Bhagavatam first canto study 6 – 1.2.9-1.2.15 – Bhakti leads to realization of the Absolute Truth

Welcome back to our bhagavatam study of the first canto, we continue with our discussion in the second chapter, we will start with 1.2.9 we discussed till now in this chapter about how shukadeva swami sutaka swami offers obeisances to his spiritual master shukadeva swami Narayana Narayandoshi Saraswati Devi and then he offers his respects to the questioning sages and then he starts answering the questions, so first he says the paradharma is that which is pure unmotivated uninterrupted devotion then he says that as compared to that other things what are the other things he is analysing them so first he takes up analysis of jnana and vairagya and he says these come automatically in bhakti then what about vanashram dharma he says that these this is actually the purpose of doing vanashram dharma is to develop bhakti without that it is not of much use and now he will talk about the purusha artha dharma artha kama moksha this in the next verse so 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 1.2.9 normally the four purusha arthas are considered to be sequential or chronological dharma artha kama and moksha so by the practise of dharma by doing specific religious activities as well as by doing one’s swadharma one’s prescribed duty what happens by that it leads to artha one is able to gain artha that is holistic prosperity not just financial gains and then artha leads to kama kama means that one is gets a lot of one’s desires fulfilled it doesn’t refer only to sensual gratification it refers to general fulfilment of desires and then as one goes through this purusha artha then gradually one comes to the level of seeking moksha and understand that this level of religiosity is not going to satisfy me dharma artha kama is not going to satisfy me therefore I need to seek something higher and then one seeks moksha so dharma artha kama and moksha are progressions are progressive one by one by one and that is what is talked about over here in general in the vedic tradition that these four purusha arthas are there and now the bhagavatam talks about connects these purusha arthas with their ultimate purpose so he says the practise of dharma is not for artha dharmasya apavargasya apavarga refers to transcendence the attainment of an eternal destination the attainment of the state of existence that is beyond pavarga for bhavahama just as we have acronyms in english so like that there are various ways in which concepts can be condensed so in a rough sense pavarga is some kind of acronym equivalent in sanskrit where pur for bhavahama refer to states of refer to states within the bound material existence so pur refers to parishram or fena so when the work labours very hard and one sweats at the mouth like a donkey sweats at the mouth after carrying a huge amount of load parishram pur pur so pur is parishram pur is fena bhavahama so these are all in sanskrit there are different sets of alphabets which are grouped together according to their phonetics and this is called as pavarga so in the pavarga there are these sets of alphabets and they are also used over here to refer to the sanskritic to certain philosophical concepts so pur pur bhavahama pur is bandhan so when we seek material enjoyment the result of that effort for getting material enjoyment is that we become bound in this world and there is bhav is bhay bhay is fear we feel fearful because when we become attached to certain things there is always the anxiety that what we are attached to may go away and then there is bha and then vyarthatha vyarthatha is everything will go away so now what happens is ultimately there is mrtyu and mrtyu means everything is lost everything especially whatever we accumulate materially it is lost so what is important in such situations to recognise is that we are not alone in this world in our fate that there is a higher transcendental reality god and if we connect with him for not improving ourselves materially but for elevating ourselves spiritually then we can go beyond this pavarga and that talks that is apavarga so the bhagavatam radically challenges existing notions by stating that dharma is apavarga rather than saying that dharma is for artha dharma is for apavarga it is for going beyond material existence so then is the bhagavatam neglecting artha and kama is it like there is a if you consider the four purusharthas dharma artha kama and moksha is the bhagavatam sort of taking a long jump or leapfrogging leapfrogging from dharma to moksha directly without considering artha and kama not exactly we will see that the bhagavatam will connect all three to moksha and we will also later see as the bhagavatam’s thought flow evolves that it is focussing not so much on moksha in the conventional sense of liberation from material existence alone it is talking about moksha in a devotional sense of being engaged eternally in the service of the lord so dharma becomes connected with that evolved sense of moksha that is it is of parabhakti of kevala bhakti of pure love for the lord now dharmasya apavargasya and then na artha artha yo pakalpate so further it says na artha artha yo pakalpate that means one should not let dharma be underused for the purpose of artha yes dharma will produce artha again when we use the word dharma not in a restricted sense of religious activities but in terms of seeing all our activities as our prescribed duties as our dharmic duties dharmasya apavargasya na artha artha yo pakalpate don’t see this as meant for financial gains alone for worldly gains also na arthasya dharmai kantasya kamao labhaya ismita now the bhagvatam continues its connection with transcendence by stating that artha is also not meant for kama artha should also be used for transcendental purpose so even when one is doing dharma for a transcendental purpose if at that time one gets artha rather than using that artha for sensual purposes we should use it for transcendental purposes so arthasya na arthasya dharmai kantasya kamao labhaya ismita that one should not use it for satisfying kama so the bhagvatam sort of cuts the chain over here, dharma is not for artha, artha is not for kama, dharma is for transcendence, artha is for transcendence and even kama is for transcendence that’s what will be mentioned in the next verse so kamasya na indriya pritir labho jiveta yavata jivasya tatva jijnasa nartho yas chenha karmabhim so in 1 to 10, the bhagvatam states here that kamasya na indriya pritir that kama when we have, we should not use it for indriya priti, we should not use it for sense gratification, rather we should use it for labho jiveta yavata that we should use it for self preservation, rather than using our desires for aggrandising more and more we use it for self preservation and then jivasya tatva jijnasa the purpose of life what should we make it for? most people, the purpose of life including even the purpose of dharma is to get artha so that that kama can be fulfilled so we think that satisfying our desires will lead to satisfaction but actually satisfaction of desires is not the pathway to satisfaction because our desires are desires are innumerable and expandable that means the desires are reproducible as well as expandable they the desires there are many many desires, so if we try to satisfy all the desires, we will never become satisfied secondly, each desire when we satisfy it, it expands and becomes more and more it becomes bigger and longer, and not only that that desire is reproducible that same desire expands into some other desire also so in this way if we seek satisfaction through the satisfaction of desires, we sentence ourselves to a life of dissatisfaction instead if we seek the satisfaction of the supreme lord, then in his satisfaction we get the supreme satisfaction then it says don’t use desires for gratifying the senses, because the desires associated with the senses are endless and this okay labha means whatever gains we get in our pursuits we use it for maintaining our body, certainly the bhagavatam although it’s transcendental, it is not impractical, it is not urging us to neglect our bodily needs it’s actually telling us to connect our bodily needs with our transcendental purpose so yes, the body has to maintain so and after that that for the jiva, the important purpose is what is the need of life, what is the ultimate truth of life, what is the what is life’s supreme objective enquire in this direction there is no other purpose that is to be achieved apart from this there is no other purpose apart from this so now moving onwards if we look at this so Krishna in the bhagavatam what is it stated it has connected with its transcendental vision of the ultimate purushartha so now after this it’s saying that we should enquire about tattva jijnasa is similar to brahma jijnasa the concept of what is ultimate truth so are tattva and brahma equivalent, tattva is generally truth substantive principle and brahma is the transcendental reality, so now what that tattva is will be mentioned in the next verse so 2.11 is 2.11 2.11 the bhagavatam here states that 2.11 2.11 it is known as means those people who know the truth 2.11 2.11 2.11 they know 2.11 non-dual truth what is that, that absolute truth is non-dual knowledge 2.11 2.11 it is known by these 3 names 2.11 so the bhagavatam here gives us multidimensional conception of the absolute truth wherein the absolute truth manifests by multiple names and with multiple names referring to its multiple features so the multidimensional aspect of the absolute truth essentially means that the bhagavatam is giving us tattva which is inclusive that is the personal and the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth, the bhagavatam includes both of them, so the specific meanings of the words brahma, paramatma or bhagavan or their internal progression in terms of bhagavan referring to the fullest manifestation of the absolute truth all that the bhagavatam doesn’t talk about over here, that will be revealed in its subsequent flow and in its in the exposition in the bhagavatam given by its commentators here Sukta Goswami is answering specific questions and in its answer to the specific questions the bhagavatam focusses on on universal principles over here it is not going into technical details right now so what it states here is that that by those the previous text was what is the tattva, so those who are knowers of tattva they say that that that tattva is what gyanam advayam so gyan that tattva is advaya jnana now advaya is not necessarily referred to advaitavad you have to understand that terms have different meanings in different contexts and advaitavad is not the same as advaya jnana advaya jnana simply refers to the point that in the absolute truth there is pure cognisance there is no differentiation there is one absolute truth and that absolute truth is cognisant and that advaya jnana that tattva which is advaya jnana manifests in multiple ways as brahman paramatma and bhagavan so the gaudiya acharyas has explained to us as conveyed by his followers the acharyas that actually there is the absolute truth manifests in these three brahman, paramatma and bhagavan brahman refers to the all-pervading impersonal manifestation of the absolute truth paramatma refers to the localised immanent immanent manifestation of the absolute truth who acts as a companion and guide for the soul wandering in material existence bhagavan aspect refers to the transcendental personal aspect who resides in his own kingdom we will discuss these conceptions later in more detail now after talking about this conception the absolute truth the bhagavatam moves on and states okay how is this absolute truth to be realised so it says so that with faith the stages equipped with they see within themselves by hearing, by practising bhakti according to what they have heard so this is a this is a power-packed verse lets uncode unravel what all is being packed over here so now shraddha is required that this is the understanding of the absolute truth what is mentioned and that bhakti is the bhakti is the means to realising this absolute truth so the tenth verse said that searching for the absolute truth is the essential purpose of life what that absolute truth is mentioned in the eleventh verse and twelfth verse gives in a condensed way what is the process for realising the absolute truth so here the word is munaya previously the word was used tattvaveda those who are knowers of the absolute truth munis are not necessarily knowers of the absolute truth munis are serious seekers they are sages they are who have dedicated their life to seeking the absolute truth so that shraddha dhana munaya so those munis who are shraddha dhana significant translation of shraddha dhana over here are seriously inquisitive not necessarily as having great faith simply serious inquisitiveness so faith also means serious inquisitiveness because initially we cannot be expected to have faith in everything that we hear from scripture but what we can have is an open minded and serious inquisitiveness what is this scripture what is it what is the spiritual stuff what is this spiritual reality what is is there something beyond the pursuit that I am seeking in life what is it that is there so serious inquisitive not just casual inquisitive but serious inquisitive shraddha that itself indicates that we are we are in for the long haul the shraddha dhana munaya jnana vairagya yuktaya and one seeks this with jnana and vairagya that means again the point is not that jnana and vairagya are rejected they are used equipped with jnana and vairagya now earlier in the seventh verse it was said that by the practise of bhakti jnana and vairagya will come and this verse will also state that if we go forward the last line says bhaktya shuddha gruhita ya bhaktya if you practise bhakti jnana and vairagya will come so devotees Bhagavatam is telling us that as seekers it’s not that we neglect jnana and vairagya but rather we focus on practising bhakti properly and then by the practise of bhakti when jnana and vairagya come we use that jnana and vairagya we don’t neglect that we don’t think that only that bhakti only means sentiments sentiments are important in bhakti but there is much more to bhakti than just sentiments because sentiments often make us sentimental and sentimental is often not very desirable if you want committed practise so bhaktya shuddha gruhita ya not just bhakti which is sentimental but bhakti that is scriptural shuddha gruhita ya shuddha gruhita ya that means shuddha refers here in general to scripture that hear scripture, understand scripture and hear and then gruhita ya, accept it and practise accordingly when we practise scripture in this way bhaktya shuddha gruhita ya then that bhakti will actually lead to jnana and vairagya and when bhakti leads to jnana and vairagya then what happens pasyantyatmanichatmanam when we practise bhakti seriously according to scripture with jnana and vairagya, with shuddha then gradually it will lead to pasyanti, we will get transcendent perception of the absolute truth within ourselves atmanichatmanam within ourselves we will realise the transcendental truth we will perceive the atma and we will perceive the paramatma so in this way the bhagavata is saying that the tattva can be realised by the practise of bhakti and so after establishing the supremacy and the adequacy of bhakti and connecting and showing how all other forms of dharma are connected and subordinated to it harmonised with it, now the bhagavatam shifts on moves on to explaining how the process of bhakti will work so here it is said that in a packed in a condensed packed verse the process of bhakti was summarised in 1 to 12 now from 1 to 13 onwards that is unpacked so atah pumbhir dujasreshtha varnashrama vibhagasah dharmasya samsiddhir haritoshanam atah pumbhir dujasreshtha, dujasreshtha is west of the brahmanas, it’s interesting that when sruta roswami is referring here to the sages especially shana krushi was asking the questions he is referring to them respectfully as dujasreshtha not that because you are my student so you are subordinate to me, you are having such questions, you are not a very high calibre brahmana, no that because you are having such questions that indicates itself that you are a great brahmana and because it doesn’t say because I am enlightening you so I am dujasreshtha respectfully refers to his disciple, his questioner as dujasreshtha atah pumbhir dujasreshtha so atah pumbhir dujasreshtha that in this way that oh dujas for human beings dujasreshtha, oh brahmanas, what is that varnashrama vibhagasah that is the system of varnashrama what is its purpose that the vibhagasah the division of varnashrama and the performance of duties according to one’s nature it is to be performed but for the purpose of satisfying lord hari bhagavatam is not recommending that we necessarily have to renounce our varnashrama duties but we redefine our purpose for doing those duties and that redefinition is the satisfaction of the supreme lord now this verse how is it different from or related with the earlier text 1.2.8 where it stated that without getting attraction to lord hari so there the point was that if one does not by doing one’s prescribability one does not become attracted to lord hari it’s a waste of time it’s futile endeavour just a empty labour, unproductive labour and here the stress is that when we practise, when we do our varnashrama dharma we do it for the satisfaction of the lord and then it becomes productive so the difference between the two is largely in terms of understanding what is the context understanding what is the focus so there it is said the same thing can be said by assertion and negation so there the through negation it is stated that varnashrama disconnected from bhakti is not of much use and here through assertion it is said that varnashrama becomes useful becomes fruitful when it is connected with bhakti so brahmana works for the satisfaction of Vishnu and we don’t exactly have varnashrama in today’s society so we understand varnashrama here in terms of the in our today’s society whatever prescribed duties we have we do them for the satisfaction of lord Vishnu samsiddhi haritoshanam haritoshanam we do them for the satisfaction of lord Hari and in this way these will become spiritualised they will lead us towards perfection tasmad eke namanasah bhagwan sattva tampatihi shrotavya kirtita uvyascha dheya pujyascha nitya da so 1 to 14 it goes on tasmad eke namanasah therefore with one point of intelligence eke namanasah what should one do bhagwan sattva tampatihi bhagwan who is sattva tampatihi who is the lord who is the deliverer who is the master the protector of the sattvatah sattvatahs are those who are living their life in pursuing of the sattva of the absolute truth tasmad eke namanasah bhagwan sattva tampatihi shrotavya kirtita uvyascha shrotavya hearing about him kirtita uvyascha speaking about him dheya pujyascha nitya da dheya is meditating on him pujyascha is worshipping him so basically making him the centre of our heart and life tasmad so that means tasmad is therefore which is connected with the previous verse that whatever activities we do whatever our prescribed duties we do them for the satisfaction of lord Vishnu tasmad eke namanasah in this way the bhagavatam is taking us from the lower level of connecting the performance of anashrama with the connection with transcendental truth tasmad eke namanasah bhagwan sattva tampatihi with one point of intelligence whatever activities we are doing rather than getting caught in those activities and material results that may come from those activities we focus on the transcendental pursuit and the transcendental lord and through our hearing, through our speaking through our meditating and through our praying we devote ourselves to that lord and in this way we can move towards transcendence we can move towards life’s ultimate perfection so this is the way the bhagavatam connects the prescription the performance of anashrama with the transcendental lord by pervading our consciousness with transcendental truth with transcendental reality eke namanasah one pointed intelligence ekena manasa means normally mind but the point is that the mind becomes ekena so ekena it requires a strong intelligence to make the mind one pointed and that intelligence will come to us by hearing the bhagavatam and by becoming purified by hearing the bhagavatam and that will be talked about in the next verse so 1.2.15 is yad anudhyasina yuktaha karmagranthi nibandhanam chinnanti kovidastasya konakuryat katharatim yad anudhyasina yuktaha yad anudhya asina one who hears with faith one anudhya meditates on asina asina is sword yuktaha yuktaha is being equipped so being equipped with the sword of knowledge karmagranthi nibandhanam the bond of karma nibandhanam cutting it off sorry karmagranthi that is very entangling which binds us karmagranthi the knot of karma chinnanti one who cuts it off kovidastasya the wise do this so tasya konakuryat katharatim so this verse concludes the rhetorical question konakuryat therefore who will not do what? katharatim who will not have taste for the katha of the lord so now the verse is in two parts first is that by remembering that lord whose remembrance is like a sword wise people cut off the bondage of karma so therefore who will not hear about such a lord who will not delight get taste in hearing about such a lord so what’s going on exactly in this verse the the previous verse stated that hear with one pointed intelligence hear speak remember hear speak meditate and worship such a lord now worship that lord now this verse goes on and says what is the benefit of hearing like this that his remembrance acts like a sword and it’s interesting remembrance acting like a sword what does it mean a sword is that which cuts and that cutting point is not just metaphorically but also explicitly stated in this verse with chindanti so it cuts so what is this cutting referring to? karma vandan now when we say the bondage of karma what exactly is that bondage it’s not physical ropes that we can see it is the attachments and attachments are what exactly do we mean by attachments actually attachment essentially means our gullibility to the promise of pleasure when we think that certain things will give us pleasure then we become gullible we become susceptible we become vulnerable to those promises and thereby we get caught we get trapped we get entangled and the way to come out of this entanglement is by purification is by elevation is by liberation so when we focus on that transcendental absolute truth and pursue that transcendental absolute truth meditating on him then then we are no longer seduced by the promises of pleasure in this world so we can conceive it this way that there are invisible ropes which catch our consciousness and drag it towards the objects of our attachments but if we remember Krishna then we are attached to some sense object we remember Krishna chant his holy name pray to Krishna meditate on his deities meditate on his pastimes the ropes get cut how do the ropes get cut they get cut because there is the there is a higher satisfaction a higher wisdom that awakens whenever we remember Krishna and that higher wisdom and satisfaction frees us from the captivation by the lower pleasures by the lower desires by the lower indulgences and thus we rise upwards so this is the nidhyasinayat karmagranthi nibandhanam karmagranthi the knot of karma will be cut off by remembering the lord and this is what the wise people do kovida and its recommending that the bhagavatam through a rhetorical question recommending here that who will not hear remember about such a lord konakurya katharatim who will not take interest who will not delight in the katha of such a lord because only by hearing about him can we remember him we cannot remember in a vacuum just where all that we have is our our fantasised concoction we need to have some substantial basis for our recollection and that basis will come by hearing so by taking interest and delight in hearing about the lord we too will become equipped with the sword of his remembrance by which we can cut off the ropes of karma sometimes hearing may seem very passive activity sitting for hours and hearing something we can get this exciting martial vision of activity of hearing every time we are hearing attentively we are actually equipping ourselves with the sword of remembrance and every time we are hearing attentively not only is the grip our grip on the sword of remembrance strengthening but also we are becoming more and more expert in wielding that sword in using that sword to cut to cut and not only are we becoming more expert in uses of sword, remembrance also sharpening the sword sharpening the sword by which that sword becomes very effective to cut so hearing equips us, trains us and sharpens our sword and in that way when we have this if hearing starts being passive to us, the Bhagavatam offers us this enlivening martial vision by which we can stimulate ourselves in our hearing and we all experience the battle with temptation within us and we need resources to conquer, to win battle of temptation and if you think of hearing not just as a passive activity but as a uses martial metaphor to galvanise ourselves to fight and win the inner war then we can take to hearing with much more seriousness and with much greater fruitfulness in terms of becoming equipped and enriched internally with devotional remembrance of the lord.
We will continue our discussion in our future talks. Thank you. Right.