Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.5.1–8

Prabhupāda:

So sage Nārada is trying to enliven Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva was learned. Not ordinarily learned; he is consid..., he is the incarnation of God, Nārāyaṇa. He appeared for spreading Vedic knowledge.

Therefore Nāradajī, it is stated here, smayann iva. Smayann iva me..., smayan means smiling, that "Such a great personality also becomes morose." After giving so many contribution, literary contribution, still he was not happy. So it is wonderful. So therefore he was smiling. Smayann iva. Devarṣiḥ prāha viprarṣiṁ vīṇā-pāṇiḥ smayann iva [SB 1.5.1].

He said,

[You have fully delineated the subject of impersonal Brahman as well as the knowledge derived therefrom. Why should you be despondent in spite of all this, thinking that you are undone, my dear prabhu?]

Jijñāsitam. This is very important thing, jijñāsitam. This is the beginning of life actually. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Inquisitiveness. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21].

One should search after a guru, jijñāsu, one who is inquisitive. That is actually life. Just like animals, they are not inquisitive. They are simply concerned with the four principles of bodily necessities: eating... Udaram, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam [SB 12.2.6].

In this age, Kali-yuga, if one can eat sumptuously, he thinks that "All my interest is now fulfilled. I have eaten very nicely today." That's all. [chuckles] And dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam: and if he can maintain a wife and three children, oh, he is Dakṣa Mahārāja. Dakṣa Mahārāja. This is the Age of Kali. You see? If one can simply eat and if he's well-to-do, he can maintain...

And when I was in New York, one old lady, she used to come to my class. Not in Second Avenue; when I first started in 72nd Street. So she had a son. So I asked, "Why don't you get your son married?" "Oh, if he can maintain a wife, I have no objection." Just to maintain a wife is a great job in this age.

Dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. And still we are very much proud that we are advancing. Even a bird maintains a wife, even a beast maintains wife. And human being hesitates to maintain a wife? You see? And they are advanced in civilization? Hmm? It is a very horrible age.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that don't waste your time in any way. Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva... [Cc. Ādi 17.21].

So people are not at all interested in spiritual life. No inquiry. No inquiry. But that is the life, that is human life. Jijñāsitam. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta [SB 11.3.21].

One must find out a person, guru, a spiritual master, and inquire from him the problems of life. Just like Sanātana Gosvāmī. You'll find in the teachings of Lord Caitanya, he inquired. He was a great minister, and he thought himself that "I am a most third-class man because I do not know what is the aim of my life."

Ke āmi kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya: "Why I am put into this miserable condition of material existence? I don't want all these miserable conditions. Still, they are enforced upon me."

So there should be inquiry. But the animal has no inquiry. Just like the goat is standing whole night. Just see. It has no power to inquire, "Oh, why you have put me into this condition?" That is animal life. "All right, suffering is there. All right, disease is there. That's all right. Death is there, all right. Old age is there, all right." This is animal life.

Therefore Nārada says, jijñāsitam adhītaṁ ca. "You are not a fool. You have inquired sufficiently, and you have studied." Adhītaṁ ca. So it is not that without studying, without inquiry, one becomes elevated. No. Jijñāsitam adhītaṁ ca brahma. What about, inquiry Brahman? Athāto brahma jijñāsā.

Ordinary jijñāsā, "What is the news today?" this is not jijñāsā. Jijñāsā means brahma-jijñāsā. Jijñāsitam adhītaṁ ca brahma yat tat sanātanam. Sanātanam means eternal. We should inquire about our eternal life, eternal blissful life. That is our prerogative.

So "You have done all these things." He had a spiritual master like Nārada, and he was himself Vyāsadeva. So everything was first class. But still, tathāpi, still, śocasi, "You are lamenting. You are morose. You are morose, you are unhappy just like you have akṛtārtha, you have done nothing."

So we have to become kṛtārtha. Kṛtārtha means one who has finished his job. The responsibility of human life is called kṛtārtha. Kṛta, kṛtārtha. The Sanskrit words are very appropriate. The people still have to learn so many things from this Vedic literature.

Then Vyāsadeva replies, asty eva me sarvam idaṁ tvayoktam [SB 1.5.5]: "My dear sir, my dear spiritual master, whatever you are saying, it is all right. I have studied sufficiently. I have inquired sufficiently. I know about Brahman, everything. I have written Vedānta-sūtra; still..."

Asty eva. Asty eva me sarvam idaṁ tvayoktam. "Whatever you are saying, everything is there in me." Tathāpi nātmā parituṣyate me: "Still I don't find satisfaction." Tan-mūlam avyaktam. "And what is the cause? That is also I do not know."

Bhavātmā. Ātma-bhūtaṁ, bhava. "You are the son of Brahmā." Brahmā is called ātma-bhūta. Brahmā is not born of ordinary father and mother. Brahmā is born of the Supreme Lord, Supreme ātmā, Nārāyaṇa, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Therefore he is called Svayambhū. Brahmā's another name is Svayambhū.

Now here Nārada's qualification is that "Because you are a great devotee of the original Personality of Godhead, puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ." Śāśvataṁ puruṣam ādyam [Bg. 10.12].

Just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa, śāśvataṁ puruṣam ādyam. Just like we are singing now, govindam ādi-puruṣam. So purāṇa-puruṣam. Purāṇa-puruṣam, the oldest puruṣa, oldest being. The oldest being is Kṛṣṇa. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam [Bs. 5.33].

These references are all the same, either you take Vedānta-sūtra or you, say, take Brahma-sūtra or you take Brahma-saṁhitā or Bhāgavatam. There is no contradiction, because the same truth is explained in different Vedic literature.

So, kiṁ ca yat sanātanaṁ nityaṁ paraṁ brahma ca tac ca tvayā jijñāsitaṁ vicaritam adhītam adhigataṁ prāptam cety arthaḥ. Ātma-bhavaḥ, avyaktam asphutam, he nārada. Tva tvaṁ pṛcchāmi. Ātma-bhavaḥ avyaktaṁ brahmā tasya ātmano dehodbhutams tam.[?] "So because you are directly from Brahmā, therefore I am asking you, what is this?"

Sa vai bhavān veda samasta-guhyam upāsito yat puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ. Puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ. Puruṣa, the puruṣa... God is puruṣa. God is never female. This is another rascaldom. There are many rascals who thinks that God is female. "Kālī, Goddess Kālī, is God." Goddess Kālī, how can be God? She is śakti. Śakti. Every Vedic scripture it is said that parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ.

Everything is energy. So how God can be... That is the impersonalist. He can think of God, imagine. Imagine. It is imagination. The Māyāvādī theory is that God..., there is no God. The impersonal, there is voidness. You can imagine any form. That's all. Sādhakānāṁ hitārthāya brahmaṇo rūpaḥ kalpanaḥ. Kalpanaḥ means imagination.

So except the sātvatas, nobody knows what is God. Sātvata means Vaiṣṇava. Nobody knows what is God. They sometimes accept "This is God," "This is God," "This is God," "This is God." No. God is the original Supreme Person, male, enjoyer. Male is called enjoyer, predominator. Puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ

And para. Parāvaraḥ. Para means transcendental, and avara, avara means this material, inferior. Avara means inferior. And para means superior. That is explained in Bhagavad-gītā. Itas tu me... Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhir mano eva ca, itas tu me... [Bg. 7.4].

Aparā. Apareyam. This material nature, consisting of earth, water, air, ether, mind, intelligence, ego—eight—this is avara. Avara means inferior. And there is another nature. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyaḥ [Bg. 8.20].

In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, there is another nature. That is para. Para. Tasmāt. Tasmāt means out of this avara, inferior nature, there is another, superior nature, para. The same thing is here also: parāvareśaḥ. But Kṛṣṇa is īśa, the controller of both the energies, the spiritual energy and material energy. Parāvareśaḥ.

Parāvareśo manasaiva viśvaṁ sṛjaty avati. Manasaiva, "simply by thinking." Just like in the Bible it is said, "Let there be creation," immediately there is creation. Manasaiva. We can compare just a very rich man, many assistants, many managers. Just like, take, in your country, Rockefeller or somebody like that. He thinks something to do, business. Simply he orders his secretary, "This should be done," it is done. Without his personal effort, immediately done.

Because why? Because he has got superior energy or power. In the material world... Material world means this monetary strength he has got. So simply by his desire, the secretary arranges everything and everything is nicely done. But he is sitting in his room.

If it is possible for a person who is little materially rich, just imagine how much it is possible by God, the Supreme. Simply by willing, everything will be done. He hasn't got to do anything. Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8].

Veda also. So He has nothing to do. So who is that God? That Kṛṣṇa. He has nothing to do. He is simply enjoying, playing His flute, and Rādhārāṇī is serving. Oh, He is not taking a sword and fighting. Why He should fight? He hasn't got to fight.

Then one can say, "Then why He was in the battlefield?" Yes, battlefield He was. He was not to fight there. He was to see the fun, how the fight is going on. He was to give instruction. He was to give, deliver this Bhagavad-gītā. He was not fighting. That is God. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport].

He's instructing Arjuna, His friend, that "You fight." By His simple will everything would have been done; fighting would have been finished. He says that nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin [Bg. 11.33]

"I have already planned it. If you don't fight, don't think that these persons who have assembled here, they will go back home. They are already finished. That plan is already made. Simply you take the credit, that you are Kṛṣṇa's friend, you have won the battle. That's all. I am giving you this chance of taking the credit."

This is God. God hasn't got [chuckling] to labor and meditate and push nose, and He becomes God. No. God is God. Simply by His will, God. Everything is God. So this bluffing, that by meditation one can become, by silent, becoming silent, one become God, this condition... God is not under any condition. Why God should be under condition?

So therefore it is said, manasaiva viśvaṁ sṛjati. That is God. Simply by willing, "Let there be creation." Simply that word is sufficient. Immediately perfect. Pūrṇam idam. Pūrṇam idam [Īśopaniṣad, Invocation]. Everything full. Just like, see, every planet is complete. Complete. Whatever is needed, there is complete arrangement.

Take, for example, in our planet. We require water. The sufficient water is stocked, and the water is evaporated by the sun, and it is stocked again on the hill, reservoir, and from there supply, whole year is being supplied by river, and again it is going to the reservoir. How complete it is. Everything you will find complete. Pūrṇam idam,

So simply manasaiva viśvaṁ sṛjaty avaty atti. This creation, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg. 8.19]

The whole creation by the will of the purāṇaḥ puruṣaḥ, the Supreme Lord, is coming into existence, manifested, again becoming nonmanifest. Guṇair asaṅgaḥ. How it is becoming manifested and nonmanifested? By the interaction of the three material modes of nature. But He is apart from that. Guṇair asaṅgaḥ.

"So you are a devotee of such Personality of Godhead. You are recognized devotee. Therefore I request you to find out what is the defect in me that after inquiring, after doing so many books and literatures, I am not happy. So you..."

The same thing, as Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, that "The disturbance which I am feeling in this battlefield, that can be solved by You only. Therefore I am surrendering unto You as my spiritual master. No more friendly talks. And You just teach me."

So this is the, I mean to say, eternal process. Even Vyāsadeva is surrendering to Nārada. Such a great scholar. Even Arjuna is surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. So why? Either you have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative. Then there is solution. Otherwise there is no solution.

One who has taken shelter of the Supreme Lord, upaśama, finishing all, I mean to say, material desires... Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [Bg. 7.19]

"Vāsudeva is everything." Sa mahātmā.

So we have to search out a mahātmā, a person who is simply a surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, and we have to surrender unto him. This is called disciplic succession. Then our problems will be solved. Otherwise, even a personality like Vyāsadeva, he has problems. Even a personality like Arjuna, he has problems. So,

Any person who has simply acted piety, janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇāṁ te, such person, bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ.

So to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, or to become a devotee, is not ordinary thing. One has to finish the business of all sinful reaction. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam. So long there will be pāpam, he'll be hesitating to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, that all pāpas will be finished. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. If one chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offenselessly, just according to regulation, then he is anta-gataṁ pāpam. Anta-gatam.

One who has finished all sinful reaction. This can be done. But we have our ten kinds of offenses. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhir [Padma Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa 25.15-18].

This Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra will finish all my sinful reaction, that is a fact. As soon as I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately my sinful reaction finished. But that does not mean that "Because I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then let me, from morning to evening, let me do all kinds of sinful reaction and sinful activities, and I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, everything will be finished."

Just like in Christian religion there is a faith that confession, weekly confession. That is nice. When you confess your sinful activities before the higher authorities, before the representative of God, Lord Jesus Christ, or God, or Kṛṣṇa, your sinful activities are finished. That's all right. But that does not mean that you shall go again, and again commit sinful activities, and again come at the end of the week and finish your business. No. This is not meant. One should be conscious.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He accepted Jagāi-Mādhāi... They were very sinful. But He simply asked the condition that "From this day no more sinful activities. You accept this, then I accept you." They promised, "Yes. Whatever we have done, no more." That should be the... Confess, God can excuse, and that is not difficult job.

God can excuse any amount of sinful activity. But after confessing, after being freed, if I again commit sinful activities, oh, that is the greatest sin. That is the greatest sin. One should be ashamed of, that "I... God has excused me. Again I shall? So I am so shameless." But this business is going on. No. That should not be. Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ.

So we should not think that because we are chanting we can act all kinds of sinful activities. No. The chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa will give you protection, but you should not take advantage of. But if by accident or by unintentionally if you commit some..., by habit, that is also excused. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ [Bg. 9.30].

That is accidental. Not that willful sinful activities should be done and it should be, I mean to say, neutralized by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. No. Then you are spoiling your time. That should not be done.

So yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam. So without being freed from sinful activities, nobody can take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The method is easy. You can get out of sinful activities. But don't commit again. If you think that "I shall ignite fire and pour water again," then what is the use of? Simply waste of time. So that should not be done.

So, parāvare brahmaṇi dharmato vrataiḥ. So one should execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness, dharmataḥ, in right path, and vrataiḥ. Bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ. Just like today, ekādaśī-vrata. Vrataiḥ. This ekādaśī-vrata is required. Just see. Here it is that "You have performed all the vratas."

The purpose of ekādaśī-vrata is that today we should not eat much usual food, grains. The actual prescription is fasting. Nirjala-ekādaśī. Nirjala means there are many devotees who does not take even water. Water, drinking water, according to śāstra, it is taking food. It is drinking of food or no food. We can take both ways.

So sometimes drinking of water is excused as upavāsa also. But there are many devotees who don't even..., drink even a drop of water. Whole day and night they fast and observe ekādaśī-vrata. And the night is called harivāsara. Harivāsara means the whole night they would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma... This is called vrata. Dṛḍha-vrata. Dṛḍha-vrata. Dṛḍha means very firm, steady.

But Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has given us so many concession. But we should be... Because there are some concession, better we should not take advantage of the concession, but we should be very steady and strong in our conviction and perform devotional service strictly. That is nice. Vrataiḥ. Dharmato vrataiḥ. Parāvare brahmaṇi dharmato vrataiḥ snātasya [SB 1.5.7].

Snātasya means taking bath. Just like if you... Of course, in your country there is no such thing, but in India they take bath in the Ganges. Completely dip. Just like you sometimes take bath in the ocean. So snātasya. Snātasya. Snātasya means completely taking bath in dharmato vrataiḥ. Fresh, refreshed.

So, me nyūnam alaṁ vicakṣva: "So you can find out what is the defect in me. Why I am morose?" Then Nārada is replying now:

He immediately replies that bhavatā anudita-prāyaṁ yaśo bhagavataḥ amalam. "You have compiled, or you have," I mean to say, "given so many literatures, but in each and every literature...

Just like there are Purāṇas, eighteen Purāṇas, and Mahābhārata and Vedas and Brahma-sūtra. You have given so many literatures. But," bhavatānudita-prāyaṁ yaśo bhagavato 'malam, "there is no incessant glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Just like Mahābhārata. That's a great epic. But there are politics. So many politics, sociology, fight, this, that, but in the middle there is little glories of God, Bhagavad-gītā. So the book is not full of the glories of the... Kṛṣṇa is there, but that is a partial representation.

Now Nārada Muni says that "Not as sidelight. Completely you have to write one book simply glorifying the Supreme Lord. Then you'll be satisfied." Not sidelight. Completely. Bhavatānudita-prāyam [SB 1.5.8]. Here it is said, parāvareśa... Anudita-prāyam, anukta-prāyam. A sidelight.

People take... Just like, "All right, yes, we accept God. But we cannot devote our whole time for God. We shall go weekly once or fortnightly once, or one hour in a day, partial. Our business is another. We want to enjoy sense gratification, and we shall go to church or temple just to ask God to supply our ingredients of sense gratification:

'O God, give me this. Give me this. I am poor man. I am this. I am this. I am suffering. I have got some disease.' " But still Bhagavad-gītā says that they are sukṛtina. Because they go to temple or church asking God something, because they are accepting that "There is God who can satisfy our needs," therefore they are sukṛtina.

But those who are duṣkṛtina, miscreants, they don't believe in God. Then where is the chance of asking God, "Please give me this, give me that"? Because they don't believe in God. Therefore they are duṣkṛtina, atheist. In comparison to such person, those who go to the temple or church, ask something from God, they are better. Because they are accepting. They have at least come to God. Now, gradually, they will be purified, and at a time they will say, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce [Cc. Madhya 22.42]

"No. No more. I have no demand." What demand? If one gets Kṛṣṇa, then what is the question of demand? He gets everything. Everything. There is no question of demand. So that stage is perfect.

So, anudita-prāyam anukta-prāyaṁ vimalaṁ bhagavad-yaśo vinā yenaiva dharmādi jñānenāsau bhagavān na tuṣyati[?]. Śrīdhara Svāmī gives note that if you become a rigid religious person, that does not mean [chuckling] God will be satisfied with you. That is preliminary stage, dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa [SB 4.8.41].

If one religious man... But that is not the qualification. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya, He, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, inquired what is the aim of life and what is the procedure of achieving that aim.

He prescribed this varṇāśrama-dharma. Because that is the beginning of actual human life, accepting four varṇas and four āśramas. Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately rejected, eho bāhya āge kaha āra [Cc. Madhya 8.59]

These are not very important things. Just see. The whole Vedic civilization is resting on the varṇāśrama-dharma.

That is the statement, that one who is rigidly performing the rules and regulation of these four varṇas and āśramas... Varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān viṣṇur ārādhyate. Simply by following the rules and regulation, varṇāśrama system, one can worship Viṣṇu. Viṣṇur ārādhya... Nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam.

There is no alternative to satisfy Him. That... This is an authorized statement. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, eho bāhya āge kaha āra, "This is external. This is not very important thing. If you know something more, that you can say." Eho bāhya āge kaha āra. Āge kaha āra.

So to become a religious person, to become economically very well-to-do, or to become a salvationist, desiring to merge into the existence, to become one with God, these things are not, I mean to say, very satisfactory to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Bhaktas tu toṣa-bhagavān gaja-yuta pāya.[?] If you want to satisfy the Supreme Lord, then you have to accept this path of devotional service. There is no second path. There is no second path. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is said that bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg. 18.55].

If one wants to know the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in truth, not fictitiously, then bhaktyā. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti means through devotional service. So here also it is said that bhavatānudita-prāyaṁ yaśo bhagavato 'malam [SB 1.5.8]

"You have not stated very nicely, in devotion, in love, about the transcendental glories of the Lord." Yenaivāsau na tuṣyeta manye tad... [SB 1.5.8] And if Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is not satisfied...

Yena eva asau na tuṣyeta, asau bhagavān na tuṣyeta, is not pleased, manye tad darśanaṁ khilam: that is insignificant. That means he hinted that "You are very much proud that you have written Vedānta-sūtra. You don't think by writing your Vedānta-sūtra God is pleased. Don't think so."

It is clearly said, manye tad-darśanam. "You have done wonderful work in writing Vedānta-sūtra, but I think," tad darśanaṁ khilam, "it is insignificant. It is no..." Because by philosophical speculation, by argument, this or that, it is all... God is not satisfied because you are very erudite scholar. God is satisfied by the love of gopīs.

They are not philosophers, they are not even brāhmaṇas, they are not even man. Ordinary village girls, but their devotion for Kṛṣṇa, oh, there is no comparison. There is no comparison. Therefore Lord Caitanya says, ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-varge... [Caitanya-manjusa].

And Caitanya Mahāprabhu's life was to love Kṛṣṇa: gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka 4].

This is the Gosvāmīs. Simply they were trying to come to that stage on which gopīs loved Kṛṣṇa.

So that is the highest stage, how to love Kṛṣṇa without any motive, without any material profit, without any personal consideration. That, if we can reach that, then yayātmā suprasīdati, then we'll be satisfied. Otherwise there is no satisfaction; it is simply useless, waste of time. That's all.

Thank you very much. [end]