Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.27 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Damodaradesh (Dubai) | 14 October 2025
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 1 Chapter 8 Verse 27.
ŚB 1.8.27
नमोऽकिञ्चनवित्ताय निवृत्तगुणवृत्तये ।
आत्मारामाय शान्ताय कैवल्यपतये नम: ॥ २७ ॥
namo ’kiñcana-vittāya
nivṛtta-guṇa-vṛttaye
ātmārāmāya śāntāya
kaivalya-pataye namaḥ
Synonyms
namaḥ — all obeisances unto You; akiñcana-vittāya — unto the property of the materially impoverished; nivṛtta — completely transcendental to the actions of the material modes; guṇa — material modes; vṛttaye — affection; ātma-ārāmāya — one who is self-satisfied; śāntāya — the most gentle; kaivalya-pataye — unto the master of the monists; namaḥ — bowing down.
Translation
My obeisances are unto You, who are the property of the materially impoverished. You have nothing to do with the actions and reactions of the material modes of nature. You are self-satisfied, and therefore You are the most gentle and are master of the monists.
Purport
A living being is finished as soon as there is nothing to possess. Therefore a living being cannot be, in the real sense of the term, a renouncer. A living being renounces something for gaining something more valuable. A student sacrifices his childish proclivities to gain better education. A servant gives up his job for a better job. Similarly, a devotee renounces the material world not for nothing but for something tangible in spiritual value. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and others gave up their worldly pomp and prosperity for the sake of the service of the Lord. They were big men in the worldly sense. The Gosvāmīs were ministers in the government service of Bengal, and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was the son of a big zamindar of his time. But they left everything to gain something superior to what they previously possessed. The devotees are generally without material prosperity, but they have a very secret treasure-house in the lotus feet of the Lord. There is a nice story about Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. He had a touchstone, and this stone was left in a pile of refuse. A needy man took it, but later on wondered why the valuable stone was kept in such a neglected place. He therefore asked Sanātana for the most valuable thing, and then he was given the holy name of the Lord. Akiñcana means one who has nothing to give materially. A factual devotee, or mahātmā, does not give anything material to anyone because he has already left all material assets. He can, however, deliver the supreme asset, namely the Personality of Godhead, because He is the only property of a factual devotee. The touchstone of Sanātana Gosvāmī, which was thrown in the rubbish, was not the property of the Gosvāmī, otherwise it would not have been kept in such a place. This specific example is given for the neophyte devotees just to convince them that material hankerings and spiritual advancement go ill together. Unless one is able to see everything as spiritual in relation with the Supreme Lord, one must always distinguish between spirit and matter. A spiritual master like Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, although personally able to see everything as spiritual, set this example for us only because we have no such spiritual vision.
Advancement of material vision or material civilization is a great stumbling block for spiritual advancement. Such material advancement entangles the living being in the bondage of a material body followed by all sorts of material miseries. Such material advancement is called anartha, or things not wanted. Actually this is so. In the present context of material advancement one uses lipstick at a cost of fifty cents, and there are so many unwanted things which are all products of the material conception of life. By diverting attention to so many unwanted things, human energy is spoiled without achievement of spiritual realization, the prime necessity of human life. The attempt to reach the moon is another example of spoiling energy because even if the moon is reached, the problems of life will not be solved. The devotees of the Lord are called akiñcanas because they have practically no material assets. Such material assets are all products of the three modes of material nature. They foil spiritual energy, and thus the less we possess such products of material nature, the more we have a good chance for spiritual progress.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has no direct connection with material activities. All His acts and deeds, which are exhibited even in this material world, are spiritual and without affection for the modes of material nature. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that all His acts, even His appearance and disappearance in and out of the material world, are transcendental, and one who knows this perfectly shall not take his birth again in this material world, but will go back to Godhead.
The material disease is due to hankering after and lording it over material nature. This hankering is due to an interaction of the three modes of nature, and neither the Lord nor the devotees have attachment for such false enjoyment. Therefore, the Lord and the devotees are called nivṛtta-guṇa-vṛtti. The perfect nivṛtta-guṇa-vṛtti is the Supreme Lord because He never becomes attracted by the modes of material nature, whereas the living beings have such a tendency. Some of them are entrapped by the illusory attraction of material nature.
Because the Lord is the property of the devotees, and the devotees are the property of the Lord reciprocally, the devotees are certainly transcendental to the modes of material nature. That is a natural conclusion. Such unalloyed devotees are distinct from the mixed devotees who approach the Lord for mitigation of miseries and poverty or because of inquisitiveness and speculation. The unalloyed devotees and the Lord are transcendentally attached to one another. For others, the Lord has nothing to reciprocate, and therefore He is called ātmārāma, self-satisfied. Self-satisfied as He is, He is the master of all monists who seek to merge into the existence of the Lord. Such monists merge within the personal effulgence of the Lord called the brahmajyoti, but the devotees enter into the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, which are never to be misunderstood as material.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
Hare Krishna. So, these are the prayers of Queen Kunti. And this particular verse, in this particular verse, Queen Kunti is offering respects to the Supreme Lord Krishna. And she addresses Him by using different phrases. So, the first name of Krishna here is akinchana vitta. Akinchana means a person who doesn’t have anything. In other words akinchana means a poor person [Laughs]. Vitta means wealth. So Krishna is the wealth for people who have nothing. So who is the poor person? Actually everybody in the material world is poor. If we don’t have Krishna, we are poor. So, Krishna is the most valuable treasure. And for all the people in the material world who have nothing, Krishna is the greatest treasure.
So, what do we do with treasure? Usually people get money, and they spend it, and they enjoy. But scripture tells us we shouldn’t enjoy. So, on the other hand, we do have enjoyment in the spiritual world. But this is a different type of enjoyment. In the material world, we enjoy with our senses. In the spiritual world, we don’t have material senses, we have spiritual senses. These spiritual senses are not meant for our enjoyment. Those spiritual senses are for serving Krishna and giving Krishna enjoyment. As a result of serving Krishna with great affection, we do experience great bliss.
In other words, the treasure of the spiritual world is serving Krishna and consequently becoming satisfied. So, that is a wealth for the people in the spiritual world. That wealth is never spent up. It is eternal. The wealth of the material world is spent up. We spend the money and we get left with no money. We get pleasure for our senses, but it has a beginning and an end. So that pleasure of having a beginning and an end leads to misery. So, instead of getting happiness, we get suffering. So because of that, though people may think they have money and they’re enjoying, actually they’re all very poor because they have to suffer. So it is an illusion to think that we’re wealthy in the material world. All that wealth leads to suffering. So the real, real wealth is Krishna.
So, the word akinchana, of course, has another meaning. So akinchana can mean a person who is materially detached and thus he has nothing. That’s a good qualification for advancing in spiritual life. In Bhagavatam it says, qualification for bhakti is for a person who has a taste for the pastimes of the Lord and has not too much material attachment. If one reaches prema through sadhana bhakti, then the person has zero material attachment. So he’s completely detached from material enjoyment. And in prema, he has complete possession of the wealth of Krishna. So in other words, akinchana vitta means those who have no complete material attachment [Pause].
Hare Krishna. So, then the meaning is that Krishna is great wealth for people who are completely detached from the material world and are completely attached to the Supreme Lord. Of course, the complete or the simply being detached from the material world is not the qualification for attaining Krishna. If you’re completely detached from everything in the material world, you’re qualified for liberation. So that is what jnanis do. Jnanis become completely detached from everything material, they get liberation. But they don’t get Krishna. So thus, the impersonalists do not get the treasure of Krishna. Instead they get liberation. So they’re still poor [Laughs]. So, definitely Krishna Himself is also akinchana. That means He is completely detached from everything in the material world.
And in the second line, we get nivrtta guna vrttaye, this means He is completely beyond the material modes of nature, completely detached from everything. The Supreme Lord is never contaminated by anything in the material world. But because He is completely detached from the material world, that does not mean that Krishna is detached from the spiritual world. No, He is very attached to His devotees. So, in the second line, there’s a glorification of Krishna because He is not contaminated by the material world. However, in the spiritual world, Krishna is completely attached to His devotees.
In the third line, we have the word atmarama, which means one who enjoys atma, He enjoys the self. So, this is a little more positive. Instead of saying that Krishna is not attached to anything in the material world, it means He is enjoying atma, He is enjoying spiritually. Now, the word atmarama is usually associated with impersonalists. They feel very peaceful in Brahman. They enjoy internally instead of externally. So here, Krishna is also called atmarama. So, Krishna is not directing Himself to enjoyment in the material world. He is satisfied internally. However, Krishna is not like an impersonalist sitting and peacefully meditating. Krishna is having pastimes in the spiritual world. He is quite different from an impersonalist.
So, when we chant Hare Krishna mantra, we say Rama. Which means enjoyer. So, who is Krishna enjoying? He is enjoying with Radha. So, why do we say that Krishna is also atmarama, enjoying Himself, atma? Also, we can explain that, also Radha is part of Krishna, so in that sense He is enjoying Radha [Laughs]. Radha is atma [Laughs].
In the third line also we have the word santa. Krishna is santa, very peaceful. Of course, we see Krishna not only is peaceful, sometimes He is fighting demons. However, even if Krishna is fighting demons, He is never disturbed. In the material world, people are affected by lust, anger, greed, envy, etc. Krishna has none of these bad qualities. So, in that sense, Krishna is santa. So, in that sense, everybody in the spiritual world is santa, very peaceful, no lust, anger, greed. So, we have in the spiritual world devotees, so for in santa rasa, peaceful rasa. But in the spiritual world, santa rasa is considered very inferior, more better than santa rasa is dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, madhurya. So, being peaceful is not the best quality in the spiritual world.
So, madhurya rasa is celebrated as the supreme rasa. But in madhurya rasa, there is the most disturbance. There is the most possessiveness of Krishna. And when Krishna disappears, then the Gopis feel the most disturbance, they are not peaceful at all. So, everyone in spiritual world is devoid of material lust, anger, greed, in that sense, they are santa, but they also have spiritual emotions, which are very, very strong. So, therefore, we can glorify that Krishna as being very peaceful in one sense, but actually in the spiritual world, there is the most intense bliss.
The last phrase here is kaivalya pati, Krishna is the master of impersonal liberation. This does not appear to be a very good praise of Krishna to call Him [Laughs] the master of impersonal liberation. But we also see Krishna’s praise as Yogeshwara, the master of yoga. He is the giver of material results. In other words, Krishna can give anything. He gives material results, He gives liberation. He also gives prema. So, therefore, we are advised, if you want material benedictions, don’t worship devatas, worship Krishna. If you want liberation, you have to worship Krishna.
And if you want prema, you must worship Krishna. Krishna is called a desire tree. He is called chintamani, a touchstone. Nama chintamani Krishna, Krishna is touchstone or chintamani. The name of Krishna is chintamani. This means that Krishna bestows everything. However, the devotees do not ask for material benedictions or liberation. They only desire prema. So, usually the word kaivalya will mean impersonal liberation. It often means oneness. It can also mean purity.
So, what is the purest thing? Prema is the purest thing. So, sometimes the word kaivalya means prema, so Krishna is the master of prema. So, we worship Krishna not for liberation or kaivalya in that sense, but for prema. So, therefore, these words can be taken with various meanings. Krishna, of course, is in charge of everything. Therefore, He will experience or He will display ultimate detachment from everything in the material world. So, these words are praised because they show that Krishna is not contaminated by anything in the material world. However, higher praise for Krishna is to praise Krishna for His pastimes in the spiritual world. So, that is the meaning that the devotees can relish. Okay, any question?
Q & A:
1.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, pranams at your lotus feet. Thank you for the lecture. Maharaj, you said that the ultimate goal of devotees is to get Krishna prema. But as we are sadhaka bhaktas, we don’t start. I mean, our goal is that, but we are more into, you know, getting material benefits or other stages as you explained. So, when do we know that, I mean, when we can realize that our ultimate goal is prema and we should only work for prema rather than other things which comes together with the devotional service. Hare Krishna.
Yeah, well, when [Laughs] when this happens is when we get knowledge. So, in this purport Prabhupada is explaining about what is real wealth. Sanatana Goswami throws the touchstone into the rubbish because it’s useless, material things are useless. Srila Prabhupada explains in the Bhagavatam and in Bhagavad Gita about bhakti. So, pure bhakti means we worship Krishna, that’s good. But we worship Krishna not asking for material things or liberation. So, when we’re performing sadhana bhakti, this is how we have to perform it. [Not audible].
Hare Krishna. So, when we talk about bhakti, when Lord Caitanya presents bhakti, He’s talking about pure bhakti. The devotees in sadhana should be performing pure bhakti with no desire for material results or liberation. So, because we’re doing sadhana, we’re not in prema, we obviously are not pure, we still have many material desires. However, when we perform bhakti, when we chant Hare Krishna, we don’t ask Krishna please give me car.
When we chant Hare Krishna, what are we asking for? So, Prabhupada says we’re praying to Radha, energy of Krishna, please engage me in your service. We’re not saying, Hare Krishna, O Krishna, please give me more money. Okay, so, therefore, in the beginning of devotional service, though we have many desires, when we’re executing devotional service, we’re not praying for material things. If we have all these material desires, we will not get prema. Hare Krishna.
2.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. There is one question that you mentioned that we should chant our rounds or we should chant the holy names of the Lord without any material motivation. But sometimes we encourage our children to chant Hare Krishna mahamantra and to get better results in exams, to get better results in their jobs and all. So, how can we correct them or how we can bring them on the path of pure devotional service?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh, I see [Laughs]. So, what’s the question?
Devotee: Yeah, so how can we, you know, encourage our children to keep chanting the holy names without desiring for any material results?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, of course, Krishna also accepts people who worship Him asking for material things, but that’s inferior bhakti. And for people who have many desires, we can say, okay, you have all these desires, at least you chant Hare Krishna [Laughs]. However, those who are more intelligent will understand that all these material things are temporary, so better we chant with prema. So, yes, Krishna can fulfill all desires. He is the chintamani. He is a desire tree. But the ultimate goal should be that prema. We should not think that the only result of worshipping Krishna is to pass exams [Laughs].
3.) Maharaj, today is the appearance of Radha kunda. Can you say a few words about, glorification of Radha kunda?
No, actually, it’s not the appearance of Radha kunda. Radha kunda appeared after killing Arishtasura, which is in, I think, April or something. So, it’s actually not the appearance of Radha kunda today. But they have a celebration now, I think, because of Bahulastami or something like that [Laughs].
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!