Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.18.21 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | Nov 25, 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-Caitanya
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 18 Verse 21.
ŚB 1.18.21
अथापि यत्पादनखावसृष्टं
जगद्विरिञ्चोपहृतार्हणाम्भ: ।
सेशं पुनात्यन्यतमो मुकुन्दात्
को नाम लोके भगवत्पदार्थ: ॥ २१ ॥
athāpi yat-pāda-nakhāvasṛṣṭaṁ
jagad viriñcopahṛtārhaṇāmbhaḥ
seśaṁ punāty anyatamo mukundāt
ko nāma loke bhagavat-padārthaḥ
Synonyms
atha — therefore; api — certainly; yat — whose; pāda-nakha — nails of the feet; avasṛṣṭam — emanating; jagat — the whole universe; viriñca — Brahmājī; upahṛta — collected; arhaṇa — worship; ambhaḥ — water; sa — along with; īśam — Lord Śiva; punāti — purifies; anyatamaḥ — who else; mukundāt — besides the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa; kaḥ — who; nāma — name; loke — within the world; bhagavat — Supreme Lord; pada — position; arthaḥ — worth.
Translation
Who can be worthy of the name of the Supreme Lord but the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa? Brahmājī collected the water emanating from the nails of His feet in order to award it to Lord Śiva as a worshipful welcome. This very water [the Ganges] is purifying the whole universe, including Lord Śiva.
Purport
The conception of many gods in the Vedic literatures by the ignorant is completely wrong. The Lord is one without a second, but He expands Himself in many ways, and this is confirmed in the Vedas. Such expansions of the Lord are limitless, but some of them are the living entities. The living entities are not as powerful as the Lord’s plenary expansions, and therefore there are two different types of expansions. Lord Brahmā is generally one of the living entities, and Lord Śiva is the medium between the Lord and the living entities. In other words, even demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, who are the chief amongst all demigods, are never equal to or greater than Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, and all-powerful demigods like Brahmā and Śiva are engaged in the worship of Viṣṇu or Lord Kṛṣṇa; therefore who can be more powerful than Mukunda (Lord Kṛṣṇa) to be factually called the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The goddess of fortune, Lakṣmījī, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are not independently powerful; they are powerful as expansions of the Supreme Lord, and all of them are engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and so also are the living entities. There are four sects of worshipful devotees of the Lord, and the chief amongst them are the Brahma sampradāya, Rudra sampradāya and Śrī sampradāya, descending directly from Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, respectively. Besides the above-mentioned three sampradāyas, there is the Kumāra sampradāya, descending from Sanat-kumāra. All of the four original sampradāyas are still scrupulously engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord up to date, and they all declare that Lord Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no other personality is equal to Him or greater than Him.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse more or less repeats what was stated in the last verse, in other words, it is placing the Supreme Lord above everyone else. In the first line of the Purport, Prabhupad talks about the conception of many gods. So certainly, people worship Brahma & Shiva & Ganesha & Murugan & Durgadevi, etc. These are all mentioned in the Vedic literature, so in one sense, nothing wrong with worshipping them. So what is wrong to regard them as supreme? Not one of them, nor all of them are supreme.
On the other hand, we have Vishnu, who is supreme. And actually, he is a different category from all the others. So, Devatas have more powers than regular Jivas and human beings. So then, people may call them supreme, but this is not absolutely supreme, it is secondarily supreme. Just as we may call the king, a supreme leader. But then we have other kings in other countries. And in higher planets, we have people with more power. So we should not apply the words Supreme Lord, Supreme Person, or God in a very casual way, we should actually apply it where it is proper. So we cannot verify this with our senses. The only way we can conclude who is supreme, is to go to the scriptures.
Unfortunately, the scriptures also use the words in a relative way. And thus, Suryadeva, or Shiva, or Ganesha, may be addressed as Bhagavan. So, we have to examine the scriptures very carefully before we come to a conclusion. And thus, Prabhupada mentions at the end of the purport, about Sampradayas. So, the conclusion is verified by the Sampradayas and passed down. So in other words, the Sampradaya represents the true meaning of the Vedic literature. And, what is important about the Sampradaya is, it passes it down, and then Prabhupada says, till now, to the present time. And, at the end he says, they are scrupulously engaged in presenting this service to the Lord.
So, in other words, we do have to study the scriptures very carefully, before we conclude who is supreme. It may depend on the scripture that we choose. It will be easier if we choose a scripture like Bhagavad Gita or Bhagavatam. It may be more difficult if we choose to go to the Karma kanda of the Vedas. So, therefore, the choice of scripture also is very important. Of course, many people will emphasize Vedas. Veda or Shruti is considered very strong evidence. However, the Vaishnavas do not consider that it is the only authority. And, in fact, we take Puranas, Mahabharata, etc., as equal authority. And, the Bhagavatam itself mentions that they are the fifth Veda. This means that Puranas and Mahabharata are equal, because they are called Veda. Sometimes, we have works that we call Upa-Veda. Things like, what is it, Silpi sastra or Theory of War, Kshatriya Dharma, etc. So, these are secondary scriptures. So, the Veda, of course, does have authority. But, Puranas and Mahabharata have equal authority. Of course, in our Sampradaya, we make an even more bold claim. Srimad Bhagavatam is the conclusion of all scriptures. Therefore, it is the supreme authority.
For that reason, we see that Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the Goswamis use Bhagavatam extensively. They take the Bhagavatam as the most important work. That is particularly because, Bhagavatam points out Krishna as the ultimate form of the Lord. Of course, other Puranas and works, they also glorify Krishna, but particularly Bhagavatam says He is the highest form of the Lord. In any case, we do have to consult scripture to find out who is the highest person. Within India, in discussing scripture and who is the highest, there is a major controversy.
So, first, let everyone accept Vedic literature as authority. And, of course, let us accept Vedas as authority. In the Vedas, Upanishads are considered to be the topmost part of the Vedas. So then, when we study the Upanishads, yes, we agree, one supreme entity. But then, who is that entity? Does He have the form of Bhagavan as Vishnu or Krishna, or is He simply impersonal Brahman? And the Upanishads present both views. Bhagavatam also presents both views. And thus, here in the first canto, it is said, Lord is Bhagavan, Paramatma and Brahman, He is all three. So, the only controversy is, is it Brahman and nothing else, or is it Brahman and Bhagavan and Paramatma? So, both the Shri Sampradaya and Brahma Sampradaya put a lot of effort into showing that the Upanishads conclude that, that supreme entity is Vishnu. A major part of the works of these acharyas is to reject and defeat the idea that only Brahman exists.
Of course, if we go beyond the Upanishads, very clearly, we go to Bhagavad Gita or we go to Bhagavatam and we can see that yes, the Lord with the form Bhagavan is accepted as supreme. So, these four sampradayas formed in order to preserve the proper conclusion. And as Prabhupada says, they continue even today. So, in other words, to carry on the knowledge through generations is very important. So what is important in the sampradaya is to preserve knowledge, the conclusion of scripture. And for that reason, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, when he traces our sampradaya, he traces the siksha sampradaya. Hopefully, those who are giving diksha will also carry on the same knowledge. But the knowledge can also be carried on independently of the diksha process. And ultimately, it is more important than the diksha process. And that is why, he emphasized that.
So, we see that Srila Prabhupada spent a long time writing. He did not write his own creative works. He was explaining scriptures. And not only explaining scriptures, explaining scriptures according to our sampradaya. So in this way, Srila Prabhupada was emphasizing the fact that we are transmitting the knowledge of the sampradaya. And thus he wrote commentary on Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. And even though Nama Sankirtana is the yuga dharma and the main process for our spiritual development, he also insists every day, you have to read Srimad Bhagavatam. Of course, the conclusion of Bhagavatam and other scriptures is quite simple. It defines for us who is that Supreme Lord. And in our case, in our sampradaya, He is Krishna. And it defines the process to attain Krishna. And that process is bhakti yoga. But actually, uttama bhakti. Practice of pure bhakti. So that is the sum and substance of the whole of the Bhagavatam.
And when that is clear, then we can chant the name of the Lord purely also. So, we do not condemn knowledge. Of course, knowledge in the sense of Jnana yoga, that knowledge about atma, we do reject. But Bhagavad jnana, knowledge of Bhagavan, we never reject. It is a necessary accompaniment of chanting the name. And for that reason, in our movement, books has become a very important factor.
Yeah, so, very soon we will have a book marathon. So, this is an attempt to preserve the knowledge of the sampradaya in proper form. Of course, as I said, our main process is the yuga dharma, Nama Sankirtana, but it has to be done properly according to scripture.
Hare Krsna!
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna. Maharaj, Krishna says, I am Skanda, ‘Skanda nathapraptala gurupa’. How the devotees should understand this statement?
Of course, Krishna says, I’m Mount Meru [Laughs], I’m a shark, I’m a lion, so among different things He is the superior form. So, this is in a chapter called vibhuti yoga. And there, various vibhutis are listed. The definition of a vibhuti is that, it is some object which represents the Lord, not necessarily identical with the Lord. So most of these vibhutis are material. So, Krishna lists trees and animals and water and elements and so many things as vibhutis [Laughs]. So these objects have certain qualities that make them excellent.
So because it makes them excellent among all the different plants or whatever, or mountains or whatever, then similarly Krishna is Supreme among all beings. So when Krishna says, I’m Skanda or whatever, it’s not literal identity. Skanda shows certain qualities outstanding in fighting. And that is a reflection of Krishna’s outstanding quality of fighting [Laughs]. But fighting in the material world is very material. Krishna’s fighting is spiritual. So, the comparison is never equal, it’s always very different.
2.) Maharaj, these four sampradayas are in eternity. Can we understand irrespective of which Brahma, which day of Brahma or which yuga cycle these sampradayas are standard at all times?
So they are said to be eternal, everyday of Brahma they will manifest in all the universes. Spiritual knowledge in itself is eternal. But it manifests in different ways in different scriptures. So, it manifests in every universe as the Vedas. And every day of Brahma, sages and Vedavyasa start writing other scriptures [Laughs]. Still the knowledge is non-different, so in that sense it’s eternal. And then the Lord arranges for that knowledge to be passed down intact. So, therefore we have the sampradayas.
3.) Maharaj, you mentioned that, for a jiva, choice of scripture is very important. For a conditioned soul with all the deficiencies, how he is expected to choose the scripture?
So, of course, animals cannot choose scripture. Human beings can choose scripture. But then we have human beings in tamoguna, rajoguna and sattvaguna. So obviously, they are going to make different choices. So, whether they are in tamoguna, rajoguna or satttvaguna they are fortunate, if they choose Vedic literature. And they will have different interpretations according to their guna [Laughs]. But at least they choose Vedic literature. How do they choose?
So, of course, we choose based on faith. Faith is often based upon vasanas, previous tendencies in previous lifetimes [Laughs]. Of course, to have faith in the Vedas is not really a material vasana, because Vedas are spiritual by nature. Still even spiritual life is transmitted life after life. So how is that faith created? So, the answer is association. By association, one develops a certain type of faith. It may take several lifetimes to develop that faith. But eventually, then he makes a choice, I will choose Vedas. And then of course, according to association, he may start interpreting it in tamoguna, rajoguna, sattvaguna.
4.) Maharaj, it is said in Srimad Bhagavatam first canto, second chapter it is said that Srimad Bhagavatam is the ‘sruti saram’, the essence of all the scriptures, the sruti. And we see from the Srimad Bhagavatam that Krishna is the Supreme Lord. And as Krishna is Supreme Lord, but there are also other scriptures which glorify different demigods, even Vishnu, even Shiva, Kartika, Ganesha, whatever.
So my question is that although Bhagavatam is the Supreme, but Bhagavatam doesn’t reject other scriptures. It also accepts other scriptures. So how to understand that when Bhagavatam is accepting other scriptures and when other scriptures are explaining that He is the Supreme, then there is a contradiction.
So, there are certain works which are accepted as scripture even in the Vedas and by all the sages. For instance in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, it mentions four Vedas, Itihasas, Puranas, Commentaries, etc. So, it gives a nice list of the authorized works. So those who are following Bhagavatam and Caitanya Mahaprabhu will never reject that list. However, we also realize that some works are presenting relative truth, others are presenting higher truth. Why? Because people are of different qualifications. So Veda is speaking for different types of people.
So thus we accept 18 Puranas, because of Vedavyasa wrote them. But he wrote 6 Puranas for the people in tamoguna, 6 for the people in rajoguna, 6 for people in sattvaguna. And therefore for the people in tamoguna, he advises worship of Shiva. And in the, for people in rajoguna worship Brahma. For people in sattvaguna, worship Vishnu. So different recommendations for different people. Nevertheless, we do have to figure out what is the Supreme knowledge, what is the Supreme truth among all of that.
So we accept all the Vedic literature. At the same time, we also understand that many of the statements according to different levels of qualification, we have to select what is the highest truth out of all of that. So of course, the intention of writing Srimad Bhagavatam is to speak directly the highest truth. But all people may not be qualified, so then they follow Shiva Purana or Skanda Purana or whatever.
5.) Maharaj, this is regarding the 4 sampradayas. We have 4 authorized sampradayas but again there is a branch from the 4 sampradayas like see, there is a Ramanandi. Actually I don’t know from where these Ramanandis are coming. There are a branch of this Ramanuja sampradaya, the Sri sampradaya?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What’s that?
Devotee: Ramanandis.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Ramanandis?
Devotee: Yeah, they are from Sri sampradaya?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: They claim they are from Ramanujacharya. But I don’t know if the Ramanujas accept that. They have similar Tilak [Laughs]. It looks like the emphasis is slightly different, more on yoga. Nevertheless if they take Rama as Supreme, not a problem [Laughs].
Devotee: Even, even among the Ramanujas, there is a different opinion also. There is someone who accepts Rama as Supreme. Now there is one more, you know, this Premananda Maharaj, he is also Ramanandi actually, but now he is accepting Radharani, Radharani, you know. There is a different opinion right now.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Within one sampradaya?
Devotee: Yeah.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, so we may have subdivisions within sampradayas also. Not on major principles, some details usually. And of course, in other religions also, that becomes very prominent, especially when you go on for thousands of years [Laughs].
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!!