“Teachings
of Lord Kapila”
by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada.
TEXT 35
pasyanti te me
rucirany amba santah
prasanna-vaktraruna-locanani
rupani divyani
vara-pradani
sakam vacam
sprhaniyam vadanti
TRANSLATION
O My mother, My
devotees always see the smiling face of My form,
with eyes like the
rising morning sun. They like to see My various
transcendental forms,
which are all benevolent, and they also talk
favorably with Me.
PURPORT
Mayavadis and atheists
accept the forms of the Deities in the
temple of the Lord as
idols, but devotees do not worship idols. They
directly worship the
Personality of Godhead in His arca incarnation.
Arca refers to the
form we can worship in our present condition.
Actually in our
present state it is not possible to see God in His
spiritual form
because our material eyes and senses cannot conceive of a
spiritual form. We
cannot even see the spiritual form of the individual
soul. When a man dies
we cannot see how the spiritual form leaves the
body. That is the
defect of our material senses. In order to be seen by
our material senses,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts a
favorable form which
is called arca-vigraha. This arca-vigraha,
sometimes called the
arca incarnation, is not different from Him. Just
as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead accepts various incarnations, He
takes on forms made
out of matter--clay, wood, metal, jewels, etc.
There are many
sastric injunctions which give instructions for
carving forms of the
Lord. These forms are not material. If God is allpervading,
He is also in the
material elements. There is no doubt about
it. But the atheists
think otherwise. Although they preach that
everything is God,
when they go to the temple and see the form of the
Lord, they deny that
He is God. According to their own theory,
everything is God.
Then why is the Deity not God? Actually, they have no
conception of God.
The devotees' vision, however, is different; their
vision is smeared
with love of God. As soon as they see the Lord in His
different forms, the
devotees become saturated with love, for they do
not find any
difference between the Lord and His form in the temple, as
do the atheists. The
smiling face of the Deity in the temple is beheld
by the devotees as
transcendental and spiritual, and the decorations on
the body of the Lord
are very much appreciated by the devotees. It is
the duty of the
spiritual master to teach his devotees how to decorate
the Deity in the
temple, how to cleanse the temple and how to worship
the Deity. There are
different procedures, rules and regulations
followed in temples
of Visnu, and devotees go there and see the Deity,
the vigraha, and
spiritually enjoy the form, because all of the Deities
are benevolent. The
devotees express their minds before the Deity, and
in many instances the
Deity also gives answers. But one must be a very
elevated devotee in
order to be able to speak with the Supreme Lord.
Sometimes the Lord
informs the devotee through dreams. These exchanges
between the Deity and
the devotee are not understandable by atheists,
but actually the
devotee enjoys them.
Clearly, those who
have the eyes to see Krsna will see Him. When
Caitanya Mahaprabhu
entered the temple of Jagannatha, He immediately
fainted upon seeing
the Deity. He said, "Oh, here is My Lord! Here is My
Lord!" ln order
to see, one has to become santah, and one becomes santah
by culture. When we
develop love of Krsna, we will immediately see Krsna
and faint, saying,
"Oh, here is my Lord!" However, those with no faith,
those who are always
trying to deny Krsna, will simply say, "Oh, this is
an idol. This is
simply a piece of stone."
We must be eager to
see Krsna and talk with Him. He is actually
waiting to see
whether we are interested in talking with Him. In
Bhagavad-gita (10.10)
Sri Krsna says:
tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam
priti-purvakam
dadimi buddhi-yogam
tam
yena mam upayanti te
"To those who
are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I
give the
understanding by which they can come to Me."
If we want to talk to
some important man, we must have some
qualification. It is
not that we can immediately talk to presidents or
even to senators just
because we want to talk to them. Somehow or other
we must comply with
certain rules and regulations. Krsna is ready to
talk to us, and for
this purpose He has descended in the arca-murti, the
Deity, in order to be
seen. We simply have to qualify ourselves to talk
with Him. The
nondevotees, Mayavadis, who are interested in denying
Krsna, say that God
has no eyes, no legs, no hands, no ears and so on.
This is indirectly
saying that God is blind and deaf and that He cannot
do this or that. In
this way, they are indirectly insulting God. This is
blasphemy. God does
not want to hear such nonsense. Therefore it is said
in this verse: sakam
vacam sprhaniyam vadanti. By saying that Krsna is
blind, that He has no
eyes, no hands, no nothing, we are indirectly
saying that Krsna
does not exist. This is certainly not a favorable way
to talk about Krsna.
If we want to talk about Krsna, we must consult the
Vedic literatures.
Then we can understand how Krsna should be worshiped.
In Brahma-samhita
(5.29) it is stated: "Sri Krsna is playing on His
flute, and His eyes
are as beautiful as the petals of a lotus flower. He
wears a peacock
feather in His hair, and His form is very beautiful."
The Mayavadis say,
"Just imagine some form of God." But God's form
cannot be imagined.
God's form is not imaginary but factual. This
factual information
we receive from the Vedas. When Krsna was present on
this earth, He
exhibited His form and activities. All of these are
divine, not material.
Krsna's body is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. It has
nothing to do with
anything material. He descends as a favor to His
devotees, who are
always anxious to see Him. His first business is to
give pleasure to His
devotees, and His second business is to kill the
demons, who are
always giving the devotees trouble. It is the nature of
demons to give
devotees trouble, just as in the West, Lord Jesus Christ
was crucified because
he was preaching God consciousness. Similarly,
Hiranyakasipu tried
to kill his five-year-old boy Prahlada Maharaja
because his son was
talking about Krsna. There were many demons who
tried to kill Krsna
Himself, great demons like Putana, Aghasura,
Bakasura and Kamsa.
Nonetheless, Krsna destroys them all by His
omnipotence.
Actually everyone in
the material world is more or less an asura,
an atheist. If one
preaches, one has to learn to tolerate the asuras and
speak in such a way
that they can also become devotees. We should always
speak of Krsna in a
pleasing way; then we will be benefited. Another
name for Krsna is
Uttamasloka, which indicates that He is worshiped by
the best selected
words. It is not that we should use any words we
choose. There are
many prayers in the Vedic scriptures and also in the
Bible and Koran.
Although the Christians and Muhammadans do not worship
the Deity, they offer
prayers to the Lord, and that is also bhakti.
Arcanam vandanam.
There are nine
different processes for worshiping the Lord, and one
may accept one or all
of them. We should use very selected words and
surrender unto Krsna,
but we should not say things which do not please
Him. We should not
claim that God is formless and that He has no eyes,
no head or whatever.
Actually it is stated in the Vedas that Krsna has
no hand but that He
can accept our offering. This means that He has no
material hand. If He
actually has no hand, how can He extend His hand
millions of miles to
accept an offering? Goloka Vrndavana is many
trillions and
trillions of miles away, but Krsna can accept whatever we
offer. When the Vedas
say that God has no hands, it is meant that He has
no material hands.
His hands are sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. If we can
understand Krsna's
activities, form, qualities and pastimes in this way,
we become fit to
return home, back to Godhead.
TEXT 36
tair
darsaniyavayavair udaravilasa-
haseksita-vama-suktaih
hrtatmano
hrta-pranams ca bhaktir
anicchato me gatim
anvim prayunkte
TRANSLATION
Upon seeing the
charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive,
and hearing His very
pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all
other consciousness.
His senses are freed from all other engagements,
and he becomes
absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his
unwillingness, he
attains liberation without separate endeavor.
PURPORT
There are three
divisions of devotees--first-class, second-class
and third-class. Even
the third-class devotees are liberated souls. It
is explained in this
verse that although they do not have knowledge,
simply by seeing the
beautiful decoration of the Deity in the temple,
they are absorbed in
thought of Him and lose all other consciousness. By
fixing oneself in
Krsna consciousness, engaging the senses in the
service of the Lord,
one is imperceptibly liberated. This is also
confirmed in
Bhagavad-gita. Simply by discharging uncontaminated
devotional service as
prescribed in the scriptures, one becomes equal to
Brahman. In
Bhagavad-gita it is said, brahma-bhuyaya kalpate. This means
that the living
entity in his original state is Brahman because he is
part and parcel of
the Supreme Brahman. Because of his forgetfulness of
his real nature as an
eternal servitor of the Lord, he is overwhelmed
and captured by maya.
His forgetfulness of his real constitutional
position is maya.
Otherwise he is eternally Brahman.
When one is trained
to become conscious of his position, he
understands that he
is the servitor of the Lord. "Brahman" refers to a
state of
self-realization. Even the third-class devotee--who is not
advanced in knowledge
of the Absolute Truth but who offers obeisances
with great devotion,
thinks of the Lord, sees the Lord in the temple and
brings forth flowers
and fruits to offer to the Deity--becomes
imperceptibly
liberated. Sraddhayanvitah: with great devotion the
devotees offer
worshipful respects and paraphernalia to the Deity. The
Deities of Radha and
Krsna, Laksmi and Narayana, and Rama and Sita, are
very attractive to
devotees, so much so that when they see the Deity
decorated in the
temple, they become fully absorbed in thinking of the
Lord. That is
liberation. In other words, it is confirmed herein that
even a third-class
devotee is in the transcendental position, above
those who are
striving for liberation by speculation or other methods.
Even great impersonalists
like Sukadeva Gosvami and the four Kumaras
were attracted by the
beauty of the Deities in the temple, by the
decorations and by
the aroma of tulasi offered to the Lord, and they
became devotees. Even
though they were in the liberated state, instead
of remaining
impersonalists they were attracted by the beauty of the
Lord and became
devotees.
Here the word vilasa
is very important. Vilasa refers to the
activities or
pastimes of the Lord. It is a prescribed duty in temple
worship that not only
should one visit the temple to see the Deity
nicely decorated, but
at the same time he should hear the recitation of
Srimad-Bhagavatam,
Bhagavad-gita or some similar literature, which is
regularly recited in
the temple. In Vrndavana, in every temple, there is
recitation of the
sastras. Even third-class devotees who have no
literary knowledge or
no time to read Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita
have the opportunity
to hear about the pastimes of the Lord. In this way
their minds may
remain always absorbed in the thought of the Lord--His
form, His activities
and His transcendental nature. This state of Krsna
consciousness is a
liberated stage. Lord Caitanya, therefore,
recommended five
important processes in the discharge of devotional
service: (1) to chant
the holy name of the Lord, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna,
Krsna Krsna, Hare
Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, (2)
to associate with
devotees and serve them as far as possible, (3) to
hear
Srimad-Bhagavatam, (4) to see the decorated temple and the Deity
and, if possible, (5)
to live in a place like Vrndavana or Mathura.
These five items
alone can help a devotee achieve the highest
perfectional stage.
This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita and in this verse
of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
That third-class devotees can also imperceptibly
achieve liberation is
accepted in all Vedic literatures.
As far as meditation
on the arca-vigraha form of the Lord is
concerned, we have to
look at the Deity beginning with His lotus feet.
It is not that we
immediately look at His smiling face. We should first
try to see the lotus
feet of Krsna, and when we are practiced in this
way, we can look at
His thighs, His waist and His chest. Then we can
reach His smiling
face. In this manner we should meditate on Krsna's
form, and thus we can
associate with Krsna by meditating on His smiling
face, His flute, His
hands, His dress, His consort Srimati Radharani and
the other gopis
surrounding Him. Thus we should practice observing the
Supreme Lord, and to
this end He has appeared before us as the arcavigraha.
There are three kinds
of devotee: kanistha-adhikari, madhyamaadhikari
and uttama-adhikari.
The uttama-adhikari is the most advanced;
the madhyama-adhikari
is in the middle stage; and the kanistha-adhikari
is the neophyte. It
is recommended that the neophyte meditate on the
Deity daily. He
should begin by meditating on the lotus feet, and then
when he is practiced,
he should turn his gaze toward Krsna's smiling
face. The neophyte
should also read and hear Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-
Bhagavatam. If we
simply try to see and don't listen, the results will
not be permanent. In
some temples there are Deities but no discussion
about Krsna. People
attend for some time, but after a while they lose
interest. Thus there
must be two activities. The Deities must be
worshiped, and this
is called pancaratriki-vidhi. There must also be
bhagavata-vidhi,
reading Srimad Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
pancaratriki-vidhi
and bhagavata-vidhi go hand in hand. By participating
in these two
processes, the neophyte can gradually attain the
intermediate stage.
The spiritual master
is supposed to be in the most advanced stage,
but for preaching
purposes he descends to the intermediate stage. The
uttama-adhikari, the
most advanced devotee, does not discriminate
between devotees and
nondevotees. He sees everyone but himself as a
devotee. The truly
advanced devotee sees that he is not a devotee but
that everyone else is
a devotee. The kanistha-adhikari, the neophyte,
simply concentrates
on the Deity, and that is required in the beginning:
arcayam eva haraye
pujam yah
sraddhayehate
na tad-bhaktesu
canyesu
sa bhaktah prakrtah
smrtah
"A person who is
very faithfully engaged in the worship of the
Deity in the temple,
but who does not know how to behave toward devotees
or people in general
is called a prakrta-bhakta, or kanistha-adhikari."
(SB. 11.2.47)
According to the prescribed duties mentioned in the
scriptures, one must
care for the Deity, but when one is a little
further advanced, he
considers his functions with others. When one
attains the
madhyama-adhikari stage, his vision is described thus:
isvare tad-adhinesu
balisesu dvisatsu ca
prema-maitri-krpopeksa
yah karoti sa
madhyamah
"The
madhyama-adhikari is a devotee who worships the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead as the highest object of love, makes friends with
the Lord's devotees,
is merciful to the ignorant and avoids those who
are envious by
nature." (SB. 11.2.46)
The madhyama-adhikari
is not only interested in the Deity, but he
can also discern
between devotees and nondevotees. He can also
understand that this
man is innocent and that this man is not. The
innocent do not know
what is to be done, and they do not know anything
about God. They are
not actually offenders, but there are others who are
offenders. The
offenders become immediately envious as soon as they hear
about God or His
devotees.
The madhyama-adhikari
knows that Krsna is God: krsnas tu bhagavan
svayam. He wants to
develop his love for Krsna. He also wants to see
that not a moment is
wasted without engagement in Krsna consciousness.
He is always careful
not to spoil life's valuable time. That is the
first qualification
of a madhyama-adhikari. We have a very short period
to live, and we never
know when we are going to die. There is no
certainty. Foolish
people think that they will go on living forever, but
that is simply
foolishness. Life is transient; therefore the devotee
wants to utilize
every moment for the advancement of Krsna
consciousness.
The madhyama-adhikari
also has a special taste for chanting the
Hare Krsna mantra. He
is also very anxious to live in places like
Vrndavana, Dvaraka
and Mathura, places where Krsna lived. Of course it
is a fact that Krsna,
being God, has His residence everywhere. He even
resides within every
atom. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham.
Nonetheless, He has
special places of residence like Vrndavana, Dvaraka
and Mathura;
therefore a devotee is anxious to live in those places.
Increasing one's love
for God is a gradual process, and the first
ingredient is faith.
Without faith, there is no question of progress in
Krsna consciousness.
That faith is created after reading Bhagavad-gita
carefully and
actually understanding it as it is. Unless one reads
Bhagavad-gita, there
is no question of faith in Krsna. One must have
faith in the words of
Krsna, particularly when Krsna says, "Abandon all
dharmas and surrender
to Me. I will give you all protection." If we
study Bhagavad-gita
as a literary treatise and then throw it away, that
is not faith. Faith
is explained by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami thus:
`sraddha'-sabde--visvasa
kahe sudrdha niscaya
krsne bhakti kaile
sarva-karma krta haya
"By rendering
transcendental loving service to Krsna, one
automatically
performs all subsidiary activities. This confident, firm
faith, favorable to
the discharge of devotional service, is called
sraddha." (Cc.
Madhya 22.62)
In Bhagavad-gita
Krsna says that He is not only a person but the
Supreme Personality
of Godhead as well. He also says that there is no
one superior to Him.
If one believes these words, then one will have
faith. Impersonalists
read Bhagavad-gita, but they do not accept Krsna
as a person. In the
Twelfth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Krsna says that
the impersonalist
takes more trouble to come to Him. He will come later,
but it will take some
time. This is because impersonal understanding of
the Supreme Absolute
Truth is partial understanding. As Krsna states:
kleso 'dhikataras
tesam
avyaktasakta-cetasam
avyakta hi gatir
duhkham
dehavadbhir avapyate
"For those whose
minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal
feature of the
Supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make
progress in that
discipline is always difficult for those who are
embodied." (Bg.
12.5)
We have often given
the example of impersonal understanding being
like the understanding
of the sunshine. One may see the sunshine
entering through a
window into his room, but this does not mean that one
knows everything
about the sun. Impersonal understanding of the Absolute
Truth is like that.
The sunshine is impersonal (Brahman), the sun itself
is localized
(Paramatma) and the sun-god residing within the sun is a
person (Bhagavan).
Just as one can understand the three aspects of the
sun--the sunshine,
the sun itself and the sun-god--one can also
understand the three
aspects of the Supreme Absolute Truth--Brahman,
Paramatma and
Bhagavan.
Impersonalists
maintain that the sun is simply a fiery globe and
nothing else, but in
Bhagavad-gita Krsna specifically states that He
spoke Bhagavad-gita
to the sun-god Vivasvan. Of course we can hardly
imagine how the
sun-god can be a person. The sun is a great fiery globe,
and we think that it
is impossible for anyone to live there, but this
thinking is simply
shortsighted. It does not follow that no one can live
in fire just because
we cannot live there. We cannot live in water, yet
there are aquatics
living there. We live on this planet, which is
basically composed of
earth, and our bodies are basically composed of
earth in order to
live here. Bodies are made in such a way that they can
live in their
environment. Similarly, the sun-god has a body capable of
living in fire.
Krsna is
sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, being, knowledge and bliss, with
form. Impersonal
understanding is understanding of the sat feature.
Understanding Krsna
in full is understanding all of His features. The
ananda feature is
realized in Bhagavan. Krsna plays on His flute and is
accompanied by His
pleasure potency, hladini sakti, Srimati Radharani.
Of Krsna's many
potencies, the hladini sakti is His pleasure-giving
potency. That is
ananda. Although Krsna is full in Himself, He expands
Himself when He wants
to enjoy. That expansion is His pleasure potency,
Radharani. The gopis
are the expansions of Radharani, and the various
forms of Krsna are
manifest just to taste the mellow of transcendental
bliss.
Ananda-cinmaya-rasa. Thus Brahman realization is realization of
the sat portion,
Paramatma realization is realization of the cit
portion, and Bhagavan
realization is the realization of the ananda
portion. In the
Vedanta-sutra it is said that the Absolute Truth is
anandamayo 'bhyasat.
Krsna's lila is always full of transcendental
bliss--especially in
Vrndavana, His original residence. It is in
Vrndavana that Krsna
plays with His cowherd boy friends and dances with
the gopis. It is also
in Vrndavana that Krsna steals mother Yasoda's
butter. All His
activities there are filled with transcendental bliss.
We can begin to
experience this bliss by following the prescribed
methods of devotional
service. When we see the Deity, we can gradually
realize how Krsna is
smiling, playing on His flute and enjoying the
company of Srimati
Radharani. Then we also have to hear about Krsna.
These two processes
will increase in such a way that we will
automatically become
great devotees. Anicchato me gatim anvim prayunkte.
This is actually a
scientific method. It is not imagination. People
think that this is
idol worship and imagination, but this method is
prescribed in all the
sastras for developing God consciousness. It is an
actual science.
sri-bhagavan uvaca
jnanam parama-guhyam
me
yad
vijnana-samanvitam
sa-rahasyam tad-angam
ca
grhana gaditam maya
"The Personality
of Godhead said: Knowledge about Me as described
in the scriptures is
very confidential, and it has to be realized in
conjunction with
devotional service. The necessary paraphernalia for
that process is being
explained by Me. You may take it up carefully."
(SB. 2.9.31)
In Bhagavad-gita
Krsna tells Arjuna that He has revealed this most
confidential
knowledge to him because Arjuna is His very dear friend.
That confidential
knowledge is, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam
saranam vraja:
"Just surrender unto Me." (Bg. 18.66) Brahman realization
is certainly
confidential, and Paramatma realization is still more
confidential, but
understanding Krsna as He is, is the most confidential
knowledge of all.
If one's mind and
senses are completely absorbed in Krsna
consciousness, one is
experiencing bhakti. Bhakti is not a sentiment but
a practical science.
One may engage in many activities, but in all
cases, one's mind must
be fully absorbed in Krsna. Although a housewife
is always busy
working around the house, she always takes care that her
hair is nicely
combed. Regardless of her engagements, she never forgets
to arrange her hair
in an attractive way. Similarly, a devotee engages
in many activities,
but he never forgets Krsna's transcendental form.
This is the meaning
of perfection.
Chapter Sixteen
The Pure Devotees'
Spiritual Opulences
TEXT 37
atho vibhutim mama
mayavinas tam
aisvaryam astangam
anupravrttam
sriyam bhagavatim
vasprhayanti bhadram
prasya me te 'snuvate
tu loke
TRANSLATION
Thus because he is
completely absorbed in meditation upon Me, the
devotee does not
desire even the highest benediction obtainable in the
upper planetary
systems, including Satyaloka. He does not desire the
eight material
perfections obtained from mystic yoga, nor does he desire
to be elevated to the
kingdom of God. Yet even without desiring them,
the devotee enjoys,
even in this life, all the offered benedictions.
PURPORT
The vibhuti, or opulences,
offered by maya are of many varieties.
We experience
different varieties of material enjoyment even on this
planet, but if one is
able to promote himself to higher planets like
Candraloka, the sun
or, still higher, Maharloka, Janaloka and Tapoloka,
or even ultimately
the highest planet, which is inhabited by Brahma and
is called Satyaloka,
one will find immense possibilities for material
enjoyment. For
example, the duration of life on higher planets is far,
far greater than on
this planet. It is said that on the moon the
duration of life is
such that our six months are equal to one day. We
cannot even imagine
the duration of life on the highest planet. It is
stated in
Bhagavad-gita that Brahma's twelve hours are inconceivable
even to our
mathematicians. These are all descriptions of the external
energy of the Lord,
or maya. Besides these, there are other opulences
which the yogis can
achieve by their mystic power. They are also
material. A devotee
does not aspire for all these material pleasures,
although they are
available to him simply by wishing. By the grace of
the Lord, a devotee
can achieve wonderful material success simply by
willing, but a real
devotee does not do so. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has
taught that one
should not desire material opulence or material
reputation, nor
should one try to enjoy material beauty; he should only
aspire to be absorbed
in the devotional service of the Lord, even if he
does not get
liberation but has to continue the process of birth and
death unlimitedly.
Actually, however, to one who engages in Krsna
consciousness,
liberation is already guaranteed. Devotees enjoy all the
benefits of the
higher planets and the Vaikuntha planets also. It is
especially mentioned
here, bhagavatim bhadram. In the Vaikuntha planets
everything is
eternally peaceful, yet a pure devotee does not even
aspire to be promoted
there. But still he gets that advantage; he enjoys
all the facilities of
the material and spiritual worlds, even during the
present life span.
According to Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, Rupa Gosvami in his Bhaktirasamrta-
sindhu, Narada Muni
in the Narada-pancaratra and Bhagavan Sri
Krsna in
Bhagavad-gita, a pure devotee never wants anything from the
Lord. He does not
even want liberation, to say nothing of material
things. Generally,
people want dharma, artha, kama and moksa, in that
order. First of all,
people want to become religious (dharma) in order
to attain material
opulence (artha). People want material opulence in
order to gratify
their senses (kama), and when they are frustrated in
their attempt to
gratify their senses, they want liberation (moksa). In
this way, dharma,
artha, kama and moksa are going on. However, a devotee
is not interested in
any of these. In the Christian religion, people
pray, "Give us
this day our daily bread," but a pure bhakta does not
even ask for his
daily bread. A pure devotee is kept in the hand of
Krsna just like a
very precious jewel. When you hold something precious
in your hand, you are
very careful, and similarly, Krsna holds the
devotee and takes
care of him.
One can just imagine
his position if a very rich man says, "Don't
worry. I will take
care of everything for you." Krsna, the Supreme Lord,
is the proprietor of
all opulence. There is no one more opulent than
Krsna; therefore if
Krsna says that He will take care of His devotee,
there is no question
of poverty. Most people want material opulence, but
they do not know that
Krsna is the proprietor of all opulence. That is
their misfortune.
Although the proprietor of all opulence says, "Just
surrender unto Me,
and I will take care of you," people do not do it.
Instead, they say,
"I will take care of my own business. I will maintain
myself. I will take
care of myself, my family, my friends and my
country." Arjuna
was very intelligent because he simply chose Krsna,
whereas Duryodhana
took Krsna's soldiers. It is not possible to conquer
Krsna, but the
devotee can capture Krsna with bhakti, love.
It is impossible for
people to understand the great opulence of Sri
Krsna. Therefore
Caitanya Mahaprabhu tells us to abandon speculating
about God. There is a
story of a frog in a well being approached by a
friend who says,
"My dear frog, I have just seen a huge body of water."
"What is that
water?" the frog asks. "The Atlantic Ocean," the friend
replies. "Oh,
the Atlantic Ocean! Is it bigger than this well? Is it
four feet? Ten
feet?"
Our attempt to
speculate about God is very much like this. If we
want to understand
God, we have to try to understand from God Himself.
We may have a
neighbor who is very wealthy, influential, wise, strong
and beautiful, and we
may speculate about his opulence, but if we make
friends with him, we
can understand his position by listening to him
speak about himself.
God cannot be subjected to our imagination. Our
imagination is limited,
and our senses are imperfect. The process of
bhakti-marga is the
process of submission. There is no question of
subjecting God to our
imagination. We simply have to become very humble
and submissive and
pray to Krsna sincerely, "Krsna, it is not possible
for me to know You.
Kindly explain how it is I can know You, and then it
will be
possible." This is the way Arjuna approached Krsna in the
Eleventh Chapter of
Bhagavad-gita.
We can hardly
understand or comprehend the innumerable universes.
The word jagat refers
to this universe, but there is more than one
universe. Although we
are seeing only one universe, there are millions
of universes, and
Krsna is supporting all these millions of universes
with a single
fragment of Himself. This is also confirmed in many other
Vedic literatures:
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam
athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja
jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha
yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam
tam aham bhajami
"Brahma and
other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the
pores of hair of
Maha-Visnu, remain alive as long as the duration of His
one exhalation. I
adore the primeval Lord Govinda, of whose subjective
personality
Maha-Visnu is the portion of a portion." (Brahma-samhita
5.48)
This is the
information given in Brahma-samhita, the prayers
offered by Lord
Brahma. This Brahma-samhita was accepted by Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, who
copied it when He toured South India. Formerly there
were no presses to
print these literatures, and these important Vedic
writings were written
by hand. These literatures were not very cheap,
and only highly
qualified brahmanas were able to keep them. They were
worshiped in the
temple as the sastra Deity. It is not that they were
available everywhere.
Now, of course, the printing press has changed all
this, but nonetheless
we should always understand that the granthas, the
scriptures, should be
worshiped as God because they are the sound
incarnation of God.
One should not consider Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-
Bhagavatam to be
ordinary books, and one should take care of them just
as carefully as one
takes care of the Deity.
At any rate, when Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned from South India
with a copy of
Brahma-samhita, He gave it to His disciples and told them
that it was a summary
of the Vedanta and the Srimad-Bhagavatam. We
therefore accept
Brahma-samhita as authorized scripture, for it was
authorized by the
Supreme Person, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Just as Sri Krsna
explains in
Bhagavad-gita in so many ways that the entire material
creation is resting
on one of His portions, Brahma-samhita explains the
same subject. It is
stated that from the skin pores of the Maha-Visnu,
all the universes are
emanating. In each universe there is a Brahma, a
supervisor, who is
the supreme creature and manager. These managers live
only as long as the
Maha-Visnu exhales. When He exhales, all the
universes are
created, and when He inhales, they all return into His
body. In this way so
many universes and Brahmas are coming and going.
The durations of
these breaths, which constitute a life of a Brahma, are
described in
Bhagavad-gita as many trillions of earth years. One may say
that this is all
fictitious and imaginary, but unless one believes it,
one has no right to
touch Bhagavad-gita.
Generally people are
interested in going to the higher planetary
systems in order to
become more opulent. This is the process of karmakandiya,
and people perform
yajnas and pious activities in order to be
elevated to higher
planets. The idea is that one will be able to enjoy
himself more, have a
longer life span, more opulence, more beautiful
women, nice gardens
and so on. Actually this is the case, but a devotee
is not at all
interested in these things because he accepts Krsna. In
Bhagavad-gita (8.16)
Sri Krsna says, abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar
avartino 'rjuna:
"From the highest planet in the material world down to
the lowest, all are
places of misery wherein repeated birth and death
take place."
Even if we are
promoted to the highest planet, Brahmaloka, the
planet where Lord
Brahma lives, our situation there is still not
eternal. So why
should a devotee be interested in such a place? A
devotee is simply
interested in the supreme eternal, Sri Krsna. The
Supreme Lord is the
supreme leader of the nityas, the eternal living
entities. We are all
nityas, eternal, and Krsna guides and plays with
us. In the spiritual
world, Krsna and His devotees are friends, and they
play together as
cowherd boys. They are not interested in Brahmaloka or
Candraloka, for these
planets will ultimately be annihilated. There are
some living entities
that live only a few seconds, or, at most, a night.
By the morning, they
are all dead. Any life in the material world is
comparable to that.
Brahma may live millions of years, but he ultimately
has to die. Whether
we go to the highest planet or the lowest planet,
whether we are in the
body of a Brahma or a cat, we ultimately have to
die. Krsna presents
Himself to atheists as death. He appeared in this
way before
Hiranyakasipu, who said, "I am God. All the demigods are
afraid of me. I am
very powerful." Krsna comes before such atheists as
death and takes
everything away--all power, opulence, money--everything.
The theists worship
God while they are living, and their only business
in this life is
serving God. After death, they render the same service;
thus there is no
difference between Vaikuntha and a temple, for a
devotee. In either
case, his business is the same. Why, then, should he
aspire to go to
Vaikuntha?
In the Vaikuntha
planets one attains opulence like Krsna or
Narayana. There are
five kinds of mukti, liberation, and one is sarsti.
This kind of
liberation brings one opulence equal to the Lord. In the
Vaikuntha planets,
everyone is four-handed like Narayana, and everyone
is equally opulent.
In Goloka Vrndavana, Krsna and the cowherd boys are
equally opulent. In
Vrndavana, the cowherd boys do not know that Krsna
is God. They look on
Krsna as an equal. This is the opulence of their
devotional position.
Nonetheless, the
devotees do not aspire for all this opulence.
Their only aspiration
is to engage in the service of the Lord. In this
way, they get
everything. Nor are the devotees interested in attaining
the mystic yoga
siddhis. They do not need to be able to create a planet,
for they can create
Vaikuntha by worshiping Krsna in the temple. The
temple is nirguna,
transcendental to the gunas. In the sastras it is
said that the forest
is characterized by sattva-guna, goodness, and the
city is characterized
by rajo-guna, passion, because in the city there
is a great deal of
illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating.
Formerly, when people
were aspiring for spiritual realization, they left
the cities and went
to the forests. That was the vanaprastha stage. The
word vana means
"forest." Before taking sannyasa, a man would leave his
family and go to the
forest to begin practicing austerities. Vanam gato
yad dharim asrayeta.
Actually, superior to
living in the forest is living in the temple
because the temple is
nirguna, above all the gunas, even sattva-guna.
The inhabitants of
the temple are actually in Vaikuntha.
Lord Kapiladeva next
explains the nature of the special opulences
of the devotees.
TEXT 38
na karhicin mat-parah
santa-rupe
nanksyanti no me
'nimiso ledhi hetih
yesam aham priya atma
sutas ca
sakha guruh suhrdo
daivam istam
TRANSLATION
The Lord continued:
My dear mother, devotees who receive such
transcendental
opulences are never bereft of them; neither weapons nor
the change of time
can destroy such opulences. Because the devotees
accept Me as their
friend, relative, son, preceptor, benefactor and
Supreme Deity, they
cannot be deprived of their possessions at any time.
PURPORT
It is stated in
Bhagavad-gita that one may elevate himself to the
higher planetary
systems, even up to Brahmaloka, by dint of pious
activities, but when
the effects of such pious activities are finished,
one again comes back
to this earth to begin a new life of activities.
Thus even though one
is promoted to the higher planetary system for
enjoyment and a long
duration of life, still that is not a permanent
settlement. But as
far as the devotees are concerned, their assets--the
achievement of
devotional service and the consequent opulence of
Vaikuntha, even on
this planet--are never destroyed. In this verse
Kapiladeva addresses
His mother as santa-rupa, indicating that the
opulences of devotees
are fixed because devotees are eternally fixed in
the Vaikuntha
atmosphere, which is called santa-rupa because it is in
the mode of pure
goodness, undisturbed by the modes of passion and
ignorance. Once one
is fixed in the devotional service of the Lord, his
position of
transcendental service cannot be destroyed, and the pleasure
and service simply
increase unlimitedly. For the devotees engaged in
Krsna consciousness,
in the Vaikuntha atmosphere, there is no influence
of time. In the
material world the influence of time destroys
everything, but in
the Vaikuntha atmosphere there is no influence of
time or of the
demigods because there are no demigods in the Vaikuntha
planets. Here our
activities are controlled by different demigods; even
if we move our hand
and leg, the action is controlled by the demigods.
But in the Vaikuntha
atmosphere there is no influence of the demigods or
of time; therefore
there is no question of destruction. When the time
element is present,
there is the certainty of destruction, but when
there is no time
element--past, present or future--then everything is
eternal. Therefore
this verse uses the words nanksyanti no, indicating
that the
transcendental opulences will never be destroyed.
The reason for
freedom from destruction is also described. The
devotees accept the
Supreme Lord as the most dear personality and
reciprocate with Him
in different relationships. They accept the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead as a dearmost friend, relative, son, preceptor,
well-wisher or Deity.
The Lord is eternal; therefore any relationship in
which we accept Him
is also eternal. It is clearly confirmed herein that
the relationships
cannot be destroyed, and therefore the opulences of
those relationships
are never destroyed. Every living entity has the
propensity to love
someone. We can see that if someone has no object of
love, he generally
directs his love to a pet animal like a cat or a dog.
Thus the eternal
propensity for love in all living entities is always
searching for a place
to reside. From this verse we can learn that we
can love the Supreme
Personality of Godhead as our dearmost object--as a
friend, as a son, as
a preceptor or as a well-wisher--and there will be
no cheating and no
end to such love. We shall eternally enjoy the
relationship with the
Supreme Lord in different aspects. A special
feature of this verse
is the acceptance of the Supreme Lord as the
supreme preceptor.
Bhagavad-gita is spoken directly by the Supreme Lord,
and Arjuna accepted
Krsna as his guru, or spiritual master. Similarly,
we should accept only
Krsna as the supreme spiritual master.
When we speak of
Krsna, we include His confidential devotees; Krsna
is not alone. Krsna
includes His name, His form, His qualities, His
abode, His associates,
etc. For example, a king is always associated
with his secretary,
his commander, his servant and so much
paraphernalia. As
soon as we accept Krsna and His associates as our
preceptors, no ill
effects can destroy our knowledge. In the material
world the knowledge
we acquire may change because of the influence of
time, but
nevertheless the conclusions received from Bhagavad-gita,
directly from the
speeches of the Supreme Lord Krsna, can never change.
There is no use
interpreting Bhagavad-gita; it is eternal.
Krsna, the Supreme
Lord, should be accepted as one's best friend.
He will never cheat.
He will always give His friendly advice and
protection to the
devotee. If Krsna is accepted as a son, He will never
die. Here we may have
a very loving son or child, but the father and
mother, or those who
are affectionate toward him, always hope, "May my
son not die."
But Krsna actually never will die. Therefore those who
accept Krsna, or the
Supreme Lord, as their son will never be bereft of
their son. In many
instances devotees have accepted the Deity as a son.
In Bengal there are
many such instances, and even after the death of the
devotee, the Deity
performs the sraddha ceremony for the father. The
relationship is never
destroyed. People are accustomed to worship
different forms of
demigods, but in Bhagavad-gita such a mentality is
condemned; therefore
one should be intelligent enough to worship only
the Supreme
Personality of Godhead in His different forms such as
Laksmi-Narayana,
Sita-Rama and Radha-Krsna. Thus one will never be
cheated. By
worshiping the demigods, one may elevate himself to the
higher planets, but
during the dissolution of the material world, the
deity and his abode
will be destroyed. But one who worships the Supreme
Personality of
Godhead is promoted to the Vaikuntha planet, where there
is no time,
destruction or annihilation. The conclusion is that time
cannot act upon
devotees who have accepted the Supreme Personality of
Godhead as
everything.
Spiritual life is
eternal; it cannot be destroyed. Whatever we have
here in the material
world is subject to destruction. In this material
world we aspire for a
nice house, good property, children, friends and
riches, but
ultimately all of these will be destroyed, including
ourselves. Nothing
here is permanent; therefore everything is called
illusory. Actually we
do not understand this; we take all this as
permanent. The fact
is, however, that only Krsna is permanent. Krsna's
material energy is
not permanent.
Mayavadis think that
in the spiritual world there are no
relationships.
However, in the sastras it is stated that in the
spiritual world there
is real life. Life in this material world is
simply a shadow of
that life. In the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita
this material world
is likened to a banyan tree with its roots above and
branches below. This
means that it is like a shadow. When we stand
beside a reservoir of
water, we see the tree reflected upside down. We
also have the
experience of a mirage in the material world. We think
that there is water,
but actually there is none. Sometimes sailors at
sea think they see
land, but actually this is a mirage in the water.
This material world
is like that. In our lives we think we are enjoying
some rasa, some
relationship. Our children are calling us father, and we
are enjoying our
relationship with our wife, but all of these
relationships are
like shadows, although people have no information of
this. The true
enjoyment derived from these relationships can be
attained in the
spiritual world with Krsna. Krsna therefore comes in
person to teach us
that we can enjoy the same relationship with Him. We
can enjoy Him as our
master, our friend, our son, our father or our
lover.
The Mayavadi
philosophers say that if Krsna has become everything,
there is no question
of Krsna as an entity or a person. This is a
materialistic idea.
If we tear up a piece of paper into small pieces and
throw it away, the
paper no longer has an existence. However, Krsna is
not like that.
advaitam acyutam
anadim ananta-rupam
adyam purana-purusam
nava-yauvanam ca
"I worship the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda [Krsna], who
is the original
person--absolute, infallible, without beginning,
although expanded
into unlimited forms, still the same original, the
oldest, and the
person always appearing as a fresh youth." (Brahmasamhita
5.33) Krsna has many
millions of expansions, and He is also
situated in
everyone's heart. He is not only within human beings but
within animals,
trees, plants, aquatics and so forth. It is
materialistic to
think that Krsna has no individual existence if He has
entered into so many
millions of hearts. Even though Krsna has
distributed Himself
in many millions of parts, He is still present in
the same strength.
Krsna is sarvaisvarya-purna. He is never diminished.
There is an
interesting story of a poor boy who was a student in
school. During an
annual Father's Day ceremony, the teacher requested
the students to give
some kind of a contribution. Formerly teachers
would not earn a
salary but would receive whatever the students would
bring from their
parents' homes or by begging. Generally the brahmanas
were teachers, and
they could not charge anything. Thus some students
brought the teacher
rice, and some students brought other crops. This
one student was so
poor that he could think of nothing to bring;
therefore he told his
teacher that he would speak to his mother first.
After school, the
student told his mother, "My dear mother, all my
classcontribute?"
The mother replied, "My dear son, we are so poor that
we cannot give
anything. However, Krsna is the friend of the poor. If He
gives you something,
you can promise it to your teacher." "Oh, where is
Krsna?" the
little boy asked. "Well, I understand that He is in the
forest," the
mother said. Therefore the little boy went to the forest
and called for Krsna.
He then began to cry, and finally Krsna came. When
a devotee is very
eager to see Krsna, Krsna is so kind that He comes.
"So, what are
you asking?" Krsna said to the little boy. "You are the
friend of the
poor," the little boy said. "I am very poor, and what can
I promise my
teacher?" Krsna then told him, "You can tell him that you
will supply him some
yogurt, some dahi." The little boy was very
satisfied with this,
and the next day he went to his teacher and said,
"I will supply
you as much yogurt as you need." The teacher felt that
this was very nice,
and he was pleased with the boy. On the day of the
ceremony, the boy
again went to the forest and called for Krsna. Krsna
appeared and gave him
a quart of yogurt. The little boy took this yogurt
to his teacher and
said, "This is my contribution, sir." The teacher
looked at the quart
and said, "What is this? Hundreds of people will be
coming, and you have
only given this much yogurt?" The teacher became so
angry that he spilled
the yogurt out of the container. When he bent down
to pick it up, he saw
that the container was again full. He dropped it
again, and it was
again full. He could then understand that it was
spiritual.
This is the nature of
Krsna. One can take everything, and yet the
same will remain. In
the material world, one minus one equals zero, but
in the spiritual
world, one minus one equals one. That is called advaya
jnana. There is no
duality in the spiritual world. One plus one equals
one, and one minus
one equals one. If we love Krsna, that love will not
be destroyed as love
is in the material world. In the material world, a
servant serves the
master as long as the servant is pleased and as long
as the master is
pleased. The servant is pleased as long as the master
pays, and the master
is pleased as long as the servant renders good
service. However, in
the spiritual world, if the servant cannot serve
under certain
conditions, the master is still pleased. And if the master
does not pay, the
servant is also pleased. That is called oneness,
absolute. A guru may
have hundreds of disciples, hundreds of servants,
but he doesn't have
to pay them. They are serving out of spiritual love,
and the guru is
teaching without receiving a salary. This is a spiritual
relationship. There
are no cheaters and cheated in such a relationship.
If we accept Krsna as
our son, friend or lover, we will never be
cheated. However, we
have to give up the false, illusory servant, son,
father or lover, for
they will surely cheat us. We may love our son with
our heart and soul,
but that very son may some day be our enemy. We may
love our wife very
much, but some day that wife may be such an enemy
that she will kill us
for her own interests. There are many instances of
this in history.
Mayavadi philosophers are afraid of having such
relationships because
they have bitter experience with these
relationships in the
material world. They therefore want to negate all
relationships, and
therefore they say no more son, daughter, lover,
master or whatever.
Being disgusted with these things, they try to make
everything void. Yet
if we have the same relationship with Krsna, we
will never be cheated
or disappointed. Our enthusiasm will increase more
and more. Therefore
Krsna encourages us to accept Him as our son, as our
friend and as our
master. Then we will be happy.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of H H Swamy Prabhupada
ji for the collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
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