“Teachings
of Lord Kapila”
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada.
Chapter Four
Approaching a Bona
Fide Guru
TEXT 4
suta uvaca
dvaipayana-sakhas tv
evam
maitreyo bhagavams
tatha
prahedam viduram
prita
anviksikyam
pracoditah
TRANSLATION
Sri Suta Gosvami
said: The most powerful sage Maitreya was a friend
of Vyasadeva's. Being
encouraged and pleased by Vidura's inquiry about
transcendental
knowledge, Maitreya spoke as follows.
PURPORT
Questions and answers
are very satisfactorily dealt with when the
inquirer is bona fide
and the speaker is also authorized. Here Maitreya
is considered a
powerful sage, and therefore he is also described as
bhagavan. This word
can be used not only for the Supreme personality of
Godhead but for
anyone who is almost as powerful as the Supreme Lord.
Maitreya is addressed
as bhagavan because he was spiritually far
advanced. He was a
personal friend of Dvaipayana Vyasadeva, a literary
incarnation of the
Lord. Maitreya was very pleased with the inquiries of
Vidura because they
were the inquiries of a bona fide, advanced devotee.
Thus Maitreya was
encouraged to answer. When there are discourses on
transcendental topics
between devotees of equal mentality, the questions
and answers are very
fruitful and encouraging.
This is the Vedic
process for receiving knowledge. One must
approach the proper
person, the guru, and submissively listen to him
expound
transcendental knowledge. As Sri Krsna advises in Bhagavad-gita
(4.34):
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
"Just try to
learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master.
Inquire from him
submissively and render service unto him."
Transcendental
knowledge is not very difficult, but the process
must be known.
Sometimes a dictating machine or a typewriter may not
work, but if we go to
a technician who knows the machine, he can
immediately repair
it. The process must be known. If one goes to a
ditchdigger to repair
a dictating machine, he cannot help. He may know
how to dig ditches,
but not repair a machine. Therefore the sastras
enjoin that if one
wants transcendental knowledge, one must approach the
proper person. The
word tad-vijnana refers to transcendental knowledge,
not material
knowledge. A medical practitioner may have material
knowledge of the
body, but he has no knowledge of the spirit soul
within. He simply
studies the mechanical arrangement of the body, which
is a machine (yantra)
made by nature. The body is actually stated in
Bhagavad-gita (18.61)
to be a machine:
isvarah sarva-
bhutanam
hrd-dese 'rjuna
tisthati
bhramayan
sarva-bhutani
yantrarudhani mayaya
"The Supreme
Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is
directing the
wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a
machine made of the
material energy."
For those who are
attached to this bodily machine, the yoga system
is recommended. One
who is overly attached to the bodily conception is
taught to concentrate
the mind by some physical gymnastics. Thus in
hatha-yoga one
undergoes various physical disciplines, but the real
purpose is to
understand Visnu, the Supreme. The various yoga systems
are given for the
machine of the body, but the process of bhakti is
transcendental to
mechanical arrangements. It is therefore called tadvijnana,
transcendental to
material understanding. If one actually wants
to understand
spiritual life and spiritual knowledge, one has to
approach a guru. The
word guru means "heavy," heavy with knowledge. And
what is that
knowledge? Tad-vijnana. That heaviness is brahma-nistha--
attachment to Brahman
and to Parabrahman, Bhagavan. That is the guru's
qualification.
Brahmany upasamasrayam. According to Mundaka Upanisad
(1.2.12),
tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet: "In order to
understand that
transcendental science, one must approach a bona fide
spiritual
master." Similarly, as stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1 1.3.21):
tasmad gurum
prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya
uttamam
"Any person who
seriously desires to achieve real happiness must
seek out a bona fide
spiritual master and take shelter of him by
initiation."
The Upanisads inform
us that the guru is one who has received
knowledge by hearing
the Vedas. Srotriyam brahma-nistham. The Vedas are
called sruti, and the
bona fide guru is in the line of hearing from the
disciplic succession.
As stated in Bhagavad-gita (4.2), evam paramparapraptam.
A bona fide guru does
not impart some self-styled, concocted
knowledge; his
knowledge is standard and received from the parampara
system. He is also
firmly fixed in the service of the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead (brahma-nistham). These are his two
qualifications: he
must have heard the Vedic knowledge through the
disciplic succession,
and he must be established in service to the
Supreme Lord. He does
not have to be a very learned scholar, but he must
have heard from the
proper authority. God gives us the ears to hear, and
simply by hearing we
may become great preachers. We don't need Ph.D.'s
or academic
examinations. One may even remain in his position; no
changes are
necessary.
For this purpose
there is the varnasrama-dharma, composed of four
varnas and four
asramas. Unless society is divided into these eight
categories, it is
simply an animal civilization. There must be some
systematized,
regulated arrangement. For instance, there are different
divisions for the
body: the head, the arms, the belly and the legs.
Without the four
corresponding divisions, no society can be conducted
very well. There will
simply be chaos. The words sthane sthitah mean
"remaining in
the varnasrama-dharma." Even a sudra can understand what
is Brahman, and in
that case he becomes a brahmana automatically. It is
necessary that one
hear attentively. That is all.
It is stated that
Vidura heard from Maitreya Rsi, and that Maitreya
Rsi was very pleased.
Unless one satisfies his guru, one cannot receive
proper knowledge.
That is quite natural. If one receives his guru
properly and seats
him comfortably, and if the guru is pleased with
one's behavior, the
guru can speak very frankly and freely, and this
will be very
beneficial to the student. By going to a spiritual master
and asking for his
instructions and then not following them, one simply
wastes his time. Nor
should one approach the spiritual master with a
challenging spirit,
but should go with the aim of rendering service. The
word nipat means
"to fall down," and pra means "without reservation."
Transcendental
knowledge is based on pranipata. Therefore Krsna says:
sarva-dharman
parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. "Just surrender unto
Me." Just as we
surrender unto Krsna, we have to surrender unto His
representative, the
spiritual master. The guru is Krsna's external
representative, and
the internal guru is Krsna Himself situated in
everyone's heart. It
is not that Krsna is simply in Vaikuntha or Goloka
Vrndavana. He is
everywhere; He is even within the atom. Goloka eva
nivasaty
akhilatma-bhutah (Bs. 5.37). That is the definition of
Paramatma, the
Supersoul. I am atma, a spiritual soul, and you are atma.
We are all situated
locally, you within your body and I within mine, but
the Paramatma is
situated everywhere. That is the difference between
atma and Paramatma.
Those who are mistaken say that there is no
difference between
them, but there is a difference. They are one in the
sense that both are
cognizant and both are living entities (nityo
nityanam cetanas
cetananam), but they are different quantitatively.
Krsna states in
Bhagavad-gita (13.3):
ksetrajnam capi mam
viddhi
sarva-ksetresu
bharata
"O scion of
Bharata, you should understand that I am also the
knower in all
bodies." Ksetrajna is the proprietor of the ksetra (the
body). The individual
soul is actually not the proprietor but the
occupant. In a house,
there is a tenant and a landlord. The tenant is
the occupant, and the
landlord is the proprietor. Similarly, the atma is
simply the occupant
of the body; the proprietor is Paramatma. When the
landlord tells the
tenant to leave the house, the tenant must do so.
Similarly, when the
Paramatma says that we have to leave the body, we
have to do so.
To receive this Vedic
knowledge, we must approach the proper guru.
The guru's
qualification is given in every sastra. In Srimad-Bhagavatam
(11.3.21) it is said:
tasmad gurum
prapadyeta
jijnasuh sreya
uttamam
One should not accept
a guru unless one is inquisitive to know the
ultimate goal of life.
An ordinary man interested in bodily comforts
does not need a guru.
Unfortunately, at the present moment, the word
guru refers to
someone who can give bodily medicine. One approaches a
Mahatmaji and says,
"I am suffering from this disease. Please help me."
And the Mahatmaji
says, "Yes, I have a mantra that will heal you and
give you success.
Give me a little money and take it." This is not a
real guru. One should
approach a guru to learn about tattva, the
Absolute Truth. One
should not search out a guru to cure some material
disease; rather, one
requires a doctor. Similarly, people think that if
a person can make him
successful in business, that person is a guru. The
sastras do not
confirm this either. A guru is one who knows the Vedas
and the Vedic conclusion.
The Vedic conclusion is the understanding of
Krsna. Vedais ca
sarvair aham eva vedyah: "By all the Vedas, I am to be
known." (Bg.
15.15)
It is not that we
have to understand Krsna fully. That is not
possible. We have no
capacity to understand the unlimited. Advaitam
acyutam anadim
ananta-rupam (Bs. 5.33). With our limited knowledge we
cannot understand the
unlimited; indeed, even Krsna does not understand
Himself. His
attraction is unlimited, and to understand why He is so
attractive, He became
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and took on the ecstatic
emotions of Srimati
Radharani (radha-bhava-dyuti). If Krsna cannot
comprehend the limit
of His own attraction and bliss, it is certainly
not possible for us
with our limited knowledge. If we can simply
understand Krsna in
part, that is our perfection. Therefore Krsna says:
janma karma ca me
divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah. If we misunderstand
Krsna and take Him to
be a human being like us, we become mudhas, fools.
Krsna's body is not
composed of material elements like ours, and if we
think this way, we
are mistaken. The material nature belongs to Krsna,
and He is its
controller. We are under the control of material nature,
and that is the
difference.
One who has real
knowledge knows that prakrti, material nature, is
working under Krsna's
direction. It is not possible to understand how
all this is going on,
but we can understand it in summary. Janmady asya
yato 'nvayad itaratas
ca: everything emanates from the Supreme Absolute
Truth, Krsna. This
much knowledge is sufficient. We can then increase
this knowledge to
understand just how material nature is working under
Krsna's direction.
Modern scientists mistakenly think that material
nature is working
independently and that things evolve by some chemical
process only. However,
life does not merely come from life or some
chemical evolution.
As Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita (10.8):
aham sarvasya
prabhavo
mattah sarvam
pravartate
"I am the source
of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything
emanates from
Me." The same conclusion is also given in Vedanta-sutra,
wherein it is stated,
janmady asya yatah: "Brahman is He from whom
everything
emanates." "Everything" includes living entities and inert
matter. Both matter
and the living entities come from Krsna. Indeed, the
whole world is a
combination of matter and spirit, prakrti and the
living entity.
Material energy is
inferior, and spiritual energy is superior. Why?
Superior energy
(jiva-bhuta), the living entity, is controlling material
nature. Actually he
is not controlling, but is trying to utilize it. For
instance, human
beings are advanced living entities, and they have
created modern
civilization by utilizing dull, inert matter. This is our
superiority. However,
we are also prakrti as well as para prakrti. In
this way, we have to
understand tattva jnana.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is
a commentary on Vedanta-sutra. Vedanta-sutra
explains that the
Supreme is the source of everything, and the nature of
that source is
explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.1.1): janmady asya yato
'nvayad itaratas
carthesv abhijnah svarat. That source is abhijna,
cognizant. Matter is
not cognizant; therefore the theory of modern
science that life
comes from matter is incorrect. The identity from whom
everything emanates
is abhijna, cognizant, which means He can
understand. The
Bhagavatam (1.1.1) also states, tene brahma hrda ya adikavaye:
Krsna instructed Lord
Brahma in Vedic knowledge. Unless the
ultimate source is a
living entity, how can He impart knowledge? Srimad-
Bhagavatam was
compiled by Vyasadeva, who also compiled the Vedantasutra.
Generally the
Mayavadis emphasize the commentary made on the
Vedanta-sutra by
Sankaracarya, the Sariraka-bhasya, but that is not the
original commentary
on Vedanta-sutra. The original commentary is given
by the author himself,
Vyasadeva, in the form of Srimad-Bhagavatam. To
understand the actual
meaning of the Vedanta-sutra, we must refer to the
commentary made by
the author himself. As stated by Sri Krsna Himself in
Bhagavad-gita (13.5):
rsibhir bahudha gitam
chandobhir vividhaih
prthak
brahma-sutra-padais
caiva
hetumadbhir
viniscitaih
"The knowledge
of the field of activities and of the knower of
activities is
described by various sages in various Vedic writings--
especially in the
Vedanta-sutra--and is presented with all reasoning as
to cause and
effect."
Transcendental
knowledge is therefore very logical. According to
the Vedic system, the
acarya must understand Vedanta-sutra (also called
Brahma-sutra) before
he can be accepted as an acarya. Both the Mayavadasampradaya
and the
Vaisnava-sampradaya have explained the Vedanta-sutra.
Without understanding
Vedanta-sutra, one cannot understand Brahman. It
is said that Vidura
understood transcendental knowledge from Maitreya,
and it is stated that
Maitreya is a friend of Vyasadeva's. This means
that both Vidura and
Maitreya know what Vyasadeva knows. We have to
approach a spiritual
master who is in the disciplic succession from
Vyasadeva. Everyone
may claim to be following Vyasadeva, but one must
actually follow him.
Vyasadeva accepted Krsna as the Supreme personality
of Godhead, and
Arjuna also accepted Krsna as Parabrahman, the Supreme
Person. One may say
that because Arjuna was a friend of Krsna's, he
accepted Him in this
way, but this is not the case. Arjuna gave evidence
that Vyasadeva also
accepted Krsna.
param brahma param
dhama
pavitram paramam
bhavan
purusam sasvatam
divyam
adi-devam ajam vibhum
ahus tvam rsayah
sarve
devarsir naradas
tatha
asito devalo vyasah
svayam caiva bravisi
me
"Arjuna said:
You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the
supreme abode and
purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine
person. You are the
primal God, transcendental and original, and You are
the unborn and
all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Narada,
Asita, Devala and Vyasa
proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are
declaring it to
me." (Bg. 10.12-13)
Vyasadeva accepted
Krsna as param brahma, and Vyasadeva began his
commentary on
Vedanta-sutra with the words om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.
If we are actually
interested in understanding, we must approach a
representative of
Vyasadeva like Maitreya. Maitreya is also addressed as
bhagavan, although of
course the Supreme Bhagavan is Krsna Himself
(krsnas tu bhagavan
svayam). But the word bhagavan also refers to other
powerful persons like
Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Vyasadeva or Maitreya. The
actual Bhagavan is
Krsna Himself, but these great personalities have
attained as much
knowledge of Krsna as possible. It is not possible to
have cent per cent
knowledge of Krsna. Not even Narayana Himself is
capable of that. Yet
those who follow Krsna's instructions fully are
sometimes called
Bhagavan. There are many artificial Bhagavan's, but a
real Bhagavan is one
who knows what Krsna has taught. Vidura was very
eager to receive
transcendental knowledge, and because of this, Maitreya
was very pleased with
him. One can please the spiritual master simply by
surrendering to him
and rendering service, saying, "Sir, I am your most
obedient servant.
Please accept me and give me instructions." Although
Arjuna was a very
intimate friend of Krsna's, before receiving Srimad
Bhagavad-gita he
surrendered himself, saying, sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam
tvam prapannam:
"Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You.
Please instruct
me." (Bg. 2.7)
This is the proper
way to ask for knowledge. One does not approach
the spiritual master
with a challenging spirit. One should also be
inquisitive to
understand the spiritual science. It is not that one
considers himself
superior to the guru. One must first find a guru to
whom one can
surrender, and if this is not possible, one shouldn't waste
his time. By
surrendering to the proper person, one can very quickly
come to understand
transcendental knowledge.
Chapter Five
Lord Kapila Takes
Charge of His Mother, Devahuti
TEXT 5
maitreya uvaca
pitari prasthite
'ranyam
matuh priya-cikirsaya
tasmin bindusare
'vatsid
bhagavan kapilah kila
TRANSLATION
Maitreya said: When
Kardama left for the forest, Lord Kapila stayed
on the strand of the
Bindu-sarovara to please His mother, Devahuti.
PURPORT
In the absence of the
father it is the duty of the grown son to
take charge of his
mother and serve her to the best of his ability so
that she will not
feel separation from her husband. It is also the duty
of the husband to
leave home as soon as there is a grown son to take
charge of his wife
and family affairs. That is the Vedic system of
household life. One
should not remain continually implicated in
household affairs up
to the time of death. He must leave. Family affairs
and the wife may be
taken charge of by a grown son.
Being a great yogi,
Kardama Muni was not very interested in family
life. Nonetheless, he
decided to marry, and Svayambhuva Manu brought his
daughter Devahuti to
him to serve as a wife. Kardama Muni was a yogi
living in a cottage,
and Devahuti was a princess, a king's daughter. Not
being used to work,
she became very skinny, and Kardama Muni took
compassion upon her,
thinking, "This girl has come to me, but now she is
not in a very
comfortable position." Therefore by his yogic powers,
Kardama Muni created
a large palace with many servants, gardens and
other opulences. Not
only that, but he also created a great spaceship as
large as a small
city. Modern airlines have prepared a 747, and although
these are very big,
Kardama Muni, by his yogic powers, was able to
create a spaceship
wherein there were lakes, palaces and gardens. This
spaceship could also
travel all over the universe. Modern scientists
labor very hard to
make a small spaceship to go to the moon, but Kardama
Muni could create a
great spaceship that could travel to all planets.
This is possible by
yogic powers.
There are different
siddhis, or yogic perfections--anima, Jagima,
prapti, and so
on--and whatever yogis choose to do, they can do. That is
the real yoga system.
It is not that one becomes a yogi simply by
pressing his nose and
performing some gymnastics. One must actually
attain the yogic
siddhis. By these siddhis, the yogi can become very
small or very large,
very heavy or very light. Whatever he wants, he can
immediately produce
in his hand, and he can travel wherever he desires.
Kardama Muni was such
a perfected siddhi-yogi. By his wife, Devahuti, he
had nine daughters,
who were distributed to the prajapatis like Daksa
Maharaja and many
others. The only son of Kardama Muni was Kapiladeva,
an incarnation of
Krsna. This Kapiladeva was one of the mahajanas. The
word mahajana means
"authority," and according to the Vedic sastras
there are twelve
authorities. These are Svayambhu, Narada, Sambhu,
Kumara, Kapila, Manu,
prahlada, Janaka, Bhisma, Bali, Sukadeva Gosvami
and Yamaraja.
Svayambhu is Brahma, and Sambhu is Lord Siva. These
authorities should be
followed if we want to approach the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead and understand the purpose of religious life.
Mahajano yena gatah
sa panthah. These mahajanas follow the principles
set forth by the
Supreme personality of Godhead, Krsna, in Bhagavadgita.
We cannot very easily
understand the actual truth of religious
systems, but if we
follow these mahajanas, we can understand. Kapila
Muni explained the
glories of devotional service to His mother,
Devahuti. If we
follow Him, we may learn the truth of devotional
service. According to
the system of varnasrama-dharma, one who is over
fifty years of age
must leave home, go to the forest and completely
devote his life to
spiritual realization. This is the actual varnasramadharma
system. It is not a
Hindu system, for the word "Hindu" is a name
given by the Muslims
and does not occur in any Vedic literature.
However, the varnasrama-dharma
is mentioned. Civilized human beings
should strictly
follow the varnasrama institution. If one is born a
brahmana, he is
trained nicely as a brahmacari, and then he becomes a
grhastha, a
householder. When he gives up his home, he is called a
vanaprastha, and
after that he may take sannyasa. Being a yogi, Kardama
Muni strictly
followed these principles; therefore as soon as Kapiladeva
was grown, Devahuti
was placed in His charge. Kardama Muni then left
home. As stated in
this verse: pitari prasthite 'ranyam matuh priyacikirsaya.
According to the
Manu-samhita, a woman should never be given
freedom. When she is
not under the protection of her husband, she must
be under the
protection of her sons. Women cannot properly utilize
freedom, and it is better
for them to remain dependent. A woman cannot
be happy if she is
independent. That is a fact. In Western countries we
have seen many women
very unhappy simply for the sake of independence.
That independence is
not recommended by the Vedic civilization or by the
varnasrama-dharma.
Consequently Devahuti was given to her grown son,
Kapiladeva, and
Kapiladeva was fully aware that He had to take care of
His mother. It is the
duty of the father to protect his daughter until
she attains puberty
and is married to a suitable young man. The husband
then takes care of
the wife. Generally a man should marry at around
twenty-five years of
age, and a girl should marry no later than sixteen.
If this is the case,
when the man is fifty years old, his eldest son
should be around
twenty-five, old enough to take charge of the mother.
According to this
calculation, Kapiladeva was about twenty-five years
old and was quite
able to take charge of His mother, Devahuti. He knew
that because His
father left His mother in His charge, He should take
care of her and
always please her. Matuh priya-cikirsaya. Kapiladeva was
not irresponsible,
but was always ready to please His mother. Kapiladeva
was a brahmacari, and
His mother took lessons from Him. That is the
prerogative of the
male. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (9.32):
mam hi partha
vyapasritya
ye 'pi syuh
papa-yonayah
striyo vaisyas tatha
sudras
te 'pi yanti param
gatim
"O son of Prtha,
those who take shelter in Me, though they be of
lower birth--women,
vaisyas [merchants] as well as sudras [workers]--can
approach the supreme
destination." Women are considered on the same
platform with sudras,
and although a woman may be married to a brahmana,
she is not given the
sacred thread. It is also said that the Mahabharata
was compiled by Vyasadeva
because the direct Vedic knowledge could not
be understood by
women, sudras and dvija-bandhus, those who are born in
brahmana families but
are not qualified brahmanas. Stri-sudradvijabandhunam
trayi na sruti-gocara
(SB. 1.4.25). Consequently
Mahabharata is called
the fifth Veda. The four preceding Vedas are the
Sama, Yajur, Rg and
Atharva. The essence of Vedic knowledge, Bhagavadgita,
is given within the
Mahabharata. Women are inferior to men, and
Vedic civilization is
so perfect that men are given full charge of the
women. It is
therefore said: matuh priya-cikirsaya. The son is always
ready to see that the
mother is not unhappy. Kapiladeva was anxious that
His mother not feel
the absence of His father, and He was ready to take
the best care of her
and give her knowledge. Because women are supposed
to be less
intelligent, they should be given knowledge, and they should
also follow this
knowledge. They should follow their father's
instructions, their
husband's instructions and the instructions of their
grown, scholarly sons
like Kapiladeva. In this way, their lives can be
perfect. In all
cases, women should always remain dependent.
Tasmin bindusare
'vatsid bhagavan kapilah kila. It is noteworthy
that in this verse
Kapiladeva is referred to as Bhagavan, which
indicates that He
possesses all wealth, fame, knowledge, beauty,
strength and
renunciation. These six opulences are fully represented in
Krsna; therefore
Krsna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead
(krsnas tu bhagavan
svayam), and others are accepted as His expansions,
or incarnations
(visnu-tattva). In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Rupa Gosvami
has analyzed the
characteristics of Bhagavan. The first Bhagavan is Sri
Krsna Himself, but
some of His opulences are also bestowed upon Lord
Brahma. Lord Brahma
is a jiva-tattva, a living being like us. If we
become spiritually
powerful, we can also have the post of Lord Brahma.
Superior to Lord
Brahma is Lord Siva, and superior to Lord Siva is
Visnu, or Lord
Narayana, and superior to all is Krsna. That is the
analysis of the Vedic
sastras and Brahma-samhita. Even Sankaracarya, the
Mayavadi
impersonalist philosopher, accepts Krsna as the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead (sa bhagavan svayam krsnah). All the acaryas--
Ramanujacarya,
Madhvacarya, Visnusvami, Nimbarka and Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu--also
accept Krsna as the Supreme Lord.
Kapiladeva is an
incarnation of Krsna, and He gave instructions to
His mother, Devahuti.
We must distinguish between the two Kapilas. One
Kapila is this
Bhagavan Kapila, and the other Kapila is the atheist
Kapila. Bhagavan
Kapila is also known as Devahuti-putra Kapila. Both
Kapilas expounded
Sankhya philosophy, but the atheist Kapila expounded
it without
understanding, perception or realization of God. On the bank
of the Bindu-sarovara
Lake, Kapiladeva personally expounded Sankhya
philosophy to His
mother, Devahuti, just as Krsna personally expounded
the knowledge of
Bhagavad-gita to His friend Arjuna. Like Arjuna,
Devahuti was aware
that she was before her spiritual master, as
indicated in the
following verse. Indeed, Lord Brahma had informed her
that her son was a
powerful incarnation.
TEXT 6
tam asinam akarmanam
tattva-margagra-darsanam
sva-sutam devahuty
aha
dhatuh samsmarati
vacah
TRANSLATION
When Kapila, who
could show her the ultimate goal of the Absolute
Truth, was sitting
leisurely before her, Devahuti remembered the words
Brahma had spoken to
her, and she therefore began to question Kapila as
follows.
PURPORT
The ultimate goal of
the Absolute Truth is Krsna consciousness,
devotional service.
The liberated stage is not final. If we simply
understand that we
are not the body, that we are spirit soul, our
knowledge is
insufficient. We must also act as Brahman; then our
position will be
fixed.
bra hma bh utah
prasannatma
na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu
mad-bhaktim labhate
param
"One who is thus
transcendentally situated at once realizes the
Supreme Brahman and
becomes fully joyful. He never laments nor desires
to have anything; he
is equally disposed to every living entity. In that
state he attains pure
devotional service unto Me." (Bg.18.54) Bhakti is
obtainable for a
liberated person; it is not for the conditioned soul.
How is this possible?
In Bhagavad-gita (14.26) Krsna says:
mam ca yo
'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan
samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya
kalpate
"One who engages
in full devotional service, who does not fall down
in any circumstance,
at once transcends the modes of material nature and
thus comes to the
level of Brahman."
We must engage in the
nine processes of devotional service, the
first of which is
hearing (sravana). Then, under the direction of the
spiritual master and
the sastras, one can immediately become a liberated
person. One doesn't
have to endeavor separately to become liberated if
he immediately
engages in devotional service. One must have a firm
conviction that he is
engaged in Krsna's service and is free from all
material
contamination. This is imperative. The words tattva-margadarsanam
are elucidated
elsewhere in Srimad-Bhagavatam: brahmeti
paramatmeti bhagavan
iti sabdyate. The Absolute Truth is understood
differently according
to the position of the student. Some understand
the Absolute Truth as
impersonal Brahman, some as localized paramatma,
and others as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, or Visnu.
Brahman, Paramatma
and Bhagavan, the Supreme personality of Godhead, are
not different. They
are simply different aspects of the complete
Godhead. Looking at a
mountain from a distance, we may see a hazy cloud,
and if we come nearer,
we may see something green. If we actually climb
the mountain, we will
find many houses, trees and animals. Our vision is
of the same mountain,
but due to our different positions we see haze,
greenery or
variegatedness. In the final stage, there are varieties--
trees, animals, men,
houses, and so on. The Absolute Truth is not
without variety. Just
as there is material variety, there is spiritual
variety. Because the
Mayavadi philosophers are seeing the Absolute Truth
from a distance, they
think that the Absolute Truth has no variety. They
consider variety to
be material, but this is a misunderstanding. The
Absolute Truth is
described as variegated in Brahma-samhita (5.29):
cintamani-prakara-sadmasu
kalpa-vrksalaksavrtesu
surabhir
abhipalayantam
laksmi-sa hasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam
tam aham bhajami
"I worship
Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is
tending the cows,
fulklling all desires, in abodes built with spiritual
gems and surrounded
by millions of desire trees. He is always served
with great reverence
and affection by hundreds and thousands of
goddesses of
fortune."
There are Vaikuntha
planets in the spiritual world, and there are
devotees who are all
liberated. These devotees are aksara, which means
they do not fall down
into the material world. They remain in the
spiritual world of
the Vaikunthas. They are also persons like us, but
they are eternal
persons, complete with full knowledge and bliss. That
is the difference
between them and us. That is tattva jnana. Unless we
understand the
variegatedness of the Absolute Truth, there is a chance
that we will fall
down. It is not sufficient simply to stick to the
indefinite,
impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth:
aruhya krcchrena
param padam tatah
patanty adho 'nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah
(SB. 10.2.32)
Because the
impersonalists are not allowed to enter the Vaikuntha
planets, they simply
remain in the Brahman effulgence. Thus they fall
down again into
material variety. We have seen many impersonalist
sannyasis who first
of all give up the world as false (brahma satyam
jagan mithya). They
consider themselves Brahman (aham brahmasmi),
consider the world
false (jagat is mithya), and, having nothing more to
do with the material
world, finally say, "I have become Narayana." Then
they come to the
stage of daridra-narayana (poor Narayana). They become
Narayana, but for
want of anything better to do, for want of
variegatedness, they
take up material humanitarian activities. Although
they consider their
wives mithya (false), they return. "You have already
left. Why do you come
back again?" the wives ask. This means that these
so-called sannyasis
have nothing to do. They undergo serious penances
and austerities to
reach the platform of impersonal Brahman, but because
there is no pleasure
there, they again descend to enjoy material
variety.
We may build a nice
spaceship and send it off into space, and the
astronauts may go up
there and fly in the impersonal sky, but eventually
they will become
tired and pray to God, "Please let us return to land."
We have read that the
Russian astronauts were simply missing Moscow
while they were
traveling in space. This impersonal traveling is
actually very
agitating; similarly, impersonal realization of the
Absolute Truth cannot
be permanent because one wants variety. A falldown
is inevitable. When
one gentleman read my book Easy Journey to Other
planets, he became
very enthusiastic about going to other planets. "Oh,
yes," I said,
"we can go with this book." "Yes," the gentleman said,
"then I shall come
back." "Why return? You should remain there." "No,
no," he said.
"I don't want to remain. I just want to go and come back."
This is the
"enjoying" mentality. Without variety, we cannot enjoy.
Variety is the mother
of enjoyment, and Brahman realization or Paramatma
realization does not
give us steady ananda, bliss. We want ananda.
Anandamayo 'bhyasat.
The living entities are Brahman; Krsna is
Parabrahman. Krsna is
enjoying perpetual ananda, and, being part and
parcel of Krsna, we
also want ananda. Ananda cannot be impersonal or
void; ananda entails
variety. No one is simply interested in drinking
milk and eating
sugar, but with milk and sugar we can make a variety of
foods--pera, barfi,
ksira, rabari, dahi, and so on. There are hundreds
of preparations. In
any case, variety is required for enjoyment.
The last word of
tattva jnana is to understand Krsna, who is full
of variety.
Kapiladeva is tattva-margagra-darsanam. He is an incarnation
of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and He will explain to His mother
what tattva is, how
one can approach the tattva jnana, and how one can
actually enjoy tattva
jnana. This is not simply dry speculation. This
Krsna consciousness
philosophy includes spiritual variety. People
sometimes
misunderstand this variety to be material, and they hanker for
nirvisesa, nirakara,
void. However, our philosophy is not void; it is
full of variety and
transcendental bliss. This will later be
specifically
enunciated by Lord Kapiladeva.
Chapter Six
Devahuti Desires
Transcendental Knowledge
TEXT 7
devahutir uvaca
nirvinna nitaram
bhumann
asad-indriya-tarsanat
yena sambhavyamanena
prapannandham tamah
prabho
TRANSLATION
Devahuti said: I am
very sick of the disturbance caused by my
material senses, for
because of this sense disturbance, my Lord, I have
fallen into the abyss
of ignorance
PURPORT
Here, at the
beginning of Devahuti's questionings, the word asadindriya-
tarsanat is
significant. Asat means "impermanent," "temporary,"
indriya means
"senses," and tarsanat refers to agitation. Thus asadindriya-
tarsanat means
"from being agitated by the temporarily manifest
senses of the
material body." We are evolving through different species
of material bodily
existence--sometimes in a human body, sometimes in an
animal body--and
therefore the engagements of our material senses are
also changing.
Anything which changes is called temporary, or asat. We
should know that
beyond these temporary senses are our permanent senses,
which are now covered
by the material body. The permanent senses, being
contaminated by
matter, are not acting properly. Devotional service,
therefore, involves
freeing the senses from this contamination. When the
contamination is
completely removed and the senses act in the purity of
unalloyed Krsna
consciousness, we have then attained sad-indriya, or
eternal sense
activities. Eternal sensory activities are called
devotional service,
whereas temporary sensory activities are called
sense gratification.
Unless one becomes tired of material sense
gratification, there
is no opportunity to hear transcendental messages
from a person like
Kapila. Devahuti expressed that she was tired. Now
that her husband had
left home, she wanted to get relief by hearing the
instructions of Lord
Kapila.
The Vedic literatures
describe this material world as darkness.
Actually it is dark,
and therefore we require sunlight, moonlight and
electricity. If it
were not by nature dark, why would we require so many
arrangements for
artificial light? The Vedas enjoin that we should not
remain in darkness:
tamasi ma jyotir gama. We are instructed to go to
the light, and that
light is the spiritual world, which is directly
lighted by the
effulgence, or bodily rays, of Krsna. As stated in
Brahma-samhita
(5.40):
yasya prabha
prabhavato jagad-anda-kotikotisv
asesa-vasudhadi-vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma niskalam
anantam asesa-bhutam
govindam adi-purusam
tam aham bhajami
"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."
Animals have no
ability to know that they are in darkness, but
human beings can
know. Like Devahuti, an intelligent person should
become disgusted with
the darkness of ignorance. Na hanyate hanyamane
sarire. As stated in
Bhagavad-gita (2.20), there is neither birth nor
death for the soul.
The soul is not destroyed when the body is
annihilated. The soul
puts bodies on and takes them off like clothes.
This simple knowledge
is instructed in the beginning of Bhagavad-gita,
yet there are many
big scholars and leaders who still cannot understand
that the body is
different from the person. This is because they do not
study Bhagavad-gita
in the proper way. Consequently no one is fully
aware or convinced
that the real person is not the body. This is called
darkness, and when
one is disgusted with this darkness, human life
begins.
One who has become
disgusted with material existence needs the
instructions of a
guru. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam.
Being the wife of a
great yogi, Devahuti understood her constitutional
position; therefore
she is placing her problem before her son,
Kapiladeva, an
incarnation of God. Although Kapiladeva is her son,
Devahuti does not
hesitate to take instructions from Him. She does not
say, "Oh, He is
my son. What can He tell me? I am His mother, and I
shall instruct
Him." Instruction has to be taken from one who is in
knowledge. It doesn't
matter what his position is, whether he is a son,
a boy, a sudra,
brahmana, sannyasi or grhastha. One should simply learn
from one who knows.
That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's instruction. Although
Caitanya Mahaprabhu
Himself was a brahmana and a sannyasi, He took
instructions from
Ramananda Raya, who was a sudra and grhastha but
nonetheless, very
exalted spiritually. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu saw that
Ramananda Raya was
hesitant to give instructions, the Lord said, "Why
are you hesitating?
Although you are a grhastha and are born in a sudra
family, I am prepared
to take lessons from you."
kiba vipra, kiba
nyasi, sudra kene naya
yei
krsna-tattva-vetta, sei `guru' haya
(Cc. Madhya 8.128)
This is Caitanya
Mahaprabhu's teaching. Whoever is qualified in
Krsna consciousness
can become a guru. His family or material identity
does not matter. He
simply must know the science. When we consult an
engineer, a doctor or
a lawyer, we do not ask whether he is a brahmana
or a sudra. If he is
qualified, he can help with a particular subject.
Similarly, if one
knows the science of Krsna, he can be a guru. Devahuti
was taking lessons
from her son because He knew the science of Krsna.
Even if gold is in a
filthy place, we should take it. It is also stated
in the Vedas that if
a girl is highly qualified or beautiful, she can be
accepted in marriage
even though born in a lower family. Thus it is not
birth that is
important, but qualification. Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted
everyone in India to
know the science of Krsna and preach Krsna
consciousness. This
is very simple. We need only repeat what Krsna has
said or what has been
said about Krsna in the Vedic literatures.
Human society cannot
be happy without Krsna consciousness. Krsna is
the supreme enjoyer,
and we are His servants. The master is enjoying,
and the servants are
helping the master enjoy. We living entities are
eternal servants of
God, and our duty is to help our master enjoy.
Srimati Radharani is
the topmost servant of Krsna, and Her business is
always to keep Krsna
pleased. Krsna is very fond of Radharani because
She renders the best
service. Her sixty-four qualifications are
mentioned in the
Vedic literatures. Unfortunately, in the material world
we are busy trying to
enjoy our material senses. As stated in Bhagavadgita
(3.42):
indriyani parany ahur
indriyebhyah param
manah
manasas tu para
buddhir
yo buddheh paratas tu
sah
"The working
senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher
than the senses;
intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he (the
soul) is even higher
than the intelligence." The soul is on the
spiritual platform.
this way we become implicated in the laws of nature.
As stated in the
sastras:
nunam pramattah
kurute vikarma
yad indriya-pritaya
aprnoti
na sadhu manye yata
atmano 'yam
asann api klesada asa
dehah
"When a person
considers sense gratification the aim of life, he
certainly becomes mad
after materialistic living and engages in all
kinds of sinful
activity. He does not know that due to his past misdeeds
he has already
received a body which, although temporary, is the cause
of his misery.
Actually the living entity should not have taken on a
material body, but he
has been awarded the material body for sense
gratification.
Therefore I think it not befitting an intelligent man to
involve himself again
in the activities of sense gratification by which
he perpetually gets
material bodies one after another." (SB. 5.5.4)
Living entities in
this material world are very busy trying to
gratify their senses.
In the street we see many dogs assembled for sex.
This may seem very
crude, but human beings are engaged in the same
business, perhaps in
a more elaborate way. We should know that sense
gratification is
meant for animals, and that sense control is for human
beings. By tapasya,
penance, we can purify ourselves and regain our
eternal life.
Actually our material
senses are not our real senses. They are
covered, just as the
body is covered by clothes. Our real body is within
the material body.
Dehino 'smin yatha dehe. The spiritual body is within
the material body.
The material body is changing, going through
childhood, youth,
then old age, and then it vanishes. Although this is
not our real body, we
are engaged in sense gratification with it.
However, for our own
ultimate happiness, we should try to purify our
senses. There is no
question of destroying the senses or becoming
desireless. Desire is
a material activity, and becoming desireless is
not possible. The
senses must be purified in order for us to act through
them
transcendentally. Bhakti-yoga does not require us to destroy our
senses, but to purify
them. When the senses are purified, we can serve
Krsna:
sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam
tat-paratvena
nirmalam
hrsikena
hrsikesasevanam
bhaktir ucyate
"Bhakti, or
devotional service, means engaging all our senses in
the service of the
Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master
of all the senses.
When the spirit soul renders service unto the
Supreme, there are
two side effects. One is freed from all material
designations, and,
simply by being employed in the service of the Lord,
one's senses are
purified." (Narada-pancaratra)
We can serve
Hrsikesa, the master of the senses, through the
senses. We are part
and parcel of Krsna, just as the hand is part and
parcel of the body.
Similarly, our senses are also part and parcel of
the spiritual body of
Krsna. When we purify our senses, we can act in
our original
constitutional position and serve Krsna. When we forget our
position and try to
satisfy ourselves, we become conditioned materially.
When we forget that
our duty is to serve Krsna, we fall into the
material world and
become implicated in personal sense gratification. As
long as we continue
trying to satisfy our own senses, we have to accept
another body. Krsna
is so kind that if we want to become tigers, He will
give us a tiger body.
If we want to become devotees, He will give us the
body of a devotee.
This life is a preparation for the next, and if we
want to enjoy our
transcendental senses, we have to purify ourselves to
return home, back to
Godhead. For this purpose, Devahuti is submitting
to her son just as a
disciple submits to his master.
TEXT 8
tasya tvam tamaso
'ndhasya
dusparasyadya paragam
sac-caksur janmanam
ante
labdham me
tvad-anugrahat
TRANSLATION
Your Lordship is my
only means of getting out of this darkest
region of ignorance
because You are my transcendental eye, which, by
Your mercy only, I
have attained after many, many births.
PURPORT
This verse is very
instructive, since it indicates the relationship
between the spiritual
master and the disciple. The disciple or
conditioned soul is
put into this darkest region of ignorance and
therefore is
entangled in the material existence of sense gratification.
It is very difficult
to get out of this entanglement and attain freedom,
but if one is fortunate
enough to get the association of a spiritual
master like Kapila
Muni or His representative, then by his grace one can
be delivered from the
mire of ignorance. The spiritual master is
therefore worshiped
as one who delivers the disciple from the mire of
ignorance with the
light of the torch of knowledge. The word paragam is
very significant.
paragam refers to one who can take the disciple to the
other side. This side
is conditioned life; the other side is the life of
freedom. The
spiritual master takes the disciple to the other side by
opening his eyes with
knowledge. We are suffering simply because of
ignorance. By the
instruction of the spiritual master, the darkness of
ignorance is removed,
and thus the disciple is enabled to go to the side
of freedom. It is
stated in Bhagavad-gita that after many, many births
one surrenders to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, if,
after many, many
births, one is able to find a bona fide spiritual
master and surrender
to such a bona fide representative of Krsna, he can
be taken to the side
of light.
The bona fide
spiritual master is a true Vedantist, for he actually
knows Vedanta and the
Vedas and understands the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Krsna. The
word veda means "knowledge," and anta means "last
phase." There
are different types of knowledge. We are interested in
ordinary knowledge
for economic benefit, but that is not actual
knowledge. That is
the art of livelihood. One may study to be an
electrician and earn
his livelihood by repairing electric lines. This
kind of knowledge is
called silpa jnana. Real knowledge, however, is
Vedic knowledge,
knowing oneself, what one is and what God is and
understanding one's
relationship with God, and one's duty.
One who is searching
after knowledge is called jnanavan. Knowledge
begins with the
inquiry athato brahma jijnasa: "what is Brahman?"
Knowledge also begins
by understanding the threefold miseries of the
material
world--adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika. We are
suffering from
miseries caused by other living entities and acts of
nature as well as
from miseries arising from the body and mind
themselves. The soul
is aloof from the body and mind, but he suffers due
to material
contamination. We have no control over these threefold
miseries. They are controlled
by Krsna's maidservant, goddess Durga, who
is material nature.
She is not independent of Krsna. However, she is so
powerful that she can
create and maintain. prakrti, nature, can be very
unkind. Mother Durga
is often portrayed as chastising demons by piercing
them with a trident.
Those who are learned
and intelligent look to the mercy of the
Supreme Personality
of Godhead for relief from the threefold miseries of
material existence.
Although this material world is nothing but
darkness, people are
very proud of their eyes. They are always saying,
"Can you show me
God?" The answer to that is: "Have you the eyes to see
God?" Why is the
emphasis placed on seeing? Certainly, God can be seen,
as stated in
Brahma-samhita (5.38), premanjana-cchurita-bhaktivilocanena:
"Govinda [Krsna]
is always seen by the devotee whose eyes
are anointed by the
pulp of love."
If we are devotees,
lovers of God, the ointment of love will clear
our eyes. In order to
see God, we have to cleanse our eyes by wiping
away the cataracts of
material contamination. Although we may be eager
to see God, we cannot
see Him with these material eyes. Not only can we
not see Him, but we
cannot understand Him, although His name is there.
Understanding God
means first of all understanding His name. Therefore
from the beginning we
should chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. God is
not different from
His name. Krsna's name and Krsna's person are the
same.
"Absolute" means that Krsna's name, form, place, dress, pastimes
and everything are
nondifferent from Him. Krsna is present in His name,
but because we have
no love for Him, we cannot see Him.
Sanatana Gosvami was
a great learned scholar, and he was called a
pandita, which
indicates that he was a learned brahmana. When Sanatana
Gosvami approached
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he said, "The people in my
neighborhood are
calling me a pandita, and I am very unhappy because of
this." Caitanya
Mahaprabhu asked, "Why are you dissatisfied?" Sanatana
Gosvami replied,
"I am such a poor pandita that I do not even know the
goal of life. I do
not even know what is beneficial for me. I am simply
being carried away by
sense gratification." In this way, Sanatana
Gosvami approached
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He did not approach Him to
get some gold or some
medicine. He went to find out his real selfinterest.
This is the real
purpose for approaching a guru.
Devahuti approached
Lord Kapiladeva in the same way. She said, "My
dear Kapila, You have
come as my son, but You are my guru because You
can inform me how I
can cross the ocean of nescience, which is the
material world."
Thus one who feels the need to cross the dark ocean of
nescience, which is
material existence, requires a guru. It is not the
guru's task to supply
gold and medicine. Now it has become a fashion to
keep a guru as if he
were a dog or a cat. This is of no use. We must
inquire about that
portion of God's creation which is beyond this
darkness. The
Upanisads and Bhagavad-gita describe another world, beyond
this material nature.
According to Krsna in Bhagavad-gita (15.6):
na tad bhasayate
suryo
na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na
nivartante
tad dhama paramam
mama
"That abode of
Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by
electricity. One who
reaches it never returns to this material world."
It is not possible
for us to go to that paravyoma by material
means. It is
impossible to penetrate the material universe unless one
understands Krsna.
One can be enlightened by the mercy of God because
Krsna Himself comes
to give us information. If He does not come
personally, He sends
His devotee, or He leaves behind Him Bhagavad-gita.
However, we are so
foolish that we do not take advantage of them. We do
not take advantage of
His devotee, who hankers to give this knowledge,
sacrificing
everything. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:
brahmanda bhramite
kona bhagyavan jiva
guru-krsna-prasade
paya bhakti-lata-bija
"The fallen,
conditioned living entity, trapped by the external
energy, loiters in
the material world, but if by good fortune he meets a
bona fide
representative of the Lord, and if he takes advantage of such
a guru, he receives
the seed of devotional service." (Cc. Madhya 19.151)
The seed of
devotional service is received by a most fortunate
person. Those who are
cultivating bhakti in the International Society
for Krishna
Consciousness are the most fortunate people in the world. By
Krsna's mercy one can
receive the bhakti-lata-bija, the seed of
devotional service.
Unless one is free from the reactions of sin, one
cannot understand
bhakti or Bhagavan. Therefore we must act piously by
giving up illicit
sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling. If we
lead a pious life, we
can understand God. This Krsna consciousness
movement is engaged
in training people to this end so that their lives
will be successful.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of H H Swamy Prabhupada
ji for the collection)
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