Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.13.55 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | April 16, 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 55.

ŚB 1.13.55

विज्ञानात्मनि संयोज्य क्षेत्रज्ञे प्रविलाप्य तम् ।

ब्रह्मण्यात्मानमाधारे घटाम्बरमिवाम्बरे ॥ ५५ ॥

vijñānātmani saṁyojya

kṣetrajñe pravilāpya tam

brahmaṇy ātmānam ādhāre

ghaṭāmbaram ivāmbare

Synonyms

vijñāna — purified identity; ātmani — in intelligence; saṁyojya — perfectly fixing; kṣetra-jñe — in the matter of the living being; pravilāpya — merging; tam — him; brahmaṇi — in the Supreme; ātmānam — pure living being; ādhāre — in the reservoir; ghaṭa-ambaram — sky within the block; iva — like; ambare — in the supreme sky.

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra will have to amalgamate his pure identity with intelligence and then merge into the Supreme Being with knowledge of his qualitative oneness, as a living entity, with the Supreme Brahman. Being freed from the blocked sky, he will have to rise to the spiritual sky.

Purport

The living being, by his desiring to lord it over the material world and declining to cooperate with the Supreme Lord, contacts the sum total of the material world, namely the mahat-tattva, and from the mahat-tattva his false identity with the material world, intelligence, mind and senses is developed. This covers his pure spiritual identity. By the yogic process, when his pure identity is realized in self-realization, one has to revert to the original position by amalgamating the five gross elements and the subtle elements, mind and intelligence, into the mahat-tattva again. Thus getting freed from the clutches of the mahat-tattva, he has to merge in the existence of the Supersoul. In other words, he has to realize that qualitatively he is nondifferent from the Supersoul, and thus he transcends the material sky by his pure identical intelligence and thus becomes engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. This is the highest perfectional development of spiritual identity, which was attained by Dhṛtarāṣṭra by the grace of Vidura and the Lord. The Lord’s mercy was bestowed upon him by his personal contact with Vidura, and when he was actually practicing the instructions of Vidura, the Lord helped him to attain the highest perfectional stage. A pure devotee of the Lord does not live on any planet of the material sky, nor does he feel any contact with material elements. His so-called material body does not exist, being surcharged with the spiritual current of the Lord’s identical interest, and thus he is permanently freed from all contaminations of the sum total of the mahat-tattva. He is always in the spiritual sky, which he attains by being transcendental to the sevenfold material coverings by the effect of his devotional service. The conditioned souls are within the coverings, whereas the liberated soul is far beyond the cover.

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:

So this continues the description of Dhrtarashtra’s sadhana involving dissolving his material body. So we see that he was practicing ashtanga Yoga. And in that process, it’s described that you merge the grosser elements into the subtler elements. And finally you merge everything into prakriti. And then what is left is atma. And then he merges atma into Brahman.

An example in this verse is given that we have the sky in a pot. So we break the pot, the sky merges with the sky. The pot acts as a separator to take part of the sky and separate, if we break the pot, then sky merges with the sky again. So the pot is compared to the upadhis or coverings on the Jiva. These coverings are for the gross body and the subtle body. And these create a limitation on the Jiva. So gradually we start merging the gross elements into the subtle elements, subtle elements into prakriti, and we get rid of the gross and subtle bodies. Then the atma is free from its limitations.

So the impersonalists take this example to show how the Jiva actually gets rid of illusion and merges in Brahman. Just as sky in the pot and sky outside the pot is the same, Jiva, limited by its bodies, break the upadhis, etc.., then Jiva merges with Brahman. Of course, in this example, the pot itself is, or the mayavadi, the pot also is illusory, the body is illusory. And so the Jiva, thinking himself separate from Brahman, is also illusory. Get rid of the illusion by knowledge, and then Jiva becomes Brahman. So this is, of course, the example as originally found, Of course, this is found in other places in Bhagavatam and it’s also found in the Upanishads. And Shankaracharya uses this example to show how actually Jiva is illusory and doesn’t exist.

So though that is one interpretation, the Vaishnavas can also use the same example in a different way. Certainly the Jiva is covered by upadhis. The gross and subtle bodies create ignorance for the Jiva. However, we don’t say that the gross and subtle bodies are don’t exist at all, they exist, but they are matter. And we can dissolve the matter by this process of merging the gross elements into subtle elements, subtle elements into prakriti, prakriti is still matter, it doesn’t disappear. So therefore, the so-called pot is not illusory, it’s actually real.

And matter may transform, but it does not disappear, prakriti is eternal. So, the Jiva, when he get rid of the upadhis, Jiva is free. So, therefore, not subject to the limitations and ignorance of a material body. So, he can merge in Brahman, but that doesn’t mean that he disappears. So, the rivers merge in the ocean. That doesn’t mean that the molecules of water disappeared when they got in the ocean, they’re still there. So, all the Jivas who get liberated, they merge in Brahman. Looks like they disappear, but they don’t disappear. The example is that we have a green bird that flies into a green tree. It looks like it’s disappeared, it’s there. It’s in the tree, but it’s green. And the tree is green, so it looks like it’s disappeared. However, the Jiva, even though he still remains a Jiva, is free of his coverings. No longer perceives duality of a material world. No longer identifies with the material body. So, the Jiva identifies himself as atma. But he has no senses. He has no mind. No intelligence. So, the atma is simply aware of itself. That’s it. There’s no object for atma to see at that point. So, in that sense, he merges with Brahman.

So, the devotee of course also can go through the same process of freeing himself from material body. Usually, he will not go through the same process of merging elements into higher elements. But, by performance of bhakti, engaging his senses and his body in serving the Lord, he gets rid of all of his karmas. If there’s no more karmas, no more material body. So, he gets liberated. However, his liberation is different. It’s different because he has the sadhana of bhakti. His goal is not to destroy the body or to emerge in Brahman. The goal is to serve the Lord eternally. So, by serving the Lord with this material body and his senses, his hands and his feet and his eyes, he gradually develops spiritual body. When that spiritual body is fully developed, he gives up the material body and goes to the spiritual world and serves the Lord.

So, through performing bhakti, the Jiva gets rid of the material body and replaces that with a spiritual body. But, the spiritual body is not like the gross body, like a pot, it’s not a limitation. That body is non-different from the atma, it is spiritual. But, in that spiritual body, the Jiva can see and hear and touch and move and serve. So that Jiva goes to the spiritual world, like entering the ocean, and he serves the Lord eternally. So, he achieves the same result as the Jnani or the yogi, that is, he gets rid of all the upadhis, the pot. But, the method is different. He gets rid of the material body by manifesting a spiritual body. So, instead of going to Brahman, entering into Brahman, he goes to the spiritual world. So, the result is quite different. But, whether one is a Vaishnava or a Jnani or a yogi, in any case, one gets rid of the pot, the limitation. In this verse, Dhrtarashtra gets rid of the pot by merging all of its parts, the material body, subtle and gross elements, into prakriti.

The devotee, on the other hand, simply performs bhakti and develops a spiritual body, and that dissolves the material body. So that spiritual body is very different from the material body. It does not create limitations. It is not subject to birth and death and karma. It is actually non-different from the atma itself. We can say it is specialization of the atma to perceive and experience spiritually. How does this take place? This takes place through the Lord’s internal energy, antaranga shakti. Through the antaranga shakti, the Jiva is able to manifest spiritual body. This is applicable even to the Supreme Lord. The Lord manifests a body. How does he do that? Through the internal energy, the sandhini shakti manifests a particular form of the Lord. So through the same shakti, the Jiva manifests a spiritual body. In both cases, they are not a limitation. Rather, these forms or bodies are ways in which the Jiva and the Supreme Lord can experience rasa.

Through his spiritual body, the Jiva can serve the Lord in various ways. And the Supreme Lord responds with His body. So a particular Jiva can make a flower garland for the Lord. How does he do that? He has to use his hands, he has to use intelligence, whatever. Then he offers it to the Supreme Lord. And the Supreme Lord is very pleased and he wears the garland. So all of this takes place through forms in the spiritual world. And this interaction between the devotee and the Lord creates rasa which creates bliss. So therefore, having a spiritual body is not like a material body at all. And getting a spiritual form or a spiritual body is not some sort of contamination, it is ultimately the goal of the Jiva.

So, according to your perception, you may be attracted to certain spiritual goals. By association with Jnanis, the goal is simply to get rid of the material body and get rid of all forms. So, that person will practice jnana and strive for liberation. By association, others will practice bhakti. So, they are not striving for liberation, they are striving simply to serve the Lord. They are not even striving for a spiritual body. But the Lord supplies a spiritual body in order that the devotee may serve. So, according to the faith of the individual, he will follow different practices and achieve different goals.

Hare Krsna!

Q&A

1) Maharaj you said that when a jiva develops a spiritual body it can serve the Lord in many ways at the same time you can say a saddhaka different levels of his progressions also serves the Lord in same ways How to understand the real difference Maharaj?

A saddhaka also performs devotional service in many ways Maharaj gave the example of flower garland and when a pure devotee develops the spiritual body he also makes such garlands and offers to the Lord what is the difference between these two?

Yeah, in bhakti, we do the same activities in sadhana, bhava and prema. So, we chant, we do deity worship, whether we are in sadhana or in prema.

But of course, Krishna also says, you offer me a fruit, a flower, etc., with devotion. So, in sadhana bhakti, we are hearing and chanting, offering a flower with some devotion, maybe 5%, 10% or whatever. And of course, then there’s prema, 100% devotion.

So, we can say that the intensity and purity of bhakti is complete in prema, but before that, in different stages. So, the Lord is very merciful, and even if you’re not completely pure, 100%, the Lord will reveal Himself. That’s bhava stage.

So, at that stage, the spiritual body must develop, because you cannot see the Lord or serve the Lord with a material body it has to be spiritual senses. We still have the body we had when we were doing sadhana. So, when we’re doing sadhana, we’re just using our external body to do the service. In bhava and prema, we’ve got two bodies to do service in [Laughs]

External and internal. So, if we’re doing external service, obviously, internal body is also serving. But sometimes, internal body may be serving, external body may do nothing.

But in either case, Krishna is satisfied because it’s service. When we have prema and we give up the material body, then we only have spiritual body. And we continue the same activities in spiritual body.

Devotee: In the context of upadhi, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ, one has to give up all designations. The real upadhi is jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. Again, in case of service of the devotees, they have some upadhis in terms of service. So, how to ensure that upadhi is not conflicting in the real upadhi?

HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: As long as I’m in the material world, i have the material body, shuttle body, mind etc., all we can do is use them for serving the Lord and by doing service to the Lord with the body gradually we destroy the upadhi. At the same time from the very beginning of bhakti we are identifying our self as a servant of the Lord so that identity is never destroyed as we develop bhakti it becomes stronger and more particular and that will determine our service and our spiritual body.

So that all arises from the jiva and how he relates to the Supreme Lord. The material body and our identity and upadhi all results in the material world from no relationship with Krishna [laughs], interacting with material world. So in Lord Chaitanya and Chaitanya Saradambara it says the whole process of bhakti is converting kama which is upadhi material upadhi into prema.

We don’t stop desire we don’t stop our identity but we direct our identity to serving Krishna.

2) So Maharaj if you were to define upadhi usually upadhi in hindi means designation so how would we define upadhi in this context?

So we usually translate that as coverings or obstructions and we say that how do we get these coverings out of ignorance. So these coverings take the form of the subtle body and the gross body and in the subtle body of course we have ahankara so through that we identify with the body so the upadhi creates a false identity and then in combination with mind intelligence and body then we develop all sorts of desires and we do all sorts of activities and we get karma

We say the first upadhi is ignorance that creates the upadhis of the subtle body and the gross body and then that creates another upadhi of desires etc., and karma.

3) Maharaj, as you explained that ignorance is the first upadhi and of course this ignorance is anadhi so this discussion about when it all started so wouldn’t a desire for own enjoyment or own pleasure and being separated from the lord and not concerned with the lord wouldn’t that be the first upadhi and then that why we are placed under material energy and ignorance so the cause of that anadhi is ignorance?

For the Vaishnava ignorance means this it means rejection of the Lord for the Mayavadi it would mean rejection of Brahman and of course with that simultaneous with that rejection is or we can say maybe the cause of that is desire for our own independence and our own enjoyment. So we can say that’s all a part of ignorance.

4) Maharaj in this particular case we see that it appears from here that he has merged and Srila Prabhupada has given the explanation that he has gone to the spiritual world by the blessings of Vidura and by the grace of the lord. So, do we understand that in terms of rasa even if he would have…I mean, as Prabhupada is saying that he has achieved the spiritual world so it would be what Santaras?

Not specifically mentioned but as far as persons like Dritarashtra is concerned he can never get the same ultimate goal as those who voluntarily practice devotion through their lives. So, if he develops a spiritual body etc., then the rasa would be very limited.

5) Last question from my end Maharaj so from this particular pastime we can understand that how great is the spiritual master’s mercy that even an offender is actually able to transcend and go to the spiritual world and of course some credit goes to Dritarashtra also because he followed the instructions of Vidura. So the potency of a Vaishnava guru is that correct Maharaj?

It is shown throughout the Bhagavatham that the only cause of Bhakti is the mercy of devotees. And that is repeated over and over in the Bhagavatham, bhakti will not develop on its own

6) Hare Krishna Maharaj we do the same service in the spiritual world also how to understand the deity worship with the honour and reverence Maharaj?

So in the spiritual world yes, they also worship the Lord. In different places in the spiritual world the worship will be different. So, in Vaikuntha it is very regulated and the services they do may be quite similar to the services that we see in the temple.

So all day long at certain times they are serving the lord in particular ways as we do in the temple. If we go to Vrindavan in the spiritual world of course we don’t see such formal worship but same activities are there of dressing Krishna and feeding Krishna, cooking for Krishna, decorating Krishna, playing with Krishna, those activities are there. But not in the same regulated way that we find in the temple or in Vaikuntha.

7) Lord Kapila describes that the false ego consists of three components, Karthritva, Karyatva and Karanatva, in the same way what are the real components regarding the spiritual identity?

I don’t know if it is discussed in detail but definitely the identity of the jivais part of the Swaroop of the Jeeva, each jivahas a sense of I and that is different from every other jivawho has his own sense of I.Unlike the Lord can have many forms but the same I is there it is not different personalities. So in the material world that jivawith his sense of I is covered by the material ahankara and he identifies I with the material body and then he carries out different functions.

So of course, the I originally is in the Atma and in the spiritual world then that sense of I expresses itself through activities etc., so it is somewhat similar to the functions of ahankara in the material world but there is no mistaking, it is not a false Ahankara of identifying with the material body. It is I exist but we exist as a servant of the lord and so that I will do service that the I will get knowledge and the I gets to experience of bliss.

8) Lord Sri Chaitanya prays to consider Him as the dust near the lotus feet of the Lord, what does that mean?

So when we talk about dust at the feet of the Lord we are expressing Dainya or humility. So, are not even a small living entity like a mouse or less than that or a nano piece particle of dust. So that Dainya is essential to Bhakti itself. Then the more intense the Bhakti the more intense the Dainya

9) The current material features, the features available on our body is basically provided by the material nature for our material body. In the same way for the spiritual body is there any option for the jiva to choose those features?

So according to our service that we aspire for in relation to the lord we get a suitable body So of course in the spiritual world, the body is not limiting like the body in the material world. Krishna could change His form into anything.

Under normal circumstances He doesn’t do that. So the devotee also has his regular form in the spiritual world where He serves the Lord, he can also change his form. So when Gopa Kumar went to Vaikuntha and was waiting to get into Vaikuntha he saw many servants of the Lord entering through the gates. But he saw some of those servants changed their form so they became birds or whatever that they wanted to become. So for particular services they may temporarily change their form but they would come back to their basic form.

Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!