Srimad Bhagavatam 10.87.17 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | 7 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 17.
ŚB 10.87.17
dṛtaya iva śvasanty asu-bhṛto yadi te ’nuvidhā
mahad-aham-ādayo ’ṇḍam asṛjan yad-anugrahataḥ
puruṣa-vidho ’nvayo ’tra caramo ’nna-mayādiṣu yaḥ
sad-asataḥ paraṁ tvam atha yad eṣv avaśeṣam ṛtam
Synonyms
dṛtayaḥ — bellows; iva — as if; śvasanti — they breathe; asu-bhṛtaḥ — alive; yadi — if; te — Your; anuvidhāḥ — faithful followers; mahat — the total material energy; aham — false ego; ādayaḥ — and the other elements of creation; aṇḍam — the universal egg; asṛjan — produced; yat — whose; anugrahataḥ — by the mercy; puruṣa — of the living entity; vidhaḥ — according to the particular forms; anvayaḥ — whose entrance; atra — among these; caramaḥ — the ultimate; anna-maya-ādiṣu — among the manifestations known as anna-maya and so on; yaḥ — who; sat-asataḥ — from gross and subtle matter; param — distinct; tvam — You; atha — and furthermore; yat — which; eṣu — among these; avaśeṣam — underlying; ṛtam — the reality.
Translation
Only if they become Your faithful followers are those who breathe actually alive, otherwise their breathing is like that of a bellows. It is by Your mercy alone that the elements, beginning with the mahat-tattva and false ego, created the egg of this universe. Among the manifestations known as anna-maya and so forth, You are the ultimate one, entering within the material coverings along with the living entity and assuming the same forms as those he takes. Distinct from the gross and subtle material manifestations, You are the reality underlying them all.
Purport
Life is without purpose for one who remains ignorant of his most well-wishing benefactor and thus fails to worship Him. Such a person’s breathing is no better than the breathing of a blacksmith’s bellows. The gift of human life is a fortunate opportunity for the conditioned soul, but by turning away from his Lord, the living being commits spiritual suicide.
In the words of Śrī Īśopaniṣad (3):
asuryā nāma te lokā
andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ
tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti
ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ
“The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.” Asuryāḥ means “to be obtained by demons,” and demons are persons who have no devotion for the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. This definition is stated in the Agni Purāṇa:
dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin
daiva āsura eva ca
viṣṇu-bhakti-paro daiva
āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ
“There are two kinds of created beings in this world, godly and demoniac. Those dedicated to the devotional service of Lord Viṣṇu are godly, and those opposed to such service are demoniac.”
Similarly, the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.4.15) states, na ced avedīn mahatī vinaṣṭiḥ … ye tad vidur amṛtās te bhavanty athetare duḥkham evopayanti: “If one does not come to know the Supreme, he must suffer utter destruction.… Those who realize the Supreme become immortal, but others inevitably suffer.” A person must revive his Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be relieved of the suffering caused by ignorance, but the process by which this is done need not be difficult, as Lord Kṛṣṇa assures us in Bhagavad-gītā (9.34):
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ
“Engage your mind in always thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” Despite disqualifications and weaknesses, one need only willingly become anuvidha, the Supreme Lord’s trusting and trustworthy servant. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.2.13) proclaims:
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān
taṁ pīṭha-gaṁ ye ’nupaśyanti dhīrās
teṣāṁ śāntiḥ śāśvatī netareṣām
“Among all the eternal, conscious beings, there is one who supplies the needs of everyone else. The wise souls who worship Him in His abode attain everlasting peace. Others cannot.”
What is alive, and what is dead? The bodies and minds of materialistic nondevotees seem to display the symptoms of life, but this appearance is deceptive. Actually, the conditioned soul has little control over his own bodily existence. Against his will, he has to excrete waste, get sick from time to time, and eventually age and die. And in his mind he unwillingly suffers anger, hankering and lamentation. Lord Kṛṣṇa describes this situation as yantrārūḍhāni māyayā (Bg. 18.61), riding helplessly as a passenger in a mechanical vehicle. The soul undoubtedly is alive, and irrevocably so, but in his ignorance that inner life is covered and forgotten. In its place, the automation of the external mind and body carries out the dictates of the modes of nature, which force one to act in a way altogether irrelevant to the dormant needs of the soul. Calling out to the forgetful prisoners of illusion, the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (2.5) urges:
śṛṇvantu viśve amṛtasya putrā
ā ye dhāmāni divyāni tasthuḥ
“All you sons of immortality, hear, you who once resided in the divine kingdom!”
So, on the one hand, what is normally viewed as living — the material body — is in actuality a dead machine being manipulated by the modes of nature. And on the other hand, what the materialist condescendingly views as inert matter meant for exploitation is in its unknown essence connected with a living intelligence vastly more potent than his own. The Vedic civilization recognizes the intelligence behind nature as belonging to demigods who preside over the various elements, and ultimately to the Supreme Lord Himself. Matter, after all, cannot act coherently without the impulse and guidance of a living force. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
“This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.”
In the beginning of creation, Lord Mahā-Viṣṇu glanced at the dormant material nature, prakṛti. Thus awakened, the subtle prakṛti began to evolve into more concrete forms: first the mahat; then false ego in conjunction with each of prakṛti’s three modes; and gradually the various material elements, including intelligence, mind, the senses and the five physical elements with their presiding demigods. Even after becoming separately manifested, however, the deities responsible for the various elements could not work together to produce the perceptible world until Lord Viṣṇu, by His special mercy, once more intervened. This is described in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.5.38-39):
ete devāḥ kalā viṣṇoḥ
kāla-māyāṁśa-liṅginaḥ
nānātvāt sva-kriyānīśāḥ
procuḥ prāñjalayo vibhum
devā ūcuḥ
nanāma te deva padāravindaṁ
prapanna-tāpopaśamātapatram
yan-mūla-ketā yatayo ’ñjasoru-
saṁsāra-duḥkhaṁ bahir utkṣipanti
“The controlling deities of these physical elements are empowered expansions of Lord Viṣṇu. They are embodied by eternal time under the external energy, and they are His parts and parcels. Because they were entrusted with different functions of universal duties and were unable to perform them, they offered fascinating prayers to the Lord. The demigods said, ‘O Lord, Your lotus feet are like an umbrella for the surrendered souls, protecting them from all the miseries of material existence. All the sages under that shelter throw off all material miseries. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet.’”
Hearing the prayers of the assembled demigods of the elements, the Supreme Lord then showed His favor (Bhāg. 3.6.1-3):
iti tāsāṁ sva-śaktīnāṁ
satīnām asametya saḥ
prasupta-loka-tantrāṇāṁ
niśāmya gatim īśvaraḥ
kāla-saṁjñāṁ tadā devīṁ
bibhrac chaktim urukramaḥ
trayoviṁśati tattvānāṁ
gaṇaṁ yugapad āviśat
so ’nupraviṣṭo bhagavāṁś
ceṣṭā-rūpeṇa taṁ gaṇam
bhinnaṁ saṁyojayām āsa
suptaṁ karma prabodhayan
“The Lord thus heard about the suspension of the progressive creative functions of the universe due to the noncombination of His potencies, such as the mahat-tattva. The Supreme Powerful Lord then simultaneously entered into the twenty-three elements with the goddess Kālī, His external energy, who alone amalgamates all the different elements. Thus when the Personality of Godhead entered into the elements by His energy, all the living entities were enlivened into different activities, just as one is engaged in his work after awakening from sleep.”
In Kṛṣṇa, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the five levels of ego covering the self: “Within the body there are five different departments of existence, known as anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya, vijñāna-maya, and at last ānanda-maya. [These are enumerated in the Brahmānanda-vallī of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad.] In the beginning of life, every living entity is food conscious. A child or an animal is satisfied only by getting nice food. This stage of consciousness, in which the goal is to eat sumptuously, is called anna-maya. Anna means ‘food.’ After this one lives in the consciousness of being alive. If one can continue his life without being attacked or destroyed, one thinks himself happy. This stage is called prāṇa-maya, or consciousness of one’s existence. After this stage, when one is situated on the mental platform, that consciousness is called mano-maya. The material civilization is primarily situated in these three stages — annamaya, prāṇa-maya and mano-maya. The first concern of civilized persons is economic development, the next concern is defense against being annihilated, and the next consciousness is mental speculation, the philosophical approach to the values of life.
“If by the evolutionary process of philosophical life one happens to reach the platform of intellectual life and understands that he is not this material body but is a spirit soul, he is situated in the vijñāna-maya stage. Then, by evolution of spiritual life, he comes to understand the Supreme Lord, or the Supreme Soul. When one develops his relationship with Him and executes devotional service, that stage of life is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the ānanda-maya stage. Ānanda-maya is the blissful life of knowledge and eternity. As it is said in the Vedānta-sūtra, ānanda-mayo ’bhyāsāt. The Supreme Brahman and the subordinate Brahman, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities, are both joyful by nature. As long as the living entities are situated in the lower four stages of life — anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya and vijñāna-maya — they are considered to be in the material condition of life, but as soon as one reaches the stage of ānanda-maya, he becomes a liberated soul. This ānanda-maya stage is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā as the brahma-bhūta stage. There it is said that in the brahma-bhūta stage of life there is no anxiety and no hankering. This stage begins when one becomes equally disposed toward all living entities, and it then expands to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in which one hankers to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This hankering for advancement in devotional service is not the same as hankering for sense gratification in material existence. In other words, hankering remains in spiritual life, but it becomes purified. When our senses are purified, they become freed from all material stages, namely anna-maya, prāṇa-maya, mano-maya and vijñāna-maya, and they become situated in the highest stage — ānanda-maya, or blissful life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
“The Māyāvādī philosophers consider ānanda-maya to be the state of being merged in the Supreme. To them, ānanda-maya means that the Supersoul and the individual soul become one. But the real fact is that oneness does not mean merging into the Supreme and losing one’s own individual existence. Merging into the spiritual existence is the living entity’s realization of qualitative oneness with the Supreme Lord in His aspects of eternity and knowledge. But the actual ānanda-maya (blissful) stage is attained when one is engaged in devotional service. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. The brahma-bhūta ānanda-maya stage is complete only when there is the exchange of love between the Supreme and the subordinate living entities. Unless one comes to this ānanda-maya stage of life, his breathing is like the breathing of a bellows in a blacksmith’s shop, his duration of life is like that of a tree, and he is no better than the lower animals like the camels, hogs and dogs.”
In accompanying the jīva within the coverings of Māyā, the Paramātmā is not bound by karmic entanglement as the jīva is. Rather, the Supreme Soul’s connection with these coverings is like the apparent connection between the moon and some tree branches it is seen through. The Supersoul is sad-asataḥ param, always transcendental to the subtle and gross manifestations of anna-maya and so on, although He enters among them as the sanctioning witness of all activities. As their final cause, the Supersoul is in one sense identical with the manifest products of creation, but in His original identity (svarūpa) He remains distinct. In this second sense He is the ānanda-maya alone, the last of the five kośas. Therefore the śrutis address Him here as avaśeṣam, the residual essence. This is also expressed in the text of the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.7): raso vai saḥ. Within His personal essence, the Supreme Lord enjoys rasa, the reciprocation of the mellows of devotional service, and integral to the play of rasas is the participation of realized jīvas. Raso vai saḥ rasam hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati: “He is the embodiment of rasa, and the jīva who realizes this rasa becomes fully ecstatic.” Or in the words of the personified Vedas praying in this verse, the Supersoul is ṛtam, which Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets as here meaning “realized by great sages.”
In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the last word of all authoritative scripture (sarvāntima-śruti) is contained in the aphorism raso vai saḥ, which is demonstrably a reference to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the infinitely expanding embodiment of divine pleasure (sarva-bṛhattamānanda). The Gopāla-tāpanī śruti (Uttara 96) states, yo ’sau jāgrat-svapna-suṣuptim atītya turyātīto gopālaḥ: “Lord Kṛṣṇa, the cowherd, transcends not only the material consciousness of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep, but also the fourth realm of pure, spiritual awareness.” The ānanda-maya Supersoul is simply an aspect of the primeval Lord Govinda, as declared by Him, viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat: “With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.” (Bg. 10.42)
The śrutis thus tactfully assert that even among the various personal forms of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa is supreme. Understanding this, Nārada Muni will later offer obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa in the words namas tasmai bhagavate kṛṣṇāyāmala-kīrtaye (text 46), even though He is standing in front of Lord Nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī concludes his comments on this verse by praying,
nara-vapuḥ pratipādya yadi tvayi
śravaṇa-varṇana-saṁsmaraṇādibhiḥ
nara-hare na bhajanti nṛṇām idaṁ
dṛti-vad ucchvasitaṁ viphalaṁ tataḥ
“O Lord Narahari, persons who have attained this human form live uselessly, merely breathing like bellows, if they fail to worship You by hearing about You, chanting Your glories, remembering You and performing the other devotional practices.”
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So these are prayers by the personified Vedas, which actually means the Upanishads. But, of course, this is not Vedic language, this is Bhagavatam language here [Laughs]. So, the Upanishads are praising the Supreme Lord when He’s waking up [Laughs]. And the prayers are supposed to answer this question, can the Vedas express the Supreme, who has no material form [Laughs]? Of course, not only the Vedas, can any literature express the Supreme Lord, but particularly the Vedas are important because they are the foundation of Vedic life. So, because the Vedas are speaking and they’re answering questions about the Vedas, they are referring to the Vedas in these verses.
So, in this verse, of course, one of the previous verses is talking about Brahman or Brhad. So, in this verse, there’s another Vedic reference. Brhad, which stands for Brahman [Laughs]. And in this verse, the third line particularly refers to Taittiriya Upanishad. And particularly it’s about the kosha starting with the annamaya kosha So, that section has become quite famous. And here, there’s a reference, anna-mayādiṣu, it’s talking about. So, he’s referring to all of the different koshas or coverings.
So, in that Upanishad, it describes we have the food covering, we have the prana covering, we have the mind covering, we have intelligence covering, and then finally we get to the bliss covering, anandamaya kosha [Laughs]. So, they’re discovering, let’s say, gross and then more and more subtle coverings on the jiva. We can think of the gross body, and then we have a subtle covering, which looks like this, but it’s more subtle. It looks like our body with hands and feet. So, that’s your pranamaya kosha.
So, then above the pranas, which is actually a type of air, then we get mind, intelligence, and then we come to the, the bliss covering [Laughs]. So, all those coverings are there, but ultimately the basis is Supreme Lord. So, in other words, we have a material body, and we have all the coverings, etc., whatever, and ultimately behind that is the Supreme Lord. So, the basis of everything in our body, the basis of everything in the universe is Supreme Lord. And in the previous line, we have talked about mahat-tattva ahankara, and whole universe, and the basis again is Supreme Lord. It’s created by the Lord.
So, this material world has lots of variety. First we get all the elements, mahat-tattva, ahankara, earth and fire, water, etc. They form into universes. So, universe is called andam or egg. That’s because it has a shell around it, like an egg shell. And the shell is made out of the elements. And within that shell, Brahma creates planets. He creates 14 levels of planets. From lowest tamoguna to highest sattvaguna. So, we get all varieties of places within this universe. And then Brahma creates bodies for the jivas. And the bodies are also made out of material elements. So, in that context, we have a description of the different koshas of the body. So, we get varieties of bodies made out of these different coverings.
So, looking at the world and looking at the places and looking at the bodies, we can become completely contented. So, first we try to enjoy everything. But then we may think, well, who created all this [Laughs]? And then if we go to the Vedic literature, then we will get some answers. So, we get some unclear answers [Laughs]. So, the Upanishads say, okay, the source of everything is Brahman. Brahman means that which is big, it spreads everywhere, it’s all-pervading. And it’s completely separate from this material world.
So, it’s separate from the gross elements, separate from the subtle elements. So, that is mentioned in the last line here sad-asataḥ paraṁ. But as I said this answer in the Upanishad is a little unclear. So unclarity is this. Okay, we have this Supreme cause or whatever. So one unclarity is, okay, this is the cause. Does it have form or no form? And if the Brahman is the ultimate reality, is this material world real or not? Can we have a material world which is partially real, or is it [Not clear] unreal, or is it really real [Laughs]?
So, these questions arise because the Vedas, or the Upanishads, say both things. Brahman has form, Brahman has no form. And the world is said to be real but then it’s said to be illusion [Laughs]. So, then, what is the real truth [Laughs]? So, if the Brahman has no form and qualities, and nothing else exists, so, how can anything describe it? Because everything is an illusion, so you can’t have an illusion describing the real [Laughs]. And can you describe something that has no form and qualities [Laughs]?
So, therefore, these prayers of the personified Vedas are answering these questions. And of course, they are a refutation of impersonalism [Laughs]. So, though, many people will think Upanishads are presenting impersonalism, here the personified Vedas are presenting personalism. Of course, the answer to the Parikshit’s question is also given by the very circumstance of the personified Vedas offering their prayers [Laughs]. So Parikshit asked this question but the answer is actually given simply by the circumstances.
So, one, it’s the Upanishads speaking and praising the Lord [Laughs]. The Lord is sleeping, and they’re waking Him up, so obviously there’s a person there [Laughs]. So, the Vedas are praising the Lord. That means they’re using words to glorify the Lord. And the Lord has form and qualities, and activities. So in all these different verses, then ultimately, the answer is that the Supreme Lord has form, qualities and activities [Laughs]. Of course, when we say, okay, Lord has form, qualities and activities, etc., then the question comes, well, that’s true, how does He relate to a material world which is completely inert and we can say contaminated with gunas [Laughs].
Devotee: I’m sorry. Supreme Lord is contaminated?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: How does He relate to material world and not become contaminated [Laughs]? So, in the second line it says that the Supreme Lord creates this material world, this universe [Laughs], which is inert and contaminated [Laughs]. So, of course, if He physically contacts it, His hands get dirty, just like a potter’s hands get dirty with all the clay [Laughs]. So, to answer that, we say the Lord is completely separate, Sada, Sata, Param. He’s completely separate from these elements.
So, to answer that, we say the Lord is completely separate, Sada, Sata, Param. He’s completely separate from these elements. And thus we explain, the Lord doesn’t touch anything. He glances at a distance and then prakrti begins to manifest into universes [Laughs]. However, even there, Lord has no physical contact with the world, we can say, but He thinks about creating a material world which is full of gunas and detestable and sinful, etc., so His mind becomes contaminated [Laughs].
So, this of course, is a we can say a problem [Laughs] which philosophy and religion has to answer. So, Shankaracharya gives a simple answer. Material world actually doesn’t exist, so those contamination, that’s not real [Laughs]. Buddhism gives a nice answer, there’s no creator, there’s nothing, so it’s all illusion, so there’s no contamination of anything [Laughs].
So if we accept a real world, then of course we have to start explaining what’s the Lord’s relationship with it [Laughs]. So, using scripture, then we have various Acharyas giving various explanations. And thus we have Ramanuja’s philosophy, we have Madhvacharya’s philosophy, we have Nimbarka’s philosophy, and we have Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s philosophy. And, of course, of these, Lord Caitanya has given a very nice explanation. So, the Lord is completely separate from everything. But the Lord has Shaktis. So, through the Shaktis, everything is accomplished.
So this allows for separation of the Lord from the material world [Laughs]. However, the Shakti is related to the Lord. So we say the Lord is Shaktiman, that means He possesses and He controls that Shakti. So without the Lord’s existence, the Shakti does not exist. So in this last line, it says here that the Lord is avaśeṣam. The Lord ultimately is the only thing that remains, He’s the basis of everything. And because He is there, His Shaktis exist, and then the world exists.
In this verse, the Vedas or Upanishads are addressing the Lord as tvam, You. So, obviously, they are addressing Him as a person [Laughs]. So, we should recognize this Supreme Lord. By realizing the Lord, then we can actually attain the Supreme goal. And if we don’t do this, then we are lifeless [Laughs]. So example is given of the bellows, you know what bellows are? They’re these things you press together, air comes out, and then it heats up the fire so you can melt the metal. The blacksmith uses it [Laughs]. So, the human being that he breathes, he’s just like a bellows if he doesn’t recognize the Lord.
Okay, Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) My question is how those realization of annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, etc. And Bahiranga Shakti, Antaranga Shakti, and Hladini Shakti, Samvit Shakti, Sandhini Shakti. Because here in the purport, Prabhupada explains, like anandamaya kosha is a material realization of the Lord. It means the Lord expresses his energy as material, means Bahiranga Shakti. Or like anandamaya is like a kind of bliss, so that is related with Antaranga Shakti and that comes from Hladini Shakti. I want to know the relation with those Shaktis, the realization.
So, these are different koshas, annamaya to vijnanamaya are all Bahiranga Shakti. So, they constitute the gross and subtle bodies. Of course, one can experience material happiness with any of these koshas. You can get gross material enjoyment with annnamaya kosha. You can get a little bit more subtle enjoyment with pranamaya and manomaya koshas [Laughs]. We can think of these koshas as different levels of consciousness [Laughs]. From the grossest to more subtle. And as your consciousness gets more subtle, your enjoyment also becomes more subtle. We can also associate this with the Chakras of the body. So, you have your Muladhara Chakra and your Swadhisthana Chakra and Manipura Chakra. And as you progress with the Chakras, there is like a little more refined consciousness. So, if your consciousness is stuck in the Muladhara Chakra, then your basic happiness is survival. So, you are a food conscious [Laughs], annamaya kosha [Laughs]. So, if you just get the essentials and survive, that is your happiness [Laughs]. And if our consciousness progresses upwards through the Chakras, then gradually we get happiness from our senses. Here are the senses [Laughs]. And then we go a little further, we get happiness from emotional things like loving relationships, etc. So, then the fifth kosha is the anandamaya kosha. So, our Acharyas usually say this is not material happiness, this is spiritual happiness. So, we go from material happiness, and then more and more subtle material happiness, and then we get happiness from atma and Supreme Lord. So, all these lower koshas, annamaya, etc. are parts of Bahiranga Shakti, external energy. And the happiness that we get from them is all maya. So, when we get to the fifth anandamaya kosha, that is spiritual bliss. That’s the real bliss, and it involves Hladini Shakti. It must also include the Samvit Shakti. This is spiritual awareness. We have realized the Lord. And we realize the Lord, we serve the Lord, we have Rasa, and then we get the bliss. So, this is actually, the Bhakti Shakti is [Laughs] made up of Hladini and Samvit Shaktis. So, this is internal Shakti of the Lord.
2.) Where is Brahmananda situated? Is it situated in the anandamaya kosha?
In the description of these koshas, the koshas are described as purushas, persons. So, they have heads and arms and feet, etc. So, in there, Brahman is also mentioned. So, in there, Brahmananda is also mentioned in the anandamaya kosha, we have Brahman at the bottom as the basis [Laughs]. It’s actually called the pucha or the tail. Brahman is the tail [Laughs]. Tail of the purusha [Laughs]. So, it is part of the anandamaya person, purusha, but it’s the lowest part [Laughs]. Now the tail of the dog is the last part of the dog and the best part is the head [Laughs].
3.) Hare Krishna. Maharaj, thank you for the wonderful class. I have a couple of questions, actually. So, my first question is, Your Divine Grace mentioned about a different group of transcendentalists. And if you also see different sloka, for example, vadanti tat tattva-vidas [ŚB 1.2.11] and then the last word is advayam. So, first line mentioned that Krishna is advayam, but the second line, it is mentioned brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate [ŚB 1.2.11] [Laughs]. So [Laughs] my question is, is it the different kind of sastra that essentially made different groups of transcendentalists? Because it’s literally sometimes confusing. First line is saying Krishna is one and then next line is saying Krishna has three different features. And then Brahman, Paramatma, Bhagavan is coming. So, is that the sastra is the reason for these different divisions in the transcendentalists? So, that is my first question. And then we see that the different philosophies in our recent past, for example, it started from sunyavada. May be that is 1700 years back from Buddha. And then comes Mayavada and then Dvaitavada and then Visishta Dvaitavada. And then Mahaprabhu gave the Achintya bhedabheda tattva. But what happened before that, sunyavada and Buddhist philosophy? I mean, how, we have only the history of 1700 years, around 800 B.E. And what happened before that? [Laughs] That is my second question. And my final question is in first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, we see that Yudhishthira Maharaj, he was a pure devotee of Lord. But he went to the north and he was doing Astanga Yoga. Even though he is a pure devotee of Lord, why Astanga Yoga was prominent to him? And what was his destination? Because Your Divine Grace mentioned before, that the Brahmavadi and the Paramatmavadi, they essentially merge into the Supreme Brahman. But I am interested like what was the destination of Yudhishthira Maharaj? Because he did Astanga Yoga and in Mahabharata it is mentioned that he went to Swargaloka. But in Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada writes in his commentary that he went to Vaikunthaloka. So what is the destination for Astanga Yogi? That is my question, particularly for Yudhishthira Maharaj. Hare Krishna.
Some scriptures do describe this Brahman as personal and impersonal. And then some will say, well, the impersonal is superior, other we can interpret, it doesn’t mean too much and then others can say, oh, it’s first no, as impersonalists some, just a metaphorical or whatever. And based on their conclusion, they will perceive impersonal Brahman or personal Brahman.
Devotee: Conclusion?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Based on their conclusion, then they will go for impersonal Brahman or personal Brahman. But as Bhagavatam explains, the Lord is both. He is not one or the other. He’s both [Laughs] And if you follow Jnana, you can realize Brahman. If you follow Bhakti, you realize Bhagavan. Nevertheless, we can say that realization of Bhagavan is complete realization. Like realizing sunlight and Surya-deva within the sun. And if we realize Bhagavan, we develop rasa, we get bliss, not with Brahman. Second question, Buddhism arose as a reaction to followers of the Vedas.
Devotee: They reacted?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes, they didn’t like Karmakanda, so they said, okay, let’s reject the Vedas. So, before Buddhism, we have people following the Vedas, some follow Karmakanda, some Jnanakanda, some Bhakti, etc. So all paths were there previously. And then, after Shankaracharya, then again Bhakti was established. Third question, Yudhisthira is actually Nitya Siddha. So, he doesn’t have to practice anything, even Bhakti, because he’s already perfect [Laughs]. And he doesn’t have to go to Swargaloka or anything. So, if all those stories are there, whatever, these are just, we can say, actions that he does to show other people, but they’re actually not essential to his Bhakti. Just as Yudhisthira performed many horse sacrifices to absolve himself of the sin of killing so many people in battle of Kurukshetra. But he has no sin [Laughs].
4.) Maharaj, in the purport, there is mention of Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. “All you sons of immortality, hear, you who once resided in the divine kingdom!” So, what is this, like, it was like you were in spiritual world, then came to material world, something like that?
There’s something on page, oh, I don’t know what page it is there [Laughs]. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. About [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 2.5], about living in the hope in the spiritual world. You see that? Anyway, we have to see the context of that. I don’t know, I’ll look it up in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad.
Okay, Hare Krishna!
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!