Srimad Bhagavatam 11.11.25 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 17 May 2021
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 11 Chapter 11 Verse 25.
ŚB 11.11.25
sat-saṅga-labdhayā bhaktyā
mayi māṁ sa upāsitā
sa vai me darśitaṁ sadbhir
añjasā vindate padam
Synonyms
sat — of the devotees of the Lord; saṅga — by the association; labdhayā — obtained; bhaktyā — by devotion; mayi — to Me; mām — of Me; saḥ — he; upāsitā — worshiper; saḥ — that very person; vai — undoubtedly; me — My; darśitam — revealed; sadbhiḥ — by My pure devotees; añjasā — very easily; vindate — achieves; padam — My lotus feet or My eternal abode.
Translation
One who has obtained pure devotional service by association with My devotees always engages in worshiping Me. Thus he very easily goes to My abode, which is revealed by My pure devotees.
Purport
In the previous verses Lord Kṛṣṇa has emphasized the value of surrendering to Him in loving service. One may ask how such surrender or devotion is actually achieved. The Lord gives the answer in this verse. One must live in a society of devotees, and thus automatically one will be engaged twenty-four hours a day in the various processes of devotional service, beginning with śravaṇam, kīrtanam and smaraṇam (hearing, glorifying and remembering the Lord). The pure devotees of the Lord can reveal the spiritual world by their transcendental sound vibration, making it possible for even a neophyte devotee to experience the Lord’s abode. Being thus enlivened, the neophyte makes further progress and gradually becomes qualified to personally serve the Personality of Godhead in the spiritual world. By constantly associating with devotees and learning from them about devotional science, one quickly achieves a deep attachment for the Lord and the Lord’s service, and such attachment gradually matures into pure love of Godhead.
Foolish persons say that the various mantras composed of names of God, as well as all other mantras, are merely material creations with no special value, and therefore any so-called mantra or mystical process will ultimately produce the same result. To refute such superficial thinking, the Lord here describes the science of going back home, back to Godhead. One should not accept the bad association of impersonalists, who state that the holy name, form, qualities and pastimes of the Lord are māyā, or illusion. Māyā is actually an insignificant potency of the almighty Personality of Godhead, and if one ignorantly tries to elevate illusion above the Absolute Truth, one will never experience love of Godhead and will be cast into deep forgetfulness of the Lord. One should not associate with those who are envious of the fortunate devotees who are going back to Godhead. Such envious persons deride the abode of the Lord, which is revealed by the pure devotees to those who have faith in the Lord’s message. Envious persons create disturbances among the people in general, who should take shelter of the faithful devotees of the Lord. Unless people hear from pure devotees, it is impossible for them to understand that there is a Supreme Personality of Godhead eternally existing in His own abode, which is self-luminous, full of bliss and knowledge. In this verse, the importance of saṅga, association, is clearly explained.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So in this verse, we see that not only devotion is a subject, but rather the cause, association with devotees also. So the point at this verse is that one attains bhakti by association with the devotees. And once he performs this bhakti, then he can go to the spiritual world. So the process of bhakti does not depend upon other processes that is karma or jnana or yoga. So the cause is the devotees association. Of course, we can say, well, association means just being close, so definitely closeness to a devotee or touching a devotee is fine. Any type of relationship with the devotee is purifying. For that reason, Lord Caitanya says you should take the foot dust, the foot water and the prasadam of [Not audible]. But more important than that is the knowledge one gets from the devotee. It is by knowledge one can practice bhakti yoga properly. Of course, there are cases where a person gets advancement and perfection by mercy. But usually the process of perfection is through sadhana. And to do sadhana properly, we need knowledge. So that knowledge is given by the devotees. Of course, knowledge is in the scriptures. The problem is that even if a devotee goes to the scriptures, he doesn’t really understand. Therefore, he needs a person to give him proper instructions. So in this way, a person can advance by getting that proper knowledge.
So of course, we can call this person Guru. Yet, we also have a Diksha Guru. So the difference is that the Diksha Guru particularly gives a mantra. And that mantra qualifies one for deity worship. That is why we say you cannot worship the deity until you have got second initiation. Of course, for the Gaudiya sampradaya, Harinama is more prominent than deity worship. But nevertheless, deity worship is also one of the five important angas of bhakti. But even there in Diksha, in getting the mantra, Jiva Goswami explains that in the mantra there is divya jnanam. Diksha, both syllables, ‘di’ and ‘ksha’, so the ‘di’ stands for divya jnana, spiritual knowledge. And ‘ksha’ stands for kshaya, which means destruction of the sin. So what is the divya jnana and how is that conveyed by the process of Diksha? Obviously, in Siksha, one is getting divya jnana automatically.
What makes Diksha different? As I said, one gets a deity mantra. In that deity mantra, there is also divya jnana. So what is the knowledge in the mantra? One, we should know who to worship. Who to worship? Should we worship Shiva or Ganesh, Durga or Murugan whatever. So the mantra will give us the deity. So of course, for us, it is Krishna. And also, the mantra will give us our relationship with Krishna. Of course, the general relationship, we are all eternally Krishna’s servants. But of course, we also have higher rasas. We have dasya rasa, sakhya rasa, vatsalya rasa, madhurya rasa. So in giving that mantra, the Guru is giving you knowledge who to worship and what type of relationship we have with Krishna. Once we know that, then we can do bhakti. If we don’t know who to worship, how we can do bhakti? So even in Diksha, there is giving knowledge. Of course, most of the devotees already know [Not audible]. In ancient times, this was not so. People would be worshipping various deities. And only when they go to the Guru and the Guru gives the mantra, then they learn, oh, I have to worship Krishna.
However, the knowledge of the deity or the form we should worship is already implicit in all of our teachings even long before people take Diksha. Furthermore, we also get the same knowledge in chanting Hare Krishna. While chanting Hare Krishna, the instruction is worship Krishna. So in this way, knowledge is very important and this is given through the devotees. So we have to know who to worship and then we have to know how to do the worship.
So of course, we do have the technical worship, we can say the pancharatric system, deity worship. So if we want to worship the deity, we have to know a particular method. And in the modern era, the Diksha Guru usually doesn’t do that. One goes to the pujari or temple president or somebody and learns that way. Then, of course, there is also the more let’s say, advanced idea of relationship with the Lord. How do we, which relationship? Is it sakhya, is it vatsalya, madhurya or dasya or whatever? And usually in ISKCON, we don’t even deal with that. In deity worship particularly, we usually emphasize dasya in vaidhi bhakti.
So in any case, teaching is necessary to advance. That teaching also is divided into three categories. So one is the philosophical aspect. Generally, devotees don’t like philosophy. Why do we have to learn all of this? But we see that the scriptures and the Acharyas often deal a lot with this philosophical aspects. But at least we have to know the basics. Just as if you want to go to physics, you will have to learn basic mathematics. So to practice devotional service, we also need some basics. So we have to know the position of the Lord, position of the jiva, position of devatas, position of matter. So the philosophy defines all of these items. And we know that different philosophies have completely different items of [Not audible]. So the Mayavadis say, well actually there isn’t anything except Brahman. But we say no, the jiva is real, matter is real, Supreme Lord is real. So we do need some philosophy.
We also have to define what is the goal of the jiva. And we also have to define the process by which we attain that goal. These are the three subjects that scripture deals with. And we will find in the Bhagavatam and in the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures, all these three aspects are explained. And if we have knowledge of these, then we can carry out our practice of bhakti yoga. And then we get the right result. So that is indicated here in the last line, vindate padam. One reaches the goal, one reaches the lotus feet of the Lord, one reaches the spiritual abode of the Lord. Of course we can say, well that means salokya, but actually we are not supposed to desire salokya. So when we talk about attaining the spiritual abode or having darshan of the Lord, what it actually means is that we realise the Lord and we serve Him eternally.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj, as you mentioned, in ISKCON we do not deal with the relationship, that is rasa. So can we understand that by performing in dasya or vaidhi bhakti, depending on the sincerity of the jiva, would that automatically be revealed?
Usually according to scripture, we will understand by, the relationship, by association with devotees. So if you associate with devotees who are in sakhya rasa, then you tend to get sakhya rasa. Of course, if we look at Lord Caitanya’s teachings and the works of the Goswamis and the other Acharyas, then we will find there is a prominent emphasis on madhurya rasa and of course, we worship Radha Krishna in the temple.
2.) Maharaj, can we say that getting the Lord’s mercy for madhurya rasa is extremely rare because we see that even devotees like Sri Bhishma Dev, Prahlada Maharaj, they were not in madhurya rasa. So how to understand this Maharaj?
Not only is madhurya rasa rare, but madhurya rasa of Vrindavan is even rarer because even Lakshmi can’t get it. So yes, in one sense it is rare, but by the mercy of Lord Caitanya, then that madhurya rasa of Radha and Krishna become free for everybody. But still, we have to follow properly to develop that.
3.) Maharaj, for attaining prema, is Harinama initiation sufficient or whether second initiation is a must?
So ultimately it says Harinama, harer namaiva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21] [Laughs]. Lord Caitanya when He went to, travelling in South India, He just told everybody to chant the holy name. So if we chant the holy name sincerely and if we get good instructions from devotees and we get the proper knowledge, then of course, we can get there.
4.) Maharaj, you said that Sri Mahaprabhu has recommended to take the lotus feet dust and caranamrita and ucchishtam of pure devotees. However we see that only few devotees were allowed by Sri Mahaprabhu to take His remnants like Kalidas, Govinda were allowed, not everyone were allowed to take His remnants. How to understand this?
So one reason may be that He was taking a very humble position. And of course, He didn’t want people worshipping Him as the Supreme Lord or even as a great devotee.
5.) Maharaj, in other sampradayas Kumara, Rudra, Sri sampradayas, is there a separate parampara or a system for Siksha and Diksha whether they are completely segregated and is there any specific sampradaya wherein Diksha is mandatory?
Well, they all have Diksha processes. But in some they may be pretty liberal [Laughs]. So in Vallabha sampradaya, the Diksha is a very liberal process. And it seems that even little children get it. And it’s a very simple process, the Diksha is just give the mantra, finished [Laughs]. Other, Sri sampradaya and Madhva, we could say, are more influenced by vaidhic principles. And by pancharatric principles. So they follow the rules quite strictly. So they all have a process of Diksha. And of course, the Siksha also goes on by that Diksha Guru or by others as well. But the concept of Diksha also is a little different in some sampradayas. [Laughs] For instance, in the Madhva, I think, it’s quite little strict.
6.) Please explain the role of scriptures in relation to the development of rasa between devotee and Lord.
So if one reads many different scriptures regarding Maha Vishnu, so then, in general, one will probably develop dasya. If we choose Krishna and read Bhagavatam, then we have more of a choice. And by hearing the pastimes of Krishna with His various devotees, we develop attraction for one of those. But the sampradaya may also emphasize rasa. So our sampradaya emphasizes madhurya rasa.
7.) Maharaj, in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, preaching is considered to be as important as deity worship. Does deity worship include extended services such as maintaining the temple etc?
Well, yeah, in one sense, maintaining the temple is related to deity worship though we can say also it’s a little bit separate [Laughs]. We usually refer to archana or deity worship as the direct worship of the deity, offer certain items to the deity in a certain way.
8.) Maharaj, can we understand that without association of a devotee in a particular rasa, we can’t attain that rasa?
So that’s the usual process. There may be exceptions, but that’s the usual process you develop according to your sanga.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Haribol!!!