Religion and the Esoteric Teaching

Religion teaches that “God is good, God is great,” but that is just external. To actually know the science of God requires a much deeper level of teaching and realization. By studying Bhagavad-gita, we can understand not only that God is great, but we see what kind of God He is, and come to know His real form, sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah. Why do we accept Kṛṣṇa as God? We have heard in the sastras, the Vedic scriptures, that:

isvarah paramah kṛṣṇah
sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam

“Kṛṣṇa, who is known as Govinda, is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal, blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, and He is the prime cause of all causes.” [Brahma-samhita 5.1]

Now the Vedic scriptures accept Kṛṣṇa as isvara parama, or the supreme controller, and He is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, the very form of eternity, unlimited consciousness and bliss. How does He appear as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha? This is described elaborately in the Esoteric Teaching, especially in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Those who were present in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra saw the sac-cid-ananda form of Kṛṣṇa, but those who were nondevotees could not understand Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, even though He appeared before them in His sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, His eternal form of unlimited bliss.

avajananti mam mudha
manusim tanum asritam
param bhavam ajananto
mama bhuta-mahesvaram

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature as the Supreme Lord of all that be.” [Bhagavad-gita 9.11]

Because He appeared just like a human being, the mudhas, the less intelligent people—literally, the Sanskrit word mudha means ass—could not understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the defect of the mudhas. They may be very great academic scholars, but in the matter of understanding God, they’re mudhas, fools and asses. Why?

na mam duskrtino mudhah
prapadyante naradhamah
mayayapahrta-jnana
asuram bhavam asritah

“Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.” [Bhagavad-gita 7.15]

At the present moment, we are in the midst of Kali-yuga, the age of darkness and materialism. Therefore people are mostly asuram bhavam asritah. Asuri bhava means to defy God: “Why are you trying so hard to find God? There is no God. God is dead. I am God. You are God. So many Gods are loitering in the street (daridra-narayana).” That is the philosophy of the mudhas; they do not really know anything about God, but speculate some false philosophy. They think God is so cheap that anyone can become God.

Gradually in this series we will expose all the fallacies of their speculative theories. But we can immediately understand the real meaning of God from the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita: Bhagavan, or the unlimited ocean of all spiritual opulence.