Srimad Bhagavatam 11.12.22-23 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 22 June 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 12 Verse 22-23.
ŚB 11.12.22-23
द्वे अस्य बीजे शतमूलस्त्रिनाल:
पञ्चस्कन्ध: पञ्चरसप्रसूति: ।
दशैकशाखो द्विसुपर्णनीड-
स्त्रिवल्कलो द्विफलोऽर्कं प्रविष्ट: ॥ २२ ॥
अदन्ति चैकं फलमस्य गृध्रा
ग्रामेचरा एकमरण्यवासा: ।
हंसा य एकं बहुरूपमिज्यै-
र्मायामयं वेद स वेद वेदम् ॥ २३ ॥
dve asya bīje śata-mūlas tri-nālaḥ
pañca-skandhaḥ pañca-rasa-prasūtiḥ
daśaika-śākho dvi-suparṇa-nīḍas
tri-valkalo dvi-phalo ’rkaṁ praviṣṭaḥ
adanti caikaṁ phalam asya gṛdhrā
grāme-carā ekam araṇya-vāsāḥ
haṁsā ya ekaṁ bahu-rūpam ijyair
māyā-mayaṁ veda sa veda vedam
Synonyms
dve — two; asya — of this tree; bīje — seeds; śata — hundreds; mūlaḥ — of roots; tri — three; nālaḥ — lower trunks; pañca — five; skandhaḥ — upper trunks; pañca — five; rasa — saps; prasūtiḥ — producing; daśa — ten; eka — plus one; śākhaḥ — branches; dvi — two; suparṇa — of birds; nīḍaḥ — a nest; tri — three; valkalaḥ — types of bark; dvi — two; phalaḥ — fruits; arkam — the sun; praviṣṭaḥ — extending into; adanti — they eat or enjoy; ca — also; ekam — one; phalam — fruit; asya — of this tree; gṛdhrāḥ — those who are lusty for material enjoyment; grāme — in householder life; carāḥ — living; ekam — another; araṇya — in the forest; vāsāḥ — those who live; haṁsāḥ — swanlike men, saintly persons; yaḥ — one who; ekam — one only, the Supersoul; bahu–rūpam — appearing in many forms; ijyaiḥ — by the help of those who are worshipable, the spiritual masters; māyā–mayam — produced by the potency of the Supreme Lord; veda — knows; saḥ — such a person; veda — knows; vedam — the actual meaning of the Vedic literature.
Translation
This tree of material existence has two seeds, hundreds of roots, three lower trunks and five upper trunks. It produces five flavors and has eleven branches and a nest made by two birds. The tree is covered by three types of bark, gives two fruits and extends up to the sun. Those lusty after material enjoyment and dedicated to family life enjoy one of the tree’s fruits, and swanlike men in the renounced order of life enjoy the other fruit. One who with the help of the bona fide spiritual masters can understand this tree to be a manifestation of the potency of the one Supreme Truth appearing in many forms actually knows the meaning of the Vedic literature.
Purport
The two seeds of this tree are sinful and pious activities, and the hundreds of roots are the living entities’ innumerable material desires, which chain them to material existence. The three lower trunks represent the three modes of material nature, and the five upper trunks represent the five gross material elements. The tree produces five flavors — sound, form, touch, taste and aroma — and has eleven branches — the five working senses, the five knowledge-acquiring senses and the mind. Two birds, namely the individual soul and the Supersoul, have made their nest in this tree, and the three types of bark are air, bile and mucus, the constituent elements of the body. The two fruits of this tree are happiness and distress.
Those who are busy trying to enjoy the company of beautiful women, money and other luxurious aspects of illusion enjoy the fruit of unhappiness. One should remember that even in the heavenly planets there is anxiety and death. Those who have renounced material goals and taken to the path of spiritual enlightenment enjoy the fruit of happiness. One who takes the assistance of bona fide spiritual masters can understand that this elaborate tree is simply the manifestation of the external potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is ultimately one without a second. If one can see the Supreme Lord as the ultimate cause of everything, then his knowledge is perfect. Otherwise, if one is entangled in Vedic rituals or Vedic speculation without knowledge of the Supreme Lord, he has not achieved the perfection of life.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
Here we have a metaphor and a literary device to illustrate the nature of the Jiva in the material world. And we have the example of the tree. So the example of the tree is quite common in the Vedic literature. We see it mentioned in chapter 15 of Bhagavad Gita. Then of course we have the Upanishads they also mention it. Sometimes the example is simpler. So we get in Svetasvatara Upanishad, the two birds in the tree and one bird is eating the fruit and the other is not eating the fruit. So here we have the same tree described but in a little more detail.
So the tree represents the material world and the material body. And here we find that the details of the tree are given. So it has hundreds of roots and its three lower trunks and five upper trunks. And eleven branches and a nest. And three types of bark. So of course obviously the tree with the eleven branches etc represents the prakriti and the material body. The roots, hundreds of roots are the many desires which nourish the body. In other words because of desires we do activities, because of activities we get karma, because of karma we get a body. So as roots nourish the tree so the desires nourish our body and create new bodies for us.
So the body is not useful unless it provides a means for us to get enjoyment. So therefore this tree has the eleven senses. It is through the senses that the body contacts this world and gets a sense of enjoyment. So the senses are very necessary for the body and the jiva. So through those senses the jiva feels happiness and suffering. So there is a mixture within this material world. It is not all happiness.
The jiva desires happiness and wants to avoid suffering but it is impossible. So the bird tries to enjoy the fruits and he ends up suffering. So in the Upanishadic example one bird is the supreme lord. He does not eat the fruit at all. He is beyond the material world. The other bird enjoys the fruit. So that is the jiva. And that jiva sometimes enjoys and sometimes suffers. So of course here we have a little extension of that because there are two types of jivas described. The jiva who wants to enjoy the material world then he uses his senses for that. But then there is another type of jiva called the Hamsa or the Parmahamsa that is the devotee of the lord. So this person does not participate in eating those fruits and getting suffering. Rather he enjoys spiritual bliss. So how does he do that? He does that because he understands the meaning of the Vedas. And he gains that knowledge through the devotees of the lord.
So here we have the example of the bird and the tree and also the means of getting out of this. So the whole arrangement is also created by the supreme lord. But he makes his arrangement in such a way that the jiva can also get out. Another example often given is the prison. So the prison does not create itself. The lord creates the prison of the material world. But the lord also creates an escape route. The jiva is not locked in the prison forever. But of course most jivas don’t know how to get out so they stay in the prison. But the person who gets knowledge then he knows how to get out of the prison.
In the example of the Bhagavad Gita, the banyan tree, there Krishna says one should chop the tree down. And to do that we need axe. So it is the axe of knowledge. So we get proper knowledge and we put that into practice then we can get rid of our material existence. So the example of the tree is used. One, because in the tree we get the bird and the bird enjoys the fruit. So it is a good example of enjoying the material world. But we know that the tree doesn’t give all sweet fruit. It gives bad fruit also. So there is no guaranteed happiness in the material world. Another reason why this example of the tree is used is because it is very complex. It has many many branches, many sub-branches, many leaves. So there is great variety in the material world.
In the Bhagavad Gita the example of the banyan tree. So the banyan tree particularly can grow very huge. Sometimes that tree may extend for a huge area, like kilometers. I think there is a huge tree in the garden there in Adyar. And there is a famous one in Calcutta, a very huge banyan tree. So the tree of the material world is complex with lots of variety, lots of bodies, lots of types of enjoyment and suffering. And one gets lost in all of these different complexities of the material world. And one doesn’t even know where is the main trunk, where is the main root. There seems to be no end to the material world. From our material point of view, yes, the material world is very big. But we cannot see the edge or the end of the material world. It is very very huge. So that’s why this example of the tree is used. But at the same time, this whole complex tree is an obstacle. Because of the tree, we cannot even think properly. So therefore Bhagavad Gita advises us to cut down the tree.
So previously it was mentioned how the soul is there and the soul is covered by material energy. So this is expanding on this by giving the example of the tree and how the whole material world creates an obstacle for people. So another example is the clouds in the sky. So when clouds are in the sky, then the sun does not shine with complete brightness. So nevertheless, if the sun keeps shining, then clouds will go away. And if there are many many clouds covering the sky, it is very dark and we don’t have much light at all. Like that, the more we are covered by material energy, the less we have ability to see Bhakti. We don’t have proper knowledge. Of course, we call this avidya or ajnana in Sanskrit. This is said to be the cause of our materialism.
The solution is to get knowledge. So the Vedas provide that knowledge. However, that knowledge consists of various things. So one is the jnana and jnana yoga. This is the first step where we distinguish body from atma. Certainly that knowledge is necessary. And if we have that knowledge, then we can say we are a clear minded, we have good intelligence. But if we limit ourselves to that knowledge only and don’t go beyond that to understand Supreme Lord, then that type of knowledge also becomes an obstacle.
So that is why Jnana yoga is often condemned in the Bhagavatam. So knowledge should be [Not clear] ignorance and complete knowledge, not half knowledge. So this point is often difficult for people to understand. They struggle to get to the first stage of understanding atma. And they appreciate that and it’s difficult for them to go beyond that. So to go beyond that to accept Supreme Lord is more difficult. That requires the influence of the devotee. Otherwise it is very very difficult for us to understand this. So therefore it particularly mentions at the end of this verse that we should understand the meaning of the Vedic literature through the bona fide spiritual masters. Of course they are presenting the Vedic knowledge, but they are presenting it so that we can understand it.
So through those devotees we get the complete knowledge. And if we have the complete knowledge, then we have a solution to this problem of the obstruction of ignorance in the world. So in this way we do have to get rid of the knowledge, but we have to use the proper method. Of course we can also say we should also not only have the proper guru, we have to get the proper scripture to get the proper knowledge. So though all the bona fide scriptures are there like Vedas and Puranas etc, Caitanya Mahaprabhu has selected the Srimad Bhagavatam as the clearest explanation. Therefore we should study the Srimad Bhagavatam to get the highest truth.
Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Thank you Maharaj. Maharaj, this instruction of the tree of the material world, as you also mentioned, is mentioned in many scriptures, Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam and Upanishads. And it’s been repeated multiple times. So in that sense Maraj, it seems to be quite an important instruction for the devotees also.
Yes, so this is one image given to show the position of the Jiva in relation to material world and in relation to the Supreme Lord. So the Vaishnavas particularly will quote this example to show there’s a difference between the Lord and Jiva also. There’s two birds in the tree and the two birds never become one. But the other point is that the bird is different from the tree. The Jiva is different from material energy. And also the Jiva is in illusion because he is enjoying the fruit of the tree. But he doesn’t have to be in illusion because the other bird is sitting right next to him. So in this way we have a nice glorification of the position of the Supreme Lord. We can clearly see the position of the Supreme Lord.
2.) Is it possible to attain Prema only with harinamam sankirtan and not combining it with meditation using the senses?
But all processes of Sadhana Bhakti use the senses. So by Kirtan we use the voice. The voice is the sense. We also use the ear, another sense. And we also use the mind, another sense. So in Kirtan we use all three of those senses. So the senses are useful for spiritual life. Of course they are also not useful for spiritual life because they lead us into sense enjoyment. But we control the sense enjoyment by engaging the senses in the processes of Bhakti.
3.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. You gave the example of tree and the tree on the bank of a reservoir of water has reflection with root upwards and branch downwards as mentioned in Bhagavad Gita. Is it correct to say that the Sakhya, Madhurya, Rasa etc. in the spiritual world are reflected in the material world as a man is having friends, wife etc. And the top most relation in the spiritual world namely Krishna’s relation with Radharani as Parakiya Rasa is reflected in the material world as the illicit relation as the top most relation is as shown in the bottom in the reflection. Please explain.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur in Caitanya caritamrtam makes this observation. So we have Rasa’s in the spiritual world which are reflected in the material world. But the order is reversed. So in the spiritual world we put Santa Rasa at the bottom. And we put Madhurya Rasa at the top. Madhurya Rasa is the most excellent of all. It gives the highest experience, bliss. So in the material world we have similar Rasa’s like in the spiritual world. But they are material Rasa’s.
And instead of getting enjoyment, we ultimately get suffering. So in the material rasa Sastra of Bharata Muni and others, they put Santa at the very top. And then they put Madhurya Rasa at the bottom. That has been the most agitating. And also the primary and secondary Rasa’s get reversed. So the primary Rasa’s become secondary and the secondary Rasa’s like fear etc. become more prominent and independent.
4.) Is preaching to people with no knowledge easier when compared to speaking to people with less knowledge because they have preconceptions?
If people have some knowledge but the knowledge is not correct, it is somewhat distorted and they are very attached to it, then that is a problem. And especially if they become proud of that knowledge, then that is worse. It becomes very difficult for them to learn anything else.
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!!!