Bhagavatam study 13 – 1.3.25-34 – By realizing the Lords glory, we relish our glory

So the Bhagavatam 1.3.26 so the Bhagavatam has in the previous verses given a list of incarnations of avatars there are 22 incarnations that have been described and it concludes by stating that actually the number of incarnations is avataraya asankheya there are innumerable incarnations asankheya hare satvanidher dvijaha hare lord hari he is satvanidher he exists as a unidhi is an ocean so he’s an ocean of goodness his goodness his compassion is immeasurable is oshenyak dvijaha so oh brahmanas he’s referring Suta Goswami is referring to the brahmanas here so these avatars are innumerable yatha vidasinaha vidasinaha kulyaha yatha vidasinaha vidasinaha avidasinaha means that which is inexhaustible kulyaha kulyaha is rivulets so sarasahasyu sahasrashaha sahas sarasaha so syu sahasrasha just as if there is a inexhaustible source of water then from it the rivulets that will come out those rivulets will also be unlimited will be uncountable will be inexhaustible athautaraya asankhaya now an important principle is this multiplicity of divine manifestations and the multiplicity of spiritual options that come from these different manifestations that is a very special and appealing feature of the vedic spiritual path that there are so many avatars who appear and all these avatars they appear for the purpose of elevating and delivering people and when they appear they often teach the same truth in different ways and they offer memorable pastimes by meditating on which the souls can become purified and elevated and thus they enable one and all to move onwards towards the supreme so hare sattva nidhe jaha so he is sattva nidhe so here lord hari who is who is who is the source of incarnation the source of incarnation is referred to by the name hari over here he is sattva nidhi it is an ocean of goodness just as there is an inexhaustible ocean of water similarly he is also inexhaustible and he has innumerable incarnations because his love for us is inexhaustible and every incarnation that manifests manifests his mercy manifests his love for us just as the universe keep going through cosmic cycles time and time again the lord manifests his mercy and he descends as krishna says in the bhagavad gita in 4.7 the 4.8 is in this he manifests again and again for the purpose of delivering people so he is so he is so the bhagavatam gives this list not as an exhaustive list but as an indicative list for giving us tangible examples to appreciate that which is which is ultimately not it is so large as to be asankhaya is to be no it is to be is innumerable his his love is inexhaustible but then we can get a glimpse of his love and compassion through his this representative list of incarnations so text 27 so now this list of incarnations started by describing how the lord the lord expands this chapter began actually with describing how the lord expands so that the universe can manifest so from him brahmaji appears from him initially the the 16 elements appear and from there through a process of emanations the and the whole living being in the whole universe appears and it becomes populated with living beings so the incarnations are one one manifestation where they are where these incarnations have divine potency and there are other living beings are also expansions from him only of course they are of a different kind of expansions so the where raha puran talks about swamsya and vibhinnamsya swamysya its own parts and vibhinnamsya are separated parts so here the point is being made that the incarnations of the lord are innumerable and apart from him whatever exists all living beings are also his expansions so the sages the humans the devata so the manavo here refers not to the humans but it refers to it is singular plural of manus if you’re referring to humans it would be manavo that would refer to human being manavo is a plural of manu so the devatas are there and the descendants of manuputra especially those who are powerful descendants they are all sarve kala they’re all parts of lord hari and along with the prajapatis also smritaha it is known that they’re all to be understood as emanations of the lord and now comes very important words for the gaudiya vaishnava tradition all these amshas and kalahapumsa so they are parts they’re plenary portions of their portions of the plenary portions as prabhupada translates they are all emanating from and the supreme and who is the supreme that krishna is god himself so there are so there are avatars and there is avatari so there are various avatars and avatari the source of all the avatars the one who descends that is krishna svayam and indrari indrari is the opponents of indra vyakulam they are disturbed those who those who the opponents of indra when they create a disturbance on the earth on the not just the universe wherever mrudayanti so these these manifestations appear again and again in various yugas for protecting the earth protecting the universe at large so sambhavami yuge yuge was bhagavata 4.8 and here 1.3.28 in the bhagavatam is now jiyugoswami in his bhagavata sandarbha commentary bhagavata sandarbha he states that bhagavata sandarbha actually in yendralind’s book he states that this verse is like a commander there are soldiers and soldiers fight with soldiers but if one maharatha comes along one great senapati who’s a maharathi that one maharathi is enough to overpower hundreds or even thousands of opposing opposing soldiers similarly he says various verses are can be used as pramanas for establishing certain philosophical points but this verse he analysed he spent a lot of time analysing this verse and he says that this verse is is so powerful coming as it does after a list of all avatars and declaring an ambiguity krishnastu bhagavan svayam and coming right in the start of the bhagavatam which is also a book which focusses primarily on krishna we’ll see the maximum section of the bhagavatam is devoted to krishna the 10th and the 11th cantos so it unambiguously establishes the unique position of krishna and thus this verse is like a commander and this one pramana is enough to counter many other pramanas which might prove something else such as say that vishnu is the source of all incarnation and krishna is one of the incarnation of vishnu such manifestations can be dealt with and over can be such such arguments can be actually countered by the force of this one verse which is so strong and shiva prabhupada gives an elaborate commentary talking about how there are different living beings who have different percentage who can have different percentage of qualities of the supreme so he says that we can by purification develop 78 percent of the attributes just as it is said that krishna manifests 64 qualities vishnu manifests at the most 50 50 60 qualities brahma manifests around 50 qualities at the most and the living beings who can rise up to the position of brahma can manifest 50 qualities shiva manifests 55 qualities so that is one way of analysing that actually everyone else is a manifestation from krishna and krishna is the purna purushottama he is the bhagwan for him of course this sort of declaration should be understood in a devotional spirit it should not be used to try to unnecessarily provoke conflict with other vaishnavas because it is not that other forms of vishnu are not vishnu they are also god and by devoting to them also one can attain liberation one can go beyond the material existence so it is important to not become unduly confrontationalist using such verses but at the same time for our own conviction and for our own inspiration we can certainly contemplate and explain contemplate and understand and explain such verses wherever it is appropriate so 29th text now pratar gunan bhaktya now here a phalashruti is coming in the bhagavatam phalashrutis come quite frequently in the bhagavatam and the purpose of the phalashrutis is to inspire us to become to take the process of bhakti much more seriously so one who understands the mysterious nature of the janma of the appearance of the lord so that in the 10th canto when krishna’s appearance will be talked about it says the unborn vishnu took birth it is being said and kunti maharani will also say that you do not have birth and yet you take birth you do not do anything and yet karma you do karma so this is actually very mysterious so that same theme is being foreshadowed here and it said that those who appreciate that the the mysterious the confidential appearance of the lord those who carefully means with endeavour those human being in the evening and in the morning those who recited with devotion what will happen to them they will be freed from misery now when we recite the lord’s pastimes that itself is extremely purifying this was talked about in the previous chapter when it is said that just by hearing about the past times or even speaking those pastimes this is immensely purifying and as we become purified we become elevated we become ultimately liberated so if morning evening we recite the lord’s pastimes we meditate on his pastimes we become increasingly attracted to him the more our heart becomes filled with attraction to him the more attraction to worldly things will decrease and disappear and thus we will move towards the fulfilment of the promise that is made over here become freed from the miseries of material existence now here the bhagavatam moves on to a different subject and that different subject is the subject of the virata rupa there was just a brief mention to the about the virata rupa earlier at the start of this chapter when it was said kalpita that kalpayanta that it is conceived of it is visualised it is imagined to be like this but now apart from the avatars of the lord who descend periodically as I said so now there is a form of the lord that can be conceptualised and that form is talked about here again all these forms of the lord so this particular form this is referring back to the earlier mention of the vishwarupa that lord who has no material form chidatmanaha he is transcendental his essence the atmanaha is made of transcendent it’s full of consciousness from the qualities made of material nature manufactured from the mahatatva and others so here that this particular form this the virata rupa of the lord that law virata rupa that is conceptualised although the lord has no form and is transcendental rupa chidatmanaha that is conceptualised for those who are those whose consciousness is influenced by maya so they conceptualise they conceptualise the lord’s form is also made of material elements and in this way by getting a sense of the lord’s greatness they can develop respect for them so yes you know understanding the lord’s greatness can bring about submission but we want to understand not just the lord’s greatness we want to understand the lord’s transcendence so sometimes we may talk about descend an ascending set of living beings just like earlier we talked about this particular manifestation having this many qualities this particular manifestation having this many qualities the lord having this many qualities for understanding the lords in one way into understanding the supreme position this sort of hierarchical gradation can be used at the same time it is important to remember that the lord being transcendental is beyond all hierarchy so he is just he’s just not comparable with anyone else he exists in his own class utterly beyond everything else it is not that he is just the best among many he is simply beyond everyone else nothing else could exist without him and the bhagavad-gita talks about these two principles in successive in verses which are close to each other in the 10th chapter where it talks about vibhuti yoga and it says that whatever is attractive in this world so we may say that yes whatever is attractive in this world that manifests the spark of krishna’s splendour that is true but that might just mean that he’s the best among okay there’s a class and among these class there is one who is the topmost no we should not have that conception of god because whatever anyone has that all the good qualities in them come from krishna so god is not just the best among the hierarchy a best in a hierarchy he is he is he is beyond any hierarchy now it is not so just as if there is a class the topper would be there and the topper would be removed still the class would remain so if we think of god as the best among all living beings then what will happen is we’ll think okay he’s just okay there are others maybe somebody in future can become the best hmm but krishna explains that nothing would exist without him he’s not just the best in a hierarchy although sometimes for some understanding purposes he may be compared like that but he is beyond all hierarchy he is in a class of his own being transcendental and without we cannot say this about any other living being that without him no one can exist no that applies only to the supreme but for those who cannot conceive of the transcendence of the lord sometimes some material comparison is given and sometimes some material conception also is given and once the material conception is the conception of the virata rupa so text 31 drashtatari drishyatvam aaropitam abuddhi bhi yatha nabhasi me gho gho just as nabhasi in the sky me gho gho there are the mass of clouds so in the sky the clouds move about and the dust particles move aloud and the sky may become muddy because of that but then we know that at the same time although the sky may look muddy to us the sky is transcendental and the sky is not affected by whatever is happening on the surface the sky remains beyond all such things the sky the clouds will move away the dust particle will move away and the sky will remain unaffected thereafter although temporarily it might seem to be affected similarly evam drashtatari drishyatvam evam for the see here for the purpose of seeing aaropitam abuddhi bhi those who are not so intelligent abuddhi de aaropitam they may imply like this so they may imply material conception in the transcendence as the perceiver may see the sky as muddy or cloudy but the cloud and mud will go away in the sky sky itself is not affected actually it is only our perception of the sky that is affected similarly transcendence is not affected transcendence never becomes materially affected but our material when we see drishyatvam drashtari drishyatvam when the seer see the seer may ascribe some material conception just like some people may say oh krishna is a hindu god or krishna is a mediaeval mediaeval deity so people may ascribe conceptions of of a sect or geography or history on to one who is transcendental and temporarily this might appear to be true but say our classification of religions into hindu, krishna, muslim who knows after a million years or even after a thousand years after two thousand years you know the religious landscape of the world may be so different that we may not there may not even be this particular kind of religious division but even in spite of that krishna will still remain god and depending on how he manifests when he manifests there may be some people according to their time and circumstances they may ascribe some other material conceptions on god so whatever material conceptions are ascribed on him he is he is still transcendental although temporarily those material conceptions may seem to apply and yes for people who want to who are approaching krishna through history or geography they can for the purpose of analysis or for the purpose of preliminary classification place krishna historically geographically or they’re approaching through religious studies they can place krishna in a particular category but krishna ultimately exists beyond all categories and to the extent we understand krishna status as beyond all categories to that extent we can become purified we can actually be elevated by contemplating on krishna and we can move towards liberation by our contemplation on krishna text 32 therefore that is beyond so that which is unmanifest avyudha means vyudha is a particular formation for example military formations are called avyudha so there is no particular formation which is affected by the modes that adrishta and ashruta that which cannot be seen die that which cannot be heard pastutvat that thing which exists last the living being who is beyond it takes birth repeatedly so here the bhagavatam is talking about the transcendence of spiritual reality in general the previous verse could be applied to the supreme and this previous word could be applied even to the jiva this verse specifically uses the word jiva and the point that is being made is settled over here the reasoning is so here it is stated that that beyond this for the form the conception of form that we have which are destroyed in due course of time there is another form which is not perceivable with our materialised material senses we can’t see with our eyes we can’t hear with our ears but it exists and that’s how the living being can take birth again because if there were not some aspect to our life that is transcendental then what is it that would take birth again and again what is it that would appear in this world there is nothing left to appear because unless there is some aspect to our being which is trans which is transcendental which is not destroyed when our body is destroyed then how can without the existence of your being there cannot be any rebirth what will be reborn otherwise so here the point that is being made is that there is a transcendental reality which is beyond our conceptions of what we consider as form that there is some reality beyond that and that reality is what is being talked about over here text 33 so here whatever gross and subtle forms we see prati shiddhe swasam vidha when through self-realisation prati shiddhe when one becomes realised prati shiddhe at that time swasam vidha one becomes self-realised one becomes enlightened avidyaya because of ignorance because of ignorance we perceive some forms atmani krute we perceive some forms but we understand that beyond this gross and subtle there is something which is existing beyond it so when by self-realisation there is negation there is rejection of all gross and subtle forms then what the reality that we perceive at that time that is brahma darshanam the Bhagavatam is talking about the point that there is a state of existence there is a reality beyond what we perceive normally through our senses and that reality is what is the object of self-realisation of spiritual perception brahma darshanam yadya esho parata devi this text 34 yadya esho parata devi maya vaishara dheemathi sampanna eveti vidur mohim mahim nisve mahiyate yadya esho parata devi if they uparata devi maya if such seers such people and then maya subsides vaishara dheemathi and they become enlightened they become full of knowledge vaishara dheemathi sampanna eveti vidur being enriched thus with knowledge being cognisant vidur mahim nisve mahiyate mahim nisve they become enlightened about the glory they pursue the glories vidur mahim nisve they realise the glories and sve mahiyate they become situated in that glory so here the point is made that understanding the lord’s glory helps us to realise our own glory also because we are parts of krishna just like if a beggar understands that my father is a billionaire then that means i am the i am one of the heirs of a billionaire and i am also wealthy so understanding krishna’s glory also helps us to understand our glory so we don’t have to acquire glory in this world we just have to revive our awareness of our glory in material life we try to become more and more famous more and more powerful more and more influential and by becoming thus we think that we are growing in our life but whatever glory we achieve thus it is going to be temporary it is based on our bodily position our intellectual capacity or other such things which are external to our essential spiritual being and these things will not stay forever for us and thus when we lose those things we will also ourselves be lost but if you understand this point that beyond all these that we are just as krishna there’s a transcendent reality and krishna exists in his eternal indestructible inexhaustible inestimably sweet glory in that transcendence and that we are his parts and thus we are also meant to relish that eternal inexhaustible inestimable happiness then we too become situated in our glory and thus we move towards attaining perfection in our life thank you