So your seeing power is conditional. Your seeing power is conditional. You cannot see God in that way. Only if you develop love of God, then you will be able to see always, twenty-four hours, Kṛṣṇa. This is the science. Māyā-javanikācchannam ajñā. Because the javanikā, the curtain is there, created by māyā, therefore everyone is ajñā. Ajñā means foolish, without any knowledge.
- māyā-javanikācchannam
- ajñādhokṣajam avyayam
- na lakṣyase mūḍha-dṛśā
- naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā
- (SB 1.8.19)
Mūḍha-dṛśā. Mūḍha. Mūḍha means the same ass, those who are seeing like ignorant or ass. What is the example? Just like an actor, theatrical actor playing on the stage. A child, he is seeing somebody acting, but the child has forgotten that his father acting. Because the father has dressed in a different way and he's a different posture, playing on the stage, although the child is sitting amongst the audience, he cannot understand that "He's my father playing." Because he hasn't got the understanding. It may be that who is elderly than me, that means one who is advanced his knowledge, he can see. Or the mother can say, "Oh, don't you see your father is playing there?" So although the child and the mother is there, one cannot see, other can see. That means one who has got knowledge, he can see. One who hasn't got knowledge, he cannot see, although God is everywhere. God is everywhere. Everywhere. Na lakṣyase mūḍha-dṛśā naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā (SB 1.8.19). Naṭo. Naṭo means the theatrical actor. When he is dressed just like an actor, the foolish man cannot see him. Naṭo nāṭyadharo yathā.
- tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ
- munīnām amalātmanām
- bhakti-yoga-vidhānārthaṁ
- kathaṁ paśyema hi striyaḥ
- (SB 1.8.20)
Others, those who are paramahaṁsa... How... Kṛṣṇa does not become visible, because He is visible only to the paramahaṁsa. Paramahaṁsa means the supreme position of a human being. That is called paramahaṁsa. There are... You know, according to Vedic system, there are brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, and brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa. The eight stages. The sannyāsī is to be supposed the first-class stage. So amongst the sannyāsa stage also, there are four stages: kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya, and paramahaṁsa. Not that all sannyāsīs on the equal status. The first status is kuṭīcaka. Sannyāsa means one has to give up the relationship with family. So in the beginning of stage, because he is newly entered in the sannyāsa life, it is not possible for him to give up immediately his village or... Of course, when there was systematic sannyāsa system, then that anyone had to take sannyāsa at a certain stage. Nowadays there is... Sannyāsa, accepting sannyāsa life, is also forbidden because nobody can actually follow strictly the rules and regulations. And neither anybody has got any inclination to accept sannyāsa. Therefore in this age sannyāsa is sometimes forbidden. Kalau pañca vivarjayet (CC Adi 17.164). But if you ask that "Why you have taken sannyāsa?" or "You have got some sannyāsīs," this sannyāsa is not karma-sannyāsa. This sannyāsa is devotion, Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa. Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī means anyone who gives up everything and devotes simply his time for pushing on Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he is also sannyāsa.
It is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā: sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ (BG 6.1). One who is working, anāśritaḥ karma-phalam, without any desire to enjoy the fruits of his activity. These sannyāsīs, they are working for Kṛṣṇa. They have no desire to make any profit out of it. Other sannyāsīs, they are making any profit. They want mukti, mokṣa. But these sannyāsīs, they do not want even mokṣa. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the ideal sannyāsī. He says, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). He never claimed that "I may not have any more birth." Mokṣa means one who hasn't got to take birth of this material body. That is called mokṣa. So a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, they do not want even mokṣa. Therefore they have no demand. So that sannyāsī is different from the ordinary sannyāsī. Ordinary sannyāsī, he has demand. He wants mukti. But Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, either he is in sannyāsī dress or in not sannyāsī dress, simply because his aim and object is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa; therefore he is sannyāsa. Anāśritaḥ karma. He has no shelter of the work that he is doing for Kṛṣṇa. Not that "I shall work in this way, and there will be good result, and I will enjoy it." Other sannyāsīs, they are thinking like that: "I will go austerities and penances severely. I shall go to Himalayas and execute very rigidly all the principles of sannyāsa. But as a result of this, I will get liberated, mukti." Therefore he has got demand.
So that sannyāsī and this sannyāsī is different. Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti, sa sannyāsī. So this sannyāsī can be accepted even in gṛhastha life, even in householder life. Because in one sense, all these boys and girls who are working for Kṛṣṇa, they have no other desire. They are all sannyāsīs because they have no desire to achieve any result out of their work. The only thing they want: the kṛṣṇa-bhakti, how Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied. They are engaged in preaching work because they want to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). They are teaching all over the world the same principles, the same philosophy, that "Please surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and you will be happy." That is their message. They have no other message. Therefore anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryam karoti. They are all sannyāsīs.
So out of... Of course, because Lord Caitanya accepted this sannyāsa, so we are maintaining that system, but actual point of sannyāsa is not mukti, but satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is sannyāsa, how Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, how Kṛṣṇa's representative will be satisfied. Because we have to work under Kṛṣṇa's representative. Anything we work, if we want to be expert, then we have to work under some expert. Therefore we accept guru. We do not serve Kṛṣṇa directly. We accept guru. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. The principle is guru is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and if we work under guru and if we can satisfy, then Kṛṣṇa is satisfied. That is very easy to understand. Suppose in office you are working under some officer. You have no acquaintance with the proprietor, but your pay, your promotion will be considered by the proprietor on the recommendation of this officer. When the officer will say, "Yes, this man has worked very nicely," then your increment of pay and your promotion immediately will be accepted by the proprietor. Therefore śāstra says, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ **. If you can satisfy your spiritual master, then you must know that you have satisfied Kṛṣṇa. Because he is representative of Kṛṣṇa, you are working under him, so if he says, "It is all right," Kṛṣṇa says, "It is all right," although you have never seen Kṛṣṇa. And yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. And if the spiritual master says, "Oh, you are doing nothing" then your, all spoiled, all labor is spoiled. Na gatiḥ kuto 'pi. You have no other shelter.