Dialectical Spiritualism: Carl Jung, Part 7

BY: SUN STAFF - 30.10 2017

Conversations wtih HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, excerpted from  Dialectical Spiritualism: A Vedic View of Western Philosophy.

XIII. PSYCHOANALYSIS 
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961)

Hayagriva dasa: Jung believes that we are reborn because we relapse again into desires, feeling that something remains to be completed. "In my case," he writes, "it must have been primarily a passionate urge toward understanding for that was the strongest element in my nature."

Srila Prabhupada: That understanding for which he is longing is understanding of Krsna. That is explained in Bhagavad-gita:

bahunam janmanam ante 
jhanavan mam prapadyate 
vasudevah sarvam iti 
sa mahatma sudurlabhah

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." (Bg. 7. 19) Our understanding is complete when we come to the point of understanding Krsna. Then our material journey comes to an end. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so'rjuna. "Upon leaving the body, he does not take birth again into this material world, but attains My eternal abode." (Bg. 4.9) Lord Krsna Himself gives instructions by which He can be understood.

mayy asakta-manah partha 
yogarh yuhjan mad-asrayah 
asamsayam samagram mam 
yatha jhasyasi tac chrnu

"Now hear, 0 son of Prtha, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt." (Bg. 7.1) If we can understand Krsna completely, we will take our next birth in the spiritual world.

Hayagriva dasa: Concerning scripture, Jung writes: "The word of God comes to us, and we have no way of distinguishing to what extent it is different from God."

Srila Prabhupada: The word of God is not at all different from God. Since God is absolute, both He and His words are the same. God's name and God are the same. God's pastimes and God are the same. God's Deity and God are the same. Anything related to God is God. For instance, Bhagavad-gita is God. Maya tatam idam sarvam (Bg. 9.4). Everything is God, and when we are complete in God realization, we can understand this. Otherwise we cannot. Everything is God, and without God, nothing can exist.

Hayagriva dasa: Jung conceived of the false ego in terms of persona. "The persona ," he writes, "is the individual's system of adaptation to, or the manner he assumes in dealing with, the world The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.

Srila Prabhupada: Our real persona is that we are eternal servants of God. When we realize this, our persona becomes our salvation and perfection. The person must be there, but as long as we are in the material world, our persona identifies with our family, community, body, nation, ideal, and so on. The person is there and must continue, but proper understanding is realizing that we are eternal servants of Krsna. As long as we are in the material world, we labor under the delusion of the false ego, thinking, "I am American. I am Russian. I am Hindu, etc." This is false ego at work. In reality, we are all servants of God. When we speak of false ego, we also admit a real ego, a purified ego, who understands that he is the servant of Krsna.

Hayagriva dasa: Jung envisioned the self as a personality composed of the conscious and also the subconscious. He writes: "The self is not only the center but also the whole circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious."

Srila Prabhupada: Everything depends on the personality, and it is the personality that is surrounded by so many conceptions. In conditional life, we may have many different types of dreams, but when we are purified- — like Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu— we dream of Krsna's pastimes. In the purified state, we dream about Krsna and His activities and instructions.

Hayagriva dasa: Although the self can never be fully known by the individual, it does have individuality.

Srila Prabhupada: We can know that we are individual persons with our own ideas and activities. The problem is purifying our ideas and activities. When we understand our role as servants of Krsna, we are purified.

Syamasundara dasa: For Jung, the purpose of psychoanalysis is to come to grips with our unconscious shadow personality in order to know completely who we are.

Srila Prabhupada: That means attaining real knowledge. When Sanatana Gosvami approached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he said, "Please reveal to me who and what I am." In order to understand our real identity, we require the assistance of a guru.

Syamasundara dasa: Jung says that in the shadow personality of all males, there is a bit of the female, and in all females there is a bit of the male. Because we repress these aspects of the shadow personality, we do not understand our actions.

Srila Prabhupada: We say that every living entity is by nature a female, prakrti. Prakrti means female, and purusa means male. In this material world, although we are prakrti, we are posing ourselves as purusa. Because the jivatma, the individual soul, has the propensity to enjoy as a male, he is sometimes described as purusa, but actually the jivatma is not purusa. He is prakrti. As I said before, prakrti means dominated, and purusa means predominator. The only predominator is Krsna; therefore originally we are all female by constitution.

Syamasundara dasa: In the male species, at any rate, the temperament is different, isn't it? There is dominance and aggression.

Srila Prabhupada: There is no different temperament. We can see that the female also has the same temperament because she wants to be treated equally, just like a man. In any case, the real position is that every living entity is originally female, but under illusion he attempts to become a male, an enjoyer. This is called maya. Although a female by constitution, the living entity is trying to imitate the supreme male, Krsna. When we come to our original consciousness, we understand that we are not the predominator but the predominated.