741129 - Lecture SB 03.25.29 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

741129SB-BOMBAY - November 29, 1974 - 36:40 Minutes

Nitāi: "The mystic yoga system, as You have explained, aims at the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is meant for completely ending material existence. Please let me know what the nature of that yoga system is. How many ways there are by which one can understand in truth that sublime yoga?"

Prabhupāda:

yo yogo bhagavad-bāṇo

nirvāṇātmaṁs tvayoditaḥ

kīdṛśaḥ kati cāṅgāni

yatas tattvāvabodhanam

(SB 3.25.29)

Tattva avabodhanam. Tattva means truth. So the idea is how to understand the Supreme Person, Supreme Being, in tattvataḥ, in truth.

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ

(BG 7.3)

This tattva word has been used in the Bhagavad-gītā, that everyone has got some idea of God. Not everyone; but out of many, many millions of person: manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu. Not ordinary men. There are millions and millions of person who don't care, just like animal. They don't care to know what is God, what is our relationship with God, how to act in that relationship. The Vedic instruction, the whole Vedic instruction is for this purpose. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). That is the purpose of Veda.

So first of all we have to know what is our relationship with God. That we do not know. Neither we try for it.

(child making sounds) (aside) This child . . .

Therefore Kṛṣṇa says . . . Kṛṣṇa says, not we say, that out of many, many thousands and millions of person, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu, so kaścid, somebody becomes interested what is the purpose of life. That is actually awakening of human life. Otherwise, like cats and dogs: eating, sleeping, having sex intercourse, and after some time finished. That is the life of cats and dogs. That is not human life. Human life, as it is stated in the Vedas, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This life is meant for inquiring about the Supreme Being, Brahman, Para-brahman. That is human life. The whole Vedic civilization is based on this basic principle that to understand the Absolute Truth.

So in this Kali-yuga nobody is interested even. We are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness; very few people are interested to know about Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Being. So that is not human life. Human life means when we inquire about the Absolute Truth. That is human life. So there are so many societies, so many religious institutions, but nobody is interested to know Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Being. Kṛṣṇa means the Supreme Being, all-attractive. No educational system, no university. Therefore Kṛṣṇa said, manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye, that is siddhi of love. Siddhi means perfection of life, to understand God. Because in the human life, if one tries he can understand God, he can understand himself, he can understand what is his relationship with God, he can understand how to act in that relationship and thus make his life perfect. That is human life. So manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye. Siddhi. Siddhi means self-realization. And yatatām api siddhānām. And even though one is siddha, or self-realized, he also does not understand what Kṛṣṇa. Even one is siddha. That siddha has still to be progressed. Then he will come to jñānavān. Jñānavān means one who is siddha, one who has understood himself. That siddhi means to understand oneself that "I am not this body." That is siddhi.

Everyone is misguided. Everyone is acting in this world under the bodily concept of life. And they are very, very much unhappy on account of this. Because as soon as one understands that, "I am not this body," he immediately becomes Brahman realized, brahma-bhūtaḥ, and immediately he becomes happy. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. Prasannātmā means . . . what do you mean by prasannātmā? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). No more material desire. That is brahma-bhūtaḥ. Everyone is trying for material sense gratification—the animals, the beasts, the birds and the human being. That is material world. He is simply śocati and kāṅkṣati. When there is loss he is crying, and when there is no possession he is hankering. These are the two diseases of material existence.

So when one is brahma-bhūta, he realized that "I am not this body; I am spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi," then the next stage is naśocati na kāṅkṣati. That is the . . . but that is not all. That is not all. That is not steady. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na . . . (BG 18.54), samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. At that time, because he is not in the bodily platform of life, he does not see the body but he sees the soul. So as spirit soul we are one. Simply we are differently dressed in different body on account of our desire and karma. So one who has realized that, "I am not this body," he does not make any difference of body.

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

He does not make any difference that, "Here is a learned brāhmin and here is a dog." Because he knows the learned brāhmin has got a different body and the dog has got a different body. Ultimately, the dog is also a spirit soul and the brāhmin is also a spirit soul. That is his vision. It does not mean that he's so fool he makes a brāhmin equal to the dog. No. That is not. But he knows the fact what is the dog and what is the brāhmin. That is Brahman realization. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Then mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Then the real bhakti begins.

That means after self-realization, when he understands that he is not this body . . . in the bodily conception of life I am thinking, "I belong to this family," "I belong to this society," "I belong to the country," and so many. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Janasya moho 'yam, this illusion is going on. And brahma-bhūtaḥ means one who is above this illusion. He has no more such distinction that "I am this body. I am belong to this family, I belong to this country or community." No. "I belong to Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa says jīv . . . mamaivāṁśa. Kṛṣṇa says. And brahma-bhūtaḥ stage means I have realized that I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and my only business is to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is Brahman realization. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ. Tattvataḥ means one has to understand in truth what is Kṛṣṇa and what is my relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Simply siddha is not perfection. Siddha means "I am not this body." That is all right; that is perfection. But you have to make further progress. Brahma-bhūtaḥ, you have become now self-realized, that's all right. Na śocati na . . . samaḥ sarveṣu. But you have to enter into the parā-bhakti. Then your self-realization will stand. Otherwise again you will fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32).

I have given this example that you have got a very nice sputnik, airplane; you can go many thousands and millions miles up. But if you don't get any shelter either in the moon planet or any other planet, then you come back again. The same example. Similarly, you may become brahma-bhūtaḥ, Brahman realized, but if you simply remain in the impersonal, or void . . . Brahma-bhūtaḥ means to make this material world null and void and you come to the another world, spiritual world. So if you cannot enter into the spiritual world, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54), if you simply remain brahma-bhūtaḥ, then you will fall down. Because you are by nature seeking ānanda, blissful life. So if you do not get varieties of life . . . just like we want varieties in this material world. This material world is simply imitation of the spiritual world. So we are attached to the varieties; therefore we are seeking ānanda. But because it is material and we are spiritual being, we cannot enjoy this ānanda, material varieties, fully. There are so many defects, inebrieties, and we are seeking that spiritual variety. So if you don't enter into the spiritual world with spiritual variety, then you will again fall down. That is called bhakti-yoga.

Just like Kṛṣṇa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). When you get spiritual varieties—that you can get when you enter into the spiritual world, either in the Vaikuṇṭha world, planet, or in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, there are varieties. The varieties are mentioned in the śāstra:

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.29)

Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam (Bs. 5.30). Don't think that Kṛṣṇa figure is the imagination of some artist or painter. No, no. These are the description in the Vedas. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, is playing on His flute. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣam. And His eyes are like the petals of lotus flower. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam. There is a feather of peacock, asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam, His complexion is like black cloud but very, very beautiful. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam, kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya: He is so beautiful that more attractive than many, many hundreds and thousands of Cupid. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham bhajāmi. This is the Govinda's description. There are so many description.

So this is spiritual varieties. Material varieties cannot give us full satisfaction. Therefore you want change—change, another change, another change. Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30). Here in the material world we are simply chewing the chewed. Once chewed and thrown it away, again somebody is coming, chewing. So spiritual variety is not like that. Spiritual varieties is ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. The more you are attached to spiritual varieties, it is just like ocean. An ocean does not increase, but spiritual varieties are said they are increasing. Now just like here you have got the Arabian Sea. It is not increasing. It would have increased, then Bombay town would have been finished long ago. So it is not increasing. It has got a certain limit. You go to the beach, you see sudden, "No, no more than." But it is compared with ānandāmbudhi, the ocean of bliss, increasing, vardhanam. Ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam.

The more you enter into the spiritual bliss, the more you become joyful. That is spiritual. Spiritual . . . just like these boys, these girls, they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Had it been hackneying, how long they would have chanted? No. That is not possible. Unless it is spiritual, nobody can be satisfied simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You take any other word, "Mr. John, Mr. John, Mr. John," how long you will chant? After chanting for half an hour you will be fed up. But this is ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. The more you chant, the more you become spiritually advanced. This is called ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam. Otherwise, how one can be satisfied simply by chanting, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? They are not mad; they are not foolish. They are human being. And how they have given up everything simply by chanting if it is not ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, if it is not increasing in spiritual blissfulness? Practical. They have forgotten everything. They are also young men. They don't go to cinema. Just one block after there is cinema—they will never go, giving up this chanting and go to the cinema. Don't you see practically?

So spiritual life, that is spiritual life, that if you take to spiritual life and take to the process, then your ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, your spiritual life, will be blissful more and more. It is not decrease. Because we want ānanda. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). That is the Vedānta-sūtra. Living being or Para-brahman or Brahman, everyone is ānandamaya. That ānanda can . . . you get perfectly when you take ānanda with Kṛṣṇa, in association with Kṛṣṇa. You associate with Kṛṣṇa as servant or as friend or as father, as mother, as conjugal lover. There are five rasas: śānta, dāsya, sākhya, vātsalya, mādhurya. Here also in this material world we have got the same rasas. We are related with somebody as father, or somebody as son, somebody as lover, somebody as beloved, somebody as master, somebody as servant. This is relationship. This is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world. Therefore although we have got the same relationship for relishing . . . today I am loving my son, and tomorrow my son may be the greatest enemy. There is no eternity of such love. Or the son may die. There is no eternity. Today I am loving some man or woman; it may break tomorrow. That is the defect of the material world. But in the spiritual world the same relationship will never break. It will ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam, simply increase, simply increase. That is called perfection. That is called per . . .

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ

(BG 7.3)

If we understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, not superficial . . . here the word is used yatas tattvāvabodhanam. Tattvāvabodhanam: "Kindly explain to me that bhakti-yoga by which we can fully understand the truth, Absolute Truth." Tattvāvabodhanam.

So how that tattva can be understood? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa, that janma karma ca divyaṁ me yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). So we have to understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ, by truth. And how? We can understand that Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). This is tattva word. So tattvāvabodhanam. Devahūti is asking Kapiladeva that, "Kindly describe that process of yoga by which we can understand in truth, tattvāvabodhanam, not superficially." Tattvāvabodhanam. And in another place the tattva is described in three ways: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). They are not different. That is, everything is tattva. Tattva . . . there are three kinds of tattva: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. This very thing, tattva, is described in three features: impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā, and at the end Bhagavān.

So understanding of Bhagavān means understanding of Brahman and Paramātmā. But understanding of Brahman or Paramātmā is not understanding of Bhagavān. Therefore the Brahmavādīs, the Paramātmavādīs, they are impersonalists. They cannot understand the Supreme Being, Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. They cannot understand. That is the defect. Therefore some yoga system, jñāna-yoga system or dhyāna-yoga system, and there is bhakti-yoga system. That bhakti-yoga system is the perfect. And jñāna-yoga system or dhyāna-yoga system, that is partial understanding, Paramātmā feature. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). In that way you can understand, you can come to the platform of understanding samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. But that is not perfection. Still you have to go. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). After realizing samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, this principle, then you will have to enter into the devotional service, parā-bhakti. Parā-bhakti means transcendental. Bhakti means parā. Bhakti does not mean material. Material . . . it looks like material activities, but it is not material activities. Just like the example can be given just like a man, a boy is flying kite. He is, what is called, the reel? Latai? So sometimes he brings down the kite and sometimes he allows the kite to go. There are two kind of playing. So similarly, the one kind of activities means you are becoming free from the resultant action of activities, and one kind of activity is you are becoming entangled.

So that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthe karmaṇaḥ anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you work for Yajña, for Kṛṣṇa, then you are becoming relieved from the resultant action of karma. But if you work for your sense gratification, then you are becoming entangled with the resultant action of your karma. Therefore sometimes this bhakti-yoga is misunderstood as karma. Māyāvādīs, they cannot understand. They think that bhakti-yoga is also karma. "These people are less intelligent, so they are in the . . . because jñāna-yoga means vikarma or akarma, akarma. There is no resultant action." That is the view of the jñānīs, Māyāvādī philosophers. But because they see that the bhaktas, they are working also just like ordinary man, therefore it is māyā. That is Māyāvāda. They think bhakti activities as māyā. Therefore we call them Māyāvāda. But actually bhakti-yoga, if you act according to the śāstric principles, if you act according to the order of your spiritual master in bhakti-yoga, that is not karma; that is bhakti-yoga, beyond this karma-yoga. But they cannot understand.

Just like Kṛṣṇa described in the śāstras: cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). Surabhīr abhipālayantam. Kṛṣṇa is very much fond of tending cows, surabhi cows. The Māyāvādī will see, "What is this Kṛṣṇa?" Even Brahmā was bewildered, "How is that this Kṛṣṇa, this boy in Vṛndāvana, is being worshiped? He's spoken like the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How is that, He is taking care of the cows, this cowherd boy?" Indra was also bewildered. Muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. To understand Kṛṣṇa, even Brahmā, Indra, they become bewildered. Therefore:

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ

(BG 7.3)

We have to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth. Otherwise we will be bewildered. And for that reason you have to hear from Kṛṣṇa or His representative to understand Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise you will also be bewildered.

So if we can understand Kṛṣṇa, that these activities of Kṛṣṇa, divyam, janma karma ca me divyam (BG 4.9), divine; they are not ordinary activities. If we can understand this, immediately we become liberated—simply if we can understand the activities of this Kṛṣṇa's dancing with the gopīs, they are divyam, they are not ordinary. Just like here also a young man wants to dance with many young girls; it is not like that. And because people cannot understand Kṛṣṇa, and if they hear about the dancing of Kṛṣṇa with the gopīs, they take it the concession, "Now let us dance with young girls." That's all. And they are going to hell. Therefore you have to learn from the proper person about Kṛṣṇa's activities. If you learn Kṛṣṇa from the professional uneducated person, nondevotee, then you will go to hell. Therefore immediately we should not try to understand Kṛṣṇa's dealing with the gopīs. It is very confidential. It is kept in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That means you have to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is by reading first nine cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then you will be able to understand janma karma ca divyam. The Kṛṣṇa's activities, they are not ordinary thing. They are divine. And if we actually understand, then immediately you become liberated. Janma karma ca divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ.

Therefore here it is said, kīdṛśaḥ kati cāṅgāni. How that bhakti-yoga is situated and how many processes or branches are there? Kīdṛśaḥ kati ca aṅgāni yatas tattvāvabodhanam. Then we can understand Kṛṣṇa in tattva, in truth. That is required. That is bhakti-yoga. And that aṅgāni, aṅgāni means they are all the same. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). There are nine aṅgas, nine . . . aṅga means different varieties. They are the same. Spiritually they are the same, spiritually absolute. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Either you hear or you chant or you memorize or you offer worship, arcanaṁ, or you offer prayers, arcanaṁ, vandanaṁ dāsyam, or you simply work under the direction of your spiritual master or Kṛṣṇa. Just like Hanumān: he, dāsyam. He simply carried out Lord Rāmacandra's order. He was supposed to be animal. He's not animal, but he was looking like a monkey animal. But having no education—no. He had everything. But superficially he . . . he is not teaching Vedānta. He is simply carrying order of Lord Rāmacandra, that's all. He appears to be very foolish . . . not foolish, but superficially animal. He was simply carrying out, dāsyam. Arjuna, simply he took Kṛṣṇa as his most intimate friend, that's all. He was not a Vedāntist; he was a fighter, he was a kṣatriya. He had to deal with politics. No time to become Vedāntist. But still he's the greatest devotee. Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3). Kṛṣṇa says: "My dear Arjuna, you are My very dear friend and devotee." So people may say, "Oh, he is not a Vedāntist, he is not even brāhmin, he is not a sannyāsī. How Kṛṣṇa accepts him as bhakto 'si?" That is called bhakti. Bhakti is ahaituky apratihatā. If you become a devotee, there is no impediment. No material condition can check your progress of bhakti, if you are a bhakti.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo

yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

ahaituky apratihatā

yenātmā samprasīdati

(SB 1.2.6)

If you want real life, prasanna . . . brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). If you take to bhakti, automatically you become prasannātmā. Yenātmā samprasīdati. What is that? Ahaituky apratihatā bhakti. Without any motive. "I shall serve Kṛṣṇa with a motive," that is also good in this sense, that he is pious, he has approached Kṛṣṇa. He is not impious like the atheist, like the nonbeliever. But he is good, although he has approached . . . just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja worshiped Kṛṣṇa with a motive. But after being perfect in devotional service he becomes without motive. When he saw actually Kṛṣṇa, he said: "No, no, no. I don't want anything from You." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). "I don't want any benediction." That is bhakti. Ahaituky apratihatā. Not that we shall worship Kṛṣṇa to serve some material purpose. That is also good, because he has come to Kṛṣṇa. Some way or other he has come. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. That is his piety. Anyone who comes to Kṛṣṇa some way or other, he is very fortunate. He is not ordinary man. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Bhāgyavān jīva means very fortunate person. He comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not ordinary person.

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ

janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām

te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā

bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

(BG 7.28)

Kṛṣṇa-bhajana is not so easy. But if you voluntarily, if after hearing so many qualities of Kṛṣṇa, transcendental qualities, if you somehow or other become attracted to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then your life is successful. Yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe prayojayet (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.4). Somehow or other you attach your mind to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ. Then Kṛṣṇa will help you. Kṛṣṇa will help you.

Kṛṣṇa will give you intelligence from within. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Kṛṣṇa says that, "Anyone who is engaged in My devotional service with love and faith, buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam." This is buddhi-yoga. Buddhi-yoga means bhakti-yoga. Buddhi-yoga means . . . bhakti-yoga is not for the foolish person. Bhakti-yoga means buddhi-yoga, one who is highly intelligent. Or somehow or other he has become intelligent that, "I shall take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Then his life is perfect immediately, and gradually he will realize Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). You somehow or other take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, engage yourself in devotional service under the direction of śāstra and the spiritual master, then you will understand Kṛṣṇa, and then your life is perfect.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. (end)