Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.28

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

itthaṁ śarat-prāvṛṣikāv ṛtū harer viśṛṅvato me 'nusavaṁ yaśo 'malam saṅkīrtyamānaṁ munibhir mahātmabhir bhaktiḥ pravṛttātma-rajas-tamopahā [SB 1.5.28]

[break] [04:06]

Translation: "Thus during two seasons, the rainy season and autumn, I had the opportunity to hear these great-souled sages constantly chant the unadulterated glories of the Lord Hari. As my devotional service began, the coverings of the modes of passion and ignorance vanished."

Prabhupāda:

itthaṁ śarat-prāvṛṣikāv ṛtū harer viśṛṅvato me 'nusavaṁ yaśo 'malam saṅkīrtyamānaṁ munibhir mahātmabhir bhaktiḥ pravṛttātma-rajas-tamopahā [SB 1.5.28]

Ātma-rajas-tamopahā. This is the perfection of life. We are now covered by the modes of material nature, tri-guṅamayī, three guṅas: sattva, rajas, tamas. So mukti means to get out of this entanglement of three guṅas. That is called mukti. We are suffering different modes of material nature. We have several times explained, kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu [Bg 13.22]. There are different types of bodies. From specie point of view, there are 8,400,000 forms, and they are due to these material modes of nature. I have several times explained, there are three modes of material nature, and if you mix, three into three, it becomes nine, and nine into nine equal to eighty-one. So little more or less, there are 8,400,000 species of life. So in order to get out of this repetition of birth and death, we require to be freed from the influence of the modes of material nature. That is the perfection of life.

So here Nārada Muni says that "During the four months..." In India there are six seasons. There is summer season, there is spring, there is autumn, then there is winter, there is fall. In this way, there are six seasons. So the saintly person, in the..., during the autumn and rainy season, they keep together; they do not move. Because saintly persons, sannyāsīs, their business is to move... Gṛhiṅāṁ dīna-cetasām, mahad-vicalanam. Mahad-vicalanam. Mahat means mahātmā, great souls. Great soul means not crippled souls; those who are anxious to meet the great, or the Supreme Brahman, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those who are crippled souls, they are entangled with the limited circle of material enjoyment. But mahātmā... Mahātmā is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

Mahātmās are not interested within this material world. They are not under the influence of the external energy. Of course, nowadays it is... Sometimes politicians are called "mahātmā." But that is not the purpose of mahātmā. Mahātmā is not interested with politics or sociology or—they are all material things—or philanthropy. They are interested with the Supreme: Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [SB 1.2.11].

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

They're interested. Especially mahātmā is he who is interested with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṅa.

Every kṛṣṅa-bhakta, Kṛṣṅa conscious person, is mahātmā, real mahātmā. How it is? Kṛṣṅa says, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manasaḥ. That is mahātmā. Mahātmā does not mean that if you dress yourself with a certain colored cloth and have some big hairs and beards, then you become mahātmā. No. The mahātmā is he... Who? Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ: "He is not under the influence of this external energy." Daivī-prakṛti means... There are two prakṛtis, two natures: internal and external. Internal energy is spiritual energy, and external energy is material energy. So mahātmās, they are not under material energy.

One who is under the material energy, they are entangled with these three guṅas: sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. The lowest is the tamo-guṅa, and via media is the rajo-guṅa, and the topmost, goodness, is sattva-guṅa. So even in sattva-guṅa, that is also entanglement. Rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa is certainly entanglement, but even rajo-guṅa, even one is situated in the sattva-guṅa... Sattva-guṅa means perfect brāhmaṅa: satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.42].

[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.]

Even if you become a perfect brāhmaṅa, brāhmaṅa with qualities, still, it is bondage. In bondage because, in this way, that even if you become a brāhmaṅa you'll think yourself, "Now I have got so much knowledge, Vedic knowledge. I speak truth, satya. I can control my senses. Satyaṁ śamo damaḥ. I can control my mind. I have got knowledge. I can tolerate." So all these qualities, one becomes bound up. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches, nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patiḥ, that "Even... I am not even a brāhmaṅa. I am not a kṣatriya. I am not a vaiśya. I am not a śūdra," He says. This is called sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [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.]

Even if you become a brāhmaṅa, still, that is upādhi, designation.

So although there is bondage in the sattva-guṅa... Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ [Bg 14.18],

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

you can be promoted to the higher planetary systems, but that is also bondage. Kṛṣṅa says, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg 8.16].

[From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.]

If you remain within this material world, even if you are promoted to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, Satyaloka, still, you have to accept the material bondage, means janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg 13.9].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

Brahmā, he also dies. Although he has got very, very long duration of life, he also dies. So Kṛṣṅa therefore recommends, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg 15.6]:

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

"If you come to My place, then you are no more under the laws of birth, death, old age and disease." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [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.]

That should be the aim of life. Those... There are others, who are aspiring to go to the heavenly planet or Satyaloka or Brahmaloka, but Kṛṣṅa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām [Bg 9.25].

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

Therefore the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is that "Why we should go to the heavenly planet or Brahmaloka or any other material planet? We shall go directly to the abode of Kṛṣṅa, Goloka Vṛndāvana." That is the aim of the devotees.

So that aim you can fulfill by practicing bhakti-yoga. That is mentioned here, bhaktiḥ pravṛttā ātma-rajas-tamopahā. So rajas-tamas... So long one is situated in the modes of passion and ignorance, there is no hope. There is no hope. But when one comes to the platform of sattva-guṅa, there is little hope of transcending. So bhakti-yoga is above sattva-guṅa. In the sattva-guṅa, in the modes of goodness, you can become a nice brāhmaṅa, but simply by becoming a nice brāhmaṅa you, your..., you are not free from the material bondage. When you become a pure Vaiṣṅava, then you are free from the bondage of the material world. And to become Vaiṣṅava, you require this devotion, bhakti. Bhakti. Immediately, beginning of bhakti means rajas-tamopahā, upahā. One who is situated even beginning, he is above the rajas-tamo-guṅa. He's situated... Tadā kāma-lobha...

There is a... There is a verse. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā [SB 1.2.18].

[By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.]

Here the same thing is described, that saṅkīrtyamānaṁ munibhir mahātmabhiḥ. Saṅkīrtyamānam. We have to hear the saṅkīrtana not from professional men. That will not be... If you hear saṅkīrtana from the professional men... Professional men: who makes saṅkīrtana as the means of livelihood. Just like people do some business or work to get some money to maintain the life, similarly, if somebody takes the saṅkīrtana as the means of livelihood, that will not help you. You can go on hearing saṅkīrtana from such professional men for millions of years; still, you will remain where you are, not rajas-tamopahā. You cannot get out of the bondage of...

Therefore you have to hear from the saṅkīrtyamānaṁ munibhir mahātmabhiḥ. Mahātmā. Mahātmā means mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manasaḥ [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

Mahātmā means those who have finished this material business. Simply they're interested with Kṛṣṅa and... Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura or followers, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's followers. If you hear... Just like Nārada Muni. In his previous birth he heard from these mahātmās, great devotees, only for four months. It is stated here. The time is..., śarat prāvṛṣa, prāvṛṣa, prāvṛṣikāv ṛtū. Śarat and autumn, two ṛtūs, he heard. The association was there. And the result was: viśṛṅvato me 'nusavaṁ yaśo amalam. Kṛṣṅa's glorification, amalam, without any spot, without any... Kṛṣṅa's glories, that is real nirguṅa. Nirguṅa does not mean to become impersonal. Nirguṅa means without any material attributes. So when Kṛṣṅa's glories are chanted, that is not anything of this material world.

Just like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, that is not any vibration of this material world. That is spiritual. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy. Saṁsāra-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣānale and dāvānale, these things are described about this material world. Just like in... You sung, immediately, saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka-trāṅāya kāruṅya-ghanāghanatvam. So the saṁsāra, this material world, is just like blazing fire, dāvānala, a forest fire. Forest fire means nobody goes to set fire in the forest; it takes automatically. Similarly, we want to live very peacefully in this material world, but that is not possible. There will be fire. And viṣaya-viṣānale. Viṣaya means things which is required for sense enjoyment, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunam.

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

So either you say viṣaya-viṣānale or saṁsāra-dāvānale, the matter is the same. So Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, therefore, viṣaya-viṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jvale, juṛāite nā koinu upāy. If you want to get out of this viṣānala, the blazing fire of poison or forest fire, then we have to take shelter of this hari-saṅkīrtana.

golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana rati nā janmilo kene tāy saṁsāra-dāvānale viṣaya-viṣānale dibā-niśi hiyā jvale juṛāite nā koinu upāy [Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura]

[The treasure of divine love in Goloka Vṛndāvana has descended as the congregational chanting of Lord Hari's holy names. Why did my attraction for that chanting never come about? Day and night my heart burns in the fire of the poison of worldliness, and I have not accepted the means for relieving it.]

So in order to get out of this blazing fire of material existence, which is a combination of rajas-tamaḥ-sattva-guṅa, one has to take to this devotional service, and that can be achieved only by hearing from munibhir mahātmabhiḥ, those who are munis. Munis means they are silent about material affairs. They are simply interested with spiritual advancement of life. To give up something and to accept something... To give up something is negative, but if you do not accept something positive, this give up something will not stay. Simply to become renounced of the material world will not help. Big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this material world—brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—but they, because they did not engage themselves in devotional service, they again come back to this material world for philanthropic work, for altruistic work, for charity, for opening school... So simply negative will not help us. We have to accept positive.

So if we accept the positive, the negative will automatically result. Just like here it is said, bhakti-pravṛttā. As soon as bhakti is accepted, then ātma-rajas-tamopahā: you immediately become free. Your soul becomes free from the influence of rajas-tamas. Rajas-tamas means lust and desire. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. If you are entangled in rajas-tamas, then you'll be influenced by lusty desires, kāma and lobha. The lusty desires will never be satisfied. You'll want more, more, more. That is called greedy, lobha, lusty desires and greediness.

You'll never be free if you remain in the kāma, in the rajas-tamas.

tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye ceta etair anāviddhaṁ sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati [SB 1.2.19]

[As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.]

Here the two modes of nature is explained, kāma and lobha, er, rajas-tamas. So if we are entangled with rajas-tamas, then our perpetual desire for lusty sense enjoyment and greediness will not stop. It will drag me more and more, more and more, and entangle me. But sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. But if we give up these two qualities, the remainder quality means goodness, that sattve, you will give..., you will get, at least, peace of mind. Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. Evaṁ prasanna-manasaḥ. When you are in, in the platform of satisfaction, sattva-guṅa... Just like the brahminical qualification: they are satisfied with anything. A brāhmaṅa is not supposed to improve his economic condition. He's not interested. He's simply satisfied: "By the grace of God, whatever I have got, that is sufficient." God is supplying everyone, even birds and beasts and cats and dogs. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. He is giving food to everyone. So sattva-guṅa means to remain satisfied whatever is obtained by..., from God, by His free will. That's all. They are not after economic development.

So Vaiṣṅava, being inherently a brāhmaṅa, he should be satisfied: "Whatever Kṛṣṅa has given, that's all right. My business is how to make advance in Kṛṣṅa consciousness." Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. That is the Vaiṣṅava's business, that simply how to make perfection of life in Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That is Vaiṣṅava's demand; not for any other improvement, economic development or this improvement. No. Because economic... It is... It is a false idea that one will be satisfied or be happy simply by economic development. No, that is not possible, practically. In your country, America, there is immense economic development, but you could not get any happiness. That is not possible. Happiness will be possible when, first of all, you are situated in the brahminical position, sattva-guṅa; and to come to that brahminical position, you have to give up the activities of rajas-tamo-guṅa. The rajas-tamo-guṅa is that illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. That's all. So if you voluntarily give up, and be situated in the sattva-guṅa, then you'll be happy. Evaṁ prasanna-manasaḥ.

And that happiness can be obtained, as it is stated here, bhakti, by devotional service. Bhakti-pravṛttā. As soon as you begin devotional service... Yayātmā suprasīdati. There are many references.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yenātmā suprasīdati [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.]

So by bhakti-yoga you'll be happy, and as soon as you become happy, then your Kṛṣṅa consciousness is very easily advanced. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ [SB 1.2.20].

[Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.]

Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavat..., mukta-saṅgasya jāyate. Bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate. In this way we shall understand bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam, and that is the perfection of life.

So Nārada Muni admits that "Simply by hearing from the realized souls, munibhir mahātmabhiḥ, for four months during their stay in the cāturmāsya period, gradually I developed my Kṛṣṅa consciousness, and then I began devotional service." This is the process.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. Haribol. [end]