Srimad Bhagavatam – 7.5.53 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Rome | July 30, 2025
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
nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
jaya sri-krishna-chaitanya
prabhu nityananda
sri-adwaita gadadhara
shrivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Reading from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7 Chapter 5 Verse 53.
ŚB 7.5.53
यथा त्रिवर्गं गुरुभिरात्मने उपशिक्षितम् ।
न साधु मेने तच्छिक्षां द्वन्द्वारामोपवर्णिताम् ॥ ५३ ॥
yathā tri-vargaṁ gurubhir
ātmane upaśikṣitam
na sādhu mene tac-chikṣāṁ
dvandvārāmopavarṇitām
Synonyms
yathā — as; tri-vargam — the three processes (religion, economic development and sense gratification); gurubhiḥ — by the teachers; ātmane — unto himself (Prahlāda Mahārāja); upaśikṣitam — instructed; na — not; sādhu — really good; mene — he considered; tat-śikṣām — the education in that; dvandva-ārāma — by persons taking pleasure in duality (in material enmity and friendship); upavarṇitām — which is prescribed.
Translation
The teachers Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka instructed Prahlāda Mahārāja in the three kinds of material advancement called religion, economic development and sense gratification. Prahlāda, however, being situated above such instructions, did not like them, for such instructions are based on the duality of worldly affairs, which involve one in a materialistic way of life marked by birth, death, old age and disease.
Purport
The entire world is interested in the materialistic way of life. Indeed, practically 99.9 percent of the people in the three worlds are uninterested in liberation or spiritual education. Only the devotees of the Lord, headed by such great personalities as Prahlāda Mahārāja and Nārada Muni, are interested in the real education of spiritual life. One cannot understand the principles of religion while staying on the material platform. Therefore one must follow these great personalities. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.3.20):
svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ
kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo
balir vaiyāsakir vayam
One must follow in the footsteps of such great personalities as Lord Brahmā, Nārada, Lord Śiva, Kapila, Manu, the Kumāras, Prahlāda Mahārāja, Bhīṣma, Janaka, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Yamarāja. Those interested in spiritual life should follow Prahlāda Mahārāja in rejecting the education of religion, economic development and sense gratification. One should be interested in spiritual education. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spreading all over the world, following in the footsteps of Prahlāda Mahārāja, who did not like any of the materialistic education he received from his teachers.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
So this verse, like the previous verse, is talking about artha, dharma, and kama. And Prahlāda rejects all of this. We may ask the question, well, this dharma is called religion, so why would Prahlāda reject religion, spiritual? So, yes, it is accepted that dharma, normal dharma, is part of religious life, but its goal is ultimately material. So, it involves worship, like worship of devatas, even worship of Viṣhṇu or Kṛṣṇa. But the majority of the activities and the mentality is, to live happily in the material world.
So, this of course is not only prominent within the Vedic culture, but around the world. Religions, they worship, but they want material benefits. So, very few religions will portray the ideal follower as a poor person [Laughs]. They’ll depict all the followers as being very prosperous and very happy and well-dressed. So, of course, like Vedic dharma, religions of the world, also do have a spiritual aspect. But the common people are more interested in living in this world. And ultimately, if you have that interest more than anything else, you cannot advance spiritually. In fact, Christ himself criticizes material religion. There was one follower, very enthusiastic to follow him, but he was very wealthy. So, he refused. No, you cannot be my follower. Why? Because you’re so materially attached that you take all the teachings. You’re not going to understand anything [Laughs]. He says, it is more difficult than trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.
Last night we spoke about the tenth offense. Too much me and my material attachment, it’s very difficult to advance in spiritual life. Of course, Krishna also is tolerant [Laughs]. And he says in Bhagavad Gita, well, you may have material desires, you may want to get rid of your material suffering, OK, I accept you as a worshipper. But it’s not the best. And this prevents us from getting the highest goal which is this prema, unconditional love.
So therefore, we’ll find many verses in the Bhagavatam that completely condemn this artha, dharma and kama. So they use dharma or the religious principles, in order to avoid suffering and get happiness. Ofcourse, it is better than nothing. So therefore, the Vedic literature recommends Karma Yoga, Varnashram, Karma Kanda for people who are materially attached. At least they’re doing some sort of worship and following some rules [Laughs]. At least they’re following some rules and doing some spiritual progress. In any case, a more intelligent person should give up this.
In fact, Bhagavatam is quiet, not quiet.. very harsh on this. It says, even give up dharma [Laughs]. Which sounds very shocking. Once the Veda is recommending dharma for everybody, Krishna says, I come to restore dharma. And then Bhagavatam says, reject dharma [Laughs]. And of course, at the beginning of Bhagavatam it says, Bhagavatam rejects cheating dharma. So that means that any process, any dharma, which is an obstruction to prema, is cheating. So therefore, the goal should actually be prema. And therefore, Bhagavatam is said to be the highest fruit on the desire tree of the Vedas. So there are other scriptures, but they don’t so clearly indicate that Krishna Prema is the highest thing. And thus we’ll see in Bhagavatam all this rejection of artha, dharma, karma, moksha [Laughs].
Of course, if we look at the definition of pure bhakti, given in Nectar of Devotion, it is, let’s say, it doesn’t reject dharma and karma completely. So in that verse, it says – ‘Jnana karma adi anavrityam’. So ‘anavrityam’ means not covered by or not obstructed by. It doesn’t say no dharma, no jnana, like ‘anya abilashitha sunya’, no other desire – devoid of completely other desires. But it doesn’t say ‘jnana karma adi sunya’. It doesn’t say that. It says ‘anavrityam’. So the explanation is that, you can practice the elements of jnana or karma or yoga or other processes, if they do not obstruct the bhakti. In other words, we can practice dharma, but it has to be devoid of artha and kama. But then we’ll say, well, what’s the point of doing it at all [Laughs]? That’s the goal. We do it without any goal. Why would we do it at all? Waste of time. So one answer, of course, is that a person would do it, not because he’s attached to artha and karma, but to set an example for people who are less advanced and they’re not really interested in prema or in moksha. In other words, in Bhagavad Gita, Krishna also says, whatever a great man does, people follows. So the kings will, even if they’re very great devotees, they still go on being a Kshatriya and instituting dharma to inspire people.
Another reason that was actually raised last night was that, well, we do have to maintain our body [Laughs]. Most of the big followers are going to be householders, grahastas. So they have to maintain their body and their wife and their children and relatives and so many things. So therefore, how to do that? So answer is, you follow rules of dharma and varnashrama. But while doing that, don’t get contaminated with trying to achieve material goals and enjoy it. Of course, in the Varnashram system, there are also elements which contradict bhakti. Such as worship of Devatas, worship of Pitras, etc. So therefore, those elements we have to avoid as much as possible. So under those conditions, then, one can do dharma, karma yoga, etc. So therefore, they’re not really forbidden, but we have to be very careful that we don’t mix material desires into those things.
So at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, ‘sarva dharmam parityajya’. Give up all dharma and come up, just like Bhagavatam [Laughs]. In chapter 3, Krishna’s telling Arjuna, oh, you have to do karma yoga. Then later on, he says, don’t do it [Laughs]. And then, of course, Arjuna followed the order of Krishna, but he didn’t give up his dharma, he remained a kshatriya. So yes, we surrender, we have bhakti as our main process, and we don’t have to give up completely other dharmas like karma yoga, but at least we don’t mix in material contamination. And if Krishna orders, you should follow dharma of a kshatriya, then devotee will do it, because it’s the order of Krishna. So Yudhisthira, he was the rightful king. And then finally he performed the Rajasuya sacrifice to display that, I am the ruler of the whole earth. So that may appear, well, Yudhisthira is interested in controlling everybody, he’s a materialist [Laughs]. But then Yudhisthira said, ‘no, my only interest in ruling the whole earth like this and having this big ceremony displayed is to show everybody that I give everything to Krishna’ [Laughs]. Because I’m the king, I own everything, so everything I own, I’m going to offer to Krishna. So this is a type of devotional service.
So therefore, ultimately, we have to concentrate on process of bhakti yoga, that’s the highest dharma. And the other day, I explained that, we have regular dharmas, because we have material body, subtle body and gross body. So these are helpful for people who are stuck in the material world, or lower consciousness. But the eternal dharma of the Jiva, not of the body, is prema. To achieve prema, we do bhakti. So this is the real dharma, this is paro dharma, the highest dharma [Laughs]. So we give up all dharmas, but we do bhakti, it’s the highest dharma.
Other dharmas we may or may not do. And Bhagavatam says, well, if you take to the process of bhakti, you’re qualified, you’re highest qualified, that’s the highest qualification to have faith in bhakti, because you get prema. So if you have a higher qualification, you can give up all these lower dharmas. So if you go to university, you’re studying for PhD, you don’t have to go back to grade 1 and learn, 1 plus 1 is 2, and 2 times 2 is 4, etc [Laughs]. So therefore, one who takes to bhakti is not obligated by any means to do karma, jnana, or yoga.
And of course people will protest, well, you don’t do dharma, you don’t follow all these rules and regulations, you become sinful. But the answer Bhagavatam has given, NO. When you take to bhakti, whatever is covered by following dharma, is covered by bhakti itself. If you commit a sinful activity, you don’t go back to karma yoga to do atonements or whatever prayaschitta. No, you just do bhakti yoga. So at the end of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, ‘aham tvam sarva papeyo moksasyami’, I free you from all sins. So the atonement is already there by the process of bhakti. On the other hand, you do all your dharma, but you don’t worship the Lord, then zero, you are worthless. So these statements are there, just to emphasize that ultimately we should do bhakti.
So, though Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita starts rejecting karma yoga, karma khanda, etc., etc., as being low, don’t do it. At the same time, scripture also says, Vaishnava scriptures, it says, don’t criticize these people that follow. Don’t criticize these scriptures also. In fact, when it says, you know, ‘Shastra ninda’ is one of the aparadh, don’t criticize Shastra. Then, Vishwanath Chakravarti says, well, don’t criticize karma khanda [Laughs]. It’s in the scripture also [Laughs]. So, why? Because the devotee understands that, this is part of the Veda. Veda is non different from the Supreme Lord. And this is for people who are on a lower level. So, therefore, it’s part of the Veda, it’s for lower people, so we don’t criticize.
Unfortunately, in kali-yuga, karma yoga, jnana yoga, astanga yoga are almost impossible to do. Because there’s no intact system of Varnashrama, because there is no king. The whole system depends upon an empowered king. We see in Bhagavatam, from Canto 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, they are tracing the lineage of kings, descending from Manus. In the 9th canto, they trace all the way up to Krishna, Moon Dynasty. So the Manus, and their descendants, 14 Manus in one day of Brahma, are actually empowered by the Lord to rule and institute dharma – Varnashrama. But then it mentions in the Bhagavatam, yes, it traces the kings, and then after Krishna disappears, dharma gets worse [Laughs], and Kali Yuga arises. And then it states, actually, the last descendants, two descendants, the last two descendants of Manu, Vaivasta manu, that is, they decide, we don’t want to rule anymore, and they disappear in the Himalayas. And they won’t appear again until next Satyuga [Laughs]. So we’re left with no empowered king to institute dharma. That makes it very difficult to establish dharma in Kali Yuga.
So in the first canto of Bhagavatam, the sages, Namisharanya, are very concerned, and they ask, well, what do we do? Krishna’s gone, dharma’s gone, Kali Yuga’s rising up, no more dharma. What do we do? What is the answer? Srimad Bhagavatam has arisen. It is like the sun, so it takes away the darkness of Kali Yuga. In this way, Srimad Bhagavatam has arisen to give us the knowledge. So, though it is difficult in Kali Yuga to practice dharma, no more manus etc, Bhagavatam presents the worship of Krishna, Bhakti Yoga and Namasankirtan.
So, of course we can ask, well we can do bhakti, what about dharma ? The answer is, well, bhakti is independent. And if you do bhakti, if there’s no possibility of doing anything else, yes, you can succeed just with bhakti. So that is another meaning. What Krishna says, Give up all darkness, because in Kali Yuga, everything else is impossible to do anyway [Laughs]. So whatever we can accomplish, even for our body, somehow we can manage through the process of bhakti itself. Of course, we can take elements from the Varnashram system, some rules and regulations to help us in our bhakti and maintaining the body, etc. But we should never think our bhakti depends on following these rules and regulations and instituting dharma, etc.
So that’s why Lord Caitanya also says, ‘Harinama eva kevalam’. So ‘kevalam’ means ‘only’. So ‘only the Holy Name, only the Holy Name, only the Holy Name’ [Laughs]. So no karma yoga, no jnana yoga, no astanga yoga. So only the name of the Lord. So that is also the main goal of ISKCON, to tell everybody, even if you can’t do anything else, at least chant the Holy Name [Laughs]. And if you do that with absorption, you can attain this highest, rarest goal of Krishna Prema.
So that is why we will find all of these verses in Bhagavatam, like Prahlada here, rejecting all artha, dharma and kama, and even moksha, he rejects that. And the reason is, yes, it is Vedic and whatever, but not practical in Kali Yuga.
Okay. Hare Krishna!
Devotees: Hare Krishna.
Q & A:
1.) Maharaj, but Jesus said the same things, like when you are saying that only those who are pure in their heart they can enter into the Kingdom of God.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
Devotee: So basically, teaching of Jesus were pure.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh Yeah.
Devotee: Is that correct?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. And we also see that, he, of course, he came from the Judaic religion, so, and he saw all these people who were supposed to be in the temple, they were doing all material activities [Laughs], so he said that’s useless, he wanted to kick them all out of the temple because they were materializing the whole process.
Devotee: He said, you transformed my father’s house into a marketplace.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: [Laughs] Yeah, we find even Buddha had the same idea, because people were doing animal sacrifices to go to Svargaloka, he said, oh, you know, material activities are rejected, all [Laughs]. Of course, Buddha was extreme, so he rejected the Vedas completely, so we don’t accept that [Laughs]. So Bhagavatam rejects part of the Veda as not being so absolute, but doesn’t reject the whole Vedas [Laughs].
Devotee: But can we say in all the religions that praise truth?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. However, we will see that in a lot of religions, ah, they will say, okay, there’s something supreme, there’s God, there’s God. And in general, we’ll see the more advanced religions will not have many gods, but one Supreme God. So the Romans, the Greeks, and the Egyptians, and the Assyrians, etc., had many gods [Laughs]. So then Judaic religion says, one God only [Laughs].So this carry on Christianity, and then Islam says [Not clear] one God only. So similarly, we have many devatas [Laughs] in the Vedas, and then Vaishnava say, no only one God [Laughs], Vishnu is Supreme [Laughs]. Of course, as I said, Buddha was extreme. He says, no Devatas, no God [Laughs]. Very extreme [Laughs]. One supreme nothingness [Laughs], sunya [Laughs].
But, in spite of that, then there is also some difference. So though we all, Vaishnavas and Christians and Islam, accept one God, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, say God has no form. And reason for that is, form is limiting, form is material. However, Vedic literature says, no, God has a form, but it is spiritual, unlimited. So that’s one difference. And that’s, then the Christians, Islam, they will criticize, ah, you’re worshipping these forms of idols, etc [Laughs]. So, of course, we can defend the form, yeah, God has form. We can mention the Vedas, spiritual not material. So Vedas go a little further. Yes, God has a form, but God can have many forms not just one form [Laughs]. And he doesn’t even have to be human. He can be a lion, he can be a pig, he can be a fish, he can be a snake, he can be a horse, he can be a bird [Laughs]. Why because, he is unlimited and he could take any form he wants and it’s spiritual [Laughs].
So not only he has form, He has activities and qualities. So, of course, Christianity, Judaism they will accept some qualities of God and some activities. And so for instance, God has activity, what does he do? He creates the material world, so there’s some activity there [Laughs]. But not too many other activities are described for God. So of course, the Vedas also say, yeah, God creates the material world in one form, called Paramatma. But there’s also another form of the Lord, Bhagavan, who doesn’t involve himself at all with the material world. So God has infinite activities in the spiritual world. And of course we find the activities of Krsna in other forms described in the Bhagavatam. So of course other religions, accept God has no form, but he somehow has activities, but not too much description of what activities, other than create the material world [Laughs].
So the other aspect of God is we have a relationship with God. And in some religions it’s very formal. God is powerful, God can punish you. So a lot of fear involved. Of course with Christ, that God is a more loving and forgiving God. So as far as the Vedas are concerned, God, of course, can have fearful form, but like he is the punisher or whatever, and he can kill demons [Laughs]. But the emphasis is upon the loving form of God. But then that love also has more detail in it. So if God has no form in the spiritual world, how do you establish your loving relationship with him? It’s a little bit difficult [Laughs]. I suppose people will accept in Christianity and Islam that you do have a form in the spiritual world. We have a form in the spiritual world. God has no form, so how do you relate to each other [Laughs]? But that’s not a problem, because the Vedas say God has a form, we have a form in the spiritual world, all spiritual, and we have different relationships called rasas [Laughs]. So all of this is a little bit more detailed than other religions, how God and jivas relate in spiritual world.
Devotee: In Christianity, they could call it voice, but it has no form.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah. How does he speak with no form [Laughs]?
Yeah, so in spite of the fact that you know, in Judaism and Christianity, they say no form, ah, there’s still the nature of the human being to want a form anyway, so therefore they personify that in Christ, and they have the form of Christ everywhere [Laughs]. And of course, the Buddhists say there’s nothing at all, then still they have forms of Buddha and they start worshipping that [Laughs]. So it is, what to say, some tendency in the human to want a form to worship, desire a form [Laughs]. Ah, then Bhaktivinoda explains that yeah, if you want to have a loving relationship with another person as God, you would have to expect him to have some sort of form. And if you are supposed to love him, then, love God, then you would expect to have some description of him. And the more description you have about his form, his qualities, activities, the more you can develop love.
And of course, if you just say, well you have to just love this person, but we are not gonna tell you what his name is, we are not gonna tell you how he looks like, we are not gonna tell you anything about him. Please love him. It’s very difficult [Laughs]. Like marriage in India [Laughs]. You get arranged marriage. You can’t know anything about your bride, until suddenly they lift the curtain. There she’s ah [Laughs]. Of course, finally you do see a form, but [Laughs] there we go to the spiritual world, no form of God, so what do you do [Laughs] ?
Devotee 1: But I think now its no more, they let the people meet.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah.
2.) We see sometimes that it’s very difficult to relate with people, even with devotees. We are not able to be in harmony with everybody even though we all have the same goal, which is preaching Krsna consciousness, developing love for God, so how can we improve this relationship with the devotees?
Ok. So anyway, all, because all the devotees to different degrees are accepting and surrendering to Krishna [Laughs], we have to give them respect at least. And particularly, we should also be able to, to some degree, judge the level of advancement.
So we try to get the association, those who are more advanced, and get their instructions. It is also natural that one will have attraction for certain devotees with certain qualities. So actually, in the scripture, it says that you select, you know, a person as a guru, or as a guide, or as a teacher, that person should have knowledge. There should also be some sort of affectionate relationship between the two parties. So some people will find more attraction for one devotee than another.
3.) True gratitude means reciprocation. So basically, we have to be grateful with everybody. If you are truly grateful to someone, will you reciprocate even it requires great sacrifice?
Devotee : He says we have to basically with everybody, yes. Prahlada Maharaj is grateful. Sometimes, when you are grateful with somebody, you want to be grateful and serve or exchange this gratitude with your service. But can you do this at the cost of your great sacrifice [Not clear]?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: [Laughs] Well, I think this will all depend on the particular person and our relationship with them. So, of course, with very great devotees, then people, unlike Guru or whatever, then one has to sacrifice everything [Laughs]. Just like we want to sacrifice everything to Krishna, we have atma-nivedanam, we sacrifice everything for Krishna. So, this of course, according to devotees, this is according to the amount of whatever they give us, like teachings, instructions, knowledge, etc. According to the amount of knowledge etc, then we will want to surrender more to that person [Laughs]. So, yeah, this is a natural, natural reciprocation. It starts with…
It’s with Krishna himself. Krishna responds to each devotee. According to you surrender, Krishna surrenders [Laughs]. And if a devotee is in prema, then Krishna surrenders to that devotee and comes under his control [Laughs]. So Krishna is under the control of Yasoda [Laughs]. Krishna is under the control of Radha [Laughs]. So, yes, it’s, reciprocation is always there [Laughs]. So, just for the high devotees, or for the lower devotees also, reciprocation is there. Of course, how much we are going to sacrifice, you know, will depend on, as I say, the status of that devotee.
Devotee: But can be dangerous also, because somebody may be, try to exploit you.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Well, Yeah. Yeah, so therefore, we also have to use our intelligence and actually see. In other words, we have to see what is valuable, what is given to us, and understand it’s, it’s great value, not just on sentiment. We will see that we have many charismatic leaders, not just in ISKCON, but spiritual things, Christianity, everything has it’s leaders [Laughs]. And the followers sacrifice everything for them. Sometimes they sell all their properties, and they give it to their leaders [Laughs]. And then the leaders take it away and cheat them [Laughs]. So, we cannot be blindly surrendering [Laughs].
Hare Krishna !
Devotees : Granthraj Srimad Bhagavathma ki jai !!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki jai !!! Srila Prabhupada ki jai !!!