Bhagavatam study 99 1.18.18-23 The unlimited has unlimited potency to purify us of our unlimited sins

We will discuss in our future sessions. Thank you.
So, here Suta Goswami is replying to the request of the sages of Naimisharanya that he continue to tell the story of Parishad Maharaj. They have appreciated him, they have appreciated his way of narrating the Bhagavatam, they have appreciated the glory of speaking about Krishna, they have appreciated the potency of the glories of Krishna and they have desired that they want to hear how Parishad fixed his mind on the absolute and attained the absolute. So, how is it that we that today we have been promoted actually by serving those who are advanced in knowledge.
So, the disqualification that comes by birth, whatever distresses may come by one’s low birth, it’s quickly cleansed away. Mahatmanam Abhidhanyogah, Mahatmanam. With great souls, if one converses also, Abhidhanyogah, Abhidhan is conversation, if one has the connection of simply conversing with them, when that can purify one.
So, he is now remembering how it is he was low born, but because he was, so he had served Suta Goswami by hearing from Suta Goswami, so he became elevated by that. So, the disqualification of birth can be removed just by conversing with having that small conversation, small connection through conversation also. Aho vayam, how wonderful it is, how is it that it’s happened.
So, actually here we say two things in action. The sages have glorified Suta Goswami profusely, but we see his devotional consciousness that he doesn’t immediately think that I am so glorious. He thinks not that he is glorious, he thinks that, okay, if he is being given this glorification, what is it that has made him worthy of this glorification? And he thinks about what actually makes him unworthy for this and what has still made him worthy.
So, what makes him unworthy is that that is low born. He is from a mixed caste, his birth is not pure, but immediately thinks that what has made me still, somehow, vriddhan vriddha. Vriddha can mean elderly or vriddha can mean those who are mature in the sense of having spiritual knowledge.
So, anuvriddha, anuvriddhi means doing as they are doing or serving them. So, by vriddhan vriddha, by serving the great souls, by hearing from him and by repeating his message, what is he doing? He says, this is what has elevated me. So, when usually ego comes within us, that happens because we see ourselves with excessively individualistic vision.
We see that what I have done is simply what I have done and nobody else is responsible for my having attained the position that I have attained. No matter, even people who say that I am a self-made man, actually nobody is self-made. Ultimately, even from the material perspective, we need the right contacts, we need the right help, we need some people to encourage us, some people to support us.
So, of course, we ourselves need to have determination if we are to rise. But if we look at our own role in our success, that may make us proud. But if we look at what others have done, which is vital for our success, then that will make us humble, that will make us grateful.
So, we see this mood of Suta Goswami, that rather than thinking that I am worthy of this glorification and say how great I am, he is thinking that what is it that has made me worthy? And thus, he immediately feels grateful to his preceptors, to Suta Goswami, and he feels grateful to the great souls. And this is not just an isolated life story, his own story, he is also giving us a general principle that if we can get the fortune of associating with great souls for a few moments, that can also help us to… Kadaush Kulya Vidhunoti Shigram Vidhunoti is cleanser, Shigram is fast, without delay that can happen. So, he’s saying that Abhidhana Yogaha, all that we need is to just have the opportunity to converse with them.
What can happen by that conversation? As was discussed in the verse, Tulayam lavenapi na svargam na punar bhavam bhagwat sangi sangasya martyanam ki mutaashishaham. It was discussed that even a little association with great souls can infuse us with the desire to serve Krishna. And that desire, once injected within us, can propel us along the journey towards Krishna for a long time to come, maybe all the way to Krishna also.
So, text 19, kutahapunar grunato naam tasya mahattamai kaantaparayanasya yonantashaktir bhagwanananto mahagunatvadhyam anantamahum So, kutahapunar grunato naam tasya Just by associating with or serving, just by conversing with such great souls, one can get immense benefit. Then what to speak of kutahapunar? What to then speak of? grunato naam tasya, if one chants the name of the Lord, mahattamai kaantaparayanasya mahattamai kaantaparayanasya This word has come several times in this series. These great devotees, that ekaantaparayanasya, they have only one shelter.
One shelter is that absolute truth. So, when we chant His holy names under the direction of the great souls, yonantashaktir bhagwanananto, he has unlimited energies, that absolute truth, that supreme person and he is known as ananta. He is unlimited, he is known as ananta.
mahagunatvadhyam anantamahum mahagunatvadhyam He is filled with great qualities. His qualities are such that because yonantamahum, he is known as ananta. So, just associating with great souls can give us great benefit.
And what to speak of? Emulating those great souls by striving conscientiously to connect with the greatest being who makes great souls great. We connect with the greatest being by chanting His holy names. So, what will be the potency of that? And now he is focusing on who is the greatest being? He says that he is the shelter of the great souls.
Mahatma ekaantaparayanasya. And he is himself anantashaktir. So, actually Krishna’s unlimited potency means that he also has unlimited potency to purify us.
No matter how many impurities we may have, no matter how many wrongdoings we may have committed, but still Krishna has the potency because he is unlimited to purify us. So, even if we have committed many many wrongdoings in many many of our past lives, still their magnitude can never be greater than the omnipotence of Krishna, than the unlimitedness of Krishna. Thus, that absolute truth is eminently worshipable.
That absolute truth. Thus, one of his names is himself Ananta. He is Bhagavan.
He has unlimited attributes. He has unlimited potencies and he is known as the unlimited one, Ananta. Now, Ananta can refer specifically to Anantasheksha or Ananta can generically refer to any manifestation of the absolute truth.
It can even refer to Krishna. So, here in this context, the point is that the Lord has unlimited qualities and thus Ananta is one of his names. So, here the Lord’s unlimitedness is our hope amidst our limitations.
We are limited and we have limitations. Now, limitedness refers to the fact that we are finite living beings. And limitations means even within the finiteness of our being, there are certain things which we can’t do.
So, for example, as human beings, we can’t fly in the sky naturally as birds can. So, we can walk. But even when we walk, when we speak, even when we sing, things which are normal activities human beings can do, there are limitations.
Some people may have some tone deafness because they can’t sing. Some people may have some disease by which they can’t, they have to stammer while speaking. Some people may have some other limitation because of which they can’t perform a normal bodily function.
And even if somebody does not have any such limitations, still we all have, even if we don’t have such gross physical limitations, still we can always look at other people in life and see that they have more qualities than what I have. And thus that limitedness, that sense of being limited, that sense of having limitations just comes upon us. So, but if we consider that the unlimited Lord is with us and despite our unlimitedness, despite our limitations, He can direct us to the unlimited destiny, to the unlimited spiritual world, if we just strive to love and serve Him.
That is His magnanimity. So, text 20. So, here, till this point, so far, alam.
That Lord, description. So, one who is unexcelled. He’s immeasurable.
His glory is unparalleled. He is glorious. Now, why is it that, that somebody should turn away from Him and why should we speak about anyone else? We cannot, He’s unlimited, so we cannot speak about Him adequately.
In fact, He’s so unlimited that even the goddess of fortune. So, even the goddess of fortune, she seeks His favor. That, actually, the goddess of fortunes, blessings the devatas ask for, but devatas don’t get those blessings.
But if this goddess of fortune, she prays and seeks the blessings of the Lord, but the Lord does not feel the need for His service. Lord is not willing to accept His service. The Lord does not reject anyone’s service.
But when it is said the Lord does not accept her service, it simply means that the Lord does not need the fortune of the goddess of fortune, because He Himself is source of all fortune, including the fortune of the goddess of fortune. So, He doesn’t need anything from anyone. That is His greatness.
So, now, the point again being made over here is that, that Lord, how unlimited He is, how glorious He is, how very infinite He is, that indication of His infiniteness is being given over here by stating that He is by no means needing anything from anyone, not even from the goddess of fortune, whose favor even the gods seek. Such is His greatness. And such a great Lord, that Lord, He is accessible to us when we chant His holy name.
That Lord, we can seek to connect with Him and we can be purified by connecting with Him. Text 21, अथापियत्पाद नखावस्रिष्टम् जगद् विरिञ्चोपर्थःमामः शेषं पुनाति अन्यतमो मुकुन्दात् कोणामलोके भगवत पदार्थः So, कोणा अथापियत्पाद, His lotus feet, पाद नखा, the nails on His lotus feet, emanating from the lotus feet of nails, the water that came that was collected by Brahmaji, विरिञ्च, that is, Brahmaji, and He collected it, जुपहरित्, and what did He do with it? Aranambha, he offered it to Lord Shiva, Isha and by that he was that Isham punati, that Lord is so great that even great souls like Shiva and Brahma are purified, Brahma himself does not have the purifying potency, so he takes from the water from the lotus feet of the Lord and then he offers it, not so much to purify, but actually to respectfully welcome, just like when somebody comes, he sprinkles water on them and this water actually, that water purifies the whole earth, Shiva himself is pure, is all pure, but still when somebody respectable comes to our place, there is a way to express our welcome for them and it’s a worshipful welcome that is offered to them. Worshipful welcome means that, that can be frivolous kind of welcome, we just shake our hands and hug with someone, that’s one kind of welcoming, not necessarily frivolous, but that’s one kind of welcome, but somebody is a very respectable person, we may welcome them also in a particular way, so here the words, who else can be actually called Mukunda, who else can give liberation, apart from the one whose water, tonal water purifies the universe, along with Shiva becomes Argya for Brahma, so here the point is that, if you want to hear about, whom should we hear about, that Suta Goswami is continuing that point and he is saying, the person who is worth hearing about is the Supreme Lord, it is about Him, we should hear, what are His glories, he is reiterating the point of the sages, that the Lord’s glories are indeed worth hearing, that this should be spoken of, so he is continuing that.
Now text 22, यत्रानुरक्तः सहसैवधीरः विपोहेदेहादिशुसंगमूद्हम् प्रजन्तितत्पारम्हं स्यमंत्यम् यस्मिन अहिम् सोपशम्ह स्वधर्मः So, यत्रानुरक्तः सहसैवधीरः, if somebody becomes attached to him, अनुरक्तः, then सहसैव, immediately without any preparation, naturally धीर, they can become sober and विपोहेदेहादिशुसंगमूद्हम्, they can give up whatever attachment one may have to the body and to other things related with the body, संकमूद्हम्. So, in this way, what do they do? प्रजन्तितत्पारम्हं स्यमंत्यम्, and they go पारम्हं स्यम्, they attain, प्रजन्ति, they attain the highest stage of life, the परम्हं स्यम् stage, अन्त्यम्, and what is the characteristics of that stage? यस्मिन अहिम् सोपशम्ह स्वधर्मः, in which there is lack of hatred, अहिम् सोपशम्ह, absence of any kind of violence, and स्वधर्मः, one becomes situated in one’s own eternal constitutional position, one becomes situated in deep absorption in Krishna. So, here the glory of Krishna is that, not only He is so glorious that even the goddess of fortune, that even the goddess of fortune seeks to serve Him, not only so glorious that Brahma and Shiva revere Him.
So, all this is wonderful, but how is all this relevant to us? It is relevant because His glory can purify us. If we learn to hear about Him, if we learn to speak about Him, यत्रानुरक्तः सहसईवधीरा, यत्रानुरक्तः, if we just become attached to Him, सहसईवधीरा, we can become sober and we can give up all our attachments. विपोहिदेहा दिशु संगमुद्हम्, this is a reiteration of the well-known verse in the Bhagavatam, वासुदेवे भगवति, भक्त्योग प्रयोजितः जनयत्याशुवेराज्यम्, जानम् जयदः यतो कम्, that same theme is being talked on, that यत्रानुरक्तः, so often in life we may struggle to give up certain attachments, but it will be much more worthwhile if we focus not on giving up attachments, but on developing the attachment.
What attachment? If we try to develop an attachment to Krishna, मय्यासक्तमनहः बार्थ, योगम् युञ्जन्मदाश्रयः, असम्षयं समग्रम्मां यथाज्याससितश्रणू, in 7.1 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks about how, मय्यासक्तमनहः, how by hearing about Him, how by practicing Bhakti Yoga, we can come to the perfection of making our mind attached to Him. So therefore, if we focus on striving to develop our attachment to Krishna, then everything else will follow as a by-product. We don’t need anything else.
सहस्यी वधीर, without much effort, we’ll be able to give it up. Sometimes, effortfully, we may have to struggle to give up renunciation, but instead to give up certain things. But if at all we have to put efforts, instead of putting the efforts in giving up something, we can put in the effort in connecting with Krishna, in trying to glorify Krishna, in trying to absorb ourselves in Krishna.
And by that, everything inauspicious will be removed from our life and the supreme auspicious things will naturally result in our life. So, पारम्हंस्यमन्त्यम्, the stage of perfection of life, परम्हंस, the spiritual perfection stage, where one, in whatever situation one is in, just as a hamsa looks for milk and takes the milk from a mixture of milk and water, the paramhamsas can, in every situation, zero in on Krishna, focus on Krishna and relish that aspect of their life. That is the result of becoming attached to Krishna.
Text 23, आम अहम्हि प्रिष्टो अर्यमनो भवद्भिर् आचक्ष आत्मावगमोत्रयावान् नभपतंत्यात्मसमं पतत्रिणस् तथासमं विष्णुगतिम् विपष्चितः आम अहम्हि प्रिष्टो अर्यमनो भवद्भिर् You know, what you have spoken, requested, I will speak. Whatever you asked about, I will speak. Unto you, O respectable one, भवद्भिर् But how can I speak it? He says that I can speak only according to my capacity.
We all have our limited capacities. It is by those limited capacities that I will speak. अर्यमानः भवद्धिर् So, you, all of you are like sons.
You are effulgent, you are full of knowledge. It is simply out of your kindness to me that you are requesting me to speak. I will speak.
And how much can I speak? आचक्ष आत्मावगमो आत्मावगम आवगम means to come to know. आत्मा means self. So, as far as I have come to know, as far as my knowledge goes, अत्रयावन So, we all have finite realizations.
We are finite beings. And when that also the Lord’s infinitude, we can never access. So, we have some knowledge of Him.
अत्रयावान That much. नभः पतंत्य आत्मसमं So, नभः पतंत्य When in the sky, the birds fly, आत्मसमं As far as they can. पतत्रिण पतत्रिण means those who fly in the sky, the birds.
थासमं विष्णुगतिम् विपश्चितः Similarly, विष्णुगतिम् विपश्चितः Similarly, those who have learned about विष्णुगतिम् विपश्चितः Those who have learned in the method of attaining Lord Vishnu, those who have learned the pastimes of the Lord, विष्णुगति The way He moves, the way He acts, and the way we can move towards Him. That way also it can happen. But they speak according to their capacity.
थासमं So, it’s interesting that Suta Goswami’s whole mood is not of accepting all this glorification for Himself but of focusing on the Lord. After He has spoken that this Lord is so glorious, Lord is so unlimited that He is definitely worth glorifying. So, then He moves on and says that according to my capacity I will speak.
So, this is a humble disclaimer we can say. Humbly, Suta Goswami is saying that even great sages, not I alone, but great sages can all speak only according to their capacities. So, similarly according to whatever capacity I have, I will speak.
You are yourself great souls. You are like Arjama, you are like sons. So, as you have requested, I will speak according to my capacity.
It’s important that when we speak spiritual knowledge, we understand our level, we understand our realizations and speak accordingly. Because otherwise, if we speak something which we have not yet realized, then we will end up hurting ourselves. How will we hurt ourselves? Because speaking too many lofty things, we will imagine that we are at that level or at least we will be putting on a pretense before others that we are at that level.
And when people see that, people will feel alienated because we are putting ourselves at a high, far too lofty pedestal. And on top of that, when people see that there is a mismatch between our actions and our words, that we can’t, we don’t act the way we have realized, then we will feel irritated. Then not only will their faith be disturbed, but even that negativity will come upon us.
If people feel that we are not walking our talk, that negativity will also affect us. We want to collect good wishes of others, not the bad wishes of others. So, therefore, how do we collect the good wishes of others? By speaking in a mood of service to them.
And speaking in a mood of service means that we don’t speak high realizations, which we ourselves don’t have. Instead, we speak what is in our capacity to speak. And thus we slowly and steadily move towards Krishna.