Srimad Bhagavatam 10.87.19 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Japan | 9 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 19.
ŚB 10.87.19
स्वकृतविचित्रयोनिषु विशन्निव हेतुतया
तरतमतश्चकास्स्यनलवत् स्वकृतानुकृति: ।
अथ वितथास्वमूष्ववितथं तव धाम समं
विरजधियोऽनुयन्त्यभिविपण्यव एकरसम् ॥ १९ ॥
sva-kṛta-vicitra-yoniṣu viśann iva hetutayā
taratamataś cakāssy anala-vat sva-kṛtānukṛtiḥ
atha vitathāsv amūṣv avitathāṁ tava dhāma samaṁ
viraja-dhiyo ’nuyanty abhivipaṇyava eka-rasam
Synonyms
sva — by Yourself; kṛta — created; vicitra — variegated; yoniṣu — within the species of life; viśan — entering; iva — apparently; hetutayā — as their motivation; taratamataḥ — according to hierarchies; cakāssi — You become visible; anala–vat — like fire; sva — Your own; kṛta — creation; anukṛtiḥ — imitating; atha — therefore; vitathāsu — unreal; amūṣu — among these (various species); avitatham — not unreal; tava — Your; dhāma — manifestation; samam — undifferentiated; viraja — spotless; dhiyaḥ — whose minds; anuyanti — understand; abhivipaṇyavaḥ — those who are free from all material entanglements (paṇa); eka–rasam — unchanging.
Translation
Apparently entering among the variegated species of living beings You have created, You inspire them to act, manifesting Yourself according to their higher and lower positions, just as fire manifests differently according to the shape of what it burns. Therefore those of spotless intelligence, who are altogether free from material attachments, realize Your undifferentiated, unchanging Self to be the permanent reality among all these impermanent life forms.
Purport
Hearing these prayers of the personified Vedas, in which the śrutis describe the Supersoul as entering countless varieties of material bodies, a critic may question how the Supreme can do this without becoming limited. Indeed, proponents of Advaita philosophy see no essential distinction between the Supreme Soul and His creation. In the impersonalists’ conception, the Absolute has inexplicably gotten itself entrapped by illusion and has thus become first a personal God and then the demigods, humans, animals, plants and finally matter. Śaṅkarācārya and his followers take great pains to cite Vedic evidence to support this theory of how illusion is imposed on the Absolute. But speaking for themselves, the Vedas here answer this objection and refuse to lend their authority to Māyāvāda impersonalism.
The process of creation is technically called sṛṣṭi, “sending forth.” The Supreme Lord sends forth His variegated energies, and these partake of His nature while remaining distinct from Him. This fact is expressed in the true Vedic philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda, the inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference of the Supreme Lord and His energies. Thus although each of the multitude of individual souls is a distinct entity, all souls consist of the same spiritual substance as the Supreme. Since they partake of the Supreme Lord’s spiritual essence, the jīvas are unborn and eternal, just as He is. Lord Kṛṣṇa, speaking to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, confirms this:
na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ
na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ
sarve vayam ataḥ param
“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.” (Bg. 2.12) Material creation is a special arrangement for those jīvas who choose to separate themselves from the Supreme Lord’s service, and thus the creation involves producing an imitation world where they can try to be independent.
After creating the many species of material life, the Supreme Lord expands into His own creation as the Supersoul in order to provide the intelligence and inspiration every living being needs for his day-to-day existence. As stated in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.6.2), tat sṛṣṭvā tad evānuprāviśat: “After creating this world, He then entered within it.” The Lord enters the material world, however, without forming any binding connection to it; this the śrutis here declare by the phrase viśann iva, “only seeming to enter.” Taratamataś cakāssi means that the Paramātmā enters the body of every living being, from the great demigod Brahmā down to the insignificant germ, and exhibits differing degrees of His potency according to each soul’s capacity for enlightenment. Analavat sva-kṛtānukṛtiḥ: Just as fire ignited in several objects burns according to the different forms of those objects, so the Supreme Soul, entering the bodies of all living creatures, illuminates the consciousness of each conditioned soul according to his individual capacity.
Even in the midst of material creation and destruction, the Lord of all creatures remains eternally unchanged, as expressed here by the word eka-rasam. In other words, the Lord eternally maintains His personal form of immeasurable, unalloyed spiritual pleasure. The rare living beings who completely (abhitas) disengage themselves from material dealings, or paṇa (thereby becoming abhivipaṇyavaḥ), come to know the Supreme Lord as He is. Every intelligent person should follow the example of these great souls and beg from them the chance to also be engaged in the Supreme Lord’s devotional service.
This prayer is recited by śrutis whose mood is similar to that expressed in the following mantra of the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (6.11):
eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ
sarva-vyāpī sarva-bhūtāntarātmā
karmādhyakṣaḥ sarva-bhūtādhivāsaḥ
sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaś ca
“The one Supreme Lord lives hidden inside all created things. He pervades all matter and sits within the hearts of all living beings. As the indwelling Supersoul, He supervises their material activities. Thus, while having no material qualities Himself, He is the unique witness and giver of consciousness.”
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī submits his own prayer:
sva-nirmiteṣu kāryeṣu
tāratamya-vivarjitam
sarvānusyūta-san-mātraṁ
bhagavantaṁ bhajāmahe
“Let us worship the Supreme Lord, who enters the products of His own creation yet remains aloof from their superior and inferior material gradations. He is the pure, undifferentiated existence pervading everything.”
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
Yeah. So the question was asked, how can this Brahman be expressed by words? So the answer is found when we find that the personified Vedas are describing the Lord [Laughs]. But then the problem comes is, what is the meaning that they express? One problem is that sometimes the Vedas say that only Brahman exists, nothing else. And that means the material world and the Jivas do not exist [Laughs].
Of course, then we have other statements that say the Supreme Lord creates a material world, as is stated here [Laughs]. And even in this verse, he uses the words vitathāsu and avitathāṁ, one is false and one is true [Laughs]. So then there’s another contradiction. Lord has no form, no qualities, no activities. And then He is full of form, qualities, activities [Laughs].
So then we can ask the question, why do the Vedas try to confuse us? And if there is contradiction, it’s meaningless. If you say the Lord has qualities, the Lord has no qualities, then ultimately, what’s the meaning of the Vedas? It’s meaningless. What is the authority of the Vedas? But if we accept the authority of the Vedas, we cannot reject the Vedas, so therefore we have to resolve the contradiction.
So the one method is to accept some statements and reject the other statements [Laughs]. But we cannot reject the statements, that means the Vedas are also speaking something false [Laughs]. So we can say, these contradictory statements are relative statements, not absolute.
So in other words, we don’t take the literal meaning of the words. So then we can take all these statements that talk about real world and qualities of the Lord, this is all metaphorical, not absolute [Laughs]. In other words, it’s all poetic expression, it’s not philosophy [Laughs]. So this is what Shankaracharya does, he takes all the impersonal statements and says, this is the absolute truth, everything else is poetic language [Laughs]. But we can do the opposite also, we can take all the personal statements and say all the impersonal statements are metaphorical [Laughs]. So this is what Madhvacharya does. So in this way, we get, okay, we cannot resolve the question, because we just have [Laughs] two arguments, I’m right and you’re wrong [Laughs].
So Ramanuja has [Not clear] Advaita, so it’s kind of one like Shankaracharya. But his oneness is different from Shankara. So Shankaracharya’s oneness is only Brahman exists, nothing else exists [Laughs]. And that oneness has no form, qualities, activities, or anything. But Ramanujacharya says oneness means the Lord is everything but He has form, qualities, and activities [Laughs]. And material world and Jivas are different from the Lord, but they’re part of the Lord. But of course counter argument is well, you are saying everything is one but you are also saying Jivas and matter are different. So ultimately [Not clear] different [Laughs].
So Ramanuja’s answer is that the Jivas and matter are different from the Lord, but they’re very closely related to the Lord, so therefore it’s all one. So he uses the example of object and its qualities. So the qualities are visesha. So we say the object has qualities. So the object has a certain color and a certain shape and made out of a certain substance, these are the qualities. So the qualities are part of the object, but the qualities are not the object, so they are different in that sense.
So the quality is not the object but nevertheless once the qualities are there, people, you know [Laughs] say, see the object [Laughs]. So they are very intimately related with the object. So but they are not the object. So they’re different and they also connect the same as the object, oneness. So there is difference, but there is oneness, like the oneness of quality to object [Laughs]. So in this way, he accepts oneness, but he also accepts difference. And he also accepts Lord with qualities and form, etc. He accepts difference of the Lord from Jivas and matter. So that’s one way of accepting oneness and difference.
The other way is Lord Caitanya’s method. And there, of course, it’s very similar because He accepts difference, He also accepts oneness. But He puts a little less emphasis on oneness. So we’ve got kind of a balance, both [Laughs], bheda-abheda. Both are there [Laughs], equal [Laughs]. And then the method of describing how there is oneness and difference is a little different. So Ramanuja says like quality of object is oneness with some difference, kind of stuck to it [Laughs].
So Lord Caitanya’s method is to say that we have the oneness and we have the difference, which look contradictory. And they actually are contradictions. However, the Supreme Lord, by His Achintya Shakti, can make it non-contradictory [Laughs]. So He is simultaneously different from the Jiva and same as the Jiva. He is one with matter and different from matter [Laughs]. And all that by Achintya Shakti. So in this way, He does not have to interpret either statements of oneness or difference. He takes them both as real [Laughs].
So in this way we see many endeavors to bring up the meaning of the Vedas [Laughs]. And different Acharyas will give different ways of explaining these [Laughs]. But that taking objectively, we can say is the best, like method is to minimise the interpretation and take the direct statements. And that is what Caitanya does [Laughs].
So in this particular verse, the Srutis are explaining that the Lord creates everything and enters into everything. And He takes the form as all of these different things. And it’s just like fire. Fire will take different form according to what it’s burning. And at the same time, the Lord remains completely separate and unchanging.
So in other words, the Lord is the, what, the basis of everything. And He remains unchanging. So He has a form, He performs activities. He creates the material world. He controls them. But He remains completely unaffected by them [Laughs]. So He’s simultaneously involved in everything and not involved in everything.
This is also expressed in our idea that the Lord is Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. As Brahman, we have jyoti neutral [Laughs]. As Paramatma, He is above the material world. But He also creates the material world. He also enters into the material world [Laughs]. But He remains completely untouched. But then He also has the form of Bhagavan. He’s also completely separate from material world, like Brahman [Laughs]. But unlike Paramatma who’s doing activities in material world, Bhagavan is simply doing activities in spiritual world [Laughs].
So, Lord can be completely impersonal as Brahman, He can be completely personal as Bhagavan, all by His Achintya Shakti [Laughs]. Okay, Hare Krishna.
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj, Jiva has no Achintya Shakti?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No, only the Lord has [Laughs]. Certainly the Jiva has Shakti. He has consciousness, so he has some knowledge Shakti. He has Shakti to act. He has Shakti to experience. But it is rather incomplete. So therefore, the Lord gives him Samvit Shakti and Hladini Shakti, so he can experience spiritual world [Laughs]. So Jivas have Shakti, but he cannot create material worlds [Laughs]. They cannot pervade everything like Paramatma. So, they are limited in their Shakti.
Devotee: It seems like Achintya Shakti is the most powerful, more than the Supreme Lord Himself [Laughs].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, the definition of Shakti is, it’s under the control of the Shaktiman. So, the Shakti does not exist from some object that possesses it [Laughs]. So, probably the same as in the material world, we have energy, but it has to be energy from something [Laughs].
2.) My question is, the person who is called jnani, what kind of scripture do they find out. Is it impersonalism scripture?
So the jnanis use Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra mainly. They also accept Bhagavad Gita and Puranas, but they will interpret it according to Upanishads. And Upanishads they will interpret according to impersonal. Because Upanishads have a lot of talk about Brahman and no form, no qualities. However the Vaishnava Acharyas will say that, okay you take the Upanishads as your authority but even if you take these Upanishads like Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, even though it talks about the impersonal Brahman, it also talks about Brahman with form, qualities and activities , so you cannot say that it is only impersonal. So, because Shankaracharya mainly uses Brahma Sutras and Upanishads as his proof, pramana, to defeat him, then Acharyas like Ramanuja and Madhva mainly use the same texts to defeat him [Laughs]. However, they also give equal importance to Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and Vishnu Purana. So when we come to Lord Caitanya, then already the other Vaishnava Acharyas have done their work with that. So He doesn’t emphasize Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra so much and He just concentrates on Srimad Bhagavatam [Laughs]. In the commentaries of the Acharyas we will see that, they will quote Upanishads and Brahma Sutras. So it shows that there’s agreement between Bhagavatam and Upanishads and Brahma Sutras.
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, please accept my dandavat pranams. Thank you for your very clear lecture regarding these philosophies. So Maharaj, in Caitanya Caritamrta Adi Lila, we see that Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami is mentioning that anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam [CC Ādi 1.4]. So, what no incarnation has offered before, Mahaprabhu has offered that suddha Krishna Bhakti. So, I am just contemplating like Your Divine Grace mentioned about different philosophies starting from Sunyavada, then Mayavada, Visishta advaitavada, Dvaitavada, and then Nimbarka, and finally Achintya bheda-abheda. So, is it Lord’s divine arrangement to give the highest, highest thing, that is Krishna prema, so that we can understand the importance of Krishna prema after all of these doctrines or philosophies? So, that is my first question. And the next question is, if, since this sloka is recited from chapter 1 of Adi Lila, it seems that Mahaprabhu was, Mahaprabhu was very eager to give Krishna prema, but still, very hardly people are accepting it. And many people, they don’t accept Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. What would be the reason for that? Hare Krishna.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So all the different Vaishnava Sampradayas are expressing same truth. So, Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojana is basically the same. However, just to establish Sambandha for instance, Supreme Lord is real, His form, qualities and activities, material world is real, Jiva is real, to accept that, require some argumentation to defeat Shankaracharya. So, therefore, the Acharyas’ endeavor to defeat all of his arguments and establish truth. But they also had to explain, if okay, Lord has form qualities, activities, how is it possible to correlate with the scriptures? So, therefore, they gave these different interpretations, Visishta advaita, Advaita, etc. And in their argumentation, they established the supremacy of Supreme Lord. And it is easier to establish Vishnu, because He is so often mentioned in Upanishads, Vedic literature, etc. So, once we establish okay, Bhagavan is Supreme, Bhagavan is Vishnu, then we can also begin to establish which form of Vishnu is the best [Laughs]. So, therefore, with Nimbarka, and with Vallabhacharya, and with Lord Caitanya, we get Krishna as the ultimate form of Bhagavan. But, not only we get Krishna as Supreme, with Lord Caitanya, we also get Madhurya Rasa as Supreme. So, in the verse of Caitanya Caritamrta, it mentions Ujjvala Rasa. Ujjvala Rasa is Madhurya Rasa. And in Ujjvala Rasa, then, ultimately, Radha Krishna is the [Laughs] ultimate revelation. So, though it is the highest, it’s also the rarest. Which means it’s the most difficult to attain. However, it is available by the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, if people in the present day are not attracted to it, then, even in Lord Caitanya’s time, not everybody [Laughs] got prema, not everybody became a devotee. But He made the prediction that every town and village in the future, name of the Lord will be chanted, Sankirtana would be there. So in the matter of time then it should increase and increase. It should increase, the Sankirtana. More people will appreciate Radha and Krishna.
Devotee 1: Maharaj, this includes not only what we, ISKCON is doing, but there are so many other Maharajas and everybody in India, right? So, through them also, they are also preaching Radha and Krishna. So?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, some of them are [Laughs]. Not all of them [Laughs].
Devotee 1: Through that also, can we say that is also an arrangement?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, we can say it’s a step in the right direction if they’re doing Kirtana. If they’re doing Kirtana with pure Bhakti, of course, that’s better. If they’re doing pure Bhakti for Radha Krishna, then it’s the best [Laughs].
Devotee 1: So, that is also a part of the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Can we say like that?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, we can say it’s a part of it. Because all types of worship are accepted in one sense. So, we accept the Kanishtas and the mixed Bhakti as well. But ultimately, the best is pure Bhakti. So, we accept everything Vedic, but ultimately we accept the best part [Laughs] of the most. We accept that the most [Laughs]. So, we accept everything, but we also [Laughs] have degrees of acceptance [Laughs].
4.) What is the purpose of Vedanta Sutra? Because Vyasadeva, before editing Srimad Bhagavatam, he wrote the Vedanta Sutra. The purpose is that everyone can accept Bhagavan as Lord Vishnu. Is that the purpose?
So, Vedavyasa wrote the Brahma Sutras to explain Upanishads. So, throughout the Vedanta Sutra, he takes certain quotations or whatever, and then he explains them. And, of course, by explaining that, then he is also explaining Sambandha, Abhidheya, and Prayojana. So, then ultimately, yes, Bhagavan is Brahman. However, Brahma Sutras are sutras, so they’re like little brief statements [Laughs]. Like even sutras in Buddhism [Laughs]. But those sutras are long words actually. So, little short statements are made, maybe 3 words, 4 words, 5 words. Maximum, maybe 8 words or 10 words is a sutra [Laughs]. So, you don’t even get a full sentence [Laughs]. So, basically, it’s like an outline, you make a little outline, you put a few words here, a few words here [Laughs], a few words here [Laughs]. Only you can understand what it means [Laughs]. And, of course, many sages are fond of sutras, so we have Patanjali Yoga Sutras, etc. So, if you know everything, you know the conclusion already, it’s very nice, you can understand it clearly, and it’s a good way of just keeping it in your mind [Laughs]. But because it’s all these little short things, everyone can interpret it differently [Laughs]. So, because of that, then, Veda Vyasa thought, well, it’s too difficult to understand, so he wrote Bhagavatam as an expansion of the Brahma Sutras. And thus, when we say Brahman that means Krishna [Laughs].
5.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, I want to clarify one more point. Maharaj, you clearly mentioned that Mahaprabhu established Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead amongst like Narayana and Vishnu and then there are different Rasas and highest is Madhurya Rasa. So, Mahaprabhu established that. But, in Adi Lila, again, we see that Mahaprabhu is saying that, aiśvarya-jñānete saba jagat miśrita aiśvarya-śithila-preme nāhi mora prīta [CC Ādi 3.16]. So, Mahaprabhu is saying, I do not like the devotion in awe and reverence much. Mahaprabhu said that he doesn’t like the devotional activities in awe and reverence.
Devotee 2: Okay. Then?
Devotee 1: So, but the devotees in ISKCON, 99% we are doing the service or the Vaidhi Sadhana Bhakti in awe and reverence.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Okay. So?
Devotee 1: So, shall we [Laughs] continue our service in awe and reverence? Or, how the Raganuga Bhakti will come? Will it come automatically? Or how it will happen?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: [Laughs] So, of course, it is clearly stated in Caitanya Caritamrta, if you want to achieve Krishna in Vrindavan, then you have to do Raganuga Bhakti. If you do Vaidhi Bhakti, you may choose Vishnu or Rama or whatever, then you realize those forms. If you worship Krishna with Vaidhi Bhakti and continue in the bhava and prema, you could realize Krishna in Dwaraka. Or you could attain Krishna in Aishwarya Goloka. So, at a certain point, a devotee has to have that Raganuga mood to attain Krishna in Vrindavan. So, at a certain point, the devotee has to have less dependence on rules and develop that mood of the people of Vrindavan. However, in the beginning, it is also practical to follow a lot of rules in Vaidhi Bhakti. People need discipline. They need rules. However, if you put too much emphasis on the rules, then we end up with going to Aishwarya Goloka or Dwaraka or Vaikuntha [Laughs]. At a certain point, we have to take up the inspiration to follow Raganuga. Hare Krishna.
6.) I’m so sorry to interrupt you. My question is, if people are following ISKCON, then at a certain point, we have to change to Raganuga Bhakti. It means now we are following Vaidhi Bhakti and now we can follow the Raganuga Bhakti? ISKCON rules contain automatically Raganuga Bhakti because we are following Rupa Goswami?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, in ISKCON and, we are actually a mixture because we are following Vaidhi in one sense, especially in Archana or Deity worship. But even then, it is not as strict as scripture gives [Laughs] Vaidhi Bhakti and other Sampradayas to it. So, the transition is not too difficult. So, if you don’t do Deity worship, it is much. And if you are not worshiping deities, of course that is even easier. So you just chant more Hare Krishna and think of Krishna more [Laughs]. So, we can compare our worship with that of, let’s say, Madhvacharya or Ramanuja and we will see it is quite less Vaidhi. But then we can also compare it to Vallabha and their worship because they are also, they are actually doing Raganuga not Vaidhi, they also do deity worship and we can compare our deity worship with theirs and we will see maybe theirs is a little more flexible than ours [Laughs]. But we put more emphasis upon Nama Sankirtana. So, therefore, there transition to Raganuga is much easier.
Devotee 1: Maharaj, but this transition between from this to this should be done under the guidance of the spiritual master? I wake up one morning and say, from today I do Raganuga.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes, it depends on what spiritual master you choose.
Devotee 1: So, you have to refer to some authority. It’s not just you wake up in the morning and you switch.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. Of course.
Devotee 1: [Not audible].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Take shelter of Sivarama Swami.
Devotees: [Laugh].
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: [Laughs].
Devotee 2: Sivarama Swami. Take shelter, he is Raganuga very much [Laughs]?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Kind of [Laughs].
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!