Introduction

"WHO IS A GREAT SOUL?"

The life of a great soul should be approached humbly. We cannot assess his activities as we would those of an ordinary man. But who is a great soul? The communists will argue that Karl Marx was a great soul for his speculation on how to distribute wealth to the economically oppressed masses. Or one may consider Mahatma Gandhi to be a great soul. (The Sanskrit work mahatma means "great soul". But what is the criterion for becoming a mahatma, aside from granting someone the name "Mahatma" by rubber stamp?) The enthusiasts of action and nationalism may want to say Caesar or Napoleon was a mahatma. The humanists will say some of the great classical composers, painters, and literary authors were great souls. And there are so many famous saints of the East as well as the West. And there are many famous philosophers, scientists, and humanitarians. Certainly one of the important criteria for deciding on greatness is the contribution of work which is beneficial for all humanity. From the Vedic literature, the person who is a pure representative of God is declared to be the most auspicious personality for the world. The atheist or agnostic humanist will disagree unless we define worship of God according to their mundane interpretation as "attainment of political freedom," "worship of the poor," "worship of art," "philosophical speculation," etc. But the Vedic literature pursues the definition of mahatma as the servant of God by giving us absolute information of the Personality of Godhead. Knowledge of the Godhead is then seen as valuable beyond comparison to all else, and therefore he who has realized this science of God and works to distribute it to the world is the real mahatma. If we study the relative contributions, we will see that the world help offered by the distribution of God consciousness is the highest humanitarian welfare activity. But even those who would declare themselves as servants of God will have to qualify according to standard criteria. According to the Bhagavad-gita (7.3), "Out of many thousands among men one may endeavor for perfection, and out of those who have reached perfection, hardly one can actually know the Personality of Godhead." In the sixteenth century Rūpa Gosvami rendered the following praise unto the greatest of all bhaktas (pure devotees), Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who appeared in India at that time:

namo maha-vadanyaya
krsna-prema-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-caitanya-
namne gaura-tvise namaḥ
[Cc Madhya 19.53]

"O most munificent incarnation, I offer my obeisances unto You, who are freely distributing what was never given to humanity before, pure love of Krsna." Thus while the worldly and the theological atheists claim that God is dead, and while the impersonalist meditator would tell us that the highest realization of the Absolute contains no personal existence, the pure devotee nevertheless immediately delivers knowledge of God. And what is rarer still, pure love of God, to all who will receive Him.

The Caitanya-caritamrta invites those who would contest humanitarian activities of the pure devotee of God: "If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful." (Cc. Adi 8.15) The crucial superiority of God conscious humanitarian activities is that they are based on the spirit soul, which is eternal. Everyone else is engaged in humanitarian activities on the basis of the body, but the material body is ultimately subject to destruction, whereas the spirit soul is eternal. The pure devotee's philanthropic activities are performed in connection with the eternal soul. However one tries to benefit the body, it will be destroyed, and he will have to accept another body according to his present activities. If one considers the body to be all in all, his intelligence is not very advanced. Thus the pure devotee, without neglecting the necessities of the body, imparts spiritual advancement to purify the existential condition of humanity.

To distribute real good necessitates knowing the actual interest of the living being. According to the Bhagavad-gita, all suffering is stemming from a basic ignorance of the self as no more than the temporary body. In the Gita, Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, tells His bewildered disciples Arjuna that the real self, atma, is permanent, while the body is always changing. Even within one lifetime one experiences the transmigration of self from body to body. One is born as a baby then later takes the body of youth, then old age and finally death. But throughout these changes on experiences his identity to be the same "I". As he changes bodies in this life, so at the time of death the atma, which is eternal, does not die with the body but takes another body. One who cannot understand this basic principle of transmigration, who takes the body as the self, is ignorant of the very ABC of existence and cannot help anyone.

The constitutional position of the living being is eternity, bliss, and knowledge. He has come to the material world out of a misuse of his free will and a mistaken notion that he can be happy in temporary existence. The nature of material life, sometimes described as survival of the fittest, is to forget one's spiritual nature and the supremacy of God and to attempt for supremacy in a field where happiness or even survival is impossible. The real goal of human life is to realize one's spiritual nature and to make an end to all the sufferings by returning to the life of eternity, bliss, and knowledge. When the whole society is based on this goal, the one's life is truly auspicious, and without ultimate self-realization as the goal, various attempts at liberation from the worldly disorders will be failures. Persons who have no experience of spiritual life will remain trying to make stop-gap solutions in a world which is by nature miserable and temporary. But when a pure devotee, not simply by speaking theory but by actual deliverance of the process of love of God, delivers the people of the world and brings them to the original state of eternity, bliss, and knowledge even while in this material world, then we must recognize him as the one and only mahatma. His contribution is beyond the bodily intellectual plane. And it is very difficult to find such a person in this world. As stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (6.14.4), "Only a few desire liberation from the material world. Among many thousands who desire liberation, one may actually achieve liberation, giving up material attachment to society, friendship, love, country, wife, and children. And among many thousands of such liberated persons, one who can understand the true meaning of liberation is very rare. O great sage, among many millions who are liberated and perfect in knowledge of liberation, only one may be found as a devotee of Lord Krsna. Such devotees who are fully peaceful are extremely rare."

Distribution of love of God is sometimes seen as an emotional affair for the less intelligent, but this view is completely superficial. The science of bhakti, distribution of devotional service to God, when distributed by a mahatma is at once sublime and easy. It is sublime for those pure devotees who are realizing direction association with God, and yet it is easy for the people in general who can be brought at once to the threshold of the house of bhakti. To achieve contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a great science, but it is open to all living beings, regardless of education or social or economic class. All corollary spiritual and material ends can be seen to follow the pure and scientific execution of bhakti. Pure bhakti is also expressed in the first great commandment of Lord Jesus Christ: "To love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, thy whole mind, and thy whole soul." Only if mankind can be brought to this first point, by the pure devotees, can they realize the second commandment of Jesus: "And the second is like unto it, 'Love thy neighbor as thy self.'"

The special feature of the pure devotee is that his work is entirely selfless, because he works entirely for the pleasure of God. Everyone else acts in this world to maintain family or paraphernalia with some self-interest and personal gratification. The gratification may be concentrated, or it may be extended. One may be out to become famous himself or to become a great enjoyer, or he may wish to extend material benefits to his family or to humanity at large. But all these are still on the platform of selfish bodily interest. The criterion of perfection is to act in God consciousness and not with a view to enjoying the fruits of work, either locally, nationally or internationally. To act in God consciousness is the duty of every living entity, because we are all constitutionally parts and parcels of the Supreme. It is only the atheistic propaganda which has turned men to think that they are dead-end material entities unto themselves, and that there is no good except working futilely at objectives within this material life. The greatest disservice has been rendered by those who have turned men away from their natural connection with God, who is readily seen as the proprietor of everything in the universe. As the limbs of the body constitutionally work for the satisfaction of the whole body, so the living entity who acts for the satisfaction of the Supreme Whole is the perfect, selfless worker. Even among religionists, the yogis and impersonal philosophers, although acting on a level more elevated than the ordinary worker, are still not without self-interest. Either they desire to become liberated in the impersonal spiritual existence, or they desire to cease material activities in order to gain mystic perfections for the satisfaction of the personal self. But a pure devotee (the skeptic asks, "Where does such purity exist?"), acting in God consciousness, works for the satisfaction of the whole without self-interest. He has no desire for self-satisfaction. His criterion of success is the satisfaction of Krsna. Thus Lord Caitanya prays, "O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers, but what I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth." [Cc Antya ] Working in this pure consciousness and with the potent possession of love of God, such a worker can actually deliver anyone to the highest happiness. It is therefore stated in the Vedic scriptures that even a moment's association with a pure devotee can grant one all success. An unfortunate person will doubt that such purity exists or whether a devotee has the ability to give God consciousness to the masses. But one who actually meets a pure devotee can be given these highest gifts from him and will realize it without a doubt. Although they are very rare, such great souls have walked the earth throughout history. To hear of their activities is very beneficial, but it must be done with true understanding and not in the mood of psychological analysis or faultfinding, which we may apply to an ordinary person.

Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/svp/introduction/introduction-1