Visst framstår Kartursianordens livsstil på många sätt som mycket lockande; ett enkelt och stilla liv, fritt från alla materiella måsten, med all tid i världen att studera, att be, att dyrka Gud; kort sagt: man ägnar sitt liv åt vad det är avsett för.
I varje fall nästan. För varje människa som försöker att själv avancera andligt, har också skyldigheten att på något sätt försöka hjälpa andra att avancera. Världen är fylld av lidande varelser, och egoism är inte den rätta vägen mot befrielse. Därför har Srila Prabhupada - som själv offrade sitt fridfulla liv som munk i Vrindavana för att predika världen över - påpekat att även om eremiten mycket väl kan vara en avancerad personlighet som uppnått kärlek till Gud, så kan predikanten ändå sägas stå på ett högre plan. Det är naturligt för en hängiven att inte främst tänka på sig själv, utan att framför allt känna medlidande med de lidande varelserna i denna värld.
För vilken möjlighet finns det att befrias från fångenskapen i denna värld, utan barmhärigheten från de stora gudshängivna och deras lärjungar och efterföljare?
The Sound Beyond Silence
"Most people speak because they find speech more tolerable than silence" reads a cheeky T-shirt slogan. A generalization, no doubt, but doesn't it contain a grain of truth? For many stressed and distressed people, even when their mouth is silent their mind is screaming and speech offers an easy distraction from the turmoil within. That's why the Bhagavad-gita (17.16) declares mauna (silence) to be an austerity, not of the mouth but of the mind. Mauna is not the dumb person's reluctance to speak or the talkative person's decision not to speak; it is the calmness of the mind that enables us to hear the guiding voice from God within.
Of course speech and silence both haver their utility. In daily life, speech is a powerful and essential means for communication. Throughout history, social reformers (and deformers) galvanized followers by their power of speech. On the other hand, seekers introspected in silence for enlightenment. Can we then conclude that speech is a vehicle for social transformation and silence for individual transformation?
The concluding aphorism of the Vedanta-sutra, anavrittih sabdat, resolves this dialectic by introducing an intriguing higher dimension: sound beyond silence.
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Material sound agitates our mind; spiritual sound pacifies it. Material sound aggravates and perpetuates our amnesia; spiritual sound alleviates and eradicates it. Material sound entangles us; spiritual sound liberates us.
Since all sound is voiced through the same mouth, what makes a sound spiritual? Its connection with the source and sustenance of all spirituality: the supreme spiritual being, God.
Spiritual sound - the revealed word of God - is exalted in all the great wisdom traditions of the world. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, St John (1.1) states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the Vedic tradition, hymns, verses, songs, mantras, bhajanas, and kirtanas beckon adventurous spiritualists to higher realms of enlightenment and fullfilment.
The greater the sound's connection with God, the greater its spiritual potency. The sound most intimately connected with us is our own name. The same applies to God. Therefore the most powerful spiritual sound is the holy name of God. Indeed the holy name of God is identical to God, as asserted by the Padma Purana: abhinnatvan namanaminoh. Hence chanting the holy name purifies us by bringing us in immediate and direct contact with God. Mantra meditation - meditation on the mantra composed of the holy names of God - gradually tunes our consciousness to the spiritual level where we can receive the guidance of the Supersoul in the heart, who is identical to the holy name.
Therefore chanting achieves in one swift step what takes mauna two slow, arduous steps: first silence the clamor of the mind, and then perceive the voice of the Supersoul within. The Kali Santarana Upanisad, a scripture containing practices tailored to our current age, unequivocally states., "In this age there is no means for purification other than the chanting of the maha-mantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare."
Not only does the holy name purify most efficaciously, but also through group meditation on the sound of the holy name, or sankirtana, devotees can simultaneously relish divine bliss and also share it with others. Srila Prabhupada writes, "The topics of Lord Krishna are so auspicious that they purify the speaker, the hearer, and the inquirer." (SB 2.1.1)
Thus spiritual sound synthesizes the virtues of material sound and silence, for it offers us an unique vehicle for simultaneous individual and social transformation.
Caitanya Carana Dasa
http://thespiritualscientist.com/
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