Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HH Radhanath on HH Bhakti-tirtha Swami

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Date: February 25, 2008 (Vyasa-puja of HH Bhakti-tirtha Swami)
Verse: Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.12.57
Speaker: HH Radhanath Swami
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rucaye pradat kardamaya tu madhyamam
daksayadat prasutim akutim ca yata apuritam jagat

TRANSLATION: The father, Manu, handed over his first daughter, Akuti, to the sage Ruci, the middle daughter, Devahuti, to the sage Kardama, and the youngest, Prasuti, to Daksa. From them, all the world filled with population.

PURPORT: The history of the creation of the population of the universe is given herewith. Brahma is the original living creature in the universe, from whom were generated the Manu Svayambhuva and his wife Satarupa. From Manu, two sons and three daughters were born, and from them all the population in different planets has sprung up until now. Therefore, Brahma is known as the grandfather of everyone, and the Personality of Godhead, being the father of Brahma, is known as the great-grandfather of all living beings. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (11.39) as follows:

vayur yamo 'gnir varunah sasankah
prajapatis tvam prapitamahas ca
namo namas te 'stu sahasra-krtvah
punas ca bhuyo 'pi namo namas te

"You are the Lord of air, the supreme justice Yama, the fire, and the Lord of rains. You are the moon, and You are the great-grandfather. Therefore I offer my respectful obeisances unto You again and again."

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the Third Canto, Twelfth Chapter, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, entitled "Creation of the Kumaras and Others."

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HH Radhanath Swami: In Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krsna speaks: aham bija-pradah pita, that he is the seed-giving father of all living beings. Acintya-bhedabheda-tattva is an all pervading force that pertains to every aspect of the material and spiritual workings, the inconceivable nature of simultaneous oneness and difference. There are eight million, four hundred thousand species of life, and unlimited living entities who are within these various species, so much variegatedness, but at the same time, there is always oneness. In this instance, we are all coming from the same source. We are factually all brothers and sisters, whether we are mosquitoes, or whether we are prime ministers.

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave an order to Haridasa Thakur and Nityananda Prabhu to preach, this was his message. "Go to everyone, do not discriminate what is their caste, what is their race, what is their education or economic condition. Go to everyone and give this simple message: Worship Krsna, chant the Holy Names of Krsna, speak about Krsna. Krsna is your mother, Krsna is your father, Krsna is your real wealth, Krsna is your very life and soul. "

Srila Prabhupada emphasized this. We could have our League of Nations or United Nations or so many other philanthropic, social, and political efforts to try to create unity in human society, but unless we have realization about real common connection that spirit souls are part of Krsna, children of Krsna, there is no possibility of any substantial peace in this world.

In this particular verse, Manu and Satarupa are just born from the body of Brahma. In the verses to come, Svayambhuva Manu, with folded palms, approaches Brahma and surrenders to him. He says, "I am yours. Give me any order and my life is to execute your order." He was sincere.

Brahma was so pleased with him. He said, "Because your respectful to your superiors, because you are not envious of others, and because you are really surrendered to execute the order that is given to you by the Supreme Lord through me, you will be powerful."

Lord Caitanya taught, mahajano yena gatah sa panthah, that the only way to perfection is to follow the footsteps of the mahajanas. Svayambhuva Manu was one of the twelve mahajanas. We should study very carefully this particular incident from Srimad Bhagavatam. He is surrendering to his guru, his father, Brahma, knowing him to be the representative of Krsna. Then Brahma gives him instruction. He said, "You should procreate living being, you should rule over the world according to the principles of pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord, and you should perform yajna or sadhana for his satisfaction." Then a very key instruction here, he said, "The best service that you or any leader can render is to protect all living beings within the material world. If you sincerely and honestly act as a protector of others, you will please the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he will empower you."

This is the first duty, according to Lord Brahma, who is the first guru after Krsna in our parampara, of a leader, to protect one's subordinates. Protection can in a simple way be classified as physical protection, emotional protection, spiritual protection. Srila Prabhupada, as our acarya, has exemplified this for all of us to learn from, and to try to put in practice by trying to follow in his footsteps. Here in Sri Mayapur Dham, we have been told by devotees who were here for the first Gaura Purnima festival, there were very simple facility. At night, when devotees were sleeping, Prabhupada was going around to see that everyone had their mosquito nets and everyone was fed nicely. He was so worried about the comforts of the devotees. He writes in his purports that he built temples and guesthouses in Vrindavan and Mayapur especially so that the devotees from all other the world could come to India to these holy places and feel comfortable, feel protected.

One of the first temples in ISKCON was Bury Place in London. It began with just a few devotees, but soon, the Hare Krsna explosion took place and Prabhupada came to Bury Place, Radha Londonisvara's temple, and he saw devotees sleeping on the stairways, sleeping in the hallways. It was so overcrowded. So he approached George Harrison, "My devotees are suffering. They don't have proper accommodation. They have given up so much. Can you find a spacious place for them?" On the basis of Srila Prabhupada's concern for the physical condition of his devotees, Bhaktivedanta Manor was purchased and developed.

Emotional care. Srila Prabhupada made every devotee feel so valuable. He was so encouraging. Even by a glance or a smile or by some kind words or by chastisement, even when he chastised devotees, the devotees felt. . . I don't know their minds, but their hearts were feeling ecstatic because they knew, "He is chastising me because he really cares about me. He is trying to help me. He is protecting me." If you chastise someone and it breaks their heart, then we're not really following Prabhupada's footsteps. Prabhupada was melting people's hearts by his chastisement. They felt he was protecting them.

I remember one time, I was a very insignificant - I still am a very insignificant devotee - doing some deity worship, milking some cows. I handed Srila Prabhupada a little rose, a wild rose that I just picked from the forest as I was going to see him. He smiled at me with such gratitude and he said, "Thank you very much" in such a way that I felt like I just built a temple [laughter], I felt like I just distributed a million books. Prabhupada protected us by encouraging us and making us feel valued and appreciated for whatever efforts we made sincerely to serve Krsna.

And of course spiritual protection. Srila Prabhupada would stay up most of the night translating his books and writing purports. He spoke on so many occasions, "If devotees are not reading these books, if they are not chanting their sixteen rounds attentively every day, at anytime they can fall victim to maya." Prabhupada was writing these books and pleading with us to read them, pleading with us to distribute them to others, pleading with us to chant the Holy Names.

He personally, by his own example, was such an inspiration to protect us because if devotees are not protected, whatever else we do is like building a house without a foundation. Everything will fall. If we feel protected, we can feel empowered. By Srila Prabhupada doing that, devotees felt so protected by Srila Prabhupada physically, emotionally, and spiritually that they were willing to take any risk, even risks of death, suffering, poverty. That's how the Hare Krsna movement started - because devotees took such immense risks. How were they able to take such risks? Because in their heart of hearts they felt so protected by Srila Prabhupada: "If I please you it doesn't matter, life or death, I'll go back to Godhead."

Earlier in this chapter, Srila Prabhupada writes in a purport to text twenty-two that the whole process of creation, maintenance, and dissollution of the cosmic manifestation is simply for the purpose of giving the conditioned souls an opportunity to go back home, back to Godhead. That is the only purpose of the material world. And when devotees really feel protected, they feel empowered to continue on with their sadhana, continue on with their fearless preaching endeavors, but we have seen historically within our own society when devotees lose that sense of protection, how so many survival modes come in for our economic situation, for our social situation, for our positions. People lose their sadhana, they lose their taste for the Holy Name, quarrels between devotees over superficial subjects. But what does it mean to protect, to maintain? It is the foundation of our society.

Today is the appearance day of His Holiness Srila Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja. His beloved disciples specially requested me, I don't know why, but they requested me to give class and speak something about this very, very dear, beloved disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Srila Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja, especially in the later years, it was his passion and purpose in life to encourage and protect the devotees in Srila Prabhupada's society.

Today, his appearance day, we think back of the inconceivable way he was born. A vaisnava, who was to be a great spiritual leader of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission, was born in such a simple way. Christians cry when they think of Jesus being born in a little goshalla. [Laughter] Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja was born in a violent, poverty stricken ghetto in one of the downtrodden cities of America, Cleveland. Practically didn't even have clothes to wear. He would just have one or two sets of clothes at a time. His mother would give away anything else.

Being an African American born in 1950, before the civil rights movement actually developed, it meant the African American people were very, very downtrodden and persecuted. You were destined, almost guaranteed to be born, live, and die in poverty and violence. Plus he had a speech defect. He told me, even before he was a teenager, the neighborhood he lived in, you had to carry a gun. If you didn't carry a gun with you every time you walked out of your house, you were subjected to being beaten or exploited. That was the law of the land. Someone tries to exploit you, you show him your gun, then he shows you his gun, then you have some respect for each other. [Laughter] You leave each other alone because you know that if you try to do something to the other, one of you are going to die.

How would you like to grow up in a situation like that? But he struggled, and ultimately, he was given a scholarship to Princeton University. Even there, people hated African-Americans, practically the whole of college. Even there, he went out with a gun every day - and he was a completely non-violent person. He was a local leader of the civil rights movement, fighting for the justice of his downtrodden people. But all his life, he was looking for something deeply spiritual, beyond all these material miseries
and conflicts.

By Krsna's grace, he found everything he was looking for in Srila Prabhupada. He surrendered his life. We know the stories of how Prabhupada was putting so much emphasis on book distribution. At that time, his name was Ghanasyama. He joined the library party to distribute books, but he wasn't ordinary. He was doing such unbelievable services. He volunteered to go behind the Iron Curtain in communist countries. He was so fearless, so amazingly creative in how he was selling entire sets of books of Srila Prabhupada in universities, libraries, homes, all these different places.

He would regularly send his reports to Srila Prabhupada. At that time, Prabhupada was going though his pastime of gradually departing from this world. He was bedridden. Tamal Krsna Goswami Maharaja, as his personal secretary, would read the reports of Bhakti-tirtha Swami, or Ghanasyama Das. Srila Prabhupada would rejoice hearing them. He said, "The reports of Ghanasyama, his fearless enthusiasm to give my books out, risking his life", he said, "this is the medicine that is sustaining my life." Tamal Krsna Goswami Maharaja said that whenever those reports came, it was a highlight for everyone to read those to Srila Prabhupada because it brought him so much happiness.

When Prabhupada went to London, Ghanasyama Prabhu was given a personal meeting with Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada embraced him with tears filling his eyes, embraced him with such love and spoke the words, "Thank you very much. Your life is perfect." He won the heart of his Guru Maharaja. For those of you have ever heard of reports, although we don't have time to speak them, every day was amazing miracles. He would put himself in the most
inconceivable situations, just leaving it up to Krsna to save him. Krsna always saved him.

Some years later, he went to West Africa. His life was very much in danger, especially in the beginning days: diseases, voodoo curses, so many things. He was persistent. He developed temples, farm communities, book distribution, communities, traveled around the world. Prabhupada so much encouraged his creative ways of distributing books, but he also had creative ways of preaching Krsna consciousness because somehow or other, in his heart, he had such a deep passion to reach people's hearts and somehow or other inject Prabhupada's mercy as it is.

Sometimes his techniques were like some sort of anesthesia and people didn't really know what was going on, but once they got that injection, we see the result. They became full-fledged Gaudiya Vaisnavas, loyal, devoted followers of Srila Prabhupada. People that were very difficult and hardly anyone else could reach were becoming devotees.

But as time went on, he did see how devotees within our movement were going through so many struggles and sometimes those struggles were making them spiritually weak, sometimes even making their faith weak. Again, there as a deep passion in his heart to somehow reach them. Some people may agree with how he did it, some may not agree, but what he was trying to give them, what his motivation was, was something very deep. In the eighth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in regard to the story of Lord Siva drinking poison to protect the living entities, Srila Prabhupada, Sukadeva Goswami, they both say that the greatest service that pleases Lord Krsna is to make sacrifices in your own life for the welfare of others. That is compassion. He really did have that compassion.

During the last seven and a half weeks of his life, he requested me to be with him. I stayed at Gita Nagari during those weeks. Actually, I had so many other pressing emergency obligations, but when he looked at me with such affectionate eyes and said, "Please stay."

I said, "I'm here, I'm here." How could I refuse? I'd like to share with you a few things I saw in this regard about his real concern and how his concern empowered him to inspire Vaisnavas. He was sitting in his room, one of his legs were amputated, some of his bones were disintegrating, there were tumors all over his body, big tumors, he was physically emaciated, just being plundered by this most aggressive form of cancer. Usually for such people, you come to try to cheer them up, that's why people came, but the
result was completely different.

There was a festival in New Vrindavan, Festival of Inspiration, and on the last day, he felt, and his doctors felt, within a couple of days, he would die. So probably a hundred devotees, I don't know what happened in New Vrindavan at the festival, but a hundred devotees went to Gita Nagari to hear his last talk. Afterward, probably fifty godbrothers and godsisters came into his room. It was amazing. He was just so concerned that each and every one of them, everyone was weeping, weeping in gratitude. Everyone in that room, ask them today, will declare that it was a totally life-transforming experience. They felt so connected to Srila Prabhupada and to Krsna's love just by hearing him.

The next day, a group of very disgruntled godbrothers came to see him. These are people who don't really want anything to do with a leader of ISKCON. For whatever justified or unjustified reason, they are bitter. They sat with him for about an hour. The whole time, they were weeping in gratitude. I saw before my eyes, a total transformation. I knew these men, I knew their attitude. After that meeting, some of them who gave up chanting, started chanting again. Some of them who would never go to the temple, started coming to the temple, doing service again. They came out of that room, they all just sat down weeping. They had such a deep spiritual experience.

On another day, there were some gurukulis that came. Some of them had been abused. Some of them had gone to other maths to look for shelter. What I was seeing was unbelievable, their hearts were totally melting. Maharaja was just speaking Prabhupada's words to them, in such a way, they were all crying from their hearts. They all said, "We never had such a spiritual experience. We never have met such a spiritually advanced person."

After all these meetings, because I was watching, when everyone left and I was alone with Maharaja, I said, "Maharaja, what are you doing? I've known you for thirty years, you've always been compassionate, you've always been dynamic with powerful lectures and amazing kirtans and always really concerned about the welfare of others, but I've never seen you affect people like this. The only thing I can think of is that Srila Prabhupada is really empowering you."

He smiled, he said, "Actually, I don't even know what I'm doing or saying. These people come in, people have to pick me up and carry me, all this pain, I have a missing limb, but I just pray to Prabhupada and I can feel Prabhupada showing his love to these people through me." Then he said to me, "This is perhaps the greatest blessing I've ever had in my life, to have this cancer, because in this situation, in this helpless, painful situation, I can feel Prabhupada's love and compassion coming through me to help devotees like I've never been able to do before in my whole life. This cancer is only a small price to render such a valuable service to Srila Prabhupada."

Tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamano, one of the most often quoted verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam by our beloved Guru Maharaja, Srila Prabhupada. "Who is rightful to attain the supreme liberation, going back home, back to Godhead? One who even in the most painful, difficult situations can fold their hands and bow down to Krsna with gratitude thinking, 'I deserve worse, Krsna." It is easy to talk about, but to see it is something that is something so beautiful.

Toward the end of Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja's life in this world, the cancer was ravaging his body. I've never seen anything like this. Every day I would spend some hours with him reading from Srila Prabhupada's books, discussing Lord Caitanya, Lord Krsna, Vrindavan. He made a rule that during my time with him there were no other words to be discussed but glorification of Krsna, Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada, and the Vaisnavas, no other talks. I have never experienced such intimacy with another human being than when the focus on our attention is to lovingly try to help each other remember Krsna, lovingly trying to enthuse each other to serve Srila Prabhupada. Try it, it's not of this world.

One day as we were talking, we were just lying down, he started crying. He said, "Maharaja, we are in the spiritual world, we are in Vrindavan, can't you feel it?"

I said, "No." [Laughter]

He said, "Can't your feel it? We are in Vrindavan! What is Vrindavan? Where there is loving exchanges of glorifying exchanges, that is Vrindavan." Then he said, "We have achieved the ultimate goal of life. He said it with such conviction that I actually believed I was in Vrindavan. [Laughter] It was amazing, it was the spiritual world.

Another time, Ekavira Prabhu picked him up and put him on a chair and I would read to him, talk about Krsna with him and he would always be in rapt attention. Usually he was like a great general, just leading the forces, preaching. Remember that time in Mayapur when he gave that, such an empowered lecture, he was so emotionally surcharged that as he was speaking, his hat just flew off his head [Laughter] and everyone went, "Wow!"

But when we would discuss Krsna, he was just like an innocent little boy just gazing with such simplicity and love in his eyes, but on this one day, the cancer was so intense that his entire body was trembling. The cancer was literally making his body tremble with pain. I never saw him cry due to pain, but the pain was so immense, I could see he couldn't concentrate on what I was speaking, so I stopped speaking and just chanted the Holy Names:

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

His body was still trembling, just an emaciated little person, all these tumors all over his body.

[Devotee hands Maharaja a note.] Everyone knows what this is. [Laughter]

When I chanted the Holy Names, as soon as I chanted, he chanted along with me. We were chanting together. Tears literally poured from his eyes. The most effulgent, blissful, almost ear-to-ear smile manifested on his face. His eyes were twinkling. He looked at me and said, Maharaja, "This is it."

I said, "This is what?" [Laughter]

He said, "It doesn't get any better than this." He said, "We are together chanting the Holy Names of Krsna, tasting the sweet nectar of the Holy Name. It doesn't get any better than this." Then, blissful, right from the core of his heart, he said "I would not trade the condition I am in today for anything else or anyone else in the creation because today I am in the association of a devotee tasting the sweet nectar of the Holy Name. It doesn't get any better than this."

From the time Caitanya-Caritamrta came out, his idol [was], of course, Srila Prabhupada, and also Vasudeva Datta, because Vasudeva Datta was willing to suffer for the welfare of others so that they would attain Krsna. For years and years, we would talk about Vasudeva Datta. He meditated on that mood, which Srila Prabhupada so much relished, of Vasudeva Datta. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, when he spoke about Vasudeva Datta, he glorified him as if he had a thousand mouths, because of his compassion to others.

One day when he was lying there, just towards the end, I told him, "Maharaja, today is the disappearance day of Mukunda Datta, the brother of Vasudeva Datta."

He just started weeping, he became blissful. He said, "This would be the perfect day to leave this world." He kept saying, "Vasudeva Datta! Vasudeva Datta! Prabhupada loved him so much!" He called all the devotees to his room in Gita Nagari and requested, "I think today I am going to leave, it is Vasudeva Datta's brother's disappearance day." He had them all doing kirtan and he was really in a very, very difficult situation physically. They did kirtan for several hours. He was disappointed. He stopped the kirtan. He said, "You can go. Krsna is not letting me go today." [Laughter] He said, "I thought He would let me go on Vasudeva Datta's brother's disappearance day, but I guess He's not letting me go today."

But Bhakti-tirtha Maharaja really, what he sincerely gave his heart, life, and soul for is to create community, to inspire loving relationships and care amongst the Vaisnavas because he knew where there are loving relationships, where there is sincere care amongst the devotees for each others' welfare, where there is really a spirit of servant of the servant of the servant, the devotees feel protected, and in that protection, they are inspired, they are empowered to spread this mission and to chant the Holy Names of the Lord:

Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

On this very auspicious day, we offer our sincerest gratitude and obeisances to this effulgent, beloved disciple of Srila Prabhupada who gave his life and soul to inspiring us in the essence of bhakti, chanting the Holy Name in a spirit of loving relationships with Vaisnavas and spreading that culture to the world. Let us bow down at the feet of Srila Bhakti-tirtha Swami Maharaja in gratitude.

Thank you very much.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Bhanu Swami - SB 3.12.49-52

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tato 'param upadaya sa sargaya mano dadhe

TRANSLATION: Thereafter Brahma accepted another body, in which sex life was not forbidden, and thus he engaged himself in the matter of further creation.

PURPORT: In his former body, which was transcendental, affection for sex life was forbidden, and Brahma therefore had to accept another body to allow himself to be connected with sex. He thus engaged himself in the matter of creation. His former body transformed into fog, as previously described.

rsinam bhuri-viryanam api sargam avistrtam
jnatva tad dhrdaye bhuyas cintayam asa kaurava

TRANSLATION: O son of the Kurus, when Brahma saw that in spite of the presence of sages of great potency there was no sufficient increase in population, he seriously began to consider how the population could be increased.

aho adbhutam etan me vyaprtasyapi nityada
na hy edhante praja nunam daivam atra vighatakam

TRANSLATION: Brahma thought to himself: Alas, it is wonderful that in spite of my being scattered all over, there is still insufficient population throughout the universe. There is no other cause for this misfortune but destiny.

evam yukta-krtas tasya daivam caveksatas tada
kasya rupam abhud dvedha yat kayam abhicaksate

TRANSLATION: While he was thus absorbed in contemplation and was observing the supernatural power, two other forms were generated from his body. They are still celebrated as the body of Brahma.

PURPORT: Two bodies came out from the body of Brahma. One had a mustache, and the other had swollen breasts. No one can explain the source of their manifestation, and therefore until today they are known as the kayam, or the body of Brahma, with no indication of their relationship as his son or daughter.


Bhanu Swami: So this whole chapter and many other chapters in the Third Canto are concerning the creation of the universe. This, of course, if we think of our ultimate philosophy, with Krsna as svayam bhagavan and the other forms of the Lord like Rama and Nrsimha and Vamana and other forms in the spiritual world, the material world is not very significant. It is like a small cloud in the vast sky. We may sometimes wonder, what is the use of describing this whole creation? If we examine the Bhagavatam, we will see there is a lot of description of creation.

In fact, if you go to the Second Canto and the Third Canto, there are about six descriptions of the Visvarupa and how the different senses and elements and devas arise from the body of Visvarupa. So we have a very elaborate description of matter when our whole process is actually to go beyond the material world to the spiritual world and become detached from matter and simply absorb ourselves in Krsna.

So we may wonder how the Bhagavatam can discuss these material things since the Bhagavatam is the highest literature, the highest pramana, the summary of all the Vedic literatures, and ultimately, indicating the Absolute Truth in its highest aspect as Krsna. So why do we have to spend so much time on discussion of these mundane things like the creation of the material world and the sex life of Brahma and others?

That is a good question, but if we examine closely, we will see that actually the Third Canto and the Second Canto, where a lot of these descriptions of the universal form take place, are actually the words of Sukadeva Goswami, who is one of the most exalted devotees, even more exalted than Vedavyasa. So there must be some very good reason for this preponderance of topics on creation, etc. Of course, if we look closely, we will see there are good answers to this problem also.

So here we have the description of the creation and our acaryas have actually explained some of the reasons for this. Of course one reason is-- that is explained in the Tenth Chapter of the Second Canto--there is a description of the topics of the Bhagavatam. There are ten topics. Of course the ten topics are also topics of Puranas in general. At least the Maha Puranas, the major Puranas, have ten topics in general. The minor Puranas, the secondary Puranas, have five subject matters in general.

There are ten subject matters which a Purana should more or less conform to if it is a major Purana. So in that sense, Srimad Bhagavatam is also classed as a Purana, so Vedavyasa and Sukadeva Goswami have put it into that sort of form where we have ten subject forms. Why? Because they are also following some sort of formality. Of course Vedavyasa composed the Bhagavata Purana along with the other eighteen. He classed it as a Purana in the very beginning.

There are ten subject matters there, beginning with sarga, which means creation of the material world. The spiritual world is never created, so it is the material world which is created. So we have what is called sarga. This sarga is actually not the creation of Brahma even. The sarga is the creation by Mahavisnu when he glances over material energy and prakrti transforms into mahat-tattva, mahat-tattva transforms into ahankara, ahankara transforms into mind and the senses and sense objects and the gross material elements and we get the whole elements. So that is the sarga, first creation.

Then we have the second creation called visarga. Visarga is actually the creation of Lord Brahma which is explained here. So this is after the universe is formed, then we have to make bodies for the jivas and make planets, places for the jivas, the jivas have to live somewhere. So they need bodies and they need places. So we have material elements in the universe, so they have to form together into certain facilities so that the jivas can enjoy. So we have the visarga, that is, Brahma creates all the bodies for the living entities, that is actually described in these chapters here, and the places for them. Each particular body has a certain place in the universe according to his karma. He is stuck in that, limited in that particular place, in that particular loka for a certain period of time. Then according to his activities he can change to another loka. So all of this is the creation of Lord Brahma, this is called visarga. So that is a topic of a Purana in general also, so if you look at the Visnu Purana, they will have similar types of things.

Then we have the sthana. Sthana actually is part of that creation; that means the places. Of course it refers to the condition of the living entities, or the places of the living entities, that we will find discussed particularly in the Bhagavatam in the Fifth Canto.

Actually, Visvanatha Cakravarti says that from the Third Canto, this is how we can classify things. So he says Third Canto is about sarga, Fourth Canto is visarga, and Fifth Canto is sthana. Sthana means the description of the planetary systems, the hellish planets, the heavenly planets, the earth planet, bhu-mandala, the dvipas, all these dimensions, etc, the shell of the universe. This is called sthana, the geography of the universe. This is where the living entities live. There they maintain themselves and enjoy and commit sinful activities or pious activities and circulate within the universe. So that is the place.

Then we have other topics after that. Once Brahma creates that universe with the bodies and the lokas, then we have the jivas in those bodies doing their activities. So we have topics like posana, how the Supreme Lord protects the devotees in the universe. That is in the Sixth Canto, we see the story of Ajamila, who was in one sense was not a devotee, but the Lord took him as a devotee because he chanted the name of Narayana accidentally, so he protected him. We have other stories in Sixth Canto as well, like Indra, who was also in a sense an aparadhi. That is the posana, another topic.

Then we get uti, which is defined in the Second Canto actually as karma-vasana, or impressions of karma. According to our activities, we get certain results; we are born in certain bodies, in certain lokas in the universe. Then we do more activities, then we die, then we get another body. Seventh Canto is about uti. That is explained in terms of people like Hiranyakasipu, a big demon, commiting all sorts of sinful activities and getting a bad destination. And someone like Prahlad, who gets the mercy of Narada Muni and becomes a great devotee of the Lord. So that is uti.

We get manvantara, which means actually the description of the Manus. This is what happens here--we get the first Manus created by Lord Brahma. These two bodies become Svayambhuva Manu and his wife. Every day of Brahma, there is a creation of Manu and his wife. Then throughout the day of Brahma, there are more Manus. There are actually a total of fourteen Manus appearing, usually descendents of the first Manu, Svayambhuva Manu. There are fourteen of these in the day of Brahma, which means seventy-one yuga cycles they preside over the universe, residing on Bhumandala. These are discussed in the Eighth Canto. There is a whole description of the different genealogies in the Eighth Canto.

Then there is isanukatha. That means talks about the Lord and his devotees. That is Ninth Canto of Bhagavatam. Then there is another topic called mukti, which means liberation. Liberation, of course, means the bad liberation, that is sayujya. That is there, but liberation also technically means to be situated in your svarupa. Your svarupa can also be in the spiritual world. So that liberation refers to getting out to the material world and going to Brahman or going to the spiritual world. That is the topic of the Eleventh Canto.

And nirodha means destruction. We see a description of destruction in the Twelfth Canto. So these are the nine topics. Then there is the tenth topic, which is called asraya, which means the shelter. So all of the other topics actually involve the universe, starting from sarga onwards, then the destruction of the universe, everything, the jivas in the universe trying to get out of the universe, with mukti. Ultimately asraya means what is beyond the universe. So that is the Supreme Lord, then all of his expansions, Brahman, Paramatma, Bhagavan, all the forms of the Supreme Lord in the spiritual world and finally Krsna. And the devotees, they are also nirguna, they are beyond the material world as is the process of bhakti.

So all these topics are all over the Bhagavatam, it's not that they are all isolated but we can somewhat classify them in this way. So we can understand that the Bhagavatam is presenting ten different topics that are distributed throughout the Bhagavatam with a little bit of prominence in each of the different cantos. In this way we can see that the Bhagavatm is conforming to the Puranas and therefore also has these ten topics.

Why should the Puranas have ten topics in the first place? Ultimately the whole point of scripture is to point out the Supreme Lord and the process to get to the Supreme Lord and the result of that. That is sambandha, abhideya and prayojana. That is the whole essence of scripture. So Bhagavatam does that. Of course it could be made very simple. We could just say Krsna is the Supreme Lord, don't worship anybody else, peform bhakti, that's it, that's the end of the scripture. The greatest things are actually very simple. That is the truth. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita surrender unto me, that's it.

However, scriptures understand that all people are not qualified immediately at least. Therefore they present things step by step according to qualification. And you'll see that even in Bhagavad-gita. In Bhagavad-gita even though Krsna says reject everything and just simply surrender unto me, he explains a lot about karma yoga and jnana yoga and astanga-yoga when actually it's not really necessary. Only bhakti is necessary. But he explains all these things. Why? Because Bhagavad-gita is also reflecting the whole of the Vedic literature, as Srimad Bhagavatam summarises everything, puts everything in there, which means it doesn't reject anything else in the Vedas, it doesn't say everything else is wrong, but it also must indicate what is the highest thing. So the Vedic literatures do contain things that are not the absolute highest truth. Therefore we'll have discussions of karma and jnana and yoga besides bhakti. We have all these different things. That is because all people are not qualified for bhakti. If one has no faith in the Lord what is one to do? But if we get the association of the devotees and by the mercy of them you can develop faith and get bhakti. But if you don't get that association and mercy then what do we do? Therefore you go into these other things; you do karma, practice varnasrama and do all these things. Or you do jnana if you are qualified. You go through varnasrama and get up to be a brahmana and once you are a brahmana then you do jnana. And once you've done jnana then you go into yoga and once you've done yoga then you do bhakti.

Then you are qualified. Of course you're not really qualified like that also, but hopefully on the way because there is a mixture of bhakti in everything--you can't do karma-yoga without a little bhakti, one percent bhakti must be there--you must also worship Visnu in karma-yoga and not disrespect him. And in jnana you also have to worship Visnu, and if you don't you'll never get liberation, you'll never get sayujya-mukti even. And of course in astanga-yoga you have to worship Visnu also as Paramatma.

So there is a little bit of bhakti somewhere in there. But it is very little so it is not called bhakti. Hopefully through all that gradually they develop, they get through yoga and all this and they get association then they are ready for bhakti. That is one way of developing and that is why we'll find in the Bhagavatam and in the Bhagavad-gita all these different methods mentioned for differently qualified people.

Unfortunately that doesn't work in Kali-yuga. And in the Twelfth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita Arjuna asks Krsna, "Well, what should I do? Should I do this gradual process and come up to the Brahman level and then come to bhakti or should I just do bhakti?" To which Krsna said, "Just do bhakti, it's easier, it's quicker."

This is the recommendation in Kali-yuga. We are not qualified to go through this whole process of starting with karma-yoga and then becoming brahminical and then doing jnana and youga and then coming to bhakti. It's a very long process over many births when there is a varnasrama system intact and ideal kings like Pariksit around, then you can gradually develop and become a devotee eventually. That's not practical in Kali-yuga where people are short lived, there are lots of distractions around and there is no varnasrama system and there are no ideal kings so the system doesn't really work too well.

Krsna is very merciful and he says that even if you don't have that whole gradual system you can just do bhakti-yoga also. But it looks like a contradiction because I said if people aren't qualified for bhakti, then they have to go through this other system. The question is how to make people qualified for bhakti without having to go through that system. It is possible one doesn't have to go through that system but it depends upon devotees. If one has association of devotees then one can gradually develop that faith and then one becomes qualified.

That is why Lord Caitanya has emphasized the preaching aspect. Since these other methods don't work in Kali-yuga it is up to the devotees to spread bhakti everywhere by giving mercy to everyone in the material world. And thereby we can develop.

As far as the Bhagavatam is concerned and these different topics like sarga and visarga they are all there because it is a Purana and it is reflecting the Vedic literature, etc. and these topics are all ultimately related with Krsna. Sukadeva Goswami will not speak anything that is not related to Krsna somehow or other. Everything must be related to him because he is completely absorbed in him. Pariksit will also not accept anything which is other than Krsna. These things are related to Krsna. We cannot give the argument that "I will only read the pastimes of Krsna in the Bhagavatam because that is the Absolute Truth and all these other topics are secondary, sarga and visarga and all kind of material things so we don't listen to that."

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur has made the point that Sukadeva Goswami has recited this. If he is talking about this and Pariksit is listening to it then we should do that to. We should follow their good example. There is some value in this sarga, visarga, etc.

So it will appear to be one thing, if we look at it very critically we may think, "Why is this so necessary; it is all material," but then we examine again that Sukadeva Goswami is reciting this and Pariksit is listening in rapt attention so there must be something more than we think.

So all these topics are there and as I said the most important one is asraya, that is the Supreme Lord, his devotees, and bhakti. These things are all somehow related to that. They have a relationship. By understanding these topics, we will also understand the nature of the Supreme Lord and the devotees and devotional service. They are not unrelated at all, there is a relationship there.

Of course, it will take us time to understand the significance of this. On one level we can read this and technically we can understand something but not everything because this type of creation does not exactly fit into our present experience or the experience of modern day scientists who base their observations on their experiences. It is a little bit of a different type of creation. It may be difficult for us to understand this. Nevertheless, we accept this as the truth.

It is also described in the Bhagavatam that the truth, the Absolute Truth, the Vedas, the scriptures, are a type of sound, but the sound is different. The sound we hear is one type of sound, but there are four levels of sound. When we hear sound, it is called vaikari, to hear with the ear coming from the voice. That is our sense perception working. That is the gross level of sound and information and knowledge, etc.

Then there are three higher levels. We go downwards into the heart and we get madhyama and pasyanti and para. Para is the original sound. That is where sound is equal to realization, object. "Krsna" means Krsna. Gradually, as that sound transforms and comes out in our visible sound, then it becomes vaikari. There is a little bit of difference between what we perceive in the world and the actual information there which means ultimately that we can read scripture and get something from it but the more realized we become, then the more meaning we will get out of it. That's why I say we can read this and understand something of the mechanics of it but probably won't understand everything.

In the Fifth Canto of Bhagavatam, our scientists are trying to figure out how to represent that in the planetarium because it doesn't quite make sense to our modern thinking process. It looks a little bit contradictory in many ways and if we present that as absolute truth, people are going to freak out when they see that, "What does it mean? What does it mean?" That's why I said we can read things and technically we can adjust things a little bit and understand it, but we may not understand it completely because there are levels of understanding from the grosser level, vaikari, up to para, then we get the actual thing, the actual vision.

So we need a proper realization or a proper vision to see the things of Bhagavatam. That's not only for the creation, that's for even obviously Krsna and everything else in the Bhagavatam. So Visvanatha Cakravarti has explained that actually the Bhagavatam presents itself in many ways. One is it is described as a lamp, adhyatma-dipa, a lamp which reveals adhyatma, which means, generally, soul, spirit, God, Brahman, this type of thing. We understand God like that, athato brahma-jijnasa, janmady asya yatah, God in general. So Bhagavatam presents that for people who are qualified for that.

Bhagavatam is also considered to be like the sun, that is a common example, Bhagavatam is the rising sun. So what does the rising sun do? The rising sun obviously brings light and it destroys darkness. When it's light out all the thieves run away and the devotees rejoice. So in other words it is a little more personal. We have aspects of God where God, the Supreme Lord, pleases the devotees and protects the devotees, and destroys the demons and destroys ignorance and delivers the devotees. So we get a personal idea of God.

Then the other thing presented in the Bhagavatam, what is the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavatam is like a fruit, phalam, a very ripe fruit which is very, very sweet, like a big mango with no skin and no seed and no fibres and very liquid so that you don't have to chew it even, you can just drink it, drink it through the ears. Bhagavatam is therefore a tasty fruit also. That refers to the Supreme Lord in his most personal aspect full of rasa, full of personal relationships, full of personal qualities in which we serve the Lord and develop a relationship with the Lord and we relish those qualities and we experience prema and love for Krsna.

Of course that develps also because we see that Bhagavatam is meant to show that not only God is there and not only Brahman is there and not only Paramatma and Bhagavan who has many forms and avataras etc., but that Krsna is svayam bhagavan. That is actually what Narada Muni told Vedavyasa, "You missed the point in this Purana. So you write the whole Bhagavatam and show that Krsna is the svayam bhagavan."

That is ultimately shown in the Tenth Canto of Bhagavatam. That is all rasa. The philosophical aspect is secondary. The creative aspects, sarga, visarga, all that is put into the background and there we simply have Krsna as svayam bhagavan, in the sweetest aspect. That is the fruit of the Bhagavatam.

Bhagavatam presents all these things. It presents the general aspect of God and Brahman, Paramatma, etc., then it also gets into Bhagavan and all those different forms then it also gets into the sweetest aspect of Krsna and his pastimes. All of these things are there in the Bhagavatam for different types of people. Sometimes if we read, particularly the Eleventh Canto, this sounds very impersonal [laughs]. There are all talks of merging and Brahman and jnana and atma, etc. Bhagavatam presents statements like this.

So Visvanatha Cakravarti says not only is Bhagavatam a mango or a lamp or a sun, it is also mohini-avatara. So mohini-avatara is famous because the Lord took the form of Mohini and she bewildered the demons. She was very nice to the demons and the demons thought, "Yes, we will do anything she says." Then Mohini says, "Give me the nectar." The demons thought, "Oh, yes, we will give you the nectar. She will give it back to us anyway because she likes us so much." So they gave her the nectar and what did she do? She gave the nectar to the devatas. That was the end of the demons.

In other words, Bhagavatam fools the demons and the materialists and other people or even the impersonalists. . . the jnanis will read the Bhagavatam and say, "Ah, look after the Tenth Canto we have the Eleventh Canto where we have jnana, we have Brahman. This is ultimate."

Bhagavatam is tricky. So we will not understand everything immediately. We are devotees so we are not going to go for the Brahman aspect anyway, so the devotees get the nectar and the demons get cheated. They get another whole meaning of Bhagavatam. Similarly people who are not demons but are also part devotees will get something from it. They may appreciate karma or jnana or whatever, the but devotees will appreciate bhakti as supreme in the Bhagavatam. Even that is hidden. Even bhakti is hidden sometimes. Why? Because the Lord likes it like that. Bhagavatam itself says that the Supreme Lord likes to be indirect, paroksa-vada. He doesn't like to speak directly. We'll find the whole of the Upanisads are like that, that God walks but doesn't walk, he's inside but he's outside, all these sort of things. Very ambiguous statements.

Even though Bhagavatam is supposed to be the highest truth, it is meant for the devotees. If you are qualified as a devotee you get the very highest truth. If not, you will be puzzled by many things in the Bhagavatam. That is why even devotees will be puzzled: "Why did Krsna disappear like that. Why did he get shot in the foot and suddenly disappear like that? Why did the Vrsnis get drunk and fight amongst themselves?" We find various strange incidents in the Bhagavatam. Or even why did Krsna leave Vrindavan and never come back? We will find very contrary things and even devotees will get disturbed by that sometimes. That's because Krsna hides things, and Sukadeva hides things, Vyasadeva hides. They hide something.

If you are a great devotees, then you understand the meaning of it and the appreciation of Krsna is more. Bhakti is confidential and it is somewhat rahasya, but it is not completely hidden because Sukadeva is writing for the people of Kali-yuga and this is supposed to be the sun that gives everybody knowledge. But still, aspects of bhakti are hidden sometimes so we cannot simply get the truth by reading it very superficially.

We can study, that's good, but also one has to develop spiritually. As we develop spiritually, we will have the proper eyes to see everything. As I said, we have these different levels of hearing sound and only according to your qualification you get to a certain level. So in terms of bhakti, by developing our bhakti and going through the different stages of bhakti, the more we advance and the more taste we have for Krsna, then the more truth we will get out of the Bhagavatam. We will understand why things are like this or like that. In this sense that is why we have discussion of all this creation and Brahma and material things in the Bhagavatam. We will understand it more the more we advance.

As I said, Pariksit and Sukadeva Goswami went through nine cantos before they got to the Tenth Canto and they were relishing all this along the way. So there is something here that is very connected with Krsna even if we cannot understand it completely. We should go through the Bhagavatam with great devotion. Rupa Goswami says in the Nectar of Devotion that one of the angas of bhakti is sravanam. That is not just hearing. It is hearing Bhagavatam, because Bhagavatam is the ultimate scripture. Of course we don't disrespect any other scripture, but Bhagavatam is the ultimate scripture. Not only we hear Bhagavatam, but with great relish, with taste, with devotion. According to that devotion then we have realization or understanding of what everything is.

So back to here, we have a description of Brahma carrying out his creation. This is technically the visarga, the secondary creation. Intellectually we can explain why we have to do this and that is part of sambandha jnana--we have to understand that there is a Lord and there is us and we are not with the Lord, we are conditioned souls in the material world. We don't become the Lord. We are servants of the Lord but we don't understand that because we are covered up a gross body and a subtle body and we are thinking this is it, this is everything. We are in great illusion. So this creation of Brahma is what does that. It creates the big illusion for everybody in the material world.

That is not something done whimsically. There is also a purpose behind that. Therefore we do have a discussion of karma and why the jivas are in the material world and how we can also get out. So we have mukti and the different process of advancement. We have the instructions of dharma given by the Manus and the kings. It is not that the jiva is trapped. We have methods for getting out. The reason the jiva is here is also explained because he likes to enjoy in the material world so he is given a place and a body by Brahma to do that.

In other words, this whole creation, sarga, visarga, and other topics are there to show the nature of the jiva in the material world and how the Lord interacts with the jiva in the material world to get him out. The Lord is not unmerciful, he is merciful even to the jivas in the material world. Therefore we will have topics like posana and isanukatha and mukti. The Lord is instrumental in all that. So in this way we can begin understand a little bit of why these topics are there like creation and all the different material aspects explained in Bhagavatam.

OK, any questions? Need a microphone or something?

Visuddha Sattva Das: You mentioned that in topics of Bhagavata Purana, sarga visarga, creation and secondary creation, you made a comment about the Temple of Vedic Planetarium that we should do that in a very solid way because sometimes there are complexities in the Fifth Canto and difficult to understand. . . ? My point is that when Srila Prabhupada gave instructions how to make the whole draft of the planetarium, the Temple of Vedic Understanding, to Svarupa Damodara Maharaja and to the scientists of Bhaktivedanta Institute, he says that we are not expecting that because the scientists will not accept the Bhagavatam we make some compromise [unclear]. We are doing now a work in progress on this research and having some success. My point is that if there are difficulties to understand the high topics of the Bhagavatam we should be straightforward and not compromise for the scientists.