Lakshmi Puja is an essential aspect of Hindu Ritualistic practices, especially during Diwali or Deepavali. Lakshmidevi is worshipped as the Goddess of Fortune, and prayers are made to bestow wealth upon the worshippers. However, Lakshmidevi is also the wife of Lord Narayana. Should we attend, or should we avoid as a materialistic practice?
Hemanga Das, 15 August 2014
Hare Krishna Devotees!
Please accept my obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
The practice of performing Laxmi puja by householders in India is pretty common.My question is, What is the best thing to do when invited to Laxmi puja?
Can we attend these Pujas with an understanding that Laxmi is the wife Lord Narayana (One of Krishna’s incarnation) or should we see it as a demigod worship and refuse the invitation?
Thank you in advance.
your servant,
Hemanga Das
Bhakta Sunil, 19 August 2014
Hare Krishna
Please accept my humble obeisances
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
Prabhu ji , this may not be answer to your question : Regarding Laxmi Puja during Diwali , I remember having heard that one should worship both Laxmi Mata and Narayana Bhagavan. I mean worship , not only Laxmi Mata during Laxmi Puja , but both Laxmi Mata and Narayana Bhagavan in the Laxmi Puja
Requesting readers to correct me if I am wrong
Humbly,
Sunil
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 20 August 2014
Dear Hemanga Prabhu,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
It is true that it is not necessary for us to engage in demigod worship. The so-called Lakshmi Puja is essentially a prayer to the Goddess of wealth to please give wealth so that the worshiper may engage in sense gratification with the money. People want Lakshmi, but they don’t understand that where Lord Narayana goes, Lakshmidevi follows her husband.
However, as devotees in general society, if we outright reject all these things, then we will be seen as fanatics and we will not be effective in sharing Krishna consciousness with anyone.
So, since I know you are personally a fixed-up devotee, and I personally don’t see any risk if you go… I would say, weigh carefully all the pros and cons, and decide for yourself. Here are some advantages of going:
1. You make friendships with others and strengthen your relationships
2. You get a chance to share Krishna consciousness with others who may not come to temple etc.
3. You can pray to Lakshmidevi to please give you mercy so you can be a pure devotee – as long as you don’t pray to any demigod for sense gratification or consider any demigod the Supreme, you are fine.
You can take some books of Srila Prabhupada with you also, as presents for those who might not have them, on the auspicious occasion of Lakshmi Puja.
Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
P.S: Srimati Lakshmidevi is also the primary link of the Sri Sampradaya, of which Sri Ramanujacharya is a great Vaishnava Acharya. We follow his instructions to this day!
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Why does Krishna take birth in this horrible material world? How does contact with Krishna help a soul? And what if we cannot associate with Krishna personally?
Today is the Appearance Day of Krishna. The festival is celebrated by hundreds of millions around the world. This festival is also called Sri Krishna Janmashtami or Gokulashtami.
Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna has many names.
But when someone learns that Krishna comes to this material realm via “birth”, that too in a prison cell, and then they learn that Krishna has parents… Vasudeva, Devaki, and foster parents Nanda and Yashoda… they are bewildered.
Are you sure, they ask, that this is God we are talking about? How can God have parents, and how can God have a form like you and me, how can God take birth?
But dear soul, please consider that if you and me, we have a form, then is God lesser than us to have no form? Krishna’s form, though, is not like ours. Krishna’s form is purely spiritual. Even in His deity form, Krishna’s form is purely spiritual.
Also consider that the “parents” of Krishna eternally love Him and want to serve Him in that way. Everyone knows that parents serve a child unceasingly! So why can God not grant that wish to His devotee?
But so many accept Krishna as a historical personality, famous, smart, strong, influential, but an ordinary person like you and me, a mortal with a material coil. Some accept Krishna as a soul on the way to spiritual perfection. Some go further and accept Krishna as a prophet, a messenger of God, one among many.
But of course, Krishna declares this in the Bhagavad Gita and the great spiritual masters like Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, and Madhva have accepted His words.
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.
So, then, why does the Supreme Personality of Godhead come here, to this nasty place where most people misunderstand Him, defame Him, insult Him, try to kill Him, ignore Him, or in the worst case, never even come across Krishna!
Krishna takes birth so we don’t have to take another birth ourselves.
जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः । त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥ ९ ॥
janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna
One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.
परित्राणाय साधुनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् । धर्मसंस्थानार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥ ८ ॥
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge
To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.
But to be honest, Krishna does not have to personally come to accomplish all this. He has many competent energies and empowered agents who can do this themselves.
So why does He come then?
No matter how you see God as, as God the Father, or God the Ultimate Master, or God the Best Friend, or God the Lover, or God Second to None… ultimately, Krishna is concerned about us, souls trapped in the material realm.
He comes to free us. How does he do that? In many ways.
We are here in the… material realm trying to enjoy. But what can we enjoy with these imperfect senses and decaying dying bodies? It is a mere reflection of enjoyment, a mere shadow of the real thing.
Krishna comes here and brings His eternal associates, places, paraphernalia, and pastimes, and with them, shows us the standard of real enjoyment.
Enjoyment that is:
Ever increasing
Never ending
Unlimitedly variegated
Regardless of what our own standard of enjoyment is here in the material realm, it is fluctuating and temporary, and the more you try to enjoy, the more it is the same old same old… And time takes it all away! Take any sensory experience. Why is anyone dissatisfied in the world with material sense gratification? Because it is, immediately or eventually, boring. Materialists are always looking for something more, something different, but ever dissatisfied despite tremendous endeavour.
It is a fact that when presented with genuine pleasure, the materially entrapped soul cannot appreciate. However, the more the conditioned soul comes in contact with Krishna, the more they are purified.
When Krishna comes and shows the standard of His character, then we are all attracted to following such a wonderful magnanimous person.
Take the example of Putana. Putana was a witch. She specialized in killing. Not just anyone, but little babies and children. She had killed thousands. She enjoyed various ways of torturing and killing them, and sucking their blood. She developed this into a way of life. She was expert in all kinds of murder, from poison to weapons. She was commissioned to kill Krishna by Kamsa, the demoniac tyrant.
She carefully thought about her modus operandi, and dressed herself as a beautiful celestial woman. So exquisite did she look that no one stopped her. She approached Krishna as a wet nurse, to feed Him. Her disguise and manner was masterful. And in a village, mothers often feed each other’s children. No one stopped her, so trusting and simple were Krishna’s associates.
She had smeared a deadly poison on her breast. Her plan was simple. Baby Krishna sucks, end of story.
But Krishna, He is impossible to kill. Even the rest of us are impossible to kill, because the spirit soul is immortal.
अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च । नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः ॥ २४ ॥
acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same
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.
In fact, Krishna only appears to enter the material world, but actually He never enters or leaves! After all, what does it mean to enter or exit when Krishna is all-pervading, inside and outside of everything and everyone simultaneously?
स एव स्वप्रकृत्येदं सृष्ट्वाग्रे त्रिगुणात्मकम् । तदनु त्वं ह्यप्रविष्ट: प्रविष्ट इव भाव्यसे ॥ १४ ॥
sa eva svaprakṛtyedaṁ sṛṣṭvāgre tri-guṇātmakam tad anu tvaṁ hy apraviṣṭaḥ praviṣṭa iva bhāvyase
My Lord, You are the same person who in the beginning created this material world by His personal external energy. After the creation of this world of three guṇas [sattva, rajas and tamas], You appear to have entered it, although in fact You have not.
Krishna sucked the poison, sucked the milk, and sucked out her very life!
Good riddance, someone might say. After all she was quite wicked.
Ah, but here is how Krishna is not only great but so sweet!
Krishna didn’t merely suck out the poison from her outside, Krishna sucked out the poison from Putana’s very heart! He washed her completely clean. Just by coming in contact with Krishna, Putana became spotless!
And because Putana approached him as a mother, even if with a heinous devious motive, still Krishna took the best of what she had to offer… she approached as a mother, and that position Krishna gave to Putana in the spiritual realm.
अहो बकी यं स्तनकालकूटं जिघांसयापाययदप्यसाध्वी । लेभे गतिं धात्र्युचितां ततोऽन्यं कं वा दयालुं शरणं व्रजेम ॥ २३ ॥
Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon [Pūtanā] although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?
Krishna chooses the highest and best of everyone to amplify, magnify, and enhance.
I got out on Sankirtan often. I sing Krishna’s names in public, and speak about Krishna, distribute spiritual literature, and try to get souls to serve Krishna in some way, according to their capacity.
Some take to it enthusiastically, singing along, dancing, taking books, making donations, having deep spiritual conversations. These are really the fortunate souls.
Some engage with Krishna, but not in such positive ways… they try to make fun, they tease, they try to insult or abuse. They are also fortunate souls.
Why is that?
If Krishna can give the highest position of “Mother of God” to a witch who came to poison Him, then what to speak of those who engage with Him?
Krishna is the Supreme Absolute Truth!
নাম চিন্তামণিঃ কৃষ্ণশ্চৈতন্যরসবিগ্রহঃ । পূর্ণঃ শুদ্ধো নিত্যমুক্তোঽভিন্নত্বান্নামনামিনোঃ ॥ ১৩৩ ॥
“ ‘The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṇa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical.’
In other words, by associating with the name of Krishna, you get the same benefit as associating with Krishna personally. There is no difference betweeen Krishna and His Name!
Do you want proof that Krishna and His Name are nondifferent?
In what is modern-day Kannauj (ancient Kanyakubja) in Northern India, there was a very decent young man named Ajamila. Trained to be a Vaishnava priest, he once went to the forest to collect some ingredients for the worship of Krishna.
In the forest, he saw what is a very common sight today… he saw an uncouth man embracing a prostitute in a sensuous way. Such a sight is sure to agitate a young man.
Not a self controlled soul as Krishna describes, but anyone who is below this standard…
आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमापः प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् । तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥ ७० ॥
āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
Poor Ajamila was attracted to this uncultured woman, and became her keeper. The husband of a prostitute is most unfortunate. He cannot be happy, no matter how hard he may try to satisfy his wife. He gave up his wife and parents, and engaged in all sorts of abominable occupations like thieving, robbery, gambling, and murder, to maintain the prostitute and the 10 children he had with her.
Time flies, but like most of us, Ajamila didn’t notice.
Somehow or other, by inspiration from Krishna who sits in the heart as Paramatma, the Supersoul, he named his youngest son “Narayana”, which is another name of Krishna.
He was very attached to this little child, and would constantly call out “Narayana take your milk”, “Narayana wake up”, “Narayana, it is time for bed”, “Narayana careful that you don’t fall into that pond” and so on as a typical loving parent calls out to a small child.
Even thought he was 88 years of age, he didn’t notice that death was creeping up on him, so attached he was to this little child.
One day, the moment of his death arrived and he saw the Yamadutas, the servants of Yamaraja, the demigod in-charge of death. They were quite frightful looking. They engaged their tools in extracting Ajamila’s soul from the inner reaches of his heart.
In great pain and anxiety undergoing the process of death, he called out with tears to that which he was most attached to, his little child Narayana.
Hearing his plaintive cry, made in helplessness, the Vishnudutas, the servants of Lord Vishnu, appeared and forbade the servants of death from taking the soul.
Ajamila witnessed the conversation between the two sets of personalities, the Vishnudutas and the Yamadutas. The essence was that by that one cry of the name of Krishna, “Narayana”, his previous sinful activities were completely nullified.
Ajamila got a second chance to reform himself, and he took the second chance.
The key point to note here is that in recognition of some past spiritual service, Krishna inspired Ajamila to name his son after Himself. So he arranged for Ajamila’s deliverance.
Those of us who have already received the Holy Name of Krishna into our life, we should simply sincerely continue chanting.
When the Holy Name of Krishna appears, it means Lord Krishna Himself has appeared in our life.
And this is why we are saved by the Holy Name of Krishna.
As a fire burns dry grass to ashes, so the holy name of the Lord, whether chanted knowingly or unknowingly, burns to ashes, without fail, all the reactions of one’s sinful activities.
Dear reader, my dear Jivatma. Please chant the name of Krishna incessantly.
Krishna says that for a materially entangled spirit soul, the only way out of suffering is to surrender unto Him completely, abandoning all other attachments…
It may feel very difficult to unconditionally surrender, but, if you simply chant the names of Krishna, such surrender will be yours very soon.
You will feel unlimited ecstatic joy, if not immediately, then in due course of time, but very soon.
If someone like myself, a sinful former atheist can recover and feel ever increasing joy by chanting Hare Krishna, then what to speak of you, who are surely much better than me in every respect?
What is knowledge? What is ignorance? How do we acquire knowledge? Which method actually works? Finding out things the ascending way, or hearing from an authority? How to acquire perfect knowledge beyond all doubt?
Knowledge is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
Are these people getting anywhere? Are they “progressing”?
With knowledge, comes power. Power to do good, and also power to do evil. Knowledge can be a liberator, but also can be a tool for enforcing bondage.
Also, what qualifies as knowledge anyway? If, for example, a person acquired some knowledge on “how to rob a bank” and applies that knowledge, landing in prison, or even if they escape somehow, was that really knowledge? Or was it ignorance?
There are 2 main types of knowledge:
Knowledge of the material world -material knowledge
Knowledge of what lies beyond this material world through the scriptures – spiritual knowledge – In Sanskrit “परोक्ष” or “parokṣa”
There are many means of acquiring knowledge:
By Direct experience or perception – In sanskrit “प्रत्यक्ष” or “pratyakṣa”
By hypothesis/logic/conjecture/guessing – In sanskrit “अनुमान” or “anumāna”
By hearing from a higher authority – In Sanskrit “शब्द” or “śabda”
Ultimately, there are 2 fundamental processes of acquiring knowledge:
Ascending Process – build up knowledge from building blocks – In Sanskrit “आरोहपन्था” or “ārohapanthā“
Descending Process – Knowledge descending directly from God and His messengers – In Sanskrit “अवरोहपन्था” or “avarohapanthā“
In an article, with an example of an ant who wanted to map the Universe, I discussed the futility of the ascending process of knowledge, especially about items that are outside of our realm of perception.
Much of what we know exists, is actually too subtle to perceive.
These are the material elements, listed in the Bhagavad Gita:
Gross Material Elements:
Earth
Water
Fire
Air
Ether (Space/Sky)
Subtle Material Elements:
Mind
Intelligence
False Ego
BG भूमिरापोऽनलो वायु: खं मनो बुद्धिरेव च । अहङ्कार इतीयं मे भिन्ना प्रकृतिरष्टधा ॥ ४ ॥
bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.
Earth is the most gross of the material elements, more subtle is water, even more subtle is air, and ether is quite subtle, you can’t touch or feel space, but we can still perceive it. Now, when we get to the mind, that is even more subtle. Intelligence is still more subtle, and the most subtle material element is false ego, our sense of identity.
However, none of the material elements can directly approach that which is non-material, namely the spiritual is outside of the realm of material elements, even subtle.
If we see our material means of acquiring knowledge, the mind, intelligence, and our sense of identity are all material in nature, and therefore, the ascending process of acquiring knowledge cannot possibly extend to the spiritual realm.
There is another main reason why the ascending process of knowledge is flawed… all of us who are “conditioned” to accept a material identity, have 4 defects:
Tendency to be illusioned (In Sanskrit “भ्रम”or “bhrama”) – we often misunderstand facts and are illusioned about things as they are
Tendency to make mistakes (In Sanskrit “प्रमाद” or “pramāda”) – there is no conditioned souls who can say they never make mistakes
Tendency to cheat others (In Sanskrit “विप्रलिप्सा”or “vipralipsā”) – this is a great weakness, to want to appear better than we are, or know something we don’t, etc.
We possess imperfect senses (In Sanskrit “करण पाटव” or “karaṇa-pāṭava”) – all our senses are quite imperfect, and we miss a lot from our senses
So, with these 4 defects, it is impossible to acquire perfect knowledge using only our senses. Why is that? It is because with an imperfect instrument, you cannot make something that is perfect. No matter how hard we try, our imperfections stand in the way.
The common example is if we’re doing some mathematical calculation or solving an equation… a tiny mistake somewhere along the way can get us a wrong answer.
Let’s say, for example, someone didn’t know who their father was… they can do some detective work, or a DNA test of every man in the world, or they can take the answer from their mother. The mother’s answer is authoritative and a lot easier too.
Reconnecting Material to the Spiritual
The only way to acquire perfect knowledge, then, is through the descending process, “avarohapantha”. In this process, the Supreme Absolute Perfect (generically called God, specifically named Krishna, Allah, Rama, Govinda, Buddha, Jehovah, Yahweh, etc.) conveys the perfect knowledge, and whoever hears this knowledge passes it on without addition or subtraction.
Perfect Knowledge means something that never changes. Compare this to our ascending process of knowledge. Researchers make a career out of making mistakes! First they publish one paper hypothesizing (and sometimes also offering “proof”) one particular thing… the laypeople accept that as the truth, and then a little while later, that or another researcher publishes another paper contradicting the original hypothesis or proof. In this way, the so-called philosophers and scientists bumble about, going from imperfection to imperfection. This is not called knowledge, this is called nescience, or ignorance.
Why is that? Because material knowledge gives the impression of advancement, whereas it actually traps us in bigger and bigger problems, requiring more and ever more complexity. A material “solution” is only another problem in disguise… it is simply creating one problem in place of another. Therefore, material knowledge is not called knowledge, but ignorance. And those who pursue material knowledge excessively are said to be ignorant.
So therefore, spiritual knowledge is worth pursuing, and such knowledge cannot be “discovered/created/invented” by anyone else other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
धर्मं तु साक्षाद्भगवत्प्रणीतं न वै विदुऋर्षयो नापि देवा: । न सिद्धमुख्या असुरा मनुष्या: कुतो नु विद्याधरचारणादय: ॥ १९ ॥
dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ kuto nu vidyādhara-cāraṇādayaḥ
Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṇas.
Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself know the real religious principle. My dear servants, this transcendental religious principle, which is known as bhāgavata-dharma, or surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love for Him, is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature. It is very confidential and difficult for ordinary human beings to understand, but if by chance one fortunately understands it, he is immediately liberated, and thus he returns home, back to Godhead.
Now, at least some of those personalities have established disciplic successions on this planet.
There are 4 main authorized disciplic successions to receive perfect knowledge in discipic successions. A disciplic succession is known as “Sampradaya” or “That which gives completely”.
A mango, intact, passed down
A useful example is that if a ripe mango is high in a tree, then if the mango is handed from person to person from those who are at various heights pass the mango down from hand to hand, vs. trying to throw the mango down to the ground…
A Sampradaya delivers spiritual knowledge perfectly, without addition or subtraction
Brahma Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Madhva, Lord Chaitanya, and their followers.
Rudra Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Vishnu Swami and his followers.
Sri Sampradaya and its branches, begun by Lakshmi devi, the Goddess of Fortune, consort of Lord Narayana, and especially expounded by the great teacher Sri Ramanuja and his followers.
Kumara Sampradaya and its branches, especially expounded by the great teacher Sri Nimbarka and his followers.
What about the rest?
To the extent the teachings of others are in line with one of these descending lines of discipic succession, they are valid, and anything outside of these is at best a stepping stone to one of these 4 lines of disciplic succession. In the worst case, it is a materialistic business masquerading as a genuine spiritual tradition.
Those who claim to be part of a certain tradition but add or subtract from the fundamental principles or twist the teachings are called “apasampradayas” or “anti disciplic successions”.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari
By the mercy of my parents and then my spiritual master His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari who is a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada The Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, even though personally unworthy, I am connected to one of these lines of disciplic succession, called the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, and seeking to pass on those pure instructions to whoever may want to follow, without adding or subtracting any principle, only, if need be, adjusting details to suit the individual and times.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
And what is a principle and what is a detail? That, Srila Prabhupada said, requires some intelligence. I pray for this intelligence, which in my case, I simply ask my spiritual master with a clear description of context.
Ultimately however, knowledge coming from the scriptures and the spiritual master in disciplic succession must be realized in the heart through a process of personal effort (sadhana) and purification. Then the paroksha jnana or scriptural knowledge through scripture, becomes “aparoksha” or that which is beyond the reach of the material senses. In order to experience such knowledge in action, one’s senses must be spiritually awakened, or re-spiritualized.
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Pure devotional service to Krishna is the Ultimate goal of all knowledge, and anything besides this is a waste of time.
Questions? I remain your servant on your spiritual journey! Hare Krishna!
Freedom through Genuine Spiritual Progress 