The Pure Intention Bestows The Perfect Destination – SB 1.1.2 | Bhagavatam Study | Bhakti Vaibhav

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna. Welcome to the study of the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.
We are discussing text 2. The first text discussed how the Bhagavatam describes the absolute truth and the connection of the absolute truth with the rest of existence and how it is a meditation on a non-sectarian conception of the absolute truth. Now, in the next verse, in fact, in the next two verses, the first verse describes the absolute truth. Now, the second and third verses describe the way in which that absolute truth is conceived.
That means there are different ways in which one can approach the absolute truth. So what is the way in which one is approaching? One can approach the absolute truth for material gains. One can approach the absolute truth for purification.
One can approach the absolute truth for liberation. We can approach the absolute truth for pure love, for selfless service. So what is the reason? What is the mode? What is the consciousness in which the Bhagavatam is approaching and the Bhagavatam urges us to approach? That’s what we will discuss now in the second verse.
So that is discussed in the second and third verses. The first three verses are very important for setting up the stage of the Srimad Bhagavatam. dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra-paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁsatāṁ vedyaṁ vāstava-matra-stuśhvatam tāpatrayoṁ mūlaṇaṁ śrīmad-bhāgavatam mahāmunikṛte kimvā parairīśvare sadhyo rudhya-buddhite atrakṛti-viśu-śubhi-stacchanāt So, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra kaitava means cheating or deceptive that which appears one way but is actually another way.
So what is kaitava dharma? Bhagavatam is saying dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava It is giving up kaitava dharma. This will be elaborated again repeatedly in the Bhagavatam but especially in 1.456, 5 and 6, the Narad Vyasa Samvara which is foundational for understanding the distinctiveness, even the uniqueness of the Bhagavatam among the various literature in the world. So here it is said dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava So give up projjhita means to give up completely.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would often translate this as kick out, sweep out with the broom, just dismiss completely. It’s a strongly communicative word of negation or rejection or dismissal. dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavotra So it is rejecting kaitava dharma, cheating religion.
That’s what it’s talking about. What does this cheating religion refer to? Now, normally what do we mean by cheating? If we pay for a first-hand commodity, if I pay for a laptop, if I go to a showroom and the laptop costs 60,000 and supposed to be a high-class laptop and later on I find that it’s a second-hand laptop which I could have well got for 20,000. I say that person cheated me.
That means I get less than what I should have got in exchange what I gave and what I could have got. It’s much, much lesser. So when we get less than the potential, when we get less than what is fair, that is what we call as cheating.
So now dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitava. Kaitava dharma means we get less out of human life by the practise of religion than what we could and should have. So human life is a platform for takeoff.
It’s a launching pad for catapulting us from the temporary world to the eternal world. And that transportation, that catapulting, that elevation happens for those who avoid the pitfall of materialism and even religious materialism. So materialism means we get attached to matter and material things and that’s why we have to continue on in the samsara chakra.
Religious materialism means that one focusses on enjoying material things but by religious means. So in the Vedic scriptures, there is this four aspects of dharma, artha, kama and moksha and they are important purusharthas. Purushartha, the purush word is used in a gender inclusive way to mean both males and females.
So artha, artha means purpose or goal. So purushartha refers to that which is the purpose of life. So the purpose of human existence is these four.
Once you do dharma, that self is good and that will also lead to artha and that will lead to kama and then ultimately it will lead to moksha. This progression we will discuss again when we talk about from 2.6 to 2.2, the famous dharma verses. So on which the legend of Prabhupada’s book Dharma, the way to transcendence based on the lectures that he gave on those verses.
Among the most off-quoted verses in the Bhagavatam. Now that dharma, artha, kama which is basically religious materialism or material religiosity and the difference between them is only in terms of words. Religious materialism means, the emphasis is on that, that one is still materialistic in one’s conception.
One thinks oneself as some sort of creature connected with the body and one thinks of bodily comfort and pleasure as the ultimate goal of life. So one is at the material level of consciousness. That is religious materialism.
And material, so in religious materialism the only addition is, as differentiated from materialism is that one doesn’t want to violate the principles of religion. One uses those principles of religion to attain one’s goals. Now material religiosity means that there is religiosity, there is emphasis on the practise of religion.
Okay, one does some puja, one does some pathan, one does some kirtayatra, one does these activities but one’s conception remains material. So whatever is the noun is the emphasis. So there is religiosity but there is material religiosity.
We’ll see the Bhagavatam condense material religiosity also has one level of animalism. So it says that, So a person who goes to holy places just to bathe in them and not to bathe in the wisdom that is coming from the lips of the great souls over there. Such a person is just like an animal.
Now, moving forward, we see that here the Bhagavatam is focussing on dharma projkaitava, giving up kaitava dharma. That means dharmarthakama which are primarily as I said religious materialism or material religiosity, projkaitava, cut them out. And moksha is also at one level liberation, normally it means liberation but at another level, it is also the same self-centred level of consciousness where one thinks okay I can’t enjoy at the material level so let me just get rid of the enjoyment and in liberation.
And that sense I want to become the supreme enjoyer. That is also in one sense wrong. So dharma projkaitava paramo.
So paramo nirmatsaranaam. So paramo refers to the supreme, transcendental, the highest paramo. So nirmatsaranaam.
So by giving up the lower religion one practises the highest religion. The highest religion is centred on love for love’s sake. So whereas dharmarthakama moksha, this fourfold goals of human life are glorified in other religions, the Bhagavatam says put them aside.
They are all cheating. Why? Because human life can give you something much more. So if I put in hundred rupees and I can get something very valuable but instead of that I get something worth only one rupee.
Then I have cheated myself. So human life is something if we invest that in God then we can get eternal happiness and result. But if we don’t do that, instead we just invest in material religiosity, in dharmarthakama, then what we get is a temporary result.
We go to heavens. One comes back again to the earth. So it is not considered at all a glorious result because it is underutilisation of our potential.
Similarly, even liberation, it is not, it doesn’t fulfil the heart’s longing for love and one stays dissatisfied because one doesn’t get a reciprocation. So that’s why this impersonal liberation is not something which devotees look forward to. Devotee says, Prabhudananda Saraswati is a great Vaishnava up from the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he says that, you know, I find it hellish.
That liberation, which is considered supreme goal of life by many spiritualists, a devotee considers it hellish because Vinamatsevanam janah Kapiladeva in his teaching, Uttarakhanda said that if one does not get the opportunity to serve the Lord, then it is useless. So, now, the paramdharma is talked about and what is nirmatsaranaam sataam? Sataam are those who are saintly. So sata, sat chitananda, you know, these are the three characteristics of the soul.
Sata refers to that which is eternal. That refers to the eternity feature of the soul. And sataam refers to those saintly people who are focused on the eternal, not on the temporary.
In 2.16 Bhagavad Gita it said, that, that which is temporary, that cannot be attained, that which is eternal, that has no destruction. Asata, that which is temporary, it does not have any permanent existence, it does not have any actual existence. And sata, that is eternal, that has no cessation, it always continues to exist.
Sataam are those who focus on the sata. Now, there are many transcendentalists who focus on the sata, but here a special characteristic of the transcendentalists, nirmatsaranaam. Nirmatsaranaam refers to those who are non-envious.
So, those who are not competing with others at their level of enjoyment. So, at the material level there is always matsar, because someone has more and someone has less. And, in fact, the whole of, one of the biggest impetuses for material life is comparing others’ possessions and trying to improve on them.
And often people consider that, not only I attain things, I become happy, but after attaining things, when I see envy in the eyes of others, then that brings me a special joy. So, if I have a necklace, if I have a dress, if I have a car, which is better than that of my neighbours, my peers, my colleagues, then, that is the perfection of my life. Bhagavad Gita also talks about this mentality in the description of the demoniac people, the ungodly people.
15.13-15 Krishna says, Who is there like me? There is no one. I am the best. I am the controller.
I am the enjoyer. So, nirmatsaranaam means one has just given up this whole business of material enjoyment and has no envy because one doesn’t have competitive mentality. One doesn’t get into this whole business of trying to grab more and gain more and enjoy more at the material level.
So, giving up the desire for material enjoyment is the way to rise above envy. And, of course, at the highest level it refers to being free from envy for the Supreme Lord also because the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer and as long as we want to enjoy like Him, then we stay in material existence. So, we want to enjoy not like Him but enjoy with Him by serving Him, by giving Him enjoyment.
So, nirmatsaranaam sataam. So, the Bhagavatam will reveal the complete highest level of nirmatsarya in its adoration of the Rasleela where it offers, it glorifies the highest revelation of God and the highest mode of devotion offering oneself completely to God and offering to God all the enjoyment that people want in this world. So, the gopis offer themselves body, mind, heart, everything to Krishna and So, people want sense gratification over here and there it is, sense gratification offered to Krishna.
So, that is the highest level of nirmatsarya. So, the Bhagavatam, what it’s going to teach, it can be relished by these kind of people who are nirmatsaranaam and also by hearing the Bhagavatam, by hearing about these kind of souls, hearing about the Supreme Lord, our nirmatsarya will also go away. Krishna also talks about this repeatedly Arjuna, I am speaking this knowledge to you because you are 9.1 says this confidential knowledge, I am speaking because non-envious and he also tells when he completes the Bhagavad Gita in 18.67 and he starts describing that describe this to those who are non-envious So, don’t speak this and use a list of categories of people and he says among them those who are envious don’t speak to them about this.
So, essentially the envy can be generic when it’s directed to people in general, it can be specific when it’s directed towards a particular person and it can be also directed towards the Supreme Lord. So, we may not be free from envy but to the extent we are free from envy to that extent we will be able to relish the Bhagavatam and just by hearing the Bhagavatam we will move towards freedom from envy and relishing it. This is the aspiration.
So, we are talking about what is the mode in which the Bhagavatam is urging us to approach and that is nirmatsaranaam and vedyam vastavam atravastu shivadam tapatrayodmulanam So, it is offering us the vastavavastu vedyam come to know about it. Veda means knowledge. Vedya means to come to know about something.
So, vastavavastu So, come to know about the absolute truth. vedyam vastavam atravastu Vastu is related to the vastava. Vastava is real.
Vastu is that which actually exists truly. So, vedyam come to know about it. Vastavavastu come to know about the real truth.
So, in one sense the supreme absolute truth is the supreme reality and everything else is real but it is temporary. It is temporal. And in that sense it is not the supreme reality.
So, the Bhagavatam shifts from raises our consciousness from the body to the soul from the soul to the Bhagawan and to his abode. So, he is the supreme reality and that is the object that we will be meditating on in the Bhagavatam. Now, our meditation shapes our destination.
This happens practically also. If I think about eating then I will start feeling some hunger in my stomach. It will be often pseudo-hunger.
I am not actually hungry. I simply feel hungry because I am thinking about food. That creates desire.
And then, what is my destination? I will go and go to the kitchen and try to find something to eat. I will go to a shop and purchase something. I will order something and some fast food person will come and deliver something at my home.
So, then I will end up eating. So, our meditation determines our destination. And this applies also say if a person is a drunkard.
This person will if a person thinks of meditation then person will thinks of drinking alcohol. This person will end up drunk. But this applies at a much longer level broader, longer level also.
yam yam va pi smaran bhavam tijat yante kalevaram tam tam evaiti kaunteya sadatad bhava bhavitaham So, what Krishna describes over here is that whatever we meditate on that’s what we will attain in our next life. Whatever we think of in this life we will think of at the time of death. What we think of at the time of death we will attain in the next life.
That’s what Krishna talks about in 8.6 and 7. So, he says what we think of we will attain at the time of death. That’s 8.6. 8.7 says therefore think of me then you will attain me. So, here what is the result of the previous verse talking about dhimahi meditate on the Supreme Lord.
So, this verse says if we do dhimahi if we meditate on the Supreme Lord then what will happen? On that Supreme Lord who is Vedya vastam atra vastu So, when we come to know about him vastam atra vastu shivadam tapatrayodmulanam shivadam Shiva refers to a person as well as a condition. So, the condition of auspiciousness is Shiva and the person who brings about that auspiciousness is also called a Shiva. So, the Vishnu Sastranam refers to Lord Vishnu himself as Shiva.
sarvasarvasarvasarvasarvasarvas Shiva So, he is Shiva sarvasarvasarvasarvasarvasarvasarvas So, he is auspicious. Now, one particular person who is especially meant to bring auspiciousness in the life of the inauspicious that is Lord Shankara. He is especially merciful to those in the mode of ignorance and he raises them.
So, he also has the name Shiva. So, here shivadam dam means to give. So, this will give us auspiciousness.
So, for example if I am sick and I get a medicine then that medicine brings auspiciousness in my life. So, here shivadam this will bring auspiciousness. What kind of auspiciousness? tapatraya unmulanam tapatraya the threefold misery that are there unmulanam it will be uprooted ripped out completely thoroughly destroyed.
So, that is even liberation does not necessarily destroy the disease completely because liberation removes our material desires but liberation does not in fact inject spiritual desires within us. It is only bhakti that injects spiritual desires within us. So, it is like if you consider ordinator y-axis then then liberation moves us from the negative axis to zero but it is bhakti which moves us from the negative axis to not only zero but beyond the positive axis.
So, this is the supreme auspiciousness that our desires which causes bondage and suffering in this world they if we direct them towards the supreme lord they will bring liberation. That theme will be discussed in the next verse. We will discuss that but when you come to that verse but here the point is vidyam if you do vidyam the result of that will be tapatraya unmulanam unmulanam the uprooting of the tapatraya of the threefold miseries of material existence and the bhagavad gita in 4.9 also talks about this if we come to know Krishna in true tattvataha here is vidyam bhagavad gita is tattvataha janma karma chame divyam evam yo vati tattvataha tattva deham punar janma naitimame tiso arjuna so it says that if we come to know about Krishna then the result of that is we will not come back to cycle of birth and death so tapatraya tapatraya refers to threefold miseries which are imminent and inevitable for everyone in material existence sooner or later you know they are like three spears or three prongs which pierces the heart and lives the hearts and lives of all living entities in material existence the adhyatmic adhibhautic and adhidaivic klesha so here so the first line let’s go back now the bhagavatam will describe that religion dharma projita kaitavatra so it will give up all lower levels of religion and this level of religion is actually practised in religion by nirmatsarana namsatama it is param it is highest level of religion what does it involve it involves knowing the highest knowing the true absolute truth vastam atravastu knowing the actual substantive principles true substantial reality the ultimate substantive principle was the word which bhaktishanth would use to describe krishna in brahma samhita so now and what is the result of knowing that absolute truth the result is that all our miseries will be eradicated and what is the result of that or what is further characteristic of that now shreemadbhagvate mahamunikrte kimvaparairishvara so shreemadbhagvate shreemadbhagvata is such a glorious book shreemadbhagvata this has various names so the book itself often is called as bhagavpurana that is a common name so prabhupada preferred to use the word shreemadbhagvatam so the gaudiya hr also shreemadbhagvatam as described in the first commentary within our tradition on the bhagvatam chaitanya manjusha so there is pramana mamala amalapurana amalapramana so shreemadbhagvate so that which is related to bhagavan is called as bhagvata and shreemad that which is filled with shreemad that is filled with wealth opulence auspiciousness glory so this is the book about bhagavan which is filled with all auspiciousness so shreemadbhagvate maha muni krte maha muni krte so who is this maha muni now we understand that this is the invocation going on so this is this different acharyas have explained differently jiva goswami explains in his kramasandarbha the kramasandarbha is like a commentary on the bhagavatam which is he doesn’t necessarily go into all the verses to comment on them but he comments on important verses and then he says that this verse focusses it refers to narnarayan rishi in the second canto of shreemadbhagavatam different paramparas through which the knowledge of the bhagavatam is coming is described so one such parampara is through narnarayan rishi it comes down and that is also mentioned in the tenth canto of shreemadbhagavatam when narada goes to narnarayan rishi and learns from him now we know in the bhagavatam there is one more tradition that is described that krishna gives the knowledge to brahma brahma gives the knowledge to narada narada gives the knowledge to vyasa and that’s how it comes that’s one tradition it’s not that one cannot learn from other traditions also so narada also goes and enquires from narnarayan rishi and narnarayan rishi is also an incarnation of the supreme lord so he is the supreme lord himself in one sense so it is that great person who has compiled it now mahamuni kritte can also refer to vyasadev so now is it that vyasadev is referring to himself as mahamuni it may seem a little little odd for a person to glorify oneself like that now one understands that actually even if even if that is the case that even if we say this is referring to vyasadev then we understand that the the devotee glorifies himself at all it is not to not to glorify oneself but to position one’s message properly now for example shila prabhupada would write at the end of his purpose bhaktivedanta purpose now bhaktivedanta purpose the name bhaktivedanta may sound a little pompous and self glorificatory somebody who is the master of vedanta and knows that bhakti is the end of veda and that is a person who is so learned that’s a person writing the purpose so he could have just used the word swami but he had given him a title bhaktivedanta swami and he used the title and he also had the title prabhupada and he used the title prabhupada also so the point is that mahamuni is a title which is bestowed upon vyasadeva and vyasadeva is simply using the title to indicate the glory of the wisdom that has been given so when prabhupada used the word bhaktivedanta title given to him by his peers by his senior god brothers during his times so that indicates that what he is speaking is not ordinary it’s glorious similarly mahamuni is a title which is bestowed upon vyasadeva and he is using that to glorify the to position and glorify the message that he is giving so normally if we know who is the author of a book then we take the message seriously so a devotee’s concern is to ensure that the message reaches a large number of people and the message gets a proper pedestal for reaching that kind of people and for that if a devotee has to position oneself this is sometimes when giving classes the teacher has to give the message seriously the teacher has to seriously and the teacher tapatra will be uprooted.
But here, how exactly that will happen? sadyo ruddhya avruddhite atrakrtibhi shushru shubhis tatshanat tatshanat. As soon as one hears this bhagavatam, shushru bhi, one submissively hears it, then ruddhya avruddhite avruddhite, one manifests. Who manifests? paramah, that supreme lord, that absolute truth, vedyam vastavam, that absolute truth, that bhagavan sri krishna, he will manifest in the heart.
sadyo, soon, tatshanat, so actually immediately, without delay. So actually this is the special potency of the bhagavatam. Because it’s such a pure and power-packed message, and especially when it is received through the great devotees, it invokes the presence of the lord in our heart.
And ultimately, that is the purpose and perfection of existence, that actually we want to develop love for Krishna. Because that love for Krishna will make us satisfied even in this world, and ultimately take us beyond this world to the transcendental world, where we will also live eternally with Krishna. So therefore, when we understand this ultimate purpose, and understand that the bhagavatam is going to fulfil that purpose, kimvaparairishvara, why does one need anything else? Why does one need any other sadhana? Simply hear the bhagavatam, and all perfection will be achieved.
So, Bhakti Sanskrit Akhada would say that, if all the books in the world were destroyed, but the bhagavatam remained, then nothing would be lost. Now, this is not an exclusivist glorification, this is a contextualist glorification. So, what does that mean? That means other books which lead one to the bhagavatam are not rejected by this.
So, for example, Bhagavad Gita, which will lead us to the bhagavatam, that is wonderful. Which is CC, which elaborates on the bhagavatam, that is also wonderful. So, the point is that this book gives the message of pure love for God, and it is that message of pure love for God that is sufficient.
And one doesn’t need anything else, when one is aspiring for the ultimate goal of life. So, in this way, the mode of approach to the Supreme Lord in pure love, nirmatsaranaam, rejecting lower principles of religion, dharma prajitakaitavata, and then the result of what kind of absolute truth we approach, we don’t approach a material conception of God who will approach, give us material things, but vastavastu approach, and then because we are approaching at a spiritual level, we rise to a spiritual level, tapatre unmool, nam, and this whole conception of approaching God at a level of pure spiritual love, that is the speciality of Srimad Bhagavate, and it is the speciality of the Mahamuni Krita, that that sage who wrote many, many other books, and then finally he wrote this in his zenith, the summit of his spiritual evolution. So, that book is now Kimvapare.
Why do we need any other book? Because just by hearing this book, the supreme, the all-attractive Supreme Lord, to whom devotion brings the supreme liberation, that Lord is manifest in our heart, and therefore we do not need anything else. So, this is the glory of the Srimad Bhagavatam, that if we hear regularly, our goal is not simply to become pandits of Bhagavatam. If we become pandits, that’s wonderful, we can use that in the service of Krishna, we can use that in increasing our own contemplation attraction to Krishna.
Our goal is simply to first of all become lovers of Krishna, to have Krishna’s presence manifest in our heart, and that is what hearing the Bhagavatam in the association of the Bhagavatas will enable us to do. Thank you. Hare Krishna.
We’ll continue in our next session and we’ll discuss the third verse. The first three verses we are discussing in separate, short, short, separate Hapana classes, and then we’ll move faster, taking several verses in one session, when we move forward to the later verses. The first three verses are extremely important, they have a wealth of meaning, and that’s why they require elaborate discussion.
We know that Guru Tantra Rakura spoke weeks and weeks just in the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Adusman Saraswati Roku wrote a full commentary on the first verse, Srimad Bhagavatam, Pratham Shlok Tat Pariya. So these are very important verses which set the scene, which is set, which is determined the mood, and they tell us what is the uniqueness that is going to be found in the Bhagavatam.
So we are having separate classes on this, first three verses, and then we’ll move faster. Thank you. Hare Krishna.