Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.8.30 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Goloka Eco farm | August 16, 2025 |
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya
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 Bhagavatam Canto 1 Chapter 8 Verse 30.
ŚB 1.8.30
जन्म कर्म च विश्वात्मन्नजस्याकर्तुरात्मन: ।
तिर्यङ्नृषिषु याद:सु तदत्यन्तविडम्बनम् ॥ ३० ॥
janma karma ca viśvātmann
ajasyākartur ātmanaḥ
tiryaṅ-nṝṣiṣu yādaḥsu
tad atyanta-viḍambanam
Synonyms
janma — birth; karma — activity; ca — and; viśva-ātman — O soul of the universe; ajasya — of the unborn; akartuḥ — of the inactive; ātmanaḥ — of the vital energy; tiryak — animal; nṛ — human being; ṛṣiṣu — in the sages; yādaḥsu — in the water; tat — that; atyanta — veritable; viḍambanam — bewildering.
Translation
Of course it is bewildering, O soul of the universe, that You work, though You are inactive, and that You take birth, though You are the vital force and the unborn. You Yourself descend amongst animals, men, sages and aquatics. Verily, this is bewildering.
Purport
The transcendental pastimes of the Lord are not only bewildering but also apparently contradictory. In other words, they are all inconceivable to the limited thinking power of the human being. The Lord is the all-prevailing Supersoul of all existence, and yet He appears in the form of a boar amongst the animals, in the form of a human being as Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, etc., in the form of a ṛṣi like Nārāyaṇa, and in the form of an aquatic like a fish. Yet it is said that He is unborn, and He has nothing to do. In the śruti mantra it is said that the Supreme Brahman has nothing to do. No one is equal to or greater than Him. He has manifold energies, and everything is performed by Him perfectly by automatic knowledge, strength and activity. All these statements prove without any question that the Lord’s activities, forms and deeds are all inconceivable to our limited thinking power, and because He is inconceivably powerful, everything is possible in Him. Therefore no one can calculate Him exactly; every action of the Lord is bewildering to the common man. He cannot be understood by the Vedic knowledge, but He can be easily understood by the pure devotees because they are intimately related with Him. The devotees therefore know that although He appears amongst the animals, He is not an animal, nor a man, nor a ṛṣi, nor a fish. He is eternally the Supreme Lord, in all circumstances.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse is describing the Supreme Lord, and it describes Him as ‘viḍambanam’, very bewildering. It’s difficult to understand him. Of course, this not only refers to the appearance of Krishna or an avatar, but any conception of God in this world is bewildering. Of course, we have to define who is God. One could say that God is just a great person, so there is nothing so special about that.
But we want to give some special qualities to God. So we can say, well, God is eternal, He has no birth or death. So we can say, well, He’s a person who is not born and He doesn’t die, He’s eternal. So, of course, that is stated here where it says, ‘ajasya’, unborn, no birth and death. So, if He is God, then He shouldn’t have to do activities like us in this material world. The entities have to struggle for survival. So, the Supreme Lord shouldn’t have to do that. So, He shouldn’t be forced to do activities like us. And therefore he is called ‘akartuḥ’, not doer, a non-doer, inactive. So, He must be completely different from a material body. And, of course, we know our Atma, or soul, is different from our bodies. So, therefore, the Lord would be Atma, but then we also have an Atma, so how can the Lord be different? He must be quite different from us. We cannot take him as our body. So, therefore, here the Lord is described as ‘viśva-ātman’, that is, He is the Atma, not just of one body, but He is the Atma of the whole universe. So, in other words, these words describe someone who is not like us [Laughs]. So, of course, most religions of the world would also agree with such a definition.
It distinguishes the Supreme Lord from us.
Now, of course, the problem becomes this, Okay, the Lord is different from us, He doesn’t have a material body, but then, who is He? So, this becomes a big problem. By our logic, we would say, He can’t be like us, He’s eternal, He doesn’t do any activity, etc., born, whatever, so, we have forms and we have qualities, the Lord should not have forms and qualities. So, of course, this is what we call the impersonal aspect of the Lord. And some people think that’s the only way God can exist. And of course, many religions will agree with this, no forms, no qualities, no activities. So, of course, Bhagavatam suggests that’s true, but there is God with a form, quality and activity also. So, that’s a little bit inconceivable, how can it be both things [Laughs]? How could God have no forms, qualities and activities, but also have forms, qualities and activities [Laughs]? So, if we have this table here, it’s made of wood and it’s a brown in color, it can also simultaneously not be a different color, like black, and be made of metal because it is made of wood and it’s brown, or whatever, like that, it cannot be two different things, or two different qualities. To say God has a form and does not have a form, that’s contradictory.
So, from material logic, yes, it is unreasonable and contradictory. And thus as I said in this verse, this is very bewildering [Laughs]. So, the Lord has form and He doesn’t have form. So, technically, then, how can the Lord appear in this world? Because if He has no form and qualities and He comes in this world, we’re not going to see Him at all. And, of course, even religions have a problem with this [Laughs]. How can God come in the world at all? Maximum, we could have an internal experience of God, that’s all. But, He cannot be born, He cannot do activities in this world, that he would be like us. So, many religions say, yeah, that’s proper, therefore God doesn’t appear in this world.
However, the Vedic literatures, including Bhagavatam say, no, the Lord does appear in the world. And, in fact, He displays form, qualities and activities. So, that is possible because His form, qualities and activities are not material. But, still, if we have material eyes, how can we see a non-material spiritual form? So that again is bewildering. So, from our material logic, yes, it is unreasonable. And, even, we say, yeah, we cannot see the Lord unless we have spiritual eyes. It is because we have material eyes, so, therefore, we cannot see the Lord. But the scriptures say, yeah, the Lord appeared and everybody saw Him. So, that is also bewildering.
So, the Lord appears and He has a spiritual form, even though He is also without form [Laughs]. So, what form does He take? So, of course, just to have a form is very difficult to understand, but, we say God has many forms. So, not only many forms, many different forms. So, God could have a human form, a sage form, a fish form, an animal form, a bird form. So, this is even more bewildering [Laughs]. This looks too much like the material world. This looks too much like God looks like something in the material world. And, in fact, as Prabhupada mentioned in the purport, yes, God can take the form of a pig. If we go on these roads here, sometimes we see the boars running across the road, the wild pigs. So, how could God be a wild pig? It’s not possible. Or, how could God be a fish running over this fish in the water? So, how could God be an animal, or a fish, or a bird, or even a human being? It all seems very strange. So, therefore, as it is said in this verse, it is very, very bewildering.
However, it is not bewildering if we accept that the Supreme Lord has inconceivable power. So, the inconceivable power means He has powers we cannot even imagine. But that is also a natural quality of the Supreme Lord. We can conceive of very little of the Supreme Lord because He is unlimited. And, of course, the scriptures say this many times. The Lord has infinite qualities, so no person, if he describes the Lord from beginning to end of time, can enumerate all the qualities of the Lord. So, by the Lord’s inconceivable, infinite power, He can assume any form He wants. And that form is always spiritual and eternal. It is complete, it is perfect. So, therefore, any form that appears, be it a fish, a turtle, or a pig, or whatever, it is perfect. It is most beautiful. So, there is no way we can criticize any form of the Lord.
Now, of course, people who are atheists or gross materialists will have difficulty in understanding this. But persons who have faith in the powers of the Lord will accept this easily. So, therefore, the scriptures, and particularly the words of the Bhagavatam, are accessible to those who are devotees. Other persons can read the books if they want, but we don’t forbid them, but they will get a different understanding. They may reject parts of the Bhagavatam as useless material [Laughs]. They will accept parts which can agree with their own opinions [Laughs]. So, the Bhagavatam also agrees, yes, you can just take whatever you want from Bhagavatam [Laughs]. So, this is the nature of scripture itself. It gives a little knowledge for everybody. And you can take what is useful for you. According to your qualification, scripture gives you different types of knowledge. Thus, in the scripture, it is described, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Astanga Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga. And each process is suitable for certain types of people.
At the same time, a very intelligent person, if he goes through everything, he’ll understand what is the highest process, who is the most qualified person, what is the highest truth. Unfortunately, because the scriptures are so vast and full of all sorts of contradictory items, etc., it is difficult to understand. So, Vedavyasa made things simpler by summarizing the conclusion in Srimad Bhagavatam. So, of course, Srimad Bhagavatam discusses Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Astanga Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga, but it also very clearly gives us the highest truth. Of course, people who don’t want to accept the highest conclusion, they can get other things out of Bhagavatam [Laughs]. So, if you are qualified for Karma Yoga and Varnashrama, you get excited by those sections which talk about Varnashrama. If you are most interested in Yoga, then you can read those sections on Astanga Yoga. And if you are interested in Jnana and Liberation, you can read those sections. But, the serious reader of Bhagavatam understands that after all these things are described, Bhagavatam actually rejects them all [Laughs]. So, it recommends Bhakti Yoga.
But, if you accept Bhakti Yoga, you also have to accept a few other facts. You have to accept the Supreme Lord who has form, qualities, and activities. And these forms, qualities, and activities are eternal and spiritual, not material. But, the Supreme Lord is situated in the spiritual world, but He can appear within the material world. He can do this by His inconceivable power. And the Bhagavatam describes how He appears as Varaha, Matsya, and Kurma, and Narasingadev, and Rama and Nara-Narayana, etc.
Now, the Bhagavatam, of course, accepts these forms of the Lord, but then it also points out that of all the forms, Krishna is the Supreme form. So, we can worship the other forms of God, no problem, and be nice Vaishnavas, but, if you are most intelligent, then you will worship Krishna [Laughs]. As Narada Muni advises Vedavyasa that you have to write a scripture that tells everyone that Krishna is the highest form. And, he advises that the people of Kali Yuga should worship Krishna, rather than any other form.
So, if Krishna is the highest form, who is He? So, Krishna appears in the material world, and He is visible. And, Bhagavatam describes all of His activities when He was on earth. So, this verse describes that the Lord has a birth, and He has activities. Of course, He has no birth, but nevertheless, He is born. He shouldn’t do activities like lust and accrue karma, but He does activities. Now, Krishna’s birth and His activities are not ordinary. So, in the tenth canto in particular, it describes Krishna’s birth, and how it is not ordinary.
And, by describing it this way, it shows how actually Krishna is unborn. So, it’s described as Krishna was born from Vasudeva and Devaki. It looks normal. We have mother and father, we get a child. So, Krishna seems to be born in the same way [Laughs]. But, it’s described how Krishna actually appeared in Vasudeva’s mind, and was transferred into Devaki’s mind. It was not a normal birth. And, it’s also described that before the birth of Krishna, we have Balarama appearing in her. And, of course, Balarama created a suitable environment for the appearance of Krishna. And then, Balarama disappeared [Laughs]. And, He appeared in Rohini [Laughs]. So, that’s sounds also very unusual.
And, Krishna was then born, and He did not come out with an ordinary form. He had four arms [Laughs]. It was a Vishnu form. And, even Devaki was rather astonished. And, she said, please hide this form, because everybody is going to laugh at me. How can Vishnu be born from me? So, because He is the Supreme Lord, He could change the form of the Vishnu, so it became a small child. So, all of this is very unusual. It is not an ordinary human birth.
Of course, it’s also explained in a rather indirect way, that simultaneously, Krishna was also born to Yasoda. Of course, usually we think of Krishna being born in the prison house of Devaki. But, actually, Krishna was also born simultaneously to Yasoda, because Yasoda is the eternal mother of Krishna in the spiritual world. So, Yasoda raises Krishna in Gokula as her child, her son. So, how can we say that Krishna was only the step-son, or whatever [Laughs]? Not the real son, it was actually Vasudeva’s, and Devaki’s son. It wasn’t really Yasoda’s child. How can we say that? How can it be? He’s eternally Yasoda’s child. Of course, we also hear from Bhagavatam that Vasudeva took the child out of the prison house and then walked over to Gokula and exchanged Yashoda’s child and went back with the girl child, which is the same Krishna. So, then it’s described that actually Yashoda gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, to Krishna and Yogamaya. And when Vasudeva came and brought the baby from the prison house and placed him there, the two Krishna merged together [Laughs]. And then he took the girl child and went back to the prison house. So, all of this is very astonishing, not ordinary. But the quality of Krishna is that more than any other form of the Lord, Krishna appears human.
Usually the Lord even if He has a human form like Rama, would display extraordinary power. However, Krishna in Vrindavan actually hides His powers. And Nanda, Yasoda, the cowherds, the cowherd boys, the gopis, never think of Krishna as the Supreme Lord at all. Everybody thinks Krishna is the son of Yasoda and Nanda. And when he does something very remarkable, the cowherd boys say, Krishna has killed a demon or whatever. Then everybody thinks, well, that’s not anything unusual, but He actually can’t do that because He’s Nanda’s son. So they say, well, Vishnu is protecting Krishna. So the people of Vrindavan never see Krishna as the Supreme Lord. And though in Vrindavan, Krishna kills many demons, nobody attributes that to Krishna being Supreme Lord [Laughs]. So He acts like a small cowherd child.
And this is surprising even to Brahma. After Krishna killed Aghasura, and Aghasura’s soul merged into Krishna’s body, the sages were so astonished, they began praising Krishna. So, Krishna gave liberation to a demon of all things. Generally Yogis get liberation, but the demon, Aghasura, got liberation, merged into Krishna’s body. So the sages in the heavenly planets were all praising him or whatever. And then Brahma in Brahmaloka also heard this. Why is everybody excited? Why is everybody praising Krishna?
So then Brahma came down and he came to Vrindavan and there he saw Krishna. And what was Krishna doing? He was eating lunch with the cowherd boys. When the cowherd boys went to their cows with Krishna, then Krishna and all the boys would have little sticks. And on the end of the sticks they would tie a little cloth, and in the bundle was their lunch. Mothers would make lunch for them when they were bringing their lunch to the forest. So at noon time, all the cowherd boys became hungry, so they all sat down in the forest with a nice green grass and they opened their little packs and they displayed all their food. And everybody very excited said, what did you get? What did you get? [Laughs] They were looking at all the different food [Laughs]. So they were trading all their food. So Krishna was also involved in trading food, whatever. So Krishna was tasting all the food and he had food all over his hands and all over his body [Laughs]. So then Brahma came and he looked and he was very astonished. Krishna’s coming, He’s supposed to kill the demons, He’s supposed to be God. But how can this be God? This little boy with food all over his body. So he had a little doubt. Can this little boy in Vrindavan actually be the Supreme Lord?
And he tested him. So therefore he stole all the cowherd boys and all the calves and whatever. And for one year he tried to do this. He stole all the calves and cowherd boys and kept them for one year. But of course Krishna understood and immediately expanded himself with all the calves and all the cowherd boys. And no one knew the difference for one year.
Of course, after one year Brahma came back and then he saw how can it be. I took all the calves and cowherd boys and put them to sleep in a cave and here they are playing with Krishna. Then he looked in the cave and there they all were sleeping. And then he looked outside, no, they are playing with Krishna. So he became very confused, who’s the real cowherd boys, who’s the real calves? And then when he was looking at all those calves and cowherd boys, suddenly they all turned into Vishnu forms. And each Vishnu form was producing universes. And in all the universes there was Brahma and all the devatas and the demons and all the material elements and everything. So when Brahma saw this he was very astonished [Laughs]. There are so many Vishnu forms, there are so many universes, there are so many Brahmas. And suddenly all those forms disappeared and they all merged into Krishna. So Krishna was standing there with this little flute and with some rice in His hand [Laughs].
So then Brahma understood, well yeah, He looks like a little boy, He looks like a cowherd boy, but He is greater than all the Vishnu forms, He is greater than all the universes and all the Brahmas. So then Brahma understood that yes, Krishna is a cowherd boy, simultaneously He is a Supreme Lord. And He is even more powerful than all the forms of Vishnu. Though Brahma understood this and the big display was there, nobody else in Vrindavan saw this. So anyway, Krishna was there with all the expansions of himself and nobody understood that. After one year the only one who understood was Balarama.
But even Balarama was bewildered for one year, he didn’t know either. After one year Balarama said, this is very strange. The cows are so attracted to their calves and the fathers are so attracted to their sons, it’s unusual. So finally, he looked and he understood, oh, the only one who can bewilder me is Krishna. So of course, then Krishna assumed and told Balarama everything. And then the original cowherd boys and the calves became the normal ones. And nobody understood that Krishna had actually impersonated everybody. So in this way Krishna hides His powers from the people of Vrindavan. So more than the other forms, Krishna is even more bewildering. He is the highest form of the Lord, but He acts like the most human form. And thus, it is rare that anyone can realize Krishna. But of course, Bhagavatam’s goal is that everybody in Kali Yuga should worship Krishna.
So of course, one way in which this is possible is everyone should take faith and then read Bhagavatam. The other way is everyone should chant Krishna’s name. So Lord Caitanya has come as another form of Krishna to propagate chanting of Krishna’s name. So though Krishna is the rarest and the highest form, still by the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the name, Krishna becomes available to everyone.
Okay, Hare Krishna.
Q & A
1) So, we all aspire to realize God as Bhagavan, but to what degree that depends on our effort, faith, and desire? And to what degree, to what extent, that instead depends on Krishna’s deciding to hide Himself from us, like He did with the inhabitants of Vrindavan, or reveal Himself to us? Does it depend on us or on Him?
So, it’s the combination. Of course we see there is always controversy about this even the Christian church has controversy. So, that controversy is also there, like in Ramanuja’s sampardhaya, they’ve got a whole group in say mercy and another whole group effort.
So, our conclusion is that it’s a combination of both. If you make effort, Krishna becomes merciful. And that, of course, is also represented in the Damodar pastime. When Yasoda tried to bind up Krishna, the rope was always two fingers too short. So, why always two fingers? And then finally, she was able to bind Krishna. So, if we have these two elements, we can bind Krishna. So, one is effort, the other is mercy. So, Mother Yasoda made effort to tie up Krishna. And she was not discouraged. Even though the rope was always two fingers too short, she got more rope and tried again and tried again and tried again all afternoon. So, seeing that great effort, how Mother Yasoda was getting tired, Krishna said, OK, I will get tied up. So, therefore, both things are necessary. Definitely, we can’t advance unless we get mercy. But Krishna is merciful when He sees we are making effort.
2) I have this question for a long time. I want to ask an explanation of this sentence of Prabhupada in Chaitanya Caritamrta, after the Mangalacharana verses. He says, The Gaudiya Vaishnavas, who follow strictly the line of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, worship the Divinity by chanting transcendental sounds, meant to develop a sense of one’s transcendental relationship with the Supreme Lord, a reciprocation of mellows, rasas of mutual affection, and ultimately the achievement of the desired success in loving service. And I want to have an explanation from you about this sentence.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: What’s the difference? He’s saying that by chanting we develop rasas. Yeah.
Devotee: We worship the Divinity by chanting transcendental sounds.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Chanting the name of Krishna, that’s what it is. It’s not just any sound.
Devotee: So we should change our understanding of these three different stages. We should just chant and keep on thinking about these three, the relationship, the mutual affection, and the desired goal.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, inherent in the process of bhakti is to establish a relationship with God as a God. We’re trying to get unconditional love, so we’re trying to get a relationship of mutual affection. That’s unconditional love. So we cannot separate the means from the goal. The means is the name; the goal is prema-rasa.
But of course, the name is also the goal. So we chant sadhana, and then we get prema, we still chant. The name is sadhana, but the name is also prema. The name is form, qualities, activities, and rasa. So we should have knowledge of the goal when we’re chanting. Otherwise we may have a different goal often.
The name can give us any material benediction, or it can give us liberation also. So if we don’t think of the goal of prema, then we may think of other material liberation goals, and we go in the wrong direction. So if our focus is not clear, and the goal is clear, we can go in the wrong direction.
3) Dear Maharaj, Thank you, Maharaj, for the wonderful class. So we spoke that Krishna takes many forms to protect his devotees and to preserve the dharma, the cosmic order, but is there also other reasons why He can’t? So he takes animal forms. He does that to protect the devotees to maintain dharma, but does He do that also for other reasons, when he takes animal form?
So in one sense the protection of dharma is an external reason. The internal reason is that the Lord wants to please the devotees. He wants to encourage the devotees He wants to encourse the devotee in Prema. So when he displays His form and wonderful activities, the devotees get inspired to serve Him.
So different devotees have different inclinations towards the Lord. Some prefer to serve Him in a human form. Some prefer to serve Him in a four-armed human form, or eight-armed human form. But maybe some prefer to serve Him as a woman, not a man. And then some prefer to serve Him as an animal, a fish or a bird. So the Lord has all these forms. Just like in this material world generally we establish relationships with human beings. As in some people establish relationships with their dogs, or their cats, or their birds, or whatever, or their gophers, or hamsters, or even a snake, or a goldfish, or whatever [Laughs].
So of course in the material world such relationships with non-humans, with the human beings, you can’t get the same satisfaction you get from a human relationship. The communication is not so expert [Laughs]. It’s kind of limited in how much you can talk to our cat [Laughs]. However, in the spiritual world, there’s no limitation that God can have an animal form. But He can communicate with them very nicely.
4) Hare Krishna maharaj. Thank you very much. My question is connected to personalism and impersonalism..I heard [not clear] presently saying actually the war we are fighting ..the war is going on internally in this material world between devas and asuras between devotees and impersonalist If you want to communicate with God, you can do it with God. So the war that we are fighting, the war that is going on eternally in this material world is between Deva and Asuras. It’s not between devotees and impersonalists. So that’s when I started thinking more about impersonalism. And yesterday we said that actually impersonalists, the Mayavadi, they are Asuras. So I don’t know if you want to clarify.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Hiranyakashipu was also an impersonalist. Oh, he was an impersonalist. He talks about Atma and everything like that. But he doesn’t believe in the mission of personal form. Of course, we do have this conflict between the Devas or the devotees and the demons. This is one of the themes of the Bhagavatam, where the demons try to usurp the position of the devotees, and they fight, and whatever, or the Lord comes and pushes them back into position. So that’s there.
Which is, say, the physical conflict. But on a higher level, we have the philosophical conflict. The Vaisnavas or personalist against the atheists or the impersonalist who are not accepting the form of the Lord. So the demons may be philosophical but they may not be philosophical at all, or they’re just completely interested in enjoying the material world. But then we get impersonalists, who don’t accept the form of the Lord, so those are also to be rejected completely. So the whole Brahma Sutra, a lot of the Brahma Sutras, is there to refute all the false philosophies.
5) What is the faith? Because I have difficulty to understand. Often it’s said there is no faith. But what is faith?
So, in Sanskrit we use the word Karma [Laughs], because I’m not sure if you know. In English, it happens by chance we don’t know… So, Vedas say no. A lot of the things that happen to us, happen because of our, as a reaction to our previous actions. Particularly, if you do some violence, or sinful activity in the previous lifetime, then in this lifetime, you have to suffer, equally to the suffering you caused previously. So that suffering may take the form of, accident, sickness, loss, etc. So that suffering may take the form of, accident, sickness, loss, etc.
However, that does not mean that, we just sit there and it’s all karma. The situations that we, without our effort, fall upon us, those are the karmas. At the same time, we do activities. So our choice of activity is not karma. So if I choose to steal, or lie, or cheat in this lifetime, that’s not, I can’t say it’s my karma, so if I’m not responsible, no. It’s your activity in this lifetime, you’re responsible for it.
So, we have no choice over those, karmic circumstances that fall upon us. But we have a choice of the activities, to do in this lifetime. And we have a choice of our goals. Of course, those karmas may, make an obstacle to our goals also. But, the whole goal of all those karmas coming to us, is to make us learn, to choose to act properly. And by choosing to act properly, we actually start to reduce the karmas. So, by certain acts, we can get rid of our fate, so to speak.
Devotee: He was asking about faith. Oh, what is faith?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: I thought he said fate. Okay. Okay, so related to your karma is the other thing. So if it’s fate, that is not related to your karma.
Faith is your belief. And for us, we say faith is a qualification of bhakti, it means we have a belief in supreme order. We have a belief in the statements of scripture. And we have a belief that by acting in a certain way, like the bhakti, we will get a certain result. So that does not depend on previous material activities, a punya or anything. The only cause is mercy of devotees. Okay.
6) I remember last verse of 7th chapter in Bhagavad Gita that says that those who have done various activities, now they’re ready, they can kind of extract the mercy of devotees. Yeah. So.
Okay. So one explanation is that in scripture it does say, even in Bhagavatham, it will say that, you know, you become a devotee because you do unbiased activities and austerities and this and that, whatever. Yeah.
So, one explanation is that this is not talking about pure bhakti. It’s a very mixed bhakti related with, you know, yoga or jnana or even karma. Yeah.
The other meaning is that when we talk about punya, the best punya is bhakti. So bhakti causes bhakti. But of course in that sense, if it’s going to be a beginning of devotional service, it will be mercy of devotees. That would be the punya.
Devotees: HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!