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Higher level

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.5, Purport:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the highest authority in explaining this knowledge. Still, as a matter of course, learned scholars and standard authorities always give evidence from previous authorities. Kṛṣṇa is explaining this most controversial point regarding the duality and nonduality of the soul and the Supersoul by referring to a scripture, the Vedānta, which is accepted as authority. First He says, "This is according to different sages." As far as the sages are concerned, besides Himself, Vyāsadeva (the author of the Vedānta-sūtra) is a great sage, and in the Vedānta-sūtra duality is perfectly explained. And Vyāsadeva's father, Parāśara, is also a great sage, and he writes in his books of religiosity, aham tvaṁ ca tathānye. .. "we—you, I and the various other living entities—are all transcendental, although in material bodies. Now we are fallen into the ways of the three modes of material nature according to our different karma. As such, some are on higher levels, and some are in the lower nature. The higher and lower natures exist due to ignorance and are being manifested in an infinite number of living entities. But the Supersoul, which is infallible, is uncontaminated by the three qualities of nature and is transcendental." Similarly, in the original Vedas, a distinction between the soul, the Supersoul and the body is made, especially in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 1

SB 1.3.28, Purport:

Lord Paraśurāma and Lord Nṛsiṁha displayed unusual opulence by killing the disobedient kṣatriyas twenty-one times and killing the greatly powerful atheist Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu was so powerful that even the demigods in other planets would tremble simply by the unfavorable raising of his eyebrow. The demigods in the higher level of material existence many, many times excel the most well-to-do human beings, in duration of life, beauty, wealth, paraphernalia, and in all other respects. Still they were afraid of Hiraṇyakaśipu.

SB Canto 2

SB 2.7.11, Purport:

The Vedic hymns are generally meant for sacrifices performed by fruitive workers who also want to satisfy the demigods to achieve their fruitive result. But the Lord is the personified sacrifices and personified Vedic hymns. Therefore one who is directly a devotee of the Lord is a person who has automatically both served the purposes of sacrifices and pleased the demigods. The devotees of the Lord may not perform any sacrifice or may not please the demigods as per Vedic injunctions, and still the devotees are on a higher level than the fruitive workers or the worshipers of different demigods.

SB 2.10.49-50, Purport:

Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī was narrating the topics of the creation and destruction of the material world, but it appears that the ṛṣis headed by Śaunaka were more inclined to hear of transcendental subjects, which are on a higher level than the physical. There are two classes of men, namely those too addicted to the gross body and the material world, and others, on the higher level, who are interested more in transcendental knowledge. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives facility to everyone, both to the materialist and to the transcendentalist.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.29.24, Purport:

Temple worship necessarily includes distribution of prasāda. It is not that one should create a temple in his private apartment or private room, offer something to the Lord, and then eat. Of course, that is better than simply cooking foodstuffs and eating without understanding one's relationship with the Supreme Lord; people who act in this manner are just like animals. But the devotee who wants to elevate himself to the higher level of understanding must know that the Lord is present in every living entity, and, as stated in the previous verse, one should be compassionate to other living entities. A devotee should worship the Supreme Lord, be friendly to persons who are on the same level and be compassionate to the ignorant. One should exhibit his compassion for ignorant living entities by distributing prasāda.

SB 3.29.32, Purport:

If someone not only has this knowledge but is able to clear all doubts if questioned about the Absolute Truth, he is considered better. Further, there may be a learned brāhmaṇa-Vaiṣṇava who can explain clearly and eradicate all doubts, but if he does not follow the Vaiṣṇava principles, then he is not situated on a higher level. One must be able to clear all doubts and simultaneously be situated in the brahminical characteristics.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.26.13, Purport:

This verse is very significant for those desiring to elevate themselves to a higher level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When a person is initiated by a spiritual master, he changes his habits and does not eat undesirable eatables or engage in the eating of meat, the drinking of liquor, illicit sex or gambling.

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.8-9 -- New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969:

Jñānī wants to merge, and karmī wants higher level, higher standard of life. That is karmī's business. Karmīs give in charity just to acquire pious result out of it so that after death he can be elevated to the Svargaloka, heavenly planets.

Lecture on SB 1.8.25 -- Vrndavana, October 5, 1974:

So when one comes to the Vedic principle, then the question is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Vedānta-sūtra says, "Now you have come to the real platform. You inquire about Brahman." Jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ (SB 11.3.21). When one is inquisitive to inquire about the higher level questions, brahma-jijñāsā, then he requires a guru. Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta: "You are now inquisitive about understanding higher level knowledge, so you must go to a guru."

Lecture on SB 1.16.6 -- Los Angeles, January 3, 1974:

For a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, to waste even a moment of life without Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a great dangerous action. Not only... anyone who is interested for higher level of position. He should be very careful of using every moment of life.

Lecture on SB 2.9.3 -- Melbourne, April 5, 1972:

Here the jñānīs have got a very nice body, brahminical body, pure, cleansed, and beautiful, knowledge. The higher development, they can go still up, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, Siddhaloka, Brahmaloka. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). The more you are in sattva-guṇa, you get higher level of living in higher planetary system.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Johannesburg, October 20, 1975:

Formerly all Vedic instructions were discussed amongst the very topmost class of men. Yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas lokas tad anuvartate (BG 3.21). That is the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. If the higher level class of men accepts something as truth, then the ordinary, common man follows that.

Lecture on SB 6.1.16 -- Honolulu, May 16, 1976:

If he wants to become Bhagavān or in the higher status, higher level, then it is recommended, "Let him take to the devotional service." Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yoga-prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu vairāgyam. To become Bhagavān, not Bhagavān but on the level, means highest stage, two things required. One thing is jñāna and one thing is vairāgya. Jñāna and vairāgya.

Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 19, 1968:

Kṛṣṇa does not take account, God does not take account of the family of breeding. He's equally kind to everyone. You have seen the picture, that Kṛṣṇa is loving both the calves and as well as the gopīs. In the spiritual platform, there is no such distinction that one is on the higher level or one is on the lower level. Paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18).

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 19, 1972:

A living entity is wandering in this way, sometimes on the higher level, sometimes on the lower level, but he's changing one chapter, another, one chapter, another. That is not very good, to repetition of birth and death. So a living entity if he's very fortunately, fortunately he meets some good association, good devotees, then his life changes.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 11, 1968:

Young man (3): Isn't there a difference between... When I say Christ consciousness, to get your mind on the same level as the atoms, and on a higher level, beyond the atoms as pure spirit—are these two levels of consciousness in the atoms and...

Prabhupāda: Actually, there is no two levels. There is only one level. Just like there is one sky, but when the sky is overcast with cloud, you divide the sky: "This is friendly sky, and this is nonfriendly sky."

Lecture at International Student Society -- Boston, May 3, 1969:

Devotee: He wants to know what relation the body and the mind have to a higher level of consciousness.

Prabhupāda: As you can see, the difference of body and mind between animal and human being. Is there no difference? Do you think animal body and human body and human consciousness and animal consciousness is the same? So you have to elevate yourself. As you have elevated yourself from animal consciousness, animal body, to this beautiful human body, similarly, you have to still more elevate yourself to higher standard of life. They are called demigods. But the final stage is to get a body which is called spiritual body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Henri Bergson:

Śyāmasundara: With the creative process advancement in ever higher levels up into the level of immortality.

Prabhupāda: Yes. You are getting different types of body, and when you are properly or perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious, then no more this material body; you get spiritual body.

Philosophy Discussion on Soren Aabye Kierkegaard:

Śyāmasundara: Then he would say there is no decision being made there. There is no commitment to any ethical decision there. That is just sense gratification. He says the next higher level above unrestricted sense gratification is to take up a cause, a good cause, and determine...

Prabhupāda: So how he'll make it a good cause? The good cause is relative. You think something good cause, I think something good cause, so what is really good cause? Who will, who will decide that this is good cause?

Philosophy Discussion on Ludwig Wittgenstein:

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is it. Philosophy means the science of sciences. Another definition of philosophy is "the science of sciences." All sciences are derived from philosophy. So philosophy's actual position is on the higher level than the sciences.

Philosophy Discussion on Carl Gustav Jung:

Hayagrīva: He says, "On a higher level the process of resurrection is no longer understood in a gross material sense. It is assumed that the resurrection of the dead is the raising up of the corpus glorificaciones, that is the glorified body, the subtle body, in the state of incorruptibility."

Prabhupāda: That I said, the spiritual body. The spiritual body never changes. When one comes with the spiritual body there is no change. Material body changes, but God has no material body.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: Life develops from inorganic matter is his theory. It is merely a higher level of organization, inorganic life.

Prabhupāda: That means life developed from matter?

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. How life develops from matter? Where is the, evidence? Why do they not manufacture life from matter in the laboratory? It is simply a statement. It has no value. Because you cannot produce living force from matter.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: His idea is that in this higher state of consciousness, rather than just enjoying objects, that one is able to contemplate them as they are, to understand them as they are. On the mental level, we are capable of enjoying objects; they give us pleasure, but we are unable to understand them as they are. But in this higher level, he says that people will be able to understand things as they are, as well as enjoy them.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our philosophy. Just like common man is seeing a rose flower, but a devotee is studying that rose flower, "How God's energy is acting that through His energy such a nice thing has come out. Therefore it should be offered to Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa's property." Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Even in the higher level of human life, where karma is regulated, jñāna is there, knowledge is there, and yoga is there, but because there is no surrender to Kṛṣṇa, they will not help you to become happy. So that... Caitanya-caritāmṛta says bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakale aśānta. Aśānta means restless. Restless. Bhukti means karmīs. They want simply sense enjoyment.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: And he says that freedom of the will is relative, that in our higher level it becomes clear that the lower stage was actually determined, predetermined or directed by external forces.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is called karma-phala. That we have explained. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). Unless superior superintendence he is working, and as a result of his work, he is getting a particular type of body for enjoyment or suffering.

Philosophy Discussion on The Evolutionists Thomas Huxley, Henri Bergson, and Samuel Alexander:

Śyāmasundara: This man, Alexander, says that in the higher levels of evolution one can see that everything is determined in the lower levels.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore... Everything is determined; therefore we should not try for improving our economic condition because already it is decided. This sort of... Otherwise why you see so many varieties of standard of life? One is born rich and one born, he is working so hard, he cannot get even two morsel of bread. So everything is determined.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Prabhupāda: And therefore, because you are thinking in the lower level, therefore your thinking is imperfect. So to be in higher level, you have to surrender to a higher personality.

Guest (1): Higher wouldn't be better than that.

Prabhupāda: Just like child is thinking something. His thinking is lower level. But when he inquires from his father, that is higher level. The same thinking is he, but one stage his thinking is lower level; in another stage his thinking is higher level. But thinking always, he.

Guest (1): Yes, thinking is his always.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So tat knowledge is higher level, and therefore you have to accept that tat knowledge from a higher level personality, not from by yourself, because you are in the lower level.

Room Conversation -- January 17, 1971, Allahabad:

Guest (1): No, no, spiritual endeavor. There is no use in that. It may be in lower level or higher level.

Prabhupāda: No, no. There is. There is. There is. Higher level, lower level, there is, as soon as there is thinking, feeling, and willing. These are the activities of the mind, and there is higher level, lower level, etc..

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Dr. Arnold Toynbee, Famous Historian, at his home or office -- July 22, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: ...suffering or enjoyment. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25), bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā... Who goes where—that is stated here. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ (BG 14.18). Everything is there. We can understand. We can understand where we are going. So one who is going to a higher level of life—and the most perfection of life is go back to home, back go Godhead-he's not afraid of death.

Morning Walk -- December 19, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prajāpati: Supposedly they go to higher levels of existence, higher levels of consciousness. They change the sound and the colors change...

Prabhupāda: But you cannot give up even smoking. You are in higher level of consciousness? So what is the proof that you are on the higher level of the consciousness? You cannot give up even ordinary things.

Correspondence

1967 Correspondence

Letter to Brahmananda -- Calcutta 18 November, 1967:

Personal misunderstanding exists even in the higher levels. There is competition of loving Krishna even in the party of Srimati Radharani. It is a kind of rasa to compete in loving affection centering around Krishna.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Hamsaduta -- Los Angeles 16 January, 1969:

So far as I know, my Guru Maharaja's position was one of the assistants of the manjaris. For the present, it is better not to discuss on these confidential things of a higher level, but you are always welcome to put your genuine questions for an answer. Otherwise, how will you know things as they are?

Letter to Rupanuga -- Los Angeles 24 July, 1969:

If you can organize a higher level school of theology under your care, I shall very much appreciate it.

Letter to Kulasekhara (Colin Jury), Digvijaya (Dick Withey), Tirthapada (Tim Austin) -- Los Angeles 31 July, 1969:

His initiation ceremony is a Vedic principle to lead a conditioned soul to the higher level of transcendental life.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Yasomatisuta -- Honolulu 15 May, 1976:

Do not be concerned that there may be some difficulty in preaching to the Chinese. Krsna has designated you to raise them to the higher level. Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission is to raise the degraded to the higher platform. So Krsna has sent you amongst the Chinese people to save them . . . so don't be disheartened and go on with the work, you'll get strength.

Page Title:Higher level
Compiler:Madhavananda, ChandrasekharaAcarya, MadhuGopaldas
Created:21 of Dec, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=6, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=19, Con=4, Let=5
No. of Quotes:35