iMonk | January 2011

Navadwip, India — Friday, January 28th

Dive deep into reality

Srila Guru Maharaj always encouraged us to be introspective — to "dive deep into reality," as he inimitably put it — because self-analysis or soul-searching, His Divine Grace affirms in Home Comfort, is a prerequisite for self-realization: "The soul can see itself, it can focus upon itself, and through introspection, realize its very nature."

But what does it mean, and what is it like, to "dive deep into reality"? In the first chapter of Search For Sri Krishna: Reality the Beautiful, Srila Guru Maharaj tells us:

But to understand this, you will have to dive deep, not into the plane of body and mind, but into the plane of soul. You will have to dive deep into the reality that is within us. It is not a foreign thing to be acquired by loan; the soul is within everyone, even the insects and the trees. So, we have to rise to the plane of soul. Eliminate both your physical and mental encasements and find out your own self. There you will find the key, the clue to the proper world where life is worth living.

Srila Guru Maharaj turned our world — our perception of reality — upside down and inside out with his revolutionary explanation of the brahma-gayatri mantra, in which he asserts that the path back to home, back to Godhead is not, as we might have previously thought, an objective, outward journey through higher and more heavenly planets within this external material universe, but a subjective, inward journey through deeper and more subtle levels of consciousness within the internal conscious universe of the self, or soul.

To give us the courage and confidence to embark this fantastic voyage of self-discovery, Srila Guru Maharaj charts a course beginning with landmarks that we are familiar with — the terra firma of the body (bhur), the watery sea of the mind (bhuva), the airy haze of the intellect (sva) — and assures us that just beyond the horizon of these three elements (tat), where the fiery sun rises, drawing its light from the source of all light, lies an amazing world of consciousness (savitur) just waiting to be discovered by the few intrepid explorers who refuse to be restricted by arbitrary, artificial boundaries, laugh at medieval superstitions, and boldly sail "over the edge" of the known world.

But before we embark on this journey of self-exploration, we should understand that when we dive deep into reality, if we go looking for new worlds to conquer and exploit, we will not discover anything. We may be the subjects (savitur) in our old, familiar world, but in this new super-subjective world, we are the objects; and objects have no eyes; we will only "see" what the venerable super-subject, the Super-Soul (varenyam) chooses to reveal to us, according to the purity of our purpose and the capacity of our realization.

If our hearts are pure and our only motive is to be utilized in that super-subjective plane of reality — to be engaged as a servant of Srimati Radharani (bhargo) in Krishna's (devasya) service (dhimahi) — our service position and duties will be revealed to us (dhiyo yo na) and we will be given unlimited enthusiasm and capacity to serve (pracodayat).

In the Bhagavad Gita (2:29), Krishna gives us a hint of this incredible world of consciousness, and the absolute astonishment that awaits those who dive into even the farthest, outermost edges of this world of wonder that lies within us all:

ascarya-vat pasyati kascid enam
ascarya-vad vadati tathaiva canyah
ascarya-vac cainam anyah srnoti
srutvapy enam veda na caiva kascit

When we first discover this amazing, living world of consciousness (savitur) that lies within us, when we first dive beneath the body, mind, and intellect (bhur, bhuva, sva), we will be astonished, because nothing in our worldly experience can ever prepare us for the infinite wonders of this soul-world (ascarya-vat pasyati kascid enam).

And when, inspired by this glimpse of reality, we go to tell others about this self-revealing world of consciousness, we will again be filled with wonder, surprised and amazed at the new revelations coming out of our mouths, like a ventriloquist's dummy used by that super-subjective adhoksajah plane (ascarya-vad vadati tathaiva canyah).

When we hear about this incredible world of consciousness that the soul is such a wonderful and intrinsic part of, when we are aurally transported into that adhoksajah plane and given a brief brush with reality, we will be incredulous to discover that such a marvelous world exists within us (ascarya-vac cainam anyah srnoti).

But no matter how deep we dive into this vast ocean of consciousness, we can never fully explore its depths because it is infinite and eternal. Even after diving again and again (srutvapy enam) into this remarkable realm of reality, this extraordinary, living world of consciousness, we will always be dumbfounded because our hopelessly inadequate "puppy brains" are just not capable of processing and assimilating the spectacular revelations constantly flooding into and overwhelming our consciousness (veda na caiva kascit).

And if such wonders can be revealed when we dive just below the surface of bhur, bhuva, and sva, into the shallow end of consciousness (savitur), imagine what astonishing revelations await us in the venerable (varenyam) deep, where the halo of Srimati Radharani (bhargo) reveals Reality the Beautiful (devasya) through pure devotional service (dhimahi)...

Tags: Search for Reality | Slokas

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