Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.15.29 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | July 4, 2025 |
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 15 Verse 29.
ŚB 1.15.29
वासुदेवाङ्घ्र्यनुध्यानपरिबृंहितरंहसा ।
भक्त्या निर्मथिताशेषकषायधिषणोऽर्जुन: ॥ २९ ॥
vāsudevāṅghry-anudhyāna-
paribṛṁhita-raṁhasā
bhaktyā nirmathitāśeṣa-
kaṣāya-dhiṣaṇo ’rjunaḥ
Synonyms
vāsudeva-aṅghri — the lotus feet of the Lord; anudhyāna — by constant remembrance; paribṛṁhita — expanded; raṁhasā — with great velocity; bhaktyā — in devotion; nirmathita — subsided; aśeṣa — unlimited; kaṣāya — dint; dhiṣaṇaḥ — conception; arjunaḥ — Arjuna.
Translation
Arjuna’s constant remembrance of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa rapidly increased his devotion, and as a result all the trash in his thoughts subsided.
Purport
Material desires in the mind are the trash of material contamination. By such contamination, the living being is faced with so many compatible and incompatible things that discourage the very existence of spiritual identity. Birth after birth the conditioned soul is entrapped with so many pleasing and displeasing elements, which are all false and temporary. They accumulate due to our reactions to material desires, but when we get in touch with the transcendental Lord in His variegated energies by devotional service, the naked forms of all material desires become manifest, and the intelligence of the living being is pacified in its true color. As soon as Arjuna turned his attention towards the instructions of the Lord, as they are inculcated in the Bhagavad-gītā, his true color of eternal association with the Lord became manifest, and thus he felt freed from all material contaminations.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse nicely describes the solution to not only Arjuna’s problem but the problem of everybody in this material world. So of course, Arjuna’s problem was that he was disturbed by all of these disappearances of the Yadus and Krishna. From a material point of view, we can say, yes, this is a big disturbance. But from the spiritual point of view, Arjuna is eternal associate with the eternal body, the Yadus are also eternal associates with the eternal bodies. So nothing really happened, there was no tragedy at all. But this is quite similar to Arjuna at the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita, where he is so troubled by having to kill his relatives that he stops fighting. And then he asks Krishna, you please teach me. And then, of course, Arjuna becomes satisfied and very peaceful.
So there, our Acharya’s comment that actually Arjuna can never be under illusion, he can never lament, so all of this is some sort of Maya, some Yogamaya of the Lord. So anyway, the arrangement is made by the Supreme Lord in order that Bhagavad-Gita could be spoken. In other words, the whole arrangement of Arjuna’s illusion was made in order that Bhagavad-Gita could manifest to the people of the material world.
So here we see that similarly, Arjuna seems to be bewildered, but then he remembers teachings of Bhagavad-Gita, he remembers Supreme Lord as said here, ‘anudhyāna’, he remembers Lotus Feet of the Lord and then he recovers. So in other words, he teaches the human beings in this world, how to resolve all of their problems. And the problem is resolved here by remembering the Lord. And of course, as a result of this, all the contamination and confusion in his mind was destroyed. But this is simply an example for materialistic people, ultimately, Arjuna is not contaminated at all. But he sets an example by teaching what to do in this material world.
So of course, people in this material world, as Prabhupada explains in this purport, sometimes are happy and sometimes are suffering. If they are continually happy, no problem. Unfortunately, nobody has that position, they always get some happiness, some distress. And even if they have no distress, so-called distress, they can never be happy all the time. One is, ultimately, they die and the happiness ends, so that’s a problem. And the problem with material happiness is that one is happy for some time and after a while, one is no longer happy, whatever we get to fulfill this happiness ends after a certain time, even if we still have those objects. Nevertheless, the Jivas are quite stubborn. And when they don’t get happiness from one thing, they will try something else. And then they’ll try something else, and then try something else.
Of course, if they’re more foolish, they keep trying with the same thing again and again. So we see stories in the modern world, people get married, they get divorced. But then they get married again or divorced again. So maybe that seems to be a limit, but some people go on like this forever, and they may have a record of 10 divorces and 10 marriages or whatever, I don’t know what the record is, but there are some people that have 10 marriages and divorces in their life. So, this happens not only in one life, but repeatedly, life after life after life.
So what is the solution to this? Of course, one solution of Krishna is, material world is constructed in this way, so eventually the human being will realize, it’s hopeless to be happy in the material world. So we see in the Bhagavatam, it is said that human life is very rare, because this gives us a chance to realize that we shouldn’t stay in this material world. However, there are many people that never come to this realization. So, they may become a human being, but then they will lose that opportunity and then they will become animals or plants eventually. So therefore, this built-in process of becoming disgusted with the material world doesn’t always work.
So therefore, the Lord manifests Vedic knowledge in this world. Even then it is difficult for people to understand. So a large section of Vedic literature is material, Karma-kanda. People really cannot understand about Atma, and liberation and spirit and whatever. So instead those Karma-kanda scriptures say, you can have eternal material happiness in Svarga Loka. That of course is false. But it’s a good temptation, it lures people. And what is the purpose? The purpose is to get to Svarga Loka, they have to control their senses to some degree. They may not recognize Supreme Lord, at least they will recognize some Devata who is going to give them Svarga Loka. So the whole process of Karma-kanda is there to get people to follow some rules and regulations. So that’s one level of person, and by following those rules and regulations over many lifetimes, people become purified.
After a certain level of purity then they reach Sattva guna. So how do we remove Sattva guna contamination? So the scriptures recommend, you do Jnana Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga. And the promise is, by doing these processes you get rid of all the desires, all the contaminations, then you get out of the material world. So that is another teaching quite opposite of Karma-kanda. If people can get to that level, it’s considered advanced.
It’s like some people they have to struggle to get through high school. By this if you don’t get a university degree you can’t get a job, so then they struggle, struggle, struggle, finally they get a university degree or BSc. or whatever. And then they say, ah now we have succeeded. We see all these people dressed up in their graduation gowns, I don’t know where they are living, in America and other places they got these funny hats on and gowns and everything and they are thrilled, they passed their exams. However, beyond that there are higher degrees and higher degrees and higher degrees, they don’t know about that. So, if one comes to Jnana Yoga and gets Mukti then usually that’s the end, that’s final, but it’s not. How do we know? We cannot investigate by our intelligence. So we go to the scriptures. And so scripture tells us, beyond liberation is spiritual world and Prema.
So there are various goals mentioned in scripture: Svarga Loka, Mukti and Prema. They are not equal. They are simply steps towards Prema. So, the process to get Prema is Bhakti. If we perform Bhakti and don’t perform Jnana or Karma-kanda, Karma Yoga etc., we get not only destruction of all material desires, liberation, we get Prema. So the process of Bhakti fulfills all other goals plus gives the extra goal of Prema. So, instead of spending many lifetimes going through Karma Yoga, then Jnana Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga, we simply do Bhakti Yoga and we get the highest result.
So, in this verse, Arjuna, how does he do this? By remembering the Lotus Feet of the Lord. Of course, it says ‘anudhyāna’, constant meditation. And of course, ‘paribṛṁhita’ means expanded, very great, ‘raṁhasā’ means great force. And of course all of that is based upon the devotion. So there was constant meditation with very strong, increased devotion. And then, unlimited contaminations of the mind were destroyed. So, unlimited contaminations of the mind means that ultimately we destroy material conceptions, Ahankara. Of course, through Jnana or Yoga, one can also destroy all of these contaminations in the mind. But with Jnana and Yoga, after doing that, one gets mere liberation.
Through Bhakti, the same happens, we destroy all the contaminations. However, this is simply a side effect. Like if you eat, automatically, your body gets nourished. You also become satisfied. So when we do one action, so many other actions manifest also. So, when we worship the Lotus Feet of the Lord, one of the side effects is yes, we get rid of all the contamination, we get liberation. But the main result is of course, we get Prema.
So of course, we know Arjuna is eternal associate of the Lord. So his natural position is to express that Prema all the time. And we see of course Arjuna is famous for exhibiting Sakhya or friendship. So that’s the ultimate result of Bhakti and meditating on the Lord. And becoming free of the material world, destroying all the contamination, that is the secondary result of that.
So, though the scriptures recommend all of these different processes for the living and the human being, nevertheless the ultimate process is Bhakti. And by taking shelter of that process, Arjuna assumed his position with the Lord in Prema.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A
1) Maharaj you were saying that, you know, even it is said in the Bhagavad Gita also that Arjuna is put in this Maya so that Bhagavad Gita can reveal. Okay. But see, we see in the case of Uddhava, Uddhava was never put in that condition in the Maya, that is still the Uddhava Gita is revealed. Similarly, Bhagavad Gita also could be revealed even without putting in illusion also.
Of course, we see even Uddhava asks questions to the Lord. What is this? What is this? But ultimately, he knows [Laughs]. We see he was also lamenting separation from the Lord, because the Lord said, you go off to Badrinath or whatever like that. So, we don’t get the same extent of confusion, but there is a little bit taking place even for Uddhava. And then through that, Krishna gives a whole instruction to Uddhava in the 11th canto of Bhagavatam.
Of course, in the Bhagavatam, sometimes the questions are asked, not because they don’t know, but because they want to reveal it for other people. But sometimes there’s a bigger arrangement, such as with Parikshit, he also fell into illusion and insulted the sage and whatever, got angry and put a snake around his neck, got cursed or whatever, in order that Bhagavatam could be spoken to him by Sukadeva, another yoga maya of the Lord. But the yoga maya is an action upon the devotees. The regular maya in this world is for people who are not devotees. And by that power of yoga maya, certain things become hidden from the devotee and certain things are not hidden.
2) Hare Krishna Maharaj, thank you very much. Can you speak some more about the process of bhakti? Because you mentioned about karma, jnana, different processes for purification to elevate the people. But could you go more into the actual process of bhakti that purifies the heart since we’re constantly being attacked by material contamination? So how to keep it?
So the stages of progress in bhakti are explained in the first canto in the example of Narada Muni. And then they are itemized in the Nectar of devotion as you know faith, bhakti, anartha-nivrutti, nistha, ruci, asakti, bhava and prema. So through these various stages two things are happening. One of course is seed of bhakti is planted in the Jiva and through hearing and chanting etc. gradually that bhakti grows like a plant and it produces a flower of bhava and a fruit of prema.
So through the process of bhakti gradually the Jiva becomes more full of bhakti. Until it manifests as a relationship with Krishna in bhava and prema. So and it grows through bhakti – practice of bhakti itself. As that bhakti increases, increases it automatically destroys everything else, that is – ignorance, karmas, desires etc. In the beginning a lot of contamination, little bit of bhakti. But as we do bhakti, the bhakti increases and consequently the anarthas become less and less.
The reason for that is, the essence of the process of bhakti is, we accept Krishna as the master, I am the servant, I am establishing a loving relationship without any material cause. And all of our material desires for enjoyment in this world anger, lust and greed etc. arise from the opposite, I don’t think I am a servant of Krishna, I am independent, I want to enjoy on my own. So it is natural that the stronger this identity with being the servant of Krishna with causeless devotion is there automatically the idea that I am the enjoyer etc. must get less and less and less.
And thus in Nectar of Devotion, it explains that through the process of bhakti we destroy all klesas, all ignorance, which are suffering which means destroy the karmas, destroy the desires behind the karmas and destroy the ignorance and the ahankara behind that all is destroyed by bhakti. So we have the different stages of bhakti from sraddha, anartha-nivrtti etc. It’s tracing the increase of the bhakti and the decrease of the anarthas, so the anarthas are zero and the bhakti is 100% i.e prema.
So the main result of bhakti is, bhakti increases. Secondary result is that all the anarthas start disappearing. Just as if we take a glass and we put half full of water then there is half air, there is three quarters water there is only one quarter and finally it’s full of water, no air. So it’s not where we are consciously removing the air but simply by filling it with water all the air goes away.
3) Maharaj you were explaining regarding this karma, jnana and yoga, it is steps towards the bhakti. So I understand that karma is because there is a karmarpanam, there is some kind of bhakti is there, and how the jnana is a step towards the bhakti? Can you just explain a little bit?
For people in the material world, the goal of scripture is to come to sattva. So the nature of sattva is prakasha, which means knowledge, but not knowledge of Krishna, knowledge of atma [Laughs]. So at least sattva, its natural in sattva to go for atma jnana. So it is easy for people who get to that pure level of sattva to accept that yes, I am not the body, I am something you know [Laughs], they are not ready to accept supreme lord, but they are ready to accept atma or Brahman, in that sense it is a step towards spiritual life. Of course, both jnana and karma, though they are steps towards bhakti, are also impediments, obstacles. So we can get stuck in the karma yoga and the artha, dharma, kama, etc, and get to svarga-loka and never go further or we can get stuck in liberation.
So therefore, the intelligent person can use those processes, but he has to be aware, they’re not the ultimate goal. And thus Bhagavatam says that karma yoga, karma kanda is not really efficient, unless you also worship the Lord. Jnana, not really jnana, unless you also worship the Lord. So they have to have some conception there, then it becomes a step towards bhakti.
4) Maharaj, bhakti is a svarupa sakti of the lord, whereas this contamination due to ignorance, karma, or vasana, is all, we can say, is an external energy of the lord. How can this bhakti, which is svarupa sakti, which is completely spiritual, has a connection to counteract this external energy, which is, you know, all kinds of karmas, other things.
The root of our existence in the material world is ignorance. Ignorance produces our false identity, and we think we’re the enjoyer, then we have desires, then we do activities, then we get karma, and this binds us up.
So, what is the opposite of ignorance? Knowledge. So, that knowledge can be of two types. Knowledge, one is, I’m not the body, I’m eternal atma, I’m free of the body. The other is, I’m the servant of Krishna. So, both can destroy that material anartha, etc. But the jnana process of realizing atma, more difficult and time consuming, and that of bhakti is quicker and easier. And one of the reasons is that the process of bhakti itself is part of Krishna’s internal energy. Furthermore, we know that Krishna is attracted to bhakti. He’s not attracted to jnana and yoga. Thus, we get the mercy of Krishna, which allows us to advance quickly.
5) Regarding maha-maya and yoga-maya, maha-maya bewildering the materialistic people, and yoga-maya bewildering devotees also, even Krishna also, sometimes. How can we understand this?
Yogamaya is simply an assistant to the pastimes of the Lord in the spiritual world. In order that there be pastimes, there has to be some limitation on the knowledge of the Jivas. And thus, Nanda and Yasoda are not aware that there’s a rasa-lila going on. Balarama was not aware that Krishna expanded himself into all the calves and cowherd boys for one year.
So, if everybody knows everything, it’s very difficult to have pastimes [Laughs]. So, that yoga-maya is a necessary component to limit the awareness of all the Jivas in the material world, so that pastimes can go on.
6) A Jiva who remembers Krishna at all times, how he sees everything and how others appear in his vision?
Well, for the devotee who is in prema, then, of course, he has a relationship with the Lord called rasa. And according to the rasa, he will see the Lord differently. He may see him as Vishnu or Rama or Krishna. And if he sees him as Krishna, then he may see him as a friend or lover or as a child or whatever in Vatsalya rasa. But in all cases, it’s a relationship of pure, unconditional love. And he will see everyone else also in a relationship of love with the Supreme Lord.
7) If with Krishna being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he could have stopped that Kurukshetra war between Kauravas and Pandavas, why he didn’t do that?
Yeah, of course, Krishna doesn’t even have to come to the material world, simply by his will, all the demons can disappear, die [Laughs]. So the Lord manifests himself in the material world not just to kill demons, but to give pleasure to the devotees. And the devotees get pleasure from seeing the various pastimes of the Lord. At the same time, the Lord does his job of killing all the demons. So sometimes the Lord kills the demons personally, sometimes he does it through the devotees. So in case of the battle of Kurukshetra, he didn’t fight himself, he did it through the Pandavas. In this way, the Lord gives glory to the devotee.
8) Whether Arjuna is the incarnation of Vishakha Sakhi or Nitya Siddha?
[Laughs] So, of course, Arjuna is an eternal associate of the Lord and then one of his expansions is with Krishna as Nara-Narayana, that’s the famous expansion.
9) The Kevala Rathi Bhakti, which is being practiced in Brahma Madhava Sampradaya, is it being recommended to other disciplic successions as well?
Yes. So, Kevala Bhakti is the result of Raganuga sadhana when its in Prema, it’s not called Raganuga anymore. So, yes, it is in the Gaudiya Sampradaya and it could be Madhurya Rasa, could be Sakhya Rasa, Vatsalya Rasa or Dasya Rasa, whatever. It’s not only in our Sampradaya. In fact, the whole of the Vallabha Sampradaya is considered Raganuga.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srima Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!