self-effulgent

[theist]

From the introduction to Srimad Bhagavatam by Srila Prabhupada

 

 

“The Vedic injunctions are self-authorized, and if some mundane creature adjusts the interpretations of the Vedas, he defies their authority. It is foolish to think of oneself as more intelligent than Srila Vyäsadeva. He has already expressed himself in his sütras, and there is no need of help from personalities of lesser importance. His work, the Vedänta-sütra, is as dazzling as the midday sun, and when someone tries to give his own interpretations on the self-effulgent sunlike Vedänta-sütra, he attempts to cover this sun with the cloud of his imagination.

 

 

[theist]

SB 3.25.16: When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from the false identification of the body as "I" and bodily possessions as "mine," one's mind becomes purified. In that pure state he transcends the stage of so-called material happiness and distress.

 

SB 3.25.17: At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to material existence and always self-effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size.

 

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One who knows himself as described is self-effulgent. This is the person we want to hear from. He may be in charge of a big matha of many temples and the writer of many books or an illerate beggar who lives underneath some tree. But he must know himself as a photon of the unlimited Sri Krsna and his relationship to Him.