Dasha Mula Tattva 4 – Hari is the Absolute Truth concealed and revealed in the Vedas

Thank you very much Hare Krishna today we continue our discussion on the Tashamun Tattva so the ten tattvas, the first was that the Vedas are the source of knowledge about the absolute truth that's what we discussed in two sessions now after this formulation what is the teaching of the Vedas that is Hari is the absolute truth so that is the second tattva the Tashamun Tattva so let's recite this I don't know if you can see this Haristo Ekam Tattvam Haristo Ekam Tattvam Vidhi Shiva Suresh Pranavithah Vidhi Shiva Suresh Pranavithah Tad Evedam Brahma Prakriti Rahitam Tad Evedam Brahma Prakriti Rahitam Tad Evedam Brahma Prakriti Rahitam Tattva Anumaha Tattva Anumaha Vishwa Janaka Vishwa Janaka Savai Radha Kaanto Savai Radha Kaanto so Haristo Hari is indeed or Hari certainly he is Ekam Tattvam he is the one absolute truth and what is his characteristic Shiva Suresh Pranavithah Shiva Suresh Pranavithah Vidhi is one of the name of Brahmaji Shiva is of course Lord Shiva and Suresh Sura is Devata Suresh is the lord of Devata that is Indra Pranavithah he is praised by he is offered obeisances to by these people these great personalities and what about him it is Idam Brahma Idam means this Brahma whenever people talk about spiritual reality they often talk about impersonal Brahma this Brahma which we all know about Idam Brahma what is it it is actually the Ek Prakriti Rahitam so Prakriti normally we use the word Prakriti to refer to material nature but Prakriti simply means energy so that is why Prabhupada translates 7.4 and 7.5 as superior energy and inferior energy in the Bhagavad Gita he states that there Para Prakriti Apara Prakriti that is energy we say so here he is saying Prakriti Rahitam when the when the absolute truth is without potencies that is called as Brahman we will discuss this in new course when we come to it Tattva Anumaha so that Brahma is actually the effulgence of his body Anumaha is the grand effulgence it is devoid of potencies Paratma Tasyamsho so Paratma refers to Paramatma Para and Param are similar describers which essentially mean the highest or the greatest or the supreme so Paratma that refers to the as Prabhupada translated that as super soap so Paratma Tasyamsho so what Bhaktanno Thakur is doing in this one sutra is that if we make the claim that Hari is the absolute truth then what is the relationship of Hari with the various other things that may be considered to be the absolute truth so who are the other candidates we could say for the absolute truth it can be the other Devatas it can be the impersonal effulgence it can be the Paramatma so he is describing the relationship of all the other candidates for the absolute truth or other things that are conceived of as the absolute truth by some people he is describing their relationship with the absolute truth so Paratma Tasyamsho the Paramatma is his Amsha Jagat Anugaddo Vishwa Janaka Vishwa Janaka Janaka is that which gives birth to so Jana the root usually refers to birth or appearance so Vishwa Janaka that from whom the world comes the Vishwa is generic describer sometimes it refers to universe sometimes it refers to the whole material existence so we have to see the context to understand it Jagat Anugaddo so Paratma that super soul Jagat is the universe Anu is atom so Gato means one who has entered into one who is a stain so that super soul who has entered into the whole universe he is his Amsha Vishwa Janaka Vishwa Janaka is Mahavishnu is also his expansion and then Sawai Radha Kanta so that absolute truth who is he Radha Kanta so he is moving from these generic describers about the absolute truth to a very specific describer that he is the lover of Radha and so the word Nava has two meanings among many meanings one is new and other is mine so here it refers to new Nava Jala Jala is water Dha is that which gives water that is cloud so Navajagata Kanti so here there is a poetic rhyming also we have Kanta and Kanti so he is so the word Kanta means effulgence the word Kanti means the word Kanta means lover and the word Kanti means effulgence so he has the effulgence of of a freshly formed monsoon cloud Navajagata Kanti is Chit Udayaha Chit Udayaha is that is his original form Chit Shakti may that be manifest in our heart Udayaha Udayaha means like Suryodaya we say rising now let's look at the various things that are talked about by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur in this description of the absolute truth Hari ekam tattvam now the Bhagavatam also begins with the description of Satyam Param Dheemani Satyam Param that is the absolute truth on which I meditate and interestingly the Bhagavatam if we consider its first verse it is non-specific about the identity of the absolute truth Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva is a invocation it is not a part of the first verse the first text of the Bhagavatam janmal yasyata anvayat tatus charate shubhike surat the whole text goes on Hare Krishna can we see it my father can you see please sorry to disturb you please come yesterday night only he came we had dinner so we met in America when I was in America so you can sit here please continue so sorry to disturb you please come so we were discussing about the Bhagavatam's first verse when it describes the absolute truth it describes in a non-specific way it describes the attributes that absolute truth is the source of everything absolute truth is the one who gives knowledge to Brahma because of him even devatas fall in illusion so it is a general description of the absolute truth so the Vedic literature they point us towards the absolute truth Krishna makes it very clear when he says Vedaishya Sarvair Amey Vedho so we see this paradox in the Bhagavad Gita here Krishna is saying this is 15.15 where he says that by all the Vedas I am to be known at the same time he has also said earlier right in the second chapter itself in 2.45 he stated that this that go beyond the three Vedas go beyond the Vedas because the Vedas talk about the subject matters within the three modes and later in the sixth chapter also when Krishna is talking about the yogis who are advancing on the spiritual path he says so in 6.42, 43, 44, 45 he talks about how the yogis who have not been able to complete their yogic journey in one lifetime and they begin in the next lifetime, they start practising once again and they practise seriously and then what happens means to go beyond is the range of Vedic sound Prabhupada translates it as they go beyond the range of Vedic sound that means that the Vedas often talk about Karmakand and what exactly is Karmakand Karmakand simply means a business relationship with God it means a business relationship with God so I give you worship and you will give me various goods so Prabhupada would talk about how in the Christian tradition they have the prayer O father thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name give us our daily bread now there are of course Christian theologians who have given deeper meanings of this prayer but the mainstream understanding is that it's a prayer for bread give us our daily bread so Prabhupada said yes it is good that people are going to call for bread but then that shows their love for bread not love for God so this is I do Dharma so that I can get Artha and then I can get Kama I can fulfil my desires this is not a bad thing considering that people now are Adharmic are completely religious so even Karmakand is a good thing but often the good is the worst enemy of the best the good is the worst enemy of the best so the problem Karmakand is itself not the problem if one follows Dharma for getting Artha and Kama that is also a person is being Dharmic but the problem comes when people think na anyad asti iti vadinah that there is nothing apart from this in the Vedas 2.4243 when Krishna talks about this yam naam pushpitam vacham pravadantya vipashchitah vedavadratah partha na anyad asti iti vadinah kamaatmanah svargaparah janmakarma phalapradam kriyavishe shubhahunam bhogaishvarehatim prateh so he says actually these people yam naam pushpitam vacham they are attracted to the flowery words of the Vedas pravadantya vipashchitah these people are avipashchitah they are not very discerning they don't have very sharp intelligence and what do they do vedavadratah partha they are vedavadratah they are arguers of a path which is called vedavad na anyad asti iti vadinah there is nothing apart from this as I said the good can be the worst enemy of the best because if a person is adharmic that person understands that I am adharmic and that person may become elevated to become dharmic but if the person already thinks that I am dharmic while practising a lower level of dharma then that person cannot rise to a higher level of dharma because that person thinks I already know so thus the good becomes the worst enemy of the best in this way the Vedas there is a song of Bhaktivinoda Thakur where he says that actually within the Vedas itself one can get lost Krishna also talks about that in the same section in 2.52 and 2.53 he says that Mohakalila forest of delusion when your intelligence is gone beyond the forest of delusion at that time you will no longer be affected by temptation now what is Krishna talking about here forest of delusion he is not talking about the forest of material temptations literally speaking of gross self gratification of sinful self gratification he is talking about the pious materialism that is talked about in the Vedas he says that is also a dense forest of delusion which one has to go beyond so the Vedas are offering user friendly spirituality user friendly spirituality means what we say kalpataru that they are a desire fulfilling tree this is a very deep metaphor when I say it is a desire fulfilling tree then a large portion of the Vedas will reflect the desires of people if it is going to fulfil my desires if I say this supermarket is like a desire fulfilling supermarket whatever you want will get there then that supermarket will contain the things which most people want isn't it so if we say this is a desire tree of books then it will mostly contain best seller books the kind of books which people want some of the abstruse books which are read only by a few handful of people they may be there but they will not be prominently there in the book store similarly when we say the Vedas are a desire tree so their majority content reflects the desires of people and because of that the majority of their content deals with what we can call as pious materialism but it is pious materialism so materialistic people they want material things but they are ready to do they follow some dharmic regulations to get the materialistic things material things and within the Vedas there seems to be a contradiction here Krishna says first that we have to go beyond the Vedas and then he says by the Vedas I am to be known so if you have to go beyond the Vedas then how can we know Krishna through the Vedas so the point here is that Krishna is hidden in the Vedas he is not immediately revealed just like in a library in the supermarket of books if you say there are one million books and there is one special book but very few people want it then that book will not be prominent one has to really search through the supermarket to find that book so like that when Krishna says by all the Vedas I am to be known if you know Sanskrit grammar he is not saying by all the Vedas I am known by all the Vedas I am to be known that means by cursory reading we won't find Krishna prominently in the Vedas but if we understand what is the purpose of Vedic knowledge then we will search and our search will come to the conclusion of Krishna so that conclusion which is implicit in the Vedic scriptures is made explicit by the Vaishnavacharyas so that conclusion is implicit, implicit means it is there but it is not clearly stated so for example say someone asks how was the class today and I reply the topic was good laughing now the person is thoughtful was the content not good the topic was good so here there is a topic is good there is something implicit there which is not being said over there so you know when somebody appreciates also what is appreciated that is important and that reveals quite a bit so what is implicit there then if somebody asks a further question so was the content not good did you like it then the person means that implicit will become explicit the person will say you know you did not cover this point or this point was not dealt with properly or whatever the feedback will be so here what is implicit in the Vedic scriptures is made explicit by the Vaishnavacharyas and thus so here we have Dashamul fatwa where the Vedas contain a vast variety of knowledge on various subjects so Jiva Swami has written a set of books called the Shastra Sandarbha there are six books which are treatises systematic books that establish the Gaudiya Vaishnava Siddhanta as the conclusion of Vedic wisdom but for that purpose he begins so the whole first canto not canto the first part is Tattva Sandarbha so here we have Dashamul fatwa so Tattva Sandarbha is the truth when talking about the characteristics of knowledge in the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita 13.8 to 12 so he says Adhyatma Jnanatyatam Tattva Jnanartha Darshanam so Darshanam one should do philosophy for the purpose of Tattva Jnan for getting knowledge of the truth now the Tattva Jnanartha Darshanam so that Tattva Jiva Swami explains that how do we understand the Tattva he says the Vedas are a vast body of knowledge and even 500 years ago at that time he is saying much of the Vedas are lost now the Vedas themselves in their full exhaustive glory they are not accessible to us and therefore he says now the Vedas their philosophical wisdom is there in the Upanishads but the Upanishads are very abstruse and then we have the Puranas but the Puranas different Puranas talk about different deities we will come to that a little later therefore how do we know the conclusion then we look at what is the conclusion of the author of all these Vyasadev in his spiritual maturity writes the Srimad Bhagavatam and therefore his whole analysis in the Tattva Sandarbha is to establish Srimad Bhagavatam as the Sarva Pramana Chakravarti Bhuta Chakravarti is Emperor Sarva Pramana Chakravarti is the emperor of all Pramanas he establishes the Bhagavatam as that and thereby he brings forth the conclusion of Krishna and Krishna Bhakti and ultimately Krishna Brahm in the conclusion of the Vedas so I was saying that the Vedic literature are user friendly now user friendly at one level means they will reflect what the users want another level it also means that our desires are reflected also in whom we are attracted to our desires are for things and our desires are also for people so when we talk about Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha there we talk about Artha and Kama there are things which we want to enjoy but we also have desires we are attracted to certain people based on the kind of desires that we have if somebody is a cricket fan that person may be attracted to a person who is a famous cricketer or a person who is a very having encyclopaedic knowledge about cricket, a famous cricket commentator we will be attracted to that so according to our desires we are attracted to certain people so this is reflected or this is accommodated within the Vedic mode of worship also that means the Vedic literature understand that although there is there is one absolute truth but everyone will not be attracted to that one absolute truth so therefore they offer alternative objects of worship these alternatives are not equivalent to God they are not substitutes for God they are alternatives for us so most of you know the story of the prodigal son the prodigal son is the story in the bible where the wealthy father a landlord he has two sons and younger son he approaches his father and tells him father give me my inheritance and I want to go I want to go on my own now actually normally we get an inheritance after one's father dies or whoever is going to die after that we get the inheritance so to ask someone give me my inheritance that is almost like wishing you should die so it's a very very insensitive thing but this prodigal son does that and he takes the money and he squanders the money loses everything and finally after suffering terribly he comes back and his father when he gets the knowledge in his village that my son has come back he comes out in his own car and welcomes his son back and he welcomes his son back so this story is told to say how accommodating God's love is that even when we turn away from him still he doesn't turn away from us he doesn't reject us he is ready to welcome us back and that at one level is true yes Krishna is always waiting for us in our heart but at another level what the Vedic scriptures tell us is that God's love is much more than he is just waiting to welcome us mantra mantra mantra mantra Gajendra prays that oh lord you are so merciful that means you never get tired you are tirelessly working for our elevation for our liberation and one way so the prodigal son story is a standard metaphor which is used across the religious traditions to depict the selfless nature of God's love but what the Vedic scriptures tell us is that imagine there is this father whom the son has left and gone away now imagine the father is a king the son has gone away from the kingdom and has gone to some other kingdom and there the son has become the prince has become poverty stricken so now what the Vedic scriptures tell us is that the father doesn't just wait for the son to come back and welcome him the father actively tries to reach out to the son and help him help him promote his well being so how does he do that? now because the son has turned away from the father if the father himself approaches the son may not turn towards him so what the father does is sends some of his ministers and when those ministers go hey you are working here this is what you are getting I will pay you more you come and work for me now the son agrees by that the son now has come back into his father's kingdom he has not come back to his father's palace he has not come back to his father's home but at least he has come back to the father's kingdom in that sense he is indirectly in the care of his father similarly the scriptures tell us that best is give up everything and come back to Krishna but for those who cannot come back to Krishna Krishna sends his ministers they are the Devatas so the Devatas so different people based on their different natures they may be attracted to different Devatas and when they are attracted to particular Devatas at that time by getting attracted to them they come in the house of the Vedas so there is a house and then there is a treasury in the house so the treasury in the house of Vedas is Krishna and Krishna Bhakti but there are other Devatas also in this house and they are all also representing Krishna they are representing Krishna and the minister gets this power from the king similarly the Devatas get their power from Krishna 7.20 to 23 Krishna talks about demigod worship and there he says that actually it is he who gives faith to the demigod worshippers he says those who desire to worship whichever form they desire to worship remember I said that different people will be attracted to different people based on their mentality 7.20 to 23 7.20 to 23 whichever form somebody is attracted to 7.20 to 23 they desire to worship 7.20 to 23 towards them I make the shraddha achala achala means chanchala is restless achala is focused 7.20 to 23 7.20 to 23 so Krishna says it is I who am giving faith to the worshippers of the Devatas in their particular Devatas and then further he says with this faith 7.20 to 23 7.20 to 23 what happens by that 7.20 to 23 7.20 to 23 whatever desires they have those desires are fulfilled but who is giving it to them 7.20 to 23 it is I who is giving it to them so Krishna is here, we are here we have a direct relationship with Krishna that is our eternal relationship but suppose we are not inclined to want to relate to Krishna then we can go towards Maya we will go towards Maya but Krishna wants us to stay connected with him so the demigods the Devatas become his intermediates so it is Krishna who gives the demigods, Devatas power to give the fruits and it is Krishna who gives us the faith to worship the Devatas we may say that if this whole system is run by Krishna only then what is the problem if you are following the system no the problem is Krishna tells in 7.23 that antavattu phalam desham tad bhavaty alpamedhasam devam devijyo yanti madbhakta yanti mam api so he says antavattu phalam desham the fruit that they are going to get from the worship of the Devatas is temporary why? Prabhupada writes in that purport that Devatas are temporary, their planets are temporary their fruits are temporary and their worshippers are also temporary so their worshippers means whatever status they attain they are also going to be temporary therefore antavat it is temporary and therefore one should not pursue that Krishna says alpamedhasam, they are less intelligent so again less intelligent we might say that this is disrespect but you also know that there is respect there is intelligence this intelligence is required to worship the Devatas also otherwise people are just gross materialists and that's why in the 17th chapter when Krishna talks about the three modes worship in the three modes he says janate sattvika devan anybody who worships the Devatas that person is in goodness without having some level of goodness one will not even consider worshipping the Devatas one will just be a materialist who depends on one's own strength now there is subtler stratification also that goodness is not just monochrome monochrome means only one colour within goodness also there are shades within ignorance also there are shades for example normally we consider a cow to be worshipable a cow to be sacred at the same time in the Bhagavad Gita there it says that sa eva gokha raha a person who is materialistic a person who considers the body to be oneself, the person who considers just bathing in a holy place to be the purpose of pilgrimage such a person says is like a cow or an ass now we say ass I can understand but why such a person be compared to a cow isn't cow sacred so why should a foolish person be compared to a cow this is a matter of perspective see in general all animals are in ignorance the animal body itself is a body in ignorance but within ignorance there can be grades so you could say that if we have an animal like a vulture or a bird like a vulture or animal like a jackal that is an ignorance ignorance whereas say animal like a tiger although the tiger is also an animal body but the tiger chases around and catches prey and rules the jungle so the tiger is in ignorance passion and the cow is in ignorance goodness so ignorance is the common denominator there but within the denominator of ignorance there is ignorance passion and ignorance goodness so like that even for the worshipper of the devatas there has to be a denominator of goodness and within goodness there can be goodness ignorance there can be goodness passion and there can be goodness goodness so the varaha puran as well as the matsya puran they describe that the puranas themselves the 18 puranas can be classified into 6 6 6 categories the sattvic puranas, the rajasic puranas and the tamasic puranas and the tamasic puranas they recommend the worship of Shiva the rajasic puranas they recommend the worship of Brahma the sattvic puranas they recommend the worship of Vishnu well this is not exactly correct actually all the puranas talk about all the devatas sattvic puranas also talk about Brahma even the Bhagavatam has a section where where Brahma is offering prayers to Shiva when Shiva is angry because of because Daksha insults him and his wife commits suicide so at that time Brahma goes and offers prayers to satisfy Shiva so actually the same devatas are talked about in all the 3 3 puranas but the world views the values, the purposes the cherished goals that are talked about they are different many puranas may begin with ok so please tell me the samsaris are assembled and they discuss please tell me the glory of the goddess please tell me the glory of Shiva so this is they are discussing the glory of their worship but the Bhagavatam doesn't begin with tell me the glory of Vishnu Bhagavatam begins with what is the ultimate good of all living beings it's a universal question and from that universal question it will focus on a specific duty Jiva Goswami analyses this he says so many different puranas may talk about different devatas so how do we know which purana is talking about the absolute truth so this is one of the criteria he says is that look whether the purana is asking universal questions or sectarian questions universal questions the Bhagavatam questions are universal for example what is the duty of a person who is to die, who is about to die now that is a universal question whether a person is worshipping the goddess or worshipping Shiva or worshipping Vishnu is universal so the same Vyasadev has revealed progressive levels of knowledge according to the capacity of people so people are in ignorance remember the desiratory example suppose somebody goes on Amazon, Kindle and they say okay we want to look for books for adventure or we want to look for detective novels, mystery novels now on Amazon there may be books on philosophy also there may be books on religion also but when a particular person searches for a particular thing that's what they will find similarly when people have a tamasic world view and they have tamasic goals then the Vedas offer them that, that's the meaning of a desiratory but if one open-mindedly studies the Vedas trying to understand what is their ultimate conclusion then we come to the conclusion that it is Krishna who is to be named in the Vedas and here it is said that he is praised and glorified and offered obeisances by Brahma, Shiva and Indra and we see this is what the Bhagavatam does in the 10th Canto there are many pastimes but all those pastimes, Krishna performs so many pastimes Shukadeva Goswami selects pastimes which have some philosophy to import also so for example, in the 10th Canto it is described how Krishna humbles Indra that is the Bhagavatam chapter 23 to 27 it also describes how Brahmaji is bewildered by Krishna that is chapter 13 and 14 and then there is also when Shiva sides with Banasur and at that time Shiva is defeated by Vishnu Jiwara defeats Shiva Jiwara but there also what is done that is in the later part of the Krishna Dvarka Leela that is also describing supremacy of Krishna so if we study the scriptures carefully this is the conclusion that we will come to and that conclusion here is made very explicit by the Acharyas this is a little complex subject now hmm ok there is Sat Chit Ananda the three aspects of the absolute truth Sat Chit Ananda now Vadantika Tattva Sattvamya Jnanam Advaya it is important to understand this is Jnana Advaya that Brahmeti, Paramatmeti, Bhagavan so Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are Advaya Tattva they are not different it is not that Krishna is one person here and Brahman is someone else over there and they are two different things they are one person only for example to understand what this means suppose there is a kitchen over here and in the kitchen say Halwa is being cooked now the fragrance of the Halwa comes over here what is this smells nice Ananda Anjum says that food should be cooked in such a way that taste should be the final experience of the food not the only experience of the food he says first food should attract just by the fragrance Tamikal Nappu says just by the fragrance it should be so attracted to it and then he is talking about Prasad of course then he says then it should be visually appealing if you are having chapatis they should be proper chapatis if you are having puris they should be cracked and broken should be properly swelled so it should appeal visually and then after that it should have the right texture soft item should be soft crisp item should be crisp sometimes we take a bread and that bread is like like a toast if it is a toast that should be a toast but if it is a bread it should be a bread so texture should be appropriate so then after that when we taste it then that is the fulfilment of the Prasad.

So the point here is that fragrance appeal fragrance, appearance texture and taste let's put texture right now fragrance, appearance and taste these are attributes of the same substance the same halwa has fragrance same halwa has appearance and same halwa has taste. So if I am here in this room and the halwa is being cooked somewhere else then all that I am able to sense over here is the fragrance and when I go further I go where is this coming from and I say oh there is this big bucket in which halwa is kept over there wow it looks so colourful, so attractive and then when I taste it at that time I get great joy. It is delicious so here the same halwa is partially experienced first as fragrance.

It is experienced a little more as fragrance come appearance and it is fully experienced as fragrance come appearance come taste so Brahman realisation of the absolute truth is like realising only the fragrance of the halwa so when we realise only the sat aspect of the absolute truth that is Brahman realisation when we realise the sat and chit aspect of the absolute truth sat and chit aspects of the absolute truth that is like Paramatma realisation that is like realising the fragrance and the appearance or that perceiving, experiencing the fragrance and the appearance of the halwa but when we realise the sat, chit and aham aspects all three aspects of the absolute truth that is the Bhagavan realisation that is the Bhagavan realisation now the difference is not in the halwa whether I am here or I am in the prasadam hall or I am sitting and the halwa is in my mouth the halwa remains the same it is my perception that is different so Brahman is also sat, chit, anand Paramatma is also sat, chit, anand Bhagavan is also sat, chit, anand they are advaya tattva they are non different absolute truth the difference is not between Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan the difference is in our perception of the absolute truth so when we perceive the absolute truth as all pervading effulgence at that time we are perceiving the sat aspect of the absolute truth what does it mean perceiving the sat aspect of the absolute truth see when we look around the world at one level it looks very impressive especially when we live in big cities like this skyscraper buildings and we have fast vehicles and we may have aeroplanes it all looks very impressive but it all can disappear in one moment when the 9-11 attacks happened in America it was not just the attack but what the twin towers represented the power and prosperity of America that was shattered in just a few hours so the point is that what can seem very impressive at one moment can just disappear at the next moment so things in this world are temporary the only thing constant in this world is nothing is constant that is the only thing constant in the world so the only constant then a wise person starts thinking is there something constant if there is something constant it must be beyond this world what could be there beyond this world is constant this world is made of matter and matter is changing Adi buddham sharo bhavo Krishna says in 8.3 material nature is characterised by constant change there must be something which is unchanging and if matter is always changing then spirit will be unchanging and in that way when one starts perceiving beyond the endless variety of matter to the unending constancy of spirit that is the realisation of the sataspect so when we realise the sataspect we understand the brahman effulgence now this realisation he says over here prakriti rahitam means without potency so at this stage when we perceive the absolute truth we simply perceive it as existence we perceive it as there is some eternal existence but is that existence having any activity is that existence having any potency one doesn't know about it so when one perceives the paramatma one perceives yes there is an eternal spirit but that spirit is governing this material world also so Jiva Krishna explains in Sandarbhas that when we perceive brahman we perceive the absolute truth without any potencies when we perceive paramatma we perceive the absolute truth with material potencies with material potencies means with the potency to control material nature, super soul is in control of material nature so we understand that paramatma has the potency to create control, maintain the material world so when we perceive the absolute truth with material and spiritual potencies that is the perception of Bhagawan the perception of Bhagawan is what he has material potencies to control the material world but he also has spiritual potencies by which he relishes Asa and that is the sublime complete understanding of the absolute truth paramatma is normally we talk about the holy name is transcendental that means it is beyond, it is non-material there are two aspects of God there is emanence and transcendence, emanence means God's existence within matter and transcendence is God's existence beyond matter so the paramatma aspect is the emanent aspect of God he is present within matter jagat anugato present within matter the transcendent aspect of God is Bhagawan he exists in his own abode so at the level of dharmarthakama moksha, at the level of dharmarthakama primarily one has no conception of the transcendent aspect of God because one is really not concerned about who God is and what God does sometimes some people come to temple and they may go to any temple and just fold their hands and pray and they may not even notice who is there on the altar their concern is not who is on the altar, their concern is what is he going to give me so their primary concern is not with God, their primary concern is with God's supplies so here when we come to the appreciate the transcendent aspect of God that means we understand his self existential glory not his glory as a provider of our needs or a provider of our desires but his glory in his own right and that is Bhagawan Sri Krishna and what does he do? Radhakanta so we will discuss more about Radhakanta later when the other sutras are talked about but the conception of God as having his own internal potency wherein he delights in the eternal ecstasy of love of pure spiritual love that is a very sublime enchanting conception of God and then here he is giving a hint of that who is this Hari, the paramatattva he is Navajaludakanta has beautiful effulgence that effulgence is is like a freshly formed monsoon cloud now the conceptions of beauty in different cultures differ slightly but quite often the fair complexion is considered attractive the dark complexion is considered less attractive but still Krishna is described as Shama but he is not Shama he is Shama Sundara so he is dark but he is attractive not just attractive he is supremely attractive so the point of Krishna being called as Shama Sundara is that his beauty transcends material conceptions of beauty his beauty is sublime it is transcendental that absolute truth is the manifestation of spiritual potency there is nothing material about Krishna he is entirely spiritual now sometimes some children when their birthday is there at that time a birthday cake might be made and usually at the top of the cake they have a cream layer now sometimes using the cream sometimes the child likes a dog the cream may be shaped into the shape of a dog now that whole dog is made of cream only so like that Krishna is completely Satchitananda his whole substance is pure Satchitananda it is pure spiritual existence and cognisance and bliss and that Kri is the absolute truth it is he who is talking about through the scriptures and he is the second Sattva of the Dashamudra I will summarise I started by talking about how the scriptures are desire tree so not only they fulfil our desires but they reflect our desires so that which people desire most will be present most in the scriptures and that which few people desire even if that is the most important thing that will be hidden in the scriptures and that is why the Vedas prominently contain Karmakand Karmakand is not bad it is good because there is a basic denominator of goodness in worshipping someone higher I talked about goodness can also be multilevel or ignorance can also be multilevel I talked about animals being in different levels ignorance-ignorance or ignorance-passion ignorance-goodness and similarly there can be people who are in basic denominator of goodness they are worshipping devatas but then there is ignorance-passion-goodness within that so the good can often be the worst enemy of the best and that means the people who get attached to worshipping a particular way who start thinking that okay the purpose of the Vedas is just to get material things then they will not look for anything spiritual and in that way they will imagine that I am being Dharmic but they will forget deprive themselves of the ultimate purpose of Dharma and that's why what is implicit in the Vedic scriptures themselves is made explicit by the Vaishnavacharyas and then we discussed about how Krishna whose love whose selfless love is manifested in the system of demigod worship that he allows other people to act as his substitutes just like the son father may allow a minister to intermediate between him and the estranged son son who has gone away so like that the devatas are given power to give rewards by Krishna and the faith in the devatas among their worshippers is also given by Krishna so in the Bible there is a conception of your God is a jealous God you should not worship any God other than your one true God so Krishna is not a jealous God he is a zealous God zealous means he has a great zeal to elevate people and for the sake of elevating people he is ready even to have others being considered as great let them worship you so imagine somebody comes to say you are the CEO of a company and somebody comes to your office and there is someone who is your assistant manager and the visitor starts glorifying that person as the CEO you will feel insulted you will feel slighted but Krishna is not like that ok you want to glorify the devatas if that's what you are at the level by which you can do fine you glorify the devatas you become elevated by that and progressively people will get elevated then we discussed about how the conceptions of the absolute truth so Brahman, Paramatman, Bhagwan so they are all three are the same substance just like the halwa is the same but at one level the fragrance is perceived at another level its appearance, its form is seen at another level its taste is relished so when the absolute truth is seen only is perceived only as eternity sat that is the Brahman realisation when it is perceived as sat and chit that is Paramatman and sat chit ananda that is the Bhagwan realisation so at the sat realisation one simply understands that there is something unchanging beyond this changing material manifestation and that is the perception of the absolute truth without any potencies here prakriti rahitam then when they perceive the Paramatman that eternal whatever is there is also controlling this world that is the prakriti that is the Paramatman realisation that is the absolute truth with material potencies and Bhagwan realisation is the absolute truth with material and spiritual potencies Krishna has his own energies, spiritual energies and through those energies he relishes eternal love that is pointed to Radha this is Radhakanta, he is the lover of Radha and he has an enchanting form shamsundara form represents his all attractive beauty which transcends material conceptions so thank you very much.