Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 1.1.2
Date: December 26th, 2014
Place: ISKCON Ujjain, India
Transcription: Bhaktin Charlene
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
Synonyms:
dharmaḥ — religiosity; projjhita — completely rejected; kaitavaḥ — covered by fruitive intention; atra — herein; paramaḥ — the highest; nirmatsarāṇām — of the one-hundred-percent pure in heart; satām — devotees; vedyam — understandable; vāstavam — factual; atra — herein; vastu — substance; śivadam — well-being; tāpa-traya — threefold miseries; unmūlanam — causing uprooting of; śrīmat — beautiful; bhāgavate — the Bhāgavata Purāṇa; mahā-muni — the great sage (Vyāsadeva); kṛte — having compiled; kim — what is; vā — the need; paraiḥ — others; īśvaraḥ — the Supreme Lord; sadyaḥ — at once; hṛdi — within the heart; avarudhyate — becomes compact; atra — herein; kṛtibhiḥ — by the pious men; śuśrūṣubhiḥ — by culture; tat-kṣaṇāt — without delay.
Translation:
Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.
Lecture:
How many of you are going to memorise it? Once again, look and listen attentively. How many of you are going to memorise it? And how many of you decided not to memorise it? So everyone try to memorise this verse. Ok.
So I’ll just go through a translation. This also has a long purport. I’ll just cover part of the purport.
The Qualification for Understanding Srimad Bhagavatam- Purity of heart
Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, the religious activities which are materially motivated- completely rejecting them, this Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart.
So, listening, who can remember, who can understand Bhagavatam? I am listening to you, but I am not hearing anything. Ok, how many of you understood? Or raise your hands. Ok, Madhavendra Puri, what is the qualification? Very good. Those who are pure in heart.
And what is Srimad Bhagavatam? Anybody? What is Srimad Bhagavatam? Rejecting what? They materially motivated. Completely rejecting all religious activities, which are materially motivated.
This Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. So how many of you want to understand Srimad Bhagavatam? So, are you going to endeavour to become qualified? What is the qualification to understand Srimad Bhagavatam? How many of you understood? What are the qualificatiions of understanding Srimad Bhagavatam? Raise your hands. Very good. Very impressed. So we have to purify. Now the question is, how to purify your heart? How many of you know the secret of purifying your heart? Raise your hands, those who know. The secret of purifying your heart, ok Jay, very good by chanting, did you say Hare Rama, Hari Naam, anyway either way, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, also. So that is the way.
The Process of Purifying the Heart
Ceto Darpana marjanam. What does the chanting of the Holy Name do? The Holy Name purifies the heart. Ceto darpana marjanam bhava maha darvagni nirvapanam (Shikshastakam V1).
Do you want to become free from material suffering condition? So, just chant Hare Krishna. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. What is the highest truth? The highest truth distinguishes from illusion. Highest truth is a reality. Naturally truth means real. Untruth means unreal. So reality. And what is the reality? There are two types of reality. One is a reflected reality. This material nature is a reflected reality. It is real. But as real as a reflection. That is the difference between us and the impersonalist. The impersonalist say that this is mitha, this false. But it’s not false. It’s not mitha. It’s real. But it is a reflected reality. We are involved here in this reflection. And, we are considering this to be real. But, we are not able to get what we actually want from this.
Example: Like say if you very hungry and you see there is an apple tree full of apples. But if it’s a reflection of the apple tree will you be able to satisfy your hunger? Can you get the apple from the reflection? That is the problem. Because it’s a reflected reality what we want we cannot get from here. Therefore we are always dissatisfied. We are always discontent. We don’t get want we want. We endeavour to get it and even though it appears that we got it, but still it doesn’t satisfy the heart. So in the reflection, you may even catch the, almost catch the apple, but can you eat that apple. No. So that is the material nature.
Such truth uproots the threefold miseries- this kind of truth uproots the threefold miseries of material nature. How many of you know those threefold miseries of the material nature? Please raise your hands. Ok. How many of you don’t know? Threefold miseries, what are the threefold miseries? How many of you don’t know? Ok. So the threefold miseries are three types of miseries of the material nature. They are known, in Sanskrit they are known as adiatmik, adibotik and adidaivik. Now you remembered. Ok, adiatmik means miseries caused by the body and mind. Adibotik, the miseries caused by other living entities. And adidaivik, miseries caused by demigods. That’s caused by the demigods.
Freedom from the Threefold Miseries
So everyone in this world is subjected to this threefold miseries. So these threefold miseries of the material nature no one can avoid. The richest man, can he avoid the miseries? So, the richest man, all of a sudden his business collapses, what happens? He’s miserable. Very wealthy, very powerful, very influential person, he becomes, he contacted the terminal disease. What happens? Ok. Very, very wealthy, very happy, very content person and one day he gets the news that his son has become a drug addict. Or some dacoits come and kills his family members, robs all his property. All his wealth. Can it happen?
To the most happy person in this world. The wealthiest person in the world. Very happily situated, very nice family, beautiful home, very happily situated, healthy body, healthy mind. Then all of a sudden there is an earthquake and everything goes under the earth. Can it happen? Do they happen? To people. Can anybody avoid these difficulties? I remember one of the richest man of India at that time. Not one, he was the richest person in India Birla. He went out on a morning walk in London, and he had a heart attack, he had a massive heart attack and he left his body lying on the gutter. He fell on the gutter, left his body. So, do things like that happen? So that is the material nature. Threefold miseries. And everyone is subjected to these threefold miseries.
It says, that when one becomes aware of this absolute truth, then he becomes free from the threefold miseries. This knowledge, this truth uproots the threefold miseries of material existence. Now, is it true? The understanding, the absolute truth, relieves one from the threefold miseries. Does it happen? How does it happen? Because he transcends his bodily platform. This threefold miseries are pertaining to the material body. So when one’s consciousness is beyond this material body, then he becomes free from this suffering conditioning of this material nature.
Example- yesterday also I gave that example, that when one is having an open heart surgery. How many of you had a open heart surgery here? Mukunda Hari, you are the only one. Very good. So you are the only fortunate soul. So, and we are discussing about that. What does open heart surgery do? It cuts your ribs and it kind off opens up your chest. Can you imagine, your chest is wide open, the whole thing is cut.
And then they operate the heart. So I asked Mukunda Hari whether he felt anything or not? How did he feel? He say he didn’t know what happened, whether anything happened to him. Question: Why not? Somebody opened up his heart. Can you imagine if somebody even pricks a pin in your heart, how would you feel. You feel so painful. And here the entire heart is opened up, the ribs, I mean the chest is opened up. The chest is, the ribs are pulled out, pulled wide open and they’re cutting your heart. Why didn’t he feel anything? Why not? Any idea? Yes, because of anaesthetics. Because he was anaesthetised. What does anaesthetics do? What does anaesthetics do? How many doctors are here? Ganga Narayan. What does anaesthetics do? Very good. Anaesthetics, blocks the activities of the nerve. Nerves actually carry the sense perceptions. All the nerves are ending in different senses and they carry the impressions or the message that the senses are receiving into the brain. So that is why we feel. Now when the nerves, anaesthetics, what they do? They just block the activities of the nerves. So, no senses are carried, therefore there is no perception. Although the heart is cut, the chest is cut open, the ribs are… There is another surgeon here, he didn’t raise his hand otherwise, Sunil Mohan. He is cutting all the time from morning till night. He’s a surgeon. But do your patients scream, Sunil Mohan? Did you ever hear any of your patients screaming? Why not? They came anaesthetised. Because the senses, the perceptions, are carried by the nerves and when the nerves are not carrying senses, then you don’t. Now nerves are actually carrying the senses of the body. It is through the nerves that we are in body consciousness. And artificially, in anaesthetics, stop the activities of the nerves and therefore there is no perception of the body.
Our Consciousness Reposed to Krishna
Now, when one sees the Absolute Truth, then where is his consciousness? What we call this? Krishna consciousness. Our process is known as Krishna consciousness. So, where is the consciousness? Consciousness is in the body or in Krishna. So when consciousness is in Krishna, than the body consciousness is there? No. So that is why, what happens to the body? They don’t register. It is not that things don’t happen to the body, things do happen to the body, but they don’t register it. They don’t… They don’t feel it. That is the difference.
Okay, so I said, threefold miseries, right. Say you, your consciousness is fixed on Krishna, then will your ears hear? When your consciousness is shifted to Krishna, will your ears hear? So, if somebody comes and tells you that you received ten million dollars and if you don’t hear will it make any difference to you? Or if somebody comes and tells you, you lost all your money and if you don’t hear will it make any difference to you? When your consciousness is there and you have some acute pain in your stomach, will you register the pain? At that time if somebody comes and insults you in a bad way calling you all kinds of names, will you hear? Ok, adi atmik. Right?
Your consciousness is not there in your body and somebody comes and pricks a needle in your body, will you feel it? A mosquito bites you, will you feel it? A tiger comes and eats up your hand, will you feel it? No, adi botik.
Your consciousness is not there in your body and it is 55 degrees centigrade, heat, will you feel it? There is a heat wave or there is a cold wave, minus 55 degrees, will you feel it? So, that’s the thing. Ta putra and unmulanam, why, because the consciousness has been shifted to somewhere else. The consciousness is not in the body anymore therefore there is no consciousness of pleasure or pain. Ultimately, it’s just a matter of pleasure and pain. That’s about the only thing that we know. Either it’s pleasing to our body or painful to our body. So “tāpa-trayonmūlanam”. Alright. By seeing the Absolute Truth, such truth uproots the threefold miseries.
This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization.
The Best Way to Realise Krishna
This Bhagavatam, which has been compiled by Srila Vyasadev, is sufficient in itself, for God realization. How many of you want to realize God? And what is the best way to realize him? Read Srimad Bhagavatam. So this is the reality, this is the mystery, this is the secret. Read Srimad Bhagavatam, you’ll understand Krishna perfectly.
What is the need of any other scripture?
So when you have this Srimad Bhagavatam, what is the need of any other scripture? Just this scripture is good enough. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu preached with these two books only, he had only these two books. The basis of His teachings was on these two books. Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. Bhagavad Gita is the preliminary understanding, preliminary study of God realization. Srimad Bhagavatam is the advanced study of God realization.
As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.
As soon as one submissively hears, the message Srimad Bhagavatam, then the Lord becomes established within his heart. Meaning the Lord appears in his heart. The Lord manifests Himself in his heart. So study Srimad Bhagavatam, and Krishna will appear in your heart.
So now we’ll just read part of the purport.
Religion includes four primary subjects, namely pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses, and finally liberation from material bondage.
The Concept of Dharma – Acquiring Pious Credits
How many of you know the Sanskrit term for these four things? Mukunda Hari. Dharma artha, karma and moksha.
So dharma, Prabhupada has translated here, is pious activities. Because this acting according to… Dharma here means, the laws given by the Lord. Lord actually gives us the direction, understanding how to act, how one should act. How to act. And when one acts properly, then he gets piety. What is piety? Piety is wealth. Piety means credit in your account. And sin is debit in your account. When you have credit, your bank balance goes up. Right, that’s your credit. So by pious activities, you acquire, you increase your bank balance. And through sinful activities, you exhaust your bank balance. You know how it happens?
Say for example, somebody steals. Stealing means taking something without the permission of the person or taking something without paying the price. Isn’t it stealing? So when one steals, there are higher authorities who are watching, is anyone watching all our activities? Yes, the demigods are watching our activities, and they are making calculations. Oh, you stole, you pay, you didn’t pay the price? Okay, minus to your credit. You have some credit. There is a credit card there, although you are not paying here, the credit card is charged there in the heavenly planet. And you did something good, oh, demigods are watching, okay, that is credit to your account. That is debited, and this pious activities are adding to the credit and sinful activities subtracting from the credit. When you do something wrong, without paying the price, minus minus minus. So, do you want to take somethng without paying the price? Now? And not only pay there, you’ll have to pay there with a fine. So when you know that, would you, would you ever like to do that? No. So that is the intelligent thing to do.
So dharma, acting properly, gives one the credit. And when you have a lot of bank balance, then what happens? When you have a lot of asset, a lot of bank balance, then you can go and buy whatever you want. Okay, I like this car, how much? Three crore rupees. A Rolls Royce. Okay. You have hundreds of crores in your account, does it matter to pay three crores?
So that’s what actually happens on a subtle sense. You have so many, so much wealth there, and you desire, well it’s a nice thing, I wish I had that. Immediately it is delivered to your door step. So this is how, piety is actually subtle wealth. An intelligent person do not really care so much about the gross wealth which is money. Nowadays we are seeing it is becoming subtle. Like nowadays nobody carry a purse.
I remember when we were young, our back pocket, where we used to keep the money bag… Everybody’s back pocket was sewn, but nowadays nobody carries a purse on his back, in pocket. What he carries is a credit card. So, he goes, buy something, okay, here’s the credit card. Especially in the west, don’t you do that all the time? You carry money to buy the things in the shop? No- credit card. So similarly, there is a credit card there, more subtle and who is keeping the account there? There, in that one, you don’t really have to keep the accounts. The demigods, are keeping the accounts. So that is why, Kama. Artha leads to kama. What is kama? Kama means material enjoyment. What is material enjoyment? Material enjoyment is fulfilment of desire. Don’t you feel happy when your desire is fulfilled? Oh, I wish I had this, I wish I had this. And when you get it, how do you feel? Oh, I wish I had that. So a happy man is he, who can very easily fulfil his desires. In the material sense. But, ultimately, in spite of all the enjoyment, what one understands? Ultimately one understands that this is a place for suffering. I’m suffering, no matter, whatever I do. No matter how much I endeavour to enjoy, I’m suffering. And then he realizes what this material… this is a place for suffering. So do you want to stay in a place for suffering? If there is a fire in that house, do you want to stay in that house? What do you want to do? You want to get out of the house immediately because you know if you stay there you’ll suffer. So similarly, when you recognise that this is a place for suffering, what are you naturally going to do? Get out of here. So that is what? Moksha, liberation.
So these are the four, these are the four activities. The culture of knowledge- Prabhupada is saying, the religion includes four primary subjects, namely pious activities, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and finally liberation from material bondage.
Real Religion
So that is religious life. And irreligious life is a barbarous condition. Indeed, human life begins when religion begins. Eating, sleeping, fearing and mating, are the four principles of animal life. These are common both to animals and to human beings, but religion is the extra function of the human being. Without religion, human life is no better than animal life. Therefore, in human societies, there is some form of religion, which aims at self-realization and which makes reference to man’s eternal relationship with God. So the ultimate religion is? Ultimate form of religion is to develop our relationship, eternal relationship, with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, what should be the ultimate goal of life? The ultimate goal of life should be to develop our relationship with Krishna, and which begins with self-realization.
Self, what is, who are we? Who are we? What is the answer? What is the proper answer? Common answer is, I am this body. I am the son of the person who gave me this body. I belong to the family in which this body appeared. So this is how we have to become situated in our eternal religion. In our constitutional position. What we are. We are from the spiritual world, therefore we have to go back to the spiritual world and only when we do that, we’ll become perfectly satisfied.
Okay, thank you‘ll very much. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada Gaur Premanande Hari Haribol
Does anybody have any question?
Question 1:
Hare Krishna Maharaj, In pious activities, when person performing in pious activities, suppose he cheat, perform impious activities also on the other hand. So can we do like this?
BCS: It does to some extent, but it cannot fully neutralize. Like, various examples have been given in that respect. Like, there’s a tree, you cut the tree, but if the root of the tree is there, then the tree will grow again. Right? That’s one example that has been given. Like nullifying the sinful activities with pious activities, are like cutting the branches of the trees. It seems that you have cut it, but then it will grow again. Right. Another thing is, you see, the karmic reactions are like, karmic reactions are like, a tree that grows from one reaction, one karmic action, there’s one reaction. From one seed, a tree comes out. In the tree, there are many other fruits, many fruits. In the fruits, there are seeds. In the seeds, there are trees. So when the seeds fall on the ground, other trees will come. Now, in those trees, there are seeds, fruits and seeds. So this is how it becomes impossible to deal with. Like, the trees are growing. You see, you may cut one tree, but 25 000 fruits have already gone out. Right, with the seeds in them, so how you going to deal with them? So by the time you cut 25 000, 5600 trees have already come up. So that’s why it’s so difficult, to deal with. But what Krishna consciousness does is “ tāpa-trayonmūlanam”, the threefold miseries, the suffering condition, the karmic reactions, are uprooted. When the tree is uprooted, then there is no possibility for the trees to grow. The seeds are there, but if the tree’s seeds are fried, will they fructify? So Krishna Consciousness, fries all those seeds. Right. So that is why Krishna consciousness is the only way to become free from all sinful reaction. As Krishna says, “Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi”(BG 18.66) , you surrender unto Me and I will free you from all your sinful reaction. Right.
Question 2 (Iinaudible):
BCS: Mind is there and brain is the seat. Right. Brain is the seat on which the mind is sitting. You get the point? The mind is not brain. Because the brain may be dead, the seat may be broken, but the mind can still be there. Mind continues to be there. Alright? … previous life… don’t worry about it. Nah sochati na kanksati. Just remember Krishna, and surrender to Him and keep on cultivating Krishna consciousness.
Question 3
Kriti. (Take the mike.) Guru Maharaj, you mentioned about the threefold miseries, and you mentioned as well that when you transcend them that you no longer involved in the inception of life.
BCS: Or rather the other way around. When you are situated in spiritual life, then you are not in the bodily concept of life, and therefore you have transcended threefold miseries. Okay.
Question 4
Where is the… Let’s say that you perceive and you feel miseries coming from the body, mind, or others or the demigods, but at the same time, by Krishna’s mercy you gain some ability to tolerate, so where’s your consciousness. (You gain some ability to?) To tolerate. (To tolerate, okay)…So in Krishna consciousness, you still on the bodily platform, but ..Is there a grey area or is it Krishna consciousness, because if you still perceive or feel troubled…
BCS: I get it, I get your point. As you mentioned, the grey area, grey area means, like you are neither in darkness nor in light. Right. Just twilight zone, okay. So, at that time, you have the understanding, you are not this body. You understand that this concept of pleasure and pain is pertaining to the body. So intellectually, you grasp it, but you are still feeling the pain because the consciousness is still in the body, not fully shifted there, to Krishna. So, at that time, yes you go through that, but do not become so badly affected, as a person who is fully in his body consciousness. And as you said, like yeah at that point, you learn to tolerate. It has come, it has happened, so what, what to do. Let’s tolerate it. Right. “Tams titikshasya Bharata” At that stage Krishna is saying Tams titikshasya Bharata. Just tolerate it.
Question 5
Is that also trying to develop in your Krishna consciousness? When you learn to tolerate, by Krishna’s mercy, or receive as Krishna’s mercy…
BCS: Yeah, it is because of your Krishna consciousness that you are tolerating it, with the knowledge. Right.
Question 6
I have one more question. It is mentioned, you mentioned that, what is the need of any other scripture, if you have the Srimad Bhagavatam, so I heard somewhere, that Srila Bhaktisidhanta Saraswati Thakur said, if He could choose, I don’t know if I heard it properly, then he would choose Chaitanya Charitamrta, can you please explain?
BCS: So this personified Bhagavat is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So that is a higher study. It’s a more advanced stage. In a sense, you see, like in Bhagavatam we are getting it theoretically and through Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you’re seeing it practically. So Bhagavatam become personified in Chaitanya Charitamrta.
Question 7
Yeah. This one, no name, it came from you? Oh very nice, you have a nice hand writing. Nimai. Hare Krishna Guru Maharaj, dandavat pranam. As I learnt in Krishna consciousness that the movement of living entity develops a desire to enjoy independent of Krishna. It enters into material nature under false conception of as an enjoyer, proprietor, and as a result, the intelligence gets affected by these modes of nature and subsequently mind becomes material as a result incessant material desires binds soul into material whirlpool. Sense objects enters into mind, in the form of desires and it seems difficult to separate it from material mind. So question is, what is the hope for one, what one should do to intensify his or her purification to release from this nasty suffering situation?
BCS: So, question is, what is the hope for one, what should one do to intensify, to purification, to release, from the nasty sufferings. Whether one should intensify to purify intelligence by religious. What... Okay, or go for more chanting. Well as you said, the question is how does one, what is the hope? The hope is the Holy Name and at the same time, hearing and chanting. You know chanting is important, and hearing is important. Both are important. Right. Reading Bhagavatam is hearing. Right. And the thing is when, we can approach this question in this way. Say, you mentioned chanting and reading Srimad Bhagavatam, like of this two, which one is more effective? Okay, what about a person who is illiterate? Consider his case. What should he do? He can’t read. Can he read Bhagavatam? Does it mean he’s hopeless? No, then what’s the hope? So, in that sense, chanting is important. But not only chanting, hearing. He may be illiterate, but he can sit in the Bhagavatam class and hear. So that is how he’ll get the benefit. So both are important. Hearing and chanting.
Question 8
Why do we have to suffer the consequences of negative actions in society, such as natural disasters… Why do I have to suffer?
BCS: Because it is the reaction of your sinful activities. You see natural calamities is taking in place because of the massive reaction. You see, when the collective reaction, collective sinful activities, you know reach certain point, then the demigods, take action. Right. They have their way of doing it. They bring all the like sinful personalities in one area, and just one earthquake, taken care off. Right. So it’s not that why do I have to suffer the natural calamities, rather the natural calamities are happening because of your sinful activities. It’s not happening just by chance.
We have some questions…
Question 9 (Inauditble)
BCS: Devahuti- yeah, it is pious activity. Because until and until, he recognizes, Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it won’t be seen, it won’t become spiritual activity. He’ll get some pious benefit, because you know after all, he is abiding by the law and as a result of that law, he is getting some benefit.
Question 10
When you read Bhagavatam with patience and proper mood… How we can get that mood? How can we develop that mood?
BCS: Well, by reading and hearing, you’ll understand what Bhagavatam will give you. Then your faith will become stronger.