Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.11–12

Prabhupāda: [leads singing of Jaya rādhā-mādhava] [prema-dhvani prayers] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. [devotees offer obeisances]

Pradyumna: We didn't read the purport yesterday.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Pradyumna: We didn't read the purport for eleven.

Prabhupāda: First of all read the verse.

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyat [SB 1.2.11]

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

Prabhupāda: [corrects break of verse line] Tattva-vidas tattvaṁ.

Pradyumna: Tattva-vidas tattvaṁ?

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ.

Pradyumna:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyat [SB 1.2.11]

Prabhupāda: Read purport.

[08:40]

Pradyumna: Purport: "The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. Therefore Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are qualitatively one and the same. The same substance is realized as impersonal Brahman by the students of the Upaniṣads, as localized Paramātmā by the Hiraṅyagarbhas, or the yogīs, and as Bhagavān by the devotees. In other words, Bhagavān, or the Personality of Godhead, is the last word of the Absolute Truth, Paramātmā is the partial representation of the Personality of Godhead, and impersonal Brahman is the glowing effulgence of the Personality of Godhead, as the sunrays are to the sun-god.

Less-intelligent students of either of the above schools sometimes argue in favor of their own respective realization, but those who are perfect seers of the Absolute Truth know well that the above three features of the one Absolute Truth are different perspective views seen from different angles of vision.

"As it is explained in the first śloka of the First Chapter of the Bhāgavatam [SB 1.1.1], the Supreme Truth is self-sufficient, cognizant and free from the illusion of relativity. In the relative world the knower is different from the known, but in the Absolute Truth both the knower and the known are one and the same thing. In the relative world the knower is the living spirit, or superior energy, whereas the known is inert matter, or inferior energy. Therefore there is a duality of inferior and superior energy, whereas in the absolute realm both the knower and the known are of the same superior energy.

"There are three kinds of energies of the supreme energetic. There is no difference between the energy and the energetic, but there is a difference of quality of energies. The absolute realm and the living entities are of the same superior energy, but the material world is inferior energy. The living being in contact with the inferior energy is illusioned, thinking he belongs to the inferior energy. Therefore there is the sense of relativity in the material world. In the Absolute there is no such sense of difference between the knower and the known, and therefore everything there is absolute."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So tattva, tattva means truth, Absolute Truth. So Absolute Truth is vision from three angles of vision. Those who are trying to understand the Absolute Truth by the ascending process, they can reach up to the impersonal Brahman. Those who are trying to find out the Absolute Truth within himself, Paramātmā, they can see the Absolute Truth localized. Localized means just like during meridian, everyone sees the sun on his head. There may be a person dispersed five thousand miles, but everyone will say that the sun is on his head. So the sun is one, but he appears to be on everyone's head.

Similarly, Paramātmā, partial expansion of Kṛṣṅa,

eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṅḍa-koṭiṁ yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṅḍa-cayāyad-antaḥ aṅḍāntara-stha-paramāṅu-cayāntara-stham- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.35]

[He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.]

Eko 'py asau: one plenary portion, Saṅkarṣaṅa. Saṅkarṣaṅa is plenary portion of Kṛṣṅa. So Saṅkarṣaṅa, one, He is managing the whole material creation. Racayituṁ. From Saṅkarṣaṅa there are puruṣa-avatāra: the Mahā-Viṣṅu, Kāraṅodakaśāyī; from Him, again second puruṣa avatāra, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu; and again from Him, the third puruṣa avatāra is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṅu. Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṅu is within this universe. He is lying on the ocean of milk, kṣīra. So the Paramātmā… He is Paramātmā feature.

This Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṅu is situated in everyone's heart: aṅḍāntarasthaṁ. Aṅḍāntarasthaṁ is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṅu, and aṅḍāntarasthaṁ and paramāṅu-cayāntarastham: not only within the universe, but within the atom of the universe. Nobody can count how many atoms are there, but still Viṣṅu is there. This is Paramātmā—brahmeti paramātmeti.

Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ—eternal blissful knowledge personified: a person who is eternal blissful knowledge. So Brahmn is eternity, and Paramātmā is knowledge and Kṛṣṅa is bliss. So three things, sac-cid-ānanda—eternity, knowledge and bliss—they are fully present in Kṛṣṅa.

So kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam, that will be explained. The original Bhagavān… Bhagavān, they are all Bhagavāns. From Kṛṣṅa, Baladeva; from Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṅa, Aniruddha, Pradumnya, huh, Vāsudeva. In this way expansion. One lamp, one candle, you ignite another candle, another, another, another—hundreds and thousands of candles—all the candles are of the same power, not that the second candle is less powerful than the first candle. No. All viṣṅu-tattvas, They are the same Personality of Godhead.

That is also explained in Brahma-saṁhitā: advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Ananta means unlimited number, expansion. The unlimitedness is compared, just like there are waves in the river; it is going on perpetually, nobody can count. Similarly, how many incarnations and expansions are coming out from original Personality of Godhead nobody can count. Everything unlimited. So…, but They are all the same, viṣṅu-tattva.

They are called svāṁśas. Svāṁśa means personal expansion, and we are, we living entities, we are also expansion, part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, but we are vibhinnāṁśa. Vibhinnāṁśa: separated part and parcel. We are not as powerful as viṣṅu-tattva. Viṣṅu-tattva is all-powerful; we are also powerful, partially. Just like Brahmā. Brahmā is also a living entity, but he is so powerful that he can create a universe. But Brahmā is created by Viṣṅu, and Lord Śiva is created by Brahmā, and all the demigods.

So God, there are different degrees of God. Anyone can claim, "I am God." God means controller. So there are different degrees. I am controller, but I am controlled by someone else; he is also controlled by somebody else. In this way go on, you'll find everyone is controller to some extent, but at the end he is controlled by somebody else. In this way, when you come to viṣṅu-tattva, then you will find that Viṣṅu, He controls everything, but there is nobody controller of Him. Viṣṅu-tattva or kṛṣṅa-tattva—generally known as viṣṅu-tattva. Jiva-tattva: we are jīva-tattva.

So because we have no inquisitiveness, as recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā [SB 1.2.10]…

[Life's desires should never be directed toward sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one's works.]

We are not inquisitive. We, when we find that tiny god within, there is finished. No. You search more, tattva-jijñāsā: "Who is this cause?" Just like here in this material world we find the sun is most powerful. Sun is the most powerful. Then if you go on researching, then what is next to the sun? We see the sun globe, but we don't see the sun-god. But there is sun-god. So if we can penetrate into the sun globe, then we can find there is sun-god; he is the cause of the sun globe. So sun globe is the cause of the sunshine.

Similarly brahma-jyoti, Brahman effulgence, is the effect of the effulgence from the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. Brahmajyoti. And within this brahma-jyoti there are innumerable Vaikuṅṭha planets. Brahmeti... In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord says, brahmaṅo aham pratiṣṭha [Bg 14.27]. This brahma-jyoti effulgence… Just like the sunshine is resting on the sun globe. The sunshine is not so important as the sun globe, because from there the sunshine is coming out. Although the sunshine is universally spread, still it is less important than the sun globe. Similarly, Brahman effulgence is unlimited; still it is less important than the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet.

Actually, only one Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is one, and from Him these rays, Kṛṣṅa's bodily rays, brahma-jyoti. That is also explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā. Prabhā means rays, or effulgence. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi: wherefrom all these universes are coming. After the effulgence, bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṅa, is expanded, then so many planets and universes are generated. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya [Bs 5.48].

[Brahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṅu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṅu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṅu is the portion of portion.]

So this sṛṣṭi-tattva, the truth of creation, the truth of the Absolute Truth..., Absolute God, Personality of Godhead, it is a great science, but modern education, they do not take interest in this science. Because why they do not take interest? Because duṣkṛtina: they are very, very sinful. Duṣkṛtina, always engaged in sinful activities. Those who are sinful, they cannot understand what is God. That is not possible.

Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ [Bg 7.28]. A person who is completely freed from sinful activities, yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ. Anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ means…, anta-gata, completely finished. Yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ. Anta-gataṁ means "goes inside."

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām [Bg 7.28]

[Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.]

Who can get out of these sinful activities? Those who are engaged in pious activities. Pious activities. If you act always pious activities, then there will be no chance of committing sinful activities. Therefore śāstra recommends, "Don't do this. Don't have illicit sex, don't take intoxication, don't indulge in gambling, don't eat meat." These are impious activities. If you stop this, then there is chance of pious activities.

You cannot have both the things at a time. You cannot ignite fire, at the same time pour water on it. If you want to see fire is blazing nicely, then you should not touch water. Similarly, after initiation your all sinful activities are nullified—Kṛṣṅa takes. Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi [Bg 18.66]:

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

"Surrender." As soon as you surrender to Kṛṣṅa through the spiritual master, He takes away all your resultant action of sinful activities immediately. Immediately. But if you again commit, that is not good. That is greatest offense: nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ [Padma Purāṅa, Brahma-khaṅḍa 25.16].

We have several times explained the ten kinds of offenses. Out of the ten kinds of offenses, this offense, that "Because I am now initiated to chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, and Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra nullifies all sinful reaction, so let me commit this sinful activity and I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṅa; it will be nullified," this business is the greatest offense. Greatest offense. Not that I confess, "I have done it, Sir." "All right." Again I do, again I confess. No. That's not good. This is called hasti-snāna. Hasti-snāna. Hasti-snāna means the elephant takes bath in the lake, very sufficiently watering on the body, very…, cleansing the whole body nicely, but as soon as comes on the land he takes some dust and throws over his body again.

This kind of business is no good for spiritual progress. Once your all sinful activities are nullified: ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi [Bg 18.66], but again if you commit, that is very great offense. No more. Jagāi and Mādhāi, they said, "No more." Jagāi, Mādhāi were very sinful, so Nītyānanda Prabhu requested Lord Caitanya to accept them, because Lord Caitanya's incarnation is to reclaim all sinful men. So pāpī tāpī jata chilo hari-nāme uddhārilo [Hari Hari Biphale]: "Simply by spreading this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra He has delivered all the sinful persons, suffering persons." Tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi: "The evidence is Jagāi and Mādhāi."

So this Hare Kṛṣṅa movement is so nice that anyone can be delivered. But there must be one promise. Just like Jagāi, Mādhāi, they surrendered to Caitanya Mahāprabhu to be delivered. Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked them one condition, that "Whatever sinful activities you have done, that I shall nullify immediately. But you promise that you will not commit again." So they promised: āra nare bāp. This is wanted. Every one of us, more or less sinful; so when we approach spiritual master, take initiation, our sinful reaction is finished. But we must not commit again. That is great offense.

So we should be very much alert to be…, guard against committing sinful, because Kṛṣṅa, God, is pavitraṁ, pure. So of course, if you are in service of Kṛṣṅa, as I have explained, you will remain pure. After initiation you are pure, and you remain in the service of the Lord chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, observing the rules, then you will remain pure.

So yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām [Bg 7.28].

[Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.]

And puṅya-karma is devotional service—there is no comparison. If you offer little fruit, flower, water with devotion to Kṛṣṅa, it is many, many times greater than all kinds of pious activities. That is the version of the śāstra. So we remain pure and go on executing devotional service, puṅya-karma, and God will be realized. Svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

[No one can understand the transcendental nature of the name, form, quality and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṅa through his materially contaminated senses. Only when one becomes spiritually saturated by transcendental service to the Lord are the transcendental name, form, quality and pastimes of the Lord revealed to him.]

By your energy, if you want to understand God by your ascending process, that also requires purity. Not that simply speculation. No. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna [Bg 7.16].

[O best among the Bhāratas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me—the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.]

Sukṛti. Sukṛti means those who are very pious, they can come to the devotional service—fortunate. So this tattva jñāna, vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam [SB 1.2.11],

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

Absolute Truth, will be revealed if we remain pure and go on executing our devotional duties. Then Kṛṣṅa will appear before you. You will see Kṛṣṅa eye to eye:

yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg 7.8]

[O son of Kuntī [Arjuna], I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and the moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether and ability in man.]

Bhakti-devī, Kṛṣṅa's bhakti potency, or Rādhārāṅī, when She is satisfied that you are very sincere, then She will help you, introducing you to Kṛṣṅa: "Here is a nice devotee." Rādhārāṅī is so kind, sometimes She says that "This devotee is better than Me." Yes. Therefore we should try to satisfy Rādhārāṅī, remain pure and chant the sixteen rounds regularly, observe the regulative principles, then your success is guaranteed.

There is no doubt, because Kṛṣṅa will reveal to you what He is. And as soon as you understand Kṛṣṅa, then you are liberated. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Janma karma ca me divyam: how Kṛṣṅa is working, janma karma, how He is appearing, disappearing; what are His plenary portions; how He is expanding; how He is managing the whole creation—everything you will understand. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṅa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ [Cc Madhya 17.136].

[Therefore material senses cannot appreciate Kṛṣṅa’s holy name, form, qualities and pastimes. When a conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and renders service by using his tongue to chant the Lord’s holy name and taste the remnants of the Lord’s food, the tongue is purified, and one gradually comes to understand who Kṛṣṅa really is.]

But we cannot understand with our these blunt senses. But sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, when we engage our sense, hṛṣīkeṅa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ [Cc Madhya 19.170]

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Hṛṣīka means senses, purified senses—when they are engaged in the service of the master of the senses, Kṛṣṅa, then sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ: He reveals.

And as soon as He reveals unto you, you understand Kṛṣṅa, everything. And as soon as you understand Kṛṣṅa, immediately you become eligible to go back to home, back to Godhead. So follow this principle.

[aside:] What is time?

Next verse.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

tac chraddadhānā munayo jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā [SB 1.2.12]

Prabhupāda: Next. [corrects pronunciation] Word meaning.

Pradyumna: tat—that; śraddadhānāḥ—seriously inquisitive; munayaḥ—sages; jñāna—knowledge; vairāgya—detachment; yuktayā—well equipped with; paśyanti—see; ātmani—within himself; ca—and; ātmānam—the Paramātmā; bhaktyā—in devotional service; śruta—the Vedas; gṛhītayā—well received.

[40:02]

Prabhupāda: Hmm. These are the qualification, one who can see God. These are the qualif... What are the qualification? First of all he is chraddadhānā: must be very faithful, submissive, and sraddhā, faithful. Yes. Munayo. Munayo means "thoughtful." We have to contemplate, "This I have heard today in the Bhāgavata class," then contemplate, "How far I have understood, how far it is truth, what is the difficulty"—so many things. You must be thoughtful, munayo.

Then what kind of munayo? There are many so-called thoughtful, thinking for sense-gratification: "How I shall go to that brothel? How I shall drink?" No. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā: thoughtful with knowledge and vairāgya. Vairāgya means "detachment." Knowledge means…, jñāna means knowledge, full knowledge. Without actual knowledge, what is the meaning of speculation? The knowledge is... Just like we have jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā, the inquisitive for understanding the Absolute Truth. But if he hasn't got knowledge about the Absolute Truth, what he will speculate about?

Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā. These are the qualification: he must be thoughtful; he must have knowledge, jñāna; vairāgya—he must have detachment. If he is materially attached, then he will think of, meditate, only the material subject matter. The so-called meditators, they are so much materially attached that what is the meaning of their meditation? They will think of these material things. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā. They must be detached from material attachment. Then he can see.

He hasn't got to go anywhere. Ātmani, within himself he will see, ca-ātmanām. And the whole basic principle is bhaktyāśruta-gṛhītayā: he must be a devotee. This jñāna means devotional jñāna, not the dry speculation. And how this jñāna, this knowledge, is achieved? Śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta. Śruta means Vedic knowledge. Without Vedic knowledge there is no advancement. Vedic knowledge; not that I manufacture something. Some rascal avatāra has come; he says that "Now I want to give up all these books, Vedic knowledge."

So this is going on. But no. Without Vedic knowledge, śruta-gṛhītayā…Śruta, śruta means through the ear you have to understand. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says that to become devotee without reference to the Vedic knowledge is simply disturbance. "I am a devotee." "What kind of devotee?" "No, I have become devotee." "Have you read anything? Have you heard anything?" "No. I have avoided all books." So such kind of devotion, Rūpa Gosvāmī says utpāt, simply disturbance, creating disturbance.

That is going on at the present moment. So many rascals, they are manufacturing their own way of understanding, without any reference to the authoritative śāstra, Vedic knowledge; without any vairāgya. "You can do anything. You can indulge all kinds of sense gratification—simply meditate." What kind of meditation he will do?

Therefore these things are explained: śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta, śruti, Vedas, śruti. Śruta-gṛhītayā. And as soon as there is question of śruta, you must hear from the…, listen from the authoritative person. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir [SB 10.14.3],

[Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You can remain in your position, but simply try to hear from the authority; then everything will come out. That is called śruta-gṛhītayā.

Thank you.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [obeisances] [end]