By realizing the Lords glory we relish our glory SB – 1.3.26-34

Bhagavatam 1.3.26 So the Bhagavatam has in the previous verses given a list of incarnations, of avataras. There are 22 incarnations that have been described.
And it concludes by stating that actually the number of incarnations in avatara is asankheya. There are innumerable incarnations. Asankheya.
Hare sattva nidhe dvija Hare. Lord Hari. He is sattva nidhe.
He exists as a… Nidhi is an ocean. So He is an ocean of goodness. His goodness, His compassion is immeasurable.
He is oceanic. Vijaha. So, O brahmanas, he is referring… Suta Goswami is referring to the brahmanas here.
So these avatars are innumerable. Yatha vidasinaha. Vidasinaha.
Kulyaha. Yatha vidasinaha. Vidasinaha.
Avidasinaha means that is inexhaustible. Kulyaha. Kulyaha is rivulets.
So, Sarasahasyu sahasrasha Sahas… Sarasaha. So, Syu sahasrasha. Just as if there is a inexhaustible source of water, then from it, the rivulets that will come out, those rivulets will also be unlimited, will be unaccountable, will be inexhaustible.
Athotaraya sankheya. Now, an important principle is this multiplicity of divine manifestations and multiplicity of spiritual options that come from these different manifestations. That is a very special and appealing feature of the Vedic spiritual path that there are so many avatars who appear and all these avatars, they appear for the purpose of elevating and delivering people and when they appear, they often teach the same truth in different ways and they offer memorable pastimes by meditating on which the souls can become purified and elevated and thus they enable one and all to move onwards towards the supreme.
So, Hare Sattvanidhe So, he is Sattvanidhe. So here, Lord Hari, who is the source of incarnation, the source of incarnation is referred to by the name Hari over here. He is Sattvanidhi.
It is an ocean of goodness. Just as there is an inexhaustible ocean of water, similarly, he is also inexhaustible and he has innumerable incarnations because his love for us is inexhaustible and every incarnation that manifests manifests his mercy, manifests his love for us. Just as the universe keeps going through cosmic cycles, time and time again the Lord manifests his mercy and he descends.
As Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita in 4.7 that sambhāmi yuge yuge the 4.8 is in this that yadā yadā hṛdāṁ kāṅgho kīrtāṁ atmānāṁ sujāmy aham paritrāṇāṁ sadhūnāṁ vināśācid-duṣkṛtāṁ dharmasamsthāpanārthāya sambhāmi yuge yuge He manifests again and again for the purpose of delivering people. So here’s the Bhagavatam gives this list, not as an exhaustive list, but as an indicative list for giving us tangible examples to appreciate that which is ultimately not it is so large as to be asankheya, it is to be innumerable, his love is inexhaustible, but we can get a glimpse of his love and compassion through this representative list of incarnations. So text 27 Now this list of incarnations started by describing how the Lord expands, this chapter began actually with describing how the Lord expands so that the universe can manifest.
So from him Brahmaji appears, from him initially the 16 elements appear and from there through a process of emanations the whole universe appears and it becomes populated with living beings. So the incarnations are one manifestation where they are, where these incarnations have divine potency and there are other living beings are also expansions from him only. Of course they are of a different kind of expansions.
So the Varaha Puran talks about svamsha and vibhinnamsha. Svamsha is one part and vibhinnamsha are separated parts. So here the point is being made that the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable and apart from him whatever exists, all living beings are also his expansions.
So the sages, the humans, the devata, the manavo here refers not to the humans but it refers to, it is plural of manus. Manavo, deva, if you are referring to humans it would be manavo, manavah, that would refer to human being, manavo is a plural of manu. So the devatas are there, manuputra, mahaujasaha, manuputra and the descendants of manuputra, especially those who are powerful descendants, sarve hare reva, they are all sarve kala, they are all parts of Lord Hari and samprajapatya smritaha along with the prajapatis also.
Smritaha, it is known that they are all going to be understood as emanations of the Lord and now comes very important verse for the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. ete chamshya kalaha pumsaha krishnastu bhagavan svayam indra ribhya kullam lokam rudhayanti yuge yuge ete chamshya kalaha pumsaha ete, all these amshas and kalaha pumsaha, so they are parts, they are plenary portions, they are portions of the plenary portions as Prabhupada translates, they are all emanating from and the supreme and who is the supreme? krishnastu bhagavan svayam that Krishna is God himself, svayam bhagavan so there are avatars and there is avatari so there are various avatars and avatari, the source of all the avatars, the one who descends that is Krishna, krishnastu bhagavan svayam and indra ribhya kullam lokam rudhayanti yuge yuge so indra aari, indra aari is the opponents of indra vyakulam, they are disturbed, those who those who, the opponents of indra when they create a disturbance on the earth, on the, not just the earth, universe wherever rudhayanti, so these manifestations appear yuge, yuge, again and again in various yugas for protecting the earth, protecting the universe at large so sambhavami yuge yuge was bhagavad gita 4.8 and here 3.28 in the bhagavatam is rudhayanti yuge yuge now jiyugoswami in his bhagavatsandarbha commentary bhagavatsandarbha, he states that bhagavatsandarbha actually, in his book he states that this verse is like a commander there are soldiers and soldiers fight with soldiers but if one maharatha comes along, one great senapati who is a maharathi that one maharathi is enough to overpower hundreds or even thousands of opposing soldiers similarly he says various vartis are can be used as pramanas for establishing certain philosophical points but this verse, he spent a lot of time analysing this verse and he says that this verse is so powerful coming as it does after a list of all avatars and declaring an ambiguity, krishnastu bhagavan svayam and coming right in the start of the bhagavatam which is also a book which focusses primarily on krishna, we will see the maximum section of the bhagavatam is devoted to krishna the 10th and the 11th cantos, so it unambiguously establishes the unique position of krishna and thus this verse is like a commander and this one pramana is enough to counter many other pramanas which might prove something else such as that vishnu is the source of all incarnation and krishna is one of the incarnation of vishnu, such manifestations can be dealt with and such arguments can be actually countered by the force of this one verse which is so strong and Sri Prabhupada gives an elaborate commentary talking about how there are different living beings who have different percentage, who can have different percentage of qualities of the supreme, so he says that we can by purification develop 78% of the attributes just as it is said that krishna manifests 64 qualities vishnu manifests at the most 50, 60 qualities, brahma manifests around 50 qualities at the most and living beings who can rise up to the position of brahma can manifest 50 qualities, shiva manifests 55 qualities, so that is one way of analysing that actually everyone else is a manifestation from krishna and krishna is the poor purushottama he is the bhagwan so him, of course this sort of declaration should be understood in the devotional spirit it should not be used to try to unnecessarily provoke conflict with other vaishnavas because it is not that other forms of vishnu are not vishnu, they are also god and by devoting to them also one can attain liberation one can go beyond material existence so it is important to not become unduly confrontationalist using such verses but at the same time for our own conviction and for our own inspiration we can certainly contemplate and explain contemplate and understand and explain such verses wherever it is appropriate so 29th text now janma guhiyam bhagavato ye etad prayato naraha sayam pratar gunan bhaktya dukha grama vimuchyate now here a phalashruti is coming in the bhagavatam, phalashrutis come quite frequently in the bhagavatam and the purpose of the phalashrutis is to inspire us to take the process of bhakti much more seriously so janma guhiyam bhagavato so one who understands the mysterious nature of the janma of the appearance of the lord in the 10th canto when Krishna’s appearance will be talked about, it says the unborn Vishnu took birth it is being said and Kunti Maharaj will also say that janma karma chamishma atmana ajasya akartur atmana ajasya you do not have birth and yet you take birth you do not do anything and akartu and yet karma you do karma this is actually vidambanam, this is mysterious so that same theme is being foreshadowed here and it is said that those who appreciate janma guhiyam bhagavato that the mysterious, the confidential appearance of the lord those who etat prayato naraha those who carefully, prayato means with endeavour, those human beings naraha sayam prathar grunan bhaktya sayam prathar, in the evening and in the morning grunan bhaktya, those who recited with devotion what will happen to them, dukkha gramaad vimuchyate they will be freed from misery dukkha gramaad vimuchyate when we recite the lord’s pastimes that itself is extremely purifying this was talked about in the previous chapter when it is said that shunvatam suktha krishnapunyashramanakirtana pradyantastho yabadrani vidhunoti suhrutsatam just by hearing about the pastimes or even speaking those pastimes this is immensely purifying and as we become purified we become elevated, we become ultimately liberated, so dukkha gramaad vimuchyate it is said over here, so if morning evening we recite the lord’s pastimes we meditate on his pastimes, we become increasingly attracted to him, the more our heart becomes filled with attraction to him, the more attraction to worldly things will decrease and disappear and thus we will move towards the fulfilment of the promise that is made over here dukkha gramaad vimuchyate, we will become freed from the miseries of material existence text 30 etad roopam bhagavato yaroopasichda atmanah maya gunair virachitam madhadi viratmane now here the bhagavatam moves on to a different subject and that different subject is the subject of the virata roopa, there was just a brief mention about the virata roopa earlier at the start of this chapter when it was said kalpitaha, that kalpayanta, that it is conceived of, it is visualised, it is imagined to be like this, now apart from the avatars of the lord who descend periodically as I said madhayanti yuge yuge so now there is a form of the lord that can be conceptualised and that form is talked about here etad roopam bhagavato all these forms of the lord, yaroopasichda atmanah so this particular form this is referring back to the earlier mention of the vishwaroopa so yaroopasichda atmanah that lord who has no material form, chidatmanah he is transcendent of his essence the atmanah is made of transcendence, it is full of consciousness maya gunair virachitam maya gunair from the qualities made of material nature manufactured, madhadi viratmane madhadi viratmane from the mahatattva nadas atmani, so here this particular form the viratroopa of the lord that viratroopa that is conceptualised although the lord has no form and is transcendent, yaroopasichda atmanah that is conceptualised for those who are maya gunair virachitam madhadi viratmane, those whose consciousness is influenced by maya so they conceptualise, virachitam they conceptualise the lord’s form is also made of material elements, namahadadidhi and in this way by getting a sense of the lord’s greatness they can develop respect for him so yes, understanding the lord’s greatness can bring our submission but we want to understand not just the lord’s greatness we want to understand the lord’s transcendence so sometimes we may talk about descending and ascending set of living beings just like earlier we talked about this particular manifestation having this many qualities this particular manifestation having this many qualities for understanding the lord’s in one way, to understand his supreme position this sort of hierarchical gradation can be used, at the same time it is important to remember that the lord being transcendental is beyond all hierarchy so he is just not comparable with anyone else he exists in his own class utterly beyond everything else it is not that he is just the best among many he is simply beyond everyone else nothing else could exist without him and the Bhagavad Gita talks about these two principles in successive, in verses which are close to each other in the 10th chapter where it talks about Vibhuti yoga and it says that whatever is attractive in this world yaj-yaj-vibhuti-matsak-pum shri-madhur-jita-me-va-va-tatt-de-va-vagac-chat-pum mamate-yo-mish-sambhava so we may say that yes, whatever is attractive in this world that manifests a spark of Krishna’s splendour that is true, but that might just mean that he is the best among ok, there is a class and among this class there is one who is the topmost no, we should not have that conception of God because whatever anyone has that all the good qualities in them come from Krishna so God is not just the best among the hierarchy best in a hierarchy he is beyond any hierarchy so in a class the topper would be there and the topper would be removed still the class would remain so if you think of God as the best among all living beings then what will happen is you will think ok he is just ok, there are others, maybe somebody in future can become the best but Krishna explains that nothing would exist without him he is not just the best in a hierarchy although sometimes for understanding purposes he may be compared like that but he is beyond all hierarchy he is in a class of his own being transcendental and we cannot say this about any other living being that without him no one can exist no, that applies only to the supreme but for those who cannot conceive of the transcendence of the Lord sometimes some material comparison is given and sometimes some material conception also is given and once the material conception is the conception of the Virata Rupa so text 31 yatha nabhasi me gau gau just as nabhasi in the sky, me gau gau, there are the mass of clouds renurva parthivonile so in the sky the clouds move about and the dust particles move about and the sky may become muddy because of that but then we know that at the same time although the sky may look muddy to us, the sky is transcendental and the sky is not affected by whatever is happening on the surface the sky remains beyond all such things the clouds will move away, the dust particles will move away and the sky will remain unaffected thereafter although temporarily it might seem to be affected similarly, evam dastatari dhrushyatpam evam, for the purpose of seeing aaropitam abuddhimi, those who are not so intelligent abuddhi de aaropitam they may imply like this they may imply material conception in the transcendence as the perceiver may see the sky as muddy or cloudy but the cloud and mud will go away in the sky sky itself is not affected, actually it is only our perception of the sky that is affected, similarly transcendence is not affected transcendence never becomes materially affected but when we see dhrushyatpam drashtari dhrushyatpam when the seer sees, the seer may ascribe some material conception just like some people may say Krishna is a Hindu god or Krishna is a mediaeval mediaeval deity so people may ascribe conceptions of of sect or geography on to one who is transcendental and temporarily this may appear to be true but say our classification of religions into Hindu, Christian, Muslim who knows after a million years or even after a thousand years after two thousand years the religious landscape of the world will be so different that there may not even be this particular kind of religious division but even in spite of that Krishna will still remain God and depending on how he manifests, when he manifests, there may be some people according to their circumstances they may ascribe some other material conceptions on God so whatever material conceptions are ascribed on him, he is he is still transcendental although temporarily those material conceptions may seem to apply and yes for people who want to, who are approaching Krishna through history or geography they can for the purpose of analysis or for the purpose of preliminary classification place Krishna historically, geographically or if they are approaching through religious studies they can place Krishna in a particular category but Krishna ultimately exists beyond all categories and to the extent we understand Krishna’s status as beyond all categories to that extent we can become purified, we can actually be elevated by contemplating on Krishna and we can move towards liberation by our contemplation on Krishna. Text 32 text 32 text 32 text 32 text 32 text 32 that is beyond so that is unmanifest text 32 avyudha means vyudha is a particular formation for example military formations are called avyudha so avyudha, there is no particular formation guna, brahma, mitham which is affected by the modes adrushta, shruta, vastutvaat that adrushta and ashruta that which cannot be seen and die, that which cannot be heard vastutvaat, that thing which exists less sajeevo yat punar bhavah sajeevo, the living being who is beyond it punar bhavah takes birth repeatedly, so here the bhagavatam is talking about the transcendence of spiritual reality in general the previous verse could be applied to the supreme and the previous word could be applied even to the jiva this verse specifically uses the word jiva and the point that is being made is settled over here the reasoning is here it is stated that ata param yada vyaktam that beyond this form, the conception of form that we have, which are destroyed in due course of time, there is another form which is not perceived with our material eyes, but with our senses we can’t see with our eyes, we can’t hear with our ears but it exists and that’s how the living being punar bhavah can take birth again because if there were not some aspect to our life that is transcendental then what is it that would take birth again and again what is it that would appear in this world there is nothing left to appear because unless there is some aspect to our being which is transcendental, which is not destroyed when our body is destroyed without the existence of your being there cannot be any rebirth, what will be reborn otherwise so here the point that is being made is that there is a transcendental reality which is beyond our conceptions of what we consider as form that there is some reality beyond that and that reality is what is being talked about over here, text 33 yatreme sadasad rupe prathishidhe svasamvida avidyayatmanikrute iti tad brahma darshanam yatreme sadasad rupe so here whatever gross and subtle forms we see prathishidhe svasamvida when through self-realisation prathishidhe when one becomes realised, prati shuddhe, at that time, sva-sambhida, one becomes self-realised, one becomes enlightened, avidyā ātmani krute, avidyā, because of ignorance, because of ignorance we perceive some forms, ātmani krute, we perceive some forms, but we understand that beyond this gross and subtle, there is something which is existing beyond it, and iti tad brahma darshanam, so when by self-realisation there is negation, there is rejection of all gross and subtle forms, then what the reality that we perceive at that time, that is brahma darshanam.
The Bhagavatam is talking about the point that there is a state of existence, there is a reality beyond what we perceive normally through our senses, and that reality is what is the object of self-realisation, of spiritual perception, brahma darshanam, yadya eśoparatā devī, this text 34, yadya eśoparatā devī, māyā vaiśāra dīmatiḥ sampanna eve tividhur, mohim mahim nīsve mahīyate, yadya eśoparatā devī, if they, uparatā, devī māyā, if such seers, such people, then māyā subsides, and they become enlightened, they become full of knowledge, vaiśāra dī, sampanna eve tividhur, being enriched thus with knowledge, being cognisant, they become enlightened about the glories, they pursue the glories, vidur mahim nī, they realise the glories, and sve mahīyate, they become situated in that glory. So here the point is made that understanding the lord’s glory helps us to realise our own glory also, because we are parts of Krishna, just like if a beggar understands that my father is a billionaire, then that means I am the, I am one of the heirs of a billionaire, and I am also wealthy. So understanding Krishna’s glory also helps us to understand our glory.
So we don’t have to acquire glory in this world, we just have to revive our awareness of our glory. In material life, we try to become more and more famous, more and more powerful, more and more influential, and by becoming thus, we think that we are growing in our life, but whatever glory we achieve thus, it is going to be temporal, it is based on our bodily position, our intellectual capacity, or other such things which are external to our essential spiritual being, and these things will not stay forever for us, and thus when we lose those things, we will also ourselves be lost. But if you understand this point, that beyond all these, that we are just as Krishna, there is a transcendent reality, and Krishna exists in his eternal, indestructible, inexhaustible, inestimably sweet glory, in that transcendence, and that we are his parts, and thus we are also meant to relish that eternal, inexhaustible, inestimable happiness, then we too become situated in our glory, and thus we move towards attaining perfection in our life.
Thank you.