Srimad Bhagavatam 11.11.26~27 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | May 18, 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 26~27.
ŚB 11.11.26-27
श्रीउद्धव उवाच
साधुस्तवोत्तमश्लोक मत: कीदृग्विध: प्रभो ।
भक्तिस्त्वय्युपयुज्येत कीदृशी सद्भिरादृता ॥ २६ ॥
एतन्मे पुरुषाध्यक्ष लोकाध्यक्ष जगत्प्रभो ।
प्रणतायानुरक्ताय प्रपन्नाय च कथ्यताम् ॥ २७ ॥
śrī-uddhava uvāca
sādhus tavottama-śloka
mataḥ kīdṛg-vidhaḥ prabho
bhaktis tvayy upayujyeta
kīdṛśī sadbhir ādṛtā
etan me puruṣādhyakṣa
lokādhyakṣa jagat-prabho
praṇatāyānuraktāya
prapannāya ca kathyatām
Synonyms
śrī-uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said; sādhuḥ — a saintly person; tava — in Your; uttama-śloka — my dear Lord; mataḥ — opinion; kīdṛk-vidhaḥ — what kind would he be; prabho — my dear Personality of Godhead; bhaktiḥ — devotional service; tvayi — unto Your Lordship; upayujyeta — deserves to be executed; kīdṛśī — what type is it; sadbhiḥ — by Your pure devotees such as Nārada; ādṛtā — honored; etat — this; me — to me; puruṣa-adhyakṣa — O ruler of the universal controllers; loka-adhyakṣa — O Supreme Lord of Vaikuṇṭha; jagat-prabho — O God of the universe; praṇatāya — unto Your surrendered devotee; anuraktāya — who loves You; prapannāya — who has no other shelter than You; ca — also; kathyatām — let this be spoken.
Translation
Śrī Uddhava said: My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, what type of person do You consider to be a true devotee, and what type of devotional service is approved by great devotees as worthy of being offered to Your Lordship? My dear ruler of the universal controllers, O Lord of Vaikuṇṭha and almighty God of the universe, I am Your devotee, and because I love You I have no other shelter than You. Therefore please explain this to me.
Purport
In the previous verse it was stated that one can achieve the Lord’s supreme abode by associating with devotees. Therefore, Uddhava naturally inquires about the symptoms of a distinguished devotee whose association can promote one to the kingdom of God. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī notes that the Personality of Godhead knows who is actually a sincere devotee because the Lord is always attached to His loving servitors. Similarly, pure devotees can expertly explain the proper methods of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa because they are already absorbed in love of Kṛṣṇa. Uddhava herein requests Lord Kṛṣṇa to describe the qualities of a devotee and asks the Lord to explain the devotional service that the devotees themselves approve as worthy to be offered to the Lord.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks that the word puruṣādhyakṣa indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the supreme ruler of the universal controllers headed by Mahā-Viṣṇu, and thus the Lord possesses infinite sovereignty. The term lokādhyakṣa indicates that Lord Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate supervising authority of all of the Vaikuṇṭha planets, and therefore the Lord is unlimitedly glorious and perfect. Uddhava further addresses Lord Kṛṣṇa as jagat-prabhu, because even in the illusory material world the Lord exhibits His unlimited mercy by personally incarnating to uplift the conditioned souls. The word praṇatāya (“Your surrendered devotee”) indicates that Uddhava is not proud like ordinary fools who do not enjoy bowing down to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Uddhava mentions that he is anuraktāya, or completely bound in love to Lord Kṛṣṇa, because unlike other great devotees such as Arjuna, who sometimes worshiped demigods in order to comply with social customs or to show respect for their positions in the scheme of planetary management, Uddhava never worshiped any demigods. Therefore, Uddhava is prapannāya, or completely surrendered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having no other shelter.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So here begins Uddhava speaking, because of his questions, another topic will begin. So he asked two very important questions. What type of devotees are there and what types of devotional service are there? So both are important to know. Yesterday I mentioned that knowledge is very important for the progress of bhakti. And therefore, we have an emphasis upon teaching. So the function of the Guru is to teach. And the quality of the disciple is to know.
So we see that in the example of Krishna himself. So he went to the Gurukul. And there he accepted Sandhipani Muni as his Guru. And it is described, how he was a very good student. He hears the knowledge once and then he would know it. And of course he was famous for serving his Guru. And of course after he finished his Gurukul then he asked the Guru what he wanted. Then Sandhipani Muni asked him to get his son who had died. That of course is impossible for anyone else but Krishna went and brought back his son from death. And in this way he showed great respect because his Guru had given him knowledge.
So the devotees of the Lord are highly qualified with knowledge. But of course knowledge is of two types. You can get knowledge from the scriptures. And the devotees explain that knowledge, so that we can understand it. But of course the other type of knowledge is realization. That cannot be taught. That is attained by following the process of Bhakti. But the devotees also teach how to do that Bhakti. So this way one can get not only the knowledge from the scriptures, but also the realization.
So devotees are on different levels. And consequently, they will show different qualities. In addition, they have some common qualities. Just like all human beings have certain qualities distinguishable from dogs, cats, or monkeys. But then we can also distinguish between different types of human beings. For instance, Brahmins have certain qualities and Kshatriyas have other qualities. Similarly, there are some qualities, general qualities of the devotees. So, they are listed here. They are listed in Caitanya Caritamrta, also listed in Bhagavad Gita. Then we have qualities based upon advancement. In other words, as a devotee advances some unique qualities of their stage will also manifest. By these qualities we can measure the advancement of a devotee. We cannot artificially imitate those qualities. However, we can try to avoid doing the opposite, and we can be inspired to obtain similar qualities. So, in this way it is important to know about devotees and their qualities.
And the other topic that he discusses here is, types of devotional service. Of course we have bhakti. Then we have mixed bhakti and pure bhakti. Then we have pure bhakti in sadhana and in prema. Then we also have the divisions of Vaidhi Bhakti and Raghanuga Bhakti. And then within bhakti, we also have different angas like system or angas of bhakti. So, there are various types of bhakti and the devotees should also know. So there is sometimes a choice of what type of bhakti we want to do. So according to our preference we can do a certain type of bhakti and progress by that. But if we don’t know the different types of bhakti then of course we won’t have a good choice. So therefore, we have to know about the different types of bhakti. So that will be explained here. It will also be explained in the nectar of devotion. So that is why it is important for us to know and get the knowledge from the nectar of devotion. And that is why one of the first books that Srila Prabhupad translated was the nectar of devotion. So, in this way, these aspects of knowledge are also very important.
So previously I mentioned that there are different types of knowledge mentioned in the scripture. One was the philosophical aspect, that we call sambandha-jnan. And then we have the process of bhakti called abhideya. So this is the subject here. What types of devotional service are there? What are the types of devotees? This is part of abhideya. If we don’t know the process, we cannot attain the goal. So that is why it is necessary to have this knowledge. If you want to perform a surgical operation you need some knowledge. If you perform the operation without knowledge, you can still do the operation, but it won’t be successful. Patient will die. We can do bhakti, but we don’t know how to do it. We don’t get the result of it – prema. So there is a particular process to get a particular result. Just as in cooking. And depending on the skill of the cook and the knowledge of the cook he will produce very very tasty products that is food. Another person can also do the same activity. He can light the stove, put the pan on the stove, put the vegetables in the pot and cook but it doesn’t taste like anything. So to do anything, we require some knowledge. So, in the material world we have material knowledge. And for spiritual things we have scriptures that give us that knowledge. So the scriptures give us a description of bhakti and how to do bhakti, what are the types of bhakti. And they also explain the different results of bhakti. So in this way we have plenty of knowledge to get us to the proper goal.
Similarly, with the goal. This is called prayojana. So all Vaishnavas have a common goal. So we stop birth and death and we go to the spiritual world and we serve the Lord eternally. That’s the general goal. However, then we also have details. Just like if you are in India and you want to go to America. So that’s a general goal. So, some people are content just to get out of India and get to America. They are successful if they get there. But when you go to America, there are many places there and they are all different. You can be in Los Angeles, you can be in New York, you can be in some small town, you can be in a slum area. So, there are various places. And if you don’t know, if you just go to America, you are going to be very confused. So, some people may concentrate just on earning enough money and getting a visa. But then we also have to see where you are going. So therefore, you have to research what is a good city, what is a good neighborhood in the city. What is the good occupation there, and how can I live happily there. So, if we don’t research that ahead of time, we are going to have a big problem when we get there.
So similarly with Bhakti, the general goal is to go to spiritual world and serve the Lord eternally. But where in the spiritual world? The material world we say is big and America is big maybe but the spiritual world is much much bigger. So we have many planets, 14 planetary systems in the material world, but we have infinite planets in the spiritual world. Each of them has its size. Without proper knowledge, we are going to get lost. So we see that in the case of Gopakumar and the Brihad Bhagavatamrta. Because he did get a Krishna mantra, then he developed a taste for Krishna. And though he got to the spiritual world, he went to Vaikuntha, he went here and there, he was not really satisfied. So finally, Narada Muni gave him some knowledge. To get satisfaction, you have to go to Goloka. And to do that then you have to chant the name of the Lord. So then with that knowledge, he was able to attain Goloka.
So the point is that we do need knowledge of the goal, also not just knowledge of the process and not just the philosophical knowledge. Of course, many religions do not give much information on this. But we see in the Vaishnava literature that the spiritual world is very vast. There are many places there and these places are also described. So, we should take advantage of that knowledge in order to get our specific goal. So to do that, then we have to go to scripture and we have to go to the devotees. And different devotees have different types of knowledge. Some may have knowledge only on Vaikuntha. Others may have knowledge of Goloka. So we have to choose our goal and then choose our process properly.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj mentioned that according to one’s preference one can choose one of the Angas. However, is it that one can choose not necessarily chanting holy name in the present age and still can achieve the ultimate goal?
Anything is possible [Laughs] in Bhakti, by the mercy of the Lord. But we know that, there is a general principle and general process. So in this way, we have to follow the general instructions and then we can do particular thing for particular goal. So the general principle is that – most prominent, most important is chanting the holy name. And if we do other processes, still we also have to chant the name. Therefore it says ‘Harer Nama, Harer Nama, Harer Namiva Kevalam’.
However, there may be exceptional cases. In other Sampradayas they may not emphasize chanting the name, they may do deity worship. They can also progress. But it may be much slower. And of course, we do have examples in the Nectar of Devotion that Sukadev achieved the perfection by recitation, Parkisit by hearing, Lakshmi by serving the lotus feet, etc. So, they prominently do other Angas of Bhakti. That’s possible. But in Kali Yuga in general it is Nama Sankirtan is the major process.
2.) Hare Krishna Maharaj, pure devotional service is ‘Anya Abhilashita Shunyam’. Is desiring to go to the spiritual world and serve the Lord is pure devotional service or not?
So of course if we desire to serve the Lord, ultimately we go to the spiritual world. So that should be the prominent goal of service. Some may desire to go to the spiritual world but not several. That is similar to the people who want liberation. Let me get liberated from the material world and get somewhere in the spiritual world. But no service. And then others say, I’ll go to the spiritual world, I’ll do little service. That’s also possible. So, you can go to the spiritual world, get a spiritual body, and do a little service for the Lord and remain in a great distance. So, the Lord fulfills everybody’s desires. However, the amount of bliss also differs according to the amount of service we do. The more service we do, the more bliss we get. The less service you do, the more peace you get.
3.) Maharaj, you spoke about the knowledge of scriptures, Can we say the devotee who have more knowledge is more advanced and viceversa ? The level of spiritual knowledge.. So, somebody has more knowledge, is that considered to be more advanced and viceversa ?
In one sense, we call the Kanistha in the Nectar of Devotion, the Kanistha has very little knowledge. Madhyama has a little knowledge. And the Uttama has deep knowledge. The effect is that the Kanistha because of little knowledge, also has little faith. Madhyama has little knowledge so therefore his faith is steady. And a person with deep knowledge has also deep faith. So, he’s also steady but he can make other people steady as well. So, the ideal effect is that the more knowledge we get the deeper the faith.
4.) Maharaj, you mentioned that entrance into Goloka Vrindavan is the highest possible status for a Jiva, so if a devotee aspire to go to Goloka, is that any chance he may end up in Aishwarya Goloka as in the Aishwarya Bhava and you know mixed with opulence and not realizing full sweetness of Krishna ?
Viswanatha Chakrawarthi says that if we worship Radha and Krishna or the cowherd boys in Vrindavan but we do it with very great attachment to Vaidhi Bhakti then we end up going to Aishwarya Goloka.
5.) Maharaj, you mentioned about taking up service to the Lord. In that respect, how will a devotee know what service he can take up exclusively? Does the Guru tell to the disciple or can he want to take up a service according to his own desire?
It could be the Guru’s direction, it could be the disciple’s preference, or it could be a combination of both.
6.) Apart from Sambandha-Jnan, does Abhidheya-Jnan and Prayojana-Jnan also depend on realization and not just philosophy?
We can say that the way in which knowledge is delivered, can depend on realization. So let’s say the details and subtle aspects will depend on realization. But the main facts of Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojana can be learned in Sadhana Bhakti without the realization. Because if we don’t know the Abhidheya and the Prayojana – the method and the goal in the Sadhana, we can’t get to the goal. So if we don’t know the Abhidheya and Prayojana and the method to attain the goal in Sadhana, we can’t get to the goal.
7.) Maharaj probably you mentioned yesterday that a devotee develops a particular kind of rasa according to his or her association. Does it mean that a conditioned Jiva never really has any relationship with the Lord? If that is so, then what is the meaning of saying that Jiva is Amsa of the Lord?
So, amsa of the Lord simply means that the Jiva has similar qualities, not completely similar, and is dependent on the Lord. So to say by association or whatever we develop our tendency or whatever, so we cannot really analyze the way in which we develop spiritually by material analysis. Everything spiritual is eternal. Rasas are eternal, spiritual bodies are eternal.
Yeah, we cultivate bhakti with a certain rasa to attain a certain type of spiritual body. So then the question is, well then that’s not eternal. We get a spiritual body, but then we’re getting one, so how is that eternal?
So Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains in Jaiva dharma that from our material point of view, we like to ask such questions. And that is because we analyze things in terms of cause and effect and past, present, future. But in the spiritual world, there is no time. There’s only the present. There’s no question of not having anything. There’s no question of what happened before. But to try to understand that material world is impossible. Unless we develop eternal time concept through realization. So then he says that when you get your realization of Krishna and you’ve got your spiritual body, then you will understand. In our present condition, when we’re developing and thinking of now and future etc, then things look like they’re not eternal. They’re manifested and they appear. So they have a beginning, but actually from the spiritual point of view, no, it’s all eternal.
8.) When a devotee should stop practicing Vaidhi Bhakti and take up Raganuga Bhakti so that he will not end up in Aishwarya Gola? This is a follow-up to that previous question.
Nectar Devotion simply says, Rupa Goswami says there, when we develop a greed for the sweetness of Vrindavan, then you can begin.
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!!!