19821229 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.26

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Svāmī on December 29, 1982 in Atlanta, Georgia. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Canto 2, Chapter 1, Verse 26.

The First Step in God realization. Text 26, Chapter 1, Canto 2.

pātālam etasya hi pāda-mūlaṁ
paṭhanti pārṣṇi-prapade rasātalam
mahātalaṁ viśva-sṛjo ’tha gulphau
talātalaṁ vai puruṣasya jaṅghe
(ŚB 2.1.26)

Translation: Persons who have realized it have studied that the planets known as Pātāla constitute the bottoms of the feet of the universal Lord, and the heels and the toes are the Rasātala planets. The ankles are the Mahātala planets, and His shanks constitute the Talātala planets.

Purport: Outside the bodily existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the manifested cosmic existence has no reality. Everything and anything of the manifested world rests on Him, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.4), but that does not imply that everything and anything in the vision of a materialist is the Supreme Personality. The conception of the universal form of the Lord gives a chance to the materialist to think of the Supreme Lord, but the materialist must know for certain that his visualization of the world in a spirit of lording over it is not God realization. The materialistic view of exploitation of the material resources is occasioned by the illusion of the external energy of the Lord, and as such if anyone wants to realize the Supreme Truth by conceiving of the universal form of the Lord, he must cultivate the service attitude. Unless the service attitude is revived, the conception of virāṭ realization will have very little effect on the seer. The transcendental Lord, in any conception of His form, is never a part of the material creation. He keeps His identity as Supreme Spirit in all circumstances and is never affected by the three material qualities, for everything material is contaminated. The Lord always exists by His internal energy.

The universe is divided into fourteen planetary systems. Seven planetary systems, called Bhūr, Bhuvar, Svar, Mahar, Janas, Tapas and Satya, are upward planetary systems, one above the other. There are also seven planetary systems downward, known as Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla, gradually, one below the other. In this verse, the description begins from the bottom because it is in the line of devotion that the Lord’s bodily description should begin from His feet. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is a recognized devotee of the Lord, and he is exactly correct in the description.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purport of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Canto 2, Chapter 1, Text 26 in the matter of the First Step in God Realization.

Jayapatākā Swami: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is always to be approached first by His lotus feet. You first take the darśana of the Lord, we meditate on the Lord, we offer āratī to the Lord, first at His lotus feet. We take the humble position; therefore, we approach the Lord first at His lotus feet. Of course, there is no difference between the Lord’s lotus feet or His lotus hands, or His lotus face. They are all transcendentally situated, they are all on the absolute platform. But it is symptom of humility and subservience that the devotee looks at the lotus feet of the Lord first. Lord Caitanya, He prayed tava We take the humble position; therefore, we approach the Lord first at His lotus feet. Of course, there is no difference between the Lord’s lotus feet or His lotus hands, or His lotus face. They are all transcendentally situated, they are all on the absolute platform. But it is symptom of humility and subservience that the devotee looks at the lotus feet of the Lord first. Lord Caitanya, He prayed tava pāda-paṅkaja, that He could just be pāda-dhūlī, you see, He could become just one of the particles of dust, on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Actually, this is our supreme place of shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord. The Goddess of fortune, fortune Lakṣmī devī is always massaging the lotus feet of the Lord.

The pure devotees are described as bumblebees who are drinking the nectar of the honey flowing from the lotus feet of the Lord. you see They perform devotional service, and thus they are able to taste that nectar. The (conch blowing sound) meditation therefore of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, first on the lotus feet of the Lord is shown here very emphatically. Although he was a very great impersonal realized soul, now he is completely absorbed in the devotional service of the Lord. Therefore, he is looking first at the lotus feet of the Lord.

Each planet one after another, is arranged in a universe. Now, it’s not that geographically all of the planets are just lined up like that. There may be certain cluster, where one planet is higher, just like the Candraloka is considered to be a heavenly planet, or the moon is considered to be a heavenly planet, meaning that the residents living there are on a higher type of dimension or level of existence than those who are living, say on the earth planet or those who are living in the hellish planets, or the lower planets. Our understanding of hell here is probably a little different. Some of these lower planets are hellish, but still there is material enjoyment there. Some of them are just uh, very painful. So, for the devotees, for the pious people, both of them so-called enjoyment and so-called pain without any God consciousness are both painful.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that, “There are some of the lower planetary systems where people are just having sex life 24 hours a day.” It is just non-stop. But it is considered to be a hellish planet. No… forget art, forget science, forget… just sex. That’s all there is. So there everybody is completely in hell, unflamed with so many desires, you see. So, the idea of hell, some of the materialists, you see, they have desires like that, they may go to one of these planets. They will think that, “Well, this is, that is the best thing.”

So, in that way heavenly planet doesn’t mean that, there is a lot of simply gross sense gratification. But the sense gratification there is of a whole together different standard. And it also has uh... a lot of recognition and glorification of the Supreme Lord is going on, you see. But generally, the difference between any planet in the material world and in the spiritual, even if the people are devotees, it is the people, the persons living in those particular places, even if they accept God, actually they are materialistic. Their desires are also material. actually they are materialistic. Their desires are also material.

Just like Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, apparently one day he was walking along, and all of a sudden, he looked up at the moon and pointed and said, “Candralokera vāsī bahir mukha āche - the residents of the moon planet are all materialistic. We have to go there and preach to them.” The devotee of the Lord, his idea is how to make all the people, no matter whether they are in heavenly planets, earth planet, wherever, to make them really God consciousness.

That means here, beginning with service attitude. Normally all the devotees in the material world want God to serve them. “What has God done for your life?” Right, isn’t that what they say? “What has He done?” They want, they want to know what service has God done for you? “What will God do for me if I chant His name?” Of course, if you are the servant of God, then automatically one does get so many benefits. There is no doubt about it, in fact even more than one who is not in that service role. But the attitude of the devotee, is rather… the pure devotee is trying, “Let me please Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased everything will be perfect." you see.

While the materialist, even if they are devotee of God, “Let me serve God and let God please me. Then everything will be perfect.” Meaning, “Please my body.” Because they are in the body consciousness. So, they have a separate interest. This is explained in the 4th[3rd] Canto Bhāgavatam by Kapila Muni, that those who are mixed uh, devotion mixed with tama, mixed with raja, and mixed with sattva. [Aside: I think we discussed this here one class, didn’t we? Before, long time ago? I think, I thought we had in Atlanta.] How devotion in tama is tinged with anger, envy, resentment, vengeance uh, illusion, things like that.

Say someone very angry, “Well, I am going to show that person through my devotional service.” That’s devotion tinged with anger. It motivates, that’s your motivation. You want to show someone else. Or a person is just angry all the time at others, he may be devotee, but always criticize, always angry at others, always in a despondent, always in a negative mood. There is devotional service, but there is some tama, ignorance mixed there. It’s not pure, therefore that person has got some kind of a separatist, mood in terms of the Lord. He cannot get very intimate in his devotional service.

Then, there is devotion mixed with raja, with the mood of passion. kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ (Bg 3.37) Here in rajo-guṇa, that means that a person is desiring better material situation. I have performed devotional service, but I need a better material situation. Or desire for elevation to the heavenly planets. This type of desire of some kind of fame, prestige or some type of better material position and in, in uh, exchange for devotional service, this is like mixture of the rajo-guṇa, and there is also there a tinge of separate, separatist mood from the Lord, which is called pṛthak-bhāva, to have a separate mood. The mood is not that, “May Kṛṣṇa be pleased." "I am serving Kṛṣṇa, why I am not getting my material facility?” you see. There might be that type of feeling, “Why Kṛṣṇa is not making me comfortable. I am serving Him.”

I sa… If we start to relate and expect Kṛṣṇa to give us a comfortable material situation in exchange for devotional service, it can bring in a tinge of rajo-guṇa. Then our motivation, we'll be happy in our devotional service if we are materially comfortable, and if we are materially uncomfortable, we will feel some dissatisfaction. We don’t want to feel satisfaction over material comfort. That has nothing to do with pure love for Kṛṣṇa. We don’t care, we don’t want to feel dissatisfaction over material discomfort, you see.

We have a body. You can’t help it feeling some amount of sensation over being materially, bodily, physically comfortable or uncomfortable. You can’t help feeling some sensation, but that we don’t want that to be our standard for being satisfied or dissatisfied. Until we get pure love for Kṛṣṇa, we don’t want that flow of enthusiasm, of determination to ebb, to even decrease an iota through some self-satisfaction that, “Now I am comfortable.” Then we may get stuck up there, we may not get pure bhakti, we may not get pure love for Kṛṣṇa, you see. You see, that’s something a devotee has to see that, this rajo-guṇa does not enter into the devotion and give us some kind of a separate feeling from pure devotion, separate from the Lord. but that we don’t want that to be our standard for being satisfied or dissatisfied. Until we get pure love for Kṛṣṇa, we don’t want that flow of enthusiasm, of determination to ebb, to even decrease an iota through some self-satisfaction that, “Now I am comfortable.” Then we may get stuck up there, we may not get pure bhakti, we may not get pure love for Kṛṣṇa, You see, that’s something a devotee has to see that, this rajo-guṇa does not enter into the devotion and give us some kind of a separate, feeling from pure devotion, separate from the Lord.

Even the mode of goodness can also bring in a uh, separatist type of mood from the Lord. A devotee who may be is doing pūjā very carefully thinks he is better than the other devotees. Which… I don’t… forget which category that… that was mentioned there in Bhāgavatam. Then also that person is doing uh… uh, devotional service, and wants to uh, achieve liberation, wants to end birth, death, old age and disease, and is… uh, that is the condition that, “For my service, I want that birth, death, old age and disease should be finished... " you see, "...in this very life."

Of course, that’s always a desire of a devotee to be with the Lord. Whether we are with the Lord in material world or spiritual world, wherever we are that’s actually the pure desire, you see. But not that even if Kṛṣṇa gives us liberation, then, “Oh, we’re going to…” then… “alright, now we are going to think about the next step.” We don’t want to… just like aim our sights at some kind of intermediate stage along the way, as far as possible. If we do, then we’ll get up to that point. We may just get stuck, Someone may know, “Well, if you want to go from here to uh… to Tokyo, you know, there is so many stops on the way, so first let me get to LA, then let me get to next place, you know.” But you know how it is. Say a devotee wants to get to there, then he can work his way first to LA, then he is going to work… what happens, probably along the way, might get stuck up. Sometimes, “Well, I’ll just stay here.”

Material life is saying if you may not make it, of course if you’re determined enough, you may still make it. At least you are heading in the right… therefore the śāstras encourage, “Alright do… somehow or other do devotional service.” At least you are going in the right direction. But then, there is also the instruction that,

kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta'
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali 'aśānta'

That one should try to aim at the ultimate, pure devotion, you see, without any separate tinge, and it is very complex, it’s not… may not just be, you see… it’s described, may not just be that “Oh, it’s pure tama or pure raja, or pure sattva. ” That may be two parts sattva, one-part tama, and two parts raja. It may be, you know. It can maybe… or, add 27 different combinations, and then again three, get 81 different combinations. It may… a devotee may have you know, so many different kinds of subtle, little things there. It may actually be zero tama, zero raja, zero sattva, but then a third of a part of sattva, slight mix is there. Just even then a tinge of attachment for this particular thing over that. So of course, that’s all very complicated by seeing, therefore to just simplify the whole thing we try to just understand what are the eight prayers of Lord Caitanya, where He gives the Śikṣāṣṭaka which says:

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
(Śikṣāṣṭaka 4)

No desire for wealth, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ, no desire for so many followers, na sundarīṁ, not desire to enjoy more sense gratification. When they say sundarīṁ, beautiful women, this means the enjoying mood. To enjoy, you see, sex life, to enjoy the opposite sex, that means for a woman sundarīṁ, even though it may be written in the feminine, that means for them that may be men, or any object of enjoyment like that. Lord Caitanya, He didn’t have the desire. He gave it up. “I don’t want these things.”

“janmani janmanīśvare, even birth after birth, all I want is Your causeless devotional service, even birth after birth. No matter who You… No matter what You do… you see. Whether You take me this birth or whether You say, ‘Ah, you can wait another birth’, still I simply want to engage in Your devotional service. I have no other desire. I simply want to engage in Your causeless devotional service. There is no other goal in my life. ” That is a pure devotee. Not material, not even spiritual desire, not any even spiritual separate motive. Simply the motive, “Serve Kṛṣṇa, whatever is pleasing to You Kṛṣṇa. That’s my only goal, my only objective.”

Therefore, the devotee can actually taste the real nectar which is love of Kṛṣṇa, because there is no short circuits, there is nowhere where the energy is being diverted. It is going directly to Kṛṣṇa. In the eighth śloka of the Śikṣāṣṭaka, where He says, “That whether You embrace Me, or whether You trample Me under Your feet, or throw Me aside, whatever You do, You are My only master.”

So, the devotee, you see, because they surrender unconditionally to Kṛṣṇa, unconditional surrender, that Kṛṣṇa says, “Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham/ according to how you approach Me, I will reciprocate with you.” you see. The devotee knows that… that He has the most wonderful qualities, all the good qualities are only coming from Him. He is a reservoir of all good qualities guṅo-dhāma. Not that the devotee fully surrenders unto Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is going to neglect the devotee in any way.

If for any reason, he keeps the devotee in any kind of suspense, it is simply to increase the desire of that devotee. Just like Kṛṣṇa apparently left Vṛndāvana, although He was there in His bhāva-rupa,in His bhāva form. That gave the… that gave the residents of Vṛndāvana an even more intense experience of love for Kṛṣṇa, what’s that? Eka padam na gacchati, or something like that. He doesn’t even take one step out of Vṛndāvana, but He became invisible for a while just to increase that love for the de… Because Kṛṣṇa’s presence and non-presence is non-different. When a devotee is fully desiring the presence of Kṛṣṇa, sometimes that devotion is more intense. When a devotee is fully desiring the presence of Kṛṣṇa, sometimes that devotion is more intense.

Even we saw what Śrīla Prabhupāda, this type of a circumstance. The devotees were always hankering, “When will we see Prabhupāda? When will we see Prabhupāda?” Always thinking Prabhupāda is coming, he is coming. Very high level of enthusiasm or anticipation of desire, it comes up, right? Then the spiritual master comes, there is that union, wonderful uh, experience. Everyone is jumping, and crying and shouting, right? Then he gives a first couple of lectures. But, then they gradually, the devotee may start to become distracted again, start remembering other thing, and then even though the spiritual master is there, he may… mind may go off, just due to not being at that level, or just due to nature, whatever you want to call it. So, in such a circumstance, then what was better? That was better that when they… in anticipation, they were in a higher level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness even when… when in presence, you see. Because when he wasn’t there, there was no opportunity to think of anything else, because of that feeling of separation there, and when he is there, you see, then some kind of… after a while, some self-satisfaction or some type of uh… taking for granted of the whole situation, then again the mind may get some… may go off, or that intensity, it can be little bit reduced, even someone who is not materially not going to go off anywhere, but still the intensity can change.

So, that’s why we are always seeing that, that there is always this coming and going, union and separation, it’s all… it just adds… the spice of life is variety, right? Variety is the spice of life, so not that every time it’s all the same, sometimes Kṛṣṇa is there. Sometimes He is not. Apparently they are… Actually, Kṛṣṇa is always there, but sometimes He is visible, sometimes He is invisible. So, for the devotees that creates all various type of emotions and anticipations and desires, which are all very relishable on the spiritual platform.

If you offer any other Vṛndāvana… Vraja-vāsīs, “That alright, because Kṛṣṇa has left you… Okay Lalitā, Viśākhā, Kṛṣṇa has left you, so you come off and uh... you know, go some other place, what’s the use?” Do you think they care for any other place? Or any other thing? They are absorbed, so much so, Uddhava came there to give them instructions, “My dear Vraja-vāsīs…” started to give them lessons and philosophy, and everything, and then he saw that what was the level of their devotion. That how absorbed they were, how Rādhārāṇī is uh, lecturing, how speaking to the bumblebee.

So, they are all mad after Kṛṣṇa, that their absorption in Kṛṣṇa, and service to Kṛṣṇa was so intense, that He could… He couldn’t conceive at all. It was beyond. He just then started to pray that, “Just if I could somehow, in my future life, maybe become a little… there’s a creeper here in Vṛndāvana, then they may put their lotus feet on my head. That would be the highest uh, perfection for me, to somehow or another to get the association of these exalted souls. Their devotion is so pure, that uh, it’s… it’s inexplicable.”

Uddhava was already the friend of Kṛṣṇa. He can walk in Kṛṣṇa’s uh… he can walk right in Kṛṣṇa’s room anytime, you know. Someone else, even Brahmā has to knock on the door,

“Wait a while.”

“What?”

“Which Brahmā?” Right?

So… but no. Uddhava, he can walk right in anytime. That was a… he was so… but then he saw the gopīs. Then he said, “Hare Kṛṣṇa. ” Their devotion is inconceivable. Why did Kṛṣṇa sent them there? Not only to be messenger but to learn. So devotional service is a great science. It’s a great science, and it is to be understood, only from the pure devotees. You cannot understand pure devotion from uh, anyone else, you see. Not from uh, the impersonalist, not from the karma-kānḍī, not from the yogīs. They all… the contemporary uh, modern day guru, a lot of them try to teach little bit, “Oh, bhakti-yoga, yes. ” They may throw a little bit. They have no idea about bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga cannot be taught by anyone else, except for a bhakti-yogi.

Bhakti-yogi can give you the run down and teach you some other system, just like Vidura taught Dhṛtarāṣṭra, “Alright, you do mystic-yoga. ” But those are all contained. It’s just like when you go up to the Ph.D. level, you don’t… and then you don’t… you are in a different… whole different level, you don’t have to sit for a final exam anymore. There you have to write your thesis, right? You have to print… publish a book, so like that the exams for the pure devotee are not the same as… the mystic yogi has to mechanically, “Alright, now, shift the airs. Kuṇḍalinī-cakra homing in. ” you know, then up, you know mechanically controlling, (imitates tooling sound) tuning everything in with the body, it’s not like that, you see. (conch blowing) It’s not mechanical anymore.

When it comes in the higher devotional service it requires… even in the beginning of devotion, vaidhī-bhakti, that’s mechanical. When they get into the more uh, intense devotional service, then one has to just become more and more straightforward with Kṛṣṇa, with the guru, has to become more and more honest. Therefore, even a devotee may have difficulty sometimes, has to be thoroughly honest. Satvatām. Śṛṇvatām, see.(Bell rings)

One has to be thoroughly honest, straightforward. Then one can make advancement in devotional service at the highest levels, you see. In the beginning of course anything in the cause of devotion, there’s no loss, but as one is getting more and more responsible, then one has to become more and more honest, straightforward with Kṛṣṇa, you see. There is no other morality. The only morality is following the orders of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, being completely straightforward in devotional service. That is the morality.

Hare Kṛṣṇa

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa.