Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañ-jaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
Word for word:
mattaḥ — beyond Me; para–taram — superior; na — not; anyat kiñcit — anything else; asti — there is; dhanam–jaya — O conqueror of wealth; mayi — in Me; sarvam — all that be; idam — which we see; protam — is strung; sūtre — on a thread; maṇi–gaṇāḥ — pearls; iva — like.
Translation:
O conqueror of wealth, there is no truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.
mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat, so Sri Krishna is telling superior to me parataraḿ (there is no truth), so there is (no truth) better than Me higher than Me parataraḿ, paratara is an intermediate superlative that means good, better and best Yuka, Yuktata and Yuktama, so tatra is intermediate is better at that level, there is no truth better than me paratara, na anyat apart from Me, there is no truth higher than Me. kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, there is no possibility, I am the highest truth, and now Sri Krishna is Supreme Truth that doesn’t make us think that He is ok He is a king who exists above everything else and look down from above to all of us, no mayi sarvam idaḿ protaḿ, sūtre maṇi–gaṇā iva, so actually there are two aspects of Lord’s glory there is transcendence and there is immanence, transcendence refers to how He exists in spiritual world separated from everyone and everything and He exists there eternally and immanence refers to how He pervades all of us, transcendence means God is beyond matter and immanence means God is within matter. BG explain both aspects of God. There is transcendence also and there is immanence also. In transcendence aspect He talked about there is no truth higher than Me. And we will talk about His transcendence aspect several times in BG for example Sri Krishna says Bhutanama Isvaropi Ajopi navatma…in BG 04.06 I come as eternal imperishable body I am Lord of living beings even when I come in material world I am not contaminated by that when Sri Krishna talks about Paratasmatebhaum, that beyond this material world there is spiritual world that is talking about transcendental aspect and this chapter will talk about immanence aspect How He pervades all of reality also, so He has got transcendent or immanent, He has got separate from matter or He has got within matter actually He is both God is transcendent and immanent, He is present within matter but He is not contained by matter He is not limited to matter He extends beyond matter to the ultimate reality kimiscid Dananjaya, actually there is no truth higher than Him, Krishna is the highest truth but because He is highest doesn’t mean He is far away, He is also right with us He is accessible to us, He pervades all of creation, in fact How He pervades How He is immanent that will be described in next series of verses from BG7.08 to BG7.11 but here sūtre maṇi–gaṇā iva, there is an important metaphor, that when we wear say Kanti Mala what we see primarily is beads we see nice jewel necklace we see beads, but within beads going through the beads is thread and what is that thread? Sri Krishna is saying I am that thread. So whatever we see in this world is various phenomena, we see various things in this world but underline them unifying them, the thread of truth is Sri Krishna, so this metaphor is to convey how Sri Krishna is underlying unifying within material world how he is immanent within the world.
The Acharya Baladev Vidya Bhusan writes in Vedanta commentary raises this issue and also it comes up at various other places when Sri Krishna is saying that there is no truth higher than Me, then what Sri Krishna is referring to? Mayavadi are having idea that form is not the highest truth beyond the form there is impersonal reality that is the highest truth that is the highest truth. That is there idea. But Sri Krishna is saying here mattaḥ, Me, apart from Me there is not higher truth, what does it mean? When Sri Krishna is saying Me it refers to Me, we can’t go in our twisted interpretation. mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat, there is no truth which is higher than Me if we want to follow BG we cannot impose our philosophy on BG we have seen what Gita is actually saying and Gita is saying very clearly we have to surrender to Krishna, mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat. There is no truth higher than Sri Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada Purport: “There is a common controversy over whether the Supreme Absolute Truth is personal or impersonal.”
And he says it is confirmed in BG “this is confirmed in every step. In this verse, in particular, it is stressed that the Absolute Truth is a person.”
How it is confirmed Sri Krishna is using mattaḥ over here.
Also Srila Prabhupada mentioned: “Brahma–saḿhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda–vigrahaḥ; that is, the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the primeval Lord, the reservoir of all pleasure, Govinda, and the eternal form of complete bliss and knowledge.”
So this also confirm the point that Supreme Truth is a person Sac-Cid-Ananda and that Srila Prabhupada quoted from Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (3.10): tato yad uttarataraḿ tad arūpam anāmayam/ ya etad vidur amṛtās te bhavanti athetare duḥkham evāpiyanti. “In the material world Brahmā, the primeval living entity within the universe, is understood to be the supreme amongst the demigods, human beings and lower animals. But beyond Brahmā there is the Transcendence, who has no material form and is free from all material contaminations. Anyone who can know Him also becomes transcendental, but those who do not know Him suffer the miseries of the material world.”
Significant point of this verse is the quote of arūpam that actually there is no form, Srila Prabhupada emphasized the point that actually we have to look at the context
SP quote: “The impersonalist puts more stress on the word arūpam.” But we have to look at the full context and this is 3.10 and before that is 3.8 – 3.9 from the same Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad and what is it saying about that absolute truth?
vedāham etaḿ puruṣaḿ mahāntam
āditya–varṇaḿ tamasaḥ parastāt
nānyaḥ panthā vidyate ‘yanāya
yasmāt paraḿ nāparam asti kiñcid
yasmān nāṇīyo no jyāyo ‘sti kiñcit
vṛkṣa iva stabdho divi tiṣṭhaty ekas
tenedaḿ pūrṇaḿ puruṣeṇa sarvam
“I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other than this knowledge of that Supreme Person.
“There is no truth superior to that Supreme Person, because He is the supermost. He is smaller than the smallest, and He is greater than the greatest. He is situated as a silent tree, and He illumines the transcendental sky, and as a tree spreads its roots, He spreads His extensive energies.”
From these verses one concludes that the Supreme Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is all-pervading by His multi-energies, both material and spiritual.
The point is that it is Purusam, so actually it is very categorical the first line starts with the word Purusam here vedāham etaḿ puruṣaḿ mahāntam and last line tenedaḿ pūrṇaḿ puruṣeṇa sarvam, so just in prior quotation the word Purusa is used so when the word Purusa is used how can we say that what is used is non-personal, formless, purusa refers clearly to a person so what is this quotation actually saying
vedāham etaḿ puruṣaḿ mahāntam
I know that great absolute truth what is the characteristic?
āditya–varṇaḿ tamasaḥ parastāt
His complexion is such that He can take us beyond the darkness of material existence, tamasaḥ parastāt, Srila Prabhupada translates beyond the darkness of material existence.
By knowing Him one can attain liberation one can go beyond cycle of birth and death
nānyaḥ panthā vidyate ‘yanāya
And there is no other path than this to attain liberation, and then further describing position of absolute truth,
yasmāt paraḿ nāparam asti kiñcid
apart from Him there is no greater truth
yasmān nāṇīyo no jyāyo ‘sti kiñcit
actually absolute truth is so paradoxical that on one side there is nothing greater than Him and on another side there is nothing smaller than Him also. How can there be noting smaller than Him? As Maha Vishnu is greater than the greatest and as Kishordakshai Visnu who is present even within the atoms and present within the heart if even the microscopic living being so actually He is smaller than smallest. yasmān nāṇīyo no jyāyo ‘sti kiñcit. So the point is Lord has inconceivable attributes greater than greatest and smaller than smallest
vṛkṣa iva stabdho divi tiṣṭhaty ekas
So the example given is the tree is situated at one place but from one place it spreads the energy everywhere
tenedaḿ pūrṇaḿ puruṣeṇa sarvam
Similarly the absolute truth pervades its energy everywhere.
So Srila Prabhupada is quoting this point how Upanishads also quotes that Supreme Being is a person, the absolute truth is not impersonal, the absolute truth is a person so Veda ha Metam Purusam Mahatam and that Purusa is Sri Krishna so in this way 7th chapter first part is establishes how Sri Krishna is a source of all energies material and spiritual and how everything is sustained by Sri Krishna there is no truth higher than Him and He pervades everything as a necklace is pervaded by a thread so His pervasion is no passive his pervasion is unifying, active so the immanence how Sri Krishna pervades the matter will be discussed from BG 07.08 to BG 07.11.
End of transcription.
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