VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Canto 11
Chapter 12
The Confidential Secret Beyond Renunciation and Knowledge
In this chapter the glories of holy association and the superexcellence of the pure love of the residents of Vṛndāvana are described.
The association of saintly devotees destroys the soul's attachment to material life and is capable of bringing even the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, under one's control. Neither yoga, Sāńkhya philosophy, ordinary religious duties, study of scriptures, austerities, renunciation, works of iṣṭā and pūrtam, charity, vows of fasting, worship of the Deity, secret mantras, visiting of holy places, nor adherence to any major or minor regulative principles can effect the same result. In every age there are demons, monsters, birds and animals who are in the modes of passion and ignorance, and there are also human beings in the categories of businessmen, women, workers, outcastes, and so on, who cannot study the Vedic scriptures. Nevertheless, by the purifying effect of the association of devotees they may all achieve the supreme abode of the Personality of Godhead, whereas without such saintly association, even those very seriously endeavoring in yoga, Sāńkhya study, charity, vows and practice of the renounced order of life may remain incapable of attaining the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The young damsels of Vraja, ignorant of the true identity of Lord Kṛṣṇacandra, considered Him to be their paramour who would give them pleasure. Yet by the power of their constant association with Śrī Kṛṣṇa, they attained to the supreme Absolute Truth, which even great demigods like Brahmā cannot achieve. The young women of Vṛndāvana displayed such deep attachment to Lord Kṛṣṇa that their minds, which were overflowing with the ecstasy of being with Him, perceived an entire night spent in His company as just a fraction of a second. However, when Akrūra took Śrī Kṛṣṇa along with Baladeva to Mathurā, the gopīs then thought each night without Him to be equal in duration to a millennium of the demigods. Being tormented by separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa, they could not imagine anything that could give them satisfaction other than His return. This is the incomparable excellence of the gopīs' pure love of God.
The Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, after imparting these instructions to Uddhava, advised that for the sake of attaining the Absolute Truth, Uddhava should give up all consideration of religion and irreligion as promulgated in the śrutis and smṛtis and instead take shelter of the example of the women of Vṛndāvana.
11.12.1-2
vratāni yajñaś chandāḿsi
yathāvarundhe sat-sańgaḥ
(1-2) The Supreme Lord said: 'Mysticism nor analysis, common piety nor the study of the scriptures; penances, renunciation, desirable and pious works nor charity; respecting vows, ceremonies, vedic hymns, pilgrimage, general discipline nor the basic rules contain Me the way the sat-sanga [see 11.11: 25] contains Me that removes all attachment to sense gratification.
If one falsely thinks that one may obtain the association of Lord Kṛṣṇa merely by great austerities, brilliant studies in Sanskrit literature, magnanimous acts of charity, etc., one's Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be distorted and weakened. One should remember the example of Lord Caitanya, who practiced Kṛṣṇa consciousness by constantly hearing and chanting about Lord Kṛṣṇa. If by fasting, study, austerity or sacrifice one becomes more fit to participate in the sańkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya, then such activities are also pleasing to Lord Kṛṣṇa. But the Lord clearly explains here that such activities can never become central in the practice of bhakti-yoga. They must remain in an auxiliary relationship to the supreme process of sat-sańga, or association with pure devotees who hear and chant the glories of the Lord. Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted from Vedic literature that if one offends the Lord's devotees and does not learn to associate with them, Lord Viṣṇu personally places barriers in the path of such a person so that he may not enter into the Lord's company.
11.12.3-6
gandharvāpsaraso nāgāḥ
rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtayas
tvāṣṭra-kāyādhavādayaḥ
vṛṣaparvā balir bāṇo
mayaś cātha vibhīṣaṇaḥ
sugrīvo hanumān ṛkṣo
gajo gṛdhro vaṇikpathaḥ
yajña-patnyas tathāpare
(3-6) By means of sat-sanga only many living entities, like the sons of Diti, the malicious ones, the animals, the birds, the singers and dancers of heaven, the excellent and perfected, the venerable and the treasure keepers, the scientific ones among the humans and the merchants, laborers and women, the uncivilized and the ones of passion and slowness, in each and every age achieve My abode. And so did Vritrâsura, the son of Kayâdhû [Prahlâda, see 6.18: 12-13] and others like them, Vrishaparvâ [see 9.18: 26], Bali, Bâna, Maya as also Vibhîshana [brother of Râvana], Sugrîva [leader of the Vânaras] and Hanumân, Jâmbavân, Gajendra, Jatâyu, Tulâdhâra, Dharma-vyâdha, Kubjâ and the gopîs in Vraja, as also the wives of the brahmins [see 10.23] and others.
The Lord has mentioned devotees such as the gopīs in Vṛndāvana and also demons like Bāṇāsura to illustrate how He comes under the control of those who surrender to Him. It is understood that devotees like the gopīs and others mentioned here obtained pure love of Kṛṣṇa, whereas the demons generally obtained only salvation. Many demons were purified by association with devotees and came to accept devotional service to the Lord as the most important among the various activities in their lives, but the exalted devotees like Prahlāda and Bali Mahārāja know nothing except devotional service, which they accept as their very life. Still, the reformed demons are also mentioned so that readers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will understand the enormous benefits one may achieve by associating with devotees of the Lord.
The demon Vṛtrāsura was the pious King Citraketu in his previous life, during which he associated with Śrī Nārada Muni, Śrī Ańgirā Muni and Lord Sańkarṣaṇa. Prahlāda Mahārāja, being the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, is considered a Daitya, or demon. Yet while still in the womb of his mother, Kayādhū, he associated with Nārada Muni by sound vibration. The demon Vṛṣaparvā was abandoned by his mother at birth, but he was raised by a muni and became a devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. Bali Mahārāja associated with his grandfather Prahlāda and also with Lord Vāmanadeva. Bali Mahārāja's son, Bāṇāsura, was saved by association with his father and Lord Śiva. He also associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa personally when the Lord cut off all but two of his one thousand arms, which had been awarded as a benediction by Lord Śiva. Understanding the glories of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Bāṇāsura also became a great devotee. The demon Maya Dānava constructed an assembly house for the Pāṇḍavas and also associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, eventually achieving the shelter of the Lord. Vibhīṣaṇa was a pious-natured demon, the brother of Rāvaṇa, and he associated with Hanumān and Rāmacandra.
Sugrīva, Hanumān, Jāmbavān and Gajendra are examples of animals who achieved the mercy of the Lord. Jāmbavān, or Ṛkṣarāja, was a member of a race of monkeys. He personally associated with Lord Kṛṣṇa, fighting with Him over the Syamantaka jewel. The elephant Gajendra in a previous life had association with devotees, and at the end of his life as Gajendra he was personally saved by the Lord. Jaṭāyu, the bird who at the cost of his own life assisted Lord Rāmacandra, associated with Śrī Garuḍa and Mahārāja Daśaratha as well as other devotees in rāma-līlā. He also personally met with Sītā and Lord Rāma. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, the association that the Gandharvas, Apsarās, Nāgas, Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Guhyakas and Vidyādharas had with the devotees is not very prominent and does not need to be mentioned. Vaṇikpatha is a vaiśya, and his story is mentioned in the Mahābhārata in connection with the pride of Jājali Muni.
The importance of association with devotees is illustrated in the story of Dharma-vyādha, the nonviolent hunter, as described in the Varāha Purāṇa. In a previous life he somehow became a brahma-rākṣasa, or brāhmaṇa ghost, but was eventually saved. In a previous Kali-yuga he had the association of a Vaiṣṇava king named Vāsu. The lady Kubjā associated directly with Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in her previous birth she had associated with Śrī Nārada Muni The gopīs of Vṛndāvana rendered service to saintly persons in their previous births. Having had ample association with devotees, they became gopīs in Vṛndāvana in their next lives and associated with the eternally liberated gopīs who had descended there. They also had association with Tulasī-devī, or Vṛndā-devī. The wives of the brāhmaṇas performing sacrifice had association with women sent by Lord Kṛṣṇa to sell flower garlands and betel nuts and heard about the Lord from them.
11.12.7
nopāsita-mahattamāḥ
avratātapta-tapasaḥ
(7) They, not having studied the sacred scriptures, nor having worshiped the great saints, attained, without vows and not having undergone austerities, Me through My association.
ntras, acceptance of vows and austerities, etc., as mentioned previously, are helpful processes that please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this verse, however, the Lord again explains that all such processes are secondary to the essential process of associating with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His pure devotees. By other processes one may gain the association of the Lord and His devotees, which will actually give the perfection of life. The word mat-sańgāt can also be read as sat-sańgāt, with the same meaning. In the reading mat-sańgāt ("from association with Me"), mat is also understood to indicate "those who are Mine," or the devotees. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī mentions that a pure devotee can advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by his own association, since simply by associating with his own activities and consciousness, he associates with the Lord.
11.12.8
11.12.9
prāpnuyād yatnavān api
(8-9) Indeed through love only the gopîs, the cows, the immobile creatures, the animals, the snakes [like Kâliya] and others who were stunted in their intelligence, achieved perfection quite easily because they came to Me, I who cannot even be reached by greatly endeavoring with yoga, analysis, charity, vows, penances, ritualistic sacrifices, exegesis, personal study or taking to the renounced order.
Although innumerable living entities achieved liberation by association with the Lord and His devotees, many such personalities also executed other processes such as austerity, charity, philosophical speculation, and so on. As we have already explained, such procedures are secondary. But the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana such as the gopīs did not know anything except Lord Kṛṣṇa, and their whole purpose in life was simply to love Lord Kṛṣṇa, as indicated here by the words kevalena hi bhāvena. Even the trees, bushes and hills such as Govardhana loved Lord Kṛṣṇa. As the Lord explains to His brother, Śrī Baladeva, in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.15.5):
namanty upādāya śikhābhir ātmanas
"My dear brother Baladeva, just see how these trees are bowing down with their branches and offering obeisances to Your lotus feet, which are worshipable even by the demigods. Indeed, My dear brother, You are the Supreme God, and thus these trees have produced fruits and flowers as an offering to You. Although a living entity takes birth as a tree due to the mode of ignorance, certainly by such a birth in Vṛndāvana these trees are destroying all darkness in their lives by serving Your lotus feet."
11.12.10
(10) When Akrûra took Me and Balarâma to Mathurâ were the inhabitants constantly attached [to Me] with minds steeped in the deepest love. With Me as the only one to make them happy were they most miserable after being separated from Me [see 10: 39].
11.12.11
mayaiva vṛndāvana-gocareṇa
(11) All the nights they spend in Vrindâvana with Me, their most dearly Beloved, o Uddhava seemed to them just like half a moment, but again bereft of Me they appeared to take as long as a kalpa.
11.12.12
(12) They with their consciousness bound to Me in intimacy had lost the awareness of their own bodies, just as sages who fully absorbed lose the awareness of matters as close as names and forms, when they like rivers entering the ocean moved far [in the beyond, see also B.G. 2: 70].
11.12.13
sańgāc chata-sahasraśaḥ
(13) The women with Me, a charming lover to their desire, a lover of another man's wife, had no idea of the actual position of Me, the Absolute Truth Supreme, whom they by the hundreds of thousands achieved in association.
11.12.14-15
(14-15) Therefore o Uddhava give up the injunctions, the regulations about them and the ritual culture for its own sake, give up that what you learned and will be learning; go for Me alone, the actual shelter of the soul within all the ones embodied; with that exclusive devotion you should by My mercy have nothing to fear from any side [compare B.G. 18: 66].'
Śrī Uddhava inquired from Lord Kṛṣṇa about the symptoms of saintly persons and liberated souls, and the Lord has replied in terms of different levels of spiritual advancement, distinguishing between those who are able to understand Lord Kṛṣṇa to be the principal goal of life and those loving devotees who accept Lord Kṛṣṇa and devotional service to Him as the only goal of life. Lord Kṛṣṇa also mentioned that He is captured by His loving devotees and even by those who sincerely associate with His loving devotees. Among all the devotees, the gopīs of Vṛndāvana were described by the Lord as having achieved such a rare state of pure devotional service that Lord Kṛṣṇa personally feels constantly indebted to them. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Kṛṣṇa previously kept the gopīs' love for Him concealed in His heart because of its confidential nature and the Lord's own gravity. Finally, however, even Lord Kṛṣṇa could not remain silent about the intense love of the gopīs, and thus in these verses the Lord reveals to Uddhava how the gopīs loved Him in Vṛndāvana and brought Him fully under their control. The Lord would relax in secret places with the loving gopīs, and by conjugal spontaneous affection the greatest love was exchanged between them.
As explained by the Lord in Bhagavad-gītā, one cannot achieve the perfection of life merely by renouncing the material world or by executing ordinary, sectarian religious principles. One must actually understand the identity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and by associating with His pure devotees one must learn to love the Lord in His personal, original form. This love may be expressed in either the conjugal, paternal, fraternal or serving rasa, or relationship. The Lord has elaborately explained to Uddhava the system of philosophical analysis of the material world, and now He clearly concludes that it is useless for Uddhava to waste time in fruitive activities or mental speculation. Actually, Lord Kṛṣṇa is hinting that Uddhava should assimilate the example of the gopīs and try to advance further in Kṛṣṇa consciousness by following in the footsteps of the cowherd damsels of Vraja. Any conditioned soul who is unsatisfied with the cruel laws of nature, which impose disease, old age and death, should understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa can deliver all living beings from the problems of material existence. There is no need to entangle oneself in unauthorized, sectarian rituals, injunctions or prohibitions. One should simply surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa, following the example of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. By the authorized regulated process of bhakti-yoga, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one easily achieves spiritual perfection.
11.12.16
saḿśayaḥ śṛṇvato vācaḿ
tava yogeśvareśvara
(16) S'rî Uddhava said: 'Hearing Your words, o master of all yoga masters, has not dispelled the doubt that nestled in my heart and because of which my mind is bewildered.'
11.12.17
(17) The Supreme Lord said: 'He, the living being in person, is manifest within along with the prâna, for He entered the heart having His place in the subtle sound vibration that fills the mind in the grosser form of the different intonations of short and long vowels and consonants.
11.12.18
balena dāruṇy adhimathyamānaḥ
(18) Just as fire confined within wood, with the help of air, kindled by friction is born very tiny and increases with ghee, I similarly manifest Myself in this spoken [vedic] word.
11.12.19
(19) Thus there are as [My] transformations speech, the function of the hands and legs, the genitals and the anus [the karmendriyas]; smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing [the jñânendriyas] and the functions of one's determination, wisdom and self concern [or 'mind, intelligence and false ego'] as well as the primary of matter [pradhâna or the thread, see 11.9: 19] and rajas, tamas and sattva [the gunas].
By the word gadi, or "speech," the Lord concludes His discussion about His manifestation as Vedic vibrations and describes the functions of the other working senses, along with the knowledge-acquiring senses, the subtle functions of consciousness, pradhāna and the interaction of the three modes of material nature. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person sees the entire material world as a manifestation of the Lord's potencies. There is therefore no legitimate scope for material sense gratification, because everything is an expansion from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and belongs to Him. One who can understand the expansion of the Lord within subtle and gross material manifestations gives up his desire to live in this world. In the spiritual world everything is eternal, full of bliss and knowledge. The exclusive feature of the material world is that here the living entity dreams that he is lord. A sane person, giving up this hallucination, finds no attractive features in the kingdom of māyā and therefore returns home, back to Godhead.
11.12.20
viśliṣṭa-śaktir bahudheva bhāti
(20) Indeed this living entity, one and unmanifest, that is concerned with the threefold, is the source of the lotus of creation. He, eternal as He is, in the course of time dividing His potencies in many divisions, appears just like seeds do having fallen in a fertile field.
11.12.21
(21) Just as cloth expands along the warp and woof of its threads, is the whole of this Universe, expanding long and wide, situated in Him [on His thread, see also 6.3: 12 and B.G. 7: 7]. Of this material existence is there since time immemorial this tree [this organic body] which, blossoming producing the fruits, is naturally inclined to fruitive action [or karma].
11.12.22-23
(22-23) Of this tree extending in the sun there are two seeds [sin and piety], hundreds of roots [the living entities], three lower trunks [the modes], five upper trunks [the elements], five saps produced [sound, form, touch, taste and aroma], eleven branches [the mind and the ten indriyas]; two birds having a nest [jîva and âtmâ], three types of bark [air, bile and mucus] and two fruits [happiness and distress]. The lusty one living in a household enjoys one fruit of the tree, whereas the other swanlike ones who live in the forest with the help of the worshipable ones [the devotees, the gurus] know the Oneness of Him who by dint of His mâyâ appears in many forms.
11.12.24
vivṛścya jīvāśayam apramattaḥ
(24) Thus being of an unalloyed devotional service that developed worshiping the guru, should the sober one by means of the sharp axe of knowledge cut down the individual soul its subtle body of attachment, so that he with the greatest care living spiritually achieves the Supreme Soul. Thereafter he should relinquish the means by which he attained.'
Because Uddhava had achieved the perfection of personal association with Lord Kṛṣṇa, there was no need for him to maintain the mentality of a conditioned soul, and thus, as described here by the words sampadya cātmānam, Uddhava could personally serve the lotus feet of the Lord in the spiritual world. Indeed, Uddhava requested this opportunity at the beginning of this great conversation. As stated here, gurūpāsanayaika-bhaktyā: one can achieve pure devotional service by worshiping a bona fide spiritual master. It is not recommended here that one give up pure devotional service or one's spiritual master. Rather, it is clearly stated by the words vidyā-kuṭhāreṇa that one should cultivate knowledge of the material world as described by Lord Kṛṣṇa in this chapter. One should fully understand that each and every aspect of the material creation is the expansion of the illusory potency of the Lord. Such knowledge works as a sharpened ax to cut down the roots of material existence. In this way, even the stubborn subtle body, created by the three modes of nature, is cut to pieces, and one becomes apramatta, or sane and cautious in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Lord Kṛṣṇa has clearly explained in this chapter that the cowherd damsels of Vṛndāvana were not interested in an analytical approach to life. They simply loved Lord Kṛṣṇa and could not think of anything else. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught that all His devotees should follow in the footsteps of the cowherd damsels of Vraja in order to develop the highest intensity of selfless love of Godhead. Lord Kṛṣṇa has elaborately analyzed the nature of the material world so that the conditioned souls, who are trying to enjoy it, can cut down the tree of material existence with this knowledge. The words sampadya cātmānam indicate that a person with such knowledge has no further material existence, because he has already achieved the Personality of Godhead. Such a person should not loiter in the kingdom of māyā, perpetually refining his understanding of the illusory creation. One who has accepted Lord Kṛṣṇa as everything may enjoy eternal bliss in the Lord's service. Yet even though he remains in this world, he has no more business with it and gives up the analytical procedures for negating it. Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore tells Uddhava, tyajāstram: "Give up the ax of analytic knowledge by which you have cut down your sense of proprietorship and residence in the material world."
Thus end of the Eleventh Canto, Twelfth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Beyond Renunciation and Knowledge."
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of Swamyjis, Philosophers, Scholars and Knowledge Seekers for the collection)
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