Krishna & Chaitanya

Among the lovers of Krishna, Chaitanya’s name stands outstanding. Chaitanya’s method was termed as ‘Achintya Bhedabhedavad’; the word means the unthinkable is precious. Those who know through thought will say that both matter and spirit are separate or they are one and the same. Chaitanya says they are both one and separate. For example, the wave is both one with and both separate from the ocean at the same time. And he is right. The wave is separate from the ocean, and so we call it by different name – the wave. And it is virtually one with the ocean, because it cannot be without it, it comes from it. Therefore the wave is both separate and inseparable from the ocean. But all this is within the realm of thinking. Chaitanya adds another dimension to it, that is Achintya or unthinkable. He says that if we come to know through thinking that the world and God, matter and spirit are both separate and inseparable, this realization is worth nothing. Then it is nothing more than an idea, concept and a theory. But when the seeker comes to it without thinking, without word, when we realizes it in the state of no-mind, beyond thought, then it is experience. Then it is worthwhile, it is real and great. For example, someone wants to know what love is and he reads huge scriptures on love. He will become knowledgeable about love. He can write great treatises on love, yet in reality he will not actually know what love is. There is another person who has not read anything about love but has experienced it, lived it. This man knows love through experiencing; the other one knows through words and concepts. Experience is always unthinkable; it does not happen through thinking process. Experience comes first and thought follows it by way of its expression.

That is why Chaitanya says that unity and separateness of the world and God is beyond thought. Unlike Meera, who was a person of emotion and love, as for as Chaitanya is concerned, he was a great logician of his time. Chaitanya was renowned for his sharp mind and brilliant logic. He had scaled the highest peaks of thinking. He was incomparable debater in philosophical discussions. Such a rational who had indulged in hair splitting interpretations of words and concepts throughout his life, was one day found singing and dancing on the streets of Nawdeep, his home town. Chaitanya was not a man of love unlike Meera. He turned to love and devotion- which was a miracle. This 180 degree turn in his life demonstrates the victory of love over logic. He came to a point in his own life where mind lost and love and life won. Among people who walked the path of Krishna, Chaitanya is simply extraordinary. It is unthinkable how a tremendously logical mind like Chaitanya could come down from the so called ivory throne, take a drum in his hands, and dance and sing in market place singing praises of Lord Krishna in devotion. He makes the statement that words and logic is nothing in compared to experience of divine. It is this way he renounces mind, renounces thinking and declares that “Reality is beyond thought, it is unthinkable.”  Chaitanya’s statement has gathered immense significance; it comes after crossing the last frontier of meditation.

Let us understand Krishna to understand Gita.

Wishing you all good health and happiness,

Dr.Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people