Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.3.11–12
[Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Thus having been questioned, Lord Yamarāja, the supreme controller of the living entities, was very pleased with his order carriers because of hearing from them the holy name of Nārāyaṅa. He remembered the lotus feet of the Lord and began to reply.]
Prabhupāda: So this question should be put forward for superior masters in this way, not by challenge. One may question, but the humbleness is presented also, that "If you think that I am able to understand…" Sometimes we do not, I mean to say, possess the capacity to understand. For example, when I was meeting my spiritual master in the beginning, practically seventy-five percent or eighty-five percent of his version I could not understand, but still I was hearing. I was not able to understand, but still I wanted to hear. And for this reason only he accepted me as his disciple.
When… In this Allahabad, when I was being introduced by one of my Godbrother—he contributed the land for Gauḍīya Maṭha—one [indistinct]-chandradev, he is dead and gone—so he introduced me, that… Of course, he did not know that before this introduction I met Guru Mahārāja in 1922. So as soon as he was introducing, my Guru Mahārāja captured the word, and he said, "Yes, I have seen this boy, and he is very anxious to hear me, so I shall accept him." That was the only qualification, that although I did not understand what he was speaking, I tried to sit down and hear him.
So here is also is the same thing. The Yamadūta says that "You can answer about our enquiries if you think it is beneficial to us, or if we are able to understand it."
iti devaḥ… iti devaḥ sa āpṛṣṭaḥ prajā-saṁyamano yamaḥ prītaḥ sva-dūtān pratyāha smaran pādāmbujaṁ hareḥ [SB 6.3.11]
Smaran pādāmbujaṁ hareḥ. Hareḥ—"of the Lord, the Supreme Lord"; pādāmbujaṁ—"lotus feet"; smaran. That should be our principle. Whenever we try to speak something, we must offer prayers to Guru-Gaurāṅga and the Supreme Lord. Not directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but smaran pādāmbujaṁ hareḥ.
To memorize the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is the system that one should go through guru and Gaurāṅga. That is the prayer we offer daily: vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṅavāṁś ca śrī-rūpaṁ [Cc Antya 3.1, Śrī Gurv Aṣṭakam].
[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master and of all the other preceptors on the path of devotional service, unto all the Vaiṣṅavas and unto the Six Gosvāmīs, including Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī and their associates. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Advaita Ācārya Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as well as all His devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. I then offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṅa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī and all the gopīs, headed by Lalitā and Viśākhā.]
They are all guru. One spiritual master, his spiritual master, then up to Gosvāmīs. Śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṅa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam.
Then the associates of Lord Caitanya: sa-avadhūta, sādvaitaṁ. Sa-avadhūta, Nityānanda Prabhu. Sādvaitaṁ-sa-avadhūta parijana-sahitaṁ. Parijana means Śrīvāsa, Gadādhara and others. Śrī kṛṣṅa-caitanya-devaṁ, that is Śrī Caitanya, Guru-Gaurāṅga. Then, śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṅa-pādān saha-gaṅa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca. This is...
So smaran pādāmbujaṁ hareḥ. Yamarāja, although he is so exalted, great personality, the system is also there. Nobody should try to answer or speak without offering proper respects to Guru-Gaurāṅga and Kṛṣṅa. Smaran pādāmbujaṁ hareḥ. Prītaḥ sva-dūtān: and Yamarāja was very much pleased, because when the subordinates enquire from the superior master, he becomes very much pleased. Why he becomes pleased? Because he gets an opportunity to describe the holy activities and form and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is an opportunity.
You will find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when Nārada also enquires from Lord Brahmā about the system of religion, he also thanked Nārada, that "You have given me an opportunity to speak about the Lord's activities." Therefore the pastimes of the Lord, His name, His form, His qualities, His entourage, His abode—whenever one enquires, and whenever one speaks, both of them become blessed.
Now Yamarāja, the enquiry was, "Whether there are any other controller either equal to you or greater than you?" That was the enquiry. Now Yamarāja says,
śrī yama uvāca paro mad-anyo jagatas tasthuṣaś ca otaṁ protaṁ paṭavad yatra viśvam yad-aṁśato 'sya sthiti-janma-nāśā nasy otavad yasya vaśe ca lokaḥ [SB 6.3.12]
[Yamarāja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṅu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose.]
Mad-anyaḥ. The first thing he explained, that "Don't think that I am the supreme controller." Mad-anyaḥ: "Besides me, there is another, supreme controller." That is the mistake of general population. Whenever they worship a demigod, they think he is the supreme.
In the Vedic system there are different demigods, and they are meant for worshiping for different purposes. This is also recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If you want knowledge, then you worship Brahmā. If you want opulence, then you worship Lord Śiva. If you want to have a good wife, then you worship Devī. If you want to be pure, then you worship the Sūrya. In this way there is a need. People have got various types of desires. So to give them facility, the facility is given in this sense, that let them go to some authority. They may not think themselves that "We are all-in-all, everything." That is mischief. The duṣkṛtina, they have to be directed in that way: "No, you are not supreme."
Just like yesterday evening in that institution, Pedagogical Institution, one Indian boy from Maharastra, he says, "Swāmījī, to be frank, I have no faith in God." "And why you have no faith in God? Don't you believe there is a controller?" He hesitated. So I told him that "You are speaking..., that you speaking that 'I do not believe in God' may be stopped immediately by some superior force. While speaking, you may die immediately. So are you not controlled?" He admitted, "Yes, I am controlled." "Then why don't you believe the controller is God?"
That the controller is God is simple words, a simple understanding; but see, the atheist class of people will not understand. That is big foolishness. Therefore to the atheist class of men God presents Himself as death. There they cannot challenge. Just like Hiraṅyakaśipu, when Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared before him as death personified, he could not challenge anymore. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham [Bg 10.34].
[I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.]
Mṛtyuḥ means death. When death takes place, then everything is taken away, everything finished—not only his material opulence, not only his position, but even his life is also taken away.
So for the atheist class of men, death is God, whilst the devotees, they see God in the lifetime in the ordinary dealings.
premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu [Bs 5.38]
[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]
Sadaiva: always he is seeing God, Kṛṣṅa. The atheist class challenges that "Whether you have seen God?" But they do not know how one can see God. God can be seen. So when God is seen in process of premāñjana, in loving devotional service, that is very pleasurable; that is blissful. And when God is seen as death, ah, that is very displeasure.
Therefore two processes are going on:
paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg 4.8]
[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]
The atheists will see God when they are vanquished. That is there. And the devotees are seeing God always, santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti. So not that all these atheist… Atheist generally means who do not believe in the scriptures describing about God; he is called atheist. In all scriptures of the world there is acceptance of God. Bible accepts God, Koran accepts God, our Vedic literature, Vedas, Vedānta, they accept God. The Buddhists, they do not accept God; therefore it is atheist literature. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that any literature which is devoid of God consciousness, that is atheistic literature.
So Yamarāja says that paro mad-anyo jagatas tasthuṣaś ca.
paro mad-anyo jagatas tasthuṣaś ca paro pariśara asi[?] [SB 6.3.12]
[Yamarāja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṅu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose.]
He immediately said, "Don't think that I am all-in-all." This is devotee. One may be very, very much exalted, but he should always think that "I am servant of God." That is mukti. Then māyā cannot touch you. And as soon as he thinks that he is all-in-all, that is māyā.
So Yamarāja, because he is mahājana…We recommend, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].
[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]
We have to follow the footsteps of mahājana. They are authorities. He is authority. He is authority because immediately he accepts, "No, no, no! I am not the Supreme." Here is a third-class man and being kicked by maya; he challenges, "I am God. I am everything." This is the position of the people in general in this age.
Here Yamarāja, he is so powerful that he is controlling the whole criminal department of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is arresting all the sinful persons and giving them proper punishment. He is so powerful, but he does not think himself all-in-all, or God. And yet a third-class man, a simple pain in the teeth will kill him in so many ways, and he is claiming to become God. Just see the point. Therefore he is a mahājana. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṅītaṁ [SB 6.3.19].
[Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great ṛṣis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyādharas and Cāraṅas.]
These instructions of Yamarāja is very valuable. Just see how he is humble and submissive to his master. Such a powerful man. Everyone is threatened, Yamarāja. Everyone, if one understands that Yamarāja is coming, then in this world so many [indistinct] will be immediately fainted: "Death is coming." Yamarāja means death is coming. There are so many big men with the same… One of the svāmīs—very well advertised; I do not wish to name him—at the time of his death he regretted that "I have taught so many foolish things." Even Śaṅkarācārya also lamented. So that lamentation comes to the atheist class of men who preaches against Lord. That lamentation comes.
So Yamarāja says that mad-anyatah jagatas tasthuṣaś ca para isvarah asi [indistinct] tat kiṅkara [indistinct] isvarah] [Śrīdhara Svāmī's commentary] That is very nice comment. "The other controller besides me, He is so powerful that He can control the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this whole cosmic manifestation. He is so great in power. And so far you have the idea that I am the greatest, I am the greatest controller, so my controlling department is that not those who are moving. I am controlling only…"
Because there is living entities divided into two classes. Some of them are not moving and some of them are moving. Just like trees and mountains, they do not move. Moving means beginning from the insects, birds, beasts and human beings. So that is how he humbly presents, this lord, that "I am controller, but I am controlling only in this department: those who are moving, living entities. And that also not all—only the sinful living entities."
The sinful living entities are not great in numbers; they are very small. First of all, the living entities who are in this material world, very, very small, because the whole creation is one-fourth, one-fourth part of the whole creation of God. The creation… The spiritual world is also creation; the material world is also creation.
In the spiritual world there are also living entities, and the spiritual…, spiritual world also there are living entities. But the living entities who are within this material world, they are only one-fourth of all the living entities. They are ananta, and still Kṛṣṅa knows. He says, ekāṁśena sthito jagat [Bg 10.42].
[But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.]
He knows that "This is only one-fourth of My energy." And within this one-fourth energy there are innumerable universes, and this is one of them, and in each universe there are controlling demigods.
So within this universe there is one only who is controlling—Yamarāja. And that also not for all. He is not controller for everyone; only for the moving. And amongst the moving, those who are acting as the sinful, their number are not as great. Just like criminals, if you go to the prison house you will find so many people. But what are the proportion? These criminals who are put in together are a very small proportion.
So just see how humbly he presents, that "I am also controller. My controlling capacity is here." And here there are such fools, if he has control over a dozen of disciples, he declares himself, "I am God." How much foolish they are, just try to understand. A dozens of fools controlled by a rascal, and he says that "I am God. I have become God."
Therefore mahājana. Mahājana means great personality. A great personality means to accept the supreme great; he is a great personality. Not that fool who declares himself "I am the great." He is a rascal. How you can be great? There are so many things to be controlled, and he declares that by some so-called gesture, moving the eyes, we find so many cheaters, or by showing some pictures[?], or by knowing some yogic principle, hypnotizing the man, he declares himself, "I am God." God is not so cheap.
Here Yamarāja says that paro mad-anyo jagatas tasthuṣaś ca [SB 6.3.12]:
[Yamarāja said: My dear servants, you have accepted me as the Supreme, but factually I am not. Above me, and above all the other demigods, including Indra and Candra, is the one supreme master and controller. The partial manifestations of His personality are Brahmā, Viṣṅu and Śiva, who are in charge of the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this universe. He is like the two threads that form the length and breadth of a woven cloth. The entire world is controlled by Him just as a bull is controlled by a rope in its nose.]
"The greater controller than me, He is so great that He is controlling the creation and maintenance and annihilation of this world, and this whole manifestation." Otaṁ protaṁ paṭavad yatra viśvam. Viśvam. Viśvam means the universe, the whole collection of universes. Because we have got information, beyond this universe what is there. That information no scientist can give you.
They cannot give even information even very completely of the moon planet. They cannot give full information of the sun planet. Their information only gestures[?], that's all—theorizing. Because we cannot live in so high temperature as the sun has, they say there is no living entities there. But factually that is not the fact. There are living entities. Sūryaloka. Loka means there are inhabitants. There is a predominating deity, Vivasvān. Kṛṣṅa says. How you can say there is no population in Sūryaloka?
Kṛṣṅa said,
imaṁ vivasvate yoga proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1]
[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]
Kṛṣṅa, He was speaking to Arjuna. And as it was possible for Him to speak to Arjuna, a living entity on this planet, similarly, He is able to speak to the sun-god. But you cannot imagine if there are living entities. This is Kṛṣṅa. This is God.
So we have to take information that Arjuna was not talking; Arjuna simply enquired. He did not, I mean to say, challenge, that "Kṛṣṅa, You said You spoke this science of Bhagavad-gītā yoga to the sun-god. How You can go to sun-god? His planet is high. The temperature is so great. How You could go?" That much he knew, that there are population of a different kind. That is…, any person who is God conscious, Kṛṣṅa conscious, he knows all these things.
Why he knows? That is also stated in the Vedas: yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3].
[If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of all controllers, one can understand everything else.]
Just like what to speak of Arjuna, even insignificant personalities as we are, who confidently believe that there are population in the sun-god. But even the greatest scientist, he cannot do. Why is this? Then Vedic injunction: yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If you simply understand Kṛṣṅa—you cannot understand Kṛṣṅa cent per cent; if you understand Him very little—then you understand the whole creation, sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ, very easily.
To understand reincarnation, eh, to understand reincarnation one says, "Yes, [indistinct]." Another says, "No, I will tell you." Therefore our process of understanding from the Vedic scripture is very nice. You don't have to take so much trouble from the scientists, nonsensical. Accept: you take when a mahājana, just like Yamarāja, said, "Yes, there is a greater controller than me." That's all. There is no question that "How is a greater controller than you..., existing than you?" [indistinct], zero, void, or impersonal. No. There is a controller, and as soon as you speak of controller, He must be a person. There cannot be imperson.
So in this way try to understand, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186],
[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]
then everything will be clear. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. Try to understand Kṛṣṅa, and He is so kind that He discloses the whole mystery of this universe. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati means it is by Kṛṣṅa's grace the devotee understands everything very clearly.
Thank you. [end]
