BY: SUN STAFF
Mar 29, CANADA (SUN) —
Bhagavat Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION FIFTY-ONE
The Lord's Form is the Supreme Absolute Reality.
In this way it is established that the form of the Lord is indeed the Supreme Absolute Truth because it is eternal, self luminous, all pervading, the shelter of everything, beyond sense perception, distinct from all gross and subtle material objects and in which all the Vedic statements are reconciled. This is experienced by the most wise Brahma, which he clearly described in three verses (S.B. 3.9.2-4):
"The form which I see is eternally freed from material contamination and has advented to show mercy to the devotees as a manifestation of internal potency. This incarnation is the origin of many other incarnations, and I am born from the lotus flower grown from Your navel home.
"O my Lord, I do not see a form superior to Your present form of eternal bliss and knowledge. In Your impersonal Brahman effulgence in the spiritual sky, there is no occasional change and no deterioration of internal potency. I take shelter of this form which is the source of the universe and thus different from it. It is the shelter of all material elements and senses.
"O Lord, the source of all auspiciousness, this is the same form You manifested to me, Your worshiper, in my meditation for my welfare. The Hellish people who associate with sense objects disregard this form. But O Lord, I pay my respects time and again."
Comment by Sridhara Svami: The Lord raises an objection: "You also do not understand perfectly. This form seen by You is also made of the three modes of nature. Only qualitiless brahman is the Absolute Reality". In answer, Brahma speaks the two verses beginning with rupam (3.9.2,3). For the purpose of blessing the worshipers (sadanugrahaya), by Your independent will, You have manifested this form of Yours, which is eternally free from the mode of ignorance by the influence of Your internal potency (avabodharasodayena). It is the sole fountainhead of hundreds of other incarnations which are all visuddha-sattva. To depict this, Brahma first states that this form is the source of the gunavataras by the phrase "from whose lotus navel I was born.
O Supreme, Your effulgence is not covered by anything, therefore You are without any divisions and thus only pure bliss. I do not see Your svarupa as described above different from this form of Yours. Rather this is certainly that. Thus I take shelter of this form."
Brahma also takes shelter because this form has such qualification and thus he said : This form is Supreme among objects of worship. As creator of the universe, You are separate from it (avisvam). Moreover You are the cause of both the senses and the material elements (bhutendriyatmakam).
Objection: But this form is also with limiting adjuncts (upadhi) and thus modern. Expecting this doubt, Brahma speaks the next verse beginning with tadvai (3.9.4). "This is the same blissful form, O, the source of all auspiciousness, which You showed to us, Your worshipers, in the meditation for our welfare. The import is that it is not befitting for You to show a material form to us who have fixed their mind on You by the transcendental path. Therefore we bow down to You again and again. The Lord asks, 'Then why is it that some people do not respect me?' Brahma answers: 'Those people who disrespect Your form have bad association meaning they are influenced by atheistic illogic.' This is the end of his comment.
Here it is implied that because Brahma is the chief among scholars as indicated by the phrase, "those who are fixed on the path of transcendence" (avyaktvartma), there can be no other imaginary meaning given to the above verses. This was also established before Brahma began reciting his prayers for creative energy, (S.B.3.8.33) where it is stated that his mind was fixed on the Lord through the transcendental path or bhakti.
In Sridhara Svami's comments 'they do not respect me' pronoun "me" implies only the form of the Lord. He establishes the form alone as the Para Brahman.
Therefore, those who do not accept the form of the Lord in this way, go against the experience of the realized souls and do not accept the Lord also. So Sridhara Svami says they are being influenced by atheistic illogic (nirisvara-kutarka-nishtha). Therefore he further prays (3.9.5): "O My Lord, persons who smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, carried by the air of Vedic sound through the holes of the ears, accept Your feet with devotional service. For them You are never separated from the lotus of their hearts."
Here the word tu "but" distinguishes the devotees from the non-devotees mentioned in the previous verse (S.B.3.9.4), who disrespect the form of the Lord. This present verse describes the superiority of the devotees who are attached to the form of the Lord as described by stating they accept the authority of sabda pramana, Srutivatantitam and by their direct realization bhaktyagrihita-carana.
COMMENTARY
In the previous few Texts Srila Jiva Gosvami established that the Lord's form is eternal and transcendental. He substantiates this by referring to the experience of Lord Brahma, one of the twelve authorities on the Personality of Godhead. Brahma recites these verses at the dawn of creation in glorification of Lord Narayana. Lord Brahma was eager to create but uncertain how to proceed, he prayed to the Supreme Lord, the abode of all knowledge. In this world everyone is imperfect and even to get material knowledge, one has to depend on others. Brahma knew this very well. Without having faith in the scriptures and saintly persons who have directly realized the scriptures, nobody can approach the Absolute Truth.
In his prayers Brahma declares that the Lord's form is the Absolute Truth and there is nothing beyond it. His form is a manifestation of avabodha-rasa, pure consciousness, and thus it is eternally free from ignorance. The word ignorance (tamas) is also indicative of the other two modes and their source, the pradhana. This is because modes are always together and therefore absence or presence of anyone of them indicates others". The bodies of mortal beings, including Brahma's, is made of matter, which is temporary and full of ignorance.
There cannot be two Absolute Truths, therefore the Lord and His body cannot be independent from each other. This, of course, does not mean that His body does not exist. Brahma refers to His form, etat rupam means the form right in front of him.
Brahma says that the form he sees is the source of hundreds of incarnations and compares it to a seed, bijam. This indicates that the Absolute reality is the original form from whom all other forms appear, in the same way that a seed is the source of a tree having numerous branches. The tree is a manifestation of the seed and thus non-different from it. Generally the seed transforms itself into a tree, but this transcendental seed remains intact even after giving rise to the tree. In the Brahma Samhita Lord Brahma gives the example of lighting many candles from one candle. (Brahma Samhita 5.46)
"The light of one candle being communicated to other candles, although it burns separately from them, is the same in its quality. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda who exhibits Himself equally in the same mobile manner in His various manifestations."
In the next verse (S.B. 3.9.3) Brahma explicitly says that he does not consider the Lord's form and His nature (svarupa) to be different. He used three adjectives to describe this svarupa. In this way Brahma established the Lord's distinctive transcendental nature.
Ananda-matram, pure bliss, signifies that He is absolutely free from the modes of nature, which are the sources of misery. Although He is the source of the universe, the universal elements do not exist in His transcendental body. The Lord is both the material as well as the efficient cause, and yet He is distinct in nature. Just as a person making sweets is different from them, Lord is different from His creation. He is the cause of all causes, yet He is aloof. Generally material causes transform themselves into their effects--like milk turns into yogurt. The Lord is unlike such material causes as His eternal body does not undergo any transformation from the act of creating.
Thus Lord Brahma describes His form as parama, superior. He is like the touchstone which transforms iron into gold while remaining unchanged itself, or like a magnet, which can magnetize a piece of iron without undergoing any change itself. Similarly the Lord creates the universe from pradhana, but changes in pradhana do not affect His Personality, because He is eternally parama, transcendental.
Brahma also refers to His nature as avikalpa, unchangeable. The Lord is unlike pradhana, which transforms into mahat, false ego, the senses, sense objects, and the material elements. He does not transform. Unlike the material duality, which is the cause of misery, there is no tinge of misery to be found in the Supreme Lord. He is ananda-matram, completely free from duality, and avikalpam--this quality of the Supreme Personality of Godhead never changes.
The divisions (vikalpa) of names and forms in this material world are temporary and cause illusion to the living entity. Because the Lord is ananda matra, without any material divisions, He is self luminous, aviddha-varcchah; He can be known only by His mercy. The material mind and senses cannot comprehend Him. Self luminous also means that He is purely conscious. Thus although He is the source of the universe, He is not the universe.
His form is the suitable object of worship owing to the above characteristics which distinguish it from the material body. Moreover, the Lord's form is the source of all auspiciousness.
In the Bhaktirasamrita Sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami describes auspiciousness in the following way (Brs.1.1.27):
"To satisfy the whole universe, to be loved by everyone, to be endowed with good qualities, and to have happiness--these are called auspiciousness by the great thinkers"
The Lord is certainly the shelter of all auspiciousness, as Sri Yudhishthira Maharaja remarks (S.B. 1.14.35, 36):
"The original Personality of Godhead, the enjoyer, and Balarama, the primeval Lord Ananta, are staying in the ocean of the Yadu dynasty for the welfare, protection, and general progress of the entire universe. And the members of the Yadu dynasty, being protected by the arms of the Lord, are enjoying life like the residents of the spiritual sky."
Basically, auspiciousness means to progress on the path of transcendence. All other so-called progresses are only phantasmagoria like the mirage water. The purpose of human life is to achieve spiritual awareness. All other activities are temporary and ultimately the causes of misery. Prahlada Maharaja says that sense gratification is like itching sensation which feels pleasurable but ultimately causes pain. After all itching is a disease and no same man considers disease as the source of pleasure. But Krishna is the spiritual master of the whole universe and the source of transcendental knowledge. Thus He is all-auspicious and Brahma takes shelter of Him. By taking shelter of the Lord, the devotees also become auspicious. By their mercy the ignorance of the conditioned souls is removed and auspiciousness is infused into their wretched lives.
Yet there is a class of people who disrespect the Lord owing to bad association, asat-prasanga. Such persons are suitable candidates for visiting Yamaraja, naraka-bhag. This includes the envious atheists who always decry the existence of the Lord and the impersonalists who preach that the Lord's body, as well as the universe is mithya, illusory. Association is the fundamental cause behind one's upliftment or downfall. Canakya Pandita thus advises (Canakya Niti 14.20):
"Give up the association of non-devotees and associate with saintly people. Always perform auspicious deeds and remember the temporary nature of this body and the material world."
The devotees taste the pastimes of the Lord with their ears. The Vedas are compared to a pleasant breeze carrying the fragrance of the Lord's glorious pastimes. The devotees relish it with their ears. Fragrance indicates the fame of the Lord. As fragrance spreads through the air, fame spreads though sound vibration which also travels through air. Because the devotees never leave the lotus feet of the Lord, the Lord never abandons the lotus-like hearts of the devotees, napeishi. The breeze of the Vedas (srutivata) also indicates that the Lord can only be known thorough sabda pramana just as fragrance is sensed only when carried by the air. Asat-prasangi refers to all those who do not accept the path of Vedic siddhanta because of their illogical minds. Among the various types of sabda pramanas, Srimad Bhagavatam is the supreme, and Lord Brahma was the first to receive it. Brahma boldly accepts the form of the Lord as transcendental and non-different from the Lord, and denounces those who do not. Therefore those people who follow in the footsteps of Lord Brahma re really intelligent and learned. They are qualified to understand the Lord and His form as non different and transcendental.
Not only that Lord's svamsa lilavataras (Vishnu-tattvas) have transcendental body but even the body of avesavatar like Rishabhadeva is transcendental. This is explained in the following Text.
Go to Section Fifty-two
Return to Section Fifty
