Srimad-Bhagavatam
Canto 4, Chapter 22 (4.22.25-27): Prithu Maharaja's Meeting with the
Four
Kumaras
harer
muhus tatpara-karna-pura-
gunabhidhanena vijrimbhamanaya
bhaktya hy asangah sad-asaty anatmani
syan nirgune brahmani chanjasa ratih
SYNONYMS
hareh—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; muhuh—constantly;
tat-para—in relation with the Supreme Personality of
Godhead; karna-pura—decoration of the ear; guna-abhidhanena—discussing
transcendental qualities; vijrimbhamanaya—by increasing Krishna
consciousness; bhaktya—by devotion; hi—certainly; asangah—uncontaminated;
sat-asati—the material world; anatmani—
opposed to spiritual understanding; syat—should be; nirgune—in
transcendence; brahmani—in the Supreme Lord; cha—and; anjasa—easily;
ratih—attraction.
TRANSLATION
The devotee should gradually increase the culture of devotional service
by constant hearing of the transcendental qualities of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. These pastimes are like ornamental decorations
on the ears of devotees. By rendering devotional service and
transcending the material qualities, one can easily be fixed in
transcendence in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
This
verse is especially mentioned to substantiate the devotional process of
hearing the subject matter. A devotee does not like to hear anything
other than subjects dealing with spiritual activities, or the pastimes
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We can increase our propensity
for devotional service by hearing Bhagavad-gita and
Srimad-Bhagavatam from realized souls. The more we hear from
realized souls, the more we make advancement in our devotional life.
The more we advance in devotional life, the more we become detached
from the material world. The more we become detached from the material
world, as advised by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the more we increase in
attachment for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, a devotee
who actually wants to make progress in devotional service and go back
home, back to Godhead, must lose interest in sense enjoyment and
associating with persons who are after money and sense gratification.
This is the advice of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu:
nishkinchanasya
bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya
param param jigamishor bhava-sagarasya
sandarshanam vishayinam atha yoshitam cha
ha hanta hanta visha-bhakshanato 'py asadhu (Chaitanya-charitamrita
Madhya 11.8)
The
word brahmani used in this verse is commented upon by the
impersonalists or professional reciters of
Bhagavatam, who are mainly advocates of the caste system by
demoniac birthright. They say that brahmani means the
impersonal Brahman. But they cannot conclude this with reference to the
context of the words bhaktya and gunabhidhanena.
According to the impersonalists, there are no transcendental qualities
in the impersonal Brahman; therefore we should understand that brahmani
means "in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Krishna is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, as admitted by Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita;
therefore wherever the word brahma is used, it must refer to
Krishna, not to the impersonal Brahman effulgence. Brahmeti
paramatmeti bhagavan iti shabdyate (Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.2.11). Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan can all be taken in total as
Brahman, but when there is reference to the word bhakti or
remembrance of the transcendental qualities, this indicates the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, not the impersonal Brahman.
yada
ratir brahmani naishthiki puman
acharyavan jnana-viraga-ramhasa
dahaty aviryam hridayam jiva-kosham
panchatmakam yonim ivotthito 'gnih
SYNONYMS
yada—when; ratih—attachment; brahmani—in
the Supreme Personality of Godhead; naishthiki—fixed; puman—the
person; acharyavan—completely surrendered to the spiritual
master; jnana—knowledge; viraga—detachment; ramhasa—by
the force of; dahati—burns; aviryam—impotent; hridayam—within
the heart; jiva-kosham—the covering of the spirit soul; panca-atmakam—five
elements; yonim—source of birth; iva—like; utthitah—emanating;
agnih—fire.
TRANSLATION
Upon
becoming fixed in his attachment to the Supreme Personality of Godhead
by the grace of the spiritual master and by awakening knowledge and
detachment, the living entity, situated within the heart of the body
and covered by the five elements, burns up his material surroundings
exactly as fire, arising from wood, burns the wood itself.
It
is said that both the jivatma, the individual soul, and the Paramatma
[the Supreme Personality of Godhead who
resides in the heart of every living entity] live together
within the heart. In the Vedic version it is stated, hridi hy
ayam atma: the soul and Supersoul both live within the heart.
The individual soul is liberated when it comes out of the material
heart or cleanses the heart to make it spiritualized. The example given
here is very appropriate: yonim ivotthito'gnih. Agni,
or fire, comes out of wood, and by it the wood is completely destroyed.
Similarly, when a living entity increases his attachment for the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is to be considered like fire. A
blazing fire is visible by its exhibition of heat and light; similarly,
when the living entity within the heart becomes enlightened with full
spiritual knowledge and detached from the material world, he burns up
his material covering of the five elements—earth, water, fire, air and
sky—and becomes free from the five kinds of material attachments,
namely ignorance, false egoism, attachment to the material world, envy
and absorption in material consciousness. Therefore panchatmakam,
as mentioned in this verse, refers to either the five elements or the
five coverings of material contamination. When these are all burned
into ashes by the blazing fire of knowledge and detachment, one is
fixed firmly in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Unless one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and
advances one's attraction for Krishna by the spiritual master's
instructions, the five coverings of the living entity cannot be
uncovered from the material heart. The living entity is centered within
the heart, and to take him away from the heart is to liberate him. This
is the process. One must take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master
and by his instruction increase one's knowledge in devotional service,
become detached from the material world and thus become liberated. An
advanced devotee, therefore, does not live within the material body but
within his spiritual body, just as a dry coconut lives detached from
the coconut husk, even though within the husk. The pure devotee's body
is therefore called chin-maya-sharira ("spiritualized body").
In other words, a devotee's body is not connected with material
activities, and as such, a devotee is always liberated (
brahma-bhuyaya kalpate), as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita
(14.26). Srila Rupa Gosvami also confirms this:
iha
yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa uchyate
"Whatever his condition may be, one who is engaged fully with his body,
mind and speech in the service of the Lord is liberated, even within
this body."
dagdhashayo
mukta-samasta-tad-guno
naivatmano bahir antar vichashte
paratmanor yad-vyavadhanam purastat
svapne yatha purushas tad-vinashe
SYNONYMS
dagdha-ashayah—all material desires being burned; mukta—liberated;
samasta—all; tat-gunah—qualities in connection
with matter; na—not; eva—certainly; atmanah—the
soul or the Supersoul; bahih—external; antah—internal; vichashte—acting;
para-atmanoh—of the Supersoul; yat—that; vyavadhanam—difference;
purastat—as it was in the beginning; svapne—in
dream; yatha—as; purushah—a person; tat—that; vinashe—being
finished.
TRANSLATION
When a
person becomes devoid of all material desires and liberated from all
material qualities, he transcends distinctions between actions executed
externally and internally. At that time the difference between the soul
and the Supersoul, which was existing before self-realization, is
annihilated. When a dream is over, there is no longer a distinction
between the dream and the dreamer.
As
described by Srila Rupa Gosvami (anyabhilashita-shunyam
[Cc. Madhya 19.167]), one must be devoid of all material desires. When
a person becomes devoid of all material desires, there is no longer
need for speculative knowledge or fruitive activities. In that
condition it is to be understood that one is free from the material
body. The example is already given above—a coconut which is dry is
loosened from its outward husk. This is the stage of liberation. As
said in Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.10.6), mukti
(liberation) means svarupena vyavasthitih—being situated
in one's own constitutional position. All material desires are present
as long as one is in the bodily concept of life, but when one realizes
that he is an eternal servant of Krishna, his desires are no longer
material. A devotee acts in this consciousness. In other words, when
material desires in connection with the body are finished, one is
actually liberated.
When one is liberated from the material qualities, he does not do
anything for his personal sense gratification. At that time all
activities performed by him are absolute. In the conditioned state
there are two kinds of activities. One acts on behalf of the body, and
at the same time he acts to become liberated. The devotee, when he is
completely free from all material desires or all material qualities,
transcends the duality of action for the body and soul. Then the bodily
concept of life is completely over. Therefore Srila Rupa Gosvami says:
iha
yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa uchyate
When
one is completely fixed in the service of the Lord, he is a liberated
person in any condition of life. He is called
jivan-muktah, liberated even within this body. In such a liberated
condition, there is no distinction between actions for sense
gratification and actions for liberation. When one is liberated from
the desires of sense gratification, he has no longer to suffer the
reactions of lamentation or illusion. Activities performed by the karmis
and jnanis are subject to lamentation and illusion, but a
self-realized liberated person acting only for the Supreme Personality
of Godhead experiences none. This is the stage of oneness, or merging
into the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This means
that the individual soul, while keeping his individuality, no longer
has separate interests. He is fully in the service of the Lord, and he
has nothing to do for his personal sense gratification; therefore he
sees only the Supreme Personality of Godhead and not himself. His
personal interest completely perishes. When a person comes out of a
dream, the dream vanishes. While dreaming a person may consider himself
a king and see the royal paraphernalia, his soldiers, etc., but when
the dream is over, he does not see anything beyond himself. Similarly,
a liberated person understands that he is part and parcel of the
Supreme Lord acting in accordance with the desire of the Supreme Lord,
and as such there is no distinction between himself and the Supreme
Lord, although both of them retain their individuality. Nityo
nityanam chetanash chetananam (Katha Upanishad
2.2.13). This is the perfect conception of oneness in relation to the
Supersoul and the soul.