Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.2
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Vrndavana, December 3, 1975

Harikesa: …tam, Seventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, verse number two. “In this human form of life there is chance to go back to home, back to Godhead. Therefore every living entity, especially in this human form of life must be engaged in devotional service. This devotional service is natural because Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of the soul, the Supersoul, is the most beloved being of all other living beings.”

Prabhupada: When the Deity door is open?

Aksayananda: We are waiting, Srila Prabhupada.

Prabhupada: Why? Why you… No waiting.

Aksayananda: It’s scheduled to open right now.

Prabhupada: So why waiting?

Aksayananda: We’re going to wait for your convenience.

Prabhupada: Huh?

Aksayananda: For your convenience.

Prabhupada: No, no. My convenience is not there. We can see later on.

Aksayananda: Very well.

Prabhupada: But in time the Deity door must be open.

Aksayananda: We can keep schedule now.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Aksayananda (aside): You can inform him.

Prabhupada: We can go after finishing and offer respect. That doesn’t matter. But the Deity must be open.

Aksayananda: Yes. It is now.

Prabhupada:

yatha hi purusasyeha visnoh padopasarpanam yad esa sarva-bhutanam priya atmesvarah suhrt

This is called sambandha-jnana. (bells ring, Deities open) There are three things—sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Sambandha means first of all we have to establish what is our relationship with God. This is called sambandha-jnana. Any Vedic literature, it is dealing with three things—sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Everywhere… In our relationship with mundane world… You are American. So American means the sambandha, the relationship. You have got intimate relationship with the country known as America. This is called sambandha. Unless you know what is your relationship with America there is no question of fighting for America, because the relationship is there. Similarly, in any country… This is, of course, artificial, man-made sambandha, externally. But the principle, to know first of all our relationship, then act accordingly and then the purpose for which we establish relationship, that is obtained. A businessman, he enters into business contract with another businessman. The agreement is there, that “We shall transact business as purchaser or seller, as agent or as principle.” This is called sambandha-jnana. If we do not know what is our sambandha, relationship with God, then why one should be interested to worship God? There is no question. Therefore sambandha-jnana is the first principle to understand.

So sambandha-jnana, Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, what is the position between the living entities and the Supreme Lord. In the Vedas it is stated, nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. We are related with God because He is the chief leader. Nityo nityanam. We are all nityas, eternal, and He is the chief eternal. From eternal, chief eternal, small eternals come. Just like the sun is the big illumination, and the sunshine is coming from the sun, small, bright particles. It is also individual. But because it is automatic, molecules, we cannot see differently. We see simply the illumination. But it is combination of bright particles, the sunshine. So in this way, nityo nityanam. Krsna is the big, bright subject, and we are small particles coming from Krsna. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. It is perpetually we are connected. Just like the sun and the sunshine is perpetually connected, Similarly, we are also perpetually connected. Take it any way. Krsna, or Visnu, the supreme father, and we are all sons.

sarva-yonisu kaunteya sambhavanti murtayoyah tasam mahad-yonir brahma aham bija-pradah pita [Bg. 14.4]

He is the supreme father, and as the father and the sons are related eternally, you cannot be separated. There may be misunderstanding between the father and the son, but the son is always the son, and the father is always the father. That cannot be separated. So our present material condition of life means that we are forgotten of our relationship with God. This is our position. Therefore people are… Some of them are agnostics. Some of them are atheist. Some of them are this, that, so many. They want to forget God. They have already forgotten, and on account of their forgetfulness they are conditioned by nature. The father wants the sons may come back, and the sons have forgotten the father. Therefore the father comes as incarnation. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata, tadatmanam srjamy aham [Bg. 4.7] Why Krsna comes? Not only He comes, He sends His so many incarnation. Some of them are svamsa. Some of them are vibhinnamsa. Everyone is coming here to canvass, to get back the sons back to home, back to Godhead. In different countries, in different atmosphere the business is going on to reestablish the lost or forgotten relationship with God. This is going on.

So here Prahlada Maharaja recommended in the first verse, kaumara acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha: [SB 7.6.1] “From the very beginning of childhood one should be trained up to act according to the bhagavata-dharma.” That is real life. But instead of bhagavata-dharma, they have created so many false dharmas. So many. So that is our mistake. Real dharma is bhagavata-dharma, relationship with God. You may call it bhagavata-dharma or the occupational duty in relationship with God. That is compulsory. You cannot say that “I do not need it.” No. That is compulsory. If you are not in bhagavata-dharma, then you are misled. That is described, dharmah projjhita-kaitavo atra. Where there is no question of to understand the relationship with God, that kind of religious system is bogus and cheating. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. This is the purport. Therefore it is said that why bhagavata-dharma should be learned or one should be trained up in bhagavata-dharma. Because yatha hi purusasya: “Of all living entities…” Purusasya iha visnoh padopasarpanam. Visnoh padopasarpana means the same thing, as you say, “back to home, back to Godhead.”

Visnu is original Lord, or our father. We have expanded. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. Every living entity is part and parcel of Visnu, and they are separated. Not separated but given freedom to serve Visnu. To serve does not mean no freedom. It is not dull stone. Every living being… Just like you are trying to serve the cause of Krsna conscious. It does not mean that you have no freedom, you are like stone. No. You have got freedom but you are utilizing the freedom how to render best service to Krsna. That freedom is required. You must have freedom. Otherwise it is a dull stone. We have constructed this temple with freedom that “The temple should be constructed in this pattern, in this fashion. It should be decorated like this.” So it is freedom, but that freedom is not misused. It is used for the service: “How best service we can render?” This is the proper use of freedom. And when you misuse the freedom, then it is maya. That is called maya. Therefore our freedom should be how to become fully engaged in loving service of the Lord. Visnoh padopasarpanam. Yatha hi purusasya iha visnoh padopasar… Why? It is still further explained, yad esa sarva-bhutanam priya. Visnu is very dear to us.

Same example: Father and the son. The son is dear to father, and the father is dear to the son, at least so long the child is not grown up to rebel against the father and mother. Just like the small child lying down on the lap of the mother. It does not know anything except mother. So as soon as mother is not there it begins to cry because very, very dear. Mother is very dear. Similarly, the child is also very dear to the mother. This is natural relationship. So we being part and parcel… What is this child? A part and parcel of the mother. From very small body the child has grown. That means the mother has given the body of the child. Therefore it is part and parcel. Hm. What is child? From the mother’s body it has developed, and then it comes out and develops again, go on. So yad esa sarva-bhutanam priya. Therefore child is… Because part and parcel, therefore the child is very dear to the mother and the mother is very dear to the child, priya. Priya means very, very dear.

So similarly, our relationship with Visnu is very, very intimate, very, very dear. It is not ordinary relationship. That is being explained. You cannot give up your very dear friend, very dear father and mother or servant. There are so many relationships: santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, madhurya. In different relationship, Krsna is very dear to us and we are also very dear to Him. You have seen the Krsna’s picture. He is patting the small deer because animal or man, everyone is dear to Him. And for animal or man or everyone, Krsna is very dear. This is our relationship. So this artificial way of life, forgetting our relationship with Krsna, is condemned therefore. Na te viduh svartha-gatim hi visnum durasaya ye bahir-artha-maninah… [SB 7.5.31]. Here in this material world it is struggle for existence. Manah-sasthanindriyani prakrti-sthani karsati [Bg. 15.7]. Simply struggle to become happy. Why this struggle? Because they have forgotten that Visnu is, or Krsna is very, very dear to him. He, instead of accepting Visnu as very dear to him, he is accepting the maya as very dear to him. This is the fault. Therefore he is not happy. Therefore struggle for existence.

Therefore Prahlada Maharaja says that yad esa sarva-bhutanam. Sarva-bhutanam. Not that Krsna is very dear only to the human beings. No. Sarva-bhutanam. Because the relationship is very thick and thin, so Krsna is also very dear to every living entity. We have forgotten that. Just like the master and the servant, the crude example, the dog: The dog loves the master because he knows, “The master gives me to eat.” He feels obliged. The master takes care of the dog, and the dog is very much anxious to serve the master. Similarly, eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. Why our relationship…? Because Krsna is supplying all the needs of life. Eko yo bahunam vidadhati. We require so many things but who is supplying? Supplying, Krsna. Krsna is supplying food to the small ant, and Krsna is supplying food to the big elephant. Unless Krsna supplies there is no food. If Krsna does not supply, if there is no production for your subsistence, then how you will live?

So eko yo bahunam vidadhati kaman. Therefore our relationship is very intimate. Not only my, but everyone, every living entity. Yad esa sarva-bhutanam priya atmesvarah. Atmesvara, atma, self. So everyone’s self means himself, the spirit soul, is very, very dear. Just like if there is some danger immediately, then we shall leave this place immediately and try to save our body from the danger. Why you are trying to save your body? “No, because it is very dear to me.” Why it is so dear? “Because I am living within this body.” So I love my body because I am living within the body. Anywhere you take. You love your house, love your home. Why? Because you are living there. So you are loving yourself. Then why you are loving yourself? What is the source of yourself? Visnu, Krsna. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7].

So ultimately I love God. But there are so many impediments. I have forgotten. I am thinking sometimes to love my body, my mind, like that. But real love is because I am spirit soul, therefore I love myself. And why I love myself? Because it is part and parcel of Visnu. Therefore ultimately you love Visnu. But we have forgotten it. In relationship with Visnu we have learned to love… Not love. That is our lust. Real love is with Visnu. Because by nature there is love. Just like the child. It loves the mother. And in the absence of the mother he cries, and when the mother comes he becomes satisfied. So our real love is for Krsna but that we have forgotten. And you are offered, “Why you are crying? You take this. You take this. You take this.” No. Nothing will satisfy us unless we again come back to love our original source of life.

Just like Dhruva Maharaja. Dhruva Maharaja was thinking of becoming happy by getting a great kingdom and ultimately when he met the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he found the object of love. He said, svamin krtartho ’smi varam na yace: “No. I don’t want anything. I have got now everything. I have seen You.” Yam labdhva caparam labham manyate nadhikam tatah. If you get Krsna—Krsna or Visnu, the same thing—then you become satisfied. Otherwise there is no possibility of satisfaction. That is not possible. Simply when you get Krsna Krsna and Krsna’s service is the same. It is not Mayavada, that we get Krsna and we become one with Him. Then that is not satisfaction. That is not satisfaction. When Dhruva Maharaja saw Visnu he did not say, “Now let me become one with You.” No. He said, svamin krtartho ’smi varam na yace. There is svami, master, and the servant is feeling full satisfaction by seeing the master. This is real satisfaction, not that stop our relation, not that the child is crying and praying to the mother, “Mother, you push me within your belly. We become one.” No. It is crying for the love exchange of mother. “Mother, give me your breast milk. I will be satisfied.”

So there is no question of oneness. This oneness is false. There must be separate existence. Then there is satisfaction. A friend loves his friend and the other friend exchanges love. That is satisfaction, not that, “You are my friend and I am your friend. Let us become one.” That is not possible and that is not satisfaction. Therefore those who are Mayavadis to become one with the Supreme, they do not know what is satisfaction really. Artificially they try to become one. That is not satisfaction. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah [SB 10.2.32]. The Mayavadi thinks that “Now I have realized Brahman. I am Brahman, spirit soul. So I’ll become one with the supreme spirit soul as soon as this body is finished.” Gatakasa potakasa, it is said. But that is not real satisfaction. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninah. They think, “Now I am liberated. I am one with the Supreme.” But actually he is artificially thinking that. Ye ’nye ’ravindaksa vimukta-maninas tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayah [SB 10.2.32]. Because they have no right information how to become satisfied fully, therefore they are avisuddha-buddhayah. Their intelligence is not yet pure. It is impure, again material. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adho anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah [SB 10.2.32].

Therefore you will find the Mayavadi sannyasis—they come again to serve humanity, to serve animals, to serve, this, that, country, society. This is Mayavada. Avisuddha-buddhayah. He could not stay in the exalted post of being servitor and the served. The Supreme Lord is served and we are servant. Because we could not get to that position, therefore… My position is to serve. I did not like to serve Krsna. I wanted to become one with him. Therefore my position is not clear. Therefore, instead of serving Krsna, I come back again to serve humanity, community, nation, and so on, so on, so on. The service cannot be rejected. But because avisuddha-buddhayah, not properly trained up, still his unclean state of mind, instead of serving Krsna, because he is hankering after giving service but being nirakara, nirvisesa, without Krsna, then where he will serve? The service spirit, how it will be utilized? Therefore they come back again—country, society… Once they give up, brahma satyam jagan mithya: “These are all mithya.” But they do not know that actually giving service is real blissful life. That they do not know. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah [SB 10.2.32]. Therefore they fall down, again material activities.

So these things happened on account of not clear conception of life. That is Prahlada Maharaja. Therefore the clear conception of life, how to serve God, Krsna, that is called bhagavata-dharma. This should be taught to the children. Otherwise when he is engaged in so many nonsense service it will be very difficult to drag him from this false engagement and again establish him to the Krsna’s service. So when we are children—we are not polluted—we should be trained up in bhagavata-dharma. That is Prahlada Maharaja’s subject matter. Kaumara acaret prajno dharman bhagavatan iha durlabham manusa [SB 7.6.1]. We are serving. The birds are serving. They have got small, kiddie, children. They are picking up food and working very hard and bringing it in the mouth, and the small kiddies, they are chanting, “Mother, mother, give me, give me,” and eat food. There is service. There is service. Don’t think that anyone is without service. Everyone is serv… A man is working hard day and night. Why? To give service to the family, to the children, to the wife. The service is going on but he does not know where to give service. Therefore Krsna said, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam: [Bg. 18.66] “Give Me service. You’ll be happy.” This is this philosophy, bhagavata-dharma. Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya. (end)