Bhagavatam-daily 313 – 11.14.5-7 – Vedic variety reflects universal demography

Thank you Chanting Chanting Chanting Chanting is now linking genealogy with spirituality genealogy refers to how different species have originated and spirituality of course refers to the path of spiritual growth Krishna here is speaking to Uddhava while answering Uddhava’s question about how or why there are so many different paths and which among them is the best he states that from Brahma through Manu through the Saptarishis on one side the spiritual knowledge was going down on another side the universe was also getting populated the universe was being populated by various living beings it’s not just a number of living beings but variety of kinds of living beings अधाके कातका Yogémittane उसो ही यदका समाली यदवी सामी है so in this world view there are wide variety of living beings some of them are mentioned here पित्रे भ्या,तत्पुत्रा अधै,दानव,गुहयका,मनुश्यः be human beings Siddha Gandharva Vidyadhara Charanaha Then is Kimdeva Kinara Rakshasa Kim Purushaha Adaiyaha So often whenever any incident happens which is of a great consequence then in such a situation the Lord manifests himself or for example when the Lord manifests himself at that time the devotees, there are all these residents of the universe at various places the Rakshasas and Danavas may not be devotees but most of the others are dharmically minded they may not be pure devotees, they usually are not pure devotees pure devotees are very rare within the creation but all these residents of the universe at different places are all dharmically inclined and they are working primarily, they are doing their administrative functions they have different abilities, different resources and in this context Krishna is saying that this universal demography, demography refers to the study of population so demography, sometimes people mistake it with demonology demonology is the study of demons, that is different so in demography we study various things, we look at even demons at least when we are looking from the Bhagavatam’s worldview where demons are also part of the universal population and Krishna is saying here that this demography is spread across the universe and is spread across the modes also in 18.14 the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that there is no one on this earth or for that matter or even on the heavenly planets who is not there? that anyone who is existing is free from what is born from prakriti? these three modes so no one is free from the bondage of the three modes and that is what is being stated over here that the bondage of the three modes the influence of the three modes is the shaping of the mentality of people by the three modes this extends all over the cosmos and based on such shaping of the mentality as is their nature there are chitra, variegated the word chitra refers to colorful or variegated chitra, vachaha, sravantihi vachaha is here referring to the vedic rituals sravantihi, they float up so the point here is that because people are in different modes so accordingly they are going to be attracted to different things so accordingly the vedas include various rituals which enable people to make some limited spiritual progress while they are also moving onwards towards the supreme by the steady by the steady practice of dharma this dharma that they are practicing is not bhakti dharma it is some other dharma some lower dharma but still by practicing even that lower dharma they move onwards towards the supreme and thus they can eventually after it may take bahunam janmanamante also it may take many lifetimes for them to attain the supreme but eventually they will attain the supreme and of course what is transitional if that is thought to be mistaken to be terminal then that can be an obstacle transitional means that for example karmakand the process for going to heavens that is the transitional process so if people think that going to heavens is itself the goal of life it is the purpose and perfection of life if they mistake the transitional to be the terminal then they put themselves to illusion however if one studies the entire gamut of the Vedic literature one has contact with one who has studied the entire gamut then as Krishna says in 2.46 in the Bhagavad Gita VEDESHU BRAHMANASE VIJANATAH so VYAVANARTH PUDBANE that whatever purpose is served by various small wells that purpose is served in one stroke by a flowing river similarly there are various specific material objectives that are served by the various Vedic rituals and hymns and sacrifices and other such things but one who understands their ultimate purpose BRAHMANASE VIJANATAH such a person can fulfill the purpose of all of them by going to their ultimate purpose their ultimate purpose is the attainment of Krishna by all the Vedas I am to be known so as sadhakas to the extent we can turn towards Krishna and focus on Krishna we attain the ultimate perfection which Krishna will talk about in subsequent verses in this section of the Uddhava Gita thank you