The Solar Eclipse at Kurukshetra.

From SREE SAJJANA-TOSHANI
THE HARMONIST
OCTOBER, 1928

The vast scale on which the celebrations on the occasion of the Solar Eclipse at Kurukshetra have been organised would appear to many persons as a huge and unpardonable waste of the none too sufficient resources of the poorest country of the world. The Solar Eclipse as an astronomical phenomenon has been fully explained by science and no one in this twentieth century can be pardoned if he seriously pretends to be ignorant of its real explanation.

The observance of bathing in the sacred pool of Shyamanta Panchak on the occasion of the Solar Eclipse is an ancient pan-Indian institution. It rests on a wellknown legend. The Brahma Kundu was formed by the blood of Kshatriyas who were exterminated, for their ambition to dominate over the Brahmanas, by Parashurama one of the secondary Avatars of Vishnu who also did not scruple to kill his own mother in the cause of the eternal religion. For this reason the pool possesses the quality of freeing the bathers from all sin. It is not a question of astronomical explanation of the occurrence of the solar eclipse, which changes with the growing empirical knowledge of man. It is invested by the will of God declared in the Shastras in defiance of all worldly logic, with efficacy to free from sin. All who believe in the shastras—the elevationists (Karmakandins or Smartas), the salvationists (such as the Panchopasakas and Yogis), and the theists (Vaishnavas)—have honoured the holy custom by its pious observance from time immemorial.

The vast gathering on the occasion of the Eclipse provides a great stimulus to trade and industry and to propaganda of all kinds besides affording an opportunity, which is to be deplored, to a host of perfectly worthless people for exploiting the credulous superstitions of rich and poor alike in the name of religion. Modern Economists are so wholly occupied in regarding everything exclusively from the point of view of Pound, Shilling and Pence and are so proud of their wisdom in doing so that they would feel scandalised if they are told that the so-called superstitious masses assembled for the expiation of their sins by a dip in the water of the sacred pool of Brahmakunda are no less profoundly or purely economic in their instincts than they themselves profess to be.

The Karmakandins or Smartas hope for securing the enjoyments of Heaven as the reward of their pious acts. The Shastras declare that those enjoyments are more pleasant than anything which is procurable by love or hard cash in this miserable world. The yogis and the panchopasakas in their turn are not content to be mere passive recipients of favours from God but cherish the bolder hope of becoming God themselves and as such the possessors by proprietary right of all the good things of this and all other worlds. Both of these also believe firmly that these extraordinary advantages can be purchased at a comparatively trifling cost in the shape of a dip in the holy pool. Nor is such apparently irrational faith altogether foolish as the worldly-wise may hastily suppose it to be. If God chooses to invest a thing with a quality that happens to perplex our limited reason who can question the competence of the Supreme Lord in such matters? If the Economists choose deliberately to shut their eyes to possibilities that lie beyond the scope of the temporary existence and disbelieve in the clear promise of the shastras they have to thank only themselves and their want of faith in the word of God for losing a capital opportunity of enjoyments that they would not otherwise forego.

No impartial judge can fail to be struck by the superior logic of the Smartas and the Yogis, and for the matter of that the Epicurian religionists of any age or country and admit the baselessness of the charge of superstition pure and simple that is unconditionally brought against them by the grosser materialists who rely wholly on present expedients for procuring enjoyment now and here. The two methods do not really differ from one another as regards their ultimate object and should be regarded as supplementary to each other. Scientific researches that are already in progress hold out a reasonable hope of effecting this reconciliation in the long run between the two methods and indicate the wisdom of the ancient sages of India in the quest of enjoyment without upsetting the plans and prospects of the most rabid economist of this selfish Age. The Economist will be wrong if he supposes that the Karmis (elevationists) and the Jnanis and Yogis (salvationists) care entirely, or even partially, for any truly spiritual issue any more than they themselves. All the three aim at the enjoyment of all good things and unmixed happiness in the worldly sense which is miscalled spiritual by those who either deliberately or unconsciously choose to believe that there is no hard and fast line of demarcation between the spiritual and the material, or confound the changing conclusions of mental speculations of men with the absolute Truth. The difference that divides these schools is only one of method and degree. The purely economic, or frankly worldly, attitude may, therefore, logically enough claim to be a more definite and more sincere pursuit of selfish worldly enjoyment which very thing passes by the ambiguous name of religion among the superstitious sections of the people referred to above who profess elevationist or salvationist principles. The Economists can hardly be blamed if they cherish the hope that all those superstitious people will one day frankly admit a unity of purpose with themselves and adopt their methods at least for the purpose of securing and multiplying the opportunities of present and prospective enjoyment in this world. The deep prejudice that rightly prevails among the cultured classes against the so-called spiritual claims of these religionists rests on this disingenuous attempt on the part of the elevationists and salvationists to use the scriptures for the furtherance of the scope of selfish enjoyment. They are perfectly within their rights in objecting to recognise a distinction that does not really exist.

But it is one thing to blame or define the character of the practices of particular sects or individuals and quite another thing to hold the view that the Shastras have, therefore, nothing new to teach or that there is no such thing as spirit or soul as distinct from matter or body which is located beyond the ken of our present limited experience. The theists proper claim that the Shastras contain much information on the subject of the soul and matters pertaining to the soul. If we want to make a real attempt to think rationally on the subject it would be necessary in the first place to know what those have really to say who have formed their views by a careful study of the scriptures verified by practice; although it must be admitted at the same time that it is difficult to find a person who strictly follows the spirit and the letter of the shastras in actual practice.

The account of the Shyamanta Panchak Tirtha and ‘the neighbouring pool’ is found in the Puranas. Bathing in the Brahmakunda during an eclipse of the sun is declared in the Mahabharata to have the effect of conferring on the bather whatever he desires. Periodical visits to the holy tirthas have their communal value in the non-sectarian sense as directing the mind to great personalities of the past and providing thereby a bond of fellowship with those who once trod the same path of pious observances. They further serve to keep alive our faith in the holy scriptures. All this would be good and reasonable if we could be sure that it is worth our while to believe in and follow the Shastras.

There are very few persons who are of the opinion that the whole body of the Shastras of this ancient land deserves to be suppressed wholesale. Certain exceptions are allowed even by persons who hold the most decided views on the subject. But the codification of the vast mass of the Shastras on truly rational lines is no easy task and would seem to be hardly practicable. To name a few of the difficulties that stand in the way of such an attempt,—most of the Shastras appear to agree about fundamentals; they have to be understood by reference to one another; it is neither feasible nor desirable to proscribe a work that explains the practices of any existing sect before the practices themselves are reformed or suppressed. Despite these apparently insuperable difficulties a codification of them was actually carried out in the past by Sri Vyasadeva. His great work the Mahabharata has been universally recognised as the Encyclopaedia if the religious beliefs and practices of India. But Sri Vyasadeva was not a mere mechanical compiler of the Shastras. The Mahabharata, read between the lines, offers a brilliantly successful theistic rehabilitation of the religious opinions and practices of that period. In this respect Sri Vyasadeva resembles the French Encyclopaedists who were animated with the opposite spirit. Sri Vyasadeva also attempted a direct synthesis by an impartial and exhaustive examination of all the facts collected by his labours. This synthesis is put in the middle of the body of his great work and is known to all the world as the Bhagabata Geeta. In the Geeta Sri Vyasadeva makes Sri Krishna explain to His devotee, Arjuna, how all the different practices and theories treated in the body of the work possess simultaneously a wrong and a right aspect and how the realisation of the right view solves all opposition and inconsistency. The Mahabharata is not a collection of a large body of mutually hostile opinions and practices. Its version of them successfully harmonised the differences that divided the various sects.

The conclusion arrived at in the Geeta may be summed up in a few words. ‘The right way of doing anything is to do it in order to please Sri Krishna.’ It is not necessary to trouble about any other thing except pleasing Sri Krishna. This conclusion is established by an exhaustive rational exposition of all the current opinions and practices. The wrong view according to the Geeta is that which considers an act as possessing any value for the self independently of reference to Sri Krishna. An act can be performed only in one of two ways viz. (1) either in order to please Sri Krishna, or (2) to please oneself. If it be performed in order to please Krishna it is spiritual or religious. If it be done in order to please oneself it is an worldly act or sin. Complete submission to Krishna is the key to the spiritual world. The Geeta stops at this point. It does not proceed further to tell us wherein the pleasure of Krishna actually consists. It directs all those who are really anxious to know to the good preceptor and learn from him by the methods of humble submission, loyal questioning and by actual service.

From the above it would not be unreasonable to infer that Sri Vyasadeva himself did not regard any of those practices and theories that he had described in the body of his great work as constituting the religion proper. What he had done was simply to warn the different schools against leaving out or minimising the reference to Krishna in anything they might undertake.

But the subject does not admit of any compromise. The wrong view positively shuts out the right view. In the great battle of Kurukshetra Sri Krishna contrives the total destruction of the forces of the different pseudo-religious creeds who are opposed to such unconditional submission to Krishna. Sri Krishna Himself has thus described His work at Kurukshetra,—‘Whenever, O Arjuna, religion, which is one, declines and atheism comes to prevail I make My appearance in this world of My own free will. I come down into this world in every Age for the purpose of completely delivering My devotees and for effecting the destruction of evil-doers.’

To please Krishna and Him only is the whole duty of man. If the Shastras are rightly interpreted says the Geeta, they would yield this meaning as the only significance of all prescribed rituals. It was on the battle-field of Kurukshetra that Sri Krishna Himself taught this eternal and only religion of all individual souls to Arjuna and also, by the agency of the five Pandava brothers who were His servants, brought about the utter destruction of the powerful adherents of all other rival creeds.

The Mahabharata and the Geeta led up to the Srimad Bhagabata which gives us from the pen of Sri Vyasadeva the connected history of the Avatars of Vishnu and the transcendental activities of Vishnu and His devotees. The central theme of this greatest of all theistic works is the account of the deeds of Sri Krishna in the Dvapara Age. The method of treatment of the subject in the Srimad Bhagabata is strikingly different to that of the Mahabharata. Sri Krishna is undoubtedly the hero of the Mahabharata. But He appears there in the character of the ideal statesman, warrior, king, the Terror of all evil-doers, the friend of the good, the Establisher of civic order and the Harmoniser of religious discord. The beneficent motive of these activities can be grasped, at any rate to a certain extent, by the reason of man although particular acts and ways may not always meet with his approval. The transcendental character of the activities of the Divinity when He chooses to appear on the plane of this material universe is more or less latent in the Mahabharata. This reverse was adopted by Sri Vyasadeva in order to secure a hearing from those who are not sufficiently spiritually enlightened to accept without opposition the plain story of the deeds of Sri Krishna. This reserve is thrown off in the Srimad Bhagabata which presents us with the unambiguous narrative of Krishna’s transcendental deeds in which His pastimes in boyhood and early youth in the cowherd settlement of Braja occupy the place of honour. The highest form of the service of the Lord is that of the cowherds and milkmaids of Braja who worship the youthful Son of the chief of Braja by the method of perfectly pure unconventional, selfless love. Krishna Who is All-love and All-holiness and accepts no other service than that of the denizens of Braja. The other modes of service do not reach the level of the Divinity, and that which does not reach Krishna is not the eternal religion (sanatan dharma). They are lacking in the quality of that perfect self-surrender to Krishna which is the sine qua non of the service that is acceptable to the Supreme Lord. In other words Krishna can be really served only on the highest level of the spiritual plane which is absolutely free from all self-seeking. Anything which lacks the absolute perfection of the pure spirit finds no admittance into the realm of spiritual love which is the eternal dwelling place of Krishna. Everyone is capable of attaining the service of Krishna if he seeks for it by the method of complete reliance and submission. Thus we see that the Geeta which sums up the teaching of the Mahabharata forms the stepping stone that leads into the realm of Braja where Krishna is eternally served by all pure souls by the method of exclusive and self-denying love.

Sri Krishna was also served lovingly at Dwaraka, but love at Dwaraka was of the conventional kind. Sri Krishna was served at Dwaraka by parents, elders, sons, consorts, friends and followers. They loved and served Him as in duty bound. This plane of dutiful love was reached also by the Acharyyas such as Sree Ramanuja, Sree Madhava, etc. But love characterised by reverence and the sense of duty which involves the idea of obligation for favours received or expected, is not altogether free from selfishness and falls short of the ideal.

The Srimad Bhagabata has preserved in a short chapter the account of a meeting between the denizens of Dwaraka and those of Braja on the plains of Kurukshetra whither Sri Krishna and the Yadavas had repaired for the purpose of ablution in the holy pool of Shymanta Panchak on the occasion of a solar eclipse. This meeting with Sri Krishna after long separation for which the cowherds and the damsels of Braja had longed when it actually took place fell short of their expectation. They sorely missed at Kurukshetra the atmosphere of pure, unconventional love of Sri Brindaban. Kurukshetra appeared to them in spite of the Yadavas as a dreary waste where selfishness masqueraded as loving service under the cover of form and magnificence. The Brajabasins felt that Sri Krishna who accepts no service except what is spontaneously offered by the perfectly pure and loving heart that is free from all taint of self-seeking, was left really unserved in the midst of all that show of devotion. This pained the cowherds and milkmaids of Braja who were accustomed to the unreserved service of Krishna.

This episode was adopted by Sri Chaitanyadeva as the basis of His practice and teaching. His condition as the ideal devotee was that of the damsels of Braja pained at meeting Sri Krishna surrounded by the pompous show of worship at Kurukshetra. The jiva-soul which by its constitution can be satisfied only by whole-hearted service of Krishna finds itself constantly thwarted by the barriers and misunderstandings of this world. Krishna is not served by the physical body and materialised mind. He can be consciously served only in the spirit. Those who succumb to the fatal charms of the flesh lose sight of Sri Krishna. This is the normal condition of all fallen souls. In their delusion they think that Krishna can be served by gross or subtle forms of worldliness. They think that it is possible for the worldly-minded to understand the nature of the service of the denizens of Braja.

Sri Chaitanyadeva taught and practised the religion of love and by His practice and teaching made it comprehensible to fallen souls like ourselves. It is not possible to understand the eternal religion of all souls unless and until we choose really to listen to His voice. The practice and teaching of Sri Chaitanyadeva reveal to our blinded understanding the real meaning of the scriptures and the theistic philosophy of Sri Vyasadeva. The life of Sri Chaitanya is the living commentary of the Srimad Bhagabata, which those who run may read. Those who think that the stream of revelation ever ceases to flow are sadly mistaken. Those who suppose that this life and its concerns are all in all to man disbelieve in the perennial exercise of Krishna’s mercy to wean us from the quest after sensuous pleasures that are by their very nature elusive and transitory. The jiva-soul is the eternal servant of Krishna. By its very constitution it can never be master on its own account. Those who refuse to serve Him voluntarily are deluded into the belief that this world has been created by Krishna for their enjoyment. In the attempt to lord over the universe they are unconsciously but pitilessly driven into the depths of sin and ignorance. The mock homage that is paid to the Divinity by the Elevationists and Salvationists is a terrible self-deception. They do not want to serve Him but pray to Him that He should serve them. If Krishna is fatuously supposed to have the power providing all sorts of enjoyment, He need not be supposed as lacking the power of supplying us with that sincerity of understanding that is both willing and able to distinguish between the functions of the servant and the master and prefer the former.

Sri Krishna is always present everywhere. We do not see Him for the simple reason that as the Supreme Lord He does not submit to serve anybody. Those who want really to serve Him can never lose sight of Him. But the mere pretence of service is never acceptable to Him. In order really to serve Him it is necessary to submit to be enlightened by Him. This is the path of revelation. Sri Vyasadeva explains this method in his immortal works. Sri Chaitanyadeva in our age practised the religion of loving service revealed to Sri Vyasadeva and unambiguously recorded by him in the Srimad Bhagabata. The unenlightened can follow Sri Chaitanyadeva without the chance of missing the real significance of the inspired words of Sri Vyasadeva. The teachings of Sri Chaitanyadeva and His own practice have been faithfully and minutely recorded for our benefit by some of His most eminent associates and followers. But the teachings of Sri Chaitanyadeva Himself have also fallen into neglect and have been grossly misrepresented by ignorant and interested persons. The current practice of His so-called followers does not correspond to His real teaching. Anyone who is anxious to find it out should read the original works of His associates comparing them with those of Sri Vyasadeva. The Sri Chaitanya Math has been established at Sridham Mayapur, the birth place of Sri Chaitanyadeva, for the purpose of giving the widest publicity to the real teachings of Sri Chaitanya Who is undoubtedly the greatest practical theistic exponent of the Sanatan dharma in this age.

The denizens of Braja came to Kurukshetra on the occasion of a solar eclipse ostensively for bathing in the holy pool of Shyamanta Panchak but really to have a sight of Sri Krishna. The pure devotees of Braja set no value on any gain for themselves in this world or the next. They had no other thought than to please Sri Krishna. The people of Dwaraka who accompanied Sri Krishna on that occasion to Kurukshetra bathed in the holy pool with the prayer that they may thereby be enabled to attain to devotion for Sri Krishna. But the conventional love of the people of Dwaraka and the reverential homage paid to Sri Krishna by the assembled people from all parts of India did not appeal to the taste of the denizens of Braja. The formal atmosphere of Kurukshetra with all its pomp and protestation was lacking in the essentials of the highest form of service, viz. freedom, spontaneity and exclusive love which characterised the devotion of the Brajagopis. Such devotion can only be properly practised in the absolutely pure and selfless atmosphere of Sri Brindaban. The Brajagopis, therefore, wanted to take Sri Krishna back to Sri Brindaban where alone He is properly served. Sri Krishna Who is All-love and All-served does not accept anything short of this highest service that can be rendered only by the perfectly pure heart which is found only on the plane of the Absolute.

This episode forms the basis of the worship that was practised by Sri Chaitanya and His associates and explained by them in their numerous published works for the benefit of all souls. Sri Krishna can only be truly served in the spirit. In the spirit He is served in two ways viz. (1) directly or by the method of union and (2) indirectly or the method of separation. The meeting at Kurukshetra made possible a third method which is higher than the two former viz. the realisation of separation in union. There is no more exquisite form of loving worship than this. But as it is the highest form of worship it is also at the same time the least susceptible of misunderstanding even in the sinful state. Sri Chaitanyadeva teaches us that Sri Krishna can only be worshipped in this world if we eschew all desire of our own happiness and never try with the physical body and worldly mind to imitate the pastimes of the Brajagopis. The pastimes of Sri Brindaban can only be properly realised in the form of pure spiritual longing for union with Sri Krishna Who is All-love and All-holiness, which is not possible of actual realisation in this corrupt world. The highest worship that is possible in this world is therefore essentially negative in character viz. abstention from all selfish enjoyment and submission to the good preceptor in order to obey the theistic scriptures which are unintelligible to our worldly intellect and which enable our souls to realise the nature of the only form of worship that is acceptable to Krishna. No one in this corrupt age need be considered a fit spiritual preceptor who does not himself follow with all his heart the practice recommended by the shastras as interpreted by the mercy of Sri Chaitanyadeva, Who has made it intelligible even to fallen souls who care to know.

The devotees of the Vyas Gaudiya Math accordingly undertook to celebrate the Re-union of Sri Radha-Govindaja which is situated in the premises of the Math on the bank of the Lakshmi-kunda on the auspicious occasion of the ensuing Solar Eclipse, and explain its significance to the pilgrims assembled at Kurukshetra for bathing in the holy pool of Shyamanta Panchak. They earnestly invited all sincere souls to favour them with a visit to the Sree Vyas Gaudiya Math and not to miss the opportunity of joining them in bringing about the Re-union of Sri Radha-Govindaji and listen to the exposition of the ultimate purpose of all holy observances viz. the realisation of the union of Sri Radha-Govindaji under the lead of the Brajagopis. No observance that is not performed for promoting the happiness of Sri Radha-Govindaji has any spiritual value. The realisation of this will establish the peace of conscience by harmonising all sectarian differences that distress the world. Real harmony is the inseparable quality of the pure spirit whose eternal and only function (Sanatan dharma) is to promote the happiness of Sri Radha-Govindaji under the lead of the Brajagopis who follow Sri Radhika the Embodiment of the spiritual Power of Sri Krishna. The tiny soul of the jiva is enabled to serve Sri Krishna only when it realises the necessity of absolute submission to the confidential agents of the Spiritual Power of Sri Krishna viz. the Braja-gopis by whom alone it can be initiated into the loving service of the Absolute Personality. The devotees of the Vyas Gaudiya Math have dedicated their lives for the purpose of enabling everyone irrespective of age, caste, creed or colour, to realise the absolute truth of this eternal religion of all pure souls which may be defined as the unconditional loving service of Sri Radha-Govindaji, the concrete, absolute Personality manifested as the Divine Pair in order to receive the service of all jiva-souls.