SB 2.2.12

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adina-lila-hasite ksanollasad-

bh ru-bhanga-sams ucita-bhury-anugraham

ikseta cintamayam enam isvaram

yavan mano dharanayavatisthate

 

adina--very magnanimous; lila--pastimes ; hasita--smiling; iksana--by

glancing over; ullasat--glowing; bhru-bhanga--signals of the eyebrow;

samsucita--indicated; bhuri--extensive; anugraham--benediction; ikseta--one

must concentrate on; cintamayam--transcendental; enam--this particular;

isvaram--the Supreme Lord; yavat--as long as; manah--the mind; dharanaya--by

meditation; avatis thate--can be fixed.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Lord's magnanimous pastimes and the glowing glancing of His smiling

face are all indications of His extensive benedictions. One must therefore

concentrate on this transcendental form of the Lord, as long as the mind can

be fixed on Him by meditation.

 

PURPORT

 

In Bhagavad-gita (12.5) it is said that the impersonalist undergoes a

series of difficult programs on account of his impersonal meditation. But

the devotee, due to the Lord's personal service, progresses very easily.

Impersonal meditation is therefore a source of suffering for the

impersonalist. Here, the devotee has an advantage over the impersonalist

philosopher. The impersonalist is doubtful about the personal feature of the

Lord, and therefore he always tries to meditate upon something which is not

objective. For this reason there is an authentic statement in the Bhagavatam

regarding the positive concentration of the mind on the factual form of the

Lord.

The process of meditation recommended herein is bhakti-yoga, or the

process of devotional service after one is liberated from the material

conditions. Jnana-yoga is the process of liberation from the material

conditions. After one is liberated from the conditions of material

existence, i.e., when one is nivrtta, as previously stated herein, or when

one is freed from all material necessities, one becomes qualified to

discharge the process of bhakti-yoga. Therefore bhakti-yoga includes

jnana-yoga, or, in other words, the process of pure devotional service

simultaneously serves the purpose of jnana-yoga; liberation from material

conditions is automatically achieved by the gradual development of pure

devotional service. These effects of bhakti-yoga are called anartha-nivrtti.

Things which are artificially acquired gradually disappear along with the

progress of bhakti-yoga. Meditation on the lotus feet of the personality of

Godhead, the first processional step, must show its effect by

anartha-nivrtti. The grossest type of anartha which binds the conditioned

soul in material existence is sex desire, and this sex desire gradually

develops in the union of the male and female. When the male and female are

united, the sex desire is further aggravated by the accumulation of

buildings, children, friends, relatives and wealth. When all these are

acquired, the conditioned soul becomes overwhelmed by such entanglements,

and the false sense of egoism, or the sense of "myself" and "mine," becomes

prominent, and the sex desire expands to various political, social,

altruistic, philanthropic and many other unwanted engagements, resembling

the foam of the sea waves, which becomes very prominent at one time and at

the next moment vanishes as quickly as a cloud in the sky. The conditioned

soul is encircled by such products, as well as products of sex desire, and

therefore bhakti-yoga leads to gradual evaporation of the sex desire, which

is summarized in three headings, namely profit, adoration and distinction.

All conditioned souls are mad after these different forms of sex desire, and

one shall see for himself how much he has been freed from such material

hankerings based primarily on the sex desire. As a person feels his hunger

satisfied after eating each morsel of foodstuff, he must similarly be able

to see the degree to which he has been freed from sex desire. The sex desire

is diminished along with its various forms by the process of bhakti-yoga

because bhakti-yoga automatically, by the grace of the Lord, effectively

results in knowledge and renunciation, even if the devotee is not materially

very well educated. Knowledge means knowing things as they are, and if by

deliberation it is found that there are things which are at all unnecessary,

naturally the person who has acquired knowledge leaves aside such unwanted

things. When the conditioned soul finds by culture of knowledge that

material necessities are unwanted things, he becomes detached from such

unwanted things. This stage of knowledge is called vairagya, or detachment

from unwanted things. We have previously discussed that the

transcendentalist is required to be self-sufficient and should not beg from

the rich blind persons to fulfill the bare necessities of life. Sukadeva

Gosvami has suggested some alternatives for the bare necessities of life,

namely the problem of eating, sleeping and shelter, but he has not suggested

any alternative for sex satisfaction. One who has the sex desire still with

him should not at all try to accept the renounced order of life. For one who

has not attained to this stage, there is no question of a renounced order of

life. So by the gradual process of devotional service under the guidance of

a proper spiritual master, and following the principles of the Bhagavatam,

one must be able at least to control the gross sex desire before one accepts

the renounced order of life factually.

So purification means getting free gradually from sex desire, and this

is attained by meditation on the person of the Lord as described herein,

beginning from the feet. One should not try to go upwards artificially

without seeing for himself how much he has been released from the sex

desire. The smiling face of the Lord is the Tenth Canto of

Srimad-Bhagavatam, and there are many upstarts who at once try to begin with

the Tenth Canto and especially with the five chapters which delineate the

rasa-lila of the Lord. This is certainly improper. By such improper study or

hearing of Bhagavatam, the material opportunists have played havoc by

indulgence in sex life in the name of Bhagavatam. This vilification of

Bhagavatam is rendered by the acts of the so-called devotees; one should be

free from all kinds of sex desire before he tries to make a show of recital

of Bhagavatam. Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura clearly defines the import

of purification as cessation from sex indulgence. He says, yatha yatha dhis

ca sudhyati vis aya-lampatyam tyajati, tatha tatha dharayed iti

citta-suddhi-taratamyenaiva dhyana-taratamyam uktam. And as one gets free

from the intoxication of sex indulgence by purification of intelligence, one

should step forward for the next meditation, or in other words, the progress

of meditation on the different limbs of the transcendental body of the Lord

should be enhanced in proportion to the progress of purification of the

heart. The conclusion is that those who are still entrapped by sex

indulgence should never progress to meditation above the feet of the Lord;

therefore recital of Srimad-Bhagavatam by them should be restricted to the

First and Second Cantos of the great literature. One must complete the

purificatory process by assimilating the contents of the first nine cantos.

Then one should be admitted into the realm of the Tenth Canto of

Srimad-Bhagavatam

 

© 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust