Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.6.6

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

athaivam akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmo 'pi vilakṣaṅair jaḍavad avadhūta-veṣa-bhāṣā-caritair avilakṣita-bhagavat-prabhāvo yogināṁ sāmparāya-vidhim anuśikṣayan sva-kalevaraṁ jihāsur ātmany ātmānam asaṁvyavahitam anarthāntara-bhāvenānvīkṣamāṅa uparatānuvṛttir upararāma [SB 5.6.6]

[04:38]

Translation: "Lord Ṛṣabhadeva was the head of all kings and emperors within this universe, but assuming the dress and language of an avadhūta, He acted as if dull and materially bound. Consequently, no one could observe His divine opulence. He adopted this behavior just to teach yogīs how to give up the body. Nonetheless, He maintained His original position as a plenary expansion of Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṅa. Remaining always in that state, He gave up His pastimes as Lord Ṛṣabhadeva within the material world. If, following in the footsteps of Lord Ṛṣabhadeva, one can give up his subtle body, there is no chance that one will accept a material body again."

[break]

Prabhupāda:

athaivam akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmo 'pi vilakṣaṅair jaḍavad avadhūta-veṣa [SB 5.6.6]

So this is also opulence of Kṛṣṅa, jaḍavad avadhūta-veṣa. Although He is the proprietor, sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29], still, this is another opulence, how to become renounced.

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

This is another opulence. It is as good as the other opulences. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya. All the op..., means property, money, wealth—these are aiśvarya. And He says, Kṛṣṅa, sarva-loka-maheśvaram. Not only in one planet but all the universes, all the planets within the universes, they are all the properties of Kṛṣṅa. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47].

[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

Strength... What is that? Eh?

Indian man: Dharmasya hi apavargasya jñāna-vairāgya...

Prabhupāda: Ah. So yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ jñāna-vairāgya. This is vairāgya. Not that Kṛṣṅa is simply enjoying sixteen thousand palaces, sixteen thousand queens, and millions of descendants, yadu-vaṁśa. This is another side. And this is another side: vairāgya. Jñāna-vairāgya. Jñāna... We can understand a little piece of His contribution of jñāna: Bhagavad-gītā. That is a little piece of His stock of knowledge. Five thousand years He spoke, and still it is being continued, not only in India, but also all over the world. This is jñāna. So anyway—strength. When He was seven years old, Kṛṣṅa, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. Jñāna-vairāgya, everything complete. That is God. Nothing less. Not that, that "I am rich man, but I cannot lie down on the street." Not that kind of vairāgya. He is complete, completely different from a rich person. Akhila-loka-pāla. He is the controller of the whole universe; still, you see His vairāgya.

So Kṛṣṅa consciousness means vairāgya-vidyā. Vairāgya-vidyā nija bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā. We should under... That He is teaching by His personal behavior. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He also taught us vairāgya-vidyā. He, when He was a gṛhastha, He was the most learned scholar in Navadvīpa. When He was sixteen years old He defeated a very great learned scholar, Keśava Kāśmīrī. He was requested by Caitanya Mahāprabhu to make some stanzas praying the Ganges. So he immediately made one hundred ślokas. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, at that time sixteen years old, He was a student of grammar. So He pointed out on the sixty-fourth śloka so many defects. He was surprised, that "This boy is a student of grammar, and He has picked up so many mistakes in my composition." One of the prominent mistake was bhavānī-bhartā. Bhavānī-bhartā. Bhavānī means the wife of Bhava, Lord Śiva. And He pointed out, "Who can be bhartā, he..., her, again?" So both of them were paṅḍita, yes. And there were so many mistakes He pointed out. So that was His learning. He was known as Nimāi Paṅḍita. Of course, brāhmaṅas were all called paṅḍita. Still in India that is the practice. The brāhmaṅas are addressed as "paṅḍitjī," because brāhmaṅa cannot be mūrkha. That is not possible. Then he's not a brāhmaṅa. He must be a scholar. At least he must know what is the ultimate goal of knowl1edge.

So in the Kali-yuga we do not expect everyone to be very great scholar. That is not possible. But if he knows what is the aim of education, what is the objective of education, then he is also scholar. Just like our Gaura-Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. He was illiterate. He could not sign his name even. But he became the spiritual master of the best scholar of his time, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So it is not the education, A-B-C-D. In Bengal we say aṁ baṁ. No. What is the purport of education? The purport of education is spoken by Kṛṣṅa Himself: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg 15.15].

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

If one understands Kṛṣṅa and takes to the shelter of His lotus feet, he is also the biggest scholar.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gata antarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate sa me yuktatamo... [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. By His practical life, when Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī criticized Him, that "You are a sannyāsī, and You do not read Vedānta, and You simply chant and dance..." This was the question. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied that "My Guru Mahārāja found Me a great fool. Therefore he advised Me that 'You have no jurisdiction in studying Vedas, because You are not a scholar. You are not a very highly learned. You are a mūrkha.' " Guru more mūrkha dekhi karilā śāsana [Cc Ādi 7.71].

So who will read Vedānta at the present moment? There is no education. But if we follow the footsteps of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that Vedānta philosophy is not for ordinary person, simply if we chant—harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam—then you get the same result. What we get by studying Vedānta and Vedic literature, if we understand that kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28]

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

And we sacrifice everything for achieving the mercy of Kṛṣṅa, then our Vedānta study is complete. That is the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[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.]

And pratically we see in our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, all you are young Westerners, you never study Vedānta, but you can surprise many so-called Vedāntists how to understand Kṛṣṅa. How it has become possible? Simply by your firm faith in your spiritual master and Kṛṣṅa and chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa. That's all. Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.23].

[Unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master, all the imports of Vedic knowledge are automatically revealed.]

This is the Vedic process. If we have got firm faith in guru and firm faith in Kṛṣṅa—guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpayā pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc Madhya 19.151]

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

—then you get the seedling of bhakti-latā. Some way or other, we have to come to this bhakti-latā, increasing or nourishing the bhakti creeper. That will be effective.

So those who are jñānīs, very learned scholars, they cannot understand Kṛṣṅa. Vedeṣu durlabhaṁ. It is not by academic education one can understand Kṛṣṅa. Yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

They so many mistakes they commit. They say it is kalpanā, so many things. But here Kṛṣṅa as Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṅa as Ṛṣabhadeva, Kṛṣṅa as Kṛṣṅa Himself, They are teaching us how to become pure devotee. Because sva kalevaraṁ jihāsur ātmanaḥ. Before leaving your this body, you must be self-realized. That is the aim of life. Bahūnāṁ sambhuvām ante [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

We have got this life, human form of life, and how to utilize this human form of life? How to achieve the vairāgya-vidyā? This is vairāgya-vidyā: no more interest in material things. That is vairāgya-vidyā. Even to the body. That is... Ṛṣabhadeva is teaching us. This is vairāgya-vidyā. Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also has spoken the same thing, niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad bhajanonmukhasya [Cc Madhya 11.8]. Niṣkiñcanasya. If you actually want to become a pure devotee, then you have to make this material way of life completely zero. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam [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.]

Then it will be possible. If you have still a pinch of attraction for material life, then it will be stopped, your promotion to the other, spiritual world. Simply attachment to Kṛṣṅa, that will make you advanced. Janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā deham [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.]

He can, after giving up this body, mām eti. He does not accept any more the material body. He is immediately promoted to the spiritual world and Goloka Vṛndāvana, Vaikuṅṭha. There are many millions of Vaikuṅṭha planets in the spiritual world.

So if we become vairagī... Vairagī means no attachment for this material world. How to become completely freed from all our attachment of this material world, that is being exemplified by Ṛṣabhadeva. He doesn't take care even of the body. Although He is Vaikuṅṭha-puruṣa... How comfortably He lives in Vaikuṅṭha-loka. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ [Bs 5.29]. We are expecting, "One woman or wife will look after my comforts," but there Kṛṣṅa is taken care of by hundreds and thousands of women. And who are they? Lakṣmī. They're all goddess of fortune, not ordinary women. Lakṣmī has two features: māyā and the goddess of fortune; the same Lakṣmī according to position. Just like a government has got two departments: criminal department and civil department. So the government is the same, but there are two departments. This māyā is criminal department, and Vaikuṅṭha is civil department. Vaikuṅṭha means there is no anxiety, and māyā means always anxiety. Sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad grahāt [SB 7.5.5].

[Prahlāda Mahārāja replied: O best of the asuras, King of the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen in a dark well where there is no water but only suffering. One should give up this position and go to the forest [vana]. More clearly, one should go to Vṛndāvana, where only Kṛṣṅa consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

Because we accepted the jurisdiction of māyā, they are asad-grahāt. Asato mā sad gamaḥ. Therefore the Vedic instruction is, "Don't remain in this asat." Oṁ tat sat. "Go to the real life." Jyotir gama. "Don't remain in the darkness." This is Vedic instruction.

So anyone who has accepted this material world as very comfortable... It is not comfortable; it is simply suffering. Kṛṣṅa says, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam [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.]

And still, if we want to be happy in this material world, bahir-artha-māninaḥ... These fools, they are trying to be happy within this material world. Material means external energy, bahir-artha-māninaḥ. Na te viduḥ svārtha gatiṁ hi viṣṅuṁ durāśayā [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

This is durāśayā, the hope which will never be fulfilled. But this we do not... Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān [SB 7.9.43]. So unless there is vairāgya, there is no question of happiness. But we cannot attain vairāgya immediately; therefore the vidhi-mārga, vidhi-mārga-bhakti: to rise early in the morning, to attend maṅgala ārati, to offer Deity flowers, fruits, and in this way we shall be engaged twenty-four hours. Then vairāgya-vidyā will gradually develop. Anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje [SB 1.7.6]. Then the anartha... This material life is simply anartha, has no meaning, because we are creating another life. Without any spiritual knowledge, if we simply give ourself to the action and reaction of material nature, then we are making progress on the path of mṛtyu-saṁsāra vartmani [Bg 9.3].

[Those who are not faithful in this devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of enemies. Therefore they return to the path of birth and death in this material world.]

And if we attain Kṛṣṅa, then mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti [Bg 8.15]. The two ways.

So our request is that you have taken to this vairāgya-vidyā. So vairāgya-vidyā, we do not say that you starve, don't eat anything, don't sleep at all. No. It should be regulated. Anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārtham upayuñjataḥ [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.255]. Don't be attached to eating, sleeping. That is not good. But you must eat, you must sleep as little as possible, and try to conquer over it. My mind dictating, "Sleep seventeen hours." No. That is tapasya. Tapasā brahmacaryeṅa [SB 6.1.13].

[To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.]

Why shall you sleep more than four hours or five hours, or utmost six hours? That's all, not more than that. That is vairāgya-vidyā. We have to learn it. That is devotional service. Vairāgya-vidyā nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. He's teaching. Kṛṣṅa Himself is teaching. Here you see. Ṛṣabhadeva is Kṛṣṅa. Vairāgyā-vidyā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He taught vairāgya-vidyā.

tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁ dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṅyam māyā-mṛgaṁ dayitayepsitam anvadhāvad vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṅāravindam [SB 11.5.34].

So opulence, even Caitanya Mahāprabhu... Kṛṣṅa appeared in a kṣatriya family, very opulented. Lord Rāmacandra appeared in a kṣatriya family, kingdom, opulence. He also accepted vairāgya-vidyā. Father requested, "My dear son, Your mother likes that You should go to the forest." Immediately accept, "Yes." This śloka is applicable to Lord Rāmacandra. Tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīm [SB 11.5.34]. He was going to be coronated next day king, but immediately, by the order of His father, He left everything. Vairāgya... Tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rāj... Is there any instance throughout the history of the whole world that a prince was going to be king tomorrow, and on the order of father he left everything? This is vairāgya-vidyā. This is called vairāgya-vidyā. Tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁ dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṅyam. Ārya-vacasā. Elderly person is called ārya. Respectful person is called. Ārya means one who is advanced. Ārya does not mean meat-eaters, Āryan family. No. Āryan means one who is advanced in civilization, they are called Āryan, not these fool and rascals, Āryan. No. Ārya-vacasā. By a superior person—His father, Mahārāja Dāsaratha, said—immediately. Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu also...

This śloka can be applicable to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life. He also became a sannyāsī, ārya-vacasā. One brāhmaṅa cursed Him. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to receive some blessings from the brāhmaṅas, when He was boy, He was voluntarily trying to give some service to the brāhmaṅas who were engaged in bathing in the Ganges. He'll clear the place because the brāhmaṅa, after taking bath in the Ganges, would sit down, would chant mantra. So He'll cleanse and He'll wash the cloth, and in... Voluntarily He was doing that, service. So one brāhmaṅa blessed Him, "My dear boy, You'll be very happy in Your family life. You'll have good wife, very opulent position." And Caitanya Mahāprabhu was blocking the ears. The brāhmaṅa said, "What is this?" "No, this is not blessing, sir." "Oh, it is not blessing? Then You'll never be happy in Your family life." "Yes, this is the..." [laughter] "This is all right." So therefore He took sannyāsa. Arya-vacasā yad agād araṅyam [SB 11.5.34]. Similarly, Lord Rāmacandra, ārya-vacasā yad agād araṅyam. These are the characteristic of the Personality of Godhead. Try to follow Them; not imitate, but follow.

Thank you.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]