Srimad Bhagavatam 11.11.48 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 31 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 48.
ŚB 11.11.48
prāyeṇa bhakti-yogena
sat-saṅgena vinoddhava
nopāyo vidyate samyak
prāyaṇaṁ hi satām aham
Synonyms
prāyeṇa — for all practical purposes; bhakti-yogena — devotional service unto Me; sat-saṅgena — which is made possible by association with My devotees; vinā — without; uddhava — O Uddhava; na — not; upāyaḥ — any means; vidyate — there is; samyak — that actually works; prāyaṇam — the true path of life or actual shelter; hi — because; satām — of liberated souls; aham — I.
Translation
My dear Uddhava, I am personally the ultimate shelter and way of life for saintly liberated persons, and thus if one does not engage in My loving devotional service, which is made possible by associating with My devotees, then for all practical purposes, one possesses no effective means for escaping from material existence.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa has described to Uddhava the characteristics of jñāna-yoga and bhakti-yoga, both of which are considered to be spiritual processes. Now, however, Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly indicates that bhakti-yoga is the only real means to totally free oneself from material existence, and that bhakti-yoga is not possible without sat-saṅga, or association with other Vaiṣṇavas. On the path of bhakti-miśra jñāna, or speculation on the Absolute Truth mixed with devotion, one is still affected by the three modes of material nature. The pure soul, liberated from all material qualities, has no tendency or desire to engage in philosophical speculation, severe austerities or impersonal meditation. The pure soul simply loves Kṛṣṇa and wants to serve Him constantly. Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ Pure devotional service to the Lord is called kevala-bhakti, whereas devotional service mixed with speculative propensities is called guṇa-bhūta-bhakti, or devotional service polluted by the material modes of nature. One who is actually intelligent does not make a show of philosophical wizardry but rather discerns the superiority of pure love of Godhead and takes to the path of kevala-bhakti. One who emphasizes so-called intellectual achievements is actually less intelligent, because such a person is more attracted to intelligence than to the pure soul, which is superior. It should be understood, however, that pure devotional service is not nonphilosophical or anti-intellectual. The Absolute Truth is far more extensive than partial truth. Therefore, one who is in full knowledge of Lord Kṛṣṇa has the greatest facility to engage in philosophical analysis, since a pure devotee is working with the entire range of conceptual categories. Those who do not know Lord Kṛṣṇa are attracted to the impersonal Brahman or the localized Paramātmā, but they are not aware of the ultimate category of understanding called Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lacking knowledge of Bhagavān, such imperfect philosophers certainly do not understand the expansion, interaction and withdrawal of the Lord’s innumerable potencies and thus cannot fully analyze them. By faithfully accepting everything Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks as the absolute truth, one comes to the mature platform of philosophy and achieves perfect knowledge.
In addition to philosophical or intellectual understanding, pure devotional service also awards all other benefits in life, both material and spiritual; therefore one who for any purpose whatsoever accepts a process other than devotional service has unfortunately misunderstood the nature of pure devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. It is emphasized here that one must cultivate devotional service in the association of other devotees. On the other hand, the jñāna-yoga process is cultivated alone, because it is difficult for even two mental speculators to be in the same place without their association degenerating into constant quarrel. Other processes of self-realization are compared to the nipples on a goat’s neck. They look just like breast nipples, but they will not give any milk whatsoever. In this regard Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has quoted the following verses, spoken by Śrī Uddhava, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Nārada Muni respectively.
tāpa-trayeṇābhihitasya ghore
santapyamānasya bhavādhvanīha
paśyāmi nānyac charaṇaṁ tavāṅghri-
dvandvātapatrād amṛtābhivarṣāt
“My dear Lord, for one who is being cruelly burned in the blazing fire of material miseries, having fallen into the network of material existence, I do not see any other possible shelter besides Your two lotus feet, which are a shower of nectar extinguishing the fire of suffering.” (Bhāg. 11.19.9)
saṁsāra-sindhum ati-dustaram uttitīrṣor
nānyaḥ plavo bhagavataḥ puruṣottamasya
līlā-kathā-rasa-niṣevaṇam antareṇa
puṁso bhaved vividha-duḥkha-davārditasya
“Material existence is like an ocean that is extremely difficult to cross. The conditioned souls have fallen into this ocean, which is not cool but rather burns them with the fire of misery. For one who has fallen into this sea and desires to get out, there is no other rescue boat except the constant relishing within oneself of the pastime narrations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Bhāg. 12.4.40)
kiṁ vā yogena sāṅkhyena
nyāsa-svādhyāyayor api
kiṁ vā śreyobhir anyaiś ca
na yatrātma-prado hariḥ
“What is the use of the yoga system, philosophical speculation, mere renunciation of the world, or Vedic studies? In fact, what is the use of any so-called auspicious process without Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of our very existence?” (Bhāg. 4.31.12)
If, as stated in this verse, it is generally (prāyeṇa) impossible to escape material bondage without devotional service in the association of devotees, one can simply imagine the probabilities of liberation in Kali-yuga without the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The chances are certainly zero. One may concoct a type of liberation on the mental platform, or one may live in a so-called spiritual society of mutual flattery, but if one actually wants to go back home, back to Godhead, and see with spiritual eyes the beautiful kingdom of God called Kṛṣṇaloka, one must take to Lord Caitanya’s movement and worship Lord Kṛṣṇa in the association of the bhakta-gaṇa, the devotees of the Lord.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, as the purport explains, ultimately one should perform bhakti yoga. And though Krishna has discussed jnana to quite a degree in this chapter, still here He says the method is bhakti yoga. And He says no other process. So, here we get a conclusion. Often, we have to look for the conclusion because it may not be stated everywhere or constantly. And we’ll have many other statements which may even contradict the conclusion. So therefore, we have to read very carefully.
So, if we read the first part of this chapter, then we may conclude that the whole conclusion is jnana. So thus, we cannot just read one section, we have to read the whole chapter in work. And in this way, we can see what is the main conclusion. So, we may have other conclusions, but they are not the final conclusion. So, thus we should not be misled by so many different statements. So, this requires an intelligent study of the scripture. And of course, that’s why it is recommended that we study the scriptures under a Guru. So, he’s able to discern the real conclusion.
So, even people may be very intelligent, still, they may not find the real conclusion. And therefore, we find that many people accept the vedas and they study them, but they come to the wrong conclusion. And thus, we have various philosophies arising from the vedas. So, Jaimini knows the vedas, he’s actually also in charge of the sama veda. And he has also produced a philosophy which is very atheistic. So, that is the philosophy of karma mimamsa. So, rather than worship a Supreme Lord, at best we should worship devatas. And the final goal is not liberation, but enjoyment on swarga-loka. So, this is a conclusion of the karma kanda section of the vedas, that is not a conclusion of the whole vedas.
So, if we accept it in that position that it’s a secondary conclusion but not the ultimate conclusion, then fine, we can accept it. So, similarly, we have the process of jnana, which has just been discussed here also, in which we discover we’re not the body, we’re the soul. And in the Upanishads, there are many statements to support that. And based on that, then the jnanis conclude that the goal is liberation. Again, yes, that is true. The Upanishads speak about jnana and liberation profusely. But, again, this is not a final conclusion.
Often the scriptures will speak in terms of atma, distinguishing body from atma, etc but this is not the final conclusion. So, as mentioned in the purport, jnana also is a spiritual process. And certainly it’s better than simply identifying with the material world. But, it’s not the final spiritual process or the final goal. So, if we go further in scripture, then we understand that bhakti is superior to jnana or yoga, or karma yoga. So that requires some intelligence to come to that conclusion. So the Vaishnava Acharyas have gone through the Upanishads which the impersonalists take as simply giving impersonal conclusion and they come to a completely different conclusion. And similarly, by analyzing the Brahma Sutras or Vedanta Sutras, they come to another conclusion. So, the final goal is not impersonal Brahman and liberation but Para-brahman, who is Supreme Lord. So, therefore, it does take a person with good intelligence to methodically go through the various scriptures so, he can find the final conclusion.
To make things simpler Krishna recited Bhagavad Gita. There, He presents the different yoga systems karma yoga, jnana yoga, astanga yoga and bhakti. And He very concludes that bhakti is the supreme process, the final process. So, we rest from one yoga to the other. But that’s not infinite. We don’t go from one yoga to another, to another, to another, another. It’s not an infinite process. There is a final process. And certainly, they’re not all equal. So, that is also made clear in the Bhagavad Gita. So Bhagavad Gita proves that, yes, we do have these different processes, but ultimately, it is preferable that you do bhakti. And for that reason, Acharyas and Srila Prabhupada emphasize study of the Bhagavad Gita.
So the Srimad Bhagavatam is the main scriptural work that the Gaudiya Vaishnavas study. And like the Bhagavad Gita, it presents all the different yogas. So, we get a description of karma yoga, jnana yoga, and astanga yoga. But, we should not think that they are equal, and we should not think that they are the final stage. So the final process is bhakti yoga.
Why? Why we should conclude that? Because we have clear statements, as this verse itself says. Just as in Bhagavad Gita, we have clear statements at the end of Chapter 6, where Krishna finally says, jnana is superior to karma, astanga yoga is superior to jnana yoga, and bhakti yoga is superior to astanga yoga. And at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, give up all other dharmas and simply surrender unto Me. So similarly, the Bhagavatam will present all these different processes, but it concludes in bhakti yoga. So, we will see that presented at the beginning of the Bhagavatam and at the end of the Bhagavatam. And in the middle of the Bhagavatam. Over and over again, we got that same statement, as this also states. So, in this way, we have to come to the correct conclusion, even though there may be many statements which appear to be contradictory.
So, in the process of explaining jnana, then other processes may be criticized. And at the same time, jnana may be praised. But, this is relative praise. Because we will find other places where bhakti is praised. So, therefore, we require some intelligence to get the correct conclusion. So, Bhagavatam is meant to be the final conclusion. However, we will see that again, it presents many other methods. So, these are mentioned because scriptures like the vedas and puranas, mention all of these. But we should understand what is [Not audible].
So, in this verse, here we have a statement of the conclusion. So, this is how we should study the scriptures. So the, this verse states that this bhakti will develop by, it is by association of devotees that we will get the correct conclusion. So, we have to rely on scriptures, we also have to rely on teachings of the Lord. Some people don’t give any importance to scriptures. We have many movements that claim to be spiritual, but very rarely they will quote any scripture at all. We see many spiritual leaders in India, very famous people, but how much scripture they are actually quoting. So, we should follow scripture. But, even if we have scripture, we should come to the correct conclusion. So, for that purpose, to get the correct conclusion, we have to associate with devotees. The devotees do not concoct anything, they follow scripture. But they also get the correct conclusion of the scripture.
So, this is why the association of the devotees is emphasized. Through the devotees, we will accept the scriptures and we will also get the conclusion of the scriptures. And then, of course, not only we get a conclusion, we should perform action. We should perform the actions that the scriptures tell us. Not only learn the conclusion of the scriptures, we practice bhakti. And that practice also we do in association with devotees. So, if we follow this process, then we get success.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) What is the difference between a neophyte devotee with less faith offering to Krishna and a non-devotee’s offering?
Well, if a person is not a devotee and he’s offering, then we have to ask, why is he offering? He has no belief in Krishna, why would he offer to Krishna at all? So if he is going to offer, the only reason he is offering is for a very materialistic reason. May be somebody is paying him. So we often see many archakas and pujaris, they get paid. Because they get paid, they will worship any deity. Either they will worship Ganesh, they will worship Shiva, they will worship Krishna, they will worship Rama or anybody. Just pay them some money. Or, they may have no faith in Krishna as Supreme Lord but they may have faith in Him as a devata. So they will worship the Supreme Lord and get only material benefits. And they will consider Krishna or Shiva or Ganesh or Murugan to be all equal. So all of this is actually not worship at all. It’s offensive worship. So one does not get enough result from that. If one worships Krishna with a little faith, that is much, much better. There is no offense in that worship.
2.) Maharaj, in Vrindavan we see many sadhus and sadhavis reaching the right conclusion of chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra. But are of different sampradaya. So the conclusion alone is enough to follow or the parampara also matters. Are they reliable?
At least we should understand or distinguish if that person or group is an authorized Vaishnava sampradaya. Therefore we define there are four Vaishnava sampradayas. If they come within that, okay, they are at least Vaishnava. It’s good. There may be others who claim to be Vaishnavas but they are not within any of these groups. They may even trace a sampradaya [Laughs]. But then we’ll have to question, what is their belief? Do they really believe in the supremacy of Krishna or Vishnu? So anyone who accepts the bonafide Vaishnava sampradayas, we can say that, that’s praise worthy. You can accept that as conclusion of scriptures. At the same time, we find that each of these groups will have some details which are different. So mainly it is a matter of who we prefer to worship, which form of the Lord. And different strategies in explaining the relationship of God to material world. However, we’ll find that there is a common set of beliefs that they all accept. At the same time, if we go by Bhagavatam, then we understand that Krishna manifests more qualities than any other. Therefore we should worship Him. And therefore, we advise everybody should worship Krishna. This is also the conclusion of Srimad Bhagavatam. So it’s a matter of choice, how much experience of bliss do we want in the spiritual world. So some may prefer one type of bliss, others may prefer another. So that’s the choice of the individual.
3.) Like jnanis, sometimes we find devotees are also engaged in arguments. Does it mean that devotees are also on the jnana platform?
Well, not only jnanis and bhaktas but also karmis and [Laughs] demons also involve in arguments. Everybody in the [Laughs] material world is subject to argumentation. Nature of kali yuga is arguments. Of course, ideally the devotee should not be arguing. And within our rules, one rule is that we don’t learn scripture simply to argue with others. So argumentation is, we can say, a sign of less advancement.
4.) Is the chanting of holy names a part of raganuga bhakti?
So it is a part of the vaidhi and raganuga.
5.) Maharaj, we see that devotees are now entering into theological studies and they get into academic career path and they teach Gaudiya Vaishnavism and it appears that they also get money for this. They are paid for this, for these teaching services. So is that an offense or is it acceptable?
Well, they are not using that knowledge simply to make a living. Most of those devotees take up that in order to also do preaching. So they combine their preaching with their, let’s say, maintenance. If we utilize all the topics just to make money, then of course that becomes very materialistic.
6.) Maharaj, we see that amongst the bhakti scriptures also, there is a possibility to come to different conclusions. We find different commentaries offered by different Acharyas So how do we expect to get the conclusive knowledge?
As I mentioned, different sampradayas, the basic beliefs are similar. Then within one sampradaya, the different commentators may have some different opinions. So there may be some details. And that is because some statements or some verses can have several meanings. So one Acharya may say it means this. But other Acharya could say it could mean this or it could mean that or it could mean that as well or it could mean something else [Not clear]. So these are all details and interpreting verses. But the common goal of all of our Acharyas is to glorify Krishna.
7.) We see that vasudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogah prayojitah janyayaty asu vairagyam jnanam ca yad ahaitukam [SB 1.2.7] a verse from Srimad Bhagavatam. In this what’s the difference between the jnana developed through bhakti and the jnana which a jnani has?
So for the jnani, Brahman, impersonal Brahman is the ultimate. For the devotee who develops jnana, they can take Brahman as the aspect of Bhagavan, like the light of the Sun in comparison to the Sun God. In both cases, one can get liberation. But the devotee goes beyond liberation, he gets Prema. So in other words, the devotee surpasses jnana and he realizes Bhagavan.
8.) There are number of vedic scholars who have dedicated their life for vedic life but do not come to the conclusion of bhakti yoga nor do they get the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Also we see that unless one receives the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he cannot understand Mahaprabhu or Krishna. This means that Mahaprabhu is reserving His mercy. How do we understand this Maharaj?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: He is what? His mercy?
Devotee: Reserving.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Reserving?
Devotee: Yeah. Unless Mahaprabhu gives His mercy, one cannot understand Mahaprabhu. In that sense, He seems to be reserving His mercy, not distributing it freely in that sense.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well He distributes it freely, but some people refuse to take [Laughs]. That’s all [Laughs]. The water falls everywhere, but sometimes it falls on deserts, sometimes it falls on rocks. Nothing sprouts.
Devotee: In the sense that Mahaprabhu did not want to reveal, I mean Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya could not understand and Gopinatha Acharya just made this statement. And again these statements come repeatedly again in Caitanya lila that even he tells Mahaprabhu that unless He gives His mercy, one cannot understand Mahaprabhu.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, definitely that’s there, but unless, but then He does give His mercy because he is Maha-vadanya. But if you don’t accept it, then that’s a problem. So He gives mercy even to Jagai and Madai who are offenders. He gives mercy to Sarvabhauma who is impersonalist. He gave mercy to the Buddhists. He gave mercy to the Jains etc.
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!!!