Srimad Bhagavatam 11.11.42 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 27 May 2021
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
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
jaya 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 Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 11 Chapter 11 Verse 42.
ŚB 11.11.42
sūryo ’gnir brāhmaṇā gāvo
vaiṣṇavaḥ khaṁ maruj jalam
bhūr ātmā sarva-bhūtāni
bhadra pūjā-padāni me
Synonyms
sūryaḥ — the sun; agniḥ — fire; brāhmaṇāḥ — the brāhmaṇas; gāvaḥ — the cows; vaiṣṇavaḥ — the devotee of the Lord; kham — the sky; marut — the wind; jalam — water; bhūḥ — the earth; ātmā — the individual soul; sarva-bhūtāni — all living entities; bhadra — O saintly Uddhava; pūjā — of worship; padāni — the places; me — of Me.
Translation
O saintly Uddhava, please know that you may worship Me in the sun, fire, brāhmaṇas, cows, Vaiṣṇavas, sky, wind, water, earth, individual soul and all living entities.
Purport
Unless one understands that Lord Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading and that everything is resting within the Lord, one’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness is third class and materialistic. It is clearly stated in all Vedic literatures that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the source of everything. Everything is within Him, and He is within everything. To avoid a materialistic conception of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one should not think that the Lord exists only in a particular time and place. Rather, one should understand that He exists at all times and in all places and that one may search for and find Lord Kṛṣṇa within all things. The word pūjā-padāni indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading, but this does not mean that all things are Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks this verse to clarify His supremacy as the all-pervading Personality of Godhead and to show the path of complete self-realization.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here we have a series of verses indicating how to worship the supreme Lord. The previous verse also indicated many types of devotional service. And many of these items mentioned in the previous verse have to do with deity worship. So worship of the deity is one form, but then in this verse Krishna shows other ways in which you can worship the Lord. So as the purport explains, Krishna is everywhere so you can worship Him in anything. However, we also understand that Krishna with His personal form as the deity is a superior form of worship. But we should also not think that Krishna is only in the deity and He’s nowhere else. So just to emphasize that, various types of worship are described.
We can worship the Lord in the sun, in the fire, in the brahmanas, the cows, the Vaishnavas, the sky, the wind, the water, the earth, etc. So there are particular ways in which you can do this. And the next verses also describe how you worship the Lord in the sun, in the fire, in the brahmanas, the cows, etc. At the same time, we also have to be careful. Because if we worship the Lord in the sun, we worship the sun and we may become worshippers of the sun instead of worshippers of the Lord. So for instance, in the Brahma Sutras there, there is a section of rejecting worship of the sun, the sun worshippers because they are worshipping devata. So this is not a type of worship that we would perform. Also worship of the Lord in the sun. So this is how we often treat prayers, vedic prayers to the sun. We offer worship to the Lord within the sun. Of course there is a sun deity. And of course this is mentioned in the Brahma Samhita. People worship the sun because the sun is powerful, it supports life, it gives life, it gives knowledge. Whatever powers the sun has, those powers are given by the supreme Lord. So therefore we don’t want to worship the sun devata because that would be devata worship. So instead we are worshipping, we can say the Paramatma within the sun deity. So in this way we are worshipping a form of the Lord, not the sun deity. But at the same time, when we describe the Lord in the sun, we describe Him in the same way as we describe the sun with brilliant rays etc.
So many people also think that the Brahma Gayatri mantra is worship of the sun. And certainly sun worshippers will take that mantra. However, the Agni Purana explains the meaning of that mantra. And Jiva Goswami has written a lot of commentary on that. The essence of that commentary and what the Agni Purana says is that, it is not worship of the sun, it is worship of Vishnu, mantra itself is worship. However, people will often associate this mantra with the sun because the words used like savitra often refer to the sun. But those same words can also refer to Vishnu. Similarly, of course, we have all sorts of mantras in the vedas. They can refer to devatas. They can also refer to the same, the Supreme Lord. Whatever powers the devatas have, the Supreme Lord also has those powers. So, if the sun has the power to light up the world and give life, Supreme Lord does the same thing. And thus, all the names of the devatas, which indicate their powers, are actually also names of the Supreme Lord, because He also has those powers. So this is how Madhvacharya interprets the mantras of the vedas.
And even the Brahma Sutras confirms that all the names mentioned in the vedas are actually names of the Supreme Lord. Secondarily, they are also names of devatas. Just as we may name our children after Krishna or Vishnu. But they are not Krishna or Vishnu. So similarly Shiva and Indra and Surya, etc have their names, but actually the real Surya, the real Indra, the real Shiva is Supreme Lord. So if we worship Krishna in the sun, then we’re understanding that He gives power to the sun devata.
Similarly this verse mentions about worshipping fire. So we have many forms of worship there. We have all these fire sacrifices. So many people will think these sacrifices are for oblations to devatas. However, the devotee when he does these sacrifices, he is offering this to Supreme Lord. How do you worship fire? You offer ghee into the fire. And of course you have to do that with certain mantras. Similarly, we can worship the brahmana. The brahmana is often considered to be representative of Supreme Lord. In the 10th canto, after the story of Mrga, then the Supreme Lord has a whole section of verses glorifying the brahmana. So therefore one has to always respect them. So we can receive them in the house and feed them. That’s how you worship them. And again, of course, the Lord resides in the Vaishnava more than even a brahmana. So we can worship the Vaishnava by doing various services to him. We can worship the cow by offering food. So in this way, we can offer various things to various elements as well.
So in this way, we can worship the Lord in various places. Nevertheless, the Vaishnavas have a preference. Rather than worship all of these, they will worship the form of the Lord, the deity form. Of course, sometimes there may not be that opportunity. So in that case, they can worship these other forms. However, in this particular list of all these, the worship of the Vaishnava is the most important. Of course, we can also say the sun god is also a Vaishnava, agni is a devotee also. But we have direct contact with devotees. And it is through them that we get mercy and we can advance in devotional service. And therefore, throughout the Bhagavatam, we’ll find an emphasis upon the worship of the Vaishnava rather than the sky or the wind or the earth. And of course, even among Vaishnavas, we have different levels of respect. So we particularly give respect to those who worship Krishna. And we give great respect to those who worship Krishna in Vrindavan. And even there, we may give respect according to the level of advancement. But we can respect the kanishthas, we can respect the madhyamas and we respect the uttamas. Nevertheless, we give the most respect to the highest.
So, in worshiping the Vaishnava, of course, we can worship the Vaishnava because the Lord is within the Vaishnava. Of course, but the other reason we worship the Vaishnava is because, as a jiva, he is also very dear to the Lord. The Supreme Lord is in all living entities. But He particularly manifests Himself within the Vaishnavas. And the more the Vaishnavas advance, the more He will manifest Himself. So, when we worship the Vaishnava, through the Vaishnavas, so then because the Vaishnava has the Supreme Lord within Him, then we can realize the Supreme Lord.
So, this idea of worshiping the Vaishnava is very prominent in the Bhagavatam. But that same worship we will find even in the Upanishads. So, there it will say that you worship the Vaishnava just as you worship the Supreme Lord. And why? So, by their worship, all of the meanings of the vedas are revealed. So, by mercy of the Vaishnava, you will realize Supreme Lord. Why because Vaishnava has the Lord within him, he has the shakti of the Lord. So, this is the most direct way in which we can advance in devotional service. Of course, we can do these other forms of worship and we can understand the Lord is in all of these things. Nevertheless, we put an emphasis upon the respect and worship of the Vaishnava.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A :
1.) Understanding any contact with the Supreme Lord is spiritually beneficial. Brahmanas who are not aware of Gayatri that Gayatri is worship of Vishnu. What kind of spiritual benefit do they derive?
If they are, they don’t have understanding of the supreme Lord, then this is something like performance of karma-kanda. So we don’t reject it or condemn it because it is part of the vedas. But nevertheless, it’s not the ultimate goal. So we don’t reject such persons at the same time we understand that their goal is not the ultimate goal.
2.) Whether a devotee necessarily need to obtain Krishna prema to see Krishna in the sun, fire, brahmana, cows, Vaishnavas etc?
If we want to see the spiritual form of the Lord, then we have to develop spiritual eyes. But the path to develop the spiritual eyes is pure bhakti. And in pure bhakti, generally we prefer direct worship rather than indirect. So this is a quicker process. You can also worship the Lord in the sun and finally realize but it is much slower.
3.) In Bhagavad Gita we see the supreme Lord stating that He is the highest in everything. So being the case, when we see the supreme Lord in the animals which are very, very insignificant, which are not so powerful, will it be considered as an offense? How to understand this?
So, of course, one of the things in this verse is you see the Lord in all living entities, even in the ant or the insect or whatever. So, the Lord is the Lord in any case and He is not affected by any material body. And along with the Lord there is also a jiva in each of these bodies. So, the body itself is a result of karma. So, we give respect to all living entities because the Lord is there and the jiva is there. But according to karma, some of the bodies, they have either lower consciousness or higher consciousness. So, we give higher respect and more respect to those who have greater consciousness.
4.) When Uddhava visited Vrindavan his vision was the cowherds’ homes in Gokula appeared most charming with their abundant paraphernalia for worship of sacrificial fire, sun, unexpected guests, the cows, the brahmanas, forefathers and the demigods. So, can we say that this system of worship is lost in the recent Gaudiya community and only the deity worship is remaining intact?
So, all of these descriptions are also part of the varnashrama system. But as we know, as kali yuga progresses, a lot of this system is destroyed. At the same time, we can follow all these rules but if we don’t have any bhakti, it’s all useless. So, the Vaishnava point of view is that the primary activity is bhakti. And whatever favorable elements we find in the varnashrama we can also do those.
5.) We see that the light is being emanated both by agni as well as sun. So, for this aspect of light, who is the adi-devata?
So, obviously fire has light also, but that fire is subordinate to the sun, is it not? And sometimes the sun is considered to be dig devata. The head of the devata.
6.) Maharaj, we have seen the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Sri Sanatana Goswami wherein 24 forms of Vishnu are described and they are presiding in the material world as temple deities. What about the deities worshipped at home, devotee worships deities at home. So, does Vishnu forms appear as deities at home as well?
Well, these Vishnu forms are defined in terms of the details of where the Shankha and Chakra are. So, you can identify your form of the Lord according to the Shankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma, which hand they are in.
7.) Maharaj, we see that idol worship is condemned in other religions. How does ISKCON address this basic difference in terms of dialogue?
Well, idol worship, as far as Christianity is concerned, means any form of worship. Metal or wood or anything is considered to be idol. Any form of the Lord that you make out of metal or wood etc, is considered to be an idol. But we say, no, the Lord can be represented in wood, etc, if the representation is a form according to scripture and installed. If you concoct a form in your mind and then you make a form out of clay or wood and you worship it, then that is, of course, condemned. But if the form is defined in the scriptures and we make that particular form and then we install it and worship it according to scripture, then it is no longer an idol.
8.) Is Paramatma all-pervasive or Brahman all-pervasive?
Well, Paramatma is the term used for the form of the Lord in the material world. In spiritual world, there is no material world, so therefore there is no Paramatma. But Bhagavan is everywhere.
9.) We see that Bhagavatam says that Krishna comes in the form of a devotee to destroy the anarthas hrdy antah stho hy abhadrāṇi [SB 1.2.17]. So already He is all-pervasive and He is already present. So how to understand this Maharaj?
So certainly the Lord is everywhere but He likes to personally respond to each devotee. So that is why they say that, Krishna purifies all of our anarthas because He is situated within your heart. He can do it from outside also. But just to show that He is with the individual at all times because He cares for His devotees in this state.
10.) We see in the 10th chapter of Bhagavad Gita about the opulence of the Absolute. If someone appreciates these opulences without understanding his relationship with Krishna, can we consider such people as devotees of Krishna to some degree?
Well, we can understand the Lord to some degree, but if we don’t accept His position as the supreme enjoyer and then we are His servant, then we don’t call that person a devotee.
11.) We see that devotees have so much respect to [Not clear] Vaishnavas. But when they face any health problems, any health crisis or any other problems in their life, there seems to be a tendency to blame and they get upset with others. So how to understand this?
That is a sign of deep devotion. So the person who has strong devotion in all cases in the material world, whether he suffers or doesn’t suffer, his faith in the Lord and worship of the Lord [Not audible].
Devotee : Thank you so much Maharaj.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Haribol!!!