Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.17

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

tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param nirantaraṁ svayaṁ-jyotir aṅimānam akhaṅḍitam [SB 3.25.17]

[break] [01:20]

"At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to the material existence and always self-effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size."

Prabhupāda:

tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param nirantaraṁ svayaṁ-jyotir aṅimānam akhaṅḍitam [SB 3.25.17]

This is self-realization. Self-realization means to see one's proper identity. At the present moment we are not finding out our proper identity. We are seeing to the body. I see you, your body, and you see me, my body. We have no vision of the real person which is..., who is occupying this body. This is the first lesson we get from Bhagavad-gītā: dehino 'smin yathā dehe. Dehī... This body is called deha, and the owner of the body is called dehī. So,

dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ... [Bg 2.13]

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

So when we can see that we are not this body, "I am not this body," that is beginning of self-realization. That is called brahma-bhūta stage. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this material body." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is self-realization.

So what is the identification of the jīva, of the soul? Very minute. Aṅimānam. Very, very minute, infinitesimal. God is infinite, and we are infinitesimal, very small particle. Just like sun. Sun is very big, but the sunshine, it is a combination of very minute, bright articles, atoms. Everyone knows. It is a combination of, I mean to say, dazzling, bright... Similarly, we are also a small, bright particle, the same quality. Svayaṁ-jyoti. Just like God, or Brahman, is jyoti, we are also jyoti. But Brahman is all-pervading, infinite; we are aṅimānam. So Māyāvādī theory is that "At the present moment... I am the same." They, their theory is ghaṭākāśa-poṭākāśa. Just like a ghaṭa, or in a pot, there is, within the pot, there is sky, and outside the pot there is sky. So the separation is due to the wall of the pot. If the... When the wall is broken, then the inside sky and the outside sky become one. This is Māyāvāda theory.

Therefore here it is said, akhaṅḍitam. Akhaṅḍitam means not that the sky within the pot is fragmented from the whole sky. That cannot be. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said, acchedyo 'yam [Bg 2.24].

[This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.]

Acchedyaḥ, it cannot be cut into pieces. Akhaṅḍita. That means it is minute perpetually, eternally. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūto jīva-loke sanātanaḥ [Bg 15.7]. Sanātanaḥ means eternally we are small. Aṅu, aṅimānam. And God, or Kṛṣṅa, is vibhu. "God is great" means He, nobody is equal to Him, nobody is greater than Him. That is greatness. God is great. But we say, "God is great," but we do not know how great He is. He is so great that millions of universes are coming from the holes of His body.

yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṅḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṅur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [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.]

The millions of universes are coming from the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṅu. So that is a little idea of the greatness of God, Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna viṣṭabhyam āham kṛtsnam 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.]

"This jagat, this material world, is situated on the strength of one part of Me."

So this is self-realization. We must understand our position. In the Purāṅas also, our minute particle identification... What is that? One ten-thousandth part of the top of the hair. We cannot see even the top of the hair. That you divide, keśāgra, keśa agra, the front portion of the hair. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 5.9]. You divide into one hundred part. Śatadhā kalpitasya ca. Again take one part and divide into hundreds part. That is the dimension of the jīva. That small particle is there within the ant, the microbic germ, and he..., that part is within the elephant. Jiva bhuta maha baho [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

That is the dimension. So self-realization... Self-realization means one must know his identity. That identity, that small particle, is there—within me, within you. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg 2.13]. Dehī is within the deha. But because it is so small, with our material eyes it is not possible to see. There is no such instrument that you can find out. Therefore on account of our inability to find it out, we say, "It is nirākāra," because we cannot calculate what is the ākāra, or what is the dimension. But the ākāra is there. The living entity has got full ākāra. If you have studied the small microbes... Sometimes I see at night when I work, a small insect just like a full stop, it is walking. That means the whole physiological combination, anatomy, physiology, is there. But you cannot... You see just a like a full stop. So within that there is the soul. And within the elephant or big animal there is also the soul. The soul is there. Asmin dehe, dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg 2.13].

That is there.

So when we actually realize what we are, brahmānubhūti, then our life is successful. Now we are identifying with this body. So long we are identifying with this body, we are no better than the cats and dogs. Whatever knowledge you may have scientific knowledge, if you do not know yourself, then you are nothing but the animal. The animal does not know. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

If somebody considers that "This body, I am self," identifies..., "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṅa," "I am kṣatriya," "I am man," "I am woman," "I am elephant," and so on... So this kind of identification, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke... Kuṅape means this is a bag made of kapha-pitta-vāyu, tri-dhātu. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. And thinking that, in bodily relationship, I am thinking, "He's my own man, or relative..." Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu. Kalatra means because we have intimate relation with woman and offspring, children born of her, so kalatrādiṣu. And bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. And the land as ijya. Ijya means worshipable. Nowadays it is very prominent. I heard that for land there was a fight in somewhere near. So that is going on—nation to nation, community to community. So bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. They are thinking, "This land is mine. The land of my birth is mine." We have seen, there was fight between Hindu and Muslim during Partition days: "This is my Pakistan," "This is my Hindustan." So bhauma ijya-dhīḥ.

Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ, yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile... Now, we go to tīrtha-sthāna, we go to Haridwar and Vṛndāvana and other nice holy places. And the Christian go to Jordan. So... Jerusalem. They take bath in the Jordan. So yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile. Salile means water. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij janeṣv abhijñeṣu—but have no interest to understand his identification, spiritual identification, from the ācārya. Janeṣv abhijñeṣu. Abhijña means one who knows, ācārya. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12].

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

This is the Vedic instruction. To understand your spiritual identity, you must find out a proper guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet. So he has no such knowledge. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. So he has no knowledge. The superficial. So sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13]:

such person is no better than the cows and the asses—means animal.

So this is self-realization, when one understands that "I am not this body. I am minute particle of the Supreme." Kṛṣṅa says... Everything is said there. We have to realize it. Kṛṣṅa says mamaivāṁśa. Although aṁśa... Aṁśa and aṁśī, the whole and the part. Part is never equal to the whole—that is axiomatic truth—but it is equal in quality. Just like little particle of gold is also gold. It is nothing but else. Similarly, although we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, very minute, infinitesimal, aṅimānam, perpetually, eternally, still, we are not as big as Kṛṣṅa. Just like small particle of this seawater. The chemically composition is the same; you'll find the same taste. And if you analyze, you'll find all the same ingredients, chemicals, within the small particle. But the small particle is never equal to the sea, small particle of the water. This is said... If I think, "Because I am qualitatively one with God, therefore I have become God," that is mistake. That is aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

They have been described in the śāstras as aviśuddha, unclean intelligence. Unclean intelligence. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. The, some Māyāvādī philosophers, they think that "I am the same, so 'ham." So 'ham does not mean that I am equal to God. Nobody can be equal to God or greater than God. That is not God. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad..., mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg 7.7].

[O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.]

So nobody can be greater than God or equal to God. That is... That means greatness of God. Asamordhva. Asama. Asama means nobody is equal to Him. And nobody is greater than Him. That is God. If somebody claims to be God, then he has to prove that nobody is equal to him and nobody is greater than him. Then he's God. This is the simple definition of God, that nobody equal to Him and nobody greater than Him. That is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says that mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya [Bg 7.7]: "My dear Dhanañjaya, Arjuna, there is no more superior authority than Me." And in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Īśvara. Īśvara means controller. So we small living entities, very minute, still, we are controller. We control. At least, we control our family members, my wife, my children. Or if I am bigger, I control my office, or I control my factory, I control the country, I become president. In this way, controller, controller, bigger controller, bigger controller, you go to the Brahmā, the controller of the universe. But he is also not Supreme Controller. It is said, tene... Brahmā is meditating. Although he is the greatest creature, living creature, within this universe, he's also meditating to learn controlling. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. He learned first of all how to control over the universe. Then he became Brahmā. Of course, he was born Brahmā, but still, he was to be educated, just like we require to be educated. So Brahmā was educated. So who educated him? Kṛṣṅa. Aham ādir hi devānām [Bg 10.2]. Kṛṣṅa says. Aham ādir hi devānām. Deva, the original deva, is Brahmā, Viṣṅu, Maheśvara. So Viṣṅu..., Kṛṣṅa is Viṣṅu, but He is the instructor of Brahmā and Śiva also. This is the śāstric conclusion. That is greatness. That is greatness.

So we should not falsely claim that "I am as great as the Supreme God." No. We should understand this, aṅimānam. Svayaṁ-jyo... Etad jyotiḥ, I am as effulgent. Just like spark. Spark is jyoti, but not as brilliant, effulgent, as the original fire. The original fire—phat! phat!—there are some sparks. You have got experience. The spark is also jyoti. If a spark falls on your cloth, it will immediately burn. The burning capacity is there. But it is not as good as the original fire. Svayaṁ-jyotiḥ. Here it is said, nirantaram. So nirantaram means there is, so far jyoti is concerned, there is no difference, but the small, very small. Aṅimānam akhaṅḍitam. This is self-realization. Don't falsely claim that "Because I am qualitatively one with God, therefore I am God." No. You may be god. God means controller. But you are not the Supreme God. The Supreme God is Kṛṣṅa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Parama means Supreme. We are īśvara; we may be īśvara. I may be īśvara for few persons, another may be for a big nation, another may be for the... You can go on increasing. But you cannot reach the, I mean to say, position of God. That is aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ.

Therefore śāstra says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

One who has advanced very much in spiritual knowledge, but he is thinking himself, "Now I have become liberated..." Sometimes they claim, "I have become Nārāyaṅa." Therefore Māyāvādīs, they address one another, "Namo nārāyaṅāya," "Everyone has become Nārāyaṅa." So how everyone can become Nārāyaṅa? So many Nārāyaṅas? No. Nārāyaṅa is one. God is one, Nārāyaṅa. Therefore śāstra warns,

yas tu nārāyaṅaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṅḍī bhaved dhruvam [Cc Madhya 18.116]

He's pāṣaṅḍī. If one compares Nārāyaṅa with other demigods...

Now, unfortunately, it has come to so downtrodden position, the intelligence, that they are talking of "daridra-nārāyaṅa." What is this? This is farce. Nārāyaṅa is the exalted Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says, nārāyaṅaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt: "Nārāyaṅa is beyond this universe." Paraḥ avyaktāt. Avyaktāt anya-sambhavaḥ. And the whole universe is product of this avyakta. So we should not compare Nārāyaṅa with anyone else, what to speak of daridra. That is a foolishness. Nārāyaṅa is Lakṣmī-pati, the husband, the controller of the goddess of fortune, and how He can be daridra? This is misunderstanding. Therefore śāstra warns,

yas tu nārāyaṅaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṅḍī bhaved dhruvam [Cc Madhya 18.116]

If anyone thinks that Nārāyaṅa is..., or other demigods are equal to Nārāyaṅa, sa pāṣaṅḍī. He is pāṣaṅḍī, atheist.

So we should not think like that. You may think that you have become liberated, you have got the position of Nārāyaṅa... That is all false thinking, aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. They have been addressed as aviśuddha, nonpurified, buddhayaḥ, intelligent. Not intelligent. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvāt [SB 10.2.32].

This is... Why these things happen, one compares Nārāyaṅa with ordinary demigod or ordinary man? Because aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, their intelligence is not purified. So āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ [SB 10.2.32]. Such person, by severe austerities and penances, may elevate oneself to the position of Brahman. Still, āruhya kṛcchreṅa param... Paraṁ padam means brahma-pada. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ. Again he falls down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they neglected to worship Your lotus feet."

So unless one becomes devotee, there is no secure position in the spiritual world. One may... Just like a very crude example: you may have very powerful sputnik. Just like these people are trying to go the moon with powerful... What is called, the machine?

Devotees: Rocket.

Prabhupāda: Rocket, yes. But then, going with great force, but āruhya kṛcchreṅa... Similarly, one can rise up to the Brahman effulgence, but if there is no shelter... Just like these people are going, but they don't get any shelter. But they come down again. Similarly, one, by severe austerities and penances, may go up to the Brahmaloka, but he has no position. He has no position. Because in the Brahmaloka or Vaikuṅṭhaloka, in the Paravyoma, the spiritual sky, there are spiritual planets. They are called Vaikuṅṭhaloka. Hundreds and millions there are. Very, very big, big planets than these material planets. So unless you get a shelter in one of the planets, then you again fall down.

So that is... Because we are after ānanda, sac-cid-ānanda. Simply to rise to the platform of Brahman, that is sat, partial realization of the Absolute Truth. Sat. Then cit. Cit means knowledge. That is also partial. Ānanda. Sac-cid-ānanda. When there... Ānanda you cannot get. Just like if you, simply in the sky you fly, you don't get ānanda. Therefore you have come to down, come down again to the airplane, airport. Without that, there is no ānanda. Similarly, simply rising up to the Brahman effulgence, there is no ānanda. Ānanda means you have to enter into the spiritual planet, where Nārāyaṅa, Kṛṣṅa, is there. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ [Bg 8.20]. You have entered to that eternal planet. You must get some residence. The impersonalist, they do not get that. They remain... Just like you remain in the sky. You cannot be happy. You want some planet. But if you cannot get planet, then again you come back in this planet. So āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

Again in this material world.

Therefore we have to take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness. That is real self-realization. And what is that? Very simple thing. Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. If you simply try to understand what is Kṛṣṅa, why does He come, what is His business, what is His form...

janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti... [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.]

Simple process. You try to understand Kṛṣṅa. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. We are simply teaching how to understand Kṛṣṅa. And if anyone is fortunate to understand, then his life is successful. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānā...

So tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param. Prakṛteḥ param. Now we are thinking, "I am the product of this material world. I am Indian." What I am Indian? Huh? Because my body is Indian, I am Indian? No. I am the spirit soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is self-realization. The whole world is fighting: "I am Indian," "American," "I am Pakistani," "I am Hindustani," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am brāhmaṅa." Dehātma-buddhiḥ. So one has to realize that "I am not this body." Kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param. "I am beyond this body, far, transcendental to this material world." How it is possible? Tadā kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. We have discussed this verse yesterday. Ahaṁ mamābhimāna utthaiḥ kāma-lobhādi, kāma-lobhādi malaiḥ. So long we have got the desire, lusty desire and greediness, for enjoying this material world, then it is not possible. We have to free, we have to become free from these lusty desires.

So this is bhakti-yoga process. Bhakti-yoga... If we adopt the bhakti-yoga process, then you become free from the kāma-lobha. Kāma-lobha means the influence of tamo-guṅa and rajo-guṅa. So as soon as we become free from... We have to become free from all the guṅas. Because ceto guṅaiḥ, cetaḥ khalv asya bandhāya [SB 3.25.15]. So to become free from the guṅas, that is simply explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You engage yourself in devotional service, you become immediately free from the influence of the guṅas. Māṁ ca 'vyabhicāreṅa bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate [Bg 14.26].

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

Anyone who is engaged in rendering service to the Lord, bhakti-yoga... Bhakti-yoga, according to the... Because we are not expert in approaching the Supreme Lord, therefore we have to follow the principles of bhakti-yoga as enunciated by the ācāryas. Just like when a boy goes to the school, he has to follow the rules and regulation, but after some time, when he becomes accustomed, then he hasn't got to be taught. He learns automatically. He comes exactly in time to the school, he takes his seat, he studies nicely.

Therefore abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā [Bg 8.8].

[He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.]

We have to practice abhyāsa-yoga. You must chant sixteen rounds. That must be done. Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma... You must rise early in the morning, perform maṅgala-ārātrika. Sādhu-śāstra. By the order of spiritual master, by the order of the śāstras you have to execute this function of bhakti-yoga, and as soon as you become attached to it, you become practiced to it, immediately you become self-realized.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṅa. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]