Guest guest Posted August 31, 2005 Report Share Posted August 31, 2005 Is he called Bhagavat? Does Bhagavat mean God? What about Bhagavata? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gHari Posted August 31, 2005 Report Share Posted August 31, 2005 Madhya Lila verse 15.277 from the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta:<blockquote><CENTER><font color="RED">uThaha, amogha, tumi lao kRSNa-nAma acire tomAre kRpA karibe bhagavAn </center> uThaha--get up; amogha--Amogha; tumi--you; lao--chant; kRSNa-nAma--the holy name of Lord KRSNa; acire--very soon; tomAre--unto you; kRpA--mercy; karibe--will bestow; bhagavAn--the Supreme Personality of Godhead. </font> "Therefore, Amogha, get up and chant the Hare KRSNa mahA-mantra! If you do so, KRSNa will unfailingly bestow mercy upon you." PURPORT The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases--impersonal Brahman, ParamAtmA and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, BhagavAn. All of these are one and the same truth, but Brahman, ParamAtmA and BhagavAn constitute three different features. Whoever understands Brahman is called a brAhmaNa, and when a brAhmaNa engages in the Lord's devotional service, he is called a VaiSNava. Unless one comes to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his realization of impersonal Brahman is imperfect. A brAhmaNa can chant the Hare KRSNa mantra on the platform of nAmAbhAsa, but not on the platform of pure vibration. When a brAhmaNa engages in the Lord's service, fully understanding his eternal relationship, his devotional service is called abhidheya. When one attains that stage, he is called a bhAgavata, or VaiSNava. This indicates that he is free from contamination and material attachment. Lord KRSNa confirms this in the Bhagavad-gItA (7.28): <center> yeSAM tv anta-gataM pApaM janAnAM puNya-karmaNAm te dvandva-moha-nirmuktA bhajante mAM dRDha-vratAH </center> "Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life and whose sinful actions are completely eradicated are freed from the duality of delusion, and they engage themselves in My service with determination." A brAhmaNa may be a very learned scholar, but this does not mean that he is free from material contamination. A brAhmaNa's contamination, however, is in the mode of goodness. In the material world, the three modes are goodness, passion and ignorance, and all of these are simply different gradations of contamination. Unless a brAhmaNa transcends such contamination and approaches the platform of unalloyed devotional service, he cannot be accepted as a VaiSNava. An impersonalist may be aware of the impersonal Brahman feature of the Absolute Truth, but his activities are on the impersonal platform. Sometimes he imagines a form of the Lord (saguNa-upAsanA), but such an attempt is never successful in helping one attain complete realization. The impersonalist may consider himself a brAhmaNa and may be situated in the mode of goodness, but nonetheless he is conditioned by one of the modes of material nature. This means that he is not yet liberated, for liberation cannot be attained unless one is completely free from the modes. In any case, the MAyAvAda philosophy keeps one conditioned. If one becomes a VaiSNava through proper initiation, he automatically becomes a brAhmaNa. There is no doubt about it. The GaruDa PurANa confirms this: <center> brAhmaNAnAM sahasrebhyaH satra-yAjI viziSyate satra-yAji-sahasrebhyaH sarva-vedAnta-pAragaH sarva-vedAnta-vit-koTyA viSNu-bhakto viziSyate </center> "Out of many thousands of brAhmaNas, one may become qualified to perform yajJa. Out of many thousands of such qualified brAhmaNas, one may be fully aware of the VedAnta philosophy. Out of many millions of learned VedAnta scholars, there may be one viSNu-bhakta, or devotee of Lord ViSNu. It is he who is most exalted." Unless one is a fully qualified brAhmaNa, he cannot advance in the spiritual science. A real brAhmaNa is never envious of VaiSNavas. If he is, he is considered an imperfect neophyte. Impersonalist brAhmaNas are always opposed to VaiSNava principles. They are envious of VaiSNavas because they do not know the goal of life. Na te viduH svArtha-gatiM hi viSNum [sB 7.5.31]. However, when a brAhmaNa becomes a VaiSNava, there is no duality. If a brAhmaNa does not become a VaiSNava, he certainly falls down from the brAhmaNa platform. This is confirmed by SrImad-BhAgavatam (11.5.3): na bhajanty avajAnanti sthAnAd bhraSTAH patanty adhaH. We can actually see that in this Age of Kali many so-called brAhmaNas are envious of VaiSNavas. The Kali-contaminated brAhmaNas consider Deity worship to be imaginative: arcye viSNau zilA-dhIr guruSu nara-matir vaiSNave jAti-buddhiH. Such a contaminated brAhmaNa may superficially imagine a form of the Lord, but actually he considers the Deity in the temple to be made of stone or wood. Similarly, such a contaminated brAhmaNa considers the guru to be an ordinary human being, and he objects when a VaiSNava is created by the KRSNa consciousness movement. Many so-called brAhmaNas attempt to fight us, saying, "How can you create a brAhmaNa out of a European or American? A brAhmaNa can be born only in a brAhmaNa family." They do not consider that this is never stated in any revealed scripture. Lord KRSNa specifically states in the Bhagavad-gItA (4.13), cAtur-varNyaM mayA sRSTaM guNa-karma-vibhAgazaH: "According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me." Thus a brAhmaNa is not a result of the caste system. He becomes a brAhmaNa only by qualification. Similarly, a VaiSNava does not belong to a particular caste; rather, his designation is determined by the rendering of devotional service.</blockquote> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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