Srimad Bhagavatam 10.87.3 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | 2 May 2026
jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī
gopījana-vallabha giri-vara-dhārī
yaśodā-nandana vraja-jana-rañjana
yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Jaya Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
Prabhupāda Jaya Prabhupāda
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 10 Chapter 87 Verse 3.
ŚB 10.87.3
saiṣā hy upaniṣad brāhmī
pūrveśāṁ pūrva-jair dhṛtā
śraddhayā dhārayed yas tāṁ
kṣemaṁ gacched akiñcanaḥ
Synonyms
sā eṣā — this same; hi — indeed; upaniṣat — Upaniṣad, confidential spiritual doctrine; brāhmī — related to the Absolute Truth; pūrveṣām — of our predecessors (such as Nārada); pūrva-jaiḥ — by the predecessors (such as Sanaka); dhṛta — meditated upon; śraddhayā — with faith; dhārayet — meditates; yaḥ — whoever; tām — upon it; kṣemam — ultimate success; gacchet — will attain; akiñcanaḥ — free from material connection.
Translation
Those who came before even our ancient predecessors meditated upon this same confidential knowledge of the Absolute Truth. Indeed, anyone who faithfully concentrates on this knowledge will become free from material attachments and attain the final goal of life.
Purport
This confidential knowledge concerning the Absolute Truth should not be doubted, since it has been passed down through authoritative lines of learned sages from time immemorial. One who cultivates the science of the Supreme with reverence, avoiding the distractions of fruitive rituals and mental speculation, will learn to give up the false designations of material body and mundane society, and thus he will become eligible for perfection.
In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the first two verses of this chapter can be considered an Upaniṣad on the topic of Brahman. Śukadeva Gosvāmī here disclaims authorship on the grounds that this Upaniṣad was spoken previously by Nārada Muni, who himself heard it from Sanaka Kumāra.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, the topic here is Upanishad Brahmi. And Brahmi means concerning Brahman. And Upanishad, of course, refers to these texts, Vedic texts, concerning, which are in jnana-kanda of the Vedas. So the Vedas have different parts. And we often hear about jnana-kanda, karma-kanda, upasana-kanda. So, that karma-kanda has two parts. There’s a collection of verses called brahmanas. And there’s another collection of verses called aranyakas. And both of these collections deal with rules for sacrifice to attain swargaloka. And both of them are called karma-kanda.
Based on these texts, one philosopher, Jaimini produced this karma-mimamsa philosophy. And in this philosophy, the ultimate goal is swargaloka. And by and large, it’s atheistic. Nothing about the Supreme Lord [Laughs]. Based upon these texts, then we have, what we call karma yoga. Besides this part of the Vedas, which Krishna calls flowery words [Laughs], we have the jnana-kanda, which is Upanishads. And some of the principal Upanishads there largely deal with the topic of Brahman. And the goal is liberation. Many of these texts can be taken impersonally. But we can also interpret these texts as Vaishnava texts. So, in other words, these Upanishads present both Brahman and Vishnu.
And besides these texts, then we have another section called upasana-kanda. This consists with all of the famous verses praising devatas and praising Vishnu. So, when we use the word Upanishad, generally we think of topics about Brahman [Laughs]. Based on some of these Upanishads, Shankaracharya has made his Mayavada philosophy [Laughs]. And based on these Upanishads, Vedavyasa wrote Brahma Sutras to explain those Upanishads. Many these Upanishads speak, we can say, parokshavada, indirect [Laughs].
So, the Brahma Sutras is there to explain them. Unfortunately, the Brahma Sutras are very short statements. And therefore, they can be subject to many different interpretations [Laughs]. So, Shankaracharya uses Brahma Sutras to present Mayavada philosophy. When we use the word Vedanta, it usually refers to Upanishads and Brahma Sutras. And the topic is Brahman and the goal is liberation. However, Acharyas like Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya have taken Upanishads and Vedanta Sutras, and they show that, it’s not Mayavada, it is all about Vishnu.
So, we see there is controversy about the meaning of Upanishads and Brahma Sutras. So, Vedavyasa wrote the Puranas and Mahabharata to clarify the meaning. So, in Mahabharata, we have the condensed meaning in Bhagavad Gita. So because Bhagavad Gita is a summary of Vedanta, the Acharyas make commentary on Bhagavad Gita. And as we learn from Bhagavatam, Bhagavatam is the summary of all the Puranas, and the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, and the Vedas, and the Upanishads [Laughs]. So, by reading Bhagavatam and studying Bhagavatam, we can get the actual meaning of Upanishads and Brahma Sutras.
So, if we study Bhagavatam, we’re getting to the conclusion. So, this is Vedanta [Laughs]. Vedanta means the conclusion of the Vedas. So, some people come to us and say, Oh, why study Bhagavatam? You should study Vedanta. So, what they actually mean is, you should study Shankaracharya’s commentaries on Brahma Sutras and Upanishads [Laughs] and become a Mayavadi [Laughs]. But, if we want the real meaning of Vedanta, that is, Brahma Sutras and Upanishads, we just study Srimad Bhagavatam.
So, Bhagavatam explains about Brahman. And, of course, that is the topic of Vedanta Sutra. And, that is the topic of the Upanishads. The first verse of the Brahma Sutras is athāto brahma jijñāsā, inquire about Brahman. So, the Brahma Sutras are about Brahman, and they are commentary on the Upanishads, which are about Brahman. So, one should inquire about Brahman.
So, the next question is, what is that Brahman? So, then, the next sutra is janmādyasya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Brahman means that from which everything arises. In other words, Brahman is the supreme cause of everything. Now, of course, if we take the previous verse, what do we have here? It’s talking about the Lord creating everything. So, in other words, it indicates that the Lord creates something. The previous verse of Sukadeva says, the Lord created the intelligence, senses, mind, pranas, etc [Laughs]. And Vedanta Sutra says, Brahman creates everything. So, therefore, that Brahman does activities. And there’s not one, there’s Brahman creating other things [Laughs]. Of course, Shankara’s philosophy is, there is no anything else, there’s only Brahman and nothing else.
So, Brahman does not create anything. But this verse here says, the Lord created senses, intelligence, etc. And the Brahma Sutra says that this Brahman created everything [Laughs]. If everything is illusion, and we say that Supreme Brahman created illusion, what does that mean? He created nothing [Laughs]. And this verse, verse 2 here, says the Lord created senses. It doesn’t say, the Lord created illusory senses [Laughs]. So, ultimately, of course, from all of this, we conclude that this Brahman is not devoid of qualities.
So, therefore, the Vedas can describe that Brahman. And, when the scriptures describe Brahman, they are describing spiritual qualities. So, we see that some sages, not just Shankaracharya, 2000 years ago or whatever, even before that, there were impersonalist sages. So, there’s always been some people who prefer impersonal Brahman, and some people prefer worshipping Vishnu or Krishna. And just as different religions will argue, Christians will say, this is God, and the Muslims will say, no, God is something else [Laughs]à.
And in India some people say Shiva is supreme. Others will say Durga is supreme. So, similarly, the great sages, they don’t argue about the devatas, but they do say Brahman is supreme or Vishnu is supreme. So, that’s the main argument among the people of India, the sages [Laughs]. And, both opinions are based on scripture, Vedanta Sutra, Upanishads [Laughs]. And, as I mentioned yesterday, the solution is that the Supreme is both. He is Brahman, He is Paramatma, He is Bhagavan. So, the Lord is both.
The whole question is, which is better [Laughs]? And, if we objectively look at it, then we understand that Bhagavan is superior. Why? Because the individual jiva can experience greater bliss. And, the whole question in this chapter is, who is that, what is that Brahman? And, then the answer is that Brahman is that Supreme Lord who has form, qualities, and activities [Laughs]. So, that conclusion, and, of course, that debate has been going on and many sages have discussed this in the past. And in verse 3, it’s talking about how the sages in the past, previous, previous sages, are all talking about this. With great faith, they’ve meditated on this topic [Laughs]. And, if we get the truth and we meditate on that, then we get all success.
Okay. Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) We see in Varanasi, Rishikesh that Lord Shiva is devotee, mostly impersonalist like mayavadis. We also call Lord Shiva, he’s the greatest Vaishnava. So, he also leads people to the Krishna bhakti. So, how to, can you more elaborate this, explain more about Shiva tattva, like how it is?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: We have some people who worship Shiva who are mayavadis. But, we have some mayavadis, or impersonalists at least, who worship Vishnu [Laughs]. I believe that in kumbha mela, mainly they’re impersonalist yogis, there’s a whole group of Vishnu [Laughs] worshippers, whole group of Shiva worshippers [Laughs], they’re all impersonalists [Laughs].
Devotee: That’s personalists?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Impersonalists. So, in mayavada philosophy, they say that, okay form is illusion etc but in this material world as a sadhana you can worship forms. So we can worship Suryadev and Ganesh and Shiva and Durga and Vishnu. And through that, we become purified to some degree. And when we’re purified we can concentrate our mind, we give up that worship and just concentrate on Brahman. There are other people who worship Shiva as supreme without impersonalism. So just as we worship Krishna or Vishnu or Rama, they worship Shiva and they say we will attain Shiva [Laughs]. So in the Bhrhad Bhagavatamrta, Sanatana Goswami describes that Gopakumar goes to Shivaloka. This is beyond the material world. So Shiva is there with Parvati and Ganesh is there and so many other devotees are there who attained that by worshiping Shiva. So we can say that not all Shiva worshipers are impersonalists, some may be, some may be worshiping personal Shiva [Laughs]. In ancient times there were philosophers who were supporting worship of Shiva. And in South India there is a whole group called Shaiva siddhanta, whole group dedicated to Shiva worship.
2.) In the last, in the class you explained about bliss of the jiva. That’s why that is like Bhagavan is supreme. So could you please explain more about bliss for the jivas?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: The bliss for the jivas?
Devotee: Yes, yes. So why that is bringing us to the conclusion that Bhagavan is the top?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay. So we describe the jiva as a particle of consciousness. So conscious means that jiva is aware of things around him. He can, he’s also aware of himself. So based on that then he is described as being a knower, jnatha, he knows things by his nature.
Devotee: By nature?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: By his nature, knows things. If he doesn’t do anything, he’s not even conscious [Laughs]. So not only he is a knower, conscious of objects, he’s also an experiencer, he is a bokta or enjoyer. So by his nature the jiva observes things and then he feels things. And some of the feelings are not nice, so these are the things we don’t like [Laughs]. And those which give pleasure to us, this we call bliss [Laughs]. So the jiva by nature has a capacity to experience bliss. Unfortunately the jiva can also choose to get his bliss independently of the Lord. Of course, this is also impossible.
Devotee: What is impossible?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: To get the bliss independent of the Lord. The source of bliss is Supreme Lord [Laughs]. But to experience the bliss in the Supreme Lord, you have to be the servant of the Lord. So some jivas believe I can have that bliss by not being the servant of the Lord independently. So to give jivas who believe that some idea about happiness we end up in the material world with material bodies as described in verse 2, where the Lord creates your senses and your intelligence and your mind and your pranas [Laughs] and your material body, so you can get a false sense of enjoyment. But it’s all based on illusion, we identify with a body, material body interacts with other material things and then that’s called happiness. But the jiva who’s a spiritual conscious particle is completely different from all of that matter, so it’s impossible to get happiness from it. So the jiva can fulfill his desire for happiness by surrendering to the Lord. We know that the Lord has His internal energy, part of the internal energy is hladini shakti. So by performing bhakti, the jiva gets a portion of that hladini shakti.
Devotee: Originally we are not having the hladini shakti?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No. So at the stage of bhava, that hladini shakti begins to manifest and in prema it becomes full. So in this way, the jiva can experience bliss.
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you for your very comprehensive class on these three topics and vedic literatures. I want to, I have a couple of questions and the first one is the relationship between the Brahma Sutras and Srimad Bhagavatam. So my first question is, we see that Baladeva Vidyabhushan, he was in a jaipur court and he had written a commentary on, was it Brahma Sutras or Srimad Bhagavatam. Maharaj that’s my first question. Baladeva Vidyabhushan wrote a commentary that is Govinda bhashya.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. That’s, that’s Brahma Sutra.
Devotee: Brahma Sutra. Okay. So my next question is, so we see that Vyasadeva was morose and Narada Muni inspired him to write Srrimad Bhagavatam. But we didn’t see that form of Srimad Bhagavatam, rather what we see is a natural commentary what we heard from your divine grace and other devotees. So is that the main Srimad Bhagavatam was not recorded or we are getting only from Sukadeva Goswami? What we are reading as Srila Prabhupada’s commentary now. So this Srimad Bhagavatam is mainly from Sukadeva Goswami as a natural commentary or it was written by Vyasadeva mainly? Or it came from based on the commentary on Brahma Sutra. I mean that Sukadeva Goswami, he commented on Brahma Sutra. So what was the basis? I mean Vyasadeva, did he write Srimad Bhagavatam as such or Sukadeva Goswami, he commented on Brahma Sutra and that becomes Srimad Bhagavatam?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So Vyasadeva wrote 18 Puranas. But he was dissatisfied, so Narada Muni came and told him, well, you have to write the conclusion directly. So he revised the Bhagavatam which he had written to show that everyone should worship Krishna. And then he taught that to Sukadeva Goswami. So Sukadeva was an impersonalist but when he heard Bhagavatam, he became personalist [Laughs]. Not only that, he began to relish the Bhagavatam even more than Vyasadeva. And then Sukadeva recited that Bhagavatam which he got from Vyasadeva to Parikshit. So this is the version we have. And that work that Vyasadeva revised, the Bhagavatam to show Krishna is the final conclusion of everything, this is considered to be the natural commentary on Brahma Sutras. So it’s called the natural commentary because Vyasa wrote the Brahma Sutras and Vyasa also wrote Bhagavatam.
4.) Thank you Maharaj. Maharaj my next question is we see that Shankaracharya he actually he had a purpose because at that time sunyavada was prominent and he could not preach something, you know very Krishna conscious thing. So he he took a different path like he took a path that is better than sunyavada that is mayavada. So can we essentially, can we condemn Shankaracharya because Mahaprabhu also said māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa [Cc. Madhya 6.169] but it has a purpose. So can we condemn that as such like that is not good because it also had a purpose like from sunyavada it becomes to mayavada, a little bit upgrade in that situation. So what should be our view on Shankaracharya’s philosophy?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: It is similar to Buddhism. Buddha is incarnation of the Lord. So he’s incarnation of the Lord, he presents sunyavada, void philosophy, rejecting the Vedas. So why would a avatar of the Lord reject the Vedas? Vedas have been corrupted and too much karma-kanda [Laughs]. So to stop the animal sacrifices, avatar of the Lord rejected the Vedas, so it’s a temporary solution [Laughs]. At one point Buddhism spread all over India. So Shankaracharya appeared and he presented a type of Buddhist philosophy but based on Upanishads accepting Vedas. So Shankaracharya is considered to be avatar of Shiva. And as an avatar, he restored the Vedas.
Devotee: Restored?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: He got the Vedas to be accepted again and people rejected Buddhist philosophy [Laughs]. So therefore, his presentation of sunyavada philosophy under the Vedas was temporary remedy [Laughs]. Once the Vedas are accepted, then the Vaishnava Acharyas defeated Shankaracharya and we got real meaning of the Vedas. So, Buddha and Shankaracharya were doing actions for temporary solution [Laughs].
Devotee: Thank you Maharaj. Hare Krishna.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay. Hare Krishna!
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!