20201003 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.3

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 3rd, 2020 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.3.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

govardhana dharam vande 
gopālam gopa rūpiṇam 
gokulotsavam īśanam 
govindam gopīkā priyam

yasyāvayava-saṁsthānaiḥ 
kalpito loka-vistaraḥ 
tad vai bhagavato rūpaṁ 
viśuddhaṁ sattvam ūrjitam

Translation: It is believed that all the universal planetary systems are situated on the extensive body of the Puruṣa, but He has nothing to do with the created material ingredients. His body is eternally in spiritual existence par excellence.

So we see that the Lord existed before the material world. Therefore, he is not dependent on the material ingredients, because He existed before the material ingredients did. If people think that He is a product of material energy, that is wrong! Because if He is a product of material energy, He could only exist after the material energy. But He existed before. Therefore, He is not dependent on the material energy. So Lord Caitanya taught the philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva. That inconceivably, simultaneously the energy is different and non-different from the Lord. So, somehow the impersonalists think that the form of the Lord is in the mode of goodness. But He is saccidānanda. He is transcendental, eternal, blissful knowledge. In the Ṛg Veda it says aham kṛṣṇa māyā sacccindānanda gana kṛṣṇa ādi puruṣa. – that Kṛṣṇa is the of the quality of saccidānanda, he is the primeval Lord and He existed before everybody else. Therefore, He is the source of all the others. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā – sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo – everything is coming from Me. Also in the Brahma-saṁhitā it describes that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes, He is the Supreme controller.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ 
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ 
anādir ādir govindaḥ 
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
[Bs 5.1]

So it is easy to understand that Kṛṣṇa is actually transcendental. Śaṅkarācārya also explained that Nārāyaṇa is above the material energy. Nārāyaṇaḥ paro'vyaktāt (saṅkara-gītā-bhāṣya): But still impersonalists think that anything with form must be material and therefore they think that the spiritual means formless. So this is the confusion of the impersonalists. If the devotees listen to impersonalists, then they also get confused. Therefore, Lord Caitanya advised that we should not listen to the Māyāvādīs. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī. Māyāvādīs are the offenders of Lord Kṛṣṇa. I had some experience. Māyāvādīs, their brain is like short circuited. They cannot understand the Personality of Godhead. So then Śrīla Prabhupāda was advising, just engage them in devotional service. By so, they will be gradually purified and that happened, some Māyāvādī after engaging them in devotional service, he said after sometime, now I realize what you are saying. It took him a few years. And they are so much conditioned that something which is personal, must be material. They cannot understand how Kṛṣṇa being the Supreme Person, is actually transcendental. And that is explained here in this verse, that although He has a body, His body is situated in the spiritual existence. Actually, there is no difference between Him and His body. We have a difference. In the material world, ātmā is different from the body. When the ātmā leaves the body, the body is dead. Only the ātmā makes the body alive. Kṛṣṇa is pure soul. He has no material body. That the impersonalists are not able to understand. That is why this virāṭa-rūpa is presented so that gradually they can start to appreciate the transcendental form of the Lord. Lord Caitanya, He was coming down to show how to perform bhakti-yoga. And that, just as a teacher sometimes takes a chalk and writes on the chalkboard, similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa came as Lord Caitanya, to show how to engage in devotional service. That is why Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are so wonderful, that He comes down as Mahāprabhu, a great teacher to each everyone how to love Kṛṣṇa. He would cry, ae would be ecstatic, all the devotees by seeing Him, were feeling such ecstasy, He is known as the Vaiṣṇava Rāja, the king of the Vaiṣṇavas. Vaiṣṇava Rāja has His assembly or a sabhā, Vaiṣṇava-Rājya-sabhā. That is universal for all the Vaiṣṇavas in existence, He is the king. And so to protect them and guide them the different ācāryas they had taken this role in various yugas. Since Lord Caitanya came, after His disappearance, the world looked dark. Then Rūpa Gosvāmī became the protector of the Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rājya-sabhā, and after him was Jīva Gosvāmī. Like that, there is a paramparā of different ācāryas, they protected the Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rājya-sabhā, like Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Actually, this was restarted by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. And he took action to defend the sampradāya against the various apasampradāyas. And then after him was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda Ṭhākura. He gave a process how to – he wanted all the Vaiṣṇavas of the Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-sabhā to cooperate together, to manage the affairs of the sabhā, collectively through a Governing Body Commission. But after some time, they stopped following his instructions. That is why His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he said that it was a mistake on their part. Anyway, I hope you all know, we cannot speak about our guru-varga or superiors. But Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us some details, just to advise us that we can follow him. We can see that by his bringing the message of Lord Caitanya, all over the world, was a great fulfillment of the predictions of the previous ācāryas, Lord Caitanya, Lord Kṛṣṇa. He was actually protecting the whole disciplic succession. By establishing the message of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda Ṭhākura. He wanted to unite the Sārasvata family. He asked me to add members to the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust to do that. And we are trying, but it is not easy. If you have a pot and it breaks and you cannot exactly put it together, so we have to think of some unique way to bring us together.

We can see here that this śloka in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, indicates that not everyone can understand the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. And therefore, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is presenting the things in a very gradual, systematic way. But actually, the devotees, they can understand that the Lord is transcendental. That he is totally in spiritual existence, par excellence. That is why the Vaiṣṇava-Rājya-sabhā needs to be protected. And they need to be promoted. We can see that today there are many issues, and people don’t know what the solution is. But they say that there are problems. And they understand that. Just like they see there is a problem with the caste system, because certain people are considered as lower caste, some are considered as higher caste. But the original system given by Lord Kṛṣṇa was that a person being categorized or engaged according to his quality of work. Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. He does not say janma-karma, doesn’t say birth. But people are getting respect based on their birth and they are doing criminal activities. Like recently there was an issue that a young girl,19 years old, was gang raped by high caste Hindus, allegedly and she died. So this created a big problem. People think this is due to caste system. But this is a misconception of the caste system. These people are t best called brahma-bandhus or unqualified family members of the brāhmaṇas and they are criminals. We see that Arjuna arrested Aśvattāmā, because he was acting as a murderer, he did not act as a brāhmaṇa So he was captured like an animal. So like that, if people misbehave, they are not given any kind respect, according to the ancient system. But now based on their birth, they are claiming some privileges. And they are not worthy. So this is creating a big social disturbance. So Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda Ṭhākura, he started to give brahminical initiation to Vaiṣṇavas. No matter what birth caste they came from, if they were Vaiṣṇavas, he considered them qualified brāhmaṇas. So this was the need of the hour. Let everyone be a Vaiṣṇava, let everyone be a devotee, and thus based on their work, they can do their particular duty. If someone is working as a teacher, which is basically a brahminical type of service, they should follow the duties of a brāhmaṇa. Be a vegetarian, not take any intoxication, not saying lies, not being immoral, but those are not the activities that teachers are doing today. Just that they have degree, and that is sufficient. The system was that, a teacher a priest, they should not only have academic qualification, but they should have character also. So a kṣatriya or an administrator, he should protect the innocent. He should never take charity, what to speak of bribe! So, the standards were established that depending on your work, one is a military man or administrator, or police, there are certain qualities they should have. We are seeing that in the West, the movement Black Lives Matter. Because the police who are supposed to protect the people, they are misusing their authority on them. Some of them dealt wrongly with people of color, and so that has sparked protests all around the world. So like this, these thing the society is facing today. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a divine solution, and it is very important that devotees understand the teachings of this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, understand the message of His Divine Grace Abhayacaraṇāravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, and help to disseminate this knowledge to the society, this will actually provide a permanent solution.

The material scientists, they study the material nature. They are thinking that somehow the nature has produced this life. But they have never done so. Śrīla Prabhupāda has taught that life is coming from life. That ātmā is a small part of the Paramātmā, and therefore the ātmā enters into this material world, and gives life to the body. Without the ātmā there is no life. So the material scientists are thinking that matter produces life, but there is no evidence of that. And Vedas tell us how life comes from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That His energies are minute particles. The enter the material world and they give life to the otherwise material energy. Various plants, aquatics, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals and humans. So without the ātmā there is no life. Now the scientists have realized before they would say this is just a cell, but now they have realized that the cell is very complex. In fact, it is so complex that it is amazing! So actually, even a cell is not possible to create by accident. So there must be intelligence behind it. Great thinkers like Einstein came to the conclusion that there must be an intelligence behind this. Without intelligence, this whole world cannot function. So we see all these universal planetary systems, just to understand, seeing them as being on the extensive spiritual body of the Puruṣa. That is why Viśvarūpa or virāṭa-rūpa one is able to start to enter into the transcendental active of the Lord. Just it is a basic thing that the Lord is transcendental. We can find these canto by canto, about the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So now we are given the first entry into the virāṭa-rūpa. To understand how the whole universe depends on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So, as we go on, we read the different pastimes of the Lord, and start to understand things in a more complete way. Leading up to the 10th canto which tells us the pastime of Lord Kṛṣṇa. But to understand that it is very similar to human activities, but that is actually transcendental. One needs to study the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam canto by canto, and then we can realize how the Lord is actually transcendental. So we can take some questions.

Question: What is the difference between material and spiritual separation? What are the different moods of separation with guru? Is separation feeling from guru as same as separation feeling from Gaurāṅga?

Your sheltered spiritual daughter, Pūjā.

Jayapatākā Swami: You see, material separation is due to identifying with the body. Say we have a body, it came from a mother or father. But from the same father and mother came brothers and sisters. Like that, if we feel separation due to some bodily relationship, that is something material. Because in every birth we have different mother and father, different brother and sister, sometimes we would be born in a lady’s body, sometime in a man’s body, and we also may be born in some other species. Indra was once offensive to his guru. The guru cursed him be a pig, and then he was in this planet as a pig. He had many wives, many piglets, and he was lying in his mud. The guru came to take him back, but he did not want to go. He was feeling separation from the piggy wives and piglets. Then the guru gave him the memory of who he was. He was thinking, ah! how I am in this horrible place? So that is material separation. And spiritual separation is where we are connected with the Lord, it is a spiritual heart to heart, spirit to spirit relationship. And naturally we feel a kind of separation to guru or Vaiṣṇavas, that is something transcendental, and they are not based on the body.

Question: In the Bhagavad-gītā 4.34 purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spiritual life. How should we try to satisfy and please guru? — Hari Hara Kṛṣṇa Caitanya dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: An ISKCON guru is naturally pleased if you are satisfying the desires of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda wants to satisfy his guru’s desires, his guru wants to satisfy his guru’s, like that it goes up to Lord Brahmā, and he wants to satisfy Lord Kṛṣṇa. So in that way, we try to please guru and Kṛṣṇa. And that will be the success of our spiritual life. But maybe the spiritual master gives some specific instruction, which are applicable for us. Just like His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he gave certain service to his devotees, based on their abilities sand potentials. So in this way the spiritual master may give you some particular service. Or maybe a general service. Generally, we try to serve our Temple President or our spiritual authorities. But sometimes, we may receive some specific instruction from the spiritual master.

Question: How do we avoid materialistic things’ emotion in our devotional life? How do to do sevā with nice concentration? — Nivedita.

Jayapatākā Swami: By spiritual knowledge, we can avoid materialistic things.

kṛṣṇa—sūrya-sama māyā haya andhakāra
yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa, tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra
(Cc Madhya 22.31)

Where there is Kṛṣṇa, He is like the sun, there is no darkness. And material life is like darkness. In order to eradicate the darkness, we need to bring in the light of Kṛṣṇa. That will naturally solve the problem. But for new devotees, it is hard for them to under what is spiritual, what is material. And that is why they need more knowledge, so that they can understand the difference. It is not very difficult, but it is a new way, we are not used to thinking.

Question: When I increase the quantity of service, the quality of service gets affected. How do I balance it? It is difficult also to multi-task. How do I develop that quality? — Ānandamaya Gopīnātha dāsa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Sounds like a very sophisticated question. But practically, without example it is hard to answer. Like if you distribute more books, does it mean the quality of book distribution goes down? Cooking for 5000 people or cooking for 5 people, maybe you can put more finesse in the cooking for five. But there are different kinds of services. You are cooking for 5000 people, no one expects that you can put any kind of detail into that cooking. But if you can make it nice, that is also very good But when you cook for five people, then naturally you can put more detail into it.

Question: I always look for some recognition for the work I do which may be either spiritual or material. Like why not me, why not that service for me? How to leave this pride behind and serve you and Gaurāṅga wholeheartedly? — Kavita.

How to leave this pride behind and serve you and Gaurāṅga wholeheartedly?  

Jayapatākā Swami: We don’t think, that if we do anything right, it is for our credit. We think that is by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa and therefore we are able to do something nice. So that way we don’t get falsely proud. If we make a mistake, we take the blame. If we do something nice we give credit to guru and Kṛṣṇa.

Haribol!

Question: About unity with Gauḍīya Maṭhas, what does it mean to unite with them? Should we now associate with them freely? Listen from them, etc. — Vasanta Ranjani.

Jayapatākā Swami: We organize joint programs on the appearance and disappearance days of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. I think those programs can be attended. And we are gradually trying to extend our unity in diversity, so we would like to finally achieve this kind of hearing from each other. But I think everyone wants to be very cautious, because if there are some different instructions given, that can deviate us. At the same time, we would be much stronger, if we had a united front. So we are taking it step by step.

Haribol!