Sadānanda-yogī, one of the greatest Māyāvādī ācāryas, has written in his book, Vedānta-sāra: "The Absolute Truth of eternity, knowledge and bliss is Brahman. Ignorance and all products of ignorance are non-Brahman. All products of the three modes of material nature are covered by ignorance, and all are different from the supreme cause and effect. This ignorance is manifested in a collective and individual sense. Collective ignorance is called viśuddha-sattva-pradhāna. When that viśuddha-sattva-pradhāna is manifest within the ignorance of material nature, it is called the Lord, and the Lord manifests all kinds of ignorance. Therefore He is known as sarvajña." Thus according to Māyāvādī philosophy, the Lord is a product of this material nature, and the living entity is in the lowest stage of ignorance. That is the sum and substance of Māyāvādī philosophy.
Visuddha-sattva
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 4
In the previous verse it has been said (gṛhīta-māyā-guṇa-vigrahāya) that the Lord accepts three kinds of bodies (Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva) for the purposes of creating, maintaining and annihilating the cosmic manifestation. The three predominating deities of the material universe (Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva) are called guṇa-avatāras. There are many kinds of incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the first incarnations within this material world are Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara (Śiva). Out of these three, Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva accept material bodies, but Lord Viṣṇu does not accept a material body. Lord Viṣṇu is therefore known as viśuddha-sattva. His existence is completely free from the contamination of the material modes of nature. One should therefore not think that Lord Viṣṇu is in the same category with Lord Brahmā and Śiva. The śāstras forbid us to think in this way.
SB Canto 5
In the womb of his wife, Ṛṣikulyā, King Bhūmā begot a son named Udgītha. From Udgītha's wife, Devakulyā, a son named Prastāva was born, and Prastāva begot a son named Vibhu through his wife, Niyutsā. In the womb of his wife, Ratī, Vibhu begot a son named Pṛthuṣeṇa. Pṛthuṣeṇa begot a son named Nakta in the womb of his wife, named Ākūti. Nakta's wife was Druti, and from her womb the great King Gaya was born. Gaya was very famous and pious; he was the best of saintly kings. Lord Viṣṇu and His expansions, who are meant to protect the universe, are always situated in the transcendental mode of goodness, known as viśuddha-sattva. Being the direct expansion of Lord Viṣṇu, King Gaya was also situated in the viśuddha-sattva. Because of this, Mahārāja Gaya was fully equipped with transcendental knowledge. Therefore he was called Mahāpuruṣa.
SB Canto 6
There are two stages of God realization. One is called sujñeyam, or very easily understood (generally by mental speculation), and the other is called durjñeyam, understood only with difficulty. Paramātmā realization and Brahman realization are considered sujñeyam, but realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is durjñeyam. As described here, one attains the ultimate realization of the Personality of Godhead when one gives up the activities of the mind—thinking, feeling and willing—or, in other words, when mental speculation stops. This transcendental realization is above susupti, deep sleep. In our gross conditional stage we perceive things through material experience and remembrance, and in the subtle stage we perceive the world in dreams. The process of vision also involves remembrance and also exists in a subtle form. Above gross experience and dreams is susupti, deep sleep, and when one comes to the completely spiritual platform, transcending deep sleep, he attains trance, viśuddha-sattva, or vasudeva-sattva, in which the Personality of Godhead is revealed.
SB Canto 8
Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam (SB 4.3.23). In this material world, the three modes of material nature—goodness, passion and ignorance—prevail. Among these three, goodness is the platform of knowledge, and passion brings about a mixture of knowledge and ignorance, but the mode of ignorance is full of darkness. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond darkness and passion. He is on the platform where goodness or knowledge is not disturbed by passion and ignorance. This is called the vasudeva platform. It is on this platform of vasudeva that Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa, can appear. Thus Kṛṣṇa appeared on this planet as the son of Vasudeva. Because the Lord is situated beyond the three modes of material nature, He is unseen by those who are dominated by these three modes. One must therefore become dhīra, or undisturbed by the modes of material nature. The process of yoga may be practiced by one who is free from the agitation of these modes. Therefore yoga is defined in this way: yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. As previously explained, we are disturbed by the indriyas, or senses. Moreover, we are agitated by the three modes of material nature, which are imposed upon us by the external energy. In conditional life, the living entity moves turbulently in the whirlpool of birth and death, but when one is situated on the transcendental platform of viśuddha-sattva, pure goodness, he can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who sits on the back of Garuḍa. Lord Brahmā offers his respectful obeisances unto that Supreme Lord.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
In his thesis Bhagavat-sandarbha (103), Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains the potencies of the Lord as follows: The transcendental potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by which He maintains His existence is called sandhinī. The transcendental potency by which He knows Himself and causes others to know Him is called samvit. The transcendental potency by which He possesses transcendental bliss and causes His devotees to have bliss is called hlādinī.
The total exhibition of these potencies is called viśuddha-sattva, and this platform of spiritual variegatedness is displayed even in the material world when the Lord appears here. The pastimes and manifestations of the Lord in the material world are therefore not at all material; they belong to the pure transcendental state.
The Bhagavad-gītā confirms that anyone who understands the transcendental nature of the Lord's appearance, activities and disappearance becomes eligible for freedom from material bondage upon quitting the present material tabernacle. He can enter the spiritual kingdom to associate with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and reciprocate the hlādinī potency in transactions between him and the Lord. In the mundane mode of goodness there are tinges of passion and ignorance. Therefore mundane goodness, being mixed, is called miśra-sattva. But the transcendental variegatedness of viśuddha-sattva is completely free from all mundane qualities. Viśuddha-sattva is therefore the proper atmosphere in which to experience the Personality of Godhead and His transcendental pastimes. Spiritual variegatedness is eternally independent of all material conditions and is nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, both being absolute. The Lord and His devotees simultaneously perceive the hlādinī potency directly by the power of the samvit potency.
In the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.27.4), Indra praises Kṛṣṇa as follows:
- viśuddha-sattvaṁ tava dhāma śāntaṁ
- tapo-mayaṁ dhvasta-rajas-tamaskam
- māyā-mayo 'yaṁ guṇa-sampravāho
- na vidyate te 'grahaṇānubandhaḥ
"My dear Lord, Your abode is viśuddha-sattva, always undisturbed by the material qualities, and the activities there are in transcendental loving service unto Your feet. The goodness, austerity and penance of the devotees enhance such activities, which are always free from the contamination of passion and ignorance. Material qualities cannot touch You under any circumstances."
When not manifested, the modes of material nature are said to be in goodness. When they are externally manifested and active in producing the varieties of material existence, they are said to be in passion. And when there is a lack of activity and variegatedness, they are said to be in ignorance. In other words, the pensive mood is goodness, activity is passion, and inactivity is ignorance. Above all these mundane qualitative manifestations is viśuddha-sattva. When it is predominated by the sandhinī potency, it is perceivable as the existence of all that be. When predominated by the samvit potency, it is perceived as knowledge in transcendence. And when predominated by the hlādinī potency, it is perceived as the most confidential love of Godhead. Viśuddha-sattva, the simultaneous manifestation of these three in one, is the main feature of the kingdom of God.
Lord Kṛṣṇa's father, mother and household affairs are all displayed in the same viśuddha-sattva existence. A living entity situated in the status of pure goodness can understand the form, qualities and other features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa consciousness begins on the platform of pure goodness. Although there is a faint realization of Kṛṣṇa at first, Kṛṣṇa is actually realized as Vāsudeva, the absolute proprietor of omnipotence or the prime predominating Deity of all potencies. When the living entity is situated in viśuddha-sattva, transcendental to the three material modes of nature, he can perceive the form, quality and other features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through his service attitude. The status of pure goodness is the platform of understanding, for the Supreme Lord is always in spiritual existence.
Kṛṣṇa is always all-spiritual. Aside from the parents of the Personality of Godhead, all the other paraphernalia of His existence are also essentially a manifestation of sandhinī-śakti, or a transformation of viśuddha-sattva. To make this more clear, it may be said that this sandhinī-śakti of the internal potency maintains and manifests all the variegatedness of the spiritual world. In the kingdom of God, the Lord's servants and maidservants, His consorts, His father and mother and everything else are all transformations of the spiritual existence of sandhinī-śakti. The existential sandhinī-śakti in the external potency similarly expands all the variegatedness of the material cosmos, from which we can have a glimpse of the spiritual field.
One variety of the pastimes of the spiritual energy is described as pure goodness (viśuddha-sattva). It comprises all the abodes of Vaikuṇṭha.
In simple language, it is the opinion of Sadānanda Yogīndra that since everything is nirākāra (formless), the conception of Viṣṇu and the conception of the individual soul are both products of ignorance. He also explains that the viśuddha-sattva conception of the Vaiṣṇavas is nothing but pradhāna, or the chief principle of creation. He maintains that when all-pervading knowledge is contaminated by the viśuddha-sattva, which consists of a transformation of the quality of goodness, there arises the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the omnipotent, omniscient supreme ruler, the Supersoul, the cause of all causes, the supreme īśvara, etc. According to Sadānanda Yogīndra, because īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is the reservoir of all ignorance, He may be called sarva-jña, or omniscient, but one who denies the existence of the omnipotent Supreme Personality of Godhead is more than īśvara, or the Lord. His conclusion, therefore, is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead (īśvara) is a transformation of material ignorance and that the living entity (jīva) is covered by ignorance. Thus he describes both collective and individual existence in darkness. According to Māyāvādī philosophers, the Vaiṣṇava conception of the Lord as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and of the jīva, or individual soul, as His eternal servant is a manifestation of ignorance. If we accept the judgment of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, however, the Māyāvādīs are to be considered māyayāpahṛta-jñāna, or bereft of all knowledge, because they do not recognize the existence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or they claim that His existence is a product of the material conception (māyā). These are characteristics of asuras, or demons.
CC Madhya-lila
The topics that are about to be discussed between Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Rāmānanda Rāya cannot be understood by a materialistic poet, nor by intelligence or material perception. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura states that the spiritual mellow can be realized only when one is situated on the transcendental platform beyond the material stage of goodness. That platform is called viśuddha-sattva (sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam). Realization of the viśuddha-sattva platform is beyond the pale of the material world and is not perceived by bodily senses or mental speculation. Our identification with the gross body and subtle mind is different from spiritual understanding. Since the intelligence and mind are material, the loving affairs of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are beyond their perception. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam: (CC Madhya 19.170) when we are free from all material designations and our senses are completely purified by the bhakti process, we can understand the sense activities of the Absolute Truth (hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170)).
The position of viśuddha-sattva is the position of uncontaminated goodness. On that platform one can then understand, ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam: "The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, is to be worshiped along with His transcendental abode, Vṛndāvana."
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
"My dear Lord," Indra said, "being puffed up by my false prestige, I thought that You had offended me by not allowing the cowherd men to perform the Indra-yajña, and I thought that You wanted to enjoy the offerings that were arranged for the sacrifice. I thought that in the name of a Govardhana sacrifice You were taking my share of profit, and therefore I mistook Your position. Now by Your grace I can understand that You are the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, and that You are transcendental to all material qualities. Your transcendental position is viśuddha-sattva, which is above the platform of the material mode of goodness, and Your transcendental abode is beyond the disturbance of the material qualities. Your name, fame, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes are all beyond this material nature, and they are never disturbed by the three material modes. Your abode is accessible only for one who undergoes severe austerities and penances and becomes completely freed from the onslaught of material qualities like passion and ignorance. If someone thinks that when You enter within this material world You accept the modes of material nature, he is mistaken. The waves of the material qualities are never able to touch You, and You certainly do not accept them when You are present within this world. Your Lordship is never conditioned by the laws of material nature."
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So we have to become Kṛṣṇa conscious by the rāja-vidyā process, by the pavitra process. Pavitram idam uttamam. Every word, so nicely spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, every word must be perfect. Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ pavitram. Pavitram means above the material modes. Above the material modes. Pavitram, this is described in the śāstra as viśuddha-sattva. Viśuddha-sattva. You are sattva-guṇa. It is, it is there this possibility of being attacked with rajo-guṇa tamo-guṇa here in this material. But when one is not attacked any more by the rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa—simply remains in the sattva-guṇa—that is called viśuddha sattva. Śattvam sisuddham vasudeva-sabditam. That is vāsudeva sattva. In that vāsudeva sattva one can realize what is vāsudeva, Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19). When one come to the platform of vāsudeva-sattva, then he can understand vāsudeva sattva.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So these three classes of men are there. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to bring persons from the wretched, low qualities, ignorance and passion, to bring him to the platform of goodness. And that goodness also has to be purified. In the material world the goodness is also attacked by the other, lower qualities. Big, big men, very good men, but there are so many defects. Because unless... First of all you have to come to the platform of goodness, brahminical position. Then you have to purify that goodness, sattvaṁ viśuddham, viśuddha-sattva, vasudeva-sattva, vasudeva platform. Then you will be able to understand what is God. It is not so cheap thing that one can understand God so easily while he is in the modes of material nature, especially the lower grade modes.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Bhagavān is addressed by Arjuna as Parabrahman. Brahman realization, gradually... First realization: impersonal Brahman; then localized Brahman; then personal Brahman. The personal Brahman is called Parabrahman, the Supreme Brahman. Impersonal Brahman is the beginning of realization of the Absolute Truth. That is not final. Therefore those who are satisfied with impersonal Brahman, their knowledge is not perfect. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). The realization of the Absolute Truth is the platform of viśuddha-sattva. So unless one comes to the platform of personal realization of the Lord, one is supposed to be aviśuddha-buddhi: intelligence is not yet perfectly pure.
General Lectures
So nobody is born brāhmaṇa or intelligent class of men, but by cultivation of knowledge, by practice, by good association, one can come to the higher standard of life. And when one is on the platform of goodness, then one has to transcend that platform of goodness and come to the platform of pure goodness. In the material world, even a man is supposed to be very good man, there is possibility of his being affected by the modes of passion and ignorance. But in the transcendental platform, which is called viśuddha-sattva, pure goodness, there is no possibility of interaction of these three qualities of material nature, namely goodness, passion, and ignorance.
Guest (1): Why would they practice yoga at a time when everybody was pure already?
Prabhupāda: Pure means materially pure. But yoga practice means go to the spiritual platform. Just like in the material qualities, some men are very good men—the quality of goodness—and some men are in passion. That is the rajo-guṇa. And some men are in darkness. So there are three qualities in the material world: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, and tamo-guṇa. So those who are situated in the modes of goodness, they are called perfect in the material world, very good men. That "very good man" does not mean that he is spiritually advanced. He may be moralist. He may be philanthropist, just like so many leaders of nations. That is another thing. The spiritual state is called viśuddha-sattva. Viśuddha-sattva means goodness where no other quality can contaminate. Here even one man is very good man, sometimes he is tinged with passion or ignorance. Just like I told you that Mahātmā Gandhi, he was a recognized good man, but he committed so many mistakes. So pure goodness is not possible in this material world. Pure goodness means spiritual life. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). So because the spirit soul by nature is pure, by nature... As God is pure, similarly, we are part and parcel of God. We are also pure in our original position. But since we have come in contact with this material nature, our inferiority in different qualities or different degrees are present. So for spiritual advancement, one has to come first to the platform of goodness, then pure goodness.
| Page Title: | Visuddha-sattva |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika |
| Created: | 27 of Sep, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=10, OB=2, Lec=5, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 21 |