You should be seeking for the genuine messenger of Transcendental Knowledge. He will come when we are deserving. Seeking after the genuine source is our first need. We require to find out from where to get Transcendental Knowledge. Otherwise we shall be whiling away our time and be perturbed by different advises. It is when we seek the company of persons who have made real progress on the path of pure devotion that our prayer will be attended to and He will send somebody to act on His behalf to tell us about Him.

We are to surrender all knowledge which is not adequate. Unless we do so we will have no chance of meeting the genuine person. We have to undo all that we have, otherwise we cannot expect to meet the genuine messenger. We must have ardent desire to seek the messenger of the Absolute Knowledge. When we are given something we delete some other thing which is found meager and faulty.

We are to seek Absolute Truth from Absolute Godhead, Fountain-Head of all Knowledge. Our present receiving instruments intercept and are for this defective aptitude not fit to enable us to grasp the full idea. The language of this world also obstructs the process. To offer the listening ear is alone necessary.

We should not be in a contradicting mood. If we contradict we won't get satisfaction. When we are to seek the Absolute Knowledge we have to pray to God, the Absolute Knowledge, in our present crisis to criple all wrong knowledge.

When our prayer is acceded to we shall have access to the congregation of Sadhus, His agents and be enabled to pick up things of which we have no knowledge. We should pray for, not local truth but bonafide Truth. Offering of sincere prayer for this end is the first necessity.

The Absolute Truth has a Form. Material forms are now overpowering us. We should seek the Absolute Truth. He is not a molecular mass, not sulphuric acid, not a Nature's product. We should be careful not to misunderstand.

The Absolute Truth is to come, to be visible, to us. Then only we can secure the Absolute Knowledge Who is quite different from any knowledge of this world. That Eternal Knowledge cannot be had here. We cannot also receive Perfect Knowledge, Empiricism should impress this on us.

No knowledge from 'empiricists', i.e., no knowledge drawn from the senses, will help us to gain the Absolute Knowledge which is not at all shaky but is Knowledge Personified through utterance of the bonafide messenger of the Absolute. It is perfectly useless to approach the empiricists for the true knowledge. They will enrich their disciples with mundane thought. If we do not pray for the Absolute Knowledge we shall be liable to fall into their clutches.

We, the true seekers require that a true messenger should come to us who will have no hankering for any temporary thing. As the Absolute Knowledge is ever-existing it must not be supposed to be the category of other knowledge. Our hearty prayer to the Divine Absolute who is not inanimate should be to the above effect. He can grasp, and understand our position well. He will then send His bonafide messenger who will speak all about Him. If we pray for the genuine agent He will send him with language and every equipment which will admit us to the Transcendental Region.

Our present environment is cubical. We cannot cross the cubical expansion. We know nothing about the fourth and higher dimensions. We do not know how we can cross over these difficulties. Unless a man talks in our language about that region and gives us access there through the Transcendental Sound we cannot understand. That Sound has a different character from the mundane sound. That Sound does not require to be supported by other senses. The Transcendental Word will serve every purpose. It will require no other test.

The distinctive face of the Transcendental Sound consists in this that we will have no necessity of exercising other sensuous activities, e.g., for ascertaining pleasantness of touch or temperature, etc. We would have no occasion to test when the sound is no part of the mundane vocabulary. In case of mundane vocabulary we find it necessary to test its correctness by four other senses and by previous experience. The Transcendental Sound will not require any such corroboration It clears all dirt, sweeps away everything detrimental to progress, through the lips of the messenger of Godhead. The agent of the Absolute is fully established in the Transcendental Region though he descends here as a messenger submitting the Transcendental Sound to our listening ears. When we are really in need Godhead will be merciful to send such a one according to our eligibility.

There are hundreds of processes by which Godhead can send His messengers and not in the shapes of human beings only. We must not be apathetic. All acquisitions of previous births and of this life will not give any real impression of the Truth but will give only wrong things. So we should be careful to seek only for the Absolute Knowledge. The Absolute Knowledge will be kind enough if we are bonafide seekers. Only then will He accede. He will then come to us through such symbols and signs as will enable us to shake off our connection with this world and come into contact with Him in the Form of the Transcendental Sound.

In the Transcendental Sound there is no dividing difference between sound, color, etc. Unless He grants our prayer we cannot make any progress whatsoever by the help of our divided sense-experience. We should pray to meet the Guru, Who can transmit the Transcendental Sound. We will then be relieved of our temporal understandings. Eternal non-shaky understandings are required. If we have no such desire we shall be simply waiting for the next life. Outside things of this world will then tempt us. They presume we shall be attracted by their figures promising to supply with something positive. But they will part from us after showing only their deceptive inclination to be serviceable.

If we have the help of the Transcendental Sound we shall have strength to make progress through company of persons who have no other inclination but to heave us to that region. We should meet such persons who should not be predominated over by the earthly aspects. The outside appearance will only lead us to wrong things. Many yogis etc., have gone astray in this way. We should see whether the person on whom we depend has firm inclination for the Absolute, whether he would never be deceiving us in the matter of securing us access to, not the region of three dimensions but, the Realm of the Absolute.

We should be sending our prayer to the Fountain-Head. We should show our aptitude for serving the Absolute. When we are true, when there is no hypocrisy, we shall then have the sight of the messengers of the Absolute, not in the shape of a human being only, who have no other aptitude but to heave us up. This can be had only through prayer to the Absolute. The prayer should be to this effect.

I know not what you are, what sort of color, etc., you have. I pray to know how I am to approach you'. He will then send things here which will show us His Perfect Form by rejecting all sorts of deluding features.

There will be arrangement by the Supreme Lord for enlightening the bonafide inquirer. We shall be relieved of all our impressions received by mundane exertions by something positive from the other region. It will produce in us apathy for picking up knowledge by such exertions. Exertions through the medium of the senses will lead to a wrong direction.

Let us leave off the challenging temper, offer our lending ear and hear what the messenger says. We will clear up doubts; by interrogatories. The messenger need not be targeted as our flatterer. He will be speaking in the most insolent way. He will undeceive us by bitter words. If we have any hankering for the Truth we should submit to listen. The first duty of the messenger of the Absolute is to cut off our wrong impressions, to change our taste. It is an unpalatable duty. But we shall make progress by his regulation. You should be prepared for bitter words for the undoing of whatever you have learnt. 'You should only hear Me and I take all responsibility.' The Geeta gives us this assurance.

You need not be anxious for looking after your interests. I will look after all your interests. When you have surrendered unconditionally leaving aside all acquired impressions I will look after your interests and you need not be any more anxious about them'.

It is this kind of temperament that alone would lead us to all that we desire. If we simply go on puzzling over the thoughts of all the speculative philosophers, etc., we shall only be misled. If we prove to be peaceful and avail of the chance of lending our ear to the Transcendental Sound, we would make progress towards the Absolute and be relieved of all impediments. Hearing of Transcendental Sounds and descriptions is the medium that should be taken recourse to. This alone is wanted.

Visualizing enterprises are not required. That is our present habit. But we need not be puzzling with that. We should only pay sufficient attention to the Transcendental Sound. We shall only put questions to be met by the messenger who is well up with all information. He is a practical guide. One who has got the transcendental treasure can give us something to meet the expenses of our journey to that region. Otherwise we shall be cooped up and our days will pass for nothing.

The theistic side of our disposition should be cultivated with all patience. We should have the determination to hear patiently what graciously comes to us from that quarter. The true spirit or God-loving spirit is necessary when we want to single out the genuine messenger. We should then be charmed to find that every wish fully satisfied and that we are no longer dissuaded by any preventing temptations. Firm affinity for serving the Absolute is the one essential criterion for being successful, the first thing to pray for.

The next thing is to abide by His Providence and wait for His messenger who has every inclination to serve Him, to devote everything he has for the Absolute and has no wrong aptitude to deceive. Every Elevationist is a deceiver. Every Salvationist is also a deceiver as the selfish motive of neither would trace the True Transcendental Object. If one has any selfish motive he will be summarily dismissed as he has no desire to hear but only to look after his present temporary interests. But the seeming present interests are really doing him harm. If he surrenders them to Him He will do everything to shake off his lure of all temporary interests.

Most people are attending to the senses. They are thereby misguided in selecting the messenger of the Absolute. Elevationists are troubled by men who deprive by enriching them by the words that he is to attend to the present comfort of his senses. All Paradise-seekers belong to the category of fruitive workers who propose to get pleasure through the senses which they hope to retain in next life in order to gain pleasure there. The soul should be intelligent enough not to have such wrong desire. Our longest lien in heaven will end when the destructive energy will act and we shall be thrown off. On this plane the destructive energy has greater potency than the building energy. Such temporary enjoying mood should cease in a truly intelligent being. We should not be indulging in such mood. The temporary situation in heaven comes to an end automatically when all resource of good qualities of the enjoyer is exhausted. Such a person after such repeated disillusionment begets the desire to follow the wrong process of seeking after salvation with the object of merging his individual soul with the Oversoul. By such process we lose ourselves.

Our need is that we should be ever exercising all our efforts for the attainment of bliss. This need we are also feeling at present. But the pseudo-salvationists advise that we should commit suicide to be relieved of everything. But this sort of salvation has very little lien to disturb my thought. Such sort of advice of salvation should be non-co-operated. What kind of freedom will it be if their is no location for me? This is altogether wrong. I require eternal understanding, existence and bliss for my own individual self. This can only be had by coming in contact with the Transcendental Object Who is never subject to change in space and time.

Through a devotion i.e., by serving the Absolute Person, we can have what we need. The Absolute is not to be identified with any Nature's product. He cannot be enjoyed. But on the contrary, He is the Sole Enjoyer. We feel pain and pleasure. We welcome all sorts of Bliss, we discard all pain. So we are agents for receiving uninterrupted bliss. We require help from other things e.g., such external helps as food to be consumed, air for breathing, etc. This experience has given us to understand that we always require help which is not to be supped by us but by some other things. We require such help at every step.

If such help is coming from transitory things to one who cannot retain his position for eternal time, such help will be quite inappropriate and inadequate. It will be useless for our purpose. If we are only helped by the Absolute we may get our true remedy. If we understand this we would know that the path of devotion to the Absolute is the only path of our true salvation and true elevation.

The securing of pseudo-elevation and pseudo-salvation available by our own initiative can not be described as the royal road. That help can only come from Him. If we serve Him, co-operate with Him, if all our acts are restricted to Him, He will certainly have mercy and guide us. In the Geeta, the Divine Personal Godhead gives us (mankind) this assurance, "Surrender everything you consider you have and with a pure soul come to Me, leaving your mortal coils and your mentality. Because you are denied, you are misled and I will give you everything that will convince you that the path of seeking everything from the All powerful is the only proper one and this will give you everything and at other paths will take you away from your object.

Q. - This is the only subject in which all of us are most vitally interested But what about serving humanity?

A. - To help humanity in the best which is to enlightened them about the Absolute Truth. All this trouble has come own to our diffidence in regard to the loving mood of approaching Him. When the Divine Call will come we will be regulated and get amply what we require.

WE avail of the opportunity offered by the Anniversary Celebrations of the advent of Thakur Bhaktivinode to reflect on the right method of obtaining those benefits that have been made accessible to humanity by the grace of this great devotee of Krishna. Thakur Bhaktivinode has been specifically kind to those unfortunate persons who are engrossed in mental speculation of all kinds. This is the prevalent malady of the present Age. The other Acharyyas who appeared before Thakur Bhaktivinode did not address their discourses so directly to the empiric thinkers. They had been more merciful to those who are naturally disposed to listen to discourses on the Absolute without being dissuaded by the specious arguments of a vowed opponents of Godhead.

Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode has taken the trouble of meeting the perverse arguments of mental speculationists by the superior transcendental logic of the Absolute Truth. It is thus possible for the average modern readers to profit by the perusal of his writings. That day is not far distant when the priceless volumes penned by Thakur Bhaktivinode will be reverently translated, by the recipients of his grace, into all the languages of the world.

The writings of Thakur Bhaktivinode provide the golden bridge by which the mental speculationist can safely cross the raging waters of fruitless empiric controversies that trouble the peace of those who choose to trust in their guidance for finding the Truth. As soon as the sympathetic reader is in a position to appreciate the sterling quality of Thakur Bhaktivinode's philosophy the entire vista of the revealed literature's of the world will automatically open out to his reclaimed vision.

There have, however, already arisen serious misunderstandings regarding the proper interpretation of the life and teachings of Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode. Those who suppose they understand the meaning of his message without securing the guiding grace of the Acharyya are disposed to unduly favor the method of empiric study of his writings. There are persons who have got by heart almost everything that he wrote without being able to catch the least particle of his meaning. Such study cannot benefit those who are not prepared to act up to the instructions lucidly conveyed by his words. There is no honest chance of missing the warnings of Thakur Bhaktivinode. Those, therefore, who are misled by the perusal of his writings are led astray by their own obstinate perversity in sticking to the empiric course which they prefer to cherish against his explicit warnings. Let these unfortunate persons look more carefully into their own hearts for the cause of their misfortunes.

The personal service of the pure devotee is essential for understanding the spiritual meaning of the words of Thakur Bhaktivinode. The Editor of Journal, originally started by Thakur Bhaktivinode , has been trying to draw the attention of all followers of Thakur Bhaktivinode to this all-important point of his teachings. It is not necessary to try to place ourselves on a footing of equality with Thakur Bhaktivinode. We are not likely to benefit by any mechanical imitation of any practices of Thakur Bhaktivinode on the opportunist principle that they may be convenient for us to adopt. The Guru is not an erring mortal whose activities can be understood by the fallible reason of unreclaimed humanity. There is an eternally impassable line of demarcation between the Savior and the Saved. Those who are really saved can alone know this. Thakur Bhaktivinode belongs to the category of the spiritual world-teachers who eternally occupy the superior position.

The represent Editor has al along felt it His paramount duty to try to clear up the meaning of the life and teachings of Thakur Baktivinode by the method of submissive listening to the Transcendental Sound from the lips of the pure devotee. The Guru who realizes the transcendental meaning of all sounds, is in a position to serve the Absolute by the direction of the Absolute conveyed through every sound. The Transcendental Sound is Godhead, the mundane sound is non-Godhead. All sound has got these opposite aptitudes. All sound reveals its Divine face to the devotee and only presents its deluding aspect to the empiric pedant. The devotee talks apparently the same language us the delude empiric pedant who has got by heart the vocabulary of the Scriptures. But notwithstanding apparent identity of performance the one has no access to the reality while the other is absolutely free from all delusion.

Those who repeat the teachings of Thakur Bhaktivinode from memory do not necessarily understand the meaning of the words they mechanically repeat. Those who can pass an empiric examination regarding the contents of his writings are not necessarily also self-realized souls. They may not at all know the real meaning of the words they have learnt by the method of empiric study. Take for example the Name "Krishna." Every reader of Thakur Bhativinode's works must be aware that the Name manifests Himself on the lips of His serving devotees although He is inaccessible to our mundane senses. It is one thing to pass the Examination by reproducing this true conclusion from the writings of Thakur Bhaktivinode and quite another matter to realize the nature of the Holy Name of Krishna by the process conveyed by the words.

Thakur Bhaktivinode did not want us to go to the clever mechanical reciter of the mundane sound for obtaining access to the Transcendental name of Krishna, Such a person may be fully equipped with all the written arguments in explanation of the nature of the Divine Name. But if we listen to all these arguments from the dead source the words will only increase our delusion. The very same words coming from the lips of the devotee will have the diametrically opposite effect. Our empiric judgment can never grasp the difference between the two performances.

The devotee is always right. The non-devotee in the shape of the empiric pedant is always and necessarily wrong. In the one case there is always present the Substantive Truth and nothing but the Substantive Truth. In the other case there is present the apparent or misleading hypothesis and nothing but untruth. The wording may have the same eternal appearance in both cases. The identical verses of the Scriptures may be recited by the devotee and the non-devotee, may be apparently misquoted by the non-devotee but the corresponding values of the two processes remain always categorically different. The devotee is right even when he apparently misquotes the non-devotee is wrong even when he quotes correctly the very words, chapter and verse of the Scriptures.

It is not empiric wisdom that is the object of quest of the devotee. Those who read the Scriptures for gathering empiric wisdom will be pursuing the wild-goose chase. There are not a few dupes of their empiric Scriptural erudition. These dupes have their admiring under-dupes. But the mutual admiration society of dupes does not escape, by the mere weight of their number, the misfortune due to the deliberate pursuit of the wrong course in accordance with the suggestions of our lower selves.

What are the Scriptures? They are nothing but the record by the pure devotees of the Divine Message appearing on the lips of the pure devotees. The Message conveyed by the devotees is the same in all ages. The words of the devotees are ever identical with the Scriptures. Any meaning of the Scriptures that belittles the function of the devotee who is the original communicant of the Divine Message contradicts its own claim to be heard. Those who think that the Sanskrit language in its lexicographical sense is the language of the Divinity are as deluded as those who hold that the Divine Message is communicable through any other spoken dialects. All languages simultaneously express and hide the Absolute. The mundane face of all languages hides the Truth. The Transcendental face of all sound expresses nothing but the Absolute. The pure devotee is the speaker of the Transcendental language. The Transcendental Sound makes His Appearance on the lips of His pure devotee. This is the direct, unambiguous appearance of the Divinity. On the lips of non-devotees the Absolute always appears in His deluding aspect. To the pure devotee the Absolute reveals Himself under all circumstances. To the conditioned soul, if he is disposed to listen in a truly submissive spirit, the language of the pure devotee can alone impart the knowledge of the Absolute. The conditioned soul mistakes the deluding for the real aspect when he chooses to lend his ear to the non-devotee. This is the reason why the conditioned soul is warned to avoid all association with non-devotees.

Thakur Bhaktivinode is acknowledged by all his sincere followers as possessing the above powers of the pure devotee of Godhead. His words have to be received from the lips of a pure devotee. If his words are listened to from the lips of a non-devotee they will certainly deceive. If his works are studied in the light of one's own worldly experience their meaning will refuse to disclose itself to such readers. His works belong to the class of the eternal revealed literature of the world and must be approached for their right understanding through exposition by the pure devotee. If no help from the pure devotee is sought the works of Thakur Bhaktivinode will be grossly misunderstood by their readers. The attentive reader of those works will find that he is always directed to throw himself upon the mercy of the pure devotee if he is not to remain unwarrantably self-satisfied by the deluding results of his wrong method of study.

The writings of Thakur Bhaktivinode are valuable because they demolish all empiric objections against accepting the only method of approaching the Absolute in the right way. They cannot and were never intended to give access tot he Absolute without help from the pure devotee of Krishna. They direct the sincere inquirer of the Truth, as all the revealed Scriptures do, to the pure devotee of Krishna to learn about Him by submitting to listen with an open mind to the Transcendental Sound appearing on His lips. Before we open any of the books penned by Thakur Bhaktivinode we should do well to reflect a little on the attitude with which as the indispensable pre-requisite to approach the study. It is by neglecting to remember this fundamental principle that the empiric pedants find themselves so hopelessly puzzled in their vain endeavor to reconcile the statements of the different texts of the Scriptures. The same difficulty is already in process of overtaking many of the so-called followers of Thakur Bhaktivinode and for the same reason.

The person to whom the Acharyya is pleased to transmit his power is alone in a position to convey the Divine Message. This constitutes the underlying principle of the line of succession of the spiritual teachers. The Acharyya thus authorized has no other duty than that of delivering intact the Message received from all his predecessors. There is no difference between the pronouncements of one Acharyya and another. All of them are perfect mediums for the appearance of the Divinity in the Form of the Transcendental Name Who is identical with His Form, Quality, Activity and Paraphernalia.

The Divinity is Absolute Knowledge. Absolute Knowledge has the character of indivisible Unity. One particle of the Absolute Knowledge is capable of revealing all the potency of the Divinity. Those who want to understand the contents of the volumes penned by Thakur Bhaktivinode by the piece-meal acquisitive method applicable to deluding knowledge available to the mind on the mundane plane, are bound to be self-deceived. Those who are sincere seekers of the Truth are alone eligible to find Him in and through the proper method of His quest.

In order to be put on the track of the Absolute listening to the words of the pure devotee is absolute necessary. The spoken word of the devotee is the Absolute. It is only the Absolute Who can give Himself away to the constituents of His power. The Absolute appears to the listening ear of the conditioned soul in the form of the Name on the lips of the Sadhu. This is the key to the whole position. The works of Thakur Bhaktivinode direct the empiric pedant to discard his wrong method and inclination on the threshold of the real quest of the Absolute. If the pedant still choose to carry his errors into the Realm of the Absolute Truth he only marches by a deceptive bye-path into the regions of darker ignorance by his arrogant study of the Scriptures. The method offered by Thakur Bhaktiviniode is identical with the object of the quest. The method is not really grasped except by the grace of the pure devotee. The arguments, indeed, are these. But they can only corroborate, but can never be a substitute for, the word from the living source of the Truth who is no other than the pure devotee of Krishna, the concrete Personal Absolute.

Thakur Bhaktivinode's greatest gift to the world consists in this that he has brought about the appearance of those pure devotees who are, at present, carrying on the movement of unalloyed devotion to the Feet of Shree Krishna by their own wholesome spiritual service of the Divinity. The purity of the soul is only analogously describable by the resources of the mundane language. The highest ideal of empiric morality is no better than the grossest wickedness to the Transcendental perfect purity of the bonafide devotee of the Absolute . The word 'morality' itself is a mischievous misnomer when it is applied to any quality of the conditioned soul. The hypocritical contentment with a negative attitude is part and parcel of the principle of undiluted immorality.

Those who pretend to recognize the Divine Mission of Thakur Bhaktivinode without aspiring to the unconditional service of those pure souls who really follow the teaching of the Thakur by the method enjoined by the Scriptures and explained by Thakur Bhaktivinode in a way that is so eminently suited to the requirements of the Sophisticated mentality of the present Age, only deceive themselves and their willing victims by their hypocritical professions and performances. These persons must not be confounded with the bonafide members of the flock.

Thakur Bhaktivinode has predicted the consummation of religious unity of the world by the appearance of the only universal church which bears the eternal designation of the Brahman Sampradaya. He has given mankind the blessed assurance that all Theistic churches will shortly merge in the one eternal spiritual community by the Grace of the Supreme Lord Shree Krishna Chaitanya. The spiritual community is not circumscribed by the conditions of time and space, race and nationally. Mankind has been looking forward tot his far-off Divine Event through the long Ages. Thakur Bhaktinode has made the conception available in its practicable spiritual form tot he open-minded empiricist who is prepared to undergo the process of enlightenment. The key stone of the Arch has been laid which will afford the needed shelter to all awakened animation under its ample encircling arms. Those who would thoughtlessly allow their hollow pride of race, pseudo-knowledge or pseudo-virtue to stand in the way of this long hoped for consummation, would have to thank only themselves for not being incorporated in the spiritual society of all pure souls.