A Baseline of Safety

“All different varieties of atmaramas [those who take pleasure in atma, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, including liberated souls.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.7.10)

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सूत उवाच
आत्मारामाश्च मुनयो निर्ग्रन्था अप्युरुक्रमे
कुर्वन्त्यहैतुकीं भक्तिमित्थम्भूतगुणो हरि:

sūta uvāca
ātmārāmāś ca munayo
nirgranthā apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim
ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ

“In the world of health and medicine, if you are going to introduce a new intervention, for the purposes of licensing, such that you might turn a profit selling to the consumer, you have to show that your product is generally safe.  Keep in mind, I am referring to ethical and honest science, not the rubberstamp process built on corruption that exists in many places around the world today.  We are not going to cover the dangerous and ineffective injections that they practically force upon children today.  For the purposes of our analysis, we can consider medication that claims to relieve headaches.

“Now, in the best circumstances, you would test against a placebo.  You run a clinical trial that is double-blind.  One group receives the new medication.  The second group receives a placebo, which is an inert substance.  In this case, the placebo would be a sugar pill.  The scientists conducting the trial do not know the difference, as to which participants receive the placebo and which ones get the medication.  This way, there is no corrupting influence in their analysis.

“You test both groups to see both effectiveness and side effects.  For example, if the group that receives the new medication has an allergic reaction in six percent of the participants while the placebo group has zero allergic reactions, you can assume that the medication has this negative effect for some of the patients.  In the case of non-ideal circumstances, instead of the placebo you test against existing medication.  The idea is that either way you slice it, there is a baseline of safety to measure against.

“The reason I bring this up is that if we took a similar approach with the recommendations of bhakti-yoga as a kind of lifestyle intervention, where is the baseline?  What can we test against?  How can someone be sure that chanting the holy names, meditating, giving up meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, and the like, will not have a deleterious effect?  How can you assure people that they will not be worse off than when they started?  Is there a way to even conduct such an experiment?”

The reality is that such an experiment will never see the light of day.  It would never be funded by people who are interested in keeping the population intoxicated and dependent on medication.  The goal in bhakti-yoga is to experience the most natural high, based on a fixed and steady concentration.  How can anything else compare?  Whatever medications are prescribed to address anxiety, insomnia, and nervousness all have fixed periods of effectiveness.  In other words, the potency wanes.  The impulse is to then double the dosage, but then there is the issue of diminishing returns. The more you take of the medicine, the less impact it tends to make.

Meanwhile, someone like Sanjaya experiences a thrill simply by remembering a conversation.  He was not on hand to witness the exchange.  It was not like he had a microphone shoved in the faces of the participants.  He was not like a reporter looking for quotes to meet the midnight deadline from his publisher for submitting a story.  Sanjaya saw and heard from afar, only. He was privy to the conversation because of gifts offered to him by Vyasadeva.

राजन् संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य
संवादम् इमम् अद्भुतम्
केशवार्जुनयोः पुण्यं
हृष्यामि च मुहुर् मुहुः

rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya
saṁvādam imam adbhutam
keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ
hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ

“O King, as I repeatedly recall this wondrous and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I take pleasure, being thrilled at every moment.” (Sanjaya, Bhagavad-gita, 18.76)

Sanjaya experiences a thrill by remembering Krishna and Arjuna, and today anyone can see what that experience is about by accessing the book titled Bhagavad Gita As It Is.  This work has the timeless wisdom of the Vedas presented in a manner understandable to the people of the modern day.  The short narrative begins with doubt.  There is hesitation.  There is inquiry.  There is authority.  There is resolution.  There is a conclusion.  At the same time, there is Shri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.  There is Arjuna, who is the devotee of Krishna.

Bhakti-yoga is a kind of prescribed medication for helping the individual to always remember.  If there were an honest clinical trial, the control group would remain exactly where they are.  Hopeless.  Anxious.  Miserable.  Envious.  The group receiving the medication would see a high percentage of participants with noticeable and demonstrable improvement.  In mood.  In outlook.  In the ability to tolerate difficult situations.  In the level of optimism.  In enthusiasm.

As His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains, the joy from bhakti-yoga is ever-increasing.  There is no limit.  The more a person engages, the more purified they will become.  This is why every kind of atmarama individual takes joy in hearing about Krishna.  Though they are already liberated, their bliss only increases through remembering.

समाश्रिता ये पदपल्लवप्लवं
महत्पदं पुण्ययशो मुरारे:
भवाम्बुधिर्वत्सपदं परं पदं
पदं पदं यद् विपदां न तेषाम्

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām

“For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda or the giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoofprint. Param padam, or the place where there are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place where there is danger in every step of life.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.14.58)

As far as establishing a baseline of safety, there is no such thing.  No one is safe in this world.  There are three primary sources of misery, and they are always attacking.  The life experience can end at any second, despite the best precautions taken.  Therefore, the urgency for bhakti-yoga is obvious.  Take the medicine today and test for yourself if the holy names feel like a gift from a higher realm:  Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In Closing:

To task of experiment take,
An unofficial scientist make.

With bhakti culture to bless,
Against established baseline test.

Do mood and enthusiasm increase?
From temporary troubles relief?

Just memory into Sanjaya to fill,
Image of Krishna and Arjuna a thrill.