Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.30

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [devotees repeat]

jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ [SB 1.5.30]

[break] [02:44]

Translation: "As they were leaving, those bhakti-vedāntas, who are very kind to poor-hearted souls, instructed me in that most confidential subject which is instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself."

Prabhupāda:

jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ

So yesterday we have been discussing the symptoms of guru and the symptoms of disciple—who is actual disciple and who is actual guru. It is stated by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura,

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya vande guroḥ śrī-caraṅāravindam

So guru's position is very exalted. Exal... Why exalted? Because he is the confidential servant of Kṛṣṅa. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. One... Suppose you want to do some business and..., with some firm, and a representative comes to transact business; naturally, one tries to satisfy that representative so that the business can be done very fairly. This is natural psychology. Similarly, kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. Guru is very dear to Kṛṣṅa because his business is to serve Kṛṣṅa. His business is to execute the will of Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore here it is said, yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam. [aside:] Don't disturb in this way. Sākṣād bhagavatoditam. Sākṣāt means directly, what was spoken directly by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that is jñānam, that is real knowledge. Jñānaṁ guhyatamam. Guhyatamam: most confidential. Guhya, guhyatara and guhyatamam. What is that verse in the Eighteenth Chapter? Guhyād guhyatamaṁ pravakṣyāmi... That... The conclusion is that the most confidential knowledge is that which is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. And what it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā? Guhyād guhyatamam. [aside:] Find out this verse. Could not? Before sarva-dharmān... Yes.

Nitāi:

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṅa yathecchasi tathā kuru [Bg 18.63]

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Read the...

Nitāi: "Thus I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge. Deliberate on this fully, and do what you wish to do."

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṅa personally giving the most confidential knowledge. And here it is also mentioned that the saintly persons, the mahātmā, they simply spoke what was spoken by Kṛṣṅa Himself directly. That's all. Here it is stated, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ, guhyatamam yat tat sākṣād bhagavato... This is very important statement. Jñānaṁ guhyatamam, the most confidential part of knowledge, is that which is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. Anyone who is interested in spiritual knowledge, they will benefit simply by accepting what Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is jñānam. That is also stated by Kṛṣṅa. Etaj jñānam. Etad anyathā yad ajñānam. Anything beyond this knowledge, what is spoken by Kṛṣṅa, that is ajñāna, ignorance. That is not jñāna.

Unfortunately, it has become a fashion now to interpret Bhagavad-gītā in their own foolish way and mislead the public. This I have repeatedly spoken in many places, that in the Western countries so many svāmīs and yogīs, they went there. For the last, at least, one hundred years. One hundred years, from India many svāmīs and yogīs had been... Still they are going. But they could not turn even a single person to Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Not a single person. Throughout the whole history of these hundred years of svāmīs going to the Western country, but could not turn even a single soul to understand Kṛṣṅa. This is a fact. It is not that I am very proud. No. The truth must be spoken. Why they could not do so? The defect was that they did not say what Kṛṣṅa said directly. They said their own words. They manufactured their own philosophy.

Here the, I mean to..., saintly persons, the mahātmās, gamiṣyantaḥ, when they were going, they confidentially said what was spoken by Kṛṣṅa directly. This is the secret of success. Try to understand. Anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ. Guru, or mahātmā, they are very merciful. Merciful in this way: that they know how a person can be elevated to the topmost platform of knowledge, and they can give it. And this is not very difficult. It is said here that yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam. This is mercifulness.

A guru's business is to deliver the same message as Kṛṣṅa says. Then he's dīna-vatsala. Otherwise, if he says something else, he's a cheater; he's not guru. He must be, to the suffering humanity, being kind upon them, dīna-vatsala. Dīna means very poor, poor in knowledge. At the present moment, the—not only at the present moment; always—those who are in the material world, they are very, very poor. Very, very poor. Gṛhiṅāṁ dīna-cetasām. Because their mind is very crippled. They are thinking that this duration of life—say, fifty years or twenty years or utmost seventy or a hundred years—this is everything. That's all. Therefore they are very poor. Their expansion of knowledge is very, very meager. And it is the business of the saintly person to be kind upon them, that "This is not the life. You are thinking, making adjustment to live for fifty years or hundred years very comfortably, or even next life..." Karmīs, they also take consideration of the next life, to be promoted in the heavenly planet or other higher planetary system. But still, they are poor. Poor. Because they are lacking in the knowledge of eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness. That they do not know. Sac-cid-ānanda life.

So it is the business of the mahātmā to enlighten them to the real platform of life. Kṛṣṅa says personally,

mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ [Bg 8.15]

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

This is real life, to go back to home, back to Godhead, Kṛṣṅa. Mām upetya. If you go back to home, back to Godhead, that is saṁsiddhiṁ paramām. That is the highest perfection of life. But generally... Generally, almost... Why generally? Almost everyone. Ninety-nine point nine percent people, they want to become happy within this material world. Therefore they are poor, very, very poor. And the mahātmās, they give the knowledge that "This is not life. This is a temporary platform." Aśāśvatam. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This is confidential knowledge. You are trying to be happy... Suppose Brahmā. He lives for many millions of years. Still, it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. That life is also temporary. What is millions of years' duration of life in comparison to the eternal life? So beginning from Brahmā down to the small ant, whoever is within this material world, it is to be understood their understanding is very poor. And the mahātmā, being kind upon these poor souls, they deliver the same knowledge as Kṛṣṅa gives. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅam... [Bg 18.66].

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

This is guru's business. Do not manufacture anything. There is no question of... There is no need of manufacturing anything. Simply you speak to the suffering humanity the same thing which Kṛṣṅa says. Sākṣād bhagavatā uditam. This is the business of guru. It is clearly said.

Nārada, he'll explain further in the next verses, how he became advanced. This verse is very important, that jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat. Actually, perfect knowledge you can get from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and in paramparā system you get that knowledge. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

Paramparā means they do not change the word of Kṛṣṅa. That is paramparā. Kṛṣṅa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65],

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

and the paramparā system says the same thing. No change. They never say that "I have now become Kṛṣṅa, and you surrender unto me, think of me." There are many so-called incarnations who are preaching like that: "You think of me." Same, repeating the same word in his own favor, not in Kṛṣṅa's favor. That is not mahātmā; that is durātmā. Mahātmā means who always speaks in Kṛṣṅa's favor. That is mahātmā. This is the purport of this verse. Jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat sākṣād bhagava... Bhagavān says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja.

So our business should be to repeat the same thing, that "You give up all nonsense engagement. Simply surrender to Kṛṣṅa. Simply you think of Kṛṣṅa. Simply become a devotee of Kṛṣṅa. Simply offer obeisances to Kṛṣṅa. That will make your life successful." This is mahātmā's business. Sākṣād... Not indirectly. Directly. Directly... Here Kṛṣṅa says, guhyād guhyatamam. [aside:] Read that verse again.

Nitāi:

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṅa yathecchasi tathā kuru [Bg 18.63]

Prabhupāda: Yathecchasi tathā... The word is used there, yathecchasi tathā kuru. We have got the little independence. Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja. But why people are not doing that? Because they have got little independence. Every living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa has got the quality of full independence. Naturally, the part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, it has also independence. But that is not absolute independence. Just like independent country, America, independent country. We are also now independent country. But the citizens, they have independence dependent on the state independence. Not absolute independence. Similarly, we have got independence. We living entities, we have got independence—but dependent on the independence of Kṛṣṅa. Not absolute independence. So... Therefore we become entangled in our own karma. Kṛṣṅa does not give anyone a position or karma. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that He does not give anyone a better position or anyone a inferior position. Everyone creates his own position. Kṛṣṅa simply orders that "This is your position. Now you enjoy or suffer." We create our own position.

Therefore the most confidential part of knowledge is... Kṛṣṅa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja. That is the guhyatamam, jñānaṁ guhyatamam. The same thing, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One who has understood Bhagavad-gītā properly, he can understand what is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Where Bhagavad-gītā ends... Bhagavad-gītā, teachings of Bhagavad-gītā ends at the point when Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja, to surrender. And the Bhāgavata begins from that point. Janmādy asya yataḥ... [SB 1.1.1], satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Surrender. Otherwise, in the next paragraph of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra [SB 1.1.2]: "Except surrendering to Kṛṣṅa, there cannot be any religious system." The real religious system... Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja. That is religion, to surrender to Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, as it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra [SB 1.1.2].

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

All cheating type of religious system is kicked out from Bhagavad..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kicked out, projjhita. To merge into the Supreme, to become God, to become incarnation of God—these kind of religious system is very rigidly kicked out from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because they are not religion. Real religion is to surrender to Kṛṣṅa.

Therefore it is said, yat tat sākṣād bhagavatā uditam. If you want to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you must abide by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But they have no idea who is Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is His order, what is our relationship with Him. These things are unknown. It is simply known to the, I mean to say, devotees. Why it is monopolized by the devotees? That is also answered in the Bhagavad-gītā: 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.]

If you want to know what is God, what is Kṛṣṅa, then you have to go through this bhakti-mārga, or devotional... There is no other way. Kṛṣṅa never says that He can be known through speculation or cultivation of so-called speculative knowledge. No. Then He would have said, "Through jñāna one can understand Me." No. Neither karma one can understand. Neither yoga. This is explained in many, various places of the śāstra. Only bhakti. Only bhakti. And it is the duty of the spiritual master, or mahātmā, to spread bhakti cult. That is the most confidential... That is the most merciful humanitarian activity. Because people are suffering for want of this knowledge.

Therefore our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is the only movement—I can declare very proudly—which can actually do some benefit to the human society. It is the only movement. All other—bogus movements, I declare. Let them come and study the śāstras and decide for themselves. They're all cheating. Only this bhagavad-bhakti. Because you cannot understand Bhagavān without undergoing the process of devotional service. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55]. If you want to know in truth, tattvataḥ... Kṛṣṅa wants that one should understand Him tattvataḥ. Not that superficially to take Kṛṣṅa that "He was very fond of the gopīs, and let us hear the līlā of Kṛṣṅa." Why Kṛṣṅa's gopīs' līlā? Why not Kṛṣṅa's līlā killing the demons? That, the people are not interested to hear about Kṛṣṅa's killing the demons. Because the gopīs' līlā, it appears to be the transaction between young woman and man, it very quickly appeals. But Kṛṣṅa's other business is there. 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.]

That is also Kṛṣṅa's līlā. That is Kṛṣṅa's līlā. Just like Lord Rāmacandra is killing the Rāvaṅa. That is also Kṛṣṅa's līlā. Lord Rāmacandra's līlā and Kṛṣṅa's līlā, there is...

So we should take any līlā of Kṛṣṅa as Supreme. Not that simply the most confidential. The vṛndāvana-līlā, Kṛṣṅa's līlā with the gopīs, is the most confidential līlā. We should not entertain this confidential līlā unless we are liberated. It is very difficult subject. And because they cannot understand what is Kṛṣṅa's līlā, they imitate, they fall down. There are so many things. We do not wish to discuss. But we should be... If we are actually serious about advancing in kṛṣṅa-līlā, then we must know first of all what is Kṛṣṅa, what He desires, and how we shall act. Then we can enter into the confidential part of Kṛṣṅa's līlā. Otherwise we shall misunderstand and fall down.

So the... Here it is said that sākṣād bhagavatoditam..., uditam. That... What is Bhāgavata, Bhāgavata? Kṛṣṅa never says that "First of all you hear My līlā with the gopīs." He never says that. He first of all says that "You surrender unto Me." First of all learn how to surrender to Kṛṣṅa. First of all learn how to love Kṛṣṅa. Then you can taste what is Kṛṣṅa's līlā with the gopīs. It is just like mukhāravinda. Just like... Kṛṣṅa's līlā in the Daśama-skandha with the gopīs is compared with the Kṛṣṅa's face, smiling face. But we have to worship Kṛṣṅa beginning with the feet. Not immediately we shall look to the face of Kṛṣṅa. We shall misunderstand. First of all try to be Kṛṣṅa's devotee by offering your worshipable things at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. The First Canto or Second Canto of Bhagavad-gītā are the two lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa. So from the very beginning we should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Gradually, we shall come to the face. That is real understanding of Kṛṣṅa. And without understanding of the other nine cantos of Bhagavad-gītā, er, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if we simply jump over the Tenth Canto, and especially to the Thirty-fifth Chapter, the five chapters, Rāsa-pañcādhyāya, this is not very favorable. Of course, it is favorable. Kṛṣṅa's līlā, you hear any way, this way or that way... But if we misunderstand Kṛṣṅa, then there is falldown. That is instructed by Śrī..., Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, that don't try to understand Kṛṣṅa's līlā all of a sudden without understanding Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ.

So regulative principle—to serve, as it is stated in the śāstras or as it is enjoined by the spiritual master.

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā tato rucis athāsaktis tato bhāvas... sādhakānām ayaṁ premṅaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ [Cc Madhya 23.14-15]

[In the beginning there must be faith. Then one becomes interested in associating with pure devotees. Thereafter one is initiated by the spiritual master and executes the regulative principles under his orders. Thus one is freed from all unwanted habits and becomes firmly fixed in devotional service. Thereafter, one develops taste and attachment. This is the way of sādhana-bhakti, the execution of devotional service according to the regulative principles. Gradually emotions intensify, and finally there is an awakening of love. This is the gradual development of love of Godhead for the devotee interested in Kṛṣṅa consciousness.]

Krama. So dīna-vatsalāḥ. The mahātmās who instructed Nārada Muni that "Here is the confidential knowledge: Please fully surrender unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa." So Nārada Muni admits here, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ. Gamiṣyantaḥ means the mahātmās were going. He served for four months. So they became very happy; they became very pleased. This is the business: how to make the mahātmā pleased. Yasya..., yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. If you try to please mahātmā, the spiritual master, then bhagavat-prasādaḥ will automatically come. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ.

So here it is said, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā. Kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ. Actually, Vaiṣṅava is dīna-vatsala. They are very unhappy. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was unhappy seeing the people, degenerated people, suffering in this material world. Prahlāda Mahārāja said to Nṛsiṁhadeva, "My dear Sir, I have no problem. I am happy anywhere by chanting Your holy..., by glorifying Your activities. But I am simply morose seeing the fallen-down condition..." Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān [SB 7.9.43]. "I am simply thinking of these rascals, whose..., who, for flickering happiness, engage themselves in so many material activities, forgetting Your relationship."

So dīna-vatsalāḥ, the sādhus, they should be very much compassionate to the suffering humanity and give them the message which is spoken directly by Kṛṣṅa, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... [Bg 18.66].

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

This is the mission of Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]