Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.39-40
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, December 8, 1974

Nitai: “(Thus the devotee who worships Me, the all-pervading Lord of the universe, in unflinching devotional service, gives up all aspirations to be promoted to heavenly planets) or to become happy in this world with wealth, children, cattle, home or anything in relationship with the body. I take him to the other side of birth and death.”

Prabhupada:

imam lokam tathaivamum atmanam ubhayayinam atmanam anu ye ceha ye rayah pasavo grhah

visrjya sarvan anyams ca mam evam visvato-mukham bhajanty ananyaya bhaktya tan mrtyor atiparaye

So Kapiladeva is describing bhakti-yoga. Yesterday, last night, we have already discussed the previous verse. Then bhaktas yesam aham priya. Bhakta means who takes Krsna or the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the most dears, dearest of everything. And atma sutas ca sakha guruh suhrdo daivam istam. Everything. “Krsna is my guru. Krsna is my atma because I am part and parcel of Krsna.” Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. “So Krsna is origin; I am part and parcel. Then Krsna is my…” One who wants to love Krsna as son… We have described already. Krsna is prepared to become your son because we love sons. We offer respect to guru. We offer respect to devata. So everything should be Krsna. Yesam aham priya atma sutas ca sakha, friend. Just like Arjuna. He accepted Krsna as his friend.

So everyone can accept Krsna in so many ways. So

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]

So you can love Krsna as sakha, as Arjuna did. And similarly, Pariksit Maharaja, he simply heard about Krsna, sravanam. These are the nine processes. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh: “Of Visnu, of Krsna.” Krsna and Visnu—the same. Not anyone else. You cannot say that “I am hearing about Mr. such and such, a great politician, sravanam.” No, that will not help you. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh. Smaranam, “also always thinking of Me.”

yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah [Bg. 6.47]

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]

That is sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam [SB 7.5.23], always thinking of Krsna. Simply if you… Meditation, that is meditation. If you meditate about Krsna always, then you become the first-class yogi. That is said in the Bhagavad-gita in the Sixth Chapter, yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana [Bg. 6.47]

So this movement is teaching everyone always to be Krsna conscious, to become first-class yogi, and take Krsna as everything—priya, suta, sakha, guru, everything. That is called bhakta. So in this way, visrjya sarvan anyams ca. Visrjya means giving up completely. If you want a son, all right, Krsna is prepared to become your son. If you want a lover, all right, Krsna is prepared to become your lover. If you want a friend, Krsna is prepared to become your friend. Everything Krsna is prepared, and that relationship is going on in this material world. Somebody… I love somebody as my son. I love somebody as my friend. I love somebody as my lover. I love somebody as my father. Or in this relationship, sakhyam. There is the mellows, the sakhya-bhava, vatsalya-bhava, vatsalyam, madhuryam, means loving platform, loving propensities. Krsna is prepared.

So if actually, if we want to become free from the clutches of this janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi… That is our problem. Here… We have discussed many times that we, as spirit soul, we are not this body. I am not this body. You are not this body. I am Brahman, aham brahmasmi. You are also Brahman, or spirit soul. But I am not Parabrahman. That is mistake. Neither you are Parabrahman. There are two words in the scriptures: Brahman and Parabrahman, atma and Paramatma, isvara and Paramesvara. The Mayavadis, they think there is no difference. No, there is difference. Otherwise why the word is used, “parama”? So I may be isvara, you may be isvara, but you are not Paramesvara. You are atma; I am atma. But I am not Paramatma; you are not Paramatma. So in this way the Paramatma, Paramesvara, that is Krsna. Therefore it is said, visrjya sarvan anyams ca mam (sic:) eva. Bhagavan says, Kapiladeva… Kapiladeva is also Krsna. He says, mam eva, “Only unto Me. And what is the difference between you and Me? No, I am visvato-mukham. I am all- pervading. You are not all-pervading.” That is the difference. You are sitting here. You are not at your home. But Krsna is here, being worshiped in this temple, but He is present in many, many millions of temples. Visvato-mukham. He is accepting devotional services from the devotee in many thousands of temples. Not only that. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that, what is that? I forget now. Now I am becoming old, I am forgetting.

Anyway, Krsna is Paramatma. He is present everywhere. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. That is visvato-mukham. He is living in everyone’s heart. That is the difference between Krsna and me. Krsna and me, that is the difference. Aham. Here it is said, mam eva visvato-mukham. Mam eva. Krsna or Bhagavan, He says mam eva, but what is the mam eva? He is not a person like me or you. He is visvato-mukham. He, Krsna, says in the Bhagavad-gita that this body is the field of, ksetra, field of activities. Idam sariram ksetram ity abhidhiyate. Ksetra-ksetrajna. And the owner of the body or the occupier of the body, not owner… We are not actually owner of this body. Because as soon as there will be order that “You vacate this body,” you have to immediately vacate. Therefore we are not owner; we are occupier. This is a machine given by Krsna.

isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati bhramayan sarva-bhutani yantrarudhani mayaya [Bg. 18.61]

This is a yantra, machine. I am not this machine, but this machine has been given to me to move. Just like you get a car to move. Especially mentioned, yantra. Yantra, just like a car is machine, but you are not the car. Suppose if you want a car to move. Your father gives you a car, maybe costly or not. That depends on the father’s condition or your condition. But the father or the…, you purchase. But here it is said that the…, because we want to move in this material world under difference desires, so Krsna gives us different types of bodies, 8,400,000 different species of yantra. They are just like machine, yantrarudhani, and that machine is made by maya, this material energy. That is not spiritual energy. I am spiritual energy; you are spiritual energy. But this vehicle, or the car, or the moving machine, that is not spiritual. That is material. Yantrarudhani mayaya. It is given by maya. Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih… We are in a machine made by maya. And so long we are on this machine, the machine will be old and you will have to change it for another machine. That is going on. That is called janma-mrtyu. That is called birth and death. Otherwise you and me, we have no birth and death. Na jayate na mriyate va kadacit. The soul, or the Brahman, he does not take birth or dies. Simply we change this machine, body. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20] You are driving one car. If the car is broken or it is smashed, that does not mean you are smashed. You may have some accident, but you are not finished; the car may be finished. Similarly, na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. Similarly, this body being finished, we are not finished. Tatha dehantara-praptih, we get another car, another body, just like we are getting different bodies in this life.

So the question is that if I am nityah sasvatah, na hanyate han… and my position is I never die, never take birth, so why I have been put into this condition, accepting this machine? That is real problem. That is real problem. Then what is the cause? That cause is that because I want to enjoy this material world. What is that material world? Here it is said, rayah pasavo grhah. Rayah means wealth. Formerly a man was considered to be wealthy—now also it is… Dhanyena dhanavan, gavaya dhanavan. If you have got many number of cows, then you are considered to be rich man, not papers. Nowadays, if you have got bunch of paper written “one thousand dollar,” but they are paper only. You are dhanavan. Formerly, practical. Not dhanavan by the papers, by the currency notes, but by how many cows you possess, because that is life. You get milk. And dhanyena, if you have got food grains, then you are rich, not by possessing some paper. No. Therefore it it said here, rayah pasavo grhah. So these are the material possession.

So, so long we are after this material possession, then we cannot get out of this circle of birth and death. But if we give up this material possession and you take Krsna and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and worship Him in bhakti-yoga, as it is said here, bhajanty ananyaya bhaktya… Ananyaya bhaktya. Ananyaya bhaktya means pure, not mixed. You should not mix bhakti with jnana and karma. That is pure bhakti. Anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam [BRS 1.1.11]. To… Just like there are many bhaktas. They are not pure bhaktas. Chanting, they are also chanting, but they are aspiring after mukti. So they are not pure bhaktas; they are adulterated bhaktas. A bhakta does not want mukti. We have discussed all things. Bhakta wants nothing from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He simply wants to serve Him. That’s all. And serve Him anukulyena, not whimsically, “I want to serve You as I like.” No. Anukulyena. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna served Krsna not whimsically, but as Krsna desired. Krsna… Arjuna was not willing to fight. He said, “No, Krsna, the other side, my friends and relatives, I cannot.” That is whimsical. But when he decided after hearing Bhagavad-gita, karisye vacanam tava [Bg. 18.73]: “Yes, I shall do what You are asking, to fight. I shall kill my grandfather. That’s all.” That is anukula. Anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama. You cannot serve Krsna by your whims. Anukulyena. Anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam, anukulyena krsnanusilanam [BRS 1.1.11]. You have to serve Krsna as He says. If I want a glass of water, you must give me a glass of water. You cannot say, “Prabhupada, milk is better than water. Why don’t you take one glass of milk?” That is not anukula. You must supply me what I want. That is anukula. That is favorable. I want to drink water. Why should you give me milk? That is anukula. That is bhakti. That is ananyaya… You don’t manufacture your own trademark of bhakti. No, that is not bhakti. It is not that…

Sometimes people say, some so-called bhaktas, they say that “I can worship the Lord in my own way.” No, that you cannot do. You have to… But because you have no connection with the Supreme Lord, you simply think a fiction, an idea, imagination, kalpana. The Mayavadis, they say kalpana. Brahma-rupa-kalpanah:Brahma has no rupa, but you imagine some rupa, or form.” That is Mayavada. That is not. Krsna has got rupa. Krsna is present here with His original rupa, as it is described in the Vedic literature.

venum kvanantam aravinda-dalayataksam barhavatamsam asitambuda-sundarangam kandarpa-koti-kamaniya-visesa-sobham govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami [Bs. 5.30]

His form. Isvarah paramah krsnah [Bs. 5.1]. Paramah. Isvarah paramah. We may be isvara; you may is isvara. That’s all right. But you are not Paramesvara; I am not Paramesvara. Isvarah paramah krsnah [Bs. 5.1] The Paramesvara is Krsna. Paramatma is Krsna. We are not. Ksetra-ksetrajna. Ksetrajna means one who knows about the ksetra. We are acting with this body. I am also acting, you are also acting, the dog is also acting, cat is also acting, the tree is also acting—according to the body. But within the body, dehino ’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam…, tatha deha… [Bg. 2.13], the owner, or the occupier of the body, is within.

So Krsna says, ksetrajnam capi mam viddhi: “You are ksetrajna. You are owner of this body. But I am also ksetrajna. So I am ksetrajna. I am the real proprietor. You are simply occupier. You are not the proprietor.” Yantrarudhani mayaya. He gives you. You wanted a body like this, oh, you have got, “Now take this body.” Krsna is giving all facilities to enjoy this material world. Sometimes you want the body of a devata like Brahma, Indra, Candra. “All right.” Yanti deva-vrata devan [Bg. 9.25]. It is said in the Bhagavad-gita, yanti deva-vratah. If you want to become devata, so you act like that. You qualify yourself, and you will go there, and you will get a body. You can get a body like Brahma or you can get the body of the worm in the stool, as you like. Now it is… “Or if you like a body like Me,” Krsna says, yanti mad-yajino ’pi mam. And if you want to get a body like Krsna, sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]that is our body, real body, sat, cit, ananda—then you can get it.

So our intelligence will be proved when we want to go back to home, back to Krsna. Mad-yaji mam… He gives you freedom, free pass. If you want to go to the demigod’s planet… Yanti deva…what is that? Deva-yajna. Huh?

Devotee: Pitrn yanti pitr-vratah.

Prabhupada: Pitrn yanti pitr-vratah.

Devotee: Bhutani…

Prabhupada: Bhutani yanti bhutejya mad-yajino ’pi ya… Now it is your choice. It is your choice, where you want to go. You have to go somewhere. You can remain here in this material world, you can remain to the higher planets, or you can go beyond these higher planets. Avyakto ’vyaktat sanatanah, paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah [Bg. 8.20] There is another nature. This is material nature, and there is another nature, spiritual nature. You can go there also, as you like. You are given full freedom. So here it is said… But wherever you go, it is said, abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino ’rjuna [Bg. 8.16]. Ksine punye punar martya-lokam visanti. You can go to the Svarga-loka, the heavenly planets, by your pious activities, but ksine punye, when your punya, pious acti…, resultant action of pious activities will be finished, then you have to come back again. Ksine punye punar martya-lokam…

But Krsna says, yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama: [Bg. 15.6] “If you, some way or other, you go to that place where I live…” Krsna lives everywhere. Krsna, isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese ’rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61], but He has got a special home. Just like the governor or the president, he can move many places, but still, he has got his own place, the raja-bhavan, like that. Similarly, Krsna’s place is Goloka Vrndavana. Cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-laksavrtesu sura… [Bs. 5.29] But goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutah [Bs. 5.37]. That is Krsna. He can live in Goloka Vrndavana like you see here Krsna, His Goloka Vrndavana. He is enjoying the company of Vrndavanesvari, Radharani. So goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhutah. That is visvato-mukham. Here it is said, visrjya sarvan anyams ca mam evam visvato-mukham.

So if you concentrate your devotion, your mind, your activities by this bhakti-yoga, sravanam kirtanam… Bhakti-yoga means first of all to hear. Without hearing, how you can become bhakta? You must know about Krsna. If you want to make friendship with somebody or make some transaction, we have got already our relationship, eternal relationship with Krsna, because we are part and parcel of Krsna. But some way or other, we have forgotten it now. Therefore in the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said, anadi-bahirmukha jiva, krsna bhuli’ gela. Some way or other, from long, long time, we have forgotten Krsna. Krsna bhuli’ gela. Ataeva krsna veda-purana kaila: “Therefore Krsna has made all these Vedas and Puranas and sastra, everything, Mahabharata.” Krsna comes there. This is… Because when we forget. Now this age is going on, Kali-yuga, forgetfulness. People are forgetting more and more Krsna. They are not interested anymore. But Krsna is interested. Krsna, because we are sons of Krsna… Just like a mad son, he is no more interested in home, or father, mother, but still, the father and mother is interested, that “This boy has gone out of home and is simply suffering.” Bhutva bhutva praliyate. “He has accepted one type of body and again giving it up, again accepting another body. In this way he is traveling,” abrahma-bhuvanal lokah, “all the planets, all the species of life. So let Me try to rescue him.” Therefore Krsna comes. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata, tadatmanam srjamy aham [Bg. 4.7]

So we are falsely engaged in this material world, illusion. Ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair janasya moho ’yam. This material world, it is not our home. How we can say it is home? I am living in this body, in this home, say, for fifty, sixty, or hundred years, again get out. So how I can say it is my home? I am nitya. I must have an eternal home. Why I am this temporary? This is knowledge. This is knowledge. Unless one is not awakened to this knowledge, then he is a fool, rascal. Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke [SB 10.84.13]. One who is thinking, “This is my body. This is I am,” sa eva go-kharah: he is no better than animals. There are dog thinking.

So if a man thinks that “I am this body,” then what is this position? He is no better than a dog. You should not be that. This human form of life is meant for this inquiry, athato brahma-jijnasa. “If I am Brahman, then what is…? Brahman means eternal. So why I am busy with these bodily affairs?” This is called brahma-jijnasa. And if you become very learned scholar in the Vedanta and busy with these bodily affairs, that is another foolishness. If you actually Vedantist, then you should be inquiring that “I am eternal. Why I am put into this temporary body, and on account of this body, I am subjected to so many miserable condition of material life? Why I should remain in this condition? How I can get released from this condition?” That is human life. That is human life. And tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. If you actually very much eager to inquire about it, then you require a guru. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam: [SB 11.3.21] “One who is inquisitive about spiritual life, about spiritual identity,” tasmat, “therefore,” gurum prapadyeta, “you must seek out a bona fide guru.”

So who can be better guru than Krsna? He is the original guru. Here it is stated, guruh. In the previous verse, yesam aham priya atma sutas ca sakha guruh. Guruh. So you don’t accept anyone guru, but accept guru, Krsna. And Krsna is instructing Bhagavad-gita as guru. Sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam prapannam. Arjuna says, “My dear Krsna, I am accepting as my guru. I am Your sisya.” So everyone should become like that, accept Krsna as guru. Or Krsna’s representative. You can say, “Where is Krsna? I don’t find.” But Krsna’s representative is there. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita:

tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah [Bg. 4.34]

So one who knows Krsna perfectly, he is Krsna’s representative. And to know Krsna is very difficult task? No. Everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gita. But if you, like a rascal, interpret in a different way, then you are not a guru. You are a goru, then you are animal. You are guru so long you take Bhagavad-gita as it is.

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)