The Vedic Solution

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.31

2011-12-08T05:02:00.000+04:00

tenātmanātmānam upaiti śāntam

ānandam ānandamayo 'vasāne

etāḿ gatiḿ bhāgavatīḿ gato yaḥ

sa vai punar neha viṣajjate 'ńga

SYNONYMS

tena — by that purified; ātmanā — by the self; ātmānam — the Supersoul; upaiti — attains; śāntam — rest; ānandam — satisfaction; ānanda-mayaḥ — naturally so being; avasāne — being freed from all material contamination; etām — such; gatim — destination; bhāgavatīm — devotional; gataḥ — attained by; yaḥ — the person; saḥ — he; vai — certainly; punaḥ — again; na — never; iha — in this material world; viṣajjate — becomes attracted; ańga — O Mahārāja Parīkṣit.

TRANSLATION

Only the purified soul can attain the perfection of associating with the Personality of Godhead in complete bliss and satisfaction in his constitutional state. Whoever is able to renovate such devotional perfection is never again attracted by this material world, and he never returns.

PURPORT

We should specially note in this verse the description of gatiḿ bhāgavatīm. To become merged in the rays of the Parabrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as desired by the brahmavādī impersonalist, is not bhāgavatīm perfection. The bhāgavatas never accept merging in the impersonal rays of the Lord, but always aspire after personal association with the Supreme Lord in one of the Vaikuṇṭha spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. The whole of the spiritual sky, of which the total number of the material skies is only an insignificant part, is full of unlimited numbers of Vaikuṇṭha planets. The destination of the devotee (the bhāgavata) is to enter into one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, in each of which the Personality of Godhead, in His unlimited personal expansions, enjoys Himself in the association of unlimited numbers of pure devotee associates. The conditioned souls in the material world, after gaining emancipation by devotional service, are promoted to these planets. But the number of ever-liberated souls is far, far greater than the number of conditioned souls in the material world, and the ever-liberated souls in the Vaikuṇṭha planets never care to visit this miserable material world.

The impersonalists, who aspire to merge in the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence of the Supreme Lord but have no conception of loving devotional service to Him in His personal form in the spiritual manifestation, may be compared to certain species of fish, who, being born in the rivers and rivulets, migrate to the great ocean. They cannot stay in the ocean indefinitely, for their urge for sense gratification brings them back to the rivers and streams to spawn. Similarly, when the materialist becomes frustrated in his attempts to enjoy himself in the limited material world, he may seek impersonal liberation by merging either with the Causal Ocean or with the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence. However, as neither the Causal Ocean nor the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence affords any superior substitute for association and engagement of the senses, the impersonalist will fall again into the limited material world to become entangled once more in the wheel of births and deaths, drawn on by the inextinguishable desire for sensual engagement. But any devotee who enters the kingdom of God by transcendental engagement of his senses in devotional service, and who associates with the liberated souls and the Personality of Godhead there, will never be attracted to the limited surroundings of the material world.

In the Bhagavad-gītā (8.15) also the same is confirmed, as the Lord says, "The great mahātmās, or the bhakti-yogīs, after attaining My association, never come back to this material world, which is full of miseries and is nonpermanent." The highest perfection of life, therefore, is to attain His association, and nothing else. The bhakti-yogī, being completely engaged in the Lord's service, has no attraction for any other process of liberation like jñāna or yoga. A pure devotee is a one hundred percent devotee of the Lord and nothing more.

We should further note in this verse the two words śāntam and ānandam, which denote that devotional service of the Lord can really bestow upon the devotee two important benedictions, namely peace and satisfaction. The impersonalist is desirous of becoming one with the Supreme, or in other words, he wants to become the Supreme. This is a myth only. The mystic yogīs become encumbered by various mystic powers and so have neither peace nor satisfaction. So neither the impersonalists nor the yogi can have real peace and satisfaction, but the devotee can become fully peaceful and satisfied because of his association with the complete whole. Therefore, merging in the Absolute or attaining some mystic powers has no attraction for the devotee.

Attainment of love of Godhead means complete freedom from all other attractions. The conditioned soul has many aspirations such as becoming a religious man, a rich man, or a first-class enjoyer or becoming God himself, or becoming powerful like the mystics and acting wonderfully by getting anything or doing anything, but all these aspirations should be rejected by the prospective devotee who actually wants to revive his dormant love of God. The impure devotee aspires after all of the abovementioned material things by perfection of devotion. But a pure devotee has none of the tinges of the above contaminations, which are the influence of material desires, impersonal speculations and attainment of mystic powers. One can attain the stage of love of God by pure devotional service, or by "a learned labor of love," for the sake of the devotee's lovable object, the Personality of Godhead.

To be more clear, if one wants to attain the stage of love of Godhead, he must give up all desires for material enjoyment, he should refrain from worshiping any of the demigods, and he should devote himself only to the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He must give up the foolish idea of becoming one with the Lord and the desire to have some wonderful powers just to get the ephemeral adoration of the world. The pure devotee is only favorably engaged in the service of the Lord, without any hope of emolument. This will bring about love of Godhead, or the stage of śāntam and ānandam, as stated in this verse.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.30

2011-12-08T04:58:00.001+04:00

sa bhūta-sūkṣmendriya-sannikarṣaḿ

manomayaḿ devamayaḿ vikāryam

saḿsādya gatyā saha tena yāti

vijñāna-tattvaḿ guṇa-sannirodham

SYNONYMS

saḥ — he (the devotee); bhūta — the gross; sūkṣma — and the subtle; indriya — senses; sannikarṣam — the point of neutralization; manaḥ-mayam — the mental plane; deva-mayam — in the mode of goodness; vikāryam — egoism; saḿsādya — surpassing; gatyā — by the progress; saha — along with; tena — them; yāti — goes; vijñāna — perfect knowledge; tattvam — truth; guṇa — the material modes; sannirodham — completely suspended.

TRANSLATION

The devotee, thus surpassing the gross and the subtle forms of coverings, enters the plane of egoism. And in that status he merges the material modes of nature [ignorance and passion] in this point of neutralization and thus reaches egoism in goodness. After this, all egoism is merged in the mahat-tattva, and he comes to the point of pure self-realization.

PURPORT

Pure self-realization, as we have several times discussed, is the pure consciousness of admitting oneself to be the eternal servitor of the Lord. Thus one is reinstated in his original position of transcendental loving service to the Lord, as will be clearly explained in the following verse. This stage of rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord without any hopes of emolument from the Lord, or any other way, can be attained when the material senses are purified and the original pure state of the senses is revived. It is suggested herein that the process of purifying the senses is by the yogic way, namely the gross senses are merged in the mode of ignorance, and the subtle senses are merged in the mode of passion. The mind belongs to the mode of goodness and therefore is called devamaya, or godly. perfect purification of the mind is made possible when one is fixed in the conviction of being the eternal servitor of the Lord. Therefore simple attainment of goodness is also a material mode; one has to surpass this stage of material goodness and reach the point of purified goodness, or vasudeva-sattva. This vasudeva-sattva helps one to enter into the kingdom of God.

We may also remember in this connection that the process of gradual emancipation by the devotees in the manner mentioned above, although authoritative, is not viable in the present age because of people's being primarily unaware of yoga practice. The so-called yoga practice by the professional protagonists may be physiologically beneficial, but such small successes cannot help one in the attainment of spiritual emancipation as mentioned herein. Five thousand years ago, when the social status of human society was in perfect Vedic order, the yoga process mentioned herein was a common affair for everyone because everyone, and especially the brāhmaṇa and kṣatriya, was trained in the transcendental art under the care of the spiritual master far away from home, in the status of brahmacarya. Modern man, however, is incompetent to understand it perfectly.

Lord Śrī Caitanya, therefore, made it easier for the prospective devotee of the present age in the following specific manner. Ultimately there is no difference in the result. The first and foremost point is that one must understand the prime importance of bhakti-yoga. The living beings in different species of life are undergoing different terms of encagement according to their fruitive actions and reactions. But in the execution of different activities, one who secures some resources in bhakti-yoga can understand the importance of service to the Lord through the causeless mercy of the Lord, as well as that of the spiritual master. A sincere soul is helped by the Lord through meeting a bona fide spiritual master, the representative of the Lord. By the instruction of such a spiritual master, one gets the seed of bhakti-yoga. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends that the devotee sow the seed of bhakti-yoga in his heart and nurture it by the watering of hearing and chanting the holy name, fame, etc., of the Lord. The simple process of offenselessly chanting and hearing the holy name of the Lord will gradually promote one very soon to the stage of emancipation. There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord. The first stage is the offensive chanting of the holy name, and the second is the reflective stage of chanting the holy name. The third stage is the offenseless chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In the second stage only, the stage of reflection, between the offensive and offenseless stages, one automatically attains the stage of emancipation. And in the offenseless stage, one actually enters into the kingdom of God, although physically he may apparently be within the material world. To attain the offenseless stage, one must be on guard in the following manner.

When we speak of hearing and chanting, it means that not only should one chant and hear of the holy name of the Lord as Rāma, Kṛṣṇa (or systematically the sixteen names Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare), but one should also read and hear the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the association of devotees. The primary practice of bhakti-yoga will cause the seed already sowed in heart to sprout, and by a regular watering process, as mentioned above, the bhakti-yoga creeper will begin to grow. By systematic nurturing, the creeper will grow to such an extent that it will penetrate the coverings of the universe, as we have heard in the previous verses, reach the effulgent sky, the brahmajyoti, and go farther and farther and reach the spiritual sky, where there are innumerable spiritual planets called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Above all of them is Kṛṣṇaloka, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, wherein the growing creeper enters and takes repose at the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the original Personality of Godhead. When one reaches the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa at Goloka Vṛndāvana, the watering process of hearing and reading, as also chanting of the holy name in the pure devotional stage, fructifies, and the fruits grown there in the form of love of God are tangibly tasted by the devotee, even though he is here in this material world. The ripe fruits of love of God are relished only by the devotees constantly engaged in the watering process as described above. But the working devotee must always be mindful so that the creeper which has so grown will not be cut off. Therefore he should be mindful of the following considerations:

(1) Offense by one at the feet of a pure devotee may be likened to the mad elephant who devastates a very good garden if it enters.

(2) One must be very careful to guard himself against such offenses at the feet of pure devotees, just as one protects a creeper by all-around fencing.

(3) It so happens that by the watering process some weeds are also grown, and unless such weeds are uprooted, the nurturing of the main creeper, or the creeper of bhakti-yoga, may be hampered.

(4) Actually these weeds are material enjoyment, merging of the self in the Absolute without separate individuality, and many other desires in the field of religion, economic development, sense enjoyment and emancipation.

(5) There are many other weeds, like disobedience to the tenets of the revered scriptures, unnecessary engagements, killing animals, and hankering after material gain, prestige and adoration.

(6) If sufficient care is not taken, then the watering process may only help to breed the weeds, stunting the healthy growth of the main creeper and resulting in no fructification of the ultimate requirement: love of God.

(7) The devotee must therefore be very careful to uproot the different weeds in the very beginning. Only then will the healthy growth of the main creeper not be stunted.

(8) And by so doing, the devotee is able to relish the fruit of love of God and thus live practically with Lord Kṛṣṇa, even in this life, and be able to see the Lord in every step.

The highest perfection of life is to enjoy life constantly in the association of the Lord, and one who can relish this does not aspire after any temporary enjoyment of the material world via other media.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.29

2011-12-08T04:57:00.000+04:00

ghrāṇena gandhaḿ rasanena vai rasaḿ

rūpaḿ ca dṛṣṭyā śvasanaḿ tvacaiva

śrotreṇa copetya nabho-guṇatvaḿ

prāṇena cākūtim upaiti yogī

SYNONYMS

ghrāṇena — by smelling; gandham — aroma; rasanena — by taste; vai — exactly; rasam — palate; rūpam — forms; ca — also; dṛṣṭyā — by vision; śvasanam — contact; tvacā — touch; eva — as it were; śrotreṇa — by vibration of the ear; ca — also; upetya — by achieving; nabhaḥ-guṇatvam — identification of ether; prāṇena — by sense organs; ca — also; ākūtim — material activities; upaiti — attains; yogī — the devotee.

TRANSLATION

The devotee thus surpasses the subtle objects of different senses like aroma by smelling, the palate by tasting, vision by seeing forms, touch by contacting, the vibrations of the ear by ethereal identification, and the sense organs by material activities.

PURPORT

Beyond the sky there are subtle coverings, resembling the elementary coverings of the universes. The gross coverings are a development of partial ingredients of the subtle causes. So the yogī or devotee, along with liquidation of the gross elements, relinquishes the subtle causes like aroma by smelling. The pure spiritual spark, the living entity, thus becomes completely cleansed of all material contamination to become eligible for entrance into the kingdom of God.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.28

2011-12-08T04:56:00.002+04:00

tato viśeṣaḿ pratipadya nirbhayas

tenātmanāpo 'nala-mūrtir atvaran

jyotirmayo vāyum upetya kāle

vāyv-ātmanā khaḿ bṛhad ātma-lińgam

SYNONYMS

tataḥ — thereafter; viśeṣam — particularly; pratipadya — by obtaining; nirbhayaḥ — without any doubt; tena — by that; ātmanā — pure self; āpaḥ — water; anala — fire; mūrtiḥ — forms; atvaran — by surpassing; jyotiḥ-mayaḥ — effulgent; vāyum — atmosphere; upetya — having reached there; kāle — in due course of time; vāyu — air; ātmanā — by the self; kham — ethereal; bṛhat — great; ātma-lińgam — the real form of the self.

TRANSLATION

After reaching Satyaloka, the devotee is specifically able to be incorporated fearlessly by the subtle body in an identity similar to that of the gross body, and one after another he gradually attains stages of existence from earthly to watery, fiery, glowing and airy, until he reaches the ethereal stage.

PURPORT

Anyone who can reach Brahmaloka, or Satyaloka, by dint of spiritual perfection and practice is qualified to attain three different types of perfection. One who has attained a specific planet by dint of pious activities attains places in terms of his comparative pious activities. One who has attained the place by dint of virāṭ or Hiraṇyagarbha worship is liberated along with the liberation of Brahmā. But one who attains the place by dint of devotional service is specifically mentioned here, in relation to how he can penetrate into the different coverings of the universe and thus ultimately disclose his spiritual identity in the absolute atmosphere of supreme existence.

According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, all the universes are clustered together up and down, and each and every one of them is separately sevenfold-covered. The watery portion is beyond the sevenfold coverings, and each covering is ten times more expansive than the previous covering. The personality of Godhead who creates all such universes by His breathing period lies above the cluster of the universes. The water of the Causal Ocean is differently situated than the covering water of the universe. The water that serves as covering for the universe is material, whereas the water of the Causal Ocean is spiritual. As such, the watery covering mentioned herein is considered to be the false egoistic covering of all living entities, and the gradual process of liberation from the material coverings, one after another, as mentioned herein, is the gradual process of being liberated from false egoistic conceptions of the material gross body, and then being absorbed in the identification of the subtle body till the attainment of the pure spiritual body in the absolute realm of the kingdom of God.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī confirms that a part of the material nature, after being initiated by the Lord, is known as the mahat-tattva. A fractional portion of the mahat-tattva is called the false ego. A portion of the ego is the vibration of sound, and a portion of sound is atmospheric air. A portion of the airy atmosphere is turned into forms, and the forms constitute the power of electricity or heat. Heat produces the smell of the aroma of the earth, and the gross earth is produced by such aroma. And all these combined together constitute the cosmic phenomenon. The extent of the cosmic phenomenon is calculated to be diametrically (both ways) four billion miles. Then the coverings of the universe begin. The first stratum of the covering is calculated to extend eighty million miles, and the subsequent coverings of the universe are respectively of fire, effulgence, air and ether, one after another, each extending ten times further than the previous. The fearless devotee of the Lord penetrates each one of them and ultimately reaches the absolute atmosphere where everything is of one and the same spiritual identity. Then the devotee enters one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, where he assumes exactly the same form as the Lord and engages in the loving transcendental service of the Lord. That is the highest perfection of devotional life. Beyond this there is nothing to be desired or achieved by the perfect yogī.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.27

2011-12-08T04:56:00.001+04:00

na yatra śoko na jarā na mṛtyur

nārtir na codvega ṛte kutaścit

yac cit tato 'daḥ kṛpayānidaḿ-vidāḿ

duranta-duḥkha-prabhavānudarśanāt

SYNONYMS

na — never; yatra — there are; śokaḥ — bereavement; na — nor; jarā — old age; na — nor; mṛtyuḥ — death; na — nor; artiḥ — pains; na — nor; ca — also; udvegaḥ — anxieties; ṛte — save and except; kutaścit — sometimes; yat — because of; cit — consciousness; tataḥ — therefore; adaḥ — compassion; kṛpayā — out of heartfelt sympathy; an-idam-vidām — of those who are ignorant of the process of devotional service; duranta — unsurpassable; duḥkha — misery; prabhava — repeated birth and death; anudarśanāt — by successive experience.

TRANSLATION

In that planet of Satyaloka, there is neither bereavement, nor old age nor death. There is no pain of any kind, and therefore there are no anxieties, save that sometimes, due to consciousness, there is a feeling of compassion for those unaware of the process of devotional service, who are subjected to unsurpassable miseries in the material world.

PURPORT

Foolish men of materialistic temperament do not take advantage of successive authorized knowledge. The Vedic knowledge is authorized and is acquired not by experiment but by authentic statements of the Vedic literatures explained by bona fide authorities. Simply by becoming an academic scholar one cannot understand the Vedic statements; one has to approach the real authority who has received the Vedic knowledge by disciplic succession, as clearly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.2). Lord Kṛṣṇa affirmed that the system of knowledge as explained in the Bhagavad-gītā was explained to the sun-god, and the knowledge descended by disciplic succession from the sun-god to his son Manu, and from Manu to King Ikṣvāku (the forefather of Lord Rāmacandra), and thus the system of knowledge was explained down the line of great sages, one after another. But in due course of time the authorized succession was broken, and therefore, just to reestablish the true spirit of the knowledge, the Lord again explained the same knowledge to Arjuna, who was a bona fide candidate for understanding due to his being a pure devotee of the Lord. Bhagavad-gītā, as it was understood by Arjuna, is also explained (Bg. 10.12-13), but there are many foolish men who do not follow in the footsteps of Arjuna in understanding the spirit of Bhagavad-gītā. They create instead their own interpretations, which are as foolish as they themselves, and thereby only help to put a stumbling block on the path of real understanding, misdirecting the innocent followers who are less intelligent, or the śūdras. It is said that one should become a brāhmaṇa before one can understand the Vedic statements, and this stricture is as important as the stricture that no one shall become a lawyer who has not qualified himself as a graduate. Such a stricture is not an impediment in the path of progress for anyone and everyone, but it is necessary for an unqualified understanding of a particular science. Vedic knowledge is misinterpreted by those who are not qualified brāhmaṇas. A qualified brāhmaṇa is one who has undergone strict training under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master.

The Vedic wisdom guides us to understanding our relation with the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and to acting accordingly in order to achieve the desired result of returning home, back to Godhead. But materialistic men do not understand this. They want to make a plan to become happy in a place where there is no happiness. For false happiness they try to reach other planets, either by Vedic rituals or by spacecraft, but they should know for certain that any amount of materialistic adjustment for becoming happy in a place which is meant for distress cannot benefit the misguided man because, after all, the whole universe with all its paraphernalia will come to an end after a certain period. Then all plans of materialistic happiness will automatically come to an end. The intelligent person therefore makes a plan to return home, back to Godhead. Such an intelligent person surpasses all the pangs of material existence, like birth, death, disease and old age. He is actually happy because he has no anxieties of material existence, but as a compassionate sympathizer he feels unhappiness for the suffering materialistic men, and thus he occasionally comes before the materialistic men to teach them the necessity of going back to Godhead. All the bona fide ācāryas preach this truth of returning home, back to Godhead, and warn men not to make a false plan for happiness in a place where happiness is only a myth.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.26

2011-12-08T04:53:00.001+04:00

atho anantasya mukhānalena

dandahyamānaḿ sa nirīkṣya viśvam

niryāti siddheśvara-yuṣṭa-dhiṣṇyaḿ

yad dvai-parārdhyaḿ tad u pārameṣṭhyam

SYNONYMS

atho — thereupon; anantasya — of Ananta, the resting incarnation of Godhead; mukha-analena — by the fire emanating from His mouth; dandahyamānam — burning to ashes; saḥ — he; nirīkṣya — by seeing this; viśvam — the universe; niryāti — goes out; siddheśvara-yuṣṭa-dhiṣṇyam — airplanes used by the great purified souls; yat — the place; dvai-parārdhyam — 15,480,000,000,000 solar years; tat — that; u — the exalted; pārameṣṭhyam — Satyaloka, where Brahmā resides.

TRANSLATION

At the time of the final devastation of the complete universe [the end of the duration of Brahmā's life], a flame of fire emanates from the mouth of Ananta [from the bottom of the universe]. The yogī sees all the planets of the universe burning to ashes, and thus he leaves for Satyaloka by airplanes used by the great purified souls. The duration of life in Satyaloka is calculated to be 15,480,000,000,000 years.

PURPORT

It is indicated herein that the residents of Maharloka, where the purified living entities or demigods possess a duration of life calculated to be 4,300,000,000 solar years, have airships by which they reach Satyaloka, the topmost planet of the universe. In other words, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives us many clues about other planets far, far away from us which modern planes and spacecraft cannot reach, even by imaginary speeds. The statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are accepted by great ācāryas like Śrīdhara Svāmī, Rāmānujācārya and Vallabhācārya. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu specifically accepts Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the spotless Vedic authority, and as such no sane man can ignore the statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when it is spoken by the self-realized soul Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who follows in the footsteps of his great father, Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the compiler of all Vedic literatures. In the creation of the Lord there are many wonderful things we can see with our own eyes every day and night, but we are unable to reach them equipped by modern materialistic science. We should not, therefore, depend on the fragmentary authority of materialistic science for knowing things beyond the range of scientific purview. For a common man, both modern science and Vedic wisdom are simply to be accepted because none of the statements either of modern science or of Vedic literature can be verified by him. The alternative for a common man is to believe either of them or both of them. The Vedic way of understanding, however, is more authentic because it has been accepted by the ācāryas, who are not only faithful and learned men, but are also liberated souls without any of the flaws of conditioned souls. The modern scientists, however, are conditioned souls liable to so many errors and mistakes; therefore the safe side is to accept the authentic version of Vedic literatures, like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is accepted unanimously by the great ācāryas.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.25

2011-12-08T04:52:00.000+04:00

tad viśva-nābhiḿ tv ativartya viṣṇor

aṇīyasā virajenātmanaikaḥ

namaskṛtaḿ brahma-vidām upaiti

kalpāyuṣo yad vibudhā ramante

SYNONYMS

tat — that; viśva-nābhim — navel of the universal Personality of Godhead; tu — but; ativartya — crossing over; viṣṇoḥ — of Lord Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead; aṇīyasā — due to mystic perfection; virajena — by the purified; ātmanā — by the living entity; ekaḥ — alone; namaskṛtam — worshipable; brahma-vidām — by those who are transcendentally situated; upaiti — reaches; kalpa-āyuṣaḥ — a period of 4,300,000,000 solar years; yat — the place; vibudhāḥ — self-realized souls; ramante — do enjoy.

TRANSLATION

This Śiśumāra is the pivot for the turning of the complete universe, and it is called the navel of Viṣṇu [Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu]. The yogī alone goes beyond this circle of Śiśumāra and attains the planet [Maharloka] where purified saints like Bhṛgu enjoy a duration of life of 4,300,000,000 solar years. This planet is worshipable even for the saints who are transcendentally situated.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.24

2011-12-08T04:51:00.002+04:00

vaiśvānaraḿ yāti vihāyasā gataḥ

suṣumṇayā brahma-pathena śociṣā

vidhūta-kalko 'tha harer udastāt

prayāti cakraḿ nṛpa śaiśumāram

SYNONYMS

vaiśvānaram — the controlling deity of fire; yāti — goes; vihāyasā — by the path in the sky (the Milky Way); gataḥ — by passing over; suṣumṇayā — by the Suṣumṇā; brahma — Brahmaloka; pathena — on the way to; śociṣā — illuminating; vidhūta — being washed off; kalkaḥ — dirt; atha — thereafter; hareḥ — of Lord Hari; udastāt — upwards; prayāti — does reach; cakram — circle; nṛpa — O King; śaiśumāram — named Śiśumāra.

TRANSLATION

O King, when such a mystic passes over the Milky Way by the illuminating Suṣumṇā to reach the highest planet, Brahmaloka, he goes first to Vaiśvānara, the planet of the deity of fire, wherein he becomes completely cleansed of all contaminations, and thereafter he still goes higher, to the circle of Śiśumāra, to relate with Lord Hari, the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

The polar star of the universe and the circle thereof is called the Śiśumāra circle, and therein the local residential planet of the Personality of Godhead (Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu) is situated. Before reaching there, the mystic passes over the Milky Way to reach Brahmaloka, and while going there he first reaches Vaiśvānara-loka, where the demigod controls fire. On Vaiśvānara-loka the yogī becomes completely cleansed of all dirty sins acquired while in contact with the material world. The Milky Way in the sky is indicated herein as the way leading to Brahmaloka, the highest planet of the universe.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.23

2011-12-08T04:51:00.001+04:00

yogeśvarāṇāḿ gatim āhur antar-

bahis-tri-lokyāḥ pavanāntar-ātmanām

na karmabhis tāḿ gatim āpnuvanti

vidyā-tapo-yoga-samādhi-bhājām

SYNONYMS

yoga-īśvarāṇām — of the great saints and devotees; gatim — destination; āhuḥ — it is said; antaḥ — within; bahiḥ — without; tri-lokyāḥ — of the three planetary systems; pavana-antaḥ — within the air; ātmanām — of the subtle body; na — never; karmabhiḥ — by fruitive activities; tām — that; gatim — speed; āpnuvanti — achieve; vidyā — devotional service; tapaḥ — austerities; yoga — mystic power; samādhi — knowledge; bhājām — of those who entertain.

TRANSLATION

The transcendentalists are concerned with the spiritual body. As such, by the strength of their devotional service, austerities, mystic power and transcendental knowledge, their movements are unrestricted, within and beyond the material worlds. The fruitive workers, or the gross materialists, can never move in such an unrestricted manner.

PURPORT

The materialistic scientist's endeavor to reach other planets by mechanical vehicles is only a futile attempt. One can, however, reach heavenly planets by virtuous activities, but one can never expect to go beyond Svarga or Janaloka by such mechanical or materialistic activities, either gross or subtle. The transcendentalists who have nothing to do with the gross material body can move anywhere within or beyond the material worlds. Within the material worlds they move in the planetary systems of the Mahar-, Janas-, Tapas- and Satya-loka, and beyond the material worlds they can move in the Vaikuṇṭhas as unrestricted spacemen. Nārada Muni is one of the examples of such spacemen, and Durvāsā Muni is one of such mystics. By the strength of devotional service, austerities, mystic powers and transcendental knowledge, everyone can move like Nārada Muni or Durvāsā Muni. It is said that Durvāsā Muni traveled throughout the entirety of material space and part of spiritual space within one year only. The speed of the transcendentalists can never be attained by the gross or subtle materialists.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.22

2011-12-08T04:50:00.001+04:00

yadi prayāsyan nṛpa pārameṣṭhyaḿ

vaihāyasānām uta yad vihāram

aṣṭādhipatyaḿ guṇa-sannivāye

sahaiva gacchen manasendriyaiś ca

SYNONYMS

yadi — however; prayāsyan — maintaining a desire; nṛpa — O King; pārameṣṭhyam — the governing planet of the material world; vaihāyasānām — of the beings known as the Vaihāyasas; uta — it is said; yat — what is; vihāram — place of enjoyment; aṣṭa-ādhipatyam — lording it over with eightfold achievements; guṇa-sannivāye — in the world of three modes of nature; saha — along with; eva — certainly; gacchet — should go; manasā — accompanied by the mind; indriyaiḥ — and the senses; ca — also.

TRANSLATION

However, O King, if a yogī maintains a desire for improved material enjoyments, like transference to the topmost planet, Brahmaloka, or the achievement of the eightfold perfections, travel in outer space with the Vaihāyasas, or a situation in one of the millions of planets, then he has to take away with him the materially molded mind and senses.

PURPORT

In the upper status of the planetary systems there are facilities thousands and thousands of times greater for material enjoyments than in the lower planetary systems. The topmost planetary systems consist of planets like Brahmaloka and Dhruvaloka (the polestar), and all of them are situated beyond Maharloka. The inhabitants of those planets are empowered with eightfold achievements of mystic perfection. They do not have to learn and practice the mystic processes of yoga perfection and achieve the power of becoming small like a particle (aṇimā-siddhi), or lighter than a soft feather (laghimā-siddhi). They do not have to get anything and everything from anywhere and everywhere (prāpti-siddhi), to become heavier than the heaviest (mahimā-siddhi), to act freely even to create something wonderful or to annihilate anything at will (īśitva-siddhi), to control all material elements (vaśitva-siddhi), to possess such power as will never be frustrated in any desire (prākāmya-siddhi), or to assume any shape or form one may even whimsically desire (kāmāvasāyitā-siddhi). All these expediencies are as common as natural gifts for the inhabitants of those higher planets. They do not require any mechanical help to travel in outer space, and they can move and travel at will from one planet to any other planet within no time. The inhabitants of the earth cannot move even to the nearest planet except by mechanical vehicles like spacecraft, but the highly talented inhabitants of such higher planets can do everything very easily.

Since a materialist is generally inquisitive to experience what is actually in such planetary systems, he wants to see everything personally. As inquisitive persons tour all over the world to gain direct local experience, the less intelligent transcendentalist similarly desires to have some experience of those planets about which he has heard so many wonderful things. The yogī can, however, easily fulfill his desire by going there with the present materialistic mind and senses. The prime inclination of the materialistic mind is to lord it over the material world, and all the siddhis mentioned above are features of domination over the world. The devotees of the Lord are not ambitious to dominate a false and temporary phenomenon. On the contrary, a devotee wants to be dominated by the supreme predominator, the Lord. A desire to serve the Lord, the supreme predominator, is spiritual or transcendental, and one has to attain this purification of the mind and the senses to get admission into the spiritual kingdom. With the materialistic mind one can reach the best planet in the universe, but no one can enter into the kingdom of God. Senses are called spiritually purified when they are not involved in sense gratification. Senses require engagements, and when the senses are engaged totally in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, they have no chance to become contaminated by material infections.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.21

2011-12-08T04:49:00.002+04:00

tasmād bhruvor antaram unnayeta

niruddha-saptāyatano 'napekṣaḥ

sthitvā muhūrtārdham akuṇṭha-dṛṣṭir

nirbhidya mūrdhan visṛjet paraḿ gataḥ

SYNONYMS

tasmāt — from there; bhruvoḥ — of the eyebrows; antaram — in between; unnayeta — should be brought in; niruddha — by blocking; sapta — seven; āyatanaḥ — outlets of the life air; anapekṣaḥ — independent of all material enjoyment; sthitvā — by keeping; muhūrta — of a moment; ardham — half; akuṇṭha — back home, back to Godhead; dṛṣṭiḥ — one whose aim is targeted like that; nirbhidya — punching; mūrdhan — the cerebral hole; visṛjet — should give up his body; param — the Supreme; gataḥ — having gone to.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter the bhakti-yogī should push the life air up between the eyebrows, and then, blocking the seven outlets of the life air, he should maintain his aim for going back home, back to Godhead. If he is completely free from all desires for material enjoyment, he should then reach the cerebral hole and give up his material connections, having gone to the Supreme.

PURPORT

The process of giving up all material connections and returning home, back to Godhead, the Supreme, is recommended herein. The condition is that one should be completely freed from desire for material enjoyment. There are different grades of material enjoyments in respect to duration of life and sensual gratification. The highest plane of sensual enjoyment for the longest period of life is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.20). All are but material enjoyments, and one should be thoroughly convinced that he has no need of such a long duration of life, even in the Brahmaloka planet. He must return home, back to Godhead, and must not be attracted by any amount of material facilities. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.59) it is said that this sort of material detachment is possible to attain when one is acquainted with the supreme association of life. Paraḿ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. One cannot be freed from material attraction unless he has complete understanding of the nature of spiritual life. The propaganda by a certain class of impersonalists that spiritual life is void of all varieties is dangerous propaganda to mislead the living beings into becoming more and more attracted by material enjoyments. As such, persons with a poor fund of knowledge cannot have any conception of the param, the Supreme; they try to stick to the varieties of material enjoyments, although they may flatter themselves as being Brahman-realized souls. Such less intelligent persons cannot have any conception of the param, as mentioned in this verse, and therefore they cannot reach the Supreme. The devotees have full knowledge of the spiritual world, the Personality of Godhead and His transcendental association in unlimited spiritual planets called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. Herein akuṇṭha-dṛṣṭiḥ is mentioned. Akuṇṭha and vaikuṇṭha convey the same import, and only one who has his aim fixed upon that spiritual world and personal association with the Godhead can give up his material connections even while living in the material world. This param and the paraḿ dhāma mentioned in several places in the Bhagavad-gītā are one and the same thing. One who goes to the paraḿ dhāma does not return to the material world. This freedom is not possible even by reaching the topmost loka of the material world.

The life air passes through seven openings, namely two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and one mouth. Generally it passes through the mouth at the time of an ordinary man's death. But the yogī, as above mentioned, who controls the life air in his own way, generally releases the life air by puncturing the cerebral hole in the head. The yogī therefore blocks up all the above-mentioned seven openings, so that the life air will naturally burst forth through the cerebral hole. This is the sure sign of a great devotee's leaving the material connection.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.20

2011-12-08T04:49:00.001+04:00

nābhyāḿ sthitaḿ hṛdy adhiropya tasmād

udāna-gatyorasi taḿ nayen muniḥ

tato 'nusandhāya dhiyā manasvī

sva-tālu-mūlaḿ śanakair nayeta

SYNONYMS

nābhyām — on the navel; sthitam — situated; hṛdi — in the heart; adhiropya — by placing; tasmāt — from there; udāna — soaring; gatya — force; urasi — on the chest; tam — thereafter; nayet — should draw; muniḥ — the meditative devotee; tataḥ — them; anusandhāya — just to search out; dhiyā — by intelligence; manasvī — the meditative; sva-tālu-mūlam — at the root of the palate; śanakaiḥ — slowly; nayeta — may be brought in.

TRANSLATION

The meditative devotee should slowly push up the life air from the navel to the heart, from there to the chest and from there to the root of the palate. He should search out the proper places with intelligence.

PURPORT

There are six circles of the movement of the life air, and the intelligent bhakti-yogī should search out these places with intelligence and in a meditative mood. Among these, mentioned above is the svādhiṣṭhāna-cakra, or the powerhouse of the life air, and above this, just below the abdomen and navel, is the maṇi-pūraka-cakra. When upper space is further searched out in the heart, one reaches the anāhata-cakra, and further up, when the life air is placed at the root of the palate, one reaches the viśuddhi-cakra.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.19

2011-12-08T04:48:00.002+04:00

itthaḿ munis tūparamed vyavasthito

vijñāna-dṛg-vīrya-surandhitāśayaḥ

sva-pārṣṇināpīḍya gudaḿ tato 'nilaḿ

sthāneṣu ṣaṭsūnnamayej jita-klamaḥ

SYNONYMS

ittham — thus, by Brahman realization; muniḥ — the philosopher; tu — but; uparamet — should retire; vyavasthitaḥ — well situated; vijñāna-dṛk — by scientific knowledge; vīrya — strength; su-randhita — well regulated; āśayaḥ — aim of life; sva-pārṣṇinā — with the heel of one's foot; āpīḍya — by blocking; gudam — the air hole; tataḥ — thereafter; anilam — life air; sthāneṣu — in the places; ṣaṭsu — six primary; unnamayet — must be lifted; jita-klamaḥ — by extinguishing material desires.

TRANSLATION

By the strength of scientific knowledge, one should be well situated in absolute realization and thus be able to extinguish all material desires. One should then give up the material body by blocking the air hole [through which stool is evacuated] with the heel of one's foot and by lifting the life air from one place to another in the six primary places.

PURPORT

There are many durātmās who claim to have realized themselves as Brahman and yet are unable to conquer material desires. In the Bhagavad-gītā (18.54) it is clearly explained that an absolutely self-realized soul becomes completely aloof from all material desires. Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements. With such a mentality, one is led to believe in the strength of material science, with its discovery of atomic energy and space travel by mechanical vehicles, and by such tiny advancements in material science the false egoist tries to challenge even the strength of the Supreme Lord, who can finish all man's tiny endeavors in less than a second. The well-situated self, or Brahman-realized soul, perfectly understands that the Supreme Brahman, or the personality of Godhead, is the all-powerful Vāsudeva and that he (the self-realized living being) is a part and parcel of the supreme whole. As such, his constitutional position is to cooperate with Him in all respects in the transcendental relation of the served and the servitor. Such a self-realized soul ceases to exhibit his useless activities of attempting to lord it over material nature. Being scientifically well informed, he fully engages himself in faithful devotion to the Lord.

The expert yogī who has thoroughly practiced the control of the life air by the prescribed method of the yoga system is advised to quit the body as follows. He should plug up the evacuating hole with the heel of the foot and then progressively move the life air on and on to six places: the navel, abdomen, heart, chest, palate, eyebrows and cerebral pit. Controlling the life air by the prescribed yogic process is mechanical, and the practice is more or less a physical endeavor for spiritual perfection. In olden days such practice was very common for the transcendentalist, for the mode of life and character in those days were favorable. But in modern days, when the influence of Kali Age is so disturbing, practically everyone is untrained in this art of bodily exercise. Concentration of the mind is more easily attained in these days by the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. The results are more effective than those derived from the inner exercise of the life air.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.18

2011-12-08T04:48:00.001+04:00

paraḿ padaḿ vaiṣṇavam āmananti tad

yan neti netīty atad utsisṛkṣavaḥ

visṛjya daurātmyam ananya-sauhṛdā

hṛdopaguhyārha-padaḿ pade pade

SYNONYMS

param — the supreme; padam — situation; vaiṣṇavam — in relation with the personality of Godhead; āmananti — do they know; tat — that; yat — which; na iti — not this; na iti — not this; iti — thus; atat — godless; utsisṛkṣavaḥ — those who desire to avoid; visṛjya — giving it up completely; daurātmyam — perplexities; ananya — absolutely; sauhṛdāḥ — in good will; hṛdā upaguhya — taking them into his heart; arha — that which is only worshipable; padam — lotus feet; pade pade — at every moment.

TRANSLATION

The transcendentalists desire to avoid everything godless, for they know that supreme situation in which everything is related with the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu. Therefore a pure devotee who is in absolute harmony with the Lord does not create perplexities, but worships the lotus feet of the Lord at every moment, taking them into his heart.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā, mad-dhāma ("My abode") is mentioned several times, and according to the version of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa there exists the unlimited spiritual sky, wherein the planets are called Vaikuṇṭhas, or the abode of the Personality of Godhead. In that sky, which is far, far beyond the material sky and its sevenfold coverings, there is no need of the sun or the moon, nor is there necessity of electricity for illumination, because the planets are self-illuminating and more brilliant than the material suns. pure devotees of the Lord are absolutely in harmony with the Personality of Godhead, or in other words, they always think of the Lord as their only dependable friend and well-wisher. They do not care for any mundane creature, up to the status of Brahmā, the lord of the universe. Only they can definitely have a clear vision of the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Such pure devotees, being perfectly directed by the Supreme Lord, do not create any artificial perplexity in the matter of transcendental understanding by wasting time in discussing what is Brahman and what is non-Brahman, or māyā, nor do they falsely think of themselves as one with the Lord, or argue that there is no existence of the Lord separately, or that there is no God at all, or that living beings are themselves God, or that when God incarnates Himself He assumes a material body. Nor do they concern themselves with many obscure speculative theories, which are in actuality so many stumbling blocks on the path of transcendental understanding. Apart from the class of impersonalists or nondevotees, there are also classes who pose themselves as devotees of the Lord but at heart maintain the idea of salvation by becoming one with the impersonal Brahman. They wrongly manufacture their own way of devotional service by open debauchery and mislead others who are simpletons or debauchees like themselves. All these nondevotees and debauchees are, according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī, durātmās, or crooked souls in the dress of mahātmās, or great souls. Such nondevotees and debauchees are completely excluded from the list of transcendentalists by the presentation of this particular verse by Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

So the Vaikuṇṭha planets are factually the supreme residential places called the paraḿ padam. The impersonal brahmajyoti is also called the paraḿ padam due to its being the rays of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, as the sun rays are the rays of the sun. In the Bhagavad-gītā (14.27) it is clearly said that the impersonal brahmajyoti rests on the person of the Lord, and because everything rests on the brahmajyoti directly and indirectly, everything is generated from the Lord, everything rests on Him, and after annihilation, everything is merged in Him only. Therefore, nothing is independent of Him. A pure devotee of the Lord no longer wastes valuable time in discriminating the Brahman from non-Brahman because he knows perfectly well that the Lord Parabrahman, by His Brahman energy, is interwoven in everything, and thus everything is looked upon by a devotee as the property of the Lord. The devotee tries to engage everything in His service and does not create perplexities by falsely lording it over the creation of the Lord. He is so faithful that he engages himself, as well as everything else, in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In everything, the devotee sees the Lord, and he sees everything in the Lord. The specific disturbance created by a durātmā, or crooked soul, is due to his maintaining that the transcendental form of the Lord is something material.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.17

2011-12-08T04:47:00.003+04:00

na yatra kālo 'nimiṣāḿ paraḥ prabhuḥ

kuto nu devā jagatāḿ ya īśire

na yatra sattvaḿ na rajas tamaś ca

na vai vikāro na mahān pradhānam

SYNONYMS

na — not; yatra — wherein; kālaḥ — destructive time; animiṣām — of the heavenly demigods; paraḥ — superior; prabhuḥ — controller; kutaḥ — where is there; nu — certainly; devāḥ — the demigods; jagatām — the mundane creatures; ye — those; īśire — rules; na — not; yatra — therein; sattvam — mundane goodness; na — nor; rajaḥ — mundane passion; tamaḥ — mundane ignorance; ca — also; na — nor; vai — certainly; vikāraḥ — transformation; na — nor; mahān — the material Causal Ocean; pradhānam — material nature.

TRANSLATION

In that transcendental state of labdhopaśānti, there is no supremacy of devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods who are empowered to rule over mundane creatures. (And what to speak of the demigods themselves?) Nor is there the mode of material goodness, nor passion, nor ignorance, nor even the false ego, nor the material Causal Ocean, nor the material nature.

PURPORT

Devastating time, which controls even the celestial demigods by its manifestations of past, present and future, does not act on the transcendental plane. The influence of time is exhibited by the symptoms of birth, death, old age and disease, and these four principles of material conditions are present everywhere in any part of the material cosmos up to the planet Brahmaloka, where the duration of life of the inhabitants appears to us to be fabulous. Insurmountable time even brings about the death of Brahmā, so what to speak of other demigods like Indra, Candra, Sūrya, Vāyu and Varuṇa? The astronomical influence directed by the different demigods over mundane creatures is also conspicuous by its absence. In material existence, the living entities are afraid of Satanic influence, but for a devotee on the transcendental plane there is no such fear at all. The living entities change their material bodies in different shapes and forms under the influence of the different modes of material nature, but in the transcendental state the devotee is guṇa-tīta, or above the material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. Thus the false ego of "I am the lord of all I survey" does not arise there. In the material world the false ego of the living being trying to lord it over the material nature is something like the moth's falling in a blazing fire. The moth is captivated by the glaring beauty of the fire, and when he comes to enjoy it, the blazing fire consumes him. In the transcendental state the living being is pure in his consciousness, and as such he has no false ego to lord it over the material nature. Rather, his pure consciousness directs him to surrender unto the Supreme Lord, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.19): vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. All this indicates that in the transcendental state there is neither material creation nor the Causal Ocean for material nature.

The above-mentioned state of affairs is factual on the transcendental plane, but is factually revealed in a transcendentalist's knowledge of the advanced state of pure consciousness. Such transcendentalists are of two types, namely the impersonalists and the devotees. For the impersonalist the ultimate goal or destination is the brahmajyoti of the spiritual sky, but for the devotees the ultimate goal is the Vaikuṇṭha planets. The devotees experience the above-mentioned state of affairs by attainment of spiritual forms for activity in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. But the impersonalist, because of his neglecting the association of the Lord, does not develop a spiritual body for spiritual activity, but remains a spiritual spark only, merged in the effulgent spiritual rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is the full-fledged form of eternity, bliss and knowledge, but the formless brahmajyoti is simply eternity and knowledge. The Vaikuṇṭha planets are also forms of eternity, bliss and knowledge, and therefore the devotees of the Lord, who are admitted into the abode of the Lord, also get bodies of eternity, bliss and knowledge. As such there is no difference between one and another. The Lord's abode, name, fame, entourage, etc., are of the same transcendental quality, and how this transcendental quality differs from the material world is explained herewith in this verse. In the Bhagavad-gītā, three principal subjects have been explained by Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, namely karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, but one can reach the Vaikuṇṭha planets by the practice of bhakti-yoga only. The other two are incompetent in helping one reach the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, although they can, however, conveniently take one to the effulgent brahmajyoti, as described above.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.16

2011-12-08T04:47:00.001+04:00

manaḥ sva-buddhyāmalayā niyamya

kṣetra-jña etāḿ ninayet tam ātmani

ātmānam ātmany avarudhya dhīro

labdhopaśāntir virameta kṛtyāt

SYNONYMS

manaḥ — the mind; sva-buddhyā — by his own intelligence; amalayā — unalloyed; niyamya — by regulating; kṣetra-jñe — unto the living entity; etām — all of them; ninayet — merge; tam — that; ātmani — the self; ātmānam — the self; ātmani — in the Superself; avarudhya — being locked up; dhīraḥ — the fully satisfied; labdha-upaśāntiḥ — one who has attained full bliss; virameta — ceases from; kṛtyāt — all other activities.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter, the yogī should merge his mind, by his unalloyed intelligence, into the living entity, and then merge the living entity into the Superself. And by doing this, the fully satisfied living entity becomes situated in the supreme stage of satisfaction, so that he ceases from all other activities.

PURPORT

The functions of the mind are thinking, feeling and willing. When the mind is materialistic, or absorbed in material contact, it acts for material advancement of knowledge, destructively ending in discovery of nuclear weapons. But when the mind acts under spiritual urge, it acts wonderfully for going back home, back to Godhead, for life in complete bliss and eternity. Therefore the mind has to be manipulated by good and unalloyed intelligence. Perfect intelligence is to render service unto the Lord. One should be intelligent enough to understand that the living being is, in all circumstances, a servant of the circumstances. Every living being is serving the dictates of desire, anger, lust, illusion, insanity and enviousness — all materially affected. But even while executing such dictations of different temperaments, he is perpetually unhappy. When one actually feels this and turns his intelligence to inquiring about it from the right sources, he gets information of the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Instead of serving materially for the abovementioned different humors of the body, the living entity's intelligence then becomes freed from the unhappy illusion of materialistic temperament, and thus, by unalloyed intelligence, the mind is brought into the service of the Lord. The Lord and His service are identical, being on the absolute plane. Therefore the unalloyed intelligence and the mind are merged into the Lord, and thus the living entity does not remain a seer himself but becomes seen by the Lord transcendentally. When the living entity is directly seen by the Lord, the Lord dictates to him to act according to His desire, and when the living entity follows Him perfectly, the living entity ceases to discharge any other duty for his illusory satisfaction. In his pure unalloyed state, the living being attains the stage of full bliss, labdhopaśānti, and ceases all material hankerings.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.15

2011-12-08T04:46:00.001+04:00

sthiraḿ sukhaḿ cāsanam āsthito yatir

yadā jihāsur imam ańga lokam

kāle ca deśe ca mano na sajjayet

prāṇān niyacchen manasā jitāsuḥ

SYNONYMS

sthiram — without being disturbed; sukham — comfortable; ca — also; āsanam — sitting accommodation; āsthitaḥ — being situated; yatiḥ — the sage; yadā — whenever; jihāsuḥ — desires to give up; imam — this; ańga — O King; lokam — this body; kāle — in time; ca — and; deśe — in a proper place; ca — also; manaḥ — the mind; na — not; sajjayet — may not be perplexed; prāṇān — the senses; niyacchet — must control; manasā — by the mind; jita-asuḥ — conquering the life air.

TRANSLATION

O King, whenever the yogī desires to leave this planet of human beings, he should not be perplexed about the proper time or place, but should comfortably sit without being disturbed and, regulating the life air, should control the senses by the mind.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (8.14) it is clearly stated that a person who is totally engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and who constantly remembers Him at every step, easily obtains the mercy of the Lord by entering into His personal contact. Such devotees do not need to seek an opportune moment to leave the present body. But those who are mixed devotees, alloyed with fruitive action or empirical philosophical speculation, require an opportune moment for quitting this body. For them the opportune moments are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.23-26). But these opportune moments are not as important as one's being a successful yogī who is able to quit his body as he likes. Such a yogī must be competent to control his senses by the mind. The mind is easily conquered simply by engaging it at the lotus feet of the Lord. Gradually, by such service, all the senses become automatically engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the way of merging into the Supreme Absolute.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.14

2011-12-08T04:45:00.000+04:00

yāvan na jāyeta parāvare 'smin

viśveśvare draṣṭari bhakti-yogaḥ

tāvat sthavīyaḥ puruṣasya rūpaḿ

kriyāvasāne prayataḥ smareta

SYNONYMS

yāvat — as long as; na — does not; jāyeta — develop; para — transcendental; avare — mundane; asmin — in this form of; viśva-īśvare — the Lord of all worlds; draṣṭari — unto the seer; bhakti-yogaḥ — devotional service; tāvat — so long; sthavīyaḥ — the gross materialist; puruṣasya — of the virāṭ-puruṣa; rūpam — universal form; kriyā-avasāne — at the end of one's prescribed duties; prayataḥ — with proper attention; smareta — one should remember.

TRANSLATION

Unless the gross materialist develops a sense of loving service unto the Supreme Lord, the seer of both the transcendental and material worlds, he should remember or meditate upon the universal form of the Lord at the end of his prescribed duties.

PURPORT

The Supreme Lord is the seer of all worlds, both material and transcendental. In other words, the Supreme Lord is the ultimate beneficiary and enjoyer of all worlds, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (5.29). The spiritual world is the manifestation of His internal potency, and the material world is the manifestation of His external potency. The living entities are also His marginal potency, and by their own choice they can live in either the transcendental or material worlds. The material world is not a fit place for living entities because they are spiritually one with the Lord and in the material world the living entities become conditioned by the laws of the material world. The Lord wants all living entities, who are His parts and parcels, to live with Him in the transcendental world, and for enlightening conditioned souls in the material world, all the Vedas and the revealed scriptures are there — expressly to recall the conditioned souls back home, back to Godhead. Unfortunately, the conditioned living entities, although suffering continually the threefold miseries of conditioned life, are not very serious about going back to Godhead. It is due to their misguided way of living, complicated by sins and virtues. Some of them who are virtuous by deeds begin to reestablish the lost relation with the Lord, but they are unable to understand the personal feature of the Lord. The real purpose of life is to make contact with the Lord and be engaged in His service. That is the natural position of living entities. But those who are impersonalists and are unable to render any loving service to the Lord have been advised to meditate upon His impersonal feature, the virāṭ-rūpa, or universal form. Some way or other, one must try to reestablish one's forgotten relation with the Lord if one at all desires to gain real happiness in life, and to reclaim his natural unfettered condition. For the less intelligent beginners, meditation on the impersonal feature, the virāṭ-rūpa, or universal form of the Lord, will gradually qualify one to rise to personal contact. One is advised herewith to meditate upon the virāṭ-rūpa specified in the previous chapters in order to understand how the different planets, seas, mountains, rivers, birds, beasts, human beings, demigods and all that we can conceive are but different parts and limbs of the Lord's virāṭ form. This sort of thinking is also a type of meditation on the Absolute Truth, and as soon as such meditation begins, one develops one's godly qualities, and the whole world appears to be a happy and peaceful residence for all the people of the world. Without such meditation on God, either personal or impersonal, all good qualities of the human being become covered with misconceptions regarding his constitutional position, and without such advanced knowledge, the whole world becomes a hell for the human being.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.13

2011-12-08T04:44:00.002+04:00

ekaikaśo 'ńgāni dhiyānubhāvayet

pādādi yāvad dhasitaḿ gadābhṛtaḥ

jitaḿ jitaḿ sthānam apohya dhārayet

paraḿ paraḿ śuddhyati dhīr yathā yathā

SYNONYMS

eka-ekaśaḥ — one to one, or one after another; ańgāni — limbs; dhiyā — by attention; anubhāvayet — meditate upon; pāda-ādi — legs, etc.; yāvat — until; hasitam — smiling; gadā-bhṛtaḥ — the personality of Godhead; jitam jitam — gradually controlling the mind; sthānam — place; apohya — leaving; dhārayet — meditate upon; param param — higher and higher; śuddhyati — purified; dhīḥ — intelligence; yathā yathā — as much as.

TRANSLATION

The process of meditation should begin from the lotus feet of the Lord and progress to His smiling face. The meditation should be concentrated upon the lotus feet, then the calves, then the thighs, and in this way higher and higher. The more the mind becomes fixed upon the different parts of the limbs, one after another, the more the intelligence becomes purified.

PURPORT

The process of meditation recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not to fix one's attention on something impersonal or void. The meditation should concentrate on the person of the Supreme Godhead, either in His virāṭ-rūpa, the gigantic universal form, or in His sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], as described in the scriptures. There are authorized descriptions of Viṣṇu forms, and there are authorized representations of Deities in the temples. Thus one can practice meditating upon the Deity, concentrating his mind on the lotus feet of the Lord and gradually rising higher and higher, up to His smiling face.

According to the Bhāgavata school, the Lord's rāsa dancing is the smiling face of the Lord. Since it is recommended in this verse that one should gradually progress from the lotus feet up to the smiling face, we shall not jump at once to understand the Lord's pastimes in the rāsa dance. It is better to practice concentrating our attention by offering flowers and tulasi to the lotus feet of the Lord. In this way, we gradually become purified by the arcanā process. We dress the Lord, bathe Him, etc., and all these transcendental activities help us purify our existence. When we reach the higher standard of purification, if we see the smiling face of the Lord or hear the rāsa dance pastimes of the Lord, then we can relish His activities. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, therefore, the rāsa dance pastimes are delineated in the Tenth Canto (Chapters 29-34).

The more one concentrates on the transcendental form of the Lord, either on the lotus feet, the calves, the thighs or the chest, the more one becomes purified. In this verse it is clearly stated, "the more the intelligence becomes purified," which means the more one becomes detached from sense gratification. Our intelligence in the present conditioned state of life is impure due to being engaged in sense gratification. The result of meditation on the transcendental form of the Lord will be manifested by one's detachment from sense gratification. Therefore, the ultimate purpose of meditation is purification of one's intelligence.

Those who are too engrossed in sense gratification cannot be allowed to participate in arcanā or to touch the transcendental form of the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu Deities. For them it is better to meditate upon the gigantic virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord, as recommended in the next verse. The impersonalists and the voidists are therefore recommended to meditate upon the universal form of the Lord, whereas the devotees are recommended to meditate on the Deity worship in the temple. Because the impersonalists and the voidists are not sufficiently purified in their spiritual activities, arcanā is not meant for them.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.12

2011-12-08T04:44:00.001+04:00

adīna-līlā-hasitekṣaṇollasad-

bhrū-bhańga-saḿsūcita-bhūry-anugraham

īkṣeta cintāmayam enam īśvaraḿ

yāvan mano dhāraṇayāvatiṣṭhate

SYNONYMS

adīna — very magnanimous; līlā — pastimes ; hasita — smiling; īkṣaṇa — by glancing over; ullasat — glowing; bhrū-bhańga — signals of the eyebrow; saḿsūcita — indicated; bhūri — extensive; anugraham — benediction; īkṣeta — one must concentrate on; cintāmayam — transcendental; enam — this particular; īśvaram — the Supreme Lord; yāvat — as long as; manaḥ — the mind; dhāraṇayā — by meditation; avatiṣṭhate — can be fixed.

TRANSLATION

The Lord's magnanimous pastimes and the glowing glancing of His smiling face are all indications of His extensive benedictions. One must therefore concentrate on this transcendental form of the Lord, as long as the mind can be fixed on Him by meditation.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) it is said that the impersonalist undergoes a series of difficult programs on account of his impersonal meditation. But the devotee, due to the Lord's personal service, progresses very easily. Impersonal meditation is therefore a source of suffering for the impersonalist. Here, the devotee has an advantage over the impersonalist philosopher. The impersonalist is doubtful about the personal feature of the Lord, and therefore he always tries to meditate upon something which is not objective. For this reason there is an authentic statement in the Bhāgavatam regarding the positive concentration of the mind on the factual form of the Lord.

The process of meditation recommended herein is bhakti-yoga, or the process of devotional service after one is liberated from the material conditions. Jñāna-yoga is the process of liberation from the material conditions. After one is liberated from the conditions of material existence, i.e., when one is nivṛtta, as previously stated herein, or when one is freed from all material necessities, one becomes qualified to discharge the process of bhakti-yoga. Therefore bhakti-yoga includes jñāna-yoga, or, in other words, the process of pure devotional service simultaneously serves the purpose of jñāna-yoga; liberation from material conditions is automatically achieved by the gradual development of pure devotional service. These effects of bhakti-yoga are called anartha-nivṛtti. Things which are artificially acquired gradually disappear along with the progress of bhakti-yoga. Meditation on the lotus feet of the personality of Godhead, the first processional step, must show its effect by anartha-nivṛtti. The grossest type of anartha which binds the conditioned soul in material existence is sex desire, and this sex desire gradually develops in the union of the male and female. When the male and female are united, the sex desire is further aggravated by the accumulation of buildings, children, friends, relatives and wealth. When all these are acquired, the conditioned soul becomes overwhelmed by such entanglements, and the false sense of egoism, or the sense of "myself" and "mine," becomes prominent, and the sex desire expands to various political, social, altruistic, philanthropic and many other unwanted engagements, resembling the foam of the sea waves, which becomes very prominent at one time and at the next moment vanishes as quickly as a cloud in the sky. The conditioned soul is encircled by such products, as well as products of sex desire, and therefore bhakti-yoga leads to gradual evaporation of the sex desire, which is summarized in three headings, namely profit, adoration and distinction. All conditioned souls are mad after these different forms of sex desire, and one shall see for himself how much he has been freed from such material hankerings based primarily on the sex desire. As a person feels his hunger satisfied after eating each morsel of foodstuff, he must similarly be able to see the degree to which he has been freed from sex desire. The sex desire is diminished along with its various forms by the process of bhakti-yoga because bhakti-yoga automatically, by the grace of the Lord, effectively results in knowledge and renunciation, even if the devotee is not materially very well educated. Knowledge means knowing things as they are, and if by deliberation it is found that there are things which are at all unnecessary, naturally the person who has acquired knowledge leaves aside such unwanted things. When the conditioned soul finds by culture of knowledge that material necessities are unwanted things, he becomes detached from such unwanted things. This stage of knowledge is called vairāgya, or detachment from unwanted things. We have previously discussed that the transcendentalist is required to be self-sufficient and should not beg from the rich blind persons to fulfill the bare necessities of life. Śukadeva Gosvāmī has suggested some alternatives for the bare necessities of life, namely the problem of eating, sleeping and shelter, but he has not suggested any alternative for sex satisfaction. One who has the sex desire still with him should not at all try to accept the renounced order of life. For one who has not attained to this stage, there is no question of a renounced order of life. So by the gradual process of devotional service under the guidance of a proper spiritual master, and following the principles of the Bhāgavatam, one must be able at least to control the gross sex desire before one accepts the renounced order of life factually.

So purification means getting free gradually from sex desire, and this is attained by meditation on the person of the Lord as described herein, beginning from the feet. One should not try to go upwards artificially without seeing for himself how much he has been released from the sex desire. The smiling face of the Lord is the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there are many upstarts who at once try to begin with the Tenth Canto and especially with the five chapters which delineate the rāsa-līlā of the Lord. This is certainly improper. By such improper study or hearing of Bhāgavatam, the material opportunists have played havoc by indulgence in sex life in the name of Bhāgavatam. This vilification of Bhāgavatam is rendered by the acts of the so-called devotees; one should be free from all kinds of sex desire before he tries to make a show of recital of Bhāgavatam. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura clearly defines the import of purification as cessation from sex indulgence. He says, yathā yathā dhīś ca śudhyati viṣaya-lāmpaṭyaḿ tyajati, tathā tathā dhārayed iti citta-śuddhi-tāratamyenaiva dhyāna-tāratamyam uktam. And as one gets free from the intoxication of sex indulgence by purification of intelligence, one should step forward for the next meditation, or in other words, the progress of meditation on the different limbs of the transcendental body of the Lord should be enhanced in proportion to the progress of purification of the heart. The conclusion is that those who are still entrapped by sex indulgence should never progress to meditation above the feet of the Lord; therefore recital of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by them should be restricted to the First and Second Cantos of the great literature. One must complete the purificatory process by assimilating the contents of the first nine cantos. Then one should be admitted into the realm of the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.11

2011-12-08T04:43:00.000+04:00

vibhūṣitaḿ mekhalayāńgulīyakair

mahā-dhanair nūpura-kańkaṇādibhiḥ

snigdhāmalākuñcita-nīla-kuntalair

virocamānānana-hāsa-peśalam

SYNONYMS

vibhūṣitam — well decorated; mekhalayā — with an ornamental wreath about the waist; ańgulīyakaiḥ — by finger rings; mahā-dhanaiḥ — all highly valuable; nūpura — ringing leglets; kańkaṇa-ādibhiḥ — also by bangles; snigdha — slick; amala — spotless; ākuñcita — curling; nīla — bluish; kuntalaiḥ — hair; virocamāna — very pleasing; ānana — face; hāsa — smile; peśalam — beautiful.

TRANSLATION

He is well decorated with an ornamental wreath about His waist and rings studded with valuable jewels on His fingers. His leglets, His bangles, His oiled hair, curling with a bluish tint, and His beautiful smiling face are all very pleasing.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the most beautiful person amongst all others, and Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes every part of His transcendental beauty, one after another, in order to teach the impersonalist that the Personality of Godhead is not an imagination by the devotee for facility of worship, but is the Supreme Person in fact and figure. The impersonal feature of the Absolute Truth is but His radiation, as the sun rays are but radiations from the sun.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.10

2011-12-08T04:42:00.002+04:00

unnidra-hṛt-pańkaja-karṇikālaye

yogeśvarāsthāpita-pāda-pallavam

śrī-lakṣaṇaḿ kaustubha-ratna-kandharam

amlāna-lakṣmyā vana-mālayācitam

SYNONYMS

unnidra — blooming; hṛt — heart; pańkaja — lotus flower; karṇikā-ālaye — on the surface of the whorl; yoga-īśvara — the great mystics; āsthāpita — placed; pāda-pallavam — lotus feet; śrī — the goddess of fortune, or a beautiful calf; lakṣaṇam — marked in that way; kaustubha — the Kaustubha jewel; ratna — other jewels; kandharam — on the shoulder; amlāna — quite fresh; lakṣmyā — beauty; vana-mālayā — by a flower garland; ācitam — spread over.

TRANSLATION

His lotus feet are placed over the whorls of the lotuslike hearts of great mystics. On His chest is the Kaustubha jewel, engraved with a beautiful calf, and there are other jewels on His shoulders. His complete torso is garlanded with fresh flowers.

PURPORT

The ornaments, flowers, clothing and all the other decorations on the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead are identical with the body of the Lord. None of them are made of material ingredients; otherwise there would be no chance of their decorating the body of the Lord. As such, in the paravyoma, spiritual varieties are also distinguished from the material variegatedness.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.9

2011-12-08T04:42:00.001+04:00

prasanna-vaktraḿ nalināyatekṣaṇaḿ

kadamba-kiñjalka-piśańga-vāsasam

lasan-mahā-ratna-hiraṇmayāńgadaḿ

sphuran-mahā-ratna-kirīṭa-kuṇḍalam

SYNONYMS

prasanna — expresses happiness; vaktram — mouth; nalina-āyata — spread like the petals of a lotus; īkṣaṇam — eyes; kadamba — kadamba flower; kiñjalka — saffron; piśańga — yellow; vāsasam — garments; lasat — hanging; mahā-ratna — valuable jewels; hiraṇmaya — made of gold; ańgadam — ornament; sphurat — glowing; mahā-ratna — valuable jewels; kirīṭa — head dress; kuṇḍalam — earrings.

TRANSLATION

His mouth expresses His happiness. His eyes spread like the petals of a lotus, and His garments, yellowish like the saffron of a kadamba flower, are bedecked with valuable jewels. His ornaments are all made of gold, set with jewels, and He wears a glowing head dress and earrings.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.8

2011-12-08T04:41:00.000+04:00

kecit sva-dehāntar-hṛdayāvakāśe

prādeśa-mātraḿ puruṣaḿ vasantam

catur-bhujaḿ kañja-rathāńga-śańkha-

gadā-dharaḿ dhāraṇayā smaranti

SYNONYMS

kecit — others; sva-deha-antaḥ — within the body; hṛdaya-avakāśe — in the region of the heart; prādeśa-mātram — measuring only eight inches; puruṣam — the Personality of Godhead; vasantam — residing; catuḥ-bhujam — with four hands; kañja — lotus; ratha-ańga — the wheel of a chariot; śańkha — conchshell; gadā-dharam — and with a club in the hand; dhāraṇayā — conceiving in that way; smaranti — do meditate upon Him.

TRANSLATION

Others conceive of the Personality of Godhead residing within the body in the region of the heart and measuring only eight inches, with four hands carrying a lotus, a wheel of a chariot, a conchshell and a club respectively.

PURPORT

The all-pervading personality of Godhead resides as Paramātmā in the heart of each and every living entity. The measurement of the localized Personality of Godhead is estimated to expand from the ring finger to the end of the thumb, more or less eight inches. The form of the Lord described in this verse with distribution of different symbols — beginning from the lower right hand up and down to the lower left hand with lotus, wheel of a chariot, conchshell and club respectively — is called Janārdana, or the plenary portion of the Lord who controls the general mass. There are many other forms of the Lord with varied situations of the symbols of lotus, conchshell, etc., and they are differently known as Puruṣottama, Acyuta, Narasiḿha, Trivikrama, Hṛṣīkeśa, Keśava, Mādhava, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Sańkarṣaṇa, Śrīdhara, Vāsudeva, Dāmodara, Janārdana, Nārāyaṇa, Hari, Padmanābha, Vāmana, Madhusūdana, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇumūrti, Adhokṣaja and Upendra. These twenty-four forms of the localized Personality of Godhead are worshiped in different parts of the planetary system, and in each system there is an incarnation of the Lord having a different Vaikuṇṭha planet in the spiritual sky, which is called the paravyoma. There are many other hundreds and scores of different forms of the Lord, and each and every one of them has a particular planet in the spiritual sky, of which this material sky is only a fragmental offshoot. The Lord exists as puruṣa, or the male enjoyer, although there is no comparing Him to any male form in the material world. But all such forms are advaita, nondifferent from one another, and each of them is eternally young. The young Lord with four hands is nicely decorated, as described below.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.7

2011-12-08T04:40:00.002+04:00

kas tāḿ tv anādṛtya parānucintām

ṛte paśūn asatīḿ nāma kuryāt

paśyañ janaḿ patitaḿ vaitaraṇyāḿ

sva-karmajān paritāpāñ juṣāṇam

SYNONYMS

kaḥ — who else; tām — that; tu — but; anādṛtya — by neglecting; para-anucintām — transcendental thoughts; ṛte — without; paśūn — the materialists; asatīm — in the nonpermanent; nāma — name; kuryāt — will adopt; paśyan — seeing definitely; janam — the general mass of people; patitam — fallen; vaitaraṇyām — in Vaitaraṇī, the river of suffering; sva-karma-jān — produced from one's own work; paritāpān — suffering; juṣāṇam — being overtaken by.

TRANSLATION

Who else but the gross materialists will neglect such transcendental thought and take to the nonpermanent names only, seeing the mass of people fallen in the river of suffering as the consequence of accruing the result of their own work?

PURPORT

In the Vedas it is said that persons who are attached to demigods to the exclusion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are like the animals who follow the herdsman even though they are taken to the slaughterhouse. The materialists, like animals, also do not know how they are being misdirected by neglecting the transcendental thought of the Supreme person. No one can remain vacant of thought. It is said that an idle brain is a devil's workshop because a person who cannot think in the right way must think of something which may bring about disaster. The materialists are always worshiping some minor demigods, although this is condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.20). As long as a person is illusioned by material gains, he petitions the respective demigods to draw some particular benefit which is, after all, illusory and nonpermanent. The enlightened transcendentalist is not captivated by such illusory things; therefore he is always absorbed in the transcendental thought of the Supreme in different stages of realization, namely Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. In the previous verse it is suggested that one should think of the Supersoul, which is one step higher than the impersonal thought of Brahman, as it was suggested in the case of contemplating the virāṭ-rūpa of the personality of Godhead.

Intelligent persons who can see properly may look into the general conditions of the living entities who are wandering in the cycle of the It is said that there is an everlasting belt of water called the River Vaitaraṇī at the entrance of the plutonic planet of Yamarāja, who punishes sinners in different manners. After being subjected to such sufferings, a sinner is awarded a particular species of life according to his deeds in the past. Such living entities as are punished by Yamarāja are seen in different varieties of conditioned life. Some of them are in heaven, and some of them are in hell. Some of them are brāhmaṇas, and some of them are misers. But no one is happy in this material world, and all of them are either class A, B or C prisoners suffering because of their own deeds. The Lord is impartial to all circumstances of the sufferings of the living entities, but to one who takes shelter at His lotus feet, the Lord gives proper protection, and He takes such a living entity back home, back to Himself.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.6

2011-12-08T04:40:00.001+04:00

evaḿ sva-citte svata eva siddha

ātmā priyo 'rtho bhagavān anantaḥ

taḿ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta

saḿsāra-hetūparamaś ca yatra

SYNONYMS

evam — thus; sva-citte — in one's own heart; svataḥ — by His omnipotency; eva — certainly; siddhaḥ — fully represented; ātmā — the Supersoul; priyaḥ — very dear; arthaḥ — substance; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; anantaḥ — the eternal unlimited; tam — unto Him; nirvṛtaḥ — being detached from the world; niyata — permanent; arthaḥ — the supreme gain; bhajeta — one must worship; saḿsāra-hetu — the cause of the conditioned state of existence; uparamaḥ — cessation; ca — certainly; yatra — in which.

TRANSLATION

Thus being fixed, one must render service unto the Supersoul situated in one's own heart by His omnipotency. Because He is the Almighty Personality of Godhead, eternal and unlimited, He is the ultimate goal of life, and by worshiping Him one can end the cause of the conditioned state of existence.

PURPORT

As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (18.61), the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the all-pervading omnipresent Supersoul. Therefore one who is a yogī can worship only Him because He is the substance and not illusion. Every living creature is engaging in the service of something else. A living being's constitutional position is to render service, but in the atmosphere of māyā, or illusion, or the conditional state of existence, the conditioned soul seeks the service of illusion. A conditioned soul works in the service of his temporary body, bodily relatives like the wife and children, and the necessary paraphernalia for maintaining the body and bodily relations, such as the house, land, wealth, society and country, but he does not know that all such renderings of service are totally illusory. As we have discussed many times before, this material world is itself an illusion, like a mirage in the desert. In the desert there is an illusion of water, and the foolish animals become entrapped by such an illusion and run after water in the desert, although there is no water at all. But because there is no water in the desert, one does not conclude that there is no water at all. The intelligent person knows well that there is certainly water, water in the seas and oceans, but such vast reservoirs of water are far, far away from the desert. One should therefore search for water in the vicinity of seas and oceans and not in the desert. Every one of us is searching after real happiness in life, namely eternal life, eternal or unlimited knowledge and unending blissful life. But foolish people who have no knowledge of the substance search after the reality of life in the illusion. This material body does not endure eternally, and everything in relation with this temporary body, such as the wife, children, society and country, also changes along with the change of body. This is called saḿsāra, or repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. We would like to find a solution for all these problems of life, but we do not know the way. Herein it is suggested that anyone who wants to make an end to these miseries of life, namely repetition of birth, death, disease, and old age, must take to this process of worshiping the Supreme Lord and not others, as it is also ultimately suggested in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.65). If we at all want to end the cause of our conditioned life, we must take to the worship of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is present in everyone's heart by His natural affection for all living beings, who are actually the parts and parcels of the Lord (Bg. 18.61). The baby in the lap of his mother is naturally attached to the mother, and the mother is attached to the child. But when the child grows up and becomes overwhelmed by circumstances, he gradually becomes detached from the mother, although the mother always expects some sort of service from the grown-up child and is equally affectionate toward her child, even though the child is forgetful. Similarly, because we are all part and parcel of the Lord, the Lord is always affectionate to us, and He always tries to get us back home, back to Godhead. But we, the conditioned souls, do not care for Him and run instead after the illusory bodily connections. We must therefore extricate ourselves from all illusory connections of the world and seek reunion with the Lord, trying to render service unto Him because He is the ultimate truth. Actually we are hankering after Him as the child seeks the mother. And to search out the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we need not go anywhere else, because the Lord is within our hearts. This does not suggest, however, that we should not go to the places of worship, namely the temples, churches and mosques. Such holy places of worship are also occupied by the Lord because the Lord is omnipresent. For the common man these holy places are centers of learning about the science of God. When the temples are devoid of activities, the people in general become uninterested in such places, and consequently the mass of people gradually become godless, and a godless civilization is the result. Such a hellish civilization artificially increases the conditions of life, and existence becomes intolerable for everyone. The foolish leaders of a godless civilization try to devise various plans to bring about peace and prosperity in the godless world under a patent trademark of materialism, and because such attempts are illusory only, the people elect incompetent, blind leaders, one after another, who are incapable of offering solutions. If we want at all to end this anomaly of a godless civilization, we must follow the principles of revealed scriptures like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the instruction of a person like Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī who has no attraction for material gain.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.5

2011-12-08T04:39:00.000+04:00

cīrāṇi kiḿ pathi na santi diśanti bhikṣāḿ

naivāńghripāḥ para-bhṛtaḥ sarito 'py aśuṣyan

ruddhā guhāḥ kim ajito 'vati nopasannān

kasmād bhajanti kavayo dhana-durmadāndhān

SYNONYMS

cīrāṇi — torn clothes; kim — whether; pathi — on the road; na — not; santi — there is; diśanti — give in charity; bhikṣām — alms; na — not; eva — also; ańghripāḥ — the trees; para-bhṛtaḥ — one who maintains others; saritaḥ — the rivers; api — also; aśuṣyan — have dried up; ruddhāḥ — closed; guhāḥ — caves; kim — whether; ajitaḥ — the Almighty Lord; avati — give protection; na — not; upasannān — the surrendered soul; kasmāt — what for, then; bhajanti — flatters; kavayaḥ — the learned; dhana — wealth; durmada-andhān — too intoxicated by.

TRANSLATION

Are there no torn clothes lying on the common road? Do the trees, which exist for maintaining others, no longer give alms in charity? Do the rivers, being dried up, no longer supply water to the thirsty? Are the caves of the mountains now closed, or, above all, does the Almighty Lord not protect the fully surrendered souls? Why then do the learned sages go to flatter those who are intoxicated by hard-earned wealth?

PURPORT

The renounced order of life is never meant for begging or living at the cost of others as a parasite. According to the dictionary, a parasite is a sycophant who lives at the cost of society without making any contribution to that society. The renounced order is meant for contributing something substantial to society and not depending on the earnings of the householders. On the contrary, acceptance of alms from the householders by the bona fide mendicant is an opportunity afforded by the saint for the tangible benefit of the donor. In the sanātana-dharma institution, alms-giving to the mendicant is part of a householder's duty, and it is advised in the scriptures that the householders should treat the mendicants as their family children and should provide them with food, clothing, etc., without being asked. Pseudomendicants, therefore, should not take advantage of the charitable disposition of the faithful householders. The first duty of a person in the renounced order of life is to contribute some literary work for the benefit of the human being in order to give him realized direction toward self-realization. Amongst the other duties in the renounced order of life of Śrīla Sanātana, Śrīla Rūpa and the other Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, the foremost duty discharged by them was to hold learned discourses amongst themselves at Sevākuñja, Vṛndāvana (the spot where Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Temple was established by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and where the actual samādhi tombs of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī are laid). For the benefit of all in human society, they left behind them immense literatures of transcendental importance. Similarly, all the ācāryas who voluntarily accepted the renounced order of life aimed at benefiting human society and not at living a comfortable or irresponsible life at the cost of others. However, those who cannot give any contribution should not go to the householders for food, for such mendicants asking bread from the householders are an insult to the highest order. Śukadeva Gosvāmī gave this warning especially for those mendicants who adopt this line of profession to solve their economic problems. Such mendicants are in abundance in the age of Kali. When a man becomes a mendicant willfully or by circumstances, he must be of firm faith and conviction that the Supreme Lord is the maintainer of all living beings everywhere in the universe. Why, then, would He neglect the maintenance of a surrendered soul who is cent percent engaged in the service of the Lord? A common master looks to the necessities of his servant, so how much more would the all-powerful, all-opulent Supreme Lord look after the necessities of life for a fully surrendered soul. The general rule is that a mendicant devotee will accept a simple small loincloth without asking anyone to give it in charity. He simply salvages it from the rejected torn cloth thrown in the street. When he is hungry he may go to a magnanimous tree which drops fruits, and when he is thirsty he may drink water from the flowing river. He does not require to live in a comfortable house, but should find a cave in the hills and not be afraid of jungle animals, keeping faith in God, who lives in everyone's heart. The Lord may dictate to tigers and other jungle animals not to disturb His devotee. Haridāsa Ṭhākura, a great devotee of Lord Śrī Caitanya, used to live in such a cave, and by chance a great venomous snake was a co-partner of the cave. Some admirer of Ṭhākura Haridāsa who had to visit the Ṭhākura every day feared the snake and suggested that the Ṭhākura leave that place. Because his devotees were afraid of the snake and they were regularly visiting the cave, Ṭhākura Haridāsa agreed to the proposal on their account. But as soon as this was settled, the snake actually crawled out of its hole in the cave and left the cave for good before everyone present. By the dictation of the Lord, who lived also within the heart of the snake, the snake gave preference to Haridāsa and decided to leave the place and not disturb him. So this is a tangible example of how the Lord gives protection to a bona fide devotee like Ṭhākura Haridāsa. According to the regulations of the sanātana-dharma institution, one is trained from the beginning to depend fully on the protection of the Lord in all circumstances. The path of renunciation is recommended for acceptance by one who is fully accomplished and fully purified in his existence. This stage is described also in the Bhagavad-gītā (16.5) as daivī sampat. A human being is required to accumulate daivī sampat, or spiritual assets; otherwise, the next alternative, āsurī sampat, or material assets, will overcome him disproportionately, and thus one will be forced into the entanglement of different miseries of the material world. A sannyāsī should always live alone, without company, and he must be fearless. He should never be afraid of living alone, although he is never alone. The Lord is residing in everyone's heart, and unless one is purified by the prescribed process, one will feel that he is alone. But a man in the renounced order of life must be purified by the process; thus he will feel the presence of the Lord everywhere and will have nothing to fear (such as being without any company). Everyone can become a fearless and honest person if his very existence is purified by discharging the prescribed duty for each and every order of life. One can become fixed in one's prescribed duty by faithful aural reception of Vedic instructions and assimilation of the essence of Vedic knowledge by devotional service to the Lord.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.4

2011-12-08T04:38:00.000+04:00

satyāḿ kṣitau kiḿ kaśipoḥ prayāsair

bāhau svasiddhe hy upabarhaṇaiḥ kim

saty añjalau kiḿ purudhānna-pātryā

dig-valkalādau sati kiḿ dukūlaiḥ

SYNONYMS

satyām — being in possession; kṣitau — earthly flats; kim — where is the necessity; kaśipoḥ — of beds and cots; prayāsaiḥ — endeavoring for; bāhau — the arms; sva-siddhe — being self-sufficient; hi — certainly; upabarhaṇaiḥ — bed and bedstead; kim — what is the use; sati — being present; añjalau — the palms of the hands; kim — what is the use; purudhā — varieties of; anna — eatables; pātryā — by the utensils; dik — open space; valkala-ādau — skins of trees; sati — being existent; kim — what is the use of; dukūlaiḥ — clothes.

TRANSLATION

When there are ample earthly flats to lie on, what is the necessity of cots and beds? When one can use his own arms, what is the necessity of a pillow? When one can use the palms of his hands, what is the necessity of varieties of utensils? When there is ample covering, or the skins of trees, what is the necessity of clothing?

PURPORT

The necessities of life for the protection and comfort of the body must not be unnecessarily increased. Human energy is spoiled in a vain search after such illusory happiness. If one is able to lie down on the floor, then why should one endeavor to get a good bedstead or soft cushion to lie on? If one can rest without any pillow and make use of the soft arms endowed by nature, there is no necessity of searching after a pillow. If we make a study of the general life of the animals, we can see that they have no intelligence for building big houses, furniture, and other household paraphernalia, and yet they maintain a healthy life by lying down on the open land. They do not know how to cook or prepare foodstuff, yet they still live healthy lives more easily than the human being. This does not mean that human civilization should revert to animal life or that the human being should live naked in the jungles without any culture, education and sense of morality. An intelligent human cannot live the life of an animal; rather, man should try to utilize his intelligence in arts and science, poetry and philosophy. In such a way he can further the progressive march of human civilization. But here the idea given by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is that the reserve energy of human life, which is far superior to that of animals, should simply he utilized for self-realization. Advancement of human civilization must be towards the goal of establishing our lost relationship with God, which is not possible in any form of life other than the human. One must realize the nullity of the material phenomenon, considering it a passing phantasmagoria, and must endeavor to make a solution to the miseries of life. Self-complacence with a polished type of animal civilization geared to sense gratification is delusion, and such a "civilization" is not worthy of the name. In pursuit of such false activities, a human being is in the clutches of māyā, or illusion. Great sages and saints in the days of yore were not living in palatial buildings furnished with good furniture and so-called amenities of life. They used to live in huts and groves and sit on the flat ground, and yet they have left immense treasures of high knowledge with all perfection. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī were high-ranking ministers of state, but they were able to leave behind them immense writings on transcendental knowledge, while residing only for one night underneath one tree. They did not live even two nights under the same tree, and what to speak of well-furnished rooms with modern amenities. And still they were able to give us most important literatures of self-realization. So-called comforts of life are not actually helpful for progressive civilization; rather, they are detrimental to such progressive life. In the system of sanātana-dharma, of four divisions of social life and four orders of progressive realization, there are ample opportunities and sufficient directions for a happy termination of the progressive life, and the sincere followers are advised therein to accept a voluntary life of renunciation in order to achieve the desired goal of life. If one is not accustomed to abiding by the life of renunciation and self-abnegation from the beginning, one should try to get into the habit at a later stage of life as recommended by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and that will help one to achieve the desired success.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.3

2011-05-09T17:17:00.000+04:00

ataḥ kavir nāmasu yāvad arthaḥ

syād apramatto vyavasāya-buddhiḥ

siddhe 'nyathārthe na yateta tatra

pariśramaḿ tatra samīkṣamāṇaḥ

SYNONYMS

ataḥ — for this reason; kaviḥ — the enlightened person; nāmasu — in names only; yāvat — minimum; arthaḥ — necessity; syāt — must be; apramattaḥ — without being mad after them; vyavasāya-buddhiḥ — intelligently fixed; siddhe — for success; anyathā — otherwise; arthe — in the interest of; na — should never; yateta — endeavor for; tatra — there; pariśramam — laboring hard; tatra — there; samīkṣamāṇaḥ — one who sees practically.

TRANSLATION

For this reason the enlightened person should endeavor only for the minimum necessities of life while in the world of names. He should be intelligently fixed and never endeavor for unwanted things, being competent to perceive practically that all such endeavors are merely hard labor for nothing.

PURPORT

The bhāgavata-dharma, or the cult of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is perfectly distinct from the way of fruitive activities, which are considered by the devotees to be merely a waste of time. The whole universe, or for that matter all material existence, is moving on as jagat, simply for planning business to make one's position very comfortable or secure, although everyone sees that this existence is neither comfortable nor secure and can never become comfortable or secure at any stage of development. Those who are captivated by the illusory advancement of material civilization (following the way of phantasmagoria) are certainly madmen. The whole material creation is a jugglery of names only; in fact, it is nothing but a bewildering creation of matter like earth, water and fire. The buildings, furniture, cars, bungalows, mills, factories, industries, peace, war or even the highest perfection of material science, namely atomic energy and electronics, are all simply bewildering names of material elements with their concomitant reactions of the three modes. Since the devotee of the Lord knows them perfectly well, he is not interested in creating unwanted things for a situation which is not at all reality, but simply names of no more significance than the babble of sea waves. The great kings, leaders and soldiers fight with one another in order to perpetuate their names in history. They are forgotten in due course of time, and they make a place for another era in history. But the devotee realizes how much history and historical persons are useless products of flickering time. The fruitive worker aspires after a big fortune in the matter of wealth, woman and worldly adoration, but those who are fixed in perfect reality are not at all interested in such false things. For them it is all a waste of time. Since every second of human life is important, an enlightened man should be very careful to utilize time very cautiously. One second of human life wasted in the vain research of planning for happiness in the material world can never be replaced, even if one spends millions of coins of gold. Therefore, the transcendentalist desiring freedom from the clutches of māyā, or the illusory activities of life, is warned herewith not to be captivated by the external features of fruitive actors. Human life is never meant for sense gratification, but for self-realization. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain. Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God's gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment. The materialistic advancement of civilization is called "the civilization of the demons," which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity. The transcendentalist is specifically warned herewith to be fixed in mind, so that even if there is difficulty in plain living and high thinking he will not budge even an inch from his stark determination. For a transcendentalist, it is a suicidal policy to be intimately in touch with the sense gratifiers of the world, because such a policy will frustrate the ultimate gain of life. Śukadeva Gosvāmī met Mahārāja Parīkṣit when the latter felt a necessity for such a meeting. It is the duty of a transcendentalist to help persons who desire real salvation and to support the cause of salvation. One might note that Śukadeva Gosvāmī never met Mahārāja Parīkṣit while he was ruling as a great king. For a transcendentalist, the mode of activities is explained in the next śloka.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.2

2011-05-09T17:16:00.000+04:00

śābdasya hi brahmaṇa eṣa panthā

yan nāmabhir dhyāyati dhīr apārthaiḥ

paribhramaḿs tatra na vindate 'rthān

māyāmaye vāsanayā śayānaḥ

SYNONYMS

śābdasya — of the Vedic sound; hi — certainly; brahmaṇaḥ — of the Vedas; eṣaḥ — these; panthāḥ — the way; yat — what is; nāmabhiḥ — by different names; dhyāyati — ponders; dhīḥ — intelligence; apārthaiḥ — by meaningless ideas; paribhraman — wandering; tatra — there; na — never; vindate — enjoys; arthān — realities; māyā-maye — in illusory things; vāsanayā — by different desires; śayānaḥ — as if dreaming in sleep.

TRANSLATION

The way of presentation of the Vedic sounds is so bewildering that it directs the intelligence of the people to meaningless things like the heavenly kingdoms. The conditioned souls hover in dreams of such heavenly illusory pleasures, but actually they do not relish any tangible happiness in such places.

PURPORT

The conditioned soul is always engaged in laying out plans for happiness within the material world, even up to the end of the universal limit. He is not even satisfied with available amenities on this planet earth, where he has exploited the resources of nature to the best of his ability. He wants to go to the moon or the planet Venus to exploit resources there. But the Lord has warned us in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.16) about the worthlessness of all the innumerable planets of this universe, as well as those planets within other systems. There are innumerable universes and also innumerable planets in each of them. But none of them is immune to the chief miseries of material existence, namely the pangs of birth, the pangs of death, the pangs of old age and the pangs of disease. The Lord says that even the topmost planet, known as the Brahmaloka or Satyaloka, (and what to speak of other planets, like the heavenly planets) is not a happy land for residential purposes, due to the presence of material pangs, as above mentioned. Conditioned souls are strictly under the laws of fruitive activities, and as such they sometimes go up to Brahmaloka and again come down to Pātālaloka, as if they were unintelligent children on a merry-go-round. The real happiness is in the kingdom of God, where no one has to undergo the pangs of material existence. Therefore, the Vedic ways of fruitive activities for the living entities are misleading. One thinks of a superior way of life in this country or that, or on this planet or another, but nowhere in the material world can he fulfill his real desire of life, namely eternal life, full intelligence and complete bliss. Indirectly, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī affirms that Mahārāja Parīkṣit, in the last stage of life, should not desire to transfer himself to the so-called heavenly planets, but should prepare himself for going back home, back to Godhead. None of the material planets, nor the amenities available there for living conditions, is everlasting; therefore one must have a factual reluctance to enjoy such temporary happiness as they afford.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation Chapter 2: The Lord in the Heart 2.2.1

2011-05-09T17:14:00.002+04:00

Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation
Chapter 2: The Lord in the Heart

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.1

śrī-śuka uvāca

evaḿ purā dhāraṇayātma-yonir

naṣṭāḿ smṛtiḿ pratyavarudhya tuṣṭāt

tathā sasarjedam amogha-dṛṣṭir

yathāpyayāt prāg vyavasāya-buddhiḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; evam — just in the same way; purā — prior to the manifestation of the cosmos; dhāraṇayā — by such a conception; ātma-yoniḥ — of Brahmājī; naṣṭām — lost; smṛtim — remembrance; pratyavarudhya — by regaining consciousness; tuṣṭāt — because of appeasing the Lord; tathā — thereafter; sasarja — created; idam — this material world; amogha-dṛṣṭiḥ — one who has attained clear vision; yathā — as; apyayāt — created; prāk — as formerly; vyavasāya — ascertained; buddhiḥ — intelligence.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Formerly, prior to the manifestation of the cosmos, Lord Brahmā, by meditating on the virāṭ-rūpa, regained his lost consciousness by appeasing the Lord. Thus he was able to rebuild the creation as it was before.

PURPORT

The example cited herein of Śrī Brahmājī is one of forgetfulness. Brahmājī is the incarnation of one of the mundane attributes of the Lord. Being the incarnation of the passion mode of material nature, he is empowered by the Lord to generate the beautiful material manifestation. Yet due to his being one of the numerous living entities, he is apt to forget the an of his creative energy. This forgetfulness of the living being — beginning from Brahmā down to the lowest insignificant ant — is a tendency which can be counteracted by meditation on the virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord. This chance is available in the human form of life, and if a human being follows the instruction of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and begins to meditate upon the virāṭ-rūpa, then revival of his pure consciousness and counteraction of the tendency to forget his eternal relationship with the Lord can follow simultaneously. And as soon as this forgetfulness is removed, the vyavasāya-buddhi, as mentioned here and in the Bhagavad-gītā (2.41), follows at once. This ascertained knowledge of the living being leads to loving service to the Lord, which the living being requires. The kingdom of God is unlimited; therefore the number of the assisting hands of the Lord is also unlimited. The Bhagavad-gītā (13.14) asserts that the Lord has His hands, legs, eyes and mouths in every nook and corner of His creation, This means that the expansions of differentiated parts and parcels, called jīvas or living entities, are assisting hands of the Lord, and all of them are meant for rendering a particular pattern of service to the Lord. The conditioned soul, even in the position of a Brahmā, forgets this by the influence of illusory, material energy generated out of false egoism. One can counteract such false egoism by invoking God consciousness. Liberation means getting out of the slumber of forgetfulness and becoming situated in the real loving service of the Lord, as exemplified in the case of Brahmā. The service of Brahmā is the sample of service in liberation distinguished from the so-called altruistic services full of mistakes and forgetfulness. Liberation is never inaction, but service without human mistakes.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.39

2011-05-09T17:08:00.000+04:00

sa sarva-dhī-vṛtty-anubhūta-sarva

ātmā yathā svapna-janekṣitaikaḥ

taḿ satyam ānanda-nidhiḿ bhajeta

nānyatra sajjed yata ātma-pātaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — He (the Supreme Person); sarva-dhī-vṛtti — the process of realization by all sorts of intelligence; anubhūta — cognizant; sarve — everyone; ātmā — the Supersoul; yathā — as much as; svapna-jana — a person dreaming; īkṣita — seen by; ekaḥ — one and the same; tam — unto Him; satyam — the Supreme Truth; ānanda-nidhim — the ocean of bliss; bhajeta — must one worship; na — never; anyatra — anything else; sajjet — be attached; yataḥ — whereby; ātma-pātaḥ — degradation of oneself.

TRANSLATION

One should concentrate his mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who alone distributes Himself in so many manifestations just as ordinary persons create thousands of manifestations in dreams. One must concentrate the mind on Him, the only all-blissful Absolute Truth. Otherwise one will be misled and will cause his own degradation.

PURPORT

In this verse, the process of devotional service is indicated by the great Gosvāmī, Śrīla Śukadeva. He tries to impress upon us that instead of diverting our attention to several branches of self-realization, we should concentrate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the supreme object of realization, worship and devotion. Self-realization is, as it were, offering a fight for eternal life against the material struggle for existence, and therefore by the illusory grace of the external energy, the yogī or the devotee is faced with many allurements which can entangle a great fighter again in the bondage of material existence. A yogī can attain miraculous successes in material achievements, such as aṇimā and laghimā, by which one can become more minute than the minutest or lighter than the lightest, or in the ordinary sense, one may achieve material benedictions in the shape of wealth and women. But one is warned against such allurements because entanglement again in such illusory pleasure means degradation of the self and further imprisonment in the material world. By this warning, one should follow one's vigilant intelligence only.

The Supreme Lord is one, and His expansions are various. He is therefore the Supersoul of everything. When a man sees anything, he must know that his seeing is secondary and the Lord's seeing is primary. One cannot see anything without the Lord's having first seen it. That is the instruction of the Vedas and the Upaniṣads. So whatever we see or do, the Supersoul of all acts of seeing or doing is the Lord. This theory of simultaneous oneness and difference between the individual soul and the Supersoul is propounded by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. The virāṭ-rūpa, or the gigantic feature of the Supreme Lord, includes everything materially manifested, and therefore the virāṭ or gigantic feature of the Lord is the Supersoul of all living and nonliving entities. But the virāṭ-rūpa is also the manifestation of Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu, and going further on and on one will eventually see that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate Supersoul of everything that be. The conclusion is that one should unhesitatingly become a worshiper of Lord Kṛṣṇa, or, for that matter, His plenary expansion Nārāyaṇa, and none else. In the Vedic hymns, it is clearly said that first of all Nārāyaṇa cast a glance over matter and thus there was creation. Before creation, there was neither Brahmā nor Śiva, and what to speak of others. Śrīpāda Śańkarācārya has definitely accepted this, that Nārāyaṇa is beyond the material creation and that all others are within the material creation. The whole material creation, therefore, is one with and different from Nārāyaṇa, simultaneously, and this supports the acintya-bhedābheda-tattva philosophy of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Being an emanation from the glancing potency of Nārāyaṇa, the whole material creation is nondifferent from Him. But because it is the effect of His external energy (bahirańgā māyā) and is aloof from the internal potency (ātma-māyā), the whole material creation is different from Him at the same time. The example given in this verse very nicely is that of the dreaming man. The dreaming man creates many things in his dream, and thus he himself becomes the entangled seer of the dream and is also affected by the consequences. This material creation is also exactly a dreamlike creation of the Lord, but He, being the transcendental Supersoul, is neither entangled nor affected by the reactions of such a dreamlike creation. He is always in His transcendental position, but essentially He is everything, and nothing is apart from Him. As a part of Him, one should therefore concentrate on Him only, without deviation; otherwise one is sure to be overcome by the potencies of the material creation, one after another. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.7) as follows:

sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya

prakṛtiḿ yānti māmikām

kalpa-kṣaye punas tāni

kalpādau visṛjāmy aham

"O son of Kuntī, at the end of the millennium every material manifestation enters into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I again create."

The human life, however, is an opportunity to get out of this repetition of creation and annihilation. It is a means whereby one may escape the Lord's external potency and enter into His internal potency.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Second Canto, First Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The First Step in God Realization."

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.38

2011-05-09T17:07:00.002+04:00

iyān asāv īśvara-vigrahasya

yaḥ sanniveśaḥ kathito mayā te

sandhāryate 'smin vapuṣi sthaviṣṭhe

manaḥ sva-buddhyā na yato 'sti kiñcit

SYNONYMS

iyān — all these; asau — that; īśvara — Supreme Lord; vigrahasya — of the form; yaḥ — whatsoever; sanniveśaḥ — as they are located; kathitaḥ — explained; mayā — by me; te — unto you; sandhāryate — one may concentrate; asmin — in this; vapuṣi — form of virāṭ; sthaviṣṭhe — in the gross; manaḥ — mind; sva-buddhyā — by one's intelligence; na — not; yataḥ — beyond Him; asti — there is; kiñcit — anything else.

TRANSLATION

I have thus explained to you the gross material gigantic conception of the Personality of Godhead. One who seriously desires liberation concentrates his mind on this form of the Lord, because there is nothing more than this in the material world.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), the Supreme Personality of Godhead has verily explained that the material nature is only an order-carrying agent of His. She is one of the different potencies of the Lord, and she acts under His direction only. As the supreme transcendental Lord, He simply casts a glance over the material principle, and thus the agitation of matter begins, and the resultant actions are manifested one after another by six kinds of gradual differentiations. All material creation is moving in that way, and thus it appears and disappears in due course.

Less intelligent persons with a poor fund of knowledge cannot accommodate the thought of this inconceivable potency of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by which He appears just like a human being (Bg. 9.11). His appearance in the material world as one of us is also His causeless mercy upon the fallen souls. He is transcendental to all material conceptions, but by His unbounded mercy upon His pure devotees, He comes down and manifests Himself as the personality of Godhead. Materialistic philosophers and scientists are too much engrossed with atomic energy and the gigantic situation of the universal form, and they offer respect more seriously to the external phenomenal feature of material manifestations than to the noumenal principle of spiritual existence. The transcendental form of the Lord is beyond the jurisdiction of such materialistic activities, and it is very difficult to conceive that the Lord can be simultaneously localized and all-pervasive, because the materialistic philosophers and scientists think of everything in terms of their own experience. Because they are unable to accept the personal feature of the Supreme Lord, the Lord is kind enough to demonstrate the virāṭ feature of His transcendental form, and herein Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has vividly described this form of the Lord. He concludes that there is nothing beyond this gigantic feature of the Lord. None of the materialistic thoughtful men can go beyond this conception of the gigantic form. The minds of the materialistic men are flickering and constantly changing from one aspect to another. Therefore, one is advised to think of the Lord by thinking of any part of His gigantic body, and by one's intelligence only one can think of Him in any manifestation of the material world — the forest, the hill, the ocean, the man, the animal, the demigod, the bird, the beast or anything else. Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else. This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord. Everything being a part and parcel of the Complete Whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Īśopaniṣad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one's pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.37

2011-05-09T17:07:00.001+04:00

brahmānanaḿ kṣatra-bhujo mahātmā

viḍ ūrur ańghri-śrita-kṛṣṇa-varṇaḥ

nānābhidhābhījya-gaṇopapanno

dravyātmakaḥ karma vitāna-yogaḥ

SYNONYMS

brahma — the brāhmaṇas; ānanam — the face; kṣatra — the kṣatriyas; bhujaḥ — the arms; mahātmā — the virāṭ-puruṣa; viṭ — the vaiśyas; ūruḥ — the thighs; ańghri-śrita — under the protection of His feet; kṛṣṇa-varṇaḥ — the śūdras; nānā — various; abhidhā — by names; abhījya-gaṇa — the demigods; upapannaḥ — being overtaken; dravya-ātmakaḥ — with feasible goods; karma — activities; vitāna-yogaḥ — performances of sacrifice.

TRANSLATION

The virāṭ-puruṣa's face is the brāhmaṇas, His arms are the kṣatriyas, His thighs are the vaiśyas, and the śūdras are under the protection of His feet. All the worshipable demigods are also overtaken by Him, and it is the duty of everyone to perform sacrifices with feasible goods to appease the Lord.

PURPORT

Monotheism is practically suggested here. Offering sacrifices to many demigods under different names is mentioned in the Vedic literatures, but the suggestion made in this verse is that all those varieties of demigods are included in the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; they are only the parts and parcels of the original whole. Similarly, the divisions of the orders of human society, namely the brāhmaṇas (the intelligent class), the kṣatriyas (the administrators), the vaiśyas (the mercantile community) and the śūdras (the laborer class), are all included in the body of the Supreme. As such, sacrifice by every one of them in terms of pleasing the Supreme by feasible goods is recommended. Generally, the sacrifice is offered with clarified butter and grains, but with the progress of time, human society has produced varieties of goods by transforming materials supplied by God's material nature. Human society, therefore, must learn to offer sacrifices not only with clarified butter, but also with other manufactured goods in the propagation of the Lord's glory, and that will bring about perfection in human society. The intelligent class of men, or brāhmaṇas, may give direction for such sacrifices in consultation with the previous ācāryas; the administrators may give all facilities to perform such sacrifices; the vaiśya class or mercantile community, who produce such goods, may offer them for sacrifice; and the śūdra class may offer their manual labor for the successful termination of such sacrifice. Thus by the cooperation of all classes of human beings, the sacrifice recommended in this age, namely the sacrifice of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord, may be executed for the common welfare of all the people of the world.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.36

2011-05-09T17:06:00.000+04:00

vayāḿsi tad-vyākaraṇaḿ vicitraḿ

manur manīṣā manujo nivāsaḥ

gandharva-vidyādhara-cāraṇāpsaraḥ

svara-smṛtīr asurānīka-vīryaḥ

SYNONYMS

vayāḿsi — varieties of birds; tat-vyākaraṇam — vocables; vicitram — artistic; manuḥ — the father of mankind; manīṣā — thoughts; manujaḥ — mankind (the sons of Manu); nivāsaḥ — residence; gandharva — the human beings named Gandharvas; vidyādhara — the Vidyādharas; cāraṇa — the Cāraṇas; apsaraḥ — the angels; svara — musical rhythm; smṛtīḥ — remembrance; asura-anīka — the demoniac soldiers; vīryaḥ — prowess.

TRANSLATION

Varieties of birds are indications of His masterful artistic sense. Manu, the father of mankind, is the emblem of His standard intelligence, and humanity is His residence. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Cāraṇas and angels, all represent His musical rhythm, and the demoniac soldiers are representations of His wonderful prowess.

PURPORT

The aesthetic sense of the Lord is manifested in the artistic, colorful creation of varieties of birds like the peacock, parrot and cuckoo. The celestial species of human beings, like the Gandharvas and Vidyādharas, can sing wonderfully and can entice even the minds of the heavenly demigods. Their musical rhythm represents the musical sense of the Lord. How then can He be impersonal? His musical taste, artistic sense and standard intelligence, which is never fallible, are different signs of His supreme personality. The Manu-saḿhitā is the standard lawbook for humanity, and every human being is advised to follow this great book of social knowledge. Human society is the residential quarters for the Lord. This means that the human being is meant for God realization and association with God. This life is a chance for the conditioned soul to regain his eternal God consciousness and thus fulfill the mission of life. Mahārāja Prahlāda is the right type of representative of the Lord in the family of asuras. None of the living beings is away from the Lord's gigantic body. Each and every one has a particular duty in relation to the supreme body. Disruption in the matter of discharging the specific duty assigned to each and every living being is the cause of disharmony between one living being and another, but when the relation is reestablished in relation with the Supreme Lord, there is complete unity between all living beings, even up to the limit of the wild animals and human society. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu displayed this living unity in the jungle of Madhya Pradesh, where even the tigers, elephants and many other ferocious animals perfectly cooperated in glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is the way to peace and amity all over the world.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.35

2011-05-01T17:14:00.001+04:00

vijñāna-śaktiḿ mahim āmananti

sarvātmano 'ntaḥ-karaṇaḿ giritram

aśvāśvatary-uṣṭra-gajā nakhāni

sarve mṛgāḥ paśavaḥ śroṇi-deśe

SYNONYMS

vijñāna-śaktim — consciousness; mahim — the principle of matter; āmananti — they call it so; sarva-ātmanaḥ — of the omnipresent; antaḥ-karaṇam — ego; giritram — Rudra (Śiva); aśva — horse; aśvatari — mule; uṣṭra — camel; gajāḥ — elephant; nakhāni — nails; sarve — all other; mṛgāḥ — stags; paśavaḥ — quadrupeds; śroṇi-deśe — on the region of the belt.

TRANSLATION

The principle of matter [mahat-tattva] is the consciousness of the omnipresent Lord, as asserted by the experts, and Rudradeva is His ego. The horse, mule, camel and elephant are His nails, and wild animals and all quadrupeds are situated in the belt zone of the Lord.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.34

2011-05-01T17:13:00.000+04:00

īśasya keśān vidur ambuvāhān

vāsas tu sandhyāḿ kuru-varya bhūmnaḥ

avyaktam āhur hṛdayaḿ manaś ca

sa candramāḥ sarva-vikāra-kośaḥ

SYNONYMS

īśasya — of the supreme controller; keśān — hairs on the head; viduḥ — you may know it from me; ambu-vāhān — the clouds which carry water; vāsaḥ tu — the dress; sandhyām — termination of day and night; kuru-varya — O best of the Kurus; bhūmnaḥ — of the Almighty; avyaktam — the prime cause of material creation; āhuḥ — it is said; hṛdayam — intelligence; manaḥ ca — and the mind; saḥ — He; candramāḥ — the moon; sarva-vikāra-kośaḥ — the reservoir of all changes.

TRANSLATION

O best amongst the Kurus, the clouds which carry water are the hairs on His head, the terminations of days or nights are His dress, and the supreme cause of material creation is His intelligence. His mind is the moon, the reservoir of all changes.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.33

2011-05-01T17:12:00.000+04:00

nadyo 'sya nāḍyo 'tha tanū-ruhāṇi

mahī-ruhā viśva-tanor nṛpendra

ananta-vīryaḥ śvasitaḿ mātariśvā

gatir vayaḥ karma guṇa-pravāhaḥ

SYNONYMS

nadyaḥ — the rivers; asya — of Him; nāḍyaḥ — veins; atha — and thereafter; tanū-ruhāṇi — hairs on the body; mahī-ruhāḥ — the plants and trees; viśva-tanoḥ — of the universal form; nṛpa-indra — O King; ananta-vīryaḥ — of the omnipotent; śvasitam — breathing; mātariśvā — air; gatiḥ — movement; vayaḥ — passing ages; karma — activity; guṇa-pravāhaḥ — reactions of the modes of nature.

TRANSLATION

O King, the rivers are the veins of the gigantic body, the trees are the hairs of His body, and the omnipotent air is His breath. The passing ages are His movements, and His activities are the reactions of the three modes of material nature.

PURPORT

The Personality of Godhead is not a dead stone, nor is He inactive, as is poorly thought by some schools. He moves with the progress of time, and therefore lie knows all about the past and future, along with His present activities. There is nothing unknown to Him. The conditioned souls are driven by the reactions of the modes of material nature, which are the activities of the Lord. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.12), the modes of nature act under His direction only, and as such no natural functions are blind or automatic. The power behind the activities is the supervision of the Lord, and thus the Lord is never inactive as is wrongly conceived. The Vedas say that the Supreme Lord has nothing to do personally, as is always the case with superiors, but everything is done by His direction. As it is said, not a blade of grass moves without His sanction. In the Brahma-saḿhitā (5.48), it is said that all the universes and the heads of them (the Brahmās) exist only for the duration of His breathing period. The same is confirmed here. The air on which the universes and the planets within the universes exist is nothing but a bit of the breath of the unchallengeable virāṭ-puruṣa. So even by studying the rivers, trees, air and passing ages, one can conceive of the Personality of Godhead without being misled by the formless conception of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) it is stated that those who are much inclined to the formless conception of the Supreme Truth are more troubled than those who can intelligently conceive of the personal form.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.32

2011-05-01T17:11:00.000+04:00

vrīḍottarauṣṭho 'dhara eva lobho

dharmaḥ stano 'dharma-patho 'sya pṛṣṭham

kas tasya meḍhraḿ vṛṣaṇau ca mitrau

kukṣiḥ samudrā girayo 'sthi-sańghāḥ

SYNONYMS

vrīḍa — modesty; uttara — upper; oṣṭhaḥ — lip; adharaḥ — chin; eva — certainly; lobhaḥ — hankering; dharmaḥ — religion; stanaḥ — breast; adharma — irreligion; pathaḥ — way; asya — His; pṛṣṭham — back; kaḥ — Brahmā; tasya — His; meḍhram — genitals; vṛṣaṇau — testicles; ca — also; mitrau — the Mitrā-varuṇas; kukṣiḥ — waist; samudrāḥ — the oceans; girayaḥ — the hills; asthi — bones; sańghāḥ — stack.

TRANSLATION

Modesty is the upper portion of His lips, hankering is His chin, religion is the breast of the Lord, and irreligion is His back. Brahmājī, who generates all living beings in the material world, is His genitals, and the Mitrā-varuṇas are His two testicles. The ocean is His waist, and the hills and mountains are the stacks of His bones.

PURPORT

The Supreme Lord is not impersonal, as misconceived by less intelligent thinkers. Rather, He is the Supreme person, as confirmed in all authentic Vedic literatures. But His personality is different from what we can conceive. It is stated here that Brahmājī acts as His genitals and that the Mitrā-varuṇas are His two testicles. This means that as a person He is complete with all bodily organs, but they are of different types with different potencies. When the Lord is described as impersonal, therefore, it should be understood that His personality is not exactly the type of personality found within our imperfect speculation. One can, however, worship the Lord even by seeing the hills and mountains or the ocean and the sky as different parts and parcels of the gigantic body of the Lord, the virāṭ-puruṣa. The virāṭ-rūpa, as exhibited by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna, is a challenge to the unbelievers.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.31

2011-05-01T17:10:00.000+04:00

chandāḿsy anantasya śiro gṛṇanti

daḿṣṭrā yamaḥ sneha-kalā dvijāni

hāso janonmāda-karī ca māyā

duranta-sargo yad-apāńga-mokṣaḥ

SYNONYMS

chandāḿsi — the Vedic hymns; anantasya — of the Supreme; śiraḥ — the cerebral passage; gṛṇanti — they say; daḿṣṭrāḥ — the jaws of teeth; yamaḥ — Yamarāja, the director of sinners; sneha-kalāḥ — the art of affection; dvijāni — the set of teeth; hāsaḥ — smile; jana-unmāda-karī — the most alluring; ca — also; māyā — illusory energy; duranta — unsurpassable; sargaḥ — the material creation; yat-apāńga — whose glance; mokṣaḥ — casting over.

TRANSLATION

They say that the Vedic hymns are the cerebral passage of the Lord, and His jaws of teeth are Yama, god of death, who punishes the sinners. The art of affection is His set of teeth, and the most alluring illusory material energy is His smile. This great ocean of material creation is but the casting of His glance over us.

PURPORT

According to Vedic assertion, this material creation is the result of the Lord's casting a glance over the material energy, which is described herein as the most alluring illusory energy. The conditioned souls who are allured by such materialism should know that the material temporary creation is simply an imitation of the reality and that those who are captivated by such alluring glances of the Lord are put under the direction of the controller of sinners called Yamarāja. The Lord smiles affectionately, displaying His teeth. The intelligent person who can grasp these truths about the Lord becomes a soul fully surrendered unto Him.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.30

2011-04-30T15:41:00.001+04:00

dyaur akṣiṇī cakṣur abhūt patańgaḥ

pakṣmāṇi viṣṇor ahanī ubhe ca

tad-bhrū-vijṛmbhaḥ parameṣṭhi-dhiṣṇyam

āpo 'sya tālū rasa eva jihvā

SYNONYMS

dyauḥ — the sphere of outer space; akṣiṇī — the eyeballs; cakṣuḥ — of eyes (senses); abhūt — it so became; patańgaḥ — the sun; pakṣmāṇi — eyelids; viṣṇoḥ — of the personality of Godhead, Śrī Viṣṇu; ahanī — day and night; ubhe — both; ca — and; tat — His; bhrū — eyebrows; vijṛmbhaḥ — movements; parameṣṭhi — the supreme entity (Brahmā); dhiṣṇyam — post; āpaḥ — Varuṇa, the director of water; asya — His; tālū — palate; rasaḥ — juice; eva — certainly; jihvā — the tongue.

TRANSLATION

The sphere of outer space constitutes His eyepits, and the eyeball is the sun as the power of seeing. His eyelids are both the day and night, and in the movements of His eyebrows, the Brahmā and similar supreme personalities reside. His palate is the director of water, Varuṇa, and the juice or essence of everything is His tongue.

PURPORT

To common sense the description in this verse appears to be somewhat contradictory because sometimes the sun has been described as the eyeball and sometimes as the outer space sphere. But there is no room for common sense in the injunctions of the śāstras. We must accept the description of the śāstras and concentrate more on the form of the virāṭ-rūpa than on common sense. Common sense is always imperfect, whereas the description in the śāstras is always perfect and complete. If there is any incongruity, it is due to our imperfection and not the śāstras'. That is the method of approaching Vedic wisdom.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.29

2011-04-30T15:40:00.001+04:00

indrādayo bāhava āhur usrāḥ

karṇau diśaḥ śrotram amuṣya śabdaḥ

nāsatya-dasrau paramasya nāse

ghrāṇo 'sya gandho mukham agnir iddhaḥ

SYNONYMS

indra-ādayaḥ — demigods headed by the heavenly king, Indra; bāhavaḥ — arms; āhuḥ — are called; usrāḥ — the demigods; karṇau — the ears; diśaḥ — the four directions; śrotram — the sense of hearing; amuṣya — of the Lord; śabdaḥ — sound; nāsatya-dasrau — the demigods known as the Aśvinī-kumāras; paramasya — of the Supreme; nāse — nostrils; ghrāṇaḥ — the sense of smell; asya — of Him; gandhaḥ — fragrance; mukham — the mouth; agniḥ — fire; iddhaḥ — blazing.

TRANSLATION

His arms are the demigods headed by Indra, the ten directional sides are His ears, and physical sound is His sense of hearing. His nostrils are the two Aśvinī-kumāras, and material fragrance is His sense of smell. His mouth is the blazing fire.

PURPORT

The description of the gigantic form of the Personality of Godhead made in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā is further explained here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The description in the Bhagavad-gītā (11.30) runs as follows: "O Viṣṇu, I see You devouring all people in Your blazing mouths and covering all the universe by Your immeasurable rays. Scorching the worlds, You are manifest." In that way, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the postgraduate study for the student of the Bhagavad-gītā. Both of them are the science of Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, and so they are interdependent.

The conception of the virāṭ-puruṣa, or the gigantic form of the Supreme Lord, is said to include all the dominating demigods as well as the dominated living beings. Even the minutest part of a living being is controlled by the empowered agency of the Lord. Since the demigods are included in the gigantic form of the Lord, worship of the Lord, whether in His gigantic material conception or in His eternal transcendental form as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, also appeases the demigods and all the other parts and parcels, as much as watering the root of a tree distributes energy to all of the tree's other parts. Consequently, for a materialist also, worship of the universal gigantic form of the Lord leads one to the right path. One need not risk being misled by approaching many demigods for fulfillment of different desires. The real entity is the Lord Himself, and all others are imaginary, for everything is included in Him only.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.28

2011-04-30T15:37:00.000+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.28

uraḥ-sthalaḿ jyotir-anīkam asya

grīvā mahar vadanaḿ vai jano 'sya

tapo varāṭīḿ vidur ādi-puḿsaḥ

satyaḿ tu śīrṣāṇi sahasra-śīrṣṇaḥ

SYNONYMS

uraḥ — high; sthalam — place (the chest); jyotiḥ-anīkam — the luminary planets; asya — of Him; grīvā — the neck; mahaḥ — the planetary system above the luminaries; vadanam — mouth; vai — exactly; janaḥ — the planetary system above Mahar; asya — of Him; tapaḥ — the planetary system above the Janas; varāṭīm — forehead; viduḥ — is known; ādi — the original; puḿsaḥ — personality; satyam — the topmost planetary system; tu — but; śīrṣāṇi — the head; sahasra — one thousand; śīrṣṇaḥ — one with heads.

TRANSLATION

The chest of the Original Personality of the gigantic form is the luminary planetary system, His neck is the Mahar planets, His mouth is the Janas planets, and His forehead is the Tapas planetary system. The topmost planetary system, known as Satyaloka, is the head of He who has one thousand heads.

PURPORT

The effulgent luminary planets like the sun and the moon are situated almost in the midplace of the universe, and as such they are to be known as the chest of the original gigantic form of the Lord. And above the luminary planets, called also the heavenly places of the universal directorate demigods, are the Mahar, Janas and Tapas planetary systems, and, above all, the Satyaloka planetary system, where the chief directors of the modes of material nature reside, namely Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. This Viṣṇu is known as the Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and He acts as the Supersoul in every living being. There are innumerable universes floating on the Causal Ocean, and in each of them the representation of the virāṭ form of the Lord is there along with innumerable suns, moons, heavenly demigods, Brahmās, Viṣṇus and Śivas, all of them situated in one part of the inconceivable potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.42).

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.27

2011-04-30T15:36:00.000+04:00

dve jānunī sutalaḿ viśva-mūrter

ūru-dvayaḿ vitalaḿ cātalaḿ ca

mahītalaḿ taj-jaghanaḿ mahīpate

nabhastalaḿ nābhi-saro gṛṇanti

SYNONYMS

dve — two; jānunī — two knees; sutalam — the planetary system named Sutala; viśva-mūrteḥ — of the universal form; ūru-dvayam — the two thighs; vitalam — the planetary system named Vitala; ca — also; atalam — the planets named Atala; ca — and; mahītalam — the planetary system named Mahītala; tat — of that; jaghanam — the hips; mahīpate — O King; nabhastalam — outer space; nābhi-saraḥ — the depression of the navel; gṛṇanti — they take it so.

TRANSLATION

The knees of the universal form are the planetary system of the name Sutala, and the two thighs are the Vitala and Atala planetary systems. The hips are Mahītala, and outer space is the depression of His navel.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.26

2011-04-30T15:35:00.000+04:00

pātālam etasya hi pāda-mūlaḿ

paṭhanti pārṣṇi-prapade rasātalam

mahātalaḿ viśva-sṛjo 'tha gulphau

talātalaḿ vai puruṣasya jańghe

SYNONYMS

pātālam — the planets at the bottom of the universe; etasya — of His; hi — exactly; pāda-mūlam — soles of the feet; paṭhanti — they study it; pārṣṇi — the heels; prapade — the toes; rasātalam — the planets named Rasātala; mahātalam — the planets named Mahātala; viśva-sṛjaḥ — of the creator of the universe; atha — thus; gulphau — the ankles; talātalam — the planets named Talātala; vai — as they are; puruṣasya — of the gigantic person; jańghe — the shanks.

TRANSLATION

Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Pātāla constitute the bottoms of the feet of the universal Lord, and the heels and the toes are the Rasātala planets. The ankles are the Mahātala planets, and His shanks constitute the Talātala planets.

PURPORT

Outside the bodily existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the manifested cosmic existence has no reality. Everything and anything of the manifested world rests on Him, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.4), but that does not imply that everything and anything in the vision of a materialist is the Supreme Personality. The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization. The materialistic view of exploitation of the material resources is occasioned by the illusion of the external energy of the Lord, and as such, if anyone wants to realize the Supreme Truth by conceiving of the universal form of the Lord, he must cultivate the service attitude. Unless the service attitude is revived, the conception of virāṭ realization will have very little effect on the seer. The transcendental Lord, in any conception of His form, is never a part of the material creation. He keeps His identity as Supreme Spirit in all circumstances and is never affected by the three material qualities, for everything material is contaminated. The Lord always exists by His internal energy.

The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems. Seven planetary systems, called Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janas, Tapas and Satya, are upward planetary systems, one above the other. There are also seven planetary systems downward, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla, gradually, one below the other. In this verse, the description begins from the bottom because it is in the line of devotion that the Lord's bodily description should begin from His feet. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is a recognized devotee of the Lord, and he is exactly correct in the description.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.25

2011-04-30T15:34:00.000+04:00

aṇḍa-kośe śarīre 'smin

saptāvaraṇa-saḿyute

vairājaḥ puruṣo yo 'sau

bhagavān dhāraṇāśrayaḥ

SYNONYMS

aṇḍa-kośe — within the universal shell; śarīre — in the body of; asmin — this; sapta — sevenfold; āvaraṇa — coverings; saḿyute — having so done; vairājaḥ — the gigantic universal; puruṣaḥ — form of the Lord; yaḥ — that; asau — He; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; dhāraṇā — conception; āśrayaḥ — object of.

TRANSLATION

The gigantic universal form of the Personality of Godhead, within the body of the universal shell, which is covered by sevenfold material elements, is the subject for the virāṭ conception.

PURPORT

Simultaneously, the Lord has multifarious other forms, and all of them are identical with the original fountainhead form of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it has been proven that the original transcendental and eternal form of the Lord is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, but by His inconceivable internal potency, ātma-māyā, He can expand Himself by multifarious forms and incarnations simultaneously, without being diminished in His full potency. He is complete, and although innumerable complete forms emanate from Him, He is still complete, without any loss. That is His spiritual or internal potency. In the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, the personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, manifested His virāṭ-rūpa just to convince the less intelligent class of men, who cannot conceive of the Lord as appearing just like a human being, that He factually has the potency of His claim to be the Supreme Absolute person without any rival or superior. Materialistic men can think, although very imperfectly, of the huge universal space, comprehending an innumerable number of planets as big as the sun. They can see only the circular sky overhead, without any information that this universe, as well as many other hundreds of thousands of universes, are each covered by sevenfold material coverings of water, fire, air, sky, ego, noumenon and material nature, just like a huge football, pumped and covered, floating on the water of the Causal Ocean, wherein the Lord is lying as Mahā-Viṣṇu. All the universes in seed are emanating from the breathing of the Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is but part of a partial expansion of the Lord, and all the universes presided over by the Brahmās vanish when the Mahā-Viṣṇu withdraws His great breath. In this way, the material worlds are being created and vanished by the supreme will of the Lord. The poor foolish materialist can just imagine how ignorantly he puts forward an insignificant creature to become His rival incarnation, simply on the allegations of a dying man. The virāṭ-rūpa was particularly exhibited by the Lord just to give lessons to such foolish men, so that one can accept a person as the incarnation of Godhead only if such a person is able to exhibit such a virāṭ-rūpa as Lord Kṛṣṇa did. The materialistic person may concentrate his mind upon the virāṭ or gigantic form of the Lord in his own interest and as recommended by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, but he must be on his guard not to be misled by pretenders who claim to be the identical person as Lord Kṛṣṇa but are not able to act like Him or exhibit the virāṭ-rūpa, comprehending the whole of the universe.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.24

2011-04-30T15:33:00.000+04:00

viśeṣas tasya deho 'yaḿ

sthaviṣṭhaś ca sthavīyasām

yatredaḿ vyajyate viśvaḿ

bhūtaḿ bhavyaḿ bhavac ca sat

SYNONYMS

viśeṣaḥ — personal; tasya — His; dehaḥ — body; ayam — this; sthaviṣṭhaḥ — grossly material; ca — and; sthavīyasām — of all matter; yatra — wherein; idam — all these phenomena; vyajyate — is experienced; viśvam — universe; bhūtam — past; bhavyam — future; bhavat — present; ca — and; sat — resultant.

TRANSLATION

This gigantic manifestation of the phenomenal material world as a whole is the personal body of the Absolute Truth, wherein the universal resultant past, present and future of material time is experienced.

PURPORT

Anything, either material or spiritual, is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.13), the omnipotent Lord has His transcendental eyes, heads and other bodily parts distributed everywhere. He can see, hear, touch or manifest Himself anywhere and everywhere, for He is present everywhere as the Supersoul of all infinitesimal souls, although He has His particular abode in the absolute world. The relative world is also His phenomenal representation because it is nothing but an expansion of His transcendental energy. Although He is in His abode, His energy is distributed everywhere, just as the sun is localized as well as expanded everywhere, since the rays of the sun, being nondifferent from the sun, are accepted as expansions of the sun disc. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (1.22.52) it is said that as fire expands its rays and heat from one place, similarly the Supreme Spirit, the Personality of Godhead, expands Himself by His manifold energy everywhere and anywhere. The phenomenal manifestation of the gigantic universe is only a part of His virāṭ body. Less intelligent men cannot conceive of the transcendental all-spiritual form of the Lord, but they are astounded by His different energies, just as the aborigines are struck with wonder by the manifestation of lightning, a gigantic mountain or a hugely expanded banyan tree. The aborigines praise the strength of the tiger and the elephant because of their superior energy and strength. The asuras cannot recognize the existence of the Lord, although there are vivid descriptions of the Lord in the revealed scriptures, although the Lord incarnates and exhibits His uncommon strength and energy, and although He is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by learned scholars and saints like Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Asita and Devala in the past and by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gītā, as also by the ācāryas like Śańkara, Rāmānuja, Madhva and Lord Śrī Caitanya in the modern age. The asuras do not accept any evidential proof from the revealed scriptures, nor do they recognize the authority of the great ācāryas. They want to see with their own eyes at once. Therefore they can see the gigantic body of the Lord as virāṭ, which will answer their challenge, and since they are accustomed to paying homage to superior material strength like that of the tiger, elephant and lightning, they can offer respect to the virāṭ-rūpa. Lord Kṛṣṇa, by the request of Arjuna, exhibited His virāṭ-rūpa for the asuras. A pure devotee of the Lord, being unaccustomed to looking into such a mundane gigantic form of the Lord, requires special vision for the purpose. The Lord, therefore, favored Arjuna with special vision for looking into His virāṭ-rūpa, which is described in the Eleventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. This virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord was especially manifested, not for the benefit of Arjuna, but for that unintelligent class of men who accept anyone and everyone as an incarnation of the Lord and so mislead the general mass of people. For them, the indication is that one should ask the cheap incarnation to exhibit his virāṭ-rūpa and thus be established as an incarnation. The virāṭ-rūpa manifestation of the Lord is simultaneously a challenge to the atheist and a favor for the asuras, who can think of the Lord as virāṭ and thus gradually cleanse the dirty things from their hearts in order to become qualified to actually see the transcendental form of the Lord in the near future. This is a favor of the all-merciful Lord to the atheists and the gross materialists.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.23

2011-04-30T15:32:00.002+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.23

śrī-śuka uvāca

jitāsano jita-śvāso

jita-sańgo jitendriyaḥ

sthūle bhagavato rūpe

manaḥ sandhārayed dhiyā

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; jita-āsanaḥ — controlled sitting posture; jita-śvāsaḥ — controlled breathing process; jita-sańgaḥ — controlled association; jita-indriyaḥ — controlled senses; sthūle — in the gross matter; bhagavataḥ — unto the Personality of Godhead; rūpe — in the feature of; manaḥ — the mind; sandhārayet — must apply; dhiyā — by intelligence.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī answered: One should control the sitting posture, regulate the breathing process by the yogic prāṇāyāma and thus control the mind and senses and with intelligence apply the mind to the gross potencies of the Lord [called the virāṭ-rūpa].

PURPORT

The materially absorbed mind of the conditioned soul does not allow him to transcend the limit of the bodily conception of self, and thus the yoga system for meditation (controlling the sitting posture and breathing process and fixing the mind upon the Supreme) is prescribed in order to mold the character of the gross materialist. Unless such materialists are able to cleanse the materially absorbed mind, it is impossible for them to concentrate upon thoughts of transcendence. And to do so one may fix one's mind on the gross material or external feature of the Lord. The different parts of the gigantic form of the Lord are described in the following verses. The materialistic men are very anxious to have some mystic powers as a result of such a controlling process, but the real purpose of yogic regulations is to eradicate the accumulated dirty things like lust, anger, avarice and all such material contaminations. If the mystic yogī is diverted by the accompanying feats of mystic control, then his mission of yogic success is a failure, because the ultimate aim is God realization. He is therefore recommended to fix his gross materialistic mind by a different conception and thus realize the potency of the Lord. As soon as the potencies are understood to be instrumental manifestations of the transcendence, one automatically advances to the next step, and gradually the stage of full realization becomes possible for him.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.22

2011-04-30T15:32:00.001+04:00

rājovāca

yathā sandhāryate brahman

dhāraṇā yatra sammatā

yādṛśī vā hared āśu

puruṣasya mano-malam

SYNONYMS

rājā uvāca — the fortunate King said; yathā — as it is; sandhāryate — the conception is made; brahman — O brāhmaṇa; dhāraṇā — conception; yatra — where and how; sammatā — in a summary; yādṛśī — the way by which; vā — or; haret — extricated; āśu — without delay; puruṣasya — of a person; manaḥ — of the mind; malam — dirty things.

TRANSLATION

The fortunate King Parīkṣit, inquiring further, said: O brāhmaṇa, please describe in full detail how and where the mind has to be applied and how the conception can be fixed so that the dirty things in a person's mind can be removed.

PURPORT

The dirty things in the heart of a conditioned soul are the root cause of all troubles for him. A conditioned soul is surrounded by the manifold miseries of material existence, but on account of his gross ignorance he is unable to remove the troubles due to dirty things in the heart, accumulated during the long prison life in the material world. He is actually meant to serve the will of the Supreme Lord, but on account of the dirty things in the heart, he likes to serve his concocted desires. These desires, instead of giving him any peace of mind, create new problems and thus bind him to the cycle of repeated birth and death. These dirty things of fruitive work and empiric philosophy can be removed only by association with the Supreme Lord. The Lord, being omnipotent, can offer His association by His inconceivable potencies. Thus persons who are unable to pin their faith on the personal feature of the Absolute are given a chance to associate with His virāṭ-rūpa, or the cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord. The cosmic impersonal feature of the Lord is a feature of His unlimited potencies. Since the potent and potencies are identical, even the conception of His impersonal cosmic feature helps the conditioned soul to associate with the Lord indirectly and thus gradually rise to the stage of personal contact.

Mahārāja Parīkṣit was already directly connected with the personal feature of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and as such he had no need to inquire from Śukadeva Gosvāmī about where and how to apply the mind in the impersonal virāṭ-rūpa of the Lord. But he inquired after a detailed description of the matter for the benefit of others, who are unable to conceive of the transcendental personal feature of the Lord as the form of eternity, knowledge and bliss. The nondevotee class of men cannot think of the personal feature of the Lord. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, the personal form of the Lord, like Rāma or Kṛṣṇa, is completely revolting to them. They have a poor estimation of the potency of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.11) it is explained by the Lord Himself that people with a poor fund of knowledge deride the supreme personality of the Lord, taking Him to be a common man. Such men are ignorant of the inconceivable potency of the Lord. By the inconceivable potency of the Lord, He can move in human society or any other society of living beings and yet remain the same omnipotent Lord, without deviating in the slightest from His transcendental position. So, for the benefit of men who are unable to accept the Lord in His personal eternal form, Mahārāja Parīkṣit inquired from Śukadeva Gosvāmī how to fix the mind on Him in the beginning, and the Gosvāmī replied in detail as follows.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.21

2011-04-30T15:31:00.002+04:00

yasyāḿ sandhāryamāṇāyāḿ

yogino bhakti-lakṣaṇaḥ

āśu sampadyate yoga

āśrayaḿ bhadram īkṣataḥ

SYNONYMS

yasyām — by such systematic remembrance; sandhāryamāṇāyām — and thus being fixed in the habit of; yoginaḥ — the mystics; bhakti-lakṣaṇaḥ — being practiced to the devotional system; āśu — very soon; sampadyate — attains success; yogaḥ — connection by devotional service; āśrayam — under the shelter of; bhadram — the all-good; īkṣataḥ — which seeing that.

TRANSLATION

O King, by this system of remembrance and by being fixed in the habit of seeing the all-good personal conception of the Lord, one can very soon attain devotional service to the Lord, under His direct shelter.

PURPORT

Success of mystic performances is achieved only by the help of the devotional attitude. Pantheism, or the system of feeling the presence of the Almighty everywhere, is a sort of training of the mind to become accustomed to the devotional conception, and it is this devotional attitude of the mystic that makes possible the successful termination of such mystic attempts. One is not, however, elevated to such a successful status without the tinge of mixture in devotional service. The devotional atmosphere created by pantheistic vision develops into devotional service in later days, and that is the only benefit for the impersonalist. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (12.5) that the impersonal way of self-realization is more troublesome because it reaches the goal in an indirect way, although the impersonalist also becomes obsessed with the personal feature of the Lord after a long time.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.20

2011-04-30T15:31:00.001+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.20

rajas-tamobhyām ākṣiptaḿ

vimūḍhaḿ mana ātmanaḥ

yacched dhāraṇayā dhīro

hanti yā tat-kṛtaḿ malam

SYNONYMS

rajaḥ — the passionate mode of nature; tamobhyām — as well as by the ignorant mode of material nature; ākṣiptam — agitated; vimūḍham — bewildered; manaḥ — the mind; ātmanaḥ — of one's own; yacchet — get it rectified; dhāraṇayā — by conception (of Viṣṇu); dhīraḥ — the pacified; hanti — destroys; yā — all those; tat-kṛtam — done by them; malam — dirty things.

TRANSLATION

One's mind is always agitated by the passionate mode of material nature and bewildered by the ignorant mode of nature. But one can rectify such conceptions by the relation of Viṣṇu and thus become pacified by cleansing the dirty things created by them.

PURPORT

Persons generally conducted by the modes of passion and ignorance cannot be bona fide candidates for being situated in the transcendental stage of God realization. Only persons conducted by the mode of goodness can have the knowledge of the Supreme Truth. Effects of the modes of passion and ignorance are manifested by too much hankering after wealth and women. And those who are too much after wealth and women can rectify their leanings only by constant remembrance of Viṣṇu in His potential impersonal feature. Generally the impersonalists or monists are influenced by the modes of passion and ignorance. Such impersonalists think of themselves as liberated souls, but they have no knowledge of the transcendental personal feature of the Absolute Truth. Actually they are impure in heart on account of being devoid of knowledge of the personal feature of the Absolute. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that after many hundreds of births, the impersonal philosopher surrenders unto the Personality of Godhead. To acquire such a qualification of God realization in the personal feature, the neophyte impersonalist is given a chance to realize the relation of the Lord in everything by the philosophy of pantheism.

Pantheism in its higher status does not permit the student to form an impersonal conception of the Absolute Truth, but it extends the conception of the Absolute Truth into the field of the so-called material energy. Everything created by the material energy can be dovetailed with the Absolute by an attitude of service, which is the essential part of living energy. The pure devotee of the Lord knows the art of converting everything into its spiritual existence by this service attitude, and only in that devotional way can the theory of pantheism be perfected.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.19

2011-04-03T14:28:00.002+04:00

tatraikavayavam dhyayed

avyucchinnena cetasa

mano nirvishayam yuktva

tatah kincana na smaret

padam tat paramam vishnor

mano yatra prasidati

SYNONYMS

tatra -- thereafter; eka -- one by one; avayavam -- limbs of the body; dhyayet -- should be concentrated upon; avyucchinnena -- without being deviated from the complete form; cetasa -- by the mind; manah -- mind; nirvishayam -- without being contaminated by sense objects; yuktva -- being dovetailed; tatah -- after that; kincana -- anything; na -- do not; smaret -- think of; padam -- personality; tat -- that; paramam -- Supreme; vishnoh -- of Vishnu; manah -- the mind; yatra -- whereupon; prasidati -- becomes reconciled.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter, you should meditate upon the limbs of Vishnu, one after another, without being deviated from the conception of the complete body. Thus the mind becomes free from all sense objects. There should be no other thing to be thought upon. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu, is the Ultimate Truth, the mind becomes completely reconciled in Him only.

PURPORT

Foolish persons, bewildered by the external energy of Vishnu, do not know that the ultimate goal of the progressive search after happiness is to get in touch directly with Lord Vishnu, the Personality of Godhead. Vishnu-tattva is an unlimited expansion of different transcendental forms of the Personality of Godhead, and the supreme or original form of vishnu-tattva is Govinda, or Lord Krishna, the supreme cause of all causes. Therefore, thinking of Vishnu or meditating upon the transcendental form of Vishnu, specifically upon Lord Krishna, is the last word on the subject of meditation. This meditation may be begun from the lotus feet of the Lord. One should not, however, forget or be misled from the complete form of the Lord; thus one should practice thinking of the different parts of His transcendental body, one after another. Here in this verse, it is definitely assured that the Supreme Lord is not impersonal. He is a person, but His body is different from those of conditioned persons like us. Otherwise, meditation beginning from the pranava (omkara) up to the limbs of the personal body of Vishnu would not have been recommended by Sukadeva Gosvami for the attainment of complete spiritual perfection. The Vishnu forms of worship in great temples of India are not, therefore, arrangements of idol worship, as they are wrongly interpreted to be by a class of men with a poor fund of knowledge; rather, they are different spiritual centers of meditation on the transcendental limbs of the body of Vishnu. The worshipable Deity in the temple of Vishnu is identical with Lord Vishnu by the inconceivable potency of the Lord. Therefore, a neophyte's concentration or meditation upon the limbs of Vishnu in the temple, as contemplated in the revealed scriptures, is an easy opportunity for meditation for persons who are unable to sit down tightly at one place and then concentrate upon pranava omkara or the limbs of the body of Vishnu, as recommended herein by Sukadeva Gosvami, the great authority. The common man can benefit more by meditating on the form of Vishnu in the temple than on the omkara, the spiritual combination of a-u-m as explained before. There is no difference between omkara and the forms of Vishnu, but persons unacquainted with the science of Absolute Truth try to create dissension by differentiating between the forms of Vishnu and that of omkara. Here it is indicated that the Vishnu form is the ultimate goal of meditation, and as such it is better to concentrate upon the forms of Vishnu than on impersonal omkara. The latter process is also more difficult than the former.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.18

2011-04-03T14:28:00.001+04:00

niyacched vishayebhyo 'kshan

manasa buddhi-sarathih

manah karmabhir akshiptam

subharthe dharayed dhiya

SYNONYMS

niyacchet -- withdraw; vishayebhyah -- from sense engagements; akshan -- the senses; manasa -- by dint of the mind; buddhi -- intelligence; sarathih -- driver; manah -- the mind; karmabhih -- by the fruitive work; akshiptam -- being absorbed in; subha-arthe -- for the sake of the Lord; dharayet -- hold up; dhiya -- in full consciousness.

TRANSLATION

Gradually, as the mind becomes progressively spiritualized, withdraw it from sense activities, and by intelligence the senses will be controlled. The mind too absorbed in material activities can be engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead and become fixed in full transcendental consciousness.

PURPORT

The first process of spiritualizing the mind by mechanical chanting of the pranava (omkara) and by control of the breathing system is technically called the mystic or yogic process of pranayama, or fully controlling the breathing air. The ultimate state of this pranayama system is to be fixed in trance, technically called samadhi. But experience has proven that even the samadhi stage also fails to control the materially absorbed mind. For example, the great mystic Visvamitra Muni, even in the stage of samadhi, became a victim of the senses and cohabited with Menaka. History has already recorded this. The mind, although ceasing to think of sensual activities at present, remembers past sensual activities from the subconscious status and thus disturbs one from cent percent engagement in self-realization. Therefore, Sukadeva Gosvami recommends the next step of assured policy, namely to fix one's mind in the service of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, also recommends this direct process in the Bhagavad-gita (6.47). Thus, the mind being spiritually cleansed, one should at once engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord by the different devotional activities of hearing, chanting, etc. If performed under proper guidance, that is the surest path of progress, even for the disturbed mind.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.17

2011-04-03T14:27:00.003+04:00

abhyasen manasa suddham

trivrid-brahmaksharam param

mano yacchej jita-svaso

brahma-bijam avismaran

SYNONYMS

abhyaset -- one should practice; manasa -- by the mind; suddham -- sacred; tri-vrit -- composed of the three; brahma-aksharam -- transcendental letters; param -- the supreme; manah -- mind; yacchet -- get under control; jita-svasah -- by regulating the breathing air; brahma -- absolute; bijam -- seed; avismaran -- without being forgotten.

TRANSLATION

After sitting in the above manner, make the mind remember the three transcendental letters [a-u-m], and by regulating the breathing process, control the mind so as not to forget the transcendental seed.

PURPORT

Omkara, or the pranava, is the seed of transcendental realization, and it is composed of the three transcendental letters a-u-m. By its chanting by the mind, in conjunction with the breathing process, which is a transcendental but mechanical way of getting into trance, as devised by the experience of great mystics, one is able to bring the mind, which is materially absorbed, under control. This is the way of changing the habit of the mind. The mind is not to be killed. Mind or desire cannot be stopped, but to develop a desire to function for spiritual realization, the quality of engagement by the mind has to be changed. The mind is the pivot of the active sense organs, and as such if the quality of thinking, feeling and willing is changed, naturally the quality of actions by the instrumental senses will also change. Omkara is the seed of all transcendental sound and it is only the transcendental sound which can bring about the desired change of the mind and the senses. Even a mentally deranged man can be cured by treatment of transcendental sound. In the Bhagavad-gita, the pranava (omkara) has been accepted as the direct, literal representation of the Supreme Absolute Truth. One who is not able to chant directly the holy name of the Lord, as recommended above, can easily chant the pranava (omkara). This omkara is a note of address, such as "O my Lord," just as om hari om means "O my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." As we have explained before, the Lord's holy name is identical with the Lord Himself. So also is omkara. But persons who are unable to realize the transcendental personal form or name of the Lord on account of their imperfect senses (in other words, the neophytes) are trained to the practice of self-realization by this mechanical process of regulating the breathing function and simultaneously repeating the pranava (omkara) within the mind. As we have several times expressed, since the transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., of the Personality of Godhead are impossible to understand with the present material senses, it is necessary that through the mind, the center of sensual activities, such transcendental realization be set into motion. The devotees directly fix their minds on the Person of the Absolute Truth. But one who is unable to accommodate such personal features of the Absolute is disciplined in impersonality to train the mind to make further progress.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.17

2011-04-03T14:27:00.001+04:00

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.16

2011-04-03T14:26:00.001+04:00

grihat pravrajito dhirah

punya-tirtha-jalaplutah

sucau vivikta asino

vidhivat kalpitasane

SYNONYMS

grihat -- from one's home; pravrajitah -- having gone out; dhirah -- self-controlled; punya -- pious; tirtha -- sacred place; jala-aplutah -- fully washed; sucau -- cleansed; vivikte -- solitary; asinah -- seated; vidhivat -- according to regulations; kalpita -- having done; asane -- on a sitting place.

TRANSLATION

One should leave home and practice self-control. In a sacred place he should bathe regularly and sit down in a lonely place duly sanctified.

PURPORT

To prepare oneself for the better next life, one must get out of one's so-called home. The system of varnasrama-dharma, or sanatana-dharma, prescribes retirement from family encumbrances as early as possible after one has passed fifty years of age. Modern civilization is based on family comforts, the highest standard of amenities, and therefore after retirement everyone expects to live a very comfortable life in a well-furnished home decorated with fine ladies and children, without any desire to get out of such a comfortable home. High government officers and ministers stick to their prize posts until death, and they neither dream nor desire to get out of homely comforts. Bound by such hallucinations, materialistic men prepare various plans for a still more comfortable life, but suddenly cruel death comes without mercy and takes away the great planmaker against his desire, forcing him to give up the present body for another body. Such a planmaker is thus forced to accept another body in one of the 8,400,000 species of life according to the fruits of the work he has performed. In the next life, persons who are too much attached to family comforts are generally awarded lower species of life on account of sinful acts performed during a long duration of sinful life, and thus all the energy of the human life is spoiled. In order to be saved from the danger of spoiling the human form of life and being attached to unreal things, one must take warning of death at the age of fifty, if not earlier. The principle is that one should take it for granted that the death warning is already there, even prior to the attainment of fifty years of age, and thus at any stage of life one should prepare himself for a better next life. The system of the sanatana-dharma institution is so made that the follower is trained for the better next life without any chance that the human life will be spoiled. The holy places all over the world are meant for the residential purposes of retired persons getting ready for a better next life. Intelligent persons must go there at the end of life, and for that matter, after fifty years of age, to live a life of spiritual regeneration for the sake of being freed from family attachment, which is considered to he the shackle of material life. One is recommended to quit home just to get rid of material attachment because one who sticks to family life until death cannot get rid of material attachment and as long as one is materially attached one cannot understand spiritual freedom. One should not, however, become self-complacent simply by leaving home or by creating another home at the holy place, either lawfully or unlawfully. Many persons leave home and go to such holy places, but due to bad association, again become family men by illicit connection with the opposite sex. The illusory energy of matter is so strong that one is apt to be under such illusion at every stage of life, even after quitting one's happy home. Therefore, it is essential that one practice self-control by celibacy without the least desire for sex indulgence. For a man desiring to improve the condition of his existence, sex indulgence is considered suicidal, or even worse. Therefore, to live apart from family life means to become self-controlled in regard to all sense desires, especially sex desires. The method is that one should have a duly sanctified sitting place made of straw, deerskin and carpet, and thus sitting on it one should chant the holy name of the Lord without offense, as prescribed above. The whole process is to drag the mind from material engagements and fix it on the lotus feet of the Lord. This simple process alone will help one advance to the highest stage of spiritual success.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.15

2011-04-03T14:25:00.001+04:00

anta-kale tu purusha

agate gata-sadhvasah

chindyad asanga-sastrena

spriham dehe 'nu ye ca tam

SYNONYMS

anta-kale -- at the last stage of life; tu -- but; purushah -- a person; agate -- having arrived; gata-sadhvasah -- without any fear of death; chindyat -- must cut off; asanga -- nonattachment; sastrena -- by the weapon of; spriham -- all desires; dehe -- in the matter of the material tabernacle; anu -- pertaining; ye -- all that; ca -- also; tam -- them.

TRANSLATION

At the last stage of one's life, one should be bold enough not to be afraid of death. But one must cut off all attachment to the material body and everything pertaining to it and all desires thereof.

PURPORT

The foolishness of gross materialism is that people think of making a permanent settlement in this world, although it is a settled fact that one has to give up everything here that has been created by valuable human energy. Great statesmen, scientists, philosophers, etc., who are foolish, without any information of the spirit soul, think that this life of a few years only is all in all and that there is nothing more after death. This poor fund of knowledge, even in the so-called learned circles of the world, is killing the vitality of human energy, and the awful result is being keenly felt. And yet the foolish materialistic men do not care about what is going to happen in the next life. The preliminary instruction in the Bhagavad-gita is that one should know that the identity of the individual living entity is not lost even after the end of this present body, which is nothing but an outward dress only. As one changes an old garment, so the individual living being also changes his body, and this change of body is called death. Death is therefore a process of changing the body at the end of the duration of the present life. An intelligent person must be prepared for this and must try to have the best type of body in the next life. The best type of body is a spiritual body, which is obtained by those who go back to the kingdom of God or enter the realm of Brahman. In the second chapter of this canto, this matter will be broadly discussed, but as far as the change of body is concerned, one must prepare now for the next life. Foolish people attach more importance to the present temporary life, and thus the foolish leaders make appeals to the body and the bodily relations. The bodily relations extend not only to this body but also to the family members, wife, children, society, country and so many other things which end at the end of life. After death one forgets everything about the present bodily relations; we have a little experience of this at night when we go to sleep. While sleeping, we forget everything about this body and bodily relations, although this forgetfulness is a temporary situation for only a few hours. Death is nothing but sleeping for a few months in order to develop another term of bodily encagement, which we are awarded by the law of nature according to our aspiration. Therefore, one has only to change the aspiration during the course of this present body, and for this there is need of training in the current duration of human life. This training can be begun at any stage of life, or even a few seconds before death, but the usual procedure is for one to get the training from very early life, from the stage of brahmacarya, and gradually progress to the grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa orders of life. The institution which gives such training is called varnasrama-dharma, or the system of sanatana-dharma, the best procedure for making the human life perfect. One is therefore required to give up the attachment to family or social or political life just at the age of fifty years, if not earlier, and the training in the vanaprastha and sannyasa-asramas is given for preparation of the next life. Foolish materialists, in the garb of leaders of the people in general, stick to family affairs without attempting to cut off relations with them, and thus they become victims of nature's law and get gross bodies again, according to their work. Such foolish leaders may have some respect from the people at the end of life, but that does not mean that such leaders will be immune to the natural laws under which everyone is tightly bound by the hands and feet. The best thing is, therefore, that everyone voluntarily give up family relations by transferring attachment from family, society, country, and everything thereof to the devotional service of the Lord. It is stated herein that one should give up all desires of family attachment. One must have a chance for better desires; otherwise there is no chance of giving up such morbid desires. Desire is the concomitant factor of the living entity. The living entity is eternal, and therefore his desires, which are natural for a living being, are also eternal. One cannot, therefore, stop desiring, but the subject matter for desires can be changed. So one must develop the desires for returning back home, back to Godhead, and automatically the desires for material gain, material honor and material popularity will diminish in proportion to the development of devotional service. A living being is meant for service activities, and his desires are centered around such a service attitude. Beginning from the top executive head of the state down to the insignificant pauper in the street, all are rendering some sort of service to others. The perfection of such a service attitude is only attained simply by transferring the desire of service from matter to spirit, or from Satan to God.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.14

2011-04-03T14:24:00.000+04:00

tavapy etarhi kauravya

saptaham jivitavadhih

upakalpaya tat sarvam

tavad yat samparayikam

SYNONYMS

tava -- your; api -- also; etarhi -- therefore; kauravya -- O one born in the family of Kuru; saptaham -- seven days; jivita -- duration of life; avadhih -- up to the limit of; upakalpaya -- get them performed; tat -- those; sarvam -- all; tavat -- so long; yat -- which are; samparayikam -- rituals for the next life.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Parikshit, now your duration of life is limited to seven more days, so during this time you can perform all those rituals which are needed for the best purpose of your next life.

PURPORT

Sukadeva Gosvami, after citing the example of Maharaja Khatvanga, who prepared himself for the next life within a very short time, encouraged Maharaja Parikshit by saying that since he still had seven days at his disposal, he could easily take advantage of the time to prepare himself for the next life. Indirectly, the Gosvami told Maharaja Parikshit that be should take shelter of the sound representation of the Lord for the seven days still remaining in the duration of his life and thus get himself liberated. In other words, everyone can best prepare himself for the next life simply by hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam, as it was recited by Sukadeva Gosvami to Maharaja Parikshit. The rituals are not formal, but there are also some favorable conditions, which are required to be carried out, as instructed hereafter.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.13

2011-04-03T14:23:00.000+04:00

khatvango nama rajarshir

jnatveyattam ihayushah

muhurtat sarvam utsrijya

gatavan abhayam harim

SYNONYMS

khatvangah -- King Khatvanga; nama -- name; raja-rishih -- saintly king; jnatva -- by knowing; iyattam -- duration; iha -- in this world; ayushah -- of one's life; muhurtat -- within only a moment; sarvam -- everything; utsrijya -- leaving aside; gatavan -- had undergone; abhayam -- fully safe; harim -- the Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

The saintly King Khatvanga, after being informed that the duration of his life would be only a moment more, at once freed himself from all material activities and took shelter of the supreme safety, the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

A fully responsible man should always be conscious of the prime duty of the present human form of life. The activities to meet the immediate necessities of material life are not everything. One should always be alert in his duty for attainment of the best situation in the next life. Human life is meant for preparing ourselves for that prime duty. Maharaja Khatvanga is mentioned herein as a saintly king because even within the responsibility of the state management, he was not at all forgetful of the prime duty of life. Such was the case with other rajarshis (saintly kings), like Maharaja Yudhishthira and Maharaja Parikshit. They were all exemplary personalities on account of their being alert in discharging their prime duty. Maharaja Khatvanga was invited by the demigods in the higher planets to fight demons, and as a king he fought the battles to the full satisfaction of the demigods. The demigods, being fully satisfied with him, wanted to give him some benediction for material enjoyment, but Maharaja Khatvanga, being very much alert to his prime duty, inquired from the demigods about his remaining duration of life. This means that he was not as anxious to accumulate some material benediction from the demigods as he was to prepare himself for the next life. He was informed by the demigods, however, that his life would last only a moment longer. The king at once left the heavenly kingdom, which is always full of material enjoyment of the highest standard, and coming down to this earth, took ultimate shelter of the all-safe Personality of Godhead. He was successful in his great attempt and achieved liberation. This attempt, even for a moment, by the saintly king, was successful because he was always alert to his prime duty. Maharaja Parikshit was thus encouraged by the great Sukadeva Gosvami, even though he had only seven days left in his life to execute the prime duty of hearing the glories of the Lord in the form of Srimad-Bhagavatam. By the will of the Lord, Maharaja Parikshit instantly met the great Sukadeva Gosvami, and thus the great treasure of spiritual success left by him is nicely mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.12

2011-04-03T14:22:00.002+04:00

kim pramattasya bahubhih

parokshair hayanair iha

varam muhurtam viditam

ghatate sreyase yatah

SYNONYMS

kim -- what is; pramattasya -- of the bewildered; bahubhih -- by many; parokshaih -- inexperienced; hayanaih -- years; iha -- in this world; varam -- better; muhurtam -- a moment; viditam -- conscious; ghatate -- one can try for; sreyase -- in the matter of the supreme interest; yatah -- by that.

TRANSLATION

What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest.

PURPORT

Srila Sukadeva Gosvami instructed Maharaja Parikshit about the importance of the chanting of the holy name of the Lord by every progressive gentleman. In order to encourage the Ding, who had only seven remaining days of life, Srila Sukadeva Gosvami asserted that there is no use in living hundreds of years without any knowledge of the problems of life -- better to live for a moment with full consciousness of the supreme interest to be fulfilled. The supreme interest of life is eternal, with full knowledge and bliss. Those who are bewildered by the external features of the material world and are engaged in the animal propensities of the eat-drink-and-be-merry type of life are simply wasting their lives by the unseen passing away of valuable years. We should know in perfect consciousness that human life is bestowed upon the conditioned soul to achieve spiritual success, and the easiest possible procedure to attain this end is to chant the holy name of the Lord. In the previous verse, we have discussed this point to a certain extent, and we may further be enlightened on the different types of offenses committed unto the feet of the holy name. Srila Jiva Gosvami Prabhu has quoted many passages from authentic scriptures and has ably supported the statements in the matter of offenses at the feet of the holy name. From Vishnu-yamala Tantra, Srila Jiva Gosvami has proven that one can be liberated from the effects of all sins simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Quoting from the Markandeya Purana, Sri Gosvamiji says that one should neither blaspheme the devotee of the Lord nor indulge in hearing others who are engaged in belittling a devotee of the Lord. A devotee should try to restrict the vilifier by cutting out his tongue, and being unable to do so, one should commit suicide rather than hear the blaspheming of the devotee of the Lord. The conclusion is that one should neither hear nor allow vilification of a devotee of the Lord. As far as distinguishing the Lord's holy name from the names of the demigods, the revealed scriptures disclose (Bg. 10.41) that all extraordinarily powerful beings are but parts and parcels of the supreme energetic, Lord Krishna. Except for the Lord Himself, everyone is subordinate; no one is independent of the Lord. Since no one is more powerful than or equal to the energy of the Supreme Lord, no one's name can be as powerful as that of the Lord. By chanting the Lord's holy name, one can derive all the stipulated energy synchronized from all sources. Therefore, one should not equalize the supreme holy name of the Lord with any other name. Brahma, Siva or any other powerful god can never be equal to the Supreme Lord Vishnu. The powerful holy name of the Lord can certainly deliver one from sinful effects, but one who desires to utilize this transcendental potency of the holy name of the Lord in one's sinister activities is the most degraded person in the world. Such persons are never excused by the Lord or by any agent of the Lord. One should, therefore, utilize one's life in glorifying the Lord by all means, without any offense. Such activity of life, even for a moment, is never to be compared to a prolonged life of ignorance, like the lives of the tree and other living entities who may live for thousands of years without prosecuting spiritual advancement.

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.11

2011-04-03T14:22:00.001+04:00

etan nirvidyamananam

icchatam akuto-bhayam

yoginam nripa nirnitam

harer namanukirtanam

SYNONYMS

etat -- it is; nirvidyamananam -- of those who are completely free from all material desires; icchatam -- of those who are desirous of all sorts of material enjoyment; akutah-bhayam -- free from all doubts and fear; yoginam -- of all who are self-satisfied; nripa -- O King; nirnitam -- decided truth; hareh -- of the Lord, Sri Krishna; nama -- holy name; anu -- after someone, always; kirtanam -- chanting.

TRANSLATION

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

PURPORT

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited. There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits. Generally the persons are materialists who desire to enjoy the fullest extent of material gratification. Next to them are the transcendentalists, who have attained perfect knowledge about the nature of material enjoyment and thus are aloof from such an illusory way of life. More or less, they are satisfied in themselves by self-realization. Above them are the devotees of the Lord, who neither aspire to enjoy the material world nor desire to get out of it. They are after the satisfaction of the Lord, Sri Krishna. In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation. Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only. In this verse, Sri Sukadeva Gosvami recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord. By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes, etc. Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. This means that hearing from the authorities is the first essential. Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, about His attributes, His pastimes and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively. This process is recommended not only for the successful execution of devotional service, but also even for those who are materially attached. According to Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, this way of attaining success is an established fact, concluded not only by him, but also by all other previous acaryas. Therefore, there is no need of further evidence. The process is recommended not only for the progressive students in different departments of ideological success, but also for those who are already successful in their achievement as fruitive workers, as philosophers or as devotees of the Lord.

Srila Jiva Gosvami instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purana. One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord. One can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter of His holy name. But one cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at the feet of the holy name of the Lord. Such offenses are mentioned in the Padma Purana as being ten in number. The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about the glories of the Lord. The second offense is to see the holy names of the Lord in terms of worldly distinction. The Lord is the proprietor of all the universes, and therefore He may be known in different places by different names, but that does not in any way qualify the fullness of the Lord. Any nomenclature which is meant for the Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord. Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name of the Lord as it is locally understood. They are all auspicious, and one should not distinguish such names of the Lord as material commodities. The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized acaryas or spiritual masters. The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge. The fifth offense is to define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one's mundane calculation. The holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord Himself, and one should understand the holy name of the Lord to be nondifferent from Him. The sixth offense is to interpret the holy name. The Lord is not imaginary, nor is His holy name. There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge who think the Lord to be an imagination of the worshiper and therefore think His holy name to be imaginary. Such a chanter of the name of the Lord cannot achieve the desired success in the matter of chanting the holy name. The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. One who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification. In other words, one may be a sinful man before chanting the holy name of the Lord, but after taking shelter in the holy name of the Lord and becoming immune, one should strictly restrain oneself from committing sinful acts with a hope that his method of chanting the holy name will give him protection. The eighth offense is to consider the holy name of the Lord and His chanting method to be equal to some material auspicious activity. There are various kinds of good works for material benefits, but the holy name and His chanting are not mere auspicious holy services. Undoubtedly the holy name is holy service, but He should never be utilized for such purposes. Since the holy name and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the holy name into the service of mankind. The idea is that the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer. He is no one's servant or order supplier. Similarly, since the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord, one should not try to utilize the holy name for one's personal service.

The ninth offense is to instruct those who are not interested in chanting the holy name of the Lord about the transcendental nature of the holy name, if such instruction is imparted to an unwilling audience, the act is considered to be an offense at the feet of the holy name. The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the world to be meant for the enjoyment of one's self only. The whole materialistic world is moving under such false egoism of "I" and "mine," but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such misconceptions.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.10

2011-03-31T16:18:00.001+04:00

tad ahaḿ te 'bhidhāsyāmi

mahā-pauruṣiko bhavān

yasya śraddadhatām āśu

syān mukunde matiḥ satī

SYNONYMS

tat — that; aham — I; te — unto you; abhidhāsyāmi — shall recite; mahā-pauruṣikaḥ — the most sincere devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa; bhavān — your good self; yasya — of which; śraddadhatām — of one who gives full respect and attention; āśu — very soon; syāt — it so becomes; mukunde — unto the Lord, who awards salvation; matiḥ — faith; satī — unflinching.

TRANSLATION

That very Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam I shall recite before you because you are the most sincere devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. One who gives full attention and respect to hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam achieves unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord, the giver of salvation.

PURPORT

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is recognized Vedic wisdom, and the system of receiving Vedic knowledge is called avaroha-panthā, or the process of receiving transcendental knowledge through bona fide disciplic succession. For advancement of material knowledge there is a need for personal ability and researching aptitude, but in the case of spiritual knowledge, all progress depends more or less on the mercy of the spiritual master. The spiritual master must be satisfied with the disciple; only then is knowledge automatically manifest before the student of spiritual science. The process should not, however, be misunderstood to be something like magical feats whereby the spiritual master acts like a magician and injects spiritual knowledge into his disciple, as if surcharging him with an electrical current. The bona fide spiritual master reasonably explains everything to the disciple on the authorities of Vedic wisdom. The disciple can receive such teachings not exactly intellectually, but by submissive inquiries and a service attitude. The idea is that both the spiritual master and the disciple must be bona fide. In this case, the spiritual master, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, is ready to recite exactly what he has learned from his great father Śrīla Vyāsadeva, and the disciple, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, is a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. A devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is he who believes sincerely that by becoming a devotee of the Lord one becomes fully equipped with everything spiritual. This teaching is imparted by the Lord Himself in the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā, in which it is clearly described that the Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) is everything, and that to surrender unto Him solely and wholly makes one the most perfectly pious man. This unflinching faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa prepares one to become a student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and one who hears Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a devotee like Śukadeva Gosvāmī is sure to attain salvation at the end, as Mahārāja Parīkṣit did. The professional reciter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the pseudodevotees whose faith is based on one week's hearing are different from Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit. Śrīla Vyāsadeva explained Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam unto Śukadeva Gosvāmī from the very beginning of the janmādy asya [SB 1.1.1] verse, and so Śukadeva Gosvāmī also explained it to the Ding. Lord Kṛṣṇa is described as the Mahāpuruṣa in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Canto Eleven) in His devotional feature as Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in His devotional attitude, descended on earth to bestow special favors upon the fallen souls of this age of Kali. There are two verses particularly suitable to offer as prayers to this Mahāpuruṣa feature of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

dhyeyaḿ sadā paribhava-ghnam abhīṣṭa-dohaḿ

tīrthāspadaḿ śiva-viriñci-nutaḿ śaraṇyam

bhṛtyārti-haḿ praṇata-pāla bhavābdhi-potaḿ

vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam

tyaktvā su-dustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīḿ

dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam

māyā-mṛgaḿ dayitayepsitam anvadhāvad

vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam

(Bhāg. 11.5.33-34)

In other words, puruṣa means the enjoyer, and mahāpuruṣa means the supreme enjoyer, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa. One who deserves to approach the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is called the mahā-pauruṣika. Anyone who hears Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam attentively from its bona fide reciter is sure to become a sincere devotee of the Lord, who is able to award liberation. There was none so attentive as Mahārāja Parīkṣit in the matter of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and there was none so qualified as Śukadeva Gosvāmī to recite the text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore, anyone who follows in the footsteps of either the ideal reciter or the ideal hearer, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit respectively, will undoubtedly attain salvation like them. Mahārāja Parīkṣit attained salvation by hearing only, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī attained salvation only by reciting. Recitation and hearing are two processes out of nine devotional activities, and by strenuously following the principles, either in all or by parts, one can attain the absolute plane. So the complete text of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, beginning with the janmādy asya [SB 1.1.1] verse up to the last one in the Twelfth Canto, was spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī for the attainment of salvation by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. In the Padma Purāṇa, it is mentioned that Gautama Muni advised Mahārāja Ambarīṣa to hear regularly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it was recited by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and herein it is confirmed that Mahārāja Ambarīṣa heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the very beginning to the end, as it was spoken by Śukadeva Gosvāmī. One who is actually interested in the Bhāgavatam, therefore, must not play with it by reading or hearing a portion from here and a portion from there; one must follow in the footsteps of great kings like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa or Mahārāja Parīkṣit and hear it from a bona fide representative of Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.9

2011-03-31T16:17:00.002+04:00

pariniṣṭhito 'pi nairguṇya

uttama-śloka-līlayā

gṛhīta-cetā rājarṣe

ākhyānaḿ yad adhītavān

SYNONYMS

pariniṣṭhitaḥ — fully realized; api — in spite of; nairguṇye — in transcendence; uttama — enlightened; śloka — verse; līlayā — by the pastimes; gṛhīta — being attracted; cetāḥ — attention; rājarṣe — O saintly King; ākhyānam — delineation; yat — that; adhītavān — I have studied.

TRANSLATION

O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.

PURPORT

The Absolute Truth is realized as the impersonal Brahman at the first instance by philosophical speculation and later as the Supersoul by further progress of transcendental knowledge. But if, by the grace of the Lord, an impersonalist is enlightened by the superior statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is also converted into a transcendental devotee of the Personality of Godhead. With a poor fund of knowledge, we cannot adjust to the idea of the personality of the Absolute Truth, and the personal activities of the Lord are deplored by the less intelligent impersonalists; but reasons and arguments together with the transcendental process of approaching the Absolute Truth help even the staunch impersonalist to become attracted by the personal activities of the Lord. A person like Śukadeva Gosvāmī cannot be attracted by any mundane activity, but when such a devotee is convinced by a superior method, he is certainly attracted by the transcendental activities of the Lord. The Lord is transcendental, as are His activities. He is neither inactive nor impersonal.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.8

2011-03-31T16:17:00.001+04:00

idaḿ bhāgavataḿ nāma

purāṇaḿ brahma-sammitam

adhītavān dvāparādau

pitur dvaipāyanād aham

SYNONYMS

idam — this; bhāgavatam — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; nāma — of the name; purāṇam — Vedic supplement; brahma-sammitam — approved as the essence of the Vedas; adhītavān — studied; dvāpara-ādau — at the end of the Dvāpara-yuga; pituḥ — from my father; dvaipāyanāt — Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva; aham — myself.

TRANSLATION

At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga, I studied this great supplement of Vedic literature named Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is equal to all the Vedas, from my father, Śrīla Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva.

PURPORT

The statement made by Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī that the topmost transcendentalist, who is beyond the jurisdiction of regulations and restrictions, mainly takes to the task of hearing about and glorifying the Personality of Godhead, is verified by his personal example. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, being a recognized liberated soul and the topmost transcendentalist, was accepted by all of the topmost sages present in the meeting during the last seven days of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. He cites from the example of his life that he himself was attracted by the transcendental activities of the Lord, and he studied Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from his great father, Śrī Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or, for that matter, any other scientific literature, cannot be studied at home by one's own intellectual capacity. Medical books of anatomy or physiology are available in the market, but no one can become a qualified medical practitioner simply by reading such books at home. One has to be admitted to the medical college and study the books under the guidance of learned professors. Similarly, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the postgraduate study of the science of Godhead, can only be learned by studying it at the feet of a realized soul like Śrīla Vyāsadeva. Although Śukadeva Gosvāmī was a liberated soul from the very day of his birth, he still had to take lessons of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from his great father, Vyāsadeva, who compiled the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam under the instruction of another great soul, Śrī Nārada Muni. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed a learned brāhmaṇa to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from a personal bhāgavata. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is based on the transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, entourage and variegatedness of the Supreme Person, and it is spoken by the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Vyāsadeva. Pastimes of the Lord are executed in cooperation with His pure devotees, and consequently historical incidences are mentioned in this great literature because they are related to Kṛṣṇa. It is called brahma-sammitam because it is the sound representative of Lord Kṛṣṇa — like the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is the sound incarnation of the Lord because it is spoken by the Supreme Lord, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the sound representative of the Lord because it was spoken by the incarnation of the Lord about the activities of the Lord. As stated in the beginning of this book, it is the essence of the Vedic desire tree and the natural commentation on the Brahma-sūtras, the topmost philosophical thesis on the subject matter of Brahman. Vyāsadeva appeared at the end of Dvāpara-yuga as the son of Satyavatī, and therefore the word dvāpara-ādau, or "the beginning of Dvāpara-yuga," in this context means just prior to the beginning of the Kali-yuga. The logic of this statement, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, is comparable to that of calling the upper portion of the tree the beginning. The root of the tree is the beginning of the tree, but in common knowledge the upper portion of the tree is first seen. In that way the end of the tree is accepted as its beginning.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.7

2011-03-31T16:16:00.001+04:00

prāyeṇa munayo rājan

nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ

nairguṇya-sthā ramante sma

guṇānukathane hareḥ

SYNONYMS

prāyeṇa — mainly; munayaḥ — all sages; rājan — O King; nivṛttāḥ — above; vidhi — regulative principles; sedhataḥ — from restrictions; nairguṇya-sthāḥ — transcendentally situated; ramante — take pleasure in; sma — distinctly; guṇa-anukathane — describing the glories; hareḥ — of the Lord.

TRANSLATION

O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.

PURPORT

The topmost transcendentalist is a liberated soul and is therefore not within the purview of the regulative principles. A neophyte, who is intended to be promoted to the spiritual plane, is guided by the spiritual master under regulative principles. He may be compared to a patient who is treated by various restrictions under medical jurisdiction. Generally, liberated souls also take pleasure in describing the transcendental activities. As mentioned above, since Nārāyaṇa, Hari, the Personality of Godhead, is beyond the material creation, His form and attributes are not material. The topmost transcendentalists or the liberated souls realize Him by advanced experience of transcendental knowledge, and therefore they take pleasure in the discussion of the transcendental qualities of the Lord's pastimes. In the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), the personality of Godhead declares that His appearance and activities are all divyam, or transcendental. The common man, who is under the spell of material energy, takes it for granted that the Lord is like one of us, and therefore he refuses to accept the transcendental nature of the Lord's form, name, etc. The topmost transcendentalist is not interested in anything material, and his taking interest in the matter of the Lord's activities is definite proof that the Lord is not like one of us in the material world. In the Vedic literatures also, it is confirmed that the Supreme Lord is one, but that He is engaged in His transcendental pastimes in the company of His unalloyed devotees and that simultaneously He is present as the Supersoul, an expansion of Baladeva, in the heart of all living entities. Therefore, the highest perfection of transcendental realization is to take pleasure in hearing and describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord and not in merging into His impersonal Brahman existence, for which the impersonalist monist aspires. Real transcendental pleasure is realized in the glorification of the transcendental Lord, and not in the feeling of being situated in His impersonal feature. But there are also others who are not the topmost transcendentalists but are in a lower status, and who do not take pleasure in describing the transcendental activities of the Lord. Rather, they discuss such activities of the Lord formally with the aim of merging into His existence.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.6

2011-03-31T16:15:00.000+04:00

etāvān sāńkhya-yogābhyāḿ

sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā

janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puḿsām

ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ

SYNONYMS

etāvān — all these; sāńkhya — complete knowledge of matter and spirit; yogābhyām — knowledge of mystic power; sva-dharma — particular occupational duty; pariniṣṭhayā — by full perception; janma — birth; lābhaḥ — gain; paraḥ — the supreme; puḿsām — of a person; ante — at the end; nārāyaṇa — the Personality of Godhead; smṛtiḥ — remembrance.

TRANSLATION

The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.

PURPORT

Nārāyaṇa is the transcendental Personality of Godhead beyond the material creation. Everything that is created, sustained, and at the end annihilated is within the compass of the mahat-tattva (material principle) and is known as the material world. The existence of Nārāyaṇa, or the Personality of Godhead, is not within the jurisdiction of this mahat-tattva, and as such, the name, form, attributes, etc. of Nārāyaṇa are beyond the jurisdiction of the material world. By the speculation of empiric philosophy, which discerns matter from spirit, or by cultivation of mystic powers, which ultimately helps the performer to reach any planet of the universe or beyond the universe, or by discharge of religious duties, one can achieve the highest perfection, provided one is able to reach the stage of nārāyaṇa-smṛti, or constant remembrance of the Personality of Godhead. This is possible only by the association of a pure devotee, who can give a finishing touch to the transcendental activities of all jñānīs, yogīs, or karmīs, in terms of prescribed duties defined in the scriptures. There are many historical instances of the achievement of spiritual perfection, such as that of the Sanakādi Ṛṣis or the nine celebrated Yogendras, who attained perfection only after being situated in the devotional service of the Lord. None of the devotees of the Lord ever deviated from the path of devotional service by taking to other methods as adopted by the jñānīs or yogīs. Everyone is anxious to achieve the highest perfection of his particular activity, and it is indicated herein that such perfection is nārāyaṇa-smṛti, for which everyone must endeavor his best. In other words, life should be molded in such a manner that one is able to progressively remember the personality of Godhead in every step of life.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.5

2011-03-27T09:47:00.001+04:00

tasmād bhārata sarvātmā

bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ

śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca

smartavyaś cecchatābhayam

SYNONYMS

tasmāt — for this reason; bhārata — O descendant of Bharata; sarvātmā — the Supersoul; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; īśvaraḥ — the controller; hariḥ — the Lord, who vanquishes all miseries; śrotavyaḥ — is to be heard; kīrtitavyaḥ — to be glorified; ca — also; smartavyaḥ — to be remembered; ca — and; icchatā — of one who desires; abhayam — freedom.

TRANSLATION

O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.

PURPORT

In the previous verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī has described how the foolish materially attached men are wasting their valuable time in the improvement of the material conditions of life by sleeping, indulging in sex life, developing economic conditions and maintaining a band of relatives who are to be vanquished in the air of oblivion. Being engaged in all these materialistic activities, the living soul entangles himself in the cycle of the law of fruitive actions. This entails the chain of birth and death in the 8,400,000 species of life: the aquatics, the vegetables, the reptiles, the birds, the beasts, the uncivilized man, and then again the human form, which is the chance for getting out of the cycle of fruitive action. Therefore, if one desires freedom from this vicious circle, then one must cease to act as a karmī or enjoyer of the results of one's own work, good or bad. One should not do anything, either good or bad, on his own account, but must execute everything on behalf of the Supreme Lord, the ultimate proprietor of everything that be. This process of doing work is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) also, where instruction is given for working on the Lord's account. Therefore, one should first of all hear about the Lord. When one has perfectly and scrutinizingly heard, one must glorify His acts and deeds, and thus it will become possible to remember constantly the transcendental nature of the Lord. Hearing about and glorifying the Lord are identical with the transcendental nature of the Lord, and by so doing, one will be always in the association of the Lord. This brings freedom from all sorts of fear. The Lord is the Supersoul (Paramātmā) present in the hearts of all living beings, and thus by the above hearing and glorifying process, the Lord invites the association of all in His creation. This process of hearing about and glorifying the Lord is applicable for everyone, whoever he may be, and it will lead one to the ultimate success in everything in which one may be engaged by providence. There are many classes of human beings: the fruitive workers, the empiric philosophers, the mystic yogīs, and ultimately, the unalloyed devotees. For all of them, one and the same process is applicable for achieving the desired success. Everyone wants to be free from all kinds of fear, and everyone wants the fullest extent of happiness in life. The perfect process for achieving this, here and now, is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is uttered by such a great authority as Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī. By hearing about and glorifying the Lord, all a person's activities become molded into spiritual activities, and thus all conceptions of material miseries become completely vanquished.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.4

2011-03-27T09:46:00.002+04:00

dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv

ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api

teṣāḿ pramatto nidhanaḿ

paśyann api na paśyati

SYNONYMS

deha — body; apatya — children; kalatra — wife; ādiṣu — and in everything in relation to them; ātma — own; sainyeṣu — fighting soldiers; asatsu — fallible; api — in spite of; teṣām — of all of them; pramattaḥ — too attached; nidhanam — destruction; paśyan — having been experienced; api — although; na — does not; paśyati — see it.

TRANSLATION

Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.

PURPORT

This material world is called the world of death. Every living being, beginning from Brahmā, whose duration of life is some thousands of millions of years, down to the germs who live for a few seconds only, is struggling for existence. Therefore, this life is a sort of fight with material nature, which imposes death upon all. In the human form of life, a living being is competent enough to come to an understanding of this great struggle for existence, but being too attached to family members, society, country, etc., he wants to win over the invincible material nature by the aid of bodily strength, children, wife, relatives, etc. Although he is sufficiently experienced in the matter by dint of past experience and previous examples of his deceased predecessors, he does not see that the so-called fighting soldiers like the children, relatives, society members and countrymen are all fallible in the great struggle. One should examine the fact that his father or his father's father has already died, and that he himself is therefore also sure to die, and similarly, his children, who are the would be fathers of their children, will also die in due course. No one will survive in this struggle with material nature. The history of human society definitely proves it, yet the foolish people still suggest that in the future they will be able to live perpetually, with the help of material science. This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul. This material world exists only as a dream, due to our attachment to it. Otherwise, the living soul is always different from the material nature. The great ocean of material nature is tossing with the waves of time, and the so-called living conditions are something like foaming bubbles, which appear before us as bodily self, wife, children, society, countrymen, etc. Due to a lack of knowledge of self, we become victimized by the force of ignorance and thus spoil the valuable energy of human life in a vain search after permanent living conditions, which are impossible in this material world.

Our friends, relatives and so-called wives and children are not only fallible, but also bewildered by the outward glamor of material existence. As such, they cannot save us. Still we think that we are safe within the orbit of family, society or country.

The whole materialistic advancement of human civilization is like the decoration of a dead body. Everyone is a dead body flapping only for a few days, and yet all the energy of human life is being wasted in the decoration of this dead body. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is pointing out the duty of the human being after showing the actual position of bewildered human activities. Persons who are devoid of the knowledge of ātma-tattva are misguided, but those who are devotees of the Lord and have perfect realization of transcendental knowledge are not bewildered.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.3

2011-03-27T09:46:00.001+04:00

nidrayā hriyate naktaḿ

vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ

divā cārthehayā rājan

kuṭumba-bharaṇena vā

SYNONYMS

nidrayā — by sleeping; hriyate — wastes; naktam — night; vyavāyena — sex indulgence; ca — also; vā — either; vayaḥ — duration of life; divā — days; ca — and; artha — economic; īhayā — development; rājan — O King; kuṭumba — family members; bharaṇena — maintaining; vā — either.

TRANSLATION

The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.

PURPORT

The present human civilization is primarily based on the principles of sleeping and sex indulgence at night and earning money in the day and spending the same for family maintenance. Such a form of human civilization is condemned by the Bhāgavata school.

Because human life is a combination of matter and spirit soul, the whole process of Vedic knowledge is directed at liberating the spirit soul from the contamination of matter. The knowledge concerning this is called ātma-tattva. Those men who are too materialistic are unaware of this knowledge and are more inclined to economic development for material enjoyment. Such materialistic men are called karmīs, or fruitive laborers, and they are allowed regulated economic development or association of woman for sex indulgence. Those who are above the karmīs, that is, the jñānīs, yogīs and devotees, are strictly prohibited from sex indulgence. The karmīs are more or less devoid of ātma-tattva knowledge, and as such, their life is spent without spiritual profit. The human life is not meant for hard labor for economic development, nor is it meant for sex indulgence like that of the dogs and hogs. It is specially meant for making a solution to the problems of material life and the miseries thereof. So the karmīs waste their valuable human life by sleeping and sex indulgence at night, and by laboring hard in the daytime to accumulate wealth, and after doing so, they try to improve the standard of materialistic life. The materialistic way of life is described herein in a nutshell, and how foolishly men waste the boon of human life is described as follows.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.2

2011-03-27T09:45:00.000+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.2

śrotavyādīni rājendra

nṛṇāḿ santi sahasraśaḥ

apaśyatām ātma-tattvaḿ

gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām

SYNONYMS

śrotavya-ādīni — subject matters for hearing; rājendra — O Emperor; nṛṇām — of human society; santi — there are; sahasraśaḥ — hundreds and thousands; apaśyatām — of the blind; ātma-tattvam — knowledge of self, the ultimate truth; gṛheṣu — at home; gṛha-medhinām — of persons too materially engrossed.

TRANSLATION

Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, leave many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.

PURPORT

In the revealed scriptures there are two nomenclatures for the householder's life. One is gṛhastha, and the other is gṛhamedhī. The gṛhasthas are those who live together with wife and children but live transcendentally for realizing the ultimate truth. The gṛhamedhīs, however, are those who live only for the benefit of the family members, extended or centralized, and thus are envious of others. The word medhī indicates jealousy of others. The gṛhamedhīs, being interested in family affairs only, are certainly envious of others. Therefore, one gṛhamedhī is not on good terms with another gṛhamedhī, and in the extended form, one community, society or nation is not on good terms with another counterpart of selfish interest. In the age of Kali, all the householders are jealous of one another because they are blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth. They have many subject matters for hearing — political, scientific, social, economic and so on — but due to a poor fund of knowledge, they set aside the question of the ultimate miseries of life, namely miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. Factually, the human life is meant for making an ultimate solution to birth, death, old age and disease, but the gṛhamedhīs, being illusioned by the material nature, forget everything about self-realization. The ultimate solution to the problems of life is to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (8.16), the miseries of material existence — birth, death, old age and disease — are removed.

The process of going back home, back to Godhead, is to hear about the Supreme Lord and His name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia and variegatedness. Foolish people do not know this. They want to hear something about the name, form, etc., of everything temporary, and they do not know how to utilize this propensity of hearing for the ultimate good. Misguided as they are, they also create some false literatures about the name, form, attributes, etc., of the ultimate truth. One should not, therefore, become a gṛhamedhī simply to exist for envying others; one should become a real householder in terms of the scriptural injunctions.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1.1

2011-03-27T09:44:00.000+04:00

śrī-śuka uvāca

varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ

kṛto loka-hitaḿ nṛpa

ātmavit-sammataḥ puḿsāḿ

śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; varīyān — glorious; eṣaḥ — this; te — your; praśnaḥ — question; kṛtaḥ — made by you; loka-hitam — beneficial for all men; nṛpa — O King; ātmavit — transcendentalist; sammataḥ — approved; puḿsām — of all men; śrotavya-ādiṣu — in all kinds of hearing; yaḥ — what is; paraḥ — the supreme.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: My dear King, your question is glorious because it is very beneficial to all kinds of people. The answer to this question is the prime subject matter for hearing, and it is approved by all transcendentalists.

PURPORT

Even the very question is so nice that it is the best subject matter for hearing. Simply by such questioning and hearing, one can achieve the highest perfectional stage of life. Because Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Person, any question about Him is original and perfect. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that the highest perfection of life is to achieve the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa. Because questions and answers about Kṛṣṇa elevate one to that transcendental position, the questions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit about Kṛṣṇa philosophy are greatly glorified. Mahārāja Parīkṣit wanted to absorb his mind completely in Kṛṣṇa, and such absorption can be effected simply by hearing about the uncommon activities of Kṛṣṇa. For instance, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that simply by understanding the transcendental nature of Lord Kṛṣṇa's appearance, disappearance, and activities, one can immediately return home, back to Godhead, and never come back to this miserable condition of material existence. It is very auspicious, therefore, to hear always about Kṛṣṇa. So Mahārāja Parīkṣit requested Śukadeva Gosvāmī to narrate the activities of Kṛṣṇa so that he could engage his mind in Kṛṣṇa. The activities of Kṛṣṇa are nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa Himself. As long as one is engaged in hearing such transcendental activities of Kṛṣṇa, he remains aloof from the conditional life of material existence. The topics of Lord Kṛṣṇa are so auspicious that they purify the speaker, the hearer and the inquirer. They are compared to the Ganges waters, which flow from the toe of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Wherever the Ganges waters go, they purify the land and the person who bathes in them. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-kathā, or the topics of Kṛṣṇa, are so pure that wherever they are spoken, the place, the hearer, the inquirer, the speaker and all concerned become purified.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.1. Invocation

2011-03-27T09:39:00.000+04:00

Canto 2: The Cosmic Manifestation Chapter 1: The First Step in God Realization

oḿ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

SYNONYMS

oḿ — O my Lord; namaḥ — my respectful obeisances unto You; bhagavate — unto the Personality of Godhead; vāsudevāya — unto Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva.

TRANSLATION

O my Lord, the all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.

PURPORT

Vāsudevāya means "to Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva." Since by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, one can achieve all the good results of charity, austerity and penances, it is to be understood that by the chanting of this mantra, oḿ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, the author or the speaker or any one of the readers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is offering respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, the reservoir of all pleasure. In the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the principles of creation are described, and thus the First Canto may be called "Creation."

Similarly, in the Second Canto, the post-creation cosmic manifestation is described. The different planetary systems are described in the Second Canto as different parts of the universal body of the Lord. For this reason, the Second Canto may be called "The Cosmic Manifestation." There are ten chapters in the Second Canto, and in these ten chapters the purpose of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the different symptoms of this purpose are narrated. The first chapter describes the glories of chanting, and it hints at the process by which the neophyte devotees may perform meditation on the universal form of the Lord. In the first verse, Śukadeva Gosvāmī replies to the questions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who asked him about one's duties at the point of death. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was glad to receive Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and he was proud of being a descendant of Arjuna, the intimate friend of Kṛṣṇa. personally, he was very humble and meek, but he expressed his gladness that Lord Kṛṣṇa was very kind to his grandfathers, the sons of Pāṇḍu, especially his own grandfather, Arjuna. And because Lord Kṛṣṇa was always pleased with Mahārāja Parīkṣit's family, at the verge of Mahārāja Parīkṣit's death Śukadeva Gosvāmī was sent to help him in the process of self-realization. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa from his childhood, so he had natural affection for Kṛṣṇa. Śukadeva Gosvāmī could understand his devotion. Therefore, he welcomed the questions about the King's duty. Because the King hinted that worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate function of every living entity, Śukadeva Gosvāmī welcomed the suggestion and said, "Because you have raised questions about Kṛṣṇa, your question is most glorious." The translation of the first verse is as follows.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.40

2011-03-24T10:03:00.002+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.40

sūta uvāca

evam ābhāṣitaḥ pṛṣṭaḥ

sa rājñā ślakṣṇayā girā

pratyabhāṣata dharma-jño

bhagavān bādarāyaṇiḥ

SYNONYMS

sūtaḥ uvāca — Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī said; evam — thus; ābhāṣitaḥ — being spoken; pṛṣṭaḥ — and asked for; saḥ — he; rājñā — by the King; ślakṣṇayā — by sweet; girā — language; pratyabhāṣata — began to reply; dharma-jñaḥ — one who knows the principles of religion; bhagavān — the powerful personality; bādarāyaṇiḥ — son of Vyāsadeva.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī said: The King thus spoke and questioned the sage, using sweet language. Then the great and powerful personality, the son of Vyāsadeva, who knew the principles of religion, began his reply.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the First Canto, Nineteenth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "The Appearance of Śukadeva Gosvāmī."

END OF THE FIRST CANTO

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.39

2011-03-24T10:03:00.001+04:00

nūnaḿ bhagavato brahman

gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām

na lakṣyate hy avasthānam

api go-dohanaḿ kvacit

SYNONYMS

nūnam — because; bhagavataḥ — of you, who are powerful; brahman — O brāhmaṇa; gṛheṣu — in the houses; gṛha-medhinām — of the householders; na — not; lakṣyate — are seen; hi — exactly; avasthānam — staying in; api — even; go-dohanam — milking the cow; kvacit — rarely.

TRANSLATION

O powerful brāhmaṇa, it is said that you hardly stay in the houses of men long enough to milk a cow.

PURPORT

Saints and sages in the renounced order of life go to the houses of the householders at the time they milk the cows, early in the morning, and ask some quantity of milk for subsistence. A pound of milk fresh from the milk bag of a cow is sufficient to feed an adult with all vitamin values, and therefore saints and sages live only on milk. Even the poorest of the householders keep at least ten cows, each delivering twelve to twenty quarts of milk, and therefore no one hesitates to spare a few pounds of milk for the mendicants. It is the duty of householders to maintain the saints and sages, like the children. So a saint like Śukadeva Gosvāmī would hardly stay at the house of a householder for more than five minutes in the morning. In other words, such saints are very rarely seen in the houses of householders, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit therefore prayed to him to instruct him as soon as possible. The householders also should be intelligent enough to get some transcendental information from visiting sages. The householder should not foolishly ask a saint to deliver what is available in the market. That should be the reciprocal relation between the saints and the householders.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.38

2011-03-24T10:02:00.001+04:00

yac chrotavyam atho japyaḿ

yat kartavyaḿ nṛbhiḥ prabho

smartavyaḿ bhajanīyaḿ vā

brūhi yad vā viparyayam

SYNONYMS

yat — whatever; śrotavyam — worth hearing; atho — thereof; japyam — chanted; yat — what also; kartavyam — executed; nṛbhiḥ — by the people in general; prabho — O master; smartavyam — that which is remembered; bhajanīyam — worshipable; vā — either; brūhi — please explain; yad vā — what it may be; viparyayam — against the principle.

TRANSLATION

Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.37

2011-03-24T10:01:00.000+04:00

ataḥ pṛcchāmi saḿsiddhiḿ

yogināḿ paramaḿ gurum

puruṣasyeha yat kāryaḿ

mriyamāṇasya sarvathā

SYNONYMS

ataḥ — therefore; pṛcchāmi — beg to inquire; saḿsiddhim — the way of perfection; yoginām — of the saints; paramam — the supreme; gurum — the spiritual master; puruṣasya — of a person; iha — in this life; yat — whatever; kāryam — duty; mriyamāṇasya — of one who is going to die; sarvathā — in every way.

TRANSLATION

You are the spiritual master of great saints and devotees. I am therefore begging you to show the way of perfection for all persons, and especially for one who is about to die.

PURPORT

Unless one is perfectly anxious to inquire about the way of perfection, there is no necessity of approaching a spiritual master. A spiritual master is not a kind of decoration for a householder. Generally a fashionable materialist engages a so-called spiritual master without any profit. The pseudo spiritual master flatters the so-called disciple, and thereby both the master and his ward go to hell without a doubt. Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the right type of disciple because he puts forward questions vital to the interest of all men, particularly for the dying men. The question put forward by Mahārāja Parīkṣit is the basic principle of the complete thesis of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now let us see how intelligently the great master replies.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.36

2011-02-17T16:11:00.002+04:00

anyathā te 'vyakta-gater

darśanaḿ naḥ kathaḿ nṛṇām

nitarāḿ mriyamāṇānāḿ

saḿsiddhasya vanīyasaḥ

SYNONYMS

anyathā — otherwise; te — your; avyakta-gateḥ — of one whose movements are invisible; darśanam — meeting; naḥ — for us; katham — how; nṛṇām — of the people; nitarām — specifically; mriyamāṇānām — of those who are about to die; saḿsiddhasya — of one who is all-perfect; vanīyasaḥ — voluntary appearance.

TRANSLATION

Otherwise [without being inspired by Lord Kṛṣṇa] how is it that you have voluntarily appeared here, though you are moving incognito to the common man and are not visible to us who are on the verge of death?

PURPORT

The great sage Śukadeva Gosvāmī was certainly inspired by Lord Kṛṣṇa to appear voluntarily before Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the great devotee of the Lord, just to give him the teachings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One can achieve the nucleus of the devotional service of the Lord by the mercy of the spiritual master and the Personality of Godhead. The spiritual master is the manifested representative of the Lord to help one achieve ultimate success. One who is not authorized by the Lord cannot become a spiritual master. Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī is an authorized spiritual master, and thus he was inspired by the Lord to appear before Mahārāja Parīkṣit and instruct him in the teachings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One can achieve the ultimate success of going back to Godhead if he is favored by the Lord's sending His true representative. As soon as a true representative of the Lord is met by a devotee of the Lord, the devotee is assured a guarantee for going back to Godhead just after leaving the present body. This, however, depends on the sincerity of the devotee himself. The Lord is seated in the heart of all living beings, and thus he knows very well the movements of all individual persons. As soon as the Lord finds that a particular soul is very eager to go back to Godhead, the Lord at once sends His bona fide representative. The sincere devotee is thus assured by the Lord of going back to Godhead. The conclusion is that to get the assistance and help of a bona fide spiritual master means to receive the direct help of the Lord Himself.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.35

2011-02-17T16:11:00.001+04:00

api me bhagavān prītaḥ

kṛṣṇaḥ pāṇḍu-suta-priyaḥ

paitṛ-ṣvaseya-prīty-arthaḿ

tad-gotrasyātta-bāndhavaḥ

SYNONYMS

api — definitely; me — unto me; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; prītaḥ — pleased; kṛṣṇaḥ — the Lord; pāṇḍu-suta — the sons of King Pāṇḍu; priyaḥ — dear; paitṛ — in relation with the father; svaseya — the sons of the sister; prīti — satisfaction; artham — in the matter of; tat — their; gotrasya — of the descendant; ātta — accepted; bāndhavaḥ — as a friend.

TRANSLATION

Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is very dear to the sons of King Pāṇḍu, has accepted me as one of those relatives just to please His great cousins and brothers.

PURPORT

A pure and exclusive devotee of the Lord serves his family interest more dexterously than others, who are attached to illusory family affairs. Generally people are attached to family matters, and the whole economic impetus of human society is moving under the influence of family affection. Such deluded persons have no information that one can render better service to the family by becoming a devotee of the Lord. The Lord gives special protection to the family members and descendants of a devotee, even though such members are themselves nondevotees! Mahārāja Prahlāda was a great devotee of the Lord, but his father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, was a great atheist and declared enemy of the Lord. But despite all this, Hiraṇyakaśipu was awarded salvation due to his being the father of Mahārāja Prahlāda. The Lord is so kind that he gives all protection to the family members of His devotee, and thus the devotee has no need to bother about his family members, even if one leaves such family members aside to discharge devotional service. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers were the sons of Kuntī, the paternal aunt of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit admits the patronage of Lord Kṛṣṇa because of his being the only grandson of the great Pāṇḍavas.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.34

2011-02-17T16:10:00.001+04:00

sānnidhyāt te mahā-yogin

pātakāni mahānty api

sadyo naśyanti vai puḿsāḿ

viṣṇor iva suretarāḥ

SYNONYMS

sānnidhyāt — on account of the presence; te — your; mahā-yogin — O great mystic; pātakāni — sins; mahānti — invulnerable; api — in spite of; sadyaḥ — immediately; naśyanti — vanquished; vai — certainly; puḿsām — of a person; viṣṇoḥ — like the presence of the Personality of Godhead; iva — like; sura-itarāḥ — other than the demigods.

TRANSLATION

Just as the atheist cannot remain in the presence of the Personality of Godhead, so also the invulnerable sins of a man are immediately vanquished in your presence, O saint! O great mystic!

PURPORT

There are two classes of human beings, namely the atheist and the devotee of the Lord. The devotee of the Lord, because of manifesting godly qualities, is called a demigod, whereas the atheist is called a demon. The demon cannot stand the presence of Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead. The demons are always busy in trying to vanquish the Personality of Godhead, but factually as soon as the Personality of Godhead appears, by either His transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, paraphernalia or variegatedness, the demon is at once vanquished. It is said that a ghost cannot remain as soon as the holy name of the Lord is chanted. The great saints and devotees of the Lord are in the list of His paraphernalia, and thus as soon as a saintly devotee is present, the ghostly sins are at once vanquished. That is the verdict of all Vedic literatures. One is recommended, therefore, to associate only with saintly devotees so that worldly demons and ghosts cannot exert their sinister influence.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.33

2011-02-17T16:09:00.002+04:00

yeṣāḿ saḿsmaraṇāt puḿsāḿ

sadyaḥ śuddhyanti vai gṛhāḥ

kiḿ punar darśana-sparśa-

pāda-śaucāsanādibhiḥ

SYNONYMS

yeṣām — of whom; saḿsmaraṇāt — by remembrance; puḿsām — of a person; sadyaḥ — instantly; śuddhyanti — cleanses; vai — certainly; gṛhāḥ — all houses; kim — what; punaḥ — then; darśana — meeting; sparśa — touching; pāda — the feet; śauca — washing; āsana-ādibhiḥ — by offering a seat, etc.

TRANSLATION

Simply by our remembering you, our houses become instantly sanctified. And what to speak of seeing you, touching you, washing your holy feet and offering you a seat in our home?

PURPORT

The importance of holy places of pilgrimage is due to the presence of great sages and saints. It is said that sinful persons go to the holy places and leave their sins there to accumulate. But the presence of the great saints disinfects the accumulated sins, and thus the holy places continue to remain sanctified by the grace of the devotees and saints present there. If such saints appear in the homes of worldly people, certainly the accumulated sins of such worldly enjoyers become neutralized. Therefore, the holy saints actually have no self-interest with the householders. The only aim of such saints is to sanctify the houses of the householders, and the householders therefore should feel grateful when such saints and sages appear at their doors. A householder who dishonors such holy orders is a great offender. It is enjoined, therefore, that a householder who does not bow down before a saint at once must undergo fasting for the day in order to neutralize the great offense.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.32

2011-02-17T16:09:00.001+04:00

parīkṣid uvāca

aho adya vayaḿ brahman

sat-sevyāḥ kṣatra-bandhavaḥ

kṛpayātithi-rūpeṇa

bhavadbhis tīrthakāḥ kṛtāḥ

SYNONYMS

parīkṣit uvāca — the fortunate Mahārāja Parīkṣit said; aho — ah; adya — today; vayam — we; brahman — O brāhmaṇa; sat-sevyāḥ — eligible to serve the devotee; kṣatra — the ruling class; bandhavaḥ — friends; kṛpayā — by your mercy; atithi-rūpeṇa — in the manner of a guest; bhavadbhiḥ — by your good self; tīrthakāḥ — qualified for being places of pilgrimage; kṛtāḥ — done by you.

TRANSLATION

The fortunate King Parīkṣit said: O brāhmaṇa, by your mercy only, you have sanctified us, making us like unto places of pilgrimage, all by your presence here as my guest. By your mercy, we, who are but unworthy royalty, become eligible to serve the devotee.

PURPORT

Saintly devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī generally do not approach worldly enjoyers, especially those in royal orders. Mahārāja Pratāparudra was a follower of Lord Caitanya, but when he wanted to see the Lord, the Lord refused to see him because he was a king. For a devotee who desires to go back to Godhead, two things are strictly prohibited: worldly enjoyers and women. Therefore, devotees of the standard of Śukadeva Gosvāmī are never interested in seeing kings. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was, of course, a different case. He was a great devotee, although a king, and therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī came to see him in his last stage of life. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, out of his devotional humility, felt himself an unworthy descendant of his great kṣatriya forefathers, although he was as great as his predecessors. The unworthy sons of the royal orders are called kṣatra-bandhavas, as the unworthy sons of the brāhmaṇas are called dvija-bandhus or brahma-bandhus. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was greatly encouraged by the presence of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. He felt himself sanctified by the presence of the great saint whose presence turns any place into a place of pilgrimage.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.31

2011-02-17T16:08:00.000+04:00

praśāntam āsīnam akuṇṭha-medhasaḿ

muniḿ nṛpo bhāgavato 'bhyupetya

praṇamya mūrdhnāvahitaḥ kṛtāñjalir

natvā girā sūnṛtayānvapṛcchat

SYNONYMS

praśāntam — perfectly pacified; āsīnam — sitting; akuṇṭha — without hesitation; medhasam — one who has sufficient intelligence; munim — unto the great sage; nṛpaḥ — the King (Mahārāja Parīkṣit); bhāgavataḥ — the great devotee; abhyupetya — approaching him; praṇamya — bowing down; mūrdhnā — his head; avahitaḥ — properly; kṛta-añjaliḥ — with folded hands; natvā — politely; girā — by words; sūnṛtayā — in sweet voices; anvapṛcchat — inquired.

TRANSLATION

The sage Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī sat perfectly pacified, intelligent and ready to answer any question without hesitation. The great devotee, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, approached him, offered his respects by bowing before him, and politely inquired with sweet words and folded hands.

PURPORT

The gesture now adopted by Mahārāja Parīkṣit of questioning a master is quite befitting in terms of scriptural injunctions. The scriptural injunction is that one should humbly approach a spiritual master to understand the transcendental science. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was now prepared for meeting his death, and within the very short time of seven days he was to know the process of entering the kingdom of God. In such important cases, one is required to approach a spiritual master. There is no necessity of approaching a spiritual master unless one is in need of solving the problems of life. One who does not know how to put questions before the spiritual master has no business seeing him. And the qualification of the spiritual master is perfectly manifested in the person of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Both the spiritual master and the disciple, namely Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit, attained perfection through the medium of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śukadeva Gosvāmī learned Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from his father, Vyāsadeva, but he had no chance to recite it. Before Mahārāja Parīkṣit he recited Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and answered the questions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit unhesitatingly, and thus both the master and the disciple got salvation.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.30

2011-02-12T18:19:00.002+04:00

sa saḿvṛtas tatra mahān mahīyasāḿ

brahmarṣi-rājarṣi-devarṣi-sańghaiḥ

vyarocatālaḿ bhagavān yathendur

graharkṣa-tārā-nikaraiḥ parītaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī; saḿvṛtaḥ — surrounded by; tatra — there; mahān — great; mahīyasām — of the greatest; brahmarṣi — saint among the brāhmaṇas; rājarṣi — saint among the kings; devarṣi — saint among the demigods; sańghaiḥ — by the assembly of; vyarocata — well deserved; alam — able; bhagavān — powerful; yathā — as; induḥ — the moon; graha — planets; ṛkṣa — heavenly bodies; tārā — stars; nikaraiḥ — by the assembly of; parītaḥ — surrounded by.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī was then surrounded by saintly sages and demigods just as the moon is surrounded by stars, planets and other heavenly bodies. His presence was gorgeous, and he was respected by all.

PURPORT

In the great assembly of saintly personalities, there was Vyāsadeva the brahmarṣi, Nārada the devarṣi, Paraśurāma the great ruler of the kṣatriya kings, etc. Some of them were powerful incarnations of the Lord. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was not known as brahmarṣi, rājarṣi or devarṣi, nor was he an incarnation like Nārada, Vyāsa or Paraśurāma. And yet he excelled them in respects paid. This means that the devotee of the Lord is more honored in the world than the Lord Himself. One should therefore never minimize the importance of a devotee like Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.29

2011-02-12T18:19:00.001+04:00

sa viṣṇu-rāto 'tithaya āgatāya

tasmai saparyāḿ śirasājahāra

tato nivṛttā hy abudhāḥ striyo 'rbhakā

mahāsane sopaviveśa pūjitaḥ

SYNONYMS

saḥ — he; viṣṇu-rātaḥ — Mahārāja Parīkṣit (who is always protected by Lord Viṣṇu); atithaye — to become a guest; āgatāya — one who arrived there; tasmai — unto him; saparyām — with the whole body; śirasā — with bowed head; ājahāra — offered obeisances; tataḥ — thereafter; nivṛttāḥ — ceased; hi — certainly; abudhāḥ — less intelligent; striyaḥ — women; arbhakāḥ — boys; mahā-āsane — exalted seat; sa — he; upaviveśa — sat down; pūjitaḥ — being respected.

TRANSLATION

Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who is also known as Viṣṇurāta [one who is always protected by Viṣṇu], bowed his head to receive the chief guest, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. At that time all the ignorant women and boys ceased following Śrīla Śukadeva. Receiving respect from all, Śukadeva Gosvāmī took his exalted seat.

PURPORT

On Śukadeva Gosvāmī's arrival at the meeting, everyone, except Śrīla Vyāsadeva, Nārada and a few others, stood up, and Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who was glad to receive a great devotee of the Lord, bowed down before him with all the limbs of his body. Śukadeva Gosvāmī also exchanged the greetings and reception by embrace, shaking of hands, nodding and bowing down, especially before his father and Nārada Muni. Thus he was offered the presidential seat at the meeting. When he was so received by the king and sages, the street boys and less intelligent women who followed him were struck with wonder and fear. So they retired from their frivolous activities, and everything was full of gravity and calm.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.28

2011-02-12T18:18:00.001+04:00

śyāmaḿ sadāpīvya-vayo-'ńga-lakṣmyā

strīṇāḿ mano-jñaḿ rucira-smitena

pratyutthitās te munayaḥ svāsanebhyas

tal-lakṣaṇa-jñā api gūḍha-varcasam

SYNONYMS

śyāmam — blackish; sadā — always; apīvya — excessively; vayaḥ — age; ańga — symptoms; lakṣmyā — by the opulence of; strīṇām — of the fair sex; manaḥ-jñam — attractive; rucira — beautiful; smitena — smiling; pratyutthitāḥ — stood up; te — all of them; munayaḥ — the great sages; sva — own; āsanebhyaḥ — from the seats; tat — those; lakṣaṇa-jñāḥ — expert in the art of physiognomy; api — even; gūḍha-varcasam — covered glories.

TRANSLATION

He was blackish and very beautiful due to his youth. Because of the glamor of his body and his attractive smiles, he was pleasing to women. Though he tried to cover his natural glories, the great sages present there were all expert in the art of physiognomy, and so they honored him by rising from their seats.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.27

2011-02-12T18:17:00.000+04:00

nigūḍha-jatruḿ pṛthu-tuńga-vakṣasam

āvarta-nābhiḿ vali-valgūdaraḿ ca

dig-ambaraḿ vaktra-vikīrṇa-keśaḿ

pralamba-bāhuḿ svamarottamābham

SYNONYMS

nigūḍha — covered; jatrum — collarbone; pṛthu — broad; tuńga — swollen; vakṣasam — chest; āvarta — whirled; nābhim — navel; vali-valgu — striped; udaram — abdomen; ca — also; dik-ambaram — dressed by all directions (naked); vaktra — curled; vikīrṇa — scattered; keśam — hair; pralamba — elongated; bāhum — hands; su-amara-uttama — the best among the gods (Kṛṣṇa); ābham — hue.

TRANSLATION

His collarbone was fleshy, his chest broad and thick, his navel deep and his abdomen beautifully striped. His arms were long, and curly hair was strewn over his beautiful face. He was naked, and the hue of his body reflected that of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

PURPORT

His bodily features indicate him to be different from common men. All the signs described in connection with the bodily features of Śukadeva Gosvāmī are uncommon symptoms, typical of great personalities, according to physiognomical calculations. His bodily hue resembled that of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the supreme among the gods, demigods and all living beings.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.26

2011-02-12T18:16:00.003+04:00

taḿ dvyaṣṭa-varṣaḿ su-kumāra-pāda-

karoru-bāhv-aḿsa-kapola-gātram

cārv-āyatākṣonnasa-tulya-karṇa-

subhrv-ānanaḿ kambu-sujāta-kaṇṭham

SYNONYMS

tam — him; dvi-aṣṭa — sixteen; varṣam — years; su-kumāra — delicate; pāda — legs; kara — hands; ūru — thighs; bāhu — arms; aḿsa — shoulders; kapola — forehead; gātram — body; cāru — beautiful; āyata — broad; akṣa — eyes; unnasa — high nose; tulya — similar; karṇa — ears; subhru — nice brows; ānanam — face; kambu — conchshell; sujāta — nicely built; kaṇṭham — neck.

TRANSLATION

This son of Vyāsadeva was only sixteen years old. His legs, hands, thighs, arms, shoulders, forehead and the other parts of his body were all delicately formed. His eyes were beautifully wide, and his nose and ears were highly raised. He had a very attractive face, and his neck was well formed and beautiful like a conchshell.

PURPORT

A respectable personality is described beginning with the legs, and this honored system is observed here with Śukadeva Gosvāmī. He was only sixteen years of age. A person is honored for his achievements and not for advanced age. A person can be older by experience and not by age. Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who is described herein as the son of Vyāsadeva, was by his knowledge more experienced than all the sages present there, although he was only sixteen years old.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.26

2011-02-12T18:16:00.002+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.25

2011-02-12T18:16:00.001+04:00

tatrābhavad bhagavān vyāsa-putro

yadṛcchayā gām aṭamāno 'napekṣaḥ

alakṣya-lińgo nija-lābha-tuṣṭo

vṛtaś ca bālair avadhūta-veṣaḥ

SYNONYMS

tatra — there; abhavat — appeared; bhagavān — powerful; vyāsa-putraḥ — son of Vyāsadeva; yadṛcchayā — as one desires; gām — the earth; aṭamānaḥ — while traveling; anapekṣaḥ — disinterested; alakṣya — unmanifested; lińgaḥ — symptoms; nija-lābha — self-realized; tuṣṭaḥ — satisfied; vṛtaḥ — surrounded; ca — and; bālaiḥ — by children; avadhūta — neglected by others; veṣaḥ — dressed.

TRANSLATION

At that moment there appeared the powerful son of Vyāsadeva, who traveled over the earth disinterested and satisfied with himself. He did not manifest any symptoms of belonging to any social order or status of life. He was surrounded with women and children, and he dressed as if others had neglected him.

PURPORT

The word bhagavān is sometimes used in relation with some of the great devotees of the Lord, like Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Such liberated souls are disinterested in the affairs of this material world because they are self-satisfied by the great achievements of devotional service. As explained before, Śukadeva Gosvāmī never accepted any formal spiritual master, nor did he undergo any formal reformatory performances. His father, Vyāsadeva, was his natural spiritual master because Śukadeva Gosvāmī heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from him. After this, he became completely self-satisfied. Thus he was not dependent on any formal process. The formal processes are necessary for those who are expected to reach the stage of complete liberation, but Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī was already in that status by the grace of his father. As a young boy he was expected to be properly dressed, but he went about naked and was uninterested in social customs. He was neglected by the general populace, and inquisitive boys and women surrounded him as if he were a madman. He thus appears on the scene while traveling on the earth of his own accord. It appears that upon the inquiry of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the great sages were not unanimous in their decision as to what was to be done. For spiritual salvation there were many prescriptions according to the different modes of different persons. But the ultimate aim of life is to attain the highest perfectional stage of devotional service to the Lord. As doctors differ, so also sages differ in their different prescriptions. While such things were going on, the great and powerful son of Vyāsadeva appeared on the scene.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.24

2011-02-12T18:15:00.001+04:00

tataś ca vaḥ pṛcchyam imaḿ vipṛcche

viśrabhya viprā iti kṛtyatāyām

sarvātmanā mriyamāṇaiś ca kṛtyaḿ

śuddhaḿ ca tatrāmṛśatābhiyuktāḥ

SYNONYMS

tataḥ — as such; ca — and; vaḥ — unto you; pṛcchyam — that which is to be asked; imam — this; vipṛcche — beg to ask you; viśrabhya — trustworthy; viprāḥ — brāhmaṇas; iti — thus; kṛtyatāyām — out of all different duties; sarva-ātmanā — by everyone; mriyamāṇaiḥ — especially those who are just about to die; ca — and; kṛtyam — dutiful; śuddham — perfectly correct; ca — and; tatra — therein; āmṛśata — by complete deliberation; abhiyuktāḥ — just befitting.

TRANSLATION

O trustworthy brāhmaṇas, I now ask you about my immediate duty. Please, after proper deliberation, tell me of the unalloyed duty of everyone in all circumstances, and specifically of those who are just about to die.

PURPORT

In this verse the King has placed two questions before the learned sages. The first question is what is the duty of everyone in all circumstances, and the second question is what is the specific duty of one who is to die very shortly. Out of the two, the question relating to the dying man is most important because everyone is a dying man, either very shortly or after one hundred years. The duration of life is immaterial, but the duty of a dying man is very important. Mahārāja Parīkṣit placed these two questions before Śukadeva Gosvāmī also on his arrival, and practically the whole of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, beginning from the Second Canto up to the last Twelfth Canto, deals with these two questions. The conclusion arrived at thereof is that devotional service of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as it is confirmed by the Lord Himself in the last phases of the Bhagavad-gītā, is the last word in relation to everyone's permanent duty in life. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was already aware of this fact, but he wanted the great sages assembled there to unanimously give their verdict on his conviction so that he might be able to go on with his confirmed duty without controversy. He has especially mentioned the word śuddha, or perfectly correct. For transcendental realization or self-realization, many processes are recommended by various classes of philosophers. Some of them are first-class methods, and some of them are second- or third-class methods. The first-class method demands that one give up all other methods and surrender unto the lotus feet of the Lord and thus be saved from all sins and their reactions.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.23

2011-02-12T18:14:00.000+04:00

samāgatāḥ sarvata eva sarve

vedā yathā mūrti-dharās tri-pṛṣṭhe

nehātha nāmutra ca kaścanārtha

ṛte parānugraham ātma-śīlam

SYNONYMS

samāgatāḥ — assembled; sarvataḥ — from all directions; eva — certainly; sarve — all of you; vedāḥ — supreme knowledge; yathā — as; mūrti-dharāḥ — personified; tri-pṛṣṭhe — on the planet of Brahmā (which is situated above the three planetary systems, namely the upper, intermediate and lower worlds); na — not; iha — in this world; atha — thereafter; na — nor; amutra — in the other world; ca — also; kaścana — any other; arthaḥ — interest; ṛte — save and except; para — others; anugraham — doing good to; ātma-śīlam — own nature.

TRANSLATION

The King said: O great sages, you have all very kindly assembled here, having come from all parts of the universe. You are all as good as supreme knowledge personified, who resides in the planet above the three worlds [Satyaloka]. Consequently you are naturally inclined to do good to others, and but for this you have no interest, either in this life or in the next.

PURPORT

Six kinds of opulences, namely wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation, are all originally the different attributes pertaining to the Absolute Personality of Godhead. The living beings, who are part-and-parcel entities of the Supreme Being, have all these attributes partially, up to the full strength of seventy-eight percent. In the material world these attributes (up to seventy-eight percent of the Lord's attributes) are covered by the material energy, as the sun is covered by a cloud. The covered strength of the sun is very dim, compared to the original glare, and similarly the original color of the living beings with such attributes becomes almost extinct. There are three planetary systems, namely the lower worlds, the intermediate worlds and the upper worlds. The human beings on earth are situated at the beginning of the intermediate worlds, but living beings like Brahmā and his contemporaries live in the upper worlds, of which the topmost is Satyaloka. In Satyaloka the inhabitants are fully cognizant of Vedic wisdom, and thus the mystic cloud of material energy is cleared. Therefore they are known as the Vedas personified. Such persons, being fully aware of knowledge both mundane and transcendental, have no interest in either the mundane or transcendental worlds. They are practically desireless devotees. In the mundane world they have nothing to achieve, and in the transcendental world they are full in themselves. Then why do they come to the mundane world? They descend on different planets as messiahs by the order of the Lord to deliver the fallen souls. On the earth they come down and do good to the people of the world in different circumstances under different climatic influences. They have nothing to do in this world save and except reclaim the fallen souls rotting in material existence, deluded by material energy.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.22

2011-02-12T18:13:00.000+04:00

āśrutya tad ṛṣi-gaṇa-vacaḥ parīkṣit

samaḿ madhu-cyud guru cāvyalīkam

ābhāṣatainān abhinandya yuktān

śuśrūṣamāṇaś caritāni viṣṇoḥ

SYNONYMS

āśrutya — just after hearing; tat — that; ṛṣi-gaṇa — the sages assembled; vacaḥ — speaking; parīkṣit — Mahārāja Parīkṣit; samam — impartial; madhu-cyut — sweet to hear; guru — grave; ca — also; avyalīkam — perfectly true; ābhāṣata — said; enān — all of them; abhinandya — congratulated; yuktān — appropriately presented; śuśrūṣamāṇaḥ — being desirous to hear; caritāni — activities of; viṣṇoḥ — the Personality of Godhead.

TRANSLATION

All that was spoken by the great sages was very sweet to hear, full of meaning and appropriately presented as perfectly true. So after hearing them, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, desiring to hear of the activities of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, congratulated the great sages.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.21

2011-01-10T15:33:00.000+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.21

sarve vayaḿ tāvad ihāsmahe 'tha

kalevaraḿ yāvad asau vihāya

lokaḿ paraḿ virajaskaḿ viśokaḿ

yāsyaty ayaḿ bhāgavata-pradhānaḥ

SYNONYMS

sarve — all; vayam — of us; tāvat — as long as; iha — at this place; āsmahe — shall stay; atha — hereafter; kalevaram — the body; yāvat — so long; asau — the King; vihāya — giving up; lokam — the planet; param — the supreme; virajaskam — completely free from mundane contamination; viśokam — completely freed from all kinds of lamentation; yāsyati — returns; ayam — this; bhāgavata — devotee; pradhānaḥ — the foremost.

TRANSLATION

We shall all wait here until the foremost devotee of the Lord, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, returns to the supreme planet, which is completely free from all mundane contamination and all kinds of lamentation.

PURPORT

Beyond the limitation of the material creation, which is compared to the cloud in the sky, there is the paravyoma, or the spiritual sky, full of planets called Vaikuṇṭhas. Such Vaikuṇṭha planets are also differently known as the Puruṣottamaloka, Acyutaloka, Trivikramaloka, Hṛṣīkeśaloka, Keśavaloka, Aniruddhaloka, Mādhavaloka, Pradyumnaloka, Sańkarṣaṇaloka, Śrīdharaloka, Vāsudevaloka, Ayodhyāloka, Dvārakāloka and many other millions of spiritual lokas wherein the Personality of Godhead predominates; all the living entities there are liberated souls with spiritual bodies as good as that of the Lord. There is no material contamination; everything there is spiritual, and therefore there is nothing objectively lamentable. They are full of transcendental bliss, and are without birth, death, old age and disease. And amongst all the above-mentioned Vaikuṇṭhalokas, there is one supreme loka called Goloka Vṛndāvana, which is the abode of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His specific associates. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was destined to achieve this particular loka, and the great ṛṣis assembled there could foresee this. All of them consulted among themselves about the great departure of the great King, and they wanted to see him up to the last moment because they would no more be able to see such a great devotee of the Lord. When a great devotee of the Lord passes away, there is nothing to be lamented because the devotee is destined to enter into the kingdom of God. But the sorry plight is that such great devotees leave our sight, and therefore there is every reason to be sorry. As the Lord is rarely to be seen by our present eyes, so also are the great devotees. The great ṛṣis, therefore, correctly decided to remain on the spot till the last moment.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.20

2011-01-10T15:32:00.000+04:00

na vā idaḿ rājarṣi-varya citraḿ

bhavatsu kṛṣṇaḿ samanuvrateṣu

ye 'dhyāsanaḿ rāja-kirīṭa-juṣṭaḿ

sadyo jahur bhagavat-pārśva-kāmāḥ

SYNONYMS

na — neither; vā — like this; idam — this; rājarṣi — saintly king; varya — the chief; citram — astonishing; bhavatsu — unto all of you; kṛṣṇam — Lord Kṛṣṇa; samanuvrateṣu — unto those who are strictly in the line of; ye — who; adhyāsanam — seated on the throne; rāja-kirīṭa — helmets of kings; juṣṭam — decorated; sadyaḥ — immediately; jahuḥ — gave up; bhagavat — the Personality of Godhead; pārśva-kāmāḥ — desiring to achieve association.

TRANSLATION

[The sages said:] O chief of all the saintly kings of the Pāṇḍu dynasty who are strictly in the line of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa! It is not at all astonishing that you give up your throne, which is decorated with the helmets of many kings, to achieve eternal association with the Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

Foolish politicians who hold political administrative posts think that the temporary posts they occupy are the highest material gain of life, and therefore they stick to those posts even up to the last moment of life, without knowing that achievement of liberation as one of the associates of the Lord in His eternal abode is the highest gain of life. The human life is meant for achieving this end. The Lord has assured us in the Bhagavad-gītā many times that going back to Godhead, His eternal abode, is the highest achievement. Prahlāda Mahārāja, while praying to Lord Nṛsiḿha, said, "O my Lord, I am very much afraid of the materialistic way of life, and I am not the least afraid of Your present ghastly ferocious feature as Nṛsiḿhadeva. This materialistic way of life is something like a grinding stone, and we are being crushed by it. We have fallen into this horrible whirlpool of the tossing waves of life, and thus, my Lord, I pray at Your lotus feet to call me back to Your eternal abode as one of Your servitors. This is the summit liberation of this materialistic way of life. I have very bitter experience of the materialistic way of life. In whichever species of life I have taken birth, compelled by the force of my own activities, I have very painfully experienced two things, namely separation from my beloved and meeting with what is not wanted. And to counteract them, the remedies which I undertook were more dangerous than the disease itself. So I drift from one point to another birth after birth, and I pray to You therefore to give me a shelter at Your lotus feet."

The Pāṇḍava kings, who are more than many saints of the world, knew the bitter results of the materialistic way of life. They were never captivated by the glare of the imperial throne they occupied, and they sought always the opportunity of being called by the Lord to associate with Him eternally. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was the worthy grandson of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira gave up the imperial throne to his grandson, and similarly Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the grandson of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, gave up the imperial throne to his son Janamejaya. That is the way of all the kings in the dynasty because they are all strictly in the line of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Thus the devotees of the Lord are never enchanted by the glare of materialistic life, and they live impartially, unattached to the objects of the false, illusory materialistic way of life.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.19

2011-01-10T15:31:00.002+04:00

maharṣayo vai samupāgatā ye

praśasya sādhv ity anumodamānāḥ

ūcuḥ prajānugraha-śīla-sārā

yad uttama-śloka-guṇābhirūpam

SYNONYMS

maharṣayaḥ — the great sages; vai — as a matter of course; samupāgatāḥ — assembled there; ye — those who; praśasya — by praising; sādhu — quite all right; iti — thus; anumodamānāḥ — all approving; ūcuḥ — said; prajā-anugraha — doing good to the living being; śīla-sārāḥ — qualitatively powerful; yat — because; uttama-śloka — one who is praised by selected poems; guṇa-abhirūpam — as beautiful as godly qualities.

TRANSLATION

All the great sages who were assembled there also praised the decision of Mahārāja Parīkṣit and they expressed their approval by saying, "Very good." Naturally the sages are inclined to do good to common men, for they have all the qualitative powers of the Supreme Lord. Therefore they were very much pleased to see Mahārāja Parīkṣit, a devotee of the Lord, and they spoke as follows.

PURPORT

The natural beauty of a living being is enhanced by rising up to the platform of devotional service. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was absorbed in attachment for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Seeing this, the great sages assembled were very pleased, and they expressed their approval by saying, "Very good." Such sages are naturally inclined to do good to the common man, and when they see a personality like Mahārāja Parīkṣit advance in devotional service, their pleasure knows no bounds, and they offer all blessings in their power. The devotional service of the Lord is so auspicious that all demigods and sages, up to the Lord Himself, became pleased with the devotee, and therefore the devotee finds everything auspicious. All inauspicious matters are removed from the path of a progressive devotee. Meeting all the great sages at the time of death was certainly auspicious for Mahārāja Parīkṣit, and thus he was blessed by the so-called curse of a brāhmaṇa's boy.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.18

2011-01-10T15:31:00.001+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.18

evaḿ ca tasmin nara-deva-deve

prāyopaviṣṭe divi deva-sańghāḥ

praśasya bhūmau vyakiran prasūnair

mudā muhur dundubhayaś ca neduḥ

SYNONYMS

evam — thus; ca — and; tasmin — in that; nara-deva-deve — upon the King's; prāya-upaviṣṭe — being engaged in fasting to death; divi — in the sky; deva — demigods; sańghāḥ — all of them; praśasya — having praised the action; bhūmau — on the earth; vyakiran — scattered; prasūnaiḥ — with flowers; mudā — in pleasure; muhuḥ — continually; dundubhayaḥ — celestial drums; ca — also; neduḥ — beaten.

TRANSLATION

Thus the King, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, sat to fast until death. All the demigods of the higher planets praised the King's actions and in pleasure continually scattered flowers over the earth and beat celestial drums.

PURPORT

Even up to the time of Mahārāja Parīkṣit there were interplanetary communications, and the news of Mahārāja Parīkṣit's fasting unto death to attain salvation reached the higher planets in the sky where the intelligent demigods live. The demigods are more luxurious than human beings, but all of them are obedient to the orders of the Supreme Lord. There is no one in the heavenly planets who is an atheist or nonbeliever. Thus any devotee of the Lord on the surface of the earth is always praised by them, and in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit they were greatly delighted and thus gave tokens of honor by scattering flowers over the earth and by beating celestial drums. A demigod takes pleasure in seeing someone go back to Godhead. He is always pleased with a devotee of the Lord, so much so that by his adhidaivic powers he may help the devotees in all respects. And by their actions, the Lord is pleased with them. There is an invisible chain of complete cooperation between the Lord, the demigods and the devotee of the Lord on earth.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.17

2011-01-10T15:30:00.003+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.17

iti sma rājādhyavasāya-yuktaḥ

prācīna-mūleṣu kuśeṣu dhīraḥ

udań-mukho dakṣiṇa-kūla āste

samudra-patnyāḥ sva-suta-nyasta-bhāraḥ

SYNONYMS

iti — thus; sma — as in the past; rājā — the King; adhyavasāya — perseverance; yuktaḥ — being engaged; prācīna — eastern; mūleṣu — with the root; kuśeṣu — on a seat made of kuśa straw; dhīraḥ — self-controlled; udań-mukhaḥ — facing the northern side; dakṣiṇa — on the southern; kūle — bank; āste — situated; samudra — the sea; patnyāḥ — wife of (the Ganges); sva — own; suta — son; nyasta — given over; bhāraḥ — the charge of administration.

TRANSLATION

In perfect self-control, Mahārāja Parīkṣit sat down on a seat of straw, with straw-roots facing the east, placed on the southern bank of the Ganges, and he himself faced the north. Just previously he had given charge of his kingdom over to his son.

PURPORT

The River Ganges is celebrated as the wife of the sea. The seat of kuśa straw is considered to be sanctified if the straw is taken out of the earth complete with root, and if the root is pointed toward the east it is considered to be auspicious. Facing the north is still more favorable for attaining spiritual success. Mahārāja Parīkṣit handed over the charge of administration to his son before leaving home. He was thus fully equipped for all favorable conditions.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.17

2011-01-10T15:30:00.001+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.16

2011-01-10T15:29:00.002+04:00

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.16

punaś ca bhūyād bhagavaty anante

ratiḥ prasańgaś ca tad-āśrayeṣu

mahatsu yāḿ yām upayāmi sṛṣṭiḿ

maitry astu sarvatra namo dvijebhyaḥ

SYNONYMS

punaḥ — again; ca — and; bhūyāt — let it be; bhagavati — unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa; anante — who has unlimited potency; ratiḥ — attracting; prasańgaḥ — association; ca — also; tat — His; āśrayeṣu — with those who are His devotees; mahatsu — within the material creation; yām yām — wherever; upayāmi — I may take; sṛṣṭim — my birth; maitrī — friendly relation; astu — let it be; sarvatra — everywhere; namaḥ — my obeisances; dvijebhyaḥ — unto the brāhmaṇas.

TRANSLATION

Again, offering obeisances unto all you brāhmaṇas, I pray that if I should again take my birth in the material world I will have complete attachment to the unlimited Lord Kṛṣṇa, association with His devotees and friendly relations with all living beings.

PURPORT

That a devotee of the Lord is the only perfect living being is explained herein by Mahārāja Parīkṣit. A devotee of the Lord is no one's enemy, although there may be many enemies of a devotee. A devotee of the Lord does not like to associate with nondevotees, although he has no enmity with them. He desires association with the devotees of the Lord. This is perfectly natural because birds of the same feather mix together. And the most important function of a devotee is to have complete attachment for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the father of all living beings. As a good son of the father behaves in a friendly way with all his other brothers, so also the devotee of the Lord, being a good son of the supreme father, Lord Kṛṣṇa, sees all other living beings in relation with the supreme father. He tries to bring back the upstart sons of the father to a saner stage and to get them to accept the supreme fatherhood of God. Mahārāja Parīkṣit was certainly going back to Godhead, but even if he were not to go back, he prayed for a pattern of life which is the most perfect way in the material world. A pure devotee does not desire the company of a personality as great as Brahmā, but he prefers the association of a petty living being, provided he is a devotee of the Lord.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.19.15

2011-01-10T15:29:00.001+04:00

taḿ mopayātaḿ pratiyantu viprā

gańgā ca devī dhṛta-cittam īśe

dvijopasṛṣṭaḥ kuhakas takṣako vā

daśatv alaḿ gāyata viṣṇu-gāthāḥ

SYNONYMS

tam — for that reason; mā — me; upayātam — taken shelter of; pratiyantu — just accept me; viprāḥ — O brāhmaṇas; gańgā — mother Ganges; ca — also; devī — direct representative of the Lord; dhṛta — taken into; cittam — heart; īśe — unto the Lord; dvija-upasṛṣṭaḥ — created by the brāhmaṇa; kuhakaḥ — something magical; takṣakaḥ — the snakebird; vā — either; daśatu — let it bite; alam — without further delay; gāyata — please go on singing; viṣṇu-gāthāḥ — narration of the deeds of Viṣṇu.

TRANSLATION

O brāhmaṇas, just accept me as a completely surrendered soul, and let mother Ganges, the representative of the Lord, also accept me in that way, for I have already taken the lotus feet of the Lord into my heart. Let the snake-bird — or whatever magical thing the brāhmaṇa created — bite me at once. I only desire that you all continue singing the deeds of Lord Viṣṇu.

PURPORT

As soon as one is given up completely unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, he is not at all afraid of death. The atmosphere created by the presence of great devotees of the Lord on the bank of the Ganges and Mahārāja Parīkṣit's complete acceptance of the Lord's lotus feet were sufficient guarantee to the King for going back to Godhead. He thus became absolutely free from all fear of death.