Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism on its own is one of the best philosophies in the world. One of the first bedrock principles of Vaishnavism is para dukha dukhi, meaning, one who considers the suffering of other living entities as his own. This concept of taking on the suffering of others cannot be applied by everyone. It takes a special few to take on the suffering of the world. The second bedrock of Vaishnavism and in particular, Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the loving relationship that all living entities have for Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat: “Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.”
Every living entity is qualitatively one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The constitutional position of a Jiva or a living entity is to be in a pure loving relationship with Krishna. There is extraordinary purport behind this philosophy. The living entities, in their constitutional position have pure love for Krishna. When we take these two bedrock principles and juxtapose them, what we get is two extremely important necessities of human life — compassion for all living entities and love for Krishna.
Constitutional position implies that we already have this extraordinary capacity for love towards Krishna. It is just dormant in every one of us. The Vaishnavas are those who have regained or are in the process of regaining this dormant emotion.
The para dukha dukhi quality of Vaishnavas propels them into bringing out this dormant emotion in all living entities. The extraordinary thing about love for Krishna is that, it doesn’t stop with just Him. It is an all-encompassing feeling where one feels unbridled love for all living entities, because we understand that we are all parts and parcels of Krishna.
The third bedrock of Vaishnavism is humility. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in his Sikshashtaka, has instructed that one can constantly progress towards pure love for Krishna only when he is humbler than a blade of grass and more tolerant than a tree. Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself, it just means you think of yourself, less.
To awaken the dormant love or prema in all living entities towards Krishna, one must follow the process of bhakti and by advancing in bhakti, one can attain prema.
The process of Bhakti entails nine steps:
1. Sravanam: hearing Krishna’s names and glories,
2. Kirtanam: chanting Krishna’s names and glories,
3. Smaranam: remembering Krishna’s names and glories,
4. Pada Sevanam: serving the lotus feet of Krishna,
5. Archanam: deity worship,
6. Vandanam: offering prayers to Krishna,
7. Dasyam: executing the orders of Krishna,
8. Sakhyam: serving as a friend of Krishna,
9. Atma Nivedhanam: complete Surrender to Krishna.
When one starts the process of bhakti, the dormant love for Krishna, the perverted reflection of which is the material love that everyone feels, awakens. The world will be an infinitely better place when everyone strives to engage in pure bhakti and awaken our prema.
The Vaishnavas are extraordinary beings because they are far advanced in this process and have tasted pure love for Krishna. Being para dukha dukhi, their only motive in life is to spread this love and awaken this in every living entity.
The process of bhakti starts with hearing the names and glories of Krishna and chanting the names and glories of Krishna. When one is constantly engaged in these two processes, one can advance in bhakti. In order to constantly do these, one must be situated in the mode of pure goodness. In order to be situated in the mode of pure goodness, one must follow four regulative principles:
1. No Gambling,
2. No Intoxication,
3. No Illicit sex,
4. No Meat eating.
When one is free from these four vices and starts chanting and hearing about the names and glories of Krishna, one is freed from all material suffering and his dormant love awakens.
Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that this world that we are living in is asaswatam dukhalayam, meaning, it is a temporary world filled with misery. The purpose of human birth is to escape from the cycle of birth and death wherein we are put into this miserable temporary world, which is antithetical to the qualities of Jiva or the soul — sat, cid and ananda or eternal, full of knowledge and blissful.
He also says, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate: “From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.”
In order to attain the abode of Krishna, one has to understand this: janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna: “One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.”
To understand the transcendental nature of the appearance and activities of Krishna, one has to follow this instruction from Krishna: tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ: “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.”
Srila Prabhupada, Founder Acharya of ISKCON, single-handedly spread the movement of Gaudiya Vaishnavism all over the world and just by reading his books (all Bhagavad Gita quotes and translations are from Bhagavad Gita As It Is by Srila Prabhupada) one can follow the above verse.
To awaken our dormant love for Krishna — follow the regulative principles, engage in the process of bhakti and approach in humility, self-realized Vaishnavas, who will impart the necessary knowledge.
Lastly, I’ll leave two more verses from the Bhagavad Gita:
Krishna says:
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ: “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.”
avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ manyante mām abuddhayaḥ paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mamāvyayam anuttamam: “Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.”
