How is Bhagavan higher than Brahman? Ishopanishad 15-16

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, today we start the last section of Ayesha Upanishad. That is verses 15 to 18. And this is the most devotional section.
It comprises of many prayers. So, let’s recite the verse. … … … … … … … … So, … … … Let’s look at the translation.
Basically, Hiranyana is golden effulgence. … … … … … … … … … Mukham is a very personal reference when we talk about the face, श्यापिहितम् मुखम् तत्त्वं पूशन अपावरू अपिहितम् means to be covered पूशन, oh lord we are the maintainer one who does potion अपावरू, please open by that what will happen? please unveil सत्य धर्माय दुष्टये दुष्टये is see so, actually there is not just one reference to a person to a personal aspect but two references one is the reference that there is मुखम् the absolute truth of the face second is that I want to see so please unveil the covering, please remove the covering or unveil yourself so that I can see your true face सत्य धर्माय, true nature दुष्टये this is one of the most direct verses from the Rukmini Shastra which indicates that there is something beyond the light generally all the Mayavadis they say that you have to go beyond the person to the light but this is a verse which radically and directly contradicts their conception that there is something higher than the person beyond the person what the verses say go beyond the light not beyond the person go beyond the light to the person so in that sense this is a very very strong verse from the Upanishads which supports a personal understanding of the absolute truth as the conclusive understanding so this acknowledges that there are rays but it says that beyond the rays there is a person so now let’s look at the purport so in the prayer itself पूष्ण पूष्ण is one who maintains so here Sri Prabhupada explains that the supreme absolute truth is not just maintaining the material world as he does, the word Vishnu means one who is there in in the Vishwa in its every Anu he is called as Vishnu so one who is in the Vishwa in each of its Anu so Vishwa plus Anu is Vishnu one who is all pervading so he is all pervading and through his all pervading presence he maintains the material world that is universally accepted Sri Prabhupada uses a higher understanding and he says that actually the lord is not just the maintainer or sustainer of the material world he is also the sustainer the basis of the other aspects of the absolute truth also this is a very distinctive understanding Sri Prabhupada uses and we will see how this works out in analytical frame he says Krishna is the basis of Brahman and Paramatma so where does the Bhagavad Gita say Krishna is the basis of Brahman ब्रह्मनोः हि प्रिष्ठा हम् 14.27 very clearly says that the Brahman is I am the support of the Brahman the Brahman is supported by me similarly as far as the Paramatma is concerned Sri Prabhupada will quote this in this purport here this concluding verse of the of the 10th chapter one of the last verses 41-42 talk about these things अथवा भहुनै तेन किम ग्यातेन तव आर्जुन विष्ठब्याह विदम् कृष्ण एसामशेनस्ति तो जगत so this is the last verse of the 10th chapter 42nd verse and it is saying that Arjuna has asked Krishna please speak your glories what need is there for me to speak all about my भहुनै तेन so many glories are there, so detailed are there किम ग्यातेन what need is there to get ज्यान of all this I’ll just give you one statement which will help you understand my glories विष्ठब्याह इदम् कृष्ण विष्ठब्याह means pervaded, supported इदम् कृष्ण कृष्ण is everything the word कृष्ण and कृष्ण are different sometimes they are mistaken कृष्ण means everything विष्ठब्याह इदम् कृष्ण the whole world is pervaded कृष्ण विष्ठब्याह एक आमशेन तो जगत एक आमशेन तो जगत by one amsha of mine now it is well known from the general Vedic philosophy that who pervades the universe, that is the Paramatma, the Supersoul and Krishna is saying that Supersoul is my एक आमशेन तो जगत एक आमशेन तो जगत so in this way if you look at the Bhagavad Gita for illumination, Rishi Upanishad then it indicates that both the Brahman and the Paramatma are manifestations of Krishna so in this way this is the first point पूष्ण now सत्यधर्माय दृष्टय how Krishna reveals himself beyond the Brahman so in the you may remember in the start of the course when we were looking at the invocation we discussed how when the sath aspect of the absolute truth is realised then Brahman is realised when sath and chit aspects are realised then Paramatma is realised sath, chit, ananda are realised then Bhagavan is realised so now Jiva Goswami in his Bhagavatsandhara work gives another analysis of how Bhagavan is the highest understanding of the absolute truth let’s look at that understanding so Srila Prabhupada paraphrases this where is it? so Prabhupada paraphrases this in his purport so on the path of Sankhya the absolute truth is seen as matter yes, all that exists over here in the world is actually temporary all the forms, all the fragrances, all the sights all of them are temporary, what ultimately exists is the material elements so that means even Sankhya understands that the visible world is a relative truth but beyond the visible world is the relative truth what is the absolute truth? they think that the forms, the shapes, the fragrances, the tastes, beyond them there are the elements and Sankhya goes beyond the forms and sense objects that allure us in this world but it goes beyond to only one level, that is it is matter that is the absolute truth in its various fundamental elements then at the level of Jnana one goes beyond matter to spirit when one goes beyond matter to spirit one recognises the Brahman but Jiva Goswami says that the realisation of Brahman is the realisation of absolute truth without potencies because although they consider the Brahman to be the absolute truth the Brahman for all practical purposes can’t do anything for all practical purposes, the Brahman just exists, you may remember earlier I explained how for conscious experience there has to be the object of which we are conscious the subject who is conscious and then there is the consciousness which goes from the object to the subject from the subject to the object rather but if there is only consciousness that exists then there cannot be any action we know the story of the king who had a beloved parrot and he gave it to his minister and he told the minister take very good care of my parrot and never never give me the news that this parrot has died because I love it very much the day you give me that news you will be dead so then everyday when the minister would come the father would the king would ask him, so how is the parrot he said fine, fine, fine and one day the parrot died so when the parrot died the minister came to the king’s palace and the king scolded him how is the parrot he said it’s fine, only one problem what is it without chirping anymore oh ok otherwise it’s alright, yeah there is one more problem it is not eating anything oh any other problems it is not moving even within the cage oh any other problem it is not breathing also that means it is dead I didn’t say that I didn’t say that so how it is that if the parrot can’t, doesn’t sing, doesn’t move, doesn’t eat doesn’t breathe, then that means it is dead so if the absolute truth doesn’t have hands, doesn’t have legs doesn’t have eyes, doesn’t have ears doesn’t have any faculties any energies for doing anything then it is as good or rather as bad as the absolute truth being dead, so Prabhupada says that at some level the impersonalists cannot be called as theists theists means those who believe in god so the impersonalists are the theists, they have a conception of god, but they have the conception that we have to go beyond god that’s why actually the 1.1.1, the first chapter Bhagavatam, Prabhupada explains that the impersonalists have encouraged the atheists by stressing the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth, because the impersonal aspect of the absolute truth is not very attractive and that makes people go on the path of materialism which ends in atheism, so when the absolute truth is devoid of all potencies what is actually left of the absolute so therefore that is the conception of gyan so that’s why in the in the Harinama Amrit Vyakaran how many of you have heard of this book called Harinama Amrit Vyakaran so Harinama Amrit Vyakaran is a book of grammar rules, of grammar which is written by Jim Goswami using the names of Krishna and the sentences related to Krishna as rules for grammar and as examples for grammar so for example if there is Sandhi then he will say Panini has given some other name for the Sandhi but he will give a name related to Krishna so like that he says that while you are studying Vyakaran you can remember Krishna so we know that when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was teaching grammar, initially he was an exemplary and extraordinary teacher but after he met Ishwara Puri and had that dramatic transformation from which he left the path of Taraka and took up the path of Bhakti, then he would just say that the dhatu of all words is Krishna so Jim Goswami takes inspiration from that and he says that actually even if devotees have to study grammar let them study it entirely through the names of Krishna so there if you know in Sanskrit there are 3 genders in English there are only 2 genders there is masculine and feminine but in Sanskrit there are 3 masculine, feminine and neutral so he says that he gives devotional names to everything so for gender also he said the masculine gender is Narayan and Linga and the feminine gender is Lakshmi Linga and the neutral gender he calls as Brahman Linga so Brahman Linga because the idea is that Brahman in the absolute truth manifests as Brahman, there are no potencies which are manifested so now at the level of Yoga when the Yogi makes such an advancement Dhyana Vasthita Tadgatena Manasa Pashyantiyam Yogino so the Bhagavatam describes that the same absolute truth which is actually revealed in the Bhagavatam as Krishna is the ultimate goal of the Yogi Dhyana Vasthita Dhyana Dharana Samadhi when they become fully situated in the perfection of Yoga Tadgatena Manasa they see with their inner vision Pashyantiyam Yogino they see this absolute truth now when the Yogi’s pursue the absolute truth as Paramatma they understand that the Paramatma is supervising the material world in 13.23 Lord Krishna says that the Paramatma is Upadrishta Anumantach Overseer and Permitter so the Paramatma has the potency to control the whole material world now the Yogi’s when they see the Paramatma they can either go to Bhagavan Realisation or come to the Brahman Realisation so if they understand that I am the servant of the Paramatma then they will go to Vishantara Sattva Vaikuntha but if they think I am the Paramatma then they will go to Brahman so they understand the absolute truth as material potencies but only they are fortunate that they will understand the absolute truth as spiritual potencies then they can enter the spiritual world so Paramatma level of realisation is higher because they understand that the absolute truth is not impotent, there are potencies and the potencies are real they are not illusory as is the idea in the path of Gyan and in Bhakti the absolute truth has material and spiritual potencies that the absolute truth is able to control this world with its energies but along with that there is dynamism in the spiritual realm which occurs by the energy of the absolute truth so this gives the complete understanding of the absolute truth that in the spiritual world Krishna has his yoga maya by the yoga maya there is continuous arrangement of newer and newer pastimes so spiritual life as revealed in Goloka Vrindavan is not as I had mentioned earlier a frozen perfection yes frozen yes everybody is in perfect pose that’s how they stay forever no actually it’s dynamic there is villain and there is viraha there is union and there is separation and everything is arranged in the spiritual world so that both these are facilitated and that’s how the spiritual world is alive and ecstatic all the time so this is the understanding of the absolute truth at the highest level this is the ultimate revelation so now Sri Prabhupada while talking about this mentions that when we are talking about Krishna’s pastime he says he uses the word here pleasure excursions Krishna is performing pastime what are they for him? pleasure excursions he is going out to play so when Nanda Maharaj tells Yashodamayi that our Krishna has grown up now now is the time for him to take care of cows so now from tomorrow onwards let him go to the jungle and take care of the baby cows, the cows Yashodamayi says my Krishna is so tender and if his foot just falls on the ground it may get discoloured and how can he go into the forest and you have so many servants to take care of the cows why does my Arkana have to go and Krishna is hearing all this and Krishna becomes yes yes I want to go, I want to go into the forest and play and mother whatever you say I am going to go don’t play a spoilsport and stop me from going and Krishna thinks that going to the forest is so wonderful, so enjoyable and then the next morning Nanda Maharaj and Yashodamayi wake up Nanda Maharaj is thinking how I will persuade Yashodamayi how will I persuade her that she will let Krishna go but then Yashodamayi thinks about it and she feels that ultimately my heart is what will please Krishna and so therefore she lets Krishna go so for Krishna his pastime is the pleasure excursions so this is another rendition of the word Leela and Prabhupada uses the word here acrobats of the so called Hatha Yoga system he uses the word acrobats for them acrobats because they do all sorts of postures and people get impressed by those postures so Prabhupada says at one place in one of his small books that the activities of the Ashtanga Yogis or Hatha Yogis are childish childish antics why? because sometimes the children are playing and if one child is able to do something that nobody else is able to do everybody else gets impressed if one child is able to do Shirsasana stand on his hands everybody gets impressed by that but actually what is the productive value of that somebody might be able to do something which others can’t do but what is the actual value of that similarly the Yogi is at initial level they might be able to do some physical acrobatics at advanced level they might be able to do some mystical acrobatics might be able to produce some ash and things like that but how is that practically benefiting anyone in terms of liberating them from the cycle of samsara so Prabhupada paraphrases I am an ass, give me some ash I am an ass, give me some ash so people who get impressed by the ash they are like arses so Prabhupada is not impressed by these things so now if you look at Prabhupada quotes this verse from the Bhagavatam also why is this verse he is quoting because this is the same absolute truth which the Jnanis think of as Brahman and the the normal devotees think of as their absolute as their lord and ordinary living beings think to be the ordinary human being but he is actually being the play friend of the Gopas how exalted the Gopas are and Prabhupada talks of five rasas and then what I show the table that is what is talked about over here so now again Prabhupada quotes one more reference over here Prabhupada is filling this whole thing with references and then he quotes this classic verse from Mundaka Upanishad this is something which Mayavadis love Hiranmaye Parekose Virajam Brahmanishkalam Jyotisham Jyotish Jyotisham Jyotisham Light of all lights Atma Vidho and you see how similar it is to the Bhagavad Gita so this is very similar to Bhagavad Gita 15.6 So there there are three elements the sun, the moon and Agni but in the translation Prabhupada adds electricity over the rest so how plumber is he? electricity! he did not know electricity at that time but how did electricity come up? Prabhupada is giving us as I told earlier he is giving maximum mileage with every rendition that he does so here there is Vidyata Vidyata means electricity so here Datra Suryo Bhati Chandra Tarakam Agni is there, so moon is there, sun is there fire is there but Vidyata Vidyata is electricity is there and more importantly whenever there is a translation done in a translation many literal many academic scholars they feel that Prabhupada, how can he put electricity over there? it’s not there and that works how can you add something in the translation like that but whenever there is a translation the translator has to always have a very dynamic balance between precision and relevance there are two factors precision and relevance precision means he has to be very accurate in what he is telling but along with the precision if something is extremely accurate but it is completely irrelevant to people it doesn’t relate with my life only then what is the use of the accuracy so what is the emphasis of that verse 15.7 translation is a dynamic and delicate precision and relevance so precision like you remember earlier I had said that continuing a tradition means responsible preaching means one has to stay connected with the tradition and one has to stay connected with the audience can I tell this about responsible preaching no see when somebody is preaching a message so a preacher first I will explain this then I will come to that point so precision means from a linguistic point of view from a linguistic conceptual philosophical point of view it has to be accurate but while being accurate people have to also be shown how it is related with them, how it is relevant with them most people in modern times don’t rely on the sun, moon or fire for light most people in modern times rely on electricity and the emphasis of that verse 15.6 in Bhagavad Gita is what the emphasis is that there is no darkness in that world that world is a world of light so and that light is self-manifest over there it is not that light is not resulting from something external there is no dependence on anything for light so this world is inherently dark that world is inherently light lighted so for emphasising this point about how that world does not depend on external source of light, Prabhupada says ok what are the external source of light people use now, it’s electricity so therefore he says that actually electricity is also not required over there, so this is a slight tangent from our main topic of discussion but it’s an important point, so now coming to preaching faithfulness and sensitivity responsible preaching involves a dynamic and delicate balance between faithfulness and sensitivity so a preacher is at the intersection of two points of two two thought systems you can say, there is a traditional thought system which is coming from ancient times and the preacher is representing that at the same time the preacher imagine there is a vertical axis coming down and then there is a horizontal plane, that is the current audience the current audience so the preacher is junction of these two planes the traditional school of thought the traditional message that is coming down and the contemporary audience so what links the preacher with the tradition is his faithfulness and what links the preacher with his audience is his sensitivity now if he lacks either that preaching is irresponsible preaching if the preacher says I will be faithful, but I don’t care what audience thinks about me then ok you may be repeating the message, but you are not fulfilling the mission you are not fulfilling the mission, the mission is what that I have to reach out to people, now Srila Prabhupada if he had just been interested in being ok, faithful faithful to the spirit, faithful to the literature ok, I have been preaching in India for 40 years, people are not interested what can I do Srila Prabhupada could have said that to our sensitivity to the audience these people are impressed by westerners so let me go to the west reach to the west, make westerners into devotees and then come back with them then they will actually take their own heritage seriously so Srila Prabhupada from the traditional rules point of view sanyasi is not meant to cross the ocean but that rule is for protecting sanyasis from falling down Srila Prabhupada far from falling down elevated people who have fallen so Srila Prabhupada may have transcended the letter of the spirit letter of the law, but he fulfilled the purpose of the law the purpose of law is to elevate as many people as possible so faithfulness is important but along with that sensitivity is also important so if we are faithful but not sensitive we lose the audience if we are sensitive but not faithful then we lose the tradition that means we lose ourselves only so that’s why there has to be a balance between the two now any questions about this till now? yeah I think you came a little late I explained that the paramatma controls the material world he has that potency so now Srila Prabhupada explains Srila Prabhupada is talking in two ways here he says what is the object of realisation of these various paths and he says how that is incomplete object or their realisation of that object is incomplete then he says the various paths ultimately lead to Bhagwan realisation through bhakti so that’s the next part Srila Prabhupada has given a few things over there and I have added a few things also some other verses also I have added over there Srila Prabhupada mainly talks about 6.46 and 6.47 over here in his purport so Sankhya, Dhyana, Yoga and Karma these are the different approaches to the absolute truth the Bhagavad Gita establishes how all of them ultimately lead to the Bhagwan realisation so what we could do is I will just edit this 46 and 47 as I have got Dhyana separately here so Sankhya, what does it mean they analyse all the material elements in Sankhya but the Bhagavad Gita shows that what are the material elements they are the energies of Krishna so 7.47 is what and then 7.7 is so the first verse 7.4 says that everything in the material world is my infinite energy then the next verse says there is the consciousness the soul that is my superior energy and then to make things more clear in 7.6 Krishna says that whatever is there in the material world everything that exists here is a combination of this material and spiritual energy therefore I am the sustainer of everything that is what I am its beginning, I am its source I am its sustainer and I am its ultimate rest and then 7.7 he says that there is no truth higher than me and I pervade the whole material existence so then this is 7.47 Krishna says that the ultimate goal of Sankhya whatever Sankhya is realising that is sustained by me then what is the path of Dhyana does anyone know what is 7.19 or does anyone know which is the verse which says that Gyanis ultimately become Bhaktas all of you know that verse just don’t know that it has to be connected here any verse which says that Gyanis ultimately become Bhaktas yes let’s recite it together bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudeva sarvam iti samahatma sudurlabhah so bahunam janmanam ante it is many lifetimes for them then they become jnanavan jnanavan mam prapadyate now there is an interesting point of this verse the Mayavadis say actually sarvam kalmavidam brahma everything is brahma there is not one particular brahmajyoti there is not one particular person as Bhagawan everything is brahma and you just have to merge into that everything to underline the absolute truth but when Krishna is telling over here that these people become jnanavan so a jnanavan at that time what happens he says they understand vasudeva sarvam iti they understand everything is vasudeva but that doesn’t mean they surrender to everything they surrender to me that means this jnanavan realisation is not an impersonal realisation that is a personal realisation vasudeva sarvam iti everything is vasudeva but jnanavan mam prapadyate not jnanavan sarvam prapadyate that means everything is vasudeva but vasudeva also has a personal manifestation vasudeva is not just an impersonal absolute truth yes narasimhadeva emerged from a pillar but when narasimhadeva emerged from the pillar pranalar maharaj did not garland the pillar he garlanded narasimhadeva yes he said my lord is present everywhere yes he is present everywhere when he is present he is present everywhere but when the lord manifested yes everything is respectable but not everything is worshipable everything is material energy so it is the energy of krishna so everything is respectable but everything is not worshipable everything is not it is krishna who is ultimately worshipable you know in the early days when when high giri prabhu was typing some of the prabhupada’s notes into his book so one day prabhupada came into the room and high giri prabhu was sitting and there was a typewriter ahead of him so he wanted to get up to greet prabhupada and possibly offer obeisances so the typewriter was closed by prabhupada high giri prabhu just with his leg he was about to kick it away and prabhupada said no don’t touch it with your leg he said this is sacred so high giri prabhu said this is sacred this is krishna’s energy and you cannot touch it with your leg so high giri prabhu he was very new at that time he said you mean to say that typewriter is sacred and my leg is not sacred this leg is also krishna’s energy so prabhupada said yes you are a devotee so your leg is also krishna’s energy your leg is also to be respected those objects which are krishna’s paraphernalia they are to be treated respectfully and one form of disrespectful treatment is touching with the leg so we accept the point krishna is present everywhere krishna is present even in the leg but when we touch something with the leg it is seen as an act of disrespect and that is to be avoided so that is the understanding that there is absolute truth beyond the all pervasive aspect of the absolute truth, the personal absolute truth and then there is the path of yoga this we discuss elaborately in our gita class when we come to it 6.14-15 krishna talks about how from the brahman realisation they come to me and 6.28-30 is very beautiful 6.28 talks about brahman realisation 6.29 talks about paramatma realisation 6.30 talks about bhagwan realisation so that is a very beautiful progression that is there so first 6.29 talks about the absolute truth in third person terms sarvabhutastham atmanam sarvabhutani chatmani ikshate yoga yuktatma sarvatra samadarshanah sarvabhutastham atmanam and sees that everything is situated in the absolute truth and everyone is situated in the absolute truth and then Arjuna is thinking what is that absolute truth? who is that absolute truth? krishna makes things clear in the next verse one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me which a person is never lost to me and I am never lost to him so that way krishna makes clear that bhagwan is the highest truth and then 6.46 6.47 is what? 6.47 is yoginam api sarvesha yoginam api sarvesha margatena antaratmana shraddhavan bhajateyoma they are most intimately united with me now there are many yoga teachers who just quote 6.46 and they don’t quote 6.47 6.46 shows how among all other paths the path of yoga is the greatest they like to quote this yogi is greater than tapasvi yogi is greater than a gyani yogi is greater than a karmi therefore become a yogi krishna in bhagwat gita also tells us to become a yogi and they stop all this they don’t quote 6.47 because 6.47 goes beyond that and says that actually from the yogi one has to go on and become a bhakta and that is not what they want to teach to people they think that yoga is itself the highest so krishna is quite clear in 3.39 they talk about how karma ultimately leads to bhakti that means the path of karma 3.9 is 3.30 is 3.30 is all karma should be offered to me so in this way bhagwat gita makes things very clear that the various paths ultimately lead to bhakti and ultimately conclude in understanding of bhagwan as the absolute so now in this purport krishna concludes concludes by so we are discussing this verse so this brahma jyoti is that which is everywhere so that means on this side there is brahman on that side there is brahman on that side there is brahman although there is brahman there is brahman so now in other words that supreme brahman is spread throughout both the material and spiritual skies so we just talk about that brahman and prabhupada is quoting it for the point that it is also said to be here the verse was please remove that so what is that that is the brahman and you have to go beyond that and this is where brahman explains and then he says in summary brahman paraphrases this and he says a philosopher is better than a labouring man, a mystic is superior to philosopher and of all the mystic yogis he who follows bhakti yoga is the highest directs us towards his perfection so how is he directing us towards his perfection at one level it is telling us that there is something beyond the light so we have to there is something beyond the light that is to be seen that is to be perceived, that is to be realised and secondly this verse actually is also telling how that reality which is beyond the light is to be approached it is approached not just by one’s analytical or intellectual power it is to be approached through prayer it is to be approached through prayer so in this way prayer is an integral aspect of bhakti it may be a part of the other path, sometimes the jnanis may also have some prayers in a transitional sense but in this verse he is saying that through prayer one can go to a reality beyond the jnana so are there any questions about this till now? shall we stop here? all of you are looking very tired today shall we continue to the next verse? maybe we will complete one day earlier so mantra 16 continues the same theme of prayer before I go there let me show you one more thing this last section that is there all of you have your books? ok, you can decide from there only no need for us to bother about this ok, this is good so the sanskrit is there ok there it is so verse 16 sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit sanskrit what do I want to see? rupam, the form and what is the nature of that form? kalyanatamam kalyanatamam means supremely auspicious kalyanam, kalyanataram and kalyanatamam good, better, best so it is saying that rupa is kalyanatamam it is not saying that you have to go beyond the rupa to be kalyanatamam so Srila Prabhupada explains what this means is that so here is in a qualitative sense not in a quantitative or absolute sense as that absolute truth is so I am so when we understand Krishna actually that time what will happen actually what is nature is, so my nature is also we will realise Krishna is spiritual I am also entirely spiritual I want nothing to do with you so in that sense is it visible? let’s change the colour sorry so now sorry ok 60 sorry visible, still at 60 also ok fine so so so same point here beyond brahman is Bhagwan ok kalyanatamam, Bhagwan is the most auspicious realisation how the lord maintains the devotees and everyone and everything else how the living entity is one yet different from the lord and what is being prayed for over here that prayer will be fulfilled through pure devotional service that is what is being talked about over here so actually speaking most of us we may not have had very deep rooted mayavadi conceptions earlier if we had some spiritual inclinations we might have had some superficial coating of mayavad because in general nobody is attracted to spirituality they are having the idea that you have to merge into that light or whatever but these are if somebody has been from an impersonal background these are eye opening verses these are revolutional verses which have so much power and importance to show how the absolute truth is ultimately personal, not impersonal so let’s go over this now oh my lord oh primaeval philosopher maintainer of the universe destination of the pure beauty well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind this is all the translation Prabhupada is giving of Bhushan is maintainer Ekarshi, the primaeval philosopher Ekarshi, you are the only person who has written Yam is the regular principle Prajapati well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind like that the same point is Pashyami, let me see so that I can see your form of bliss you are the eternal supreme personality you got it, like unto the sun as am I so now from here onwards Prabhupada’s purpose become entirely devotional so he is actually so in the previous verse he said yes there is beyond the Brahman there is Bhagwan now what is that Bhagwan’s abode now Prabhupada start describing that over there he talks about Chintamani beautiful verse he quotes and then he talks about Brahma Samhita where it describes the absolute truth and here he says that you can come face to face with the lord, your experience is the most auspicious feature of the supreme so now Prabhupada is saying ok, Brahman realisation is auspicious Paramatman realisation is more auspicious and Bhagwan realisation is the most auspicious now why is it like that is it because we are bhaktas so we are saying Bhagwan realisation is most auspicious there are two things if you have that Harer Namastakam Madhuram Madhurebhyopi Mangalebhyopi Mangalam Pavanam Pavanebhyopi Harer Nameva Kevalam so now it is saying two things over here Madhuram is sweetness and Mangalam Mangalebhyopi and Pavanam Pavanam so what is the difference between Mangalam and Pavanam it is the most auspicious and the most pure so pure means or the most purifying among all pure things means whatever dirt is there within it will remove that present will purify me Mangalebhyo means future it will bring the most auspicious result so now let us look at what is the results which the different transcendentalists will get the brahman, those who realise brahman who are brahmavadis they may go to brahmajyoti but they won’t stay there for very long for them yet the tvam nivartan yantra doesn’t apply they may fall back or they may not even actually realise the brahman and they may drag back to the madhuram realm before that only the parmatmavadis they may also end up in brahman if they don’t realise that the personal aspect is higher so that also is not a very auspicious destination because the full ecstasy of love the soul is longing for they are not able to experience that only the bhagwan those who pursue bhagwan and those who realise bhagwan the bhaktas they get an eternal destination and not just an eternal destination eternal and eternally ecstatic and not just eternal and eternally ecstatic but eternally ecstatically expanding destination the ecstasy is eternally expanding so there is that is why it is the most auspicious destination anandamudi varadhanam not only ocean of happiness it’s an expanding ocean of happiness that’s why it is the most auspicious destination and prabhupada says this is the verdict of each ocean, it’s the conclusion practically speaking and prabhupada here becomes quite technical, he quotes from the bhagavata sandarbha, now in sanskrit there is a system that if there is a word then that word can be split into various parts depending on various roots from where those parts are coming and then each of those parts can be used to convey some deeper aspects of that meaning of the word, so bhagavan so what is Jiva Goswami say over here bh has two meanings one who maintains, like we have bharata that is from bh, bharata, one who maintains and same way, one who is a guardian bharata is also the protector, like the word and then g, g is related to gamjate gamjate means to go, so one who guides, one who guides leads or creates, one who takes one towards the destination van, van is normally van, what do we mean by the word van one who possesses, dhanvan, ballavan, but prabhupada sorry, prabhupada quotes Jiva Goswami over here, Jiva Goswami says that van refers here to vas so every living being lives in him and he also lives in every being, what is the verse in the bhagavad gita maite teshu chaapyaham samoham sarva-bhuteshu na me tesho sthi na priya ee bhajanti tumam bhaktya maite teshu chaapyaham I am in them, they are in me, similarly the bhagavatam also says, when Durvasamani goes to Vishnu, he says sadhvam hrudayam mahiyam sadhunam hrudayam hatataham padanyatena jaanati naaham tebhyo managapi I reside in their hearts they reside in my heart, actually Lord Vishnu is so personal over here, he is not saying I reside in my devotees hearts sadhvam hrudayam mahiyam he says the devotees are my heart, and I am the devotees heart, it’s a very direct reference, and in this way Prabhupada gives the familiar meaning of Bhagavan also as one of the six opulences and then he explains how the Lord is guiding everyone towards the ultimate perfection, he creates, maintains and destroys for the purpose of ultimately guiding the souls towards the absolute truth so here actually most of the concepts which we are discussing, we have already discussed over here so now let’s, I’ll just focus on one point in this verse, soham I am that so the mayavadis and the vishnavas have a debate on this, soham so what does soham mean? I am that, so we have to put a da before that, da soham that actually if you want to understand the full import, we are one in the quality so what is in front of you so you put da soham I am the servant of that they say no, you don’t have to put da you have to put one sa before that sadasoham, I am always that and the vishnavas say da sadasoham put another da before that so this is an endless debate the vishnavas and the impersonals can go on having persons and impersonals can go on having an endless debate on this topic but if the debate’s basis is just linguistic analysis or linguistic jugglery, the debate can go on forever but if we look at scripture and look at it from a holistic broad way then the personalist understanding is the most satisfactory soham, I am that actually what does it say even now it is indicating duality there is that saha is that so I am that so that means still I and that are existing the duality is not yet gone completely in its entirety so I am that means I is there, that is there and there is some similarity which may be a similarity which may be identity we can’t say just from this verse this fragment of the verse itself doesn’t prove anything now if we look at the impersonalist aspect impersonalism is very attractive it is very attractive intellectually let’s explain this impersonalism is impersonalism is intellectually appealing personalism is devotionally appealing sorry emotionally appealing let’s explain this impersonalism is intellectually appealing but emotionally alienating because what happens in impersonalism the idea is all my emotions they are all of no use at all ultimately all my emotions are illusory and I have to give them up personalism is emotionally appealing but intellectually alienating whereas when we come to the Gaudiya Siddhanta it is intellectually and emotionally appealing so this is how Gaudiya Vaishnavism synthesises the two why is impersonalism intellectually appealing because intellectuals like to go from specifics to universes that’s called abstract thinking what does a thing mean for example when an accident took place on the road what does it mean in this world there are specific events specific events don’t have much meaning unless we can make some generalisations some general principles only when we derive from them for example there is a deadly accident on which 50 people died today that means ok if life is just filled with such random events like this chaotically things keep happening what is the point of life but if you can arrive at some confusion from it yes maybe this world itself is a more just our roads are very unsafe or we need to have better regulations for road safety or whatever so there are specific observations specific instances specific events, specific features and from the specific when we go to the generic then that is what appeals intellectually when you go from the specific to the generic generic means general or universal that is what is intellectually appealing because then things make sense for example Newton observed the fruit falling and that was one observation and millions of people before him and after him made the same observation but from that he went to a generic level ok what does this mean this means that everything attracts everything else the force that is directly proportional to their masses is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them the law of gravity came from that so actually intellectual appeal intellectual satisfaction comes when we move from specifics to generics like when we hear past times and after we hear some past times then we get some lessons from those past times oh this lesson makes so much sense so if we just hear those past times and what happens then it becomes stories and then ok once I can hear the story second time I can hear the story third time ok first time it might be very entertaining to hear because what happened suspense is there and there is some humour, there is some excitement there is some horror whatever but then after sometime it gets boring because there only some specific events have happened and once we know what happened then the appeal goes away unless of course it is the past times of someone we love then just hearing it again and again it is purifying for us or it is uplifting for us because love is there but specifics they may have some emotional appeal but that doesn’t mean much so what is intellectually appealing is universals what is universal is intellectually appealing so what the impersonal there are so many forms there are so many objects there are so many fragrances so many these things what is the underlying unifying reality that is the impersonal that is what we are attracted to so it is very intellectually appealing but if there is just all pervading light there cannot be any emotional reciprocation with that light so Prabhupada says sky is great but how can you form a relationship with the sky how can you offer love to the sky and expect the sky to reciprocate not much is possible so it is emotionally alienating and the path of Jnana ultimately one has to give up all emotions and go beyond all emotions the path of personalism is emotionally very appealing as you can dance you can sing the same emotions are directing us towards bondage they can direct us towards liberation at the same time what is this one person who did some activities and you think that the person is God it is so sentimental it is all fairytales, all mythologies all nonsense all sentimental stuff so now when I am using the word personalism, I am not using the word personalism in the philosophical sense I am using here in the sense that people who don’t see the intellectual side of bhakti they think this bhakti is sentimental but when, and this is completely disappointing what is happening is we accept the impersonal aspects there are specifics in the material world which are all temporary some movie actress looks very attractive but after 20 years down the line nobody cares for her nobody the same the same actress when she was 60, 70, 20 so many people may want to give her a valentine’s day rose the same person becomes 70 or 80, nobody will go with the rose to why because the beauty of this world is temporal so basically there are material specifics which are temporary and people say we have to go beyond the specifics to the universal but then the Bhagavatam says that beyond this universal there is spiritual specific and that’s why the words Atmarama, Srimananda, Nirgrantha, Purukrama is so important those who had no attraction to material specifics Nirgrantha they had become detached from everything material they were attracted to Krishna Thambhuta Guno Hari how extraordinary the qualities of lord Hari that is that his qualities are not material they are transcendental so this is both so first if you look at Krishna just as one person who existed sometime in India maybe he didn’t exist also people imagined him then you will think this is so childish you are worshipping Krishna as god but when we approach Krishna philosophically understand his position first and then look at his actions then you will understand that this person is no ordinary person this is not just a person this is actually absolute truth manifesting as a person so whenever Srila Prabhupada would be asked to speak about Raasthila, Srila Prabhupada would refuse to speak about it first Kurukshetra Leela then Raasthila first understand Bhagavad Gita then understand Krishna why? because unless we understand the position of a person understanding his activities is not really possible in a whole hearted intellectually profound way imagine that a tribal who comes to a city and he has never heard of a surgeon and he comes to the hospital and he sees this person he is lying on the bed then he is put on a stretcher and he is taken away and then an injection is given to him and he becomes unconscious and then this person takes out a knife and starts cutting him up and then he is killing, he is killing and he goes and tells his relatives stop, stop, stop him, he is killing your relative nobody paying attention to him and he just goes on cutting, cutting, cutting what is happening? and after that the doctor comes back murder, murder, murder nobody paying attention to him and then he goes to his relatives this is the person who killed your relative it is a great surprise he sees that his relatives take out money and give to that patient the doctor says what nonsense he can’t understand anything why? because he is looking at the actions of the surgeon without understanding the position of the surgeon so when you look at the activity of a person without understanding his position it can completely misunderstand so similarly when people come and look at Krishna and say Krishna is dancing with young girls at night it is immoral, immoral, immoral and it is immoral but they will find that those people who are so moral like we have the Goswamis we have the Chidambaram the strict sanyasis they have no interest in anything but they are glorifying him so these are people whose morality can never be faulted he says he is immoral, he is immoral no, he is worshipable how is that possible? so actually speaking that was not ok so when you understand the position there are two things, the tattva and the leela so without tattva leela becomes amusing with tattva leela becomes amazing amazing without tattva leela becomes amusing as Krishna steals butter and people see that, oh Krishna stole butter they laugh and clap so sweet, so nice but with tattva when you understand, this is God and how God is making himself so small, tender, naughty childlike way just for the sake of reciprocating love with tattva, leela becomes amazing why? because that absolute truth is almighty he is becoming so tiny he is becoming so small for the sake of love so leela is like a drama but it is not like a drama the drama conveys the idea of falsity drama conveys the idea of something which is not real but it is not leela in that leela is not drama in that sense leela is in some other sense see one of the problems why people can’t understand leela is that God doesn’t act as supreme within the leela God doesn’t act as supreme God even doesn’t act as omniscient when Krishna is going to steal butter he has to serve, where is butter? where is butter? where is butter? if Krishna has to serve that means he doesn’t know, if he doesn’t know then how is he God? so actually speaking the concept of the leela of God leela of Bhagawan is the unique contribution of the Vedic literature to world theology no other religion has a concept of leela no other religion has a concept of leela what God does in his kingdom there is no knowledge of that in any other religion so now let’s understand this leela as I said is the unique contribution of the Vedic literature to world theology that means that this idea that God performs pastimes for the sake of reciprocating love this is something which is so distinct and so extraordinary but there are no parallels to this now how do we understand leela? as I said leela is like a drama so there is an actor so the chief actor is Krishna and if you see in the Bhagavatam the verse starts with when the last verse is starting yogamayam upashyam that’s how the verse starts yogamayam upashyam Krishna is about to perform the last leela and he thinks okay now let me call the gopis that is yogamayam upashyam the whole Bhagavatam is actually saying that Krishna is the ashray of everyone there are 9 tattvas and Krishna is the ultimate 10 tattvas is the ashray but here it is saying that Bhagavan took ashray of yogamayam this itself indicates something very extraordinary is happening here actually speaking if you see the verse it is filled with so much paradoxes yogamaya upashyataha actually the word yogamaya is in what is English called as oxymoron what is oxymoron? oxymoron is a word which has two contradictory meanings for example if I say that person is an intelligent idiot how can somebody be intelligent and be an idiot or if I say that person is a courageous coward he is courageous coward how can he be a courageous coward so if you see why is yogamaya an oxymoron because the purpose of yoga is to remember God to connect with God and the purpose of maya is to forget God maya makes us forget God and yoga makes us remember God go closer to God so what is this mysterious thing called yogamaya the two have entirely different meanings yoga means link to connect with God maya is that which covers that which is not so now we know from the gaudiya vishnu philosophy that yogamaya is the internal energy of Krishna but if you just go from the grammatical root point of yoga yogamaya is a very confusing word so yogamaya the maya the maya is for God and the yoga is for Krishna that means those who are covered by yogamaya they are not God conscious but they are Krishna conscious they forget that Krishna is God so they are only Krishna conscious not God conscious so what does yoga yogamaya what does it do the gopis when they see Vishnu what do they see they ask where is Krishna oh Vishnu please accept my humble obeisance they don’t think Vishnu is Krishna or Krishna is Vishnu they think yes Vishnu is one person he is worshipable means devotees God unconscious and Krishna conscious this is the extraordinary level of yogamaya that the vrajvasis forget that Krishna is God they think Krishna is we love Krishna because he is Krishna when Lakshmana is introducing himself and Ram to Hanuman he says that you know this is the son of the great Dashrath the oldest son of the great Dashrath and he is abode of infinite unlimited qualities and because of those qualities I am forever his servant and Lakshmana stops and says no even if he did not have any qualities I will always be at his feet but because of his wonderful qualities my stay at his feet becomes pleasant and permanent so that means the devotees they love the lord not because he is God but because he is so lovable so yogamaya makes the devotees God unconscious and Krishna conscious this leela is such an extraordinary conception I conclude with this point now that as I said leela is like a drama so in a drama there is a actor the main actor is Krishna the hero is Krishna then there is the director who is the director? that is yogamaya so Krishna is controlled by yogamaya this is the actor moves according to the direction of the director so Krishna moves according to yogamaya now this would make it seem that Krishna is not in control, yogamaya is in control but there is a further twist to this that the drama is being directed by the director but the drama has been written by a script writer and the script writer is Krishna what does this mean? that yogamaya is directing Krishna according to Krishna’s direction according to Krishna’s plan, according to Krishna’s script so when Krishna is telling Madhuri, don’t beat me with that stick, don’t beat me with that stick, no put that stick away tears are coming out of his eyes so actually are those tears genuine or are they fake? Krishna is actually fearful he is fearful over there because Krishna wants to relish that rasa and for relishing that rasa he enters into that role completely he enters into that role completely that’s how he relishes that role if somebody is performing a drama and both the participants and the actor and the audience they all know actually this person is not really that then the rasa cannot be so much when Krishna wants to relish something he relishes it perfectly so when Krishna enters into the leela he is completely absorbed in the leela at the same time whatever is happening in the leela is according to his will so when Krishna wants he covers himself, when Krishna wants he uncovers himself and he is directed by yoga maya but according to his will so this is achintya bheda bhed is Krishna in control, is Krishna not in control he is both he is not in control because he is directed by yoga maya, he is in control because he is, because yoga maya is directing him according to his will so if we see Krishna’s pastime just as some play boys are going and playing and taking care of cows then it might just seem some childish and if you say oh this boy killed a big demon that was 24 miles long all this is mythology you may feel like that Krishna leela is fantastic but it is not fantasy Krishna leela is fantastic but it is not fantasy fantastic means amazing things are happening fantasy means it is just imagination it is fantastic but not fantasy it is not fantasy it is a reality, it is the highest reality it is a drama that is eternally enacted by which Krishna and his devotees relish a life of endless ever expanding ecstasy and love and then this is the ultimate revelation of the Vedic literature and there is no revelation, no understanding of God that is higher than this that is what Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu have given us thank you very much Srila Prabhupada ki gaur bhakta vindaki jai jai jai Jai