Bhagavatam study 20 – 1.5.17-22 – Failure on the spiritual path is better than success on the material path

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 5, Entitled Narada’s Instructions, Srimad Bhagavatam, by Asudev.
Text 17 tyaktvā sva-dharmam caranāmbujaṁ harer bhajana-pakvota-patetato yadhiṁ yatra-kvāvābhadrama-bhūda-muśyakīṁ kovārthāpto bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah So, tyaktvā sva-dharmam caranāmbujaṁ harer. Here, Narada Muni is continuing his instruction to Asudev. And he is stating that those who surrender to Lord Hari, tyaktvā sva-dharmam, they give up their dharma, their prescribed duty, caranāmbujaṁ harer, the lotus feet of Lord Hari, bhajana-pakvota, even if their bhajana is apakvota, is immature, kovārthāpto bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah patetato yadhiṁ that even if they are, because of immature bhajana, they fall away.
yatra-kvāvābhadrama-bhūda-muśyakīṁ Still, what inauspiciousness is there in that? kvāvābhadrama What is inauspicious in that? bhūda-muśyakīṁ kovārthāpto bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah So, kovārthāpto, that what can one attain? bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah If one does not do one’s dharma, if one actually does one’s dharma but does not become devoted to Lord Hari, then what gain does one get by this? So, both of these points are phrased here as rhetorical questions. So, that means failure on the spiritual path is considered to be greater than success on the material path. So, how is that? Normally, we would say that.
Is it true that failure on one path… Suppose, somebody, say, is doing a career in engineering and then that person decides to shift to a career in fine arts, deciding to become an artist or a novelist or whatever. And suppose that person feels in that. On the other hand, that person has some other colleague, another friend who goes on in the career of arts, in the career of sciences and succeeds over there.
So, how can we say that failure on one path is actually better than success on the other? Either we could be comparing failure on one path and failure on the other path. Or we could be comparing success on one path and success on the other path. Who would be comparing failure on one path with success on the other? The point is that the stress of this verse is that it is not that we cannot compare the two like this.
It’s not that this is one career choice and that is another career choice, as might be between, say, writing and engineering. But rather, one is the path to liberation and the other is the path to entanglement. And the two just cannot be equated.
The two are essentially fundamentally different. And that’s why we need to recognise the foundational difference between the two paths. So, here, this foundational difference between the devotional and the non-devotional has been hinted at when it was stated that Yatra Kuvabhatra, or rather it was stated that literature, Chitrapadam Harer Yashom, that even if that literature is filled with Chitrapadam, is filled with many wonderful words, if that literature does not talk about the Supreme, if that literature does not glorify the Supreme, then its poetic ornamentation is of no use.
The same way, here the point is made that tattva sva-dharmam charanam bhujam hrer that there is the path of worldly perfection. And interestingly here, Krishna is not talking about, or the Bhagavatam is not talking about simply success in materialistic life in terms of what people might say, OK, get a good admission, good college, get a good job, get a good house, have a good family and fulfil the great American dream, as they may say, if people go to America from India or elsewhere. Actually, here, the Bhagavatam is talking in terms of dharma.
So, it’s talking about sva-dharma, doing one’s duties. The success in the path of one’s duties also is not enough, it is said. Because sva-dharma is, in one’s prescribed path, in one’s prescribed duty, one attains success.
Why is that? Because we will still stay at the material level of consciousness. ko vartato abhajatam sva-dharmatah We will still stay caught at, even if we succeed in doing our prescribed duties, Varanashram in and of itself is not spiritual. Varanashram is actually material.
And being material, it cannot give us transcendental benefits. It can give us only material benefits. And the transcendental aspect is going to, we are going to stay disconnected from the transcendental aspect.
Being captivated by illusion. So, the only way we can move towards eternal reality is by the steady practise of bhakti. So, we need to develop an interest in the eternal and then we have to develop love for the eternal.
Only if we develop love for the eternal can we attain the eternal. So, Bhagavatam here is pointing us towards that eternal reality and is saying that even if one falls away from the spiritual path, still it doesn’t matter. Because even if one falls away from the spiritual path, that fall is temporary.
The progress that one has done is eternal. On the other hand, in the material path, the progress is temporary whereas the fall is eternal. It’s an important point to understand.
So, in the spiritual path, the fall is temporary, the progress is eternal. In the spiritual path, the progress is temporary, the fall is long lasting. Let’s try to understand this once again.
Suppose, the soul is in one sense fallen, being in the ignorance of material existence, being in forgetfulness of Krishna. And while the soul is in ignorance, thus, even if the soul moves onwards, let’s say, to a better material position, say, by doing one dharma, one goes to heaven. When there is, the punya gets over, the person will have to fall back again to material existence.
So, in contrast, if one moves onwards towards Krishna, then one can attain eternal existence. And that attraction towards Krishna that is developed, that is going to last forever. So, externally, a devotee may fall away from Krishna bhakti, but internally, whatever attraction to Krishna one has developed, that is going to stay as eternal asset.
Yes, circumstantially, that attraction may go away for some time, but deep within their heart, that attraction will stay and it will re-manifest later. So, the fall is temporary on the spiritual path, but the progress is everlasting. And whatever attraction we have, that will become ours, that will become re-manifested as soon as we re-commence the process of bhakti.
Even if a person goes to heaven or attains some other destination, that person is still in forgetfulness of Krishna, is disconnected from Krishna. And in that sense, it’s still a futile thing. So, this is a radical contrast and through all these various modes of analysis, what Vyasadeva is being conveyed by Narada Muni is that he should not compromise, he should ensure that no matter what happens, he would stay fixed in teaching swadharma, in teaching not swadharma, the paradharma of bhakti, and because that alone will proffer everlasting gain.
Nothing else will offer the kind of gain that will be offered by the practise of bhakti. The example of Ajamil between you. Ajamil attained the heaven, did sinful activity, but whatever bhakti he had done, that became re-accessible to him.
Same happened to Vijendra also, same happened to so many other people. Now, Usha did his duties perfectly and went to the heavens, but then from there also he fell back again, when he committed a mistake, when he offended the sages. So, this 17th verse conveys that for no reason should we delay the commencing of spiritual life for the pursuit of transcendental dharma.
And maternal dharma should not come in the way of transcendental dharma. Maternal dharma means doing one’s duty according to varna ashrama. That should not come in the way of pursuit of the transcendental dharma.
So, 18th text. तस्येवहेतो प्रयतेत कोविदो नलभ्यते यद भ्रमतां उपर्यदा तल्लभ्यते दुखवद अन्यतः सुखं कालेन सर्वत्र गभीर रमस तस्येवहेतो तस्येवहेतो For that purpose alone, प्रयतेत कोविदो, the wise person should endeavour. नलभ्यते, that which is not obtained, यद भ्रमतां उपर्यदा यद भ्रमतां उपर्यदा तस्याइवः नवै जनो जातु कथं चनावरजेद नवै जनो जातु कतն चनावरजेद म्कुंद Hisain ми अन्वेदं गसंशूति ऴूंफः खुआम् जा athletics and education श्र्ल शनव ज्रूण्डम श्रिव कहरमुज कहित No, you know, certainly it does not happen to those people jatukatan janavrajin, somehow avrajin.
Somehow or the other, if Mukunda Sevya, those who are the servants of Lord Mukunda, the devotees of Mukunda, anvedanga samsute, like others, anga is a form of affectionate address, oh my dear, here Vyasa is being addressed thus by Narada, samsute, so as others means non-devotees undergo material existence, samsute, those who are Mukunda Sevya, they do not undergo material existence in the same way. Smaran mukundangri, upaguhanam punar. Smaran mukundangri, they remember the lotus feet of Mukunda and upaguhanam punar.
And remembering the lotus feet of Mukunda, what happens to them? Upaguhanam. They embrace, because of remembering the lotus feet of Mukunda again and again, they embrace those feet again, uparam, vihaatumi chhen na rasagraho janaha. Vihaatumi chhen.
So one doesn’t desire to give up, na rasagraho janaha. Rasagraho. One who has relished the mellows, such a person will not give up the lotus feet of Lord Hari.
Vihaatumi chhen. So now from the 17th verse, the point is being continued. 17th verse was that, even if one falls away from the process of bhakti because of immaturity, still it is not, what is the loss? So here the point is made even from the, not only is that taste going to remain, but that taste is going to prompt the person to take to Krishna sooner rather than later.
Because of the presence of that taste, one keeps moving onwards steadily towards, one just doesn’t forget it. Vishwachit Ghatakur indicates that, that taste, rasa, haunts the devotee. Rasagraho janaha.
That taste haunts the devotee and because of being haunted by that taste, the devotee time and time again keeps returning to Krishna. And one may engage in materialistic life, but one will not get any pleasure in materialistic life. And having not got any pleasure, one will want to turn towards Krishna and one will eventually attain Krishna.
And in this way, that remembrance of Krishna is the remembrance of the taste in remembrance of Krishna. The taste in bhakti of Krishna, that remembrance, that is the decisive difference between the material existence of the devotees and that of non-devotees. Material existence means not just existence at the material level, but even if devotees start towards materialistic living, as do the non-materialists, still the devotee will not be able to forget because of the taste in the remembrance of Krishna.
And that taste will ensure that the devotee turns towards Krishna once again and attains Krishna. Biha tumicche rasagraho janaha. Biha tumicche.
One doesn’t desire to give it up. So time and time again because of the remembrance, the devotee will eventually turn towards Krishna. So now, from here onwards, the bhagavatam will move towards a philosophical truth.
So there is the consequential truth in terms of how, in consequence, a devotee has practised bhakti, cannot give up bhakti. Again and again the devotee is reminded of Krishna. Now it goes towards a feature of consequence, from consequential to the ontological truth that a devotee cannot be disconnected from Krishna because actually nothing is disconnected from Krishna.
Idam hi vishvam bhagavAni ve taro. Yato jagat sthAna nirodha sambhava taddhi svayam veda bhavAm tathApite prAdesha mAtram bhavataH pradarshitam. Idam hi vishvam bhagavAni ve taro.
That which this vishwa, bhagavAni ve taro. And this is actually iva itara. This world is actually non-different from bhagavAna.
That it is different and non-different. It’s almost the same. Iva and itara, different.
So there is a difference and non-difference which is simultaneous and inconceivable is the Gaudiya Vaishnava siddhAnta, Chintabhita Veda. It is pointed to in this verse. Idam hi vishvam bhagavAni ve taro.
Yato jagat sthAna nirodha sambhava. Yato, from whom, jagat sthAna nirodha sambhava. That from this, from him, this world has come about and is being maintained and is ultimately going to rest after destruction.
Taddhi svayam veda bhavAm tathApite. So this difference and non-difference, taddhi, you can, you can, all about this, svayam veda bhavAm tathApite. You know about this.
Veda, you know about it. TathApite. PrAdesha matram bhavata pradarshitam.
So because you know this, I am giving you only a synopsis over here. PrAdesha, so the relationship of the Lord with this world is quite a complex philosophical subject matter. And Yashadeva tells, Yashadeva is told by Arjuna that you already know about this.
I don’t have to go into details. I’ll just give you a synopsis over here. And different examples, when you just see the tree and its leaves are connected.
So the fire and the heat and light are connected with the fire. So like that, there is Achint Bheda Veda relationship. So let’s not go into those technicalities now.
We will do that later in the due course of time. But here the point remains that there is both, that the devotees cannot be disconnected from Krishna because actually nothing is disconnected from Krishna. Now, even now, no soul is actually disconnected from Krishna.
But in the consciousness, there is no awareness of that connection. And once even a little bhakti is practised, that awareness is triggered, that awareness cannot be obscured. Although it can be pushed in the background temporarily, but it will pop up again and again and push the devotee towards Krishna.
tam ātmanātmānaṁ avehyamogadruk parasya puṁsaha paramātmanahakalāṁ ajam prajātam jagatah shivāyatāṁ mahānubhāvābhūdayo adhignatyatāṁ tam ātmanātmānaṁ avehyamogadruk tam you by your own self ātmanātmānaṁ. So, you search for the super soul, search for that super soul, amogadruk. This adjective, this describer has been used repeatedly in this chapter.
This is the third time we are finding it. Amogadruk, one with the infallible vision. parasya puṁsaha paramātmanahakalāṁ kalāṁ.
So, here this per sound is repeated thrice in this verse, in the second line. parasya puṁsaha paramātmanahakalāṁ. Kalāṁ refers to part, clearly part.
So, here Narada Muni is himself acknowledging the special position of Vyasa Deva. Earlier in the previous chapter it was said that Kalāṁ Hari, that he was born from Parasharya as a portion of Lord Hari and that same point to Vyasa Deva, Narada Muni is reiterating that you can definitely search for the super soul in your heart because you yourself are a part of that same supreme being. ajam prajātam jagataha śivāyatāṁ.
So, although that absolute truth is unborn, that is taken birth in this verse, ajam prajātam, for what purpose? jagataha śivāyatāṁ. śivāyatāṁ, that has appeared for the sake of jagataha śivāyatāṁ, for the sake of bringing about auspiciousness for the world. mahānubhāvābhyudayo adhiganyatāṁ.
Adhiganyatāṁ means to describe it. Please describe abhyudayo, the pastimes of Mahānubhāva, Mahānubhāva the Supreme Lord. So, he is saying that you are a part of the Supreme Lord and although you are unborn, you are taken birth and you please, you can search for that absolute truth within your own heart and by searching and realising and relishing that absolute truth, you describe the pastimes of that absolute truth.
So, why describe those pastimes? Because by that people will become attracted to the Lord and if they are attracted to the Lord, then that is the path of everlasting auspiciousness for them. 22nd text. idam hi puṁsas tapasā śrutasya vā, sviṣṭasya suktasya ce buddhi dattayo, avicchuto arthaḥ kavidhe nirupito, yad uttama śrota guṇānuvāraṇaṁ.
idam hi puṁsas tapasā śrutasya vā. puṁsas, oh puṁsa, tapasā śrutasya vā. And in this world, in this life, that idam hi puṁsas, this body, tapasā śrutasya, that this person, for all people rather, tapasā śrutasya vā, that whether it is by austerities, whether it is by study of the Vedas, sviṣṭasya, by doing sacrifices, suktasya, by getting spiritual education, ce buddhi dattayo, by the culture of knowledge, avicchuto arthaḥ.
So, there are various modes of pious activities that are mentioned, that are ordained in the broad Vedic literature, broad body of Vedic literature. And what is being stated in this verse is that the purpose avicchuto arthaḥ, avicchuto arthaḥ is their infallible purpose, kavibhir nirūpito, their ultimate purpose as is ascertained by the great sages, kavibhir, nirūpito, kavibhir is wise persons and nirūpito is determined. What is that? uttama-śloka-guṇānuvareṇa, it is describing the glories of uttama-śloka.
So, here Narada is addressing the cause of dissatisfaction of yasa, he is indicating that you have done the phenomenal amount of literary work, but the purpose of every all activities is glorification of the Supreme Lord. And in your literary work, unfortunately, you are not in the glorification of the Supreme Lord. And because you are not in the glorification of the Supreme Lord, that is why you are now caught in illusion, you are staying in, you are not in exactly an illusion, but in the sense that you are still not, you are not about satisfaction, you are feeling a sense of incompleteness.
So, Prabhupada gives a very insightfully contemporary purport to this verse. And he explains that at that time there were various, the gist of his purport is that, he says at that time there are various activities, which were considered as signs of progress for people, doing sacrifices, studying scriptures, then doing austerities, hearing, so what is mentioned activities, tapasya, shutasya, sushtasya, suktasya, chabuddhatayo, like this there are activities which are generally considered progressive. So, Prabhupada recognises that we are living today in a culture where science is considered progressive.
And either way, the point is, whatever is considered progressive in a particular cultural context, that is good. But the purpose of whatever one does is to move closer and closer and still closer to the Supreme Lord and to thus attain the Supreme Lord. So, that happens when we glorify Him.
So, all the activities that we do, it’s like Maharaja Yudhishthira, he performed the Rajasuya Yajna, the purpose was to uttama shloka guna anuvarnanam, he was doing the sacrifice of Rajasuya Yajna, and the purpose was that, uttama shloka Lord could be glorified. And similarly here also, the purpose is that, for your compiling literature, the purpose should have been glorifying of the uttama shloka Lord. But instead, you have, actually rather than glorifying the Supreme Lord, you have done, you have talked about many other subjects, but the Lord has been sidelined and that is why there is dissatisfaction.
Now, how can science be used to glorify the Supreme Lord? Prabhupada says that science can be used to talk about how God exists and God is glorious. So, now, mainstream science today does not talk about God because it operates on the premise of methodological naturalism, that it looks for natural explanations for natural phenomena. And because of looking for natural explanations for natural phenomena, it does not come to, it actually does not comment on about anything supernatural.
It does not comment on any transcendental reality. Now, whether, now for most of scientific history, methodological naturalism has been an operational principle. But whether that is an essential principle and whether that is an ontological principle, these two are questions that need to be seriously investigated.
That means, whether it is an essential principle, that if science looks for explanations that are not natural, natural in the sense that they are not material explanations, there are transcendental explanations that science comes up with. So, does that violate the spirit of science necessarily? So, is methodological naturalism an essential principle for science? Is it simply an operational principle or is it a fundamental, non-negotiable, indispensable sort of principle? There are many philosophers of science and scientists both, who have pointed out that, pointed out the limitations of methodological naturalism. And then further, is it an ontological principle? Ontological principle means, that is it a principle wherein one works towards recognising that does science look for non-natural explanations? Does that mean that there are no natural factors involved at all? No, it is not necessary.
Scientists do not comment about them. Just like, if one uses X-ray vision to try to scan the body and by the X-ray vision we can find, we can detect certain things and certain things we will not be able to detect by the X-ray vision. So, it does not necessarily mean that the other things do not exist or if we take a fishing net and we put the fishing net in water and if the fishing net say has a hole of say 10 mm by 10 mm, any fish that is smaller than that, it will just slip out.
And so, even if that fish is cast for 100 years, one will not be able to find any fish smaller, any aquatic smaller than that size. Similarly, science casts a net to try to get knowledge of the world around us, but it looks for material things. So, any non-material, anything spiritual, anything transcendental, that slips out of the net of science.
So, that just says, it does not mean that because no fish smaller than 10 mm were caught, that does not mean that no aquatic smaller than 10 mm exist in the world. Similarly, it is because science has not found some non-natural explanations, non-natural factors, that does not mean that they do not exist. So, by appropriately defining the purpose of science and by precisely outlining the procedures for what could be a higher dimensional science, Bhakti Yoga is science in the sense that there is a well-defined process and by following this process one can attain lasting results.
One can obtain, not just lasting results, but repeatable, verifiable results in the laboratory of one’s own consciousness and thus, one can actually verify. So, Bhakti as an experiential science which gives us connection and realisation of higher dimensional realities, that is a very important principle. And that’s the principle that this verse points towards and that is what can be done.
There are various ways in which the science can be used for the purpose of glorifying God and one of those is being talked over here, is being discussed over here. Prabhupada tells us, Prabhupada gave this as one of the mission statements for the Bhakti Yoga Institute that the Bhakti scientists should actually establish the existence and the glory of God through the principles of science. And similarly, whatever field of knowledge we are working in, we can see how we can actually point towards the glory of God through whatever branch of knowledge that

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

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 5, Entitled Narada's Instructional Srimad Bhagavatam for Vyasadeva. Text 17 tyaktvā sva-dharmam caranāmbhujam harer bhajana-pakhvota-patetato yadi pitra-kvāvā bhadrama-bhūda-muśyakīm govārthāpto bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah So, tyaktvā sva-dharmam caranāmbhujam harer Here, Narada is continuing his instruction to Vyasadeva and he is stating that those who surrender to Lord Hari tyaktvā sva-dharmam, they give up their dharma, their prescribed duty caranāmbhujam harer, the lotus feet of Lord Hari bhajana-pakhvota, even if their bhajana is apakhvota, is immature patetato yadi that even if they are, because of immature bhajana, they fall away pitra-kvāvā bhadrama-bhūda-muśyakīm still what inauspiciousness is there in that kvāvā bhadrama what inauspiciousness is there in that bhūda-muśyakīm govārthāpto bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah so govārthāpto that what can one attain bhajitāṁ sva-dharmatah if one does not do one's dharma if one actually does one's dharma but does not become devoted to Lord Hari, then what gain does one get by this so both of these points are phrased here as rhetorical questions so that means failure on the spiritual path is considered to be greater than success on the material path so how is that normally we would say that, is it true that failure on one path suppose somebody say is doing a career in engineering and then that person decides to shift to a career in fine arts deciding to become an artist or a novelist or whatever and suppose that person fails in that on the other hand that person has some other colleague or other friend who is goes on in the career of arts in the career of sciences and succeeds over there so how can we say that failure on one path is actually better than success on the other either we could be comparing failure on one path and failure on the other path or we could be comparing success on one path and success on the other path who would be comparing failure on one path with success on the other the point is, that the stress of this verse is that it is not that we could not compare the two like this. It is not that this is one career choice and that is another career choice as might be between say writing and engineering, but rather one is the path to liberation and the other is the path to entanglement and the two just cannot be equated.

The two are essentially fundamentally different and that is why we need to recognize the foundational difference between the two paths. So earlier this foundational difference between the devotional and the non-devotional has been hinted at when it was stated that yatra kova bhadra that or rather it was stated that literature chitrapadam harer yasho that even if that literature is filled with chitrapada, is filled with many wonderful words, that literature does not talk about the supreme, that literature does not glorify the supreme, then its poetic ornamentation is of no use. The same way, here the point is made that tattva sadharmam charanam bhujam hrer, that there is the path of worldly perfection and interestingly here Krishna is not talking about or the Bhagavatam is not talking about simply success in materialistic life in terms of what people might say okay get a good admission, good college, get a good job, get a good house, have a good family and fulfill the great American dream as they may say if people go to America from India or elsewhere.

Actually here the Bhagavatam is talking in terms of dharma, so its talking about swadharma, doing one's duties, the success in the path of one's duties also is not enough it is said because kovartha apto abhijitam swadharmatah, swadharmatah is in one's prescribed path, one attains in one's prescribed duty, one attains success, why is that? Because we will still stay at the material level of consciousness, kovartha apto abhijitam swadharmatah, we will still stay caught at even if we succeed in doing our prescribed duties, varanashram in and of itself is not spiritual, varanashram is actually material and being material it cannot give us transcendental benefits, it can give us only material benefits and the transcendental aspect is going to, we are going to stay disconnected from the transcendental aspect, being captivated by illusion, so the only way we can move towards eternal reality is by the steady practice of bhakti, so we need to develop an interest in the eternal and then we have to develop love for the eternal, only if we develop love for the eternal can we attain the eternal, so bhagavatam here is pointing us towards that eternal reality and is saying that even if one falls away from the spiritual path, still it doesn't matter, because even if one falls away from the spiritual path that fall is temporary, the progress that one has done is eternal, on the other hand in the material path, the progress is temporary whereas the fall is eternal, it's an important point to understand, on the spiritual path the fall is temporary, the progress is eternal, in the spiritual path the progress is temporary, the fall is long lasting, let's try to understand this once again, suppose one does, somebody wants to, the soul is in one sense fallen, being in the ignorance of material existence, being in forgetfulness of Krishna and while the soul is in ignorance thus, even if the soul moves onwards, let's say to a better material position, say by doing one dharma one goes to heaven, then there is the punya gets over, the person will have to fall back again to material existence, so in contrast if one moves onwards towards Krishna, then one can attain eternal existence and that attraction towards Krishna that is developed that is going to last forever, so externally a devotee may fall away from Krishna bhakti but internally whatever attraction to Krishna one has developed that is going to stay as eternal asset, yes circumstantially that attraction may go away for some time but deep within their heart, that attraction will stay and it will re-manifest later, so the fall is temporary on the spiritual path but the progress is everlasting and it will, whatever attraction we have, that will become our, that will become re-manifested as soon as we re-commence the process of bhakti whereas even if a person goes to heaven or attain some other destination still, that person is still in forgetfulness of Krishna, is in disconnected from Krishna and in that sense it's still a futile thing, so this is a radical contrast and through all these various modes of analysis what Parikshit Maharaj, sorry, what Vyasa Dev is being conveyed by Narada Muni is that he should not compromise, he should ensure that no matter what happens, he should stay fixed in teaching swadharma, in teaching not swadharma, the paradharma of bhakti and because that alone will proffer everlasting gain, nothing else will offer the kind of gain that will be offered by the practice of bhakti, the example of Ajamil within you. Rajamil attained the heaven, did sinful activity but whatever bhakti he had done, that became pre-accessible to him, same happened to Chandra also, same happened to so many other people. Now Nahusha did his duties perfectly and went to the heavens but then from there also he fell back again when he committed a mistake, when he offended the sages.

So this 17th verse conveys that for no reason should we delay the commencing of spiritual life for the pursuit of transcendental dharma and material dharma should not come in the way of transcendental dharma, material dharma means doing one's duty according to varnashrama, that should not come in the way of pursuit of the transcendental dharma. So 18th text, for that purpose alone, the wise persons should endeavour, nallabhyate, that which is not obtained by wandering, uparyadha, from the topmost level to the lowest level in this world, tallabhyate dukkhavad anyatah sukham, that is attained, as far as dukkha and sukha, dukkhavad anyatah sukham, kaalena sarvatra gabheeram hasa, by the power of time, gabheeram, by the subtle power of time, subtle progression of time, kaalena, one will attain happiness and distress. So the previous verse theme is now brought to a rhetorical conclusion, tasyaiva, therefore, what is therefore? The previous verses that has indicated that failure on the spiritual path is better than success on the material path.

Failure on the path of bhakti dharma is better than the success on the path of bhakti rahit dharma. Tasyaiva heto, therefore, one should endeavour for that purposeful end, prayateta kovido, that wise person should endeavour for that thing, which one will not get. One will be able to wander in material existence, going up and down, but one will not attain the eternal life, nallabhyate dukkhavad anyatah sukham, one will not get happiness and distress, one will get happiness and distress, that will come anyway.

So this mood, this verse will be talked about later in the Bhagavad Gita, when it is stated that, later in the Bhagavatam, 7th canto, when it is stated that actually, sukham indiyakam, ityam deha yogena dehinam sarvatra labhyate dhaiva altha dukkham anyatah, so without endeavour we get misery, so we will get pleasure also. So, kaalena sarvatra, by the progress of time, as per our destiny, we will get happiness and distress, we don't have to get too carried away by that, focus instead on striving to attain Krishna, so it's not exactly, it's kept a suspense over here, rather it's not a suspense, it's been mentioned consistently in the previous verses, for rhetorical purposes, that point is not mentioned, that purposeful end, one should strive. So, the attainment of bhakti and prema, which is the culmination of bhakti, that does not happen even if one goes to the heavens or one goes anywhere, everywhere else, that can be attained only by staying fixed in the pursuit of Krishna.

And now, 19th text will emphasise further the point which was made earlier, navai jano jato kathan chana avrajen, mukundi sevi anvedang samsmutim, smaran mukundam upagohanam punar, vihatum icche narasagraho janaham, navai jano jato kathan chana avrajen, nai jano, certainly it does not happen to those people, jato kathan chana avrajen, somehow avrajen, somehow or the other, if mukunda sevi, those who are the servants of Lord Mukunda, the devotees of Mukunda, anvedang samsmutim, like others, anga is a form of affectionate address, oh my dear, here Vyasa is being addressed thus by Narada, samsmuti, so as others, means non-devotees undergo material existence, samsmuti, those who are Mukunda sevi, they do not undergo material existence in the same way, smaran mukundangri upagohanam punar, smaran mukundangri, they remember the lotus feet of Mukunda and upagohanam punar, and remembering the lotus feet of Mukunda, what happens to them, upagohanam, they embrace, because of remembering the lotus feet of Mukunda again and again, they embrace those feet again, vihatum icche narasagraho janaham, vihatum icche, so one does not desire to give up, narasagraho janaham, narasagraho, one who has relished the mellows, such a person will not give up the lotus feet of Lord Hari, vihatum icche, so now from the 17th verse, the point is being continued, 17th verse was that, even if one falls away from the process of bhakti because of immaturity, still it is not, what is the loss, so here the point is made even from the, not only is that taste going to remain, but the taste is going to prompt the person to take to Krishna sooner rather than later, because of the presence of that taste, one keeps moving onwards steadily towards one, one just does not forget it, Vishwacharya Krithakur indicates that, that taste, rasa, haunts the devotee, rasagraho janaham, that taste haunts the devotee and because of being haunted by that taste, the devotee time and time again keeps returning to Krishna and one may engage in materialistic life, but one will not get any pleasure in materialistic life and having not got any pleasure, one will want to turn towards Krishna and one will eventually attain Krishna and in this way, that remembrance of Krishna is the remembrance of the taste in remembrance of Krishna, the remembrance of the taste in the remembrance of Krishna, the taste in bhakti of Krishna, that remembrance, that is the decisive difference between the material existence of the devotees and that of non-devotees, material existence being not just existence at the material level. But even if devotees start towards materialistic living, as do the non-materialists, still the devotee will not be able to forget because of the taste in the remembrance of Krishna. And that taste will ensure that the devotee turns towards Krishna once again and attains Krishna.

भिहातु मिच्छे नरसग्रहो जनहाँ, भिहातु मिच्छे So one doesn't desire to give it up. So time and time again, because of the remembrance, the devotee will eventually turn towards Krishna. So now, from here onwards, the Bhagavatam will move towards a philosophical truth.

So there is the consequential truth in terms of how in consequence, a devotee's practice bhakti cannot give up bhakti. Again and again, the devotee is reminded of Krishna. Now it goes towards a feature of consequence, from consequential to the ontological truth that a devotee cannot be disconnected from Krishna because actually nothing is disconnected from Krishna.

इदम्ही विश्वं भगवानिवेतरो। यतो जगत्स्थान निरोधसंभः तद्धी स्वयं वेद भवां सथापिते, प्रादेश मात्रं भहतः प्रदर्शितम। इदम्ही विश्वं भगवानिवेतरो। विश्वं भगवानिवेतरो। विश्वं भगवानिवेतरो। This is actually इवा इतरः. This world is actually non-different from Bhagawan. That it is different and non-different.

It's almost the same. इवा and इतरः. Different.

So, there is a difference and non-difference which is simultaneous and inconceivable, is the Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta, Chintabheda Veda, which is pointed to in this verse. इदम्ही विश्वं भगवानिवेतरो। यतो जगत्स्थान निरोध संभवः। यतो, from whom, जगत्स्थान निरोध संभवः। That from Him, this world has come about and is being maintained and is ultimately going to rest after destruction. तद्धी स्वयं वेद भवां जथापिते। So this difference and non-difference, तद्धी, you can, all about this, स्वयं वेद भवां जथापिते। You know about this, वेद, you know about it, तथापिते। प्रादेश मात्रं भवतः प्रदर्शितं। So because you know this, I am giving you only a synopsis over here.

प्रादेश, so the relationship of the Lord with this world is quite a complex philosophical subject matter. And Yashdev tells, Yashdev is told by Narad Muni that you already know about this, so I don't have to go into detail. So I will just give you a synopsis over here.

And different examples when you, this is a tree and its leaves are connected, this is a fire and the heat and light are connected with the fire. So like that, there is अचिन्तभिदा वेद रिलेशन्चिप। So let us not go into those technicalities now. We will do that later in due course of time.

But here the point remains that there is both, that the devotees cannot be disconnected from Krishna because actually nothing is disconnected from Krishna. Now, even now, no soul is actually disconnected from Krishna, but in the consciousness there is no awareness of that connection. And once even a little bhakti is practiced, that awareness is triggered, then that awareness cannot be obscured.

All that can be pushed in the background temporarily, but it will pop up again and again and push the devotee towards Krishna. तम आत्मणात्मानं अवेह्यमोगद्रक् परस्यपुम्सः परमात्मणः कलां अजम् प्रजातं जगतः शिवायतान् महानु भावा भुदयो अधिग्नत्यतां तम आत्मणात्मानं अवेह्यमोगद्रक् तम, you, by your own self, आत्मणात्मानं, so you search for the Supersoul, search for that Supersoul, अमोगद्रक् This adjective, this describer has been used repeatedly in this chapter, this third time we are finding it. मोगद्, one with infallible vision, परस्यपुम्सः परमात्मणः कलां So here this प sound is repeated thrice in this verse.

In the second line, परस्यपुम्सः परमात्मणः कलां कलां refers to part, clearly part. So here Narada Muni is himself acknowledging the special position of Vyasadeva. Earlier in the previous chapter it was said that Kalam Harim, that he was born from Parasharya as a portion of Lord Harim.

And that same point to Vyasadeva, Narada Muni is reiterating that you can definitely search for the Supersoul in your heart because you yourself are a part of that same Supreme Being. अजम् प्रजातम् जगतः शिवायतान् So although that Absolute Truth is unborn, that is taken birth in this अजम् प्रजातम् for what purpose? जगतः शिवायतान् शिवायतन् that has appeared for the sake of जगतः शिवाय for the sake of bringing about auspiciousness for the world. महानु भावा घुदयो अधिगन्यताम् अधिगन्यताम् अधिगन्यताम् means to describe it.

Please describe अधिगन्यताम् जगतः शिवायतान् अविच्चुत आर्था कविभी निरूपितो उठमशलोक गुण अनूवरलेण. उतमशलोक गुन आनूवरलेण. उठमशलोक गुण आनूवरलेण.

उत Thunder विडम Ebola You have done a phenomenal amount of literary work, but the purpose of all activities is glorification of the Supreme Lord. And in your literary work, unfortunately, you have not done the glorification of the Supreme Lord. And because you have not done the glorification of the Supreme Lord, that is why you are now caught in illusion.

You are staying in, you are not exactly in illusion, but in the sense that you are still not, you are not about satisfaction, you are feeling a sense of incompleteness. So Prabhupada gives a very insightfully contemporary purport to this verse, and he explains that at that time there were various, the gist of his purport is that, he says at that time there are various activities which were considered as signs of progress for people, doing sacrifices, studying scriptures, then doing austerities, hearing, so what was mentioned, the activities. Like this, there are activities which are generally considered progressive.

So Prabhupada recognizes that we are living today in a culture where science is considered progressive. And either way, the point is that whatever is considered progressive in a particular cultural context, that is good, but the purpose of whatever one does is to move closer and closer and still closer to the Supreme Lord, and to thus attain the Supreme Lord. So that happens when we glorify Him.

So all the activities that we do, like Maharaja Yudhishthira, he performed the Rajasuya Yajna, the purpose was to uttama shloka guna anuvarana, he was doing the sacrifice of Rajasuya Yajna, and the purpose was that the uttama shloka Lord could be glorified. And similarly here also, the purpose is that for your compiling the literature, the purpose should have been glorifying of the uttama shloka Lord. But instead you have, actually rather than glorifying the Supreme Lord, you have done, you have talked about many other subjects, but the Lord has been sidelined.

And that is why there is dissatisfaction. Now, how can science be used to glorify the Supreme Lord? Prabhupada says that science can be used to talk about how God exists and God is glorious. So now, mainstream science today does not talk about God, because it operates on the premise of methodological naturalism, that it looks for natural explanations for natural phenomena.

And because of looking for natural explanations for natural phenomena, it does not come to, it actually does not comment on about anything supernatural. It does not comment on any transcendental reality. Now, for most of scientific history, methodological naturalism has been an operational principle.

But whether that is an essential principle and whether that is an ontological principle, these two are questions that need to be seriously investigated. That means, whether it is an essential principle, that if science looks for explanations that are not natural, natural in the sense that they are not material explanations, there are transcendental explanations that science comes up with. So does that violate the spirit of science necessarily? So is methodological naturalism an essential principle for science? Is it simply an operational principle or is it a fundamental, non-negotiable, indispensable sort of principle? There are many philosophers of science and scientists both, who have pointed out the limitations of methodological naturalism.

And then further, is it an ontological principle? Ontological principle means that, is it a principle wherein one works towards recognizing that science does not look for non-natural explanations, so does that mean there are no natural factors involved at all? No, it is not necessary. Scientists will comment about them. Just like if one uses X-ray vision to try to scan the body and by the X-ray vision we can detect certain things and certain things we will not be able to detect by the X-ray vision.

So it does not necessarily mean that other things do not exist. Or if we take a fishing net and we put the fishing net in water and if the fishing net has a hole of say 10 mm by 10 mm, any fish that is smaller than that, it will just slip out and so even if that fish is cast for 100 years, one will not be able to find any fish smaller, any aquatic smaller than that size. Similarly, science casts a net to try to get knowledge of the world around us.

But it looks for material things. So any non-material, anything spiritual, anything transcendental, that slips out of the net of science. Just as it does not mean that because no fish smaller than 10 mm were caught, that does not mean that no aquatic smaller than 10 mm exist in the world.

Similarly, it is because science has not found some non-natural explanations, non-natural factors, that does not mean that they do not exist. So by appropriately defining the purpose of science and by precisely outlining the procedures for what could be a higher dimensional science, bhakti yoga is science in the sense that there is a well-defined process and by following this process one can attain lasting results. One can attain not just lasting results but repeatable, verifiable results in the laboratory of one's own consciousness and thus one can actually verify.

So bhakti as an experiential science which uses connection and realization of higher dimensional realities, that is a very important principle. And that is the principle that this verse points towards and that is what can be done. There are various ways in which the science can be used for the purpose of glorifying God and one of those is being talked over here, is being discussed over here.

Prabhupada tells us, Prabhupada gave this as one of the mission statements for the Bhakti and the glory of God through the principles of science. And similarly whatever field of knowledge we are working in, we can see how we can actually point towards the glory of God through the, through the, so whatever branch of knowledge that we are studying. Thank you.