Srimad Bhagavatam – 11.12.1~2 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | June 3, 2021
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
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
nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-caitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara
srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
ŚB 11.12.1-2
श्रीभगवानुवाच
न रोधयति मां योगो न साङ्ख्यं धर्म एव च ।
न स्वाध्यायस्तपस्त्यागो नेष्टापूर्तं न दक्षिणा ॥ १ ॥
व्रतानि यज्ञश्छन्दांसि तीर्थानि नियमा यमा: ।
यथावरुन्धे सत्सङ्ग: सर्वसङ्गापहो हि माम् ॥ २ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
na rodhayati māṁ yogo
na sāṅkhyaṁ dharma eva ca
na svādhyāyas tapas tyāgo
neṣṭā-pūrtaṁ na dakṣiṇā
vratāni yajñaś chandāṁsi
tīrthāni niyamā yamāḥ
yathāvarundhe sat-saṅgaḥ
sarva-saṅgāpaho hi mām
Synonyms
śrī-bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; na rodhayati — does not control; mām — Me; yogaḥ — the aṣṭāṅga-yoga system; na — neither; sāṅkhyam — the analytic study of the material elements; dharmaḥ — ordinary piety such as nonviolence; eva — indeed; ca — also; na — neither; svādhyāyaḥ — chanting the Vedas; tapaḥ — penances; tyāgaḥ — the renounced order of life; na — nor; iṣṭā-pūrtam — the performance of sacrifice and public welfare activities such as digging wells or planting trees; na — neither; dakṣiṇā — charity; vratāni — taking vows such as fasting completely on Ekādaśī; yajñaḥ — worship of the demigods; chandāṁsi — chanting confidential mantras; tīrthāni — going to holy places of pilgrimage; niyamāḥ — following major instructions for spiritual discipline; yamāḥ — and also minor regulations; yathā — as; avarundhe — brings under control; sat-saṅgaḥ — association with My devotees; sarva — all; saṅga — material association; apahaḥ — removing; hi — certainly; mām — Me.
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Uddhava, by associating with My pure devotees one can destroy one’s attachment for all objects of material sense gratification. Such purifying association brings Me under the control of My devotee. One may perform the aṣṭāṅga-yoga system, engage in philosophical analysis of the elements of material nature, practice nonviolence and other ordinary principles of piety, chant the Vedas, perform penances, take to the renounced order of life, execute sacrificial performances and dig wells, plant trees and perform other public welfare activities, give in charity, carry out severe vows, worship the demigods, chant confidential mantras, visit holy places or accept major and minor disciplinary injunctions, but even by performing such activities one does not bring Me under his control.
Purport
The commentary of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī on these two verses can be summarized as follows. One may serve the devotees of the Lord by assisting them or by having their personal association. Association with pure devotees is sufficient for self-realization because one can learn everything about spiritual advancement from such devotees. With perfect knowledge one can achieve all that one desires, for the process of devotional service immediately brings the blessings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Pure devotional service is transcendental to the modes of nature, and therefore it appears mysterious to the souls conditioned by those modes.
In the previous chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa stated, haviṣāgnau yajeta mām: “One may worship Me in fire by offering oblations of ghee.” (Bhāg. 11.11.43) Also, in verse 38 of the previous chapter it was mentioned that one should construct parks, recreational places, orchards, vegetable gardens, and so on. These serve to attract people to the temples of Kṛṣṇa, where they may directly engage in chanting the holy name of the Lord. Such construction projects may be understood as pūrtam, or public welfare activities. Although Lord Kṛṣṇa mentions in these two verses that association with His pure devotees is far more powerful than processes such as yoga, philosophical speculation, sacrifices and public welfare activities, these secondary activities also please Lord Kṛṣṇa, but to a lesser extent. Specifically, they please the Lord when performed by devotees rather than by ordinary materialistic persons. Therefore the comparative term yathā (“according to proportion”) is used. In other words, such practices as sacrifice, austerity and philosophical study may help one become fit for rendering devotional service, and when such activities are performed by devotees aspiring for spiritual advancement, they become somewhat pleasing to the Lord.
One may study the example of vratāni, or vows. The injunction that one should fast on Ekādaśī is a permanent vow for all Vaiṣṇavas, and one should not conclude from these verses that one may neglect the Ekādaśī vow. The superiority of sat-saṅga, or association with pure devotees, in awarding the fruit of love of Godhead does not mean that one should give up other processes or that these secondary processes are not permanent factors in bhakti-yoga. There are many Vedic injunctions instructing one to execute the agnihotra sacrifice, and the modern-day followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu also occasionally execute fire sacrifices. Such sacrifice is recommended by the Lord Himself in the previous chapter, and therefore it should not be given up by the devotees of the Lord. By performing Vedic ritualistic and purificatory processes, one is gradually elevated to the platform of devotional service, whereupon one is able to directly worship the Absolute Truth. One Vedic injunction states, “The result awarded for fasting continuously for one month on six different occasions can easily be achieved simply by accepting a handful of rice offered to Lord Viṣṇu. This facility is especially offered in the Kali-yuga.” Nevertheless, regulated fasting on Ekādaśī is not an impediment to spiritual advancement. Rather, it is a perpetual aspect of devotional service and can be considered an auxiliary principle supporting the main principle of worshiping Lord Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. Because such secondary principles help one become fit for executing the primary processes of devotional service, they are also greatly beneficial. Therefore, such secondary principles are widely mentioned throughout Vedic literature. It may be concluded that such secondary principles are essential for advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and therefore one should never give up the principle of vrata, the execution of prescribed vows.
In the previous chapter Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī mentioned that the words ājñāyaivaṁ guṇān doṣān (Bhāg. 11.11.32) indicate that a devotee should select Vedic principles that do not conflict with his service to the Lord. Many of the elaborate Vedic ceremonies and complicated procedures for fasting, demigod worship and yoga practice cause great disturbance to the supreme process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, hearing and chanting about the Lord; therefore they are rejected by the Vaiṣṇavas. However, the processes helpful to devotional service should be accepted. The example can be given of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, who was instructed by the dying Bhīṣmadeva. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.9.27) Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira in dāna-dharma, or public acts of charity, rāja-dharma, or the duties of a king, mokṣa-dharma, or duties for salvation, strī-dharma, or duties for women, and ultimately bhāgavata-dharma, or pure devotional service to the Lord. Bhīṣma did not limit his discussion to bhāgavata-dharma, because Lord Kṛṣṇa gave Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira the devotional service of acting as a king, and to execute his service Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja required extensive knowledge of civic affairs. However, one who is not rendering such prescribed devotional service in society should not unnecessarily involve himself in the material world, even by practice of Vedic rituals. Nothing should distract him from the ultimate goal of satisfying Lord Kṛṣṇa.
The principle of not giving up prescribed vows may be further illustrated by the example of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa. In the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we find that although Mahārāja Ambarīṣa performed elaborate Vedic sacrifices, his goal was always the satisfaction of the Lord. The citizens in his kingdom did not desire to go to heaven, because they were always hearing about the glories of Vaikuṇṭha. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, along with his queen, observed the vow of Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī for one year. Since Ambarīṣa Mahārāja is considered to be a great jewel among Vaiṣṇavas, and since his behavior was always exemplary, it is definitely concluded that such vows as fasting on Ekādaśī are imperative for Vaiṣṇavas. It is further stated in Vedic literature, “If due to negligence a Vaiṣṇava does not fast on Ekādaśī, then his worship of Lord Viṣṇu is useless, and he will go to hell.” The members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness fast from grains and beans on Ekādaśī, and this vow should always be observed by all of its members.
If one falsely thinks that one may obtain the association of Lord Kṛṣṇa merely by great austerities, brilliant studies in Sanskrit literature, magnanimous acts of charity, etc., one’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be distorted and weakened. One should remember the example of Lord Caitanya, who practiced Kṛṣṇa consciousness by constantly hearing and chanting about Lord Kṛṣṇa. If by fasting, study, austerity or sacrifice one becomes more fit to participate in the saṅkīrtana movement of Lord Caitanya, then such activities are also pleasing to Lord Kṛṣṇa. But the Lord clearly explains here that such activities can never become central in the practice of bhakti-yoga. They must remain in an auxiliary relationship to the supreme process of sat-saṅga, or association with pure devotees who hear and chant the glories of the Lord. Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted from Vedic literature that if one offends the Lord’s devotees and does not learn to associate with them, Lord Viṣṇu personally places barriers in the path of such a person so that he may not enter into the Lord’s company.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So, this is just one example of many types of verses in Bhagavatam that state the superiority of Sadhu Sangha and devotional service in general. Though there’s a whole list of activities mentioned here, some of which were also mentioned in the previous chapters. Some of them are directly devotional service if we take portions of them, like vrata, for instance, vows. So, we have vrata of ekadashi which is one of the angas of Bhakti itself. But we shouldn’t distinguish it from the process of Bhakti itself. However, there are other vratas, which are not mentioned in the devotional literature. So, there’s a famous one called the Chandrayana vrata in which you gradually decrease your food according to the phases of the moon. So, that is not a directly part of devotional service.
So, why ekadashi is directly devotional service and other fasts are not? The ekadashi fast is a fast for pleasing Vishnu or Krishna. Now, we fast on that day for nobody else except Vishnu. So, it is only for Vishnu. Other fasts, of course, are for other purposes. So, therefore, that type of Vrata is not one which is secondary, it’s actually a primary anga of Bhakti. And in fact, it’s mentioned at the very beginning as the door to Bhakti.
So, there are 64 Angas of Bhakti and the first 20 are called the door to Bhakti. And the first 10 are the things you should do and the second 10 are the things you should not do. So, of course, among those, the most important is to approach a Guru and to take siksha and diksha from Guru, to follow and respect the Guru, to ask questions from Guru, these are very important. But among those first 10 Angas of Bhakti, we have following vratas like ekadashi. So, therefore, because it is in honour of Vishnu, it is direct devotional service.
Other [Not clear] things listed here such as Sankhya, not necessarily Bhakti at all. So, of course, we have the Sankhya of the Kapila, in the Bhagavatam, that involves Bhakti, Yoga, Karma, Jnana, etc. so, there is Bhakti there. But then there is another Sankhya of the atheistic Kapila, which has no relationship with God at all, so that we never touch. Again, Yoga in general it means Ashtanga Yoga of Patanjali and though he admits there is Paramatma to some degree, still the general goal is liberation. So, therefore, we don’t consider this as part of devotional service. Yet we can use portions of it to help calm the mind or have good health, etc. But these are always secondary practices to the main practice of Bhakti.
So, similarly, we have here Tyaga or renunciation. So, of course, that can mean Sannyasa. And Vairagya in general, detachment. So, Rupa Goswami mentions that this Vairagya and Jnana, they are not Angas of Bhakti. And he says, In the beginning, they are a little favourable. But they tend to make the heart hard, dry. If the heart is dry, Bhakti will not grow. Yeah, obviously to advance in devotional service we have to have some sort of detachment. So therefore, among the first ten Angas of bhakti, also one of the items is to not be too attached to material things and offer everything to Krishna, so that’s our form of [Not clear].
Another one is charitable activities. And, of course, in the Karma scriptures, we have things like digging well, giving education, etc. so these are considered to be Punyas. So, definitely, they are not devotional services. However, we can do welfare activities or charities, which are for the temple, then it becomes part of bhakti. So we can dig wells and plant trees for the garden of Krishna. So, that is related to Krishna, so therefore, that’s pleasing to Krishna, it is bhakti. But, if we simply do some welfare activities for society, it’s not considered bhakti.
However, we can also consider it as, let’s say, indirect bhakti in a sense because it’s also in the Karma scriptures, Karma scriptures are approved by the Lord, we’re following the Lords’ orders, so, in that sense, it gets related, indirectly related to bhakti. So such activities may help purify a person. And when he’s pure, then he can be steadier in devotional service. So, these activities may have favourable influence on bhakti. But, it can also have a dangerous effect. We may get too attached to all of these charitable activities and then we neglect the bhakti. So, therefore, these activities can be done but they have to be done along with the main principles, activities of bhakti. Similarly, we have tirthas, visiting tirthas, or doing service to tirthas. So, there are many types of tirthas, but, if they are Vaishnava tirthas, places related to Vishnu or Krishna, then fine, it’s part of Bhakti also.
So, one of the 64 angas of Bhakti, after the first 20, we have 44. One of them is to engage the feet by walking to the temple. Or doing Parikrama around the temple. And of course, we can say to go on pilgrimage to a temple. So, this is a part of bhakti itself. But On the other hand, simply to go to all the famous tirthas mentioned in the scriptures like Varanasi, etc. so this is not direct bhakti.
So, then we have, here it mentions, worship of Devatas. Generally, we don’t worship Devatas, we worship forms of the Lord. But, we can worship the Devatas, understanding they are the servants of the Lord. And worship of the Vaishnava or the devotee is part of bhakti. However, again, we may fall into difficulty if we worship those Devatas trying to get material benefits from them. So, in this way, we have many items here and the idea here is, that the important element is Sat-sanga, or association with devotees. So, one cannot attain the Lord as much by all these other activities as one can attain the Lord by associating with devotees.
So, as the purport says, we are not recommending to reject everything, all these other things but, if they are done, they are done secondarily. And with proper consciousness. So, that proper consciousness means that we understand that the main angas of bhakti are the principal means of our advancement. Other activities may assist us to make our mind steady or to give us good health. Or, we may do the activities simply because we should follow the orders of the Lord. And by following these different principles, we set an example for people who don’t have faith in bhakti. Therefore, we have to take all these other things praised in scripture and understand which are the best items.
Now here it says, association with devotees is the best. You can destroy your material attachment and you can attain the Lord. And the other things, if done very independently from bhakti then, not valuable at all. If they are somehow related to bhakti and favourable to bhakti, yes, we can do them. But, we make the main elements of bhakti, including this association with devotees, as the principal element. So, among the Angas of bhakti, here the Sadhu Sanga is emphasized. And other places in Bhagavatam also we will find this association with the devotees is emphasized. In talking to Ramananda Raya, Lord Caitanya rejected following Varanashrama, following this, following that [Laughs]. And then, Ramananda quoted a verse from Bhagavatam talking about associating with devotees, hearing topics of Krishna from them and the Lord Caitanya said, ‘that’s very good’.
So, by rejecting all these other things, that doesn’t mean Lord Caitanya rejected Varanashrama but, at the same time, we have to put that in the perspective of devotional service, association of devotees, hearing about Krishna.
So, in various places, various angas of bhakti will be emphasized. So, here Sadhu Sanga is emphasized, other places, hearing topics of Krishna is emphasized. And in other places, chanting the holy name is emphasized. So, of course, Lord Caitanya says chanting the holy name is Yuga dharma, so that’s the most important. But, Sadhu Sanga and Sravanam go along with that Harinama Kirtan. So, in this way, there is no contradiction when these different elements of bhakti are emphasized.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj, you mentioned about visiting holy places like Varanasi is not so beneficial. However, devotees visit certain places or temples, which is not necessarily Vishnu temples, that have been visited by Lord Caitanya. In that spirit, Maharaj, so how to understand this?
When Lord Caitanya visited these temples, like Shiva temples, then he visited them understanding that Shiva is the devotee of Vishnu. But there is no offense going to the temple with that mood. At the same time, generally the devotee would like to see the form of Krishna. So that is why, though Lord Caitanya went throughout South India, he came back to Puri and he stayed there for many years looking at Jagannath. So yes, we can go to all these different Tirthas to see the different forms and see the Devatas to understand they are devotees of the Lord. But nevertheless, the main activity if you want to go to temples is to go to the Krishna temples. Or we can go to these temples and understand the pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
2.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. The next thing is, when we are practicing pure bhakti in ISKCON, we are also doing fire sacrifices during Diksha and some other festivals and ceremonies. Whereas we find in Srimad Bhagavatam 7.14.17 wherein the translation goes like this: Enjoyer of all sacrifices is not worshipped by offerings to the fires as much as He is worshipped by offerings to the mouths of Brahmanas. So cross referring to this sloka, we are doing fire sacrifices in our temple during Diksha and other ceremonies. So how to understand this?
Well, that’s the same principle mentioned here. The main element is actually associate with devotees, hear the topics of Krishna and chant the holy name. There are many sacrifices mentioned in the Vedic literature, most of them are part of karma. We see Yudhishthira doing horse sacrifice. And of course, other previous kings also did horse sacrifice. So, in this way we have all sorts of, we have Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhishthira Maharaja, the king [Laughs]. And, in Treta yuga, sacrifice was the main worship of the Lord. So, sacrifice is not always for devatas. It can be Vaishnavas as well. But many of the sacrifices that are done are part of karma and they have meant worship of a lot of Devatas. And even there, there is worship of Vishnu. So, Yudhishthira did these sacrifices with the idea of worshipping Krishna. So, that’s the traditional sacrifice. Now, in our society, much less. In fact, if you look at Gaudiyas in general, no sacrifices, even they don’t have a [Not clear] sacrifice, no diksha sacrifice even.
And the sacrifices that are usually done are the sacrifices associated with karma, that is samskaras like wedding sacrifice etc. which are not directly bhakti. So those are Vedic sacrifices. And if we are supposed to follow samskaras as householders, then we have to do those sacrifices. There are other sacrifices like the daily Agnihotra, supposed to be done by every twice born, but rarely done now, every day you have to do your Nitya Homa. Just as Dvija should do Sandhya Vandana, Gayatri Mantra, three times a day, he should also do a daily Homa. This is also we can say, a Vedic practice or Varanashramic practice. It may be done, but it’s not part of Bhakti. So some twice born Vaishnavas may do these things. And by doing so, they set an example for others in society. The Vaishnava, of course, can relate these to Krishna, because the Gayatri Mantra is ultimately Krishna or Vishnu. But in general, in the Gaudiyas, this is quite separate, all these things are quite separate from the process of bhakti.
So the other way in which sacrifices enter into our activities is through Pancharatra. Particularly when we establish deities, then they also do some sacrifices. Even that is a little bit, we can say, unusual, only deities are not established every day, only sometimes. And in establishing deities, some Gaudiyas don’t even do sacrifices. When we were establishing some deities in Chittagong and Bangladesh, then some people said, why are you doing sacrifices? We’ve never seen sacrifices, we’ve never seen Gaudiyas doing sacrifices before [Laughs]. So the other sacrifices, of course, these Samskaras, and then outside of the Vaishnavas they get more Varnashramic, but we have the Pancharatrika Samskaras in deity installation. One could do such Pancharatrika sacrifices for the deity mentioned in Hari Bhakti Vilas, but people rarely do those. But then we find within ISKCON, people like sacrifices. So we have many sacrifices, including Sudarshana sacrifices [Laughs], Narasimha sacrifices, etc. So, these can be classed as Pancharatrika sacrifices, So they’re not part of Karma, they’re part of Bhakti.
Then we do a sacrifice for initiation. This is also a little unusual. Definitely in Pancharatra, by Diksha, you can do sacrifices, but rarely done in the Gaudiya Sampradaya. So in the Gaudiya Math, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur did this fire sacrifice at second initiation. But this was a Vedic Upanayanam sacrifice to give the Brahma Gayatri Mantra to the male initiates, that’s all. So that was how fire sacrifice got into the Gaudiya Math, and only at that time, usually it was done.
So Prabhupada introduced a fire sacrifice for first initiation. So of course, that’s become very popular as part of initiation, if you don’t do it, then it’s not real initiation, etc. but again, it’s secondary. And in doing the sacrifice, of course, we’re not worshipping Devatas, that’s not for material purposes, again it is only to please the Lord. But in doing all of these things, even if they are direct bhakti, or Pancharatra or Vedic, whatever, we have to chant the holy name.
Devotee: Hari bol! That was an elaborate explanation Maharaj. Thank you so much.
3.) So how and from where one can learn about associating with devotees? Because it seems to be a herculean task to find a pure devotee?
Well, a pure devotee has a wide application or meaning. So in one sense, it could mean highest devotee, somebody in Prema, that is definitely very, very rare. A very broad definition is anyone who practices bhakti. And pure bhakti means what we practice in ISKCON or any of the followers of Lord Caitanya practice or any Vaishnava Sampradaya practicing, they are trying to please the Lord, they’re not trying to get material gain. So in that sense, we have pure devotees everywhere, all the members of ISKCON are pure devotees.
4.) Jai, Jai. We see that Ambarisha Maharaj and his wife practice ekadashi fasting for one year while it’s being considered as an important Anga for bhakti. How to understand this? They actually practiced only for one year?
Well, I don’t know whether it was fasting completely for one year, but at least they were fasting on ekadashi [Laughs]. So, of course, nothing unusual about that because we always fast on ekadashi [Laughs]. But some people in India following scripture will fast only once a month, that is maybe on the waxing phase, not on the waning phase [Laughs]. So instead of fasting twice a month, they fast once a month [Laughs]. And maybe others would only do it once every several months or once a year even [Laughs]. So at least to do it regularly for one year, twice a month is considered to be a bigger [Not clear].
5.) We use knowledge for advancement in bhakti. So how Jnana makes the heart hard and unfavourable for bhakti?
So when we say Jnana makes the heart dry up or hard, that is not the Bhagavat Jnana of Bhagavatam, it’s the Jnana of impersonalism. So to study Sankaracharya’s commentary or to study atheistic Kapila’s Sankhya, that would make the heart dry up. By studying those works then our goal becomes merging in Brahman with no form rather than serving the form of Krishna. That’s unfavourable to bhakti.
6.) It is mentioned that if Vaishnavas don’t observe Ekadashi out of negligence, worship of Lord Vishnu is useless and they go to hell. So can you please elaborate a bit on this?
This means if you forget to do it one time, you go to hell [Laughs]. So this is to emphasize the fact that we should do it in all cases. However, we also know that sometimes due to circumstances that may not be possible to do it or whatever, we may forget or some other reason, so we don’t have to take this statement literally in that case. But if we neglect to fast and we know we should fast, then of course that’s a problem [Laughs]. So in other words, as much as possible, we try to respect that rule of fasting on ekadashi. That was also Lord Caitanya’s instruction [Not clear].
7.) Maharaj, while offering food items to Krishna, we offer what is part of this material world and we try to connect it with Krishna. So is this Swarupa Siddha or Sangha Siddha bhakti?
So any part of archana, that’s part of Swarupa Siddha bhakti. So archana is included among the 64 Angas of bhakti.
8.) Maharaj, we see that bhakti is considered to be in suddha sattva stage. In any aspects or parts of Varnashrama system, is there any bhakti yoga which is available in this standard, within Varnashrama?
So in Varnashrama, there is worship of Vishnu. And we see that there is Panchopasana, worship of Surya and Durga and Shiva and Ganesha and also Vishnu. So though there is worship of Vishnu or Krishna in the Varnashrama system, many people will take that as Devata worship. And the goal is material benefits. Therefore, that worship of Vishnu is not Bhakti. Others may understand, yes, Vishnu is supreme, therefore, yes, we can say that is bhakti. But it is a small portion of their activity. So, they will worship five deities including Vishnu [Laughs]. So, Vishnu gets one-fifth of the worship, one-fifth of the time, one-fifth of the concentration [Laughs]. And still, even if they do understand that he is supreme and beyond material energy, still they have material desire. So, it may become bhakti but then it will be mixed bhakti.
9.) Is it required to stay awake on the night of ekadashi? And if someone who is not feeling well, who is sick and if he is not able to fast on ekadashi day, is it considered an offense? For newcomers, should we insist for ekadashi fast?
So, staying awake at night is mentioned in the scriptures like Hari Bhakti Vilas. But the most important part is the fasting part. And even that can be done to various degrees. You can eat nothing. You can take water. Or you can take non-grain foods. Or, as Sri Vaishnavas do, you can take grains which are broken, not whole [Laughs]. Second part was what?
Devotee: The second part was, due to health reasons if someone is not able to fast?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So, if young people, old people, unhealthy people, order of Guru, there are exceptions to the fast [Laughs].
Devotee: And the third part of it is, how about newcomers? Should we insist or not?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : Well, it depends on their advancement. If they are already vegetarian and this and that, okay, we can add that as a vrata, but possibly not in the beginning [Laughs]. And most important is to chant the holy name, secondly, they give up meat [Laughs].
Hare Krishna.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!