Mechanism of the Change of Consciousness

BY: D. DAS - 13.12 2021

Within the Hare Krsna movement there are two main concepts of the mechanism responsible for the transformation of an aspiring devotee's material consciousness into the spiritual one. Apparently and superficially the more sophisticated, and surely very attractive, concept seems the one according to which a single energy is perceived as either material or spiritual depending on the level of realization.

Because this could be confused with the Mayavadi concept of "....everything is one....", where the indiscriminate mixing of the spiritual with the material is explained as its definition, and from which a mistaken belief that Srila Prabhupada teaches that only one energy in Krsna's Creation originates, it may be beneficial to reflect on this brief analysis in which an attempt to somewhat understand both concepts in detail seems to reveal the one energy as incomplete and therefore not strictly bona-fide.

I am not this body but a spirit soul, Brahman. Aham brahmasmi. This is the Real, intrinsic meaning of the word brahman, or pure spirit, as used by Srila Prabhupada in full accordance with Sastric revelations.

Taking jiva to mean an originally pure spirit soul, brahman, she is said to be in full sinc with the Supreme Soul, the Parambrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This would suggest, that there will not be any trace of a discord within her spiritual essence, no knowledge of any different reality and therefore no motivation whatsoever to ever fancy to rebel against God. Clouding of her consciousness cannot, therefore, happen making it difficult, if not impossible, for the one energy concept to explain her fall.

When, on the other hand, as Lord Caitanya teaches, the jiva is taken as one of the multiple energies of the Supreme, which are classified as superior, inferior and tatastha saktis, her nature as the tatastha sakti is revealed as having the tendency of being situated in either of the two remaining, separate and opposite saktis, or in the spirit or matter.

This tendency, Prabhupada explains, is due to her infinitesimal size, which makes her prone to be influenced by either.

So if we wanted to avoid this sometimes derided concept of the so-called dualism, or the existence of two separate energies of spirit and matter, and were to follow the seemingly more sophisticated concept of only one energy called altogether brahman, but seen differently according to a degree of purity, we would have to account for the initial impulse that would cause the originally pure spirit's tendency to go against her own self by going against God's will.

As a pure spirit, she cannot really possess a false ego of her own to rebel against God. As revealed, the tatastha-sakti status of the soul is due to her infinitesimal or atomic size as a pure spiritual spark, which fact is mainly responsible for her potential fall and not a material contamination in the form of the false ego.

Srila Prabhupada states further that besides her atomic size it is her illegal, unconstitutional desire to become independent of the Lord and be like Him in control that causes her to actually fall. Wherefrom does such an illegal desire manifest in the pure spirit, is the answer to search for.

As we all want to be free and in control of our own destiny, Prabhupada explains, these are qualities of the spirit (and are therefore understood from his overall teachings) as also present within the encaged jiva's psyche, but in a perverted manner.

Because such a material, unconstitutional desire already constitutes a perverted reflection of her originally pure spiritual desire to serve God eternally, as Srila Prabhupada explains, a presence of a separate entity, Prabhupada calls in this connection the mahat-tattva, seems inevitable to "suggest" to the jiva such an idea. In the fully enlightened jiva such a desire cannot manifest on its own. Only the other entity, the mahat-tattva, can, via the perverted reflection, manifest it within the jiva's awareness.

As Srila Prabhupada so eloquently and unequivocally explains in his writings, the jiva's initial identification with her perverted image within the mahat-tattva constitutes her AS IF "covered consciousness", which alone can cause such a material desire, and not her pure spiritual essence. So such a desire, it seems then undisputable (unless explained otherwise), cannot come into existence without this mahat-tattva.

We can only guess that in her infinitesimality, she mistakes her desired freedom from her dependence (on God) with an imposition of her own rulership over her own kingdom, clearly without understanding the incompatibility of these two as (such an incompatibility) can be understood from the example of a Srimad Bhagavatam's king who had to renounce his kingdom to become liberated in self-realization. These two are, as it looks, incompatible principles of the opposite polarity.

Because she cannot have this within the absolute platform of the spiritual world she is given a perverted play field, the material energy, to seemingly achieve this where her desire to rule cannot but estrange her to her own free (spiritual) self by enslaving her to "her" material non-self's foolish demands.

If the other concept is considered, the impulse for her illegal desire will not be thereby accounted for because a pure jiva has no reason to rebel.

That concept may tantalize the minds of some by adding a certain degree of mystery into the process of how it may be working, but as Prabhupada states, "we do not accept any mystery because everything is fully revealed in the Vedic sastras".

Prabhupada's statement that "the quality of competition amongst the Gopis for Krsna's attention or the aspiration of a wish-fulfilling tree to become a manjari is going on in the spiritual world", nevertheless, this fact should not lead to such an illegal desire because those are explained as pure spiritual "emotions", or rasas, fully consistent, according to the Nectar of Devotion, with pure bhakti.

As it appears, the derided concept of dualism is the one that alone can explain the source of the jiva's illicit desire by explaining that it can only be something foreign, outside of her own pure and perfect self, something originating from the external energy of the Lord in the form of this play-field, the mahat-tattva, in other words, the material energy, which because separate and different from her real self, who is pure brahman, free and transcendental spirit, cannot but be in fact different and opposite, a NON-brahman.

Described as one quarter of the size of the spiritual Reality which it covers, if the material energy, Prakrti, described as a cloud over one's pure consciousness really existed only within the jiva's angle of perception, it could not be considered as real, as the theology of Lord Caitanya reveals it to be, and the scenes of the material world all around her, it appears, could not be easily, if at all, reconciled with this concept of one energy.

Applying sastric revelations we can reflect that a tree, as a jiva's material body, in the middle of a garden is due to its covered consciousness. His spiritual body full of spiritual purpose of pleasing the Supreme Person cannot be said to be likewise standing in the middle of a spiritual world's garden at the same moment, because he is still in bondage and thus, according to the Vedanta-sutras, he has not yet received his spiritual body needed for the actual entry and existence there.

Therefore, it does strongly appear that the living entity's perverted consciousness of the Reality is caused, as Srila Prabhupada teaches, by this real but temporary cloud. And it is only when she finally sees through it due to her regained pure consciousness of a spiritual spark that the temporary cloud dissipates from her vision and she, freed from her bondage to it, earns back her given up inherent right to live there (in the spiritual world), and consequently is rewarded her spiritual body and, once again completely free in her full dependence on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, will perform the eternal bhakti to Him, in her Real home, the Goloka Vrinaban.