Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.11-12 Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse and reads synonyms) etavan eva yajatam iha nihsreyasodayah bhagavaty acalo bhavo yad bhagavata-sangatah Prabhupada: This is the important factor. Now, translation? Pradyumna: “All the different kinds of worshipers of multi-demigods can attain the highest perfectional benediction, which is spontaneous attraction unflinchingly fixed upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by the association of the pure devotee of the Lord.” Prabhupada: This is the secret, association of the pure devotee of the Lord. Without association of pure devotee of Lord, nobody can come to the stage, unflinching faith and devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I think last purport we did not read? Read it. Pradyumna: No, we didn’t read the last one. “Purport. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krsna is described in the Bhagavad-gita as the Purusottama, or the Supreme Personality. It is He only who can award liberation to the impersonalists by absorbing such aspirants in the brahmajyoti, the bodily rays of the Lord. The brahmajyoti is not separate from the Lord, as the glowing sun ray is not independent of the sun disc. Therefore one who desires to merge into the supreme impersonal brahmajyoti must also worship the Lord by bhakti-yoga, as recommended here in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Bhakti-yoga is especially stressed here as the means of all perfection. In the previous chapters it has been stated that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of both karma-yoga and jnana-yoga, and in the same way in this chapter it is emphatically declared that bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal of the different varieties of worship of the different demigods. Bhakti-yoga, thus being the supreme means of self-realization, is recommended here. Everyone must therefore seriously take up the methods of bhakti-yoga, even though one aspires for material enjoyment or liberation from material bondage. Akamah is one who has no material desire. A living being, naturally being the part and parcel of the supreme whole purusam purnam, has as his natural function to serve the Supreme Being, just as the parts and parcels of the body, or the limbs of the body, are naturally meant to serve the complete body. Desireless means, therefore, not to be inert like the stone, but to be conscious of one’s actual position and thus desire satisfaction only from the Supreme Lord. Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained this desirelessness as bhajaniya parama-purusa-sukha-matra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbha. This means that one should feel happy only by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord. This intuition of the living being is sometimes manifested even during the conditioned stage of a living being in the material world, and such intuition is expressed in the manner of altruism, philanthropy, socialism, communism, etc., by the undeveloped minds of less intelligent persons. In the mundane field such an outlook of doing good to others in the form of society, community, family, country, or humanity is a partial manifestation of the same original feelings in which a pure living entity feels happiness by the happiness of the Supreme Lord. Such superb feelings were exhibited by the damsels of Vrajabhumi for the happiness of the Lord. The gopis loved the Lord without any return, and this is the perfect exhibition of the akama spirit. Kama spirit, or the desire for one’s own satisfaction, is fully exhibited in the material world, whereas the spirit of akama is fully exhibited in the spiritual world. Thoughts of becoming one with the Lord, or being merged in the brahmajyoti, can also be exhibitions of kama spirit if they are desires for one’s own satisfaction to be free from the material miseries. A pure devotee does not want liberation…” Prabhupada: Prahlada Maharaja said that “I don’t want my liberation alone. Unless I deliver all these fools who are rotting in this material world, I do not want my personal liberation.” This is Vaisnava philosophy. The Mayavadi philosophers, they are going to Himalayas or some secluded place for personal benefit. But a Vaisnava, he has no desire for personal benefit. The personal benefit is already there in Vaisnava because he’s in touch with the Supreme Lord by his service. Prahlada Maharaja said, naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaranyas tvad-virya-gayana-mahamrta-magna-cittah soce tato vimukha-cetasa indriyartha-maya-sukhaya bharam udvahato vimudhan [SB 7.9.43] “My dear Lord, I am not anxious for myself. Because I have got the thing. I have no problem how to cross over the nescience or how to go to Vaikuntha or to become liberated. These problems are solved.” Why? How you have solved? Now, tvad-virya-gayana-mahamrta-magna-cittah. “Because I am engaged always in glorifying your activities, so my problem is solved.” Then what is your problem? The problem is soce. “I am lamenting,” soce tato vimukha-cetasah, “those who are averse to You. Being averse to You, they are working so hard,” maya-sukhaya, “for so- called happiness, these rascals. So I am simply lamenting for them.” This is our Vaisnava philosophy. One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna, he has no problem. But his only problem is how to deliver the rascals who are simply working hard forgetting Krsna. That is the problem. Go on. “A pure devotee does not want liberation …” Pradyumna: (continues reading to end of purport to text 10) Prabhupada: Next? Pradyumna: All living entities in different statuses of life within the material creation, beginning from the first demigod, Brahma, down to the small ant, are conditioned under the law of material nature, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity in his pure state is conscious of the fact that he is a part and parcel of the Lord, but when he is thrown into the material world on account of his desire to lord it over material energy, he becomes conditioned by the three modes of material nature and thus struggles for existence for the highest benefit. This struggle for existence is something like following the will-o’-the-wisp under the spell of material enjoyment. All plans for material enjoyment, either by worship of different demigods as described in the previous verses of this chapter or by modernized advancement of scientific knowledge without the help of God or demigod, are illusory only, for despite all such plans for happiness, the conditioned living being within the compass of material creation can never solve the problems of life, namely birth, death, old age and disease. The history of the universe is full of such planmakers, and many kings and emperors come and go, leaving a planmaking story only. But the prime problems of life remain unsolved despite all endeavors by such planmakers. Actually human life is meant for making a solution to the problems of life. One can never solve such problems by satisfying the different demigods, by different modes of worship, or by so-called scientific advancement in knowledge without the help of God or the demigods. Apart from the gross materialists, who care very little either for God or for the demigods, the Vedas recommend worship of different demigods for different benefits, and so the demigods are neither false nor imaginary. The demigods are as factual as we are, but they are much more powerful due to their being engaged in the direct service of the Lord in managing different departments in the universal government. The Bhagavad-gita affirms this, and the different planets of the demigods are mentioned there, including the one of the supreme demigod, Lord Brahma. The gross materialists do not believe in the existence of God or the demigods. Nor do they believe that different planets are dominated by different demigods. They are creating a great commotion about reaching the closest celestial body, Candraloka, or the moon, but even after much mechanical research they have only very scanty information of this moon, and in spite of much false advertisement for selling land on the moon, the puffed-up scientists or gross materialists cannot live there, and what to speak of reaching the other planets, which they are unable even to count. However, the followers of the Vedas have a different method of acquiring knowledge. They accept the statements of the Vedic literatures as authority in toto, as we have already discussed in Canto One, and therefore they have full and reasonable knowledge of God and demigods and of their different residential planets situated within the compass of the material world and beyond the limit of the material sky. The most authentic Vedic literature, accepted by the great Indian acaryas like Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, Visnusvami, Nimbarka and Caitanya and studied by all important personalities of the world, is the Bhagavad-gita, in which the worship of the demigods and their respective residential planets are mentioned. The Bhagavad-gita (9.25) affirms: yanti deva-vrata devan pitrn yanti pitr-vratah bhutani yanti bhutejya yanti mad-yajino ’pi mam “The worshipers of demigods reach the respective planets of the demigods, and the worshipers of forefathers reach the planets of the forefathers. The gross materialist remains in the different material planets, but the devotees of the Lord reach the kingdom of God.” We also have information from the Bhagavad-gita that all the planets within the material world, including Brahmaloka, are but temporarily situated, and after a fixed period they are all annihilated. Therefore the demigods and their followers are all annihilated at the period of devastation, but one who reaches the kingdom of God gets a permanent share in eternal life. That is the verdict of Vedic literature. The worshipers of the demigods have one facility more than the unbelievers due to their being convinced of the Vedic version, by which they can get information of the benefit of worshiping the Supreme Lord in the association of the devotees of the Lord. The gross materialist, however, without any faith in the Vedic version, remains eternally in darkness, driven by a false conviction on the basis of imperfect experimental knowledge, or so- called material science, which can never reach into the realm of transcendental knowledge. Therefore unless the gross materialists or the worshipers of the temporary demigods come in contact with a transcendentalist like the pure devotee of the Lord, their attempts are simply a waste of energy. Only by the grace of the divine personalities, the pure devotees of the Lord, can one achieve pure devotion, which is the highest perfection of human life. Only a pure devotee of the Lord can show one the right way of progressive life. Otherwise both the materialistic way of life, without any information of God or the demigods, and the life engaged in the worship of demigods, in pursuit of temporary material enjoyments, are different phases of phantasmagoria. They are nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gita also, but the Bhagavad-gita can be understood in the association of pure devotees only, and not by the interpretations of politicians or dry philosophical speculators. Prabhupada: So, next? Pradyumna: (leads chanting) jnanam yad apratinivrtta-gunormi-cakram atma-prasada uta yatra gunesv asangah kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogah ko nirvrto hari-kathasu ratim na kuryat Prabhupada: (interrupting, correcting Pradyumna’s pronunciation) In the text, it is yada. So why it is divided in that way “yad a”? The text is yada. Yada means “when.” Jnanam yada pratinivrtta-gunormi-cakram. Read it. Pradyumna: (continues chanting, then devotees chant verse) Prabhupada: jnanam yada pratinivrtta-gunormi-cakram atma-prasada uta yatra gunesv asangah kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogah ko nirvrto hari-kathasu ratim na kuryat Word meaning? (synonyms read) Jnanam yada pratinivrtta-gunormi-cakram. Knowledge, progressive knowledge, so, when it comes to the real standard, yada, jnanam yada, when the knowledge or speculative empiric knowledge, pratinivrtta-gunormi-cakram, no more affected by the waves of these modes of nature … Our present conditioned stage is due to our being carried away by the waves of material nature. We are being carried away. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has translated in his song, keno mayar bose, jaccho bhese’, Khaccho habudubu bhai. “Why you are being carried away by the waves of maya, and sometimes drowned and sometimes on the surface? Why you are taking so much trouble?” Jiv krsna-das, e biswas, korle to’ ar duhkho nai. As soon as you take it… It is a fact, but you are misled. It is a fact that you are eternal servant of Krsna, but artificially you are thinking that you are master. You are master, you are God, you are enjoyer, you are this, you are that. That is artificial. So real knowledge means when one is not any more disturbed by the influence of the modes of material nature. The modes of material nature is working. Somebody is influenced by passion, somebody is influenced by ignorance, and somebody is influenced by goodness also. That is also one nature. If, on the platform of goodness, if one stops, then he’s also bound, he’s also conditioned. “I am very learned man; I know what is Brahman,” or “I am living very nice peaceful life.” These are the products of jnana. But if we remain compact within the boundary of such knowledge and do not make further progress, then that is also bondage. That is also bondage. Therefore one must come to the sense where these waves of material nature cannot act. That is real knowledge. Therefore it is said, jnanam yada pratinivrtta-gunormi. Urmi means waves. Cakram, in the whirlpool of the waves of the ocean of nescience… Just like they are taking pleasure in swimming with the waves. It is voluntarily taking shelter of the ocean, and they like being tossed by the waves. And sometimes they are drowned also. That is our position. We have come to enjoy this ocean of material nescience, and there is tossing, and we are thinking we are enjoying. So when one comes to the knowledge that “This is not my platform of enjoyment. Let me go to the land,” then he’s safe. Then he’s safe. Otherwise, he may think that he’s enjoying, but he’s actually being tossed by the waves of this ocean. And this is knowledge. Jnanam yada pratinivrtta. Atma-prasada uta yatra gunesv asangah. Atma-prasada. I am eternal part and parcel of Krsna. I may be very minute part, but because I am now attached to the complete machine, now I am safe. This example I have given so many times. A big machine and a small screw, part of it. When it is detached from the machine, it has no value. But when it is again attached to the machine, even it is very insignificant, small, it has got value. Similarly, atma-prasada uta yatra gunesv asangah. Asangah, no more connection with this material nature. But I have my connection with Krsna. It may be little, very. I may be very minute, but that, I mean to say, connection is very valuable. I have given many times this example that a car running at a speed of 60 miles, and a cycle is running at the rate of 10 miles, but as soon as the cyclist catches the car, the cyclist also runs in the 60 miles. So similarly, instead of trying to satisfy our senses independently, if we join with Krsna in His rasa dance, as cowherd boys, gopis, we join with Krsna, then you get the same pleasure as Krsna. This is Krsna consciousness. Don’t try to enjoy independently. Just like here, in this temple. Every one of us trying to enjoy life in connection with Krsna. As soon as we are disconnected with Krsna consciousness, this kind of foodstuff or this kind of living, simple living, will not satisfy you. You’ll be tossed by the waves of material nature. As others are being… They are also eating; we are also eating. But in our eating, we have got full satisfaction. And they have no satisfaction. They are eating sometimes here, sometimes there, this restaurant, that restaurant, this place… So many advertisements. So as soon as we dovetail our activities with Krsna, or Krsna’s activities, that is perfection. Jnanam yada apratihata ahaituky apratihata. That is real activity. Sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje [SB 1.2.6] The activities which… yato bhaktir adhoksaje, which is meant for rendering service to the Lord, apratihata, without being checked. Here (it) is said yada… Apratihata. Or apratihata. Both ways, you can take. That is kaivalyam. Kaivalya means oneness. When I forget myself… The same example: the screw is no longer a screw; it is the whole machine. It is the whole machine. So similarly, kaivalya means oneness. There is no other anything. Sarvam khalv idam brahma, everything Brahman. This stage can be achieved when one is engaged, dovetailed in the service of the Lord. Therefore the last line says, ko nirvrto hari-kathasu ratim na kuryat. This is the highest perfectional stage of life. So anyone, one who, anyone who wants blissful life… What is nirvrtah? Hm? What is the meaning of nirvrtah? Srutasrava: “Absorbed in.” Prabhupada: Absorbed in. So anyone who wants to be in transcendental pleasure, absorbed in transcendental pleasure, how he will decline to hear the hari-katha, transcendental messages of Hari, Supreme Personality of Godhead? Hari-katha. Hari-kathasu. This is hari-katha. In our temple, whatever we discuss, that is hari-katha or krsna-katha. Yare dekha tare kaha krsna-upadesa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Hari-katha. Now read…no. Time is up. Pradyumna: Translation? Prabhupada: No, we can read tomorrow. Have kirtana. (devotees offer obeisances.) Begin. Chant. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Los Angeles, May 29, 1972