Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.30–31

Pradyumna: Translation: "When the rays of the two brahmāstras combined, a great circle of fire, like the disc of the sun, covered all outer space and the whole firmament of planets."

[leads chanting of verse and synonyms] [break]

[00:20]

Translation: "All the population of the three worlds was scorched by the combined heat of the weapons. Everyone was reminded of the sāṁvartaka fire, which takes place at the time of annihilation."

Prabhupāda:

saṁhatyānyonyam ubhayos tejasī śara-saṁvṛte āvṛtya rodasī khaṁ ca vavṛdhāte 'rka-vahnivat [SB 1.7.30]

dṛṣṭvāstra-sa tejasos tu trīl lokān pradahan mahat dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ sāṁvartakam amaṁsata [SB 1.7.31]

So the heat increased. Radiation heat increased. One weapon was released by Aśvatthāmā, another by Arjuna to counteract, and the heat was so terrible that dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ: all the inhabitants of different planets, they felt the great heat produced by two brahmāstras. And sāṁvartakam amaṁsata. The sāṁvartaka fire is explained in the śāstra, that in the Kali-yuga... At the last there will be Kali-yuga. In the Kali-yuga there will be no rainfall, so everything will dry. Not this Kali-yuga, but at the end of the universal life there will be great fire all over the universe. That is called sāṁvartaka. And everything will be ablaze. This fire will take place on account of the heat increased of the sun. It is said that the present temperature of the sun will be increased twelve times. So naturally there will be fire. As we know, sometimes there is forest fire. Similarly, the fire will take place, and everything will be burned into ashes. Then there will be rain. After heat... You have got experience when the atmosphere is too hot, then the rain falls. Same process. When everything will be burned into ashes there will be rain, torrents of rain, and it is said just like the trunk of the elephant, the rainfall will be like that. So everything will be covered with water. That is annihilation. Pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedam. Then there will be pralaya, and by the grace of the Lord the Vedas will be saved. Keśava dhṛta-mīna-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare.

This is the process, going on, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. This material world, in this way, sometimes it is manifested and sometimes it is not manifested. The energy is there, but the material world means the energy sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. So we are in this material world. Not only... We are changing our body, one after another after some years... That is also according to our different forms of life. In one small insect, it may live for few minutes; some of them for few hours, some of them for few days, and some of them for few months, some of them for few years. And this yearly, we live, we human being, we live for a hundred years, and the demigods, they live for ten thousands of years. But wherever you live, either as insect or as demigod, there is no rescue from the process of 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.]

That you cannot escape. Either you become a small insect or you become as powerful as Lord Brahmā, you have to die. There is no escape. Brahmā, he has the greatest amount of years to live. His life is... We have calculation in the Bhagavad-gītā that sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṅo viduḥ [Bg 8.17].

[By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.]

Sahasra-yuga. One yuga means forty-three lakhs of years multiplied by one thousand. That is the one daytime duration of Brahmā. Ahar yad means morning to evening. Morning to evening, that is sahasra-yuga, one thousand times of forty-three lakhs of years. Similarly night. Then day and night becomes one day. Similarly one month, and then twelve months, a year—such hundred years. So there is difference between our hundred years and his hundred years. Similarly, ant's hundred years and my hundred years different.

The modern science admits that everything is relative. Relative world—according to the body, according to the time. Relative world, not absolute. The absolute world is different: where there is no relativity. Everyone is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is oneness. Not that one has become as powerful as the Supreme Lord. No. Maybe as powerful; still, they're individual. They're not amalgamation. That is wrong theory. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that in the past we were all individuals. He says that "It is not that in the past we did not exist, and it is not that in the future we shall not exist. We shall exist." Nityaḥ śāśvato yaṁ na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. So we are eternal. We existed in the past, we are existing now, and we shall continue to exist. And individual. Kṛṣṅa says, "You, Me and all these soldiers and kings, they are all individual, and they existed as individual in the past, and we are existing now as individuals, and we shall continue to exist as individuals." So there are three phases of time: past, present and future. So there is no question of being amalgamated at any time. They remain always individuals. And this is in the material... Either material world or spiritual world, the individuality is there. It never ceases. Nitya-yuktā upāsate [Bg 9.14].

[Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.]

Here, we have got temporary life. Therefore we cannot be nitya-yukta. This life will be finished, and the next life we do not know what kind of life we shall have—it may be human form of life or it may be dog's form of life. You have to change this body. 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.]

Kṛṣṅa does not say that a man after death becomes a man. No. There is no guarantee. He says, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: there will be change of body. And so far the body is concerned, there are 8,400,000's of different bodies. So any one of them you have to accept. There is no guarantee. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ.

So I, as spirit soul, I am individual, existing. I shall continue to exist as individual in this material world, either as human being or as an animal or as demigod or a tree, plants, fish, aquatics—so many. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṅa].

[There are 900,000 species living in the water. There are 2,000,000 nonmoving living entities [sthāvara] such as trees and plants. There are 1,100,000 species of insects and reptiles, and 1,000,000 species of birds. As far as quadrupeds are concerned, there are 3,000,000 varieties, and there are 400,000 human species.]

So this is going on. This is material world. And if you go to the spiritual world, 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.]

The difference... What is the difference between the spiritual world and the material world? The difference is that if you go to the spiritual world, then you will not return again in this material world. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [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.]

Spiritual life means punar janma naiti. Punar janma means this material world. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. One janma, then death, again janma, again death. And between the death and birth or birth and death there is disease and old age. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha... [Bg 13.9].

This is our real problem.

So the modern scientists, they do not know what is real problem. They are thinking advancement. Another point is here, that trīl lokān pradahan mahat and dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ. Prajā. Prajā means living entities. Prajāyate: one who takes his birth. So in the three worlds... Three worlds means these upper, middle and lower planetary systems in this universe. Trīl loka. Trīl lokān. So everywhere there is prajā, there is living entities. Otherwise, how it is said trīl lokān? It is a foolish theory that there is no life in other planets. A rascal theory. It has no meaning. Trīl lokān. We have got many evidences. I do not know why these rascal scientists say that there is no life in other planet. Why? The other planet is also made of the pañca-bhūta, pṛthvī-ap-tejas-vāyu-ākāśa. They are not different. Maybe something is very prominent. Just like in the sun globe, the fire is prominent. Fire is also one of the five elements: pṛthvī-ap-tejas. That does not mean there is no life. There must be. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṅa talked with the sun-god, imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam [Bg 4.1]?

[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]

And the living entity, nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ. The living entity is not burned by the fire. It is not dried up, it is not moistened. This is stated. So why there will be no life in the sun globe? There must be. Because na dahati pāvakaḥ, fire cannot burn the living being. So there are germs in the fire also, agni-pa[?].

So we are being misled by the so-called scientists and the math... That is not perfect knowledge. The perfect knowledge is in the Vedas. Therefore it is advised, tad-vijñānārthaṁ gurum evābhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [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.]

You should go to a guru who has complete knowledge from the śruti. Śruti means Vedas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda [Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.14.2]. Veda means you have to approach ācārya. He knows everything—unless he is not followers of the Vedas, śruti, he's a rascal. What is the use of going there? What is the... What you'll get by approaching a so-called rascal guru, one who does not know śruti? Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has forbidden, and Sanātana Gosvāmī has forbidden. Avaiṣṅava-mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṅaṁ naiva kartavyam [Padma Purāṅa]. Because śravaṅam, śruti... To go to guru means to hear from him, to inquire from him.

tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṅiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [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.]

You have to approach such guru. And who is that guru? Vaiṣṅava. Not any ordinary person. Therefore anyone who is not Vaiṣṅava, you should not approach. It is false knowledge. Its knowledge has no value. Sanātana Gosvāmī has strictly forbidden: avaiṣṅava-mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṅaṁ naiva kartavyam. Don't hear. You'll be spoiled. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa [Cc Madhya 6.169]. If you hear from a Māyāvādī, impersonalist, then your spiritual progress is doomed, finished. No more spiritual progress. Māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṅe aparādhī. The Māyāvādī, they are offenders to Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Person, and the Māyāvādī wants to make Him imperson; therefore they are offenders.

So what is the use of approaching a guru who is offender to Kṛṣṅa? Tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān kṣipāmy ajasram eva yoniṣu [Bg 16.19]—those who are envious... Kṛṣṅa is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [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.]

And the Māyāvādīs always trying to make Him a handless, legless, headless, earless, and this-less, that-less, less, less, less. Then what is remaining? Say zero. Why don't you say zero? No. They are very careful. These śūnyavādī, the Buddhists, they clearly say there is no God. Zero. Śūnyavādī. So we can understand their position. And the Māyāvādīs, they're so dangerous that they will not say that God is zero. They will say, "Yes, there is God, but He's handless, legless, eyeless, this-less, less, less..." What is the meaning? Say zero. We can understand. But why you say indirectly zero? Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika [Cc Madhya 6.168]. Nāstika means one who does not believe in the statement of the Vedas. He's nāstika, atheist. Just like here, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṅa is person. This is Vedic literature. Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṅa is person, aham. Always He says. Aham ādir hi devānām [Bg 10.2]. 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.]

Sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg 18.66]. He's person.

So the Māyāvādī will always try to explain in the impersonal way. Therefore they're offender. Kṛṣṅa personally presents. Why Kṛṣṅa comes? So that the misunderstanding whether the Absolute Truth, God, is a person or imperson, to mitigate this trouble, this misunderstanding, He comes as person. He presents Himself, "Here is I am. I am person. Why do you make Me imperson?" He's person. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg 4.7]. "Why you are taking so much trouble?" Avyaktāsakta-cetasām. Kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām. Simply you are taking unnecessary trouble, kleśaḥ adhikataraḥ. And if you take to bhakti, directly personal... And you cannot understand God, or Kṛṣṅa, by any other means except bhakti. 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 Absolute Truth, God, then you have to take to bhakti. And what does it mean, bhakti? Bhakti means there must be Bhagavān. Otherwise, what is the meaning of bhakti? If I want... Bhakti means to render service. So if the master is not there, then where is the question of bhakti and service? It is all bogus. Bhakti means three things: bhakta, Bhagavān and the service. That is bhakti. They're individual. Bhagavān is individual, bhakta is individual, and the reciprocation of dealings between two individuals, it is called bhakti. That is bhakti.

Bhakti... Bhakti is described in so many places. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī defines bhakti:

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.]

That is first-class bhakti. And bhakti means there is activity. Ānukūlyena: favorably. Kṛṣṅānuśīlanam: to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. Anuśīlanam means culture. The culture means there is activity. Bhakti does not mean zero. That is another thing. Zero, nirvāṅa, means make these material activities zero. That hint is given by Śaṅkarācārya. Lord Buddha said that everything is zero, and Śaṅkarācārya gave further improvement that "It is not zero. Brahman is fact, brahma satyam. Not zero. Jagan mithyā. This world is mithyā, zero; not Brahman." Because those who understood this zero philosophy, they're rascals, atheists. They cannot understand more. Therefore further improvement was given by Śaṅkara because he was preaching. The whole world became Buddhist, and he wanted to establish Vedic principles. So they have already made zero. So how Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya can say, "No, it is not zero. It is fact." They'll not understand. He said in a different way, that "Zero is this material world." Brahma satyam. But brahma is fact. This is zero.

Now how the fact is working, that is given by the Vaiṣṅava ācāryas, especially Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. 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.]

Dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90]

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

is all cheating, all cheating. Up to mokṣa. The aspiration to become one with the Supreme, mokṣa, that is kaitava, cheating. That is the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. When you understand that the so-called monism, to become one with the Supreme, it is cheating... That is not fact. Because you cannot remain in the zero. That is not possible. We are part and parcel of God. God is ānandamaya, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].

[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]

By nature, God is ānandamaya. So if you are part and parcel of God, how you can be nirānandamaya? You are also ānandamaya. That quality is there. But do you enjoy alone? You sit down in a room alone for three hours, you'll feel disturbed, immediately. And what to speak of eternally. It is impossible to remain alone. And for want of ānanda you'll again fall down in this material world. The impersonalists who think that "I have become one with the Supreme..." "One with the Supreme" means that is eternity, fact, sat. Sat cit ānanda. Simply by becoming sat, eternal, you don't get ānanda. That is not possible. Therefore,

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.37]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Rādhā, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes [sakhīs], embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.]

So you have to go to the ānandamaya. Yad gatvā na nivartante [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.]

Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [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.]

We have to approach in that way. Otherwise, if we remain in the material world, this will be the result—dahyamānāḥ prajāḥ sarvāḥ. One after another, one after another, dahyamānāḥ. You'll simply burn into ashes. So therefore the Vedas say, asati mā sad gama. Don't remain here. Go to Kṛṣṅa and enjoy with Him life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]