VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
11.2.36
buddhyātmanā vānusṛta-svabhāvāt
nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tat
(36) Whatever one following one's own nature does with the body, speech, mind, senses, intelligence or the purified consciousness, should all be offered to the Supreme with the thought: 'This is for Nârâyana' ['nârâyanâya iti', compare B.G. 3: 9 and 9: 27].
a person who engages all the sensory activities of his body, mind, words, intelligence, ego and consciousness in the service of the Supreme Lord cannot be considered to be on the same level as a karmī working for his personal sense gratification. Although apparently still a conditioned soul, one who offers the fruits of all his activities to the Lord can no longer be touched by the countless miseries that arise from the reactions to materialistic activities.
Because of enmity against the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His omnipotent authority, the conditioned living entity performs activities against the order of the Lord. Yet self-realized souls continue to perform all types of work within this world to carry out the mission of the Supreme Lord. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, those karmīs who are sufficiently pious follow the example of the self-realized souls by trying to offer the fruits of their own duties at the lotus feet of the Lord. Although this is counted as karma-miśrā bhakti, or devotional service mixed with the desire to execute fruitive activities, such mixed devotional service is gradually transformed into pure devotional service. As the pious fruitive workers disengage themselves, step by step, from the bogus philosophy of "enjoyment of one's hard-earned rewards," pure devotional service rewards them with complete good fortune.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has commented, ātmanā cittenāhańkāreṇa vā anusṛto yaḥ svabhāvas tasmāt: although one may still be in the bodily concept of life, he should offer the fruit of his work to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those with a primitive, materialistic concept of the Supreme Lord consider the Lord present only in a temple or church. They make some offering to the Lord in the place of worship, but in their normal activities they claim proprietorship, not thinking that God is present everywhere and within everyone. We have practical experience of many so-called religious men who become very offended if their children try to become servants of the Supreme Lord. They feel, "God should be pleased with whatever humble offering I give Him, but my family and ordinary business affairs belong to me and are under my control." The perception of anything as separate from the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His proprietorship is called māyā, or illusion. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has quoted, na kevalaḿ vidhitaḥ kṛtam eveti niyamaḥ; svabhāvānusāri laukikam api: "The regulation that one should serve the Supreme Lord does not refer only to prescribed religious paths, ceremonies and regulations; rather, all the activities one performs in this world according to one's personal nature should be dedicated to the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
The words karoti yad yat sakalaḿ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tat in this verse are very significant. A similar verse is found in Bhagavad-gītā (9.27):
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
"O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, and all the austerities that you perform should be done as an offering unto Me." The objection may be raised, Since our ordinary activities are performed with a material body and material mind, not by the spirit soul, how can such activities be offered to the Supreme Lord, who is completely transcendental to the material world? How can such activities be considered spiritual? In answer to this it is stated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (3.8.8):
varṇāśramācāra-vatā
One who wants to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, must accept the system of varṇāśrama-dharma and worship the Lord through the execution of his prescribed duties. In Bhagavad-gītā (4.13) the Supreme Lord has personally taken credit for establishing the system of varṇāśrama-dharma: cātur-varṇyaḿ mayā sṛṣṭaḿ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Therefore if one offers his work within the varṇāśrama-dharma system to the Supreme Lord, such work is counted as devotional service. According to one's svabhāva, or nature, one may work as an intellectual or priest, as an administrator or military man, as an agriculturist or mercantile man, or as a laborer or craftsman. And while working, everyone should meditate on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, thinking, yat sakalaḿ parasmai nārāyaṇāya: "I am working for the Supreme Lord. Whatever result comes from my work, I shall accept the bare minimum for my personal maintenance, and the rest I shall offer for the glorification of Lord Nārāyaṇa."
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has pointed out, kāmināḿ tu sarvathaiva na duṣkarmārpaṇam: one cannot offer duṣkarma, or sinful, wicked activities, to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The four pillars of sinful life are illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. Such activities are never acceptable as offerings to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The example may be given that although in a free society each person is allowed to choose his own occupation, even a democratic government will not allow a citizen to choose the occupation of thief or murderer. In the same way, according to the laws of God one is invited to work according to his own nature in the varṇāśrama system, but one is forbidden to adopt a criminal life of sinful activities violating the laws of God.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has given a nice description of how one should offer one's ordinary activities to the Supreme Lord. He says that an ordinary sense gratifier begins his activities in the morning by passing stool and urine, cleaning his mouth, brushing his teeth, bathing, meeting his friends and family members and discussing with them the day's business. In this way one has so many activities during the day, and a sense gratifier executes all these activities for his personal material enjoyment. A karmī, on the other hand, working under the jurisdiction of the karma-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas, will perform the same activities for the pleasure of the demigods and his forefathers. Thus, according to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, a devotee of the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa, should similarly perform all of his daily activities for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. In this way everything we do throughout the day will become bhakty-ańga, or a supplementary aspect of our devotional service to Kṛṣṇa.
It should be understood that as long as one identifies oneself in terms of the varṇāśrama-dharma system rather than as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa one is still on the platform of ahańkāra, or false ego, because the varṇāśrama system is designed according to the modes of nature acquired by the living entity through his material body. But the ācāryas have emphasized in their commentaries on this verse that such a false ego, by which one identifies oneself as a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, sannyāsī, gṛhastha and so on, should also be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, when one becomes very much attracted to hearing and chanting about the Supreme Lord and not merely offering Him the fruits of one's work, one has attained the stage called svarūpa-siddhā bhakti, or the stage in which actual devotion becomes visible. The example may be given that although any good citizen will pay his taxes to the government, he may not necessarily love the government or its leaders. Similarly a pious living entity can understand that he is working under the laws of God, and therefore in accordance with Vedic injunctions or the injunctions of other scriptures he offers a portion of his assets to the Supreme Lord in religious ceremonies. But when such a pious person actually becomes attached to chanting and hearing about the personal qualities of the Lord and when love thus becomes visible, he is considered to be reaching the mature stage of life. In this regard, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has quoted several verses that very nicely show the development of love for Godhead. Anena durvāsanā-duḥkha-darśanena sa karuṇā-mayaḥ karuṇāḿ karotu: "May the merciful Lord show mercy on me by demonstrating the misery created by sinful desires." Yā prītir avivekānāḿ visayeṣv anapāyinī/ tvām anusmarataḥ sā me hṛdayān nāpasarpatu: "Unintelligent persons have unflinching affection for the objects of sense gratification. Similarly, may I always remember You, so that that same attachment, applied to You, never leaves my heart." (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.20.19) Yuvatīnāḿ yathā yūni yūnāḿ ca yuvatau yathā/ mano 'bhiramate tadvan mano me ramatāḿ tvayi: "As the minds of young girls take pleasure in thinking of a young boy and those of young boys take pleasure in thinking of a young girl, may my mind take pleasure in You." Mama sukarmaṇi duṣkarmaṇi ca yad rāga-sāmānyam, tad sarvato-bhāvena bhagavad-viṣayam eva bhavatu: "Whatever attraction I have for pious or sinful activities, let that attraction be wholeheartedly invested in You."
11.2.37
bhayaḿ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
bhaktyaikayeśaḿ guru-devatātmā
(37) For the ones who led by the illusory energy and forgetful about God, turned away in falsely identifying themselves [with the body] will fear rise because of one's being absorbed in matters second to the Lord. For that reason should an intelligent person be fully and purely devoted to Him, the Lord and consider his spiritual master as his Lord and Soul [see B.G. also 4: 34, 1.5: 12 and B.G. 7: 14, 15: 7].
According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī the objection may be raised that since fear is caused by ignorance, it can be dispelled by knowledge and there is no need to worship the Supreme Lord. The living entity falsely identifies with his material body, family, society and so on, and he simply has to give up this false identification. Then what will māyā be able to do?
In reply to this argument, Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has quoted the following verse from Bhagavad-gītā (7.14):
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." The living entity, called jīva-tattva, is one of the potencies of the Supreme Lord, but the constitutional position of the living entity is taṭa-stha, or marginal. Being minute, every living entity is eternally dependent upon the supreme living entity, Kṛṣṇa. This is confirmed in the Vedic literature as follows: nityo nityānāḿ cetanaś cetanānāḿ/ eko bahūnāḿ yo vidadhāti kāmān. "Among all the eternally conscious beings there is one supreme eternal living being who is supplying the needs of all the innumerable others." (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.1.12) Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja has stated, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya: "Kṛṣṇa is the only independent controller; all other living entities depend upon Him." (Cc. Ādi 5.142) Just as the finger is part and parcel of the body and therefore must always be engaged in bodily service, we as parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa (mamaivāḿśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ [Bg. 15.7]) have the eternal duty (sanātana-dharma) of engaging in the unalloyed service of the Lord.
The potency of the Lord that enlightens us in the Lord's service is called cit-śakti. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments that when the living entity develops a spirit of independence he is forced to come to the material world, where he enters into various types of petty and undesirable behavior that create a fearful situation for him. The bahirańgā-śakti, the illusory potency of the Supreme Lord, covers all trace of the cit-śakti and imposes one material body after another upon the living entity for his gross sinful enjoyment. As further punishment, the living entity who has given up his loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa loses all power to perceive the eternal, blissful form of the Supreme Lord, who is his actual shelter. Instead the living entity becomes attached to many temporary, phantasmagorical forms, such as his personal body, the bodies of his family members and friends, his nation, his city, with its buildings and cars, and innumerable types of ephemeral material scenery. In such a state of gross ignorance the idea of returning to one's original identity no longer even crosses the mind.
By the laws of God the three modes of material nature are constantly in conflict, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. This conflict is described in many places in the Bhāgavatam as guṇa-vyatikaram. When the living entity is bewildered by the interactions of the modes of material nature, he comes to the conclusion of relativity and assumes that God and worship of God are simply by-products of the relative, contradictory interactions of nature's modes. In the name of anthropological, sociological or psychological perspective, the living entity falls deeper and deeper into the darkness of materialistic ignorance, dedicating himself to mundane piety, economic development, sense gratification, or speculation in which he regards the Absolute as lacking variety and personality, which he assumes to be products of the interactions of nature's modes.
The illusory potency of the Supreme Lord is duratyayā; it is impossible to escape without the direct mercy of Kṛṣṇa (mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāḿ taranti te [Bg. 7.14]). The example may be given that when the sun is covered by clouds, no man-made apparatus can remove them from the sky, but the sun itself, which created the clouds, can immediately burn away the cloudy covering and reveal itself. Similarly, when we become covered by the illusory potency of the Lord we identify with our temporary material body, and thus we are always in fear and anxiety. But when we surrender to the Lord Himself, He can immediately free us from this illusion. The material world is padaḿ padaḿ yad vipadām; it is dangerous at every step. When a living entity understands that he is not the material body but an eternal servant of God, his fear is vanquished. As stated by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, atra bhaktaiḥ saḿsāra-bandhān na bhetavyaḿ sa hi bhaktau pravartamānasya svata evāpayāti: "In this bhāgavata-dharma devotees have no need to fear the bondage of material existence. That fear goes away of its own accord for one who engages in devotional service."
It is important to make clear that bhayam, or fear, cannot ultimately be vanquished simply by impersonal self-realization as expressed by the words ahaḿ brahmāsmi, "I am spirit soul." In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.12) Nārada Muni says to Vyāsadeva, naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaḿ na śobhate: mere naiṣkarmyam, or cessation of material activities and repudiation of the bodily concept of life, cannot ultimately save one. The living entity must find a superior shelter on the spiritual platform; otherwise he will come back to the fearful situation of material existence. That is stated in śāstra: āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraḿ padaḿ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-ańghrayaḥ (Bhāg. 10.2.32). Although one may with great labor and effort struggle up to the Brahman platform (kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām [Bg. 12.5]), if he does not find a suitable shelter he will come back to the material platform. His so-called liberation is vimukta-māna, liberation by imagination.
The living entity is by nature pleasure-seeking, ānanda-maya. Now we are suffering because we are falsely seeking pleasure on the material platform and as a result we are becoming entangled in the painful complexities of material existence. But if we try to give up the pleasure-seeking propensity altogether, we shall eventually become frustrated and return to the platform of material pleasure-seeking. Although there is eternal existence on the Brahman platform of impersonal realization, there is no ānanda. Variety is the mother of enjoyment. In the Vaikuṇṭha planets there is actual, spiritual ānanda. Kṛṣṇa is there in His ecstatic, spiritual form, surrounded by His blissful associates, all of them eternally full of bliss and knowledge. They have nothing to do with material existence. In the spiritual planets even the scenery and birds and animals are fully conscious of Kṛṣṇa and are absorbed in transcendental bliss. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaḿ mama (Bg. 15.6). One who goes to the blissful, spiritual planet of Kṛṣṇa will be fully satisfied and never come back to the material platform. Therefore Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has said, kiḿ cātra bhaktaiḥ saḿsāra-bandhān na bhetavyam. Only the bhakta actually becomes free from fear.
In this connection Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has emphasized the necessity of accepting a bona fide spiritual master who is vrajendranandana-preṣṭha, the dearmost servitor of the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa. The bona fide spiritual master is completely free from envy of other living entities, and therefore he freely distributes knowledge of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the living entities who are inimical to the service of the Lord somehow hear this knowledge submissively, they become free from the illusory potency of the Lord, which has covered them and thrown them into various miserable species of life. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, by the mercy of the spiritual master the faithful disciple gradually realizes the transcendental position of Lord Nārāyaṇa, who is served with great awe and reverence by hundreds and thousands of goddesses of fortune. As the disciple's transcendental knowledge gradually increases, even the paramaiśvarya, or supreme opulence, of the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha becomes pale in the light of the beauty of Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. Govinda has inconceivable potency to enchant and give pleasure, and by the mercy of the spiritual master the disciple gradually develops his own blissful relationship (rasa) with Govinda. Having understood the blissful pastimes of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Sītā-Rāma, Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa and finally Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, the purified living entity is given the unique privilege of participating directly in the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, who becomes his only object and shelter.
11.2.38
dhyātur dhiyā svapna-manorathau yathā
(38) By the intelligence of the dual experience may one, as in a dream, be seeing things manifest themselves or notice desires that are unreal. For that reason should an intelligent person bring the mind under control that referring to material activities is committed to positive and negative desires, and thus be fearless [see also B.G. 6: 35].
Although the conditioned mind is bewildered by the objects of sense gratification offered by māyā, illusion, if one takes to the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord such material sense gratification gradually dissipates, for it is merely a mental concoction of the conditioned soul. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has emphasized by the words avyabhicāriṇī bhakti that one cannot dissipate the illusion of material sense gratification unless one takes to the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has stated:
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaḿ
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
[Madhya 19.167]
[Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]Unalloyed devotional service cannot be mixed with material sense gratification or mental speculation. The servant must act only for the satisfaction of the master. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā, mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja. One must see only Kṛṣṇa everywhere and must act exclusively for the satisfaction of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the eternal master of every living entity.
Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted several verses from the Hari-vaḿśa illustrating that the living entity bewildered by identifying with his material body, home, family, friends and so on and thus entangled in the cycle of birth and death accepts phantasmagoria as reality. According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, śravaṇa-kīrtanādi-lakṣaṇa-mātratvaḿ yato na vyāhanyeta: if one seriously desires to vanquish the duality of material illusion, one must adopt the process of chanting and hearing the glories of the Supreme Lord. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also cited the following Vedic reference:
harer nāma harer nāma
[Adi 17.21]
(Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa)According to Vedic literatures the living entities of this Kali-yuga are very feeble in their power to understand spiritual knowledge (mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10]). Their minds are always disturbed. and they are lazy and misguided by so many bogus leaders. They are further described in the Bhāgavatam as niḥsattvān (impatient and impious). durmedhān (possessed of weak intelligence) and hrasitāyuṣaḥ (very short lived). Therefore one who seriously wants to overcome the ignorance of material life must surrender to the process of chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare — as well as reciting and rendering submissive aural reception to the transcendental literatures presented by the Lord, such as Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. It should be understood that the living entity is completely spiritual and never actually becomes mixed with material energy (asańgo hy ayaḿ puruṣaḥ). According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, tasmin śuddhe 'pi kalpyate: although the living entity is śuddha, pure spirit soul, he imagines that he is a material creation and thus entangles himself in the network of illusion called dehāpatya-kalatrādi.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has used the word mānasa-pratyakṣa to describe the experience of material life. Mānasa-pratyakṣa means "that which is experienced only within the mind." The actual pratyakṣa is described in Bhagavad-gītā (9.2):
rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaḿ
pratyakṣāvagamaḿ dharmyaḿ
When one submissively hears the instructions given by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā, which constitute the king of all knowledge (rāja-vidyā) and the most confidential of all information (rāja-guhyam), by associating with such spotless spiritual knowledge (pavitram idam uttamam) one can directly experience one's eternal nature (pratyakṣāvagamam). By experiencing one's eternal nature, one becomes thoroughly religious (dharmyam), blissful (susukham) and eternally engaged in the devotional service of the Lord (kartum avyayam).Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has quoted the following śruti-mantra in this connection: vijita-hṛṣīka-vāyubhir adānta-manas turagam. "By the very senses and life air one has conquered, the uncurbed mind will again drag one away." According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura the meaning of this verse is samavahāya guroś caraṇam: if one rejects the lotus feet of one's spiritual master, all of one's previous spiritual advancement becomes null and void. This has already been indicated in the previous verse by the words guru-devatātmā. Unless one accepts a bona fide spiritual master in the authorized paramparā as one's worshipable deity and life and soul, there is no question of overcoming the duality of material life.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has made the following comments on this verse. "Control of the mind is a result of living a life of devotional service to the Lord. By the influence of fixed devotional service, the accepting and rejecting mind can stop its thirst for sensory enjoyment apart from Kṛṣṇa. In transcendental Kṛṣṇa consciousness there is no contradiction, pettiness or lack of ecstasy. In other words, it is not like a material object, which always proves temporary and constantly miserable. Having forgotten Kṛṣṇa, the conditioned living entity is suffering the misdirection and perversion of his own so-called intelligence. The living entities are fragmental parts of the supreme shelter, Kṛṣṇa, but have fallen from Kṛṣṇa's kingdom of spiritual pastimes. Because of forgetting the Supreme Lord, they become prone to sinful life and turn their attention to dangerous material objects, which fill them with constant fear. If one desires to subdue the mind, which is constantly engaged in the duality of mental concoction, one must take to the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa."
11.2.39
(39) Hearing of the all-auspicious appearances and activities of Him with the Wheel in His Hand [see 1.9: 37] whose associated names are chanted in this world, should one singing without the material association [of a wife, home and children], free and unashamed move in all directions.
Since the holy names, forms and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unlimited, no one can hear or chant about all of them. Therefore the word loke indicates that one should chant the holy names of the Lord that are well known on this particular planet. Within this world, Lord Rāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa are very famous. Their books, Rāmāyaṇa and Bhagavad-gītā, are studied and relished all over the world. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is gradually becoming famous all over the world, as He Himself predicted. Pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma/ sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma: "In every town and village on this earth the glories of My name will be chanted." Therefore in conformity with the authorized statement of this verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement emphasizes the mahā-mantra — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare — along with the Pañca-tattva mahā-mantra — śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.
According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, this blissful process of chanting the holy names of the Lord without any material conception is called sugamaḿ mārgam, a very enjoyable path. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa has described the process of bhakti-yoga as susukhaḿ kartum, very joyfully performed, and Śrīla Locana dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, saba avatāra sāra śiromaṇi kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's process for worshiping Kṛṣṇa is kevala ānanda-kāṇḍa, simply joyful. In this connection Śrīla Prabhupāda has stated that people in any part of the world can assemble, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, read from authorized books such as Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and accept kṛṣṇa-prasādam sumptuously, just as Caitanya Mahāprabhu did in Navadvīpa.
To be successful in this program, however, Locana dāsa Ṭhākura has warned, viṣaya chāḍiyā: one must give up material sense gratification. If one indulges in material sense gratification, surely he will be in the bodily concept of life. One who is in the bodily concept of life will undoubtedly have a materialistic understanding of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus, by considering the Lord's pastimes mundane, one will come within the category of Māyāvāda, or impersonalism, in which one considers the transcendental body of the Lord to be a creation of material nature. Therefore the word asańgaḥ in this verse is very significant. One must chant the holy name of the Lord without mental speculation. One must accept Lord Kṛṣṇa as He presents Himself in Bhagavad-gītā, wherein He states that He alone is Puruṣottama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that His transcendental form is eternal (ajo 'pi sann avyayātmā).
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has emphasized, yāni śāstra-dvārā sat-paramparā-dvārā ca loke gītāni janmāni karmāṇi ca, tāni śṛṇvan gāyaḿś ca: if one wants to be successful in chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord, one must adopt the process as it is coming down in the sat-paramparā, the transcendental disciplic succession. And the sat-paramparā can be identified by reference to bona fide Vedic scriptures. Contrary to the opinion of uninformed critics, the followers of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are not mindless or fanatical. They intelligently follow the system of checks and balances called guru, sādhu and śāstra. That is, one must accept a bona fide spiritual master, who must in turn be confirmed by the opinion of great saintly persons and revealed scriptures. If one accepts a bona fide spiritual master, follows the example of great saintly persons and becomes conversant with authorized literature such as Bhagavad-gītā As It Is and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one's program of chanting the holy names of the Lord and hearing about the Lord's pastimes will be completely successful. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evaḿ yo vetti tattvataḥ
"One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in the material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna."Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has stated that throughout the world the Supreme Lord is known by many names, some of them expressed in vernacular language, but any name used to indicate the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is one without a second, beyond the influence of material nature, can be accepted as a holy name of God, according to this verse. That is indicated by the word loke.
One should not misinterpret the word vicaret, "one should wander," to mean that while chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa one may go anywhere or engage in any activity without discrimination. Therefore it is stated, vicared asańgaḥ: one may wander freely, but at the same time one must strictly avoid the association of those who are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or who are engaged in sinful life. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has stated, asat-sańga-tyāga — ei vaiṣṇava ācāra (Cc. Madhya 22.87): a Vaiṣṇava is known by his complete avoidance of all mundane association. If in the course of traveling and chanting the glories of the Lord a Vaiṣṇava preacher finds a submissive nondevotee who is willing to hear about Kṛṣṇa, the preacher will always give his merciful association to such a person. But a Vaiṣṇava should strictly avoid those who are not interested in hearing about Kṛṣṇa.
According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, those who do not engage in hearing the astonishing pastimes and holy names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and who do not relish the Lord's pastimes are simply executing mundane, illusory activities or indulging in false, materialistic renunciation. Frustrated living entities sometimes take to dry impersonalism and avoid the descriptions of the Supreme Lord's eternal name, form, qualities, entourage and pastimes. But if one gains the association of a pure devotee, one gives up the path of dry speculative argument and becomes situated on the actual Vedic path of devotional service to the Lord.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that the word dvaita, or "duality," expresses the false understanding that some object has a substantial existence independent of Kṛṣṇa. The Māyāvāda conception of advaita, which lacks any spiritual distinctions, is simply another manifestation of the mind's function of acceptance and rejection. The eternal appearance and pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead never contradict the concept of advaya-jñāna, or transcendental knowledge beyond duality.
11.2.40
(40) Thus vowed develops one by chanting His so very dear, holy name, the attachment of a mind dissolved in laughing and crying loudly and in getting exited like a madman to which one dances and sings unconcerned about what others think of it [*].
11.2.41
jyotīḿṣi sattvāni diśo drumādīn
(41) Ether, air, fire, water, earth and the luminaries, all living beings, the directions, the trees and other immovable beings, the rivers and oceans and whatever that might exist in the Supreme Lord's body of creation, one should bow to considering nothing to be separate [**].
from the Purāṇas: yat paśyati, tat tv anurāgātiśayena "jagad dhana-mayaḿ lubdhāḥ kāmukāḥ kāminī-mayam" iti-vat hareḥ śarīram. "Because of a greedy person's obsession with money, wherever he goes he sees an opportunity for acquiring wealth. Similarly a very lusty man notices women everywhere." In the same way, a pure devotee should see the transcendental form of the Lord within everything, since everything is an expansion of the Lord. It is our practical experience that a greedy man will see money everywhere. If he goes to the forest he will immediately consider whether it would be profitable to purchase the forest land and sell the trees to a paper mill. Similarly, if a lusty man goes to the same forest he will look everywhere for beautiful women tourists who might happen to be there. And if a devotee goes to the same forest he will see Kṛṣṇa there, knowing correctly that the entire forest, as well as the sky canopy above, is the inferior energy of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa is supremely sacred, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and since everything that exists expands directly or indirectly from the body of the Lord, everything is sacred when seen through the eyes of a self-realized person. Therefore as stated in this verse, praṇamet: one should offer one's sincere respects to everything. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has mentioned that we should see the personal form of Kṛṣṇa everywhere.
This verse does not approve of the impersonal, atheistic philosophy that everything is God. In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted from the Hari-vaḿśa:
sarvaḿ harer vaśatvena
ananyādhipatitvāc ca
"Because everything is under the control of the Supreme Lord, Hari, everything is considered to be His body. He is the original source and master of everything, and therefore nothing should be seen as different from Him. Nonetheless, one should not foolishly conclude that there is absolutely no difference between the material universe and Lord Viṣṇu, who is full of His own unique spiritual qualities."The example is often given of the sun and the sun's rays. The sunshine is nothing but an expansion of the sun globe, and therefore there is no qualitative difference between the sun and its rays. But although the sunshine is situated everywhere and although everything is a transformation of the sun's energy, the sun globe itself, the source of the sunshine, is not everywhere, but is situated in a particular place in the vast sky and has its own specific form.
If we penetrate further into the sun globe we shall find the sun-god, Vivasvān. Although pseudointellectuals of the modern age who are incapable of even counting the hairs on their own heads will consider the sun-god a mythological figure, it is actually the foolish mythology of modern men to think that such a sophisticated apparatus as the sun, which provides heat and light for the entire universe, can function without intelligent administration. Transformations of solar energy make life possible on earth, and thus the earth can be understood to consist of an endless variety of secondary manifestations of all-pervading solar energy.
So within the sun planet is the personality Vivasvān, the chief administrator of the solar functions; the sun globe itself is localized; and the sun's rays expand everywhere. Similarly Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śyāmasundara, is the original Personality of Godhead (bhagavān svayam); He expands Himself as the localized Supersoul (Paramātmā) in everyone's heart; and finally He expands His potency by His personal bodily glow, the all-pervading spiritual effulgence called the brahmajyoti. The entire material manifestation floats within the rays of this brahmajyoti. Just as all life on earth is a transformation of the all-pervading rays of the sun, the entire cosmic manifestation is a transformation of the spiritual rays of the brahmajyoti. As stated in the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.40):
yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is endowed with great power. The glowing effulgence of His transcendental form is the impersonal Brahman, which is absolute, complete and unlimited and which displays the varieties of countless planets, with their different opulences, in millions and millions of universes." Therefore, the brahmajyoti is the spiritual light that emanates directly from the body of the Lord. This universe is a transformation of that spiritual energy, and therefore everything that exists is in one sense connected directly with the personal body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
It is emphasized here that we should offer respect to everything that exists, recognizing it to be the energy of the Lord. The example may be given that if a man is important his property is also important. The president of a country is the most important person in the country, and therefore everyone must respect his property. Similarly, everything that exists is an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and should be respected accordingly. If we fail to see everything that exists as the energy of the Lord, we risk the danger of drifting into the Māyāvāda philosophy, which according to Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the most deadly poison for one trying to advance in actual spiritual life. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (Cc. Madhya 6.169). If we try to understand Kṛṣṇa alone, without the expansion of His potency, we shall not understand such statements in Bhagavad-gītā as vāsudevaḥ sarvam and ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavaḥ.
As already explained in this chapter, bhayaḿ dvitiyābhiniveśataḥ syāt: fear or illusion arises from thinking that there is something not dependent upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Now, in this verse, the specific process for overcoming this fearful illusion is given. One must train one's mind to see everything that exists as an expansion of the potency of the Supreme Lord. By offering respects to everything and meditating upon everything as part of the body of the Lord, one will become free from fear. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (5.29), suhṛdaḿ sarva-bhūtānām: Kṛṣṇa is the well-wishing friend of every living being. As soon as one understands that everything that exists is under the powerful control of one's most beloved friend, one comes to the stage in which the whole universe becomes a blissful abode (viśvaḿ pūrṇa-sukhāyate), because he sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere.
If Kṛṣṇa's personality were not the source of everything and if everything were not connected to Kṛṣṇa, one might be proper in concluding that Kṛṣṇa's personality is a material manifestation of some impersonal truth. As stated in Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ: [SB 1.1.1] the Absolute Truth is that from which everything emanates. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says, ahaḿ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: "I am the source of everything." If we see anything totally disconnected from the personal body of Kṛṣṇa, we may doubt whether Kṛṣṇa's personality is actually the absolute source described in Vedānta-sūtra. As soon as one feels this way, he becomes fearful and should be understood to be under the control of the Lord's illusory energy.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has warned us that if we do not see everything as a manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we shall become victims of phalgu-vairāgya, or immature renunciation. Whatever we see as disconnected from Kṛṣṇa will have in our mind no relationship to Kṛṣṇa's service. But if we see everything as connected to Kṛṣṇa, we shall use everything for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. This is called yukta-vairāgya. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, "One who has experienced his own true identity understands that all things exist as paraphernalia for giving ecstatic pleasure to the Supreme Lord. Thus one becomes free from the separatist vision in which one sees the world as existing for one's own enjoyment. In the transcendental state, whatever a devotee sees reminds him of Kṛṣṇa, and thus his transcendental knowledge and bliss increase." Because the impersonalist philosophers fail to see everything as belonging to the personal form of Kṛṣṇa, they reject this world as having no true existence (jagan mithyā). But since the material world is an emanation from the supreme reality, Kṛṣṇa, it does in fact exist. Its nonexistence is simply a creation of the imagination, and one cannot possibly act on such an imaginary platform. Therefore, having proposed an illusory theory and being unable actually to live on such a platform, the impersonalist comes back to the material platform for altruistic or gross sense gratificatory activities. Since the impersonalist does not accept the personal proprietorship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he does not know how or for whom to engage the things of this world, and since it is impossible to reject this world totally while living within it, he runs the risk of again becoming entangled in material fruitive activities. Therefore as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (12.5), kleśo 'dhikataras teṣām: the impersonal path of imaginary philosophy is very painful to follow.
The conclusion is that this verse is spoken to help the devotee of the Supreme Lord advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It can be understood from the previous verses of this chapter that the ultimate goal is pure devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. If one falsely interprets this verse to sanction the imaginary Māyāvāda philosophy that everything is God, one will simply become bewildered and fall from the path of spiritual advancement.
11.2.42
bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
(42) Devotion, experiencing the presence of the Supreme Lord and detachment from everything else, are the three [characteristics] at the same time occurring with someone engaged in the process of taking shelter, about the way things are with someone engaged in eating who experiences satisfaction with the nourishment and the reduction of hunger.
Bhakti, or devotion, may be compared to tuṣṭi (satisfaction) because they both take the form of pleasure. Pareśānubhava (experience of the Supreme Lord) and puṣṭi (nourishment) are analogous because both sustain one's life. Finally, virakti (detachment) and kṣud-apāya (cessation of hunger) may be compared because both free one from further hankering so that one may experience śānti, or peace.
A person who is eating not only becomes uninterested in other activities but increasingly becomes uninterested in the food itself, according to his satisfaction. On the other hand, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, although one who is experiencing the blissful personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, becomes uninterested in anything other than Kṛṣṇa, his attachment to Kṛṣṇa increases at every moment. Therefore it is to be understood that the transcendental beauty and qualities of the Supreme Lord are not material, since one never becomes satiated by relishing the bliss of the Supreme Lord.
The word viraktiḥ is very significant in this verse. Virakti means "detachment," whereas tyāga means "renunciation." According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the word renunciation can be used in a situation in which one considers giving up an enjoyable object. But by considering everything to be potential paraphernalia in the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as described in the previous verse, one need not give thought to renunciation, for one uses everything in the proper way in the service of the Lord. Yukta-vairāgyam ucyate.
The very pleasant analogy of a good meal is given in this verse. A hungry man busily consuming a sumptuous plate of food is not interested in anything else happening around him. In fact, he considers any other topic or activity a disturbance to his concentration on the delicious meal. Similarly, as one advances in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one considers anything unrelated to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa an obnoxious disturbance. Such concentrated love of Godhead has been described in the Second Canto of the Bhāgavatam by the words tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaḿ param (Bhāg. 2.3.10). One should not make an artificial show of renouncing the material world; rather, one should systematically train the mind to see everything as an expansion of the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just as a hungry materialistic man, upon seeing sumptuous food, immediately desires to put it in his mouth, an advanced devotee of Kṛṣṇa, upon seeing a material object, immediately becomes eager to use it for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. Without the spontaneous hunger to engage everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa and to dive deeper and deeper into the ocean of love of Kṛṣṇa, so-called realization of God or loose talk about so-called religious life is irrelevant to the actual experience of entering the kingdom of God.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the path of bhakti-yoga is so joyful and practical that even in the stage of sādhana-bhakti, in which one follows rules and regulations without an advanced understanding, one can perceive the ultimate result. As stated by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187),
īhā yasya harer dāsye
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
As soon as one surrenders to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa (prapadyamānasya), giving up all other activities (viraktir anyatra ca), one is immediately to be considered a liberated soul (jīvan-muktaḥ). The Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, is so merciful that when a living entity understands that the personality Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything and surrenders to the Lord, Kṛṣṇa personally takes charge of him and reveals to him within his heart that he is under the Lord's full protection. Thus devotion, direct experience of the Personality of Godhead, and detachment from other objects become manifest even in the beginning stage of bhakti-yoga, since bhakti-yoga begins at the point of liberation. Other processes have as their final goal salvation or liberation, but according to Bhagavad-gītā (18.66),sarva-dharmān parityajya
If one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa one is immediately liberated and thus begins his career as a transcendental devotee with complete confidence in the Lord's protection.
11.2.43
ity acyutāńghriḿ bhajato 'nuvṛttyā
bhaktir viraktir bhagavat-prabodhaḥ
bhavanti vai bhāgavatasya rājaḿs
(43) For the devotee who thus is worshiping the feet of Acyuta will devotion, detachment and knowledge of the Supreme Lord manifest, o king Nimi, whereupon he then directly will attain the transcendental peace [see B.G. 2: 71].'
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.71):
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān
pumāḿś carati niḥspṛhaḥ
nirmamo nirahańkāraḥ
"A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and who is devoid of false ego — he alone can attain real peace." Śrīla Prabhupāda comments, "To become desireless means not to desire anything for sense gratification. In other words, desire for becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious is actually desirelessness." There is a similar statement in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 19.149):kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta'
"Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful."
Generally there are three classes of living entities afflicted with selfish desire. These are the bhukti-kāmī, mukti-kāmi and siddhi-kāmi. Bhukti-kāmī refers to those ordinary persons who desire money and everything money can buy. Such a primitive mentality is based on the desire to enjoy money, sex and social prestige. When a living being becomes frustrated with this hallucination, he takes to the path of speculative philosophy and analytically tries to track down the source of illusion. Such a person is called mukti-kāmī because he desires to negate material illusion and merge into an impersonal spiritual state, free from anxiety. The mukti-kāmī is also motivated by personal desire, although the desire is somewhat more elevated. Similarly the siddhi-kāmī, or the mystic yogī who desires the spectacular powers of mystic yoga, such as reaching one's hand across the world or making oneself smaller than the smallest or lighter than the lightest, is also infected by material or selfish desire. Therefore it is said, sakali 'aśānta.' If one has any personal desire, whether it be material, philosophical or mystic, he will be aśānta, or ultimately frustrated, because he will see himself as the central object of satisfaction. This egocentric concept is in itself illusory and therefore ultimately frustrating.
On the other hand, kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta': a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is niṣkāma; he has no personal desire. His only desire is to please Kṛṣṇa. Lord Śiva himself has praised this outstanding quality of the pure devotees of the Lord by stating,
nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
"A person who is devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, is not afraid of anything. Elevation to the heavenly kingdom, condemnation to hell and liberation from material bondage all appear the same to a devotee." (Bhāg. 6.17.28) Although the impersonalist philosopher proposes that everything is one, the devotee of the Lord is actually tulyārtha-darśī, or empowered with the vision of oneness. The devotee sees everything as the potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and therefore desires to engage everything in the service of the Lord, for the Lord's satisfaction. Since the devotee does not see anything as dvitīya, or outside the scope of the Lord's potency, he is happy in any situation. Having no personal desire, the devotee of Kṛṣṇa is actually śānta, or peaceful, because he has achieved the perfection of life, love of Kṛṣṇa. He is actually situated in his eternal constitutional position under the direct shelter and protection of the omnipotent Parameśvara, Kṛṣṇa11.2.44
śrī-rājovāca
(44) The king said: 'Please tell me next about the devotee of the Fortunate One; what are his duties, what is his nature, how does he behave among men, what does he say and by which symptoms is he dear to the Lord?'
The great sage Kavi has informed King Nimi about the general external symptoms of a devotee of the Lord, namely his appearance, personal qualities and activities. But now King Nimi asks how to make further distinctions among the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead so that the first-class, second-class and lower-class Vaiṣṇavas can be clearly identified.
According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taḿ manasādriyeta: "One should mentally honor any devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa." (Upadeśāmṛta 5) Any living entity who is faithfully chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is to be considered a Vaiṣṇava and at least within the mind is to be offered respect. But for practical advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one should associate at least with a second-class devotee. And if one can receive the mercy of a first-class devotee of the Lord, one's perfection is very easily guaranteed. Thus Nimi Mahārāja is humbly inquiring, "What are the character, behavior and speech of devotees?" The King wants to know the particular symptoms of body, mind and speech by which the different categories uttama-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī and kaniṣṭha-adhikārī are clearly identified. In response to the King's inquiry, another of the nava-yogendras, namely Havir, will give a further elaboration of the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
11.2.45
bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany
eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ
(45) S'rî Havir said: 'He is the most advanced one of devotion to the Lord [an uttama adhikârî] who sees this Soul, this basic principle of all existence, in all forms of existence [of matter and spirit] ànd at the same time is able to be of devotional service to the Supreme Spirit Soul departing from the point of view that all forms of existence are situated within the [gigantic universal body of the] Supreme Lord [see also B.G. 6: 29 & 30].
"For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me." Śrīla Prabhupāda comments, "A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness certainly sees Lord Kṛṣṇa everywhere, and he sees everything in Kṛṣṇa. Such a person may appear to see all separate manifestations of the material nature, but in each and every instance he is conscious of Kṛṣṇa, knowing that everything is the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy. Nothing can exist without Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of everything — this is the basic principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
The qualification for seeing Kṛṣṇa everywhere is stated in the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.38):
premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
"I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is always seen by the devotee whose eyes are anointed with the pulp of love. He is seen in His eternal form of Śyāmasundara, situated within the heart of the devotee." A devotee of the highest level of spiritual qualification is glorified for the expansiveness of his spiritual vision. For example, when the stalwart demon Hiraṇyakaśipu questioned his self-realized son Prahlāda Mahārāja as to the whereabouts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Prahlāda, being a mahā-bhāgavata, or pure devotee, answered straightforwardly that the Supreme Lord is everywhere. The demoniac father then asked if God was in the pillar of the palace. When Prahlāda answered yes, Hiraṇyakaśipu, being a bona fide demon, struck the pillar with his sword, trying to kill God, or at least disprove His existence. Then Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva, the most ferocious form of the Supreme Lord, immediately appeared and finished forever the illicit program of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Thus Prahlāda Mahārāja can be accepted as an uttama-adhikārī devotee.A pure devotee is completely free from the tendency to enjoy things separately from the Lord's service. He does not see anything in the universe as unfavorable, because he sees everything as the expanded potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such a devotee's purpose in existing is to give pleasure somehow or other to the Supreme Lord. Thus everything that a pure devotee experiences, moment by moment, increases his ecstatic loving desire to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Lord.
The three modes of material nature torment the conditioned soul, who absorbs his mind in the separated, material energy of the Lord. The function of this separated energy, bhinnā prakṛti, is to take the living entity away from the reality, which is that everything is within Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is within everything. Being covered by gross ignorance, the bewildered conditioned soul believes that only the objects of his own limited vision actually exist. Sometimes such foolish persons speculate that if a tree falls in a forest with no one to hear it, there will actually be no sound. The conditioned souls do not consider that since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is all-pervading, there is no question of no one's hearing; the Lord always hears. As stated in the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā (13.14), sarvataḥ śrutimal loke: the Supreme Lord hears everything. He is upadraṣṭa, the witness of everything (Bg. 13.23).
In this verse the word bhāgavatottamaḥ, "the most advanced devotee," indicates that there are those who are not gross materialists but who are not the highest devotees. According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, those who cannot properly distinguish between devotees and nondevotees and who therefore never worship the pure devotees of the Lord are to be known as kaniṣṭha-adhikāris, devotees on the lowest stage of devotional service. Such kaniṣṭha-adhikāris engage in worship of the Supreme Lord, especially in the temple, but are indifferent to the Lord's devotees. Thus they misunderstand this statement by Lord Śiva in the Padma Purāṇa:
ārādhanānāḿ sarveṣāḿ
viṣṇor ārādhanaḿ param
tasmād parataraḿ devi
"O Devī, the most exalted system of worship is the worship of Lord Viṣṇu. Greater than that is the worship of tadīya, or anything belonging to Viṣṇu." Śrīla Prabhupāda comments on this verse, "Śrī Viṣṇu is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Similarly the most confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa, the spiritual master, and all devotees of Viṣṇu are tadīya. The sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, guru, Vaiṣṇavas and things used by them must be considered tadīya, and without a doubt worshipable by all living beings." (Cc. Madhya 12.38 purport)Typically the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī is eager to engage his materialistic qualifications in the service of the Lord, mistaking such material expertise to be the sign of advanced devotion. But by continuing to serve the Supreme Lord and the devotees engaged in propagating the Lord's mission, the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī also advances in his realization and comes to the stage of dedicating his activities to helping more advanced Vaiṣṇavas. Even such kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs can help ordinary living entities by their association, since at least the kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs have faith that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because of this faith, the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī gradually becomes inimical to those who are opposed to the Lord. As he gradually becomes more and more inimical to those who hate the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and becomes more attracted to friendship with other faithful servants of the Lord, the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī approaches the second-class stage, called madhyama. In the madhyama stage the Vaiṣṇava sees the Lord as the cause of all causes and the chief goal of everyone's loving propensity. He sees the Vaiṣṇavas as his only friends within this morbid world and is eager to bring innocent people within the shelter of Vaiṣṇava society. Also, a madhyama-adhikārī strictly avoids associating with the self-proclaimed enemies of God. When such an intermediate qualification becomes mature, the concept of supreme qualification begins to present itself; that is, one comes to the stage of uttama-adhikārī.
A kaniṣṭha-adhikārī guru, one who is simply attached to performing religious ceremonies and worshiping the Deity, without appreciation for other Vaiṣṇavas, especially those who are preaching the message of the Lord, will especially appeal to persons interested in the dry cultivation of knowledge. As a living entity develops mundane piety, he proudly devotes himself to regulated work and nobly tries to detach himself from the fruits of his work. Through such regulated detached work, knowledge or wisdom gradually arises. As knowledge or wisdom becomes prominent, the pious materialist becomes attracted to altruistic and charitable work and gives up gross sinful activities. If he is fortunate, he then becomes favorable to the transcendental devotional service of the Lord. Desiring a mere intellectual understanding of devotional service, such a pious materialist may seek shelter at the feet of a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. If able to advance to the madhyama qualification, he then becomes attracted to a Vaiṣṇava actively engaged in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And when fully mature on the platform of intermediate devotion, he becomes attracted to the mahā-bhāgavata level and is awarded a glimpse of the exalted position of the mahā-bhāgavata spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa within his heart. If one gradually goes on in the devotional service of the Lord, one becomes established as a paramahaḿsa mahā-bhāgavata. At this stage all of his actions. movements and engagements in preaching are dedicated solely to the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. The illusory potency, māyā, has no power to throw or cover such a purified living entity. In Upadeśāmṛta (5) Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has described this stage of life as bhajana-vijñam ananyam anya-nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam.
A mahā-bhāgavata, being empowered by the Supreme Lord, Yogeśvara, is endowed with the supernatural power to inspire and give success to the madhyama-adhikārī who follows in his footsteps and to elevate a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī gradually to the intermediate platform. Such devotional power springs automatically from the ocean of mercy found within the heart of a pure devotee. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura points out that a mahā-bhāgavata has no desire to inflict punishment on the enemies of the Lord. Rather, he engages the madhyama-adhikārīs and kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs in preaching work to purify the polluted mentality of the inimical souls, who are falsely imagining the material world to be separate from Kṛṣṇa.
There are unfortunate living entities who are unable to understand the glory of a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī within the realm of devotional service, have no praise for the more advanced state of intermediate devotion and cannot even begin to understand the most exalted stage, that of the uttama-adhikārī. Such unfortunate souls, attracted to impersonal Māyāvāda speculation, follow faithfully in the footsteps of Kaḿsa, Agha, Baka and Pūtanā and are thus killed by Śrī Hari. In this way the community of sense gratifiers remains uninterested in service at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, and according to the individual perverted vision of so-called self-interest, each materialist chooses his own misfortune in the form of repeated birth and death in various types of material bodies. There are 8,400,000 species of material forms, and the materialistic living entities select the particular flavors of birth, old age, disease and death they wish to inflict upon themselves under the hallucinations of so-called material progress.
The analogy is given that a lusty man, being agitated by sexual desire, sees the whole world as filled with sensuous women. In a similar way, a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa sees Kṛṣṇa consciousness everywhere, although it may be temporarily covered. Thus one sees the world just as one sees himself (ātmavan manyate jagat). On this basis one may argue that the vision of the mahā-bhagavata is also illusioned, since the Bhāgavatam has already stated throughout that those conditioned by the three modes of material nature are not at all Kṛṣṇa conscious but in fact are inimical to Kṛṣṇa. But although the conditioned living entity may appear inimical to the Lord, the eternal, unalterable fact is that every living being is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Although one's ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa may now be covered by the influence of māyā, by the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the conditioned soul will gradually be promoted to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
In fact, everyone is suffering the pangs of separation from Kṛṣṇa. Because the conditioned soul imagines that he has no eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, he is unable to ascertain that all his miseries are due to this separation. This is māyā, or "that which is not." Actually, to think that misery arises from anything other than separation from Kṛṣṇa is to be in illusion. So when a pure devotee sees living entities suffering within this world, he correctly feels that just as he is suffering because of separation from Kṛṣṇa, all other living beings are also suffering from separation from Kṛṣṇa. The difference is that a pure devotee correctly ascertains the cause of his heartbreak whereas the conditioned soul, bewildered by māyā, is unable to understand his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and the unlimited pain arising from neglect of that relationship.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has quoted the following verses, which illustrate the ecstatic feelings of the topmost devotees of the Lord. In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.35.9) the goddesses of Vraja speak as follows:
vana-latās tarava ātmani viṣṇuḿ
prema-hṛṣṭa-tanavo vavṛṣuḥ sma
"The creepers and trees of the forest, their branches weighed down by rich coverings of flowers and fruits, seemed to manifest Lord Viṣṇu within their hearts. Exhibiting eruptions of ecstatic love upon their bodies, they poured down rains of honey." Elsewhere in the Tenth Canto (Bhāg. 10.21.15) it is said:nadyas tadā tad upadhārya mukunda-gītam
gṛhṇanti pāda-yugalaḿ kamalopahārāḥ
"Hearing the song of Lord Mukunda's flute, the rivers then stopped their currents, although the minds of the rivers could still be ascertained from the presence of whirlpools. With the arms of their waves the rivers seized the two lotus feet of Murāri, taking help from the lotus plants, and thus He became trapped in their embrace." And in the last chapter of the Tenth Canto (10.90.15), the queens of Dvārakā pray:kurari vilapasi tvaḿ vīta-nidrā na śeṣe
"Dear kurarī, now it is very late at night. Everyone is sleeping. The whole world is now calm and peaceful. At this time, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is sleeping, although His knowledge is undisturbed by any circumstance. Then why are you not sleeping? Why are you lamenting like this throughout the whole night? Dear friend, is it that you are also attracted by the lotus eyes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and by His sweet smiling and attractive words, exactly as we are? Do those dealings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead pinch your heart as they do ours?" Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has also given mother Yaśodā as an example of an uttama-adhikārī, for mother Yaśodā actually saw all living beings within the mouth of Kṛṣṇa during the Lord's Vṛndāvana līlā.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also points out in his commentary, atra paśyed iti tathā darśana-yogyataiva vivakṣitā, na tu tathā darśanasya sārva-kālikatā. "In this verse the word paśyet, or 'one must see,' does not mean that at every moment one is visualizing the form of Kṛṣṇa; rather, it means that one has reached the exalted platform of devotional service on which he is fit to see or is capable of seeing Kṛṣṇa's form." If only those who constantly see the form of Kṛṣṇa are to be considered uttama-adhikārīs, then Nārada, Vyāsa and Śukadeva cannot be considered topmost devotees, since they do not always see the Lord everywhere. Of course, Nārada, Vyāsa and Śukadeva are considered to be on the highest standard of pure devotional service, and therefore the real qualification is tad-didṛkṣādhikya, or having an overwhelming desire to see the Lord. Therefore the statement of Bhagavad-gītā that a devotee should see Kṛṣṇa everywhere (yo māḿ paśyati sarvatra) can be understood in terms of the example of a lusty man's thinking that the world is full of beautiful women. Similarly, one should become transcendentally so desirous of seeing the Lord that one can perceive within the entire universe nothing but Kṛṣṇa and His potency. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti [Bg. 7.19]. In Śrīla Prabhupāda's correspondence in 1969 with Professor J. F. Staal of the University of California, Śrīla Prabhupāda claimed that all of his disciples who were strictly following the intense program of Kṛṣṇa consciousness were in fact sudurlabha-mahātmās who were seeing vāsudevaḥ sarvam. In other words, if one is constantly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with an intense desire to please the Lord and one day gain His association, it is to be understood that in one's life there is nothing but Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has warned us, however, that a mere theoretical or academic understanding that Kṛṣṇa is everything does not qualify one as a first-class devotee. One must actually have developed love for Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it can be practically understood that anyone who enthusiastically adopts the Kṛṣṇa consciousness program and eagerly participates in the preaching activities of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is acting on the platform of a madhyama-adhikārī devotee. When such a devotee becomes overwhelmed by his desire to serve Kṛṣṇa and associate with the Lord, so much so that he is not attracted to anything else within the universe, he should be understood to be an uttama-adhikārī Vaiṣṇava, as mentioned in this verse.
11.2.46
(46) In the previous phase, on the middle platform, is he [the madhyama] of love for the Supreme Lord, of friendship with persons of advancement, of mercy to the neophytes and disregards he the envious ones [see also 4.24: 57, 7.9: 43, B.G. 4: 8 & 15: 7 and ***].
According to Bhagavad-gītā, every living entity within the material world is eternally a minute fragmental portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mamaivāḿśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ (Bg. 15.7). But because of the influence of māyā the puffed-up conditioned souls become inimical to the service of the Lord and the Lord's devotees, choose leaders among the materialistic sense gratifiers, and thus engage busily in a useless society of the cheaters and the cheated, a society of the blind leading the blind into a ditch. Although the community of Vaiṣṇavas is sincerely eager to serve the conditioned souls by bringing them back to their constitutional position, by māyā's influence the materialistic living entity becomes hardhearted and rejects the mercy of the Lord's devotees.
According to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, although a second-class devotee is eager to preach to the innocent conditioned souls, he should avoid the atheistic class of men so that he will not become disturbed or polluted by their association. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has confirmed that a Vaiṣṇava should be indifferent to those who are envious of the Supreme Lord. It is practically seen that when such persons are informed of the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they attempt to ridicule the Supreme Lord, thus further deteriorating their polluted existence. In this connection Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has quoted from the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.20.36):
girayo mumucus toyaḿ
"Sometimes in autumn the water falls down from the tops of the hills to supply clean water, and sometimes the water stops. Similarly, sometimes great saintly persons distribute clear knowledge, and sometimes they are silent."
In this regard, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has mentioned that although the first-class devotee of the Lord may at times exhibit apparent hatred toward the demons because of entering the mood of the Lord's pastimes, the intermediate devotees should avoid such feelings. Furthermore, the intermediate devotee should not in any way associate with the powerful atheistic class of men, because there is danger that his mind will become bewildered by such association. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, if a Vaiṣṇava preacher encounters one who is envious of him, the preacher should remain far away from such an envious person. But the Vaiṣṇava preacher may meditate upon ways to save the envious class of men. Such meditation is called sad-ācāra, or saintly behavior. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has mentioned Prahlāda Mahārāja as an example of a saintly person. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.9.43) there is the following statement by Prahlāda:
naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṇyās
"O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thought of Your glories and activities. My concern is only for the fools and rascals who are making elaborate plans for material happiness and maintaining their families, societies and countries. I am simply concerned with love for them." Although a Vaiṣṇava preacher constantly meditates on the welfare of all living entities, he will not associate with those who are unreceptive to the message of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. In this regard Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states that even Bharata Mahārāja, Vyāsadeva and Śukadeva Gosvāmī do not exhibit their mercy indiscriminately.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has given an elaborate explanation to prove that the discrimination employed by a madhyama-adhikārī preacher does not at all show a lack of mercy. He states that upekṣā, or neglect, as mentioned in this verse, is the proper medicine for those who are inimical to the Supreme Lord and His devotees. Indifference from the preacher checks feelings of hostility on both sides. Although there is a Vedic injunction that one should cut out the tongue of a person who offends the Supreme Lord and His devotees, in this age it is best simply to avoid potential offenders and thus prevent them from committing further sinful activities against the Vaiṣṇavas. It is the duty of a Vaiṣṇava preacher to point out the futility of any process besides surrendering to the Supreme Lord. An envious person, however, will resent such strong preaching by a Vaiṣṇava and disrespect him, considering the devotee to be unnecessarily criticizing others. Such a person, who cannot appreciate the mercy of Vaiṣṇavas, should be neglected. Otherwise, according to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, his cheating mentality will increase day by day.
Those who are not attracted to the sańkīrtana movement of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and who disrespect the faithful servants of Lord Caitanya, considering their strong statements about the sańkīrtana movement to be obstacles to their own worship of the Lord, will never be able to fix their minds on Kṛṣṇa, but will gradually fall down from the path of devotion by confusing the external activities of the material world with the actual worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Such bewilderment has been expressed by the words bhayaḿ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has strongly rejected those foolish persons who, under a plea of mercy and equal vision, perceive that a faithless person is also a devotee of the Supreme Lord and who thus try to thrust the hari-nāma, or holy name of God, upon such offensive people. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta has stated, "When childish people think themselves mahā-bhāgavatas and act in defiance of the Vaiṣṇava spiritual master, such behavior simply holds them back from receiving the mercy of the Vaiṣṇava guru. Bewildered by false ego, these self-proclaimed devotees gradually become fit to be ignored by pure devotees on the intermediate platform and are cheated of the mercy that comes from the devotees' satisfaction. Thus they become asādhu by constantly committing offenses against the devotees who preach the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Pure devotees, therefore, in all circumstances display indifference to those who falsely imagine themselves to be viśuddha-bhaktas, or pure devotees of the Lord. This indifference is an excellent manifestation of their mercy." In other words, those who criticize the Vaiṣṇava preachers on the second-class platform for discriminating between those who are fit to receive the Lord's mercy and those who are simply envious are misunderstanding the mission of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa Himself states in Bhagavad-gītā (4.8):
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāḿ
dharma-saḿsthāpanārthāya
"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium." Even such a great Vaiṣṇava as Śukadeva Gosvāmī, one of the twelve mahājanas in this universe, expressed his contempt for the evil Kaḿsa.Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has pointed out that even though the mahā-bhāgavata devotee may act on the second-class platform for preaching, his rejection of the envious living entities does not obstruct his vision of the Lord as all-pervading. Rather, when a first-class devotee or even a second-class devotee rejects the atheistic class of men, he is expressing the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A first-class or second-class Vaiṣṇava never actually becomes envious of another living entity, but out of intense love for the Supreme Lord he becomes angry when the Lord is offended. Also, understanding the Lord's mission, he discriminates according to the position of a particular living entity. To consider such a Vaiṣṇava preacher an ordinary, envious person, or to consider him sectarian because of his proclamation of pure devotional service as the most exalted of all methods of spiritual advancement, reflects a materialistic vision called vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ or guruṣu nara-matiḥ. Such an offense drags the offender down to a hellish condition of life by the laws of nature.
According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, although a mahā-bhāgavata sees every living entity as a pure spirit soul, such a mahā-bhāgavata still experiences special ecstasies and other symptoms upon meeting another Vaiṣṇava. This is not contradictory to his vision as a topmost devotee; rather, it is a symptom of his love for Kṛṣṇa. A pure devotee sees every living entity as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and therefore expresses his love for Kṛṣṇa through love for all the expansions and creations of Kṛṣṇa. Still, such a mahā-bhāgavata feels special ecstatic love upon seeing another living entity directly pleasing the senses of the Supreme Lord. Such feelings are manifest in the statement of Lord Śiva to the Pracetās:
kṣaṇārdhenāpi tulaye
martyānāḿ kim utāśiṣaḥ
"If one by chance associates with a devotee, even for a fraction of a moment, he no longer is subject to attraction by the results of karma or jñāna. What interest then can he have in the benedictions of the demigods, who are subject to the laws of birth and death?" (Bhāg. 4.24.57) Similarly, Lord Śiva also stated:atha bhāgavatā yūyaḿ
na mad bhāgavatānāḿ ca
"You are all devotees of the Lord, and as such I appreciate that you are as respectable as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. I know that in this way the devotees also respect me and that I am dear to them. Thus no one can be as dear to the devotees as I am." (Bhāg. 4.24.30) Similarly, in the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.7.11) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is mentioned as nityaḿ viṣṇu-jana-priyaḥ, especially dear to the pure devotees of the Lord.The wonderful loving dealings between Vaiṣṇavas on the topmost platform are demonstrated in the pastimes of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. In other words, although a Vaiṣṇava sees every living entity as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, he must discriminate in his external behavior so as not to interfere with the original purpose of the Lord's creation, which is to reform the living entities so that they can gradually come back home, back to Godhead. A pure devotee does not foolishly pretend equal vision and approach envious persons; rather, he respects the mission of the Lord, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā (4.11) by the words ye yathā māḿ prapadyante tāḿs tathaiva bhajāmy aham.
On the other hand, if it is the Lord's desire, a pure devotee can offer his respects to all living beings. For example, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī mentions that Uddhava and other pure devotees of the Lord were always prepared to offer respectful obeisances even to such persons as Duryodhana. Madhyama-adhikārīs, however, should not imitate such uttama-adhikārī behavior. In this connection, the distinction between madhyama-adhikārī and uttama-adhikārī is stated by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura as follows: atra sarva-bhūteṣu bhagavad-darśana-yogyatā yasya kadācid api na dṛṣṭā. A madhyama-adhikārī cannot at any time perceive the presence of the Supreme Lord within all living beings, whereas an uttama-adhikārī, however he acts on the second-class platform to carry out the Lord's mission, is aware that every living entity is ultimately a forgetful Kṛṣṇa conscious living entity. Therefore, although a devotee may externally engage four different types of behavior, as mentioned in this verse — namely, worship of the Lord, friendship with the devotees, preaching to the innocent and rejection of the demons — he is not necessarily on the second-class platform, since an uttama-adhikārī also may exhibit these symptoms to carry out the Lord's mission. In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura mentions that it is the duty of the madhyama-adhikārī to extend himself as the right hand of the uttama-adhikārī, vowing to work for the benefit of others and offering to help in distributing love of Kṛṣṇa.
Finally, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has given a nice explanation of the difference between arcana and bhajana. Arcana refers to the platform of sādhana-bhakti, in which one serves the Lord to carry out the rules and regulations of the process. One who has achieved the shelter of the Lord's holy name and is totally engaged in the attempt to serve the Lord should be considered to be on the platform of bhajana, even though his external activities may sometimes be less strict than those of the neophyte engaged in arcana. This apparent lack of strictness, however, refers to laxity not in the basic principles of sane behavior and renunciation of sense gratification, but rather in the details of Vaiṣṇava ceremonies.
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