Controlled Enjoyer

Controlled Enjoyer

Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.09
Bombay, December 21, 1974

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Nitai: "Devahuti said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, kindly explain the characteristics of the Supreme Person and His energies, because both of these are the causes of this manifest and unmanifest creation."

 

Prabhupada:

prakrteh purusasyapi
laksanam purusottama
bruhi karanayor asya
sad-asac ca yad-atmakam
 [SB 3.26.9]

So Kapiladeva is addressed here as Purusottama. Purusottama. The living entities, the Supersoul, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Living entities are sometimes called purusa because purusa means enjoyer. So the living entities wants to enjoy this material world although he is not enjoyer. We have explained many times. The living entities, that is also prakrti, but he also wants to enjoy. That is called illusion. So in his enjoying temperament he may be called purusa, illusory purusa. Real purusa is Bhagavan. Purusa means bhokta. The bhokta, real bhokta, enjoyer, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram [Bg. 5.29].

So Devahuti wants elucidation of the characteristics of purusa and prakrti. So purusa is one, but prakrti, there are many, energies. Prakrti, energy. Just like we have got practical experience that husband and wife, the wife is supposed to be the energy. The husband works day and night very hard, but when he comes home, the wife gives him comfort, eating, sleeping, mating, in so many ways. He gets fresh energy. Especially the karmis, they get energy by the behavior and service of the wife. Otherwise the karmis cannot work. Anyway, the energy principle is there. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He has got also energy. In the Vedanta-sutra we understand that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of everything, Brahman... athato brahma jijnasa. That Brahman... In one code Vyasadeva describes that janmady asya yatah: [SB 1.1.1] "The Brahman, Supreme Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything comes." So unless this principle is there, that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is also energized or worked with His energies; otherwise why this conception comes within this material world? The material world is shadow reflection of the spiritual world. Unless the original thing is there in the spiritual world, it cannot be reflected in the material world.

So purusa is accompanied by varieties of energies. In the Upanisad it is stated,

na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate
na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate
 parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate...
 [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]

Para, the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth, has multi-energy. So the multi-energy is divided into three division. That is called antaranga-sakti, internal energy, external energy, and the marginal energy. All of them are energies, or prakrti. So in the Sankhya philosophical discussion, Devahuti -- she is also the mother of Kapiladeva -- she asked this intelligent question: "What are the characteristic of the prakrti, and what are the characteristic of the purusa?" Prakrteh purusasyapi laksanam purusottama. He (she) is addressing his (her) son, Kapiladeva, God, as Purusottama. Uttama purusa. Uttam a, madhyama, and adhama. There is a comparative. So uttama purusa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, or His incarnation like Kapiladeva, Rsabhadeva. There are many incarnations. So they are all Purusottama.

So, so far in this material conception of life there are two purusas, one, the living entity, and the other is the Supersoul. So above this... Living entity is the adhama-purusa, and the Supersoul is the madhyama-purusa, and Krsna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is uttama-purusa, the Supreme. And in this material world the adhama-purusa is called also nitya-baddha. Similarly, there are other living entities in the spiritual world, they are called nitya-mukta or nitya-siddha. They never come in this material world. Just like Rupa Gosvami. In his Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, he describes some comparison, that the sea fishes, they never come to the river. The river fishes sometimes go to the sea, but the sea fishes, they never come to the river. Similarly, there are living entities in the spiritual world. They never come in this material world. Their number is greater, at least three times greater than all the living entities within this material world. And the Supersoul, He is also living entity, but superior, Supersoul. Soul and Supersoul.

So the Supersoul is also living with the..., along with this ordinary living entities as friends. That is described in the Upanisad, that two birds are sitting on one tree. One bird is eating the fruit and the other bird is simply witness. Paramatma, upadrasta anumanta. That is described in the Bhagavad-gita. Paramatma is existing within our heart. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. He is simply upadrasta. He is not enjoying. He has no interest to enjoy this material world. But the other bird, the living entity, he is trying to enjoy this material world. And according to his karma, upadrasta... I wanted to do something or I have done something. The resultant action, I will have to enjoy or suffer in the next life. The witness is the Paramatma, saksi, upadrasta anumanta, antaryami, saksi. We cannot do anything without the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramatma feature. He is fulfilling our desires and waiting for the opportunity when the living entity will give up this business of eating the fruit of this body, of the tree, and simply become engaged, again come back to the Supersoul. That opportunity He is looking after. So the Christian philosophers, they do not believe in the Paramatma feature, and they say that "If I am punished for my past deeds, then who is the witness?" Because in the court, if somebody is charged with criminality, there must be some witnesses. So we heard a Christian professor in our college. They did not believe in this witness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is witness within the heart. Witness must be. This is very intelligent, that without witness, how my charges, charges upon me, can be substantiated? The witness is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Upadrasta anumanta. He is seeing everything. So that is purusa also, and we are also purusa. And above these two purusas, the Supreme Purusa is Krsna, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita, Eighth Chapter, purusottama-yogam.

So bruhi karanayor asya sad-asac ca yad-atmakam. So the uttama-purusa, Purusottama, just like Krsna or Kapiladeva, They come within this material world, but they are not affected. But we are affected. We are, according to our desire, conditioned. We are affected by the different modes of material nature. It is described in the Vedic literature just like the fire and the spark. The fire is always blazing, but the sparks coming out of the fire, they sometime fall down. And this falling down is described that if the spark falls on some dry grass, then immediately the grass is also ignited into fire. That is sattva-guna. And rajo-guna means on the ground. It gradually, the ignition, the fire of the spark, becomes finished. And if the spark falls down on some water, then immediately it is extinguished. Similarly, when we come down from the spiritual world on account of desire, iccha-dvesa samutthena sarge yanti parantapa [Bg. 7.27], by our iccha, Krsna gives us to fulfill our desires. So as we contact with the different modes of material nature, we are situated either in sattva-guna or rajo-guna or tamo-guna, and our different characteristics are visible.

But the Purusottama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is never become affected by the material nature. This is the general description of the purusa and purusottama. And further description will be given from the verse number ten. If you like, you can read that. Or you can read this purport of the ninth verse.

Nitai: "Prakrti, or material nature, is connected with both the Supreme Lord and the living entities, just as a woman is connected with her husband as a wife and with her children as a mother."

Prabhupada: Yes. This is very nice example. This prakrti, the mother... Just like mother is woman, prakrti, but her relationship with the husband is different from the relationship with her children. So both of them are purusa-living entities and the Supersoul, or the Supreme Lord. They come to this material world. But the relationship is that the Supreme Lord is the controller, controller of the material world, and the living entities, they are controlled. This is difference. One is controller, and the other is controlled. The same woman, mother, she is working under the direction of the husband. That is one relationship. And she is taking care of the children and controlling the children. The... Although the medium is the same, but the relationship is different.

In the Bhagavad-gita also, it is said, mama maya: "Under My control."

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
 [Bg. 9.10]

We should understand this relationship. The material nature has got relationship with both God and the living entities, but the activities of the two living entities, namely the anu and vibhu... God is Vibhu or Prabhu, and living entity is anu or servant, and the via media is the material nature. So we cannot control material nature. That is not possible. We are controlled. We are being controlled. Tribhir gunamayair bhavair mohitam, nabhijanati mam ebhyah param avyayam [Bg. 7.13]. We are always being controlled. And... But the prakrti, material nature, is being controlled by the Supreme Lord. This is the difference. Unfortunately, sometimes we claim that we can control over. Just like the scientists, they are trying to control over the material nature. That is not possible. You cannot control. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. You cannot control. You shall be controlled, but you cannot control. The controller is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa [Bg. 9.10].

This is the relation. This is the characteristic, two purusas: one living entity and the Supreme Soul, parama-purusa or purusottama. The purusottama is the controller, and we ordinary living entities, we are controlled. Then how the living entities can be on the equal level with the Supreme Lord? That is not possible. Anyone who thinks like that, they are imperfect knowledge. That is not perfect knowledge. Avisuddha-buddhayah. They have been described as avisuddha-buddhayah. Imperfect knowledge. Buddhi means intelligence. They have no intelligence. We cannot say no intelligence, but avisuddha. Avisuddha, means it is not purified. Anyone who is claiming to be on the equal level with the Supreme, their intelligence is not yet purified. Avisuddha-buddhayah. Ye 'nye 'ravindaksa vimukta-maninas tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah [SB 10.2.32]. Because these Mayavadi philosophers, they have no knowledge of the Supreme Personality of... They cannot believe that the Absolute Truth can be a person. They cannot believe it. Their knowledge is so poor, they cannot accommodate. Because as soon as they think of one person, they think that "That person is equal with me." Otherwise, they cannot think of person.

So this is poor fund of knowledge. Therefore Krsna said, naham prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavrtah [Bg. 7.25]. He does not become manifest or visible to everyone. Then who..., unto whom He is visible? And that is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita, bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah [Bg. 18.55]. So unless you take to this process of bhakti-yoga, you cannot understand what is God. Then you will be misguided. So if you take... Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau [Brs. 1.2.234]. You cannot, understand God. But if you take to the devotional service submissively, if you become submissive, surrendered, and you render service to the Lord, then, by His causeless mercy, He becomes revealed, "Here I am. See Me." He talks.

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam...
 [Bg. 10.10]

Then He gives intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Yena mam upayanti te: "By which one can approach Me." This intelligence is given to him. To whom? Tesam satata-yuktanam. Twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. How? Priti-purvakam: "With love and faith," not that officially. Just like if I want a glass of water, one can give me, "Here is. Take it!" And one brings the same glass of water with love and devotion. So there is two different. Krsna is not in want of anything from us. He is purna. But if we offer Him something with love and faith and devotion, then He accepts. That is the difference. Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26]. That is the real thing, bhakti. Otherwise Krsna is not hankering after your patram puspam. He has created patram puspam phalam toyam, He can enjoy. Why He should ask from you? But the real thing is bhaktya. It is insignificant thing, but if you offer Him bhaktya, with bhakti, devotion, faith, and love, that He accepts. And if He continues to accept, then you can realize Him. Bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah [Bg. 18.55]. Otherwise you cannot understand what is Krsna.

So we have come to this material world. Krsna is always anxious to get us back to home, back to Godhead. Therefore He comes. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati [Bg. 4.7]. What is that dharma? That dharma is not this dharma, Hindu dharma, Mussulman dharma. No. That dharma is sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. That's... So in this way, our position, although we are both in this material world, one is the controller; one is the controlled. And the one who is controlled by the prakrti, by the material nature, if he accepts to be controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then his controlling by the material nature upon him, that is finished, no more control. Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. This is perfection of life. At the present moment we are being controlled every second, every step. Padam padam yad vipadam [SB 10.14.58]. Every step there is danger. This control means punishment. You cannot expect very good treatment in the prison life. So this is prison life, conditioned life. So you cannot expect any good treatment by the material nature because her business is to punish us. That is the business so that we can enquire that "Why I am being punished?" That is required. That "why" philosophy is very important. That is the beginning of human life. But we are so dull, in spite of being kicked every moment by material nature, that "why" question is not coming, so dull-headed. And we are advanced in designation.

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.9 -- Bombay, December 21, 1974

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