Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.13.46 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 8, 2025 |

Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine

jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya

prabhu nityananda

sri-adwaita gadadhara

shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Reading from Srimad Bhagavatham Canto 1 Chapter 13 Verse 46.

ŚB 1.13.46

कालकर्मगुणाधीनो देहोऽयं पाञ्चभौतिक: ।

कथमन्यांस्तु गोपायेत्सर्पग्रस्तो यथा परम् ॥ ४६ ॥

kāla-karma-guṇādhīno

deho ’yaṁ pāñca-bhautikaḥ

katham anyāṁs tu gopāyet

sarpa-grasto yathā param

Translation

This gross material body made of five elements is already under the control of eternal time [kāla], action [karma] and the modes of material nature [guṇa]. How then can it, being already in the jaws of the serpent, protect others?

Purport

The world’s movements for freedom through political, economic, social, and cultural propaganda can do no benefit to anyone, for they are controlled by superior power. A conditioned living being is under the full control of material nature, represented by eternal time and activities under the dictation of different modes of nature. There are three material modes of nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. Unless one is situated in the mode of goodness, one cannot see things as they are. The passionate and the ignorant cannot even see things as they are. Therefore a person who is passionate and ignorant cannot direct his activities on the right path. Only the man in the quality of goodness can help to a certain extent. Most persons are passionate and ignorant, and therefore their plans and projects can hardly do any good to others. Above the modes of nature is eternal time, which is called kāla because it changes the shape of everything in the material world. Even if we are able to do something temporarily beneficial, time will see that the good project is frustrated in course of time. The only thing possible to be done is to get rid of eternal time, kāla, which is compared to kāla-sarpa, or the cobra snake, whose bite is always lethal. No one can be saved from the bite of a cobra. The best remedy for getting out of the clutches of the cobralike kāla or its integrity, the modes of nature, is bhakti-yoga, as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā (14.26). The highest perfectional project of philanthropic activities is to engage everyone in the act of preaching bhakti-yoga all over the world because that alone can save the people from the control of māyā, or the material nature represented by kāla, karma and guṇa, as described above. The Bhagavad-gītā (14.26) confirms this definitely.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:

So this is a description of the helpless state of the Jiva in the material world. So the Jiva is afflicted, and in that case, how can he help other persons? If you are bitten by a snake, how can you help another person? So the nature of the material world is that everybody has a material body. And it is affected by the list of things mentioned here: time, karma, and gunas. And we cannot escape the effects of these things.

Of course, you can choose somewhat gunas. You can choose sattvic food over rajasic or tamasic food. You can choose sattvic association over tamasic association. So we have some limited freedom within all of these controls. But in any case, ultimately, the body dies. And the body is born again. How does that take place? By the law of karma. So the law of karma operates so that you get results for your actions. And because you must get the results, you must take another body. In this way, we go from body to body. All this takes place under time.

So in this way, the Jiva in the body is trapped. And he gets results, which he doesn’t even ask for. Consequently, the Jiva feels suffering. So this is being bitten by the snake of time. In this particular case, Yudhishthira is thinking, “Oh, how can I help Dhrtarastra, now that he has left the house and gone to the forest?” So in the forest, there may be wild animals and snakes. But even if one doesn’t go to the forest, one is living in the house, one is still being bitten by the snake of time. So, everybody is under this control of time, karma and gunas. So, if you could not escape from the bite of the snake of time, how can you save someone else from the bite of time? So therefore, such activities of helping other people in the material world are quite useless.

However, scripture teaches us there is a way of escaping this bite of time. The way we do this is by performing bhakti. By performing bhakti, we go beyond the gunas. We destroy karma. And we go to the spiritual world and we stop time. So though we are constantly bitten by the snake of time in this material world, scriptures give us a way by which we stop this process. So, if we stop this process of affliction by time in the material world, we can also teach this to others. So, in this way, we help people in the material world. If we know the method of stopping this affliction of time, we can teach this to other people. So, if we do these activities, they are quite different from the activities of trying to help a person when we are also afflicted by time. That is why Prabhupada in the purport mentions that we should do preaching work. So, instead of helping people in the material world, when we also cannot get out, we help people get out of the material world. So, that activity is always recommended in the scriptures.

Of course, Vedas means knowledge. So, that knowledge is, knowledge of how to get out of this material world. And the easiest process for doing this is Bhakti Yoga. So this knowledge is presented in the Vedic literature and we can distribute that knowledge to others. So, such activity is not condemned as useless. But all these activities of helping other people when we are bitten by the snake of time, that is useless. It is like drowning people trying to save other drowning people. So, that is a useless attempt. So though the Vedic literature also recommends punyas and charity works etc., ultimately higher than that is the process of Bhakti.

Of course, in doing charity, there are different types of charity work. But the highest charity is to give proper knowledge. And if we give knowledge by which a person can get out of the material world, that is the best charity, the best knowledge. So, in the material world, people don’t like suffering and they are making great attempts to get rid of the suffering. But there will never be a solution. But if we follow the advice of scripture, we get an actual solution. So, ultimately of course, scripture says, do Bhakti Yoga. If we give that knowledge to people, we are giving them, the essence of all scripture. And it will save them becoming confused by all the contradictory statements of scripture. So, if we can give that essence, that is a very rare gift we can give to people.

So, of course, all Vaishnavas have this attitude of giving out this knowledge. However, in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, this process of giving out this knowledge becomes very prominent. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was called ‘Maha vadanya’. Though all forms of the Lord are merciful, this particular term is used for Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So, this indicates that this particular form, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, is even more merciful than the other forms. And the mercy is in the form of giving out proper knowledge.

Of course, that knowledge takes a different form here. That knowledge is, of course, Bhagavad Gita. But Bhagavad Gita also says, don’t preach this knowledge to the envious or the faithless. So, the mercy is limited. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu wants to give out more mercy. So, instead of teaching the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita, he lets everybody hear the name of Krishna. And through simply hearing and then chanting the name of the Lord, people can begin to advance, even if they don’t have faith. So, this is the mercy that Caitanya Mahaprabhu distributes.

Of course, the name is a sound, it’s not a book. But the name is also complete. The name has Krishna’s form, qualities, activities. Whatever is in Bhagavatam, whatever is in the Vedas, is all within the name of Krishna. So, that simple name Krishna is a form of all knowledge. And Lord Caitanya gives that out freely to everybody. So, that is how the devotees give out mercy and charity in Kali Yuga. And in this way, they save everybody from the bite of the snake of time.

Hare Krishna.

Q&A

1) Maharaj we see that normally in the material world maximum people are ignorant mode of ignorance and the scriptures say that first we have come to Sattva guna, that will help us then because sattava guna give us the knowledge and understanding, then slowly you can cross the sattva guna also. But what happens sometimes, we give more stress on sattva guna than crossing the gunas. So, it creates sometime problem also in the conditioned soul.

In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna points out that sattva guna is better than raja guna and tamoguna. In sattva guna, one accepts scriptures. In sattva guna, one controls the senses. In sattva guna, one can appreciate one is not the body, one is Atma. So, in that sense, it is better than tamo guna and raja guna. However, even sattva guna does not give you bhakti or realization of Bhagavan. It may lead to bhakti, but in itself it may also lead to mukti.

But as we know, Lord Chaitanya says, artha dharma, kama, moksha, that is not complete, we need prema. So, within karma yoga and Varnashram, sattva guna is emphasized as the goal. But in bhakti, we don’t emphasize that at all. We get out of sattva guna, get beyond sattva guna, go to the spiritual world, nirguna [Laughs].

So, therefore, the process of bhakti is actually quite different from karma yoga, jñāna yoga or ashtanga yoga. All those other yogas are in the gunas. Bhakti by its nature is beyond the gunas. Why? Because it is Svarupa shakti of Krishna. We cannot say that about karma, jñāna and yoga they come out of tamo guna, raja guna and sattva guna. So, the qualification for Bhakti is not any guna but it is simply, Shraddha, faith. That faith also is beyond the gunas. And it may develop in anyone in any guna. By the process of bhakti, which is nirguna, one surpasses all the gunas including sattva guna.

So if in the performance of bhakti, we become attached to sattva guna and cultivate that as a goal, then we are contaminating our bhakti with sattva. In Kapila’s teachings in Bhagavatam, He talks about bhakti in sattva guna, raja guna and tamo guna. So that sattva guna bhakti does not lead to Vaikuntha or Prema. The best result it can give is Mukti [Laughs]. So therefore, cultivation of sattva guna and cultivation of bhakti are quite different.

2) Maharaj you were saying that name has a form, quality and everything and name can manifest everything also. But see, if one simply chants holy name, can he get all the knowledge also of the scriptures?

If by chanting the name, we realize Krishna, we realize all knowledge [Laughs]. However, to realize Krishna through chanting the name, we have to chant purely. Therefore, we need some knowledge. .

3) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Please accept my humble obeisances. Maharaj in which part of bhakti the biting of kala will be removed for a saddhaka and then we can remove someone from the bite also?

And another thing…how to reconcile the things that as Prabhupada said, even in the initial stage of Krishna consciousness, you can preach. You can help someone to come to the state of Krishna consciousness. You can deliver them from the conditioned life – birth, death, disease, old age? How to reconcile these two questions Maharaj?

About time : As long as, we have a material body, body is subject to time. So in that sense, even a devotee who has attained prema, with a material body is subject to time. But when he gives up that material body and then he develops spiritual body with no material body, then he is beyond time. However, the devotees in the material world, even if they have a material body, they are actually not affected by time or karma. By the end of asakti and into bhava stage, then no more karmas are there. So in that sense, one is beyond time at that stage, even if we have a material body. So the material body of that devotee is not under the law of karma. It is under the will of the Lord. So in that sense, he is beyond time.

The other question was about devotees preaching. So bhakti itself, as I mentioned, is svarupa shakti of Krishna. And when we have faith, then we attract a seed of that bhakti in the heart. So that is not part of the material world. It is beyond the gunas. So whatever we have, in terms of the seed of bhakti and the plant of bhakti, we can give out that much bhakti.

However, though we may have the seed of bhakti, we do have anarthas. We have coverings. Those who are less advanced, have more coverings. Those who are more advanced have less coverings. Less the coverings are, stronger the bhakti is. So, those who are more advanced will have more effect from their preaching.

4) You said, Bhakti Yoga is beyond Karma, Jñāna and Ashtanga Yoga. Is this the reason, in the second verse of the Bhagavatam, Vyasadev says, Karma, Jñāna and Ashtanga Yoga as Kaitava Dharma?

So, Kaitava Dharma means cheating dharma. So, in that sense Karma Yoga, Jñāna Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga are cheating dharmas, because they are advertised as being supreme, but they are not. Prema is the highest fruit on the desire tree of the Vedas and those processes don’t give Prema. So they advertise yes, we give you the best result, but they don’t give Prema. So that is cheating. So Bhagavatam doesn’t recommend these processes. It only recommends the process of Bhakti.

Online Host: Thank you Maharaj. Maharaj we have got a few questions from yesterday’s session. Maharaj please allow to take that.

5) Can you please help to understand about Kula Dharma? What does it mean?

So of course, what we are interested in is Bhagavatam Dharma. Ultimately that means Bhakti Yoga. Ultimately it means pure Bhakti.

Practice of pure Bhakti will lead to Prema. So scriptures of course recommend other dharmas, Karma Yoga, Jñāna Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga. And people may practice these if they are following Vedas. A lot of this practice is hereditary. And a lot of it is Karma Yoga.

But in their family, they will choose certain things in Karma Yoga to do, other things they don’t do. Plus, they may have some original customs that are not in the Vedas at all. Furthermore, whatever they are following from the Vedas may also get distorted. They are doing it because it is in the Vedas, but they don’t quite know why they are doing it. So in time whatever they are doing gets a little bit changed here and there. Ultimately it becomes something else [Laughs]. So it is not always a reliable measure of scriptural Dharma.

6) A person after having taken second initiation but if he is not practicing the qualities as mentioned in Bhagavad Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam, those Brahmanical qualities and Vaishnava qualities are not practiced. How to understand that?

Actually even without initiation, if one simply chants the name of the Lord once purely, the Chandala becomes superior to the Brahman. So that means he surpassed all the gunas. Taking that statement, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur understood that if one is a Vaishnava, one is superior to a Brahmana. And of course, a real Brahmana would be one who understands Brahman. But of course Brahman is – Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan also. So the one who really understands Brahman is the Vaishnava. So the Vaishnava is the Supreme Brahmana. So by Bhakti, one attains that qualification of being ‘Brahmanatha’ in the position of a Brahmana in the highest sense.

So by taking second initiation, we are not trying to imitate a Brahmana. Rather it is signifying that, we have become an official Vaishnava. And thus, we are qualified to worship the deity. If you are a Brahmana but not initiated as a Vaishnava, you cannot worship the deity. So the real Vaishnava is the real Brahmana [Laughs]. And what is the main quality of the Vaishnava? He worships the Supreme Lord. He may have other qualities, they may be there or may not be there, but at least, he is worshipping the Supreme Lord [Laughs].

7) In Brahma’s one Kalpa, Krishna comes only once. So being that case, Narsimha Deva and Krishna Avatara and Rama Avatara came to this world in which Kalpa and in which Manvantara?

Well, Krishna, Rama and Narsimha Dev generally come once in the day of Brahma. Narsimha Dev appeared in Chakshusha Manvantara, that’s the sixth period in the day of Brahma. Ramachandra and Krishna appear in Vaivasvata Manvantara, the seventh Manvantara. There are 71 yuga cycles in each Manvantara. So Rama appears in the 24th cycle of Vaivasvata Manvantara. Krishna appears in the 25th cycle of Vaivasvata Manvantara.

Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam Ki.. Jai ! Srila Prabhupad Ki.. Jai !! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!