Srimad Bhagavatam 2.6.30 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Chennai | 10 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 30.
ŚB 2.6.30
ततश्च मनव: काले ईजिरे ऋषयोऽपरे ।
पितरो विबुधा दैत्या मनुष्या: क्रतुभिर्विभुम् ॥ ३० ॥
tataś ca manavaḥ kāle
ījire ṛṣayo ’pare
pitaro vibudhā daityā
manuṣyāḥ kratubhir vibhum
Synonyms
tataḥ — thereafter; ca — also; manavaḥ — the Manus, the fathers of mankind; kāle — in due course of time; ījire — worshiped; ṛṣayaḥ — great sages; apare — others; pitaraḥ — the forefathers; vibudhāḥ — the learned scholars; daityāḥ — great devotees of the demigods; manuṣyāḥ — mankind; kratubhiḥ vibhum — by performance of sacrifices to please the Supreme Lord.
Translation
Thereafter, the Manus, the fathers of mankind, the great sages, the forefathers, the learned scholars, the Daityas and mankind performed sacrifices meant to please the Supreme Lord.
Purport
The daityas are devotees of the demigods because they want to derive the greatest possible material facilities from them. The devotees of the Lord are eka-niṣṭha, or absolutely attached to the devotional service of the Lord. Therefore they have practically no time to seek the benefits of material facilities. Because of their realization of their spiritual identity, they are more concerned with spiritual emancipation than with material comforts.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj :
So, in this verse we have a whole list of different people who perform sacrifice, and by that they worship the Lord. And it is to be expected that mankind in general, and the Manus who follow them, and the great sages, and the Pitras, and the Devatas will worship. And here it says also, the Daityas are worshipping the Lord. So, as explained in the purport, the Daityas do worship, but usually they worship Devatas. And, of course, in this sacrifice they say they are worshipping Vibhu, the Lord, but often people will think it is Devatas. So, as Prabhupada explains also in the Bhagavad Gita, in every yajna there should be worship of Vishnu. And the purpose of that is that without the mercy of the Lord you cannot even accomplish your material results, and the Devatas cannot give anything unless there is worship of the Lord. However, many people following worship of Devatas, following Karma-kanda, will bypass that type of recognition of the Lord and just worship the Devatas, and they will worship the Lord also as like a Devata. So, because this yajna and because Karma-kanda is scripturally related to the Supreme Lord, it is at least acceptable. So, it is a type of worship of the Lord, though very indirect. But much inferior to direct worship of the Lord, that is Bhakti Yoga.
And those that follow this path of worshipping devatas for material benefits are also of several types. Some will recognize the supremacy of Vishnu, but they are predominated by material desires, so they go for material benefits. Others will rather neglect the worship of Vishnu and simply worship the Devatas. And that is usually the case of the demons like Hiranyakashipu [Laughs]. So, definitely they will do all sorts of yajnas and tapasyas and so many things, and follow the Vedas in many ways, but absolutely Vishnu is the enemy.
So, such type of worship is actually rejected. So, therefore, in these two types of worship through yajna, etc., we have, one is accepted and one is not accepted. However, if we have a choice between this type of indirect worship, which is acceptable, and direct worship of the Lord in Bhakti Yoga, we would intelligently choose Bhakti Yoga. So, if for some reason, in spite of doing Bhakti Yoga, we still have great attachment to doing all this Karma-kanda or Varna Ashram and Karma Yoga, etc., this becomes a fault in Bhakti itself. And the reason is that it detracts from accepting the Supreme Lord as the highest object of worship and independent of any other worship. So, to insist that I have to do these other practices in order that Bhakti goes nicely, then Bhakti becomes dependent on other processes. So, by this, we reject the Sastric conclusion that Bhakti is independent of everything else. And we also reject the idea that Krishna ultimately does everything. So, I have to follow other processes, I have to worship other devatas just to get some of my results.
So, this becomes an anartha in Bhakti itself, it is mixed Bhakti. But, of course, even this Bhakti is superior to not doing Bhakti as the main process. And, of course, we can do other processes, but even if we don’t do other processes, but we mix other desires in there, it is still to be rejected. So, we may not be attached to doing other processes like Karma-kanda or Varanashram, but we do have material goals to attain through our Bhakti, and this again is contamination. But, both types of performance of Bhakti do give some results. And the results they get are much superior to the results you get from Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga, even if you also do it with a little Bhakti.
So, the emphasis in our scriptures, such as nectar devotion, is that we should choose pure Bhakti. So, this is the only process that gets you Prema. And definitely, you can get material results, you can get liberation, you can even get Salokya and Sarupya, but you do get Prema.
So, therefore, we should always distinguish Bhakti from every other process, plus we should also distinguish the pure Bhakti from other processes. So, in pure Bhakti, of course, then we have our definition of anya abhilasita–sunya. But, when we begin Bhakti, that is very difficult to follow. So, most people begin the process of Bhakti because they are suffering and they want to get some peace of mind or something out of it [Laughs]. And it is true, as described in Bhagavad Gita, four types of people come to Krishna, those who are suffering, those who want money and comforts, those who want liberation, etc. All sorts of people come to Krishna [Laughs]. And the Lord accepts them all. However, His acceptance is based on the fact that by starting that way, eventually they become purified.
So, we begin the process of Bhakti with many desires. But, we are trying to follow this process of no other desire except the desire to please Krishna. So, at least we have the idea that pure Bhakti is superior to mixed Bhakti. And with faith, we accept that principle of pure Bhakti, even if we cannot follow it perfectly. So, this is vastly superior to those people who worship the Lord and they have all sorts of desires, but they have no conception of pure Bhakti at all. And therefore, though we do Bhakti, we also emphasize that we need knowledge. And we get the knowledge from scripture. And what type of scripture? So, we accept the authorities in the Sampradaya. Lord Caitanya said, Bhagavatam. So, that’s why, along with the process of Bhakti and chanting, we study Bhagavatam every day. So, through this, we can begin to practice pure Bhakti. And we can also understand what is the goal of that Bhakti. And we can also understand who is the object of our worship.
So, all that knowledge is necessary in order to get Prema. Of course, many people will be frustrated and say, Oh, we like Bhakti, but what’s the use of all this knowledge? But then the result is, their Bhakti will always be mixed with their desires. And their conception of Krishna will always be contaminated. And they may not even have a particular goal. So, therefore, the result will be quite different from the result that is predicted in Bhagavatam. And therefore, we do have to have some knowledge.
So, as I said, to have that knowledge and practice Bhakti, even if we are impure, is better than without the knowledge. So, the first step in implementing the knowledge of pure Bhakti is, at least explicitly, we do not pray for material benedictions or liberation when we are chanting Hare Krishna. So, that is the first level. And still, though we are not explicitly praying for anything material, we do have material desires. Still, this is called pure Bhakti, Suddha Bhakti, Uttama Bhakti, but in Sadhana. And the goal and the ultimate result of that is to have pure Bhakti, in terms of externally not praying for anything material, and internally, in the Atma, to simply exude Bhakti with no anarthas. So, it is from this position of Sadhana, where we still have impurities, but we practice with the idea of what is pure Bhakti, we finally get that pure Bhakti in Prema.
So, Suddha Bhakti or pure Bhakti in Sadhana leads to pure Bhakti in Prema. And the difference is that the Jiva has impurities in Sadhana, but not in Prema. So, though there is impurity, we still call it pure Bhakti. Because that Sadhana of pure Bhakti is the only way we get Prema. And if you start out with explicit mixtures in it, then you don’t get the Prema. But you get results. So, if you chant and do your Bhakti with the particular idea that I want to get out of the material world, I want to go to the spiritual world, then that is again a mixture. Because there is desire there. At the same time, this definition says, no other desire, so the desire to serve and please the Lord must always be there. But if we say, I will please the Lord as long as He gives me my place in the spiritual world, then there is other desire [Laughs]. But at the same time, I desire to serve the Lord and please Him, so that I get a place in the spiritual world, the spiritual body, so I can serve the Lord better. There is nothing wrong with that [Laughs].
Of course, higher than that is the devotee who says, yes, I will serve you in any case. It doesn’t matter. I just want to serve you eternally. You feel that, I am satisfied and you can arrange whatever you want. So in our practice of Bhakti, we don’t have these other desires, though underneath we may subconsciously have so many desires. But the Shakti of Bhakti, practiced purely, will destroy all of these other internal desires.
So we can trace our progress in terms of destruction of anarthas. We can understand the progress of Bhakti to the extent that our internal desires are being destroyed. We can understand the progress of Bhakti to the extent that our internal desires are being destroyed. So, when we start Bhakti, we may have 99% anarthas [Laughs]. And after practicing a few years, we may have 80% anarthas. So, through the practice of pure Bhakti and Sadhana, gradually we get 15% or more destroyed anarthas. And then finally we get to Nistha, where it’s about 50-50. And then when it gets a little over 50, that is, we get 48%, 45% anarthas and 60-something percent for Krishna, then Bhakti becomes much easier. And even the internal anarthas do not cause much problem. So, if we get to, let’s say, Ruchi or Asakti, then we may get 85-90% anarthas gone. So, in other words, the anarthas is down to 10% or 5%, then Bhakti is very, very easy. So, internally as well as externally, we will not have other desires. But then 100% will only be in Prema. But we get to that 100% by starting with the 99% anarthas or whatever, but practicing pure Bhakti.
If one practices mixed type of bhakti then of course it will also purify but much more slower. But what results is, after the purification, there are no more anarthas, that Bhakti is weaker. So, because of that weaker Bhakti, you don’t get Prema [Laughs]. So, therefore, we do need to practice in the proper way to get the proper result. And all of that is described in the scripture. And thus, we do need to read the scripture in order to practice our Bhakti properly.
Hare Krishna !
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj see even in the demigod worship, there is worship of the Supreme Lord, very minor worship. But although it is worship of the Supreme Lord, it is also Bhakti. This Bhakti can purify the demigod worshipper’s heart or not. It is minor Bhakti.
So, yes, because it is also an authorized Vedic process, it does purify. So, it purifies you from lower gunas to sattva guna. So, by doing Niskama Karma Yoga, you can end up nicely in sattva guna but you cannot get spiritual world [Laughs] just with Nishkama Karma Yoga. One of the reasons, of course, is that they are relying mainly upon this secondary process, which is a Shakti of the Lord, but material. And the goal is material. So that’s what they get, material goal. And so by worshipping the lord, they can fulfill that desire nicely.
2.) You are saying that Bhakti is independent, whereas other yoga like Karma Yoga, Astanga Yoga and Jnana Yoga, is all dependent on the Bhakti. And what Bhakti can give or Bhakti can give the result of other yogas also. Okay. For example, let’s take Karma Yoga. Doing Karma and doing some Bhakti also. If they simply take the Bhakti, they can get the result of Karma Yoga also, like working, this and that. But my question is, why still, if one knows, let me take the Bhakti process, and my other desires, or that result, what I am supposed to get by doing other activities, I can get it by simply doing Bhakti. But still, why one is not able to take the pure Bhakti? The pure Bhakti. Still, because he thinks that in Bhakti, I have to do a little bit of Karma.
So, yes, they may know that Bhakti is the supreme process, and gives everything, but they don’t have complete faith. And therefore, they think, well, it’s nice, but… [Laughs] I want to get some quick results, so I’ll worship some Devata. So in other words, the faith is not complete, even though the knowledge may be there. And the reason for that is ultimately that they do have greater material attachments. If you have less material attachment, then you won’t worry so much about getting or not getting your material things, and you worship the Lord.
3.) Devotees ask this kind of question, the devotee is chanting 16 rounds, he wants to have a car, big bungalow, and also wants to get married, and he wants to have children, and he wants some material establishment also. So how will you categorize this? In which category will you put this devotee?
So the nature of bhakti is that everybody can practice, you don’t have to be renounced, you can also have desires, but it has to be within certain limits. So one of the first 10 angas of bhakti is that you limit your desires to what you need to sustain yourself and don’t take more [Laughs]. So if one is renounced, then one has less. If one is a brahmachari, less. If one is not renounced, then one is a grhastha, then there will be more. But still, it should be limited. And even if one has unlimited opportunities for enjoyment, one still limits one’s desires.
And thus we have in Bhagavatam so many examples of great kings and Manus, great wealth, but they limited their attraction to it. And then they could just give it up and take vanaprastha and go off to the forest and do severe austerities with no difficulty because they were completely detached.
Devotee : Because sometimes we hear this kind of problem, families not cooperating, job problem, this problem, that problem, due to that not able to do proper bhakti also. Although some or other finishes 16 rounds, taking prasadam, it’s happening in the devotee’s life, you see. So that means due to not doing proper bhakti, not having faith in bhakti, because due to the material desire, this that, so many things are there.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : Of course, if one is married, one can expect more problems than if he is not married. But even if not married, you could expect problems as well. So brahmacharis may have problems also, they may get sick, they may have accident, they may have so many different problems [Laughs]. So, whatever position you take in the material world while doing bhakti yoga, there are some problems [Laughs]. But they become more problematic if we are attached. And if we are detached from the situation, then we can handle the situation without being disturbed. So, therefore it is instructed you go into household life, but with some detachment.
4.) You are explaining this, you know, this anartha nivritti, nistha, ruci, ashakti, bhava, prema, and you are saying that, you know, there is a grade of this desire or anarthas in different level, different level. So, my question is, sometimes we see in devotee’s life, we see that, you know, devotee doesn’t have any desire, only they want to serve the Krishna. And after sometime, you see, they develop the desire. So, this developing the desire is coming from anarthas or is, how will you understand it? Because, see, you know, one might say, okay, I am right now, if you see the devotee, you know, he is maybe in nistha, ruchi or ashakti. But after sometime, you know, you see that, no, he wants to do this, he wants to do that. And, you know, he comes under, you know, different kind of desire.
So, the desires may arise because they were already there, but not apparent, that is, they were vasanas, it continued from previously, maybe previous lifetime even. Of course, like karmas, the vasanas also get destroyed through the process of bhakti. But if the vasana is strong, it takes more time. The other reason that the desire may arise is because of the performance in bhakti itself. Bhakti can produce situations that may give rise, stimulate your material desires.
So, it is explained by Vishwanath Chakravarti, Madhurya Kadambini, that due to bhakti, you can get money, followers and position. Because bhakti and mukti follow bhakti and pray, let me engage you in service to the devotees, so then the devotee may accept those things [Laughs]. So, acquiring those things is not because of karma or anything else, it is because bhakti produces those things. But then some weak vasana, desire may be lurking there and we start springing up and get attached because of that.
5.) Hare krishna maharaj. In sadhana bhakti you said that externally we are doing the devotional service internally we are having some desire, that internal desire we are having with knowledge or it automatically comes. For e.g. I am having some relation, sister or brother. If they are suffering, spontaneously I am having that feeling. So, I want to help them like that attachment, that desire that we can take any other material desire.
So, the effects that we get obviously are due to attachment. In the second chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna talks about the Stita Prajna, so that he does not rejoice nor does he grieve for any situation in this world. So being affected by situations of ourself or family usually arise from attachment to body, we identify with our body and bodies of others. So, that’s an anartha, but it doesn’t immediately get destroyed. It takes some time to destroy that material identity.
Devotee : Sometimes we pray for relatives.
HH Bhanu swami Maharaj : So, what do we pray for? So, yes, we can pray, but if we simply pray for their material benefits, then this becomes material [Laughs]. At the same time, if you read the teachings of Kapila in the third canto, he talks about that you should have compassion for all living entities. Then he says if you worship the lord but you don’t accept the lord in all beings then I don’t accept your worship [Laughs]. So, it’s not wrong to show compassion, but it should be through the proper understanding, not because they are my relatives through my body, but because they are also got Vishnu within them [Laughs]. And thus, our prayer for helping them also should be related to developing their bhakti.
6.) Hare krishna Maharaj, when we go for preaching to newcomers, they may be worshipping demigods. So, that time when we preach Krishna consciousness, we are about to say them that you worship Krishna, you will get all material things, or even if you want moksha, you worship Krishna, etc. Will it become offense to the preacher, because internally he is trying to practice pure bhakti, but outside he has to preach karma–kanda, jnana marg, etc. So, how to take it Maharaj?
So of course we have the rule don’t preach to the faithless. So, for some, you can only preach karma yoga at best. Others may be at the stage of a type of mixed bhakti. So, even to them, to preach pure bhakti may be difficult. Gradually, you can take them to pure bhakti.
7.) Hare krishna Maharaj, thank you for such a nice lecture. Maharaj, I want to ask this thing. Always Gaudiya Sampradaya keep this bhakti principle the topmost thing, pure bhakti. And we can also see, Caitanya Mahaprabhu also told, I am not Brahmana, not Vaishya, nothing. I am just a servant of Lord Supreme Lord. But we can see, Prabhupada once told that my 50% mission is still remaining to establish Varnashram system. So, how to reconcile both the things? And if we establish the Varnashram system, it is not that case that he will think that Varnashram system, to follow the duties of Varnashram system is the topmost and they sideline the bhakti. So, how to reconcile both the things that Prabhupada wants to establish and what?
Well, if we look in Bhagavatam obviously and in Caitanya Caritamrta, they are completely different. They are not equal by any means. And that is, we can say, the very definite conclusion. And thus, any other statement of Prabhupada, but we should also align with those principles, which are also stated by Prabhupada [Laughs]. In other words, we cannot take one statement of problem and take that as the absolute truth. We have to see in relation to other statements, particularly where they appear contrary.
8.) Hare Krishna Maharaj. How to increase the capacity of reading scriptures? Like, few shlokas when we read, we feel like satisfaction. You know, we feel that if we keep on reading, then we will forget whatever we were reading, the previous shlokas and previous chapters. So, how to increase?
So, of course, Shravanam is one of the angas of Bhakti. And it’s also very important as I just mentioned. So, it goes along with Nama Sankirtan. And it supports it by giving us the proper knowledge, so we can do pure chanting and pure Bhakti. And we do all of this in order to get the goal of Prema. So, the more desire we have to get the goal, the more enthusiastically we follow the process. So, we have to develop the desire for the goal.
9.) As you pointed out, the problem with mixing some angas of Karma–kanda aspects in the practice of pure Bhakti. There is a possibility of contamination of one’s cultivation of pure Bhakti when they mix up. Unless one is very expert. So, for a ISKCON devotee at Sadhaka stage, where a devotee is trying to cultivate pure Bhakti from grhastha ashram, is it okay to avoid all samskaras which are prescribed for that ashrama from Karma–kanda scriptures, and just do Hari Nama Sankirtan alone with proper attitude.
So, of course, the samskaras are largely related to grhastha ashram. So, if one is not in any ashram, then samskaras will not apply. Except Babajis. So, anybody outside the Varanashrama system would not have to do samskaras and probably couldn’t do samskaras. That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have marriage ceremonies or things like that, they would have some ceremonies, but not Vedic. As for devotees, of course, then all of these samskaras and rituals have secondary importance. But, in that they are related to family and body, and if you are a grhastha, you have to take care of your family and body, then you can do them. And if you don’t do them, then you have to invent your own ceremonies [Laughs]. So, it is convenient to simply follow the Vedic samskaras in a simplified manner without worshipping devatas or pitras.
10.) Can we do, you know, instead of them doing these kind of samskaras, we can, instead of doing different kind of samskaras, we can call the devotees and have Nama Sankirtan.
Well, what do you do about marriage ceremony? Harinaam [Laughs]. So, actually, it is said that any ceremony is not complete and has no effect unless we do Nama Sankirtan. But, instead of going to the labor of manufacturing something new, we can just take what is there, but omit the offensive parts. So, that much of Varanashram we can do without the offensive parts. Other parts of Varanashram may be more difficult to follow.
11.) in the Purport Srila Prabhupada speaks about spiritual realization turning us away from material comforts. What are the key signs that a devotee is successfully moving past Anartha Nivriti?
So, one sign is, less attachment to anything in the material world. And the other is, more absorption in the practice of bhakti.
Devotee : How does practicing strict devotional service help clean deep-rooted anarthas from my heart? And what are the practical signs that this cleaning is actually happening?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : So, it is a logical principle, not only in spiritual life, but material world, that the more accurately or perfectly you follow the process, the more likely you get results. The more accurately you follow the process, the more likely you get results. So, one of the first results is Kleshagni, destruction of karmas, suffering, vasanas, etc. So, one of the first results is Kleshagni, destruction of karmas, suffering, vasanas, etc. And the other second quality is Subadha, manifestation of nice spiritual qualities. So, therefore one can maybe measure the progress in terms of destruction and manifestation.
Devotees: Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai!!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!! Nitai Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!!!