Verse: Srimad Bhagvatam 4.29.79
Date: February 8th, 2013
Place: ISKCON Mayapur, India
Transcription: Ranga Radhika dasi
Editied: Ranga Radhika Dasi
atas tad apavadartham
bhaja sarvatmana harim
pasyams tad-atmakam visvam
sthity-utpatty-apyaya yatah
SYNONYMS
atah -- therefore; tat -- that; apavada-artham -- to counteract; bhaja -- engage in devotional service; sarva-atmana -- with all your senses; harim -- unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; pasyan -- seeing; tat -- of the Lord; atmakam -- under the control; visvam -- the cosmic manifestation; sthiti -- maintenance; utpatti -- creation; apyayah -- and annihilation; yatah -- from whom.
TRANSLATION
You should always know that this cosmic manifestation is created, maintained and annihilated by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently, everything within this cosmic manifestation is under the control of the Lord. To be enlightened by this perfect knowledge, one should always engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord.
PURPORT
Self-realization, understanding oneself as Brahman, or spirit soul, is very difficult in the material condition. However, if we accept the devotional service of the Lord, the Lord will gradually reveal Himself. In this way the progressive devotee will gradually realize his spiritual position. We cannot see anything in the darkness of night, not even our own selves, but when
there is sunshine, we can see not only the sun but everything within the world as well. Lord Krishna explains in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita (7.1):
mayy asakta-manah partha
yogam yunjan mad-asrayah
asamsayam samagram mam
yatha jnasyasi tac chrinu
"Now hear, O son of Pritha [Arjuna], how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt." When we engage ourselves in the devotional service of the Lord to become Krishna conscious, we understand not only Krishna but everything related to Krishna. In other words, through Krishna consciousness we can understand not only Krishna and the cosmic manifestation but also our constitutional position. In Krishna consciousness we can understand that the entire material creation is created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, maintained by Him, annihilated by Him and absorbed in Him. We are also part and parcel of the Lord. Everything is under the control of the Lord, and therefore our only duty is to surrender unto the Supreme and engage in His
transcendental loving service.
[End of Purport]
So Narada Muni narrated the story of Puranjana, the story of a conditioned soul in the material nature. Through this story of Puranjana Narada Muni is instructing King Pracinabarhi about the condition of the living entity in the material nature and the ultimate goal of life. Actually, that is the essence of the Vedic wisdom. The Vedas are giving us the gradual understanding: from Karma-kanda to Jnana-kanda and then finally come to bhakti.
Generally people in this material nature are interested in sense gratification. So, the Vedas are giving instructions how to enjoy in this material nature and that is the Karma-kanda section. You want to enjoy? There is a proper way to enjoy. You want to fulfill your desires? There is a way to fulfill your desires. And the essential understanding of the Karma-kanda section is: the right action will lead to enjoyment and wrong action will lead to suffering. That is the simple consideration of piety and sin. Piety leads to enjoyment and sin leads to suffering.
Generally living entities in this material nature, who have been represented here by king Pracinabarhi, are engaged in that activity. Narada Muni took pity upon king Pracinabarhi, saying that, "You're so entangled in these mundane activities for sense gratification", while his sons, the Pracetas (the ten sons of king Pracinabarhi), they were advancing in spiritual life. Therefore, Narada Muni saw that the children are engaged in devotional service and the poor father is entangled in these mundane activities of performing sacrifices. So, he took pity upon him and decided to give some good instructions. Narada Muni also knew that Pracinabarhi or people who are too materially entangled they are not open to listen to direct instructions on spiritual subject matter. Therefore, he decided to tell him an allegorical story and that is the story of Puranjana.
Puranjana was travelling all over in order to enjoy himself. Then he came to the tract of land on the Southern part of the Himalayas, which is the land of Bharatavarsha. And then there he came across a very beautiful lady and this lady happened to be the queen of the city of nine gates. Puranjana became attracted to her and proposed to marry her. So Puranjana is the living entity trying to enjoy in the material nature and this queen is the intelligence. She is the queen of the city of nine gates. The city of nine gates is the human form that has nine gates, nine holes. Prabhupada mentioned that this city of nine gates or this body consisting of nine openings is the human body and also the demigod's body.
So generally people try to enjoy. The highest form of enjoyment comes through the human form or the form of the demigods. No matter how much one wants to enjoy in the material nature, eventually he is attacked by the king of the Yavanas (Yavana-raja or Yavanesha). This Yavana-raja is Death, death personified, and he has a sister who accompanies him. This sister of Yavana-raja is known as Kalakanya, or the literal translation is "the daughter of Time." So this Kalakanya is the old age. We may be able to enjoy to some extent, as long as the vitality or the youth is in the body, but eventually in course of time this daughter of Time comes and embraces us, the old age embraces us and as a result of that our vitality is gone. Then the soldiers of Death come, defeat Puranjana and no matter what sort of resistance or defense he had, they all become futile (due to the attack of the soldiers of Time). Then the spirit soul is dragged out of his body and that is death. And then Puranjana is transmigrated, a living entity is transmigrated into another body. The transmigration also takes place in a very scientific or systematic way. The way one has his attachment, accordingly he will get his next body. Krishna also mentioned that in Bhagavad-Gita,
[BG. 8.6]
yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sada tad-bhava-bhavitah
Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam, the way one leaves his body, whatever he has thought at the time of leaving his body, accordingly he will get his next body. Puranjana, at the time of his death, thought of his wife because of his attachment to his wife. Therefore, in his next life he got the body of a woman. She was born as a princess and in course of time she was married to a king. Then the king, following the Vedic standard, at some point in time retired from his royal affairs, went to the forest taking vanaprastha.
So they were spending their time, both husband and wife, in the forest. Eventually the king died and the queen, or Puranjana in his next life, she arranged for the funeral of the king. It must have been very difficult: a princess living in a forest and then the husband died, there is nobody to assist her in any way. She had to arrange the funeral for the king, collected the wood, the logs in the forest, put the fire. Then, as she was about to enter into the fire herself, a personality appeared there, an old friend whose name was Avijnata or "a personality who is unknown." So that friend then gave her the instructions on devotional service. Who is this Avijnata? The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, the original Personality of Godhead who is situated in everyone's heart as the Supersoul, the original spiritual master. And He instructed her about surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And here, these instructions are pertaining to that personality. As it goes here, His identity is being revealed here. Who is He? Our dearmost friend.
"You should always know that this cosmic manifestation is created, maintained and annihilated by the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." [SB 4.29.79, translation]
Who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? The one who created everything, the one who is maintaining everything and at the end everything will merge in Him. So, this is the identity of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So in this way the Vedas are giving a very clear understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Who is God? The one who has created everything, who is maintaining everything. Everything! The Brahma-samhita gives a very clear understanding, elaborate understanding of that personality. Yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrita-kala-chakro. [Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.26] The sun is moving, riding on the chariot that is moving on the course of Time. Maya hi yasya jagad-anda-satani sute. [Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.41] Maya, this material nature is manifesting this material nature by His will. Innumerable universes are generated by His will. The universes are the manifestations of the material nature and what is each universe? Each universe is just a bubble that is generated in the Causal Ocean due to His breathing. So, it is just His breathing! What is the duration of one universe? Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah. [Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.48] The duration of the universe is just one breath of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah. Jagad-anda-nathah, each Brahma, his duration of life is just one breath. In this way He is creating everything.
Innumerable universes are created by Him and then everything in each universe is being maintained by Him! So, creation is caused by Him, maintenance is also subjected to His will and ultimately everything will go back to Him. Such a scientific understanding of the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been presented in the Vedic scriptures. The living entities are being projected into this material nature. The material nature becomes manifest because of the living entities' coming here. When the living entities come to the material nature, the material nature becomes manifest. And how do the living entities come to the material nature? Just through His glance! And then when He withdraws His glance, all the living entities are withdrawn back to Him.
Now this is how the living entities in the material nature are coming and going, but the real goal of life is to go back to the spiritual sky. And how can one go back to his original position, constitutional position? Just by surrendering unto Him. And that is devotional service. So, this is how gradually the Vedas are leading a living entity to his ultimate destination. This has been very wonderfully presented by Narada Muni and these facts have actually been presented very elaborately time and time again in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the conclusion of Vedic wisdom. Bhagavad-Gita also is instructing the same point: to come to the platform of surrender, which is the beginning of devotion. In Bhagavad-Gita Krishna told Arjuna the final instruction is sarva-dharman parityaja mam ekam sharanam vraja. [Bg 18.66] And here also the same instruction Narada Muni is giving to king Pracinabarhi.
This instruction has been identified as the secret of the Vedic wisdom that has been kept hidden even from the demigods. By Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mercy and by Srila Prabhupada's mercy we have received it. That is an unconceivable good fortune for all of us. Muhyanti yat surayaha. [SB 1.1.1] The knowledge or information that bewilders even the demigods, that information has been presented to us directly, irrespective of our qualification. And it is so simple; sarva-dharman parityaja mam ekam sharanam vraja.
shri-krishna-chaitanya prabhu jive doya kori'
swa-parshada swiya dhama saha avatari'
atyanta durlabha prema koribare dana
sikhaya saranagati bhakatera prana
[Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, song: Sri Krishna Chaitanya Jive Doya Kori]
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu very mercifully came along with His associates and His Dhama, which is this Navadvipa Dhama, simply in order to teach the living entities how to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead and receive loving devotional service unto Him. Anyway, I already translated the song. You all became very silent!
[laughter]
Thank you all very much! Hare Krishna!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Maybe if anybody has any questions?
Devotee: [in Bengali]
BCS: Okay, the question is, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was travelling to Vrindavana, through the forest of Jharikhanda, there even the animals received loving devotional service to the Lord and started to dance in ecstasy. So even the animals received that love or devotion to Krishna, but how come we are not receiving it? Well, adya'pi akari lila gaura-raya. [verse from Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat] Gaura-raya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is performing His pastimes still today but it is up to us to receive it. Mahaprabhu's mercy is being abundantly showering upon everybody but now it is up to us to receive it. Mahaprabhu gave the Holy Name which is actually the basis of Krishna-prema. We simply have to chant the Holy Name offenselessly. It is because of our offences which are preventing us from receiving Krishna-prema and out of that, the most dangerous one is Vaishnava-aparadha.
That is a big, big problem we have. We are surrounded by the Vaishnavas and we are prone to make offenses. Therefore, we have to be very, very careful. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also instructed that. Mahaprabhu used to perform His sankirtana at the house of Srivasa Thakura at night. In order to enter into His sankirtana one had to be qualified and what was the qualification? One who is favorably disposed to the Vaishnavas and one who doesn't blaspheme the devotees. Mahaprabhu time and time again said, "No one blasphemes." That is the biggest offense. That is the biggest hurdle that we have to cross. So therefore, let us be very, very careful not to offend the Vaishnavas, not to blaspheme the Vaishnavas, not to speak ill about other Vaishnavas. On the other hand, we should develop our genuine appreciation for the Vaishnavas. Thank you very much.
Devotee: [In Bengali]
BCS: Well, the question is, before Maha-Vishnu started this creation, whether we were conditioned or liberated. In that respect Srila Prabhupada said, "Don't worry about it. What you should worry about is that now you are conditioned. And now try to become free from your conditioned state and go back to the spiritual sky."
Yes?
Devotee: [In Bengali]
BCS: [Answers in Bengali first] Her question is whether Kalakanya is Jagannatha's sister. [laughs] So I just told her that according to the history of Narada Muni Kalakanya is the sister of Death, not of Jagannatha.
Hare Krishna! Gaura Premanande Hari Haribol!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!