Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam – 8.16.8~9 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Villaggio Hare Krsna, Medolago Milano, Italy | | August 13, 2025
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevaya
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 8 Chapter 16 Verse 8
ŚB 8.16.8
apy agnayas tu velāyāṁ
na hutā haviṣā sati
tvayodvigna-dhiyā bhadre
proṣite mayi karhicit
Synonyms
api — whether; agnayaḥ — fires; tu — indeed; velāyām — in the fire sacrifice; na — not; hutāḥ — offered; haviṣā — by ghee; sati — O chaste woman; tvayā — by you; udvigna-dhiyā — because of some anxiety; bhadre — O auspicious woman; proṣite — was away from home; mayi — when I; karhicit — sometimes.
Translation
O chaste and auspicious woman, when I left home for other places, were you in so much anxiety that you did not offer oblations of ghee into the fire?
Text 9
ŚB 8.16.9
yat-pūjayā kāma-dughān
yāti lokān gṛhānvitaḥ
brāhmaṇo ’gniś ca vai viṣṇoḥ
sarva-devātmano mukham
Synonyms
yat-pūjayā — by worshiping the fire and brāhmaṇas; kāma-dughān — which fulfill one’s desires; yāti — one goes; lokān — to the destination of the higher planetary system; gṛha-anvitaḥ — a person attached to household life; brāhmaṇaḥ — the brāhmaṇas; agniḥ ca — and the fire; vai — indeed; viṣṇoḥ — of Lord Viṣṇu; sarva-deva-ātmanaḥ — the soul of all the demigods; mukham — the mouth.
Translation
By worshiping the fire and the brāhmaṇas, a householder can achieve the desired goal of residing in the higher planets, for the sacrificial fire and the brāhmaṇas are to be considered the mouth of Lord Viṣṇu, who is the Supersoul of all the demigods.
Purport
According to the Vedic system, a fire sacrifice is held in order to offer oblations of ghee, grains, fruits, flowers and so on, so that Lord Viṣṇu may eat and be satisfied. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.26):
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” Therefore, all these items may be offered in the sacrificial fire, and Lord Viṣṇu will be satisfied. Similarly, brāhmaṇa-bhojana, feeding of the brāhmaṇas, is also recommended, for when the brāhmaṇas eat sumptuous remnants of food after yajña, this is another way that Lord Viṣṇu Himself eats. Therefore the Vedic principles recommend that in every festival or ceremony one offer oblations to the fire and give sumptuous food for the brāhmaṇas to eat. By such activities, a householder may be elevated to the heavenly planets and similar places in the higher planetary systems.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So these verses describe other activities which are obligatory for a householder. And usually it’s the brahmana who is most obligated to do these ceremonies. Vaisyas, ksatriyas and brahmanas get the brahma gayatri mantra, brahmana thread and are allowed to study the vedas and perform sacrifices. But it is the brahmanas who are particularly absorbed in these activities. And thus the brahmana conducts these fire sacrifices or feeding the brahmanas, welcoming the guests, then this is most sinful, if he neglects to do.
Of course, in these verses, it also says that the goal is to go to the higher planets. So the usual goal for the brahmana to do his activities is svarga loka. And of course, Krsna in 9th chapter of Bhagavad-gita rejects this completely saying foolish [Laughs]. So though these activities are not emphasized, we don’t do these sinful or whatever, we see that the result is not the highest result. Of course, this verse 8 and verse 9 also says that actually the whole process is to satisfy Visnu. Fire, and the brahmanas consider it to be the mouth of Visnu. So these are, let’s say, concrete ways in which we could satisfy Visnu. So if we are satisfying Visnu, why would we, why would we go to svarga loka? So the answer is that, Visnu satisfies all desires. And if you desire to go to svarga loka, Visnu can fulfill that desire. Of course, we shouldn’t say, if you want to fulfill your desires, you worship devatas. And certainly many people worship devatas. However, even if they worship other devatas, they also have to worship Visnu. So it is clearly stated in Bhagavatam, if you reject the worship of Visnu and you worship the devatas, this is offensive. Yeah, and you can’t get svarga loka. So if you want to get svarga loka, you can worship devatas, but you also have to worship Visnu. With all that, Visnu gives power to the devatas. So if we offend Visnu, He’s not going to give power to the devatas to satisfy. So, in the scriptures, it mentions all these duties like sacrifices, etc. to go to svarga loka, and many brahmanas are interested in this. So they worship many devatas, but they also have to worship Visnu. So though they can go to svarga loka, at least they get the benefit of worshipping Visnu, even if it is for material benefit. So it is some type of bhakti, but it is not pure bhakti.
So bhakti comes in many forms. So here we have brahmanas and others worshipping devatas, plus they are worshipping Visnu to go to svarga loka. So definitely it is material. But here also, Visnu is one object of worship among many. So it is not even the most prominent worship, it’s not prominent. So it is bhakti, but in a very minor role. And it is for attaining a material goal. So it is not considered to be a very good bhakti.
Better than that is a person who dedicates himself to bhakti. But still, he doesn’t worship devatas, he only worships Visnu. But, still, he has material desires. So this is a little better, because he is not worshipping devatas, he is worshipping the Supreme Lord. So this is what we call mixed bhakti. It is bhakti that is mixed with material desires for svarga loka [Laughs]. So it is distinct from this system here, which you could say is karma yoga with a little bhakti [Laughs]. So that is bhakti yoga with a little karma. So in that sense, it is better. We can actually get better results. Of course, we cannot get prema. Definitely we can get svarga loka, but it is better than this karma yoga with a little bhakti, so we should get better than svarga loka. So, it is said that a person who does this karma-misra-bhakti, he does it for a long time, he gets purified. He can surpass svarga loka, he can surpass liberation even. And he can go to Vaikuntha. So, better than these karma yogis with a little bhakti. But, he does not get prema. So, what does he do? He is in a spiritual world with no prema [Laughs]. So, he is purified of his material desires by that time, but because his bhakti was mixed, it is not so strong. So, the Lord rewards him. He gives him a place in the spiritual world. We call this salokya, he gets a spiritual planet. And there he would get a spiritual house. Or even a spiritual palace. And he gets sarupya, a spiritual form. So, he could be like, this kind of like svarga loka [Laughs]. He has got a nice house with a nice body[Laughs]. But, he is also a servant of Visnu. But relationship is weak. So, he does not actively serve. Definitely, he remembers the Lord. So, his service is more or less mental. So, this is the state of one who does this mixed bhakti. So, better than that, is to do pure bhakti.
So, we are doing bhakti and we are striving for prema. And we are not requesting any material benefits. So, of course, in sadhana bhakti, we are not pure. But, at least in our endeavors for bhakti, we are not expecting and asking for material benefits. Because we are doing sadhana bhakti, material desires are still there. But, when we are chanting and doing our, worshipping the deity, we are not praying, please give me something. So, we are practicing to have pure bhakti. We are trying to offer with bhakti and nothing else. And, though we are not really pure, Krsna is also pleased with us. So, we call this pure bhakti in sadhana. Obviously, we are not really pure. But, still we call it pure bhakti. By doing this pure bhakti, eventually we get to prema bhakti, which is really pure. So, it is this type of bhakti, our intention is to be pure in sadhana, we attain that pure bhakti in prema. And, if we do this mixed bhakti, then we don’t get the same result. For that reason, at the beginning of the Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Gosvami gives the definition of pure bhakti. That is, bhakti performed with no other desire than the desire to please the Lord. So, we do it as a practice in sadhana bhakti. And, when we do the practice, eventually we become perfect, it becomes prema. And, prema would enter into the ocean of rasa. So, the whole work is called Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, the ocean of sweet rasa bhakti. So, the only way to attain that is by the process of pure bhakti.
So, in this purport Prabhupada quotes from Bhagavad-Gita. So, when we are doing sadhana bhakti, the definition of sadhana bhakti is to engage the senses. So, we use our hands, our feet, and our eyes, and our nose, etc. And, we offer things to the Lord. So, of course, we can hear, we can chant, we can remember, and we offer things to the deity. So, in this particular verse of Bhagavad-Gita, it says you offer a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water. But, you have to offer with bhakti. And, if we want to get prema, we have to offer with pure bhakti. That means we offer, and we are not thinking, I am going to offer you this flower, this water, and please give me some money. No, we don’t [Laughs]. So, definitely, we may want money. Of course, we need money to survive in the world. But, we are not going to ask Krsna for it while we are offering things at least. So, when it is offered with that pure intention, then it says here, Krsna says, I accept the offering. What is the accepted offering, which is material, that is, leaf, fruit, flower, it’s all material stuff. These things, we are offering are material things. So, they are bhakti-upavratam, they are filled with bhakti. So, when we offer an item, and we offer with this pure intention, suddenly it’s no longer material, and Krsna will accept it. This bhakti spiritualizes it. And, Krsna very eagerly accepts it. So, in this way, we establish a relationship with the Supreme Lord. Of course, all this we are doing this as a sadhana bhakti. So, our bhakti is not 100% pure or strong. But, we are endeavoring for that. Yeah, and so, therefore, it is important for us in sadhana bhakti, to always remember this definition of pure bhakti. So, this type of bhakti is very powerful to get us to prema. Of course, Krsna is very merciful, so He accepts mixed bhakti.
In the Bhagavad-Gita Krsna says, you know, people may have desire to get free of their suffering, or desire for material enjoyment, they are also my devotees. But, Krsna also says, according to, how you offer, the amount that you offer, I will respond differently. So, if you do mixed bhakti, yes, Krsna also accepts. If, in sadhana you offer with pure bhakti, Krsna accepts it more [Laughs]. And if you offer with prema bhakti which is 100% pure, then Krsna accepts it fully. And so much does He accept it, that He becomes a servant of the devotee. And so, Krsna responds to all types of devotees, but, of course, He gives the best response to a person in prema.
So, to attain that prema, the only way to do that is to practice pure bhakti. And that’s our sadhana. That’s our sadhana should be with this idea of anya-abhilasita-sunyam. So, we have to, practice our bhakti with the end in mind. End, the goal of life. If we do not have a goal, it is very difficult to achieve a goal. That is also a principle in the material world. If you start a business and there’s no goal, your business will fail [Laughs]. And so, to attain success, we have to define a goal. But, it is not just to give a name. Of course, that’s good, but, in order to attain that goal, we have to be a little more concentrated. So, not only set a goal, but concentrate on the goal. The more we concentrate on it, the more likely we are to succeed and get the goal. And so, fortunately, we can use the mind to do this. Mind is our enemy, if we don’t control it. Mind is our friend, if we use it properly. So, the more we can concentrate on our goal, the more likely we are to succeed. So, we have to apply this principle to sadhana bhakti.
So we also have to determine our goal. And so, what is our goal? Prema. But, not only do we have to understand the word, we have to know what it is. We can say, well, the goal is prema, and then I ask you, what is prema? I don’t know [Laughs]. So, how can you have eagerness to attain a goal when you don’t even know what it is? [Laughs]. So, just like, you go to svarga loka, why should I go to svarga loka? So that they’ll describe, oh, svarga loka, you live for thousands and thousands of years, you’re going to enjoy like anything, so that you get some desire to go to svarga loka. [Laughs]. So, we also have to know what this goal is. Of course, because it is spiritual, it is difficult to understand with a material mind. However if we have a devotional mind, then it’s possible to understand. And in order to give that explanation, Rupa Gosvami has written Nectar of Devotion [Laughs]. Three quarters of the book is all about prema, rasa [Laughs]. And it’s only part of the first part, which is about sadhana [Laughs]. So this is our opportunity to understand what is prema. And if we have devotion, we can understand it to some degree. And when we understand it, then we have the eagerness to attain that goal. Yeah. So we have to have the means to attain the goal and the means is pure bhakti. So we have to make sure we’re practicing pure bhakti. But we also have to know the goal, prema.
Of course, we must say, well, it’s difficult to understand Nectar of Devotion. So there are some easier ways also. If we cannot understand all the technical terms like anubhava and sattvika bhava, and vyabhicari bhava etc., atleast, if we can appreciate the nature of the devotees who have prema, then that’s a good step. So we can understand about prema by looking at the devotees who have prema. And we find such descriptions in Srimad Bhagavatam. So, in tenth canto particularly, we have descriptions of great devotees. We have description of Mother Yasoda. And Sukadeva Gosvami glorifies her as the greatest devotee. And then later on, we have description of the Gopis. And Uddhava is there the greatest devotee. So by hearing these pastimes, we can begin to appreciate the nature of prema through seeing these great devotees. And we can develop a great eagerness to attain a similar type of prema. So that is the one of the purposes of hearing Srimad Bhagavatam.
We see that in Puri, Caitanya Mahaprabhu would daily hear Srimad Bhagavatam. So though He was fixed in Prema, nevertheless, He continued His desire to hear Bhagavatam. So it inspired more prema. So Bhagavatam is considered to be the highest fruit on the tree of the vedas. The vedas are called the desire tree because they fulfill all your desires. And if we follow the vedas, we get artha, dharma, kama and moksha. But more than that, if we follow the vedas for bhakti, we get prema. But Srimad Bhagavatam gives special prema. And it’s prema for Krsna. So this is the highest fruit on the tree of the vedas. So if we hear Bhagavatam nicely, we can attain that fruit, highest fruit on the tree.
So that hearing process actually surpasses all of these duties of a brahmana. And thus we find that the devotees sometimes say, what is the use of these fire sacrifices? What is the use of these mantras? What is the use of all these austerities? What is the use of studying all the vedas? If we can easily attain the same by chanting the name of the Lord, then we get prema. All this becomes useless. So therefore we should understand what is the real goal of life and what is the goal of the Bhagavatam.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krsna, I am really impressed by this analogy of goal and prema. But like happens in the material world, there is no end to the goal. For example, one person achieves one goal, then he desires for another goal. And even if there is a supreme goal, for example, if a person desires to become president of a country, and then after becoming the president, he tries his best to maintain that position, but somehow or other he will lose that position. How does that happen with prema? When a person attains that goal, like ultimate prema. And is there any possibility of falling down again? And what happens beyond that? Hare Krsna.
So it is good that people in the material world strive for goals. But unfortunately, all the goals are temporary. And they are not completely satisfying. So serious people, intelligent people, will think, well, let’s do something else. We want a permanent goal, which is fully satisfying. But scripture tells us that is impossible in the material world.
So if we follow scripture, then we can attain the goal, which is permanent and fully satisfying. So that of course is prema. So this prema of course is eternal, it is not material. So it doesn’t share the qualities of material goals. And material goals have limitations. Prema has no limits. Of course, it is an experience of bliss and love. Material love has its limits. Spiritual love is unlimited. It may be difficult for us to conceive of that, but we have to accept scripture. Supreme Lord Himself is unlimited. Supreme Lord is unlimited. Krsna is unlimited. He may look like a little boy, but actually He is bigger than the whole universe. He has dedicated to Radha, but He expands His form into billions and billions of other forms, so He satisfies every devotee in the spiritual world. This relationship keeps increasing. In the material world, of course, that may look impossible, but in spiritual world Krsna is inexhaustible. So His devotion for His devotee keeps increasing. And consequently the bliss keeps increasing. So in this way it is quite different from material experience, where everything has a limit.
2.) Thank you Maharaja. Wonderful. Just this morning I was thinking, while I was drinking water, that Krsna said, I am the taste of water. So many times I wonder what actually Krsna is trying to make us understand by this statement. And I thought this morning, this first time I thought that may be Krsna wants us to understand that everything that can satisfy our needs is that satisfaction. So there are four classes of satisfaction for Krsna actually. So my question is, we can, because the process is different, as you said, and so everybody, although we aspire to be human beings, but it’s, it’s very hard. So meanwhile we need so many things. And essentially we need satisfaction. And so, accepting our limitation and our need for satisfaction, we can advance when we express our gratitude to Krsna in the form of satisfaction. When the satisfaction helps us to be satisfied and go on in the process with the goal in mind.
Devotees : [aside] Laughter
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So the goal is prema and through prema, we get bliss and satisfaction. So when we begin bhakti we don’t have prema, so we don’t get satisfaction [Laughs]. But though we don’t get ananda from sadhana bhakti, we also get some positive experience. We get some satisfaction from even a little bit of bhakti. Just like if you take a taste of food, it’s not fully satisfying, but we get something [Laughs]. So because we get some result, we are inspired to continue.
So that is also explained in Nectar of Devotion. Rupa Gosvami explains there are six qualities, special qualities of bhakti. And of course in prema, [Not clear] we get two [Not clear], and it is, this bliss, unlimited bliss. And Krsna gets controlled by the devotee. But he also explains that in the beginning of bhakti, we get some symptoms, not that bliss, not that Krsna is not controlled by us, but we get some. One is destruction of suffering. So we do bhakti and our suffering decreases, that’s impetus for us. The second quality is called subadha, which means bestowal of auspiciousness. So this means, that by doing sadhana bhakti, we develop some good qualities. And we develop some happiness. It is not the happiness of material life. It is not the happiness of liberation. It is a happiness derived from performing bhakti. So it is spiritual happiness. Because it is not intense, we don’t call it bliss, but atleast there is some satisfaction at the beginning stages. And as we do bhakti, then that satisfaction increases. And eventually becomes bliss.
3.) Maharaja, we can say that the principle of satisfaction is Krsna. So by doing bhakti, we can appreciate that it is a good process. And by satisfying my necessities, in the condition [Not clear] is Krsna. So we will feel that we are happy. Like we will be fortunate in our relationship.
Well, we would say that the natural quality of the jiva is ultimately, prema. But it doesn’t manifest in the material world. But we get a reflection of that, in our desire for material things. And thus we contact various sense objects like water and food and air and whatever to get our satisfaction.
So for a person in the material world it may be difficult to understand about the Supreme Lord. So even in Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna asks Krsna, well how can I appreciate the material world? So then Krsna gives a whole 10th chapter that I am the lion or I am the fish or I am the mountain or whatever [Laughs]. I am the taste of water. I am the fragrance of the earth etc. So certain things in the material world, because of their outstanding quality they can remind us indirectly of the Supreme position of the Lord. So by seeing these things in the material world we can somehow remember the Lord [Laughs]. Of course, they are material things. But Krsna also expresses Himself through material things. But then, ultimately the higher appreciation is to appreciate the spiritual qualities of the Lord. So, rather than meditate on the universal form we meditate on spiritual form of the Lord [Laughs].
Okay. Hare Krsna!
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhāgavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaja ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!!