Srimad Bhagavatam – 8.24.38 | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | March 6, 2025 | Melbourne, Australia
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 Bhagavatham Canto 8 Chapter 24 Verse 38:
Text 38
madīyaṁ mahimānaṁ ca
paraṁ brahmeti śabditam
vetsyasy anugṛhītaṁ me
sampraśnair vivṛtaṁ hṛdi
Translation
You will be thoroughly advised and favored by Me, and because of your inquiries, everything about My glories, which are known as paraṁ brahma, will be manifest within your heart. Thus, you will know everything about Me.
Purport
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramātmā, is situated in everyone’s heart, and from Him come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. The Lord reveals Himself in proportion to one’s surrender to Him. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham. In responsive cooperation, the Lord reveals Himself in proportion to one’s surrender. that which is revealed to one who fully surrenders is different from what is revealed to one who surrenders partially. Everyone naturally surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, either directly or indirectly. The conditioned soul surrenders to the laws of nature in material existence, but when one fully surrenders to the Lord, material nature does not act upon him. Such a fully surrendered soul is favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. One who has fully surrendered to the Lord has no fear of the modes of material nature, for everything is but an expansion of the Lord’s glories (sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma), and these glories are gradually revealed and realized. The Lord is the supreme purifier (paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān). The more one is purified and the more he wants to know about the Supreme, the more the Lord reveals to him. Full knowledge of Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān is revealed to the pure devotees. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (10.11):
teṣām evānukampārtham
aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāvastho
jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā
“Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.”
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj:
This is the Lord speaking and previously He talked about how He would as Matsya Avatar, He would pull the boat with all the living entities in it when there was a big flood and here, He is promising not just He saves everybody including Satyavrata, but He also gives knowledge. So, He says you will get some knowledge you will understand about My glories in terms of Param-brahma and everything will be revealed in your heart. So, this is a promise of the Supreme Lord. This verse is sometimes quoted to show that Brahman is not supreme, that is impersonal Brahman is not supreme, but is under the control of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, it says, ‘madīyaṁ Parambrahma’ this Brahman which is supreme beyond the material world, belongs to me but it is not supreme [Laughs]. So, in other words Brahman is one aspect of the Supreme Lord. So in any case, here Matsya Avatar is promising that Satyavrata will understand everything about the Supreme Lord. So, and he also says, this will be revealed in the heart.
So normally when we understand things, we are understanding using our mind and our brain. So, this is the normal course of understanding in the material world and people have you can hook up little electrodes to your brain and you can get the waves coming out and you can analyse all your brain waves and whatever and where the thinking is coming from in your brain. So the brain has different portions to it and different parts of your brain have different functions and some are like the intellectual thinking functions and whatever. So, certain parts of the brain have to do with understanding things, we get information coming in and then we process it and understand what it is, that is the material process of getting knowledge.
We should not think that, this is the process by which we get spiritual knowledge [Laughs]. Because we know Supreme Lord is beyond words and mind. Not subject to our mental thoughts. So we can think with our material mind all about the Supreme Lord, but we are never going to get the conclusion, we can speculate like anything, but we won’t get the conclusion. Just as we can also try to describe the Lord with material words and we can never get a proper description. So, the question will arise of course well, if that’s so, I can’t understand anything about the Supreme Lord, Why read books [Laughs]? All these books I’m using my mind and my brain and whatever, If I don’t have a brain I can’t even read the book. So how is it possible to get an understanding of all of the Supreme Lord? That’s an important question. How can we access spiritual knowledge, when we have a material mind, material senses, material intelligence etc., and ultimately it is impossible.
This question is also asked later in the Bhagavatam in the 10th canto in the 87th chapter, the prayers of the personified Vedas. So there, this philosophical question is asked “How is it that, we can get knowledge and that the Vedas themselves which use words, can describe something which is beyond words, How is it possible?” Even if we have the Vedas, which is scripture, because they are also words, and also looks material, how is it possible ? we can understand and realise the Lord through scripture, even not just any words, but even scriptural words. How is it possible?
So, two questions are asked here, in one sense. That is, if we think that ultimately that supreme entity has no form and has no qualities and has no activities that he is impersonal Brahman, then the question will be even if you can have spiritual words there is no such thing as spiritual words, in that case, because nothing emanates from that supreme entity Brahman there is nothing, it is all maya, it is all illusion only Brahman exists. There are no spiritual words, no spiritual world, no spiritual form at all. So, you can’t describe anything about Brahman. So even Upanishads describe Brahman in so many ways, doesn’t mean anything [Laughs], that of course is also admitted even by the Mayavadis ultimately scripture also is maya [Laughs]. So this is a problem for people and then think that ok…the supreme is beyond words because, it doesn’t have any form anyways so you can never describe it.
However, the Vaishnavas say, NO! God has spiritual form, Spiritual qualities, Spiritual activities, so in one sense, He could be described by spiritual words or whatever, but the question comes is so we have books, we have Vedas, we have Puranas, they are all made up of words and these words are material, we hear them with our ear, we say them with our voice, so they must be material, but that is the let’s say the false conclusion we come to [Laughs]. But anyway, it looks impossible even if we do have God with a form, we cannot really describe God’s form because we are using material words.
So the answer is that, because God is not impersonal, He is personal – He has form, qualities and activities, He can be described by spiritual words! and the words of the Veda are also spiritual [Laughs]!! Scriptural words are spiritual words, therefore he can be described. In a simpler way, we can say that name of the Lord, chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ looks like a material sound, but it’s also spiritual not different from Krishna. So it looks like it’s material, but it’s not. So the Vedas, Puranas, Bhagavatam look like material words, they are not! How is it possible? – Shakti of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord can do anything with words, with material energy, He can turn spiritual into material, material into spiritual, whatever He wants to do [Laughs]. So He has these words / sounds – ‘sabdha’, which look material, but are actually spiritual. By mercy of the Lord, they are available in the material world, and we can hear them with our ears discuss them, think of them with our mind. So therefore, it is through this medium, that through the medium of scripture, that we can understand the Lord and the Lord can be described.
So, if the scripture says that Krishna is blue, and He plays a flute and He dances in rasalila, it’s all spiritual words and it’s absolute, it’s not a material description, it’s not material words [Laughs]. We may think it’s material, but it’s not. Just as we may think, ‘Hare Krishna’ is a material sound, but it’s not. It’s available to our ear and to our voice etc., but actually it’s not material. Its essence is spiritual. So therefore, scripture can describe the Lord. He has spiritual form and activities etc., and scripture can describe that, and it does not become material. It has that spiritual potency in it eternally! So that is why scripture is important for us. It is an access to Supreme Lord and spiritual world. It’s the way that we in the material world with our material minds and our material senses and material body can access the spiritual world and Supreme Lord. It’s one method of doing that. So, scripture is one way. So, we have Bhagavatam.
Another way of course is mantra. So, we have “Hare Krishna” mantra, Name of the Lord. Another way in which even if we are in the material world and have material senses, we can get access to Supreme Lord and everything in the spiritual world. So, this is the Mercy of the Supreme Lord. In general, we can say all of this is spiritual energy of the Lord, ultimately we say, it is all part of bhakti and bhakti is also spiritual.
It is not a material process [Laughs]. So hearing, chanting, remembering, deity worship, it looks like they are material activities, because we engage our body and our senses. NO! That superficial hearing scripture looks material, but no it’s not. So, bhakti is actually part of Krishna’s internal energy, Antaranga Sakthi. It’s not material at all, but it appears in the material world like the name, like the scripture, etc. Purely spiritual energy. The nature of the devotional service of bhakti is that, it manifests in conscious entities and that’s how it spreads. So, if a Jiva has a little bhakti, he can spread that to others.
But where does the bhakti come from? Krishna [Laughs], the spiritual world, – Internal energy. So of course, the internal energy, Antaranga Shakti of the Lord or the svarupa shakti or the cit shakti is the most important shakti of the Lord, because it manifests everything in the spiritual world, including Krishna’s form, qualities, activities, etc., very, very essential to Krishna Himself. That’s why it’s called antaranga or internal. Krishna is never separated from it. We call the external energy, the separate energy / external, outside / useless [Laughs], it’s outside the spiritual world, so Krishna doesn’t really think too much about it. But this internal energy is actually part of the Supreme Lord, essential for all the activities and the bliss in the spiritual world. So, in that energy we have of course it manifests dhama through the Sandhini aspect – name, form, qualities, etc., manifested through the Sandhini shakti which is like say, the support of everything in the spiritual world, everything gets existence in the spiritual world by the Lord’s shakti called Sandhini shakti. He supports everything without that nothing exists! So, spiritual things exist on that shakti, but He has these other two energies: the Samvit shakti and Hladini shakti.
So, Samvit shakti – ‘Samvit’ of course means knowledge. So ‘Samvit’ means ‘spiritual knowledge’ So any awareness in the spiritual world – awareness of other living energies, Krishna’s awareness of devotees, devotees awareness of Krishna, under this Samvit shakti. So very very important, if we don’t have that awareness, everybody is like dead [Laughs]. So, it kind of orchestrates all consciousness in the spiritual world including rasas, that’s the Samvit shakti. So very very important.
And the third one is the Hladini shakti, which is probably the most important at all, this is the energy of experiencing bliss. So, why is it important? because the essential nature of the Supreme Lord or Parambrahma or Bhagavan is bliss. Many other qualities like knowledge etc., but his essential quality is bliss or ananda. So, how does the Lord experience bliss? through the shakti of bliss [Laughs], that is Hladini shakti, which manifests as Radharani also. So this Hladini and which is the bliss shakti and the Samvit shakti the awareness shakti get together and they form bhakti and Prema.
So that bhakti which appears in the material world is the internal energy of Krishna, very very special it is not like jnana yoga or karma yoga, which arise in the material world. We may think jnana and yoga are very spiritual, but actually, they arise from sattva guna only [Laughs]. So they are actually material dull things! But bhakti arises from Krishna’s Hladini and Samvit shakti in the spiritual world. Very very different and that’s why, it is so special and powerful and ultimately recommended by Krishna, because it is internal energy of the Lord, so that combination of Hladini and Samvit manifests within the Jiva. It manifests significantly when you realise the Lord at bhava stage. So, we do sadhana, we don’t see the Lord, but when we get to bhava suddenly, we can see the Lord. How we see the Lord? Samvit shakti [Laughs]. We can experience bliss, how ? – Hladini shakti!
So, bhakti manifests as bhava and the whole goal of sadhana is to manifest as bhava. Then you can realise the Lord, then that further goes on and matures and becomes Prema. so that Hladini, samvit shakti becomes more and more intense. So, as I said, this bhakti is sticks to conscious entities, so it sticks to the Jiva, sticks to the Supreme Lord. It is essential for the Supreme Lord for His bliss and for the Jiva, for his bliss.
So, bhakti appears in the material world, through the Supreme Lord Himself, obviously when He comes as avatars and spreads devotion, and through the devotees. So, the devotees are the spreader of the shakti of the Lord. If the Lord does not appear in the material world, you know when avatars appear, every million years or several million years, So what happens? How does bhakti appear? It needs a medium [Laughs], so it is through the devotees. When the Lord is not here, the bhakti will manifest through the devotees. So, they are the conduits. Prabhupada calls it transparent via media. Like the superconductor, so the devotee is the conductor of the bhakti shakti – the bhakti electricity [Laughs]. So, the devotees are the conductors and of course we have good conductors and bad conductors. So some devotees are good conductors, some are not so good conductors, some are very bad conductors, they get a little bit of something, almost a little bit of bhakti abhas or something like that, but some are very good conductors.
They conduct / communicate that bhakti and spread it to others in the material world. The other night I was giving one definition of Sudhanaam, the highest one, uttama was. Lord Chaitanya’s definition is, a person is a Vaishnava, who is able to inspire others to take up pure chanting of the name of the Lord. So, in other words, you got a little the shakti is quite strong in that person. So, he can enthuse people to take up the process of pure bhakti, not mixed bhakti, pure bhakti, pure name not nama-bhasa. So that shakti manifests nicely in a devotee practising pure bhakti. So he is a good conductor like the copper wire is a good conductor. Others are kind of devotees we call them Kanistha, Vaishnava praya – almost devotees, like this a little bit of something is there but not much. So significantly the bhakti can flow and manifest and spread to others when we get the devotee who is practising pure bhakti who is like Madhyama devotee. He is the one who can spread that bhakti, so this is the means, by which Supreme Lord spreads bhakti in the material world through the devotees and therefore the devotees are honoured throughout the Bhagavatam.
The devotees are always honoured, why? Because, through honouring the devotee, you can get the knowledge, you can get the shakti [Laughs]. Just like of course, if we have the copper wire and then electricity is coming through, it has to manifest by a certain means we can put a light bulb in or whatever we can see how the electricity is manifesting but to put the light bulb in you have to get the right socket and the right light and whatever and stick it in nicely. So, there is a certain mechanism, by which that electricity from the copper wire comes out and manifests nicely. So, the process by which bhakti manifests is this respect. So you respect the devotee, then you get the bhakti, then you get the knowledge the spiritual knowledge, etc.
So that’s why in Bhagavad Gita, it says we have the person who has knowledge ‘Tattva vit’ and how does one get the knowledge? One has to have ‘pranipat, pariprasna and seva’. ‘Pranipat’ means falling down, flat, which means we have to give proper respect proper submission willingness to hear. So that’s the first qualification, the other is ‘prashna’ we should have spiritual questions, not material questions. So, we approach the devotee with submissiveness, respect and eagerness to get knowledge, then we can get it. So that’s the qualification for getting the bhakti from another devotee. You have to approach properly and thus, devotee is always respected in the Srimad Bhagavatam and in fact, Krishna says devotee is more important than I am. Why? Because it’s usually through the devotee that you’re getting bhakti by which you can connect to the Supreme Lord.
So, of course if we have electricity, we have a generator which produces electricity, that’s the most important, if we don’t have that, then we don’t have any electricity at all. But, we need the wire as well; if we don’t have the wires [Laughs], electricity is a generated and nobody gets it [Laughs]. So we need the wires [Laughs]. So that’s how Krishna manifests through the devotees, that’s how bhakti manifests through the devotees, so that’s why the devotee is so important and to do that, you have to approach in the proper way, that is ‘Pranipat’ and ‘Pariprashna’ and then ‘seva’. So, this is the means by which we access that bhakti.
So, Supreme Lord in this way, shows mercy – ‘anugrahitam’, here is mentioned. So, the Lord is going to reveal everything to Satyavrata and He will be the object of mercy. So, mercy of course is a general term, meaning – the Lord likes to encourage the devotee to advance. So he will cooperate and help the devotee in all cases and so that mercy takes the form of devotees [Laughs]. They are the ways in which the mercy of the Lord is manifest within this material world and how is the mercy manifest? The devotee will give bhakti. It is said in Caitanya Caritamrita, by the mercy of Guru and Krishna, one gets the seed of bhakti. So somehow, we get the seed, devotee plants the seed of bhakti. So that is one thing, that is planted of course, what does bhakti consist of? One – of course is, teachings, we may not think of teachings as a philosophy, intellectual, but actually it is part of bhakti itself, the teaching.
So the purpose of the devotee or the guru is to give spiritual knowledge, knowledge of bhakti. I think it was last night I said there are three aspects – Sambanda, Abhidheya and Prayojana, that knowledge is given by devotee and it is all bhakti it is not material knowledge. So that is what is given and of course the knowledge is scripture it is spiritual knowledge, not material knowledge. All part of Krishna and it is part of the Hladhini, Samvit Shakti of the Lord coming to the Jiva in the material world through the devotee. So, the devotee is very very important in the material world and therefore has to be respected.
So, in the heart…. back to ‘in the heart’ [Laughs]. So, it says, everything will be revealed in the heart What type? Not your physical heart, obviously we are not thinking about physical heart. Ultimately of course it is also said in the definition of Sadhana bhakti, that Sadhana bhakti is a process of engaging your senses, your mind etc., which look like the material so that you attain the stage of bhava, which manifests in your heart in the heart again, why we have the heart [Laughs]? What is so important about the heart? Obviously not the physical heart So what is it? Ultimately it is in the Jiva or the heart of the Jiva we can say, so it is spiritual, not material So bhakti manifests not in your mind or intelligence or in your senses but in the Jiva.
So ultimately when the devotee is getting the Samvit, Hladhini shakti from the Supreme Lord and distributing it and a devotee takes it. He is planting it in the Jiva, in himself that is where it gets planted and that is where it begins to grow. So gradually through the cultivation external senses etc., Sadhana bhakti, we cultivate the little plant of bhakti in the Jiva and bhakti becomes stronger and stronger and grows and grows in the Jiva, so that bhakti becomes part of the Jiva himself. So it is said that the difference between a Jiva in the material world and the spiritual world is that the Jivas who are conditioned in the material world, they don’t have the Hladhini and Samvit Shakti at all. Those in the spiritual world are endowed with Hladhini and Samvit Shakti in other words, the bhakti has become part of the Jiva. So, he is not just the Tattasta Shakti, he is Tattasta Shakti plus Antaranga Shakti not complete, but a little bit of Antaranga Shakti is kind of stuck in the Jiva, so he is a very special Jiva in the spiritual world. So, the whole process of sadhana is to get a little bit of that bhakti and then gradually stick it in the Jiva stick it in yourself so it is cemented there and becomes part of you and then you are a very special Jiva and you sit up in the spiritual world [Laughs]. You are qualified for the spiritual world in that case.
So this manifest when we talk about manifesting in the heart, whatever, obviously, it is the Jiva that develops, that is realisation through obviously Samvit shakti, not material shakti. So, in this way, the manifestation takes place, and it is realised not by your material mind and your material senses, but by the Jiva. So, what happens is Jiva develops spiritual mind, spiritual senses. If we reach bhava stage and we see the Lord we don’t see the Lord with material eyes obviously we can’t. So, while we get to bhava, we got spiritual eyes, suddenly we got spiritual eyes, we can experience the Lord, not with material emotions in our mind or heart, but with spiritual heart [Laughs], spiritual mind. So through the process of bhakti, we develop spiritual body, spiritual mind, spiritual senses by which we can associate with the Lord, feel the Lord, sense the Lord with all of our senses in the spiritual world. So, this is a special process.
If you do karma yoga, you don’t develop anything except you get another material body, maybe in Svargaloka if you are lucky [Laughs], which has another material body. If you do jnana you don’t get any body at all. You just get rid of your material body finished no spiritual body developed at all. Through the process of bhakti, which is spiritual process part of Antharanga shakti, you develop spiritual body, spiritual senses etc, very wonderful. Samvit shakti means awareness. How you are aware of the Lord in the spiritual world? Through your spiritual senses obviously spiritual mind so therefore not a material process at all but a spiritual process by which we get our realisation.
Ok, any questions?
Q&A
1) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Thank you for the nice class. It seems like before the stage of bhava, that bhakti like we are understanding the process by reading the books and doing sadhana but the realisation of like.. realising that we are soul and realisation of Krishna, it seems like, it’s not it’s not direct perception. Only until you get to bhava. So is there any ways to verify these things by direct perception before the stage of bhava ?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: How can we verify what?
Devotee: That You know realisation of Krishna
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh yeah, so this is a good question, yeah.. because like in science, we want to verify everything [Laughs]. Show it to me, then I’ll believe it. Show me God then I’ll believe in God. That’s what the scientist will say and we say we can’t show God, because you don’t have you don’t have spiritual senses. If you have spiritual senses, then you can see it So that’s our that’s how we can answer, But they’ll say that’s just evading the question, so to speak.
But we can say that it’s a gradual development and so you get your first manifestation in bhava stage. Before that, in Asakti stage, you almost get a realisation it’s like a shadow, a flash realisation suddenly in Asakti stage, which is still in sadhana. So in other words, it’s not suddenly this Samvit, Hladhini shakti appear and you see Krishna. We get a little seed and we plant the seed of bhakti with faith and we start developing and so it’s gradually developing until it turns into a flower suddenly [Laughs]. So the flower is not sudden we go through different leaves coming out and suddenly we get the bud, which is Asakti and then it blossoms as bhava and we get the flower. So it’s all say gradual development. So gradual manifestation of the Hladhini and samvit shakti. It’s not really manifest, but there’s a little bit of influence going on there. So as you advance in devotional service, we don’t get / have bliss and whatever. But we get something close to that, we get a little bit of better feeling, spiritual feeling, etc., which we won’t call bliss, but we call bhakti sukha – happiness of bhakti.
So that taste for bhakti begins to increase and increase, as we go on which is a precursor of finally and when we get the realisation in bhava stage. So it’s gradual development of that realisation and the bliss that comes with it. So in other words we get a little bit of a taste and we get a stronger taste and a stronger taste until finally we get a realisation in bhava stage.
2) Hare Krishna Maharaj, Thank you for the nice class Maharaj. Maharaj, if a new person comes to the movement and we explain everything that we do, like all our spiritual activities like reading, chanting and he argues that all these things are material. How can we counteract this argument?
Well, we don’t preach to the faithless [Laughs]. Faithful person is one who is willing to accept. He may not understand everything, but he’s got ok, I believe in something spiritual, maybe there’s an Atma or maybe there’s a God I’m willing to listen at least. So we can preach to those people. These are called the innocent people. People that are no not going to…. you have to prove to me by material science and physics that God exists or Atma exists, then it’s kind of hopeless to preach to such people. Just give them prasadam or whatever like that [Laughs]
3) Hare Krishna Bhanu Swami Maharaj. All the Shastras say, to love the Lotus feet of Krishna. So what is the way your realisation how to absorb in the Lotus feet of Krishna, so that we never forget Krishna at any time?
Well, so this is like the previous question, gradually. It’s a gradual development and we start with a willingness to accept that’s called faith. So faith means we will accept the scripture we don’t quite understand it we’re willing to accept it or willing to follow it. We don’t have realisation, but we have that faith that it’s going to work [Laughs]. So that’s our first stage, then we begin the process of bhakti – hearing, chanting, remembering, deity worship or whatever. In the beginning, we will have a lot of material desires, a lot of anarthas, a little bit of bhakti, so we will be unsteady cannot concentrate completely, it’s natural. But as we practise, the obstacles, the anarthas, the distractions begin to decrease a little bit, and we can concentrate a little more because the bhakti becomes a little stronger. It’s like a plant growing up as the plant gets bigger and bigger, it can survive. When it’s very young, then it’s you know very sensitive and you do anything wrong it starts getting [Laughs]… it may die on you but as it gets a little bigger a little stronger you can confidently water it.
So we reach a stage called steadiness or nishta and at that stage, though the anarthas are still there, they don’t disturb us too much. So we can practise steadily, we can concentrate steadily, not complete, but at least to a certain extent. We don’t get too much disturbed by material energy. So that’s a good stage to reach. We go through anartha nivrithi and we get nishta. If we get to that stage, then it becomes a little bit easier, because steadiness we can do and then we get ruchi as a result of that more taste. Once you get taste, all material things are less important we can concentrate more. We get Asakti – is even stronger than taste and so that the distractions of the anarthas are much much less and we can concentrate more on the Lord. Then we get bhava, the realisation of the Lord, so material energy is useless at that point.
4) Thank you Maharaj. From the same point, how did Bharat Maharaj remember his past life, he was in bhava stage. Bharat Maharaj, how did he remember his past life?
Well, he fell from his position of bhava because bhava also there is still a little anartha [Laughs]. It is not the anartha due to karmas. Karmas are all gone by that time at the end of Asakti, karmas are gone. So, it cannot be normal material desires. So what’s left in the bhava is the influence of previous aparadhs. And that can disturb your bhakti. So that’s what happened to Bharat. He didn’t have anything from karma but he committed some aparadh in a previous life that begins to disturb his sadhana or not sadhana, his bhava and then he became attracted to a deer so it was due to aparadh. It shows the seriousness of aparadh can influence a person even in bhava stage.
5) Thank you for the wonderful class, Maharaj. So, Maharaj, where would Raganuga bhakti fall?
So Raganuga is a type of Sadhana. We have two types of sadhana bhakti and the definition of Sadhana bhakti is engaging your senses, to attain bhava, that is realisation of the Lord. So, we use our mind and stuff so it’s a little bit external in a sense so that’s sadhana. Sadhana has two types – Vaidhi and Raganuga. Vaidhi, the definition is that we do the activities of bhakti like hearing, chanting, remembering with the inspiration of scriptural rules. Because scripture says, do it, you do it [Laughs]. So that’s Vaidhi bhakti.
Raganuga bhakti is also a sadhana, to attain bhava, realisation so it is not a realisation, it is also a sadhana. This is particular for Krishna, not for other forms. So if you are worshipping other forms, it’s only Vaidhi bhakti to get bhava. If you worship Krishna, you can do it in Vaidhi bhakti or you can do it in Raganuga bhakti. So Raganuga means… ‘Anuga’ means ‘to follow’ and ‘Raga’ means Ragatmaka bhaktas, this refers to.. ‘Raga’ means great attachment and it refers to the devotees in Vrindavan in the spiritual world, who are completely absorbed in Krishna not because He is Supreme Lord, but because He is Lover, Child, friend, whatever. So, they see Krishna as friend or whatever like this, they don’t see Him as Supreme Lord. So these are the Ragatmakas. So Raganuga means following after that. Inspired by those devotees in Vrindavan in the spiritual world. We perform our hearing, chanting, remembering serving the deity in that sense…. what is the difference? Not because of rule, but because of love of Krishna, we are doing it, as friend or whatever.
So in other words, we serve Krishna like for deities for instance, if you are doing Vaidhi bhakti, I am going to Krishna, I am going to do aarti Because scripture tells me to do aarti Or temple president says do it, so I do it [Laughs] and it is good for me. When we do it in Raganuga bhakti, Ok, I am worshipping the deity and we think of who is doing the aarti we have Mother Yashoda and Nanda Maharaj worshipping Krishna like this, when He comes home at night and from the cowherd fields. So they are doing it in that sense, Krishna is coming back, so we have to welcome Him back. So they do the aarti like that. So it is the mood of spontaneity, there following after the mood in Vrindavan which is very intimate, there is no sense that Krishna is God
Devotee: So is it I know we can’t put a chronological order on that one but is it like before the bhava bhakti or is it like only for the one in the spiritual world?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Who?
Devotee: Raghanuga.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No, it is sadhana. In spiritual world, it is all prema [Laughs] and bhava. Sadhana is what we are doing now, to begin. So it can be Vaidhi or Raganuga.
6) Maharaj, when you spoke about the Aparadh and the bhava platform of Bharat Maharaj, so how do we recognise that if we have done Aparadh which is hindering our progress in bhakti or is it karma ? Because ultimately we want to make sure that we have got rid of both in the process of Sadhana Bhakti and how do we identify that?
We may not know, what is the source of our problem [Laughs], it could be our karmas it could be Aparadh or whatever. If in this lifetime we are doing bhakti, all we can do is, be careful that we don’t commit Aparadh [Laughs]. Because they become very destructive to bhakti. They weaken the bhakti and they can even destroy the bhakti. So we have to be aware of it, if it has happened previously in this life or when we are in previous life we don’t know but it will definitely create obstacle and therefore the bhakti will go slower, because of that. We know that karmas are destroyed very easily in one sense, like Ajamila, just says I name you Narayana [Laughs], and then all those karmas are gone [Laughs]. If he had Aparadhs then it would mean a slower process, so if we have Aparadh, the whole process of bhakti will be slower in terms of destruction of karmas and of course those Aparadhs themselves kind of interfere with your bhakti as in the case of Bharat.
Devotee: So, is it chanting itself will act to dissolve the effects of Aparadh?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, if we don’t know that if there is or isn’t Aparadh or whatever we have is shelter of the holy name [Laughs]. We keep chanting sincerely the holy name and eventually of course the Aparadh will be dissipated by that.
Devotee: Okay, Thank you, Maharaj.
7) Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you for the nice class. Maharaj, can you please explain about how did you join this movement and how more than 50 years, how your transformation, how anything that.. tips for us, anything, please share thank you so much. how did you join and how did you sustain for more than 50 years?
Actually, it’s mercy of devotees. Mercy of Srila Prabhupada [Laughs]. As I said, it’s the devotees spreading things around, of course Prabhupada is there, but then he is not everywhere, at all times, many devotees even when they got initiated, they didn’t even see Prabhupada [Laughs]. So, you don’t see but at least devotees were there. So, devotees were very enthusiastic, there were not that many devotees at that time maybe 500 devotees or something, around the whole world. But they were very enthusiastic to go out and spread bhakti everywhere. So that’s how I met Bhakti, through the devotees they were enthusiastic.
Devotee: Any interaction with Srila Prabhupada and something, can you please….
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yeah, well, of course, as I said to meet Prabhupada is actually rare, because he is not everywhere. But he does appear sometimes and some devotees get to meet. So I had that opportunity also, so I got to meet Prabhupada as well, so that’s another thing [Laughs]. So one is the devotees, and one of course is Srila Prabhupada himself, and his own influence and his own shakti, whatever. So, when we get that shakti of Prabhupada, then that’s very, very special.
Devotee: Ever thought of leaving the Hare Krishna movement throughout the 50 years?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: No [Laughs], not really, No [Laughs]. We leave and then what do we get when we leave? [Laughs]. There’s nothing much there.
Devotee: Thank you so much, Maharaj
8) Hare Krishna Maharaj. You mentioned that in the soul – Samvid and Hladini manifest, and that’s how Bhakti comes in that soul. So what I have understood from reading is that the soul is already a devotee, and it’s covered by material energy, and becoming a devotee means that covering is removed, but I Sort of understood from what you are saying is that the soul itself is not a devotee until those two energies manifest, so I was a little confused by that?
So every Jiva is a devotee of the Lord, in the sense of Nitya Krishna Das but what that means is that by Constitution, all the Jivas are subservient to the Lord. But we also Know that the demons are not subservient to the Lord. In another sense, they are not devotees [Laughs], but they are subservient to the Lord – indirectly, subject to the law of karma, subject to death or whatever which is the laws of the Lord. So ultimately everybody is serving the Lord. So some serve directly, some serve indirectly.
So but the Jiva himself has a choice. If he wants to cultivate Bhakti, then yes, he becomes favourable to the Lord, develops and gets Prema. If he doesn’t want to do anything, of course he becomes a demon or a materialist or an animal or whatever and stays in the material world and we have Jivas that stay in the material world forever [Laughs]. You can also have another choice that is, you can go for liberation and when you go for liberation, again you are not a devotee of the Lord, but you are free of material energy. So we can get free of the coverings of the Jiva through jnana or yoga without developing Bhakti and we just remain in Brahman, no idea of Supreme Lord or anything.
So it is only through the process of Bhakti that the Jiva in the material world can simultaneously get rid of his material coverings plus manifest Prema and go to the spiritual world. But if you just remove the coverings through jnana and yoga you don’t go to the spiritual world well, it is kind of the spiritual world, outer spiritual world [Laughs], borderline, that is the Brahman area.
9) Hare Krishna Maharaj, You mentioned about importance of devotees. A person gets devotion by the mercy of devotees, sometimes in our neophyte stages or early days we may commit offence or aparadh to the same devotee who may be trying to give us devotion or give us Bhakti, what to do in that situation?
Well, if we offend, it depends on the offence. It could be accidental or casual or it could be let’s say with animosity or envy or whatever. If it is accidental or whatever or casual then not so serious. It has got some effect, but not so bad [Laughs]. If it is done with actual animosity or enemity or envy or whatever then it becomes quite serious. In either case there should be some, if we are aware of it, then we have to remedy. If we don’t remedy it, then the Bhakti becomes weak.
So the remedy is, to approach the devotee and apologise and hopefully they will accept the apology. So this will help to greatly absolve the offence or whatever. If the person doesn’t accept the apology, then of course there is a little problem [Laughs], but all you can do is tolerate and chant. If you don’t do anything, it becomes worse [Laughs]. It’s like sickness it gets worse and worse we have to do something about it, so best if we know there is some offence, we apologise and hopefully the person will forgive or accept the apology.
10) Hare Krishna Maharaj, in Krishna’s pastimes like there is a categorisation of Madhurya pastimes in Vraj and then there is Aishwarya pastimes outside of Vraj is there some similar categorisation of Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes?
Oh, Well, I think they not so much as discussed but some people take the Navadvip pastimes as like the intimate pastime and the one who becomes a Sanyasis a little more formal type of thing in Puri, when he is in Puri [Laughs].
11) Hare Krishna Maharaj, sorry about asking again the similar question. Can you please share some of your own experience, like family or some devotees offending Something, some of your own experience…
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: [Laughs] Well, we don’t discuss family now [Laughs].
Devotee: No, your own experience how did you practise, how did you come through all those obstacles through family against your practising?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Oh, Yeah, the idea is that through the process of Bhakti we become more detached. So that’s the secondary aspect of Bhakti. So through the process of Bhakti, then I became more detached from family and whatever like that country and birthplace and all these different things. It takes time, but gradually you kind of forget about everything [Laughs]. So, by concentrating on Krishna, we forget all and we develop detachment from everything else. It’s a gradual process, it takes some years. Too long [Laughs], that’s all. Thank You Hare Krishna.
Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatham ki Jai!!!
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj ki Jai!!!