An Echo from Ancient Greece
by Suhotra Swami
"Look upon this Oedipus, he who knew the famous riddle and was the
most successful of men. Who among the citizens did not look upon
him with envy. Into what a great wave of disasters he has crashed. So
that, looking at that final day, count no mortal happy until he has
passed the limit of his life suffering no pain."
--*Oedipus the King* by Sophocles
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The nature of man and his struggle with ignorance, and the
disastrous truth that ignorance obscures, is the theme of the tale of
King Oedipus related by the classical Greek playwright Sophocles.
Even now, almost two and a half millenia after it was written, the
dramatic insight of *Oedipus Tyrannus* (Oedipus the King) cannot fail
to fascinate the reader. Sigmund Freud wrote, "In the very text of
Sophocles' tragedy there is an unmistakable reference to the fact that
the Oedipus legend had its source in dream-material of immemorial
antiquity . . ." The reason *Oedipus Tyrannus* remains so gripping,
Freud believed, is that Sophocles translated it from the inchoate but
enduring language of the *psyche*, the "voice within us which is
prepared to acknowledge the compelling power" of this tragedy.
Oedipus was found by a shepherd on the slopes of Mount Citharon
as an infant, with his ankles bound together (thus he was named
Oedipus, which means "swollen-foot").
King Polybus and Queen
Merope of Corinth adopted the foundling, raising him as a noble
prince. As Polybus told him nothing of his real origins, he believed
himself to be the king's son and heir. One day Oedipus heard a rumor
that he was not the real son of the Corinthian ruler. The young man
was so stubbornly devoted to the truth that even after his father's
assurances that he was indeed his son, Oedipus went to the Oracle at
Delphi to settle his doubts. However, instead of shedding light on his
past, the oracle predicted a terrible future for Oedipus: he would kill
his father and take his mother as his wife. To avert the possibility of
his committing such crimes, Oedipus did not return to Corinth. During
his travels he met a party of men at a crossroads. One of them, adignitary in a carriage, hit him as he passed by. A fight resulted.
Oedipus, taking the party to be a band of robbers, slew the man in the
carriage and all of his followers but one. He continued wandering until
he came to Thebes (the modern Thebai, not far from Athens). Thebes
was beset by the Sphinx, a monster with the head and breast of a
woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird. Crouched on a rock
outside the city, she demanded that travellers approaching the city
answer her riddle, "What has four feet in the morning, two at noon and
three at night?" All those who could not answer she killed. When
Oedipus replied, "The answer is man, who crawls on four limbs as a
baby, walks upright on two as an adult, and walks with the aid of a
stick in old age," the Sphinx killed herself. The grateful Thebans made
Prince Oedipus their king, since the ruler of the city, Laius, had been
murdered during a recent journey. Oedipus took Jocasta, the wife of
the dead king, as his own wife. Jocasta bore him two sons and a
daughter, Antigone.
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Thereafter a plague struck Thebes, blighting all the edible plants
and sickening the cows and the women. To uncover the cause of the
plague, Oedipus sent his brother-in-law Creon to Delphi to consult the
oracle. Creon returned with the disturbing news that the plague struck
Thebes because the city is giving shelter to the murderer of the
previous king, Laius. Oedipus immediately launched an investigation,
threatening anyone who had aided the killer or might be concealing
the truth with severe punishment. He cursed whomever the murderer
might be to suffer a miserable life. At first he suspected that Creon
killed King Laius, because Creon would have inherited the Theban
throne had not Oedipus arrived to defeat the Sphinx. But as he
compiled the testimony of various witnesses, Oedipus soon learned
that King Laius was killed at a crossroads by someone unknown. Then
he learned that Queen Jocasta had given a son to Laius years before.
But because of a prophecy that this child would kill his own father, the
king abandoned the baby on the slopes of Mount Citharon.
A messenger arrived from Corinth to inform Oedipus that King
Polybus had died. The messenger also revealed that Oedipus was not
the real son of Polybus, but was found on the slopes of Mount
Citharon. Hearing this, Jocasta begged Oedipus to stop his
investigation, and when he refused she took her own life, though the
reason for her suicide was not yet clear to Oedipus. Finally, the single
survivor of Laius' travel party testified that it was Oedipus himself who
had killed Laius, and that the son of Laius abandoned on Mount
Citharon had been adopted by King Polybus. The disasterous truth
was at last revealed: Oedipus was the murderer of his father and hadcommitted incest with his mother. Utterly disgusted with himself,
Oedipus put out his own eyes and went into exile.
A spiritual analysis of the Oedipus tragedy
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Our analysis comprises six points.
PD
Sophocles presented *Oedipus Tyrannus* as a drama of human
responsibility and divine omnipotence. Sigmund Freud called this "an
uncomprehending secondary elaboration of the material." He analyzed
the story in his own materialistic way, known to every educated person
as Freud's theory of the Oedipus Complex. We propose that a Krsna
conscious analysis of Sophocles' play is more in keeping with
Sophocles' intent than Freud's. The reader interested in evidence of
the many "parallels between Greek and Indian eschatology" that tend
to support our way of analysis is invited to consult *Early Greek
Philosophy and the Orient* by Oxford scholar M.L. West.
1) Oedipus represents every soul covered by ignorance. Although
he was apparently wise and good, due to an illusion unbeknownst to
him he was actually foolish and wretched.
2) Oedipus was cast away by his father because he was fated to be
his father's rival. Similarly, the Supreme Father places the souls who
intend to usurp His position within the material nature.
3) In ignorance, Oedipus killed his own father and took his mother
as his wife. Similarly, the souls in Maya kill God consciousness with
atheistic, materialistic ideologies. Having disposed of God, they then
claim His *sakti* (feminine material energy) as their own to enjoy as
they like. Since the souls receive their bodies from the material
energy, she is actually their mother.
4) Jocasta begged Oedipus to stop his investigation. Similarly,
whenever an ignorant soul comes in contact with the truth, Maya
attempts to drag him back into ignorance by appealing, "where
ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Jocasta's suicide represents
the end that spiritual knowledge spells for illusory material happiness.
5) The tragedy of Oedipus gets its psychological power from a
hidden truth about every one of us: that in a profound philosophical
sense, we are guilty of patricide and incest with our mother.6) Oedipus' blinding himself represents the penance of spiritual
awakening. In order to see spiritually, the material eyes (or the
science of ignorance that hides rather than reveals the science of
truth) must be renounced.
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PD
"There must be a voice within us which is prepared to acknowledge
the compelling power of fate in the *Oedipus*," wrote Freud. "His
fate moves us only because it might have been our own, because the
oracle laid upon us before our birth the very curse which rested upon
him." The curse laid upon us before our birth is lust, which, as Krsna
explains in *Bhagavad-gita 3.39, is the eternal enemy of the soul. Lust
covers our innate spiritual knowledge and impells us to perform the
depraved acts even without our realizing it.
According to Vedic
injunction, *matrvat para-daresu*: every woman other than a man's
lawful wife is his mother, and every man other than a woman's lawful
husband is her son. Most people in the world today, of course, do not
view one another in this way, which is a Vedic method of purifying
human relationships of illicit attractions. Fated by the sinful *karma*
of previous lifetimes, born in a society ignorant of Vedic principles,
countless modern Oedipuses are driven by lust into the sexual
embrace of their mothers every day.
Is there any wonder, then, that all is not right today in the minds
of mankind? The *Bhagavad-gita* defines an unbalanced mind as one
that swings between the dualities of *sukha* (material pleasure) and
*dukha* (material distress).
As much as the mind lusts after
*sukha*, it must proportionately suffer *dukha*.
As we see
practically: the same world media that daily seduces us with the
genital character role model, likewise daily shocks us with real-life sex-
horror stories--a debauched, mentally unstable mother drowns her two
children; a psychopathic man murders a series of sex partners and
keeps their dead bodies in his closet for necrophilia; and so on. These
modern true-life tragedies, like the ancient Oedipus tale, dramatize
externally the private hell of our own uncontrolled minds. A voice
within us acknowledges the compelling power of the fate of all such
victims of lust, for we share their fate to one degree or another.
Krsna says to Uddhava, *durjayanam aham manah*: "Of things
that are difficult to conquer, I am the mind." (*Bhag*. 11.16.11) And
to Arjuna He says, "For one who has failed to conquer the mind, that
mind is his greatest enemy." (*B.g*. 6.6) We are fated by lust to
make an enemy of our real father. He, Manomaya, the Lord of theMind, therefore defeats us *by our own ignorance*. What is that
ignorance? It is, again, the subjective-idealist mistake of thinking *I
am the mind*. To think "I am the mind" is to think "I am Krsna, the
controller of matter." Yet by thinking "I am the mind" we come under
the control of matter. And thus we suffer.
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PD
The science of ignorance, psychology, has no solution for suffering,
because it is based upon the same misidentification with the mind that
causes the suffering in the first place. The mind is many-branched,
constantly manufacturing newer and newer speculations. Following
the ways of the mind, psychology is likewise many-branched. The
school Freud founded, psychoanalysis, is only one of at least seven
schools of psychology, and even the Freudian school itself is now
many-branched. Among the schools and their subdivisions there is no
overarching theory about human suffering, its causes, or its treatment.
One school says suffering is caused by biochemistry. Another school
says it is caused by social factors. Still another school says all
suffering can be traced to childhood. But whatever the theory may be,
the prescription is *never* the renunciation of the idea that "I am the
mind," and *never* the renunciation of lust. Psychology is the science
of ignorance precisely *because it attempts to shift the burden of
attachment from one material object to another*. A typical example
from Freudian psychology would be of a woman who has difficulties in
her marriage because of an unconscious attachment to her father; her
analyst would try to help her shift her attachment from her father to
her husband. But this is like shifting the weight of a heavy load from
one shoulder to another. Initially there may be relief. But eventually
the load will again become too troublesome to bear. Still, renunciation
seems too extreme for most people.
King Oedipus' dreadful
renunciation of his ignorant, wretched mode of existence may appear
to us to be a cure more drastic than the disease. But renunciation is
likely to be a drastic, forced affair so long as one remains part of an
ignorant society. Wherever ignorance predominates is called hell (cf
*Bhag.* 11.19.43). In the hellish association of people who are
addicted to bad habits, about the most a sober-minded person can do
to renounce bad habits is to forcibly repress desire. Such repression
itself is hellish and ultimately hopeless.
Join the society of love
Krsna tells Uddhava, *sat-sangah sarva-sangapaho*, "by
associating with My pure devotees one can destroy one's attachmentfor all objects of material sense gratification." (*Bhag.*11.12.2) The
society of devotees cultivates the mode of goodness by the method
Krsna calls *mat-arthesv anga-cesta*, "the offering of ordinary bodily
activities to Me." (*Bhag.*11.19.22) This is *varnasrama-dharma*,
by which the modes of passion and ignorance are overthrown,
pacifying the physical and mental instincts.
PD
But more than this, Krsna's devotees constantly hear and chant
about Him, worship Him, praise Him, serve Him, bow down before
Him, worship His devotees, see Him in all living beings, engage their
words in describing Him, offer their minds to Him, renounce all
material desires, wealth, sense pleasure and material happiness for
Him, and perform all kinds of pious works for Him. By all these
activities, the fully surrendered devotees *automatically develop love
for Krsna*.
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How can it be so easy to develop love for Krsna? The answer is
very simple: the true object of every soul's pure attraction is Krsna,
who loves all His parts and parcels so strongly that He stays in their
hearts even if they forget Him. Now, although Krsna loves both the
liberated and conditioned souls equally and for all time, it is up to us
who are conditioned to learn how to favorably reciprocate with His
love. That is why we must associate with His pure devotees. Krsna
tells Uddhava that repeatedly, age after age, demons, birds, beasts,
celestial demigods and fallen, low-grade human beings achieve His
eternal abode simply by associating with His devotees and learning
from them how to love the Lord in return for His love. (*Bhag.*
11.12.3,4) Even the Personified Vedas, who are liberated authorities of
Vedanta philosophy, aspire to love Krsna in the manner of the *gopis*,
His spiritual consorts headed by Srimati Radharani, who are embraced
by His mighty serpentine arms. Krsna explains why as follows. "My
dear Uddhava, just as great sages in *yoga* trance merge into self-
realization, like rivers merging into the ocean, and are thus not aware
of material names and forms, similarly, the *gopis* of Vrndavana were
so completely attached to Me within their minds that they could not
think of their own bodies, or of this world, or of their future lives.
Their entire consciousness was simply bound up in Me. All those
hundreds of thousands of *gopis*, understanding Me to be their most
charming lover and ardently desiring Me in this way, were unaware of
My actual position. Yet by intimately associating with Me, the *gopis*
attained Me, the Supreme Absolute Truth." (*Bhag.* 11.12.8,9) The
trance of *yoga* is called *samadhi*, a word formed from *sama*
(sameness) and *dhi* (intelligence). Great sages like the Personified
Vedas find the Lord in the Heart through intelligence purified bydisciplined meditation and exhaustive study of the Vedas. Like a river
flowing into the sea, the consciousness of the *yogi* follows the
course of pure intellect to attain the same transcendental nature as
that of the Lord, beyond all material conceptions. But Krsna says that
the *gopis* surpassed all material conceptions simply by their pure
love, even though they did not know, as do the Vedas, Krsna's position
as the Supreme Absolute Truth. The Vedas consider the *gopis* to be
the superior transcendentalists because even without scholarship,
austerity and meditation, they are yet most dear to the Lord. In
*Srimad-Bhagavatam* 11.14.20, Lord Krsna explains why. "My dear
Uddhava, the unalloyed devotional service rendered to Me by My
devotees brings Me under their control. I cannot be thus controlled by
those engaged in mystic yoga, Sankhya philosophy, pious work, Vedic
study, austerity or renunciation." Great sages who after many lifetimes
of effort come to the end of all knowledge (Vedanta), understanding
that the Absolute Truth is the supreme lovable object, then put
knowledge aside to serve the lotus feet of the Lord, following the
example of the best of the transcendentalists, who have pure love for
Krsna. In this way, Krsna becomes theirs.
The original sex psychology, and its perversion
The original and pure sex psychology is called *adi-rasa*, the
emotional life of conjugal love exchanged between Krsna and the
*gopis* in the spiritual world. Although the cultivation of the intellect
through Vedanta leads one to this conclusion, intellectualism must be
surpassed in order to actually enter into *adi-rasa*. It is the supreme
state of spiritual joy.
Atheistic intellectuals like Freud, on the other hand, lead people in
the opposite direction, to the conclusion that genital-love is the
original psychology.
Genital-love is the *adi-rasa* pervertedly
projected upon the cinema-screen of the false ego. The conditioned
souls sit in the darkness of ignorance, like persons in a darkened
cinema house, and view the illusions of lust, the supreme state of
material joy. Just as Vedantists abandon the cultivation of pure
intellect to enter into the *adi-rasa*, so do the materialists abandon
the intellectualism of atheistic thinkers to immerse themselves further
and further in illicit sex.
For instance, in Freud's so-called classical theory of psychoanalysis,
homosexuality is regarded as a mental disease. But the consequence
of Freud's philosophy, which focuses the mind on genital- love as the
all and everything of life, is that the mind of modern man has becomeso increasingly overwhelmed by lust that the line dividing normal and
abnormal sexual behavior keeps moving in the direction of the
abnormal. And because lust, as Krsna says, is all-devouring and never
satisfied (*B.g.* 3.37,39), there is no limit to extremes of sexual
behavior that may be someday included as normal behavior. Now, at
the end of the twentieth century in the Western world, homosexuality
has become largely acceptable. If we are so gauche as to declare in a
public forum that homosexuality is a mental disease, we can expect
vehement objections to be raised. Pederasty is still forbidden. But
there is a movement that argues for the its legalization. Pederasty
was quite legal in ancient Greece and Rome, so from a historical
standpoint, its becoming socially acceptable in our time is not
inconceivable.
Lust steadily erodes all moral restraints; because
modern mundane intellectuals promote lust, society has become
increasingly immoral. The atheistic thinkers equate immorality with
freedom. But this freedom is a dangerous illusion.
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When lust is unbound in the human form of life, the soul becomes
bound to take births in lower forms, that just befit its lusty proclivities.
Material nature provides bodies to suit every kind of sexual taste.
Earthworms have both male and female sex organs and mate
bisexually. Certain flowers produce an imitation form of a female
insect, which attracts the male of that species to sexually enjoy the
imitation female. The flowers are thus pollinated by the insects flying
from flower to flower. This is simultaneously sex between two species,
and sex with an artificial prop. There is no end to the variety of sex
life in lower species. This is where atheistic theories of sex psychology
inevitable lead. This is the greatest disaster for the soul. To avoid
falling victim to perverted sexual psychology and thus suffering untold
births in degraded bodies, we must renounce ignorance.
SELECTED BIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER THREE
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, *Bhagavad-
gita as it is*
Freud, Sigmund: *The Interpretation of Dreams*, 1900
Roochnik, David: *The Tragedy of Reason*
West, M.L.: *Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient*, 1971