Therefore to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it requires enough pious activities. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After speculating in the impersonal philosophical way, when one is mature, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān, when he's actually wise,... So long he cannot understand that the Supreme Absolute Truth is person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha... (Bs. 5.1). brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Bhagavān. That... vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). This is statement in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata: "Those who know the Absolute Truth, they know that Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, they are one. It is different phases of understanding only." Just like if you see one hill from a distant place, you will find impersonal, hazy, something cloudy. If you go still forward, then you can see it is something greenish. And if you go actually within the hill, you'll see there are so many animals, trees, men. Similarly, those who are trying to understand the Absolute from distance place or far away, they are realizing, by speculation, impersonal Brahman. Those who are still forward, yogis, they can see localized aspect. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). They can see, dhyāna avasthita, localized within himself. This is Paramātmā feature. And those who are devotees, they see Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of God, eye to eye, one person to another. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).
Phases of understanding
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Bhagavān throughout the Gītā. Bhagavān is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding, namely Brahman, or the impersonal all-pervasive spirit; Paramātmā, or the localized aspect of the Supreme within the heart of all living entities; and Bhagavān, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.11) this conception of the Absolute Truth is explained thus:
- vadanti tat tattva-vidas
- tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam
- brahmeti paramātmeti
- bhagavān iti śabdyate
"The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding by the knower of the Absolute Truth, and all of them are identical. Such phases of the Absolute Truth are expressed as Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān."
These three divine aspects can be explained by the example of the sun, which also has three different aspects, namely the sunshine, the sun's surface and the sun planet itself. One who studies the sunshine only is the preliminary student. One who understands the sun's surface is further advanced. And one who can enter into the sun planet is the highest.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, is the actual origin of everything. As stated in the Vedas, yasya bhāṣā sarvam idaṁ vibhāti. The Absolute Truth is described later in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.28.15) as satyaṁ jñānam anantam yad brahma-jyotiḥ sanātanam. The brahmajyoti is sanātana, eternal, yet it is dependent on Kṛṣṇa (brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham). The Brahma-saṁhitā states that the Lord is all-pervading. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham: (Bs. 5.35) He is within this universe, and He is within the atom as Paramātmā. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhu-ti-bhinnam: (Bs. 5.40) Brahman is also not independent of Him. Therefore whatever a philosopher may describe is ultimately Kṛṣṇa, or Lord Viṣṇu (sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12)). According to different phases of understanding, Lord Viṣṇu is differently described, but in fact He is the origin of everything.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
There are different stages or phases of understanding. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam (SB 1.2.11). The Absolute Truth is that. It is one, but it is realized into different phases: as Brahman, as Paramātmā and as Bhagavān. So if you understand Brahman, that is also partial understanding. If you understand Paramātmā... Brahman is understood by the philosophical speculation, Māyāvāda philosophy, or jñāna-mārga. Then you can understand partially. Just like to understand the sunshine is partial understanding of the sun. It is not full understanding. Full understanding, if you have got power to go to the sun globe, to see the predominating deity there, Vivasvān, the sun-god, then it is full understanding. If you think that understanding the sunshine you have understand the whole feature of the sun globe, that is wrong. Similarly, to understand Brahman, impersonal Brahman, is also partial understanding. And to understand Paramātmā, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61), that is also little higher stage, but that is also partial. But when you understand Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality, that is full understanding. Therefore it is said, bhagavān uvāca, bhagavān uvāca, full understanding. Vyāsadeva could have said, "kṛṣṇa uvāca." But because Kṛṣṇa is understood wrong way sometimes by the fools and rascals, therefore he says directly, "bhagavān uvāca." Bhagavān uvāca.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So we have to receive knowledge from Bhagavān or from a person who is servant of Bhagavān, not that another imitation Bhagavān. Then you'll spoil your life. That will not help you. Bhagavān says, atha te sampravakṣyāmi. Sam means samyak, in full, full knowledge, not partial. Atha te sampravakṣyāmi. Pra means prakṛṣṭa-rūpe. Vakṣyāmi. Vakṣyāmi means "I shall speak." Tattvānām. Tattvānām, tattva is one. Absolute Truth, it cannot be two; but there are different phases of understanding the Absolute Truth. Therefore here it is plural number, tattvānām. Tattva is one. That is explained in another place. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam (SB 1.2.11). Although tattva is realized in different phases, three phases, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Brahman, impersonal feature, brahmeti paramātmā. First localized feature, īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). That is Paramātmā. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham.
General Lectures
You can find out the background of this body as the soul and the soul's presence as perceived, perceivable by consciousness. Similarly, the presence of Supersoul and superconsciousness in the universal body of cosmic manifestation is perceived by the presence of the Supreme Lord, or the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is systematically experienced in the Vedānta-sūtra, generally known as the Vedānta philosophy, which is elaborately explained by a commentary by the same author of the Vedānta-sūtras known as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to understand the constitutional position of the Supreme Lord, or the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases of understanding, namely as Brahman, or the impersonal universal soul; Paramātmā, or the localized universal soul; and at the end as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. An individual soul is understood in three aspects, namely first in the consciousness pervading all over the body, then as the spirit soul within the heart, and ultimately exhibited as a person.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Pañcadraviḍa: But when you came to France, Śrīla Prabhupāda, you spoke at the Theology Club. About four years ago you came for a conference. They arranged a big meeting at the Theology Society in France, a world-wide society. And one thing I was... One thing I was considering. They must be interested because the Christians say that there is soul, and they say that there is God, so then wouldn't our question be: "What is the relationship of the soul to God?" They admit there is a soul. Every human being, they say, has a soul.
Prabhupāda: No. That, that is also beginning of understanding. But first, preliminary understanding should be that God is one. There cannot be Christian God. There cannot be Hindu God. There cannot be Muslim God. That is not complete idea of God. That is imperfect. Just like in Vedic literature, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti: (SB 1.2.11) three phases of understanding of the Absolute. First, beginning, is Brahman, then, further advanced, Paramātmā, then, final advancement, Bhagavān. Similarly, the final realization of God is the Supreme Person. And then we should seek (see?) who is that person. That is real theology.
| Page Title: | Phases of understanding |
| Compiler: | Matea, Jayaram |
| Created: | 08 of Oct, 2009 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=4, Con=1, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 7 |