Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.33-34 Nitai: “…service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.” (devotees chant responsively:) Na—never; eka-atmatam— merging into oneness; me—My; sprhayanti—they desire; kecit—any; mat-pada-seva—the service of My lotus feet; abhiratah—engaged in; mat-ihah—endeavoring to attain Me; ye—those who; anyonyatah—mutually; bhagavatah—pure devotees; prasajya— assembling; sabhajayante—glorify; mama—My; paurusani—glorious activities. (translation:) “A pure devotee, who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages in the service of My lotus feet, never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities.” Prabhupada: jarayaty asu ya kosam nigirnam analo yatha naikatmatam me sprhayanti kecin mat-pada-sevabhirata mad-ihah ye ’nyonyato bhagavatah prasajya sabhajayante mama paurusani So jarayaty asu ya kosam. Kosam means covering. We have got, the spirit soul has got two kinds of covering. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, dehino ’smin yatha dehe [Bg. 2.13]. Dehinah, the proprietor or the occupier… Proprietor is not actually. The occupier. I have several times explained that this body, gross and subtle, both the bodies… Just like shirt and coat covering of the body, similarly, there are two kinds of covering of the body: subtle body and gross body. The gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air, sky, and the subtle body is made of mind, intelligence, and ego. There are eight kinds of material elements. Five are gross—we can see—and three are very subtle—we cannot see. And the soul is still more subtle. indriyani parany ahur indriyebhyah param manah manasas tu para buddhir yo buddheh paratas tu sah [Bg. 3.42] We have got experience of this body. That is gross experience. Anyone can see. I see your body; you see my body. But you don’t see me actually; I don’t see you actually. We see or perceive your presence when the soul is off from the body. Then we cry, “Oh, my friend has gone away. My friend has gone away.” Why your friend has gone away? He is lying here. Then we can perceive that “My real friend or my real father, the soul, who is different from this body…” And now, at the present moment, “He is my father, he is my friend, who is this body”—that is animal vision. That is not human being vision. Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke…sa eva go-kharah [SB 10.84.13] Animals also see, “Here is a friend dog. Here is my mother dog.” So we have no eyes to see. So we cannot see even the soul, minute soul, and how we can see God in these blunt eyes? And still we want to see God. We cannot see even you; you cannot see me. We are part and parcel of God. And how you can see God? Therefore it is said, atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih: [BRS. 1.2.234] “The present senses is incapable of seeing God.” Or seeing you and me. There is no spiritual vision. But we can perceive. Just like after death we can understand there was something which has gone away: “Now, the body which I was seeing is neither my father nor my friend. It is a lump of matter, that’s all.” This is knowledge. So one who understands this body as a lump of matter before death, he is called wise. Jnana-caksusa: “He sees the soul by the eyes of knowledge.” Pasyati jnana-caksusa. Those who are not in the platform of jnana, on the gross platform of the animals, they cannot see the soul or Bhagavan, Supersoul. So it requires many, many births. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. After practicing karma… Generally, people are karmis. Karmis means gross fruitive worker to get some profit for material benefit. They are called karmis. So out of many millions and thousands of karmis, one is jnani. Jnani means one who understands that “I am not this body.” The karmis cannot understand. They are in the gross field. Jnani can understand that “I am not this body.” Brahma-bhuta. And out of many millions of jnanis, one becomes liberated. Liberated means “I am not this body.” Actually, he understands that “I am soul.” But sometimes the Mayavadis, they become liberated, but they think, “Because I am spirit soul, therefore I am one with the Supreme.” So ’ham. So ’ham. Actually, I am spirit soul. I am equal in quality. But that does not mean I am the Supreme Soul. Therefore in the next verse you will find: naikatmatam me sprhayanti kecit. The devotees are not so fool that they will desire to become one with the Supreme, Na ekatmatam, because they are in full knowledge. And those who are not full in knowledge, in full knowledge, and, but thinking that they have become liberated, conception of this body… That is theoretical, not practical. Theoretical. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. They are thinking that they have become now liberated, Narayana. Now he has become equal with Narayana. Therefore the Mayavadis, because they have become Narayana, one with Narayana, they are addressing one another, “Namo narayanaya.” “You are Narayana, I am Narayana, and the everyone is Narayana.” Then daridra-narayana, rich Narayana, this Narayana. But this is not the verdict of the devotee. Mat-pada-seva abhirata mad-ihah. Those who are devotees, fully engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, mat-pada-seva abhiratah. Abhi means constantly, and ratah means attached, abhiratah—they do not think like that. They do not like that nonsense idea, that “I shall become one with…” How it is? If I am one with the Supreme, how I have fallen in this condition? No. I am not one. I am one in quality, a small particle. We have explained several times that we are also constitutionally the same spirit identity as God is. But we are amsa. Just like gold mine and a small particle of gold. You can say, “This is gold,” and the gold in the mine, big mine, many millions of tons of gold… Quality is the same. A drop of sea water and the vast sea, the chemical composition is the same, the drop of water. But you cannot say that this small particle or drop of water is equal to the sea. That is nonsense. That is nonsense. That means less intelligent. Less intelligence. So those who are less intelligence, they want to become one. But those who are actually in knowledge, for them, it is said, na ekatmatam sprhayanti. They never even desire that “I shall become one with…” That is suddha-bhakta. Just like one gentleman was speaking that “Even the Mayavadis, they worship sometimes Lord Visnu.” Yes, they do. That is… They do not actually believe in the form of Visnu, but they take it as a means, a imagination, to imagine the form of Visnu. This is Mayavada philosophy. Sadhakanam hitarthaya brahmanah rupa-kalpanah.(?) They imagine. Just like they are worshiping Radha-Krsna. The Mayavadi will say, “This is imagination. Actually, the Absolute Truth has no rupa, no form.” That is impersonalism. They do not know that here is the actual form, Krsna. Isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah [Bs. 5.1]. Vigraha. Vigraha means who has got form. They do not know that. Therefore they mistake that that is not… There are many so- called Vaisnavas. They are worshiping Visnu, but thinking of becoming one with the Supreme, imagining. They cannot be one. How it can be? That is not possible. They sometimes give the example: the drop of water, when it mixes with the vast mass of water in the sea, it becomes one. But does it actually become so? No. According to scientific division these, there are the atomic molecules of water. So each molecule and atom is different from one another. Sometimes they call cell or they call molecule. So it app… Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is combination of many millions and trillions of small shining particles. That is sunshine. But each particle has got individual identity. They are not homogeneous. But because we have no eyes to see such a small atomic division, therefore we think that they are one. No. Even physically they are different. Similarly, although we are very small particle, we are different identity, not one. In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna has explained that “All these soldiers and kings who have assembled here, you and Me, all of us we existed in the past, and we are now present, and in the future also, we shall exist.” But Krsna never said that “Arjuna, you and Me and all these soldiers or kings, we shall become one.” He never said. He never said. “We shall keep our individuality.” This is knowledge. And in another place Krsna says, mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah [Bg. 15.7]. We are part and parcel of Krsna or God sanatana, eternally, not that at the present moment I have become separated from the spirit soul, and when I shall be uncovered by this gross and subtle body, we shall become one. Their theory is like that. Ghatakasa, potakasa. Just like ghata, a pot. In the pot there is also sky, and outside the pot there is also sky. Outside the pot there is big sky, and within the sky, within the pot, a small sky. But if you break the pot, then small sky becomes one with the big sky. This is Mayavada theory. But Krsna says that “These living entities, they are eternally My parts and parcel, small particle.” It is not that sometimes they were one, homogeneous; now they have become part. That we do not get. Therefore those who have got complete knowledge, they never expect like that: “I shall become one with the Supreme.” Na eka, ekatmatam. Na ekatmatam me sprhayanti. They even hate to desire it. They simply want to remain… That is the constitutional position. Here we are also part and parcel of Krsna, although we are now covered by this material body. That can be dissolved. This material, it can be easily dissolved by bhakti-yoga. Therefore it is said that jarayaty asu ya kosam nigirnam analo yatha. Just like if you have got good digestive power, you eat anything—it will be digested. You will not find any difficulty. Similarly, if you have got strong bhakti-yoga, then you are not any more in material body. You are free. You are in spiritual body. Therefore Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita that mam ca yah avyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate. Avyabhicarena means without any deviation. Suddha-bhakti, pure devotional service. Anyabhilasita-sunyam [BRS 1.1.11]. They… Anyabhilasita-sunyam means any kind of material desire. The, this desire, that “I shall become one with the Supreme,” that is also material desire. That is not spiritual desire. That is artificial. Now, just like we want to beco…, to hold very big post. So when we are baffled, then we want to become one with the Supreme, Narayana. That means “Narayana is the husband of Laksmi, so I shall become the husband of Laksmi. Now, in this material world, I am hankering after Laksmi, but I could not get it. Now let me become the husband of…” This is their theory. They want to become Narayana. Such a foolish theory. Narayana is the Laksmi-pati. Can anyone attempt to enjoy Laksmiji? Because they are not bhaktas, they think like that, this rascaldom. How I can be Narayana? That is not possible. In the sastra it says that, yas tu narayanam devam brahma-rudradi-daivataih samatvenaiva vikseta sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam You cannot equalize Narayana even with such exalted demigods as like Lord Siva or Lord Brahma. Amongst the devas, demigods, Lord Siva is called Mahadeva. He is the foremost demigod, and similarly Brahma. Brahma is less than Lord Siva, but because in this material world Brahma appeared to be the father of Rudra, therefore he is given a little more respect. But actually, Lord Siva is more than Lord Brahma. But even Lord Siva and Lord Brahma—rudradi-daivataih— Rudra means Siva and Brahma means…, not…, they also cannot be equalized with Narayana. And we are so foolish that we are making daridra-narayana: “Narayana has become daridra.” Sastra says, “Don’t equalize even with such exalted demigods like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva,” and these foolish rascals, they are making equal Narayana with daridra. How Narayana can be daridra? He is Laksmi- pati. We are asking for the favor of mother Laksmi, “Give me some money, mother.” Dhanam dehi rupam dehi rupavati-bharyam dehi, dehi, dehi. And Narayana is worshiped by Laksmiji. Not one Laksmiji, sata-sahasra. Laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam [Bs. 5.29]. Narayana is being worshiped by many thousands of goddess of fortune, sambhrama, with great fear. Just like Rukmini-devi. She is Laksmi-devi, and she was always afraid of Krsna, that “He may not leave me away,” always afraid. Sometimes Krsna was joking with Rukmini-devi, “My dear Rukmini-devi, raja-kanya, you are the daughter of a king, and you, it was better you could have married Sisupala. I am simply a cowherd boy.” In this way, husband and wife, joking. Krsna was joking. And Laksmi, Rukmini-devi, became so afraid that immediately she fainted, that “Krsna is now finding out the way to give me up.” This is called laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam [Bs. 5.29]. The Laksmis are so with great respect and that Narayana has become daridra. Just see the logic. So these are all rascal philosophy. This is not. Nobody should become so ambitious as to become one with the Supreme. That is not very good intelligence. Good intelligence is that “I am eternal part and parcel of Narayana, and it is the duty of the part and parcel to serve the whole.” That is correct philosophy. Just like this finger is part and parcel of my body, so it is the duty of the finger to serve the whole body. Whenever I ask any service from the finger, “Come here,” it is coming here. “Come here,” it is coming here, “Come here.” This is the duty. That is the normal condition. If at once with my order the finger cannot come here or come here, then it is diseased—because it cannot give service. So, so long as we are part and parcel of Krsna, or the Supreme Lord, our duty is to give service. That is the description given by Lord Caitanya. Everywhere in every sastra, that is the… Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—nitya-krsna-dasa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. Eternally we are servant. So as in this material condition… Of course, a devotee is not under material condition. As soon as he becomes servant of Krsna and gives pure devotional service with love and faith, immediately he becomes spiritually situated. Therefore it is said, jarayaty asu ya kosam nigirnam analo yatha. Just like if you put something in the fire, immediately it is burned and turned into ashes, similarly, as soon as you put yourself in the devotional service without any material desire, anyabhilasita-sunyam [BRS 1.1.11], immediately your subtle body and gross body become dissolved; you remain only spirit soul, immediately. The same example is given here. Immediately. Just like Krsna says, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami. Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam [Bg. 18.66], as “you surrender.” Then what…? Immediately you become purified. Aham tvam sarva-papebhyah. We are contaminated by sinful activities. We are getting different types of bodies on account of our sinful activities—or pious activities, you take it. Pious activity or sinful activities, they, they are meant for giving you different types of body. That is suffering. So long you will have this material body, you will have to suffer. You cannot avoid it. Matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah. That is stated in the Bha… Matra-sparsah. What is the suffering? Suffering means on account of this body. The same water, it is very pleasing during summer, and the same water, it is very distressing in winter. So water is the same, but it is distressing and pleasing on account of this body. Very simple thing, one can understand. Matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah. The water is neither pleasing nor distressing. It is due to my this body and bodily concepts of life, we are suffering or enjoying, so- called enjoying, so-called suffering. Actually, I am the spirit soul. I am different from this body, gross body and subtle body. I have no suffering, no, I mean to say, enjoying. It is simply my imagination. Therefore a mukta-purusa, a liberated person, he is not affected by this so-called suffering or enjoying. That is called liberation. So our actual constitutional position is that we are small particle of Narayana. And our business is, because we are part and parcel of Narayana… Why Narayana has created? Ekam bahu syam: “The Narayana has become many.” Why He has become many? To enjoy. Anandamayo ’bhyasat. He has created us. Just like a gentleman accepts a wife, putrarthe kriyate bharya, that is the aim, that “If I get one wife, I’ll get children.” Putra-pinda-prayojanam. This is the spiritual value of begetting children, that “Putra will offer pinda. So in my next life I am in difficulty; by offering pinda, he will save me.” This is the purpose of putrotpada. Pu means pun-namno narakat. Pun-namno narakat. Tra means trayate, “delivers.” Pun-namno narakat trayate iti putrah. This is the meaning of putra. But if the putra is going himself to the pun-namno narakat, then who will deliver me? That is the position now. Nobody is offering sraddha ceremony. Nobody believes in that. So anyway, if a man taking the responsibility of maintaining wife and children, why? Because he thinking that “I will enjoy life. I will enjoy good atmosphere.” Everyone is trying to that. Any family you go in this evening, they are trying to enjoy life with wife and children and friends. Therefore they are taking the responsibility. So this is ananda, but because in this material world the ananda is being converted into distress… But you can get the ananda when you are with the supreme father, Krsna. We are all children of the supreme father. sarva-yonisu kaunteya murtayah sambhavanti yah tasam brahma mahad-yonir aham bija-pradah pita [Bg. 14.4] Krsna says that He is the father. He has created for enjoyment, not for distressing the children and Himself. But we children of Krsna, we have given up the supreme father. We wanted to enjoy independently; therefore we are suffering. Just like if a big man’s, very rich man’s son, he gives up his home and he want to live and enjoy life independently, it is not possible. Therefore our duty is to go back to home, back to Godhead, again return to our original father, Krsna. That will give us happiness. Krsna is full of opulences, and He has got enough money, enough strength, enough beauty, everything enough, unlimitedly. So if we go to our original father, back to home, back to Godhead, then we can also enjoy with Him unlimitedly. That is the philosophy, not that… You cannot enjoy… Father has given you birth. You are separate entity from the father. And if you are suffering, if you say father, “My dear father, I am very much suffering. You make me again one with you,” is it very good proposal? Father says, “I have begotten you separately to enjoy. You remain separate, I remain separate, and we enjoy. And you are now asking to become one with me? What is this nonsense?” So this Mayavadi philosophy, to become one with the supreme father, is like that. They are suffering here. Krsna has created. Krsna created him to enjoy with his company, but he did not like that. He suffered in this material world. Now he’s thinking of becoming one with the father. What is this? So this is… Therefore here it is said, naikatmatam me sprhayanti kecit. No pure devotee will desire like that. It is foolish proposal. Avisuddha-buddhayah. They are called avisuddha-buddhayah, whose intelligence is not yet clear or purified. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. They are thinking, “Now we have become spiritually realized, vimukta, liberated from material bondage.” Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. Avisuddha-buddhayah. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah [SB 10.2.32]. Patanty adhah. Now, they are thinking, “Now we are liberated. We have become Narayana.” Vimukta-maninah. They are thinking like that. Actually, they are not liberated. That is another, the last snare of maya, that “You are God.” Maya is still talking that to bewilder him. Maya’s business is to bewilder the living entity. So this is the last snare, that to become one with the Supreme. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-ma…tvayy asta-bhavat. Because they have no information that they can go back to home, back to Godhead, and enjoy the company of the Supreme Lord, they think that to become one with the Supreme, that is the highest perfection. But that is not the perfection. Because our original constitutional position is… Krsna, or God, created us to enjoy the company. Just like we are sitting together; we are enjoying. Suppose you had…, none of you would have come here, so what I would have enjoyed alone? So variety is the mother of enjoyment. Therefore real enjoyment is in Krsna’s company. Therefore a devotee who is actually in knowledge, na ekatmatam. Na ekatmatam. To become one with the Supreme, they never desire. They never desire. They… Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu is saying, mama janmani janmani isvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi: “My dear Lord, I do not want to stop even.” Mukti means stopping of this repetition of birth, death. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, mama janmani janmani: “Let Me take birth after birth. It doesn’t matter. But let Me be engaged in Your service.” That is ananda. That is real ananda, not that you become one with… And one means you cannot enter into the spiritual planets. There are so many, not devotees but spiritualists; they want to become one. That oneness means that you remain outside the spiritual planet in the brahmajyoti, in the rays. We are part and parcel of the rays. Just like I have given the example: the sun rays means combination of so many bright, minute, atomic particles. Similarly, we can remain as atomic soul outside. Just like this sunshine is outside the sphere of the sun globe. It is outside. It is not… Inside also, that is brightness, but the sunshine is outside the sun globe, and inside there is sun-god. That information we get from Bhagavad-gita. Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1] The sun planet is also a planet like this, but it is fiery planet. And it is earthly planet. The sun planet is fire. But fire and earth is the same material element. Bhumir apah analah. Analah. Analah means fire. So either it is made of earth or it is made of fire or it is made of water or it is made of air or prominent, it is all material. So the sun planet is also material planet like this earthly planet, but it is made of fire. Just like there are so many things we have got experience. There is water, sea. There also, living being, aquatics. They are not dying. But if you are thrown into the water, you will die. But that does not mean that in the water there is no living being. There is. There are hundreds and thousands. Jalaja nava-laksani. We are the men population. We are only 400,000. And in the water there are 900,000’s, aquatics. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vims… Everything is there is the sastras. So… But you cannot live within the… You have got a separate body. Similarly, these so-called scientists, they are thinking that nobody can live in the sun planet. “There is no life.” That is wrong. They have got a separate type of body—they can live in the fire. That is the information. There is also towns. There is also palaces. Everything is there. But they are made of fire. We cannot understand that. In the fire you cannot live. In the water you cannot live. But there are living entities. Just like you see in the beach there are crabs. They are living within the sands, but you cannot live. That does not mean in the sand there is no life. There is life. Life sarva-gah. It is said life can exist everywhere, either in the fire or in the water or in the earth or in the air. We are practically experiencing. So everywhere there is life. So… But different position. As you cannot enter in this body either in the moon planet or in the sun planet, similarly, unless you are fully qualified devotee, you cannot enter into the Vaikuntha planets. You have to live outside. You have to live outside in the brahmajyoti. That is called aikanta. So if you desire that, Krsna will give you the oppor… Ye yatha mam prapadyante. Mam… Krsna is everything. Krsna is brahmajyoti; Krsna is Paramatma. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. So if you want oneness, so you will be allowed outside the Vaikuntha planet in the brahmajyoti. But there you cannot stay. That is the difficulty. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah [SB 10.2.32]. Because we want varieties of enjoyment… In the brahmajyoti you are simply live eternally, but there is no varieties. But because these persons, they have no information of the Vaikuntha varieties, they have to come down again to these material varieties. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah [SB 10.2.32]. This is the process. Therefore a devotee, automatically he dissolves his material and…, material bodies, subtle and gross, dissolves in this life. That is called jivan-muktah sa ucyate. That is called jivan-mukti. Iha yasya harer dasye. Anyone, iha, mad-ihah. Here it is said, mad-ihah. What is that mad-ihah? Always thinking of how to serve Krsna. That is called mad-ihah, thinking of Krsna, always thinking of Krsna. That Rupa Gosvami has explained this mad-ihah. What is that? Iha yasya harer dasye. Anyone who is always thinking of how to serve Krsna, karmana manasa vaca… You can serve by your body activities, by your mind, by your words. Just like we are talking about Krsna. We are serving Krsna by words. You are hearing: that karmana, the activities of the senses, you are hearing. Karmana manasa, we are thinking; I am thinking. So any way, if we are simply engaged in Krsna’s service or at least trying to do that, karmana manasa vaca, iha yasya harer dasye… But it is not to become one but to serve. If this attitude you keep, so nikhilasv apy avasthasu jivan-muktah sa ucyate, in any condition of life he is liberated. Any condition life. He may be engaged in some business or in some occupation or this way. If he is always thinking of Krsna, how to serve Him, then he is liberated. This is the idea of actual liberation, not by thinking that “I shall become one with the Supreme.” Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, December 3, 1974