Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.6.7

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

tasya ha vā evaṁ mukta-liṅgasya bhagavata ṛṣabhasya yogamāyā-vāsanayā deha imāṁ jagatīm abhimānābhāsena saṅkramamāṅaḥ koṅka-veṅka-kuṭakān dakṣiṅa-karṅāṭakān deśān yadṛcchayopagataḥ kuṭakācalopavana āsya kṛtāśma-kavala unmāda iva mukta-mūrdhajo 'saṁvīta eva vicacāra. [SB 5.6.7]

[05:16]

Translation: "Actually Lord Ṛṣabhadeva had no material body, but due to yogamāyā, He considered His body material, and therefore, because He played like an ordinary human being, He gave up the mentality of identifying with it. Following this principle, He began to wander all over the world. While traveling, He came to the province of Karṅāṭa in South India and passed through Koṅka, Veṅka and Kuṭaka. He had no plan to travel this way, but He arrived near Kuṭakācala and entered a forest there. He placed stones within His mouth and began to wander through the forest, naked and with His hair disheveled like a madman." [break]

Prabhupāda:

tasya ha vā evaṁ mukta-liṅgasya bhagavata ṛṣabhasya [SB 5.6.7]

Bhagavān, in His any form, He is mukta-liṅga. As we have got liṅga deha, liṅga, this material body, and we have got our spiritual body also... The spiritual body is covered by the material coating. This is not our actual body. But in the case of Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no such difference, deha, dehī. As we have got difference... Dehino 'smin yathā deha. Deha and dehī. Dehī means the owner of the body. Just like I say, "It is my body." I don't say, "It is I body." Everyone has got this experience. Even a child, ask him, pointing out to the finger. He will say, "It is my finger." Nobody says, "I finger," because there is difference between the body and the spirit soul. This is to be understood.

Spiritual education means, beginning is, to understand that "I am not this body." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am beyond this body." But in the case of Kṛṣṅa or His different expansion, plenary expansion, there is no such difference, deha dehī. Prakṛta kariya mane viṣṅu-kalevara [Cc Ādi 7.115]. Apārādha nāhi āra iṅhāra upara. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, "Any rascal"—of course, "rascal" He did not say; I say—that "Anyone who considers the body of Kṛṣṅa is prakṛta"—prakṛta means material—"that is the greatest offense." The Māyāvādīs, they say so. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, māyāvādī haya kṛṣṅe aparādhī. They think that when... "God is impersonal, but when He becomes a person, He accepts the material body." That is wrong. Here it is said that mukta-liṅgasya bhagavata ṛṣabhasya. It is no difference. Even a big scholar, while writing comments on Bhagavad-gītā, when 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.]

he warns the reader, "It is not to the person. The soul or the spirit within the person." Means he is thinking Kṛṣṅa as ordinary person. And he's a big scholar. This is going on.

Kṛṣṅa condemns: avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

Anyone who thinks that Kṛṣṅa has a different soul... No. Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's so-called soul, the same thing. There is no difference. That is the... Otherwise how Kṛṣṅa can lift, as a seven-years-old boy, Govardhana Hill? Is it possible by this material body? No. That is not possible. This is common sense. But they cannot understand Kṛṣṅa, mūḍhā. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. They call, "It is mythology. Mythology. Everything mythology." First of all they cannot find out what is God, and when God comes, shows His opulences, these rascals say, "It is mythology." What God will do? He comes before you. He displays His mighty opulences. He expanded Himself into sixteen thousand form. "Mythology." So what can I do? What Kṛṣṅa can do? Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṅa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Śāstra says He has got ananta-rūpam, but still one. There is no difference. They cannot understand the Absolute Truth, and they like to comment upon it foolishly.

Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī says that don't hear anything from the Māyāvādī, avaiṣṅava. Māyāvādī means avaiṣṅava. Sanātana Gosvāmī says that śravaṅaṁ na kartavyaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. Śravaṅaṁ na kartavyam: "Those who are not Vaiṣṅavas, from them do not hear the transcendental topics." Avaiṣṅava-mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-katham, śravaṅaṁ na kartavyam. He has warned, "Don't hear. Who is not a Vaiṣṅava, don't hear from him at least Gītā, Bhāgavatam. Or any śāstra, don't hear," because they do not know what is actually the position. Kṛṣṅa also says, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samā... [Bg 7.25].

[I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My eternal creative potency [yoga-māyā]; and so the deluded world knows Me not, who am unborn and infallible.]

Here it is said, yogamāyā-vāsanayā. 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.]

These blunt senses, they cannot appreciate what is Kṛṣṅa. Yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. He's covered. To the nondevotees, He is covered. To the devotees—sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva—He reveals: "Yes, I am here like this."

So do not think... Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, prakṛta kariya mane viṣṅu kalevara, aparādha nāhi āra iṅhāra upara[?]. So long we are aparādhī, offender, there is no possibility of understanding Kṛṣṅa. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore has warned that "Don't hear about Kṛṣṅa or any transcendental subject matter from a Māyāvādī." Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa [Cc Madhya 6.169]. If you hear from a Māyāvādī, then your advancement in devotional service is finished. Haya sarva-nāśa. You should be very, very careful.

avaiṣṅava-mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam śravaṅaṁ na kartavyaṁ sarpocchiṣṭa-payo yathā [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa]

If one is not Vaiṣṅava, don't be liberal, that "Oh, what is the wrong? He is talking Bhāgavatam." But he does not know who can speak Bhāgavatam. Here in Vṛndāvana there is a big Māyāvādī sannyāsī, he speaks on Bhāgavatam and speaks all nonsense, but there is a big crowd go to hear him. Yes.

So Māyāvādīs are attractive. They are very educated. They can put things in jugglery of words. That capacity they have got. So people become amazed, almost everyone. So therefore they are not very much pleased with this Movement, that "Kṛṣṅa is God." We are preaching, and all full of Māyāvādīs, they are thinking, "What this nonsense is doing? Kṛṣṅa..." They think Kṛṣṅa is māyā. Viṣṅu-kalevara māyā. Kṛṣṅa says, 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.]

Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā manuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg 10.8].

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

Repeatedly He is saying what He is, and He is personally present, and all the ācāryas confirming. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he also says, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṅa. Nārāyaṅaḥ paraḥ avyaktāt. Don't bring Nārāyaṅa in this material world. So... Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha mate: "You rascal, you have studied so much grammar. Now give up all this. Bhaja govindam, govinda bhaja." Nahi nahi rakṣati dukṛn-karaṅe: "Your grammatical knowledge, du-pratyaya, kṛn-pratyaya, liṅ-pratyaya, din-pratyaya, oh, this will not do." Bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate, prāpte sannihite karaṅa, hita kāla-marane: "This is... Jugglery of words will not save you. This is my final instruction." Māyāvādam asac chāstraṁ pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate, alau brāhmaṅa-mūrtinā [Padma Purāṅa]. He has some business to do that, but actually, we should not hear about..., especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya avoided to write any comments on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He has written comments on Bhagavad-gītā, but he has completely avoided to write any comment on Bhāgavata because he knew that "I am doing the wrong thing. How can I touch Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?" Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṅaṁ yad vaiṣṅavānāṁ priyam [SB 12.13.18]. He has purposefully avoided. And the ācārya, other ācāryas like Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṅu Svāmī and up to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, everyone has accepted, śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṅam.

Amalam means there is no material contamination; pure description. Therefore Vyāsadeva, from the very beginning he says that dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṅām [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.]

"This book is not meant for the person who is envious." Envious... You begin enviousness from Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says, sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]. The envious person will say, "Oh, this is too much. Why shall I surrender to Kṛṣṅa? I am also Kṛṣṅa. I am also God. This is too much." This is rascaldom. The actual fact is that we are eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa, we have forgotten it, and therefore we have become servant of māyā. We are suffering, and Kṛṣṅa, out of His kindness, He comes to prove that the living entities are eternal servant and He is the eternal master. Still, because they are contaminated, contaminated by the yogamāyā..., contaminated by māyā, mahāmāyā... Mahāmāyā. Yā devī sarva-bhūteṣu nidrā-rūpeṅa saṁśritā. Mahāmāyā. This material energy is described in the Chandi[?], yā devī sarva-bhūteṣu nidrā-rūpeṅa saṁśritā. [S]he's keeping everyone in sleeping, more dozes. Utthiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpta varān nibodhata [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14].

[Please wake up and try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is sharp like a razor's edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.]

And therefore Veda says that "Don't sleep. Get up, rascal. Get up. This is the opportunity." But no. Yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. Yogamāyā is keeping him in sleeping condition. Nidrālasya. So we should be very careful. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also: jīv jago jīv jago gauracandra bole. The Gauracandra's mission is to awaken the conditioned soul. Jīv jago jīv jago gauracandra... Kota nidrā yāo māyā-piśācīra kole. How long we shall sleep? We are thinking that "I am sleeping at the lap of my beloved mother." Don't do this. Get up. The Vedic vācana: utthiṣṭhata jagrāta prāpta varān nibodhata. We should be very careful that we have got this body, human form of body, and we should not sleep. Sleeping means ignorance. Māyā andha-kara. Just like at night we sleep because it is darkness, but during daytime we do not sleep, generally. That is the way.

So we must come to the light, and may not sleep and lose the chance of human form of body. Here the instruction is that Kṛṣṅa, or Ṛṣabhadeva... Ṛṣabhadeva is bhagavata ṛṣabha-devasya, rṣabhasya. Imāṁ jagatīm abhimāna, abhimāna ābhāsena. Abhimāna ābhāsena. He looks like ordinary human being, but you should be careful. No, He is not ordinary human being. Then... Therefore we must know. These are the knowledge given by... And if we understand it perfectly... Understanding means when we are uncontaminated, we can understand. So long we are contaminated—daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14],

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

then you cannot. But you can get out of the clutches of this māyā. Then you can understand. How? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. "Just surrender to Me." Surrender means to surrender... Mayy āsakta manaḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ [Bg 7.1]. This is surrender. Mad-āśrayaḥ. Take shelter of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa, we cannot take shelter directly, mad-āśrayaḥ. But you can take shelter of a person who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṅa. If one is surcharged with electricity, if you touch him, then you will be also electrified. Evaṁ paramparā prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo [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.]

Kṛṣṅa, five thousand years ago He spoke Bhagavad-gītā. How we can hear Him? Yes, you can hear Him by paramparā system. Kṛṣṅa says repeatedly that "I am this, I am this," and Arjuna understands Him, "Yes, You are this." Sarvam etād ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava [Bg 10.14].

[O Kṛṣṅa, I totally accept as truth all that You have told me. Neither the gods nor demons, O Lord, know Thy personality.]

Then he understands. He is directly understanding. And you take the version of Arjuna. Arjuna says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

Why you, rascal, interpret in a different way, rascal? What right you have got? "My Kṛṣṅa is like that. My Kṛṣṅa is..." What right you have got? Kṛṣṅa says like this; one who listen to Kṛṣṅa about Kṛṣṅa, he says like that. You rascal, why do you interpret in a different way? This is going on.

So be careful of these rascals. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa [Cc Madhya 6.169]. Then you'll never be able to understand Kṛṣṅa. Yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ. We should take the instruction of the śāstra that Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa's soul, there are... Ekam evādvitiyaḥ. He is one, without any second. Bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśi..., niṣevataḥ syāt īśad apetasya [SB 11.2.37]. Īśad apetasya. So the more we forget Kṛṣṅa, then we are in the material stage. Material stage means bhayam, always fearful. "Why shall I accept Kṛṣṅa as human being, as a person? Oh, it is... It is not. How He can be a person? How a person can produce such a vast sky?" He says, bhūmir āpo analo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva [Bg 7.4]:

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

"Yes, I have produced the sky." But these rascals will not believe how a person can do it. They'll comment in their own way. So avoid this; here Ṛṣabhadeva says about the Personality of Godhead. Accept them; believe them; take it. You understand or not understand, take it for granted. Then you will be able to make advance in Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]