.e. at the end of about 400,000 (four lacs of years) henceforward in the province of Sambalpur (M.P.) as the son of Shri Vishu Joshi a fortunate Brahmin.
Therefore acceptance of the incarnations of Godhead must be in accordance with the authoritative statements of revealed scriptures and not by mental concoction. At the present moment many mushroom institutions have sprung up by the grace of Kali and they have presented their own manufactured incarnations of Godhead without any reference to the revealed scriptures. Such presentation of cheap incarnations of Godhead by unscrupulous persons have misled the common to know the right things and as a result of this willful adulterations, the people in general, mental speculators, and unauthorised religionists have sprung up on large scale. The general public is thus bewildered as to what to do and what not to do.
Lord Buddha is said to be the incarnation of power of the Supreme Lord. He is something like a representative with power of attorney.
For each and every incarnation of Godhead the descriptions in the scriptures are given about His features and programme of work. As such the description of Lord Buddha's appearance is given as He would be the son of Anjana in the province of Gaya and the description of His programme of work is stated to be bewildering the atheistic public. Lord Buddha is said to be the son of Ajina somewhere or He is Himself the Ajina and there is almost the same philosophy of Ahinsa (non-violence) both in Buddhism and Jainism. Lord Mahabir is the originator of Jainism and His appearance date is almost the same as that of Lord Buddha. So there is almost a great proximity between these two system of faiths.
In the Bhagwat Purana, the activity of Lord Buddha is stated to be bewildering the atheists. The atheists do not believe in the existence of the Supreme Lord and to bewilder such persons the power incarnation of Godhead appeared as the religious reformer. His cult of Ahinsa is the most important panacea for curing the incurable disease of atheism. Those who will not accept the authority of the Supreme Lord, the Lord sent a powerful leader who would gradually lead them to the path of the Supreme Lord.
Killing of animals before the advent of Lord Buddha was the most prominent features of all the then society under the shadow of Vedic sacrifices. When Vedas are not accepted through the authoritative disciplic chain of succession, the casual readers of the Vedas are misled by the flowery language of this system of knowledge. In the Bhagwat Geeta a comment has been made on such foolish Vedic scholars. The foolish scholars of the Vedic literatures who do not care to receive the transcendental message through the traditional and realised sources of disciplic succession is sure to be bewildered and such bewildered souls have been described as (In Devanagari:) avipascitah or the foolish scholars. To such foolish scholars of Vedas, the ritualistic ceremonies are considered to be all in all without any deep penetration in the depth of the knowledge. (In Devanagari:) (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam) that is the version of Bhagwat Geeta. The whole system of the Vedas is to lead one gradually to the path of the Supreme Lord. The whole theme of the Vedic literature is made to know the Supreme Lord, the individual soul, the cosmic situation and the relations between all these items. When the relation is known the relative function begins and as a result of such functions the ultimate goal of life or going back to Godhead takes place in the easiest manner. Unfortunately unauthorised scholars of the Vedas became captivated by the purificatory ceremonies only and the natural progress is checked thereby to achieve the ultimate goal.
To such bewildered persons of atheistic propensity, Lord Buddha is the emblem of theism. He therefore first of all wanted to check the habit of animal killing. The animal killers are the dangerous elements on the path of going back to Godhead. There are two types of animal killers. The soul is also sometimes called the animal or the living being. Therefore both the slaughterer of animals as well as those who have lost their identity of the soul, both are animal killer.
Maharaj Parikshit said that only the animal killer alone cannot relish the transcendental message of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if people are to be educated to the path of Godhead they must be taught first and foremost to stop the process of animal killing bothwise as above mentioned. It is practically nonsensical who says that animal killing has nothing to do with spiritual realisation. By this dangerous theory many so-called Sannyasins(?) have sprung up by the grace of Kaliyuga who preach animal killing under the garb of the Vedas. This subject matter is already discussed above in the way of arguments between Lord Chaitanya and the Maulana Chand Kazi Shaheb. The purpose of animal sacrifice as stated in the Vedas is different from the unrestricted animal killing in the slaughterhouse. Because the Ashuras or the so-called scholars of Vedic literatures would put forward the evidence of animal killing in the Vedas, Lord Buddha superficially denied the authority of the Vedas. This rejection of the Vedas by Lord Buddha was adopted by Him in order to save people from the vice of animal killing as well as to save the poor animal from the slaughtering process by its big brothers who clamour for universal brotherhood, peace, justice, and equity. There is [no] justice when there is animal killing in the slaughterhouse. Lord Buddha wanted to stop it completely and therefore His cult of Ahinsa was propagated not only in India but also outside the country.
Technically Lord Buddha's philosophy is called atheistic philosophy because there is no acceptance of the Supreme Lord and because the system of philosophy denied the authority of the Vedas. But that is an act of camouflage by the Lord. He is the incarnation of Godhead. As such He is the propounder of the Vedic knowledge originally. He therefore cannot reject the Vedic philosophy. But He rejected it outwardly because the Suradbishu or the demons who are always envious of the devotees of Godhead would try to put forward the evidence of cow killing or animal killing from the pages of the Vedas as it is being done by the modernised Sannyasins(?)-Lord Buddha had to reject the authority of the Vedas altogether. This is simply technical and had it not been so He would not have been accepted as the incarnation of Godhead. Neither He would have been worshipped in the transcendental song of Poet Jayadeva. He preached the preliminary principles of the Vedas in a manner suitable for the time being and so also did Acharya Sankaracharya to establish the authority of the Vedas. Therefore Lord Buddha and Acharya Sankara both of them paved the path of Theism and the Vaishnava Acharyas specifically Lord Sree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu led the people on the path rightly towards a realisation of Back to Godhead.
We are glad that people are taking interest in the non-violent movement of Lord Buddha. But will they take the matter very seriously and close the animal slaughterhouse altogether? If not there is no meaning in such caricature [TEXT MISSING]. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures.