LvU wrote:attachment to feelings like sorrow, joy, anger etc. binds u in place
To deny feelings is to deny self, for the self is feeling, and not being able to look at those things which evoke our feelings is to deny reality, to close off ones heart to the heart beats of others. Asura nama te loka andena tamasvrita...
Those who know do not tell,
Those who tell do not know.
Quite a few people are familiar with this verse and use it from time to time
in an attempt to discount other peoples communications. It is a pity that that is the extent of theur interest if philosophy, to use the words of Guru like a monkey might use a stick to claim a sweet and juicy fruit that is otherwise out of their reach. It is a pity that what they actually yearn for is isn’t freedom from their false egoism, but for bondage to it. Lao Tzu goes on, and again, he goes on, continuing to speak, in words.
Not to set the tongue loose
but to curb it,
Not to have edges that catch,
But to remain untangled,
Unblinded,
Unconfused,
Us to find balance,
And he who holds balance beyond sway of love or hate,
Beyond reach of profit or loss,
Beyond care of praise or blame,
Hs attained the highest post in the world.
The Tao 56 Lao Tzu
So by implication conjectured by the usage of Lao Tzu’s saying on this thread to discount what I have written Lao Tzu through continuing to speak, exhibits even himself as becoming more destitute of knowledge with each additional syllable that he utters. I think that it is obvious to any thoughtful person that such a conclusion as what’s its name hoped that you would reach is absurd.
Going beyond that what Lao Tzu continues to say is remarkable in it’s similarities to the philosophy spoken by Sri Krsna and the Vaisnavas, only differing from a spiritual perspective that on the one hand proposes a spiritual existence that is void of individuality and on the other, one that is rich with sweetness of taste, touch, scent, sight and sound, from one that is devoid of form to one that is completed by it.
Remarking on the similarities and differences, there is the same cultivation of detachment from the same things, the same advisement to live one’s live from an egoless and spiritual persepective. And the only differences are that a devotee would say just don’t engage the tongue in prajalpa, but in Krsna katha, to control the tendency to vasam vegam in this way. This an from the spiritual perspective of the formless there is no knowledge that can be communicated with words, about the formless there is nothing to say. But as Jesus says in the Gospel of Thomas (108) " He who drinks from my mouth shall become as I, and I will be they." An implication that words can be more than metaphors but can actually be the same as that which they describe, when uttered by the servant of the Lord. Bhaktivinode Thakur in Sri Krsna-sanhita (I believe it was, although I couldn’t find my copy) goes further to elaborate with the somewhat mystifying comments that what a non-devotee says of the spiritual is never true, while that which the devotee says, even the exact and identical same thing is always true. A devotional rendition of the saying of Lao Tzu’s "those who speak do not know." All that the non-devotee says is metaphor, just the symbols of a thing not the thing in itself, while what the devotee says is the spiritual current and transformative enery of Sri Krsna the Absolute Truth.
The philosophy of Gaudiya Vaisnavism does not look at the attainments of the Sunyavadi and Mayavadis as being fraudulent or ficticious, just as being Hellish is compare to the greater attainment of loving devotional service. Hell, even Krsna’s worst enemies are given liberation when Krsna destroys their false ego’s and Krsna awards liberation as it it were the very least door prize given out to the least significant guest at a party. So from the perspecive of a conditioned soul it is a very great thing, but from the perspective of someone who is engaged in loving transcendental relationship with Krsna it is irrelevant. "Live or die, the service is the thing."Liberation occurs in the course of ones advancement in Krsna consciousness but it is not the focus, not the goal.
Lao Tzu’s philosophy challenged much of society that was counterproductive to spiritual development, he challenged war, tyranny, greed, such things and extolled the virtues of simple and peaceful harmonious existence with all of life and with each other. He championed consercation and delicacy, compassion and empathy. These are worthy goals. But the monkies didn’t listen then, and they aren’t listening now, either to Lao Tzu or to Srila Prabhupada. What to do, monkies will be monkeys, always and only seeking in the wisest of words that which they think, by their use of them will acquire the things that they actually value, which have no transcendental worth.
"Lao Tzu says "Only pursue an offender to show him the way." But that must conclude my chase for it be charity in the mode of ignorance to continue and as Sri Krsna might have also said "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and annoys the pig."
