Srimad Bhagavatam – 11.10.2 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | March 20, 2021 |
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 11 Chapter 10 Verse 2.
ŚB 11.10.2
अन्वीक्षेत विशुद्धात्मा देहिनां विषयात्मनाम् ।
गुणेषु तत्त्वध्यानेन सर्वारम्भविपर्ययम् ॥ २ ॥
anvīkṣeta viśuddhātmā
dehināṁ viṣayātmanām
guṇeṣu tattva-dhyānena
sarvārambha-viparyayam
Synonyms
anvīkṣeta — one should see; viśuddha — purified; ātmā — soul; dehinām — of the embodied beings; viṣaya-ātmanām — of those who are dedicated to sense gratification; guṇeṣu — in the material objects of pleasure; tattva — as truth; dhyānena — by conceiving; sarva — of all; ārambha — endeavors; viparyayam — the inevitable failure.
Translation
A purified soul should see that because the conditioned souls who are dedicated to sense gratification have falsely accepted the objects of sense pleasure as truth, all of their endeavors are doomed to failure.
Purport
In this verse the Lord describes the process of becoming desireless. All material sense objects, including those perceived by their form, taste, flavor, touch or sound, are temporary. We now see our family and nation, but ultimately they will disappear. Even our own body, by which we perceive them, will disappear. Thus, the inevitable result of material enjoyment is viparyaya, or great suffering. The word viśuddhātmā indicates those who have purified themselves by executing the regulative duties of devotional service. They can clearly see the hopeless frustration of material life, and thus they become akāmātmā, or great souls free from material desire.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, here we have a discussion again about distinguishing material body from the soul. So, this verse describes how a realized person will view the world. So, who is it that can see the world in the proper way? So, here the word ‘viśuddhātmā’, which literally can mean purified ātmā. Of course, the scriptures often speak of the soul as always being pure. So, in one sense, the soul can never be touched by matter. That is, the soul is always ātmā, it never becomes material. And never mixes with matter. At the same time, we talk of the souls in bondage, or the eternally bound up souls, or the souls in illusion. So, though the basic substance of the ātmā does not change, the consciousness of that ātmā can be of various sorts. So, the soul, of course by nature is conscious. It becomes conscious of objects. And in its consciousness, it can view objects in different ways. So, that ātmā can view the objects as they are, or in illusion. Just as even when we are in our waking state and we are looking at objects in this world, sometimes we see illusions and we think they are real.
So, one common example is the mirage in the desert. So, everybody that looks at the desert may see there is some water there in the distance. But there is no water there. And we see that the example is given as the deer is very foolish, so it doesn’t know it is illusory, so it runs after the water, keeps running and running and running, but never gets the water.
Similarly, the jīva, or the ātmā, it perceives objects of this world, but it can perceive them in illusion. That is called ignorance. At the same time, it has the ability to see them in truth. So, all the jīvas in the material world are in ignorance. And therefore, they don’t see things as they are. So, they see objects and they see their material bodies and they think these are permanent, these are real. And it thinks, I am the body. And it thinks I can get enjoyment from these objects. However, this is illusion. He is not the body at all. And therefore, it is very difficult to get enjoyment of his body for these objects, because it is not him. The only way he can get the enjoyment is by thinking, he is the body. And unfortunately, this is the situation of all the jīvas in the material world. So, this is the ignorance of the jīva.
Of course, we can say, well, why is the jīva in ignorance? And we also understand that the jīva does not have to be in ignorance, because we have nitya-siddha jīvas who never have any ignorance. We also have jīvas in the material world who were in ignorance, but they also get out of ignorance. And so we say nitya-baddha jīva, the jīva is eternally bound up, this, of course, is not maybe so accurate, because yes, we call it ‘anadi’ bondage, but in the future, the jīva can get out. So, along with that ignorance, we have beginningless karma. But we also say that though the karma is beginningless, we can destroy all the karma.
So, the jīva is eternal in the past and eternal in the future. The karma is eternal in the past, but not necessarily in the future. So, that karma arises because of ignorance. So, that ignorance has no beginning, but can have an end. So, the jīvas in the material world are in ignorance, those in the spiritual world are not in ignorance, and the whole goal is to get the jīva out of ignorance. So, the ignorance that we immediately see is that the jīva identifies with the material body. The material agent that does this is called ahaṅkāra. But why does the jīva get the ahaṅkāra? So, the ignorance behind this ahaṅkāra, which is also a product of ignorance, is that the jīva wants to enjoy separately from the Lord.
In other words, the jīva does not want to give service to the Lord. He doesn’t appreciate the position of the Supreme Lord as the Supreme enjoyer. So, the jīva thinks, I am an enjoyer. So, the original ignorance is refusal to accept the position of the Supreme Lord. And accepting his own position as an enjoyer, who is independent of the Lord. So, that is the root ignorance. So, it manifests through the ahaṅkāra, then the jīva thinks he is the body, then the jīva tries to enjoy with the body. And the Lord makes an arrangement through Brahma that each jīva can get some sort of enjoyment of the body. The body has senses. Those senses contact sense objects. And when it does so, then that sense gives us a feeling of enjoyment. So, therefore, the senses with the sense objects and the objects of this world, it combines and we think, I have enjoyment.
So, certainly there is, it’s not just completely illusion because that contact of the senses with the sense object gives some feeling. But that is some, we can say, response of your material body and your mind and your brain and etc. So, it has nothing to do with the ātmā. But because the ātmā identifies with the body, that means the body gets some enjoyment. So, it is very difficult to break out of that illusion. And thus most of the jīvas sit in the material world birth after birth.
When one comes to sattva-guṇa then one becomes naturally aware that one is not the body. And then one gets the assistance of scripture to tell us exactly we are not the body, we are the soul and gives us methods for realizing that. So, in other words, through practicing karma yoga, coming to sattva-guṇa eventually we can realize we are not the body, we are the ātmā. So, we destroy the illusion at that point. So, therefore we talk about jñāna, destroying ignorance. So, one has to be fixed in that knowledge. That is also difficult to do. Because constantly we start thinking again of the body. So, therefore we have some sadhana to help us practice this.
So, one of the practices is jñāna yoga. So, by philosophical discussion and study and meditation on the fact that you are not the body then you can fix this idea that I am the ātmā. Or one can practice ashtanga yoga. And through that one stops all of the sense functions and mental functions. And then all that is left is the ātmā. That’s also a very difficult process to do. So, the alternative offered in the Bhagavatam and other scriptures is that one can accomplish the same plus more by bhakti. So, the process of bhakti is a little different from jñāna or yoga. In those processes the sadhana consists of stopping the senses and the mind and the ahankara from working. Why? Because these act to cause more ignorance for us. So, bhakti yoga does not try to stop the senses and the mind. Rather, it redirects the functions of the senses and the mind.
So, why it doesn’t lead to bondage? Why this engagement of the senses does not lead to bondage? So, it doesn’t lead to bondage because when we use the senses we are not meditating on getting enjoyment. So, that is why the emphasis in bhakti is on pleasing the Supreme Lord, not pleasing myself. Now, critics will say, well, that’s impossible to do. We engage our senses in all our activities because we want something for ourselves. Why do we work? Because we want money so we can get food, and eat. We don’t just work with no money. So, we want something for ourselves out of all the actions of our senses. So, it is a little difficult to understand how we can engage the senses and not desire anything for ourselves.
So, the answer is that although this is the normal condition of the person in the material world to work and try to get some result for the self, also there is a reflection of something else in this material world which is selfless. So, that is devotion. So, this implies to do something for another person without expecting anything. The pleasure we get is when we see the other person is happy. So, we have some reflection of that in the material world. But it is usually mixed and not very pure. So we practice to develop that pure devotion. And to do that we use our body and our senses. And very importantly we direct it towards the highest spiritual object, who is eternal and is most attractive and full of all wonderful qualities. So, therefore the process of practicing bhakti is a natural propensity of the Jiva. But it has to be cultivated. If it is not cultivated, it doesn’t develop. So, that cultivation we call sadhana bhakti. So, in sadhana bhakti we are cultivating that devotion, that love of the Supreme Lord. So, in that process, as our bhakti increases, our attraction to gaining enjoyment for ourselves decreases. So, this is the way in which the devotee becomes detached from the objects of this material world. And through this then he begins to understand, oh! I am not the body, I am the atma. And he develops this knowledge or jnana.
So, therefore what is spoken of in this verse of having the recognition that the material body is different from the soul is automatically accomplished. The verse of course in general could be taken as jnana or yoga even. You meditate on tattva here, ‘tattva-dhyānena’. And of course, the people in the material world are thinking that the objects of their senses are truth or tattva. However, the devotee is the opposite, he understands that the objects of the senses are all material. And instead of giving happiness, they ultimately give suffering. So, to do that, then that person has to be pure, here it says ‘viśuddhātmā’. So, the really pure soul is the soul who worships the Supreme Lord. So, the devotee begins to see the nature of the material body, and the material senses and all of the activities in the material world. And he concludes it’s all useless.
Q&A
1.) Does jnana makes one’s self-realization or it is a progressive step towards God-realization?
Well, we have what is called sankhya, where we analyze the five gross elements and the tan-matras and the senses and the subtle material elements like mind, intelligence, false ego. But in that analysis we also accept a soul. So, just studying matter with no reference to scripture is not very useful.
But if we study scripture and we see the analysis of matter, possibly include the soul, that is one step in advancement. However, more complete knowledge is not only knowledge of matter and soul, but knowledge of Supreme Lord. That also is given in the scriptures. And we cannot get that by just analyzing the material world.
2.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, how do we understand that unlimited souls decide to go against the Lord when he is the most attractive and most blissful Supreme Person?
We define the Jiva as tatashta that means, he can recognize the Lord or he cannot recognize the Lord. So, if all the Jivas recognize the Lord, they wouldn’t be tatashta anymore. So, some recognize the Lord, some don’t, because the nature of Jiva is they can fall into ignorance.
Now, the Jivas are all individuals. Which means, they are all different. Therefore, we get different degrees of ignorance or non-ignorance. So, some end up in the material world, some are in the spiritual world.
3.) Maharaj, as you said, now the Jivas are tatashta, but Krishna says, “mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ” we are amsa of the Lord. We are spiritual and qualitatively are equal to the Lord. In what context it says that Jiva also get the idea or get the consciousness that he has to be against the Lord?
So, they are amsa of the Lord, they are not the Lord. So, they are similar to the Lord but not equal to the Lord. So, amsa means they are dependent on the Supreme Lord. And of course, they have some similar qualities, but they are not exactly like the Lord. So, the Lord is independent and the Jiva is dependent. The Jiva is eternal, the Lord is eternal. That’s similar. They both have consciousness. But the Jiva is anu, little consciousness. And the Lord is all-pervading consciousness.
So, there are similarities, so that the Jiva is not like Prakriti. But at the same time, there is also some difference. So, one of the differences is that because the Jiva is so small, he can fall into ignorance. The Lord is vibhu, he never falls into ignorance.
4.) In that case, when the consciousness is also getting polluted, when materially the Jiva thinks that I am this body…the point here is, I am just clarifying myself, Maharaj, whether is it right or is it correct, or whether the consciousness is also getting polluted, when the Jiva… things like that.
Yes, when the Jiva falls in ignorance, then he thinks I am the body. The Lord never thinks like that.
5.) Maharaj, in the translation, it is mentioned, purified soul. Question is, how to understand when the soul becomes purified? How can soul be contaminated?
The soul is in one sense not contaminated because it can’t be burned, it can’t be drowned, it can’t be dried up. Nothing can happen to the soul as such. But, consciousness can change.
So, by consciousness, we fall into illusion. So, we can say the Jiva becomes covered because his consciousness falls into illusion.
6.) What guarantee is there once the soul gets purified by the process of bhakti and again be contaminated?
Ultimately, it is the promise of the Lord. So, He promises in Bhagavad Gita, He promises in Upanishads, He promises in Brahma Sutras. So, that’s the best guarantee.
7.) Maharaj, in the recent past, we have been talking about not over-endeavoring ourselves in the material aspects. Does it apply to the spiritual aspects?
In the spiritual world, there is no such thing as over-endeavour. There is no endeavor. Everything is spontaneous and everything keeps increasing. So, the service keeps increasing and the experience of bliss keeps increasing.
8.) In continuation to that, Maharaj, till you are in this material world, should we over-endeavor for the spiritual aspects or should you wait for the turn and just see when you get the opportunity you increase the spirituality? How does it work, Maharaj?
If we just wait, we can wait forever. When opportunities come, we can always find an excuse. So, there has to be some eagerness. In fact, greed is the price you have to pay to advance.
But we cannot artificially try to assume a higher level when we are not qualified. So, we gradually develop higher and higher qualification.
9.) Is consciousness the false ego?
No. False ego is a material element. Consciousness or awareness or knowledge is the aspect of the soul itself.
However, the Jiva also has an ego. So, it has a sense of I. But that I is I am the Atma or I am the servant of Krishna, not I am the body. So, that I is the essential part of the Jiva.
10.) Regarding, we heard from sources like in Kali Yuga, unless we act physically by words or by action, our karma will not be effective to put ourselves in the karmic reactions. Is that true, Maharaj?
Yeah, it is said like that, I think, in the first canto of Bhagavatam. We should not take advantage of that and think all sorts of nasty thoughts. Because eventually they will turn into actions.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!