I have heard that you may get perfection of practicing anyone of the 9 processes of Bhakti.
I have also heard that Kirtan is the only way in this age.
I remember a comment of Srila Tripurari Maharaj on harmonist where he said that some acharyas stresses Smaranam and others Kirtanam.
So I guess there is a heart to the 9 processes and that would be either smaranam or kirtanam. or both?
could you say that kirtan independent from smaranam is simply empty parroting?
but in any case it contradicts that you may get perfection from simply any of the 9 processes...
I just read the beautiful article Gopi-gita and Kirtan-mahima where Srila Tripurari Swami answers part of my question but gives rise to new ones...
In the beginning of the article he says:
"Sri Caitanya taught that kirtana is the most efficacious means of spiritual attainment in this age, sarvatma-snapanam. Jiva Goswami has explained in Bhakti-Sandarbha that in Kali yuga all of the other limbs of bhakti enunciated by Sri Prahlada in Srimad-Bhagavatam must be accompanied by kirtana to be effective."
I have heard the saying that all the do's and dont's serves to always remember Krishna and to never forget him.
So could you say that Kirtanam is the best servant of that essential Smaranam?
And I have a questions regarding this exerpt from the article...
"Krishna had left the gopis after inviting them with his flute song to dance with him in the moonlit forest of Vraja. Searching for him everywhere, in madness they began to sing. In nineteen songs they heralded their heart’s necessity to dance with their love, and in so doing, they repaired their broken heartstrings that had frayed from his separation. In their param-kirtana, one gopi sang in praise of the song itself. This song is in praise of songs about the source of all sound himself and those who sing his virtues in the ears of the spiritually deaf. It was this gopi’s song that so much pleased Sri Caitanya. When he heard it, he lost all sense of socioreligious convention."
Is that Gopi singing the glories of those who sacrifice samadhi for the sake of outreach?
I have heard that outreach is a part of sadhana for those going towards perfection or if you step down from perfection to meet with the socioreligious convention out of compassion.
Why did Sri Chaitanya lose his sense of socioreligious convention when hearing the glories of stepping down to meet with socioreligious convention?
is this connected with the relationship between Smaranam and Kirtanam or am I speculating?
I double posted but could not delete this message...
I have heard that you may get perfection of practicing anyone of the 9 processes of Bhakti.I have also heard that Kirtan is the only way in this age.
I remember a comment of Srila Tripurari Maharaj on harmonist where he said that some acharyas stresses Smaranam and others Kirtanam.
So I guess there is a heart to the 9 processes and that would be either smaranam or kirtanam. or both?
could you say that kirtan independent from smaranam is simply empty parroting?
but in any case it contradicts that you may get perfection from simply any of the 9 processes...
Dear Brahma Samhita prabhu,
Since nobody wrote an answer to this question, I decided to share few thought on the topic.
You mentioned that there is a contradiction between the two ideas that from one side it is said that there is a core but from other side it is also said that one can get perfection from simply any of the 9 processes.
In order to answer the question I'd like to say something about the very essence of "contradiction".
Contradictions are everywhere, they are in life, in the mind and also in the Scriptures. Krishna also sais contradictory things in Gita and Arjuna points this out to him. Krishna advices Arjuna first to follow the path of karma yoga, then to follow the path of bhakti yoga and finally to follow the path of gyana yoga, and every time he gives any of theses advices to Arjuna he adds: "this is the best way!". And yes, this also is a contradiction, because how 3 different paths can be at the same time "the best way" if the very meaning of "the best" somehow involves the notion that it has to be ONE way which to be "the best". Arjuna also object as a contradictory the advice of Krishna firstly "not to act" and then "to act", but Krishna explains that "one who sees action in non-action and non-action in action really sees the truth". This might seem as a game of words to create paradox sounding, but diving deeper can show us that this is the real solution of every problem - a new vision of everything being also inter-connected and not only inter-opposed. The very same idea is expressed graphically in the yan-in sign in which the Black Drop (Krishna) is embracing the White One (Radha) simultaneously while the White One is embracing the Black One, and each of them has a "drop" (point) from the other opposing color in their core (heart). And this mutual embrace of "contradicting" to each other colors (white and black) forms a circle, a wholeness and completeness.
The very essence of vaishnava philosophy (achintya bheda-abheda tattva, meaning: incomprehensible simultaneous oneness and difference is the truth) in order to explain contradictions is also involving a contradiction (bheda-abheda - oneness and difference). And one could logically ask HOW can contradictions be explained by a contradiction? This is also a contradiction, right?
But what means "explanation"? It usually is understood to mean something that can satisfy the mind. But as we know the mind itself has very contradictory nature, it reads all the information which it gets from the senses in a completely subjective and self-centered way, thus distorting the reality. This is why mind is classified in Gita as the "sixth sense" and it has to be cultivated and placed under control (the strings-mind to control the horses-senses have to be placed in the hands of Krishna to lead the chariot-body with its inhabitant Arjuna-soul to victory in the contradictory battle-life). How can an imperfect instrument like the mind singing endlessly the two-verses-song "give me something more, give me something else" be our only instrument for finding the answer to all contradictions? Such an instrument contradicts itself by searching pleasure in the endless repetition of "something more, something else" and since satisfaction means reaching a point in of sufficiency, what sufficiency can be expected in the never ending "more and else"? This paradox (contradiction) comes to show us that the way to find solution to contradictions is not by pacing the path of the mind, but that of the heart. Mind has to be dethroned and the heart has to be crowned.
Usually when we hear or use the word "contradiction" it has a load of negative connoisence. It brings the untrue notion that there are 2 claims and one of them is "true" and the other is "false" and that in order to know "the Truth" we have find which of the two claims is "true" and then to negate the other. But what if the TRUTH itself is contradictory by it's nature? If our only means to know the contradictory TRUTH is through our contradictory mind then this is a lost case. And here comes the role of the heart, the patch of the purified emotion, bhakti. Shridhara Maharj says that the distance between the mind and the heart is only about 20 cm but we are walking this path for so many lifetimes. He also says that "opposition enhances Beauty" and that the path to understand this is "Subjective evolution of consciousness". We have to substitute our point of vision of reality switching from the point of vision of the mind to the point of vision of the purified heart. Then we shall SEE the Truth and even more, we shall have personal mystical experience with the Truth. I would not say that in that moment we shall stop seeing the contradictions in the Truth (this might happen by the merciful help of Yoga Maya), but rather we shall SEE (experience) this contradictory Truth as irresistibly Beautiful. And charmed by it's beauty even the mind will keep silence and will be satisfied, not feeling any more dispelled as a means to achieving satisfaction and happiness.
Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras" begin with:
Atha yoganushasanam - "Yoga is here and now". From this very beginning one can see how yoga as a science will be solving the problem of contradictions in life and in mind - by crossing into other dimension where the true answer can be found. As Shridhara Maharaj says "thesis, antithesis and synthesis" this is the path towards the truth, synthesis. Past and future form a contradiction, they are like thesis and antithesis, and NOW is their synthesis. So the Truth can be found NOW, and this is yoga, personal mystical experience which is neither in the past nor in the future, but in the mystical present moment of NOW. Now contains both the past and the future since NOW is the moment when the future becomes past. How? Achintya, inconceivably and mystically. Now is the unity of the past and the future, the synthesis which can reveal us the Truth through yoga (connection).
All the answers of the two-dimensional world can be found in the three-dimensional one. What is impossible (contradictory) on a lower level is perfectly solvable on a higher level. But one has to reach that higher level in order to find the solution there through a changed higher vision.
I remember such a "contradictory" problem given: to make with 6 matches 4 triangles which sides to be equal to the length of the match. If one tries to do it in the two-dimensions this is not possible. But in the condition of the task it is NOT said to stick to the two dimensions only, our limited mind introduces this limitation and then hopelessly tries to find the solution of the contradiction "his way". But the task which is impossible in the two dimensions is easily solvable in the three dimensions by making a pyramid where the 4 sides of it are the 4 required triangles. Thus the contradiction is solved, by adding a new dimension and acting in that enhanced field.
Patanjaly gives a definiton of yoga in the very beginning in his "Yoga Sutras" in the second line:
"Yogaschitta vritty nirodha"
Meaning: yoga is to stop the magical circles of the mind. "Vriity" means circle, so in order to become yogi (connected with the Supreme or having vision of the Oneness) one has to leave that circle of the mind where it rotates endlessly. "Achintya" in our philosophy "achintya bheda-abheda tatttva" means the same, beyond the realm of the mind, inconceivable.
Mind has to be dethroned and the heart has to be crowned. Contradictions can only bother our limited mind, but not the soul with purified heart. This is why we shall do our best to stop identifying ourselves with the limited mind and start searching for our soul pacing the way of purifying the heart.