BY: SUN STAFF
Dec 30, CANADA (SUN) —
Tattva Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION THIRTY-THREE
The Supreme Lord is unable to withdraw His mercy from Maya, who is the presiding deity of the material creation, and His devotee since time immemorial. Therefore, desiring to turn the jivas favorably towards Him, even if out of fear of Maya, He instructs them (B.g. 7.14):
This divine illusion of Mine (Maya), consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome, but those who surrender only to Me can easily cross beyond it.
And (S.B. 3.25.25):
In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleasing to the ear and heart. By cultivating such knowledge one quickly becomes fixed on the path of liberation. Thereafter he attains faith, attachment, and love of God in that order.
As will be seen later in the explanation of the verse beginning with "anarthopasanam sakshad" (SB. 1.7.6), as a pastime, the Lord, assuming the form of Vyasa, specifically gave instructions to this effect. Therefore the respective activities of both the Lord and Maya are quite proper.
But if Maya is only a potency or energy, which is a quality that means the capacity to do work, then how can Maya have such characteristics as feeling ashamed?
The answer is that although the above is true, (in the Vedas) presiding deities of the energies residing in the Lord are mentioned, as in the case of a dialogue between Lord Indra and Maya. Anyway, let it be so. Let us return to the topic under discussion.
Sri Jiva Toshani Commentary
As explained in the previous section, Maya's act of deluding the jiva is not appealing to the Lord and thus Maya feels embarrassed to face the Lord. One may ask "If the Lord is all powerful, why does He not intervene?" The answer is that the Lord has appointed Maya the presiding deity of the material creation and she has been performing this service faithfully since time immemorial. Out of kindness upon His devotee, He does not interfere with Maya's activities.
But this leads to further doubt. The Supreme Lord is said to be unlimitedly merciful and always thinking of everyone's welfare, but if He cannot stop Maya from harassing the jiva, although being capable, then how can He be considered all-merciful?
To this Jiva Goswami replies that although the Lord does not stop Maya, He instructs the jiva how to get free from the clutches of Maya--surrender to Him. Then Maya will never harass that jiva again.
But the problem remains that Maya creates obstacles for the jiva when he wants to surrender to the Lord. Why does she baffle his attempts by presenting various allurements and obstacles so that he remains indiscriminate about proper and improper acts.
For the solution Srila Jiva Goswami quotes Lord Kapiladeva (SB. 2.25.25) satam prasangan mama virya-samvido... This verse explains that devotees of the Lord, in the favorable association of each other, always relish talking about the Lord's pastimes, which is a tonic to the heart and ears of the sick and weak jiva. This tonic gives him immunity to the Maya disease and slowly he attains the healthy state of life, devotional service. The Lord, whose only business is to enjoy rasa, does not want unhealthy jivas to approach Him and cause disturbance. Maya, therefore, by her allurements and obstacles makes sure that no unfit souls bother Him. This is her service to Him and so He does not interfere with her activities.
The Personality of Godhead, however, has not employed Maya just to inflict miseries on the jiva. She does that, but her real motive is to chasten the jiva, to give him impetus to turn to the Lord. The reason for punishment is twofold--to mete out the reaction for sinful deeds and to deter the wrong-doer from further transgressions. Since this brings ultimate good to the jiva by uniting him with the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead never comes between the jiva and Maya. When a criminal is sent to prison the chief-of-state does not interfere. Rather, if the police do their service well, they get commended. No one thinks a leader unkind or inconsiderate for having such able policemen. And the underlying principle is that when a criminal is rehabilitated he is freed.
Similarly, God has not created this material world just to cause suffering for the jiva. His purpose is to bring the jiva to the platform of surrender and loving service. This alone brings them liberation from Maya's clutches. As confirmed by Sukadeva Gosvami (SB 10.87.2):
"O King, the Lord granted intellect, senses, mind, and life airs to the human beings so that they can engage their senses in sense objects, go through the cycle of birth and death, enjoy heavenly pleasures, and finally come to the platform of liberation." Maya troubles the jiva only up to the point of becoming a pure devotee, beyond that she has no power over any jiva.
Still, one may charge that although the Lord is not cruel, He is indifferent to the plight of the jiva. Such is not the case. He is not indifferent to the jiva's suffering, because sometimes, on the plea of educating His associates, such as Arjuna and Uddhava, He appears in the material world and instructs the jiva. Sometimes He incarnates in forms such as Veda Vyasa and others and, taking the part of an instructor, He preaches the message of bhakti just to uplift the wretched jiva. All this He does out of his causeless mercy, because by their own endeavor no jiva can ever understand anything beyond this material world. This was already established in the pramana portion of Sri Tattva sandarbha.
Out of His causeless mercy, therefore, the Supreme Lord gives the entrapped jivas access to spiritual knowledge through the Vedas. Later, when the comprehensive power of the jivas diminish, to further accommodate them, He explained the same message of the Vedas through the Itihasas and Puranas. Then He gave the essence of all knowledge in the form of the Srimad Bhagavatam. So He is not at all indifferent to the plight of the jivas.
Once a jiva takes advantage of the Lord's arrangement and comes to the point of transcendental realization, he is not even punished for his previous misdeeds no matter how dreadful. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-gita (4.37):
"As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities." Thus the Lord confirms that the purpose of punishment is not to inflict suffering on the jiva, but to awaken him to knowledge, which leads to discrimination.
But a further doubt may be raised. If the punishment meted out to the jiva is for his ultimate good, why is there some happiness endowed to him? If the jiva was thrown into continuous pangs of misery and hardship he would be obliged to take complete shelter of the Personality of Godhead. This could only hasten the process of surrender.
The answer is that in the first place there is no real happiness in this material world. In the Bhagavad-gita (8-15) the material world is described as temporary and devoid of happiness, anityamasukham lokam. The so-called happiness that one experiences in this world is nothing but a temporary diminution or cessation of misery. It is like the happiness a person experiences when his head is dunked repeatedly in water, but he is allowed to surface just in time to keep alive. He feels great relief, but such happiness is really the absence of misery. The man doing the dunking feels no such happiness. Lord Krishna advises us, therefore, that one should not endeavor for this so-called happiness, samaduhkhasukham dhiram so'mritatvaya kalpate,"One who remains equipoised in both misery and happiness is qualified to be liberated"(Bg.2.15). This implies that only such a person can taste real happiness. Others are tasting the illusion of happiness.
Yet the feeling of happiness one gets in material life has a purpose in that it gives the jiva an idea of happiness. If the jiva knew only misery he would not develop the desire to get out of the material world, for he will have no sense of greater and greater happiness. Rather he will be conditioned to accept misery as the all in all. On the other hand, with the experience of some sense of material happiness the jiva can conceive something about the nature of spiritual happiness which he gets confirmed through scripture--and thus he may seek it out. Otherwise, the descriptions of transcendental happiness in the scripture rings no bell in his mind. Thus the Lord has designed a two-part program to chasten and retrieve the jiva: On the one hand, Maya kicks him, and on the other, the Lord instructs him through various incarnations, the scriptures, and through His pure devotees. There is no incongruity, therefore, between the acts of Maya and the behavior of the Lord. The two complement each other.
Although Maya is the external energy of the Lord, she also exists in her personal form. All the energies of the Lord have their personal features. This is discussed in more detail in Sri Bhagavat-sandarbha. Maya's having a personal form is evident from a dialogue between Lord Indra and Mayadevi narrated in the third chapter of the Kena Upanishad. Once there was a war between the demigods and the demons. By the mercy of the Lord, after a long struggle, the demigods were victorious, but they mistook this as a victory achieved by their own valor and thus felt haughty. To curb their pride, the Supreme Lord appeared to the demigods in the guise of a yaksha. The demigods were unable to identify Him, so they appointed Agni, the fire-god, to find out who this yaksha was. When Agni asked the yaksha his identity, the yaksha placed a straw in front of Agni and said, "Burn it." But with all his power Agni could not burn the straw. Then Vayu, the air-god was sent to test the yaksha, but with all his might he could not blow away the straw. Finally, Lord Indra approached the yaksha, who then disappeared. Then Maya, in the form of Uma, appeared and told Indra that the yaksha was in fact the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There are many such references in the Vedas and Puranas that show Maya and other energies of the Lord have their personified feature. Hence the description Vyasa seeing Maya standing behind the Lord and of her being too embarrassed to go in front of Him is not figurative.
But a further doubt may be raised, "If the predominating deity of the material energy, Maya, can manage all her affairs, what is the need for Paramatma to be its controller? This is answered in Bhagavad-gita (14.4):
"It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed giving father." Just as a woman cannot conceive without the help of a potent man, Maya, cannot perform the act of creation by herself. Although Maya has potencies by which she renders service to the Supreme Lord, He still has a role in her executing her affairs. Hence Vyasa saw her as dependent on the Lord. In Bhagavad-gita (9.10), Krishna says, therefore, that this material nature, which is one of His energies, is ultimately working under His direction.
More analysis of Sri Vyasa's trance is given in the next section.
Go to Section Thirty-four
Return to Section Thirty-two
