Is the religion of Mahaprabhu the Universal religion? (pt1)

All Glories to HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj

All Glories  to HDG Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada

This was a question that had been repeatedly asked by local people to the Visva Vaishnava Rajya Sabha. On one occasion,  the day being Saturday 22nd March,  a huge assembly was held on the huge field by the Calcutta College  where numerous scholars were present and there many  spiritual questions  with answers were discussed accordingly. In order to answer the above question, some basic facts must be understood in order to delve deeper.  To derive  proper knowledge, we  must need some backing evidence to support it and therefore there is definitely  the necessary requisite for evidence. The nature of intelligent people is that only with  proper evidence would they agree to the stated. proposition The philosophers has agreed on ten types of what can be regarded as evidence as  in this order , direct perception, inference , statements from the holy scripture ,authorized  compiled texts, comparison, deduction ,presumption, possibility, history and by undergoing  previous effort. Of all these types of evidences ,the most reliable is understood to be  sabda or the revelations of the revealed scriptures because all the others are subject to four defects as one can be mistaken by error ,inattention, imperfection of the  senses and lastly our innate cheating tendency to deviate from the truth. However, the Vedas is free from all such faults as they are perfect and complete having emerged from the Lord's lotus mouth. The words of the  Vedas are actually most perfect even though commonly unreported or unknown. They are above the  common bantering of people in general. Just as by normal consideration the stool of a cow and the conch are regarded commonly as impure being the stool of an animal and the conch being derived from the bone of an animal but in fact ,according to the testimony of the Vedas ,these very substances are considered pure. One part of the Vedas is the Sruti which discusses and teaches self realization which is definitely universal to all beings. Actually the words of Sruti  on self realization are usually unable to completely transform the materially engrossed living entities as the verse goes yato vaco nirvantate  aprapya manasa saha meaning the mind and intelligence of the aspirant fail to understand the  difficult words of the Sruti. Just as  we can say that Devadatta had gone to Kashipur and had returned  without staying there then we can understand that at least  Devadatta had visited the place Kashipur somewhat  but had returned. Similarly for those materially entangled aspirants, the words of the Sruti may not actually make such aspirants realized but they can give  them some semblance or glimpse of the Absolute truth. In the  first part and third verse of the first section of the Vedanta Sutra  ,the verse sastra yonitvat means actually that. The main point is that in the Upanishads to argue about the Supreme Brahman is not possible as humans are not on that elevated platform to engage in that fashion.  The Kata Sruti and the Vedanta Sutra have  specified that verse in common to both as : tarka apratistathanat 

In this Kata Sruti ,Yamaraja gives the instruction to Naicheketas on self realization in this way: nayamatma pravachanena labhya  namedhaya va bahuna srutena

yamavaisa  vrnute tena  labhyas tasya esa atma vrnute tanum svam

Meaning . One's sharp intelligence or preaching about the Supersoul, or having studied thoroughly  the Vedas  is not enough  for one to understand  the Supreme Truth, Only by  intense devotion of  the unalloyed devotees can the Supreme Lord manifest His divine form to them. Solely, His merciful glance can  be helpful in understanding this transcendental knowledge. In the  Bhagavatam too, Brahma had eulogised the Supreme Lord in this manner ,O Lord! Even a small fraction of mercy from your Lotus Feet is sufficient to give realization about your transcendental form otherwise one may keep  endeavoring for a long time without any gain  .In the Geeta too, Arjuna demonstrated the same mood to Supreme Lord whilst in his apparent confusion. As Arjuna  quotes in the second chapter of the Geeta, the verse sisyas teham sadhi mam prapanam or Arjuna prays ,'O Lord I am your surrendered disciple ,please tell me what is most beneficial for my welfare? 'In the fourth chapter ,The Lord informs Arjuna the way to attain knowledge as tad viddhi paripatena ,paripresnena sevaya that surrender, giving up all in shelter of the Supreme in the manner of a complete surrendered soul is the  primary prerequisite  for the aspirant to attain divine knowledge. Normally ,finite, limited material arguments or  logic with the limited consciousness does not provide the aspirant sufficient credit and experience to understand the Absolute Truth has already  been verified . Self realization cannot be understood by dry logic or with arguments against the grain of the Vedic purports. In contrast ,arguments with in the context of the Vedas together  with a surrendered and obedient mood makes the aspirant a ripe candidate to understand the purports of the Vedas. The Bhargiva Manu Samhita declares:

arsham dharmaupedeshancha vedashastra avirodhina 

yastarkena  anusandhate sa dharma veda netarah

In order to get the essence of the instructions to heart ,we must understand that this divine knowledge is above the gross and subtle senses or  above  the taste ,smell ,form because the Lord is transcendental and above the purview of the senses . The Geeta mentions the point about para prakrtir that is why the descending process of disciplic sucession is necessary in order to obtain this revealed knowledge.

amnaya srutayah  sakshad brahmavadyeti  vishruta guru paramparya prapta vishva karta hi brahmanah The original scholar and creator of the world  is Brahma and the knowledge in the form of the scriptures comes from him through the disciplic succession. Further the Mundaka Upanishad states: Brahma devanam  prathamam samvabhuvah visvasya karta bhuvanasya gopta sa brahma vidyam sarva vidyam pratistham arthavaya jyestha putra praha

Brahma the first creator then gave the essence of all knowledge termed as Brahmavidya to his eldest son Arthava and it is through this brahma vidya that the transcendental form of the Lord can be  diectly realized. In the eleventh canto of the  Bhagavatam ,The Lord informs Uddhava , kalena nastah pralayena  vanir veda samhita ---I first informed the Veda Samhita to Brahma and in that ancient religion revealed the method of understanding  my transcendental form .That religion is eternal .As in the time of dissolution, the knowledge became lost at the time of dissolution I again revived this knowledge by manifesting the same in the heart of Brahma. Brahma gave this knowledge to his direct son Manu and gradually this knowledge was  attained by the demigods ,rsis and humanity in general. The living entities and their masters because of their entrenchment in the different modes of nature  receive this knowledge differently and hence their  corresponding chains of succession are different because of individual variance in interpretation. It is because of the difference in the nature of individual persons that there came to be many differences in the original knowledge and in this way so many combinations  or deviations of that  original knowledge became distributed. All this though going in the form of the original pure Vedas became  actually contaminated with concoction of individual minds and intelligence and with  finally becoming equated  as religion of the heretics  or non -believers. The nature of the bonded soul is that every individual differs in is mental and thinking without any agreement whatsoever in most cases .This shows the diversity in the mentality  and bodily features  of people. Even though all based their original basis as that original Vedic Knowledge but through the passage of time became contaminated by individual minds due to the  lack of surrender  and obedience to the predecessor gurus and thus  were unable to understand the  original form of the instruction. The end result was  inferior knowledge based on the restless sense and bound to change and with  in  unlawful interpretation of the Vedic knowledge ending up  turning into  non believers ,heretics and others  though paying lip service to the Vedas were actually non believers in their so -called practice. Just as in an example  the guru  may call all his disciples and instruct them to get ready for twilight .Those surrendered to guru would understand that it was now opportune to do the proper sandhya  rites at dusk. Another type of individuals however in spite of the guru's instruction  may think now is the time befitting for  indulgence  to steal  for one's sense gratification or similarly engage in sinful activities .The waters of a pond are clean and pure and the trees and creepers nearby get this water for their sustenance yet these different trees produce different types of fruits with various  tastes. The  jackfruit ,mango and cashew produce succulent fruits on the other hand ,the neem tree is known to be bitter while the kapitha fruit is  considered sour. In this connection, where ever there is no surrender or obedience then that  place become infused with mental and bodily designations ending up  into belief of the heretics. That is why the  Lord told Uddhava those who have received that brahma vidya that was taught by Brahma through the disciplic succession will definitely have knowledge about my divine form while others because of being contaminated by their metal speculation simply ends up as the beliefs of the heretics. SriKrishna Chaitanya after the dissolution of the earth ,then revived this knowledge by transmitting this knowledge in the heart of surrendered devotee Brahma at the start of the new creation.  Similarly Brahma transmitted this knowledge to the surrendered Narada. In this way in the line of the surrendered pure devotees as next to Vyasa dev then to Madhav Muni then to Adhoksaja  followed by his surrendered disciple Jayatirtha ,then Jnanasindhu followed by Mahaniddhi again to Vidyaniddhi then to Rajendra  followed by Jayadharma .Then comes Jayadharma who gives this knowledge to Purushottam Yati whose disciple is Vyasa Tirtha and next is Lakshmi Pati whose disciple is Madhavendra Puri who  then gave this divine knowledge to Iswara Puri. Finally the Supreme Lord ,Mahaprabhu appearing in the succession by His own volition distributed this  divine knowledge all around the world