Hare Krsna - Sadhana & Jung Reading
Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Below is a report about my Sadhana and progress in reading Memories, Dreams, and Reflections.
Sadhana
Solely through Srila Prabhupada's mercy and your blessings, Guru Maharaja, I am waking up at 4 AM for at least 5 days of the week (sometimes 6 days). I chant 5-7 rounds before Mangala Arati which I attend either on FMP or with my parents in front of Gaura-Nitai. After that, I chant the rest of my rounds, bathe, dress, and perform Sringara Arati for Gaura-Nitai, and listen to Srimad-Bhagavatam class. In the evening, I listen to a Bhagavad-Gita class given by Srila Prabhupada. I pray to you, Guru Maharaja, that I can improve the quality of my chanting, as you mention that the success of our education is measured by how pure and sincere our chanting is (vidya vadhu jivanam).
HpS - ASA - Super! What you are doing is not a small accomplishment. Usually ladies have very big responsibility for keeping family life on an even keel, so we hope that a few years as a Brahmacarini will be big help later.
So much Sankirtana we can all do, even if we are in Grhastha ashrama. You family is very great example of that.
What about your regular daily school Sadhana?
Memories, Dreams, and Reflections
Though pages I read after first reporting contained a lot of intriguing information (like Jung's first neurosis), Guru Maharaja, I will include a few points here.
HpS - Neurosis would be mental illness. This is a central controversial theme of dealing with Jung's experiences. Some say "spiritual visions", some say "psychosis", but to me so far, and I certainly find comments by others such as yourself very enriching, that he was having genuine experiences on the Hiranya garbha level of the universe as described in the SB.
1) Virat Rupa: Guru Maharaja, you often mention Jung's particular connections with the Virat Rupa. I liked one of the autobiography's sentences in this regard: "Nature seemed to me full of wonders, and I wanted to steep myself in them. Every stone, every plant, every single thing seemed alive and indescribably marvelous" (32).
2) Two personalities: Jung describes how he had an intense feeling of being two different persons. One identity from the eighteenth century that was characterized by power, influence, and an affinity towards 18th century apparel, shoes, sculptures, and carriages. The other identity was that of a poor schoolboy, living in the 19th century, who did not have much power or influence. In the following pages, he goes on to claim that every person has two kinds of personalities (1. the mundane personality that deals with our present experiences in the material world 2. a transcendent personality in which nothing separates man from God) (45). He later analyzes his mother through her two personalities as well.
Guru Maharaja, could you kindly enlighten me on how to make sense of the 2nd personality that Jung discusses through a Gaudiya perspective? Are there any chapters/verses of our scriptures that I could read to understand his ideas better? Jung describes, how, through the 2nd personality one can marvel at the entire cosmos and forget oneself. Guru Maharaja, I was wondering if this related to your previous comment about Jung being at the Hiranya Garbha level, which is above the Virat Rupa conception but below Paramatma realization.
HpS - Let us archive these discussions. One thing is that I think Jung's own experiences and understandings were maturing and changing as he did this work. He even says that as far as I know. He even expressed that all of his cosmology was a first guess, maybe by a person with a lot more experience than his peers, but still he was quite open to other ideas.
Then, his experience two persona, is not incompatible with our perspective, no? We accept vasana past life experiences, persona, buddhi, intelligence, that we bring with us into this life, and maybe into the next.
I would say that more than two is more practical but his deep one may have been something he had been working on for a long time.
3) The problem of evil: It is discussed how Jung could not make sense of the fact that God saw this world, after creating it, and thought "it was good," despite there being so much suffering and evil present here. He engages with Goethe's Faust and various philosophical and theological works to find an answer, but does not arrive at any substantial conclusion (60). So far, he hasn't discussed the theological concept of free will, Guru Maharaja. But, I was wondering if the concept of free will, and by extension, Karma could solve Jung's conundrum. The concept of Karma also eventually leads to a discussion of reincarnation, which could relate to Jung's preoccupation and connection with the 18th century.
HpS - I think his final conclusions were rather tinted with Darwinism, that the person is not exactly re-incarnating, but the persona is. This is more Buddhist. He like Buddhism. I don't think he met a good Vaisnava guru. He was in India during the time of Bh. Siddhanta as far as I know, but there was no contact. He even commented as we remember that he knew that India and Asia were the solution but he and Europe were not ready for it then. Maybe now they are ready.
Destiny, Karma.
I think our discussions are good and then we hope that Shonu Shamdasini or others will be able to present Jung's side better than we, and we can have a useful mining of jewels from Jung and the Bhagavata.
Of course, Bhakti rasa amrta sindhu, is fantastic basis for comparative discussion. There are translations and commentaries by David Haberman, and then Srila Prabhupada (!), Danurdhara Swami and Viola Spolin's works.
Thank you very, very much, Guru Maharaja, for allowing a fallen soul like me to do some service under your invaluable guidance. As you suggested, I will report on every Caturthi from now on about my reading.
With immense gratitude and appreciation,
your insignificant servant,
Sugopi Radha Devi dasi
HpS - Thank you. We are 90% invalidated by this Hay Fever, but Dr. Amit and Vijaya are suggesting Claratin and then continue to try to adjust our metabolism by Ayurveda! Jaya!
Hare Krsna.
