Purusatraya Swamii

[Guest guest]

Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

March 23, 2005

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.27

Speaker: HH Purusatraya Swami

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gata-svarthayah svakat parato veha jata-nirveda atmavan

hrdi krtva harim gehat pravrajet sa narottamah

 

TRANSLATION: He is certainly a first-class man who awakens and understands,

either by himself or from others, the falsity and misery of this material

world and thus leaves home and depends fully on the Personality of Godhead

residing within his heart.

 

PURPORT: There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely, (1) the

dhira, or the one who is not disturbed by being away from family

association, (2) one in the renounced order of life, a sannyasi by

frustrated sentiment, and (3) a sincere devotee of the Lord, who awakens God

consciousness by hearing and chanting and leaves home depending completely

on the Personality of Godhead, who resides in his heart. The idea is that

the renounced order of life, after a frustrated life of sentiment in the

material world, may be the stepping stone on the path of self-realization,

but real perfection of the path of liberation is attained when one is

practiced to depend fully on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who lives

in everyone's heart as Paramatma. One may live in the darkest jungle alone

out of home, but a steadfast devotee knows very well that he is not alone.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is with him, and He can protect His

sincere devotee in any awkward circumstance. One should therefore practice

devotional service at home, hearing and chanting the holy name, quality,

form, pastimes, entourage, etc., in association with pure devotees, and this

practice will help one awaken God consciousness in proportion to one's

sincerity of purpose. One who desires material benefit by such devotional

activities can never depend on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although

He sits in everyone's heart. Nor does the Lord give any direction to persons

who worship Him for material gain. Such materialistic devotees may be

blessed by the Lord with material benefits, but they cannot reach the stage

of the first-class human being, as above mentioned. There are many examples

of such sincere devotees in the history of the world, especially in India,

and they are our guides on the path of self-realization. Mahatma Vidura is

one such great devotee of the Lord, and we should all try to follow in his

lotus footsteps for self-realization.

 

 

(invocatory prayers)

 

I think this is one of the nicest verses of Srimad Bhagavatam, gives such

very nice summary of the message of Srimad Bhagavatam here. This

conversation between Vidura and his brother Dhrtarastra is very important

because the theme is detachment, and detachment is the key for liberation,

to come close to Lord Krsna, detachment to this material world. In Bhagavad

Gita Lord Krsna stresses so much about this, to be influenced by raga and

dvesa, attachment and rejection. This is a mental function. When we

understand the dynamic of our being, how it functions, the body, the mind,

the intelligence, and we understand that we are the soul behind this, then

we can understand that this is just a function of the mind, this attraction

and rejection, raga-dvesa. This keeps the person in this material world

because everything in this world is based on this raga and dvesa.

 

And then this verse says "jata-nirveda", this kind of indifference. One

becomes neutral in this material world. He is completey aware what is going

on, he's very attentive and alert, his senses are fully active. He knows

where he is staying. We can define spiritual life as eyes closed to reality,

it's not escaping from reality. No, you're completely fully aware what is

going on, how the modes of material nature are acting. We can see clearly

how they are acting, influencing everybody and everything. It's like this.

But to understand this detachment is very important.

 

Once I met one senior devotee from Mumbai, Chowpatty. You know Mahaprabhu

Prabhu. He's an old man, he's 67, like that. He gave a very nice speech, I

was in the padayatra in Vrindavana, Vraja-mandala, and he gave us a very

nice speech about detachment. And I said, "Prabhu, congratulations, your

speech was so nice!" And he's very humble and he said "No, no, I cannot

preach but. . . I see so many young devotees, they can preach very well,

they know so many verses from the sastras. I don't know so many verses." But

I said to him "Only you with your age can preach detachment in this way." A

20 years old devotee can be very nice, very intelligent, practicing very

nicely bhakti yoga, but I want to see when he is over 50, 60, then he is

realising this detachment and preach to the devotees. Actually the career of

a preacher starts from 50 years old. (chuckles) It's natural. This is a very

important point because in the spiritual life to understand how this

detachment works, because it's a. . . .

 

There's another occasion I was participating in one very big interreligious

congress. This was in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. All religions were present

there. And then I had contact with one gentleman, one professor in

university in United States. He is Indian, Muslim, and he teaches Islam in

the university. He came to me and asked me one question: "I have one

question for you. According to the doctrine of Islam, we know that everybody

has so many desires, and then we can reach the time of death full of

desires, and then according to the doctrine of Islam, if you follow the laws

of God, if you are a pious man then you go to heaven and then God will

satisfy all your desires. For example, if you desired to be rich, you'll be

very rich in heaven. I also have desires. For example I want the best

well-being for my family but this I cannot give to them in this situation in

the material world. But when I go to heaven I can give the best to my

family. What do you think about that in your Vedic knowledge?"

 

I told him "Oh, it's quite different. Because in Vedic culture there are

four phases of life: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa. In the

first period, brahmacarya, it's natural the young have aspirations--what

will I do when I grow older? And then in the grhastha period, this is the

time for realising all these material desires: good home, visiting different

places, travelling around, social life, this is the time. Because the third

period, the retired life, vanaprastha, you'll forget your material desires.

And then you try to develop and practice more, you have more time for

spiritual practice. And there is a fourth--this is radical--no material

desires at all, and then one go out of this world completely free,

compeletely happy, and he does not have any anxieties, no material desires,

the only desire is to please the Lord. And then he can go out from this life

peacefully. He can go even curious what will be the next. . . ?" [unclear]

He was thoughtful.

 

Krsna consciousness is to teach how to leave from this life. We can see so

many Prabhupada disciples are growing older and some of them are passing

away. From time to time, we have some news that this devotee left this

world, this sannyasi left. My realisation is that we can see that at least

some devotees are leaving this world very nicely. It means that the process

of Krsna consciousness is working. Prabhupada taught to us with all details

to become, as the verse says, "narottama". Krsna consciousness is the school

for narottamas, to become the highest. We see that Vidura is teaching

Dhrtarastra how to be a narottama, the best among the human beings. And

according to this consideration, narottama is one who can leave from this

world nicely, detached, happy, purified. The only thing that we can bring

with us leaving this body is our consciousness. If our consciousness is not

good, it is big trouble. We can see so many people live the whole life not

taking care of their own consciousness. The consciousness is. . . there is

lamentation, fear, anger, remorse, guilty. So many dirty things are there.

And then they will keep this in the consciousness. But the devotee following

the process of hearing, chanting, he can purify his consciousness. At the

end of the life he is free for leaving this body very nicely. As Vidura

says, he is a narottama.

 

In this verse it is very nicely explained that from hearing from others, or

from own realization one becomes atmavan. Atmavan is the person who realizes

that he is not the body, he's the soul. Atmavan is the stage of

self-realization. Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita:

 

trai-gunya-visaya veda nistrai-gunyo bhavarjuna

nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-ksema atmavan

 

Atmavan, he is not influenced by the modes of material nature.

 

As long as we have this material body we are under the influence of the

material modes of nature, but the devotees know how to deal with these modes

of nature. For example, we need passion, we need rajo-guna even to improve

our spiritual life. We balance it with sattva-guna. Also tamo-guna is

important. Tamo-guna means stability; rajo-guna, movement; sattva-guna,

equilibrium. But a devotee knows how to control the influence of these modes

of nature. And then it says by hearing, by realising, by our own realisation

we come to the stage of "atmavan" or "jata-nirveda". Jata-nirveda, this

stage of indifference of material influence. It is a stage of peace. As

Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita:

 

vihaya kaman yah sarvan pumams carati nihsprhah

nirmamo nirahankarah sa santim adhigacchati

 

This is the way to get to this peace, inner peace. No material desires.

"Nirmama' and "nirahankara", these are the two coverings of the soul. This

ahankara, the conception of mama and aham. Aham, I am this body, and all

these things belong to me. This covers the soul. And we have to understand

this philosophically, we have to understand this in order to conquer. Like

nirmama, we are not attached, there is no sense of proprietorship, but it's

not that we are going to reject the material things. This is the concept of

yukta-vairagya. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us:

 

anasaktasya visayan yatharham upayunjatah

nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate

 

This is the concept. Devotees say that everything is energy of Krsna.

 

Srila Prabhupada here explains about three kinds of transcendentalists: the

dhira, sannyasa--this sannyasi is Mayavadi sannyasi--and the devotee. Dhira

is the sober person who is an atmavan but is not a devotee. He is pious

person, he is self-controlled, he is purified, he can understand that he is

not the body. But he is not a devotee. This kind of person does not get

liberation, because liberation just Krsna can give. But there are some

higher places in the universe that they can go, different lokas like

Mahar-loka, Janaloka, Tapo-loka. These are the places for these kind of

dhiras.

 

And this Mayavada sannyasi, they reject this world. That is Sankaracarya's

philosophy:

 

brahma satya jagan mithya jivo brahma hitva na parah(?)

 

Only Brahman is real, and this material world is false. There is no

difference between jiva and Brahman. This is their philosophy. They say that

Maya is covering Brahman. Srila Prabhupada explains about these two

potencies of Maya, avaranatmika and praksepatmika. The Mayavadi philosophy

teaches that these two potencies of Maya cover Brahman. But the Vaisnava

says "No, how is that it can cover Brahman? No, these two potencies of Maya

cover the jiva."

 

But in Mayavada philosophy there is no difference between jiva and Brahman.

And then "avarana" means the covering, and then maya covers the Brahman.

Praksepatmika means it projects this mithya, this material world, which is

just an appearance, there is no reality. This is Mayavada philosophy. In

this way, this world is caused. And then you have to reject it, because

there is a meditation: "neti, neti, neti", rejecting. Rejecting everything,

everything is Maya. For that they are called Mayavadis. This kind of

rejection is a negative activity. It is not positive mentality. And then, as

Srila Prabhupada said, it is out of frustration. Out of frustration they

come to this desire for liberation. It is a personal desire, "I want to be

free from this material world". In Srimad Bhagavatam it is explained like

that:

 

ye 'nye 'ravindaksa vimukta-maninas

tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah

aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah

patanty adho 'nadrta-yusmad-anghrayah

 

The verse says avisuddha-buddhi. The buddhi, the consciousness is not

suddha, not pure. Because the "I" is always in front. "I want this, I want

my liberation. I want to get free from this material world. I want to be

free from the miseries." This "I", "I", "I". "I want this." It is out of

frustration. It is not positive. And the "I" is always present. But Krsna

consciousness is different. As Sri Caitanay Mahaprabhu says:

 

mama janmani janmanisvare

bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

 

The only thing that I want is to be a servant.

 

tandera carana sevi bhakta-sane vasa

janame janame haya, ei abhilasa

 

Life after life my desire is to serve the devotees who follow in the

footsteps of the Six Gosvamis. And devotee has full refuge on Krsna, and

then can go out of this world. And as Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita:

 

tesam aham samuddharta mrtyu-samsara-sagarat

bhavami na cirat partha mayy avesita-cetasam

 

For them, for the devotees, I am the saviour of this mrtyu-samsara-sagarat.

And then I can do this at once if the mind is fully concentrated in Krsna.

 

I'll stop at this point. If there are some questions or comments. . . .

 

(Inaudible question by Mahavisnu Swami)

 

Answer: He said that all the men in the 60's are detached, the young men

engaged in sankirtana movement, they are not detached? (chuckles)

 

Srila Prabhupada says that preaching has to be with realisation. This is the

stronger preaching. Just repeating is OK, you can transmit the philosophy. .

.. for example, one devotee is just one week in the temple and one guest

comes to the temple and asks questions to this devotee about philosophy. The

devotee has been only one week in the temple, he does not know so much. But

if the guest asks one question, "How you surrendered to Krsna?" Oh, this is

his realisation, this is very strong preaching because it's own realisation

because he can say "I am surrendered to Krsna because of this, I have this

realisation." This is a very potent preaching. And when there is such

realisation, the preaching becomes stronger. Devotees who are young and are

practicing detachment can preach also. They must preach about detachment.

But they will see that their preaching will become stronger when he grows

older and can say "Oh, for fifty years, I am practicing detachment." That is

the point.

 

Question: (inaudible)

 

Answer: Yes. He said that the Mayavadi philosophy's rejecting is negative

and the Vaisnava philosophy's rejecting is positive. How to get to this

stage?

 

Yes, to try to develop the spiritual desires. The essence of Bhakti-yoga is

to please Krsna. and this service mentality, "How can I do more myself, how

can I serve Krsna, how can I serve the devotees?" It is a positive attitude.

It is not centred on the ego, it is centred in Krsna. This is Krsna

consciousness. And that is the positive way. "I want to please Krsna. I want

to give more to Krsna, I want to do more service for Krsna."

 

Question: (inaudible)

 

Answer: We are all in the same boat. The question, he said that the classes

given by sannyasis and brahmacaris stress this point of detachment. And what

about the grhasthas?

 

No. We have to understand all these instructions, without becoming fanatic,

because there is a proper time. . . as I explained in the beginning, the

four periods of life. And then there is a period of detachment, from

vanaprastha on, detachment. The great acarya, Bhaktivinoda Thakur was

praying, "When my day will come?" Because he was fully engaged in

professional affairs and the family life. "When my day will come when I can

fully surrender to God and be engaged in devotional service?" Devotees have

this aspiration. The aspiration of devotees is "When I can surrender more?"

This is genuine aspiration.

 

And those who are engaged in family affairs, in all these things, they have

to cultivate this aspiration very philosophically and be very aware not to

become more and more entrapped in this material world. And then this is

practiced in Krsna consciousness very nicely. Because all these realisations

are internal realisations. We have a whole life to meditate on these things.

For example grhasthas have children and then he has a very important role in

educating these children. And then he can give all this knowledge to the

children. An example, personal example, not just talking. The teachings are

the same for anyone but have to be applied at the proper time and according

to the circumstance.

 

OK, we will stop here. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!