Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.25

[Govindam prayers playing; Prabhupāda singing along]

Prabhupāda: [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to you Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: [sings Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

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

Prabhupāda: [Hums] Hmm. Recite.

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.

Canto One, Chapter Two, text 25. [leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

bhejire munayo 'thāgre bhagavantam adhokṣajam sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ kṣemāya kalpante ye 'nu tān iha [SB 1.2.25]

Prabhupāda: Ladies. [ladies chant] That's all. Now, word meaning.

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms]

bhejire—rendered service unto; munayaḥ-atha-agre—thus before all the sages; bhagavantam—unto the Personality of Godhead; adhokṣajam—the Transcendence; sattvam—existence; viśuddham—above the three modes of nature; kṣemāya—to derive the ultimate benefit; kalpante—deserve; ye—those; anu—follow; tān—those; iha—in this material world.

[13:01]

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

Prabhupāda: Hm. So in the beginning, there was no impersonalists or voidists. These are later addition. In the Vedas it is stated, oṁ tad viṣṅoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ [Ṛg Veda 1.22.20].

[The lotus feet of Lord Viṣṅu are the supreme objective of all the demigods. These lotus feet of the Lord are as enlightening as the sun in the sky.]

It is a Vedic mantra. Sūrayaḥ, those who are great sages, they're always looking forward to see the lotus feet of Viṣṅu, tad viṣṅoḥ paramaṁ padam. So in another Vedic mantra there is:

yaṁ brahmā varuṅendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavair vedaiḥ sāṅga-pada-kramopaniṣadair gāyanti yaṁ sāma-gāḥ dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino yasyāntaṁ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṅā devāya tasmai namaḥ [SB 12.13.1]

[Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṅa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns and reciting the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, to whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda always sing, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and becoming fully absorbed in thoughts of Him, and whose limit can never be found by any demigod or demon—unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisances.]

Yaṁ brahmā. Brahmā is the original living creature within this universe; so he worshiped the Supreme Lord, Personality of Godhead. He worshiped not the impersonal brahma-jyoti; he worshiped the person. Yaṁ brahmā varuṅendra—they were the first creation, and the sages Marīci, Vasiṣṭha, Ātreya... There are seven great sages, first-born. All of them worship the Personality of Godhead. Bhejire munayo 'thāgre. Agra means in the beginning of creation. Later on they have deviated, or as the ages are going on, people are becoming degraded in their standard of spiritual understanding.

In the Satya-yuga, cent per cent people were aware of their spiritual necessity of life. Next yuga, seventy-five percent. Next yuga, fifty percent, fifty percent. And this yuga, Kali-yuga, seventy-five percent are rascals, and twenty-five percent, they are little wise. And out of that twenty-five percent, mostly they are fruitive actors. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā says, manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So in this fallen age, they have manufactured so many things. But actually in the beginning, agre, in the beginning—agre means in the beginning—all the sages, they worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.

Bhejire munayo 'thāgre bhagavantam. There are... Absolute Truth is manifested in three phases: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti [SB 1.2.11].

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

So Bhagavān is the last word in the Absolute Truth. So here it is said they did not worship Brahman or Paramātmā; they worshiped directly bhagavantam adhokṣajam. Adhokṣajam. Another name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is adhokṣajam. Akṣaja, akṣaja means direct perception. Direct means sense perception.

Just like we see so many things directly with our eyes; we touch with our hands; we smell by our nose. These are direct perception by our senses. But bhagavantam, Bhagavān, is adhokṣajam. He is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣajam. Adhaḥ, you cannot reach there by direct perception. Just like I do not see God. Then what do you see? Your seeing power is very limited. Why don't you accept that? So He's not appreciable by limited senses. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja.

Sattvaṁ viśuddham. Sattvaṁ viśuddham. Sattva, goodness, sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa. That sattvam, or existence, His existence is adhokṣaja, beyond our sense perception, and viśuddham. Apāpa-viddham, as it is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, viśuddham. He is never touched by the material contamination. Viśuddham. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam. Here, however good we may be, there is some material touch. But so far Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is concerned, His existence is viśuddham. Therefore He's called paraḥ. Nārāyaṅaḥ paraḥ. Paraḥ means above this material world, transcendental.

So the material nature is created, everything here created at a certain point, but because He's above, therefore He is not within this creation. We cannot take Kṛṣṅa as one of the created being like us. We are all created being. But Kṛṣṅa is not created. He is above creation. Before creation, He was existing; therefore His existence is not within this creation. That is adhokṣaja. Within this creation we can understand by experimental science, but which is beyond this creation, because we cannot reach there, adhokṣaja... Because we take everything by direct perception, but that is beyond direct perception. Adhokṣaja.

Kṣemāya kalpante ye 'nu tān iha. That is our real benefit, adhokṣaja. In the beginning also of this chapter it is said, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

The same word, adhokṣaje. Ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. If you want real happiness, then you engage yourself in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṣemāya. Then you'll be happy. And if you take to other demigods, those who are material, that will be not your perfect happiness or permanent happiness.

Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yajante anya-devatāḥ. Kāma, kā... What is that? Hṛta-jñānāḥ. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg 7.20]. We have read, we have discussed, that if you want, if you want to fulfill this desire, then you worship this demigod. If you want to be beautiful, then you worship Umā. If you want money, then you worship Prajāpati, the treasurer of the demigods, Kuvera. And in this way there are different recommendation. But the conclusion is that Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg 7.20]: this material kāma, lust, desires, for this purpose they go, they worship different demigods.

There is no necessity. Kṛṣṅa stopped demigod worship to His father. When His father was going to arrange a festival for worshiping Indra, and He stopped it. The father was so affectionate: "Oh, Kṛṣṅa doesn't want it. All right, stop it." But Indra became very angry: "Who is this boy, stopping my worship?" So he wanted to show his power. So for seven days, torrents of rain. And Kṛṣṅa showed His power. He lifted the Govardhana Hill, giri-vara-dhārī, Govardhana Hill to protect the Vṛndāvana vāsī. Then he came to his senses, that "He's not ordinary cowherd boy. I'm... He's my master." Then he...

So Kṛṣṅa is adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means beyond our sense perception. Therefore we have to know Kṛṣṅa from Kṛṣṅa, not by our speculation. Kṛṣṅa may... That is frog philosophy. Frog philosophy. He's simply calculating with reference to his teeny well, three feet. So if we want to speculate, what experience we have got, what knowledge we have got that we can speculate to understand the supreme, all-pervasive Supreme Personality of Godhead? That is not possible. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja.

If you want to know Kṛṣṅa, then you have to take to this process of devotional service, rendering service unto Him. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau [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.]

Bhejire, bhejire, bhaj-dhātu. Bhaja means sevāya. So bhejire. You have to take to this devotional service. And Kṛṣṅa also says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

He doesn't say by knowledge or by work or by yoga, mystic yogic power, one can understand God. No. That is not possible. These are all akṣaja, within the range of our sense perception. But bhakti is not within the range. Bhakti is the transcendental process. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11].

[One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.]

Jñāna and karma, knowledge and fruitive activities, they are of this material world. And anyābhilāṣa—they're all of this material world, anyābhilāṣa, desiring other than Kṛṣṅa.

So, leaving aside all these processes, we have to simply serve Kṛṣṅa ānukūlyena, favorably, as Kṛṣṅa wants. So at the present moment, Kṛṣṅa, what does He want? How do you know it? Yes, we can know it. Kṛṣṅa, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He appeared, and He has declared His mission. What is that? Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṅa-upadeśa [Cc Madhya 7.128].

[Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.]

He says, "Whomever you meet, you simply speak of Kṛṣṅa." Yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṅa-upadeśa. Kṛṣṅa-upadeśa, the instruction given by Kṛṣṅa or the instruction given about Kṛṣṅa.

Just like this Bhāgavata, this is instruction about Kṛṣṅa, how to know Kṛṣṅa. And instruction given by Kṛṣṅa is Bhagavad-gītā. He says, "I am like this. I am like this." So we haven't got to make any research. Whatever is already stocked there, let us distribute it. What capacity we have got to find out Kṛṣṅa by research work? That's not possible. That is akṣaja. Akṣaja. Kṛṣṅa is adhokṣaja. Your paltry research work with limited power of sense, how you can find out Kṛṣṅa? That's not possible.

So we have to take instruction from Kṛṣṅa to understand Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says that "I am the supreme." You have to accept that, in the Bhāgavata. You cannot interpret in a different way: "Yes, Kṛṣṅa is supreme, all right. But..." Not like that. Take it as it is. Kṛṣṅa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg 10.8]:

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

"I am the original source of everything." Because our inquiries—every scientist, every philosopher is trying to find out the ultimate source. That is called progressive science or philosophy. But here we get the information. Why should we take so much trouble?

Kṛṣṅa says aham ādir hi devānām [Bg 10.2]: "I am the original of all demigods." Just like Brahmā. Brahmā is the first demigod within this universe, but he is not original. Original is Kṛṣṅa. Aham ādir hi devānāṁ maharṣīṅām. So He says that He is the ādi, ādi-puruṣam. Brahmā says ādi-puruṣam, the original person. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So He's the ādi-puruṣa, He's the original source. Every Vedic literature declares, every authority declares. He comes Himself to declare, but still we are so rascal, we are finding out, making research work, "What is the ādi-puruṣa?"

This is called rascaldom. Everything is there, but the rascal will simply spoil their own time and spoil others' time making research work. This is called illusion. Everything is there. Sun is there, brilliant, and one is searching sun with a lamp. What is the use of this lamp? The sun is self-effulgent, you can see. Similarly, Kṛṣṅa is self-effulgent—by śāstra, by authority, by action, everything. Why you are wasting your time? Wasting your time? Yes. What is the reason?

The reason Kṛṣṅa says: duṣkṛtina. Duṣkṛtinaḥ, narādhamāḥ. Because they are very, very sinful, duṣkṛtina. Mischievous, miscreants, simply wasting money. They're taking huge salary, huge research fees from the government, and simply misleading person. That is their business. Miscreants. Actually, they want money, but to take the money he has to bluff. Without bluffing, how he can take money?

Then they will present themselves, "I am great scientist, I am great philosopher, so give me money, millions of dollars. I'll go to the moon planet, I'll go to the Mars," and taking money and wasting. And because we are rascals, we are also: "Oh, they are making so much advancement, yes." Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

We are following blind leaders. Because we are blind, we do not know. This is the position. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ.

So we have to open our eyes. How these eyes are opened?

ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ [Gautamīya-tantra]

We are blind. We can have our eyes through the medium of bona fide spiritual master. That is required. Ādau gurvāśrayam.

So this adhokṣajam, Kṛṣṅa, we have to worship. Adhokṣaja. So we cannot see if it is beyond our sense perception. How we can worship Him? Therefore you have to take shelter of the spiritual master who has seen Him. Tad viddhi praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg 4.34].

[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]

You try to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead by surrender, praṅipātena, paripraśnena.

First of all, surrender. Not asking before surrender. This is not allowed. If one is not surrendered, then he should not put any question, because the first principle is lost. First of all you must surrender, then put question. And when you put question, don't argue. Take it.

Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was putting... When Arjuna surrendered himself to Kṛṣṅa, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7]:

[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]

"Now I become..." Because in the beginning he was talking like friends. So friends' argument, there is no end. Because everyone thinks that "I am your friend. Why shall I be defeated by you?" So that talk, sort of talks, will not solve your problem how to see God. That is not possible.

Therefore, you must follow the principles done by Arjuna. He surrendered to Kṛṣṅa: "Kṛṣṅa, I know You are my friend, but unless I surrender unto You, I accept You my spiritual master, it is not possible to know." Therefore he surrendered: śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam. Kṛṣṅa also immediately took him as disciple and immediately chastised him, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase [Bg 2.11]: "You're talking like a very learned scholar, but you're fool number one. You do not know what is knowledge."

So we must go to certain person, such a person who can actually give us knowledge. Ādau gurvāśrayam. So in the Bhagavad-gītā,

...praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ [Bg 4.34]

Tattva-darśī, one who has seen the Absolute Truth, he can give you real... So guru and Kṛṣṅa... Ei rūpe brahmāṅḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva, guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpāya [Cc Madhya 19.151].

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

Both—Kṛṣṅa's mercies and spiritual master's mercy. Kṛṣṅa's mercy is there, Bhagavad-gītā. He has already given you. And try to understand this Bhagavad-gītā through the bona fide spiritual master, Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then you'll learn. Then you'll learn what is adhokṣaja, beyond your sense perception. Then you will understand gradually. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ: He becomes revealed. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.234].

The spiritual master's duty is to engage you in devotional service, especially engage your tongue, jihvādau. Jihvā means tongue. Tongue means engaging your tongue for chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa,

[devotees chant with Prabhupāda]

Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And when you are tired, take kṛṣṅa-prasādam. That is on your tongue. So simply engage your tongue; he'll give you Kṛṣṅa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda! [devotees offer obeisances]

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Begin.

[37:06]

[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong]

Prabhupāda: [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]