Supersoul (para-atma)

[Govindaram]

Hare Krishna

 

When Krishna dictates from within your heart, can you tell what he is saying, I have experienced the sweetness many times but don't know what he is saying...

[gHari]

<center><img src=http://home.primus.ca/~caitanya/BhagavadGita.jpg></center>

 

Consider the above picture from the Bhagavad-gita in which Sri Krsna is kindly driving Arjuna's chariot. Arjuna can be seen as the soul, the chariot as the body, the horses as the senses, and the reins as the mind. Instead of using his own intelligence as the chariot driver, Arjuna has wisely surrendered to Sri Krsna who is now acting as his driver. Since the chariot and horses and reins are in Krsna's hands, Krsna provides Arjuna with buddhi-yogaM, divine intelligence, divine instruction.

 

Thus the Supersoul, Param-atma, guides the soul through this buddhi-yogaM. So rather than the objects of the senses directing the senses which direct the mind controlling the intelligence dragging the soul down into oblivion, it all comes from Sri Krsna's merciful kindness through Paramatma to the atma to the intelligence to the mind to the senses. We can serve matter or we can serve spirit. One path leads to bondage, the other to liberation.

 

Buddhi-yogaM and the chariot of the body are described in the following verses starting with Bhagavad-gita 10.10:<blockquote><center><font color="red">teSAM satata-yuktAnAM

bhajatAM prIti-pUrvakam

dadAmi buddhi-yogaM taM

yena mAm upayAnti te

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teSAm--unto them; satata-yuktAnAm--always engaged; bhajatAm--in rendering devotional service; prIti-pUrvakam--in loving ecstasy; dadAmi--I give; buddhi-yogam--real intelligence; tam--that; yena--by which; mAm--unto Me; upayAnti--come; te--they.

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To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

 

PURPORT

In this verse the word buddhi-yogam is very significant. We may remember that in the Second Chapter the Lord, instructing Arjuna, said that He had spoken to him of many things and that He would instruct him in the way of buddhi-yoga. Now buddhi-yoga is explained. Buddhi-yoga itself is action in KRSNa consciousness; that is the highest intelligence. Buddhi means intelligence, and yoga means mystic activities or mystic elevation. When one tries to go back home, back to Godhead, and takes fully to KRSNa consciousness in devotional service, his action is called buddhi yoga. In other words, buddhi-yoga is the process by which one gets out of the entanglement of this material world. The ultimate goal of progress is KRSNa. People do not know this; therefore the association of devotees and a bona fide spiritual master are important. One should know that the goal is KRSNa, and when the goal is assigned, then the path is slowly but progressively traversed, and the ultimate goal is achieved.

 

When a person knows the goal of life but is addicted to the fruits of activities, he is acting in karma-yoga. When he knows that the goal is KRSNa but he takes pleasure in mental speculations to understand KRSNa, he is acting in jJAna-yoga. And when he knows the goal and seeks KRSNa completely in KRSNa consciousness and devotional service, he is acting in bhakti-yoga, or buddhi-yoga, which is the complete yoga. This complete yoga is the highest perfectional stage of life.

 

A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then KRSNa from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty. The qualification is that a person always engage himself in KRSNa consciousness and with love and devotion render all kinds of services. He should perform some sort of work for KRSNa, and that work should be with love. If a devotee is not intelligent enough to make progress on the path of self-realization but is sincere and devoted to the activities of devotional service, the Lord gives him a chance to make progress and ultimately attain to Him.

 

[From BG 2.39P] Arjuna has already accepted KRSNa as his spiritual master by surrendering himself unto Him: ziSyas te 'haM zAdhi mAM tvAM prapannam. Consequently, KRSNa will now tell him about the working process in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in other words, the practice of devotional service only for the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is clearly explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being direct communion with the Lord, who is sitting as ParamAtmA in everyone's heart. But such communion does not take place without devotional service. One who is therefore situated in devotional or transcendental loving service to the Lord, or, in other words, in KRSNa consciousness, attains to this stage of buddhi-yoga by the special grace of the Lord. The Lord says, therefore, that only to those who are always engaged in devotional service out of transcendental love does He award the pure knowledge of devotion in love. In that way the devotee can reach Him easily in the ever-blissful kingdom of God.

 

[From 1956 Back to Godhead Magazine] In the Bhagwat Gita it is said that empiric philosophers (the Jnanaban) after many births do realise the Supreme Powerful Personality of Godhead Vasudeva and thus surrenders unto Him—which is the beginning of devotional life. All sorts of philosophical research, studies of the Vedas, meditation, sacrifice, penances and many more things subordinate to these paraphernalias—are done only for attaining to the higher status of life culminating in the transcendental loving service of the Personality of Godhead. This mode of service is technically known as 'Buddhi Yoga' or the mystic power transcendental to the mental speculative plane. "Buddhi" is above the mental activities and as such the cult of devotion begins in pure consciousness or in the liberated state of the soul. It is therefore called 'Buddhi Yoga' or 'Bhakti Yoga'. This Buddhi Yoga where it is mixed up with the aptitude of productive work, it is called 'Karma Yoga' and when the same is mixed up with the aptitude of philosophical research, it is called 'Jnana Yoga'. In any case however the attainment of 'Buddhi Yoga' is the highest status of life because this is not the concern of the dead body. If therefore this status of life is not attained the so-called progress made in the matters of elevated birth, higher studies of the books of knowledge, meditation, penance etc. are but all decoration of the dead body.

 

[From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.6.9 Purport] This process of transcendental help by the Lord is described in Bhagavad-gItA (10.10) as above. The buddhi-yoga process of self-realization with intelligence transcendental to the mind (devotional service) can alone elevate one from the conditioned state of material entanglement in the cosmic construction. The conditioned state of the living entity is like that of a person who is within the depths of a huge mechanical arrangement. The mental speculators can reach the point of buddhi-yoga after many, many lifetimes of speculation, but the intelligent person who begins from the platform of intelligence above the mind makes rapid progress in self-realization. Because the buddhi-yoga process entails no fear of deterioration or retrogression at any time, it is the guaranteed path to self-realization, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gItA (2.40). The mental speculators cannot understand that the two birds (SvetAzvatara UpaniSad) sitting in one tree are the soul and the Supersoul. The individual soul eats the fruit of the tree, while the other bird does not eat the fruit but only observes the activities of the eating bird. Without attachment, the witnessing bird helps the fruit-eating bird perform fruitful activities. One who cannot understand this difference between the soul and the Supersoul, or God and the living entities, is certainly still in the entanglement of the cosmic machinery and thus must still await the time when he will be free from bondage.</blockquote>

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15.41:<blockquote><center><font color="red">AhuH zarIraM ratham indriyANi

hayAn abhISUn mana indriyezam

vartmAni mAtrA dhiSaNAM ca sUtaM

sattvaM bRhad bandhuram Iza-sRSTam

</center>

AhuH--it is said; zarIram--the body; ratham--the chariot; indriyANi--the senses; hayAn--the horses; abhISUn--the reins; manaH--the mind; indriya--of the senses; Izam--the master; vartmAni--the destinations; mAtrAH--the sense objects; dhiSaNAm--the intelligence; ca--and; sUtam--the chariot driver; sattvam--consciousness; bRhat--great; bandhuram--bondage; Iza--by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; sRSTam--created.

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Transcendentalists who are advanced in knowledge compare the body, which is made by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to a chariot. The senses are like the horses; the mind, the master of the senses, is like the reins; the objects of the senses are the destinations; intelligence is the chariot driver; and consciousness, which spreads throughout the body, is the cause of bondage in this material world.

 

PURPORT

For a bewildered person in the materialistic way of life, the body, the mind and the senses, which are engaged in sense gratification, are the cause of bondage to repeated birth, death, old age and disease. But for one who is advanced in spiritual knowledge, the same body, senses and mind are the cause of liberation. This is confirmed in the KaTha UpaniSad (1.3.3–4,9) as follows:

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AtmAnaM rathinaM viddhi

zarIraM ratham eva ca

buddhiM tu sArathiM viddhi

manaH pragraham eva ca

 

indriyANi hayAn Ahur

viSayAMs teSu gocarAn

so 'dhvanaH pAram Apnoti

tad viSNoH paramaM padam

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The soul is the occupant of the chariot of the body, of which the driver is the intelligence. The mind is the determination to reach the destination, the senses are the horses, and the sense objects are also included in that activity. Thus one can reach the destination, ViSNu, who is paramaM padam, the supreme goal of life. In conditioned life the consciousness in the body is the cause of bondage, but the same consciousness, when transformed into KRSNa consciousness, becomes the cause for one's returning home, back to Godhead.

 

The human body, therefore, may be used in two ways--for going to the darkest regions of ignorance or for going forward, back home, back to Godhead. To go back to Godhead, the path is mahat-sevA, to accept the self-realized spiritual master. Mahat-sevAM dvAram Ahur vimukteH [sB 5.5.2]. For liberation, one should accept the direction of authorized devotees who can actually endow one with perfect knowledge. On the other hand, tamo-dvAraM yoSitAM saGgi-saGgam: if one wants to go to the darkest regions of material existence, one may continue to associate with persons who are attached to women (yoSitAM saGgi-saGgam). The word yoSit means "woman." Persons who are too materialistic are attached to women.

 

It is said, therefore, AtmAnaM rathinaM viddhi zarIraM ratham eva ca. The body is just like a chariot or car in which one may go anywhere. One may drive well, or else one may drive whimsically, in which case it is quite possible that he may have an accident and fall into a ditch. In other words, if one takes directions from the experienced spiritual master one can go back home, back to Godhead; otherwise, one may return to the cycle of birth and death. Therefore KRSNa personally advises:

<center><font color="red">

azraddadhAnAH puruSA

dharmasyAsya parantapa

aprApya mAM nivartante

mRtyu-saMsAra-vartmani

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"Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of foes, but return to birth and death in this material world." (Bg. 9.3) The Supreme Personality of Godhead, KRSNa, personally gives instructions on how one can return home, back to Godhead, but if one does not care to listen to His instructions, the result will be that one will never go back to Godhead, but will continue life in this miserable condition of repeated birth and death in material existence (mRtyu-saMsAra-vartmani).

 

The advice of experienced transcendentalists, therefore, is that the body be fully engaged for achieving the ultimate goal of life (svArtha-gatim). The real interest or goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead. To enable one to fulfill this purpose, there are so many Vedic literatures, including VedAnta-sUtra, the UpaniSads, Bhagavad-gItA, MahAbhArata and the RAmAyaNa. One should take lessons from these Vedic literatures and learn how to practice nivRtti-mArga. Then one's life will be perfect. The body is important as long as it has consciousness. Without consciousness, the body is merely a lump of matter. Therefore, to return home, back to Godhead, one must change his consciousness from material consciousness to KRSNa consciousness. One's consciousness is the cause of material bondage, but if this consciousness is purified by bhakti-yoga, one can then understand the falsity of his upAdhi, his designations as Indian, American, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and so on. SarvopAdhi-vinirmuktaM tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. One must forget these designations and use this consciousness only for the service of KRSNa. Therefore if one takes advantage of the KRSNa consciousness movement, his life is certainly successful.</blockquote>

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.30:<blockquote><center><font color="red">bhUyas tvaM tapa AtiSTha

vidyAM caiva mad-AzrayAm

tAbhyAm antar-hRdi brahman

lokAn drakSyasy apAvRtAn

</center>

bhUyaH--again; tvam--yourself; tapaH--penance; AtiSTha--be situated; vidyAm--in the knowledge; ca--also; eva--certainly; mat--My; AzrayAm--under the protection; tAbhyAm--by those qualifications; antaH--within; hRdi--in the heart; brahman--O brAhmaNa; lokAn--all the worlds; drakSyasi--you will see; apAvRtAn--all disclosed.

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O BrahmA, situate yourself in penance and meditation and follow the principles of knowledge to receive My favor. By these actions you will be able to understand everything from within your heart.

 

PURPORT

The mercy the Lord bestows upon a particular person engaged in executing the responsible work entrusted unto him is beyond imagination. But His mercy is received due to our penance and perseverance in executing devotional service. BrahmA was entrusted with the work of creating the planetary systems. The Lord instructed him that when he meditated he would very easily know where and how the planetary systems must be arranged. The directions were to come from within, and there was no necessity for anxiety in that task. Such instructions of buddhi-yoga are directly imparted by the Lord from within, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gItA (10.10).</blockquote>

gHari

[Govindaram]

Hare Krishna Ghariji

 

So when Krishna gives you instructions from within your heart, you just ABIDE BY HIS ORDER, you don't know anything else its just like say when your eyes blink, you just do it without thinking. I think thats a good analogy..Haribol! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Guest guest]

actually it depends on your level of

self realization, for the nitya siddha,the liberated soul,

God reveals him/her self within the heart(mind)

of the perfected yogi, direct conversation with paramatma.

 

for others, do not take what you have said to be the truth,

in that sense anything you do can be considered ordained by God, even what a murderder does .

 

for a non liberated soul he is advised not to take what his mind is saying as god's word, that would be a foolish mistake, only the liberated soul has that ability.

[gHari]

Initial Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.21 from before 1965:<blockquote><center><font color="red">Sarvatmanah samadriso hi adwayasya anahamkriteh

Tatkritam mati vaisyamyam nirabadysya na kachit.

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Sarvatmanah—of the one who is present in everyone's heart, Samadrisa—of the one who is equally kind to one and all, Hi—certainly, Adwayasya—of the Absolute, Anahamkriteh—free from all material identity of false ege, Tatkritam—everything done by him. Mati—consciousness, Vaisyamyam—differentiation, Nirabadyasya—freed from all attachment, Na—never, Kackit—at any stage.

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Being the Absolute Personality of Godhead, He is present in every one's heart. He is equal to every one and He has no false ego of differentiation. Therefore, what ever is done by Him is free from material inebriety and He is equibalanced.

 

PURPORT

The Lord being Absolute nobody is different from Him. He is Kaivalya or there is nothing except Himself. Everything and every body is manifestation of His energy and as such He is present everywhere by His energy being non different from the same. The sun is present every where wherever there is the sunshine. The Sun is identified with every inch of the sun rays and every molecular particles of the rays. Similarly the Lord is distributed by His different energies. He is Parmatma or the Super-soul, present in every one as the Supreme guidance and therefore He is already the chariot driver and counsel of all living beings. When He therefore, exhibits as Chariot Driver of Arjuna there is no difference of His exhalted position. It is the power of devotional service only that demonstrates Him as the Chariot driver or the messenger. As He has nothing to do with material conception of life because He is Absolute Spiritual Identify there is nothing for Him as superior or inferior quality of action. Being Absolute Personality of Godhead He has no false ego of identifying Himself with anything different from Him. Material conception of ego is equibalanced in Him. He does not feel therefore inferior complex by becoming the chariot driver of His pure devotee. It is the glory of the pure devotee only that he can bring about service by the affectionate Lord.</blockquote>

 

 

From BTG 1960:<blockquote>A well settled devotee of Godhead cannot continue to be a vicious man for a longer period because he is cent percent engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. This will make him automatically a saintly person by the grace of the Supreme. The Supreme Lord who is within every living being will then act as the Chaitanya Guru or spiritual master from within for a devotee and give him (the devotee) direction so that he may go Back to Godhead. There are thousands and thousands of instructive stories of the like nature in the Ramayana, Mahabharat and Puranas and all of them are supplementaries to the Vedas. To be cent percent engaged in the transcendental service of the Lord is the real process of controlling the senses from the attraction of vices. The different senses of a man are different strategic positions of the enemy vice, which takes us to the miseries of life. The Karmis or the fruitive workers who have been described as the Mudhas or the foolish ignorant, is cent percent engaged in the matter of sense gratification. Because the citadel of Vices with soldiers like desire, anger and avarice is the mind, sense gratification means to follow the dictation of Mr. Vice. The Jnanins or the mental speculator philosopher are thousand and more better than the Karmis because they can understand the real position of sense gratification and therefore try to employ senses in a subtle form restraining the gross activities of the senses. By this action Mr. Vice becomes surrounded and he is stopped for the time being. The Yogins want to control the senses or to make direct attack on Mr. Vice and therefore the Yogins are thousand times better than the Jnanins. The Muktas or the liberated souls are still thousand times better than the jnanins and the yogins for the Muktas are completely free from the attack of Mr. Vice. And above the Muktas are situated the pure Bhaktas who not only drive away Mr. Vice from the citadels of senses but also engage the seats of senses for occupation by the Supreme Lord. The king of the senses is the master mind. Senses are like the horse and the mind is the coach man who directs the sense. The Bhaktas therefore first of all depose Mr. Vice the coach man from the seat of the mind and place the lotus feet of Shri Krishna on the coach. When Shri Krishna becomes the coachman of the chariot of Arjuna there is no fear of the attack by Mr. Vice called by the name Duryodhana. The Bhagwat Geeta confirms this as follows in the words of Sanjaya, "where there is the master of all energies Shri Krishna and where there is a master devotee like Arjuna, undoubtedly there are blessings, victories, influence and morality."</blockquote>

 

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna

 

Kick the rider of the mind, tell him to stuff it, and place Lord Krishna as the driver, so you know where to go.

 

<font color="blue">O mind Just Worship Krishna /images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Govindaram

[gHari]

.... is the Bhagavad-gita!

 

"Wherever there is Krsna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion."