"Enlivening To The Self"

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.22
November 2, 1972, Vrndavana


Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.:)

ato vai kavayo nityam
bhaktim paramaya muda
vasudeve bhagavati
kurvanty atma-prasadanim

Translation: "Therefore all transcendentalists have been rendering loving service with great delight to Lord Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, from time immemorial because such devotional service is enlivening to the self."

Prabhupada:

ato vai kavayo nityam
bhaktim paramaya muda
vasudeve bhagavati
kurvanty atma-prasadanim

Bhaktim atma-prasadanim. Devotional service is atma, means self, or mind also, even body... Atma means the body, the mind and the self also. So atma-prasadanim means if you want to satisfy your mind, if you want to satisfy your self, or even you want to satisfy your body... We are living in three stages: bodily concept of life, mental concept of life and spiritual concept of life. Those who are grossly in ignorance, they are thinking in terms of bodily concept of life; those who are little more advanced, they are thinking in terms of mental or psychological concept of life; and those who are still more advanced, they are thinking in terms of spiritual concept of life. The spiritual concept of life, as it is described before: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11]. Tattvam means truth. The truth is spirit, not this matter. Matter is truth, subordinate to spirit. On the basis of spirit, the matter grows, just like our body has grown on the basis of our spiritual existence.

So spiritual realization is the ultimate goal of our life. Jivasya tattva-jijnasa nartho yas ceha karmabhih. We have discussed these verses previously. This human form of life, jivasya tattva-jijnasa... Jijnasa, about the truth, inquiry about the truth, that is the main business of the living entity. But lower than human being -- animals, birds, beasts, trees, aquatics, insects -- they have no privilege to inquire about the Absolute Truth. It is in the human form of life one can inquire about the Absolute Truth. Athato brahma jijnasa. So when one is actually inquisitive about the Absolute Truth, he realizes three transcendental subject: brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate.

So ultimately one has to reach to the platform of Bhagavan, Vasudeva. Vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah [Bg. 7.19]. One who reaches to the point of understanding Vasudeva, he is the perfect mahatma. Vasudevah sarvam iti [Bg. 7.19]. According to Vedic description, mahatma means one who has reached to the point of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who has reached... All of them are transcendentalists, kovidah, men of knowledge, but one who has reached to the point of understanding Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he's called mahatma. Mahatma is a very common word in India. Any saintly person is called a mahatma. But according to Vedic description, a mahatma is he who has reached to the point of understanding Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In another place it is stated:

mahat-sevam dvaram ahur vimuktes
tamo-dvaram yositam sangi-sangam...

There are two ways. Our life, they are going in two ways. One way is liberation, and the other way is bondage. Just like you have seen the reel. The reel is rolling. One way it is rolling to roll the thread, and another it is giving way to the thread. Similarly, we can lead in two ways, our life, either towards liberation or towards darkness of bondage. This, our human life, by gradual evolutionary process, we come to the human form of life. Now we can move it two ways, either towards liberation or towards bondage. We do not know, modern education. There is no such information what is called bondage and what is called liberation. Andha yathandhair upaniyamanah. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum [SB 7.5.31]. They do not know. There is no such education, that students may understand what is Visnu, what is God, what he is, what is his relationship with God, Visnu. These things are unknown to the modern educationist.

The sastra therefore says,

andha yathandhair upaniyamanas
te 'pisa-tantryam uru-damni-baddhah

Uru-damni-baddhah. Uru means very strong. Damni means rope. Just like if your hands and legs are tied very strongly, it is very difficult for you to move. Similarly, by the laws of nature, every living entity is bound up very strongly, isa-tantryam, by the laws of the Supreme Lord. We are bound up. We cannot deviate. We cannot violate the laws of nature. Everyone can experience. A little violation, little deviation from the laws of nature, we accept some suffering. That is our daily experience. Suppose we are eating, but if we eat little more than we digest... The laws of nature is that you can eat as much as you can digest. But if you eat more than you can digest, immediately, by the laws of nature, you suffer from indigestion. You cannot violate. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya [Bg. 7.14]. Nobody can violate the laws of nature.

So we have discussed how to get out of the laws of nature -- mukta-sangasya jayate. Mukta-sanga means one who has become freed from the three modes of material nature. After being freed from the laws of material nature or by the three modes of material nature, then we can talk of vasudeva-bhakti. But one can become free from this bondage of material nature simply by devotional service to Vasudeva. That is being stressed in this chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam from the very beginning.

vasudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogah prayojitah
janayaty asu vairagyam
jnanam ca yad ahaitukam
[SB 1.2.7]

If we simply learn how to render devotional service to Vasudeva, Krsna, Krsna consciousness, vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah. This is actually translated into English as Krsna consciousness. Everything for Krsna. So that Krsna consciousness, if we take to Krsna consciousness, then janayaty asu vairagyam. Asu, very soon, one becomes detached from this material bondage. Janayaty asu vairagyam jnanam ca. And jnana, knowledge, real knowledge.

In the material knowledge, that is the cause of bondage. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has said,

anitya samsare moha janamiya
jada-vidya jato mayara vaibhava

Material knowledge, advancement of material knowledge, means more and more bondage. And advancement of spiritual knowledge means more and more liberation. But our problem is how to liberate ourselves from this material bondage. We are bound up. Just like I am a spirit soul, you are spirit soul, but we are put into this material bondage. Because we are in material bondage, therefore we have no freedom. People do not understand this. Just like spirit soul is described as sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means the spirit soul can go anywhere he likes. But due to this material bondage, because we have this material body, we are checked. Even we cannot go to the other planet. But we have got instances... Just like Narada Muni. Narada Muni is traveling all over the universes, not only within the material world, but in the spiritual world, because he has got spiritual body. There is no material bondage.

These are very subtle matter, but one can realize if he meditates upon it. The yogis, they can, because they become, by yogic process, they become a little free from this material body, therefore they can transfer from one place to another very quickly. Even those yogis who are on this material platform, on this planet, they travel very quickly. There are many yogis still in India who take bath in four places daily in the, early in the morning. They take bath in Jagannatha Puri, in Ramesvaram, in Hardwar. In this way, four places they take bath. There are some books about the yogis. These things are written there. And actually we met some yogis and they said how quickly they can go from one place to another. That we can understand from our experience. Just like the mind. Mind is so swift that in a second the mind can reach thousands of miles away.

So the spirit soul is still more subtle. And the speed of spirit soul is very, very great. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. Tyaktva deham. "Just after giving up this body, he immediately comes to Me in the spiritual world." These are the Vedic statement. You can try to understand. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti: [Bg. 4.9] we accept another body immediately after death. It is said just like go forward, when the first step, you find it is secure, you take up the second step. Similarly, as soon as the next body is arranged by superior arrangement, we give up this body and enter into another gross body. Immediately. Immediately we are transferred to a mother's womb for manufacturing another gross body. This is the law.

So here Krsna says, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. If the living entity does not enter into another gross body, then where does he go? So Krsna says, mam eti. "He comes to Me." Now just imagine what is the speed of spirit soul, just after leaving this body after death, he immediately goes to Goloka Vrndavana, or at least where Krsna is there. Mam eti. Krsna's nitya-lila, that has been described in the Caitanya-caritamrta, how Krsna's nitya-lila is going on. Krsna is present in a bhauma-lila in one of the universes every time. The Lord Caitanya has given the example as the movement of the sun. The sun is moving, and the twenty-four hours into sixty minutes, into sixty seconds... The... All these time changes are there, every time. Just like our sunrise was, say, at six-thirty, or six. This six thirty, passed here, but somewhere else it is now six-thirty. Again when it will pass six-thirty there, in somewhere else there will be six-thirty. Similarly Krsna is passing from one universe to another, and when He's visible in this universe, we find Krsna's appearance.

So Srila Sanatana Gosvami has informed us that those who are competent, those who have become competent to associate with Krsna, as Krsna says, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti... [Bg. 4.9]. This mam eti, that spirit soul goes to Krsna first of all within some universe where Krsna is having His pastimes, bhauma-lila. He goes there. Then just like when a person is trained up as apprentice, then he's given the post. Just like a magistrate, after passing the examination, I.C.S. examination, he's trained up under some magistrate, and then he's given the post. Similarly, a living entity, when he is actually eligible by Krsna consciousness, by development of Krsna consciousness, then immediately after giving up this body, he's transferred to that universe where Krsna is there. Bhauma-lila. And after his being trained up thoroughly, then he's transferred to the original Krsnaloka, Goloka Vrndavana. (aside:) These boys may be given some prasadam. These boys who have come. Come here, boys! Ask them. Come here. One in hand... (Syamasundara is distributing rasagullas in background) Why...? Give them one in hand.

So the, my point is that how swift is the spirit soul that either he goes to one of the universes... One of the universes means there are millions and trillions of universes. That we do not know. We have got information of this universe, materially. But from Vedic literature, we get information there are millions and trillions of universes like this. We can see only one universe. We get this information from Brahma-samhita: yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti [Bs. 5.40]. This very word is used. Jagad-anda means "one universe." And koti, koti means "millions." So there are unlimited number of universes also. And in each universe, kotisu vasudhadi-vibhuti-bhinnam, in each universe, there are millions and trillions of planets, each different from one another. This is the creation. So just imagine that what is God's creation, how He attains every universe continually. His lila is going on. As soon as in one universe the Krsna's birth, appearance, is finished, immediately in another universe His birth takes place. This is called nitya-lila. Exactly like... The same example: as soon as six-thirty, morning, finished here in India, immediately the six-thirty of the sunrise in some other place. Six-thirty another place. another... The six thirty is going on. It is very easy to understand. The six-thirty or seven-thirty or eight, nine, whatever you take, that is going on. That is called nitya-lila. Krsna's lila is going on. So just imagine how many universes are there.

So the spirit soul has got immense power, immense power. That is only fragment of Krsna, part and parcel. Now, just you can imagine what is the power of Krsna. A..., a small, fragmental portion of Krsna... Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. The living entity, he has got so much potencies. And what potency Krsna has got, who is full of spiritual potency? So actually if we want to be happy, as part and parcel of Krsna, we must join Him. That is our value. This example I have given several times, that a small screw of a machine has got immense value when it is attached with the machine. The same small screw, when it is detached from the machine, it has no value. Not even a farthing. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Krsna, Vasudeva. Our value is in full when we join Krsna, when we dovetail our activities in Krsna consciousness. Then it is valuable. Otherwise the so-called progress is simply illusion. There is no progress. It is simply illusion. Ato vai kavayo nityam bhaktim paramaya muda.

Therefore if we actually want happiness, pleasure, then we must dovetail our activities, devotional service, with Krsna, Vasudeva. Vasudeve bhagavati kurvanty atma-prasada... It is for your interest. It is not for Krsna's interest. Krsna can create millions of living entities like you. He doesn't require your service. He's complete. But if you want your satisfaction, then vasudeve bhagavati, bhaktim kurvanty ahaitukim. Then you have to dovetail yourself in devotional service to Krsna. That is intelligence. Otherwise foolish, ignorance, illusion.

Thank you very much. (end)

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.22 -- Vrndavana, November 2, 1972