Our Knowledge Is Not Knowledge
Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.03
Bombay, December 15, 1974
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Nitai: "The Supreme Personality of
Godhead is the Supreme Soul, and He has no beginning. He is transcendental to
the material modes of nature and beyond the existence of this material world. He
is perceivable everywhere because He is self-effulgent, and by His
self-effulgent luster the entire creation is maintained."
Prabhupada:
anadir atma puruso
nirgunah prakrteh parah
pratyag-dhama svayam-jyotir
visvam yena samanvitam
[SB 3.26.3]
In the previous verse we had already discussed, jnanam purusasya atma-darsanam. Purusasya, the living entity is also called purusa, and the Supreme Lord is also called purusa. So real purusa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We are not purusa; we are prakrti, living entities. It is said in the Bhagavad-gita, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param. After explaining this jada-prakrti, or the dull matter... That is called jada-prakrti-bhumi, earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego. These are all jada-prakrti, material. Sometimes it is misunderstood, "Mind is spiritual." No, mind is material. Intelligence, that is also material. And this false ego with designation, that is, "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brahmana," "I am ksatriya," so many designations, "I am cat," "I am dog," "I am human being," this is also material conception. I am neither dog, neither cat, neither demigod, nor human being. I am atma. Aham brahmasmi.
So there are two kinds of purusa: one purusa in the material world, as we are... We are artificially claiming to be purusa. Purusa means enjoyer. The karmis, they are trying to enjoy this material world. They are working day and night very hard to enjoy. That is means purusabhimana. Actually, we are not purusa. We are prakrti, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita that "Above this material prakrti -- earth, water, air, fire -- there is another prakrti," Krsna says to Arjuna, "which is para-prakrti." And what is that? Jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat [Bg. 7.5]. Jiva-bhuta, that living entity, that is superior prakrti. This is inferior prakrti, matter, and jiva is superior prakrti. But the jiva, under false ego, he is trying to enjoy this material prakrti. Yaya, "by the superior prakrti," yayedam dharyate jagat.
This jagat, this material world, is existing on the spiritual prakrti. You can calculate what is your this body. This body is existing on the spiritual body. Just like your shirt. The shirt is existing on your actual hand. The shirt has got a hand because you have got hand. So matter is impersonal. But because the superior prakrti, jiva, he is person, therefore the matter appears like a person. Because I have got hands and legs, therefore this cloth has got hands and legs. Otherwise the cloth has no hands and legs; it is impersonal. And in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, vasamsi jirnani. This body is just like dress. Just like your coat has got hand, your pant has got leg, but either the pant or coat has no leg, no hand. Because you have got leg and hand, therefore the coat has got leg and hand. You can... Everyone can understand. It is very easy. So the original, the spirit soul, has got form. Therefore the cloth has been cut into form. It is very easy to understand. Otherwise how you get the form? And in this form the spirit soul is trying to enjoy this material world. But it is not purusa. It cannot enjoy. That is false. That is illusion. Ato grha-ksetra-sutapta-vittair janasya moho 'yam aham mameti [SB 5.5.8].
So by our desire we get a particular type of form. It may be human being, it may be demigod, it may be elephant, it may be cat, it may be dog, it may be tree -- in this way, in different forms, 8,400,000 different forms, we are trying to enjoy this material world. This is called material conditional life. Because we are failing to understand atma-darsana. Because the purpose is atma-darsana. Jnanam nihsreyasarthaya purusasya atma-darsanam. Atma, one should see his real identification: "What I am?" That is the inquiry of a human being. Athato brahma jijnasa. That when I understand that "I am not this body; I am Brahman," then we should go on inquiring about further about Brahman: "What is the form of Brahman? What is Parabrahman? What is the relationship between Parabrahman and the Brahman? Why Brahman has come to this material world and he has got this material body? This material body is finishable, temporary, and Brahman is eternal. Why this conjunction?" These are brahma-jijnasa. This is Vedanta-sutra, brahma-jijnasa.
So this is jnana. But we are wasting our time -- this jnana, that jnana. But real jnana, there is no. We are being educated, so-called scientific education. Just like one is studying the earth, soil expert. One is studying the water. One is, chemical -- "What are the chemicals composition of water? What is the chemical composition...?" In this way we are acquiring jnana; but that is not jnana. That is called technology, silpa-naipunya. In Sanskrit it is called silpa-naipunya. That is not jnana. Real jnana is atma-darsanam. That is jnana. So... But we are wasting our time temporary, silpa-darsanam. But atma-darsanam we want. That is real jnana.
So that atma-darsanam is described here, everywhere, in all the Vedic literatures. The first atma-darsana is anadi, anadi. There is no beginning. We have got experience, beginning. Every one of us, we have got experience that this body has a beginning. From the father and mother we got this body in a small pealike form. And the first, after the sex, the two secretion emulsified, and it forms into a pealike body. And that pealike body develops. And as first there becomes nine holes, these nine holes... That is not manifested, but first of all there are holes: the nostrils, the ear, the mouth, the rectum, genital. In this way a body is formed. So body is formed upon the spirit soul, not that automatically forms. Unless there is spirit... A seed... A seed fructifies in suitable condition into big tree because the soul takes shelter within the seed. If you fry the seed, no tree will come out. Similarly, the matter is grown up on the spirit. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it says, yayedam dharyate jagat: [Bg. 7.5] "The jagat, the material world, is existing on the spirit soul." Similarly, this spirit soul, as our body, your body, that is also..., this body is resting in the spirit soul. Similarly, this gigantic body of this universe, that is also resting on the gigantic spirit. That is Krsna. Not that equal. We are very small, and God is great.
So the great body, this universal body, as Krsna showed universal body to Arjuna, so it is possible for Krsna to show the universal body, virad-rupa. You cannot show. You cannot show. It was Arjuna's request to exhibit the virad-rupa because Arjuna knew it that "Because I am accepting Krsna God, so many God will be there later on. A man will claim to become God. But as I am requesting Krsna to show the virad-rupa, similarly, if some fool accepted the another fool as God, he should request him, 'Please show your virad-rupa.' Then accept him. Otherwise don't accept." So God has virad-rupa. So both God and we are, living entity, are of the same quality. Aham brahmasmi means so 'ham. These words, Vedic words, are there to indicate that "Qualitatively, I am as good as God. He is spirit soul; I am also spirit soul. He has got creative power; I have got creative power. He has got senses; I have got senses." Everything just similar, facsimile. In the Bible it is said, "Man is made after God." Is it not said like that? That means God has exactly the same form. And therefore man is made also, the same form. So in this way both God and the living entities, they are anadi. Anadi, there is no beginning.
Then in the Bhagavad-gita also it is said, na jayate. Na jayate means anything which is born, it has got beginning. But living entity or Krsna, or God, they have no beginning. Krsna is also beginningless, and we are also beginningless. Just like the sunshine. Sunshine is combination of small particles or molecules of bright substance. So, so long the sun is there, the sunshine is there. Sunshine means the combination of the bright molecules, molecular part. Similarly, we are parts of the brahmajyoti. Brahmajyoti means combination of unlimited living entities. Svayam-jyotih, it is said. Svayam-jyotir visvam. Svayam-jyotir visvam yena samanvitam. That jyoti is spread all over the universe, all over the universe. So the living entities are there just like sunshine is spread all over the universe. And what is the sunshine? A combination of small bright particles. Similarly, we are also bright, jyoti. And that is realization, aham brahmasmi, that "I am also small particle jyoti, and the Supreme Brahman is also jyoti..." Yasya prabha [Bs. 5.40]. And what is this prabha, this prabha, this jyoti? It is Krsna's bodily rays.
Krsna says in the Bhagavad..., brahmanah aham pratistha. The jyoti is coming, brahmajyoti is coming, from Krsna's body. Therefore you will find in the picture of Krsna there is some jyoti on His face. That is expanded. That is brahmajyoti. That is explained in the Brahma-samhita. Yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-kotisv asesa-vasudhadi-vibhuti-
But there is another planetary system. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, na tad bhasayate suryo na sasanko na pavakah [Bg. 15.6]. There is another..., paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah [Bg. 8.20], another nature where, yatra, na tad bhasayate suryah, there is no need of sunshine, there is no need of moonshine. Because the each planet is svayam-jyoti. Here we have got one planet, the sun planet, jyoti. But there, in the Vaikuntha, all the planets, Vaikuntha planets... Vaikuntha means vigata-kuntha. Kuntha means anxiety. Here, in this planet, you are full of anxiety. And if you are transferred to the Vaikunthaloka, there is no anxiety. Anandamayo 'bhyasat: (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12) simply ananda, no anxiety. Here you must suffer anxiety, asad-grahat, on account of accepting this asat. Asat means untruth or temporary, which will not exist. Tat sadhu manye 'sura-varya dehinam sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat [SB 7.5.5]. This is Prahlada Maharaja's instruction, that this materialistic individuality, on account of accepting this asad-grahat, asat, not permanent, not true, sada samudvigna-dhiyam. Always full of anxiety. So in the material world you are trying to be free of anxiety. That is not possible. That is not... Therefore it is required, atma-darsanam. Jnanam atma-darsanam. Jnanam nihsreyasarthaya purusasya atma-darsanam. First of all you know what is your position. Just like when one man is diseased. The physician first of all diagnose that what is the disease; then he gives medicine. Similarly, first of all you ascertain what is your constitutional position. You try to understand. That is the beginning everywhere. That is Vedic literature.
In the Bhagavad-gita, in the beginning, the first instruction is that dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara... [Bg. 2.13]. Asmin dehe, there is dehi, the proprietor of the... So we do not understand that, and we become very expert in reading Bhagavad-gita. This is the first instruction. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Therefore atma-darsanam. First of all, you try to understand what you are. You are this body or something else? That is atma-darsanam. I am not body. That's a fact. I am spirit soul. But I have become bodily conscious on account of loss of knowledge, ajnana, ajnana. Therefore guru means,
ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah
It is the guru's business to operate the blind cataractic eye..., eyeball, giving eyesight. So how it is done? Now, jnananjana-salakaya. Just like in the darkness you cannot see. But if there is lamp, you can see. So jnana means knowledge. You must know what is your position. There are sastra. You read Bhagavad-gita, try to understand your position. That is atma-darsanam. Atma-darsanam. Everything is there. Atma-darsanam.
So first atma-darsanam is that anadir atma. Atma. The soul and the Supersoul, both of them. We must always know that soul and Supersoul, isvara and Paramesvara... So atma... Atma means Bhagavan; atma means this individual atma. So both of them are anadi. But we have got experience adi, birth and death. So that is not atma-darsanam. You have to understand that there is no adi, there is no beginning. Anadir atma purusah. Purusa, that, either the soul or the Supersoul, both of them are purusa. Purusa means having form and having the desire to enjoy, enjoy blissful life. That is called purusa. Purusa is always desiring to enjoy. And prakrti is enjoyable. That is the distinction between purusa and prakrti. But atma-Paramatma is purusa, and the jivatma is prakrti. Then nirgunah, nirgunah. Therefore Arjuna was advised by Krsna, traigunya-visaya veda nistraigunyo bhavarjuna: "My dear Arjuna, you try to be nirguna." This all Vedic knowledge or any knowledge -- Veda means knowledge -- that is traigunya, of this material world, having...
Material world means the three gunas, sattva, rajo, tamo-guna. So one has to become above these three gunas. That is atma-darsanam, above three guna. How to become above traigunya? Very easy. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said that,
mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]
Gunan, these guna, samatitya, samyag-rupena atitya perfectly overcoming. Sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. Immediately he is situated in the Brahman platform. So atma is nirguna. Nirguna stage means when you are engaged in devotional service, that is your nirguna stage. Devotional service is nirguna. All other services or activities... We are rendering service. Either you are rendering service in office, or to your family, or to your cat, or to your dog, or to your government, or to your society -- you must be giving some service. There is no escape. But that is saguna service, under these material laws. So you have to give nirguna service. If you give nirguna, then you become nirguna.
Then what is that nirguna? When you render service to Krsna.
mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate
[Bg. 14.26]
It is not difficult at all. You can become immediately nirguna as soon as you engage in the service of the Lord. And so long you keep yourself in that position, Krsna consciousness, you remain nirguna. Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te [Bg. 7.14]. Saguna means maya. Krsna says, mam eva ye prapadyante: "One who surrenders to Me," mayam etam taranti, "no maya touching, no in contamination of maya." Mayam etam taranti. There is nirguna. Nirguna means be engaged in the devotional, loving devotional service of Krsna. That is... Then you are svarupa-darsana, atma-darsanam. That is your atma-darsanam, nirguna. Prakrteh parah. As Krsna is prakrteh parah... Prakrteh... Prakrti means this material world, and parah means transcendental. So prakrteh parah. You cannot serve Krsna unless you also become prakrteh parah, not within this material world.
So to accept your service, to make you nirguna, prakrteh parah, Krsna accepts this arca-vigraha to accept your service. Krsna is standing here, you offering, and He is ready to accept your service. "No, I am very poor man." No, the poor, rich, He doesn't concern. Ahaituky apratihata. Service rendering to Krsna cannot be checked in any material circumstance. Ahaituky apratihata. Apratihata means it cannot be checked. Any position, you can do. Mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuh papa-yonayah [Bg. 9.32]. Even if you are born in the low-grade family, papa-yoni, striyah sudras tatha vaisyas te 'pi yanti param, everyone is delivered. These things are there.
So this is atma-darsana, that how to become nirguna, how to become transcendental, prakrteh parah. Pratyag-dhama, pratyag-dhama, all-pervading. Of course, we cannot become all-pervading. But we are limited all-pervading. Krsna is actual all-pervading. Ksetra-jnam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata [Bg. 13.3]. In the chapter "Ksetra and Ksetra-jna," "The Body and the Proprietor of the Body," Krsna say that the soul is ksetra-jna and the body is ksetra. Actually, you are doing. Ksetra means just like you work in the field. If you have got one acre of land, you do your tilling, agricultural work, in that. If you have got 100 acres of land... So similarly, we have got a particular type of field of activities, this body. I can do something; you can do something else. So this is ksetra-ksetra-jna. But this is... So far individual living entity, soul, is concerned, he is also all-pervading. All-pervading means within this limited body. So long I am present within this body, anywhere of the body I feel, I am present here. You pinch; you feel, "Yes, there is pain." That means I am present there. I am present there. This is called consciousness.
But there is another consciousness. So don't mix it up, that Krsna consciousness. That consciousness-sarva-ksetresu bharata: that Krsna is present everywhere. Sarva-ksetresu. That is the difference between Krsna... Krsna says, ksetra-jnam ca aham: "I am also ksetra-jna. I am also soul, but I am Supersoul." How? Now, sarva-ksetresu bharata: "I am present in everyone's body." I am not present in your body. You are not present in my body. I am present in my body. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. But Krsna is present, everyone's body. That is the distinction between Krsna and me. You don't make one. How? You cannot understand what is going on pains and plea..., in my body. I can understand. Then how you are present in me? How you have become Krsna? How you have become God? This is the God's qualification. Ksetra-jnam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu [Bg. 13.3]. If you can understand everyone's pains and pleasure, then you are God. If you cannot say what is my pains and pleasure and you come as God, then I am not going to accept. What kind of God you are? God must be present everywhere. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. That is God. That is one of the God's feature. Mam ca kascit... There is another verse, that "I know everyone's position, but nobody knows Me." That is the distinction between living entity and God. God knows everything, but we do not know God. We do not know God.
So we must always know. So when it is said, pratyag-dhama svayam-jyotih, it is described the Paramatma, or Supersoul. Krsna is Paramatma. Paramatma's business is to witness, witness, to see our activities, because He is within our body. Ksetra-jnam capi mam viddhi sarva-ksetresu bharata. So He is, He is so kind, He is... That is described in Upanisad, that the two birds are sitting in one tree. One bird is eating the fruit of the tree, and the other bird is simply witnessing. That witness bird is God, Krsna, and the eating bird is atma. So He is giving chance, as we want. Actually, Krsna wants that "You don't try to eat forbidden apple, the, this apple tree, but You give up this. You come to Me." That Krsna wants. But because we want to eat, we want to enjoy this material world, He is so kind, He is sitting along with us and giving us... Just like you sometimes take your dog, and whatever the dog wants, you allow him to do, out of love; similarly, whatever we wanting to do, Krsna is allowing, "All right." Krsna's real desire is "You rascal. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam [Bg. 18.66]," but I'll not do. Therefore Krsna is giving me all chances: "Do whatever you like. But if... You reap the result. If you hear My word, then you give up this. You come again. Because your position is prakrteh parah. Your position, My position, is prakrteh parah. Your position is prakrteh parah. Why you are rotting in this, within this material world?" In this way, if we understand our position and God's position and our relationship with God, in this way, if we become enlightened, jnanam, then atma-darsanam. Atma-darsanam, that means self-realization.
So this human life is meant for self-realization, not simply wasting time like cats and dogs, eating, sleeping, mating, and... No. That is not human life. Athato brahma jijnasa. Everyone should be interested himself, God, and his relationship. Then the life will be successful.
Thank you very much. (end)
© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
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