Srimad Bhagavatam 2.6.27 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 6 October 2026
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
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 2 Chapter 6 Verse 27.
ŚB 2.6.27
गतयो मतयश्चैव प्रायश्चित्तं समर्पणम् ।
पुरुषावयवैरेते सम्भारा: सम्भृता मया ॥ २७ ॥
gatayo matayaś caiva
prāyaścittaṁ samarpaṇam
puruṣāvayavair ete
sambhārāḥ sambhṛtā mayā
Synonyms
gatayaḥ — progress to the ultimate goal (Viṣṇu); matayaḥ — worshiping the demigods; ca — as also; eva — certainly; prāyaścittam — compensation; samarpaṇam — ultimate offering; puruṣa — the Personality of Godhead; avayavaiḥ — from the parts of the body of the Personality of Godhead; ete — these; sambhārāḥ — the ingredients; sambhṛtāḥ — were arranged; mayā — by me.
Translation
Thus I had to arrange all these necessary ingredients and paraphernalia of sacrifice from the personal bodily parts of the Personality of Godhead. By invocation of the demigods’ names, the ultimate goal, Viṣṇu, was gradually attained, and thus compensation and ultimate offering were complete.
Purport
In this verse, special stress is given to the person of the Supreme Lord, and not to His impersonal brahmajyoti, as being the source of all supplies. Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Lord, is the goal of sacrificial results, and therefore the Vedic hymns are ultimately meant for attaining this goal. Human life is thus made successful by pleasing Nārāyaṇa and getting entrance into the direct association of Nārāyaṇa in the spiritual kingdom of Vaikuṇṭha.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So the whole goal of all of this, even though these sacrifices in the Vedas are largely material, the goal is Supreme Lord. To attain the Supreme Lord, we need a method. And that method is worship. One of the methods of course is this yajna. We also have meditation, we have deity worship, we have Nama Sankirtana. So here particularly the yajna, the homa is described. And the homa requires certain ingredients. And at the beginning there were no ingredients, so where did they come from? From Supreme Lord. So ingredients come from the Supreme Lord by which we can worship the Supreme Lord [Laughs]. So we are dependent on the Supreme Lord, our worship is dependent on the Supreme Lord. Though we may not use the yajna or homa, we may use meditation. Still it needs ingredients. So to meditate you need a material body, you need mind. So meditation is a smaranam, a type of worship of the Lord, but the ingredients again supplied by the Lord. If we do archana, deity worship, again we need ingredients, ultimately ingredients supplied by the Lord. If we do nama sankirtana, again we need ingredients, we need a voice, we need a body.
So in any case our worship of the Lord to attain Him is dependent on an ingredient supplied by the Lord. If we are in the spiritual world, we don’t rely on material ingredients. So we have spiritual body, spiritual senses. We have spiritual trees, spiritual flowers, spiritual water. But again this is all manifested by the cit shakti of the Lord. So in either case we have to utilize the Lord’s energy, the cit shakti or the bahiranga shakti in order to worship the Lord. But if we are using the cit shakti, obviously that worship is perfect. It is eternal. And it’s not a sadhana. It is an expression of our prema. In the material world we will do the same activities, maybe the same thing, worship the Lord, etc, kirtan. But we have material ingredients, material body. And we utilize these ingredients and our material body and our senses which are material to attain the Lord. So the actions may be the same, but the action is also different because it’s sadhana. We don’t have prema.
So there’s a big difference in the actions of service in the material world and spiritual world. So the actions and the materials in the material world are used to attain prema. The materials and the bodies and the senses in the spiritual world are expressions of prema already achieved. So therefore the sadhana is inferior to the sadhya or the perfect form in the spiritual world. Nevertheless, by performing the similar activities but using our material senses and material things, we end up with that prema.
So how is it possible to attain prema and spiritual body and spiritual activities, etc. using material things? It sounds strange [Laughs]. So that is true. Material things should not produce spiritual results. And that is why other processes like karma yoga and jnana yoga, astanga yoga, ultimately can only produce a material result. So we are talking here about the yajna. So they are doing yajna and as Prabhupada previously said, it’s karma-kanda, material result. However, here in this verse it talks about the goal as Vishnu. So Vishnu is the goal but also material results are the goal. But obviously, prominently material goals are the main goal. But without Vishnu, we don’t even get material goals [Laughs].
So jnana arises from sattva guna, so it can only give material goal. But its goal is liberation, which is spiritual. How can it give a spiritual goal when it’s a material process in sattva guna? And the answer is it cannot. It can raise you up to the highest level of sattva. So how do the jnanis get liberation then? They also have to worship the Lord. And if they don’t worship the Lord, they end up in sattva guna [Laughs]. Of course, though they worship the Lord, they don’t get prema. Why? Their goal was liberation, so the Lord gives them liberation. So by the worship of the Lord, the Lord becomes merciful and He gives them what they desire, liberation. So they are using sattva guna in the case of jnana and rajoguna, tamoguna and sattva in terms of karma yoga.
In bhakti yoga, bhakti is nirguna. And in the spiritual world, it exists in its pure form, so everybody has spiritual bodies, spiritual senses, spiritual materials, etc. But unfortunately, when we’re in the material world, we have material bodies, material senses, material ingredients. So we have bhakti, but we have to express the bhakti through material things. How is it possible? So it is the mercy of bhakti itself. Bhakti allows us to use the material senses and material things so that they don’t give any material result, they give spiritual result. So the activities of bhakti, even though we use our material senses and body and material things, instead of creating karma, destroys karma. But more than just destroying the bad material effects, it produces spiritual effect, increasing bhakti.
So where is the bhakti increased? In the jiva. So therefore, the bhakti itself is growing in the jiva, but we use our material body and senses, etc. And how is it possible? One, bhakti itself is nirguna, it’s swarupa shakti of the Lord. But it has to arise from the jiva. So the jiva with his devotional intentions performs with material senses and material body, etc. Then he gets spiritual result, the bhakti in the jiva increases. So this is a compromised method of bhakti. We start with almost zero bhakti. And jiva with 99% maya. And a body, which is 99% maya also [Laughs], or 100% maya [Laughs]. However, with that little bit of bhakti, the 1% bhakti in the jiva, performing those activities of bhakti with the senses, the bhakti increases in the jiva.
So along with the external actions using our body, actions of bhakti, we must also have the jiva’s devotional intentions. What happens if we don’t have any nice intentions in the jiva, we just do the actions? What happens? So definitely we don’t call that bhakti. However, very strangely, even if you do it without devotion, we still get effect, as in the case of Ajamila [Laughs]. So even accidental bhakti or namabhasa, where there is no devotional intentions, actions of bhakti, somehow they give some effect. Of course, they don’t give the ultimate effect prema, but they do give some effect. So to get to the goal of prema, then we have to have the actions of bhakti along with the jiva’s devotional intentions.
However, if the jiva’s intentions are mixed, we also don’t get prema. Mixed bhakti does not give the same result as suddha bhakti. So, suddha bhakti gives prema. What does mixed bhakti give? Well, it could obviously, any type of bhakti can give material results. You can get swargaloka or whatever you want. You can also get liberation. However, jnanis get liberation with a little bhakti. Those who do jnana misra bhakti have more bhakti. They must get something more than liberation. So, those who do mixed bhakti get more than liberation, but not prema. So, where do they go? So somewhere beyond liberation. But not with prema [Laughs]. So, it’s described they can get salokya and sarupya and sarsti. Definitely a person with prema also has spiritual place, spiritual body, etc. But they have prema. These people don’t have the prema. So, if they don’t have prema and they don’t have any material sentiments, no material body, what do they have? So, a type of bhakti which is not contaminated, but less than prema [Laughs]. So, it can reach up to bhava. And because it is so diffuse and weak, and maybe mixed with jnana, they can get santa.
So, in this way, bhakti has to be practiced very, very precisely in order to get the final goal, prema. And that, of course, is the intelligent goal. But because bhakti is the ultimate process and spiritual and most powerful, even if we don’t have pure bhakti and even if it is accidental bhakti, still it gives great effect. And even that accidental bhakti gives better results than jnana or yoga [Laughs]. So, though the Lord, through Brahma and others, offers many processes, we should see what is the real goal and what process leads directly to that goal. But because all of these processes are empowered to do something by the Lord, and they are also in the scriptures, they get mentioned in Bhagavatam also.
Hare Krishna!
Q & A :
1.) Maharaj, regarding this jnani, although they have bhakti, but does this bhakti, it has a nature that it can purify them from the merging in the Brahman or four types of mukti. It can purify them because that is the nature of the bhakti. But still it doesn’t purify them. Their desire remains the same, that they want to get liberation.
So, jnanis who are attached to liberation will use bhakti to worship the Lord, but obviously the goal is to get liberation. So, it’s mixed bhakti. How does a person go from mixed bhakti to pure bhakti? Generally, it will not happen on its own. It will happen by association and mercy of devotees who practice pure bhakti.
So, if they have a little bhakti and they’re doing mainly jnana, that little bit of bhakti may encourage them to associate with people who have more bhakti [Laughs]. So, in this way, they could change. But then Lord Caitanya says the opposite, don’t associate with these people, run away from them, don’t talk to them [Laughs], so they won’t get mercy obviously [Laughs]. So, the reason for that is, particularly mayavadis, is that they have hostility towards bhakti, so there’s aparadha there and actually they don’t have any bhakti. So, Bhagavatam says, if you offend the lotus feet of the Lord, you fall from your position of mukti [Laughs]. So, the mayavadi says, the form of Vishnu is maya, bhakti is maya, that’s offense, so therefore they offend the Lord, so then they cannot even get liberation. And any association with devotees would be useless, so the devotees don’t associate with them [Laughs]. Those who practice jnana yoga and whatever, but they’re not mayavadis, then they can be more open to the mercy of devotees. And similarly, we see in yoga, then Ishwara Pranidhan is one of the limbs, in the niyamas. So, there’s a little favorability towards the Lord there. However, if the yogi gets association with mayavadis, then again he’ll be offensive, so then again [Laughs] you have to avoid that person as well [Laughs].
2.) Maharaj, the verse, it is said, you know, that goal is Vishnu, but normally you see this, you know, the purpose of the different kind of yajnas is, you know, to get the result and enjoy and go to heavenly planets. So, but the goal that vishnu, the Vishnu who is the goal of the yajna, but that kept secondary almost like, so is it because of that, you know, because these people are not able, want immediate result or wants to enjoy the material world more or, you know, because if they know that Vishnu is the goal, they cannot accept this, because they have a desire to enjoy.
So, Vishnu is ultimately the goal, but there are other goals also which become more prominent and people who want those goals ignore this goal and they just go for that goal [Laughs]. And as with the jnana yoga, they can worship Vishnu, but the worship is for getting swargaloka or whatever.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!