BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:55

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:55

 

bhaktya mam abhijanati

yavan yas casmi tattvatah

tato mam tattvato jnatva

visate tad-anantaram

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

bhaktya--by pure devotional service; mam--Me; abhijanati--one can

know; yavan--as much as; yah ca asmi--as I am; tattvatah--in truth;

tatah--thereafter; mam--Me; tattvatah--in truth; jnatva--knowing;

visate--he enters; tat-anantaram--thereafter.

 

TRANSLATION

 

One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,

only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of

Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.

 

PURPORT

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, and His plenary portions

cannot be understood by mental speculation nor by the nondevotees. If

anyone wants to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he has

to take to pure devotional service under the guidance of a pure

devotee. Otherwise, the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead

will always be hidden. As

already stated in Bhagavad-gita (7.25), naham prakasah sarvasya: He is not

revealed to everyone. No one can understand God simply by erudite

scholarship or mental speculation. Only one who is actually engaged in

Krsna consciousness and devotional service can understand what Krsna

is. University degrees are not helpful.

 

One who is fully conversant with the Krsna science becomes eligible to

enter into the spiritual kingdom, the abode of Krsna. Becoming Brahman

does not mean that one loses his identity. Devotional service is

there, and as long as devotional service exists, there must be God,

the devotee, and the process of devotional service. Such knowledge is

never vanquished, even after liberation. Liberation involves getting

free from the concept of material life; in spiritual life the same

distinction is there, the same individuality is there, but in pure

Krsna consciousness. One should not mistakenly think that the word

visate, "enters into Me," supports the monist theory that one becomes

homogeneous with the impersonal Brahman. No. Visate means that one can

enter into the abode of the Supreme Lord in one's individuality to

engage in His association and render service unto Him. For instance, a

green bird enters a green tree not to become one with the tree but to

enjoy the fruits of the tree. impersonalists generally give the

example of a river flowing into the ocean and merging. This may be a

source of happiness for the impersonalist, but the personalist keeps

his personal individuality like an aquatic in the ocean. We find so

many living entities within the ocean, if we go deep. Surface

acquaintance with the ocean is not sufficient; one must have complete

knowledge of the aquatics living in the ocean depths.

 

Because of his pure devotional service, a devotee can understand the

transcendental qualities and the opulences of the Supreme Lord in

truth. As it is stated in the Eleventh Chapter, only by devotional

service can one understand. The same is confirmed here; one can

understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotional service

and enter into His kingdom.

 

After attainment of the brahma-bhuta stage of freedom from material

conceptions, devotional service begins by one's hearing about the

Lord. When one hears about the Supreme Lord, automatically the

brahma-bhuta stage develops, and material contamination--greediness

and lust for sense enjoyment--disappears. As lust and desires

disappear from the heart of a devotee, he becomes more attached to the

service of the Lord, and by such attachment he becomes free from

material contamination. In that state of life he can understand the

Supreme Lord. This is the statement of Srimad-Bhagavatam also. After

liberation the process of bhakti, or transcendental service,

continues. The Vedanta-sutra (4.1.12) confirms this: a-prayanat

tatrapi hi drstam. This means that after liberation the process of

devotional service continues. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, real

devotional liberation is defined as the reinstatement of the living

entity in his own identity, his own constitutional position. The

constitutional position is already explained: every living entity is a

part-and-parcel fragmental portion of the Supreme Lord. Therefore his

constitutional position is to serve. After liberation, this service is

never stopped. Actual liberation is getting free from misconceptions

of life.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.