Srīmad bhāgavatam – 11.11.6 | HH Bhānu Swāmī Mahāraj | ISKCON Chennai | April 26, 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 Srīmad Bhāgavatam Canto 11 Chapter 11 Verse 6.
ŚB 11.11.6
suparṇāv etau sadṛśau sakhāyau
yadṛcchayaitau kṛta-nīḍau ca vṛkṣe
ekas tayoḥ khādati pippalānnam
anyo niranno ’pi balena bhūyān
Synonyms
suparṇau — two birds; etau — these; sadṛśau — similar; sakhāyau — friends; yadṛcchayā — by chance; etau — these two; kṛta — made; nīḍau — a nest; ca — and; vṛkṣe — in a tree; ekaḥ — one; tayoḥ — of the two; khādati — is eating; pippala — of the tree; annam — the fruits; anyaḥ — the other; nirannaḥ — not eating; api — although; balena — by strength; bhūyān — He is superior.
Translation
By chance, two birds have made a nest together in the same tree. The two birds are friends and are of a similar nature. One of them, however, is eating the fruits of the tree, whereas the other, who does not eat the fruits, is in a superior position due to His potency.
Purport
The example of two birds in the same tree is given to illustrate the presence within the heart of the material body of both the individual soul and the Supersoul, the Personality of Godhead. Just as a bird makes a nest in a tree, the living entity sits within the heart. The example is appropriate because the bird is always distinct from the tree. Similarly, both the individual soul and the Supersoul are distinct entities, separate from the temporary material body. The word balena indicates that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied by His own internal potency, which consists of eternality, omniscience and bliss. As indicated by the word bhūyān, or “having superior existence,” the Supreme Lord is always in a superior position, whereas the living entity is sometimes in illusion and sometimes enlightened. The word balena indicates that the Lord is never in darkness or ignorance, but is always full in His perfect, blissful consciousness.
Thus, the Lord is niranna, or uninterested in the bitter fruits of material activities, whereas the ordinary conditioned soul busily consumes such bitter fruits, thinking them to be sweet. Ultimately, the fruit of all material endeavor is death, but the living entity foolishly thinks material things will bring him pleasure. The word sakhāyau, or “two friends,” is also significant. Our real friend is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is situated within our heart. Only He knows our actual needs, and only He can give us real happiness.
Lord Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He patiently sits in the heart, trying to guide the conditioned soul back home, back to Godhead. Certainly no material friend would remain with his foolish companion for millions of years, especially if his companion were to ignore him or even curse him. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is such a faithful, loving friend that He accompanies even the most demoniac living entity and is also in the heart of the insect, pig and dog. That is because Lord Kṛṣṇa is supremely Kṛṣṇa conscious and sees every living entity as part and parcel of Himself. Every living being should give up the bitter fruits of the tree of material existence. One should turn one’s face to the Lord within the heart and revive one’s eternal loving relationship with one’s real friend, Lord Kṛṣṇa. The word sadṛśau, or “of similar nature,” indicates that both the living entity and the Personality of Godhead are conscious entities. As part and parcel of the Lord we share the Lord’s nature, but in infinitesimal quantity. Thus the Lord and the living entity are sadṛśau. A similar statement is found in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.6):
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā
samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādu atty
anaśnann anyo ’bhicākaśīti
“There are two birds in one tree. One of them is eating the fruits of the tree, while the other is witnessing the actions. The witness is the Lord, and the fruit-eater is the living entity.”
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, the previous verse mentioned about the Supreme Lord and the Jiva. Therefore, in this verse, the Lord is showing the difference by giving an example. Both the Jiva and the Supreme Lord are different from the body. But there is also a difference between the Jiva and the Supreme. So, the example here is birds in a tree. Though the birds are obviously different from the tree, although in this example the tree is alive and the birds are alive. But the bird is a moving living entity, and the tree is a non-moving living entity. So, definitely the bird is different from the tree. And of course, the bird is different because the bird can move around and do many activities that the tree does not. And one of the activities described here is that the bird is eating the fruit of the tree.
This means that the Jiva is material. The Jiva is enjoying the body and enjoying objects in this world. Sometimes the fruit is sweet and sometimes the fruit is bitter. So that bird is absorbed in eating the fruit. Similarly, the Jiva in the material world is experiencing happiness. But to take the analysis further we have here another bird in the tree. And they’re described as similar. They’re both birds.
So, the Supreme Lord, like the Jiva, is different from matter. Moreover, this bird is friends with the other bird. But they act differently even though they’re similar. The one bird is eating the fruit of the tree. The other is not eating the fruit. And he’s described as being much stronger. So, there’s a difference between the two birds, between the Jiva and the Supreme Lord. So, of course, this is a material example. And of course, because it is material, it cannot exactly inform us of all of the details of the difference between the Supreme Lord and the Jiva.But it gives us some general idea about the difference.
The difference is that the Supreme Lord does not enjoy the objects of the material world. Why? Because he is much stronger. So, the Jiva and the Supreme Lord look very similar, like two birds, but there’s actually a big difference. The Supreme Lord is very very strong. So, this may not be apparent all the time. For instance, when Krishna came into the arena of Kamsa, Vasudeva, Devaki and Nanda looked at him and they looked at the big wrestlers and they said, Oh, how could Krishna, he’s so small, how could he fight with these huge wrestlers? So, the Lord may not show all of his powers sometimes, but nevertheless he is quite different from the Jivas. In some forms, of course, the Lord shows his powers evidently. So, the Lord shows universal form to Arjuna and to Yashoda. For that reason, Arjuna understood, yes, Krishna is the Supreme Lord. Definitely not a Jiva. So, there, the power of the Supreme Lord becomes evident.
As I mentioned yesterday, Rupa Goswami shows the difference by enumerating the qualities. Jiva can have 50 qualities, Krishna has 64, Vishnu has 60 qualities. And even though the Jiva gets 50 of those qualities out of 64, which means maybe he’s got like percent of the qualities, it doesn’t mean he’s 60% as strong, because he only gets very small quantities of these 50 qualities. So, the Jiva may show intelligence, but Krishna shows millions of times more intelligence. And besides that, the Supreme Lord has qualities that Jiva does not show at all. He can produce universes. He can produce avatars. Jiva can never do that. So, in this way, the Supreme Lord is definitely different by having much more power than the Jiva.
Of course, because of his highest position and great power, great intelligence, knowledge, etc., he can never be influenced by ignorance or material world. So, we have the 6 qualities of the Lord such as power, Virya, Yasha, Jnana and Vairagya. So, Vairagya means not touched by the material. Even though the Lord contacts material things, enters into the material world as Garbhdakasayi Vishnu, Ksirodhakasayi Vishnu and performs pastimes, avatars in material world, he is never influenced by the Prakriti. So, he never eats the fruit of the tree.
Now, the Jiva in the liberated state, he’s also like that. He’s not touched by material energy. He can come into the material world like the Supreme Lord and he’s not influenced. So, then, what is the difference between the Lord and that liberated Jiva? Sometimes the Lord gives great powers to those Jivas. He empowers them also. So, the difference is that even those liberated Jivas are dependent on the Supreme Lord. That we see in the case of Arjuna. Krishna became the charioteer of Arjuna. So, Arjuna looks more powerful than Krishna. Krishna serves Arjuna. However, after Krishna’s disappearance, suddenly Arjuna could do nothing. He cannot fight against the thieves to protect the women, who is taking away from Dwaraka. This past time was arranged to show that ultimately, even though Arjuna had great powers and looked more powerful than the Lord, all of his powers were given by Krishna. So, whatever the Jiva can do in the spiritual world or the material world is ultimately dependent upon the Supreme Lord. And therefore, in the Upanishad it is said that the Lord is the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, etc, which means that even though we see, actually the real seer is the Supreme Lord. Because he sees, he allows us to see. So, the Supreme Lord is different from the Jiva.
So, the Jiva in the material world is very different from the Supreme Lord. Unlike the Jiva in the spiritual world, the Jiva in the material world is affected by matter under ignorance. So, yesterday I explained how the Jiva in the material world and spiritual world are quite different, even though they could be the same Jiva, but he is different. So, the Jiva in the material world is quite different from the Jiva in the spiritual world or the Supreme Lord. However, that Jiva remains the Jiva, the bird remains the bird. So, his Svarup doesn’t change, but his consciousness changes.
So, here the bird in the material world, the Jiva in the material world is described. The bird is eating the fruit. The Jiva is enjoying material energy. But the Jiva can also stop eating the fruit. It’s not described in this verse, but in the Upanishad, it describes how the Jiva can look at the Supreme Lord, understand the glories of the Supreme Lord and then stop eating the fruit. So, the Jiva can change. He can eat fruit or he cannot eat fruit. So, when the Jiva never eats the fruit again, then that is the position of liberation for the Jiva. But if the Jiva thinks, I’ll eat the fruit or now I won’t eat the fruit, then I’ll eat the fruit again. That is not a liberation. That Jiva stays in the material world. So, how does that Jiva attain this position of never eating the food again? So, the Jiva needs to get a higher taste. So that is what the process of Bhakti does. It allows us to cultivate higher taste. Then we give up the lower taste.
So, by cultivating Bhakti, the bird can stop eating the fruit of the tree of material things. However, if we don’t supply that process of Bhakti and the Jiva never gets higher taste, it is very difficult to give up eating the fruit. Therefore, the lesson we learned from this is that we should give up eating the fruit and instead experience the highest fruit of all, that is Krishna.
Hare Krishna!!
Q&A
1.) Thank you so much Maharaj. Maharaj, this is with regard to the Paramatma aspect. We know Krishna is all-loving. Krishna is the most merciful. However, from this purport, it apparently appears that the Paramatma accompanying the Jiva in any forms of life like a worm or a hog or a pig, whatever. All those things, he is accompanying, that seems to be an amazing merciful nature of the Paramatma aspect of the Lord. Not only is He most merciful, His patience without forcing the living entity to turn towards Him, just witnessing and then just being with Him, also looks like the patience of the Lord in Paramatma aspect is most wonderful. How to appreciate that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What’s the question?
Devotee: Two aspects Maharaj. One is the merciful nature of Paramatma accompanying the living entity in any form of life. That seems to be the most merciful thing because in any form a living entity takes in terms of a hog or a worm, it accompanies. And then the patient without forcing the living entity to turn towards Him is just waiting for millions and trillions of lifetimes. So, these two aspects of the Paramatma seems to be much better than Krishna or Mahaprabhu in that sense.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, definitely Paramatma is merciful in one respect, but again He is rather neutral. He makes arrangements for the Jiva in the material world through laws of karma and working of material energy. However, when we speak of mercy, usually we speak of the bestowal of Bhakti and Prema. So, bestowing material results through Karma Yoga or liberation through Ashtanga Yoga or Jnana is not considered to be real mercy.
So bestowing Prema is considered real mercy, because by this the Jiva gets eternal bliss. So, allowing the Jiva to enjoy the material world is one type of mercy, but higher mercy is to get out of the material world and to get eternal bliss.
2.) Guru Maharaj, in the purport, it is said that Lord Krishna is such a faithful loving friend. What sort of faith he has in that point? And another thing is that it is said that Krishna is having Krishna consciousness. Krishna is supremely Krishna conscious.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Where it is said?
Devotee: In the middle of the purport Guru Maharaj. But Lord Krishna is such a faithful loving friend that he accompanies even the most demonic living entity and is also in the heart of insects, pigs and dogs. Instead of mercy, it is said that he is faithful. What is the sort of faith Krishna has in that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh! Faithful friend, which means faithful means that he never gives up accompanying the living. Like a faithful dog follows the master everywhere. The Lord is faithful and follows the living entity in all circumstances.
Devotee: And in the next line Maharaj, That is because Lord Krishna is supremely Krishna conscious. How is it explained that Krishna himself is Krishna conscious?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, Krishna conscious is a broad term. So, we can say it means Prema. Or seeing through a vision of Prema. So, Krishna is always in that position because he is never intimidated by ignorance.
Devotee: Maharaj, in extension to what Rao Prabhu was just mentioning with regard to the faithful friend aspect of the Lord, Can we also understand for instance in today’s situation due to Corona, Even one’s own family people cannot accompany the family members to the hospital or being with them because of whatever the virus is. Whereas the Paramatma aspect never leaves the soul and is always there to be merciful with them.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, in the material world we are restricted because of our material bodies, because of rules, regulations, etc. The Lord is unrestricted. He can expand his form unlimitedly. And he is never contaminated.
3.) Maharaj, you mentioned that Arjuna could not do anything after Krishna’s departure. At the same time we see that it was not personally Krishna who was present in the case of examples like Srila Prabhupad. But he was able to accomplish and spread Krishna conscious like anything. How to properly appreciate that Maharaj?
The example of Arjuna is given only to show that ultimately even the highest devotees are dependent on the Lord. Not in all cases does the Lord withdraw power as he withdrew it from Arjuna. He did that to illustrate something.
4.) Even though the super soul is within us and guiding us always, but we don’t turn towards the super soul and don’t listen to the guidance. Please explain why is it like that Maharaj?
That is explained in this example. One bird is eating the fruit of the tree. He doesn’t see the other bird. So why is that? Because he enjoys eating fruit. If the living entity enjoys the material world, then he will not see the world.
5.) Maharaj, in the material world we can find difference only between similar objects such as between two human beings. We cannot find difference between two dissimilar objects. Similarly we can find difference between Bhagavan and Jiva as they both belong to Sat-cit-ananda nature and they are qualitative one. So why is it called Achintya to understand the difference between Bhagavan and Jiva as they are qualitatively one and quantitatively different?
There are certain aspects of similarity and difference that cannot be explained. We can say that a black dog is different from a white dog. They are different bodies. But they are both dogs. So, they are similar because they are both dogs. But to say that the black dog is the white dog, that is illogical. So, scripture is saying, the Lord is everything. He is the Jiva, He is Prakriti, He is the spiritual, He is everything. So that type of oneness is difficult to explain. How is the Lord the Jiva, how is the Lord Prakriti, how is the Lord this body etc. So, this is Achintya !
6.) Jiva has experienced misery while the Lord has not experienced misery. This seems to show that the Lord does not have direct experience of something that the Jiva has experienced. How to properly understand that?
In a sense he does experience also. He has all knowledge. So, he can understand the experience. Unlike the Jiva, he is not affected by the experience.
Devotee: But Guru Maharaj when we say that the Jiva is experiencing distress, is it not wrong Guru Maharaj? It is not the Jiva-atma, but it is the body.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well the Jiva identifies with the body so therefore the Jiva also feels distress. So, we say I have a fever and we have distress. But actually the Jiva does not have a fever, the body has a fever. But the Jiva feels the distress.
7.) Maharaj, Super soul is described as our friend. However Jivas covered under three modes of nature cannot know him. How can we understand he is our friend when a majority of the conditioned souls cannot know his presence? And also the Lord can be known only when he reveals himself to the Jiva. Request you to clarify Maharaj.
For the Jiva, the Supreme Lord is the unknown friend. Just as in the material world sometimes we have a person and somebody is supplying him all of his money etc. But he does not know that this person is supplying everything. And the main reason is the material world. We are blinded by materialism. And if the Lord reveals himself, we won’t even see the Lord. Kamsa saw Krishna, but he saw him as death.
8) Maharaj, can we understand that super soul is very renounced, as he just witnesses the soul committing mistakes. He could have helped or chastised the soul before it makes mistakes.
For most Jivas this is taken care of by the law of karma. That’s also the Lord’s mercy. For the devotee then the Lord personally intervenes.
9.) The consciousness of Jiva in lower forms like plants, animals is low. And not developed to understand the guidance of Paramatma to take up the path of self-realization. What kind of guidance Paramatma provides to lower forms? Is the guidance also depends on the developed consciousness?
The guidance given to lower forms is simply arranging for their life. So, the plants live in a certain way and they grow and they bear fruit and they make seed. This is the arrangement of Paramatma.
10.) Maharaj, we understand that theoretically we are not the body. But realization that we are not the body is difficult and to remain indifferent to the bodily sufferings. How to realize that we are not the body? Through bhakti is it possible?
Through the process of bhakti we develop a spiritual body and then we very easily give up the material body.
Devotee: Thank you Maharaj.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham Ki Jai!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !! His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai!! Nitya Gaura Premananday Hari hari bol.