Bhakti Lalitā Devī Dāsī
Photography by Pavan Krishna Prabhu
The following is a topical Q & A with Bhakti Lalitā Devī Dāsī, offering spiritual advice on dealing with Trump mania and much more.
Question: In America many people are, to put it mildly, disturbed by the outcome of the presidential election. We know that you “take your stand on spiritual ground,” and are not concerned with politics. Yet, would you please offer some spiritual insight or advice to those of us who are upset by this situation?
Bhakti Lalitā Devī Dāsī: Thinking too much about Donald Trump is going to make everybody sick. I mean do we really want to be meditating on Trump? This cannot be good. Seriously, we need to take care of our consciousness. We should guard our focus and use it intentionally, because it is reactionary. What we consistently think about affects us, and can be toxic. Most of my relatives and friends in America are also disturbed right now. In fact we must be disturbed if this is all we know — these bodies misidentified as the self, this one lifetime, this world being all-in-all. We are so engrossed in this superficial aspect of existence that we cannot see beyond it. My saffron cloth doesn’t mean that I’m suddenly desensitized or oblivious to the outside world. There’s no turning back now, but of course, I would like to see America moving forward, especially in its respect for and tolerance of religion, race, and gender. I do feel grateful for where I was born and raised. Needless to say, in America, we are privileged in so many ways. We tend to grow up fast, and that can sometimes be a blessing. This was true in my case. By the time I hit 19, I was disgusted with materialistic consumer culture and shifted towards the pursuance of spiritual culture. It was a natural progression for me. No doubt some good spiritual fortune must have been in my back round to bring about such disillusionment, inner awakening and attraction towards higher things. We’re all picking up from where we left off. And we are blessed, if we can begin our spiritual journeys in the prime time of our lives, and dedicate ourselves to what is most substantial.
The real solution, and our solace can be found in spiritual thinking and its practical application. If we really want to be well adjusted and healthy, we need to discover our true identity and purpose. Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living.” Many of the world’s religious philosophies and belief systems deal with these big questions. I honor many of the ideals explained in other religious conceptions. Every religion is making its own unique contribution to uplifting humanity. When I came in connection with the original Vedic culture of India, its full-fledged theistic conception, deep ontology, and philosophy I felt satiated to my core. In the scriptures, you will find intricate descriptions of all of the different avatars, expansions, names, forms, features, qualities of both male and female aspects of Divinity — explanations of Their inconceivable beauty, divine abodes, eternal associates and infinitely more. Such elaborate details have been revealed to us and they can be realized in a tangible, living way. We will be able to see, feel, taste and touch it for ourselves.
We are spirit souls endowed with eternal existence, consciousness and ecstasy, but presently are entangled and loitering in this temporary aspect of existence, covered over by layers of gross and subtle material elements, conditionings, and acquired prejudices. We are living in a relative position, so our understanding is all relative. My Grand-Guru, Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, is who first inspired me in this line. I would like to share some of his unique concepts and analogies herein. He said (paraphrasing), 'This body has been burning from the very beginning of its duration by the process of digestion. Biologists all declare that the body is a burning organism, giving off heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. After seventy or more years, our body is consumed by that smoldering digestive fire and we move into another body, only to burn up that one too. It is like chain smoking; with the lit end of the cigarette you light up a fresh cigarette, and on and on.’ But we can quit smoking, and extinguish this fire. We have such potential as human beings.
It’s to our best interest to become acquainted with the Infinite and Its absolute consideration. Then we can harmonize between both relative and absolute considerations and properly adjust ourselves. Not that we will literally go to the extreme and disregard everything relative, but at least see the spirit of a much larger picture so we may better navigate ourselves in this objective world. Life's events may seem so overwhelming to us tiny souls but, in retrospect, they are not as significant as we think, yet another event in this plane of exploitation. But if something comes to waken our search for truth, then we can see it as a progressive thing.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj found the writings of the early 19th century philosopher, Hegel, useful in the spiritual line and similar to the Eastern thought. In Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj's book, Subjective Evolution of Consciousness, he associated Hegel’s conception of the Dialectic with spiritual progress in this way: "…the truth develops through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and by this method everything progresses.” Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj said, "There is thesis, then its opposite, and then again they unify and create a new thesis. Then again antithesis, and again a greater harmony in synthesis.” Each event belongs to the original idea (thesis), or to its opposite (the antithesis), or to the mingled form of the two (the synthesis). We may consider all of life’s events to progress and develop in this way. What appears to be a negative thing can actually be a positive one. If we meditate on the Eternal Positive, we will soon see positive results.
So best to stop feeling victimized by the current political situation. We can “resist” until we’re blue in the face. We can spend our entire lives finding remedies to the world’s sufferings and injustices, but it will never end. Such efforts are comparable to personal "wild goose chases” that are so widespread in this material world. We will never find real shelter or satisfaction in anything of this world of mortality. Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj said,
We must try to live in eternity; not any particular span of time or space. We must prepare ourselves for our eternal benefit, not for any temporary remedy. The sun, the moon, and all the planets appear and vanish: they die, and then again, they are created. Within such an eternity, we have to live. Religion covers that aspect of our existence. We are told to view things from this standpoint: not only this body, but also the human race, the animals, the trees, the entire Earth, and even the sun, will all vanish, and again spring up. Creation, dissolution, creation, dissolution—it will continue forever in the domain of misconception. At the same time, there is another world which is eternal; we are requested to enter there, to make our home in that plane which neither enters into the jaws of death, nor suffers any change.
Thank you for your question and for your confidence in me. I hope this helps. It all may sound too renounced or philosophical to you, but these ideals are actually intrinsic to our soul, a little drop of Reality. This is my perspective and humble advice based on the teachings of my Divine Masters. I’m praying that one day I may become a pure instrument of their grace.
Edited by Jaśomatī Devī Dāsī
Śrīmatī Bhakti Lalitā Devī Dāsī is disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, successor of Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj. Born in the USA, Bhakti Lalitā went to India to search for her Guru in 1991. In Nabadwip Dham, West Bengal, she found inspiration in the association of Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj, and took spiritual initiation from him. Thereafter, she dedicated herself to all the practices and principles of loving devotion, and served Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj as his personal correspondence secretary. In 1996, he gave her the sacred saffron brahmachari cloth. This was the first time that this revolutionary designation was given to a woman. At that time Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj added the title "Bhakti” to her original initiated name — Lalitā Devī Dāsī. Bhakti Lalitā is now based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and often travels the world encouraging the hearts of spiritual seekers, and nurturing the faith of devotees and friends worldwide. She gives regular morning classes on the devotional philosophy of Gauḍīyā-vaishnava culture and on the practice of Bhakti yoga. Bhakti Lalitā is also known for her kirtan, the chanting of traditional devotional songs in Bengali and Sanskrit.
A collection of her recordings is available on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/bhakti-lalita-devi
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BhaktiLalitaDD/videos
VK (in Russian): https://vk.com/bhakti_lalita
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheisticMediaStudios/
Читать на русском языке: http://www.mahamandala.com/ru/authors/51/articles/47
You need to be authenticated user to post comments
No posts here yet