721105 - Lecture SB 01.02.25 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

721105SB-VRNDAVAN - November 05, 1972 - 32:41 Minutes

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse, etc.) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

bhejire munayo 'thāgre

bhagavantam adhokṣajam

sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ kṣemāya

kalpante ye 'nu tān iha

(SB 1.2.25)

Prabhupāda: That's all. Why don't you spread . . . (break)

. . . 'thāgre

bhagavantam adhokṣajam

sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ kṣemāya

kalpante ye 'nu tān iha

(SB 1.2.25)

"Previously all the great sages rendered service unto the transcendental Personality of Godhead (Bhagavān) due to His existence above the three modes of material nature. They worshiped Him to become free from material condition. Whoever follows such sages is also eligible for liberation from the material world."

So bhejire munayaḥ athāgre bhagavantam adhokṣajam. There are some theories—that is not fact—that ultimately the Absolute Truth is impersonal. But here we find that agre, in the beginning, after creation, all the sages . . . first of all, there was Brahmā. And then he created so many saintly persons, marīcyādi, great sages. And they also engaged themself in worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not impersonal; from the very beginning. Bhejire munayaḥ atha agre. From the very beginning.

Bhagavantam adhokṣajam. Adhokṣajam we have described many times, "Beyond our sense perception." The Absolute Truth is a person, it is very difficult to understand. "Beyond our sense perception." They, generally they think that, "How a person can create such huge cosmic manifestation?" That is their bewilderment. They cannot accommodate . . . accommodate in the teeny, poor brain that the original Absolute Truth is a person. That is their problem.

So their idea is that by personal worship one has to reach again to the impersonal Transcendence. But we don't find from the śāstra like that. Now, the most authentic śāstra is Vedānta. Vedānta is accepted by all classes of men. Because without accepting Vedānta, nobody will be bona fide. Generally they think that the impersonalists are Vedāntists. Generally they think, but that's a wrong conception. They . . . all the Vaiṣṇava—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya—they are also Vedāntist. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Vedāntist. We are also Vedāntist. It is not that Vedānta is the monopoly of the impersonalists. No.

Now, the Vedānta, in the beginning it is, the first sūtra is, athāto brahma jijñāsā: so to inquire about Brahman, the Absolute. Now, the next answer is janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything emanates. Janmādy asya yataḥ. Now, this janmādy asya yataḥ is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explained by Vyāsadeva himself.

Vyāsadeva is explaining Vedānta-sūtra in his book, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām. Śrī Vyāsadeva says, "This is the real comment, or bhāṣya, of Vedānta-sūtra, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Therefore Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, Gosvāmīs, they did not write any comment on the Vedānta-sūtra because they accept Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the natural commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. So why they should write again? But still, when there was such question raised in Jaipur that the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava has no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, at that time, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, he wrote Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra. But still, Vedānta-sūtra does not mean to understand impersonalism. No. That's not the fact.

Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the very beginning, the Vedānta-sūtra is discussed. Unfortunately, the professional Bhāgavata reciters did . . . neither they have got brain, nor do they explain the . . . from the very beginning, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from the very beginning, Vedānta-sūtra is explained, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). In the Vedānta-sūtra, the answer is, "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates." So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains: janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś cārtheṣu abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ.

As soon as we speak that the original source of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ, so what is the nature of that original source? Whether He's a dead stone, or a living being? That is the next question. Everything that we experience is coming from the supreme source. Whether that supreme source is a living being or a dead stone? What will be the answer?

From common sense? From common sense, suppose if we find out the original source of everything, what will be the nature of that original? The Bhāgavata explains therefore, abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ. He's not dead stone. Abhijñaḥ. He has got consciousness. He has got consciousness. What kind of consciousness? Anvayāt itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ. He knows everything, directly and indirectly.

Now suppose we are also conscious. So what is the nature of our consciousness? Our consciousness is that I know directly everything of my body or of my self. But I do not know indirectly about yourself. I cannot say what is going on in your mind, in your body, what pains and pleasure you are feeling. But I can speak about myself that, "I am feeling like this. I am thinking like this. I am willing like this." That I can say. So my consciousness is not perfect. It is perfect so far I am concerned. But I . . . my consciousness does not spread upon you.

But here it is said, anvayāt itarataḥ abhijñaḥ, artheṣu abhijñaḥ. "The Absolute Truth knows everything, directly and indirectly." My knowledge is imperfect in this sense, that I am eating something, it is being digested in the stomach, so many secretions are coming out. How they are forming into blood, and so many things are going on within the body, I am not directly concerned; neither I know directly.

But the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Being, He knows everything, in any corner of the cosmic manifestation. Therefore His consciousness and my consciousness is . . . as, so far possessing consciousness, the Absolute Truth and myself are one, but His consciousness is all-pervading. My consciousness is limited. So the Absolute Truth cannot be limited, but we are limited.

Therefore here it is said, bhejire munayaḥ athāgre bhagavantam. In this . . . we have already discussed that the Absolute Truth is realized in three features, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases: impersonal Brahman, localized Paramātmā and the Supreme Person, Bhagavān. So the ultimate realization is bhagavantam, not the impersonal Brahman. That is not ultimate realization. That is partial realization. Even Paramātmā realization, that is also partial. The complete realization is Bhagavān. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11).

There is no duality in the Absolute platform. That's a fact. But that does not mean that realization of Brahman is the same as realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not the same. There is no difference, so far the spiritual identity is concerned. The spiritual identity is the same, Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. But because my realization is imperfect, therefore somebody says that Brahman realization is the supreme; somebody says that Paramātmā realization is the supreme; somebody says Bhagavān realization is the Supreme. But factually, one who has got real realization, he knows the Absolute Truth is realized in three features, according to one's capacity.

The Absolute Truth is one. The example may be given: just like the sun god, the sun planet and the sunshine. They are one. But according to the capacity, we are, generally, we can realize the sunshine only. But sunshine is not the perfect realization of the sun. It is partial realization. Brahmeti paramātmeti. The full realization is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Person. Vigraha means person. One who realizes the Supreme Person—and that Supreme Person is Kṛṣṇa:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

(Bs. 5.1)

That is real realization.

So one who has not reached to that point, to realize Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that his knowledge is still imperfect. But these persons who have got imperfect knowledge, they are passing as Vedāntists and knows everything. They do not know. Kṛṣṇa therefore says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19): "These impersonalists, the so-called Vedāntists, the so-called men of knowledge, after many, many births . . ."

Because it is not so easy to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. They'll have to wait for thousands of births to understand Kṛṣṇa. They'll have to wait. Although they are very much proud of their knowledge, we know where they are: partial realization. Of course, they are also in the same field. But they'll not understand the Supreme Person.

Those who understood, the great sages in the beginning, in the beginning of the creation, munayaḥ, great, great sages, Marīci, Ātreya, Vasiṣṭha and others, so they worshiped the Supreme Person, bhagavantam, not the impersonal feature. Impersonal, actually, there is . . . there cannot be any worship of the impersonal feature, Brahman. It is simply accepting some trouble.

Kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5). It is simply troublesome. But unfortunately, these impersonalists have spread all over the world. They have no sharp brain to understand the Supreme Person, and they are misguiding the whole population that either impersonalism or voidism. Nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi.

But this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is against this. We are giving directly the name and address and the activities, everything, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They are trying to find out the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person. Anvayāt and abhijñaḥ. Abhijñaḥ means conscious. And what kind of conscious? What kind of knowledge? Sva-rāṭ.

Our, my knowledge, your knowledge is received from others. Without . . . the Vedāntists . . . the Vedāntists, they also receive their knowledge from another Vedāntist—the so-called Vedāntists. Vedāntists are . . . real Vedāntists are the Vaiṣṇavas. And the impersonalist Vedāntists, because their knowledge is not perfect, therefore their knowledge of Vedānta is also imperfect, because they do not know anything about the Supreme Person.

āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ

patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ

(SB 10.2.32)

This is the version of Vyāsadeva. The . . . because they neglect the Supreme Person. Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. The Vedāntists . . . there are many Vedāntists in Vṛndāvana, but they do not come to see the temple, because they think themselves that they have become Kṛṣṇa. That is the Vedānta . . . so-called Vedānta philosophy conclusion.

But Bhāgavata says that vimukta-māninaḥ. "They are thinking that they have become liberated." That is their concoction. Māninaḥ. If somebody thinks that, "I have become the richest man in the world," although he has nothing to show . . . to become richest man, there must be some symptoms. But if a poor man says that, "I am the richest man in the world," so one should test him, whether he has got the complete riches of the world.

So simply thinking, concocting, is one thing, and fact is another. Fact is that we are tiny, part and parcel of the Absolute Truth. But we are not actually absolute; we are relative, relative truth. On the existence of the Absolute Truth we are existing, but we have no independent existence, neither we have got independent knowledge. We are all dependent.

The independent knowledge, Absolute Truth, is Kṛṣṇa. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. That is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra. Therefore, bhejire munayo 'thāgre bhagavantam adhokṣajam (SB 1.2.25). Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, beyond the sense perception. This impersonal concept of the Absolute Truth is in negation of the material duality. But that is not absolute knowledge. Absolute knowledge is that when we reach bhagavantam adhokṣajam.

Sattvaṁ viśuddham. His existence is viśuddha, not contaminated. Our existence in this material existence, this is not viśuddha. This is contaminated by the modes of material nature. But His existence is viśuddha. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says, in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā: nārāyaṇaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Vyaktāvyakta. There are two material features: manifested and nonmanifested. Śaṅkarācārya agrees that Nārāyaṇa . . . as soon as he says: "Nārāyaṇa," he means the person, person, the Supreme Person.

Paraḥ avyaktāt: He's transcendental. His person is not the same person, personality, as we have got. There, that is . . . para means that is adhokṣajam, beyond our sense perception. So . . . and there are so many other evidences. Kṛṣṇa says that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "There is no more superior existence than Myself." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8): "I am the origin." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This verse, this code, is explained by Kṛṣṇa Himself, that "I am the origin of everything." And Arjuna, who understood Kṛṣṇa, he said, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣam (BG 10.12). He accepted the Absolute Truth a puruṣa, a person.

So the Absolute cannot be imperson. Imperson is one of the features of the Absolute Truth, but the Absolute Truth, in the original understanding, He is person. As Kṛṣṇa says, brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā (BG 14.27). The impersonal Brahman is situated in Him. It is His personal rays, effulgence of His bodily rays. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). He has got His bodily effulgence, just like the sunshine is the effulgence of the sun globe, and the sun globe, within the sun globe there is sun god, Vivasvān. That is also . . .

We get information from the Bhagavad-gītā, the sun, sun planet, is not impersonal, not a lump of matter. There is the predominating deity in the sun globe, and his name is also given in the Bhagavad-gītā—Vivasvān. Vivasvān manave prāha (BG 4.1). Prāha, he explained Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore he's a person. As we get, get this experience that from the sun globe, within the sun globe there is a person, and, due to the effulgence of that personal rays of the sun god, or the population there, every people being glowing, the whole sun planet is so powerful, glowing, and the glow is distributed all over the universe, similarly, there is a glowing effulgence of the Supreme Person. That is called brahma-jyotir. That brahma-jyotir is impersonal, but the brahma-jyotir is resting on the Personality of Kṛṣṇa.

So ultimate Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa. That is the verdict of all Vedic literature, Vedānta, and Kṛṣṇa says that vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). Anyone who has not understood Kṛṣṇa, he has not studied the Vedic literature very perfectly. Vedānta-vid vedānta-kṛd ca aham, Kṛṣṇa says. He's the compiler of Vedānta. So who will know Vedānta better than Kṛṣṇa?

The so-called Vedāntists, they are very much proud of their knowledge of Vedānta, but the, the real compiler of the Vedānta philosophy is Vyāsadeva. He's incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, vedānta-kṛd vedānta-vit. He is the compiler of the Vedānta-sūtra and He knows what is Vedānta-sūtra, not the so-called Māyāvādī philosophers.

So we have to learn Vedānta-sūtra from Kṛṣṇa, not from others. Not from others. We are not going to be befooled. We know what is Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra points out that "Here is the person, Supreme Person, Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ." Brahmā says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Kṛṣṇa Himself says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8). He is the origin.

Because the Absolute Truth is the origin of everything, the Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. He's the origin of even Nārāyaṇa. He's the origin of Brahmā. He's origin of Lord Śiva. He's origin of the Brahman effulgence. He's origin of Paramātmā. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So . . . but the origin from Paramātmā is another expansion of Kṛṣṇa. That is also explained: ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28).

Our this philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are pointing out the Supreme Person. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Everyone is searching after God; we are delivering. Kṛṣṇa is delivering Himself. That is His kindness. That is His mercy. And Lord Caitanya is delivering Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). Not only Kṛṣṇa; He's giving love of Kṛṣṇa.

So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness people, they should not be misled by so-called Vedāntists or impersonalists, or voidists. They should stick to the principle, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore we present Bhagavad-gītā as it is.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)