Bhagavatam study 9 – 1.2.28-34 – Vasudeva is the be-all and end-all in everything

Shreemad Bhagavatam 1, 2, 28 and 29 combined together as one same thought is going on. Vasudeva Para Veda Vasudeva Paramakaha Vasudeva Para Yoga Vasudeva Parah Kriyaha Vasudeva Param Jnanam Vasudeva Param Tapaha Vasudeva Paro Dharma Vasudeva Paragatihi In this section, the Bhagavatam is comparing different objects of worship.
From 1.2.6 to 22, 1.2.6 declared that Bhakti is the topmost process. That was philosophically explained by comparing with other processes in the first section till 14-15 and then how Bhakti leads to purification and liberation was described from 16 to 22. And then this section is describing how Bhakti should be directed towards Bhagavan, towards Adhoksha.
So the previous verses stated that Bhakti is meant for the Supreme. That people worship according to their mentalities. So those who are seeking liberation, those who are non-envious, they should worship the transcendental form of the Lord.
That was what was mentioned. So now here the point that will be made is that Vasudeva Paravedha that Vasudeva, the supreme object of worship, what is his nature? He is Paravedha. So how Vasudeva is the ultimate culmination of everything will be talked about in this verse.
So that Vasudeva is Paravedha. He is the ultimate goal of the Vedas. Krishna also says this in the Bhagavad Gita that among all the Vedas, I am to be known.
Makaha means sacrifice. So Vasudeva is the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices. One of the primary religious forms advocated in the Vedas is sacrifice.
So in that sense, the first and the second item are connected. This verse, these two verses 28 and 29 are essentially conveying how Vasudeva is the ultimate purpose of everything in the Bhagavad Gita. 7.19 Krishna says Vasudeva is Sarvamiti.
It’s a Mahatma’s Durlabha. One who understands that Vasudeva is everything, such a Mahatma is Durlabha, is rare. So Krishna is conveying that rarity by talking about the problems, by talking about how people who get distracted, diverted by thinking about various subject matters, they can all come closer to the Supreme.
They can come closer to Krishna. They can focus on attaining Krishna when they understand that Krishna is the goal. So now in the fire sacrifice, Yajna, Vasudeva Paramakha is said over here.
In the Yajna, there are many different people who are worshipped. There is Yajna that is offered to Indra, to Surya, to Chandra, to Kubera, to Brahma, to Shiva, but Krishna explains in the 9th chapter that He is the Yajneshwara, is the ultimate Bhokta of all the Yajnas. And the Yajnik Brahmanas, they do all the rituals very nicely, but they forget the object is to be ultimately worshipped by all the rituals.
And that missing knowledge, their wives have. And thus the Bhagavatam illustrates that ritual proficiency is of little use if there is, if it distracts one from the ultimate purpose. And to prevent such a distraction, the Bhagavatam right up front tells us that Vasudeva Paramakha.
So he is the ultimate objective of all sacrifice. In 6.47, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that So he says that among all the people, among all the different kinds of yogis, the yogis who fix their mind on him, they are the most intimately united with him. They are the topmost yogis.
So in the verses of Yoga, people start by focussing on the tip of the nose, on the space between the eyebrows. Then they turn inward, they try to conceptualise some object to focus on. And at the end of it all, they understand that Krishna and Vishnu are the ultimate object of worship.
They are the ultimate object, sorry not of worship, but of meditation. So he is the ultimate goal of yoga. Patanjali does talk about Ishwar Pranidhan in Patanjali Yoga Sutra, but he doesn’t tell exactly who is the Ishwar, to whom Pranidhan, to whom surrender is to be done, whose worship is to be done.
And that is because Yoga Sutras are a short, succinct text focussing on the techniques of yoga. And they presume awareness about the object of yoga. That object of yoga is revealed in the Bhagavad Gita explicitly and unambiguously to be Krishna.
And Kriya means various kind of activities. Kriya Vishesh Bhavulam Bhoga Ishwara Gatim Prate So Kriya Vishesh Bhavulam Krishna talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita 42.43-43 that YAM NAM PUSHPITAM VACHAM PRADANTA VIPASCHITA VEDA VADRATAH APARTHA NANYA VASTITI VADINAH KAMA ATMANAH SWARGA PARAM JANMA KARMA PALAPRADAM KRIYA VISHESH BHAVULAM BHOGA ISHWARA GATIM PRATE So there Krishna states that there is no way one can attain the supreme perfection if one doesn’t understand that he is the ultimate purpose. Krishna calls such people as Abhipaschitaha.
They are non-discerning. They perform elaborate sacrifices. Kriya Vishesh Bhavulam means elaborate rituals they perform.
Yajna is one important ritual but there are various other aspects to the performance of rituals also. So Vasudeva Parakriya that means Krishna is the ultimate objective in performing the various ritual sacrifices. Vasudeva Paramgyanam Vasudeva Param Tapah Vasudeva Paramgyanam That the path of Gyanam involves cultivation of knowledge and such knowledge is important.
At the same time we need to recognise that knowledge is in and of itself not complete. Knowledge has to be about something and when that something is the highest reality that knowledge has to have an object and Krishna is the highest object of knowledge. Gyanam Geyam Gyanagamyam Vidasarvasya Vishthitam 13th chapter Gyanam Geyam Gyanagamyam Knowledge, object of knowledge and goal of knowledge.
Krishna is ultimately all of these. So what is the difference between the object of knowledge and goal of knowledge? We study the material world but our goal is not the material world per se. Our goal is Krishna.
Students may study a particular subject but they may not be interested in that subject. Their interest may be in the marks that they get, their interest may be in the money that they earn, the position that they acquire through that learning. So when the we have to make Krishna both the object of our knowledge and the goal of our knowledge.
When we study the world, we see it as Krishna’s energy and we are not interested in the world itself. We are interested in Krishna whose glory we may appreciate by studying the world. So Vasudeva Paramyanam means that the purpose and perfection of all knowledge is to know Vasudev.
Bahunam janmanam antai jnanavan mam prapadyate When a person becomes jnanavan, Krishna says mam prapadyate. It means a person who is truly in knowledge surrenders to Krishna, knowing Krishna to be everything. Vasudeva Sarvamitya as it is said in Hanuman 19.
Here it is Vasudeva Paramyanam. You see this is the example of Shukadeva Goswami that he surrendered to Krishna because although he had impersonal knowledge, he turned away, rose from that impersonal knowledge towards personal knowledge. When he understood how Krishna is the highest reality.
Atmarama maakshyamunayo nirganthapya rukrame kurvanty ahitukyubhaste ittham bhuta gunohari Such are the wonderful qualities of Lord Hari. Those who are attracted to impersonal absolute those who are self-satisfied, they become attracted to him. Vasudeva Paramyanam Vasudeva Parantapaha Vasudeva is the highest austerity means what here? That the highest purpose of austerity is Vasudeva.
Sometimes austerity can become an end in itself where one does austerity to and tortures one’s body without understanding what is the purpose of it all. May this change the falani. The Mukunda Mala Stotra Kulshikar Maharaj says that if one doesn’t understand the absolute, one doesn’t remember Vishnu while performing austerities, while fasting then austerity simply becomes a fat reducing exercise and nothing more.
Austerity doesn’t purify or elevate it simply entraps a person. If one doesn’t understand Krishna to be the ultimate goal of the austerity we see further that Krishna says in the 17th chapter Krishna says that those who torment their body and torment me who are present in their body such people who torment their body they are actually demoniac. That if you are worshipping Lord Hari what need is there for you to do austerity because you have already attained the purpose and perfection of austerity.
And if you are not worshipping Lord Hari then what are you going to get by doing austerity because the ultimate purpose is defeated. वासु देवः परावति वासु देवः परो धर्मो The word dharma has many meanings and accordingly dharma has many levels. So there can be a dharma of protecting oneself taking care of one’s health and making sure that the body that we have been given we maintain it properly there can be a dharma to our family where we ourselves sacrificing for the sake of taking care of our family.
But beyond that there can be the dharma of taking care of one’s one’s community kula dharma can be there and like that there can be various levels of dharma In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says Give up all varieties of religion and just surrender to me. What he means there is that there are levels of dharma and give up the lower levels of dharma so that the highest dharma of devotion to Krishna surrender to Krishna that can be adhered to. So वासु देव is the object of the highest dharma.
The word paro dharma is also being used in 1.2.6 ये तो भक्तिर्धोक्ष जे अहे तुक्य प्रतेताय आत्मा सुप्रसिदति Paro dharma is that dharma which involves practising uninterrupted unmotivated devotion to the lord who is beyond our senses वासु देव परागति and this verse concludes by declaring that वासु देव is our ultimate goal tadātmānas tad-niṣṭhās tad-parāyanaḥ tad buddhahis tad-ātmānas tad-niṣṭhās tad-parāyanaḥ gacchanti apnarāvá¹›ttim jñāna nirdhÅ«ta kalmaÅ›ah In 5.17, Krishna states that tad-niṣṭhās tad-parāyanaḥ fix your mind on him, fix your mind on him, fix your shelter, faith in him, and fix your goal in him, make him your goal. If we don’t understand Krishna to be the goal, then the world can appear to be like a big, big forest of delusion. And not only the world can appear, even Vedic scriptures can appear to be like a forest of delusion.
yadāte mohakallam buddhir vidhita-riá¹£yati yadāgantāsi nirvedam Å›rotavyeÅ›a-Å›rutasya When you come out of mohaka-nilam, at that time, you will realise, Krishna says over here, buddhir vidhita-riá¹£yati When you go beyond the mohaka-nilam, then the buddhi becomes fixed, and at that time, one can attain samādhi. So vāsudeva-parāgatiḥ When we understand that Vāsudeva is the supreme destination, then we can move onwards, steadily, towards life’s ultimate perfection, and we can thus attain success in our life. So without this knowledge that Vāsudeva is the ultimate goal, the purpose and perfection of our life, this is the crux of all Vedic literature, and read of all wisdom, vāsudeva-parāgatiḥ 30th text, sa evÄ“dam sa sarjāgre bhagavān ātma-māyayā sad-asad-rÅ«pāya-cāsau guṇa-mayā guṇa-vibhÅ«huṁ sa evÄ“, that absolute truth which has been talked about in the previous verse, certainly, idam sa sarjāgre sa sarja is creation, sarga we say, sa sarja-agre, in the beginning, bhagavān ātma-māyayā that Bhagavān created it by His own energy, ātma-māyayā sad-asad-rÅ«pāya-cāsau sad-asad, it sometimes refers to temporary and eternal, eternal and temporary, sad-asad or it also refers to cause and effect sad-asad-rÅ«pāya-cāsau so, rÅ«pāya, the various forms in material existence were created by Him guṇa-mayā guṇa-vibhÅ«huṁ guṇa-mayā so these forms are made of guṇas everything in the material world is made of three modes but guṇa-mayā guṇa-mayā-vibhÅ«huṁ there is a vibhÅ«, the absolute is guṇa-mayā so now briefly in this chapter the process of creation will be described to again reinforce the point that Vasudeva is the source of all creation and therefore Vasudeva should be the purpose of all of creation, the purpose of all of existence in this creation So that same Lord who was mentioned in the previous verse, in the beginning he created all material causes and effects including the various forms of material nature and despite doing all this he remains transcendental, he is the absolute who remains transcendental.
So this verse points to both the Lord s involvement in the process of creation at the same time his transcendence to the process of creation, he is involved because he is the source, he is the initiator but he is himself not affected, he remains transcendental. 31st text तया विलसितेश्व एशु गुणेशु गुणवानिव अन्तः प्रविष्ट आभाति विज्ञानेन विज्रुंबितः तया विलसितेश्व एशु So by them, the function of this material world, गुणेशु गुणवानिव So, although the Supreme Lord enters into the Gunas and appears to be one of them, Antah pravishta abhati. Antah pravishta, he appears to have entered and after having entered, he appears to have become like one of the beings who is within the modes of material nature, who has been created through the modes of material nature, but he remains transcendental.
vijnanena vijrambhitah, vijnanena, with his knowledge, with his realisation, vijrambhitah, he remains fully enlightened, he remains fully transcendental. So the point of this discussion about the Lord being the creator is to also convey that he remains involved yet as well as disinterested. He enters in but he remains transcendental because he is absolute.
Now if we enter into cold water, if we enter into water, we will become wet, we are naturally affected by our environment, if we enter into a cold weather, we will feel cold, but suppose we were wearing a sweater and other warm clothes, then we will not feel so hot, we will not feel so cold, suppose we had completely foolproof clothing by which nothing, no air from the atmosphere came to us, then we would not be so affected, then we would be able to stay pure in the sense that we will get affected by the temperature. So just as normally a person enters into an environment that person is affected, but that person has some mechanism by which to counter the effects of the environment and the person will not be affected. So Krishna is like that, Krishna is himself completely transcendental and because he is transcendental, even when he enters into the material world, he is not affected by the material world, he still remains completely transcendental.
32nd text यथाय अवहितो वहनिर् दारुष्व एकस्वयोनिषु नानेवभाति विश्वात्मा भूतेशु जितथापुमान् यथाय अवहितो वहनिर् So this is a metaphor which comes repeatedly in the Bhagavatam, this comes in the 11th cantos of the Uddhav Geeta. यथाय अवहितो अवहितो means entering into surcharge with Vahanir, fire. दारुष्व एकस्वयोनिषु दारुष्व in the wood, but स्वयोनिषु नानेवभाति it appears, it burns differently.
There is one fire, but depending on the kind of firewood it enters, kind of wood it enters, the fire burns differently. भूतेशु जितथापुमान् So similarly, the Supreme Lord enters into different living beings and He may appear different, but He is one and the same. If you consider the flame, then different kinds of flames will be slightly different.
For example, if we have a flame coming from LPG through a stove and we have a flame coming through firewood in a hearth, in a fireplace, or if you consider the flame coming through a candle, if you consider the flame coming through a lamp, if you consider the flame coming through a firecracker. It’s the same flame, but depending on how the flame manifests, the medium through which the flame is manifesting, the flame will appear different. Similarly, the Supersoul’s presence is not perceived equally.
Sometimes in a microscopic insect, a microbe or a tiny insect, neither can the soul nor the Supersoul be perceived at all. The consciousness is so covered over there. The Supersoul’s consciousness is not covered.
The soul’s consciousness is covered, but the presence of neither the soul nor the Supersoul can be easily perceived over there. But when a person is extremely wise, a person is enlightened, and then whatever the person speaks, we feel, oh, it’s so profound. Sometimes in some insights, some people speak, they are so penetrating.
We feel, oh, this is the Supreme Lord. This must be Krishna speaking. And such wisdom comes out.
So, just as fire can manifest differently in different beings, similarly, the Supersoul’s presence, Supersoul is present, but the Supersoul may not be perceivable in the same way in different places. असवु गुणमयेर भावईर भूत सुक्षमेंद्रि आत्मभी स्वनिर्मितेशु निर्विष्टो भूंते भूतेशु तद्गुणान असवु गुणमयेर भावईर Similarly, असवु, that Supreme Lord, गुणमयेर भावईर, the material nature which is influenced by three modes, भूत सुक्षमेंद्रि आत्मभी सुक्षमेंद्रिय, the subtle senses, भूत, created subtle senses, the mind, आत्मभी, the living beings, स्वनिर्मितेशु निर्विष्टो, in his own creation, निर्विष्टो, entering, भूंते भूतेशु तद्गुणान, so that super soul, he enters into all of living beings and within his own material, his own created material nature, with the senses, he enables, facilitates the living beings to enjoy the senses. This may seem a little disturbing, isn’t it? Isn’t Krishna meant to liberate us from enjoyment? Why is it said that he enables or he causes or he facilitates our enjoyment? Actually, without Krishna, not only can we not get purified, without Krishna, we cannot even enjoy sense gratification because as souls we are different from the body and we can’t control the body and the body is alien and the sense objects that we try to enjoy, those objects are also dependent on him ultimately.
For example, when we decide to eat some delicious object, some delicacy, some gulab jamun say, now we don’t even know how the tongue secretes saliva, how the gulab jamun at a subtle level interacts with the saliva and how the experience of taste occurs. We just, oh, this is tasty. Let me enjoy this.
That’s all we think and that’s how we move onwards. We don’t even realise that there’s a whole complex process happening by which this enjoyment is taking place. So in this sense, the setup of the system, just like some children may play some games, some video games or some games on their smartphone or on a computer.
They are enjoying the game and thinking, oh, I am winning, I am losing. But actually speaking, without the whole game being set up, they would not be able to enjoy anything and they have not set up the game. They have not created the game.
They may have set it up, installed it on their system, but they have not created the game and they have not created all the infrastructure that is required for the video game to occur. So like that, for us to play the game of sense gratification also, it is Krishna who creates the background. It is Krishna who sets up everything for us.
And when we understand how foundational and indispensable Krishna’s role is, then we start becoming more and more conscious of him. And that consciousness will ultimately rise to loving consciousness, gradually through the process of purification and education. The material world maintains here Sattveda.
Through the mode of goodness, he maintains Lokanvai Lokabhavanaha. All these Lokan, the universes, along with Lokabhavana, the masters of the universes. Leelavataranurato.
So he descends through the avatar, that is, the incarnations and Leela. He performs Leelas. Anurato, assuming the various incarnations.
Devatiryanaradishu. And he descends. This Devatiryanaradishu.
This can refer to both things. That it can either refer to that there are Devatirya and Nara. There are the Devatas, lower animals and humans.
All of these are existing in these worlds. Or we could even say that the Lord descends in these species. So the verse is saying that Krishna not only creates, Krishna not only enables our enjoyment, but Krishna maintains these worlds and Krishna facilitates our liberation by descending in this world.
Such is the complete compassion of the Lord. That he arranges everything, including our liberation from material existence. And the way he arranges it is by enabling us to become attracted to him through when he performs his Leelas.
So now in the next text, which are all the avatars that he takes, not in the next text, next chapter rather, which are all the avatars that he takes will be described. A list will be given and some analysis of the Lord’s relationship with the material world will be given. In this chapter, we see that there is, there are various sections and the main thrust, the setting is done in the first 4-5 verses.
And from the 6-22, for 6-15, the supremacy of Bhakti over all other processes is talked about. Then 16-22, the potency of Bhakti to bring about liberation is talked about. Then from 23 onwards till 27 or we could say till 29, how, 23-27 is actually how Krishna or Vasudev, the form of goodness is to be worshipped.
That means Bhakti, how Bhakti is supreme, that is talked in 6-15. And how Bhakti works is talked from 16-22. And why Bhakti is to be directed towards Bhagawan, towards the form and goodness, that is Vishnu, that is talked about in 23-27.
And that section leads on to 28-29, just 2 verses, how that Supreme, Vasudev Krishna, is the ultimate goal of everything, that is talked about by Vasudev Paragati. And lastly, how that Lord creates the world, sustains the world, facilitates our enjoyment in this world, and ultimately descends for liberating us from this world. So in this way, the chapter gives us first the glory of Bhakti and then the glory of Bhagawan who is the object of Bhakti.