Vedanta Psychology - Suhotra Maharaja Archives

So it goes from being personal but in a very simple way, to becomingsophisticated but in a pious way, to becoming more sophisticated in from karma tojnana, and then from there into bhakti. So all these different levels can be used. Butbecause they are all engaged in Krsna’s service they are all devotion, they are allbhakti. But it’s just better of technically how much the mind is, how you identify.So we are saying here at this last point of seeing that it’s all Krsna’s, so I am justan instrument in Radha and Krsna’s interaction, or here Laksmi and Narayana’sinteraction, and so therefore my assisting in the building of the building is seen to alldetails because the detail, the variety is Laksmi. Variety is not me. Variety is Laksmi.The enjoyer is not me. The enjoyer is Krsna. So therefore even one can be aparamahamsa laying bricks.Devotee (1): So therefore so you mentioned to take it to another level and alsostarting from the conception of the tatastha, the tata is thinking I have theseenergies, they belong to me, I manipulate them, no conscious. Through all thisanalysis intellectually we can accommodate things from the sastras on the practice ofdevotional service and so forth. So the real at the end is the person, would you saythat that person would be considered a paramahamsa at the moment that hereleases that control of those energies in his consciousness, consciously working onthe favor of the generator of the mind and the intelligence. But then the nextquestion is, does the soul have a mind?Maharaja: Does the soul have a mind? Yes. So that’s why Prabhupada alwaysmakes the point, he doesn’t say, now and again he’ll say the mind once it’sintroduced, but generally he’ll say the materialistic mind. Because the natural mind iswhen we are servant of Krsna. So having a mind, having an ego, having intelligence,having a body, that’s the natural state of the soul. So the impersonal idea is we havea body, mind, and everything here, so spiritual must mean we don’t have that. Whichis true, we don’t have the material, but we do have the spiritual. So they throw it out.So there is the idea if I ignore the mind, get rid of the mind, then I am spiritual.But technically then Prabhupada points out, it’s when we identify as servant ofKrsna, at that point we are liberated. That’s the liberated platform. Conditioned is Iam the controller and enjoyer. Liberated is I am servant of Krsna. So liberation isactually that easy. The jnanis make it into a big thing, because that’s their value.Means the female nature is, nothing is unless it’s rare it’s not important. So becauseliberation for them is their value, therefore they have to make it very rare and verydifficult. But it is as simple as identifying as I am servant of Krsna and acting in thatplatform, you are liberated. Because the rare thing is Krsna and that service. That’sthe actual rare thing. But the liberation for the devotee that’s a side point. It’s like, ifwe are going to service you a lunch, you’ll get a plate along with it. But the jnanis aresitting there making a whole sadhana over getting a plate. No, all you have to do is,get the meal, the plate comes with it.So this simply then in practical terms then means that whatever one is doing inone’s life, let’s say, you are cleaning your own house, so one can do it that the clean