VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
10.87.36
vyavahṛtaye vikalpa iṣito 'ndha-paramparayā
(36) 'From the true manifested the true' so one may say, but that must be refuted as being a specious argument. Just because it is true in a number of cases is this connection not always found. Because the conjunction is found at times are by a succession of people groping in the dark the matters of every day life differently presented and then do Your numerous words of wisdom bewilder and loses one one's attentiveness with the incantations one has with the rituals.
the Upaniṣads teach that this created world is real but temporary. This is the understanding that devotees of Lord Viṣṇu adhere to. But there are also materialistic philosophers, like the proponents of Jaimini Ṛṣi's Karma mīmāḿsā, who claim that this world is the only reality and exists eternally. For Jaimini, the cycle of karmic action and reaction is perpetual, with no possibility of liberation into a different, transcendental realm. This viewpoint, however, is shown to be fallacious by a careful examination of the Upaniṣadic mantras, which contain many descriptions of a higher, spiritual existence. For example, sad eva saumyedam agra āsīd ekam evādvitīyam: "My dear boy, the Absolute Truth alone existed prior to this creation, one without a second." (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.2.1) Also, vijñānam ānandaḿ brahma: "The supreme reality is divine knowledge and bliss." (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.9.34)
In this prayer of the personified Vedas, the materialists' argument is summed up in the words sata idam utthitaḿ sat: "The visible world is permanently real because it is generated from the permanent reality." In general, this argument goes, that which is produced from a certain thing is composed of that thing. For example, earrings and other ornaments made from gold share gold's substance. Thus, the Mīmāḿsā logicians conclude, since the world as we know it is a manifestation of an eternal reality, it is also eternally real. But the Sanskrit ablative expression sataḥ, "from the eternal reality," implies a definite separation of cause and effect. Therefore, what is created from sat, the permanent reality, must be significantly different from it — in other words, temporary. In this way the argument of the materialists is flawed because it proves just the opposite of what it is intended to prove (tarka-hatam), namely that the world as we know it is all that exists, that it is eternal, and that there is no separate, transcendental reality.
In defense, the Mīmāḿsakas may claim that they are not trying to prove nondifference per se, but rather trying to disprove the possibility of difference, or in other words, the possibility of any reality separate from the known world. This attempt to support the Mīmāḿsā argument is easily refuted by the phrase vyabhicarati kva ca: that is to say, there are counterexamples that deviate from the general rule. Sometimes, indeed, the source is very different from what it produces, as in the case of a man and his young son, or of a hammer and the destruction of a clay pot.
But, the Mīmāḿsakas reply, the creation of the universe is not the same kind of causation as your counterexamples: the father and the hammer are only efficient causes, whereas the sat is also this universe's ingredient cause. This reply is anticipated by the words kva ca mṛṣā ("and sometimes the effect is illusory"). In the case of the false perception of a snake where there is a rope on the ground, the rope is the snake-illusion's ingredient cause, differing in many respects from the imagined snake, most obviously in its being real.
The Mīmāḿsakas once more rejoin: But the ingredient cause of the illusory snake is not just the rope by itself: it is the rope plus the observer's ignorance (avidyā). Since avidyā is not a substance, the snake it produces is called an illusion. Yet the same is true, the personified Vedas reply, in the case of the universe's creation from sat in conjunction with ignorance (tathobhaya-yuk); here the unreal element of illusion, Māyā, is the living beings' misconception that their own bodies and other changing material forms are permanent.
But, rejoin the Mīmāḿsakas, our experience of this world is valid because the things we experience are useful for practical activity. If our experience were not valid, we could never be sure that our perceptions corresponded to the facts. We would be like a man who, despite exhaustive examination, would still have to suspect that a rope might be a snake. No, the śrutis here answer, the temporary configurations of matter are nonetheless an illusory imitation of the eternal spiritual reality, cleverly concocted to fulfill the conditioned living entities' desire for material activity (vyavahṛtaye vikalpa iṣitaḥ). The illusion of this world's permanence is sustained by a succession of blind men who learn the materialistic idea from their predecessors and pass on this illusion to their descendants. Anyone can see that an illusion often continues by the momentum of lingering mental impressions, even when its basis is no longer present. Thus throughout history blind philosophers have misled other blind men by convincing them of the absurd idea that they can reach perfection by engaging in mundane rituals. Foolish people may be willing to exchange counterfeit coins among one another, but a wise man knows that such money is useless for the practical business of buying food, medicine and other necessities. And if given in charity, counterfeit money will earn no pious credit.
But, say the Mīmāḿsakas, how can the sincere performer of Vedic rituals be a deluded fool, since the Saḿhitās and Brāhmaṇas of the Vedic scriptures establish that the fruits of karma are eternal? For example, akṣayyaḿ ha vai cāturmāsya-yājinaḥ su-kṛtaḿ bhavati: "For one who observes the Cāturmāsya vows there arises inexhaustible good karma," and apāma somam amṛta babhūma: "We have drunk the soma and become immortal." (Ṛg Veda 8.43.3)
The śrutis reply by pointing out that the Personality of Godhead's learned words, comprising the Vedas, bewilder those whose weak intelligence has been crushed by the weight of too much faith in karma. The specific word used here is uru-vṛttibhiḥ, which indicates that the Vedic mantras, with their confusing variety of meanings in the semantic modes of gauṇa, lakṣaṇā and so on, protect their sublime mysteries from all but those who have faith in Lord Viṣṇu. The Vedas do not truly mean to say in their injunctions that the fruits of karma are eternal, but only indirectly describe in metaphors the praiseworthiness of regulated sacrifices. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad states in no uncertain terms that the results of ritual karma are impermanent: tad yatheha karma-cito lokaḥ kṣīyate evam evāmutra puṇya-cito lokaḥ kṣīyate. "Just as whatever benefit one works hard to attain in this world is eventually depleted, so whatever life one earns for oneself in the next world by his piety will also eventually end." (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.1.16) According to the testimony of numerous śruti-mantras, the entire material universe is but a temporary emanation of the Supreme Truth; the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, for one, says:
yathorṇa-nābhiḥ sṛjate gṛhṇate ca
tathākṣarāt sambhavatīha viśvam
"As a web is expanded and withdrawn by a spider, as plants grow from the earth, and as hair grows from a living person's head and body, so this universe is generated from the inexhaustible Supreme." (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.7)Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"Although this world has arisen from You, who are the very substance of reality, it is not eternally real. The illusory snake appearing from a rope is not permanent reality, nor are the transformations produced from gold. The Vedas never say that they are. The actual, transcendental, nondual reality is Your supremely blissful personal kingdom. To that beautiful abode I offer my obeisances. O Lord Hari, to whom Goddess Indirā always bows down, I also bow to You. Therefore please never release me."
10.87.37
(37) Because all of this didn't exist in the beginning and hence will not exist after its annihilation, can be concluded that that what in the interim appears within Your manifestation, is the untruth to be avoided. And thus is that [interim existence] to those who are stable in their spirituality but a figment of imagination, even though one can compare it all in categories of material substance that appear in varieties of transformations [see text 26], transformations that by the unintelligent conversely are considered something worshipable [see B.G. 6: 8].
Having thus defeated all attempts of the ritualists to prove the substantial reality of material creation, the personified Vedas now present positive evidence to the contrary — that this world is unreal in that it is temporary. Before the creation of the universe and after its dissolution, only the spiritual reality of the Supreme Lord, along with His abode and entourage, continue to exist. The śrutis confirm this: ātmā va idam eka evāgra āsīt. "Prior to the creation of this universe, only the Self existed." (Aitareya Upaniṣad 1.1) Nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīm: "At that time neither the subtle nor the gross aspects of matter were present." (Ṛg Veda 10.129.1)
One can understand the relativity of creation by an analogy. When basic materials like clay and metal are processed and shaped into various products, the created objects exist separately from the clay and metal only in name and form. The basic substance remains unchanged. Similarly, when the energies of the Supreme Lord are transformed into the known things of this world, these things exist separately from Him only in name and form. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.1.4-6), the sage Udālaka explains a similar analogy to his son: yathā saumyaikena mṛtpiṇḍena sarvaḿ mṛn-mayaḿ vijñātam syād vācārambhaṇaḿ vikāro nāmadheyaḿ mṛttikety eva satyam. "For example, my dear boy, by understanding a single lump of clay one can understand everything made from clay. The existence of transformed products is only a creation of language, a matter of assigning designations: the clay alone is real."
In conclusion, there is no convincing evidence that the things of this world are eternal or substantial, while there is overwhelming evidence that they are temporary and conditioned by false designations. Therefore only the ignorant can take the imaginary permutations of matter to be real.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
pariṇataḿ kanakaḿ paramārthataḥ
"Transformations of gold such as crowns, earrings, bangles and ankle bells are not ultimately separate from gold itself. Similarly, the material elements — headed by the mahat, false ego and ether — are not ultimately separate from Lord Narahari."10.87.38
(38) He [the living entity] reconciles himself, because of the insurmountable of matter, to that energy and assumes, in taking to her qualities, accordingly forms. In his attachment to those forms is he deprived of His advantage and runs he into [the facts of birth and] death. You on the other hand with the grace You have leaves her aside like a snake that sheds its skin and are in Your eightfold greatness [see siddhis] glorified as the One Unlimited in His Glory.
Although the jīva is pure spirit, qualitatively equal with the Supreme Lord, he is prone to being degraded by embracing the ignorance of material illusion. When he becomes entranced by the allurements of Māyā, he accepts bodies and senses that are designed to let him indulge in forgetfulness. Produced from the raw material of Māyā's three modes — goodness, passion and nescience — these bodies envelop the spirit soul in varieties of unhappiness, culminating in death and rebirth.
The Supreme Soul and the individual soul share the same spiritual nature, but the Supreme Soul cannot be entrapped by ignorance like His infinitesimal companion. Smoke may engulf the glow of a small molten sphere of copper, covering its light in darkness, but the vast globe of the sun will never suffer the same kind of eclipse. Māyā, after all, is the Personality of Godhead's faithful maidservant, the outward expansion of His internal, Yogamāyā potency. Śrī Nārada Pañcarātra thus states, in a conversation between Śruti and Vidyā,
asyā āvarika-śaktir
mahā-māyākhileśvarī
sarve dehābhimāninaḥ
"The covering potency derived from her is Mahā-māyā, the regulator of everything material. The entire universe becomes bewildered by her, and thus every living being falsely identifies with his material body."Just as a snake casts aside his old skin, knowing that it is not part of his essential identity, so the Supreme Lord always avoids His external, material energy. There is no insufficiency or limit to any of His eightfold mystic opulences, consisting of aṇimā (the power to become infinitesimal), mahimā (the ability to become infinitely large) and so on. Therefore, the shadow of material darkness has no scope for entering the domain of His unequaled, resplendent glories.
For the sake of those whose realization of spiritual life is only gradually awakening, the Upaniṣads sometimes speak in general terms of ātmā or Brahman, not openly distinguishing the difference between the superior and inferior souls, the Paramātmā and jīvātma. But often enough they describe this duality in unequivocal terms:
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā
samānaḿ vṛkṣaḿ pariṣasvajāte
anaśnann anyo 'bhicākaśīti
"Two companion birds sit together in the shelter of the same pippala tree. One of them is relishing the taste of the tree's berries, while the other refrains from eating and instead watches over His friend." (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.6) In this analogy the two birds are the soul and the Supersoul, the tree is the body, and the taste of the berries are the varieties of sense pleasure.Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"The glance You cast upon Your consort comprises time, the material propensities of the living entities, and so on. This glance dances upon her face, thus awakening the multitude of created entities, who take birth in the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. O Lord Nṛhari, Your Māyā has put her foot on my head and is pressing down extremely hard, causing me great distress. Now I have come to You for shelter. Please make her desist."
10.87.39
anapagatāntakād anadhirūḍha-padād bhavataḥ
(39) If persons having entered a renounced life do not uproot the traces of material desires in their hearts and as yoga practitioners [just] live to satisfy their animal needs, have they, being unhappy in not having moved away from death, in both [this life and the hereafter], missed Your heavenly kingdom. For the impure it is impossible to attain when they have forgotten You with You by them carried as a jewel around their neck [see also B.G. 6: 41-42].
A mere show of renunciation is not sufficient to gain a person entrance into the kingdom of God. One must undergo a thorough change of heart, symptomized by a complete lack of interest in the self-destructive habits of sense gratification, both gross and subtle. Not only must the true sage refrain from even thinking of illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling, but he must also give up his desires for reputation and position. All together these demands add up to a formidable challenge but the fruits of true renunciation in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are well worth a lifetime of endeavor.
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.2.2) confirms the statements of this verse: kāmān yaḥ kāmayate manyamānaḥ sa karmabhir jāyate tatra tatra. "Even a thoughtful renunciant, if he maintains any worldly desires will be forced by his karmic reactions to take birth again and again in various circumstances." Philosophers and yogīs work hard to become free from birth and death, but because they are unwilling to surrender their proud independence, their meditations are devoid of devotion to the Supreme Lord, and thus they fall short of the perfection of renunciation — pure love of God. This pure love is the only goal of a sincere Vaiṣṇava, and therefore he must vigilantly resist the natural temptations of profit, adoration and distinction, and also the impulse to merge into an all consuming impersonal oblivion. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.11),
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaḿ
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
[Madhya 19.167]
"When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, as Kṛṣṇa desires.For those who undergo rigorous yoga discipline only to please their senses, prolonged suffering is inevitable. Hunger, disease, the degeneration of old age, injury from accident, violence from others — these are a few of the limitless varieties of suffering one can experience to varying degrees in this world. And ultimately, death awaits, followed by painful punishment for sinful activities. Especially those who have freely indulged in sensual enjoyments at the cost of others' lives can expect punishment so severe it is unimaginable. But the greatest pain of material existence is not misfortune in this life or being sent to hell after death: it is the emptiness of having forgotten one's eternal relationship with the Personality of Godhead.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"The hypocrite who cheats himself by a pretense of renunciation thinks only of sense enjoyment and thus suffers constantly. Bewildered day and night, he is overwhelmed by the exhausting endeavors he contrives for himself. This fool disobeys Your laws and is corrupted by greed for respect from other fools. O protector of the fallen, O bestower of mercy, O supremely blissful master, please save that person, myself."
10.87.40
(40) Someone who understands You takes no heed of the good and bad consequences of the auspicious and inauspicious that in the moment rises from You [in the here and now], nor takes he heed of the words of other living beings. Every day, o You of All qualities, is he of the song that in every age is heard through the disciplic succession of the children of Manu [see 3.22: 34-39 and 5.13: 25]. And thus are You by him considered the ultimate goal of liberation.
Text 39 clearly states that impersonalistic renunciants will continue to suffer birth after birth. One may ask if this suffering is justified, since a renunciant's status should exempt him from suffering, whether or not he has a devotional attitude. As the śruti-mantra states, eṣa nityo mahimā brāhmaṇasya na karmaṇā vardhate no kanīyān: "The perpetual glory of a brāhmaṇa is never increased or diminished as a result of any of his activities." (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.28) To counter the objection thus raised, the personified Vedas offer this prayer.
Impersonalistic jñanīs and yogīs do not qualify for full relief from the reactions of karma — a privilege reserved only for those who are tvad-avagamī, pure devotees constantly engaged in hearing and chanting topics concerning the Personality of Godhead. The devotees hold firm to the Supreme Lord's lotus feet by their unrelenting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and so they need not strictly adhere to the ritual commands and prohibitions of the Vedas. They can fearlessly ignore the apparent good and bad reactions of the work they do only for the Supreme Lord's pleasure, and they can equally ignore whatever others may say about them, whether praise or condemnation. A humble Vaiṣṇava absorbed in the pleasure of sańkīrtana, glorification of the Lord, pays little heed to praise of himself, which he assumes mistaken, and happily accepts all criticism, which he deems appropriate.
One receives the authorized chanting of the Supreme Lord's glories by faithfully hearing from "the sons of Manu," the disciplic succession of saintly Vaiṣṇavas coming down through the ages. These sages emulate well the example of Svāyambhuva Manu, the forefather of mankind:
ayāta-yāmās tasyāsan
śṛṇvato dhyāyato viṣṇoḥ
"Although Svāyambhuva's life gradually came to an end, his long life, consisting of a manv-antara era, was not spent in vain, since he always engaged in hearing, contemplating, writing down and chanting the pastimes of the Lord." (Bhāg. 3.22.35)Even if a neophyte devotee falls from the standards of proper behavior by the force of his past bad habits, the all-merciful Lord will not reject him. As Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa states,
tair ahaḿ pūjanīyo vai
bhadrakṛṣṇa-nivāsibhiḥ
"For those who live in Bhadrakṛṣṇa [the district of Mathurā], I am the object of all worship. Even if the residents of that place fail to properly cultivate the religious principles that one should observe in the holy land, they still become devoted to Me just by virtue of living there. Even if Kali [the present age of quarrel] has them in his grip, they still get credit for living in this place. My devotee who lives in Mathurā is just as dear to Me as you [Brahmā] and your sons — Rudra and his followers — and Goddess Śrī and My own self."Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"O Mādhava, please let Me understand You so that I will no longer experience the entanglement of material pleasure and pain. Or else, just as good, please give me a taste for hearing and chanting about You. In that way I will no longer be a slave to ritual injunctions."
10.87.41
(41) Neither the masters of heaven can discern the end of the glories of You so Unlimited, nor even You Yourself, You within whom the multitudes of universes - each in their own shell - with the Course of Time are blown about in the sky as particles of dust. In You finding their ultimate conclusion bear the s'rutis fruit by [neti neti] eliminating that what is not the Absolute of You [see siddhânta]'.
Now, in their last prayer, the personified Vedas draw the conclusion that all śrutis, by their various literal and metaphorical references, ultimately describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead's identity, personal qualities and powers. The Upaniṣads glorify Him without end: yad ūrdhvaḿ gārgi divo yad arvāk pṛthivyā yad antarā dyāvā-pṛthivī ime yad bhūtaḿ bhavac ca bhaviṣyac ca. "My dear daughter of Garga, His greatness encompasses everything above us in heaven, everything below the surface of the earth, everything in between heaven and earth, and everything that has ever existed, exists now or will ever exist." (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.8.4)
To illuminate the meaning of this final prayer by the śrutis, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura presents the following conversation between Lord Nārāyaṇa and the personified Vedas: The Vedas said, "Lord Brahmā and the other rulers of the heavenly planets have not yet reached the end of Your glories. What can we do, then, since we are insignificant in comparison to these great demigods?"
Lord Nārāyaṇa replied, "No, you śrutis are gifted with more sublime vision than the demigods who rule this universe. You will be able to reach the end of My glories if you do not stop now."
"But even You cannot find Your own limit!"
"If that is the case, what do you mean when you call Me omniscient and omnipotent?"
"We conclude that You possess these features from the very fact that You are limitless. Certainly if one is ignorant of something that does not even exist, like a rabbit's horn, that does not detract from his omniscience, and if one fails to find such a nonentity, that does not limit his omnipotence. You are so vast that multitudes of universes float within You. Each of these universes is surrounded by seven shells composed of the material elements and each of these concentric shells is ten times larger than the one within it. Although we can never fully describe the truth about You, we perfect our existence by declaring that You are the true topic of the Vedas."
"But why do you seem dissatisfied?"
"Because in the Vedas Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described the transcendental existence of Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān only briefly. When he saw the need to elaborate on his description of the Supreme, he chose to concentrate on the subject of Brahman, the impersonal aspect of the Supreme known as tat ("that") explaining Brahman by negating whatever is different from it. Just as in a field where a chest of jewels has been accidentally spilled the jewels can be recovered by removing unwanted stones, twigs and refuse, so within the visible realm of Māyā and her creations the Absolute Truth can be found by a process of elimination. Since we Vedas cannot possibly enumerate every material category, individual entity, quality and motion in the universe from the beginning to the end of time and since the truth concerning Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān would still remain untouched even if we described all these things and then discarded them, by this means of investigation we never expect to reach a final definition of You. Only by Your mercy can we make some attempt to approach You, the supremely inaccessible Absolute Truth."
There are many statements of śruti that carry on the work of atan-nirasanam, the process of distinguishing the Supreme from everything inferior. The Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (3.8.8), for example, states, asthūlam anaṇu ahrasvam adīrgham alohitam asneham acchāyam atamo 'vāyv anākāśam asańgam arasam agandham acakṣuṣkam aśrotram agamano 'tejaskam aprāṇam asukham amātram anantaram abāhyam. "It is neither big nor small, short nor long, hot nor cool, in shadow nor in darkness. Nor is it the wind or the ether. It is not in contact with anything, and it has no taste, smell, eyes, ears, motion, potency, life air, pleasure, measurement, inside or outside. "The Kena Upaniṣad (3) declares, anyad eva tad viditād atho aviditād adhi: "Brahman is distinct from what is known and also from what is yet to be known. " And the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.14) says, anyatra dharmād anyatrādharmād anyatrāsmāt kṛtākṛtāt: "Brahman is outside the scope of religion and irreligion, pious and impious action."
According to the rules of linguistics and logic, a negation cannot be unbounded: there must be some positive counterpart of which it is the negation. In the case of the Vedas' exhaustive atan-nirasanam, their denial that anything material is absolutely real, the counterpart is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays,
"The gods of heaven do not know Your limit, O endless Lord, and even You do not know it. Because the transcendental words of the topmost śrutis become fruitful by revealing You, I offer You my obeisances. Thus I worship You as the Absolute Truth, saying 'All glories to You! All glories to You!'"
10.87.42
ity etad brahmaṇaḥ putrā
āśrutyātmānuśāsanam
sanandanam athānarcuḥ
(42) The Supreme Lord said: 'Thus having heard this instruction about the True Self, understood the sons of Brahmâ their final destination and worshiped they following perfectly satisfied sage Sanandana.
that ātmānuśāsanam can be understood both as instructions given to benefit the jīva souls and as instructions about the living entity's relationship with the foundation of all existence. Similarly, ātmano gatim means both the destination of the jīva soul and the means of reaching the Supreme Soul. By hearing the twenty-eight prayers of the personified Vedas, which comprise the elucidation of the brahmopaniṣat spoken at the beginning of this chapter, the sages assembled in Brahmaloka made great progress toward their goal of pure love of God.
10.87.43
purāṇopaniṣad-rasaḥ
samuddhṛtaḥ pūrva-jātair
vyoma-yānair mahātmabhiḥ
(43) Thus was by the classical sages who appeared in this world to roam in higher spheres, of all the Vedas and Purânas the nectar of the underlying mystery [of the Upanishad philosophy] distilled.
10.87.44
śraddhayātmānuśāsanam
(44) O you heir of Brahmâ [Nârada], wander the earth as you wish, meditating with faith upon this instruction about the Soul that turns to ashes the desires of man.'
Nārada, the son of Brahmā, heard this account from Śrī Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi. The epithet brahma-dāyāda also means that Nārada attained Brahman effortlessly, just as if it were His inherited birthright.
10.87.45
gṛhītvā śraddhayātmavān
(45) S'ri S'uka said: 'He, self-possessed, who this way was commanded by the sage accepted that faithfully, o King, and spoke, now completely being of success, the following after first, firm in his belief, having meditated upon what he had heard.
10.87.46
kṛṣṇāyāmala-kīrtaye
abhavāyośatīḥ kalāḥ
(46) S'rî Nârada said: 'My obeisances to Him, the Supreme Lord Krishna spotless in His glories, who manifests His all-attractive expansions for the liberation of all living beings [1.3: 28].'
Śrī Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi as an incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa is perfectly appropriate, in accordance with the following statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.3.28): ete cāḿśa-kalāḥ puḿsaḥ/ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. "All of the above-mentioned incarnations [including Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi] are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead." Lord Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi asking, "Why do you offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa instead of Me, your guru, who am standing here before you?" Nārada explains his action by saying that Lord Kṛṣṇa assumes all-attractive incarnations like Śrī Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi to end the conditioned souls' material life. By offering obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa, therefore, Nārada honors Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi and all other manifestations of Godhead as well.
This prayer of Nārada's is the essential nectar he has extracted from the personified Vedas' prayers, which themselves were churned from the sweet ocean of all secrets of the Vedas and Purāṇas. As the Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad (Pūrva 50) recommends, tasmāt kṛṣṇa eva paro devas taḿ dhyāyet taḿ rasayet taḿ bhajet taḿ yajed iti. oḿ tat sat: "Therefore Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Godhead. One should meditate on Him, relish the taste of reciprocating loving exchanges with Him, worship Him and offer sacrifice to Him."
10.87.47
tac-chiṣyāḿś ca mahātmanaḥ
pitur dvaipāyanasya me
(47) Thus having spoken bowed he down to the Original Rishi [Nârâyana] and to the great souls who were His pupils, and went he from there to the hermitage of my physical father, Dvaipâyana Vedavyâsa.
10.87.48
sabhājito bhagavatā
kṛtāsana-parigrahaḥ
nārāyaṇa-mukhāc chrutam
(48) After by the great devotee having been honored and having accepted a seat from him, described he to him what he had heard from the mouth of S'rî Nârâyana.
10.87.49
ity etad varṇitaḿ rājan
(49) Thus has your question been answered o King, about how the mind would find its way with the Absolute Truth, the truth which having no material qualities is so hard to express in words.
10.87.50
(50) He who watches over this universe in the beginning, the middle and the end; He who is the Lord of the unmanifested of the individual soul; He who, sending forth this universe, entered it along with the individual seer and [with him] producing bodies regulates them; He unto whom surrendering the one [illusioned] not being [re-]born forgets - as if asleep - the body that he cherishes; He by the power of whose pure spiritual status one is saved from a material birth, is the Supreme Personality upon whom one relentlessly should meditate to be freed from the fear [see B.G. 16: 11-12, 1.9: 39 and the bhajan Sarvasva Tomâra].'
By glancing upon the dormant universe at the time of sending forth the jīva souls into creation, the Supreme Lord provides all their necessities: For those living entities who are fruitive workers, He provides the intelligence and senses needed to achieve success in material work. For those who seek transcendental knowledge, He provides the intelligence by which they can merge into the spiritual effulgence of God, thus attaining liberation. And for the devotees He provides the understanding that leads them to His pure devotional service.
To arrange for these varied facilities, the Lord impels material nature to begin the process of universal evolution. Thus the Lord is the nimitta-kāraṇam, or effective cause, of creation. He is also the upādāna-kāraṇam, the ingredient cause, inasmuch as everything emanates from Him and He alone is constantly present before, during and after the manifestation of the created cosmos. Lord Nārāyaṇa Himself states this in the Catuḥ-ślokī Bhāgavatam:
aham evāsam evāgre
yo 'vaśiṣyeta so 'smy aham
"It is I, the Personality of Godhead, who was existing before the creation, when there was nothing but Myself. Nor was there the material nature, the cause of this creation. That which you see now is also I, the Personality of Godhead and after annihilation what remains will also be I, the Personality of Godhead." (Bhāg. 2.9.33) Primeval Māyā and the jīva soul may deserve the respective titles of upādāna and nimitta causes of creation in a relative sense, but the Lord, after all, is the origin of both of them.Until he chooses to accept the mercy of the Personality of Godhead, the jīva soul is anuśayī, helplessly bound up in the embrace of illusion. When he turns to the Lord's worship, he becomes anuśayī in a different sense: fallen like a rod to pay obeisances at the Lord's feet. By that surrender the soul easily casts illusion aside. Even though the liberated soul may still seem to be living in a material body, the connection he has with it is only an external appearance; he pays no more regard to it than a sleeping man pays to his body while busily engaged far, far away in his dream-world.
One gives up ignorance by abandoning false identification with one's material body. Sometimes one can achieve this state only by a severe effort that takes many lifetimes, but in some cases the Lord may show special consideration for one He favors, regardless of how little credit that soul may have earned by regulated practice. In the words of Śrī Bhīṣmadeva, yam iha nirīkṣya hatā gatāḥ svarūpam: "Those who simply saw Kṛṣṇa on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra attained their original forms after being killed." (Bhāg. 1.9.39) That even demons like Agha, Baka and Keśī were liberated by Lord Kṛṣṇa without having performed any spiritual practices is an indication of His unique position as the original Personality of Godhead. Knowing this, we should put aside all fear and doubt and give ourselves fully to the process of devotional service.
As his final words of commentary on this chapter, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī writes,
sarva-śruti-śiro-ratna-
nīrājita-padāmbujam
"With their effulgence, the crest jewels among all the śrutis offer āratī to the lotus feet of Lord Mādhava. I pay homage to Him, who bestows the material enjoyment honored by material workers, and who also grants the divine connection with Him prized by those who bow down to Him with reverence."Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also takes this opportunity to offer this humble prayer:
he bhaktā dvāry ayaḿ cañcad-
viśiṣṭaḥ śveva nāthati
"O devotees, this poor creature is standing at your doorway, waving his tail and barking. Please let him have a little prasādam so that he may become exceptional among dogs and get the best of masters as his owner." Here the ācārya makes a pun on his own name: viś(iṣṭaḥ), "exceptional"; śva(iva), "like a dog"; nātha(ati), "having a master." Such is the perfection of Vaiṣṇava humility.Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Eighty-seventh Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Prayers of the Personified Vedas."
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