Bhagavatam first canto study 2 – 1.1.2 – The pure intention bestows the perfect destination

Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Welcome to the study of the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. We are discussing text two.
The first text discussed how the Bhagavatam describes the absolute truth and the connection of the absolute truth with the rest of existence, and how it is a meditation on a non-sectarian conception of the absolute truth. Now, in the next verse, in fact, in the next two verses, our first verse describes the absolute truth. Now, the second and third verses describe the way in which that absolute truth is conceived.
That means, there are different ways in which one can approach the absolute truth. So, what is the way in which one is approaching? One can approach the absolute truth for material gains. One can approach the absolute truth of purification.
One can approach the absolute truth for liberation. We can approach the absolute truth for pure love, for selfless service. So, what is the reason, what is the mode, what is the consciousness in which the Bhagavatam is approaching and the Bhagavatam urges us to approach? That’s what we will discuss now in the second verse.
So, that is discussed in second and third verses. The first three verses are very important for setting up the stage of the Srimad Bhagavatam. So, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra-paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vedyaṁ vāstava-matra-śivastu-śivadaṁ tāpatrayonaṁ mūlaṇaṁ śrīmad-bhāgavatam mahāmuni-kṛte kimvā parairīśvare sadhyo rudhya-buddhite atrakṛtavi śuśruḥ śubhi-stacchanāt So, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra.
Kaitava means cheating or deceptive. That which appears one way but is actually another way. So, what is kaitava dharma? Bhagavatam is saying dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava.
It is giving up kaitava dharma. This will be elaborated again repeatedly in the Bhagavatam, but especially in 1.456, 5 and 6, the Narad Vyasa Samvara, which is foundational for understanding the distinctiveness, even the uniqueness of the Bhagavatam among the various literature in the world. So, here it is said dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava.
So, give up, projjhita, means to give up completely. Srila Prabhupada would often translate this as kick out, sweep out with the broom, just dismiss completely. So, strongly, strongly communicative word of negation or rejection or dismissal.
Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra. So, it is rejecting kaitava dharma, cheating religion, that’s what it’s talking about. Now, what does this cheating religion refer to? Now, normally, what do we mean by cheating? You know, if we pay for a first-hand commodity, if I pay for a laptop, if I go to a showroom and the laptop costs 60,000 and supposed to be high-class laptop and later on I find that it’s a second-hand laptop, which I could have well got for 20,000, I say that person cheated me.
That means I get less than what I should have got or what I could have got in exchange what I gave and what I could have got. It’s much, much lesser. So, when we get less than the potential, when we get than less what is fair, that is what we call as cheating.
So, now dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava. Kaitava dharma means we get less out of human life by the practise of religion than what we could and should have. So, human life is a platform for takeoff.
It’s a launching pad for catapulting us from the temporary world to the eternal world and that transportation, that catapulting, that elevation happens for those who avoid the pitfall of materialism and even religious materialism. So, materialism means we get attached to matter and material things and that’s why we have to continue on in the samsara chakra. Religious materialism means that one focusses on enjoying material things but by religious means.
So, in the Vedic scriptures, there is this four aspects of dharma, artha, kama and moksha and they are important purusha-arthas. Purusha-artha, the purush word is used in a gender inclusive way to mean both males and females. So, artha, artha means purpose or goal.
So, purusha-artha refers to that which is the purpose of life. So, the purpose of human existence is these four. One should do dharma, that self is good and that will also lead to artha and that will lead to kama and then ultimately it will lead to moksha.
This progression we’ll discuss again when we talk about from 1.2.6 to 22, the famous dharma verses. So, on which the lecture of Prabhupada’s book Dharma, the Way to Transcendence, based on the lectures that he gave on those chapters, those verses, the most off-quoted verses in the Bhagavatam. Now, that dharma, artha, kama, which is basically religious materialism or material religiosity, the end, the difference between them is only in terms of words.
Religious materialism means, there are emphases on that, that one is still materialistic in one’s conception, one thinks oneself as some sort of creature connected with the body and one thinks of bodily comfort and pleasure as the ultimate goal of life. So, one is at the material level of consciousness. That is religious materialism.
And material, so the only, in religious materialism, the only addition is, as differentiated from materialism is that one doesn’t want to violate the principles of religion. One uses those principles of religion to attain one’s goals. Now, material religiosity means that there is religiosity, there is emphasis on the practise of religion.
Okay, one does some puja, one does some pathan, one does some kirtayatra, one does these activities, but one’s conception remains material. So, whatever is the noun is the emphasis. So, there is religiosity, but there is material religiosity.
We’ll see the Bhagavatam condense material religiosity also has one level of animalism. So, it says that, It’s a person who goes to holy places just to bathe in them and not to bathe in the wisdom that is coming from the lips of the great souls over there. It’s a person just like an animal.
Now, moving forward, we see that here the Bhagavatam is focussing on giving up kaitava dharma, that means dharmarthakama, which are primarily, as I said, religious materialism or material religiosity, projahita, cut them out. And moksha is also at one level, liberation, normally it means liberation, but at another level, it is also the same self-centred level of consciousness, where one thinks, okay, I can’t enjoy at the material level, so let me just get rid of the enjoyment and then liberation. In that sense, I want to become the supreme enjoyer.
That is also in one sense wrong. So, dharma projahita kaitavatra paramo. So, paramo is refers to the supreme, transcendental, the highest.
So, by giving up the lower religion, one practises the highest religion. The highest religion is centred on love for love’s sake. So, whereas dharmarthakama moksha, this fourfold goals of human life are glorified in other religions, the Bhagavatam says, put them aside.
They are all cheating. Why? Because human life can give you something much more. So, if I put in hundred rupees and I can get something very valuable, but instead of that, I get something worth only one rupee, then I have cheated myself.
So, human life is something, if we invest that in we can get eternal happiness and result. But if we don’t do that, instead we just invest in even material religiosity, in dharmarthakama, then what we get is a temporary result. We go to heavens, one comes back again to the earth.
So, it is not considered at all a glorious result because it is underutilisation of our potential. Similarly, even liberation, it is not, it doesn’t fulfil the heart’s longing for love and one stays dissatisfied because one doesn’t get a reciprocation. So, that’s why just the impersonal liberation is not something which devotees look forward to.
Devotees that Prabhudananda Saraswati is a great Vaishnava up from the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he says that, you know, I find it hellish that liberation which is considered supreme goal of life by many spiritualists, a devotee considers, well, hellish because vinamat sevanam janah. Kapiladeva in his teaching of the third canto said that if one does not get the opportunity to serve the lord, then it is useless. So, now the paramdharma is talking about and what is nirmat saranam satam.
Satam are those who are saintly. So, sata, sat chitananda, you know, these are the three characteristics of the soul. So, sata refers to that which is eternal, that refers to the eternity feature of the soul and satam refers to those saintly people who are focused on the eternal, not on the temporary.
In 2.16 Bhagavad Gita it said, na asato vidyate bhavo, that which is temporary, that cannot be attained, that which is eternal, that has no destruction. Asato vidyate bhavo, that which is temporary, it does not have any permanent existence, it does not have any actual existence. Na bhavo vidyate sataha.
Asata, that is eternal, that has no cessation, it always continues to exist. Satam are those who focus on the sata. Now, there are many transcendentalists who focus on the sata, but here a special characteristic of the transcendentalist, nirmat saranam.
Nirmat saranam refers to those who are non-envious. So, those who are not competing with others at their level of enjoyment. So, at the material level there is always matsar because someone has more and someone has less and in fact the whole of, one of the biggest impetuses for material life is comparing others’ possession and trying to improve on them and often people consider that not only I attain things, I become happy, but after attaining things when I see envy in the eyes of others, then that brings me a special joy.
So, if I have a necklace, if I have a dress, if I have a car, which is better than that of my neighbours, my peers, my colleagues, then that is the perfection of my life. Bhagavad Gita also talks about this mentality in the description of the demoniac people, the ungodly people. 15.13 to 15 Krishna says, Konyasti sadrisho maya, who is there like me? There’s no one.
I am the best. I am the controller. I am the enjoyer.
So, nirmat saranam means one has just given up this whole business of material enjoyment and has no envy because this one doesn’t have a competitive mentality. One doesn’t get into this whole business of trying to grab more and gain more and enjoy more at the material level. So, giving up the desire for material enjoyment is the way to rise above envy and of course at the highest level it refers to being free from envy for the Supreme Lord also because the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer and as long as we want to enjoy like him then we stay in material existence.
So, we want to enjoy not like him but enjoy with him by giving, by serving him, by giving him enjoyment. So, nirmat saranam satam. So, the Bhagavatam will reveal the complete, the highest level of nirmat sarya in its adoration of the Raslila where it offers, it glorifies the highest revelation of God and the highest mode of devotion offering oneself completely to God and offering to God all the enjoyment that people want in this world.
So, the gopis offer themselves body, mind, heart everything to Krishna and So, people want Sanskritification over here and there it is Sanskritification offered to Krishna. So, that is the highest level of nirmat sarya. So, the Bhagavatam, what it’s going to teach it can be relished by these kind of people who are nirmat saranam and also by hearing the Bhagavatam, by hearing about these kind of souls, how hearing about the Supreme Lord, our nirmat sarya will also go away.
Krishna also talks about his repeatedly Arjuna, I’m speaking to this, speaking this knowledge to you because you are 9.1 says this confidential knowledge I’m speaking because non-envious and he also tells and when he completes the Bhagavad Gita in 18.67 and starts describing the Akshuti, describe these to those who are non-envious. So, don’t speak this and use a list of categories of people and he says that among them those who are envious don’t speak to them about this. So, essentially then we can be generic when it’s directed to people in general, it can be specific when it’s directed towards a particular person and it can be also directed toward a Supreme Lord.
So, we may not be free from envy but to the extent we are free from envy to that extent we will be able to relish the Bhagavatam and just by hearing the Bhagavatam we will move towards freedom from envy and relishing it. This is the aspiration. So, we are talking about what is the mode in which the Bhagavatam is urging us to approach and that is So, it is offering us the come to know about it.
Veda means knowledge. Veda means to come to know about something. So, come to know about the absolute truth.
Vastu is related to the Vastava. Vastava is real. Vastu is that which actually exists truly.
So, Vedam, come to know about is Vastava Vastu, come to know about the real truth. So, in one sense the supreme absolute truth is the supreme reality and everything else is real but it is temporary, it is temporal and in that sense it is not the supreme reality. So, the Bhagavatam shifts from, raises our consciousness from the body to the soul, from the soul to the Bhagavan and to his abode.
So, he is the supreme reality and that is the object that we will be meditating on in the Bhagavatam. Now, our meditation shapes our destination. This happens practically also.
If I think about eating then I will start feeling some hunger in my stomach, even it will be often pseudo-hunger. I am not actually hungry but I simply feel hungry because I am thinking about food that creates desire and then what is my destination? I will go and go to the kitchen and try to find something to eat. I will go to shop and purchase something.
I will order something and some fast food person will come and deliver something at my home. So, then I will end up eating. So, our meditation determines our destination and this applies also say if a person is a drunkard, this person will, the person thinks of meditation then the person thinks of drinking alcohol, the person will end up drunk but this applies at a much longer level, broader, longer level also.
So, yam yam vāpi smaran bhāvam tijatyante kalevaram tam tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tadbhāva-bhāvitaham. So, what Krishna describes over here is that whatever we meditate on that is what we will attain in our next life. Whatever we think of in this life we will think of at the time of death.
What we think of at the time of death we will attain in the next life. That is what Krishna talks about in 8.6 and 7. So, he says what we think of we will attain at the time of death. That is 8.6. 8.7 says therefore think of me then you will attain me.
So, here what is the result of the previous verse talked about dhīmahi, meditate on the Supreme Lord. So, this verse says if we do dhīmahi, if we meditate on the Supreme Lord then what will happen? On that Supreme Lord who is Vedyam vāstham atravasthu. So, when we come to know about him vāstham atravasthu shivadam tapatrayodmulanam shivadam.
Shiva refers to a person as well as a condition. So, the condition of auspiciousness is Shiva and the person who brings about that auspiciousness is also called a Shiva. So, the Vishnu Sastranam refers to Lord Vishnu himself as Shiva.
Sarva Sarva Sarva Sarva Shiva Sthanur Bhuta Dhir Nidhi Ravya Ya So he is Shiva Sarva So he is auspicious Now one particular person who is especially meant to bring auspiciousness in the life of the inauspicious That is Lord Shankara He is especially merciful to those in the mode of ignorance and he raises them So he also has the name Shiva So here Shiva Dham, Dham means to give So this will give us auspiciousness So, for example, if I am sick and I get a medicine, then that medicine brings auspiciousness in my life. So, here, Shivadam, this will bring auspiciousness. What kind of auspiciousness? Tapatrayonmulanam.
Tapatraya, the threefold miseries that are there, Unmulanam, it will be uprooted, ripped out completely, thoroughly destroyed. So, that is, even liberation does not necessarily destroy the disease completely, because liberation removes our material desires, but liberation does not, in fact, inject spiritual desires within us. It is only bhakti that injects spiritual desires within us.
So, it’s like if you consider, ordinate a Y-axis, then liberation moves us from the negative axis to zero. But it is bhakti which moves us from the negative axis to not only zero, but beyond the positive axis. So, this is the supreme auspiciousness that our desires, which causes bondage and suffering in this world, they, if we direct them towards the Supreme Lord, they will bring liberation.
That theme will be discussed in the next verse. We’ll discuss that when we come to that verse. But here, the point is, if you do Vedhyam, the result of that will be Tapatraya, Unmulanam.
Unmulanam, the uprooting of the Tapatraya, of the threefold miseries of material existence. And the Bhagavad Gita in 4.9 also talks about this. If we come to know Krishna in true Tattvataha, here it is Vedhyam, Bhagavad Gita is Tattvataha.
So, it says that, if we come to know about Krishna, then the result of that is, we will not come back to cycle of birth and death. So, Tapatraya, Tapatraya refers to threefold miseries, which are imminent and inevitable for everyone in material existence, sooner or later. They are like three spheres, or three-pronged sphere, a trishul, which pierces the heart and lives, the hearts and lives of all living entities in material existence, the Adhyatmic, Adhibhautic and Adhidaivic klesha.
So, here, so the first line, let’s go back now. The Bhagavatam will describe that religion, Dharmaprojitakaitavatra. So, it will give up all lower levels of religion and this level of religion is actually practised in religion by the Nirmatsaranamsatam, it is Param, it is highest level of religion.
What does it involve? It involves knowing the highest, knowing the true absolute truth, Vastam Atravastu, knowing the actual substantive principles, true substantial reality, the ultimate substantive principle was the word which Bhaktishanth Thakur would use to describe Krishna in his Brahma Samhita. So now, and what is the result of knowing that absolute truth? The result is that Tapatraya Unmoolanam, all our miseries will be eradicated. And what is the result of that or what is further characteristic of that now? Shreemad Bhagvate, Mahamunikrite, Kimvaparairishvarah.
So, Shreemad Bhagvate, Shreemad Bhagvata is such a glorious book, Shreemad Bhagvata. This has various names. So, the book itself often is called as Bhagavata Puran, that is a common name.
So Prabhupada preferred to use the word Shreemad Bhagvatam. So, the Gauriya Vyacharyas also, Sri Yantra Mahaprabhu also uses the word Shreemad Bhagvatam as described in the first commentary within our tradition on the Bhagvatam, Chaitanya Manjusha. So, there is Pramana Mamala, Amala Puran or the Amala Pramana.
So, Shreemad Bhagvate. So, that which is related to Bhagavan is called as Bhagvata. And Shreemad, that which is filled with wealth, opulence, auspiciousness, glory.
So, this is the book about Bhagavan which is filled with all auspiciousness. Shreemad Bhagvate, Mahamunikrite, Mahamunikrite. So, who is this Mahamuni? Now, we understand that this is the invocation going on.
So, this is, different Acharyas have explained differently. Jiva Goswami explains in his Tramasandarbha, the Tramasandarbha is like a commentary on the Bhagvatam, which is, he doesn’t necessarily go into all the verses to comment on them, but he comments on important verses. And then he says that this verse focusses, it refers to Narnara and Rishi.
In the second canto of Shreemad Bhagavatam, different paramparas through which the knowledge of the Bhagavatam is coming is described. So, one such parampara is through Narnara and Rishi, it comes down. And that is also mentioned in the tenth canto of Shreemad Bhagavatam, when Narada Muni goes to Narnara and Rishi and learns from him.
Now, we know in the Bhagavatam there is one more tradition that is described, Krishna gives the knowledge to Brahma, Brahma gives the knowledge to Narada, Narada gives the knowledge to Vyasa and that’s how it comes. That’s one tradition. It’s not that one cannot learn from other traditions also.
So, Narada also goes and enquires from Narnara and Rishi. And Narnara and Rishi is also an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. So, he is the Supreme Lord himself in one sense.
So, it is that great person who has compiled it. Now, Mahamuni Kritte can also refer to Vyasadev. So, now, is it that Vyasadev is referring to himself as Mahamuni? It may seem a little odd for a person to glorify oneself like that.
Now, one understands that actually, even if that is the case, that even if we say this is referring to Vyasadev, then we understand that the devotee glorifies himself at all. It is not to glorify oneself, but to position one’s message properly. Now, for example, Srila Prabhupada would write at the end of his purports, that’s in the Bhaktivedanta purports.
Now, Bhaktivedanta purports. Now, the name Bhaktivedanta may itself sound a little pompous and self-glorificatory. Now, somebody who is the master of Vedanta and knows that Bhakti is the end of Veda, and that’s such a person who is so learned, that’s the person writing the purports.
So, he could have just used the word Abhaycharan or he could have used Swami. But he had given a title, Bhaktivedanta Swami, and he used that title. And he also had the title Prabhupada, and he used the title Prabhupada also.
So, the point is that Mahamuni is a title which is bestowed upon Vyasadeva. Vyasadeva is simply using that title to indicate the glory of the wisdom that has been given. So, when Srila Prabhupada used the word Bhaktivedanta, it’s a title given to him by his peers, by his senior godbrothers during his times.
So, that indicates that what he’s speaking is not ordinary, it’s glorious. So, similarly, Mahamuni is a title which is bestowed upon Vyasadeva, and he’s using that to position and glorify the message that he’s giving. So, normally, if we know who is the author of a book, then we know the author is a very respectable, very learned person, then we take the message also seriously.
So, a devotee’s concern is to ensure that the message reaches a large number of people and the message gets a proper pedestal for reaching that kind of people. And for that, if a devotee has to position oneself, just as devotees may sometimes while giving classes introduce, and they may tell their credentials, that is not to glorify themselves, not to blow their own trumpet, but to ensure that the message they are giving gets proper reception. So, Mahamuni, Kritte, Mahamuni will also, Kritte, it’s compiled by him.
So, this will also be, in one other sense, that he was in his full maturity after he had written all the books, when he found that those books were not neither satisfied, they did not satisfy his heart and they would not have satisfied the hearts of others also. Therefore, he decided to write this book. So, in his spiritual maturity, as Prabhupada said, that will be revealed in the fifth six chapters of the Bhagavatam.
Kim va parairishvara? So, kim va parair? What else is required? That means, you don’t need any other book. One book is enough. So, what is the special result of this book? What will happen? Now, previously it was said that it will lead to taapatrayon moolanam, that the taapatraya will be uprooted.
But here, how exactly that will happen? sadhyo hrudya vruddhite atrakrtibhi shushru shubhis tatshanat tatshanat As soon as one hears this Bhagavatam, shushru bhi, one submissively hears it, then hrudya vruddhite avruddhite One manifests. Who manifests? Parama, that Supreme Lord, that Absolute Truth, vedyam vastavam, that Absolute Truth, that Bhagavan, Sri Krishna, He will manifest in the heart. sadhyo shudh tatshanat So, actually, immediately, without delay.
So, actually, this is the special potency of the Bhagavatam. Because it is such a pure and power-packed message, and especially when it is received through the great devotees, it invokes the presence of the Lord in our heart. And, ultimately, that is the purpose and perfection of existence.
That actually, we want to develop love for Krishna. Because that love for Krishna will make us satisfied even in this world, and ultimately take us beyond this world to the transcendental world, where we will also live eternally with Krishna. So, therefore, when we understand this ultimate purpose, and understand that the Bhagavatam is going to fulfil that purpose, kim va parairishvara Why does one need anything else? Why does one need any other sadhana? Simply hear the Bhagavatam and all perfection will be achieved.
So, Bhakti Sanskrit Akhada would say that if all the books in the world were destroyed but the Bhagavatam remained, then nothing would be lost. Now, this is not an exclusivist glorification. This is a contextualist glorification.
So, what does that mean? That means other books which lead one to the Bhagavatam are not rejected by this. So, for example, Bhagavad Gita which will lead us to the Bhagavatam. That is wonderful.
Which is CC, which elaborates on the Bhagavatam. That is also wonderful. So, the point is that this book gives the message of pure love for God.
And it is that message of pure love for God that is sufficient. And one doesn’t need anything else when one is aspiring for the ultimate goal of life. So, in this way, the mode of approach to the Supreme Lord in pure love, nirmatsaranaam, rejecting lower principles of religion, dharma prajitakaitavata, and then the result of what kind of absolute truth we approach, we don’t approach a material conception of God who will give us material things, but vastavastu approach.
And then because we are approaching at a spiritual level, we rise to a spiritual level. Tapatre unmoolanam. And this whole conception of approaching God at a level of pure spiritual love, that is the speciality of Srimad Bhagavate.
And that is the speciality of the Mahamuni Krita. That sage who wrote many many other books and then finally he wrote this in his zenith, the summit of his spiritual evolution. So, that book is now kimvapare.
Why do we need any other book? Because just by hearing this book, the all attractive Supreme Lord, to whom devotion brings the supreme liberation, that Lord is manifest in our heart. And therefore, we do not need anything else. So, this is the glory of the Srimad Bhagavatam, that if we hear regularly, our goal is not simply to become pandits of Bhagavatam.
If we become pandits, that’s wonderful. We can use that in the service of Krishna. We can use that in increasing our own contemplation attraction to Krishna.
Our goal is simply to first of all become lovers of Krishna, to have Krishna’s presence manifest in our heart. And that is what hearing the Bhagavatam, in the association of the Bhagavatas, will enable us to do. Thank you.
Hare Krishna. We’ll continue in our next session and we’ll discuss the third verse. The first three verses we are discussing in separate half-an-hour classes.
And then we’ll move faster, taking several verses in one session, when we move forward to the later verses. The first three verses are extremely important. They have a wealth of meaning.
And that’s why they require elaborate discussion. We know that Gautam Sri Raghunath spoke weeks and weeks, just in the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam. He wrote a full commentary in the first verse, So these are very important verses which set the scene, which determined the mood.
And they tell us what is the uniqueness that is going to be found in the Bhagavatam. So we are having separate classes on this. First three verses and then we’ll move faster.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.