19840927 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.10

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatāka Swami on September 27, 1984 at Murāri Sevaka farm in Mulberry, Tennessee. The class begins with a lecture from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Chapter 7, Verse 10.

Sūta GoSwami said: All different varieties of ātmārāmas [those who take pleasure in the ātmā, or spirit self, especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone,  including liberated souls.

Purport: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained this ātmārāma śloka very vividly before His chief devotee Śrīla Sanātana GoSwami. He points out eleven factors in the śloka, namely (1) ātmārāma, (2) munayaḥ, (3) nirgrantha, (4) api, (5) ca, (6) urukrama, (7) kurvanti, (8) ahaitukīm, (9) bhaktim, (10) ittham-bhūta-guṇaḥ and (11) hariḥ. According to the Viśva-prakāśa Sanskrit dictionary, there are seven synonyms for the word ātmā, which are as follows: (1) Brahman (the Absolute Truth), (2) body, (3) mind, (4) endeavor, (5) endurance, (6) intelligence and (7) personal habits.

The word munayaḥ refers to (1) those who are thoughtful, (2) those who are grave and silent, (3) ascetics, (4) the persistent, (5) mendicants, (6) sages and (7) saints.

The word nirgrantha conveys these ideas: (1) one who is liberated from nescience, (2) one who has no connection with scriptural injunction, i.e., who is freed from the obligation of the rules and regulations mentioned in the revealed scriptures like ethics, Vedas, philosophy, psychology and metaphysics (in other words the fools, illiterate, urchins, etc., who have no connection with regulative principles), (3) a capitalist, and also (4) one who is penniless.

According to the Śabda-kośa dictionary, the affix ni is used in the sense of (1) certainty, (2) counting, (3) building, and (4) forbiddance, and the word grantha is used in the sense of wealth, thesis, vocabulary, etc.

The word urukrama means “the one whose activities are glorious.” Krama means “step.” This word urukrama specifically indicates the Lord’s incarnation as Vāmana, who covered the whole universe by immeasurable steps. Lord Viṣṇu is powerful, and His activities are so glorious that He has created the spiritual world by His internal potency and the material world by His external potency. By His all-pervading features He is everywhere present as the Supreme Truth, and in His personal feature He is always present in His transcendental abode of Goloka Vṛndāvana, where He displays His transcendental pastimes in all variegatedness. His activities cannot be compared to anyone else’s, and therefore the word urukrama is just applicable to Him only.

According to Sanskrit verbal arrangement, kurvanti refers to doing things for someone else. Therefore, it means that the ātmārāmas render devotional service unto the Lord not for personal interest but for the pleasure of the Lord, Urukrama.

Hetu means “causal.” There are many causes for one’s sense satisfaction, and they can be chiefly classified as material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation, which are generally desired by progressive persons. As far as material enjoyments are concerned, they are innumerable, and the materialists are eager to increase them more and more because they are under the illusory energy. There is no end to the list of material enjoyments, nor can anyone in the material universe have all of them. As far as the mystic powers are concerned, they are eight in all (such as to become the minutest in form, to become weightless, to have anything one desires, to lord it over the material nature, to control other living beings, to throw earthly globes in outer space, etc.). These mystic powers are mentioned in the Bhāgavatam. The forms of liberation are five in number.

Therefore, unalloyed devotion means service to the Lord without desire for the above-mentioned personal benefits. And the powerful Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, can be fully satisfied by such unalloyed devotees free from all sorts of desires for personal benefit.

Unalloyed devotional service of the Lord progresses in different stages. Practice of devotional service in the material field is of eighty-one different qualities, and above such activities is the transcendental practice of devotional service, which is one and is called sādhana-bhakti. When unalloyed practice of sādhana-bhakti is matured into transcendental love for the Lord, the transcendental loving service of the Lord begins gradually developing into nine progressive stages of loving service under the headings of attachment, love, affection, feelings, affinity, adherence, following, ecstasy, and intense feelings of separation.

The attachment of an inactive devotee develops up to the stage of transcendental love of God. Attachment of an active servitor develops up to the stage of adherence, and that for a friendly devotee develops up to the stage of following, and the same is also the case for the parental devotees. Devotees in conjugal love develop ecstasy up to the stage of intense feelings of separation. These are some of the features of unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. [These are different stages of prema.]

According to Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, the import of the word ittham-bhūta is “complete bliss.” Transcendental bliss in the realization of impersonal Brahman becomes comparable to the scanty water contained in the pit made by a cow’s hoof. It is nothing compared with the ocean of bliss of the vision of the Personality of Godhead. The personal form of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is so attractive that it comprehends all attraction, all bliss and all tastes (rasas). These attractions are so strong that no one wants to exchange them for material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation. There is no need of logical arguments in support of this statement, but out of one’s own nature one becomes attracted by the qualities of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We must know for certain that the qualities of the Lord have nothing to do with mundane qualities. All of them are full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. There are innumerable qualities of the Lord, and one is attracted by one quality while another is attracted by another.

Great sages, such as the four bachelor-devotees Sanaka, Sanātana, Sananda and Sanat-kumāra, were attracted by the fragrance of flowers and tulasī leaves anointed with the pulp of sandalwood offered at the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, Śukadeva GoSwami was attracted by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Śukadeva GoSwami was already situated in the liberated stage, yet he was attracted by the pastimes of the Lord. This proves that the quality of His pastimes has nothing to do with material affinity. Similarly, the young cowherd damsels were attracted by the bodily features of the Lord, and Rukmiṇī was attracted by hearing about the glories of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa attracts even the mind of the goddess of fortune. He attracts, in special cases, the minds of all young girls. He attracts the minds of the elderly ladies by parental affection. He attracts the minds of the males in the humors of servitude and friendship.

The word hari conveys various meanings, but the chief import of the word is that He (the Lord) vanquishes everything inauspicious and takes away the mind of the devotee by awarding pure transcendental love. By remembering the Lord in acute distress one can be free from all varieties of miseries and anxieties. Gradually the Lord vanquishes all obstacles on the path of devotional service of a pure devotee, and the result of nine devotional activities, such as hearing and chanting, becomes manifested.

By His personal features and transcendental attributes, the Lord attracts all psychological activities of a pure devotee. Such is the attractive power of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The attraction is so powerful that a pure devotee never hankers for any one of the four principles of religion. These are the attractive features of the transcendental attributes of the Lord. And adding to this the words api and ca, one can increase the imports unlimitedly. According to Sanskrit grammar there are seven synonyms for the word api.

So by interpreting each and every word of this śloka, one can see unlimited numbers of transcendental qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa that attract the mind of a pure devotee.

Thus end the Purport of Text 10, Chapter 7, Canto 1 of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by His Divine Grace Śrīla Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.

Devotees: Jaya!

Jayapatākā Swami: *Reads the Verse*

ātmārāmāś ca munayo
nirgranthā apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim
ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ

—(ŚB 1.7.10)

Jayapatāka Swami: So this verse has been preached on by Lord Caitanya in different occasions. It's very important verse, because of how Lord Caitanya explained in such detail. Actually, the verses in the Bhāgavatam, you can take every verse, and take it word by word and you can get so many different purports from each verse.

Here, if you take the eleven factors in the śloka, and then each factor has somehow between seven… four to seven different meanings, then, how many different combinations can you get of those? Each one seven, these six will stay, this one change, this six again change, you know like… How many total combinations? That's how many basic understandings of the verse could be derived. But Lord Caitanya, He gave 64 meanings just like that, but actually practically speaking you get hundreds of thousands of meanings, unlimited meanings. Because then, if you take each of the synonyms then with those synonyms you could also find synonyms for them and further break it down.

The point is that, someone who is completely material… of course there are so many points, but one of the basic points is that, someone who is completely materially spiritually satisfied, still he is attracted by the transcendental qualities of the Lord, engages in His pure unalloyed devotional service. Anyway, if somebody thinks that, “Well, we have to serve the Lord for some material reason”, that this verse very conclusively establishes that even people who are completely materially transcendental, or who are independent of so many material controls, they willingly engage in the devotional service of the Lord out of their material realization, being attracted by His transcendental qualities. This is basically a proof that devotional service is the summum bonum of life.

This also proves the transcendental position of Lord Caitanya. When Lord Caitanya explained this ātmārāma śloka in Jagannātha Purīi to Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, that's what convinced Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya that Lord Caitanya actually was not a conditioned soul, but He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because just nobody could have such an expansive, and deep understanding of the verse.

Similar situation happened when dig-vijaya Keśava Kaśmīri was touring all over India. Wherever he went he got people to sign.. he defeated people. In this way, as a paṇḍita, as a great learned scholar, he was becoming more and more prominent and famous. His secret of success was that he would worship mother Sarasvatī. This way he would get so much knowledge he could defeat others. So, when the Keśava Kaśmīri had set his eyes on Navadvīpa, when he wanted to go and defeat all the paṇḍitas in Navadvīpa, so then he would be the most prominent pandit in the entire North India. It's not the whole India.

So, Keśava Kaśmīri offered his worship to mother Sarasvatī as usual, and the paṇḍitas of Navadvīpa they were very afraid of this dig-vijaya, because he was practically indefeatable, undefeatable. So, they came up to a plan of action, and they actually asked Nimāi Paṇḍita to meet him. Because they thought, “Nimāi Paṇḍita is so young, and he is such a astute paṇḍita. That if he defeats him, well so, our glory will be enhanced so much that even one of our very young paṇḍitas could defeat him.” (Devotees laugh) But although Nimāi Paṇḍita was in fact the most qualified, best of all the paṇḍitas. The second thing is well even if He were to lose then they could possibly get another chance saying, “well, He’s just a boy” and by that time, they would figure out… so it was like a kind of a political move from their part to ask Nimāi Paṇḍita to meet Keśava Kaśmīri. They didn’t actually know the real transcendental position.

So Nimāi Paṇḍita, Lord Caitanya went to the ocean or to the Ganges bathing, and it just happened that by the will of providence He met with Keśava Kaśmīri there outside the city. So Keśava Kaśmīri could understand that here was the person that he was actually supposed to meet. So they started to discuss and the… Lord Caitanya, He took a humble position and said that, “I’d like to hear your poetry. I’m just a humble student of grammar and if I can learn you know, poetic art from you, then this will be very nice.”

See, then Keśava Kaśmīri immediately, he was just by the Ganges, so he said... he gave a hundred verses glorifying the Ganges, just like, you know just composing, per you know… Sanskrit poetry just like a machine gun, bam bam bam one after the other. All of it seem, you know completely perfect (honking sound) as would be revealed by Lord Caitanya.

[Aside: That’s where they belong. Put… hold it. Put them right. That’s how they crack. You’re putting them backwards.]

So right in the middle, Lord Caitanya asked, “What’s the good and bad qualities of like the 54th verse?” This has happened to me sometimes where someone would come and say, some Indian… you ask for questions and he raises his hand and… in South India, they say, “The fifth chapter, 43rd verse of the Bhagavad-gita says that…What you have to say about that?” you know, (Devotees laugh).

I can't even remember what the fifth chapter and 43rd verse? (Devotees laugh). You know, can you hint on which… you know. They never tell you what the verse is, they just like tell you the number and then they say some part from it (chuckles) you know and then they ask you to comment, you know. Well...bring out the Bhagavad-gītā and let’s go over it, you done. It turns out that usually they misquote, they really meant the seventh chapter, 22nd verse you know, (Devotees laugh) but which really threw you off you know (laughs). It happened to me when the guy kept saying…

I said, “Are you sure you mean…we read out the verses”.

He says, “…That’s not the one.” Then he was like, you know twenty numbers off! But here Lord Caitanya, you know, He just picked out one verse in the middle which astonished… because even though he was composing a hundred verses, but it wasn't even that he could put them to memory himself. But here Lord Caitanya had put all of the verses immediately, tsh tsh right to memory. So, He picked out, any one He could have just picked it out and then He quoted, “so what are the good and bad qualities of that?” Immediately he got puffed up, you know like, “Good and bad qualities?" As if there’s bad qualities in his composition, you know.

He says, “There’s no bad qualities in my composition.” So then, Lord Caitanya proceeded to show various errors in the composition, double negatives, misuse of syllables, certain grammatical and metaphorical errors. Then after that he showed the good qualities, how many similes, how many metaphors, how many, what do you call it, sibilants, different other type of poetic embellishments. In this way, because Keśava Kaśmīri has said there is no fault in his composition and Lord Caitanya picked out the fault. Technically Keśava Kaśmīri was KO’d (devotees laugh) in the paṇḍita arena.

So then, Keśava Kaśmīri went back to where he was staying and he was trying to, “Why is that I said there was no fault in my composition? Why did Sarasvatī Devī let me out like, let me down like that?” So, he prayed to Sarasvatī Devī to please reveal how is it that he lost to Nimāi Paṇḍita? What offence or something had he done that she misplaced intelligence and failed him. Then that night in a dream, in the dream or directly, I think in the dream, Sarasvatī Devi appeared to him and told him, “That person whom you think is Nimāi Paṇḍita, you should surrender unto Him. He is actually my husband, He is my master, He is my eternal master, Kṛṣṇa.”

So then this way, in the next day Keśava Kāśmīri, he surrendered to Lord Caitanya and then Lord Caitanya revealed His transcendental form to Keśava Kāśmīri. Keśava Kāśmīri became absorbed in pure devotional service. So, human intelligence has limit, it can always fail.

These big multinational corporations, they make big computer programs. They put… one recently was put out, then after putting it out for two weeks, they had to take it back. They had bugs, not the ones that crawl out. (chuckles) Had so many errors in it they didn’t foresee. This is the material situation that our intelligence, no matter how developed it is... just like Hiraṇyakaśipu, he had tried to figure everything out, but it never comes up to the intelligence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because our intelligence is just a part, a fraction of His intelligence.

So, the fraction can never equal the whole. It’s by definition, that the fraction has to be less than the whole. So, by definition, we are cit-kaṇa, we are just the spark, a part of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, we can never equal the whole, but if we are in surrendered to Him, if we are in complete harmony with Him, then we can get the unlimited potency coming to us. But if we try to compete with Kṛṣṇa, off course we will lose. So in this material world people are trying to compete with this Kṛṣṇa's external energy, and they are getting defeated. But what to speak of those who want to directly compete with Kṛṣṇa? Their situation is very precarious, you see.

So the devotees they stop this competition business against Kṛṣṇa. They stop the enjoying attitude of trying to exploit the material world for their sense gratification, and rather they use their intelligence, their faculties, their senses, everything for the service of the Lord. In this way they become ātmārāma, they become completely self-satisfied. They become completely nirgranthā, freed from all kinds of material bondages.

The munis, the devotees, not these, not those munis. This is the Sanskrit muni, munayah, means to be silent, means that the devotee, doesn't mean he just becomes mauna-bābā. The mauna-bābā. In India they have these mauna-bābās, they take a vow they won't speak for two, three, four years, something like that. They don't speak, with anyone who talk to them, so they write. (Devotees laugh) So in this way, they are still thinking so many things, but they just take a vow they won't speak. It's like you know, there are people that, they’re born that way, they can't speak (makes some grunting noises to mimic). In Māyāpur there is one man, he can't speak, he just grunts and if he wants to say something, he has to write it down and show you. They called them Bōbā... Bōbā, deaf and dumb. What are they called here?

Devotees: mute...deaf

Jayapatākā Swami: Deaf mute, they can't speak.

So to be a mauna-bābā, or deaf mute, by choice, it's not a very transcendental situation. So muni doesn't mean that kind of silence but a devotee is muni, that he only speaks about Kṛṣṇa. Doesn't speak nonsense, doesn't speak materialistically neither does he just becomes silent like a deaf mute, but he speaks only transcendental subject matter.

So, here in the Murāri Sevaka this reminded how there’s that verse in the Bhāgavatam, that Murāri, He saves us, protects us from all kinds of dangers of life. That Murāri's lotus feet are the boat by which we can cross over this ocean of the material world. So Prabhupāda, he has given us the Murāri Sevaka, in order that we can serve Murāri's lotus feet and thus cross over the ocean of material world, crossing over all of the dangers which the material world holds out at every step.

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo-murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām 

(ŚB 10.14.58)

So that same point was referred to here in the purport, that’s why I was reminded where Kṛṣṇa, where Prabhupāda said that… uhh Oṁ tat sat. “Transcendental bliss in the realisation of impersonal Brahman becomes comparable to the scanty water contained in the tip made by a cow's hoof, it is nothing compared with the ocean of bliss of the vision of the Personality of Godhead.”

So, here by becoming a sevaka, or a servitor of Murāri, then we can transcend the ocean of material birth and death which is reduced just like the small scanty hoof print of water. We can transcend the boring, impersonal bliss of Brahman and transcend to the uhh unlimited transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṇa, of Murāri. All by taking shelter of Murāri's devotional service.

Now, for those who don't take shelter of the lotus feet of Murāri, who instead try to take shelter of their own intelligence, of this material world, you see for them...the munis, the intelligent devotees of the Lord, they never do that because they know that padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ. That at every step, padaṁ padaṁ, step by step there is yad vipadāṁ, there is the possibility of danger. But when we take shelter of Murāri or Kṛṣṇa then we cross over that ocean of danger. We become fearless. bhaja hu re mana śrī-nanda-nandana, abhaya-caraṇāravinda re - completely fearless in devotional service.

jai 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

We’re…

Devotee: Śrīla Ācāryapāda ki Jaya!