19860929 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.8.13

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on September 29, 1986 in Toronto, Canada. The class begins with a reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam 5th Canto, Chapter 8, verse 13.

pathiṣu ca mugdha-bhāvena tatra tatra viṣakta-mati-praṇaya-bhara-hṛdayaḥ kārpaṇyāt
skandhenodvahati evam utsaṅga urasi cādhāyopalālayan mudaṁ paramām avāpa.

(ŚB 5.8.13)

Translation: When entering the forest, the animal would appear very attractive to Mahārāja Bharata due to its childish behavior. Mahārāja Bharata would even take the deer on his shoulders and carry it due to affection. His heart was so filled with great love for the deer that he would sometimes keep it on his lap or, when sleeping, on his chest. In this way he felt great pleasure in fondling the animal.

Purport: Mahārāja Bharata left his home, wife, children, kingdom and everything else to advance his spiritual life in the forest, but again he fell victim to material affection due to his attachment to an insignificant pet deer. What, then, was the use of his renouncing his family? One who is serious in advancing his spiritual life should be very cautious not to become attached to anything but Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes, in order to preach, we have to accept many material activities, but we should remember that everything is for Kṛṣṇa. If we remember this, there is no chance of our being victimized by material activities.

Jayapataka Swami: This is Mahārāja Bharata without thinking, he probably thought that he had been in the forest, I am now very renounced, I am free from all danger. He didn’t think that his attachment to the deer was anything dangerous. Like this sometimes there may be someone who lives in the āśrama and they, they may also think that because I am living in the āśrama therefore I am free from all the dangers. But actually we can also become attached, whether in āśrama or in the house too to material things.

Even in āśrama - there is a story that ātma-tattva prabhu was telling us yesterday how Rāmānujācārya, he was praising one of his gṛhastha devotees that they are very much Kṛṣṇa conscious. There is a... If you like he can tell you the longer story, I just tell that the essence of it.

That there was this, there was this Deity in South India, and there, actually what happened, there was this Deity in South India and there had been a very attached person. He was actually the martial arts guru of the king. But he was only into physical education, muscle building, martial arts – he was very materially attached. But he had been converted or he had been delivered by our great ācārya, Rāmānujācārya. So somebody they couldn’t imagine how the gṛhastha was more renounced or more Kṛṣṇa conscious than so many sādhus and sannyāsīs who were there living with Rāmānujācārya.

So Rāmānujācārya, he sent one of the two brahmacārīs to go up into the brahmacārīs, the sannyāsīs' quarter, there were so many sannyāsīs with him, you go there and you tear all of their kaupinas. The sannyāsīs, they only have two pieces of cloth. They have their exter...three pieces. They have this outward cloth is called bahirvāsa or outward cloth. Then the kaupina they supposed to wear is one, just two pieces of cloth that they wear which is tied by a kind of a jockey strap around. (Aside: I think everyone knows what the brāhmaṇa underwear kaupina is) Kaupina is called brāhmaṇa underwear in English. But that’s the main dress when the sannyāsa takes sannyāsa, that is installed as Anantaseśa in vāruṇi, as a, as a, it is a special like Deity that’s installed, that kaupina is installed kaupina, whatever it is. Any way that is supposed to be one of their prime dresses and then the external dress is like if they go to the Ganges bathing or something, in India if you go to Prayāga, Allahabad, when there is a Kumbha-melā you will see so many sannyāsīs going and taking bath only wearing their kaupina, they won’t wear the outside cloth. You see. Then the other cloth they wear is called uttariyā. This cloth there is a design so incase if they have to go begging, they just hold it like this, they can get donations. So that is supposed to be the renounced order, they just have this much cloth, they don’t have so much else. Because of international we have also added shirt, but there are many sannyasīs, they don’t wear even a shirt.  In South India to this day you don’t wear shirt generally when the sannyasi goes to preach.

So that brahmacārī disciples Rāmānujācārya they went and ripped off all of the sannyasīs’ kaupinas in the night time. So when they woke up they saw all our kaupinas are been ripped off. So he gave his morning class but no sannyāsīs came to the class. Later... But the gṛhastha couple was there during the class. So then he asked the sannyasīs, "why you are, why you didn’t come to the class?" They said, "well! we had a huge argument over who tore up the kaupinas? Who took the kaupinas? Who took our underwear? And so this was going on and we all missed the class!" He said that, “You are sannyasīs. all you have in the whole world is one outside cloth, one kaupina, and one big, one uttariyā, for that,  for you just don’t have your kaupina why are you wasting so much energy over that? You have given up everything and you are attached to your kaupina. You are arguing and fighting over that. So what is the...you are still materially attached! Even if it is over one little piece of cloth."

Then the next day, he told to two brahmacārīs, listen, you go and you sneak into the house of the this gṛhastha and you steal all of the wife’s golden ornaments and you bring them here. So brahmacārīs thought how to get into the house. So, they went into the roof. The wife was laying there sleeping and she was just there sleeping, but she saw these two people are breaking into the, into the house. And she saw, “Oh! these are the brahmacārīs of my guru mahārāja. Why are they coming like thieves, maybe guru mahārāja has ordered them to steal something? So if he has ordered to steal then I should let them steal." So they came and then they.... all the, she still wearing all the golden ornaments. They allowed to do this. Somehow they very carefully, they took off the gold ornaments without waking her up from half of her body, the other half she was laying on. She saw the guru sent them to steal. They only took half so I will just continue playing I was sleep and roll over the other side, they can take the other half. She rolled over the other side, and they got all scared she is waking up and they all ran off. So they couldn’t take it. She was lamenting that the guru must have sent them, of course unlikely nowadays that a guru will send anyone to steal, if you see any brahmacārī breaking in then you can just check all the temple first, but this was the idea, that the guru is sent them to take the ornaments, I rolled over and they only could take half. So now I have committed a great offence. For some reason he wanted them to take all the ornaments. So then the husband and wife...she told the husband and they felt so bad they wanted to commit suicide. So then they went to Rāmānuja and said that, someone came and only took half the ornaments and the other half they left. So we want to take  commit suicide. We haven’t given. But you know instead if tell, no even if I tell,  that they came although not stealing, if I given even like it didn't fulfill it. They came to steal, if I give it, then it is not the same thing. So they were feeling very bad. So, then Rāmānujācārya had someone verify what was happening and he heard that they were feeling very bad and they want to even commit suicide because they think that they didn’t fulfill the order of their guru. Somehow the guru’s desire was not fulfilled. So he brought them and then he showed everyone, look at, these sannyasīs are fighting because their underwear got misplaced, and these people are missing hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of gold ornaments and they are lamenting that only half was taken, if it was the desire of the guru! So who is attached and who is detached?

So here Prabhupāda said that, if we remember everything is for Kṛṣṇa then there is no chance of our being victimized by material activities. But if somebody thinks, I am very renounced but they even get attached to their underwear, they get attached to their deer, someone gives up the whole world, and then if someone takes their śāka and they get all angry and are ready to beat someone. This is the illusion of māyā. If we give everything up what we care, somebody takes our cloth, if someone... this or that happens, we should be actually detached. Otherwise there is no use in imitating the so called renounced orders. Better to be as a gṛhastha that sees everything for Kṛṣṇa, they offer their food to Kṛṣṇa, they use whatever they have to make it Kṛṣṇa conscious environment in their house, and they use what they can for Kṛṣṇa's service. If they see everything for Kṛṣṇa then there is no illusion. This is the basic purport.

Of course, our Vedic social structure is such we always respect those who outwardly have more renunciation. But we have to, we have to always refine our renunciation. Not just be satisfied with some superficial, even a person may be a sannyāsī but he may be demanding for himself, or he may think that I deserve to get great respect, I get, deserve to become honored by people because of my renunciation, if they don’t respect me then I feel offended. But actually sannyasīs should be equal – if he is offered respect or not offered respect. If a brahmacārī is respected or not respected for being brahmacārī it won’t affect his determination in devotional service. It is one, whether it is fame or infamy, whether it is in honor or in dishonor. His duty is the same. How many times persons engaging in devotional service they become upset over insignificant things? What this one said, this one didn’t give me prasāda first, or this one didn’t do this or that, I was neglected at this time or whatever, different insignificant things happened, and these are allowed to take predominance in our mind.

Actually, we just take everything as the mercy of Kṛṣṇa within whatever situation we are, we try to do the most Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So in the sense Prabhupāda is saying that he left everything, but if you became attached to an insignificant pet, what was the use of renouncing his family? That was for our instruction. Of course Bharata mahārāja, he got a bigger instruction, and in his next birth he had to take birth as a deer due to his over attachment, due to his excessive attachment.

So life is very complicated, and the person he can cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness in any situation, whether “gṛhe thāko, vane thāko, sadā ‘hari’ bole’ ḍāko” - Whether he is in the gṛhastha āśrama, or whether in the more renounced orders, the vānaprastha, the brahmacārī or the sannyāsa-āśrama, but the point is that one should actually cultivate doing everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is the actual test. Someone may be the most renounced, but in their mind if they are still having attachment to being respected, or to getting followers, or to other things for a material purpose, just like lābha, pūjā pratisṭhādi, if they want to be important, or if they want some kind of profit from what they are doing, then they may also contaminated. But if somebody they feel detached even in their family situation, they feel attached, detached that there are so many difficulties in the saṁsāra life, but I am trying to do everything so ultimately Kṛṣṇa will be pleased, so the children can be God conscious, so that I can ultimately go back to Kṛṣṇa, so that person may, he can, is Kṛṣṇa conscious. Even though externally it appears that the person is very attached, he is doing everything for Kṛṣṇa.

So this doing things for Kṛṣṇa, this consciousness however has to be cultivated. Normally someone in the gṛhastha-āśrama doesn’t do everything for Kṛṣṇa; they do everything simply out of material attachment. They think ahaṁ mameti, this is I and mine. I am this body and this body is connected with these things and therefore I have to work hard, and that is the absolute truth, and there is nothing more than that. This is the paro-dharma. But actually the proper consciousness is to understand everything is only coming from Kṛṣṇa. Externally these things are connected with my body, so therefore I have got some external responsibilities, but ultimately my responsibility is to Kṛṣṇa that is the responsibility of the soul. So I use all these material environments to please Kṛṣṇa. In this way I can go back to Kṛṣṇa, I can be fully Kṛṣṇa conscious even within this external complicated situation, if I learn to do everything for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa then I will be delivered.

Relatively speaking the brahmacārī life is much more free, there are not so much headaches. They don’t have to deal with income tax, and with rent payments, and with wife and children and sickness. It’s only your personal problem is there whatever your clothing, your body and generally there is not so much disease if one is rising early in the morning, and taking bath and attending the maṅgala-āratī, chanting, there are not so many difficulties. Life becomes more complicated in the gṛhastha āśrama. But then if one is a brahmacārī they should take advantage of having a relatively free life to give more energy to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If they have relatively free life, but they listen to rock and roll music that is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, not Prahlāda and Kṛṣṇa kids but something else, or if they get distracted by other kinds of distractions and they allow various weeds to continue to grow in their heart then what is the advantage? You say, they are not gaining the full advantage. They are like that proverbial wedding party which was trying to cross the river on a boat but the anchor was never pulled out. They rowed the whole night and in the morning they saw that the boat was on the same side. So we have to pull up the anchors, and someone who is training as a brahmacārī, they may in the future also become a gṛhastha that is the varnāśrama dharma. Or they may remain as, in the renounced orders that is up to the decision of the guru and their own ability.

But a person, they have to cultivate whether gṛhe or whether in the vane, whether in the āśrama or whether in the gṛha āśrama, everyone has to cultivate this consciousness not to do anything, nothing, if it is not for Kṛṣṇa. Even the most subtle thing if it is actually not for the pleasure of guru and Kṛṣṇa, it is for our own personal pleasure, it is māyā. Therefore we have to eradicate that. Māyā in any form. You see, for those in the renounced order once they get rid of the gross attachments, then the subtle things start to attack. And we have to refine and refine our devotional service till we get to the purest state. So the practice is the same, it just becomes more difficult to differentiate the more subtle that the Māyā has become. Sometimes it is hard to tell what is Māyā and what is not, because renunciation is very similar to devotional service. But even to renounce something which is favorable to devotion is also material.

Say that somebody, sometimes there are people in India, something big gurus, so called gurus, someone wants to give money, they say, "no I won’t touch money, give it to my secretary, I won’t touch it". So Prabhupāda, he said, "I will take money, you can give me, I will take with two hands. What’s there? Because I will use it for Kṛṣṇa, I won’t use it for myself. For myself, I don’t need any money but for serving Kṛṣṇa, we want to print books, we want to build temples, we want to do big festivals, we have so many uses for money, we can use it. But for myself, I don’t have any need, I have enough cloth, I don’t need. But for Kṛṣṇa, we have so many uses."

Someone is showing that no, I won’t touch. So in this way they are trying to put forward some kind of impression that they are very renounced. But all these are another form of subtle attachments to get name and fame, he is being a great renunciant. Without practically educating people that money is something which is only bad when we only use it for material purposes. Therefore use money also for promoting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, money is not bad. If you use it for material things then it is neutral, use it for sinful things, then it is very bad. So all these things help to educate us that devotional service is a great science.

And here we see that how Bharata mahārāja, he gave his love to the deer. We all have a natural propensity to love. We want to give our affection, we want to give our love, then who do we give that to? So naturally we give it to our family members, naturally we give to the people we are associating with. But sometimes there is a test. Just like the Paraśurāma, he was tested by Kṛṣṇa, by the Supreme Lord; he was tested by his father. He had to do the supreme test. Where was his attachment? So of course, he passed the test.

So similarly we are also tested at different times, and it is up to us to take these tests in stride. Sometimes someone says something to us. A new person comes, they have to learn so many things, it is a new environment, and someone chastises them why you are eating with your left hand? Why you are doing this and they get little ego, why are they always on my case? Why are they always telling me everything? These are all false ego but we have to give up.

Even if someone may be very gentle and how they are explaining, prabhu! I like you very much, do this. Someone may be a bit inexperienced and just say it in a very harsh way. We just take it alright, this is the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, it is just to teach me some humility. So, also sometimes someone takes initiation or they become a devotee, even though they are living outside. But before generally, when someone is like a life member, or they are like a devotee from outside, they get a very formal respect. But it is more like a social etiquette. But when they are devotee, they are expected that we should do some little service when you come to the temple, because this is much your temple, your family as someone living inside the temple. So then when they are not given that same amount of formal respect that say a life member, donor is given, they are treated with more familiarity as a devotee, then sometime they feel that this is not proper.

So, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, you can't. You have to be one or the other, either you are life member or you are a devotee. You see, not that you are both. If you are a life member then that is one thing, you want, you would get formal respect; but if you are a devotee, then everyone devotee, it is the same. We don’t consider like that. All devotees have the same right to go back to Godhead, if they remain fixed in their Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So it is not wrong. Sometime, one time of course devotees, they get bewildered. One time, Prabhupāda was describing all these things, and about the danger of attachment and things like that, so then he asked one parent that, "well! how do you feel about your daughter?" And he said, "well, I don't know, I don't..." You know, he is trying to say, well, I am trying to be detached. Prabhupāda said, "no, this is not the way. You love your daughter, you love your child; don’t artificially trying to be detached. It is natural to love your child. You love your child, but then you love Kṛṣṇa more and let me, you really love your child, let me try to make this child a full person, that the person is materially qualified, as well as becomes also a lover of Kṛṣṇa. In the childhood, it is easy to cultivate this God consciousness in the minds of children. They are more simple, and they are open. So the natural spiritual quality can be brought out by giving them Kṛṣṇa prasādam, by chanting. So you love your child, it is alright. Now because you love your child, you give your child the best. Try to free the child from the repetition of birth and death to give your child the God consciousness, in addition to the material things that you have to provide. That is the proper dovetailing. Not that someone has the child and I want to be detached. Then the child will be unattended and uncared for, that is not the pleasing to Kṛṣṇa."

So devotional service is something very practical, very utilitarian. Someone loves their wife or their husband, so they try to help the spouse to be God conscious. You see. At the same time, it’s maintaining their own consciousness. This is the Kṛṣṇa conscious way. It is called mercy. You try to help others, that is the mercy, compassion.

But Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He wants a special adore this yukta-vairagya in His different devotees; some of them were very renounced like Śuklāmbara Brahmacārī was only wearing just one cloth, begging every day from house to house. Others were even very wealthy like Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhī, he was a very wealthy zamindar who had so much landed property but he was always engaged in his home in Kṛṣṇa’s service. And even we found that Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura, when he was a magistrate, he had to preside over so many, when you are a magistrate in the government you have to go to so many social functions. So he would do all his social duties also, but his primary drive was toward spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And he used his position in such a way that this God consciousness was promoted in society. So although he was a government officer, although he was a gṛhastha, he is considered as an ācārya in the disciplic succession, and he is one of the greatest acharyas.

So, gṛhe thāko, vane thāko, sada ‘hari’ bole’ ḍāko”. We should see beyond externals and whatever situation we are in we should try to use that particular situation to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. If somebody finds Māyā in us we should be rather open an objective to analyze that, and to do the needful to eradicate it. In this way we can progress step by step back to home back to Godhead.

But the main thing is, we need to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, you see within our daily activities, while we are driving, or while we are working, in the morning when we get up, you can spend little time; we can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, in this way this helps to bring our consciousness into the proper attitude of service to Kṛṣṇa. So that is why we chant every day, we try to chant 16 rounds to guarantee that to a good extent that if we try we can remain Kṛṣṇa conscious. But even people living outside, they can gradually cultivate the practice and chant more and more Hare Kṛṣṇa, keeping a regular minimum.

Just like we do in our Nāmahaṭṭa, we have some people who chant minimum 4 rounds a day, some 8, and gradually they come up to 16. So in this way, they can gradually develop their consciousness, and their attitude with the help of the Holy Name. It is not easy to just suddenly change one’s attitude, but by the power of Kṛṣṇa’s name one can purify the consciousness. Those who are staying here in the temple, they are very fortunate, they have this total environment in which they can practice their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We have the temple here so that people coming from outside, they can, we should preserve such a pure atmosphere here that someone will come and will think, "oh, this is a temple, this is very holy, this is very pure, let me try to make a replica of this in my house by having temple, by having chanting, by having Kṛṣṇa consciousness environment as much as possible. Let me take a little vibration from the temple and let it remain in the house."

So, any questions? Yes.

Question: In this age of Kali Yuga……….Kṛṣṇa, How did you become unattached from material things?

Jayapataka Swami: How did I become?! How did I become? Well, material desires are always there, they are coming in the mind. I don’t allow any time to address those. I keep busy. Who can say that they have no desire comes? Desires may come in the mind. So we go back to Kṛṣṇa and we have the material body desire may come, but that desire we dovetail it in Kṛṣṇa’s service so we reject it.

Even Prabhupāda one time someone said, "I have no lust, Srila Prabhupāda, I have no material desire." So, Prabhupāda said, "really! what’s wrong with you! (devotees laugh) I have material lust but I have no time to address that. I have no time for that. I am too busy in Kṛṣṇa’s service." You see, the point is that it's already, nobody can say that in the material world, even if they were desireless, they shouldn’t say that. Because that would give, even if someone was a nitya-siddha, they have no desire, which is very unlikely to find such souls in this world. But even if that were the case, they should, supposed to take the role as a conditioned soul to teach by example others. Even if one has some desire comes in the mind, the desire is either dovetailed, seen if that can be used for any Kṛṣṇa conscious purpose. If it is totally material, then it’s rejected with appropriate disgust, according to the nature of that particular thought. We stay so occupied in Kṛṣṇa’s service that there is no chance for Māyā to come in. That is the secret.

Jayapataka Swami: Bhakta Toni!

Question: Inaudible.

Jayapataka Swami: People means devotees or anybody?

Question: Anybody. Inaudible.

Jayapataka Swami: Ah, you have a very fertile ability to create these different scenarios. Point is that in the Bhagavad-Gītā it says, we should avoid fear, anger, and illusion as obstacles in devotional service. If someone... We hear about the spiritual world, as how persons we become fearful that in this world, I am having so much trouble relating with people, if I go to the spiritual world I will have the same problem, so I would rather just merge, or I can give this up and try something else, that is fear, or anger. Because someone tries different spiritual processes, and then finds that maybe some guru is not true, or somebody has some defect, or something wrong, and so they get angry that nothing is real, nothing is true, I give it all up, I am just going to stay here in illusion. So this illusion, and anger, and fear, this has to be given up. This is the recommendation of the Bhagavad-Gītā. You may have difficulty relating with people here in the material world, but in the spiritual world it is known as Vaikuṇṭha. Automatically anyone who goes to Vaikuṇṭha is in harmony with everyone else, that is the nature.

So in spiritual life, we have to have a spiritual master, and we have to surrender to him. And the spiritual master guides one, one has to be receptive to the advice of the spiritual master, and he guides one, how to avoid this type of personal conflicts. May give, someone is very, his mentality may be very angry, or very antagonistic, so the guru may give him such a service, he may be the night guard in the temple, so he never meets anyone, he just meets at the maṅgala-ārati, then he sleeps in the day... Until a person gets enough of the edge off of him, they can be adjusted by the guru. But one has to take guru, and has to take guidance, to solve all these problems.

How can a diseased man, say, I am diseased, now let me decide, I will go in the brahma-jyoti, I will do this, I will do that. We start making all these types of decisions, and in the end, you don’t go into the brahma-jyoti, but stay in the material world, or you will be in a worse situation. The point is that first of all brahma-jyoti, for a devotee when we hear that, we think the material world is better, almost it is like a kind of spiritual suicide. Because in the material world, there is a chance to go back to the spiritual world, the spiritual sky. But from brahma-jyoti it is like a dead end. From there you can’t get out, you can’t go anywhere, except eventually you might fall back into the material world after indefinite period of unlimited time. So the thing is that, anyone in this situation they should actually surrender to a bona fide spiritual master and allow the spiritual doctor, the guru to guide one in how to get over the difficulties.

Otherwise if they try to speculate, I will do this, I will do that they are going to end up in some bad situation. We go to a doctor that I have a disease, I have a problem, I can’t get along with people, I am not happy when I do my devotional service, or I don’t have an attachment for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or these problems disturb my mind, or whatever it may be, we go to the guru or representative of the guru, and we try to get these things purified by their advice. Just like if we have a physical disease, we go to the doctor, and say I have a belly ache, what should I do? He gives us some pills, take this, and it gets cured.

Question: Inaudible

Jayapataka Swami: But that coming back to the material world may be after trillions of creations. Or maybe after you know ten minutes, there is no guarantee, you can’t say that when that’s going to happen. Once you are there, we are all beyond time. So the period that you are there is indefinite, immense, it is beyond time. To a certain extent, it is beyond the influence of time. So there is no person, we know that they can come back, when will come back, if they come back, no one can say exactly what is going to happen.

Question: Inaudible.

Jayapataka Swami: For them they can first study the first parts of the Bhāgavatam which deal with the Viśvarūpa, understand the immense impersonal aspects of God, and then gradually go into the personal form.

The point is that the material world is not permanent, it is asat, and the spiritual world is sat or eternal. This material world is a reflection of the eternal spiritual world, it is a reflection. So, actually, but the reflection is not permanent. Therefore from one point of view it is not real. It is not actually false, it is just temporary. But temporary reality means it is relative, it is not absolute. So the person realizes that the form of God or the form of Kṛṣṇa is not temporary. It’s made of sat-cit-ānanda, it is not of the same nature at all. If one can eventually understand that then they will have no difficulty. But because someone who is too attached to the material world even in a negative sense, that is an obstacle for their advancement. A person should not be over attached or repulse, but a person should see something as it is.

You can also study the sāṅkhya what is the analytical study of the material world and teachings of Lord Kapila, and then you can understand, what is the material world and what is the spiritual world. They say that there is no... form is false, but then they say what is the Supreme truth, there is no Supreme truth say the Buddhists. The impersonalists say the Supreme truth is nirākāra, or has no form. But if the Absolute Truth has no form, then where has all this form come from? If something that is the ultimate truth is simply a void or simply rather an impersonal reality then from impersonal how does suddenly the personality and quality become manifest? How does something come from nothing? Because the Supreme truth is everything that relative truth has but in a perfect and complete manner, in a more complete manner, completely complete manner, therefore the Supreme Truth is actually also has form, but that form is of a different nature. It doesn’t have the shortcomings that material form has.

Sometimes to understand that, first they have to go and understand the Viśvarūpa, understand what is brahma-jyoti, what is Paramātmā, then finally they can realize what is Bhagavān. That Bhagavān is something categorically different. So for someone who is too attached to the impersonal, they may have to go on a very gradual understanding, and first understand the greatness of God, and then gradually come into understanding His personal feature. And someone who is more open minded, more intelligent, they can immediately see that this material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. Reflection is two dimensional, the original object is three, this material world is three dimensional, and the spiritual world is the fourth dimension. In the fourth dimension these inebriety don’t stand. So the same problems we find here with form and shape, there we don’t have those difficulties, because there form and shape is also not limited to size, it goes beyond that.

So I have to get ready for my 7.25 flight.  Thank you all for your patience, opportunity to serve the Deities here, and speak on the Bhagavatam for my purification.

Śrīla Prabhupāda ki

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam kī

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami: Śrī Śrī New Remuna Dhāma ki

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami: Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṣīra Cora Gopinātha ki

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami:Nitāi-Gaura kī

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami:Jagannātha Subhadrā Balarāma ki

Devotees: jai!

Jayapataka Swami: Gaura Premānande!

Devotees:  Śrīla Ācāryapāda Ki Jai!