Namaste
Should we meditate on impersonal Brahman or Personal Brahman - Lord Krishna?
Note:
Recently here in the Hare Krishna forum a question was asked by Samraat Bhismadeva Maurya as to what is Brahman and whether the Lord Krishna is Brahman?
The answer was that Lord Krishna is this Brahman or The Supreme. So the search for the Supreme Brahman precisely is The search for Sri Krishna.
Now, the purpose of this thread is to further examine the question what is the goal which should be achieved in the spiritual life of a Vaishnava devotee? Should a Vaishnava devotee meditate on impersonal Brahman or Personal Brahman - Lord Krishna? Is it the ultimate goal in the spiritual life to achieve impersonal Brahman or Personal Brahman - Lord Krishna?
There are many statements in the scriptures which lead to the notion that it is not the impersonal Brahman the ultimate goal but it is actually the Personal Brahman - Lord Krishna - who is the ultimate goal to be achieved and to be dedicated to in the spiritual life!
Much could be said about Brahman but essentially Brahman has two different aspects or features:
a) Personal aspect (deva, Bhagavan) in which He is manifested as the Supreme person of God. In this aspect Brahman has personal characteristics such as bodily shape (form) in the form of Lord Vishnu, Narayana, Krishna, Balarama, Rama, Nrisimha, Varaha, Matsya, Sankarshana, etc.
b) Impersonal aspect in which Brahman is not manifested as a person of God, but as impersonal Brahman. In this aspect Brahman has no personal characteristics such as bodily shape (form) but is described as "light" or "glow" of Bahman, ie brahmajyoti (brahma - Brahman, jyoti - glow) which is explained in the Gaudiya vaishnava tradition to be Lord Krishna's bodily luster. There are statements in the scriptures to this effect.
If you are interested to know more about the relationship that exists between impersonal Brahman and Lord Krishna who is the Personal Brahman then read the passage from the Bhagavad gita 12.1-8:
Bg 12.1 Arjuna inquired: Which are considered to be more perfect, those who are always properly engaged in Your devotional service or those who worship the impersonal Brahman, the unmanifested?
Bg 12.2 The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect.
Bg 12.3-4 But those who fully worship the unmanifested, that which lies beyond the perception of the senses, the all-pervading, inconceivable, unchanging, fixed and immovable – the impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth – by controlling the various senses and being equally disposed to everyone, such persons, engaged in the welfare of all, at last achieve Me.
Bg 12.5 For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied.
Bg 12.6-7 But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.
Bg 12.8 Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.
Carefully read these verses and note that here Lord Krishna makes the distinction between these two aspects of Brahman, and also He makes the distinction between two types of people who meditate on these two aspects of Brahman!
While in verse 12.1 Arjuna asks teṣāṁ ke yoga-vittamāḥ "of them who is the most perfect in knowledge of yoga?" (teṣām -- of them; ke -- who; yoga-vit-tamāḥ -- the most perfect in knowledge of yoga), then immediately in verse 12.2 Lord Krishna says that devotees who meditate on Lord Krishna's personal form are considered to be most perfect: te me yukta-tamā matāḥ "are considered by Me to be most perfect" (te -- they; me -- by Me; yukta-tamāḥ -- most perfect in yoga; matāḥ -- are considered), ie they are more perfect than those who meditate on impersonal Brahman!
Also note that He says in verse 12.5 that those who meditate on impersonal Brahman have great difficulty on the way and their advancement is very troublesome.
Why would anyone want to choose a less perfect path, which is moreover the troublesome?
Vaishnavas always choosing the more perfect path, in fact they have never been interested in meditation on impersonal Brahman.
So, from the above Bhagavad gita 12.1-8 passage we see that Lord Krishna points to Himself as the Supreme Person to be the aim of our dedication in the spiritual life and not the impersonal Brahman!
That's for starters. If there is a need we can substantiate this topic with additional examples from the scriptures.
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PS. Bhagavad gita quotes see at BBT, vedabase
regards
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