Bhagavata Dharma Series 1 – SB 01.02.06-10 – How bhakti is the supreme dharma

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Hare Krishna. So, today we will discuss on the most quoted section from the Srimad Bhagavatam that is the second chapter of the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam which is entitled by Srila Prabhupada as Divinity and Divine Service. So, this is the section on which Srila Prabhupada gave a series of lectures which were later published as a book called Dharma, The Way to Transcendence.

And I will focus in this section on 1.2.6 onwards that is first canto, second chapter, sixth verse and we will go on in a series of classes probably tomorrow and day after also where we will go till verse 22. And I will not just stick specifically to the verses but I will talk about the significance of these verses from the perspective, three perspectives, from the perspective of their significance within the Bhagavatam, then their significance within the broad Vedic culture and thirdly their significance as it applies in our lives today. So, those of you who have the Bhagavatam in front of you, you can use it.

I will just be speaking these verses and then I will be explaining these verses and we will go over as many verses as possible in today's class. So, 1.2.6 we will begin. So, now this is the first chapter of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the first canto.

Basically, the setting is made that this discussion is happening in Naimisharanya, the sages have assembled, they have performed sacrifices for a long time but that has not led to any satisfactory solution and so when they see Suta Goswami, they decide to question him and they start the questions thereafter. The first chapter is called as questions by the sages and from the second chapter onwards the central answers of the Srimad Bhagavatam will start. So, 1.2.6 we will begin.

This is a very famous verse which the Prabhupada would quote very often. Now, each of the lines of this verse has significance. Often in scholarly circles, when the verses have to be referred precisely, then the verses are referred to as say if this is 1.2.6, there will be A, B, C, D. So, first line is 1.2.6 A, the fourth line will be 1.2.6 D. So, let us look at each of the lines of this verse.

So, that is the supreme religion for all human beings. So, what the pumsa is used here in an inclusive sense, it is not a gender specific word referring only to males, it is referring to all human beings. That is the topmost religion, that is the supreme religion.

So, one of the questions of the sages of Naimisharanya was there are so many different scriptures, there are so many different spiritual paths, there are so many different ways in which a person can pursue one's interests. So, what should one actually do, which is the best of all religions? So, this question is the answer to that. And the subsequent verses are a further clarification of this verse.

That is the supreme religion for all human beings. What is that religion? That by which bhakti, bhakti is literally translated as devotion. Srila Prabhupada would translate it as devotional service.

So, devotional service is a dual word in which the service is the noun and devotional is the adjective. So, everybody has to do service in this world. Family members serve each other, in our office we serve our boss, the citizens serve the nation.

So, everybody does service but the service specifically is devotional service. And to whom does the devotional service go? So, normally nowadays the word bhakti has become very common and it is used in various senses. Some people talk about rashtra bhakti, where devotion to one's country, some people may talk about pitra bhakti, devotion to one's father or parents.

And these can in a limited sense be used for the word bhakti. But in a more precise sense, actually that bhakti is not paradharma. Paradharma will be, we may in a sense of today's convention, the word bhakti may be used for various kinds of activities which involve some emotional attachment and some fixedness, one-pointedness.

People may say this person is devoted to cricket or this person is devoted to taking care of orphans or this person is devoted to that cause. So, the word devotion and devoted may be used in that context. But here it is being used, that does not make it paradharma.

Paradharma is when it is to adhoksha jai. So, the word adhoksha jai is significant because normally we are attracted to and devoted to the things which we can perceive, which we can see. In some of the religions in the world, there is a strong antipathy, strong opposition to image worship of any kind.

And because of that, whenever in these religions, if you look at the history of the world, in these religions if they conquer some areas where some sort of deity worship has been, some sort of image worship has been happening, then they go there and they try to bash up those image worship or those forms of image worship. And we need to know this happened in India also with very distressing frequency during the Mughal rule. So, the idea is that, basically people say that we should not worship visible forms.

But the reason for this kind of thing, for rejection of the worship of forms is that people feel that this becomes a competition to God. So, generally that which is visible is very attractive to us. Now, today people may say that, okay, but those same people who say that we shouldn't do any sort of image worship.

But often if we see in their homes, in their offices, there'll be so many images, images of sports stars, images of movie stars. So, it's very easy to become attracted to that which is visible to our eyes. And there is a converse tendency in some religions to reject the worship of that which is visible.

But then what is beyond that? The Bhagavatam says that bhakti should be offered to that Lord who is Adhokshaja. So, the Adhokshaja has three parts in it. Adha, Adha means to down or to push below.

Aksha is eyes and Ja is born off. So, Adhokshaja refers to that which is born of eyes. So, that basically refers to knowledge, Akshaja refers to knowledge which is born of sense perception.

And Adha Akshaja means that which pushes down the knowledge born of sense perception. So, this refers to spiritual reality and more specifically in this context, it refers to the Supreme Lord Krishna who cannot be perceived with his material senses. So, this is generally difficult to even conceive or to speak of implement.

How can we become attracted to that which we can't even see? The challenge for spiritual seekers is that Krishna is invisible and Maya is ultra visible. In Kali Yuga, the sensually attractive forms, whether they be of sexual objects or whether they were consumer products or whether they be of various different things which people can use for enjoyment, they are very aggressively advertised, glamorized and almost forced into the minds of people. So, it's easy to become attracted to these things.

But what has been told over here is to become attracted to that Lord who's beyond sense perception. So, this itself indicates that this is not something ordinary. So, Paradharma is that in which there is Bhakti towards the Adhokshaja, towards one who can't be seen.

And who is that being who can't be seen? That the whole Bhagavatam will explain ultimately. That is the all-attractive Supreme Lord, Krishna. But here what it emphasizes is that Bhakti should be directed towards the Adhokshaja.

And then what kind of Bhakti? That is described in the next line of the verse, ahaituki apratihata. So, unmotivated and uninterrupted. That means that devotion should not be done for any material.

Srila Prabhupada explains that that which is done with a motivation will have an interruption. Whenever the motivation is no longer relevant. If I worship Krishna so that I say I'm having a disease and I get cured from that disease.

I want to get cured from the disease. Then if my disease gets cured, then I'll stop worshipping Krishna thereafter. Thank you Krishna, goodbye.

Just like after we get cured, we don't necessarily maintain a relationship with the doctor. We say thank you and leave. So, or the other is if we are worshipping Krishna for that level of things, then for the sake of material improvement, then if the material improvement doesn't happen, then what will it be? It doesn't work.

There's no use of me to do it. So, whenever there is a motivation, here motivation refers to a material motivation. Motivation.

So, wherever there is a motivation, there will be interruption. That is pratihata, that is the next word. Apratihata means uninterrupted.

Now, we may wonder, is it possible to live without any motivation at all? We are living beings and isn't it natural for us to have some desires and to have, to want to aspire for something? How can we live without any aspiration at all? No, that is not the specific recommendation of the Bhagavatam. The focus here is on ahaitukya pratihata means no material motivation. It's not no motivation at all.

Actually, the process of bhakti focuses on spiritual motivation and that will become clear as we go to the next verses. Now, some people say that ultimately selflessness is never possible. So, ultimately everybody is selfish because we want, we want things for ourselves.

And so, even when we do bhakti, we want to be happy or I chant Hare Krishna because I want peace of mind. So, isn't that also a selfish motivation? So, is love actually possible at all in this world or even beyond this world? Is love possible even in principle? What to speak of in practice? Because in principle also, aren't we always motivated by the desire for happiness, even when we love someone? So, how can there be selfless love at all? So, actually the Bhagavatam helps us to differentiate between a selfish motivation and a natural consequence. So, a pure devotee doesn't love Krishna to become happy.

So, happiness is not the motivation of a pure devotee. Happiness is a natural consequence of pure devotion. So, when we serve Krishna, when we love Krishna, a consequence of that is there will be happiness.

And that is indicated in the last line of this verse, Yayaatma Suprasidati, Suprasidati. Suprasidati means it is related with Prasanna, cheerful, joyful. Suprasidati means very joyful.

Yayaatma, by this, the person becomes fully satisfied. So, Atma refers to the soul, Atma can refer to the whole person. The person or the soul becomes completely satisfied.

So, here the Bhagavatam is not saying that the Paradharma is practiced for Suprasidati. No, when one does this, then the Suprasidati, the satisfaction naturally results. So, this is what prevents Bhakti from becoming selfless, because Bhakti is not motivated by the desire for enjoyment or desire for happiness.

It naturally results in happiness. In one of the fundamental truths about happiness is that happiness is never a product. It is always a by-product.

It is never a product. It's not that if I think I will do this to become happy, happiness will always reimburse. But happiness is always a by-product.

That means, if I do something, if I absorb myself in some higher, nobler cause, which is greater than myself, then as a result of that absorption, happiness will come as a by-product. And the best such cause that we can absorb ourselves in is Bhakti Adhoksha Je. It is devotion to the Transcendental Lord.

Why? Because that Transcendental Lord is the well-wisher of everyone. This theme will come a little later. But the point is, normally in this world, if A loves B, then in one sense, the love becomes restricted to B, because B is a finite person.

Now, I may love, if A loves B, then maybe because of the love for B, I may love the friends and relatives of B also, or I may at least have positive disposition towards them. But then what about the enemies of B? Then I become enemical towards the enemies of B also. But when we love Krishna, Krishna, love for Krishna is supremely inclusive, because Krishna is the well-wisher of all living beings.

And being the well-wisher of all living beings, Krishna wants the good for everyone. And he, when he gives instructions to his devotees, whatever his expectations are from his devotees, that make devotees follow the instructions, then they also become well-wishers of everyone. So, of course, the well-wishers may be expressed in different ways.

This is, a doctor may use different treatments for treating different people. So, but all the treatments are ultimately meant to cure the patients. Similarly, a devotee may express those good wishes in different ways, but the devoting principle is the well-wisher of everyone.

So, that's why love for Krishna is the best thing that we can develop. This paradharma, because it leads to the atyantika-duhkha-nivratti, it looks, it leads to the ultimate eradication of misery, it leads to the supreme happiness for everyone. So, the essence of this verse is that, that which is the, which is the supreme religion, savaipumsamparodharma, that is the supreme religion for all human beings by which there is devotion to the transcendental Lord.

And then what is the characteristic of that devotion? Ahaitukiya pratihata, it has no material motivation, it has no material interruption. Now, we may say if there is no motivation, then what is the use of doing it? No, we may not be motivated by happiness, but if we do it, a natural consequence will be happiness. Vyatmasu prasiddhati.

So, now at this point, the question may come up, okay, but if you are saying that bhakti is the supreme dharma, but then there are so many people who have different ideas of dharma. There are people who consider that jnana and vairagya are the supreme dharmas. So, what about that? That is mentioned in the next verse.

So, in the Vedic culture, somebody who has a lot of knowledge is considered, in traditional cultures, somebody s knowledge is considered to be spiritually advanced or somebody who is very renounced, very self-controlled, that person is also considered to be spiritually advanced. So, what about them? That is dealt with in the next verse. Vasudeve bhagavati bhakti yoga prayojitaha jnaya tya suvairagyam jnanam jayadahai tukam.

So, again we will go over this verse by verse. Vasudeve, line by line rather, each line A, B, C, D. So, Vasudeve bhagavati. So, Vasudeva.

Vasudeva refers to the supreme lord who is all pervading. The names in Vedic culture may be referring to specific people, but they also have generic meanings. Just like Krishna refers to a particular person, but Krishna is also meaning all attract.

So, Vasudeva refers to the son of Vasudev. That is true, but along with that Vasudev itself has a meaning that which is all pervading. So, when we love this lord, bhagavati, he is the supreme lord.

He is Bhagawan, the possessor of sex opulences. Vasudeve bhagavati. So, in the previous verse, who is that Adhokshaji was not identified, but he is identified in this verse.

He is Vasudev. He is Bhagawan. So, bhakti, this verse makes it clear that bhakti is not meant to be for some impersonal light or something like that.

It is to the person named Vasudev. Bhakti yoga prayojitaha. Prayojitaha.

Prayojitaha, it is a very specific word. It means applied. Prabhupada translated prayojitaha, applied.

So, bhakti yoga prayojitaha. So, when bhakti, in a sense, is applied to the supreme lord or the yoga of devotion is applied to the supreme lord, the different people may seek after the different lord and different supreme lord in different ways. Some may try to karma yoga, some through gyan yoga, some through ashtang yoga.

But here, specifically, bhakti yoga prayojitaha. Then what happens? Janayati. Janayati ashu vairagyam.

Janayati means is born. It gives birth to. Ashu means soon.

Vairagyam. Vairagyam is pronunciation. So, the question.

Now, Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur, in his commentary, he is one of the most prominent commentators on the Bhagavatam in our tradition, the Gaudiya Vishnu tradition. And he often gives us insights into the inside, insights into the inside thoughts of the characters or of the people who are having discussions in the Bhagavatam. So, as I mentioned, the question in the minds of the sages, when Suta Goswami says that bhakti is the paradharma, he said, no, but we have heard that gyan is great, vairagya is great.

What about that? So, he's responding that actually gyan and vairagya will develop when bhakti is there. So, he is using the metaphor of union and generation over here. Just as when a male and a female unite, at that time there is generation, new life comes into this world.

So, similarly, he is using the metaphor over here that when bhakti is applied to the Supreme Lord, bhakti yoga prayojitaha, when bhakti is applied to the Supreme Lord, so then there are two children which are born, janayati, two children are born. One of them is vairagya, renunciation. And the second is, as I mentioned in the last time, jnanam chayadahaitukam is jnana.

And what kind of jnana? Ahaitukam. So, this ahaitukam word was used in the previous verse also and there it referred to the motivation of the seeker. A seeker should practice bhakti which is unmotivated.

But here jnanam chayadahaitukam refers to that the knowledge that a devotee gets does not have any material cause. That means that a devotee's intelligence, a devotee's wisdom is spiritual. It is not dependent on material intellectual capacities.

So, that means when there is the union of bhakti and Bhagawan, that leads to the begetting of two children, two progeny. One is jnana and the other is vairagya. And when both of these are born, that means what is normally considered to be a sign of spiritual advancement, say the cultivation, advancement in knowledge or advancement in renunciation, that automatically develops.

So, this ahaitukam word is important in the last line, last section, that a devotee need not be materially very intellectual. Of course, devotees can be intellectual and many of the greatest scholars in the bhakti tradition have been phenomenal intellectuals. Jiyu Goswami, Krishna Prabhupada would say is the greatest philosopher in world history.

Similarly, Madhvacharya, some of Madhvacharyas like Vyasatirtha, even Ramavacharya, are phenomenal scholars there. But the point is that a devotee gets intelligence that is not dependent on material situations. So, that intelligence refers to the capacity to differentiate between right and wrong, between good and bad, between the short term and the long term, between the material and the spiritual.

So, this differentiation capacity is the essence of intelligence. Intelligence as measured by IQ tests is not a reliable barometer of intelligence, even in the material sense, not to speak of spiritual sense. In material sense also, nowadays, people, psychologists have recognized that people with a high IQs do not necessarily become the most successful people in the world, because they also talk about something called EQ, EQ is emotional quotient, how well people are able to get along with others, how nicely people can develop relationships, that is also important.

And nowadays, many people are also talking about SQ, SQ is spiritual quotient, how well one understands what is one's purpose in life, how well one can stay centered on the purpose of life and harmonize one's energies along with that purpose. So, the knowledge which is being talked about over here is not just in terms of say, memorizing verses or analyzing concepts, it is more in terms of being able to differentiate between the essential and the peripheral, between what is most important and what is relatively less important. So, once one has this capacity, then one can stay fixed in one's spiritual path.

You know, in life, the biggest battle is often to keep the biggest battle, the biggest battle. The biggest battle in life is to keep the biggest battle, the biggest battle. Let me say if I am going to office, and I have an important meeting, and I have prepared properly for that meeting where I have to give a presentation of a project proposal or what, and while going along in my car, somebody just drives irresponsibly and cuts across my car and I have to force my brakes and there is screeching and there is a near accident and somehow there is a close shave, but nothing happens.

And I feel outraged at that person for irresponsible driving. And then I am fuming and I am gritting my teeth and clenching my fists and I get so disturbed by that, that by the time I go to office, and I reach office, I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And then what has happened is even before the battle has begun, I have lost the battle because I have got myself too worked up by something which is not so important.

So, the biggest battle in life is often to keep the biggest battle, the biggest battle. So, like that in material life, there are so many things which can go wrong. And if we try to set every wrong thing right, we will lose our energies in small, small things and we will have no energy left for big things.

That is why when in a devotee's life, it is said devotee should be tolerant. So, tolerance is not importance. Tolerance does not mean that devotee passively accepts everything that happens.

That is not tolerance. Tolerance means focused potency. A devotee understands this is more important, is less important.

So, okay, what is less important, just put it aside and tolerate it. I do not have to go about changing everything in the world or everything in my life also. Let me focus on the most important things and focus on changing them.

So, gyanam chaiyadahai tukam refers to this capacity to differentiate between what is most important and what is less important. People can be terrific intellectuals without having the discrimination capacity. Somebody can be a great scientist.

At the same time, the person may be a, may be a chain smoker. Somebody can be a, somebody can be a cancer specialist and still the same person may be alcoholic. These are, why? Because the person may have phenomenal intelligence in terms of medical competence, but that person may not have the willpower and the discrimination capacity to give up the wrong and do the right.

So, the gyana that a bhakta gets is ahil tukam. A devotee may not have this, any phenomenal capacity in terms of material intellectuality, but a devotee by Krishna s grace gets gyana. So, here the concern is addressed by telling that, whatever else is there, that will be developed by bhakti itself.

So, when bhakti is applied to Bhagawan, then gyana and vairagya automatically develop. And now after describing this, the next question will come up. What next? Gyanam chaiyadahai tukam.

And now after describing this, there are other forms of dharma. So, gyan and vairagya have been dealt with, that bhakti itself will produce gyan and vairagya. Now, how does it apply practically in our lives? We see that as devotees, once we start chanting Hare Krishna and coming in the association of devotees, many of the bad habits that we may have had, they often fall away without much struggle.

Some bad habits may take more time to go away, but many of the bad habits, they go away without much struggle. And that happens because bhakti produces vairagya. Vairagya does not necessarily mean that one has to take to the renounced order of life.

Vairagya simply means that one becomes detached from non-essentials. So, one of the characteristics of illusion is to think of the non-essential to be essential. What do advertisements do? Advertisements, they often talk about, they often glamorize things which are not really important for us.

And if you repeatedly see an advertisement, then by seeing it repeatedly, you start thinking, oh, maybe I need this. Now, Hitler's policy for creating hatred against everybody who opposed the Nazi cause, his unspoken policy, there was one of his ministers who coined a slogan. He said, you speak a lie loud enough, long enough, and bold enough, people will accept it to be the truth.

So, a lie loud enough, long enough, bold enough, it will be accepted as the truth. So, like that, in this world, when the illusions of the world that there is just get, purchase this product, get this, acquire that, you will become happy. When these are repeated again and again, we start believing in them.

And that is illusion. Illusion means to think of non-essentials as essentials. But by the process of bhakti, when we connect with Krishna, we experience an inner happiness by which we start seeing, okay, these are non-essentials, I do not really need them.

So, we may not adopt the renounced order of life, but still, we become detached from non-essentials. So, that is vairagya. So, after describing that, so even when we have to practice some resolutions, in general, if we decide, okay, I want to stay away from this, I do not want to do this, a devotee's focus should be not so much on vairagya, but on bhakti.

If we increase the spiritual positives in our life, then the material negatives will themselves go away. If I want to empty a glass and create vacuum in it, remove all the air from it, it is very difficult. But if I fill the glass with water, then the vacuum will go away by itself.

And the air will also, sorry, not the vacuum, the air will go away by itself. I do not have to struggle to create a vacuum. So, like that, the process of bhakti is not to try to create an empty mind where we do not think about negative thoughts, we do not think about bad thoughts.

The process of bhakti is to fill the mind with positive thoughts, thoughts about Krishna, thoughts about service to Krishna. And these positive thoughts will drive away the negative thoughts. So, the process of bhakti is not to empty the mind, but it is to crowd the negative out of the mind with the positive.

So, when we focus on the positives in our spiritual life, then giving up the negatives will become much easier. Now, after describing this, another important limb of the, what about other important limbs of the dharma? So, it is mentioned in the next verse that another important limb of dharma would be, I am in a particular varna, I am in a particular ashrama, I am a grahastha, I am a kshatriya or I am a vaisya, whatever. So, what are these dharmas important? 1.2.6 said that parodharma is bhakti.

Then what about other dharmas? That is answered in this verse, 1.2.8. So, dharma svanushtita pumsaam. So, svanushtita means according to one's own situation, whatever is prescribed for oneself. Dharma that is prescribed for oneself, dharma svanushtita pumsaam, if by the practice of dharma, that means if I am a housewife, I am a husband, I am a child, I am a grandfather.

So, whatever I am, dharma svanushtita pumsaam, if by the practice of our dharma, vishwakse na katha suyaha, vishwakse na katha, vishwakse is another name of Krishna, he is the supreme lord, vishwakse na katha suyaha, if for hearing about Krishna, if our attraction to hearing is not awakened, then shrama eva hi kevalam, when doing our prescribed duty is a waste of time, shrama eva hi kevalam. Actually, this is quite a heavy verse and this contradicts most peoples and even most religions conception of religion. Most people think that if I take care of my family members, if I do my duty to my family members, then I am a religious person, I am a good person, that is all that I need to do.

Now, certainly that is what we need to do and that is one aspect of religion, but that is not the complete purpose of religion. So, actually here it is said that even if one does one's prescribed duties well, but if by that one's attraction to Krishna does not increase, so then one is actually simply wasting one's time, one is laboring without any fruit, shrama eva hi kevalam means, Ropa translates as a waste of time, literally it means a labor that has no fruit, shrama eva hi kevalam, something that is only labor and in that sense it is a waste of time. So, why is it called like this? Because there is a fundamental difference between human life and animal life.

In human life, we have the opportunity for practicing, for perceiving spiritual truth. In animal life, the soul does not have that capacity. Now, why does the soul not have that capacity? Because the subtle body acts as a covering on the soul's consciousness and the subtle body which the animals have that is filled with so many bodily desires, that is dominated by animalistic drives, the drives for eating, sleeping, waiting, defending, that one cannot think of anything higher and that is how one stays trapped at the material level, at the bodily level itself, at the animalistic level.

So, in human life, one has the opportunity for practicing spiritual life, to perceive spiritual reality and then to pursue spiritual reality. Perceive is to see and perceive is to seek. So, to see and to seek.

So, that is what differentiates humans and animals. So, if one is just doing ones, now the prescribed duties, I may say I am in a particular varna, I am in a particular ashram and I am doing my duties according to that varna and ashram, that is good. But ultimately, any socio-cultural arrangement is material if it does not serve a spiritual purpose.

So, our swadharma, if it does not lead to attraction to Krishna, then we will still continue to live in material existence and we will not be able to advance in spiritual life. It is not that just by doing our worldly duties properly, we will make spiritual advancement. Srila Prabhupada explains in his book, coming back, where he is explaining the story of Ajamel, he says, let us say, the affection that the parents have for their children, that is natural and necessary, but it is not spiritual.

So, he gives the example that in a monkey, when a mother monkey is there and she has a baby, she takes care of the baby also very carefully. There is a kitten and somebody comes to threaten the kitten, the cat, legitimately bare its teeth and point out its claws to protect it. So, now that is something that is natural and that is necessary.

Natural means, it is something which emerges because of the bond that is created by nature when one living being gives birth to another. It is natural. And not only natural, it is necessary.

The infants of most species, if they are not cared for by their progenitors, by their parents, then they will not be able to live. So, it is natural and necessary. But if we see a kitten taking very, a cat taking very meticulous care of its kitten, would we by itself think of that cat as spiritual? Would that be something devotional, divine? Not necessarily.

So, actually, a symbol of the same applies to material duties also. Our material duties, our affection, the affection between the family members, that is important. Husband has a responsibility towards wife, wife has a responsibility towards husband.

They have to be faithful to each other. They have children, they should be taking care of children. This is important.

It is natural and it is necessary. But it is not spiritual. What makes it spiritual is when it is Krishna centered.

When both the husband and wife, they do not see each other as just husband and wife, they see each other as partners on a spiritual journey. And they do not see their children as children, as our children, they see them as children, as souls who have been entrusted by Krishna to us. Mishra Prabhupada would say that the children who are born, the devotee families or children of devotees in general, they are Vaikuntha children.

They are special souls whom Krishna has sent to us so that we can guide them, so that they can become prepared for the journey to Vaikuntha, so that we can take them to spiritual world. So, now, you may wonder how does this work? Okay, I have my material duties. So, what is the Bhagavatam saying? That if my material duties do not lead to the development of devotion, devotional attraction towards Krishna, then they are just mere labor.

So, how will my material duties lead to an attraction to Krishna? That is dependent on our underlying consciousness. If I see my family members as simply my family members, then my consciousness is material, it is not founded in spiritual truth. I am not seeing the Krishna connection and that responsibly doing my family duties, that will not lead to spiritual advancement.

At best, it may lead to some punya and I will get some materially good results in the future, but it will not take me back to the spiritual world. But if I spend time developing the right consciousness, so that is why we chant, we associate with devotees, we study the scriptures. So, by all these, we create a spiritual foundation for our material lives.

And then with this consciousness which we invite by doing our shastras, by doing our sadhana, then when we do our material duties, then we will be able to spiritualize those material duties. We will see how they are ultimately meant for Krishna and we will be able to have that mood that I am actually doing this for Krishna. Among Hindus, there is a very common conception, karma hi puja hai, work is worship.

And people say this is the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, but there is no such verse anywhere in the Bhagavad Gita. The nearest the Bhagavad Gita comes to something like this in 18.46 and 47, last chapter where it says, sva-karmana tam abhyarcha. So, sva-karmana tam abhyarcha, tam refers to Supreme Lord, is worship.

So, what it is saying is, by your work, worship him. It is not saying work is worship, by your work, worship him. That means do the work in such a way that the work will become a worship.

It is not that the work automatically becomes a worship. If work automatically were a worship, then a donkey would be the greatest worshipper because donkeys work so hard. So, that is not true.

So, worship is, work becomes a worship when actually we devote time for worshipping Krishna exclusively and then the spiritual impressions, the devotional consciousness that is developed by that exclusive worship, that enables us to spiritualize the rest of our deities. So, that is why the key word over here is, which I have not discussed till now in this verse is, that ishvakse katha asu, katha asu, hear about him. Why is hearing considered so important? Because two verses earlier, in 1.2.6, it was said that this Supreme Lord is adhokshaja, that Lord cannot be perceived through the senses.

Now, if he cannot be perceived through the senses, then how can I become attracted to him? How will I develop any attraction towards him? That will be by hearing. So, generally speaking, we will say that the eyes are the pathways to maya and the ears are the pathways to Krishna. Of course, if we are taking darshan of deities, then the eyes can also take us to Krishna and if we are hearing gossip, we are hearing nonsense, then ears can also take us towards maya.

But as a broad principle, this is true that sound is what takes us towards Krishna largely and vision often takes us away from Krishna towards maya. So, it is ishvakse katha asu, his katha, when we become attracted to his katha, when we develop attraction to hearing about Krishna, then that spiritualizes the rest of our life. It spiritualizes our consciousness and through that, it spiritualizes the rest of our life.

So, when we hear about Krishna, we spiritualize the rest of our life and by that, we feel inspired to connect more and more with Krishna and then that inspires us to hear about him more. So, our work and our worship, this will become symbiotic. That means I do worship and then whatever worship I have done, I carry those impressions with me into my work life.

And then when I do work accordingly, then I get deeper realizations. I can see, I see, okay, yes, that the spiritual stuff works, my mind stays calmer, I can stay more focused and then I can start seeing how spiritual truths are demonstrated in real life and that inspires me to hear more about Krishna and when I hear more about Krishna, again, I am able to do my work with more spiritualized consciousness and then again that enables and inspires me to learn more about Krishna and in this way, our worldly duties also lead to our increased bhakti. So, now after talking about this, in the third verse, that okay, so, some people kind of focus gyan, gyanavairagya, these are the renunciates, that is also subordinate to bhakti and other people focus on doing their swadharma, these are most of the grahasthas, even they are meant to ultimately develop devotion.

So, gyanavairagya are the consequences of devotion and devotion is the purpose of varnaashram, dharma sanushita, whatever we are doing according to Krishna, the purpose of that is to increase our devotion. Now, somebody may say, no, no, no, no, you are, what's all wrong? In the Vedic culture, it is described that dharma is meant for artha and artha is meant for kama. So, and after kama, ultimately moksha will come.

This is the fourfold progression which is talked about. So, dharma refers to the performance of religion and artha refers not just to currency, but artha refers to all round prosperity. Prosperity includes natural resources, prosperity includes financial resources, prosperity includes the emotional resources, one is present, one is satisfied at a material level also.

Dharma leads to artha, artha leads to kama. Kama means material enjoyment. Again, it is not just sex over here, kama refers to satisfaction at a material level.

So, in the Mahabharata it is described, when Narada Muni comes to meet Yudhishthira Maharaj, at that time Narada Muni asks Yudhishthira, he has come to meet him in the Mayasabha, which has been constructed by the Mayadana in Indraprastha, and at that time Narada Muni asks Yudhishthira, he says, are you pursuing dharma, artha and kama in a balanced way? If you are a householder, you should not sacrifice dharma and artha for the sake of kama, which is very easy to happen because of the allure of pleasure. So, many people because they want enjoyment, they do not consider anything else at all. And another thing that can happen is for the sake of artha, one gives up dharma and kama.

So, nowadays there is a whole new form of addiction, not really new, but what is widespread is, what is new is the extent of the widespreadness of this addiction, this is called as workaholism. Workaholism means people work, work, work, work and the working becomes their escape way from everything else. And just like some people escape through alcoholism, others escape through workaholism, they go into work and they think the more prestige I have, the more money I have, that is my defining identity.

And leave alone their spiritual life, they do not even have time for their material life. They do not have their time for their children, they do not have time for their family members. So, this is a unidimensional focus on artha without considering dharma and without considering kama.

So, Narada Muni says that one should not get unidimensionally obsessed with any of these, one of these things, one should balance all of them. Do not give up dharma and kama for the sake of artha, do not give up dharma and artha for the sake of kama and do not give up artha and kama for the sake of dharma. So, this is, Yudhishthira Maharaj was asked to have a balance, that do all three in a balanced way, dharma, artha and kama.

So, now the Bhagavatam is describing a higher truth. He says, yes, most people think that dharma is for the purpose of artha, artha is for the purpose of kama and after one has enjoyed artha and kama, then one can go towards moksha. Now, Prabhupada explains the problem with modern society is that people have removed the first and the last elements from this fourfold progression.

People have removed dharma and they have removed moksha. People want only artha and kama. And this is unsustainable.

This is prosperity that is divorced with prosperity and pleasure. They are divorced from a spiritual foundation and from a spiritual purpose. The spiritual foundation is dharma and the spiritual purpose, ultimate purpose of everything is moksha.

So, when it is divorced, then all that is left is simply materialism. And materialism alone does not satisfy people. It simply agitates and frustrates people.

And that's why in today's society, people, no matter how much prosperity they have, they have tremendous mental agitation because the mind can't stay satisfied simply by munching on material things and imagining some pleasure in material things. So, of course, dharma, artha, kama, moksha are an elaborate subject, which I won't go into at this stage. Let's focus on what the Bhagavatam verse is saying here.

It's saying that in an immediate sense, the purpose of dharma is artha. But the ultimate purpose of dharma is not artha. The purpose of dharma is apavarga.

Apavarga means liberation. Don't think that the purpose of dharma is artha. If we think that the purpose of dharma is artha, some people say, okay, I will do this yajna.

I will do this gildana. Some people think that, okay, if I give some donation to a temple, then the idea is I'm donating to a religious cause, then I will earn 10 times of what I have got in donation. And that's the motivation for giving some donation or doing some religious activity.

So, don't think of it like that. Dharma should not be performed for artha. Dharma should be performed ultimately for liberation.

So, dharma leading to artha is one level of progression, but it is only an intermediate level of progression. The ultimate purpose of dharma is moksha. na artho artha yo pa kalpate na arthasya dharmai kantasya And then somebody will say, okay, I am doing my dharma for my spiritual purposes, but at that time also I get some artha.

What should I do with it? He says, yes, when one is doing dharmai kantasya, one is doing the ultimate dharma, one-pointed dharma, ekantas, if at that time one gets artha, one should not use it for kama. So, don't think that the profit is meant only for pleasure. Why? Because our desires can be used for a much higher purpose.

So, the Bhagavatam here is revealing a higher understanding of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. So, it says, don't use dharma for artha, it is a gross underutilization of dharma. Dharma can offer us something so much greater.

So, why use it only for artha? And then artha, don't use it for kama. So, I will take the next words because it is a continuation of this and then we will have question answers. Then now it will talk about what are the ultimate purposes of other things.

In 1.2.10, in this fourth thing of, in this progression, dharma, artha, kama and moksha. So, here it says that, Shudra Goswami is telling, all of us have desires, kama. So, here kama does not refer specifically to lust, it just refers to desire.

So, what should we do with our desiring capacity? Don't use kama to seek indriya priti, to seek sense gratification. Instead, what should one do? One should use the kama at a material level to get whatever is essential, whatever is required for survival. Then what should one do with one's desires? The purpose of life is spiritual inquiry.

And then, in fact, there is no other purpose for our life. It refers to spiritual inquiry. The next words will describe what is the tattva.

That we will discuss in our later class. But here, inquiry, we have a unique potential. Somebody goes from India to America for a higher education.

And the person has gone to America for higher education. Now, while gaining higher education, a person may want some pleasure also. Okay, I want to experience what is the life in the Western culture.

I want to do this, I want to do that. But if, after working very hard, one gets into a good university in America, and after that, one just wastes one time only in seeking pleasure over there, seeking sensual pleasures, maybe all kinds of sensual pleasures. And then one misses out on the education that is available over there.

Then that is a gross, it is a tragic underutilization of the opportunity that was there. So, similarly, when a soul comes from a lower species to the human species, the soul has the capacity for gaining eternal happiness. Just as a student who studies properly, he has a prospect for a bright career afterwards.

Similarly, the soul who is the human body, if that soul applies oneself to spirituality properly, the soul can have not just a bright career for a few decades, but can have an eternal spiritual career and go back to the spiritual world and be eternally happy. But just as a student who just fools around and plays around and does not apply oneself to study, the grossly underutilized, tragically misses out on the potential that was available. Similarly, the soul who uses the human form along with all its facilities, just for material enjoyment, just for sense pleasure, just for artha and kama, that person is missing out on the ultimate, on the great potential that is available through the human form.

That great potential is the potential for human happiness, for eternal happiness. And here the Bhagwat makes a very important point that sometimes some people ask that when we say that the only difference between humans and animals is dharma, the capacity for dharma if it is translated as religion, religion is the only difference between humans and animals. There is a famous verse in the Mahabharata, it comes in the dharma shastras also, आहार निद्राव है मैत्युनुजु, सामान्य मेतः पशुदे निराणा। दर्मो इतेशा मधिको विशेषो, धर्मे नहीना पशुभी समान। That as far as eating, sleeping, mating and defending are considered, humans and animals are the same.

What differentiates humans is the dharma and without dharma humans are like animals. So now the question may come up, so what is the difference between, is religion the only difference between humans and animals? Some people may say no, animals can't do science, animals can't write books, animals can't construct, animals can't make magnificent buildings like we do. There can be so many differences, animals don't make languages, there can be so many differences between humans and animals, some people may say.

Why do we consider religion is the only difference? So here when the Mahabharata says that dharma is the difference between humans and animals, it is not just referring to dharma in a narrow sense of religion, it is referring to dharma in the sense of the capacity for philosophical inquiry and spiritual growth. So if one practices religion and even the religion that one practices if it is simply for material purposes, then that religion is also not considered, a person may be religious but even a religious person may be largely living on a materialistic platform. That means even the religious activities if they are directed towards eating, sleeping, mating, defending, towards gaining better arrangements for eating, sleeping, mating, defending, then that kind of religious person is also living on the animal platform.

So what differentiates between humans and animals is not just the external label of the kind of activities that one is doing. One may be doing religious activities externally but internally if one's desires are similar to the desires of the animals, then actually one is not really doing religion for its ultimate purpose. So am I audible? So once I have been invited to give a class in a Hanuman temple, so there some people were chanting a very curious prayer.

There some people were chanting, tum to ho baal brahmachari, mujhe dedho ek nari. So they were saying that, oh Hanuman you are a brahmachari but please give me a woman. So now this is, one will do a religious activity but what is one doing a religious activity for? It is for material things.

It is not that one cannot do religious activity for material things but that is not the purpose of religion. The purpose of dharma is apavargasya, it is ultimate liberation. So in this way, in these five verses which were discussed, six to ten, it is established that bhakti is the supreme religion.

So the first verse talked about how bhakti, bhakti should be unmotivated and uninterrupted, that alone will lead to complete satisfaction for the person. In the seventh verse said, what about jnana and vairagya? They will automatically develop when one does bhakti. Then eighth verse says, what about varanashram? The purpose of one's varanashram dharma, purpose of one's prescribed duty is to develop bhakti.

What about arthakama and moksha? The ninth and tenth verses say that, actually all of these, dharma, arthakama, they are ultimately meant for apavarga. Apavarga refers to not just ordinary moksha, it refers to devotional liberation, it refers to love for Krishna. So in this way, in these five verses, the supreme purpose of religion, the supreme religion that is bhakti is very clearly and concisely established.

And in the next verses, tattva, what is the ultimate truth, that will be discussed. So, are there any questions?