“But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give to you divine eyes by which you can behold My mystic opulence.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.8)

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न तु मां शक्यसे द्रष्टुमनेनैव स्वचक्षुषा
दिव्यं ददामि ते चक्षु: पश्य मे योगमैश्वरम्

na tu māṁ śakyase draṣṭum
anenaiva sva-cakṣuṣā
divyaṁ dadāmi te cakṣuḥ
paśya me yogam aiśvaram

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada emphasizes hearing for advancing in realization of the self.  It is not a newly created recommendation.  The emphasis on hearing is steady throughout the succession of disciples, in what is known as parampara.  The first disciple heard, after all.  They then passed along the sacred wisdom in the same way.  A speaker and an audience.  The audience might consist of only one person, but that is enough to keep the train moving, so to speak.

एवं परम्परा-प्राप्तम्
इमं राजर्षयो विदुः
स कालेनेह महता
योगो नष्टः परन्तप

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

“This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.2)

To assist in our understanding of the importance of hearing, we consider the hypothetical situation of friends visiting an art gallery.  It is the Friday night outing after a long week of work.  It was the idea of one of the friends.  The other friend begrudgingly went along with the idea, not expecting much out of the experience.  We overhear one of the friends reflecting thus:

“Now, this here is an interesting piece.  You can see the pain of the artist in this section.  It is like they are pouring out their soul.  Wow, now this section is brilliant.  You don’t see it?  You don’t appreciate the use of negative space?  This is a stunning commentary on the world today.  This showcases the profound power of expression in the visual medium.  There is a reason paintings such as these sell for millions of dollars.”

Meanwhile, the other friend is unable to follow.  They offer the following, in response:

“Umm, am I missing something here?  This looks like someone took ketchup and splattered it all over a canvas.  Not trying to interfere with their preferences, but all I get out of this painting is French fries.  As in, I could sure use some French fries right about now.  Don’t shush me.  I am not embarrassing you.  I don’t get you people and your interest in art.  This is something I will never understand.”

The insistence from the challenger, from the person who does not want to sit and hear, who is averse to reading books, who lacks the patience to enter a formal period of training, is to produce the Divine in a visual.  In other words, show me God.  Show Him to me, right now.  You are this highly acclaimed teacher.  You even have credentials to support your standing.  You have this link to another esteemed teacher.  People obviously respect you.  You have these students learning under your guidance.  If you have this high standing, then surely you can deliver God to me.  You can show Him to me, such that I will believe.  Unless and until that delivery takes place, I will remain skeptical.

In crafting a formal response, the beginning is an acknowledgment.  God is not like a booth at the travelling carnival making a stop through town.  The highest concept of all cannot be reduced to a vending machine.  It is not that we drop a few coins into an opening and hope to have the greatest realization dispensed to us.  We should be qualified.  We should be worthy of the vision.  Otherwise, that vision appearing right in front of us will mean nothing.

As in the example of visiting the art gallery, if we do not understand what we are seeing, then what value is there to the experience?  What is the use in God showing Himself to us?  In the historical incident of Shri Krishna delivering Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, there was a request for a vision.  Arjuna was the student.  Krishna was the teacher.  Arjuna already believed.  He did not require further validation.  At the same time, he understood that there was a concept analogous to the delivery of God through an image.  Arjuna asked to see that vision, to prove to future skeptics that Krishna was not ordinary.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
इदं तु ते गुह्यतमं
प्रवक्ष्याम्य् अनसूयवे
ज्ञानं विज्ञान-सहितं
यज् ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसे ऽशुभात्

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
idaṁ tu te guhyatamaṁ
pravakṣyāmy anasūyave
jñānaṁ vijñāna-sahitaṁ
yaj jñātvā mokṣyase ‘śubhāt

“The Supreme Lord said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most secret wisdom, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.” (Bhagavad-gita, 9.1)

Despite his high qualifications, in being a devoted soul, in completely lacking envy, Arjuna was still not sufficiently equipped.  Krishna had to provide to Arjuna a special set of eyes, for a temporary period of time, in order to see God as an image.  That image was the virat-rupa, which is the universal form.  The virat-rupa is like the entire cosmic manifestation packed into a single image.  This is more than a canvas.  The image is three-dimensional.  It includes motion.  That is how the universe operates, after all.  It is not a setting frozen in time.

In Closing:

Never frozen in time,
In it movement to find.

And with dimensions three,
Blessed bow-warrior was he.

Since always of envy free.
That virat-rupa could see.

Only then possible to understand,
So first in qualification land.

Categories: hearing

Tags: bhagavad-gita, dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry