VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
10.87.26
sva-kṛtam anupraviṣṭam idam ātmatayāvasitam
(26) The [temporal of forms and thus the] untrue threefold and its [mind-]phenomena up to the human beings, appear in You as if they would be true, but they are nevertheless by the knowers of the Soul who consider the entirety of this world as something true [viz. as Your living body] not rejected, because they are transformations non-different from Him. They, created by Him who enters [His creation] Himself, are as such recognized as being of the True Self in the same sense as gold is not different when it is assigned different forms [see also 6.16: 22].
In one sense the visible world is real (sat), while in another it is not (asat). The substance of this universe is solid fact, being the Lord's external energy, but the forms that Māyā imposes on this substance are only temporary. And because material forms are temporary manifestations, those who consider them permanent are in illusion. Impersonalistic scholars, however, misinterpret this division of sat and asat; denying commonsense reality, they declare that not only material form but also material substance is unreal, and they confuse their own spiritual essence with that of the Absolute Whole. A Māyāvādī philosopher would take the words spoken by the personified Vedas in the preceding prayer — tri-guṇa-mayaḥ pumān iti bhidā — as negating any distinction between the Paramātmā and the jīva soul. He would claim that since the jīva's material embodiment is an ephemeral display of the three modes of nature, when the jīva's ignorance is destroyed by knowledge, he becomes the Paramātmā, the Supreme Soul; bondage, liberation and the manifest world are all unreal creations of ignorance. In response to such ideas, the Vedas here clarify the factual relationship between sat and asat.
In the śruti literature we find this statement: asato 'dhimano 'sṛjyata, manaḥ prajāpatim asṛjat, prajāpatiḥ prajā asṛjat, tad vā idaḿ manasy eva paramaḿ pratiṣṭhitaḿ yad idaḿ kiḿ ca. "The supreme mind was originally created from asat. This mind created Prajāpati, and Prajāpati created all living beings. Thus mind alone is the ultimate foundation of everything that exists in this world." Although impersonalists might misread this to mean that all manifest existence is based on the unreality of illusion (asat), the apparently contrary use of the word asat in this passage actually refers to the original cause, the Supreme Godhead, because He is transcendental to material existence (sat). The logic of the Vedānta-sūtra (2.1.17) corroborates this interpretation while denying the wrong interpretation of the impersonalists: asad-vyapadeśān neti cen na dharmāntareṇa vākya-śeṣāt. "If one objects that the material world and its source cannot be of one substance because the world has been called unreal, we reply, 'No, because the statement that Brahman is asat makes sense in terms of His having qualities distinct from those of the creation.' " Thus the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.7.1) declares, asad vā idam agra āsīt: "In the beginning of this creation, only asat was present."
In the opinion of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the word adhimanaḥ in the passage quoted above refers to the ruler of the aggregate mind of the universe, Lord Aniruddha, who appears as a plenary expansion of Śrī Nārāyaṇa when the latter desires to create. Prajāpati is Brahmā, the father of all other created beings. This is described in the Mahā-nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (1.4): atha punar eva nārāyaṇaḥ so 'nyaḿ kāmaḿ manasā dhyāyet. tasya dhyānāntaḥ-sthasya lalanāt svedo 'patat. tā imā pratatāpa tāsu tejo hiraṇ-mayam aṇḍaḿ tatra brahmā catur-mukho 'jāyata. "Then Lord Nārāyaṇa meditated upon another desire of His, and as He pondered, a drop of perspiration fell from His forehead. All the material creations evolved from the fermentation of this drop. Therein the fiery, golden egg of the universe appeared, and within that globe four-headed Brahmā took his birth."
When a particular object is manufactured, it appears as a transformation of its ingredient cause, as in the case of jewelry made from gold. Persons who want gold will not reject gold earrings or necklaces, since these items are still gold, despite their modification. True jñānīs see in this mundane example an analogy to the different-yet-nondifferent relationship of the Puruṣa and His emanations, both material and spiritual. Thus this transcendental knowledge frees them from the bondage of illusion, for they can then see the Lord throughout His creation.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"Let us worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by virtue of whose substantial existence this created world seems to exist perpetually, although it is essentially insubstantial. As the Supersoul, He constitutes the representation of the real within this unreality."
10.87.27
ta uta padākramanty avigaṇayya śiro nirṛteḥ
(27) They who worship You as the shelter of all created beings do not worry about Death and simply put their feet on his head, but even the sages [among them] are tied by Your words the way animals are tied. It are they who consider themselves Your friends who [thus] find purification, not so much they who turned away from that.
The personified Vedas have now set aside the erroneous philosophies of several contending schools: the asad-utpatti-vāda of the Vaiśeṣikas, who presume a material source of creation; the sad-vināśa-vada of the Naiyāyikas, who would deprive the liberated soul of consciousness; the saguṇatva-bheda-vāda of the Sāńkhyas, who isolate the soul from all his apparent qualities; the vipaṇa-vāda of the Mīmāḿsakas, who condemn the soul to eternal involvement in the mundane commerce of karma; and the vivarta-vāda of the Māyāvādīs, who denigrate the soul's real life in this world as a hallucination. Having rejected all these ideas, the personified Vedas now present the philosophy of devotional service, paricaryā-vāda.
The Vaiṣṇavas who accept this philosophy teach that the jīva soul is an atomic particle of spiritual personality who possesses minute knowledge, is not independent and has no material qualities. Being minute, he is prone to come under the control of the material energy, where he suffers the pains of material life. He can end his suffering and regain the shelter of the Supreme Lord's divine, internal energy only by rendering devotional service to the Lord, not by engaging in fruitive work, mental speculation or any other process.
As Lord Kṛṣṇa says in His own words,
"Only by practicing unalloyed devotional service with full faith in Me can one obtain Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am naturally dear to My devotees, who take Me as the only goal of their loving service. By engaging in such pure devotional service, even the dog-eaters can purify themselves from the contamination of their low birth." (Bhāg. 11.14.21)
Devotees of the Personality of Godhead worship Him as the shelter (niketa) of everything that exists (akhila-sattva). Moreover, these Vaiṣṇava devotees themselves can be called akhila-sattva-niketa in the sense that their abode and shelter is the philosophic truth of the reality (sattvam) of both the material and spiritual worlds. Thus Śrīpāda Madhvācārya, in his Vedānta-sūtra-bhāṣya, quotes the śruti-mantra: satyaḿ hy evedaḿ viśvam asṛjata. "He created this world as real." And the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.1.11) refers to the Supreme Lord as pradhāna-pumbhyāḿ naradeva satya-kṛt, "the creator of a real universe of matter and living entities."
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura points out yet another, more confidential, meaning of akhila-sattva-niketa: that the Supreme Lord's personal abodes are in no way khila, or imperfect, and so are called Vaikuṇṭha, the realms free of anxiety and restriction. Vaiṣṇavas whose devotional service the Lord has kindly accepted are so sure of His protection that they no longer fear death, which becomes for them just another easy step on the way back to their eternal home.
But are only devotees of the Supreme Lord eligible for liberation from the fear of death? Why are all other mystics and learned scholars disqualified? Here the śrutis answer: "Anyone who is vimukha, who has not turned his face toward the Lord with hopeful expectation of His mercy, is bound up in illusion by the same words of the Vedas that enlighten the surrendered devotees." The Vedas themselves warn, tasya vāk-tantir nāmāni dāmāni. tasyedaḿ vācā tantyā nāmabhir dāmabhiḥ sarvaḿ sitam: "The threads of this transcendental sound form a string of sacred names, but also a set of binding ropes. With the rope of their injunctions, the Vedas tie up this entire world, leaving all beings fettered by false designations."
The reality of the soul and Supersoul is aparokṣa, perceivable, but only to one with transcendental vision. Philosophers whose hearts are impure mistakenly presume that this truth is instead parokṣa, that it can only be speculated upon and never experienced directly. The knowledge of such thinkers may help them dispel certain doubts and misconceptions about the lesser aspects of reality, but it is useless for transcending material illusion and approaching the Absolute Truth. As a general rule, only the devotees who faithfully render loving service unto the Supreme Lord up to the point of complete purification receive His grace in the form of aparokṣa-jñāna, direct realization of His greatness and wonderful compassion. The Personality of Godhead is of course free to award His mercy even to the undeserving, as He does when He personally kills offensive demons, but He is much less inclined to bless Māyāvādīs and other atheistic philosophers.
One should not think, however, that the devotees of Viṣṇu are ignorant because they may not be expert in philosophic analysis and argument. The soul's perfect realization is to be gained not through his own efforts at mental speculation but by receiving the Lord's favor. This we hear from Vedic authority (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.23 and Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.2.3):
nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo
"This Supreme Self cannot be reached by argumentation, or by applying one's independent brain power, or by studying many scriptures. Rather, he alone can achieve the Self whom the Self chooses to favor. To that person the Self reveals His own true, personal form."
Elsewhere the śruti describes the devotee's success: dehānte devaḥ paraḿ brahma tārakaḿ vyacaṣṭe. "At the end of this body's life, the sanctified soul perceives the Supreme Lord just as clearly as if seeing the stars in the sky." And in its last statement, the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.23) offers this encouragement to aspiring Vaiṣṇavas:
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."In this regard Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī cites other verses of Śrī Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.7-8 and 4.13):
juṣṭaḿ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam
ṛco 'kṣare pare vyoman
yas taḿ veda kim ṛcā kariṣyati
"The Supreme Lord is He who is referred to by the mantras of the Ṛg Veda, who resides in the topmost, eternal sky, and who elevates His saintly devotees to share that same position. One who has developed pure love for Him and realizes His uniqueness then appreciates His glories and is freed from sorrow. What further good can the Ṛg mantras bestow on one who knows that Supreme Lord? All who come to know Him achieve the supreme destination."yo vedānām adhipo
ya īśo 'sya dvipadaś catuṣpadas
"To Him who is the master of all the Vedas, in whom all planets rest, who is the Lord of all known creatures, both the two-legged and the four-legged — to Him, the Personality of Godhead, we offer our worship with oblations of ghee."Referring to those who desire liberation, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
tapantu tāpaiḥ prapatantu parvatād
aṭantu tīrthāni paṭhantu cāgamān
yajantu yāgair vivadantu vādair
"Let them suffer austerities, throw themselves from mountaintops, travel to holy places, study the scriptures, worship with fire sacrifices and argue various philosophies, but without Lord Hari they will never cross beyond death."10.87.28
(28) You who self-effulgent are free from labor are the sustainer of all who are of karma [bound as they are to their senses]. The godly vigilant with the material of nature carry You tribute and enjoy the same excercise of respect offered to them, just like it is with the local rulers in a kingdom in relation to the sovereign ruling the entire country - that is how they who are of success in fear of You execute their assigned duties.
All intelligent living beings should acknowledge the sovereignty of the Lord and willingly engage in devotional service to Him. Such is the consensus of the personified Vedas. But Lord Nārāyaṇa, while hearing these prayers, may have reasonably asked, "Since I also have a bodily form with sense organs and limbs, am I not just another doer and enjoyer? Especially since as the Supersoul in every being's heart I supervise countless organs and limbs, how am I not implicated in the sum total of everyone's sense gratification?" "No," the assembled śrutis here rejoin, "You have no material senses, yet You are the absolute controller of all." As expressed in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.18),
apāṇi-pādo javano grahītā
"He has no feet or hands, yet He is the swiftest runner and can grasp anything. Though without eyes or ears, He sees and hears. Nobody knows Him, yet He is the knower and the object of knowledge. Sages describe Him as the supreme, original Personality of Godhead."
The hands, feet, eyes and ears of the Supreme Person are not like those of an ordinary, conditioned soul, which are derived from false ego, a material substance. Rather, the Lord's transcendentally beautiful features are direct manifestations of His internal nature. Thus, unlike the soul and body of conditioned living beings, the Lord and His bodily form are identical in all respects. Moreover, His lotus hands, lotus feet, lotus eyes and other limbs are not restricted in their functions. Śrī Brahmā, the Lord's first creature, glorifies Him on this account:
angāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛttimanti
ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full of bliss, truth and substantiality and thus emanates the most dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of that transcendental figure possesses in itself the full-fledged functions of all the organs, and He eternally sees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes, both spiritual and material." (Brahma-saḿhitā 5.32)Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī gives an alternative explanation of the phrase akhila-śakti-dhara: The power that the Supreme Lord maintains within Himself is akhila, free from the limitations of all that is khila, or inferior and insignificant. He energizes the living being's senses, as described by the Kena Upaniṣad (1.2): śrotrasya śrotraḿ manaso mano yad vāco ha vācam. "He is the ear's ear, the mind's mind, and the voice's capacity of speech." And the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.8) declares,
na tasya kāryaḿ karaṇaḿ ca vidyate
"He has no material work to perform. nor any material senses with which to perform it. No one can be found who is equal to or greater than Him. From the Vedas we hear how that Supreme Lord possesses multifarious energies — the potencies of knowledge, strength and action — each of which acts autonomously."
Indra and the other demigods who rule over mortal beings are themselves servants of the Personality of Godhead, as are their superiors — Brahmā and his sons, the secondary creators. All of these great gods and sages worship the Supreme Lord by performing their respective services of managing the universe and providing religious guidance for mankind.
The powerful controllers of the universe submit themselves in fearful reverence to the supreme controller, Lord Śrī Viṣṇu. As the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.8.1) states,
bhīṣāsmād vātaḥ pavate
bhīṣāsmād agniś cendraś ca
"Out of fear of Him, the wind blows. Out fear of Him, the sun moves and Agni and Indra execute their duties. And death, the fifth of their number, races along out of fear of Him."Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
anindriyo 'pi yo devaḥ
"The Supreme Lord has no material senses, yet He controls every living entity's sensory functions. He is the knower of everything, the ultimate performer of all action, and everyone's proper object of devotional service. I offer my obeisances to Him."10.87.29
(29) By Your material energy are the species of life, that manifest themselves as stationary and moving, motivated for action, but that can happen only when You, the One aloof, o Eternally Liberated one, cast Your brief glance by assuming Your forms to have Your pastimes in the material world. To [You] the Supreme can no one be a stranger or a friend, just like the ether can have no perceptible qualities. In that sense are You like the void of space.
Not only are living beings totally dependent on the all-powerful, independent Lord for their maintenance and welfare, but even the very fact of their embodied existence is due only to His exceptional mercy. The Personality of Godhead has no interest in material affairs, since He has nothing to gain from the petty pleasures of this world and is altogether free from any contamination of envy or lust. He is exclusively involved in confidential, loving pastimes with His pure devotees in the internal realm of His spiritual energies. Therefore the only reason He ever turns to the business of material creation is to help draw lost souls back into this inner circle of eternal enjoyment.
To attempt a life separate from the Lord, rebellious souls must be provided with suitable bodies and an illusory environment in which to act out their fantasies of independence. The merciful Lord agrees to let them learn in their own way, and so He glances at Mahā-Māyā, His energy of material creation. Simply by this glance, she is awakened and makes all required arrangements on His behalf. She and her helpers manufacture countless varieties of gross and subtle bodies of demigods, humans, animals and so on, along with countless situations in heavenly and hellish worlds — all just to give the conditioned souls the exact facilities they desire and deserve.
While the uninformed may blame God for the suffering of His creatures, a sincere student of the Vedic literature will come to appreciate the Supreme Lord's equal concern for each soul. Since He has nothing to lose or gain, there is no reason for Him to distinguish between friends and opponents. We may choose to oppose Him and make all endeavors to forget Him, but He never forgets us, nor does He ever stop providing us with all our necessities, along with His unseen guidance.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
māyā-bodhita-karmabhiḥ
jatān saḿsarataḥ khinnān
"O Father, O Lord appearing as half man, half lion, please save those who have been born into the endless cycle of birth and death. These souls are distressed by their karmic entanglement, which Māyā awakened when Your glance excited her to activity."10.87.30
(30) If the countless embodied beings wouldn't be time-bound, would the omnipresent consequently not be such a sovereign rule, o Unchanging One. Because the substance cannot be independent from that from which it was generated [ - pradhâna, timespace, primeval ether -] must [You] the regulator [of Time] be known as being equally present everywhere and not as being somewhere else. For that reason is one mistaken supposing that one knows [the complete of You], since one is of the imperfect [local order] with what one is knowing [see 6.5: 19].
Because the conditioned soul cannot directly understand the Supreme, the Vedas commonly refer to that Supreme Truth in such impersonal terms as Brahman and oḿ tat sat. If an ordinary scholar presumes to know the confidential meaning of these symbolic references, he should be rejected as an imposter. In the words of Śrī Kena Upaniṣad (2.1), yadi manyase su-vedeti dabhram evāpi nūnaḿ tvaḿ vettha brahmaṇo rūpaḿ, yad asya tvaḿ yad asya deveṣu: "If you think you know Brahman well, then your knowledge is very meager. If you think you can identify Brahman's form from among the demigods, indeed you know but little." And again,
yasyāmataḿ tasya mataḿ
avijñātaḿ vijānatāḿ
"Whoever denies having any opinion of his own about the Supreme Truth is correct in his opinion, whereas one who has his own opinion about the Supreme does not know Him. He is unknown to those who claim to know Him, and can only be known by those who do not claim to know Him." (Kena Upaniṣad 2.3)Ācārya Śrīdhara Svāmī gives the following explanation of this verse: Many philosophers have studied the mysteries of life from various perspectives and have formed widely differing theories. The Advaita Māyāvādīs, for example, propose that there is only one living being and one power of illusion (avidyā) that covers him, producing the appearance of plurality. But this hypothesis leads to the absurd conclusion that when any one living being becomes liberated, everyone obtains liberation. If, on the other hand, there are many avidyās to cover the one living being, each avidyā will cover only some part of him, and we would have to talk about his becoming partly liberated at particular times while his other parts remain in bondage. This is also obviously absurd. Thus the plurality of living beings is an unavoidable conclusion.
Furthermore, there are other theoreticians, namely the proponents of Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika, who claim that the jīva soul is infinite in size. If souls were infinitesimal, these scholars argue, they would not pervade their own bodies, whereas if they were of medium size they would be divisible into parts and thus could not be eternal, at least according to the axioms of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika metaphysics. But if the numerous eternal jīva souls are each infinitely large, how could they be covered by any power of bondage, whether belonging to avidyā or to the Supreme Lord Himself? According to this theory, there can be no illusion for the soul, no limitations from which to be liberated. The infinite souls must eternally remain as they are, without change. This would mean that the souls would all be equal to God, since He would have no scope for controlling these all-pervading, unchanging rivals.
The Vedic śruti-mantras, which affirm unequivocally the mastery of the Lord over the individual souls, cannot be validly contradicted. A true philosopher must accept the statements of śruti as reliable authority on all matters they touch. Certainly in numerous places the Vedic literatures contrast the Supreme Lord's perpetual, unchanging oneness with the ever-changing embodiments of living beings caught up in the cycle of birth and death.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
śrutyā yuktyā caivam evāvaseyaḥ
yaḥ sarva-jñaḥ sarva-śaktir nṛṣiḿhaḥ
śrīmantaḿ taḿ cetasaivāvalambe
"In my heart I take shelter of Him who is glorified as the inner controller of all the worlds, and whom the Vedas ascertain in truth through logical reasoning. He is Nṛsiḿha, the omniscient and omnipotent Lord of the goddess of fortune."10.87.31
(31) The generation of the material world and its enjoyer [the male principle, the person, the purusha] is not something that happens; it is from the combination of these two unborn elements that living bodies within You find their existence like bubbles that appear in water [in combination with air]. Just like rivers merge into the ocean and all flavors of nectar merge into the honey, merge these living beings with all their different names and qualities [in de end again] into the Supreme [see also B.G. 9: 7].
Without proper spiritual guidance, one may misunderstand the Vedas' description of the living entities emanating from the Lord to mean that they have come into being in this process and will eventually pass again into nonexistence. But if the living entities were to thus have only temporary existence, then when one of them would die his remaining karma would simply vanish without being used up, and when a soul would be born he would appear with unaccountable karma he had done nothing to earn. Furthermore, a living being's liberation would amount to the total eradication of his identity and being.
The truth is, however, that the soul's essence is one with Brahman's, just as the small portion of space contained within the walls of a clay pot is one in essence with the all-expanding sky. And like the making and breaking of a pot, the "birth" of an individual soul consists of his first becoming covered by a material body, and his "death," or liberation, consists of the destruction of his gross and subtle bodies once and for all. Certainly such "birth" and "death" take place only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord.
The combination of material nature and her controller that produces the numerous conditioned beings in material creation is likened here to the combination of water and air that produces countless bubbles of foam on the surface of the sea. Just as the efficient cause, air, impels the ingredient cause, water, to form itself into bubbles, so by His glance the Supreme Puruṣa inspires prakṛti to transform herself into the array of material elements and the innumerable material forms manifest from those elements. Prakṛti thus serves as the upādāna-kāraṇa, or ingredient cause, of creation. In the ultimate issue, however, since she is also an expansion of the Supreme Lord, it is the Lord alone who is the ingredient cause as well as the efficient cause. This is as stated in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.2.1), tasmād vā etasmād ātmana ākāśaḥ sambhūtaḥ: "From this Supreme Soul the ether evolved," and so 'kāmayata bahu syāḿ prajāyeya: "He desired, 'Let Me become many by expanding into progeny.' "
The individual jīva souls are not created when "born" from the Supreme Lord and prakṛti, nor are they destroyed when they "merge" back into the Lord, rejoining Him in the pleasure pastimes of His eternal kingdom. And in the same way as the infinitesimal jīvas can appear to undergo birth and death without any factual change, the Supreme Lord can send forth and withdraw His emanations without Himself undergoing any transformation. Thus the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.5.14) affirms, avināśi vāre 'yam ātmā: "This ātmā is indeed indestructible" — a statement that can be applied to both the Supreme Soul and the subordinate jīva soul.
As explained by Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, the dissolution of the living being's material condition occurs in two ways, partial and complete. Partial dissolution occurs when the soul experiences dreamless sleep, when he leaves his body and when all souls reenter the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu at the time of universal annihilation. These different types of dissolution are like the mixing of nectar brought by bees from different kinds of flowers. The different flavors of nectar represent the dormant individual karmic reactions of each living entity, which still exist but cannot easily be distinguished from one another. In contrast, the ultimate dissolution of the soul's material condition is his liberation from saḿsāra, which is like the flowing of rivers into the ocean. As the waters from different rivers merge together after entering the ocean and become indistinguishable from one another, so the false material designations of the jīvas are given up at the time of liberation and all the liberated jīvas once again become equally situated as servants of the Supreme Lord.
The Upaniṣads describe these dissolutions as follows: yathā saumya madhu madhu-kṛto nistiṣṭhanti nānātyayānāḿ vṛkṣānāḿ rasān samavahāram ekatāḿ sańgayanti. te yathā tatra na vivekaḿ labhante amuṣyāhaḿ vṛkṣasya raso 'smy amuṣyāham raso 'smīty evam eva khalu saumyemāḥ sarvāḥ prajāḥ sati sampadya na viduḥ sati sampadyāmahe: "My dear boy this [partial dissolution] resembles what happens when honeybees collect honey by extracting the nectar from the flowers of various kinds of trees and merge it all into a single mixture. Just as the mixed nectars cannot distinguish, 'I am the juice of such-and-such a flower,' or 'I am the juice of another flower,' so, dear boy, when all these living entities merge together they cannot consciously think, 'Now we have merged together.' " (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.9.1-2)
yathā nadyaḥ syandamānāḥ samudre
"As rivers flow to their dissolution in the sea, giving up their names and forms at their destination, so the wise man who becomes free from material names and forms attains to the Supreme Absolute, the wonderful Personality of Godhead." (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.2.8)
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"The Supreme Lord is self-effulgently omniscient. By His great mercy, this universe, which is subject to repeated creation and destruction, remains present within Him after merging back into Him along with the living entities at the time of cosmic dissolution. This total withdrawal of the universal manifestation occurs suddenly, like the flowing of a river into the ocean. Within the core of my heart I meditate upon that master of the three worlds, Lord Nṛsiḿha."
10.87.32
(32) Those who are of wisdom and properly understand how much Your mâyâ bewilders the human beings render potent loving service unto You, the source of liberation. How would there for those who faithfully follow You, be any kind of fear for a material existence, a fear which by the three rimmed [wheel of Time of past, present and future] of Your furrowing eyebrows repeatedly is created in those who do not take shelter of You [see also B.G. 4: 10, 7: 14 & 14: 26]?
The Vedas reveal their most cherished secret — devotional service to the Personality of Godhead — only to those who are tired of material illusion, which is based on a false sense of independence from the Lord. The Vājasaneyī-saḿhitā (32.11) of the White Yajur Veda contains the following mantra:
parītya bhūtāni parītya lokān
tmanātmānam abhisaḿviveśa
"After passing beyond all the species of life, all the planetary systems and all the limits of space in all directions, one approaches the original Soul of immortality. Then one receives the opportunity to enter permanently into His domain and worship Him with personal service."The proponents of various contending materialistic philosophies may consider themselves very wise, but they are in fact all deluded by the Supreme Lord's Māyā. Vaiṣṇavas recognize this pattern of general delusion and submit themselves to the Supreme Lord in the devotional moods of servitude, friendship and so on. Instead of the heat and strife of philosophical quarrel, the pure Vaiṣṇavas experience only delight at every moment, because the object of their love is He who brings an end to material entanglement. And the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu enjoy constant pleasure not only in this life but in future lives. In whatever births they take, they enjoy loving reciprocations with the Lord. Thus the sincere Vaiṣṇava prays,
nātha yoni-sahasreṣu
tatra tatrācyutā bhaktir
"Wherever I may wander, O master, among thousands of species of life, in each situation may I have firmly fixed devotion to You, O Acyuta." (Viṣṇu Purāṇa)Some philosophers will question how the Vaiṣṇavas can overcome their material entrapment without thorough analytic knowledge of the entities tvam ("you," the jīva) and tat ("that," the Supreme), and without developing a sufficient hatred of material life. The personified Vedas here answer that there is no chance of material illusion continuing to act on devotees of the Lord because even in the earliest stages of devotional service all fear and attachment are removed by the Lord's grace.
Time is the root cause of all fear in this world. Indeed, with its three divisions of past, present and future it creates terror at the prospect of impending disease, death and hellish suffering — but only for those who have failed to obtain shelter at the feet of the Supreme Lord. As the Lord Himself says in the Rāmāyaṇa (Lańkā-khaṇḍa 18.33),
sakṛd eva prapanno yas
"To whomever even once surrenders to Me, pleading 'I am Yours,' I give eternal fearlessness. This is my solemn vow." Furthermore, in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14) the Lord says,
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
"This divine energy of Mine consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it."
Vaiṣṇavas do not like to waste their time in prolonged and fruitless wrangling over dry philosophic subjects. They would rather worship the Personality of Godhead than quarrel with philosophical adversaries. The Vaiṣṇavas' understanding concurs with the essential message of revealed scripture. These devotees' conception of the Supreme Absolute Truth as the infinite ocean of personality and loving pastimes in His worshipable forms of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma and other divine manifestations, and their conception of themselves as His eternal servants, amount to the perfect conclusion of Vedānta philosophy in terms of the entities tat and tvam.
The Personality of Godhead and His emanations, such as the jīva souls, are simultaneously different and nondifferent, just like the sun and its expanding rays. There are more jīvas than anyone can count, and each of them is eternally alive with consciousness, as the śrutis confirm: nityo nityānāḿ cetanaś cetanānām. (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 5.13 and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.13) When they are sent forth from the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu at the beginning of material creation, the jīvas are all equal in the sense that they are all atomic particles of the Lord's marginal energy. But according to their differing conditions, they divide into four groups: Some are covered by ignorance, which obscures their vision like a cloud. Others become liberated from ignorance through a combination of knowledge and devotion. A third group of souls become endowed with pure devotion, with a slight mixture of desire for speculative knowledge and fruitive activity. Those souls attain purified bodies composed of perfect knowledge and bliss with which they can engage in the Lord's service. Finally, there are those who are devoid of any connection with ignorance; these are the Lord's eternal associates.
The marginal position of the jīva soul is described in the Nārada Pañcarātra:
yat taṭa-sthaḿ tu cid-rūpaḿ
sva-saḿvedyād vinirgatam
"The taṭa-stha potency should be understood as emanating from the Lord's saḿvit [knowledge] energy. This emanation, called the jīva, becomes conditioned by the qualities of material nature." Because the minute jīva lives within the margin between the Lord's external, illusory potency, Māyā, and His internal, spiritual potency, cit, the jīva is called taṭa-stha, "marginal." When he earns liberation by cultivating devotion to the Lord, however, he comes completely under the shelter of the Lord's internal potency, and at that time he is no longer tainted by the modes of material nature. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms this in Bhagavad-gītā (14.26):māḿ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
"One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."
The object of the soul's worship is realized in three aspects: Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Impersonal Brahman is like the radiant effulgence of the sun; the Supersoul, or Paramātmā, is like the sun globe; and the Personality of Godhead, Bhagavān, is like the presiding deity within the sun, complemented by his elaborate entourage and paraphernalia. Or, to cite another analogy, travelers approaching a city from a distance cannot at first distinguish its features but rather see something vaguely shining ahead of them. As they come closer, they may discern a few of the taller buildings. Then, when they are sufficiently close, they will see the city as it is — a bustling metropolis with many citizens, residences, public buildings, highways and parks. In the same way, persons inclined to impersonal meditation may at best gain some realization of the Supreme Lord's effulgence (Brahman), those who approach closer can learn to see Him as the Lord in the heart (Paramātmā), and those who come very close can know Him in His full personality (Bhagavān).
In summary, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
kathañcid āpannam iha prapannaḿ
"O Śrī Nṛhari, please deliver those human beings who have suffered all kinds of torments and been ripped apart by the sharp edge of saḿsāra's wheel but who have now somehow found You and are surrendering themselves unto You."10.87.33
vyasana-śatānvitāḥ samavahāya guroś caraṇaḿ
(33) Conquered by the senses and breath is the mind like a horse not brought under control [B.G. 2: 60 and 5.11: 10]. Those who out here endeavor to regulate but abandon the feet of the guru, meet with hundreds of obstacles in their distress and unsteadiness with the various methods of control, o Unborn One. They are like merchants who sailing the ocean failed to employ a helmsman [see 10.51: 60 & B.G. 4: 34].
To become qualified to attain love of Godhead, the mature fruit of liberation, one must first subdue the rebellious material mind. Though difficult, this can be achieved when a person replaces his addictions to sense gratification with a taste for the higher pleasures of spiritual life. But only by the favor of the representative of Godhead, the spiritual master, can one gain this higher taste.
The spiritual master opens the eyes of the disciple to the wonders of the transcendental realm, as indicated in the Gāyatrī prayers by the seed mantra of divine knowledge, aiḿ.
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12) states,
tad-vijñānārthaḿ sa gurum evābhigacchet
"To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth." And the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.9) declares,
naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā
"This realization, my dear boy, cannot be acquired by logic. It must be spoken by an exceptionally qualified spiritual master to a knowledgeable disciple."
Non-Vaiṣṇavas often disregard the importance of surrendering to a spiritual master who stands in an authorized line of disciplic succession. Relying instead on their own abilities, proud yogīs and jñānīs exhibit their apparent success to impress the world, but their glory is but temporary:
yuñjānānām abhaktānāḿ
prāṇāyāmādibhir manaḥ
"The minds of nondevotees who engage in such practices as prāṇāyāma are not fully cleansed of material desires. Thus, O King, material desires are again seen to arise in their minds." (Bhāg. 10.51.60)On the other hand a humble, steadfast devotee of Lord Viṣṇu and of the Vaiṣṇavas is assured of easy victory over the stubborn mind. He need not concern himself with performing the eightfold system of yoga or taking other such measures to keep his mind steady. Sarvaḿ caitad gurau bhaktyā puruṣo hy añjasā jayet: "A person can easily obtain all these goals simply by being devoted to his spiritual master." Otherwise, a nondevotee may conquer his senses and vital air and still fail to tame his mind, which will continue to run wild like an unbroken horse. He will suffer unending anxiety over the troublesome execution of various spiritual practices, and in the end he will remain just as lost in the vast material ocean as he ever was. The analogy given here is very appropriate: A group of merchants who hastily enter upon a sea voyage with expectations of great profit, but who fail to hire a competent helmsman for their boat, will simply experience great difficulty.
The Bhāgavatam declares the importance of the bona fide spiritual master in many places such as this verse from the Eleventh Canto (20.17):
nṛ-deham ādyam su-labhaḿ su-durlabhaḿ
mayānukūlena nabhasvateritaḿ
"The human body, which can award all benefit in life is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul." Therefore the first business of one who takes human life seriously is to find out a spiritual master who can guide him in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"O transcendentally blissful guru, when my mind finally achieves a place at your lotus feet, all the tiresome labor of my spiritual practices will be finished, and by your mercy I will experience the greatest happiness."
10.87.34
(34) What do servants, children, a body, a wife, money, a home, land, vitality, and vehicles mean to human beings for whom You became their very Self, the Embodiment of All Pleasure. And what at all would to those who carrying on with their indulgence in sexual matters fail to appreciate the truth [of Him], bring [real] happiness in this world subject to destruction that on itself is void of any essence? [see also B.G. 13: 8-12]
Devotional service to Lord Viṣṇu is considered pure when one's sole desire is to please the Lord. Situated in that perfect consciousness, a Vaiṣṇava has no further interest in wordly gains and is thus excused from any obligation to perform ritual sacrifices and follow austere practices of yoga. As the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.12) states,
parīkṣya lokān karma-citān brāhmaṇo
"When a brāhmaṇa recognizes that elevation to the heavenly planets is merely another accumulation of karma, he becomes renounced and is no longer corrupted by his actions." The Bṛhad-āraṇyaka (4.4.9) and Kaṭha (6.14) Upaniṣads confirm,
yadā sarve pramucyante
atha martyo 'mṛto bhavaty
"When a person completely gives up all the sinful desires he is harboring in his heart, he exchanges mortality for eternal spiritual life and attains real pleasure in the Absolute Truth." And the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Pūrva 15) concludes, bhaktir asya bhajanaḿ tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ-kalpanam etad eva naiṣkarmyam."Devotional service is the process of worshiping the Supreme Lord. It consists of fixing one's mind upon Him by becoming disinterested in all material designations, both in this life and the next. This indeed, is true renunciation."The items the śrutis mention here are all measures of worldly success: svajanāḥ, servants; ātmā, a beautiful body; sutāḥ, children to be proud of; dārāḥ, an attractive and competent spouse; dhanam, financial assets; dhāma, a prestigious residence; dharā, holdings of land; asavaḥ, health and strength; and rathāḥ, cars and other vehicles that display one's status. But one who has begun to experience the ecstasy of devotional service loses all attraction for these things, since he finds real satisfaction in the Supreme Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, who enjoys by sharing His own pleasures with His servitors.
We are each free to choose the course of our life: we can either dedicate our body, mind, words, talents and wealth to the glory of God, or else we can ignore Him and struggle instead for our personal happiness. The second path leads to a life of slavery to sex and ambition, in which the soul never feels real satisfaction but instead suffers continually. Vaiṣṇavas are distressed to see materialists suffering in this way, and so they always strive to enlighten them.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
paramānanda-cid-dhanaḥ
"For those who worship You, You become their very Self, their spiritual treasure of topmost bliss. What further use have they for mundane wives, children and so forth?"10.87.35
(35) The seers free from false pride who, with the greatest piety on this earth direct themselves at the places of pilgrimage and the sites of His pastimes, have installed Your feet in their heart and destroy the sins themselves with the water of their feet. They who but once turned their mind towards You, the Supreme Soul of Eternal Happiness, will never again dedicate themselves to the homely affair [of a family life] that steals away a person's essential qualities.
The qualification of an aspiring sage is that he has learned about the Absolute Truth from standard authorities and developed a sober mood of renunciation. To develop his capacity for discriminating the important from the unimportant, such a person often wanders from one holy site to another, taking advantage of the association of great souls who frequent or reside in these places. If, in the course of his travels, the aspiring sage can begin to realize the Supreme Lord's lotus feet in the core of his heart he will be released from the illusion of false ego and from the painful bondage of lust, envy and greed. Though he may still go to places of pilgrimage to bathe away his sins, the now purified sage has the power to sanctify others with the water that washes his feet and with the realized instructions he imparts. Such a sage is described by the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (2.2.9)
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś
"The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces, and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the Supreme Lord everywhere, within all superior and inferior beings." To sages who have reached this stage, the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.2.11) thus pays homage: namaḥ paramarṣibhyaḥ, namaḥ paramarṣibhyaḥ. "Obeisances to the topmost sages, obeisances to the topmost sages!"
Putting aside the affectionate company of wives, children, friends and followers, saintly Vaiṣṇavas travel to the holy dhāmas where the Supreme Lord's worship can be most successfully prosecuted — places such as Vṛndāvana, Māyāpura and Jagannātha Purī, or anywhere else where sincere devotees of Lord Viṣṇu congregate. Even those Vaiṣṇavas who have not taken sannyāsa and still live at home or in their guru's āśrama, but who have once tasted just a drop of the sublime pleasure of devotional service, will also have little inclination to meditate on the pleasures of a materialistic family life, which robs a person of his discretion, determination, sobriety, tolerance and peace of mind.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"My dear Lord, when I will give up all sense gratification and engage incessantly in meditating upon You, and when I will take up residence in the hermitages of saintly devotees free from false pride, then I will become fully immersed in the inundation of nectar pouring from the devotees' lotus mouths as they chant sacred narrations about You. And then, O Lord Narahari, I will never again have to take a material body."
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