View source for In the lower status of bhakti means that arca-vigraha, anyone, any person, he does not clearly understand what is God, but by the instruction of the spiritual master one is engaged in the service of the Lord

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[[Category:Lower]]
[[Category:Status]]
[[Category:Bhakti]]
[[Category:Means]]
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[[Category:Arca]]
[[Category:Vigrahah]]
[[Category:Anyone]]
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[[Category:Person]]
[[Category:Does Not]]
[[Category:Clear Understanding]]
[[Category:What Is God]]
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[[Category:Instruction]]
[[Category:Spiritual Master]]
[[Category:One Is]]
[[Category:Engaged in Transcendental Loving Service]]
[[Category:Of The Lord]]
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG74NairobiOctober311975_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="268" link="Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975" link_text="Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975">
<div class="heading">In the lower status of bhakti means that arcā-vigraha, anyone, any person, he does not clearly understand what is God, but by the instruction of the spiritual master one is engaged in the service of the Lord. This morning we have explained the Deity worship. Here is God. Here is God, factually, but He has no realization that here is God. That is called kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of devotional service. But if he accepts even theoretically that "Here is God," then he becomes more advanced than the Māyāvādī who are thinking of God without head and leg, nirviśeṣa-vādī.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975|Lecture on BG 7.4 -- Nairobi, October 31, 1975]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Perfection means to understand his real constitutional position, that he is not this material body; he is spirit soul, Brahman. That is perfection, perfection of knowledge, brahma-jñāna.</p>
:brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
:na śocati na kāṅkṣati
:samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
:mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
:([[Vanisource:BG 18.54|BG 18.54]])
<p>After brahma-jñāna... Sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers they say, "By bhakti one gains brahma-jñāna, and one becomes liberated, merged into Brahman," and so on, so on, because they say, "Bhakti is meant for the less intelligent class of men." Their accusation is like that. No. That is not the fact. Bhakti, kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of bhakti, that is also higher than the Māyāvāda philosophy. In the lower status of bhakti means that arcā-vigraha, anyone, any person, he does not clearly understand what is God, but by the instruction of the spiritual master one is engaged in the service of the Lord. This morning we have explained the Deity worship. Here is God. Here is God, factually, but He has no realization that here is God. That is called kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of devotional service. But if he accepts even theoretically that "Here is God," then he becomes more advanced than the Māyāvādī who are thinking of God without head and leg, nirviśeṣa-vādī.</p>
<p>So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that one who has undergone the training by a Māyāvādī philosopher, his life is finished. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 6.169|CC Madhya 6.169]]). He says that he is finished because he'll never be able to advance in devotional service, and that is the ultimate goal of life. Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā ([[Vanisource:BG 18.54|BG 18.54]]). After realization of Brahman, when he is actually on the Brahman platform, then the symptom is na śocati na kāṅkṣati: he has no more lamentation and no more aspiration. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Then he can see everyone one equal level. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Because he does not see the outward body, he does not see that "Here is a Hindu, here is a Muslim, here is a Christian, here is an Indian, here is American, here is black and here is white." No. He sees within, within, introspection.</p>
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