Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.18-19
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, April 9, 1971

Prabhupada:

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave-namah

sri-caitanya-mano-’bhistam sthapitam yena bhu-tale svayam rupah kada mahyam dadati sva-padantikam

vande ’ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

he krsna karuna-sindho dina-bandho jagat-pate gopesa gopika-kanta radha-kanta namo ’stu te

tapta-kancana-gaurangi radhe vrndavanesvari vrsabhanu-sute devi pranamami hari-priye

(break—Hindi) …nirvisesa avyakta, impersonal feature. [break] Impersonal. The manifestation of this material world is the impersonal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And His personal feature is situated in everyone’s heart as Paramatma. Therefore it is said here, alaksyam sarva-bhutanam antar bahir avasthitam. Although Krsna, or God, is outside and inside, still, He is not visible. Still, he is not visible. Alaksyam sarva-bhutanam. He is inside and outside, but still, He is not visible.

So not visible to whom? Not visible to the ordinary persons who are not in Krsna consciousness. For them He is not visible. Although He is inside and outside, still, He is not visible. Alaksyam sarva-bhutanam. Sarva-bhutanam means all these ordinary living entities, they cannot see Krsna, or God, either within or outside. Why? Krsna says also in the Bhagavad-gita, naham prakasah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavrtah: [Bg. 7.25] “I am not visible to everyone because there is a curtain which is covering the eyes of the ordinary persons, yoga-maya.” Just like the cloud covering the eyes to see. One cannot see the sun in complete or in full vision when there is cloud. Similarly, maya, yoga-maya, has created a cloud on account of which we cannot see God. But the same eyes can be also, I mean to say, purified. The same eyes. Just like you have got cataract, you cannot see, you become blind. But if the cataract is operated, then your vision is again revived. So you can see. Ordinarily, you cannot see God, either inside or outside. Alaksyam sarva-bhutanam antar bahih. Although we say that God is there within, God is outside, but why you cannot see? Because we are not devotees. But as soon as you become a devotee, you become a lover of God or Krsna, then you can see.

Krsna is present everywhere. He says, antar bahir avasthitam. The Brahma-samhita says,

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami [Bs. 5.38]

Premanjana-cchurita. By prema… Prema means love. The ointment of love, when it is smeared over the eyes, then those who are devotees, santah, saintly persons, they can see always Krsna within his heart. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti. Antah. And bahih, so far experience, that he sees everything. One who is lover of God, he can see Krsna in everything. Whatever he sees, he sees Krsna there, because he knows that “This thing is produced out of Krsna’s energy.” Take for example a flower. A devotee sees a flower produced by Krsna’s energy. He sees the beauty of flower, appreciating Krsna’s artistic sense. When he hears the sweet voice of a bird, he immediately understands that “Krsna is speaking so nicely through this bird.” This is called Krsna consciousness. Everywhere he sees. Antar bahih.

So if one comes to this platform to understand Krsna or to see Krsna within and without… [break] …by Krsna consciousness. One who will see Krsna within and without always, twenty-four hours. Nothing, he will see nothing. The others, they will simply say, “Where is God? God is dead. Can you show me God?” Such persons will never be able to understand what is God because they want to see God by challenging. That is not possible. God is not visible by challenging. Simply by love and surrender. Then God can be seen. Alaksyam sarva-bhutanam antar bahir avasthitam.

Therefore sastra says that alaksya… Aradhito yadi haris tapasa tatah kim: “If one has come to the point of worshiping the Supreme Lord, there is no more necessity of undergoing severe austerities and penances.” Because others, karmis and yogis, for their sense gratification, karmis, jnanis, and yogis, they have to undergo severe austerities. But the bhakta, somehow or other, he can, if he simply learns how to love Krsna, then he hasn’t got to undergo severe austerities and penance. Immediately he is released. Because that is the perfectional stage. If you live in Krsna, always loving… Just like the gopis. The gopis, they learned how to love Krsna. That’s all. They never underwent any severe austerities like the great saintly persons going to Himalaya and pressing their nose and something like that. No, never did. Their only business was how to love Krsna. Automatically. Without any… Of course, that stage is not easily obtained, but the sastra says if you come to that stage, simply to love Krsna, then you are on the highest platform of blissful life. Premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santah sadaiva hrdayesu [Bs. 5.38]. Santah, those who are devotees, they are twenty-four hours seeing God. That is to be… That is the highest stage of perfection. And by Krsna consciousness movement, one can be brought to the platform, how to love Krsna twenty-four hours without any cessation.

But others, they cannot see. Why they cannot see? Maya-javanikacchannam ajnadhoksajam avyayam. Because their eyes are covered by a curtain created by maya. Maya. Mayayapahrta-jnanah. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said. They are very much proud of their knowledge, advancement of knowledge, scientific knowledge. But Krsna says, mayayapahrta-jnanah. Their knowledge has been taken away by maya. Apahrta means taken away. Here also, the same thing, Kunti says, maya-javanikacchannam ajna. Maya-javanikacchannam ajna adhoksajam avyayam. They cannot see Adhoksaja. Krsna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is also known as Adhoksaja. Adhoksaja. Aksaja. Aksa means direct perception. Just like we sometimes say, “Can you show me? Can you show me?” So the answer is, “Whether you have got eyes to see?” God or Krsna cannot be seen by these eyes. So Adhoksaja. Krsna’s another name is Adhoksaja. Adhah. Adhah means down, made down, or defeated. Your sense perception will be defeated if you want to realize by God by your imperfect sense perception. That is not possible. You will be defeated. Adhah aksaja. Aksaja means aksa. Aksa means eyes. Just like we say, “Can you show me?” You cannot see. Because maya-javanikacchannam, by the maya there is a curtain. What can you see? Just like we are very much proud of seeing, but we are seeing because there is light. If the light is taken away, you cannot see.

So your seeing power is conditional. Your seeing power is conditional. You cannot see God in that way. Only if you develop love of God, then you will be able to see always, twenty-four hours, Krsna. This is the science. Maya-javanikacchannam ajna. Because the javanika, the curtain is there, created by maya, therefore everyone is ajna. Ajna means foolish, without any knowledge.

maya-javanikacchannam ajnadhoksajam avyayam na laksyase mudha-drsa nato natyadharo yatha

Mudha-drsa. Mudha. Mudha means the same ass, those who are seeing like ignorant or ass. What is the example? Just like an actor, theatrical actor playing on the stage. A child, he is seeing somebody acting, but the child has forgotten that his father acting. Because the father has dressed in a different way and he’s a different posture, playing on the stage, although the child is sitting amongst the audience, he cannot understand that “He’s my father playing.” Because he hasn’t got the understanding. It may be that who is elderly than me, that means one who is advanced his knowledge, he can see. Or the mother can say, “Oh, don’t you see your father is playing there?” So although the child and the mother is there, one cannot see, other can see. That means one who has got knowledge, he can see. One who hasn’t got knowledge, he cannot see, although God is everywhere. God is everywhere. Everywhere. Na laksyase mudha-drsa nato natyadharo yatha. Nato. Nato means the theatrical actor. When he is dressed just like an actor, the foolish man cannot see him. Nato natyadharo yatha.

tatha paramahamsanam muninam amalatmanam bhakti-yoga-vidhanartham katham pasyema hi striyah

Others, those who are paramahamsa… How… Krsna does not become visible, because He is visible only to the paramahamsa. Paramahamsa means the supreme position of a human being. That is called paramahamsa. There are… You know, according to Vedic system, there are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, and brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa. The eight stages. The sannyasi is to be supposed the first-class stage. So amongst the sannyasa stage also, there are four stages: kuticaka, bahudaka, parivrajakacarya, and paramahamsa. Not that all sannyasis on the equal status. The first status is kuticaka. Sannyasa means one has to give up the relationship with family. So in the beginning of stage, because he is newly entered in the sannyasa life, it is not possible for him to give up immediately his village or… Of course, when there was systematic sannyasa system, then that anyone had to take sannyasa at a certain stage. Nowadays there is… Sannyasa, accepting sannyasa life, is also forbidden because nobody can actually follow strictly the rules and regulations. And neither anybody has got any inclination to accept sannyasa. Therefore in this age sannyasa is sometimes forbidden. Kalau panca vivarjayet. But if you ask that “Why you have taken sannyasa?” or “You have got some sannyasis,” this sannyasa is not karma-sannyasa. This sannyasa is devotion, Vaisnava sannyasa. Vaisnava sannyasi means anyone who gives up everything and devotes simply his time for pushing on Krsna consciousness movement, he is also sannyasa.

It is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita: sa sannyasi ca yogi ca. Anasritah karma-phalam karyam karma karoti yah. One who is working, anasritah karma-phalam, without any desire to enjoy the fruits of his activity. These sannyasis, they are working for Krsna. They have no desire to make any profit out of it. Other sannyasis, they are making any profit. They want mukti, moksa. But these sannyasis, they do not want even moksa. Just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the ideal sannyasi. He says, mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki. He never claimed that “I may not have any more birth.” Moksa means one who hasn’t got to take birth of this material body. That is called moksa. So a Vaisnava sannyasi, they do not want even moksa. Therefore they have no demand. So that sannyasi is different from the ordinary sannyasi. Ordinary sannyasi, he has demand. He wants mukti. But Vaisnava sannyasi, either he is in sannyasi dress or in not sannyasi dress, simply because his aim and object is to satisfy Krsna; therefore he is sannyasa. Anasritah karma. He has no shelter of the work that he is doing for Krsna. Not that “I shall work in this way, and there will be good result, and I will enjoy it.” Other sannyasis, they are thinking like that: “I will go austerities and penances severely. I shall go to Himalayas and execute very rigidly all the principles of sannyasa. But as a result of this, I will get liberated, mukti.” Therefore he has got demand.

So that sannyasi and this sannyasi is different. Anasritah karma-phalam karyam karma karoti, sa sannyasi. So this sannyasi can be accepted even in grhastha life, even in householder life. Because in one sense, all these boys and girls who are working for Krsna, they have no other desire. They are all sannyasis because they have no desire to achieve any result out of their work. The only thing they want: the krsna-bhakti, how Krsna will be satisfied. They are engaged in preaching work because they want to satisfy Krsna. Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66] They are teaching all over the world the same principles, the same philosophy, that “Please surrender unto Krsna and you will be happy.” That is their message. They have no other message. Therefore anasritah karma-phalam karyam karoti. They are all sannyasis.

So out of… Of course, because Lord Caitanya accepted this sannyasa, so we are maintaining that system, but actual point of sannyasa is not mukti, but satisfy Krsna. That is sannyasa, how Krsna will be satisfied, how Krsna’s representative will be satisfied. Because we have to work under Krsna’s representative. Anything we work, if we want to be expert, then we have to work under some expert. Therefore we accept guru. We do not serve Krsna directly. We accept guru. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah **. The principle is guru is the representative of Krsna, and if we work under guru and if we can satisfy, then Krsna is satisfied. That is very easy to understand. Suppose in office you are working under some officer. You have no acquaintance with the proprietor, but your pay, your promotion will be considered by the proprietor on the recommendation of this officer. When the officer will say, “Yes, this man has worked very nicely,” then your increment of pay and your promotion immediately will be accepted by the proprietor. Therefore sastra says, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah **. If you can satisfy your spiritual master, then you must know that you have satisfied Krsna. Because he is representative of Krsna, you are working under him, so if he says, “It is all right,” Krsna says, “It is all right,” although you have never seen Krsna. And yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ’pi. And if the spiritual master says, “Oh, you are doing nothing” then your, all spoiled, all labor is spoiled. Na gatih kuto ’pi. You have no other shelter.

So this paramahamsa stage is… We have come to explain paramahamsanam. Here it is said, tatha paramahamsanam muninam amalatmanam. Amalatmanam. Amala means without any dirty things. paramahamsa means without any… What is that dirty thing? The dirty thing is to have any slight desire for enjoying this material body. That is called dirty thing. Amalam. Everyone is samala. Samala, with dirty things. The karmi, jnani, yogi, everyone is infected with dirty things. Why? The karmis, they want that “I shall be elevated in the heavenly planet and I shall enjoy there in the Nandana-kanana, and beautiful wife, beautiful women.” That is their ambition, the people are working very hard here. Everyone wants very comfortable life with good bank balance, good house, good wife, good children. That is their ambition. That is karmi. They have no other ambition. Similarly, jnani. When the jnani sees that his good wife, good family, good money, and good house is nonsense… “It will not stay, but for some years I can enjoy. Then it will be all vanquished.” They are jnanis. They know how things are happening. Therefore they want mukti. But there is still want, that “Now I have given up all this. I don’t want this material happiness. Now I shall merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord. Because Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer, so if I become one with Him, then I shall enjoy, supreme.” The same enjoyment spirit is there, to merge into the Supreme. In a different way only. The karmis are directly trying to enjoy sense enjoyment. They are indirectly wanting another kind, another higher status of sense enjoyment.

So similarly, the yogis also, they want to play some jugglery, magic. If they can achieve one of the… There are eight kinds of yoga-siddhis. There are many… You will find they are showing some yoga-siddhi, and people are after that. Foolish people, they are thinking that he is God. If you can create something by jugglery… Suppose I am sitting here. I make like this and immediately I produce something, golden pot. Oh, immediately thousands of people will come: “Oh, here is God. Here is God. Because he has produced a cup, golden cup which is worth, say, two thousand rupees, therefore he has become God.” There are many persons, merchants, they are producing two thousand rupees every moment. Then why he is not God? But the foolish people, they have no sense. They are captivated by these juggleries, yoga-siddhi.

So yoga-siddhi, jugglery, yoga-siddhi magic, captivates foolish persons. So they want yoga-siddhi. If some foolish persons gather, then he gets sense enjoyment. That is another type of sense enjoyment. So therefore in the Caitanya-caritamrta it is said that bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami sakali asanta. They are not paramahamsas. Paramahamsa… Here it is stated that bhakti-yoga-vidhanartham. Tatha paramahamsanam muninam amalatmanam. Amalatmanam means when there is no more dirty things. The karmis, they have got dirty things, sense enjoyment. The jnanis, they have got also dirty things. One may say that “Mukti is dirty thing?” Yes. According to Vaisnava calculation it is dirty thing, because Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, he said, kaivalyam narakayate. Kaivalyam means to become one with the Supreme, mukti. He said, “It is exactly like hell.” Kaivalyam narakayate tri-dasa-purakasa-puspayate. “And these heavenly planets,” the domain or the objective of the karmis, “that is like flower in the sky.” And durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate. Durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali. The yogis, their first business is… They get so much yoga-siddhi because first business is indriya-samyama. Yoga-siddhi is not obtained easily. One has to practice it. And the first practice is controlling the senses. Durdantendriya-kala-sarpa-patali protkhata-damstrayate.

So anyway, our point is that paramahamsa means one who has no such dirty things in the heart, bhukti-mukti-siddhi. All, they are dirty things. Bhukti means material enjoyment, mukti means to become, to merge into the existence of the Supreme Lord, and siddhi means yoga-siddhi. So they are all dirty things. So such dirty…, a person with such dirty things, he is not paramahamsa. He may be a sannyasi, but he’s not a paramahamsa. Paramahamsa means who has no dirty things.

anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam anukulyena krsnanu-silanam bhaktir uttama [BRS 1.1.11]

So all the bhaktas, those who are pure devotees, he is paramahamsa.

So Krsna comes to teach this highest science of devotion to make people paramahamsas. Not these dirty karmis, jnanis, and yogis. Krsna’s business is… Therefore Krsna, first condition, says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam: [Bg. 18.66] “Just you surrender unto Me and I shall make you a paramahamsa.” Then you will be able to see always Krsna.

Thank you very much. [break]

purnam, a man is disturbed with all these dirty things, he cannot understand Krsna. Paramahamsanam. So it is rather difficult to understand Krsna.

manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatati siddhaye yatatam api siddhanam kascin mam vetti tattvatah [Bg. 7.3]

But we are trying to push on Krsna consciousness by the direction of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So it may be possible by the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to understand Krsna consciousness. Otherwise it is a very difficult subject matter. (end)