Vyasadev
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 7
Chapter 7
What Prahlâda Learned in the Womb
In this chapter, to dissipate the doubts of his class friends, the sons of the demons, Prahlāda Mahārāja states how, within the womb of his mother, he had heard from the mouth of Nārada Muni, who had instructed him in bhāgavata-dharma.
When Hiraṇyakaśipu left his kingdom and went to the mountain known as Mandarācala to execute severe austerities, all the demons scattered. Hiraṇyakaśipu's wife, Kayādhu, was pregnant at that time, and the demigods, mistakenly thinking that she carried another demon in her womb, arrested her. Their plan was that as soon as the child took birth they would kill him. While they were taking Kayādhu to the heavenly planets, they met Nārada Muni, who stopped them from taking her away and took her to his āśrama until Hiraṇyakaśipu's return. In Nārada Muni's āśrama, Kayādhu prayed for the protection of the baby in her womb, and Nārada Muni reassured her and gave her instructions on spiritual knowledge. Taking advantage of those instructions, Prahlāda Mahārāja, although a small baby within the womb, listened very carefully. The spirit soul is always apart from the material body. There is no change in the spiritual form of the living entity. Any person above the bodily conception of life is pure and can receive transcendental knowledge. This transcendental knowledge is devotional service, and Prahlāda Mahārāja, while living in the womb of his mother, received instructions in devotional service from Nārada Muni. Any person engaged in the service of the Lord through the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master is immediately liberated, and being free from the clutches of māyā, he is relieved of all ignorance and material desires. The duty of everyone is to take shelter of the Supreme Lord and thus become free from all material desires. Regardless of the material condition in which one is situated, one can achieve this perfection. Devotional service is not dependent on the material activities of austerity, penance, mystic yoga or piety. Even without such assets, one can achieve devotional service through the mercy of a pure devotee.
7.7.1
smaran mad-anubhāṣitam
(1) Nârada Muni said [to Yudhishthhira, see 7.1: 13]: 'Thus being questioned by the daitya sons spoke he, the Asura who was a great devotee of the Lord, smiling to them remembering what I had told him.
When he was in the womb of his mother, Prahlāda Mahārāja listened to the words of Nārada Muni. One cannot imagine how the baby in embryo could hear Nārada, but this is spiritual life; progress in spiritual life cannot be obstructed by any material condition. This is called ahaituky apratihatā. Reception of spiritual knowledge is never checked by any material condition. Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja, from his very childhood, spoke spiritual knowledge to his class friends, and certainly it was effective, although all of them were children.
7.7.2
yuddhodyamaḿ paraḿ cakrur
(2) S'rî Prahlâda said: 'When our father left for Mandarâcala to do his austerities, were the godly of a great war effort against the Dânavâs.
7.7.3
pipīlikair ahir iva
diṣṭyā lokopatāpanaḥ
pāpena pāpo 'bhakṣīti
vadanto vāsavādayaḥ
(3) 'Thanks heaven is because of his own sins the sinner, who was always oppressing everyone, now like a serpent eaten by the ants [see: 7.3: 15-16 ]', so the ones of Indra said.
7.7.4-5
teṣām atibalodyogaḿ
niśamyāsura-yūthapāḥ
vadhyamānāḥ surair bhītā
nāvekṣyamāṇās tvaritāḥ
(4-5) Hearing how by their great display of violence one after the other was killed by them, fled the asura leaders in fear in all directions. In their great haste and desire to stay alive they forgot about their wives, children and wealth, homes, relatives, animals and the articles of their households.
When the great leaders of the demons, who were being killed one after another, saw the unprecedented exertion of the demigods in fighting, they began to flee, scattering themselves in all directions. Simply to protect their lives, they hastily fled from their homes, wives, children, animals and household paraphernalia. Paying no heed to all these, the demons simply fled.
7.7.6
(6) In the heat of their victory plundered the Suras the king's palace, while Indra to that occasion captured the queen, my mother.
7.7.7
nīyamānāḿ bhayodvignāḿ
yadṛcchayāgatas tatra
(7) The devarishi who happened to arrive there on the spot saw how she on the road, in great fear crying like a kurarî [an osprey], was led away.
7.7.8
(8) He said: 'O King of the Suras, you shouldn't drag this one away, she's innocent, release her right away, o greatest of fortune, she is the chaste wife of someone else!'
7.7.9
(9) Indra said: 'She carries the seed of the sura enemy in her womb, let her remain in our custody until she delivers. With that objective realized I will release her.
Indra, the King of heaven, decided to arrest Prahlāda Mahārāja's mother because he thought that another demon, another Hiraṇyakaśipu, was within her womb. The best course, he thought, was to kill the child when the child was born, and then the woman could be released.
7.7.10
ayaḿ niṣkilbiṣaḥ sākṣān
anantānucaro balī
(10) Nârada said: 'There is nothing wrong with this child, you should see him as a great devotee, the very best even; he, being such a stout servant, will not find his death by your hand.'
There have been many instances in which demons or nondevotees have attempted to kill a devotee, but they have never been able to destroy a great devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord promises in Bhagavad-gītā (9.31), kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati. This is a declaration by the Supreme Personality of Godhead that His devotee cannot be killed by demons. Prahlāda Mahārāja is the vivid example of the truth of this promise. Nārada Muni told the King of heaven, "it would be impossible for you to kill the child, even though you are demigods, and certainly it would be impossible for others."
7.7.11
ity uktas tāḿ vihāyendro
(11) Thus speaking to him, released Indra her out of respect for the devarishi his words, out of respect for someone dear to the Eternal One. In their devotion they circumambulated her and then returned to their heaven.
Although King Indra and the other demigods are exalted personalities, they were so obedient to Nārada Muni that King Indra immediately accepted Nārada Muni's words concerning Prahlāda Mahārāja. This is called understanding by the paramparā system. Indra and the demigods did not know that a great devotee was in the womb of Kayādhu, the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu, but they accepted the authoritative statements of Nārada Muni and immediately offered their respects to the devotee by circumambulating the woman in whose womb he was living. To understand God and the devotee by the paramparā system is the process of knowledge. There is no need to speculate about God and His devotee. One should accept the statements of a bona fide devotee and thus try to understand.
7.7.12
samānīya nijāśrame
āśvāsyehoṣyatāḿ vatse
(12) Thereafter took the rishi my mother to his âs'rama reassuring her: 'Stay here my child, until the arrival of your husband.'
7.7.13
tathety avātsīd devarṣer
tapaso na nyavartata
(13) As he so said lived she thus with the devarishi with nothing to fear from anywhere for as long as the penance of the daitya leader was not completed.
7.7.14
kṣemāyecchā-prasūtaye
(14) For the welfare of the child she was expecting was the faithful woman in her desire to deliver it, there unto Nârada of service with great dedication.
It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.19.17)
mātrā svasrā duhitrā vā
nāviviktāsano bhavet
One should not remain in a secluded place with a woman, even one's mother, sister, or daughter. Nonetheless, although one is strictly prohibited from staying with a woman in a secluded place, Nārada Muni gave shelter to Prahlāda Mahārāja's young mother, who rendered service to him with great devotion and faith. Does this mean that Nārada Muni transgressed the Vedic injunctions? Certainly he did not. Such injunctions are intended for mundane creatures, but Nārada Muni is transcendental to mundane categories. Nārada Muni is a great saint and is transcendentally situated. Therefore, although he was a young man, he could give shelter to a young woman and accept her service. Haridāsa Ṭhākura also spoke with a young woman, a prostitute, in the dead of night, but the woman could not deviate his mind. Instead, she became a Vaiṣṇavī, a pure devotee, by the benediction of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Ordinary persons, however, should not imitate such highly elevated devotees. Ordinary persons must strictly observe the rules and regulations by staying aloof from the association of women. No one should imitate Nārada Muni or Haridāsa Ṭhākura. It is said, vaiṣṇavera kriyā-mudrā vijñe nā bujhaya. Even if a man is very advanced in learning, he cannot understand the behavior of a Vaiṣṇava. Anyone can take shelter of a pure Vaiṣṇava, without fear. Therefore in the previous verse it has been distinctly said, devarṣer antike sākuto-bhayā: Kayādhu, the mother of Prahlāda Mahārāja, stayed under the protection of Nārada Muni without fear from any direction. Similarly, Nārada Muni, in his transcendental position, stayed with the young woman without fear of deviation. Nārada Muni, Haridāsa Ṭhākura and similar ācāryas especially empowered to broadcast the glories of the Lord cannot be brought down to the material platform. Therefore one is strictly forbidden to think that the ācārya is an ordinary human being (guruṣu nara-matiḥ).7.7.15
(15) The rishi as the man in control gave out of compassion her, in fact the both of us, instructions on the truth of dharma and spiritual knowledge, especially pointing it out to me without a tinge of material interest [compare 1.2: 7].
Here it is said, dharmasya tattvaḿ jñānaḿ ca. .. nirmalam. The word nirmalam refers to spotless dharma, spotless religion — or, in other words, bhāgavata-dharma. Ordinary ritualistic activities constitute contaminated religion, by which one benefits by developing material wealth and prosperity, but uncontaminated, pure religion consists of understanding one's relationship with God and acting accordingly, thus fulfilling the highest mission of life and returning home, back to Godhead. Prahlāda Mahārāja advised that one elevate oneself to the standard of bhāgavata-dharma from the very beginning of life (kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha [SB 7.6.1]). The Lord Himself also speaks of pure, uncontaminated religion when He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja: "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me." (Bg. 18.66) One must understand one's relationship with God and then act accordingly. This is bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata-dharma means bhakti-yoga.
vāsudeve bhagavati
janayaty āśu vairāgyaḿ
"By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world." (Bhāg. 1.2.7) To be situated on the platform of pure religion, one should perform bhakti-yoga in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva.7.7.16
strītvān mātus tirodadhe
ṛṣiṇānugṛhītaḿ māḿ
(16) That all was, indeed because it happened such a long time ago and because of my mothers female disposition, forgotten by her, but I, blessed by the sage, did not and even today has the recollection of it not left me [see also B.G. 9: 32].
In Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) the Lord says:
māḿ hi pārtha vyapāśritya
striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās
"O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me — though they be lowborn, women, vaiśyas [merchants] or śūdras [workers] — can approach the supreme destination." The word pāpa-yoni refers to those who are less than śūdras, but even though a woman may not be pāpa-yoni, because of being less intelligent she sometimes forgets devotional instructions. For those who are strong enough, however, there is no question of forgetting. Women are generally attached to material enjoyment, and because of this tendency they sometimes forget devotional instructions. But if even a woman practices devotional service strictly, according to the rules and regulations, the statement by the Lord Himself that she can return to Godhead (te 'pi yānti parāḿ gatim) is not at all astonishing. One must take shelter of the Lord and rigidly follow the rules and regulations. Then, regardless of what one is, one will return home, back to Godhead. Prahlāda Mahārāja's mother was more concerned with protecting the child in the womb and was very anxious to see her husband return. Therefore she could not consider very seriously the sublime instructions of Nārada Muni.7.7.17
(17) You yourselves too can have it from me if you believe in my words; provided a firm faith is the intelligence of the very best there just as well for women and small children as it is there for me [see also B.G. 18: 55].
These words of Prahlāda Mahārāja are very important in regard to knowledge descending by the disciplic succession. Even when Prahlāda Mahārāja was a baby within the womb of his mother, he became fully convinced of the existence of the supreme power because of hearing the powerful instructions of Nārada and understood how to attain perfection in life by bhakti-yoga. These are the most important understandings in spiritual knowledge.
yasya deve parā bhaktir
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
[ŚU 6.23]
"Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23)ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi
na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
"No one can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is by the blunt material senses. But He reveals Himself to the devotees, being pleased with them for their transcendental loving service unto Him." (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234)bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God." (Bg. 18.55)These are Vedic instructions. One must have full faith in the words of the spiritual master and similar faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then the real knowledge of ātmā and Paramātmā and the distinction between matter and spirit will be automatically revealed. This ātma-tattva, or spiritual knowledge, will be revealed within the core of a devotee's heart because of his having taken shelter of the lotus feet of a mahājana such as Prahlāda Mahārāja.
In this verse the word bhūyāt may be understood to mean "let there be." Prahlāda Mahārāja offers his blessings to his class friends, saying, "Also become faithful like me. Become bona fide Vaiṣṇavas." A devotee of the Lord desires for everyone to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Unfortunately, however, people sometimes do not have staunch faith in the words of the spiritual master who comes by the disciplic succession, and therefore they are unable to understand transcendental knowledge. The spiritual master must be in the line of authorized disciplic succession, like Prahlāda Mahārāja, who received the knowledge from Nārada. If the class friends of Prahlāda Mahārāja, the sons of demons, were to accept the truth through Prahlāda, they would certainly also become fully aware of transcendental knowledge.
The words vaiśāradī dhīḥ refer to intelligence concerning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is extremely expert. The Lord has created wonderful universes by His expert knowledge. Unless one is extremely expert, he cannot understand the expert management of the supreme expert. One can understand, however, if one is fortunate enough to meet a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, Mother Lakṣmī or the Kumāras. These four sampradāyas, or disciplic successions of knowledge and transcendence, are called the Brahma-sampradāya, Rudra-sampradāya, Śrī-sampradāya, and Kumāra-sampradāya. Sampradāya-vihīnā ye mantrās te niṣphalā matāḥ. The knowledge of the Supreme received from such a sampradāya, or disciplic succession, can give one enlightenment. If one does not take to the path of disciplic succession, it is not possible for one to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one understands the Supreme Lord through devotional service with faith in the disciplic succession and then advances further, he awakens his natural love for God, and then his success in life is assured.
7.7.18
kāleneśvara-mūrtinā
(18) Like in due course of time from the Controller of all Forms with flowers and fruits the body of a tree can be seen, can with one's body the six conditions be observed [of being born, existing as a person, growing, transforming, dwindling and dying] that one undergoes beginning with one's birth, but that does not apply to the soul [see also B.G. 2: 20].
This is a very important verse in understanding the difference between the spiritual soul and the material body. The soul is eternal, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.20):
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." The spirit soul is eternal, being freed from waste and change, which take place because of the material body. The example of a tree and its fruits and flowers is very simple and clear. A tree stands for many, many years, but with the seasonal changes its fruits and flowers undergo six transformations. The foolish theory of modern chemists that life can be produced by chemical interactions cannot be accepted as truth. The birth of a human being's material body takes place due to a mixture of the ovum and semen, but the history of birth is that although the ovum and semen mix together after sex, there is not always pregnancy. Unless the soul enters the mixture, there is no possibility of pregnancy, but when the soul takes shelter of the mixture the body takes birth, exists, grows, transforms and dwindles, and ultimately it is vanquished. The fruits and flowers of a tree seasonally come and go, but the tree continues to stand. Similarly, the transmigrating soul accepts various bodies, which undergo six transformations, but the soul remains permanently the same (ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaḿ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]). The soul is eternal and ever existing, but the bodies accepted by the soul are changing.
There are two kinds of soul — the Supreme Soul (the Personality of Godhead) and the individual soul (the living entity). As various bodily changes take place in the individual soul, different millenniums of creation take place in the Supreme Soul.
Since the body is the external feature of the soul, the soul is not dependent on the body; rather, the body is dependent on the soul. One who understands this truth should not be very much anxious about the maintenance of his body. There is no possibility of maintaining the body permanently or eternally. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ. This is the statement of Bhagavad-gītā (2.18). The material body is antavat (perishable), but the soul within the body is eternal (nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ). Lord Viṣṇu and the individual souls, who are part and parcel of Him, are both eternal. Nityo nityānāḿ cetanaś cetanānām. Lord Viṣṇu is the chief living being, whereas the individual living entities are parts of Lord Viṣṇu. All the various grades of bodies — from the gigantic universal body to the small body of an ant — are perishable, but the Supersoul and the soul, being equal in quality, both exist eternally. This is further explained in the next verses.
7.7.19-20
avikriyaḥ sva-dṛg hetur
vyāpako 'sańgy anāvṛtaḥ
etair dvādaśabhir vidvān
ātmano lakṣaṇaiḥ paraiḥ
dehādau mohajaḿ tyajet
(19-20) The soul is eternal, does not dwindle, is pure, the individual, the knower of the field, the original foundation, the unchanging, self-illumined, actual cause, pervading all, independent and unmoving. From these twelve symptoms of the soul is a conscious person impelled to give up the false conception of 'I' and 'mine' that originates from the illusion of everything that belongs to having a body [see also 6.4: 24].
Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly says, mamaivāḿśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ: "All the living entities are part of Me." Therefore the living entities are qualitatively the same as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the leader, the Supreme among all the living entities. In the Vedas it is said, nityo nityānāḿ cetanaś cetanānām: the Lord is the chief individual living entity, the leader of the subordinate living entities. Because the living entities are parts or samples of God, their qualities are not different from those of the Supreme Lord. The living entities have the same qualities as the Lord, just as a drop of sea water is composed of the same chemicals as the great sea itself. Thus there is oneness in quality but a difference in quantity. One can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by understanding the sample, the living entity, because all the qualities of God exist in a minute quantity in the living entities. There is oneness, but God is great whereas the living entities are extremely small. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.20). The living entities are smaller than the atom, but God is greater than the greatest. Our conception of greatness may be represented by the sky because we think of the sky as being unlimitedly big, but God is bigger than the sky. Similarly, we have knowledge that the living entities are smaller than atoms, being one ten-thousandth the size of the tip of a hair, yet the quality of being the supreme cause of all causes exists in the living entity as well as in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Indeed, it is due to the presence of the living entity that the body exists and bodily changes take place. Similarly, it is because the Supreme Lord is within this universe that the changes dictated by the material laws occur.
The word ekaḥ, meaning "individual," is significant. As explained in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4), mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni na cāhaḿ teṣv avasthitaḥ. Everything, material and spiritual, including earth, water, air, fire, sky and the living entities, exists on the platform of spirit soul. Although everything is an emanation from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should not think that the Supreme Lord is dependent upon anything else.
Both God and the living entity are fully conscious. As living entities, we are conscious of our bodily existence. Similarly, the Lord is conscious of the gigantic cosmic manifestation. This is confirmed in the Vedas. Yasmin dyauḥ pṛthivī cāntarīkṣam. Vijñātāram adhikena vijānīyāt. Ekam evādvitīyam. Ātma-jyotiḥ samrāḍ ihovāca. Sa imān lokān asṛjata. Satyaḿ jñānam anantam. Asańgo hy ayaḿ puruṣaḥ. pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate. All these Vedic injunctions prove that both the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the minute soul are individual. One is great, and the other is small, but both of them are the cause of all causes — the corporally limited and the universally unlimited.
We should always remember that although we are equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in quality, we are never equal to Him in quantity. Persons with a small fund of intelligence, finding themselves equal in quality with God, foolishly think that they are equal in quantity also. Their intelligence is called aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ — unpolished or contaminated intelligence. When such persons, after endeavoring hard for many, many lives to understand the supreme cause, are finally in actual knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, they surrender unto Him (vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19]). Thus they become great mahātmās, perfect souls. If one is fortunate enough to understand his relationship with God, knowing that God is great (vibhu) whereas the living entity is small (aṇu), he is perfect in knowledge. The individual exists in darkness when he thinks that he is the material body and that everything in relationship with the material body belongs to him. This is called ahaḿ mama (janasya moho 'yam ahaḿ mameti [SB 5.5.8]). This is illusion. One must give up his illusory conception and thus become fully aware of everything.
7.7.21
kṣetreṣu yogais tad-abhijña āpnuyāt
kṣetreṣu deheṣu tathātma-yogair
(21) Just as gold locked up in the stones, that by the golddiggers in different ways are won in the goldmines, by the experts easily is extracted, can from within the fields of organic bodies [see also B.G. 13: 1-4] likewise by spiritual processes the experts in telling the difference between matter and soul obtain the brahmin goal.
Here is a very good example concerning spiritual understanding. Foolish rascals, including so-called jñānīs, philosophers and scientists, cannot understand the existence of the soul within the body because they are lacking in spiritual knowledge. The Vedas enjoin, tad-vijñānārthaḿ sa gurum evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] to understand spiritual knowledge, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Unless one has been trained in geology, one cannot detect gold in stone. Similarly, unless one has been trained by a spiritual master, he cannot understand what is spirit and what is matter. Here it is said, yogais tad-abhijñaḥ. This indicates that one who has connected himself with spiritual knowledge can understand that there is a spiritual soul within the body. However, one who is in an animalistic conception of life and has no spiritual culture cannot understand. As an expert mineralogist or geologist can understand where there is gold and can then invest his money to dig there and chemically separate the gold from the ore, an expert spiritualist can understand where the soul is within matter. One who has not been trained cannot distinguish between gold and stone. Similarly, fools and rascals who have not learned from an expert spiritual master what is soul and what is matter cannot understand the existence of the soul within the body. To understand such knowledge, one must be trained in the mystic yoga system, or, finally, in the bhakti-yoga system. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Unless one takes shelter of the bhakti-yoga process, one cannot understand the existence of the soul within the body. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā begins by teaching:
dehino 'smin yathā dehe
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
"As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change." (Bg. 2.13) Thus the first instruction is that one should understand that the soul is within the body and is transmigrating from one body to another. This is the beginning of spiritual knowledge. Any person who is not expert in understanding this science or is unwilling to understand it remains in the bodily conception of life, or the animalistic conception of life, as confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke. .. sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]). Every member of human society should clearly understand the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā, for only in this way can one be spiritually elevated and automatically give up the false, illusory knowledge by which one thinks, "I am this body, and everything belonging to this body is mine [ahaḿ mameti SB 5.5.8]." This doggish conception should be rejected immediately. One should be prepared to understand the spirit soul and the supreme spirit, God, who are eternally related. Thus one may return home, back to Godhead, having solved all the problems of life.7.7.22
aṣṭau prakṛtayaḥ proktās
vikārāḥ ṣoḍaśācāryaiḥ
(22) The teachers of example speak of eight types of material energy [B.G. 7: 4] to which there are exactly three modes and sixteen modifications [consciousness, the senses of action and perception and the elements, see also 1.3: 1]; it is the individual living entity, the person, that connects all these.
As explained in the previous verse, kṣetreṣu deheṣu tathātma-yogair adhyātma-vid brahma-gatiḿ labheta: "A spiritually advanced person can understand how the spiritual particle exists within the body, and thus by cultivating spiritual knowledge he can attain perfection in spiritual life." The intelligent person who is expert in finding the self within the body must understand the eight external energies, which are listed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.4):
bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ
ahańkāra itīyaḿ me
"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego — all together these eight comprise My separated material energies." Bhūmi, earth, includes all the objects of sense perception — rūpa (form), rasa (taste), gandha (smell), śabda (sound) and sparśa (touch). Within the earth are the fragrance of roses, the taste of sweet fruit, and whatever else we want. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.10.4), sarva-kāma-dughā mahī: the earth (mahī) contains all our requirements. Thus the objects of sense perception are all present in bhūmi, or the earth. The gross material elements and subtle material elements (mind, intelligence and ahańkāra, false ego) constitute the total material energy.Within the total material energy are the three material modes or qualities. These qualities — sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa — belong not to the soul but to the material energy. It is because of the interaction of these three material modes of nature that the five knowledge-gathering senses, the five working senses and their controller, the mind, are manifested. Then, according to these modes, the living entity gets the opportunity to perform different types of karma with different types of knowledge, thinking, feeling and willing. Thus the bodily machine begins to work.
This has all been properly analyzed in sāńkhya-yoga by the great ācāryas, especially by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, in His incarnation as Devahūti-putra Kapila. This is indicated here by the word ācāryaiḥ. We need not follow anyone who is not an authorized ācārya. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: one can understand the truth fully when he has taken shelter of an expert ācārya.
The living entity is individual, but the body is a composition of many material elements. This is proved by the fact that as soon as the living entity quits this combination of material elements, it becomes a mere conglomeration of matter. The matter is qualitatively one, and the spiritual soul is qualitatively one with the Supreme. The Supreme is one, and the individual soul is one, but the individual soul is understood to be the master of the individual combination of material energy, whereas the Supreme Lord is the controller of the total material energy. The living entity is the master of his particular body, and according to his activities he is subjected to different types of pains and pleasures. However, although the Supreme Person, the Paramātmā, is also one, He is present as an individual in all the different bodies.
The material energy is in fact divided into twenty-four elements. The individual soul, the owner of the individual body, is a twenty-fifth subject, and above everything is Lord Viṣṇu as Paramātmā, the supreme controller, who is the twenty-sixth subject. When one understands all of these twenty-six subjects, he becomes adhyātma-vit, an expert in understanding the distinction between matter and spirit. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (13.3), kṣetra-kṣetrajñayor jñānam: understanding of the kṣetra (the constitution of the body) and of the individual soul and the Supersoul constitutes real jñāna, or knowledge. Unless one ultimately understands that the Supreme Lord is eternally related with the individual soul, one's knowledge is imperfect. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (7.19):
bahūnāḿ janmanām ante
"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." Everything, material and spiritual, consists of various energies of Vāsudeva, to whom the individual soul, the spiritual part of the Supreme Lord, is subordinate. Upon understanding this perfect knowledge, one surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead (vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19]).
7.7.23
atraiva mṛgyaḥ puruṣo
(23) The body that moving about and standing alone is but a combination of all of them together is thus of the dual and in this matter is it the [original of the] person that one must look for when one says 'not this, not that' [neti neti], which is the way to give up on what is not the soul.
7.7.24
vivekenośatātmanā
vimṛśadbhir asatvaraiḥ
(24) Being in touch with matter and being apart from it are, when they with the mindfulness to the soul are purified by mature discrimination, thus the ones reticent who are of serious analysis with the creation, maintenance and destruction.
A sober person can study himself and distinguish the soul from the body by analytical study. For example, when one considers his body — his head, his hands and so on — one can certainly understand the difference between the spirit soul and the body. No one says, "I head." Everyone says, "My head." Thus there are two entities — the head and "I." They are not identical, although they appear to be one conglomeration.
One may argue, "When we analyze the body we find a head, hands, legs, a belly, blood, bones, urine, stool and so on, but after everything is considered, where is the existence of the soul?" A sober man, however, avails himself of this Vedic instruction:
yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante; yena jātāni jīvanti; yat prayanty abhisaḿviśanti; tad vijijñāsasva; tad brahmeti.
(Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1.1)
Thus he can understand that the head, hands, legs and indeed the entire body have grown on the basis of the soul. If the soul is within, the body, head, hands and legs grow, but otherwise they do not. A dead child does not grow up, for the soul is not present. If by a careful analysis of the body one still cannot find the existence of the soul, this is due to his ignorance. How can a gross man fully engaged in materialistic activities understand the soul, which is a small particle of spirit one ten-thousandth the size of the tip of a hair? Such a person foolishly thinks that the material body has grown from a combination of chemicals, although he cannot find them. The Vedas inform us, however, that chemical combinations do not constitute the living force; the living force is the ātmā and Paramātmā, and the body grows on the basis of that living force. The fruit of a tree grows and undergoes six kinds of change because of the presence of the tree. If there were no tree, there could be no question of the growth and maturity of fruit. Therefore, beyond the existence of the body are the Paramātmā and ātmā within the body. This is the first understanding of spiritual knowledge explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg. 2.13]. The body exists because of the presence of the Supreme Lord and the jīva, which is part of the Lord. This is further explained by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (9.4):
mayā tatam idaḿ sarvaḿ
na cāhaḿ teṣv avasthitaḥ
"By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." The Supreme Soul exists everywhere. The Vedas enjoin, samaḿ khalv idaḿ brahma: everything is Brahman or an expansion of Brahman's energies. Sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva: everything rests on the Lord, just like pearls strung together on a thread. The thread is the principal Brahman. He is the supreme cause, the Supreme Lord upon whom everything rests (mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat [Bg. 7.7]). Thus we must study the ātmā and Paramātmā — the individual soul and the Supersoul — upon whom the entire material cosmic manifestation rests. This is explained by the Vedic statement yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāya nte. yena jātāni jīvanti.7.7.25
buddher jāgaraṇaḿ svapnaḥ
suṣuptir iti vṛttayaḥ
tā yenaivānubhūyante
(25) Of the intelligence there are the waking state, the dreaming, and the deep sleep; the One by whom those various modalities are perceived, that One apart from all, is the Original Person of Transcendence.
7.7.26
svarūpam ātmano budhyed
gandhair vāyum ivānvayāt
(26) One should understand the constitutional position of the soul in the out of intelligence [neti neti] refuting of the dividedness produced by the different actions of the three modes of nature which are alike scents that are carried by the air [see also B.G. 3: 42].
As already explained, there are three states to our existence, namely wakefulness, dreaming and deep sleep. In all three states, we have different experiences. Thus the soul is the observer of these three states. Actually, the activities of the body are not the activities of the soul. The soul is different from the body. Just as aromas are distinct from the material vehicle in which they are carried, the soul is unattached to material activities. This analysis can be considered by a person who is fully under the shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord. This is confirmed by the Vedic injunction yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaḿ vijñātaḿ bhavati. If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can automatically understand everything else. Because of not taking shelter of the Lord's lotus feet, even great scholars, scientists, philosophers and religionists are always bewildered. This is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32):
ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
Even though one may artificially think himself liberated from material contamination, if he has not taken shelter of the Lord's lotus feet his intelligence is polluted. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.42):indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur
Above the senses is the mind, above the mind is the intelligence, and above the intelligence is the soul. Ultimately, when one's intelligence becomes clear through devotional service, one is situated in buddhi-yoga. This also is explained in Bhagavad-gītā (dadāmi buddhi-yogaḿ taḿ yena mām upayānti te). When devotional service develops and one's intelligence becomes clear, one can use his intelligence to return home, back to Godhead.
7.7.27
etad dvāro hi saḿsāro
ajñāna-mūlo 'pārtho 'pi
(27) This ocean of matter rooting in ignorance that is without factual meaning, is of the living entity the door behind which he is confined by the operating modes of nature, like being caught in a dream.'
7.7.28
tasmād bhavadbhiḥ kartavyaḿ
karmaṇāḿ tri-guṇātmanām
pravāhoparamo dhiyaḥ
(28)' Therefore from the bottom of your heart you must burn the weeds of all karma of being conditioned by the modes of nature, in the yoga realizing the cessation of the stream of consciousness.
"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman." By the practice of bhakti-yoga, one immediately comes to the spiritual platform, transcendental to the actions and reactions of the three modes of material nature. The root of ignorance is material consciousness, which must be killed by spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The word bīja-nirharaṇam refers to burning the root cause of material life to ashes. In the Medinī dictionary, yoga is explained by its result: yoge 'pūrvārtha-samprāptau sańgati-dhyāna-yuktiṣu. When one is put into an awkward position because of ignorance, the process by which one can be freed from this entanglement is called yoga. This is also called liberation. Muktir hitvānyathā-rūpaḿ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. Mukti means giving up one's position in ignorance or illusion, by which one thinks in a way contrary to his constitutional position. Returning to one's constitutional position is called mukti, and the process by which one does this is called yoga. Thus yoga is above karma, jñāna and sāńkhya. Indeed, yoga is the ultimate goal of life. Kṛṣṇa therefore advised Arjuna to become a yogī (tasmād yogī bhavārjuna). Lord Kṛṣṇa further advised in Bhagavad-gītā that the first-class yogī is he who has come to the platform of devotional service.
yoginām api sarveṣāḿ
mad-gatenāntarātmanā
"Of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all." (Bg. 6.47) Thus one who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa within the core of his heart is the best yogī. By practicing this best of all yoga systems, one is liberated from the material condition.7.7.29
tatropāya-sahasrāṇām
ayaḿ bhagavatoditaḥ
(29) To that is of the thousands of processes this one, as offered by the supreme of devotion that [through the Lord and the devotee] relates to the Supreme Controller, the one process which, once followed, soon brings the peace [consider also B.G. 18: 66, and the footnote].
Among the linking processes that elevate one from bondage to material contamination, the one recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead should be accepted as the best. That process is clearly explained in Bhagavad-gītā, where the Lord says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja: [Bg. 18.66] "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me." This process is the best because the Lord assures, ahaḿ tvāḿ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ: "I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." There is no need to be worried, for the Lord Himself assures that He will care for His devotee and save him from the reactions of sinful activities. Material bondage is a result of sinful activity. Therefore, since the Lord assures that He will dissipate the results of fruitive material activities, there is no need to be worried. This process of understanding one's position as a spirit soul and then engaging oneself in devotional service is therefore the best. The entire Vedic program is based on this principle, and one can understand it as recommended in the Vedas:
yasya deve parā bhaktir
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
[ŚU 6.23]
"Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23) One must accept the pure devotee, the representative of God, as one's guru and then offer him all the respects one would offer the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the secret of success. For one who adopts this method, the perfect process is revealed. In this verse, the words yair añjasā ratiḥ indicate that by offering service and surrendering to the spiritual master, one is elevated to devotional service, and by performing devotional service one gradually becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of this attachment to the Lord, one can understand the Lord. In other words, one can understand what the Lord's position is, what our position is and what our relationship is. All this can be understood very easily by the simple method of bhakti-yoga. As soon as one is situated on the platform of bhakti-yoga, the root cause of one's suffering and material bondage is destroyed. This is clearly explained in the next verse, which gives the secret of success.7.7.30-31
īśvarārādhanena ca
tal-lińgekṣārhaṇādibhiḥ
(30-31) Properly attend to a guru with faith and devotion, offer all that was gained, be of association with the holy and the devoted and of worship unto the Controller, take heed of the relevant discourses, sing about His qualities and activities, meditate on the feet and observe the rules exercising respect for the deities.
In the previous verse it has been said that the process which immediately increases one's love and affection for the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the best of the many thousands of ways to become free from the entanglement of material existence. It is also said, dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guhāyām: actually the truth of religious principles is extremely confidential. Nonetheless, it can be understood very easily if one actually adopts the principles of religion. As it is said, dharmaḿ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam: [SB 6.3.19] the process of religion is enunciated by the Supreme Lord because He is the supreme authority. This is also indicated in the previous verse by the word bhagavatoditaḥ. The injunctions or directions of the Lord are infallible, and their benefits are fully assured. According to His directions, which are explained in this verse, the perfect form of religion is bhakti-yoga.
To practice bhakti-yoga, one must first accept a bona fide spiritual master. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.74-75), advises:
guru-pādāśrayas tasmāt
kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam
sādhu-vartmānuvartanam
One's first duty is to accept a bona fide spiritual master. The student or disciple should be very inquisitive; he should be eager to know the complete truth about eternal religion (sanātana-dharma). The words guru-śuśrūṣayā mean that one should personally serve the spiritual master by giving him bodily comforts, helping him in bathing, dressing, sleeping, eating and so on. This is called guru-śuśrūṣaṇam. A disciple should serve the spiritual master as a menial servant, and whatever he has in his possession should be dedicated to the spiritual master. prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. Everyone has his life, his wealth, his intelligence and his words, and all of them should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead through the via medium of the spiritual master. Everything should be offered to the spiritual master as a matter of duty, but the offering should be made to the spiritual master with heart and soul, not artificially to gain material prestige. This offering is called arpaṇa. Moreover, one should live among devotees, saintly persons, to learn the etiquette and proper behavior of devotional service. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that whatever is offered to the spiritual master should be offered with love and affection, not for material adoration. Similarly, it is recommended that one associate with devotees, but there must be some discrimination. Actually, a sādhu, a saintly person, must be saintly in his behavior (sādhavaḥ sad-ācārāḥ). Unless one adheres to the standard behavior, one's position as a sādhu, a saintly person, is not complete. Therefore a Vaiṣṇava, a sādhu, must completely adhere to the standard of behavior. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that a Vaiṣṇava, a person initiated into the Vaiṣṇava cult, should be offered the respect befitting a Vaiṣṇava, which means that he should be offered service and prayers. However, one should not associate with him if he is not a fit person with whom to associate.7.7.32
(32) Hari, the Supreme Lord is situated in all living beings; being of the highest esteem for all those creatures and for what drives them is one of understanding for the Supreme Controller.
Hariḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. This statement is sometimes misunderstood by unscrupulous persons who wrongly conclude that because Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is situated in every living entity, every living entity is therefore Hari. Such foolish persons do not distinguish between the ātmā and the Paramātmā, who are situated in every body. The ātma is the living entity, and the Paramātmā is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual living entity, however, is different from the Paramātmā, the Supreme Lord. Therefore hariḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu means that Hari is situated as Paramātmā, not as ātmā, although ātmā is a part of Paramātmā. Offering respect to every living entity means offering respect to the Paramātmā situated in every living entity. One should not misunderstand every living entity to be the Paramātmā. Sometimes unscrupulous persons designate a living entity as daridra-nārāyaṇa, svāmī-nārāyaṇa, this Nārāyaṇa or that Nārāyaṇa. One should clearly understand that although Nārāyaṇa is situated in the core of the heart of every living entity, the living entity never becomes Nārāyaṇa.
7.7.33
(33) Thus having subdued the six symptoms [of sensual weaknesses: lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness and jealousy] is the devotional service rendered unto the Controller, Vâsudeva, the Supreme Lord, of which the peace and love is obtained.
As mentioned in verses thirty and thirty-one, one's first duty is to approach the spiritual master, the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to begin rendering service to him. Prahlāda Mahārāja proposed that from the very beginning of life (kaumāra ācaret prājñaḥ) a small child should be trained to serve the spiritual master while living at the guru-kula. Brahmacārī guru-kule vasan dānto guror hitam (Bhāg. 7.12.1). This is the beginning of spiritual life. Guru-pādāśrayaḥ, sādhu-vartmānuvartanam, sad-dharma-pṛcchā. By following the instructions of the guru and the śāstras, the disciple attains the stage of devotional service and becomes unattached to possessions. Whatever he possesses he offers to the spiritual master, the guru, who engages him in śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23]. The disciple follows strictly and in this way learns how to control his senses. Then, by using his pure intelligence, he gradually becomes a lover of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī (ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-sańgaḥ). In this way one's life becomes perfect, and his attachment for Kṛṣṇa becomes positively manifested. In that stage, he is situated in ecstasy, experiencing bhāva and anubhāva, as explained in the following verse.
7.7.34
yadātiharṣotpulakāśru-gadgadaḿ
(34) When hearing about the uncommon activities and might of His exploits and His qualities as evinced by the pastimes of His different appearances, will of great jubilation there be horripilation, tears, a faltering voice and loud aloud chanting, shouting and dancing.
The Lord's activities are uncommon. For example, when He appeared as Lord Rāmacandra, He performed uncommon activities like bridging the ocean. Similarly, when Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared He raised the Govardhana Hill when He was only seven years of age. These are uncommon activities. Fools and rascals, who are not in the transcendental position, consider these uncommon activities of the Lord to be mythological, but when the pure devotee, the liberated person, hears about these uncommon activities of the Lord, he immediately becomes ecstatic and exhibits the symptoms of chanting, dancing, and crying very loudly and jubilantly. This is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee.
7.7.35
(35) Like when one is haunted by a ghost are there sometimes laughs, exclamations, meditative moods, exercises of respect towards other living beings, prolonged heavy breathing and utterances like: 'O Lord, Master of the World, Nârâyana!'; thus is one free from shame absorbed in thoughts about the True Self.
7.7.36
bhakti-prayogeṇa samety adhokṣajam
(36) This way engaged is one, thus thinking in love about the ultimate, liberated from all obstacles on one's path and is one in one's body and mind harmonized; the so very powerful seed of desire has then been burned by the exercise of bhakti of which one achieves the One Beyond it All [**].
When a devotee is completely purified, he becomes anyābhilāṣitā-śūnya. In other words, all of his material desires become zero, being burnt to ashes, and he exists either as the Lord's servant, friend, father, mother or conjugal lover. Because one thinks constantly in this way, one's present material body and mind are fully spiritualized, and the needs of one's material body completely vanish from one's existence. An iron rod put into a fire becomes warmer and warmer, and when it is red hot it is no longer an iron rod but fire. Similarly, when a devotee constantly engages in devotional service and thinks of the Lord in his original Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he no longer has any material activities, for his body is spiritualized. Advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very powerful, and therefore even during this life such a devotee has achieved the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.
7.7.37
adhokṣajālambham ihāśubhātmanaḥ
tato bhajadhvaḿ hṛdaye hṛd-īśvaram
(37) Constantly being in touch with Him, Adhokshaja, is the contaminated mind of an embodied being in this world and the repetitious of its material existence brought to a full stop; the advanced all know of that spiritual heaven of happiness and therefore, from the core of your heart, sing in devotion for your heart's true Controller [see also B.G. 18: 54].
Generally it is understood that by merging into the existence of Brahman, the impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth, one becomes completely happy. The words brahma-nirvāṇa refer to connecting with the Absolute Truth, who is realized in three features: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. One feels brahma-sukha, spiritual happiness, by merging into the impersonal Brahman because the brahmajyoti is the effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi [Bs. 5.40]. Yasya prabhā, the impersonal Brahman, consists of the rays of Kṛṣṇa's transcendental body. Therefore whatever transcendental bliss one feels from merging in Brahman is due to contact with Kṛṣṇa. Contact with Kṛṣṇa is perfect brahma-sukha. When the mind is in touch with the impersonal Brahman one becomes satisfied, but one must advance further to render service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for one's remaining merged in the Brahman effulgence is not always assured. As it is said, āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraḿ padaḿ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-ańghrayaḥ: [SB 10.2.32] one may merge in the Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, but there is a chance that one may fall because of not being acquainted with Adhokṣaja, or Vāsudeva. Of course, such brahma-sukha undoubtedly eliminates material happiness, but when one advances through impersonal Brahman and localized Paramātmā to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead in relationship with Him as a servant, friend, parent or conjugal lover, one's happiness becomes all-pervading. Then one automatically feels transcendental bliss, just as one becomes happy seeing the shining of the moon. One acquires natural happiness upon seeing the moon, but when one can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one's transcendental happiness increases hundreds and thousands of times. As soon as one is very intimately connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one surely becomes free from all material contamination. Yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtām. This cessation of all material happiness is called nirvṛti or nirvāṇa.
"If brahmānanda, the bliss of merging in the Brahman effulgence, were multiplied one hundred trillion times, it would still not equal even an atomic fragment of the ocean of transcendental bliss felt in devotional service."
brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
"One who is transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed toward all living entities. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto the Lord." (Bg. 18.54) If one advances further from the brahma-nirvāṇa platform, one enters the stage of devotional service (mad-bhaktiḿ labhate parām [Bg. 18.54]). The word adhokṣajālambham refers to keeping the mind always engaged in the Absolute Truth, who is beyond the mind and material speculation. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ. This is the result of Deity worship. By constantly engaging in the service of the Lord and thinking of His lotus feet, one is automatically freed from all material contamination. Thus the word brahma-nirvāṇa-sukham indicates that when one is in touch with the Absolute Truth, material sense gratification is completely nullified.
7.7.38
sāmānyataḥ kiḿ viṣayopapādanaiḥ
(38) And what would be the problem of that, o asura sons; what would in one's own exercise of always having a place for Him in one's heart, with Him always there as the Soul to one's soul and the Friend Unlimited, all together be the need of providing for all that the sensual pleasure would require [compare 7.6: 19 and B.G. 9: 26]?
Because the Personality of Godhead is supreme, no one is equal to Him, and no one is greater than Him. Nonetheless, if one is a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord is easily obtainable. The Lord is compared to the sky because the sky is vast yet within the reach of all, not only of human beings but even of the animals. The Supreme Lord, in His Paramātmā feature, exists as the best well-wisher and friend. As confirmed in the Vedas, sayujau sakhāyau. The Lord, in His Supersoul feature, always stays in the heart along with the living entity. The Lord is so friendly to the living entity that He remains within the heart so that one can always contact Him without difficulty. One can do this simply by devotional service (śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ smaranaḿ. pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]). As soon as one hears of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (kṛṣṇa-kīrtana), one immediately comes in touch with the Lord. A devotee immediately comes in touch with the Lord by any or all of the items of devotional service:
śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ
Therefore there is no difficulty in coming in contact with the Supreme Lord (ko 'ti-prayāsaḥ). On the other hand, going to hell requires great endeavor. If one wants to go to hell by illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication, he must acquire so many things. For illicit sex he must arrange for money for brothels, for meat-eating he must arrange for many slaughterhouses, for gambling he must arrange for casinos and hotels, and for intoxication he must open many breweries. Clearly, therefore, if one wants to go to hell he must endeavor very much, but if he wants to return home, back to Godhead, there is no difficult endeavor. To go back to Godhead, one may live alone anywhere, in any condition, and simply sit down, meditate upon the Supersoul and chant and hear about the Lord. Thus there is no difficulty in approaching the Lord. Adānta-gobhir viśatāḿ tamisram. Because of inability to control the senses, one must go through great endeavor to go to hell, but if one is sensible he can very easily obtain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because the Lord is always with him. By the simple method of śravaṇaḿ kīrtanaḿ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23], the Lord is satisfied. Indeed, the Lord says:
patraḿ puṣpaḿ phalaḿ toyaḿ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
"If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." (Bg. 9.26) One can meditate upon the Lord anywhere and everywhere. Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja advised his friends, the sons of the demons, to take this path back home, back to Godhead, without difficulty.7.7.39
(39) Wealth, women, one's animals, children and all that, houses, land, elephants, a treasury, all the luxury, all that economy and sense gratification is to the one whose lifespan is but short, the one who inevitably dies, lost in a second; how much pleasure can a thing so temporary bring?
This verse describes how the advocates of economic development are frustrated by the laws of nature. As the previous verse asks, kiḿ viṣayopapādanaiḥ: what is the actual benefit of so-called economic development? The history of the world has factually proved that attempts to increase economic development for bodily comfort through the advancement of material civilization have done nothing to remedy the inevitability of birth, death, old age and disease. Everyone has knowledge of huge empires throughout the history of the world — the Roman Empire, the Moghul Empire, the British Empire and so on — but all the societies engaged in such economic development (sarve 'rtha-kāmāḥ) have been frustrated by the laws of nature through periodic wars, pestilence, famine and so on. Thus all their attempts have been flickering and temporary. In this verse, therefore, it is said, kurvanti martyasya kiyat priyaḿ calāḥ: one may be very proud of possessing a vast empire, but such empires are impermanent; after one hundred or two hundred years, everything is finished. All such positions of economic development, although created with great endeavor and hardship, are vanquished very soon. Therefore they have been described as calāḥ. An intelligent man should conclude that material economic development is not at all pleasing. The entire world is described in Bhagavad-gītā as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [Bg. 8.15] — miserable and temporary. Economic development may be pleasing for some time, but it cannot endure. Thus many big businessmen are now very morose because they are being harassed by various plundering governments. In conclusion, why should one waste his time for so-called economic development, which is neither permanent nor pleasing to the soul?
On the other hand, our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is eternal. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema. The pure souls are eternally in love with Kṛṣṇa, and this permanent love, either as a servant, a friend, a parent or a conjugal lover, is not at all difficult to revive. Especially in this age, the concession is that simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra (harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam [Adi 17.21]) one revives his original relationship with God and thus becomes so happy that he does not want anything material. As enunciated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, na dhanaḿ na janaḿ na sundarīḿ kavitāḿ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye. A very advanced devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not want riches, followers or possessions. Rāyaḥ kalatraḿ paśavaḥ sutādayo gṛhā mahī kuñjara-kośa-bhūtayaḥ. The satisfaction of possessing material opulences, although perhaps of a different standard, is available even in the lives of dogs and hogs, who cannot revive their eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. In human life, however, our eternal, dormant relationship with Kṛṣṇa is possible to revive. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja has described this life as arthadam. Consequently, instead of wasting our time for economic development, which cannot give us any happiness, if we simply try to revive our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, we will properly utilize our lives.
7.7.40
kṣayiṣṇavaḥ sātiśayā na nirmalāḥ
tasmād adṛṣṭa-śruta-dūṣaṇaḿ paraḿ
bhaktyoktayeśaḿ bhajatātma-labdhaye
(40) Likewise are the higher destinations that are achieved by great sacrifice, all perishable, however more comfortable they might be; they are not free from disturbances and therefore is He of whom one has never seen or heard any fault, with the bhakti as it is explained, the Supreme Ruler to be worshiped for self-realization [see also B.G. 8: 16].
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaḿ viśanti [Bg. 9.21]. Even if one is promoted to the higher planetary systems by performing great sacrifices, which are accompanied by the sinful act of sacrificing animals, the standard of happiness in Svargaloka is also not free of disturbances. There is a similar struggle for existence even for the King of heaven, Indra. Thus there is no practical benefit in promoting oneself to the heavenly planets. Indeed, from the heavenly planets one must return to this earth after one has exhausted the results of his pious activities. In the Vedas it is said, tad yatheha karma jito lokaḥ kṣīyate evam evāmutra puṇya jito lokaḥ kṣīyata. As the material positions we acquire here by hard work are vanquished in due course of time, one's residence in the heavenly planets is also eventually vanquished. According to one's activities of piety in different degrees, one obtains different standards of life, but none of them are permanent, and therefore they are all impure. Consequently, one should not endeavor to be promoted to the higher planetary systems, only to return to this earth or descend still lower to the hellish planets. To stop this cycle of going up and coming down, one must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness
7.7.41
karoty ato viparyāsam
(41) From the material knowledge which is there for the purpose of the many activities in this world, one thinks oneselves highly advanced, but again and again is the unfailing result of a man waging like this to have arrived at the opposite.
7.7.42
sadāpnotīhayā duḥkham
anīhāyāḥ sukhāvṛtaḥ
(42) The determination of the karmi [the person sweating for results] to be happy, to be liberated from misery out here, is an ambition that always leads to the unhappiness that conceals the [lasting] happiness which follows from not craving the money.
"The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy." (Bg. 18.61) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul, is present in everyone's heart, and as the living entity desires, the Lord gives him facilities with which to work according to his ambitions in different grades of bodies. The body is just like an instrument by which the living entity moves according to false desires for happiness and thus suffers the pangs of birth, death, old age and disease in different standards of life. Everyone begins his activities with some plan and ambition, but actually, from the beginning of one's plan to the end, one does not derive any happiness. On the contrary, as soon as one begins acting according to his plan, his life of distress immediately begins. Therefore, one should not be ambitious to dissipate the unhappy conditions of life, for one cannot do anything about them. Ahańkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg. 3.27]. Although one is acting according to false ambitions, he thinks he can improve his material conditions by his activities. The Vedas enjoin that one should not try to increase happiness or decrease distress, for this is futile. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. One should work for self-realization, not for economic development, which is impossible to improve. Without endeavor, one can get the amount of happiness and distress for which he is destined, and one cannot change this. Therefore, it is better to use one's time for advancement in the spiritual life of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One should not waste his valuable life as a human being. It is better to utilize this life for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without ambitions for so-called happiness.
7.7.43
(43) The desirables one wishes for in the willful actions for which the living being entered the world, result indeed in the physical body that one has, but perishable as it is, is it one's enemy when one tries to leave it for what it is in order to embrace the spirit.
7.7.44
dārāgāra-dhanādayaḥ
bhṛtyāptā mamatāspadāḥ
(44) What more is there to say, ultimately is one separated from the children, wife, home, wealth and all, the realm, the treasury, the elephant, the ministers and servants and relatives, on which one based one's self-esteem.
7.7.45
anarthair artha-sańkāśair
nityānanda-rasodadheḥ
(45) What is the value of all of this to the soul? Most trivial with the perishable body appear these things to be necessary, but they are useless for the ocean full of the nectar of eternal happiness.
7.7.46
nirūpyatām iha svārthaḥ
niṣekādiṣv avasthāsu
(46) Let it be clear that all that someone in a material body in this world does for his personal benefit, o asura sons, beginning with lusting after sex, with the temporary leads to the heavy suffering that is the result of the workload of one's karma.
Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. The living entity receives a particular type of body according to his karma, or fruitive activities. The material pleasure derived in the material world from one's particular body is based on sexual pleasure: yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaḿ hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45]. The entire world is working so hard only for sexual pleasure. To enjoy sexual pleasure and maintain the status quo of material life, one must work very hard, and because of such activities, one prepares himself another material body. Prahlāda Mahārāja places this matter to his friends, the asuras, for their consideration. Asuras generally cannot understand that the objects of sexual pleasure, the so-called pleasure of materialistic life, depend on extremely hard labor.
7.7.47
dehenātmānuvartinā
(47) For the embodied one begins the karma with the body that one acquired as a consequence of the way one acted; because of that karma one acquires another body, and that repetition one indeed owes to one's ignorance.
The living entity's evolution through different types of bodies is conducted automatically by the laws of nature in bodies other than those of human beings. In other words, by the laws of nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni) the living entity evolves from lower grades of life to the human form. Because of his developed consciousness, however, the human being must understand the constitutional position of the living entity and understand why he must accept a material body. This chance is given to him by nature, but if he nonetheless acts like an animal, what is the benefit of his human life? In this life one must select the goal of life and act accordingly. Having received instructions from the spiritual master and the śāstra, one must be sufficiently intelligent. In the human form of life, one should not remain foolish and ignorant, but must inquire about his constitutional position. This is called athāto brahma jijñāsā. The human psychology gives rise to many questions, which various philosophers have considered and answered with various types of philosophy based upon mental concoction. This is not the way of liberation. The Vedic instructions say, tad-vijñānārthaḿ sa gurum evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] to solve the problems of life, one must accept a spiritual master. Tasmād guruḿ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: [SB 11.3.21] if one is actually serious in inquiring about the solution to material existence, one must approach a bona fide guru.
tad viddhi praṇipātena
"Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth." (Bg. 4.34) One must approach a bona fide spiritual master by surrendering himself (praṇipātena) and rendering service. An intelligent person must inquire from the spiritual master about the goal of life. A bona fide spiritual master can answer all such questions because he has seen the real truth. Even in ordinary activities, we first consider gain and loss, and then we act. Similarly, an intelligent person must consider the entire process of material existence and then act intelligently, following the directions of the bona fide spiritual master.
7.7.48
dharmāś ca yad-apāśrayāḥ
bhajatānīhayātmānam
(48) Therefore depends all the regulation of one's income and desires for sense gratification, as well as the religion thereto, on the glorification of the Soul above the soul, the Lord divinely indifferent who is the Controller [of the Time and the karma].
These are words of intelligence. Everyone should know that in every stage of life we are dependent upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the dharma, religion, which we accept should be that which is recommended by Prahlāda Mahārāja — bhāgavata-dharma. This is the instruction of Kṛṣṇa: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja [Bg. 18.66]. To take shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa means to act according to the rules and regulations of bhāgavata-dharma, devotional service. As far as economic development is concerned, we should discharge our occupational duties but fully depend on the lotus feet of the Lord for the results. Karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana: "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action." According to one's position, one should perform his duties, but for the results one should fully depend upon Kṛṣṇa. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings that our only desire should be to perform the duties of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We should not be misled by the karma-mīmāḿsā philosophy, which concludes that if we work seriously the results will come automatically. This is not a fact. The ultimate result depends upon the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In devotional service, therefore, the devotee completely depends upon the Lord and honestly performs his occupational duties. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja advised his friends to depend completely on Kṛṣṇa and worship Him in devotional service.
7.7.49
harir ātmeśvaraḥ priyaḥ
bhūtair mahadbhiḥ sva-kṛtaiḥ
(49) Of all living beings is He the Lord, the original source, the one pulling the strings, the Beloved, who by His different energies has created them in being the Individual Soul of all individual entities together.
7.7.50
devo 'suro manuṣyo vā
(50) Whether god or demon, man or ghost or a singer of heaven, in rendering service at Mukunda's feet do we all become equally fulfilled by all of His!
7.7.51-52
ṛṣitvaḿ vāsurātmajāḥ
harir anyad viḍambanam
(51-52) Being a perfect brahmin, a fine godly person or a saint, o asura descendants, will not suffice for pleasing Mukunda, nor do good conduct or vast learning. Neither will charity or austerity, worship, cleanliness or vows; the Lord is satisfied by unalloyed devotional service, the rest is but outer appearance [see also B.G. 9: 30 and 1.2: 8].
7.7.53
ātmaupamyena sarvatra
sarva-bhūtātmanīśvare
(53) Execute therefore, unto Hari the Supreme Lord the bhakti, o dânavâ sons, for He, omnipresent as the Soul and Controller of all beings alive, is alike one's own self.
7.7.54
(54) O Daityas, the ghosts and demons, the women and the laborers, the cowherds, the birds, the animals and all the sinners, without any doubt can all arrive at and be part of the qualities of the Infallible One, of Acyuta [see also B.G. 4: 9].
7.7.55
(55) Of the living entity in this world is the following considered to be the real transcendental self-interest: to care for association in the unalloyed devotion unto Govinda [He as the blessing of the cows] who is found everywhere [see also bhajan 1 and 2].
* To this there is also a significant verse in the S'vetâs'vatara Upanishad 6.23 :
yasya deve parâ bhaktir
yathâ deve tathâ gurau
tasyaite kathitâ hy arthâh
prakâs'ante mahâtmanah
"Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed."
** : S'rîla Madhvâcârya writes as follows:
tad-bhâva-bhâvah tad yathâ svarûpam bhaktih
kecid bhaktâ vinrityanti gâyanti ca yathepsitam
kecit tushnîm japanty eva kecit s'obhaya-kârinah
'The ecstatic condition of devotional service was completely exhibited by S'rî Caitanya Mahâprabhu, who sometimes danced, sometimes cried, sometimes sang, sometimes remained silent, and sometimes chanted the holy name of the Lord. That is perfect spiritual existence.'
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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