Mystic (CC)
Expressions researched:
"mystic"
|"mystical"
|"mystically"
|"mystics"
|"mystified"
|"mystify"
|"mystifying"
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
From the Caitanya Upaniṣad (5): gauraḥ sarvātmā mahā-puruṣo mahātmā mahā-yogī tri-guṇātītaḥ sattva-rūpo bhaktiṁ loke kāśyati. "Lord Gaura, who is the all-pervading Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears as a great saint and powerful mystic who is above the three modes of nature and is the emblem of transcendental activity. He disseminates the cult of devotion throughout the world."
This is a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.27), spoken by Saint Karabhājana, one of the nine royal mystics who explained to King Nimi the different features of the Lord in different ages.
In the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa affirms that formerly (some 120 million years before the Battle of Kurukṣetra) He explained the mystic philosophy of the Gītā to the sun-god. The message was received through the chain of disciplic succession, but in course of time, the chain being broken somehow or other, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa appeared again and taught Arjuna the truths of the Bhagavad-gītā. At that time the Lord spoke this verse (BG 4.11) to His friend Arjuna.
To come to the stage of manipulating finer elements like mind, intelligence and spirit, one needs appropriate training, an appropriate mode of life and appropriate association. Such training depends upon sincere prayers, devotional service, achievement of success in mystic perfection, and the successful merging of oneself in the activities of the soul and Supersoul. A gross materialist, whether he be an empiric philosopher, a scientist, a psychologist or whatever, cannot attain such success through blunt efforts and word jugglery.
Materialists who perform yajñas, or great sacrifices, are comparatively better than grosser materialists who do not know anything beyond laboratories and test tubes. The advanced materialists who perform such sacrifices can reach the planet called Vaiśvānara, a fiery planet similar to the sun.
Jagannātha Miśra replied, “This boy may be a demigod, a mystic yogī or a great saintly person. It doesn’t matter what He is, for I think He is only my son.
The brāhmaṇa replied, "If your son is a transcendental mystic boy with self-effulgent perfect knowledge, what is the use of your education?"
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service." If one wants to understand the Supreme Personality factually, he must take to the path of devotional service and not waste time in profitless philosophical speculation, fruitive activity, mystic yogic practice or severe austerity and penance. Elsewhere in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) the Lord confirms, kleśo ’dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām: "For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome." People who are attached to the impersonal feature of the Lord are obliged to take great trouble, yet nevertheless they cannot understand the Absolute Truth. As explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11), brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate.
“Another meat-eater said, "Sir, please hear me. Since the day I joked with some Hindus in this way, my tongue chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa hymn and cannot give it up. I do not know what mystic hymns and herbal potions these Hindus know."
CC Madhya-lila
The gopīs spoke thus: "Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs."
"Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power and morality. That is my opinion." (BG 18.78)
If the preachers in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are sincere devotees of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will always be with them because He is very kind and favorable to all His devotees. Just as Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa were victorious in the Battle of Kurukṣetra, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will surely emerge victorious if we but remain sincere devotees of the Lord and serve the Lord according to the advice of the predecessors (the Six Gosvāmīs and other devotees of the Lord). As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has stated: tāṅdera caraṇa sevi bhakta-sane vāsa, janame janame haya ei abhilāṣa.
One cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by exhibiting some mundane magic. Foolish people are enchanted by magical demonstrations, and when they see a few wonderful things done by mystical power, they accept a magician as the Personality of Godhead or an incarnation. This is not the way of realization. Nor should one guess or speculate about an incarnation of God or the Personality of Godhead. One has to learn from the bona fide person or from the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, as Arjuna did, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa Himself also gives many hints about His potencies as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
That philosophy holds that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation. That is to say, there is unity in diversity. In this way Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu proved the impotence of fruitive workers, speculative empiric philosophers and mystic yogīs. The realization of such men is simply a waste of time and energy.
To set the example, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally visited temples in various holy places. Wherever He visited, He immediately exhibited His ecstatic love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When a Vaiṣṇava visits the temple of a demigod, his vision of that demigod is different from the vision of the impersonalists and Māyāvādīs. The Brahma-saṁhitā supports this. A Vaiṣṇava's visit to the temple of Lord Śiva, for example, is different from a nondevotee's visit.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said, "One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no work.""
In India there is still a class of professional mendicants who are very much like the gypsies of Western countries. They know some magical art and mystical processes, and their business is to beg from door to door, sometimes pleading and sometimes threatening. Such mendicants are sometimes called yogīs and sometimes kāṇaphāṭā yogīs. The word kāṇaphāṭā refers to one who has put a hole in his ear to wear an earring made of ivory. Mahārāja Pratāparudra was so depressed by not getting to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that he decided to become such a yogī. Ordinary men think that a yogī must have an ivory earring in his ear, but this is not the sign of a real yogī. Mahārāja Pratāparudra also thought that to become a mendicant yogī, one must wear such an earring.
If one stops preaching and simply sits down in a solitary place, he is engaging in material activity. If one desires to make a compromise with the Māyāvādīs, he is also engaged in material activity. A devotee should never make compromises with nondevotees. By acting as a professional guru, mystic yogī or miracle man, one may cheat and bluff the general public and gain fame as a wonderful mystic, but all this is considered to be dust, straw and grains of sand within the heart. In addition, one should follow the regulative principles and not desire illicit sex, gambling, intoxicants or meat.
To give us practical instructions, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cleansed the temple twice. His second cleansing was more thorough. The idea was to throw away all the stumbling blocks on the path of devotional service.
The mystery of the Lord's activities is described by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Lord Jagannātha was astonished to see the transcendental dancing and chanting of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and He stopped His car just to see the dancing. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu then danced in such a mystical way that He pleased Lord Jagannātha. The seer and the dancer were one and the same Supreme Person, but the Lord, being one and many at the same time, was exhibiting the variegatedness of His pastimes. This is the meaning behind His mysterious exhibition. By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the King could understand how the two of Them were enjoying each other's activities. Another mysterious exhibition was Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's simultaneous presence in seven groups. By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the King could understand that also.
"(The gopīs spoke thus:) "Dear Lord, whose navel is just like a lotus flower, Your lotus feet are the only shelter for those who have fallen into the deep well of material existence. Your feet are worshiped and meditated upon by great mystic yogīs and highly learned philosophers. We wish that these lotus feet may also be awakened within our hearts, although we are only ordinary persons engaged in household affairs.""
Such imposters imitate the characteristics of Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura, and they envy Haridāsa Ṭhākura, who was certainly a mahājana. They make great artificial endeavors, advertising themselves as great devotees of the Lord or as mystic hypnotists knowledgeable in witchcraft, hypnotism and miracles. Sometimes people accept as mahājanas demons like Pūtanā, Tṛṇāvarta, Vatsa, Baka, Aghāsura, Dhenuka, Kālīya and Pralamba. Some people accept imitators and adversaries of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such as Pauṇḍraka, Śṛgāla Vāsudeva, the spiritual master of the demons (Śukrācārya), or atheists like Cārvāka, King Vena, Sugata and Arhat. People who accept such imitators as mahājanas have no faith in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
It is those who are devoid of devotional service who sometimes mistakenly accept persons with mundane motives as mahājanas. The only motive must be kṛṣṇa-bhakti, devotional service to the Lord. Sometimes fruitive workers, dry philosophers, nondevotees, mystic yogīs and persons attached to material opulence, women and money are considered mahājanas. But Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.3.25) gives the following statement about such unauthorized mahājanas:
Karma-kāṇḍa is compared to wasps and drones that will simply bite if one takes shelter of them. Jñāna-kāṇḍa, the speculative process, is simply like a ghost who creates mental disturbances. Yoga, the mystic process, is compared to a black snake that devours people by the impersonal cultivation of kaivalya. However, if one takes to bhakti-yoga, he becomes quickly successful. In other words, through bhakti-yoga, one's hands touch the hidden treasure without difficulty.
The goal of all the revealed scriptures and Vedic injunctions is Kṛṣṇa, as He Himself says in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15): vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. Since the Vedas enjoin one to search out Kṛṣṇa and take shelter at His lotus feet, and since no Vedic process but devotional service will enable one to do this, one has to take to devotional service.
“‘These qualities are (1) the Lord is always situated in His original position, (2) He is omniscient, (3) He is always fresh and youthful, (4) He is the concentrated form of eternity, knowledge and bliss, and (5) He is the possessor of all mystic perfection. There are another five qualities, which exist in the Vaikuṇṭha planets in Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of Lakṣmī. These qualities are also present in Kṛṣṇa, but they are not present in demigods like Lord Śiva or in other living entities. These are (1) the Lord possesses inconceivable supreme power, (2) He generates innumerable universes from His body, (3) He is the original source of all incarnations, (4) He bestows salvation upon enemies He kills, and (5) He has the ability to attract exalted persons who are satisfied in themselves. Although these qualities are present in Nārāyaṇa, the dominating Deity of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they are even more wonderfully present in Kṛṣṇa.
“Pure devotional service is so sublime that one can very easily forget the happiness derived from material enjoyment, material liberation and mystic or yogic perfection. Thus the devotee is bound by Kṛṣṇa's mercy and His uncommon power and qualities.
“From their very births, the nine great mystic yogīs (Yogendras) were impersonal philosophers of the Absolute Truth. But because they heard about Lord Kṛṣṇa's qualities from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and the great sage Nārada, they also became Kṛṣṇa's devotees.
“By these three divisions of advancement in yoga—yogārurukṣu, yogārūḍha and prāpta-siddhi—there are six kinds of mystic yogīs.
“"Those who follow the path of great, saintly mystic yogīs take to the yogic gymnastic process and begin worshiping from the abdomen, where it is said that Brahman is located. Such people are called śārkarākṣa, which means that they are situated in the gross bodily conception. There are also followers of the ṛṣi known as Āruṇa. Following his path, they observe the activities of the arteries. Thus they gradually rise to the heart, where subtle Brahman, Paramātmā, is situated. They then worship Him. O unlimited Ananta! Better than these persons are the mystic yogīs who worship You from the top of their heads. Beginning with the abdomen and proceeding through the heart, they reach the top of the head and pass through the brahma-randhra, the hole at the top of the skull. Thus these yogīs attain the perfectional platform and do not enter the cycle of birth and death again."
“"Those who follow the path of great, saintly mystic yogīs take to the yogic gymnastic process and begin worshiping from the abdomen, where it is said that Brahman is located. Such people are called śārkarākṣa, which means that they are situated in the gross bodily conception. There are also followers of the ṛṣi known as Āruṇa. Following his path, they observe the activities of the arteries. Thus they gradually rise to the heart, where subtle Brahman, Paramātmā, is situated. They then worship Him. O unlimited Ananta! Better than these persons are the mystic yogīs who worship You from the top of their heads. Beginning with the abdomen and proceeding through the heart, they reach the top of the head and pass through the brahma-randhra, the hole at the top of the skull. Thus these yogīs attain the perfectional platform and do not enter the cycle of birth and death again."
Regarding the variety of personalities known as Bhagavān, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the Personality of Godhead known as Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that His expansions are also called the Personality of Godhead. In other words, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the origin of all other Personalities of Godhead. Speculative philosophers and mystic yogīs also meditate upon the form of Kṛṣṇa, but this form is not the form of the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a Bhagavān is but a partial representation of the Lord's full potency. Nonetheless, He also has to be understood to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. To clarify this matter, one should simply understand that Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana, the friend of the cowherd boys and lover of the gopīs, is actually the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is attained by spontaneous love. Although His expansions are also called the Supreme Personality of Godhead, They are attained only by the execution of regulative devotional service.
CC Antya-lila
Seeing the wonderful death of Haridāsa Ṭhākura by his own will, which was just like a great mystic yogī’s, everyone remembered the passing away of Bhīṣma.
"My dear friends," He said, “please hear of Kṛṣṇa's sweetness. Because of a great desire for that sweetness, My mind has given up all social and Vedic religious principles and taken to the profession of begging, exactly like a mystic yogī.
“The mystic yogī of My mind has assumed the name Mahābāula and made disciples of My ten senses. Thus My mind has gone to Vṛndāvana, leaving aside the home of My body and the great treasure of material enjoyment.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu compares His mind to one of the mystic yogīs known as bāulas, who make at least ten disciples.
"Advaita Ācārya is a great mystic. No one can understand Him. He is expert in writing sonnets that even I Myself cannot understand."
| Page Title: | Mystic (CC) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 27 of Jun, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=31, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 31 |