BY: SUN STAFF
Feb 5, CANADA (SUN) —
Bhagavat Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION THREE
The meaning of Bhagavan and Paramatma
From this it is concluded that bliss, or ananda, is the unqualified object, viseshya, all the energies are the qualifications viseshana and Bhagavan is the qualified object. In this way, being qualified with all potencies, Bhagavan is the undifferentiated reality because it is the complete manifestation of the Absolute Truth. From this it is concluded that because Brahman exhibits no specific qualities, It is the incomplete manifestation of Bhagavan. This will be explained in detail later on.
The meaning of the word Bhagavan is described by Sage Parasara in the Vishnu Purana (6.5.66-69):
That which is unmanifest, un-ageing, inconceivable, unborn, un-decaying, undefinable, and formless; and thus is devoid of hands, legs, and other such bodily limbs; which is supreme, all-pervading, eternal, the cause of all beings yet without any cause; which is all-encompassing, but un-encompassed, the source of everything and is realized by the learned is called Brahman. It is the ultimate basis of everything and the object of meditation for the seekers of liberation. It is described in the words of the Vedas, It is the subtle spirit, the Supreme seat of Lord Vishnu. This Brahman, is the nature of Paramatma, and is the meaning of the word 'Bhagavat'. The word Bhagavat represents that original imperishable Lord. "
After stating this the sage Parasara further states:
O sage, the letter bha has two meanings--nourisher and supporter. The letter ga has three meanings--leader, carrier, and creator. The six qualities of controlling potency, inconceivable power, fame, wealth, knowledge, and renunciation in their fullness are called bhaga. All the living entities exist in the Lord who is the SuperSoul of all living entities and He, resides in all living entities. This is the meaning of the letter va. Therefore He is the imperishable Reality. "[V.P.6.5.73-75]
After saying this he further said [V.P.6.5.79]:
The word Bhagavan means knowledge, sense power, bodily strength, controlling power, inconceivable power and effulgence or beauty, devoid of any repelling qualities.
Up to this verse, the meaning of the word Bhagavan is explained (in the Vishnu Purana).
As before here also the Absolute must be understood with the divisions of the object without qualities, quality, and qualified. It will be explained later that even the qualities are transcendental. The phrase, arupam pani-padadi-asmyutam "formless and thus devoid of hands and legs" explains the manifestation of Reality called Brahman which has no manifest qualities. The six words beginning with aisvaryasya samagrasya, "the six qualities of controlling potency" explain the manifest qualities of the Absolute. The words Vibhum, bhagavat, and so on indicate the qualified Reality.
Or the words like Arupam, or formless, deny His form to be material. Therefore it should be known that the phrase pani-padadi-asmyutam denies only the relation of contact (samyoga) and not the relation of inherence (samavaya).
Vibhum implies that the Absolute is endowed with all opulence and sarvagatam means unlimited. Vyapi means all-pervading and avyapyam means that nothing else can pervade it. The nature of Brahman as explained here is directly expressed and not indicated by the word bhagavat. To establish this, the verse says that the word bhagavat is the vacaka, or the direct expression, just as the word Ganga is a direct expression for the specific river; it is not an indicative expression like the word tata or the riverbank. This being the case, by the rule of Nirukta (2.1.1)(There is a footnote on this page[1])--that one should give the meaning of a word based on the similarity of a consonant in the word with a root--and on the basis of conventional usage, the meaning of the words bha, ga and va are given in the verse beginning with sambhartta [V.P. 6.5.77].
Sambhartta--nourisher of His devotee; bhartta--supporter, maintainer; neta--one who grants love, the fruit of His devotion; gamayita--one who grants His abode; srishta--one who makes divine qualities manifest in His devotees. It should be known that the activities such as maintaining the universe are not performed by Him directly but indirectly. aisvayyam--all-controlling feature, the qualifier samagrasya (complete) is to be applied to all the six qualities; viryyam--inconceivable influence, as found in gems and mantras. yasah--fame, due to the all-good qualities of speech, mind, and body; sri--prosperity of all kinds; jnanam-omnisciency; vairagyam--detachment from all material products and phenomena, ingana--designation.
By using the nirukta rule of giving meaning according to the consonants when these letters (bha, ga, and va) are put together and the suffix matup is added, then Bhagavatam is formed. By the rules of Sanskrit grammar va is dropped giving the word Bhagavan. Here the words such as sambhartta (nourisher) signify sambharttritva, the act of nourishing, as in the rule, "the combination of words ending in the suffixes sup and tin constitute a sentence" [Amarakosha 1.6.2.]. The statement pacati bhavati "cooks becomes" actually means that cooking occurs. Or as in the usage sattayam asti bhavati, what the speaker intends is that the verb asti and bhavati, which indicate existence, actually mean 'to be'. Only in this way the word Bhagavan can be said to have the meaning of the suffix matup.
The verse beginning with jnana-sakti (V.P.6.5.79) explains the six opulences in a different way. Jnanam--the characteristic of the internal sense (knowledge); sakti-- sensory power, balam--bodily strength. The terms aisvarya and virya were explained before. Tejas-effulgence or beauty; aseshatah--in completeness. The phrase bhagavacchabda vacyani means that these are the qualities of the Lord; they are not just indicatives (upalakshana). In this verse in the word Bhagavan, the suffix matup has been applied in the sense of eternal relationship (between the qualities and the qualified).
When this tattva in the form of Bhagavan which has all the above stated qualities and is the complete manifestation of the Absolute Reality, is described or realized as the controller of the living entities by the process described before, He is called Paramatma, or the Supersoul. Although generally each of these three words Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan carry the meaning of the other two, still the distinction is made to point out their respective predominant meaning.
Commentary
Before we can deal with any object we have to know it properly. If the object is not understood properly there is a possibility of getting mislead. Therefore before speaking anything about Bhagavan, a proper definition of Bhagavan must be stated. For this reason Srila Jiva Gosvami gives a definition of Bhagavan in this Text. A definition serves two functions--it helps us to separate the object from other object and it allows us to deal with the object. The dealing could be in word or in experiencing it.
Every real substance, dravya, has three aspects to it unqualified object, its qualities, and the qualified object. In the phrase white cow, for example, white is the quality (viseshana) that distinguishes this particular cow from other cows, which may be grey, brown and so on. The word cow refers to the animal in general, without its quality of being white. This is called object without qualities (viseshya) for "cow" does not stand for a particular color cow and so does not make any distinction form one cow to another. This does not imply, however, that a cow has no qualities, such as color. It is just that the speaker does not convey any specific qualities of the object. The general qualities are understood from the very definition of the word cow.
In the phrase "white cow" both the substance and its qualities are stated together making cow the qualified object or substance (visishta). The quality, white, and its object, cow, when stated separately does not convey complete information, whereas, when stated together, they describe the qualified substance.
The quality cannot exist without its object, nor is there any substance without any *qualities,[2]although it is possible to perceive just the quality without knowing the object. Though it is impossible to perceive an object without its qualities, sometimes the perception may be so hazy that the perceiver is unable to clearly distinguish the qualities and the qualified or strike a relation between them. This experience is called an indeterminate perception, or nirvikalpaka pratyaksha.
According to Vedic logic, the initial moment of perception of an object is always indeterminate.*[3] It is in the second moment that we get clear perception of a perceptible object under favorable conditions with the suitable sensory organ. This perception is termed as determinate, or savikalpaka pratyaksha. In this process of indeterminate to determinate perception the object is same but the perception undergoes the change.
Before we get determinate knowledge such as "this is a book" we get the indeterminate knowledge "this is something". The knowledge "This is a book" is a qualified knowledge. It has the knowledge to of the book, the class of book (bookness) and the relation between book and its class. A qualified knowledge can only be obtained if one has a prior knowledge of the quality by which it is qualified. For example in the statement "This is a tridandi sannyasi ( a renounced man with his staff, the sign insignia of his renounced (order), the sannyasi is the unqualified noun, tridanda is the qualification and they have a relation of contact. Unless one knows what a tridanda is he can never have the knowledge "This is a tridandi sannyasi." Similarly the knowledge "This is a book" is acquired by first knowing the class bookness which is the quality or Viseshana for the unqualified object (visheshya) book. Without the knowledge of bookness the book cannot be understood. Therefore we are forced to accept that first we get knowledge of bookness and book without the knowledge of their relation. This is called indeterminate knowledge because it cannot be described to others. Then we get the determinate knowledge of the book with bookness being its inherent quality. Sri Kumarila Bhatt describes this in his Sloka Vartika (4.112):
asti hyalocanam jnanam prathamam nirvikalpakam
bala-mukadivijnana-sadrisam suddha-vastujam
In the beginning of perception certainly there is indeterminate knowledge in the form of mere observation. It is like the cognition of an infant or the dumb, arising purely out of the object without any distinction of the quality and the qualified. Similarly the Absolute Reality is one but it is perceived as indeterminate and determinate. The peculiarity of the Absolute Reality is that the worshiper can remain at indeterminate and not proceed to the determinate level. This is because of his own disqualification. And as described in the previous Text. The Absolute Reality manifests itself according to the qualification of the worshiper. This indeterminate realization or description is called Brahman.
Similarly, the Absolute Reality is one, but its perception varies according to the qualification of the worshiper. In the verse 4.11.30 cited at the end of the last anuccheda the word anandamatra (pure bliss) refers to the viseshya. The various energies denoted by the word samasta-saktau refer to the viseshana and Bhagavan is the qualified object, replete with his energies. So Bhagavan is the complete manifestation and realization of the Absolute Reality and thus Srila Jiva Gosvami calls Him akhanda-tattva-rupah, or the indivisible reality. Nothing exists outside Him because all energies are in Him. He and His qualities cannot be separated, yet it is possible to realize Him without His energies. Such a partial realization asamyagavirbhava of the Absolute is called Brahman. From this it is clear that Brahman is same as Bhagavan just as when one sees a mountain from distance his view is homogeneously green object but he sees variety when he comes close to it. In both cases the object is same.
In this regard it should be noted that according to Srila Jiva Gosvami the energies of the Lord are not exactly related as qualities and qualified. He uses the words visishta, viseshana, and viseshya only to convey the idea that the energies belong to the Lord, and Brahman is not an independent manifestation. According to him the real relationship between the Lord and His energies is that of an inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference, acintyabhedabheda. This will be explained in Text 16. The import of viseshana here is energy and not quality. Sri Ramanujacarya taught vishishtadvaita, or qualified Absolute Reality in which he describes the material world as a adjective of the Lord. Srila Jiva Gosvami offers some refutations to it in Sarva-samvadini and shows that acintyabhedabheda of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a more thorough explanation of the relationship between the Supreme Lord and His energies.
After explaining that Bhagavan is the complete, indivisible manifestation of the Absolute, replete with energies, Srila Jiva Gosvami cites scriptural evidence to substantiate his doctrine. This is the Vedic system. Among educated men no discussion of transcendental knowledge is taken seriously without scriptural evidence, or sastra pramana, to back up every conclusion. So for the meaning of Bhagavan Jiva Gosvami cites the Vishnu Purana. Parasara Muni, the father of Veda Vyasa spoke these verses to Maitreya.
The verses can be analysed from the three aspects-viseshana, viseshya, and visishta. Descriptions like formless, without bodily limbs, and so on explain the Brahman feature. And descriptions like knowledge, beauty, and so on explain the qualities of the Lord. The words like supreme, nourisher refer to the qualified Lord. Or these verses are only speaking about Bhagavan and phrases like "no form" means that He has no material form. As is stated in the Uttarakhanda of Padma Purana:
yo'sau nirguna ityuktah sastreshu jagadisvarah
prakritairhaiyasamyuktairgunairhinatvamucyate
When the scriptures describe the Lord as nirguna, or devoid of qualities, it means that he is free from material qualities, which are inferior in nature.
Sri-Vasudevadhyatma states (L.B.1.248):
aprasiddhastad gunanamanama'sau prakirtitah
aprakritatvad rupasyapayarupo'savudiryte
Because the Lord's qualities are not known to people He is called anama (lit. one who has no name) and because His form is not material He is called arupah (lit. one who has no form).
If the Absolute had no name and form whatsoever the sruti statements that explain about the form of the Lord will become meaningless, such as the following verse from Mundaka Upaishad (3.1.3)
yada pasyah pasyateh rukmavarnam
karttaramisam purusham brahmayonim
tada vidvanpunya pape vidhuya
niranjanah paramam samyamupaiti
When the wise living entity sees the golden colored Lord (Caitanya Mahaprabhu), the creator and the Supreme person who is the source of Lord Brahma then shaking off piety and sin, he becomes free from material bondage and attains the supreme similarity with the Lord (owing to realizing his transcendental nature).
Avyakta (VP.6.5.66) means unmanifest to people's senses which means that He can only be understood from sabda, or the statements of the Vedic literature.
And that's why He is called acintyam, or inconceivable. Ajaram and ajam means free from old age and birth. Since He has no birth there is no death for Him. Akshayam means no decay or transformation occurs in Him. This means that He is free from the six types of transformations which are seen in the material body. Anirddesyam means He is beyond speech. As stated in the Taittriya Upanishad (2.4.1) yato vaca nivartante aprapya manasa saha, "From whom all speech along with the mind turn away, unable to reach Him".
This does not mean, however, that the Lord cannot be defined by words or meditated upon by the mind. The import is that He is not completely expressible by words, being unlimited. There are Vedic statements asserting that the Lord is known from the Vedas as sarve veda yat padamamananti, "Whom all the Vedas declare" (Katha 2.15) and vedaisca sarvairahameva vedyah "By all the Vedas I (Lord Krishna) am to be known" (Bg.15.15).
The phrase pani-padadyasamyutam-- denies any contact between the Lord and his limbs. According to logic, relation between two objects are of many types out of which two are main--conjunction, samyoga, and inherence, samavaya. Tatrayutasiddhayoh sambandhah samavayah anyayostu samyoga eva (Takabhasha 10) "The relation between two inseparable things is one of inherence and that between any other two is conjunction or contact. When a book is on a table the relation between them is that of contact. This is a temporary relation. The relation between milk and its color is inherent. This a lasting relation. Unless the milk is transformed into something else the relation between it and it's color cannot be violated. Srila Jiva Gosvami says that when the verse states that the Absolute Reality has no hands and legs it means that the relation between the Lord and His limbs is inherent and not one of contact. That is to say that it is permanent, unlike in the case of mortal beings in whose body the limbs are joined by a relation of contact. In other words the denial is of the ordinary hands and legs and not in the absolute sense.
The Lord is the source of all living beings, bhutayonim. As He states in the Bhagavad-gita,(10.8) aham sarvasya prabhavah, "I am the source of everything". Therefore He is akaranam, He has no cause or source for Himself. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita, "mattah parataram nanyadasti dhananjaya, "O Arjuna, there is nothing superior to Me". It means that He has no source for Himself. He pervades everything, vyapi, but nothing pervades or contains Him. Maya tatamidam sarvam (BG.9.4) It means Lord has contact with everything at all times.
The Vedas describe Brahman with these attributes as stated in the verses spoken by Parasara. Therefore Brahman is called aupanishad purusha--the personality known from the Vedas. Tantva aupanishadam purusham pricchami (Brhadaranyaka 3.9.26). This nature of Brahman or the Absolute Reality is the direct expression of the word Bhagavan. Srila Jiva Gosvami says that Bhagavan does indicate the nature of Brahman but defines it directly.
According to rhetoriticians a meaningful word or pada has three types of energies which give three types of meanings to it, artho vacyasca lakshyasca vyangyas ceti tridha matah, (Sahitya Darpana 2.2) "The meaning of a word is of three types--direct, implied and suggested". The meaning which comes to the mind just immediately upon hearing the word is called the direct or primary meaning. This meaning is due to the power of the word, called abhidha. For example, as soon as a Vaishnava hears the word Krishna, it immediately reminds him of Lord Krishna.
Sometimes, however, the primary meaning is not the suitable meaning because it does not convey the complete sense of the speaker. When this happens one applies the lakshana sakti or gaunivritti which gives a secondary meaning. This is called the lakshyartha, or the implied meaning. This implied meaning is certainly related with the direct one, but it is of different nature. For example in the statement, "The Krishna-Balaram temple is on the Bhaktivedanta Swami road," the primary meaning of "on" will be absurd. Certainly the temple cannot be on the road, otherwise there will be no flow of traffic. In such a case we apply the implied meaning: that the temple is "beside" the road.
The third type of meaning, the suggested meaning, or vyangyartha, is defined in the Sahitya darpana (2.12):
viratasvabhidhadyasu
yaya'rtho bodhyate parah
sa vrittirvyanjana nama
sabdasyarthadikasya ca
The vyanjana vritti, or suggestive potency of the word and its meaning, is that which gives an altogether different meaning to the word after the abhidha and lakshana potencies have come to rest (having given their direct and implied meanings).
To expand on the above example, the primary meaning of the phrase " on the Bhaktivedanta Swami road" is impractical so the lakshana vritti offers the alternative meaning: that the temple is beside the road.
After this the vyanjana vritti, or suggestive potency, will suggest even more meanings, such as the temple is easily approachable by a vehicle, one does not have to walk a great distance after getting down from the vehicle and so on. These meanings are never directly related to the word meanings in the sentence.
Since there is no obstruction in understanding the primary meaning of the words such as avyaktam, Srila Jiva Gosvami says that bhagavan is a vacaka--its direct meaning is clear and one need not refer to its secondary or implied meaning. If an implied meaning is to apply then Brahman will be absolutely ineffable by words in its primary sense, which goes against the sruti statements. Also, one will be forced to find a different primary meaning for the word bhagavan, but there are no scriptural injunctions to support another meaning. There is no possibility of an implied meaning without a primary meaning.
The word Ganga refers to a famous river in India. That is its primary meaning, but the word tata, or bank (of a river) may have river as one of its implied meaning. When it is said that boat is on the bank of the river it really means that it is inside the water near the bank. Similarly the primary meaning of the word bhagavan is described in the verses of the Vishnu Purana. Sometimes bhagavan is used to address great persons, as in verse 1.4.2 of the Bhagavatam where Sukadeva Gosvami is addressed as Bhagavan. In such usages bhagavan is being used in its secondary meaning, because the primary meaning is improper and does not convey the intent of the speaker. Here Bhagavan means honorable or powerful.
In three verses (6.5.73-75) Parasara Muni gives the meaning of bhagavan according to the principles of Niruktam, which is a commentary on Nighantu, Vedic dictionary. This work gives a list of selected Vedic words. In Niruktam Yaska the writer gives the etymological derivation of the words. He uses many principles to show this etymology usage. One of type is to base the meaning on the similarity of the syllables with the roots. In Bhagavan, the syllable Bha has similarity with the root Bhrin--to support, to nourish; ga with gam--to go and va with vasa--to live. While giving the meaning of bhagavan, Parasara Muni uses the nirukta rule using the meaning of each syllable, He also gives the conventional meaning, or rudhyartha along with it. According to logicians, as well as rhetoriticians, primary meaning is of three types--yoga, rudhi, yoga-rudhi--or etymological, conventional, and a combination of both etymological-conventional. Out of these three the conventional meaning is superior. The maxim is yogadrudhibaliyasi, "The conventional meaning is superior to the etymological meaning".
Viryyam means inconceivable power, as is seen in gems and experienced with mantras. According to Vedic astrology gems have an inconceivable power to ward-off the bad influence of the planets, protect health, and bring good fortune. In the olden days the kings had precious gems in their crowns and ornaments according to astrological calculations. The potency of these gems was experienced although it cannot be explained logically. Similarly the Lord has numerous inconceivable potencies such as He depicted in His Vrindavan pastimes of Brahma Mohan lila and Dama bandhan lila.
Vairagyam means detachment. Although the Lord creates this gigantic universe with innumerable planets yet He is not attached to it. He happily sleeps in the causal ocean and He even annihilates it just like as in a playful mood a baby may crush a toy.
When the letters bha, ga, andva are combined the word bhagava is formed. Then by the panini sutra (S. 2.94), tadasyastyusminniti matup, the taddhita suffix matup is applied, and because bhagava is ending in "a", the m is changed to v by Panini sutra (S. 29) "madupadhayasca mator vo'yavadibhyah to" to form the word bhagavavan. In Vedic usage, the syllable va is dropped to get bhagavan. According to the paniniyan school of grammar possessive suffixes like matup are applied in seven meanings as stated in the Kasika (5.2.90):
bhuma-ninda prasamsasu
nityayog'tisayane
samsarge'sti vivakshayam
bhavanti matubadyah
The suffixes such as matup are applied to imply many, inferiority, superiority, eternal relation, excess, conjunction, and existence.
In the word bhagavan the possessive suffix matup is applied to show the eternal relation between the possessor and possessed. That means the Lord eternally owns the attributes expressed by the word bhagava. Thus bhagavan can never be a word giving an implied meaning.
Followers of Sankaracarya do not accept that Brahman or Absolute Reality has any potency in it, otherwise it will contradict their doctrine of monism. Therefore they contend that the words like Brahman or bhagavan do not directly define the Absolute, but only imply or indicate it. In this way they try to protect the Absolute from duality, but in this analysis of the verses of Parasara Muni, Srila Jiva Gosvami conclusively establishes that Bhagavan is a vacaka and not a lakshaka or indicator, because the matup is one of nitya-yoga, or eternal relation.
He further substantiates his explanation by quoting 6.5.79, which gives a different meaning of bhagavan. This verse clearly states that these qualities are vacya, a direct expression of bhagavan, bhagavacchabda-vacyani and not indicators. And that's why Srila Jiva Gosvami concludes that matup is applied in the sense of nitya-yoga or eternal possession.
The words like sambhartta, nourishes and bhartta supporter imply the activity of nourshiment and support. Although they are nouns, their significance is in the activity they describe; This is in accordance with the definition of a sentence as given in Amarkosha (1.6.2) "a sentence is a combination of nouns(tin) and verbs (sup). The Ramasrami commentator says that a sentence could be made of only nouns such as prakriti siddhamidam hi mahatmanam (Hitopadesa 1.132) or only of verbs such as pacati bhavati or with a combination of both. While commenting on Yoga Sutra (3.17) Srila Vyasadeva also writes that every word has the power to form a sentence sarva-padeshu asti vakya-saktih. Thus although the words such as sambhartta are nouns but they mean one who is nourishing. They clearly indicate that the Lord has the quality and energy to act. He is not an impotent abstract principle in that that He has the name sambhartta or nourisher but has no potency to nourish or even after having the potency He does not really nourish. He is not like the modern head of state who may be the commander-in-chief of army but has no expertise in waging war and never personally fights. The suffix matup also carries this sense of activity in bhagavan.
Because bhagavan has all the potencies in their fullness He is the complete manifestation of the Absolute. When He expands Himself as the Purusa, to control the affairs of material nature and the jiva, He is called Paramatma. Bhagavan has three such Purusa expansions--Karanodakasayi, Garbhodakasayi, and Kshirodakasayi. The SuperSoul in every living being is an expansion of Kshirodakasayi. Since these Paramatma expansions have a specific function they do not manifest all the potencies of Bhagavan just as a man who has to lift a book does not manifest all his might to do it. Therefore the Paramatma manifestation is inferior manifestation of Bhagavan.
In Brahman no qualities are manifest hence it is an inferior manifestation to Paramatma. Thus Srila Jiva Gosvami said that the specific order in the Bhagavatam verse 1.2.11 is according to their superiority going from lesser to greater. These words Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan are generally used interchangeably when talking about the Absolute Truth but in this verse (1.2.11) Suta Gosvami has used them in the way defined in the previous section (Bhagavan and Brahman) and in this section (Bhagavan and Paramatma).
Next Srila Jiva Gosvami identifies Bhagavan as Narayana and explains the conscious nature of the jivas.
[1]The current editions of Nirukta state the rule as akshara-varna-samanyan-nirbruyat--one should give the meaning of a word based on the similarity of a vowel or a consonant of the word with a root.
[2](Footnote-Logicians believe that in the first moment of production an object has no qualities. Qualities come into existence from second moment onwards.)
[3]This view is accepted by most Vedic authorities, the exceptions being grammarians and the tattvavadis
Go to Section Four
Return to Section Two
