CHAPTER THREE Literature Review
3.5 The Self and Identity: Vedic Theological Perspectives 1 0 3
3.5.3 The Gaudiya Vaisnava Model of Identity
According to Sivarama Swami (1998), three basic concepts of transcendence surround the nature of the Absolute Truth, viz. the personal, impersonal and the void. Several
112 Popper, Karl, R and Eccles, J.C (1977) cited in Origins: Higher Dimensions in Science (2003).
Bhaktivedanta Vedabase (2003). [CD ROM]. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust: USA.
113 Chalmers explanation of "Global Workspace theory",
114 For a more detailed explanation, which is beyond the scope of this discussion, see Velmans, M (1996):
An Introduction to the Science of Consciousness in The Science of Consciousness: Psychological.
Neuropsychological and Clinical Research. Velmans, M (ed). Routledge: London.
http://cogprints.org/395/00/Definingconsciousness.html
variations exist within each category, and even the Vedas are cited by different schools to establish their own understanding. Since the concept of the Absolute Truth is central to any spiritual practice, a brief description of each of these categories is necessary to understand the Gaudiya Vaisnava concept of the Absolute Truth in which the ISKCON tradition follows.
Sivarama Swami (1998) explains that in the impersonal category one ultimately seeks to eradicate all appearances as temporary in favour of realizing non duality with Brahman.
In this regard Satsvarupa das Gosvami (1977) also states that Sankara alludes to the jiva 's qualitative oneness with the Supreme Brahman in the Sanskrit phrase tat tvam asi ('you are that also") and therefore moksha for advaita vedantists actually means that the jiva (atma) realizes it is one with Brahman. Even the Buddhists ultimately accept nirvana as an ultimate position of voidity over transient personalized manifestations. The Gaudiya
Vaisnavas however, maintain that while the jiva is spirit, it is not identical in all ways with the Supreme, arguing that if the atma were actually the same as the Supreme it could never fall into the illusion of material identity. Vaisnavas therefore refer to Sankarites as mayavadis, referring to their conclusion that may a (illusion) covers the potency of the Supreme, which Vaisnavas deem as impossible. Thus the personal category accepts the concept of the. jiva as a servant of the Supreme, both existing independently, perfection being the attainment of loving devotional service to the Supreme in an eternal
transcendental realm full of variety.
Since the views of the nature of the Absolute as well as the views of identity differ, it follows that the attitudes, practices, activities and understanding of the practitioner will be influenced by the particular viewpoint, as well as the definition of his or her goal.
Thus for the devotee in the ISKCON tradition, his or her view of reality and identity will be framed by the understanding of the Absolute Truth as described by A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami in the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition. In the following section I will be examining these concepts as understood and described in the ISKCON tradition.
Sadaputa das (1980) proposes that the material body exists in two categories: the gross and the subtle. The subtle body is made up of mind, intelligence, and the apparent self.
The gross body is made up of the five physical elements - solid matter, liquids, radiant energy, gases, and ethereal substances. However, there exists another element, non- physical in nature, an individual atma or a soul, which is "a quantum of consciousness".
Consciousness is due to the atma, but the content of the atma's consciousness is due to its connections with the particular body it occupies. The atma is considered to be atomic, yet individual, eternally sentient and independent of the physical body. The body is considered to be like a machine, ayantra. The atma is the actual conscious self of the living being, and the body is simply an insentient vehicle. It is only when the atma is embodied that its natural senses connect with the physical information-processing systems of the body, and consequently we perceive the world through the bodily senses.
Drutakarma, Bhutatma and Sadaputa (2003) quote several medical and clinical cases of NDEs (near death experiences), spontaneous past life memory recall in children and hypnotic regression studies (notably by Steveson 1966, 1974; Sabom, 1982)115 as evidence for the existence of the non-physical, conscious entity. Sadaputa (1980) proposes that an understanding of the atma as innately conscious, and possessing "the sensory faculties and intelligence needed to interpret abstract properties of complex brain states", opens up further avenues of study and exploration. Thus he presents the non- mechanistic Vedic paradigm of sanatana dharma116 which regards the "conscious personality as fundamental and irreducible". It is possible to experience this level of consciousness directly. Sadaputa das (1980) explains that:
Stevenson, I (1966): Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. William Byrd Press: Richmond;
Stevenson, I (1974): Xenoglossy: A Review and Report of a Case. Wright Publishers: Bristol;
Sabom, M A (1982): Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation. Harper and Row: New York.
All cited in Origins, 1984
Sanatan dharma explains that the body is a like a machine, but the essence of conscious personality is to be found in an entity that interacts with this machine but is separate from it. By using the opportunity of the natural sensory faculties of the atma a higher state of activity can be achieved, in relation to a supreme sentient being, God or Krishna. Since both the atma and Krishna are by nature sentient and personal, this relationship involves the full use of all the faculties of perception, thought, feeling, and action in a reciprocation of love.
The direct reciprocal exchange between the atma and Krishna defines the ultimate function and meaning of conscious personality, just as the interaction of an electron with an electric field might be said to define the ultimate meaning of electric charge. Sanatana-dharma teaches that the actual nature of consciousness can be understood by the atma only on this level of conscious activity.
To accept the question of identity as beyond material designation then begs the question of individuality. Tamal Krsna Gosvami (1998) elaborates that unlike the advaita
vedantists who maintain that at liberation the atma becomes "consumed by the One Supreme Self i.e. Brahman,111 Vaisnavas maintain that the atma remains distinctly individual even after liberation. He argues that to consider atma and Brahman to be undifferentiated disregards the individuality and personality of the soul, and thwarts a state of ultimate bliss in service to God. He asserts that the process of bhakti yoga or devotional service is the means by which to attain that ultimate bliss and unstultified consciousness.
Gaudiya Vaisnavas believe that as spirit souls we once were with Krishna,118 but we made a wilful decision to give up that relationship, a costly miscalculation that resulted in us plunging into the material atmosphere, where we became imprisoned in material existence since time immemorial. Bhaktivedanta Swami explains that "regarding when and why such propensities overcame the pure living entities, it can only be explained that the jiva-tattvas have infinitesimal independence and that due to misuse of this
independence some of the living entities have become implicated in the conditions of cosmic creation and are therefore called nitya-baddhas, or eternally conditioned souls".119 Yet that imprisonment is not permanent, and when those acts that pollute our
consciousness are removed we can be liberated. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1972) elaborates:
what Advaita vedantists call the cosmic or universal energy which they regard as the ultimate destination of the soul, and what Vaisnavas refer to as the all pervading energy of the Supreme Lord considered to be but a partial realization of the Supreme Absolute Truth.
118 in our original identities as unadulterated, fully cognizant, spiritual atmas in the ultimate spiritual abode..
119 Srimad Bhagavatam: (2003). Canto 3. Chapter 5, Verse 51. Purport.
False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands that he is not his body and is spirit soul, he comes to his real ego. Ego is there. False ego is condemned, but not real ego. In the Vedic literature
(Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad 1.4.10) it is said, aham brahmasmi: I am Brahman, I am spirit. This "I am," the sense of self, also exists in the liberated stage of self-realization. This sense of "I am" is ego, but when the sense of "I am" is applied to this false body it is false ego. When the sense of self is applied to reality, that is real ego. There are some
philosophers who say we should give up our ego, but we cannot give up our ego, because ego means identity. We ought, of course, to give up the
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false identification with the body.
Satsvarupa (1977) regards that those unfamiliar with the Vedic conception of the soul, identity and destiny may view the Vedas as defeatist or pessimistic or even essentialist.
For this reason, Albert Schweitzer (cited in Satsvarupa, 1977) referred to the Vedic philosophy as "world-and-life negation".