Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.11

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Sixth Canto, Second Chapter, verse number eleven. [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhis tathā viśuddhyaty aghavān vratādibhiḥ yathā harer nāma-padair udāhṛtais tad uttamaśloka-guṅopalambhakam [SB 6.2.11]

[By following the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies or undergoing atonement, sinful men do not become as purified as by chanting once the holy name of Lord Hari. Although ritualistic atonement may free one from sinful reactions, it does not awaken devotional service, unlike the chanting of the Lord's names, which reminds one of the Lord's fame, qualities, attributes, pastimes and paraphernalia.]

[break] [02:07]

Prabhupāda:

na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhis tathā viśuddhyaty aghavān vratādibhiḥ yathā harer nāma-padair udāhṛtais tad uttamaśloka-guṅopalambhakam [SB 6.2.11]

So the Viṣṅudūtas, they are instructing the Yamadūtas. They are authorized person. These Viṣṅudūta, they are authorized persons. They are not ordinary person. They are coming from Vaikuṅṭha. Just like Nārada Muni comes from higher planetary system, Vaikuṅṭhaloka. He is called deva-ṛṣi. He travels all over the universes, material and spiritual. He has got special concession. Sometimes... [child making noise—Hindi] Sometimes we have got information the yogīs, they can also travel not only within this material universe but in the spiritual.

The instance of... [child making noise] Durvāsā Muni. Durvāsā Muni, when he committed offense at the feet of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa... Mahārāja Ambarīṣa was a gṛhastha, a kṣatriya and king. He had to rule over the kingdom. But because he was devotee, he was very respectful. So Durvāsā Muni, he was a great yogī. He became very much envious of this king, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, that "He is ordinary gṛhastha, dealing with politics, and I am a great yogī, known all over the universe, and he is more respected than me?" So he wanted to punish him to show him his yogic power. Sometimes the yogīs, they get some power and misuse it for personal sense gratification. That is the pitfall of yogic perfection. Aiye. When one gets little power he misuses it and thereby falls down. So this Durvāsā Muni also, what to speak of other paltry yogīs, even Durvāsā Muni, he became envious.

So one day he came to Ambarīṣa Mahārāja on the dvādaśī day with sixty thousand disciples and ordered the Mahārāja, "Mahārāja, today we have come to take prasādam in your palace. Please arrange for this." So that was dvādaśī day. You know, on the dvādaśī there was... That is a regulative principle, that in the morning at about nine o'clock one has to take something, prasādam, to break the vows, break fast. So this Durvāsā Muni along with disciples, they went to the river Ganges to take bath, but they were willfully not coming back. So Ambarīṣa Mahārāja asked the priest that "Durvāsā Muni is my guest. I cannot take anything without offering him. So what shall I do? Now I have to observe the dvādaśī breakfast." So the brāhmaṅa priest ordered him that "Mahārāja, you can take little caraṅāmṛta," the water. So according to śāstra, drinking little water is not breaking fast, so it will be not taken very... So with the advice of the brāhmaṅa... Formerly the kings, they were guided by the instruction of the brāhmaṅas and great saintly persons. They were not doing anything whimsically. That is not the fact. So with the instruction of the brāhmaṅas, he took little caraṅāmṛta. And Durvāsā Muni was a great yogī. He could immediately understand. Then he came back and became very angry. His idea was to punish him some way or other. "Give the dog bad name and hang it." This was his policy. So he was to give some bad name. So he became angry, that "I am your guest and you have already taken, broken your ekādaśī fasting. So I shall teach you."

So he immediately ordered... He plucked one hair, and a great demon came. So Durvāsā Muni made his caricature of yogic power, and Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was a devotee. He did not know anything, such magic. He was pure devotee, that's all. So he could simply stand: "All right. I am faulty. You can punish me." So this great demon was coming to kill him, and a devotee has no other way than to remember Kṛṣṅa, so immediately Kṛṣṅa's sudarśana-cakra came to protect him, and the sudarśana-cakra immediately killed the demon. Then the sudarśana-cakra attacked Durvāsā Muni. So Durvāsā Muni began to flee. He went upper planetary system to Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, and this way he wanted protection, but nobody could give protection. They said, "No, no, we cannot give you protection. Lord Viṣṅu is angry upon you. It is not possible to give you protection." So he then went to Lord Viṣṅu also in the Vaikuṅṭhaloka. Just see how much powerful he is, that he could go through the whole universe, then enter into the spiritual world, Vaikuṅṭhaloka, and he could see personally Lord Viṣṅu. And Lord Viṣṅu also denied protection, "No, I cannot give you protection. You are vaiṣṅava-aparādhī. You have offended to the Vaiṣṅava, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. You can be protected only if you go and fall down at his feet, and if he excuses, then my sudarśana-cakra will not disturb."

So this incidence... This Durvāsā Muni penetrated through the universe, went to the Vaikuṅṭhaloka, personally saw Viṣṅu. Still, he was not protected. And this time took about one year. So yogic power... My point was how yogīs are powerful, that they cannot..., they can go through the space very swiftly. The modern scientists, they say that to go to the topmost planet within this universe, it will take forty thousands of years. That is their calculation. But this yogī, Ambarīṣa, er, Durvāsā, could go through the universe—not only universe; other, Vaikuṅṭha—so, within one year. This is called yogic power. But still, he is not as powerful as the devotee. He had to come back and fall down at the lotus feet of Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, and when Ambarīṣa Mahārāja excused him... He was a brāhmaṅa, yogī. As soon as he fell down at the feet of Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, he said, "You are Durvāsā Muni. You are so great, powerful. Don't put me into this difficulty. What you want?" "Now you excuse me." "Excuse? If I have got any resultant actions of my pious activities, take everything. Take everything. You be saved." This is Vaiṣṅava, and this is avaiṣṅava.

Therefore, harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṅā [SB 5.18.12].

[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]

If one may have all the good qualities but if he is not a devotee of the Lord, his good qualities have no value. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṅā mano-rathena āsato dhāvato bahiḥ. They are simply carried away by the mental concoction. This is their qualification. So karmī, jñānī, yogī, they are all restless because they are carried away by the whims of mind. And a bhakta is fixed up. Bhajate mām ananya-bhak, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg 9.30].

[Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.]

Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso [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.]

This is devotee. They do not like to show any power. Power is already there. Just see. This Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was not a yogī. He did not know. He was simply surrendered, simply fully surrendered to Kṛṣṅa. That's all. But he defeated this yogī. The yogī came and fell down at his feet. So a devotee does not require to acquire any yogic power or any jñāna-siddhi or this siddhi. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta kṛṣṅa bhakta niṣkāma ataeva śānta [Cc Madhya 19.149]

[Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṅa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.]

People are after śānti, peacefulness. So it is declared that nobody can get śānti, peacefulness, unless he is unalloyed devotee of Kṛṣṅa.

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānu- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā [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.]

This is wanted. If you have got a pinch of anyābhilāṣa, then you cannot become a pure devotee. That is not possible. Then Kṛṣṅa will give you chance to fulfill your anyābhilāṣa, not Kṛṣṅa bhakti. He can give you even mukti, but He will not give you bhakti. This is Kṛṣṅa's principle. Bhakti can be awarded to a person who is fully surrendering, one who does not know anything but Kṛṣṅa. This is the way. Therefore it is said, na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhis tathā viśuddhyaty aghavān vratādibhiḥ.

In the śāstras there are different varieties of ritualistic ceremony, vratas, to counteract our sinful activities within this material world. The material world is so situated that if you do not want to become a sinful man, unless you are devotee, you will be forced to commit sinful activities. You'll be forced. Just like you are very good man, but when walking on the street you are killing so many ants. We have got experience while morning walk. You cannot avoid it. It is not possible. And you are responsible for killing the ant. Then? How you can save yourself from the sinful activities? Therefore in the śāstra it is said, padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadam [SB 10.14.58].

[For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṅṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.]

Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadam. If you want to stay within this material world, then padaṁ padam—"in every step there is danger." Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadaṁ na teṣām. Na teṣām. "Not for them." Who? Samāśritā ye pada-pallavaṁ plavaṁ mahat-padaṁ puṅya-yaśo murāreḥ: "One who has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Murāri," means Kṛṣṅa. Samāśritā. Samyag āśritā. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam [Bg 18.66]. Samyak, fully. Sama means samyak, no reservation: "Kṛṣṅa, I do not know anything more. I simply surrender unto You. Now whatever You do, accepted. If You like to kill me, kill me. If You want to give me protection, that's all right. Anyway, I am surrendered." This is called full surrender.

So the bhakti-mārga, it is clearly said, it is that you cannot be purified simply by performing the Vedic ritualistic ceremony. Na niskrtaiḥ. Na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhiḥ. Brahma-vādī means... Brahma means śabda-brahma, Vedic injunction. So there are many brahmavādī. Just like Manu-saṁhitā. Parāśara, he has made viṁśati, dharma-śāstras. So they are authorized things. But still, if you follow the ritualistic ceremonies, if you make atonement according to the Vedic direction, you cannot be fully purified, fully purified, because unless you are detestful of this material existence, unless you are determined to go back to home, back to Godhead... If you want to adjust in this material world to be happy, then you have to commit sinful activities. There is no doubt about it. Therefore it is said that you cannot be purified. Na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhis tathā viśuddhyaty aghavān vratādibhiḥ. Aghavān. Aghavān means sinful. Every one of us who is in this material world, he is sinful. So he has to be purified. So this best purification process is devotional service. And the purification process begins anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]:

when you have no more any material desires. Then you..., the purification begins.

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [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.]

Nirmalam. Malam means sinful reaction. And nirmala. If you want to become completely free from all contamination of this material world... Contamination means associating with the different modes of material nature—sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. Even if you are associating with sattva-guṅa, still, it is contamination, what to speak of other, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. Those who are contaminated by rajo-guṅa and tamo-guṅa, they are fully engaged in lusty desires and greediness. Tadā rajas-tamo bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye [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.]

Kāma, lobha, rajas, tamaḥ. The whole world is infected with rajo-guṅa and tamo-guṅa. Therefore they are simply absorbed in kāma and lobha, lusty desires and greediness. Not that only the poor man is hankering after money. Even the richest man in this material world, he is also hankering after. Lobha: "I want more. I want more." Kṛṣṅa is assuring that yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham [Bg 9.22].

[But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.]

Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: "If one is fully surrendered, I supply him personally. I carry his personal necessities," yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham. "Not that I ask somebody, but I carry Myself." He is giving assurance. So why we should be hankering after other things to become happy? It is foolishness. Kṛṣṅa assures, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham.

So this is the special mercy for the unalloyed devotee. So unalloyed devotee means anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11].

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc Madhya 19.170]. Upādhi means artificially. "I am the husband of this wife." "I am the father of these children." "I am the inhabitants of America." "I am American." "I am Hindu." "I am Muslim." "I am Christian." "I am brāhmaṅa." "I am fat." "I am thin." "I am white." "I am black." So many things. These are all upādhis. So one has to become free from these upādhi. "I am not this. I am not that. I am not this." Then what you are? Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsa [Cc Madhya 13.80].

[I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’]

When one becomes like that... "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṅa, gopī-bhartuḥ." This is called paramparā system. This is our real identification. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. So if you want to be happy, you cannot become happy by your so-called endeavor, by tidbits: "This I will do and I will be happy." No, this is all nonsense. You can be happy only when you fully surrender to Kṛṣṅa without any abhilāṣa.

Therefore the... Even the big, big karmīs who are able to perform big, big costly sacrifices... Karmīs, they do big, big. You will find even nowadays... Of course, there is no yajñic brāhmaṅas at the present moment. Still, if you advertise that "Here there will be big yajña," you will get lots of brāhmaṅas immediately: "Oh, there will be yajña." But in the Kali-yuga there is no yajñic brāhmaṅa. No yajña will be successful. Kṛte yad yajato makhaiḥ. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṅuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ [SB 12.3.52]. Makha means yajña. You cannot perform yajña now. It is not possible. Where is the ghee? Where is the grain? People are starving without food grains. How you can... Formerly tons and tons of food grains, ghee were sacrificed. That is yajña. So this is not possible. Up to Tretā-yuga it was possible. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṅum. Meditation, this is a farce. So many foolish people, they are misled by other rascal: "meditation." What meditation? Meditation is so easy thing? Vālmikī Muni meditated for sixty thousands of years. Then he got perfection. So who will get that opportunity? It is all farce. Meditation is farce. Yajña, the so-called yajña, is also farce because there is no yajñic brāhmaṅa. The yajñic brāhmaṅa would ignite fire by mantra, not matches. So where is that yajñic brāhmaṅa? So this is not possible.

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṅuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt [SB 12.3.52]

[Whatever result was obtained in Satya-yuga by meditating on Viṣṅu, in Tretā-yuga by performing sacrifices, and in Dvāpara-yuga by serving the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali-yuga simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra.]

This is the śāstric injunction. You have to take this process. If you want to be perfect, then you have to take the śāstra-vidhi. If you don't take,

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na siddhiṁ sa avapnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ... [Bg 16.23]

[But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.]

If you don't accept the injunction in the śāstras, especially when Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Lord, is instructing you in the Bhagavad-gītā... That is the essence of all śāstra. You take that, then you will be happy. Otherwise not.

So here it is said that aghavān, the sinful man, cannot be purified by simply these ritualistic ceremonies, atonement or keeping some vow, vrataḥ. Then how it is possible? Because everyone... Yathā harer nāma. Therefore it is recommended, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva [Cc Ādi 17.21], the same thing.

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

You will never find the injunction of the śāstra contradictory. In the Agni Purāṅa it is said and in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata also the same thing. Agni Purāṅa says, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, and here in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam it is said, yathā harer nāma-padair udāhṛtaiḥ tad uttamaśloka-guṅopalambhakam. Harer nāma means chanting of the holy name. That is simple. But when you chant harer nāma, then you gradually understand what is Hari, what is His form, what is His quality, what is His activities. Then you can understand.

Because without harer nāma your heart is dirty. Ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanam [Cc Antya 20.12]:

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

unless your heart is cleansed you cannot understand what is Hari, what is His name, what is His form, what is His quality, what are His activities. You cannot 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.]

Your blunt nonsense senses, if you utilize, you cannot understand Kṛṣṅa. Therefore people are not understanding Kṛṣṅa, neither they understanding the value of hari-nāma. Because their senses are blunt, contaminated with these māyic qualities, they cannot understand. But this is the only way—ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṅam [Cc Antya 20.12]. Because you have to be purified, so this is the only method: chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. Then you will be gradually purified. Puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ. Puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ. Śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17].

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

If you hear, if you chant about Kṛṣṅa, Uttamaśloka, as it is said, tad uttamaśloka-guṅopalambhakam, so many benefits are there.

So the Hare Kṛṣṅa movement is so important that everyone should take it very seriously. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.

tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31]

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

This is the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Difficult... It is padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadam [SB 10.14.58].

In this material world there is only vipada. There is no sampada. Foolishly we think that "Now I am very nice." What is nice? You have to die next moment. What is nice? But these foolish people say, "Yes, I am nice." You ask anybody, "How are you?" "Yes, very nice." What is that nice? You are going to die tomorrow. Still nice. That's all. This is going on. So it is padaṁ padaṁ yad vi... They are making scientific researches to become happy, but these rascals, they do not know how to stop death. So what is the nice? But they have no brain to understand. But Kṛṣṅa says, "These are the problems, My dear sir. You scientists, you are trying so many things." Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [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.]

"First of all find out what is your problem." Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: you have to take birth, you have to die, you have to suffer from disease, you have to become old. Stop it first of all; then talk of scientific advancement. Otherwise you are nonsense.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]