Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

 

9-13: Remembrance by yoga-mishra bhakti

 

Various Transcendentalists

Based on Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur Purport in BG, what is the destination of different people he is talking about

There are difference kinds of Bhakti

Kevala bhaktas: Goloka Vrindavana with prema. Kevala Bhakti which means pure devotion service, Keval means only which means nothing but only Bhakti.

Pradhani-bhuta Bhaktas (Bhakti >50%): Vaikunthain shanta-rati. Pradhan means principal which means they have some other things also in their Bhakti there may be Yoga there may be Gyana but primarily it is Bhakti, so Bhakti is more than 50%.

Guni-bhuta bhakti (Bhakti <50%): Brahmajyoti. So Guna is other processes like Gyana, Yoga, Karma they are influenced by modes whereas Bhakti is essentially transcendental. So when we use Gyana we are using intellect and the intellect is material, when we are doing yoga we are concentrating in mind and mind is material when we do Karma we are using the body and body is material. Bhakti may also involve the intellect, body and the mind but Bhakti is centre in the heart and heart is essentially the seat of emotion that is soul. Soul is spiritual. So Bhakti is always transcendental of course we Sadhaka may not be transcendental and the Bhakti that we may be performing right now may be within the modes may be in goodness, passion and ignorance but Bhakti in principle is transcendental. So Guni-Bhuta Bhakti means that Bhakti which is mixed with something material. So in Guni-Bhuta Bhakti and Pradhani-Bhuta Bhakti there will be some 

Gyana Yoga/DhyanaYoga/Karma Yoga: Brahmajyoti after they add bhakti in their sadhana there will be some Mishra both are Mishra Bhakti but there is a movement upwards. Guni Bhuta Bhakti is less than 50%, Pradhani-Bhakti is more than 50%, Kevala Bhakti means Bhakti is 100%. So there is an upward movement gradually so while one is having this upward movement the progression will involve Purification, Gyana-Karmadi-Anavritam as Rupa Goswami says in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu Gynana and karma one removes it , the awaran they removed, then they become purely directed they are not impurely directed because of self-centered materialistic conceptions Anavritam, avaram removed that is what the word is used. In the definition of Bhakti by Rupa Goswami … 

anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmadyanavrtam

anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir-uttama

so this is Uttama Bhakti. Uttama Bhakti is Kavala Bhakti. One moves to Kavala or Uttama Bhakti gradually from downward to upward. Lower ones are guni bhuta and Pradhani Bhuta. So when there is Mishra Bhakti what is the nature of Mishra Bhakti, there is some contamination of Yoga or some contamination of Gyana or there can be karma also so other parts of transcendence when one have some inclination towards them, some residue of Gyana / Karma / Guna that is there in the process of Bhakti then that will be Pradhani Bhut if there is large quantity of Gyana / Karma / Guna then it is Guni Bhut.

So now Srila Viswanath charavarti Thakur will explain what will be different destinations that different Yogis will attend.

So let us look at it.

Various Transcendentalists

Kevalabhaktas: Goloka Vrindavan with prema. So they develop prema and they attain Goloka Vrindavan

Pradhani-bhutab (Bhakti >50%): Vaikunthain shanta-rati

Guni-bhutabhakti (Bhakti <50%): Brahmajyoti

JnanaYoga/DhyanaYoga/Karma Yoga: Brahmajyoti after they add bhakti in their sadhana

Here we are not talking about transition even at the end of their spiritual journey before liberation if they are Pradhani Bhutas that means they continue their attachment to Yoga and Gyana then because of the presence of other things they go to Vaikuntha and Guni Bhuta Bhaktas they will go to Brahmajyoti that means if other paths are disproportionately high then the personal conception is not what they are focusing on that is why they will attain impersonal conception.

Now on other hand for those people who are not practicing Bhakti Yoga at all they are practicing  Gyana Yoga / Dhyana yoga / Karma Yoga then even through these paths they can ultimately attain perfection but that perfection will be Brahma Jyoti. When they will attain Brahma Jyoti? When they will add Bhakti in their sadhana, without Bhakti no other process can give result, Bhakti is essential but the proportion of Bhakti will vary among different seekers and depending on the proportion of Bhakti the destination will also vary so here we are talking about Yoga Mishra Bhaktas so those who are practicing process of Astang Yoga Primarily but they are also incorporating Bhakti element in it. So Krishna has talked about incorporating Bhakti element even in 6th chapter, He has talked about in BG 6.14, when He says that the Yogi should fix his mind on Me…so Krishna has talked about how Yogi should go in Jungle in secluded place sit is straight position then after mind is peaceful by these yogis process then manaḥ saṁyamya mac-citto bring the mind under control and fix the consciousness on Me and the yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ, in this way become devoted to Me, so Krishna will talk about the same conception elaborate on this on point how yogis may fix the mind on Krishna. Now you have understand here one imp point that though the yogis may fix mind on Krishna, Krishna will be the object of their meditation but Krishna will not be objective of their meditation. What is the difference the object and objective? Object means what they are thinking about objective means what they wish to achieve, so Krishna should not be just be object but objective also. So when Krishna is both we will attain the ultimate perfection. So the yogis and seekers in the other paths for them they may also fix their mind on Krishna but their objective may be something else OK Krishna is a tool for meditation after that we have to ultimately meditate on the Supreme Lord. Or we will ultimately attain the impersonal Brahman so those who think like this they are mistaken, they deprive themselves with ultimate result. So here Krihsna will talk about those who are having Krishna as the Object right now, so if they will get the association of devotees if they are fortunate they will not only get the object but objective also. They may think that Krishna is my object of meditation, so that ultimately I can attend Brahman so is this offensive, not necessarily, if they deride the form of Krishna if they minimise and blaspheme the form of Krishna and they criticise the process of devotion service then that becomes offensive if they consider this is my path and I want to go here that is fine but if they consider this is the best path, supreme path and not only that, they say that those who meditate on Krishna are less intelligent, Krishna’s form is transgracenal ultimately Krishna’s form is Maya and one has to go beyond Maya then there is illusion that is illusion and that can lead to unfortunate result that Krishna will talk about in 9.11 and 9.12

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So here the Yogis are meditating on Supreme Lord by contemplating His attributes these attributes can be contemplated by devotees also and Yogis also, so let us look at the attributes 

Bg 8.9

kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsitāram
aṇor aṇīyāṁsam anusmared yaḥ
sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam
āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt

Word for word: 

kavim — the one who knows everything; purāṇam — the oldest; anuśāsitāram — the controller; aṇoḥ — than the atom; aṇīyāṁsam — smaller; anusmaret — always thinks of; yaḥ — one who; sarvasya — of everything;dhātāram — the maintainer; acintya — inconceivable; rūpam — whose form; āditya–varṇam — luminous like the sun; tamasaḥ — to darkness; parastāt — transcendental.

Translation: 

One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.

kaviṁ purāṇam, kaviṁ means one who knows everything, Krishna has already talked about this in 7.26 when He has said. So here He is describing from the point of Yogis, He is not saying I am like this He is saying this is how the Yogis meditate on the absolute truth off course in few verses He will explain what they are meditating is Me only but here He is not revealing that kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsitāram, so this person is Kavi so Krishna knows everything, Yogis meditates on this that Krishna knows everything past present and future so that makes us humble that makes us safe also we cannot pose that I am greater a person than Krishna as Krishna knows all our faults but Krishna is there to protect us, so it is safe also. purāṇa He is the oldest person within the world also we can see that wisdom is associated with age. Somebody says O’ this doctor has 30 years of experience, he is an experienced doctor so kaviṁ purāṇam, so he is wise because he is experienced, in this world if some doctor says I have 30 years of experience we are happy but if someone will say I have 90 years of experience then we will ask how old are you, you may be 120 so I will not take treatment from you, you may not be able to do things properly so what happens is if the person becomes too old things may not work out as they may lose control over the faculties. So Krishna is saying that absolute truth is purāṇam but still He is  anuśāsitāram, anuśāsitāram He is controller of everything every thing is under his Shashan, kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsitāram. So He is the wisest He is the oldest and He is the strongest so actually everything is under control of Krishna. Sometimes it is said that Nothing Moves Unless Will of Krishna so we should understand that it is not WILL it is sanction, it is not that Krishna wants bad things to happen it is not that Krishna wants terrorist to blow up building and kill innocent people they wanted to do it and Krishna allows them to do it. Anuśāsitāram, but ultimately He is in control and paradoxically normally when we think that somebody is in control then we think that, that person must be giant huge body person to be looked at but He is aṇor aṇīyāṁsam, He is smaller then the smallest, He is so small so tiny aṇor aṇīyāṁ, actually Krishna is present in our heart now we will wonder He is in our heart so we may wonder what about those living beings who do not have a heart, you may say that there are microbes whose body is not well divided where there is an organ which can be called as a heart so where is Krishna situated? Actually when we talk about heart in one sense we talked about the centre of cognition and motion and that is where Krishna is present so in an appropriate place in that metabolical structure Krishna may be present, the point of talking that Krishna is in heart is that Krishna is the intimate partner the constant companion the unfailing friend of the soul and wherever the soul goes Krishna goes with that soul so when the soul is in microscopic body Krishna will be in appropriate position and appropriate size over there, He is also present in an atom, aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham so in this way Krishna is the greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest Mahto Maniyan Anor Aniyam. How is that possible actually Krishna is greater than the greatest as Maha Vishnu the whole universe is coming out of Him. So He is greater than the greatest at the same time He is smaller than the smallest as kshirodakshayi Vishnu as Paramatma He is present within atoms.

anusmared yaḥ, when we contemplate on Absolute Truth anusmared, so here we see contemplation is interesting it is not just Krishna is playing flute or running with Yashoda Mai and Krishna is saying I don’t steal butter don’t catch Me, Yogis are not focusing on Krishna’s pastime that Bhakta’s will do, but even Bhaktas need to understand Krishna Tattvatah as Krishna told in BG 04.09 so therefor for tattvatah understanding it is important even for devotees to contemplate on these qualities anusmared so it is not just smared, random arbitrary kind of remembrance it is anusmared, understand the position of Krishna properly then sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam, so sarvasya dhātāram, so dhata is the maintainer sarvasya dhātā, Krishna is the maintainer of everyone, how is He maintaining everyone, we may say that I am maintaining myself my job is maintaining me, my bank balance is maintaining me, I am maintaining my family, yes it is true at one level, but this is not the ultimate level we with our work and our money we cannot maintain our family and ourselves if Krishna doesn’t provide the background arrangement, if there is no rains then what will the currency notes do? Actually the grains has to come by the arrangement of Krishna through nature and after the grains come we have to digest food, we may have all the money in the world, but if we lose our digestive facility then how we will able to maintain ourselves we may have to be given some intravenous food or something like that, even the most wealthy people in the world has to die therefore actually it is not only our efforts that maintains it is Krishna who ultimately maintains sarvasya dhātāram and how somebody who is smaller then smallest is the supreme maintainer and controller how it is possible? Actually this is achintya He is acintya-rūpam, so it is significant that even by talking about how the yogis are meditating on the Supreme Lord on the ultimate truth the point is Rupam, Rupam means form, acintya-rūpam, actually it the form which is talked about it indicates that yogis also should meditate on Absolute Truth as a person, as one with form Acintya Rupam, in the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam generally Sankhya and Yoga are connected in the six system of philosophy that are there, there are groups Mimasa & Vedanta, Naya & Vaisasika, and Sankhya & Yoga. So when one analyses the matter one understand these are temporary and after that one goes beyond matter to spirit this progression from Sankhya to Yoga is talked in about in third canto of SB where Kapil Deva describes how the yogi meditates, after analysing the properties of material nature the yogis may meditates on that which lies beyond material nature that is the Supreme Lord and there are many beautiful verses in third canto in the section of Kapila’s teaching from 24 to 31 chapters where He talks about beautiful form of Lord and how the Yogi meditates on each limb of the form of Lord so acintya-rūpam. Anusmared, how should one remember, one should remember the form of lord as acintya, so it is interesting if it is acintya how one can do Anusmared? We do Anusmared based on scripture we cannot understand the form of Lord completely but we can understand partially that is why Srila Prabhupada says in the purport over here that: 

Acintya means that which is beyond this material world, that which our argument, logic and philosophical speculation cannot touch, that which is inconceivable. 

Srila Prabhupada comments before this: 

He pervades this material world and yet is beyond it. We cannot comprehend even this material world, which is insignificant compared to the spiritual world – so how can we comprehend what is beyond?

Again Srila Prabhupada says:

Therefore intelligent persons, avoiding useless argument and speculation, should accept what is stated in scriptures like the Vedas, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the principles they set down. This will lead one to understanding.

So first accept what scriptures says and then follow. SP purport: scriptures like the Vedas, Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and follow the principles they set down. This will lead one to understanding.

So when we talk about the inconceivable, The confirmation will come by conformation, conformation means when we conform according to the scripture standards that are given, scriptures gives certain teachings and then they gives us certain practices this is how we should act this is how we should live. When we do that then gradually we become purified thereby we come to the level where we understand see deeply and we realize for ourselves so just because Absolute Truth is inconceivable that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to understand, we should understand that I cannot understand by my own efforts but then after that we have to move forward and then we understand based on scripture we follow scriptures and by that a higher spiritual perception awakens through that spiritual perception we understand the reality.

āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt, this is a line which comes several times in Upanishad also, āditya is sun so it is luminous like Sun and tamasaḥ parastāt and is beyond darkness, beyond material existence tamso represents material world. Tamsoma Jyotir Gamaya is famous Upanishad verse, go beyond darkness to light, āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt, therefore go beyond matter to spirit, so Yogi is meditating on form meditating on attributes all this is tamasaḥ parastāt, not like quality of a mundane person people may think about sports star or movie star it is not like this, this person is āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt, He is effulgent like the sun, and is completely beyond the darkness of material existence.

End of transcription.